The Flame is the latest device in the O2 range. It has a rather large screen and is probably the largest of recent O2 devices
with a 3.6-inch display.
2 Data cables
The phone
The initial impression on taking the Flame out of the box is that it does rather look like a slice of bread. It is large,
flat and a few people I showed it to did wonder who the maker was. That was because the logo is black on black and not very
noticeable.
Many also remarked on the obviously large device, which I had pegged to be ideal for watching videos on. A TV cable is in the
box, so I guess that one is supposed to plug the Flame into a convenient TV set and show pictures, videos and probably
powerpoint presentations on the TV set.
The entire device is in black, with a checked pattern on the battery cover as a result of etching alternate squares in one
direction. The camera lens bulges out of the back, which isn・t a very good idea because there will be a lot of wear and tear
on the camera lens over time. The idea should have been to protect the lens, not to expose it.
The screen, as we mentioned earlier, is very large. While this is excellent, the Flame drains the battery faster than a bunch
of roughnecks go through a case of beer. Charging takes a rather long time, around five hours to charge up the Flame from a
totally flat battery. After 24 hours of leaving the Flame alone to sulk by itself, nearly half the charge was gone. Imagine
what it would be like if you made use of the voice and data connections, not to mention turning on WiFi or Bluetooth.
Chances are, you will need to buy a second battery, and your Flame would spend much of its time attached to the wall charger
or your PC USB. Oh, there is no cradle for the O2 Flame, but there is a nice little USB-On-The-Go cable which lets you plug a
thumb drive directly into the Flame・s USB port. That is a pretty good idea because I can put my larger video clips onto a
thumb drive and just plug and play when I need it.
Software
There is a slight delay when you push the power button on the top of the device. Ideally, the faintest of touches lights up
the screen. However, in this device, I had to press the power button repeatedly and keep glancing to see if the screen lights
up or not. Occasionally it does and occasionally it doesn・t. It is annoying and takes a lot of getting used too. Especially
if you are in a rush.
The OS in use is the 5.0 version of Windows Mobile, which is quite surprising considering that it has been five months since
the official announcement of Window Mobile 6.0. However, the processor is an IntelR PXA-270 running at 520 MHz. Reports say
that O2 is testing the WM 6.0 OS so look out for the upgrade or just wait until it is upgraded before you buy.
The memory capacity is rather large for a device this size. The internal flash memory is 64MB + 2GB, and there is 128MB of
RAM. All of this displays 65K of Colours onto a 480 x 640 TFT LCD screen.
As usual, there are a ton of O2 applications inside the Flame. Add the large internal memory, a large micro SD and a large
plug-in thumb drive and a Bluetooth keyboard, and you could have the beginnings of what is a rather lightweight albeit messy
laptop. That is, for the short time until PDAzilla here drains whatever batteries you might have. And you might want to plug
it in to the TV if you are going to bitch about the screen・s size.
Connectivity
The Flame supports 3G, but leaves out HSDPA connectivity. It is a triband device, supporting GSM 900/1800/1900.
Bluetooth and Infrared are present for local connections, whilst GPRS and WiFi are also built in and these options can be
toggled on or off from the shortcut key at the bottom of the left edge of the PDA.
Camera
The camera is a 2-megapixel one. Firing up the camera was rather tedious as it took some time for the device to switch from
its regular portrait mode screen to the landscape mode used by the camera・s viewfinder.
However, once that is out of the way, shots were quick and easy. The autofocus is much better than that on other competing
camera phones, and quickly adjusts and shoots. That might be due to the extra graphics processor in the device.
A really great touch was the ．back arrow・ icon which flashed onto the screen after a shot was taken. Quickly touch this with
your finger and the device switched right back into viewfinder mode and is immediately ready to shoot another picture.
With enough practice, you could easily get 4-5 pictures in 10 seconds or so, which makes it a pretty good camera for me.
However, the zoom is not too good and only goes up to 4x and the effects are quite limited.
Games
There are two games in the phone. They are Bubble Breaker, which is also known as Jawbreaker in other PDAs. The second game
is Solitaire. Both of these are pretty much standard with any Windows Mobile device these days.
| Editor's Opinion |
Another O2 device goes above the RM 3000 ceiling. Very few devices dare to breach this mark. I must say that I was quite
happy with the camera even though it was only a 2MP one and the ability to plug this PDA into a TV and into a Thumb Drive for
more content.
However, the drawback is that Windows just positively stinks when it comes to media files. While Open Source communities are
making players that play just about anything under the sun, Windows is still the picky eater that refuses to touch the greens
on the plate. Well, you get the idea. Only certain kinds of media files will run correctly.
The screen is sufficiently large for playing movie clips, but the sheer trouble you will have to go through to get workable
clips is something you will have to think about, not to mention a card slot that can・t card. That doesn・t make it worth its
introductory price of RM 3500+. It needs a 5MP camera, HSDPA and better support for various video codecs before I would say
that the price is right. Oh, throw in a leather case too. For that price, one rightfully demands an accessory or two.
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