O2 Xda Atom Life

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Features
As we mentioned earlier, the Atom Life runs on Windows Mobile 5.0, so you get the standard office applications such as Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile to create new, edit and view Word and Excel documents on the move. You cannot to edit PowerPoint slides with the application, yet, but you can rehearse for your presentation while on the way to your next destination.

Face it, no one wants to carry a dodgy, 1980s era mobile around these days. A flashy handheld that ups your fashion quotient is almost a prerequisite, but the innards that power the handset complete the equation. Here, the Atom Life runs on the Intel XScale processor at 624MHz, inching it ahead of the comparatively slower 520MHz Atom Exec. While you cannot specify what speed the processor should run at, you can select for better performance or power in the CPU profile. Flash memory also got a generous five-fold increase from 192MB to 1GB on the Atom Life--that's about 250 MP3 tracks of 4MB each for your daily dose of music.

Connectivity-wise, the triband (900/1800/1900MHz) Atom Life is a bundle of joy. There's 3G and HSDPA (High-speed Downlink Packet Access) which is capable of reaching claimed speeds of up to 3.6Mbps. The catch is you'll have to subscribe to a data plan with your local telco. Alternatively, you can tap on Wi-Fi networks via the wireless manager if you're near a hotspot. The thing about hotspots is they are usually detected only within a certain perimeter and, once you're out of the zone, the signals drop and the handheld will automatically try to connect to a GPRS network instead. If you're browsing graphics-intensive sites, be prepared to wait slightly for the pages to load.

There's also the more mundane infrared and Bluetooth; the latter supports Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) for streaming to your Bluetooth stereo headset. O2 bundles a travel adapter with four plugs (UK, US, EU, AU) for use in different countries and connects to the Atom Life via miniUSB, the same port used for synchronization with ActiveSync. Synchronization with our desktop and Outlook is a breeze. Once connected, the program is activated and goes on to sync data between the two terminals and, at the same time, trickle charge the handheld. You can also synchronize with an Exchange server and the Atom is Direct Push-enabled so your emails are delivered to your handheld once the server receives it.

Other entertainment goodies include an FM radio and a 2-megapixel camera. The bundled headset which doubles as the antenna for FM reception, goes into the 2.5mm hole beside the miniUSB port. During our tests, the Atom Life managed to detect most, if not all, of the free-to-air frequencies. If the station supports Radio Data System (RDS), then you'll also get the station name and its genre on the screen.

On the digital imaging aspect, don't expect the Atom Life to replace your compact digital camera with its barebones feature set and average image quality. Pressing the camera and video key activates the 2-megapixel shooter on the rear and the screen promptly changes to landscape orientation. Although you can still adjust settings such as white balance, saturation, contrast and sharpness, at 1,280 x 1,024 and 1,600 x 1,200 resolutions, you cannot zoom in on your snaps. If for any reason your photos didn't turn out the way you wanted them to, there's an Image Editor program that won't perform miracles, but will save your shots with fancy frames and clipart.

	The O2 Media Plus allows you to access and categorize all your multimedia files on a single interface.

Several programs come preinstalled on the Atom Life. If you live your life in a mess (or simply cannot be bothered most of the time), you'll appreciate the O2 MediaPlus--a single interface from which you can access and categorize all your multimedia files. There's a hard button on the control pad on the face of the handheld for this purpose, but it doesn't light up like the Call, End keys and the soft buttons. You don't need a rocket scientist to figure out how the application works. For example, in My Music, selecting the update library option prompts the handheld to search and add music files to the library. Pressing up/down on the circular navigation dial cycles between the various folders and the center button confirms your selection. Or you can also go the idiot-proof way of tapping on the screen with the stylus.

Other useful applications such as the O2 Connect keep your Atom up-to-date with software upgrades and downloads; the O2 SMS Plus allows you to schedule when a particular text message should be delivered--especially important if you want to score brownie points with your other half to show that you actually remembered when was the first time you kissed her. There's also an Equalizer program but it doesn't work with A2DP.

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