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14 out of 14 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"everyday joe picks 6600 over i730 and treo"
Pros: see opinion
Cons: see opinion
Summary: i can't believe it ... after intensely testing the audiovox 6600 against the samsung i730 and the palm treo 650 (all verizon), i went with the 6600.
i am not a "techie". yes, i try to stay up on what's current, but i get that same glazed look in my eye as i do when the neighbor kid explains the inner-workings of his automobile engine. basically, i want one device, a phone (necessity) that can give me as many additional usefull/cool devices and applications (optional) as possible. pda, multimedia, etc. and, especially, high-speed internet, the holy grail.
i won't repeat the numerous pro's and con's for each of these phones; that already has been done in spades by others.
i will say that the palm treo 650 is a wonderful phone, much more "user friendly" than the microsoft mobile phones. alas, that same simplistic operating system, plus its inability to get verizon's evdo high-speed network, was its undoing. that said, i can say with confidence that most "ordinary joes" will be more than happy with the treo. great feel, great look, easy to use, bright screen and buttons, and, frankly, all the applications, etc. that most people would want.
since i wanted evdo speed, i narrowed it to the 730 and the 6600. i already had made up my mind that the 730 would win. the beautiful screen, the niftier built-in features (browser, voice command, etc.), the smaller size (but see below), etc.
the 730 lost out, in my opinion, for two reasons.
one, it has a "clunkier" feel than the 6600. yes, i know that is hard to believe, as it is smaller, but at least the 6600 is flat and fits (more or less) in your pocket or your hand. the 730, for some reason, always felt like i was handling a small brick. sorry, i just couldn't ever get over it. even my girlfriend commented on it, and believe me, she's all about superficiality.
the other reason i didn't go with the 730 was because of the screen size/shape. look, if i'm going to get away from the simplicity and small size of an ordinary cellphone so that i can enjoy the internet/multimedia benefits of a pda/smartphone, then i want to SEE THE SCREEN and TOUCH THE BUTTONS without a hassle for my 52-year-old eyes (thank you very much).
in the end, the plain-old-gal 6600 best served me. all the microsoft mobile features, evdo speed, nice big screen (samsung, please note), flat in the hand and the pocket. yeah, the slider isn't as nifty as the 730's, but it works fine, especially with a little silicon lube; frankly, i found the 730 a little too "slidy".
i know this review may offend those of you who are more tech-oriented. i acknowledge that i did not give any of these phones an "in depth" testing. but i did do what i think most people want to do: use the phones extensively over a period of time, in numerous situations and for numerous purposes, and finally decide which one works best for me. i think both samsung (size/shape) and treo (evdo) can make improvements that would surpass the 6600, but for now, i'm sticking with the 6600.
- 3 replies to this review
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While I was a little more limited by the fact that I wanted to stay with Verizon (been with them since '97 when they were Airtouch here in SoCal), I have to say that I was considering several other phones and providers, but went with the 6600 for many of the same reasons. And FINALLY, I can give away my old Dell Axim!! (which, btw, made the 6600 an easier choice, too, because the form factors are VERY similar).
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I owned the XV6600 since May and recently replaced it with a Samsung i730. It was an easy choice. Yes, I love the XV6600's gorgeous large screen. It looks way cool when you open it and you have that "tokyo at night" effect with the blue lights on the keybaord. But what ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT was its stark unreliability. The phone locks up ALL THE TIME - every other day. I had two of them so I know it wasn't my particular model but the whole lineup. The bluetooth functionality is spotty at best and is a joke compared to other phones. I missed a lot of calls with this PDA because the phone part of it would just arbitrarily lock up and with me not even knowing I would miss tons of calls.
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I just spend a month reviewing the i730, xv600, and Treo 650 on line and also playing with at local verizon store. I also choose 6600 as the best of the three finding after concluding that all had aspects I did not like and I agree with comments above. One item to clear up is that if you use the Verizon web site link to update your ROM software you will be offered only the choice of the xv6600woc (without camera) which will not work for those of us who bought with camera. You have to go to the main software update list on Audiovox site and download the one called Verizon xv6600 maintenance update; this is for camera fon. I just did this and confirmed with Audiovox tech. I also noticed this update improved volume on fon ring.
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