NO PDA (personal digital assistant) phone device in the market today looks as sleek and elegant as their candy bar, clamshell or slider-styled smartphone counterparts, however much their manufacturers may try. 

The Dallab DP900 PDA phone is no exception – it looks like a silver-coloured pack of cards with a screen and flip-up antenna. In other words, it looks boxy but after using it for over a month, it proved to be a practical and fairly stable communications and handheld computing tool. 

Dallab claims that the DP900 is the first Microsoft-powered PDA phone with a camera that rotates 180°.  

While the rotating camera is a good idea, I found that pictures turned out as mirror images of a scene whenever I took self-portrait shots.  

For example, if you are taking a picture of yourself with your companion standing on your left, the resulting picture will have your companion to your right as if you’re looking into a mirror. 

According to a Dallab explanation, a picture will follow the image you see on the screen before you press the shutter button – i.e. they will appear as mirror images if you take a self-portrait. 

The perspective is normal when you take pictures with the camera facing outwards from the back of the device. 

Picture quality wasn’t anything to shout about but they’re better than some I’ve taken with other camera phones.  

While pictures taken with the DP900 were generally blurred like most camera phone pictures, they had less colour saturation. 

By default, the camera takes stills at a resolution of 320 x 240pixels (normal quality) and stores them in either JPEG or GIF formats that is chosen by the user. Pictures can also be taken at 160 x 120pixels (minimum quality) and 640 x 480pixels (maximum quality).  

Picture sizes vary from below 7KB, which is ideal for sending via MMS, to over 300KB, which can only be sent by e-mail since it exceeds most operators’ 100KB size limit for MMS. 

The DP900 can also take 15- to 20-minute videoclips with sound at up to 176 x 144pixels. Files are saved in the 3GPP format. 

The phone comes with a three-way integrated cable, which features a power charger, USB connector and power/USB connector at each end respectively.  

The USB connector allows users to synchronise data such as contacts, e-mail, Pocket Access database and AvantGo files with a PC via the Microsoft ActiveSync software. 

ActiveSync also lets users transfer pictures, videos, sound and document files between a PC and the device. 

The DP900 can play WAV format ringtones and MP3 files.  

Pretty stable 

As far as its phone functions were concerned, the DP900 didn’t give me any problems during the course of this review.  

It’s also pretty rugged and continued working after slipping out of my shirt pocket onto a cement floor. 

Speech was clear, even in public places but there was an audible high-pitched whine in the earpiece, which was a bit disconcerting. 

It is supposed to have a speakerphone function but I couldn’t find a way to activate it and unfortunately the review unit didn’t come with a manual I could refer to. 

The DP900 seems to have been designed for left-handed users since its stylus is stored horizontally below the lower left side of the screen. This means users must hold the device in their right hand while whipping it out, which was awkward for a right-hander like me. 

Moreover its telescopic stylus, measuring 8.8cm long when extended (6cm retracted) was too short and thin, which made it uncomfortable to use.  

In comparison, my Palm Zire21 has a 10cm long stylus, which is also thicker and more comfortable to hold. 

Cool messaging  

The DP900 managed to send and receive all manner of messages such as SMS and POP3 e-mail without a hitch. Its Pocket Internet Explorer also allowed me to browse the Web and WAP sites with ease. 

It came pre-configured with circuit-switched data (CSD), GPRS, WAP and MMS settings for several operators in the region, including local operators, Maxis, DiGi and Celcom. 

Configuration was simple as all I needed to do was select the correct options.  

If your operator supports OTA (over-the-air) GPRS, WAP and MMS settings configuration, all you need to do is to manually configure your POP3 e-mail accounts with incoming and outgoing server names, logons and passwords before you can receive and reply e-mail. 

Data entry  

Text input can be done in a few methods – via a simulated onscreen keyboard, Graffiti-style Block Recogniser, Letter Recogniser or Microsoft Transcriber applications. 

Letter Recogniser accepts natural handwriting including upper case, lower case and numeric digits and translates them into block letters. It worked best with naturally written lower-case characters. 

Transcriber recognises whole words written in script, print or a mixture of both and translates them into block text when the writer pauses. 

Letter Recogniser worked well provided the characters were properly formed and maintained their unique characteristics when scribbled onto the screen.  

It easily recognised some characters written in script but got easily confused with similar-looking letters like “q” and “g” unless they were well formed. 

That was also true of Transcriber, which managed to get whole words and sentences correct provided the writing was consistent enough. 

For all the methods, the handwriting appears and remains on the screen long enough for users to see and receive feedback on the quality of their handwriting.  

Its predictive text input feature worked well most of the time when it came to suggesting possible words. 

Innovative battery  

The DP900’s battery has metallic strip contacts, which continue to supply power to the device whenever the battery is slid sideways to insert or remove the SIM card.  

Even if you pull the battery completely off its contacts, there is a secondary built-in battery that maintains the phone’s clock and other data while the main battery is removed. 

This design is supposed to allow users to “hot swap” batteries without losing power but since the review unit didn’t come with another battery, I could not test this feature. 

like most Intel-powered and Microsoft-driven phones, the battery managed to last just over a day with regular use.