Guest Blakey Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 (edited) Seeing as the ETEN M500 doesn't have its own hardware specific section yet (Paul?) I figured I'd create this thread for people to post to. I got my M500 from Modoco shop when my JAM broke and they sent me the M500 as a replacement because they no longer sell the JAM. I'd owned the JAM for a few months I guess before it broke. First impressions (had it two or three days now): not bad at all. Not blown away, but not bad. It is: 1. Slightly bigger than the JAM. This is disappointing as the JAM's size was one of its major bonus factors. The ETEN is not that much bigger mind - just a few mm in each direction and an extra 20g. 2. Equipped with 128MB ROM. This is a major bonus over the JAM - I'm installing everything to ROM at the moment which means my RAM is free for running the machine - net result is that the ETEN seems faster than the JAM. I have also managed to load much of my data onto ROM - my mapopolis maps for example, and any map snippets I load from Memory Map when out using my GPS go into ROM. This probably means I have less need for storage on my SD card and I amn considering swapping my 1GB SD card for a Wifi card. Still thinking about this idea though. 3. Preloaded with lots of software. This includes some nifty and some not so nifty stuff. I like their fast dialing software and the way that when you press the Contacts button instead of getting contacts you get this screen of your most used numbers, ordered into how often you call them. These are selectable without resorting to pulling the stylus out. Pressing contacts again gives you an easy indexed selection of letters to pick a contact from - again usable with fingers. And pressing the contacts button a third time pops up the Contacts screen from the standard Pocket PC OS. I like this set up as its easier to find the people you normally phone. 4. Preloaded with a version of Voice Command. This is not the MS version and is not as powerful as the MS version, but it is free and preloaded into the OS. 5. Equipped with an okay quality camera. The camera quality is better than the JAM I think. Still not very good, but pretty acceptable. Issues: 1. I can't get it to ActiveSync via Bluetooth. This is always a bugbear and there are few enough ETENs out there that I've been unable to find a guide to get this going. 2. I don't think you can do SMS with one hand on the ETEN - the messaging system requires you to use the onscreen keyboard and stylus. I might see if there is an app I can downlaod to enable this. Seem to remember there being one for the JAM which would probably work. Anyone got one and have any further comments to make? Especially explaining to me how to get BT sync working?! ;) Cheers Blakey Edited May 27, 2005 by Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 (edited) Had a further play with the ETEN and have discovered one massive plus point for it over the JAM: it supports voice activated dialing over BT headset with the software which comes preloaded on it. On the Settings Menu, under Buttons. one of the buttons you can program is the "Bluetooth Headeset Button". You can program that to start Voice Commander (the built in voice software) or MS Voice Command if you have bought that, and do voice activated dialing without having to touch the ETEN phone itself at all. Perfect for driving, or for me when I'm out on my bike and don't want to get my phone out of my backpack to make a call. EDIT: Also, the BT stack appears to support playing of music through the BT headset (I have a Jabra BT250). The music quality is like listening down a telephone line, but you can definitely hear it fine. Not as good as proper headphones of course but an interesting step forward all the same. I wonder if there are good quality stereo BT headphones available? Also, I wonder how long the headset would actually last (battery wise) if I used it to listen to music for a few hours whilst cycling... Still haven't sussed BT Activesync but I have started a thread on HowardForums which I'm hoping will get my query answered - there seem to be more ETEN owners on that forum than here? Cheers Blakey Edited May 27, 2005 by Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nickcornaglia Posted May 23, 2005 Report Share Posted May 23, 2005 Hi Blakey: I like the M500 alot and almost bought one. Then the US Version of the Jam came out and I got that instead for a bit of a cost savings. Want to check some Registry Settings regarding the BT button settings?? HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > MICROSOFT > SHELL > KEYS > You should see Strings in there labled 4OC1, 4OC2, 4OC3, etc What are they? I'm wondering if we could duplicate this on the imate Jam. Thanks in advance. Nick Had a further play with the ETEN and have discovered one massive plus point for it over the JAM: it supports voice activated dialing over BT headset with the software which comes preloaded on it. On the Settings Menu, under Buttons. one of the buttons you can program is the "Bluetooth Headeset Button". You can program that to start Voice Commander (the built in voice software) or MS Voice Command if you have bought that, and do voice activated dialing without having to touch the ETEN phone itself at all. Perfect for driving, or for me when I'm out on my bike and don't want to get my phone out of my backpack to make a call. Still haven't sussed BT Activesync but I have started a thread on HowardForums which I'm hoping will get my query answered - there seem to be more ETEN owners on that forum than here? Cheers Blakey <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest supersha Posted May 23, 2005 Report Share Posted May 23, 2005 (edited) Hey Blakey - thanks for your thoughts on the M500...i've been thinking about getting a new device for quite some time now and seem to have gotten stuck between the Jam and the M500. i'd be all over the jam if it had wifi built in (why won't they make one with wifi built in already), and to hear you are having good results b/c of the 128 ram seems to have done the trick for me. thanks again and keep it coming. oh yeah...i know your's is a replacement for a jam...but can you recommend i go to buy an M500. sha... in the usa Edited May 23, 2005 by supersha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted May 24, 2005 Report Share Posted May 24, 2005 I find it difficult to recommend a ETEN over a JAM as I bought the JAM mostly because of its size and the ETEN is definitely slightly bigger. However the ETEN is definitely growing on me the more I use it. Took it away to Wales this weekend for a mountain biking weekend. I used Memory Map on it in conjunction with my Fortuna clip on BT GPS. With BT radio on but with the phone module switched off to save battery I was able to spend 5 1/2 hours on my mountiain bike in the hills and still only use about 50% of the battery!! That is superb going on the battery front. During that time I also took a few pictures and a small amount of video as well. Then on Monday night I was fortunate enough to go to the Millenium Stadium to watch the British Lions playing. I took my phone and was able to take quite a few pictures and videos. The quality of the pictures is really good, compared to the JAM - which I should point out I owned back when there was no ROM update to improve the quality - so the JAM might be loads better now. I would say that either the JAM or the ETEN are both superb machines and would recommend either!! Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nickcornaglia Posted May 24, 2005 Report Share Posted May 24, 2005 Blakey: Are you able to help on the button settings requested above? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 Hi Encece, Saw your post on HF too. Sorry, but I don't have a registry editor for my ETEN, so unless you can explain how to find these values out without one, I'm not sure I can help you? Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nickcornaglia Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/phmregistryeditor.shtml Here is a freeware registry editor program. Navigate to the above and let me know if you can get those settings. It's probably all for nothing but it may be worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted May 27, 2005 Report Share Posted May 27, 2005 Did you see people had responded to this on the HF forum? I guess that means it'snot going to work after all. Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest boyo69 Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Hi Blakey not sure you were fortunate on Monday night !!! what a display, hope they raise the game for the kiwis!!! anyway, can you tell me if the audio (in call) quality is better on the eten compared to the Jam??? i have always thought the Jam was a little on the quiet side.... i have upgraded roms but still find myself occasionally trying to press the phone harder to my ear to hear clearly !!! let me know, like the review and slowly leaning towards a trade in cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dinoalbert Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 guys, what exactly is the difference of the US version of the XDA2-mini (JAM) over the Asian version? Im planning to buy the XDA-mini here in the Philippines but Ive only heard now this US version in this thread.... @blakey thanks for the info on the new ETEN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nickcornaglia Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 US version has the 850MHz band for US use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dinoalbert Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 US version has the 850MHz band for US use. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> thanks, encece. I thought it has better camera and more memory space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 anyway, can you tell me if the audio (in call) quality is better on the eten compared to the Jam??? i have always thought the Jam was a little on the quiet side.... i have upgraded roms but still find myself occasionally trying to press the phone harder to my ear to hear clearly !!! Err, in all honesty, I'm not sure. I've never really had any issues with either. Though I definitely use my ETEN and Jam before as a PPC first and phone second, so the phone quality is not hugely important to me. I don't really use the phone all that much and I almost feel I'd be better off without a phone at all, and just having a PPC, but phones come in handy occasionally - so the combined option works well for me. Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ezman Posted June 1, 2005 Report Share Posted June 1, 2005 Hi iwas all set to go for the Jam/mda compact but now am wondering about the eten m500! how much difference does the memory advantage of the eten make? how much better than the jam are the etens specs? this will be my first oppc as i've got a treo 600 now. on the the treo it has a keyboard, how easy is data entry on the eten? thanks, ezman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 Memory advantage has definitely impressed me. Its wonderful being able to install all my Apps to the ROM (I only have three 3rd party apps though!) and also to be able to install all the local mapopolis maps, plus any OS maps I am using when out on my bike - all into ROM and have RAM completely free for running programs. I still have a 1 GB SD card in the ETEN to hold all my maps, and music, but am seriously considering swapping it for a Wifi card with less (or even no) memory. A few other little benefits I'm deffo noticing are voice activated dialing over BT headset (as I've mentioned before) and the wealth of inbuilt software like the Voice Commander, the Backup Utility, the Battery Bar on the menu bar, and Quick Link, a launcher program - all come as part of the standard ROM package from ETEN. That's meant that all I've installed has been Mapopolis, Memory Map and Mobipocket Reader. That's resulted in an extremely stable machine which I've never had to hard boot and which has only needed a soft reset about 3 times since I've had it. Very stable. I still maintain that the JAM's major advantage over the ETEN is size, but the ETEN is still small compared to the PDA2K and others in its class. As to dataentry, well its simple if you are happy to get out the stylus and use the onscreen keyboard. I'm totally happy to do that when I want to write a text. You don't need to get your stylus out to make calls as there is great (again in-built!!) software for dialing people - it pops up the most frequently called numbers first and then an index. And if you just want to dial a number direct the on screen keypad is great and can be used with a finger/thumb. And, as I said before voice activated dialing also works which is rather handy if you don't mind talking to your phone. The JAM does have a built in SMS keypad thing for sending T9 SMS via the touch screen using thumb/fingers. The ETEN definitely does miss such a thing but no doubt you can always find a 3rd party app for that. One final note: I know that any machine with 64Mb ROM will never be able to be upgraded to Win Mob 5.0 - so the JAM will not be upgraded. However there is a small chance that the ETEN *could* be as it does have 128Mb ROM. I haven't heard of anyone doing so yet and I have no idea if it will ever be officially upgraded but its possibly something to think about. Personally, I'm slowly coming to think the ETEN is better than the JAM, but I would highly recommend either. Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dinoalbert Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 but I have read that the JAM's RAM ;) can be upgraded right? I read it here: http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3450.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted June 2, 2005 Report Share Posted June 2, 2005 Yes, its RAM can be upgraded - but AFAIK it needs 128 MB **ROM** (not RAM) to be able to use Win Mob 5.0. JAM has 64Mb ROM. ETEN has 128Mb ROM. Disclaimer: I know nothing! I'm only repeating what I've heard elsewhere. Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Update: I'm starting to get a little fed up with the reception of the ETEN M500. I have my Orange UK SIM in it and I really struggle to get a signal at home and at work. Even in the rest of the country the signal strength is low. I think it's worse than my old E200, but I can't be sure. It's definitely shed loads worse than my girlfriend's signal on her O2 Nokia phone. She always has superb signal strength. Am starting to contemplate going back to separate phone and PDA options because the phone side of my ETEN is not very good - I miss loads of calls. Am also considering picking up an O2 PAYG SIM and sticking that in and seeing if I get a big improvement over Orange. Anyone else comment on the reception on the ETEN? Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lorismarcos Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Hi iwas all set to go for the Jam/mda compact but now am wondering about the eten m500! how much difference does the memory advantage of the eten make? how much better than the jam are the etens specs? this will be my first oppc as i've got a treo 600 now. on the the treo it has a keyboard, how easy is data entry on the eten? thanks, ezman <{POST_SNAPBACK}> check this out http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/review/eten-m500-en.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 In an effort to improve my reception I've ordered an O2 SIM for my ETEN. I've a sneaking feeling that its just Orange in my neck of the woods which is rubbish - I've never had good reception at home with my E200, JAM or ETEN. It looks like O2 is better there than Orange... Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pondrew Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 In an effort to improve my reception I've ordered an O2 SIM for my ETEN. I've a sneaking feeling that its just Orange in my neck of the woods which is rubbish - I've never had good reception at home with my E200, JAM or ETEN. It looks like O2 is better there than Orange... Blakey <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's the reason I left Orange for T-Mobile. The Orange signal where I live has always been absolutely awful. T-Mobile is only a little better but it's enough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest evoX Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 hi may i know how you charge eten? Is not using mini usb right? So must use sync cable together with charger? I got an offfer for eten m500 and charger only, i worried it cant be charged.... thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul [MVP] Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 You need at least the M500 and the sync cable, can charge over USB, but even mains charge needs that cable. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blakey Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 News: The ETEN M500 will be upgraded to Win Mob 5.0. Over on Howard Forums at least two people have quoted emails from ETEN saying that they are working on upgrades to Win Mob 5.0 for the ETEN M500. Of course that means that me saying this is about 3rd or 4th hand reporting, but there you go. Take it as perhaps a strong rumour? As it stands, I'm still not totally convinced as to what I'd gain by such an upgrade over what I have now. I'm pretty happy with my current ETEN to be honest! Cheers Blakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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