10 Questions before I buy my o2 XDA (UK) - MDA, XDA, 1010 General

1. Is it really that bad as a phone - many have commented on weak single strength etc.
2. Will I have to buy a serial connection/docking bay to connect to my NT 4.0 Workstation.
3. If I use the device as just a phone - no playing around - how long will it stay charged on stanby.
4. Will the headphones hat I get with the unit allow me to listen to mp3's and what is the quality like?
5. Using GPRS - if I am sending and receiving emails (pop3), obviously I have the filesize of the email to consider - but how much data will I transfer when checking for new email and downloaded lists of unopened email. What hidden bandwith will I use?
6. Is the OS future proof? Will microsoft dump the Pocket PC OS very shortly?
7. There is software out there that allows you to control yout tv and vcr etc. Is the infrared powerful enough - do you have to sit on top of the telly for it to work - It's not major important - but just interested?
8. I have seen some phones that you can put two sim cards in - can you do that with the xda?
9. Will software designed for tyhe ipaq work on the xda.
10. Is this a good deal - Device cost £199, o2 30 mins month £15, 5mb per month £12? Can I use another gprs provider??

---

Add 11 th & 12th question
As someone also considering purchase in UK ..
11. How practical is the screensize / voice level to use the device with GPS in car such as tomtom navigator 2
12. Does unlocking software operate on W2K / XP ??

---

answers but only my opinion
1. useless if signal lost (search for my posts) in rom updated section.
2. can't answer this one as i use XP Sorry !
3. i have had 3 or 4 days between charges and if it keeps signal its ok.
depends on how much u use and talk though.
4. headphone quality is quite good for mp3 only problem is getting them to stay in your ears i have some foam boots off another set that help but they are still awkward.
5. you can set a limit on what u grab ie no file attach just headers etc so bandwidth u use will depend on ammount of emails and your settings.
6. who can tell what microsoft will do ? its future proof as long as they want it to be really.
7. infrared is kinda weak i found about 2 metres was my max with remote software.
8. maybe possible but the way it fits in i feel any mod would be ugly and easily damaged (liitle rubber door and a tiny microswitch that has to be operated would make this difficult (but who knows someone might do it) and you would also have to unlock it.
9. seems to work most ARM software unless there are harware rerlated issues to the ipaq like rotating screen or assigning buttons.
10. only you can answer that one for yourself do you feel its necessary at that cost and can u afford it ?? when unlocked i can see no reason at all why you could not use a differnet gprs provider as long as you had their sim in .
11. i have hooked it up to my gps reciever via serial cable with tom tom and it works but I dont now how noisy your car is :wink: its loud enough in my rover 400
12. maybe xda developers can answer this one for you?

---

Re: Add 11 th & 12th question
RogerB said:
12. Does unlocking software operate on W2K / XP ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does. 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and possibly also 95. And it's likely to also run on newer versions of Windows.

---

Further developments to my questions.
Today I went to the o2 Shop - to answer some of my q's
One thing that struck me was that when he went on the web - he still had to dial/connect - I thought they were online all the time?

---

My 2c:
1. It's not totally unusable, but if you need good coverage in weak signal areas, this device isn't for you.
2. Yep, you need a serial cable.
3. Can't answer as I use the PocketPC stuff much more than the phone stuff, but with moderate PPC playing, it lasts the weekend out no problem. As with all other phones, if you know you'll be out of coverage for a while, turn the phone off to save the batteries being drained by the 'anybody out there' signal when the phone trys to find a cell.
4. I quite like the headphones. The quality of the device's audio is very good. If you've got a pair of headphones you really like, you can get an adaptor pretty easily. A cheap 2.5->3.5mm phono adaptor is fine if you don't need to use the answer button.
5. There's not much hidden bandwidth, WYDIWYG (what you download is what you get). I think the polling for new emails mich be a bit inefficient: it seems to download all headers each time, but I've not investigated this.
6. This is one of the great things about the XDA, the OS is pretty much standard, and updatable (although O2 drag their heels on this one), so it's reasonably future-proof. There's too much of an existing PocketPC userbase for the platform to be abandoned.
7. As answered above. I think there's an adaptor for the IPAQ that uses the phono socket to drive a more powerful IR, but out of the box it's just to weak to work well.
9. Surprisingly, most IPAQ stuff works fine. The overclock utility even works (as usual be careful, it can cause a hard reset). HTC makes both devices after all. The main gotcha is there are less buttons on the XDA.
10. That's the deal I'm using. They're all pretty much the same. O2s coverage isn't as strong as Vodafone in some areas, but at least they offer some form of device support.
GRPS, while often advertised as an "always on" technology, does require you to dial up. The new rom alows you to set it so it doesn't disconnect on powersave/incoming phonecall. Of course if you loose your signal, it disconnects.

---

Thanks
Thanks so far!