Windows Phone Thoughts: Let's Glofiishing with the X500

Accessories: Life Isn't Complete Without 'em!
A collection of well-designed accessories can add a great amount of value to the overall Pocket PC experience. For the most part, the X500's bundled accessories fall in that category. Yes, "for the most part" - meaning there's an exception, and in this section of the review, we'll examine said exception while also looking at every other accessory from head to toe.


Figure 24: The X500's book-style leather case.

Let's start with the exception. The bundled leather case exhibits the qualities of most high-quality leather cases: that soft leathery touch and rich leathery scent. The only problem is, it falls well short of what a Pocket PC Phone case should be.


Figure 25: Note the cutouts for the speaker, but not the camera.

Firstly, it's a book-style leather case, which would be fine for a standard Pocket PC, but not a Pocket PC Phone. If you've ever tried holding a book-style leather case to your ear, it simply does not work. Not only is it awkward to hold, the leather flap has a tendency to get in the way (read: flip back and slap you in the face), and you'd more than likely draw curious looks from strangers on the city streets. It's a moot point if a Bluetooth headset is your 24/7 communication tool of choice, but I'm willing to bet that those who do not fall in that category far outweigh those who do.


Figure 26: Friction grips hold the X500 in place.

A pair of friction grips dutifully hold the X500 in the case. Unfortunately, the positioning of the left grip makes it exceedingly difficult to access the voice command button with ease. To complicate matters, there is no cutout for the camera on the rear of the case. Therefore, in order to use the X500 for image capturing, it must be removed from the case, and if you're doing this multiple times a day, the friction grips may wear out the sides of the device.

On to some of the more positive design aspects of the case, there is a loop for a lanyard, a magnetic closure system, and two slots to hold spare microSD cards, though I feel that all of these factors combined are not enough to make the case a worthwhile accessory - by a long shot.


Figure 27: The AC charger ships with a generic head and region-specific adapter. The Australian adapter is pictured above.

From cases to cables, E-TEN has moved on and replaced the trusty cradle with a simple USB sync/charge cable measuring ~1 metre and 5V/1.0A AC charger measuring ~1.8 metres. As Figure 27 shows, the AC charger ships with a region-specific adapter, most likely to simplify E-TEN's production process. Whatever the reason, it does not modify the user experience in any way (it's still very much a plug and play affair). Its Mini-USB connector plugs into the Mini-USB port of the X500 for direct charging, and so syncing is not possible in this case.


Figure 28: The other end of the AC charger features a Mini-USB connector.