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O2 Xda II

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By Aloysius Choong
Oct 31, 2003

One thing's for sure: The O2 Xda II is nothing to sneeze at. From the moment you feel the considerable heft to the point you gasp at its equally considerable price tag, you know it's not for the faint-hearted. Equipped with 128MB of memory, running on a 400MHz processor, offering integrated Bluetooth, GPRS and camera functions, it is one of the most powerful mobile machines around. But the Xda II is no metal brute. Instead it is, surprisingly, one of the most polished PDA-phones on the market.

Slick Silver
These days we have cell phones trying to be PDAs and PDAs masquerading as cell phones. Make no mistake: The Xda II does not suffer from an identity crisis. In fact, it is quite unabashedly Pocket PC, coming in the familiar tablet form and silvery tone of countless Microsoft-based PDAs before.

That's not to say the O2 is a boring workhorse. Quite the contrary. We were impressed by its curvy, stylish design and the superb build and finish. This is not surprising since the Xda II was manufactured by HTC, the same company that does the iPaqs for HP. The antenna of the original Xda has also been lopped off, which significantly enhances this sequel's looks.

However, the new O2 remains on the chunky side and, at 190g, is rather heavy by today's handheld standards. If you're already familiar with Pocket PC girths, this may not be an issue. But those swapping their miniscule Nokias and Motorolas will find the Xda II less than pocket-friendly.

One area where the Xda II differs from other Pocket PCs is its button layout. The all-important "call" and "disconnect" keys are positioned prominently below the display, on either side of a navigation pad. This positioning works out quite well when you need to make a phone call--pressing the "call" button once summons the onscreen number pad; press it again and the phone starts dialing.

The two assigned keys for PIM (Personal Information Management) functions are located at the top--which is slightly less accessible. This unconventional button layout means that playing games may be a problem on the O2 Xda II. On some action games, I had my right thumb at the bottom of the handheld controlling movement, while my left thumb was gripping the top, to shoot when necessary. The directional pad, on the other hand, proved to be highly responsive.

Double Connect
The Xda II is one of a growing number of handhelds to offer dual connectivity--short-range Bluetooth for personal devices and the wide area networks of GSM/GPRS. The two wireless features, when used in tandem, means the Xda II is almost completely cable-free--except when you need to juice it up.

Pairing the Xda II with my PC's TDK wireless adapter was simple enough, and I was synching without wires in no time. However, one thing to note is that the Xda II does not support all the common Bluetooth services. For example, we were not able to directly transfer documents to and from the device because the OBEX (Object Exchange) File Transfer profile was missing.

GPRS also worked speedily on the Xda II. We had to tinker with the settings slightly, but O2 tells us that customers will have the necessary configuration preloaded into their units. The introduction of triband is also a huge boon for travelers.

You can put the O2 Xda II to your face when making calls, but it may mean smudging the display. Users may thus prefer to use the included handsfree kit or the built-in speakerphone, which is loud and clear. The Xda II uses Microsoft's Pocket PC 2003 Phone edition, and the interface bears a strong resemblance to PC equivalents. This makes it quite usable even if some users may not come to grips with it immediately.

However, we noticed one major downside to the device's communication capabilities. If the Xda II enters an area with poor network coverage and signal strength evaporates--which happens once in a while--it doesn't regain connection immediately. Instead, the Xda II takes awhile to reregister with the networks even if you've moved to another position. So it's best to reconnect manually.

Hard Running
One highlight of the Xda II is its bright and beautiful display. It's great for watching videos and working on documents, but it's even better for imaging. When the camera is activated--a single touch of a button---the entire 65,000-color transflective display is transformed into a viewfinder.

Image resolution goes up to 640 x 480 pixels, which is similar to most such cameras. While photographs appear alright on the Xda II, you can see a bit of noise when viewing them on the desktop.

The latest crop of handhelds running on Intel's PXA263 400MHz processors have delivered strong numbers on our performance benchmarks. The Xda II is no different, chalking up a good score of 1,318 on the Spb Benchmark. This is comparable to the best-performing handhelds on the market.

The Xda II also comes with a sizeable 128MB of RAM. The new SDIO slot allows you to add both additional memory and accessories.

At the same time, battery life is pretty average, lasting us one to two days of normal usage. It's fortunate O2 offers a removable battery so you can always bring spare ones on road trips.

Conclusion
At S$1,528 without service, the Xda II is almost the price of notebook. You can buy a nice PDA and a phone for that kind of money. Then again, the Xda II isn't for everyone anyway. If you're really looking for a phone part-timing as a handheld, the Xda II will be too big, too clumsy, and too expensive for you. You may instead be better served by the Handspring Treo 600, the upcoming Sony Ericsson P900, or phone-and-handheld combos.

However, the Xda II works if you are a true mobile warrior--the type who drafts reports in a taxi, surfs the Web while having lunch, and has both pockets stuffed with gadgets. The Microsoft Pocket PC's polished PIM interface, the awesome feature set, and the large, gorgeous display make this machine a truly viable one-piece mobile office.

 
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