Replace HTC Artemis ... maybe

[rogertb]

Hi chaps, for no particular reason other than a whim I'm thinking of upgrading from my excellent Artemis to .... what ? ... any thoughts.

To be honest I probably won't do it as the Artemis has kind of everything I want and, apart from looking a bit grubby is working well but I might enjoy looking at the newer devices on the market. Must have satnav and a camera, wifi etc ... Best Roger

[mikealder]

The Artemis is still a very capable device, in fact most of the newer devices I have tried over the past 12 months are still only just as good as the Arte, or in some cses worse!

The HTC Touch Cruise otherwise badged as the XDA Orbit-II from o2 is a decent unit, but is let down by what is best described as a sluggish interface, its got twice the processor power of the Arte but it just feels slow at times.

The HTC Athena or T-Mobile Ameo is great for mobile internet and with a huge 5'' screen it takes some beating for a navigation display, but as a phone it really is a brick.
Motorola Q9h SmartPhone just doesn't get past the first month of use, the interface is too cumbersome compared to a touch screen device, nice phone with a great video camera capability, but that's about all.

MWg Zinc-II looks great, very nice screen and a very fast processor, the GPS tends to take longer to acquire the position, and it loses the signal in difficult reception conditions, this device is let down by a lack of accessories, you try finding a headphone addaptor or decent case/ car holder they simply don't exist, a real shame because the phone is great probably the best PDA phone screen I have used to date, but MWg are a little known company who need greater market penetration.

There are also the ''odd ball'' devices like the iiFone by Apple or the Google Android haandset, neither devices have decent mainstream applipcations for them, and navigation via GPS isn't currently viable using software from established outlets like TomTom, it still isn't known if the likes of TomTom will release a nav package for such units.

I am currently waiting for a decent device to turn up, the Orbit-II is decent enough but it isn't a huge step forward compared to the Arte, I was considering the HTC Touch HD but the screen resolution seems to cause issues with some software as not all code is capable of using the wide VGA format this device employs - Mike

[rogertb]

Thanks Mike for your very comprehensive response, it was you, in fact, who encouraged me to get the Artemis in the first place and you were quite correct, an excellent piece of kit. I'll dig into your reply but I think your conclusion is pretty much correct and that, as yet, there's nothing much better .... Regards Roger

[Mullet]

I had the Artemis for 18 months, and found it very capable.

I am currently between devices now my contract has run its term, and TMobile wanted to reward 3 years loyalty by charging me £100+ over the odds to upgrade to the Samsung Omnia.

That worked out well actually, as the Touch HD has now got my attention.

I had a maul at the Orange shop, and the device has a great feel. Its not too big, heavy or thick considering the 3.8" screen IMHO. Confirmed by the fact that the demo had been stolen from the display.

The only thing that stopped me dead was the quoted Orange tariff, £30/ month and a huge £17.50 for 1GB of data.

At release it was stated on the net everywhere that orange had a two month exclusivity deal, so I await for post xmas availability on Tmobile. Yes, them again, solely as they can offer a £20/ month tariff that includes the 1Gb of 3G/GPRS data. For a further £5, the data is increased to 3GB and tethering permitted. This makes for an excellent bluetooth laptop modem package when travelling.

The only potential downside could be software compatibilities mentioned by MikeA, but the HTC layer includes some of the stuff I had installed on my Artemis and the Touch HD tested software list is growing daily. TomTom 7 and iGo8 are listed as working with a bit of twiddling.

Core Player works, so downloaded Youtube flash music vids will play, just need to sort out a big card.

....if only HTC could get round to fitting a camera flash on their devices.

[rogertb]

Yes Mullet that looks really nice, I want Tomtom but a "bit of twiddling" would worry me, and I have an excellent del with Virgin so I'll also wait 'til things settle down after Christmas, thanks for taking the time Roger

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