The Glofiish X600, X800, and M800 Launched!

[Chuong Nguyen]

According to MoDaCo (http://www.modaco.com/content/Pocket-PC-Professional-News/261737/Glofiish-launch-X600-X800-and-M800-devices/), E-Ten just launched the Glofiish X600, X800, and the M800 which is a TyTN II competitor.

All models are based on the Windows Mobile 6 Professional platform. The X600 has a QVGA display with a slim and stylish body, the X800 adds VGA, and the M800 adds the TyTN II's sliding QWERTY keyboard to the mix.

The interesting thing here is that the M800 adds VGA while the TyTN II only sports a QVGA display. I know there are some people who would love a VGA screen to make text and graphics look crisper. Moreover, the GPS on the M800 is based on the SiRF Star III chipset for enhanced accuracy and reliability whereas the GPS on the TyTN II seems to be integrated into the Qualcomm chip. While I haven't had any problems with the TyTN II's GPS except in downtown Los Angeles where there are tall buildings, I haven't done a comparison with a SiRF Star III GPS to measure accuracy. FM radio is added to the mix on the M800.

The TyTN II has a tilting screen and a 3 MP auto-focus camera instead of the 2 MP auto-focus shooter on the M800. All else are the same--GSM, HSDPA, Bluetooth, WiFi support.

[starstreak]

Except that the Eten unit has 64mb of ram and 128mb rom(or was that 256?). That alone is gonna kill some people. I know I was waiting for the x800 but becuase of all the problems I keep hearing about it, I broke down and got a Tilt. Not bad unit. I had to format it like 5 time due to issues with different software I was trying to put on it, but the unit is stable now with stock roms.

[Brandon Miniman]

Except that the Eten unit has 64mb of ram and 128mb rom(or was that 256?). That alone is gonna kill some people. I know I was waiting for the x800 but becuase of all the problems I keep hearing about it, I broke down and got a Tilt. Not bad unit. I had to format it like 5 time due to issues with different software I was trying to put on it, but the unit is stable now with stock roms.

I think they sacrificed storage space to allow for the higher-cost VGA screen. Frankly, I don't mind using expansion cards.

[Rainman]

I would still like to have the extra system memory. I run multiple apps at the same time and it definitely helps having that memory available. But this device definitely has the right specs. I Can't wait to see how it performs.

[Brandon Miniman]

Hrm... last I checked, RAM was for storage and ROM is like random access memory on a computer. Right? So, having a shortage of RAM would just mean that you'd install programs to a storage card.

[Rainman]

Hrm... last I checked, RAM was for storage and ROM is like random access memory on a computer. Right? So, having a shortage of RAM would just mean that you'd install programs to a storage card.

My understanding is that ROM is the non-volatile portion of the memory and that's where the applications are stored. That way, when you ran out of battery power, you wouldn't lose any of your data on the device. The RAM is the memory used to run applications.

[demione]

Hrm... last I checked, RAM was for storage and ROM is like random access memory on a computer. Right? So, having a shortage of RAM would just mean that you'd install programs to a storage card.

RAM stands for random access memory, champ

[Brandon Miniman]

RAM stands for random access memory, champ

Right, but in Windows Mobile 5.0 after, the RAM/ROM functions were reversed to prevent data loss on a complete discharge. Now, your temporary memory is ROM and your storage is RAM. Champ :p

[demione]

Right, but in Windows Mobile 5.0 after, the RAM/ROM functions were reversed to prevent data loss on a complete discharge. Now, your temporary memory is ROM and your storage is RAM. Champ :p

that is... some pretty awful terminology.

hail the advent of android!

[Rainman]

Right, but in Windows Mobile 5.0 after, the RAM/ROM functions were reversed to prevent data loss on a complete discharge. Now, your temporary memory is ROM and your storage is RAM. Champ :p

Brandon, I believe you have it reversed. Here is the description from the Windows Mobile Team Blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/08/19/453784.aspx

This is what the blog says:

How is it used?
Before WM5, this was a complicated question. With Persistent Storage (http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/07/14/438991.aspx), this becomes much simpler.

ROM is where stuff is stored. All the programs and the OS that make up the software on the device are stored in ROM. Your data is stored in ROM too. And SD and CF cards are made of ROM. Effectively, your device has an SD card built into it that you can't remove.

RAM is where stuff runs. When you turn on your device, it loads programs from the ROM into the RAM and runs them from the RAM. When you play a song, it loads a bit of the song out of the ROM into the RAM, plays that bit, throws it out, and loads the next bit. When you read an email, it loads the text from ROM into RAM and displays it. When you load the next one, it throws that text out and loads the new text. Go back to the one you just threw out, and it'll load it out of ROM again.

So, by and large, the amount of RAM you have determines how many things you can run at one time. And the amount of ROM you have determines how much of your stuff you can keep around.

[Brandon Miniman]

Ok, so the model has changed - just in the reverse order that I thought. It used to be that RAM was storage, ROM was for running things, and now it's reversed so that RAM is similar to RAM on a computer...used for running things.

[Rainman]

Ok, so the model has changed - just in the reverse order that I thought. It used to be that RAM was storage, ROM was for running things, and now it's reversed so that RAM is similar to RAM on a computer...used for running things.

On older PocketPC 2002 and WM2003 devices, RAM was used for both running applications and storing information. This was one of the nice things about the older Windows Mobile devices was that you were able to define how much of the RAM was to be used for running applications and how much was used for storage. I had always setup my older devices to use the RAM for running applications. I always stored programs and other files on the memory cards so I wouldn't lose them if the battery died out.

The only thing the ROM was used for was to store the operating system. But sometimes, a manufacturer would reserve a small amount of the ROM for usage. For example, on my iPAQ 3765, about 6MB of the ROM was set aside for me to put anything on. I would normally backup my contacts and calendar on this portion of the ROM, again in case of loss of power.