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 The HTC P3300, also know as HTC Artemis and O2 XDA Orbit, is one of the pocket pc devices with a broad range of connectivity features. The HTC P3300 is a pocket pc phone edition and has built-in WI-FI, Bluetooth, FM Radio and a built in GPS receiver. Other devices with similar connectivity features are the HP iPAQ hw6915, ASUS P535 and the ETEN X500.
Until recently the HTC P3300 was an innovative device, with its small and stylish design and the full set of connectivity features including a GPS receiver.
With the release of the ETEN X500, a device that is the thinnest pocket pc device with built-in GPS and a better processor than the HTC P3300, the standards have changed. The HTC P3300 is the first attempt of HTC to produce a pocket pc with phone functionality and built-in GPS. Before the HTC P3300 there was the Qtek G100 but that pocket pc had no support for phone functionality so that device cannot consider as the predecessor of HTC P3300. Appearance and design
Dimension: 108x58x16.3 mm, weight: 127 g .
The device’s appearance looks out of place when compared to other HTC-branded solutions – one can readily figure out new concepts, unseen before in the company’s products. The casing is made mainly of grey plastic. The sides are of some interest as well, since they feature not only metallic Nokia-style framings, but also rubberized “soft-touch” plastic – owing to that, tactile feelings of holding this non-slippery device are mostly favorable. Moreover, its dimensions and weight amplify overall ease of use. The casing found here is thinner and lighter than that of HTC Prophet – in a nutshell, it’s one of the market’s slimmest lightweights. HTC’s build quality is traditionally splendid. One would need to put considerable efforts into finding a single gap here; when crunched the P3300 gives you the feeling of solidity and durability of its casing. The plastic the casing is made of looks expensive, and lives up to this impression when you touch it. Keypad
The PPCs are no longer just high-tech business phones – there are phones for navigation, for multimedia and for business. Unlike its elder brother (TyTN), P3300 does not have a full hardware QWERTY keyboard for imputing of text. It has been designed as a standard monoblock without a slider. The buttons are placed entirely in the lower part of the front panel and despite their small size, they are convenient to press and feel thanks to the embossment. They are illuminated in white. In addition, there are ‘OK’ and ‘Windows’ buttons typical of the new HTC phones – they make handling with one hand only easier. This is furthered by the navigation type: instead of the standard and boring 5-position navigation buttons, here we have an innovative trackball and scroll-wheel around it. This provides a possibility to choose between two options. The scroll-wheel turns clockwise or counter-clockwise thus scrolling only up/down – like the jog-dial wheel. It cannot be depressed.  The trackball is a multi-directional navigation similar to a PC mouse (and analogous to a trackball PC mouse) – you push it in the desired direction and it will scroll in this direction. The nice thing is that you can push it in any direction (not only 4, but any) which will provide great functionality given a properly written software. And yes, HTC have added software providing a pointer like the PC one you are used to. You can move it across the screen with the trackball and click on things you want to activate; it is up to you to decide if it should be active or not, but if you work with one hand only, it is not a bad extra at all. Unlike the keyboard, it is illuminated in blue which makes it distinguishable, but were it in white, it would match it. The inconvenience is that if you decide to work with the keyboard (and not with the touch-display, which still remains the main navigation for these phones) there is no way of combining the scroll function with the function of the trackball + pointer. Let’s say you are in a long list and decide to scroll faster with the scroller; when you point to the desired option with it you cannot select it; you press the trackball (which serves principally for confirmation), but since the pointer is activated, it will ‘press’ where the arrow points. To select the desired option, after the scrolling you will have to point to it with the trackball and press it for confirmation. Display
320x320 TFT, 65K colors, touchscreen
The display is a standard one on paper. In reality, it is a very good one. The parameters: transflexive TFT technology, 2.8 inch diagonal (73 millimetre), support for 65 thousand colours, 240x320 pixels resolution, and a touch layer. The colour scheme is warm due to a pleasant, intensive backlight. The backlight can be adjusted at four levels, separately for battery operation and charging. Four backlight levels appear too few: at the highest level, the Artemis shines like a lantern whereas at the lowest level, the backlight is hardly noticeable (although it is still present). It is not a serious problem but e.g. the HTC TyTN offers eleven levels of backlight intensity, which is just enough. The backlight will dim after a pre-set period of inactivity but will not go off completely. The touch layer was sensitive just fine. Camera
0.2 Mp, 1600 x 1200, ZOOM, video 320 x 240
The model houses a 2 Mpix CMOS-powered camera module. Unlike HTC Prophet (Qtek S200), here you won’t find macro-mode, as well as auto-focus and flash. Even though the snaps taken with the P3300 don’t break the ground, they appear to be quite good quality-wise. One of the most positive changes is enhanced color rendering, so that from now on bright areas on pictures don’t get filled with white only. In daylight, one can snap really nice-looking shots, but once you move to darker places or need to have a macro-shot, everything changes for worse. Apart from photo and video modes, the camera offers a couple of others – video for MMS, snapshot for contact, “sport” and burst modes. A series of 5 images taken at miserable intervals – that is what “sport” mode is, in its turn Burst allows you to get 30 pictures at a time. Additional buttons
On the left and right side of the wheel you can find the ‘make call / answer’ and ‘end call’ buttons as well as the dedicated windows mobile 5.0 keys. The power and dedicated camera button is located on the right side together with the stylus holder while the volume control slider, dedicated voice control key and soft reset button is located on the left side. Sizes, Ports and Slots
On the back of the device you can find the 2.0-mega pixels camera, the self-portrait mirror and a socket for an external GPS Antenna. At the bottom there is the microphone jack and the USB connector. On the top of the HTC P3300 resides the external speaker. The microSD expansion slot is located beneath the battery. Software
HTC Artemis P3300 is a standard WM 5 PPC phone in terms of software. Its operating system is just slightly personalized and that is why there are so many resemblances to other phone models even not of the same brand. The manufacturer has added its own software for the FM radio tuner control and for the GPS operation. A TomTom is included in the package and you can download a card free of charge. Since most things are shared for the operating system, various positive features and problems are typical for all such devices and not only for Artemis or the HTC phones. As a Windows Mobile PPC Phone, P330 can be customized in many different ways and the easiest one is changing the visual themes. If you have to use more advanced software, the phone can be adjusted to perfectly suit your needs. The phone has preloaded HTC Green theme by default. The home screen normally shows active information on the phone condition and several shortcuts have been added below arranged in a row. On the Today screen, you'll notice HTC has included a new item at the bottom with some useful shortcut buttons. The first one shows the battery level and gives you access to the power settings. The second one flips the screen between portrait and landscape orientations. The third brings up the Communications Manager. The fourth brings you to the screen brightness control panel, which is important on this device since you'll need to turn the brightness up all the way to use it outdoors. The fifth button brings you do the QuickGPS app, and the 6th one turns on Mouse mode for the trackball. Included into device is an FM Radio application, which controls the FM radio. It can store radio station frequencies, and also lists currently available stations in order of strength. This is useful, as it allows you to choose a radio station based on how strong the signal is. As per normal, you’ll find Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile, as well as the usual Calculator, Internet Explorer Mobile, Terminal Services client, Pocket MSN, File Explorer, Bubble Breaker, Solitaire, Pictures and Videos, Outlook Mobile, Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, Phone, and Notes on the device. | Main Features: | | EDGE | Photo Caller ID | Voice Recorder | | FM Radio | Speaker Phone | MP3 Player | | Vibration | MMS | WAP | | Java | GPRS | Camera | | Color Display | Bluetooth | | | Brief Specifications: | | Display Resolution:240 x 320 | Weight:130g | | Camera Resolution:2 Mega Pixel | Talk Time: 3.5 - 5 hrs | | Dimensions (mm):108x58x17 | Standby Time:150-200 hrs | | Networks (MHz):GSM 850/900/1800/1900 |
| Pluses
Thin, small and lightweight
Trackball scroll wheel combination
Built in SiRFStar III GPS
802.11b/g WiFi
FM-Radio
Great battery life
Includes TomTom Navigator 6 Minuses
No UMTS/HSDPA
The processor should be faster for GPS device
Mediocre camera performance Conclusion
The HTC P3300 is an excellent product. While not for everybody, it really combines many desired features in one simple and elegant device. For many people, a keyboard or a faster processor is a necessity, and this device will not fit the bill. However, for those of us who are tired of lugging around chargers, cables, GPS kits, bluetooth mice, or an oversized PDA Phone, the HTC P3300 is just terrific! |
