Vodafone V P A Compact III v1605 (HTC Hermes)

Vodafone VPA Compact III v1605 (HTC Hermes) Review

Supplier: Vodafone Manufacturer: HTC Product: Vodafone VPA Compact III Colour: Gun Metal / Silver Cost: From free with contract from now Supplier Web Site: Vodafone Supplier Product Web Site: TBA Manufacturers Page: HTC

There's nothing that generates quite so much excitement in the 4WM halls as the next generation of devices to come from the HTC stable. As seems to be the norm, it's been roughly nine months since the last influx of devices, and the next 4 weeks promise to herald fresh faces in both the Pocket PC and Smartphone form factors. Ordinarily we've featured purely O2 devices. This time round we have a Vodafone branded device for your delectation. Can the combination of Vodafone and HTC come up with the goods? Read on to find out! For your delectation almost all photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load an image.

Introduction Vodafone are relative new comers when it comes to HTC devices. Although the past sponsors of a certain Mr Beckham did release the HTC Universal, Wizard and even Magician, they were late to market with all three devices and as such seemed to make little impact on the Windows Mobile scene. At least it seemed so round these parts. We were more than a little surprised then when Vodafone announced the much awaited HTC Hermes. Especially as the manufacturer HTC, had only released their own branded TyTn a week or so before. As the VPA Compact III it pretty much sneaked out under the radar while everyone was watching T-Mobile for their MDA Vario II and Orange's SPV 3100. Oh, and where are O2? The Hermes itself, or rather the Qtek v1605 as it is in this livery, at first glance seems to be a cross between the two hit devices of HTC's previous generation of Pocket PC's. With the exception of a VGA screen, the VPA specifications reads like the best features from the HTC Universal and the HTC Wizard. All squeezed into the smaller form factor of the latter. HTC have a past history of fusing their past devices together, the Magician and Blue Angel mating to produce the Wizard being the most recent example. The questions on everybody's lips are, can a single device live up to the legacy of both the Wizard and Universal? Secondly, with launch ROMs being notoriously flaky, can Vodafone give us a stable device with their first attempt?

Specifications System Information Processor 400MHz Samsung stacked CPU Memory - ROM : 128 MB - RAM : 64 MB SDRAM O/S Windows Mobile Version 5.0 Power Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery. 1350 mAh Charging Time 3 Hours Battery Life Standby time: up to 200 hours for GSM; 180 - 250 hours for UMTS (Estimates) Talk time (screen off): 4 - 5 hours for GSM; 2 - 4 hours for UMTS Media playback: 8 hours (WMV); 12 hours (WMA) AC Adapter AC input: 100 - 240V AC, 50/60Hz DC output: 5V and 1A Display LCD Type 2.8" transreflective TFT-LCD with backlight LEDs; touch sensitive screen Resolution 240 x 320 with 65,536 colours Alignment Portrait and Landscape WCDMA / GSM / EDGE Module Functionality UMTS (2100 for Europe, 850/1900 for USA) GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800 and 1900) Mode Dual (GSM) Int. Antenna Yes Physical Dimensions 112.5mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 21.95mm (T) Weight 176g (with battery) Camera Module Type Main camera: 2 Mega pixel colour CMOS camera With adjustable lens for normal and macro shooting and flash light Second camera: Colour CMOS CIF camera Resolution Photo: 1600x1200, 1280x1024, 640x480, 320x240, 160x120 Video: 352x288, 320x240, 176x144, 128x96 Digital Zoom Up to 8x

Controls and Lights Navigation 5-way Navigation Control. Buttons 5 program buttons: Messaging, IE, Camera, Comm Manager, Voice Command. Two phone functions: Talk and End Start Menu button Two OK buttons Video Call button Two soft keys Jog Wheel Power button Reset button Hardware Qwerty keyboard with two additional soft keys Keyboard Ambient sensor illuminates the keyboard in low light Left LED Blinking blue light for Bluetooth Blinking green light for WiFi status Right LED Green/Amber lights for UMTS/GPRS standby, network, notification & battery status. Audio Audio Control AGC Microphone/ Built-in/Dual, Hands-free Speaker Headphone AMR/AAC/WAV/WMA/MP3 codec Connections Infrared IRDA SIR I/O Port mini-USB Car Antenna External connector for WCDMA, GSM & EDGE Connector Wireless Bluetooth, WiFi Connection Expansion Slots Card Slot Micro SD

Packaging The VPA comes packaged in a relatively standard box with a shiny red sleeve. Standard fare really. The inner separator is moulded from reclaimed cardboard which gives Vodafone a brownie point from the environmental point of view, as do all the recyclable plastic bags.

Size There's a massive amount of equipment in the VPA, squeezed into a comparatively tiny case. Just exactly how small is it though? I've compared the VPA with last years compact convergence device the HTC Wizard (In this case the O2 Mini S flavour). As you can see from the image to the right, there is very little difference size wise between the two devices. Technically, the VPA is slightly thinner than the Mini S (3mm), but only really at the D-Pad end of the device. Also, the VPA has a couple of extra millimetres height on the Mini S too.

Aesthetics Pocket PCs are like cars. Not in many ways, granted, but one particular likeness springs to mind. You can't really appreciate the styling of a fine automobile unless you view it in the flesh. Photographs will give you a reasonable idea, but it's never the same as real life. Unfortunately I can't send you all this VPA to admire, but I'll attempt to give you my impressions. When you first open the VPA box, the device doesn't really jump out you. Sitting in the reclaimed cardboard and covered in the recycled plastic it looks drab. Fortunately, once you strip away said plastic and the VPA first catches the light it sparkles. The entire device is covered in either metallic paint, or a brushed aluminium fascia and every angle seems to shine. The combination of Gun Metal and what I think of as a kind of steel colour really works, especially when you power up the device and are presented with the deep red Vodafone splash screen. I'm not certain about the styling of the DPad. I think it could benefit from a little broader bevelling, as it looks a touch flat. I love the slightly concave effect of the fascia though.

Ergonomics Physically, my first impression when holding the VPA was of the weight. It felt heavier than I'd expected. Not considerably heavier though, and it feels more solid than weighty. It also feels wider, and flatter than it appears. I think the issue is not with the VPA, but with the styling on the Mini S. Both devices look to have almost identical mass, and size, but it's incredible how different they feel in the hand. Having held the Mini S for getting on for nine months, I expected the VPA to feel the same. The difference is with the squarer edges of the VPA which makes it feeler flatter. The lower centre of gravity caused by the larger, heavier battery seems to glue the base of phone into the palm of your hand. It feels safe. The VPA comes with a telescopic stylus, as seen on a good few devices these days. I have to admit to liking the gadget factor of the stylus, but would have preferred a single piece as opposed to two. The stylus silo itslelf has caused me a worry or two though. The fit between the end of the stylus and the opening of the silo is very tight. I'm sure HTC have done this because of past experiences with silo integrity, but I was concerned about pulling the end off every time I removed it.

Hardware Layout As I stated earlier the VPA is impressive looking, but those good looks also house a wealth of hardware controls. Many more than we're used to seeing. The front of the device houses a massive 9 hardware buttons, and that doesn't even include the direction pad and select button. You have the standard IE and Mail rocker high up on the fascia, with the DPad and the green/red phone rocker on the bottom. There's also four other buttons, the two WM5 soft keys, and a combination of OK and the Windows key. Initially I was surprised to see the OK button duplicated on both the front and the left side of the device, but that soon changes once you have used the machine for a while. I'll come to the left side later, but the front OK button works very well when used two handed in conjunction with the start button, dpad and soft keys for navigating around the today screen and it's plugins. The dpad itself is not the best I've used, but doesn't really detract from the functionality of the device. The left hand side of the device houses the MicroSD slot(Grrrr!), the voice dialling button and the jog dial. As I said earlier, there's also the second OK button too. I've found the jog dial/OK button to be a master stroke for a one hander like myself. This is from someone who has what can only be described as a loathing for the jog dial on Symbian devices I've owned. It's the OK button that's the key here, and this one is dual usage. You have the regular OK usage, but When you're on the today screen the OK button acts as a windows button, activating the start menu. Genius. I've found the jog wheel/ok combo is particularly good for checking your emails one handed. If your hands are big enough, while holding the device in your left hand you can power up the device with your index finger. You can then push the email rocker with your left thumb, speedily scroll up and down the list with the jog, select your mail by pushing it in, and then use the ok button to go back to the list or the today screen when you're done. All one handed, quick and easy. On the right hand side of the VPA is the stylus silo, camera, comms manager and power buttons. The power is nicely placed as I suggested earlier. The rest of the buttons are pretty standard fair. Strangely, the top of the device has..... nothing at all. I say strangely only because in the past HTC has always used the top of the device for the power button. I've heard that some people had issues in the past with the Mini S turning on by pressure from inserting the device top first into their pockets, and surmise that the lack of controls on the top of the device is because of this. The bottom holds the Mini-USB port, used for connecting the supplied headset. Unlike the Xda Exec this doesn't follow the 3.5mm standard, or even the familiar HTC as a 2.5mm headphone jack. This means any regular headphones can only be used with the device with an adapter. The Mini-USB2 port is also used for syncing and charging the machine - there is no cradle supplied or at this time available for purchase. Next to the mini-USB port can be found the battery lock and to the right the stylus silo. The stylus is held very tightly within the silo and needs to be gripped fairly tightly to remove it (useful taking its location into consideration). The tightness of the frictive lock does however serve to allow the stylus to extend while being withdrawn. As with the FSC LOOX devices and the Mini S the VPA uses a telescopic stylus which folds down on entry into the storage silo and expands when withdrawn. When closed to its smallest size it really is minute. To the right of the MiniUSB port is the battery cover which unlocks smoothly and which when remounted is held securely by the battery lock. This is of very good quality and a great improvement over that used on some of the older HTC machines. Underneath the battery cover (and battery) can be found the SIM dock, and with the VPA (HTC) have gone for the 'slide into the cavity' type of SIM mount, this serves to hold the SIM card securely and yet allows rapid removal if required and also eliminates any moving parts which could be damaged over time. The battery is fitted into the slot with a gentle sideways movement. The bottom rear of the Mini also contains a lanyard loop which protrudes from the inside of the housing and which serves to give a superb method of securing the machine while out and about. The loop appears to be constructed of aluminium and is therefore strong enough to be strung on a lanyard and the VPA slung round the users neck while out and about! The rear of the device has the external antenna socket, flash, vanity mirror and camera lens. There's also a slider for selecting the focus between normal and macro mode. Finally at the back is an arc shape slot underneath the vanity mirror which houses the external speaker. In general the hardware buttons, their placement, and even omission seems to have been considered very thoroughly. HTC seemed to have really listened to past critique and acted accordingly. Whether you prefer one handed, two handed, or stylus control the VPA really is a delight to use.

Keyboard It wasn't so long ago that I thought keyboards on phones were a little pointless. In those days email functionality was at best limited and not very user friendly. With the advent of Microsoft's push email service however, email is a breeze. Since my days with the Mini S I've become more and more reliant on the keyboard, for both SMS, Email and the odd review. The slide out keyboard really is the detail that sets the HTC Compact devices apart from the crowd. Sure, other devices have qwerty keyboards, but the VPA keyboard is exceptionally well engineered, and more importantly it's big. Yes, we all know size isn't everything, but the keyboard covers roughly 2 thirds the surface area of the phone. Compare this to its competitors, the HP iPAQ HW6515, XDA2s, P910 etc and proportionally it's grand indeed, no thumb cramp here then. The keyboard has a nice feel to it too, the keys have a solid click to them, and it sits very nicely atop your index fingers, for use with your thumbs. The typing position feels very natural. Someone with very big hands may have issues with key size, but my glove size is large, and as I said it feels very natural to me. However, I do prefer the Mini S keyboard. I'd rather have space around each key, as opposed to just bigger keys. Oh, and when you click a key on the Mini S you know there's a character on the screen. A few times with the VPA there's been a click, but nothing has been input. I found this happened more so on the right hand side of the keyboard even though it was only occasional. The two WM5 soft keys are too close to the main chassis too in my opinion. I found I had to twist my finger and use my nail to click them. Having the keyboard slide from the middle of the device as it does is good. It makes it much easier to access than the clamshell style access method of say the HTC Universal. Only time will tell how well the slide mechanism holds up, but if it's anything like the one on the Wizard, then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. The way the keyboard latches at both ends of its travel length, should stop any danger of it flapping around in the future. It locks into place with a reassuring click.

Camera The cameras on phones have never been really impressive. Even the Sony devices that boast "proper" cameras don't really impress. The default resolution for the HTC cameras has always been 1.3 megapixel until the Prophet was released. The Prophet offered a spanking new 2.0 megapixel camera and improved image quality. I never experienced the Prophet first hand, but from the sample images I've pulled from the web, the new Hermes images seem even more impressive. The camera application has had a well needed overhaul, and while I'm not convinced by the new orange livery it certainly performs well. From the pictures of the new HTC Strtrk, which also uses the improved software, you can see how much better things are looking even with the old 1.3 megapixel hardware. I also have the equivalent shots from the Exec, Wizard and Magician as a comparison of the older cameras. They look poor next to the new devices. It's difficult to say whether it is the camera software or the hardware itself that has improved, but something obviously has. I'd imagine it's a combination of both. The "flash" is not really a flash, simply a bright LED (and a battery sapping one at that). We've still not got to the point where you can leave your compact camera at home, but for those opportunistic snaps the VPA camera is definitely good enough. I think you could even print and frame the images, so long as the prints were no bigger than say 8" x 5". This is definitely one of the more impressive enhancements the VPA offers. Something we've not seen before is the new hardware macro mode. By sliding down the mode selector (the slider next to the camera lens) you can use the macro mode. This changes the focus of the lens to what seems to be between about 2 and 6 inches away. You can see with the two images I've used below, on the right, with the normal setting the picture of the VPA is fuzzy but on the left with the slider set to macro mode it is quite clear (Any guesses how I got the VPA to take a picture of itself?).

Screen When charged, turned on and loaded the VPA really comes to life - the screen is bright and vibrant and even though only QVGA is a pleasure to read. There are no distortions over the area of the screen, the colour balance is even and there were no areas lacking in stylus sensitivity, even with the provided screen protector in place. It's a TFT Touch screen boasting 65K colours and 240 x 320 pixel resolution. Apart from some yellowing in the seemingly ancient XDA2 range I've always rated the HTC screens for their clarity and brightness. I'd say the brightness is not quite on a par with the Mini S, but easily a match for the other devices coming out of the HTC stable. With the impressive spec the VPA boasts it's almost a shame it's not graced with a VGA screen. It really would have been the icing on the cake.

Telephony In the past the telephony on HTC devices has been, how shall we say, a little below par. Even calls made to landlines from a device with full signal were often too quiet, crackly, and interspersed with random static. You could understand the person at the other end, but it was an effort. I'm delighted to say that I've made probably 20 or 30 calls with the VPA and all of them have been considerably better than ever before. Some could even have been landline to landline they were so clear. I'm not saying it's perfect yet, but HTC seemed to have increased the audio quality no end. General signal strength seems marginally better too, and on a par with my wife's Nokia. I think this is another one of the most welcome advances. It's funny, in a device so high tech how important it is to get the basics right. I've never really seen the appeal of video calling if I'm honest. The video calling functionality offered by the VPA works. I can't really rate it any more that that. You can see yourself in the little image in the left hand corner, and the other person in the bigger image. Fortunately for you, the screen capture software I used would not capture the image itself, hence the plain black boxes. As I said, fortunately for you this means there's no picture of my ugly mug in the screen grab! The voice transfer is pretty good, but the video isn't great. The refresh rate isn't that hot. Oh, and you have to have a good 3G signal to use it too, and for some reason you only seem to be able to video call someone on the same network. As I said at the beginning, it works, but that's about it. NOTE: Personally, I usually ditch the service providers settings and software by soft resetting the device just before the External Rom is installed. Interestingly, if you do this on the VPA the vanilla WM5 software underneath does not contain the video dialler software. This means that if you do fancy using the VPA for video dialling you'll have to stick with the Voda Extended ROM.

Wireless From a mobile data point of view the VPA is something a little special. It's the smallest 3G phone from HTC to date (at the time of release) and it's blazingly fast. I'm rather fortunate in that I get a two bar UMTS signal both at home and at work, so was able to give my TMobile unlimited data bundle a good hammering. When the Universal was released getting on for a year ago there were real issues when swapping between GPRS and UMTS, often manifesting themselves as periods of no signal during the swap over. There are no such issues with the VPA. The switch from 2.5 to 3G is seamless. I managed to load the 4WM homepage in less time over 3G than on my laptop over wireless on a fair few occasions. Very nice. The addition of 54G WiFi in the VPA is again a first for a compact HTC device. I had no issues at all connecting to my home wireless router, I simply turned off MAC filtering, turned on the VPA WiFi and it picked my router on the first attempt. I popped in the WPA key, amended the MAC filtering table and away I went. To 4WM of course! Since then it's been a case of pushing the Comms Manager button, selecting WiFi and the connection is made. No messing. I haven't experienced any dropouts at all in a week of usage. Marvellous. One of the better business uses for the VPA is the wireless connection and synchronisation with an Exchange server. Other than a few (ahem!) schoolboy errors on my part the push email has been bullet-proof from day 2 (Day 1 was the schoolboy error part!). Microsoft really have an excellent tool with push, and the VPA makes full use of it. With the ability to remotely connect over GPRS/UMTS for maintaining a live copy of your email, contacts and calendar in a device as powerful as this, you have to think RIM need to pull their collective fingers out.

Bluetooth As is standard with the HTC devices, Bluetooth is included, and supports many BT profiles. The regular features of Bluetooth are still up to scratch too, and even better than before. I've managed to connect to a Sat Nav device while at the same time accepting a call. An impossible task on any of my previous devices. I've already expressed my dissatisfaction with the lack of any headphone socket what so ever on the VPA, but it's not quite time to dig out the old ceremonial katana blade just yet. Since WM5's inception we've been promised a little something called A2DP. A2DP is a bluetooth stereo profile that allows you to listen to music, but without having your headphones connected to your device. Unfortunately, A2DP never really materialised bar a fleeting visit in a couple of test ROMs. That is until now. The Voda launch ROM contains A2DP, and it works. The gadget addict in me just had to try these new fangled wireless headphones, and I set out on web quest to get me some. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as you might think. Sure, I saw loads of options, but most of them looked like they'd been designed by the council in the same style as a 70's concrete carpark. Big and ugly. I eventually stumbled on the i-Phono Mini set from Bluetake. Sweet. Pairing the headphones was done in the standard fashion. I immediately set about the music collection on my SD card for testing. I found I could only use the bluetooth headset option with Windows Media player, but it was worth it. You can see the A2DP icon on the Start bar in the picture to the right. The range was about a meter in the office, and more outside. The music was not quite as crisp as a wired unit, but definitely worth the investment. Excellent.

External Storage The VPA comes with a MicroSD slot on the left hand side of the device. MicroSD cards are only slightly behind MiniSD cards in capacity stakes and we should be seeing 2GB MicroSD cards in the stores any day now. I think it is worth mentioning that MicroSD cards are half the size of MiniSD, and a quarter the size of a full SD, which is tiny. They're certainly smaller than my little fingernail, and oh so dreadfully easy to lose. I must admit to feeling quite bored of this constant switch of media format. What's next NanoSD? I have, as I'm sure many of you have, accumulated many SD cards over the years, as they were standard in the XDA devices and cameras. I was a little miffed at the Wizard and its MiniSD's but it's getting silly now. I've got USB and SD adapters coming out of my ears. Enough now please HTC.

Software The VPA comes bundled with the latest operating system for Pocket PCs, Microsoft Windows Mobile 5. In part most of the applications are those that are available as standard under Windows Mobile 5.0, but Vodafone have tweaked this a little and bizarrely reorganized the layout of a few things. Instead of looking into the programs and finding all the....well programs, you find a couple of programs and some more directories. Voda have split out what they determine to be the media apps and tools and given them their own directories like the games usually have. This is no problem but it did take me a while to find the pocket office suite. You'll not find it in programs, but in a separate Office folder off the start menu. It actually seems a reasonably well laid out system, but I just find it weird that they spent the time doing it. It's the same with the today messenger plugin. Rather than a single line with email, SMS and MMS appearing as and when they're required, they've been split into individual lines and assigned a bit of a "fisher price" icon. Again, I can sort of see the reason behind doing it, but it's strange they spent time doing it. Although I believe this is the first time Vodafone has launched a device before any other SP's, WM5 is now pretty stable in the AKU2+ flavours. This leaves Voda less open to the kind of launch ROM horrors we've all experienced in the past and they seem to have gone with the old "less is more" adage leaving mostly well alone. There's no imposed portal type affair, a la O2, nor is there locked down today applets as seem to be the passion of Orange and TMobile. It's basic but functional and performs very well. In the two weeks I used the device while writing this review I experienced precisely no impromptu soft resets, and didn't feel obliged to perform any of my own either. I'm hoping later ROMs will tease a little more out of both the battery and processor performance, but the device is solid and usable from the word go. It'll be interesting to compare this with the other SP's when their devices appear. Nice one Voda.

Applications The standard application set (WM 5.0 apps) includes: Games - Bubble Breaker & Solitaire ActiveSync - The WM client component of ActiveSync 4.xx Calculator - WM 5.0 Calculator Camera - HTC Camera control application Clear Storage - This removes the need to hard reset - it wipes the protected part of memory that allows the persistent store system to work, in effect hard resetting. A very effective and easier way of performing a hard reset than juggling buttons and stylus presses! ClearVue PDF - PDF Viewer Comm Manager - HTC client application for managing the phone / Bluetooth and WiFi (HTC application) Download Agent - Allows you to obtain updates for your device 'over the air'. MS have not yet turned this system on Enroller - For managing digital certificates. Not in any real use at the moment, but this type of application will become more important in the future Excel Mobile - WM 5.0 Pocket Excel File Explorer - WM 5.0 File Manager Interactive - Modem Link - allows you to use your device as a 3G modem (HTC application) MIDLet Manager - allows you to use mini Java applets on the device Notes - WM 5.0 - Notes application Pictures & Videos - WM 5.0 Video / Picture viewing application Pocket MSN - Instant messenger client. PowerPoint Mobile - WM 5.0 PowerPoint Application SAP Settings - Remote SIM Access over Bluetooth. Search - WM 5.0 system search applet SIM Manager - WM 5.0 client for managing SIM contacts Streaming Media - Streaming images etc over GPRS/3G. Tasks - WM 5.0 To-Do list application Terminal Services - WM 5.0 Terminal Services application for accessing servers remotely Voice Speed Dial - Voice activated speed dialling / application launching (HTC application) Word Mobile 5.0 - WM 5.0 Pocket Word Application Zip - HTC ZIP client for managing Zipped file archives

Performance Even with the very large battery the VPA is short on juice. I've found that during normal usage the device needs charging every day. When I've not charged it overnight I've found it's running on empty by about 4pm. I'm not a heavy user. The average day for me consists of 30 minutes MP3 usage, approx 100 emails via push, and about 20 minutes of calls. This leaves me with about 40% battery at midnight, after taking the device off charge at 7am. As a comparison my Mini S will go for 2 days with the same usage using the new 2.24 ROM. I do seem to remember the MiniS being a lot worse for juice with its launch ROM though, so maybe there's hope for the future. The CPU on the VPA is the new 400MHz Samsung stacked CPU and it flies. At no point during my usage did I experience anything like lag or slowdown. I'm not really what I'd call a power user, but this is a big step up from any other HTC device I've used. The extra power is probably partly to blame for the poor battery life, but if you're like me and you usually charge over night you'll love the extra power, and just make sure you charge every night.

Pros & Cons Pros Fast processor. Good call quality. Small form factor. Nice slide out QWERTY keyboard. Bright, clear screen. Stable, powerful Operating System. Good Camera. 54G WiFi. Bluetooth (including A2DP). 3G Loads of hardware buttons. Excellent button layout. Well implemented jog dial. Video calling.

Cons MicroSD instead of regular SD slot. No VGA. Slightly shorter than normal battery capacity (about 1 day). Keyboard can be unresponsive. Soft keys too close to the keyboard. Overly sticky silo. A little weighty. No stereo speakers. No headphone socket.

Conclusion

If I'd written this review after a day of using the device it would be a different review indeed. I pretty much compiled the Cons list after about half an hour of use. I was nearly ready to put it back in the box and fire up my MiniS again. The Pros list took a lot longer to compile and it was only through use that I really began to appreciate the device. Sure, there's no VGA but for most VGA is a want rather than a need. There's also the frustrating MicroSD, but then the smaller size is progress, no matter how annoying. The keyboard isn't as good as the MiniS in my opinion either, but it is still very good. Finally the omission of the stereo speakers and headphones socket is also a pain, but then with A2DP, who needs sockets anyway! Now, after two weeks of use I think I'm in love. Picking up my Mini S now just reminds me how it needs more buttons, how it's a little sluggish. I wish for a better camera, and that all the wireless protocols weren't yesterday's technology. You see, the VPA isn't perfect, but I think it's flaws can be balanced. Sure, you're likely going to need a set of BT Stereo headphones and another load of SD converters but you're getting considerably more speed across the board. You're getting better image quality. You're getting the easiest PDA to control ever and you're getting video calling...... if you're into that sort of thing. If you've got a Mini S, K-Jam, Vario etc this really is a much better machine , in almost every way, and certainly the most important ways. If this is your first ever WM5 Phone edition device, you've joined the party at just the right time. All gain, no pain..... that's worth worrying about..... 4WinMobile rating:- 95%