O2 Xda Orbit

O2 Xda Orbit

O2 who have always been known for innovation with their ever developing Xda range have now excelled themselves with the O2 Xda Orbit. In the past we have seen slight case customisation as with the blue LEDs of the Exec, but with the Orbit O2 have designed an entirely new 'Cruiser' housing to contain their variant of the HTC Artemis.

In stunning black and silver livery the Orbit stands out from the crowd and its shapely lines serve to draw the eye in an intriguing manner towards the functions of the device itself.

4WM is proud to be able to look at the Orbit from the engineering viewpoint and see if the device is actually constructed as well as it looks. Is the required functionality of a modern PDA / Phone / SatNav unit buried within that dark delicious exterior. Read on and find out!

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Modern life in the 21st Century is becoming ever more complex and hectic, and PDAs that are being developed are having to evolve to suit that need. No longer are users happy to carry around a PDA, phone, etc, more functionality is demanded from the market and in ever more pocketable and slight devices.

The Xda Orbit strives to meet these needs and therefore contains six main areas of functionality within the device:

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
Mobile (cell) Phone
Camera
GPS Navigation Unit
Push Email
FM Radio

We will investigate each of these in turn as we move through the review. However this initial part of the review will concentrate on the design and external features of the device along with detailing the various extras that are delivered with the machine.

In the box It should be understood that the review machine provided to 4WM is a pre-release model and therefore the items provided with the machine will only be sub-set of the final retail package. Supplied with the Orbit were: The Xda Orbit itself 1200mAh, Lithium-ion, removable battery Stylus Mains power adaptor Car accessory (cigarette lighter) power adaptor * Wired headset / aerial USB PC sync cable * - Optional extra, not supplied in the retail package.

The final retail model will probably include a copy of Outlook 2002 as well as a companion CD containing free software, ActiveSync 4.x and the user manuals. It is likely that a basic 'slip-case' will also be supplied although this has yet to be confirmed. On first opening the box one is struck by two or three immediate facts; the Orbit is small, at 58 x 108 x 16.3 mm it is a lot smaller than the MiniS and hardly larger than the IQ, the lack of weight; how can so many features within the device weigh so little, and finally how beautiful the machine is. I hate to admit it but once the Orbit was in my hands I spent a goodly few minutes turning it over and over, appreciating the sleek smooth lines of the black housing, pierced only by the silver band that circumnavigates the case. Once those moments of joy had been allowed to expire it was time to start looking at the device in depth and to see if it measured up to expectations.

Specifications

The Xda Orbit was built with the hardware designed by HTC and with O2 deciding to specify their own 'Cruiser' housing for the machine. As such the specifications are the same as the base HTC device code named 'Artemis': Manufacturer: High Tech Computer (HTC) HTC Code name: HTC Artemis 200 Supplier: O2 UK PLC Product Name: Xda Orbit Price: Varies depending on contract Special Features: Integrated Sirf Star III GPS receiver A-GPS TMC feature GPRS Class 10 64 tone polyphonic (MIDI) ringtone Voice Command Vibrating Call Alert Built-in Antenna Hands-free Built-in FM Radio HTC RollR trackball/trackwheel combined positioning device Mini-USB Connector Pre-installed AKU 3.0 Software Kit Physical Attributes Dimensions in millimeters: 58 x 108 x 16.3 millimeters (width x height x depth) Dimensions in inches: 2.3 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches Bounding Volume: 102.1 cubic centimeters Mass with battery: 127 grams Software Environment Embedded Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack System Kernel: Microsoft Windows CE 5.1.342 (build 15096.3.0.0) ROM Version 1.25.206.1 WWE ROM Date: 04/10/06 Radio Version: 02.67.90 Protocol Version: 4.1.13.28 ExtROM Version: 1.25.206.101 Microprocessor, Chipset CPU: Texas Instruments OMAP 850 CPU Clock: 201MHz Databus Width: 32bit CPU Core: ARM926EJ-S Level 1 cache: 8KB data cache / 16KB instruction cache Instruction set: ARM v5

Memory ROM size: 128MB, including 54.09MB user-accessible non-volatile (flash) memory RAM type: SDRAM RAM size: 64MB (accessible: 42.55MB) Graphical subsystem Display: color transflective TFT Colour depth: 16bit/pixel (65536 scales) Resolution: 240 x 320 (76800 pixel) Diagonal: 2.8" (72 millimeters) Viewable size: 1.7" x 2.3" (43.2 x 57.6 millimeters) Dot Pitch: 0.18 millimeter/pixel Audio subsystem D/A converter: 16bit audio sampling, stereo Audio Input: mono microphone Audio Output: stereo Interfaces Positioning Device: Touchscreen Navigation Pad/Jog: 5-way navigation block Expansion Slots: MicroSD, TransFlash Serial Connector: 115200bit/s USB Connector: USB 1.1 client, 12Mbit/s Infrared Gate: IrDA 1.2, 115200bit/s (SIR/CIR) Bluetooth: Bluetooth 1.2 Wireless LAN: 802.11b, 802.11g Wireless LAN Speed (max): 54Mbit/s GPS Module: Integrated Integrated cellular phone Supported cellular networks: GSM 850MHz, GSM 900MHz, GSM 1800MHz, GSM 1900MHz, UMTS 850MHz Supported WAN standards: CSD, GPRS, EDGE Other peripherals Built-in Camera: CMOS sensor, 1600x1200 (1.92 million pixels) Recordable Image Formats: JPG, BMP Camcorder: 176x144pixel, 15frame/sec Recordable Video formats: 3GPP, MPEG4, MJPG Power Supply Battery: 1200mAh, Lithium-ion, removable Estimated Battery Life: 12 hours Average Current: 100 mA

Comparing the O2 XDA Orbit to the HTC Artemis

As the Orbit shares the same HTC heritage as the basic Artemis we'd expect historically only a few differences, maybe a blue backlight as seen on the Exec. However O2 have gone way beyond that with the design and development of the Cruiser housing. Gone are the sharp corners of the Artemis along with the grey / green colouration, the Orbit's shapely rounded lines are the way to style along with a new striking silver and black livery. This means that the Orbit is much more comfortable to hold in the hand than the Artemis; the rounded corners help it to glide into the cup of your hand, which in turn means it is much less likely to slip out of your grip. This is aided by the matte textured surface which does not easily slip or slide from the grasp.

The top front area of the Orbit houses a very very loud speaker (the loudest I've encountered on any Phone Edition Device) and on either side of this are located the LED indicators: Left hand side - Yellow flashing LED - GPS system active Left hand side - Blue flashing LED - Bluetooth system active Left hand side - Green flashing LED - WiFi system active Right hand side - Green flashing - phone module active Right hand side - Amber flashing - notification alert Right hand side - Amber steady - charging

The 'control' area of the device has been reworked too, with the edges of the buttons being given a much less harsh contour which again serves to increase the comfort factor while in use. The control buttons are (top to bottom, left to right): Call key - serves to answer calls, switch the Orbit to phone mode, toggle speaker mode on / off (during a call) Left WM5.0 soft key Right WM5.0 soft key End Call key - serves to terminate calls Email key - launches the Inbox application (usually used for the wireless manager) Start key - pops open the WM5.0 Start Menu OK key - serves to close windows / applications in WM5.0 PIE key - launches Pocket Internet Explorer

and in the center position: The jog ring which allows up / down navigation through the menus and applications The trackball which again allows navigation around screens and can also be pressed for 'action' The Email key, Start key, OK key and PIE key may all be user configured to operate or run any program you define via a settings applet. All the keys are back lit with a pale white lambent light which looks great against the black housing with the exception of the trackball which illuminates O2 blue! The jog ring or dial is smooth in operation and as the thumb turns it slight resistance is felt at 30 degree intervals which serves to stop one 'over-spinning' the ring and losing control. The trackball is smooth in operation and revolves freely. Unfortunately there is no method I could see of adjusting the spin or sensitivity of the ball. Although it is superb in most operations for precision handling the sensitivity could be reduced somewhat, as when scrolling pages in PIE or an eBook it is very easy to turn a page too far. This sensitivity is however not apparent in 'mouse mode' (see later).

The base of the Orbit contains the expected Mini-USB port which is used for three purposes: To attach the charge cables (main power socket or car accessory charger) To attach the handsfree / aerial cabling To attach the miniUSB to PC sync cradle To the left of the USB port are two holes which can be used to attach a lanyard allowing the Orbit to be attached to a neck strap, and above that the microphone piercing. It should be noted that the Orbit also sports on the left hand side a battery cover lock, which is not pat of the Artemis design and this allows the battery cover to remain firmly in place in all situations. If the lock is released the battery cover un-pops and can be drawn upwards from the body for removal. As you can see the facilitate the position on the battery lock the Cruiser design has necessitated the relocation of the miniUSB port from the right hand side to the left hand side of the unit. The top edge of the Orbit is plain and absent of any functionality at all.

The sides of the Xda Orbit sport sleek streamlined buttons which suit the matte silver band which surmounts the Orbit's housing. The left hand side top button serves to call up the voice dialing system, and immediately below that can be found the slider which lowers or raises the volume of the device, either the sound level of the PDA itself or that of the phone if a call is in progress. The soft reset hole can be seen towards the bottom of the case, into which the stylus is inserted to achieve a soft reset. The right hand side holds at the top the power on / off switch, and at the bottom the button for calling up and activating the camera. Again all of the buttons on the machine with the exception of the volume slider and on / off switch may be customised to suit the users preference.

The back face of the Orbit is somewhat enhanced compared to the standard Artemis as the fascia has a raised silver circle which surrounds the 2Mp camera and vanity mirror. This serves no function apart from improving an otherwise bland area of the device. Above the camera lens can be seen a 'boomerang' shaped plastic cap which is marked as GPS, this can be removed to reveal the sockets for connecting an external GPS antenna, useful for those who own more modern cars where a heated windscreen may interfere with GPS reception. The cap fits into the Cruiser housing very tightly and should therefore not come lose inadvertently - no more 'push in' round rubber plugs to lose.

Here you can see the back of the Orbit with the battery lock released and the battery removed. When preparing the machine for day to day use (that is using a MicroSD card for the applications you want to install) the fun starts. The MicroSD card holder sits immediately below that of the SIM card and the only word that springs to mind is 'fiddly', small fingers are a definite advantage. The MicroSD card should be carefully placed on top of the connectors and the fasten pressed gently into place until it engages, there is no sliding or loudly clicking locking mechanism. The SIM card can then be slid into place within the metal holder guides, pressed downwards on top of the MicroSD holder and then slid gently with a finger nail to get it to lock into position. Installing either card is not difficult but one should be very careful as the components used are not that strong! Once positioned though there are no signs of looseness and the cards should be in to stay. It is worth noting that the Orbit has a plastic pull strip attached to the top of the MicroSD card holder which makes it easy to open once closed. One item that has not been addressed so far is the stylus, as per the MiniS this mounts into the base of the Orbit. The good news is it looks like HTC have addressed the problem of the stylus becoming loose over time as with the Orbit the styli is a very highly polished tub which seems to slide into a rubberised inner sleeve in the body. So far after a week's constant use there is no sign of looseness or give. I can only hope that this situation remains as time goes by. The stylus itself is about 3.75 inches long and while a little short for my tastes is comfortable to use when in the hand and is perfectly functional. When docked it sits relatively flush into the body, not detracting from the design at all. For ease of removal there is a 'pip' on top of the head which serves to allow one to draw a finger along the body to extract the stylus itself.

The Screen

Even though the screen on the Orbit is 'only' QVGA it is bright and pin-sharp, very readable in low light conditions and in sunlight. Colours are bright and strong, there is no evidence of washout or colour degradation across the screen area. When the keys are pressed on the trackball activated the back lighting system is activated, whereby the controls are lit with a gentle glow, where only the symbols on the keys light, this gives a very modern look to the back lighting effect. The trackball is also lit with a blue LED and this serves to shine through the frosted ball to ensure lighting is even and looks good. When lit together with the jog wheel this serves to remind one of HAL2000 from Space Odyssey 2001!

Headset

The headset is simple in design and yet functional. Above the control pod protrude two wires, one of short length which is designed to go to the left ear and a longer wire which loops under the chin and is for use in the right ear. The wires terminate in two silver plastic ear pieces which are fitted with foam buds which serve to ensure a good fit in the ear as well as improving audio quality. The control pod contains two controls, a slider to control the volume of the audio heard through the headset and a single button which can be used to either initiate or terminate a call. The pod also holds within it a miniature microphone which can be used for both phone calls and initiating voice dialing.

Size Matters!

As many of you will know by now, at least those of you who read my reviews regularly, I'm a great fan of VGA devices with large clear screens and plenty of room to work with. The Orbit I was therefore prepared to dislike as it is of course a QVGA (320 x 240) machine which would lack the screen I prefer. However as the screen is very good quality, that is clear, bright (nearly always readable in sunlight) and sharp I decided I could live with the lack of VGA. The small size though suits the Orbit perfectly, the 2.8 inch diagonal size fits nicely within the shape of the housing and does not look too small in use or operation. In use it partners very well with the steeply pointed stylus to ensure that tapping is accurate and precision in operation is maintained.

The usability of the smaller screen helps the Orbit in two ways, firstly that the exceedingly small size (58 x 108 x 16.3 mm) and weight (127 grams) can be achieved as well as an incredibly long battery life (see later). The small size makes the Orbit much more usable as it can be popped easily into a pocket, and used for an intensive period of time without risk of RSI syndrome. For the ladies amongst us it can be popped into the corner of a shoulder bag and no great bulk is added. While working on this review I had an occasion to swap over to using the Xda Exec (for software testing) and for the first time I appreciated the view of Magician owners that it is a brick! Swapping back to the Orbit the next day was a positive pleasure as it added no weight to my belt when mounted in my generic belt holster. The Exec made me feel like I was being pulled to one side! The O2 Xda Mini (HTC Magician) has always been the chosen machine for users who wanted power along with a small PDA, but as you can see it has now lost the crown to the Orbit; the Orbit is almost as tiny as the Xda IQ! In fact it's smaller in all respects excepting width! Wow! The small form factor along with the features of Phone, WiFi, Push Email, Camera, Bluetooth, FM Radio, GPS navigation make this one heck of an amazing device.

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The Today Screen

O2 Active is no more! O2 have continued to listen to the wishes of their users, and I'm happy to say that the dreaded O2 Active system has not returned with the arrival of the Orbit. Instead a new suite of Today applets has been supplied: Profiles Last Call O2 Calendar Meters Running Apps Shortcuts Task Manager The Profile system gives you eight different profiles which can all be edited to give you control over the system and phone volume, ring tone, ring method, and response type. On the today screen you gain a display showing which profile is active (or **** if you have changed the settings away from the default), and bar displays detailing the current system and phone system volume. The Last call applet serves to show you details on the last call, whether it be incoming, outgoing, or a missed call. O2 Calendar serves to show you the forthcoming appointments as well as any tasks that are due that day. The task can unfortunately not be checked off from the today screen, tapping on a task opens the task editor. It should be noted that once this applet is activated that it replaces the WM5.0 calendar applet, and that is no longer visible in the Today Screen applet selector. Meters allows you to show up to three level meters for Battery, Memory, and Storage card. Each meter can be tapped on to show; a plain bar, the bar with percentage, or bar with Mb free. Running Apps displays a simple line of icons indicating which programs are currently running in the background, tapping the icon switches to that program. Shortcuts allows for up to five shortcuts to be configured for launching, tapping on the icon launches the program. Task Manager - this is activated via the 'O2 bubble' which resides in the bottom bar of the today screen. A single tap on it brings up a brushed metal pop-up which displays the running applications and an options menu. The 'X' next to the listed applications allows each application to be terminated manually when required. Options allows you to select which O2 Custom Today applets are usable on the Today screen, as well as allowing you to define the shortcuts for the Shortcut applet.

Settings

The settings applets on the Orbit are very much vanilla WM5.0 with one addition as detailed below - Mouse Mode. It is worth noting that as defaults 'Incoming Beams, 'Error Reporting' are turned off which serve to increase battery life and enhance device operation.

The Mouse Mode applet allows you to switch the function of the trackball so that it controls a mouse cursor which appears on screen once it has been activated. The pointer speed, that is the sensitivity of the trackball can be adjusted so that it is comfortable for each individual and can suit their requirements. Although the trackball works well in Mouse Mode I've yet to come across any real world usage for it, it is still faster to navigate the device using the Touch screen and stylus. However if one had to use the Orbit with only one hand then the mouse cursor together with the jog ring does allow all functions to be accessed.

The ROM and AKU3

The Orbit came with 'Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack, Microsoft Windows CE 5.1.342 (build 15096.3.0.0)', the '3.0.0' indicates that it has AKU3.0 loaded within the ROM. "AKU" stands for "Adaptation Kit Upgrade" and is a MS upgrade to the ROM that hardware manufacturers can apply to Windows Mobile devices. Currently most Windows Mobile phones have AKU2.xx on board, but the Orbit sports AKU3 which brings some new features: New soft boot logo Better integration of SIM / USIM contacts * Alphabetic sorting of SIM / USIM contacts in contacts list view * Improved 'Internet Sharing' Much improved quick start wizard with 'skip' for tutorial, settings setup at boot time vCards over SMS SMS Multiple Recipient improvements One handed PPC folder navigation improvements WMP full screen video on all devices Smart-type search / dialing Large number of preconfigured Email providers (including GMail) Save SMS to SIM Not all of the AKU3.0 features have been implemented in the Orbit though, the following are not present: Equalizer Choose Pocket PC language packs at hard reset time * - Unable to verify as I do not use SIM contacts As well as the AKU3.0 additions being loaded the Orbit has the latest CF .NET 2.0 installed which means that a lot of third party applications can be installed and run without having to install the kit first. The .NET 2.0 kit can of course be downloaded and installed on older devices but this can take up quite a lot of internal memory. No such concerns with the Orbit!

The Applications

The applications list of the Orbit has been enhanced by O2/HTC with the addition of: Camera HTC Comm Manager FM Radio Internet Sharing O2 Operator Settings Quick GPS SIM Manager Voice Speed Dial Zip

The Camera

The camera software included on the Orbit is the new HTC application (v4.03 build 24654) which replaces the camera part of the 'Pictures and Videos' application which is supplied under WM5.0. This offers a one screen display consisting of a central view finder with adjustment / mode controls surrounding it. Options use for the camera may be changed by tapping on the surrounding icons or via selecting the bottom left 'tool' (options icon). Settings may be varied between: Storage - Main Memory / MicroSD card (if inserted) White Balance - Auto / Daylight / Night / Incandescent / Florescent Effect - Grayscale / Sepia / Cool / Negative Resolution - 160x120 / 320x240 / 640x480 / 1280x960 / 1600x1200 Quality - Basic / Normal / Fine / Superfine Metering Mode - Center Area / Average Time Stamp - on / off Mode - Photo / Video / MMS Video / Contacts Picture / Picture Theme / Sports / Burst Capture Format - JPEG Shutter Sound - on / off Grid - on / off Keep backlight - on / off Review Duration - No review / 3 seconds / 10 seconds / no limit Flicker adjustment - Auto / 50Hz / 60Hz Prefix - Default / Date / Date & Time Counter - X / reset Adjust - Contrast / Saturation / Hue / Sharpness

160 x 120

320 x 240

640 x 480

1280 x 960

1600 x 1200

Shown here are typical images taken with the camera on a misty November day, with slightly dull overcast conditions. All settings were left at the defaults with only the resolution changed. Even though there are plenty of options to vary within the camera the actual camera quality still has to be ranked as mediocre, HTC really need to get to grips with this area of their devices and source a decent camera module.

The connection manager accessed via tapping on the connection icon in the bottom menu bar may be used to activate various connectivity functions such as: Phone Bluetooth WiFi DirectPush Email Data connection Ringer / Vibrate ActiveSync as well as access the Bluetooth and WiFi settings controls. WiFi support is present for both 802.11b and 802.11g connectivity, but unfortunately Bluetooth is still the older 1.2 specification and not the hoped for 2.0 which supports A2DP, etc. That said Bluetooth connections to the Jabra BT500 headset have been clear and voice dialing is supported and works well.

The FM Radio

One of the more unusual applications to be included within the hardware build of the Orbit is that of an FM Radio. For this to be utilised the headset has to be inserted into the bottom of the machine as this is used as the aerial for radio reception; no internal aerial is included unfortunately. Once the headset has been inserted the application may be launched and it will auto-scan for radio stations, this takes about four seconds. The stations seem to be sorted in the order of reception strength, with the top six being available from the main screen. Additional stations may be viewed via the 'Presets' option and selected for playing, or deleted from the list. Once a station has been live for a few seconds the station data is read from the transmission at the station name displayed on screen. The menu allows one to: Scan and save presets - useful if one has changed location, say from home to work Turn stereo on or off - headset only of course Mute - temporarily mute the sound Output - toggle between the headset and Speaker Sleep - off / 30 / 60 / 90 minutes - after which interval the radio will auto turn off Radio reception is very clear indeed, and the only degradation in quality is noticed when moving into areas which may block the signal such as steel supports, girders, etc. If the Orbit is turned off whilst the radio is on it will continue to playback via the headset, which serves well to prolong battery life. An hours radio listening via the headset with the Orbit turned off did not reduce the battery at all, it was still set at the 100% rating - impressive. Whilst playing the radio the headset volume control serves to lower or raise the volume of the radio. If an incoming or outgoing call is made while the radio is running the radio automatically mutes and then restores playback once the call has completed.

Internet Sharing

The Internet Sharing application allows you to use the Xda Orbit as a modem for your PC or laptop, using the O2 Mobile Web or O2 Active connections to gain Internet access. The connection to the PC can be made either via USB or Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network).

O2 Operator Settings

The Operator setting applet allows you to vary which O2 service you have available, varying from O2 UK Post Pay GPRS through to GSM and GPRS settings for Ireland or the Isle on Man. It can also be used to remove all default connections if you so wish.

ZIP

HTCs ZIP application is provided which allows ZIP files to be created or extracted natively on the Orbit. Tests with a number of ZIP files showed no problems in viewing the contents of archives or extracting any files.

Quick GPS

Quick GPS is used to access the Internet and download the latest satellite data based on your location within the O2 mobile network. This can greatly aim the satellite lock times when using any GPS aware application.

SIM Manager

The SIM manager which has been present on earlier HTC / Xda devices has been greatly enhanced to work with the new features found within WM5.0 and AKU3. Advanced facilities like saving and retrieving SMS messages from the SIM card, storing your own personal numbers, and displaying the SIM card statistics are now possible. These are of course in addition to the original functions for Contacts / SIM contacts management.

Voice Speed Dial

The Orbit is supplied with Cyberon Voice Speed Dial included within the ROM which allows you to call contacts or launch programs via voice command. The launching / calling capabilities are supported via the wired headset and also via Bluetooth Handsfree connection. For a voice command to work a 'tag' must be recorded against each contact number or application you wish to control, there is no auto-recognition / voice training facility present within the application.

Phone

The Phone application within the Orbit has been nicely skinned by O2 with the house style bubbles O2 use as a logo present in the dialer backdrop. All the usual functions such as : Speed dial access Call history Start / end call Select number from contacts Are available via buttons, with the following possible via the Menu: Hold call Mute Turn Speakerphone on / off Turn Handsfree on / off ** Conference call Paste View Contact Create Note Call History Speed Dial Options Smart dialing options ** ** - These are options newly added to the phone application, the first being rather obvious, but the later works with AKU3.0 to add facilities such as: Automatically expand selected contact Enable drag scroll Enable double clicking for dialing Scroll unit - One page / One Line / Half Page In reality this means that to dial contact you can just start typing their name on the keypad and the display window will show the viable contacts. You can then use the trackball to move down to the required contact, and then use trackball left / right to select the right number to dial; home, business, mobile, etc. Then double click the trackball to dial - easy!

GPS and SiRFstarIII™

The Xda Orbit (and the HTC Artemis) uses SiRFstarIII technology to ensure that GPS Satellite locks are quick both initially and later on subsequent connections. This is achieved via a single-chip SiRF GSC3 GPS receiver along with SiRF’s exclusive SiRFInstantFix™ service. "SiRFstarIII’s extremely high sensitivity, combined with SiRF’s sophisticated navigation algorithms provides the Xda Orbit with best-in-class GPS signal acquisition, making real-time navigation practical even through urban canyons and under dense foliage. SiRFInstantFix enables the HTC P3300 to achieve the first fix in as little as eight seconds after it is turned on. With SiRFInstantFix, the Orbit can not only start tracking satellites and navigating more quickly, it can do so using much weaker signals, removing the barrier that often stands in the way of successfully navigating under marginal conditions." As you can see investigations carried out above reflect these claims with GPS lock times being significantly faster than both the Xda Exec with a Bluetooth connected GPS, the Fujitsu-Siemens LOOX N560 or T830 with non assisted GPS technology. One thing which greatly assists the fast lock on the Orbit is the ability to download GPS data via the GPRS network using the QuickGPS application written by HTC. The combination of SiRFstarIII with the QuickGPS application give the Orbit second to none GPS locking and accuracy.

The GPS unit was tested using TomTom Nav 5 and 6, as well as VisualGPSce, and no problems were encountered. Lock times remained incredibly fast and no signal loss took place at any point. Interestingly enough a test route between my parents house in Macclesfield and our favorite village in Wales (Llwyngwril) was computed in 9 seconds, this compares to 34 seconds on the FSC T830, and 12 seconds on the FSC N560. TomTom did take longer to load initially but in operation was very much on par with the speed of the N560, and ran at about twice the speed of the T830. Navigation via TomTom Nav6 and the SiRF GPS system is faultless, with the displayed data being crisp, audible warning being clear, very loud, and more importantly all routes navigated / travelled correctly. Speed of operation was also excellent when using Memory-Map OS-5 to follow routes and plan walks around the local countryside. VisualGPSce also worked perfectly, locking on to satellites quickly and easily again with no loss of lock at any times. In various tests the GPS unit within the Orbit archived initial satellite locks within 25 seconds and secondary locks in 2-3 seconds which is quicker than any other GPS enabled device I've used.

Third Party Applications

Various 'Third Party' applications have been purchased, or downloaded, and loaded onto the Orbit: WebIS Pocket Informant uBook SBSH Pocket Breeze (internal) SBSH iLauncher (internal) Spb Weather (internal) TomTom Nav6 Sprite Backup Pocket Nav OS 5 VisualGPSce CityTime Alarms (internal) Omapclock (internal) Resco File Explorer Resco Picture Viewer Tweaks2k2 .NET and all of these functioned as anticipated, there were no issues in operation or use, all worked perfectly.

In Use and Conclusions

Memory Once my 'standard' application set had been loaded onto the Orbit the internal memory free for running applications had reduced from 27.16Mb to 22.85Mb, which is an acceptable amount of free memory to run with. If the Orbit can handle running TomTom Nav 6 without any issues it should be able to handle most applications. During the course of the working day this reduced by a further 6.67Mb, which is less then I've encountered on other WM5.0 devices.

Battery Life Various measurements on battery life were taken, at the end of the day, both at home and at work, along with specific data appertaining to commonly performed tasks that were / are carried out each day. The Xda Orbit performed incredibly well, usually at the end of the working day (which involves high usage of Pocket Informant, 10-12 SMS messages being exchanged, 2-3 phone calls, Handsfree use via Bluetooth, and eBook reading) my WM5.0 devices have between 57-68% of battery life remaining. The Orbit usually ended the day with 80% of battery charge remaining, only one one day did it drop to 76% and that was a hectic day with more than the average number of phone calls being made. The Orbit is the only WM5.0 device I've used where I've managed to get through two working days without recharging! This is with Push Email being enabled and GPRS connectivity being in use from 5:45am through to the end of the working day, 5:30pm. Awesome!

Benchmarks No benchmarks have been shown for the Xda Orbit as the only benchmarking program available for Pocket PC devices is Spb Benchmark and that is not yet 100% WM5.0 complaint, that is results which are given in some areas do not take into account some aspects of the operating system and are therefore considered unreliable and can not be used to compare WM5.0 devices against older WM2003/SE machines. Speed Even though the Orbit has a 'slow' Texas Instruments OMAP 850, 201MHz, CPU powering it speed proved not to be an issue. Most applications were executed smoothly and well, the only noticeable slowing down occurred when using Resco File Manager to navigate to the \Windows directory, as this involves a very large directory look-up to get file data. Typically powerful applications like Pocket Informant take 6 seconds to load into Task view, which is not unreasonable with the amount of tasks I have. However for those who do wish to get more speed out of the machine then Omapclock can be installed and used. If this is loaded and the Orbit over-clocked to 264Mhz then Pocket Informant will load in around 3 seconds. Interestingly enough when first run Omapclock reports that my Orbit is clocked at 186Mhz as a default. Over-clocking is of course a risk that has to be taken by each individual user, neither 4WM or myself recommend over-clocking and if you damage your machine or cause operational problems you have only yourself to blame. Phone Quality The audio quality during a phone call when using the Orbit is very good indeed, on par with a the Ericsson T630 which is my reserve phone. On previous Phone Edition devices I've used the audio can fade in and out and recipient callers know I'm not using a 'real phone'. With the Orbit no such comments have been made and callers have been surprised indeed when I've told then I've using a converged device. Signal quality was also excellent with 3 bars of signal been registered at home (distant cell) and 4 bars at the office (near a cell), and during driving at no time did the signal drop below 2 bars. Conclusions The Orbit has now been in use for two weeks and no problems have been encountered, it has performed each and every operation requested and almost nothing has failed to run or work. The only 'failure' is that when using Sprite Professional to back up the system one file is locked, '\Windows\btdisk.tmp', and therefore can not be restored in the event of a system crash. However under a test restore the lack of that file did not impair operation at all. The benefits of 'Mobile 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack' along with 'AKU3' have improved communications and productivity while using the device. Push Email has performed perfectly and on most occasions the incoming message has been received on the Orbit ahead of it appearing in Office 2007 on the PC. Making phone calls has become a positive pleasure with no more snide comments from friends over 'toy phones' being used. One feature that is essential to me of any PDA is volume, I always finds that machines have a system volume which is way too low, that is my wake-up alarms are never loud enough to break my slumber each morning, or an incoming call is missed whilst wandering the shop floor at work. With the Orbit there are no such concerns the audio level is positively ear-splitting. The system volume has a very high top end, and since using it I've never failed to get up in the morning or miss any phone calls at work! When used with TomTom audio instructions are always heard clearly and loudly over the top of traffic noise. The incredible battery life gives the reassurance that the Orbit can get through a days tasks when away from a charge and adds an extra feeling of freedom when in use. Physically the Orbit has been through the twist and bend test where the machine is flexed to see if any creaks and untoward noises are heard. Nothing scary was heard and no components came loose or adrift. Only a few small points stop me giving the Xda Orbit an unheard of rating of 100%, these are that the trackball is a little too sensitive, the battery cover does press in and flex slightly when the device is held between the thumb and first three fingers (eBook reading mode), and that it uses a Micro-SD instead of a 'more standard' SD card.

4WinMobile rating:- 95%

Pros and Cons Pros Mouse Mode Jog Ring Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack AKU3.0 CF .NET 2.0 installed Awesome phone quality - does NOT sound like a mobile Incredible battery life (1200mAh battery) A-GPS / SiRFInstantFix™ for fast GPS locks WMP plays videos in full-screen mode High system volume level Physical battery lock Voice dialing Lightweight Good quality FM radio O2 specific applications including profile manager Ability to load and save SMS to SIM Smart-type search / dialing Advanced HTC Camera application HTC ZIP application Good build quality TomTom Nav 5 & 6 work perfectly

Cons Slow speed (see OMAPClock) Trackball a little too sensitive One locked file during backup Flexing battery cover No 3G, 2G only Micro-SD card / SIM holder somewhat flimsy Proprietary audio connector prevents the use of third party headsets