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HTC Advantage X7510 - The Complete ReviewAugust 22, 2008 Note: The review first appeared on Gear Diary When I first began my adventure into mobile technology, it started with Handheld PCs. H/PCs, as they are known, were made from the late 90s to 2003 by a variety of manufacturers, most notably NEC and Hewlett Packard. The devices were more-often-than-not a clamshell form factor, with a built-in keyboard and VGA or HVGA screens. They were powerful and business friendly, especially in light of the fact that at that time, Pocket PCs (as they were known) did not have built in keyboards. Through a variety of market changes and marketing blunders, the H/PC soon became a non-factor in the mainstream mobile arena. I say mainstream because Handheld PCs are still widely used today, despite having not been made for several years. In fact, I co-own HPC:Factor, a site which is considered by many to be the hub of the H/PC user community. There you can find anything from drivers, to software and how-to's, to reviews for Handheld PCs which allow the owners of these great devices to keep on keeping on. Still, with the advent of Bluetooth, built-in WiFi, GPRS and other technologies - most of which were not available during the years H/PCs were produced - the longing for a H/PC-like device with the power and flexibility of a contemporary Windows Mobile device has been and is strong. While some have tried and come close, none have ever fully satisfied that longing until now. HTC has done it with the Advantage X7510, a device which hearkens back to the glory days of H/PCs, yet provides users with outstanding performance and flexibility. It is truly a business class device, one that would have made the visionaries of the Handheld PC proud, and one that makes this H/PC die-hard jump for joy! The Advantage X7510 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional device that sports an impressive VGA display, built in Bluetooth and WiFi, a detachable keyboard and a fantastically powerful processor. It is easy to see this device as the natural evolution of the H/PC, given its satisfaction of both consumer and commercial needs combined in a single device. To begin, let's take a look at the physical aspects of the X7510. As I mentioned before, this device is bigger than most Windows Mobile devices on the market today, measuring 98mm x 133.5mm x 16mm (or 3.9" x 5.3" x .6") in width, height and depth. Those dimensions make the X7510 roughly 2" wider than the TyTN II, one of the most popular Windows Mobile Professional devices today. Like its physical size, this device also is heavier than most at a weight of 375g (or 13.2 ounces). That puts the X7510 at about twice the weight of the TyTN II. Still, even at this size, the X7510 can easily fit into a back jeans pocket, a jacket pocket, or handbag without giving you a weighed-down feeling. Having used it now as my primary device for a couple of weeks, I have found the size to be a non-issue. The detachable keyboard measures roughly the same size as the device from a width and height perspective, but is only 3mm (or 1/10th") thick, adding virtually no depth or weight to the device.
The front of the X7510 is dominated by the 5" diagonal transflective TFT VGA display. The display is powered by the ATI Imageon W2285 graphics and displays 640x480 natively. To the right of the display is the Home button which when pushed will take you back to the Today screen from within any application (leaving it running in the background). You can also program the Home button to open another application when it is pressed and held for two seconds. I will go into more detail on this in the software review to be released at a later date. In the upper right corner of the device's front is the video camera for use during video telephony. The camera records in 3GPP or MPEG4 format in 352x288 resolution. Sadly, no carriers in the United States support video telephony, so this camera loses a bit of its punch. However, it can be used to do self recording with the Camera application built into the X7510. Finally, in the lower left corner is the built-in unidirectional microphone.
On the right hand edge of the device is the power button in the lower corner while the speaker and camera button are at the top corner. In the far upper corner you will find the storage slot for the somewhat unique clear stylus that comes with the X7510.
The left side edge of the X7510 is by far the busiest. At the bottom is the 3.5mm stereo headset jack. This makes finding a headset very easy for Advantage users, not requiring them to use adapters for 2.5mm headsets which are common on most Windows Mobile devices. Just above the headset jack are the Mini-USB and Video Out/USB connections. The Mini-USB port is used for charging the device with the included DC Adapter* or it can be used to synchronize the device with your Windows desktop PC. Thankfully HTC has gotten away from the proprietary Mini-USB connector on the Advantage, and you no longer need the HTC dongle (although it will work with it). At the top of the edge the sliding toggle switch which raises and lowers the volume levels of the device as well as providing scroll functions in the Sideshow-like function with the keyboard covering the device (see below). The Video Out/USB port above the Mini-USB, as the name suggests, has two key functions for Advantage users. First, you can connect your Advantage to a monitor via a standard VGA connection, composite cable ("RCA" style) and S-Video. The output resolution is 640x480, and it makes the X7510 a true laptop alternative. Remember, the Advantage comes with Microsoft Office Mobile which includes Excel Mobile, Word Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile. By having the option to output video, you can share a document or give a presentation without having to pull out your laptop - something I did during my time writing this review! The second function offered via this connection is the USB 1.1 hosting function. This allows you to connect a variety of USB devices to the Advantage such as USB memory keys and mice. You can also connect a USB hub so you can access multiple USB-based devices at once. This again puts the Advantage in the rare position of being a laptop replacement device, the original target of the Handheld PC which I spoke of earlier.
All of the connectivity with the Video Out/USB port is done via a supplied HTCExtUSB dongle from HTC. This dongle, a $45 add-on with the original Advantage X7500/X7501, has all of the connections for video and USB on its tip. While the argument could be made about having to carry an extra piece of hardware, the functionality this dongle provides should quickly put to rest those concerns.
Finally, on the bottom of the X7510 you will find the battery door and the pins to connect the external keyboard to the device. The battery that comes with the Advantage is a 2200mAh Lithium-Ion unit, which I found lasted nearly a full day with Bluetooth activated and about 30 minutes of phone conversation. This isn't fantastic given the target market of the device, however it should prove to be usable by most. Thankfully the battery for the X7510 is the same as the original Advantage series, so batteries are plentiful to purchase. Inside the battery door is where the SIM card slot is located, as well as a MiniSDHC slot for expanded memory.
The Advantage's external keyboard is held connected to the bottom of the device by a strong magnetic strip which runs along the bottom edge of the device, as well as the mid-strip of the keyboard itself. The keyboard is only a 3mm thick and is a haptic style. If you are not familiar with the term haptic, then take a look at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic">Wikipedia definition</a>, but basically it refers to you, the user, getting a physical feedback when a button is pushed. In the case of the X7510's keyboard, when a button is pushed you'll feel a small vibration and hear a tone. It is possible to turn off the vibration and sound, but I do not recommend it as without the haptic feedback you'll have a difficult time determining if you've made a proper keystroke.
You will note that on the keyboard there is a narrow window running near the top edge of the keyboard. This window is for use when you are using the keyboard to cover the VGA display of the device, and it provides a Windows Sideshow-like experience. The information displayed includes your carrier, date, time signal strength, number of unread emails and calendar appointments to name a few items. It is tricky to get the keyboard to line up properly with the device so that the display properly shows, but once you do, it proves to be quite handy for checking how many emails have piled up while you had the device stored in your briefcase!
The external case of Advantage is a matte black with a high gloss black finish on the top edge of the device. The casing in general does well in hiding smudges and fingerprints although you will see them on the top of the device. The back of the X7510 is plain with only the 3 Megapixel camera in the upper-right corner breaking up the solid black finish. In the middle of the lower edge of the back is the soft-reset button for the device which can be depressed by using the stylus tip. I will discuss the camera quality later in this review in more detail
Now that we have covered the physical aspects of the X7510, let's take a look at what is on the inside from a hardware perspective. The processor HTC chose to run the Advantage is the powerful PXA270 process running at an impressive 624MHz. The processor provides plenty of power to the device using multiple applications at once and overall makes the device feel snappy in response. The processor is supported by the ATi W2284 Graphics processor which I mentioned earlier. Several applications can take advantage of the extra graphics processing power including CorePlayer for media. From a memory perspective, the X7510 has 128MB of RAM with approximately 77MB of it available to users and 256MB of ROM with about 102MB available to users. In addition, the X7510 has a massive 16GB flash drive built into it for more storage. This is an update from the Advantage X7501, which had a 8GB MicroDrive. Given the almost shock proof aspect of flash technology and the benefit of no moving parts, the flash drive in the X7510 will provide snappy response with far less power usage than the MicroDrive. The cellular phone stack of the Advantage X7510 is built upon the Qualcomm MSM6275 chipset, and it supports a wide range of celluar and data networks. From a network perspective GSM 850, 900 and 1800 are available as well as UMTS 850, 1900 and 2100. For data, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA are all supported. In my testing for this review I used T-Mobile and AT&T as my carriers. With T-Mobile my call quality was crisp and clean with no dropped calls, while AT&T did have a few dropped calls but call quality was comparable to T-Mobile. Data throughput for T-Mobile, as you would expect, was significantly slower given they only have an EDGE based network. My average throughput was around 80Kbps while with AT&T's HSDPA network I averaged a snappy 1.4Mbps. The X7510 does have an auto configuration tool that starts automatically after the device is booted and a SIM is installed. This worked well with the AT&T network but I did have to help the configuration wizard a bit with T-Mobile. I'm going to chalk this up to the fact I'm working on a pre-release ROM and will report back how it behaved once I get the final image for the device. Because the X7510 is using the Qualcomm chipset it will sadly not be sold directly here in the United States. This chipset is under embargo as it is one of the sets involved in a lawsuit with Qualcomm and other mobile manufacturers. While it is the same chipset as the Advantage X7501, the X7510 was developed after the embargo was in effect. Understand that this is not HTC's issue and they are merely caught in the crossfire if you will. If they had their choice I'm sure they would rather sell the device here in the U.S.. Take heart however, you can still get a X7510 if you live in the States though various importers. Expansys-USA is currently taking pre-orders for the device. Aside from the cellular radio stack, the X7510 also includes built-in Bluetooth 2.0 support as well as WiFi 802.11b (11Mbit/sec) and 802.11g (54Mbit/sec). The WiFi radio supports WEP and WPK encryption, and in my testing I had no problems connecting to AT&T and T-Mobile wireless networks at my local Starbucks or on my home network (WPK). As I alluded to before, the Advantage X7510 has a 3 Megapixel autofocus digital camera built into it. HTC has never been known for having great digital cameras in their devices but this one is not bad at all. Indoor shots have good color with only slight pixelization although the camera does not seem to like low light situations well. Color shifting is pretty significant in low light (see Figure 12). Outdoor images are very nice with the X7510. Colors are accurate and crisp with little bleeding or over saturation. Figures 14 and 15 below is unedited, other than a resizing of the image. Video quality from the main camera is also quite good. The camera can shoot in MPEG4 format and 3GPP.
While the front facing video camera on the X7510 is designed for video telephony - something not supported in the U.S. - you can still make use of the camera for self images and videos. The quality of the front camera is not nearly that of the main camera, which is normally not an issue for video telephony. Still, it does an acceptable job for sending self images or videos to friends or family while traveling or other events.
As you can see, from a hardware perspective the Advantage X7510 is the real
deal. Not only is it a fantastic telephony device - it's main purpose - but it
quite clearly could be a laptop replacement. Having used the device for a few
weeks now, I have made two different presentations in my corporate environment
strictly from the X7510 with overwhelming success. The Advantage is powerful,
has enough storage on board without having to worry about memory cards, and
satisfies the most demanding consumer or corporate user. It is clear to me that
this device is the next step in the life of "Handheld PCs". In this part of the review I will be covering the software aspects of the device now that I have received the final shipping ROM from HTC. I will start by covering Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Operating System of the X7510 and will then go into the specific applications that come with the device. I'll conclude with a general discussion of what I like and don't like about the Advantage and if this is a device that you should consider. On the surface, the differences between Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 are slight. Indeed, most of the substantial changes between 6.0 and 6.1 happened on the Standard version of the Operating System, not the Professional version. The Standard version now allows for things such as cut-and-paste, something that Professional users had in 6.0, an improved Today screen with a HTC-like Home screen that displays a large clock, emails and other key information at a glance. Again, for Professional devices users these are not that earth shattering. There are however some features that are across all versions - Classic, Standard and Professional - that are worth mentioning and the Advantage takes, erm, advantage of them! The first new feature is The Getting Started Center. This new guide is aimed at users who are new to Windows Mobile who need help in the first week or so of owning the device in getting things set up to their liking. The guide includes instructions on how to setup email accounts, bluetooth headsets, tasks, music transfers and the like. Having been a Windows Mobile user for some time now I found it to be very basic but that was exactly the intent. Microsoft did not write this guide for a seasoned user. It is a nice edition for sure and one that makes getting the most of the device come a bit less painfully.
Next are three major enhancements to Messaging on Windows Mobile devices: Threaded SMS, Multi-selection Functionality and Direct Push Technology enhancements. Threaded SMS is a welcome addition for those who text message regularly. One of the challenges with the native Windows Mobile application previously was the challenge of "keeping up with the conversation" in SMS. When you sent a text and someone replied, what you sent would not be visible. This was fine in quick conversations but was a challenge if someone responded a day later. You would get a "Yeah, sounds great" reply and have no idea what you had asked! At first I thought this was an "old person's" problem (being 39, I'm now officially old according to my 16 year old daughter). After talking to her however I discovered this was a common problem amongst the teens as well.
If your enterprise is using Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 you can now do a substaintially better job of maintaining control of the devices through group and security policies. Part of this end-to-end solution is with Windows Mobile 6.1 which will allow you to authenticate against a MDM server either internally or externally to your enterprise network and configure the device to work in your enterprise. On the device, this is done through Domain Enrollment which is found under Start>Settings>Connections>Domain Enroll in Windows Mobile 6.1 devices.
Perhaps the single biggest improvement in Windows Mobile 6.1 has been around battery life. This new version is far more battery friendly than Windows Mobile 6 or 5.0, mostly around how Microsoft has improved the synchronization process of ActiveSync when synchronizing Exchange data over-the-air. In 6.1 this process is far less "chatty" than in previous versions which translates to less data having to be sent. The lesser the data the less your radio stack has to be used thus saving battery. There are other new features within Windows Mobile 6.1 but these are a few of the highlights. You can get a complete list of the new features and functions in the Windows Mobile 6.1 section on Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! Now that you have a baseline on Windows Mobile 6.1, let's turn our attention to specific applications that are included in the ROM of the Advantage X7510. Without question one of the most exciting additions to the X7510 was the Opera Mobile browser. The Opera Mobile browser has been a highly anticipated answer to Pocket Internet Explorer and has recently been made available to the general public in an open beta. The version included with the Advantage is beta as well but it will not take you long to see why everyone is clamoring to get this application on their devices. In a nutshell, Opera provides you will a desktop-like user experience not just a mobile experience. Now you can view full, beautiful HTML sites in all their glory without them being smashed together or otherwise unusable. By default Opera Mobile will open a site and display it in full screen mode. You can then use your stylus to move around by sliding it back-and-forth or up-and-down on the screen. If you double-tap on a section of text, Opera will automatically zoom into that bit of text to allow for easier reading. Opera Mobile also includes a transfer manager which allows you to easily keep track of the files you download on your device. If you are decide to purchase an Advantage, I recommend that you download the latest beat of Opera Mobile. The latest build is considerably faster than the version that is included in the ROM. As always, be aware that Opera Mobile is in Beta and there are known issues with it as of the time of this writing. More more information visit theOpera website.
As I have eluded to over the course of both parts of this review, the Advantage X7510 is geared for the power Windows Mobile user and/or business user. To that extent, the World Card Mobile application makes perfect sense to have been included by HTC. The World Card Mobile application allows you to snap a photo of a business card, recognize the data on that card such as names, addresses and phone numbers, then store that information as a contact. It works exceptionally well and the character recognition is outstanding. If you end up having a host of business cards in your pocket after meetings or conventions, World Card Mobile can help you quickly get those cards into your contacts.
The final software aspect of the Advantage I will cover is the HTC Home Screen. The Home Screen is a five-tab Today screen plug-in that presents the time, favorite contcts, weather, favorite applications and profile configurator. The Home Screen is not new - this has been on HTC devices since 2006 - but it is a fantastic one-stop-shop for basic information and getting to it easily. It is not nearly as graphically impressive as the HTC Touch Diamond's TouchFlo 3D look but works and works well. The only real drawback to the Home Screen on the Advantage is that it has not been optimized for VGA. This means that it takes up a full 50% of the display and photos from your photo contacts look significantly pixelized. Hopefully HTC will update this and optimize it for the Advantage but it is still plenty useful.
Contacts have also been improved in the Advantage with a vertical listing on the right side of the contact list of the alphabet which allows you to quickly go to a specific letter to find contacts. You will know which letter you are on as you slide your finger or stylus up or down the alphbet by that letter being displayed largely in the center of your display screen.
With the software aspects of the Advantage covered, I'll spend a few minutes discussing my general impressions of the device. As most readers at Gear Diary and Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! know, I am the co-owner of HCP:Factor, a site dedicated to the older Handheld PC platform. H/PCs are the devices I essentially "grew up" on in my early days with Windows mobile technologies. So in an effort of full disclosure, I fully admit that I am biased to these types of devices. Therefore, to me, the size of the Advantage is a non-issue. I have no problem carrying this around and have had more than one head turn at my local Starbucks when I use it. If I want to "slim down" I will only take the device without the keyboard which will allow me to easily slip it into my jeans pocket. Additionally, the Advantage is in that middle area of Windows Mobile "PocketPC" devices and Ultra Mobile Personal Computers (UMPCs). It's powerful and I have found that on many occasions it is a laptop replacement device. As I stated in my <a href="http://www.geardiary.com/2008/08/15/the-ultimate-receipt-organizer-a-review-of-the-neat-receipts-scanner/">Neat Receipts</a> review, I travel a lot and I easily go full days without touching my laptop while on the road. Because the device has Office Mobile 2007, I can complete all of my reports (Excel and Word) as well has do PowerPoint presentations thanks to the VGA-out dongle that is supplied with the device. It is not going to be the fastest device out there when it comes to gaming or high-end graphics needs. It's geared for the power user, not the casual user. Put the form factor, target audience, and a price tag of nearly $1300 and the scope of who needs - and frankly who can afford - this device shrinks in a hurry. All of that said, I absolutely love this device. It has exceeded my expecations on many levels and the performance and flexibility it affords me on a nearly daily basis has made it my #1 device for several months now. There are still rough edges for sure. The overall graphics performance could stand some improvement (video playback is not super) but overall it performs quite well. Ultimately the question is if this is the right device for you. If you are looking for a laptop companion and part-time replacement device then absolutely you should consider it. If you are a power user meaning you spend more than 5-6 hours a day using your device, you should consider it as well. If you travel extensively and need to respond to emails, edit documents and answer calls while on the go, you should also consider it. If you have money to burn and don't fit in any of these categories... sure, go for it! Clearly though the device is not intended for the casual or even serious user. The size of the device will unquestionably turn some away and the fact you have to use a wired or Bluetooth headset will turn others away. If you decide the HTC Advantage X7510 is the device for you, I do not think - no, I know - you will not be disappointed in your decision. What I Like What I Don't Like Price:
$1134.99
(US)
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