[Doug Raeburn]

Product Category: Pocket PC
Manufacturer: Fujitsu Siemens
Where to Buy: Clove Technology
Price: £320 ($600 USD at current exchange rate)
Specifications: Windows Mobile 2005, 3.5" VGA screen, Integrated GPS Complete specifications

Pros:

• Screen is sharp and bright; better than Loox 720;
  
• Very compact;
  
• Very speedy;
  
• Very good GPS reception;
  
• No loss of stored data if battery is fully drained.

Cons:

• Battery life only fair;
  
• Cradle a bit difficult to use.

As HP seems to be scaling down their range of Pocket PC offerings, the options for folks in North America are becoming limited. There are few options aside from the limited offerings from HP and Dell, and HP doesn't even make a unit available that combines the big breakthrough from the last generation (VGA) with that of the current generations (Windows Mobile 2005).

But take heart, all you Pocket PC diehards... as long as you're willing to buy from overseas, the options are still plentiful. European-based Fujitsu-Siemens (FSC) offers a wide range of Pocket PCs, with QVGA and VGA screens and with or without integrated GPS receivers.

I became a fan of FSC's products with my Loox 720, a VGA unit that was at the top of the company's previous generation Pocket PC lineup. With their latest generation, the top-of-the-line is represented by the N560. Let's see this new player stacks up.

Specifications and Design


Figure 1: The front view. Click on image for larger view.

The N560's design is pretty traditional as Pocket PCs go. It's on the small side, measuring 4.56" x 2.79" x .55" (116 x 71 x 14 mm) and weighing in at 5.6 oz. (160 g) with battery. That makes it slightly smaller and lighter than the Loox 720, which measures 4.80" x 2.83" x .60" (122 x 72 x 15.2 mm) and weighs 6.0 oz. (170 g). Smaller and lighter is a good thing, but a slightly smaller screen (3.5" vs. 3.6"), a lower capacity battery and the omission of a Compact Flash slot are required to achieve its trim figure.

The front panel is simple, with the power button centered on top and the traditional 4-buttons and directional pad with action button beneath the screen. The buttons have labels that are backlit in blue, adding a bit of a "cool" factor while making the buttons more visible in low-light conditions.

A light on each upper corner communicates notifications and status. The left light flashes green when WiFi is active and blue for Bluetooth. The light on the right flashes orange when charging and glows steady orange when charging is complete.


Figure 2: The view from the bottom... I feel right at home... Click on image for larger view.

The bottom end has nothing more than the reset button and the connector for the cradle or a synch cable. I appreciate the fact that, unlike the 720, the reset button can be pressed with the stylus, as opposed to requiring that you unscrew a cap to access a reset pin.


Figure 3: Movin' on up... the view from the top. Click on image for larger view.


Figure 4: The right side. Click on image for larger view.

The top end contains the SD slot, headphone jack and stylus. The note button, microphone and IRDA port are found on the left side, while the right side has no controls at all.


Figure 5: I got your back... Click on image for larger view.

The back sports the battery door and a connector for an external GPS antenna.

The primary feature included in the N560 that the 720 doesn't have is the integrated GPS. The GPS is the current state-of-the-art with a SiRF Star III Chip. In the past, I've used a Bluetooth GPS receiver with my Pocket PC, so I wasn't particularly intrigued by the built-in GPS receiver. But I was curious to see how the GPS would perform. I'll report on the results of my testing in a later section.

Please note that the listed price does NOT include navigation software. I've heard that Clove plans to offer bundles that include the N560 and one of several choices of navigation software, but I don't see anything listed on their site at this point.

Features of the 720 that the N560 doesn't have include a Compact Flash slot (both units provide an SD slot), a jog dial and the camera. Of these items, I'll miss the jog dial most, since I used it on the 720 mostly to flip pages in e-books. Compact Flash is a declining technology, as the format has become too big in devices that are getting smaller and smaller with each new generation. Meanwhile, high capacity SD cards are getting cheaper all the time. As for the camera, I already have a mediocre camera in my cell phone, and one mediocre camera is all I'll ever need.

Features that are improved with the N560 over those of the 720 include a faster processor (624 vs. 520 MHz) and faster wireless (802.11g vs. 802.11b).

Peripherals and Accessories
The stylus is a thin metal piece, slightly longer than the 720 stylus, but with a somewhat more substantial feel. The 720's tip was removable, with the reset pin on the opposite end. The N560 can be reset with the standard tip, so the tip stays put.

The case is a leatherette and elastic affair that most people will replace ASAP. I got a great Piel Frama case for mine... it wasn't cheap but seems to be worth the price. But that's another review.


Figure 6: And the cradle will rock... no, not really... Click on image for larger view.

A cradle is also included. It has a weighted base and seems sturdy, but I prefer the style of the 720's cradle. The N560 cradle lacks the spare battery charger that the 720 included, but adds a stereo-out connector that may be useful for those who use the unit as an MP3 player. One minor issue with the cradle is that it's a little trickier than most to insert and connect the unit. If you don't have exactly the right angle, the connectors won't engage. You get used to it, but I'd prefer not to have to.

As with the 720, the AC adapter is UK spec, meaning that it doesn't include a plug compatible with US spec outlets. An inexpensive plug converter from Radio Shack took care of this, but you may want to plan ahead if you order an N560. No convertor is required for voltage.

Windows Mobile 2005
The biggest news about the latest generation of Pocket PCs is the introduction of Windows Mobile 2005, the newest iteration of the OS for Pocket PCs and Smartphones. For those of you who aren't aware of the key features of this new release, the most significant change is the use of persistent storage rather than RAM for application and data storage. I'll bring you up to speed with a brief description of this feature.

Previous generations of Pocket PCs use RAM both for primary data storage and program execution. Although memory cards and built-in file stores provide some options for more permanent storage, the My Documents folder as well as the system databases that contain calendar and contact information are in RAM. Since RAM is volatile storage, a loss of power (dead batteries, for example) results in the loss of the contents of the RAM, including the documents and databases described above. Also, the RAM needs to be refreshed at all times, even when the unit is "turned off", which further drains the battery. Many owners weren't aware of the consequences of this design, and would leave their Pocket PC in a briefcase while on vacation only to find a "dead" unit and lost data when they got back.

Windows Mobile 2005 units eliminate these potential problems by using flash ROM for permanent storage (documents, installed software and system databases), leaving RAM for program execution and open documents. If your batteries run dry, you'd lose at most any unsaved documents, since flash ROM is persistent storage that doesn't require constant power. The lower power requirements of this design also results in improved battery life while the unit is powered down.

It all works quite well, but since there's no such thing as a free lunch, there are some downsides that I'll describe a bit later.


Figure 7: The Today screen now has soft keys. Click on image for larger view.

Windows Mobile 2005 also provides some major interface changes. Taking a page from Windows Smartphones, WM 2005 Pocket PCs are designed for better "one-handed" operation through the introduction of soft keys, which are two keys on the bottom of the screen that are large enough to be easily pressed with your fingers. These keys are context sensitive. On the Today page, they provide access to Calendar and Contacts. While using applications, they pull up menus or provide an anticipated "next step"... for example, if you just copied text to the clipboard, a soft key may change to "Paste". This can be a handy change for applications that support it. However, some applications that offer explicit WM 2005 support don't use the soft keys.


Figure 8: Soft keys pulling up a menu in Word Mobile. Click on image for larger view.

Additional changes include updated versions of Pocket Word and Pocket Excel (now known as Word Mobile and Excel Mobile), whose main claim to fame is improved compatibility with the desktop counterparts. In other words, more formatting is preserved when a document goes between PDA and desktop. PowerPoint Mobile is a new application that allows viewing PowerPoint presentations on the road.

Using the N560
The N560 is constructed of plastic with a very high quality feel. It has an understated and contemporary "executive" appearance that I find very appealing. As much as I like the size and weight of the 720, the slightly smaller size and lighter weight of the N560 makes it fit even better in my hand. It feels very compact... as close to perfect as any I can remember.

Although the screen is slightly smaller than the 720's, it's very bright, with great contrast and vivid color. It seems to me to be even better than the excellent 720 screen.

The N560 is quick to respond, feeling as fast as the 720 for most uses. Although the N560 has a faster processor, the 720 has the speed advantage inherent to RAM storage. The difference is nearly imperceptible when data is retrieved from storage. Writing to storage is a different story altogether, at least when large amounts of data are concerned.

I've been storing my company's entire phone directory for several years now. That currently consists of just under 7,000 contacts. With the 720, storing these contacts in RAM, it took around 5 minutes to import these contacts from my PC. The N560 took around 2 hours to import these same contacts to its slower flash ROM. Clearly, writing very large amounts of data to storage is not the forte of the N560 (or other WM2005 units). Fortunately, the situation that prompted me to store all of these contacts has changed, so I won't be doing this anymore. This is the one concession that I had to make to persistent storage. Note that typical small amounts of data (a single appointment or contact or a Word Mobile document, for example) take just a tick longer than before to save.

So far, the overall stability of the N560 has been impressive. I've run PlanMaker and TextMaker on my last three Pocket PCs, and they always seemed somewhat sluggish, as if they were more than the unit could handle. And I'd have to do soft resets more often than I would have liked.

On the other hand, these same applications are noticeably more responsive on the N560, and resets of any type have been rare. Is this a matter of the faster processor? The OS revisions? Other hardware factors? I may never know... for now, I'm assuming that there are multiple factors at play and I'll just enjoy this much improved user experience.

Battery Performance
I didn't perform a test to determine how long it takes to drain the battery; instead I monitored battery performance during common usage. With the processor on automatic and the backlight about ¾ up the scale, I found that after reading an e-book for one hour, the battery level would be at around 75 - 80%. Since the battery can be drained almost completely on WM 2005 units before the battery needs to be recharged, I would expect a life of around four hours under these conditions, which is about average performance in my experience.

GPS Performance
The N560 received some criticism recently in a review from another site for taking a long time (up to 10 minutes) to determine its initial location. In my experience, the initial startup did take several minutes. This is typical because GPS receivers boost performance by remembering as much as possible from the last time they were used and only refreshing data that has become stale. The first time a receiver is activated (or when the unit needs to reinitialize because it's far enough away from its last location to change the satellites that it would use), the amount of data that needs to be downloaded is significant and can take several minutes.

However, for most people, the key performance measurement is the time it takes the receiver to determine location when it doesn't have to initialize. Using OnCourse Navigator 5 as my navigation software, I found that the N560 took around 20 - 60 seconds to get a location fix. This is comparable to the performance of my Bluetooth GPS receivers. So I found the GPS performance of the N560 to be satisfactory.

And the N560 was able to overcome my preference for a Bluetooth GPS receiver. The rationale behind this preference was that I liked the idea of having the separate GPS receiver on the dashboard for optimal reception, while allowing the navigator to sit comfortably in his seat while using the navigation software on the Pocket PC.

But this rationale was about to change. As part of my review, I took the N560 on a recent vacation in order to stress test its navigation capabilities. I was vacationing about 2000 miles from home, so the GPS had to reinitialize. This took about 5 minutes, a fine showing. From that point on, a fix was achieved in about 20 - 60 seconds, as stated earlier. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to sit comfortably in the passenger seat using the Pocket PC while the GPS reliably retained its fix. So it seems I'll be using the N560's built-in GPS receiver after all. And I like the idea of having a complete navigation solution in the one unit. I'm sure that will result in more use of the navigation software, since I can use it on the spur of the moment without having to remember to bring the Bluetooth GPS.

Conclusions
Overall, I find the Loox N560 to be a worthy upgrade to the Loox 720. Its compact size and light weight make it easy to carry around, its VGA display is bright and beautiful and performance is responsive. Its stability is most impressive, in that soft resets are very rarely required and "heavy duty" applications like PlanMaker run very smoothly. The N560 is most definitely the finest Pocket PC that I've used and should be on the short list of anyone in the market for a top notch PDA.

Doug Raeburn is a data architect specializing in data warehouse design. He lives in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, USA.