44 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

I'm happy to present my unboxing video of the Benq E72!

The 'whoodjameEeseventywhatsit' I hear you say? Well, that's an understandable reaction, but the E72 is a very interesting device (for me at least). Here's why!

First things first, this unit is one of the first retail boxes to ship, and is delivered to me directly from Taiwan. Secondly, it's a Smartphone (we like those), and thirdly - and here's the biggie - it's quite groundbreaking.

Let's look at the specs...

• Windows Mobile 6 standard
  
• TI OMAP1030 260 MHz CPU
  
• Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900MHz
  
• 2" QVGA screen
  
• 2.0MP Camera
  
• 128MB ROM / 64MB RAM
  
• microSD expansion
  
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
  
• WiFi with optional UMA support
  
• 108mm x 46.3mm x 13.8mm (it's small!)
  
• 88g
  

So what's exciting? First off is the price point. When this baby hits our markets (which is rumoured to be happening in Q1 this year), it'll be aimed at a price point you've not traditionally seen Smartphones at, and it's supposed to take the fight squarely to the mass market featurephones. This is made possible by the first WM implementation of the low cost TI OMAP1030 chipset, which brings considerable price v performance v power improvements over other alternatives. Finally is the size. It's a 2" screen, the smallest we've seen on a Smartphone, but that's because the device itself is so darned small! Check out the unboxing below and see it next to the T-Mobile Shadow to see what I mean.

I'm glad i have it as a companion to my more powerful devices, and hope it can succeed where the HTC S310 has failed... in the low cost Windows Mobile market. What's your take on the device?

Enjoy

P

[Monolithix]

I have a HTC S310 which i love as a backup device, small and simple, does the job.  The E72 looks like the perfect upgrade to this, and isnt a far cry from our "ideal" keyboardless Vox, just a shame that while the screen is fantastic, it is a little small!

[jimbouk]

You are such a tease!

Three minutes 12 until we even get a sneak at the handset!


Looks good though. I want a cheap small smartphone as a backup!

[jchamier]

Paul (MVP), on Jan 14 2008, 17:44, said:

I'm glad i have it as a companion to my more powerful devices, and hope it can succeed where the HTC S310 has failed... in the low cost Windows Mobile market. What's your take on the device?

Looks a good size and quite usable, but we need the networks (T-mob UK!) to do dual-SIM on same account/number, to support this properly.

[chucky.egg]

Looks to be about the same size as a Tornado.
Is it just me or is it a bit ... yawn?

And either I've been watching too much Most Haunted (10 mins is too much TBH) or there's a really scary looking ghostly face peering out of the screen too!  Eeek!

[Monolithix]

Heheh.  I think the pricepoint along with WinMo6+Wifi makes it an interesting device?

[Luckyfox]

nice video, thx, can you make a dump of rom so we can take those useful things at the bottom of home for our Tornados?

[PaulOBrien]

Er, no.

I actually think it's preinstalled with SBSH Facade, and that's a facade homescreen!

P

[Luckyfox]

Paul (MVP), on Jan 15 2008, 13:43, said:

Er, no.

I actually think it's preinstalled with SBSH Facade, and that's a facade homescreen!

P

than, if u can, please upload somewhere the actual home.xml with wallpaper

[alpineone]

Paul (MVP), on Jan 15 2008, 12:43, said:

Er, no.

I actually think it's preinstalled with SBSH Facade, and that's a facade homescreen!

P

  Look like flash for me.

[PaulOBrien]

I saw a facade reference on the device somewhere...

P

[alpineone]

Yep, device got the facade (afterall that was mentioned here)

Seeing is believing:

[Luckyfox]

Paul (MVP), on Jan 15 2008, 14:43, said:

I saw a facade reference on the device somewhere...

P

i verified on one taiwanese site, http://www.mobile01....?f=175&t=437091, this home screen with changing wallpaper in matter of period of the day(morning,evening,etc) is not facade.

Edited by Luckyfox, 15 January 2008 - 01:45 PM.

[Pop2k]

chucky.egg, on Jan 15 2008, 00:02, said:

Looks to be about the same size as a Tornado.
Is it just me or is it a bit ... yawn?

Yeah, seems like an updated Tornado to me, though much too little of an update to justify the upgrade from a Tornado. Would've been nice 2 years ago.

[Monolithix]

Out of interest, what would justify an upgrade?

[e-v@n]

Isn't Skype hidden under 'Instant Message'?

[Pop2k]

Monolithix, on Jan 15 2008, 22:52, said:

Out of interest, what would justify an upgrade?

Let's see, judging by the official spec's ( http://www.benq.com/...=specifications ) I'd say:

To prevent any kind of downgrade, the E76 would need to have:
Same screen size (What's with that wasted space on a fat plastic bezel on the E72?)
3.5 or at least 2.5mm audio jack (Using my phone as mp3 player all the time so this is a must.)
Same battery capacity (1150mah on Tornado vs. 900mah on E72, though that might be irrelevant if it uses less energy.)
Non-glossy surface (I just hate glossy gadgets.)

Missing features that'd mean an actual upgrade:
Transflective TFT (Almost all Nokias have them, why can't WinMo's? So annoying being unable to read the screen in sunlight.)
microSDHC support (Off. spec's say "up to 2gb" so guessing from that it lacks sdhc just like the Tornado?)
GPS (Judging by the announced phones, it's gonna be harder to find a smartphone without GPS than one with GPS this year!)
Decent quality cam (Let's say a 3mpx autofocus cam with decent lens e.g.? Thought the Tornado's crappy cam wouldn't matter but I've often cursed myself for that.)


The two devices are nearly identical. Size and weight differ a wee bit (E76 is just -16g, thinner, slightly broader, same length), camera got minimaly upgraded (though I doubt that one's any good), CPU updated (? no idea if that new cpu's better or just less expensive) and price apparently got lowered (no wonder at those specs but you can also get a Tornado for realy little money by now). WM6 ofc is officially an upgrade but then, anyone who realy wants that has had it on their Tornado for about 6 months anyways. Best thing probably is that they replaced the joystick with a pad. Good lord, I won't ever again buy another joystick equipped phone.

It's certainly a good phone - as WinMo entry device and to compete with feature phones, especially if it's realy low priced. But judging by the downgraded features vs. the minor update, I'd say anyone owning a Tornado is wasting money buying the E76.

Edited by Pop2k, 16 January 2008 - 02:20 PM.

[Monolithix]

I see, interesting.  Also interesting how all manufacturers seem to have dropped 2.5 or 3.5mm jack sockets, maybe because of how unreliable they are?  The screen size is disapointing, especially after devices like the Vox have been made available.

Fair points on the TFT and SDHC, although interestingly Eten have enabled SDHC on their older devices via a software update.  As for GPS, there seem to have been issues getting this working out of the box, maybe its just the lack of GPSID config app until recently.  It'll be interesting to see how common a feature this really does become.

As for cameras, don't get me started   The Kasier has the only camera worth talking about, and to be honest, there are only a few dumbphones with anything like passible cameras.  If HTC/Samsung/Moto/Benq get their act together and sort out the cameras they could be on to a winner.

[PaulOBrien]

This device is all about cutting costs, and we'll see that I think when it comes to market with operators (hopefully!)

P

[Pop2k]

Price will be intersting to see. After all, Orange (Switzerland) even tried to cash quite some on the S310. Used to cost more than many much better equipped feature phones.

Monolithix, on Jan 16 2008, 11:13, said:

Also interesting how all manufacturers seem to have dropped 2.5 or 3.5mm jack sockets, maybe because of how unreliable they are?

Are they? Only had audio jack problems with 2 devices: The first was a dirt cheap walkman in the late 80ies, the other a first gen diskman in the early 90ies. Since then, nada. Also, it seems to be just the WinMo device manufacturers that keep them out. Nokia keeps adding them to new devices all the time (and not just some half-assed 2.5'ers but full size ones).

Maybe it's got something to do with the Omap cpu's? Maybe they can put out audio over usb directly but need an additional chip for audio jack out? More probably though is that the manufacturers just save a few ¢ on each device, sell it for the price as if it had all the features, then cash again by selling usb-audio adapters.
The biggest concern I'd have about using such an adapter on a daily basis is that if an audio jack would fail it aint a big deal (no more audio) but if the usb breaks the phone get's crippled beyond usability (no more charge, synch, audio). And yes, I've had more than one broken usb connector in the past. Even the one from my C600 is starting to act up.

Quote

If HTC/Samsung/Moto/Benq get their act together and sort out the cameras they could be on to a winner.

Your words in their ears. It's realy not that hard to build a great device. They could've done so time and again in the past few years and would by now have more than just the biz phone market in their hands. But instead it's one half-baked device after the other.
I had planned to replace my C600 a year ago already, yet not a single device came out that I'd thought worthy investing my money in (and at the prices smartphones of any kind cost it realy is an investment). Now my phone starts fading away (battery, usb connector) so I'll be forced to upgrade soon. As it looks, I might need to switch back to Nokia again. N82 seems to be the ripest hardware on the market atm., even if the price tag is unfriendly.
On the other hand I could go for a less expensive, feature-rich dumbphone .... which is so not going to happen.