|
|
| O2 Xphone II |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2004, 4q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 107 X 44 X 18 Mm |
| Weight | 102 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 65k Colors |
| Size | 176 X 220 Pixels, 35 X 44 Mm |
| | - 5-way Navigation Key
- Downloadable Pictures |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (32 Channels) |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | In Shared Memory, Photo Call |
| Call Records | Yes |
| Card Slot | Mini-sd, 64 Mb Card Included, |
| | - 32 Mb Shared Memory
- Ti Omap 730 Processor |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | Yes |
| Features |
| Os | Microsoft Smartphone 2003 Se Os |
| Messaging | Sms, Mms, Email, Instant Messaging |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml, Html (pocketie) |
| Games | Yes, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | Vga, 640x480 Pixels, Video |
| | - Mp3/mpeg4 Player
- Java
- T9
- Organiser
- Built-in Handsfree |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion |
| Stand-by | Up To 140 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 4 H 30 Min |
|
O2 - Xphone II200MHz with the O2 Xphone II
Major features
Compact candybar design
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
2.2 inch 65,536 colour TFT main LCD, 176 x 220 pixel resolution
VGA digital still camera, 4x digital zoom, QCIF video recording
32 tone polyphonic synthesiser
32 MB shared internal memory, miniSD card slot
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition OS
SMS, MMS, e-mail and instant messaging via MSN Messenger
MiniUSB and Bluetooth wireless connectivity
Data synchronisation with PC applications
Pocket Internet Explorer browser with full HTML support over GPRS
Java (MIDP 2.0) support
Problems/Issues?
Internet usage requires GPRS internet access point
Jumpy user interface
No Pocket Word and Excel
Sales package (should contain):
1 x O2 Xphone II handset
1 x 1050 mAh Lithium-Ion Battery
1 x Standard Charger
1 x User Manual
1 x Product CD-ROM (Microsoft ActiveSync)
1 x Stereo handsfree earphones
1 x USB Data-Cable
1 x Carrying case
Introduction
O2 are no stranger to the smartphone arena, having debuted a large range of Microsoft-powered smartphones in different form factors over the last few years. One of their latest offerings is an update to their standard phone-based line – the Xphone, which was first announced in 2003. This new phone is the Xphone II, and comes in a nice, sleek candybar form factor that is smaller and nearly 30 grams lighter than the outgoing model. While most technical specifications remain the same, its processor has been upgraded to the TI OMAP 730 running at 200MHz.
If you’ve ever wanted to take Windows with you when you leave home but don’t want to bring your laptop, and a PDA is not your cup of tea, then the XphoneII might be just what you’re after. It does all the normal phone things such as voice calling, SMS, MMS, internet access and photo taking through a VGA camera, but with Windows it can do so much more. Compact versions of Internet Explorer and MSN Messenger add a new degree of functionality, and with Microsoft ActiveSync you can keep your contact list, calendar and task notes synchronised with Microsoft Outlook on your computer from the point you connect your Xphone II up to your computer.
New/outstanding features
If you are comparing the Xphone II to the older Xphone, then nothing much has changed. Windows Mobile 2003 has been upgraded to Second Edition (SE), the processor has been upgraded to a 200 MHz chip from a 133 MHz one, and the external memory socket has been changed to a miniSD one instead of an SD slot. No, the real change is in the aesthetics of the Xphone II. The design has become a bit more conservative although more pleasing to the eye than the outgoing model. It has a much classier grey/black finish and the buttons are now in neat, connected rows. The phone has lost 28 grams of weight, tipping the scales at 102 grams, and it has physically shrunk as well, making the Xphone II one of the smallest and lightest Windows Mobile smartphones in the market.
Physical aspects
The Xphone II is a compact candybar handset with a firm rectangular shape. You could compare it to a Nokia 6230, although the Xphone II has a much larger screen. At 2.2 inches, 176x220 pixels resolution and supporting 65,536 colours through TFT technology, the screen performs very well, with a wealth of information displayed simultaneously. It doesn’t get too hard to read under bright, outdoor light, but in some situations I did have to look carefully to read messages, for example.
The front of the phone has the main screen with the traditional phone keypad underneath. The keypad consists of two soft keys, dial and hang up keys, home and “go back” keys, as well as a five-way joystick, with the 12 key numeric keypad underneath. Various small buttons line the side of the phone, with the camera shutter button on the right hand side, the volume rocker switch on the left, and the power/profile button on the top. On the bottom is the miniUSB socket and 2.5 millimetre headphone jack for the hands-free. Finally, the back side of the phone houses the extremely tiny VGA camera with a small mirror mounted beneath for self-portraits. The battery cover is also here, and, unlike some other phones, has one of the simplest cover removal mechanisms I’ve seen yet. Just hold the small button at the bottom and slip the cover off. It’s as easy as that. Underneath you will find the battery, and removing that will reveal the SIM and miniSD card slots. This means that the memory card is not hot-swappable, unfortunately.
The Xphone II weighs 102 grams and is fairly compact at 107 x 44 x 18 millimetres. For a Windows smartphone you will be hard pressed to find anything smaller.
User Interface & display
Take a closer look!
If you’ve ever used Windows on a PC (in this day and age most people will have had experience with Microsoft Windows) then you shouldn’t have any problem using Windows Mobile 2003 SE. While not as intuitive as Windows smartphones using a touchscreen, the Xphone II is still easy to understand and get used to.
On the standby screen you have five ‘desktop’ icons you can select from, which consist of your last used programs, similar to the way the Windows XP start menu works. You can scroll to the left and right between more recently used programs as well. There is also a Start button allocated to the left soft key, and pushing this key will bring up the list of applications installed in the phone to choose from, such as Pocket Internet Explorer. Jumping to menu options is as simple as pushing the button of the number next to the option.
The display, as mentioned earlier, is a 2.2 inch TFT unit with 176x220 pixels and displaying 65,536 colours. It works very well as a camera viewfinder and is large enough to display a fair amount of information at once.
Making and receiving calls
Making calls is as simple as dialling in the number and initiating the call, and with a keypad this is easier than using a touch-screen based Windows smartphone where you need to enter numbers through a virtual keypad or select contacts from the address book. You can talk through the handset, through a wired hands-free, or through a Bluetooth wireless headset.
I was able to test all three methods and they all resulted in clear audio for both me and the person I was speaking to. Using the phone’s own microphone and speaker, my caller told me that I was much clearer than with my regular phone, so the microphone seems to be very good. Reception was also very good, able to achieve and hold onto a signal longer than the same regular phone (a Sharp GX20) in an indoor area known for its bad reception.
The phonebook can store up to 500 entries and each entry is capable of virtually every field that exists for a contact in Microsoft Outlook. You can store multiple numbers, email addresses, job title, company name, the list goes on. The same speaker for phone calls is used for polyphonic ringtones and supports up to 32 tones. The ringtones included with the phone however didn’t do the speaker justice, being very basic forms of polyphonic ringtones.
Messaging
Advanced messaging is always the forte of smartphones, and the Xphone II is no exception. SMS, MMS and email are all available from the Messaging menu. I am pleased to report that the Xphone II is capable of sending long SMS of more than 3000 characters, which will require more than a huge 20 messages to send. You’ll also be hard pressed to find any recipient who can receive such a huge message, but the Xphone II is capable of it. Text input is very fast, and won’t slow down, even if you do compose a 3000 character message. T9 predictive text input also contributes to a smooth text input experience. MMS is completely supported with slide capability and is able to have pictures, sounds and videos attached. You can also directly access the camera, video camera or sound recorder directly from the composition menu if you want to capture something there and then.
POP3/IMAP email support is available and utilises an internet connection for sending and receiving. You can also access MSN Messenger from the Start menu, and provided you have a Passport account with Microsoft, you can connect to the service and swap messages with people online, the same way you do over a computer. I was not able to use it however as I wasn’t able to get a GPRS internet connection working through my test unit. More on that in the problems section.
Connectivity
With tri-band GSM support, you can be connected in five different continents. The bands supported are the usual 900/1800/1900 MHz, so limited connectivity will be available in the United States, as some networks there are beginning to utilise the 850 MHz band. GPRS class 10 ensures speeds of up to 48 kilobits per second, with the Pocket Internet Explorer browser installed for accessing standard HTML pages as well as WAP based xHTML pages.
Local connectivity consists of USB and Bluetooth, with data synchronisation possible over either one. Microsoft ActiveSync is included in the retail package, which allows you to keep your phone’s contact list, calendar and notes synchronised with Microsoft Outlook installed on your computer, just by connecting the phone to your computer.
Build quality
The build quality of the Xphone II is very good. The phone feels durable and solid, with the only exception being the back cover sliding a millimetre up and down if pushed. Nothing rattles if the phone is shaken, and I really got the sense that the phone will last for a good few years.
Battery life
With a huge Lithium-ion battery of 1050 mAh, the claimed standby time of 140 hours and talk time of up to four hours are very accurate indeed. On standby alone the phone lasted up to five days turned on non-stop, and with moderate usage of 30 minutes of calling and light messaging the phone still lasted up to three days. Despite the power sucking TFT screen and camera, the Xphone II passes the endurance test with flying colours.
Major features...
Compact candybar design
Most people will take a look at the Xphone II and appreciate the fact that it is a phone, but never even contemplate the fact that it could be a smartphone. Such is the design of this device – a small candybar with standard numeric key interface, but with the Windows Mobile software built in for PDA functionality.
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
The Xphone II is well connect with support for the main three GSM bands, so you are assured that you can connect to all GSM networks in Europe and Asia and some networks in the Americas.
2.2 inch 65,536 colour TFT main LCD, 176 x 220 pixel resolution
The standard resolution for most phones of this size, although a 2.2 inch size screen in this tiny phone is quite astounding. Unfortunately while the 176x220 pixel resolution is large enough to display a good amount of information at once, it is quite restricting for a smartphone, and it is quite obvious that Windows Mobile acts and reacts differently during operation with such few pixels. The majority of PDAs use much larger, 320x240 resolution touch-screens. Nonetheless the Xphone II gets by, with a simplified access system based on numeric shortcuts that is quite easy to use.
VGA digital still camera, 4x digital zoom, QCIF video recording
The integrated CMOS digital camera can take pictures at a maximum resolution of 640x480 pixels, and features a 4x digital zoom. Standard settings such as white balance can be adjusted, and you also are able to adjust the brightness, contrast, hue and gamma levels of the picture you are about to take. Different quality levels of basic, normal, fine and super-fine can be set to adjust JPEG compression levels, and effects such as sepia can be applied. Finally, video recording at up to 176x144 (QCIF) resolution is possible, with video being fairly smooth for a phone.
32 tone polyphonic synthesiser
With 32 tones the speaker on the Xphone II is capable of fairly good audio output, although it came with very few polyphonic tones to test it with and those that are included are very simple with few tones used. Volume can be set to high levels, and support for MP3 files are included through Windows Media Series, although I could not set MP3s as ringtones.
32 MB shared internal memory, miniSD card slot
The internal memory included is the norm for Windows Mobile smartphones and will suffice if you only plan to store MIDI files and photos and videos taken with the camera. If you plan to start listening to music files on the Xphone II, it’s best to get a good size miniSD card to store them on, as you will run out of space quickly. The miniSD card slot is located under the battery, so it isn’t hot-swappable.
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition OS
Indeed, this is a simplified version of Windows on a portable device, and in the case of the Xphone II it’s extremely simplified as the lack of a large touch-screen inhibits the usability of such a complex operating system, comparable to a regular desktop PC having to be operated without a mouse on a small monitor. Usage of numerical shortcuts in menus helps to offset this, but nonetheless a touch-screen is a lot more practical in a portable Windows environment.
SMS, MMS, e-mail and instant messaging via MSN Messenger
Text messages are a given, and concatenated (long) SMS are supported and supported excellently, with messages of thousands of characters possible if you can afford them. MMS with support for slides containing pictures, sounds and videos is included, and an e-mail client is also on the phone. The popular MSN Messenger instant chat program is preinstalled and works exactly like the PC version, allowing you to chat with other people who are signed in to the service.
MiniUSB and Bluetooth wireless connectivity
The Xphone II has a miniUSB socket built into it and the retail package comes with a miniUSB to USB cable for connection to a PC. If you really hate cables, you can accomplish a connection using the wireless Bluetooth standard. Bluetooth can also be used to connect up headsets and send files to other phones with Bluetooth capability.
Data synchronisation with PC applications
Connecting the Xphone II to a PC will allow for synchronisation of contacts and calendar notes between Microsoft Outlook through the included Microsoft ActiveSync software, and happens the moment the phone is connected. The phone will also recharge its battery from the computer, which is extremely convenient and allows you to recharge your phone from any computer anywhere in the world, as long as ActiveSync is installed on it. If you take your laptop with you around the world, this will allow you to forego taking electricity plug adapters only for recharging your phone.
Pocket Internet Explorer browser with full HTML support over GPRS
Pocket IE, as its name suggests, is a compact version of the Internet Explorer web browser designed for PCs, and while it doesn’t have all the functionality of the PC browser (like Macromedia Flash), it will still load up webpages and display them in a resized way for the small screen. Utilising GPRS webpages will take as long to load as it does approximately for one on a PC using a dialup modem, with connection speeds of up to 48 kbps.
Java (MIDP 2.0) support
Not to be forgotten, Java support for MIDP 2.0 specification programs is included, so a large range of applications and games obtainable from the internet can be used on the Xphone II.
Problems/Issues?
Internet usage requires GPRS internet access point
This is possibly one of the most annoying things I experienced with the Xphone II, and that is that it’s designed to only work through Internet GPRS access points and not WAP ones. While my GX20 can load full HTML webpages through Vodafone AU’s WAP access point (although it can’t display them properly), the Xphone II refused to work on the internet at all for me as it requires the internet access point, refused to work with the WAP one, and as my SIM card is a Vodafone Prepay one, I don’t have access to the GPRS internet access point and simply could not get on the internet. With my situation being an operator problem I don’t think everyone else will have the same problem as I did, but being able to work through a WAP GPRS access point with the Xphone II would have been much more convenient in my situation.
Slow user interface
The processor in the Xphone II runs at 200 MHz, and despite the processor upgrade compared to the previous version, it still shows its inferiority to the more prolific 400 MHz Intel processor that a lot of today’s larger PDAs include. If the phone is overloaded with keypresses in some areas it will sometimes get stuck before catching up all of the data inputs entered at lightning speed. I can understand that the compact size of the phone presents some limitations for processors, but slow user interfaces are always a nagging problem that I hate with a passion.
No Pocket Word and Excel
While this didn’t come as a particular surprise to me, the standard duo of data input editor applications – the word processor Pocket Word and spreadsheet editor Pocket Excel – are not included in the Xphone II. Due to the comparatively small screen and no touch-screen ability, I don’t think they could have been properly utilised anyway, so this isn’t a big loss.
In Summary
The O2 Xphone II is a candybar smartphone that most would mistake for a normal phone, able to perform a variety of tasks and run applications within its small shell with relative ease. However, its user interface is severely limited by the small dimensions and touch-less small screen, and the standard array of Pocket PC data input editors such as Pocket Word and Excel are noticeably absent. If you are looking to get started into the world of Microsoft portable smartphones and like the idea of a smartphone in a regular phone shape, the Xphone II is the phone for you. If you want the works (no pun intended) in terms of Windows Mobile, the next phone up in terms of size is the O2 XDA 2 Mini, with complete Windows Mobile support in all its touchscreen glory. |
| Common misspellings on this brand: |
|
|
