Any tips?
Thanks,
john
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, PalmOS, Sprint, SprintPCS
I ended up going with eBay, choosing the most reputable vendor I could
by various means and paying immediately. Tragically this meant I had to
get another (bleepin) PayPal account. The phone cost about $160 or so.
We'll see how the phone activation goes, since Sprint, of course,
despises the idea of buying a phone via eBay rather than paying them.
I'll report here on how Sprint respondes.
Cheers!
>I'd like to buy a Samsung SPH i500. Sprint no longer cells this phone.
>Is there a reputable source for this phone?
Not sure how reputable they are these days but I recall seeing some at
Tiger Direct when I was looking about a month ago. There were a couple
places that had them refurbished.
Anyway, I don't think eBay is your only choice.
Good luck.
--kyler
> I have boughten phones on ebay and had no problem when activating them
>on Sprint PCS.
I searched froogle and found mine, a 'refurbished' unit, for $150. It
didn't look like it had ever been used; probably was returned by somebody
who couldn't figure it out.
Not accurate. The Blazer browser ran through a proxy operated by Palm
(actually PalmOne, I think). Not Sprint. Palm provided an alternative
browser, nWeb from Innova, for free for a short time. That ended Oct
31st. And, that browser would *not* be part of the OS as Blazer was,
meaning it used up the precious storage space available on the phone.
So Blazer doesn't work anymore. I don't think there's any way to change
that. And nWeb isn't free anymore. But it wasn't Sprint's doing. Not
this time.
--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
A thing moderately good
is not so good as it ought to be.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue,
but moderation in principle is always a vice.
+Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792+
Unfortunately the (refurbished) phone is defective (bad digitizer lower
left side) and the vendor sent the wrong CD in the package. (KM
electronics - http://stores.channeladvisor.com/km-electronics).
So I'm pretty annoyed! Guess I lost this gamble. Now I see how well KM
Electronics works when something goes (very) wrong.
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, PalmOS, KMElectronics, defective, bad
"John Faughnan" <jfau...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1132787050.0...@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
"Scooterflex" <scooter...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:acd21$43852bab$185a1e7a$20...@news.flashnewsgroups.com...
I thought I was really out of luck, since when I (somewhat
delinquently) checked the terms of service of KM electronics I got the
distinct impression it wasn't worth dealing with them about this. I
took note of KM electronic's statement that "if you give me a bad
rating in eBay there will be no further support" -- an interesting
strategy. I gave 'em a bad rating.
Thinking about it more, I realized I could work around the 'dead zone'
by judicious use of the OK/cancel buttons and using the alternative
methods common in PalmOS (example: I can't add a shortcut number the
standard way, but there's an option menu item to do the same thing I
can get at. So with some playing I think I can make it work for my wife
for at least the next few months.
I won't do eBay and PayPal with a vendor again, but I might do it with
a trustworthy individual who's not a big eBay seller.
I really regret that Samsung killed the PalmOS i550 (Sprint cancelled
the contract I think). The i500 is very close to being a great phone;
with a few usability tweaks it would have been there. I will use mine
until it breaks -- or I transfer it to my wife.
john
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, PalmOS, KMElectronics, defective, bad,
Samsung SPH i500, PalmOS
<jfau...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:1132810592....@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I ride a motorcycle just about every day, and carry my Treo 650 just
fine. I have a pouch-style belt case that stays put just fine on my
belt, or in a pocket of my jacket. I don't notice it any more than my
Sanyo 8200 (which is a little bit thicker, albeit smaller in the other
two dimensions).
> and I like the flip
> design, something the Treo lacks.
While I too prefer flip phones, I am willing to forego it in the case of
my Treo. It just offers me so much more functionality. (Plus, I used to
carry an iPaq PPC *plus* my phone--though I began to carry the PPC
less-and-less.)
> When I'm riding in colder weather
> those bars phoe have a tendency of making calls on their own from my
> jacket pressing the buttons and since I always forget to lock the key
> pad the flip phones are the best for me.
This is not really an issue with the Treo 650 (Keyguard).
> I also like it because it's
> very small compared to my HUGE Tungsten C so the i500 allows me to
> leave my big Palm at home and still have access to my most used
> applications like Pocket Quicken and Auto Slate. Other than an SD
> slot and more memory I think it's the best phone I ever owned.
It is a nice phone, if you are willing accept those limitations. And if
SPCS allowed easy online phone swaps I might have one (for the times
when I want to carry a smaller phone, without losing at least my core
PIM apps).
But as time goes by I find I am doing more and more with my Treo; stuff
that is simply not possible with an i500: streaming Internet radio and
Shoutcast (in pretty darn good quality, at least at 56 Kbps), streaming
MobiTV (quality varies from acceptable to barely acceptable) and much
more.
There are also, according to an inside document released--and then
immediately pulled by an apparently disgruntled Palm investor--that
reports that the two next Treos will arrive this coming January. Verizon
is to get the 700w (Windows Mobile version, for which they have
exclusivity for the first six months) and Sprint the 700p (PalmOS).
Though I somehow doubt a January release (would have expected leaked
photos of working pre-production models by now), it seems for sure a new
Palm and WM Treo are on their way. Personally, I'm glad Verizon gets to
deal with the first WM version while Sprint gets PalmOS.
The PDF is down, but at this moment you can still find it via Google.
Search using "Palm_SAGIO_Research.pdf" and towards the bottom of the
page there should be a PDF link for "Palm Inc. October 2005." While the
link is down, "View as HTML" still works (for now!).
--
Mike
My first eBay phone from KM-Electronics had a bad digitizer. I gave up
on them and tried a smaller supplier. Guy's been responsive, but so far
he's sent 3 phones:
1. Phone #1 was locked and missing its IR port.
2. Phone #2 was missing its IR port.
3. Phone #3 looked great -- until I activated it and tested the sound.
It only works as a phone about 1/2 the time. Comes and goes.
All were defective, two obviously so. The guy may be responsive, but
he's not paying much attention to the phones. I'll see if he'll take
them all back and refund my money.
My gut sense is that somehow, but hook and by crook, Sprint and various
retailers have dumped an enormous number of broken phones into the eBay
marketplace. I'm running zero for four. Those are pretty darned awful
odds.
This experience has also given me some interesting insights into eBay
which I'll turn into a blog post sometime
(http://jfaughnan.blogspot.com/).
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, PalmOS, defective, bad, Samsung SPH i500,
PalmOS, eBay
"Tinman" <mly...@REMOVEMEcitlink.net> wrote in message
news:3v61u2F...@individual.net...