E-TEN glofish X500 Pocket PC Phone

[Brandon Miniman]

E-TEN, who historically hasn't surprised us with a truly compelling device, has created a new brand within itself: glofish. The first device from glofish carries quite a claim - to be the "World's thinnest Pocket PC Phone, GPS and WiFi all-in-one." With that claim, they've got our attention. Is this the device that many have been waiting for, or was usability sacrificed for the sake of thinness? We'll take a thorough look at the E-TEN glofish X500 to see whether it should *keep* our attention. Read on for the thorough review!

[ArticSunny]

No 3G (UMTS/HSDPA)
No synchronisation over Wifi via activesync :-(

[ChrisSpera]

The biggest concern that I have is the 850mHz operation. What was that like? I skimmed this, and perhaps missed it; but was curious to know if it suffered from the same problems with the 850mHz band that the M500 and G500 did? the M600 and the Plus series devices were supposed to fix that (so was the G500...) but ultimately did not.

Can you comment on that?

Thanks, Brandon!!

[Brandon Miniman]

Well fortunate for those that have an Exchange account, syncing is done OTA, and connection speed doesn't impact this too much. Web browsing, on the other hand, is where the EDGE is painful.

[Brandon Miniman]

The biggest concern that I have is the 850mHz operation. What was that like? I skimmed this, and perhaps missed it; but was curious to know if it suffered from the same problems with the 850mHz band that the M500 and G500 did? the M600 and the Plus series devices were supposed to fix that (so was the G500...) but ultimately did not.

Can you comment on that?

Thanks, Brandon!!

Not exactly sure what you're asking. When I first turned on the phone, it was set to 900/1800 MHz band in phone settings. I had to switch over to 850/1900 to get service.

[Pony99CA]

No synchronisation over Wifi via activesync :-(
If that's a deal breaker for you, you won't be buying any Windows Mobile 5 devices or later. WM 5 requires ActiveSync 4.x and Microsoft removed network (WiFi and LAN) synchronization from ActiveSync 4.x due to "corporate security concerns".

So you'll need to find devices running Windows Mobile 2003 SE or earlier and use ActiveSync 3.8.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Not exactly sure what you're asking. When I first turned on the phone, it was set to 900/1800 MHz band in phone settings. I had to switch over to 850/1900 to get service.
I think Chris wants to know if there were any reception problems using the 850 MHz band. If I recall correctly, he had problems with previous E-TEN devices and wonders whether this device fixed those.

Steve

[ChrisSpera]

yes! Thank you Steve, for clarifying the question. That's exactly what I want to know. does this phone have the same 850mHz reception problems as the previous ETEN devices?

[Brandon Miniman]

Nope - no reception issues.

[martyb]

Hi Brandon, thanks for the excellent review.

I can't find any details on the type of TFT in this unit (transflective or transmissive).

I was just wondering how good the display was, particularly in direct sunlight?
Have you used this unit outside, on a sunny day?

Cheers

Martin

[Klamath]

Indeed a very complete review.

I'm really interested in buying this phone but I'm still a little bit worried. E-ten devices have a bad history with audio quality and bluetooth headsets and I was wondering if you were able to test pairing, audio quality and voice commands while using a bluetooth headset with X500. What about A2DP?

Also, I've seen somewhere that it's radio tunner is mono. Could you confirm that? but then again... Is that really an issue?

Thanks a lot

[globalgmcd]

I have been following and enquiring on the Eten user forum about any audio problems as with previous Eten devices, before I purchase one next week.
One user on that forum stated that he had some low audible problems with a headset on the x500. But didn't clairify about BT headset usage and issues.
Could anyone using the new x500 give us feedback about the gsm audio quality in both reception and how the party on the other end is hearing ie scratchy sounds, echoes, low volume etc... This is very important as a rep I will use the GSM extensively. I use to have a Mio A701 and sold it as I found that Mio had taken its time to fix their BT issues. I believe that is fixed now but like the specs on the x500 quad band. I am interested in also hearing about the 850mhz problems and whether this is still a problem with x500. Thanks Guys, keep the news and updated info coming. Maybe the HTC P3300 is not a bad choice after all.

[Brandon Miniman]

Hi Brandon, thanks for the excellent review.

I can't find any details on the type of TFT in this unit (transflective or transmissive).

I was just wondering how good the display was, particularly in direct sunlight?
Have you used this unit outside, on a sunny day?

Cheers

Martin

The screen is a bit of an issue in bright sunlight. It's got a shiny coating on the screen which can cause glare.

Indeed a very complete review.

I'm really interested in buying this phone but I'm still a little bit worried. E-ten devices have a bad history with audio quality and bluetooth headsets and I was wondering if you were able to test pairing, audio quality and voice commands while using a bluetooth headset with X500. What about A2DP?

Also, I've seen somewhere that it's radio tunner is mono. Could you confirm that? but then again... Is that really an issue?

Thanks a lot

Thanks for the compliment.

I didn't have any issue with audio quality and pairing with this device. It seems that E-TEN has created a new platform in effect, so flaws in previous models seemed to have ironed themselves out. I didn't get to test A2DP, unfortunately.

Regarding the radio - I just gave it another listen, and it's hard to determine if it's mono or stereo. By default, it says Stereo on the screen, but that doesn't mean much. I really don't give much weight to the radio feature, because it only works decently outdoors.

I have been following and enquiring on the Eten user forum about any audio problems as with previous Eten devices, before I purchase one next week.
One user on that forum stated that he had some low audible problems with a headset on the x500. But didn't clairify about BT headset usage and issues.
Could anyone using the new x500 give us feedback about the gsm audio quality in both reception and how the party on the other end is hearing ie scratchy sounds, echoes, low volume etc... This is very important as a rep I will use the GSM extensively. I use to have a Mio A701 and sold it as I found that Mio had taken its time to fix their BT issues. I believe that is fixed now but like the specs on the x500 quad band. I am interested in also hearing about the 850mhz problems and whether this is still a problem with x500. Thanks Guys, keep the news and updated info coming. Maybe the HTC P3300 is not a bad choice after all.

The GSM reception was terrific - as good as any WM device that I've used in the past. The audio quality through the handset wasn't as great as I've heard from other devices, but this is probably a good phone to use with a BT headset anyhow.

[qsworld]

Re: "The audio quality through the handset wasn't as great as I've heard from other devices,"


Just curious is the audio quality on the handset too low or too much treble?

Also, how is the comfort? I'm a HP 6315 user and its a brick against my head. The Treo 700w has a little more comfortable fit. How does the X500 compare in comfort?

Quincy

[Brandon Miniman]

Re: "The audio quality through the handset wasn't as great as I've heard from other devices,"


Just curious is the audio quality on the handset too low or too much treble?

Also, how is the comfort? I'm a HP 6315 user and its a brick against my head. The Treo 700w has a little more comfortable fit. How does the X500 compare in comfort?

Quincy

Hi Quincy,

Regarding the audio quality - if I had to put my finger on it, I'd say there was a lack of treble.

And regarding comfort - it definitely feels better than a Treo 700w because of its lesser weight, but to be honest - if I were going to use this everyday, I'd undoubtedly use a Bluetooth headset. The device is still a PDA, and holding a PDA up to your hear, at least in my experience, is never comfortable.

[dig]

I have been using WM Pocket PCs for a couple of years but have always bought through my carrier. I am very interested in purchasing this phone and was wondering if there are any issues using this on the TMobile network (including EDGE) in the USA.

Thanks in advance.