Qtek 9100 Review

Nov 30 Qtek 9100 Review
Found in:Devices, Pocket PC, Qtek, Reviews,

I had been looking forward to encountering HTC Wizard from the very first moment I saw its photo. As an MDA Compact enthusiast, I fancied it to be my next device that would inherit the good from the Compact while adding missing features and remedying weaknesses. Here I am sharing my impressions from the first few hours with Qtek 9100. I would like to thank Sunnysoft, a distributor of the device in the Czech Republic, for lending me a specimen for review purposes.

Enough of introductions, let's get down to business. The package contains virtually the same items as those shipping with the Compact: the device, case, spare stylus, synchronisation USB cable, AC adapter, ear-plug type headphones with a remote control, user guide and a CD-ROM. The only noteworthy items are the case (made neither of leather nor leatherette but nylon, I guess) and the earphones (quite good, the remote control controls not only the phone module but also the output volume). A spare telescopic stylus is welcome (it will surprise you initially by its small size when folded); the rest of the accessories is common.

The device is a little larger than the Compact (108 mm x 58 mm x 23.5 mm). Its is about 5 millimetres thicker because of the slide-out keyboard. However, it remains within the limits of comfortable and convenient. The Wizard's rounded corners provide a better grip than the Compact. By contrast, the material is not light metal as in the Compact but lacquered plastic. The Wizard features five user-definable buttons and a cursor pad as well as four system buttons (two on the front panel, two on the slide-out keyboard), so it is easy to control the device without the stylus. Gamers will be pleased to find that the device supports simultaneous press of several buttons. The Wizard's design is rather more elaborate than that of the Compact - some will like it, some will not. I personally miss the sober design of the Compact...

A great attraction of the Wizard is the slide-out keyboard comprising 39 keys (four rows by ten keys, only the spacebar is double-width) and two system keys. It is impossible to type otherwise than with the thumbs, which is good enough for SMS-maniacs and online chat enthusiasts. It takes a while to get used to it (the keys are arranged in different way than on standard keyboards) nut a after a few hours, you will be able to type much faster than with the stylus on a tiny virtual keyboard on the display. Keyboard backlight makes it easier to type in dark places. Unfortunately, it is not illuminated evenly and I found it hard to read blue characters on silver keys. Speaking about the keyboard, I should also mention support for national characters provided by Sunnysoft;) As with the HTC Universal, there is a big question how durable the keyboard slide-out mechanism is. It is hard to tell - although it appears quite rugged, we should wait and see after half a year. I am worried especially about the locks that keep the keyboard fully closed and open. In any case, there is a two-year warranty...:) The Wizard introduces some technical enhancements over the Compact as well as several compromises. The first one concerns performance - a Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor running at 195 MHz is known for low consumption rather than high computing power. Hard to tell why HTC decided to implement this processor. The last to use it before now was HP in its iPAQ h6340 to little success. On the other hand, one should thoroughly test the processor's performance rather than making judgements based on technical specifications. Everyday tasks are slower on all WM5 devices as compared to previous system versions because of a new way of memory management, which may overshadow processor performance deficiencies. I tried several games and encountered no performance issues at all. Video playback was not as smooth but if you reduce quality it is quite OK. Music playback poses no problem at all for the Wizard. However, if you want to work while listening, the processor has difficulties catching breath. The device features 128 MB of FlashROM and 64 MB of RAM. Upon reset, the user can access about 44 MB of FlashROM; an additional memory card will be desirable.

The display looks a cut above that of the Compact. It is much brighter (but remember I am comparing with half a year old Compact) and the colours are richer and less yellow-tinted. The size of the display is exactly the same (2.8-inch diagonal, i.e. 71 millimetres), the same applies to resolution (240x320) and number of supported colours (65 thousand). The display can be easily rotated by 90 degrees, a feature supported natively by all WM5 devices. When you manipulate with the keyboard, the display will rotate automatically. By contrast, backlight settings options are insufficient: there are only five levels with joint slider for both modes (on battery/charging).

Audio capabilities seem to be excellent with virtually nothing to criticise. There are loudspeakers on the left-hand side and the right-hand side; according to the documentation, it should be real stereo. The phone speaker produces clear sound free of overdrive, which has been a common complaint of Compact users. The microphone's sensitivity is just about right. Pity the headphones connector is a 2.5-mm jack, which means you need an adapter to connect better gear. The Wizard offers cutting-edge communications features. In our geography, you can start using all of them right out of the box. The basic link with the outer world is a fast USB 2.0 port. A 115-kbps infrared port is a standard part of the Pocket PC platform and cannot be absent from this device, either. Bluetooth in such a feature-packed device may be useful for connecting a BT-enabled GPS or for connecting a laptop to the internet. Whatever, it will certainly come handy. Unfortunately, we have to put up with atrocious wireless Microsoft software, which, although being constantly improved, cannot compare to competing products. I tried configuring ActiveSync over Bluetooth and my attempt turned out a complete failure. Then there is WiFi supporting "merely" 11 Mbit but if you have a WiFi AP at home (like me) you will surely appreciate an integrated WiFi module with advanced configuration options. I was able to connect to my secure Asus WL-530g immediately and without any problems. That is not everything for communication, though. We have not mentioned the telephone module yet. It is a quad-band GSM/GPRS supporting 850/900/1800/1900 MHz networks. EDGE is a welcome and very useful extension. Well, useful it is if your mobile operator has implemented the technology in your location. Otherwise, it is worth the same as UMTS in the HTC Universal;) There is no indicator of data transmission speed but data did seemed to flow faster than before when I downloaded some files. I am going to perform some tests in a big review to come. As for phone calls, I did not encounter any problems and everything appeared to work the way it should. Needless to say, the device supports SMS and MMS messages. The Wizard has an integrated camera like the Compact. The parameters are identical yet image quality seems better in the Wizard. Particularly good are close-range photos. The maximum supported resolution is 1280x1024 pixel. However, you can interpolate the photo to up to 1600x1280 pixels. A built-in LED will illuminate the scene at a short distance but do not expect miracles. Check the photos below for their quality. The Wizard support not only still images but also video (MPEG4 or Motion JPEG).

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