Sep 24, 2006 11:47 PM
2938 Views
(Updated Sep 25, 2006 12:01 AM)
I used to own a SE 750 I before this and am waiting for the w 950i to be launched so that I get my hands on the beauty. Enough said about my wayward ways and let us shift our focus on to the product in question. Given as a gift ( the black verion not the pure white sissy one) , I know about not looking a gift horse in the mouth but heck I am the one supposed to use it.
Let us see what are the good points first :
Windows Mobile 5.0 OS - As a person typing this review on a machine that only has linux its but natural that I will hate the thing but surprisingly I think its a pretty robust os and the machine has managed to not crash on me a lot inspite of my tinkering with its innards.
Love the display - The display is very crisp, though reading text in bright sunlight is next to impossible.
Loads and Loads of s/w available. heck if you feel like it and you are technically inclined you can write stuff for the device easily using the mobile framework on .net
Wifi - I love the wifi. Use it around the house and is reasonably good. Though does not support WPA yet. So you might like to go with WEP/TKIP for now even AES does not work I believe.
Radio - And here comes the big one- You can record yoru radio to a wav file. Quality ain't that great but its a nice little feature.
You expected more.. well sorry, so did I after judging the book by the cover, but well crap happens.
Things that I hate:
Display sucks - Suprised after seeing a contrary point on the goody goody list. Don't be, the colours are great and the display nice indoors or in the shade, but try taking it out in the sunlight and I am going to bet my atom that you won't be able to see the first thing on the damned screen.
No Keyboard - Ah yes I can see the smug looks, prob a n00b with the pda category. Let me elucidate , Well I am a person who needs functional excellency or atleast adequacy. Needless to say typing messages in a vehicle with a stylus is an extreme test of human skills. And the basic functional requirement for me is not met. I can barely make a call on a moving vehicle thats shaking a lot - basically ur everyday indian road.
Sound quality - in the case of the atom the 2 words together represebt a paradox that cannot be explained, the quality simply does not exist. The volume even at max is sometimes inadequate. In my earlier phone, where half way through the volume bars the volume used to threaten to blow my ear drums out, the atom can barely make a dent at full throttle.
Included ear phones - What are they, who can put the damn things into ones ears. They are overgrown variants of a stethescope. I had to buy a new set that actually fit my ears. Maybe I have smaller ears, but I actually had some people try it for size and some have threatned to sue me for the experience.
This is common to all Windows mobile phones - I can't add the number from a new call that I just received to an existing contact. Will someone please tell me am I the only nut in the whole wide world who has a use for this basic feature. There are a lot more important things missing e.g. typing a number when talking to a person on the phone . Well if its there then I have clear missed this.
Well priced at 35 K INR think that its price is dispropotionate to the features at offer. I wish I could suggest somethign else for people looking for PDA's but my allegiance clearly lies with the SE suite of products.
