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

Keep in mind that in my Jersey City office, I was facing the broadcast antennas across the Hudson River to the New York-based TV stations, and probably would have gotten a better signal if the World Trade Center Towers (that had better broadcast antennas) were still there. But, for the most part, I really couldn't get a decent signal anywhere else but outdoors, and during those times, I was fiddling around with the wired headset and adjusting orientation to get a good picture.

Tapping the TV image will bring up a neat set of buttons to change channels, and the settings button can perform a channel search, as well as modify the brightness, color, and contrast. You can also use the joystick to change channels. Watching TV is as far as it goes right now - you can't record or capture anything.

Note that the analog TV tuner will not function unless the Wi-Fi is turned off. This is probably a good thing, since the drain on the paltry 840 mAh battery while watching a TV is tremendous. After just 10 minutes of watching TV in my office, my battery was down over 35%. With all the great features of this device, I found it puzzling that the gSmart likely has the smallest battery capacity of any Pocket PC, which is ironic for a device that would have so many integrated features that would drain a battery relatively quickly. Though I wasn't supplied with the larger 1300 mAh battery, I would have to guess that it would be a bit better, and I'm sure others will be glad it's included in the Accessory Pack. I will caution anyone who wants to watch television to have a mini-USB cable (and a nearby USB port) handy to charge your gSmart right back up, or even try to keep the battery power topped off.


Figure 38: The Wi-Fi portion must be deactivated before launching the TV application.

Analog FM Radio
Luckily, getting FM reception on the gSmart was not a problem at all. In fact, it appeared to get a better signal at times than the O2 XDA Atom, the only other Pocket PC device with an integrated FM radio tuner. The FM Radio program can store ten channels in its My Favorites menu, which you can name manually. Unlike the Atom, the FM Radio will open and play without the wired headset that doubles as an antenna, but you'll likely get static more than anything.


Figure 39: The no-frills FM Radio application is easy to navigate and configure.


Figure 40: When the FM Radio program is minimized, the tiny, draggable, always-on-top "No FM" button can easily close the application and turn the radio off.

One annoying feature that I noticed is that the FM Radio will shut off when you put the device in standby mode. On the Atom, I could press the Power button and the FM radio would remain on, but, its screen would be off, saving precious battery power. However, the gSmart would not power the screen down as long as the FM Radio was running. I'll hopefully assume they'll address that in the final release of their firmware.

2.1 Megapixel Camera
I was equally satisfied with the camera and its accompanying software. Noticing a macro switch near the camera lens led me to believe that they would have put a decent amount of effort into it, and not just throw one in there because everyone else had one.

Still images can range from 160x120 to 1600x1200, though video capturing is limited to 160x120. The application is loaded with customizable settings such as shooting mode (auto, day, cloudy, florescent, and night), special effects (normal, B&W, sepia, negative, solarization, sketch, emboss, and moonlight), EV, sequential shooting, auto flash, and time-stamping. Video capture mode could also use the same shooting modes and effects, which is very cool, and it records to 3GPP, MPEG-4, and even Windows Media Video (WMV) for ultimate compatibility with nearly any media player. Up to 4X zoom is also available.


Figure 41: This shot is a nice example of the camera's clarity and quality.

When the Camera application stores all the captures on the mini-SD card, it creates a DCIM folder structure similar to many digital cameras. It's a nice touch, considering that you might be pulling out your mini-SD card often to stick in a card reader on your PC or a printing kiosk, where you don't have to go looking for it in the My Documents folder.

One more thing: because the Camera button is on the left side of the device for a natural "camera snapshot" feel, the application is right-hand landscape oriented. However, the TV application is left-hand landscape oriented. So, be prepared to flip your gSmart in a few directions like a hot potato.

Conclusions
Again, I will note that the gSmart test device I received directly from Gigabyte did not contain the final version of the firmware, so there are likely a few more changes to be implemented and bug-fixes to be resolved. I can't even be sure that the battery supplied with it has been conditioned or used extensively to honestly gauge the true, expected battery life. However, the device as a whole performed like a champ, and would definitely be one to look out for. One feature not shown here in this overview is an optional menu system/program launcher called "3D MMI." It was removed from the ROM and is now provided as a separate, optional install off the accompanying CD-ROM.

The gSmart is a force to be reckoned with. Even though Gigabyte may be new to the mobile device market, I will admit that they have easily "schooled" the veteran ODMs/OEMs who think that providing basic hardware and software is enough. The designers of the gSmart were definitely thinking "outside the box" even before they were putting the goodies inside the box. They deserve much praise for their hard work and implementation, while the hardware engineers and designers came up with a strong product for multimedia and portabilty lovers alike.

Raphael Salgado is a full-time Regulatory Affairs Associate for a pharmaceutical company with an extensive background in technical support services. When everything is quietly charging with their AC adapters, Raphael spends quality time with his wife Lila and their two children, Samantha and Tiffany. His hobbies include karate, karaoke, and bicycling.