E-ten Glofiish M700

Eten Glofiish M700

Established in 1985, E-Ten have grown from their early beginnings creating the first Chinese language input system for DOS based computers to be a worldwide recognised brand in the smart handheld device market as well as manufacturing devices for a number of OEM's.

I have recently had the opportunity to try out the Eten Glofiish M700. As the M700 adopts the now popular layout of a side sliding QWERTY keyboard I had identified this as a possible replacement for my HTC TyTN, the built in GPS being an attractive addition. Read on to find out whether it measures up.

Manufacturer: Eten Product: Glofiish M700 Colour: Gunmetal Cost: Approx £293.75 incl VAT, sim free Devicewire Manufacturer Web Site: Eten Corp Manufacturer Product Web Site:Eten Glofiish M700

"The glofiish M700 is set apart from traditional Pocket PC Phones, which rely on a touch screen and stylus for data input, by giving users the ability to enter contact details, write SMS text and email messages, or create and edit office documents while on the move more efficiently using a full-key QWERTY keyboard. Designed to achieve the right balance between ergonomics and size, the glofiish M700 incorporates a sliding mechanism to allow the keyboard to be covered when not in use, while EL backlit keys extend usability to almost any setting."

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Device Design

As per usual when a new toy arrives I couldn't wait to start playing so ignoring anything as mundane as an instruction manual I jumped straight in. The box looks quite nice; it isn't on a par with the excellent O2 boxes but has a nice clean design. Before I even stick the battery in and turn the M700 on it must pass the obligatory "how does it feel in the hand" test. Unfortunately this is a total let down as the device just doesn't feel good. Having repeated the test with three of my colleagues the general consensus is cheap and plasticky. I have serious doubts as to the ruggedness of the M700 and certainly wouldn't like to test dropping it on even a carpeted floor. As far as looks go Eten have opted for a symmetrical design to the case which I personally don't like; the relative height of the device when in portrait mode makes just seems too tall. I would have liked to see the screen offset towards the top of the case as is the norm. This does of course mean that in landscape mode that the screen is centred horizontally so that in theory it should feel more natural but in practice that has never really bothered me. The keyboard itself is a bit off-putting to look at when in low light situations. Eten have broken the keyboard up with thick lines that are backlit when in use and there doesn't seem to be any practical reason for this; apparently just a design choice that IMHO makes the keyboard less user friendly. An even bigger problem is that the secondary characters on each key are not lit up which makes using the keyboard in low/no light situations more of a memory game. The actual keys are bigger than on similar devices that I've used meaning that the top row is a bit too close to the edge of the screen section for my liking which leaves my thumbs squashed up against it when typing. They've consequently moved the softkeys to either side of the keyboard and this works quite well. There aren't many hardware buttons on the M700. The left hand side sports + & - buttons and a button marked with a white dot; as standard this activates the voice commander application. The right hand side has the power and camera button. On the face of the device underneath the screen are a pretty standard d-pad (with action button), the answer and cancel call buttons and WM5 softkeys, whilst above the screen there are a GPS button and a Home button; by default these activate the GPS viewer and the M-Desk app respectively. Looking at the bottom of the device you can see the standard mini USB port for charging and data transfer. Next to the USB port is the Micro SD slot which is therefore accessible without having to power the M700 down. On the left hand side of the M700 is the headphone socket which accepts a standard 2.5mm jack plug. It's a shame that E-Ten couldn't squeeze a 3.5mm socket in there. Overall I was disappointed; being used to the HTC TyTN I like to have plenty of buttons keeping screen taps to a minimum and enabling re-mapping of any seldom used ones. In particular I missed not having an OK button or a scroll wheel. If, however, the trend popularised by the iPhone for moving away from hardware buttons and towards more touch-screen use appeals to you then you have to applaud the design of all the Eten value added software as they have definately taken fat finger tapping into account. So maybe that's why they didn't feel the need to add more buttons. One thing that certainly doesn't help the usability of the touchscreen is the outer housing which encroached slighty over the touch screen area. I found this particularly acute with any controls on the extreme right of the screen (in portrait mode). I would imagine the same would be true for left handed stylus wielders at the left hand side of the screen.

E-Ten have recently adopted the Glofiish brand for their mobile devices and that gold branding is present on the box. They have also carried the Glofiish orange branding onto the M700's default theme and it I think it works really well. The orange Today screen actually looks quite crisp and it fits nicely with the brightly coloured applications that E-Ten have added to the M700. Unfortunately it looks as though they forgot to redesign the dialler skin as that is still blue (and ugly IMHO). A nice touch is that from within the phone settings you can select a dialler skin; unfortunately the only other standard option is the standard blue one . Also of note is the lack of the quick dialler app that is present on the HTC devices, whereby the dialler autofilters contacts & call history as you tap a phone number in; another big miss for me.

In the Box

M700 Stylus USB Sync Cable AC Adaptor Stereo Headset Battery Leather Case Quick Start Guide Getting Started CD

All device images can be clicked on to see a larger image

Specifications (taken from the Eten website)

Operating System Windows Mobile™ 5.0 software for Pocket PCs (AKU 3.2) Processor Samsung SC3 2442 400 MHz Processor Memory 128 MB Flash ROM, 64 MB SDRAM Display 2.8" 240 x 320 65,536 colors TFT-LCD Dimensions (LxWxH) 117.5 x 59 x 19.8 mm Weight 165g (with battery) Communications GSM/EDGE Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GPRS/EGPRS Class B, Multi-slot Class 10 Bluetooth® v2.0 class 2 + EDR, WiFi IEEE802.11b/g Certificated GPS Embedded SiRF Star III chipset, TMC function supported*, SiRF Instant Fix ( Ephemeris Extension ) (*subject to change by region) Camera Built-in 2.0 mega pixels CMOS camera 4 x digital zoom up to 1600 x 1200 resolution Expansibility Micro SD memory card Interface/Audio Built-in microphone and speaker external stereo headset jack hands-free mode supported Interface/Data Mini USB Sync headset jack Ergonomic Design Touch screen for stylus or fingertip navigation button power button 2 quick application buttons send/end button record button volume control left soft-key right soft-key Battery Lithium Polymer rechargeable with 1,530 mAh capacity Talk time* : 5~7 hours Standby* : 150~200 hours, Pocket PC usage* : 10~15 hours GPS usage* : 5~7 hours * depend on usage

Software(pre-loaded*) Windows Mobile™ 5.0 software for Pocket PCs Microsoft® Office Outlook® Mobile (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Inbox) Picture Notes Microsoft® Office Word Mobile Microsoft® Office Excel® Mobile Internet Explorer Mobile ActiveSync Calculator Game (Solitaire, Bubble Breaker) Voice Recorder Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® Mobile MSN® Messenger Microsoft® Transcriber Windows Media® Player 10 Direct Push Technology Microsoft Reader* (* subject to change by region) Glofiish M700 Exclusive Applications Phone Tools: Phone Application* Phone Setting SIM Toolkit Speed Dial Call Filter Wireless Modem Dialer Skin Add Ringtone CSD Type Voice Commander Connection Wizard SMS Sender SIM Manager Skype Reciever Switch Multimedia Tools: Image Wizard Image Maker Multimedia Manager Camera Camcorder FM Tuner MMS Message Utilities: Quick Link Battery Meter Zoom SMS Bluetooth Manager M-Desk Scenario Backup Utility Application Recovery Wireless Manager Easy Keyboard GPS Tools: Satellite Data Update Location SMS GPS Viewer

Software

So, having been really disappointed with the first impressions, I didn't hold out much hope for the software; after all it's just WM5 on there! I couldn't have been more wrong! Eten have added some great applications on to the device as standard and this is the one area where they have not only beaten HTC at their own game but could also teach Microsoft a thing or two. Fowljr reviewed the Eten M500 some time ago and many of the applications he found then are present and in most cases unchanged. Today Screen "Quick Launch" The only application that I have installed on every device I've ever had is iLauncher and whilst missing some of iLauncher's more advanced options, Quick Launch is a really nice inclusion and setting the options to allow an unlimited number of lines is actually very useful. I would imagine that this would be a real boon when used in conjunction with one of the more advanced today screen customisation apps. There does seem to be a slight change to the "Advance" option from the earlier version of Quick Launch that Fowljr tried with the addition of a "Big Icon" checkbox and better rendering of the page. Comms Manager Despite looking a bit "Fisher Price" for my liking the big fat finger friendly buttons work well with the turn on/off option to the left and the standard E-Ten spanner icon for utilities/settings on the right. Power Management Eten have customised the standard WM5 power management settings page to include a check box for the persistent battery meter (visible in most apps; see non today screen screenshots). Voice Commander (Cyberon) Unsurprisingly this app allows you to use your voice to initiate commands on the M700. As with most of this type of application the results do vary from impressive to awful at times although this possibly has something to do with my dodgy Manc accent. The results can be improved by customising the functionality via the settings allowing you to remove certain contacts and applications to increase the likelihood that Voice Commander will know what you're saying. Internet Sharing Another welcome addition in the standard apps is this little simple to use Internet sharing app. This allows you to choose USB or Bluetooth connection; it's just a shame that the M700 doesn't have 3G to make this really useful. The remainder of the apps are all grouped in folders in the programs area for easy access. Multimedia Camera: see camera section. FM Tuner: Disappointingly the FM Radio only works with the headset (although to be fair it does also use the headset as an antenna). It would have been nice to be able to play the radio over the speaker. I tried the radio out at home and it was perfectly acceptable, picking up the local radio station nice and clearly. The My Favourite tab allows you to program in your favourite stations. Image Maker: Quite a nice image editing app which allows you to add basic drawing elements and text to your images. You can also adjust various attributes and even flip, rotate, stretch and skew the image. You can of course create images from scratch but the functionality isn't really up to a level that would allow you to easily create decent results. I did note a slight problem with the menus when in portrait mode in that the options at the far right hand side were actually too far over and you struggle to tap them (bearing in mind the earlier mentioned problem with the screen housing); no such problem in landscape mode. Image Wizard: This one I found to be a bit of an oddity. It's a 5 step wizard tool which allows you to customise images. Step 1 - Select an image and (optional) a frame. Step 2 - "Can Library" allows you to add tiny clip art images to your composition. Step 3 - "Conveniently Doodle" gives you a simple brush with various thicknesses/colours to doodle with. Step 4 - "Feature Filter" apply one or more standard image editing filters to the image (or a part of it). Step 5 - Save/send the image. The strangest part of this to me was that is was a separate app to Image Maker; it would definitely sit much better as a wizard from that app (and Image Maker would certainly benefit from the addition of the filters). Multimedia Manager: This app gives a little extra functionality to a file explorer type app. MM includes a slideshow option for photos that works quite well (although I quickly turned the transition sounds off). Phone Add Ringtone: A very basic user interface here. I can only assume that this allows you to use sound files from locations other than the Windows\Rings folder. Not exactly inspiring stuff to be honest but probably of great help to new users. Call Filter: Now this one is interesting You can set up a list of numbers to allow and to deny in the same way as an instant messenger programs works. The main options being to set "Allow 'Allow List' calls only" or "Hang Up 'Block List' calls". You can also set the call history to be kept for up to a week. Enabling synchronise will allow the details to be updated from your contacts list. There are one or two people at work that I could add straight into that block list. MMS Message: I have to admit that I hadn't realised that the MMS software on all the devices I've used in the past wasn't part of the core OS but the two versions do appear to be different. Seems to have all the standard functionality for sending multimedia messages. Scenarios: A phone profile switcher which provides 4 different profiles (General, Meeting, Outdoor and Silent). Allows you to set ringer volume, system volume, vibrate setting, smart voice and backlight settings for each of the profiles. Also gives the option to display an icon in the Today Screen tool tray. It would have been nice to be able to have individual icons for the different profiles for displaying in the Quick Launch tool. SIM Manager: Appears to offer similar functionality to the HTC app I've used in the past, albeit presented in a slightly different format. Skype Receiver Switch: This one has me scratching my head I'm afraid. I can't figure out how to activate it! The entire settings page (strangely it is an additional page within the WM standard Sounds & Notifications options) is greyed out and I've yet to find an option to set up any Skype account details. I may even have to read the manual to see if it can shed some light ..... maybe not though! SMS Sender: This is identical to the one on the TyTN, I assume that it is core WM5 rather than an E-Ten specific app. Speed Dial: Gives you nice big buttons for speed dialling. Two main options for either displaying the most frequently dialled numbers or a big button alphanumeric index. Utilities Application Recovery: Appears to allow you to re-install a number of the standard apps should they fail. Backup Utility: Another great addition allowing you to backup your settings (any or all of the following; Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Messaging, Personal Profile, Network Settings & My Documents) and restore them at a later date. Includes options for automatic backups. Bluetooth Manager: Another non standard looking app following E-Ten's apparent ethos of making these things easier to use with big buttons and step by step wizards. Default Settings: Seems to be the equivalent of the "Clear Storage" app on HTC devices, basically a Hard Reset app. M-Desk: An attempt at making an easier to use interface than the Today Screen. A tabbed program launcher akin to Spb’s popular Pocket Plus app. The system tab also has a range of system meters. WLAN Utility: Surprisingly this one is bereft of big chunky buttons and instead looks like a fairly basic ".net" application. Although I do love having the option to "configurate"

Within the settings pages there are more subtle additions to the standard options. The Connection Wizard looks to be another great idea allowing you to automatically setup your data connection details with most of the worlds mobile operators in there to select from. Overall then I have to say that if Eten ever open a software shop I'll be outside with my sleeping bag and Thermos flask waiting for the big launch day! They have done a great job of putting together a good set of applications which should mean that the average user won't need to buy any third party software for quite a a while.

GPS

Not being a big GPS user I realise that I might not be best placed to comment on this side of the functionality (apparently "it shows a pretty picture of the Earth" wouldn't be that helpful to potential buyers!), therefore I've had to enlist the help of others to try and get an understanding of what is good and what is bad performance in this field. I will discuss the GPS performance further in part 2 of this review. The built in apps filed under GPS are as follows; GPS Viewer: From what I can tell this simply shows a view of either the satellites in view and the strength of the signal for each or a compass view which tells you where you are (which would have been useful to me on more than one late night occasion in the past!). Location SMS: This seems to basically allow you to send a text message which includes your current location. There are a list of standard messages which you can select, although I'm not sure how helpful the built in "There wan an accident here. Please help us. This is the location:" will be, fortunately you can edit these messages and change "wan" to "was" with ease. Satellite Data Updater: I suspect that this app needs little explanation! However it does allow you to select to either Auto Update (schedule definable) or for you to simply hit the Manual Update "Download" button.

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