JAMin first impressions

[Guest Toonie]

Hi,

Thanks to the feedback on my earlier posts, I finally splashed out at Expansys and bought one. I thought I should al least post my initial findings.

Before I start, I thought I'd list my previous WM devices I have used, just for a little perspective. I have an iPAQ H4150, which I absolutely loved, despite its shortcomings. This bit the dust a year ago when I had an accident whilst it was in my pocket. I had the screen replaced, but has never been the same since. Hence I was in the market for a new PocketPC style device. I have also owned an SP3, when eventually went back because it failed, and after repeated repair attempts I got my money back. A nice phone but build quality was not the best. I currently have an SP3i, which is better, but joystick and keypad are not great.

Anyway, back to the JAMin. Initial reaction to opening the box, are of a very nicely built device. I was a bit shocked with the feel of the digitiser, as the stylus seemed to drag awkwardly across the screen. This wore off very quickly so I put it down to the screen protector leaving behind a residue which just came off as I used it. The screen is very good, and I really like the buttonpad at the bottom.

Now that I've been using it for just over a week now, these are my findings. Things I like are:

Screen, nice bright and clear.

Digitiser, nice feel, and is precise, once the initial problem resolved itself (see above).

Very good GSM reception.

Very stable OS, the old WM2003 in the old H4150 would cause problems and switch off from time to time.

Pocket IE in WM5 is a definite improvement. Not perfect but definitely better.

Buttonpad, Navigating is so easy without needing to use the digitiser much.

Wireless / BT App, It's only a small thing, but it makes turning on and off WiFi / BT a breeze.

Camera, the pictures are then best I've seen from a cameraphone of any kind, and is good in low light levels, despite not having flash.

Landscape mode.

Things I don't like are:

Sound quality, the built in speaker is poor, so is the earpiece. The headphone output (using an adaptor cable) is definitely not as good as the old iPAQ, which was pretty much HiFi quality.

Slow processor, It is fast enough for a lot of things, but for instance, the built in Skype app clearly needs more power. So does PIE at times.

WiFi signal strength, Although the GSM quality of very good, WiFi is definitely inferior to anything else I've used. I guess this is to save power?

WM5 compatibility. I was surprised by how many times this caught me out. I have recently bought a BT GPS device, and wanted to try out some freeware / shareware apps to test with it. I have yet to find s/w to work in this, though everything worked OK on the H4150.

Contacts, I seem not to be able to show list with first names first, as with H4150 and the SP3 (unless someone can show me how?).

ActiveStink (sorry, Activesync), I have always hated having to use this app to transfer stuff, but at least v3.8 worked. V4.1 (needed for WM5) is a pain to get set up, and I'm still struggling. Why oh why did they have to muck with something that worked better before???

T9 input not as good as on the SP3.

Overall I get the impression that this device is the jack of all trades and the master of none, though I have to say, that I am still very pleased with it, even though I do have some issues with it, I can say that I definitely don't regret buying it.

Best Regards,

Toonie.

[Guest skiitz]

WiFi signal strength, Although the GSM quality of very good, WiFi is definitely inferior to anything else I've used. I guess this is to save power?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dont know if you know, however you can set 3 different strengths or power levels for WiFi

Press the connection manager button on the left side

*Tap settings

*Tap WiFi settings

*Tap the "Power Mode" at the bottom

*And from there you can select how you would like WiFi to work, Good Performance or Good Battery

Hope this Helps

[Guest Toonie]

Dont know if you know, however you can set 3 different strengths  or power levels for WiFi

Hi,

Thanks for the reply! Perhaps I should have mentioned, but yes, I do have it set to Best Performance. I find that when I turn on WiFi, I have to turn it off and back on a few times before it connects. If I move to the room where the access point is, it's OK. When I use my old iPAQ, it works every time, and I get 2 bars show up in the strength indicator.

Cheers,

Toonie.