Hitachi P300....what's the word?

For setting up the email, I'm not familiar with MSN-hotmail. If it is web-based email, you will have to access it through the web, not through the phone. Yahoo email is web-based only, for example. I tried to POP my yahoo account, and got a nasty-gram from Yahoo telling me that if I wanted POP service I needed to sign up for premium email service.

Assuming that your email account is POP based, you need to know two email address, the address for downloading your mail (POP), and the address for sending mail (SMTP). They could be the same, such as mail.alltel.net, which serves mail in both directions, or they could look like pop.alltel.net and smtp.alltel.net. Different providers do it differently. Furthermore, some SMTP servers will not accept mail from you unless you have an authorized (i.e. direct) connection (to make it more difficult to send spam). If MSN is like that, you won't be able to send outgoing mail through MSN, but instead will have to send it out through sprintpcs, which is no big deal.

Before trying to set up your phone, you should look at the setup for Outlook or Eudora, or whatever program you are using on your computer to access this account now.

Going through the settings:
1. Name - can be whatever. I think this just displays on your phone
2. POP3
a. Server Address - something like pop.msn.com
b. Port # - leave at 110
c. Account - your email account name. If your account is joeblow@msn.com, there are several possibilities. First, it could be "joeblow". Second it could be the full email address. Less likely, it could be something like "#joeblow". Use whatever you are using on your computer. For Sprintpcs, I think it will accept either the username, or the full email address.
d. Password - hopefully you know this. For sprintpcs.com, you will have to go to the website and set up a new password that you know before you can enter it here.
e. APOP Auth - I left this alone. Default is off.
f. Size limit - AHA! I missed this. No wonder I couldn't download email over 10kb - thats what this is set for. If I set it bigger, I can email bigger files to myself!
g. Mail Copy - This controls whether you delete the email off the server. If this is the only way you access this account, set it "off" so it doesn't leave a copy on the server. If your primary access method is with your computer, set it "on" so that you will get a copy on your computer, and the copy you download to your phone will just be a sneak peak.
h. Timeout - 60 seconds should be plenty.
3. SMTP - these are almost the same as the above, but this time you use the addresses for sending mail. Even when accessing MSN, you may need to send mail out via sprintpcs.com
b. Port # - should be 25 for SMTP
c. SMTP Auth - On
f. email address - this should be the full email address. I'm not sure what happens if you fudge something else in here
4. Reply to - this is the "reply to address" where recipients will reply. Thus, even if you send the mail out through sprintpcs, you can cause the replies to come back to MSN.
5. Sender Name - This will show up on email as the sender
6. Signature - will get added to the end of every message.
7. Quote message - if you want each email to quote the full message by the sender, turn this on.

I hope this helps.

Carl

 

More on the RF. The other day when I drove out into the country, I drove 5 miles further than with my old phone before dropping a call. I was out in that area again today, and decied to see how far I could go and still get a call. I drove an addtional 12 miles away from the service area, and was still able to get calls and browse the web, though there were intermittant drop-out locations along the way. In the end, I stopped the car and read a news article while I was 5 miles south of Firth, Nebraska, not far from Adams. I think that is about 20 miles from the nearest tower.

Carl

 

I took another drive into the country, and this time took both the 5300 and the P300. In general the 5300 would drop service, and then seconds later the P300 would drop, so the phones are very close. One interesting thing was that the P300 would show 0-1 bar, while the 5300 would bounce between 1 and 3, or even 4 bars. This just goes to show that you can't use the bars to compare RF strength. If you can talk, and browse, you have a good enough signal, and if you can't, you don't. If Sanyo wants to call that same signal 3 bars while Hitachi calls the same signal 1 bar, so be it. In real life, if the Sanyo got down below 2 bars it wasn't far from losing service, while 1 bar on the Hitachi was a good signal.

If you ignore the bars and go based solely on service and ability to use the phone, they were pretty close, with the Hitachi perhaps a hair better. Of course the 5300 is multi-band, so it can roam, while the Hitachi is just single band.

Carl

 

Carl--

Thanks for the testing you've done. I have a P300 and don't have the pleasure of trying out the 5300. I've gotta say that it's a great phone. There are a few things that I don't like about the phone: (1) secret mode contacts don't ring or identify correctly when they call; (2) there isn't a way to set a "default" menu; (3) the backlight stays on when the phone is charging; (4) the phone doesn't come with a desktop charger; (5) you can't define a right shortcut for the standby screen; (6) you can't customize the order of the MAIN menu; (7)... these are all MINOR! great phone!!!

btw, i found that an easier way to get the speaker phone on without scrolling through menus is:

when call is active,
push any NUMBER,
push left softkey.

that's quick and easy!

looking forward to one last vision phone... i already have 2 a500's and the p300... i have a shared vision plan, and need ONE MORE phone... i wish that new SANYO shown at the CES last year "7200" would be out... if not, i guess 5300 it is...

again, thanks .

 

If you have an a500, you could try a test similar to my tests with the 5300. Given the reports of weak reception with the a500, my guess is that the P300 would beat it handily.

The one consistant problem people seem to have with this phone is setting up the email. Sprint really needs to tell people when they activate that they have to go to the website and set up an email password. If they did this, most people would have no trouble at all.

As for your list of complaints,

1. I haven't tried secret contacts, but if they are really secret, I wouldn't think that they should identify themselves when they call because that would give the caller away. I would think that a secret contact would be only for outgoing calls.
2. The menus seem ok to me, but I wish the main menu had numbered shortcuts. I do know you can also navigate them with the joystick and a picture menu, but I haven't messed with that.
3. I agree - why is the light on when charging?
4. I don't think any of the new phones come with desktop chargers. The strategy these days is to sell the phones cheaply, and try to make big profit on the accessories. On my old Neopoint, it came with a desktop charger, but also with a cable and software to synch to a computer.
5. The right shortcut is "find a name", which is the thing I use most, so I wouldn't change it, but I agree that you probably should be able to.
6. See number 2

My complaints about the phone?
1. I want more than one email address per contact
2. When someone calls me and I want to save the number, I'd like to be able to add it to an existing entry.
3. When searching the contact list, I want a T9-like search technique, not just "enter the first character, then scroll down"
4. I'd like the ability to synch PIM data with my computer using email - why should I need a cable unless I want to use the phone as a modem?

Like you, these complaints are minor. Furthermore, I'm sure any of the other phones out handle these things any better. I think that hardly anyone is buying this phone, which is a shame because it really is a great phone.

Carl

 

Carl --

I'm debating between the P300 and the 5300 myself. Do you plan to keep both phones or are you planning on returning the 5300? Of key importance to me is the size and weight of a phone -- is either the P300 or the 5300 much bigger/heavier than the other one? (obviously the P300 is somewhat larger -- just trying to gauge how much)

Also, I read another comment about the 5300 regarding the camera lens getting scratched. How much of an issue is that likely to be in your opinion? Is the lens placed in such a way where it would get scratched easily?

Thanks.

--kurt

 

have no plans to return either phone. I bought the 5300 for my wife, and she loves it. Now she can take pictures of the kids and send them to me any time she feels like it. The P300 is for me, and I am quite satisfied with it. It does everything I expected, and does them well. At some point I'll move on up to a fully "Smartphone", but I'll wait for things to clear up a bit. There will be a lot of new Smartphones a year from now, including Palm, Symbian, WinCE, and Microsoft Smartphone 2002 models.

As for a size comparison, interestingly both the P300 and the 5300 are exactly the same size, 7.7 cubic inches. This compares to 9.0 cubic inches for the Sanyo 4900, 6.8 cubic inches for the LG 5350, and 5.5 cubic inches for the A500. The P300 is longer than the flip phones, but it's pretty thin, so the overall volume is comparable.

As far as weight, the P300 is tied with the A500 as the lightest vision phone, at 3.6 oz, while the LG 5350 is 3.9 oz, and the 5300 is 4.1 oz. The 4900 is not only the biggest it's the heaviest, at 4.6 oz.

And as for the possibility of scratching the lens on the 5300, yes, I have concerns about that. If they come up with a case that provides some protection, I'll probably buy one immediately.

Carl

 

I tried the P300. It wasn't really all that. Hitachi is a new vendor for Sprint. This phone is more for an avid Data user than voice. The battery is not one that lasts a long time. It is a lithium ion battery that doesn't hold up well. I also noticed there were a couple of error messages that occurred while on that Vision Side. We also had problems with setting up the email. The screen was not as bright as the others that I have had.

 

I noticed that the screen wasn't bright too, but it's because of the default factory settings...

Just set the light sensor on the backlight to off and battery saver under the backlight to off.

Error messages must have been on download? Sometimes, the download size doesn't match the actual size of the download. That causes problems...

Other than that, great phone.

 

Hi Malcolm. I would agree in part with your post. I would agree that avid data users (like myself) will be particularly attracted to this phone, and will find it much more satisfactory than most of the other vision phones, what with the onboard email client, the extensive data in the phone book, the to-do list, the notepad, the scratchpad, and the scheduler. Many data users (and emailers) are willing to accept a larger phone, in which case the Treo is still more capable. For me the P300 is enough, and I like the smaller size. I am even confident enough in it's ability to handle email that I subscribed the phone to a low-volume Yahoo group (1-3 emails a day), and I intend to use the phone to answer emails on a more timely basis, instead of waiting until the end of the day as I do now. If you regularly send out similar messages, this phone will work really well since you can program your standard replies into the memorized text strings and/or smilely slots, and then just drop them into posts with a few keystrokes.

Beyond the data handling capability, I find this to be an excellent, albeit single band, phone for regular phone purposes. The only specific complaint you had was the battery life, and while it is far short of the 4900, especially the 4900 with the extended battery, I have found that it does deliver the talk time it promises. I used 231 minutes one day before draining the battery, and a 3.5 hour rating would translate into 210 minutes, so it did perform to specification. Would I mind a 5 hour battery? Not at all, since I occasionally use the phone a ton when travelling, but how many of the vision phones other than the 4900 are capable of 3.5 hours of talk time? I have never tested the standby time, and it really doesn't matter to me since it would never happen to me, but the rating is a very reasonable 10 days. Anyway, here are some ratings for current Vision phones for talk time:
Sanyo 4900 - 4.5 hours
Hitachi P300 - 3.5 hours
LG 5350 - 3.0 hours
Sanyo 5150 - 3.0 hours
Toshiba 2032 - 3.0 hours
Samsung N400 - 2.9 hours
Sanyo 5300 - 2.7 hours
Samsung A500 - 2.5 hours
Sanyo 6400 - 2.5 hours
Treo - 2.5 hours


What you did not comment on was other aspects of the phone. Did you have any reception issues? Based on my experiences, you shouldn't. Did you try the speaker phone? That also works very well, from my experience. How about downloaded ringers and screensavers? Again, my experience is that while the screen is poor by comparison to the a500 or the 5300, it is adequate, especially if I avoid looking at my wife's 5300. LOL Also, I find that the sound is excellent - for a phone.

As for the difficulty setting up the email, this is unfortunately a common occurance, because the Sprint activation experts have not been trained properly to deal with on-board email clients. Before you can connect to Sprint, you must go to the sprint website and establish an email password, which is a third password. It can be the same as or Vision password, but doesn't need to be. Even if you plan on using the phone to POP your own email server, you will probably have to use the Sprintpcs server for SMTP, so you will have to establish this password. After setting up the password on the website, you will then have to put your password into the phone by changing the settings to always ask for password, then to never ask for password. One other setting you'll probably also want to change it to change the maximum attachment size from 10kb to 100kb. That way you can easily email applications, ringers, and pictures to the phone, and don't need to use a tool like t1mmy or ihateclaire unless you want to.

As for other errors on the Vision side, I'm assumming you're talking about such things as timeout errors or failure to connect errors. I do get those, from time to time, but I actually get more of them on the 5300. I think this is a Sprint issue, not a P300 or 5300 issue.

Before giving up on the phone, I'd recommend using it for a few days. My experience is that the more I use it, the more I conclude that aside from the data features, it is a very good phone, and that the data features are quite functional.

Carl

 

I thought that the phone was very nice and sleek. I did not like how you had to go through the menu to get to the Speaker Phone. The quality was indeed great for a speaker phone. I am very familiar with how to operate this particular phone but I also prefer to have a phone that is easier to use. My most favorite of phones have been sanyo models. I do like your insight and my fiance` also has the the 5300. I get jealous from time to time but when I look at the big picture. I use about 3000 - 5000 voice minutes a month. I usually use DSL/Or Cable modems for the internet. I am more a VOICE user than Data. I do like to hear feedback on all phones. I am a former Business Sales Employee for Sprint so if you have any questions let me know.

 

wirelesstoday2--

a faster way to get to the speaker phone is by:

- place call(s)
- push number, pound, or star on keypad
- push left softkey

that's it.

 

Thanks

 

As for the speakerphone tip, I agree, thanks. I did that once by mistake, and I never could figure out how to do it again.

3-5000 minutes a month? That would definitely eat batteries. I note your main phone is a 5150. Will the extended battery get you to the 5 hour range? As for the P300, I don't expect an extended battery pack, but I might be interested if one becomes available. I do have a car charger, so I can boost the battery on extra-heavy days. By the way, perhaps the reason your P300 ate the battery faster than expected was that you were trying out the Vision features and PIM in addition to using it for a lot of data calls. Those activities keep the backlight on, which really eats the battery. On the day I used 231 minutes I did only minimal email/web/PIM work, so I used the battery primarily on voice calls.

I do have one question regarding the phone. I sent a picture to my phone from my wife's 5300 and assigned it to a caller id. The person in the picture requested a copy, so I tried to attach it to an email to him, but the phone said "can not attach". I tried some ringers and found that once a ringer has been assigned to anything, you can no longer email it, but if it has never been assigned, it is no problem to email it out. Pictures may work the same way. Does anyone know any way around this? I tried un-assigning it, but that didn't help. I also re-downloaded it, but it still wouldn't attach.

Regarding one other complaint on the phone, I haven't been able to find any way to turn off the backlighting when charging, nor to illuminate the keyboard while charging. Since the charger is by my bed, I have to cover the phone at night, and with no keyboard illumination while charging, if I want to place a call in the dark, I have to remove the cord first. Does anyone have a better solution? These are minor complaints, though.

Carl

 

Hello--

I just purchased a Jabra FreeSpeak for use with my Hitachi P300. I just wanted to let all of you know that the Hitachi P300 does NOT support the following answer/end emulation functions that are hidden in the Jabra FreeSpeak. (More information regarding the hidden functions is here: http://www.jabra.com/fscs/NBFreeSpeak_EnhancedFeatures.html)

When pushing the "phone" button (when there is an incoming call), the phone will answer incoming calls.

When pushing the "phone" button when the phone is in standby mode, the phone will NOT ask if you want to redial the previous number NOR put the phone in voice dial mode.

When pushing the "phone" button when you are on a call, the phone will NOT end the call.

In summary, the Jabra FreeSpeak's hidden answer/end emulation features that work with the Hitachi P300 is ONLY answering incoming calls.

Here's to a future Bluetooth-capable SPCS phone made by Hitachi or Sanyo (or another manufacturer that can make phones with "very good" RF performance).

 

ScandaLEX--

I've read the FCC manual that is linked on PhoneScoop, but the Headset Mode is an Auto Answer mode that automatically answers a call after a set duration of time.

The Jabra FreeSpeak is able to emulate the functions of a push to talk button that is found on a headset; however, with my "informal" tests, the Hitachi P300 was unable to support these functions.

 

on sanyos that feature is called the headset turb button option ON/OFF

 

Another nicely implemented feature on the P300 is 4 or 5 digit dialing. Enter the last 4 digits of a number and hit talk. If only one number fits, it gets dialed, otherwise you get offered a menu of numbers to choose from.

Carl

 

It didn't seem to work on my 5300, but someone explained how you do it. If you just enter the 4 digits and hitting "talk" like the P30, the 5300 just dials the 4 digit number. Instead, on the 5300, you enter the four digits and hit "ok" which brings up the abbreviated dialing menu, and then hit "ok" again to dial. I like the Hitachi implementation better as it's more intuitive.

Carl