Monday, January 15, 2007
Let's Glofiishing with the X500
Posted by Darius Wey in "HARDWARE" @ 06:00 AM
Gloiing Performance?
The X500 is about as snappy as snappy can get. Its fast Samsung S3C2442 400MHz CPU helps, though other factors (which we'll explore later) also contribute to its solid all-round performance.
I've taken the liberty of providing two sets of memory data: available storage and program memory with E-TEN's bundled applications installed, and similarly without E-TEN's bundled applications installed. The bundled applications consume approximately 13MB of storage.
Hard Reset; No Applications Installed
Hard Reset; Applications Installed
Of the 128MB ROM, only half is available for use, though with microSD cards becoming increasingly affordable, this is a shortcoming that is easily overcome. RAM-wise, the 64MB is sufficient for most demanding tasks, as much like the M600, memory management is tremendously efficient. With several applications open (namely, ActiveSync, Windows Media Player Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Word Mobile, Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks), the X500 consumes just 1.5MB RAM.
Being a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Pocket PC Phone, the X500 is a true roaming device, so any North American residents or visitors to North America can feel consoled knowing that the X500 is compatible with the 850MHz networks. Overall, cellular connectivity is strong; rarely in the weeks of testing did I experience anything less than full signal strength. Unfortunately, without carrier support for EDGE, I was not able to give the X500's EDGE connectivity a test run. GPRS, on the other hand, was something I was able to test, and it worked (of course, it was typically slow, but it worked).
Admittedly, with AKU 3.2 installed, I was eager to explore the X500's Bluetooth capabilities - specifically, A2DP performance. The X500 utilizes the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, though for better or worse, E-TEN has taken the extra step of adding its own UI on top. The Bluetooth radio is rated at v2.0, which offers faster transmission speeds, greater available bandwidth, and lower power consumption. And indeed, leaving Bluetooth active during standby mode eats very little battery power, though battery life is a topic I'll be covering a little later. At Class 2, the X500 is good for approximately ten metres. Armed with a Jabra BT500 Bluetooth headset, I put it to the test, and scored eight to nine metres in an open environment before the crackles kicked in. With the Bluetake i-PHONO mini stereo headphones, I arrived at the conclusion that A2DP performance was positive, though not perfect. In terms of audio quality, it was a step up from AKU 2.x (very few crackles and no blips). Unfortunately, I had issues reconnecting my headphones to the X500, despite the two being paired. Whether this is related to the X500 alone or Microsoft's implementation of Bluetooth is something I will have to explore in the future.
There's a lot to like about the Wi-Fi support. Both 802.11b and 802.11g are supported, and with AKU 3.x's added support for WPA2, the X500 is now capable of connecting to more Wi-Fi networks than ever before. Unfortunately, FM radio performance isn't so positive. Earlier, I spoke of the odd RDS issues. Now, it's appropriate to discuss reception. To put it simply, it's weak (tolerable outdoors, but poor indoors). Audio can only be channeled through the headset as it uses the headset wire as an antenna, and often, the wire takes a bit of fiddling in order to attain a clear signal. With a SiRFstar III chipset, I expected the X500's GPS performance to be solid and I was not left disappointed. Cold boots were approximately 40-45 seconds, while warm boots were almost instantaneous. Tracking sensitivity was decent. Indoors and outdoors, I averaged a fix of 8-10 satellites. Third-party applications such as GPS Tuner and TomTom Navigator detected the X500's integrated SiRFstar III chipset without a hitch.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and an FM radio combined are all battery guzzlers, but the relatively high capacity 1,530mAh battery manages to rise to the challenge. E-TEN rates the X500 with a talk time of 5-7 hours, standby time of 150-200 hours, Pocket PC usage time of 10-15 hours, and GPS usage time of 5-7 hours. Although being highly theoretical, I'd say that these figures aren't that far off the truth. A typical day in my life may consist of half an hour on the phone, the odd SMS message being sent or received, a Bluetooth headset connected for half a day, an hour of Wi-Fi (for the aimless browse), and an hour of general application dabbling. That usually consumes around 35-40% of the battery, so based on standard usage patterns, the X500 offers two to three days before requiring a charge, which all in all, I am quite content with.
Figure 48: An outdoor picture, taken at noon on a clear day. Click the image above for a larger version (1200 x 1600; 629.83KB).
Surprisingly, the quality of images produced by the X500's camera exceeds expectations. Images are crisp and contain a reduced number of artifacts, while colour reproduction remains true to the source. However, night macro shots tell a different story, as the flash has a tendency to wash out the target object. The camera application itself offers more options than you can poke a stick at. Frames, effects, resolution, quality, white balance, file format, orientation, flash, and date stamps can all be modified at the touch of a button. There's also a video camera mode, if you prefer to capture an event as a movie rather than a still image. Unfortunately, the application acts a little sluggish when switching between varying degrees of light, so I'm hoping E-TEN gets around to tweaking this in future ROM upgrades.
