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O2 Xda Stealth

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By Reuben Lee, CNET Asia
Sep 13, 2006

It's not the first PDA-phone with a number keypad, but the design of the O2 Xda Stealth (particularly the slide-out numeric buttons) does share an uncanny resemblance to Samsung's earlier slider handsets. Feature-wise, the Stealth, however, takes after its predecessor, the Atom. There's a QVGA (320 x 240-pixel) display, Intel Xscale 416MHz processor, 2-megapixel camera and triband GSM support.

Upside:
The Stealth is possibly O2's first PDA-phone with a number keypad. Like the Asus P525, the decision to include a number keypad, instead of a QWERTY keypad, seems to be catching on among handheld makers. While it may add a slight bulk to the overall size of the device, the inclusion of a number keypad simply beats having to dial or SMS on the touchscreen display.


O2's new slider
In the case of the Stealth, it is 8mm longer, 5mm narrower and 4mm thicker than the original Atom. Compared with the Dopod 838 Pro with QWERTY keypad, the Stealth has a smaller footprint and weighs just 140g. That's the same weight as the Atom and almost 36g less than the 838 Pro.

We like how O2 has designed the Stealth to look like a slider-phone, which may just be enough to convince those still procrastinating over the traditional PDA form factor to finally switch over to a PDA-phone.

O2 has made several improvements to the hardware on the Stealth. While the display, processor and camera have remained pretty much the same as the Atom, the new handheld now comes with a larger (192MB) ROM memory and wireless 802.11b/g Wi-Fi support. Other noteworthy features include a stereo speaker, speakerphone function, Bluetooth v1.2 with A2DP profile and miniSD card slot.

As with most of the recently introduced handhelds, the O2 will also be bundled with the Messaging and Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0, which adds functions such as push email on the device.

Downside:
With the addition of a keypad, but only a marginal increase in size, something has to give. The most prominent tradeoff is the smaller 65K-color 2.4-inch touch screen. In comparison, the Atom sports a 2.7-inch display with 262K-color support. The Stealth also comes with a smaller capacity Lithium-ion battery (1,300mAh versus the Atom's 1,530mAh.)

We were slightly disappointed to find a USB 1.1 port which doubles as a charging port. According to the specs sheet given, the Stealth will also not be equipped with onboard FM radio.

Outlook:
Despite the tradeoffs, the O2 Xda Stealth looks promising as it gives consumers the option to use an actual number keypad for phone functions instead of the touch screen, while not adding too much bulk to the overall size of the device like most QWERTY-enabled handhelds. Expect the Stealth to hit the market in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for our full review.