We've got a PPC-6700; what do you want to know?
By Peter Rojas 
posted November 10th 2005 5:20PM
posted November 10th 2005 5:20PM
In the fine tradition of our question and answer sessions for the HTC Universal and the Motorola ROKR E1, we figured we'd open the floor and ask y'all what you wanted to know about the PPC-6700 (aka the HTC Apache), Sprint's new EV-DO capable Pocket PC Phone with WiFi, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Post your questions in the comments below and we'll do our best to answer as many of them as we can by next week. If you can, please try to limit yourself to just a couple of questions, we want to try and respond to as many of these as possible.
Download it to your computer first for applications.
When the battery draws down too low, I have had the PPC-6700 reset the "backlight setting" on two different occasions to its lowest setting. The battery is too low to use with the battery. When I plug it into ac/dc power, then I can hardly see the screen. I have discovered that the backlight setting is set to its lowest setting. I figget around with it - trying to find enough contrast - to eventually get back to the backlight setting to reset it to a higher, visible level. Is this reset a PPC-6700 firmware problem, a MS Mobile 5.0 problem or something else?
I'm returning my 6700 and upgrading my treo 600 to a treo 650. Bottom line is that the 6700 tries to do everything and in doing so doesn't do anything well enough for me to want to keep it. You can't use the 6700 one-handed like the treo; the speaker phone's real bad; the 6700 looks embarassingly boxy; the recorder is silly; the 6700 is a quarter inch thicker than the treo, enough to make the 6700 too bulky for your shirt pocket; the "favorites" phone feature is far inferior to the treo; the manual is a bit short on detail; and after, using it for a week, I still haven't figured out how to use the power button to consistently light the 6700's screen or turn the 6700 on and off (here too the treo's design is far superior). I was tired of palm software after ten or so years of using it so I tried the 6700. Bad idea. I'll upgrade to the 650 until I can get the sprint microsoft treo. If you want good internet access, get a laptop. The treo is better designed, one-hand friendly, better looking, shirt-pocket-friendly, and simpler. It works because it doesn't try to give you the moon.
#101
PDA in your shirt pocket?
In response to Melanie's Post -
If there’s no EVDO it’ll just hop on the 1x network. In fact, when I got it Power Vison wasn’t available – it was explained to me that data is data is data – the phone will hop on the fastest available network. FYI for anyone in Phoenix, AZ, I’ve found EVDO coverage in almost every part of the metro area.
Question: Sprint customer support is telling me that the sprint power vision ultimate pack with sprint tv won't work yet here in Phx until WM 5.0 is updated with appropriate drivers. Does this sound right? Still can't get NBC, TLC, Fox etc on the ppc6700 here in Phx.
how does the ppc6700 work as a modem on my labtop and how wound i be able to download aim on to it
im try to use my phone as a modem and is not working is there any way you can assist me
How does the ppc 6700 compair to the Hw 6500--in terms of speed, and overall use anyone?--I know Hw 6500 is wm2003 2nd, and 6700 is wm5--is there a reson to?
I recently purchased the PPC 6700. I want to know how do we download ringtones on this device?
Can you run executables off of the mini SD? Or are you stuck with running whatever you can save on the device itself?
In response to 105 Tom,
You are correct the 6700 is incomatible with Sprint TV, Picture Mail, and Video Mail. There is almost no reason to get anything above the base Power Vision Access pack right now. I do not know that there will be any updates to fix this for sure, but I would be suprised if there is not. It seems that perhaps Sprint was just a little bit too eager to be the first with PocketPC 5.
hey can you run aim on the sprint PPC6700
i bought a ppc 6700 and need to add it to my wireless ap's mac address filter table. How do you find the ppc6700's wifi mac address?
Can the PPC 6700 be bought unlocked?
Does anyone know when it's coming to Verizon? I purchased the 6700 for one of my users in the office and I think it's great, especially the push email.
Had for 12 days been up been down about it, guess the ups are winning, but the MS5 is really the culprit behind limitations; music transfers only worked for me by drag drop contrary to manual-probably if you update your laptop/base system to MS media player 10 and actually connect to the internet it might work as manual says, phone access is power button then phone button then either use a stylus or try shrinking your fingers to use buttons/micro joy stick- speed dial access works if you remember all your speed dial contacts and their list#, one hand use with keypad slid open is not easy with mens LARGE hands, or even possible to touch screen, the contacts list is embedded a few screen taps in. for apps like the unavailable picture sending "picture text messaging" is still a confusing frustrating thing- how can you have a camera phone, text messaging, corporate email,Blu tooth, and not be able to send picture text????, backlight not good enough outside and only works when power button is depressed for about a second. The keyboard is a 2 hand deal I guess that's why it goes into landscape from the left side of phone no way was it designed for 1 hand if you can use it with 1 hand, then maybe you should consider repairing surface mount circuit boards. The EV-DO or 1x is way fast since I came from T-Mobile "Pocket PC" SX56 that they never really got to work then dropped for IPAQ then dropped now who knows what they will sucker sell. No push email without send/receive menu action on my behalf. the recorder and explorer buttons are easily pushed accidentaly just holding the phone and I have sometimes activated the camera from fear of dropping the phone, Now I wonder what can of worms I'll open getting what should have also been included; GPS. Bottom line is it's better than what I had in alot of ways, but I have still spent hours and hours learning it. I wonder if the Bluetooth and GPS antenna/receiver will work and actually have voice prompting... argh more dark dungeon days ahead.
Personally, I picked this (instead of Treo) because...
I ditched Palm os several years ago and don't want to go back. Mobile 5/PocketPC is a little klunkier, but integration with what I do on my PC is a lot smoother (Word, Excel, windows Media, files, music, etc.)
I really want maximum email capability - The "Crackberry" style Treo thumboard is just too small for me to use comfortably. The PPC 6700 screen, especially in landscape mode, really makes a big difference when reading/composing emails.
I plan to use either the wired headset (included) or soon add a bluetooth headset so the bulkier size is not a huge issue; I have learned to dial fairly easily and with a headset "one click" aswering is great. (when answering, one feels pressured to "pick up" quickly whereas when dialing out, one can take a few extra seconds to dial.)
Activesync is really cool. Just managing my phone list by using Outlook on my pc instead of proprietary "phone book" utility software and fumbling with USB cables is worth it alone.
Polled sync actually works fairly well. Although I am waiting for full "push" email (need to upgrade our backend Exchange servers), I don't do email every 2 minutes 24 x 7 so the current sync works fine. Again, it DOES sync tasks, contacts, and email - not just email (and doesn't need add-on software or monthly fees to do it.)
Because of my screen size/keyboard preferences, waiting for the Treo with PPC software would still be suboptimal.
I haven't tried using the phone as a modem for my laptop but will do so shortly. This feature is one I consider crucial - given that the data service is only $10 a month with Sprint and a dedicated PCMCIA EVDO card and service runs around $60/month for data only, using it as a modem only is enough to justify the phone (as long as actually getting the laptop online is smooth and easy and doesn't take a convoluted procedure each time to use.)
WiFi is a plus although I suspect I'll use the EVDO "data anywhere" mode much more frequently.
If I'm in a Starbucks for Wifi, I usually have my laptop anyway.
The real surprise "win" for me was being able to use www.orb.com to stream my own video/music library from my Windows MCE computer.
Watching not just anything I have already recorded but also LIVE TV on my phone while I am anywhere (and without any additional monthly fees to broadband TV service gluttons) is just awesome.
N.B. www.orb.com can work on a regular PC not just windows MCE. If you have a TV tuner card, you can do it all, or just stream your existing music and DVD's that have been ripped to the hard drive as VOB files.
The only other phone that seemed intriguing is the upcoming Moto Q but again the form factor is probably more 60% phone optimized / 40% computer whereas I prefer the PPC6700 which is 60% computer and 40% phone.
I have just purchased the 6700 through alltel and have a motorolla h500 bluetooth headset. I also downloaded the voice synch software which works good. only problem I have is that i cannot use the button on my headset to use the voice synch. i had to make a button on the phone the activation switch for the voice synch. is there anyway to make the button on the headset work as the activation switch for voice synch?
I just got a 6700 the other day. I've had a blackberry for a couple of years and I find it was a little more user-friendly, although not near as powerful as the Apache. One of the issues that is killing me is the inability to lock teh screen and buttons. Whenever I put it in the crappy holster that it comes with, I inadvertently hit a button for something. Sometimes it's the camera and I hear a picture click. Sometimes it's something completely benign, and sometimes I end up dialing somebody. There's got to be a fix. I've set the thing to lock after one minute of inactivity, but it doesn't work. I've searched the web adn found that 5.0 was supposed to have a device lock feature in Outlook Today, but it's not there. I've even seen that feature in a screen shot. Somebody's got to help me or Im going to throw it against a wall. A few of the guys in my office got them and they all complain of the same thing. Oh, by the way, it is a battery hog!!!! Thanks for the help.
I had the problem of buttons getting pressed for the first couple days until I realized that's what the power button is for.. It basically turns off windows but the phone is still on..
Hi, I got the PPC-6700 about a week ago and today I bought a 1GB mini sd memory card to put music on it but when I play the music it skips or stutters does anyone know what i'm doing wrong please help.
The specs. say this phone has built-in IE version 4.0. I tried this in a Sprint store and the browser worked, except that none of the graphics appeared. Is this because it is only V4.0? Could it be that I had a defective unit? Hs anyone seen this phone work where all of the graphics appeared from websites? Thanks.
How do you download ringtones from sites such as 3gforfree.com, to the PPC 6700.
Got the 6700 and here's a summary of what I like and dislike
PRO:
1) screen is excellent and bright; okay in sunlight
2) lots of features, particularly for business users. Lots of obsolete software IMHO, however.
3) can connect to WiFi, EVDO and bluetooth devices (yes, your wireless headsets will work)
4) easy, intuitive interface to navigate around. If you know your PC pretty well, setting up the 6700 is a breeze
5) mini-SD storage slot a plus
CONS
1) terrible battery life
2) battery needs to be removed from device to charge it in the cradle. Very inconvenient
3) keyboard slides out too easily but stays put pretty well once it's out.
4) shortcut buttons (launch IE, volume) on the left of the device are accidentally pressed when you lift the thing out of the cradle. Not a problem, just a nuisance because you'll have to close the accidentally launched application via the little "X" in the top right corner.
5) despite the decent screen size, viewing any non-optimized web pages is a task and not fun at all.
6) EVDO download speeds are usually around dial up speeds in Phoenix Metro area so yours might be too. Don't believe the hype about 2Mbps... or even 500k
7)6700 does not feel very sturdy. An accidental drop will surely mean the end of its life, at least for its screen
8) Phone dialing is ABYSMAL: dialing is software based so you'll have to use the tiny buttons on the screen. Man hands need not apply, you'll need the stylus for that. Needing two hands to dial a number these days is pretty bad
9) Audio is terrible: speakers are not loud at all, even listening to audiobooks pushes the speakers to clip and sound like crap. Very disappointing
10)syncronization software (by Microsoft) is too basic.
11) 6700 only syncs with MS Outlook. Thunderbird Mail,and other alternative mail client users are out of luck. Fortunately the 6700's software provides a full version of MS Outlook free of charge.
Furthermore: the device features the NEW Sprint logo.
Has a lot of features but its bulkiness, price and short battery life, as well as the extremely inconvenient phone dialing- and battery charging options should make you think twice before purchasing this one. If you have lots of money to putz around with, and want to be the kid on the block with the latest gadget, go ahead and buy the 6700. If you want the best bang for your buck...look elsewhere
Total rating: 6 out of 10
Graphics DO show up fine. There is an option to disable graphics in IE, it's probably checked and that's why you're not seeing anything.
You can simply change it to "display images" and you're set.
Q.1 when the keyboard is slided out , the display changes from horizontal to vertical , can u explain techically , the event that is raised on which the display changes
Q.2 if an application is made using .NET for sprint , then the display of this application will change on sliding the keyboard out ... wat wil be the changes
ps: please send in the reply as soon as possible
how do you add aol to the audiovox ppc 6700???