Windows Phone Thoughts: Loox Like a Winner - A Review of the Loox 720 Pocket PC

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Monday, October 25, 2004

Loox Like a Winner - A Review of the Loox 720 Pocket PC

Posted by Doug Raeburn in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM



The Playing Field
The recent introductions of the hx4700 and the X50v were major media events among Pocket PC sites. When the X50 was released, every major Pocket PC site (including this one) scrambled to make sure it had its review posted that same day. Meanwhile, the Loox 720 had a much quieter introduction, and the media frenzy was limited to a number of European-based sites and a few that are dedicated to Loox Pocket PCs.

It’s unfortunate that lesser known Pocket PCs such as the Loox 720 and Asus A730 have been overshadowed by the attention lavished on the HP and Dell units, because they offer some very viable alternatives that deserve more careful consideration than they seem to be getting. Let’s see how they compare.

The Specifications


Figure 1: Tech specs.

Figure 1 lists the hardware specs of the major VGA Pocket PCs, along with the specs of the iPAQ 2215, a popular dual-slot unit from HP’s previous generation.

The VGA units have screen sizes ranging from 3.6 inches to 4.0 inches, with the Loox having the smallest VGA screen. However, the Loox does have a slightly larger screen than the most popular QVGA Pocket PCs from previous generations, such as the iPAQ 2215, 1945 and 4155, and it is an amazing screen, as I’ll demonstrate further on.

There seem to be 2 schools of thought regarding memory configurations in these new devices. HP and Dell have stuck with the previous generation standard of 64 MB of RAM, but have provided large amounts of storage in flash ROM. The Loox, Asus and Toshiba units have gone the route of 128 MB of RAM, and all but the Asus provide additional flash ROM storage. More on that later.

As for processors, the latest units all use the Intel PXA270 chip, clocked at either 520 or 624 MHz. The older Toshiba 800 and iPAQ 2215 both use earlier versions of the PXA chip family clocked at 400 MHz.

Does Size Really Matter?


Figure 2: Dimensions… the 720 is surprisingly svelte. Click the chart above to see metric measurements.

Sure, but how it matters depends on your priorities. As you might guess, the Toshiba and the hx4700, with their large 4 inch screens, have the largest overall dimensions as well, while the units with the smaller screens are also physically smaller overall.

I had gotten quite used to the size of my iPAQ 2215, and decided that my next Pocket PC would be in that same general size range… I didn’t really want anything that was substantially bigger. The most key dimensions that translate into “bulk” are width and depth, and I was pleased to find that the Loox is actually slightly narrower and thinner than the 2215. It is slightly longer than the 2215, but to me, length is much less important (in a Pocket PC, that is…).

The Loox is the narrowest of the VGA Pocket PCs and among the thinnest. When I hold it, it feels much like the 2215 size and weight-wise, despite weighing about .9 oz more.

Other Specs and Features
All of the units being discussed feature slots for CompactFlash Type II and SD cards. All are SDIO ready.

The Loox comes with a standard 1640 mAh battery, which is a large battery by Pocket PC standards. Only the hx4700 has a larger standard battery (1800 mAh), and the Asus and Dell come with a comparatively small 1100 mAh battery.

The Loox is the only currently available VGA Pocket PC with Consumer IR, so if you’re a Nevo fan, keep that in mind. It also meets the improved Bluetooth 1.2 specification… of the VGA units discussed here, only the Asus has the older 1.1 specification.

A feature offered by the Loox (and Asus) is USB host functionality. This means that you can attach USB peripherals such as keyboards and keychain drives directly to the Loox. The HP and the Dell don’t offer this feature.

Like the Asus, the Loox offers a 1.3 built-in megapixel camera with an LCD “flash”. While this may look good on the spec sheet and in brochures, the photo quality is mediocre at best. I’d personally prefer that they left the camera off, because it’s of little value, IMO.

The Loox lacks a separate graphics accelerator, a feature of the HP and Dell. This will be of little consequence initially, as few software titles that take advantage of these graphics accelerators will be available at first. The degree to which software publishers will embrace the graphics accelerators is unknown. And it remains to be seen if the graphics accelerators will make a big difference in performance.

One last feature of note is built-in support for VoIP, which gives the Loox the ability to serve as an Internet phone.

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