The Mobile Phone Helpdesk have managed to get some hands on time with the new T-Mobile MDA Vario IV which is the latest HTC handset the HTC Raphael. This phone has the same feature set as the imminent HTC Diamond with the addition of a slide out QWERTY keyboard and expandable memory.
I’ve just received this text on my phone:
“Good News! Your monthly data allowance is now unlimited so u can use mobile internet & email every day. Fair use applies. More at vodafone.co.uk/mobileinternet“
Looking on the link supplied, I see the standard price of £7.50 is unchanged, but there is no mention of 120mb anymore – only unlimited.
Also, the cost if you add it to your contract (ie: can’t remove it until your contract expires) is just £5!
Not bad for a free upgrade. I suspect there is still a limit on messaging and VoIP though 🙁
Useful Vodafone Resources
Vodafone Homepage – Mobile Phones – Vodafone Help
Posted by: Mark
Part 1
So I drove into Newcastle this morning and decided to call into Starbucks to test out the new Three USB mobile broadband modem. I plugged it in and have to say I was impressed, the drivers and launcher software are already stored within the modem and installed themselves without any need for me to do anything.
It’s been a while coming, but the TyTN II 6.1 performance update is nearly here!
Although not on the HTC website yet, oddly Modaco are hosting the file here. The file name is RUU_Kaiser_HTC_WWE_3.28.405.0_radio_sign_25.83.40.02_1.65.16.25_Ship.exe and will become available officially within a few days.
The update is for HTC TyTN II devices but updates for branded devices are expected shortly.
Paul from Modaco commented:
“The update adds Windows Mobile 6.1 with improvements such as the ‘Getting Started’ wizard, Threaded SMS and general performance and battery life updates, as well as HTC’s ‘video performance’ update. So what’s it like? Performance IS improved, however with no real video acceleration, don’t get your hopes up TOO much! Thanks to tweaks in 6.1 in general plus HTC’s optimisations, the device DOES feel a lot slicker in use, although if you are coming from a ‘cooked’ ROM you have probably seen the speed improvement already.”
Posted By: Mark
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, TyTN II]
Not the prettiest PDA phone ever made the HTC P6500 aims to fill the gap in the market for rugged PDA devices but is there a market in the gap?
The 10 second review:
What’s in the box?
You can see more of the device and what’s included in Matt’s HTC unboxing video.
Just a final word on the specification. There are a few different version if this device and each have slightly different ROM and RAM capacities so it’s worth checking the exact spec. with the supplier before you purchase.
GENERAL
The HTC P6500 is a fairly large device but has the benefit of a large 3.5″ QVGA display, similar to the one found on older devices such as the Orange M1000/HTC Blue Angel. Directly below the screen you’ll find a number of controls including two soft keys, send/end phone keys, d-pad, Windows Button and ‘OK’ button. You’ll also notice a gold looking strip right at the bottom – this is the biometric fingerprint reader that can be used to secure the device.
The left side of the device has a scroll wheel and a simple ‘OK’ button.
The right side of the P6500 has more controls. The camera button, comm manager and power buttons can all be found here. There is also a cover over a full-size SD card slot. The slot is SDIO and SDHC compatible.
The bottom of the device holds the stylus reset button and the Extended MiniUSB connector for sync/charge and audio connections.
On top of the device you’ll find another rubber cover which hides the second of the SD card slots. Again the slot is SDIO and SDHC compatible.
Lastly, the back of the P6500 is where you’ll find the built in camera. This is a 3.0mp camera with built in autofocus and also has a ‘flash’. The battery also sits under a compartment on the back and it’s also worth noting that the battery cover has a fairly secure locking mechanism.
Highlights
Lowlights
The first time you see the P6500 you’ll be surprised at just how big it actually is. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as many people out there don’t want a tiny screened pocket device. I had a lot of messages about the iPaq 214, seems that lots of you want devices with larger displays but the draw back of the 214 was that it wasn’t a phone. The P6500 however has the best of both worlds then as it has Windows Mobile Professional and so can make and receive calls as well as being able to connect to the internet over GPRS, 3G or HSDPA and even has built in GPS.
The P6500 fits firmly in the industrial workplace as a workhorse PDA, you can visualise a delivery person passing you this device to sign for your latest goodies, using it for stock take in a warehouse or using it for data collection when out and about. This is where the larger device with a larger screen come in to its own and despite its larger size and increased weight the shape of the case and the rubber finish means that you can hold it comfortably in the palm of you hand.
Hardware wise there aren’t too many surprises however, that said it is the first device that I’ve come across with two SD card slots, one on the side and one on the top. Both of the readers are SDIO and SDHC compatible to it’s easy to imagine installing an SDIO Barcode Reader in the top slot and a large memory card in the side slot for warehouse and data collection jobs.
The button layout is similar to the HTC Blue Angel and ipaq’s of old, with buttons buttons both above and below the screen. These buttons provide shortcuts to the most used apps, mail, web browser, 2 soft keys, send/end phone keys and the Windows/OK combo (which I suspect will be remapped for the custom apps this phone is built to run). The lower portion of the device also holds the 5 way action key, which is the same as on the HTC Touch/Touch Dual. Under this is the fingerprint scanner (more on this later). On the right side you have the camera and ‘secondary’ SD slot, on the top you have the power and ‘primary’ SD slot, on the left is the scroll wheel, voice notes button, and on the bottom you have the now standard extusb socket and reset hole.
The HTC P6500 joins the ranks of the increasing number of devices that have a built in biometric fingerprint reader. This reader is the same as the one installed on the HTC Shift. Set up and fingerprint enrollment is straight forward using the installed software but actually using it day-to-day is a bit hit and miss to say the least requiring multiple swipes and a moistened (licked) finger in order to get the unit to unlock. In a truly industrial environment I suspect that the finger print as a security method may not be practical as dirty fingers and/or finger print readers yield unreliable results.
Software wise we have the standard Windows Mobile apps but in addition the special settings for the fingerprint reader and Opera 8. I like opera as it does render web pages in a slightly more sensible way compared to Pocket Internet Explorer, but I cant wait to try Opera 9 when that’s released.
The P6500 feels like a reasonably fast device, over my 2 weeks testing it didn’t feel sluggish and performed well, even with lots of applications open. I even subjected the P6500 to some extensive durability testing (a 7 year old and bubble breaker) and still no complaints!
A few things I noticed that need mentioning, the screen on the P6500 is quite poor. Similar to the screens we saw several years ago on on HTC devices this one it very washed out and over bright from the default settings. There is also a yellow colour cast over the screen which is more obvious on the right than the left.
I was also expecting much more from the 3.0MP autofocus camera thinking that it would be at least as good as the camera on the HTC TyTN II, however, in reality the camera doesn’t perform very well but I suppose the P6500 isn’t designed to be a discrete camera phone!
The battery life is excellent, on average I got three days usage out of the P6500, more than I get from my Vario3 which is another surprise when you consider that the battery is ‘only’ 1500mAh which isn’t huge for a device of this size with a big screen and power-hungry CPU.
Signal reception is good on this device maintaining a signal even in the tricky places where you expect to lose signal. Call sound quality is also good which is again probably thanks to the size of the device and larger than average loudspeaker.
The GPS built in to the P6500 is an NMEA0183 which is pretty common at the moment. I haven’t a great deal to say about the GPS, it works perfectly with Google maps and acquires a signal quite quickly. It does struggle in the city where you have tall buildings on either side but that’s a pretty common GPS problem. There isn’t any GPS software preinstalled so you’ll have to buy TomTom or similar software if you want to use the handset as a sat-nav device.
CONCLUSION
I actually enjoyed using the HTC P6500 which is perhaps a little odd when you consider that I really don’t fall into the target demographic for the device. Sure, it’s not the best looking phone, but you can see that it’s been built to withstand more than the average knock or scratch. Once you get past the size everything else falls in to place and just works as it should.
If you are looking for a device to put in your pocket for occasional use then don’t even consider the P6500 (which you probably aren’t anyway). If, however, you are looking for something that can take a bit of abuse then this might do the trick.
The HTC P6500 is the ‘builders phone’ of the Windows Mobile world!
Review by: Owen/Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, HTC, P6500, Tracy & Matt]
I was asked to review this phone and thought great, another Samsung, how wrong can someone be? Do I like this phone? Read on…
To be honest I knew very little of this phone as I am not a Blackberry type or QWERTY fan at all. So this type of unit I tend to give a wide berth and not so much as a second look.
Due to be released very shortly and at present exclusive to Orange, this unit sits at the upper end of the market and offers a full function PPC with all the attributes that we now take for granted and more besides.
What’s in the box?
Matt’s Samsung i780 unboxing video will show you just what you get with the i780 but in summary:
GENERAL
The top of the i780 finds the front-facing VGA camera and earpiece also the status light indicator. Below these is the square 320×320 touchscreen, which sits flush with the casing and has slightly mirrored finish. Not ideal in bright sunlight but still useable.
Below the screen there is the normal softkeys, default set to contacts and calendar. The phone pick up and end keys that also double up as loud speaker key and device lock key respectively. Positioned between these there is the Windows Start and an OK button. And between those there is the innovative optical joystick-cum-Dpad. Below is the full 37 key QWERTY key pad with white highlighted number keys, reasonably standard now on this type of device. The keypad has a white coloured backlight when pressed.
On the left side there is a lanyard hole and nothing more than a up and down volume rocker and a reset hole.
The right side from top to bottom are a flap covering the connecting socket for the USB lead or headset. The next housing also covered is for the microSD card and finally the camera key.
There is nothing on the base of the phone apart from the microphone hole.
The top is home to the power button and the telescopic stylus housing.
The back of the unit is pretty bare apart from the battery housing and the 2 Mega pixel camera and a small speaker grill. This has a pleasant rubberised feel and comfortable to hold.
Highlights
Lowlights
REVIEW
My first impression of the i780 was one of pleasant surprise, the unit feels comfortable in the hand and it feels a lot smaller than it is, in fact it is the near enough the same height and width as the iPaq 614c, that I have just reviewed, but a approximately 4.3mm slimmer, and this for me made a world of difference. I had to check the dimensions again, as the difference in appearance was dramatic.
Also on first impression the keyboard appears to be too busy and small for me to be able to use, but after a short play and without reading the manual it proved to be easy to use and one handed texting was a breeze and this from an anti QWERTY man. Pretty much all of the buttons are dual function, offering an alternative symbol or number at the touch of the fn button. For example as mentioned the Phone keys double up, as does the camera key which is used to call up a mini windows media player, the OK button when held brings up the Task Manager, the left of centre keys act as number keys etc..I also like dedicated Message and GPS buttons found on the bottom row, a long side the space/vibrate button and the caps lock amongst others.
I even quickly got to grips with the optical Dpad/joystick, with the lightest of touches and a small sweep of the pad with your thumb, proved to be very responsive and accurate when needed, I did find myself using it quite a lot. There is also the option to use mouse mode in the same manner, but this I agree with Matt is not ideal on a WM device, and prefer not to use it.
I am really impressed with the speed of the thing for example downloading a video podcast from the built in extras menu, saw a 12mb clip downloaded on wifi in around a minute. And nipping around the applications is a superb, the only gripe here mentioned by Matt in the Unboxing is the touchscreen which although flush with the casing on the top appears to be quite badly recessed in the device, occasionally it takes a couple of taps to get a response, not by any means a major problem but an irritation.
Software
The WM menu seems pretty unremarkable, apart from being a little Orange, there is the option of ‘Themes’ which is a smart way to customise the overall colour of the screen and the text colour, lots of options here, in both areas, from one end of the rainbow to the other. Also the option in ‘wake up’, to choose which button or buttons brings the device back to life after standby. Settings offers a Data Call Manager, HSDPA enable/ disable.
The programs menu offers, out of the ordinary, Alarms which offers Wake up and 4 others besides, Orange Plus which shortcuts to various topics such as sports latest, financial markets, lifestyle, all of which requests a text message with the info to be sent back to you. Photo slides gives access to ‘My Pictures’ with options to browse or zoom and see as a slide show with very pleasant lift music running in the background, is that customisable anyone?
It was nice to see software bundled in the device as well; a mini player meaning you can access your WM player without have to take up the whole screen to adjust volume or skip a track. Also included in ‘extras’ is Opera 8.65 for WM great for the tabbed browsing. The aforementioned Podcast application, RSS reader, smart converter and Java. Task manager also works well allowing you to see and the applications that are open and the soft keys default to close and close all.
Google maps was downloaded and set up in moments and also works very well, seamlessly zooming and scrolling around the desired positions and routes, with the assistance of the capable onboard GPS and A-GPS.
The GPS signal is acquired pretty quickly, probably thanks in no small part to the Assisted part of the AGPS. Once the ephemeris data is downloaded using any available internet connection (even through activesync) you do not need any network connectivity as, once again, most of my testing here was done without a sim card in the device.
My biggest surprise, which was also commented by many friends and colleagues, was the 2 mega pixel camera, the clarity and ease of use were for me a real highlight, the menus are clear and understandable and although there is no autofocus or flash the quality for an amateur like me was more than adequate. Taking photos around the house in both daylight and at night with side lights appeared no different. Looking at the ever increasing mega pixels that are around these days, I thought this was going to be another disappointment but it really wasn’t!
Telephone functionality was absolutely fine and nice to see that even with the 3g connection the phone worked and also when losing the 3g connection reversion to GPRS caused no issues either. The spoken word was clear, both on speaker and also on the earpiece/ Headset. I would class this as one of the better phones I have used for this purpose.
Battery life was a little better than most, although it is 1000mAh according to the device, however there is 2 supplied and the charge caddy mentioned already. Not a real issue for me. The only gripe here is the proprietary connector which means you will need a Samsung specific car charger if you are using Sat Nav.
It wasn’t all good as it might appear, there are gripes such a having to use propriety connectors that Samsung deem fit for purpose but limit the option of connection to chargers, headphones etc. Although the headphones supplied are excellent and the Sync/charge cables work perfectly fine, why can’t they be mini USB style like many of their competitors? Standard connectors for all please.
And then there is two points about the 320×320 2.5” screen the first already mentioned above with the responsiveness, the 2nd is the ability to use 3rd party applications which is the one of the main reasons we love using Windows Mobile. As a self confessed Phone fiddler I am not convinced that there is that much available in the way of Plug-ins and add-ons that will support this screen format. My personal favourite input programme leaves a gaping hole at the bottom half of the screen, I also use thread SMS software which works fine, I am told that Tomtom supports 320×320 but have not been able to test this, if someone could let us know? So it appears some programmes will work and others won’t but there is not necessarily an easy way of tell which is which. A real shame.
Finally another niggle, hearing now that there is no way to hard reset the phone, that anyone has found to date, not even Techies at Samsung can advise at this time.
Conclusion
OK, I’m converted. This is, in my opinion a very nice device, I realise it will not please everyone, as it might appear overcomplicated, but for an all in competent and capable phone that fits as well in the pocket as it does in the hand, includes all of today’s must haves such as GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS2100, CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA to 3.6 Mbps,as well as Bluetooth with A2DP, wifi, built in GPS and A-GPS.
I will definitely be recommending this to my friends and a few have already been showing an interest, is the price tag the ultimate killer? Being slightly above the cost of Matt’s beloved TyTN II will we tempt him to swap? Will the lack of available applications and gadgets mean that you can’t live with it? Time will tell. Can I have a look at the Asus P750 now, Please….?
Review by: Steve
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Samsung, i780]
It’s been almost a year since we first saw the HTC P6500 (aka HTC Sirius) and since then things have gone a little quiet on this device. However, Orange have just added the P6500 to their list of handsets available to business customers.
Orange are saying: “The HTC P6500 has a semi-ruggedised design with fingerprint security. Great for the hard working business person.” but I think this is just PR speak for “This device is a bit ugly”! Anyone have any thoughts about the P6500?
HTC P6500 Specification:
More details on the P6500 can be found HERE on the Orange website.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, HTC Advantage, HTC Sirius, HTC P6500, Tracy & Matt]
You heard it here first, the HTC Shift appears in the Orange catalogue.
You may recall that we mentioned that Orange were planning to start selling the HTC Shift in our post back in August of last year (Orange to Shift the HTC Shift). Today we received a tip from a reader saying that the HTC Shift now appears in the Orange Feb price list.
The other thing that I have been told it that Orange are offering the device as a package complete with SIM, Contract and full support. However, I’m not sure how well Orange will cope supporting my Notebook PC!
EDIT: According to one of my sources close to Orange, the Shift will hit Orange at about the £900 mark but you will have to sign up for their support contract as well as a data tariff. I’m waiting for details!
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Shift, Microsoft Communicator]
I am going to use this to catalogue events and decisions in my life from now on. I have blogged before on the renovation of our home but I have decided to make a blog for me as this year is going to be important for my future.
For those of you that have been waiting for the HTC Touch Cruise I have good news – The Touch Cruise has just landed in stock over at Devicewire.
The HTC Touch Cruise™ uses the intuitive TouchFlo™ user interface for simple and easy navigation through emails, web pages, images and music. Fingertip gestures and movements allow you to quickly browse through all your documents and data.
The HTC Home™ screen shows the current weather along with a large clock display, whilst the control centre provides easy access to device alerts and ring tone settings. An application launcher makes starting your favourite applications or programs a breeze. Contacts and names are shown inside the HTC 3D Touch Cube interface making selection fast and painless.
The HTC Touch Cruise™ includes a satellite location GPS system and comes supplied with software to find the fastest and most direct way to your desired location, offering to find restaurants and other services en-route. The TomTom™ navigation software (Single-City “Taster” Version) provides turn-by-turn navigation and can be set to guide you directly, or route you via points of interest and local attractions.
I don’t expect that the Cruise will remain in-stock for long so if you want one then get yourself over to the product page on Devicewire.com soon!
HTC Touch Cruise specification:
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC Touch Cruise, HTC Artemis, HTC P3450]
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