Reviews

HP iPAQ 614 review

How long have I waited, like lots of you, to get hold on the iPAQ 614c?
Will it live up the expectations that I have for an all round Sat Nav, phone, PDA? Well today it arrived thanks to Clove Technology who have kindly provided the review unit.

Introduction

Firstly I would like to apologise if the review shows a slight bias, as I am looking to buy one of these units, and therefore may, inadvertently, look at it in a slightly different light. I will try and take off those rose tinted glasses, and be as objective as I can.

After approximately a 6 months wait, here it is, I have been plaguing Matt almost daily for up-to-date news of its release, now it’s here, he can rest easy, until the Asus P750 gets close again. Anyway!

HP iPAQ 614c

As it has now arrived, it does appear to be readily available almost everywhere in the UK and Europe, but there is still the issue of it being withdrawn from US sales probably due to the chipset, as previously mentioned, “Due to recent legal issues between suppliers of mobile phone technologies, HP have decided not to offer the iPAQ 610 Business Navigator to U.S. customers as previously planned.”

What’s in the box?

The box itself is a mind of information, as you open the lid, there you will find the Quick setup guide, and guide showing you what all the buttons do. There is also the setup disc which easily lets you set your device up, assigning speed dial, email accounts, preferences etc. Again very helpful, on starting up the device there are loads of hints and tips sections as well as the usual automated network, email set up procedures, it is recommended that the set up CD is used. The one thing that grabbed my attention is a sticker on the device itself that states ‘cracked screens due to improper handling are not covered under warranty. Do not compress, hit, bend or drop your HP iPAQ. Remove your HP iPAQ from pants pockets before sitting down. Always store your HP iPAQ in its protective case’. Alas, however, no free screen saver or protective case that I could find.

Included in the box is a USB type connector and charger, there is a plug socket with adaptors of different regions around the world. There are the usual manuals and also the important start up disc. Mini usb connecting headphones.

See Matt’s HP iPAQ 614c unboxing video for more details.

HP iPAQ 614 Specification:

General

First impressions; I think ‘chunky’ would sum it up. The dimensions are on the larger size of what I am used to. It is comparable with the Eten x800 at roughly the same width and depth, and slightly longer at 117 opposed to the Eten’s 114mm. It does feel big to hold and is a little on the heavy side, having said that I have been using an Asus P526 while I have been waiting for this release, and that is a full 30g lighter, so the 614 would feel heavy in comparisson. Tytn II users will find it lighter, though bigger.

The rubberised back sits comfortably in the hand, whereas the front has been mentioned as appearing ‘plastic’. Although the buttons are a shiny black plastic, I quite like them. (take the glasses off!). It has to be said that I find it slightly too big for day to day use and using for any length of time it does start to get uncomfortable, I found that the edges of the casing did not help at all in this area.

On the Front of the device you will find the 2.8in Touchscreen, the 20 button keypad (no QWERTY), and 2 ‘softkeys’. The softkeys by default are set to messaging and HP Shortcuts.

HP iPAQ 614 keypad

HP shortcuts opens up a new page of customisable menus set up as 0. Google Maps, 1. IE, 2. Contacts 3. Calendar 4. Set Alarm 5. Wndows media 6. HP asset viewer 7. Calculator 8. Messaging 9. Games. These menus correspond with the keypad numerical buttons and allow quick access to each relevant program.

Within the blue backlit Keypad is also is housed the ‘virtual wheel’ or as HP call it ‘the Smart-touch navigation wheel’ which replaces any D-pad, this is very responsive and useful for scrolling etc. I personally ended up turning it off as I kept catching it when I was using the keys, good idea and stops the usual dust magnets in the form of trackballs etc. but it’s not for me.

The other keys on the left side of the numerical pad are from the top, the phone dial button, a Window start key, OK button, and the portrait/landscape button, this is a very welcome addition as I use Sat Nav a lot and prefer to have it in landscape mode, yet prefer to use the PDA portrait. On the right side of the keypad are buttons to hang up the phone, Clear, Enter, and the Power on/off.

The left side of the unit holds another OK button, underneath which is a 3 way thumb wheel, up/down and push, and under that is HP’s voice commander button.

HP iPAQ 614 left side

On the right side of the Ipaq is the camera button.

HP iPAQ 614 right side

The top of the phone holds a strange but useful mute button, which switches the phone to vibrate and cuts off keypad, phone sound and notifications. Strange only in that I have not come across one of these before and at the top of the unit and so long as you remember to use it and not the on screen icons it’s a nice idea. You also have to remember that this is NOT the power button!!

HP iPAQ 614 top

At the bottom of the device there is the normal Mini USB and reset button; as well to the left is the lanyard hole.

HP iPAQ 614 bottom

The back is home to the 3.0 mega pixel camera as this is the 614c unit, the 614 does not come with a camera. Also there a small mirror of self-portrait photos and a flash and finally a speaker grille. At the base of the back is the battery release button and the telescopic stylus housing, which for me is on the wrong side as I am right handed it seems somehow awkward, but I am getting used to it.

Highlights

Lowlights

REVIEW

You can forgive quite a lot of the minor issues already mentioned because the device does zip along quite happily with most if not all the programs it uses. There is no navigation software to give a comparison at this time, and the GPS did not work initially it was showing as present but disabled, with no apparent method of switching it on. This was resolved with a quick phone call to HP and the advice is to take the Phone out for a drive for about an hour and that should sort it. Oddly it did, and Google maps worked absolutely fine and again fast and responsive.

The 614 has assisted GPS which seems to be quite misunderstood at the moment. So let me just clear up how this seems to work on the 614. You do not need to be continuously connected to the network in order for the GPS to work, in fact most of the time when I was testing the GPS I didn’t even have a SIM card installed. What the 614 will do though is connect to the internet and download updated Ephemris data once every few days. This ‘assists’ the GPS chipset establish a quick fix. In practice this seems to work quite well and a fix is established quite rapidly.

The other issue I had was with the network connections; I think that the problem is that there are so many ways to connect, via 3G, GRPS, EDGE and WiFi that sometimes the phone struggles to decide which is the best method. You can see the connection flicking between, 3G and GPRS or Edge. On my unit on 3G it drops the phone signal, and then when it loses the 3G it has to connect back to the network again and it will only do this via a soft reset. When browsing the web with the 3G symbol on, the phone would not work until I had logged off and reset the phone. Following day the same thing, connected to 3G and this cut off the phone connection altogether, then 3G signal dropped and there was still no phone, drove for 2 hours without realising that the phone was off. I would be interested if anyone else has encountered this problem, and what the fix is.

Telephone functionality was fine past the connection issues call had no issues with clarity and handsfree /Bluetooth where equally functional and there is HP audio to allow you to adjust the Bass and treble on the device, as well as switching on and off the AGC, automatic gain control on the mic. There was a question regarding VOIP, this would apparently need to be done via a third party, there is no obvious software installed.

As mentioned the screensaver is a nice addition that I have not seen before, this shuts the iPAQ down when left alone for a set period and then scrolls through your Pictures on a never ending rotation, so if you have any of ‘those’ photos don’t store them in the ‘My Pictures’ file.

For me this is the first time I have come across the xt9 SIP which works well but is rather small for the likes of me and my fingers. The ‘it doesn’t really matter where you touch’ system works well bringing up loads of suggested words based on the touches you have made, the scroll wheel works really well here. Texting with one hand is definitely possible although due to the size I found myself holding the Ipaq with 1 hand and texting with the other.

Also to be noted is that the casing of the iPAQ around the screen is slightly deep which means when trying to scroll or tap right into the corners you are slightly hampered and occasionally need the dreaded stylus. But on the whole I have found that it is rarely used due to the keypad, wheel, jog etc. which is nice.

Camera is adequate, and the autofocus works well, Controls are hidden in the key pad itself the 4x digital zoom being operated by number 6 for in and 4 for out, also there is number’s 2 and 8 to control brightness. Also included is the HP photosmart photo, this allows you to upload your photos once taken directly on to your Snapfish online account via email.

HP iPAQ 614c sample photo

A 1590 mAh Battery – Could be better in my experience a full day would just about do it, a few calls (6 maybe 7, of no real length, 20 minutes tops), wifi off and Bluetooth on that would be your lot, recharge needed at 8.30pm. Day 2 no real use at all Wifi and Bluetooth off, no phone calls, very little application use and the battery was good for just under 38 hours standby . I have seen reports of 2 days plus on standby, so it could be this battery.

Software

As mentioned we are using Window Mobile 6 Professional, which in itself is relatively unremarkable, albeit snappy, the 520MHz processor and the 128M doing SDRAM are their job competently, and without any of the lag that I have heard talk of.

Extras included are the aforementioned HP shortcuts, HP iPAQ Tips, Clear vue PDF which I found a pain to use and even with the faster processor spent most of the time reloading the page, remote desktop access, setup assistant which again is useful but is loaded from the start up CD on a desktop, windows live is included also. It is also preloaded with Google Maps, which worked superbly and again very fast and clear. Included in the settings section there is also HP Asset Viewer that keeps all your device info in one place, such as personal user information, memory details, ROM details, and all the other relevant parts of the phone system info, camera info and connection details. Noted in here is the GPS which is the Qualcomm 6280. Finally in the Connections section is the HP DataConnect which automatically configures the device data settings to your chosen network.

Within the menus itself, there is the usual WM6 programmes, plus keyboard settings allowing you to lengthen the time the backlight stays on the keypad, and also the ability to turn off the scroll wheel and keyboard functions.

Voice commander was fun and one of the better ones that I have used before, although due to my cold not that accurate all the time, asking it machine to carry out all kinds of tasks and even dictating, audio emails, dialling speed dial, read email, find contacts, check appointments, create memos and so on, all with the spoken word, without have the tedious task of assigning a voice tag to all of your contacts in the first place.

HP Enterprise Mobility Agent – available to configure and manage the iPaq OTA (Over The Air) allowing the user to configure, download and install applications on the iPaq, although this has to be activated and set up via your works IT manager. Yet more applications is the HP Broadband Connect allowing you to connect your computer to the internet through the iPaq allowing high speed data transfer, again the getting started CD is a must here to load the application on to your computer in the first place.

Another piece of software that I have not come across before is a TTY setting that can be found in the Phone settings, designed for the deaf or hard of hearing, a good explanation can be found here http://www.abouttty.com/Whatis.html

Conclusion

Was it worth the wait and will I be buying one? Personally I am disappointed with the size, which, don’t get me wrong is not massive by any means, but is still too big for me. It has a lot of nice features as mentioned above, and I think with more regular use and additions of Third Party software add-ons to suit each individual would make this unit very capable and an asset to use for an all-rounder. It has my preference of the keypad instead of the QWERTY and/or Touchscreen alone and is very responsive which ever you choose to use for input.

For me I want to get a look at the Asus P750, before I spend my hard earned. At around £350 and with the current £50 cash back apparently available, maybe the niggles with each device may swing it the iPAQ‘s way after all. Although from what I can gather the Asus price has not be set for definite. I’m not saying I will be buying and if it was this against the Orbit 2/ HTC Polaris there would be no contest for me, 614c every time purely for the keypad, one day perhaps we will have the perfect phone?

Review by: Steve

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, iPAQ, HP, 614c]

MWg Atom Life review

The 10 second review:

Device: MWg (O2) Atom life
Cost: SIM free: £199.95
On Contract : £0
Available from: O2 as the Atom , eXpansys
Summary: Budget Windows Mobile Professional Device, with masses of storage and surround sound for annoying your fellow bus passengers, a bit bling looking but with a great radio application.

Note: the pre-release review device I had access to had some stability issues which made the review process rather difficult. However other users I have spoken to have not experienced this so I could have just been unlucky – feedback welcome.

Best of: on board storage capacity, Radio Application, 3G.
Worst Of: cheap finish, stability issues in review device.
Ho hum: finish is a fingerprint magnet.

MWg Atom Life

The Full Review

MWg is an emerging brand in the mobile market, formerly O2 Asia’s mobile device business (until Telefonica disposed of it) with an investment from our friends at Expansys the existing management team took over the established atom brand and have since added devices known by the unpronounceable moniker UbiQUiO.

I’m not sure quite what target market O2 Asia had in mind with the atom, We have a touch screen windows mobile 6 professional device, with a whizzy processor and massive Onboard storage at 1 Gbyte (about 800 Mbytes of which is available when you take into account the standard loadout) it’s almost pretty enough to be a desirable consumer device but looks businesslike and yet it has ‘surround sound’ via built in speakers and a great FM radio system which are surely personal applications not business ones.

Environment

The atom had a full workout in my regular business environment connected to exchange 2003 via exchange activesync; I used the atom as my primary portable device for around two weeks.

MWg Atom Life Specification

The MWg Atom Life comes well presented in an attractive box, the design of which is similar to the current HTC offering. You can see what’s in the box by watching Matt’s Atom unboxing video.

Highlights:
On Board Storage: a Gbyte of onboard storage which when you add a 2 Gbyte MiniSD card and you have oodles of space

3G: becoming more commonplace but still worthy of mention, 3g means that you can talk and receive emails at the same time.

Speed: in everyday use the Atom fair whizzes along the 624 MHz PXA XScale processor is a match for most handheld tasks.

No Lights:
Cheap Finish: the atom is a bit plasticy, and the gloss black case is a real fingerprint magnet, to add to the general feel of cheapness the button icons on the silver detailing band around the device lack definition, they look like the they’ve been quickly painted over. Bit of a shame really. It’s not helped by the hastily stuck on MWg logo used to obscure the printed O2 one.

Lowlights:
Stability: on several occasions during the review I had relatively long periods without interruption and I’d look at the atom to find that it had turned itself off without warning as I indicated at the start this experience differs from almost everyone else I’ve spoken to so I’d like to hear from other Atom users with good or bad experiences.

REVIEW

Despite my reservations about the glossy finish the Atom Life is actually not a bad size nor is it unattractive per se, the poor finishing is a little irksome but overall the device is similar in size to the well loved imate JAMin.

Form Factor

The Atom’s form factor is actually pretty good the device seems sturdy and follows a pretty standard pattern

Power, stylus and MiniSD card slot at the top

MWg Atom Life top view

Video / camera button and record button to the right (my only criticism is that the two buttons are quite close to each other and the camera button is a bit fiddly.

MWg Atom Life right side

Volume up and down to the left and an IrDA port

MWg Atom Life left side

As you’d expect the 3G video calling camera is positioned on the top right of the device. You can see here the on/off legends poor definition, a bit of sloppy embossing spoils the finish.

MWg Atom Life top front view

And miniUSB, reset button and headphone / FM aerial jack on the bottom notice how much better the etched legends appear here, I wish MWg had used this technique everywhere rather than the sloppy embossing

MWg Atom Life bottom view

The facia button arrangement is pretty good although the soft keys are a tad fiddly more suited to stylus than finger. You can see the ‘loudspeakers’ in this view as well but more of that later. The bottom right key gives access to O2 media plus which is a media library application more evidence of a consumer target audience.

MWg Atom Life buttons

The back has the 2 Megapixel camera with strobe flash, self portrait mirror and a very conspicuous logo

MWg Atom Life back

Overall the Atom seems reasonably well manufactured a little prone to finger marks. I’m not a fan of the finish and the branding seems a little clumsy but a pretty good package overall

Connectivity

The Atom does offer both, Bluetooth; and IrDA. For file transfer and peripheral connection from a network perspective the Atom is tri band (dual UMTS 1900/2100 and GSM) and supports GPRS and HSDPA at up to 3.6 Gbps the onboard WiFi supports both 802.11 b & g.

The wireless manager is a little more intuitive than the standard application and a lot prettier

The Atom has a great FM radio application built in that supports RDS, traffic and news and as usual it will only operate if the headset if plugged in, you need to remember this when recording.

Operation

The fast processor and ample RAM mean that the Atom are reasonably fast, navigation is zippy and regular applications run well without problems.

MWg claim a standby battery life of 200 hours, I tend to charge devices a lot more often that this so can’t really vouch for this, I did however get reasonable talk time with about three hours of 2G calls with WiFi and Bluetooth activated.

Configuration

The Atom is a pretty standard PDA arrangement seems fairly well balanced and weighted and holds no real surprises the only unusual feature is the relatively large area of the fascia devoted to speakers

Applications

The Atom includes the standard windows mobile 6 application set you do get windows live and live messenger included in the build and mobile remote desktop all of which are useful. You also get Office Mobile in its entirety and Clearvue’s PDF viewer in the standard build.

There are three applications that stand out, the FM radio, the equaliser & SRS surround sound control panel and media plus.

The FM radio includes full RDS so you can see the station name and a description of the content.

You can set up a series of presets, the radio supports traffic announcements and best of all you can make use of that memory by pre recording your favourite stations, you need to ensure you have the headset / FM aerial plugged in or the application won’t start.

The app is reliant on you being in the right area at the time as you set frequency rather than RDS preset but it’s a useful feature

Mediaplus gives access to your media files and also to the

settings menu which is where you can configure your SRS surround sound settings

There’s a graphic equaliser

SRS surround sound

And trubass……

I’m not looking forward to sharing a bus with someone who owns one of these and has a lack of consideration for other passengers, I suppose the saving grace is that the loudspeakers are actually loud enough to hear and the trubass takes the tinny edge of the playback

Stability

This is the tricky area, I had a bit of a bad experience with the Atom, on a couple of occasions it turned itself off in my pocket, I’m not sure why and this seems a bit at odds with the experiences of others, so I’d like to hear if anyone else has had similar or dissimilar experiences.

Overall Assessment

Overall the Atom represents excellent value for money, at sub £200 SIM-free it’s a steal, there are a few things I’d change, the finish being the main one. However, overall the device is a well rounded PDA smartphone with some interesting applications.

Review by: Alasdair

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, MWg, MWg Atom Life]

HP iPAQ 214 review

With the vast array of mobile phones on today’s market equipped with Windows Mobile, or other PDA software, can HP’s latest standalone PDA device compete? Will people really want to carry around several devices for contacts, calendars and calls?

Introduction

HP’s latest iPAQ, the 214, at first glance seems a step back to the original iPAQ days. A PDA Device running Windows Mobile 6 Classic, with all of the standard features you would expect from this operating system – Except, no SIM card or telephone support. HP have integrated full wireless and Bluetooth support into the device so the old days of connecting wires to your desktop may at least be over.

HP iPAQ 214

HP have stated to us that continued interest in this style of perhaps, traditional PDA’s are attracting new market areas where mobile phone connectivity is not required, such as the health marketplace covering hospital usage for example.

What’s in the box?

Once again, HP’s market brand is clearly in evidence with the box and packaging. You can see our full unboxing video HERE. User Guides and Software are first to come out of the box, revealing the pretty sizeable iPAQ 214 Enterprise Handheld. A pretty hefty 2,200AH battery should keep the device running for a while. A standard charger with multiple country options hooks up to the non-standard charging lead. The USB Sync cable included also has a connector for the charger so the device will not charge from USB alone.

Hidden right at the bottom of the box is the retro style carry case.

HP iPAQ 214 Specification:

General

A rather simplistic set of buttons and connectors adorns the very smart and well built HP 214.

To the top right of the device we have the power button.

The large screen 4 inch diagonal screen dominates the front of the case leading us down to the typical control keys

HP iPAQ 214 buttons

Shortcut keys either side of the main navigation control provide quick and simple access to common features such as Calander, E-Mail and Windows Shortcuts. The navigation pad allows standard control of the PDA and features.

The bottom of the phone provides the propriety charging and docking connector, as well as a mini USB for PC synchronisation. I never managed to get the device to charge from the USB connector alone and had to use the supplied docking cable and mains charger.

HP iPAQ 214 bottom

Many people however will be really pleased to see the full size standard 3.5mm headphone socket.

The top of the case hides a dual SD/CF socket allowing great expansion with devices or memory cards.

HP iPAQ 214 top

Interestingly, HP have also accommodated a small light sensor right next to the power switch which will automatically adjust the screen brightness depending on ambient light conditions.

On the left of the device is a solitary voice recording button.

HP iPAQ 214 left side

The right side is home to nothing more than a reset button.

HP iPAQ 214 right side

Highlights and Lowlights

Highlights

Lowlights

Review

The HP iPAQ 214 is a pretty sizeable PDA device with a massive 4 inch 640×480 resolution screen. It has certainly been manufactured extremely well and the looks and quality are superb – Very much a high end PDA device.

After unboxing the unit and charging for a while I played around with the customary interface and the stylus. I’m not convinced by the feel of the screen though. Whilst it undertakes stylus control very well, it feels like a thick bit of plastic and almost feels like it moves under the point of the stylus. (And yes…. I had taken off the protective cover!!). Many of today’s touch screens have a much nicer look and feel.

Hooking the device up to my WiFi connections was a breeze – HP certainly make connectivity a joy with all of their devices. Browsing the internet really has the device coming into its own though. The exceptionally sharp 640×480 display allows so much more of a web site to be visible and navigation becomes so simple. Looking at images, maps and text were great. Even better, the screen is more than bright enough to be viewed clearly outside.

What you also notice, certainly compared to many PDA Phones, is the speed of the device. I’m running my HTC Touch overclocked at 260, rather than 201mHz and it still seems mighty, mighty slow compared to the HP 214. The slowest of slow applications run so well making the device a dream to use.

As this is classed as an Enterprise device I thought I’d better test some of these features so I enabled Bluetooth on my laptop and ran through the HP configuration settings to hook the PDA to my laptop. As mentioned previously, HP are the King of connectivity on many of their devices. I was able to sync to my laptop within minutes and have my calendar and e-mails synchronising across the Bluetooth connection.

This is where I had to step back a little though. Bluetooth or wireless for synchronisation? It’s great when I’m sat in the office but on the road to be without synchronised mail unless I stop off at Starbucks just seems a little backward, especially for an “Enterprise” classified device.

If you want to view maps or anything when you are out and about you need to make sure you download them first or else you are going to have to use the Bluetooth connection on your mobile in order to access the internet.

The device has been fun to use though, with no real issues or major complaints. The button placement is great and, apart from my dislike of the feel of the screen, stylus control is precise and responsive. The really handy navigation buttons save stylus time, and some extra neat features like holding the buttons down for a few seconds will launch other shortcuts is well thought out and very useful.

HP iPaq 214 vs HTC TyTN II

Conclusion

I have to admit, I wasn’t overly looking forward to reviewing this device, the idea of a standalone PDA seemed very old school especially when my HTC Touch does all of this and has phone calls as well! I was however very impressed with the HP iPAQ 214.

I can also understand the market place HP are trying to attract, people may want to be able to go out and not be bombarded with e-mails such as your normal Windows Mobile or CrackBerry. There may be places such as hospitals where phones are not allowed, but simple access to internet via WiFi may be.

However, for an Enterprise device I just can’t help feel this has a restricted market sector.

If you are looking for a top of the range PDA and happy to carry your normal phone with you, this device is simply the best I have seen on the market. However, I for one will stick with my Windows Mobile device, which, although smaller and harder to view web pages, does everything I need in one nice small package.

Review by: John

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, iPAQ, HP]

SanDisk Sansa View review

INTRODUCTION

The problem with any mp3 player these days, is that they will always, rightly or wrongly, be compared to the iPod brand of players. A lot of people don’t believe the iPod to be anywhere near the quality the apple marketing machine have it appear.

Having two mp3 players during the review gave me a chance to compare and contrast, and also see what the Sansa excels at. Sandisk are legends in the flash memory trade, so I guess it’s a pretty small jump to make a splash in the mp3 market.

SanDisk Sansa View

The Sansa comes in a very small package – with just a carton inside holding the mp3 player itself, connection cable and earphones. Take a look at our unbox video for a more detailed look at the Sansa View.

SanDisk Sansa View specification:

DESIGN

The new Sansa is more evolution than revolution. It certainly improves on older devices like the e270, but still maintains a similar look and feel to its predecessor. Still glossy black finish on the front, and a new rubberised back panel the view looks a lot more sturdy than the scratch-tastic back of most iPods.

At 49.5 x 109mm x 10.4mm the View has actually filled out in comparison with earlier models, and is actually 3 times the size of the newest Nano’s. A deliberate differentiator? One thing I’ve noticed about my Nano though, is that it’s not exactly easy to hold – so the View’s form factor does have its benefits. The rubber back panel also feels nice and secure in the hand but perhaps doesn’t quite have the “coolness” of the Nano’s aluminium finish (however, nor does it have the scratches).

SanDisk Sansa View back

I’d say the Sansa View also loses out to the Nano with its screen. Don’t worry Sandisk fans – it does get better! The 2.4inch screen has a resolution is 240×320 (and for the stupid, 320×240 in landscape mode), but doesn’t have anything close to the Nano’s vibrant 2inch display. Personally, as much as it pains me to say it, the View is not going to be a good choice for videos. However, it does have areas it excels in. As a tool for accessing the rather cool and usable navigation menu, its fine – and its large size helps for scrolling playlists and albums too. It’s also worth noting that the screen resolution, coupled with support for most apple codecs, means any iPod video converters and tools will work fine with the Sansa View

We see the most major changes within the hardware navigation buttons. There’s a true ‘thumb wheel’ which I MUCH prefer to the fiddly Nano’s touch wheel. Some will have noticed from my Mobile reviews that I really dislike touch screens and panels in general – hardware buttons and wheels make things so much easier, and I put ease of use over looks every time (there are some rather vain reasons why I went for an iPod Nano I’m afraid). My only concern with the wheel, is whether it will get damaged in the pocket, since it is raised slightly from the main casing. Within the wheel, you also have a 4 way direction pad for even more functionality.

There is also a dedicated button to return to the main menu towards the top right of the navigation wheel.

SanDisk Sansa View left side

On the right hand side the View starts to trounce the iPod with its microSD slot. Excellent feature, and all mp3 player manufacturers should be able to add a card slot at minimal cost, so there really is no excuse. SanDisk’s flash memory core business may have had something to do with it though!

SanDisk Sansa View right side

The bottom of the player is where the – sadly proprietary – dock connector lives, along with a standard 3.5inch audio jack. While we can moan about the proprietary connector, it is unfortunately common to almost all mp3 players now. What is a valid criticism though, is the jack location being on the bottom. On previous SanDisk models, the jack was located at the top of the player, which was useful when listening while it was docked on charge for example. Not sure why it was moved really.

SanDisk Sansa View bottom

The Sansa earphones are good, if not great, and perfectly acceptable to get you started. Most audiophiles will have their own set anyway I guess.

SOFTWARE

Not a great deal of change to report really. Thing have been tidied up, but the interface was always good to look at, made sense and was easy to use. The scroll wheel suits the interface perfectly – and much better than the latest non-touch iPod. The main menu is icon based, but changes to text as we go deeper into mp3/video lists.

The main menu consists of Music, Photo, Voice, Video, Extras and Settings, all selected with the scroll wheel.

The music library filters are pretty standard to both Sandisk players, and players in general, with Play All tracks starting us off at the top, along with Artist, Album, Songs, Genres, My Top Rated, Recordings, and Playlists as options. On the playback screen, you get thumbnail album art, track info, and a time-elapsed meter. Pressing the select button takes you to a neat graphic-level meter, full-size album art, and the next song.

Finally, confessional time – I didn’t even find the small CD containing the software until I had to send the device back. Based on previous experience, this will be a waste of time and almost certainly more annoying than using either the Removable drive, or MTP USB profiles built into windows. Transfer speed is not lightning, but is about bearable even filling up 16GB of space.

Sound Quality

Better than the Nano. Basically that’s what it boils down to. I can only judge on the supplied earphones, and since Apple don’t bother to supply decent quality buds, SanDisk wipe the floor – at least with supplied kit from each manufacturer. Don’t get me wrong – Sandisk have hardly pushed the boat out with their supplied ‘phones either – but they, coupled with the mp3 player itself seem to produce a better “out of the box” sound.

There are various EQ modes and sound level adjustments available in the menu too which will help get the sound perfectly suited to various audio devices.

Pros:

AMAZING battery life. Seriously, I hardly charged it. I’ll try and add the SanDisk quoted figures later today, but take it from me – they are good.

Massive storage. 16gb. The Nano doesn’t even attempt more than 8GB, so another 1-up for SanDisk

Price point. These aren’t expensive, and like everything in this industry, its price will only drop.

Cons:

Not an iPod. If you are vain (And a bit sad admittedly), the lack of iPod branding is a Con. Sorry guys… but for some, that’s killer.

Conclusion

I like the Sansa. The price and storage capacity suit me down to the ground, but being SanDisk you’ll know the quality will be there too. While there are better and bigger brands available, very few can match the price vs storage vs quality benchmarks set by SanDisk

Review by: Mark

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Sandisk, Sansa View, Media Player]

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 review

After the huge success of Panasonic’s Lumix range of Compact Digital Cameras, can they repeat this success with the specialist Digital SLR Market with their second DSLR release the D10? Panasonic’s Lumix DMC L10 comes under scrutiny in our review.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10

Introduction

Panasonic released their first DSLR camera, the L1, to the market in 2006, a rather unusual looking camera for sure but they have certainly come “back to the norm” with the look and styling of their latest release, the L10. That’s where the comparison with current DLSR cameras on the market changes as Panasonic have attempted to build in many of the features found on a compact Digital Camera.

Whilst many purists may have issues with this technology on a Digital SLR camera, I’m sure it has been aimed at helping users migrating from a small compact camera to get good pictures straight from the box.

Lumix L10

What’s in the Box?

Well, a rather stereotypical silver camera box hides the Panasonic L10 camera, and the rather special Leica lens. The L10 we reviewed was part of a Kit with the body, battery, and LEICA D Vario-ELMAR 14-50mm f3.8-5.6 lens. This lens has Panasonics/Leica’s Optical Image Stabilisation built in. More on this later. Please have a look at our unboxing video which can be found HERE.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 Specification:

General

Looking and feeling like a pretty generic DSLR Camera, the L10 has many of the standard buttons and controls you would expect. Starting at the top of the camera we have the following controls:

Lumix L10 top view

Located on the right hand side is the standard thumb wheel used to select standard SLR features such as Automatic, Manual F settings and Shutter speed. The On Off switch is located just under the thumb wheel (Watch this as you can manage to turn the camera off by accident whist using the thumb wheel). Just to the right of this is the Film Mode select. Again, watch changing these settings by accident.

The shutter button is located at the front if the camera in a very comfortable easy to use position. Just below this is a standard thumb wheel used to control additional settings on the camera depending on the mode selected.

A TTL based external flash unit can be mounted on the hot shoe. The built in flash can be flipped out by using the catch to the left of the hotshoe.

The rear of the camera contains the remaining controls for accessing the camera menus, setting changes and viewing modes.

Lumix L10 controls

To the left of these controls we find a world first in DLSR cameras, the 270 degree rotating LCD viewing screen. This flip out screens allows simple shooting from the waist, above your head as well as well as being used for self portraits etc. I do have to say though, this excellent screen is let down by the appalling catch mechanism used by Panasonic on this screen. Its can be quite painful flicking the screen out as the catch holding the screen seems way too stiff and the catches dig into your fingers. Perhaps this may improve as catches start to get worn for example?

Lumix L10 live view screen

The remaining connectors are located to the right of the camera for SD cards and the DV out and remote shutter controls.

Lumix L10 USB and DV connectors

Lumix L10 SD card slot

Highlights and Lowlights

Using the camera in a wide range of environments has shown a number of really good features with this camera, as well as a number of items that Panasonic may wish to look at in future firmware or product changes:

Highlights

Lowlights

Lumix L10 front view

Review

Well, I have to admit to own one of the original Canon 10D DLSR’s as well as a Panasonic Lumix FX33 Compact Digital camera so I was interested to see how these would compare in action. Never claiming to be the world’s expert in photography, I also invited our good friend Steve Davis an excellent photography to cast his eyes over the camera to get some different feedback.

After taking the camera out of the bag, my first impressions were of an excellent well built and constructed lens (The Leica D) and a lighter weight quite plastic feeling DSLR Camera. Once hooked together the overall weight and balance was however very good. The camera uses the Four Thirds standard for its lenses rather than the typical 35mm used by some. Designed for Digital Cameras the Four Thirds system has a good following and many lens manufacturers allowing scope for change and upgrades.

Switching the camera on and dropping into automatic mode and we were off shooting within seconds. Warm up time is sub 1 second allowing very quick impromptu shots if your camera is every switched off.

Flicking out the LCD screen, (as mentioned previously please, please Panasonic sort out this catch and mechanism…) allows a good view to the side of the camera. This allows taking shots at various camera heights and by simply tilting the screen getting a good view of the proposed shot. Panasonics LiveView incorporates a mirror in front of the sensor so the LCD screen shows the image live. A feature of course standard in Compact cameras but far more difficult to incorporate with an DSLR.

Lumix L10 front view

The other advantage of this LCD screen is it can be placed back on the camera with the LCD facing inwards – Protecting the LCD screen very well.

Shooting in a rather overcast garden still produced quality shots with excellent colours. The automatic mode copes with most circumstances we could find and unless you want to be “artistic” will probably stay in this mode for most users.

Maybe it’s the old school approach but I still found myself using the view finder on most occasions. The LiveView is very good in what it does. But the down side is the additional time taken to take shots if this is enabled. The camera has to move the mirror first and you may miss that split second moment. Talking with Matt he has found the LiveView very good with macro photography (Close Up Work) so this may be a good use for this facility.

After taking a multitude of shots, we decided to try out some of the scene settings and additional features. This is where the camera tries to incorporate many of the features of a compact digital Camera.

Moving the thumb wheel onto the SCN selector changes the LCD so we can now choose the type of scene. This is where Steve and I looked at each other slightly surprised. The Scenes on offer start with the typical Sunset option and then bizarrely give options for Food, Baby1, Baby2 and Pet. Now, please don’t get me wrong – If you were at a Baby’s Christening, with your Pet Dog and eating food this would pretty much cover your whole days camera settings. For day to day work you may understand our surprise at these choices.

However, there are different automatic settings on the camera and these include, Portrait, Scenery, Macro, Sports and Night Scenery.

This does give a more useful range of options such as indoor settings, outdoor settings and a “Creative” setting for each option. The Creative Setting allows the thumb wheel at the front to be used to change the look and feel of the picture. In SLR terms all this actually does is change the F setting and shutter speed to increase or decrease the depth of field. An option available at all times from the manual modes on the Thumb Wheel. I found the manual changes were easy and required less menu navigation than the Creative Settings.

Lumix L10 body

Knowing Panasonic have aimed this camera as a transition from Compact Digital, I can’t help but feel the menus could have been made a little user friendly. They are very easy to navigate and quite uncluttered, however they seem to lack information. For example, changing the picture quality simple gives L,M and S for Large Medium and Small. Maybe it’s the techie side of me, but I would rather have been provided with a little more information or in a different way. For example – 10Mpixel, 5Mpixel and 2MPixel. I feel this would give the user a better understanding of the option they are choosing without having to RTFM. (Read the manual…)

After taking a great deal of shots, we thought we would try indoor use. The popup flash performs extremely well in a whole range of low light conditions. The infrared sensor kicks in to help focusing at low light levels (This can be painfully slow as the infrared light does not seem very intense and the lens does have to hunt a while before getting focus). On general pictures, portraits etc the light balance was very, very good. The downside we noticed though was the colour saturation, especially red was a little over the top on flash shots and may require external editing of the images to reduce this.

The Leica lens however is the star of this show. It’s extremely well made and the 14mm Wide Angle will easily allow excellent coverage of the inside of many rooms. Under normal light conditions the focus is very fast and the outstanding Optical Image Stabilisation can save many a tricky situation, even allowing good quality low light shots to be taken without a tripod and showing very little evidence of camera shake. It’s important to remember the stabalisation is built into the lens and not the camera so change lenses and you lose this option.

Lumix L10 Leica Lens

Conclusion

The Panasonic L10 is only available in kit form with the lens and body and is priced at a recommended £900. Compared to a number of other DSLR cameras on the market, this is quite high and needs to pull something special out of the bag to compete. The camera is quite easy to use and very quick to start to take images. The overall look and feel of the camera is quite lightweight and plastic but the controls are in good positions and apart from the on off switch being located under the tumbwheel perform well.

The plastic feel is finished off by the terrible catch on the lcd screen, perhaps a little more research or design work could have prevented this.

Picture quality is outstanding across the board with only the high concentrations of red on some flash shots letting the camera down slightly. The sensor is obviously very capable and the compression software quick and effective.

Battery life is some 450 standard shots so that should last most outings and couple with the powersave features and ability to turn the lcd off should certainly help.

I have heard a rumour that Panasonic are planning to sell the lens separately at £600, which is 2/3rds the cost of the kit. This would help explain the obvious differences in quality and look and feel of the camera and lens.

The package overall does work well, I’m not convinced on some of the compact digital camera features that have been added (although face detection is a worthwhile addition for sure). But for high quality pictures and if you stick to Auto mode simple ease of use its not half bad. There are however many exceptional camera kits in this and lower price ranges that split the costs of the camera and lens more evenly, with the L10 it looks as though you are really buying an excellent lens, with a digital SLR bolted on.

Review by: John

[Post tag(s): Lumix, Digital Cameras, Tracy & Matt, DMC-L10, DSLR, Panasonic]

HTC Touch Cruise review

Is it time to put my tired XDA Orbit to sleep and upgrade to the HTC Touch cruise?

INTRODUCTION

Having been a loyal Orbit user since launch, I have to say that it has been very reliable and useful in a whole manner of applications; the announcement of the HTC Touch Cruise quite some time ago was welcomed and anticipated by many worldwide. And the obvious clamour of people trying to obtain this PDA certainly make it one of the most desirable new units of the moment, and apparently difficult to get hold of, to say the least!

HTC Touch Cruise

On first opening the box, which you can see on Matt’s unboxing, the device appears solidly built and well screwed together. The device I have been using is a preproduction unit, so does not have all of the goodies included such as the Tomtom Taster software etc, but in the box there is:

HTC Touch Cruise Box contents

HTC Touch Cruise specification:

GENERAL

On the top of the Cruise there is only the power button. I do prefer the power button on the side, but that is only because I am used to it being there.

HTC Touch Cruise top

The bottom houses the Mini USB, the reset hole, there are a couple of holes for connecting a strap or a lanyard (or one of those horrible phone charm things!). It also has the non-telescopic stylus housing.

HTC Touch Cruise bottom

On the left side we find the voice command button, and volume slider which as Matt mentions is a slider and not a wheel. This also feel well put together and has a solid but smooth action.

HTC Touch Cruise left side

The right hand side gives us the Camera Button and the covered microSD card slot which is a better location than the old Artemis which housed the miniSD under the SIM card, much better for quick access.

HTC Touch Cruise right side

All the side buttons are in the shiny, blingy, chrome effect, as you can see in the pictures, it looks impressive.

HTC Touch Cruise buttons

The back of the unit holds the 3.0 Megapixel main camera with Auto-Focus, with mirror but no flash. 2 aerial sockets, one for an external aerial and one for external GPS, both of these have a rubber cover although one was missing from our review unit.

HTC Touch Cruise back

Finally, returning to the front of the device again the it does look impressive; the flat 2.8” screen has a mirrored effect, below this are the usual left and right phone function keys, answer and hang up, Internet Explorer key and communication key (which can be set up to launch your GPS app.). In the middle is the rotating dial with enter button in the centre, the dial also acts as a directional up/down/left/right rocker. At the top of the screen is the VGA camera for Video conferencing. There is also the earpiece and microphone.

Highlights
Sharp clear screen – noticeably better than its previous P3300
Feature packed specification – the inclusion of GPS, HSDPA, WiFi, 400Mhz processor, 128MB RAM / 256MB ROM, Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, and of course the TouchFLO interface. This really is in there with many and most competitors
Weight – Only marginally heavier than the P3300 even when you include the extra specifications.

Lowlights
Fingerprints – Mirrored flat face looks the part but very difficult to use in bright sunlight.
Touchscreen is not quite as responsive as one would hope, there is a definite lag with activating the UI quite often needing 2 or 3 taps to get the required response at times.
Camera and video are a step up from the usual models, and the autofocus is a welcome inclusion, however I do feel that it is still work in progress, and are linked to the ongoing problems HTC are having with the Qualcomm MSM7200 chipset, details of which have been previously covered in Matt’s article, HTC respond to HTCClassAction. Hopefully to be resolved in the future to allow FULL functionality of the device. Maybe this is affecting the Touchscreen response as well.

Software

The Touch Cruise uses Window Mobile 6 and is pretty standard as it goes, the inclusion of the TouchFLO aids the most common and basic functions, I did find again that with the slightly unresponsive screen I was using the Jog dial and directional rocker more and more.

The inclusion of the Task manager at the top of the screen is very useful and again a welcome addition, helpful for closing and switching between programs quickly.

There is an issue known to owners regarding the backlight, when in a call, the backlight dims and then blackens completely after 15 seconds to prevent battery drain and also to aid the accidental activation of other programs by touching the screen with your face. I did find this a little annoying when you want to access the features of the phone they are unusable without having to wake the machine. I managed find a fix that stopped this from happening but this caused the next problem, when on a long call the unit is very hot next to your face, as well as the chance of activating other programs. A compromise would be needed for me, perhaps dimming after a minute or two not 15 seconds.

REVIEW

Using the device day to day, was improving all the time and I liked it more and more with familiarity, I still didn’t really get the hang of or particularly like the TouchFLO and preferred to use the standard methods of input and using programs, nowadays there is a such wealth of 3rd party programs that allows the owner to really pick and choose what they prefer in the way of ‘extras’.

The GPS is very welcome but unfortunately as mentioned this particular model did not have the bundled software but Google maps worked fine. I was glad to see the inclusion of the now familiar Camera Album, allowing you at see the files very quickly, thanks to the faster processor again, and also enables zooming in and slide shows amongst rotation etc. Very easy to use and completely uncomplicated.

HTC Touch Cruise side buttons

As mentioned the screen although looking good is a complete nightmare in bright sunlight the fact that the screen dims down to conserve energy makes it worst at you can’t see the screen at all.

HTC in this case have decided to include an alphabetical sidebar on the contacts screen and as you scroll down the letters enlarge to demonstrate whereabouts you are on the list, OK unless you happen to have a lot of contacts. They have also included a few more input methods such as a 12 and 20 button keyboard, however I still found myself downloading a 3rd Party application as I think the buttons are too small especially on the 20 button version.

I have read about sound issues as well on the Touch Cruise and my experience in this area was very good, volume and quality where for me not an issue at all and when paired with my bluetooth car kit worked excellently, both through the earpiece and loudspeaker.

Conclusion

The obvious comparison for me is my old faithful XDA Orbit, and although dimensionally they are near identical at 110mmx58mm and the Touch Cruise being approximately 1mm thinner, the TC oddly looks and feels smaller, perhaps it is because of the weight difference and also that flat front screen.

Matt was completely correct when he mentioned that the screen would be a fingerprint magnet and as also mentioned is liable to scratching quite easily without some kind of protection. We will have to watch and see if this is a common problem, and when the cost of the unit to take into consideration scratching the front would prove expensive.

Is it a reasonable upgrade to the P3300 Athemis, most definitely, the added G3, faster overall performance, and in my opinion as nice looking as an other models on the market, the only real barrier is finding one and at a good price!

Review by: Steve

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC Touch Cruise, HTC Artemis, HTC P3450]

i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 & 8150 review

Two peas in a pod the i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 and 8150, i-mate stretches its wings.

The i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 and the 8150

10 second review:
Device: i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 AND 8150
Cost: SIM free only: 6150 – £449.95 (Incl. VAT) & 8150 – £469.95 (Incl. VAT)
Available from: Devicewire.com
Summary: two very similar devices from I-mate aimed squarely at the enterprise not particularly revelatory they could however provide a great platform for application development and workforce mobilisation.
Best of: VGA Screen, 3G
Worst Of: Call me shallow there are better looking devices out there.
Ho hum: XGA output for external displays

The Long Review

INTRODUCTION

I-mate have been around for years in the mobile devices marketplace, they’ve had a long and profitable relationship with HTC and were almost the mobile device equivalent of HTC’s brewery tap. Since HTC and i-mate’s relationship dissolved there’s been great anticipation of the first true i-mate devices, the wait is over.

I’ve used i-mates HTC based devices quite a bit, the JAMin was a favourite as was the K-JAM but always felt that there was a little confusion as to who the devices were aimed at, all the devices seemed to have a combination of business and consumer oriented features with the launch of their own product lines i-mate have removed this problem with the launch of discrete ranges : the Ultimate range ( aimed squarely at the enterprise) and the JAMA range which has a more consumer target market.

The Ultimate range consists of four Windows Mobile Professional devices, the 8502 & 9502 which include GPS and the 6150 and 8150 which combine a VGA screen with the ability to output XGA (1024 x 768) video to an external device like a projector or TFT.

We’re looking at the i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 and the i-mate ULTIMATE 8150 here and because of their similarity we’re going to do a combined review of the pair, more on that later.

As I have already said I-mate are firmly targeting these devices at the enterprise market and allow access to a suite of applications to allow small internal helpdesks to support the location independent information worker but again we can delve into this later.

Both devices use Windows Mobile 6 professional and include almost the full suite of applications you can licence from Microsoft including Live Messenger but not voice command.

You may also want to take a look that the unboxing videos that Matt recorded of the 6150 and the 8150.

Environment

Due to pressures of time I wasn’t able to give the i-mates a full workout in the usual enterprise environment that said they use standard exchange activesync and the pocket outlook client and operation seems standard

Highlights:
They seem tough: both the i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 and 8150 are made from tougher than usual feeling impact plastic and have a metal battery cover which gives a real robust feel to the device

3G: in my opinion 3G should be standard for any enterprise device but it still isn’t, the 6150 and 8150 are both 3G and HSDPA capable.

Fast Processor: the 6150 and 8150 both share the new PXA 520 MHz XScale processor

Graphic power: both devices have the Nvidia GoForce 5500 graphics accelerator which although not a major benefit for most users this may be useful for niche applications

On device Storage: the i-mate ULTIMATE 6150 and 8150 both have 256 Mbytes of storage on board and 128 Mbytes RAM for ample processing power, they do however only state support of MicroSD cards of up to 2 Gbytes.

Screen: the VGA screens on the devices are clear, crisp and bright the 8150 has a 2.4” touch screen and the 6150 swaps the full keypad for an extra 0.4”s of screen estate.

Joystick: a joystick is provided on the body of the device that falls conveniently under the thumb of a right handed user aiding navigation without having to resort to the stylus.

No Lights:
Confusion: I’m not sure why i-mate have released two devices that are pretty much identical they could have just released the 8150 as the extra space on the 6150 that is freed up by the lack of keypad is just wasted less than a centimetre of extra screen estate and an expanse of plain black plastic. The extra £20 for the 8150 is well worth it.

XGA out: er why? I’m not sure why you’d want this apart from for some niche applications yes you could run a PowerPoint presentation using it but when the XGA scales up to a regular widescreen TFT it gets blocky.

Lowlights:
Size and weight: notwithstanding the robust feeling of the devices they are a little heavy in the pocket and a bit bigger than most of the other devices out there for most users this

Aesthetics: I know these are business devices but as far as I’m concerned that’s no excuse for a lack of styling, both these devices are very utilitarian and not so pleasing to the eye.

GENERAL

As I’ve already said the 6150 and 8150 are pretty much identical, the only differentiator being the inclusion of a full phone style keypad on the 8150. You only gain a tiny area of screen estate on the 6150 which I suppose is due to the positioning of the joystick on the devices’ mainboard.

I-mate x150 comparison

Consequently we can cover both devices off in one review, personally I favour the 8150 as the full keypad is a real benefit when rapidly texting and when using xT9 for emails and it’s only £20 more the small reduction in screen size over the 6150 is for me a price worth paying. For larger documents the 8150 keypad is OK but I’d advise the purchase of a Bluetooth keyboard if you intend to use either of these devices for any significant output.

The x150s are pretty standard PDA style windows Mobile 6 professional devices they both benefit from a VGA screen which is very clear and crisp.

I-mate x150 VGA display

Physically, notwithstanding the keypad and the slight difference in screen size the two devices are identical the arrangement of ports and buttons follows the same scheme on both the x150s:

Power and IrDA at the top.

I-mate 6150 top

USB in, Camera, XGA out and external antenna port to the right hand side. I have a gripe about side mounted USB ports as due to the miles I do in my day job and in line with UK legislation I cradle my devices when in the car. This is fine but when I need to apply power, as I haven’t been able to find a generic cradle that can accommodate side charging whilst maintaining a firm grip on the device I have to compromise and I find myself scrabbling around in the footwell when the device pops out of the cradle far too often.

I-mate 6150 right

Jog dial, OK button, MicroSD slot and wireless control centre buttons to the left

I-mate 6150 left

As you’d expect the 3G video calling camera is positioned on the top right of the device.

I-mate 6150 front camera

Both devices have a joystick on the front, embedded within the keypad on the 8150 and next to the end key on the 6150, this is great to use and allows easy one handed operation of the x150s you rarely need to remove the stylus in basic operation

6150 buttons and 8150 keypad

Overall the x150s are manufactured with high impact matt black plastic with a metal battery cover, tough looking but perhaps a little prone to finger marks. They have exactly the same dimensions and may be a little big for some users. The styling is a bit bland but these are business devices so I suppose i-mate can get away with this.

REVIEW

The x150s do offer a comprehensive range of connectivity options, for peripherals, both support Bluetooth; they also include IrDA which is an increasing rarity these days.

From a network perspective the x150s are quad band including EDGE and HSDPA for higher speed data connectivity and support WiFi 802.11g.

Both have an FM radio built in, (I’m not sure why as this smacks of the split personality of i-mate devices of old) which will only operate if the headset if plugged in, I suppose this might help while away the hours, however I’d much rather have seen more SD capability so I could load my own tunes and listen to them with windows media player.

The unusual addition on these devices is the inclusion of a proprietary XGA out port, covered by a rather fiddly and unconnected plastic cover and requiring the use of an i-mate XGA adapter lead (included) you can use this port to connect an external display or projector to the i-mate and provide sound. The lead is of a reasonable length although the XGA and sound connectors are quite close together OK for connection to most projectors but not fantastic for display connection unless the display in question has local sound.

I-mate 6150 VGA socket

I-mate 6150 VGA cable

The output is XGA so not brilliant when scaled up to a resolution visible from a distance it was very blocky when viewed on my Samsung 22” widescreen TFT. The other problem with this implementation is that when you use the external port you are not able to display content on both the device touch screen and the external display so in a presentation you’d be forced to constantly refer to the screen which is not good practice, is distracting to your audience and can look a little unpolished. When the device changes to landscape mode the touch screen remains resolutely blank so navigation becomes troublesome. It’s an interesting idea but I can’t help feeling that it could have done with a little more thought and frankly I can’t see the point apart from a few niche applications. If you can think of a way in which you could make use of this feature I’d be keen to understand it.

I-mate x150 external video control

Operation

The fast processor and ample RAM mean that the x150s are reasonably fast, navigation is zippy and regular applications run well without glitches, I get the feeling these devices have been designed for developers of workforce mobilisation solutions as they seem to be well suited for application deployment I’m not sure about battery life as I haven’t been able to really put the x150s through their paces over a over a couple of days general use including WiFi usage, 3G, GPRS and calls the battery held up well, they did refuse to power up on the USB charger alone until they had a bit of power in the battery.

Configuration

There’s nothing innovative here the x150s are standard PDAs everything is pretty much where you’d expect it to be, the only surprise is the joystick which falls neatly under the thumb and is a real aid to navigation. As I’ve already stated I don’t understand why i-mate has developed both devices I’m sure that the 8150 will out sell the 6150. All in all the VGA screen is probably the best single feature of the devices.

I-mate 6150 angled left

Look and Feel

The interface is pretty much vanilla Windows Mobile 6 Professional, there’s an i-mate themed today background but nothing fancy, if you are used to the WM6 interface then there are no surprises here either.

Applications

There’s nothing unusual in the loaded applications on either device, the FM radio tuner is non standard but that’s about it you do get windows live and live messenger included in the build which is useful but apart from that pretty standard stuff. You do get Office Mobile in its entirety and Clearvue’s PDF viewer in the standard build.

What is interesting is trial access to i-mate suite which is a remote management tool provided by i-mate which will allow support teams to control their fleet of i-mate devices, allows users access to files remotely and provides backup and restore facilities for a cost of US$ 100 setup and US$ 10 per month per device. I suppose there may be an appetite for this within the SMB community and the rental model avoids the need to deploy hardware internally and gives greater flexibility. I’m not sure that this will scale into the enterprise as Microsoft’s own tools within exchange 2007 and proposed in Microsoft Systems Center Mobile device Manager makes this suite redundant or at least fulfils a good proportion of its purpose. ,There are other solutions out there like Soti MobiControl enterprise that are more readily deployable for medium sized fleets however the i-mate solution may be ideal for some of the smaller user communities out there.

I-mate 8150 angled left

Stability

I had limited opportunity to put the i-mates through their paces however I had no problems with either dev ice overall application stability is very good, I had no problems with application hangs or voice performance, the device performs well.

Overall Assessment

If I was deploying a workforce mobilisation application especially a field service one I’d definitely put these devices on my assessment list, the lack of GPS may be a concern for some fleet managers but overall the x150s offer a wide range of connectivity options, good storage and processing power and feel robust. The aesthetics mean they aren’t such a theft target and the screen estate offers a great platform for forms. If I was deploying email and calendar, which let’s face it is what most organisations are eager for the devices will do, but they are a little big for my liking and there are far more attractive options out there.

Review by: Alasdair

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, i-mate, i-mate ULTIMATE 8150]

HTC Touch Dual review

Can the HTC Touch Dual improve of the massive selling Touch?

HTC Touch Dual

INTRODUCTION

The Touch range really made HTC a big name is phone manufacturers. Despite the original Touch being severely limited both in spec and usability, it sold by the bucket load. Now HTC have released a new group of PDAs using the Touch brand. Today we are looking at the 16 key HTC Touch Dual. This device has a normal phone keypad, which slides out from under the screen.

HTC Touch Dual open

What’s in the Box?

Another great package from HTC, wrapped well, with the phone itself fitting snugly in some soft foam. Once again, it looks like you are buying an expensive phone, and the style and design of the box and packaging is all part of the deal. Take a look at Matt’s HTC Touch Dual unboxing video for more detail.

HTC Touch Dual box

Inside you’ll find:

HTC Touch Dual specification:

GENERAL

The sliding aspect of the new HTC Touch Dual does not seen to have added much to the ‘thickness’ factor. It’s not exactly chunky then, but its other dimensions do, as you might expect, make it feel fairly cumbersome in your pocket.

On the front we have a similar setup to the original touch, large touch screen, with a silver surround. To the bottom we have the Send and End keys placed either side of a direction pad, with middle action button.

Sliding the phone open with a firm sounding click, the phone pad is visible. The keys aren’t exactly large, but the clear plastic keys looks and feel the part, and it’s very, very easy to type out a text quickly. The number keys are flanked on either side by 3 application shortcut buttons, and an extremely useful back button to the upper right.

HTC Touch Dual keypad

On the left hand side, there is a volume control rocker, and rather oddly, the mini-USB port for data and charging. I’ve no idea why it’s been moved here as it was on the bottom of the original Touch.

HTC Touch Dual left side

The right hand side is home to just the camera button.

HTC Touch Dual right side

The bottom of the phone is completely empty of anything interesting – no buttons, connections or anything.

HTC Touch Dual bottom

The top is home to the power button… and not a lot else.

HTC Touch Dual top

On the back of the phone we see the camera and mirror combo, and a speaker grill.

HTC Touch Dual back/camera

Highlights:

Lowlights:

REVIEW

This is the area HTC are really pushing at the moment. In terms of software bundles, HTC have never really bothered. This has started to change recently, especially with the Touch range, and as you might expect the headline software is of course TouchFlo.

I’m in two minds really about whether TouchFlo is any good or not. The cube is good to show off with, but is it really that useful? I’d say not – especially now the boys from PointUi have released their flashy menu system as well.

However, the lesser known features of TouchFlo are genuinely quite useful. The scrolling with touch is miles easier than trying to find the scroll bar, or using the stylus. The contacts system is also improved with TouchFlo, and the device is a lot easier to use without a stylus now. Finally, a feature I’m not sure is part of TouchFlo, or just a nice HTC add-on – tapping the small title bar (for example to select the volume control), launches a larger version of the taskbar icons, to make it easier to select the correct item! This is something which has been a pain in the bum for many PDA owners, and it is a truly great add-on.

HTC Touch Dual miniUSB socket

Obviously the big improvement over the original Touch is the sliding keypad. It comes in 20 or 16 key versions, but we’ve got the 16 key here – with a standard phonepad. Interestingly HTC have decided not to bring the 20 key version of the Dual to these shores, instead you’ll have to import one. Our review Touch Dual, therefore, has an xT9 system on it. In the past these xT9 input methods have been poorly implemented on Professional version of Windows Mobile. HTC’s version isn’t perfect – and still does odd things which don’t happen on the Standard version of the O/S. It’s a good effort though, and very usable. Type in a word, and the options appear horizontally along the bottom of the screen.

As well as the nice hardware keyboard, you also get a choice of touchscreen keypads as well. I’ve also found these really hard to use, and much prefer the feel of a true button. However, if you like on screen SIP keypads then you’ll be happy with both the phone pad and a 20 key pad version.

The HTC home application is here, as you might expect, and you can show up to 5 different tabs. It’s not changed much from previous HTC PDAs, but its still another of those features you’d assume is part of the O/S.

However surely the nicest and most impressive “new” feature is the slide detection. On opening the slide, a lovely skinned menu appears, with common activities associated with keypad use. For example, you can select to write an email, or SMS. Maybe add a contact or a new note. It really works well and looks even better. It also closes again after a few seconds if no selection is made. Great stuff from HTC.

Also new to the HTC Touch Dual is the HTC replacement photos app. Gone is the slightly clunky, and extremely boring Photos and Videos, and instead we have a TouchFlo enabled ‘Camera Album’. It’s a great application which, on launch, shows a tile set of all your photos. Touching a photo gently will zoom in slightly, and another tap will make the selected image go full screen with an awesomely smooth fade. In full screen mode ‘gestures’ become available, allowing quick zooms, rotations and navigation options. Again – it works well.

The HTC Audio Manager has been mentioned before, but just as a recap, it’s a nice app which you can use instead or as well as Windows Media Player. Audio Manager appears to support more codecs – both audio and video, and includes an equalizer, and many more options than Windows Media.

The camera application has pretty much the same functionality, but has been given a facelift and now looks similar to the many other TouchFlo/HTC applications with a cool black skin too. The camera itself is a bog standard 2mp sensor, which takes acceptable photos, but nothing special or awe-inspiring.

The HTC Touch Dual also has some 3rd party software in the form of Flash Lite Player. Downloaded YouTube videos work well, which is pretty neat, and you also get Office Mobile and Adobe PDF Reader thrown in if you fancy using it as a work phone. There are also little extras like Bluetooth Explorer to further expand usability. Finally Messenger is also present (and should apparently remain free on Windows Mobile devices for the foreseeable future).

HTC Touch Dual vs HTC S730

The device seems pretty quick really, despite not exactly being high spec. The processor manages well though, and with HSDPA onboard as well, the interweb fires up and navigators very swiftly, depending on your coverage.

CONCLUSION

As usual for an HTC device nowadays, the HTC Touch Dual is a very polished device, but unlike the original Touch – this phone is actually useful. The new bits and peices of software and utilities that HTC keep adding and improving set this apart from both its older brothers, and other manufacturers.

An excellent phone in its own right, and a massive and welcome improvement over the original HTC Touch.

Review by: Mark

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC Touch Dual, HTC, HTC P5500]