Blue Angel II - Where is it? - MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 ROM Development

Why doesn't HTC make a Blue Angel II?
It seems that many of us have other devices like Wizards, TyTNs, etc. but we keep hanging on to our Blue Angels. Why is this?
Is it the Big Screen (for me this is the biggest item)?
Is it the fast speed?
Easily accessible Battery?
Is it the Rugged Build?
It seems to me that HTC is long overdue for a Blue Angel II with the Following Specs:
1) HSDPA & HSU (whatever it's called)
2) High Res 3.5" to 4" screen
3) Keyboard (and maybe a mouse of some kind)
Size like I-Phone (maybe a little thicker with keyboard)
4) FM and AM Radio (AM for the older folks like me who listen to talk radio)
5) Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
6) Charges with mini usb
7) TV receiver also????
8) Can still play music when turned off.
The Omni has similar specs but there's not much data on it. It looks like a mini laptop which folds open.
What do you all think?

Because they are working on this!
HTC Shift and that is not all!
But you are right, BA is the top model!

Blue Angel rulesss

It really is amazing how I'm still sticking with my BA since it was released.
Every year I look around to find a PDAphone to replace the old fellow, but I have to realize, that there isn't a better one.
I would accept the same device with 640*480 and 3G/HSDPA
Been thinking about the Kaiser, but since WM6 is running on my BA now... =)
Why throw the good cash out the window?

Same thought here. Best money I've spent in BA!!

rambo6 said:
Why doesn't HTC make a Blue Angel II?
It seems that many of us have other devices like Wizards, TyTNs, etc. but we keep hanging on to our Blue Angels. Why is this?
Is it the Big Screen (for me this is the biggest item)?
Is it the fast speed?
Easily accessible Battery?
Is it the Rugged Build?
It seems to me that HTC is long overdue for a Blue Angel II with the Following Specs:
1) HSDPA & HSU (whatever it's called)
2) High Res 3.5" to 4" screen
3) Keyboard (and maybe a mouse of some kind)
Size like I-Phone (maybe a little thicker with keyboard)
4) FM and AM Radio (AM for the older folks like me who listen to talk radio)
5) Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
6) Charges with mini usb
7) TV receiver also????
8) Can still play music when turned off.
The Omni has similar specs but there's not much data on it. It looks like a mini laptop which folds open.
What do you all think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will be a beauty, i would surely go for it. BlueAngle rules.

noob @ xda....but a loooong time BA user (Dec2004)
I love the BA...the only things it lacks are a good built in GPS & HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE (can never have enough fast options for net access). Even without these two things I still am able to use it to impress people (even iphone fanatics...no custom apps).
TyTN II looks good but the only thing that keeps me away is the sideways keyboard, I wish they would put out a TyTN II with a slider KB like the BA. Single handed KB is great when you really need to multitask...multitasking is the reason I got a HTC.
Rugged Build story: I dropped it from 5ft+ (I had it chest level & I am 6' 3"), on a SF sidewalk...it died..or so I thought took it back home and all that happened was the backup battery reset and once I synced it with my pc everything was back to normal. This wasn't the first time its been dropped so I figured it was time to get a new device, but the build is awesome in this. But since it was a hard reset I finally decided to put WM6 on it (thank you all the great xda developers here), now its faster and more useful.

rambo6 said:
Why doesn't HTC make a Blue Angel II?
It seems that many of us have other devices like Wizards, TyTNs, etc. but we keep hanging on to our Blue Angels. Why is this?
Is it the Big Screen (for me this is the biggest item)?
Is it the fast speed?
Easily accessible Battery?
Is it the Rugged Build?
It seems to me that HTC is long overdue for a Blue Angel II with the Following Specs:
1) HSDPA & HSU (whatever it's called)
2) High Res 3.5" to 4" screen
3) Keyboard (and maybe a mouse of some kind)
Size like I-Phone (maybe a little thicker with keyboard)
4) FM and AM Radio (AM for the older folks like me who listen to talk radio)
5) Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
6) Charges with mini usb
7) TV receiver also????
8) Can still play music when turned off.
The Omni has similar specs but there's not much data on it. It looks like a mini laptop which folds open.
What do you all think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and a 3.2 MP camera ...
I would sell my house to get some thing similar !!!

I love my Blue Angel ! 3 Years with me, never let me down.
I Love it! Blue Angel is the top for me.. Every time a look around for new PDA, look at new release from HTC, never found all i have in BA. Best thing - Size is exactly what a device like this must be! 3.7 display - not too big, not too small. I broke my lcd+touchscreen, replaced from e-bay, and I am still using it.
Don't like the idea of GPS in the unit. Better on Bluetooth - in your car mount BA don't have clear view to the sky.

Blue Angel II (if any) should not have key board.
I love my Blue Angel, after upgrading to WM6, I dont like to buy any other available in market.

I like Blueangel the way it is, but wanted it to have a better processor (520mhz would be nice), VGA Screen, Accelerated video, 3G and landscape keyboard.

EmZvr said:
I like Blueangel the way it is, but wanted it to have a better processor (520mhz would be nice), VGA Screen, Accelerated video, 3G and landscape keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm...
Wouldn't that be *exactly* a Universal?
I have both of them! They do rock, indeed!
Cheers,
vma

vma said:
Hmmm...
Wouldn't that be *exactly* a Universal?
I have both of them! They do rock, indeed!
Cheers,
vma
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly... i wanted to upgrade to a universal, but since wm6 came out i stayed on with it. its nice to have a dinosaur that can rock along the newer models.

vma said:
Hmmm...
Wouldn't that be *exactly* a Universal?
I have both of them! They do rock, indeed!
Cheers,
vma
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right but I don't like it's design, only if there were buttons in the front.. And I think it's not video accelerated which is very important to me. Or is it ?

Hi,
I am not sure if it is videoaccelerated or not, but I can tell you that all applications I like work as good or better on my Universal as on my BA:
- Emulators
- TomTom
- TCPMP
The Universal is slightly bigger than the BA and one has to get used to the tilting screen.
On the other hand, it is much nicer to have the Universal in the back-pocket of your trousers than having then BA attached to the belt, where it get's hit by doors or other things, when you move to close to walls...
And believe me: the VGA screen is suberb!!!
Cheers,
vma

Same Here
BA is the best. Love it very much although i was given a gift of HTC TyTn.

E-TEN X800 or M800 seems to be my current candidate for BA replacement.
BA is a really good dinosaur. Hard to let it go.
However, remember that there are some awfully crappy things about it. It's not perfect.
- somewhat power hungry
- awful cradle connector
- audio out funtion in cradle connector newer worked for me (for any carkit)
- has confirmed hardware issue with buttons (loss of response - makes gaming hard)
- has crappy WM2003SE (because, face it... no WM5 WM6 ROM is stable and bug free enough)
I agree, that it's hard to find a decent replacement for it.
All model have too small screens...

Won't go back......
I checked out all the other models, older and current, before I bought the BA. I have a Wizard, which now resides in a drawer, only as a back-up, in case something happens to my BA. The only criticism I have of the BA is that they no longer manufacture it, so I too hope HTC comes out with something to replace it. From what I've seen of the newer models and what I read on this forum everyday, I'll stick with the BA.
BTW, robal, take a look at the rom I,m running. Since upgrading from 2003se to this rom, I have had 0 issues. It's fast, stable and battery life is acceptable.

i've since moved on from my BA to a hermes and now a kaiser......i miss my BA.

well BA has its design faults
1.the cable which connects lcd to motherboard is weak and after some sliding it cracks - this effect can be solved (extend the durability) with Polyethylene Foam Tape on the cable
2.after sliding there there are sme scratches below the hardware keyboard - repainting
3.the stylus pin (inside the device) which hold the stylus from falling off also cracks after too many usage - i fixed it with silicone (as i lost the pin) and it works fine over a year now
other than that the device is pretty solid and had no problems with it
most are the new WM problems but without proper drivers it is almost inpossible to be solved
in comparission with kaiser the BA has better video acceleration for the moment (this will change when the proper kaiser drivers are released)
What BA miss (the things i miss in it):
internal GPS
54 mbit wireless
better camera (2 mpix)
OpenGL ES hardware acceleration
larger rom space (32 mb right now if it was larger we can create more complete rom images for BA)
larger storage space 60 mb (everyone needs more space)
What BA miss (the things i do not miss in it):
3G/3.5G/HSDPA etc - high speed data connections - due to high proces of this types of connections i do not really need them
Video Call - the same as above
the CPU speed and the amount of ram in BA are enough for WM 6 and 6.1 even if it was released in 2004...
but maybe proper replacement is the Universal or the Kaiser (for now)
we will see what will happen in near future

Related

Jasjar II wish list (maybe they'll hear this time)

New owners, what would you guys like to se on the next generation Jasjar (maybe in six month or a year from now)?
I am not tallking about the OS (thas MS part and can be rectified with updates), I mean hardware wise.
On my part:
1.) Built in FM reciever would be nice. (if the technolory is there, then why not?
2.) At least 512Mb built in mem (making it ~$20-35 more expensive, still I belive everyone that bougth it now would still do so). This in not a serious issue.
3.) Edge
4.) Full handsfree profile support (maybe this is more with software, you tell me)
5.) External LCD display for: caller id (I belive this is critical), battery level, network strenght, etc. even if its just monochrome it would be a great help.
6.) Wlan 80.11g an obvious plus
7.) I could live with 1-2cm wider but have a psion/notebook type keyboard...
...
P.S: to be correct (persay) only things that you wouldn't mind paying a little extra for, if it was included...
How about having Navigation like Mouse which we have in Nokia Communicators... which will save the time of pulling stylus and using it one hand while we hold the device in other hand.
mniko said:
How about having Navigation like Mouse which we have in Nokia Communicators... which will save the time of pulling stylus and using it one hand while we hold the device in other hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, that would realy help things like scrolling, which right now can only be done with stylus.
What I want the most is built in GPS. It's a pest having to charge up an external unit and remembering to bring all the right car adapters etc. so a built in unit would be awesome.
It would also be nice to see some of the new thin and flexible OLED type displays added which would reduce power consumption and make the displays less likely to break when dropped.
I'd also like to have a little hole on the corner of the device! I know it's not very techie, but I'd like some way of attaching a chain or cord to my device which attaches to my belt, so that if (or when!) you drop your device it wont hit the ground!
How about building in a virtual laser keyboard into the device:
www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com
On the graphics front, I'd like hardware acceleration of H.264 encoded videos (the format that's going to replace MPEG-2, MPEG-4 etc.). It would be nice if the built in camera could save in this format as well, because it would be a big space saver.
As for batteries, I wish they'd hurry up and release some of the new technology they've been talking about for years - better battery life, super fast charge times etc.
Well, you might think the Universal is the ultimate device, but there's so much more to add before I'll be happy!
-no1
my wishes
My wish list:
1. Extra rom storage like 4GB (palm now does it!)
2. A backup system like the one in Blue Angel
3. full USB hosting functionality, so we can use a usb mouse or external usb keyboard or usb mem sticks
4. vga out support so we can project on wide screen
5. firewire support
- After all if this is to be a mini laptop, let us have the full monty then instead of baby face gizmos
Me out :wink:
I really wish the following 4 most wanted and easily possible features add to JasJar. I am definitely waiting for successor of Jasjarl with follwoing and currently I'm happy with my XDAII. Current Jasjar is useless compare to my XDAII since there are only few programs works and still so many bugs/requirements in both hardware and OS.
1. FM Radio
2. 640x480 video recording with 2 or more MegaPixel Camera
3. Full Handsfree bluetooth audio(MP3 listening)
4. 800x480 screen for internet browsing.(a little longer 4.5" screen is acceptable like samsung Nexio XP30,Nokia 770).
Some other wish list
1.Video Output(RCA/S-Video/VGA)
2.Videos from Camera can transmit through wifi
3.USB hosting
4.mobile TV(DVB-H) receiver
It's interesting to revisit this thread nearly two years later as HTC release the Touch Pro that includes almost all the functionality you guys listed above. Perhaps HTC were listening after all.

Considering the K-Jam... suggestions ?

I currently have a Jasjar, but I'm finding it too big...
I love all the features, but I want to be able to use it one-handed, throw it in my pocket, etc... the K-Jam seems like a good alternative.
The only things that I'm not liking about the K-Jam are:
- Lower rez screen (but it's smaller than the Jasjar, 3.6" vs. 2.8"... so its still pretty sharp... and I can't really see where I couldn't live without it)
- 2.5" headset jack, and on the bottom... (kinda annoying... but could use an adapter... but still a hassle because I currently plug my MP3 player into my car, my headphones AND speakers at the office, and I'll have to have an adapter sticking out of the bottom of my phone now...)
- Mini-SD card... (SD is much better to go above 2GB, even up to 4GB... and it's not exactly a well known or used format... SD is cheaper, and Memory Stick Pro Duo is coming down in price since the PSP came out... but what can I do)
Also, does it work well for one-handed use ?
Any ex-Treo users who care to comment ?
Any ideas ? Suggestions ?
Thanks !
The wizard is a solid device. Go for it!!
You will love the extra battery life and size. I really could not imagine having a universal clipped to my belt weighing my pants down.
I upgraded from an alpine and I could not be happier.
Higher screen REZ is not needed on a screen that small. The screen is much sharper compared to the alpine.
The OMAP cpu is just enough processing power to run everything out there.
Also, I noiticed you were in Canada so I doubt you were making use of the 3G power of the universal(probably another 5-7 years for Canada). The wizard is EDGE enabled so if you use rogers you will see great data download rates. I was lucky enough to already be signed up with fido and their $50/month unlimited data plan when rogers took over fido so i am paying $50 a month for unlimited EDGE use. I am quite sure FIDO does not offer this plan to new subscibers anymore.
My only compliants with the wizard are:
-HTC needs to make better use of the device by increasing screen size without increasing the size of the device.(all HTC devices)
-The stylus hole is a joke. My stylus hole wore out within 1 week and now my stylus slides out of the hole very easily. Soon it will probably be falling out. Didn't they bother testing this at all???
-no GPS.
hey audible,
thanks for the reply !
I am with fido / rogers as well and I signed up for the unlimited plan as well... are you in Montreal ? and where did you order your K-Jam ?
so yeah I'd be good using the EDGE support... I often use my p800 as a bluetooth modem with my laptop.
a few questions:
- that sounds bad about the stylus... is there a solution ?
- have you experienced any issues multi-tasking with the OMAP ?
- have you ever tried a VGA screen on a pda to compare ?
- how's the k-jams one handed use ? have you ever tried a treo for one handed use in comparison ?
- did you remap the explorer and mail buttons to something more useful ? like windows and OK ?
- does the 2.5" jack bother you ? do you use an adapter ?
- does the keyboard slide mechanism feel solid ? I'm worried now after what you said about the stylus...
thanks and look forward to your reply !
Posted from a Universal !
- that sounds bad about the stylus... is there a solution ?
I haven't had any probs with my stylus yet, except it may be a little looser than when I got it.
- have you experienced any issues multi-tasking with the OMAP ?
Nope, I can have several apps open at once (eg. Calender, Notes, Email, MSN, IE x 2 (using PPCPlus), TCPMP playing MP3) and its fine.
- have you ever tried a VGA screen on a pda to compare ?
It resembles the crispness of VGA screen because of its smaller size, but in no way matches the res.
- how's the k-jams one handed use ? have you ever tried a treo for one handed use in comparison ?
Haven't tried a treo, but WM5 is great for one handed use. I can do most things without the stylus. The Win and Ok keys on the keyboard make it even easier.
- did you remap the explorer and mail buttons to something more useful ? like windows and OK ?
You can, but I find their defaults good.
- does the 2.5" jack bother you ? do you use an adapter ?
I rarely use it, but yes when I do I use an adaptor.
- does the keyboard slide mechanism feel solid ? I'm worried now after what you said about the stylus...
I am happy with the slider. It seems pretty solid, and the screen definately feels like it will stay up when it is up.
Hey mitchello,
thanks for your feedback !
Audible:
Any comments ?
Wizard (imate K-JAM) is awesome!
Moving from a Blue Angel to the wizrd has so far been very pleasing. The smaller screen has been a little daunting, especially trying to use the "finger" stylus, but beyond that I highly recommend it.
Stability and features in WM5 are nice, and should not be discounted.
I'm on T-Mobile in the US, and EDGE is great at around 150kbs, compared to 30kbs via GPRS.
i upgraded from my IMATE PPC and i love the K-JAM , it is a little slow , but the battery is great.. i love the deviced , once you get used to it and all features you will love it..
i used adapter to play MP3 in my car and it work great...
good luck
i upgraded from my IMATE PPC and i love the K-JAM , it is a little slow , but the battery is great.. i love the deviced , once you get used to it and all features you will love it..
i used adapter to play MP3 in my car and it work great...
good luck
Hey rah,
thanks for the comments !
Good to hear someone else who uses it to play tunes in the car.
What about one-handed use ? Do you feel you have to do finger aerobics to do certain things, like open the start menu ?
I've heard of people mapping the Send Call button to the Start menu in the Today screen...
I'm wondering if I could map Send and End to Start and OK in every screen except for the Phone screen ?
Any comments ?

what do you LIKE about your Exec

I've been toying with swapping my Exec for one of the Etens - nice unit, small, compact, rugged, with GPS, and it wouldn't cost me anything, i could swap between them, because we have lots of stuff at work - but ultimately there are things i'd miss, despite the size
So i thought i'd list them, to convince myself
1) Wireless
2) The Keyboard
3) Sensible headphone socket.
I'd LIKE a radio, which the Eten will have soon (software on the way), but i would not really use gps.
So what's on your perfect XDA?
Mobile 5
Keyboard
802.11
Radio
Bags of memory
physically robust - a turning screen with a smaller one on the "reverse" side
bluetooth can f**k off
Considering what you like in a PDA, and what you wouldn't use, you're mad to even consider swapping.
I LIKE:
Bluetooth headset
WiFi
VGA Screen
proper keyboard (well - as good as it gets)
I find irritating:
incomplete keyboard
occasional slowness
PIE
lack of outer screen
certain usability issues (eg locations of stylus/buttons etc).
What I like about my Exec is its design. I love the Laptop design, VGA screen, and keyboard. This is also the reason why I bought the Sony UX50 and UX40.
The only desire I want is added speed, nothing else.
Easy question to answer:
The form factor.
However, on the flip side:
2K3se beats WM5 for apps and stability, speed and memory usage.
The memory allotment is DISGRACEFUL.
The VGA implementation needs a kick between the legs.
The SD card and Power button are on the wrong end of the device.
The battery life could do to have some red bull.
The speakers (oh goodie, stereo) aren't as good as the (mono) one in my Alpine.
The chips in it aren't easy enough to replace.
Would it kill HTC to pay lip service (and nothing more) to MS and make it a little tricky for us to modify these devices instead of spending weeks and weeks of man hours making them almost impossible to customise?
Woudl it kill MS to let us do what we want with our own property?
Would it be too much to ask to be able to wipe off that MS crap that we have already paid for and then run Linux?
The whole HTC/MS thing is a killer. We have here a device that should take the world by storm, a baby sized laptop with built in phone. This is what we have been waiting for since the Nokia Communicator came out, isn't it? Palm tried to make it, clamshell phones are popular because of it, and the Universal is the first one to get near the ideal. But without 512MB of RAM and 1GB of storage (minimum) it will forever be a fill-in device until we can boot up our laptops.
Sorry, I'm passionate about this. I love my m5000, but life ain't fair.
When it comes to the Universal I like the
-keyboard
-great screen
-build
-stability (sounds weird, but I found it more stable than my IIs with 2k3 SE)
-Sounds great
-Proper earphone jack
-Voice dialling over BT
quite a bit more I guess.. Just my 2 cents
a small colour display on the casing would have capped this device off for me.
I like
- the form factor
- Solid build
- VGA well screen, I agree VGA in WM5 could be better utilised
- stereo speakers
- wifi
- Keyboard
- Phone functions (Out of the mpx200, 220 and mini this phone has the best reception on both ends out of the whole lot)
- 3G
Since last Qtek Rom Update 1.30.96 GER I like everything on the software side.
But the VGA feature really needs a mockup.
the keyboard is the only one acceptable until now (did you try to enter passwords consisting of letters and numbers without the number keys at the top?)
Memory is enough for my needs as I can anytime add a 1 GB SD card.
Battery could be lasting longer.

Xda Excalibur vs Hermes comparison

Just let you know my comparison of the two units after 5 days with the Xda Cosmo after having the Trion for the last 4 months. My Girlfriend brought me the Excalibur as a pre Christmas gift 8)
After 4 months my Trion main speaker stopped working and I have currently sent it back to get it replaced. All in all I was quite happy with the Trion except for a few quirks.
1. Media Player was buggy with the storage card
2. Never got WM5orage working properly (either had to stopo all my programs running on the storage card which included removing items from the Today screen).
3. Screen alignment problem.
I got the Hermes originally as it looked like a device which I didn't have to use the stylus much to access most of the functionality and in 90% of cases I got by with just using the jog wheel and a couple of presses with my thumb (I had the very first xda device and was turned off by the need to use the stylus to do simple things such as dialing and looking up contacts )
I had noticed due to the operating system PPC vs smartphone the PPC needed much more processing power and hence battery life was preety much limited due to the power from the CPU 400mhz vs 200mhz ( maybe of the extra functionality needed for the touchscreen ).
Differences in the devices
1. Xda Excalibur is more responsive even with the slower CPU. Contacts work instantly on typing on the keyboard. On the hermes there is always a delay in searching for contacts.
2. Excalibur supports multiple languages in its rom and therefore there no need to reflash the rom with the rom with your appropriate language.
3. A2DP works flawlessly on Excalibur being aku 3.2. No need to install cab files to get it working and no sound quality issues and no need to get somone to write a bt stack driver to get around the microsoft one.
4. Programs in general for smartphone seem to be running better than on Pocket PC. Tomtom 6 Navigator doesn't run on the Cosmo but Tomtom 5 work just fine and performance actually seems better on the smartphone even with the lower CPU. Same is notice with other PPC vs Smartphone progams I have eg Skype and Fizz Traveller
5. Cosmo has 128 MB flash ram which is really useful as I was always trying to install everything on the SD card with the Trion to get as much memory possible for standard stuff such as emails, ringtones etc. Yes I know you can tweak the Hermes to get ringtones from the SD card but it just a hassle changing the registry settings.
6. For some reason Windows Live Beta works on the Cosmo. It stopped working on the Hermes about a month ago and never worked since. The smartphone version looks really nice as well and functions much better as I have noticed with all smartphone vs ppc programs.
7. WLAN works much better on the Cosmo compared to the Hermes eg handling of connection settings when WLAN is turned on. On the Hermes I always had to go through the process of changing my connection settings every time I switched by WLAN on an off.
8. Battery life on cosmo is much better. 3.5-4 days use compared to 1.5-2 days use on Trion. Probably because of CPU (I also changed the Hermes to GPRS only to try and save battery life due to UMTS draining the battery)
9. Not to sing all praises for the Excalibur. The only drawback I have found so far for my purposes is the Microsoft Office editing functionality is not possible on the smartphone.
10. 2MP camera vs 1.3 MP camera but I really cannot see much advantage in the quality as the 2MP wasnt that great to start with. Yes the Hermes has a led light but I doesn't really help with indoor photos. The 1.3 MP camera seems to be better quality than other 1.3 MP cameras before and for emails, web photos and MMS quality seems fine for my purposes as I wont ever print out photos from a camera handy.
11. Lack to UMTS/HSDPA on Excalibur. Loose the speed but you'll gain heaps on battery life.
12. Microsoft Media Player works with the SD card. No disappearing songs 8)
13. Price. The excalibur is less than 1/6 the price of the Trion on contract. My Girlfriend brought the Cosmo on contact for 60 Euro. I got the Trion for 320 Euro on the same contact.
14. and I think this is the killer. The excalibur have looks to die for. The Hermes is thick and although many people would say it is solidly built after using the Excalibur it makes the Hermes look like a oversized flimsy machine. The Excalibur is thin and compact with a large screen. Fits in your shirt pocket or even slide it into your jeans!!! HTC have outdone themselves with the build quality I haven't seen any phone build as solid including the razr. I fells like the device is made out of titanium or magnesium with a soft feel rubber all along the back of the device and for the keys as well, ( I cat't stop touching the device it feels sooo.. good ). My Girlfriend who is really fashion concious absolutely loves the look of the device. Photos on the net do not do it justice you have to see it in real to appreciate it's looks for me one look and it was love at first sight. (I first got a look at it from a female collegue who got the phone)
It took me a day to get used to the smaller keyboard and maybe bigger thumbs might have some problems but with rubber keys feel beautiful and make each key feel distinct during typing. The excalibur really is a one hand device even with the d pad and keys only. The touch slider is just a added bonus with flexibility.
After writing this I have noticed that this is more of a sales pitch for the excalibur than a comparison of the two devices but I have found my perfect device which does everything I need without any problems ( performance, bugs and quirks ). If you dont need the UMTS speed I must say Excalibur is the way to go. If you really need UMTS and 2MP camera then wait for the Calivier ( the UMTS /2 MP / 300Mhz version of the excalibur, rumoured to release in Spring next year ).
For me the excalibur seems to have a quite launch compared to the expectations of the Hermes maybe because on paper the Hermes looks better in terms of specifications but for usability it's excalibur all the way.
Now what to do with my Trion when it gets back?
excalibur is a smartphone right ?
Yes it is a smartphone but I think that is why it is much more responsive. Microsoft has done something right with wm5 for smartphone. Theres not much a smartphone cant do now compared to the pocket pc now. except for the microsoft office editing capabilities. I tried skype today and for some reason it was much more clearer than the pocket pc version.
it depends what you use it for..
if youre like me who has to do Office work, watch movies and play tradewinds then the touch screen is VITAL.. personally i dont have any issues with my hermes as the ones youve mentioned above..
and ofcourse there is the touch screen
I just got myself a smartphone (samsung i607) after having the wizard for a year. I was thinkign the same thing you are about smartphone functionality. i was wrong though. There is an extreme lack of third party programs for smartphone. In particular, there aren't any good web browsers whatsoever for wm5smartphone. not a single one. You also cannot customize the homescreen without downloading predefined ones online. I never found one i liked. I like to use data instant messaging programs. and there is a flaw in all of them for smartphone. They don't have homescreen plugins and there is absolutely no onscreen display that you have received a message when the program is in the forgroud. In fact, i hated the lack of flexibility on the smartphone so much that 24 hours after buying the i607, i bought the hermes. I'm still waiting for it to come, and cant wait to start doing everything i used to do with the wizard only faster.
k2snowboards88 said:
I just got myself a smartphone (samsung i607) after having the wizard for a year. I was thinkign the same thing you are about smartphone functionality. i was wrong though. There is an extreme lack of third party programs for smartphone. In particular, there aren't any good web browsers whatsoever for wm5smartphone. not a single one. You also cannot customize the homescreen without downloading predefined ones online. I never found one i liked. I like to use data instant messaging programs. and there is a flaw in all of them for smartphone. They don't have homescreen plugins and there is absolutely no onscreen display that you have received a message when the program is in the forgroud. In fact, i hated the lack of flexibility on the smartphone so much that 24 hours after buying the i607, i bought the hermes. I'm still waiting for it to come, and cant wait to start doing everything i used to do with the wizard only faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Have both, S620 to work and TyTn for play, and I had Wizard.
Try opera mini... better than IE and I use it also on HERMES
I've found a LOT of home screens (motorola Q has many of it) but also I like to play with XML, using just notepad and I have now my PERFECT , tre pages (scrolling), Home screen!
Office problems? try the new DATAWIZ suite, much better than office embedded in TyTN
Great as navigator and fits in my jeans pocket (the BACK pocket) and in my shirt pocket!
I 've sold the wizard believing the HERMES was the empowered Wizard. It Is the STUPID WIZARD'S BIG BROTHER believe me!
I've tried opera mini, and i dont particularly like it. I consider it to be a step down from the standard PIE with the reg edit to make PIE identify itself as a desktop computer. I guess i just miss the adaptability of my wizard. My hermes will be here soon though. I'll never make the mistake of selling my old phone before getting a new one again. If i dont like the hermes, i'll still have my blackjack. After a week, i'll decide which one to keep.

Comparing with Universal/ Jasjar

Shall we compare Athena with HTC Universal? The hardware features, quality, built in software, speed, everything?
Let's try:
- Athena is absolutely uncomfortable as a phone
- Athena is a little bit larger and heavier
- Athena is more expensive
+ Athena's screen is much bigger
+ Athena nave embedded GPS
+ Athena have HDD
+ Athena have VGA-out
+ Athena have VueFLO (but is't really useless feature)
+ Athena have 3 mpix AF camera
more?
When people have the Advantage/Ameo etc, it will be more appropriate to make comparisons that one can agree or disagree with.
Just FYI - some live photos of Athena
http://foto.ixbt.com/?id=album:4006
Great photos Bader, Cheers!
Bader said:
Just FYI - some live photos of Athena
http://foto.ixbt.com/?id=album:4006
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a million for those brilliant high res photos Bader!
It's nice to get a real world perspective of size on the X7500 against other devices and equipment. If you don't mind, I'm going to post a link to the site you listed here, everyone who doesn't have one yet and is interested will appreciate these pics. Thanks again.
BTW I will be posting here:
http://www.4winmobile.com/next-vt4467.html?postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=80
and here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=286884&page=13
Here you are!
Gallery updated
PS You've put mistake in my nick on 4winmobile
Nice photos..Thanks
Bader said:
Here you are!
Gallery updated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Bader.
Any chance of a first impressions review? Or feedback on performance with 3rd party apps compared to other devices...like Universal? I know, I know...you were probably going to do that before I opened my big mouth last week.
Anyway thanks again for your contributions, they are appreciated.
Actually Bader...there is one very important question I would love to be answered...if your willing of course.
Can/have you tested the USB host capabilities of the X7500? I mean can you hook up a full sized keyboard and or mouse, or even a external hard-drive?
This would be huge plus for me personally, but I think others would like to know too. Cheers.
Unfortunately, I don't have Universal now, but in any case I'll put here are some feedbacks:
Performance is good enougt, f.e. "windows" folder is to be opened in one second
700 Mb movie is loaded in 3 minutes via USB (2.0?)
Original DivX movies can be watching wo recoding with at least 80% efficiency (parhabs depends on embedded ATI Imageon chip, now I'm tryin' to tune it )
GPS works worse than in Artemis - probably cause of metall body
Battery is really good - about two days while books reading, movies watching, push-mail recieving etc.
Camera - ghm... SonyEricsson's one is better
No vibracall!
What else? Please ask
About USB-host - unfortunately, I don't have the the cable to try this function (I've got the device in test package). VGA-out works well.
Bader said:
About USB-host - unfortunately, I don't have the the cable to try this function (I've got the device in test package). VGA-out works well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The normal htc USB cable should do. Connect the mini to your Athena, and the regular usb end to your drive eg. pocket drive, card reader etc.
gps athena
gps worse than the one of p3300? 1º slower to take satellite? 2º fixes less satellite?
Great stuff Bader!
Bader said:
Unfortunately, I don't have Universal now, but in any case I'll put here are some feedbacks:
Performance is good enougt, f.e. "windows" folder is to be opened in one second
700 Mb movie is loaded in 3 minutes via USB (2.0?)
Original DivX movies can be watching wo recoding with at least 80% efficiency (parhabs depends on embedded ATI Imageon chip, now I'm tryin' to tune it )
GPS works worse than in Artemis - probably cause of metall body
Battery is really good - about two days while books reading, movies watching, push-mail recieving etc.
Camera - ghm... SonyEricsson's one is better
No vibracall!
What else? Please ask
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great stuff Bader, thanks for the feedback. So GPS is worse than Artemis? Is it acceptable though? Or do you experience weak signal and drop outs, in comparison?
You say Divx plays at about 80% without the need for recoding? That's not bad depending on bitrate. (I'll PM you about this). Are we talking like torrent movie encoding quality here? DVD rips? I hope so, because then there is a lot of room for improvement.
Didn't expect much from the camera anyway.
No Vibra call? Glad I ordered me a vibrating Bluetooth Plantronics 640 now.
"700 Mb movie is loaded in 3 minutes via USB (2.0?)". Is this via active sync straight to the device? If so, that's not bad.
I like the windows folder opening time. But is that on a fresh machine or with loads of 3rd party apps?
How about surfing in high res mode? Is this supported in the ROM version you have? And if so, how is the speed of page rendering compared to your experience of other PPC devices?
Thanks again for taking the time and effort to answer these questions Bader. Pls check your PM.
What is your model? Advantage, ameo or U1000?
How is the building quality?
2 victoradjei
I're wrong - USBhost is based on another slot than sync/charge USB. It is good seen on this picture - http://foto.ixbt.com/?id=photo:57887
Left one is VGAout/USBhost with proprietary connector.
2 hx4700spain
I'ts only my opinion, based on expirience - it seem to me, that Artemis finds sattelites faster, and sesitivity is a little bit better. Unfortunately, i cannot compare and measure, cause Artemis was sold 4 month ago
I any case - Athena's GPS wokrs much better than any 12channel device.
mackaby007
About movies - yes, sure, i mean DVD-rips on maximum quality settings. If set low details - so performance comes to 200%
About loading speed - yes, 3 minutes via AS or WM5torage - no any difference
"Windows" opening time - it on real used device with about 20 thirdparty apps installed.
RealVGA is not supported in current ROM :-(
But there are Opera installed (in ExtROM), and it's posible to scale up and down - looks like real VGA. Rendering speed is about 2 times faster than on my Herald.
PS I'll answer PM in few minutes.
2 Arya
HTC X-7500
Looks very durable, can be used as selfdefence weapon
Seriosly - building quality is perfect.
please photos made by the athena
how long in minutes to take satellite?
http://foto.ixbt.com/?id=camera:703
Warm start - about 2 minutes
I just got the T-Mobile Ameo today, the branded version of the HTC X7500.
With the exception of the silver casing (instead of black as on the X7500), the Ameo is the same.
Here are the first impressions:
1. build quality excellent, display quality very good (but not at par with the Sony Vaio UX "micro"-laptop for example), speed is very good too, the programs just "fly".
2. GSM/GPRS reception is pretty good, I didn't have the chance to try out UMTS/HSDPA yet since I'm living outside the city and we get only Vodafone UMTS over here
3. you can't use the unit like a normal cell phone, you need to use a headset or the built-in speaker phone. This is pretty annoying, making the Ameo actually more a kind of a internet working machine, not a cell phone. If you're planning to use this baby for everything, including "classic" cell phone operation, forget about it
4. if you think that the new magnetic keypad is interesting, wait until you actually see the WHOLE "system" working incl. the leather protection casing.
You can't actually use the magnetic keypad without the leather casing since the Ameo itself may "fall down" sooner or later, causing a lot of damage to the unit if it falls down from a higher height. Use the leather casing, it provides the necessary "grip", so the Ameo doesn't move at all to the back.
It is a pretty interesting and well thought through combo, you have to see it for yourself to understand how it works. The pictures you may have seen on the internet, showing a woman holding the Ameo in her hand, attached to the magnetic keypad are actually CRAP. The Ameo has no support in the back and if this woman would move her hand a bit, the Ameo would fall down. I don't understand why T-Mobile doesn't advertise in pictures the whole "system" with the leather casing, so people understand how it is working and how WELL it is working.
5. inserting the SIM card was kind of a pain in the a.., it wasn't too easy and you can't swap SIM cards on a regular basis, this would be too annoying.
6. the new Opera browser is a treat, it works great compared to the also supplied Internet Explorer. The Opera 8.6x browser was a good choice for the Ameo.
7. the built-in 3 MP camera is easy too use, it uses an autofokus which works pretty well and it even has a flash. Picture quality is pretty good when there is enough light but the object has to stay steady if you want to get a good picture. Video quality pretty much sucks, if the object moves, you just get a blurr, nothing else. That said, the specs of the camera are more impressive on paper than in reality but it is pretty "usable".
8. since the keypad system uses a strong magnet, you have to be careful where you transport/keep your unit in the leather casing. If your credits cards, etc. are close to it, you may have them corrupted.
9. after installing my "usual" programs (Worldmate, AgendaOne, WiFi Companion, Subsembly Wallet and GPS Meter), the Ameo started to be kept in an incontinouus booting cycle (like a soft reset). I had to hard reset the unit and start all over again installing my programs, pretty annoying. So the firmware DEFINETELY isn't bug-free yet.
more photo by athena please
Brilliant!
Bader said:
mackaby007
About movies - yes, sure, i mean DVD-rips on maximum quality settings. If set low details - so performance comes to 200%
About loading speed - yes, 3 minutes via AS or WM5torage - no any difference
"Windows" opening time - it on real used device with about 20 thirdparty apps installed.
RealVGA is not supported in current ROM :-(
But there are Opera installed (in ExtROM), and it's posible to scale up and down - looks like real VGA. Rendering speed is about 2 times faster than on my Herald.
PS I'll answer PM in few minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Bader!! That's really good news, just what I was hoping to hear so far. C PM.

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