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Pocket LOOX T830 Review
The Pocket LOOX T830 its one of the pocket pc devices manufactured by Fujitsu –Siemens. The device has been around for a couple of months now and it is sold for around 500 GPB.
The Pocket LOOX T830 is running Windows Mobile 5.0 and it has two major differences from other pocket pc devices we have seen so far. The first difference is that the Pocket LOOX T830 has the richest set of connectivity features you can find on a pocket pc device. First of all it is a pocket pc phone (GSM/GPRS Tri-Band 900/1800/1900 MHz), a PDA, a 3G-enabled phone with built in Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0, and it also has an integrated GPS receiver. It has all the connectivity features currently available for pocket pc devices. Other pocket pc devices have some but not all of the features included in Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket LOOX T830. For example the ETEN X500 has built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and built-in GPS receiver but does not have support for 3G. The HTC P3600 is 3G enabled but does not have a built-in GPS. For sure the connectivity features of Pocket LOOX T830 are one of the greatest advantages of this phone.
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The second major difference of Pocket LOOX T830 compared to other pocket pc devices is its size. The Pocket LOOX T830 is a big and heavy device. It has a design different than the compact design we see on recent pocket pc devices nowadays (HTC P3300, ETEN X500, ETEN M700, ASUS P535, HTC P3600). The Pocket LOOX T830 measures (H x W x D): 126 x 64 x 21 and weights 195g (with battery). These figures may not say anything alone but comparing the size of Pocket LOOX T830 with other devices you can understand the difference. The table below shows a comparison of Pocket LOOX T830, HP iPAQ hw6915, ETEN M700 and HTC TyTN (size in Millimetres).
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Height
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Width
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Depth
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Weight
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Pocket Loox T830
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126
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64
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21
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195
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HP iPAQ hw6915
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118
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71
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18
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179
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ETEN M700
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117.5
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59
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19.6
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165
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HTC TyTN
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112.5
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58
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21.9
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176
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It is clear from the table above that Pocket Loox T830 is the biggest and heaviest device.
To understand the difference of the size of Pocket Loox T830 we present below images of Pocket Loox T830 side-by-side with an average size Pocket PC Phone, ETEN M700. As you can see the difference in size, width and depth between the two devices is more than noticeable. The Pocket Loox T830 is almost 10mm bigger in height than the ETEN M700, 6MM bigger in width and weights 30g more.
We have also compared Pocket Loox T830 with another device, a Playstation 2 so as to give you a more clear idea about the ‘real’ size of the device (image can be found in Pocket Loox T830 image gallery).
Pocket Loox T830 Review – Design
Having said and discussed about the size of the device we can now look at how the controls and components of the device are laid out. Pocket Loox T830 is one of the pocket pc phones that have a QWERTY keyboard on the front. The QWERTY keyboard buttons are laid out nicely with the number keys distinguished by getting a different colour light when used. The problem with the Loox keyboard is that the buttons are too small and you often press more than one buttons when you attempt to type text or make a call. The least you would expect from a device as big as the Pocket Loox T830 is big and confortable keyboard buttons. Unfortunately the designers of this phone did not take usability very seriously.
Above the keyboard you can find a 5-way navigation pad on the centre, with two sets of 2 buttons each on the left and right of the navigation-pad, and on the left the green answer key and on the right the red end call button.
The display is a square 2.4-inch with 240 X 240 resolution. It is a TFT touch screen with 65,536 colours with LED backlight. In general the quality and visibility of the display is very good with great bright colours and very good levels of brightness and contrast. On the other hand, the size of the display for a device with the dimensions of Pocket Loox T830 is small. It is amazing what they did with the design of this device with the best set of connectivity features; they created a huge device, with a small screen and tiny keyboard buttons.
Above the display and underneath the protecting cover, you can find the VGA camera used for Video calls and for taking self-portrait images.
To be continued…