THE MOBILE HORNET … for those who get turned on by mobile devices

EAGLESTEVE concluding his review of the HTC U1000 aka HTC ADVANTAGE from :

U1000’S CAMERA AND VIDEO RECORDER
U1000 has a 3 mega pixels main camera with autofocus and flash light; and a second front VGA camera primarily for video conferencing purposes.

Even under gloomy sky conditions, U1000 camera performs quite respectably, as can be seen from the following pictures which show different weather conditions of 2 photos.

In low light condition however, the camera’s performance is quite pathetic.  Camera movement produces jerky and blurry and ghostly images. Even if the camera can be held perfectly still, it still requires the subjects to stay still for unreasonably long time in order to take a picture.  Even then, the quality of the colour is still appalling. This is certainly an area requiring improvement in the future model.

In my test, the video camera records at about 15 frames per second.  Not bad, but just can’t be compared to the 120 frames per second that LG Viewty could deliver.

USING GPS APPLICATIONS ON U1000
It is a sheer delight using U1000’s big screen for GPS applications.  No longer would we have to envy the bigger screen offered by some dedicated GPS and built-in car GPS system. 

One of my GPS-based applications is a Mobile Golf Scorer, which I used for recording our golf score and finding out distance of my current location to any part of the fairway. It also calculates our golf handicaps, tracks our “bets”, calculates how much money we owe or earn from each other, etc.  Shown below is the screen that I see on the course itself, it lets me record our scores, shows me a map (which I downloaded from Google Earth), shows my current GPS position and let me find out distances from any point to any second point.

With a smaller VGA screen, I would say that this GPS software feature would be quite unusable as the text and graphics would be so small.  With U1000’s bigger screen, using this feature is not a problem.

Another GPS based application, the popular Google Maps, would also be much more useable in U1000.  Shown below is the aerial photo of the Forbidden City in Beijing. 

Getting the first GPS fixes is easy if Port 5 and 4800 Baud rate are set and the device is placed under an open sky, although without open sky this could take quite long.  Overall, I feel that the signal strength could be further improved in the future models.

INTERNET BROWSERS ON U1000
Dopod U1000 has both the pocket internet browser (PIE) and Opera browser.    Both of these browsers deliver superior web browsing experience as compared to the other similar products due to the excellent screen size and resolution.  It is even able to play flash 9 videos from the classical Youtube, Myspace, and similar sites.  This, however, involves using not the standard video player supplied, but with TCPMP player using pocket internet explorer (Viewing classical Youtube videos with Opera is still not possible as far I know).  For more details, refer to http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh…31&postcount=1

However, there are a few areas which it could be improved:

First, unlike its desktop counterpart, none of the browsers are able to handle websites with Java Applets such as http://www.fxstreet.com/rates-charts/charts-panel/.  To be fair though, none of the mobile web browser in the market is able to handle this, as far as I know.

Second, on WM6, the browsers do occasionally cease to work while attempting to connect to a website.  While the problem could be resolved by going into the Comm Manager and disable the data connection and force a reconnection, this can be a real irritation.

Third, the speed of the browser is not the best you could find among mobile devices.  I think those of us who have seen the performance of Nokia N810’s browser would readily agree with me. 

I really hope that Microsoft could address this shortcoming soon, perhaps in the coming WM7?

USING U1000 AS AN MP3 PLAYER
Many U1000 compatible software are available.  Most of the time I use TCPMP as my music player, complemented by Window Media Player.  With either of these, I could use the directional joystick to raise and lower volume, go to next or previous song, and pressing the U1000 joystick down to darken the screen.  I have also map the OK button to bring up the playlist for me to choose other songs.  To pause and unpause, I use the web browser button.  These buttons work in the above manner only while the player is the active application. Once the music player is minimised, these hardware button revert to their normal functions. 

With all my music in storage cards, I have no practical limit to how much music I can bring with me.

Although it is possible to use bluetooth sterea headset, a good wired headset would provide better sound quality for the more discerning.

With the hardware buttons mapped out in the manner described, one can use U1000 as an MP3 player, and able to access all the needed functions without having to take it out of the belt pouch.

USING U1000 AS A VIDEO PLAYER
Using TCPMP version 0.72RC1, coupled with the Flash Video Bundle, all the available codecs and plugins, I am able to play most of my video collection at more than 100% of its normal speed with the appropriate video setting.  This means there would be no out of sync or dropped frame problems. 

What do I mean by appropriate video setting? First, one must NOT choose the ATI IMAGEON Decorder video option.  Either the ATI IMAGEON or Raw FrameBuffer seem to work the best for me.  Second, TCPMP also allows the user to choose either the normal, low, or lowest video quality.  A “low quality” in TCPMP produces only slightly less sharp (nevertheless still acceptable) images but enable us achieve more than 100% speed in all the video I’ve tried, including UNCONVERTED divx movies.

While there is still lingering issues with ATI IMAGEON Decorder, I am personally very pleased with U1000’s video playing capability.  I recognise however that many other users would like to see the ATI IMAGEON Decorder working to provide the ability to play unconverted divx movies at full screen mode at minimum 100% speed.

The latest version of Coreplayer 1.2.1 arrested a number of issues and even allow for viewing YouTube video clips without any plugins software.

WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO SEE IN MY DREAM MODELS?

Size and form factor
I believe the 5 inches screen size is ideal so should never be reduced or increased.  However, the metal frame around the screen could be trimmed, the thickness reduced, and weight shed.  I would also like to see the keyboard being discarded completely, or at lease have a version that do without the keyboard.  Finally, I would prefer a more rounded edges.

Internet Browser
This is on top of my wish list in terms of area for improvement.  Nokia N810’s speed of web browsing could certainly be the benchmark for HTC to strive towards here.

Storage
I like to see the microdrive being replaced by a solid state drive, and the miniSDHC replaced by a regular SDHC slot.  SDHC seem to be always ahead of miniSDHC and microSDHC in storage capacity and an SDHC slot is able to use both of the later cards with an adaptor.

Embedded earpiece and vibration
Not everyone likes to be compelled to use a bluetooth headset, so these features are paramount for those who want to use it in the regular manner, against our ear.

Further convergence
Some devices in the market have already incorporated TV and FM tuner.  I would love to see these incorporated in the new U1000.

Connectivity
My wish list includes 802.11n, infrared capability, and USB 2.0 that is capable of reading large external hard disk.  HSUPA and higher throughput HSDPA are also areas for further enhancement.

Camera
Taking picture indoor under artificial lighting is a disaster at present. This should be fixed.

GPS
A GPS that can get a 3-D fixed more quickly would definitely be my dream.

Even better battery life and faster processor!

I understand that HTC is currently testing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform that will use a 1.0GHz processor (said to operate at 1/2 watt peak). I hope such new generation high performance and low power consuming processors find its way into the next model.

Based on the extensive amount of time I have spent communicating with the other Dopod U1000 users on various forums, I am quite confident that the above wish list does represent a good design direction in order for HTC to launch a really successful model in the market.  I sincerely hope that HTC is reading this article and taking note of these comments.

CONCLUSION
While Dopod U1000 still has many areas that could be further improved, it has managed to stay within the size limit for true portability.  It has decent battery life, almost all the features a dreamer like myself would look for (the only features missing are television and FM radio), supports the window mobile environment (therefore giving me the widest choice of third party software), and still able to use XP and Vista software via remote desktop connectivity.  While it may not be the best of breeds in each individual function, it does a reasonable job in each of them. 

In fact, this is probably the best single device in the market today that does it all.

EAGLESTEVE continues his review of the HTC U1000 aka HTC ADVANTAGE from :

U1000’S KEYBOARD AND INPUT METHODS

The keyboard is magnetic and its design is unique in that you can either have it or completely leave it at home.   To use the keyboard, hold it an inch or so from the bottom edge of the tablet and it will snap into place.  

Forget about touch typing.  It is impossible to do that on such a small keyboard.  The key also lack tactile feel.

For those of us used to the standard keyboard layout, using U1000’s keyboard is a challenge in the beginning.  It does not have a dedicated row of keys for numbers.  The numbers are arranged in the reversed order, with 123 on top of 456 and 789 below 456.  As standard layout’s 789 keys are on top of 456 and 123 is below (just like a normal calculator), I found myself reaching for 1 instead of 7, 2 instead of 8, etc.   The number layout used by U1000 is used normally for hand phones rather than computer, so it feels odd on a computer keyboard. 

Another odd thing is that the bottom row of alphabet seems to be one character too much to the right.  In a normal keyboard, the letter Z is directly below A instead of S.  Again, I found myself going for the wrong key.

On the positive side, it has support for all the special characters as well as accentuated characters.

There is no backlit for the keys but this is probably unnecessary with a 5 inches torch light shining on it.

Carrying the keyboard will add 4 mm to the 16 inches thick U1000. Fortunately, the design allows us the option of leaving the keyboard behind, and the device becomes a wonderful micro size computer tablet. 

Hardware keyboard or software keyboard?

Which way do users prefer to use the device - with the keyboard like a micro notebook or without it like a tablet? A poll conducted showed that slightly more than half of the users prefer to use the device without the hardware keyboard while 20% of the users use only the hardware keyboard, and another 29% use both the hardware keyboard in combination with a software keyboard.

An added advantage of using only a software keyboard is that it would enhance the portability of the device somewhat, also making it more conveniently as a phone as well as GPS devices that would slide into the car holder directly.

Coming up next: Using the U1000 as a phone

This is the most comprehensive review of the Dopod U1000 or the HTC U1000 as is now known.  No where can you find a review of a mobile device after 10 months of usage.  It only proves one thing - the HTC U1000 has the future built-in and its features can still beat the pants off the current crop of Pocket PCs. 

So here it is, EAGLESTEVE ON THE U1000, the mother of all reviews, 10 months in the making, and only at The Mobile Hornet:

Dopod U1000, HTC Advantage X7500, X7501, Athena, and T-mobile Ameo are different names given to the same device produced by HTC.  Other than the X7501, which is without the front camera, all devices have identical hardware, although they come with different ROM.

Comparing with the other Pocket PC phones, two things about U1000 set it apart right away: the 8GB microdrive and more importantly a 5 inch VGA screen. 

U1000’s STORAGE
The non-removable 8GB microdrive is in addition to the memory expansion slot for a MiniSDHC card.  Using an adaptor jacket, the MiniSDHC card slot can also read and write to a microSDHC card.  The later has a maximum capacity of 8GB at the time of this writing, giving a total of 16GB.

By installing all software applications in either the device memory or microdrive, and storing only data files on the miniSDHC card, we could change the miniSDHC card without affecting the device operation.  For most of us, the biggest consumers of storage space are the video, picture, and music files.  If these files are kept in the miniSDHC card, then the problem of inadequate storage no longer exist. 

One may ask if microdrive is the best place to store the application programs.  Well, for some programs we really have no choice but to install them into the device memory.  A good example of this is the award wining software keyboard Tengo (and in fact many other software keyboard as well), which could only work when installed in the device memory.  I also tend to install any program that needs to be included in the start-up folder in device memory, as well as today plugins, in order to speed up the soft reset process.  I install all other programs in the microdrive. 

My microdrive contains the cab files of approximately 100 applications, but only about 70 of them have been installed.  With this level of usage, my microdrive still has 6.65GB freespace.  What this tells us is that there should be no reason for anyone to require more storage space if all their data files are kept primarily in the storage card. 

It is interesting to note that recently T-mobile Germany has released a version of Ameo with a 16 GB microdrive.  With less than 10% utilisation, I personally would not find it necessary to have a larger microdrive capacity.

SWAPPING IN AND OUT THE MINISDHC CARD
This is a simple and easy process.  There is no need to shut down the device.  Just slide open the battery cover, give the miniSD card a slight push and it will spring itself out of the slot.  Remove it, and insert in a new card for more storage capacity. 

IS THE MICRODRIVE FAST AND RELIABLE ENOUGH?
How does microdrive perform comparing to the miniSDHC card?  I ran a read and write benchmark test using Sktools on a class 4 miniSDHC cards and microdrive and got the following result:

As you can see, the microdrive is way faster than my class 4 speed miniSDHC card, which by the way is a Toshiba manufactured card made in Japan.  I’ve seen some users posting much higher benchmark for storage cards although never as fast as their microdrive benchmark.

The key weakness of the microdrive is that it comprises moving parts and consumes more battery juice than the storage card.  I feel that HTC should consider replacing this with a SSD in the next upgrade model in order to remove these weaknesses.

In terms of reliability, both my microdrive and miniSDHC cards have had instances where the documents have “disappeared”.  At times, soft resets alone fixed the problem, but in other times, I needed to reformat the media.  In my 10 months of use, both my microdrive and storage card have failed me twice each.  Therefore, I consider both of them reliable enough, although not perfect.   

In all cases, I was able to recover all my lost files very quickly as I have scheduled backup of my microdrive content to miniSDHC card, and my miniSDHC card is periodically copied to my desktop computer.

I personally find that the quickest way to repair the microdrive and miniSDHC card is not to try recover them with tools such as Pocket Mechanics Professional as they are slow and not always able to fix lost clusters and broken chains.  I simply use WM5torage copying utility to copy all my files to the desktop, reformat the microdrive or miniSDHC, and copy the files back after that.  I found that my miniSDHC card gives the best performance when formatted in FAT32 with 32k cluster size, without backing up FAT table.  For the regular miniSD card, the best performance is obtained when formatted in FAT16 with 32k cluster size, without backing up FAT table. 

With a well thought out recovery procedure, I’m always able to recover from a hard reset within 15 minutes if I simply perform a system restore.  If I choose the reinstall each program manually, I am usually able to restore to full working condition within 2.5 hours with all applications registered, PIM data (schedule, tasks, address, emails) restored, and GPRS monitoring data recovered.

Therefore, storage reliability has never been a cause of concern for me in my 10 months of usage.

Coming up next:

THE U1000’s SCREEN AND KEYBOARD

I was supposed to do a review on the HTC U1000 (or by the old name, Dopod U1000) prior to the launch of the HTC Shift.  Now that the HTC Shift has been launched a few days ago, I feel the U1000 deserves a place next to the Shift, in fact it may be the SHIFT NEMESIS !

I have invited EAGLESTEVE, who is a gadget addict like me, and who I believe the best guy to give a proper review of the U1000.  He has been using the U1000 for a while and he has enough hands-on to truly give you the insight of this awesome device.

Eaglesteve was an IT consultant who specialised in helping large companies design and implement enterprise resource planning system for more than 20 years.  While his project mainly involves desktop computers, one of his project did involve designing and programming a Sales and Distribution system on a hand held device.  He loves handheld devices to varying degree of convergence, and has owned many including Dopod U1000, Mio168,   HP Jordana 680 and 690, Sharp Zaurus ZR-5800, and Casio FX-702P.  He uses these technologies perhaps to a greater degree than average users. 

With his Dopod U1000, for example, he uses it for vehicle navigation, to play golf, to create complex spreadsheet models, to surf the internet, to use it as a WIFI access point, to keep track of his budget and accounts, to perform bank reconciliation, to check credit card statements, to find the cheapest petrol, to look at the Television guide, to check the flight arrival and departure time, to watch video, to listen to music, to take and view photos, to make VOIP and normal mobile calls, as an alarm clock, as a metronome, as his only emailing device, as his voice recorder, as his stock and exchange rate (almost) realtime monitoring tool… the list goes on. 

He is a resourceful user who keeps his Dopod U1000 either in his pocket or belt pouch all the time and is a self-confessed gadget addict.

WATCH OUT FOR THE EAGLESTEVE REVIEW

IT MAY MAKE YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND
OF GETTING AN UMPC OR EVEN A SMALLER POCKET PC

I RESPONSE ONLY TO YOUR TOUCH !

I have touched numerous touch-screen devices, including the iPhone but none can beat the NEONODE  N2.

It was said that “Apple’s iPhone and several other manufactures” are just “following the lead set by Neonode.”   This statement was made when the N1 was launched.  In my hands is the N2 which has superior touch capabilities over its predecessor.

The device is so small that you will be wondering how you are ever going to navigate around.  But that is not so, as you can navigate so easily with your thumb.

It takes you less than a minute to learn how to navigate the touch screen. The image above show you the parts of the screen to move.

One interesting point about the touch technology is that it includes a button vibration mode.  So when you press a number you can feel it vibrate.  You can change the level of the vibration to suit your preference.

I must say the selling point for the N2 is its superior touch technology making it so easy to use.

To be continued … Inside the N2

This is the interesting part as you will know what drives the N2. DON’T MISS THIS PART!

While waiting for the arrival of the HTC CRUISE and the HTC SHIFT, I am going to share with you my personal hands-on experience on 4 of the HTC devices that were introduced in year 2007 and that I have used.

The 4 devices are :

• HTC TyTN II
• HTC TOUCH
• HTC 3600i
• HTC ADVANTAGE (aka DOPOD U1000)

I shall take you on a journey on each of the above devices and how it can impact on your life.  Yes, I mean “impact”.  In the pre-PDA phone days, a phone is just a phone and the functions are very basic but with the advent of the PDA phones, or smartphones, your office is here, there, and everywhere.  With all the features that are packed in these devices, your life became more efficient, more productive, more entertaining, and more lively.

These 4 devices are currently on sale and it will take a while before they become obsolete in the presence of newer more advanced models that are coming.

They are all Windows Mobile 6 devices and it will be another year before we can even see Windows Mobile 7 devices hit the stores.

I checked with Gadza World, a store in Penang, Malaysia and they are selling at the following prices with some freebies:

• HTC TyTN II @ RM3,288.00 (US$967.00)
• HTC 3600i @ RM2,799.00 (US$823.00)
• HTC TOUCH @ RM1,999.00 (US$587.00 )
• HTC U1000 @ RM2,999.00 (US$882.00)

Check us up daily for our hands-on review on the Fantastic Four.

continuing ….

MY JOURNEY WITH THE O2 FLAME
2-2 INSIDE THE FLAME

The O2 Flame is one AWESOME device. It has 2 processors an Intel XScale PXA 270 Processor running at 520MHz for primary functions, and then an additional dedicated graphics processor, the NVIDIA GoForce 5500. O2 claims the Flame is the world’s first dual processor PDA-phone.

There is a hefty 2GB of onboard storage ROM and if you add the microSD card you will have a lot of memory to play with. When O2 included the GoForce 5500 were they trying to turn this PDA phone into a portable game console? I must admit that playing games and watching DVD-quality video on this device gives you unsurpassed user experience especially on its generous radiant 3.6-inch TFT VGA LCD screen. When there are more games that take advantage of the extra memory become available, the Flame will then be called the “PDA VIDEO GAME PHONE”. What a mouthful?

You can’t have total video and gaming experience without good sound output. O2 did not forget that. The Flame high resolution display is supported with SRS WOW HD surround sound to ensure that the visual experience on screen is further enhanced with high quality audio piped through the device’s dual speakers.

The advantage of a TV-out feature makes the Flame your true mobile office. You can conduct presentations via a big screen TV. When you hook up the Flame to a TV or computer screen via its TV-out connector feature you not only can conduct presentations, you will also enjoy watching videos and photos and play games on the larger screen format.

The Flame is a powerful device and its spetacular features fulfil the wishlists of most power users. It is indeed a fast machine. The absence of a keyboard is not an issue as there are a some softwares in the market that can do the job as well. TEKSOFT Finger Touch and SPB Full Screen Keyboard are well suited for the Flame.

…..to be continued

I don’t own the O2 Flame but I do own the Dopod U1000 aka HTC Advantage.

I happened to get my hands on the Flame for me to play with. So since I am going to spend some time with it I might as well share my experiences as I go along.

MY JOURNEY WITH THE O2 FLAME
1-2 FIRST IMPRESSION:

The unboxing of a parcel that you are looking forward to is always exciting. And unboxing the Flame is no difference eventhough I have touched it before. If the Flame had came much earlier, I would have bought it. Sometimes the timing is so important especially in high tech products.

The Flame is about the size of my Dell x50v and I find the bigger screen compensate for the loss of a keyboard. Given the choice of a smaller screen + keyboard and bigger screen without keyboard, I am willing to sacrifice the keyboard for a bigger screen. Well, you got to know where I come from (I am a U1000 owner).

The size and weight of the Flame are acceptable. It is not too big until you find it cumbersome as a phone. I would say it is a right size for some serious work. But the screen brightness and clarity cannot beat the U1000. I wonder whether it is fair to compare the Flame with the U1000 instead of some other devices.

On my first usage, I need to set up my bluetooth headset with the Flame. Unfortunately it cannot connect to my iTech bluethooth headset. Is there a compatibility issue between the Flame and iTech Bluetooth headset? Anyone care to help me to set it up?

…..to be continued