At the rate satellite technology is progressing, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if some time in the next two years even mundane stuff like credit cards and cheap MP3 players had GPS receivers built in. The technology is becoming so widespread and so cheap for manufacturers to include that anything seems possible.

For now, though, smart phones are leading the way in GPS adoption. Last month we took a look at Asus’ business-targeted P526, which had navigational capabilities; an now we have another kid on the GPS-enabled block – E-ten’s Glofiish X800, which has a far more consumer-focussed outlook.

On the face of it, it’s a very similar device. It’s a PDA phone based on Windows Mobile 6 – the Professional edition in this instance – with no hardware keyboard for text entry. It has that GPS receiver so you can add the GPS software of your choice, from Google Maps to full-blown navigation products such as CoPilot Live or Pocket Navigator, which I reviewed here recently, and it’s Wi-Fi-equipped too.

But that’s where the similarities end. One look at the candy red rings which surround both of the X800’s camera lenses tells you that the target audience is more likely to be into handbags or designer label jeans than pinstripe suits and shiny black brogues. The black rubberised edging and silver trim cap the bling bling effect, and it’s pretty slim for a PDA phone, too, measuring a supermodel-thin 15.8mm thick.
But that’s not to say the X800 is short on technical ability – far from it. The X800 has more impressive business credentials, in many ways, than the more staid Asus. Notably it has support, not only for quad-band GSM and EDGE-enabled GPRS, but also 3G and 3.6Mbps HSDPA for lightning-quick Internet connections. It has a pretty generous allocation of ROM, too, with 172MB free for storage out of the box. The X800 also has a microSD slot for augmenting this.

There’s no hardware number pad, as with the Asus, nor is there any scroll wheel for nipping up and down lists of emails and contacts, but the controls have been thoughtfully laid out nonetheless. As with most other Windows Mobile smartphones, most of these are clustered below the 2.8in, 640 x 480 resolution screen which, by the way, is among the brightest, most vibrant I’ve ever seen on any phone. Flanking a clickable, four-way mini-joystick are two soft keys, pick-up and hang-up keys for the phone, plus a couple of shortcut keys which have been allocated initially to the GPS Viewer utility and Glofiish’s own quick launch panel. That’s not all, though – there are a couple of extras that are certainly worth having, in the shape of a Windows start menu button and an OK button, which can be used to close windows and dialogue boxes without having to resort to using the stylus.

Around the edges of the phone things are more prosaic. You get a volume rocker switch on the left, a camera button on the right and a mini-USB connection for syncing and charging is to be found on the bottom of the device, alongside the microphone, stylus stowage and microSD slot.
On the software front things look up again. Like HTC, E-ten has made a series of useful modifications and additions to the Windows Mobile interface. The main element of this is the X800’s HTC Touch-alike shortcut panel at the top of the main Today screen. Using this you can access favourite contacts quickly, a five-day weather forecast, complete with natty graphics (but no Michael Fish, sadly), a quick menu for recently used applications and the clock/alarm feature. It’s a big improvement over the standard Windows Mobile fare and makes it much easier to access common tasks quickly.

You also get a decent selection of extra software bits and bobs. In addition to Office Mobile, there’s a bunch of basic GPS tools, including a tool for texting your location to someone. There’s a task manager app so you can terminate unwanted programs, a remote desktop application for accessing your PC’s desktop, a slightly modified wireless connections manager and a speed dial utility, which is launched using one of the soft keys on the Today screen.

The latter is especially useful, and places the last few numbers you called on easily thumb-able screen buttons. It also has a brilliant index dial feature, which replaces the recent numbers with a finger-friendly A-Z keypad. Click a letter on this screen and all the contacts under that initial appear, each assigned to the afore-mentioned thumb-friendly buttons. Again it’s a vast improvement on Windows Mobile’s fiddly contacts list, which isn’t easy to use without a stylus or a finely honed fingernail.

But that’s not all. Via the launcher application I mentioned earlier, you also get a torch function, which uses the flash for the two megapixel camera to light your way, and access to a built-in FM tuner. Battery life is superb too. The X800 is rated at up to seven hours talk time and up to 150 hours standby and this translated into four or five days of occasional phone calls, access via the Wi-Fi adaptor and the odd session with the GPS receiver. Intensive use, music and Internet browsing will force this figure down, of course, but it’s still pretty impressive.

But there is one negative aspect to the X800, unfortunately. For, despite the fact that it boasts a seemingly quick 500MHz Samsung processor, it’s not the most responsive of smart phones I’ve ever used. Most of the time it’s fine, but occasionally I’d found it would slow down to a frustratingly slow crawl, taking ages to respond to a click and then catch up, which on a couple of occasions ended up in me calling someone on my contacts list when I hadn’t intended to.

Verdict

Overall, the Glofiish X800 is a very capable phone. It is stuffed with features, has HSDPA, GPS and several genuinely useful interface tweaks. Battery life is excellent and the VGA screen is simply gorgeous.

If you’re in the market for a PDA phone at the end of the month when the X800 will be hitting the shelves it’s clearly an excellent choice and should come high up your shortlist. But that occasional sluggishness means that it’s not quite good enough for a Recommended award.

E-TEN and its Glofiish brand of Windows Mobile devices might not be familiar to you, but this is a company that has been around for quite a while; though unlike say HTC, they haven’t struck up any deals with the mobile network providers to sell discounted or branded handsets. Instead, E-TEN tried going down a different route with all of its recent models featuring a built in GPS, something which has started to become a lot more common on recent Windows Mobile devices. However, the company is now looking at trying to get in with the network providers, which hopefully should see the Glofiish devices become a lot more affordable than they’ve been to date.

Today we’re looking at the Glofiish X650 which is a slightly updated version of the X600, although they do share the same external design. Let’s start with taking a look at the device itself. The X650 measures 107 x 58 x 14.7 mm (HxWxD) and weighs 136g with the battery. This is reasonably thin for a device of this type, but something like the HTC Touch is still a lot more pocket friendly.

The front of the X650 is home to a 2.8-inch 640×480 LCD display which can display 65k colours, and this is the first of the upgrades compared to the X600. This is definitely a step above most other Windows Mobile 6 Professional devices and something we hope other manufacturers will follow suit on. The only other manufacturer that we know of that uses a lot of VGA resolution displays on its devices is GSmart.

Below the screen is a vast array of buttons, more so than you see on most Windows Mobile devices that don’t have a keypad. There are two rows of buttons with a small joystick in the middle. Starting with the top row going from left to right we have the Windows start button, left and right soft key and an OK button. The lower row has a call button, GPS button, home button and finally an end call button. The joystick is the main navigation control when you don’t use the touch screen, and it can be depressed to make selections. Above the screen are two small LED’s; the one on the left indicates WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS usage while the one on the right is charging and network connectivity indicator.

The buttons don’t stop there though, on the right hand side you’ll find the power/standby button as well as the camera shutter release button. On the left hand side are two volume control buttons as well as a button with dual functionality as it will start the voice dial application with a short press and the voice recorder with a long press. At the bottom of the left hand side is also a 2.5mm audio jack for the supplied headset.

At the bottom of the handset is a standard mini USB jack to which the charger connects, and this is also used for sync’ing the X650 with your computer. Here is also a slot for a micro SD card which seemed like a bad location at first, but the card is recessed quite deep so there shouldn’t be any worry of accidental removal of the card. The stylus is also slotted into the bottom part of the handset right next to the USB port. Finally, around the back you’ll find a 2 Megapixel camera with auto focus and an LED flash. The camera on the X600 doesn’t have auto focus, but we’ll talk a bit more about the camera later.

Our review sample had a two tone black and silver design with a metal inlay around the screen. The back was coated with a soft rubber like material as well as the front edges. The silver trim on the side looks quite smart and the buttons are also silver coloured which makes for an overall stylish design. One strange quirk of the X650 is that you have to remove the stylus to be able to remove the battery cover; we’re not quite sure why E-TEN designed it like this, as it’s just awkward. The 1,530mAh Lithium Polymer battery is locked in place with a small latch at the bottom, and underneath it is the SIM card holder. Battery life seemed to be no better than any other Windows Mobile device, i.e. 2-3 days of usage.

Review Video:

The mobile phone industry is frenetic at the best of times, but right now it seems positively hyperactive. The focus is all-singing, all-dancing smartphones and over the past few months not only has HTC’s fantastic TyTN II (P4550/Kaiser) been unleashed, but the iPhone, Palm Treo 500V, BlackBerry Pearl 8120 have all also put in an appearance, not to mention the Ubiquio 503G and Asus’ P526.

And it’s not over yet – not by any stretch of the imagination. Over the next few months we expect to see some exciting products from i-Mate hit the shelves, new handsets from Samsung too and, who knows, perhaps even T-Mobile’s SideKick Slide will resolve its technical problems and finally make it out into the wild.

E-TEN has joined in the general smartphone bonanza with three high-spec smartphones, of which the X600 here is the third I’ve looked in recent weeks. And with so much going on, and so many new handsets about, it’s going to have its work cut out to make an impact.

Fortunately, first impressions are very good. The X600 has to be the sexiest PDA-style phone I’ve seen: it’s small and compact, even more so than the rather nice GPS-enabled ASUS P526, measuring just 14.7mm thick, 58mm wide, 107mm tall and weighing a rather svelte 136g. It certainly slips very comfortably into a jeans pocket. Although you’ll probably want to avoid that, by using the leather belt clip case so you can keep it protected from scratches and dings.

It looks very swanky too. For my money it’s the best looking Windows Mobile phone out there right now. The screen has a black, brushed aluminium surround, while most of the rest of the chassis is wrapped in a lovely, rubberised finish that makes the X600 a pleasure to pick up and hold – and a lot more secure in your hand than many other soap-bar style phones. The final touch is a band of metallic burgundy that stretches around the edge of the phone, setting off the chromed buttons beautifully. If telecommunications eye candy is your thing, this is the phone for you.

Of course, none of this would be any good to you if it wasn’t easy to use, and thankfully the X600 makes a better fist of things than its big brother, the M800, which was equipped with a fiendishly fiddly set of heat sensitive buttons and a tiny joystick control. Instead, the X600’s joystick stands proud of its surrounding buttons and is tipped with rubber, so your finger doesn’t slip on it or get too sore as you’re using it. The backlit control cluster beneath the screen consists of proper buttons too, so they can’t be activated by accident.

There’s no keyboard for text entry as there is with the M800 – it’s simply too slim to fit one in – but E-TEN has made an effort to make up for this by adding to Windows Mobile’s handwriting recognition and fiddly screen keyboard text entry methods. The X600’s screen-based Easy Keyboard consists of much bigger keys than the Microsoft version and as a result can be used to thumb type on, but it’s not as good as the iPhone’s, and you have to concentrate hard to avoid typos every other letter.

This isn’t the only software extra, though; the X600 is positively bristling with others. On the Today screen, for instance, the X600 makes use of Spb’s excellent Mobile Shell software, which adds a finger-driven tabbed menu for access to recent applications; automatically updated weather forecasts for pretty much every major city you’re ever likely to stay in; quick contacts; quick alarm; and a world clock view.

Elsewhere, you get an excellent speed dial application; a modified phone view that’s nippier in use than the standard Windows Mobile one; plus a pop-up shortcut panel. The latter is activated by one of the buttons below the screen and has buttons for launching the task manager application (another extra); switching between landscape and portrait mode; and cycling through a set of predefined phone profiles among others. And there’s more too, including Voice Commander for voice dialling and control over various phone functions; an enhanced Wireless Manager application that makes it easier to set up Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; a backup utility; a call filter … the list goes on.

And then there’s the screen. Its resolution may only be 320 x 240, not the fabulous 640 x 480 offered by the Glofiish X800 and M800, but it is just as bright and clear – among the best you’ll see on any smartphone. There’s also a 2-megapixel camera and an FM tuner thrown into the mix, though as with so many other smartphones, the X600 is equipped with a 2.5mm headphone jack, so you’ll either have to stick with the (rubbish for music) bundled hands-free headset, or buy an adaptor if you want to use your own headphones.

But let’s not get not get carried away here – this is no TyTN II (P4550/Kaiser). Even though it’s loaded with a SirfSTAR III GPS receiver and Wi-Fi adaptor, the X600 is a disappointment when it comes to mobile data. As with BlackBerry handhelds and the iPhone, you’re limited to EDGE-enhanced GPRS, with not even 3G let alone HSDPA to speed web browsing along. Admittedly that’s fine for email if you’re using push, but start to browse the web or download large attachments and you’ll soon find the X600 wanting.

The controls aren’t exactly the bee’s knees either, despite being an improvement over the M800’s. Apart from being quite tough to depress, they lack external markings, so even in daylight it can be hard to see which is which. They do light up once you’ve pressed one of them, but you shouldn’t have to do this. There’s also no scroll wheel, which would make navigating lists easier, and the telescopic stylus, tucked away in the bottom right corner, isn’t the nicest to use either.

Finally, as with the other Glofiish products I’ve reviewed recently, performance isn’t wonderful. The 400MHz Samsung processor seems to get bogged down in the Windows Mobile mire frequently, making the X600 sluggish to use. Battery life is nothing special either. Despite the fact that there’s no 3G or HSDPA chip inside sucking the life from the seemingly high-capacity 1,530mAh battery, I rarely got more than two full days of general use. That’s using it for push email during the day, the occasional phone call, a bit of web browsing, plus a snap here and there. I even switched the GSM off overnight, though I did leave the phone in standby so I could use the alarm.

Verdict

Being an E-TEN product, and with no UK network ‘fully’ subsidising handsets as yet, the X600 is inevitably going to have niche appeal. If you’re someone who places priority on looks over function, its super slick design and impressive pocketability make it a handset worthy of consideration. But despite the wealth of software extras, the GPS and the FM tuner I can’t help feeling that, for my £289.95 (£142 on 24 month contract), I’d want a little bit more.

Review Video:

HTC has ploughed its own furrow in the world of smartphones over the past year or so. While most other manufacturers have managed to produce one, two or possibly three new models, the Taiwanese manufacturer has hit us with a succession of new devices, one hot on the heels of the last.

Compatriot E-TEN looks as if it wants to follow in HTC’s footsteps, and the new M800 is a direct attempt to steal some of its rival’s thunder. It is, essentially, E-TEN’s take on the hugely successful – at least in terms of press reaction – HTC TyTN II, aka Orange HTC TyTN II, HTC P4550/Kaiser, and T-Mobile MDA Vario III. It’s roughly the same size, give or take a few millimetres, has a sliding QWERTY keyboard under the screen, and it’s based on Windows Mobile 6 Professional. But is the M800 a quality cover version, full of novel interpretation, or a rotten tomato, sprinkled liberally with karaoke-night bum notes?

In many respects the former is the case. Though there’s no tilting screen as there is with the TyTN II, the Glofiish M800’s display is actually much nicer than the TyTN II’s. Not only is it brighter and more vibrant, but it also has a higher resolution at 640 x 480 (versus 320 x 240). This not only lets you squeeze more emails and contacts on screen at once, but also gives you better resolution for handwriting recognition and scribbling notes, plus it makes browsing the web much easier, especially if you switch from Pocket Internet Explorer to Mozilla’s Minimo. For the ultimate in mobile web browsing, though, nothing touches the iPhone’s Safari browser.

It also has a better camera. Though this boasts the same 2.0-megapixel resolution, it doesn’t overexpose images in the way that the TyTN II’s camera does, and it has a light and portrait mirror as well, where the HTC has none. The front-facing VGA video camera is pretty good on video calls, picking up facial detail even in tricky lighting situations. And the design is pretty sleek, too. That large 2.8in screen is surrounded by a dark grey, brushed aluminium finish while the rest of the front fascia is clad in smart grey plastic. Wrapped around the edge of the device, however, is the piece de resistance – a subtle and attractive, yet eye-catching band of bronze trim.

The rest of the specification is also enough to get HTC worried. You get quad-band GSM, so you’ll be able to make phone calls pretty much anywhere in the world you can get a mobile signal. It has HSDPA up to 3.6Mbits/sec for fast mobile broadband connectivity, plus 3G and GPRS with EDGE for when that ‘H’ doesn’t pop up at the top of your screen. There’s a SiRF Star III GPS receiver, so you can add sat-nav to the phone if you wish. The memory complement is up there with the TyTN at a generous 256MB ROM and 64MB RAM, while the processor is a slightly nippier 500MHz Samsung, though in use it didn’t feel any more responsive. And you even get an FM tuner, just in case you run out of MP3s to listen to, though the device’s 2.5mm headphone socket means you’ll have to buy an adapter if you want to connect your own headphones.

I’d also like to point out that the call quality on this device is better than the TyTN’s. This is not to say the call quality on the TyTN II is poor, far from it, just that the M800’s is louder and clearer. This means you’ll be able to take calls in noisy environments – the pub or the train, for instance – without having to go outside or stick your finger in your other ear.

Add a raft of useful software extras that puts most other smartphones to shame, including business card recognition software, a facility that lets you use the camera light as a torch, and E-TEN’s own Today screen customisation – via the excellent Spb Mobile Shell plugin – which neatly places recent applications, alarms, weather reports and favourite contacts at your fingertips, and you have a phone, on paper at least, that looks to give the TyTN II a serious run for its money.

Use the M800 for a while, however, and you’ll soon discover that it’s less a talented reworking of the TyTN II and more a pale imitation. The main problem lies in its usability – specifically the design of the controls. There’s no scroll wheel, for instance – a couple of flat buttons for volume and a record button sit on the left edge instead. The telescopic stylus isn’t as nice to hold as the TyTN’s either. The keyboard is competent but though the keys look easier to press than the TyTN’s, I found myself hitting wrong letters more frequently while bashing out emails and notes. I couldn’t fathom E-TEN’s caps lock system either, which seemed to switch to all caps occasionally for no apparent reason.

But these are small gripes compared to the pair of screeching howlers that sit below the screen. The first of these is the buttons may look nice as they glow softly into life, but the fact that they’re touch-sensitive means they’re a real fiddle to use. Frequently I found myself hitting the pick-up key instead of Start, or hang-up instead of OK, and though the phone locks the buttons after a few seconds so you don’t activate them by accident in your pocket, it’s far too easy to brush a key with your finger while they’re not locked.

The second disaster is nestled in the centre of the touch-sensitive button cluster. The four-way clickable joystick you have to use to navigate through Windows Mobile’s menus is, frankly, awful. It’s small, fiddly, and after a while of using it I had a sore thumb. Worse, its size also meant that all too often I hit one of the touch-sensitive buttons either side of it, and if you have large hands or chunky thumbs it will prove even more of a pain to use.

Finally, battery life is none too impressive. Despite the fact that it has a larger 1,530mAh capacity, the lithium polymer unit in the M800 rarely yielded more than a day and a half of normal use. That’s with push email in use, the odd bit of web browsing and a few phone calls – nothing particularly intensive.

Verdict

So although things start out well for the M800, the more practical aspects of the phone’s design brings it down to earth with a solid, uncomfortable bump. It may have the better screen, excellent call quality, a faster processor and nice design, but the controls are awful and the keyboard isn’t good enough to make up for these faults.

Even if all this doesn’t swing your opinion away from the M800 to the TyTN II, the news that E-TEN has yet to secure a network deal to subsidise the handset in the UK probably will. This means that, for the time being at least, this inferior phone will cost you a great deal more to own – £400 – than the equivalent TyTN II on Orange or a Vario III on T-Mobile.

Review Video: