Windows Phone Thoughts: Hands-On With the Gigabyte gSmart Phone

Everything But the Kitchen Sink
I've played with a number of Windows Mobile 5.0 devices before, but I was completely floored with the plethora of applications and add-ons that Gigabyte included on this device. I captured dozens of screenshots just to show you how much effort they put into their first device, and hopefully show other manufacturers (who just seem like they kicked their products out the door) how it should be done.

Upon inserting my SIM card and booting up the device, I noticed a neat Today plug-in that can instantly access the wireless functions and shows your current cellular network.


Figure 5: The gSmart's Today screen.


Figure 6: The Wireless Manager can toggle everything on/off and link to the separate modules for configuration.

This device is already preinstalled (and will be released) with the full Windows Mobile 5.0 AKU2, which includes the Microsoft Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) for "direct e-mail push" and features such as "remote wiping" and "policy enforcement" from your Exchange 2003 SP2 server, and the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) for streaming stereo audio over to your compatible Bluetooth headset. Unfortunately, I don't have a Bluetooth stereo headset to test at this time.

As a Phone
Since the gSmart is currently a Tri-band 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM phone, it may put off some Cingular customers in the United States who rely on the 850MHz band. However, as a Cingular customer in the New York Metro/New Jersey area, I didn't have any signal problems anywhere.

As I stated before, Gigabyte added some really neat functions, especially to the phone portion of the device. For starters, they've included answering machine software! After a specified duration, the answering machine program accepts the incoming call, plays a customizable greeting, then records the caller's message to an audio file. This is a great alternative instead of having to call back your voicemail number, and you can keep the recorded audio file forever.


Figure 7: The Answering Machine software frees you from the limitations of your wireless carrier's voicemail system.


Figure 8: A notification will appear when you receive a new answering machine message.


Figure 9: Your Answering Machine audio files are easily accessible through File Explorer and Windows Media Player.

I did notice one tiny issue with this feature: after you listen to your message in Windows Media Player and elect to delete the audio file, a "sharing violation" error will appear. Since Windows Media Player is only minimized, it still holds that audio file open. Of course, a third-party task manager that fully closes WMP should resolve that issue.


Figure 10: Close Windows Media Player fully before trying to delete the audio file.