eXpansys / MWg drop price of the Atom Life to £199

[Guest Metoo]

Thanks for the info on the memory expansion. I am definitely interested in this phone, but seeing negative posts here and on the web is scaring me very much.

I saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LduuzSYpK3o. Can anyone validate whether this guy's video posting has any truth to it? Ie. when charging device, you cannot use it to send/receive calls.

It appears as though a lot of the complaints found on Youtube and on various sites are from the same guy...

All the same, every site that has user feedback on the Life has plenty of similar complaints, and they can't all be from the same guy!

I can't seriously believe the phone has suddenly become ultra reliable just by adding a sticker on the front.

Like I said, stock doesn't get sold off cheap without good reason. After all, the Life spec still holds its own against much higher priced competitiors. Draw your own conclusions why Expansys are dumping them at a knock-down price.

Edited March 1, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest Sudhir K]

Well I've taken the plunge and ordered one too - plus a 4Gb MiniSD SDHC card (and already downloaded the patch to enable SDHC). :(

It's also goodbye T-Mobile as I've signed up with O2 on a SIM only contract - £25 a month for 600 xNet minutes, 1000 texts and unlimited internet, and 30 day rolling contract. Not bad! :D

hey could you point to an online retailer sellin the 4GB miniSD SDHC card because most sites are only givin out SD HC or microSD sdhc no sign of mini, checked out moby as well couldn't find it...

thanks.

[Guest mcwarre]

hey could you point to an online retailer sellin the 4GB miniSD SDHC card because most sites are only givin out SD HC or microSD sdhc no sign of mini, checked out moby as well couldn't find it...

thanks.

Just get the micro sd with a mini- adapter (cheaper and possible future proof?). I got mine (8GB) from amazon for circa £28 inc delivery. No need to install any patches they work straight outa the box.

You can also get 4gb from them or mobymemory.co.uk

Edited March 2, 2008 by mcwarre

[Guest mcwarre]

Right, a potential issue here. As mentioned before, try running tomtom and have an incoming phone call with a custom ringtone (bt headset or not with the ringtone installed to the memory card or main memory). The device crashes and a soft reset is needed. If the same thing happens when using a normal supplied ringtone then there is no issue. This is quite a pain tbh. Has anyone else noticed this???

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

That's bizarre!

How big are the ringtones? Where are you storing them? In what format?

P

[Guest]

Right, a potential issue here. As mentioned before, try running tomtom and have an incoming phone call with a custom ringtone (bt headset or not with the ringtone installed to the memory card or main memory). The device crashes and a soft reset is needed. If the same thing happens when using a normal supplied ringtone then there is no issue. This is quite a pain tbh. Has anyone else noticed this???

I have tried running TomTom and received an incoming phone call without any crash (gratnted, I was not connected to my BT GPS at the time but I will give it a try). I have a WMA custom ringtone (1.5Mb and stored on the device in My Documents). I will see what happens when it is connected to GPS and see if I get the same problem.

[Guest mcwarre]

That's bizarre!

How big are the ringtones? Where are you storing them? In what format?

P

I have attached the tone used (it warns me about the wife!). I have tried another (called UK_ringing2). Both are saved on the device into Windows\Rings. When a call comes in the phone tries to announce it visually (but fails such that you can't even see the number dialling). It then continually rings (despite the caller hanging up) and will only stop when soft reset. Bit of a bu**er when driving!

warning_momo.mp3

UKringin2.wav

[Guest stpolky]

Good grief.

I've just ordered one of these things and am picking it up this afternoon.

Looks like a case of "fingers crossed" eh? :D

[Guest Sudhir K]

yah man!!! shudders :D

[Guest simonclark123]

I bought an Atom Life from Australia last year, having previously always used HTC devices (spv m500,m600,m3100,m700).

I have been using it ever since, basically as my 'Portable Office' and overall am very happy with it.

Because I use loads of Word docs & Excel spreadsheets which I need to sync with the computer, the 1gb ROM is fantastic.

The processor speed also means I can scroll through 60 page pdf documents with no problem at all (try doing that on some of the HTC devices above!).

Main issues for me are:

1) 64mb RAM - just surfing the net etc soon clogs this up - so need to remember to close down programmes.

2) Battery life - bought a spare Atom Life so I can carry a spare battery at all times.

However, despite this it's still the best Pocket PC I've ever owned.

At the current price, it's fantastic value - mine cost me £300 second hand from Australia - and I had to pay £60 Customs Duties/VAT on top afterwards!

Regards

Simon Clark

Business Telecoms

[Guest rorydaredking]

Im looking at getting one of expansys too. I've got a touch, and having come from a hermes and an athena, its pretty slow. I do have the 128 mb ram touch, but still its pretty slow. So, i just want to know if anyone else ha had the crashes of doom...

I hope not, becuase I can pick it up form t-mob for 27.50 a month on flext 25 + W'n'W for 12 months.. and seeing as im alredy on a sim only contract for the same amount, its worth getting the free phone.

Rory

[Guest]

Got my replacement Atom from Expansys a couple of days ago and so far, so good. I think my crashing problem may not have been a hardware issue and related to a 'leap year' bug in PocketBreeze (the crashing stopped when I installed a patch for PB). Seeing as the return/replacement was already arranged I went through with it anyway. :(

Once thing I did notice was on the side of the box, in the small print:

"© 2007 Expansys plc" ....and.... "MWg is a Trademark of Expansys plc"

So it is actually true that Expansys partly/fully own MWg? Would certainly explain why there are so many MWg handsets on Expansys at the moment! :D

[Guest Monolithix]

Yep...O2 sold up and eXpansys invested in the resulting company - MWg :D

[Guest Metoo]

Yep...O2 sold up and eXpansys invested in the resulting company - MWg :D

Which is also why MWg are flogging off all O2 APAC's old inventory at knockdown prices (as well as all the Tech Faith Wireless & Gigabyte junk they acquired from re-branding Ubiquio) :(

Edited March 13, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest Monolithix]

Yeah, the MWg logo stick is slightly less than inconspicuous :D

[Guest]

Yeah, the MWg logo stick is slightly less than inconspicuous :D

That MWg sticker got peeled off as it came out of the box! :( It's quite obvious it's there to hide something and it ruins the look of the device. Plus I don't mind having an O2 logo on it - even if I do hate O2's guts and would rather use two tin cans and a long piece of string than sign up to their network again! :(

[Guest mcwarre]

rather use two tin cans and a long piece of string than sign up to their network again! :D

A bit like some of their coverage perhaps?? :(

[Guest Jake Bullit]

Any body else had problems with wi-fi reception,mine is terrible.I`ve just had it a week so I have just returned it.I notice on the Expansys forum a few people are having the same problems.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I only really use WiFi around the house where i've found it fine with the standard settings. I note you can turn the power up from the (default) 50% tho?

P

[Guest Jake Bullit]

I only really use WiFi around the house where i've found it fine with the standard settings. I note you can turn the power up from the (default) 50% tho?

P

Yes I`d tried all the different settings,I think the power settings are just for the Rx signal.

Anyways it`s gone back,so we`ll see if the replacement is any better.

[Guest mcwarre]

Can anyone guide me to the bluetooth gps com port / baud rate? I have a tomtom sirf iii bt gps - it is paired and works with tomtom but I can't get it to work with pocket nav or any other GPS software.....

[Guest meddleuk]

I was thinking of changing my MDA Touch for this. Couple of questions, how much bigger is this than the Touch as like the smaller form factor and do you think it's worthy as an upgrade.

Also big problem on my touch is that I have only around 16-17mb of Ram left to run programs. How much does the Atom Life have as I noticed that it has only 64mb of Ram like the Touch.

[Guest meddleuk]

Can anyone offer some advice please!

[Guest Monolithix]

It's by no means a large device but I have to admit it was a little larger than i expected, its slightly taller and a bit thicker than the Touch: http://www.sizeasy.com/page/size_compariso...fe-vs-HTC-Touch

RAM i never monitored usage but while 64MB is disapointing, it was only on the very odd occasion i'd notice any kind of slowdown.