O2 Xda IIs > Reviews (12)

Having wanted a pda for some time i looked around. For the spec i wanted i saw that they were about £200+. My mobile phone contract was also up for renewal and to get the phone i wanted would have cost £50. Then i thought, why not get a pocket pc phone and kill two birds with one stone. There are lot of advantages to having a pocket pc phone. Because its your phone you take it everywhere so it gets used. Two, the functionality of the pda and three, you dont need to cary a pda and phone at the same time.

Anyway, i ordered it from onestopphoneshop.com and after a bot of a delay it arrived. Charged the battery and it was ready to go. One first use there a couple of things that strike you. Firstly it is more pocketable than you would think. Secondly, the slide out keyboard is less useful than you think. It uses pocket pc 2003 / 2003 software and is very instinctive and easy to use. This is my first pda and i was fluent with it in a couple of days. The battery life is ample with two days of solid play with a full charge and the spare battery is a nice extra.

So, standard pda software which is intuitive but there are a few nice extras. The phone software is seamlessly integrated and is very easy to use. The inclusion of wi-fi is brilliant and allows broadband connections at hot-spots and home wireless networks. The inclusion of a pdf and ppt viewer is very useful. It includes 128mb of ram which is quite generous and the processor althpugh not the fastest around will speed through most tasks.

The true of joy of this though is in the mult-functionality. I have put my university textbooks (im a med student) on there (three of them), a couple of songs, a few books im reading for pleasure, a route planner application and my bible. Normally i need at least one of the textbooks with me at all times and my mp3 player for when im reading in the library. To have all this functionality in one device is just fantastic. Also the loudspeaker isn't half bad when listening to the tunes.

All in all, this is a fantastic piece of gear. When i show people everything i have on it and its my phone and organiser they are in shock. Two friends have since bought one. The wireless connectivity is phenomenal with three forms... wi - fi, bluetooth and infra red. The screen is nice and clear, the phone looks gorgeous and has a nice weight feel to it. I may be a touch big for some but xonsidering that its this vs my phone / mp3 player / textbook its saving space in my lab coat. A truly impressive convergence device with no obvious drawbacks. Also, it functions perfectly as a phone (the phone is not an after thought)