O2 Xda Atom

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Features
This is not the first Windows Mobile 5.0 device and most people are already familiar with the enhancements such as its revamped Office applications. Instead of Pocket Word and Excel, you now have Word Mobile and Excel Mobile, with added support for embedded images, tables and charts.

By integrating wireless LAN into the Atom, O2 has finally resolved one of the biggest complaints from Xda II mini owners--the lack of onboard Wi-Fi. Previously, mini users had to buy an additional SDIO Wi-Fi card which took up precious SD expansion slot space in order to enjoy wireless connectivity.

With the Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, the Atom enables users to watch encoded videos as they commute� if they do not mind the sluggish video playback. Music playback, as expected, is of satisfactory quality. The stereo speakers located near the directional pad packs quite a punch when you play MP3s out loud. However, we noticed the speakers cracking up at the volume of 75 percent and above. Another glitch we discovered when we set the phone to vibrate or silent mode was a buzzing sound where audio was supposed to play. This was evident when you played Bubble Breaker in vibrate or silent mode. With game sounds turned on, do take note that there are two volume controls on the Atom: The main volume control that comes standard on all Pocket PC phones; and the volume control within the Equalizer application. If you should detect that volume is too soft, do ensure that both volume controls have been adjusted to optimal levels.

The radio feature is activated as with any other application on the Atom. It can be configured to one of the four reconfigurable buttons if it's a function you use often. However, the earphone must be connected to activate the FM radio, much like most phones and MP3 players with FM radio, as this works as an antenna.

Disappointingly, the receiving party tends to hear echoes during a call and picks up too much environmental noise. There were also a few occasions when calls were unexpectedly disconnected due to weak signals; for example, when commuting on the train.

Another interesting anomaly we found was persistent vibration when the PDA-phone was switched off amidst SMS notification in vibrate mode. We wonder if it's a special feature that prompts the user to respond immediately with its continuous buzzing or simply a hardware hiccup.

The speaker function is activated by holding on to the talk button. Surprisingly, it is quite an improvement from the Xda II mini. Likewise, the Atom's 2-megapixel camera takes better pictures and provides a strong blinding flash for taking photographs in low-light condition. However, we found the photos a tad noisy under dim lighting.

Its 128MB of ROM is sufficient for a normal user. Power users can simply purchase a high-capacity miniSD card and install more applications on the media. The Atom also comes with persistent storage which retains all your data when the battery runs out.

O2 has also provided some software of its own. Two noteworthy ones are O2 MediaPlus and O2 SMS Plus. The O2 MediaPlus is an all-encompassing application that enables the user to play any video, music, FM radio or view pictures in a user interface that's akin to the Windows Media Center PC style. O2 SMS plus, on the other hand, is an interesting SMS software that allows you to text message in a chat-style format.