O2 XDA Atom Exec Review: Part
5 – Final Conclusion
By:
Mohammed Al-Ashram
February 13, 2007
Introduction:
This part was
unintentionally delayed, I was hoping to extend this part of the
review but I went on annual vacation, I came and I found a mountain
of work, website changes and useless meetings. The good thing though
is that I had spent really enough time to judge this device, not
only that I constantly use it as my premier device but also I took
it with me in my recent vacation. So here what I finally think of
this device…
Conclusion:
As you have
already observed from the previous parts of this review, the Atom
Exec has got what it takes to be a really good Pocket PC Phone, but
not really the perfect device!
In some of those
previous parts I was very enthusiastic and still I am but there are
some issues which needs to be highlighted and mainly in the
hardware. Which is totally… rubbish! Think of it this way, a luxury
American car built with really cheap materials, aren’t all American
cars are cheaply built! I will leave that to you to decide, but when
you have a really good product and you just hate to look at it! Atom
Exec maybe one of the best devices I have ever owned but I don’t I
want to take it with me to a board meeting. You got the point. I am
sure you will question my statements in part 1 (Initial Impressions)
when I was talking about the form factor which is a good design,
good overall placements of buttons, utilization of space, very
compact and stylish… unless you constantly use it, the plastic shows
its true colors. You start getting board! It is a fact because you
can easily compare it with other phones. Don’t get me wrong this is
one of the best devices I have ever owned, but compare it with the
latest HTC branded phones and you will know what I mean.
Using the device
under the direct sun light reveals to me another weak point with
Atom Exec, you cannot see the screen, it is not very viewable under
the direct sun light. It gets very annoying at times but for some of
us they easily live with it. And still I say it is a good device!
Yes it is! Because you get fast response, good internal memory, very
compact, lots of accessories, and most importantly it is very
reliable. I never had to hard reset not even to soft reset unless it
is a routine backup or for testing purposes. You can argue as you
like but make sure you write your feedback in the forums because
this is not just my own opinion, I have gathered from several owners
that they are very satisfied with the performance and they love the
radio.
The camera was
not tested in this review; don’t be surprised because I don’t see
any significance to any mobile camera unless for MMS, so I am not
going to give a verdict on this part.
When I bought
this device I knew I chose the best in its category, and I believe I
did, though I have some reservations in the build quality I still
look for what O2 is going to offer next. Because over all, the Atom
Exec made me think twice before I jump to another brand.
To sum it up…
What’s positive?
What’s negative?
Pending tests to
be discussed in the forums:
Camera
performance
Bluetooth pairing
with an ID display headset
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Part 5 last modified:
February 13, 2007