Dopod International plans to launch a GPS PDA phone known as the P800W. Not only does this phone have high tech computer capability, but it has a trackball and track wheels to aid with map browsing and web surfing. Other impressive features of the Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connected phone include push email, a 2 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, all under Windows Mobile 5.0. The device also has a fully functional QWERTY keyboard with a 2.80 touch screen.
Design
The entire phone body is encased in smooth feeling silver grey plastic, Dopod refers to it as "Iron Grey" and with a size of only 108 x 58 x 16.8mm, this is a small and sleek smart phone, reminiscent of the more high fashion designs of phone houses such as Nokia or Motorola. Keeping with the Frankenstein motif, the P800W's stylus feels like it's come straight from the mad doctor's surgery; it's the sharpest PDA stylus we've ever used, and a danger to eyeballs everywhere.
Features
The P800W runs on a Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor with 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM. User data can be stored internally or via a microSD card, although irritatingly, the card slot lives underneath the battery, so it's fiddly and difficult to change cards on the fly. The P800W's embedded digital camera has a 2 megapixel sensor and a number of photographic modes in common with most other camera-enabled Windows Mobile devices, or in other words, it can play some pretty camera tricks, but you're still not going to become Lord Lichfield with it. The GPS chipset within the P800W is the de rigueur SiRFstar III. On the phone side, the P800W is a quadband GSM handset (850/900/1800/1900MHz) with nary a 3G capability in sight. On the wireless data front, it supports Bluetooth v2.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.
Performance
The P800W comes with a meaty 1,200mAh battery that Dopod rates for up to five hours of talktime and up to 200 hours of standby time. Given that the P800W's usage patterns can vary widely, depending on how much you're using the wireless and GPS functions, we weren't expecting wonderful results from the phone, and were pleased to find Dopod's figures mostly accurate; on a light usage week we'd manage the full seven days in-between recharges, while heavy Wi-Fi and GPS use dropped those figures rather alarmingly.
On the Windows Mobile front, the P800W felt a little sluggish in operation, we got very, very used to looking at the scrolling colour wheel while waiting for applications to load. That's a purely relative factor; if you're new to the smartphone market you probably wouldn't notice it, but compared to snappier smartphone models, with perhaps the exception of the even more sluggish Treo 680, the P800W feels a touch turgid in operation.
We've perhaps become spoilt by all of the recent GPS units we've looked at that have upped the ante as far as GPS triangulation is concerned. We were pretty disappointed therefore in the P800W's synchronization capabilities; despite using the same SiRFstar III chipset as its competitors, we never once managed to clock in with a GPS signal that was useful in under three minutes, and sometimes as long as ten minutes had to pass. This also essentially cripples the GPS-photo capability, as aside from popping out of the car and taking a photo then and there, you've got to have a lot of patience to take GPS co-ordinate embedded pictures.
Ultimately, while the Frankenstein approach of appropriating design and feature elements from other phones gives the Dopod a lot of appeal in the pure functionality stakes, and its slim form factor does make it a player in the style race, the overall poor performance make the P800W a less than enticing prospect.
Datasheet Views:
5759 views since upload of datasheet (October 28, 2006)
Release Date:
December, 2006
Predecessor Model:
Dopod 830 / 818 Pro
Dimensions:
58 x 108 x 16.8 millimetres
Mass:
127 grams (battery included)
Software Environment
Operating System:
Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition AKU 3.0.0
Microprocessor
CPU:
32bit Texas Instruments OMAP 850
CPU Clock:
201 MHz
Memory, Storage capacity
ROM capacity:
128 MB (accessible: 51.16MB)
RAM capacity:
64 MB (accessible: 42.55MB)
Hard Disk capacity:
Not supported
Display
Display Type:
color transflective TFT , 65536 scales
Display Resolution:
240 x 320
Display Diagonal:
2.8 "
Sound
Microphone:
mono
Speaker:
mono
Audio Output:
Proprietary jack
Cellular Phone
Cellular Networks:
GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850
Cellular Data Standards:
CSD, GPRS, EDGE
Call Alert:
40 -chord melody
Vibrating Alert:
Supported
Control Peripherals
Positioning Device:
Touchscreen & TrackBall
Keyboard:
Not supported
Directional Pad:
Not supported
Jog / Scroll Wheel:
Rotary full area roller
Interfaces
Expansion Slots:
SDIO, microSD, TransFlash
Serial:
RS-232 , 115200bit/s
USB:
USB 1.1 client, 12Mbit/s , USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector
Bluetooth:
Bluetooth 2.0
Wireless LAN:
802.11b, 802.11g
Multimedia Telecommunication
Analog TV:
Not supported
Analog Radio:
FM radio reciever
Satellite Navigation
Built-in GPS:
SiRF Star III , 20 channels
TMC:
Supported
Built-in Digital Camera
Main Camera:
CMOS sensor, 1.9MP
Built-in Flash:
Not supported
Power Supply
Battery:
Lithium-ion polymer , removable
Battery Capacity:
1250 mAh
