WM6 for iPAQ hx4700

Custom WM6 ROM scene is flourishing, and thanks to several russian developers, most notably kozhura at 4pda.ru, this goodness have reached owners of ipaq hx4700. At this moment the ROM is too buggy, but if previous experience with WM5 AKU 3.5.2 is any indication of debugging speed, then we shall see a good quality ROM in 4-6 weeks time.

HP iPAQ 200, the long needed successor to hx4700

The long awaited successor to hx4700 is on the horizon.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/06/hp-unleashes-ipaq-series-100-and-200-pdas/

Judging its technical specs, it looks as a marginal improvement over it, not a revolutionary one. But it has a potential of making this the most powerful PDA ever. (And the last ever?)

1. OS upgraded from WM5 to WM6. However, custom WM6 ROMs are already circulating at xda-developers (orginally made by kozhura @ 4pda.ru forums).
2. Display is the same.
3. SD slot will support SDHC.
4. Physical d-pad is back. A definite improvement.
5. Bluetooth is 2.0+EDR (3 times faster and, presumably, more energy efficient. The previous implementation of Bluetooth in hx4700 was all but efficient. Energy consumption tested by Menneisyys was a disaster, gobbling mAh even at idle rpms.
6. WiFi g in addition to b. This means that watching VGA (DVD quality) movies from remote server over WIFI will be a smooth experience.
7. More efficient VGA acceleration whatever this means.
8. Increased RAM 128Mb (or not really increased? there is mixed information in HP PR materials, with 128 seeming a prevailing number). It would be a shame to not have 128MB in this PDA, as long and painful experience with hx4700 proved that 64MB is not enough for keeping several important applications (like navigation, browser, office programs, etc.) open at the same time and thus, quickly available at any second.

However, it is too early to state that the device will be more useful than its predecessor, before we get results of READ-WRITE benchmarks of production units. Hx4700 had a notoriously slow SD,CF slots and built in Flash read/write times, that were crippling its performance to a halt at times under WM5.

I would love to get my hands on this device for a more in-depth review.

Mobile month in Ukraine, with Nokia 6120 Classic

I am back from Ukraine, having spent 4 weeks there with nohting more than Nokia 6120 Classic. http://europe.nokia.com/A4399010

Strangely enough, all my plans previously outlined, have materialised.

I got a full month internet access from Life:) for just 60 Hrivnas (12$) per 1GB http://www.life.com.ua/index.php?area=lifebox&lng=uk&page=15-33

The best thing is that this deal is available also to the prepaid card users. As far as I know, it is the only Ukrainian operator giving such good prices to prepaid customers. Others give good price only to subscribed customers.

I have used phone to keep track of 5 mailboxes, Googlereading, photo blogging and GPS navigation (also internet based as in MGmaps and Yandex Maps). During 4 weeks I have used rougly 500Mb, so I think I have got a good deal there.

As promised, during this time Fring has issued a version 3.23 http://www.fring.com/ which now supports this handset. I have successfully used it on Life:) EDGE network. Some lag was there, but overall it was a bearable experience. Fring supports mobile VOIP over EDGE, 3G, WIFI networks on selected Nokia, Sony Ericcsson and Windows Mobile smart phones. Gtalk, ICQ, MSN, Twitter, Skype and SIP are currently supported.

Another surprise was cheap cost of mobile calls (1hrivna/minute to any country) as outlined here (Ukrainian)

http://www.life.com.ua/index.php?area=mylife&lng=uk&page=3-57

Overall, I am very satisfied with the quality and costs of mobile communications in Ukraine.