MDA Vario - your views?
- Thread starter ironman
- Start date
I've got one and love it. Functionality is great, wireless network card is very useful. Slapped a 1Gb card in it and Tomtom mobile. Works a treat.
Two criticisms of it: The stylus is located on the underside of the phone, and works loose sometimes. This is a known common problem with them.
Also, it runs at slightly less than 200mhz. This means that some apps run slowly on it (for example, Tomtom is fine, but with the speed camera add on, it is unuseable).
But overall, I really do rate it highly.
Two criticisms of it: The stylus is located on the underside of the phone, and works loose sometimes. This is a known common problem with them.
Also, it runs at slightly less than 200mhz. This means that some apps run slowly on it (for example, Tomtom is fine, but with the speed camera add on, it is unuseable).
But overall, I really do rate it highly.
Got it on a cheapo O2 contract (don't even use that SIM card, just wanted the phone) and it's really great. I tried carrying a phone + separate PDA before, but that was too much hassle so I wanted a WM5 phone.
I don't do anything particuarly demanding on there (don't have a car so no Tomtom, don't watch DivX videos etc) but for the things I do use it for, namely -
1. Voice calls: Not bad, but the voice sounds a little tinny on the speaker. It seems to lack the bass range of the voice frequency somehow, so everyone sounds a little hollow. Used to it by now, though.
2. Texting: As you could imagine, having a QWERTY keyboard makes it very, very quick, and fast.
3. Emails: Sends and receives fine, you can use POP3, IMAP or Exchange. Pretty useful for checking emails on the move (but I usually reply when I get access to a proper computer)
4. PDA features: complete integration with Outlook is a godsend. Contacts and calendar work as you would expect, and the Contacts in particular seems very well linked to other parts of the functions - for example, when you send a text/email and need to put in the number, you just need to type any part of that person's name and it will search your Contacts for the right match.
5. Battery life: With mild voice and data usage, it usually lasts me 3 days or so. WLAN seems to really eat the batteries, probably the single heaviest battery drain on this machine in fact.
6. WLAN: You can enable it to act in 54G mode instead of the 11B you are given at the beginning. It has problems obtaining a DHCP address when the signal is weak, so using other people's access points on the sly is tougher because it will fail to get the DHCP address. Once the connection is established, you can go as far away from the AP as you want but in order to get the DHCP in the first place, you have to be pretty close to the AP.
7. Screen: Shame it's not VGA resolution but otherwise it's bright and vibrantly coloured. I got a screen protector from Hong Kong (mailed and took 4-5 days) for around £6 or so, and it seems to do the job perfectly. I don't carry it around in a case so getting a screen protector was a must.
8. Camera: Basically, forget it. Probably the weakest part of the phone, but I didn't expect to use it much anyway so I'm not very bothered. But the pictures out of the camera is pretty shocking so don't count on it capturing anything worthwhile.
This is one of the few times where I am more than 80% happy with a phone - the only things I would improve on it are:
- VGA screen if possible
- Better WLAN stack
- Better voice call quality
- Better camera
- 3G/HSPDA would be nice, not the least for roaming in Japan and Korea
Some of these things seem to be addressed in the upcoming HTC Hermes but for me it's plenty good enough already. I'm just glad it's so much cheaper than I was expecting (£80 for the phone, minus £30 trade-in chequeback, and £16p/m contract).
I don't do anything particuarly demanding on there (don't have a car so no Tomtom, don't watch DivX videos etc) but for the things I do use it for, namely -
1. Voice calls: Not bad, but the voice sounds a little tinny on the speaker. It seems to lack the bass range of the voice frequency somehow, so everyone sounds a little hollow. Used to it by now, though.
2. Texting: As you could imagine, having a QWERTY keyboard makes it very, very quick, and fast.
3. Emails: Sends and receives fine, you can use POP3, IMAP or Exchange. Pretty useful for checking emails on the move (but I usually reply when I get access to a proper computer)
4. PDA features: complete integration with Outlook is a godsend. Contacts and calendar work as you would expect, and the Contacts in particular seems very well linked to other parts of the functions - for example, when you send a text/email and need to put in the number, you just need to type any part of that person's name and it will search your Contacts for the right match.
5. Battery life: With mild voice and data usage, it usually lasts me 3 days or so. WLAN seems to really eat the batteries, probably the single heaviest battery drain on this machine in fact.
6. WLAN: You can enable it to act in 54G mode instead of the 11B you are given at the beginning. It has problems obtaining a DHCP address when the signal is weak, so using other people's access points on the sly is tougher because it will fail to get the DHCP address. Once the connection is established, you can go as far away from the AP as you want but in order to get the DHCP in the first place, you have to be pretty close to the AP.
7. Screen: Shame it's not VGA resolution but otherwise it's bright and vibrantly coloured. I got a screen protector from Hong Kong (mailed and took 4-5 days) for around £6 or so, and it seems to do the job perfectly. I don't carry it around in a case so getting a screen protector was a must.
8. Camera: Basically, forget it. Probably the weakest part of the phone, but I didn't expect to use it much anyway so I'm not very bothered. But the pictures out of the camera is pretty shocking so don't count on it capturing anything worthwhile.
This is one of the few times where I am more than 80% happy with a phone - the only things I would improve on it are:
- VGA screen if possible
- Better WLAN stack
- Better voice call quality
- Better camera
- 3G/HSPDA would be nice, not the least for roaming in Japan and Korea
Some of these things seem to be addressed in the upcoming HTC Hermes but for me it's plenty good enough already. I'm just glad it's so much cheaper than I was expecting (£80 for the phone, minus £30 trade-in chequeback, and £16p/m contract).