Reviews

Toshiba Portégé G900 review

The G500’s BIG brother gets the “Alasdair treatment”

I’ve already posted a review of the G500, Toshiba’s 3G / HSDPA Windows Mobile Smartphone which was a bit of a mixed bag to be honest so it was with not a little apprehension that I opened the latest package to wing its way to me from Tracy and Matt.

Contained within, the Toshiba Portégé G900, Toshiba’s first windows mobile 6 Professional device.

Toshiba Portégé G900

I’d heard all sorts of opinions on the G900, and I’ve really been looking forward to getting my hands on a WM6 Professional device now that HTC / Orange seem to be dragging their feet over the M3100.

The G900 is very similar in a lot of ways to the TyTN, not an actual copy but certainly reminiscent of the HTC device.

The G900 runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional and connectivity-wise the G900 supports WLAN (802.11b&g), is tri-band (GSM GSM900/1800/1900) GMS, GPRS and EDGE but single-band (UMTS2100) 3G and HSDPA so connectivity could be a little limiting for some. Just like the G500, again, the G900 has a 1.9 Megapixel camera.

It’s probably worth mentioning at this juncture that the Portégé has a 1320 mAh 3.7v battery Toshiba part number TS BTR002 – a bit odd you may say to mention it at this point but all will become clear later.

Environment
As always, the Toshiba G900 has been used in a real business environment, as part of an Exchange 2003 messaging system using exchange activesync; it’s been a complement to my notebook which is unfortunately still not a Toshiba

Highlights:

No Lights:

Lowlights:

[UPDATE] the patch has now been released and it’s software not a ROM update; on the plus side this means that you don’t have to go through the palaver of personalising the device again after applying the patch on the minus side in the event you hard reset the G900 you’ll have to reapply the patch. Patch details can be found HERE.

Review
The first thing that strikes you is that the G900 is one big bit of kit, it’s bigger than the M3100 / Hermes/ TyTN which frankly I think is at the acceptable size boundary of modern hand held phones, the G900 might be a bit too big for most, you certainly feel Nokia Communicator self conscious when you have the beast to your ear.

G900 vs N800 vs M700

So why is it big? Well….. Big frame holds big screen and it’s probably the best quality screen I’ve seen on any PDA ever, full stop. It’s crisp and clean and looks great fonts are rendered beautifully even without enabling cleartype.

As I’ve intimated, the Form factor is a QWERTY slider we’re becoming familiar with and includes an appealing sprung action.

The screen is fantastic, it’s like having a widescreen TV in your palm, I don’t think it’s actually larger than the TyTN ‘s screen square inch wise but it’s widescreen. The resolution is much greater and the screen is very bright, the amount of information you can view is incredible.

Toshiba G900 screen capture

The slide of the slider is quite satisfying and the finish is visually appealing but as with the G500 the device feels quite plasticy and will probably wear badly.

As for the wife test the immediate reaction was it’s too big and she wasn’t even swayed by the screen size; not really a vote of confidence I’m afraid.

3G and HSDPA provide high speed data access and he ability to download mail whilst in a call, a very useful business feature, again going with 3G and HSDPA in a slightly larger form factor Toshiba are firmly looking to attract the business user.

Talking of the form factor the G900 is as well thought through as the G500 The hardware buttons are well located, the volume rocker is easily thumb accessible when in a call. And the camera button is just where it should be.

Toshiba G900 camera

The front mounted function keys are logically laid out and provide positive tactile feedback when operated, and you get start, contacts mail and OK in addition to the Dpad, context keys and the send / end keys

Toshiba Portégé G900 keypad

The G900 has an external MiniSD slot easily accessible.

Toshiba G900 left side

Headphone jack and USB connector are covered by flappy flaps but the USB connector is recessed and a standard mini USB cord doesn’t fit too securely due to the lip, and is really easy to dislodge, I found this a pain because I was leaving the screen on all the time I needed to keep the battery charging.

Toshiba G900 USB connector

Again Toshiba include an adaptor to allow you to use your own choice of headphones with the Tosh wired handsfree kit.

Operation
the G900 seems pretty fast on its feet, again no stability issues apart from the Screen bug apart from that biggy there were no problems with operation either in applications or voice calls

I can’t properly comment on the battery; life as I have to admit that the G900 didn’t get constant use because I found the screen bug far too irritating. Unfortunately the screen patch was released after the review device had to go back so I found I either had the screen on all the time or didn’t have the device on so I couldn’t honestly say I soaked it.

Configuration
the sliding keypad action is great, again, very positive although when exposed the top row of keypad keys are a little close to the body of the device for rapid typing unless you have slender digits.

Toshiba G900 keyboard keys

The keyboard needs firm pressure, it seems like a little more than the TyTN although this could be due to wear on my oft used TyTN keyboard.

The fingerprint reader is much better positioned on the G900 and is in easy reach of your left hand and you get to use the reader both as a navigational aid, (left right up and down) but also for finger launch and Biometric security as with the G500. Unlike the G500 though you can put fingerlaunch on your today screen so it becomes much more usable.

Toshiba G900 fingerprint reader

Unusually The G900 can act as a USB host so you can plug (powered) USB storage into it; it’s great to see this although you will need external power for most devices

Toshiba G900 USB warning

Although when you do you can have as much storage as you like

Toshiba G900 storage

And the screen is great for showing off your holiday snaps!

Applications
I’ve seen other reviews say that there’s no Office Mobile on this device, this isn’t true, and the office mobile apps are there in the start menu.

Toshiba G900 office apps

but not visible in the programs folder a – very odd oversight, which is also the same on the HTC touch so maybe it’s a Microsoft Idio(t)syncrasy. Office mobile operation is very similar to that in the E650 apart from as it’s a windows mobile professional device you get spell checking across the application suite (phew)

Toshiba G900 spelling

Internet Explorer Mobile does a fantastic job of rendering web pages, here’s the Toshiba Portégé page on the device (it really is on the device but scaled down for the review).

Toshiba G900 web browser

The Toshiba applications are the same as the G500; Gold Key, Teleport and TIPTalk, pretty much identical in operation to the G500 however when you pop the G900 companion CD in the drive you get the option to install SIPserver

Toshiba G900 apps. CD

SIPserver, as the blurb suggests, is the missing component of the TIPTalk (Toshiba –IP-talk) suite. I don’t recall seeing it on the G500 CD and its configuration is not discussed in the G500 manual

SIPserver is installed on a Win2k or XP machine (no W2k3 server?) and is the SIP host for all the Toshiba Portégé smart devices running TIPTalk on your network. TIPTalk is a bit more than a SIP client for the Portégé range it also provides presence information and with SIPserver as its communications hub it is Toshiba’s communicator client. SIPserver has some limitations, as it only works on a local area network (not routable), it runs on XP and has its own local authentication database, however it does enable WiFi VoIP between TIPTalk clients and SIPserver does allow you to register with external SIP providers.

It’s another interesting idea from Toshiba that needs developing for someone wanting to test out presence clients with a handful of Toshiba devices it may be of interest to test the concept rather than install Cisco Presence server or Microsoft LCS / OCS

It could do with more some thought.

Windows live messenger is included in this build, I was going to give it a go but then remembered the nightmares that some people (Arne Hess in particular) had when this happened.

Toshiba G900 Live Messenger

So I bottled it!

Stability

Overall application stability is very good, I had no problems with application hangs or voice performance, the only problem with the review device was the screen hand bug which required far too frequent removal of the battery, I’d hope that the patch has rectified this.

Ease of Use
The handset is big and one handed operation of the keyboard is pretty much out of the question, it is however a palmtop form factor so it’s probably meant to be used two-handed. The ‘fingerlaunch’ application allows you to make use of your left hand fingers for a range of quick shortcuts.

Overall Assessment

Like its little brother, the G900 is an interesting device, the screen bug really let it down in my opinion, it’s surely something Toshiba should have seen during pre-launch testing and makes one wonder just how much testing the device saw! It’s a little big for my comfort, however, the Screen is a real bonus. If you want a device that you’re going to use to regularly surf the web or look at real webpages on then it could be for you it wouldn’t displace any of my current faves (the Vox, Touch and TyTN) although again if I had a Toshiba Notebook that might sway me as the G900 would make a great Toshiba notebook companion.

3G/HSPDA are welcome and the G900 seems to be fairly and squarely aimed at the business user.

In conclusion, the G900 is a great PDA; it runs windows Mobile 6 professional which is good for early adopters however it does feel a little rushed to market and Toshiba should really have ironed out the obvious problems before releasing it.

As a PDA it’s a device that I am sure will find favour in some areas. However, considering its position a flagship re-entry into the marketplace, Toshiba really should have tried a little harder.

Don’t forget to check out Matt’s G900 unboxing video!

Review by: Alasdair

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Toshiba G900, Toshiba]

Netgear SPH200D Skype Phone Mini-Review

Matt has given me the Netgear SPH200D phone to test and review as I am the one who uses the phone at home most of the time. The Netgear SPH200D can make both landline calls and skype calls without the need for a computer. It uses DECT technology just like most household cordless phones do these days.

Netgear SPH200D Cordless Phone with Skype.

The Netgear SPH200D is very easy to set up and I didn’t even need to get the instructions out of the box!

There is a base unit, handset and a charger unit for the handset. Also included in the box are all the cables you need to start using the phone, you can see the contents of the box in Matt’s unboxing video.

The base unit has sockets on the back for plugging in the ethernet network cable, telephone cable and the power lead. After plugging all the cables into the base unit I put the batteries into the handset and it started up immediately. You then need to enter your country and area code.

As this phone offers both ordinary landline and Skype abilities it gives you the option to then sign into your Skype account.

Netgear even provide the rechargeable batteries for the handset however they will need charging immediately after set up as they do not come fully charged (or at least the ones I received didn’t!).

Making calls using this phone is very easy; to make a Skype call you just select a contact from your Skype address book which is easily accessed via the colour display on the handset.

If you dial a telephone number the handset will, by default, ask you if you want to make this call via landline or by using Skype-out. This can be changed in the settings to default to one or the other if you prefer.

I’m very impressed with this unit and the quality of the calls is superb. It is in fact better than the cordless phone we currently own! When using the Netgear SPH200D for Skype calls you really cannot tell the difference between this and a regular phone call.

I can’t comment on the claimed talk time standby times as I have only used the phone for about an hour at a time and tend to put in back in its charging cradle when not being used as I have nasty habit of putting phones down and then not being able to find them again! However they claim a Standby time of 120 hours and talk time of 12 hours.

Box contents:

Overall I’m extremely pleased with the Netgear SPH200D. It’s an excellent solution for anyone wanting to use Skype without having to have a PC switched on all the time and also means that we only need one handset for Skype and Landline calls.

Review by: Tracy

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Skype, Netgear, Skype Phone, SPH200D, VoIP, Tracy & Matt]

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet review

Well, with Matt being as busy as usual, he asked me if I could do a review of the new Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. Officially released in January this year as an upgrade to the original n770 Internet tablet, this nifty little gadget is, in reality, a Linux workstation running an Opera browser. The Linux OS (Internet Tablet 2007) is based on Open Source software developed primarily by the Nokia sponsored Maemo project (see http://maemo.org/) It is important to note, that applications compiled for the previous tablet will not work on the N800 (Internet Tablet 2006 OS) but a quick search across the web shows many utilities and applications are being ported to this latest version.

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

Whilst keeping a similar form factor to the original n770m, Nokia have added a number of new features to this latest incarnation. A neat pop out web cam, additional processor power and more options for memory expansion have seem a greater interest in this latest tablet.

I opened the N800 box for the first time and was confused for a moment as I thought Matt had sent me a silver PSP to play with. On closer inspection, the N800 is quite a bit smaller than a PSP (2.9×5.7×0.5 inches; 7.2 ounces) and certainly built more solidly. I’m not sure Matt would have appreciated me trying the bounce test so a little bit of casual flexing of the case when no one was looking caused no ill effects apart from a slight creaking noise! (see Matt’s Unboxing Video here)

The N800 has a fantastic widescreen display hosting a full 65,000 colour display and a resolution of 800×480 as well as being a touchscreen to facilitate control and usage of the device.

To the left of the screen are the main controls of the unit – A four way pointer control with a centralised enter button and below this you will find an escape key, a menu button and key that allows you to swap between running applications. These buttons are a little on the small size and rather cramped and may require careful use.

Nokia N800 Navigation Buttons

Looking at the top of the unit you will find additional buttons for zooming in and out, power and full screen modes. These buttons are exceptionally small but do offer a very quick way to perform these functions. Watch out for the power button though!

Nokia N800 Top Buttons

The main connections to the unit are down the right hand edge of the n800. Here you will find the headphone jack (fortunately a standard 3.5mm and standard headphones do work fine), Dedicated power connector (The N800 does not have support for charging from USB) and lifting the stand displays the said USB 2.0 socket just for PC Connectivity.

Nokia N800 sockets

Expansion slots for two SD cards are supplied the device officially supports up to 2GB SD cards (many users have successfully utilised 4GB cards but larger than this requires a kernel modification), the first is located to the bottom of the case and the second under the back cover. The second card slot certainly appears to be an afterthought and retrieving cards is made slightly more difficult as they are not spring loaded.

Nokia N800 internal SDcard socket

Move to the right hand side of the unit and press in the small circle and out pops a surprisingly good web cam device.

Nokia N800 camera

Now, this unit is designed as a “go anywhere” web browsing device, but you will not find a slot to install a SIM card. The only way to access the Internet is to use the inbuilt Wi-Fi connectivity or pair the device with a web enabled phone using the inbuilt Bluetooth technology. Remember… This is an intenet tablet, and unless using VoIP or googletalk connectivity, cannot be used as a phone! Having said that, the unit had no problem connecting to a variety of Wi-Fi access points and via a paired mobile data connection.

On powering up the unit, the Linux OS is loaded from inbuilt flash memory and Opera 8 is displayed as the main browser. Support is made available for Java and Flash plugins so many web sites showing video are instantly available. Google Search, Google Talk and Google News are all standard applications obviously demonstrating a full shift away from Microsoft and deeper into the realms of Open Source. For those addicted to their RSS feeds a full RSS Reader is also included.

The N800 may not suit your average business user though as the only mail application support as standard is for POP3 and IMAP mailboxes which tend to be used for personal e-mail. If you are planning to do lots of typing or instant messaging, the on screen touch keyboard performs well overall and is clearly laid out. Options are available for Bluetooth Wireless Keyboards but these are limited to a handful of tested units at this time.

A simplistic contact manager is available but no real synchronisation from a PC is included. Being an Open Source device does give access to a number of PIM Mangers though that could be installed.

Viewing PDF Documents is standard, but for those who may want to view office documents you will need to download Open Source viewers.

The inbuilt Media Player has good support for a variety of formats: AAC, MP3, WAV, AMR, RealAudio, AVI, 3GP, MPEG-4 etc. But again, with the Open Source vs Microsoft mentality there is no support for WMV or WMA files. With an expected battery life of only 3 Hours continuous use it’s not really a multimedia device for travellers but the sound quality and picture quality is still very good. Plug in a set of decent headphones and you are nearly on par with the iPod.

Nokia have really set this device out as a “go anywhere” internet browser and this is where the device excels. The large 800×480 screen resolution allows most web pages to be viewed with the least amount of scrolling and all but the smallest text is readable. The simple although small zoom controls on the top of the unit soon resolve this problem though.

The touchscreen works well and seems to remain accurate, even over a period of time. The supplied stylus of triangular plastic does leave a little to the imagination and lacks the quality and solidity of the main unit.

Nokia N800 stylus

Scrolling and navigation is fast and effective and pages certainly load quickly. I tried using SSL Certificates to our mail servers and these installed without any issue.
So – Overall a fast, responsive Internet Tablet that will provide a great deal of scope, especially for Open Source developers (I have read that someone has already turned the device into a IP PBX Phone System….)

From a personal perspective, my only concern in the real world is where and when I would use this. Having pushmail to my smartphone and laptop/datacard for browsing answers pretty much everything I need – If the Internet Tablet at least offered GPRS/EDGE or 3G connectivity as standard you would not need to find a hotspot and I think it would attract a greater army of fans. It is though a cracking little device and certainly shows the start of a new way of thinking away from the great conglomerates…

Nokia N800 Specification:

Review by: John

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, Nokia N800, Internet Tablet, eXpansys,Tracy & Matt]

O2 XDA Orbit Review

Matt recently did an unbox video of the O2 XDA Orbit and asked me if I would like to review it for him. Naturally I jumped at the chance to play with a Windows Mobile device with built in GPS!

The O2 XDA Orbit is the O2 version of the HTC Artemis, essentially the same device internally but the Orbit has a different, more modern looking, exterior design.
O2 were the first UK operator to offer a Windows Mobile device with built in GPS. I had high hopes for this device!

O2 XDA Orbit

Impressions
The 02 Active homescreen is gone! Let that be the headline statement, and we shall all rejoice. Yup it’s true. FINALLY O2 have got rid of the awful thing, and actually given the Orbit a nice selection of “normal” today screen plug-ins.

It’s a nice first impression, and it does immediately feel like an expensive device. The Orbit is the smallest Pocket PC/WM Professional device I’ve ever used, and it feels a lot less bulky in the pocket than my now-aging TyTN.

O2 XDA Orbit Side View

The problem I have with reviewing devices such as this, is that hardware wise, and OS wise – they are all very similar. I’ll try and concentrate on the major features and add-ons the Orbit has over other similar devices.

This helpfully brings me onto the mouse pointer. Yes, a mouse pointer, with trackball, on a Windows Mobile device. Although I was quite excited to finally try this out, I was a bit unsure as to how effective it would be. I shouldn’t have been. It’s a totally new way to control a mobile device without the need to get a stylus out. It works really well in the main, and can be used completely OS wise. The trackball is small, but perfectly useable, and I found it to be especially useful for navigating around the OS, and for surfing the net through Pocket IE. The mouse pointer is not the most accurate thing in the world, but it’s good enough for anything you’ll need to do on the Orbit.

O2 XDA Orbit trackball

This was also my first device with a built in GPS chip. Again, I was impressed, and the quality of the lock and signal seemed fine. I used both the supplied Co-Pilot and a copy of i-Go. I’ll speak more about Co-Pilot in a second, but i-Go worked fine!

O2 don’t appear to have made many “Orange” style mods to the OS or its icons. They seem to have kept their modifications to a simple theme, and the obvious Hardware skin. The usual array of user manuals, and outlook software licences come in the book, and as mentioned, the supplied O2 today screen plugins are available too. These appear to be O2 in-house programs. I’ve certainly not seen them elsewhere.

The review device I received also came with a copy of Co-Pilot. As a Tom Tom Navigation user, and part time i-Go “faffer”, I was really excited to be able to trial a different navigation system, but unfortunately, I was distinctly underwhelmed by it.

The major factor for me was the speed. The program didn’t appear to respond to key taps very quickly, and the same can be said about the navigation itself. I suspect this may have been an individual problem, I don’t know. Certainly, I was happy to get back to Tom Tom. As I said, I tried i-Go on the device instead, and it seemed fine, so I can only assume Co-Pilot was the issue. The GPS itself seems very good quality and as expected for a Sirf III chipset – the fix was quick, and stable.

The lack of a full hardware keyboard is a shame, but understandable since this is designed to be as sleek as possible. I just find the on screen keyboards hard to use, as they require a stylus. The mouse point is not really accurate enough to use for typing. These problems are compounded since the removal of the Phone Pad from HTC devices.

O2 XDA Orbit Stylus

The integrated wi-fi is welcome, but becoming fairly standard, and the FM radio is easy to use, and seems to perform well. This is quite unusual for Windows Mobile devices, but may tempt some of the Nokia monkeys (sorry Nick!) to the platform.

Once again, all this is powered and charged via the ExtUSB connector that HTC do at least seem to be using as standard now. You’ll also need an adaptor to use normal 3.5 jack headphones with the device, and I’m not 100% sure if this will make the FM radio useless. For charging, as with other devices, a standard mini-usb will fit in the weird shaped socket, and will charge/power.

O2 XDA Orbit bottom

For external memory, microSD is used, which I know will annoy some/most but for me, having used the format for the M3100, it works fine. The position of the reader however, doesn’t. Located under the battery means there’s no chance of swapping cards without removing the battery, and SIM card. Not really ideal on the move, and I ‘d have preferred HTC to keep the reader on the side of the phone, similar to the TyTN.

The 2 megapixel camera is about average for HTC – not great(!) but they are improving, both in terms of quality, and the software included to take photos. The standard phone services are also just that – standard. Quality and signal strength seemed as average as my other phones, and although the lack of 3G is very, very annoying, it does at least have GPRS.

O2 XDA Orbit camera

I was happy using the device, and although there are a couple of things which concern me, I have to recommend it. It’s quick, powerful, has an array of extra little features which are currently exclusive to this model. On an O2 UK subsidised contract, it’s also surprisingly easy on the wallet!

O2 XDA Orbit left side

O2 XDA Orbit right side

O2 XDA Orbit Specification:

Review by: Mark

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, O2, HTC Artemis, XDA Cosmo, XDA Orbit, HTC P3300]

Portable Battery Charger – JAVOedge

Just got a new bit of kit “hot off the press” from JAVOedge. Not sure batteries come from presses actually, but moving on…

Most of the stuff JAVOedge sell, can admittedly be found elsewhere. You know the stuff – 99p off ebay with £20 postage from Hong Kong etc. If you want that, then off you go. But one thing I’ve noticed, not just from this item, but from JAVOedge branded stuff in general – is the quality. It looks and feels well made, rather then just random bits of plastic stuck together with a glue gun.

Onto the battery then. I was a bit unsure as to its use when I received it. I drive a lot, and have chargers in my house and workplace. I have a car charger for the… er car as well.

So where does it fit in? Luckily enough, being a northern monkey, the weather helped out by flooding my village and cutting off the power. Its just the usefulness of it really. Plug phone into battery. Charge phone. The end. It kept me on the net, it kept up my push email and charged 3 phones off a signal battery charge.

I also found it very useful, when my ever-battery hungry M3100 was required in the ground floor of my home. Unfortunately, it needs to be next to a window, which is helpfully a long way away from the nearest plug. Not a problem anymore – I just take the battery with me.

I’m also gonna be using it when I’m on holiday. Even when you do remember your charger, for some reason, it always seems to end up being discharged, and then theres the fight for the only charger!

Its a simple product, but effective, and genuinely useful. My only bugbear (which is quite important frankly), is that for some inexplicable reason, JAVOedge haven’t included a Nokia adaptor. I found one from another kit that works, but this needs addressing pretty quickly, as its a major limitation.

You can buy the Portable Battery Charger from the JAVOedge website

Posted by: Mark

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, PSP, iPod, battery, charger]

HTC Touch review

Just over a week ago HTC held a press conference to announce their new baby, the HTC Touch. Since then a whole host of reviews have appeared on the web, it’s obvious that the device has created quite a stir!

HTC Touch

One review that we particularly like is the one from Solopalmari. Their review is rather extensive and includes dozens of photos as well as some nice video of the device in action.

It’s hard to remain unbiased and objective towards the HTC Touch – we really feel that HTC should be praised for their initiative and innovative spirit, especially when coming from such an important market giant that could have easily chosen to stay on the well-beaten track of ‘standard’ Windows Mobile devices. Comparisons have already been made between the Touch and the iPhone – some may find the association irreverent, sustaining that Apple’s device has superior potential capabilities and implementation. We feel, however, that HTC’s new proposal will make a name for itself in what is a growingly competitive market, just like we are confident the company will be rewarded for its new approach to mobile computing. Together with Apple.

After all that praise, we can’t fail to point out that the CPU is a bone of contention. We ourselves have often expressed doubts over the speed of the TI OMAP 850 in previous tests. However, the impression when using the device is positive and the benchmarks seem to back up the sense of speed.
Before posting this review, we would have liked to have carried out one more test covering battery life, but time restraints have not yet allowed us to carry out more than two recharges – not yet enough to give a true indication of the battery life. We will put our heads on the line though and say that the HTC Touch can easily withstand a long day of intensive use – and that’s no small feat, considering that this device also runs Microsoft’s new constant ‘Push Email’ technology

You can read the full HTC Touch Review over on Solopalmari.com

Posted by: Matt

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

Acer P630 Portable Navigator review

A few weeks ago we started looking at the Acer P630 portable navigator. The P630 is a stand alone GPS navigation device similar to the Tom Tom Go units.

Acer P630 Portable Navigator front

Acer P630 Portable Navigator back

Regular visitors will have seen our P630 unboxing video so will have some idea of what you get with the device. In the box you’ll find:

Part of the P600 series, the P630, is an all new Personal Navigation device from Acer. This slim and ultra-portable designed unit incorporates a clear and bright 4” display, perfect for navigation, viewing photos and accessing MP3 audio files.

With the built in SiRFStar III GPS receiver, satellite acquisition is fast and reliable. Put this with ALK’s CoPilot Live 6 which uses the latest Navteq map data, and you have a winning combination. Simplicity is guaranteed thanks to the intuitive interface and the powerful features that this software incorporates.

Make calls safely whilst driving, the P630 has on board Bluetooth connectivity allowing you to connect your mobile phone, using the Acer as a speaker and microphone. Also listen to music stored on an SD card with the devices integrated MP3 player, which will play music whilst you navigate, without interference!

This is the first time that I have used CoPilot, in the past I’ve used Tom Tom navigator. I have to say that I am really impressed with CoPilot, the maps seem a lot more accurate than those provided by Tom Tom. We recently took a long trip across country and during the entire journey it only got one one bit wrong, coming up to a junction it said bare-left rather than turn left. Not a big problem though.

The GPS built in to the Acer P630 is a 12 channel SiRF StarIII low power and high sensitivity chip. It picks up a signal pretty quickly and tracks accurately. On our recent trip it displayed our position on the map quite precisely.

Acer P620 menu

The CoPilot software is easy to use and is accessed via the large, 4″ touch screen.

CoPilot Navigation Menu

As the P630 screen is fairly hi-res (480 x 272) and is widescreen there is plenty of room on the screen for all the information you need while driving. As you can see in the screen shot below the map is displayed in the main area along with a count down to the next turn or road, with the next turn/junction shown in an overlay on the left hand side. At the bottom you’ll find your current speed, current road you are traveling on, arrival time and overall distance remaining.

CoPilot Navigation Screen

The supplied mounting bracket is the windscreen kind that uses a ‘sucker’ to attach. It has both tilt and swivel adjustment.

Acer P630 Mount

Acer P630 Mount

Overall the Acer P630 portable navigator is a decent piece of kit, I found it to be much better than the Tom Tom equivalent. The added Bluetooth and MP3 playing features are a real boon too! I highly recommend this device.

Acer P630 Specification:

The Acer P630 is available to buy now from Clove Technology for just £239 (inc VAT).

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Acer P630, Satnav, navigation, GPS, Tracy & Matt]

UBiQUiO 501 Review

Our friend Brody over as MSMobileNews has just published his UBiQUiO 501 Review.

UBiQUiO 501

The UBiQUiO 501 looks similar the Samsung i600 and HTC S620 but where the UBiQUiO 501 differs from many similar devices is that this device runs Windows Mobile 5 Phone Edition and therefore incorporates a touch screen!

Overall the 501 is a very nice phone to use, the keyboard is very comfortable in operation and all of the buttons are within easy reach which makes it a phone that’s very easy to use when writing long pieces of text without too much “thumb-strain”. The screen is set at a fairly decent resolution so you don’t get eye strain either and the battery has a decent capacity so you can get away with forgetting to plug it in overnight.

UBiQUiO 501 Specification

Read the full review HERE.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tags: smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, UBiQUiO 501, Windows Mobile blog]

Orange SPV E650 review

Since our HTC S710 vs Orange E650 video we’ve still not had any luck getting our hands back on a new Orange SPV E650 from Orange PR nor are we due an upgrade. However, our friend and long-time follower of the blog, Alasdair Ford, wrote this great review of the device as he has been using the E650 for a few weeks. So here for your viewing pleasure is Alasdair’s ‘warts-and-all’ assessment of the E650.

Having lived with the E650 for a full three weeks this is a summary of the journey so far, overall it’s been a very positive experience.

I’m not stat hungry so I’ll be providing real world measures of performance, my perception of the way the device operates not stopwatch statistics.

The device has been used in a real business environment, as part of an Exchange 2003 messaging system using exchange activesync so some of the snazzier features associated with Exchange 2007 are not there yet but our upgrade is imminent so hopefully the three month review will be able to include these.

I am a geek and a techie but I try to apply the mother test for ease of use – I.e. could my mother use it? – a good yardstick for the levels of technical aptitude and patience displayed by most directors 🙂

My most recent devices of choice have been the Orange SPV c600 a candy bar smartphone running window Mobile smartphone edition 5.0 AKU 2 and the Orange SPV m3100 a traditional PDA form factor with touch screen 3G which I wanted it for and the addition of a sliding QWERTY keyboard (which I didn’t want at the time but now love) running Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU 2.3 Pocketphone edition (for now)

The E650 has complemented my traditional notebook for two weeks but for the last week it’s been my only contact with work as I’ve been away on Holiday (more about that in an Off-Topic later).

Conventions :

Where I refer to keypad I mean the E650 standard phone alphanumeric keypad where I refer to keyboard is the slide out QWERTY keyboard

Highlights:

Lowlights:

No Lights:

So on to the review!

Form Factor:

it’s a Vox I know but the E650 skin isn’t out in MobiControl just yet

The device is a lovely piece of kit, a little heavier and bulkier than the C600 and most standard candybar format phones – way heavier and thicker than the slim Jim LGs of this world but it fits comfortably in the shirt pocket and the weight provides a reassuring feel that suggests great build quality.

The keyboard is a real surprise to people not in the know the E650 just doesn’t look like it could hide a QWERTY in a device that size. the keyboard action is very slick only requiring a little push to expose or close the keys, much nicer than the m3100. Portrait to landscape transitions can be a bit slow occasionally but it’s no massive deal.

The screen is great much more vibrant and clearer than either the m3100 or c600.

The phone has four hardware buttons on the periphery – on/off on the top; the voice activation and volume rockers to the left of the screen and the camera button to the right – the camera button placement is somewhat counter intuitive as when you access the keyboard you rotate the phone clockwise which leaves the camera button on the bottom of the rotated handset if you are shooting in landscape mode – a minor gripe.

The front mounted function keys are easy to access, I was worried about the placement of the send and end keys as they look like they could be easily operated in a pocket however the E650 actually suffers less from this than the c600.

The soft keys are a little fiddly at first but you get used to that, and anyone with more slender fingers than mine wouldn’t be troubled.

The SIM slot is hidden behind the keypad and is accessed when the keyboard is exposed and there is an external MicroSD card slot covered with a rubber shield, again a great improvement on the c600 but less vital now that MicroSD cards are Multi-Gigabyte

USB and accessory connection is via an HTC extended mini USB port – a pain in the backside tbh which is covered by another rubber flap which makes the handset unstable when stood up on its end, a minor design flaw that only grates because the rest of the device seems so well thought out.

Operation:

The E650 is great to use, much zippier than the equivalent WM5 device, despite the underpowered processor (only 201 MHz). occasionally (very occasionally) the Camera application refuses to start due to memory usage but this is down to the fact that there is no native way to end an application apart from through the task manager a disappointing feature of smartphone versions of the WM platform.

Battery life is good although the quoted 5 hours / 7 days actually equates to about 2 1/2 days realworld usage (GPRS, voice, a little WiFi)

Configuration

I’ve always found the smartphone interface a little fiddly for making settings changes however the keyboard is a real bonus here – there’s no massive differences between the WM5.0 & 6 menus in this area.

Applications:

I’m concentrating on the core business applications – for me that excludes the camera although the 2 Megapixel produces pictures sharp enough to annoy your coworkers when you are on holiday.

Office Mobile in WM6 is great but is really only designed to read attachments the giveaway is that the apps start in view mode – you could (at a push) compose on the E650 as the keyboard makes this possible for those with thinner digits – I still hit space+n or b+space a bit too often for my liking.

Pocket Outlook tends to be the place I spend most of my time 🙂 – Highlights are Fetchmail which is a massive productivity tool and a real encouragement to download the rest of any message, it’s that smooth. (and a nice GPRS earner for Orange)

Keypad shortcuts are fantastic

Email triage is speeded up no end and this is a major use of most smartphones.

The E650 even has Adobe Reader LE installed so clicking on a PDF attachment allows you to read it.

We’re still running on Exchange 2003 SP2 in our production environment so when internal IS get Exchange 2007 sorted I’m sure Webready and HTML mail will be fantastic additions, looking forward to this.

Contacts quick search is much improved and now ignores gaps between consecutive keypresses and the # is interpreted as a space which makes finding the actual Richard or Dave or Andy you want that much easier.

You at last can send a contact as a vCard however the E650 insists on sending it as an MMS rather than a text which seems odd and might affect your bill – it doesn’t work at all on my work SIM as we disable MMS for all our staff by default.

Calendar operation is slick as well week view with appointment details is another great productivity aid and the ability to add both required and optional attendees from contacts or the company directory when creating an appointment was something I always yearned for in WM5

Where’s my Microsoft Voice Command Orange? and MSN messenger ?

Voice command is bundled by Microsoft and I’ve just gone out and spent £20 on it because of this omission.

No messenger is not so bad for me as we use office communicator but I can see it annoying some people – there are suggestions that Orange’s new flat rate tariffs will exclude IM and VoIP so this might be the reasoning

Stability

Overall stability is good apart from when the battery runs low when you get occasional application errors – this would have been a problem on WM5 however on the E650 the device seems to recover without a glitch and I’ve yet to lose any data at all – apart from a momentary annoyance this is much less of a problem than it has been in previous versions.

Ease of Use

The handset feels great in the hand and one handed operation is easy in phone mode, all the keys falling easily under the thumb, in landscape mode with the keyboard exposed a juggler can manage to use the E650 one handed.

Missing Links

Could I get rid of my c600 at the moment? – absolutely the E650 outclasses it in every way how about the m3100? no I use TomTom navigator 5 a lot and memory map when walking neither of which are windows mobile 6 compatible. I do miss the touch screen in some apps however the E650 is rapidly weaning me off it.

Overall Assessment

I use the word slick a lot in this review that’s exactly what the E650 is, slick; very, very slick.

There are a few minor niggles but they are outweighed by a factor of 10 by the improvements

Do I use the E650 more often than the equivalent WM5 devices? no

When I do use it is it faster brighter and better? sure thing

Do I get more done? oh yes

Will Orange get this eval unit back ? NO CHANCE

The Orange E650 isn’t my perfect device but it’s not far from it.

Should you buy one – at £0 on most contracts and £165 on the Orange business price list yes you should, it’s a steal. if you are a business you’ll get that £165 back in a couple of weeks in improved productivity.

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Our sincere thanks to Alasdair for letting us use his review and for providing the screen shot images. You can find other news and reviews on Alasdair’s own site Mashup of Mayhem.

Posted by: Matt
Photo credit: Tracy

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Orange, E650, HTC Vox, HTC S710, SPV, Orange SPV E650]