Yes, yes, yes...

I have said it not once, not twice, but a lot of times that it will be a long time again before I can own a Pocket PC Phone edition. After having a bad experience with the XDAII when it was lent to me last year, I stuck to my belief of having a 2-piece device rather than using a convergence phone.

And then a couple of months ago, I was lent a HP iPAQ 6500 Mobile Messenger by Carlo Ma. Guerrero, president of our group Pinoy Windows Mobile and Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional). Though I only used it for 2 days, it changed my perception of using a Pocket PC phone. It wasn't really that buggy after all, compared to the XDAII where I encountered a hard reset every day of using it.

The other night, Howard, a fellow officer of Pinoy Windows Mobile offered me either his iPAQ 6500 or XDAIIi. I was caught in a dilemna. These are Pocket PC Phone editions and I would rather get a HP iPAQ 4700 if I'm going to buy a device along that price range. But I need to give myself a chance to use a PDA Phone, expand my horizons as Howard used to tell me before.

For almost 24 hours, I've been trying to get opinions on which one to pick. Here are the pros and cons of each.

HP iPAQ 6500
Pros:
1. Size factor
2. Built-in Thumboard
3. Built-in GPS
4. Free Sceptec WiFi card
5. Built-in 1.3 Megapixel camera with light
6. It's made by HP!

Cons:
1. Low RAM
2. Slow processor
3. GPS Software buggy
4. Doesn't have built-in WiFi
5. 240x240 screen size


XDAIIi
Pros:
1. 520 MHz Intel Processor
2. 1.3 Megapixel Camera
3. Built-in WiFi
4. Huge RAM and ROM
5. Huge Storage Folder

Cons:
1. No Thumboard
2. Afraid of its bugginess (phobia from XDA2 experience)

A part of me wants the HP iPAQ 6500 because of the great service HP is giving to its customers. Knowing that O2's service center (Brightpoint) sucks, the features of the IIi have a lot of benefits for me compared to the 6500's. Sure I want a GPS, but I haven't been travelling lately so I don't need it for the meantime. Also, I'm sick and tired of bringing along a WiFi card no matter how small it is.

I ended up getting the XDA IIi.

So here I am, feeling like a newbie again on the Pocket PC World. Let's see if convergence will work for me.

And so far, I've been getting a lot of attention in our workplace of owning a very expensive device!