Windows Mobile 5 O2 Atom

[Mekong]

Well after what seems like weeks of contemplating it, I finaly decided that it was time to upgrade the O2 mini in favour of the new Atom.

 

The reason for holding back was due to the number of unresolved issues that there were with the ROM which has gone through nmerous upgrades since initial release last November and the latest version 20060123B1WWE seems to have solved many of the issues such as sluggish response hanging applications etc.

 

I must admit it is not the most user friendly PDA to use / set up and the installed OS is rather light, for example only supports Bluetooth 1.1 and 1.2 but a bit of surfing enanble me to locate a Bluetooth 2.0 patch, basicaly its UP2U what you install and how you configure it based on your individual requirements.

 

Now I have it set up pretty much as I require I have been putting it through its paces and it is quite impressive. This damn thing is smaller than the Mini yet the secreen is only 0.1" smaller then the XDAii, but the real power is Wifi. Now I am not saying I choose to go to certain establishments based on the fact that they have free wifi, it just so happens that the places I go to such as X-Change and Robin Hood in BKK or Shennaigans and Jamesons in Pattaya happen to have free wifi, and this baby goes online with ease in Robin Hood yesterday I was gtting far higher data transfer rates over their free wifi than I have ever experienced with EDGE.

 

Bundled software that comes with the Atom includes latest version of Activesync 4.1 which not gives faster transfer rates between PDA and chosen home base server either via USB port, Wifi, Infrared or Bluetooth but also allows you to connect direct to the net USB or Bluetooth if your server is online, top and bottom of it is that the old O2 Mini (or should I say the wifes new Mini) to browse the NET via bluetooth. We also found that if I have wifi connection the Mrs can bluetooth pair with me and surf thru my Atom, it can handle wifi and bluetooth connections at the same time and act as a server.

 

These are just its "TOY" benifits, workwise for me it is an even far more powerful tool but I wont bore you with that crap. Unfortunatley it is only available in Asia and Australia at the moment, it appears we are the guinea pigs used to beta test WM5 and iron out all the bugs before mass release, but I do believe that it will be available in EU / USA in 2-3 months carrying a Hewlett Packard case.

 

You can check it out hereATOM

 

Off to find what other tricks I can get up to with it ::