Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine - Comments for "MWC: i-mateâ€™s new devices"

David, I don't think there will be any Windows Mobile devices out there with digital XGA (not plain, useless, analogue VGA) output in thenear future. The current Qualcomm 7200 chipset (the chipset most current WinMo models are based on) doesn't support it and it's highly unlikely major WinMo manufacturers will bother including a dedicated ship(set) just for XGA output.

That is, your safest bet is the Spectec SDV-842 microSD or, if you don't mind the size, a second-hand Dell Axim x50v / x51v.

Dale 'Daniels'?

Constantino, get a phone that does have a built-in GPS. For example, your iPAQ already has it - if you don't need to sell it (and can live with the EDGE speeds) to be able to purchase the new iPaq (that is, you can both afford having two devices and having nothing against always carrying two), then, the separate solution (like the N95 + iPAQ 210 combo shown above) may be a good idea - with the 6945 as the phone / Internet modem (for the iPAQ 210 too).

Constantino, it seems there won't be such a device in the near (say, 6 months) future. All the announced VGA phones (E-Ten V900, Gigabyte GSmart MS808 and its lower-specced brothers, the Sony-Ericsson XPERIA X1 etc.) all have 2.8" 9or, with the Sony, 3") screen. In my opinion, the only exception, the new HTC x7510 (Athena / Advantage) isn't a very good device either (still running on the outdated PXA270 and its thumbboard is not very good, albeit certainly better than in the x7500/x7501).

However, you might want to take a look at the HP iPAQ 210 (211, 212, 213, 214) if having a non-phone device isn't a problem (because you are ready to use a capable phone in addition to the iPAQ; for example, a Nokia N95, which is the perfect complementer of the new HP iPAQ [it has all the features the iPAQ lacks and vice versa]: it has a great camera, great multimedia capabilities, GPS, HSDPA (and, of course, GPRS / EDGE / UMTS), BT 2.0 EDR, which means high DUN speeds [it's not the non-EDR BT's limited, less than 400 kbps practical speed that will be the bottleneck over, say, HSDPA data connections] with the also EDR-capable iPAQ and a great phone, with flawless call recording and answering machine features). The subject of my next article will be this model.

Oliver, yes, it seems the X800 has driver problems (or, at least, a non-optimized one). VGA devices with correctly written drivers definitely fare better at least in stuff like zooming in/out in map apps, scrolling the Start menu etc.

I couldn't thoroughly test the new i-mate devices in this respect (gaming speed etc.) because of the lack of a dedicated review handheld. In general, they seemed to be pretty OK in everyday tasks like IEM or Start menu scrolling. This, however, doesn't mean they don't have major problems like the Qualcomm-based HTC devices.

(BTW, we've discussed exactly this problem in the thread linked in the above PPCT thread, which compares the X800 to the QVGA X500; see for example my post on Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:24 am)

Constantino, using VGA on a 2.8" screen is a subject of constant debate. There're both pros and cons. In general, if one has good eyesight, he or she will find the advantages of VGA on even such a small screen very-very useful.

See for example THIS PPCT thread for a recent debate.

Smartphone &amp; Pocket PC magazine - Comments for "MWC: i-mateâ€™s new devices"

Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine - Comments for "MWC: i-mateâ€™s new devices"