4WinMobile has put up an extremely comprehensive review of the XDA Ignito, O2’s version of the HTC Touch Diamond. Of course there has been hundreds of HTC Touch Diamond reviews but I have seen none so far which goes into this level of detail, with more than 80 pictures and screen shots, and thousands of words. Its certainly a must read if you are considering the O2 version of the HTC Touch Diamond, and would inform readers who were thinking of buying any other version also.
If however you just want to skip to the conclusion, I have reproduced it below:
The Ignito is available to buy now in the O2 online stores, and is expected to be in stock in high street shops shortly.
Connectivity - The Ignito supports HSDPA connectivity and O2 UK coverage is now 100% of all 3G areas.
Battery life - For me battery life is measured on how much of the working day I can get through without running out of power, or if the device survives with power remaining then how much is left by the time I reach home. Typically my average working day involves about an hours eBook reading, two or three phone calls, and extensive use of both Pocket Excel and Pocket Informant. For around half an hour the machine is connected to a BT headset in case any calls come in whilst working on the shop floor resolving IT issues. The machine is connected to 2G GPRS (there is no 3G connectivity for me either at home or work) all day with Push Email active. The Ignito is set to turn off the back light after 60 seconds and the back light intensity level is set to 50% then turned down by one notch in the settings applet. Typically the Ignito returned home with battery levels down to around 76%, with the lowest achieved being 58% and the highest 85%. Sat Nav is also used whilst travelling to and from the office, but as the Ignito is docked and powered this is seen as having no impact on battery life. This is only slightly better than I found with the Orbit 2.
SatNav lock times - during the course of the review the Ignito has been hard reset three times which has the side effect of clearing the GPS cache. Each time after the reset the Sat Nav system was initialised and times taken to achieve a first and secondary lock. First lock times varied between 20 and 70 seconds and secondary locks were achieved in between 5 and 19 seconds. Subsequent later locks occurred within 5 to 9 seconds during normal SatNav use. This is impressive beating the Orbit 2.
It should be noted that the QuickGPS application is not installed on the Ignito as that functionality is inherent within the processor itself. The lack of QuickGPS has served however to increase initial lock times compared to the Orbit 2.
On some recent journeys undertaken whilst holidaying around Wales it was noticed that the Ignito lost GPS lock even whilst not travelling through the valleys. This was usually recovered via exiting the GPS program, but on occasion a soft reset was needed to regain functionality. It is not known whether this is due to the radio build in the ROM or whether it is due to to the hardware design of the machine itself.
GPS Software - Taking into account the developmental history of the Xda series of machines and O2’s prior relationship with ALK Technologies it is somewhat surprising that there is no CoPilot 7 Live! GPS navigational software supplied with the Ignito, and unlike machines sold via O2 GmbH (Germany) TomTom Navigation 7 is also not supplied. Therefore if you do wish to use satellite navigation on the Ignito you will have to source your own software package.
Bluetooth - It is worth mentioning that the Bluetooth system included within the Ignitos’ ROM supports EDR, and according to the Bluetooth 2.0 specification, EDR provides the following benefits:
- Three times faster transmission speed — up to 10 times (2.1 Mbit/s) in some cases.
- Reduced complexity of multiple simultaneous connections due to additional bandwidth.
- Lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.
The WM6.1 operating system also supports auto-pairing whereby when bonding the Ignito to a hands free headset (for example) the machine will send the common pairing passwords for you which means in most cases that the pairing is achieved in seconds.
Camera - Camera quality is adequate and suitable for taking those quick snaps to record a holiday trip or an event which may occur whilst out and about. However HTC still have not realised that other non Windows Mobile camera phones have moved onward and improved the technology and quality of the cameras. This is the one area in which the Ignito falls over the camera needs to be improved in quality - 3Mp is adequate for a device like a PDA but the camera hardware itself needs to be improved to give better light balance, focus and depth. HTC have improved the camera software within the Ignito which allows one to gain significant photo improvements over the earlier machines but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Email - As the Ignito is a fully converged device benefiting from an always on GPRS / HSDPA connection, Push Email, email handling is an absolute pleasure - you are always in contact and in touch. Those features along with the Enterprise facilities in the WM6.1 ROM for searching (and retrieving) Exchange server emails which are not stored locally on the device, together with HTML email support make it a dream device for email handling.
Signal Strength / Radio - The radio in the Ignito is about the same sensitivity as the Orbit 2, that is at home inside the house I get 2 bars of signal, moving out of doors it rises to 3-4 bars. At both home and the office we tend to get poor 3G connections and somewhat ’spotty’ HSDPA speeds.
Workhorse - I’ve been honoured to have the Ignito in daily use since mid-May (thanks O2) and I’m very impressed with all aspects of its design and function - The Touch FLO 3D combined with the small size and good screen make it a positive joy to use. It’s fast in operation and sleek. As a PIM device as well as Alarm Clock, eBook Reader, Navigation System, and Messaging tool it has performed superbly. Prior to the release of the Ignito the Orbit 2 was my ‘Best ever Xda’, but the Ignito again raises the Xda stakes and for me takes the crown. The full TouchFLO 3D implementation along with the accelerometer make it a pleasurable and unique machine to use.
Read the (very) full review over 4winmobile here.
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