Comments on: A Review and Comparison of the Sidekick versus the Treo v. the Cingular 8125 http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/the-sidekick-versus-the-treo-v-the-cingular-8125 Internet Safety, Windows Updates, Internet News, and More Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:27:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Eli http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/the-sidekick-versus-the-treo-v-the-cingular-8125#comment-17611 Eli Thu, 16 Nov 2006 17:47:22 +0000 http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/?p=1442#comment-17611 I've had a T-Mobile MDA since March, and have figured out a few work-arounds for the issues you've encountered. First of all, the AIM client that comes installed on these things is completely worthless...each incoming or outgoing message is actually treated as an SMS, so unless you have unlimited SMS on your account (I don't), I highly recommend a program called Agile Messenger. It's basically Trillian for Windows Mobile, and allows me to be logged in simultaneously to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk and XMPP. Best of all, it's FREE, and while it does have a couple of bugs, it's an outstanding program overall. For e-mail, my employer requires that we use Good Mail, and it's an improvement over the factory setup on the MDA/8125. First of all, there's no delay between a message arriving at the Exchange server and on my phone. It's instantaneous, and does not require any sort of Send/Receive activity in order to check for new messages. The current version of Good does not allow me to send attachments with outgoing mail (BIG negative), but they claim that functionality will be included in the next version. Contact management is also integrated very well with the Windows interface. Good also allows you to set the "yt" or "ECR" shortcuts you mention in the article. It comes pre-populated with a long list of text shortcuts that have come in very handy. Good Mail also seems to cut down on battery drain, but I charge the phone every night and haven't had any real battery issues unless I forget to charge. I’ve had a T-Mobile MDA since March, and have figured out a few work-arounds for the issues you’ve encountered. First of all, the AIM client that comes installed on these things is completely worthless…each incoming or outgoing message is actually treated as an SMS, so unless you have unlimited SMS on your account (I don’t), I highly recommend a program called Agile Messenger. It’s basically Trillian for Windows Mobile, and allows me to be logged in simultaneously to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk and XMPP. Best of all, it’s FREE, and while it does have a couple of bugs, it’s an outstanding program overall.

For e-mail, my employer requires that we use Good Mail, and it’s an improvement over the factory setup on the MDA/8125. First of all, there’s no delay between a message arriving at the Exchange server and on my phone. It’s instantaneous, and does not require any sort of Send/Receive activity in order to check for new messages. The current version of Good does not allow me to send attachments with outgoing mail (BIG negative), but they claim that functionality will be included in the next version. Contact management is also integrated very well with the Windows interface. Good also allows you to set the “yt” or “ECR” shortcuts you mention in the article. It comes pre-populated with a long list of text shortcuts that have come in very handy. Good Mail also seems to cut down on battery drain, but I charge the phone every night and haven’t had any real battery issues unless I forget to charge.

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