Qtek 8500 WM5 Smartphone (HTC StrTrk)

The Qtek 8500 is one of the first iterations to market of the HTC StrTrk device. It is a clamshell form factor Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone with two screens as per most clamshell designs. Read on for all the low down on this smart new phone... Thanks go to XDA-Rocks for the loan of the device for review purposes Qtek 8500 Review Manufacturer: Qtek Product: 8500 Colour: Black / Silver Cost: From £205 but also on contract, variable price. Supplier Product Web Site: Qtek 8500 Manufacturers Page: Qtek For your delectation all photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load a larger image. Introduction As can be seen below the Qtek 8500 is not lacking in technology as it is a Quad band mobile telephone (meaning it can be used around the world), supports EDGE connectivity for high speed 2.5G connectivity, has full media capabilities as well as 'push' e-mail so it is always up to date when linked through the Internet. Connectivity is further enhanced via Bluetooth but WiFi and InfraRed (IR) are noticeably absent. Coupled with a 750 mAH battery, this is a worthy device to the Windows Mobile 5.0 stable - on paper at least! As with all 4WM hardware reviews, our aim is to be objective and give a thorough run-down of how such a device operates in the real world. The Qtek 8500 will not get off lightly! Specifications Special Features Smartphone Quad Band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) GPRS class B Multislot class 10/EDGE Built-in Bluetooth® 1.2 Full colour Internet browsing Instant Message (IM), short / long message (SMS) and multimedia message service (MMS) 1.3 megapixel camera MPEG4 camcorder MP3 media player Speakerphone and voice recorder facility Removable and chargeable Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery, 750 mAh Dual TFT Displays SIM Toolkit Standby Time: up to 150 hours, Talk Time: up to 5 hours Software Windows® Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone Microsoft® Pocket Outlook: Inbox, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks Microsoft Windows Media Player Microsoft MSN Messenger Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer Microsoft ActiveSync Calculator Photo Contact ID MMS Wireless modem for USB, Bluetooth and IR Connection Manager Camera/Camcorder Voice Recorder Games Hardware Processor Type: Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP 850 195 MHz ROM version 1.02.252.1 Radio version 4.1.13.17_02.32.31 64 MB SDRAM, 64 MB ROM 2.0” QVGA (240x320) pixel screen, 64K colour TFT LCD (inside) 1.2” 128x128 pixel screen, 64K colour TFT LCD (outside) Camera 1.3 megapixels - Supports image formats JPG, BMP - Supports video formats MPEG4, H.263, Motion-JPEG AVI Power on/off button Volume up/down buttons External media player buttons (front) 5 way navigation Phone Send and End keys 2 soft keys Home button Back/Clear button Contacts button Messaging button Camera button Connection Manager/Voice Record button External antenna connector Micro-SD slot Bespoke Connection/Charger/Headset port Weight and Dimensions: 51.4 (W) x 98.5 (L) x 15.8 (D) mm approx. Weight: 99g with battery Packaging The Qtek 8500 arrives as a full retail package which means it was boxed within a box, nothing like the intricacy and engineering feat that is the current O2 in-house style! That said all the components are safely stored in the cardboard pre-shaped container within. Nothing is loose or could move about and all major components are centralised away from possible crush damage to the box, which is good. In all an unremarkable effort from Qtek but definitely functional. Whats in the box? Qtek 8300 Removable battery Microsoft Windows Mobile Getting Started CD Application CD (includes ClearVue and Wireless Modem USB driver) Handsfree stereo headset Connection cable AC charger Warranty card Qtek 8500 Manual Qtek 8500 Quick Start Guide Accessories Apart from the various CD's and literature supplied with the 8500 the main three accessories that come inside the box are the AC Charger, the Headset and the bespoke Connection Cable which connects the device to the PC. One major omission, however, is there is no case of any description. Your new pride and joy has to go 'au naturelle'! The Headset The headset supplied with the 8500 is perfectly workable, but no great luxury. The ear pieces are constructed of hard plastic with no facility for ear buds to be fitted and this lack can mean that they are difficult to keep in the ear, and once in position can be uncomfortable. The control unit consists of two buttons, a single 'Talk' button which serves to answer or terminate calls and a sliding volume button. The volume levels vary from muted to uncomfortably loud. Audio quality is superb due to the wired link. Straddling the cable between the microphone and the control unit is a cable spreader which can be slid up and down the cable and is designed to stop the left and right ear cables twisting together. In practice unless one is very careful in folding the headset away then the spreader can act as a 'knot point' and assist in tangling the cable. So far each time I've had to use the headset I've had to spend a minute or so untangling the cables. The Disks The 8500 is supplied with two CDs these are: Qtek 8500 Application CD Qtek 8500 Getting Started CD Contained within the Application CD are: Clearvue document viewers (v2.41.387.5 dated 16 Dec 05) - requiring 2449 Kb of free space, which allow you to view PC native Powerpoint, Word, Excel, PDF and .BMP, .GIF, .JPG and .PNG images. Wireless Modem USB Driver - Which allows you to use the 8500 as a wireless modem when connected via USB cable to your PC. The Getting Started CD once inserted in the PC takes you through the initial 'Getting Started process', installing ActiveSync and taking you through: - Adding new programs to your device - Option to download Voice Command, Pocket MSN (which is already in ROM), and a link to the generic manual which resides on disk. Adding music, pictures or videos to your device - Loads Windows Media player to take you through the media synchronisation process. Learn more - Offers you a link to the Microsoft Windows mobile based web site. About this disc - gives you the disk version and various copyright messages. And that's your lot! Pretty thin and poor really. Gone, alas, are the days of old when vendors like Compaq used to fill the accessory CD's with fully registered or customised software. Sad and not great value for money. Design and Form On to the 8500 itself. The styling is aimed towards futuristic and I think the HTC naming of the underlying platform as 'StrTrk' gives a few pointers as to where they were going with the design. The clamshell form factor fits in with design aims too - modern, sleek and, dare I say it, sexy! The design betters the other noted clamshell phone, the Motorola Razr V3 in a number of ways: - slightly slimmer and slightly longer shell with a curvy shape that sits better in the hand rubberised feel to the lower half of the shell reducing likelihood of slippage whilst using the phone media controls on outside below the exterior screen That's the overall design covered, now onto the physical hardware itself... The shell of the device appears very rugged due to its metal construction with the only plastic being the chrome effect buttons and surround for the camera on the front of the device and the few buttons on the edges. The main hinge is metal too with a good solid spring action and absolutely no swivel or twist evident in its construction. It feels very durable and I would expect it to last a good few years as it appears very well engineered. The 8500 was put through the, now standard, 4WM shaking and twisting tests and I'm pleased to say there was no evidence of loose componentry internally or any stress creaks and groans which would tend to indicate poor design or construction. The 8500 can therefore be expected to serve a healthy and lengthy working life! Front (Exterior) The front of the 8500 comprises at the top the camera lens with chromed surround (1.3MP), below this is circular glass cover for the exterior TFT screen. The screen underneath the glass is a 1.2" 128x128 pixel 64K colour unit and shows a clock or wallpaper (selectable) along with status of network, battery and Bluetooth. If using Windows Mobile Media Player it shows track details and time etc. Below this are the three chromed control buttons for the media player - Skip Back, Play/Pause, Skip Forward. Below these and to the left are the two LED status indicators. These indicate as follows: Upper LED green - battery fully charged Upper LED flashing green - connected to the network Upper LED solid amber - charging or connected via ActiveSync Upper LED flashing red - battery low (<4% charge!) Lower LED - flashes blue when Bluetooth is on To the far right of the LEDs is the in-built speaker to listen to audio sources Top and Tail There are absolutely no controls or connections of any description on the top (hinge end) or bottom of the device Sides The sides of the 8500 continue the minimalist theme with the left hand (upper pic) side holding buttons for: Voice Notes/Tag - Long press to launch Voice Notes Recorder, Short press to launch a voice tag (more later) Earpiece Volume Up - Press to turn up the earpiece volume during a call Earpiece Volume Down - Press to turn down the earpiece volume during a call and on the right hand (lower pic) edge: Camera Button - Press to activate the Camera application, or if the Camera is already running press to take a photograph Connector slot - Note - this is NOT a mini-USB connection. It is specific and bespoke for this device making all your current chargers and cables redundant! Aargh! Why can't manufacturers stick with a standard that works and everyone is familiar with? Most other HTC derived devices use standard mini-USB, why not this one? Back The back of the 8500 is again minimalist in design with just the battery compartment cover and car/external antenna socket Back cover - This should be removed to insert the battery, SIM card, and MicroSD card (not included) which fits under the SIM card The battery cover fits well onto the casing and there are no concerns as to whether it can pop loose at an inconvenient moment, it takes a fair bit of force to remove it. There is no rattle internally from the SIM or MiniSD cards when fitted even under an intense shaking session, so internally or externally there are no failures in design which could result in a power loss or a disconnected phone call. and below: Car Antenna Connector - This is protected by a rubber cap which has to be removed (don't lose it) to allow connection to an external aerial which can be used to give greater signal reception Upper (Interior) The inside upper section of the 8500 comprises the earpiece and gloriously bright 2.0" screen. There are no buttons of any kind on the upper half. Lower (Interior) This is the main activity centre on the device! The brushed metallic plate is easy to use with all controls seperated from each other with small ridges or raised icon buttons. It is roughly divided into two sections comprising the top third and lower two thirds. Top third: - Left and Right soft keys for Windows Mobile 5.0 Interface Send button (green telephone icon) Main five-way control pad - Up, Down, Left, Right and Select End button (red telephone icon) - doubles up as Power on/off and shortcut back to Home Screen Home Screen button (house icon) Delete/Back button (left arrow) Lower two thirds: - Main number pad/text input interface Remember, the * & # keys can be used to move forward and backward between screens when you hit the 'Start' button Below the main input area are a few extra items... Left hand hole - Light Sensor activates keypad backlight when dark Right hand hole - Microphone It is worth mentioning that some buttons on the 8500 (as with other WM5 Smartphones) have dual functionality, for example: Pressing and holding the 'End Call' button will exit any current application While in the Programs screens the '*' button will take you back a page and '#' forward While in data input mode the '*' key serves to switch input modes (Abc, T9, etc) or pressed and hold to choose an input mode or select symbols from the list offered While in data input mode the '#' key serves to add a SPACE or press and hold for a list of symbols So remember - the manual was included for a reason Size One important factor to a lot of PDA/Smartphone users is size. Taking this into account the 8500 has been pictured with an O2 Xda Exec (PDA/Phone), a Motorola Razr V3 (most similar in size and form factor) and an i-mate SP5m WM5 Smartphone (candy bar form factor). For the uninitiated they are (from left to right) XDA Exec, Qtek 8500, Razr V3 and i-mate SP5m. The dimensions of the 8500 do make for a comfortable feel to the device when in use. It sits really nicely in the hand. You can flip it open (with practice) with your thumb so one handed answering, making of calls is a reality. There are no odd shaped corners or angles at all that might interfere with the use of the machine. So, ergonomically, HTC have come up with a great platform and Qtek have come up with the goods with the styling and casing - a real winner should you like your phones as clam shells rather than candy bar shaped I haven't included a side on shot of all 4 devices as its a little pointless. I have included a comparison of the 8500 against the V3 though and you can see they are virtually identical (8500 below, V3 above). That's 15.8mm for you! That Screen - A Common Theme! HTC have obviously been working hard with their component suppliers as this device, like other recent HTC Smartphone devices (O2 XDA IQ, i-mate SP5/SP5m), has a wondefully clear and bright main screen! The photos can't really do it justice but the screen is exquisite, it may only be 2.0" (diagonal) in size which is smaller than that used on a lot of PDAs, but at 320 x 240 resolution it is much higher than a lot of the mobile phones out there, and the 8500 (like the IQ and SP5 platform) is first and foremost a phone! The colours are spot on, there is no colour bleeding, something that has plagued HTC devices in the past. This may be because there is no touch sensitive layer with it being a Smartphone rather than a PDA, but none the less the screen is very, very impressive. The smaller screen on the exterior is almost as impressive. At 1.2" its not very big and at 128x128 pixels the count is far lower but it does what it does very well! The main purpose of the screen as on most clamshells is to provide information without having to open the device. Correspondingly text is primarily a futuristic blue colour although white is used on some themes. The screenshot shows the level of information displayed when using the 8500 as a media player. Clear and detailed - no fuss! All is not sweetness and light however! The glass covering both screens is very reflective and you can find yourself twisting the phone around on some occasions just to be able to see them through the reflections on the glass. Looks great but in reality takes some of the shine off the usability The Home Screen This is the standard Home screen of the 8500 and from where most of your navigation will take place. It shows you: A list of commonly used icons in the icon navigator Carrier details and the date and time Any all day events The next appointment (Calendar) The profile currently in use Details on any SMS messages However, as with all WM5 Smartphone devices, there are hidden parts of it which will only show up if there is relevant data present. The full list of system applets actually is as follows: - A list of commonly used icons in the icon navigator Carrier details and the date and time Call in progress indicator Missed calls indicator Any all day events The next appointment (Calendar) The profile currently in use Any received broadcast messages (not used in the UK) Voicemail indicator Details on any Email messages Details on any ActiveSync messages And at the bottom ar the two 'soft' key options for the particular screen you are on.... The Applications The 8500 comes loaded with the full set of Windows Mobile 5.0 Premium edition applications as applied to the Smartphone platform. This includes the basic application set that is seen on the full size Phone Edition devices with the exception that the office suite of: Word Mobile Excel Mobile PowerPoint Mobile is not included. Other differences in the application set include: Voice Notes - This is purely for voice notes, taking of textual notes is not supported at all And of course as this is a WM5.0 device it uses persistent memory (to retain data in the event of a power loss) and the Clear Storage application is therefore present to allow you to 'HardReset' the device. It resides in the 'Accessories' folder Note: The 'Facade Settings' (screen 2) and 'Pocket Informant', 'Windows Live Messenger', 'Windows Live Mobile' (screen 3) applications are NOT part of the standard application set, they were installed to test various elements of functionality for the review and other MS beta programs . Task Manager The Task Manager is a very nice included application, written by HTC and it allows you to view which applications are running on any of their newer WM5 Smartphones and allows you to: - Go to any application Refresh the list Stop the selected application Stop all applications Stop all but the selected application Display System information (detailed battery, memory, storage card, and OS data) Games As always Microsoft include a couple of games in the WM5.0 ROM and at the moment these are the usual offering of Bubble Breaker and Solitaire. Nothing new or exciting but at least you can keep yourself occupied whilst waiting in queues etc. The ROM And for those of you who like the technical data on the machines here it is. The CPU is rated at 195MHz. I know that the speed of 195Mhz does not seem very fast compared to the 400-620MHz speeds seen on the IMAP processors, but the Texas Instruments OMAP chips operate differently and the 8500 is no slouch in everyday use. Camera The Camera application used on the 8500 was developed by HTC specially for the Smartphone platform, version 2.58 (build 23015) being within the ROM of the review machine. The application is reasonably fully featured and supports various modes and formats: Capture Modes Photo - 160 x 120, 320x 240, 640 x 480 and 1280 x 1024, zoomed 1x, 2x, 3x or 4x (dependent on image size), basic, Normal, Fine, or SuperFine JPEG qualities Video MMS Video Contacts Picture Picture Theme Ambience Auto Daylight Incandescent Fluorescent Night Grayscale Sepia Cool Adjust View - Manually adjust the brightness and saturation Images can be saved to internal or external memory, flicker adjustment of Auto/50/60Hz can be applied to video with further options including: review after capture ON/OFF, disable shutter ON/OFF, video audio ON/OFF, reset photo/video counters toggle, change save file name mask (i.e. IMAGE_XXX), set template folders, apply date and time stamps. The application has therefore clearly been developed since the application seen within earlier Smartphones. The only real lack compared to the Exec are that advanced capture modes such as 'Sport' are missing, possibly due to the use of the OMAP chip which has less native processing options than the Intel chip used on the Exec. Example Photos A selection of photographs taken with the camera in the Qtek 8500. They were taken at 1280 x 1024 superfine resolution. As an amateur photographer the cameras in mobile phones don't leave me impressed, however, they can sometimes be the only option you have with you and at times like these you want the very best reults you can get! Picture quality varies on most phones and the Qtek 8500 is no exception. It depends largely on the ambient lighting conditions. The metering can also be upset in these cameras with high contrast scenes generally washing out and losing detail. The 8500 does a reasonable job of retaining clarity and detail just so long as the difference in contrast isn't too great. You will notice in a couple of the pictures that the sky has lost all detail, yet where the contrast range isn't as great it done a good job. Phone System The Phone System built into the 8500 is sophisticated and has all the most modern features one would expect from a 2G phone. Advanced functionality such as call forwarding, call waiting, dual line working are all supported (remember that manual!). Coupled with these features are a pretty good range of predefined Profiles. The profiles can be edited with respect to: Ring Type - most combinations of Ring, Vibrate, and silent Volume - from OFF to Five (Loud) Alarm type - most combinations of Sound, Vibrate, and increasing Alarm Volume - from OFF to Five (Loud) Notification type - most combinations of Sound and Vibrate Notification Volume - from OFF to Five (Loud) System Volume - from OFF to Five (Loud) Unfortunately there is no facility to vary the actual ring tone per profile, or to automatically switch the profile based on a schedule. Other additional phone functions become available during a phone call, giving you the option to: Swap between the current call and a secondary incoming call Mute the call Turn Speakerphone On / Off Turn the call into a Conference, that is include other parties in the conversation Turn hands free mode on Display Contact data on the connected caller Save caller details to Contacts View Calendar Call History Radio Connectivity Radio connectivity is controlled by the excellent HTC Comm Manager - from here you have full control over the the various parts of the phone/radios: 1 - Turn phone on / off 2 - Bluetooth on / off 3 - Direct Push Email on / off 4 - Cancels the data connection, i.e. turns off GPRS 5 - Toggles between sound and vibrate modes 6 - Loads Active Sync As you can see WiFi is noticeably absent in the connectivity options In my opinion, this is a major mistake for a Smartphone device. Why include Internet Explorer and just use it for GPRS? Wi-Fi hotspots are appearing everywhere now and they are much quicker than GPRS and that's ignoring the cost equation which can be just scary on GPRS data!!! Good Things One very good feature of the Smartphone OS is that when the cursor it over an application one can choose the 'Menu' option and opt to assign a 'Speed Dial' or 'Voice Tag' to that application. This means that if you have a Speed Dial set as '4' to run 'File Manager' you can just press and hold the '4' key on the keyboard for around three seconds and the application will run. You can use voice tags in a similar manner. This is a great time saver! The tagging system will even handle creation of emails to a predefined address, as well as of course handling regular speed dials. Now isn't that something special! Not So Good Things This gripe is thrown at the WM5.0 platform and not specifically against the Qtek 8500 although it is affected just like any other device - they do not have enough storage memory on board. In reality if you buy any WM5.0 device you need to purchase a nice large SD/MiniSD/MicrosSD (in this case) card and install as many of your applications as possible on to it! Pro's & Cons Pros Lovely Clam Shell form factor. Good feel in hand. Light weight. Improved Connection manager. Loud volume. Runs WM 5.0 Supports 'push' email. Persistent Memory. Clear and clean voice quality. Good signal receptivity. Good battery life. Twin TFT Screens. Direct Media Application Controls One-handed operation Cons No case! No Wi-Fi! Bespoke connector size for headset, mains charger and PC connection - can't use existing cables Can't charge device and use headset at same time Lacks the 'Office' suite of larger PDA machines. No built in backup application. No timed or event category based profile changing. MicroSD card slot - under SIM Card too! Reflective glass over both TFT Screens Not enough internal storage memory (common fault with current WM5.0 devices) Lacks the ability to email files, only Pictures and Voice Notes can be attached (WM5.0 Smartphone OS failing) Conclusion Hardware The design of the 8500 is well thought out and somewhat futuristic. Ergonomically it is a pleasure to use and is comfortable to hold and all the features you need to reach to operate the machine are there to hand. The side buttons can be a little hard to press, but that ties in with the aim of avoiding accidental triggering so can be lived with. The screens are superb but it can be a little anonymous compared to other phones. It could be mistaken from a short distance as a Motorola Razr V3 - oh the shame! Software The software package offered is very much the basic Microsoft OS offering with the addition of the Camera and Task Manager which have been supplied by HTC. There is very little customisation of the device by Qtek with the exception of a colour scheme. This is good news indeed as core storage is at a premium and it is not filled up with any non-useful applications which may interfere with its operation or speed. Operation and Function The Qtek 8500 is a Microsoft Smartphone so can present a new user with a bit of a steep learning curve if coming from a PDA or PDA/Phone. I've used it extensively as an alternative to a Phone Edition PDA such as my O2 Exec (HTC Universal) and it does take a while to understand just how to make the best usage of such a device. The first change is of course the move away from a touch screen and stylus to a non-active screen with control pad and button control. This for me was no great difficulty as the 8500 feels very much like a phone due to its design and form factor. I can imagine that users who have only used Phone Edition PDAs or mobile phones without a joystick/control pad might find that change a little more difficult to manage. However Microsoft have striven successfully to create an operating system which is friendly and easy to get to grips with and most users should find adopting to the interface painless. At least there are no worries about losing the stylus! My main use of the device is primarily as a read-only unit. Smartphones are not the easiest of devices to enter information on so should you be thinking of dropping the PDA and moving lock, stock and barrel to a Smartphone, think long and hard about how you use your device at the moment. To me it is a secondary device that contains my contacts and diary rather than a replacement. If you are mainly a phone user that needs occasional access to the PDA aspects of such a device the balance swings again. The other problematic area is finding Smartphone applications that cover your requirements on the PDA platform. E-books for example are pretty much a non-starter if you have invested in Palm Reader or Microsoft Reader books but the solution here is MobiPocket Reader which works well enough and is nice and clear to read. Other areas are now finally being covered. SBSH and WebIS have combined with their 'Papyrus' and 'Pocket Informant for Smartphones' applications to cover off the PIM functionality and Resco have Smartphone equivalents of their PDA applications. Media Player The Qtek 8500 is obviously aimed at the media savvy user too with its hardware controls on the front of the device. I must say the quality of the audio through the supplied headset was very good, particularly in bass response which is normally a weakness of these types of earphones. The front screen plus the hardware buttons is a nice simple combination that works well when it comes to playback. You do have to go into the device to change playlists etc. but that is not great hardship! One thing to bear in mind though is the headset connector is bespoke so you CANNOT use standard headphones (its not even a 2.5mm device where you could buy an adapter). This is a drawback as the same connector on the side of the device is used for the connecting cable to a PC, the mains charger AND the headset. So you can't use the headset whilst charging the phone! Phone Quality On most HTC branded devices voice quality has been an historic issue. Incoming calls have usually sounded good but outgoing calls have varied from terrible to good. The Xda Exec for example has average outgoing voice quality. Happily the Qtek 8500 has been tested for both incoming and outgoing voice quality and in all tests incoming calls sounded perfect - no loss of quality at all. Outgoing voice quality is unfortunately not up to the same standard, it can be considered better than the Exec, but it is still not perfect. Most of the time I'd class it as good, but it can drop down to average on occasions. Plus of course don't forget that the 8500 is Quadband whichs means that wherever in the world you travel to you will be able to use it to receive that important call (roaming agreements permitting). Communication As the 8500 comes with AKU2 (Adaptation Kit Update) in the ROM it has the new 'push email' feature recently created by Microsoft. For those of you who sync with an Exchange Server (for example using 4SmartPhone) this means that you can get your messages delivered to you as soon as they arrive on the server. The 8500 also has Pocket MSN installed so you get the benefits of accessing MSN Messenger and your Hotmail Email too. Both these services can of course be accessed using GPRS but not WiFi! As I indicated earlier, the lack of Wi-Fi is a major restriction on a device of this nature and is very short-sighted of HTC to leave it out of the StrTrk platform. Big black mark and has affected the overall score! Bluetooth bonding and links with various devices all worked perfectly and without issue. Just remember exchanging information via Bluetooth on WM5.0 devices is not a simple as it used to be with other devices. Both units need to have accept beams enabled and set as 'Discoverable' under Bluetooth. Not intuitive nor simple for the new user and is a failing of the OS NOT the 8500! Note: There are rumours circulating around that the Qtek version of this phone, as reviewed here, may have some issues with the unit 'falling asleep' and missing calls. I never experienced these issues or anything similar with this device. If they do exist they may be sporadically affecting certain phones and not all. Conclusion Once the new interface had been mastered and the applications chosen the 8500 is more than capable for use as a daily machine. It performed admirably well and at no time did it fail to perform any required activity. Battery life from an initially underwhelming looking 750mA battery was very good with the unit going days between recharges. A problem for some users will be data input as on the Exec/MiniS devices you could use the QWERTY keyboard as a primary interface but the 8500 has no such luxuries! I had to use 'T9' or 'Abc' input methods. With me being older than 40 I've never really embraced the world of SMS or 'Texting' so this was somewhat of a shock. After a day or two I adjusted and, although I'm not entering data as fast as I can on the Exec, it can be achieved albeit somewhat slower, hence my usage of such a device as primarily a read-only unit. 4WinMobile rating:- 90%