When the O2 Xda II mini first arrived on our shores more than a year ago, we marveled at a full-fledged PDA-phone that boasted the latest features in a petite form factor that was truly portable. However, it still left some things to be desired, including Wi-Fi. 2006 welcomes two similarly handy convergent devices: The O2 Xda Atom, which heralds from an established brand name and looks the part, and the 818 Pro, brought into Asia by new kid on the block Dopod. We ran the fledgling PDA-phone through its paces, discovering another worthy entry into the wonderful world of mobile-capable handhelds.
Design and Ergonomics
Curvy, petite (by PPC phone standards) and simple: that's the JAMin in a nutshell. The casing's size and shape are unchanged from the JAM, but the JAMin adds a few more buttons. The JAM was aimed at novice users and women (sexist, yes) who might be intimidated by lots of buttons, so HTC made a device with few external controls. The JAMin still keeps it simple, though the number of buttons has increased modestly. You'll find a large directional pad flanked by call send and end keys, OK and Windows Start Menu keys and two context sensitive Windows Mobile 5 softkeys on the front face. The Comm Manager key (launches the triple wireless radio manager), camera and volume slider are on the left side while the power button and IR window are on the right. The full size SD card slot is located up top and the sync/charge connector is at the bottom. The device is finished in matte black and the camera lens and associated self-portrait mirror are on the back above the battery door.
Curvy, petite (by PPC phone standards) and simple: that's the JAMin in a nutshell. The casing's size and shape are unchanged from the JAM, but the JAMin adds a few more buttons. The JAM was aimed at novice users and women (sexist, yes) who might be intimidated by lots of buttons, so HTC made a device with few external controls. The JAMin still keeps it simple, though the number of buttons has increased modestly. You'll find a large directional pad flanked by call send and end keys, OK and Windows Start Menu keys and two context sensitive Windows Mobile 5 softkeys on the front face. The Comm Manager key (launches the triple wireless radio manager), camera and volume slider are on the left side while the power button and IR window are on the right. The full size SD card slot is located up top and the sync/charge connector is at the bottom. The device is finished in matte black and the camera lens and associated self-portrait mirror are on the back above the battery door.
Phone Features, Data and Reception
The JAMin is a quad band GSM world phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) that will work anywhere in the world GSM service is available. It's unlocked for use with any GSM carrier (just pop in your SIM and enter the correct settings for Internet access for your carrier). For fast (but not 3G fast) data the JAMin has EDGE class 10 as well as the older, slower GPRS. Data speeds over EDGE in the Silicon Valley area were good, coming in between 110 and 130k when using Cingular's MEdia Net service, and between 65 - 110k on T-Mobile.
Like all Windows Mobile phones, the i-mate comes with mobile versions of Internet Explorer and Outlook (the email component is called Messaging) so you can stay in touch when on the go. A recent ROM update added support for Microsoft's AKU2 which offers push e-mail for Exchange 2003 users.
Voice quality on the JAMin is quite good with clear conversations and adequate volume when talking directly to the handset. When using the included earbud headset, call clarity was also excellent and volume is more than ample. In our tests of the 850 (Cingular) and 1900MHz (T-Mobile) bands in the US, the JAMin had very good reception that's on par with the T-Mobile MDA, and beats the Treo 650 by a small margin and the i-mate JAM (850 and 900MHz models) by a greater margin. The phone is good in areas of OK to excellent reception. If you spend most of your phone-time in an area where you can barely get a signal with most phones, then it still might do the trick (but then you might want to think about changing carriers too).
The phone supports common call features such as call forwarding, conference calling, call waiting and it has a full duplex speaker phone that's decent but not stellar.
Like other recent i-mate smartphones, the JAMin comes with voice dialing that works over Bluetooth. Yes, that's still not a common feature on Pocket PC phones which is unfathomable since every decent feature phone with Bluetooth can do it. The JAMin ships with Voice Speed Dial which uses voice tags rather than true speech recognition. Yes it lacks Microsoft Voice Command's impressive recognition capabilities and range of commands but MS Voice Command does eat up a lot of resources and won't work over a Bluetooth headset or car kit. You can record tags for any contact in your address book and you can record tags to launch the applications of your choice. To initiate voice commands, assign a hardware button to the application (more expedient than launching it from the on-screen Programs group), press the button or press (press and hold for some headsets) the call button on your Bluetooth headset or car kit to have the phone listen for your command.
The JAMin is a quad band GSM world phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) that will work anywhere in the world GSM service is available. It's unlocked for use with any GSM carrier (just pop in your SIM and enter the correct settings for Internet access for your carrier). For fast (but not 3G fast) data the JAMin has EDGE class 10 as well as the older, slower GPRS. Data speeds over EDGE in the Silicon Valley area were good, coming in between 110 and 130k when using Cingular's MEdia Net service, and between 65 - 110k on T-Mobile.
Like all Windows Mobile phones, the i-mate comes with mobile versions of Internet Explorer and Outlook (the email component is called Messaging) so you can stay in touch when on the go. A recent ROM update added support for Microsoft's AKU2 which offers push e-mail for Exchange 2003 users.
Voice quality on the JAMin is quite good with clear conversations and adequate volume when talking directly to the handset. When using the included earbud headset, call clarity was also excellent and volume is more than ample. In our tests of the 850 (Cingular) and 1900MHz (T-Mobile) bands in the US, the JAMin had very good reception that's on par with the T-Mobile MDA, and beats the Treo 650 by a small margin and the i-mate JAM (850 and 900MHz models) by a greater margin. The phone is good in areas of OK to excellent reception. If you spend most of your phone-time in an area where you can barely get a signal with most phones, then it still might do the trick (but then you might want to think about changing carriers too).
The phone supports common call features such as call forwarding, conference calling, call waiting and it has a full duplex speaker phone that's decent but not stellar.
Like other recent i-mate smartphones, the JAMin comes with voice dialing that works over Bluetooth. Yes, that's still not a common feature on Pocket PC phones which is unfathomable since every decent feature phone with Bluetooth can do it. The JAMin ships with Voice Speed Dial which uses voice tags rather than true speech recognition. Yes it lacks Microsoft Voice Command's impressive recognition capabilities and range of commands but MS Voice Command does eat up a lot of resources and won't work over a Bluetooth headset or car kit. You can record tags for any contact in your address book and you can record tags to launch the applications of your choice. To initiate voice commands, assign a hardware button to the application (more expedient than launching it from the on-screen Programs group), press the button or press (press and hold for some headsets) the call button on your Bluetooth headset or car kit to have the phone listen for your command.
Horsepower and Performance
Like the HTC Wizard variants (i-mate K-JAM, T-Mobile MDA, Cingular 8125) the JAMin runs on a 200MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor (actually 195MHz, but everyone rounds up). That's quite a come-down from the original JAM's 416MHz Intel XScale CPU but the upside is improved battery life. Despite the half-speed processor and slower Windows Mobile 5 OS, the JAMin is usable but you will notice delays launching applications and might find it a tad sluggish for Skype (overclocking the CPU remedies this). Though the Cingular 8125 runs on the same CPU, it feels peppier than the JAMin, and the US T-Mobile MDA feels as responsive as the JAMin. If you're looking for decent performance (other than video playback and Skype reliability at this point), and crave great battery life by PPC phone standards, the JAMin should suffice. The lower the megahertz, the better the battery life, and the JAMin lasts longer on a charge than the faster JAM (when WiFi isn't in use).
The OMAP850is a dual core processor which has one core to handle PDA functions and another that's basically a DSP handling telephony and some multimedia duties. As you can see from the benchmarks, it offers similar performance to the K-JAM and MDA since it uses the same CPU. The JAMin has 128 megs of flash ROM and 64 megs of RAM. Under Windows Mobile 5, RAM is used in the same way it is on a PC: it's the place where running programs execute. The operating system and pre-installed applications live in Flash ROM and the remaining 43 megs are available for you to install programs and data. Should you need more space for programs and files, you can get an SD card to use with the JAMin. Typically there are 25 megs of free RAM which is an adequate amount to run several programs simultaneously.
Like the HTC Wizard variants (i-mate K-JAM, T-Mobile MDA, Cingular 8125) the JAMin runs on a 200MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor (actually 195MHz, but everyone rounds up). That's quite a come-down from the original JAM's 416MHz Intel XScale CPU but the upside is improved battery life. Despite the half-speed processor and slower Windows Mobile 5 OS, the JAMin is usable but you will notice delays launching applications and might find it a tad sluggish for Skype (overclocking the CPU remedies this). Though the Cingular 8125 runs on the same CPU, it feels peppier than the JAMin, and the US T-Mobile MDA feels as responsive as the JAMin. If you're looking for decent performance (other than video playback and Skype reliability at this point), and crave great battery life by PPC phone standards, the JAMin should suffice. The lower the megahertz, the better the battery life, and the JAMin lasts longer on a charge than the faster JAM (when WiFi isn't in use).
The OMAP850is a dual core processor which has one core to handle PDA functions and another that's basically a DSP handling telephony and some multimedia duties. As you can see from the benchmarks, it offers similar performance to the K-JAM and MDA since it uses the same CPU. The JAMin has 128 megs of flash ROM and 64 megs of RAM. Under Windows Mobile 5, RAM is used in the same way it is on a PC: it's the place where running programs execute. The operating system and pre-installed applications live in Flash ROM and the remaining 43 megs are available for you to install programs and data. Should you need more space for programs and files, you can get an SD card to use with the JAMin. Typically there are 25 megs of free RAM which is an adequate amount to run several programs simultaneously.
Display, Multimedia and Gaming
The JAMin has a bright, sharp QVGA 240 x 320 transflective color display that's easy on the eyes despite its small 2.8" diagonal size. The display supports 65,000 colors and both portrait and landscape modes. The screen has very good contrast, pleasing color saturation and is quite bright at the 50% setting (though not as bright as the Wizard). Indoors it looks great, though outdoors fade and glare are noticeable (the same is true of most PDA displays).
Sound out through the included stereo earbud headphones is good when listening to MP3s using the included Windows Media Player Mobile 10 with support for DRM. Likewise movie soundtracks sound good, and certainly much better than the speaker, as is the case with all PDAs and phones. The phone does well with video encoded at 450 kbps or less and QVGA resolution using Windows Media Player and the excellent free TCPMP video player. If you're into high bitrate encoding, the JAMin isn't for you, as you'll notice frame drops above 600kbps which become unpleasant at 700kbps. Volume for both PDA audio and ringtones is average through the built-in speaker.
To test video playback we threw our usual test file at it: "The Chosen" (a neat BMW flick with Clive Owen) which is a 4:26 minute long, 10 meg MPEG1 file recorded at 320 x 240, 308 kb/s. We tested the Cingular 8215 using TCPMP, an extremely fast open source free video player that supports MPEG1, DivX, ASF, WMV and AVI files. TCPMP benchmarked "The Chosen" with a modest benchmarks of :
Average speed: 182.27%
Bench Frame Rate: 43.75
Bench. Data Rate: 564 Mbit/s
Orig. Frame Rate: 24fps
Orig. Data Rate: 310 kbit/s
Bluetooth and WiFi
Comm Manager is your one-stop destination for all things wireless on the JAMin, along with a few other goodies. Launch it by pressing its icon on the Today Screen or pressing the dedicated button on the phone's left side. You can turn the phone, Bluetooth and WiFi radios on or off, as well as controlling speaker mute, initiating ActiveSync and push email. Under Comm Manager's settings menu you'll find items that take you to Bluetooth and WiFi settings applets.
The Wireless LAN applet, similar to other recent HTC-made devices, shows signal strength, current SSID, mode, Tx rate and channel. If offers several tabs for power management (the default setting worked fine for us), manual IP settings if you don't use DHCP, LEAP and secure certificate enrollment. WiFi connections were reliable in our tests when connecting to a variety of public open access points and 802.11g access points using WEP encryption. Range was average for Pocket PCs, which is to say quite good. The device can connect to an access point that's 70 feet away through walls.
Bluetooth's user interface is less replete with features and information since the JAMin uses Microsoft's basic Bluetooth stack and software. Though the software lacks wizards or friendly graphics to guide you through connection management, it does get the job done reliably. Using the software you can make the device discoverable, discover and pair to other devices such as GPS, PCs, headsets, car kits and keyboards. The JAMin has Bluetooth 2.0 which is backward compatible with previous versions such as 1.1 and 1.2 but it does not have EDR (enhanced data rate) found on some recent Mac and PC computers. It supports most all common profiles including DUN, serial port, hands-free, headset, object push and HID (but not A2DP). We tested the i-mate with several Bluetooth headsets including the Plantronics Discovery 640, Cardo Scala and Motorola H500 and all did well in terms of voice quality, volume, call transfer and hands-free features.
Comm Manager is your one-stop destination for all things wireless on the JAMin, along with a few other goodies. Launch it by pressing its icon on the Today Screen or pressing the dedicated button on the phone's left side. You can turn the phone, Bluetooth and WiFi radios on or off, as well as controlling speaker mute, initiating ActiveSync and push email. Under Comm Manager's settings menu you'll find items that take you to Bluetooth and WiFi settings applets.
The Wireless LAN applet, similar to other recent HTC-made devices, shows signal strength, current SSID, mode, Tx rate and channel. If offers several tabs for power management (the default setting worked fine for us), manual IP settings if you don't use DHCP, LEAP and secure certificate enrollment. WiFi connections were reliable in our tests when connecting to a variety of public open access points and 802.11g access points using WEP encryption. Range was average for Pocket PCs, which is to say quite good. The device can connect to an access point that's 70 feet away through walls.
Bluetooth's user interface is less replete with features and information since the JAMin uses Microsoft's basic Bluetooth stack and software. Though the software lacks wizards or friendly graphics to guide you through connection management, it does get the job done reliably. Using the software you can make the device discoverable, discover and pair to other devices such as GPS, PCs, headsets, car kits and keyboards. The JAMin has Bluetooth 2.0 which is backward compatible with previous versions such as 1.1 and 1.2 but it does not have EDR (enhanced data rate) found on some recent Mac and PC computers. It supports most all common profiles including DUN, serial port, hands-free, headset, object push and HID (but not A2DP). We tested the i-mate with several Bluetooth headsets including the Plantronics Discovery 640, Cardo Scala and Motorola H500 and all did well in terms of voice quality, volume, call transfer and hands-free features.
Software
All Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs come with the operating system, Mobile Office suite including Outlook Mobile and desktop Outlook, Windows Media Player Mobile 10, Terminal Services, Pictures and Videos, Pocket MSN (Hotmail, MSN Messenger), File Explorer, handwriting recognition (print and cursive), Solitaire, Bubble Breaker (the game formerly known as Jaw Breaker), Calculator and support for secure certificates and VPN connections. Outlook on the PDA has calendar, contacts, tasks, notes and email (called Messaging), which you can sync to a Windows desktop running Outlook. In addition you get Clear Storage (wipes out the device to factory settings), Comm Manager, Club i-mate email, the camera application, Voice Speed Dial, ClearVue PDF viewer, Modem Link and Zip (unzips .zip files).
You can add any Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC app you wish and we tested several which ran well, including Resco File Explorer, Resco Photo Viewer, TCPMP, eReader, Opera beta and several current Pocket PC games.
All Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs come with the operating system, Mobile Office suite including Outlook Mobile and desktop Outlook, Windows Media Player Mobile 10, Terminal Services, Pictures and Videos, Pocket MSN (Hotmail, MSN Messenger), File Explorer, handwriting recognition (print and cursive), Solitaire, Bubble Breaker (the game formerly known as Jaw Breaker), Calculator and support for secure certificates and VPN connections. Outlook on the PDA has calendar, contacts, tasks, notes and email (called Messaging), which you can sync to a Windows desktop running Outlook. In addition you get Clear Storage (wipes out the device to factory settings), Comm Manager, Club i-mate email, the camera application, Voice Speed Dial, ClearVue PDF viewer, Modem Link and Zip (unzips .zip files).
You can add any Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC app you wish and we tested several which ran well, including Resco File Explorer, Resco Photo Viewer, TCPMP, eReader, Opera beta and several current Pocket PC games.
Specification Of Dopod 818 Pro
Physical design
Form factor
Pad
Dimensions
108 x 58 x 18.2 mm
Weight w/battery
150 g
Primary display resolution
320 x 240 pixels
Phone
Phone type
Quadband
Networks
GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
Connectivity options
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS/GSM, Infrared, USB, SDIO
Messaging features
SMS, MMS, Email, Instant message
Ringtone options
MP3 ringtones, WMA ringtones
Calling Features
Speakerphone
Additional phone features
Supports polyphonic ringtones including Midi, WAV, MP3 and WMA
Multimedia
Built-in digital camera
Yes
Maximum camera resolution
2 megapixels
Camera sensor type
CMOS
Maximum digital zoom
x
Maximum optical zoom
x
PDA
Operating system
Pocket PC
Main processor type
TI OMAP 850
Main processor speed
195 MHz
RAM
64 MB
ROM
128 MB
Expansion option(s)
SD, SDIO, MMC
PC connectivity
Windows
Battery type
Rechargeable 1,200mAh battery
Removable battery
Yes
Installed applications
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 (operating system); Internet Explorer; Pocket MSN; windows Media Player; Outlook Mobile; Word Mobile; Excel Mobile; PowerPoint Mobile; ClearVue PDF; ZIP; Camera; Wireless Manager
Included accessories
Charger, USB cable, PDA case, wired earphones cum handsfree kit and extra stylus.
Display
Monochrome or color
Color
No. of colors
16 bit
Touch screen
Yes
Backlit display
Yes
Data Input
Method
Pen
Interfaces
Infrared
Yes
Audio
Built-in speakers
Yes
Built-in mic
Yes
Desktop Connectivity
Desktop software included
Yes
Synchronization with desktop
Yes
Cradle included
Yes
Power supply
Batteries rechargeable
Yes
AC adaptor included?
Yes
Warranty
Base warranty
1 year
