Eten X610 Review

Introduction:

One of the latest additions to Eten’s line of Windows Mobile based phones is the X610. It is the successor of X600 and packs a lot of features in a sleek body. Hardware wise, the device is almost identical with the one it replaces, but on the software side, there are some pleasant differences. Its operating system is now Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 and packs the full SPB Shell personalized interface, which makes it easier to use by fingers only and definitely looks better than the plain WM OS.

The retail package contains:

Design:

The new Eten X610 definitely reminds us of its predecessor the X600 and  sports a similar look, but employs the manufacturer’s new design language with a completely flat front. Though the glossy look is definitely an eye candy, unfortunately, it is also a fingerprint magnet. Overall, the device feels solid and secure in the hand, mainly thanks to the rubbery-like back and fits well in a pocket. Nevertheless, it is best to use the included carrying case. X610’s dimensions haven’t changed at all compared to its predecessor and it still is one of the smallest Windows Mobile Professional devices on the market.




You can compare the Eten X610 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The display is 2.8” QVGA and is capable of reproducing 65,536 colors. The picture has good contrast and saturation, but the screen’s performance suffers when exposed to direct sunlight and becomes difficult to read. Above it are located two discrete service lights, which are almost unnoticeable unless they are blinking.


In contrast to the X600, the new Eten has gotten rid of a full row of keys from its face. The remaining ones are the accept/reject call keys, GPS and one providing access to the QuickBar shortcuts menu. The keys provide a very good tactile feedback, but being completely leveled with the front panel makes them hard to find only by touch. Another change is the way the device is navigated; the joystick found on its predecessor is replaced by a 5-way D-pad, which is a bit on the small side, but feels good under your finger and is comfortable to use.


On the left side of the X610 are placed the volume rocker, voice commander, the small soft reset button and the 2.5mm headset jack. The opposite one houses the camera and power keys. Overall, they are usable, but the power button and voice commander aren’t protruding enough from the phone’s body, making them difficult to find by touch. The bottom of the phone contains the microphone, microSD card slot, mini USB port and the telescopic stylus, residing in its slot.

Software:

Eten X610 is WM Professional smartphone like its predecessor, but now the operating system is the latest version 6.1. We’ve seen some personalization in the X600 in the form of the limited edition of the SPB Mobile Shell and now, the new Eten features the full version.

The device has the same old Windows Mobile homescreen, but from the settings menu you can set the modified SPB Shell one as default. Unfortunately, when you hit the end call button on the keypad, you are brought back to the well-known WM one. This makes the personalization feels like a patch added to the original interface, instead of one replacing it.

The new interface definitely looks good and features large buttons making it easy to use with fingers. On top of the screen is a small status bar, showing the battery indicator, carrier name, featuring network reception indicator and other connectivity icons (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and EDGE). Below it, we have a weather icon (shows the meteorological conditions in you region), e-mail with number of letters bellow it, messages, missed calls and last is the volume icon, which acts as a shortcut for accessing the phone’s profiles.



The homescreen’s second element is the Clock displaying date and day of the week. When you click on it, you are greeted with another personalized screen, which shows the current time in three cities and how much you have left until the next alarm goes off. There is also a big calendar that takes up half of the display, but if you have upcoming appointments for the next seven days or alarms, it is reduced in size and displays them below the clock.

On the bottom of the screen are located four shortcuts. The first one is a homescreen button, the second one brings you to a personalized main menu. Here, you’ll find the twelve most frequently used programs at the top and bellow is your software organized in six categories (organizer, internet, multimedia, tools, programs and settings). The cool part about the menu  is that the personalization is also present deeper in the submenus. For example, when you click on organizer and then choose notes, instead of opening the classic WM notes application, it opens a menu with the available options (new note, show notes). The third shortcut shows fifteen of your favorite people and gives you access to the phonebook; the last one is just an exit button, which brings you out of the SPB Shell and back to the plain WM environment.


All of the various animated transitions in the SPB shell menu are good looking and run smoothly without any delays. . You can also switch between the tabs by swiping you finger horizontally on the screen and looks like changing a page on a book, which can be changed from the settings menu in SPB Shell.

In addition to all this, you also have the QuickBar shotcuts menu, similar to the one found on the X600, which is accessed by clicking on the dedicated hardware button. It is a simple menu that provides quick access to nine applications, six of which are user defined.

The only other customization can be seen in the phonebook. It allows for easier usage with fingers and contains a big sized numeric keypad. When you click on its buttons, it automatically searches for matches in the contacts list. There aren’t any other changes like additional software keyboards or better browser.

The camera department was the place where we hoped to see some improvement, but to no avail. It is exactly the same as the one in its predecessor. The interface hasn’t changed at all and still uses big white icons for the various image setting. Even in the best lighting conditions, the outdoor photos have a bit faded colors, lots of image noise and lack detail. Indoor images are also of poor quality, but are still usable if taken in strong lighting conditions. The pictures taken in low lighting are of even worse quality, which may have been better if the X610 had a flash. The device also records videos in QVGA (320x240) and H.263 codec in a mere 10fps, but then again, this isn’t a cameraphone.




On the multimedia front, the X610 is using the standard for the OS Windows Media Player, which is a very capable player. Overall, the phone performs well as a music device, providing good sound quality and bass response when used with headphones, but the volume is a bit low. Unfortunately, it’s a different story with the built-in speaker, which may be loud, but the sound it produces lacks in quality. The X610 can play smoothly H.263 encoded video files (MP4,WMV and 3GP) with QVGA resolution and 25fps and at 30fps we experienced minor lag and some skipping, but it is quite watchable. Videos recorded with H.264 codec cannot be displayed by the phone.


Last but definitely not least, the new Eten has a built-in GPS receiver with SiRFstarIII chipset. With previously downloaded data, we were able to achieve a cold start lock in forty seconds and hot in around four. The device doesn’t come with preinstalled software for navigation, but being a Windows Mobile Professional phone you have a lot of applications to choose from.

Performance:

Eten X610 utilizes a Samsung SC3 2442, 400 MHz processor and has a 64MB built-in RAM memory. During usage, the device felt zippy and we didn’t experience any lag and all animated transitions were nice and fluent.

We compared our SPB Benchmark results with the ones of the X600, Touch Diamond and Touch. On most of the tests the device is on the lower end of the scale, but in the graphics department it outperformed the competition.

Overall, the sound quality during calls is good and people we talked to, heard us loud and clear. On our side though, things weren’t that great. There was an echo coming from the earpiece and also, the incoming sound was a bit muffled and unreal. The speakerphone is usable, but the voices coming from it were too sharp. Another problem in the X610 is the background noise.

Conclusion:

The X610 is a good choice if you are on the market for a compact Windows Mobile Professional device. The personalized interface looks pretty good and makes the X610 very easy to use with fingers. The phone also packs some good features like Wi-Fi and GPS, but like the X600 lacks 3G support and has poor camera quality. Despite of these flaws, it is a solid performer.