Quanta/O2 loaned us a unit of their brand new GSM communicator, the O2 XDA Atom. The phone is a GSM 900/1800/1900, GPRS class B, multi-slot class 10, EDGE phone running Windows Mobile 5.1 (the unit arrived loaded with the latest ROM). Dig in for more info about this interesting smartphone, mostly aimed at the Australia/Asian and European markets.The blue-ish box it came with included a pair of stereo earphones that also doubles as a handsfree, a mini-USB data transfer cable and an A/C power supply. There was no manual in the box sent to us (but there is going to be one in the final product).
The XDA Atom is a relatively small phone for what it is. Maybe even, the smallest PocketPC phone out there. It packs a 416 Mhz PXA272 processor, 50 MB available RAM and 43 MB of flash available to store data and install applications. It supports the miniSD format, IrDA 1.2 (SIR), Bluetooth 1.2 and Wi-Fi (802.11 b). It features a TFT 2.7″ QVGA screen able to do 262k colors but only 65K colors are effective at any given time. There is also a 2-megapixel camera with flash (1600×1200 pixels) that can also do video capture a 320×240 pixels. The battery is a removable Li-Ion 1530 mAh one. Additionally, you can find an FM-receiver, built-in stereo speakers and a 2.5mm audio jack. The phone has the following buttons on it: power on/off, volume up and down, voice dial button, camera button, 5-way pad with music action support when the right music application is used, call answer, hang up, Start menu button, button that loads the O2 Media Plus application and a reset hole. The size of the stylus is ideal.
O2 was very kind to preload the phone with the latest firmware which also enables the A2DP/AVRCP profiles on the existing Bluetooth stack. This enabled us to use the phone with a stereo bluetooth handsfree headphones/mic pair. The stack automatically turns off the music when there is an incoming call and resumes back the playback when the call is ended. We were also able to stream music via WiFi from DI.FM and then send it wirelessly to our stereo Bluetooth headset.
Most readers here have already used a PocketPC in one way or another so I won’t go into the standard usability of the OS. O2 has put a number of extra applications on the phone, including their AutoConfigurator which allows you to select your carrier and then it configures the phone accordingly. Their camera software is also pretty unique and easy to use, although the camera quality is below par, even for a phone. Unfortunaly, through the camera application you can’t send images via IrDA or BT, but you can when using SMS Plus. That’s a bit inconsistant. There are also a Photo Album and Photo Editor applications accompanying the camera app. Here are some camera samples (all in high quality setting): VGA no flash, UXGA with flash, UXGA with flash on low light, UXGA outdoors no flash, MP4 video (use ‘save as’ for the video).
The O2 Connect application connects to the O2 web site and is notifying the user of system updates and other useful files, help and more. The Setup Wizard puts together a number of otherwise scattered settings in one application: email, name, buttons, today, sound theme, text size, etc.
There are a number of O2 Today plugins activated by default, like the ringing profiles (a bit buggy though, it gets stuck in the screen some times), the available battery and memory, last call, network operator, calendar, running applications and application shortcuts. I personally removed all the O2 Today plugins because they take lots of memory, and we all know that Windows Mobile’s Achilees’ heel regarding stability are third party Today plugins.
The phone comes with the Esmertec Java stack, which appears to be ok. I was able to run a few games successfully, and also Opera Mini. Other useful utilities in addition to Windows’ standard applications are ClearVue’s PDF reader, an equalizer for sound, GPRS monitoring, voice speed dialing, a self-diagnostics utility, O2 Plus (similar to the vBar functionality that lets you close applications instead of just minimize them). On the multimedia department we found the FM radio and the O2 Media Plus worthy of their reputation. The O2 Media Plus is an interesting effort to bring a full multimedia experience with video, pictures, radio and music under a single full screen application.
We found the reception of the antenna pretty normal, while WiFi and Bluetooth also worked well and reliably. The CPU proved fast enough to playback videos and do many tasks at the same time. However, there were a few problems with the unit:
The screen is washed out and very difficult to view outdoors. It is a good quality and bright screen, but the support around it has a flaw. It seems that the hardware engineers who designed the model have placed the screen light at the wrong place and so the screen now is very washed out. Some shades of gray don’t show up at all (some gray disabled widgets are not even readable without first tilting the phone towards you vertically (so the lighting changes to a more normal angle)).
Additionally, there are no softkeys. And that’s a shame, because there is space to put two thin buttons below the screen. Another problem I have with this device is the fact that it doesn’t have a physical lock sliding button. O2 wants us to use this device also as a multimedia device, but without a hold button, it just won’t do (no, the soft-lock is not a good solution in this case). I also found that the device won’t charge at all via the USB cable when used with a Mac. This was a major dissapointment for me because when I travel I only take with my PowerBook, my usb-charging capable phone (a Linux-based phone), my usb-charging capable bluetooth headset and my usb-charging capable iPod. I have no major need to sync anything when on the go, but I do have a need to use a simple USB cable to charge via the PowerBook. Another problem is that there is no speakerphone capability (none that I found anyway). The battery door comes off too easily for my taste (it has come out twice so far, accidentally), while I found a bug involving Windows Media Player in this firmware version: after playing back an MP4 video you just shot with the phone’s own camera and then close down the app, Windows Media Player doesn’t come up again until you reset the device…
Also, freehand writing on the Notes application is slow. On other PocketPCs or on the Nokia 770 freehand writing is considerably smoother.
Regarding battery life, I found it below par for a $950 device, like this is sold as. The phone comes with a respectable 1530 mAh 3.7V battery and that’s one of the biggest batteries shipping with any phone today. However, the phone manages barely 3 days of light usage and 10 hours of mp3 playback, which is way below HTC’s 5 days and 15 hours respectively on a 1250 mAh battery. This is probably due to using cheaper electronics in order to bring cost down, electronics that don’t do the best job conserving a lot of battery.
Overall, this is a pretty good phone. But it could have been a lot better by just taking care of the details. I say this because most of my problems with the phone are just details. The basics are executed out very well by the product though and I am sure it’s going to be very successful, especially if the price is brought down to more realistic levels.
Pros:
– Fast processor
– Unique additional software
– Small form factor
– Quad-wireless capability
– A2DP support
– FM Radio and camera with flash
– Stable firmware
Cons:
– Screen is washed out
– No hardware softkeys
– Battery life is not that great
– No real ‘hold’ slider button
– No speakerphone
– Doesn’t charge through USB on a Mac
– Battery door comes off all too easy
– For such an expensive device ($950US) there is no keyboard, GBs of storage, GPS, DVB-H, quad-band/UMTS, uPnP support or video-call camera
Overall Rating: 6/10
Windows Mobile based phones are simply not very good phones. They are okay as PDAs.
Why are Windows Mobile based phones bad?
1. battery life – very short, less than a day, some only for 6 hours or so
2. ease of use – phone is a PITA to access, dial, etc
3. form factor – bulky as a phone
4. stability – Windows Mobile is not stable and has to be reset frequently
5. poor screens – extremely hard to see outdoors
My experience comes from developing and testing on multiple variations of the pda (cell and non-cell based) and smartphones. These things have lots of issues, and that’s before our applications are being tested!
>1. battery life – very short, less than a day, some only for 6 hours or so
This is not true. Windows Mobile 5 is amazing on battery life. Look some of the newer HTC models and you will see that battery life is just fine, as long as you use the right hardware parts.
>2. ease of use – phone is a PITA to access, dial, etc
I didn’t have any problem with that.
>3. form factor – bulky as a phone
Not this phone. This the first Windows PDA/phone that is actually not bulky at all. It’s smaller than my Linux-based Motorola one.
>4. stability – Windows Mobile is not stable and has to be reset frequently
Well, depends what you run. Windows Mobile has 20,000 apps out there, some of them are old or bad enough to bring down the OS. Same goes for PalmOS’ 28,000 apps. Compare that to 500 apps of Nokia’s Symbian and you will see that it will fair better with stability in that regard.
>5. poor screens – extremely hard to see outdoors
This is not true. It all depends what screens the hardware manufacturer is buying to use for their product. It has nothing to do with the fact if something is a Windows PDA or not.
Kyle, i have Sprint PPC-6700 and here is my review:
1. Battery life is awesome almost 3 days if you don’t use it and almost 5 hours with wireless. Remember wireless drains the battery life like anything.
2. ease of use – i find it quite easy to use, what is your specific complain?
3. form factor – i agree here but with all the features, phone has to be bulky. My phone has 802.11 interface, infra-red, blue-tooth etc.
4. Stability – In last 6 months it froze on me only once so whats your point?
5. Poor screen – Totally disagree, PPC-6700 rocks and its screen is crystal clear.
Edited 2006-02-23 05:42
Well I won’t go into details again, as regular readers will know my dislike of these uberconverged supa dupa multimedia camera video things that also happens to make phonecalls. This device don’t seem to change my opinion.
Edited 2006-02-22 23:35
Eugenia,
Its obvious you are always trying to defend WM.
Fact is i have a windows mobile phone (recieved it from my old employer) and its lying in the closet because it really sucks.
Battery life sucks, when i used it, it needed a reboot 3 to 4 times a day. I lost all my addresses, email, sms and settings etc. more than once.
I really tried to use it, while i am not a fan of windows, but in daily life its almost impossible to use.
Windows is like washing powder, its always improved, more sexier and more expensive but at the end of the day you will find out the stains remain.
>Its obvious you are always trying to defend WM.
And it’s obvious that you are a troll. Windows Mobile proved very stable here.
>Fact is i have a windows mobile phone
Do you have the PDA or the Smartphone edition? You see, the Smartphone edition of Windows Mobile SUCKS. My husband has one of those and I get cramps each time I have to use it.
But the PDA edition of the phone — like this one reviewed–, is not bad at all. And that’s the truth of it, you like it or not.
>And it’s obvious that you are a troll. Windows Mobile
>proved very stable here.
A troll? because WM was stable at your place? huh?
I was not talking about stability……….
I have a Qtek 220 (out of my head) PDA/Phone.
It can, but that never worked, navigate, be a phone, a camera, an internet device etc.
It is an PDA with phone functions and it really sucks.
But i guess that is all the fault of the hardware because the software is obvoius flawless
Edited 2006-02-22 23:39
I can’t find that Qtek model on google. Maybe it’s a very old model, back in the days where Win2003 was trying to be a hybrid. But WinMob5.1 is a whole new animal. It was modified and extended to BE a phone more than a PDA.
It’s like comparing Win98 to WinXP. Different animals.
I made a mistake, its a O2 XDA/Qtek 2020i.
Its only 1 year old and its runnig WM5
No it doesn’t. This model runs Windows Mobile 2003SE. The older version. WM5 devices only appeared in the market 3-4 months ago.
YES IT DOES!
I have the device in front of my now.
My Qtek 2020i is runnig Windwos Mobile 5!
The device is sold with Win2003SE. SEND ME a screenshot of the Today screen and I will tell you what OS it’s running for sure.
http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/articles/wm2005-magneto-en.shtml
My Qtek really contains Windows Mobile 2005, windows 2003 really looks different according to these screens.
I have been given the device in june 2005 so it could be that they shipped the device with WM5? or updated the ROM
No, there is no way you could have this QTek with WM5. And if you got that WITH WM5 last June, it means that you are running an ALPHA version of the OS. The OS was released to manufacturers in early October. Also, do you, or do you not have the softkeys at the bottom of the screen? I am asking you again to send me a screenshot or a camera shot of your Today screen and I will tell you what you run. Until you do that, please don’t reply to this topic, because really, it’s off topic. Our topic is the XDA Atom here.
Edited 2006-02-23 00:08
Fine. believe it or not . It does not matter.
On Topic.
$950 is an absurd price for a PDA/Phone esp. with this kind of screen. Why not make it with a CG Silicon screen?
Edited 2006-02-23 00:16
$950 is an absurd price for a PDA/Phone esp. with this kind of screen.
just ignore the price.
if you want such a phone, you will buy it with a 1-year subscription. I’d guess that it will cost you less than 200$ (you can get 500€ phones for 99€)
> “And if you got that WITH WM5 last June, it means that you are running an ALPHA version of the OS.”
Or it means he’s simply lying. Microsoft haters tend to make up elaborate lies in order to make MS products look bad. I’ve read some dandies in these threads.
That’s my suspicion too.
>My Qtek really contains Windows Mobile 2005, windows
>2003 really looks different according to these screens.
These screens are showing WM5 mate, not Win2003SE. You are running Win2003SE, end of story. There was never a ROM upgrade made available for that Qtek model you claim you have. If you really want to make me believe otherwise, you will have to send me a *camera* picture of your Today screen and phone. If you have softkeys, then it’s WM5. If not, it’s Win2003SE. And if you do have WM5 and it’s from last June, then you are running an engineering sample and NOT a retail phone version.
Also note that my PPC-6700 has a full qwerty keyboard so i don’t think it is bulky at all.
Dopod 818pro
http://www.mobileplanet.com/product.asp?code=127976
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/handhelds/0,39001703,39097160p,00.htm
Same OEM (HTC), Same picture quality, support 802.11g
The Atom is not made by HTC, it’s made by Quanta.
There’s a shift going on globally in the telecommunications market to support 3G which the O2 Atom smartphone doesn’t but devices such as the O2 XDA Exec do. 3G offers greater connectivity both with speed and the amount of bandwidth allowed for transfering data.
Atom specs: http://gsmarena.com/o2_xda_atom-1372.php
XDA Exec specs: http://gsmarena.com/o2_xda_exec-1279.php
3G info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GSM
I finally got hold of the a/c for the qtek and fired it
up. You where right ia windows mobile 2003 SE.
I was really convinced that it was running wm5 because i got it in 2005 and they said it comed with the latest
update.
So wm 2003 se is a pain in the ass and wm5 is much better….
Sorry for this mix up..i hope you accept!
Accepted.
I’ve been madly wantin 2 get hold of O2’s new atom.. But ceynet reviviews hav kinda scared me u know.. probably the new ROM update figured all those complaints of atom being slow.. And I’m a newbie to PDAs… Please can some one suggest if I should stick 2 O2 atom or would Dopod 818 be a better option?
The rating (6/10) given for the Atom is excessively severe – and the price you’re being given is far too high. If you have to pay anything like that amount in US$ try mail order from Australia 🙂
This is a great little device. The footprint is barely more than a Motorola V3 although of course it is thicker. I’ve been carrying one for a few weeks now and would not go back. Have not noticed any screen washout issues in sunlight, and I prefer the small size rather than packing in every possible feature.