O2 Xda IQ

O2’s new IQ is basically a packaging of the HTC Tornado, and that means it’s available with only slight variations as the i-mate SP5 and Qtek 8310 we looked at a couple of issues ago (and the Vodafone V1240, but Vodafone doesn’t seem interested in selling that to anyone). But O2’s version is the one you’ll be able to punt at a reasonable end-user price
with a contract (and with O2’s extremely natty spring-loaded push-me-pull-you box.
Inside there’s Windows Mobile 5.0, quad-band capability (with EDGE but not 3G), a really high-class display (only 65K colours, but because of the 240×320 resolution you won’t be able to tell the difference) on a decent screen size (34x55mm), a 1.3 megapixel camera, 64MB RAM and 64MB flash memory for the operating software, and a Mini-SD expansion slot.

The keypad is quite cramped, and the stubby joystick is a bit small, but you will get used to both. There is a bar of four tiny soft keys directly under the display; around the joystick are the red and the green phone-call buttons and two keys for quick access to the phonebook and messaging.
For local connections there’s Bluetooth, IR and WiFi on board to. Yup, real working WiFi in a phone the size and weight of your everyday handset. The other business-oriented goodie is Microsoft’s real-time push email, enabled in the box and supporting Microsoft Exchange 2003 collaboration and messaging without the need for additional servers. (As an alternative you can either synchronise via ActiveSync or use Outlook via POP3.). You can open, edit and send Excel Mobile and Word Mobile attachments. The built-in pocket Internet Explorer is good, too – it uses a relatively small font and so is thus able to fit plenty of information, thanks to the high resolution of the display.
A button on the right side of the phone controls the camera application. Unfortunately, pictures taken in a landscape mode are displayed vertically. What’s worse, the location of the camera control button requires using your left hand and is therefore quite inconvenient. And the quality of the pictures is very poor, despite the 1280×1024 resolution. Music options are significantly better – no radio, but Windows Media is efficient enough at playing music. The sound provided by the earphones is quite bad though.
That’s the only real downside. WiFi is a boon to the business user, making for quick and easy cable-free connections; the phone looks ok and feels good in the hand; the screen is excellent, and so is the Windows functionality (though you’ll probably want to recommend a memory card to the buyer).
• Could this be the best all-purpose smartphone yet?

FEATURES 85%

SALEABILITY 80%

SPECIFICATION

Size

Length 95mm
Width 50mm
Depth 26mm
Weight

134g
Main display

TFT, 256K colours
352×416 pixels, 35x41mm
Camera

3mp, 2048×1536 pixels, video, flash; secondary VGA videocall camera
Connectivity
Bluetooth, USB,    IR, EDGE, 3G, WiFi
Battery

Standby 192h
Talk time 3h
Features
Stereo FM radio
music player