Recommend a Cell Phone for .Net Development

[RobDude]

It's time for me to upgrade my cell phone; and I'd like to be able to write .Net applications and run them on my phone.

The biggest thing I want to play with is the GPS functionality; so that is a must - but I'd really like to be able to control as much of the phone as possible. Like being able to intercept real events (like an incoming call) and flagging them as handled to prevent the phone from ringing if it is from a particular caller, or if the GPS device says my location is in a particular region.

So yeah, the more things I can do through code, the happier I'd be. I don't plan to deploy any of these things; just little toy apps for own personal use.

Could anyone recommend some options to me?

[Shaggy Hiker]

I am under the (possibly mistaken) impression that the list of phones you can use is dependent on the provider, at least in the US.

[petevick]

Hi.
I have an O2 Stellar in the UK - in the US the AT&T Tilt, and in reality the HTC Kaiser.

Great phone, built-in GPS, keyboard, lots of memory

Pete

[CodedFire]

Palm Treo 750v is a fantastic piece of kit.

[Lord Orwell]

get a phone with windows ce in it.

[CodedFire]

Is CE not different to WM I thought they where built on a different kernel. I haven't actually came across a CE device in a long time, ive seen a few inbedded systems alright. I still think palm is a winner all round there button layouts are always so intuitive. Having said that ive just bought a htc advantage x7501. You couldnt really use it as a phone though unless you want to use a bluetooh headset all the time, great for data usage though!

[Lord Orwell]

i actually prefer palm but if you're a windows programmer it's easier to transition to programming in ce.

[CodedFire]

Im not talking Palm OS now, im talking windows mobile on palms. I realy dont like palm OS, i think its looks tacky!

[FourBlades]

"Is CE not different to WM I thought they where built on a different kernel."

WM runs on top of CE.
CE is a subset of Windows. WM makes the CE subset available to .NET.
So, when you are programming to WM, .NET is accessing the CE elements on the device.

[FourBlades]

"I haven't actually came across a CE device in a long time"

Actually, you have as explained in my post above.
They are virtually all CE devices accessible via WM.
I'm not sure but I think Palm is a specialized "OS" that also runs on top of CE. Which makes Palm equivalent (in how it works) to WM.

So, as you can see almost everything is CE (if it's mobile).
However, as you know some of the smaller devices are now available in Windows; I'm looking for something Windows based right now myself -- something like Axim sized or as large as 5x8.

[Lord Orwell]

palm is not an os that runs on top of CE. It predates CE as a matter of fact by a few years. It is the OS that comes on Palm devices.
www.palm.com lists the differences.

I was not aware they sold out and started installing windows mobile on their devices, but as stated earlier Windows Mobile is a Version of Windows CE. It's specifically modified to look better on cell phone screens and for ease of use with a keypad. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE)

[CodedFire]

Wow i didn't know that. I thought CE was completely different. Go figure. Yeah palm have about 6 devices with WM on them now. I used the 750v for about eight months. Fantastic piece of kit. I'm waiting for my HTC advantage to come in the post, looks like a great machine.

To the OP, i really would recommend a 750v for a WM device. Its 10 out of 10 all the way. But if you want a big screen go with an advantage. It has a bigger screen than an AXIM and also has a sim card slot with a HSDPA receiver inbuilt. Pity dell never but a radio in the AXIM