SPG - Windows Mobile Reviews

Review: Brodit mount for HTC HD Mini

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:33:16 +0000

If you've been keeping up to date with reviews on SPG then you'll have read my musings on the HTC HD Mini recently provided to us by O2. As we tend to go on a fair number of mini-breaks around the UK one lack we had as far as the Mini was concerned was mounting it in the car for navigation.

Luckily our good friends at DSL developments came yet again to our rescue and provided us with the 'Active Holder, Tilt Swivel with cig plug. HTC HD Mini', Brodit item number 512142.

This arrived packaged as per usual by Brodit in a plastic bag which contained the mount itself, the instructions and a bag of mounting screws. For a new user to the world of Brodit you'd also have to purchase a matching Brodit Mount for your car, but as an existing Brodit user it was easier for me - all I had to do was unscrew my current active mounts universal joint and screw the mount for the HD Mini in place.

As you can see the mount comprises the mounting bracket itself and a trailing 'active' power lead which ends in a car power adaptor (cigarette lighter socket). Once fixed onto the Brodit mount and the power plugged in the Mini can then be slid into place. Power feeds into the mount via the active lead and from the micro-USB mount directly into the HD Mini,giving plenty of power for hands free phone calls or satellite navigation.

As always with Brodit the Mini is held very firmly and even when driving at speed over bumpy roads there is no problem with vibration or movement - the Mini is held safe and securely.

To conclude: Yet again another well engineered mount from Brodit, proved with speed and efficiency by DSL.

Oh and please excuse the dusty last photograph - the sun was very bright and I'd dusted the screen twice - sigh

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[All Images processed using SnagIt by TechSmith]

Review: O2 HTC HD Mini

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:21:42 +0000

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 1 - Initial Thoughts

The first thought that entered my mind on seeing the O2 HD Mini was that is is truly miniature in size. After using the HD2 and the Desire the Mini really appears minute in comparison. It nestles in the palm and feels really really small, with no doubt the feeling being enhanced by the rubberised outer covering which surrounds the main metallic chassis.

This housing constructed of heavy plastic should serve well to protect the Mini from hard knocks and dare I say being dropped on the occasional floor. It covers the Mini completely top, bottom, sides, and back and then reduces in thickness towards the front which of course it leaves open for the screen to be displayed.

The covering is so complete that the second thought is how on earth does one get into the machine to insert the SIM card. The only openings are to allow the power button (top right), volume rocker (upper side left), and micro-USB slot / tube (bottom) to protrude through it, as well as piercings for the 3.5mm audio jack (top left), camera (upper rear back), and some screw-like column fixings.

The matter of removing the housing was solved after a few seconds thought, and the removal is accomplished by pressing down on the screw-like columns that protrude through the back of the device. Putting pressure on the two at the rear top of the casing allows it to be popped off in seconds. This locking method requires some force to be applied so it is very unlikely that anything else apart from a determined pair of thumbs will cause the back to be removed.

Third thoughts..... oh WOW that yellow inner cover is bright, as once the back cover has been removed you can see the canary yellow inside that HTC have engineered. A bit bright for my taste, but well it does look kind of impressive. The battery was removed via the insertion of a fingernail and both the Micro SD and SIM card inserted, the battery place back in and the cover re-affixed. A press of the power button and the Mini powered on.

As the machine powered up the white back-lit touch sensitive buttons on the lower front of the Mini lit very brightly and became clearly visible:

Phone (Call)
Home
Windows
Back
Phone (End Call)

These are not raised up at all and when not lit appear as white silhouettes under the surface of the front of the Mini. No buttons raised up as on the HD2, the face of the Mini is completely flat and smooth. However the top of the machine above the HTC logo is relieved slightly downwards to allow the microphone to be presented to the ear, and as on the HD2 the loudspeaker is covered by a very fine black mesh for protection purposes.

Whilst describing the above the Mini has finished booting with the anticipated O2 water theme animation rolling past and the OOBE (Of of Box Experience) wizard running - which allows one to configure email, connectivity, social networking, etc. When that has completed the Minis home screen arrives with the Mini version of HTC Sense to the fore.

The screen although relatively 'small' at 3.2" the HVGA (320 x 480) is bright and clear with all text readable and clearly visible, no ghosting or blurring at all.

The mainstay of the display is of course the HTC Sense application which overlays the Windows Mobile operating system. As with other recent Sense creations from HTC the main tabs on offer are:

Home
People
Messages
Mail
Internet
Calendar
Stocks
Photos and Videos
Music
Weather
Twitter
Footprints
Settings

Whilst navigating through the tabs, and entering data in the OOBE wizard it was noted the the capacitive screen was incredibly sensitive, only needing a feather touch for a screen press to register. This meant that the keyboard was difficult to navigate initially until the right light touch has been developed.

In operation generally the Mini feels fast and smooth and in fact is very much on par with its more powerful big brother, the HD2.

So initial thoughts about the device are good, it's fast and smooth and certainly easy to fit into a convenient pocket.

We'll see how it performs over the next few days!

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 2 - App Loading and General Use

Late last night and this morning before work I loaded up a selection of my usual applications to see how the HD Mini would fare, with the non standard (to a lot of developers) screen resolution. I aimed to pick a selection of application types, from those which modify the system, add functionality, use the GPS system, as well as provide some light entertainment - things that most users would be interested on while on the move.

The applications loaded were:

uBook
MobiPocket
FourSquare
EverNote
CorePlayer
MS Marketplace (downloaded from the pre-configured shortcut)
MS MyPhone (updated via via Marketplace)
Bing (via Marketplace)
HomeScreen Customiser (loaded via Marketplace)
SynchroTime

All worked perfectly well apart form uBook (which crashed when I tried to enter the SD card - bug in the application), and FourSquare. The latter had buttons overley large which overlapped one another and crashed at every attempt to move into one of the sub areas - but then again that is a beta application.

Book reading with Mobipocket was not as easy as on the HD2 as with the default settings the text is very small, but increasing the text size solved that issue and book reading was suitably pleasurable.

The only other application glitch noted was with the HomeScreen Customiser - it loaded onto the machine without any issues, but the add on modules for weather, contacts, launcher were not offered as addons. I removed the application and reinstalled but still not offered, very strange.

Thanks to my good friends at ALK a registration code and maps were provided for CoPilot Live 8 (preinstalled in ROM) and that loaded and worked perfectly. It was noted that is was the 'professional' version too which leads me to think that the Mini may have a Navipanel built into it for when dashboard mounted in the car.

While I was in navigation 'mode' I had a brief fling with Bing and Google Maps, both worked as expected with no problems, but one cool thing as noted and that is a GPS activity icon. This appears very similar to the Android GPS indicator as it appears in the top system bar and flashes on and off to indicate GPS activity. Does this mean we can turn on the GPS and not worry about power drain as it'll only be activated when needed? Further investigation is needed here!

When loading up and configuring the Mini (which involved couple of soft resets) it was noticed how quickly it booted up after the reset, and on testing tonight I can confirm that it boots around 15 seconds quicker than my HD2 - maybe the smaller screen and less complex Sense application gives it an edge here. The only drawback of the small screen is that some of the smaller sized text in the configuration screens is slightly blurred due to the small physical size of the font used and the cleartype adjustment applied to it. This not helped by the cleartype toggle being removed from the ROM.

Speaking of Sense the Mini had to be tested out with Titanium as a front end interface, despite not having all the 'panels' loaded that I wishes to use. Titanium proved to be very finger friendly and smooth in operation compared to the HD2 where it feels a little unfriendly as one ends up wishing fingers were a little longer! On the Mini there are no such problems Titanium suits the small screen perfectly and is very usable. If my lost panels were in place I could well prefer using it to Sense!

Three things that surprised me with the Mini today were:

CorePlayer - this was used to play back a couple of recorded TV episodes, and with it set to play back video in 'RawFrameBuffer' mode the videos played back smoothly and quickly, there were no stutters in playback, no sound sync issues and the screen was rock solid and pinpoint accurate and clear - pretty impressive in fact.
Footprints - Not expecting it to work I exported all my Footprints recorded on the HTC Desire (*.kmz file) and imported them into the Mini. They all imported fine and are not resident. That was a cool discovery!
Battery Life - Okay I'm not comparing Apples to Apples here, but with approximate similar use of devices I tried to compare the HTC Desire to the Mini. At the end of the day the Desire had 42% battery life remaining, the Mini had 80% still left. Taking into consideration my HD2 which usually ends the day at between 55-65% charge remaining this is staggering! The Mini had been used with GPS, phone calls, with Exchange push email on constantly, Facebook updating and Tweets coming in as frequently as possible, and it still achieved 80% charge left! Wow!

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 3 - In use

Okay onwards...... to see how the Mini performed in everyday operation it was taken away for a weekends mini holiday in Wales and was used as my main phone (apart from ebook reading) and it performed wonderfully well.

The first thing of note was that it was run from 7:30am in my pocket mostly while at work, a couple of phone calls were made, etc and a little PIM use. After work I popped home, loaded up and we drove from Manchester to Llwyngwril (in Wales near Tywyn), and arrived at 21:07. Now bearing in mind that a lot of the work environment holds signal dead areas, and that signal loss is high in mid Wales........

So I was expecting the battery to be down to around 60%, I turned the the machine on and the battery use was down to 80%, very impressive. But was it a fluke? No it was not, the machine was used while in Wales to make phone calls, take photos and respond to emails. Typically we'd be out of the cottage by around 10:00am and return around 18:00 in the evening. On all of those days battery life never left below 10% used which is truly outstanding!

Another bonus is it's tenacity in keeping hold of a signal. The cottage we sleep in has walls of stone - 2 to 3 feet thick and the signal is therefore dodgy so say the least indoors. The Mini was pulled off charge on morning and it was noted that it had held the mobile web (O2) connection to the net for over 51 hours, so all day, through the evening and during the night. Calls were also made home through the walls with no problems at all. As a double check the HTC Desire was checked for signal and data connectivity inside. Signal was either 0 or 1 bar, where the Mini had 1 to 3 bars!

Gotchas, there have to be a few gotchas lurking and alas there were.

These were nothing inherent with the device itself but have to be down to the HTC Sense implementation. Both may have been connected as they both tied into data updating. The problem was with both the updating of the Twitter feed and with the weather. Twitter updates were made, but not on the hour as scheduled they seemed to take place randomly during the day. Locational weather updates had a similar problem, and even when triggered manually the update either did not occur, or if the update did take place the correct location was not obtained. It's no good being in Wales and the device insisting we were still just outside Wrecsam!

The final gotcha may be partly down to the user having large fingers as I found it awkward when taking a photograph in controlling the precise focus area with the camera. So a fair few of the shots taken ended up a little of of focus. However with a bit of perseverance decent pictures did result and I'm glad to say the photo quality was good, no dreaded pink tinge at all. A few shots are attached for your enjoyment (All taken using the default camera settings and not resized at all!

More to follow as I move through the working week!

O2 HTC HD Mini - Day 4 - Battery life

I’ve been using the device minimally (no ebook reading as I'm waiting for a fixed uBook), so it has been used for weather watching, push email and general PIM tasks as well as at least two phone calls per day.

One thing that was starting to be apparent, the battery was not going down at all under the first few days of use, so I decided to test it out!

The Mini was fully charged and then removed from all power sources (no mains or USB charge) at 6:45am Tuesday morning and it’s been running 24/7 with GPRS (2G) left on and all functions allowed to auto-update. (Exchange turned off for off-peak night time), the rest of the time operating with full push email.

Battery remaining as of Friday at 16:50..... wait for it... a staggering 40%.

So only 60% battery usage through Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday.

This is completely awesome and unheard of for a modern Windows Phone Device!

This mini review comprises four blogs which were posted concerning the device. Please check out the relevant blogs for the accompanying photos.

First impressions - Piel Frama HD2 iMagnum case

Wed, 12 May 2010 15:38:07 +0000

First impressions - Piel Frama HD2 iMagnum case

At the end of January I purchased the HTC PO S511 flip case for the HD2. It has been a great case for only £15, but is already showing some signs of ageing so a replacement was needed.

I ordered the Piel Frama HD2 iMagnum case in black from mobilefun.co.uk for £54.95 plus shipping. It was dispatched promptly and here are some first thoughts and pictures.

The iMagnum is a flip type case hinged at the top and sporting an overlap magnetic clasp for holding it closed. The iMagnum is comprised of 2 very thin and hard plastic shells which are shaped like open ended “trays” . These are both covered in thin embossed leather on the inside surfaces and thick, padded leather on the outside surfaces. They are connected together by the top leather hinge.

The HD2 is held in place by sliding it between the side walls of the lower “tray” and is gripped very firmly by virtue of a tight fit and the obvious rigidity of the plastic shell walls. There is no suggestion that the HD2 could work its way loose either by movement or gravity. It really is held very firmly in place and the case is a very exact fit.

My first thought on viewing the case is that it is in fact a little bulkier than the advertising pictures would suggest because of the padded leather exterior. The dimensions with an HD2 inside are:

Overall depth averages 25mm – over twice the depth of the “naked” HD2. The case is deeper, nearer to 30mm, in places because of the magnetic closure clasp and the screw mount base of the belt clip lug.

I find this a little disappointing, because whilst the lower tray is a respectable 15mm deep, barely deeper than the HD2 itself which sits flush in it, the upper tray / lid of the case is nearly 10 mm deep and much of this is fresh air because of the walled design. I have to assume this is an intended form of anti-crush screen protection for the HD2, but it does take away some of the attractive thinness of the device.

Case width is a very respectable 73mm, just 6mm wider than the HD2

Height is just over 125mm including the hinge, so again only a few mm more than the HD2 itself.

The iMagnum case features a rear cut away for the speaker, camera lens and camera led’s. The overlap closure tab has a cut-out to allow access to the headphone jack when the case is closed, but has no cut-out access to either the micro-usb port or the phone microphone when the case is closed. The left side of the lower tray is cut back to allow access to the volume switch.

Included in the box is a quick release belt clip and a spanner type tool which allows you to unscrew and replace the belt clip lug on the rear of the case with a flush fitting silver button, if you don’t wish to use the belt clip.

The magnetic clasp works well enough, though it is possible to accidently open the clasp by the action of putting it into or removing it from a pocket. The magnetic clasp does not affect the operation of the electronic compass when the case lid is hanging downwards in its normal open position, but folding the lid back on itself to be nearer the case does start to swing the compass around when the magnetic clasp gets closer to the device.

This is a clearly very well made case which uses high quality materials throughout. I feel that it makes the HD2 a little bulkier than perhaps it needs to be, but overall I am very impressed.

Brief Review: London Evening Standard

Sun, 09 May 2010 10:06:00 +0000

The London Evening Standard has been a familiar sight in the streets and newsagents of London and the Southeast for many years. Part of the Daily Mail group, it has a London based bias to its content but covers items of national and international interest as well.

Following a shake-up of the newspaper scene in London with the advent of a number of free morning and evening papers, the Evening Standard has now become a free paper as well. Browsing through Windows Phone Marketplace the other day I came across a new application called Evening Standard, and decided to investigate, especially as it is a free application. As the title suggests, this is indeed a mobile implementation of the main newspaper, and very good it is too!

After browsing Marketplace or doing a search, you will find the description of the program as in the screenshot below. Depending on your Marketplace settings, it can be installed into device or storage card memory. The core program is about 1.5MB and the stored cache can be around 500KB. After installing, you will find an 'Evening Standard' icon in the Start Menu. Launching the program initially shows the main News page.

The organisation of Evening Standard is very much like an RSS reader. Each headline opens a small synopsis of the story, from where there are links to open the full story within the program itself. The main news page contains links to the seventy most significant stories of the previous five days biased towards the previous two days.

Each synopsis page also has links to enable the story to be sent to a mail recipient, delicious, Facebook or Twitter. There is also an option to save a story for offline reading. The full story pages also have the same options, plus the ability to navigate the the previous or next story.

Back on the Home page, there is a list of topics in the header which can be dragged sideways to see additional categories in portrait mode. The content of categories other than main News is more limited, but certainly sufficient for casual browsing.

Each 'list' page and Synopsis page also has a very small advertising link at the top. Presumably this is a necessary feature of a free application and it is fairly discreet.

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Menu settings in the synopsis and full story pages have similar options to the onscreen links plus the ability to open the story in a full browser window to the main Evening Standard web site. The menu from the home page includes options for refreshing the content, marking content as read/unread and saving. There are also links to the Settings and Help pages. The latter simply gives a list of keyboard shortcuts for those using devices with a hardware keyboard, but which is useful nonetheless.

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My impressions of this program are very positive. it is an excellent way to catch up on news if you have a few spare moments and the content appears to be pretty comprehensive. Of course, there is a bias towards London and the Southeast, but even users away from this region may find something of interest, especially given that it is free of charge.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Mini-Review: HTC HD2 Capacitive Stylus and Screen Protector

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:14:00 +0000

HTC HD2 Capacitive Stylus

I might be the only person on the planet that finds the move to finger-friendly interfaces a somewhat double-edged sword as I do miss the accuracy and speed of using a stylus.

As a bit of an experiment I thought I would go for the official HTC HD2 Capacitive Stylus (mainly as I wanted some screen protectors - see below - and postage was the same!).

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First Impressions

About £18 (including VAT) will secure you one of these weird looking contraptions (eventually - as they are not widely available and can take a while to come into stock).

First impressions are it is chunky, like a pen but the business end looks like one of those scientific spatulas you used to use at school in Chemistry lessons! Only this one is clear with a red dot in the middle. So for £18 you get a hollow, thin metal cylinder with two bits of plastic at either end, not looking like value is it?

It transpires there is a little more to it than that as there has to be some method of maintaining some sort of electrical contact with the capacitive screen but not much!

Is it up to the task at hand?

The main use of a stylus is for the interaction with the user interface and the input of characters using whatever SIP is in play. Now in the old world of Windows Mobile 6.1 and prior versions. The SIPs were fairly standard. Small, on-screen qwerty, Letter Recogniser, Block Recogniser and a few based around handwriting (including third party such as Calligrapher and Transcriber). With WM6.5 and the head-long rush to make the interface finger-friendly most of these dropped by the wayside with the finger Qwerty SIP becoming ubiquitous and other third party ones mimicking it (Swype and Finger Keyboard 2.1).

Now, I am probably not typical as I've had a selection of Windows Pocket PC/CE/WM devices for 10 years now and I was an absolute whizz with Letter Recogniser! Even with predictive functions, a finger qwerty keyboard is hard pressed to keep up with the speed and accuracy I could generate with a stylus and Letter Recogniser.

Now I wasn't expecting the HD2 Capacitive Stylus to re-enable this sort of speed again mainly as Letter Recogniser is not included in most of the finger-friendly ROMs. What I was seeking was accuracy as the on-screen keyboard can be a little hit and miss with the finger. So, has it delivered?
The short answer is NO!

So where does it fall short? Well firstly there is no point on the stylus it comprises a circular disc (10mm in diameter) with the red dot which is supposed to give the accuracy. This 'nib' is at a fixed angle too which can somewhat dictate the angle of use which is generally comfortable.

Secondly, most of the WM6.5(.x) ROMs don't have Letter Recogniser in them so that SIP isn't available and you are left with the QWERTY SIP. Now because of that I wasn't expecting any speed increase but I think it would be fair to assume an improvement in accuracy. Was this achieved? NO. The main culprit is the SIP and the spacing of the characters. It is still too easy to catch the next character.

So, all-in-all, not a great showing from the Capacitive Stylus. The main reason for having one can only be to use if you have lost the availability of the finger either because it's cold and you have gloves on or you have cut it/injured it in some way. That can't be a glowing recommendation....

HTC Official Screen Protector Pack

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Now, I use my HTC HD2 pretty extensively and like most modern devices the screen is flush (well as near as makes no difference. That has always concerned me so Screen Protector time it was.

HTC's pack actually contains two protectors for the princely sum of around £10 (again including the dreaded VAT).

Although you get two protectors, that's pretty much all you get. Unlike the packs from other sources, there was no screen cleaning cloth and no applicator to smooth out any bubbles. My fears needn't have been that great however as after a solid clean and brush of the screen the protector went on first time and with no issues with bubbles.

It comes with cut-outs for the following: -

LED Light
Light Sensor
Speaker bar
Bottom Button bar

From that you may well have noticed it covers the entire front of the HD2 rather than just the actual screen so extra marks for complete protection.

How is it in use?

Very good actually. I've not noticed any decrease in screen sensitivity and it certainly doesn't take anything away from the screen clarity or brightness either. Although not a matte finish there is little extra (if any) reflectivity over and above the normal screen.

The stylus works through it too!

Good Value, YES
Effective, DEFINITELY
Recommended? CERTAINLY

Concluding thoughts

Capacitive screens don't lend themselves to use of a stylus. It's not that it's any worse than using a finger but there are no discernable benefits to doing so (unless its very cold and you are wearing gloves).

A waste of money, well no, not really, but not great value that's for certain.

The Screen Protectors are another matter. The HTC Official pack is good value (2 for £10) and certainly go on well and offer up the protection demanded and cover the entire front rather than just the screen.

Good Value - Yes, perform very well with no perceptible difference in screen sensitivity or reflectivity.

Didiom Pro Review

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:50:27 +0000

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Although the memory capacity of mobile devices is getting ever greater and memory cards ever cheaper, there will always be a class of user for whom the storage on a mobile device is just never enough. Be it obsessive music collectors, those with huge archives of podcasts or even audio-book aficionados. 8GB, 16GB, 32GB. It doesn't matter. We have a few hundred GB of music and we just can't carry it all around with us. So, we can either take the iTunes approach and create endless play-lists and keep syncing these back and forth to our devices or....?

Or we can use a streaming service like Didiom Pro. With Didiom a piece of server software sits on the PC at home and makes available all the music, podcasts, play-lists and everything else on our PC to anyone logged into our Didiom account. Then, with a simple piece of software on our phones, our entire music collection is always with us - anywhere in the world. So, how does it work?

Supplier: DIDIOM Pro
Mobile Platform: Windows Phone and Blackberry devices
Desktop Platform: Windows 7, Vista, XP SP2. Mac OSX available in 2 months
Price: $0.99/month or $9.99/year
Device used for review: SE XPeria X1i

Introduction

Didiom Pro is both a piece of software to stream all your music out onto the Internet and a service to manage this stream securely as well as the client software on your phone to select the music you want to stream and control it just like any other MP3 application.

Installation and Activation

First off, you need to create an account and select a payment plan. There is a "free" option but this limits you to five tracks at 64kbps as a trial. Once you have an account there are two things to download. One is the server software for your PC (Mac OSX version available in a couple of months). This is a standard windows .exe file and installs a small piece of software into the windows system tray. You then have to sign in to this with the account details created earlier and tell it where your music is. Didiom is set up to use the default location but if you have moved your music library off to another drive or a server you'll need to tell it where to look. You have three spaces to enter a location so if your collection is spread around a bit you should be okay. These are nominally called "Music", "Podcasts" and "Audio-books" but it doesn't really make any difference. All that done and the server software will now set off scanning your folders to build up a library of your music collection etc.

The other download from earlier is the mobile client. You can choose to download a .cab file straight to your device or use an exe. You will have to launch the exe from your desktop and allow it to install to your device over Active-sync or WMDC. With either method you end up with the Didiom client software on your mobile device. The first time you run it you will need to set the user-name and password from your account but you can tell it to remember these, to save having to enter them every time. You are now set up and ready to go.

Finding Music

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Of course, the whole point of Didiom is that it gives those of us with massive music collections access to it all. So, it's pretty much going to live or die by it's ability to allow you to manage huge libraries of complex music collections. The Didiom interface could be described in one of two ways. If you were feeling harsh you might call it spartan but lets stick with simple. It certainly doesn't let fancy graphics or transition effects get in the way of you finding your music and with just four buttons across the centre of the screen, finger friendly it certainly is.

The browse button takes you to a screen asking you to pick from a fairly standard list of categories. Albums, Artists, Podcasts, Audio-books and Play-lists. I'd like to see genre or composer in there myself but it keeps down on the clutter and makes life simple. Besides, the larger your collection gets, the less likely you are to have sensible genre tags in your MP3 meta-data. Selecting, for example, albums brings up a list of the first few albums in your collection. My X1i fits on 11 - different devices with lower screen resolutions will have fewer. Arrows at the top allow you to scroll back and forth through screens of album names and the refresh is pretty quick. Two to three seconds even over an EDGE connection. There is no album art as this would, presumably, slow things down massively.

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One slight annoyance is that the albums are always numbered 1-11 rather than representing the real number of albums. Then again, if you got into the hundreds or thousands the number would start to take up too much space leaving less for the album name so maybe it is a sensible decision. It just feels a little odd. However, browsing is useless for large collections. We need to search.

So, back to the main page with those four buttons and this time lets tap search. We are presented with the same list of six categories as last time so lets go with Artists. Now we get a fairly standard "googly" search box. I typed in "Leo" and tapped the search button. As expected, this brought back results for "Kings of Leon". However, I wasn't expecting it to also return "Eric Clapton" (turns out Leon Russell played on "Let it Rain"). The more hits the better and the speed with which it returned results for partial string matches was very impressive.

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Tapping the name of any of the artists gives me the choice to either stream everything by that artist or to list their tracks. This is a bit strange. I want to see their albums. Yes, I know I could have searched for the album name but what if I can't remember it? This seems like a fairly obvious omission so hopefully it will be remedied in a future update. Anyway, clicking stream takes us to the player and lists all the tracks by that artist. In the first version I was sent this list was alphabetical. However, a recent update seems to have changed this to album order - although you still can't see the album titles so it is difficult to tell.

The Player

The player is incredibly basic but does the job with one minor omission. There is a large Play/Pause button in the middle and well spaced back/stop/skip buttons around the outside of a graphic that bares a remarkable resemblance to the iPod click-wheel. The current track title is displayed along the bottom (though not the artist or album) and that is it. For me, the big omission is a random or shuffle button. If I'm not going to be allowed to listen to artists by album then at least let me shuffle the tracks. Even I'm not sad enough to want to listen to my music in alphabetical order.

Formats

Didiom Pro lets you stream and download audio files in the format of WMA (both DRM-free and DRM-protected), MP3, WAV, AAC, M4A and Ogg Vorbis, as well as iTunes play-lists, and play-lists in WPL, PLS and M3U formats. It does not support DRM-protected iTunes tracks or audible audio-books as these are also DRM-protected. Didiom Pro will stream music at 64, 96 or 128Kbps or can download your music direct to your device keeping the original format and bit-rate.

Settings

There is only one Settings screen in the client. This allows you to select the streaming bit-rate and choose a downloads folder. That's it. The server side is only slightly more interesting. Here you can choose whether or not Didiom Pro will auto-start when Windows does, ask it to sign in for you automatically and choose whether to use UPnP or port forwarding. If you choose port forwarding you will need to select a port. Didiom definitely don't believe in fussy interfaces and pages of complicated menu options.

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/Bassey/Didiom/Settings.png http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/Bassey/Didiom/Settings%20-%20Monitored%20Folders.png http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/Bassey/Didiom/Settings%20-%20Settings.png

Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy, cheap access to your music
Editable entry list
stream or download
very simple interface

Cons

Requires unlimited data plan
PC needs to be left on
No shuffle function
Lacking album access via the artist

Conclusion

Didiom Pro seem to have taken inspiration from an old set of British TV adverts for a product called Ronseal - it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a great combination of software and service that provides quick, easy access to your music collection from anywhere in the world - as long as your PC is switched on and, for me, that is its one major down-side. I have switched all my music onto a NAS device. This comes with an account which allows me to stream the music from any internet connected device with a browser - and all I have to leave switched on is the NAS. Leaving the PC switched on all day every day would just send shivers down my electricity bill. On the other hand, the idea of being able to access all my music from anywhere in the house DOES appeal. Every room on our house has some kind of music device. All bar one of them has a 3.5mm line-in (the shower radio being the exception - in case you were wondering). With Didiom Pro running on the PC in the study I can quickly call up some music on my phone, connect the headphone socket on the phone to the line-in on the stereo/radio/TV etc. and I can have my full music collection anywhere in the house. The interface is simplicity itself, at $0.99 a month it is dirt cheap and, if you have an all-you-can-eat data plan and a decent sized music collection it really could prove to be just the thing you were looking for.

(Thanks to Didiom for the review account/software and Tom Adler for his help in answering questions etc.)

REVIEW: Proporta Twisted System Speakers

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:05:20 +0000

Quick Review: SFR Calculator

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:54:14 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfr-logo.png From time to time, in the course of research resulting from our member's queries, we come across a new or updated program we'd forgotten about!

Following a question from a member about the availability of a 'finger friendly' calculator, but with the necessity of having a continuous, visible tape of the calculation entries, I remembered an old calculator program called CalcPad that did just that. Finding the developer's website again revealed that the program had evolved into a genuinely 'finger friendly' configuration called SFR Calculator, which was released in January this year.

After a quick exchange of messages from the developer, we are now pleased to bring you a brief review of the program, SFR Calculator. I am obliged to Thomas Kl?for the speed of his response and for the provision of a review copy of the program.

Supplier:
SFR Software

Platform:
Windows Mobile/Windows Phone Touchscreen devices

Price:
€9.95; 30 day fully functional trial version available

Device used for review:
HTC HD2

Introduction

SFR Calculator is a program that probably fills a small niche in the mobile calculator market. It's main selling point is the availability of a continuous readout of the steps in a current transaction using a 'tape' or 'till roll' with the ability to edit earlier calculation entries with automatic updating of all subsequent entries.

Installation and Activation

SFR Calculator is a small program which can be downloaded as a PC based, or locally based installation via EXE or CAB files respectively. The CAB file is only 340KB in size, and the installed size of the program is 1.3MB. It can be installed onto either device memory or a memory card.

SFR Calculator opens quickly into a two part screen. The lower part is the normal calculator keypad and the upper part is the transaction tape. It will run for 30 days in trial mode, after which it is necessary to buy an activation code which is entered via the Menu/Extras/Infos screen. The activation code consists of eight groups of four characters, so can be a little tedious to enter, but as this is a once only action that is probably acceptable.

Using SFR Calculator

Using SFR Calculator needs little explanation from me! It is a simple four function calculator with the addition of percent and exponential functions. There is no square root nor memory function which may be an issue for some potential users.

The keys are clear and easy to hit with a finger; I use an HTC HD2 which has a capacitive screen and no stylus, and had no difficulty at all. Within the Settings menu are options to alter the keyboard size, though for me the default was fine.

As you enter numbers, they appear in the upper part of the screen with the operator to the far left, and the entry near the centre of the screen. Negative numbers appear in a red font. Each successive part of a calculation is visible on its own line. A sequence of entries can be entered without sub-totaling or the '=' key can be pressed to obtain a sub-total. A second press of the '=' key completes the calculation and the cursor moves down a line from where a new calculation can begin. Erroneous figures can be deleted by the backspace key, which can continue to delete earlier entries as well as the current entry. The AC button is the normal All Clear which deletes the whole of the entry history.

If the entries in a calculation exceed the page length, the keypad can be dismissed by a press of the 'Keypad' soft key at the bottom left of the screen. The whole text area can also be scrolled with a finger drag.

The unique feature of this program is its ability to modify earlier transactions in a calculation. If you are performing 'what if' scenarios or look back over the tape and see an entry error, you can simply touch the screen at the relevant digit and use the backspace key to delete the figure, then replace it if desired. Each delete or retype action is immediately reflected in all the following entries including the subtotals. Hers's a small video clip of how this works:

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_kb.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_nokb.jpg[/IMG]

Additional Features

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_comment.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_extras.jpg[/IMG]

SFR Calculator has a few other tricks up its sleeve!

Copying Transactions. From the Menu, there are options to 'Copy calculation' or 'Copy result' These will copy either the whole calculation string or just the result to the clipboard. There is also a 'Paste' option if the clipboard buffer contains data. This pastes the contents of the clipboard at the current cursor position. If it is numeric, then this will act as a new entry in a string and the results will be updated automatically. Beware that if the clipboard contains any text, this will also be pasted, and as there is no facility to select text for deletion, each character will need to be removed via the backspace key.

File operations. From the Menu/File item, it is possible to save (or Save as) a whole transaction, then to Open it at a later date. This is useful for repeated similar calculations. There is also a 'New' menu item; pressing this is similar to using the AC button on the keypad, though in this case, the user is prompted to save the current transaction. On my HD2 there is a small graphical glitch after selecting 'New' where the top line of the old calculation is still visible, though entering new data removes this and it does not interfere with the actual calculation.

Send calculations. Once a calculation has been entered, the Menu/Extras screen has options to email the whole calculation or just the result. Tapping the Email menu item opens the Messaging program at the accounts list from where the user selects the account to use. This can be either an email or SMS/MMS account. If it is email, the calculation is added as a text file attachment. If the account is messaging and the transaction is less than 160 characters it is sent as the body of an SMS message. If it is too big for SMS, then the message is sent as an MMS message with the calculation as a text file attachment.

Text annotations. Any entry in the 'Tape' area can have text added to its right. This is entered by using the normal SIP of the device which remains available throughout this program (and which can, if fact be used for numeric entry instead of the program's own keypad). Annotated text is displayed in a green font. Percentage operators are also displayed in the annotation area in green.

Settings

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_pref.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_bg.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/sfrc/sfrc_round.gif[/IMG]

There is only one Settings screen, accessed via Menu/Extras/Preferences . This opens a large, finger friendly list of nine settings, each having a draggable slider. Some, such as Language only have two positions, while others, such as Font have multiple positions. I will not detail each entry as they are self explanatory; suffice to say there are many combinations of display settings, as well as settings for calculation display precision.

Pros

Unique transaction 'tape'

Editable entry list

Finger friendly

Good range of display settings

Cons

Basic functions only

No 'memory' function

A little expensive unless you specifically need its special functions

Conclusion

SFR Calculator is, at its heart, a simple calculator program. The lack of a memory facility and other scientific functions will not suit those involved in complex calculation. However, the scrolling, editable display of the whole calculation and the ability to save and load calculations will definitely be of use to a particular market. The program is compact and fast in operation and the data entry and manipulation works very well on a capacitive screen, so I have no doubt it will be equally usable on a resistive screen. At ?9.95, it may be considered a little overpriced, but SFR do have a 50% discount offer until the end of February. Should you definitely require the 'tape' function then the price is probably less relevant. This one is staying on my HD2!

I should also add the SFR have produced a desktop Windows version of this program which is free of charge and available Here .

O2 HTC HD2 Review

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:28:31 +0000

The HTC HD2 (O2 variant)

Over recent years O2 announced and brought to the world the renowned Xda range of machines. Unfortunately the Windows Mobile devices offered by O2 seemed to be released less often with the dark days of the iPhone and O2's singular UK market of that machine. However now that O2 are no longer exclusive suppliers of the iPhone they are now once more broadening their offering of Windows Phones.

The first of the new breed of devices is the high specification HTC HD2 sporting:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1Ghz Snapdragon processor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 512Mb ROM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 448Mb RAM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Slim form factor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The innovative HTC Sense

It looks set to take the world by storm.

We'll look at its features as we move through the review and see how it performs.

Once more we extend our thanks to the generous folks at O2 for allowing us to review the HTC HD2

As always in the hardware section of the review all images shown are thumbnails which may be clicked upon to load a larger more detailed image.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Bear in mind that this is is a review package and therefore does not include any commercial packaging, disks or manuals. What we get to review are the machine itself and the core accessories.

So the first impressions are based on opening a plain box and seeing the HD2 nestled inside in a plain plastic bag. The immediate impact on picking the package up was two fold: that it was relatively heavy and at the same time very thin. Those feelings increased as the HD2 slid out of the bag and into my palm and I'm sad to say the geek in me immediately thought of the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey, that is of strength and power contained within a delightfully austere and plain shell. That thought was of course strengthened by the device being well manufactured and exhibiting a black screen on a black body with black buttons. HTC obviously believe that black is indeed still fashionable chic - and who am I to argue with them!

As I looked over the HD2 it became clear that HTC have designed it to be ultra-cool; there are no harsh or sharp edges that appeared with the Touch Diamond (O2 Ignito) and the edges are minimalistic with most of the control buttons moved on to the front of the machine. The body is a metallic housing coated with a matte black non-slippery coating which gives a good grip without the slippery feel of the HTC Hero. The lines of the device are muted and in conjunction with the smooth flat surface mounted screen give again the impression of controlled power and grace. This is a smooth and silky graceful machine that feels extraordinarily comfortable in the hand.

Build quality looks to be very high indeed; there are no edges that appear sharp or unfinished, no rattles of internal parts, looseness of controls or any visible defects. The HD2 also passes the grip and twist test which can reveal weaknesses in construction.

So now the emotive first thoughts are out of the way we'll launch into the review with gusto and some hard thoughts, facts and analysis!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: High Tech Computer (HTC)
HTC Code name: HTC Leo
Supplier: O2 UK PLC
Product Name: HTC HD2
Price: Varies depending on contract

Firstly let's cover the initial technical ground with a detailed listing of the hardware specification that comprise the HD2.

The high points for me here are the large memory, and a fast processor as these have the greatest effect on the operation of the machine.

Note: Figures are the total ROM and RAM memory available for use and storage. Since the memory is shared by the operating system, applications and data, the actual available memory is less than that specified.

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Features

Platform

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ultra slim bar type touch phone
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional

Processor/Chipset

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Qualcomm MSM 8250, 1GHz (Snapdragon)

Memory

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ROM: 512 MB
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RAM: 448 MB

Display Module

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 4.3-inch 480x800 WVGA resolution
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 65K-color
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sensitive touch screen (Capacitive)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Keep support Multi-Touch capability for WM7 Chassis 1

HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM Function

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internal antenna
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HSPA/UMTS (2100/900 MHz for EU, Asia, 850/1900 for US, Latin America sku, 2100/850 for Australia, 1700/2100 for US) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz)
HSDPA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3GPP Release 5 compliant
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Up to 7.2Mbps
HSUPA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3GPP release 6 compliant
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif UE category 5, up to 2 Mbps peak rate
EGPRS Functionality
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif EGPRS class B
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Multi-slot class 12 (10 Operator dependent)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif PBCCH

Standalone GPS

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internal GPS antenna

A-GPS
Motion G-sensor
Proximity sensor
Ambient Light Sensor
FM Radio

Digital Camera

Main camera:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 5 MP Color CMOS with auto focus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2x LED flash

Key/Button/Switch

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Volume up and down control
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send Key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif End Key (Power Key)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Home Key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Back Key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Reset

Notification

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Notification by sound, vibration, LEDs or status shown on the display
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif One dual colors (Green and Amber) LED in the left lens for PDA event, battery and charging status

Audio

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Built-in microphone
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Receiver
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Loud speaker with hands-free support

Connectivity & Interface

Bluetooth
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Version 2.1 compliant with EDR
Wi-Fi
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif IEEE 802.11 b/g compliant
Micro-USB:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB 2.0 High-Speed client
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3.5 mm stereo audio jack with mic
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1.8/3V USIM/SIM card slot
microSD card slot
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SDHC support

Power

Battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Removable and chargeable battery, 1,230 mAh
AC adaptor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif AC input: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
DC output: 5V and 1A

Accessories [TBD]

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quick Start Guide
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CD (User manual & Sync. software)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Screen Protector
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Travel Charger, TC P300
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB Sync Cable (Micro-USB to Standard USB)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery with Battery Cover
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm audio connector, HS G335
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Premium pouch (Carrying Case)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Car Charger
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Car Holder with battery cover [optional]

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Applications

Microsoft Outlook Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messaging (SMS/E-mail), Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Email Set Up Wizard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Media Player Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft ActiveSync
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Windows Mobile Update
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internet Sharing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pictures & Videos
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Games
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MSFT Zip
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif File Explorer
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Device Management
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Security Enhancement
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Office Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Windows Live!
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Smart Dial
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Remote Desktop Mobile

Value-Added Applications

Windows Mobile Enhancements
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pictures & Videos enhancements
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ring Tone enhancements
Telephony
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif (HTC) Phone Canvas
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif (HTC) Phone Experience
Multimedia
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif (HTC) Camera
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Album
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MP3 Trimmer
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Streaming Media Player
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif FM Radio
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Presentation mode
Web
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Push Internet
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RSS HUB
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif YouTube Client
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Social Networking
Input Method
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif EZ-INPUT
Messaging
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SMS/MMS Client
GPS/LBS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Navigation (CoPilot, Papago)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Google Maps
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quick GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Support CLL.dll library for indoor positioning and reverse geo-coding
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Navi-panel
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Calendar to Navi
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif User Interface (Enhanced HTC TouchFLO)
TouchFLO
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Footprints
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Auto Screen Rotation
Tools & Utilities
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Common Sense
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3G to WiFi router
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Task Manager
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Text selection
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif (HTC) Connection Setup
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif OOBE
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voice Recorder
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Document Viewer – PDF
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif OMA DRM Engine
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Java virtual machine
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Long Press End Key Confirmation (to shut down)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif STK
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SIM manager
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif (HTC) Volume Control
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Business Card Reader
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Document Printing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Magnifier

EXTERNALS AND HARDWARE

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/HTC_Leo/thumbs/DSCF1184.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/HTC_Leo/thumbs/DSCF1188.png

IN THE BOX

Once the box was opened it contained:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The HTC HD2
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery, 1230 mAh
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB Sync Cable (Micro-USB to Standard USB)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Charging Block
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Back / Battery Cover
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm audio connector

It should be noted that the charger is the standard HTC type whereby the sync cable plugs into the charging block and the combination becomes the charger. And as you can clearly see the charger / sync cable connection is micro-USB, not mini-USB as others have reported.

As you can see no stylus is included as the capacitive screen is designed to be used via finger touch.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/HTC_Leo/thumbs/DSCF1187.png

THE HEADSET

The headset is completely standard to the type supplied by HTC and lacks some of the features found on the previously supplied 'Xda' headsets. It is fitted with a 3.5mm jack plug for insertion into the HD2s socket. You have the options to:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Answer or end calls
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pause or play music tracks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Move to the previous or next tracks

Therefore compared to the 'Xda' headsets the following features have been lost:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Volume up / down
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call holding
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call muting

The headset comes with a basic spring loaded plastic clip which allows it to be conveniently clipped onto a shirt or jacket collar. The clip is affixed to the cable via a half cylindrical mount which is forced onto the headset cable. Not the best design and I can see it being lost easily.
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FRONT

The HD2 is utterly stunning in front view with most of the real estate taken up by the large and impressive 4.3 inch screen. The screen is flush mounted with no visible edges or lips and serves to operate well as a touch surface for interaction. This is good news as being capacitive it will be getting a lot of finger contact whereas previous resistive screens only had to handle limited finger use and a lot of stylus impacts. Under the screen can be seen the 'htc' logo picked out in silver lettering and below that the control buttons. These are set into a plastic control strip with each button being rounded at the ends and raised above the control surfaces. The buttons are back lit with white LEDs and illuminate when touched. All of the buttons when pressed serve to 'wake' the HD2 and bring up the WM6.5 unlock screen. As standard on WM6.5 the 'unlock' gadget can be slid left or right to unlock the device or tapped to reveal what the notifications actually are - more on this later.

The buttons carry out (from left to right) the functions of:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif TALK/SEND - Press to answer an incoming call or dial a number. During a call, press and hold to toggle the speaker phone on and off. Press and hold to use Voice Speed Dial.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HOME - Press to return to the Home screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif WINDOWS - Press to bring up the WM6.5 application launcher.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif BACK - Press to return to the previous screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif END - Press to end a call or return to the Home screen. Press and hold to bring up the Power off / Lock Device / Set Vibrate / Terminate data Connection screen.
At the top of the device is the recessed speaker grill, where on the left is the power LED which glows orange while charging and green when charged. There is no notification LED for alerts such as new messages or alarms. To the right of the speaker is the ambient light sensor.

There is also no front facing VGA CMOS colour camera for video calls, which is surprising as this was present on the Ignito and the original Touch HD. This may have been removed due to space constraints within the housing.

The corners of the HD2 are gently rounded which facilitates comfort when held in the hand, no sharp edges here to impinge into the flesh of the palm!

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TOP AND BOTTOM

As mentioned earlier the HD2 is sparse in a lot of areas with respect to the design and that is evident looking at the top and bottom of the device. The top contains nothing at all and the bottom of the machine holds only the micro-USB port and the 3.5mm jack for connecting the headphones.

The more astute among us would really have spotted one possible design flaw here as if one wishes to use the headset (for music playback, listening to the radio, etc) and one uses a belt pouch holster then to there is a problem. The device would have to be either holstered upside down or an additional port made in the case to allow the headset to exit the holder. HTC should really have engineered the HD2 with the 3.5mm port on the top of the device!
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THE SIDES AND BATTERY COVER

The left hand side of the HD2 contains only the single inset rocker button which acts as a volume control, allowing one to either raise or lower the volume. This button is surrounded by the battery cover 'grip'.

The right hand side of the HD2 is completely blank, with no controls at all, the difference here is that there is a 'fingernail notch' in the side of the battery cover to aid with removal.

The prising of the cover away from the main body housing is still somewhat difficult to achieve using that notch and it is easier to accomplish removal by sliding a fingernail into the gap between the body and the cover.

The cover is held in place purely by 'spring' effect and despite this does seem to lock onto the housing well with no looseness at all.

Taking into account that the cover has to be removed to insert the SIM card, access the micro-SD card or hit the reset button then removing the cover in time could either result in a looser fit or wear to the plastic coated body.
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THE BACK FACE

The back of the HD2 is once again sparse, containing the battery cover which bears the HTC logo along with 'WITH HTC SENSE' at the base of the cover.

To the right hand side of the battery cover can be seen the rear speaker piercings and below that the raised portion which contains the 5 MPixel camera, and below that the dual LED flash. One assumes that the camera module is raised to ensure good sound volume transfer out of the HD2 when sitting face up on the desk.
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Once the battery cover is removed the inside of the housing is revealed showing the compartment to take the battery, and below that the slot into which the SIM card is inserted. It's worth noting that once the battery is in place it holds the SIM card firmly in position with no room for it to work loose.

To the left hand side of the SIM card is a connector showing within it three copper terminals. Evidently these are for connecting to the optional car kit. This kit reportedly comes with a special replacement back panel for the HD2 which connects to the car mount magnetically. The car mount evidently can be placed on any car surface - curved or windscreen! Another HTC innovation? We'll have to see!

At the far lower left can be found the micro-SD card slot, which at this time can hold up to a 32Mb micro-SD card. Below this can be seen the small red 'dot' which is the reset button. The button is sized at around 2mm across and is in a recess - perfect for use with a stylus, but of course there is no stylus with the HD2 - so keep a pen or paperclip handy if you need to reset. For myself I find it easier to remove the battery for a second or two!
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BATTERY

The battery supplied with the HD2 is rechargeable Lithium-ion cell with a capacity of 1230 mAh.

With prior Windows Mobile devices this would have been considered a large capacity battery, but with the HD2 having a 1Ghz processor it should be considered average.
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Battery Life

The following battery life usage figures were calculated based on two weeks of monitoring usage whilst at work.

Working day: 07:40 to 16:40. Typical daily tasks; 2 phone calls, an hours eBook reading, numerous references to calendar, consulting Sense for weather, looking up contacts.

Minimal Use - Push E-mail on for Exchange, Hourly checking of Googlemail, Hotmail, Locational Weather on.

Medium Use - Add in Latitude reporting in Google Maps, Facebook updating in 'People' on.

High Use - Add in Wi-Fi all day except during lunch (45 minutes)

Some variation occurred over the days that battery life was monitored, this variance is indicated by the differing colours of green shading on the graph.

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SIZE MATTERS

The HD2 has that awesome screen which serves well for a great number of activities like eBook reading, playing back videos or sharing photographs with friends and colleagues, but there is a price for having that feature - size..
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The screen on the HD2 is 4.3 inches across diagonally (57mm wide x 94mm tall) and this means that it has to have a larger body housing to hold the screen along with the controls. This gives the HD2 an overall height and width of 120.5mm by 67.0mm, large by most PDA standards, but nowhere near as large as the Xda Exec (HTC Universal) at 127.7mm by 84mm and that was loved by many users the world over.

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Good design by HTC and developments in technology have however mitigated the large frontal impact by producing a machine which is only 11.0mm thick - the thinnest HTC device I've used.

Taking into account the tapered edges of the main body housing this means that the HD2 is only somewhat ungainly in use when one wishes to try and use it one handed and needs to reach the opposite top corner from where the machine is held in the palm. This is not as horrendous as one may think as with the buttons mounted on the bottom front of the machine, and the notification bar being activated at any position to the right of the 'start' menu a stretched finger can reach all the areas of control one needs.

In the photographs here we compare the HD2 with (left to right):

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Touch Pro 2
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Touch HD
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC HD2
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Apple iPhone 3G
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Touch Diamond 2

As you can see the HD2 is large from the from but amazingly tiny from side on, thinner even then the svelte iPhone!

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THE SCREEN

As has been stated previously the HD2 has a capacitive screen which has resulted in a slightly thinner (in my opinion) touch matrix on the surface of the device. This in conjunction with changes in technology gives the machine a bright colour rich display that is visible in most lighting conditions. However as the display is not OLED based there are still some readability issues in bright sunlight. The screen is however readable and can be used without any problems, which is an improvement on older WM machines.

One winning feature of the iPhone was that of its clear bright display. The HD2's screen is brighter and better than that on the iPhone, and of course a much higher resolution (800 x 480 compared to 480 x 320 pixels).

The capacitive nature of the screen coupled with the large resolution and the customisation of the OS by HTC (HTC Sense) mean that finger operation works well and the lack of a stylus is not a problem with the operation of the machine.

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TOUCH FLO3D v WINDOWS MOBILE 6.5

Of course there are those who may not want to use the HTC Sense system with the modified 'Today' screen and this is where the HD2 scores again as underneath the HTC customisation it is a pure Windows Mobile 6.5 device. This means that one can alter the today settings and uncheck' HTC Sense' and check 'Windows Default' to get to the WM6.5 'Titanium' interface. As we now move onto the software part of the review we'll look at HTC Sense, TouchFlo3D, and Titanium in some detail.
All images have been processed using the superb SnagIt from TechSmith
HARDWARE CONCLUSIONS

In my opinion the HD2 is a very nicely styled and designed PDA / Phone with a great deal of work being put into the design by HTC's engineers to produce a machine that looks good, sits well in the hand and is comfortable to use. As an avid reader of eBooks the thinness of the device coupled with the large capacitive screen make it a joy to use - giving a great deal of text on screen and ease of control in flipping pages. It's not just about the styling though, the device is very well made and construction and quality control seem to be of the highest level. There are some design changes I wish had been incorporated like the position of the headset jack plug and the reset button being too small, but these to me are minor issues that one can live with.

At this time it is unknown how well the optional car mount will work in operation. I trust HTCs engineers will hold good to their claim that it can mount to a windscreen or curved surface, but I'm not convinced that mounting via a magnetic fastener to the car mount is a good idea. Only time will tell if the design will work or whether we'll be recommending that one purchases a third party Brodit mount as these will likely be available shortly after release of the HD2.

To end on a positive point the specification does include 'Keep support Multi-Touch capability for WM7 Chassis 1' which means that the HD2 has been designed to be compliant with Windows Mobile 7 and therefore should be upgradeable to it - if HTC do release a ROM upgrade of course!

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OOBE (Out of Box Experience)

HTC have gone a long way to make the HD2 something special and this can even be seen as soon as the machine is charged and turned on as at this point you have your first experience with the finger friendliness of OOBE or the 'Out of Box Experience'.

When the machine first boots the Windows Mobile operating system initialises and then the status of the SIM card is checked.

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Then once the PIN code for the SIM is entered the status is checked once more......

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and then the connection set up is completed. This means you are live with a GPRS (or better connection straight away).

This is then followed by a tutorial that takes you through how to use the Onscreen keyboard with the areas covered being: auto correction and entering accented characters.

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The HD2 then looks around for any Wi-Fi networks and offers you the chance to connect to one of then to speed up the connection process (i.e. linking to an Exchange E-Mail server).

You are then presented with the 'Google Location' terms of service whereby you are advised that your new HD2 can use your current location within certain applications - for example weather, and geolocational systems such as Twitter and Footprints (geotagged pictures).

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Set up accounts - in this modern era of connectivity and communications E-Mail has become more and more important so this wizard gives you the opportunity to set up popular e-mail account types:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook (Exchange)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Google Mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif AOL Mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Other Mail Accounts (POP3 mailboxes)

The other side of the coin to E-Mail which is private in nature is of course Social Networking and the HD2 supports:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Facebook - whereby folk's updates can be seen within the People application and their published photos within the Album
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif YouTube - which allows you to upload your videos and view your content
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Twitter - Allows you to read your subscribed Tweets and post your updates.

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The HD2 then looks at the GPRS network it is connected to and tries to ascertain the correct local time. Unfortunately the time signal is not broadcast by O2 and the option to Set the Local Time must be chosen.

This screen also allows you the option of downloading weather forecast data automatically - with the usual proviso that additional data charges may well be applicable.

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The dialog control for setting the local time on the HD2 is easy to use
with sub-config screens for selecting the nearest city to where you live selecting the current calendar date - once that is done you use the up / down arrows to enter the time.

The Synchronise screen recommends that you follow a link to the Microsoft site to find out how to synchronise additional data such as Outlook Contacts, E-mail, Music, Photos, etc.

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Finally HTC recommend that you visit their web site at : http://www.htc.com/www/product/hd2/ to learn more about useful features such as:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Personalizing your Home screen and tabs
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Staying connected to your friends with the People application
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sharing photos and videos
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pinching to zoom into content

And finally once that screen has been passed by you end up at the beautiful blue / black O2 Sense 'Today' screen.

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Benchmarks

The HD2 has been benchmarked against the following models:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Touch HD - The prior HD machine
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Toshiba TG01 - Possibly its closest competitor

As can be clearly seen the HD2 has the highest Spb Benchmark index compared to the other machines. The difference between it and the original HD incarnation is nothing short of staggering but considering we have moved on another year in the development of technology this is not surprising.

However the closest comparison is obviously with the Toshiba TG01 after it has been upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5. In pure hardware power the TG01 beats the HD2 hands down as the CPU index CPU and memory tests all come out ahead of the HD2. GAPI graphics are ahead to as is reading data from WM internal databases. The HD2 pulls back however on the manipulation of files, and these reading and copying figures can make a difference - especially when reading and working with the files that create the Sense environment.

As the TG01 shows when we compare the WM6.1 and the WM6.5 figures for that machine the operating system and ROM itself can make a great difference.

The benchmarks were run four times in total and an average figure obtained on which the above comments have been made.

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Memory Usage

As you should be aware now by reading the specifications the HD2 comes with a massive 512Mb/448Mb of ROM/RAM which after allowances are made for internal OS usage one has left:

188Mb of internal storage
337Mb of program memory for running applications

This is then decreased both by pre-loaded applications and program memory used up by background and foreground applications which are run after boot (system applications and items like HTC Sense).

As can be seen Sense itself takes up around 37Mb of application memory, a goodly chunk indeed but the benefits of it replacing many third party applications probably out weigh that large footprint.
It should be noted though that to get the full use out of the HD2 one may well want to activate Exchange (or other e-mail / data synchronisation) as well as Social Networking (Facebook and Twittter in the main), a secondary e-mail account, weather and stock data updating, etc. If this is done then storage memory can reduce to around 106Mb and free program memory down to 175Mb.

If a few third party applications are installed to mSD card (in the case here: MobiPocket, updated MyPhone, eWallet, and CorePlayer) then additional internal memory is used to support these programs. This reduced the free resources to 82 and 165Mb respectively. However considering that previous WM devices only had from between 35-50Mb of program memory free without loading any third party applications the HD2 is in good stead indeed.

HTC have made sure that the memory architecture is decent enough to give you plenty of storage space internally for loading applications and certainly enough memory for running them.

Finally also remember that the HD (unlike some other competing machines) the storage is expandable via mSD card, which currently gives up to 16Gb but will support 32gb of additional storage - enough for anyone!

SENSE, APPLICATIONS AND SETTINGS

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HTC Sense

The HD2 uses HTC's innovative 'Sense' user interface similar to that seen on the recently released HTC Hero (Android OS) and this latest incarnation doesn't disappoint. The Home screen displays everything you need to access easily. From top to bottom you have the time, weather, calendar, alarms, agenda for appointments and the Quick Link tabs, where you can easily add your favourite applications, contacts or bookmarks.

The menu button at the bottom right gives you more customisation options for the Home screen. The following sections give more details on how each part of the Home screen works, the various tabbed menus in the slide bar will be shown in detail later on.

It is worth mentioning that the Weather Data shown on the Sense today screen ties back to which ever city you have set as your current city in the World Clock configuration. If that configuration is set to 'My Location' then the weather forecast is based on your geographic location, the GPS fix being obtained both through network cell triangulation and or GPS fix. This means that if your location changes while on a journey the next time the weather updates it will be updated based on your current location!

‘Quick Link’ is an easy to use shortcut application that gives you the option to add or remove your favourite programs, contacts or bookmarks to or from the boxes on the bottom half of the Home screen, and there are plenty of choices! Three of the boxes are permanently on show, but with an upward slide of the finger all nine boxes are revealed.

To add to one of the boxes is simplicity itself, tap on an empty box, choose from the three options and pick whatever you want to add from the revealed lists. Removal is easy too, tap on the menu tab then tap on ‘Remove Quick Link’, this will show all installed Quick Links with an ‘X’ on them, tap to remove the shortcut that isn’t required, which you can now replace with another Quick Link or leave it empty, the choice is yours.

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Time and Alarms

Tap the clock on the Home screen and a ‘World Clock’ menu pops up, tap the ‘Add City’ tab, you can then add most locations around the world then see that city in real time; particularly handy if you need to make a call to one of these countries and you are unsure of the local time.

Once you have finished setting customising the ‘World Clock’ to suit your needs, hit the alarm clock tab and surprise, surprise, up pops the ‘Alarm Clock’ menu, this is now unbelievably finger friendly on the HD2 and makes navigation a breeze. Tap on any of the 24hr clocks and you are presented with a huge ‘Set Alarm’ screen where the alarm can be set for the time and day or days of the week no matter how big your fingers are! There’s also the option of adding an alarm text description. The HD2 is provided with a large selection of alarm sounds to wake you from your slumber.

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Start Menu

As you can see the O2 HD2 Start menu contains all installed programs, plus folders containing specific applications related to the folders title names, which are Multimedia, Tools, Outlook, Messaging and Calls. Most applications are standard Windows Mobile fare, but if you look closely there are some interesting new applications such as Marketplace, Search Widget and Peep, which is in reality Twitter.

To make life easier for users to gain access to their favourite applications in the Start menu, any chosen application or folder can be moved to the top of the screen, this is achieved by tapping and holding until a pop up shows asking if you want to move it to the top. With some juggling around you can change the Start menu order to whatever suits you.

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Weather

One of the most commonly discussed topics of conversation in the UK, if not the world, is that of the weather, and the HD2 caters for that need. The weather tab within Sense allows one to view the current weather. The large display clearly shows the current weather forecast as the large central animated image along with information (top left) as to the current temperature and the anticipated high and low temperature figures.

Smaller displays at the bottom of the screen show the forecast for the forthcoming four days. Top right of the display is a refresh indicator which shows the time the weather data was last refreshed.

Below the main forecast image is displayed the current location of the weather being viewed. For most cities this will be a name selected from the forecast database, but there is also the special weather forecast for ‘My Location’. The HD2 uses carrier cell triangulation information and the in built GPS system to determine your current location. Once that has been obtained it goes on line to locate the nearest city to you and then retrieves that weather forecast for that location. Once it has been updated the ‘My Location’ description is replaced with the name of that city and the forecast duly displayed. At the side of the ‘My Location’ city name is shown a small GPS compass indicator so you know that this is not just a standard weather location.

Whichever location has been set as your home city within the world Clock application is then used as the forecast which is then displayed on the main ‘Home’ Sense screen along with the time.

The soft menu keys at the bottom of the screen allow you to update the forecast manually or to access the options. Options include:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Adding locations
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Removing Locations
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Rearranging locations
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Updating the forecast
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Changing between Fahrenheit or Centigrade temperatures
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Or entering the settings where one can set the update frequency and whether to update when roaming

A maximum of 14 cities can be added into the weather system, and it is simple to switch between each one – the screen can be flicked upwards or downwards to move up or down through the list of cities.

Initially the weather is populated with the following locations:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Taipei
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Barcelona
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif London
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Seattle
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Paris
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Tokyo

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Calendar

The ‘Calendar’ on any mobile device is a very important tool for many people including business users, and it has to reliably remind them of important meetings, schedules and appointments, as well as running daily agendas. The ‘Calendar’ on the O2 HTC HD2 is superbly executed and is of course totally finger friendly, with everything you could need and more only a finger swipe or tap away. The ‘Calendar’ menu system is a breeze to navigate, and is a vast improvement over its Windows Mobile 6.1 predecessor.

The calendar itself comprises a number of different views:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Week View - giving a graphical overview of forthcoming appointments
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Agenda View - a list of up and coming appointments
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Month View - shows the entire month with indicators showing days with events or appointments
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Day View - showing a list of todays appointments (with the current weather)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Year view - detailing the complete years calendar

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People

At first glance the People tab appears just to be a screen of shortcuts that can be set for favourite contacts, and while this is true this tab offers so much more.

When a favourite is to be added the contact selector is opened and a contact chosen, the options is then given to select what should be assigned to that shortcut; Mobile number, Work Number, Home Number, Message, E-mail 1 or E-mail 2. Once the favourite has been assigned the icon shows the contact photo (if it exists) or a generic avatar with a small icon bottom right indicating the type of shortcut, with the contacts first name underneath the icon. This also serves to add the contact to the HTC favourites category within Outlook.

The soft keys at the bottom of the screen allow you to choose ‘All People’ or the ‘Menu’ option (which allows you to add or remove shortcuts).

The ‘All People’ option takes you into the main ‘People’ centric application designed by HTC which comprises a number of tabs at the bottom of the screen. These tabs are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif All – Allows you to view all contacts either alphabetically or find a specific contact via a search
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Favourites - Shows the contacts assigned as shortcuts on the People tab in Sense
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Groups – Shows the different categories assigned to your contacts and allows you to send group messages or e-mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Updates and Events – If Facebook linking has been configured this tab shows both up and coming birthdays and anniversaries of contacts (from Outlook) as well as any updates posted on Facebook. If an anniversary or birthday is tapped upon the system offers you the option of sending a birthday greeting message or open the contact card. If a Facebook update is tapped on the recent updates are shown in full.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call History (all) – Shows the complete list of all calls made

It should be noted that if a new e-mail or SMS has been received from a contact a green indication icon will appear next to a contacts icon, both on the People tab itself or next to that contact within any of the tabs. Useful!

On entering a contacts record this is again subdivided into tabs applying to that contact , these are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Contact details – phone numbers, address information (with options to show the location on a map), e-mail, open Facebook album, and details of anniversaries, birthdays, and category groups
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messages – shows any SMS or MMS messages from that contact
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mail – Shows any e-mails from that contact
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Updates and Events – Shows any forthcoming birthdays and anniversaries as well as Facebook updates
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call history – shows the personal call history for that contact.

Each tab contains a tab specific soft key menu which allows you to interact with that tab, whether it be refreshing updates or sending new messages, etc.

HTC have really put some work into this application making it truly people centric and allowing you to get the best of communicating with your contacts in a smooth and simple manner.

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Messages

The Messages tab allows you to view any incoming Text Messages (SMS / MMS) as they arrive as well as create new ones.

To move through the various messages you simply swipe the finger up or down the screen or touch the arrows above or below the counter icon. Replying to the message is simple: you just tap upon it which will then open the message on screen for you to reply to. The new message icon can be tapped (top right) to create a new message.

The SMS messaging system is fully threaded so you can see the flow and history of any conversations.

The 'All Messages' soft button allows you to access all text, picture and video messages on the HD2 in the various Inbox folders.

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Copy and Paste

This completely new ability to copy and paste the whole, or sections of a received / sent / composed SMS text in this way hasn’t been seen before on a Windows mobile device. It will prove so very handy for message forwarding where you don’t want to pass on the whole message, or when you wish to save a section in ‘Notes’ for future reference.

Copying and pasting of SMS text is very straightforward to use too, tap and hold anywhere on the selected text, a pop up consisting of two sliding tab bars appear along with the highlighted text. Now you can move the two tabs until the text you want to copy is highlighted, now tap copy and you can now paste the text to wherever you wish, such as another SMS / MMS, Word Mobile, Notes or a text document.

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Mail

The Mail tab allows you to receive, preview and send e-mail messages. A maximum of four e-mail accounts can be added to this tab. Each e-mail account has it's own e-mail counter so you can instantly see how many e-mails are unread in each mail account. The counter can be tapped upon to switch between accounts.

For the active mail account the large 'e-mail page' is displayed which details the name of the account and mail counter (bottom right) and shows a preview of the messages in that account. Swiping up / down the screen serves to switch between the e-mails being previewed.

If you tap on the previewed e-mail it will open in the Inbox application and you can then read or reply to that e-mail using the standard e-mail editor. Touching the New E-mail icon (top right) opens a new e-mail in the Inbox immediately. All the expected e-mail options are available - all made finger friendly by HTC.

The 'Menu' soft button allows you the options of 'New / Add Account / Account Settings / Send and Receive'.

It's worth noting that swiping the screen sideways while in the main Inbox also moves you between the different e-mail accounts.

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The accelerometer comes into use once more within the e-mail application and turning the HD2 on it's side results in the e-mail messages displayed in Landscape format.

This also serves to change the SIP (Soft Input Program) into a larger landscape based version which has even more room to allow you to type quickly and smoothly.

It is worth noting that the capacitive screen on the HD2 works well indeed and there is no lack of functionality with the loss of the stylus. As a default the XT9 recognition is turned on as standard and it looks like HTC have engineered the same intelligence into the SIP as is found on the HTC Hero, text recognition is good and any typo's engendered by slight finger misplacement on the keyboard are auto corrected with few errors.

The typing speed compared to the Hero is significantly higher as the larger screen allows you more of a comfort factor when typing aiming the finger tips at the on-screen keys. This means to me that I can type as fast (if not faster than I can on the iPhone keyboard). The keyboard is single touch only which works to avoid double thumb tapping and ensures a 'clean' typing experience and maintain accuracy. The landscape keyboard in conjunction with the flat surface screen and the minimal thickness of the HD2 blend together to give a very good comfortable typing experience, on par with or better than hardware QWERTY keyboards as found on the Xda Serra (Touch Diamond Pro)

The accuracy seen within the keyboard is echoed within other applications like Excel, and a finger touch is easy enough to use to select or re-size cells in a spreadsheet. Again the stylus is not missed at all.
The auto-landscape orientation changes have been noted to work in the following applications:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Album
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif E-mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Opera
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internet Explorer
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Music
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CoPilot
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SMS / MMS

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Internet

The Internet tab allows you to tap the globe and launch the Opera Mobile browser which is installed on the HD2 as a superior replacement to Pocket Internet Explorer. As an alternative to that you may swipe up / down the tab to reveal your bookmarked favourites and tap on any one of those to go directly to that site. Once a bookmark has been opened and 'viewed' a thumbnail of the screen is shown within each graphical bookmark.

You can tap the left hand soft key to manage your favourites. Once Opera has loaded a web site you can zoom in or out of areas of interest via double tapping the screen or by using a two finger pinch and move gesture, spreading the fingers wider to zoom in, or pinching closer together to zoom out. Once in zoomed mode you can navigate round the screen via simply dragging the page with your finger. The Opera Browser supports Java script and seemed happy with any of my regular web sites.

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And of course the browsing experience is enhanced by turning the HD2 on it's side as the accelerometer sensor detects the move and put the browser into landscape mode for wide screen browsing.

There are a few caveats with the browser however, by nature it is multi-tabbed which is good news, but in the interests of either speed, stability or memory use it seems that no more than four tabs can be opened at once. It does however offer a decent speed of operation with pages rendering swiftly with few of the delays seen on earlier machines when a page is being rendered. Once a page has completed loading if the HD2 is turned into landscape mode the page transitions into the different view in less than a second, and again similar times are shown when returning into portrait mode - wwww.4winmobile.com (which does not support any reduced specification page for mobiles) was used as a test site.

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Stocks

The ‘Stocks’ tab is an excellent way of keeping an eye on your stocks portfolio, and so simple to use too. To add a stock tap on the ‘Menu’ tab at the bottom of the screen, you are then presented with a search bar where you can enter the stock name or symbol you wish to add. If you wish to delete stock (or stocks) then again tap on the ‘Menu’ tab and delete from the list shown. The other ‘Menu’ options are ‘Rearrange’ which speaks for itself, and ‘Settings’ where you can set the frequency of stock updates. There is one more change you can make in ‘Settings’ and quite a nifty one too, whereas you can set the colour to green or red for a stock price rise. There is also an ‘Update’ tab at the bottom of the ‘Stocks’ screen which again is self explanatory.

Now onto my favourite options in ‘Stocks’, if you tap on one of the stocks in the list you are then presented with a page showing the selected stock’s performance. You can view its current price and also its high and low price, there’s also a tabbed bar at the bottom where it is possible to pick a time span of between one day and two years to see in graph form how that stock has performed over the selected time span.

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Album

There are two ways to access ‘Albums’ on the HD2, through the ‘Start’ menu or through the ‘Sense UI’ ‘Photos & Videos’ tab. Either way the first screen you see is ‘Camera Shots’ where you can view all jpeg photos and MP4 videos stored on your device, whether on the storage card or on the device itself, the HD2 can also be rotated to view in landscape mode.

If you select ‘Albums’ at the bottom left of the ‘Camera Shots’ screen this will show all images of all file types stored on your device, there is also a tab at the bottom of the screen that gives the option for sharing where you can upload selected images to Facebook.

The ‘Menu’ tab on the bottom right of the ‘Camera Shots’ screen gives the options shown in the screen shot on the left, the same menu is also shown when selecting any image from ‘Albums’.

Tap on the selected photo or video you wish to view and it is then shown full screen in landscape mode. If you wish to zoom in on a photo spread two fingers from the middle of the screen outwards, or ‘pinch’ the screen inwards between two fingers to zoom out. The zoom speed is instant, and the capacitive screen shows photos in fantastic detail, the zoom function doesn’t work on videos though obviously.

The various menu options while viewing a photo are as follows:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mail - Send via Emil
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messages - Send via MMS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Facebook - Upload to Facebook Mobile Pictures Album
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Set as Contact Icon
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Save Screen Image
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Delete
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Set as Footprints - Add it to the Footprints system

And for video they are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mail - Send via E-mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messages - Send via MMS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif YouTube - Upload to YouTube
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Delete
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Properties

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If you turn the HD2 sideways whilst on the ‘Photos and Videos’ tab in ‘Sense UI’ the view instantly transitions into a flow effect cinemascape view. You can view all your pictures and videos at speed with the flow effect from either left to right, or right to left using a swipe of a finger, it is a veritable visual treat. Select and tap on whichever photo or video you wish to view and it then opens that picture in full screen view.

All available options remain the same in landscape mode as they are in portrait mode, as described above. There are two tabs at the bottom of the screen, the left takes you to ‘Camera Shots’, the right takes you to ‘Options’, both of which are viewable in landscape mode.

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Music

Open the ‘Music’ tab and you are presented with a lush looking player that has a plethora of options to play your favourite sounds, the main screen has your albums displayed showing the album art and random tracks from each album. Flick your finger up or down to scan through the albums and tracks on display, and tap to play the track of choice. Stroke your finger over the track length bar to fast forward or rewind the track you are listening to.

The ‘Play’, next track back or forwards buttons are large and easily accessible. At the top of the screen on the right there are symbols that can be tapped that represent ‘Shuffle’ and ‘Repeat’, and on left top you have the option to download the latest updated album art over the air to your device.

The bottom ‘Menu’ tab has one very notable option which is ‘Shop Music Store’, after tapping on it I found the HD2 connected to the Internet via Opera and went straight to Amazon online, where the album that is in my play window was on display with the full album details and the option to purchase, just a shame it was in dollars and I already own it! Amazon does give other similar purchase options though.

The options in the ‘Menu’ tab are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Repeat
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shuffle
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Add to Playlist
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shop Music Store
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Update Album Art
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Audio Booster
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Properties

Tap the bottom left ‘Library’ tab and all the important options for playing your sounds back in the order you prefer appear; ‘Now Playing’ shows the tracks that are listed as playing in the ‘Music’ player; ‘Artists’ gives a list of all current installed album or single artists; ‘Albums’ is a list of installed albums; ‘Playlists’ gives you the option for you to compose and title your own playlists; ‘All Songs’ lists every available track installed on your device; ‘Genres’ gives a list of music styles, e.g. Rock, Pop or Dance, perfect for finding an album to suit your mood; ‘Composers’ this lists........ yes you guessed correctly! The last tab is ‘Purchased’ this shows which albums you have recently purchased online. Each of these tabs except ‘Playlists’ (which has its own menu option) has the option to return to the ‘Now Playing’ screen in one easy tap.

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Landscape mode is my favourite way of playing music, turn the HD2 on its side and you have the albums laid out just as the photos and videos are in landscape mode, and wonderfully impressive it looks too, this is where the fun starts!

Choose the album of choice, and either tap on the album itself or the album listing symbol on the bottom left of the screen. The album being viewed slides across the screen and the album track listing appears on the left of the screen. You are then able to finger swipe the track listing from top to bottom, tap and choose any track and play the album from the selected track.

If you want to see the lists of tracks on other albums you can do this too by scrolling the albums left or right, the track listings then show up for you, all while still playing the tracks you have just chosen! Turn the device back into portrait view and the album you are currently playing continues to play, swipe the album up and down to go to the next or previous track, or choose other options that suit you.

I really believe this to be the best incarnation of a standard music player that I’ve seen on a Windows Mobile device; it’s so versatile and superbly presented. Every option you could need is available, and there is nothing clunky or cumbersome about it at all, and it’s poetry in motion to watch on the large capacitive screen.

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Twitter

Once you have configured the social networking system to log into your Twitter account then accessing this tab will show you the recent Tweets of the folks that you elect to follow. This is complete with their avatar and their Twitter name.

The top portion of the screen offers a text input box where you can post your latest Tweet to the world, and also shows the last time the Tweets were updated.

The right soft key menu offers you the choice of:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Update now – to refresh the Tweets
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif New Tweet – to use the full Peep environment for posting a tweet
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif New Message – to send a message to someone you are following
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Update location – Use the GPS system to update your location – if you wish to geolocate your Tweets (not always recommended)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif My Profile – Loads your profile from Twitter for viewing only (including the number of following/followers you have) , and allows you to update your photo. Your recent Tweet history is also shown
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Settings – Allows you to change your account name, configure the number of Tweets downloaded and the refresh frequency. You can also specify the Photo Host and URL shortening host used.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Notification settings for direct messages, mentions and updates can also be configured as well as the notification tone and vibrate settings.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Search – Allows you to search the world of Twitter

The ‘All Tweets’ left menu soft key allows you to enter the main Peep application whereby tabs at the bottom of the screen allow you access to:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif All Tweets
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mentions
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Direct Messages
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Favourite Tweets

When you choose to send a Tweet using Peep a large full screen editor opens giving you plenty of room to write your tweet, with buttons at the bottom which allow you to post a photograph from an album into a tweet or include your location obtained via the GPS system.

Gotchas: At the moment the tweet retrieval frequency seems to be ignored and the notification system does not always sound.

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Footprints

Footprints is a geotagging application which allows you to take a photograph of a location you wish to retain as a memory and attach to it additional data such as it’s Geographic location. On entering the Footprints tab you are presented with a list of pre-configured Footprints containing locations of:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Big Ben
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Eiffel Tower
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Collosseum
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Statue of Liberty

As with other Sense applications you can swipe up and down the screen so move between the different Footprints. Each Footprint will show the large photograph of the location and underneath it the description and date the print was made. An index number at the bottom right of the screen shows the current number of the print and the total number you have stored.

Top right of the screen is a ‘+footprint’ icon which allows you to invoke the camera and take a new footprint. Once the footprint viewfinder opens one has the opportunity to take the picture straight away or wait for the GPS system to initialise and thereby geotag the footprint. If one does not allow the GPS system time to kick in you are presented with a screen offering:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Find on map
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Continue GPS Search
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Stop GPS Search

You are then taken to the main Footprint application which will show the photograph with 5 icons underneath:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera – Retake the photograph
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Compass – Add / Edit the GPS location
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pin – Tap and hold a pin point location in Google Maps
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Speaker – Record a voice note
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Note – Edit the Footprint

The editor allows you to modify:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Category
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Location description
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Phone number
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif URL
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Geo Location via GPS or latitude / longitude
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voice note
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Text note

Once you have finished with the Footprint you can hit either the ‘Done’ soft-key to leave the editor ‘or ‘Delete’ to remove the footprint. On returning to the main Footprint application you can either use the ‘back’ soft-key to return to the Sense Footprint interface or use the ‘Menu’ soft-key which offers:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Edit
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Show on Map
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Digital Compass
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Export
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Delete

The Export function is particularly useful as you can then Export the footprint to SD card as a .kmz file – which can then be archived, swapped with friends or copied on to a PC for viewing with the Google Maps application.

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Personalisation

‘Personalize’ in settings is the place to go if you want to customise your HD2 to suit your personal taste. The screen shot on the left shows the options available under ‘Personalize’.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Home Tab Wallpaper’: Leads to two options, ‘Weather Wallpaper’ where you can select one of the pre-installed backgrounds, and ‘Animated Wallpaper’ where you can choose an animated wallpaper for your ‘Home’ screen, how cool is that! You can also choose one of your own image files for both of these options which will sit as the background to these animated screens.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Lock Screen Wallpaper’: Again you can choose one of the pre-installed wallpapers or you own images to display on the ‘Lock Screen’.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Home Screen Tabs’: Allows you the choice of unticking or ticking the tab, or tabs you want to display along the bottom of ‘Sense UI’.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Font’: Alter the default font size to suit your needs.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Vibrate’: Decide whether you want the HD2 to vibrate or not when tapping the buttons in HTC Sense, phone dialler, keyboard, YouTube or any other supported applications.

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NaviPanel

This is a very useful application for those that are planning on purchasing the forthcoming HTC car mount for the HD2. Basically, there is some magnetic trickery between the HD2 and the mount whereby, whenever you place the HD2 in the mount, a piece of software (the NaviPanel) automatically launches.

This panel has six huge buttons, designed to be easy to press whilst in the car, and provides easy access to common GPS related functions. Clock-Wise from the top-left you have Footprints, allowing you to enter the Footprints sub-menu which allows you to enter all Footprint categories. Strangely enough there is no option to record a new Footprint!

The 'Make A Call' icon allows you to make a (handsfree) call either via the dialler, via your stored favourites, or via the recent calls list.

The 'Go Home' button loads CPL8 with your home address already defined as the destination. 'Address' loads CPL8 and takes you straight into the address selection wizard. The 'Recent' icon again loads CPL8 and takes you to your list of recent destinations. 'Navigation' just loads CPL8 without and pre-defined action taking place.

The auto-launching of the panel can be de-activated from within the options but I've found it to be hugely useful so it has remained active in my car. One suggested improvement here would be if the panel could have additional options allowing a different GPS application to be launched but alas such is not available.

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Settings / All Settings

The ‘Settings’ menu is accessed by going to the very last tab on the ‘Sense UI’, you then have the option to use the onscreen menu system to access the categorised list of settings, or you can tap on menu to access the tab ‘All Settings’ which has every setting available on the HD2. The settings list is vast so we have decided to describe a few at random that may pique your interest.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Sound & Display’: The menu has a vast array of options for phone profiles, ringer and system volume, rings and notifications, the back light display and G-sensor. There are two quirky settings that I like, the first is ‘Quiet ring on pick-up’ whereas the ring volume can be set to reduce once the phone is picked up or moved. The second is ‘Pocket Mode’ if this is set to on then the phone will increase the ring volume while in a pocket or a bag.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Location’: This setting screen lets the user decide whether or not to allow the collection of data for the locations services available on the HD2 such as the weather or Google maps. Just remember though, if you turn off the location data collection the weather won’t update automatically when you travel to a different location.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Text Input Settings’: As well as the usual settings for input and the XT9 spell correction and word completion there is an extra option added in ‘Others’, this is ‘Tutorial’ which allows to learn and practice auto-correction and tap and hold on the new easy to use HTC keyboard.

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Teeter

There is only one game provided on the HD2 - Teeter. It is a Labyrinth-type maze game. On loading Teeter starts up and a silver ball bearing appears on a dark table with black holes, walls, and a single green exit hole. The object of the game is to get the silver ball into the green hole without vanishing into any of the black holes and disappearing. The challenge is that you navigate the ball around the screen by holding the HD2 parallel to the ground and tilting the device to move the ball.

The sensors are very sensitive and you can even move along the edges of the black holes without falling in. It also picks up how much you tilt the device and the ball will accelerate/decelerate depending on your angle.

The real surprise though, is what happens when the ball hits a wall/side. You physically feel the strike in the actual area where the ball hits the wall. Plus, the vibration/feedback varies by how far the ball travels before it hits the wall/side.

At the end of each level you will are presented with a score as to your performance and then given an even more complex and challenging table to navigate and complete. Tapping the screen during game play gives you the option of exiting the game or resuming. On reloading the game you are allowed to either resume the last game or start afresh.

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Notifications and Wireless control

When a notification appears in the top 'bar' of the HD2 this can be tapped upon to open the 'Notifications' screen on which any new notification is displayed. Again this is finger friendly and each notification entry can be tapped upon to take you to the relevant 'Sense' application. That is if an e-mail notification is tapped you will be taken to the E-mail tab within Sense.

There is of course the option to either close the screen or dismiss any displayed notifications.

If the top icon is tapped (signal strength) then this acts as a shortcut to the Wireless Controls screen making it very easy to change any wireless functionality as required.

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Long Press End Key

If the 'End Call' Key is depressed the Quick List screen pops into view which offers you the choices of:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Powering the device off completely
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Locking the device
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Turning it into vibration or silent mode
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Terminating any running data connections

Interestingly there is no applet in the settings at all that allow this functionality to be changed. In fact the button configuration program has all button settings removed from the applet meaning that you cannot customise the functionality of any of the buttons on the HD2 without using a third party application.

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Compass

Following the current vogue for GPS / magnometer based applications (as seen on the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Hero) the HD comes supplied with a Compass application. This uses both GPS and a magnometer to detect both your current location and the direction of magnetic north.

When first run the application will ask you to move the HD2 in a figure of eight so it can auto-configure the sensors within.

Once configured the main compass screen is displayed with clear and highly visible indicators of the cardinal points of the compass. There is an option to change between Imperial and Metric units but currently this seems to have no effect of the data displayed.

Finally the 'destination' button may tapped which loads the Google Maps application which then allows you to tap the screen to choose a datum point. Once this has been done the GPS kicks into operation and the current GPS position is shown along with the distance to the destination with a green dot on the bezel of the compass indicating its direction.

Glitch - The Compass does not always return the exact same 'North' position, it varies by around 10 degrees.

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Google Maps

Google Maps on the HD2 makes it easy to:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Determine your current location with GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Get driving and transit directions
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Get phone numbers and addresses for local businesses
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Use the Google Latitude system to keep up to date with the location of friends and family
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Use the traffic layer to be warned of congested traffic areas

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Phone

The whole of the phone UI has been thoughtfully overhauled on the HD2, and I must say what an excellent job HTC have made of it. The settings and options available are numerous, and the whole layout is very easy to navigate via scrolling menus. There are three tabs at the bottom of the screen; from left to right they are ‘All People’, ‘Keypad’ and ‘Menu’

Once you tap on ‘All people’ a tabbed sliding bar is revealed at the bottom of the screen with the following options, some of which are self explanatory.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Contacts’:- Sub Menus: New Contact, Delete Contacts, View, Import SIM Contacts, SIM manager. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Favourites’:- Sub Menu: Add Menu.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Groups’; Sub menu: New Group.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Updates and Events’; Link to Facebook and Login to get updates. Sub Menu: Settings.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Call History (All)’; Sub Menus: Filter, Delete.

The ‘Keypad’ tab removes or restores the phone keypad for easier viewing of calls and contacts.

Lastly the ‘Menu’ tab opens up the following options:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Open Contact
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call History
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Speed Dial
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Save to Notes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send Text Message
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Paste
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Options
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif View
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Conference Mode

There is also a downward sliding finger friendly keypad cover when in a call that will give you access to the applications showing underneath, which are ‘Hold’, ‘Add Call’, ‘Note’, ‘Speaker’, ‘Mute’ and ‘Calendar’.

The HD2 still has more tricks up its sleeve once you make a call and put the phone against your ear, the screen turns itself off, and if you take the phone away from your ear the screen turns itself back on! Absolutely brilliant and it saves accidentally starting other applications with a touch of your ear on the screen, something users have bemoaned for some time on touch screen devices.

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FM Radio

One useful feature of recent HTC / Xda machines was the FM radio which has also been included in the HD2. Once again for this to function the wired headset must be in place and as this has a secondary function as an FM antenna.

The first time the application is run it will automatically scan for the available FM channels in your area, save them as presets, then play the first FM station found.

Full control of the radio is allowed with options / features of:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Switch between Mono and Stereo modes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Switch between speaker and headset output
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Search the FM band for the next lower / higher FM channel
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Volume adjustment
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RDS Station name display
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Preset saving and adjustment
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sleep function so that the radio will turn off after a defined period

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CoPilot 8 Live

This is a fully featured turn-by-turn SatNav application and, certainly within the UK market, is the main rival TomTom. It's inclusion with the HD2 follows through on O2 UK's previous GPS policy as various incarnations of CPL have been included on the Serra, Ignito and Guide machines.

To provide a full description of CoPilot would be a review in itself and is outside the scope of this review.

The copy provided includes a 15 day trial license so you can test out the software fully before deciding whether to purchase it or not.

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YouTube

The YouTube application allows you to connect to the YouTube servers and download videos for viewing. You may look through what is available via various view filters; All Videos, Top Rated, Featured, Most Viewed, Search for any videos, and view the history of what you have viewed.

Be warned though that this application is very data intensive so you either need a an unlimited 3G account or to use WiFi to download the videos. It does the job, the videos look good on screen, and search and navigation are a doddle. It's just a simple little app that works with no fuss.

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Marketplace

‘Marketplace’ is Windows Mobile’s brand new phone application store where you can download free and paid for applications through a wireless or data connection, and is installed as standard on all official Windows Mobile 6.5 devices and ROMs.

To activate ‘Marketplace’ on the HD2 tap the icon in the Start menu to install the application before you can use it. The applications you choose for free or purchase, are then installed directly onto your device. Most applications can be previewed before downloading; the list shown on the left gives an obvious explanation of the categories available.

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My Phone

The HD2 comes complete with one of Microsofts newest applications - My Phone - this allows you to:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Back-up information to a password-protected web site hosted by Microsoft
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send photos to your PC and favourite social networking sites
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Find your lost phone - the My Phone service can show you the last known location of your phone on a map
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Access your contacts, text messages and more online via the My Phone web portal

This works well in helping you save, back-up and archive your data, all wirelessly and in the background.

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Phone Search

The search facility built into earlier incarnations on Widows Mobile has been greatly enhanced and no serves to look through:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif All Data
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Calendar
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Contacts
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Excel Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Help
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Larger than 64Kb
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messaging
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Notes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Tasks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Word Mobile

Searches are carried out within a few seconds which is much faster than seen on prior machines, now becoming a functionality that can be used and appreciated.

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WorldCard Mobile

WorldCard Mobile is one of those applications that you come across and wonder whether it will be useful, and then you try it and find it is very useful indeed. It is simple enough in concept - use the camera to capture an image of a business card, perform a bit of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to input the text, allow any errors to be edited and then add to your contacts. It may take a few attempts to be proficient with positioning the business card, but once you get used to working with the application it can be very useful. It can certainly save a lot of typing!

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Voice Recorder

The ‘Voice Recorder’ can be accessed via ‘Start’ then ‘Tools’ folder, and is very straightforward to use. Tap on the red button or ‘Record’ tab to record, and the black button or ‘Stop’ tab to stop recording. While recording it is also possible to pause and resume the recording using the ‘Pause’ and ‘Resume’ tabs that are visible during recording or pausing. Tap on a saved file to play back that file.

The options available from the ‘Menu’ tab are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Rename/Move
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Delete
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Create Copy
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Select All
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Set as Ringtone
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Options, which gives a choice of saving to the main memory or storage card.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif About

The options available when tapping and holding on one of the saved ‘Voice Recorder’ files are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send via Bluetooth
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Rename/Move
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Delete
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Create Copy
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Select All
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Set as Ringtone

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Quick GPS

Quick GPS can speed up the amount of time for determining GPS positioning by downloading the latest satellite information via an Internet connection such as GPRS, ActiveSync, etc). Quick GPS will work with any installed GPS application such as Co Pilot which is preinstalled on the O2 HTC HD2. Most helpful if you can’t get a GPS satellite lock as quickly as you would like.

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Titanium

‘Titanium’ is the naked, bare bones user interface of Windows Mobile 6.5, and can be seen once you untick the ‘Sense UI’ from start> settings> Today> items. There were doubters that thought that the ‘Sense UI’ couldn’t be disabled from the operating system, but I can assure you it can be!

Again ‘Titanium’ is very user friendly if you want to run it as your choice of user interface on the HD2, but not at all as comprehensive as the ‘Sense UI’ which is the star of the show. Scroll up and down with your finger to see the whole list, or tap on the application you wish to view. All listed applications on the ‘Titanium’ screen can be disabled one by one if you so wish in settings.

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Lock Screen and Notification Tabs

When the screen on the HD2 is locked you are presented with the now standard WM6.5 lock screen, which holds a button showing a padlock icon. This icon is then slid to the right or left on screen to unlock the machine.

When system notifications arrive such as missed calls, new e-mail or new SMS, that sliding button gains a number which totals the number of events.

If that lock button is tapped other buttons pop out downwards to show each type of event. These in turn can then be swiped sideways to take you directly into the relevant application!

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Screen Readability

The large 4.3 inch (diagonal) 800 x 480 screen on the HD2 is surely one of its most striking features and comes in to it's own when working with documents like PDF files and eBooks. The brightness level is good and the lettering is clear and crisp (even though cleartype is not enabled as a default) in all documents. eBooks can be easily read with the font reduced in size - that in conjunction with the large screen give a reading experience on par with that of a full size book as far as content is concerned.

The brightness level across the screen is completely even and there are no areas of inconsistent brightness, colour levels are accurate and there is no harshness seen in any colour. This means that whether reading an eBook, or sharing your recent holiday photos with a friend you will not be disappointed.

The only slight niggle with the screen is the matter of fingerprints. Yes the screen surface is wonderfully smooth but as it undergoes extensive contact with the finger tips then grease does tend to build up while in use and finger marks are evident. However the screen appears to have been coated in some manner an it is a simple matter to give the screen a quick wipe with a soft cloth (or even a shirt) to regain a clean fingerprint free working surface.

After two months use the screen remains free from scratches and flaws (even without a screen protector) and unlike some competing machines appears to be fully durable and able to withstand constant operation.

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Bluetooth

I needed to test the AD2P stereo audio quality so this was a good excuse to give the HD2’s Bluetooth a workout with my Motorola S9 Stereo Bluetooth headset. Pairing was a breeze, firstly I switched on the S9s, then went to the main Bluetooth menu on the HD2 through the 'Start' menu where I was straight away presented with the option to turn on Bluetooth, which I did.

The next step was to tap the ‘Add’ tab to search for Bluetooth devices in range, which the HD2 did in no time at all, finding my PC and the S9 headset, there’s also a ‘Menu’ tab at the bottom in this screen that gives options to search again or cancel. I then tapped on the shown Motorola S9 headset to pair them up with the HD2, the password was entered, I tapped ‘OK’ and the pairing was then complete, with the confirmation that the S9s were able to be used in stereo audio, and as a hands-free set, so not too painful at all!

Now I’m all paired up I can try the Motorola S9 headset in anger, streaming audio content straight from the HD2. I first tried the ‘Sense UI’ music player, playing a varied genre of tracks through rock to pop to give a balanced view, and I was more than happy with the results. I found the audio quality was top notch at high or low volume levels, without any noticeable distortion at higher volume levels.

I also tested the stereo headset’s audio capabilities by playing a video file I have of Batman Begins through the latest version of Core Player on the HD2. The beginning of the film is graphically intense when thousands of bats are flying across the screen, but the HD2 coped with ease and the video (no stutter) or audio didn’t degrade whatsoever, the whole of the film wasn’t a problem to watch or listen to at all.

I would say Bluetooth stereo audio quality through the Motorola S9 headset on the HD2 is better than any previous Windows Phone I have tried by some distance. I’m pretty sure the HD2 must be using new and improved Bluetooth drivers, as I haven’t seen a loss of connection between the device and headset when the HD2 is in your pocket while streaming music, which used to happen quite often with previous HTC devices.

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There are three tabs at the top of the Bluetooth main screen, the centre ‘Pairing’ tab being the one used to set up a pairing with my headset. The top left tab is for ‘Settings’ and you can see in the screen shots there are many options listed, tap on ‘Advanced’ in the list to open up a further list of in depth settings.

The third top tab is ‘Tools’ and the menus and sub menus are listed below:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Print Images’: Tap to reveal ‘Bluetooth printing’ showing a list of images available for printing via Bluetooth. The ‘Menu’ button at the bottom in ‘Bluetooth Printing’ reveals Select All, Clear All, Refresh and Exit.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Network Manager’: Tap to reveal ‘Bluetooth Network Manager’ there is a drop down list showing Create a Private Network, Share Internet Connection and Access Internet through remote device. You need to tap continue once your choice is made.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘Business Card Exchange’: Tap to reveal ‘Business Card Exchange’ with a list showing Request Business Card, Send Business Card and Exchange Business cards. There is a settings tab at the bottom of the screen for each shown the list.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ‘BT Send Object’: Tap to reveal ‘Outlook E-mail’ there is a menu tab at the bottom of the screen that gives the option to Change Type or Exit. Tap the Change Type tab to reveal a list of objects that can be sent via Bluetooth, these are Outlook E-mail, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Calendar Items, Audio, Ring Tones, Images and videos.

I am very impressed by the new Bluetooth layout and the navigation within, it does make life easier when you want to connect and send or share files and information.

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Keyboard

The inbuilt onscreen keyboard is just the right size and a breeze to use, it covers half of the screen, and as the screen on the HD2 is large and crystal clear anyway this makes typing with accuracy very easy. Type as fast as you wish and there is no lag or slowdown when using the onscreen keyboard whatsoever. The keyboard itself is very straightforward to use and all the necessary keys for capitals, numbers, symbols and smilies are only a couple of taps away. The built in predictive text which is optional to use works well, and has the ability to store your words in its memory.

O2 Customisation or Branding

In days of yore O2 were renowned on their 'Xda' range of products for adding those extra touches; whether this was a few extra applications, or a customised Touch FLO experience. Now it seems those days have indeed passed. On the O2 variant of the HD2 the customisation is limited to the O2 style wallpaper and lock screen. That's it. Nada

The Camera

The camera software included is the latest incarnation of the HTC program which replaces the camera part of the 'Pictures and Videos' application. This offers a one screen display consisting of a central view finder with controls surrounding it, these are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Advanced Options (bottom right)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shutter icon (centre right)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Auto flash / on / off (top right)

When actuated the screen becomes the viewfinder for the camera and taking a photograph is simple, you hold the HD2 and point it at what you wish to photograph, within seconds the focus guide auto-focuses on the viewfinder, locking the focus and then you tap the shutter icon which takes the picture.

You are then given time (default 10 seconds) to preview the image with the options to send the picture (upload to Facebook, save to Footprints, send via MMS or send via e-mail), delete it, view it in the album, or return to the camera to take the next shot.

If the Advanced Options icon is tapped more control icons appear for around six seconds before vanishing. These are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Left hand side - Digital zoom slider
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bottom left - Load album
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bottom centre - Capture mode (Photo, video, panorama, MMS video, or contacts picture)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bottom right of centre - Additional quick controls (white balance, brightness, ISO, storage, self timer and advanced)

The advanced control panel offers you the following:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Resolution - 5M (2592 x 1552)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Widescreen - on / off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Touch Focus - on / off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Review duration (no review, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, no limit)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quality (basic, normal, fine, superfine)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Capture format - JPEG only
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Time stamp - on / off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Keep backlight - on / off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shutter sound - on / off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Image properties (Contrast +3, Saturation +3, Sharpness +3)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Effect (none, greyscale, sepia, negative)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Metering mode - spot
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Prefix - default
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Counter (current number or reset)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Flicker adjustment (Auto, 50Hz, 60Hz)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Grid - on / off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Help
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif About

The options strangely are reduced compared to prior models like the Xda Guide which incorporated features like:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Themed picture
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS picture (replaced by Footprints?)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Multi-resolutions
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Other metering modes (Average)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Date or Date / Time prefixes

So in both camera quality and features this application although easier to control via a better icon interface seems somewhat lacking in features.

EXAMPLE PHOTOS AND VIDEO

These are a set of typical photographs taken with the HD2 camera on default settings whilst travelling around in Scotland on a recent holiday.

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http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Decent weather on the trip up towards the highlands
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Loch Nan Uamh in all its glory

Both photographs exhibited slightly false colouration with a pink tinge being visible throughout, the focus seemed slightly inaccurate resulting in a lack of detail when viewed close up.

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http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Loch Nan Uamh towards the headland
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Loch Nan Uamh towards the sea

Once again the pink tingle and lack of focus are much evident with this being more evident when faced with the bright light levels as the focus moves towards the sun. The colours start to bleed together somewhat towards the right hand side of the picture and the lack of white balance adjustment is evident.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/HTC_Leo/ex_photos/IMAG0037.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/HTC_Leo/ex_photos/IMAG0044.png

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The legendary silver sands of Morar
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The road from Mallaig

Again we see more evidence of unnatural colour tinting, in real life the silver sands were the clean white / grey of silica sand as can be seen towards the left hand side of the photograph. The center of the picture shows yet again tinges of orange and pink discolouration. The green vegetation around Mallaig looks much too verdant and bright compared to the actual conditions.

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http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Typical video footage

Taken on the way up to the Highlands at a brief rest spot. The same problems encountered whilst taking still photographs are also evident in the video, although the focus seems somewhat improved.

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EXIF Data

This is an example of the EXIF data held within a typical photograph taken with the HD2's camera at default settings. As you can see the default setting is for a 2592 x 1552 image with auto-focus and white balance. Unfortunately going through the camera settings reveals that using the standard camera no GPS data is embedded within the photograph.
GENERAL ASPECTS

SatNav lock times - during the course of the review the HD2 has been hard reset five or six times which has the side effect of clearing the GPS cache. Each time, after the reset, the Sat Nav system was initialised and times taken to achieve a first and secondary lock. First lock times were around one minute and secondary locks were achieved almost within around 10-12 seconds with QuickGPS data downloaded. The only GPS issue seen on rare occasions is where the Locational Weather system failed to gain a solid enough lock, or a lock was achieved but no forecast was available. Apart from that the GPS or cell triangulation system worked very well within CPL8, Weather, and the Latitude system within Google Maps. There have been no instances of GPS fade where the signal would be lost requiring an application reload or a device reset. The GPS system is fast and solid in operation.

Bluetooth - It is worth mentioning that the Bluetooth system included within ROM supports the Bluetooth 2.0 specification. I've successfully linked the HD2 to the native Bluetooth system within my 307CC without any problems. Re other SAP car kits (for of VW, Audi, Skoda, Mercedes, and Jaguar)- O2 have confirmed it works with these cars, although there are issues with kits that generate random PIN codes.

E-mail - As the HD2 is a fully converged device, benefiting from an always on GPRS / HSDPA connection, Push E-mail, e-mail handling is an absolute pleasure - you are always in contact and in touch. Those features, along with the people centric connectivity engendered within the Sense system make the HD2 almost a perfect device for communicating both with friends and work colleagues.

Social Networking - With support for Facebook via the Mobile Picture upload facility, the Facebook application supplied on the device, and the Facebook integration within the People application keeping up to date with friends is not a problem and becomes a positive pleasure. Add to that the ability to upload any videos to YouTube and with Peep taking you into the world of Twitter and Tweeting everything is covered. Of course the HD2 supports SMS and MMS messaging as well as Live Messenger for communicating using somewhat older technologies so you are covered for all Social Networking needs.

Signal Strength / Radio - Typically at work using most HTC Windows Mobile devices I get around one bar of signal (GPRS only) and at work I get three to four bars of full 3G connectivity. Needless to say using the HD2 as this was manufactured by HTC I expected a similar result. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that the HD2 would get a full five bars of signal at home with an occasional single bar of goodly 3G. At work needless to say a full five bar 3G connection is available. As a comparison the HTC Hero usually gets around 3/4 of full signal strength at home and the iPhone around 3 bars of signal. Phone call sound quality is generally good although an occasional distortion has been observed with the voice quality when moving to areas of poor signal strength - i.e. rooms surrounded by a lot of steel work, but that is common with most phones I've used.

Volume and Speaker Quality - One of the things I look for in a phone is a decent volume level, important to me as my devices are usually holstered in a thick leather pouch on my belt (Vega Holster). The volume on the HD2 is loud enough that a notification can be heard at all times (and I usually have the volume set to around the 60% mark). Audio quality whether listening to music, playing back a video or during a phone call. Comparing the sound system to that of the HD Diamond 2 I'd estimate that the audio quality is maybe two notches better and volume around 25% louder. This is however still less than the volume on the HTC Hero which truly does have a loud audio system. Calls have been made and maintained with no issues with the speaker phone turned on whilst accessing data in a spreadsheet, word and within People - no glitches or problems were found during the processes.

Speaker Niceties - The HD2 has a couple of nice features built into the speaker / audio system. The first is the option of a 'in pocket' mode, whereby if this is turned on the HD2 will detect that it is in a pocket (or I assume any dark area) add the audio will be boosted to compensate. Secondly if a notification or ring tone is playing while the machine is static on the desk when you pick up the HD2 it detects this (and knows you are aware of the audio signal) and then lowers the volume of the notification by some 30%. Cool! HTC have also included the muting facility seen on earlier machines whereby if the phone rings and the device is turned upside down then the ring tone will be muted.

Video Playback - As is expected videos recorded on the HD2 natively in MP4 format playback easily with no lag or lip sync issues. To further test video performance Core Player was loaded onto the HD2 and a selection of AVI videos played back, some of these were in 720p HD format. Playback was again equally good with no judder and the sound was in sync with the video. Standard sound without the headset plugged in was loud enough to be audible in a busy restaurant and if the headset was brought into operation was impressively loud (in fact the volume had to be decreased to be comfortable) with good stereo separation of the audio streams.

TV Out and USB Host - Various sources around the Internet have stated that the HD2 supports both TV Out and USB Host connectivity. The official specifications from HTC do not list such items and the HD2 is not supplied with any micro-USB adaptor cables to link to a video system or connect USB devices. O2 have also confirmed this functionality is NOT present.

Magnifier - One useful and somewhat novel inclusion within the WM6.5 operating system is that of the Magnifier. If you are in an application like the File Manager and you pinch / zoom in on the screen a then the entire screen magnifies and a preview window opens above the SIP allowing you to pan around the screen. This appears to work in most standard WM applications where the SIP is present.

Third Party Applications - With the Sense applications and Social Networking built into the HD2 as standard I'm now using minimal third party applications. For the HD2 to be truly useful to me I've only had to add:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Core Player - For playback of videos in various formats
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MobiPocket Reader - For reading eBooks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pocket Controller Pro - for taking screen shots
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SyncTime - to ensure the clock is up to date
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif eWallet - for carrying my personal data around
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Spb Mobile Shell -
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Palringo 2 - For multiple IM handling

Each and everyone of them worked perfectly without any issues bar one application - Spb Shell 3.5. I had thought it was fast of the Touch Diamond 2 but on the HD2 the speed is absolutely incredible! The only problem is for Shell to fully work you have to disable the Sense today plugin, and even then if you drop back and use the WM6.5 launcher (Start) some applets (like settings) will not run. I think here that Spb need to do some WM6.5 compatibility improvements!

CONCLUSION

Windows - I've been honoured to have the HD2 in daily use for the last six weeks (thanks O2) and I'm very impressed with all aspects of its design and function - The Sense tabs that replace the Titanium interface work beautifully well and the deeper integration that HTC have done to hide the somewhat finger unfriendly WM6.5 interface make the device a joy to use - and yes I can say that the stylus has not been missed at all.

The speed of the HD2 has to be seen to be believed (videos to follow) everything feels fast and smooth from the transitional tab navigation in the Sense screen to the speed of scanning photos in flow mode, or flicking through large pictures in the Album itself. Transitions from portrait to landscape modes in applications is nigh on instant and the same can be said when zooming in and out of photographs using the two finger pinch system. At one point I actually found I had fourteen applications loaded in the background (including heavyweight items like the Album) and there was no slow down in operation and no applications had auto-closed in the background. During the time I've used the HD2 there have been no problems with the device heating up or behaving in an adverse manner in any way.

Dislikes - There is only one annoyance I have with the HD2. This is the removal of the ability to customise the functions of the buttons on the front or the HD2. The only application that really suffers on the HD2 is the native Notes application, it is fine entering text using the keyboard, but trying to draw any freehand graphics is nigh on impossible as you have to use a finger tip, not even a fingernail can be used and the results are not good, accuracy goes completely out of the window!

Personal Final Words - The HD2 is awesomely fast and smooth both in operation and looks, the large glorious capacitive screen works wonderfully well and the thin form factor with the functionality of the Sense system make it for me at least the best WindowsPhone so far. Go and buy one, you'll not be disappointed.

Boz - Firstly I would like to echo Daron’s comments and thank O2 for generously letting me have use of an HD2 too. I have enjoyed every minute with it so far without any problems at all, and helping out with this review certainly helped me to learn every aspect of the O2 HD2 at a very rapid rate, and all without the use of a stylus!

Looks wise there’s no escaping the fact that the HD2 oozes class in every respect, from its exquisite build quality that makes the device look the part, to its wonderful large pin sharp capacitive screen, and software that does its job in a very understated way. There is so much to admire about the HD2 too, the ‘Sense UI’ is excellent, and the ability to update the weather using the built in location software to wherever you are, is simply brilliant. The music player that’s standard is in my view the best I have seen on a Windows Mobile device, and is a pleasure to use rather than a chore like Windows Media Player.

Windows Mobile 6.5 has been given a fantastic makeover by HTC, and there are many clever touches on the HD2. One of my favourites is the screen turning off when placing the phone against your ear while making a call, then turning itself back on when the phone is taken away from your ear which saves accidently setting off other applications. The HD2 isn’t just about quirky ideas that work well though, it’s all about speed and overall performance as a whole, and running a 1GHz processor it doesn’t disappoint, its lightening fast at everything it does, and running a host of applications in the background doesn’t drag it to its knees at all. There’s no clunkiness or sticking when scrolling, zooming, flicking or when changing from portrait to landscape mode, and the whole operating system feels and looks perfect in use.

I do have a few gripes though, I dislike having to search for the task manager to close applications, having been used to ending a program by tapping ‘X’ in the top corner on previous HTC devices. I’m also not keen on having to use the magnifier in a few applications to tick boxes or scroll drop down menus, but I suppose that is a legacy from Windows Mobile 6.1, and I’m sure in future ROM updates this will be history.

There isn’t any obvious way to add your ‘Owner’ details, however this seems to me added automatically when you complete your 'Contact Card' details.

Freehand writing or drawing in notes isn’t easy at all, but it isn’t something I use anyway so isn’t a major problem for me, and is the only application that doesn’t work as it should. Believe it or not I do miss the XDA branding and O2’s applications that used to be. The name XDA was synonymous with O2 and was the symbol of their high end Windows Mobile devices, but times change I suppose.

In my view the O2 HD2 is a fantastic device and one well worth considering, it does everything really well at supersonic speeds, and I can’t see how you could possibly be disappointed with it, I find it hard to put mine down!

Pros And Cons:

Pros:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Fast 1Ghz processor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Build quality, appearance and feel
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 4.3 inch hires WVGA screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bright, sharp and large capacitive screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Large ROM and RAM memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Fast boot times
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif OOBE
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Inbuilt GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Fast GPS lock and GPS signal strength
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Locational Weather System
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif WM6.5 operating system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Sense today screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Sense finger friendliness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC’s WM 6.5 makeover
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Strong metallic housing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif FM Radio
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Removable battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif micro-USB (now industry standard connector)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif No stylus required
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Fast portrait / landscape transitions
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Supports up to 32Gb microSD storage cards
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Comfortable in the hand
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Non-slip housing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Enhanced headset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Good battery life
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CPL8 included in ROM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Good phone signal strength
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Great battery life
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Installed software
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The variety of settings
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ease of customisation
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Overall device speed
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3.5mm headset jack socket
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Lock screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Auto screen shut off and switch on when making or ending a call
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth System
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sense UI music player

Cons:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif No button customisation
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif No Xda branding and the loss of O2s added applications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Notes application is impossible to use for free hand drawing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Having to use the screen magnifier in a few programs
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Slightly inaccurate Compass application
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Twitter application does not always update as per the schedule

This review is brought to you by Windows with assistance from Boz!

O2 XDA Venn Review - A week in my life!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:26:46 +0000

O2 XDA Venn Review - A week in my life! Introduction

It's been a pretty barren year if you're a Windows Mobile fan and a customer of O2. While the market in general has excited us with impressive new devices featuring the state of the art Snapdragon chipset and awesome sequels like the Diamond2 and Touch Pro 2 there has been very little to get excited about from Telefonica's UK SP. It was then, with high hopes of a WM6.5 device tidal wave, we looked to the Autumn and almost missed the XDA Venn as it stealthily krept into O2's product catalogue. The reason for such a low key debut is unclear, but then the device itself seems a slightly eccentric selection for a company that typically brings us Windows Mobile's big guns. Being a fan of the Windows Mobile Standard platform (Smartphone to us regular Joes) I decided we needed to see first hand why so little noise has been made about what looks like it could be a cracking little messager. Read on to find out! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/box_s.jpg
Thanks go out to O2 for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the O2 XDA Venn go to the O2 website at http://xda.o2.co.uk
As is the new trend with these reviews I'll produce a day by day commentary of a week’s use of the O2 XDA Venn along with photos/screen grabs and my thoughts as I go along. Feel free to ask questions, I'll endeavour to satisfy your need for detail. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif I'll use this for a more formally structured review you're all used to once the week is through. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/box_open2_s.jpg

Day 1: Unboxing & First Impressions

After I'd wrestled for several minutes to break into the courier branded, child unfriendly, impossible to open plastic bag I finally rescued the Venn box from within. If you've owned an XDA Zest you'll recognise the packaging as it's very similar. For those of you that haven't seen it before there's a simple (compared to O2's exotic secret drawer boxes of old) gatefold type box which is nicely decorated with O2's electric blue and black livery. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/box_s.jpg
The box inside is split into 3 sections with the device on the left, the 3 piece adapter on the right and the USB lead, headset and pouch in the middle. The Warranty card, Quick start guide and software CD sit on top of the centre and right sections. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/box_open4_s.jpg
The software and documentation is a little lighter than we are used to, but lets face it does anyone actually read any of it? No? I thought not. The software comes on a single CD and it's interesting to note that without it I couldn't install my Venn to sync to my PC. None of my machines automatically discovered the device or started WMDC until the software was loaded so don't sling the CD out just yet! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/documentation_s.jpg
The accessories themselves are reasonably standard fare, but are at the better end of the scale. The headset and USB cable seem of a slightly higher standard than usual, and the pouch is a nice soft affair not unlike something you'd put a pair of glasses into. I'm guessing the soft fluffy outer is designed to double as a screen cleaner and wiping of those pesky fingerprints that attach so easily to shiney devices. The power adapter too is better than the bricks of old and as you can see comes with both UK and European folding attachments to a USB block. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/accessories_s.jpg
Going back to the USB charger and the headset, you can see from a closer look at the charge and sync socket that it is a non standard proprietary socket. At first I thought it was the first device with the new Micro USB standard connector on, but sadly this is not the case. As I said previously the USB cable and headset are of a slightly height standard than usual, with the USB cable sporting a spring loaded clip mechanism to ensure there are no unwarranted disconnections. The headset is not that unusual for a bundled accessory but it is nice none the less. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/usb_s.jpg
Ok, that's all the packaging gumph out the way let's get down to it. When you first open the box the first thing you'll notice about the Venn is the paint job. The term "High Gloss" was designed to describe this device. I think it's without a doubt the shiniest device I've ever seen. As the light changes and the gloss dims you'll notice the beautiful metallic blue/green finish. It's almost turquoise when the light hits it just right and the flecks in the paint sparkle. Very nice indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_o2_2_s.jpg
The device feels solid enough in the hand, but not overly heavy. The Venn isn't small by Smartphone standards, it's relatively short but very thick. It's not heavy, but then you couldn't call it light either. I think solid is as good a description as I can conjure without you having held the device itself. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/bottom_hand_s.jpg
The real draw of the Venn for most of it's suitors is going to be the combination of both keyboard and keypad. The two way slide that exposes the keyboard or the keypad (but not both at the same time) feels very sturdy which ever way it slides. I'd have no worries about it getting sloppy. The keys on the keyboard have a good travel distance and a nice solid click. My first impressions of device use are very positive in keyboard mode but not so for the keypad mode. Again the slide that reveals the keypad is nice but the actual keypad itself I'm not so fond of. Again there's a good travel and click but the keys themselves are not separated. This feels a bit strange to me. I'll keep you posted as the review goes on with respect to this but at the moment I'm loving the keyboard and am relatively non-plussed by the keypad. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_keyboard_on_s.jpg
Build quality of the Venn is generally very good. As I've said the slide mechanism seems sturdy and the front hardware and keyboard buttons have a good solid click. The dpad also seems to have a good travel distance although I'm unsure as to why it's round. I'd have preferred a square dpad. I like the way the all the external ports are covered. There's nothing worse than keeping your phone in your pocket and having to clear out fluff before you can charge it! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_keypad_on_s.jpg
To finish this first day’s commentary I think I need to say something about the O2 XDA Venn's name. I think most of us who've followed the XDA range over the years have wondered by what process the devices are issued with their XDA moniker, but Venn? For me, Venn conjures images of an old Geography Teacher (Mr. Venn) and Venn diagrams, a mathematical excuse to use a Spiro graph! What happened to exciting sounding names like Stellar, Ignito and Zest? Venn indeed....... http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/box_s.jpg

Day 2: Powering up and setting up!

Ok, with all the boxy stuff out the way we'll get onto the real meat of things. At the risk of getting off to a bad start, I haven't got past powering the device up, and already I have a gripe. It's the location of the power button that I have issue with, or rather what it' replacing. Ordinarily the power toggle has it's own hardware but on the Venn it shares it's functionality with that of the end call (red phone) button. Now, usually the end call button long press function is used to lock the device. Happy days, except not this time. "It's a slider" I hear you cry, surely the slide will lock and unlock the device won't it? Well, no actually it doesn't. It's criminal but the lock feature is tagged onto the record button on the left hand side. Oh well, things can only get better. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/MicroSD_s.jpg
Hmmm... I've powered the device on and it's not getting better, rather it's getting worse. As the O2 "bubbles" logo is being displayed the worst, most awful jingle in the world ever is played. It sounds out of tune and too slow. It's about the worst first impression of a device I've ever had. Seriously O2, on future ROM versions the start-up jingle (and the shutdown one for that matter, it's just as bad) has to be dropped. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_o2_s.jpg
I'll take a little step backwards at this point and point out a couple of the good things I've noticed today as well. To start with, when you do first power up the device the screen leaps out at you. Although it's only QVGA the brightness and clarity is excellent, even if the resolution is a little under par compared to what we've become accustomed to. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_windows_s.jpg
The next thing you'll notice is the sliding panel interface that signifies you're looking at a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard operating system. There are a lot of people who find the Standard (Smartphone) operating system too restrictive compared to the Professional (Pocket PC) OS. Personally although I agree it is less impressive from an aesthetic and functional perspective the easy to use dpad control system can be a godsend if you're not looking to customise your device too much. You can still tweak the OS but some of the really nice graphical front ends we've come to love on Professional like TouchFlo and SpB Mobile Shell are not available. That you do get is a real no messing back to basics OS that has changed very little since the Smartphone OS's inception. Having effectively said it's simplicity is one of it's strengths, and being a personal fan of Standard even I have to admit the 6.1 sliding panel facelift struggles to disguise the dated OS beneath. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_today_s.jpg
If you've ever set up a Windows Smartphone before there will be very few surprises in store for you when it comes to configuring the Venn. The menu system is the same as it always was, so whether you're configuring and exchange email account it's all through the same old keypad friendly settings applet. The main bonus the Venn offers is that you get the ease of navigating through the settings menu with the keypad and then when it comes to entering text for say the Exchange settings you again have the advantage of using the keyboard. It's really this initial setup process where you'll be "exposed" to the raw Windows Mobile Standard OS the most and to be honest it's not inspirational stuff but it should be over quite quickly. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/Settings.jpg
I've always been on for saving the best til last and today it's no difference. For me, an average days device use is about 20 minutes worth of calls, EAS with about 40 or 50 emails, 30 minutes of music using a Bluetooth stereo headset and 20 minutes or so of browsing. It's been two days now since I've charged the XDA Venn and the battery is still showing between 50% and 60%. Just in case you missed that the first time that's a Windows Mobile device with a projected battery life of 5 days from a single charge. 5 DAYS! That's just unprecedented. Wow. Oh, there's something I forgot to mention, that's 5 days with HSDPA enabled and connected too. To be honest, I'm not sure I believe it myself. I wonder if the charging fairies have been about...... http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif I'm not sure about you folks but I'm getting quite interested to find out how far this bad boy will go on a single charge. Tune in tomorrow to find out! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/battery_s.jpg

Day 3: General thoughts on usage.

Now everything’s up and running I can finally get on with using the Venn in anger. Looking at the Homescreen for the first time and you can instantly see the pros and cons of the sliding panel layout. For most of us you have all the real-time information you need right there. Time, date, number of missed calls, SMS, emails, appointments and active profile, phew. It's all right there in front of you. The animation of the sliding panels offers a little eye candy but realistically it's all about function with only an after thought given to form. This in itself will divide opinion on the device as other than a half hearted attempt by HTC to bring their HTC home to the Standard OS there's really no other Homescreen options. If you like all your information right there than this isn't going to matter, but if you like it a little more aesthetically appealing then you'll be left wanting. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/kepboard_gloss_s.jpg
There is one little tweak that would give one last statistic that is important to a lot of people, and also make the clock panel a touch prettier, the weather. There are several weather panels available from different software houses but it's worth taking a look at, NRG MiniWeather which is available from XDA-Developers here NRG MiniWeather differs from the other weather options as you can see by adding the current weather into the clock panel. Very cool. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/NRGMiniWeather.jpg
I've mentioned already that the device feels a little "chunky", but how does it compare to other devices? I've taken a few images to compare the Venn to some of the equivalent devices in it's class. To represent the Venn's competitors past and present we have the HTC S710 (In my opinion the best Smartphone ever) and the latest contender to the throne, HTC's S740. For the obligatory "device everyone knows the size of" category we have the Touch Diamond2. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/compare_height_s.jpg
As you can see from the profile shot all the devices wielding keyboards are significantly thicker than the Diamond2. Not shocks there, but from this angle you can see not only that the two HTC Smartphones are roughly the same thickness but also you can see the layers of hardware that make up the Venn. As you can see the extra width is from having the two middle layers represent both the keypad and keyboard as opposed to just one of them. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/compare_width_s.jpg
Disregarding the Diamond2 and focussing on the keyboards you can see the Venn is a very similar size and shape to the excellent S710 keyboard although the Venn has less space between the top row of keys and the screen than the HTC devices. Interestingly, from my own perspective I'd put the keyboards in order of merit going from the S710 as being the best, the Venn a touch behind it because of not having the gap between the screen and top row of keys or the Cap/FN indicators, and finally the S740 because I just find it nasty to use. I don't like keyboards with no space between the keys ordinarily (The Touch Pro is the exception to the rule). Another thing worth mentioning is that the keyboard has changed screen sides from the S710 to the S730 and Pantech have gone along with the newer configuration too. I'm not sure what prompted this change of direction but I'm currently finding it a little tricky to get used to. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/compare_keyboard_s.jpg
Getting back to daily use experience I think we'll look at the communications aspect now. I found the call quality on the Venn to be pretty good and the volume levels across the whole device is better than average. You'll not be sleeping through these alarms! As far as Windows Mobile devices go it's one of the better devices for making and receiving calls. The vertical sliding action means that you get a good size and shape "phone mode" to hold to your ear which coupled with the keypad for physically punching in numbers not in your contacts makes outgoing calls a pleasure. While Pantech held off on a slide to unlock facility there is a slide to answer/hang up option which again adds to the calling experience by making it easier to accept and terminate calls. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/keypad_s.jpg
With a device containing WM6.1 and a hardware keyboard you'd expect the messaging side of things to be pretty spot on and the Venn doesn't disappoint. If there's one thing that the Smartphone OS is good at it's email. The coupled with Exchange Active Sync on the software side of things the hardware keyboard as I've already mentioned is one of the better ones on the market and after just a few days training I'm finding myself rattling off emails left, right and centre. The number pad takes a little getting used to at first, as does the soft key position (left and right top corner of the keyboard), and I'd like a bit more space between the screen and keyboard. The keys are very nicely spaced however and give a nice reassuring click and feel when pressed. It's also much more natural to use the dpad with your right hand than your left too, in my opinion. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/keyboard_today_s.jpg
Finally for Day 3 another battery update. As I pointed out last time the battery use on the Venn has been exceptional so far. The first two days use depleted approximately 20% of the battery per day and this third day is no different. I continue to be amazed by the performance here to the point that after 3 whole days without so much as a sniff of a power source I'm looking at between 30% and 40% battery remaining. I'm not sure we're going to reach the 5th day but still, Kudos to the Venn for making it past the 2 day mark. The Venn has a 1320mAh battery which is pretty big compared to the HTC devices we've looked at in comparison, just a measly 1000mAh for the HTC S740 and a slightly better 1050mAh for the HTC S710. More tomorrow! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/SIM_s.jpg

Day 4 - Media

Well, half way through day four now and it looks like I'm finally going to have to charge the battery. 4 and a half days from a Windows Mobile device, Standard or otherwise is exemplary. I'm not quite sure what Pantech/O2 have done to get this kind of performance from the device but it's certainly impressive. The battery is bigger than normal at 1320mAh and is more like the capacity you'd expect from a Professional (Touch screen) device than a Standard device. Even so, compare just about 2 days usage from something like the s740 and it's 1000mAh or so battery and the Venn is still something special. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/Battery_screen.png
I thought for this fourth day I'd concentrate on media and internet use from the device. The newer Professional devices that are on the market now and forthcoming with the launch of WM6.5 are very much media focussed. The Smartphone form factor generally with it's smaller, lower res, non touch screen is not so well suited to media use. I've always found the hardware keyboards make entering complex web addresses a breeze but the QVGA screen really lets down the device from a surfing perspective. If you really want to use the Venn to surf the web then you're basically stuck with Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) from the standard ROM although obviously you can choose to download a third party browser. PIE is ok, but to be honest it struggles with anything bar mobile formatted web pages. In my opinion you're probably looking at emergency internet usage only with the Venn. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/PIE.png
The camera on Windows Mobile devices is typically less than spectacular. That said, I've seen some decent images captured on devices like the S710 and the Venn has an almost identically spec'ed camera. It's only 2 megapixel, but as we all know, it's not just about megapixels. In the case of the Venn though, I don't think you're going to get any shocks using the onboard camera. It works, it'll give you and emergency snap of your mate falling in a river or something, but you're not going to be blowing up anything and hanging it on your living room wall. It's probably a little better than the HTC equivalent, but as with the web browsing, I'd chalk this up to emergency use only. As with a lot of WM Standard devices there's no LED flash included either so you're essentially limited to well lit outdoor shots only. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/camera_s.jpg
While we're on the subject of internet access and browsing, I think it's a good time to examine one of the features we take for granted these days that Pantech have not included in the Venn. It might even be the devices relatively poor internet performance that there is no WiFi facility. It's interesting however that while there is no WiFi, there is HSDPA. I'd have thought the high speed access and WiFi go hand in hand. Maybe Pantech decided it was an either or situation? Either way, there's no WiFi. Personally I've never really found lack of WiFi an issue on a Standard device compared with a Professional one as I tend not to use internet much with them. That said, it is quite unusual for a device to not have WiFi these days. I think you'd need to assess this omission for yourself, but to me it's no big deal. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/Screen17.png
From an audio perspective I found the Venn to tick pretty much all the boxes. I use my Windows Mobile devices to listen to music quite a lot, about an hour a day on average. I cycle to work and back so my headphones of choice are Motorola S9's, which are Bluetooth audio compatible. Being wire free is a distinct advantage when you're on a bike, no cables to restrict your movement or get wrapped around anything. One of the first things I noticed was the Venn uses the Widcomm stack and software. Typically this means good volume, but not the best integration with WMP. As expected my music came through the headset loud and clear and retained much of the AVRCP functionality too. Good stuff. The Bluetooth signal was nice and strong as well so I had no pauses or break-ups to spoil my enjoyment either. The Venn has a standard MicroSDHC slot on the bottom of it so you can cram a lovely 32GB of musical madness onto your device should that be your wish. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/Bluetooth.png
While I'm on the subject of the MicroSD slot there's a couple of points I'd like to bring to your attention. Firstly, I love the location of the MicroSD slot. It's situated on the bottom edge of the device just below the call buttons. There's a cover over the slot too, which matches the lovely paintwork and will keep out any dust or dirt nasty’s from the device internals. On the down side I did find the slot a little tricky to use the first couple of times. It's the push in and click and then push to eject type mechanism that you just have to have fingernails for. If you're a bit of a closet nail chomper then getting the card in and out can be a bit of a game. You can try using the stylus but it's a skill that takes a while to master. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/microSD2_s.jpg
In this day and age you kind of expect all WM devices to come equipped with high speed internet access in one form or another. We've already noted that there's a lack of WiFi on the Venn but it does pack HSDPA should you require that little extra speed GSM can't offer. As I already pointed out, the web experience on this device is not exceptional so the HSDPA may be a little lost there. One feature the Venn would be very good at that uses HSDPA is for tethering a laptop. For this feature alone it would be superb. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/Tether.png
In all honesty there are very few features that distinguish the Venn from many other WM Standard devices other than the dual slider and GPS. There are not many Standard devices on the market that have GPs, but then as I've recently found, there are not many Standard compatible GPS navigation programs either. In some cases you can use a mouse pointer type app with a regular PPC app, but this is really just a hack. I've eventually settled on just trying the GPS with Google Maps and Latitude to see how well it works. It didn't. I waited 30 minutes and didn't get a lock. Ok, I thought, I'll try ZorroGPS, but this didn't install on the device for some reason. I'll keep trying to find a GPS program to test it, but in the meantime we'll have to put this one down as a maybe. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/Googlemaps1.png

Day 5 - Summary and Conclusions

I really like the XDA Venn. Although I think it personifies all that is bad with Windows Mobile Standard it also highlights the benefits very well too. The battery life and dual sliding keyboard make it the perfect messaging device and coming from a smaller manufacturer like Pantech it has a real "unique" appeal to it. Unfortunately, I think the Windows Mobile Standard OS (Smartphone) has had it's day, and it was a while ago. The GUI is looking very tired now and it's just too dated to offer any real challenge to the market's big guns in this modern era of WM Touch devices, iPhones and Androids. That said, while the size of the niche market the Venn will appeal to is diminishing it's still very much alive at the moment. For an Enterprise messenger, or a "going out phone" the Smartphone OS is easy to use and the non touch screen form factor is a lot more hardy than your, 1Ghz, Snapdragon packing, big screen, all in one powerhouse. The Venn isn't perfect, O2 have to do something about those jingles for a start, and I'm still not keen on the implementation of the keypad. I can't fathom whether there is GPS in there and whether it's enabled or not and the web surfing experience is not exactly state of the art. Having said all that it's nice looking and functionally it's spot on. Everyone will love the dual slider from both a gadget and practical perspective. The bottom line is there's a lot to like about the O2 XDA Venn if you're looking for a tool as opposed to a toy. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Venn/front_keypad_on_s.jpg

Pros and Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Beautiful metallic high gloss turquoise finish
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Very nice keyboard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Solid feeling 2 way slide
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good selection of hardware buttons
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif All ports are covered
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Keypad a bit plasticky but better than nothing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Awesome battery life even with HSDPA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Bright, Clear screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Windows Mobile 6.1
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Big battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Loud volume throughout
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good call quality
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent Bluetooth range and quality (A2DP)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif External MicroSD slot, but sticky
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Voice Commander installed
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Full WM Smartphone app set
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif HSDPA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Better than average camera

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No slide to lock/unlock
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Only QVGA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Very thick, generally not small
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Proprietary Charge/Sync connector
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Font too big on email
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Slightly tricky lock mechanism
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No WiFi
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif GPS seems poorly implemented

Detailed Specifications

From PDADB.net

Brand: O2
Manufacturer: Pantech Curitel
Hardware Designer: Pantech Curitel
Project Codename: Pantech Mustang 2
Release Date: July, 2009
Predecessor Model: Pantech DUO C810 (Pantech Mustang)

Physical_Attributes

Dimensions
(width x height x depth): 51 x 106 x 21.6 millimetres - 2 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
Bounding Volume: 116.8 cubecentimetres
Mass: 151 grams (battery included)

Software Environment

Embedded Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
Operating System Kernel: Windows CE 5.2.19581

Microprocessor Chipset

CPU Clock: 528 MHz
CPU: Qualcomm MSM7201A
Width of Machine Word: 32 bit
CPU Core: ARM1136EJ-S
Instruction Set: ARMv6
Memory, Storage capacity
RAM type: SDRAM
RAM capacity: 128 MiB, 68MiB accessible
ROM type: Flash EEPROM
ROM capacity: 256 MiB

Graphical subsystem

Display Type: color transflective TFT display
Display Color Depth: 18 bit/pixel (262144 scales)
Display Diagonal: 2.4 " (61 millimetres)
Display Resolution: 240 x 320 (76800 pixels)
Viewable DisplaySize: 1.44 " x 1.92 " (36.6 x 48.8 millimetres)
Dot Pitch: 166.6 pixel/inch (0.1525 millimetre/pixel)

Audio:Subsystem

Audio Channel(s): stereo sound
Digital/Analog Converter
(Playing): 16 bit resolution
44100 Hz holding frequency
Microphone(s): mono sound
Loudspeaker(s): mono sound
Audio Output: Proprietary plug

Cellular Phone

Cellular Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS2100
Cellular Data Links: CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA
Cellular Antenna: Internal antenna
Call Alert: 64 -chord melody (polyphonic)
Vibrating Alert: Supported
Speakerphone : Supported
Phone Controller: Qualcomm MSM7201A (QDSP4000, QDSP5000)
SAR (head) GSM850: 0.467 W/kg
SAR (body) GSM850: 1.12 W/kg

Control Peripherals

Positioning Device: Not supported
Primary Keyboard: Slide-out QWERTY-type keyboard, 35 keys
Automatic keyboard backlight (upon press of any key)
Secondary Keyboard: Slide-out numeric phone keyboard, 12 keys
Automatic keyboard backlight (upon press of any key)
Directional Pad: Four-way (with action button)
Scroll Wheel: Rotary full area roller

Interfaces

Expansion Interfaces: microSD, microSDHC, TransFlash, SDIO
Supports High Capacity (SD 2.0/HC) memory cards with capacity of up to 32GB
USB: USB 2.0 client, Full-Speed (12Mbit/s)
Proprietary connector
Bluetooth (802.15): Bluetooth 2.0, Internal antenna
Wireless LAN/Wi-Fi (802.11): Not supported
Infrared Gate: Not supported

Multimedia Broadcast

Analog Radio: Not supported
Digital Media Broadcast: Not supported
Satellite Navigation
Built-in GPS module: Supported
GPS Protocol: NMEA 0183
GPS Antenna: Internal antenna
Complementary GPS Services: Assisted GPS
Navigation Chip(set): Qualcomm MSM7201A gpsOne

Built in Digital Camera

Sensor Type: CMOS sensor
Resolution: 1600 x1200 pixels (1.92MP)
Autofocus_(AF): Not supported
Optical Zoom: 1 x
Macro Mode: Not supported
Built-in Flash: Not supported
Camcorder: 320x240 pixels
Recordable Image Formats: JPG
Recordable Video Formats: 3GP, MPEG4

Power Supply

Battery Technology: Lithium-ion battery
Battery Build: removable
Battery Capacity: 1320 mAh
Additional Details
Additional Features:

* GPRS Class 10
* Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP)
* 3.5mm audio jack adapter included

Related-Page: http://xda.o2.co.uk/...es/xda_venn.jsp

Review: Panoramic Software Phone Genius

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:42:13 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_icon.jpg We have been looking at some of the programs offered by Panoramic Software over the last couple of months, and have already reviewed their excellent Launchpad program.

We have now had the opportunity to look at Phone Genius, a software suite designed to improve the usability of the Phone application on Windows Mobile devices.

Can it continue the high standard set by LaunchPad? Read on to find out!

Product:
Panoramic Phone Genius

Supplier:
Panoramic Software

Platform:
Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchscreen devices

Price:
$19.95. 4 day trial version available.

Device used for review:
HTC Touch Diamond/ Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.5

With thanks to Patrick Abadi of Panoramic Software for supplying the software.

Please excuse my extensive use of blocking in the screenshots; this is to preserve the anonymity of my contacts!

Introduction

Phone Genius is a phone suite comprising three separate applications, two of which can be bought as stand alone programs if required. The components are:

Call Genius: This program handles in-call and post-call functions, such as Caller ID, ring tones, call rejection and profiles. It also has a useful Today screen plug-in. This part of the suite cannot be purchased on its own

Area Code Genius: This intercepts incoming calls and shows information relating to the caller's Area Code, or Country. It can be purchased on its own in which case it integrates with the default Windows Mobile phone screens. It can also be used to look up area and country code information. Area codes are currently included for UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand.

Contacts Genius: This part of the program handles the Contacts on the device and can be used to initiate phone calls, or to view 'conversation' histories of both voice and text messages for each contact. It can be set to take over from the default Contacts application, or run as a stand alone application. This can be purchased on its own for $9.95.

I shall base this review on using all the components as an integrated suite, but can answer module specific questions in the review thread, or our dedicated Panoramic Software forum if required.

Installation

Phone Genius can be downloaded as a four day trial, or purchased from a link to Handango from Panoramic Software's web site. Once purchased, the user downloads and installs a new fully registered file. Updates are available from Panoramic's web site and can be downloaded as local or PC based installers. Running the updated file overwrites the existing version while maintaining a valid registration.

The installed file size of Phone Genius is 2.7MB. It needs to be installed into main device memory as it is a system application and is required during startup. Once loaded and running, Phone Genius requires about 8MB of Program Memory which may leave some of the lower memory devices a little short.

During the installation or update process, the user is given the option of enabling or disabling some of the features. These can be modified within the program's settings later if required. A soft reset is not required after installation unless the Contacts module has been assigned to the right side Soft Key.

The installation process adds a Phone Genius sub folder to the Programs folder, allowing access to individual components or to the main Options screen for the program.

Using Phone Genius

We will assume for the purposes of this review that all the default actions are set, and that Phone Genius is the handler for all its functions. I'll go through some of the more advanced features later. Users will most likely first interface with Phone Genius while placing or answering a phone call or looking up contact details.

The Contacts Application

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_fav_contact.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_fav_add.jpg[/IMG]

Tap the right soft key to open Panoramic Contacts. There are three screens available- Favorites, Contacts and History.

Favorites is a grid of icons which can be 3*3, 4*4 or 5*5. There is a slider at the top of the screen (or on right side in Landscape mode) for accessing a second grid, thus there can be a total of 18, 32 or 50 favorite contacts defined.

To add a contact to this screen, tap the '+' on a vacant tile, and an alphabetical list of contacts opens. This can be dragged up or down, or the scrollbar can be dragged. Also, the scrollbar is proportional to the list of contacts so, for example, tapping the scrollbar halfway down will take you to halfway down the contact list. Tapping an entry adds it to the selected favorite tile. Once a tile is associated with a contact, tapping it opens the main contact detail screen, from where a new voice call, SMS or e-mail can be initiated. Existing tiles can be dragged to new locations if desired.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_fav_options.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_contact_list.jpg[/IMG]

A further tap on the Favorites icon opens a context menu for:

Remove Contact: Removes the contact from the Favorites list. This does not actually delete the contact itself.
Set Contact Picture: Associate the contact with an existing picture
Set Contact Ringtone: Associate the contact with a specific ringtone
Take Picture of Contact: Opens the device's camera application and allows a photo to be taken, which is then associated with the contact.
Lock Items: Locks all tiles in their current positions
Options: Opens the main Options screen for Contacts
Help: Opens the standard Windows Mobile help system with comprehensive help on most aspects of the program.
About: Displays the version number of the program.

Contacts shows an alphabetical list of all contacts with a small vertical A-Z bar to the right hand side. The list can be sorted by Last Name, First Name, e-mail address or Company Name, and SIM contacts can be displayed if required. Navigation is by swiping the list up or down, or by touching or swiping to the relevant index letter. If animation is turned on, the list scrolls to the selected letter, otherwise it moves there directly. Keyboard equipped devices can use the keyboard to access the required contact. There is no facility for direct contact search for non keyboard devices, and even with the keyboard, there is no pattern matching across multiple fields so if you don't know the exact name of the contact you are searching for, locating the correct one in a large database can be difficult. This is I feel, a significant omission for those with large contact lists, though it is mitigated by the ability to have up to fifty entries on the favorites screens.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_contact_detail.jpg [/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_contact_more.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_contact_detail_options.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_contact_menu.jpg[/IMG]

Tapping any contact entry opens the contact details page showing all the relevant contact data, a contact photo if present, and a More Info button to a further detail screen showing the address, categories, web site address and birthday for the contact.

Within the first details screen is a menu showing:

Edit Contact: This opens the standard Windows Mobile Contacts application to edit the contact details
Set Contact Picture: Associate the contact with an existing picture
Set Contact Ringtone: Associate the contact with a specific ringtone
Take Picture of Contact: Opens the device's camera application and allows a photo to be taken, which is then associated with the contact.
Conversation History: Shows a list of all SMS and voice calls associated with the contact. Tapping any of these entries shows either the message or call details and has a menu allowing a reply or to place a voice call.

Tapping the Contacts icon opens a menu with:

New Contact: Opens the standard Windows Mobile contacts application with an empty record.
Edit Contact: Allows editing of the currently highlighted contact
Delete Contact: Deletes the selected contact, after showing a confirmation screen.
Options, Help and About as in the Favorites section.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_history.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_history_filter.jpg[/IMG]

History shows a list of all recent voice and text messages. Touching the small down arrow at the top of the screen allows the entries to be filtered by five parameters: SMS in, SMS out, Voice in, Voice out and missed calls. Tapping any of the entries shows details of the call type, duration and status of voice calls, or the text of the incoming or outgoing SMS message. This screen has a menu for Call, SMS Reply or Contact Details.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_sms_read.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_sms_menu.jpg[/IMG]

From the History screen, SMS messages can be read on an integral message content page. This page has a menu at the bottom right for replying, which opens up the standard Messaging/SMS program with the 'Reply to' details filled in, to place a voice call to the number, or to open the contact details for the sender if in the contact list.

Tapping the History icon opens a menu allowing:

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_history_menu.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_conversation_history.jpg[/IMG]

Add to Contacts: This only appears if the highlighted entry is not already in the contacts list, and opens a new contact entry in the default Contacts application
SMS Reply: If the highlighted entry is a text message this opens Messaging/SMS at the Reply screen.
Call: Make a voice call to the current contact
Compose SMS: Opens Messaging/SMS at a blank new message screen.
Conversation History: Shows the whole SMS and voice call history for the contact
Mark All as Read: As it says!
Delete: Opens a sub menu allowing the deletion of the current entry, all SMS entries, all Voice entries or All entries. There is no option for selective message deletion. Each delete action prompts a confirmation screen. Deleting all SMS or Voice entries occurs regardless of the state of the filtered display (so, even if sent SMS messages are not displayed, electing to delete All SMS will remove them.)
Options, Help and About as in the Favorites section.

Aside from the lack of any ability to search with non keyboard devices, the organisation and integration of the Contacts screens works very well. Managing contact information and communication history is easy to achieve and returning calls or text messages easy to do. The interface is pleasing (to me at least) and most actions can be executed without resorting to the stylus. I would like to see the ability to tag messages for deletion rather than the current all or nothing approach.

Outgoing Calls

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_callscreen.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_phone_missed.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_phone_in.jpg[/IMG]

Whether initiated via the Contacts application, or direct from the Phone application, outgoing calls use the default Windows Mobile dialler. Once the call connects however, Phone Genius opens the 'Cheek Guard' screen. This is a full page screen showing from the top:

Signal strength and battery meters and the phone operator.
Connection status, call timer and the called number (and name if in the contacts list)
Contact picture if the called number has a picture assigned.
Information from Area Code Genius which shows a small globe with a highlight centred on the country called
The country or area code to which the call is connected and the local time there.
The Cheek Guard slider

This is a passive screen which will remain in place until the Cheek Guard slider is activated, and prevents unwanted screen presses if the phone is pressed to the face, or turns on when in a pocket or bag.

The Area Codes Genius component can be set to show the region associated with the called number, or the country details. Area Codes Genius includes databases for UK, Australia, New Zealand and North America; the user's default country is set in the main Options screen. If set to 'World' then the country rather than the area details are displayed.

Once the Cheek Guard is deactivated, the default phone dialler returns to focus until the call is ended, at which point it shows the Call Ended screen.

The Post Call screen shows Call Ended at the top followed by the caller's details if available. If the caller is already stored in contacts, there will also be a More Info button to open the contact details. Below this is an Options pane. In this case the only option is Call Back which will redial the caller's number.{br}{br}At the base of the screen is a slider for 'Block Caller'. If activated, the caller's number will be added to the blocked call list, and further incoming calls from that number will be rejected. At this point the slider changes name to 'Unblock Caller' in case the caller was blocked accidentally. The Quit button closes the screen. Blocked callers can be managed from the main options screen. This screen is the same as the 'Missed Call' screen except for the window title. The image is of the Missed Call screen.

Incoming Calls

An incoming call immediately opens the Incoming Call screen. This is exactly the same as the Cheek Guard screen detailed above, except in place of the 'Slide to Unlock' function at the base of the screen, there are Answer and Ignore buttons.

Answer: the call is answered and the Cheek Guard screen opens as for outgoing calls. Terminating the call will show the Post Call screen as for outgoing calls.

Ignore: the call is diverted to voicemail or aborted, depending on the user's settings, and the Post Call screen is displayed. In this case it will show 'Missed Call' at the top as shown above.

The Today Screen Plug-in

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_today.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_vm.jpg[/IMG]

Phone Genius includes a useful Today plug-in which is able to display the time, status indicators for e-mail, SMS, Phone calls and voicemail messages, a simple profile switcher and icons for launching programs or settings or dialling contacts.

Each status icon will become highlighted if new items are present and show a number indicator for the number of items. Tapping the icon opens the relevant messaging application; tapping the Voicemail icon opens a screen asking for confirmation of a call to voicemail and also allowing the voicemail access number to be edited; tapping the missed call indicator opens the Contact history list as detailed in the Contacts section.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_profiles.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_home_setting1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_home_setting2.jpg[/IMG]

The icon on the left controls Profiles and is a simple phone profile switcher with various options for ring volume, a 2 hour timed 'ringer off' option and a Flight Mode switch. The sound switching does not affect system sounds so if you set a silent profile, you will still hear any incoming message alerts, which may or may not suit you, but cannot be altered within this program.

Tapping/holding any icon will open the program's context menu with options for Remove Item, Lock all Items or Add/Remove items. Tapping the time display opens the default Windows Mobile Date and Time screen.

The Add/Remove screen shows a list of currently selected items with large buttons for Add Item or Remove. Selecting the Add button shows a list of items which may be added- Add Contact, Add Program or Add Setting. There are also options for showing a large or small Date/Time display.

There is no effective limit to the number of items that can be added. Once a row of five icons is complete, a new row is created. Once the whole screen is filled, the list will show the normal today screen scrollbar to access items below the bottom of the screen.

Area Codes Genius

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg_search.jpg[/IMG]

I've already mentioned how this integrates with the incoming and outgoing call functions. It can also be opened as a stand alone program. In this guise, it opens a screen showing a small input panel, a globe, 'Search' parameters and a numeric pad.

The 'Search by' line has a drop down box allowing the selection of World or Country codes. Countries listed are currently UK, New Zealand, Australia, and North America. Selecting the World option will display details for the country of origin for connected calls in the In-Call screen. Selecting a country will allow the area details of the country to be displayed.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg_locate.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg_locate_result.jpg[/IMG]

Within the Area Codes application itself, country or area codes can be entered into the input box; clicking Locate will find details of the relevant entry. If World is selected as the current search listing, the entering the country code will show the approximate location of the country on the globe, with basic details such as Language, Capital, Currency and Population listed in the main frame.

If a country is set as the search parameter, then entering an area code will display local details. For example, if UK is selected, entering the area code will show the main location for that code followed by the demographic details for the country as before. This feature can be quite useful in approximately locating the origin of an unrecognised phone number.

The right soft key is called 'List' and tapping this opens an alphabetic list of the entries for the selected search option.

The left soft key is titled Menu and has entries for Help, About and Quit.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg_detail.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg_uk_list.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/acg_ctry_list.jpg[/IMG]

Options

There are two sets of Options within the Phone Genius program- those relating to the Contacts part of the suite and those controlling the Phone functions.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_contact_options.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_phone_options.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_general.jpg[/IMG]

Contacts options are accessed from the context menu of any of the Contacts pages. The settings are in four groups:

General controls the colour scheme, whether to replace the default Contacts application with Contacts Genius, setting the right soft key to Contacts and turning menu and search animation on or off. There do seem to be a few screens that do not conform to the selected colour scheme. Please note though that some of my screenshots were taken with a Green scheme selected.
Favorites controls whether to show just the icon, or the name and icon, the picture size (small, medium or large, which determines the number of available tiles) and the titles of the two favorites screens.
Contacts controls how the list is sorted (first name, last name, e-mail address or company name), the inclusion of SIM contacts and whether each contact is displayed in detailed mode.
History controls how far back to include items (one month, 100 or 200 items), which calls to display (any combination of incoming, outgoing or missed calls) and which SMS to display (all, incoming or outgoing)

Phone Options are accessed via the Programs/Phone Genius menu and comprises five option groups plus help. The option groups are:
General Options: Show incoming call screen, Show cheek guard, Show post call screen, set Lookup region for Area Codes Genius, Enable ring tone handling (Yes/No- details are set later if Yes), Phone Profile (shows current profile and can switch to a different profile if the Today plugin is not active)

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_block.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_block_add.jpg[/IMG]
Phone Block List: Allows calls from selected contacts or incoming number patterns to be rejected. Currently this seems set up for US number patterns only- for example setting a block for UK area code 01279 actually saves as (012). Likewise, blocking specific numbers only works for US style 10 digit numbers. Blocked numbers appear in the list, and can be unblocked with the Remove option.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_rules.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_rules_add.jpg[/IMG]
Calling Rules: Sets up specific actions for incoming calls by various parameters including times when appointments have busy status active, block by contact name or category, always allow by contact name or category, reject callers not in the contacts list and turn ringer off for specified times. Caller rejection is essentially the same as for Phone Block as above

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_ring.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_ring_add.jpg[/IMG]
Ring tones: If Phone Genius is set to handle ring tones in General Options, this section allows the setting of the default ring tone, plus specified ring tones and ring types for selected contacts or categories. Each selected ring tone can be previewed direct from the settings screen. Each item specified appears in the main list and can be edited or removed if desired.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_today.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/pg/pg_options_help.jpg[/IMG]
Today Screen: Allows the Phone Genius Today screen to be added and also items displayed to be added or removed.
Help: Opens the Windows Mobile help application at topics relating to Call Genius. The help texts are useful and fairly comprehensive. Each element of the Phone Genius interface is explained in detail.

Pros

Comprehensive features
Integration of the various components
Good user interface
Responsiveness of developer to bugs and requests
Configuration options

Cons

Lack of Contact search
Colour options don't apply to all screens
Some remaining glitches in UK phone numbers in the 'Block Caller' function
Sound profiles only apply to phone rings not to system sounds
No 'in application' editing- need to drop out to Windows Mobile interface.

Conclusion

I have enjoyed using Phone Genius though this review has taken a little longer than I was anticipating. This is partly due to the developer releasing a series of updates aimed at improving the way it works for UK users, especially in the Area Codes section. I have been gratified by the responsiveness and quick action they have taken to rectify problems. Phone Genius aims to replace and enhance the whole Windows Mobile phone call and contact handling functions and it largely succeeds. Each component can be turned on or off at will to suit specific tastes and the components can be set to replace or retain the default Windows Mobile counterparts. There are still some things in my wish list- the greatest amongst these is to introduce some sort of search capability into the contacts application, preferably with pattern matching. Those with very large contacts lists will find the ability to only go to the start of a letter group a bit limiting. It would also be nice to incorporate e-mail messages into the Contact conversation history when an e-mail address is defined for a contact, with a reply option as in the SMS function.

For my own use, I have set up Phone Genius with all its default features turned on, and with both TouchFlo3D and Titanium turned off in favour of the Phone Genius today plug-in (in association with Panoramic LaunchPad. as previously reviewed!) and it suits my purposes very well. At a price of $19.95 for the whole suite it does represent good value for money for a Windows Mobile program.

U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger - mixing Windows Mobile and a motorcycle!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:18:23 +0000

U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger - mixing Windows Mobile and a motorcycle! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS1.JPG

I had a small project in mind to test the U2o iWalk 5400mAh emergency battery charger for it's strengths and possible weaknesses, it involved coupling the rechargeable battery with a Windows Mobile device and a motorcycle! When the rechargable battery and the other items I needed for this review arrived quickly, safely and well packaged, I couldn't wait to start on my project.

For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.

Many thanks to Craig at www.u2o-uk.co.uk who provided 4WM with the review samples.

The u2o-uk.co.uk U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger can be found on their site here.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS2.JPG

The emergency battery is available in black, white and pink, I chose the black which looks very high tech in it's high gloss finish. Also included in the box was a UK mains charger, a retractable USB to DC cable, an Apple iPhone retractable cable, a warranty card and user manual. There was also an array of tips for the retractable USB cable that will fit many devices including a mini USB for Windows mobile devices, and other tips for Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and the iPhone - iPod series.

Technical specifications:

Features

Based on Apple iPhone
Standby Time: up to 750 hours
Audio Playback : up to 72 hours
Talk Time: up to 24 hours
Video Playback: up to 21 hours
Internet use: up to 18 hours
Keep that important phone call going

Technical

Input Voltage：DC13.8V
Output Voltage：DC5.3V/8.4V
Size：L106×W40×H24mm
Weight：148g

Scope

Ideal for outdoor activities including
Hiking
Camping
Festivals
Motorcycle touring
Wildlife photography
Wildlife watching

Introduction:

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS3.jpg
I desperately wanted sat nav on my Yamaha R1 not only for directions, but also for the speed camera warnings because I was getting paranoid with the police seemingly lurking everywhere I went, and it only takes one small blip of the throttle to get them jumping up and down with joy, three points or worse on my license and perhaps a large fine to be paid, which is money better spent on my bike instead. So I needed some kind of peace of mind, or insurance if you like!

I didn’t want TomTom Rider or similar stand alone GPS devices, as they are bulky and hard to fit on my R1 sports bike due to lack of space under the fairing screen, and a ruddy great Ohlins steering damper and fittings across my petrol tank. Not only that but dedicated on bike satellite navigation systems only have one obvious function, yep you guessed it, satellite navigation!

I wanted more than just sat nav and thought, “why can’t I have what many people have in a car?”, for example visual and audible sat nav with speed camera warnings, being able to make or take a phone call, or play a choice of music if I want to, but all in a small form factor for my R1, and all achieved by the press of a button while riding or stationary, but totally legal and safe of course.

The solution:

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS4.JPG

I am lucky enough to have the choice of a few Windows Mobile powered phones with built in GPS for satellite navigation and decided I needed one that was compact with a large enough screen, yet powerful enough to run the applications I wanted without stuttering or freezing up. Without boring you too much with the technical stuff my choice was the O2 XDA Diamond powered by a 528mhz processor which has a crystal clear VGA screen. This device can comfortably cope with TomTom Navigator 7, Bluetooth, media playback and phone calls, all at the same time if I want to!

My first problem was a power supply to the phone, as running these applications with the screen brightness at full tilt (so that it can be seen in bright sunshine) will quickly drain the 900mAh onboard battery. I decided not to go with the obvious auxiliary / cigarette lighter type socket and plug, instead sticking with my mobile theme and going with the portable mains rechargeable U2o 5400mAh power pack instead, so there is no worry about having a discharged phone battery on a lengthy journey.

Other parts needed:

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS11.jpgNow I have the device I want to use and the power supply sorted, it left me with a phone mounting solution, a USB to mini USB charging lead to connect the power pack and phone, and of course a Bluetooth stereo helmet kit to tie everything together. After some careful measuring and guesswork I decided I needed the following to make it all work:

1- A flexible gooseneck cycle mount (yes cycle mount!) to hold the phone safely, these are used on mountain bikes so I know it is sturdy, well made and vibration free.
2- An HTC Diamond specific phone holder.
3- A 1.8m USB to mini USB charging lead to connect the phone and battery.
4- A Bluetooth stereo helmet kit with microphone, I managed to get my hands on one but is still under testing so isn’t commercially available yet, but is very similar to the Scala Rider kits you can buy in the way it fits into, and onto the helmet itself.
A big thanks to GPSForless who came to the rescue with the necessary parts which I have listed at the end of the review.

Fitting:

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS5.JPG

The fitting of the components needed was quite straight forward, the obvious place to start was with the phone mount and holder, which click to together easily, and just needed mounting on the main stay inside the fairing, this required no dismantling of the bike at all. I had to bend the gooseneck mount around with the phone and USB lead installed just to be sure it wouldn’t snag on anything when turning the handlebars, and also to be sure I could still read the bikes speedometer without it being obstructed from view while riding.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS6.JPG

The USB to mini USB lead installation was quite easy, I ran the lead from the phone mount to the back of the bike through the fairing and frame along the main wiring harnesses, securing it where necessary with cable ties until it came out at the back of the bike under the passenger seat. I had to remove the front fairing inserts, petrol tank and riders seat to achieve this, but no big deal really.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS8.JPG

Now I have the mount and cable installed it was just a case of fixing the 5400mAh rechargeable battery under the passenger seat, but it had to be removable for charging but this was easily overcome using sticky backed Velcro.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS9.JPG

The Bluetooth helmet kit wasn’t any hassle to fit, and I managed to install the stereo speakers right over my ears inside my AGV GP Pro helmet, with the microphone sitting comfortably behind the front right over my mouth, the wiring is safely tucked away behind the various linings, as I said earlier the fitting principle should be the same for most of these kits. Now it was just a case of pairing the phone and Bluetooth helmet kit together to start using it in anger on the road.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/5400mAh%20battery/MS10.JPG

So there you have it, an affordable and viable solution to other motorcycle mounted stand alone GPS devices such as Tomtom Rider using your own phone. Not only that but you haven’t got the bulk of a purpose made motorcycle GPS system to carry around with you when you’re out and about as your phone will be kept in your pocket or elsewhere anyway. My phone should also stay fairly dry under the fairing too in wet conditions, although I am sure a wrapping of Clingfilm should help if not!

Test Results:

There isn't that much you can test with a rechargeable battery, and I found my test results near enough mirrored those given in the technical specifications at the top of the page for the iPhone. As an example of my useage I found the U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger gave at least six, and nearly seven full charges to my O2 XDA Diamond, which was ample for my needs.

Put it this way I could probably run from Lands End to John O'Groats, stop off at hotels for a couple of nights while the battery is in standby, and still have some charge left in reserve once I reach John O'Groats!

Conclusions:

I have been using this setup for a while now and it works superbly for all my needs, and the U2o battery seems to last forever! It is comforting to hear the audible speed camera warning through my headset when I am riding on roads that are new to me. I can slow down and take a call on the move without having to stop and remove my helmet, or listen to music if I want to (I prefer the sound of my bike though!), and all this achievable by a press of a button on my Bluetooth headset, I love it! I can now ride around feeling less stressed about speed cameras as I have access to all known camera locations of all types which are updated and downloadable every week or so, it is just the unknown random ones I have to look out for............. Oh no!!

Don't forget the U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger isn't just for mobile phones, it can be used for any device you might have that charges with a 5 Volt input, this will include camcorders, cameras, MP3 players and portable pocket gaming machines.

The excellent U2o iWalk 5400mAh Emergency Battery Charger is available from one of www.u2o-uk.co.uk resellers for what I think is the very reasonable price of £44.95.

At the time of writing this review there is an on site discount of 10% for this product!

Links to other products used:

Gooseneck bike mount: http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_details.php?id=4640

HTC Diamond phone holder: http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_...s.php?id=14438

Navrider Bluetooth headset intercom: http://www.ultimate-travelgear.co.uk...ider___130.htm

Review: Panoramic Software LaunchPad

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:02:49 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_logo.jpgOnce in a while you probably find yourself looking for an application to fit a specific niche. Just occasionally you find something that fits that niche so perfectly that you heave a sigh of relief!

A few days ago I was playing with a new Windows Mobile 6.5 build for my HTC Diamond. Although a nice looking interface, it lacks any means of quickly accessing a favourite program, let alone frequently used settings or files. Application launchers available for the main WM6.5 interface are poor to say the least, and the new 'Start' menu needs repeated scrolling to access some items due to the loss of the scroll bar and recent programs list.

A quick Google search brought up a few program launch applications but most were either incompatible with WM6.5, or added little to the default system. One program that did catch my eye was LaunchPad by Panoramic Software. This was released in May 2009 and the features chart specifically mentioned WM6.5 compatibility. One quick trial download later and I had it installed and operational. So, does it have that 'sigh of relief' factor? Read on to find out!

Supplier:
Panoramic Software

Product:
LaunchPad

Platform:
Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchsreen devices at all resolutions.

Price:
$4.95. Free 2 day trial available.

Devices used for review:
HTC Touch Diamond (WM6.5) & O2 XDA Flint (WM6.1).

With thanks to Patrick Abadi of Panoramic Software for supplying the software.

Introduction

The purpose of Launchpad is simply to provide a quick and easy method of opening your frequently used applications, settings and files. By default it takes over the Start button at the top left of the Taskbar and on opening presents the user with a grid of definable Shortcut icon hotspots. A slider at the bottom of the screen also allows the user to select from a list of programs and settings, and also to exit the program. The Favorites section also has a slider in its top bar, allowing a second screenful of shortcuts to be accessed.

Installation

The installation file size is about 700KB, and it has to be installed via a PC installer over an Activesync link. The end user agreement is accepted on the PC and again after installation on the device. The two day trial can be download as a PC or CAB file installer.

Although the installer gives the option for the program's location, this is a system program so it is essential to install it to the device's Main Memory. Once installed, the normal Start menu icon is replaced by a PC Windows type icon though this can be reversed in the settings and the program loaded from Programs or assigned to a hardware button. There is also an option to link LaunchPad to the left Soft Key. No soft reset is required after installation unless a soft key link has been selected.

Once the Favorites buttons have been defined, Launchpad uses about 5MB of progam memory. Launchpad runs equally well in Portait or Landscape modes; in the latter, the menu icons are on the left side and the scrollbar or screen select slider on the right.

If the program is purchased after a trial, the developer provides a new fully registered copy of the program that can be installed over the trial version. Currently Handango only supply a PC based installer, though the developer provides them with a CAB installation file as well.

Program updates are installed by downloading a new copy of the program via an Update link on the product page of the developer's website. This can be downloaded as a CAB file or for installation via a PC. The updated file simply overwrites the existing installation though there is currently a small error which returns some of the settings to their default state. This is being addressed by the developer. Edit: Version 1.3.0 of LaunchPad, which is now available on Panoramic's website has fixed this issue, though it will only be operative from this version onwards.

Using LaunchPad for the First Time

Once installed, the first job is likely to be assigning shortcuts to the Favorites screen, but one can simply use the lower icons to access Programs and Settings directly. The icons are very well designed and are finger friendly. You can tap or drag to select which icon you want, and the animations are smooth and fast. The Programs and Settings screens are presented as a scrolling list which can be navigated in four ways:

Kinetic scrolling, where a finger drag will move the list proportional to the speed and direction of the dragging.
Dragging the Scrollbar: As normal, the list can be dragged with the scrollbar, or the upper and lower arrows can be tapped to move the list by three items at a time.
Touching the Scrollbar: The height of the Scrollbar is proportional to the total list of items, thus touching the bar in the middle will immediately access the midpoint of the list, and so on. I found this to be very effective when populating my Favouites screens as I found myself able to get pretty close to the item I was after with a little practice.
Keyboard input: This only works in devices with a hardware keyboard, as LaunchPad does not have a Soft Input Panel. When a list screen is open, tapping a letter (or sequence) with the keyboard displays a ghosted image of the letter in the centre of the screen, and the nearest matching item on the list is located.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_progs.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_settings.jpg[/IMG]

Once the desired item is visible on screen, a tap selects it.

The Favorites Screens

On first use, the Favorites screens are simply presented as a grid of '+' icons. The grid can be 3*3, 4*4 or 5*5 depending on your preference and is selected in the program Options. (If you use an early version of WM6.5 I would advise choosing your grid size at the outset, and keeping to it as I encountered a few glitches when trying to resize the grid after assigning many of my shortcuts, which required a removal/reinstallation of the program. This has not occurred since I updated to a later build of WM6.5.) With the two available Favorites screens there is thus a total of 18, 32 or 50 possible shortcut locations. Each of the two favorites screens can be assigned a title from a list of eleven options.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_large.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_fav_today.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_small.jpg[/IMG]

To assign a shortcut, the simplest method is to tap the '+' sign on the required square. You can also tap the Favorites icon on the bottom bar to spawn a context menu including the option to add a link. The Add Favorite options are:

Add program link: this opens the Programs list which is navigated as explained above. tapping the required item assigns it to the selected icon. The top item in this list is a Today link which allows a quick return to the Today home screen, as seen in the middle screenshot above.
Add setting link: this opens the Settings list and operates in exactly the same way as for programs.
Add file/folder link: this opens up a folder tree view, and allows any folder, or individual file to be selected.

Managing Items

If there is a spare location on the Favorites screen, existing icons can be dragged to a new location. There is no facility for dragging to the other screen. Items can be removed by selecting the icon using the device's direction pad, or simply tapping and holding the icon for 1 second. Once the desired icon is selected, tapping the Favorites icon opens a menu allowing its removal. Once all items are in place, they can be locked by tapping the Favorites icon and selecting Lock Items which places a tick against the Lock Items menu entry.

Options
The Options screen is accessed by tapping the currently active section icon and tapping 'Options' . The Options screen is laid out in sections and allows a fair degree of customisation.

General: Here the overall colour scheme can be changed, the Start Menu icon can be selected as one of three options and the binding to the Start Menu and to the left Soft Key (a little ambiguously called 'set today screen menu') configured.
Favorites: Settings for icon size, top slider labels and whether to display the item's name on it's icon.
Settings: Simply a toggle allowing the Settings screen to display as a full alphabetical list, or to retain the standard Windows Mobile sections.

The only other context menu item is 'Help'. Somewhat unusually these days, Panoramic includes a good local help function, which integrates with the standard Windows Mobile help system.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_options.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_colour.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/panoramic/lp/lp_slider_title.jpg[/IMG]

Pros

Excellent functionality

Price

Flexibility

Appearance

WM6.5 compatibility

Cons

No CAB file installation for the full version

Requires 5-6MB of Program Memory

Conclusion

I asked at the start of this review if LaunchPad provided me with that 'sigh of relief' feeling at finding an application that did exactly what I wanted. The answer is an emphatic YES. Despite a couple of small quibbles, which I'm sure will be addressed by the developer before long, LaunchPad does what it sets out to do an an excellent manner. It's price of $4.95 and its comprehensive device support make this a program that could be installed on pretty much any touchscreen device. For me, it has changed WM6.5 from being unusable due to its poor program launching methods, to being a joy to use, and is equally at home on my WM6.1 XDA Flint.

HTC Touch Pro 2 Review - A week in my life.....

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:57:47 +0000

HTC Touch Pro 2 Review - A week in my life..... http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/front_open_hand_s.jpg Introduction

Ever since we first saw, and were blown away by, the original HTC Tytn (HTC Hermes) the flagship device for each generation has been the sliding hardware keyboard form factor from HTC. The Tytn II (Kaiser) and Touch Pro (Raphael) continued this trend and have led the way throughout each generation from HTC, and new OS iteration from Microsoft. It is then, with a little disappointment, that this latest flagship device, the Touch Pro 2, comes with same OS as its older sibling, Windows Mobile 6.1. For 6 months or so since we first heard rumours of the HTC Rhodium (Touch Pro 2) it was expected to ship with the new version of Windows Mobile, 6.5. With little more than an updated screen, on paper, I think this is the most low key device launch I've felt from HTC for a while. Does the Touch Pro 2 have hidden talents to make us lust over? Read on to find out.....

For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.Thanks go out to Lorraine at Clove.co.uk for providing us with a review sample.For more information on the HTC Touch Pro 2 go to the Clove website at www.Clove.co.uk
As is the new trend with these reviews I'll produce a day by day commentary of a week’s use of the Touch Pro 2 along with photos/screen grabs and my thoughts as I go along. Feel free to ask questions, I'll endeavour to satisfy your need for detail. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif I'll use this for a more formally structured review you're all used to once the week is through. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/box_s.jpg
Day 1 - Unboxing and first impressions.

When I picked up my City Link package generously loaned from the ever helpful local device providers Clove, I thought, "Hold on, this is a bit small". Before I'd opened the standard courier plastic bag I was sure I'd been sent the HTC Snap, or some other, more compact Smartphone by mistake. So I was a little surprised to see the Touch Pro 2 image on the HTC box. It's about the same size as the Diamond box, much smaller than the Tytn II etc boxes have been. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/box_rear_s.jpg
Inside the box there is less glamour than usual. The device sits in a reconstituted "egg box" style brown inner package, as opposed to the flashy black designer innards typical associated with an HTC Touch device. Is this HTC's environmental offering or does it, dare I say it, reflect the cost cutting state of the current economic climate. I'll leave you to argue that one through! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/eggbox_s.jpg
There are no surprises with the usual software and documentation. You get the usual array of warranty and legal bumf, as well as a nice quick start guide and an HTC care booklet. The software included is contained on two disks; one has the usual trial of Office 2007 and the other contains soft copies of the manual and quick start guide. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/manuals_s.jpg
From an accessory perspective if you have a Touch Pro or a Diamond you won't see anything new here. That's not a bad thing. HTC's accessories are always of reasonable style and quality without being exceptional. Here we have a standard HTC headset with optional ear buds, the Diamond style charger and USB cable. Other than that there’s a spare stylus and leatherette carry case. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/accessories_s.jpg
First impression of the hardware is....shiny. Very shiny. It's a much better looking device in the flesh than it's photograph's suggest. I've tried to capture the "shininess" in the images you see here but it has to be seen with your own eyes to really appreciate. HTC have used the chrome effect very well indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/front_hand_s.jpg
Second impression is......large. Not massive or anything but about Kaiser sized. It’s certainly not as compact as the original Touch Pro. It feels weighty in the hand too. I compared the specs of the three machines and the new Pro 2 is closer to the size and weight of the Kaiser (Tytn II) than the Touch Pro. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/front_open_hand_s.jpg
The other real attention grabber that struck me as I examined the hardware for the first time was how the screen dominates the front of the device. I'd say 80% of the front is screen, with the front controls just slim line across the foot of the device, and the speaker and indicator LED's mirroring this at the top. It certainly is a big screen. I can't wait to see how it looks........ http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/back_hand_s.jpg

Day 2 - Setting up!

Ok, with all the boring technical gubbins out the way, lets get this beast powered up. Looking at shop dummies is no fun at all! As with most devices today the first thing you see after pushing the power button is a device specific splash screen with ROM version information in the bottom corner. Unfortunately the next thing we see is the Windows Mobile 6.1 start-up screen (unfortunate because 6.5 would have been much nicer). Once the device has sorted itself out for the first time and booted into the Os it goes off again and automatically installs and configures some more bits and pieces. This process all takes a good couple of minutes. System restarts after this initial setup are a lot quicker, typically taking just under a minute. Once this is done you are prompted with the HTC automatic setup screen. This gives you the option to import your contacts from your current SIM card and also to setup your network connection for you. I put a tick in box number 2, and let the device determine the short list for my Service Provider. The device correctly offered me O2 amongst the selection and I let it do its thing. To this point the connection settings have been spot on, and in general the pain of buying a SIM free device is virtually nullified by HTC's excellent automatic configuration software. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/WM_screen_s.jpg

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Auto_Setup_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Sim_Setup_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Sim_Setup_Auto_s.jpg

At this point I'd like to offer my respect to the person or team at HTC that is responsible for the screen on the touch Pro 2. Beautiful doesn't quite do it justice; it's awesome; crystal clear, bright and very, very sharp. The only regret I have is that like the chrome finish around the edge of the device no matter how many photos I take of it, they just will not do it justice. I've had a lot of HTC devices in my time (and other manufacturers too) and this is THE best screen I've ever seen on any kind of Smartphone/Pocket Pc. It's awesome. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Home_s.jpg
Everyone reading this will have their own ideas what happens next. Some people will install all 18,000 Windows Mobile applications available on their device and some may not even install any. I can't cover all eventualities so I'll talk you through my own setup and my experience with it. As before I'll endeavour to answer any questions you folks may have. I keep all my software on MicroSD so I can easily move them around. so my first task is to insert the MicroSD card. The MicroSD card slot is housed behind the battery cover, but not under the battery. This is the best place for the card in my opinion as it means you can change the card easily if you wish, but it is also well protected. I used an 8GB MicroSD card but the Touch Pro 2 should take up to the maximum 32GB MicroSD which should be shipping from SanDisk towards the end of the year. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/TouchFlo_settings_s.jpg
Ok, now we've booted into the device proper we have the lovely TouchFlo on screen the first thing to do is set the clock. This is where we see the first of HTC's upgrades to TouchFlo over the previous generation. I'm sure you all agree the new clock and alarm screens, although only offering the same functionality, are a welcome improvement over the default Windows Mobile ones. Nice.
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For me personally, my next step in configuration is setting up my customised tones. I setup 4 tones, one ringtone and a tone each for SMS, MMS and email. Fortunately, for the telephone ringtone at least HTC make this easy. The last tab (by default) in the TouchFlo Today screen replacement is Settings, and within the Settings tab is a sound setup. In the sound setup applet you can change the ringtone with a nice scrolling touch sensitive selection list. Easy. My favourite ringtone, Oldphone, even comes as standard on the Touch Pro 2 like it did in the old days. Sweet. Unfortunately, setting up the other notifications' custom sounds was a lot more difficult. I copied my WAVs from my MicroSD card to the Application Data\Sounds directory and headed for settings again. There is no fancy HTC wizard for this (why not?) and so you have to use the advanced settings in the TouchFlo to drop down into Windows Mobile itself. I have a couple of gripes with the HTC Touch Pro 2 which I'll get to in due course but this is where I found the first. I am anti stylus. I'm SO anti stylus that it took me a while to remember it even existed; it's that long since I've had to use it. The problem is you HAVE to use it to change anything in the notifications menu because there's no dpad on the Touch Pro 2. There are several times since I've started using the device that I've wanted to use a dpad and then had to get the stylus out. You could argue you can use the directional keys on the hardware keyboard, but again, it's just annoying to have to open it up. In my opinion, until the base OS is more finger friendly we still need our dpads. More so than I stylus I think. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Sound_settings_s.jpg
Once my sounds are set, I usually setup my email. I use a connection to a Microsoft Exchange 2007 server. Again HTC have put a nice GUI front end on this setup, although again it does not offer any functionality other than make the process finger friendly. It seems to take an age to complete though, a lot longer than the manual way; a good 10 minutes or so. It is a welcome addition though, and means we are getting ever closer to a finger touch only OS. It HTC had managed to do this for all the WM settings applets it would be awesome. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Mail_Setup_s.jpg
After the connection to Exchange was made and my mailbox synchronised I set about configuring the remaining tabs in TouchFlo. I setup my favourite users in the contact tab, and pointed the weather application at my nearest town in the weather tab. The weather app looks great on the 800x480 screen. You get the days forecast and also the next 5 days underneath. Very tidy. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Contacts_s.jpg

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Next up I pair my Motorola S9 Headset/Headphones. I listen to a lot of music on my devices and in my opinion there is nothing to touch the S9's for an all round combination of functionality and quality. So it's into the settings menu, but this time communications and Bluetooth. The Bluetooth menu is another that is improved with a nice new GUI. A simple wizard helps you with most of the options available. Again, like the new clock screens it's very pretty. I'm not 100% sure if this one is just a wizard though as I cannot pair my Sony Ericcson Bluetooth watch with the Touch Pro 2. It will not pair within the Bluetooth wizard itself or in the Smartwatchm program I use it with. Weird. I've never had a problem with probably more than 10 devices previously so I'm wondering if HTC have tweaked more than just the interface? http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Bluetooth_Settings_s.jpg
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The remainder of my setup procedure continued as expected, with no new or unusual experiences along the way. Just for information I installed Astraware Sudoku and used DotFred's excellent PimBackup to restore the call and SMS logs from my previous device. I was thrown off track a little by the HTC "My Contact Card" as I assumed this was another Wizard linked to the Windows Mobile "Owner Information". It seems it is not. Ok, minor issues apart, we're all done and ready for some proper use now........ http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Contactcard_top_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Contactcard_bottom_s.jpg

Day 3 - Initial thoughts on usage

I've called this Day 3 for continuities sake but, the more observant amongst will notice that it's actually the fourth day that I've been using the Touch Pro 2 for. I'm starting to get a pretty good feel for the device now, and thought I'd share some of the pros and cons as I see them. I think firstly I'll start with the thing that has really been bugging me. The lack of OK button I'm finding to be a real nightmare. Yesterday I was adding a couple of appointments into my diary, and, well, it was much more difficult than it should have been. Navigating through the drop down menus is painful enough without a hardware dpad (there is a set of software cursor keys on the software SIP) with having to pan through each box then hit enter to select it and then enter again to scroll down through the options. Having to hit enter twice seems a waste of time to me. Anyway, back to the OK button (or lack thereof). So I've finished my appointment using the hardware keyboard and...... no OK button on that either. Fine, I'm sure if I hit the home button then that will do the same thing right? Wrong, I hit the home button and it's adios new appointment, hello TouchFlo. Nice. Back into the Calendar app, I recreated the appointment and stabbed at the OK with my thumb (I'm a one handed user) and....missed. I found out I had no new notifications, which is nice. I buckled; I was starting to wonder how well the device would bounce, so, in defeat, I took the stylus out. I can kind of understand not having a hardware OK on the front of the device but no OK on the hardware keyboard? Not even as a second function? Enough said. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Keyboard_s.jpg
While I'm thinking about the hardware keyboard, my experience of it is a bit of a mixed bag. It feels a lot like the Xperia keyboard, i.e. too soft and squishy, but having said that, I have not been missing keys like I did with the X1. The buttons are nice and big, the travel seems about right too. It's just the feedback that's not there. The original Touch Pro had a superb keyboard but for me the one on the Touch Pro 2 doesn't feel great but it seems to tick all the required boxes for use (except for a lack of OK button). http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Keyboard_Landscape_s.jpg
On to more positive thoughts, the lovely screen is still impressing the "four letter expletive” out of me. It's truly a thing of beauty. I've noticed a few anomalies with the way some of the software deals with the resolution though. The Touch Pro 2 seems to favour the stretch approach as opposed to the letterbox. That is, when an application is designed for QVGA or VGA as opposed to WVGA (either 320x240 or 640x480 as opposed to 800x480) the Touch Pro 2 generally seems to stretch the application along the Y-axis to fill the screen. Some other devices will display the application in the aspect it was designed for, centering the content in the middle of the screen with black bars at either end filling in the unused area of screen (letterbox). You can see an example of the stretch with the Copilot image. Personally I'd prefer the letterbox format, but it's really not an issue for me either way. What's important is that I've not come across any issues using any programs not designed for the 800x480 aspect and that is often the main worry when using a new standard resolution. With older devices some non widescreen applications do not install. On a slight tangent but generally on topic I noticed one small bug whereby screen caps I've been taking that are WVGA are showing as truncated VGA thumbnails in HTC Album. This could be a feature, but I'm not sure why that would be the case. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Copilot_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Album_s.jpg
One more screen related feature that I'm loving is the screen saver. More specifically it's the way the screen fades in and out from off to on as opposed to going from black to bright as most devices do. It's a nice gentle fade (but not slow) wakeup to sleep progression and vice versa and it feels classy. On a related theme, something that will please a whole lot of people is the auto screen off while in a call. The Touch Pro 2 detects when your device is next to your ear, and blacks out the screen. Then when you move the device away from your ear the screen automatically comes back on. I spent an age moving the screen back and forth from my ear the first time I received a call on the Touch Pro 2; screen goes on, screen goes off, screen goes on, screen goes off etc. Much to the annoyance of my caller, a simple but really welcome feature. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Level_s.jpg
From a performance perspective the Touch Pro 2 has been reasonably good. During some general TouchFlo use I've noticed a bit of slowdown, but not at any given time or process. Sometimes it seems to just "think" for a split second. It's something I've noticed but is nothing to worry about. The change in screen orientation can take a while though. By a while I mean occasionally it has taken a couple of seconds, which is too long. Not always, but sometimes. I've also noticed on a couple of times when rotating from portrait to landscape the screen has corrupted. This was mainly when the TouchFlo internet and is fixed by going back to portrait and then back to landscape again. Switching between tabs in TouchFlo is fast and responsive with the data following the tab icon just a split second after releasing your finger from the screen. I noticed no lag with TouchFlo in general as we saw with the early versions. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/TouchFlo_Landscape_s.jpg
If the audio performance of the device is important to you then you'll be pleased to hear (do you see what I did there?) that the volume levels of the Touch Pro 2 are above average. In fact for an HTC device I'd go as far as to say they are positively loud. A couple of times my email alerts have made me jump (seriously!) and when I powered on my Motorola S9's for the first time the Tie Fighter introduction to Ash's Lose Control almost blew my ears off (you know what I mean. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif ). It's like HTC have turned the audio on the Touch Pro 2 up to twelve. Sweet. Also of note is the clarity level of the calls is again, good if not better than HTC devices of yore. Gone are the days of your Pocket PC sounding like the other person is wearing a snorkel and mask and sitting at the bottom of the English Channel. Incoming calls flow loud and clear. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Music_s.jpg
I thought I'd end positively for today and let you know that I've been quite impressed with the battery life on the Touch Pro 2. Any WM device that goes a couple of days without requiring a charger is good in my book. I found I could get 2 days worth of usage from it comfortably. An average day’s use for me consists of up to 20 minutes of calls, 30 minutes of browsing in a reasonably good 3G area and about 50 push emails. I'm not much of a texter but there's usually a couple of SMS in there too. I also use my device as an MP3 player while I'm cycling to work, so there's also an extra 30 minutes of music too, over a set of Bluetooth headphones. In other reviews I've read for the Touch Pro 2 people seem to be disappointed by the battery life. I think for a Pocket PC 2 days from a charge is the minimum. My daily usage pattern is giving me this with the Touch Pro 2. Another box ticked. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Battery_s.jpg

Day 4 - Surfing, exploring and snapping

As with Day 3, it's actually been a couple of days since my last post so this is effectively Day 6, although it's part 4. So far the Touch Pro 2 has been a bit of a mixed bag for me, but today I'm going to be looking at some of the arenas it was really designed for; surfing, exploring & snapping.

I've already raved about the awesome beauty of the screen. It's clarity is superb and its colours bright and vibrant. I've also noted that the aspect ratio may cause compatibility issues with some older software. So why produce an 800x480 screen when 640x480 is the norm? The extra width the widescreen offers means that surfing particularly, and camera use are both improved. Most web pages these days are designed for 1024x768 screen resolution. Most web pages also have advertising banners down the right or left hand side (or even both). This means effectively the content is usually about 800 wide and that's why the Touch Pro 2 excels when it comes to browsing. You can have most websites displayed full width in the landscape view. Nice. That's not all, the Touch Pro 2 has Opera 9.5 preinstalled which is Operas best browser to date. It doesn't end there either. Interestingly, and it could be circumstantial, but when I connect to Wi-Fi my browsing seems more instantaneous. With most devices a fast HSDPA connection is usually very sharp, but the Wi-Fi tends to "stick" a little. I've always just out it down to DNS issues but I experienced less lag than usual from my Wi-Fi based connections with the Touch Pro 2. As I said, this could be just my perception, but that's how I'm seeing it. It's possible either the later WM6.1 or the Wi-Fi may have received a little optimising. Either way, browsing is a joy with the Touch Pro 2. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Opera95_s.jpg

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I harped on a fair while about the lack of OK button on the Touch Pro 2 and the other day. I still look at the device every morning and think "why didn't they just put an ok button and a dpad in there....". The thing that really has me bemused is the inclusion of the hardware zoom control. I've not mentioned this until now but just below the screen is a sliding zoom control. It's just where you'd expect the hardware soft buttons to be if there were any. As far as I can tell, other than zooming in and out, there is no use for this control. I just don't understand why HTC would remove the hardware soft buttons and replace them with this. Crazy. In my opinion a waste of space. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Zoom_s.jpg

One of the real pities that comes from not having Windows Mobile 6.5 from the outset is that there is no Internet Explorer 6 Mobile on board. From what we've seen so far, coupled with the excellent screen on the Touch Pro 2 that is a real omission. Opera is good, but it just doesn't render a lot of sites correctly, and from what we've heard, IE 6 Mobile would be better at this. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/PIE_s.jpg

As well as having a bit of a browsing session I had a tinker with the camera this evening too. I snapped several indoor and outdoor shots and was reasonably impressed, considering the device came from HTC. The camera is still not up to scratch compared to some of the dedicated camera phones, there is no flash of any shape or form, not even a LED one. From a quality perspective, although HTC has upped the mega pixel quantity (to 3.5MP) you'd still need a little luck to capture and image of sufficient quality to put it on to some paper and display it in your living room. Any first year photography student will tell you that all the megapixels in the world don't mean squat without a decent lens. I've always thought the addition of a camera is more of an afterthought for HTC but even so, just one device with a good lens would be cool. The camera software seems to have improved quite sufficiently even if the hardware hasn't. The response from booting to focussing is all that bit quicker and slicker. I'm a big fan of dedicated camera buttons simply because when the need comes for a snap, it often it's a quick fire thing, and the time it takes to jump through the menu system means you've missed your moment. Unfortunately HTC have decided not to give us a dedicated camera button with the Touch Pro 2. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/IMAG0015_s.jpg

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The other feature I concentrated on over the past couple of days was the GPS system. The Touch Pro 2 does not come with any navigation software out of the box, but it does have Google maps included in the ROM. I installed the Diamond version of Copilot and the trial version of TomTom Navigator 7. Copilot worked as was expected, with the exception of the stretched screen as we've seen earlier. I was amazed though how quickly the Touch Pro 2 picked up the GPS single. From a cold start in clear skies it was less than a minute. I'm pretty certain my original Touch Pro took much longer than this. Sweet. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Copilot_s.jpg

One last thing to leave you with tonight. I went to a wedding over the weekend (very cool, excellent band, great rendition of Dakota) and so rather than "risk" the Touch Pro 2 (weddings can get messy! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif ) I took the Diamond instead. Having the Diamond in my pocket and then picking up the Touch Pro 2 today has really fired home just how heavy and bulky the Touch Pro 2 is. I've taken a few comparison shots so you can see the difference. I've included the old Kaiser (HTC Tytn II) as it's very close to being the same size and weight. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/Compare_s.jpg

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Summary & Conclusion

Again, firstly let me apologies for this going from 7 days with the Touch Pro 2 to more like 3 weeks with the Touch Pro 2. Well, this is the final update I'm planning to make, so if you have any questions just ask and I'll see if I can answer them for you.

The Touch Pro 2 is possibly the best Windows Mobile device to date. The hardware is beautifully designed and crafted; the software is responsive and intuitive (mainly). It's excellent. That said, it's not perfect and the more familiar you are to Windows Mobile the more likely you are to pick up on it's flaws. For the user new to WM, the large finger responsive TouchFlo UI is friendly and functional as well as being graphically stunning. 90% of tasks can be performed from within TouchFlo and for novices it could be months before you need to access the OS interface directly. Happy days. If however you're a bit of an old hacker like me though you'll immediately push TouchFlo to its limits and be dropped out of the comfort zone that TouchFlo represents most likely during your initial setup. The iPhone-esque hardware design (less is more) than becomes an issue and I'm sure you'll be yearning for the old days of configurable hardware buttons and devices you can operate with one hand. I am a little concerned that physically the Touch Pro 2 owes a little too much to the iPhone for my liking. In fact, if you were to squint a little bit, you could probably fool yourself that it was a product from Apple as opposed to HTC. The colour, size and general shape mimic the iPhone and as I've already mentioned does the lack of hardware controls. You cannot fault the iPhone’s success, but is HTC going in the right direction by taking so many of it's characteristics on board? iPhone satisfaction studies are littered with wants for a smaller device with more hardware controls so are HTC doing themselves any favours here? I'll leave that point for you to mull over for another day. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/WM_screen_s.jpg
In the grand scheme of things the Touch Pro 2 is sitting pretty high up the mobile food chain. These days though, were not short of high quality Windows Mobile devices from an increasing amount of sources. The devices are increasingly faster, prettier and easier to use but because the bar has previously been set so high we are seeing smaller increments in performance with each device generation. If you look at the original XDA to the XDA2 to the Universal the differences were enormous. Compare the Touch Pro and the Touch Pro 2 and there is very little improvement from a hardware perspective. The CPU, GPS, camera etc are all identical. You could even argue the trade off between the screen size and device size is more of a choice than an improvement anyway. As I've already stated, the Touch Pro 2 is probably the best WM device to date, but only by a very small margin. If you already have a Touch Pro or an Xperia X1 the Touch Pro 2 is very nice, but it's not going to rock your world. If you are new to Windows Mobile this device is "where it's at". You can feel privileged that your joining the WM family at the best time ever. For us old hackers though I can't help thinking this might be a generation to skip. I think personally it's time to go for a monthly contract for a while and save my upgrade for a snapdragon chip and a new OS. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/TouchPro2/back_hand_s.jpg

Device Specifications (from PDADB.net, original link here: Touch Pro 2)

General

Brand: HTC
Manufacturer: High Tech Computer
Hardware-Designer: High Tech Computer
Project_Codename: HTC Rhodium 100
Model ID: RHOD100
Release Date: May, 2009
Predecessor_Model: HTC Touch Pro T7272 (HTC Raphael 100)

Physical Attributes

Dimensions: (width x height x depth): 59.2 x 116 x 16.65 millimetres
2.3 x 4.6 x 0.7 inches
Bounding Volume: 114.3 cubecentimetres
Mass: 178.5 grams (battery included)

Software Environment

Embedded:Operating-System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Operating:System-Kernel: Windows CE 5.2

Microprocessor, Chipset

CPU-Clock: 528 MHz
CPU: Qualcomm MSM7200A
CPU Core: ARM1136EJ-S
Instruction Set: ARMv6

Memory, Storage capacity

ROM type: Flash EEPROM
ROM:capacity: 512 MiB, including 287.93MiB user-accessible non-volatile storage
RAM-type: mobile DDR SDRAM
RAM capacity: 288 MiB, 188.21MiB accessible

Graphical subsystem

Display Type: color transflective TFT display
Display Color Depth: 16 bit/pixel (65536 scales)
Display Diagonal: 3.6 " (92 millimetres)
Display Resolution: 480 x 800 (384000 pixels)
Viewable Display Size: 1.86 " x 3.11 " (47.33 x 78.89 millimetres)
Dot Pitch: 257.6 pixel/inch (0.09861 millimetre/pixel)
Video out: NTSC/PAL resolution
Proprietary connector

Audio Subsystem

Audio Channel(s): stereo sound
Analog/Digital Converter (Recording):
16 bit nominal quantization 44100 Hz sampling frequency
Digital/Analog Converter
(Playing): 16 bit resolution 44100 Hz holding frequency
Microphone(s): stereo sound
Loudspeaker(s): stereo sound
Audio Output: Proprietary plug

Cellular Phone

Cellular Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS900, UMTS2100
Cellular Data_Links: CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA
Cellular Antenna: Internal antenna
Call:Alert: 40 -chord melody (polyphonic)
Vibrating:Alert: Supported
Speakerphone : Supported
Phone Controller: Qualcomm MSM7200 (QDSP4000, QDSP5000)
SAR (head)-0: 0.462 W/kg
SAR (body)-0: 1.31 W/kg

Control Peripherals

Positioning Device: Touchscreen
Primary-Keyboard: Slide and tilt QWERTY-type keyboard, 49 keys
Automatic keyboard backlight (upon press of any key)
Directional Pad: Not supported
Scroll Wheel: Not supported

Interfaces

Expansion Interfaces: microSD, microSDHC, TransFlash, SDIO
Supports High Capacity (SD 2.0/HC) memory cards with capacity of up to 32GB
USB: USB 2.0 client, Hi-Speed (480Mbit/s)
USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
Bluetooth: (802.15): Bluetooth 2.1 Enhanced Data Rate, Internal antenna
Wireless_LAN/Wi-Fi (802.11): IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, 54 Mbit/s
Internal antenna
Infrared Gate: Not supported

Multimedia Broadcast

Analog:Radio: FM radio (87.5-108MHz) with RDS radio reciever
Proprietary headset as antenna
Digital Media Broadcast: Not supported

Satellite Navigation

Built-in GPS:module: Supported
GPS Protocol: NMEA 0183
GPS_Antenna: Internal antenna
Complementary-GPS:Services: Assisted GPS, QuickGPS, Geotagging
Navigation Chip(set): Qualcomm MSM7200A gpsOne

Built-in Digital Camera

Sensor-Type: CMOS sensor
Resolution: 2048 x1536 pixels (3.15MP)
Autofocus_(AF): Supported
Optical:Zoom: 1 x
Macro Mode: Not supported
Built-in Flash: Not supported
Camcorder: 640x480 pixels , 30frame/sec
Recordable Image Formats: JPG
Recordable_Video Formats: 3GPP, 3GPP2, MPEG4

Built-in Secondary Digital Camera

Sensor Type: CMOS sensor
Resolution: 640 x480 pixels (0.31MP)
Camcorder: 352x288pixels
Recordable_Image_Formats: JPG
Recordable Video Formats: 3GPP, MPEG4

Power Supply

Battery Technology: Lithium-ion battery
Battery Build: removable
Battery Capacity: 1500 mAh

Additional Details

Built-in accelerometer: Supported

Additional Features:

* GPRS Class 12
* HSDPA 7.2
* HSUPA 2.0
* HTC TouchFLO 3D (HTC Manila) UI
* HTC Zoom bar
* HTC Straight Talk technology
* Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP
* AVRCP)
* pre-installed Opera 9.5
* World Card Mobile 1.0

REVIEW: Brodit HTC Touch Pro Holder with 3-in-1 Adapter

Mon, 25 May 2009 19:41:24 +0000

Introduction

Whilst I'm not adverse to using a suction type windscreen mount to cradle my device for use in-car, there's nothing quite like the quality offered by installing a dedicated holder to do the job for you. For many, Brodit are considered to be the Rolls-Royce of the cradle world; I can state personally that I have had a Brodit mount for every device I have owned since at least my O2 XDA Exec, and maybe before that.

When I got my latest car, which sported a USB socket that allowed me to use the in-car-entertainment sysem to play music from my O2 XDA Serra, I started looking for a cradle that could provide that level of integration. I contacted David at DSL Developments and he suggested the HTC Touch Pro Cradle with 3-in-1 adapter; I should have know that Brodit would have something up their sleeve.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Title_t.jpg
For your delectation some photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to David Soppelsa at DSL Developments for providing us with the review sample.
For more information on the Brodit HTC Touch Pro Holder with 3-in-1 Adapter, click here to visit the product page at the DSLDevelopments.com website.

Fast Facts

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/red_sq.gif Mini USB socket for charging
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/red_sq.gif 3.5mm Audio socket for sound out
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/red_sq.gif HTC Ext USB socket for original headset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/red_sq.gif 40cm adapter cable
The External Package

The package arrived by post, and as usual I had to fight my urge to rip the packaging to pieces to get at the goodies inside whilst I take some photos. DSL postal delivery is quick & efficient, and has been every time I have ordered a Brodit mount from them. The packaging is a standard white Jiffy bag, nothing special, but it doesn't need to be!! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif . http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Package_t.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Package2_t.jpg The Brodit Package

After shredding the external packaging, I was met with the product package itself, nothing special here at all really, the standard Brodit fare of the mount in a clear see-through plastic bag, with the colourful Brodit cardboard top keeping it together... The game was afoot!!!
Aesthetics

What can one say, it's a device cradle, it's made out of plastic, but there is more to say than just that! The cradle is incredibly well constructed and the quality is what I have come to expect from a Brodit mount, there are no rough edges or any manafacturing defects that I can see. The crade hugs my O2 XDA Serra snugly and it requires no effort to push the device onto the connector plug, indicating that the position of the mini-USB plug is spot on. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Aesth_t.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_adapter_t.jpg Now this particular mount isn't your bog standard Brodit mount, oh no... Those ingenious people at Brodit have raised the bar and included a 3-in-1 adapter to extend the fucntionality past just being able to recharge your device in car.

The 3-in-1 adapter adds enhanced functionality by providing three extra ports. Taking the picture left to right, we have a HTC extended USB socket capable of taking the original HTC headset supplied with the Serra, next up is a 3.5mm Audio Socket, perfect for those cars that provide a line in capability to integrate with the in-car entertainment unit and finally there is a Mini USB Socket for charging the device.
Fitting

As with previous Brodit mounts that I have used, fitting the new Touch Pro mount in my car was a snip; well, it was made a lot easier by the fact that I already had a Brodit Proclip installed in my car on which the original Brodit Touch Pro mount sat. Stage one involved un-screwing the current Brodit mount from it's base, leaving the base itself attached to the Proclip.... http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Proclip_t.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Fit_t.jpg The next step was to attach the new Touch Pro 3-in-1 mount. This was achieved by first removing its existing base, and then simply screwing it in place, utilising the original base from the previous mount. One thing I have noted is that the base appears to be universal across all the Brodit tilt & swivel mounts that I have owned, which is extremely good for fast swap-outs as devices change! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif
Connectivity

With the cradle secured firmly in place, it was time to complete the connectivity requirements, wel, OK, I'll admit it, it was time to connect the cable up, pretty straightforward in fact! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Connectivity_t.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Cable_t.jpg It was just a matter of finding a suitable USB cable, plugging one end into the USB port in the car's centre console, and then connecting the Mini-USB port at the other end to the Brodit 3-in-1 adapter's extUSB socket and that, was basically that. The proof would be in the pudding, would it all work when I selected USB input on the stereo head-unit.
Installed & Ready

The end-game in sight, the O2 XDA Serra sitting snugly & comfortably in its new home in the car... Brodit Mounts are such good quality that it always looks to me as if the phone was made to be there. The Proclip innovation in that you don't have to physically damage your car in anyway to install the mount is just awesome. I remember the days of the old Dashmount vehicle mounts that you used to actually drill & screw to your cars interior, not something that I ever relished!!

Another interesting fact to note is that when I plugged the Serra into the cradle, it detected that it had been connected to a USB port and offered me the selection screen for choosing between ActiveSync & Disk Drive mode! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_in_Place_t.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/BroditSerra/Brodit_Working_t.jpg The crunch point, time to test! With a little trepidation I selected the USB input function on the stereo head-unit in the car and nothing happened, luckily I realised this was my own mistake and that I should have selected Disk Drive mode on insertion, which would then allow the ICE to see the Serra as an external disk. I quickly popped the Serra out and back in the cradle & was once more presented with the Activesync/Disk Drive mode selection screen. I quickly selected disk drive and we were away. The Serra integrates incredibly well, giving me the ability to select music by list, album, artist, track or random. Not to mention that each track title is also displayed as the music plays, now that is what I call cool!! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

N.B. Please note that if you have set Outlook Mobile to store attachments on the storage card and then select disk drive mode, this could result in a device crash
Pros&Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good Solid Construction http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif I can't actually think of onehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Fits the XDA Serra like a glove
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Charges device
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Easy fiting with Proclip system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent integraton whether your car supports USB or Line In

Overall Conclusion
There's no doubt about it, as far as I can tell, Brodit are the kings of the mount makers. Every Brodit mount that I have purchased for my various devices has been absolutely superb. The Brodit Proclip system does make mounting your Windows Mobile device incredibly easy. The ability to just unscrew one existing mount and replace it with another makes swapping devices a cinch, which is handy if you happen to be like me and have more than one device!! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

The Brodit quality is matched by the service at DSLDevelopments, fast & friendly, nothing is too much trouble. I got a tip on the 3-in-1 mount by sending Dave at DSL a quick email question on whether my existing Serra mount had all pins wired or just power, as I was originally looking to carry out a quick DIY job on the cable to try and get to where I am now, so top marks & many thanks to DSL!!

REVIEW: O2 Xda Guide

Sun, 10 May 2009 13:25:03 +0000

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1100.jpgThe O2 Xda Guide

Over recent years O2 announced and brought to the marketplace the Orbit 2 and Ignito devices which featured: 3Mpixel cameras, fast processors, large RAM / ROM, GPS, Quad band phone, Touch interface, etc. The range has now been extended with the svelte and small Xda Guide which is engineered as a fully functional phone with a definite slant towards GPS and navigation use.

Again a rounded candy-bar design (no hardware keyboard) the Guide sports:

3.2MPixel camera, 528Mhz processor, QVGA (320 x 240 display), Quad band, large ROM / RAM, A-GPS, 3G phone / video phone, Touch FLO 2D interface, etc

We'll look at its features as we move through the review and see if the Guide does carry on the traditions of the Xda series.....

Once more we extend our thanks to the generous folks at O2 for allowing us to review the Xda Guide.

[Note: This review is a composite work by; Windows, Fowljr, Boz, and Bassey]

As always in the hardware section of the review all images shown are thumbnails which may be clicked upon to load a larger more detailed image.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: High Tech Computer (HTC)
HTC Code name: HTC Iolite
Supplier: O2 UK PLC
Product Name: Xda Guide
Price: Varies depending on contract

Firstly let's cover the initial technical ground with a detailed listing of the hardware specification that comprises the Xda Guide.

The high points for me here are the large memory (ROM : 512 MB / RAM : 256 MB SDRAM, compared to 256/192 on the Ignito), and a fast processor (Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz) as these have the greatest effect on the operation of the machine.

Note: Figures are the total ROM and RAM memory available for use and storage. Since the memory is shared by the operating system, applications, and data, the actual available memory is less than what is specified.

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Features
Platform
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ultra slim bar type PDA phone form factor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Processor/Chipset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Qualcomm MSM 7225, 528 MHz
Memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ROM: 512 MB
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RAM: 256 MB
LCD Module
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2.8" 320x240 QVGA resolution
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Color TFT LCD with LED back light
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sensitive Touch screen
HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM Function
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internal antenna
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HSPA/UMTS 900/2100 MHz and GSM/GPRS/EDGE
850/900/1800/1900
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HSDPA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3GPP Release 5 compliant
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif DL up to 7.2 Mbps and UL up to 384 Kbps
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif EGPRS Functionality
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif EGPRS class B
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Multi-slot class 12 (10 Operator dependent)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif PBCCH
GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internal GPS antenna
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif NMEA 0183
Digital Camera
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3.2 MP Color CMOS with fixed focus
Wireless LAN
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif WiFi 802.11 b/g
Keyboard/Button/Switch
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Power button (top)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Short Press: system suspend/resume
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Long Press: power on/off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Xtracker (5 way navigation plus wheel)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send/hands-free button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Long press during the call: handsfree on/off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif End button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2 programmable AP buttons
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Navigation button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Footprints button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Volume Up/Down button (left side)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Reset
Notification
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Notification by sound, vibration, LEDs or status shown
on the display
Audio
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Built-in Microphone
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Receiver
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Loud speaker for Hands-Free supported
Device to Device Connectivity
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR

Interface
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1.8/3V SIM card slot
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC ExtUSB (11-pin, mini-USB and audio jack in one)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MicroSD card slot
Power
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery, 1100 mAh
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif AC adaptor, 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
In-car mode detection
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif When the device is docked in the Iolite-specific car holder, device will automatically launch the specially designed in-car mode UI and applications
Stylus
Lanyard Hole
Accessories
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quick Start Guide [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CD (User manual & Sync. software) [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Screen Protector [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Stylus [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Travel charger (AC adapter) [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB Sync Cable (mini-USB/USB) [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Wired stereo headset, [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pouch (Carrying Case)[Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Car Charger [Inbox]
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Specific design car holder [Inbox]
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Applications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Outlook Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messaging (SMS/E-mail), Contacts, Calendar,
Tasks, Email Set Up Wizard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Internet Explorer
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Media Player Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft ActiveSync
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Windows Mobile Update
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internet Sharing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pictures & Videos
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Games
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif File Explorer
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Device Management
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Security Enhancement
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Office Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Windows Live!
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Smart Dial
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Remote Desktop Mobile
Value-Added Applications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera / Camcorder
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ring Tone enhancements
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pictures & Videos enhancements
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Opera Browser
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RSS Hub
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif YouTube Client
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif EZ-INPUT
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MMS Client
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS/LBS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Google Maps for Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quick GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif TouchFLO
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Task Manager
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voice Recorder
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Zip
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Document Viewer – PDF
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Java virtual machine
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voice Speed Dial
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Long Press End Key Menu
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Comm manager
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif STK
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SIM manager
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS navigation SW
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Navigation Panel
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Footprints
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif O2 Operator Settings

EXTERNALS AND HARDWARE

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1154.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1157.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF115.jpgWHAT'S IN THE BOX

O2 have provided both pre-release models and a final 'consumer' box kit for this review, so we believe we have all aspects of the device covered from the boxing to the looks and operation of the machine.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1159.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1160.jpgThe box contained:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Xda Guide Handset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Charger
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Spare Stylus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB cable
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pouch
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Enhanced Stereo headset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Applications CD including Full User Manual
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Xda Guide Quick Start Guide
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CoPilot 7 Quick Start Guide
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Screen Protector
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1Gb MicroSD card with CoPilot 7
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Activation key card for CoPilot 7
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Warranty Card
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Car Cradle
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Car Charger

The boxing itself comprises two inner boxes, the lower box holds the car kit mount and the gooseneck, etc and the other box the Guide itself, the cables, charger, pouch, battery (inside the pouch), and underneath that the bag containing the documentation. So all in all a goodly package contained within functional basic packaging. It is useful though that the car kit components are packed separately as you may have no immediate use for these.

Note: The Applications CD contents include:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile Device Handbook (for PC install)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile Device Centre (for Vista)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Details on 'Additional Windows Mobile Resources' (Microsoft Site)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Details on 'Free Ringtones, Downloads, Help and Other Benefits' (Microsoft Site)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Details on 'How to Set Up E-mail'
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook 2007 60 day trial (CD install)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook 2007 60 day trial (web download install)

The above are accessible via the CD's auto-run menu. However on browsing the disk ActiveSync for Windows XP can also be located:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 (for Windows XP)

It looks like O2 are really cutting costs a little here as there is no longer Sprite backup or Spb GPRS monitor included on the CD which is a pity.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1161.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1163.jpgCASE

The 'Pouch' is basically that, being a plastic woven mesh 'sock' which loosely holds the guide within. It it not hardy enough to be considered a protective case as it has no impact protection at all apart from the weave itself, and probably mainly is intended to prevent the Guide from getting scratched.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Ignito/thumb/DSCF0425.jpgTHE HEADSET

The headset supplied with the Guide is exactly the same as supplied with the Xda Ignito and as such is a great improvement compared to those offered with prior Xda models. It comprises two distinct parts:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Earphone component - which sports a 3.5mm (standard) jack plug, stereo earphones and a sliding spacing bar which allows you to control the spread of the wires once fitted. The ear pieces when fitted with the foam comfort pads fit well in the ear and are reasonably comfortable to wear. However as the jack plug is the 3.5mm standard size used in third party headsets you are free to replace this portion of the headset with a more expensive comfortable third party model of your choice.http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Ignito/thumb/DSCF0430.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Ignito/thumb/DSCF0440.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Control module - This comprises the control module itself and a metre of connecting cable which terminates into the HTC modified USB connector which fits into the bottom of the Guide.

The module supports a number of top mounted remote controls such as:

- Answer call, terminate call, play track, pause track, previous / next track, volume up / down, with the side supporting additional controls for putting a call on hold or for muting the volume.

The back of the control module sports a spring loaded plastic clip which allows it to be conveniently clipped onto a shirt or jacket collar.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1100.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1066.jpgFIRST LOOKS AND FRONT

On wrestling the Guide from it's box, you are immediately struck by the small size of the device. On comparison with an O2 XDA Serra, the Guide is a little shorter and roughly half as thick. The svelte size of the Guide coupled with it's nicely rounded corners ensured that it sat nicely in rather large hands, and surprisingly, the Guide is an incredibly light device, adding to its appeal.

The Guide follows the current tradition of flush touch screens, and that means no raised edges to interfere with stylus-free interaction with the device. As with other devices, the screen is somewhat of a fingerprint magnet, but because it is so bright & clear, that isn't much of a detraction from the overall aesthetic.

One aspect of the device that strikes home is the large scroll wheel on the lower half of the device, that being said, it is directly comparable to the scroll-wheel on the XDA Orbit II, so original Orbit II owners should feel right at home with the Guide. The scroll s a multi function affair, allowing the standard 4 way navigation control, also allowing rotation of the wheel both clockwise & anti-clockwise, with the centre being the more usual action button.

The scroll wheel is flanked on both sides by a set of 4 hardware buttons, to the left one finds the call answer button and immediately above that a Copilot launch button, whilst to the right the lower button provides the call end functionality, whilst above that is a specific hardware button to load the custom footprints application (more on this later!).

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1078.jpgThe main controls / functions on the front of the Guide are:

1 - Co-Pilot - Press to load the Co-Pilot Satellite navigation application
2 - FootPrints - Press to load the Footprints application.
3 - TALK/SEND - Press to answer an incoming call or dial a number. During a call, press and hold to toggle the speaker phone on and off. Press and hold to use Voice Speed Dial.
4 - END - Press to end a call or return to the Home screen. Press and hold to lock the device.
5 - Navigation Control - This Navigation Control allows both 4 way & rotational control.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1071.jpgTHE BOTTOM PORTS

The base of the Guide is minimalistic in features and contains from left to right:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC custom USB port - this serves to allow the device to be fitted with either a power charger (mains or car), PC sync cable or the wired headset.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The very small hole top right (set into the black body) is the input microphone.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1090.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1093.jpgSTYLUS / STYLUS SILO

The Guide uses a one piece stylus, it is some 79mm in length (compared to 92mm on the Orbit) and relatively comfortable to use when held despite the sharp edges that are found on the stylus head. The nose is nicely shaped similar to a spear head and therefore when being used the shank does not interfere in any way with screen visibility.

There is a locking mechanism to hold the stylus in it's silo by means of a ridge about one third of the way up the shaft

It is worth noting that the Guide's back cover has to be removed to get at the red reset button which is cunningly (and annoyingly) positioned inside the machine within a hole on the opposite side to the stylus silo. That to me is a rather annoying design feature, it should have been accessible without removing the back of the machine.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1081.jpgTHE TOP FACE

The top of the Guide is very plain and understated holding only the on / off / standby button.

Press to turn on or turn off the display temporarily. To turn off the power, press and hold for about 5 seconds. A message prompts you to choose whether or not to turn off the device completely. Like the original HTC Touch, this button is quite long but only seems sensitive on one side, which takes a little getting used to.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1076.jpgTHE LEFT HAND SIDE

Volume Buttons - There is just one long volume button. Pressing it towards the top increases the volume, pressing it towards the bottom decreases the volume. It is VERY long so there is no chance of accidentally pressing it the wrong way. I find it a lot less fiddly than the slider used on previous devices.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1073.jpgTHE RIGHT HAND SIDE

The right hand side continues the spartan theme to the extreme, with nothing visible at all apart from the side of the stylus / silo. There are no controls at all.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1095.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1084.jpgTHE BACK FACE, CAMERA, BACK REMOVAL AND BATTERY

The back of the Guide contains only the 3.2 MegaPixel camera and a small speaker grille. There is no port for an external GPS antenna or any vanity mirror as found on some prior Xda machines.

The back / battery cover is removed by getting a finger nail (or the stylus) into a little cut-out at the bottom, just above the USB port. It comes away fairly easily but there is enough resistance to stop it popping over from anything other than a fairly severe drop.

Once the cover is removed the Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery is revealed.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1085.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1088.jpgSIM LOADING

With the back of the Guide removed one can take hold of the battery and gently prise it out of position using the strap to reveal that it is the same 1100mAh unit currently seen in the top-end HTC Touch Diamond 2. Once removed this allows one to slide the SIM card under the holding strip. There is no locking mechanism as such, the strip serves to hold the SIM against the contacts. Once the battery has been popped back into place it does however butt up against the end of the SIM card and prevents it moving out of its position under the strap. The MicroSD card slot also sits under the battery cover (but can be swapped without removing the battery) and there is a red reset button that can be pushed with the stylus.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/27conn.gifhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/2009-03-01_193052.jpg

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/2009-03-01_192857.jpgEXTERNAL STORAGE

The Guide takes the standard MicroSD Memory Card and the slot for this overlaps that for the SIM Card. It does mean that you have to remove the back cover to swap memory cards but you don't have to remove the battery. Obviously, this is slightly less convenient than having it on the side but it also prevents the usual pocket-dust and fluff from getting in. I've certainly not found it to be a problem so far. As for card capacities, I've been using a 16GB card with no problems at all and I see no reason why it shouldn't be fine with a 32GB card as and when these become available

With the SIM card and memory card loaded and the batty back in place the back cover can be slid downwards back into position where it will lock with a dull click.
SIZE MATTERS
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1062.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/PDA_Sizes.jpgThe Guide will invariably be compared to the Orbit 2 for performance, specifications and size

As you can see the Guide is slightly smaller than the Orbit II in all dimensions and, in particular, is significantly narrower. In use, this does make a big difference as it makes the guide as easy to use one-handed as the HTC Touch

It scores on weight too where it is 7 grams lighter than the Orbit II
THE SCREEN
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1100.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1098.jpg
The last and probably one of the most important aspects of the hardware that requires discussion is that of the screen. Whilst not one of the fancy VGA panels we've seen in phones like the Ignito, this 2.8" QVGA screen is very bright and clear and serves it's purpose well. Like all the Touch phones, it is flush with the case, making it much easier to press buttons in the corners or scroll-bars down the sides. Lighting appears bright and even across the whole screen and, so far, in the few spells of bright spring sunshine we have seen recently, the screen has proven to be one of the more readable in direct sunlight - aided, I'm sure, my the light sensor which auto-magically adjusts the brightness of the panel according to the ambient light conditions. This is a particularly nice touch for a device destined to spend a fair proportion of it's time serving as a sat-nav in cars, where lighting can vary dramatically in a short period of time.

All images have been processed using the superb SnagIt from TechSmith

HARDWARE CONCLUSIONS

O2 have worked closely with HTC to re-engineer their navigation-centric Xda machines in the past but, unlike the Orbit 2, the external housing appears not to have been changed from the HTC reference design (HTC Iolite), with only The Xda and O2 logos being added. In fairness, this is probably because HTC themselves appear to have gone with a case much closer in appearance to the Orbit II than to their own Touch Cruise.

The machine is perhaps not quite as well constructed as the higher end devices with the odd creak from the back-cover and it lacks such luxuries as a VGA screen or accelerometer. However, it could be argued that, whilst nice to haves, these are more about appearances whilst the guide is all about getting out and about and getting things done with it's A-GPS, HSDPA, fast processor and abundance of memory. The screen is bright and clear, the battery - whilst not outstanding - gives a full days hard use and you can just about eake out a weekend if you're very careful and the tiny size lends itself well to being used one-handed with a 3rd party SIP such as Resco's Keyboard.

Of course the hardware is only part of the story so we'll move onto examining the internals of the device next and also see how it performs in the real world!

INTERNALS AND APPLICATIONS

In this overview of the internals / applications on the Xda Guide we will not cover or look at all applets and programs that the device has built into ROM, as that would be in large a review of the Windows Mobile operating system - we will highlight only applications or programs that have been added by O2 or screens that show interesting changes that have come to light with this ROM build.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/01touchflo.gifTouch FLO 2D

The Guide is the latest machine to market where HTC have included their 'touch' interface - in this case the older 2D style. This interface is in actuality a single large (approx 9Mb) Today plug-in which gives twelve differing panels for the user to work with. These are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Home
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif People
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messages
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Footprints
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internet
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Photos and Videos
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Music
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Weather
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Map Search
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Settings
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Programs

Each of the panels interface with the user via 'touch', that being the panels can be navigated through by holding and sliding across the grey slide bar at the bottom of the screen. As the finger slides across the various panels are previewed in a light grey colour and when the finger movement is ceased the required panel darkens and becomes current. Each individual panel can further be interacted with either through stroking the screen up / down or left / right or by use of the on screen soft buttons. We'll cover each of the panels in detail next.

Touch FLO 2D is an incredibly useful and cool interface in my opinion and has resulted in my loading a lot less third party applications as these are in effect included as standard on the machine.

The only drawback of the system is that if it is in place on the Today Screen it prevents any other Today applets from being used as it does take over the entire screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Screen01.jpgHome

The Home tab initially shows a large analogue clock detailing the current time with a digital clock kind of watermarked behind it a little to the right. Below this is an indicator to tell you if you have active alarms set. A quick tap takes you in to configure your alarms. Below this sits a tappable 'Call History' area which takes you into the 'Missed Calls' tab. Below that is the next forthcoming or all day appointment.

If any appointment is tapped upon it will open in the Calendar application to show more details. If the Clock is tapped on it will open to allow you to set the time, or to configure any required alarms.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/02contacts.gifPeople

The People tab allows you to create favourite contacts of the people you most often communicate with. To do this you tap on the '+' sign which takes you into the contacts selector from where you can select a phone number (Work, Home, or Mobile) or an e-mail address for that contact.

If a contact has a photo assigned (via Exchange) that photo will be used or, if not, you can select a picture or silhouette from the photo library.

You can have a maximum of 12 favourite contacts arranged in a three by four grid with six of those contacts viewable at any one time. You use your finger to slide the screen up and down to view the other contacts. Touching the Contact picture allows you to phone the contact on any number, send an e-mail or a text message. If the text (or symbol) beneath the picture is tapped then the default action you defined when setting up the contact is actioned immediately.

The left soft-key takes you to the main contacts screen although I have noticed that, if you have a third party contacts manager installed, it will take you to that instead - which is a really nice touch as other shell replacements seem unable to manage this.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/20messages.gifMessages

The Messages tab allows you to view any incoming Text Messages (SMS / MMS) as they arrive as well as create new ones.

To move through the various messages you simply swipe the finger up or down the screen or touch the arrows above or below the counter icon. Replying to the message is simple: you just tap upon it which will then open the message on screen for you to reply to. The new message icon can be tapped (top right) to create a new message.

The SMS messaging system is fully threaded so you can see the flow and history of any conversations.

The 'All Messages' soft button allows you to access all text, picture and video messages on the Guide in the various Inbox folders. The 'Menu' soft button allows you the options of 'New. Reply, Forward or Delete'.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Screen08.jpgMail

The Mail tab allows you to receive, preview and send e-mail messages. A maximum of four e-mail accounts can be added to this tab. Each e-mail account has it's own e-mail counter so you can instantly see how many emails are unread in each mail account. The counter can be tapped upon to switch between accounts.

For the active mail account the large envelope is displayed which details the name of the account (bottom right) and shows a preview of the messages in that account. Swiping up / down the screen serves to switch between the emails being previewed.

If you tap on the previewed e-mail it will open in the Inbox application and you can then read or reply to that e-mail using the standard email editor. Touching the New E-mail icon (top right) opens a new e-mail in the Inbox immediately.

It's worth noting that swiping the screen sideways also moves you between the different e-mail accounts which includes the SMS / MMS message folders.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Screen10.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/21phovid.gifPhotos and Videos

This tab allows you to visually flip through your photos and video clips by swiping up / down the screen with your finger. If you touch the current photo or video on screen you can then view it in full screen mode. Tapping on that full size image allows you access to the album, start a sideshow, e-mail the picture, save it to a contact, save it, delete it, or view its properties. Swiping left / right in full image view serves to move you through each photo in turn. You can draw a half-circle either clockwise or anti-clockwise to rotate a photo in that direction or draw a complete clockwise circle around a part of the photo to zoom in on that part. Drawing an anti-clockwise circle serves to zoom you back out. Double tapping resets the image back to the original fit to screen view.

Once in the Album you can swipe through your various saved pictures or switch between any folders on the device in which pictures or videos are stored.

From the main tab itself you can use the icons top right to initiate the camera for taking a photo or video.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/18cameraalbum.gifThe Camera

The camera software included is the updated HTC application which replaces the camera part of the 'Pictures and Videos' application. This offers a one screen display consisting of a central view finder with adjustment / mode controls surrounding it.

Options used for the camera may be changed by tapping on the surrounding icons or via selecting the bottom right 'menu' icon (options icon).

When actuated the screen rotates into landscape mode and in effect becomes the viewfinder for the camera.

Taking a picture is simple, you depress the action button and wait for the image to freeze into a picture-preview mode with an accompanying shutter sound. This preview gives you options to return to camera mode, switch to the album, delete the picture just taken or send the picture by e-mail/MMS or save it to footprints (more of which later).
HTC have included a Quick Settings panel that allows one to quickly vary the:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Resolution
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif White Balance
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Brightness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Storage Medium used
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera Mode
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call timer

Digital zoom is available from 1x to 2x.
This is operated via either rotating the scroll-ring clockwise or anti-clockwise, using
navigation left / right, or via using the on screen zoom icons. Navigating up / down (or left / right - as it is in landscape mode)
serves to switch through the varying photo modes which are available via the regular options.http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Modes - Photo, Video, Panormama, MMS Video, Contacts Picture, Themed Picture (various frames) and GPS Photo
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Resolution - 1M / 2M / 3M / M / L
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif White Balance - Auto / Day / Night / Incandescent / Fluorescent
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Brightness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera - Front / Back / Back (flipped)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Self Timer - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Review Duration - none / 3 secs / 10 secs / no limit
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quality - Basic / Normal / Fine / Super Fine
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Capture format - JPEG
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Time Stamp - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Storage - Internal Storage / Main Memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Keep Backlight - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shutter Sound - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shoot Option - Touch and Press / Touch / Full Press
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Image Properties - Contrast / Saturation / Sharpness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Effect - None / Greyscale / Sepia / Negative
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Metering Mode - Center Area / Average
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Prefix - Default / Date / Date and Time
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Counter - Value / Reset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Flicker Adjustment - Auto / 50Hz / 60Hz
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Grid - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Help - Help system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif About

Photo Resolutions available are:

Photo

3M (2048 x 1536) 1.0x to 2.0x
2M (1600 x 1200) 1.0x to 2.0x
1M (1280 x 960) 1.0x to 2.0x
Large (640 x 480) 1.0x to 2.0x
Medium (320 x 240) 1.0x to 4.0x

Video

CIF (352 x 288 ) 1x and 1.5x
Large (320 x 240) 1x and 1.5x
Medium (176 x 144) 1x and 1.5x
Small (128 x 96) 1x and 1.5x

Panorama

Large (640 x 480) 1x and 2x
Medium (320 x 240) 1x, 2x and 4x
MMS Video
Medium (176 x 144) 1x and 1.5x
Small (128 x 96) 1x and 1.5x

Contacts

Picture Medium (240 x 320) 1.0x to 4.0x

EXAMPLE PHOTOS

The following photographs of St. Pauls Cathedral were taken with the XDA Guide at each resolution setting offered by the camera application and set to a 'fine' picture quality (Click on each thumbnail to see full image):

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/Guide/IMAG0095a2.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 320x 240 http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/Guide/IMAG0095a2.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 640x480http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/Guide/IMAG0095a2.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1280x960http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/Guide/IMAG0095a2.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1600x1200http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/Guide/IMAG0095a2.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2048x1536
In all cases the settings were left fully automatic and the Guide hand braced.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/22music.gifMusic

The Music tab allows you to visually browse through your albums and play music. Swiping up and down the screen allows you to flip through your albums and tracks.

To move forward or backwards through the track touch, hold and slide your finger along the progress bar.

Tapping the menu option allows you to set up a music playlist and to configure repeat or shuffle modes as well as accessing the track's properties, the audio booster and an option to set the current track as your ringtone. The left hand soft key allows you to access and work with the library on the machine. The library also allows you to browse and play music and also organises the tracks into categories such as title, artist and genre.

It's worth noting that the music player on this tab fully supports the bluetooth AVRCP standard for controlling your music via the controls on bluetooth stereo headphones. This means, with TouchFlo 2D always active, playing music can be as simple as turning on your bluetooth headphones and hitting the play button on them!
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/03weather.gifWeather

The weather tab on the Guide allows you to check the weather both locally and around the world.

As standard the Guide is configured with four default global weather locations and these can be navigated through by swiping up / down the screen or tapping the up / down arrows. A large symbol towards the top indicates todays weather with four smaller icons providing a summary for the next four days. The left soft-key will manually refresh the forecast and the right soft-key provides you with the tools to add and remove cities and access an options screen where you can choose to view the temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius and whether or not the weather should update itself automatically. Rather nicely, if you choose to leave it to perform automatic updates, you can choose to disable this when roaming - good touch! Alas, they seem to have dropped the association with Accuweather that was in previous versions of Touch Flow and I miss this as the 1-icon system doesn't really cut it for weather in the UK where four seasons are not so much a daily occurrence as hourly http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif It does, though, have the neat "windscreen wiper" animation when the forecast is for rain. Useless, but really fun and at least it (sort of) makes up for the bad weather.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/04maps.gifGoogle Maps

The Map Search tab in Touch Flow allows you to make geographic searches and view the results within Google Maps. So, for example, if you wanted to know the nearest petrol station to Liverpool John Lennon Airport (like I did) you can enter the search "Liverpool John Lennon, Petrol" and Google will pop-up a map with petrol stations plotted around the airport for you. Past searches are saved to ease repeated searches and the left soft-key will just take you straight to Google Maps, bypassing the need to perform a search. Although not a feature I have used a lot, when I have it has proven to be highly accurate and very useful.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/05settings.gifSettings

The settings tab allows you to modify common configurational aspects of the Guide from one common place.

You can access your ActiveSync/Push-Mail settings, phone and system sound profiles, set the wallpaper (which, strangely, only works on the Homescreen, not on any of the others?), modify location based settings such as enabling AGPS or access the Comm Manager. The new Comm Manager allows you to switch on/off flight mode, cellular radio, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Push mail and the Data Connection.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/06internet.gifhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/23internet2.gifInternet

The Internet tab allows you to tap the globe and launch the Opera Mobile browser which is installed on the Guide as a superior replacement to Pocket Internet Explorer. As an alternative to that you may swipe up / down the tab to reveal your bookmarks and tap on any one of those to go directly to that site.

You can tap the left hand soft key to manage your bookmarks.

Once Opera has loaded a web site you can zoom in on areas of interest via double tapping the screen. To zoom out just double tap again. Once in zoomed mode you can navigate round the screen via simply dragging the page with your finger. This version of the Opera Browser (9.5) supports Javascript and seemed happy with any of my regular web sites. It's definitely the best of the Windows Mobile browsers I've used with Flash being the only obvious omission meaning you'll need to install something like SkyFire if you want to view BBC iPlayer content and the like.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/07launcher.gifProgram

The Program tab serves as a quick launcher for programs whereby you can set favourite programs to execute at a single tap of the screen. As a default O2 have set this to use a set of commonly used applications such as YouTube, Getting Started, E-mail, File Manager, etc.

If you tap the Remove soft key an 'X' will appear in the bottom right corner of the icons, and if you then tap that icon it will be removed from the tab. If you tap 'Done' then you will return to the launch tab and any icons that have had applications removed will be showing a '+' symbol. Tapping on that symbol will bring up a scrolling list of installed applications which you can swipe through and then tap the icon you wish to add as a shortcut to that icon.

The programs tab itself is swipable and can be moved up and down to reveal additional launch slots (12 in all). Tapping the All programs soft key will take you to the standard windows mobile programs screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/17progs.gifAll the Applications

This extended screen shot details the entire list of applications loaded on the Guide after a hard reset of the machine. As well as the standard Windows Mobile application-set O2 have added:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Adobe Reader LE - for viewing Acrobat PDF files
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Google Maps - For viewing locational based maps with basic street navigation
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Opera Browser - Fully featured web browser
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RSS Hub - which allows you to subscribe to and view RSS feed on the move
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voice Recorder - Application for taking voice notes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif YouTube - For viewing and downloading YouTube videos
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Zip - For working with PC-Zip files
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CoPilot - a turn-by-turn SatNav application
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Footprints - An app for recording pictures/notes etc and associating them with a location
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/11rsshub.gifRSS HubThis has been around for a while now but this version does a great job of allowing you to manage your RSS feeds and keep up to date with an unread items. Subscribing to an RSS feed is as simple as ticking a box (it also supports OPML or you can just type in a URL) and there are options for how often you want your feeds updating, where you want to store them and if you want to be notified when new items arrive.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/10cpl7.gifCoPilot Live 7This is a fully featured turn-by-turn SatNav application and, certainly within the UK market, is the main rival TomTom. It's inclusion with the Guide, along with the car cradle and in-car charger, really does turn this little device into a fully-fledged SatNav and I've been using it happily as such for a while. To provide a full description of CoPilot would be a review in itself; but I needn't bother because our own WaveyDavey has already done one here. Suffice to say, it has everything you could need, THE most extensive maps of the main providers and really pushes the Guide up to a whole new level of functionality.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/09navipanel.gifNaviPanelThis is a curious and clever little beast. Basically, there is some clever piece of shenanigans going on between the Guide and the supplied Windscreen mount whereby, whenever you place the Guide in the mount, a piece of software (the NaviPanel) automatically launches. This panel has six huge buttons, designed to be easy to press whilst in the car, and provides easy access to common GPS related functions. Clock-Wise from the top-left you have Footprints, allowing you to navigate to any recorded footprint using CoPilot. Next up is an icon to just access the phone to make a (handsfree!!!!) call. Then you can call up an address to navigate to from your contacts list. The bottom-right icon just launches CoPilot. Bottom-left pulls up a list of places you have recently been to and last of all is a "Take me Home" button which, alas, doesn't drive the car home for you when you can't be bothered but, instead, uses CoPilot to plot a route to your home address from wherever you may be.

The auto-launching of the panel can be de-activated from an applet in the Windows settings but I've found it to be hugely useful so it has remained active in my car. Besides, the novelty of it launching when I plug the phone into the cradle hasn't worn off yet. Much as we might tell our bank-managers that Windows Mobile devices are essential items for running our lives we all enjoy a good dose of CoolFactor! every once in a while.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/24utube.gifYouTube

The YouTube application allows you to connect to the YouTube servers and download videos for viewing. You may look through All Videos, Top Rated, Featured, Most Viewed, Search for any videos, and view the history of what you have viewed.

Be warned though that this application is very data intensive so you either need a an unlimited 3G account or to use WiFi to download the videos. It does the job, the videos suite the Guide's screen quite well and search and navigation are a doddle. It's just a simple little app that works with no fuss.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/12system.gifSettings

The personal settings are completely vanilla WM6.1, no great surprises here at all.

The only device specific customisation of note is that the 'Buttons' applet only has one setting for the only customisable button on the Guide. This is the 'Start Call' button which if held down will activate the application defined here and is set, by default, to voice speed dial.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/15deviceinfo.gifDevice Info

This confirms the good news that the Guide includes the latest 528MHz Qualcomm processor, as used in the high-end HTC devices at the moment, along with that gargantuan 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/19battery.gifPower / Battery management

This has remained pretty much the same for a long while in Windows Mobile. The only new things of note here are a tab for the automatic back light adjustment (using the ambient light sensor) and an updated information tab that tells you when you last fully charged the device and, since then, how much time it has spent being actively used and how much just sat idle.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Screen25.jpgLong Press End Key

This tab is within the Buttons applet and controls what happens when you press and hold down the End Call key. As standard it is set to lock the device but can be adjusted by the user to display a quick list of functions or carry out other pre-set default actions.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Screen28.jpgManaged Programs

Managed Programs Displays the programs that are installed on your device using System Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM). This means that, in a corporate environment, if SCMDM has been used to push install any applications to your Guide this is how you will be able to see what has been installed.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/13screen.gifTouchFLO

The Touch FLO applet allows you to somewhat configure the Touch FLO system. The first setting, which O2 wisely set to off, is that of having a sound sample play when finger scrolling or panning. You can turn it on if you so wish but be warned it becomes annoying very very quickly!

You can also toggle on and off the large start menu whereby the start menu font is increased in size and the 'last run' programs at the top of the menu are increased in size - both good options for finger use.

Lastly, you can toggle on or off the System Status screen. This replaces the WM6.1 standard notification bubble system with a finger friendly touchable full screen notification selector. This works well.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/25vol.gifhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/16taskman.gifA Touch FLO effect is also used when the Volume controls are used to lower or raise the sound level. This full screen display will pop onto the screen and give you a visual and audible (rising or lowering tone) indication that the volume level has been changed.

You can also tap the 'Vibrate' and 'Silent' buttons to switch to less intrusive modes of notification. Tapping on either "System" or "Ring" at the top allows you to switch the volume control between those two distinct settings.

The Task Manager has also been enhanced on the Guide to use finger friendly controls which make it very easy to switch / stop applications as well as view the memory currently in use on the device.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Screen32.jpgA Touch too far?

It seems at times, however, that HTC have gone a little too far with the 'touch' mentality. Yes we have a very cool Touch 2D system and the Navigation wheel but we've lost as a default the Sounds and Notifications Events warning. As standard this is turned off so if you get an incoming e-mail or SMS message the only sign of it arriving will be the glow of the LED light. Also there is no comforting "blink" to let you know the phone is connected to a network. This can be hugely frustrating as you can't tell if the device is completely switched off or if the screen is off and it is just in "power save" mode.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/26SIP.gifEnhanced SIP

It is worth noting that the SIP (Soft Input Panels) on the Guide have been enhanced with the addition of two new panels:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Full QWERTY - Which is a reasonably good finger friendly input system that will suit those users moving from a QWERTY keyboard. Pressing and holding for a second or two on a key serves to activate the light grey characters on the keys.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Compact QWERTY - This is aimed at the user who is moving on to the Guide from a more regular number pad based mobile phone and can be easily switched between multitap and T9 text entry modes. I'm not normally a fan of T9 or on-screen SIPs but I found the compact QWERTY helped to make the Guide great for firing off quick replies to Text messages one handed - even with my giant hands.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/14memory.gifCPU and Memory

The Xda Guide is kitted out with the new 32bit Qualcomm MSM7225 processor running at 528MHz, this is a new breed of chip running on the very latest HTC devices as well as soon to be released ones too. This processor, coupled with the 1100mAh battery and QVGA screen, lends itself to prolonged use out of the battery, which has proved to be the case.

The available memory in both ROM and RAM is a wonder to behold after owning previous XDA machines. There is a very generous 512MB of ROM and 256MB of RAM. This is a dream come true in reality as you will be pushing the device to it's very limits to run out of either, plus you have the storage card option to increase the available RAM even higher!

Free memory after a hard reset:

Storage

Total: 340.23MB
In Use: 48.58MB
Free: 291.65MB

Program

Total: 186.73MB
In Use: 69.63MB
Free: 117.10MB
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/08phone.gifPhone Interface

The Phone dialler is standard Windows Mobile 6.1 fare. This isn't a bad thing though as it does work extremely well and is very finger friendly. The dialler itself comes with the usual box of tricks, one of which is smart dial. This tries to predict the phone number you are going to dial when you start to enter the digits, and offers a list of numbers below to tap on to dial. From the soft-menu, options are found to adjust connectivity between various bands (2G and 3G in reality) as well as controlling other options such as PIN security, Ringtones, Services, Network etc.

As an added bonus the Xda Guide is not SIM locked, so you can switch SIMs at will between service providers without too much hassle. It is just a case of installing another service provider's phone settings.
PC INTEGRATION

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/2009-03-01_185147.jpgPC INTEGRATION

No problems here connecting to ActiveSync or Windows Mobile device centre using a data connection. It might be my imagination but it feels as though newer devices such as the Xda Guide connect much faster than they used to, with seemingly less problems too! Another nice touch, once connected to ActiveSync/WMDC, is the picture of the Xda Guide showing on the Desktop connection screen.
OVERALL CONCLUSION

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1100.jpgThe Guide is available to buy now in the O2 online stores, and is expected to be in stock in high street shops shortly.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Connectivity - The Guide supports HSDPA connectivity and O2 UK coverage is currently about 40% of current 3G areas and still growing.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery life - For me battery life is measured on how much of the working day I can get through without running out of power, or if the device survives with power remaining then how much is left by the time I reach home. Typically my average working day involves being connected to push mail from 7am to 10pm with about 20-30 e-mails in and out. I probably only make a few calls and send and receive 10 texts. I'll be on the Internet with either 3G or WiFi for at least half an hour and I'm listening to music over bluetooth for a good hour each day. Bluetooth is always on. I mainly use the device for PIM stuff so I'm constantly checking, editing, deleting appointments and tasks plus looking up things in several reference eBooks and working on spreadsheets and word. I would say a minimum 2 hours a day. Typically the Guide returned home with battery levels down to just over 50%. Using SatNav on my evening walks would then kill the battery further. There was certainly no problem with getting a full day out of it but I didn't find the battery up to the standards of the Orbit II where I could easily get two days heavy use or four days light use.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SatNav lock times - during the course of the review the Guide has been hard reset four or five times which has the side effect of clearing the GPS cache. Each time, after the reset, the Sat Nav system was initialised and times taken to achieve a first and secondary lock. First lock times were around two to three minutes and secondary locks were achieved anywhere from instantly to just a few seconds with QuickGPS data downloaded. Basically, it is on a par with all the latest Windows Mobile devices back to the Orbit II.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS Software - Taking into account the developmental history of the Xda series of machines and O2's prior relationship with ALK Technologies it is not surprising to find the very capable CoPilot 7 Live! GPS navigational software supplied with the Guide. Combined with the car kit it really does make the Guide a hugely useful navigation tool. I also installed my own copy of MemoryMap v5 and found the Guide coped perfectly well with running that and playing music over bluetooth stereo at the same time.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth - It is worth mentioning that the Bluetooth system included within the Guide's ROM supports EDR, and according to the Bluetooth 2.0 specification, EDR provides the following benefits:

- Three times faster transmission speed — up to 10 times (2.1 Mbit/s) in some cases.
- Reduced complexity of multiple simultaneous connections due to additional bandwidth.
- Lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.

Certainly, I have found that leaving bluetooth on all the time made no difference to the battery life and using bluetooth stereo seemed to be far less power-hungry than of old. Also, the WM6.1 operating system supports auto-pairing whereby, when bonding the Guide to a hands free headset (for example), the machine will send the common pairing passwords for you which means, in most cases, that the pairing is achieved in seconds.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera - Camera quality is adequate and suitable for taking those quick snaps to record a holiday trip or an event which may occur whilst out and about. However HTC still have not realised that other non Windows Mobile camera phones have moved onward and improved the technology and quality of the cameras. This is the one area in which the Guide falls over and the camera needs to be improved in quality - 3.2Mp is adequate for a device like a PDA but the camera hardware itself needs to be improved to give better light balance, focus and depth. HTC have improved the camera software within the Guide, which allows one to gain significant photo improvements over the earlier machines, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif E-mail - As the Guide is a fully converged device, benefiting from an always on GPRS / HSDPA connection, Push E-mail, e-mail handling is an absolute pleasure - you are always in contact and in touch. Those features, along with the Enterprise facilities in the WM6.1 ROM for searching (and retrieving) Exchange server e-mails which are not stored locally on the device, together with HTML e-mail support make it a dream device for e-mail handling.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Signal Strength / Radio - I am lucky, in that I get very good mobile reception at home and at work. However, my parents live in a virtual black-spot. The Guide, like the Orbit II, will get a signal there where Nokias, SonyEricssons and iPhones cannot. In fact, it even gets a data signal - just. Call quality is also excellent.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Workhorse - I've been honoured to have the Guide in daily use since the first week of February (thanks O2) and I'm very impressed with most aspects of its design and function - The Touch FLO 2D combined with the small size and bright screen make it a positive joy to use. It's fast in operation and sleek. As a PIM device as well as Alarm Clock, eBook Reader, MP3 player, photo browser, mobile web device, Navigation System, and Messaging tool it has performed superbly. My only slight doubts, as a workhorse, would be around the build quality. It has shown no signs of wear but it just doesn't quite have the indestructible feel of earlier HTC devices.

PROS AND CONS

Pro

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Fast processor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Small size and weight
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Large memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Inbuilt GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif 3G Quad band
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Bright screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Loud Volume
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Navigation Ring
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Full size stylus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif O2 added applications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Fast Sat Nav locks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif TouchFlo 2D system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Footprints
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Car mount and charger
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif CoPilot 7 Live!
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Very fast boot times

Con

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Doesn't feel as sturdy as past XDA's
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Camera poor in less than ideal light
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Lack of customisable buttons
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No 3.5mm headphone socket natively on the device

THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS and ACCESSORIES

IN CAR MOUNT
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1103.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1105.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1109.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1112.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1114.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Guide/Thumbs/DSCF1115.jpg
On of the most useful parts of the 'Guide Kit' as supplied by O2 is the car kit itself which comprises a good quality (i.e very little flexing at all under driving conditions) gooseneck with a strong suction mount and the car mount itself which slides and locks into position on the gooseneck.

The mount serves to hold the guide in the car in a flexible manner as the gooseneck / suction mount arrangement means it can fit to any convenient location on your windscreen, both with respect to the positioning of the Guide for ease of use without eclipsing the windscreen and impairing your view of the road. Well done O2!

Again all images shown above are thumbnails which may be clicked upon to load a larger more detailed image.

REVIEW: SMS Chat 1.2

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:13:50 +0000

REVIEW: SMS Chat v1.2

Introduction

SMS Chat, from Vito Technology, has been around for a little while now. It has just been updated to version 1.2 so we thought it was about time we gave it the 4WinMobile review treatment. SMS Chat is a threaded SMS Text Messaging application; you may well wonder what the point of a threaded SMS application is now that WM6.1 includes this as standard? Well, read on to find out...

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/VitoLogo.jpg Supplier Vito
Product SMS Chat 1.2
Cost $14.95 (14 day full-feature trial available)
Supported OS WM5 PPC or later
Supplier Web Site SMS Chat

4WinMobile would like to thank Olga Shtaub at Vito for providing a copy of SMS Chat for review purposes.

Feature Highlights

SMS Chat is a graphically rich Threaded SMS Messaging application that allows you to view text messages as conversations between you and your contacts.

Threaded SMS MessagesBackup and restore messages to/from your storage cardThree skins availableFinger friendly interface

Installation

Installation of SMS Chat is pretty standard Windows Mobile fare; you can choose from either a desktop installer for the PC (.exe), or a .cab file for direct installation on the device itself. I personally favour the .cab file route, as I can then keep the cab files of my most important applications on the storage card in my device, safe in the knowledge that, should I find myself needing to do an emergency re-build whilst on the road, I have everything to hand.

The .exe download is 1.4MB and the .cab file is 1.7MB. Once installed, the program consumes 1.6MB of storage space and it takes up 2.15MB of program memory once it is all up and running.

Getting Started

As with all the other Vito applications, you get the spinning Vito emblem as it starts up and then you are presented with a list of any of your contacts with whom you have been exchanging SMS messages, with the most recent exchange at the top. You get a shot preview of the last message along with the date it was sent/received. Towards the bottom of the screen you have two icons. The envelope with a pencil launches the "New SMS" form whilst the lined piece of paper pops up the main menu. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/MainScrn.png

Firstly, let's run through that main menu to get an idea of what SMS Chat can do. Ignoring the four icons across the top for a moment, firstly we have Notifications. When a new SMS arrives, a really nice window pops up over whatever you are doing with a preview of the message, who it is from and options to read or dismiss it. It looks and works so much better than the Windows Mobile default. Next, we have templates; more on them later. Then options (see below) and a Cancel button. Going back to the four icons across the top, these are (from left to right) the About Box/Registration, Help, Minimise and Close. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/MainMenu.png

Creating a new message

To create a Text Message for someone not in this list, just tap the envelope at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the list you can see to your right with all of your contacts. The list supports kinetic scrolling with the finger and has a shortcut bar down the right. If you have a device with a keyboard you can also start typing their name and the list will be filtered accordingly as you type. Once you can see the contact you want, just tap it to start writing your message. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/NewSMS.png

As you can see, the screen for composing a new message allows you to see previous messages from that contact. As you type, the space your own message takes up increases so you don't just see the one line. You get the usual indicator to tell you how many characters you have used and if the SMS will be sent as one or more messages. The example shown is using Resco keyboard but it works well with hardware keyboards and any of the T9 style SIPs. Once you're done, tap the envelope to send. As with all Vito apps, the icons and buttons are large and finger friendly. There is no chance of hitting the wrong button - even for a giant like me - and most of the symbols and icons are pretty self explanatory. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/ComposingMsg.png

When you first send a message, it appears in the threaded list with an orange icon next to it to indicate it is being sent. Once it has been successfully sent the icon changes to a blue arrow. Any messages with a green arrow are messages you have received from that contact. From this screen, you can access the contact's full details by tapping their name (this launches Fun Contact from Vito if you have it installed, otherwise it's the Windows Mobile contacts application). By tapping the menu icon in the top right you luanch a menu of options giving you the ability to call them, send them a message from your pre-defined templates or to delete the whole chat for that contact. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/ThreadedChat.png

Templates

I've mentioned Templates a few times now so I'd probably better explain them in more detail - although there is really very little to it. You can store a list of pre-defined messages that can very simply be sent to someone with just a couple of taps. As an example, I always have "On my way, see you soon" as a template. Then, when I'm picking up a take-away on the way home from work, as I climb into the car, carrier bag in hand, I can very quickly send a message to the wife so she knows dinner will be there in ten minutes. There are some templates in there already to give you an idea but you can add/delete to your hearts content. That's it. Simple, elegant and extremely useful. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/Templates.png
Options

One of the main new features in this latest version of SMS Chat is found in the options menu - Backup. Tapping this option creates a backup of all your SMS messages in a file on your storage card under MyDocuments. Tapping Restore will get them all back for you. This will prove incredibly useful for the obsessive ROM upgraders amongst you as it avoids the need to install a separate application for this purpose. It's also good for those of us who have more than one device. Backup on one device, take your storage card out, whack it in the other device and restore. All your SMS messages are now on the new device (you do need two SMS Chat licenses to operate SMS Chat on more than one device at the same time though!).http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/MainOptions.png

The other big new feature is an extra skin with the colour coded messages that you can see in each of the screen-shots above. There are now three skins in SMS Chat; Dark, Clear and Bright. Bright is the new one, Dark is the default using a very HTC-esque white text on black and Clear looks very iPhone like with it's pale blue colouring. I've used SMS Chat for a while now and have always stuck with the Dark skin (the original one) but I've switched to the new Bright skin as the coloured threads are so much easier to follow. I actually prefer the screen layout used on the Clear thread so perhaps, if Vito are reading this, they might like to produce a new skin with the colourings of "Bright" but the screen layout of "Clear". They could call it "Bassey"! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/SMSChat/SkinsList.png

Licensing

Vito use an online activation process to register its products. There is a fourteen day free trial period, after which it is necessary to purchase the product or remove it. On purchase, the user is sent an activation code. Entering this into the registration screen then causes the device to go on-line to complete the activation. Currently, Vito allow a limited number of re-activations per license. A hard reset should be able to reuse the existing code, but a ROM update or new device will require the assistance of Customer Support to transfer the license.

Pro's

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif The usual beautiful interface from Vito
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Incredibly simple – you will not need the manual
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Backup and restore built-in
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Quick messaging templates
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Finger friendly buttons
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Those colour-coded threads!!!

Con's

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Quite a large memory footprint
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Vito's licensing!
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif It doesn't over-ride the Windows Mobile messaging application

Conclusion

As you can probably tell, I really like SMS Chat. I've been using it for some time now and it is always one of the first applications to go on my devices after a rebuild. This update to version 1.2 brings some welcome extras whilst leaving the core and simple interface well alone. The backups are great and the new skin really does make a big difference when looking at threads. All in all, I think it's well worth the $15 asking price and it's even better as part of the Communications Suite. Of course, you could always subscribe to 4WinMobile.com where you may well find even BETTER deals for Vito software http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Review: SpB Mobile Shell 3

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:25:25 +0000

Review: SpB Mobile Shell 3 Introduction

I've always been fascinated by gadgets and gizmos, but it's always been fancy hardware that has really been my passion. Sure I've looked forward to OS releases and alike but generally the cool devices are the things I lust after. All that changed a couple of months ago when from the mists of the Mobile World Congress came an old friend with some new tricks. I am of course referring to the first glimpse of Spb Mobile shell 3. Ever since that teaser I've been harassing Spb's marketing department for more information and a release date. Well the day has come and it seems like the longest download in history. Can it possibly be worth the wait? Read on to find out........... http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/MyLeisure_s.jpg

For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to Spb Software for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on Spb Mobile Shell 3 go to the Spb website: http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pock...e/mobileshell/

Installation

As you'd expect from a seasoned campaigner like Spb, all the installation options are covered. Mobile Shell 3 should run on all Windows Mobile devices from WM5 up to and including the immanent WM6.5 release. You can download Mobile Shell directly to your device and install as a .cab file or you can instead use a .exe file from your PC. The installation file is nearly 7MB and it'll take up roughly 8MB of your devices RAM (this is for VGA. The QVGA version is a mere 5MB). It's by no means a small application, especially as you'll want to install it to your devices memory rather than an SD card, but it shouldn't leave your device short either. You're also covered if you have either a VGA or QVGA resolution device, as both versions are supported. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/Sound_s.jpg
Aesthetics

I've always found the Mobile Shell Now screen to be a thing of beauty. This latest iteration is no different, but Spb have thrown down the gauntlet. The glass effects on the analogue clock and the incoming items widgets are truly breathtaking. The navigation bar too, sitting below the main window, is also very nicely drawn. In the past I found the Launcher icons a little too cartoony, especially in VGA, they are now crisp and colourful without being garish and overpowering as before. Even the previously "functional" Professional Now screen has been given a welcome facelift throughout. It's very similar to Shell 2 but just a little "prettier". The animation of the carousel feature is excellent too, and this offers and excellent summary of just how easy on the eye the whole application has become. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/Professional_s.jpg
Configuration

While the new graphics and carousel feature alone make Shell 3 a worthy successor to Shell 2 the most impressive improvement has to be the configuration options. Spb has introduced Widgets into the Lifestyle screen giving the user full control of the content and layout. Want 5 analogue clocks on your screen? You got it. Want a direct dial and a program shortcut on your Lifestyle screen? Well you can have that too. Configuration is simplicity itself. There are no xml or ini files to edit. You simply select add a widget, choose from a selection of links to programs, contacts and controls and then place it where you want it. There's even a simple media player Widget that allows you to control your music direct from the Now screen. In the past I loved the look of the Lifestyle screen but wanted the screen lock and sound profile control from the Professional screen. Now I can have my cake and eat it, and it's sweet. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

Below you can see the configuration for the Lifestyle screen and also the way you move the panels into the positions you want them. I've also stitched together the 3 virtual pages of my own Lifestyle screen so you can see the kind of functionality you can achieve. I tend to use the middle screen the most, and this is the default when you power on etc. The left page serves me when I'm in meetings so that I can see what is going on with my calendar. The right page contains the controls I need to listen to music while I'm cycling. The media panel, comms manager shortcut, sound profile shortcut and screen lock being the major requirements for me here. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/MyLeisureRight_s.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/MyLeisureConfig2_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/MyLeisureConfig_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/MyLeisureFull_s.jpg
It's not just the Lifestyle screen that's configurable either. The Launcher screen offers two layout features, regular and advanced and allows you to add and remove your selections in the same way the Lifestyle screen does. The contacts screen also allows you to have different layouts and image sizes in the same easy to customise way. You really can have your UI the way you want it now.

The configuration options are a massive step forward and are very impressive. If I was being honest, and perhaps overly critical I'd say I'd like a little bit more. I'd like to be able to add a full length date screen onto the Lifestyle screen and I'd also like to get rid of the status bar and have the option to move around the icons for the signal strength and data protocol etc. Like I said that's possibly a bit greedy. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/ContactsOptions_s.jpg
Functionality

I chose to install Spb Mobile Shell 3 on the O2 XDA Zest for the simple reason that it doesn't contain the various touch friendly OS tweaks you would find on devices such as HTC's Touch Diamond. I decided this would give the best impression of the new version 3 UI that Spb is raving about. I have to admit, from within the Shell the finger sweeps and swipes are almost poetic and the contacts search simplicity itself. The Now screens are very well put together to give you almost everything you need at a glance and the Launcher makes finding applications and settings childs play. I particularly like the new Lifestyle Now screen layout. Want to see too much information to fit on one page? No problem as it offers three screen widths of "virtual" space to customise. You can then effortlessly sweep your finger across the screen to switch back and forth throughout the full width of the page. If you're feeling bold you can tweak the registry too, to make the Lifestyle screen even wider. I tried it with a width of five screens and it didn't affect the performance at all.

Another new feature to Shell 3 is the Carousel screen. Much akin to HTC's Touch "cube" from their original TouchFlo it gives you a rolling preview of each of the main screens of Shell and allows you to then jump directly to them. Spb have implemented the Carousel very nicely. They way the carousel is zoomed out slightly means you can see the next and previous screens as well as the one you are looking at. As I said earlier it gives you a very good impression of just how beautiful Shell 3 has become. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/Carousel_s.jpg
The Carousel View is a very flash way of seeing all of the pages within Shell. The alternative to the Carousel View and the other way of seeing all the open pages is by using the Tiles View. As the name suggests the Tiles View displays a 3x3 grid of thumbnails each depicting one of the Shell screens.

Along with the new features some of the old favourites have had a welcome upgrade too. The weather applet is one of these. The weather in Shell 3 offers many more cities that the forecast can be downloaded for than with Shell 2. You also get a much more granular breakdown as well, showing you four intervals of the day (Night, morning, day,evening) and also four days worth of forecasts. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/TileView_s.jpg
I mentioned earlier that the contacts search had become simplicity itself, but the new enhancements offer more than just ease of use. There is a Facebook plugin to allow you to pull a photograph from the online community and once you have it, you can then crop and size it within the app to get it looking how you want it. You can also add individual ringtones to the specific contacts now too.

There is one more feature I feel I have to tell you about. On the grand scale of things it's not as pretty as some of the others and it won't impress your mates either. It will however save you a fair amount of time. I spent a couple of hours setting up my Shell to get it just how I like it and to save me from doing the same with the next time I hard reset or use a different device Spb have included a backup settings feature. Genius!

If I had to be picky I'd say the only problem with the Mobile Shell UI is the age old issue of when you have to drop down to the bare Windows Mobile aspects. Spb have done such a great job on the calendar and contacts etc how about the same touch friendliness for the mail application, or the on-screen keyboard SIP, a la Spb Keyboard. Am I asking too much? Maybe, but this is sooooo close to being Windows Mobiles killer app........ http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/Backup_s.jpg
Performance

On the Zest Mobile Shell 3 runs swiftly, with no noticeable lag what so ever. I've heard rumblings about issues with sliding keyboard devices and the switch between portait and landscape but personally it ran sweetly (not using a sliding keyboard). The Lifestyle Now screen pans smoothly, and the carousel features spun like a top. Spb have implemented 3D hardware accelerator support and it shows. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/MyLeisureLeft_s.jpg
Price and Upgrade Policy

The price has not changed with the new version. Spb Mobile Shell 3.0 will be available from www.spbsoftwarehouse.com for USD 29.95.

If you are an Spb Mobile Shell 2.x owner, you can upgrade to 3.0 for 50% off the retail price. If you purchased previous 2.x version within 90 days of the official release date - you are entitled to a free upgrade.

For those of you who are yet to sample the enhancements to functionality and appearance Mobile Shell brings Spb offers a fully operational 15 day trial.

More details regarding Spb Software’s upgrades policy can be found at http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/supp...de_policy.html http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/ContactCarousel_s.jpg
Product Data Sheet

Product version: 3.0
Installer size (cab): 6,94 MB
Supported languages: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Czech, Thai, Arabic, Dutch, Danish, Czech, Polish, Dutch, Greek, Slovak, Hebrew, Swedish, Norwegian, Finish, Korean, Turkish
Registration type: Shareware
Release date: April 21st, 2009
Supported OS: Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC and later
Size in ROM (qVGA): 4,87 MB
Size in ROM (VGA): 7,70 MB http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/Weather_s.jpg
Pros & Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Beautiful graphics
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent configuration options (Widgets)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Cool 3D carousel
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Widget-based photo contacts
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Finger friendly agenda view
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Call log
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Finger friendly profile editor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Ringtone management
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Management of contact photos (crop, rotate etc.)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Media Player widget
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif New launcher
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif 3x3 phone menu is back
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Finger friendly settings
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Kinetic scrolling everywhere
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Email indicators for individual email accounts
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Improved task manager
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Back/Restore settings
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Facebook integration

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No configuring status bar on Now screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No replacement SIP
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No email replacement

Conclusion

It's rare these days that something you look forward to so much delivers so emphatically, especially in the mobile world. Spb Mobile Shell 3 is an exceptional piece of software and is so much more than just a Today screen replacement; it's almost a whole new UI. Microsoft should sit up and take notice of this, as it really shows what WM can do. It's this kind of functionality we want to see from WM7. As a first dip into the configuration waters I think Spb has done very well and I'd like to see them continue to develop this and maybe give us a slightly more configurable Now screen for a Mobile Shell 3.5 release.... http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Spb Mobile Shell 2 won truck loads of awards simply because it was the best package on the market. I fully expect Mobile Shell 3 to echo its older siblings success as in my opinion it has now taken the crown. You could argue that HTC TouchFlo3D offers much of the same eye candy and functionality but the fact stands you can't buy HTC's offering and you're forced to see things the way HTC think you should. The bottom line is if you don't have a state of the art HTC device go and buy Spb Mobile Shell 3 now, period. If you do have one, I think you should give this a long hard look anyway. UI's don't get much slicker than this. Excellent. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/SpBShell3/Time_s.jpg

HTC Touch Diamond 2 - Living with!

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:28:05 +0000

HTC Touch Diamond 2 - Living with! http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Diamond2/DSCF1135-small.jpgWell the HTC Touch Diamond 2 has arrived safely this morning from our good friends at www.Devicewire.com. This time around I'm not planning on publishing a full review myself but instead aiming to give my thoughts and feelings on the machine each day over a weeks use. This may well give a better insight as to how it performs!

So here we go with a few photos, as we know you guys like those as well of my own hallowed thoughts of course!

The HTC Touch Diamond 2 (D2) arrived in a rather nice HTC branded 'locker bag' and the first thought was how small the box itself was, for some reason I expected the packaging to be bigger!

The box follows the typical HTC green and black livery, and on the back carries the full specifications of the D2.

The box itself contained:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Touch Diamond 2
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Two part mains charger
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Spare stylus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quick Start Guide
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sync / Charge Cable
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Wired Headset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1100mAh LiOn battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Warranty Card
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Touch Diamond 2 User manual (on CD)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC Care Brochure
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Screen Protector
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Getting Started CD
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Smart Accessories Smart Performance leaflet
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Getting Started Note

Size wise the D2 is slightly thicker than the original Diamond and about 4mm thinner than the SE X1 device. For iPhone owners it is about 2m thicker. Width wise it is wider than the Diamond and the same width than the X1, and about 5mm less wide than the iPhone 3G. It is about 4mm taller than the Diamond, as tall as the X1, and about 5mm shorter than the iPhone.

At this point I guess I must apologise for the quality of the photographs. The pictures were taken on a very bright summers day and I could not get the camera to adjust to the light levels. So what you see is the best one could take in the interest of getting some initial photos up on the site. More may well follow under better lighting conditions.

Okay so here we go with the rest of the initial feelings text, this will all be here at the top of the page so you'll have to pan down to see the relevant photos, as I say this is an overview and not a fully fledged well formatted review! Don't worry though a full review is to follow by one of my esteemed colleagues!

Firstly if I had to pick a few words which has to describe the D2 I'd say 'sleek / sparse / stylish' would cover things. It's a well featured device mainly black in colour with a silver fascia and side edge trim, with minimal buttons and other protrusions.

On the front face at the top you have a speaker surround on the left and right hand side by indicator LEDs, below that the HTC branding and the large (3.2") WVGA 800 x 480 hires touch screen.

Immediately below that is the (-) .... (+) slide bar which serves to act as a magnifier, and below that the 4 buttons:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Start Call
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif back key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif End call / Home key

The 'Windows key' is new to WM as such and is as specified by Microsoft for use on all new WM6.5 compatible devices.

On the bottom of the D2 is the mini-USB port (for synching, linking to a PC as a disk drive, charging, or plugging in the headset), as well as microphone.

The Left hand side of the D2 is completely plain apart from the volume up/down control. The right hand side has the main loudspeaker positioned towards the top of the housing, a good choice of position as in prior devices it was on the back or on the left hand side (X1) where it was covered when held in the palm.

The right hand bottom side also carries the housing for the full size magnetic stylus. There is no external camera activation button which is a great pity.

The top of the D2 holds the on / off / suspend button on the left hand side.

The back on the D2 sports the 5.0MegaPixel camera, a first for HTC I think! No frills here though, no flash and no vanity mirror! The back itself slides up and off to reveal the battery socket wherein sits the 1100mAh battery which should give good daily usage. The SIM card of course also fits in here and there is access to the micro-SD card slot of the left hand side. The red reset button may also be accessed here on the bottom left.

Okay powering on.... Despite tales others have mentioned the D2 is not noticeably quicker on it's initial boot, but startup has changed as HTC are now using a new startup / configuration system, which is noticeably quicker, maybe knocking 8-10 seconds off the process. What is strange though is that there is no prompt at all to align the screen, this seems to be an automatic process. Instead the device configures, reboots, and then takes you straight into the connection settings system.

Next I expected the machine to ask for my SIM password, but no, this was bypassed and the phone activated without me entering it, a cause for concern maybe?

Once that has cleared out of the way you notice that the screen is crisp and bright and even though not OLED is reasonably readable in daylight.

From there you are straight into HTC's constantly improving Touch 3D interface. The home screen has the famous flipping clock / calendar display as well as the other usual anticipated tabs including; weather, SMS, messaging, stocks, calendar, picture album, people, web browser, music player and settings.

The start menu (and windows button) brings up a new finger friendly start menu (with an All Programs button to allow the vanilla WM6.1 programs system to be accessed).

Tapping on such items as the flipping clock reveal the new Touch 3d integration whereby HTC have replaced as much of the OS as possible with finger friendly controls, love then or hate them they are here to stay.

One thing which makes the Touch system a dream to use is the sensitivity of the screen that has been improved and is very responsive in use. The secondary great boon is the HTC keyboard (SIP) that is present in the new ROM. This is large and very finger friendly, at last test can be entered and worked with using the finger in a native ROM! Three cheers for HTC on that point alone!

Okay onto the next strangeness noted.... The D2 was configured with my Exchange account on Sherweb and I expected to be prompted to accept the security certificate, no such prompt as offered and it just started downloading and configuring, more MS or HTC automation to make our lives easier I wonder?

Right back to the Touch system, one nice thing that HTC have done is to allow you to customise the Tab settings. Within the main settings tab is a control which allows you to turn off tabs you are not interested in using and also to tap and reorder the positioning of the other tabs. Sweet!

The last initial thing of note is that at home signal strength of the radio is still relatively weak, about 2 bars, but saying that this is significantly better than the X1 which is 0-1 bars.

So those are the initial thoughts and feelings......

From here on in I'll update the thread each day for the next week (if all goes to plan) so if you have any questions or queries please post them in this thread and I'll respond accordingly!

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http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Diamond2/DSCF1153-large.jpg __________________

REVIEW: O2 XDA Flint (HTC X7510)

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:16:31 +0000

O2 XDA Flint (HTC X7510) http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/title_s.jpg Introduction

It's now more than 18 months since I reviewed HTC's original Athena. At the time the Athena was without doubt the most powerful Pocket PC you could buy, but its size was limiting, the built in micro drive performed poorly and the hardware keyboard hailed back to home computers from the 1980's. Fast forward nearly 2 years and O2 have for us the XDA Flint. Based on the original Athena platform and sharing the same form factor as the original, the Flint has done away with the micro drive, replaced the hardware keyboard and added a truck load of internal storage. The new spec seems to address most of the issues from the original Athena, but two years on is the Flint finally the all in one device the originally Athena promised to be? Read on to find out......
For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to O2 for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the O2 XDA Flint go to the O2 XDA Flint website: http://www.my-xda.com/devices/xda_flint.jsp

Specifications
Project-Codename: HTC Athena 400
Model ID: ATHE400

Physical-Attributes
Dimensions (width x height x depth): 98 x 133.5 x 16 millimetres 3.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
Mass: 375 grams (battery included)

Software Environment
Embedded: Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

Microprocessor
CPU: Intel XScale PXA270
CPU Clock: 624 MHz

Memory, Storage capacity
ROM capacity: 15516 MiB, including 15360MiB user-accessible non-volatile storage
RAM capacity: 128 MiB, 121MiB accessible

Graphical subsystem
Display-Type: colour transflective TFT display
Display Diagonal: 5 " (128 millimetres)
Display Resolution: 640 x 480 (307200 pixels)
Dot Pitch: 0.16 millimetre/pixel
Graphical Controller: ATI Imageon W2284
Video out: NTSC/PAL resolution Proprietary connector

Audio Subsystem
Audio Channel(s): stereo sound
Audio Output: 3.5mm plug
Audio Controller: Asahi Kasei AK4641

Cellular Phone
Cellular Networks: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850, UMTS1900, UMTS2100
Cellular Data Links: CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
Speakerphone: Supported
Phone Controller: Qualcomm MSM6275 (2x QDSP4000)

Control Peripherals
Positioning Device: Touch screen
Primary: Keyboard: Attachable QWERTY-type keyboard, 57 keys
Automatic keyboard backlight (upon press of any key) with ambient light intensity sensor

Interfaces
Expansion-Interfaces: miniSD, miniSDHC, SDIO
Supports High Capacity (SD 2.0/HC) memory cards with capacity of up to 32GB
USB: USB 2.0 client, Full-Speed (12Mbit/s)
USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
Bluetooth;(802.15): Bluetooth 2.0, Internal antenna
Wireless LAN/Wi-Fi-(802.11): IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, 54 Mbit/s Internal antenna

Satellite Navigation
Built-in GPS module: Supported
GPS Protocol: NMEA 0183
GPS Antenna: Internal antenna
Complementary GPS Services: Assisted GPS, QuickGPS, Geotagging
Navigation Chip(set): Qualcomm MSM6275 gpsOne

Built-in Digital Camera
Sensor Type: CMOS sensor
Resolution: 2048 x1536 pixels (3.15MP)
Autofocus (AF): Supported
Built-in Flash: mobile light (LED)

Built-in Secondary Digital Camera
Sensor Type: CMOS sensor
Resolution: 640 x480 pixels (0.31MP)

Power Supply
Battery Technology: Lithium-ion polymer battery
Battery Capacity: 2100 mAh

Additional Details
Built-in accelerometer: Supported
Additional Features: GPRS Class 10
USB 1.1 host
Attachable QWERTY keyboard

In the box

There's a very decent selection of accessories supplied with the Flint They are:-

AC adapter
2 clear styli
VGA output cable
USB cable
Wired Headset
"SUPER Screen protector"
Black accessory travel bag

I love the fact that O2 have bundled the full capacity video out/USB host cable with the Flint. We saw some versions of the old Advantage only came with a VGA output. I'm not overly keen on the black accessory travel bag as I think it looks more like a toiletry bag than something you'd use to carry a state of the art convergence device in. I'd liked to have seen some kind belt clip attachment for the Flint as this would still be my personal preference for carrying the device. The other thing I would have liked to have seen bundled with the Flint is a Bluetooth headset. I appreciate that many people will already have one of their own to use but as it really is a necessity with this device including one with the machine would have been nice.

As I said this is a very nice selection of hardware accessories but where is the software? The Flint comes pretty much bare and I do not understand the logic to this. When look at the excellent software package that came with the Zest it seems bizarre that the Flint effectively has none. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/contents_s.jpg

Convergence

Modern life in the 21st Century is becoming ever more complex and hectic, and PDAs that are being developed have to evolve to suit that need. No longer are users happy to carry around a PDA, phone, etc; more functionality is demanded from the market and in ever more pocketable and slight devices.

The O2 XDA Flint strives to meet these needs boasting a truly spectacular specification and therefore contains the following areas of functionality within the device:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mobile (cell) Phone
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS Navigation Unit
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Push Email
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Portable media player
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Laptop computer replacement?

We will investigate each of these in turn as we move through the review. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/full_contents_s.jpg

Aesthetics

In the old days when you bought a device made by HTC you could have it in any colour you wanted...... as long as it was silver. The HTC re-branding a while back means that most of their devices are supplied now in a black hardware and green software livery. The Flint is no exception to this, other than instead of the green highlights we have "O2 Blue". This is only evident on the second function of the buttons on the keyboard, but looks quite nice. A little better than the green I think.
Without the keyboard attached, in its PDA form factor, the Flint is all screen. Other than a couple of indicator LEDs and a front facing camera you have just a home button set into the stylish stealth black coloured parallelogram. The slanting edges of the device are obviously designed around the keyboard attachment mechanism but look very smart, especially in landscape. The stylus, a non telescopic black/clear combination, matches the black insert on the top (landscape view) of the device and while a little plasticy in its own right fits well with the device in general. With the keyboard attached, in its laptop form factor, the Flint looks a little top heavy, or rather a little "bottom light". The thin keyboard makes the device look as though it wants to topple over when attached and it looks a little strange until you close it up. With the keyboard acting as the screen cover the sleek lines are once again complete.

I really like the look of the Flint, and even in the "laptop" mode it looks ok. During the couple of weeks I've been using it as my main device everyone who's seen it has said how cool it looks. It's big, but beautiful (except if you try and hold it up to your ear!). http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/title_s.jpg

Ergonomics

I don't think it's going to come as a surprise to anyone to find out that this device is big. If you're using it as a laptop replacement and it's sat on a desk then size of course is not an issue. You'll undoubtedly have seen promotional shots of people carrying the Flint about in laptop mode punching away on the thumb board with smiles on their faces. This would be in the first 4 seconds of carrying the device like this before the mind bending cramps start to occur and you rupture your Ulnar Collateral Ligaments in both hands. In the real world I've found the only way to use the Flint out and about is to remove the keyboard and use it in tablet fashion. By keeping the keyboard packed away the device is just about pocketable in jeans or combat trousers, but is most at home in a jacket pocket. Some people prefer to use the tablet in portrait with the stylus, but I prefer to use it in landscape mode using the on screen SIP keyboard to enter everyday data for SMS etc. With the 5 inch screen the SIP keyboard is just about big enough to use with your fingers even with stubby digits like my own. I'd definitely advise using a Bluetooth headset to make and receive calls. In fact, scratch that. You HAVE to use a Bluetooth headset with this device. You can make and receive calls as is with the Flint and its speaker phone but it is difficult to get a comfortable grip on it and hold it up to your ear with one hand (not to mention it looks a little... strange).

In general I really like the form factor of the Flint; the two modes with and without the keyboard offer a fair amount of flexibility for a device of its size. You definitely wouldn't feel confident taking the Flint to the pub on a Friday night. It's a great device for work, but for play I'd certainly recommend something more compact. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/front_full_s.jpg

Hardware Layout

Front

The form factor of the Flint is unique. As we've seen with devices like the Touch Pro, HTC seem to now have the hardware layout of their phone and PDA type devices pretty much nailed down, having evolved over several device generations. The laptop/tablet form factor is pioneering from a Windows Mobile perspective so it's interesting to see where and why the Flint's controls have been placed as they are. It strikes me that HTC have primarily designed the device for landscape use, and the front of the device seems to support this. It's interesting to note here that the excellent dpad button from the old Athena is no longer present. I think this is a real shame. I'm a big fan of the dpad and the Athena "button" was an excellent implementation. The only button on the face of the Flint is the home button. As you'd expect this takes you back to the Today screen. Towards the top of the device the right hand side houses the front facing VGA camera for video calling along with the three status lights for GSM, BT/WiFi and Alert.

The GSM and BT/WiFi indicators are self explanatory while the Alert indicator lights up if you have incoming messages (email/SMS/MMS) or missed calls. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/front_shell_s.jpg

Back

The back of the device too is quite sparse with just the reset button, camera, flash and two covered aerial sockets. These sockets are to connect an external antenna for GSM and UMTS. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/back_s.jpg

Top & Bottom

Interestingly there are no controls on the top of the device and the bottom only has the connectors for the hardware keyboard and slot that houses the battery, MiniSD card and SIM card. These are all tucked away behind a slightly awkward to use sliding cover that while safe and secure once in place, is fiddly to open and close or insert the specific hardware. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/top_s.jpg

Left

The left side of the device has the new VGA Out/USB Host combo port along with the volume slider, Charge/Sync port and a 3.5mm headphone socket. It's nice to see HTC are still providing the standard socket on the larger devices. Both the left and right sides also have a speaker giving the device stereo output. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/left_s.jpg

Right

The power button and Camera buttons are the other controls located on the right hand side of the Flint. The top right corner of the device has the stylus silo which runs underneath the top of the unit and houses the white and clear stylus. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/right_s.jpg

Battery & Charger

The Flint has an awesome sized 2200mAh Lithium Ion battery. It's nearly twice as big as most of its siblings and competitors but then there is a whole lot of machine to power. As a comparison if you look at the 1350mAh of the HTC Kaiser and the 1340mAh of the HTC Touch Diamond you can see it’s on whole new level.

I've been quite impressed with the battery life on the Flint. Any WM device that goes a couple of days without requiring a charger is out of the ordinary these days. I found I could get 2 days worth of usage from it comfortably. An average day’s use for me consists of up to 20 minutes of calls, 30 minutes of browsing in a mediocre 3G area and about 100 push emails. I'm not much of a texter but there's usually a couple of SMS in there too. I also use my device as an MP3 player while I'm cycling to work, so there's also an extra 30 minutes of music too, over a set of Bluetooth headphones. For me the 2 day charge is a very important factor when choosing a device so this is very nice indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/charger_s.jpg

Stylus

The stylus silo for the Flint is situated on the top right corner of the device. The silo is a full length affair with a stylus formed from two pieces of plastic. The majority of the stylus and the point is clear but with a black top to match the case. There are no fancy engineering tricks such as telescopic extensions here it’s solid and sturdy with no fuss. I’m not really a big stylus user myself, but it seems reasonably comfortable to use. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/stylus_s.jpg

Headset

The headset is a fairly nice looking affair, but is not out of the ordinary for this type of device. I quite like the headphones and found the mute button was not too big and bulky as often the HTC ones are. There’s a nice elbow connect too, which makes connecting the headset less bulky. One way the headset does differ to most headsets is the connector on the end. Rather than the proprietary HTC audio connector is a regular 3.5" headset jack. I'm not sure this is by design as to another throw back to the original Athena. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/headset_s.jpg

Size

There's a huge amount of technology crammed into the Flint, and it's far from being the most compact device on the market. Just how big is it though? I've produced several images to try and give you an impression of its size. As you can see I've lined it up against the Zest, Xperia X1 and HTC Tytn2 (Kaiser). I think the pictures pretty much tell you what you already know. It's big! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/compare_height_s.jpg

If you want a really good impression of the size of the Flint you can take two audio cassette boxes and fill it with 350g of play dough. This will give you an almost exact representation of both the size and weight of the device. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/compare_depth_s.jpg

SIM Loading

Installing your SIM card into the Flint would be a fairly standard affair..... if you had three hands. As it is, with two hands it takes a little bit of digit gymnastics. First you slide down the panel on the bottom of the device that covers the SIM, MicroSD and Battery. You now have to hold this back while you lift the latch on the battery and press in the red button to release it. Once the battery is out you lift up the white SIM cover and slide in the SIM card. Now repeat in reverse to put the device back together. In all honesty once you've done it a couple of times it's pretty easy but it's the first machine for a long time that had me reaching for the manual to just install the SIM card! Obviously unlike the Kaiser this means powering down the device to swap the SIM cards, but I can’t see this being a problem. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/sim_loading_s.jpg

MiniSD Loading

As with the SIM loading, installing your MiniSD card into the Flint is a little different to that of other devices, although thankfully you don't have to remove the battery to swap the MiniSD card. As with the 3.5mm headset jack the fact that the Flint has a MiniSD rather than a MicroSD is likely a throwback to the old design. This isn't an issue however. You can easily use an SDHC MicroSD card in an adapter and the Flint is fine with it. I tested up to an 8GB MicroSD card although I don't see why a 16GB or 32GB card shouldn't work just as well. To swap the MiniSD card simply slide open the SIM/Battery/SD cover. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/sd_loading_s.jpg

Screen

For many people the most attractive prospect to owning a Flint is the enormous (by Pocket PC standards) 5" screen. It seems to me that this was the driving force from a manufacturing perspective too as everything else seems to be built around the screen. The display takes centre stage with all the controls and input devices fitting in around where there is an empty spot. It's worthwhile though because as soon as you power the Flint on you are greeted by a bright and vibrant Windows Mobile screen. From here the Today screen looks superb; it's so crisp and the colours are nice and bright.

Watching videos on the Flint at VGA resolution is exceptional. The VGA resolution makes a huge difference if you're using the Video Out to connect to a big TV or a projector for PowerPoint presentations and while you're not getting DVD quality it really is astonishing how well the device performs as a DivX player. This may seem like nitpicking a little as like I said the screen is truly spectacular, but with the smaller devices like the Diamond having VGA screens it would have been nice to see an XGA 1024x768 or at least SVGA 800x600. I guess you can't have everything though! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/on_wm_S.jpg

Keyboard

The detachable keyboard on the Flint serves several functions. I like that the keyboard is detachable and that the device can be used as a regular Pocket PC without it. In laptop mode the keyboard acts as a stand for the rest of the device. There are magnets placed at three points on both the base of the main device and on the keyboard which powerfully grip the device into place. You can see where from the warning stickers on the case. The keyboard has gold connectors to make the circuits between its two parts and these fit together flawlessly every time. It's a very well implemented solution. You can see just how strong the magnets are from the image to the right.

The second function the keyboard serves is as a screen cover. The key side of the 'board can be placed on top of the device where again the magnets grip it into place. Once in position the screen changes to a small status display that you can view through the clear plastic top edge of the keyboard. Another one of the really clever touches that really make the Flint. The status window effectively displays the same information as the status bar of the today screen. Very nice. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/second_screen_s.jpg

Finally, the keyboard is also used for input. This is where the new facelift really comes into its own. The old keyboard was reminiscent of the rubber keyboard on the 48k Spectrum computer. There was no reassuring click when you press the buttons. In fact you didn't so much click the button, as "mash" it. When I first saw the new keyboard I wasn't overly impressed but when I tried it, all that changed. The new keyboard seems more simplistic than before at first glance and it's not until you start typing and the haptic feedback kicks in your see just how well engineered it is. I've used haptic feedback on other devices before and this is the best I've seen. Most impressive. I guess if I'm nitpicking again it would have been nice to have seen a netbook style keyboard but I think there is a heavy trade off with weight and thickness. The Flint is heavy and thick enough as it is so maybe we can forgive HTC just this once. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/keyboard_s.jpg

Camera

This most recent generation of HTC devices seem to be being released with 3 mega pixel cameras. This is a whole mega pixel higher than the last generation. Will this next level of hardware turn what has so far been mediocre photographic performance into a feature as opposed to a novelty? Well, not totally, but it's a lot nearer to a quality of image you could produce an 8"x5" print from. In ideal conditions I think you could just about get a reasonable print, which is a real step forward. The Flint uses the new version of HTC's camera application as you'd expect which gets better at each update. Coupled with the enhanced hardware the results are actually quite good. Sure, it will not win any awards, but from the images below you can clearly see the images are getting better and better as the devices evolve. The low light images are still a bit weak and the high powered LED masquerading as a flash still doesn't really cut the mustard. Maybe for the next generation of devices HTC will give us a real flash? Perhaps. Until then progress is still progress and I do feel the still camera is a good addition to the device. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/flowers_s.jpg

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/car_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/leaves_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/roundabout_s.jpg

Telephony

Another issue carried over from the original Athena platform devices is that there is not a dedicated telephone speaker on the Flint. Out of the box if you have no headset connected and the device rings the phone defaults to speakerphone mode. I found that if you turn the volume down to its lowest level you can take the call by holding the phone up to your ear although this is not ideal; there is still too much volume to keep the call personal. Realistically the Flint is just too big to hold up to your ear so it's not a massive issue; it just seems strange that a PE device does not have the personal speaker included. In real life you're going to have to use a headset of some kind. Personally I use Motorola S9s. These give me the headset functionality you need and also wireless stereo too. The modern day Bluetooth headsets are of a much higher quality than they were two years ago and so are really a must for use with the Flint. If you do decide to use it the speakerphone function itself is very good with above average (for a WM device) clarity and volume for both incoming and outgoing call audio. Just don't expect your secrets to stay that way for long! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/s9_s.jpg

Wireless

The Flint comes equipped with both cellular data (CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA) and Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) supporting the 802.11b, 802.11g (54Mbit/s) protocols. If you're used to connecting to your WM device to the web there's very little to differ with the way it is executed on the Flint. I found the WiFi signal strong and sturdy, not having any issues connecting to the 3 WAPs I tried it on. Likewise the switch between GPRS, 3G and HSDPA was seamless in their respectively enabled areas, with the latter two protocols providing near broadband like speed cellular internet connections. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/commmgr_s.jpg

GPS

As with so many devices released in the last couple of years or so the Flint comes equipped with built in GPS hardware. I pulled the MicroSD from my Touch Pro and used my tried and tested copy of copilot7 to test the performance of the GPS subsystem. The Flint picked up a GPS signal quickly compared to a lot of devices, typically from a cold start in clear skys I got a lock from cold in about 40 seconds. Copilot found no issues with getting a lock indoors either, which is always a good test of the GPS chipsets strength.

The Flint lends itself well to in car GPS usage with its large screen and slim form factor with the keyboard removed. The extra size of screen means that as well as the obvious large image the program buttons will be much easier to find accurately while driving. With a suitable car mount like those supplied by Brodit you'll get excellent in car use from the Flint. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/gpsfix_s.jpg

Bluetooth

As is standard with the most (all?) Windows Mobiles devices today, Bluetooth is included, and supports many BT profiles. The regular features of Bluetooth are still up to scratch too, and even better than before. As I've already discussed, the use of a Bluetooth headset is verging on necessity so it's a good job the Bluetooth implementation is strong. I've been using a combination of the Motorola S9 headset and the Sony Ericcson MBw-150.

Using both these devices together means I can monitor the majority of the messaging features of the phone and handle the telephony without taking the device out of whatever bag I'm using at the time. This goes a long way to countering the devices bulk. The Bluetooth stack on the Flint handles both connections concurrently without issue and will then jump to my Bluetooth car stereo connection when required as well. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/mbw150_s.jpg

VGA Out/USB Host

We've already seen how O2 have packaged some excellent accessories with the Flint, and by far the most impressive of these is the 4-in-1 VGA/USB cable. This one cable is what really gives the Flint the edge over most of the other devices on the market. You get a VGA out cable enabling you to connect your device up to a larger display. With the TV Out application then run the display then mimics the screen of the Flint. This facility works very well for both video and presentations but you also get a USB Host port, a Video Out and a Composite Video out. The USB Host lets you connect regular USB devices to the Flint while the Video and Composite Out ports offer external video connections to Televisions and video cameras etc. I've successfully connected a USB mouse and USB Keyboard via the host port as well as USB sticks and powered HD's. If you get really adventurous however, you can hook up a USB hard disk with some movies on it and view them on your big screen TV! Sweet. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/usb_vga_s.jpg

Storage

Along with the redesigned hardware keyboard the major aspect of the facelift the Flint benefits from is memory. Out goes the old poor performing power hungry 8GB micro drive and in comes a whopping 16GB of non volatile storage. This equates in real life to 16GB of internal storage. Of course this extra storage adds functionality such as movie player and music player that previously were only available through the removable storage media.

The Flint takes the MiniSD cards and seems to be quite at home running my 4GB High Speed card (150X). 4GB is the maximum size of MiniSD available at the moment although as we discussed earlier you can use a MicroSD card in a MiniSD converter which will take up to a 16GB card and theoretically even a 32GB card.

The Flint comes with a 256 MB of ROM and 128 MB of RAM. This has become the defacto amount of memory for WM6.1 devices and should provide a nice combination of program space to run applications concurrently and storage space in which to install them to. Good stuff. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/memory_s.jpg

CPU, ROM and Memory

The Flint comes with the same Intel XScale PXA270 processor as the original Athena devices. Effectively this means the old "power house" is now 18 months old and, to be honest, not the all conquering chip it used to be. It runs at a whopping 624MHz which sounds very impressive. RAM and ROM allocations are 128MB and 256MB respectively which has become the norm for Windows Mobile 6.1 devices. So how does it perform? In real life I’ve had no issues at all with performance on the Flint. It's swift but not blazingly fast. With Copilot running in the background the device has remained usable and navigating through the the SpB software is definitely usable but there's a little lag. I don’t actually recall experiencing any major slowdown at any point with this device, and have not had any unplanned soft resets in the couple weeks or so I’ve been using it.

In order to get a more tangible view of the Flint’s performance I decided to pit it up against a few of its major competitors with a shootout to the death. The co-conspirators were the awesome O2 XDA Zest (ASUS) the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, the HTC Kaiser (TyTn2) and the O2 Ignito (HTC Touch Diamond). My weapon of choice was the only Windows Mobile benchmarking tool I am aware of, SpB Benchmark. I don’t really hold too much stock in benchmarks as they don’t really mimic peoples own individual device just a set of regular tasks. That said it does give a reasonable indication of device performance to compare with other machines so we'll flow with it. Although I could tell from everyday use that the Flint was reasonably swift I wasn't blown away by it. As you can see, for raw power the Zest is still the device to beat. It'll be interesting to see how the newer ASUS devices compare to this. The Flint as you can see edges out the X1 and the Diamond but is roughly comparable. I was surprised by the poor graphics showing of the Flint but this does mimic my real life experiences as I couldn't get my Slingbox client to run as smoothly as it does on the Zest. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/SpB_Benchmark_s.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/SpB_Benchmark_CPU_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/SpB_Benchmark_File_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/SpB_Benchmark_Graphics_s.jpg

PC Integration

It was nice to see both ActiveSync 4.5 and Windows Mobile Device Centre bundled with the Flint. Obviously this caters for both Vista and XP users. I didn't experience any issues with XP or Vista, and my Vista SP1 installation auto detected the Flint but only had a default WMDC image. One thing to note is that trying to fill the 16GB of space via ActiveSync transfer is painful and a copy from Mini/MicroSD is not much quicker either. Fortunately, if you navigate to Settings - Connections, the USB to PC applet will allow you to disable the Activesync connection and turn your USB connection on the Flint to directly access the 16GB flash disk. This makes vastly increases the performance from PC to Flint. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/WMDC_s.jpg

Applications

The O2 XDA Flint comes with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional so all the usual programs are in situ. The extra programs included over and above the standard WM6.1 suite are:

Adobe Reader LE – allows you to view pdf files
Audio Booster - graphic equaliser for WM
Audio Manager - GUI replacement for Windows Media Player
ClearVue - MS Office compatible file viewer
Java - for running small Java applets
JETCET Print 5 - printer driver software
Opera Browser – alternate web browser
Remote Desktop Mobile – remote control servers
RSS Hub - allows you to access RSS feeds
SIM Manager - allows you to copy contacts between the SIM card and the Zest
Voice Recorder – voice dialling and more
Windows Live - free messaging services from MS
WorldCard Mobile - business card scanning software
Zip - Allows compression and decompression of files

Some of the applications listed above are actually WM6.1 apps, but are often left out of ROMs. Remote Desktop Mobile is a good example of this. It all looks a bit sparse to me. I'm a bit puzzled by the decision to not include any third party today screen replacement application with the Flint. When you look at the superb shipped applications with the Zest I think O2 have dropped the ball a little in this case. Something like the excellent O2 Menu (rebranded SpB Mobile Shell) would have been a very nice add-on indeed. I would also liked to have seen Cyberon Voicecommander again as with the Zest. This would be particularly helpful with a device like the Flint. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/applications_s.jpg

Recommended Applications

SpB Mobile Shell (O2 Menu?)

Those of you who follow our reviews at 4WM will remember from the Zest review that O2 used a slightly customised version of SpB’s Mobile Shell software they called O2 Menu. I’ve long been impressed with Mobile Shell and have always installed it in on my non HTC devices. Mobile Shell offers an excellent finger friendly Touch interface that will allow you very easy access to your contacts, shortcuts, settings, etc without having to remove your stylus from its silo. Mobile Shell also contains a very attractive today screen replacement called the “Now Screen” that contains time, date, weather, notification etc information again all in a very pretty touch friendly way. SpB Mobile Shell or "O2 Menu" ,if you like, would be a very welcome addition to the bundled suite indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/o2menu_s.jpg

Cyberon Voice Commander (or Microsoft Voice Command)

As I've said earlier, with the modern day Bluetooth accessories you can easily get around the bulk of the Flint if you have the right combination of hardware and software. At the risk of harping on again about the Zest, another software gem bundled in the ROM is Cyberon Voice Commander. Personally I use my devices a lot while I’m cycling. I use them for music primarily but also for hands free use. On most devices I’ll be cycling up a hill and decide I need to phone the wife and it means either stopping, or doing some fancy no hands jiggery pokery to get the device out, select the number and dial it. With Voice Commander I simply press the call button on the headset, and say “call the wife at home” and hey presto, it dials and starts to ring. Cyberon Voice Commander is not just for dialling though, it will read your emails out for you or even tell you the time. Fantastic. There can be a small issue with commands not being recognised in noisy conditions, but more often than not it’ll get you what you want when you want it. With Cyberon Voice Commander installed you could easily leave the Flint in your bag but still make and recieve calls or retrieve your messages. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/VoiceCommander2_s.jpg

Copilot 7 (Try & Buy?)

As the Flint has an integrated GPS facility O2 it would have been nice to have some form of navigation software bundled with it. Going back to the Zest review again, O2 included a copy of Copilot 7 and the maps for the UK & Ireland on a MicroSD card. Although it would have been great to have a completely free version of Copilot bundled the version that comes with the Zest is a “Try & Buy” version and that would be better than nothing. Essentially you get a 2 week trial of the software with the option to purchase the complete version for £49.99. Copilot 7 is the latest version of ALK Technologies familiar satellite navigation software, and with the Zest you get the latest edition that is enhanced for use on VGA screens. Again this would have been a great addition to the machines software compliment. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/copilot_s.jpg

Pros & Cons

Pros

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Massive 16GB memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Awesome screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif 3 Megapixel camera
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif 3G - HSDPA
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good Bluetooth Implementation
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif 3.5mm Stereo Jack
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Improved Detachable keyboard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif VGA/Video/Composite Out available
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif USB Host
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Decent Camera implementation
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good selection of accessories

Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Size (Too Big!)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Battery cover a little flimsy
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No "personal" phone speaker
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Poor selection of bundled software
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif MiniSD rather than MicroSD

Conclusion

I'd usually start my review conclusions with a summary of my overall impressions of device as a whole. The thing is, I really can't make up my mind about the Flint. The facelift HTC have given the hardware is certainly welcome, but why they stopped at the RAM and hardware keyboard seems bizarre. It would have made more sense to me to have taken the opportunity to bring the chipset and processor up to date at the same time and retained the Athena platform's status as a powerhouse. Instead, I feel like they've only done half a job with the Flint's performance only managing to match some of technically weaker devices of today.

So now that one of the old Athena’s main advantages has faded away it's a poor device then? Well, no, it's not as simple as that. The Flint is still way ahead of a lot of its competitors by sheer number of features. There is no other WM device on the market that boasts the same feature list. Interestingly, this time around I haven't found the size of the Flint or the lack of a dedicated phone speaker as much as a problem as I did 18 months ago. Today the variation of Bluetooth accessories available are of a much higher quality (as is the Bluetooth stack) which means as long as you can physically move the Flint around, you don't really need to have it in hand to use the major telephony and messaging features. For anyone who wears a jacket, or carries any sort of bag, size shouldn't be an issue. It's also worth simply considering the advantages of the larger device. The bigger screen and screen means a better multimedia experience and to some extent easier control of the Windows Mobile GUI. The newer keyboard also represents a big step closer to a keyboard you can really type on. Add to that the obvious bonus that 16GB of RAM adds to the table and depending on your usage you could realistically be looking at a net book, even laptop replacement. I think "depending on your usage" is really the key here and even more so than with other WM devices. Some folks will simply not get on with the Flint, and it will seem overly large and underpowered for their needs. Others will truly find device Nirvana lurks within its stealthy black shell and will never look back. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Flint/title_s.jpg

REVIEW: SPB Wallet 2 Review

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:18:49 +0000

Spb Wallet 2.

Spb Wallet 2 is the latest of Spb's current round of upgrades bringing an increased graphical and touch friendly operation to their software catalogue. Spb Wallet is designed to provide a secure and single point of storage for all your security, financial and personal documentation, pin code and login details.

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Supplier: Spb Software
Product: Spb Wallet 2.0
Cost: $29.95
Version tested: v2.0.0 Build 11237
OS Support: WM5/6/6.1 Classic/Professional, Symbian S60 (3rd& 5th Edition), iPhone (Original & 3G), iPod Touch
Screen Support: All standard QVGA/VGA & WVGA modes
Language Support: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Trad Chinese, Simp Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Czech, Thai
Install Size: qVGA 5Mb, VGA 5Mb, Symbian 2.5Mb
Install Location: Device or Storage card supported

Review: The review was carried out on a T-Mobile TyTn II WM6 with a unlimited data connection and a Nokia E51.

4WinMobile would like to thank Denis Khitrov of Spb Software for providing a copy of Spb Wallet 2.0 for review purposes.

Introduction
The basic function of all software wallets is to provide a central store for your passwords, codes, pin numbers etc in a simple but secure manner. The idea being that you can have different passwords for all your secure access requirements without having to remember all your passwords. Instead you have a single password that provides you with access to them all. So what are the basic features and requirements of a software wallet?

Requirements:

Be encrypted to a high standard.
Have a time out feature requiring you to log back in to the wallet after a given period of inactivity.
Access to the wallet must allow the use of complex passwords (a-Z, 1-9 and symbols).
Access to the stored data must be reasonably simple allowing for the necessary security requirements.

Features:

The ability to synchronise to a second device (e.g. your PC). If you lose the phone or it becomes corrupt you have to be able to access the wallet some other way.
The ability to add and modify entries.
The hidden data should not be instantly viewable. When selecting an entry for a pin code, for example, you should be able to unhide and hide the code on request.
As wide a variety of secure data options as possible.
The ability to create your own specific format of security information.

Installation
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Mailman/Reviews/SPBW/SPBW-01.gifInstallation was flawless and can be performed using either a PC based ActiveSync setup or, via a CAB file directly on the device itself. Additionally for the Nokia version a sisx file can also be used in conjunction with the Nokia software.The installation also offered the option to install the internet browser plug-in.
For the purposes of this review, and in order to test its synchronisation abilities to the full, Spb Wallet was installed as follows:

PC 1
Windows Vista desktop install + Active Sync install to T-Mobile TyTnII.
Existing wallet from competitor exported and imported into new SPB Wallet.
Synchronised with Windows Mobile Device.

PC 2
Windows XP Pro desktop install + install to Nokia E51.
Desktop synchronised with existing wallet on Windows Mobile device.
Nokia E51 synchronised with desktop wallet.

All installs and initial synchronisations were completed intuitively and with no issues. The import of original data maintained both the folder structure and data format.
Key Features

Spb Wallet have taken their original design and enhanced it graphically and by providing additional features. If you would like to see the differences between version 1 and 2 you can check out the 4WinMobile review here. For the sake of ease I have grouped the individual features described in this review as follows:

Security
Card templates and functionality
Smart actions and Browser interaction
Synchronisation and desktop functionality
Additional features

Although this review has concentrated on the Windows Mobile features equivalent screen images for both the Nokia (Symbian) and iPhone have also been included. Testing was performed using both a Windows Mobile and a Nokia device. Unfortunately an iPhone was not available and its features have not therefore been tried.

Security
This is the make or break for any software wallet. If the data is not held securely then the product should not be used. Spb store all data, including the access password, using a strong 256bit AES algorithm (wiki address here).

Password access to the wallet can be either using the device's default input (keyboard or touch screen keyboard) or using Spb Wallet's own input mechanism which provides additional protection against key loggers. A much needed enhancement with the Spb input mechanism is that it now allows the use of symbols and therefore the secure entry of complex passwords. When creating or modifying a wallet password a strength indicator is shown giving a visual indication of the relative security provided by the selected password. The system also allows for a hint to be entered which can be requested or automatically be shown after a specified number of incorrect entries. However, the system does not enforce a strong password to be provided and I am not sure if the provision of a hint is a good idea either.

Additional security can be configured to automatically lock the wallet after a specified period between 1 and 60 minutes. The default is set to 30 minutes which I personally believe to be rather too long. I try to close or at least lock my wallet after use and if I have not used it for more than 5 minutes then it is because I have forgotten to do so. The system can also clean up the clipboard on exit.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Mailman/Reviews/SPBW/SPBW-02.gif
Card Templates and Interface functionality
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http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Mailman/Reviews/SPBW/SPBW-06.gifSpb Wallet has been given a completely new look providing a finger friendly interface, with gesture control and smart scrolling. If wished a either a standard folder or large icon view can be used instead.

Right to Left gestures move down through a folders hierarchical structure until the card required is displayed. A final right left opens the card in standard list mode for editing. Left to Right Gestures move back up the folder tree. Depending on the card Template certain fields are only displayed as “****” such as passwords and pin codes. Tapping on the secure data fields toggles the display of the actual data on and off.

Individual items of information are stored as cards within a hierarchical folder structure of your design. Cards and folders can be moved from one location to another within the folder view.

The actual information itself is always displayed in the same format with a graphical card image at the top of the screen and a variable text list area at the bottom. These card images are designed to look just like the real cards that you use and to which the information relates. A Visa card is displayed with the account details exactly like your actual Visa card and your driving licence information is displayed on top of a driving licence image. When installed the software comes with approximately 60 template images but there is access to an online template gallery with over 7000 more to choose from. So if you have a special Visa card from a specific bank with a specific logo you can download an exact replica to use. Obviously even with 7000 images to choose from it is unlikely that every card will be catered for and this is where Spb provide that little extra. If you cannot find your card in the online template gallery, fill out a form and a template will be developed for you ABSOLUTELY FREE.

Creation and editing of card details is performed using a standard list view so it’s back to the stylus. However, the edit screen also provides a card image editor that allows you to move, add or change data fields around the image and make some changes to its display.

Smart Actions and Browser Interaction
Spb have included a number of useful extras to allow you to make quick and, more importantly safe, use of the information stored within your wallet.

Password auto fill allows you to click on the web site displayed on a web field within a card and have that web site opened in your browser and have the user name and password automatically filled in for you. This smart field functionality also extends to sending an email, initiating a phone call or an SMS/MMS message and copying data directly into the clipboard.

Spb Have also included a Browser plug-in toolbar, with the desktop version, for the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. This has been designed to provide both a more secure web browsing experience and also allows you to keep your wallet up-to-date more efficiently.

Capture Card will capture the username, password and URL of a website and create a Web Site card for you.
Card Creation Prompt will prompt you to create a Web Site card when you visit a site password web page that is not currently in your wallet.
Web Site List provides a drop down menu to allow quick navigation to those sites in your Wallet.
Password Generator will create and fill in a password for you when you register at a new Web Site. This can safely create a complex password, which you won’t be able to remember, and save it on your wallet so that you do not have worry about remembering it.

Fill Page Button will automatically fill the password and user fields from the related card in your wallet.

A Task bar icon is also loaded when you run the Desktop Wallet which provides quick access to SPB Wallet, the Desktop Wallet, Password generator and your most frequently used Cards.
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Synchronisation and Desktop Wallet

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}http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Mailman/Reviews/SPBW/SPBW11.jpgThe heart of Spb Wallet is the Spb Desktop Wallet program. Although you can do almost everything you want on the device version it’s still easier to set up and configure your wallet on the desktop where you have full drag and drop.
A second not inconsiderable factor is that although you get 60+ initial card templates these are not likely to fulfil all your needs and you will want to download additional ones from the online template gallery. Depending on your data package this will be a lot quicker and cheaper from the desktop.

Added functionality is also provided through the use of the browser plug-in and task bar icon.

However, the main function of the Spb Desktop Wallet application is to provide the focal point of Spb Wallet's numerous synchronisation facilities.

There are a number of reasons for synchronising your wallet:

Security - Losing all your passwords etc does not bear thinking about.
Device failure - It happens.
Multiple devices - How many of us have more than one device and this now includes Nokia and iPhones.
Sharing - With the ability to have multiple wallets comes the ability to share with other people.
Data redundancy - basically means you should never have the same information stored separately on different devices. By synchronising, the wallets changes in one wallet, are reflected on all other devices

Synchronisation can be configured to run automatically, using Active Sync on connection, or manually from the Spb Desktop Wallet.

What Spb have done with synchronisation is to open it up to more than just your PC and your Windows Mobile Device.

Multiple devices synchronising with multiple desktops. So you can have a home and work wallet synchronising with your home and work desktop. A personal and work phone which can be either a Windows mobile or a Nokia.

Cloud sync with Google mail. Imap is used to connect to your Google mailbox and the wallet is saved as an encrypted attachment.

Folder or network share. Not only can you synchronise to your desktop PC but using the folder share you can also synch to a memory card or mass storage device. The added feature of a network synchronosation makes the use of shared wallets within a team or work environment become extremely useful.

Spb have definitely taken a lead in the password wallet arena with the synchronisation aspect, however they could still improve this by adding more cloud synchronisation via FTP, Skydrive and other internet storage.

Additional features
Smart Search
Spb Wallet provides a Smart Search facility which automatically displays the results of a search as you type so there is no need to press enter as the results are shown and refined the more search characters you provide in the search criteria.

Password generator
The password generator will automatically create a password for you based on Normal, Strong and Very Strong options using a personalised mix of a-z, A-Z, 0-9, brackets, special characters and spaces. There also an option to create a pronounceable password which unfortunately never managed to produce a password I could pronounce!

This could easily be regarded as Spb Wallet's principal weapon in your personal security. Let SPB Wallet create a Very Strong password for you and Smart Action to automatically pass the value to the logon screen. It does not matter that you could probably not remember the password as SPB Wallet can automatically log you on. To be honest you do not actually need to know what it is and since the more people who know a password the less secure it is then if even you do not know it then it just got even more secure.
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Usage in the real world
The main decision on whether a piece of software is worth paying for is "How well does it perform in the real world?". I can honestly state that I found SPB Wallet very good. One of the main forms of protected data that I frequently use, and which I can never remember, is coded door entry systems. With SPB Wallet I could arrive at a door fully loaded and singled handed, using just the touch screen and finger/swipe control, open the wallet and access the required data without having to put everything down and resort to the stylus.
I can easliy add new items on the mobile devices and then complete them fully later on my desktop after synchronisation. Data synchronisation across multiple devices was simplicity itself and was helped by the ability to turn off automatic ActiveSync synchronisation when you connect your mobile device to your desktop. Like a lot of other people I have a number of other applications that all want to synchronise when I connect up my mobile device to a PC (e.g. email, petrol/mileage, shopping list, podcasts... the lists just go on) and having yet another syncronisation task to wait for can become a nuisance. With SPB Wallet I turned off automatic synchronisation and used the manual synchronisation option from the desktop menu.
As for the Smart Tools I soon found that the automatic signon and card creation tools became second nature and quite a time saver. I have now started a process of visiting all my web sites and resetting the passwords to complex and different ones for each site - we all know we should do this but how many of us actually do?
Pros and Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent interfacehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No card / folder move on the mobile devicehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Ease of navigationhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Cloud synch only for Googlehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Multiple device synchronisationhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No Mac desktop synchronisationhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Real world card views http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Free card view creation service http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Smart browser integration
Conclusion
Computer security has always been an issue: however these days the threat from identity theft has made it absolutely essential to ensure all your data is either encrypted or secured. Gone are the days of using your partner's birthday or dog's name. Passwords, encryption keys and pin codes need to be complex, random and unique for every access to have meaningful security - the problem is that this means unless you have a photographic memory you have to write passwords down. This instantly compromises their security.
Software Wallets provide a solution by enabling you to have complex security for all your access requirements but only have to remember a single password to get to them. Obviously this password should be as secure as possible whilst still being one that can be remembered.

Spb have taken their original Wallet and given it a major update and turned it into a quite comprehensive Identity Theft security package for both mobile devices and your desktop PC. One of the Desktop Wallet's features is to extract the user and password information entered into a web page and store this data in a Wallet Card. If Spb Wallet can do this so could other less welcome programs and by using Spb Wallet along with their input mechanism, and by not saving user-ids and passwords in your browser, a higher level of security and safety can be achieved.

The conclusion in the review for Spb Wallet 1 ended "until Spb fix the wallet password entry of special characters, I am not prepared to use the desktop program. For PPC use only the competing products offer the same level of security and are cheaper, although not quite as slickly presented. So for me this is a near miss, which won’t take much effort to convert into a market leader, but for now I don’t recommend it.". I would say Spb have fixed the issues in their release of Wallet 2, enhanced the presentation and have leapfrogged the rest of the competition to become the current market leader. They have brought out a secure, usable and broad package which I would recommend adding as an enhancement to anyone's Anti Virus and Spyware setup.

There are still some areas which can be enhanced:
Access to the Online Template Gallery via Windows Mobile devices
FTP, SkyDrive and other cloud service synchronisations
Drag and drop or a move facility for cards and folders on mobile devices.
A Mac version of the desktop in order to provide additional integration with the iPhone and iPod versions
However, these are all extras and the product as it stands, when used in conjuction with the Desktop Wallet, provides a simple and effective means to secure your data in a mobile environment.

Would I recommend SPB Wallet ?
If you do not have a software wallet - yes.
If you have SPB Wallet 1 - yes get the upgrade.
If you have a competitor's wallet - Now there is the $64,000 question. I would say that SPB Wallet 2 is the current winner, so it all depends upon whether you think they will step up to the mark on their next upgrade.

Review: Spb Weather 2.0

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:30:25 +0000

Spb Weather 2.0 http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_logo.jpgSince the early days of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), one of its most popular uses has been for displaying weather information. To this end, a number of programs have been developed, and the device makers themselves are also beginning to include simple weather displays.

Spb Software have been selling their Spb Weather application for some years, and we are now embarking on a review of the significantly updated version 2.0 of this program which has just been released. Read on to find out how it performs!

Supplier:Spb SoftwareProduct:Spb Weather 2.0 Platform:Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchscreen devices only. All screen resolutions supportedPrice:$19.95. Upgrade from V1 $9.95. 20% discount for owners of any other Spb product. Free trial available.Devices used for review:HTC Touch Diamond & O2 XDA Flint. Both VGA running WM6.1
Thanks to Denis Khitrov of Spb Software for supplying the review copy of Spb Weather 2.0

Introduction

Spb Weather has long been a popular program amongst the comings and goings in this sector. Over recent months Spb have further developed and enhanced the underlying code, initially incorporating it into their Spb Traveler application, and now releasing it as Spb Weather 2.0.

This version adds a number of visual enhancements and a 'finger friendly' interface to the original program's capabilities and retains its useful features such as integration with other Spb products and the ability to define alternative sources for weather data.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_logo2.jpg

Installation

As always with Spb products, Weather can be installed via the PC using ActiveSync, or directly on the device using a cab file. The PC installation follows Spb's normal procedure of allowing the license code to be entered during the installation, a feature I wish other developers would follow.

The installed file size is 6MB, and it can happily reside in, and run from an expansion card. When in use the program requires 5MB of RAM to run.

The initial installation will create a Today screen plug-in and a Programs entry linking to the main program. If Spb Pocket Plus or Mobile Shell are also installed, Weather can be integrated into either or both of these. If Spb Diary is installed, a weather icon can be displayed for each diary day.

Please note that Spb Weather 2.0 is continuing its development. Some features covered in this review may not be in their final form.

Spb Weather Main Screen

Whichever way the Weather main screen is invoked, it opens with a full page display of the weather for your default location. This shows a large top frame with the location, current temperature and a graphic of the current weather conditions. There is also a 'n of n' indicator showing which of the user's defined locations is currently being displayed, and an indication of when the last data update occurred.

Below this is a list of further days for which forecast data is available, consisting of the day, weather graphic and maximum/minimum temperatures. If there are more days than can be viewed on the screen, the whole screen can be dragged with a finger or moved using the navigation keys of the device. Left or right finger drags move to the previous or next location. The bottom line of the display indicates the currently selected weather source for that location. Depending on the weather source being used, there may be up to ten days of weather data available. Each day can be divided into four timezones. Not all weather sources will provide this much detail. I have found the Foreca source to be the most comprehensive for my selected cities.

At the bottom of the main screen, there are four icons with the following actions:

Cross: Exits from Spb Weather
List: Opens the City selection screen; details below
Globe: opens the graphical globe display
Update: downloads the latest update for the current location

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http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_city_more.jpgDaily Details Screen

Tapping any of the days opens a detailed screen with the location and date at the top, and weather conditions for different times of the day, if available, showing minimum and maximum temperatures, humidity and wind speed and direction. If the current day is selected, the top frame of the details screen also shows the current temperature, and barometric pressure plus the time of the last update. Left and right dragging moves between the previous and next day's forecast for the current location. The details screen has a single 'Back' arrow at the bottom of the screen to return to the multi-day display for the location.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_city_detail.jpg

The Globe Display

This is an animated globe which can be set to show one of four overlay displays, selected by tapping the icon at the bottom left of the main globe frame. The principal element of this screen is the globe. This can be dragged in any direction to display any part of the globe. A quick lateral swipe causes the globe to spin, bringing back memories of those toy globes we used to play with!

Some of the overlays also have a Play/Pause button at the bottom right of the screen. This causes the selected overlay to play the weather sequence for the number of days for which data is available. Each screen shows the date and time of the current display at the top, and the loading progress of updates while downloading.

The layer select icon at the bottom left of the main screen brings up a page with four options. Each shows the time of the last data update, and has a download icon to refresh the data manually if required. Selecting one of the options by tapping it will automatically download data if it is out of date.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_view.jpg
Satellite View

This is a static snapshot view of the earth at the time of the most recent data download and shows the cloud cover as a transparent overlay. The overlay size is about 150KB.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_sat.jpg
Overcast View

This shows the predicted cloud cover as a denser overlay. This is a dynamic screen and can play the forthcoming cloud cover conditions. The overlay size is about 500KB.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_sky.jpg
Temperature View

This colourful overlay shows the temperatures across the globe using the standard red to blue gradient. Again, this is dynamic and will play through predicted temperatures. The overlay size is about 650KB.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_temp.jpg
Precipitation View

This shows predicted rainfall patterns around the world as a transparent indigo coloured layer. As before, it can play predicted rainfall sequences for the duration of the available forecast. The overlay size is about 325KB.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_rain.jpg

The icon on the left returns to the location screen.

The two rightmost icons on each Globe display allow zooming in and out of the map. There are only three levels of zoom, with the most detailed level only going down to an area covering the whole of Europe and Northern Africa. It would have been nice to have a closer zoom available, but I assume the amount of data required would increase to an unacceptable extent.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_zoom.jpg

The next icon to the right opens the Settings page for the Globe which has three check-box selections

Show Night: Displays the globe with a shadow representing where the night shadow falls. This is relative to the current time and does not alter with the layer sequences.
Animation: When selected, this continually reorientates the globe to show each of your main locations.
Weather Layers: Selects whether to display the layer selection icon on the main screen. If deselected there will be no access to the layers apart from the default Globe view. For those without access to WiFi or a substantial data allowance, this would be a good choice, as there will be no Globe data download in this mode. The location labels in this mode also show the current data and time for the selected city, and the predicted minimum and maximum temperature for the current day.

Using WiFi I have found the Globe layer updates to be fast and reliable. For some reason using GPRS has been less successful. Updates often stall and exit before fully downloading over GPRS. This may be due to signal conditions, but I have not had time to fully investigate that. This does not impact on the downloading of the weather forecast data itself, only the Globe graphics. When downloading Globe layer data over GPRS, the system pops up a message asking if you wish to proceed when no free data source is available. Bearing in mind that a full set of data is over 1.5MB this is a good feature, though the warning cannot be turned off. The Globe data does not automatically update according to the main weather forecast update schedule.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_globe_options.jpg

City List Screen

Tapping the 'List' icon from the main weather page opens the City List page. This lists each of your configured cities/locations, showing an icon depicting the current weather, and minimum and maximum temperatures for the day. Tapping any city in the list opens the main weather screen for the selected city.

Each city also has a List icon for accessing its options. These are:

Move Up and Move Down: Moving Up and Down change the position of the city in the location list. This is also reflected in the position of the cities in the Today Plug-in
Set as Startup City: Makes the current city the default when the program is opened.
Remove City: Deletes the current city from your list.
Edit City: This allows the displayed name of the current city to be changed. The Timezone, Latitude and Longitude can also be edited, the latter two being reflected when the Globe is displayed. The current GPS location, if available, can also be used to populate the location fields (but see below)

.

There are four icons at the base of the City Selection screen:

Arrow: Returns to the previous screen
Settings
Plus: Adds a location
Sync: Updates all City data.

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Settings

Accessed from the City List screen, this is where the general settings for the whole program are configured. There are tabs for the units displayed, synchronisation options and the location of the cache for the satellite images.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_options.jpg
Sync includes options for data connections and whether to use manual or automatic updating. The Sources tab allows the addition or removal of sources of weather data.

Spb Weather includes two weather sources by default, from Weather.gov and Foreca. Weather.gov is a US based national weather agency and Foreca is an independent Finnish weather forecasting company which also provides MSN with its weather data.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_options_sync.jpg

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Additional sources can be configured and added to the list using the Add button. Currently, the instructions for creating your own weather template appear to be unavailable, but the SpbClub forums have a number of custom templates developed by members and available for download.

I have installed the BBC Weather template. This is downloaded and copied to a Templates folder within Spb Weather, from where it can be selected as a weather source in the Add Source dialog. Selecting 'Templates' as the type, then navigating to the Templates folder shows the available sources; once selected, my 'BBCWeather24' template placed 'BBC World' in the available sources list. When selected for a City, BBC World is then used as the source for weather data.

Please note that to download items from SpbClub, it is necessary to be registered and logged in. Registration and use is free of charge.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_source_add.jpg

Adding a City

Tapping the Plus icon on the City List screen, opens the Add Location page. The location data itself is coded into the program and individual locations cannot be added. The default list does appear fairly comprehensive. Selection can be made using Name, Country, International Airport Code, or GPS position.

Typing the name or airport code you are seeking shows matches as you type. Note that you can only add any city once, so if multiple locations resolve to one city you can only select one to display. For instance, each of the three main London Airports have entries, but all resolve to London, so it is impossible to select Stansted as one of your cities and also London.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_add_city.jpg

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For some reason I cannot get the GPS selection to operate. Pressing 'Get Location by GPS' turns on the internal GPS receiver in my device, but no co-ordinates are forthcoming and a message pops up saying 'Unable to Connect to GPS Receiver'. Furthermore, canceling this operation does not turn the GPS receiver off again, so I suspect there may be a configuration issue, though there are no GPS configuration options available from within Spb Weather.

Up to ten cities can be configured to display on the City List screen.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_add_gps.jpg

Working with Weather Sources

As mentioned above, I have the two default and one user defined weather sources installed. Each city can be configured to use its own weather source. When in the main City view, at the bottom of the display is a label with the currently selected weather source. It may be necessary to drag the page up to see it. Tapping this label opens the Source Select page with a list of available weather sources.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_city_source.jpg
Tapping the list box to the right of the item opens a dialog with Set as Default, Use/Don't Use Source, and Edit City Code as possible options. To simply select a source for your city, tap the name of the source. To select another source as the default for new entries, tap its list box, then Set as Default.

Custom weather sources will also require the city code to be entered. Each template download will have instructions for how to obtain this. Tap the 'Edit City Code' menu to enter this code.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_city_source_options.jpg
For my location near Cambridge in the UK, I have tried Weather.gov, Foreca and the BBC Weather sources. By far the most accurate of these has been Foreca. It also has the most comprehensive data available. The predicted temperatures from the BBC source were about two degrees off the actual temperatures for the day. Additionally it only provided four weather bands for the current day, and a single band for the next two days. Weather.gov was out by a similar margin, but it had weather data for five days. Foreca's forecast was spot on, and it had four daily segments for seven days of weather. I've therefore stuck with Foreca for all my locations.

The Today Plug-In

Weather information can be shown in a number of different ways on the device's Today Screen. By default it has tabs for each city (up to six locations) with daily weather data in a display below this in varying amounts of detail depending on the configuration selected.

Tapping/holding a city's tab title opens a hierarchical menu allowing the various Today displays to be set. It also allows the city data to be updated, cities added or removed or the main Weather program to be launched.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_today.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_today_source.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_today_time.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_today_view.jpg

Integration with other Spb Products

It is possible to set Spb Weather to be integrated into Spb's other products, Pocket Plus, Mobile Shell or Diary.

Spb Diary will add a weather icon depicting the weather forecast for the default location to each line of its daily display. As I don't use this program, I've included a screenshot from Spb's website.

When used with Mobile Shell, the Weather tab or the Weather Icon on the Now screen will show data for the default city selected in Spb Weather. Tapping the icon will open the main Spb Weather program. For those who are wondering, the Mobile Shell theme shown is called Nature's Beauty from PPC-Themes.

Pocket Plus can be set to include Weather as a Custom Tab. Once the tab has been created, tapping and holding its title will give the option to add the Today Plug-In to that tab, thus removing it from the main Today/Items list.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_diary.jpg
Spb Diary Integrationhttp://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_shell_integrate.jpg
Spb Weather within Mobile Shellhttp://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/neilm/spbw/spbw_pp_integrate2.jpg
Spb Weather in PocketPlus tab

Pros and Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent interfacehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif GPS integration not working in my installationhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Ease of navigationhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Unable to add custom locationshttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Configurable weather sourceshttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Globe screen can use a lot of data http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Integration with other Spb productshttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Limited zoom in Globehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Data source configuration to avoid unwanted data chargeshttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Sometimes unable to add two close locations.

Conclusion

Spb Weather 2.0 is a fully featured and easy to use program. The addition of Foreca as a default weather source has seen the accuracy of my local forecasts improve significantly. It is a shame that some close locations resolve to the same city database location and can therefore not both be selected. This is not as trivial as it may seem; Stansted and Gatwick are far enough apart to have potentially different weather details but are both deemed to be London. In some instances there may be a suitable alternative city to select - in my case I could use London and Cambridge which works OK. There are some operating glitches to overcome such as the GPRS and GPS issues. The GPRS problem is under review by Spb, and it does not affect the weather data itself, only the Globe graphics. The graphical displays of cloud and rainfall, particularly when animated, are nice to watch though probably of little practical value! At $19.95 this is good value for money and anyone with an existing Spb product can get a 20% discount.

GPSForLess U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:52:23 +0000

GPSForLess U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/U2O%20Universal%20Mini%20charger%20review%20small/IMG_7168small.JPG

Introduction

Have you ever been out travelling light with only your phone and wallet for company, and then seen that your phone is low on charge when you need to make an important call, or send out a text message? I have done this myself on numerous occasions, but it won't be a worry anymore now that I carry the U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger in my pocket! Read on to see how this mini marvel shapes up.......

For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.

Many thanks to Craig at gpsforless.co.uk who provided 4WM with a review sample.

The GPSForLess U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger can be found on their site here.

Technical Specifications
Features

12 hours standby time
40 minutes talk time
5V output allows you to charge any device that takes 5v (most portable devices are 5v)
Rechargeable lithium ion battery
LED torch light
Micro design
350mAh
Stylish design
Quick charging

Product Specification

Input voltage: DC 5V/300mA
Output voltage: DC 5V/250mA
Product size: L=49mm x W=25mm x H=14mm
Product weight:15g

Adapter Specification

Mini USB female to charge battery
Mini USB male to charge device

Review

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/U2O%20Universal%20Mini%20charger%20review%20small/IMG_7169small.JPG

Once the postman had delivered the carefully packaged emergency charger I opened it in haste, and wasn't disappointed when I saw how small and light the charger was (as illustrated next to a two pound coin). The review sample I have looks good in the highly fashionable gloss black finish and is very well constructed too, with a look and feel of quality about it. The tight fitting charger cap comes with an elasticated loop that is ideal for fixing to your keyring.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/U2O%20Universal%20Mini%20charger%20review%20small/IMG_7174small.JPG

The close up shots here show the female mini USB input for charging on the left, and the male mini USB outlet on the right, which plugs into whatever 5 Volt device you wish to put power into.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/U2O%20Universal%20Mini%20charger%20review%20small/IMG_7226small.JPG

To charge up the emergency battery I connected it straight into my PC using my own male USB to male mini USB lead. I gave the charger a few 'runs' on various phones and devices before compiling any figures; that way the emergency charger would then settle in and reach its optimum charge / discharge cycle. The built in LED gives out a bright green light when fully charged and a bright red light when charging to full capacity.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/U2O%20Universal%20Mini%20charger%20review%20small/IMG_7231small.JPG

The U2O mini USB emergency charger can be used on any 5 Volt device and is seen here in action charging my HTC Diamond PDA phone and Motorola S9 Bluetooth stereo headphones.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/boz/U2O%20Universal%20Mini%20charger%20review%20small/IMG_7211small.JPG

As a bonus and an added touch of class, the U2O doubles up as a small torch using a single LED bulb, and functions by squeezing in the sides of the charger. It is very bright and handy in the dark for those "I can't find the lock to put the key in moments"!

Test Results

I used my HTC Diamond in sleep mode as a test device because I could then measure the charge it received in increments of 1% on its battery meter. The 350mAh U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger was connected via my PC each time I charged it so that I could acccurately assess the time it took to fully charge.

The results from the test were very consistant, the charger took an average of 1.4 hours to charge, and the HTC Diamond gained on average a 25% charge to the 900mAh battery. All tests were carried out within 12 hours of charging the emergency battery.

Conclusions

Overall I am very impressed with the U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger; it is very small and light and is so easy to keep in your pocket or on a keyring. It also looks good and packs a punch for its size, and the built in LED torch is a great bonus.

The U2O Universal Mini USB Emergency Charger is available in four other colours, and is also available for many other connector types too. At only £10.98 including VAT I think it is excellent value, and very useful too.

REVIEW: Review: SBSH Calendar Touch

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:56:42 +0000

http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_logo.jpgSBSH is one of the most respected of the Windows Mobile developers; they produce a number of high quality programs for both Touchscreen and Smartphone (non-touchscreen) devices. Until now, one Smartphone program which has been enviously viewed by the Touchscreen fraternity has been Papyrus, a replacement for the native Windows Mobile Calendar and Task applications. SBSH have now redressed the balance with the release of SBSH Calendar Touch. Read on to find out whether it lives up to expectations!

Supplier:
SBSH Software

Platform:
Windows Mobile 5 onwards; Touchscreen devices

Price:
$24.95; 30% discount available by registering with SBSH Forums using link on product page

Devices used for review:
HTC Touch Diamond & O2 XDA Flint. both VGA running WM6.1

[IMGleft]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_about.jpg[/IMGleft]Introduction

With the advent of Windows Mobile interfaces allowing the use of 'finger friendly' input and navigation, and driven no doubt by the success of touch input on other platforms, the limitations of the native Personal Information Management (PIM) programs such as Calendar, Tasks and Contacts have become more apparent. Many software houses are developing powerful but easy to use applications to improve the user experience.

SBSH Software have now launched Calendar Touch which replaces the user interface of the standard Windows Mobile Calendar and Task applications, while retaining the underlying data file structure to allow the various synchronisation tools to continue operating normally. This is in addition to their long standing and popular Pocket breeze program which continues to provide PIM content on the Today Screen, the latest release of which can link to Calendar Touch for adding or editing information.

Installation

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_install.jpg[/IMG]
Calendar Touch can be downloaded for installation from a PC via ActiveSync, or as a local installation directly on the device. The installed program needs 2.7Mb of storage space, and around 2.5Mb of program memory while running. As it is not a system program, it can be installed to a storage card to conserve device resources.

During installation there is an option to replace the normal Calendar and Task shortcuts with Calendar Touch, and an option to select whether to assign one of the soft keys to Calendar Touch. both these screens carry a warning that a soft reset may be required to implement the changes. The initial run after installation will show a screen requesting the registration details, or allow the program to run for twelve days in trial mode.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_softkey.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_softkey_choose.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_softkey_choose2.jpg[/IMG]

In Use

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The whole point of this application is to assist in viewing and entering or modifying data without the need to resort to the stylus wherever possible. The Calendar Touch screens are logically laid out and very easy to navigate. There is an option in settings to open the program at the most recently used view, or always on a specified view. Other views are accessed via the View menu linked to the left softkey, which opens a full screen selection page.

There are screens for Day, List, Week, Month, Tasks and Search. Each screen has a small bar, called the Custom Titlebar (movable to top, bottom or either side) showing the current screen's date or date range. The amount of information displayed on each page can be adjusted by altering the font sizes within the options for each screen, of which more later.

Each view can be optionally set to display the current item as a small, medium or large 'pop-out'. This is akin to a local zoom effect which magnifies and highlights the entry.

Navigation

Within each screen, navigation is achieved by:

Swiping left or right across the screen to access the previous or next day
Swiping up to return to the current day
Swiping down to open the Date Picker
Tapping the arrow buttons at the top right of the page
Tapping and holding the arrow buttons to invoke the Date Picker
Tapping the sidebar to invoke the Date Picker
Pressing the Left/Right D pad buttons where available.

The Date Picker screen has finger-press up/down keys to change each element, a Done key to activate the selection and a Menu containing more options. The selection keys continue to scroll the day, month or year if held. The Date Picker works very well, and it is a nice touch that if you are scrolling the day up or down, the month will change automatically as the start or end date is passed. Within the Date picker screen is also a Menu item containing further navigation options, which operate relative to the current selection. For quickly moving to a more distant date, there is a date picker grid available by pressing and holding any of the date figures between the up and down arrows.

An additional navigation feature is the 'scrolling ribbon' date picker which is accessed by swiping the finger to either edge of the screen and holding it there until the desired date or date range is central in the display. Releasing the screen opens the view at the selected date.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_goto.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_goto_grid.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_goto_menu.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_ribbon.jpg[/IMG]

The overall function of the navigation controls is excellent, but there is currently a significant issue with the swipe gestures on HTC Touchflo enabled devices. The effect of this is that all swiping gestures become inoperative once any screen with a scrollbar has been viewed. The swiping gestures do not regain availability until Calendar Touch is exited and restarted. SBSH are working on a solution to this, but in the meantime suggest turning off Touchflo to maintain the full function of the swiping gestures. Unfortunately, most current devices do not have the option of disabling Touchflo, with the result that the interface is inconsistent and potentially confusing to new users. Once the swiping gestures are unavailable, the only way of navigating is via the arrow buttons, the Date Picker, or using the D-pad. On my HTC Diamond, the arrow buttons are too small to use with a finger, and require the stylus to access.

Views

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_day.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_list.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_week.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_month.jpg[/IMG]

Daily
Displays the current day's appointments plus optionally any current or overdue tasks. The Custom Titlebar shows the date in a format as defined in the settings screen. The timeline shows occupied time slots, with the category colour of the appointment if appropriate. Next to the timeline are icons showing the number of appointments and tasks in the current view and the navigation arrows.

The body of the page shows each appointment with a category icon and a note icon if applicable. The note icon denotes the presence of a text note within the entry. Location, Start time and end time can be displayed, or just start time. Past appointments can be shown in as strikeout, normal or invisible.

If selected for display, the leading colour bars can denote either the category colour or the status colour.

If Tasks are selected to display in the Calendar views, they include any Priority flag selected, the due date, and category or note icons, as for appointment entries. There is also a check-box for marking a task as complete. Tapping this prompts a confirmation dialog box.

List
Displays the complete list of appointments and tasks for the current week, in a single scrollable window. The window can be scrolled using the scrollbar, or dragged up or down with a finger. The display elements are the same as for the single day view except that in List view there is no overall timeline; each day header has its own timeline and appointment counts (but no task count). Tapping the day header expands or collapses the entries for that day. Entries can be forced to a single line display if desired.

The lack of a timeline means there are no navigation arrows, so the only way to quickly move to the next or previous week is by swiping (if it is still functioning) or using the D-pad direction keys. Users of the HTC Touch HD may find this irksome!

Weekly
Displays one whole week of appointments and current tasks. In this view, there is a single timeline in the header which shows data for the currently selected day. Each day is represented by a rectangle showing the date in the lower right corner, and as much of the days data as will fit. Touching a day causes it to be selected, and if the pop-out effect has been enabled, the day will be magnified slightly to assist viewing its contents. A further tap on the day will open the single day view for that day; in this case, the left soft key will be labeled 'week' for quickly returning to the week view which is a nice touch. The D pad moves forward and back by days in the horizontal plane, or weeks in the vertical plane.

Monthly
The Monthly view shows a grid of days for the selected month, with the currently selected day highlighted. Each day can have a small timeline and/or category icons. Timelines can be hidden for empty days. If desired, there can be a preview pane to display the contents of the selected day. The preview pane has a timeline for the selected day plus item counts and arrow keys for navigation. The preview pane can be below or to the side of the grid, or automatic depending on screen orientation. As with the weekly view, a second tap on a day will open it in full day entry mode, this time with the left soft key allowing a quick return to the month view.

Each Calendar view has a Menu invoked by the right soft key. This includes New, Delete (the current item), More- Duplicate or beam the current item, Goto (which opens the Date Picker), Filters, Search and Settings. The Goto menu is a little superfluous given the other ways of opening the Date Picker. My preference would be for this menu to have direct access to Today, Next Week, Last Week etc.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_menu.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_menu_more.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_menu_filter.jpg[/IMG]

Tasks

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_tasks.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_task_range.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_task_sort.jpg[/IMG]

Displays all tasks conforming to the currently selected parameters. Each task shows its due date, the task name, category and note items if applicable and a completion check-box. There is an optional preview pane below the list. To access this, it is necessary to use the D pad to scroll up and down the list, as tapping an item opens it rather than selecting it. My preference would be for a single tap to select an item (and display its contents in the preview pane) with a second tap opening it for detailed viewing or editing.

Tapping the check-box toggles its status, with a dialog box prompting the confirmation of completing or activating a task.

The colours of current, past and undated tasks can be set in the task options. There would appear to be no option to have completed tasks in a different colour to past incomplete tasks, though completed tasks can be set not to be displayed.

The menu in the tasks screen differs from those in the appointments screens, in that there are options for task completion (or activation if the selected task is already marked complete), sorting parameters and the range of tasks to display.

Sorting of tasks can be to three levels, with six options for each. The primary sort option also includes grouping tasks under a Category Group or Priority Group heading. Each sort level can be in ascending or descending order.

Appointments and Tasks can be filtered by their categories, accessed by the Menu/Filters option. This allows any one of ten filters to be applied.

The Manage Filters option allows the user to customise each of the available filters. This includes assigning a meaningful name to the filter, assigning categories by a number of parameters and excluding categories by similar parameters. The net effect of this is to provide a very comprehensive method of limiting the items viewed in each screen. Any applied filter can be defeated by the Unfiltered option.

During the assignment of categories, the category entries themselves can also be edited by adding or removing categories and assigning custom colours and icons to each category.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_filter_category.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_filter_category_select.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_filter_manage.jpg[/IMG]

Search

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_search.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_search_options.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_search_result.jpg[/IMG]

Calendar Touch has a comprehensive Search engine. Simply type in a search string of two or more characters, set any required Options then tap 'Search'

There are a number of options for setting the Search parameters. Once set, tap 'Done' to return to the main Search screen.

The options are:

Include appointments, tasks or both{br}
begin with, or simply contain the search string{br}
Constrain the search to a selected date range{br}
Display the first 5, 10, 20, 50 or 100 results.

Searching is very quick; all the test searches I tried returned results within one second, from a dataset of about 160 appointments and 20 tasks.

Items returned in the search list can be tapped to open, then edited if required. Completing the edit returns to the search results screen.

Adding and Editing Entries

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The method of entering a new item and editing an existing one is essentially the same, though the route taken to initiate each is different.

To add an Appointment entry, simply tap Menu with the right soft key and select New Appointment. To edit an existing entry, locate it using the view screens or the search function, tap the entry to open it in full screen viewing mode, then tap Edit to commence the edit. Either of these actions opens up a screen with all the available data fields, with finger touch entry options where possible.

The Subject title can be typed using a normal text input mode, but tapping the expand box with its three dots opens a screen offering Full Screen Editor, My Text, which has a list of user definable standard phrases, or Insert Contact which opens a simple list of all available contact names. If the selected contact has telephone numbers available, there is an option to include one of the numbers, or no number. Tapping 'Done' pastes the contact into the text field. My Text and Contacts text entry can be repeated as many times as required.

The Start and End date fields can be filled using the traditional stylus and keyboard method, or by touching the down arrow to invoke the full screen Date Picker. The Start and Finish times are entered by highlighting each element as required and using the keyboard, or spinner arrows to change the time. Tapping the expand button opens a time picker screen from where the hour and minute can be selected by finger presses.

The subsequent fields allow:

The setting of whether the event is regular or all day{br}
Whether a reminder is set for the item. Reminder values are defined in the general settings screen, as is the default reminder time for all new entries.
Normal or Confidential status
busy/Free/Tentative or Out of Office status
Recurrence pattern (See the Tasks section for an explanation of recurrence)
Category. This opens a screen with check-boxes for all available categories and a text box at the top for entering a new category. To the right of the category description is a box showing the current marker colour for that category. Tapping this opens a colour selection screen with tabs for RGb, HTML or visual colour selection options. To the right of this is an Icon indicator. Tapping this opens a screen with groupings of icons which can be assigned to the category. This is compatible with SBSH's new Iconstore Extensions feature which uses PNG graphics to achieve high quality icons.
Attendees. This opens a list of all available contacts with email addresses. Each has a check-box and all selected attendees are emailed the appointment details with a confirmation request.
Notes. This works in exactly the same way as the Subject text entry.

The process for Tasks is exactly the same, though the available fields differ.

For tasks they are:

Subject- with text entry as for appointments
Start Date. If a start date is selected via the check-box, then a date entry field becomes available.
Due Date: as for Start Date
Reminder: with tasks, the reminder option is set for each task and works in the same way as the two previous fields.
Recurrence pattern: If a task is required to be repeating, selecting this option opens a drop down list with ten common repeat patterns based on the current day and date, or for 'Custom Repeating Pattern' which opens a secondary screen with comprehensive selection options.
Priority: Low, Normal or High
Category: as for appointment entry
Notes: as for other text entry fields

Once all the data has been entered, tapping 'Done' commits the new or edited record.

Settings

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings_colour.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings_colour_example.jpg[/IMG]

As we have come to expect from SBSH, the appearance of every element of this application can be modified to suit the user's preferences and device type. by design, the overall theme is set automatically depending on the device theme. This works well on my O2 XDA Flint, with Calendar Touch's theme matching each of the four selectable today themes, including the HTC black. On the HTC Diamond, the HTC black theme is not recognised, and the Calendar Touch theme is green. I'm not sure why this is, and it is not a major issue for me!

To access the settings screens, there is a Settings item on each screen's Menu. When this is invoked, the settings icon for the current view is highlighted.

If the automatic theme generation is not for you, then pretty much all elements of the program can be modified using the Settings/Colour option. There is a menu option to return all settings to their default values if things get out of hand!

The General settings panel controls the global appearance of the program and sets parameters such as the startup view, input mode. display elements etc. I shall not go through these individually, nor will I list the options for every screen. I trust the screenshots will give sufficient information about what is included.

The option to 'Include special events' will check through your contacts data for anniveraries and birthdays, then add them as calendar entries. In most cases, this should be unchecked, as most users will have set Outlook calendar entries for these recurring events. If that is the case, then selecting this option will cause duplicate entries to display.

The Human Time option allows a working day to be defined as crossing the midnight boundary. For example, if an appointment is set from 9pm to 1am, it will continue to show as one day's entry rather than displaying on two consecutive days if Human time is selected.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings_day.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings_month.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings_task.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct_settings_caltask.jpg[/IMG]

The Calendar Tasks setting screen determines which, if any, tasks are displayed on the main calendar screens, and if so, in which sort order they appear. This can be different to the sort order selected for the main Tasks screen.

One drawback of such comprehensive configuration options is that it can be a little time consuming adjusting all the details to personal preference. This is especially true of font sizes. There is a large range of available font size for each screen, but I would have liked to have seen a simpler Large, Medium or Small selector in the General options to determine a base font size, which could then be individually modified in each view setting panel.

Although the settings configuration is saved to the device, and is recognised when updating or reinstalling the program, there is no option to backup or export the settings. Thus after a clean device reset, all the settings will need to be re-entered unless the user had located and manually saved the settings file (Program Files/SBSHCalendar/SBSHcalendar.ini), then manually copied it back after the installation. A user selectable option to backup the settings is, in my opinion, essential in a program with so many configuration options as Calendar Touch.

Pros

Clear and intuitive interface

Touch & gesture navigation

Easy to use screen controls

Thoughtful design

Intelligent theme generation

Integration with other SBSH products

Cons

Complexity of settings

Inability to select an item without opening it in some screens

No settings backup, save or restore option

Some custom themes not recognised

Conclusion

SBSH Calendar Touch is an impressive new addition to the PIM replacement market. It does not include Contact management, nor does it purport to, but it does integrate contacts where appropriate including the automatic emailing of meeting requests. Once all the settings are adjusted to the user's personal preferences, the ease of use, particularly of viewing information, is excellent. Adding and editing information is good, but obviously shows more of the raw Windows Mobile interface, though SBSH have tried to offer stylus free operation wherever possible. The one major irritation in this release is that, in some current devices, the full functionality of the touch interface is lost once a screen with a scrollbar has been accessed. This can make navigation on a small screen device such as the Diamond somewhat difficult and also results in an inconsistent interface for inexperienced users. We must hope that SBSH continue their efforts to fix this problem.

At $24.95 Calendar Touch is at the upper end of the expected cost for this type of application, but there are some substantial discounts available. New customers can receive 30% discount by registering to join the SBSH user forums, which is free of charge, via the Special Offer link on the product page of the SBSH website. Existing SBSH customers who subscribe to their email list may also receive an offer of 33% discount. These discounted prices make Calendar Touch good value for money, and an excellent program overall.

Update, March 16 2008

SBSH Software have released Calendar Touch V2.1, a significant update to the Calendar Touch program. This addresses the most important criticisms of the previous version, namely the problems with finger touch scrolling on some devices.

The new version has replaced the standard Windows Mobile softkey bottom bar, with a customised navigation bar. It also has its own mechanism for scrolling within and between pages of views.

Many of the screens now have large, touch friendly buttons, though entering new appointments and tasks will still require a stylus as they revert to the standard entry screens.

Integration with the newest version of Pocket breeze is also now included.

Here are some screenshots of most of the updated content

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_day.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_appt_menu.jpg[/IMG]
Left: New Calendar screen, showing the 'Day' view with tasktray icons for:

Previous Day
Date Picker
Next Day
Calendar Menu

The other Calendar views have a similar look.{br}{br}If any screen has more entries than can be displayed, the lists can be scrolled up or down with a finger drag. This also applies to the smaller sub-displays such as in the Week and Month views.

Dragging left or right moves to the previous or next entry, and dragging to the margin then holding will cause the 'Quick Scroll' feature to operate as before.

Right: Calendar Menu page

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_task.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_task_menu.jpg[/IMG]
Left: The Tasks screen has a similar look to the Calendar screens. In Tasks, the tray icons represent:

Task Filter
Task Sort
Task Menu

Right: The Task Menu screen.

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_task_filter.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_task_sort.jpg[/IMG]
Left: The Task Filter button launches this screen allowing only Tasks of the selected status to be displayed.

Right: The Task Sort icon launches the Sort screen allowing tasks to be sorted on the selected parameters.

There are tray icons for selecting the sort direction.

both these screens show a 'Thumbs Up' icon for the currently selected mode

The two remaining screens with significant changes are:

[IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_date.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.smartphonegurus.com/staff/neilm/ct/ct21_setup.jpg[/IMG]
Left: The Date Picker screen, accessed by the centre icon in the Calendar views. As before, the buttons can be pressed or held to cause the data elements to change. Pressing the Thumbs Up icon commits the change and displays the selected date.

The Arrow icons move forward or backward one week at a time, and the centre icon selects the current date, and returns to the previous Calendar view.

Right: The main Settings screen is now a draggable list. Touching any entry opens the options for that selection. The underlying options screens are still the standard Windows Mobile format.

The Thumbs Up icon saves the changes and returns to the previous screen.

Updated Conclusion

Version 2.1 of Calendar Touch has succeeded in addressing a major difficulty seen in the original release. The changes to the Touch navigation are excellent and SBSH are to be congratulated on the tenacity with which they have pursued this evolution. There are still areas where the underlying Windows Mobile heritage is evident, namely in the new entry screens and in the individual settings screens. I'm sure some of these will be given a makeover in due course.

Calendar Touch was a good application before; in my opinion it is now first rate!

REVIEW: Asavie accessmyLAN VPN with ActiveSync

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:45:05 +0000

Asavie accessmyLAN

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Supplier: Asavie Technologies
Product: accessmyLAN
Cost: £13.95 pm subscription (+VAT) for single user

Review: The review was carried out on a T-Mobile TyTn II WM6 with an unlimited data connection and Windows 2003 Server running on a HP D530 desktop with 1Gb RAM

Introduction

accessmyLAN is a secure, reliable and scalable VPN, subscription based service, providing enterprise-class features and security with no additional hardware, no up-front costs, and without the requirement for specialist technical expertise. One of these features is an ActiveSync proxy service simplyfying the provision of direct push email to mobile phone.

One of the main features of a WM enabled phone is its ability to provide direct push email via ActiveSync (i.e. automatic retrieval and sending of emails over the phone network). Unfortunately this feature is only really available if you have one of three services available to you:

An ActiveSync enabled email service from an online provider. This service generally costs £7-10 pm (+VAT).
A subscription to an ActiveSync emulator service such as eMoze. (Not truly ActiveSync).
A fully configured MS Exchange environment as found in a corporate environment.

However, let us consider the home user who happens to have their own Exchange Server environment. This may seem to be unusual at first sight, but in practice is quite common, especially amongst IT professionals.

In order to enable ActiveSync to function what is needed is:

A computer running Microsoft Exchange as Backend server hosting the mailboxes.
A computer running Microsoft Exchange as Frontend server enabling secure access from the internet.
A valid Certificate to enable secure communications.
Changes to the firewall to enable the required email and SSL ports to be used for ActiveSync communications.
A domain name and IP address which is routable and accessible from the internet (either directly or via DynamicDNS).
A fairly good knowledge of IIS, Exchange and SSL.

Admittedly some of these features can be excluded but only by compromising the system's security. The result is that unless you have access to some serious resources, knowledge and funds then the only realistic solution is one of the first two options shown above.

What is really needed is a solution that provides true ActiveSync functionality using just an Exchange server and which does not compromise your system and network's security. This is where accessmyLAN comes in.

All you need is a working ActiveSync enabled version Exchange Server and a subscription with accessmyLAN and the whole process can be completed in less than an hour:

Signup.
Download and install the accessmyLAN agent.
Add a User.
Add an ActiveSync device for that user.
Configure ActiveSync on the device.
Synchronise.

The only change to the network is to install the agent - no configuration required to either the agent or the network.

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Feature Set

accessmyLAN is a monthly subscription service based on the number of users required. A single agent, which is installed on the internal network is included. Additional agents can be purchased if redundancy is required (corporate environment) and traffic is automatically routed and rerouted through them according to their availability.

Each user licence provides the following:

VPN Agent.
VPN Client.
Web Portal.
Mobile APN (Access Point Name).
ActiveSync (Microsoft Exchange).

Each client licence allows that user to add as many or as few devices as they need.

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VPN Agent
The VPN Agent is installed onto any Windows computer on your network and maintains a secure anbd permanent outbound SSL connection to accessmyLAN's servers. When you want to gain access to your home network's resources you actually make an SSL connection to the accessmyLAN's servers which then routes your requests via the VPN Agent's connection to these servers.

The agent provides any NAT (Network Address Translation) requirements and allows you to connect and work with any IP device on your network.

The agent runs as a service on the installed computer and the only configuration available is the type of logging you want to keep.

VPN Client
This is the core feature for which accessmyLAN was originally developed and is implemented by installing a program on the PC or laptop to be used to access your home network. The VPN client is then activated by running a standard windows dial-up dialog which connects your device with accessmyLAN's servers. Once a connection has been established your device is to all intents on your home network and has access to its resources - printers, files etc.

accessmyLAN does not provide a "desktop" function as provided by other personal VPN products such as LogMeIn etc. Instead accessmayLAN places your device on your home network and allows you to access your resources using standard TCP and windows networking functionality i.e. Shares. This means you can use your own preferred desktop control applications (Windows Remote Desktop. Dameware, VNC, NetSupport etc) allowing the level of access and control you need.

Once again no configuration is normally required as long as you are using non-routable IP addressing within your internal network (i.e. 10.n.n.n or 192.168.n.n) as all routing is performed using your internal DNS. Where this is not the case NAT Addressing for use within accessmyLAN is available. However this is performed using 10.n.n.n addresses above the 10.200.n.n range so these should be avoided by your internal network.

This feature will allow you to access your home network anywhere from which you can access the internet over https (subject to local firewall rules).

Web Portal

The Web Portal is an internet browser based access to your Exchange email using Outlook Web Access. A facility is also provided to access your files and documents using IIS based web sharing. Security via credential based signon (using your windows AD) can be enforced along with an activeX addon that ensures your details are removed from the device cache when finished. This feature does require some configuration both within your network and the accessmyLAN service.

This service means that you can securely access your information from any PC and can be useful where local firewall security blocks the accessmyLAN VPN client.

Mobile APN

This is a feature that enables device connectivity where the VPN client is unavailable or where there is a requirement to limit internet access from mobile devices. It is only available within specific mobile partnerships and device setups and is only applicable within a corporate environment.

ActiveSync

This is the feature that makes this product of special interest to the Windows Mobile user.

The accessmyLAN ActiveSync function basically takes on the role of the Frontend Exchange server, Certificate management, firewall protocol and security administration. All that is needed is for the user's device to be added to their profile and for the device to be configured for direct push email in the normal manner. No additional software on either the device or the server is required.

All security is maintained using SSL encrypted communications, enforcement of login failure policies, logging and authentication and locking of devices to users.

A nice touch is that when a device is added for use with ActiveSync, a device specific configuration page is provided detailing the exact steps and information required to setup the device.

However, this feature is not limited to just Windows Mobile Devices. It is also available to Apple iPhone 2.0, Palm Treo, DataViz RoadSync enabled devices and any Nokia Mail for Exchange (MfE) compatible devices.
Currently Nokia support the E and N series but are adding other devices to the list. This can be a major cost saving in the corporate environment allowing direct push email to be provided without necessarily requiring costly device upgrades.

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Installation and Maintenance

All installation and administration is web based using an https secured browser connection. As this is performed for obvious security reasons I have had to limit the number of screenshots and images of the process involved.

However, the administration portal is well laid out and in the average network configuration is kept to a minimum.

The main steps for implementation are:

Signup
A 15 day trial is provided, with no credit card or charging details required, for which a 3 User single agent licence is provided.
Install the VPN Agent
A VPN Agent needs to be installed on a Windows 2000 or later system within your internal network. This agent provides accessmyLAN with its access and communication through your internal firewall. The only requirement for this device is that it is always on and available.
Install a VPN Client on a device
Installation can be performed directly onto the device or a link can be emailed allowing the user to self install.
Configure an ActiveSync device
The details of the device are entered in the Administration portal and the device then needs to be configured for direct push email.

It would be nice to be able to write more about the installation procedures but it really is quite simple. In the event of any problems there is an online help facility and failing that email support is provided which is responded to quite quickly.

In general if you have any problems getting the ActiveSync feature to work it is more likely to be an issue with your internal network and Exchange setup and here is where Asavie can come to your rescue. They have a free tool on their website, The ActiveSync Tester. This tool is free to anyone without registration and can test for:

Host connectivity and name resolution issues.
SSL & Certificate problems.
Exchange Server / ActiveSync issues.
User Mailbox configuration and security issues.

The results are clear and provide links to both Asavie's help files and also to the relevant Microsoft Knowledge Base articles. If you are an Exchange administrator, even if you do not intend to use accessmyLAN, I would strongly suggest you get a copy of this extremely useful tool.

Currently accessmyLAN ActiveSync supports Exchange 2003 (SP2) and Exchange 2007.

The service is charged monthly in advance but with no minimum contract period.

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Conclusion

I have been administering and using this product, in a corporate environment, for over 2 years now and would recommend it in that arena for its powerful feature set combined with easy management and configuration. The ActiveSync function is a relatively new feature and Asavie are continuing to enhance the product by recently adding corporate authentication methods.

At first sight its price would appear to be rather an expensive option for the private user wanting to get direct push email on their device. However, if you consider that for this price not only are you getting direct push email, but also a VPN solution, then it is actually very good value. The general level of pricing for direct push enabled mailboxes is £7-10 per month, with VPN access adding £10-12 per month. A single user accessmyLAN licence costs £13.95 with an equivalent package costing £17+.

Obviously this product is designed for the corporate market, but for the private individual running their own Exchange Server this is definitely a service that should be considered.

REVIEW: HP iPAQ 614C Business Navigator

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:57:45 +0000

HP iPAQ 614C Business Navigator Introduction

HP have a long history of manufacturing PDAs, for the most part concentrating on the pure PDA sector. Recent times have seen HP move into the converged device market with a focus on Windows Mobile as an operating system. The HP iPAQ 614C is just such a converged device. What does this latest offering bring to the table, read on to find out...http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/clove_614c.png
For your delectation some photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to our very good friends at Clove Technology once again for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the HP iPAQ 614C at Clove go to the Clove website

Extra special thanks goes out to PocketPCSoft.net for providing assistance in allowing us to use the 614C review photographs from their site after a technical hitch left us with a corrupted USB Memory Stick. Once again, the moral of the story, make sure you backup... And then backup your backup!!

Fast Facts
Operating system installed Windows MobileÆ 6 Professional
Processor type Marvell PXA270 Processor
Processor speed 520 MHz
Display type TFT
Display size 2.8"
Video resolutions description 320 x 240, 65K colours, 16-bit
Keyboard Integrated 12-button numeric keypad with Smart Touch Wheel function
Standard memory 128 MB SDRAM main memory for running applications, 256 MB flash ROM
Wireless technologies Integrated WLAN 802.11b/g with WPA2 security, BluetoothÆ 2.0 with EDR
Mobile phone Integrated Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone and Tri band HSDPA 3.6/7.2 Mpbs
GPS receiver Integrated GPS navigation (Assisted GPS)
Integrated camera Integrated 3.0 Megapixel autofocus camera, 4X digital zoom, 640 x 480 VGA resolution, 1280 x 1024 SXGA resolution
Software included HP iPAQ Mobile Broadband Connect, HP VoiceReply, Voice Commander, MMS Composer, BluetoothÆ Manager, Certificate Enroller, HP Photosmart Mobile, HP Help and Support, HP QuickStart Tour, HP Enterprise Mobility Agent
Portability
Display type TFT
Display size 2.8"
Video resolutions description 320 x 240, 65K colours, 16-bit
Weight 145g
Dimensions (W x D x H) 6.03 x 1.75 x 11.7 cm
Performance
Processor type Marvell PXA270 Processor
Processor speed 520 MHz
Standard memory 128 MB SDRAM main memory for running applications, 256 MB flash ROM
Keyboard Integrated 12-button numeric keypad with Smart Touch Wheel function
Pointing device Touch-sensitive display for stylus or fingertip
Power features Battery: removable/rechargeable 1590 mAh Lithium-Polymer (user changeable), Talk time: up to 4 hours, Standby time: up to 10 days (250 hours)
Connectivity / GPS
Mobile phone Integrated Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone and Tri band HSDPA 3.6/7.2 Mpbs
Messaging services Phone Dialer application, SMS support, MMS composer, Microsoft Outlook Push eMail, Pull eMail via ActiveSync, HP Voice Reply, Predictive Text tool, Microsoft Live Messenger
Wireless technologies Integrated WLAN 802.11b/g with WPA2 security, BluetoothÆ 2.0 with EDR
GPS receiver Integrated GPS navigation (Assisted GPS)
GPS softwares and maps Google Maps mobile (for Turn-by-Turn Navigation, optional HP GPS Navigation Kit available)
Synchronization tools Mini-USB desktop synchronisation cable
Expandability
Expansion slots 64-bit Micro SD card slot
External I/O ports 1 mini-USB connector for synchronization and charging
Memory slots 64-bit Micro SD card slot - for memory expansion
Software
Software included HP iPAQ Mobile Broadband Connect, HP VoiceReply, Voice Commander, MMS Composer, BluetoothÆ Manager, Certificate Enroller, HP Photosmart Mobile, HP Help and Support, HP QuickStart Tour, HP Enterprise Mobility Agent
Pre-installed software OutlookÆ Mobile, Office Mobile, Internet ExplorerÆ Mobile, Windows MediaÆ Player Mobile, Microsoft ActiveSync, Phone Dialer, Voice Notes, Calculator, Solitaire, Bubble Breaker, Microsoft Live Messenger, Microsoft Live Search
Security management HP Enterprise Mobility Agent
Multimedia
Audio Integrated microphone, receiver, speaker and stereo headphone jack
Integrated camera Integrated 3.0 Megapixel autofocus camera, 4X digital zoom, 640 x 480 VGA resolution, 1280 x 1024 SXGA resolution

System features
Power requirements AC Power - AC Input: 100~240 Vac, 50/60 Hz, AC Input current: 115 Vac 0.15 Aac max; 230 Vac 0.08 Aac max, Output Voltage: 5 Vdc (typical), Output current: 1 A (typical)
Ergonomic features Numeric keypad with smart touch wheel, 3-way thumb wheel, 2 soft key buttons, send/end buttons, reset button, volume control, voice command, landscape/portrait key
Modem HP iPAQ Mobile Broadband Connect to take your notebook over the high-speed HSDPA data network
Operating humidity range 90% RH
Warranty options No warranty options
Operating temperature range -10 to 55∞ C
Box content Removable/rechargeable Lithium-Polymer 1590 mAh battery, AC adapter, 1 mini-USB synchronization/charge cable, stereo headphones, Getting Started Guide, HP iPAQ Companion CD

Externals and Hardware

In the box

HP definitely win 1st prize for the most colourful box that I have ever seen containing a mobile device. I think the attempt is to inject an element of fun into what can be seen as quite a serious subject, especially when you part with a large amount of money to get at the prize within!!

Inside the box, is the device itself, the charger, a single USB cable and stereo headpones. Underneath the first layer there is the getting started guide and a HP iPAQ companion CD. As with all my devices, I didn't get around to using the companion CD and didn't remove it from its sleeve.

HP are the first manafacturer that I've seen who have printed getting started instructions on the inside of the box lid. I guess they must have heard that I very rarely RTFM and decided to put them where I wouldn't miss them! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614c_box1_t.JPG
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Convergence

With life becoming ever more hectic, PDAs that are being developed today have to evolve to suit that need. No longer are users happy to carry around a PDA, phone, etc; more functionality is demanded from the market and in an ever more pocketable form factor. The HP iPAQ 614C strives to meet these needs and therefore contains the following areas of functionality within the device:

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
Mobile (cell) Phone
Camera
GPS Navigation Unit
Push Email
Portable media player
Laptop computer replacement

As I proceed through the review you should able to decide for yourself whether the iPAQ614C ticks all the boxes.

Aesthetics

The 614C is a visually appealing device. I was surprised to find that the device was larger than a standard candy bar style phone but having said that, it still fitted nicely in the hand. The 614C is extremely business like in appearance with its matt-black and silver garb, which isn't a surprise as the device is badged by HP as the 'Business Navigator'... That being said, my feeling is that the 614C is equally at home in a consumer setting and does not look out of place when compared to the majority of today's devices that are coming to market. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_aes_1_t.jpg

Front

Moving in closer, we'll start with the front of the device. The first striking thing of note is the raised ring that appears to be embedded in the keypad. This is indeed a scroll wheel, but we'll look at that a bit more in depth later in the review.

Starting at the top of the device one finds the output speaker cut-out just above the 2.8" QVGA screen. Beneath the screen there are the usual 2xhardware soft keys, followed by the 20 key keypad which as well as the number and alpha keys gives you access to the call answer/end functionality, windows mobile start menu, screen orientation and power on/off.

I do like the inclusion of the Windows Mobile Start Menu key. I find it incredibly useful on those devices that have it when attempting to use the device one hande. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Front_t.jpg

Top

Sliding around to the top, notice that the device is incredibly spartan here, with only a single button. But that one button has an incredibly useful function. A-La Palm, this one button allows you to toggle the device sound on and off. If you ever used a palm device (and I have), you soon come to rely on this functionality. To be honest, I don't know why more device manafacturers don't incude this type of thing. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Top_t.jpg

Bottom

Slipping down to the bottom of the device there is what is pretty much standard Windows Mobile device fare, the Mini-USB socket. This socket allows for charging, connecting the 614C to your PC via a USB cable and last but not least, connection of the supplied headphones. To the right of the Mini-USB socket, there is a clearly marked reset button. This provides a way to restart the device via hardware should it become un-responsive or locked-up completely. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Bottom_t.jpg

Right

Moving to the right, the 614C is equally as spartan as the top. Towards the top end of the device is the camera button, moving towards the bottom of the device there is a little soft plastic cover, but as I couldn't work out what it was for, I didn't feel brave enough to attempt to remove it from the supplied review device just in case!! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Right_t.jpg

Left

Finally flipping over to the left of the device at the top there s an OK button, what initially looks like a scroll wheel and last but not least, a voice command button.

The position of the OK button is a little different from other devices. If I remember correctly, the OK button is lower down on other devices such as the original HTC Hermes. But having said that the higher position didn't really cause me any issues in use. Now onto the scroll wheel, well, it's not a wheel really, it's a three position rocker switch or thumb-wheel might be a better description. Although it works just as well as the scroll wheels that I've used on other devices such as the HTC Kaiser and various Blackberries.

The final button is the voice command button, a quick press of this launches the HP Voice Command application. I'm not a big fan of using voice command type software, so I really didn't get to give this a thorough run-through. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Left_t.jpg

Headset

Many people, including me, now rely on a converged device for media playback as well as communications. The major benefit being that I don't really want to be carrying two devices around with me if I don't have to.

The supplied headphones follow the trend of current devices being of the in-ear type. The audio quality throught them is excellent, I was definitely pleasantly surprised. I had no issues with volume levels at all and both music and podcasts sounded very good when played back. The only thing of concern to me was the lack of the little foam pads to put over the ear-buds, although this is not specific to HP as many manafacturers don't supply them. I find that I can't use in-ear type earphones without the foam covers as they keep falling out, the inside of my ears must be larger than most! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614c_headphones_t.jpg

Size

As mentioned previously, for a candy bar style device, the HP iPAQ 614C is still quite a large device when compared to something else in the candy bar type like the HTC S730. The table below provides an excellent device size comparison built up from many 4WM reviews and as you can see, the 614C is quite a large device indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Stack_t.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/pda_sizes.jpg

Screen

Now I've arrived at what is the very core of a converged device, the screen. On the iPAQ 614C, the screen is excellent, it is a 2.8" QVGA panel at 240x320 and is both clear and bright. The orientation switch from portrait to landscape was instantaneous, or at least in my perception it was the quickest device that I've used thus far in that respect.

The only issue that occurred to me during use was the raised bezel around the edges of the screen, which appeared to be higher than most and slightly hampered using small scroll bars at the edges of the screen if not using the stylus. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/DefToday01.jpg

Keypad

Almost as important as the screen is the method of data entry. This comes in many shapes and forms on different devices, ranging from touch-screen based SIP's (software input panels), front facing and slide-out full keyboards, to standard numeric keypads. The method of data entry is a very personal thing. I prefer the front facing and slide out full hardware keyboards, but many people also prefer the onscreen keyboards that offer a more svelte device size.

The keypad on the 614C is of the numeric keypad type, offering T9 predictive text input. Unfortunately, I live my life within email during the business day and I found the numeric keypad too restrictive in allowing me to quickly reply to the many emails I get. Remember though, this is just my personal opinion and other people's mileage may vary in this regard, but it is something to be aware of if you input a lot of data. As previously mentioned the most striking feature is the embedded scroll wheel... Well, it's not really a scroll wheel, but HP describe it as a Smartwheel, so we'll call it that from now on.

As well as being able to scroll around the outside edge of the Smartwheel, you can also start with your finger in the middle and swipe up, down, left or right to generate cursor movements as you would with a traditional DPAD, although it did take me a while to discover this fact as I don't believe in RTFMing unless absolutely necessary. The Smartwheel worked very well in operation once I had got used to it, in fact I became quite nimble with it!! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Keypad_t.jpg

GPS

The iPAQ 614C isn't called the Business Navigator for nothing. It comes complete with a built-in GPS receiver. Unfortunately, the specs that I had for the device from the HP website did not specify what make of GPS receiver it is. I couldn't really install TomTom navigator on the 614C as I didn't want to go through the rigmarole of trying to get another activation key via TomTom support due to the short nature of having a supplied review device.

So, I made do with the rather excellent Google Maps to test out the GPS function. Note that the HP device comes pre-loaded with Googe Maps, but it is only the v1 incarnation, so it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest version to reap the beneits of the extra features that are on offer. Simply point your mobile device browser to Google Maps.

Whilst I didn't conduct any speed tests in the short time I had with the device, getting a GPS lock didn't take long and as you can see from the screen shot, it located my village with no problems at all!! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/GoogleMaps2.jpg

Applications

Let's move on to the applications that come installed on the device. In this section, I won't go through the standard applications provided, such as Office Mobile, but instead I will concentrate on the extras that HP have included.

Admittedly, due to the lost files I don't have a complete set of screens for some of the apps, but I will mention them here.

HP Help and Support. Not being an RTFM type of guy, I didn't make use of the HP Help and Support application at all, but it is there if you need it.

HP iPAQ tips. The same goes for HP iPAQ Tips, I just didn't feel drawn to access the application in the short time I spent with the device.

Voice Commander. All throughout my PDA history, the one thing that I have never got on with is voice recognition or voice control applications, to be honest, I've never really found the need to use them. But despite my general sceptism here, everything I've read about HP voice commander in other reviews has been completely positive.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Programs.jpg

HP Short Cuts

The first application of note is HP Short Cuts. It does exactly what the name suggests by providing short-cuts to a range of applications.

The shortcuts menu is activated by the right hand softkey, initially displaying a list of the default applications the device comes configured with as standard. These choices are of course customisable, so you can set the short-cuts for your most commonly used applications!

Another useful feature is that you can navigate the short-cut list in two ways, one by using the Smartwheel's directional capabilities, the other beng simply pressing the relevant number on the keypad.

I must admit, I found this feature incredibly useful and used it quite a lot during my time with the device. Well done HP for including a very useful app!! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/HPShortC1.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/HPShortC2.jpg

HP PhotoSmart Mobile

As well as the Pictures and Videos application that comes as part of the base Windows Mobile OS, HP have included their own Photosmart Mobile Software. Now I'm not a great one for graphics applications, but from my limited playing around, Photosmart Mobile is a lot slicker and more sophisticated than the built-in software. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/PhotosmartMobile1.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/PhotosmartMobile2.jpg

ROM and Memory

HP have beefed up the memory on the 614C, it comes with a healthy 256Mb ROM and 128Mb RAM. After a clean-start or hard-reset this leaves approxmately 117Mb of storage space for applications and 70Mb of RAM for running programs. Not too shabby in my book.

I must say I'm also very glad to see that HP have continued to include the iPAQ Filestore, which is extra non-volatile memory that can be used to store applications or data. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/Memory1.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/Memory2.jpg

Battery

The included battery is a 3.7v 1590Mah unit, which is very large compared to a device like the HTC Diamond and its 900Mah battery pack.

On a pretty average day for me, the 614C was taken off charge at 07:00, not much email as I was working from home, but plenty of phone calls, good use of Wi-Fi to keep up on RSS feeds during the day and at 19:30 in the evening, the battery life was showing at 45%.

My second day of battery observation was more eventful, the 614C was taken off charge at 06:30, throw quite a few emails and the usual lots of calls into the mix, along with keeping up on those RSS feeds over HSDPA and as at 15:00 the battery was showing at 34%. This would definitely see me home, but the device then needed charging in the evening. This is quite good for devices that I use as I normally end up having to charge during the day to keep other devices going.

Another interesting feature is the ability to control whether the device will charge via USB, you can even control the charging rate by selecting either slow or fast charge. I've not seen this functionality on any other device, so I am assuming that it is something that HP have added into the mix. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/USBCharging1.jpg

Camera

The camera on the 614C is a 3.0 Megapixel affair with auto-focus and 4x digital zoom. Once again I must apologise as I lost all my original picture files taken with the device, so thanks go out to PocketPCSoft.net for allowing the use of their images, and that is what you can see here!

To my untrained eye, (I'm no photographic expert, but I know what I like!!), the pictures that the 614C produced looked pretty good. Maybe a bit more colour depth may have been a good thing, but over-all, it easily matched and even bested other devices I have used. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/fowljr/ipaq614c/614C_Camera_t.jpg

Pros and Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent Screen http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Larger than expectedhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Plenty of Storage http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Unusually deep screen bezelhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Plenty of RAM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Innovative Smartwheel
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Fast 520Mhz Processor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Strong Signal Reception

Overall Conclusion

There's no doubt about it, the HP iPAQ 614C is a quality device. A little larger than the usual candy bar style of smartphone, but in reality this only serves to increase its usability as a PDA. From the connectivity point of view, the 614C offers everything you could need with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, not forgetting quad band GSM and Tri-band HSDPA, which means the 614C would make a great companion on many a trip.

Let's also not leave out the GPS functionality, as for many people GPS is a must these days and nearly every device sports some form of GPS capability. The T9 text input via the numeric keypad is adequate, but the addition of Touchpal made data entry a lot easier for me, but that is definitely just my opinion and I am known for being a hardware keyboard fan-boy, which means this should just be taken as my personal preference.

All in all, the HP is a great all-round device, I found no real major issues and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, especially the great audio playback. I guess the question on everybody's is whether the device is a keeper or not for me, in this instance and in my opinion only unfortunately not as I need my keyboard!

O2 XDA Zest Review!

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:11:59 +0000

O2 XDA Zest Review! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Front_box_s.jpg Introduction

It’s nearly 7 years now since O2 launched their pioneering XDA range and introduced the British public to the delights of Windows Mobile. Since the original XDA O2 have presented us with a plethora of HTC devices that have kept us captivated. The XDA Zest is the latest device to wear the XDA insignia but it hides a secret. This XDA is not HTC, it’s ASUS. The famed motherboard manufacturer from the Far East has jumped on to the Windows Mobile band wagon and has made its intentions clear. Is ASUS’ Zest a worthy addition to the XDA range? Read on to find out………
For your delectation photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to O2 for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the O2 XDA Zest go to the O2 XDA Zest website

Technical Specifications

Processor:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Marvell TavorP 624MHz

Memory:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 256 MB NAND Flash ROM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 128 MB SDRAM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SDHC MicroSD card slot

Operating System :
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft® Windows Mobile™ 6.1 Professional

Display:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2.8-inch, 480 x 640 TFT Touch screen Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)with 65,536 colour and back-lighting

Connectivity:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100Mhz, EDGE/GPRS/GSM(900/1800/1900Mhz): Class 10
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPRS: Class B, Multi-slot class 10
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth : V2.0 EDRhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif WLAN : 802.11b/g
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB : USB 1.1 compatible

GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Built-in SiRF star III chipset

Camera
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Back: 3.0 megapixel auto focus camera.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Front: VGA camera

Audio

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mini-USB audio port
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Built-in microphone and output speaker

Size:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Weight: 120.5g (with battery)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Dimension: 102 x 60.5 x 16.5 mm

Battery capacity:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1300 mAh Lithium Ion (Manufacturer: Welldone; Model: SBP-19)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Talk time: 3G: up to 3 hrs; 2G: up to 5 hrs
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Standby time :3G: up to 220 hrs; 2G: up to 260 hrs

Externals and Hardware

In the box

The full retail package I received for review contained:

O2 XDA Zest
Wired headset
1300mAh battery
USB mini male to USB male cable
MicroSD card and adapter
Mains charger unit
UK plug connector
EU plug connector
Spare stylus
Power and Audio splitter cable
Quick start guide
User manual
Getting started CD containing:

Microsoft Active Sync
Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Centre
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Trial

It's interesting to see Windows Mobile Device Centre bundled with new devices, and I’ve been very impressed generally with the standard of applications supplied with the device. A full version of Copilot would have been nice, but you can’t have everything can you? The bundled accessories are also quite interesting as it’s unusual to get a free USB audio and power splitter included but then it’s equally unusual to not get a case for the device supplied. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Contents_s.jpg

Convergence

Modern life in the 21st Century is becoming ever more complex and hectic, and PDAs that are being developed have to evolve to suit that need. No longer are users happy to carry around a PDA, phone, etc; more functionality is demanded from the market and in ever more pocketable and slight devices.

The XDA Zest strives to meet these needs boasting a truly spectacular specification and therefore contains the following areas of functionality within the device:

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
Mobile (cell) Phone
Camera
GPS Navigation Unit
Push Email
Portable media player

As we proceed through the review you should able to decide for yourself whether the Zest ticks all the boxes. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Back_box_s.jpg

Aesthetics

When it comes to aesthetics we’ve seen a bit of a revolution recently. With the pressure applied by Apple, and more specifically the Iphone, Windows Mobile devices have started to look like they’ve been lovingly sculpted as opposed to cast from blocks of East European iron. The old functional bricks are no more, and we are increasingly seeing svelte Touch optimised devices that rival even the prettiest devices the like of Nokia and Sony Ericcson are producing. The XDA Zest, while not quite at the cutting edge aesthetically is still a good looking device. Reminiscent of a glossier version of the original HTC Touch it’s rounded livery is very easy on the eye. I really like the combination of the gloss black and the chrome strip around the lower middle of the device. The gloss is somewhat of a fingerprint magnet, but it’s not as noticeable as on some machines, the Touch Diamond for example. The flush screen keeps the lines flowing nicely and the rounded edges sit very nicely in the hand. It’s attractive and nicely designed without being overly pretentious. I like it. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Screen_O2_s.jpg

Front

The front view of the Zest is fairly run of the mill as far as Windows Mobile 6.1 devices are concerned. All controls are present and accounted for and most things are exactly where you'd expect. The two send and receive buttons are easily accessible towards the bottom of the device. Sitting in between them is the rounded edge shaped Dpad and action button. The area immediately above the send and receive buttons is populated by the Windows and Ok buttons. There are no hardware soft buttons on the device, but I don’t find this is an issue with flush screen devices. I had no issues with finding the send and receive buttons or the Dpad without looking. This is important for picking up calls efficiently. As far as buttons go, that’s your lot for the front of the device. There are no Mail and IE buttons etc. Towards the top edge above the screen are the indicator LED and speaker and front camera. This can be used for video calls if your network supports it. I’ve never really seen the need for video calls on a mobile, so I wasn’t too disappointed when I tried to initiate video calls and I was told that my network did not support it. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Front_s.jpg

Back

The rear cover of the device is pretty sparsely populated bar the top third or so. The rest of the back is taken up by the large battery cover. The cover contains the 3 mega pixel camera, that I'll discuss that later, and a second speaker. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Back_s.jpg

Top & Bottom

The top and bottom of the device are both unusually sparse. The bottom only contains the USB charge and sync button and the reset hole. The bottom also houses the microphone, while the top has just the power button. The access for the stylus silo is on the top right corners. I found the power button a little tricky to use, it being a little too deeply recessed for my liking. At least there is no chance of the device powering it on or off accidentally. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Bottom_s.jpg

Right

As it goes the Zest is relatively shy when it comes to hardware controls. Neither the left and right sides of the Zest contain what you’d call a plethora of controls. The right hand side of the device only contains, from top to bottom, the awesome hardware standby switch and the camera button. The camera button is of a decent size and travel but the star of the show is the standby button. I think it’s one of those examples of how don’t realise how bad something is until it’s successor comes along. In my opinion all devices from now on should come with a standby switch as opposed to a power button. You have to take my word on this, it’s just excellent! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Right_s.jpg

Left

The left hand side of the device is equally as sparse as the right. Other than the combination of the up and down volume buttons there is just the external GPS port on the left hand side of the device. The volume buttons are all well spaced on the device and like the right hand controls are easy to find without looking. You should not be hitting the wrong button at any point. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Left_s.jpg

Stylus

The stylus silo for the Zest is situated on the top right corner of the device. The silo is a full length affair with a stylus formed from a single piece of plastic. There are no fancy engineering tricks such as telescopic extensions here, it’s solid and sturdy with no fuss. I’m not really a big stylus user myself, but it seems reasonably comfortable to use. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Stylus_s.jpg
Headset

The headset is a fairly nice looking affair, but is not out of the ordinary for this type of device. I quite like the headphones and found the mute button was not too big and bulky as often the HTC ones are. There’s a nice elbow connect too, which makes connecting the headset less bulky. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Headset_s.jpg

Battery & Charger

The Zest has an averagely sized 1300mAh Lithium Ion battery. It's not quite as big as some of its competitors but it is adequate. As a comparison if you look at the 1350mAh of the HTC Kaiser and the 1340mAh of the HTC Touch Diamond you can see it’s on the same sort of scale.

I've been quite impressed with the battery life on the Zest. Any WM device that goes a couple of days without requiring a charger is out of the ordinary these days. I found I could get 2 days worth of usage from it comfortably. An average day’s use for me consists of up to 20 minutes of calls, 30 minutes of browsing in a mediocre 3G area and about 100 push emails. I'm not much of a texter but there's usually a couple of SMS in there too. I also use my device as an MP3 player while I'm cycling to work, so there's also an extra 30 minutes of music too, over a set of Bluetooth headphones. For me the 2 day charge is a very important factor when choosing a device so this is very nice indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Battery_s.jpg

So everything all looks peachy so far, but it’s not quite as good as it seems. The Zest has a couple of foibles I’ve not seen on recent devices. The first is that the charger is not wired in the same way as your standard XDA devices. If you use for example an Ignito (Diamond) or a Stellar (Kaiser) you’ll only get a trickle charge. This will take several hours to trickle charge the device as opposed to the official Zest charger that quick charges from nothing in just over an hour. The second issue I found is that if you remove the battery for more than about 30 minutes you’ll discharge the backup battery. This is not catastrophic but it does mean you’ll lose your time settings. If you’re not expecting this it can cause some “interesting” issues if you’re connecting to an Exchange box. As I said, it’s mainly good, and as long you’re aware of the issues it isn’t really a problem. The charger itself is a 3 part affair with the socket insert (UK and EU versions supplied) the charger itself and then the USB cable required to be assembled for charging. It’s good to see both UK and EU options supplied and also the little folding earth prong on the UK part really appealed to the gadget freak inside me! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Charger_s.jpg

SIM Loading

Installing your SIM card into the Zest is a fairly standard affair. Flip off the back panel; pull out the battery and insert the card into the SIM holder. Pop the battery in place fit the rear cover and you're good to go. Obviously unlike the Tytn2 this means powering down the device to swap the SIM cards, but I can’t see this being a problem. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Sim_Loading_s.jpg
MicroSD Loading

As with the SIM loading, installing your MicroSD card into the Zest is again a fairly standard affair. Flip off the back panel; pull out the battery and insert the card into the MicroSD card slot. Pop the battery in place fit the rear cover and you're good to go. Many devices these days have the MicroSD card in a position whereby it’s accessible without powering the device on and off. While I don’t see this as an issue with the SIM cards I’d much prefer the MicroSD card to be swappable without a soft reset. Remember, if you are using your MicroSD card with your PC, that if you leave the battery out, it might flatten your backup battery meaning you’ll need to set the time again. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/SD_Loading_s.jpg

Size

As you can see from the comparison shots with the HTC Tytn II and the HTC Touch Diamond the Zest is not the smallest device on the market, but it’s still very compact and pocketable. Although slightly shorter than the Diamond it’s a little wider and thicker. It is however a lot shorter and thinner than the Tytn II. ASUS have worked a little bit of magic with the Zest though as the rounded edges make it feel smaller than it is in the hand and in the pocket. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Height_Compare_s.jpg

Screen

One of the major pluses with the Zest is the screen. It seems almost as though VGA has quickly become the resolution of choice for 2008 but I have to say I still marvel at that level of quality. The screen on the Zest is crisp and clear and very detailed. Some of the O2 menu screens look fantastic. I love the screens that sit flush to the case as well. These make finger navigation a whole lot easier. As with all Windows Mobile devices there is a bit of an issue in bright sunlight, i.e. you can’t see it. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif Actually it’s not that bad. It’s not amazing either, but I found if I was using the bundled Voice commander software and my Bluetooth headset I didn’t need to look at the screen. It’s not perfect, but it works for me. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Screen_02Menu_s.jpg
Telephony

When reviewing Windows Mobile devices it’s easy to get carried away with fancy screens and GPS navigation, but for a lot of us one of the most important uses for our devices is as a telephone for voice calls and SMS messaging. Historically, the telephony aspects of Windows Mobile Phone Edition devices were weak, but some modern devices have addressed this flaw and perform up to the expectations of dedicated cellular telephones. The Zest is such a device as it performs very well when it comes to both making outgoing call and receiving incoming calls. The quality is reasonably good and the bundled software applications make retrieving stored contact details and initiating contact very easy. The Zest is let down slightly by a poor SIP keyboard for finger typing, but this can be rectified easily and cheaply (free) by adding a 3rd party touch keyboard like PCM keyboard. There are more details on this later. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Depth_Compare_s.jpg

WiFi and Bluetooth

The Zest’s WiFi performance is up to scratch as you’d expect from a PC manufacturer like ASUS. I had no issues connecting to any of the 3 WAP’s I tested the Zest with, over either WEP or WPA. The signal strength seemed reasonably good too, exhibiting only a slightly weaker signal than my laptop.

The Bluetooth performance on the Zest is excellent. The signal strength seems very strong as I can keep my phone in my pocket without problems. Many HTC devices struggle with this kind of use and skip occasionally. The Zest has no such problems. I use Bluetooth for a couple of hours a day for concurrent A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo) and also regular hands free use for calls. My Motorola S9 headset handles both music and calls and switches between the two with ease. The inclusion of Cyberon Voice Commander software also adds voice dialling functionality, and this was automatically picked up by the S9’s without configuration too. It’s an altogether an excellent combination of hardware and software. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Wifi_s.jpg
GPS

The GPS unit was tested using the bundled “Try and Buy” version of Copilot 7, as well as VisualGPSce for general diagnostics, and no problems were encountered. Lock times were as fast as on the HTC Diamond and the HTC Kaiser, and I easily got a signal from inside my house near a window. The Zest software package includes an application called GPS catcher that is effectively the same as the HTC application “QuickGPS”. This downloads assisted GPS information to make the satellite lock quicker. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Copilot_s.jpg
Hardware standby switch

It’s a little bit unusual in a 4WM hardware review for a single hardware control to have its own section. Ordinarily your average button or switch is…. just a button, or just a switch. I’ve made an exception for the Zest’s hardware standby switch because I think it’s a stroke of genius, and therefore deserves its name in lights. It’s funny really, because the switch does almost the same as the power button on a HTC device, but for some reason it just feels right being a sliding switch. And before you think I’ve lost the plot (which is possible http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif ) the other 4WM moderators who’ve used the Zest agree. It’s a winner. It is a physical sliding switch. The switch basically moves the device in and out of standby. Being a switch there’s no accidental pushing in your pocket, flick it up, the device comes on, flip it down the device goes to sleep. It’s located on the right hand side of the device so a simple flick with your thumb is all it takes. Simple but effective. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Right_s.jpg

CPU, ROM and Memory

The Zest comes with a processor I’ve not heard of before called a Marvell TavorP. It runs at a whopping 624MHz which sounds very impressive. RAM and ROM allocations are 128MB and 256MB respectively which has become the norm for Windows Mobile 6.1 devices. So how does it perform? In real life I’ve had no issues at all with performance on the Zest. Even with Copilot running in the background the device has remained snappy and navigating through the included “O2 Menu” software has always been swift indeed. I don’t actually recall experiencing any slowdown at any point with this device, and have not had any unplanned soft resets in the 6 weeks or so I’ve been using it.

In order to get a more tangible view of the Zest’s performance I decided to pit it up against two of its major competitors with a shootout to the death. The co-conspirators were the HTC Kaiser (TyTn2) and the HTC Touch Diamond and my weapon of choice was the only Windows Mobile benchmarking tool I am aware of, SpB Benchmark. I don’t really hold too much stock in benchmarks as they don’t really mimic peoples own individual device just a set of regular tasks. That said it does give a reasonable indication of device performance. The Dell Axim X5 and the iPAQ 3600 are in there more to fill things out a little for people still packing older devices. Although I could tell from everyday use that the Zest was reasonably swift I was totally unprepared for how good the benchmark results of the Zest are. With the exception of the graphics benchmark the Zest has utterly spanked both the Kaiser and the Diamond in most categories. I’ll leave you to peruse the benchmark charts, but I think they’re relatively self explanatory. I’m not sure where this Marvell TavorP chip came from but it’s smoking! http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Zest_Benchmarks_CPU_s.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Zest_Benchmarks_File_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Zest_Benchmarks_General_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Zest_Benchmarks_GPU_s.jpg

Camera

The Zest comes with a 3 mega pixel camera. 3MP has become the standard for this generation of devices from the likes of HTC et al, although some of the smaller devices still ship with 2MP. As we all know though, it's not all about the size of your pixel count so how does the image quality of the ASUS hold up? As you can see from the example photographs below the camera produces a pretty nice image (for a phone camera) that you could even produce a small (6x4) print from. The images would also look reasonable on a digital photo frame.

If I could fault the camera on the Zest then as per usual it would have to be the flash. There isn’t one. Quite often devices ship with a simple "flash" or LED compensation light, but there isn’t even one of these. As it is they make very little difference in poor light except for those obligatory "self portrait" shots when you've had one too many, but it would be better than nothing. What this means is that while the daylight photos the Zest takes are reasonable the bad light shots are unspectacular and would not be good enough for prints or even photo frames in my opinion. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/PH_2_s.jpg

Example Photographs

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/PH_1_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/PH_3_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/PH_4_s.jpg
Applications

The O2 XDA Zest comes with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional so all the usual programs are in situ. While the Zest doesn’t come with a huge bundle of extra applications, in my opinion, the software included with the device makes it a very complete package indeed. The extra programs included over and above the standard WM6.1 suite are:

Adobe Reader LE – allows you to view pdf files
GPS Catcher – assisted GPS update program
Java - for running small Java applets
Messenger
Newstation – RSS application
O2 Menu – SpB Mobile shell, touch interface and today screen replacement
Opera Browser – alternate web browser
Remote Desktop Mobile – remote control servers
SIM Manager - allows you to copy contacts between the SIM card and the Zest
Voice Commander – voice dialling and more
Windows Live

As I said earlier, the software bundled with the Zest is all about quality rather than quantity. There really are some very, very useful applications here. “O2 Menu” and Cyberon Voice Commander are particular high points for me personally and really make using the device very easy indeed. Other applications often left out by major service providers like Remote Desktop Mobile, Opera and Adobe Reader LE are also very welcome additions too. Along with the additional applications there are a few nice customisations in place. The Wireless Manager and the Dialler skins are good examples of this. I think the suite is very well put together functionality, but would maybe have liked to see a better media player. Maybe that’s me just being fussy, but Windows Media Player is looking a bit dated these days. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Applications_s.jpg
O2 Menu

Those of you with eagle eyes with no doubt have spotted by now that the cheekily named “O2 Menu” is in fact a slightly customised version of SpB’s Mobile Shell software. I’ve long been impressed with Mobile Shell and have always installed it in on my non HTC devices. Mobile Shell offers an excellent finger friendly Touch interface that will allow you very easy access to your contacts, shortcuts, settings, etc without having to remove your stylus from its silo. Mobile Shell also contains a very attractive today screen replacement called the “Now Screen” that contains time, date, weather, notification etc information again all in a very pretty touch friendly way. It’s a very nice addition to the suite indeed. http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Now_s.jpg

Dialler App

The dialler application is not a million miles away from the regular diallers we’ve seen, but I just thought the Zest one was a particularly nice implementation. I really like the Zest dialler skin and found the note icon that is right there in front of you very handy indeed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a screen shot of the dialler app. The screen shot program would not work. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Contacts_s.jpg

PCM Keyboard

Without a doubt if the Zest has an Achilles heel then it is the default Windows Mobile soft input panel (SIP) keyboard. With the exception of the provided SIP I genuinely believe the Zest comes with a software bundle with which you can work on a day to day basis without the need for 3rd party intervention. However, that said, what is there to do about the SIP keyboard? Well, being Windows Mobile it's possible to dip into the huge ocean of available applications and select an improved SIP keyboard. I’d recommend this one, PCM Keyboard, which is available from PocketCM. You’ll also need a VGA skin too, available here. The software is free, but I’d heartily recommend you donate if you do use it, as the author has obviously put in a lot of work into what is a quality product. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/PCM_s.jpg

Cyberon Voice Commander

I use my devices a lot while I’m cycling. I use them for music primarily but also for hands free use. On most devices I’ll be cycling up a hill and decide I need to phone the wife and it means either stopping, or doing some fancy no hands jiggery pokery to get the device out, select the number and dial it. With Voice Commander I simply press the call button on the headset, and say “call the wife at home” and hey presto, it dials and starts to ring. Cyberon Voice Commander is not just for dialling though, it will read your emails out for you or even tell you the time. Fantastic. There can be a small issue with commands not being recognised in noisy conditions, but more often than not it’ll get you what you want when you want it. The inclusion of Voice Commander with the Zest is a massive plus for me, and if you use your phone in your car, then it probably will be for you too. Well done O2.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/VoiceCommander2_s.jpg

Copilot 7: Try and Buy

As the Zest has an integrated GPS facility O2 have included a copy of Copilot 7 and the maps for the UK & Ireland on a MicroSD card. The version bundled with the Zest is not a complete free version unfortunately, as it is a new “Try & Buy” version. Essentially you get a 2 week trial of the software with the option to purchase the complete version for £49.99. Copilot 7 is the latest version of ALK Technologies familiar satellite navigation software, and with the Zest you get the latest edition that is enhanced for use on VGA screens. Very nice. Although it would have been better to have a completely free version of Copilot bundled I can understand the decision behind the “Try & Buy” system. Not all users will want to take advantage of the GPs system and rather than push the price of the device up for everyone, you have the option to choose. You can see a more detailed review of Copilot 7 here . http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Copilot_Drive_s.jpg

PC Integration

It was nice to see both ActiveSync 4.5 and Windows Mobile Device Centre bundled with the Zest. Obviously this caters for both Vista and XP users. I didn't experience any issues with XP or Vista, and my Vista SP1 installation auto detected the Zest and even had a nice image displayed in WMDC too. Lovely. It is worth noting though that the Zest is only USB 1.1, and so the transfer speeds from and to the device are not superb. It’s not a major issue, as it’s easy enough to remove the MicroSD card and transfer directly to that, but it is something to note. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/WMDC_s.jpg

Pros and Cons
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Low price tag http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Weak keyboard SIPhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Hardware standby switch http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Short backup battery lifehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif SDHC MicroSD card compatible http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Slow USB 1.1 transfer speedshttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Excellent Bluetooth implementation http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No finger scrollinghttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good battery life http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Copilot not freehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Gorgeous screen http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Non HTC compatible quick chargerhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif O2 Menu (SpB Mobile Shell) included http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No case providedhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Cyberon Voice Commander included http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good call quality http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Decent camera http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif GPS http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good performance
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Cool UK/EU charger
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Audio/Power USB splitter

Overall Conclusion

I’m not going to beat about the bush here, I’ll just come right out with it. I just love the O2 XDA Zest. I am fortunate as a WM reviewer to have a good selection of the latest devices to hand and the Zest is my device of the moment. I have an HTC Touch Pro, an HTC Touch Diamond and several other high spec devices sat gathering dust on my shelf while the Zest goes in my pocket every morning and back on charge every night. I’ve been trying to figure out just why I find the Zest better than the smaller flashier Diamond for example and I think it all comes down to O2 and ASUS having found the perfect balance of hardware and software. On paper the Zest is not the best device in stores at the moment, and it’s not the prettiest, but it’s just so easy to use (once you replace the SIP keyboard that is). It’s complete. The fact that O2 have launched the Zest as their first PAYG XDA as well is utterly amazing. £250 for what in my opinion is the most usable device on the market today? That’s just a bargain, and to be frank, you should all go and buy two today (everyone needs a spare! http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif ). http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/Zest/Screen_WM_s.jpg

REVIEW: NDrive S300

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:30:26 +0000

NDrive S300 http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Box_Front_s.jpg Introduction

In the old days, the Windows Mobile hardware platform was manufactured by a select few big name players who usually specialised in business computer hardware. One by one blue chips firms like Compaq, Dell and Fujitsu have fallen by the wayside and our “Smartphones” are now supplied by up and coming tech companies like HTC and ASUS. Over the past year or so we’ve seen smaller lesser known companies come from nowhere and deliver some pretty good hardware at some very competitive prices. Portuguese company NDrive have taken this value market by the scruff of the neck and aggressively launched the S300, a Windows Mobile 6 device with included GPS system for a little over £200. Surely this is too good to be true isn’t it? Read on to find out………

For your delectation some photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image.
Thanks go out to the Mike O’Shea at Tracktech for providing us with a review sample.
For more information on the NDrive S300 go to the NDrive website

Technical Specifications

Main Software Features

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Latest and most complete maps on Memory Card
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Very simple interface: touch-screen operation, developed for the inexperienced user
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Navigation to any address or point of interest: in any country or region with clear and accurate turn-by-turn voice instructions
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Fast, complete and easy to search contents: powerful database at your fingertip
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Dynamic data support: real-time weather reports and forecasts, open pharmacies and cultural events (require country local provider)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Phone support: directly call a Point of Interest, access dynamic navigation information on the go (requires GSM)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Multimedia: play audio, video and view photos (on selected devices)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Multilanguage support: written on screen and voice commands

Advanced features:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Send and receive locations by SMS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Optional alarm when exceeding pre-defined speed limit
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Steady speed cameras supporthttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Favourite’s sharing

Technical Details

Platform

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional with Direct Push Mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GSM/GPRS/PDA and GPS

Physical details

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 121.39 mm x 62.9 mm x 16 mm
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 148 g

Features

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CPU 416 MHz
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 128 MB ROM + 64 MB RAM
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SDHC MicroSD card (I/0)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2 mega-pixel camera with Macro
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1500 mAh battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Reflective QVGA TFT display (320x240 pixels) with 65000 Colors - Touch Sensitive

PDA

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Word Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Excel Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif PowerPoint Mobile
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MSN Messenger (Chat)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pocket Windows Media Player

GSM/GPRS/Wireless

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GSM/GPRS - Quad-band
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPRS class 10 and Wireless Modem
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS Sirf III
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif WiFi / WLAN : IEEE 802.11b/g (max. 11Mbps)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Pocket Internet Explorer (HTML, WML, XML, WAP 2.0)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MMS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ringtones (MIDI), Audio digital (Wav), MP3

Battery

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 200 h in standby
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Li-ion 1500 mAh rechargeable battery

Externals and Hardware

In the box

The full retail package I received for review contains:

NDrive S300
Wired headset
1500mAh battery
USB mini male to USB male cable
Cigarette charger
MicroSD card and adapter
Quick start guide
User manual
Hardware manual
NDrive software DVD
Getting started CD containing:
Microsoft Active Sync
Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Centre
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Trial

It's interesting to see Windows Mobile Device Centre finally bundled with a device, but I am a little disappointed that NDrive hasn’t included a few software items with the device. Something like the SpB suite, or at least Mobile Shell would have been nice. It is after all a multifunction device and not a standalone GPS unit http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Contents_s.jpg

Convergence

Modern life in the 21st Century is becoming ever more complex and hectic, and PDAs that are being developed have to evolve to suit that need. No longer are users happy to carry around a PDA, phone, etc; more functionality is demanded from the market and in ever more pocketable and slight devices.

The NDrive S300 strives to meet these needs boasting a truly spectacular specification and therefore contains the following areas of functionality within the device:

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
Mobile (cell) Phone
Camera
GPS Navigation Unit
Push Email
Portable media player

As we proceed through the review you should able to decide for yourself whether the S300 ticks all the boxes. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Box_Back_s.jpg
Aesthetics

With the latest HTC devices, the upcoming Sony Ericsson offerings, and in particular the I-phone, the world of Windows Mobile devices has been turned on its head. In the past manufacturers were hell bent on pushing the specifications one step further with each mobile generation. It's interesting that many of this year's new releases will be focusing more on svelte lines, flush screens and fancy finger waving interfaces rather than faster CPUs and more RAM. Unfortunately the S300 has not benefitted from these recent aesthetic influences and upon first glance looks a little dated. It’s not an ugly device though, far from it. I like the gun metal colour and the frontal controls are nicely shaped underneath the screen around the circular Dpad and trackball. The edges of the device are generally nicely rounded and the black frame around the screen works well in contrast to the metallic grey. Even the NDrive logo is not too bad, sitting above the screen, although I’d personally have put it on the rear of the device. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/NDrive_s.jpg

Front

The front view of the S300 is fairly run of the mill as far as Windows Mobile 6 devices are concerned. All controls are present and accounted for and most things are exactly where you'd expect. The two send and receive buttons are large and easily accessible towards the bottom of the device. Sitting in between them is the circular shaped Dpad and trackball. The area immediately around the Dpad is also not unusual as it contains the Windows and OK buttons slightly below the Dpad and above it are the two soft buttons. I had no issues with finding the send and receive buttons or the Dpad without looking. This is important for picking up calls efficiently. As far as buttons go, that’s your lot on the front of the device. There are no Mail and IE buttons etc. Also in the front of the device are the indicator LED and speaker. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Front_s.jpg

Back

The rear cover of the device is pretty sparsely populated bar the top 20% or so. The rest of the back is taken up by the overly large battery cover. There are two ports either side at the very top of the device and a panel with the speaker sat below. The panel also contains the 2 mega pixel dual focus camera, but I'll discuss that later. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Bottom_s.jpg

Top & Bottom

The top and bottom of the device are both unusually sparse. The bottom only contains the USB charge and sync connector and the and the top just the GPS button. The access for the stylus silo is on one of the rear bottom corners. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Top_s.jpg

Right

Both the left and right sides of the S300 contain a plethora of controls. The right hand side of the device contains, from top to bottom, the power button, MicroSD card slot and the camera button. I like having the MicroSD slot on the side rather than hidden under the battery. It’s a lot more accessible this way, and personally I’m not concerned about dirt etc, as I generally keep my device dirt free. The buttons present are of a decent size and travel. In short they do as they were designed. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Right_s.jpg

Left

The left hand side of the device is equally as well populated as the right. The reset button and the comm manager button sit underneath the combination of up and down volume buttons. Again as with the right side all the controls seem well controlled and good for purpose. The buttons are all well spaced on the device too. You should not be hitting the wrong button at any point. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Left_s.jpg

Stylus

The stylus silo for the S300 is situated diagonally opposite the power button on the bottom corner of the device. The silo is a three quarter length affair with a stylus that extends from three quarters to full length in the now usual telescopic fashion. I found the stylus to be a bit flimsy, but then I’m not much of a stylus user generally. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Stylus_s.jpg

Headset

The headset is a fairly nice looking affair, but is not out of the ordinary for this type of device. I quite like the headphones and found the mute button was not too big and bulky as often the HTC ones are. One nice feature is the right angled connector. This makes putting the device in your pocket with the headset on much more comfortable than with a straight connector. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Headset_s.jpg

Battery

The S300 has a very big Lithium Ion battery. It's not quite as big as some of its competitors but it is large. It's not surprising then that it contains a pretty impressive 1500mAh of juice. When you look at the seemingly measly 1350mAh of the HTC Kaiser and the positively miserly 1320mAh of the Toshiba G900 it's easy to see why the S300 offers a good couple of days worth of use from a single charge, something neither of the other two devices are capable of.
I've been quite impressed with the battery life on the S300. Any WM device that goes a couple of days without requiring a charger is out of the ordinary these days. I found I could nearly get 3 days worth of usage from the S300. An average day’s use for me consists of up to 20 minutes of calls, 30 minutes of browsing in a mediocre 3G area and about 100 push emails. I'm not much of a texter but there's usually a couple of SMS in there too. I also use my device as an MP3 player while I'm cycling to work, so there's also an extra 30 minutes of music too, over a set of Bluetooth headphones. For me the 2 day charge is a very important factor when choosing a device so this is very nice indeed. You do have to consider though that while there are very few "full spec" devices that offer 2/3 day use per charge but this device is not a “full spec” device as there is no UMTS. I’ve found 3G and HSDPA to be a major cause of battery drain so the fact that you get 2/3 days and there is no UMTS makes it less spectacular. It’s still good, but not as impressive as it first seems. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Battery_s.jpg

Sim Loading

Installing your SIM card into the NDrive is a fairly standard affair. Flip off the back panel; pull out the battery and insert the card into the SIM holder. Pop the battery in place fit the rear cover and you're good to go. Obviously unlike the Tytn2 this means powering down the device to swap the sim cards, but I can’t see this being a problem. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Compare_Side_s.jpg

Size

As you can see from the comparison shots with the HTC Tytn II and the HTC Touch Diamond the NDrive S300 is not a small device. It’s considerably larger than the Diamond and taller than the Tytn II. The S300 is thinner than its keyboard wielding rival though but not nearly as slim as the Diamond. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Compare_Front_s.jpg

Screen

There’s not a lot of dressing up I can do with the screen on the S300. Like the overall appearance of the device, the screen itself is unspectacular and would seem equally at home on a HTC Wizard or Trinity from a couple of years back. It’s quite small considering the size of the device, is QVGA as opposed to VGA with the new devices and is not particularly bright and sharp. It’s not a bad screen, but like a lot else on the NDrive, it’s average. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Today_s.jpg

GPS

The GPS unit was tested using Copilot 7 and the built in NDrive software for Navigation, as well as VisualGPSce for general diagnostics, and no problems were encountered. Lock times were not as fast as most of the devices we see these days though and I found it more difficult to get a signal than on the HTC Diamond. As you can see from the image, the Diamond was able to get a lock indoors at the window, but the S300 was not.

Due to the short time I had to spend with the device I didn't get chance to do a complete write up of the GPS navigation software. I'll give you my first impressions though and show you a few bits of eye candy.

The GPS software bundled with the S300 is NDrive's own branded software. The software looks good and seemed to route reasonably well too (without Copilot's "interesting routing features"). The base package contains all the GPS features you'd expect these days like safety camera support, speed limit warnings, POI's, real time traffic and weather over GPRS etc. There are also some very nice extra features available like the 3D photo maps and POI's rendered in 3D on non photo maps. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/GPSFix_s.jpg
http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/gps1_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/gps2_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/gps3_s.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/gps4_s.jpg

Trackball

Ok, I’ll get it out of the way right now. I hate trackballs. I hate them with a passion. If you like them, then I’m happy for you, but you might want to jump to the next section. I’ve never seen the point of a mouse pointer and a trackball on a touch screen device. You end up frantically spinning the ball and getting nowhere, or setting it too sensitive and missing everything you’re trying to click on. IT’S A TOUCH SCREEN. TOUCH IT!!!! The trackball itself doubles as an action button for the Dpad too, but it makes it harder to use as the ball rolls when you push it. Ok, rant over, let’s forget the Trackball and move on….. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Trackball.jpg

Applications

The NDrive S300 comes with Windows Mobile® 6 Professional so all the usual programs are in situ. As I mentioned earlier, other than the NDrive GPS software, there is very little extra shipped with the S300. The only extra programs included are:

Windows Live Messenger.
Java - for running small Java applets.
SIM Manager - allows you to copy contacts between the SIM card and the S300.
Windows Live - various services from the Windows Live Mobile stable.
NDrive – The bundled GPS navigation software.
Worldcard Mobile – Business card scanning software for use with the internal camera.

There’s not a huge amount there to get excited about unfortunately. The GPS software as I said before is a nice application, and the Worldcard mobile software could be handy if you’re out and about. All in, that's not a lot of enhanced functionality but then I guess the device is aimed firmly at the GPS user. There are a couple of tweaks to the base software like the Wireless Manager and dialler skin that look quite nice, and further applications along these lines would have been a welcome addition. On other third party devices like those from Eten and the i-mate of old we have seen bundled applications such as Spb Mobile Shell or Pocket Plus. I would have liked to have seen some kind of Today screen enhancement application along these lines but sadly there is nothing like this included. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/Programs_s.jpg

ROM and Memory

The S300 has only been designed with 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM. This is the very least amount required to run Windows Mobile 6. It can always be enhanced by the use of a MicroSD storage card of capacity up to 32GB theoretically as the S300 can take an SDHC card. Personally I’m not one for installing thousands of applications on my device so this is not too much of an issue from a storage perspective. Unfortunately though, the miserly 64MB RAM does mean that if you’re using the device for GPS navigation you’re likely to need to close your GPS application to do anything else. Even taking a call while the GPS is running leaves the machine struggling as it shares what little resources are available. Given the S300’s underwhelming software suite, for general usage there is enough storage available, but you power users are going to be left wanting. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/ROMRAM_s.jpg

Camera

The S300 comes with a 2 mega pixel camera. 3MP has become the standard for this generation of devices from the likes of HTC et al, although some of the lower spec devices, like the S300, still ship with 2MP. As we all know though, it's not all about the size of your pixel count so how does the image quality of the S300 hold up? As you can see from the example photographs below the camera produces a reasonably nice image (for a phone camera) and although the colours are nice enough it’s just not sharp enough. I don’t think you could produce even a small (6x4) print from these images. The images would look pretty good on a digital photo frame but that would be about your lot. As you can see, the cameras from other devices are producing much livelier, crisper images. As ever another fault with the camera on the S300 is the lack of a flash. Often devices ship with a "flash" or LED compensation light as it is known and although it makes very little difference in poor light, it’s helpful for those obligatory "self portrait" shots when you've had one too many. Without any kind of flash though, low light, or incandescent light shots are very poor. One small plus point with the camera is the macro focus switch. This helps somewhat for close up shots. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/PH_4.jpg

Example Photographs

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/PH_1.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/PH_3.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/PH_5.jpg
PC Integration

It was nice to see both ActiveSync 4.5 and Windows Mobile Device Centre bundled with the S300. Obviously this caters for both Vista and XP users. I didn't experience any issues with XP or Vista, and my Vista SP1 installation auto detected the S300 and even had a nice image displayed in WMDC too. Lovely. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/NDrive_WMDC_s.jpg

Pros and Cons

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Low price tag http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif It’s largehttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Generally responsive http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Poor camerahttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif External MicroSD access http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Trackball! Grrrr…..http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Can see SDHC cards http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Low ROM & RAMhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good battery life http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Older designhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Great supplied GPS navigation software http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No 3G/HSDPAhttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good array of external controls
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Big powerful battery

Overall Conclusion

Reviewing the NDrive S300 has been an experience akin to stepping back in time to 2006. I quite liked the device itself, and from a performance perspective it delivers as a machine with this specification should do, but no more. The reason it’s like stepping back two years is that the hardware and design very much feels like its old news. The exterior is grey and dull rather than black or white and shiny as the trend seems to be now. There is no 3G, let alone HSDPA and, considering its internals, the device is 50% bigger than the present day equivalent machine from say ASUS or HTC. It hasn’t been an unwelcome trip back to 2006 though. The GPS system is a very good one, and the device just works. I didn’t experience any unwelcome crashes or soft resets at all so it seems to be nice and stable for at least a week or so. Add to this the tiny, tiny price tag and you have yourself a bit of a quandary. The bottom line is it’s a cheap and cheerful GPS Smartphone. No bling, and no surprises. Is this enough for you? http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/waveydavey/Reviews/NDriveS300/NDrive_S300_SS1_s.jpg

REVIEW: Review: Task2Gather

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:35:47 +0000

Vito Task2Gather

Introduction

Task2Gather, from Vito Technology, is a rather unusual application within the Windows Mobile arena. Indeed, it's a rather specialised application – albeit one with potentially more general uses. It is primarily a tool for managing projects amongst small teams. Vito actually developed the full web-based version as a tool for controlling the development of Vito software.

So, the question is, how does Task2Gather work for its intended use and is it of any use to the wider public as a task management tool?

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/VitoLogo.jpg Supplier Vito
Product Task2Gather
Cost $4.99 (14 day full-feature trial available)
Supported OS WM5 PPC or later
Supplier Web Site Task2Gather

4WinMobile would like to thank Olga Shtaub at Vito for providing a copy of Task2Gather for review purposes.

Feature Highlights

Task2Gather is a graphically Rich Task Management application that allows small groups of people to collaborate on projects.

Create Projects, Create multiple levels of tasks within a Project Share Projects with others via Windows Mobile or the Web Assign tasks or whole projects to others Manage tasks status, set deadlines and assign colours

Installation

Installation of Task2Gather is pretty standard Windows Mobile fare; you can choose from either a desktop installer for the PC (.exe), or a .cab file for direct installation on the device itself. I personally favour the .cab file route, as I can then keep the cab files of my most important applications on the storage card in my device, safe in the knowledge that should I find myself needing to do an emergency re-build whilst on the road, I have everything to hand.

The .exe download is 1.8MB and the .cab file is 1.55MB. Once installed, the program consumes 1.54MB of storage space and it takes up 1.83MB of program memory once it is all up and running.

Getting Started

I suppose, as we are getting started, the first thing I should mention is that Task2Gather is very much a “Cloud” application, in that all the storage takes place on the Internet. So, you need to have a Windows Mobile device with some kind of a data connection and, if the data connection you are relying on is GPRS/EDGE/3G then you are probably going to want some kind of a Data bundle from your supplier. That said, the data requirements aren't huge (I used about 200k of data in an evening of fairly intensive usage) but you still don't want to be limiting your use of the application because you are worried about running up a bill.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/Register.png

Task2Gather requires you to have an account on the Task2Gather site. If you have already used the Task2Gather web interface, as I have, then this same account is also used for the Windows Mobile client. If not, you can create one when you first log in to the Windows Mobile application. You need to choose a username and password and then Task2Gather goes off and creates an account for you and logs you in. Subsequently, when starting the Application, it remembers you username but, annoyingly, there is no option to ask it to also remember your password. This is highly secure, but my device is pretty secure any way so I'd like the option not to have to enter my password every time I start it up.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/LogginIn.png

Managing Projects

Once you have your account created and have logged in you are presented with the Projects Screen. From here, you can create new projects, change the details of an existing project or assign a project to people. Task2Gather gives plenty of options for defining a project. The name of the project, who it is assigned to, a colour code (although there is nowhere to define which colours mean what), whether or not the project is complete, how long the project is going to take, how much progress has been made so far and when the project is due to be completed.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/ProjectList.png

Creating a project is stupidly simple. Click the “+” button on the Projects screen. You are then asked to provide a name. After that, you are presented with a screen asking you to define everything else. Once you are done, tap create and you are taken back to the list of projects where you can see the one you just created. To change any of the Project parameters you can tap on the little information icon next to the project name. This screen also allows you to view comments from participants in the project in an “Instant Messaging” format along with a change history.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/NewProjectName.png

I should also add that, if you were to now log in to your account on the Task2Gather website, you would be able to see the new Project, as would others who have been assigned to share that project. The system really does just push data out into “The Cloud” and you can use either the Windows Mobile client or the web-based client to access and manipulate all the data.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/ProjectParameters.png

Managing Tasks

Just creating a project title and assigning a deadline isn't particularly useful though. With a little thought you could easily do all that using the built-in Windows Mobile calendar application. The real power of Task2Gather comes when you start breaking that project down into tasks, and sub tasks and...well, you get the idea. The good news is, that by the time you have created your first project you have already learnt how to create a task, because it is exactly the same process using the same screens and with the same parameters. You can choose to assign a task to a different person to the overall project manager if you wish but, other than that, it's the same thing. Just select the project, click the “+” symbol, give it a name and you are presented with the same parameters screen as before.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/ProjectWithTask.png

I quickly adopted an approach of creating tasks (and projects) in red. I would then move them into blue once I had started work on them and mark them as green once completed but you are free to use the colours as you wish. I also decided that, when setting up the progress (which uses a really neat spinning widget to set up), that I would use units as hours. If I thought a task was going to take more than a day (8 hours) I would break that task down into sub-tasks so that each was less than 8 hours. This seems to work really well either for something like creating this review (which I used Task2Gather to control and keep “The Boss” up to date on my progress) or for more in-depth tasks like a major piece of software development I am undertaking at the moment with hundreds of tasks taking several months.http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/AssigningAColour.png

And that is really all there is to it. It's very simple, very effective and very flexible. The graphics and interface are the usual slick Vito affair. They don't bother with the Windows Mobile interface, preferring to construct their own finger-friendly buttons, menus and widgets instead. All the screens and menus can be scrolled by dragging the finger across the screen and it has that TouchFlow style momentum. I was using a Touch Cruise and didn't once feel a need to use a stylus. The widgets for setting dates and numbers are particularly impressive, as I mentioned earlier. In particular, the date, by default, was set to today (the 31st of October). Wanting to set a date for tomorrow, I grabbed the day roller and scrolled it round to “1” and the month auto-magically moved onto November. It was one of those really nice touches that makes you realise that this has been developed and tested by people who really plan to use it themselves.

Sharing

I should probably mention the process of assigning people to projects and/or tasks in a bit more detail as this is the only part of the system that doesn't involve just adding a bit of text or selecting a value from an on-screen widget. Each Project or Task has a “Share” button in the parameters page. If you tap on this you are taken to a screen with two sections. One lists all the people you have shared any project or tasks with on any other project, with a marker next to their name if they are already assigned to this project/task. The other part of the screen has a box for you to enter an email address and invite someone new to take part. Simply type in an email address and tap add. That person will now receive an email inviting them to take part and with a link to the “Task2Gather” website. From there they can create their own account (if they don't already have one) and see details of the Project they have been invited to. Simple. http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/Sharing.png

Practical Uses

So what use is this software to your average Windows Mobile user? After all, not many people manage development projects or write reviews for websites. Well, for a start, there is the obvious shopping list example. By having a project called “Shopping” and inviting my wife to share in the project, she can add items to the shopping list from home, either through the web-based interface or a Windows Mobile device, and these are automatically added to the shopping list on my device.

A similar use would be to sort out the Christmas presents between us. Create a project called Christmas. Have tasks representing each person we have a gift for. Then add sub tasks when (if) we think of something to buy that person and mark each sub-task as complete if we buy it. You can even add comments (“Are you sure we want to get Aunt Ethel a pair of socks?”) to present ideas. It's the pure simplicity of the Project->Task->Sub-Task->Etc model that makes it so flexible and suitable to most organisational tasks.

Other Versions

Just to give you an idea, I've included screenshots of both the Web Interface and Task2Gather on the iPhone. As you can see, the iPhone and Windows Mobile versions look very much alike and the general look and feel is also maintained within the Web Interface. The Web Interface offers two enhancements over either of the mobile versions. You can create project progress reports and you can also generate iCal subscription links. I tried the iCal feature and it's very good. Any projects or tasks for which you have set deadlines appear as events in an iCal compatible calendar such as Thunderbird&Lightening or 30Boxes.com. The iPhone version suffers only from the inability to set deadlines for Projects and tasks (although it will display them if they were created, for example, through the Web Interface) but benefits from having "sticky" passwords, so you don't have to enter it each time you log-in.

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/Task2GatherWeb.jpg

http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/iPhoneSettings.PNG http://www.4winmobile.com/reviewer/Bassey/Task2Gather/iPhoneTasks.PNG

Licensing

Vito use an on-line activation process to register its products. There is a fourteen day free trial period, after which it is necessary to purchase the product or remove it. On purchase, the user is sent an activation code. Entering this into the registration screen then causes the device to go on-line to complete the activation. Currently, Vito allow a limited number of reactivations per license. A hard reset should be able to reuse the existing code, but a ROM update or new device will require the assistance of Customer Support to transfer the license.

Pro's

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif The usual beautiful interface from Vito
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Incredibly simple – you will not need a manual
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Very flexible
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Scales easily from small to enormous projects
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Integrates very well with the web-based interface
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif The price

Con's

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif You have to enter your password every time you run it
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif It would be nice to be able to define what the colours represent
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No reports (these are in the free web-based product)

Conclusion

As you can probably tell, I really like Task2Gather. I've been using the Web version for a little while to plan and manage my own software development projects and the Windows Mobile interface adds a new level of convenience to the whole thing. I still find myself primarily using the Web – after all, my development work takes place at a web connected PC – but frequently find myself making updates and changes from my Touch Cruise.

For $4.99 it's an absolute bargain and well worth the cost of a pint of beer to anyone who needs to be able to create, manage and share lists on the go.

REVIEW: O2 Xda Serra

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:08:13 +0000

The O2 Xda Serra

Last year O2 announced and brought to the marketplace the Stellar which featured: 3Mpixel camera, fast processor, large RAM / ROM, GPS, Quad band, phone, Touch interface, etc.

This has now been superseded and replaced with the O2 Xda Serra which serves to bring a new QWERTY keyboard machine to the Xda range. Again a candy-bar design (but with a slide-out hardware keyboard) the Serra sports:

3.2MPixel camera, 528MHz processor, VGA (640 x 480 display), Quad band, large ROM / RAM, A-GPS, 3G phone / video phone, Touch FLO 3D interface, etc

We'll look at its features as we move through the review and see if the Serra does stand as a worthy replacement to the Stellar.....

Once more we extend our thanks to the generous folks at O2 for allowing us to review the Xda Serra.

As always in the hardware section of the review all images shown are thumbnails which may be clicked upon to load a larger more detailed image.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: High Tech Computer (HTC)
HTC Code name: HTC Raphael (HTC Touch Pro)
Supplier: O2 UK PLC
Product Name: Xda Serra
Price: Varies depending on contract

Firstly let's cover the initial technical ground with a detailed listing of the hardware specification that comprises the Serra.

The high points for me here are the large memory (ROM : 512 MB / RAM : 288 MB SDRAM), and a fast processor (Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz) as these have the greatest effect on the operation of the machine.

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Processor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz

Memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif ROM : 512 MB
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RAM : 288 MB DDR
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif External storage: microSD up to 32Gb

Note: Figures are the total ROM and RAM memory available for use and storage. Since the memory is shared by the operating system, applications, and data, the actual available memory is less than what is specified.

Operating System
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

Power
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion or Lithium-ion polymer battery, 1340 mAh

Battery Life (estimates)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 503 hours
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GSM: Up to 406 hours
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 397 minutes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GSM: Up to 485 minutes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Video call time: Up to 201 minutes (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)

AC Adapter
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voltage range/frequency: 100 - 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif DC output: 5V and 1A

Communications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Network HSDPA/WCDMA:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2100 MHz
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)

Internal Antenna
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Yes

Physical
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Dimensions 102 mm (L) X 51 mm (W) X 18.5 mm (T)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Weight 165 g (with battery)

Display
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif LCD Type 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Resolution 480 x 640 VGA resolution

Camera Module
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Type Main camera: 3.2 megapixel colour camera with auto focus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Second camera: VGA CMOS colour camera

Resolution Photo:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3M (2048 x 1536)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2 M (1600 x 1200)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1M (1280 x 960)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif VGA (640 x 480)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif QVGA (320 x 240)

Video:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif CIF (352 x 288 )
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif QVGA (320 x 240)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif QCIF (176 x 144)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sub-QCIF (128 x 96)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Digital Zoom Up to 4X

Connections
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif I/O Port HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 high speed)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif TV Out

Wireless Connections
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g)

Audio
Microphone/Speaker
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Built-in
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ring tone Supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, AMR-NB formats
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF) / SP MIDI

Supported Playback Formats
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Media Player: MP3, MPEG-4, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WAV, AMR, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AWB, SP-MIDI
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif TouchFLO 3D: MP3, MPEG-4, WMA, AAC, AAC+

Controls - Device Control
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif TouchFLO 3D
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Touch-sensitive navigation control with ENTER button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HOME button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif BACK button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Phone buttons: TALK/SEND and END
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif POWER button
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif VOLUME CONTROL buttons
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RESET button

Hardware Keyboard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 5-row QWERTY keyboard

Expansion Slot
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif microSD (SD 2.0 compatible)

Others - Special Features
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif FM radio with RDS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS and A-GPS ready (GPS navigation software not included)

EXTERNALS AND HARDWARE

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0990.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0993.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0994.pngWHAT'S IN THE BOX

For this review we've actually been provided with a consumer release package so we can detail exactly what is in the package.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0997.pngThe box contained:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Xda Serra
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery, 1340 mAh
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Xda Serra cleaning pouch
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif AC charger for recharging your Xda battery
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif USB to PC sync cable
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Hands-free stereo headset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Spare stylus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Applications CD
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif User manual (on the CD in PDF format)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Warranty card
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quick Start Guide
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif TouchFlo 3D leaflet
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile 6 license terms
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Screen protector
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif A 'Recycle your phone' bag to allow you to dispose of your old phone safely
Note: The Applications CD contents include:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile Device Handbook (for PC install)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Windows Mobile Device Centre (for Vista)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook 2007 60 day trial (CD install)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Outlook 2007 60 day trial (web download install)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Spb GPRS Monitor

The above are accessible via the CD's auto-run menu. However on browsing the disk these other utilities can be located:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Diamond_BackupTool - PC based installer of the Sprite Windows Mobile backup system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SetupSpriteBackup - PC based part of the Sprite backup system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 (for Windows XP)

It is worth noting that Sprite has been fully updated for use on the Serra and WM6.1. The backup system works well and the fully loaded Serra (54204Kb of data / applications) took only 2 minutes 4 seconds to complete the backup at a rate of 501Kb/second. Compare this to the 8 minutes 17 seconds that the Ignito took when backing up to Internal Storage!

CASE

The 'Cleaning Pouch' is basically what it says. It is not hardy enough to be considered a protective case as it seems constructed from leatherette covered cardboard on the top and bottom with soft sides allowing the case to be opened to insert the Serra. The bottom of the case is bridged with a thin piece of plastic webbing.

The inner top and bottom sides are slightly furred which means that technically the pouch could clean your Serra, but I'd suggest that an opticians cleaning cloth may be better. If you do use the pouch then personally I'd say just use it as very basic protection in a purse or briefcase. Remember though as the bottom of it flimsy little protection is actually afforded to the machine.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0425.jpgTHE HEADSET

The headset supplied with the Serra is exactly the same as supplied with the recent Xda machines like the Stellar and Orbit 2 and as such is a great improvement compared to those offered by other carriers. It comprises two distinct parts:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Earphone component - which sports a 3.5mm (standard) jack plug, stereo earphones (with foam padding to ensure a good fit), and a sliding spacing bar which allows you to control the spread of the wires once fitted. The ear pieces when fitted with the foam comfort pads fit well in the ear and are reasonably comfortable to wear. However as the jack plug is the 3.5mm standard size used in third party headsets you are free to replace this portion of the headset with a more expensive comfortable third party model of your choice.http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0430.jpg http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0440.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Control module - This comprises the control module itself and a metre of connecting cable which terminates into the HTC modified USB connector which fits into the bottom of the Serra.

The module supports a number of top mounted remote controls such as:

- Answer call, terminate call, play track, pause track, previous / next track, volume up / down, with the side supporting additional controls for putting a call on hold or for muting the volume. It should be noted that the remote control only works with Windows Media Player and the HTC player, it is not supported by third party music applications.

The back of the control module sports a spring loaded plastic clip which allows it to be conveniently clipped onto a shirt or jacket collar.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0786.pngFIRST LOOKS AND FRONT

When one removes the Xda Serra from the box the first impression is of the small size of the machine. Compared to the Stellar the Serra is tiny. The second impression is that of weight or density, the Serra feels much heavier than expected, this is no doubt due to the steel housing or framework that surrounds and supports the inner workings of the machine. Only the plastic back cover fails to convey a feeling of sturdiness and build quality. One gains the impression that the Serra could be dropped quite a distance without any damage occurring.

The next aspect that strikes home is the mirrored or 'Touch' surface of the front of the machine. Seen first on the Orbit 2 the smooth flush surface allows the fingers and thumbs to glide over the surface, there are no raised edges to interfere with any interactive handling or control of the screen. The glassy surface aches for your touch and as you will be controlling the Serra via that surface the comfortable tactile feel is important. Unfortunately those initial finger strokes do show up quickly the adverse effect of that smooth glassy interface - finger marks. The surface is very very susceptible to each and every fingerprint. Under most conditions these are not that visible but get the Serra in bright sunlight and angle the screen to catch the light and you will see them. Get used to them and live with them they are a small price to pay for such a pleasant feeling screen.

Most of the front face of the Serra is taken up with a highly polished transparent touch sensitive screen which is pierced only by the second camera and the ear piece. The actual display screen in set centrally within this with the Xda and O2 logos printed immediately above and below this area.

The small stature of the Serra ensures that it sits nicely in the hand and the good news is that the rather harsh and sharp corners seen on the Ignito have now been rounded. The aesthetics of the device have been greatly improved with the corners been given a more rounded aspect.

Unlike the previous Xda machines the Serra follows the fashion statement that black will always be in vogue as the silver and tungsten colours found on earlier machines are not to be found anywhere. The Serra is simply black - everywhere.

The black colouration continues below the screen onto the equally flush and smooth control area, styled carefully not to be intrusive. There are no raised buttons only lit areas of the fascia which give evidence of the four control pads with the exception of the navigation control / swirl gadget which is in-set centrally within the main control area. That control itself is multi-function, with a centre 'action' button, which is back lit in white round the edges (more on this later) surrounded by an outer ring which serves to act as a 4 way navigation pad and also functions to pick up any rotational or swirling motions that may be made. After a few seconds on non-use all the lit areas of the control fade back to a pale grey colour but spring back to life if the swirl is stroked or the screen touched. Impressive - very.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0772.pngThe main controls / functions on the front of the Serra are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 1 - HOME - Press to return to the Home screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 2 - BACK - Press to return to the previous screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 3 - TALK/SEND - Press to answer an incoming call or dial a number. During a call, press and hold to toggle the speaker phone on and off. Press and hold to use Voice Speed Dial.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 4 - END - Press to end a call or return to the Home screen. Press and hold to lock the device.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 5 - Navigation Control - This Navigation Control is both press-sensitive and touch-sensitive.

LED Ring:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif A “breathing pulsing” white light is shown around the Navigation Control as the battery is being charged.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif After the battery has been fully charged, the Navigation Control LED shows a solid white light.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The LED ring flashes a white light once when the battery level is low and reaches down to about 10%.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The top and bottom parts of the LED ring flashes a white light twice when there is a new e-mail, voice mail, or meeting reminder.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif A white light goes around the LED ring counterclockwise twice starting from the top when there is a missed call or new SMS or MMS message.

Other LEDs:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SEND button Light flashes when there is an incoming call.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif END button Light stays solid when there is an incoming call.

The LED ring, HOME, BACK, SEND, and END buttons will flash a white light once when one of the buttons or Navigation Control is pressed.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0764.pngTHE BOTTOM PORTS

The base of the Serra is minimalistic in features and contains from left to right / top to bottom:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The very small hole top centre (set into the screen housing) is the input microphone.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif HTC custom USB port - this serves to allow the device to be fitted with either a power charger (mains or car), PC sync cable or the wired headset.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The very small hole to left of the USB connector is the soft reset button.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bottom right is the stylus silo again set into the body area.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0762.pngSTYLUS / STYLUS SILO

The Serra uses a one piece stylus. It is some 79mm in length and relatively comfortable to use when held despite the sharp edges that are found on the stylus head. The nose is nicely shaped similar to a spear head and therefore when being used the shank does not interfere in any way with screen visibility.

There is no locking mechanism as such in the stylus silo. The silo / stylus are magnetic and pure magnetism holds the stylus in place, the magnet being strong enough to draw the stylus in to the docking position once it has been pushed into place leaving around 1cm still exposed. This does feel somewhat strange at first, but one soon adjusts and at least there are no mechanical parts to wear.

One very cool feature is that HTC have added movement detection into the stylus silo, which means that if the Serra is turned off and the stylus withdrawn the machine will turn on ready for use.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0763.pngTHE TOP FACE

The top of the Serra is very plain and understated holding only the on / off / standby button.

Press to turn on or turn off the display temporarily. To turn off the power, press and hold for about 5 seconds. A message prompts you to choose whether or not to turn off the device completely.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0766.pngTHE LEFT HAND SIDE

Volume Buttons: There are two separate volume buttons. During normal operation these raise or lower the system volume of the device. During a phone call (or when playing music) they can be used to alter the volume level of the call in progress.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0765.pngTHE RIGHT HAND SIDE

The right hand side continues the spartan theme to the extreme, with nothing visible at all apart from the side of the stylus / silo. There are no controls at all.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0757.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0758.pngTHE BACK FACE, CAMERA, BACK REMOVAL AND BATTERY

The back of the Serra contains the 3.2 Megapixel camera, LED flashlight (below the camera), and the speaker to the left of the camera.

At the base of the cover is a small slot which is to be used for affixing a lanyard. Unusually the lanyard is designed to pass through the slot and be wrapped round a 'T' shaped hook at the bottom of the device. This however is only made of plastic and is somewhat flimsy and may not withstand a great deal of force being applied to it.

There is no port for an external GPS antenna or any vanity mirror as found on some prior Xda machines.

The back / battery cover is removed via pressing down on it gently and sliding the back upwards towards the top of the machine

Once the cover is removed the Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery (1340 mAh) is revealed.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0767.pngSIM LOADING

With the back of the Serra removed one can take hold of the battery and gently prise it out of position, once removed this allows one to slide the SIM card into the SIM slot. There is no locking mechanism. Once the battery has been popped back into place it does however butt up against the end of the SIM card and prevents it moving out of its position in the slot.

With the SIM card loaded and the battery back in place the back cover can be slid downwards into position where it will lock with a dull click.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/34.gifhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/from_serra-320x194.jpg

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/to_serra-320x199.jpgEXTERNAL STORAGE

The Serra unlike the Ignito is fitted with a microSD slot and cards up to 32Mb can be used within the machine.

One ROM design similar to the Ignito is that once the Serra is linked to the PC via USB cable the screen will prompt you as to which mode you wish to connect in: the slower Active Sync which allows you to synchronise your documents and copy files, to connect as a Disk Drive or tethered to the PC for Internet sharing. If connected as a Disk Drive file transfer speeds are greatly increased and file sync is disabled. When in disk drive mode the microSD card is in effect disconnected from the Serra and it is therefore wise to close any programs that may have been installed to that area of the machine. The good news is that the Drive mode can be used on any PC the Serra is connected to - ActiveSync or WMDC are not required. So in effect the Serra doubles as a USB drive.

As is usual with most USB drives the data access rates vary between copying to and reading from the disk. On the Serra read speeds averaged 3.57Mb/Second and writing 1.40 Mb/Second (compared to 405Kb/Second on the Ignito).

The pop-up selection applet has been enhanced compared to the Ignito as it also offers the option to invoke Internet sharing and allow the Serra to be used a modem with your PC.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/err1.jpg

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/err2.jpghttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/err3.jpgEXTERNAL STORAGE - CORRUPTION

Unfortunately it looks like the problem of file corruption that plagued the Ignito when connected to the PC as an external drive also exists on the Serra. After copying a number of small files onto the machine, with no problems with the copy process, or the files themselves being corrupted, the Serra was reconnected to the PC. Immediately Vista popped up with the 'Scan and Fix' message. Vista was allowed to repair the drive which reported that 2 files in 64Kb had been recovered.

The Serra was then disconnected and reconnected a few minutes later and yet again the option was given to scan and fix the drive. This time no problems were found. I'm therefore convinced that there may be a problem with the driver that HTC have developed that connects the machine to the PC. This may well be fixed in later ROM revisions.
SIZE MATTERS
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0773.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0778.pngAs the Serra will invariably be compared to the Xda Stellar both for performance, specifications and size I thought it might be a good idea to compare them physically side by side.

As you can see the Serra (third from the left & top respectively) is incredibly small compared to the Stellar, the smallest VGA QWERTY phone edition machine ever.

It scores on weight too where it is 20 grams lighter than the Stellar. It is of course heavier than the Ignito gaining 55 grams of mass, but considering it has that QWERTY keyboard that is a small difference.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/PDA_Sizes.png

THE SCREEN
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0786.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0791.png
The last and probably one of the most important aspects of the hardware is that of the screen. The screen is a work of art. At 2.8" diagonally it is small in size but clear and highly visible, this is of assisted greatly by the VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels instead of the recently more common QVGA 320 x 240). The high resolution ensures that any icons, aspects of the OS, TouchFlo 3D or photographs are rendered cleanly and crisply with good contrast and colour balance. The screen is usable in all lighting conditions encountered so far, although it is a little difficult to read in bright sunlight (possibly due to the glassy touch interface layer).

It should be noted that O2 have set the text display size at almost the largest possible setting on the Serra which ensures that text is clear and readable on the small screen, but you may wish to go into the screen settings and reduce it in size as even at the smaller settings text is perfectly readable.

Unusually the clear type text display is not turned on as standard, so you may wish to turn that on to improve text legibility.

THE KEYBOARD
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0833.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0837.pnghttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/50.pngThe Serra comes with a QWERTY keyboard, similar to a standard keyboard on a PC. To use the keyboard, slide the screen panel to the right to reveal the keyboard.

When the keyboard is slid into the operating position the screen will automatically change to landscape orientation and a screen of 'quick' launch shortcuts appears allowing you to access:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Email
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif SMS/ MMS Messages
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internet Bookmarks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Search the web
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The Calendar
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Tasks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Notes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gifContacts
Unlike the Touch Flo 3D on the rest of the machine this is coloured to tone in with the O2 blue styling. The quick access screen will only appear if you are at any Touch Flow 3D tab, if you are currently within an application then that application's view will switch into landscape mode. The change from portrait to landscape (and vice versa) is snappy and swift with the transition taking place within 1 second or so - it may take longer though if you have a large amount of programs running in the background.

The keyboard is back lit from behind and this serves to clearly light up the white lettering (normal keys) as well the blue functions decals which appear on some keys. The 'buttons' control applet can be used to set whether the auto-sensor on the keyboard is used to trigger the back light.

The keyboard itself in small, with each key on average measuring some 7mm wide, and like the well loved Xda Universal are very slightly raised into a flat dome. There is good tactile feedback from the keys with no looseness of movement and even though you'd not wish to write a novel using them they are perfectly adequate for replying to Email messages, adding calendar entries or working with the machine in general.

The blue FN key allows you to access the secondary function keys on the keyboard which as well as including the more common punctuation characters also allow you to launch the Opera browser, Communications applet, or navigate around any document using page up / down.

One lack on the keyboard is that there is no 'OK' button (which existed on the Stellar). This means that to OK any on screen actions whilst in 'keyboard mode' one has to reach up to the screen and tap the OK option. As this is relatively small and not finger friendly it can be a somewhat awkward operation to perform.

All images have been processed using the superb SnagIt from TechSmith

HARDWARE CONCLUSIONS

O2 have worked closely with HTC to re-engineer their premier Xda machine. However as with the Ignito the external housing has only been minimally changed from the HTC reference design (HTC Raphael), with only The Xda and O2 logos being added. There is no custom housing as was present on the Orbit 2, but given the nature of the design with the metal protective shell this would not have been easily achievable. The Serra serves to carry on the tradition of the original Xda machines: style, light weight, small size and a goodly number of features.

The machine is very well constructed, with no undesirable idiosyncrasies that I could see and all the essential external hardware features are there. Taking these together with 3G connectivity, A-GPS and camera it looks like this will be a winner and valid successor to the Stellar.

Of course the hardware is only part of the story so I'll move onto examining the internals of the device next and also see how it performs in the real world!

INTERNALS AND APPLICATIONS

In this overview of the internals / applications on the Xda Serra I will not cover or look at all applets and programs that the device has built into ROM, as that would be in large a review of the Windows Mobile operating system. I will highlight only applications or programs that have been added by O2 or screens that show interesting changes that have come to light with this ROM build.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/46.gifTouch FLO 3D

The Serra is the first machine to market where HTC have updated their 'touch' interface to the new Touch FLO 3D style. This interface is in actuality a single large (approx 12Mb) Today plug-in which gives ten differing panels for the user to work with. These are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Home
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif People
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Messages
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Mail
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Photos and Videos
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Music
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Internet
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Weather
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Settings
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Programs

Each of the panels interface with the user via 'touch', that being the panels can be navigated through by holding and sliding across the grey slide bar at the bottom of the screen. As the finger slides across the various panels are previewed in a light grey colour and when the finger movement stops the required panel darkens and becomes current. Each individual panel can further be interacted with either through stroking the screen up / down or left / right or by use of the on screen soft buttons. We'll cover each of the panels in detail next.

Touch FLO 3D is an incredibly useful and cool interface in my opinion and has resulted in my loading a lot less third party applications as these are in effect included as standard on the machine.

The only drawback of the system is that if it is in place on the Today Screen it prevents other Today applets from being used as it does take over the entire screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/01.gifHome

The Home tab initially shows a large flip-style clock detailing the current time. Below this is a tappable 'Missed Calls' area which takes you into the 'Missed Calls' tab, below that is the next forthcoming or all day appointment.

If the screen is stroked upwards the clock reduces in size and allows you to view more calendar details. If any appointment is tapped upon it will open in the Calendar application to show more details. If the Clock is tapped on it will open to allow you to set the time, or to configure any required alarms.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/02.gifPeople

The People tab allows you to create favourite contacts of the people you most often communicate with. TO do this you tap on the '+' sign which take you into the contacts selector from where you can select a phone number (Work, Home, or Mobile) or an email address for that contact.

If a contact has a photo assigned (via Exchange) that photo will be used, of if not you can select a picture or silhouette from the photo library.

You can have a maximum of 15 favourite contacts.

Once you have your contacts configured you can stroke the screen up / down to flip through your contacts. You can also slide your finger up / down the photo strip on the right hand of the screen to quickly navigate through the contacts.

Touching the Contact picture allows you to phone the contact on any number, send an email or a text message. If the text (or arrow) beneath the picture is tapped then the default action you defined when setting up the contact is actioned immediately.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/03.gifMessages

The Messages tab allows you to view any incoming Text Messages (SMS / MMS) as they arrive as well as create new ones.

To move through the various messages you simply swipe the finger up or down the screen or touch the counter icon. Replying to the message is simple; you just tap upon it which will then open the message on screen for you to reply to. The new message icon can be tapped (top right) to create a new message.

The SMS messaging system is fully threaded so you can see the flow and history of any conversations.

The 'All Messages' soft button allows you to access all text, picture and video messages on the Serra in the various Inbox folders. The 'Menu' soft button allows you the options of 'New / Reply or Delete'.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/04.pngMail

The Mail tab allows you to receive, preview and send email messages. A maximum of four email accounts can be added to this tab. Each email account has its own email counter so you can instantly see how many emails are unread in each mail account. The counter can be tapped upon to switch between accounts.

For the active mail account the large envelope is displayed which details the name of the account (bottom right) and shows a preview of the messages in that account. Swiping up / down the screen serves to switch between the emails being previewed.

If you tap on the previewed email it will open in the Inbox application and you can then read or reply to that email using the standard Email editor. Touching the New Email icon (top right) opens a new email in the Inbox immediately.

It's worth noting that swiping he screen sideways also moves you between the different email accounts which includes the SMS / MMS message folders.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/05.gifPhotos and Videos

This tab allows you to visually flip through your photos and video clips via swiping up / down the screen with your finger. If you touch the current photo or video on screen you can then view it in full screen mode. Tapping on that full size image allows you access to the album, start a sideshow, email the picture, save it to a contact, save it, delete it, or view its properties. Swiping left / right in full image view serves to move you through each photo in turn. If you physically turn the Serra through 90 degrees the motion sensor within it will automatically rotate the photo from portrait to landscape view. Rotating it back again changes the display to portrait. Swiping your finger clockwise over a portion of the photo serves to zoom you in to that area, and anti-clockwise serves to zoom you back out. Double tapping serves to reset the image back to the original fit to screen view.

Once in the Album you can swipe through your various saved pictures or switch between any folders on the device in which pictures or videos are stored.

From the main tab itself you can use the icons top right to initiate the camera for taking a photo or video.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/05a.gifThe Camera

The camera software included is the updated HTC application which replaces the camera part of the 'Pictures and Videos' application. This offers a one screen display consisting of a central view finder with adjustment / mode controls surrounding it.

Camera Options may be changed by tapping on the surrounding icons or via selecting the bottom right 'menu' icon (options icon).

When actuated the screen rotates into landscape mode and in effect becomes the viewfinder for the camera.

Taking a picture is simple; you depress the action button slowly (which activates the auto-focus system) wait for the viewfinder to turn green and a beep to occur (focus complete) and then depress the button the rest of the way to complete the shot.
HTC have taken great trouble to improve the camera application with the Serra
and have added a Quick Settings panel that allows one to quickly vary:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Resolution
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif White Balance
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Brightness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Storage Medium used
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera Mode
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Call timer

Digital zoom is available from 1x to 2x.
This is operated via either rotating the LED ring clockwise or anti-clockwise, using
navigation left / right, or via using the on screen zoom icons. Navigating up / down
serves to switch through the varying photo modes which are available via the regular options.http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Modes - Photo, Video, MMS Video, and Contacts Picture
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Resolution - 1M / 2M / 3M / M / L
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif White Balance - Auto / Day / Night / Incandescent / Fluorescent
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Brightness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera - Front / Back / Back (flipped)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Self Timer - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Review Duration - none / 3 secs / 10 secs / no limit
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Quality - Basic / Normal / Fine / Super Fine
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Capture format - JPEG
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Time Stamp - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Storage - Internal Storage / Main Memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Keep Backlight - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shutter Sound - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Shoot Option - Touch and Press / Touch / Full Press
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Image Properties - Contrast / Saturation / Sharpness
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Effect - None / Greyscale / Sepia / Negative
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Metering Mode - centre Area / Average
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Prefix - Default / Date / Date and Time
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Counter - Value / Reset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Flicker Adjustment - Auto / 50Hz / 60Hz
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Grid - On / Off
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Help - Help system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif About

Photo Resolutions available are:

Photo

3M (2048 x 1536) 1.0x to 2.0x
2M (1600 x 1200) 1.0x to 2.0x
1M (1280 x 960) 1.0x to 2.0x
Large (640 x 480) 1.0x to 2.0x
Medium (320 x 240) 1.0x to 4.0x

Video

CIF (352 x 288 ) 1x and 1.5x
Large (320 x 240) 1x and 1.5x
Medium (176 x 144) 1x and 1.5x
Small (128 x 96) 1x and 1.5x

Panorama

Large (640 x 480) 1x and 2x
Medium (320 x 240) 1x, 2x and 4x
MMS Video
Medium (176 x 144) 1x and 1.5x
Small (128 x 96) 1x and 1.5x

Contacts

Picture Medium (240 x 320) 1.0x to 4.0x

EXAMPLE PHOTOS

All photographs were taken with the Serra set to use the highest resolution and best picture quality:

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0006.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0007.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif A view looking over towards Llanbedrog bay from 'Wendon House'

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Blue skies over 'Wendon House' back gardenhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0013.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0028.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif More Wendon blue skies with apple tree in full fruit

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif A view along Nefyn Bayhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0040.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0042.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sunrise over 'Wendon' garden

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif At Llanberis looking up at Snowdonhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0044.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/IMAG0047.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Breath taking views at the top of Snowdon

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Breath taking views at the top of Snowdon - amazing the distance one can see
In all cases the settings were left fully automatic and the Serra hand braced.

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/06.gifMusic

The Music tab allows you to visually browse through your albums and play music. Swiping up and down the screen allows you to flip through your albums and tracks.

To move forward or backwards through the track touch hold and slide your finger along the progress bar.

Tapping the menu option allows you to set up a music playlist and to configure repeat or shuffle modes.

The left hand soft key allows you to access and work with the library on the machine. The library also allows you to browse and play music and also organises the tracks into categories such as title, artist and genre.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/07.gifInternet

The Internet tab allows you to tap the globe and launch the Opera Mobile browser which is installed on the Serra as a superior replacement to Pocket Internet Explorer. As an alternative you may swipe up / down the tab to reveal your bookmarks and tap on any one of those to go directly to that site.

You can tap the left hand soft key to manage your bookmarks.

Once Opera has loaded a web site you can rotate the Serra to view the pages in landscape using the accelerometer in the machine, or zoom in on areas of interest via double tapping the screen. To zoom out just double tap again. Once in zoomed mode you can navigate round the screen via simply dragging the page with your finger.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/08.gifWeather

The weather tab on the Serra allows you to check the weather both locally and around the world.

As standard the Serra is configured with eight default global weather locations and these can be navigated through by swiping up / down the screen or tapping the up / down arrows. The '5 day' soft key allows you to look forward at the forecast for the next 5 days.

The menu soft key allows you remove and add entries. New locations are added via the country / city selector whereby you first select the country and then the town / city you require. Navigation through the selector screens can be done via swiping up / down or by using the alphabetical quick selector on the right of the screen.

Options within the menu also allow you to choose between centigrade or Fahrenheit and to turn on / off auto updating as well as updating whilst roaming.

Additionally from the menu when in 5 day weather mode you have the option of 'more' which takes you to the Accuweather page which is the source of the information used by the tab.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/09.gifSettings

The settings tab allows you to modify common configurable aspects of the Serra from one common place.

You can turn on / off flight (airplane) mode whereby all connectivity is disabled, turn off just the cellular radio, modify the sound settings such as your ring tone, choose a new wallpaper for use with the Touch FLO 3D interface, control wifi, direct push operation and even the download options for weather.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/10.gifProgram

The Program tab serves as a quick launcher for programs whereby you can set favourite programs to execute at a single tap of the screen. As a default O2 have set this to use a set of commonly used applications such as YouTube, Getting Started, Email, File Manager, etc.

If you tap the Remove soft key an 'X' will appear in the bottom right corner of the icons, and if you then tap that icon it will be removed from the tab. If you tap 'Done' then you will return to the launch tab and any icons that have had applications removed will be showing a '+' symbol. Tapping on that symbol will bring up a scrolling list of installed applications which you can swipe through and then tap the icon you wish to add as a shortcut to that icon.

The programs tab itself can be swiped and moved up and down to reveal additional launch slots. Tapping the All programs soft key will take you to the standard windows mobile programs screen.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/11.pngAll the Applications

This extended screen shot details the entire list of applications loaded on the Serra after a hard reset of the machine. As well as the standard Windows Mobile application set O2 have added:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Adobe Flash Lite - for viewing flash applications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Adobe Reader LE - for viewing Acrobat PDF files
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif MP3 Trimmer - which allows you to trim MP3 files into usable ring tones
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Opera Browser - Fully featured web browser
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RSS Hub - which allows you to subscribe to and view RSS feed on the move
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Voice Recorder - Application for taking voice notes
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif WorldCard Mobile - for scanning business cards for contact data
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Zip - For working with PC-Zip files
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif JetCet Print - Printing utility
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Remote Desktop - For controlling remote servers
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/12.gifRSS Hub

The Serra comes preloaded in ROM with the RSS Hub application. This is an O2 badged version of Ilium Software's Newsbreak Application which allows you to subscribe to and read RSS feeds on the move.

The main features are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Listen to your favourite podcasts, watch vidcasts, and view attached files and images.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Save your podcasts to listen or view when you have the time, and schedule them to download however you choose
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Tell the Hub what news to search for - save keywords and let it find stories you're interested in
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Get the news you care about as it happens. Have the RSS Hub scan your feeds and notify you about important stories by setting up alerts
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Spot the headlines that matter to you by using keyword icons
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/45.gifWorldCard Mobile

WorldCard Mobile is one of those applications that you come across and wonder whether it will be useful, and then you try it and find it is very useful indeed. It is simple enough in concept - use the camera to capture an image of a business card, perform a bit of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to input the text, allow any errors to be edited and then add to your contacts. It may take a few attempts to be proficient with positioning the business card, but once you get used to working with the application it can be very useful. It can certainly save a lot of typing!
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/jet_set.gifJetCet Print

JetCet Print allows you to link the Serra to a remote printer, whether it be linked to a wireless network connected to a domain, or a standalone Bluetooth enabled printer.

The facility is offered to print documents, emails or images. From within Opera if the print option is chosen JetCet will then be used to complete the operation.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/remote_desk.gifRemote Desktop

Connect to and remotely control your Windows desktop from your Serra with the Windows Mobile Remote Desktop client.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/tv_out.gifTV Out

The TV Out function outputs the device’s screen contents and audio to an external display with an RCA cable socket such as a television. This signal should be passed from the Serra to the TV via the HTC Out cable (included with the Serra). The ends of the HTC TV Out cable link to the external display’s RCA sockets via red, white, and yellow RCA plugs.

However once the TV Out cables mini-USB connector is pushed into the base of the Serra the 'TV Out' applet does appear on screen and the display can be varied between PAL and NTSC.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0958.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0959.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The Serra was linked to the TV via the AUX video connection on our Onkyo video amplifier - the cabling being: video - yellow, right - red, left - white

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The Serra popped up asking us to select the video mode (PAL was chosen) and the option to view web pages selected. The display may be slightly blurred here but the image is being blown up onto a 50" plasma screen!http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0963.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0965.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif 4WM itself displayed just fine

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif As did the BBC Weather pagehttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0966.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0968.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Which benefited greatly from Operas zoom facility

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The camera album was then selectedhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0969.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0972.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Breathtaking views at the top of Snowdon - in 50" expansion!

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Then of course we just had to try out a video.http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0973.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0975.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif And a video clip from Battlestar Galactica was chosen ....

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif .... which played back well enough. It was a little juddery in one or two places but no real problems.http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0978.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0988.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Even the Landscape Quick Launch Desktop looked good.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif And even the basic WM program launch screens displayed well.http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0981.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0989.png
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Viewing the Calendar was not an issue.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Reading an eBook was possible.

The TV Out capabilities of the Xda Serra therefore passed all tests with glowing colours, no problems were found and the functionality was very impressive!

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/14.gifTeeter

Teeter is a Labyrinth-type maze game. On loading Teeter starts up and a silver ball bearing appears on a dark table with black holes, walls, and a single green exit hole. The object of the game is to get the silver ball into the green hole without vanishing into any of the black holes and disappearing. The challenge is that you do not use your finger or stylus to move the silver ball, by holding the Serra parallel to the ground you tilt the device to move the ball.

The sensors are very sensitive and you can even move along the edges of the black holes without falling in. It also picks up how much you tilt the device and the ball will accelerate/decelerate depending on your angle.

The real surprise though, is what happens when the ball hits a wall/side. You physically feel the strike in the actual area where the ball hits the wall. Plus, the vibration/feedback varies by how far the ball travels before it hits the wall/side. This is completely amazing it almost feels like the Serra has come alive in your hand!

At the end of each level you will are presented with a score as to your performance and then given an even more complex and challenging table to navigate and complete. Tapping the screen during game play gives you the option of exiting the game or resuming. On reloading the game you are allowed to either resume the last game or start afresh.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/15.gifFM RADIO

One useful feature of both original Orbit machines was the FM radio which is now added to the Serra. Once again for this to function the wired headset must be in place and this has a secondary function as an FM antenna.
The first time the application is run it will automatically scan for the available FM channels in your area, save them as presets, then play the first FM station found.

Full control of the radio is allowed with options / features of:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Allows you to switch between Mono and Stereo modes.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Switches between speaker and headset output.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Search the FM band for the next lower / higher FM channel.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Volume adjustment
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif RDS Station name display
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Preset saving and adjustment

As well as navigation via the LED ring:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Press NAVIGATION left/right to search the FM band for the next lower/ higher FM channel. When the search reaches the last station, it cycles back to the beginning of the FM band.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Press NAVIGATION up/down to select the previous/next available preset station.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Press the ENTER button to toggle mute on and off.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Rotate the NAVIGATION LED clockwise to increase the volume, anticlockwise to decrease the volume.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/25.gifSettings / Personal

The personal settings are completely vanilla WM6.1, no great surprises here at all.

The only device specific customisations of note are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif that the 'Buttons' applet only has one setting for the only customisable button on the Serra. This is the 'Start Call' button which if held down will activate the application defined here.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif The back-lighting can be set to activate with the keyboards auto-sensor.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/20.pngSettings / System

The System applets are very much standard with the only extra (or non-standard) applets being:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif G-Sensor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Long Key Press End Key
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Managed programs
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Touch FLO

We'll look at these below.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/47.pngG-Sensor

The G-Sensor is used to recalibrate the accelerometer within the Serra. It should be used if / when the auto-rotate function is not working properly.

Unofficially if the sensor is already calibrated it can be used as a spirit level.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/38.pngLong Press End Key

This applet controls what happens when you press and hold down the End Call key. As standard it is set to lock the device but can be adjusted by the user to display a quick list of functions or carry out other pre-set default actions.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/39.pngManaged Programs

Managed Programs Displays the programs that are installed on your device using System centre Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM). This means that in a corporate environment if SCMDM has been used to push install any applications to your Serra this is how you will be able to see what has been installed.
TouchFLO
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/40a.pnghttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/42.pnghttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/44.pngThe Touch FLO applet allows you to configure a few small parts of the Touch FLO system. The first setting, which O2 wisely set to off, is that of having a sound sample play when finger scrolling or panning. You can turn it on if you so wish but be warned it becomes annoying very very quickly!

You can also toggle on and off the large start menu whereby the start menu font is increased in size and the 'last run' programs at the top of the menu are also larger - both good options for finger use.

Lastly you can toggle on or off the System Status screen; this replaces the WM6.1 standard notification bubble system with a finger friendly touchable full screen notification selector. This works well, it's a pity though it is still in HTC black instead of O2 blue!

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/35.gifhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/31.gifA Touch FLO effect is also used when the Volume controls are used to lower or raise the sound level. This full screen display will pop onto the screen and give you a visual and audible (rising or lowering tone) indication that the volume level has been changed.

You can also tap the 'Vibrate' and 'Silent' buttons to switch to less intrusive modes of notification. Tapping on the '<' and '>' arrows allows you to switch the volume control between that of the System Volume and the Ring Volume.

The Task Manager has also been enhanced on the Serra to use finger friendly controls which make it very easy to switch / stop applications and as well view the memory currently in use on the device.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/37.pnghttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/40.pngA Touch too far?

It seems at times however that HTC have gone a little too far with the 'touch' mentality. Yes we have a very cool Touch 3D system and the LED touchable jog dial but we've lost as a default the Sounds and Notifications Events warning. As standard this is turned off so if you get an incoming email or SMS message the only sign of it arriving will be the glow of the LED ring.

In other areas however it is wise indeed to have some sounds turned off as standard. The 'Keyboard Sliding Sound' applet is defaulted to off. If a sample is selected here and the function turned on that sample will play each and every time the keyboard is slid open or closed.

There is also an option in the sliding sounds settings to only play the sample when the device is slid open or shut from sleep.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/26.gifEnhanced SIP

It is worth noting that the SIP (Soft Input Panels) on the Serra have been enhanced with the addition of two new panels:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Full QWERTY - Which is a reasonably good finger friendly input system that will suit those users moving from a QWERTY keyboard. Pressing and holding for a second or two on a key serves to activate the light grey characters on the keys.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Compact QWERTY - This is aimed at the user who is moving on to the Serra from a more regular number pad based mobile phone where by single / multiple taps are used to activate the required keys.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/27.gifError Reporting

It is worth mentioning that on the Serra Error Reporting is turned on as standard as part of a requirement in WM6.1 from Microsoft. Although useful for reporting problems to MS, this can slow the machine down by 10-15% so we recommend that you turn it off to get the best out of the Serra!
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/29.gifhttp://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/30.gifCPU and Memory

The Xda Serra is based on the HTC Raphael platform and sports the fast low power Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz chip which ensures good battery life whilst maintaining a fast operational speed. This processor is also 32 bit internally and supports integrated A-GPS functionality.

Memory is differently mapped compared to the earlier Stellar machine with the Serra having 330.39Mb of Storage memory and 200.99Mb of Program Memory. After a hard reset 289.45Mb of Storage memory is available with 137.69mb of Program memory free. This gives enough memory for running large applications as well as room internally for loading 'critical' applications which you may wish to hold in the internal faster memory.

Free memory after a hard reset:

Storage

Total: 330.39Mb
In Use: 40.94Mb
Free: 289.45Mb

Program

Total: 200.99Mb
In Use: 63.30Mb
Free: 137.69Mb.
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/32.gifPhone Interface

The Phone dialler works well and follows the finger friendly touch ideal with the keys being large and easy to use. As expected the dialler supports smart dial whereby typing a contacts name on the keyboard operates a smart search which then offers numbers to dial. Whilst configuring the phone options are found to adjust connectivity between various bands (2G and 3G in reality) as well as controlling other options such as PIN security, Ringtones, Services, Network etc. The 'Advanced' option allows one to reject calls with a text message when putting someone through to voicemail, along with an option to add new (unknown) numbers to your contacts.

As always with O2 Xda phones the Serra is not SIM-locked which means you can insert a SIM card from a different air time provider and use it without any issues (apart from adjusting the connectivity settings).
PC INTEGRATION

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/wmdc_link.jpgPC INTEGRATION

One feature available in Windows Mobile 6.1 that can be used with WMDC (Windows Mobile Device centre) and Vista is that of icon integration. This takes place during the creation of the partnership with the PC and means that both WMDC and Windows Explorer will detect and load in icons specific to the connected mobile device.
OVERALL CONCLUSION

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0786.pngThe Serra is available to buy now in the O2 online stores, and is expected to be in stock in high street shops shortly.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Connectivity - The Serra supports HSDPA connectivity and O2 UK coverage is now 100% of all current 3G areas.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Battery life - For me battery life is measured on how much of the working day I can get through without running out of power, or if the device survives with power remaining then how much is left by the time I reach home. Typically my average working day involves about an hour's eBook reading, two or three phone calls, and extensive use of both Pocket Excel and Pocket Informant. For around half an hour the machine is connected to a BT headset in case any calls come in whilst working on the shop floor resolving IT issues. The machine is connected to 2G GPRS (there is no 3G connectivity for me either at home or work) all day with Push Email active. The Serra is set to turn off the back light after 60 seconds and the back light intensity level is set to 50% then turned down by one notch in the settings applet. Typically the Serra returned home with battery levels down to around 80%, with the lowest achieved being 70% and the highest 90%. (This can be compared to the Stellar which returned home with battery levels down to around 70%, with the lowest achieved being 64% and the highest 76%). Sat Nav is also used whilst travelling to and from the office, but as the Serra is docked and powered this is seen as having no impact on battery life.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Sat Nav lock times - during the course of the review the Serra has been hard reset three times which has the side effect of clearing the GPS cache. Each time after the reset the Sat Nav system was initialised and times taken to achieve a first and secondary lock. First lock times varied between 8 and 20 minutes and secondary locks were achieved in between 3 and 5 minutes. Subsequent later locks occurred within 1 to 2 minutes during normal Sat Nav use. This not too good at all considering that the Ignito usually obtanied initial locks within 5 minutes and secondary locks within a few seconds. It is my feeling that the QWERTY keyboard is acting as additional shielding which the GPS antenna has to fight through to obtain a signal. It was commonly noted that the GPS meter in sat nav applications asked if we were inside a building as the signal was so poor.

It should be noted that the QuickGPS application is not installed on the Serra as that functionality is inherent within the processor itself. The lack of QuickGPS has served however to increase initial lock times compared to the Stellar.

On some recent journeys undertaken whilst holidaying around Wales it was noticed that the Serra lost GPS lock on a regular basis, each time it recovered within a few seconds but this again showed evidence of poor GPS receptivity. This was usually recovered via exiting the GPS program, but on occasion a soft reset was needed to regain functionality.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif GPS Software - Taking into account the developmental history of the Xda series of machines and O2's prior relationship with ALK Technologies it is somewhat surprising that there is no CoPilot 7 Live! GPS navigational software supplied with the Serra, and unlike machines sold via O2 GmbH (Germany) TomTom Navigation 7 is also not supplied. Therefore if you do wish to use satellite navigation on the Serra you will have to source your own software package.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Bluetooth - It is worth mentioning that the Bluetooth system included within the Serras' ROM supports EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), and according to the Bluetooth 2.0 specification, EDR provides the following benefits:

- Three times faster transmission speed — up to 10 times (2.1 MBit/s) in some cases.
- Reduced complexity of multiple simultaneous connections due to additional bandwidth.
- Lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.

The WM6.1 operating system also supports auto-pairing whereby when bonding the Serra to a hands free headset (for example) the machine will send the common pairing passwords for you which means in most cases that the pairing is achieved in seconds.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Camera - Camera quality is adequate and suitable for taking those quick snaps to record a holiday trip or an event which may occur whilst out and about. However HTC still have not realised that other non Windows Mobile camera phones have moved onward and improved the technology and quality of the cameras. This is the one area in which the Serra falls over the camera needs to be improved in quality - 3Mp is adequate for a device like a PDA but the camera hardware itself needs to be improved to give better light balance, focus and depth. HTC have improved the camera software within the Serra which allows one to gain significant photo improvements over the earlier machines but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Email - As the Serra is a fully converged device benefiting from an always on GPRS / HSDPA connection, Push Email, email handling is an absolute pleasure - you are always in contact and in touch. Those features along with the Enterprise facilities in the WM6.1 ROM for searching (and retrieving) Exchange server emails which are not stored locally on the device, together with HTML email support make it a dream device for email handling.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Signal Strength / Radio - The radio in the Serra is about the same sensitivity as the Orbit 2, that is at home inside the house I get 2 bars of signal, moving out of doors it rises to 3-4 bars. At both home and the office we tend to get poor 3G connections and somewhat 'spotty' HSDPA speeds.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Workhorse - I've been honored to have the Serra in daily use since mid-July (thanks O2) and I'm very impressed with all aspects of its design and function - The Touch FLO 3D combined with the small size and good screen make it a positive joy to use. It's fast in operation and sleek. As a PIM device as well as Alarm Clock, eBook Reader, Navigation System, and Messaging tool it has performed superbly. The full TouchFLO 3D implementation along with the accelerometer make it a pleasurable and unique machine to use. Prior to the release of the Serra the Ignito was my 'Best ever Xda', but the Serra has changed that somewhat - If I need a small 'out and about' leisure machine I use the Ignito, if I want to be fully connected and handle any emails which arrive then the Serra becomes the machine of choice - unless of course I need to do a lot of reliable GPS navigation.

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Ignito V Serra - As the Ignito and the Serra are both based on the same reference design with the Serra having more memory, the QWERTY keyboard and a different storage method the choice as to which device to run with can be difficult for the user. However the Ignito does seem to have a significantly more reliable and responsive GPS system on board - and this has to be taken into consideration by the prospective owner.

In practice the increased memory of the Serra makes little difference in program operation apart from you can have more applications running in the background (which can slow the machine down noticeably) and of course load more applications into internal memory.

The argument of internal versus external storage is really down to the user; the Ignito's internal storage is less prone to the WM 'vanishing' bug which means in theory today applets can be loaded to it, but the Serra allows you to have up to 32Mb of storage instead of being limited to 4Gb. For myself I can carry my eBooks, Memory Map maps, family photos etc all within the 4Gb of the Ignito so for myself this is an adequate amount of storage.

The biggest difference is the QWERTY keyboard, if you do a lot of email or document processing on your PDA then I'd say go for the Serra, if not then the Ignito may well be your choice of machine.

PROS AND CONS

Pro

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Fast processor
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Small size and weight
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Large memory
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Inbuilt GPS
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Steel housing
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif 3G Quad band
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good quality VGA screen
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Loud Volume
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Strong construction
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif FM Radio
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Unique LED Ring navigation dial
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Battery lock
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Full size stylus
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Sprite Backup included
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif GPRS Monitor included
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif O2 added applications
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Enhanced Headset
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Good battery life
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Fast Sat Nav locks
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif TouchFlo 3D system
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Backlit QWERTY keyboard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif External storage (microSD)
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/tu.gif Increased memory compared to the IgnitoCon

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif CoPilot Live not included
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif GPS lock not always maintained
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif No OK button on the keyboard
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/td.gif Poor GPS receptivity

THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS and ACCESSORIES

BRODIT MOUNT
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0852.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0853.png

One item I consider essential for any GPS enabled PDA is a car mount, and the choice of mount I prefer are those manufactured by Brodit. These are manufactured in Sweden, but are sold through various outlets in the UK. The mount shown was kindly provided by DSL Developments (Brodit Proclip | UK | DSL Developments) who are my preferred UK stockist - based both on price and customer service.

DSL Offer two Brodit Mounts for the Serra, these are:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Brodit PDA Active Holder Tilt Swivel for HTC Touch Pro - Item No. : 968848
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/images/smilies/dot.gif Brodit PDA Passive Holder Tilt Swivel for HTC Touch Pro - Item No. : 848848

The picture shown is that of the 'Active Holder Tilt Swivel' model. Note that unlike the mount designed for the Stellar the Serra's mount does not allow you to open the keyboard while in situ. The mount holds the entirety of the Serra's body within its firm grasp, keeping it well secured, but you have to do without using the keyboard while on the move.

TV Out Cable
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0851.png http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/thumb/DSCF0850.png

The TV Out cable is NOT supplied with the Xda Serra and must be purchased separately. It is a cable approximately 1.5M long with one end having the HTC custom USB connector which fits into the Serra's body. This connection has on the side a female USB connector which can be used for attaching the USB power charger - so that the Serra can be kept fully charged whilst carrying out any TV Out functionality.

The other end or the cable breaks out into three RCA connectors (yellow, white, and red) which can be used to connect the Serra to your TV.

Again all images shown above are thumbnails which may be clicked upon to load a larger more detailed image.

APPLICATIONS

Of course to make any PDA completely usable each respective owner will install their choice of third party applications to ensure that the device meets more closely their own personal needs.

Here are a few of my essential applications that I always load onto any PDA I use. I can confirm of course that they run well and fast on the Serra with its large memory and fast processor:

http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/Screen188.png
Pocket Informant http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/Screen186.png
uBook
http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/Screen190.png
eWallet http://www.4winmobile.com/tg/Xda_Serra/Screen187.png
TomTom