Dopod 838 Pro

By Andrew Lim, CNET.co.uk on 20/09/2006

More Dopod reviews , RRP: TBA

The good:

  • Range of connectivity options including 3G and HSDPA
  • Slide-out QWERTY keypad
  • Scroll wheel
  • Support for Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)

The bad:

  • Chunky size
  • Heavy
  • microSD expansion slot

The bottomline:

An extremely well-equipped Pocket PC PDA-phone, Dopod has made sure that the 3G-enabled 838 Pro balances features with power so it doesn't leave you hanging when you need to access applications like Skype. Due to its size and weight, however, you'll need a bag if you're going to carry it around.

Buying choices:

Editors' rating:

8.2/10

Users' rating:

6.8/10

Tags:

838 | 838pro | dopod | pda | smartphone

CNET.com.au's editors haven't yet reviewed the Dopod 838 Pro. Please add your opinion about the Dopod 838 Pro below.

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bowlhead
08/08/2008, 07:02 PM

rating
7/10

hye all,
i wanna ask u guys where can i repair my dopod 838 pro in malaysia?
the speaker(ringing & loud speaker)malfunction

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jAi
26/07/2008, 09:19 PM

rating
9/10

A very good phone

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potamos
29/06/2008, 10:22 PM

rating
5/10

how do i get my phone to vibrate?

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Love it
14/06/2008, 01:27 PM

rating
8/10

This is a really good pda phone, its my first phone and i love it

Pros: keyboard, infrared, mirror

Cons: the manual is like 450 pages, sometimes freezes

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Max
07/04/2008, 02:33 PM

rating
9/10

Overall a great phone. With so many great features like wifi adapter, fast cpu, bluetooth 2.0, it easily handles all tasks you can imagine to be done with a mobile phone. But after all, you have to upgrade it to WM 6.0 first, which is faster and more reliable. A official version of wm6 has been released by dopod months ago.

Pros: - Wide choice of applications on WM6 platform.

- Great battery life in its level

- 2m pixels camera with led light

- qwerty keyboard.

Cons: - bulky

- no build-in gps

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eby
01/04/2008, 02:35 AM

rating
10/10

Probably the best PDA smartphone around. Would take a lot of effort to beat.

Pros: Where do i start from? Loaded with lots of helpful applications, internet, outlook email etc. Easy to use, and the PDA capabilities are the best i have seen yet.

Cons: Chunky, no in-built GPS.

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shihanzdk
11/02/2008, 01:09 PM

rating
4/10

Had it for over a year and found it to be pretty robust. Once needed repair though (ROM Update failed midway) and it took over a MONTH and a HALF to get repaired - WOEFUL aftersales with lies no end and no alternate repairers to go to.

Windows interface is great with no end of software available, and even though there is no radio you can pick it up of the net and listen live via IP - if you have internet package hooked up.

Screen is hard to see in sunlight and running too many applications at once can cause it to bog down like a slow computer.

The camera is very average and does not compare to my mates Nokia.

Battery life is poor but you can charge the thing using a standard mini USB cable to yours (or anyone elses) computer if need be.

Accidently dropped it and the scroll wheel broke - not game to take it in for repair for fear of huge cost and up to 2 month delay in repair.

Keyboard has always worked well and really speeds up the typing of txt messages etc.

WiFi works reasonably well but only reasonably.

Pros: Windows based for heaps of applications

Internet capable -

PDA and Phone in one -

Letter recogniser if hand writing on the screen

Can sync with your outlook express

Cons: REPAIR OPTIONS - For Melbourne users simply google it - look at PHONETEC (a repairer of HTC products) and my repair experience of nearly 2 month turnaround - with exactly same problem experienced by others.

Screen in sunlight cant be seen

button positioning on both sides makes u push more than one button by mistake.

Needs GPS (I currently use a standalone blootooth GPS) for navagation program

Battery life

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Meganz
09/02/2008, 03:07 PM

rating
2/10

I do not like this phone at all, I am on my way down to Optus to tell them that they can go put this phone where the sun doesn't shine. Had this phone in for repairs in November, took nearly 5 weeks to get back, I really heavily on my phone for my business.

Pros: The keyboard.

Cons: 1) Rarely can use buttons at base to answer or hang up.
2) Battery doesn't hold a charge for long, no phone calls made yesterday as left on charge all day, battery flat this morning, and unable to be used.
3) Will hang up on me in middle of call with client, not happy.
4) Hit the answer button, when it decides to work, and it will hang up instead.
5) Can't hook up to wirless internet unless on top of it, and at other times will hook up when I don't want it to.
6) Screen freezes.
7) If you get a notification message, you can't do anything as screen locks up, and you have to reset`phone.
I am sure there are more, but that is my whinge over.

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johnnycade
18/01/2008, 11:29 PM

rating
2/10

This phone is just an i-Mate JasJam with a different name. And as with the i-mate it has terrible terrible issues. The screen freezes, jams and turns itself off, it often wont answer calls and the keypad will often go unresponsive. If you are looking for a great way to flush a thousand dollars or more down the toilet... this is the way to do it

Pros: qwerty keyboard

Cons: everything but the keyboard

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obiwan
05/01/2008, 11:35 PM

rating
9/10

awsome pda fone. Had it for 6 mths and cant fault it apart from its size and weight. The slide out keyboard is great and so easy to use. Has so many features I havent even used. I have since changed 2 an nokia n81, only because it was 2 big and heavy 4 my pocket, apart from that its truly an awsome fone.

Pros: Great pda fone. Heaps of great business features. Slide out keypad is the best. Nice big screen. well built.

Cons: Big and heavy, feels like a brick in ur pocket.

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