Mobinaute Previews the Qtek S100/HTC Magician

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/article.php?id=20041105001212' target='_blank'>http://www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/...=20041105001212</a><br /><br /></div>There's been quite some excitement about the HTC Magician -- the smallest Pocket PC Phone on the market by far -- especially due to its formfactor and very clean design. Mobinaute gives it a quick spin (<a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=mozclient&u=http%3A//www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/article.php%3Fid%3D20041105001212">English translation here</a>) and likes what it sees.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20041105-MobinauteMagician.jpg" /><br /><br />Incidentally, I don't know if it's the screen brightness setting or if this unit just has one of the nicest screens around, but the screenshots in the preview show the unit to have an amazing-looking color display. Too bad they're not available in the US; I want to hold one and play with it. :cry:

[whydidnt]

I think this is a very interesting device, because of the size. I worry a little about text entry, since everything is going to be cramped, but it may be worth the trade-off. Expansys USA is showing this as usually ships in 4 days, instead of pre-order now, so maybe we should be able to get and test it soon.

I wish it had a few more hard buttons, and I am concerned about it's bluetooth implementation, since I've been struggling with both the PDA2k and the 6315's stack. However, this could be a nice bridge to the MPx, for those looking for a small, light, PPCPE device.

[maximum360]

Not bad at all. The thing is there's so much unused space...they could fit a larger screen (at least bump it up to 3 inches...3.5 might be a stretch).

With smart engineering I'm sure at some point or another we'll start seeing PDAs that are smaller in overall size but the face being 90% screen instead of the 60-70% they are right now. Give this thing the specs of XDA III with the keyboard and you've got yourself the holy grail of PDA's. And it would need VGA too.

This is something that I think would be perfect for my wife (if I could ever convince her to get a pda phone). It's small, cute, and does what is needed. 8) As soon as you add a few more buttons she would start getting frazzled. :mrgreen:

[Dave Conger]

Well damn, that will be one sweet device then. I thought the PDA2k/XDA III/Blue Angel had a killer screen. I guess anything is more vibrant than some of the devices I laying around here.

Janak, from what some retailers tell me, the device will come to the US under the i-mate brand. I have no idea on if a service provider will pick it up (like the with Sprint and the Blue Angel), but you should be able to get one in the not so distant future.

[ventivent]

For a long time, I used my h4155 with a thumb board connected via GPRS thru my SE T610 to do e-mail, web surf and instant messaging. I thought the h4150 + thumb board was a better option than the h4355. If they made a thumb board for the JAM like the one for the h2215/h4150 devices, the JAM would really be appealing.

http://h30143.www3.hp.com/images/options/FA162A1.jpg

[Janak Parekh]

Janak, from what some retailers tell me, the device will come to the US under the i-mate brand. I have no idea on if a service provider will pick it up (like the with Sprint and the Blue Angel), but you should be able to get one in the not so distant future.
I know -- Carrier Devices is opening up shop here, so i-Mates will get substantially cheaper. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait and stuck with Verizon and their coverage and bought an i600 Smartphone instead. ;)

--janak

[jpjehu]

why does it look like the plastic covering in the camera area is going to fall off, or is it just poorly constructed? that would be hard to deal with if it was a common design flaw. otherwise, it seems sweet - but a distant second to the possible BenQ coming out.

[ikesler]

Janak, from what some retailers tell me, the device will come to the US under the i-mate brand. I have no idea on if a service provider will pick it up (like the with Sprint and the Blue Angel), but you should be able to get one in the not so distant future.
I know -- Carrier Devices is opening up shop here, so i-Mates will get substantially cheaper. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait and stuck with Verizon and their coverage and bought an i600 Smartphone instead. ;)

--janak

I am really looking forward to all these devices........ like the Daxian etc. I thought about the I600 but heard a ton of bad things about it........ so I passed.

[TopDog]

If this baby has good batterytime, I might sell my Qtek 2020 and buy this one instead. I love the form-factor, small and minimalistic 0X

[Janak Parekh]

I am really looking forward to all these devices........ like the Daxian etc. I thought about the I600 but heard a ton of bad things about it........ so I passed.
It's okay, and is pretty stable with the WM2003 Smartphone OS, but the battery life is so-so. But having a flip and small formfactor makes up for the shortcomings for me.

--janak

[karinatwork]

Ok. Too much information about this device... the fact that I can't get here drives me CRAZY!!!! Anyone have any information WHATSOEVER if and if yes when we can get it here (specifically CANADA!!!)??

Thanks.
This is bad. Real bad.
I haven't felt such an urge to buy in a long, loooooong time.

Someone please help! 8O

[mobilelawyer]

why does it look like the plastic covering in the camera area is going to fall off, or is it just poorly constructed? that would be hard to deal with if it was a common design flaw. otherwise, it seems sweet - but a distant second to the possible BenQ coming out.

I have noticed this too, and I suspect that the model you see is just a prototype.