Review of PPC 6700
Score: 84
Sub-Section: Miscellaneous
Date: Jul 3, 2006
The PPC-6700 is the latest Pocket PC. It runs Windows Mobile 5 and is available for Sprint. Let me first start out by saying that this is a PDA more than a phone. It can be used as a phone, but if you really just need a phone, don't get this. However, when I bought this, I needed a PDA with advanced network possibilities and it worked great. It had lots of network features and the wireless PCS Vision worked well. In this review, I am simply going to select a feature and go on about it.
Touch Screen LCD: The screen on the PPC-6700 is a touch sceen that works rather well... as long as you aren't outside. It is relatively responsive, but it is extremely difficult to see in sunlight. I have perfect vision and I still have trouble seeing it. Dialing with your fingers in managable, but not nearly as easy as a normal phone. You can't really dial without looking, simply because you can't feel where you are. May seem obvious, but you probably don't realize how much it helps to feel the button. Indoors, the screen looks fine.
Windows Mobile: The OS is the newest version of Windows Mobile, version 5.0. This gives it a lot of versatility. There are quite a few useful pocket programs out there and they work rather well. Software designed for old versions of the Windows Mobile OS may not work as well. My biggest problem with this OS is that the programs do not end when you hit the "X" and there is no way to close a program. In order to actually stop a program from running is to go to the memory and stop it from running. This involves making your way through several menus and selecting which processes to stop. While it doesn't take too long, it's annoying. It is especially annoying if you open something with Windows Media player and then want to delete it. It took me a minute to figure out that the file was still open in memory and the process had to be stopped before it would allow me to delete it.
Another short coming is that pocket IE does NOT support Java. I honestly didn't read if it did or not before I bought it, but it seemed likely that the newest PPC at the time would support it. Trio did, so why not the PPC-6700. Well, I don't know why. At first I thought that I screwed myself, because an online website I use for business, requires Java. Luckily the phone had a feature that was even better. Terminal Services. I was able to use Terminal Services to connect to my PC at home and use it. It work perfect and I used it quite a bit.
Camera: Ehhh. Nothing special. 1.3 megapixels with some level of zoom. I have rarely taken pictures with it and when I did, they sucked. The video recording is what you'd expect. Really, if you are buying a phone/PDA for a camera, you are making a poor decision. Cameras are for taking pictures, not phone. It is what it is. I can't say I'm too disapointed in it.
Speaker: The speaker seems loud enough to me. I heard that the older model had a relatively weak speaker, but this one seems fine. It isn't perfect and definately isn't as good as most mobile phones, but it gets the job done. I bought this for its features and for a PDA more than a phone. I don't talk on the phone much, and when I do, I don't exactly have a terrible enviornment for talking.
Storage: The phone doesn't have too much available memory. More than half of the 64MB is used by the OS. It does however offer an expansion slot. I forget what type of memory it uses, but I know it isn't SD. Assuming you are interested in it, you will find out or probably already know. Look at the specs to find out.
Keypad: The flip out keypad functions well. I really have no complaint about it. It functions as it should and makes typing quick. You can also use the stylus and the touch screen keypad. Slower, but works when you don't want/need the keypad flipped out.
Battery Life: It isn't amazing, but I have rarely ran out when I needed it. I am not an excessive talker or PDA user, so I might not be a good source for battery discussion. If you need to use your PDA all day and make tons of calls, I imagine the battery will go quick. Not to say that most things don't do that, but I think the battery life is a little short.
Well, that concludes my short review. I am an average PDA user and talker. I don't give professional tests or graphs. I imagine this is what the average PPC-6700 would tell you. IMO, this is what you need to hear. It's all abour real world performance. I am a real world users who uses it when he needs it. If you think you are "average" like me, then this review was good. If you think you need more information, go search. Tons out there.
To visit the official website at Microsoft.com.