Eten Glofiish X800… The Outlook So Far (Part I)
Nov 26th, 2007 by Tariq Bamadhaj
I do not own the Glofiish X800. Neither have I played with it or seen it for myself. However, I thought it would be interesting to write an article or two about the X800, to provide an in-depth look at how the device fares from an outsider’s point of view. I look forward to Xavier’s article (and he has one coming up soon) on his experience with the device but at the same time, I realized that what Xavier experiences (or has experienced) may not be in line with what others are. So if you are looking to buy the Eten Glofiish X800 anytime soon or just considering it, then this article would provide you with a consolidated insight of what other users are experiencing.
Slow Device
This has got to take the cake for problems faced by new users of the X800. Unfortunately, there is no one cause for the slowdown but rather a combination of several factors. The bad news is that the problem is found in all X800 that you purchase. The good news is that it can be fixed, to a certain extent.
a. VGA
When you consider that it is running a VGA screen without a dedicated graphics card on board, it can only mean trouble. Plus the fact that not all software out there are optimized for such resolutions, just adds to the slowdown. So, should you lay off the device because it has VGA? I would say no, because there are alternatives if the software you are using is not optimized. Yes your device would be slower (without tweaking) than other devices running QVGA but with VGA, everything will look so much better on your device.
b. Hardware
Even though it is running VGA, I would have expected to up the RAM to 128MB instead of shipping it out with 64MB. Maybe the X800+ version would have 128MB RAM but until that is confirmed, this is one factor that you can’t fix at the moment.
Note: There are services out there that allows you to add additional RAM to your device but I have yet to come across one that does so for Eten or Glofiish devices. If anyone knows something, do let us know about it.
c. Software
This is another reason for the slowdown. Even though you may have 256MB in ROM, the Eten applications that come pre-installed with the device causes the slowdown because it is running in the background. Do you need these software? Chances are you do not. And even if you do, you can always install it to your SD card instead to free up space. We’ve outlined the steps for the X500 and you could apply it to your X800 but as to which applications to install and what they are for, you would need to do it by trial and error.
d. Tweaks
To make any Windows Mobile device faster, you will definitely have to tweak. Be it in increasing caches or moving DLLs from one location to another, these are some of the tweaks you would need to apply to your device before you can see any marked improvements. For starters, you can read about some of the tweaks that Xavier has provided. And if that is not enough, the web provides a lot more resources.
HSPDA Speed
For a 3G device, the highest speeds that users are experiencing is just under 400Kbps. This is really a shame considering that HSPDA offers a much higher speed. It seems that this problem is ROM-based an can only (if it is fixed at all) be fixed by a ROM upgrade.
Skype And VoIP
Skype initially did not work on any Eten devices (at least the latest version of Skype at that time) due to it not supporting Samsung chipsets. However, that problem has been overcome and one can now use the latest version of Skype with their X800.
However, even with the latest device, one could not get sound redirected to the phone speaker. Sound would come out of the main speaker, as with any other WM devices. To overcome this, you would have to use several software and an older version of Skype. We have covered this in a post, including the needed files.
As for VoIP, if you follow the steps in that post, you can also have VoIP (and all sound for that matter) redirected from the main speaker to the phone speaker. This would allow you to make such calls as a normal phone call instead of sharing it with people around you.
No SDHC Driver
If you are planning to use a large capacity micro SD card on your device, chances are the card is SDHC. Unfortunately, the X800 does not support such cards which is a shame. Other manufacturers such as HTC have already added SDHC support to their newer devices and I hope Eten can do the same as well and soon. In the mean time, you can use the patch made for the X500 if you need to run SDHC cards on your X800.
Voicemail Messages
Some users are claiming that they do not receive messages (when they should) when someone leaves a voicemail. There is currently no fix for this at the moment, except to hope that a newer ROM updates solves this.
USSD Switched Off
If you always use USSD on your phone, then the X800 might not be for you. At the moment, the function has been turned off and although there are some users claiming that they are still able to use USSD functions, this varies from user to user. Again, only a ROM update (or a tweak if someone comes up with one) can fix this problem.
Mono Bluetooth A2DP
If you are planning to get the X800 and use it to stream music wirelessly from your device to a bluetooth capable stereo headset, you might realize that the sound is actually in mono. This is because JointStereo has not been activated by default. Thankfully, this just requires a simple tweak after which you can enjoy your music, this time in stereo.
Low Quality Camera
If you are planning to use the X800’s camera to replace your camera, then you might want to reconsider. The pictures are far from perfect. Blurry would be a better description. Eten claims that it’s due to the auto-focus feature of the camera but the fact of the matter remains. Unless there is a fix for this, the camera is pretty much useless.
New ROM, Same Problems
Just last week, we managed to get hold of the ROM WWE 040 381 for the X800 which promises to fix a few of these issues. However, it now seems that this ROM is in the process of being fine-tuned and will be re-released sometime soon. It was no surprise there because some of the more major problems such as 3G speeds, were not fixed in this update. Hopefully, this newer ROM will fix the problems once and for all. Maybe then, the X800 will become more appealing.
In closing, I would like to point out that there are some great features about the Eten Glofiish X800 and I will cover them next week. The reason this article lists out all the negatives is because some users might find this unbearable, and no matter how great the device is, would not be able to use it. And while not all these problems plague all users (some have claimed they do not experience them at all), it would be wise to consider them when making your decisions.
What has your experience with the Glofiish X800 been like? Are there problems that you face that are not listed above?
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X800 Great Idea, Bad Timing
1. It’s going head to head with the Iphone in the U.S. E-ten really needs to work on their marketing
2. E-ten has this problem selling features that don’t actually work (microsoft stopped doing this about 8 years ago)
3. Give the X800+ the split keyboard and the ability to recognize it’s orientation along with a better camera?
4. Put linux on it
Hi hazen
I guess timing wise is debatable. The iPhone is not really a smartphone and Eten does not really have a presence in the US from my observations. I would love to see how the X800+ improves but it would be some time before that happens.
And Linux, that would really be awesome. But then the problem of lack of software would come up.
The iPhone is a smart phone, debating that is pure symantecs letting the details cloud your vision when it comes to a device that allows the collaberation and integration of Personal Information Management (PIM based applications) and stating that it is “NOT A SMARTPhone” is pure symantecs.
Linux has FAR MORE applications then windows Mobile 5.0, 6.0 or any other operating system I’ve ever developed for (MS Windows, QNX, System V, BeOS….), the API flexibility and the recent release of the Google SDK (all linux based) has Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Erricson looking their way.
As for E-Ten, I’m still waiting on my X500 to be returned from an RMA (it’s less then one year old) and I am a power user when it comes to phones, this replaced my Sony Erricson P900i due to age and available hardware and to be frank I have not been very impressed with the features of the E-ten series due to the LIMITATIONS of Windows Mobile, having to shell out an extra 49$ to get missing synch ( a very poor user experence indeed) for my Mac then having it screw my information up upon re-connection to my windows boxes…well you get the picture.
As a consultant I sell an “Improved User Experence” that’s one of the reasons I can afford such fine toys. When I develop a soulution for a client when I look at their requirements I try to go scope out the requirements as generally and broadly as possible to meet the client’s needs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone
Now the Iphone is in there, it’s got applications that sync all my PIM information from the web whilst not killing my bill with obscene bandwidth charges, Symbian was a far better user experience than Windows Mobile is, in fact when I added it to my devices on my Mac Isync did an automated install and took care of all of my PIM sync right then and there it was the first time I was truly amazed that is just worked.
At this time of writing I have yet to have Active Synch come anywhere close to that kind of well oiled integration, even Palm does a better job with more options, but Microsoft is the LAST kid on the block in this arena and they are selling cheap SDK’s in hope of gaining a large market sare, Exchange still has issues with Push E-mail (I’ve setup a lot of Exchange 2003 / 2007 sysetms that did not work well with Smartphones but excellent with RIM based blackberrys)
Like any technology maturaty shows in a product, Unix the god father of linux is over 30 years old and still used everywhere reliability is a consideration, consider that the next time you take a flight somewhere, you think the controllers would EVER trust Microsoft Reiliability? Symbian is yet another clone however to state that you don’t have enough software on Linux… c’mon my gentoo portage tree has a few thousand applicaitons right there not even including ports for the ARM tree, did I mention that uClinux has an operational memory footprint in the few KB? as opposed to the few MB of WM?
So then my point if you have made it thus far:
1. Microsoft Windows Mobile is a “ME TOO” product trying to be more like Symbian OS
2. Embedded Linux is smaller, more efficent and has FAR MORE APPLICATIONS then windows mobile, for refrence here’s the ARM Tree:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT9423084269.html
http://www.google.ca/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=f9Y&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Linux+ARM+based+applications&spell=1
note the 179,000 page hits.
3. The only limitation to ARM Development for cellphones is the availability of the drivers and the skill of the developers in question, it’s “Easier” to develop applciations for windows mobile, but application development is applicaiton development. E-ten could easaly put all other linux based smartphones to the dust with their hardware platforms, hell I’d even voulenteer to be the Project manager for this kind of gig, but I’d want to make sure as hell the marketing arm was ready to pimp the X800+ to the north american market, Iphones cost well over $600 here and they are going like hot cakes. You want money this is the place to make it, China too but they are still a few years behind us.
Hi hazen
Where do I even start with my reply? You have definitely brought up a lot of content which many of us do not even consider in any smartphone debate and I thank you for bringing this side of the story to us. My experience with Linux is very limited, as I am not able to port it over to my X500 and I can’t use Linux for day to day operations on my PC because some software just do not work on it such as SOTI Pocket Controller.
Linux definitely looks promising and I would even be willing to use it on my device to give it a go, if I could. But at the moment, it does not seem possible and most of the Pocket PCs that have Linux ported over are the older generations.
As for your iPhone experience, I am glad that you are enjoying it. I do agree that Apple tends to simplify things, which is good, as it makes the user-experience better. But if you ask me, I have not had any such sync problems that you experience with WM. Maybe it is because I am running it with Win XP but sync has been a breeze for me. Have you given SyncMate a go? It’s made for the Mac and does look promising.
With regards to the smartphone debate, I guess we each have our reason for classifying a device as such. It used to be easier to say when a device was and was not but not so these days. But the question we have to ask ourselves is this: What is the point of classification? Does it make a device better because it is in a certain category? Or worse because it isn’t?
The point I am trying to raise is that people find a device great not because of what it is classified but because of what the device does for them. Many people would claim the iPhone to be the greatest phone ever because it’s sleek and looks cool and many of these users are usually those that want to show-off their latest phone but if you ask me, I would beg to differ. That’s because I need a dedicated GPS chip in my device and the iPhone does not have one, so how can it be the best in my eyes?
I do agree that with your stand on Eten and Linux. But sadly, I doubt if Eten would go that way. Our best bet to get Linux on Eten is to go underground.
I think this device is WAY better than glofiish X800
There are some bugs, sure, for instante IE gets up to 400 kbps and Opera and Netfront only get half of that speed, I will remove Skype Settings to see if I can use the latest version of Skype, to see if the quality is better.
Overall it’s the ONLY 3G device with Skype capabilities and earphone speaker redirection, that is why I bought this device
TomTom 6 Navigator works EXCELLENT, and it includes traffic thanks to the build in antenna
I spent $1500 buying 2 phones, the guys at ustronics.com never sent me the refund for the first phone hahaha, I was hoping the review to be so good it will make ustronics sell a few devices and send me a refund.
So I was thinking spending $0 and ended up spending $1500
Now I have tried Toshiba Portege G900, Qtek 9000, X500+, X800 and before that I had the Palm LifeDrive and the Dell Axim 51v
I only miss the video games from the Axim 51v, but apart from that it’s an IMPRESSIVE device.
CHEAP but IMPRESSIVE, that is my final statement
When is the X800+ coming out? I hope it has 128 MB of RAM
Hi Xavier
I was hoping that 3G works as it should on the X800, that is at much higher speeds than 400kbps. But it looks like Eten is getting this sorted out. I took miss my HTC Universal with its VGA screen. But I have to agree with you, when you get an Eten, it’s one of the most cost-efficient devices out there.