MTekk Reviews the O2 Xda Atom

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mtekk.com.au/browse/page1139.html' target='_blank'>http://www.mtekk.com.au/browse/page1139.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The time finally arrived when my new O2 XDA Atom was delivered to my door, and after a few days of playing, I am ready to start this review. Over the past month, many users on MTekk have received their Atoms, and this has resulted in hundreds of posts! The purpose of this review is to summarise these posts, as well as add my own opinions, and showcase the newest arrival in the O2 product range."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060124-O2XdaAtom.jpg" /><br /><br />The O2 Xda Atom (released in the Asia-Pacific in December) has just been reviewed by MTekk. Some stand-out features of the device: Wi-Fi, ultra-small form factor, FM tuner, 2.0-megapixel camera, and O2 MediaPlus (a Media Center-like interface). If you're one of the few who own an Atom, do share your thoughts on the device.

[T-Will]

That Atom looks sweet! :D

[MitchellO]

The compressed operating system, radio stack and other firmware occupy about 54MB of ROM, leaving about 72MB left. The remaining 72MB is divided into Program memory and Storage memory. Program memory has 50.4MB allocated, and the remaining 21.6MB allocated to Storage memory.

I don't think this guy really understands what he is talking about. He is saying that the ROM is divided into program and storage, but the program memory is actually RAM, not ROM.

[griph]

I don't think this guy really understands what he is talking about. He is saying that the ROM is divided into program and storage, but the program memory is actually RAM, not ROM.
Isn't the Atom a WM5 device and as such I thought that programs are installed into ROM rather than RAM?
In which case the review would be correct - or have I miss understood?
:?

[MitchellO]

Yes it is WM5 and yes user files/programs are stored in ROM, but the program memory is RAM, not a divided part of the ROM like the reviewer says.

[recrem]

MitchellO is correct - This is my mistake.

Going from the O2 Atom manual, main memory is explained as follows:


The Main tab displays the amount of memory the system has allocated to file and data storage versus program storage. This tab also displays the amount of memory in use versus available memory


From this description, I believed the Program Memory was part of the 128MB of ROM, but after reading MitchellO's comment, I looked further and found that shutting down running programs changes the amount of Program Memory available.

The ROM is divided into two sections, and this is visible during installation of software. Here, the sections are defined as Device and Storage (with Memory Card shown if inserted). The Device storage is everything under the root directory, and Storage / Memory Card is shown as storage folders. From this split of ROM memory, I didn't look much further into the Storage and Program Memory relationship...

My apologies.

Now to ammend the review....

[MitchellO]

Hey no problem :D

[recrem]

Sweet! The last thing I wanted was to mislead anyone...

Now I am scratching my head thinking how to re-write that paragraph...

Hmmm....

[MitchellO]

Sweet! The last thing I wanted was to mislead anyone...

Now I am scratching my head thinking how to re-write that paragraph...

Hmmm....

Memory is organised into ROM and RAM - similar to older devices, with the exception that all program and data are stored in ROM. It has 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM. The compressed operating system, radio stack and other firmware are stored in ROM, as is the users data like Calender, Contacts and files. The remaining ROM (about 22Mb) is available to the user for storage.

Program memory refers the the devices RAM. Although it has 64Mb RAM, not all of this is available to the user. The system reserves about 14Mb of space for use by the operating system, so 50Mb remains. Even then a futher few Mb are taken up on startup to leave considerably less than the stated 64Mb

This memory allocation is fixed, and can't be adjusted like older devices could be.

[recrem]

Haha - that looks good, but the job has been done already.. Sorry :wink:

Thanks for helping me keep it correct!

Regards,

Dan...

[MitchellO]

Not to be picky, but can you said

to load into either Device or Storage memory. This choice is offered at the time of software installation.

This could be confused as saying the device has two user storage areas built in. The choice would be Device Memory or Storage Card.

[recrem]

It does have two storage areas built-in, hence the group confusion about the device memory allocations. I thought I had it nutted out, but you corrected me there.

Have a look at the three screen shots only viewable when installing software. Let me know what you think.

I tried linking to the pictures from the MTekk site, as there seems to be no way to upload any here. I will set up a page on MTekk and link to that instead...

Follow this link (http://www.mtekk.com.au/browse/page1141.html) to see the screen shots.

[Paundskumm]

This could be confused as saying the device has two user storage areas built in. The choice would be Device Memory or Storage Card.

OK, I have had a few chats with MitchellO on the Atom. First of all, maybe its the evil circle of psyco's a hang with but every dog and his brother seems to have an Atom rather than being "one of the few". We have had no end of problems with this device.

In its original form, the WM5 was unusable and the Atom is buggy beyond belief. The new ROM upgrade has made it much quicker and at least usable. I need to check out the XCPUscale as one of the principal problems is the response speed on the Atom is slow beyond belief. I will try this out and see if it works. We tested under the new ROM and from inactive sleep mode, the caller has to wait three rings before this thing even wakes up. This is pretty bad but I hope further ROM upgrades and maybe the overclock will help.

As for program storage, it still comes up with the three defaults, main memory (RAM), storage (ROM) and miniSD card. I have tried to shove everything into ROM and so far it has worked but some applications have to still be installed into RAM (don't know why but its true).

Overall, I am happy with this device but the month of trying to get it to work reasonably properly has tested the patience of Job. I would suggest that O2 no launch something until it is reasonably usable (ie, the first ROM upgrade) as it has frustrated a lot of initial buyers.

Still, a very cool machine and I hope that it improves with time as they tweak out the bugs of Activesync 4.1 and WM5.

Just my 2 cents worth from a half-dozen initial buyers of the Atom.

[recrem]

O2 have since informed me that there will be another ROM upgrade due for release in the first few weeks of Feb. The last upgrade was termed a hotfix, but this one will apparently make me really love the Atom... I don't know what issues it fixes, but am hoping that the speed without CPU Scaling will improve.

I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the SeeO2 website...

[Darius Wey]

The last upgrade was termed a hotfix, but this one will apparently make me really love the Atom... I don't know what issues it fixes, but am hoping that the speed without CPU Scaling will improve.

Maybe AKU 2.0? :)

Whatever the case, do let us know how it works out.

[recrem]

Hi Darius Wey,

Another ROM has been released sometime through the night, and it may well be the ROM I was informed about. The new version is 20060123B1WWE, and fixes a number of issues.

The main changes made include a complete memory restructure, where the \Storage directory is merged with the main Device memory. This increases the ROM allocated to storing PIM databases and the like. Also, now that the \Storage directory is gone, users now have the option to install programs to the Device or Memory Card. With this merge, more ROM has been allocated to the Operating System, and instead of residing in a compressed format, portions are uncompressed to speed up device operation.

Here's the list of changes:

Overall Performance - Improves overall performance.
Reconfigures memory system to allow more storage memory available to Outlook (PIM) data synchronization and to programs that must be run under primary storage space.

MMS client - Updates MMS software to 4.0.0 (Build 111) that supports insertion of multiple photo/video images.

GSM software - Provides better handling of GRPS, EDGE connection. Improves RF performance in weak signal areas.

Camera software - Improves performance of camera application and camera start up time. Adds a new video capture mode. Improves performance of album application.

Audio - Increases output level from stereo headset.

Resolutions to following issues

* Night mode issue in camera
* SIM issues in some Gemplus USIM card
* Making voice call when STK is running
* Compatibility with certain type of STK applications
* Using CSD as wireless modem
* Hang issues in Windows Media Player while playing certain mp4 files

I am in the process of downloading the latest ROM, and will add an update to my review, outlining these changes, once I have had time to play around with it...

[recrem]

The latest ROM has greatly improved the Atom's performance, so much so that I don't have to use XCPUScalar to make it snappy. With all the features packed into this tiny device, and good performance, I couldn't go back to my XDA II.