29 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

If you survey the picture to the right, you'll spot two of Glofiish's finest, together with the two devices they effectively replace. Two devices at complete opposite ends of the spectrum!

First we have the Glofiish X610, successor to the X600. This is very much an entry level device. Effectively a sexed-up re-cased X600 with a software bump to Windows Mobile 6.1 aimed primarily at emerging markets, the X610 features...

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
  
• Samsung SC3 2442 400 MHz Processor
  
• Quad band GPRS / EDGE
  
• 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM
  
• 2.8" QVGA screen (flush)
  
• 2 Megapixel fixed focus camera
  
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
  
• WiFi 802.11b/g
  
• SiRF III GPS with TMC support
  
• FM Radio
  
• microSD expansion
  
• 1530mAh battery
  
• 107 x 58 x 14.7 mm
  
• 134g

There's no denying that the trump card for the X610 should be it's pricing, which unfortunately is not yet available.

Secondly we have the V900, which is more in the mould of the X800. This is NOT an entry level device. When it comes to 'feature bingo', I suspect the V900 has just about every other device licked! Specs (deep breath!) are as follows:

• Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
  
  
• New generation Samsung S3C 6400 533 MHz Processor
  
• Tri band HSDPA / Quad Band GPRS/EDGE
  
• 256MB ROM, 128MB RAM
  
• 2.8" VGA screen (flush)
  
• 3MP auto-focus camera with additional front facing VGA camera for video calling
  
  
• VGA video recording
  
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
  
• WiFi 802.11b/g
  
• SiRF III GPS with TMC support
  
• FM Radio
  
  
• FM Transmitter
  
• TV tuner with DVB-T support for receiving FreeView in the UK
  
  
• Composite TV out support with cable included
  
• MicroSD expansion
  
• 1530mAh battery
  
• 106 (L) x 60.5 (W) x 17(18.15) (H) mm
  
• 147g

Sounds hot no?

The devices have literally just arrived so I can't really make much of a judgement yet, but feel free to fire your questions at me, and i'll do my best to answer them!

P

[UnLoCkSmItH]

You can send the V900 to me to test if you like lol

[FloatingFatMan]

Interesting that you've gotten hold of these two when they're not even on the market yet...

The V900 is a lovely device, but it's got some problems with its software as yet. What ROM version does your device have, out of interest?

[PaulOBrien]

050/0260a I believe...

P

[Monolithix]

The V900 looks a lot less pretteh than it did in the original renders we saw earlier this year

[PaulOBrien]

I think the design has stayed exactly the same...

P

[awarner]

Can you say in the original post what device is what?
Looking at the images on the boxes I can just make it out. I presume the other devices are the preivous models?

[PaulOBrien]

X800 -- V900

X600 -- X610

[FloatingFatMan]

Paul (MVP), on Sep 4 2008, 15:50, said:

050/0260a I believe...

P

It shipped with that ROM?  That was only released on the 29th!

Question. The joystick,  If you rotate it, does it stick a little in the 4 corners every once in a while?

BTW guys, seeing as Paul has only had his V900 for a day, feel free to ask me any questions you might have about it. I've had my review unit for about a month, so I know it pretty well by now.

Edited by FloatingFatMan, 05 September 2008 - 07:58 AM.

[PaulOBrien]

Shipped with that ROM!

Joystick seems fine, not that i'm a big fan of the sponginess mind!

P

[nuke]

- VGA recording is meant to be DVD quality. Is it fairly smooth in recording and is the quality good?
- Does everything seem to be compatible- all the hardware I mean?

[tonijj]

Rumors says that the joystick is being modified, so I think the device you have is still a beta Paul.

Here is the first review of the V900 for those who are interested:

http://www.winmobile....php?extend.402

[Menneisyys]

I'm pretty much interested in the battery life when used as a DVB-T receiver.

[not_sure]

Hello, expansys have a video link which shows this phone having dual sim facilities.  Can any one else confirm that this please.

http://www.expansys....d=1445&i=169615

[Menneisyys]

tonijj, on Sep 7 2008, 11:06, said:

Rumors says that the joystick is being modified, so I think the device you have is still a beta Paul.

Here is the first review of the V900 for those who are interested:

http://www.winmobile....php?extend.402

Thanks! Too bad no word on the battery life... also, I'd really like to know whether it also has hardware H.264 decoding, mostly for HD broadcasts. (Not that you would be able to see the difference on such a small-res screen. It's just that a given channel may only exist as HD in a given place, and not as SD.)

[tonijj]

Menneisyys, on Sep 7 2008, 23:43, said:

Thanks! Too bad no word on the battery life... also, I'd really like to know whether it also has hardware H.264 decoding, mostly for HD broadcasts. (Not that you would be able to see the difference on such a small-res screen. It's just that a given channel may only exist as HD in a given place, and not as SD.)

Regarding the battery life, I heard that the latest ROM (the one that Paul has) has improved the battery life substantially!

I would say that its satisfying when using the Mobile TV player, the DVB scanning doesnt take that much battery life from the unit.

This unit does not hold DUAL sim, that would be the coming DX900.

[FloatingFatMan]

nuke, on Sep 6 2008, 16:06, said:

- VGA recording is meant to be DVD quality. Is it fairly smooth in recording and is the quality good?

Sorry, afraid not.  No record function in the TV application as yet (and likely won't be), and the camcorder function currently only records to 3gp format, so 10-15 frames a second.  The hardware IS capable of more, and can playback a 640x480 DiVX file in Coreplayer perfectly, but for the moment, no DVD quality recording.  It's been raised with E-Ten though.

nuke, on Sep 6 2008, 16:06, said:

- Does everything seem to be compatible- all the hardware I mean?

Only found one bit of incompatibility with my Jabra BT2040 headset so far.  Everything else works great.

[FloatingFatMan]

Menneisyys, on Sep 7 2008, 22:43, said:

Thanks! Too bad no word on the battery life... also, I'd really like to know whether it also has hardware H.264 decoding, mostly for HD broadcasts. (Not that you would be able to see the difference on such a small-res screen. It's just that a given channel may only exist as HD in a given place, and not as SD.)

The battery life is pretty good, taking about 10% in about 40 minutes viewing in the TV appliation.

The CPU is apparently capable of H.264 decoding, but I've yet to actually find a HD transmission for it to receive; despite a fair bit of driving around.  Afraid I can't tell if it's able to actually decode such a signal because of this.

[Menneisyys]

FloatingFatMan, on Sep 8 2008, 09:54, said:

Sorry, afraid not.  No record function in the TV application as yet (and likely won't be)

How come? Even the lowest-end PCMCIA cards / USB sticks are able to do this (right nto MPEG2) and they don't need much CPU cover as they just save the transport stream (read: no MPEG encoding needed). And, of course, the Nokia N96 is also able to record all broadcasts (even if they're "only" DVB-H, meaning lower (quarter) resolution.)

FloatingFatMan, on Sep 8 2008, 09:54, said:

and the camcorder function currently only records to 3gp format, so 10-15 frames a second

This sucks too. Just take an example of the 1.5-year-old Nokia N95... I just don't understand why WinMo device manufacurers don't try to implement so good multimedia functionality as is available in the Nokias...

[Menneisyys]

FloatingFatMan, on Sep 8 2008, 10:00, said:

The battery life is pretty good, taking about 10% in about 40 minutes viewing in the TV appliation.

WOWZ! Impressive!!! (Just a comparison: according to some sources, the Nokia N96 - over DVB-H, which is supposed to be more battery-friendly - has worse battery life; so has the Nokia DVB-H BT module I've quickly reviewed in one of my MWC reports.

FloatingFatMan, on Sep 8 2008, 10:00, said:

The CPU is apparently capable of H.264 decoding, but I've yet to actually find a HD transmission for it to receive; despite a fair bit of driving around.  Afraid I can't tell if it's able to actually decode such a signal because of this.

Do you like in the UK? If you do, I quickly look up where HD transmissions are given from in London (it's named some "castle" or something like that). (Albeit I strongly suspect the device won't decode full HD (1080i) broadcasts. And, of course, the vast majority of current notebook DVB-T cards aren't H.264-compliant either...)