Price:	Depends on contract		Reviewed by:	Gavin Fabiani-Laymond
Supplied:	O2		Review date:	24/01/2005
Pros:	PDA and Phone Sliding keyboard Wifi and Bluetooth Quad band WM2003 Phone Edition		Cons:	No VGA screen IR has low range

Welcome to my next review. As regular readers will be aware, I previously had a HP 4700 which has one of the best VGA screens. The XDA IIs only has a QVGA screen but to be honest this is not that much of an issue to me. In fact I have found that software works faster on the QVGA screen. Also there is more third party software that works with the QVGA than VGA. The XDA IIs is a re-badged I-Mate PDA2K.

The XDA IIs

XDA IIs with keyboard extended.

Included in the box are 2 styluses, a protective case, 2 CD’s, 180 page instruction manual covering the WM2003 SE software, O2 guide, cradle with a slot for charging an additional battery, AC power lead, AC adapter for charging device without cradle and stereo wired headset. The picture below shows all the items included with the XDA IIs. The 180 page manual is fantastic. It provides clear detailed instructions on how to use every program.

I have since changed the case for the Proporta flipcase, advanced screen protector and 3-in-1 stylus. (www.proporta.com) .

Specifications

The XDA dimensions are 71.6 (w) x 125 (l) x 18.7 (t) and weighs circa 210g. The specifications are:

Integrated personal digital organiser and mobile phone Quad-band (GSM 850900/1800/1900) GPRS class B Multislot class 10 Built-in Bluetooth SDIO Instant Message (IM), short (long) message (SMS) and multimedia message service (MMS) Full internet browsing VGA camera (640 x 480 pixels) MPEG4 camcoder MP3 media player Speakerphone and voice recorder facility Removable and chargeable Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery, 1490 mAH Key lock support by software SIM Toolkit Support for WAP 2.0 browser and xHTML Handwriting recognition Processor Type Intel Xscale PXA263, 400MHz 128 MB SDRAM, 64 MB ROM 3.5" Transflective 65,536 colour LCD (240 x 320 pixels) VGA Camera Supports image formats JPG, BMP Supports video formats MPEG4, H.263, Motion-JPEG AVI CMOS Chip: VGA (640 x 480 pixels) Minimum scene illumination: 5 lux Frame rate: 15fps PBCCH Power on/off button Volume up/down button (2way) 8 programmable buttons 2 phone buttons 5-way navigation button 39-key QWERTY keyboard Soft reset switch One external antenna connector One MMC & SD/IO slot One Infrared Port One Signal port for USB, serial,, power and audio Red/yellow/green LED for radio/charger indication on the RIGHT Blue/Green LED for Bluetooth/Wireless LAN indication on the LEFT

The battery life estimates are 3-4 hours talktime, 15 hours PDA life, 168 hours standby and data retention 72 hours.

As you can see from the camera shots, the XDA IIs comes with buttons on the front, side and rear. On the left side, there are bottons for Voice Record, Volume Control and the Camera. On the front there are the normal buttons but at the top there are additional buttons which select Calendar and Contacts. All the buttons can be customised in the settings. In addition on the Slide Out Keyboard it is possible to customise the O2 key to your favourite program.

XDA IIs left side

The XDA IIs comes with the following programs in ROM. I have listed everything to give non pocket pc users and idea of what is available.

Applications included under the program menu are:-

O2 Active User Interface, Solitaire, Jawbreaker, ActiveSync, Album, Bluetooth Manager, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Clearvue PDF, Clearvue PPT, Contacts, Enroller, File Explorer, Find, Help, Midlet Manager, MSN Messenger, Notes, O2 Manager, , Photo Contacts, Pictures, Pocket Excel, Pocket MSN, Pocket Word, SIM Manager, System Info, Tasks, Terminal Services Client, Video MMS, Windows Media Player 9, Wireless Manager, Wireless Modem, xBackup.

Applications included in ROM under the settings are:-

Add Ring Tone, Input, Menus, Buttons, Button Lock, Phone, Microphone SGC, Owner Information, Password, Sounds & Notifications, Today, About, Backlight, Certificates, Clocks & Alarms, Device Information, Keybaord, Memory, Permanent Save, Power, Regional Settings, Remove Programs, Screen, Beam, Bluetooth, Connections, CSD Line Type, GPRS Setting, Network Cards and WLAN.

In addition on the included CD are KSE Truefax, SPB GPRS Monitor, Fonic Voice and Zip. On the other CD is Microsoft Outlook 2002 and Active Sync 3.71. It is worth noting that Active Sync has now been updated to version 3.8. This new version of Active Sync has caused me no problems since installation.

Third Party Applications

I have added the following third party applications. I have split the list between games and programs. All are the full registered versions so if you have any questions regarding these just drop me a line.

Games:-

3D Air Hockey, 4-in-Line, Alchemy, Allure Xonix, Another Ball, Anthelion, Arvale, Atomica, Battleship, Bejeweled 2, Big Money, Billiard Master, Bookworm, AChainz, Chopper Alley, Chromogames, Cubis, Dynomite, Equilibria, Fish Tycoon, Flux Challenge, Fruit Frolic, Gamebox Classics, Gamebox Solitaire, Gem Drop, Gringos, GTS Racing, Insanquarium, ISS Blackjack, Link Letters, Mars Needs Cows, Mastermind, Mazera, Minesweeper, Monopoly, Mummy Maze, Noah’s Ark, Plant Tycoon, Pocket Bowling, Pocket Logic, Pocket Pharoah, Rocket Mania, Rooks Revenge, Scrabble, Seven Seas, Snails 2, Space Combat, Strip 4 You, Strip Blackjack, Strippoker II, Super Bounce Out, Tennis Addict, Tetris, Text Twist, Tip Top, Turbo Invaders, What Word, Word Mojo, Yahtzee and Zuma. I love playing games!

Programs:-

1-Calc (incl skin expansion pack), Agenda Fusion, Bdicty Talking Phrasebooks, Betaplayer, CTLottoPick, eReader for PPC, iLauncher, Magic SS, Mapsonic, MemMaid, Metro, Mobipocket, Newsbreak, Noviiremote, Packed Periodic Table, PlanMaker, Pocket Clock, PocketMusic, Radio Times, Resco File Explorer, Reset, Spb Pocket PC Tips & Tricks, Spb Pocket Plus, Splash ID, Sprite Backup, TextMaker, Tomeraider 3, Tube London, Tweaks2k2.net and Stocks and Weather Today.

The O2 User Interface

The O2 User Interface is a neat touch. I have changed the O2 theme (background picture).

It has many options and displays lots of useful info. The interface is easily customised under the Tools options. The above display is using large icons. As the below screen shot shows each option on the left has its own menu. It is also possible in this screen to turn sound, bluetooth and wi-fi on/off just by tapping the icons at bottom of screen.

In addition, the phone has LED notifications. There are 2 LED notifications, one on left of phone and the other on the right. The left one flashes to indicate if you have any connections in force. The LED flashes blue for bluetooth and amber for others. The right LED is solid green when charging, flashes green when on battery power and changes to flashing red is you have a phone notification eg missed call. This makes the functionality very simple and intuitive.

However, if you don’t like the O2 User Interface, you can simply switch to the Today screen.

As you can see, I have a relatively uncluttered today screen! Within this screen you can have all the standard today options. The XDA IIs comes with the battery meter and Spb GPRS Monitor which is located above the battery readings.

The Wireless Manager is fantastic for managing bluetooth, wi-fi or gprs connections. In use, I activated the WLAN button, it scanned for my router and then simply asked for my WEP key. And that was all that was needed to setup my wireless connection. The GPRS settings came pre-installed. After charging the device and then switching it on, the XDA IIs runs through all the setup options ready for use. If you have wi-fi or a gprs connection enabled you can still send and receive phone calls as long as you are not downloading or sending data.

Also, the device has an Infra Red port on the left side. I have tried using it as with Noviiremote (www.novii.com) which works well but unfortunately the I.R. range is limited to about 2-3 metres.

The XDA IIs comes with ample memory, even for someone like me. The picture bellows shows memory used.

Let's not forget that this is a phone. The XDA IIs comes with the standard phone skin or the O2 XDA IIs skin. However, there are loads of alternative skins available. Below is a screen shot of an alternative phone skin.

The phone application also allows you to send text messages. However, for complete control of all email, sms and mms messages, pocket outlook is modified to include all the various options.

The only downside with the phone application, is the omission of T9 input. This doesn’t exist with this device, although predictive word text is an option. Also, you are unable to use MP3 tracks as ringtones.

The wired stereo headphones works well. There is a dust cover for the headphone jack which is 2.5mm. I found listening to music via Windows Media 9 was disappointing. I then tried several third party options, but the best one was Pocket Player by www.pocketmind.com .. The extra bass features (subwoofer low level bass) and overall sound quality is stunning on this device even through the standard headphones. Also, you can receive calls etc. The headphones also have a volume control and activation button.

XDA IIs rearview showing camera and mirror.

The camera is another useful addition. There are options to alter the size and format type options when saving the photos and videos. A sample photo taken indoors is shown below. Once a video or photo is taken there are options to , email it or send your video as an MMS etc. The camera also includes picture themes.

Conclusion

I have had the XDA IIs for just over one week and love everything about it. It is a superb PDA and phone all in one. The justification for two separate devices is rapidly diminishing. This device works superbly and everything integrates with ease. If it had a VGA screen , longer battery life, a long range Infra Red port and a faster processor there would be no argument.

In conclusion this is one of the best machines I have ever used.

If you have any feedback or questions please contact me at

Gavin at palm247 dot com.