Comments on: Xplore M68 Smartphone Review

176 x 220???? I know that that is more of a standard resolution for phones - but not for POS. 160 x 200 is not that strange as there are other Palm OS phones that have added pixels vertically for phone specific icons and indicators. But what is strange is the 176 width? Notice that ALL the screens shots (includingt shots of the launcher)show the forms centered horizontally on the screen with extra white space on either side (the extra 176 pixels / 2 = 8 pixels on left and right). Yet - the marketing screenshots show the launcher covering the full screen width.
Why? Cheapre to get a more standard screen res?

Probably, yes. Those 176 x 220 screens are mass-manufactured for many standard phones, so they're probably a lot more common--thus cheaper--than a square screen, for which there are very few uses. Probably even cheaper than QVGA.

Hi,
as far as I know, nobody will really care about screen resolution as long as it is high enough(I am not talking about power users here). Symbian boxen sell well too; the only thing that GSPDA should get working is third party support for the DIA and maybe landscape mode....

If you dont beleive me, have a go at this editorial, the example really is true:

http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com/2006/03/20/the-power-of-illusions/

Best regards
Tam Hanna

Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com

176*220 is common size among phone manufacturers because it's the de facto standard for S60 series, etc...
vanilla PalmOS was 160*160, and graffiti area was 60 pixels, 160+60=220 so PalmSource has added support for 176*220 screen, with 8 pixels losts on each side
but the builtin camera, and TCPMP for example knows how to mak use of the full screen, even in landscape mode

There are several hits for the M68 on Froogle, the cheapest being around $320. The M98 is also listed for around $240.

You should bear in mind that the XPlore phones are all tri-band GSM: 900/1800/1900. That means that they're not well suited for Cingular, which uses quite a bit of 850 MHz GSM. You would get less coverage, and there would be some areas that you would get no coverage. It is possible to do, but it might not work out well for you.

BTW,M68 has a changable bettery design as Treo650,BUT without any NVFS problem.

The RAZRs are quad-band, actually. I don't think Cingular carries any tri-band phones at all, and even T-Mobile is phasing them out due to new roaming agreements that let them use 850 MHz coverage.

You might check WirelessAdvisor.com to find out what providers use what frequencies in your area. For instance, near my home, the only GSM provider is exclusively 850 MHz (sometimes called 800), so you'd get no signal. In Lincoln county, Wisconsin, though (the product of a random punching in of zip code 54435) the Cingular system is entirely 1900 MHz, so a tri-band phone would work. As a rule of thumb, the more rural an area, the less likely it is to have 1900 MHz GSM.

Thanks for that site, Adama! Curiously, my area has two listings for Cingular:

1900 MHz GSM / GPRS (TDMA) 3G: EDGE
800 MHz GSM / GPRS TDMA 3G: EDGE

Considering how rural we are, I was kinda surprised to see EDGE listed at all, but we did just get a brand new tower last month (which lets me actually get a signal at work).

Found the Xplore M68 selling for $369 at amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=showitem06-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Foffer-listing%2FB000FAJ89O%2F

Perhaps the best deal in history is the Xplore M98 (in an excellent clamshell design), going for $254, GSM unlocked

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=showitem06-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Foffer-listing%2FB000FNEIKK%2F

...enjoy!...
FC
PS: seller is the U.S. office of UK mobile phone seller giant eXpansys.

The real ad is in the footnotes about the author. ;)

Anyone who has spent more than a day looking at PIC (totally unbiased other than being a fan of POS), Brighthand (so deeply in the pocket of Palm that it'd be illegal in some states), 1src (heavily moderated apologists throwing tantrums amidst some good technical info) and PalmAddicts (very good for news coverage but totally devoid of any actual opinions, insider info or number crunching analysis of the PalmCONomy) would realize that Ryan runs & funds his site singlehandedly and entirely out of pocket + whatever the PIC software store generates as well as the usual ad/clickthru revenue. Unlike some, PIC is not his day job (unless something has changed recently that I don't know about).

Ryan doesn't get kickbacks from anyone...and for anyone to suggest that this review (or any other on PIC) was a thinly veiled ad needs to have their head examined. GSPDA has zero presnce stateside and, as Paddy said, has not put forth any effort into the Stateside market other than to issue a single press release. Besides, just ask Adama...the lack of 850mhz support would pretty much condemn the phone to somewhere between niche novelty and useless status, depending on where the user's primary GPS coverage area is.

We should all be commending Ryan, Paddy, and everyone else who is trying to keep fresh content coming into PIC in the face of *ZERO* new products/announcements by Palm. With the rapid consolidation of the POS software & hardware market, this void is only going to grow.

So I really don't care if it's a review of an Asia-only smartphone, a long discontinued OLED Clie review (hint, hint) or just an article summarizing overlooked gems in the Palm software scene. Fresh content makes us coming back to PIC--especially since the discussions of late have been less than rousing.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

Oops. Sorry for the confusion brought on by my brief and poorly worded comments. The phrase "advertisement" was a poor word choice. Furthermore, it never entered my mind, and so I certainly did not wish to imply, that Ryan was doing anything illicit here.

As I said my word choice was poor. What I should have said is that the author of the review came across sounding a bit like a marketing rep for this phone company, which is to say that the negatives were glossed over or spun to sound like positives and some features were claimed as positives without supporting proof (e.g., camera picture quality).

Now let me be proactive here in saying that I was not, and am not, accusing the author of being a shill for this company. I read reviews all the time that I don't particularly agree with and find many reviewers to be overly positive about something I think is just "meh." What can I say...I'm an overly critical person. Plus, there's the factor of personal bias. I'm sure that some people (like this reviewer, apparently) want a Palm OS powered smartphone that looks just like a traditional phone with stylus-centric app activity. As for me, I decided a while back that a stylus had become a hindrance and now prefer hard (or virtual) thumbboards.

So, again...sorry for the poorly worded critique.

http://Tapland.com
- Tapwave Zodiac News, Reviews, & Discussion -

It's irrelevant what their actual editorial policy is towards POS. The simple fact that if you click (from Palm.com) the "user forums" link it takes you DIRECTLY to BH's forums without warning. Then BH requires separate registrations for the Palm-sponsored area of their site. Palm already has their own "support forums" which are hosten on-site. I suppose Palm wants to differentiate between their absolutely moribund and heavily policed tech support forums and the (admittedly 1000x better and more active) BH forums. Still, it's always given me an uneasy feeling posting to BH and knowing of their "official" symbiotic relationship with Palm.

Just look at the wrath I incurred by being one of the very first to report on the horrendous LifeDrive launch...and then again to blow the whistle on Palm's intentional crippling of the BT stack on recent devices to try and sell more CDMA Treos.

At any rate, I hope Ryan and PIC are in there for the long haul. I really like the additional efffort Ryan's bene giving the site as well as the guest reviewers. The end is nigh but that's no reason for us POS faithful not to make a final stand here on PIC!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

Simony;

Perhaps I didn't state my previous as clearly as I could have. What I meant to say was:
" Why even take time to consider that BH might have a fair & unbiased editorial policy when they are in the pockets of Palm already?"

I find it interesting that while BH's initial review of a product may be refreshingly "less than perfect" Ed takes time a few months later to write an editorial piece saying why such and such (LifeDrive, T5, NVFS etc) isn't as bad as "we" have made it out to be"

There are three "published" sites/people I trust to do PDA reviews: AdamaDBrown, Twizza, and Ryan.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

I use it as my primary phone and pda, reception is good, sound is good and fantastic with the stereo headset

GSPDA has announced in february 2005, just after the M68 release that they were working on a Cobalt device, of course we all know that Cobal exists only as a simulator for windows...

If it's not compatible with the Treo D-Pad navigation standards, it would not be compelling to me. Having to tap on that little screen to select things? No thanks.

http://Tapland.com
- Tapwave Zodiac News, Reviews, & Discussion -

in fact it's functionnal among a lot of application

I have S200. Very well designed and my overall opinion is positive (say, 75/100) but some minor problems make it uncomfortable to use as a phone - LED does not show missed calls (or received messages), no loudspeaker, to run voice recorder you have to take out the stylus, the same to switch off alarm clock (!) - try to do it when you wake up... - or maybe that's the point ;)

Does anybody know about ANY third party software? (something like Butler for Treo is really needed...)

About battery - 1350mAh is not bad, but mine can discharge completely when phone left unused for a few days - do you observe such behavior, or my S200 has to be repaired again? (once already it was - but then full discharge time was 24 hours... :( :)

M68/S200 without those problems could be a very strong competition for Treo (size matters! ;) - low resolution is not a problem here.