O2 XDA Flame - graphically accelarated

Foreword, the package

O2 XDA Flame has been announced about one and a half a year ago, at GITEX in Dubai. The announcement didn’t stir up much interest in our country, as it was told that it won’t be available here. The situation has changed thanks MobilX, as since then the device has appeared in their offer. The phone has powerful specs, although some parts are outdated, but more about that later.

Of course we have received the test device from the aforementioned company, and I have to say that it was a bit unexpected. One day our chief editor called me that he has the handset which doesn’t seem to be something great at first glance. The next day I received the gadget and I remembered its announcement upon looking at its box – well, this is something! I would only like to say this in advance: GoForce 5500 graphic accelerator.

The blue box is a quality one, it has a magnetic lid. There is no lack of accessories: besides the handset there is a charger, a stereo headset, USB sync cable, a separate host cable, manual CD, back-up stylus and a TV-out cable are all supplied for the owner. I think that it would be right and proper to also include a cradle for such a device, but, as we know, this is not fashionable anymore at manufacturers.

On the outside

Knowledge has a price, that’s a fact. At Pocket PCs this usually manifests in two things: on one hand there is a considerable amount of money to be paid for a device with so many features and on the other hand, such handsets are fairly large. The latter is visible on our subject too, as Flame weighs 190 grams and has a size of 74 x 126 x 17.5 mm. Of course not only the features play a role in this, but the 3.6” VGA touchscreen too.

There can be no complaints about picture quality, it is astonishing. Above the TFT display there is the VGA resolution camera used for video calls and the phone’s speaker surrounded by status LEDs. On the left of these we can see an “engraved” O2 logo. The navigation controls are on the bottom; the d-pad in the middle is really small (and thus its use is a bit problematic), the function buttons around it are somewhat larger. There is a backlight for these, they glow in a color equivalent of the call accept/reject buttons’ on the sides, while other buttons are blue.

There is a square pattern on the back, I think it looks cool, but some said that it doesn’t match with other parts of the phone. On top we can see the 2 megapixel autofocus camera, on the bottom, just over the small button used for taking off the back, there is a Windows Mobile logo.

The designers didn’t leave the sides unused either. The upper part is a bit desolate, only the power button is here.

There is much more stuff on the right side: there are the volume controls, the microSD slot, the camera’s exposition button and the reset gap. Just like other parts of the device, these are also of premium quality, the volume controls can be used easily too. There is a small hole near these, this is one of the handsfree speakers.

On the bottom we can find the miniUSB port - microphone – 2.5 mm jack connector trio; they are scary so let’s take a look at the left side of the handset.

Let’s start from the bottom, for a change: there is a shortcut button (Wireless Manager), above that an infrared port, TV output, another shortcut button (voice recorder is the default setting for this), and another speaker, so we have a stereo sound – theoretically.

Hardware, operating system

As I have already mentioned, Flame is a bit old guy now and this can be seen on the OS: Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition. It is said that WM 6 Professional is also available, but only unofficially, so installing it leads to the warranty becoming void. Fortunately the hardware compensates for this nuisance: 520 MHz Intel XScale PXA270 CPU, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB ROM (user space: 1720 MB for storage, 82 MB memory), GoForce 5500 graphic accelerator. This is typically the wow category; it’s worth being called a unique phone. As for games, the nVidia graphic chip is not the best choice and for energy saving a PXA310 processor would have been better, but anyway, the brute force is still given, so the overall picture is just fine.

After turning it on I sadly observed that the system is not as fast as I would have expected it to be. There is no problem when scrolling in the main menu, but starting up applications takes up quite a time, even returning from standby lasts 2 seconds. Unfortunately speed tests further support my statement.

Looking at the results of Asus P735, equipped with a similar processor, Flame’s results are disappointing. We’re not talking about a few percents of difference – the processor is three times slower, the same is true for the memory, the file system and unfortunately for the graphics performance too: what does the GoForce do, may we ask by right. I can only hope that only optimization – that is the lack of it – is the trouble, which can be corrected with a newer ROM, but I could not verify this.

Software

Thankfully there is lots of software to choose from, O2 took care of everything. That is of almost everything, as there is no task manger installed, though the system cannot be properly used without this – no need to be afraid, the problem can be solved with free software.

There is nothing special on the Today screen, though we can find 5 O2 software in the Start menu. The first is AutoConfig, this sets up stuff needed for browsing the net. AutoInstall can set up five programs, available on the ROM. With Jeyo SMS Backup we can create a backup copy of our text messages; CodeWallet Pro 6 is a PIM software, we can save any possible data in it, even files. Worldmate 2006 might come in handy during travels: it has weather forecast, world clock, currency converter and online exchange rates. O2 Phone Plus gives additional options during phone calls. Last, but not least, there is the O2 Themes, which is used to change the wallpaper and font color, and to customize the Today screen.

Continuing with stuff in the menu: O2 Connect, which helps in updating the device’s software. At the moment of writing this review I found 20 themes and 2 applications. O2 Media Plus is a multimedia player, while O2 SMS Plus is a tool for handling SMS messages.

Phone calls, data communication

I had no problems during phone calls; both sound volume and quality were all right. The phonebook is the default one from Windows Mobile, it has countless extra fields for contacts, whose number is limited by the memory, so the number is quite close to infinite.

The device has nothing to be ashamed of in means of data transfer technologies. Only HSDPA misses from the list. The fastest available is UMTS. Near 802.11b/g WiFi-compatibility there is support for Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP – stereo sound for BT) and IrDA. The USB port is also of version 2.0.

Outlook is responsible for message handling. It supports MMS and email messages, the client can handle authenticated IMAP servers and attachments too.

Multimedia

The camera on the back of the phone is a 2 megapixel one with autofocus. The highest possible resolution for pictures is 1024 x 768 pixels, and no matter how I count it, this is not 2 megapixels – I don’t understand. Picture quality is surprisingly good; we can take sharp, pictures with low noise even in poor light conditions. Near the lens there is a flash and a mirror for making self-portraits too. There aren’t many possible settings; there is a delayed timer, night mode, expo-correction (+/- 3 FE, in 1 FE steps). We can also set the amount of JPEG compression and that’s all, there isn’t even a manual white balance setting. Movies can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 352 x 288 pixels.

Music tracks are played by Windows Media Player, but the aforementioned O2 Media Plus gives additional possibilities, for example we can filter tracks by album/artist/genre.

Media Player has no bass boost, but the manufacturer has thought of those who need this feature, so with a separate application (from Settings) we can do such things. The device also supports SRS Mobile HD Surround Sound.

In the menu there is a software called Remote Control, which can only be ran in landscape mode and with this we can control anything that can be controlled theoretically – TV, HiFi, VCR. Basically we only need to select the controlled device’s manufacturer and that’s it. Landscape mode is needed because the infra port is on the side of the handset and so it only faces the controlled device in this position.

The manufacturer emphasized sound quality very much. The phone sounds fairly good on handsfree, it’s loud, but sounds of lower frequency cannot be really heard at higher volume levels. The included headset, however, is of very good quality, its design is like of the better Walkman headsets’, meaning that it’s inserted inside the ear, thus filtering out all external noises. The bass really rumbles, it’s absolutely all right, probably there won’t be many people who would like to change the headset.

There is an FM-radio, with RDS support. Movies are worth playing with TCPMP. I expected the application to support the GoForce accelerator, but it doesn’t. Still, movies with PC-optimized DivX/XviD encoding play without stutter, the 520 MHz CPU is powerful enough on its own for this.

Battery, conclusion

The battery has a capacity of 1620 mAh, this hasn’t been frittered away either. It’s worth charging daily if actively used, but if multimedia tasks are not a priority, then it can take it for two days without problems.

Conclusion: XDA Flame is excellent machine. Though it’s pretty large, but there is nothing to pick on regarding the hardware – it has a fast CPU, huge amounts of memory, well thought-out construction. It’s one of the best Pocket PCs for multimedia: music, movies, radio, remote control, TV-out – nothing is a problem for it (and thanks to GoForce, games can also be played on it). There are two problems with it: one is the old operating system, the other is the speed of that; theoretically it should be much faster. We can’t say that it’s slow, it’s much better than a device with a 200 MHz TI OMAP processor, that’s sure. I would like to know how much faster it would be after installing an unofficial ROM. I think the lack of HSDPA can be a flaw, but UMTS is fine for web-browsing too. The pre-installed extra software and the accessories satisfy all needs, so I think it deserves the Recommended award. Its price, at the moment of writing the review, is approx. 535 EUR.

O2 XDA Flame

Bocha

Translated by Szaszati

The device has been provided by MobilX
The device can be bought online at www.mobilx.hu .
Info line: +36-52-501-868

Specifications

O2 XDA Flame
	Technology	GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz + UMTS
	Operating system	Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition
	Méret	74 x 126 x 17.5 mm
	Weight	190 grams
	Processor	520 MHz Intel XScale PXA270
	ROM / RAM	2048 / 128 MB (1720/83 MB free to use)
	Display	3.6” touchscreen, 480 x 640 pixels resolution, 16 bit color depth
	Expandability	microSD
	WiFi	802.11b/g
	Infra / Bluetooth	present / 2.0 (A2DP too)
	GPS receiver	none
	Audio	2.5 mm jack output, microphone, stereo speakers
	Camera	2 megapixels, autofocus
	Battery	1620 mAh changeable Li-Ion
	Other	GoForce 5500 graphic chip, FM radio, remote control software, TV-out, USB host, SRS Mobile HD Surround Sound support