The O2 Xda Guide

Over recent years O2 announced and brought to the marketplace the Orbit 2 and Ignito devices which featured:...

thanks very much, i think i've talked my self into just paying for it! I'll let you know how i get on with it!
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Nice one! We would love to hear your comments.

Terrific review, very comprehensive. Thank you. A couple of comments from me, after using a Guide for a few weeks. Firstly, I can't get the volume to go as loud for satnav as on the Orbit 1 or 2. Secondly, while I do like the smaller, lighter unit, the reduction in screen size from Orbit does hinder satnav a little. Thirdly, it's a shame that only one hardware button is customisable; I liked having a hardware button for the voice recorder on Orbit, for example. And I do wish I'd realised there was no FM radio before upgrading!

A question for you - the shot of your home screen shows soft buttons for 'uBook' and 'iGO8' - how did you achieve that?! I have 'Phone' and 'Camera', and would dearly like to change them.

One other thing - I've tried Copilot three times now and really don't get on with it. There are several reasons, but mainly I find much of the routing very odd, compared not only with TomTom but also Web-based tools such as Google maps. So I've installed TomTom Navigator. It's a real shame there's no easy way (I guess it needs a registry hack) of getting the hard nav button or the soft navipanel button to launch TT instead of Copilot, or having the car holder fire up TT instead of navipanel. If anyone has any advice on this, I'd be glad to hear it!

Incidentally, the Guide fits the Brodit holders listed for the HTC Touch Cruise 2, p/n 968883 (active), 848883 (passive). They even launch navipanel, just like the supplied holder. The benefits of the Brodit holders are that they can be attached to something other than a windscreen mount (mine is screwed to a cheap Halfords vent mount - can post/send a photo if anyone's interested), they tilt/swivel, and the active holder has an integrated power supply so you just have to drop the phone into the holder, no need to attach power separately. I found the best prices from Amazon traders, but that may change as they become more widely available.

Hi MrGumby, I am pleased you are enjoying the Guide. Silly question I know but have you turned the volume up full on the Guide as well as the sat nav? Believe it or not the screen size is the same as both the Orbits, deceiving isn't it!

You can customise the softkeys to your liking download this Manilla 2D customiser application and install to the Guide. The hardware buttons are a problem at the moment but will be solved as it is early days yet, the same as trading Co-Pilot for Tomtom this is not easy yet either.

Sounds like you have it sussed with your car holders, pictures would be great if you could post them in the XDA Guide (Iolite) forum.

Boz has said it all really

Thanks for the quick reply, boz, and especially for the Manilla 2D customiser tip.

You're absolutely right about screen size. Sorry! The silly thing is, I actually measured it before posting and was convinced it was 3mm smaller. I guess rulers are a bit too technical for me.

Re volume, I've definitely set the Guide and TT vol to max. It's loud enough but only just (and I have a quiet car). I still have both phones (the Orbit 2 and its Brodit holder go on ebay later today) and have tried them side by side. With both phones on 100% volume, I get the same sound level with TT volume at 100% on the Guide but just 50% on the Orbit 2.

I'll post photos of the Guide installed in my car later today. Brodit holders are expensive but very convenient to use and you get most of your money back when you sell. I've found that putting the phone below windscreen level, especially with tilt/swivel, not only stops it blocking my view but enables me to avoid reflections and glare on the screen.

Be interesting to see the pictures of your Car Mount MrGumby...

I've created an album on my profile. It has some info and just a couple of photos for now. I'll add more detailed pics soon - hopefully tomorrow.

I've now uploaded some pics showing the Guide in Brodit holder on a vent mount in my car. I'll put just one of them in this post. The others are in an album against my profile.

For info, thanks to gazza_TT on xda-developers.com, I've found a way of customising the hardware buttons. To quote him:

To start up TOMTOM via the dedicated button instead of copilot, follow the link in this post, It works just fine for me and also gives you the flexibility to remap the footprint button if you want

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=501245