10 Reasons To Buy The M800 Over The iPhone
Feb 11th, 2008 by Tariq Bamadhaj
When I first started writing on this article, I titled it ‘10 Reasons Why The M800 Will Be Better Than The iPhone‘. However, while I was writing it, I realized that people do not buy the iPhone (or any device for that matter) just because it’s specifications are better. People buy one device over another because of what it is able to offer them. So I did a re-write of this article and titled it as such: 10 Reasons To Buy The M800 Over The iPhone in hope of showing you why the upcoming M800 would be a much better choice over the iPhone.
10. Not Widely Available
I like it when my device is not used by everyone and their parents. Maybe it’s something about being exclusive or in a small group. Whatever the reason, if you buy the M800, rest assured that not many people will have it.
9. Built-In GPS Chip
Sure the iPhone can do GPS with triangulation and all but that’s nothing compared to a dedicated GPS chip. Your position is much more accurate and you don’t have to worry about cellular coverage to get a fix. Plus, the iPhone’s GPS would only work in areas that have been mapped previously.
8. Full QWERTY Keyboard
How fast can you type on your iPhone’s keyboard? No matter how fast you claim, it’s definitely not as fast as typing with a QWERTY keyboard. Seriously, trust me.
7. VGA Screen
You say videos look good on the iPhone? Have you seen them on the M800? It’s got a much higher DPI which translates to a much better video quality. Just how much higher? Well compare Eten’s 640 x 480 to Apple’s 320 x 480.
6. 3.5G Support
Well they say that iPhone 3G is coming, but when? With the M800, it’s already there when you get it. And it’s 3.5G!
5. You’re Not Locked To A Network
I don’t know of one person who likes to be locked to a network. Even more so when you travel overseas. Wouldn’t it be great if you could easily switch SIM cards just as easily as you change … ?
4. Hardkeys Baby
Why tap on the screen when you can launch applications by pressing a key. And with so many keys on the M800, you can map it to your heart’s content.
3. Unlimited Storage
Well not really but when you consider that the M800 uses a micro SD card that is removable and the iPhone uses a built-in storage, you know who’s the winner. An added bonus is the ever-increasing capacity of said SD cards. We’re up to 16GB this summer. 16GB of goodness. Or in iPhone terms, the amount of storage in 2 iPhones 
Update: The iPhone is already up to 16GM while microSD would only debut in Summer of ‘08. However, I still think having removable storage is an advantage compared to fixed storage if both are of similar capacity.
2. Skyfire Browser
It’s still in beta but it does look promising. It used to be that iPhone could say they have a great web browsing experience but all that will soon come to an end with the introduction of Skyfire.
1. Wealth Of Applications
Because the M800 is running on Windows Mobile, it means it has a large extensive library of software, both free and commercial, that you can tap into. This means you can really find the software that is just right for you to do what you need.
So there you have it, the top 10 reasons why you should get the M800 over the iPhone. Not being bias, I am sure there are some great reasons to get the iPhone over the M800 but since this is an Eten Blog and not an iPhone blog, this is the way it’s done 
What are your reasons for choosing the M800?
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You forgot about the ability to change the battery without having to pay someone to do it.
Hi wschom
Thanks for pointing that out to me. I totally forgot about it.
Who cares about the built in keyboard, TouchPal is the reason I didn’t bought the iPhone
TouchPal is plain better than any hardware keyboard, or at least makes the devices lighter, because you don’t really need a hardware keyboard when you got TouchPal
A hardware keyboard is nice though, since it allows you to view the entire screen. You could also buy a Bluetooth Laser Keyboard, which draws a keyboard light in your desktop, neat!
Try to do that in an iPhone, I mean try to write at a descent speed at least, it’s like a 4 year old typing on a computer, ONE KEY AT A TIME
Now, regarding the 8GB, Tariq doesn’t knows that the 16GB iPhone is out? (or should be out really soon)
Now, comparing the screen, sure, VGA is better, but 3.5 inch is better, I don’t know, I don’t know if the HTC sedna will have a big but horrible screen, at least for me VGA is important.
Well obviously you do not care about the built-in keyboard but there a lot of people who prefer typing on a real keyboard. TouchPal better? Have you even tried a hardware keyboard or a built in keyboard? I have both and I can easily say that they are better than any SIP, including TouchPal. The only drawback to keyboards not built-in like the iGO Stoway is that you have to carry an extra device with you.
As for the 16GB iPhone, it slipped my mind. I started working on this article before it was announced. But good point there Xavier.
Indeed in some situations I do prefer my slide-out keyboard (on my HTC Kaiser - Hey what am I doing on Eten Blog dot Com?
) over my on-screen keyboard, for example when I’m on the move (walking, standing in a bus, etc).
The general idea makes me think - what does the iPhone offer that WM doesn’t? A cool easy user interface. But summing up all these points make me wonder how that one point measures against your 10 (and the battery, etc). Yes, the UI is very important, for many it will be more important than GPS and a hardware keyboard. And some will argue that the iPhone offers more than good UI, but then again cool zooming and image viewing does come down partially to the user interface. So yes, Microsoft should improve the UI (and the images that are floating around of the new UI after 6.1 do look promising!), but they also have quite some things that the iPhone can’t beat at the moment.
P.S. Tariq - On the “how to improve the site” discussion… The two checkboxes while commenting are a bit confusing. Below the URL (it spells URI actually!) I see a checkbox where I can subscribe, and below the text box is a checkbox with the message I am not subscribed. I know simply checking the first one makes me subscribed, but the checkbox at the second notification isn’t needed. Perhaps the entire second notification isn’t needed?
Hi spmwinkel
I think UI is rather subjective so it’s really hard to debate. For me, I have been using Windows Mobile for a couple of years now so if you ask me to switch back to Symbian, initially I will find it unfriendly because I am so used to something. But given time, I might change my mind. That was my experience when I was helping my sister configure her Nokia Symbian phone a couple of months back. So for users who are going to use this as a point, it might not really be a good idea.
On top of that, UI can be tweaked. Looking at Windows Mobile now, we have applications like Slide2Unlock which was inspired by Apple’s iPhone and it’s really made our lives easier (mine at least).
Thanks for the info on the checkboxes. One is actually for subscribing to the comments after you have left a comment (the second box) while the first one allows you to subscribe to the comments without having the need to leave a comment (sort of like monitoring it).
Ah thanks, that makes sense. So if I see an interesting post but don’t need to reply myself, I can simply check the first box and “add comment”. Cool.
As for UI - so the positive point of WM that allows people to make custom applications also partially solves the UI issue! (Of course people can argue that MS should have done better right away, but that’s what they should be working on right now so let’s see what happens)
My bad, I just tried it out and it does not seem to work that way. I will remove it until I can get it fixed.
As for UI, yeah I do agree with you. But it’s comforting to know that even if MS screws up, we can fix it on our own. Can’t say the same for Apple now can I?
Quick update. If I remove the function for one, it seems that the other one gets removed too. So I would have to keep both the checkboxes for now to let reader subscribe to comments.
On that note, I have managed to fix the function where you can subscribe to the comments even if you do not leave one. Hope that helps.
Defenitely! Thank you! Looks better now!
If someone offer me one free iPhone I would refuse, that crappy device doesnt have a single feature that I would want, in fact I’m getting sick of so much APPLE garbage on the WEB, I unsubcribed to lot’s of blogs because they started to talk like APPLE invented something new and now they write 99% about APPLE products, wowww a device without hardware keyboard
,
APPLE has nice devices but the iPhone isn’t one of them, I prefer my M700.
I wouldn’t say I would refuse though I might take it and sell it on eBay to get myself the V900 or the M810. What I do like about the iPhone is their web browser capability and the fact that many sites are supporting it. Until we can get such a browser and support, I would have to give it to the iPhone. By support, I mean like look at facebook.com which created a special portal for iPhone users and the Google application where all the Google offerings could be easily accessed.
I do agree that there is too much hype about the iPhone and people are just pushing it because it’s from Apple. Makes me wonder if Apple fans are becoming like what Microsoft fans were in the old days with Apple becoming more and more like Microsoft.
Tariq Google has good support for mobile devices, not just for iPhoney
Well not really in my opinion. For one, Windows Mobile does not have the Google Suite which iPhone has. On top of that, Google Maps does not allow us to cache the map tiles onto storage card. However, the recent fix on IMAP Google for Windows Mobile is comforting and hopefully they will start to implement other fixes in their other mobile products as well.
I won’t refuse anything. As much as I don’t like how much Apple tends to hype, okay, aggressively market their products, I do think they have done something to make everyone notice.
I wouldn’t refuse the iPhone or any other brand smartphone or cell phone because everything has its own unique features and advantages. To stay narrowly focused on one thing is a bad thing.
It’s too bad that there isn’t any vendors in Canada that sells Eten products. This looks very nice.
Back to my previous comment about iPhone, regardless of your feelings about the iPhone and/or Apple, you have to thank them for being there. Without the iPhone being out there, people like Boingo wouldn’t have dropped their Wi-Fi rates and Starbucks wouldn’t be giving 2 hrs free Wi-Fi as well as all the cheaper data rates that carriers are now offering. So, in my view, keep it coming!
I agree with you on that. It’s thanks to Apple and the iPhone that the Windows Mobile industry got a wake up call and look at the improvements that we now have. I doubt that we would get such great applications if not for the iPhone.
The only bad thing about keyboards is that they make the device heavier and bulkier
In my case when I go to the gym (I use MySportTraining so yes, I need the phone in the gym) when I used Toshiba Portege G900, it was too bulky. That is why I like Glofiish X500+, Glofiish X800, and now iMate Ultimate 6150, and of course, the iPhone is great too.
One good thing about the keyboard is that it leaves more space on the screen, so for long notes it is good. But again, in my opinion with Touch Pal professional, it’s good enough
the iPhone offers a light device
lots of GB incorporated
YouTube service
a large, nice screen, with a descent resolution 320×480
It’s not 640×480, but it’s good enough
and the multi touch Safari browser which is awesome, yes it needs an upgrade to be as good as Netfront or Opera (ajax support), but multitouch and the way they change tabs is second to none
iPhone is plain cool
But I prefer Windows, with SPB Diary, SPB Mobile Shell, SPB Phone Suite, Touch Pal, Fun Contacts…. pretty much you can get an awesome device
And you can install everything
MySport Training for the gym
SPB Finance for recording every transaction you do with the credit card
Netfront for browsing
FlexMail for email…
it’s awesome
My main dislike about the iPhone is the virtual keyboard/pad. I’ve used virtual keyboards before and I’m always afraid that I press too hard when pressing on the screen, forgetting that it’s not an actual button. I’ve actually stopped myself a few times when entering and having to correct the entries. Think digitizer and having to replace it. Argh. Also, it makes the screen so much dirtier and I hate that. I’m always checking out my screen and cleaning it, or more specifically the screen protector once in a while if I see a finger print on it. Yeah, I’m picky that way.
Having a physical keyboard, for me, is essential as it separates the screen from the input. I am surprised that with so many manufacturers that come up with slider keyboards that they keep making the keys so uncomfortable to type on and they aren’t in the same layout with regards to position and spacing of the keys. It seems that they consider that we have robotic fingers or something. I think a TyTN II aka Tilt would be very close to a design that I don’t mind but of course, the keys must be redone to make it closer to what’s on the real computer keyboard. The more I think about it, a smartphone (non-touchscreen) isn’t that bad as I don’t really need to tap or use the screen for input as much as I’d expect.
But as I’ve said, I wouldn’t dump or refuse it if given the opportunity.
I know exactly what you mean. I too am always wiping the screen of my X500 due to smudges and such. I really wished that Eten comes up with a keyboard that’s similar on the blackberry/treo. The reason is because I don’t like the screen to keep on rotating from potrait to landscape every time I slide the keyboard in and out.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/13/palm-ranks-last-in-satisfaction-survey-no-one-surprised/
iPhone satisfaction survey, 72% users satisfied
Eten satisfaction percentage? I guess it will be 25%-%35