This O2 device looks much better than its predecessors. It does not look flimsy in appearance. Instead, the polished black paint is offset nicely by a chrome silver strip running around the side of the device. However, the black paint scratches very easily and needs to be protected with a case ¡V which does not come as part of the package.
Apparently, this device is the latest version of the Atom Life, but retails for RM 3,388. That can get you quite a good notebook PC and is quite a stiff price to ask for a handheld device.
Manual & CD
The phone
As earlier mentioned, the Atom is one of the best in the O2 range. This would probably explain why O2 continually makes different versions of the Atom.
The silver strip in the centre of phone stands out from the rest of the black body. However, the silver colour comes off rather easily to reveal white plastic, especially at the corners of the device which is prone to rub against your clothing when you carry it in a pocket. The keys are also in silver and located all along this strip, except for the navigation pad and the black hotkeys surrounding it.
The camera lens has a silver semicircle around it. The flash is also found here and so is a small mirror for self portraits. I have always wondered how many people actually take their own picture all the time. I can¡¦t visualise even the most hardened camwhore taking more than a couple of self portraits a month.
The screen is a 262K TFT LCD type which was very bright, but only 65K is effective in this device. The brightness is good but a little hard on the eyes so you might want to put it at a slightly lower setting for ease of use.
Software
The O2 Atom Life runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 OS, and comes with the full office suite of MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint. As usual, O2 loads their devices with lots of applications. The noteworthy ones are the SMS backup, Image Editor and a Self Diagnostics program.
The Atom Life also comes with O2 applications such as Phone Plus, Media Plus and SMS Plus which are customised programs that help the user with certain features of the device.
It appears to be quite comprehensive with a PDF reader, Equalizer, Radio, Wallet and Pocket MSN rounding out the list. Of course, the ever-present Task List, Notes, Calculator and Clock stand ready for your use too.
Connectivity
This device is a tri-band device capable of operating on the GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz frequencies. It also supports 3G UMTS in the form of WCDMA 2100.
The Atom Life comes with Bluetooth and infrared built into the phone. The infrared window is on the bottom left side of the phone. There is a USB port to connect the Atom to a regular PC on the bottom of the device, next to the jack for the headset.
Data can also be transferred via GPRS or WLAN. The default browser for surfing is Microsoft Internet Explorer, which is preinstalled into the device. WAP surfing over CSD is also supported, while 3.5G HSDPA is supported all the way up to 3.6 Mbps speeds.
Camera
Sadly, the camera on this device is still specified at 2 megapixels, which is so 2006. The viewfinder screen responds really slowly to movements while the camera is switched on. The picture in the viewfinder takes some time to catch up when you move the camera physically to shoot a picture.
There is also a spelling error here which shows ¡¥Marco mode¡¦ instead of ¡¥Macro mode¡¦, which suggests that this particular device was either assembled by someone named Marco, in love with Marco or just uninterested in checking their own work.
It is very rare to find a spelling error in a phone, so let us remember to put a picture here for posterity. Pictures can be recorded as 176 x 144, 320 x 240, 640 x 480, 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 pixel ones. There is a night mode setting but what is quite unique to this device is a Flicker Filter that allows you to switch between 50 and 60 Hz. I guess that it would help one to record videos from a TV or a computer.
Aside from being a pirate¡¦s dream device, the video films in rather low resolutions of 176 x 144 or 320 x 240. However, you can tweak the colour settings to reddish, blueish and greenish in addition to the usual negative, black-white and sepia.
There are four contrast settings in this device, namely Sunny, Cloudy, Office and Alight. All this is very delightful if only the software compensated for the viewfinder movements much quicker than the jerky blur that shows up on the screen. Nothing spectacular here, and you will spend more time setting up than shooting photos with this camera.
Games
The Sudoku Revolution game is a new addition to the usual pair of Jawbreaker and Solitaire. Of course, one can always add other new games that run on the Pocket PC platform. However, if the performance of the camera is anything to go by on, I would not hold my breath playing Quake-type games on this particular device.
| Editor's Opinion |
This appears to be a phone for the future, with the inclusion of HSDPA data transfer capabilities and WLAN. It is like a mini computer, but needs a Bluetooth keyboard if you are entertaining hopes of being productive with this device.
The outer shell looks impressive, but lost its lustre much too easily for our likes. The paintwork comes off easily when abraded on clothing or car keys and coins in the pocket. For the whopping price of RM 3K plus that is the RRP for the Atom Life, one would expect a little bit better paintjob so that the device looks spanking new for just that little bit longer.
The camera is a standard-issue 2MP, which is nothing to shout about. As mentioned earlier, the viewfinder is still slow to respond, which is something common to nearly all Windows PDA devices. The other camera pointing at the user is a regular VGA one for video calls.
Is the device good? Pretty much
What about the price? A little too much, if you ask me.
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