O2 XDA Orbit 2 Review
O2 has been into developing its own XDA range of Windows Mobile Devices for quite a few years now. The original XDA Orbit, which caused a revolution being the first XDA device to have a built-in GPS, had been refreshed with the advent of, the rather unsurprisingly named O2 XDA Orbit 2. While this phone is exclusive to O2, which is not surprising either, the loyal fans of other networks will also be able to get this phone, with the name as HTC Touch Cruise. In other words, the O2 Orbit 2 is the rebranded version of the HTC Cruise. Though it might look slightly different to the Touch Cruise, most of the original features are shared. This blend of HTC’s technology and style of O2 offers you with quite an attractive pocket PC. Read on to find out if this product has enough juice to be as successful as its predecessor.
Design:
HTC Touch like:
As we had just mentioned in the introduction, the O2 Orbit 2 combines the aesthetic features of the original Orbit and HTC Touch. It looks like a bog-standard Windows Mobile PDA phone. We would say that this model is definitely a step forward in the right direction for the company’s sentence cased XDA portfolio. To be precise, it looks like a fallen out part from a BMW, and less like a business model. This is no ordinary Windows Mobile PDA phone and you only begin to appreciate how different it is until you meet it in the flesh.
Beautiful Display:
Viewing text and video on the Orbit 2 has been made as an enjoyable experience by its large 2.8” display. Unlike the majority of touch screens we have seen in the past year, is not set back from the fascia surrounding it. In fact, the surface texture of the display is one with rest of the phone’s fascia, the glossy surface of the device extends right to the edges and down to the button cluster. It is not glass hard like the HTC Touch’s screen or that of the iPhone, though, and has a slightly more plastic feel. Having said that the display’s QVGA technology’s 240 x 320 pixels looks more like yesterday’s technology. Though the resolution is high, it works brilliantly in conjunction with the Orbit 2′s host of interface enhancements.
Buttons and Controls:
The display is well complemented by the big and easy to compress navigation and soft buttons for activating the start menu and OK commands. There is a four way navigation control that doubles as a scroll wheel; a very handy inclusion to browse through the long lists. The top part of the phone has only the power button and the bottom houses the Mini USB, the reset hole. It also has the non-telescopic stylus housing. Also found is the slide lock release to open the battery compartment, which proves a lot less fiddly than a lot of other devices, and very simple to use, and not found on the HTC Polaris or Touch Cruise.
On the left side we find the voice command button, and volume slider which again is a slider and not a wheel, also here is the lanyard holes that has a changed position from the HTC phone. Differing for the HTC model there is only one aerial socket for the external GPS. There are two aerial sockets, one for an external aerial and one for external GPS, on the HTC model. A speaker grille is also found at the rear. Another addition that is worth mentioning is the easily accessible MicroSD slot which allows you to slip in and out MicroSD cards with minimal hassle.
Overall look and feel:
Apart from these small design perks, we cannot say that the Orbit 2’s design has got any drastic makeover on its original form. We have to agree that the handset has got a good cleanup, as for you to not be the one to laugh at during your business conference, but we also cannot deny that we would have loved to see some panache substituting the bulkiness of the mobile. It has its dimensions to be (H x W x D) 110 x 58 x 15.5mm, which seems to be about the same size as a TyTN II but not as thick, while it is also 60g lighter at 130g. The overall look of the Orbit 2 is a great looking and feeling one, which is aided by the fact that the rest of the phone is equally well designed.
User Interface:
As in the case of HTC Touch, the Orbit 2 too sports the TouchFlo Interface, which will appear as you slide you finger up towards the display. This interface offers you a quick and finger friendly access to the contacts and apps selected. Unfortunately, it is quite disappointing too as it inevitably drops you back to the Windows Mobile interface, which is not as touchy feely. The finger friendly enhancement to the top task bar is welcome. You also get an enhanced screen keyboards that not only offer the mobile phone like XT9 text entry, but even a Blackberry Pearl style pseudo QWERTY keyboard with two letters per virtual on-screen ‘key’. In the case of a non enhanced Windows mobile, you will have to make sure that you place your finger in the right place, else the incorrect option will pop up. In this pocket PC, a larger bubble appears when you tap the taskbar, allowing you to choose between options such as notifications, Comm Manager and the volume control, but with larger icons.
The Today Screen is pretty much the same as most Windows Mobile Phones, however there are some nice additions that can be added to the today screen, that of which include Last call, Profiles, Meters, O2 Calendar, Shortcuts and Running Apps; which is our personal favourite as it let’s me close my Apps without having to go to memory control and end the running application. There is a ton of settings options to help you customise the Xda Orbit 2 just the way you want it.
Features:
The Orbit 2 has bought to its fans a high end feature set Quad band, phone, Touch interface, etc. While the built-in GPS was a big deal with the original Orbit that includes a 3Mpixel camera, fast processor, large RAM / ROM, GPS, this is no more the case as most smartphones have the feature by default. It is powered by the same 400MHz Qualcomm processor as the TyTN II, has plenty of RAM, about 128MB and a generous 256MB helping of ROM for internal storage. While the internet connectivity features keeps you connected with the people, the CoPilot Live 7 sat-nav software that comes with Orbit 2 makes sure hat you do not get lost. This software is more than capable of taking you from point A to B without any hassle.
Internet Connectivity and Email:
Let us not disregard the hardware. As far as internet is concerned, you have nothing to worry about, as the O2 Orbit 2 connects to almost anything and everything. The Orbit is heavy, with quad band GSM, WLAN, EDGE-enhanced GPRS, 3G and HSDPA up to 3.6Mb/sec; simply implies that you will never be out of touch.
The Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS provides you with all of the Exchange email connectivity and MS Office editing and viewing abilities you might expect out of a 128MB SDRAM with a Qualcomm MSM7200 400MHz processor pushing it all along.
Software:
The Orbit 2 Pocket PC comes with other useful software extras. In addition to the usual Windows Mobile 6 Professional selection, there is Audio Manager, which is a large improvement on Media Player; Camera Album which is a handy picture viewer; Zip for unpacking and compressing archive files; and a really useful RSS reader, RSS Hub. There is also a simple, but much needed, profiles tool, which allows you to swiftly switch the phone between various different settings quickly.
The GPS Feature:
CoPilot Live 7 Professional:
As we had mentioned earlier the highlight feature of this pocket PC is its GPS receiver. The box is harmonized by ALK’s excellent CoPilot Live 7 Professional, preinstalled on a 2GB microSD card. As we had pointed out in several reviews, the CoPilot Live 7 Professional is a brilliant navigational package with amazingly clear maps with admirable voice instructions. It sports all the features you would expect to see in full-blown sat-navs costing around the £200.
Multimedia:
Moving on to the part of multimedia, O2 has offered an MP3 player with support for a variety of formats including an FM Radio. As well as Windows Media Player, the Orbit 2 comes with the HTC Audio Manager and Audio Booster, which allows you to create, edit and delete playlist and listen to your songs which in turn you can fine tune as you have the ability to vary the Treble, Bass, and 3D effect of the sound output as well as choosing from various predefined profiles.
And on the rear, there is the above mentioned 3 mega pixel camera, which is capable of taking both still pictures and videos. The absence of LED photo light or xenon flash seems to be a growing trend in the current smartphones and the Orbit 2 is unfortunately one among them; which in turn makes the dim light photos simply impossible. However, the camera interface is quite lovable.
Performance:
Performance wise, the audio quality during calls is excellent with no noticeable distortion or muffing. Communicating to someone is simple and effective just like it should be with its smart dialling feature and big keys. The Video calling feature too is an excellent addition. The loudspeaker too, is equally clear, which is quite good while using the O2 Orbit 2 as a sat nav. As far as the camera is concerned, it is good only for MMS messages and push small prints. Since there is no light source on the phone, do not even consider thinking about using it at night and low light areas. The built-in speaker phone is adequately loud enough to be heard from inside the vehicle, and so, while listening to the GPS, you would not miss a turn if you are not paying attention.
Battery:
O2 has quoted the battery life from the 1,350mAh battery is similar to the TyTN II, which is four hours of talk time and about 450 hours on stand by. We noticed that the battery life varied dramatically depending on the usage of HSDPA, GPS and Wi-Fi.
Box contents:
The box contents of the 02 XDA Orbit 2 includes the pocket PC itself, Mains power charger, USB data cable and charger, Windscreen type Car holder, Car charger, Stereo headphones with a slightly more elaborate control panel than usual, Suede feel phone pouch, Spare stylus, CoPilot 7 Manual and CD and User manual and CD.
Warranty:
O2 offers its XDA Orbit 2 smartphone one year warranty for parts and labour.
Verdict:
While the O2 XDA Orbit 2 had an air of seriousness about it when compared with phones like the Nokia N95, this Pocket PC is really a likable one. This one is an excellent smartphone combined with its software enhancements. It is business as usual on the inside but the plethora of connectivity options make it a great choice if you always need to keep in touch. If at all we have anything we have to warn you about, it is that, switching to touchscreen might come in as shock if you are a big loyal fan of the mechanical keyboard. Our advice, try it before you buy. However, with the excellent CoPilot 7 built-in, if you are looking for a smartphone with a high-quality GPS sat nav system, the O2 XDA Orbit II could be the way to go.
O2 XDA Orbit 2 Pocket PC PDA Phone – Technical Specification Table
| Manufacturer | O2 |
| Model Name | O2 XDA Orbit 2 |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 110 x 58 x 15.5 mm |
| Weight | 130 g |
| Colours available | Black |
| Display size | 2.8 inches |
| Display type | TFT resistive touchscreen, 65K colors |
| Display resolution | 240 x 320 pixels |
| Display Features | TouchFLO finger swipe navigation Handwriting recognition 4-way navigation wheel |
| Memory | 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM |
| Card slot | microSD, SD 2.0 compatible |
| Camera | 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus |
| Video | Yes, VGA videocall camera |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional |
| CPU | Qualcomm MSM 7200 400 MHz processor |
| Messaging | SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging |
| Browser | WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (PocketIE) |
| Wireless LAN | WiFi 802.11b/g, Security 802.11i and AES and QoS |
| Communication protocols | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 |
| Software | Pocket Outlook, Calendar, Contacts, Messaging, Tasks, Voice Notes & Email Setup Wizard, DirectPush Mail, Internet Explorer Mobile, Office Mobile, Word, Excel, & PowerPoint Mobile, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, Pictures & Videos, ActiveSync Client, Pocket MSN, Internet Sharing, Device Management, OTA Provisioning, Terminal Service Client, Calculator and Games |
| GPS Navigation | Yes, CoPilot Live Navigator |
| Audio | Built-in microphone, Receiver, Loud speaker for Hands-Free supported |
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-Ion 1350 mAh |
| Battery life | Stand-by: Up to 400 h Talk-Time: Up to 5 h |
| Package contents | Mains power charger, USB data cable and charger, Windscreen type Car holder, Car charger, Stereo headphones with a slightly more elaborate control panel than usual, Suede feel phone pouch, Spare stylus, CoPilot 7 Manual and CD and User manual and CD |
| Warranty | 1 year |
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