Reviews

GPS review – Qstarz BT-Q818 vs Holux GPSlim236

Posted by kai on Mar 27, 2007 in Reviews | 2 comments

For comparison purposes the Dopod D810‘s built-in GPS was also tested (the updated ROM with built-in GPS was only recently announced on Dopod’s HK site). The Trinity comes with a Qualcomm GPS module, which is coincidentally also used in the pseudo-UMPC HTC Athena (AKA Dopod U1000, HTC Advantage X7500, etc.)

Brief word on the D810 GPS chip: The MSM 6275 is a 4-chip GPS module, and Qualcomm touts itself as the
leader in "integration of slimmer devices." On the drawing board are
successors to the MSM 6275 -  3-chip solutions such as the 6280 and
6280A. You can read more about Qualcomm’s 3GSM report here (PDF).

Here are the specifications of the Qstarz and Holux, derived from their respective data sheets:

The package contents are standard fare as far as GPS bluetooth receivers go:

• car charger
• mini USB AC charger
• user’s manual

The two devices are very similar in size and weight. You can see the on/off switches are both located on the same side, but the mini USB ports are located in different positions. The Holux has an external antenna attachment slot, while the Qstarz does not. In addition if you are one who likes to wear the GPS device around your neck like a necklace, then the Holux can cater to that need as it has the appropriate stringing holes. One advantage I discovered during testing: the Qstarz full bottom grip pad tended to provide better traction than the two small feet found on the Holux.

Battery-wise, the BT-Q818 boasts a 32-hour usage time with its 1100mAh battery. In real-world tests the 850mAh battery from the GPSlim236 likely will lack behind a bit. Note that both GPS units use batteries that are Nokia-compatible.

One special feature from the Qstarz is an “auto-off” feature – if the GPS unit does not receive a signal after a minute, it is smart enough to shut itself off in order to preserve its battery.

Software used:

VisualGPSce (link) – an excellent freeware PocketPC GPS tracking software.

Mapking 2007 (link) – GPS navigation software for Hong Kong, which also has maps for many other Asian cities. I used the 3-day trial version that comes with the full HK map.

GPSVisualizer.com (link) – a very handy tool for creating and plotting those GPS log files.

On one of the coldest days of the year – oddly enough, falling in early March – we hit the road with our 3 devices. During the first leg of the trip, the BT-Q818 was paired with the 838Pro, and the GPSlim236 was paired with the Xda Zinc.

Screenshots from all 3 devices before we embarked on our journey. (from L to R: 838Pro, Zinc, D810) 

A quick check from Mapking reveals all 3 GPS systems are working! (from L to R: 838Pro, Zinc, D810)  Time to cross the tunnel…

Of course, whilst deep inside the tunnel there was no signal. Upon resurfacing from the underwater tunnel, all 3 devices regained their signals within seconds of each other.  I tried recording logs with VisualGPSce, but discovered the O2 Xda Zinc could not run both Mapking and VisualGPSce concurrently and hence the following map only shows the 838Pro/Qstarz BT-Q818 and D810/Qualcomm MSM 6275.

Once at the Peak, we proceeded to our destination: Burger King! The Double Whopper was too much for me to handle, but we did have a relatively clear day by today’s standards. Yes, the pollution has gotten really bad in Hong Kong, but on a clear day the view is still worth every penny!

It was with no surprise that with zero obstruction from buildings, we had the best satellite reception of all on the Peak.

We fired up Google Maps for Windows Mobile devices and activated its built-in GPS function.

The 3 screenshots below show where each GPS device tracked us as we sat inside Burger King. (From L to R: Qstarz, Holux, and D810)

Test 1

The winding roads as well as heavy tree cover proved to be a challenge for the GPS units on the way down from the Peak, especially in the middle portion of this map on Magazine Gap Road.  Once amongst the skyscrapers of Central, the paths diverged even further — for more details, zoom in on the top portion of the map.

Map created by GPSVisualizer.com

Tracks: - Holux GPSlim236 - Qstarz BT-Q818

Test 2

This test was run on top of a double-decker bus, comparing the Qstarz and the Holux side-by-side. Here we can see that the path of the Qstarz is far superior on Nathan Road. While both devices had some trouble tracking around Prince Edward Road, the Holux also had trouble at the junction of Waterloo Road and Cornwall Street due to the fact that the vehicle stopped underneath a flyover.

On entering Lion Rock Tunnel, the GPSlim236 lost the signal first and upon exiting the tunnel, it was also slower than the Qstarz in reacquiring a fix. 

Map created by GPSVisualizer.com

Tracks: - Holux GPSlim236 - Qstarz BT-Q818

Test 3

For this particular test I had two identical Qstarz BT-Q818 side-by-side. Interesting points to note:

• Qstarz #1 lost fix temporarily on Nathan Road while #2 performed admirably throughout the journey.
• Qstarz #1 seems to be less accurate, at least along the Nathan Road leg of the journey.

Other than the above two peculiarities, the two BT-Q818′s performed – as expected – identically.

{MAP = QSTARZ x2}

Map created by GPSVisualizer.com

Tracks: - Qstarz BT-Q818 (#1) - Qstarz BT-Q818 (#2)

Test 4

Another test route comparing the Qstarz and Holux. Inspection of the map gave me the impressions previously mentioned:

1. Qstarz provided a more accurate and smoother "track" in general;
2. Qstarz picked up a warm fix faster than the Holux. (see Tate’s Cairn Tunnel for details)

Map created by GPSVisualizer.com

Tracks: - Holux GPSlim236 - Qstarz BT-Q818

We’ve certainly had a lot of fun testing these GPS units. GPS is becoming more commonplace as an increasing number of PDAs come with GPS built-in. I still believe GPS to be primarily geared for drivers, but can come in handy for pedestrians — I’ve used it to guide myself to a bus stop on more than one occasion during my tests! I am looking forward to my Kaiser that will come bulit-in with the SiRFstarIII chipset.

In short, satisfactory results were received from all 3 GPS units: the Qstarz BT-Q818, Holux GPSlim236, and Dopod D810. Whether your choice is for an external Bluetooth unit or a built-in GPS chip, you won’t go wrong with any of the afore-mentioned devices.

Guide and Review to Microsoft OneNote Mobile

Posted by kai on Mar 20, 2007 in Reviews | 0 comments

If you have a Microsoft Windows Mobile smartphone or Pocket PC, you can use the OneNote Mobile program to take notes on your mobile device and then synchronize these notes with a section in the full version of OneNote 2007. This is useful when you want to:

• Capture business card pictures on your phone and bring them into OneNote, where the text in the images can be searched
• Take short text notes and voice recording reminders on your phone (for example, ideas for a project, prices, reference numbers, names, recommendations, and so on) and they will be synchronized with OneNote
• Prepare travel information in OneNote and then transfer it to your mobile device where it will be available to you on the road

These are the sorts of things you can expect from OneNote Mobile – seamless integration of notes between your Pocket PC and desktop. Pictures, voice recordings and text all get synchronized nicely. There is one caveat though – handwriting or scribbles will not transfer over from the desktop.

Here is a comparison as to what the notes might look like on your desktop vs. mobile device:

After installing OneNote on the desktop, you must select Tools > Options to install the mobile version onto your Pocket PC. Just hit the Install button and the application will be Activesync’d over without much trouble.

However, after installation I found that the notes were not syncing.  For a
long time I found myself wondering why it wasn’t working as advertised,
but as it turns out the solution was quite simple – in Activesync, go
to Tools > Options and put a checkmark next to "Microsoft Office
OneNote." After that there was no trouble in synchronizing!

Your notes can be sorted by name or date modified.

OneNote Mobile includes the basic formatting options such as bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough. A nice touch is that to edit a whole word, you only need to place the cursor in the middle of the word — there is no need to highlight the entire word.

Inserting a photo from your camera is quite simple. Simply choose Menu > Take Picture; alternatively Menu > Insert Picture will browse your PDA for existing pictures to insert. Here I have taken two photos with the built-in camera and have also recorded a brief sound clip. The floating bar in the middle of the left picture is the recording toolbar.

When you select and enlarge pictures inside OneNote, a slideshow-type display allows you to scroll through all the pictures inside.

Your notes are stored in Application Data\Microsoft\OneNote Mobile. A separate folder is automatically created for each note to house all the JPEG photos, their respective thumbnails and recordings. Recordings are done in the .WAV format.

The audio search feature and image OCR may come in handy for capture of business cards. After turning this feature on for the first time, you must let OneNote search and index your notes. The program states that an hour of audio may take two or three hours to get indexed!

Conclusion

Every Pocket PC user with any previous versions of Outlook already had the capability to sync their "Notes." OneNote Mobile adds the ability to attach pictures and photos, but adding voice recording is not a ground-breaking feature by any means. The true innovations are a) the automatic grouping of all attachments inside one physical folder; and b) OCR and speech-recognition technology built into the desktop app.

Still, for OneNote Mobile to completely replace Notes, there are several areas for improvements:

1. Support of free-hand doodles! Notes has supported this for years, why take it out?
2. Support for more than one section. As it stands now OneNote Mobile will only recognize the 1st section from the desktop version.
3. More than one text box on a desktop note = multiple notes on your mobile device. If you are pasting multiple text snippets into a note, for example, you may need to take extra time to amalgamate them into one text box.
4. Subpages not recognized in the mobile version – it will just create a completely new note.

Overall, OneNote Mobile is a nice free addition to anyone who already owns and uses OneNote 2007 — but a few very minor caveats prevent it from being perfect.

O2 Xda Zinc Full Review

Posted by kai on Feb 28, 2007 in Reviews | 2 comments

INCLUDED IN THE BOX

• Universal AC Adapter with 4 different plugs
• Companion CD
• Battery
• Mini USB Cable
• Pouch
• O2-branded stereo headset (2.5mm audio connector)
• User Guide
• Quick Start Guide
• Extra stylus

SPECIFICATIONS

O2 XDA ZINC FRONT The Xda Zinc is fairly plain-looking as far as PocketPC phones go. Along the top is the LED, earpiece, and camera. As you will see, the camera protrudes from the phone quite a bit (+1mm) and is just begging to be scratched. The buttons on the bottom are well laid-out and are of a comfortable size unlike the Dopod 838Pro, which has the keys bunched up together. The D-pad on the Zinc is easy to navigate on, but curiously instead of an “OK” button, the 4th function key (located to the immediate bottom right of the D-pad) is mapped to the “Messaging” application by default. I certainly missed the “OK” button on first use, but the option is there to allow you to change this.

ZINC LEFT No 360-degree jog wheel here: that’s just a standard volume up/down rocker switch. If you’ve used devices with jog wheels (such as the 838Pro and D810), you might find yourself trying to scroll with these buttons out of habit. Next we have an interesting “innovation” – a dedicated lock button. Flipping this down will lock ALL the hardware buttons on the device. All Windows-Mobile based PocketPCs have built-in software locks, so whether or not it’s a necessity remains to be seen.  Finally, we have the miniSD slot which supports up to 1GB of storage space.

ZINC BOTTOM Starting from the left, we have the 2.5mm audio jack which is still welcomed (and preferred) by the majority of audio enthusiasts. This is followed by the microphone and last but not least, the ubiquitous mini-USB port through which the phone can be synced and charged. I do miss having the ability to charge my phone and use the wired handsfree at the same time, so having the 2.5mm audio jack allows me to do just that.

ZINC TOP Top of the unit is the lonely power button.

ZINC CAMERA The camera is a standard 2.0MP part, with LED flash and self-portrait mirror. There is no ability to do macro shots, however.

THE QWERTY KEYBOARD is one of the selling points of the Zinc. As with the 838Pro, it’s not possible to type with one hand unless you want to risk dropping your precious PocketPC. Tactile strength of the keys is good, but each of the keys is completely flat with no curvature. Moreover, the “soft keys” eat into the space of the W, E, U, and I keys, increasing the chances of a wrong keystroke. Finally, the spacebar actually sits on top of two separate keys – if you happen to press the spacebar right in the middle, you can actually tell you are hitting two keys on quick succession. I should also point out that there is no light sensor: the keyboard’s backlight has only one-mode when you press it: always-on. For the subtle differences listed, I have to conclude that the Zinc’s keyboard is not quite up to the standard that the 838Pro keyboard has set.

THE QWERTY KEYBOARD lit up.

THE BOX shows off the packaging and designing prowess of O2. I was just wowed when I put my hands and eyes on the box. Kudos to O2 for introducing such stylish and well-designed packaging!

EVEN the accessories have their own boxes!

A NICE TOUCH from O2: 30-day exchange guarantee for hardware faults, assuming all of the following conditions are met- O2 Zone must confirm the existence of said hardware fault Original invoice required All original accessories and packaging intact Must be first-hand buyer Total talk time of the device has not exceeded 120 minutes No scratches or cracks on LCD or camera Dead pixels on LCD must be 3 or higher Device has not been used without care (e.g. badly scratched body, broken stylus tip, etc.)

THE INCLUDED AC ADAPTER includes 4 plugs: from left to right, they are Type I, Type D, Type A and Type G (for Hong Kong, of course).

THE HEADPHONES are O2-branded with the 2.5mm audio jack. It provides clear sound and is of a high build quality.

LEATHER CASE bundled with the Zinc is of excellent quality and can be strapped to and unstrapped from your belt easily.

THE STYLUS is a non-telescoping one (what a refreshing change!) and fits snugly inside the Zinc. As noted earlier, in my opinion it was a bit too tight – I found I always needed to use my nail to pry it out of its slot!

O2 XDA ZINC vs. DOPOD 838PRO. The two are very similar in size.

STACKED SIDE VIEW of the O2 Xda Zinc [22.6mm thick] versus Dopod 838Pro [21.95mm thick]

SOFTWARE

This is the list of installed applications you will find at Start >> Programs after the initilization process should you choose to install all bundled apps (see below):

• ActiveSync
• Calculator
• Camera
• ClearVue PDF
• CodeWallet Pro 6
• Download Agent
• Excel Mobile
• File Explorer
• GPRS Monitor
• Java
• Jeyo SMS Backup
• MessagePlus
• Mobile RSS
• Modem Link
• MSN Messenger
• Notes
• O2 AutoConfig
• O2 AutoInstall
• O2 Connect
• O2 Phone Plus
• O2 Plus
• O2 SMS Plus
• Pictures & Videos
• Pocket MSN
• PowerPoint Mobile
• Search
• SelfDiagnostics
• SIM Manager
• Tasks
• Terminal Services
• Voice Commander
  
• Word Mobile
• WorldMate
• Games: Solitaire and Bubble Breaker

On the initial bootup, O2 AutoInstall allows you to select and install the bundled applications.	Today screen with O2 Plus installed.

Settings – About show the Intel PXA270-520MHz CPU and AKU2.6. Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) is supported.	System Information with more detail about CPU, ROM, etc.

System Information showing details about the ROM and other firmware information. The default ROM has a date of January 10.	O2 SMS Plus groups your incoming and outgoing SMS, masquerading them as if you were in an instant messaging chat session.

O2 Phone Plus: This application improves how you make phone calls. It enables name dialing, editing a misdialed number and more. The latter in particular is a handy feature.	O2 Message Plus acts as a portal interface to your sms, mms, email, and RSS feeds.

Jeyo Mobile RSS is included with the Zinc and offers a hassle-free way to keep track of your favorite headlines. It includes a plug-in to display feeds on your Today Screen.	A sample RSS headline once you click into it. Now the question is: Was it really just a guitar?

CodeWallet Pro 6: Securely and conveniently manage any type of information – passwords, banking information, and even personal information.

Cyberon Voice Commander - on the default Xda Zinc ROM is Version 2.0 Build 612222.

Wireless Manager lets you turn on/off different communications channels. A handy “All Wireless Off” option is included.	A look at the included Wi-Fi Manager.

WorldMate 2006 provides all your travel essentials – featuring weather forecasts, world clocks, currency conversion with online exchange rates and more.

Spb GPRS Monitor is another handy utility for those who go online frequently.

Jeyo SMS Backup does exactly that – backup and restore your (precious) text messages.

XT9 is the latest and newest input method from Tegic. It’s been improved over T9 with better word prediction.

These results were obtained using Spb Benchmark, and taken immediately after a soft reset. (For reference, you can find the Dopod 838Pro’s benchmark results here)

MAIN TEST RESULTS

Test	Time	Speed	% of iPAQ 3650* speed
Write 1 MB file	607 ms	1686 KB/sec	212%
Read 1 MB file	65.7 ms	15.2 MB/sec	84%
Copy 1 MB file	817 ms	1254 KB/sec	159%
Write 10 KB x 100 files	3566 ms	287 KB/sec	51%
Read 10 KB x 100 files	292 ms	3.42 MB/sec	54%
Copy 10 KB x 100 files	3557 ms	288 KB/sec	60%
Directory list of 2000 files	320 ms	6.26 thousands of files/sec	5%
Internal database read	573 ms	1746 records/sec	414%
Graphics test: DDB BitBlt	4.33 ms	231 frames/sec	859%
Graphics test: DIB BitBlt	21.1 ms	47.4 frames/sec	351%
Graphics test: GAPI BitBlt	1.42 ms	707 frames/sec	328%
Pocket Word document open	29127 ms	8.94 KB/sec	29%
Pocket Internet Explorer HTML load	4103 ms	6.03 KB/sec	46%
Pocket Internet Explorer JPEG load	2280 ms	111 KB/sec	211%
File Explorer large folder list	3809 ms	525 files/sec	102%
Compress 1 MB file using ZIP	5868 ms	173 KB/sec	163%
Decompress 1024×768 JPEG file	399 ms	705 KB/sec	221%
Arkaball frames per second	4.29 ms	233 frames/sec	215%
CPU test: Whetstones MFLOPS	3868 ms	0.096 Mop/sec	208%
CPU test: Whetstones MOPS	889 ms	70.9 Mop/sec	208%
CPU test: Whetstones MWIPS	8081 ms	6.19 Mop/sec	208%
Memory test: copy 1 MB using memcpy	11.1 ms	90.4 MB/sec	128%

^*iPAQ 3650 running Pocket PC 2000

The score of 1% in “Directory list of 2000 files” looks a bit odd, but remember that benchmarks are just benchmarks.

(For reference, the iPaq 3650 uses a 206 MHz Intel StrongARM Processor, 32 MB of RAM, 16 MB of ROM, and a 12-bit (4096 colour) Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) Display.)

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CAMERA SAMPLE PHOTOS

• Taken with O2 Xda Zinc
• 2.0 megapixels (1600 x 1200)
• Pictures have not been resized or edited
• All other camera settings at default

Indoor (click to enlarge)

Indoor (click to enlarge)

Night shot (click to enlarge)

As is the case with most other PDA cameras, it is at its best when taking shots in daylight. For indoor situations the LED light helps somewhat.

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THE (UGLY) VERDICT

The O2 Xda Zinc is a worthy effort from O2. Its keyboard, while not nearly as good as the 838Pro’s, still is great to type on for those longer-than-usual emails and documents (with one exception – see below). XT9 is absolutely fantastic in its flexibility and predictive power and will likely be unmatched by anything in the foreseeable future. You are also getting a rich bundle of O2-branded and third party applications including O2 Plus and SMS Plus, CodeWallet Pro, Cyberon Voice Commander, GPRS Monitor, Jeyo’s Mobile Extender 2.0 and SMS Backup, and WorldMate 2006.

In addition, a “full-length” stylus is a joy to use, and the Zinc has that rare to find 2.5mm audio jack.  Finally, rubber grips on the back to protect the self-portrait mirror and camera are a nice touch — though this is offset by the egregiously protruding camera on the front of the unit. It may as well have been shipped “pre-scratched!”

HOWEVER, I have experienced simply too many stability issues that some in the forums have complained about with regards to O2 devices. Keep in mind that this device was reviewed with the shipment ROM WWE_RC3070110. (Wait a second – doesn’t RC usually mean Release Candidate?) I am entirely confident that O2 can rectify some of the following issues with subsequent ROM updates:

• Unexplainable crashes/freezes, resulting in frustrating soft resets
• Character shift on keyboard is very slow: Shift+T reacts more convincingly than Chr+T (which gives you ’5′)
• During testing, I experienced a less-than-smooth 3G video calling experience. Picture was sometimes unlear (with full phone reception), or worse, the machine would hang and lock up
• Does anyone miss the “metal, high-pitched” sound from the O2 Mini when it first shipped? If so, then you will be glad to know that the sound has made a comeback! I had to do a double take several times to make sure I wasn’t using a Mini.
• No scroll wheel, and no “OK” button by default – the latter can of course be customized, but then you lose the Messaging key. This of course points to another problem: the lack of hardware buttons on the Zinc. But they do have that handy dedicated keylock button…
• Bluetooth voice quality when paired with my Samsung WEP410 is noticeably worse than 838Pro. More hisses at close range and less distance allowed before static set in.
• Phone application does not respond to hardware keyboard letters. You need to dial using the numbers which reside on the top row (’1′ = Chr+Q, ’5′ = Chr+T… which is a real PITA because of the slow Chr-key response time as noted above).

Strictly comparing the Zinc and the 838Pro, I cannot think of any reason in favor of the Zinc other than the bundled applications (unless you count the splendid packaging as a valid reason). If this is O2′s answer to the HTC Hermes, then I hope O2 has stronger products lined up in 2007. As a final kick in the teeth, there is no HSDPA, further driving its value down versus comparable products in the market.

With its current ROM, we honestly cannot recommend the O2 Xda Zinc. What good are the bundled applications when the phone is locked up half the time?

Again, I would like to stress that the findings were based on the shipment ROM. I hope and trust that solutions can be found for the fixeable issues, and I will surely update if/when that happens. In the meantime, please leave a message below if you have questions or general comments.

Sony VGP-BRM1 – Bluetooth Audio Controller

Posted by Mr_Leng on Feb 18, 2007 in Reviews | 3 comments

The Unit

As with all Sony products this wireless stereo bluetooth unit looks and feels well made.

The upper face have the main controls.  Here you will find the volume control plus forward/review buttons on the round dial. Below the dial you have the Play/Pause button and the next it, the Stop button.  The Play and Stop buttons also double up as Answer and Hang up buttons when making phone calls.

The bottom end houses the headphone jack and the microphone opening lies adjacent to it.

On the left side of the unit we see a reset button and a hold switch.  Luckily there has not been any reason to have to use the reset button, but I guess if the unit hangs for any reason at least you can restart to see if the unit is at fault.   The hold switch has been useful as I usually have the unit in my pocket so this helps to avoid accidental button pressing.

On the right side of the unit is the power button labelled OPR.  A sustained pressed of the button will turn on the unit.  Once turned on it should automatically bond with a paired phone.  An even longer sustained press of the OPR button and it will be in a mode to allow you to pair with another phone.  The button adjacent appears to allow scrolling between files. Unfortunately I am unable to get it to work with the D810 so far.

The circular, translucent ring around the top of the unit spreads the light from a blue LED, indicating that the bluetooth unit is on.  A red LED is also present and comes on briefly when it is bonding or in the process of pairing with a phone. The pulsating blue LED makes an interesting mood light when flashing in low light.

The Charger 

The charger for the BRM-1 looks very purposeful! The charging base needs to be extended out before you position the bluetooth controller for charging. There does not seem to be anyway you can get a USB adapter to charge it with your laptop.  Sony claims audio streaming time of 15 hours, talk time of 15 hours and a standby time of 200hours on a full charge. 

The Controls

AVRCP appears in working order as  controls on the BRM-1 worked flawlessly.  This was a big deal for me as my previous R35 had functions that did not seem to work properly together with my phone.

When the Sony Bluetooth was turned on it bonded with the phone and automatically activated A2DP. When A2DP activates a little headphone icon will show up on the task bar briefly. With my previous bluetooth unit I needed to go into the bluetooth utility in the phone and turn on A2DP manually.

Pause/Play and Stop did not work on my previous R35 with my phone so all these functions had to be done on the phone itself.  Luckily these functions all worked properly on the Sony BRM-1. Volume control and FWD/REV all worked as they should as well.

The Play and Stop buttons also double up as Answer and Hang Up when receving a call. The music will automatically pause when a call is answered. The music will resume where you last left off when you finish the call.

The Sound

The big weakness that I have encountered in sound with this unit together with the D810 is in the higher frequencies.  Treble can sound scratchy at times with some residue hiss. It ends up with the higher end not sounding as crisp as it should.  The same music can be played on my other MP3 players without this problem.

To be fair my previous R35 BT unit had exactly the same problem. On the plus side of the Sony unit, the mid and high range seems to have a fuller and richer tone. When compared to my R35, the R35 would sound a little tinny and hollow with the high end at times.  Also in comparison the bass coming from the Sony unit seemed deeper and more sustaining.  In most cases I found that the bass helped very much to soothe the scratchiness of the treble.

The type of headphones you use will make a difference in the overall sound.  The Sony unit did not come with headphones so you will need one handy. I have tried several and found some would not produce any bass and made the sound very flat and unpleasant to listen to.  I got favourable sound coming out from my Sony ear buds MDR-E837, although they are not a snug fit in my ear so they would need constant adjusting when walking about. 

I found for me the most comfortable to use are the inner ear type of headsets. The advantages to these are that they block out the external environment noise and I find that  they sit nice and snug in the ear canal so don’t require constant adjusting. It would help to try these type out first though. My wife for example can’t use them as her ear canal is so narrow that it makes it very uncomfortable to wear.

I am currently using and can recommend the Creative EP-630. They are very comfortable for me to wear for extended periods and they have a very nice bass response. These are great low budget headphones.  Interestingly a friend was using a pair of Sennheiser CX-300 headphones and when compared from the outside they looked identical. I was able to listen and compare them both on the Sony BT and in my opinion did not notice any discernable difference.  I also have a pair of Sony inner ear type (MDR-EX51) and was quite happy with the sound from these as well.  A more recent purchase was the Sony MDR-EX90. I found it a little disappointing as it sounded a little flat and lacking bass with the bluetooth setup.

Another thing I might add is if you have been finding music through AD2P being a bit flat it might be worth experimenting with the fit4cat Hermes Tweaker. This utility has a tweak that allows you to choose improved sound quality via A2DP. I feel that it does seem to improve stereo seperation and quality when using  this utility.   

One final comment is that I have tried a direct connection with my headphones to the miniUSB using an adapter and the sound is really awful. The music that came out was very flat.  I tried Mortplayer to try adjusting the sound with it’s equaliser and I did not find it to be a pleasant experience.  I would be interested to hear of anyone with a direct setup and having acceptable sound quality.  

I have been using Windows Media Player on the D810 for music listening.  The music is in 192kbps, MP3 format. The type of music I have been listening to include music from Black, Julia Fordham, Marc Cohn, Margaret Urlich, Maxi Priest, Ray Charles and Simon Webbe. I have not been listening to any non-vocal music.

 

Dopod D810 (HTC 3600, Trinity)

Posted by Mr_Leng on Dec 16, 2006 in Reviews | 15 comments

In the past month or so the PPC phone shelves in the electronic stores of Hong Kong have become increasingly crowded. Not long after the Dopod 838Pro and O2 Stealth arrived, the Treo 750v showed up, and then the Dopod C720W. More recently, there have been sightings of the Asus 535 and Eten Glofiish X500. Now HTC has released yet another one of their products here in the guise of the Dopod D810. Similar in specifications to the 838Pro, but more in the Dopod 818Pro form factor, the D810 packs in a lot of features. The phone features include a large coverage of cellular networks and data standards including HSDPA.

Dopod C720w (HTC Excalibur)

Posted by kai on Nov 27, 2006 in Reviews | 2 comments

The Dopod C720w was codenamed HTC Excalibur in the months leading up to its release. It runs on the Microsoft Smartphone platform, meaning it has no touch screen. If you were like me and ready to write off this phone simply because it has "no touch screen", take a look at this review. I found the C720w to be a reasonably priced phone with powerful PDA and messaging functions.

INCLUDED IN THE BOX

• AC Adapter
• Companion CD
• Battery
• Mini USB Cable
• Pouch
• Stereo headset
• User Guide
• Quick Start Guide

SPECIFICATIONS 

*I have tested a Sandisk 2GB Micro-SD card which seems to be recognized just fine. 

Dopod’s official specs are available here, but they incorrectly specify this as a Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition, which implies it has a stylus and touch screen.

UNIT PHOTOS

UNIT CONSTRUCTION 

The C720w is the first device manufactured by HTC that has the Blackberry-style screen and keyboard setup. The screen measures 2.4" across the diagonal, and while this might have been too small for a touch screen device (the XDA Stealth has a 2.4" screen), it’s a great fit for a Microsoft Smartphone.

The black exterior can best be described as a semi-nonslip, hard plastic material, which has been (so far) excellent in terms of scratch resistance. It’s not the same as the slippery plastic housings of past PDAs, and having the rubbery qualities help it stay in your hand better. 

Looking around the device, you will find it to be refreshingly simple: the sides of the C720w are not loaded with a ton of dedicated hardware buttons. In fact, the only real side button is the power button, found on the left side of the unit. By default, pressing the power button brings you to a Quick List where you can select different options such as:

1. Phone profiles (adjust ring tone/volume, etc.)
2. Comm Manager (Bluetooth/Wifi settings)
3. Key lock
4. Power off the phone

The mini-USB connector, located on the bottom, is protected by a rubber tab that is easy to flip out of the way for charging.

FRONT KEYS & KEYBOARD 

The top set of keys immediately below the trendy Dopod logo, consists of:

• Call button (in green)
• Left soft key and Home button
• Directional-pad/Enter button (in silver)
• Right soft key and Back button
• End call button (in red)

The layout of these keys is good and I have no big concerns. The buttons are easy to press and their sizes ideal. There is enough separation between each key so that buttons are not pressed by mistake.  The directional-pad is easy to navigate, and the enter button is also easily accessible because of the way it’s slightly raised. It is worth noting that all the keys of the front are backlit to ensure smooth operation even in dimly-lit situations.

The C720w keyboard consists of 30+ keys. Adjusting from the large and spacious keyboard of the 838Pro (HTC Hermes) took some effort, but not as hard as originally anticipated.  I went from "wow these keys are definitely too small" to "this is actually usable" within a few days. Even with my rather large fingers I am now having no problems typing out complete messages on SMS, Gmail, and MSN Messenger. The familiar "FN" button on the bottom left which acts as a shortcut to secondary key functions: for example, pressing FN, then M, and you will get "!" (the exclamation mark).

Few other notables regarding the keyboard:

• There are dedicated hardware buttons for Messaging and Pocket Internet Explorer on the bottom right on the keyboard.
• Pressing FN + Symbol is the shortcut to the camera application.
• Holding the Z key is a shortcut for "key locking" function. To unlock the phone, press the left soft key followed by "z" again. (in this case, "z" acts as "*")

JOGGR

On the right side of the unit is HTC’s new JOGGR navigation system. These are not physical buttons that you can press, but rather sensitive "areas" that respond to  slightest of touches. The middle section is a scroll wheel — slide your finger upwards to scroll up, downwards to scroll down. Note that this action will scroll one line or one screen at a time, depending on the application. In order to scroll continuously, you must quickly slide twice and hold on to the JOGGR. 

The top and bottom JOGGR "buttons" can only be invoked by double-tapping. By default, the top button acts as the "back button", while the bottom button will start the messaging application, defaulting at Outlook mails.  It would have been nice to be able to customize the behavior of these two, as their functionality can largely be duplicated with the keyboard.

The one complaint I do have with the JOGGR: it was almost impossible to press the power button (located directly opposite) without somehow activating the JOGGR. Coupled with the fact that these keys do not offer any measurable advantage over the hardware keyboard, I have gone ahead and completely disabled JOGGR — and (sadly enough) have discovered it to be good riddance.

CAMERA SAMPLES

The camera on the back of the unit is
1.3MP. There is a self-portrait mirror, but no flash or LED light. The
camera works "okay" in broad daylight, but don’t expect too much from
the built-in camera:

PHONE DIALLING

The silver-colored number keys are application-sensitive: they automatically act as numbers in required situations.

• Under menus invoked with the right soft key, there is a number next to each item. Simply press the corresponding number to jump straight to that item without using the directional keys.
• Under the phone dialing app, the keys act as both numbers and letters, i.e. pressing S-E-R will search for contacts with those letters in the name AND search for contacts whose phone numbers begin with 4-2-3.

A nice added convenience is that typing any number of letter in the Home screen will immediately initiate a search for a phone number or contact. 

SOFTWARE

The standard Windows Smartphone home screen is shown below. The top row shows the list of most recently opened programs and below that is your service provider, WiFi status and time/date. Hitting "enter" while this second row is highlighted will open Comm Manager. Below that is your upcoming appointment (shows only one), followed by the currently selected profile, which is in this example is "Normal".  If you keep scrolling, the number of text messages and Hotmail messages are shown.

Here you can see the installed programs:

You may have noticed the menus look pretty snazzy, and that’s because Dopod has included a "3D" menu option that upgrades the look. Look at the difference between 3D (left) and 2D (right):

Because Microsoft Smartphones do not have touch screens for stylus freehand, the Pocket PC Notes application has been modified slightly on the C720w. In its place is Voice Notes which does what its name suggests, that is, record and playback your notes to self. You can even set a note to be your ringtone if you wish!

For those that want to or need to communicate in Chinese, you will be happy to know Chinese-language support has been built in to the operating system. Traditional Chinese characters are displayed perfectly, and there is no need to mess with third party applications like CE-Star anymore as input methods: the "5-stroke" input method is supported out of the box. 

A big omission on the Smartphone is that there are no Microsoft Mobile Office applications. You won’t be able to create and edit Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files. Instead, they have included an application suite with Adobe Acrobat Reader LE and the ClearVue Office-equivalents: Document, Presentation, and Worksheet. Keep in mind that these only allow you to view the documents and not create and edit them.

Comm Manager should be familiar to those who’ve used any of the recent HTC phones. With this app you can adjust various connectivity options including:

1. Phone reception
2. Bluetooth
3. Wifi
4. Push email
5. GPRS connectivity
6. Toggle between vibrate/ringtone
7. ActiveSync

The two quickest shortcuts to this app are Power Button+"2" or Home+down direction+enter.

Windows Media Player is included and will be familiar to its bigger brother on the Pocket PC. A2DP is supported on the C720w and the sound quality was excellent with my set of i.Tech S38s.  One issue I did have is that Media Player would not detect my 2GB Sandisk MicroSD card as an option under Library. I could not add files from it but could open and play songs directly off the SD card. More testing is required to determine if this is a bug with WMP and the 2GB card.

In the C720w, you only have the choice of one alarm time, as opposed to four on the Pocket PC.

A2DP is fully supported. Note the "Set as Wireless Stereo" option:

The included Talking Dictionary: it will pronounce the words in English in a Dr. Sbaitso-tone, but not in Chinese! (if you knew the Dr. Sbaitso reference without clicking the link, give yourself a pat on the back!)

Installing Gmail’s java midlet lets you access your Gmail on the C720w:

PROS OF THE C720w

• Keyboard – while not as spacious as the 838Pro keyboard, the C720w keyboard can hold its own as a viable input method, once you get used to it.
• Thinner and lighter than the 818Pro and O2 Atom.

• Input recognition will not add a space after using a suggested word.
• Phone reception slightly on the weak side, but this can be improved with subsequent ROM upgrades.
• Battery capacity at 960mAh is also slightly on the weak side.

After extensive use of this device, I have discovered that the C720w is first and foremost a phone with PDA functions. It isn’t as "powerful" as the 838Pro but that may very well be an advantage depending on the target user. If you’ve ever been intimidated by a Pocket PC Phone, then I think a Smartphone such as this C720w is a perfect compromise device: it syncs all your calendar entries and contacts with Outlook and one could even argue that it’s more powerful than the 838Pro based on its simplicity. Moreover, it supports Push Email, Bluetooth (with A2DP that lets you listen to music wirelessly), Wi-Fi and EDGE/GRPS. There is no 3G support, but for the intended market, this is just fine.  The price is right as well: at $3380 MSRP, I think it is fantastic in terms of the features provided.