Audiovox PPC-6600 / PPC-6601 / XV6600 (HTC Harrier)
Average Ratings
We Can't win
Verizon/Audiovox cell phones are terrible and the Audiovox XV6600 is a shinning example.
I need a smart cell phone w/ Blue tooth & Pocket PC because I travel for work and use a Pharos GPS w/ Blue tooth receiver as my navigator on my long trips through baron parts of the North East. I used to use a HP Ipaq PDA for contactâs address and navigation and an another Audiovox cell as my phone (which also was terrible). I decide I would get a smart phone to combine both features. So I gave the Verizon/Audiovox/UTStarcom XV660WOC a chance. (UTStarcom makes Audiovox phones for Verizon or something like that?)
Why is the XV6600 terrible?
1. Ring tone is to low and vibrate is weak. (The streets and offices of NYC and Boston are loud!)
2. Phone volume is too low.
3. No speaker phone (WHY?).
4. Blue Tooth connection cuts out at the most crucial moments (How do they know when to do that? VERY ANNOYING)
5. Battery is weak and dies quickly.
6. Phone locks up when you need to do a lot of work and access programs (so you have to use it gently).
7. Connections were reasonably good but for the cost of phone should have been better.
8. Size and weight of phone are not as good as other phones.
9. Phone is not reliable â never know when youâll have to do a soft reset (sometimes that doesnât even work and you have to hard reset!)
If you can imagine or know the frustration of not being able to hear your boss or a potential customer when you actually hear or feel the phone ring/vibrate then you can understand my pain. I should have listened to the Verizon sales rep when he told me that VERIZON does not have a phone that can truly act as a PDA (and you should too!)
My 6600
ITS EVRYTHING YOU WANT IN A PHONE/PDA SO ILL SKIP TO THE FEW FAULTS THAT IT HAS AND HOW TO COPE WITH THEM
-yes, the ringtones and call volume are surprisingly soft. still, on full volume you WILL hear it. It just isnt your typical "annoy everyone around you when your phone rings" type phone. Anyone in a professional environment wont have a problem.
-the platform can't be updated. anything that can't be done on this platform can be done in a 3rd party application. If you don't want to pay for one...then you must not want the features bad enough. the feature were plenty during its release period.
-The pictures look great in the scope but one you hit "capture"...ewwwwww. They still look good once you transfer them over to your PC. And its a PDA phone....screw the camera. its good to have but really who buys a PDA becuase its has a "good camera"
-Battery life could be better. with the retractable usb sync cable/charger you won't care or have this problem.
BUY THIS PHONE
Awesome - Finally a Super Smartphone that Works
Greetings... I have been actively searching for a "Do it All" smart phone for almost two months to replace my Palm T5 (great box) & cell phone. First attempt - I purchased a Palm Treo and was forced to use Earthlink (they use Sprint as their backbone), not a good combo. Treo is clean looking, design, etc. Bad Email / Internet service (mega slow because of WiFi)clumsey KB. Used it three day's sent it back. Second try - purchased the new Blackberry with T-Mobile. Old technology, very feature poor and the wort part was T-Mobile. Sent it back. Walked into a Verizon wireless store, noticed the xv66oo on the wall, inquired about it and purchased it, with service, for a paltry $150. HEAVEN! Broad Band Internet (DSL Speeds, not WiFi dial up)Push Email including Lotus, HeRes camera, voice recorder, streaming video, GREAT cell phone!
Satisfied with Overall Quality
While this PPC has a few faults as many of the other posters have described in detail, it's overall quality is impressive. I have had the phone for over six months now and it has done a great job of reducing the amount of paper and clutter in my personal and professional life. It takes some time to get used to but with a few software installs and accessory purchases, it easily outdoes most, if not all, of what's on the market right now. I'd be lost now with its keyboard.
I still haven't found a case or bluetooth headset that I like though so if anyone has any recommendations on those or a software program you can't live without, I would love to hear them.
Try it; you will return it
I tried two phones with Sprint. Spent hours with Sprint Tier 2 to no avail.
Pros;
-Great screen; but still hard to see outside during day.
-Neat slider
-Bluetooth works well with headset
-Syncs with Outlook 1st time everytime
-charges while in sync cradle
-reception is on the better side
Cons;
-Too big; uncomfortable in your hand.
-Battery will not last full day.
-Phone locks up constantly. For no reason the phone will say unable to complete call as dialed and stays that way until someone calls you or you take the battery off and reset the phone. Went through this with two different phones several times per day.
-You can only sync with Outlook if you use default folders. If you have a local folder and a exchange calendar you will have to copy everything to your local folder which is cumbersome.
This phone was not stable enough for me and I returned it.
Great Phone
Pro's:This phone has Pocket PC 2003! It supports all of the features that my IPAQ had and my phone. Now I carry one piece of electronics. My carrier is Sprint in the Houston area and reception has been great. I use a Motorola BT headset and the pair together is outstanding. Everywhere I go, people are in awe. I carry at least 100 songs on my SD card that are playable in the media player, have several games and even maps of my frequently visited cities thanks to Pocket Streets. I even carry a Laridian Bible. I can even play back a slide show of pictures taken while on the road. I have all 6000 of my contacts on my phone instead of just 250 like my last phone.
Con:The quality of the pictures is marginal and the case is marginal.
Not as useful as Treo
I wanted this phone to work out, it is so cool looking and has a great screen. I used >1,000+ minutes a month on my trusty LG 4400 but was looking to upgrade. When the price of the 6600 came down to $399.00 less my $100 Verizon credit I was in!
As a pda this phone is great! I downloaded a couple of useful programs, listened to music off the sd card, took some pictures etc.
The keyboard worked fine in theory but I rarely used it. I think the unit would be better without it.
PROs:
Big screen, Windows format, cool looking, camera
CONs:
Ringer level- a fatal flaw â I would have kept it but I kept missing calls.
Software not as phone friendly as Treo.
I reluctantly turned it in on the 14th day. I didnât want to pay $599 for the i730 and didnât like the idea of getting a Treo 650 âpalmâ based device and the smaller screen. Squeezed for time I got the Treo.
The Treo is a much better phone with a more refined interface and feel. For instance when I get a call the Treo asks if I want to save it to my contacts- a simple thing but very useful. The camera is better too.
In the end I say donât buy the VX 6600 unless you will be using it for a PDA/Internet device primarily with the cell phone as an afterthought.
Audiovox XV6600
I've been looking for "THE" pocket PC phone, you know. One that has blue tooth, touchscreen, a memory card slot, a media player, a keyboard, a camera/video recorder, you know the stuff. I have finally found the one for me and probably for you. It can keep a mobile professional/business man happy with Microsoft Word, Email, and Broadband Internet, it can keep children happy with games, a large touchscreen, and the recording capabilities, it can keep an average person happy with blue tooth technology, Windows Media Player, a camera/video recorder w/voice recorder, and of course a phone. This phone has everything and its so cool. But before i get to the good stuff let me say the cons; well the battery life is incredibly short, and it may have occasional poky reception, there are quick fixes for those cons and they are to buy and extra battery and keep it which you and/or bring the charger. Then buy a signal booster, which are mainly small and cheap. Now on my 6600 I can do almost anything, if you buy the right software your pocket PC can be as productive as mine, right now on my pocket PC i can view the weather in Asia on real time radar, can monitor 4 different rooms in my house in real time, i can find my exact location and speed, i can turn on my TV, and change channels, i can even edit picture, video and audio, i can create and play power point presentations, i can remote control my PC, and I can even watch live TV, and more! All by the right software, feel free to contact my email for software info. So basically this is the best pocket PC ever, up to this date, you just can't beat it, what's next Audiovox?
Fuggettaboutit !!!
I barely have this phone 24 hours and have already decided what to tell Verizon what they can do with it.
Volume and sound quality in general is a big time flaw in this phone whether it's the ringer, the speaker, wired headset, or ANY bluetooth headset. Inferior in all these areas to the Samsung i700 (no bluetooth) I upgraded from. This XV6600 was a service replacement, brand new. The max volume and clarity of the speakerphone alone on the i700 blow this phone away. Downloading the exact same WAV file into the windows\ringer folder that I used as a ringer in the i700 helped, but not by much. Bluetooth headset volume is so low it's pitiful! Took the same Scala 500 BT headset and paired it with a friend's Samsung i730, the headset's volume blew my ear off and I had to turn it down by half. Also, there's another Bluetooth bug in this phone that once you've used a BT headset, you have to do a soft reset in order to get ANY audible sound from the speaker or wired headset again.
Last week in my local VZW store, I tried one of the native ringers and could barely hear it. Then tried the ringer on the Treo 650 right next to it. The 650's ringer made everyone in the store on that busy Saturday afternoon stop what they were doing (if not jump) and wonder what the noise was, and its ringer only set at ½ volume!
A call to Audiovox tech support yesterday had the tech admitting all this and that they're barraged with these very complaints about this model daily. He said they were promised a software upgrade 3 months ago to fix the sound issues, yet still don't have an ETA on it. This phone is also not upgradeable to the new Windows Mobile 5 coming out later this year.
It's actually a good device if all you're looking for is a Windows based PDA. But when whomever you're talking to has to repeatedly say to you "Can You Hear Me Now?", well then ...."Houston, We Have a Problem".
The only thing keeping me from an i730 is lack of a camera.
The best PDA in the market!!!!!
I am a gadget freak that looks for the best of the best when it comes to cellular phones/PDA. I have had the Treo 650 since December 2004 and I like it,but i prefer Windows pocket PC versus the Palm Os because its nicer looking and its what I'm used to on my laptop. Ok, enough of that and lets get to this phone that i just got six hours ago.
Pros:- Too many to list. I do want to mention the excellent sized screen and that I'm able to go into my yahoo account and actually download lengthy videos and pictures sent by friends and family. This is something i could not do on my Treo 650. In addition, im amazed with its greats looks and excellent graffiti recognition. Furtheremore, I purchased the unlimited data plan for 44.99 and boy, let me tell you that with its EVDO connection,this BAD BOY makes internet surfing/downloadind a fun and exciting experience due to EVDO's fast speeds and reliability. As a result to this, I'm EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASE.
CONS: Battery has been my enemy on all the different PDA's I have had and its still my enemy on my new XV6600. I charged it for 6 hrs and i then played with it for about 3Hrs at full blast running Windows Media player,camera,txt/pix mesg and of course internet surfing. And as a result, the battery is at 43%. I really hope by charging it all night it has better battery life.
I got a good deal with my carrier, VZW. The pda was $449.00 and its worth every single dollar!!!!!!!!!! IF U R A TECHNOLOGY FREAK AMD LIKE THE BEST OF THE BEST, BUY THE XV6600. HIGHLU HIGHY RECOMENDED;-]
