E-TEN Glofiish X500+

...life, in a word awful. E-ten have gone to great lengths to make this phone do everything, but boy can it use up a full charge fast as a result. Anyone considering buying this phone will need to purchase a back up battery and travel charger. I was surprised to find that even a car charger will barely keep pace with the power drain.

Then there's customer support - there isn't any. Buyers would be wise to use a reputable company and ...
...to buy.

Lastly there's the software bugs, I have had to spend nearly a day loading and reloading in different software in order to get the Eten working properly (although any regular Pocket PC user would be used to this amount of messing about with a new device anyhow).

Rather than going for a slick business-like graphical interface like the HTC touch or iphone, ETen have overcomplicated the usability of the device ... more

Ahh, this little gem has everything! crisp VGA screen, Wifi connectivity, fast processor, built-in GPS and best of all it's black.

Some reviews I've read suggest that the unit is a boring design, well, taste is subjective. I think the simple, retro / 70's calculator like design is perfect for a PDA and makes a change from the more organic lines popular with other makes. If this phone were an aeroplane it would be a Topolev, utilitarian and functional.

Users looking for an all-round PDA that can serve the function of Media Player look no further this baby does it all, smoothly and effortlessly. Movie playback is the best I've ever seen on a PDA phone the 640 x 480 resolution is perfect of movies and picture viewing, music via Windows Media Player is as good, accessing photos is fast and there's a built-in FM radio to boot. There's also media streaming software available should you want to maximise the Wifi potential of the phone.

The Windows Live and Search today screen plug-ins make this PDA a multimedia communication hub, that is if you have the time to send idle chit chat around the globe in real-time to friends and relatives. The software looks fun but I haven't had the time to mess about with it yet.

Using the PDA as an organiser (which is bread and butter for a Windows Mobile device) is made more pleasurable by the VGA screen. Text is very clear and there is a large key on-screen keyboard option that is included with the pre-loaded software.

There are a couple of gripes though - The main one is battery life, in a word awful. E-ten have gone to great lengths to make this phone do everything, but boy can it use up a full charge fast as a result. Anyone considering buying this phone will need to purchase a back up battery and travel charger. I was surprised to find that even a car charger will barely keep pace with the power drain.

Then there's customer support - there isn't any. Buyers would be wise to use a reputable company and possibly find out what support the retailer offers before committing to buy.

Lastly there's the software bugs, I have had to spend nearly a day loading and reloading in different software in order to get the Eten working properly (although any regular Pocket PC user would be used to this amount of messing about with a new device anyhow).

Rather than going for a slick business-like graphical interface like the HTC touch or iphone, ETen have overcomplicated the usability of the device by adding seemingly pointless and poorly designed launchers, today plug-ins and phone dialler skins making the phone look like a Childs toy. Serious tweaking is needed if you want to get the phone looking presentable and making it more user friendly.

I would recommend looking at the various SPSH software offerings to customise the device to suit requirements, especially "Mobile Shell", although expect even more power drain with this software added.

Buyers attracted to the device for the in-built GPS receiver be warned, it took me ages to figure out how to get my Tom Tom software to find the receiver and work properly. It's not as simple as install and go!!. This is where customer support would have been helpful, I almost gave up.

In conclusion, once this phone is set up to suit requirements, it's awesome. Would I recommend it - yes, but buyers will need to be familiar with using a Pocket PC in order to get the most out of it. 

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