O2 Xda IIs

O2 has been staying pretty much uncontested in the Pocket PC phone arena till handheld giant HP entered the fray with its iPaq h6365. The UK giant isn't about to sit around and wait for its market share to be chipped away. The Xda II now gets an update and we sieve out the enhancements over its predecessor.

Design
Shedding the usual silver-cast finish, the Xda IIs comes in classy shades of gun-metal grey. As you would expect from O2, the build quality of this PDA-phone is top-notch. However, this device has more tricks underneath its hood then merely color variation.

To pit the Xda against rivals such as PalmOne's upcoming Treo 650 and HP's iPaq h6365, O2 has equipped the Xda IIs with a keyboard. Cleverly concealed, the top-half slides out to reveal a keypad that is laid out in familiar QWERTY. The buttons light up in blue to facilitate input in low-light situations, too. That said, typing on this thumbboard remains a cumbersome task as the contact area under each key is limited. To worsen matters, they lack sufficient height and are not well-spaced for accurate typing.

At 125 x 72 x 19mm, there isn't much change in form factor. The IIs remains bulky at 210g so it's more suited for data-centric mobile professionals who require the added real estate. Despite some Pocket PC handhelds moving toward VGA displays, this PDA sports a typical 320 x 240-pixel touch-sensitive TFT.

Addressing a previous deficiency, O2 has added a row of four buttons for frequently used applications so that they can be launched with ease. Plus, you can customize them to your preference.

Features
One of the main criticisms of the previous Xda II is the lack of Wi-Fi. This time round hotspotters will be glad to know that this converged device includes 802.11b connectivity in addition to Bluetooth and infrared. Wi-Fi works flawlessly and we have no problems connecting to an access point to surf the Web. A flight mode is also in hand and lets you work on your handheld onboard a plane.

Running on Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE, the Xda IIs allows users to orientate between landscape and portrait view on-the-fly. The screen's QVGA resolution has somewhat limited its usefulness. Still, this welcomed feature proves handy for Web surfing or when editing spreadsheets. The 65k-color display is sufficiently bright and well-saturated. Even with the brightness set at mid level, we have no issues viewing it outdoors.

Disappointedly, this Xda remains a VGA shooter. The video-capable camera churns out 640 x 480-pixel stills and 320 x 240-pixel MPEG-4 clips. However, the picture quality is superior to those taken by the iPaq h6365.

Memory-wise, the Xda IIs is equipped with a roomy 128MB to allocate between storage and programs. This is further supplemented by a 43MB flash disk. Due to its non-volatile nature, data or applications installed here will remain intact even if the cell is fully depleted. Additional expansion comes courtesy of a Secure Digital slot.

Although adequate for voice conversations, the supplied stereo headset doesn't deliver great-sounding acoustics for music playback. Additionally, the 2.5mm jack makes it hard to use a headset of your choice. Apart from the volume, audio tweaks are absent. On the other hand, HP's iPaq h6365 features both bass and treble adjustments and comes with a standard 3.5mm jack.

Improving on the previous Xda, the Lithium-polymer cell gets a 25 percent boost in capacity. Still sporting replaceable batteries, the Xda IIs will go down well with frequent jetsetters and mobile professionals on the move.

Performance
The Intel XScale 400MHz chip planted in the Xda IIs isn't the fastest currently but it delivers snappier performance compared with its closest rival, the 167MHz iPaq h6365. Even when multiple programs are running in the background, there were few occasions when we experienced sluggishness. When benchmarked, the Xda IIs delivers similar results as its predecessor. This is not surprising since the same processor is used.

O2 claims the 1,490mAh cell can deliver 168 hours of standby and a 4-hour talktime. On actual use, this translated to about an average of two days. Looping a video clip with all wireless off and the backlight set at mid level, the Xda IIs lasted 5 hours and 3 minutes. Comparatively, the iPaq h6365 was good for slightly over 8 hours.

As a phone, this device offers quadband (GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900) connectivity. On the whole, call quality is good. Most times, the other party has little trouble hearing us clearly. The onboard speakerphone is also noticeably louder then the h6365 so you can use it confidently outdoors. However, when paired with an O2 Bluetooth headset, the voice quality suffers and we experienced jarring often.

Available at S$1,388 with a two-year plan and S$1,488 without, the O2 Xda IIs will appeal to mobile professionals who need to access data on-the-go.