Cool TRON Frisbee Not Included... (1/3)
ETEN G500 Pocket PC Phone with GPS
INTRODUCTION
Back in 1982, I was a
sophomore in high school. MTV, punk rock,
parachute pants...THAT was coolness defined, until
Disney released TRON; and suddenly Jeff Bridges and
Bruce Boxleitner were way cool (yeah...like THAT
lasted...HA!). Anyway, it brought computers to
the forefront, and ushered in a new era of
computer-based special effects. I think I still have
bumps and bruises from where my friends threw
Frisbees at me from short distances, and I tried to
block them with another Frisbee I was holding in
front of me. Ouch.
This weekend, I got thrown back to those days of Yore (without the pain) when ETEN sent me their latest introduction to the Windows Mobile Phone Edition arena, the G500. With its black exterior and blue backlit lines I got a free trip back in time. However, the G500 is definitely a device for today's times. With quad-band GSM/GPRS cellular features, Bluetooth 2.0 functionality, and built in SiRF III GPS receiver, is it the all-in-one converged device you've been looking for, or just nice to look at? Let's take a thorough look!
WHAT'S HOT
Sleek lines in a well built, firm
package. Those were my first thoughts when I
picked up the device and held it in my hands.
Having owned an ETEN M500 for a short time, my
expectations on build quality were set low. I
wasn't very impressed with the M500. You can
see my original New Equipment Blogs here: (Day
00,
Day 1,
Day 2,
Day 3,
Day 4). Unfortunately, I never really
finished the series. The biggest problem with
the M500 was its cellular radio. The device
has real problems with the 850MHz band. It
doesn't pull it in right, and as a result, the darn
thing keep dropping calls. With my
K-JAM, and
Treo 700w, I've gotten quite spoiled.
Little to no dropped calls since the M500 was sold.
I'm very pleased, and very spoiled. The G500
has a big row to hoe.
The device itself is about as tall as my PDA2k, though not as wide. However, it is a bit thicker, by almost a quarter inch. Honestly, it has almost the same form factor as the Treo 700w, minus the stub antenna. However, at 191 grams, this is one big brick, with only the PDA2k and h5450 being heavier. It's not a bad form factor, and it's not too heavy to hold. I am glad, however, that I have cases to stick this thing in when I'm not actively using it because it does have some heft to it.
Device (no cover) |
Size (inches) |
Weight (grams |
ounces) |
ETEN G500 |
4.68" x 2.44" x 0.91" |
191 | 6.73 |
4.18" x 2.31" x 0.68" |
150 | 5.30 |
|
4.40" x 2.30" x 0.90" |
180 | 6.40 |
|
4.80" x 2.88" x 0.76" |
186 | 6.56 |
|
4.60" x 2.79" x 0.82" |
165 | 5.82 |
|
4.25" x 2.28" x 0.93" |
160 | 5.64 |
|
4.92" x 2.81" x
0.71" |
210 | 7.40 |
|
4.18" x 2.31" x 0.68" |
150 | 5.30 |
|
4.70" x 2.90" x 0.70" |
175 | 6.20 |
|
4.60" x 3.21" x 0.58" |
138 | 4.80 |
|
5.17" x 3.03" x 0.59" |
187 | 6.60 |
|
4.50" x 2.80" x 0.64" |
158 | 5.57 |
Click on any of the above handheld links for the review.
PRODUCT FEATURES
(all images link to higher resolution)
The ETEN G500 box. I was impressed with the packaging...
I love doing hardware reviews; but the biggest problem with them, for me, is taking pictures. I always want to tear into the packaging and get at the goodies inside. I purposefully did not do that with the G500. I received it by noon, but waited until I got home to actually break into the box. The pictures you're seeing are my first look at the device and box contents.
The contents of the ETEN G500 box included the following (please note the red numbers circle counter-clockwise from the bottom of the picture):
- The G500 Quick Start Guide
- The ETEN G500 software CD
- Car cradle instructions
- G500 Car Charger
- Alcohol Wipe (for cleaning the windshield glass where you're going to mount the car cradle)
- Car cradle windshield mount
- Car cradle
- Wired headset
- USB and power cable
- AC charger with international power attachment
- Magnetic, leather flip case
- Belt clip (for the flip case)
- Included crystal clear screen protector
- 1400mAh Battery
- ETEN G500
From left to right: Axim x50v, Treo 700w, ETEN G500, i-mate K-JAM and i-mate PDA2k.
The G500 (pictured above, center) is about the same height and width as the Treo 700w, without the Treo's antenna. Its bigger than the K-JAM, slightly wider, but about the same thickness, even though it doesn't have a built in keyboard. I've heard some people describe the G500 as a brick. I don't know if I would go that far, though again, it does have a fair bit of heft to it.
Again, while a tad heavy at 191 grams, the device still feels comfortable in your hands. Its lack of hardware buttons or a utility that remaps/maps push, double push, push and hold, etc. functionality for the WM5 hardware based soft buttons makes one handed operation difficult. Yes, you can use Smartskey (a utility made available via freeware to solve the same problem with the HTC Wizard, found, here) or even AE Buttons Plus (shareware, $7.99USD); but both programs don't quite give the same kind of one handed operation that you see on the Treo 700w, which is the ultimate, one-handed WM5 device as of this writing.
I am really noticing the lack of a keyboard with this device. Using my PDA2k and K-JAM over the last two or so years has really spoiled me when it comes to answering e-mail. While I've got Spb's Full Screen Keyboard installed and working on the G500, the experience isn't the same. Full Screen Keyboard requires some bit of accuracy when tapping keys on a device's touch screen. Unfortunately, its very easy to determine which of my e-mail responses were typed on the G500 and which were done on the K-JAM. I've got a terrible case of "fat thumbs" when it comes to the G500.
From top to bottom: i-mate K-JAM, ETEN G500, Treo 700w, Axim x50v, and i-mate PDA2k.
From top to bottom: i-mate K-JAM, ETEN G500, Treo 700w, Axim x50v, and i-mate PDA2k.
Please note that the bottom and right side of the G500 are relatively plain. The bottom of the G500 has the sync connector and to the left-center, the microphone. The right side has the MiniSD slot. The door to the MiniSD slot folds up when you insert a card, which means this device doesn't have a dummy card in the slot. Very nice.
From top to bottom: i-mate K-JAM, ETEN G500, Treo 700w, Axim x50v, and i-mate PDA2k.
From top to bottom: i-mate K-JAM, ETEN G500, Treo 700w, Axim x50v, and i-mate PDA2k.
The top of the G500 (second from the top) houses the GPS antenna. The rubber housing covers an external antenna connector. The left side of the device has 4 buttons and also sports the headset connector and rubber cover for it. From top to bottom on the left side of the ETEN G500 are the camera button, the volume rocker, the Recorder/Voice Commander button and soft reset button. The headset cover is near the bottom-left corner of the device. The device doesn't have an IR port that I can find.
