So far in this review, I did the (mandatory) unboxing of the Glofiish M800 in Part I, discussed its physical aspects in Part II and then the default applications that came with it in Part III. Last week, I had promised you that I would cover my personal experience on the Glofiish M800 today and that’s just what I am going to do in this post.

I had planned to include some videos of the device in action in this part of the review but unfortunately the camcorder has yet to arrive and my current digital camera does not take focused videos of the device screen. As such, I can’t provide you with the videos and I do apologize for that.

That being out of the way, let’s see how the device stands in my opinion.

Call Experience

First up, call experience. No matter how great a Pocket PC is, not many would buy it if the call quality was bad. Well I am glad to say that that is not the case with the Glofiish M800. And to prove my point, I did some tests and here are the results.

More About The Test

Let me explain the test before you check the results so you get a better idea of what is happening. The way the test was conducted goes something like this: Using various devices, I called my GrandCentral number and left myself a voicemail. These voicemails are then downloaded from their server and uploaded here so you can listen to them and judge for yourself, the difference in call quality.

For this test, I made the calls on a T-Mobile (USA) network. The calls were made from an Eten Glofiish M800 running ROM 0264, an Eten Glofiish X500 running ROM 0436 and a basic Samsung SGH-E715 phone (that does not even have Bluetooth built-in). The reason for adding the Samsung phone was more of a standard to show you the voice quality on normal phones.

I made the calls in 4 different locations. The first being in a room in a house, the second being outside which was relatively peaceful and quiet, the third being outside which was noisy with a lot of traffic and the last being outside in a windy condition with the wind blowing against me.

Results

Here they are…

In a room

Eten Glofiish M800

Eten Glofiish X500

Samung Phone

Outside (peaceful and calm)

 

Eten Glofiish M800

Eten Glofiish X500

Samung Phone

Outside (noisy conditions)

Eten Glofiish M800

Eten Glofiish X500

Samung Phone

Outside (windy conditions)

 

Eten Glofiish M800

Eten Glofiish X500

Samung Phone

Now those sounds record what you would hear if I were talking to you. How about how you would sound to me? Well I have to say that the quality of call is pretty good, in fact even better than the X500 which I had and even comparable to the Samsung in some instances. For example, conversation was decent in a room but when I was outdoors in relatively noisy environments, I could still carry out decent conversations with the other party. This was not possible when I was using the X500.

Skype Calls

It works as expected. In fact, you can even make Skype calls like normal phone calls, that is having the sound redirected from the rear speaker to the phone speaker. You do this by installing this version of Skype and this Skype Receiver Switch.

If you would like to redirect other audio such as VoIP calls not on the Skype network or even MP3 files to the phone speaker, you can also do that. Just install those 2 files above in addition to this switch file and you are good to go. For instructions on how to use the Switch application, you can refer to it here.

What this means is that Eten Glofiish devices are still the only Pocket PC devices in the market out there that allows you to make VoIP calls the way it was meant to be without the need for additional accessory. This would be really useful for those who are constantly travelling or even for those who get better rates with VoIP.

And for those wondering about the quality, here it is:

Eten Glofiish M800With Skype Network

It’s slightly softer than the other recordings which is what was expected but other than that, I think the quality is not too bad eh? What do you think?

Web Browsing

Web browsing is a real joy with a VGA screen. That’s because, even if the words are smaller, they are still clear enough to be read. There’s even a VGA mode on Pocket Internet Explorer that you can use for this. If you are using other browsers like Opera Mini or even NetFront 3.5, the experience is just as great. If you are getting a VGA device because you want a better browsing experience, you’ve made the right choice.

NetFront 3.5

Glofiish X500	Glofiish M800

Opera Mini

Glofiish X500	Glofiish M800

Pocket Internet Explorer

Glofiish X500	Glofiish M800

I was planning to have a video here on the comparison but since that is not possible, instead I will show you screen shoots of the the browsing experience. Note that because the M800 is on a VGA resolution, it’s screen shot are 640×480. What you see above is a 320×240 image so click on it to get the full view.

Navigation

Navigation was just as smooth for me using TomTom as it was on the Glofiish X500. As they are both using the same SiRF Star III chipset which is one of the best in the markets right now, you can expect a fast and ‘sticky’ fix with the Glofiish M800.

There were no slowdowns or anything of that sort that lessened my experience. My only disappointment was that the icons in TomTom were not of a low quality so I could really tell on the Glofiish M800. On the Glofiish X500, due to its qVGA resolution, you are blinded to this.

TMC

I could not test this out because I did not have a software that had such a feature.

VGA Screen

The VGA screen is really a sight to behold. I was initially skeptical of the Glofiish M800 because it was a VGA device without a dedicated graphics chip which I assumed would cause the device to crawl. It did, with the default Eten setup but after doing a clean install and some tweaks, the device is just as fast as the Glofiish X500 that has a qVGA resolution. It’s really hard to show this without a video but you’ll have to take my word for it.

Images are just much better on a VGA screen. The words are crisper and smaller fonts are still readable on it. This means you could get a lot more reading material on a VGA screen than you normally would on a qVGA screen. For example, if you used Google Maps, you can see a wider area. If you used Pocket Informant or any other PIM, you can see more of your Agenda. If you use Pocket Word or Excel, you could zoom out and see more information. You get the picture. Smaller words but just as good if not better readability.

For those of you who skipped directly to this section, I would recommend that you check out the screen shots of web browsing to see what I mean.

Video Viewing

If you are going to be watching videos on the Glofiish M800, make sure they are coded properly. It could mean the difference between a smooth performance and a choppy one. That being said, videos that were coded for a qVGA device (240×320 resolution) played smoothly on the Glofiish M800. However, videos coded for a VGA device (640×480 resolution) were choppy at times.

I did some tests using TCPMP 0.72RC1 with qVGA and VGA videos that were coded in WMV and XVID. Here are the results for your comparison:

Parameter	WMV qVGA	XVID qVGA	WMV VGA	XVID VGA
Average Speed	121.98%	136.79%	58.10%	68.21%
Video Frames	7438	7435	7445	7373
Audio Samples	9918762	9630009	9767652	9650592
Amount of Data	15574KB	16008KB	28263 KB	28927 KB
Bench. Time	4:14:113	3:37.417	8:45.384	7:12.393
Bench. Frame Rate	29.27	34.20	14.17	17.05
Bench. Sample Rate	39033	44293	18591	22319
Bench. Data Rate	502kbit/s	603kbit/s	440kbit/s	548kbit/s
Original Time	5:09:961	4:57.399	5:05.239	4:54.919
Original Frame Rate	25.00	25.00	25.00	25.00
Original Sample Rate	32000	32000	32000	32000
Original Data Rate	412kbit/s	440 kbit/s	758 kbit/s	803 kbit/s
Size	15944860	16393062	28935210	29621574
Clock speed	494MMHz	164MHz	496 Mhz	82 Mhz
Video output	Raw FrameBuffer 480×640 16bits Lookup	Raw FrameBuffer 480×640 16bits Lookup	Raw FrameBuffer 480×640 16bits Lookup	Raw FrameBuffer 480×640 16bits Lookup
Video zoom	320×176 -> 352×640	320×176 -> 352×640	640×368 -> 368×640	640×368 -> 368×640
Audio output	Wave Output 32000Hz 16Bits 2Ch.	Wave Output 32000Hz 16Bits 2Ch.	Wave Output 32000Hz 16Bits 2Ch.	Wave Output 32000Hz 16Bits 2Ch.

So what does this mean? If you see anything under 100% for average speed, it means the device does not play the video as smoothly as it should. Anything 100% and higher means you get to watch a smooth video. All other data are just there for your reference if you are interested to find out more.

This does not mean you cannot enjoy videos on your Glofiish M800. Just remember to code your videos properly before transferring them over and use a qVGA resolution for optimum performance. Anything less and you would just get frustrated.

QWERTY Keypad

Having used a Soft Input Panel (SIP) for a long time now, moving back to a QWERTY keyboard did take some getting used to. I could not type as fast as before but entry itself using the keyboard was a pleasure. There was good feedback and the keys did not feel too hard or too soft to press.

As mentioned in Part II, I was not too keen with the layout of the keyboard because it did not maximize space but after a while of using it, it’s not too bad. You might have the same sentiments initially as well but after you get used to it, you could even navigate your fingers around the keyboard without looking.

Some users have claimed that when you type too fast in the Message application, some of the letters may not be recognized. This only seems to happen to the fastest of typist and only in that application. For me, I did not experience the problem but then again, I am not that fast on the keyboard to begin with.

For those curios about the screen rotation speed when you slide the keyboard out, it took about 1 second to go from portrait to landscape mode with a clean install. With all Eten applications installed, that took about 3-4 seconds.

Touch Sensitive Buttons

This really took some getting used to. That’s because, even when I brush my finger across the buttons, it activates. Which can be a real pain, especially when you are in a rush to do something else. For example, I could be have the M800 with the keyboard out and I am surfing and when I use the stylus to tap on something on the screen, my skin touches the GPS button and the program is activated.

The other thing is the buttons themselves. Sometimes, when I use my thumbs, I might be pressing the wrong button, even though most of my thumb may be over the desired button. Is it because the outer edges of it touch the other button first? I’m not too sure about that.

However, after a while of using this, I have finally learned how to navigate my way around the device. It does take a while and once you’ve figured out your way, the touch sensitive buttons don’t bother you as much. That being said, I would have still preferred the good old buttons.

Spb Benchmark Test

For those curious about numbers, I did several Spb Benchmark test on the Glofiish M800 as well as the Glofiish X500. Both were done on a clean install as well as when the Eten applications are installed. Here are the results:

What can I say? I find it rather hard to agree with the Graphics index whereby the Glofiish M800 scored 10 times lower than that of the Glofiish X500. That index would suggest that the device is 10 times slower in rendering graphics but that was not the case when I was using the device. In fact, the Glofiish M800 is on par with the Glofiish X500 when it comes to graphics on a clean install. There were slowdowns, but this was very rare and not something you would notice.

That being said, the reason I still put up this data is for those of you interested. Feel free to use it in your decision making process but I have to tell you, it’s not as accurate as you would have thought.

Camera Quality

Interested in how the camera fares? Well I took some photos with the Glofiish M800’s camera, the Glofiish X500’s camera and I used my Panasonic Lumix FX-8 to take 2MP resolution photos so you could compare the results.

These pictures were resized so feel free to click on them to view the full sized version. They are rather larger at almost 5MB each so be warned!

Outdoor

Indoor With Low Light

Indoor With Light

Macro Mode

In case you are wondering, I used the default settings for the Glofiish M800 and Glofiish X500. You could get better pictures by changing the settings.

As you can tell, I would not use the Glofiish M800’s camera (or any other Pocket PC camera for that matter) to take my photos. They just don’t turn out as well as a dedicated digital camera.

One thing you have to remember with the Glofiish M800’s camera is that, because of the auto-focus feature, you have to press halfway to focus and then fully to take the picture. The part where you press fully takes some effort and you might shake the camera while doing so. I guess that is the drawback for the auto-focus feature.

Overall Speed And Performance

I would say that the Glofiish M800’s speed and performance is on par with a qVGA device. In essence, you get the speed and performance of a qVGA device but a great screen of a VGA device, all rolled into one nice and sturdy package. There are some slowdowns and choppiness here and there but nothing major or frequent to cause me to want to get rid of it.

However, this is only a month’s use of the M800 and I suspect that after some time, it would be subjected to the same slowdown of just about any device. A quick hard-reset and re-installation should solve that problem though.

Things I’ve Noticed

Beepings

Whenever the device locks, the device will emit a beep, unless its on vibrate or silent. However, there have been cases when the device is on standby and it emits a beep after a while. This happens very rarely, and I think it’s the device turning on the lock. More likely a bug than anything else which I hope Eten fixes in the next ROM. Or at least give us the option to turn the alert off.

Red LED

After the beepings are heard, sometimes, the right LED which shows your GSM status (in blinking green) starts to blink red instead. I suppose this is tied to the auto-lock of the touch sensitive buttons though I cannot say for sure. Hopefully this problem gets fixed in the next ROM.

Mail Accounts & PIN

Like I mentioned earlier, there are no more problems with the mail accounts. You could remove the back cover and take out the battery and then put them back and it will still be there. No need to restore your mail accounts anymore because this problem seems to be gone for good.

And for those curious about the forgetful PIN problems, those are a thing of the past too. Feel free to use the default Lock application with a PIN because it will always remember it.

WiFi

Earlier models of Eten Glofiish required the Eten Wireless Manager to turn on the WiFi after each soft reset. After that, you could use the default wireless manager (if you knew how to activate it). Now, you can use the default wireless manager to turn on WiFi even after a soft-reset which makes the Eten Wireless Manager pretty redundant.

Icons

It seems that a lot of applications do not use a higher resolution icons for VGA screens. This could be because there are not that many VGA devices in the market but that would be a weak excuse.

Even Eten’s default applications were not high-res which is disappointing if you ask me.

End of Part IV

And that brings me to the end of Part IV. There’s still one Saturday left in March of 2008 and that means the fifth and final installment to this Eten Glofiish M800 review. What’s in that part of the review? All the tests and questions requested by you the readers. I have completed all of them (hope I did not miss anything out) so be sure to check back next week to see the results.

Tags: device