O2 XDA Mini-S: Phone or Pocket PC?

LincLinc OwnerDetroit Icrontian
edited May 2006 in Hardware
decist has authored a review of the O2 XDA Mini-S, a nifty smartphone available in the UK.
Despite being the same size as your average mobile phone, the Mini-S offers a full Qwerty keyboard and reasonable Windows Mobile 5 performance.
You might be looking at that measly 200MHz processor and thinking it's a bit slow, but using the Mini-S doesn't feel that way. There's occasional slow down when converting the screen from portrait to landscape, but nothing too drastic. In any case, this article is about what you can do with the Mini-S, not its performance stats, so let's leave the benchmarks on the bench where they belong and get some real-world experience with it.
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Comments

  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    It's not a PocketPC or a Phone, it's an XDA, hence why they made up the name 'XDA'.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Enverex wrote:
    It's not a PocketPC or a Phone, it's an XDA, hence why they made up the name 'XDA'.
    Way to be dour. :rolleyes:

    I previously tried using a PDA, but needing to learn to write in "graffiti" was a major drawback for me. I got frustrated going so slow. Having a qwerty keyboard in a device this compact makes it look rather attractive to me. I still don't think I'll invest though until I'm gone from Juniata.

    Being in a fully networked environment and rarely being away from a keyboard limits the need for a device like this. If I'm not near a keyboard it means I don't want to be. A friend of mine picked up a PDA and got so addicted to it he had to sell it so he could just relax and stop thinking about work all the time. :(
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    There was supposed to be a rolleyes2 on the end of that but meh. It's only because I debated the name for hours.
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited May 2006
    Enverex wrote:
    It's not a PocketPC or a Phone, it's an XDA, hence why they made up the name 'XDA'.

    That's like saying an Ipaq isn't a Pocket PC or a Hoover isn't a vacuum cleaner. XDA is just a brand name.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    XDA is used for any PDA that is basically a phone as well.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited May 2006
    Great review decist! :cheers:

    More and more of these devices are hitting the markets now. I still remember that nifty first-gen phone used in 'The Saint' :) How far we've come now!
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited May 2006
    Enverex wrote:
    XDA is used for any PDA that is basically a phone as well.

    Find me an XDA that isn't made by O2 then. XDA is the brand name O2 uses for it's Smartphones. Hence this quote from PDA-Developers.com:
    Their makers named them 'Wallaby', 'Himalaya' and 'Blue Angel', but almost nobody knows them by those names. The mobile provider O2 sells them under the brand-name 'XDA', and that's what we had in our hands first

    XDA Developers.com
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Heh, you're right. Probably explains why I didn't get far when I was looking for an XDA and wondered why there wasn't much choice. :rolleyes2
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Hmm. It sounds like the company is trying to either:
    1. Artificially limit the scope of the term "XDA" or
    2. Have their "XDA" brand name associated with all devices having this functionality, just like some people use a "Kleenex" for their nose, no matter the brand, or a "Q-tip" to clean an ear, even if it's not made by Unilever.
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