MDA Pro verses MDA Vario

[Paul V]

I’m looking into getting a PDA style phone to replace my Motorola A1000. The Mda pro seems a great handset but the vario does work out a fair bit cheaper, wondering the main differences between the two?

Mainly want the wireless connection and PDF viewer is important to me, also a bit of a gadget freak so it’s always nice to have the top spec model lol.

Anyone with experiences of both of these? How do they compare?

Cheers

Paul

[cptsideways]

Pile of crap, hopeless software, constant crashing, crap as a phone as it would hang every other call.

Been there done that a total waste of space

[malman]

same discussion going on here

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=247869&f=95&h=0

[Paul V]

Is that the pro or the vario that crashed lots??? I do want to use it as a phone as well too so don't want it crashing all the time as my N70 does that enough already.

[sjg]

I had a Vario which seemed great if you need the functionality, especially for tapping out emails and SMS quickly while still being in a nice compact form factor. It's about as pocketable as the old Nokia 6600. Can sometimes be a bit fiddly to use as a PDA though because of the shrunken screen.

I sold it because I'm a fairly light smartphone user and my SPV C500 does the job of keeping calendar/tasks synced fine, running Copilot for satnav plus the occasional bit of web and email when I'm nowhere near a computer. It works much better as a phone too, normal keypad and great battery life. I'm going get a C600 on upgrade to replace it soon.

The Pro is certainly a serious bit of kit. Not sure I'd want to spend much time using it for calls or having to carry it about all the time though. Great if you're a heavier user though who can justify a separate data contract for it.

The Vario sits slightly awkwardly between the two. It has all the faff of a PDA-phone (having to tap away on the screen for basic things, very limited in what it can do one-handed) but it's a tad too small to use properly for mobile data. But if you have some apps that you need that are only available on PocketPC yet want a small device, it would do the job fine. Consider whether you need the keyboard though - the Compact (or the Compact II now) is quite a bit slimmer and feels more solid to use.