Wizard Experience

[Guest jonhitch]

Well I've had my Wizard (Qtek 9100) for a couple of days and thought I'd share my opinion for those perhaps waiting for theirs or trying to decide whether this is the device for you.

Firstly this is a good looking device. I wasn't as impressed when I saw the first pre-release photos (have liked the look of the JAM). The specs meant that this wasn't that important! I prefered the look of the Qtek 9100 and hence selected that (price was a contributing factor too!)

This device seems very well designed and put together. I can't see a problem with this falling apart. The only negatives I've heard refer to the logos fading - not a huge problem. the keyboard sliding mechanism is very secure and 'clips' into place very reassuringly. The stylus (although small) also seems well made and a 'spare' is included in the box.

Performance wise I'm very impressed so far. I haven't felt this slow down due to having too many apps open and have yet to have to soft reset - except for when asked to for changing some WM5 option. A number of people have reported stability problems but I've had none. I think the key thing is to only install programs that support WM5.

So a very positive opinion so far! Yes! What can be improved? I think a few of the accessories could be better. The headphones (although they sound good) do look quite tacky. I'll be getting a bluetooth headset soon. Also the only thing that would have been good in the box is a car charger - will have to try and find one!

[Guest ajfoggy]

Hi, you know the Stylus extends???

It took me a couple of days to realise

;) :D

[Guest Rob.P]

^ lol, only reason I knew it exteneded is because I had read about it before, if I hadn't I think I would have only found out after time ;)

I have had reason to give it a few soft resets, mainly due to me messing about with settings and trying to get various things to talk to the Wizard and vice versa. The one thing I will addis that switching the device off has almost never failed, I once had to remove the battery the rest of the time I always got the shutdown confirmation dialog, which I found quite reassuring.

The processor power seems enough as well, I have used the device a number of times on WiFi at home and connected to my Nero MediaHome network. The streaming of video and playback has always been faultless, just need to wait a day or so more and the 1GB MiniSD will be a great addition to the device.

As much as I love the wizard, I can still see a number of improvements that could be addressed with a software update, looking forward to that.

Edited October 27, 2005 by Rob.P

[Guest mrdo]

i'm pretty happy with my wizard too.

so far, my only glitches are :

the backlight on the keyboard makes me feel drunk in normal lighting conditions and there doesn't appear to be a way to switch it off.

the lack of an indicator to let you know when caps/symbol lock is switched on. i know this can be enabled by a reg hack but why is this disabled ?

bt - i can't sync via bt with my laptop. and since sync via wifi is disabled, that leaves me with ir (which doesn't seem to work reliably for me either) or usb. any tips ?

some wm5 apps take an age to load from scratch - the calendar and the mail apps spring to mind. and i don't find the built-in calendar to be intuitive ...

apart from that i'm delighted - my mini-sd card finally arrived to i can now try and get some decent apps onto the thing ...

:-)

[Guest MitchellO]

I ordered my 512Mb miniSD card off eBay (AU$63) same day as I ordered the K-JAM. Should be here a week early.

[Guest bennish]

Man, talk about fast delivery! 2 days! I'd never heard of it before but if you're in aus, give anythingonline.com.au a try. was a little more expensive than expansys tho.

So anyway. I love this device. But because i'm such a negative person, first the problems:

1. The stylus is miniscule. Way too small. I'm used to the stylus on the eten m500, which felt like a small pen. This thing does even rest in my hand properly. Seeing as it's telescopic, why not 3 sections that telescope instead of 2? I looked on the net for any super-extendy ones, but to no avail.

2. I used to have my left soft key open start. Can't seem to do it on this one :D

3. NO CRADLE. 'nuff said.

4. ActiveSync remote won't recognise the os, so i can't do any screen caps or control from comp. ( i often like quickly sms-ing while the phone's in my pocket at work by using the remote).

Now the good stuff

It feels *great* - sits in my hand so well, i don't have to worry about the lens (it's not as sensitively placed as on the eten), it's got grip all over it. Definitely made for the active lifestyle that many pda phones don't enjoy.

NICE BIG BUTTONS - go and look at the buttons for the etenm500, they're impossible (dpad especially). i love the dpad on the kjam.

The screen is really nice, it has a plastic film over it (no not the cover i removed that). The colours are wonderful. The sound quality is also great.

Buttons buttons buttons! I love the number of buttons, but one complaint - the top two would work SOOO much better under the screen (between the softkeys and the phone keys, a-la smartphone).

WM5 rocks. I don't have to use the stylus if i don't want to ;) It seems like they've finally got it right.

The camera app is so easy to use and i'm certain it gives much better pics than my eten.

haven't really tested battery life yet. although so far it is performing better than my eten, i've had it bt synced most of the day, showing it off to workmates, installing things, and it's at 77%.

The speed is just fine. I guess i know mhz don't really matter these days but i was worried. It performs no faster or slower than my old m500 (400mhz).

All in all it's excellent. It's so nice being able to write on the keyboard but even without that, it's fine.

Thickness doesn't bother me one bit. It's smaller than the etenm500 and feels so comfy in your hand.

[Guest MitchellO]

Well, I just cancelled my order with expansys and placed an order with this Anythingonline mob. Gave them a call (they were still open at 5:45pm this arvo!), and they said they have 51 in stock ready to ship, and they will send mine out on Monday. Should receive wednesday!! Much better than the "should be available (not shipped, just available) after 10/11/2005" from expansys.

[Guest Exodia]

I havent had much time to play with mine, (had a 50" plasma tv arrive a day earlier so thats been taking up my play time) but so far its pretty good, i like it.

I dont have a mini sd card yet so i havent tested any videos or music.

Its feels very solid, although my "slide" has a wee but of play in it, nothing major though.

I like the fact that the buttons dont activate unless you power on the device. Far too often have i accidentally taken pics of the inside of my pocket. ;) I would like the "talk" button to wake it up though... is there a way to set that?

Im concerned about the battery life though, so far it seems no better than the jams.

I like mine. :D

BTW, i have the Qtek.

[Guest zen123]

Mines going back to Expansys on Monday. The wifi (on mine anyway) cannot pick up signal unless I'm very close to the router. Even when I'm in the same room as the router the signal strength meter doesn't show 100%.

Main reason I bought it was bcoz of the wifi capabilites & the fact that it is unable to pick up a signal even inside my house let alone the garden, renders the device unusable.

Maybe its just my example thats has this problem but I don't have another one to compare everything else I have connects just fine. so too bad.

[Guest MitchellO]

You can always ask for an exchange.

[Guest bennish]

Cool Mitchell, hope it arrives as quicky as mine did.

i'm really happy with batery life. much longer than the eten, but then i don't need to have it as bright as the eten... it just seems clearer and brighter somehow. maybe that's giving it an extra boost. but it lasts much longer i find.

I sort of solved my prob with start menu. i got smallmenu, and mapped my left softkey to the exe, so now i sort of get one. But still need to use the real start to get to settings.

Does anyone know how to make a shortcut to settings??

The stylus still bothers me. Surely there's a longer one possible.

And also has anyone successfully used buttonmapper on this device? it doesn't seem to like working on mine.

[Guest MitchellO]

I am soooooo looking forward to getting it. The guy I spoke to at AnythingOnline was really helpful. Was able to answer all my questions clearly, and most of all told me what I wanted to know: They had stock and would send on Monday!!! Its getting delivered to Sydney metro so Tuesday is likely.

[Guest zen123]

You can always ask for an exchange.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They are on back order at expansys. Also I bought it on contract of which I have 14 days to cancel otherwise I would be stuck with a 18 month contract & an unusable phone.

I'll probably buy another one later because its a lovely device.

[Guest MitchellO]

Sounds good to me.

[Guest mr_naughty]

To all those Wizard users out there, I have a question - your input would be appreciated!

I haven't used a Pocket PC before - my only mobile device has always been primarily a phone. My current phone is a C500, which is the best one I've ever had. I did use a pillow-shaped Pogo for a week, but sent it back. The device was an astonishing mobile web platform (this was 2001!), but was totally pants as a telephone. It was too big, too heavy, and required you to tap out the phone number with the stylus.

The question is this:

What is a Wizard like to use as a phone? Can you make a call with one hand, without getting the keyboard out? How easy is it to add a contact?

Edited November 2, 2005 by mr_naughty

[Guest MitchellO]

It's easy to dial a number on the K-JAM with only on hand. the dialer has big buttons that are easy to press with your fingers.

Adding a contact is easy with the keyboard too.

[Guest jonhitch]

Anyone else had Active sync issues? All was well when I first loaded and used however yesterday I had a nightmare! It just didn't want to connect and I tried everything. Soft reset, reboot computer, different cable etc! In the end I just copied over files using infrared.

[Guest mrdo]

4.1 worls fine with me although every now and again, i have to reboot to have my pc find the device. apart from that, perfect.

xp pro with sp2.

never been able to get activesync to work over bluetooth or even infrared however. sigh.

thankfully i can use wifi and resco explorer to map a network drive and transfer files that way.

Edited November 2, 2005 by mrdo

[Guest bretto]

Does anyone know how to make a shortcut to settings??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you want to go directly to the control panel applet this might help. (wm2005 might be slightly different)

In your shortcut put...

"\windows\cplmain.cpl,xx"

where xx is one of the following numbers :-

1. Password

2. Owner Info

3. Power

4. Memory

5. About

6. -

7. Screen

8. Input

9. Sound & Notifications

10. Remove Programs

11. Menus

12. Buttons

13. Today

14. -

15. Beam

16. Clock & Alarms

17. Configure Network Adaptors

18. Regional Settings

19. Connections

20. Phone Settings

21. -

22. Manage Certificates

23. Bluetooth

[Guest MitchellO]

I have just been syncing via BT because several times when I tried the cable it would lose the connection.

BT works very well.

[Guest bennish]

hmm doesn't seem to work... tap on it and it just does nothing.

[Guest bretto]

hmm doesn't seem to work... tap on it and it just does nothing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If your talking about the shortcut to control panel above try putting this into a text file called bluetooth.txt...

21#ctlpnl cplmain.cpl,23

...and then copy the bluetooth.txt file to bluetooth.lnk and copy to your desired ppc location.

After changing the extention to .lnk you probably wont be able to edit it again so thats why I say copy to .lnk and not rename.

[Guest jonhitch]

4.1 worls fine with me although every now and again, i have to reboot to have my pc find the device. apart from that, perfect.

xp pro with sp2.

never been able to get activesync to work over bluetooth or even infrared however. sigh.

thankfully i can use wifi and resco explorer to map a network drive and transfer files that way.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Aha - 4.1? I only have 4.0 - perhaps this could make a difference?

[Guest MitchellO]

I have v4.1 I think. Will have to check when I get home.

I sync with bluetooth though because WM5 makes it so easy!!!

[Guest nforsans]

has anybody got a problem with avantgo running on the wizard? for some reason, the sync with avantgo does not work with activesync 4. I can only sync avantgo from the device -open avantgo in the wizard, then select "sync". Doing it via activesync, I get an unresolved item message?

Same with you?