[jesal]

O2 XDA II Windows Mobile Phone Edition 2003

The O2 XDA II is the second version of the Pocket PC Phone Edition. It comes equipped with the Windows Mobile 2003 version of Microsoft's Windows CE platform. The phone is the successor of the original XDA which was launched in 2001.

Design :

If you are the one who like the design and look of the original XDA then the XDA II surely be an attractive design. The antenna is now internal. The SD/MMC slot is now placed on the top in the center of the phone along with the power button, infrared and the stylus slot. On each side is also the Bluetooth led along with the phone standby and battery low led. The phone colour is *full silver with smooth finish all over. the front of the phone is loaded with a massive 3.5 inch 65,536 TFT touch screen display which is the real attraction of the phone. Above the screen is on the right is the calendar button while on the left is contacts. In the center is the is the speaker for phone calls and audio media. Below the screen is the 5 way navigation pad with the send and end buttons on either side. The back of the phone is equipped with the camera lens in the center and below is the preview mirror to take self portrait.

Specifications :

The XDA II is powered by a 400MHz Intel PXA 263 XScale processor which is fast than all the current pocket pcs and palm devices. Large files and contacts open up in an instant thanks to the 64 MB ROM & 128 MB SDRAM. An extra 14 MB of flash rom storage is added as well. The dimensions of the phone are as follows : 69.9 X 130 X 19 (W x L x T mm). the phone weighs in at 190 grams which might be a little on the heavier side but the phone features make up for it.

Battery Life :

The phone comes with a Li-on battery which gives 2 - 5 hours of talktime. While the PDA can be used for 12 hours approximately. The standby claimed is about 150 hours.
The phone has an internal battery as well which backs up for about 20 minutes so you can save all the important data before the phone actually puts itself off.

Camera Performance :

This is the most attractive part of the phone which the older users of XDA missed out on .
The integrated camera on the XDA II is pretty nice and the videos are decent enough as well. the maximum resolution of the phone is 480 x 640. the phone does have 4x zoom which can only be used if u set the image quality to small (120 x 160). This is not a huge problem and can be lived with. Overall the camera is impressive enough for a Pocket PC
Phone.

Software :

The XDA II boasts quite a few improvements in the software and services department. Windows mobile 2003 brings in increased performance and the with good and friendly interface. The themes support is a huge upside so that an user can customize the screen to his / her choice. The MMS composer was recently added in the new firmware of the phone. The firmware can be downloaded and put on the phone jus like installing windows. The upgrade of the firmware can be done via the cradle givin with the sales package. Photo contacts is included for adding photos to your contact. Album is basically a picture viewer which helps viewing variety of picture formats like BMP, JPG, GIF, AVI and MPG. Bundling up the software it is pretty stable and user friendly. MS excel and MS word are some of the inbuilt applications which work really well. there are loads of aftermarket applications and games available for windows mobile right now.

Connectivity *:

There are 3 ways to connect the XDA II to the computer, Bluetooth, infrared & the USB cradle which comes in the sales package as well. the actisync software on the phone and pc does good work to connect the phone with the pc. And is the best option to move big files in seconds. The infrared is good enough to use as well but nowadays its a thing of the past. Its there and gets the work done none the less. The Bluetooth on the phone has been improved from the older one. It connects very well and supports the new headsets in the market at this point. There are some glitches with the transfer of files via Bluetooth which should be fixed in the future firmware of the phone.

Conclusion :

For most business users this PDA Phone is going to be a good feature packed gadget. The XDA II outperforms every other pocket pc or pocket pc phone at this point. The size of the phone might be the only drawback of the phone. At Rs. 36999 it is certainly not the cheapest phone on the market but owning one is a sheer pleasure. Overall a great gadget for business users and gadget freaks.


Whats positive :

Rich feel of the phone with a sturdy body shell
Huge amount of inbuilt memory
Great features
Excellent TFT screen
Good integrated camera
Bluetooth

Whats negative :

The body has a smooth feel giving the impression of slipping from hand every now and then
Pricing quite high
Minor issues with some older BT headsets
No WI-FI
No memory card or screen protector included in sales package.
Battery life quite short if you tend to play on the phone a lot

Jesal Arya's Overall Score on XDA II : 9 / 10

[jesal]

this is the first long and proper review i guess that i have written. so gentle please.

[Rehaan]

Hey Jesal,

Thanks for the review man!
You covered all the aspects really systematically and well!

Heres a few ideas from me to help u further enjoy your XDAII-

Your complaining about not having wifi... well im not sure if the OS you have supports this...but you could buy a ~Rs1,000/- bluetooth dongle and plug it into your desktop or laptop thats connected to the net and enable internet connection sharing over bluetooth on the computer (option is available on XP SP1 & SP2...donno abt earlier OSs).
This is what i have done in my room....the desktop is plugged into the broadband...and the laptop can share the net connection wirelessly over bluetooth (@700kbps). Saves me from buyin a wireless router coz i aldready have BT on both machines!

Also, there is some really cool software u can get -
Citytime - world time program...useful if u have family and friends scattered all over the world.
PocketTV classic - best performance for playing MPG files.... ive had issues with the divx player for ppc n other player..but this one doesnt lag at all.
TV Remote controller - this one is fun...you can make ur PPC "learn" the infrared codes from a remote control and then u can use it as the remote!

I have these programs (and more) for the Xscale, so let me know if have trouble finding them and want them.

cheers
R

ps - i really wouldnt say that the XDA II outperforms every pocket pc out there!!!

[jesal]

hey. i dont really need WIFI at all. im jus pointing it out. i dont need comp. connection for internet surfing on xda as well. i have the cradle, the dongle and the IR port as well. also have advanced gprs to surf as well. i do that when in the car. wht phone do u have. u have softwares for pocket pc still. can u tell me so please. im too bored to find it on the internet. i guess it still is the best in the mart yaar bcuz the new 520mhz still are not yet out. or are they now.

[aadix]

hey r

u get xda's in us??? what r the rates??, if poss pm me where u can get in philly/ny area, my cousin is coming, could ask her to get me one.

[GTO]

Hey Jesal, Very detailed review. I have been considering a PDA-Phone since a while now for business use. The only glitches are:

1. I hate big phones.
2. I hate camera phones.
3. I have been using Palm software since 4 years and absolutely love it. Its highly simplistic in nature and very very reliable. Taking external backups is not an issue and 4 years worth can be stored in just 400 kb worth of files.

GTO

[aadix]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GTO @ Sep. 26 2004,15:04)]Its highly simplistic in nature and very very reliable. Taking external backups is not an issue and 4 years worth can be stored in just 400 kb worth of files.

imo not that simple to retrive the files gto
dad uses a palm vx, two days back it went into safe modeie was showing the plam insignia,tried everything hard reset, tries to install new software, etc

then we figured out what the problem was: the brightness button got stuck due to which it went into a loop,
we didnt see that and were checking each and every program to see which one had crashed, finally my unc figred it out

here we means me and my unc,a big gadget freak,

[jesal]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GTO @ Sep. 26 2004,15:04)]Hey Jesal, Very detailed review. I have been considering a PDA-Phone since a while now for business use. The only glitches are:

1. I hate big phones.
2. I hate camera phones.
3. I have been using Palm software since 4 years and absolutely love it. Its highly simplistic in nature and very very reliable. Taking external backups is not an issue and 4 years worth can be stored in just 400 kb worth of files.

GTO

xda2 is a big phone true. havent used palm so i dunno much and i was used to windows so i bought this. y do u hate camera phones mate ? i dint get that. i think the new SDA is comin as well and is small u can look it up.

[X-Machine]

Thats a great detailed review Jesal.
I guess it must`ve taken u about 3-4hrs for it.
X

[jesal]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (X-Machine @ Sep. 26 2004,18:55)]Thats a great detailed review Jesal.
I guess it must`ve taken u about 3-4hrs for it.
X

hehehe. thanks a lot.

[satish_appasani]

I have used Handspring (Palm OS v3.1) for a couple of years before I moved to Dell Axim X5(Pocket PC 2003). It is completely different experiance. PocketPC has more features. After all it is made by MS. The usability is good though you initially feel difficult with it. Also I can develop my own applications using the languages i know.

These days I find PocketPC is growing rapidly compared to Palm OS.

My next upgrade is going to be a PocketPC phone but not before I end my 3 year contract with Reliance after 2 years. Reliance also sell a PalmOS based PDA phone made by Kyocera. I think it costs around 40k, though I am not sure.

Jesal, that was a very good review.

[manticore]

Hey jesal, awesome review mate.

I love symbian fones and especially Nokia's series 60 devices. I recently changed over from the 3650 to the 7610......pretty much the same fone except for the MP cam, size and other minor changes. There's one thing I'd like to know.......is the new SE P910 available in India?? and any idea on how much it might be worth?

[nitroxx]

Guyz the xda line up is the top end stuff unless u want a notebook pc in your hand try the xda mini if u want a faster processor n more memory xdaii or the new xdaiis ive got them both n the little one works a bit more faster oh yeah n that camera quality is much better

[jesal]

Originally Posted by manticore

Hey jesal, awesome review mate.

I love symbian fones and especially Nokia's series 60 devices. I recently changed over from the 3650 to the 7610......pretty much the same fone except for the MP cam, size and other minor changes. There's one thing I'd like to know.......is the new SE P910 available in India?? and any idea on how much it might be worth?

se p910 out for a while now prices start from 30k to 38k with bill

[jesal]

Originally Posted by nitroxx

Guyz the xda line up is the top end stuff unless u want a notebook pc in your hand try the xda mini if u want a faster processor n more memory xdaii or the new xdaiis ive got them both n the little one works a bit more faster oh yeah n that camera quality is much better

xda 4 is already in the making its gonna be tablet and lappie mixture. looks good but still to huge im gonna get the xda mini soon will put up the reivews then