First Loox review posted

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.firstloox.org/review_page_1.htm">http://www.firstloox.org/review_page_1.htm</a><br /><br />Well, the Loox is finally shipping! It's being released over in Europe first, and FirstLoox.org has gotten their hands on a unit to review. So far the results are looking very positive...although I have to wonder, if you start a web site devoted to a certain Pocket PC, can you really give that Pocket PC a negative review? It would negate your whole purpose for existing. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif" /> I think the review is quite fair so far though - the Loox is, quite honestly, one of the most exciting Pocket PCs I've seen, and I'm quite eager to get my hands on one.<br /><br />"The screen is bright and sharp. Quite a bit brighter than the iPAQ 3870 screen and with clear well defined whites and blacks. It is definitely transflective! No photo on this page was taken using a flash so the brightness of the screen really shows hrough [sic]. Cleartype works exactly as it should. There are eight brightness levels - ranging from off through to a very bright (near iPAQ!) top level. The lowest light setting provides more than enough light to use the Loox in a completely dark setting. The Loox has an automatic brightness control that reacts instantly to changes of light (much faster than the iPAQ 3870 which always needed 'thinking time'!)"

[JonnoB]

the very last sentence in this first part of the review somewhat scares me... but doesn't surprise me.

Next - Performance (in which we will learn that the Loox is technically very slow - but it doesn't seem to realise that...!)

[entropy1980]

No suprises it performs the same as other X-Scales...... however the Toshiba kills everyone on some functions... if anyone can get ahold of ATI to get a dev kit we might see some advantage otherwise head here to see the performance numbers for yourself....

http://www.firstloox.org/review_page_2.htm

[TMAN]

That screen sure does not look transflective like the box says.

[Sslixtis]

Well, If nothing else it has a smart stylus. I like the extending design. I suggested a similar design to PDAPanache for the 560 series Jornada and they said thanks but no thanks :cry: Now if I could cram that stylus in my Jornada...

[schwuk]

Loox :lol: very nice. I was torn between the XDA and the new iPAQ 3970, but I think I have found my new PDA.
That screen sure does not look transflective like the box says.
Not so sure about the screen either, but the photos aren't brilliant.

One thing that troubled me:
(By the way - currently the Pocket Loox does NOT support diagonals)
...might not be so good for games :(
--
Schwuk

[Mr. Anonymous]

Look at all the light that's visible in the picture of the Loox taken from the side. That sure looks like a traditional sidelight screen. The iPAQ 3900 (which has a transflective screen) doesn't leak light out of its sides like that.

Screen design difference or midleading advertising on the Loox? Hmm...

[farnold]

That screen sure does not look transflective like the box says.

TMAN, sorry that I have to correct you an this. It says so on the box, it says so in the handbook... and it's what FSC always said beforehand. So, why a comment like this?

[farnold]

http://www.firstloox.org/review_page_1.htm

Well, the Loox is finally shipping! It's being released over in Europe first, and FirstLoox.org has gotten their hands on a unit to review.

Hi Jason, as bad as it is... the LOOX is not shipping in Europe yet. Duncan like some others received a preview device. But shipping is not very far andymore - should happen in the next two weeks in England and Germany.

So far the results are looking very positive...although I have to wonder, if you start a web site devoted to a certain Pocket PC, can you really give that Pocket PC a negative review? It would negate your whole purpose for existing. http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif I think the review is quite fair so far though - the Loox is, quite honestly, one of the most exciting Pocket PCs I've seen, and I'm quite eager to get my hands on one.
I had the same feelings about FIRSTLOOX in the beginning, but since Duncan is never hiding negative aspects either I have no doubts that his review is as fair as it should be... but make up your mind yourselves...

[Take1]

Is the Loox going to be available at retailers like CompUSA or Circuit City, or will this be mainly an internet kind of thing? I always like to mess with the merchandise a bit before buying (the orignal iPAQ was the exception).

[Jonathon Watkins]

But shipping is not very far andymore - should happen in the next two weeks in England
PLEASE - use UK/Britain. England is but a part of the UK. I'm sure the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish can get it at the same time too. :wink:

I think this will be the PDA for me - and the price is right too.

I'm not sure about the diagonals either however - but note the reviewer says: (By the way - currently the Pocket Loox does NOT support diagonals).
This implies that it MAY be possible to enable the function in SW - IF they have built the HW correctly. We can but hope. It's not great if diagonals are not supported - but it's not a showstopper for me.

What worries me though is this:So - pushing the Loox to the limit got a total battery life of appox. 2 hours and 27 minutes.
This seems really low! I don't yet have a PPC - so - how does this stack up to other people's expectations?

[TMAN]

farnold,

The only reason I say this is one of the pictures has eye blinding light coming from the edge of the screen. This is exaclty what reflective screens do and have always done. You can also see ghosting or shadowing which is also a trait of the reflectives.
http://www.firstloox.org/images/record_button.jpg

My new iPAQ 3970, with trasflective screen, does not have any light or ghosting/shadowing coming from the edge of the screen at all. A transflective screen screen has backlighting.

I could be wrong but then again HP said their Jornada 540 series had 16-bit color on the box and in the manual. I think we all know what happend there.

[Ed Hansberry]

What worries me though is this:So - pushing the Loox to the limit got a total battery life of appox. 2 hours and 27 minutes.
This seems really low! I don't yet have a PPC - so - how does this stack up to other people's expectations?
He was playing a video, using the speaker (much bigger power drain than if using the headphone jack) with the backlight all of the way up. He was trying to abuse it to the max and still got nearly 2.5hrs. Most PPC's get under 2hrs in such a stress test.

Normal use I would say the Loox would be capable of equaling if not besting the Jornada 560 series.

[Duncan]

I think you will find that review has been very honest.

I do believe that this is a great Pocket PC and the one for me - but there is a question mark over the screen. Alex Kac was told that his preview model did not have the final screen. On the back of my unit is says clearly 'Evaluation Sample' - so I refuse to conclude one way or the other about whether the Loox has a backlit transflective screen.

It has a screen that is better than either of the two previous iPAQs and compared to the Jornada, e310 and O2 XDA it had a much stronger screen as well - but is it the screen that will ship? Not a quaetion I can currently answer!

Battery life is a conundrum - pushed to the limits it performs very well. On standard tests the result improved each of the four times I ran them but the results were suprisingly low. I don't know why! (actually it occiurs to me to point out that I got over five hours when just loading, unloading, poking around and general testing - so it could, in theory, be a result of the Xscale 'media problem')

Having an evaluation unit to play with is both a blessing and a curse - lots of answers - but lots of questions as well!

[revjon]

Duncan,
I appreciate your review, but do you think next time you could put the JPEG settings on high? Those pictures are extremely pixelated and have very rough edges. The pictures almost make the unit look unprofessional. I realize you might need to compress your images because of bandwidth issues, but I'd rather have one high quality picture of the screen than a high number of low quality images. Otherwise congrats on getting a review device!

John

[Jason Dunn]

I appreciate your review, but do you think next time you could put the JPEG settings on high?

I'll ditto that - at least one nice high-res image would be great!

[Jonathon Watkins]

I'll ditto that - at least one nice high-res image would be great!
And I'll ditto the ditto. :D I really like www.infosync.no for that reason. It's REALY nice to see a few decent high res pics! Thanks for responding Duncan!

[Duncan]

My feelings were that there are a glut of High res. Loox pictures (including on my own site once I restore the link to them) but that in the review the pictures serve more to illustrate than show the Loox off. Ah well! My first ever review on a webste that I thought might get a thousand visitors if I was lucky....! 8O

[Paragon]

Good work Duncan!

If you can ever get someone at FS to 'fess up' as to what kind of screen it will ship with I'm willing to bet they will see a significant difference in orders in the next week or two as it comes out...... WE ALL WANT TO KNOW WHAT SCREEN IT IS GOING TO HAVE. ESPECIALLY THOSE OF US WHO HAVE PREORDERED. A large part of my buying decision is based on the type of screen. For me I'm a very happy Jornada owner. To go to a new device means loosing a couple of features, removable battery, and the flip lid. Both are very important features. If I'm going to loose those I want something in return.....an improved screen, or forget it. I won't be saying yes til I know.

Dave

[Jonathon Watkins]

...To go to a new device means loosing a couple of features, removable battery, and the flip lid. Both are very important features. If I'm going to loose those I want something in return.....an improved screen, or forget it. I won't be saying yes til I know.
Yup - same here - I am SO close to clicking the link on your site to Dabs Duncan, and slapping down my £420 to pre-order it. But I need a few more details and info before I do. I want my first PPC to last a few years anyway - or my wife will kill me. :roll:

It's looking good so far anyway!

[Jason Dunn]

If you can ever get someone at FS to 'fess up' as to what kind of screen it will ship with...

I was on the phone with someone from Fujitsu-Siemens this morning, so I've emailed them to ask about the screen. I'll let you know!

[Paragon]

If you can ever get someone at FS to 'fess up' as to what kind of screen it will ship with...

I was on the phone with someone from Fujitsu-Siemens this morning, so I've emailed them to ask about the screen. I'll let you know!

Thanks Jason.

Dave

[jim s]

I'm wondering if any of the specs will change with a different screen - especially the battery ones.

[Nikhil]

The battery life doesn't seem very impressive...Using my 1GB Microdrive, 512MB SD, SS5NA (no extra battery) and iPAQ 3950 with backlight at full and sound through the internal speaker, I was able to play for 219 minutes, going from 100% to 0%. PocketDivx' cache was set to the full 12MB. Using the backlight at medium (more than enough), I extended the aforementioned runtime to 252 minutes using the otherwise identical settings.

[st63z]

Wow, is this right from Duncan's review, the Loox has the hi-power (high W) 100m Bluetooth radio?

What kind of power draw are we talking about here (I know it'll be in between lo-power BT and WiFi)... How about the iPAQ 3970, which BT does it have (and what profiles are supported)?

[Firetrail]

Duncan,

Appreciates the review :D.

Btw, how are the storage cards named/handled? Is it specific or the generic 'Storage' & 'Storage2'? Will they stay consistent & not be affected by the order in which they are inserted?

Thanks!

[Duncan]

I'm afraid it's the generic - 1 and 2.

For me I will e keeping my SD cared in slot permanently - so it will always be card 1! :)