O2's venerable XDA line of communicators has gained a new member: Editor-in-Chief Jørgen Sundgot takes a closer look at the thumbboard-toting, connectivity-galore XDA IIs.
As one of the pioneers in the Windows Mobile-powered communicator business, it's usually worth paying attention when O2 launches new additions to its now-venerable line of XDAs. Previous models have been smash hits, and having done well with both the XDA I and II, the curtains are now opened for the XDA IIs - which, incidentally, and for some incomprehensible reason, will be known as the XDA III in the German market.
Design
Highly reminiscent of the XDA II in shape and form factor, the XDA IIs quickly makes it evident that looks can be deceiving. With a black matte finish, the XDA IIs certainly stands out among it silvery crop of competitors - yet the real surprise is learning that the front half of the device slides up to reveal a full QWERTY thumbboard - a level of functionality previously requiring the attachment of a cumbersome accessory.
In spite of this devious plot to draw attention away from the screen, however, the 16-bit colour display of the IIs still manages to shine in its own right: it's crisp, clear, far more than adequately bright and offers good viewing both in- and outdoors. The display is flanked by an array of buttons, including two above for accessing Calendar and Contacts applications as well as four below to access the Start menu, open the Messaging and Internet Explorer applications and a clever Ok button for simplified one-handed navigation.
Below these again, we find one of the best five-way navigational pad we've ever seen, flanked by send and receive buttons for phone calls. The left side of the device conceals buttons for making voice recordings, activating the camera and a volume up/down rocker, placed just above the Infrared port. The power on/off button is placed on top of the device, right next to the SDIO/MMC Card expansion slot - and like all the others, it offers excellent tactile feedback.
Other highlights include the 2.5 mm handsfree kit jack placed to the left on top of the device, which is protected by one of the lesser annoying rubber inserts we've seen, as well as the 0.3 Megapixel camera lens in the upper right corner of the back of the device - complete with adjacent vanity mirror. On a less positive note, friction striping was found to occur during testing as a result of frequent use of the thumbboard sliding mechanism, representing a slight, yet relatively unnoticeable, cosmetic mishap.
A loudspeaker is obviously also required for a communicator device, and the XDA IIs provides a good quality one placed centered above its display. Sound quality was quite good both when used in standard mode and in handsfree mode - although not any better than that of its predecessor, the XDA II.
Connectivity
Welcome to wireless Nirvana: the XDA IIs offers quad-band GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz with GPRS Class 8 and 10, Blueooth and Wi-Fi 802.11b. Signal reception for all three radios proved on average very good, and O2 thankfully decided to include a new Bluetooth stack rather than the profile-anemic atrocity found in the XDA II. Profiles abound, and for Wi-Fi the XDA IIs supports both WEP and WPA, as well as 802.1x for added security - a boon for both enterprise users and security-conscious consumers.
For those who wish to extend functionality beyond what's already under the hood, the IIs also offers an SDIO capable SD/MMC Card expansion slot, and does double duty as a dial-up modem either via serial or USB connections courtesy of the bottom connector. Topping a positive impression off, this can also be carried out via Bluetooth, and this time around in a far more user friendly manner than the experience offered by the XDA II.
Specifications
The only area in which the XDA IIs doesn't keep up with the latest and greatest is processor speed. Despite utilizing a 400 MHz processor rather than the 520 and 624 MHz varieties which are now finding their way into high-end Pocket PCs, however, the XDA IIs performs very well indeed. Add 102 MB of user-available RAM and 40 MB of non-volatile memory to the mix, and the IIs looks better by the minute.
Battery life is another positive trait of the IIs: despite having gained another wireless radio and support for one more GSM band, it performs as well as its predecessor - if not better. In our tests, the device proved capable of playing back audio continuously for in excess of 6.5 hours, which is quite a feat considering the GSM radio was left on.
Software
Snappier and better-looking than ever before, the XDA IIs runs the Second Edition of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC platform. Although there are no major improvements, small updates and fixes abound, improving the overall impression - although still, the vital Connection Manager interface remains counterintuitive. Fortunately, the XDA IIs offers an auto-configure process which at least makes initial setup a no-brainer.
As per usual, O2 has done a bit to customize the Today screen interface of the XDA IIs, and although the solution applied here is more elegant than previous ones, it continues to have its drawbacks. Fortunately not occupying the Today screen per default, the O2 Active User Interface offers up handy menus including links to offerings from O2, but at the same time relies heavily on animation - meaning it's a pain to use when many applications are running.
Next, we find an ever-present O2 icon in the Start bar which solely exists to disconnect active connections. Not only is this utterly useless, but what's worse it occupies the notification well so that whenever one receives a message, misses a call or gets a low battery alert, one is forced to press the 'multiple notifications pending' indicator to find out what's really going on. This is horribly frustrating.
On the bright side, however, O2 chalks up points for including an easily accessible mute button in its Active UI, and although for some peculiar reason the Ultra Profiler application hasn't been mapped to a hardware button, this works well, too. Oh, and we can't quite say we mind the inclusion of a battery indicator Today screen plug-in for the main and backup batteries, either.
Other software worth mentioning includes a gather-all Wireless Manager utility which should come in handy for non-power users, as well as a fully adequate Enroller application for use with 802.11x-enabled Wi-Fi networks and a MIDlet manager. As with the XDA II, there are also Camera and Album applications, both of which remain excellent pieces of software, whilst new additions include viewers from Westtek's ClearVue suite for Acrobat Reader (PDF) and Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) files.
Availability
The O2 XDA IIs is at the time of writing exclusively available to customers of mobile network operator O2 in the United Kingdom, selling for approximately $475 USD with subscription. A localized version for the German market is also available from O2 Germany, named the XDA III.
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