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| O2 XDA Graphite |
| General |
| Network | Umts / Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2006, December |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 109.5 X 46.9 X 18 Mm |
| Weight | 105 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 65k Colors |
| Size | 240 X 320 Pixels, 2.2 Inches |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (64 Channels), Mp3 |
| Customization | Download |
| Vibration | Yes |
| | - Stereo Speaker |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | In Shared Memory, Photo Call |
| Call Records | Yes |
| Card Slot | Microsd (transflash), |
| | - 64 Mb Ram
- 128 Mb Flash Rom
- Intel Xscale Pxa 270, 416 Mhz Processor |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | Yes, 384 Kbps |
| Wlan | Wi-fi 802.11b/g |
| Bluetooth | Yes, V1.2 |
| Infrared Port | No |
| Usb | Yes, Miniusb |
| Features |
| Os | Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone |
| Messaging | Sms, Mms, Email, Instant Messaging |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml, Html (pocketie) |
| Games | Yes, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | 2 Mp, 1600x1200 Pixels, Video, Flash; Secondary Video Call Vga Camera |
| | - Video Telephony
- Java Midp 2.0
- Mp3/wma/wav/amr-nb/aac Player
- Video/audio Album
- T9
- Organiser
- Built-in Handsfree
- Voice Memo |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 1100 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 200 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 4 H |
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O2 - XDA GraphiteAD2P with the O2 Graphite
Major features
Smartphone in candybar form factor
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone with MSFP
W-CDMA/UMTS 2100, Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 with GPRS
2.2 inch 65,536 colour TFT 240 x 320 pixel display
2.0 megapixel digital camera, flash, QCIF video
64 tone polyphonic ringtones, MP3, support
Windows Media Player for music, video and streaming
Intel 416MHz CPU, 64MB RAM/128MB flash memory
MicroSD card slot (no card included)
USB, Bluetooth and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi local connectivity
SMS, MMS and POP3/IMAP4 email messaging
Internet Explorer Mobile HTML browser
MIDP 2.0 Java games and applications
Document viewer for viewing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
PIM and other organiser functions
Problems/Issues?
Slow user interface
Slow camera
No memory card included
No memory card hot-swap
Sales package (should contain):
1x O2 Graphite handset
1x 1100mAh Lithium-ion battery
1x AC charger (100-240V) with travel plugs
1x Stereo handsfree earphones
1x USB data cable
1x PC software CD
1x User guide
1x Quick start guide
Since it changed its OEM source manufacturer two years ago, O2 has fielded a somewhat more unique range of products in the smartphone / PDA market. Rather than just have HTC clones that are also sold by other rebranders, O2 has been focusing on miniature PDAs of late with offerings such as the Atom and Zinc.
The company hasn’t ignored the smartphone market however, with its latest handset, the Graphite, arriving on our desks recently. The Graphite is very unassuming – it’s a medium-sized candybar handset with a plain gunmetal and silver colour scheme. Still, it’s packed with all the standard features expected of advanced phones these days – 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD card slot and a 400 MHz processor make for a well-specified, middle range phone. Add to this a two megapixel camera, 2.2 inch QVGA screen and document viewer applications running on Windows Mobile 5.0 with the messaging and security feature pack, and we have a compact little device capable of so much.
New/outstanding features
Oddly enough, this is the Graphite’s weakest part. The handset doesn’t excel in anything in particular, nor does it introduce some fantastic new feature to the phone market. It’s good because it combines several pre-existing features and services into one easy-to-use smartphone. The only thing it has unique to it is O2’s customised standby and main menu screens, which help people coming from normal phones and are new to the complexity of a Windows Mobile smartphone. Read the User Interface section for more information.
Physical aspects
The Graphite is a smartphone in a candybar shell, so everything is out on the front of the handset and there’s no moving parts, nor an external antenna. The colour scheme is a combination of gunmetal grey and silver – not the most stylish combination but still respectable – while the shell itself is made of plastic. Measurements are at 109.5 x 46.9 x 18 millimetres and the Graphite weighs just 105 grams. While it’s a slightly big phone it’s very light for the hardware it carries.
On the front the screen dominates half of the phone, but there’s still room for an internal video calling camera, the phone speaker and a power button that doubles as a three colour status light. Beneath the screen is the keypad. There are two soft keys, home and back keys as well as a central, five-way joystick flanked by answer and hang-up buttons. Further below is the 12 button number pad. The keys feel tactile and have good response to being pressed, although depending on what angle they’re pressed at they can respond a little stiffly. I was also impressed with the joystick because it’s resistant to be pushed the wrong way – an annoying trait that most joysticks seem to carry.
It’s kept rather simple throughout the rest of the phone. There’s absolutely nothing on its right hand side, while on the left there’s a camera shutter key and two volume control buttons. There’s nothing on the top, so turning to the bottom one can see the miniUSB port (handling data and charge cables) and a 2.5 millimetre jack for the stereo headset. There’s also a tiny hole for the microphone.
On the back the small two megapixel camera stands out with its flash and self-portrait mirror. There’s also a tiny antenna extension port sitting near the top of the phone behind a rubber cover. The battery cover, taking up all of the bottom half of the phone, is concealed quite well and firmly clipped in. Sliding it down will release it and reveal the battery, while beneath it is the SIM and memory card slots.
User interface & display
Take a closer look!
Take a closer look!
The Graphite’s screen is a high resolution 2.2 inch LCD module, capable of displaying only 65,536 colours due to operating system limitations. This isn’t actually a severe problem because the lower colour depth is only noticeable with a good eye when viewing pictures on-screen. Still, 262,144 colour support would be welcome with the next version of Windows. The screen is bright indoors but fades to near invisibility in bright sunlight. I couldn’t find a setting anywhere to adjust screen brightness, although I did find some to adjust backlight and display timeouts.
The smartphone type of Windows Mobile 5.0 is essentially a simplified form of the PDA version. The Today screen looks similar, displaying battery, reception and network name statistics along with unread messages, selected profile and upcoming calendar events for the day. While this is the usual standby screen created by Microsoft, O2 has made its own default standby screen, which is nothing more than a background with large clock and date displays at the bottom. While this seems like a dumbing down of the Today screen, it’s sure to help people coming from regular phones adjust to the complexity of a Windows smartphone.
The main menu is accessible from the Start button, which is mapped to the left softkey. Pressing it opens the main menu: 3 x 4 grid of 12 icons remarkably similar to regular phones. Again, O2 has designed its own main menu with shortcuts to functions it believes most people will use. However this time, you can’t restore the original Windows Mobile smartphone Start menu. Clicking on an item will take you to a sub-menu in text list format or directly to the function. Up to nine items are listed in text list mode.
While there’s a 416 MHz Intel XScale PXA 270 processor at work, the Graphite usually takes one to three seconds to start a new function from the menu (such as opening the phone book or messaging suite). Once these functions are running in RAM they open a lot faster (between half to one second).
The Graphite only supports US English, although different locales can be set to change preferences such as currency signs and date display.
Making and receiving calls
For the sake of phone calls, the Graphite can connect to 3G UMTS networks and GSM networks. It supports the widely used 2100 band for 3G (used throughout the world except for America) as well as tri-band GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 for use in all countries. Tested on the Vodafone 3G network it has good reception, scoring on the same level as my Sharp 903 (my personal benchmark) in areas of bad reception. If it encounters low 3G reception the Graphite will shift to a GSM network, and during a call it will do this seamlessly without disconnecting it.
Calls can be held the regular way (with built in speaker and microphone), using the built-in loudspeaker, with the stereo earphones or with a Bluetooth headset. The Graphite performed well using all call methods. Tested on the 3G network, audio quality is very clear and audible, with volume adequate. Using the loudspeaker my caller could clearly hear me and vice versa, but call volume could be louder for noisy situations.
Using the wired stereo headset, sound quality is very clear and volume is adequate. My test Motorola HS801 Bluetooth headset also worked fine with the Graphite. It relayed audio from the phone with a slight bit of crackle, but otherwise my caller could hear me clearly.
Owing to the nature of the Windows operating system, contact list capacity is as large as available memory, meaning thousands of contacts can be stored. Each contact allows several data fields to be attached, matching those available in Outlook and Outlook Express. They include address, work address, multiple phone numbers and email addresses, birthday and job title.
Windows Mobile usually ships with few ringtones and the Graphite is largely no exception. Only 14 tones are pre-installed, although there is a bit of variety between them. Thankfully, you can add your own ringtones to the phone simply by saving them somewhere on the handset or the memory card. Windows will pick the files up automatically and list them as options in the sound settings menu. There’s also a profile system with eight different profiles, including four that are automatically activated by the phone on certain conditions. For example, the speakerphone profile is activated when the phone’s speakerphone is turned on.
Messaging
The Graphite supports the majority of messaging formats – SMS, MMS, POP3/IMAP4 email as well as Microsoft’s online mail service, Hotmail (or Windows Live Mail). Thanks to the Messaging and Security Feature Pack, direct push for IMAP4 is also supported.
Support for SMS messages is basic but adequate. You can compose messages of any size (concatenated SMS), but attachments aren’t available, meaning EMS isn’t supported. A third party extension allows you to backup SMS messages to the internal memory. The Graphite has MMS support through another third party application. It features support for multiple slides, each of which can contain one picture or video, text window and audio file. Maximum size support is 300 kilobytes, but it can be limited to 30 or 100 kilobytes depending on your operator.
Email-wise Outlook Mobile comes into play again, supporting POP3 and IMAP4 email servers including direct push email from an IMAP4 Exchange mail server. Attachments are supported with no file size limit.
For fast text entry the Graphite supports Tegic’s T9 predictive text suite. A drop down box appears beneath the word you’re typing, showing potential candidates for the final word typed thus far.
Connectivity
The Graphite has several options for connecting to the outside world. It uses 3G UMTS 2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900 for long range connectivity. UMTS allows download speeds of up to 384 Kbps, while slower GPRS on GSM networks only allows for 48 Kbps. The Graphite doesn’t support EDGE or HSDPA.
Internet Explorer Mobile is the Graphite’s preset browser, supporting advanced HTML and other technology such as Javascript and ActiveX. There’s also WAP 2.0 support, which means WML and xHTML sites can be loaded by the browser. Once your connection is up and running, IE is rather smooth in page loading and displays most PC webpages without problems. Pages are scrolled both vertically and horizontally by default, but you can change it to resize and display them in one column like WAP pages.
For local connectivity USB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless are available. Wi-Fi wireless allows access to the internet at speeds of up to 54 Mbps in a wireless hotspot. This is handy if you have a wireless broadband router at home or if your local café has a hotspot set up. USB cables allow you to connect the Graphite to a PC to synchronise data and recharge the battery, while Bluetooth supports connections between PCs and other handheld devices. The Graphite is well equipped with Bluetooth profiles, including A2DP for music streaming, headset/handsfree for wireless voice calls and object push for data transfer.
The Graphite is packed with a Microsoft ActiveSync CD for data synchronisation between the Graphite and a PC. It’s a simple affair to get the software installed – insert the CD, follow the on-screen instructions to install the software, wait for it to install, connect the Graphite via USB cable to PC and viola, all done. The whole process went smoothly without a hiccup. The CD also includes Outlook 2002 in case you don’t have MS Office installed on your PC.
Multimedia package
The Graphite comes with Microsoft’s Windows Media 10 Player Mobile. Media Player supports a number of music formats including MP3, AAC and WMA files. There’s also support for MIDI files with 64 tone polyphonics. You can search for music when the program is first run and create your own playlists. Functions such as repeat and random play are supported. Video files can also be played as long they have the 3GP or WMV extensions.
The Graphite can handle fresh applications coded in Java or for Windows Mobile directly. In the case of Java it can only handle 2D applications because the 3D extension isn’t supported by the Java virtual machine software. Nonetheless, benchmark results are amazing:
JBenchmark 1.0 23768
JBenchmark 2.0 844
JBenchmark 1.0 performance was off the charts, while JBenchmark 2.0 results are also well above the competition. Remember JB 1.0 represents MIDP 1.0 applications, while JB 2.0 represents MIDP 2.0. Sadly, no Java applications are preinstalled, so you’ll need to find a source to install your own games.
However, the two standard Windows Mobile games, Solitaire and Bubble Breaker are included. I’m sure that you can find 3D games designed for Windows Mobile rather than Java that will run fine on this handset as well, considering the performance it’s capable of.
PIM applications
While it might be the smartphone and not the PDA version of Windows Mobile, there’s still plenty of useful PIM applications installed in the Graphite. The calendar allows you to set appointments on different days and includes a reminder function to alert you in case you forget about one. The tasks list is a simplified version of this, letting you set a list of tasks to perform and reminders for each one. There’s also a simple calculator for basic arithmetic, while the SIM toolkit allows access to certain operator services.
The viewing of office data files is supported by the ClearVue software suite, allowing the handling of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe PDF Files. There’s also a voice recognition program to load up programs and perform other operations using only your voice, and it’s quite accurate without needing any training.
Build quality
I couldn’t fault the build quality of the Graphite. The fact that it’s a candybar is a good start as it means there’s no moving parts. The battery cover is also well clipped in, and even though the plastic sounds a bit hollow to the tap, it has no flex and is sturdy. I have no complaints in this section.
Battery life
The Graphite is supported by a 1100 mAh battery, which officially enables talk time of up to four hours and 200 hours of standby time. O2 doesn’t say if these numbers are relevant to 3G or GSM networks. In any case we connected the phone to the Vodafone 3G network (and to a short extent the GSM network where there was weak 3G coverage) and ran our battery test. We fully charged it and then left it on continuously until it ran out of power, leaving it on throughout the night. During this time I used the phone like I would my own, running exactly 30 minutes of calls through the phone each day to simulate moderate call usage. I used a combination of regular and speakerphone call methods to do this. I also sent a moderate amount of SMS messages and used Solitaire and internet access to kill time whenever I needed to. In practice I did this for approximately 10 minutes each day.
The Graphite lasted for a little over two days under this regime. Despite the extra energy capacity the battery holds, the fast CPU processor seems to consume it under day to day operation. However, two days is still an acceptable result.
Recharging the battery should take about 2.5 – 3 hours.
Major features...
Smartphone in candybar form factor
The O2 Graphite is a smartphone in a candybar shell, meaning no moving parts and no external antenna. It also means a little cramping on the front of the handset to fit the large screen and keypad together. Owing to its form factor, the screen is a standard LCD and not a touch-screen one. The colour scheme is a combination of gunmetal grey and silver, while the shell itself is made of plastic. The Graphite measures 109.5 x 46.9 x 18 millimetres and weighs 105 grams. While it’s a slightly big phone, it’s very light for the hardware it carries.
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone with MSFP
Version 5.0 of Microsoft’s portable operating system is designed around Windows for PCs, although it can be hard to notice when it’s fitted to a smartphone (rather than a PDA). Microsoft’s typical standby screen informs you of new messages, calendar reminders and other information, although O2’s customised version looks more like a normal phone with only the clock at the bottom and status bar at the top, sitting against a wallpaper. In O2’s standby screen, alerts only show when they actually exist, not when there aren’t any. The main menu resembles other phones with its icon grid set-up. The Messaging and Security Feature Pack is also included, which enables direct push email support amongst other minor fixes.
W-CDMA/UMTS 2100, Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 with GPRS
The Graphite supports only the one, frequently used UMTS band – 2100 – but can work with GSM networks running on any of the 900, 1800 or 1900 bands to make phone calls, send messages and access the internet. On UMTS networks the Graphite can reach download speeds of up to 384 Kbps, while on GSM networks it uses GPRS to manage a slower 48 Kbps. The handset doesn’t support EDGE or HSDPA. If the Graphite encounters low 3G reception it will shift to a GSM network until it comes in range of better 3G signal again.
2.2 inch 65,536 colour TFT 240 x 320 pixel display
The Graphite’s screen is a high resolution 2.2 inch LCD module, capable of displaying only 65,536 colours due to operating system limitations. This isn’t actually a severe problem because the lower colour depth is only noticeable with a good eye when viewing pictures on-screen. Still, 262,144 colour support would be welcome with the next version of Windows. The screen is bright indoors but fades to near invisibility in bright sunlight. I couldn’t find a setting anywhere to adjust screen brightness, although I did find some to adjust backlight and display timeouts.
2.0 megapixel digital camera, flash, QCIF video
The Graphite’s main camera takes between 2-6 seconds to boot. Pictures can be shot at up to 1600x1200 resolution with several smaller sizes available for selection, while there’s also Normal, Fine and Super Fine levels of compression. A measly 2.5x digital zoom is supported only on smaller resolutions but thankfully, there’s few applications for digital zoom. A built-in LED flash allows you to light up a scene at close range and it does a respectable job too. A self-portrait mirror sits next to the camera because the front-facing VGA camera only works with video calls. Other features include night mode for enhanced sensitivity in the dark, colouring effects (monochrome, negative and sepia), and the appending of frames (on 320x240 images only). White balance adjustment can be found in the advanced settings screen. There’s also a burst mode that’s fairly slow to work.
The Graphite can record 3GP (H.263) videos at QCIF resolution, snapping up to 30 frames a second. An MMS shooting mode can be used to limit videos so they fit within MMS size restrictions. The microphone can also be turned off in the advanced settings screen.
64 tone polyphonic ringtones, MP3, support
The Graphite comes with a small selection of ringtones. Only 14 tones are pre-installed, although there is a bit of variety between them. Thankfully, you can add your own ringtones to the phone simply by saving them somewhere on the handset or the memory card. Windows will pick the files up automatically and list them as options in the sound settings menu. There’s also a profile system with eight different profiles, including four that are automatically activated by the phone on certain conditions. For example, the speakerphone profile is activated when the phone’s speakerphone is turned on.
Windows Media Player for music, video and streaming
The Graphite comes with Microsoft’s Windows Media 10 Player Mobile. Media Player supports a number of music formats including MP3, AAC and WMA files. There’s also support for MIDI files with 64 tone polyphonics. You can search for music when the program is first run and create your own playlists, while functions such as repeat and random play are supported. Video files can also be played as long they have the 3GP or WMV extensions.
Intel 416MHz CPU, 64MB RAM/128MB flash memory
The O2 Graphite is powered by an Intel 416 MHz XScale processor. In practice the Graphite usually takes one to three seconds to start a new function from the main menu. 64 megabytes of RAM sit ready to handle all applications open at any one time. Having applications running in RAM allows them to open far quicker than if they have to be loaded from flash memory. 128 megabytes of flash memory exist for persistent storage of data.
MicroSD card slot (no card included)
A microSD card can be used to expand the Graphite’s available memory capacity. This is useful if you intend on storing large amounts of music or several pictures and video taken from the camera. The card slot is mounted underneath the battery, meaning the phone has to be turned off to swap the memory card. This is very inconvenient. There’s also no card included, so you’ll need to buy your own one.
USB, Bluetooth and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi local connectivity
The Graphite supports the use of USB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless for close-range connectivity. Wi-Fi wireless allows access to the internet at up to 54 Mbps in wireless hotspots. USB cables allow for connection to a PC for synchronising data and recharging the battery, while Bluetooth allows interaction with other devices in close-range. The Graphite is packed with a Microsoft ActiveSync CD for data synchronisation between it and a PC. The software installed for me without a hitch and was easy to make work with the Graphite.
SMS, MMS and POP3/IMAP4 email messaging
The Graphite supports the majority of messaging formats – SMS, MMS, POP3/IMAP4 email as well as Microsoft’s online mail service, Hotmail (or Windows Live Mail). Thanks to the Messaging and Security Feature Pack, direct push for IMAP4 is also supported. For fast text entry the Graphite comes with Tegic’s T9 predictive text suite. A drop down box appears beneath the word you’re typing, showing potential candidates for the final word typed thus far.
Internet Explorer Mobile HTML browser
Internet Explorer Mobile is the Graphite’s preset browser, supporting advanced HTML and other technology such as Javascript and ActiveX. There’s also WAP 2.0 support, which means WML and xHTML sites can be loaded by the browser. Once your connection is up and running, IE is rather smooth in page loading and displays most PC webpages without problems. Pages are scrolled both vertically and horizontally by default, but you can change it to display them in one column like WAP pages.
MIDP 2.0 Java games and applications
The Graphite can handle fresh applications coded in Java or for Windows Mobile directly. In the case of Java it can only handle 2D applications because the 3D extension isn’t supported by the Java virtual machine software installed. The handset performs extremely well running MIDP 1.0 applications and fairly good with MIDP 2.0 ones as well. There’s no preset Java games or applications, but Microsoft’s two favourite Windows Mobile games, Solitaire and Bubble Breaker are included.
Document viewer for viewing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
The viewing of office data files is supported by the ClearVue software suite, allowing the handling of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe PDF Files. While they may not be the official Office Mobile applications, they still do the job of accessing and displaying the appropriate office data file.
PIM and other organiser functions
The Graphite is well equipped with several PIM applications. A calendar allows you to set appointments on different days and includes a reminder function to alert you in case you forget about one. The tasks list is a simplified version of this, letting you set a list of tasks to perform and reminders for each one. There’s also a simple calculator for basic arithmetic, while the SIM toolkit allows access to certain operator services. There’s also a voice recognition program to load up programs and perform other operations using only your voice, and it’s quite accurate without needing any training.
Problems/Issues?
Slow user interface
Despite the fast Intel XScale 416 MHz processor, the Graphite doesn’t feel fast and responsive. Menu selections can take up to a full second to execute, while separate applications can take up to three seconds to ‘cold boot’ (run for the first time since the handset was turned on). Once they’re running they start far quicker, but I feel the Graphite should be quicker than it is. Perhaps something other than the processor is slowing operations down.
Slow camera
The camera in particular is very slow to boot and work. A camera cold boot can take an astonishing six seconds to accomplish; having it loaded in RAM however allows it to start in just two seconds (which is still longer than many non-smartphones take). In addition, the camera’s burst mode is quite slow, defeating the purpose of the feature. At least standard picture snaps are fast (approximately four seconds to save).
No memory card included
O2 doesn’t include a memory card in the Graphite retail package. Flash memory is so cheap at the moment that it wouldn’t hurt the bank balance to include a 128 or 256 MB card with the handset. Still, look in the right place and microSD memory cards with plenty of space can be had for very cheap prices.
No memory card hot-swap
Perhaps owing to space constraints, the microSD memory card slot is placed under the battery, meaning the phone must be completely switched off and battery removed in order to swap the memory card. If you don’t use the card as a method of transferring files between the Graphite and another device then it won’t bother you too much, but otherwise you’ll probably consider USB or Bluetooth to transfer data instead.
In Summary
The O2 Graphite is a well rounded, jack-of-all-trades Windows Mobile smartphone. It connects to European, Asian (and of course Australian) 3G UMTS networks, allowing it to perform video calls and access the internet at reasonably fast speed. GSM also exists for backup connectivity anywhere in the world. There’s Wi-Fi 802.11b/g for even faster internet access in a hotspot, while USB and Bluetooth 2.0 are included as well.
The two megapixel camera lets you capture the moment, while the 2.2 inch QVGA LCD lets you recall it. Direct push email is supported through the Messaging and Security Feature Pack, but there’s good old SMS and MMS included as well.
While it has its share of problems, particularly with the slow interface and memory card slot hidden under the battery, the Graphite is a respectable handset and should be available from most phone and electronics retailers now. |
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