The Xda Atom, Atom Pure and Atom Exec have been charmers and, if you ask us, a handheld that looks good is already half the battle won. With the Atom Life, a faster processor, a generous 1GB onboard memory and loads of connectivity features such as 3G and HSDPA (3.5G) completes the equation. But at a sticker price of S$1,428 (US$908.51), the Windows Mobile 5.0 handheld isn't for everyone on the street.
The Atom Life uses the same 2.7-inch QVGA screen as its predecessor. It's not exceptionally large, and we find it a comfortable (barely) size for daily texting, Web surfing and document viewing. The screen washes out slightly in direct sunlight, though, and we had to turn it up a few notches on the brightness scale. Above the LCD is where you find a VGA camera for video telephony and a sunken grill where you hear the voice of the other party on the line. In idle mode, an intermittent green light flashes to signal that you're connected to the operator's network.
On the back of the Atom, you will find a 2-megapixel CMOS camera, a self-portrait mirror and a white LED strobe flash. The handset comes with 1GB of onboard flash memory and there's an option for you to switch to a miniSD card for extra storage on the top edge of the unit. Should you decide to see the 1,530mAh Lithium-polymer battery in its full glory which, frankly, isn't very exciting to look at, slide down the battery cover. The good thing is the handset doesn't power down like some others when you do that.
Specifications
Dimensions:
Approx. 106(L) x 58(W) x 18(T) mm
Weight with battery: 145g
Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 5.0
Operating Time:
Standby up to 200 hours (GSM)
Talktime up to 4 hours (GSM) / up to 2 hours (UMTS voice calling)
Battery operation time is dependent on user's usage, system settings and configurations
Processor:
Intel XScale® PXA 270 Processor at 624 MHz
Memory:
1GB Flash ROM
64MB RAM
MiniSD expandable memory
Audio:
Speakerphone
Stereo speaker
SRS WOW HD (surround sound experience)
FM Radio with RDS function
Display:
2.7" TFT QVGA LCD display with touch panel
240 x 320 dots resolution
Supports 262K colours (65,536 effective)
Connectivity:
Built-in Wireless LAN 802.11b/g
Bluetooth® SIG version 1.2
Infrared IrDA Actual data transfer speed is dependent on range, connection rate, site conditions and network
Network Frequency:
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900
UMTS 1900/2100
EGPRS (EDGE)
HSDPA device connection is operator dependent
Camera:
2 Megapixels CMOS Macro-focus camera
Preview mirror for self portrait
White LED strobe flash
Supports still image and video capture
Secondary VGA CMOS camera for video calls
