Partilhar via

Samsung i700 PocketPC phone

  • Artigo

My New Year's resolution for 2005 was to get a new phone. I've been pondering over this for a while, and putting aside the jealousy of my friend's phones in Europe and Asia, I took the plunge with a new purchase. My requirements for a new phone were:

  • Must be PocketPC or Smartphone based (I already owned a PocketPC and wanted only a single device)
  • Must run my Ectaco Japanese translation software
  • Must have an SD slot (for additional photos and data)
  • Preferably has some kind of camera

To cut to the chase I ended up getting a Samsung i700, a Pocket PC phone with my current provider, Verizon. Given the size of this unit I was a little dubious at first - many of my colleagues at Microsoft have Smartphones, which definitely look a lot sleeker. I however was running some Japanese translation software on my previous Pocket PC that I wanted to take to my new phone, and the thought of trying to enter Kana via a numeric keyboard just didn't seem that appealing.

Ater a couple of weeks using the i700, I'm really pleased with the purchase. Using the device as a phone is acceptable, although I probably wouldn't recommend it for heavy talkers. I do recommend a headset when possible though - driving while holding a Pocket PC up to your ear is difficult enough (and likely dangerous), plus it tends to leave marks on the screen. Never pleasant when you next come to use it next. Microsoft's Voice Command is a must for voice activated dialing, and has been remarkably accurate - even with my English accent.   

Being directionally-challenged around Seattle, my latest conquest has been to make the device work as a GPS unit in the car. I purchased a copy of Microsoft's Streets and Trips GPS Locator edition over the holidays. The software comes with a Pharos i360 GPS unit that can send location information back to the application running on the PC. The software ships with a USB cable to do this, but to connect it to the Pocket PC I had to purchase an additional cable (~$35) from Mobile Planet. After connecting the cable, disabling Samsung's external keyboard driver and the IR on the device, I was able to get it to recognize the GPS device. 

I'm still in the process of evaluating mapping and routing software. Mapopolis, which I've been using this week seems to work really well. I tested it with a simple route on the way to work and it handled really well - even re-calculating the route without intervention when I deliberately took a left on 51st instead of 40th. One slight drawback of the PocketPC/GPS setup is that the volume control of the PocketPC could do with being slightly louder when driving - too much road noise and it's easy to miss the computerized voice of the announcer. I've also been looking into the GPS.NET SDK to access the device using the Compact Framework. I also need a car charger (for long journeys) and to figure out how to stick this device on the dash.

Overall, the experience has been great, and I've been pleased with the device. It's nice to finally be able to combine a phone, calendar, remote access to Email, Japanese dictionary, photo viewer, music player, and GPS into one box.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 15, 2005
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    January 15, 2005
    I bought my wife the same phone a week ago and she absolutely loves it. I originally bought her the Treo 600 from Verizon, but she had to return it because it kept disconnecting in the middle of phone calls.

    I have only played jawbreaker on the phone as well as set it up for her POP email account, but she absolutely loves it compared to the Treo 600. She likes the fact that it has the "Start" menu and the same look and feel as my PC. We do a lot of traveling, so I appreciate you mentioning the GPS Location software as that will come in handy.
  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2005
    Nice write up. One question:
    I noticed you mentioned the MS GPS Software has computerized voice capability. I went to the MS web site for Streets/Trips GPS locator and can't find any mention of it providing voice capability. Do you know if there is a difference between loading the software on a smartphone/pda vs a laptop (difference being that the voice capability exists on a smartphone/pda and not on a laptop)?
  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2005
    No, sorry if I implied the MS software has voice capability - to my knowledge it doesn't. I have been using Mapopolis (http://www.mapopolis.com) for this.
  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2005
    I called samsung and talked to the data team about the GPS feature built into the phone. They said that it was actually AGPS, Assisted GPS (if I remember the name exactly), but in any case, it meant that it got its position for the Verizon network. The option on the phone is 'Location On' and '911 only'.

    The software that I've found (and purchased actually) doesn't work directly with this, but what Samsung told me was that there was software on the internet that would allow the phone to set up a Virtual Port for the AGPS and from there allow other software, like Microsoft Street, run on top of it.

    Of course you would have to have a signal from the Verizon network, but hey at this point I've purchased the Mapping software and they said the "Virtual Port" Software was actually free. But they couldn't tell me the name.

    Has anyone heard of anything like this?

    Thanks!
    LennyPaco@yahoo.com
  • Anonymous
    January 31, 2005
    Lenny - never heard of the "Virtual Port" software, but if you find it definitely post the location here!
  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2005
    How do you disable the external keyboard driver on the i700? I can't get the GPS to work because of it.

    Thanks!
  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2005
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2005
    Jay, you need to overwrite the flexis.exe file in the Windows folder to prevent that annoying external keyboard popup. Check out this link for more information: http://www.pdaphonehome.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24743&highlight=flexis
  • Anonymous
    February 12, 2005
    Simon -- I have that file, installed it, and soft rebooted which does eliminate that from popping up, but when I'm using the Pharos GPS and cable it never recognizes the GPS (the GPS itself works because I've hooked it to my PC).

    I have tried it with the following:
    MS Pocket Streets -- Tried to start the GPS before plugging it in and after plugging it in. Wouldn't recognize it.

    I have also tried Mapopolis (free d/l) to see if that would matter, and again I've tried to start the GPS first, and also start it after, but neither way seems to matter.

    I'd like to purchase some navigation software, but don't dare spend the money yet. Any thoughts on how I can test the GPS or the cable? Any thoughts on what else I can try, check or do?

    Pharos mentioned something about ensuring Com1 was "reserved" for the GPS, but not sure how to do that.

    Any other thoughts? The only other suggestion I read was doing a hard reset (wipe it clean) and then maybe (no guarantees) it'd work...not a good idea in my opinion.

    Thoughts?