Continuing from Part I where the Glofiish M800 was unboxed and it’s specifications shared, is Part II where I discuss the physical aspects of the device. Not to worry, there are still 3 more parts to this series (not counting this one) so you will definitely be getting a very detailed look at it. I guess everyone is wondering just how well it compares to the HTC Kaiser which goes by may names, such as the AT&T Tilt (8925) and the XDA Stellar. Let’s find out shall we?

Outlook

For starters, the Eten Glofiish M800 looks really good. Whether you are a professional who is using it for business purposes or an avid user of Windows Mobile, this device will suit you nicely. There are no loud colors or sharp edges. Instead, it’s dark silver metallic finish with a gold line around its smooth edges is a sight to behold. Based on first impressions alone, I would say the M800 trumps the Kaiser and almost any phone out there in the market at the moment. Then again, they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder so I shall the pictures speak for themselves.

Back Cover

But turn it over and that’s where you wished that Eten had spent more time on the design. That’s because it does not have anti-slip grips (feet) on the back. So if you were to rest your device on a table (like in the picture above), the M800’s camera will be the pivot. In the long run, expect the outer plastic protecting the camera lens to get scratched (unless Eten has thrown in a nice surprise and made it scratch resistant).

There are reports from other users who claim that the paint chips off the device, most usually at the back cover. This usually happens after a couple of days of using the device. To be honest with you, the paint does feel like it might come off on my M800 but after several weeks of using it, I have yet to encounter the paint chipping problem. Whether it’s because I take extra care of the device or mine comes from a newer batch, I really can’t say.

Removing the back cover is also another hassle, especially if you do not have long fingernails. First you pry open the edge, and then you slide your fingernail under it and trace it around the perimeter, removing it from it’s hold. Be careful when doing this though because the cover does feel flimsy and that it could break at at time. I was rather apprehensive the first time I removed it and I found that this slide from side to side method works best in removing it safely.

Touch Sensitive Buttons

Eten has decided to do away with the normal buttons that you see on many Pocket PCs and instead employ a touch-sensitive solution. This rather novel idea does take some getting used to. What I like about the button is how it lights up gradually (and turns off gradually t00) which appears to add a touch of class to the device.

Using the buttons though does take some getting used to. No longer can you just carelessly use your thumb to slide over the buttons because they will be activated. Those with big (fat) thumbs might also want to reconsider using a smaller finger. Fingernails and stylus taps don’t seem to work on these buttons so I am guessing that it’s more advanced than I initially thought.

Not to worry about accidentally activating the buttons during a call because they get automatically locked when you place a call. The only drawback to this is that when you want to show the keyboard (which gets hidden when the call is placed), you have to tap on the screen because your left softkey is currently inactivated.

And for those who like a little feedback when you press these touch-sensitive buttons, there’s an application included by Eten that allows you to turn on vibrations and sound alert with each button press. Best of all, you can customize different feedbacks for different buttons if you choose.

Click to get actual screenshot

For those wondering about reprogramming the buttons, good news and bad news. You can reprogram Button 2 and 3 which are the ones with the GPS icon and Home icon as shown in the picture above through the button settings. Left and right softkeys can also be reprogrammed through registry editing or applications. However, all the other touch-sensitive buttons (the Windows Start, OK/Close, Call and End Call) cannot be reprogrammed. At least not at this moment. Maybe someone can find the registry keys and remap them to something else.

One thing to take note of is that when you press the power button on your device, the keys get locked and there is a beep to let you know that. However, there are times when the device is in standby and I will hear the same beep again. On top of that, the right LED will blink red. If I turn the device back on and, the red LED goes away to give a green one and everything is fine and dandy. This does not happen all the time so I am not too concerned about it but hopefully in the next ROM update, Eten will allow us users to set this alert if we want to (which is not available at this time).

Joystick

This might take some getting used to, it might come naturally for you. It all depends on what you have been used to. It’s a 4 direction joystick with the 5^th button as an Action key. It does feel study and provides good feedback to those wondering. After getting used to this, you’ll come to appreciate it even more because you don’t have to live your thumb when you are navigating; just push left, right, up or down and press to select. How much easier can it get?

Micro SD Card

This is another issue that I have with Eten. It’s great that they have a dust cover for the memory card. And it’s great that it supports SDIO (according to PDADB.net). But what’s not great is that the microSD card does not pop out enough when you eject. Sure there’s a spring to push the card out but it does not come out enough. Unless you have long fingernails, you are going to have a hard time removing your storage card. You have 2 options here: grow longer fingernails or get a high capacity card, pop it in and forget about removing it. It does start to seem that you need to keep your fingernails long if you are going to be opening this device frequently.

2.5mm Headset Jack

Utilizing a 2.5mm jack is a good move by Eten and I hope that they’ve improved on the quality. Past models of the Glofiish device like the M700 and X500 suffered from poor quality jacks that made the device thought that the headset was still plugged in when it was removed. These caused no sound to come out from the speaker and users had to keep popping it in and plugging it out until the device registered the connection properly. Thankfully, for now it seems, the headset connection problem is a thing of the past on the Glofiish M800.

Why do I prefer a 2.55mm jack over the USB proprietary ones seen in recent HTC models? For one, I can use my favorite headphones with my M800. Sure there are converter cables that one can purchase to use with their device, but I like things simple and Eten keeps it that way with the 2.5mm jack.

Camera Button

In the unboxing video, I highlighted that the camera button stuck out like a sore thumb when you compared it with the rest of the buttons. The reason for this is because the camera has an auto-focus function built-in. So when you are taking a photo, you press the button half way for it to focus and when you see the green box (which means the picture is in focus), you press it fully to take the picture. So there you have it, the reason why the camera button on the M800 juts out so much (well not really that much).

Power Button

Maybe Eten could have cut off a bit of the button height from the camera and added it to the Power button. That’s because it’s almost flushed with the device. Which is good from a design view but not so from a usage point of view. Sure I can still use the fleshy part of my finger to turn the device on and off but wished that the Eten was either made larger or taller for ease of use.

Volume/Record Button

I have no complains with these buttons. They’re not as flushed as the Power button but neither do they stick out like a the Camera button. And each of these 3 buttons (Volume Up, Volume Down, Record) are much larger than the Power and Camera button combined which is a good thing because it makes pressing them so much easier.

Sim Card Slot

Here’s a rather interesting placement of the SIM card. Unlike older models of the Glofiish (before the X800), the newer ones (from the X800) have a SIM card slot that is not under the battery. So if you need to change SIM cards on the go, you don’t have to juggle the battery as you switch cards because there is no need for its removal. Nice move there Eten.

QWERTY Keyboard

The QWERTY keyboard has a nice spring to it and slides out and closes rather smoothly. The buttons feel good to the touch and you can use either your fingernail or fingers to type on it. One thing I realized is that, some times, the buttons on the side perimeter do not register the input. I am not too sure as to the reason for this but it should be noted that the buttons on the outside side are slightly larger than the rest and this could be a contributing factor.

One thing I did not like about the QWERTY keyboard is it’s design. For one, it does not maximize the space. The left and right softkeys are on their own columns with the LED for Caps and Fn taking up another (huge) column on their own. To top it off, the top of the keyboard sits too closely to the side of the phone. It could just be a matter of time before my fingernails scratch the paint of it (which I hope does not happen).

I would have preferred if Eten made the keyboad as wide as possible (similar to the upcoming Glofiish M810 as seen above) and instead place the left and right softkey buttons as well as the LEDs at the top. This way the keyboard would be wider, at the expense of being shorter, and could lead to a better user experience (in my opinion).

But that’s just my opinion. Data entry will be much faster with this keyboard after I get used to it.

VGA Screen

What can I say? It looks awesome. And I am not kidding you when I say that. I used to program my backlight at 100% or thereabouts, but with the M800, it’s really comfortable at 50%. Everything looks so sharp, crisp and clear. I used to use a VGA device (the HTC Universal) but after moving to a qVGA Glofiish X500, I sort of got used to the lower resolution. Now with the M800, I finally found what I was missing again.

Is the device slow with the VGA screen? Without giving away too much (I will cover this more in the upcoming parts), I would say that it has performed beyond my expectations. So no, it’s not slow! There’s some work to be done on your end though if you want to get it the way I did but I will help you through it, promise.

SiRF Star III GPS

This is one of the best if not the best GPS chipset that you can have your device at the moment. Sure it’s not aGPS like what the HTC has but there are advantages of a GPS unit over an aGPS unit. For one, you don’t have to depend on your network to give you a fix. The SiRF Star III GPS locks on very fast from a warm start and it was rather ’sticky’ during navigation, even when I was navigating around tall buildings.

Coupled with the Satellite Data Update application that Eten has included with the M800 means you can get the latest satellite update anytime, anywhere (provided you have an internet connection). This all translates into a faster Time To First Fix (TTFF) from a cold start.

Battery Life

It’s very hard to report on this because it is rather relative. A heavy user will get less less days (and hours) than an average user. But based on my experience during the review, the M800 had a pretty decent battery life. By the end of every day, I would be left about 40% of battery capacity. The drainage was attributed to software test, making a 2-3 calls, surfing the internet for a total of 45 minutes (over several periods throughout the day) and keeping bluetooth on for connection to a bluetooth headset. Converted, I could use the M800 for just under 1.5 days before the battery gets fully drained and I need to recharge.

So if you were to ask me, yeah the battery life is pretty well but it could not be the same for us, especially more so if you are using the device even more than I am.

End of Part II

That wraps up this part of the series. This review is far from over with upcoming parts to discuss the software pre-loaded, my user experience with the device, the various tests that readers have requested me to run as well as a mini-guide to optimizing the device.

So do check back with Eten Blog dot Com next week as I bring this Part III of the Eten Glofiish M800 review. To make it easier for you, you can subscribe via RSS or email to stay up to date with this site. In the mean time, there are other interesting articles and guides that you can check out to keep yourself occupied until then.

Tags: device