Reviews

HTC X7510 (Advantage) review

The HTC X7510 is one of the coolest devices I’ve played with for quite a while, it’s not a phone, it’s not a UMPC, it’s not a tablet PC so where does this device fit in?

10 second review:
Device: HTC X7510 (Advantage)
Cost: SIM free only: £559.14 (Ex. VAT)
Available from: Devicewire
Summary: Windows Mobile on a large screen complete with the perks of instant-on computing and 16GB of Flash storage.
Best of: Large well lit screen and great specification with the ability to connect to an external monitor and even has GPS.
Worst of: Almost too big to fit in your pocket but not quite big enough to replace your laptop. Expensive compared to the HTC Shift perhaps.

HTC X7510

What’s in the box?

HTC Advantage (X7510) Specification:

GENERAL

The HTC X7510 is a device with an ultra minimalist design, on the front of the device is the huge screen VGA touch screen. Here you’ll also find the front facing camera and the home key.

HTC X7510

On the right is the stylus, camera and the power button.

HTC X7510 right side

The left side is home to the 3.5mm headphone/headset socket, miniusb sync/charge socket, vga/video-out adpater socket and the volume up/down controls.

HTC X7510 left side

Nothing much on the back apart from the 3MP autofocus camera and white-led style flash.

HTC X7510 back

Finally, the bottom of the main unit had a flap covering the SD card, simcard and battery compartment next to which you’ll find the keyboard contact pad.

HTC X7510 bottom

REVIEW

Firstly, sorry for the delay in putting this review together. I had been waiting for the ROM update for the device (as we were looking at a pre-release version). I then got tied up with other things so better late than never.

The HTC X7510 is a pretty large device, with a lovely big VGA screen, 16GB of flash storage (all of which is available to the user), removable QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 3G/HSDPA, Built in GPS, 2 cameras (one with flash) and finally video out.

I like this device, it fits nicely into the high end data device bracket of the market just somewhere belor the HTC Shift and is a fine replacement/upgrade to the original HTC X7500 (Advantage). The X7510 is roughly half the size of the HTC Shift and you can, just about, fir it in to a large pocket.

It’s a great device, the keyboard is particularly cool, instead of going for the clam-shell twisty affair of the universal, or the slideout of the keiser, it’s a magnetically attached membrane keyboard, which doubles as a screen cover. The magnets in it are quite strong and I don’t recommend ‘testing’ it by sticking them to metal server room doors.
Matt already commented about the mambrane keyboard as he didn’t think it was as good as the more tactile keys on the X7500. However I have to disagree with Matt here and say that I quite like the keyboard. It takes a little while to get used to but is ok for touch typing. I found I had a few misses of the keys I was going for but there is a haptic feedback when a key is pressed so you know quickly when you’ve missed one.

HTC X7510 keyboard

Typing on the device with the larger screen is a joy, more about the software later, this is the first HTC device I have used that has the tilt switch in it, hold it landscape and the screen rotates, hold it portrate and it flips, it’s not super quick, and when you have a lot of apps running it can be a little sluggish but it works quite well. The tilt sensor also allows you to scroll through web pages by simply rocking the main unit back and forward or side to side. Obviously you can only do this with the device being used hand-held and it’s best when the keyboard is not attached but it’s still a decent idea.

The VGA/video out is really cool for doing powerpoint on a projector with, the supplied adaptor has VGA, S-Video and composite video, along with a usb port. The frame rate is reasonable but as it’s only VGA (640×480) video looked blocky on the big screen. Perhaps someone will come up with a hack to push the resolution higher IF the hardware is capable. Also, to get the best out of the display you might want to consider installing TruVGA to force all of the Windows Mobile icons and screens in to VGA, rather than stratched QVGA mode.

Software wise, this device is a Gem! Clear view, WiFi printer drivers, Google maps and the icing on the cake that is Opera Mobile 9. I’ll be honest, the other apps are fine, I loaded opera 9 then some time passed, opera 9 rocks, I like this browser so much that coupled with the VGA display, the X7510 is worth the purchase price for that alone!

Opera 9 is the best mobile internet experience so far, I’ve played with Safari on the iPhone which is pretty good, but as no one has given me an iPhone I’m sticking with WM, and Opera 9 is awesome. It renders pages quickly and correctly, it does a fine job of ‘fit to screen’ and it zooms (in and out) which makes navigation actually fun. It’s not perfect, pages that Opera desktop struggles with Opera Mobile also struggles with, but it’s an awesome achievement. I guess this will only be trumped by Opera 9.5 when it’s finally becomes available.

The built in 3.0 megapixel camera has autofocus and a bright white LED ‘flash’. The quality of shots taken with the X7510 are better than I expected and perhaps a little better than the TyTN II, they wont win any contests but are good for those spur of the moment shots although the X7510 isn’t the most discrete of devices I suspect that it will see more use on the building site than the night club.

So can you use this device as a phone. Well, yes you can but there is only a loudspeaker so you have to either have the call on speakerphone or else use a Bluetooth headset. The later worked best for me, after all, would you really want to hold such a large device to your head to make a call?!

I made a few calls with the X7510 and it worked ok, signal strength seems about average and audio quality ok. Using the speakerphone is ok too thanks to the large loudspeakers built in to the unit.

With it’s built in GPS I can see that this device may well find it’s way in to cars and delivery vans as a sat-nav device and with that large display I’m sure it will make a great addition. I guess you could even use the X7510 with your in-car entertainment system with that 16GB of Flash memory you’ll be able to store quite a lot of MP3’s and play them back over a bluetooth head unit.

The GPS itself works quite well, I only used the unit with Google maps but this is good enough to prove it works. Signal acquisition takes a while the first time you use it but subsequent ‘warm starts’ work much faster. Sitting near a window I was able to get a GPS fix indoors where other devices stuggle normally. Not much more I can offer on the GPS front apart from the fact it works without a fuss.

Another place where the X7510 comes in to it’s own is in connecting it up to a VGA monitor and plugging in a USB Keyboard and Mouse. I was then able to use the Citrix client to get a full desktop experience and use all the published application on my Citrix farm with just a tiny little machine and if I were travelling I wouldn’t even need to use an external monitor and keyboard (but the mouse would still be useful) I could do it all on this small unit. Pretty impressive and dead easy to use even if you give it to a complete technophobe!

Conclusion

The X7510 is a professional mobile data device, which, apart from the standard PDA functions the video out and Opera Mobile 9 is amazing and is one of the best browsing experiences you can get on a pocketable device.

Would I buy one? If I was forced to have a non-smartphone, and didn’t want to use my laptop when on my travels, yes as it’s one of the best portable devices I’ve used in years

If it was my money? It would depend on how good the shift was and how much I needed vista. However the HTC X7510 really does offer true instant-on computing and great battery life which is important to many.

Feel free to post questions and I’ll try to answer them while I still have the review unit.

Review by: Owen

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, HTC, X7510, Tracy & Matt]

O2 XDA Orbit 2 review

Matt asked me to review the Orbit 2 and I remember stating, ‘Copy the Polaris review and put black’, but it’s not as straight forward as that. I have been using this device for 2-3 weeks now and it’s been fun having an old friend back to stay for a while. Being a loyal Orbit user for many months, I found the newer version a creditable successor.

O2 XDA Orbit 2

What’s in the Box?

O2 XDA Orbit 2 headset controls

O2 XDA Orbit 2 specification:

Tour of the Orbit 2 layout

Top of the Orbit there is only the power button.

O2 XDA Orbit 2 top

The bottom houses the Mini USB, the reset hole. It also has the non-telescopic stylus housing. Also found is the slide lock release to open the battery compartment, which proves a lot less fiddly than a lot of other devices, and very simple to use, and not found on the HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise.

O2 XDA Orbit 2 bottom

On the left side we find the voice command button, and volume slider which again is a slider and not a wheel, also here is the lanyard holes that has a changed position from the HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise.

O2 XDA Orbit 2 left side

The right hand side gives us the Camera Button and the covered microSD card slot, which is handy for hot swapping but I believe the cover may prove liable to snapping off with regular use, time will tell.

O2 XDA Orbit 2 right side

The back of the unit holds the 3.0 Megapixel auto focus main camera, with mirror but no flash. Differing for the HTC model there is only 1 aerial socket for the external GPS. There are 2 aerial sockets, one for an external aerial and one for external GPS, on the HTC model. A speaker grille is also found here.

O2 XDA Orbit 2 back

And finally the front of the device looks impressive and I prefer the look to that of the Touch cruise although very similar; the flat 2.8” screen has a mirrored effect, this attracts every fingerprint and smudge mark within range, below there is the usual left and right phone function keys, answer and hang up, internet explorer key and OK button. 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.

O2 XDA Orbit 2 controls

Software

I think first thing to the mention here is the CoPilot which I really enjoyed and like the interface and ease of use, as a lifelong Tomtom user, a big plus for me with CoPilot was the feature whereby if the software can’t find a GPS lock then it will still continue and function based on the last know position recorded by the device, unlike Tomtom which basically locks up until it fixes a satellite link. The downside was that I found the safety camera warnings somewhat erratic, even with the latest update installed it pinged and bonged when there was no evidence of cameras a little too often for me, (I understand these are proposed and mobile sites as well) and then to make matters worse it missed at least 2-3 long term existing sites as well.

Windows Mobile 6 Professional fitted as standard and is pretty standard all round really, there is the edition of the HTC Touchflo, as mentioned before this is a great piece of software development, but I have still not found the need to use it and find the functionality of Windows Mobile, with a few selected Third party software products more than sufficient. A point of note here that I wanted to mention, 2 of my favourites at the moment are SMS Chat from Vito technologies. And the other is Touchpal 3 from Cootek, both of which, for me, really compliment the Windows Platform.

Highlights

Lowlights

Review

As already mentioned this is very much an old friend returned, brighter, faster and more capable. It is only when writing this that in the past 2-3 weeks I have only reset the device twice from memory, and that speaks volumes in its self!

Overall the PDA is more than a match for anything on the market is this class, I was surprised to find that it is a 400 MHz processor, having used 500+ speeds this unit does not demonstrate any problems in this area whatsoever, it zips along very well, handling multiple applications at once without missing a beat.

The battery also was more than capable and better than a lot of devices on the market, commonly 2 days or so of normal use, Bluetooth on, wifi off.

The camera is OK, again not being a professional, adequate enough for me, certainly not the best on the market, but as said OK.

The mirrored screen although nice to look at and professional looking, has 3 main drawbacks, firstly already mentioned is the fingerprint magnet matter, secondly the touchscreen response, although better than the HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise, can still be a little annoying as it is not as responsive as you would like, sometimes taking multiple tap attempts to get a reaction, and finally and more importantly is the use of the unit in sunlight, I primarily use the device on the road, and with the Sat Nav running, I find that it is completely useless as you can’t see it at all, and when the keys are locked it is even worse as it dims until locked. After this week of fine weather this has been a real issue for me.

I like the call clarity, as I have already recorded previously, this device is very clear and precise even in a low signal coverage area. The only down side is having to clean the screen again after a call taken when used on the ear.

O2 have done a good job with the overall design, it definitely looks Orbit like and I feel this is an improvement over the Touch cruise as it is slightly rounder on the edges and I my opinion better looking, and more businesslike, all round.

Conclusion

I have now got used to having a physical keyboard rather than a virtual one, and I still prefer to have that option available. Having said that, I easily got used to not having one again. The stability was great and refreshing to see.

As you can probably tell, I have had a good time with the XDA Orbit 2, it has been very reliable and useable on a day to day regular basis as primary machine. The size is spot on, although the HTC Diamond may challenge that , the toys and specification as up there with the best, at loosely around the £300 mark it is worth a look when considering an upgrade, and existing/old HTC Athemis/Orbit users are sure to be happy with the improvements made to an already cracking device. Stick a phone pad on the bottom and I’ll buy one.

Is it time to start hassling Matt for a go on the HTC Raphael yet, or am I a bit previous? Matt…..

Review by: Steve

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, O2, HTC Artemis, XDA Cosmo, XDA Orbit 2, HTC P3300]

Asus Eee PC 900 unboxed & mini review

Introduction

Love it or hate, there is not denying the popularity of the Asus Eee PC, demand for the 701 has far exceeded supply since it was originally launched last year. In fact these are still very hard to get hold of.

I’ve been using my 701 for about 6 months and love the portability of it, sometimes you just don’t need a ‘proper’ laptop to do what you want to do.

New versions of the Eee PC have been on the cards for quite some time and finally Asus have launched the new 900 model. Very similar to the original 701, it’s the same size and virtually the same weight, same CPU and basic hardware. However where the 900 differs is in the screen department where you can now find a 9″ display running at 1024 x 600 – a vast improvement. There’s also a 20GB SSD in place of the old 8GB unit.

Asus Eee PC 900

What’s in the box?

The device itself, instruction book, installation CD, battery, power adaptor, er, that’s about it take a look at the unbox video below for more.

Asus Eee PC 900 Specification:

General

The Eee PC opens easily to reveal a small, but full QWERTY keyboard, trackpad and mouse buttons.

Asus Eee PC 900 keyboard

One of the complaints about the older 701 was that the screen was quite small and looked a bit lonely in the middle of the top part of the unit. However you’ll now find a 9″ unit filling this area.

The Ethernet port is located on the left hand side next to one of three USB2.0 ports and the audio lines In and Out. There are a further two USB ports on the right along with the SDHC card slot.

Asus Eee PC 900 left side

Asus Eee PC 900 right side

The removable battery slots very smoothly in and out the spine of the unit and power cord plugs into the back. The AC adapter has also changed from the 701, you now get an inline power brick style charger rather than an adapter that plugs in to the wall. The adapters now also match the colour of the Eee you purchase.

There’s also a built in webcam which can be used for video conferencing and with later versions of Skype.

As you can see from the picture below, the overall foot print of the 900 is the same as the 701.

Asus Eee PC 900 vs Eee 701

Highlights

Lowlights

Review

It has to said that the keyboard, trackpad and mouse button does feel distincltively cheap, but that said the device IS cheap so you get what you pay for and given what you get on the inside it’s hard to grumble. That aside the only other disappointment was the screen size which, given the overall size of the device does feel a bit small. However a larger screen would no doubt to have added to the price and made it feel less economically attractive.

The default installed OS is Xandros Linux on this model but a version with Windows XP pre-installed should be available some time in June.

Now that the screen has been upgraded to 1024 x 600 it makes the 900 much easier to use. Most web pages assume a resolution of 1024 x 768 so some pages didn’t look right or load properly on the 701 and those that did required a lot of scrolling. This is a lot less of a problem now with the 9″ screen in place.

However, the having a larger screen is not without penalties. We praised the battery life of the 701 getting about 3-4 hours use out of a single charge depending on the usage. The 900 has barely half the battery life though, needing a charge at around the 2 hour mark. Hopefully this will be addressed with bigger batteries!

Ram has been increased on the 900 and you now get 1GB as standard. This certainly helps those applications run more smoothly. It’s not just RAM that’s been increased though as the Solid State Drive is now up to 20GB (From 8GB on the 701). For those out there that want to install other operating systems on the device the additional SSD space will make the process a lot easier.

A number of owners complained of problems with the SSD installed in the 701 and the reliability of the drive has been called in to question. It’s too early to say if the SSD in the 900 will suffer the same fate but lets hope this has been sorted!

Conclusion

A vast improvement over the original 701 the new Eee 900 is now my next must-have gadget. It’s just a shame that the battery life has been reduced so much by that larger screen. However, larger batteries are said to be available soon.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, UMPC, Asus Eee PC, Laptop, Tracy & Matt]

LG KF600 review

This week I was asked to review the LG KF600, which is the latest offering from LG.

The LG KF600, features a split-screen design. I was just as keen to get my hands on this mobile, as interesting as it looked. Would I find its functionality to be as intriguing as its appearance?

LG KF600

The LG KF600 has the split screen with touch-sensitive navigation pad that changes depending on what feature you’re using, from the music player to text messaging. Every time you access a different part of the phone’s interface, the navigation area at the bottom changes the displayed keys to suit your needs.

LG KF600 Specification

What’s in the box?

GENERAL

The LG KF600 has s classy look with a smooth shiny front and chrome edges. The primary display is set at the top in portrait orientation and the secondary touch screen sited just below and set landscape.

LG KF600 open

You can access most of the phones controls and features with the touch screen but when you want to text and make calls you can simply slide the screen open and reveal the phone-style keypad.

LG KF600 keypad

On the left side of the phone you can find rockers style buttons for volume control and an MP3 button, the later launches the media player software on the phone.

LG KF600 left side

The right side of phone has a camera button and a small plastic cover over a proprietary connector which is where you plug in the charger, USB cable and headphones.

LG KF600 right side

The back of the camera is quite plain. Here you’ll only find the camera and flash as well as a small grille covering the loud speaker.

LG KF600 back

The MicroSD card slot is sited under the battery cover and requires that you remove the battery before you can swap the card. This can be quite annoying if you carry more than one memory card with your music on as you’ll have to turn the phone off and take it apart before you can change the memory card.

LG KF600 MicroSD slot

REVIEW

Reading the specs on the internet, it sounds very exciting, but I don’t really like it. I realised that the touch-sensitive keys have their ups and downs and the KF600’s navigation pad reinforces that issue.

I found the screen clunky to press compared to using a traditional D-Pad layout, I also wanted to touch the top screen, which you frustratingly can’t do. If you want a full touch screen phone, you could always look to the new LG KF700. The system works overall but it felt slow and unresponsive at times.

I was slightly disappointed with the plastic that covers the two displays, which felt less solid than I expected and isn’t as high in quality as other LG phones’ screens, I also was not impressed with the keys on the keypad — they were too flat to easily distinguish between each one.

Fortunately, the sliding mechanism is smooth and spring loaded, so you won’t struggle to pop the phone open. The back of the phone has a rubbery finish that feels nice to touch and while the keypad is flatter than I’d have liked, it does have a mechanical cancel key on it.

While I was not convinced by the touch screen navigation pad, I do think that the software interface looks good and is an innovative idea, offering you direct access to different functions depending on what you’re doing. The phone is brought to life in a different way to your average phone theme. It’s something I hope to see more of in the future.

Another interesting feature is the KF600’s photo viewer. Using the touch-sensitive pad, you can zoom in on photos and view different areas using a mini-map-style interface. This interface would work brilliantly to see different areas of a Web page, too — unfortunately, it isn’t used in the Web browser, which I thought was an oversight. It’s actually more difficult to navigate a Web page with the KF600’s touchpad. Moving up and down on a page isn’t as smooth as I’d like it to be.

It seems that LG have enforced its music player. The player lets you create play lists, adjust the equaliser, set songs to shuffle and repeat all tracks. I was glad to see a 3.5mm headphone adapter that lets you listen to music using you own headphones but I’d really like to see a built-in 3.5mm jack on LG phones. The KF600 does support A2DP, so you can listen to music wirelessly should you choose to.

Camera-wise, the KF600 boasts a 3-megapixel camera with a variety of settings, including white balance and setting a timer. It’s not the cream of the camera crop in terms of performance, but it is easy to use.

Audio quality during calls was clear and didn’t sound distorted. I would have liked to be able to turn the volume up more, however. The loudspeaker worked normally. On the MP3 and radio front, the KF600’s no iPod, but its quality was acceptable and it’ll suffice if you’re looking for something that’ll pump out tunes during your daily commute.

For a 3-megapixel camera I expected it to be a little sharper but it didn’t perform as well as I expected, particularly in low light due to the lack of xenon flash. There is an LED photo light, but you shouldn’t expect it to illuminate your photos. That said, if you just want to take photos for MMS messages and small prints, it does the job.

With moderate to high usage the LG KF600’s battery lasted for about two days before needing to be recharged. Battery life is quoted at 200 hours standby time and up to 2.5 hours talk time.

The contextual menus are a very good idea, offering users an easier way to interact with their phones, but how these contextual interfaces are accessed makes a big difference.

The screen doesn’t have that instant response you get from the iPhone’s touch screen either, making it a very awkward touch screen to use at times. Ideas like these though aren’t always perfect first time round, so while I might not rush out to buy this phone, the next one might just work well enough to change my mind.

Conclusion

Overall I’ve been quite impressed with the KF600. It doesn’t work as a business phone but then it really isn’t trying to be one. If you are looking for an inexpensive phone with good features and attractive looks for personal use then the KF600 is worth considering. Your friends down the pub will definitely want to play with it!

Review by: Phillip

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, LG, KF600, camera phone]

Asus P750 Review

I have waited and waited for this release and finally it has arrived. So is it time at last to get the Visa out an do that upgrade? As some of you know I was torn between the HP Ipaq 614c and the Asus P750, the review on the Ipaq 614c demonstrated why, although a good device, wasn’t quite the one for me. Is the alternative any better….?

Asus P750

Introduction

Probably dubed the Asus flagship, there appear to have been many issues with getting this device to the shops. I have been waiting from memory since around September last year. Matt finally dropped the device off a week or so ago before we both went off on work jollies.

What’s in the box?

Fairly standard Asus fare, which has to be said provides lots of goodies, all included:

All of which is nice to see, as not only making sure you have the holder, chargers etc. it saves a few pounds in not having to buy these as accessories. The really picky piece is the pouch which has no real use for me, put a belt clip on it, at least! Beggars can’t be choosers.

See Matt’s Asus P750 unboxing video for more details.

Asus P750 Specification:

GENERAL

Nothing is to be found on the top of the Phone, more on this later.

On the left side of the phone finds the Voice command which is customisable, and an up/down jog wheel with press enter. And a ‘P750 3.5G pda phone’ logo.

Asus P750 left side

The right side is much more crowded, containing on uncovered microSD slot card, for hot swapping your cards. Above this is the Camera function button and then reset hole. Next is one of the best bits that I have grown to really appreciate on my P526, that being a slider switch to completely lock both keys and touchscreen. Thus doing away with buttons being pressed accidentally, however don’t forget to flick it up to answer an incoming call. On top of all this an external GPS socket if needed.

Asus P750 right side

The bottom is again pretty standard for Asus as the headset jack socket and the mini USB socket for charging and PC connection can be found here. The stylus which is non-telescopic and the mic also included.

Asus P750 bottom

On the back you will find the 1300 mAh battery cover and the 3 mega pixel camera, with no flash or mirror. A speaker grill is also housed on the back, which I have heard questioned with regard to being able to hear this type of device when it is placed on a desk, can’t say I had any real issues here.

Asus P750 back

At the business end, the front of the device is the front facing camera for video telephony if you chose to use it. The 2.6” screen is slightly smaller than that found on the Ipaq 614c. But is clear and bright, now available, as mentioned my Matt on the unboxing is the ROM update.

The Asus P750 has made the news a lot lately mainly because of its VGA screen which was initially set up as QVGA screen. Now with a ROM update you can use the P750 in its full 480×640 glory.

I suppose it appropriate here to mention that this is unofficial and therefore only to be done at your own risk. Being a loan unit, I have not been able to verify this, but there is plenty of news available.

The P750 has a 20 button, white backlit, keypad and includes and joystick type application entry. Included are the usual left and right soft keys. Which default to the Asus launcher and contacts. Between these are the windows start button and OK buttons, all highlighted in chrome.

Asus P750 keypad

Below these are the telephone end and send buttons, numerical keypad, and a useful mode switcher button to quickly switch between applications and is again customisable.

Software

The Asus launcher is again a handy addition to the phone and will suit normal phone users as it allows quick assess to settings, messages, camera etc. I didn’t use it that much as I am used to the Windows mobile interface, and was slightly surprised to see that the loan unit wasn’t equipped with wm6.1, but I gather it is only a matter of time before the update will be available.

Apart from the standard windows features, there are the additions of a backup/ restore program, which speaks for itself. There is a handy GPS catcher which can be set to update the satellite positions when ever sync’ed with your PC or set to update through the normal channels automatically on expiration. There is no pre-installed GPS software, Google maps was downloaded and installed in a matter of minutes thanks to the impressive connection and download speeds achievable. No issues at all regarding connection switching here either.

3 other pieces of software that I haven’t come across before are:

1. Ur Time – which allows you to see different time zones across the world, which can then be displayed on the today screen, apparently designed to allow synchronization of meetings, video calls or teleconferencing around the world. Very useful I supposed of the international traveller/ business man? The one place I travelled to in using the phone wasn’t an option on the menus, so I you can take this and use it as you see fit, not much good for me.

2. Travelog – allows you to track and record your travel patterns and download them to Google earth on your PC. Tried it briefly couldn’t get it to work, didn’t see the point, gave up. A bit of fun for those interested I suppose, really bad if you have been to places you shouldn’t have and logged for evidence.

3. Location Courier – Allows you to send your position to up to 5 people via SMS, also included is a timer to send periodically. There is a small icon at the bottom of the screen to highlight the status of your Courier. The best part is the manual demonstrating its use. The sample Text message reads ‘I am here, HELP!’ again make of this as you will. If you are ever stranded and need help no doubt it is invaluable, but why not just ring?

More useful tools found are the RSS reader, and My Secrets, a password lockable folder for personal or private files that you may wish to store away from prying eyes.

Highlights

Lowlights

REVIEW

My first impressions, after reading in various reviews have ‘chunky’ it was, was a pleasant surprise, the device is on the large side but I would say more solid than chunky and certainly smaller than the iPAQ. In actual fact put beside my P526 there is very little difference in appearance being marginally longer and thicker but no wider. Comparing it Matt’s old faithful, TYTN II, pretty much identical, apart from being 3mm longer, but benefits from being a full 60g lighter.

It does have a soft touch feel to the case and the chrome accents on certain pieces makes for a professional looking device. My first thought was I have no issue with the look and size of the device, this has continued with a fair amount of use. The buttons are responsive and positive. The layout of the buttons is logical and easy to use, the only thing missing for me is a separate dedicated on/off button. On the P750 this is included within the slider button which double’s in locking the keys.

The voice clarity for me was a highlight, and has been an issue on some of the devices that I have reviewed recently, on the Asus even on a relatively low signal, I had not had the usual ‘what did you say’ or ‘say again, you are breaking up’ which was a good step forward for me.

The processor found on the P750 was well up to the job, appearing very quick and positive to use, a lot of devices these days are improving in this area and again a good step forward. The 64 MB RAM is a standard disappointment with these Asus devices and although more would be preferable, I have not noticed any real lag, or had any memory issues in normal use.

Being the so called flagship of the Asus range, a little more future proofing would have been welcomed, and a comment read earlier this week sums it up ‘ who the hell uses USB 1.1 these days?’ Answer: Asus.

Conclusion

Where are we now, would I buy having waited for so long? Is it worth MY money?
Well, I was really surprised by the size, having read about it being big. I don’t think it is and prefer it over the Ipaq and the Eten.

It is a very quick and reliable pda, it is not the best on battery life in my experience about a day normal use would do it, and the camera is average.

I think for me, being a P526 user for some time now, the wifi etc are welcome additions, but not really used that much, the processor speed is also much improved, but at the cost of more size and weight. I do feel that it could be smaller.

Bottom line would I buy one, as it appears I have meddled with my P526 once too often and may have bricked it, then yes, if it came to the choice of a straight upgrade, then I feel that there is not enough innovation for the change to be justified at this point. I am disappointed that it is so similar to my P526 that it is unremarkable, or perhaps what that really means is that is it so efficient and reliable I am taking it for granted already?

Maybe I have to wait, yet again and see what the recently mentioned HTC Diamond has to bring?

Review by: Steve

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, asus, P750, Tracy & Matt]

Panasonic RP-HS33 headphones (mini) review

Panasonic Lightweight Sport Clip Earphones with Sweat-Resistant Earbuds (RP-HS33)

GENERAL

How often do you go running, either in the gym or where you live? For me the answer is not as often as I should, ok it’s never. I don’t but I’m more of a cyclist, however I still get the same problem as runners; your headphones keep falling out. Not only is it really annoying but can be quite dangerous as well. So when Panasonic sent the RP-H33’s to test out I was happy to get on my bike, so to speak.

Panasonic RP-HS33 headphones

HIGHLIGHTS:

LOWLIGHTS:

Panasonic RP-HS33 headphones specification:

REVIEW

Ok so the colour choice is orange or green, the colour is one thing that many people who have seen them have commented on. The target consumer group the RP-HS33 are aimed at do not care about colour and here’s my thinking as to why! Imagine this for a second, you’re running along listening to your music through your orange RP-HS33’s then out of nowhere a car pulls up along side you. The window rolls down and Claudia Schiffer or Brad Pitt (whoever takes your fancy) pops there head out and asks you directions. Do you then panic about your orange headphones or are you more concerned with sweat all over you and a bright red face? You see my point.

On the subject of running and cycling I have found a little bug bear but only a little one. They are designed to stay in your ear so you can exercise without worrying about them keep popping out, however there is no clip to stop the wires moving about.

I don’t have a vast knowledge of isolation (db), impedance (ohms) or even the Frequency response (Hz), however I know what music I like and how I want it to sound.

The RP-HS33 are lightweight and designed for active people at 23g (inc cable) they are light and you hardly feel your wearing them. However they are still robust enough to be thrown in a bag everyday for a month and still look and sound as good as when you got them.

To the quality now, the mid to high range makes most music sound crisp and clear, but the bass impact is quite poor, I love my bass and was a little disappointed. I listened to a few songs through iTunes on my laptop, True Colors by Phil Collins, Sandstorm by Darude and In The End by Linkin Park these where probably my widest range of music. True Colors sounded clear and as it should be with no complaints, Sandstorm was very crisp and clear but lacked the punch of the bass which is essential for dance music. In The End also had the same problem as Sandstorm where the sound was clear but lacked any punch in the bass.

CONCLUSION

I like these headphones, maybe it’s because they feel like you could stand on them and they would still work (please don’t test this theory out though) or maybe it’s because I can finally concentrate on my cycling instead of counting the time between my headphones falling off. The bass is a big issue for me but I still like them and for any sports enthusiast I would definitely recommend them.

Review by: Russell

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Panasonic, RP-HS33, Tracy & Matt]

Palm Centro review

Can the latest offering from Palm stand up to Windows Mobile?

10 second review:
Device: Palm Centro
Cost: SIM free only: £153 (£179.78 inc VAT)
Available from: Clove Technology
Summary: Small sleek and lightweight the Centro is ideal for communicating with its colour touchscreen display and convenient full QWERTY keyboard.
Best of: form factor
Worst of: poor email support for MS Exchange

Palm Centro

What’s in the box?

Nothing out of the ordinary in the box with the Centro and you can see more in Matt’s Palm Centro unboxing video but the basics are:

Palm Centro specification

General

The Palm Centro has a fairly unusual 320×320 pixel square display which takes up a good portion of the device. Below the screen are a number of fairly typical soft keys, phone keys, d-pad style navigation and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Palm Centro Keyboard

On the bottom of the device you’ll find socket for the wired MONO headset, a proprietary connector for the USB connections and to the right of that a small connector for the mains charger which is again a custom connector.

Palm Centro bottom

The left side of the Centro has a volume control rocker and a simple soft key for camera control.

Palm Centro left

The right side has very little to show, here you’ll just find an IRDA port and the cover over the MicroSD card slot (more on this later).

Palm Centro right side

In a departure from the standard, the top of the device is not home to the power button but instead there is a switch for setting the device to mute/vibrate mode.

Palm Centro top

The back of the Centro is also pretty clean, just the 1.3MP camera and a loudspeaker.

Palm Centro back

The other thing that’s quite striking about the Centro is the case material. Rather than just being a black plastic it has small metalic flecks in it which is quite attractive.

Palm Centro case material

REVIEW

Palm are keen to offer this as a smart phone, with there own Palm OS installed. But in testing I found that it lacked features that are commonly available on competing Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and the Nokia N series devices – as it does not offer WiFi or GPS.

The Palm Centro is thin at (107x53x18mm), is light at 119g, and its smooth plastic case feels comfortable in the hand.

I felt that the Palm Centro is definitely made from cheaper materials than the Treo. I found that the removable battery cover was a bit fragile and somewhat difficult to remove and replace. Also the skinny black plastic stylus feels as though it might snap in two.

I was confused by the small plastic door on the Palm Centro’s side that was abelled ‘Micro SD’. You can pull out the door, but the only way to insert the card is after you’ve first opened the battery cover. Surely it would have made more sense if Palm had designed the door not to open at all unless the user removes the battery cover.

Palm Centro MicroSD slot

Because the Palm Centro is so small, the keyboard keys are small but functional; I did fear at first that typing would be an unpleasant experience. But Palm has done a good job here. The keys are coated in a squishy plastic that keeps your fingertips from slipping; this did not slow me down much when typing emails or texts.

The 2.4in 320×320 colour touch screen looks good, although it’s smallish. The navigation controls – an oval pad; buttons for the phone interface, the main Palm OS menu, the calendar, and email; a red on/off button; and a green Send button – were responsive and easy to use.

I tested the Palms performance as a mobile phone, I made phone calls which where clear and crisp. The people at the other end sounded as good as on a landline, and they commented that the sound coming from my end was good too.

The Palm Centro supports Bluetooth; I tested this by transferring Ring tones and images from the palm to my laptop with excellent transfer speeds.

When I was browsing the Internet with the Palm Centro’s Blazer browser over O2’s network I was delighted that I was getting near Broadband speeds.

Email setup went smoothly, I just entered my ISP details and I was able to send and receive emails, I sat there and was purely using the Palm for a whole after noon to send and reply to email and it handled it just fine, if your use to writing emails on a blackberry then you should be fine with the palm.

Another good thing about the Palm Centro is that it supports concurrent instant messaging sessions with the three supported IM services AOL, MSN and Yahoo, and allowed me to keep in touch with friends and work colleagues.

The Palm Centro comes with the Deluxe version of the PTunes music player, which is a nice addition. All preinstalled music sounded surprisingly robust, I also put on some MP3’s of my own and these also sounded excellent.

The Palm Centro’s also has a 1.3Mp camera captures images at either at 1X or 2X digital zoom which was nothing to really write home about. The palm can also record a short amount of video. Image quality was adequate but nothing special.

The Palm Centro comes with loads of other useful applications, like Google Maps and DataViz’s Documents to Go for at least basic editing of Microsoft Office applications.

Conclusion

Overall the palm Centro is just a palm organiser with a phone added on to it, it’s ok for business and blackberry users, but I suspect that if you’re the type of person that likes a phone to “Do everything” then the palm is not the phone for you. But if all you need is to send text messages, emails edit a word document and browse the internet on the go, then this is the perfect device for you.

Review by: Phillip

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

Living with the HTC Shift (Part 5)

Part 5 – Bye bye Shift! 🙁

I’ve been using the HTC Shift for the past few weeks but sadly the loan unit is going back tomorrow and I’m genuinely going to miss it. Ignoring showing off on Lombardy’s trains it’s been a real productivity boon. Yes I have some misgivings but overall I’m really going to miss it, I may even shell out some of my hard earned and get myself one.

I’ve almost got used to the keyboard and I can rattle off even sizeable documents without too much trouble and can even carry it with me in my play life as opposed to just work. There do need to be a few tweaks for it to fulfil its original promise however it’s a great piece of kit.

Watch this space for the imminent full review.

Go back to Part 1 or Part 2

Posted by: Alasdair

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Shift, Microsoft Communicator]

Living with the HTC Shift (Part 4)

Part 4 – Travelling with the HTC Shift!

I’m putting the HTC Shift through it’s paces, we’re off to Milan for a few days and unfortunately in this world of flexible working I have to attend a web and audio conference whilst we are away. The thought of lugging my notebook away on hols and all the Italian goodies I’d have to leave behind was a bit annoying (you just can’t guarantee that public machines have the right plugins)…… HTC to the rescue.

Fabulous idea the whole kit an kaboodle including a mini Brother printer fits easily in my hand luggage. There is one word of warning though, due to it’s diminutive size the security staff took some convincing that the shift was actually a notebook, had to do the whole turn it on and show it working thing for the resident security geek. When I did it elicited the usual grunts of approval.

Seems portability is gained at the price of smooth passage through the airport. Anyone else out there had similar experiences with the shift or any other gadgets?

Go back to Part 1 or Part 2

Posted by: Alasdair

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Shift, Microsoft Communicator]