OK, it’s now time for me to bite the bullet. I need to have an Internet-enabled PDA phone! Right now I have a Nokia 6610 mobile phone and a very old IBM Workpad c3, which I hardly use, due to its bulk size and no Internet connectivity. I need to have a PDA phone which can also be used to browse the Internet and check my e-mails.
Imagine this situation. I am at a busy Orchard shopping mall with my wife and kids, while my boss called me to check on something (he could be asking me to check network connectivity to certain network/server, or asking me to check some e-mails). Nothing much I could do since I’m outside, and I can only have access to Internet after I reach home.
What I dream is a PDA phone which I can use to:
- make and receive calls, of course;
- access the Internet to browse websites or check e-mails; using either Wi-Fi (preferred) or GPRS;
- have basic Office capabilities (word processing, spreadsheet, power point); and
- have organiser function (similar to Outlook) to remind me of my appointments and to-do lists.
I stumbled upon this good website from CNET Asia, which gives good reviews about new PDA phones in the market. It says that the two most popular PDA phone in the market is O2 Xda Atom and Dopod 818 Pro. Now, the good question is, which one should I choose?
O2 Xda Atom is slightly more expensive, from a well-established brand in PDA phone market, slightly lighter, got Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, FM radio, but using miniSD card which is quite expensive and not the standard. On the other hand, Dopod 818 Pro is slightly cheaper, from a “new kid” on the PDA-phone market, slightly heavier, also got Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, but without FM radio, however, it uses normal SD card, which is the standard.
CNET Asia gave rating 8 to Dopod 818 Pro and 7.7 to O2 Xda Atom. However, the users only gave 5.6 rating to O2, while they gave 7.4 rating to Dopod. A lot of complaints from the users with regards to the O2 product, and some even switched from O2 Xda Atom to Dopod 818 Pro and they become happy customers. For those who have used both, they seem to prefer that Dopod 818 Pro is better than its competitor.
So, which one should I choose? I’m still considering and gathering more information about the reviews of the two products, so will let you know again later, which one I am going to choose. In the meantime, if you would like to give feedback to help me make my decision, just press the “add comments” button. 
Update on 21 February 2006: I have made up my mind and have chosen Dopod over the Atom. Thanks.
