Siemens SX66 / MDA III / PDA2K (HTC Blue Angel)
Average Ratings
Decent compromise - initial impressions
Pros: small size (for a PDA phone) great screen, keyboard, thin and light, good vioce call quality, speaker phone works well, wi-fi is great.
Cons: function and shift keys have no indication when engaged making typing difficult at times, sliding keyboard mechanism seems a bit sloppy especially given that it is brand new.
I'm looking forward to trying this out on my next business trip and leaving the laptop behind.
The only caution I have is against using the Jabra BT250. The sound quality makes it almost unusable. I'm going to trade it in for a Moto tomorrow and will update this review.
This review was typed using the integrated keyboard and it was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Gotta Love it and gotta Hate it.
The phone is great. I can honestly say itâs the best phone Iâve ever had. The wifi feature is incredible, and the chip power is great. I bounce from one unprotected hot spot to another. Itâs truly great. The terminal service feature is great also; only draw back is that it wonât designate port numbers. This can be resolved by downloading a great program call tweaks2k2. That same programs makes IE appear as IE6.0 giving you access to all bank sites. With out this program youâll get the classic, âyou browsers version is not compatibleâ The program does a bunch of other nifty things to look into it to see what itâs all about. The Bluetooth problem everyone complains about is nonexistent with my Sony HBH300 headset and the hack/patch I got off the net. Check these forums to see where to get it. I get static on 1 call every 3-4 days I simply transfer the call to the phone then the headset and the static is gone. So I manage well with the so called Bluetooth problem. This BIGGEST draw back on the phone is when I soft rest. Itâs the devil re made onto a handset. Lol. I soft rest about 2 times a week. (Cause the phone will get a little slow on you) when I do. Ahhhh man. It sucks. Thatâs when you wonder why you ever bought the phone. See after a soft reset the phone will take forever (10 min. to boot up) but whatâs weird is it happens, but not all the time. Sometimes I reset and it will boot up with no problem and the phone will be good to go. In my opinion there isnât a perfect phone anywhere. But the SX66 comes close. The stuff I do with it. (swapping pictures with the sd card from my camera to the phone, and from my phone to my PC I watch dvdâs on it, type documents chat with aim and connect to my computer at home to get access to important information in my house. Itâs a great phone and I recommend it to anyone. Programs I have on it is, BT Patch/hack, RingtonesX(so I can program multiple ring tones to certain people),voice commander,beta player to watch dvdâs
K-Rock
Had to di it. Had no choice.
OK...OK, let me explain,
I wrote an excellent review for the PalmOne Treo 650 about 3-4 days ago, I loved that phone. As of now, I do not own it anymore. I am the proud owner of a new baby SX 66 from Cingular, and Treo, you were great, BUT, "if it weren't for you, I'd of never met her." Siemens, I love this phone. I would have kept the Treo had it not reset on me every time I used it, I just don't want to be stuck holding the stick if it's not my fault. I pay this much money for something, I EXPECT it to work.
I previously wrote That I loved PalmOne over Mobile Windows 2003 (MW2003), I would now like to retract that statement. There is so much more that can be done with MW2003. It is unreal what I have found for this thing. I thought that Treo had it good looking for downloads at mytreo.net. I have found so much stuff for this thing using MW2003 (www.windowsmobile.com). I have to say this VOICE COMMAND IS AWSOME.
I read a review on this site that said it is like talking to a Star Trek communicator, well, it is correct. I think this is awsome. Just hit the button and say dial (123)456-7890 and it will repeat it back and ask it was that correct. AWSOME.
Pros- Bigger screen, Wi-FI, voice command, applications, MW2003, Windows Media Player, screen can flip to make longer for bigger applications, Microsoft word, Excel, Power point, desktop themes, more internal memory, file explorer, windows based programs alone are a plus.
Cons- No Camera (but got more memory), No MP3 Rintone Player (or just haven't found it yet).
If you do not care about the Edge (which I have no idea what the difference is, I thought EDGE was over seas, like Europe) anyway, GPRS works just fine for me, and if you hit a location that has WI-FI, it leaves GPRS and goes to WI-FI. WI-FI is the Default and if WI-FI is not present then GPRS is initiated. So, if you don't care and your spending the money anyway, go for this phone.
As of right now, this phone is great.
Super phone after 1st day
I just upgraded from Treo 600 to this SX66. Its a very nice experience so far. Phone part works great, WIFI is superb, Blue-tooth works fine but i have problem redialing from Mot 810 headset. I am a bit worried with the sliding keyboard. Will it hold for thousands of slidings? Or maybe I am just negative. I put display cover on. The Sync worked perfect. A cool thing i noted was that when having SX66 in car and your driving in home area you can pic up a lot of local WIFI's.
best yet
I had the SX56, I've had palm pilots, all I ever wanted was this phone, blue tooth and all. As a Realtor needing all the tools this pda offers whether its checking my appointments, accessing web-based listings, calling clients, other agents or whom ever this is the best thing since sliced bread! The bluetooth problems (I also use the moto HS820) are irritating - but I think that's more to do with the battery life on the moto than the siemens software. I have 2 headsets, one recharging whilst I'm using the other and that seems to work well. I just took it to London and the change over was seamless, even allowing me to choose which provider to go with there. I am an AT&T customer so this phone was bought unlocked on e-bay (for less than Cingular wanted to charge me) and so when I change to Cingular in the next year or so, I won't have any problem. Cons? None
Siemens SX66 - Best one so far
I've use blackberries, Treos and other smartphones. To date, this one is the best. Even with it's awkward dimensions, it's a better phone that the PalmOne Treo 600. The organizer is just as good an any Palm device.
I use this device with the Goodlink software for exchange email. It's rock solid.
Bluetooth- Device has flaws with any headset that doesn's say Siemens. Siemens is working on a fix.
Wireless - Works great as long as it's not a secure AP. Otherwise, it's tricky to setup.
Web Browser - As fast as your connection. The CPU in this devices is pretty fast!
Pros
+Good Phone Voice Quality
+Few Dropped Calls
+Device is solid - No resets needed!
Cons
-Battery life about 70% of the PalmOne Treo. It could be better, but not horrible.
-Bluetooth - This needs to work.
-No camera! Smartphone with no camera?
My rating seems a little strange, I have my cons than pros. The fundamental problem that I have seen with SmartPhones has been that their phones are horrible. This one is actually a decent phone. Not great, but it's not something that your going to complain about.
Bottom line -
If you put a 3.0MP camera in and fix the bluetooth, it would get a rating of 5 from me.
Dream Come True, or Keep Dreaming?
Wow... this unit was a PITA to get my hands on and play with, but once I did - I was hooked! Offering BOTH PDA (Windows Mobile 2k3 SE) and phone functionality was something I've been dying to see done right, and boy did they do a good job! In contrast to the Palms Treo line, they're competing quite effectively - slide out keyboard, nicer color screen, and plenty of great s/w that made the decision a no brainer. If your company uses Good.com's email s/w (GoodLink), then this is a great way to get email remotely, as you can now get it with a free trial of GoodLink.
While there is no camera, but that's fine for me - I didn't want one. The phone works well, however I had some time figuring out the answering of calls w/a bluetooth headset, as it didn't initially work as other BT enabled phones do. Eventually my Moto HS820 worked like a charm, but it took some getting used to. The phone log/history is something I've yet to find/figure out. The only other complaint I have is the battery retaining clip - it can slip off and leave you holding your battery and device, but not both together as they should be. That's definitely a downer.
All in all, despite the few hangups this is a great phone AND PDA - a marriage that's long overdue, and will hopefully continue to blossom, as this could be a very successful product line for Siemens/BenQ. They should definitely do some better marketing of this line, as the only way I knew about it was through Phonescoop.com - while a great start, it's not nearly enough publicity as this unit deserves!!
PRO's:
-Great size
-Wifi, bluetooth, GPRS
-Beautiful screen
-Nice on-board storage space
-Slide out kb
-Good battery life
CON's:
-Bluetooth headset pairing finiky
-No secondary expansion (ie for GPS+storage)
-Battery clip flimsy
LOVE MY SX66!
I have had my Seimans SX66 version of this phone now for about 2 months. It's fabulous. The bluetooth works great in my Dodge Durango with UConnect. The only drawback there is that I can't voice dial via the UConnect. However the hands free is great and I don't have the bluetooth dropping problem tohers in the forum have talked about. I've always had palm os based devices and phones in the past... but I'm definitely converted. I LOVE THIS PHONE. The only thing I don't like is how wide it is... but hey... I do love the screen real estate!
I'm a web master and now I don't have to lug my laptop out with me when I want to go have fun. I have PocketTY and some other software on this phone and I have a lot more freedom now.
Can't wait for technology to develop a full 1024x768 heads up display with mike and ear phones that plugs into such a phone as this. Ya know a little ol' thing like Lara Croft has in tomb raider the movie... combined with this phone... WOW now that would rock my world.
Not so good.
This is piece of crap. It has so many issues with Wi-Fi and any other wireless connection that is practically useless, if you are not network pro - and even for them it has problems they can not solve. Once again - think twice before you decide to buy that crap.
HEED THIS WARNING
THIS PDA IS BUGGY!!!
Its a Poor PDA and even a worse phone.
After the excitement of a PDA Phone wears off buyers remorse kicks in and HARD.
The bugs are too numerous, sold too many and had way too many returns, I love Windows Mobile, and hate Palm OS but I will sell the Treo over this piece any day.
