Sagem WA 3050

Well when it works the Sagem WA 3050 mobile phone is great!! The fulltime GPRS is fast. The other functions are powerful and easy to work. The screen is a little difficult to see in poor light - I'll be the first to buy the color version.

However - battery life is shocking, and I've had to buy two replacement backup batteries already!! There must be a fault with mine as progressively things have stopped working - for a while a reset fixed this, but now even this doesn't seem to work.

Verdict - let other guinea pigs sort out the problems first.

When I purchased three Sagem WA3050 mobile phones for my company I thought they would be the answer to all my problems for consultants out on the road and no access to a computer all the time. How wrong I was ....

First they only sent half the order and I was left for nearly a month with no car charger or ear phone. This should have told me then the type of after sales support I was going to get.

Then I had the problem when a phone call came in at the same time as the applications on the PDA were being used and the phone never rang at all and all I got was a "missed call" message with no log or phone number. On the second ocassion that this happened my WA3050 hung and I lost all my data and had to wait until I was back in the office to do a synchronization.

The "hands free" option stays activated when you have taken the earphone out and this also activates if you have the device in the cradle.

The phone will turn itself off in the middle of a phone call and a reset is the only way to get the phone to log back in again.

When trying to get these issues fixed I tried first of all emailing the Sagem Helpline and after three attempts got no answers at all (in fact still waiting). Phone the Helpline takes approx. 20 minutes to get answered then you are told that this is not the correct Helpline and are transferred to an international number only to be told that they are going to try and replicate your problem whilst you hang on the phone (they will not call you back). After 20 minutes they advise a reset as the only solution.

Then best of all try asking for your money back - this is a saga that is still ongoing ...

Basically the sagem WA 3050 is an enjoyable mobile phone, and an excellent pda. However, there are problems with the software. It regularly gets itself tied up in knots, at which point, if you're lucky, a reset will fix it, otherwise you have to take all the batteries out, wait a bit, put the batteries back, and then resynchronise.

There are problems - like if you are using the device as a pda, and a call comes in it normally locks up, and keeps ringing until you take the main battery out.

There are niggles - like the volume balance between using the headset and not means that you're always adjusting the volume - which is difficult at times, as the volume switch seems to be one of the really buggy bits! Also, we haven;t managed to send faxes without a header page written in French! Also, there is an auto-answer option that should only be available if the headset is plugged in - however, once enabled, it works all the time.

There are also 'nice to haves' which are missing - for example, missed calls are logged as missed, and no number details are stored.

Anyway, these could all be lived with, if it wasn't for the worst helpdesk / support that I've ever had the misfortune to have attempted to use ( bear in mind that I've run helpdesks for many years! ). They are ill informed, unhelpful, and _never_ phone you back when they say they will. Normal response time for an email is 9 days. Also, although this is a support desk for the UK, the personnel speak the language poorly, and write it even worse. Also, although this helpdesk was based in the Netherlands, as am I, it was not possible to contact them directly by phone, only internationally.

Add this to the fact that there is a really simple upgrade mechanism for applications on a Pocket-PC device, why is there no attempt made by Sagem to fix their bugs and release new software versions? I class the quality as an early beta, with things needing fixing, as well as some manipulation of process priorities needed to improve responsiveness.

I really like the idea of this device, its looks and its size. It's almost there. The reason that I'm in the process of returning it (them actually, we bought three!) is the after-sales service.

Well, on opening the box of my Sagem WA 3050 pda I was impressed to see that all the little extra's you normally have to pay for are there, USB Cradle, Serial cable, Headphones & Power Charger / Adaptor with plugs for UK / Europe etc.

Getting the phone up and running took a little bit of time but once it was set up has proved reliable if a little slow when being operated via the software. Be prepared to 'play' with it for quite a few hours to get all the features up and running correctly (even if your used to PocketPC's)

B&W Screen lets this otherwise superb piece of kit down but then there's got to be some trade off for battery life I suppose.

Sending text messages & WAP are a dream on this screen with its text input options.

In Summary: A really great buy if a little on the expensive side.