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Review of HTC's X7510 Advantage Smartphone 64

Posted by timothy from the cool-little-device dept.
An anonymous reader writes "DigitalBurn.com has posted a review of HTC's new X7510 Advantage smartphone. It is technically a smartphone, but looks more like a small laptop since it has a 5" VGA touchscreen display. Other features include tri-band HDSPA 3G data, a 3 megapixel auto-focus camera, a magnetically attached QWERTY keyboard, and a full-blown Opera 9 web browser. It can even be hooked up to a TV or external monitor/projector."
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Review of HTC's X7510 Advantage Smartphone More

Review of HTC's X7510 Advantage Smartphone

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  • Not to be funny or troll, but honestly -- this seems to do a whole bunch of things, but I can't imagine that it does any of them particularly well. Then again, I don't even use all the features on my verizon-locked motrolola krazer. It least it fits nicely in my pocket.
    • Yes, it does make phone calls. However, I can't imagine holding something that sized to your ear for 30 minutes would be comfortable. Guess it's strictly bluetooth calls then.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bsDaemon ( 87307 )
        great, so i have to walk around with this huge bulge in my pocket, with people either thinking I'm homeless and talking to myself, or that I just rolled Elton John for his ear piece, depending on what angle they are viewing me from?

        No thank you.
      • Could be worse, you could be talking to your shoe [cia.gov].

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by ForestGrump ( 644805 )
          Reminds me of this old joke. Probably first heard it 14 years ago (when I was 14ish)

          Bill Gates, Andy Grove, & Jerry sanders (CEOs of Microsoft, Intel & AMD) were in a high-powered business meeting. During the serious, tense discussions, a beeping noise was suddenly emitted from where Bill was sitting.

          Bill said : "Oh! that's my emergency beeper. Gentlemen, excuse me, I really need to take this call.: So Bill lifted his wrist-watch to his ear and began talking into the end of his tie. Having complete

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Hal_Porter ( 817932 )
        I'd rather have a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

        http://www.phonemag.com/xperia-x1-vs-iphone-spend-now-or-save-02943.php [phonemag.com]

        Looks about the same size as an iPhone but it has a foldout qwerty keyboard and HSDPA. It has Wifi too. Oh and unlike the iPhone it has microSDHC slot which allows for cards upto 32GB, though only 8GB cards currently exist [wikipedia.org]. Still 8GB is a lot of music or media files. And they only cost about US$50 [newegg.com]. I can use WinamPAQ on the X1.

        The display is much higher resolution than an iPhone too, 800*480 [wikipedia.org] inste
        • HTC is the OEM for the X1 too, which I'm happy about. HTC's manufacturing is usually pretty solid.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 )
      Well - seems to be a nice device for some but it seems to be too expensive.

      And I miss one thing on modern smartphones that I had on my old Palm m505 - a lid that can cover the display. I want the display to be protected when it's in my pocket, not only for fear of cracking it, but sometimes the phone may wake up on an event and enable the touchscreen, and if the phone is in the pocket you can end up dialing whoever/whatever...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by bsDaemon ( 87307 )

        and if the phone is in the pocket you can end up dialing whoever/whatever...
        That happened to my dad once a couple of years ago (not a smart phone, one of those older Sony-Erikson non-folding phones)... only it happened to dial 911 while he was at the gun range shooting pistols.

        • Your dad should find a movie or TV producer through a good agent. That story could be really funny on screen. Sorry for his ordeal, but it could be hilarious on, say, "Reno! 911" and he might as well make a few bucks on it.

          I can't keep track of all the times someone's sat down, shifted in their seat, or bumped into someone and I got a call from them with random background noise. That's bad enough. Calling 911 with gunfire in the background, well, that's a whole different level.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by bsDaemon ( 87307 )
            He didn't know it happened. However, when he was taking a break, he got a phone call back from them asking if everything was OK. Frankly, I'm surprised that they didn't send out cops -- probably the GPS location was for the gun club (nra certified range, lots of cops are members) and so they figured it was some sort of accident.

            Still, I would think they have a legal obligation to actually go check something like that out.
            • His response when the police called back:

              Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal. Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by SeanJC ( 1294132 )

      I agree. It looks quite cool but when something tries to be all things to all men, it normally fail in some areas.

      Sean J Connolly
      Visit My Blog [blogspot.com]
      Find me on FaceBook [facebook.com]

  • Can't imagine this will be a successful product (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TheRedSeven ( 1234758 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @11:44AM (#23507212)
    $1000 for a beefed-up, over-sized smartphone? Unlikely. For this price, I can get a Blackberry Curve and a Eee PC.


    I can bet this thing will almost certainly flop when it comes to market. Heck, even the US rebate check isn't enough to cover the cost of one of these!

    • and you will have to walk around carrying two devices instead of one.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mr_mischief ( 456295 )
        One of those two weighs about twice what this thing does and is much larger.

        13.2 oz for the device + 3.7 oz for the keyboard = 16.9 oz, or 1 lb, 0.9 oz.
        (375 g + 104 g = 479 g).

        The Eee PC 701 weighs in at 895 g (1 lb 15½ oz) for the 2G Surf or 920 g (2 lb ½ oz) for the 4G and 8G models.

        This thing is almost a modern replacement for the Psion palmtops, but they had better keyboards.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by p0tat03 ( 985078 )

      I can also carrying a mp3 player, cell phone, rolodex of my contacts, portable DVD player, Eee PC, alarm clock, and camera at all times, instead of just getting a modern phone.

      Convergence is worth money. GOOD convergence is worth a LOT of money.

  • Whats the battery life?

  • Text of Article (Score:4, Informative)

    by TheRedSeven ( 1234758 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @11:47AM (#23507266)
    Review of HTCâ(TM)s X7510 Advantage

    By Michael Oryl â May 21, 2008

    The HTC X7510 Advantage is a hard device to label. Technically it is a smartphone, because it runs the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS and has the ability to make voice calls. But the fact that calls can only be made with the built-in speakerphone or a headset hint at the fact that it was not designed primarily as a voice device. Its size drives the point home even further, since it weighs as much as 3 normal sized smartphones at 375g (13.2oz). Thatâ(TM)s a lot of hardware, no question.

    So what is the Advantage? It is a media and data-centric device that also happens to make calls. Think of it as one part smartphone, one part laptop, and a dash of media player voodoo for good measure. Its 134mm x 98mm x 20.5mm (5.3â x 3.9â x .8â) size without the keyboard means it is pocketable, but only barely. Compared to a laptop computer, though, the Advantage will run for hours without a charge (300 hours of standby, 5-6 hours of talk time) and can be easily toted around. And it can make that emergency phone call if you need it to.

    The X7510â(TM)s large 5â VGA resolution touchscreen display is great for web browsing or video watching. The included Opera 9 browser makes the most of the huge touchscreen, allowing users to scroll with a finger or stylus and double tap to zoom in or out. It is a true laptop-like browsing experience, though perhaps a bit less zippy at times.

    The zip factor depends largely on how the Advantage is getting its connectivity. On WiFi or an HDSPA 3G network (850/1900/2100MHz), it is pretty quick. HSDPA can provide 1000Kbps data downloads, while WiFi can double that as long as the X7510â(TM)s 624MHz processor and generous 128MB of RAM arenâ(TM)t juggling too many other tasks. If there is no high speed data available, youâ(TM)ll be stuck with quad-band GSM/EDGE support and sub-100Kbps download speeds. That might not be awe inspiring, but it will keep you in touch with the world. it is worth mentioning that the Opera 9 browser appears to ignore the WiFi connection if the WiFi system was enabled after Opera was already running, which is unlike how the Pocket IE and other apps behave.

    Of course there is more to a device like the Advantage than just downloading web pages. Sometimes you need to give back a little. To that end, Advantage users can create and edit Word, Excel, and OneNote documents, and view PowerPoint presentations. To get the most of such abilities, though, you need more than the Windows Mobile on-screen QWERTY keyboard. Thatâ(TM)s where the X7510â(TM)s 104g (3.7oz) detachable keyboard comes in. It connects to the main body of the Advantage through a few brass contacts, and the keyboard is held in place with a pretty strong magnet. I am always surprised at how easy it is to get the keyboard into position - it just wants to go to the right place on its own.

    Compared to the earlier Advantages, the keyboard that comes with the X7510 is quite different. For starters, the keys are molded into the top membrane of the keyboard (think Atari 400 for those of you old enough to remember back that far). There are ridges that separate each key, and a soft click and accompanying vibration greet each key press. It seems that the sound itself is somehow causing the haptic vibration, and as such there is no way to get the reassuring vibration feedback when the keyboard sound is muted. The click might be annoying to others when in a quiet room, but when there is any kind of ambient noise around at all, nobody will be the wiser.

    Like all Windows Mobile smartphones, the X7510 Advantage supports over the air synchronization of email, contacts, tasks, and calendar appointments when linked up to a Microsoft Exchange server. I use a hosted Exchange account for email, and I love having push email delivered to the Advantage. It supports other push email systems when loaded with the appropriate software, and can also

  • too big (Score:4, Insightful)

    by loafula ( 1080631 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @11:57AM (#23507412)
    This product is way too big to be marketed as a smart phone. The concept behind the whole PDA/smartphone market is portability. Anything that cannot fit in my pocket does not fall into the portable category.....
  • Am I the only one who sees a problem with a magnetically attached keyboard?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by SparkEE ( 954461 )

      Am I the only one who sees a problem with a magnetically attached keyboard?
      I hope you are, since the device uses flash memory.

      It may be right to worry about putting your credit cards in the same pocket. Although, as large as it is, there wouldn't be any room left in your pocket.
    • i was thinking the same thing when i read about magnetic keyboard. i wonder how it will interfere with gsm signal? certainly it won't be a boost. i own an eten m700, it has sliding qwerty and is REASONABLE size and i need nothing more (except when new technology arrives will i feel the need to upgrade). when i was doing some before-buy research for pocketpc [that's portable pocketpc] and i saw one of these advantage on utube my first thought was: did he broke the keyboard and found a way to still use it? i'

  • It isn't a smartphone. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by HerculesMO ( 693085 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @12:08PM (#23507602)
    It's a laptop with a "phone" feature.

    • Spot on.

      The 3G functionality in this device is there so that you can access the internet on the move. You'll be hard pressed to source a 3G chipset that won't do voice calls and SMS, so it makes sense for the manufacturer not to deliberately cripple the device by not providing this functionality.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mgblst ( 80109 )
      Except it doesn't come with a real OS, it comes with Windows Mobile. So it is not even a proper laptop.

  • Jack of all trades... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rarel ( 697734 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @12:09PM (#23507616) Homepage
    ... master of none. Sure it's a nice gadget, but let's see, too big for a phone, won't fit in a pocket, and too small to be really practical as a "sublaptop", I don't see anyone working for hours on that keyboard. Fringe market, even in a professional settings. Only useful for showing off, I guess.
  • Like HTC's earlier similar product, the Universal [wikipedia.org], for which there are now several unofficial GNU/Linux distributions, including even a way to run a Debian port almost unmodified [neilandtheresa.co.uk]. However, there is no cooperation from the vendor at all, so if you want to support a company which invests in Free Software, better check out Nokia n800/n810 or that OpenMoko phone.

  • If it didn't cost your soul and left nut it might have been a nice ebook reader. No thanks. I'll keep my nokia, T5, and nikon for all that it does.

    • "If it didn't cost your soul"

      So a soul is worth $1000? That market went same way as the real estate

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Lord Apathy ( 584315 )

        So a soul is worth $1000?

        Soul is an abstract concept. It might or it might not exist so there for it could be priceless or worth nothing. Now my left nut on the other hand, well I'm kind of attached to that.

  • Pretty useless (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I stopped reading the article after the first sentence. Who in the hell would actually want a Windows Mobile device. They are the most unstable, poor performing, ugly UI phones on the planet. (Next to Verizon's mods of course)

  • EEEPC with a Data Card? Seems the remind me more of that then a cell phone. Not saying it's bad thing though. I never could get too much into the smart phone thing. Ever new phone I get breaks faster then the last. Personally I miss my Nokia 5180... cause man that thing could place calls, had a basic calculator and that was about it. But if an H-bomb went off, it would still make and receive calls! God I am old ;~(
  • Did they provide video drivers on this one, or is it like the Tytn II model, which had no drivers even though the hardware exists??

    -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_TyTN_II#Video_Driver_Issues [wikipedia.org]

  • Voice calls only with a headset (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CambodiaSam ( 1153015 ) on Thursday May 22, 2008 @01:29PM (#23508972)
    The author states:

    "So what is wrong with the X7510? Well, since it has the raw capability, would it really have hurt to let people use it as a regular phone in a pinch, without a headset? It seems to me that this would have been a relatively minor tweak, though I imagine it was left out so as to position the Advantage as a non-voice device first and foremost - but I think it was a mistake."

    It seems the manufacturer has answered the question of "What is it?" in a way, by requiring a second piece of equipment to effectively use the phone part.
  • The HTC X7510 has specifications that seem to limit its market. The weight is an issue when holding the phone up unless a bluetooth headset is used. The size of it doesn't allow it be carried in pocket. The 3 megapixel camera is not powerful enough to compete with competitor's higher resolutions. The WIFI is not always useful in rural areas. The keyboard is not efficient and overlaps the handwriting recognizing technology.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by dgmsu ( 1294104 )
      Oh... and the iphone has opera too.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by k-vuohi ( 973009 )
      Just to comment on the whole camera resolution thing: Choosing not to stuff all the pixels in the world on a sensor the size of a single cell organism is a rare call worth applauding these days. Seems like people are really starting to fall for the marketing BS of resolution meaning increased picture quality.

  • N810 with WiMAX (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why not look at the Nokia N810 with WiMAX instead. They have almost identical features and the N810 is Linux based. I have the standard N810 and love it. GPS, Bluetooth, memory slot, Wifi and a keyboard with a nice 800x480 screen, mozilla browser supporting flash 9, skype for calling (or other similar voip progs work), along with full media capabilities and such. This is one of those, why spend twice as much when the N810 does more already. You can pick up the Nokia off Ebay for about 300-350 too. I w
    • because n810 is not a phone. it is very convinient to have a pim and an address book in a device which can make phone calls.
  • Because they removed the control key.
    Lack of a control and escape key makes this potentially useful device annoyingly limited (for me)

    I have a T-Mobile Ameo, and I love it ... though battery life is a wee bit limited with a BT headset and email polling and a blast of mp3 to/from work

  • Oh, look, nice picture.
    "The HTC X7510 Advantage is a hard device to label. Technically it is a smartphone, because it runs the Windows Mobile 6.1 Profes ..." *click* (closes the tab)
  • Another "neat" but not impressive device.

    I wonder who honestly wants to view Windows Mobile on a full-size monitor?

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