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[Don_Andres]

I just came across this Smartphone (click on Mio 8380):

http://65.115.69.88/mio/


They don't sell it in the US but you can get those on eBay. I will try to get one and post my experiences with it. It is a 'true' tri-band, meaning 900/1800/1900 bands are supported (obviously the folks at AT&T haven't messed with it yet . . . . :wink: ). It also comes with an integrated camera, which isn't important to me but may be nice to have.

I'll probably sell my MPx200 if this thing works as advertized.

[greengoblin]

Just be careful you are getting exactly what you want. You might find this interesting:

http://smartphone.modaco.com/viewtopic.php?t=87485

Apparently this phone is HUGE. In addition, the Pocket TV team has had some problems getting their software to run on the Mio 8380. Just a little heads up.

[Don_Andres]

Thanx, I will find out on Monday and will post my experiences.

[greengoblin]

I just got an SPV off EBay. Excellent little device. Tried the MPX200, but AT&T sucks. And, although it may be blasphemy to mention it on this site, the radio is better and so is T-Mobiles coverage.

Mio = 51.5 mm x 29.6 mm x 97 mm
Mpx200 = 48 x 27 x 89
(W x D x L)

Thanx, I will find out on Monday and will post my experiences.

I received the Mio 8380 and had the chance to play with it for a few days now. I compared it to my MPx200. This is not the most detailed or technical review, just giving you my impressions:

Hardware:
- pretty solid looking device, clam shell design doesn't quite have the solid feeling to it that my MPx200 has.

- looks: IMHO it looks ok but not as good as the MPx200 (, which is hard to beat in that category IMHO). The Mio 8380 looks pretty much like any other Taiwanese clam-shell phone. I like nice looking gadgets but a pretty design is not the most important feature I'm after. On the positive side - I don't find myself removing fingerprints from this phone all the time like I do with my MPx200 . . . ;-)

- Nice: the phone comes with a second battery! Battery life appears comparable to the MPx200, may be a tad better. Hard to say because usage varies so a fair comparison is difficult to do. Worked fine for me - YMMV.

- The Mio 8380 came with a (p)leather pouch with belt clip.

- Nice but not important (to me): built-in camera takes pictures and records video clips. Picture quality is not great but definitely usable for clips and snapshots if you don't have a real camera on you - what more can you expect from a device this size?

- Speaking of size - the phone is larger than the MPx200: about 3/8" longer (not including antenna), about 3/16" or so wider and may be 1/16" thicker. It's still acceptable to me but I'd rather not have a built-in camera in return for a smaller size.

- GREAT: reception is awesome! Not a single dropped call up to now, even in areas that have proven to be problematic. This makes the phone a lot more usable than the MPx200.

- nice detail: the backlit keypad is brighter than the MPx200 keypad, which makes it a little easier to use at night. The screen appears to be a little brighter too. Not neccessaryIMO so this could be tweaked to extend battery life. Picture is crisp and clear, very much like the MPx200.

- voice quality is excellent both ways

- the mp3/wma player has a little more bass than the MPx200. The included stereo hands-free device is on par with MPx200 standards: lousy!

- the built-in speaker is as good as in the MPx200

-Bad: after being used to the standard USB cable connection of the MPx200 I find it hard to accept the proprietary plug of the Mio 8380.

-Really bad: the phone doesn't get charged while hooked up to a pc via the USB cable. I found out because it died on my while synchronizing.

- Good for international travellers: the power supply works with 110-240V and comes with 2 neat plug-ins to be used in the US and Europe.

- Docking cradle is included.

Software:
- pretty much everything you know from the MPx200 is included plus: image viewer, video viewer, camera (photo and video), JBrowser (separate from IE), JMMS.

- I haven't tested JBrowser, JMMS so I can't comment on these.

- The included software worked jsut fine with no problems except for a really bad bug: MSN Messenger does not work. I spent hours trying to make it work but didn't succeed. This appears to be a problem that can only be fixed with a new software release by Mitac. I've heard about an upcoming ROM upgrade that should address this issue but I'm still waiting for confirmation by Mitac's support.

- The phone comes with the generic SmartPhone 2002 software so it's not locked to a specific wireless provider. All SIM cards tested (international and US national) worked flawlessly.

- MITAC offers unlocking software on their website so you install additional software on the phone as needed. Haven't tested it though.


Conclusion:
This is a good phone with a great feature set (except for the annoying Messenger bug). Hardware design/looks and quality are good. I will sell it though because I'm getting an XDA II. If you're interested please PM me. Thanx,

Don Andres