BeanJAM vs MotoBean

BeanJAM vs MotoBean
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My two WindowsMobile™ powered devices will go head to head right NOW!
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Been using my Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition (WMPPCPE) --aka BeanJAM for 7 months.
Been using my Windows Mobile Smartphone (WMSP) -- aka MotoBean for 1.5 Weeks.
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Thanks for joining us... Tonight's featured bout is between BeanJAM and MotoBean sponsored by Bny This bout is three rounds: Round 1: Communications and Connectivity, Round 2: PDA Functions and Syncing, Round 3: Camera, Expansion, and Others. Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages... LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE...!!!!
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Tale of the Tape
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BeanJAM
Hardware: i-mate JAM (aka HTC Magician, dopod 818, T-mobile Compact, Orange m500, O2 XDAIImini, Qtek s100)
Form Factor: PDA
Platform: Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC Phone Edition (wheew! a mouthful)
Dimensions:
Approx. 58 (W) x 108 (H) x 18.1 (T) mm Weight with battery: 150g
Processor:
Intel PXA 272 CPU
Clock speed: 416MHz
Communications:
Tri-band GSM/GPRS
Bluetooth® 1.2 Wireless Technology
Infrared Wireless Technology (115 kbps)
mini USB
Data Input:
Touchscreen with Stylus
Data Output:
2.8" 320 x 240 (QVGA) 65K Colour TFT Screen (Touch Sensitive)
Main Speaker
Mic
2.5mm Stereo Jack
Memory and Expansion:
Flash ROM: 64MB
RAM: 64MB
SDIO ready slot x 1
Battery
Removable rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, 1,200mAh
Operating time:
Standby 180 hours
Talk time 4 - 5 hours
**Battery life may vary depending on RF conditions and actual usage
Extras:
1.3MP CMOS Camera
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vs
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MotoBean
Hardware: Motorola MPx 220
Platform: Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Smartphone
Form Factor: Clamshell
Dimensions:
Approx. 48 (W) x 100 (H) x 24 (T) mm Weight with battery: 110g
Processor:
Texas Instruments OMAP 1611 Dual Core Processor
Clock speed: 204MHz
Communications:
Quad-band GSM/GPRS
Bluetooth® 1.0 Wireless Technology
Infrared Wireless Technology (115 kbps)
prorietary Motorola connector
Data Input:
Keypad
Data Output:
2.2" 176 x 220 65K Colur TFT Screen (non-touch screen)
1" 96 x 64 4096K Colour TFT (non-touch screen)
Main Speaker
Mic
2.5mm Stereo Jack
Memory and Expansion:
Flash ROM: 64MB
RAM: 32MB
miniSD slot x 1
Battery
Removable rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, 1,000 mAh Li-Ion
Operating time:
Standby 110 hours
Talk time 4.5 hours
**Battery life may vary depending on RF conditions and actual usage
Extras:
1.3MP CMOS Camera + Flash (Photo Assist Light)
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Round 1: Communications and Connectivity
MotoBean comes out fighting with a Quadband GSM module, BeanJAM's Tri-band is really no match. Quadband makes the Moto a world phone; you can use it virtually anywhere!
BeanJAM fights back showing an impressive Class 10 GPRS that knocks the socks off MotoBean's Class 8 GPRS. Class 8 (8 - 12 kbps upload / 32 - 40 kbps download) and Class 10 (16 - 24 kbps upload / 32 - 48 kbps download), BeanJAM get's things done faster on the GPRS side.
Infrared slugfest shows that both have great IR implementation.
MotoBean senses a weakness and goes forward with wonderful Bluetooth® Implementation. BeanJAM is crippled by the OS that trained it! Both devices have Bluetooth® Wireless Technology, both can send and receive files, act as wireless modems, and be used with GPS modules or headsets. Motorola's advantage comes with it's OS, you see Smartphones don't go into suspend mode and thus a Bluetooth connection to a Headset would not be disconnected. On the otherhand PocketPCs go into suspend mode and the Bluetooth connection is sometimes severed! This has to be fixed by Microsoft if they want the Phone Edition Platform to be competitive.
BeanJAM slams back with WiFi (802.11b) via it's SDIO slot. MotoBean staggers back and the round ends... BeanJAM is a full PDA it supports SDIO and all pheripeherals (provided drivers were written) could be used, using a SanDisk 256MB + WiFi Card with BeanJAM gives you a faster, better, and cheaper (if you're at home or work) browsing experience. To date there are no miniSD WiFi cards nor are there drivers out in the market for the Smartphone platform.
Ding Ding! End of Round 1
Round 1 goes to: MotoBean, Quadband and wonderful Bluetooth® implementation romp BeanJAM's Tri-Band and Troubled Bluetooth®, BeanJAM's ability to get WiFi via the SDIO slot is a big plus but this is an additional accessory.
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Round 2: PDA Functions and Syncing
BeanJAM knows it needs to come out strong in this round, and it does! Bombarding MotoBean into a corner was very easy! Both have Windows Mobile on board but BeanJAM has a more robust set of PDA features aside from the usual PIM (Personal Information Management: Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes) stuff, BeanJAM also has PocketWord and Excel.
BeanJAM doesn't relent this round and follows up the barrage during syncing. Both devices sync using Microsoft's Activesync. Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Tasks, are synced for both. But BeanJAM takes it one step further with sync support for Notes, Favorites, and Files syncing completely devastating MotoBean. Also for MotoBean Calendar Entries' and Tasks' Categories are not synced?! This would bother you if you organize via Categories.
Ding Ding! End of Round 2
Round 2 goes to: BeanJAM completely dominates this round and MotoBean is left wondering what went wrong. Well, I'll tell you... BeanJAM is a PDA first a phone second and it shows in this round!
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Round 3: Camera, Expansion, and Others.
This is it the final round which device will emerge on top!? Let's go to the fight!
Both fighters are showing their class at this point. Going toe to toe.
MotoBean comes back strong with a very nice camera with photo assist light (flash) BeanJAM is left spinning! Though both devices have the same rating of 1.3MP, Motorola placed a nice CMOS and Flash while IMO HTC placed a cheap CMOS sensor on BeanJAM. So Photos and Videos seem better with the Moto and of course the photo assist light is a plus.
BeanJAM shines in the fight for expansion, Featuring a versatile SDIO slot it out classes MotoBean. BeanJAM features SDIO which can take upto 1GB (that's what I have) of SD Memory, it also accepts MMC format. There are a multitude of SDIO accessories out there and BeanJAM can use majority of them with it's slot. Whilst MotoBean is also expandable it has a miniSD slot which limits it's peripherals, it can take miniSDs of upto 512MB.
The advantage swings towards MotoBean in data entry fight. MotoBean has a physical keypad common in most mobile phones... learning how to operate it is faster as the learning curve is smaller, you can use it with one hand with ease. On the otherhand BeanJAM relies heavily on the stylus and thus you are more often than not relegated to two handed operation.
BeanJAM fights back with screen size giving us a real show, completely decimating MotoBean's small screen! BeanJAM's 320x240 screen shows a great deal of info also with WM2003SE it could display in Landscape mode, making it great for web surfing and watching videos.
Sounds and Notifications again show up as an even field. Both devices have vibrate, notification lights and sounds.
Ding Ding! End of Round 3
Round 3 goes to: It is really hard to tell both devices really have great class and a great set of features. Let's go to the judges score card... for the winner and title holder of the UNDISPUTED GADGET OF THE MOMENT.... BEANJAM... BEANJAM...!

BeanJAM wins over MotoBean by a very slight margin. What made me pick BeanJAM is it's sheer POWER and FLEXIBILTY. With BeanJAM I can accomplish more. Yes, using the stylus is sometimes a bitch but you get used to it. I'm not dismissing MotoBean, not at all, it is a solid mobile phone with excellent PIM and sync, but it seems lacking for my needs. It will remain my main phone (since it's new and I like playing with new toys) for awhile. Now for some pictures... click here

[This review was originally posted on Multiply Jul 20, '05 3:48 AM ET]