UTStarcom PPC-6700 / XV-6700 / HTC Apache
Average Ratings
Had it for a week
Decent phone, decent pda.
Having owned a normal cell phone, I was used to being able to make a call while driving my car. Not so easy with this device. I.E....
No voice dialing. I repeat, your 600+ dollar phone does not have voice dialing like the free phone from two years ago had. I'm not joking. So if you have a bluetooth headset with your new 600 dollar cell phone, you CANNOT press the headset button and make a call. you have to mess with it, and press buttons.
Who dropped the ball on that one? Which UT starcom employee decided to not have voice dialing? Why didn't they also get rid of the calculator? who want's a blue tooth headset when you have to get your phone out and mess with it if you want to make a call anyways?
No speed dial. The manual describes how you can press the phone button, and then use the touchscreen numbers to use a sort of speed dial, but there is no button there, so you can't feel it. You have to look at the screen, and make sure you only hit that button, and hold it. harder than it sounds.
While it would obviously be a problem with a phone that is basically justa big screen, it could easily be solved by... voice dialing. You think i'm lying don't you? it doesn't have it. Yes it has bluetooth, no it does not support one of the most attractive features of the blue tooth technology. 600 dollar phone!
you can download a microsoft add on voice program for around 40 dollars that enables, it, but, guess what, still no bluetooth headset support.
I had the phone, it was really fun, but, come on. i only have so many hands, and i have to drive my car. Downgraded to a a920, and it's much more satisfying as a phone. Plus the bluetooth, which Does Allow You To Make Calls, allows me to use my Palm Zire 72 to browse the web as well. problem solved.
kel
my life in 4 square inches
I adore this phone!!! Programs run smooth, features are GREAT! I love the key board and the way the display automatically switches from portrait to landscape as you slide the keyboard out.
I like the ability to assign individual ringtones to callers in my contacts and the ability to receive pictures through messages...not having to have them sent through email.
I use all aspects of the phone through out the day and the battery lasts until the end of the day...just in time to get home and put it on the cradle :-) In my opinion, when running that many programs....that's fine for battery life.
I would recommend this phone to ANYONE
UTSTtarcomm 6700
Purchased for:
- combining palm & phone into one device
- wifi was a bonus
Pro:
- many ms applications ( outlook, powerpoint, excel...)
- wifi, bring up a vpn to work network via wireless network. This is really awesome.
Con:
- My main reason for buying this was syncing appt.s. There is an entire newsgroup on activesync and the issues with various phones. Check this out first: microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesynch
- i may have to return it because of the above. it only sync-ed once
- notification when a voice mail left. I have to see notification, click it, dial voice mail to know what call i missed and msg.
- i lost my first stylus in the first week as it needs to be really secure
- making a call requires many selects while drive..bring up contacts, select contact, talk
- speed dial isn't just pushing 1, you have to go to menu to select the speed dial #. I'm still searching for a better way.
I don't want to give up on this phone but I might have to because of the sync issue.
I CAN'T HEAR YOU!
As for a PDA phone it's pretty good. But the bottom line for the technicians who built it, perhaps we should start with a phone you can hear. I recently returned the Motorola 220 for the same reason. All PDA's with the exception in my experience of the Samsung SCH 500 and SCH 600 are quirky, but not being able to hear the person on the other end has to be my pet peeve. Also when you call your voice mail the key board stays on the screen and when you make a regular call it disappears. So much for for simplicity when calling extensions. I am very sorry to say that this one's going back as well.
Best Verizon phone out
I have owned every single Verizon phone. After StarTac, most Verizon phones have been low quality and overpriced. If you want a boring phone that works, stop by BestBuy and get yourself a 6015i PP prepaid phone that can be activated with any plan. It has the best reception, durability and battery life of any Verizon phone. If you want something more complicated and fun, get the XV6700. I use it to play MP3s, as a navigation system with bluetooth receiver, games, and etc. You name it. The phone isn't perfect, but it is the best thing you can get right now.
PROS:
Decent reception for a PDA, better than most LG phones
Small - looks bigger than it is
Nice keyboard, would have been better if #s were in separate row
Camera is decent
Comes with lots of great accessories
Fun, can do most things PCs can
CONS:
Ringer not very loud, can hardly hear it when inside the included case
Black and made out of this sticky plastic (sort of like the top of ThinkPads T4x) -this leaves spots after you hold it and dust is very visible
Speakerphone is not loud
Make sure you read the manual and FAQs so you're famililar with the OS. It takes some time getting used to.
CONS:
This Phone/PDA Delivers Big Power In a Little Package.
Let me start off by saying that I have owned various pda/phones and I know a good product when I see it. The ppc-6700 is a very complete device that has all of the connectivity that you would need in a pda/phone. I owned the ppc-6600 and unfortunately I didn't enjoy the bugs that plagued that device it got so bad that I had to send it back in to sprint and get a warranty replacement that's when they sent me the ppc-6700. At 1st I was a little skeptical because of the bugs that were in the 6600 made it suck so bad and I thought that the same thing would happen if I got the 6700. I was pleased when I received the device from sprint it was brand new and I was excited about what it was capable of. The wifi is very seamless and easy to use, sprints ev-do is perfect when your on the road and need to surf the net andas a phone its solid not perfect, the speaker phone is very weak. the os wm5 is awesome its a huge step up from wm2003 and its way easier
to customize this OS than the previous ones.
The Pro's
wifi*
bluetooth 1.2*
ev-do*
qwerty slide out keypad*
strong call signal*
loud ringer*(problem on 6600)
Cons
battery life(buy extended battery)
scren(65,000 colors instead of 252,000)
It Rocks!!!
I have to give it a 5. No PDA/ phone is perfect, but this is close. I had a pocket PC Ipaq 2215 and carried the E815. This is the best of both worlds wrapped in one unit. What surprised me the most is the phone functionality!!!!! Callers sound smooth and clear. Speaker phone kicks butt too. Like I said, its not perfect and there will be reviews that say otherwise, but this ones a keeper for sure.
Pros
Just about everything
Cons
Give me a sec (I'm thinking) this is tough
Battery last about a day under normal use, thank goodness for chargers
Contact list under company view can be a little slow vs name view when scrolling
Those are the only tow complaints I have had thus far
I have had the phone for about a week now.
I've been waiting for this phone to come out and switched providers to get it
So far this phone lives up to most of my expectations however it's too early to tell exactly how I will feel about the phone and epecially Sprint.
Sorry for what might seem like a seriously stupid question but I'm at my wits end with this issue, it's also irritating that Sprint offers no support for anything to with anything they consider a Microsoft related issue and Microsoft offers no support unless you're willing to be "support screwed" at $35 per incident (they barely have any info on 5.0 and it surprises me they offer no support unlike Blackberry who go out of their way to support their products). I am fairly adept at this stuff having set up dozens of networks but I am having one hell of a time setting up a WiFi connection to my home Linksys WiFi router (haven't tried ad-hock. The instructions in the Sprint manual and at Microsoft are very ambiguous to say the least. It seems no one else is having this issue so I'm sure it just a user error issue.
Under the Wireless Screen it is constantly "scanning fro networks", finding everyone elseâs in the neighborhood but not mine. Additionally it won't allow me to edit anything within this screen and the only info it gathered upon initial set up was the Mac address for my cable modem. My 11 year old son chose VoIP as his science fair project this year so this is one of the demos we want to provide in addition to all the others. I've been told the only VoIP service that works on the 6700 is Skype which I've signed up for, installed on the 6700 but due to the lack of a WiFi connection it's not functioning.
I am constantly getting notifications that a network is available which is also annoying, I would just prefer to have my preferred network(s) notification on short of that It would be nice to have WiFi on but notifications off.
thx for any help
Marc
Poor Execution
I hate to say it, but the execution on many items of this phone is second rate, particularly the software.
The phone does some things well, text messaging, emails. Excell and Word documents can be viewed and edited (within reason). Initialy, I was ecstatic, with all the features and all, but after using this thing for 2 months, It's become an annoyance for the main thing I used it for: phone calls.
The speaker phone is terrible. It's not loud enough and whenever I use it friends tell me they can't listen confortably, especially with any background noise. Did anyone who designed it actualy make some calls on it?
I thought the keyboard was the best. Big, but I can't read the keys because the backlight makes the contrast terrible, unless your in a dark room
The software phone interface puts the contacts and call history buttons in one place before you make a call and in other during the call. You have to hunt for them depending on the screen your on.
Takes 2-5 seconds for the phone interface to close after hanging up.
Trying to dial someone from your phonebook while on the move is a joke. Way to many keystrokes and you can't dail with the keyboard because it's tucked away. At least the Treo and Samsungs kept there keyboards accessible.
Another thing, once you open a program and then close it, it really isn't closed. It stays in memory and simply takes up space. You have to manually shut it down.
The Stylus falls out too easily. I've lost three of them and I can't fnd one Sprint stire that sells them.
Not Sprint nor UTStarcom has offered and software fixes for the issues. The have scant info on there sites about technical issues, which speaks to me about no one caring about the product status in the field.
Not as great as I expected...
I do not like this phone. I only had it for 4 weeks before I got fed up with it's glitches & returned it for a new Treo. Whoever says this phone is a Treo killer must be hopped up on goofballs b/c it is NOT! The Treo beats the crap out of this phone.
CONS:
1. SLOW SLOW SLOW!!! I could count at least a 2-second lag from when I pressed the windows key to when the start menu would actually come down. It also took upwards of 2 minutes to reboot.
2. Locked up constantly. Once I missed a whole day's worth of calls b/c the thing was completely locked up all day. I didn't turn it on that mornig before I put it in my purse, and when I did try to turn it on, I couldn't & I had to reset it. I had to reset it several times a day due to this.
3. low-res pixelated screen. Even ClearType couldn't salvage the screen. Very bad for a $600 device.
4. MMS is disabled. I didn't pay almost a grand to NOT be able to send picture messages!
5. Slide felt very flimsy & didn't always close properly.
6. Something that's not really the phone's fault- but I hated WM5. I don't like WM normally, but 5 just sucks ass. They removed some features & it's slower than WM2003.
7. Uses stupid MiniSD cards, even though there's ample room for a full size SD slot on the thing.
8. Speakerphone volume was not nearly loud enough. I had to hold it next to my ear to hear it, which kinda defeats the purpose of using speakerphone!
Now, for the things I DID like-
1. Nice keyboard. Oddly arranged alt symbols, but nice nonetheless. Very easy to type with.
2. I could d/l large files to the card easily.
3. Wi-Fi, BT, and EVDO
4. The device itself is very awe-inspiring when you whip it out in public.
All that said- I dont' HATE this phone, but I certainly did not like it. The keyboard & the EVDO were not enough to keep me from going back to the Treo. If you want an overhyped, underpowered, SLOW device, get this phone. If not- treat yourself with a Treo!
