Big review of Eten M600

If you are a regular reader of this server, Eten should not be completely unfamiliar to you. Over the past few months or perhaps years the company has produced some quite sophisticated devices either under its own brand or as a supplier for other vendors (such as Yakumo). Several months ago, I posted here a preview of ETEN M500. Today, I am offering you a complete review of its successor, Eten M600. There are not many differences between them but if you feel there has been too much of HTC lately, this review may come as a welcome change:)

So, let's get down to the business.

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What is in the box?

A rather uninspiring box contains a great set of items. They are as follows:

• Eten M600
• Stylus
• Battery
• Cradle
• USB synchronisation cable
• AC adapter
• Case
• Headset
• CD-ROM
• Quick start guide

We will deal with the device, stylus and battery later, so let's start with the cradle. It is round with three rubber legs, a combination that makes it perfectly stable despite a low weight (72 grams). Besides a connector for the device there is a slot for charging a spare battery. In such case, a red LED indicator on the right will shine and liven up your desktop. There are two connectors in the back of the cradle: one for the synchronisation cable and one standard USB connector. However, I was rather puzzled bout the latter - according to the technical specifications, the device does not support USB Host. When I plugged in a USB flash disk, it indicated activity but nothing really happened, a USB mouse did not do anything at all. There is not a word about this functionality on the website or the manual. Who knows...

The synchronisation USB cable is 130 centimetres long and can be connected to the cradle as well as directly to the device, which I see as an advantage. The AC adapter (5V, 2A) can connect only to the synchronisation cable and not the device; the cradle does not have a power connector, either. Fortunately, the Eten can recharge over USB... The power connector is thinner than that of iPAQs or LOOXes, for instance, and you cannot swap chargers between them.

The black case is quite well designed, although it does not provide much protection. Large cut-outs allow easy access to most of the controls but the device is almost sure to suffer damage if it falls on the ground. The case consists of one piece of reinforced fabric forming a pocket with velvet lining, an upper leather flip has two small magnetic fasteners to prevent the device from falling out. It does not have a belt clip but a fixed strip of leather to hang it on the belt. On the right is metal hook for a lanyard to wear the device on the neck or wrist.

The stereo headset with microphone features nothing special: 2.5 mm jack, a lapel clip, a simple remote control with one button, volume control and integrated microphone, and two earplug-type speakers on cables of different lengths. The sound quality is discussed further below.

Our review of the box contents is almost complete. Besides the aforementioned, it contains also a brief guide for beginners and a CD-ROM with bonus applications.

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Design

As far as I can remember, there is only one design difference between the M600 and its predecessor, M500: the colour. The M500 was available in a black-silver combination, the new model is all black. The device looks rather bulky, an impression underlined by its heavy weight. However, its rounded shapes provide for a comfortable grip - all this will surely please users who want to feel the hardware in their hand. In reality, the Eten's dimensions of 4.40 x 2.39 x 0.87 in / 111.7 x 60.7 x 22 millimetres and weight of 5.82 oz / 165 grams are comparable with competitors. Despite the heavy weight, the body appears to be made of plastic but feels sturdier than the Qtek 9100, for instance.

Comparison of several popular Pocket PC devices.

Pocket PC	Dimensions (mm/in)	Weight (g/oz)
ETEN M600	111.7 x 60.7 x 22 4.40 x 2.39 x 0.87	165 5.82
HP iPAQ h6340	119 x 75 x 18.7 5.42 x 2.94 x .82	190 6.7
Lenovo ET960	110 x 62 x 19 4.33 x 2.44 x .75	135 4.76
Qtek 9100	109 x 58 x 23.7 4.29 x 2.28 x .93	160 5.64
T-Mobile MDA Compact	108 x 58 x 18 4.25 x 2.28 x .72	150 5.29
T-Mobile MDA III	125 x 72 x 19 4.92 x 2.83 x .75	210 7.4
Yakumo Omikron	117 x 67 x 23 4.61 x 2.64 x .91	165 5.82

Let's start our detailed inspection of the device with the front panel, which is dominated by a large colour display with a 2.8" (72-millimetre) diagonal. Above the display, in the middle, is a narrow slit of the loudspeaker, with two LED status indicators on the sides (green and blue). Below the display, exactly in the middle, is a small round-shaped directional control with a separate central button. The device supports simultaneous press of several buttons but the diminutive size of the control makes it difficult to control games (for my thumb, at least), which becomes uncomfortable and inaccurate. There are two pairs of buttons by the sides of the central control. The lower pair is phone-related and cannot be assigned other functions whereas the upper pair is definable by the user. Each button can be assigned one action. A usual applet for locking buttons against accidental activation is lacking; the lock is available in the battery status applet.

A focal point on the back of the device is an ever more common digital image capture set including camera lens, mirror and a high-power LED. Below are three holes that let out sound from an integrated loudspeaker undistorted. The lower half of the back is occupied by the battery compartment which also hosts a SIM card slot. In the bottom left corner of the back is a shaft to insert the stylus.

The right and left side differ from each other like the day and night. The right-hand side is clear of any controls or other elements. By contrast, the left-hand side is full of them. At the top is a camera activation and shutter release button. Below is a little volume slider. Further down is a small sound record button (which is the only button that can be assigned two actions, for a short and long press). By default, it is preset for voice dialling and sound record but it is entirely up to you how you use it. Below is a tiny software rest button that can only be pressed with the tip of the stylus or a pen. At the very bottom is a rubber-capped headphones jack.

On the top side is an infrared eye, SDIO slot, and the main switch. On the bottom side is a (non-standard) data connector and a microphone pinhole.

The stylus is telescopic, with the main part made of aluminium and the tip and top made of plastic. It is 82 millimetres long and 5 millimetres thick and can extend to up to 118 millimetres. This makes it one fo the longest styluses I have seen. Actually, it is very comfortable to work with.

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Parameters

Before examining the parameters I downloaded and installed the latest available ROM version (WWE_0216). Unlike the Qtek 9100 that I reviewed recently, the ETEN has no substantial problems with performance. It runs a Samsung S3C 2440 processor at 400 MHz, which offers an optimum performance/consumption ratio, in my opinion. It is not the most powerful chip available, still you will hardly find too demanding an application for the processor to handle. Yet it is a step away from the ideal: there is no way adjust the processor speed, which is desirable when you need maximum time on battery at the expense of lower performance. The memory is just enough for a WM5 device: a standard 128 MB of FlashROM (NAND type) for the system and data, and 64 MB of RAM (SDRAM type) for applications. After a HW reset (performed by pressing the Power and Reset buttons simultaneously), the user can access 59.36 MB of FlashROM and 32.08 MB of RAM. Noteworthy is the fact that the ETEN has the fastest FlashROM of all WM5 devices, which makes an impact in everyday use.

By the way, the flashing utility is one of the best I have seen. It is easy to operate, it takes just a few clicks to start flashing, and it provides maximum information about the upgrade process status. You are spared the stress and uncertainty when seeing a blank screen for 10 minutes without any sign of activity, as is the case in some other devices. Here you know exactly what is going on in every moment. Just excellent!

There is not much to comment on the device's transflexive TFT display, unless, of course, the Eten M600 is the first Pocket PC you have seen. Its 2.8-inch (73 millimetres) diagonal, resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, and support for 65 thousand colours are all values you probably know by heart. The display is quite well readable indoors yet it is not absolutely perfect. In comparison with the Qtek 9100, the Eten offers a warmer colour scheme, which means white has a slight yellowish tint. It is not a serious inconvenience yet noticeable in direct comparison. There are eleven levels of backlight intensity; the setting is common for battery and mains operation, unfortunately. The Eten does not offer automatic backlight adjustment; instead, the Eten features another two automatic controls: one is based on the remaining battery power - the drier the battery, the lower the backlight intensity. The other dims the backlight after a certain period of inactivity. Naturally, it depends on the timeout you have set for the backlight to switch off completely but if this is longer than a minute, the automatic control can conserve some energy. The touch-sensitive layer is evenly responsive and appropriately sensitive. All in all, the display dos not stand out in any way.

The Eten is another PDA with an integrated cell phone in a row. With a few exceptions, devices of this type do not excel in audio features, so just briefly. The headphones jack is the 2.5 mm version, as is common in Phone Edition devices. Few users are likely to opt for alternative headphones - first, adapters to the more common 3.5 jack are generally of bad quality and second, if you use a pair of headphones without a microphone, you rid yourself of the comfort of a handsfree. The earplug-type headphones produce sound of average quality with no noise and more than sufficient maximum volume but the overall impression is flat and drab. It is OK when you listen on a commuter bus but you should look for a different solution if you require higher quality. The integrated loudspeaker is not bad, however, it is rather unfortunately located on the back, so it plays into the hand or desk, which harms the quality and mutes the sound.

Finally, sound recording and a very special feature: unlike perhaps all other devices, the Eten offers microphone sensitivity adjustment for three types of input - recording of a phone call, recording of a phone call with a Bluetooth headset, and recording of external sound. The difference is striking, as you can hear from these samples [135KB] . Unfortunately, there is no automatic adjustment option... Another test [219KB] , in which I recorded spoken word from different distances from the source, clearly shows that the Eten performs best at a close range and quality decreases with growing distance. On the other hand, you have the option to adjust microphone sensitivity, so if you regularly record meetings, for instance, you can fine tune the settings to obtain good results.

Next for the scrutiny are the Eten's communication capabilities. The basic interface is USB, unfortunately without USB Host functionality. The connector is Eten's proprietary, you won't be able to use standard cables. There is also a slow infrared port but forget about controlling your home electronics remotely - I could not find an application that would work.

Bluetooth looks promising at first sight but it is actually a false impression - it does not offer very much. Basically, it offers the same as the BT driver from Microsoft but in a nicer packaging. I tried all Bluetooth devices and peripherals I could find at home and recorded success in the following cases" GPS NaviLock BT338 paired at first attempt and worked flawlessly with TomTom. A Jabra BT200 handsfree worked fine, too, only the volume could have been higher. I was even able to synchronise over Bluetooth ActiveSync with a Dell Latitude X1 laptop during a phone call. I also successfully transferred a file between the ETEN and the Qtek 9100 over Bluetooth, also at first attempt. With the latest ROM version WWE_0216, which I downloaded from the excellent ETEN Users website together with tons of useful information, I was able to pair with stereo headphones from HP. However, the quality was not very good with many dropouts. On the other hand, I could not pair the device with a BT AP because the PAN profile is not supported.

Besides the other communication modules, the ETEN M600 features WiFi version IEEE802.11b. Some may frown over the "b" standard but complaints are unfounded: PDAs have problems handling even an 11-Mbit data flow. I tested the WiFi with my home AP Asus WL-530G and encountered no problems whatsoever. The device supports WPA, WEP and TKIP. A few seconds upon activation of the WiFi module, a dialogue window popped up and I got connected immediately after entering the login details. Reception was excellent all over my apartment - the signal strength indicator always showed at least 2 out of 4. Even when I closed two doors behind me, it did not drop and I was able to continue transferring data happily.

Newer ROM versions include Skype, an application for making phone calls over the Internet. A fast WiFi connection is ideal for this purpose. If you have a sufficiently powerful processor (which a 400-MHz Samsung definitely is) and connection quality is good enough, you can save a fortune on telephone rates. The ETEN offers you this option. Skype is more sensitive to signal strength than downloading files using Pocket Internet Explorer. The call got a little jerky behind a closed door, yet the overall impression was good. The ETEN makes it possible to direct the sound from Skype not only to the headphones or the main loudspeaker but also to the phone speaker, which makes Skype a full-fledged replacement of a cell phone.

An indispensable part of mobile devices is a battery. In this case, it is a replaceable 1440-mAh Li-Ion accumulator, which provides the device with enough power for many hours of operation. Exact results of tests are below this paragraph. Real performance in everyday use is yet better because few people will keep maximum brightness of the display all the time, for instance. On average, I had to recharge every two days, depending on intensity of usage. By the way, this is one of very few PDAs, if not the only one, that ship solely with WM5 and have a backup battery, which has no use due to the philosophy of storing data in this operating system. It appears to be a legacy of its predecessor, the M500. The backup battery does not do any harm, so why care.

• Standard test of common usage, maximum backlight - 4h00min
• Video payback, maximum backlight - 6h24min
• MP3 playback, inactive display - 14h26min
• Active GSM/GPRS, maximum backlight, no workload - 7h16min
• Active Bluetooth, maximum backlight, no workload - 8h32min
• Active WiFi, maximum backlight, no workload - 3h18min

NB: Due to a bug in Spb Benchmark, the device is being kept busy opening an extremely large Word document all the time. This reduces the significance of the test because it has little to do with everyday use of a PDA.

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ETEN as a mobile phone

The integrated phone module can be viewed from two different angles. From the technical point of view, the Eten M600 is far from the cutting-edge. Featuring a common quad-band GSM/GPRS module (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), the device will hardly be admired as a miracle of the latest technology. The antenna is integrated. I did not notice any problems with reception over a period of two weeks that I used the device daily in the city. The GSM module supports standard features such as second call and call redirect, show caller ID, send my caller ID, conference call etc. Naturally, you can send text messages and multimedia messages, the latter using the MMS Composer utility.

As for data transmissions, there is nothing to write home about: the device has neither 3G nor at least EDGE-capable module. Its GPRS module (Class B / Multi-slot Class 10) is rather out-of-date and if you compare transmission speed with the HTC Wizard in areas with good EDGE coverage, you will notice a substantial difference. On the other hand, GPRS was slow but reliable. This is the reality you either accept or not.

The maximum volume of the phone speaker is louder than average yet I sometimes had problems understanding in a noisy environment. There was also noticeable rattling and echo at higher volumes (the echo can be eliminated by careful adjustment of the microphone sensitivity and installation of an audio patch; the Eten does not have automatic adjustment, unfortunately). As I mentioned above, the headset's volume is not very high, either. On the other hand, the volume was absolutely sufficient when the device was set the handsfree mode; the maximum level was so loud that I was worried about the loudspeaker:)

That much for the technical side. However, from the point of view of an fervent user of Pocket PCs from HTC, I was surprised by the Eten's perfect suite of bonus applications. These in combination with standard software from Microsoft make the device a very powerful, feature-packed telephone. I am describing them without any specific order because people have different priorities.

First is a great utility for those who often communicate using short text messages. When active, the utility will notify the user of an incoming message by displaying a blue envelope on the Today screen (analogically, a missed call is depicted by a handset), and displays its text in large letters in a new window, so you can immediately see the first few words. If there are more unread messages, you can browse them and use either of three available actions - reply, call sender, or delete message.

Another very useful application is a call filtration tool called CallFilter. You can choose one of four modes (accept all, accept selected, reject all, reject selected). That means you can create a white list and a black list of phone numbers. Setting the application is quite tedious because you have to enter numbers manually - a huge room for improvement here. One thing that will make it easier for you is a synchronise option automatically adds names from the Contacts database to the numbers. The idea is good yet there is a minor flaw: when you blacklist a number, it is not rejected immediately but after a short while enough for the caller to hear one short ring before he or she is advised by a mechanic voice that the user does not accept calls.

Another special application is Scenarios. As the name suggests, it makes it possible to create 4 different profiles (general, meeting, outdoors, and quiet) and switch between them easily. The settings include ringing and call volume, vibrations and backlight. Highly convenient and addictive.

To make the list complete, I should mention also a dialling utility that can also display the last ten dialled numbers, and a SIM Toolkit application.

Like most other Phone Edition devices, the Eten M600, too, can serve as a modem for a PC when connected over the USB or serial cable. I encountered a problem here, though. Although there is the utility Modem Link, familiar to users of HTC devices, modem driver installation [6KB] did not indicate any issues, and the connection was established without any problems, all attempts to download something ended with an error message. Likewise, attempts to detect the ETEN as a modem over Bluetooth failed - it looks as if DUN profile is not available. The problem may lie between the chair and the keyboard because there were no mentions of such problems on the web but I just could not make it work.

Summing up, the Eten M600 is an average phone with a slightly outdated data communication standard, but with a useful software suite. Over the two weeks I used the Eten as my primary PDA, it did not impress nor disappoint me. It just worked - people could call me, I could call others, text messages flew smoothly in both directions, so did MMS messages... The 400-MHz processor is powerful enough to ensure that there are no performance issues, such as inability to accept a call due to processor overload and the device responded promptly. Apart from the modem, it is simply a functional phone (or a simply functional phone?:)

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ETEN as a camera

The Eten is another pocket device capable of capturing still images and short videos. As is the case with most integrated cameras, the quality is poor. A few years ago, it would have been a miracle but nowadays, it is a rather ridiculous attempt to add another line to the device's specs. You can judge for yourself from the photos below.

As for the technical side, there is not much information available. The maximum resolution the chip supports is 1280x960 pixels (1.3 MPix). This applies to still images only (other supported formats include 640x480, 320x240 and 176x144 pixels); maximum resolution for video is 320x240 pixels (or 176x144 or 128x96 pixels). Available are standard features, such as white colour balance (automatic/bulb/fluorescent lamp/direct sunlight/shade/overcast sky/night), saving as BMP or JPEG (images) and 3GP (video), several shooting modes, optional date and time stamp etc. I appreciated that all the settings are available on-screen in a graphical interface, so you do not need to switch between multiple windows and can set everything from one place.

Key question is how it works and what images it produces. The camera is easy to control: taking snaps is easy and comfortable even with one hand thanks to the shutter release button located on the side of the device. However, speed is an issue. It takes more than 5 seconds for the camera application to launch, capturing an image with the finest resolution takes approximately the same time. Time now for some sample photos. You can download the original full-size images here [5562KB] .

Snaps taken at a close range are not any better. The camera just isn't very good.

Finally, here is a short video [2664KB]. To sum up, the Eten has an integrated camera with interesting and convenient controls but that's about all worth mentioning. It produces not very high quality photos, though I have seen worse results in some other devices. If you are serious about digital photography, this is definitely not the way to go.

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Expandability

There is not much to elaborate on in this chapter. Fast USB connection is the basic connection but USB Host is not supported, so there is no way to connect a USB flash drive or keyboard (unless the aforementioned USB connector in the cradle can be activated somehow, but available information suggests it can't be). Bluetooth sports nice icons but does not offer very much as to functionality. So, the only feasible expansion option is an SD or SDIO card. I tested SDIO with a small camera from HP and it worked fine.

When you connect a GPS receiver to the Eten somehow, you will be able to set up a virtual COM port so that the positioning data is available to several applications simultaneously, which is a feature present in different Windows Mobile 5 devices. And that's about it for expandability.

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Software

Question is which version of the operating system is actually installed. The WWE_0216 code suggests that it is Windows Mobile 5 with the latest package of updates (AKU2). Support for BT stereo headphones supports this assumption. On the other hand, lacking is the main attraction of the AKU2 package, which is full-featured PUSH e-mail from the Exchange server, so it is hard to tell. The software suite includes all available applications from Microsoft for this platform, including Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Pocket IE, Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, MSN Messenger, Terminal Services Client and, of course, a complete set of phone-related applications.

Besides the aforementioned utilities, the device comes with some more pre-installed applications. Quick Link is an application launcher in the form of a Today screen plug-in. A utility called M-Desk helps with device settings and control. A backup utility is present for maximum protection of your data. It offers also automatic backups at a specific time or when the battery power drops below a certain level.

Other bonus applications are from the multimedia realm: ImageMaker is a simple yet handy image editor, Image Wizard will help you spice up your images in five steps (add frame, apply some effects etc.), and versatile Multimedia Manager can not only display you content but also create impressive presentations from it.

Last but not least, the manufacturer included voice recognition software in the ROM. It requires fluency in English. I played with it for a while but if you do not obtain results close to 100 percent, it is not very convenient.

The bundled CD-ROM contains only basic applications, such as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft ActiveSync.

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Pricing

It was quite hard for me to find the price, as the device does not ship in our country yet. It should be around $600 USD including 19 % VAT. This seems a little over the mark. It is true that the device offers multiple communication options, but all with basic, rather limited functionality...

[POLL]

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Impressions, Benchmarks & Tests

We can cut it short here: the device does not offer any revolutionary features or outstanding performance, but on the other hand, it does a good job in what it is supposed to do. I have spent many weeks with the device and have not encountered any serious flaw that would hamper my experience as a user. Its performance is sufficient, no dispute over that. In addition, a very fast FlashROM compensates for the slowdown caused by Windows Mobile 5's new feature that uses this memory for data and applications. The display is great, audio not so much but still quite OK. Communication features look wonderful but in reality, there is a big room for improvement. The quality of the camera is well illustrated by the appended photos. The phone is reliable and serves its purpose but again, no advanced technology. Performance of the battery is very good given its capacity.

As for multimedia performance, the ETEN scored 78 percent in playback of a sample movie in the TCPMP application, which means the video needs to be optimised by means of lower resolution and slower bit rate. If you downscale to 320x240 pixels, the playback will be perfectly smooth.

All in all, the ETEN M600 is the type of device we are going to encounter more and more often. It is not a dream device packed with the latest technology but a well-engineered product designed for the masses, who will have no use for advanced functionalities.

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Detailed evaluation

This is another device that I subjected to a more detailed and stricter evaluation. This is because the rating of most devices I have reviewed lately ranged from 90 to 95 percent and it was difficult to tell which device is better (I intentionally tried to avoid a 100-percent rating). Another reason is that this new system is more transparent. That is why the final rating is NOT BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE. 90 percent now and 90 percent before are completely incomparable figures.

Now, a few words to explain the evaluation criteria. The Type can be Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone edition, or Smartphone. The Class means the target group, which is key for understanding the other categories. The number of points in the other categories is relative with regard to the class. For instance, a device with a VGA display, two expansion slots, BT and WiFi modules in the high-end category will receive nine points for a certain weight, whereas a device in the "entry" class with a QVGA display, one slot and no radio module will receive three points for the same weight. The date is also important - if I am rating a 1.3-Mpix integrated camera today, it will receive 10 points because there is nothing better available. In half a year, when 2-Mpix integrated cameras will be available, this one would receive fewer points.

If you would like to comment on the evaluation, please join the discussion. I am not doing this for my own pleasure but to make it easier for you to choose a new device. If you think it is a wrong idea, just let me know:)

Rating
Name:	ETEN M600
Type:	Pocket PC Phone edition
Class:	For all
System:	Windows Mobile 5
Date:	June 26, 2006
Design, user friendliness
Design:	7
Dimensions:	8
Weight:	7,5
Buttons, user comfort:	7
Assembly quality:	8,5
Performance, memory
Processor:	7
Free RAM:	6,5
Free ROM:	5,5
Graphics:	8
Display
Resolution:	5
Size:	3
Quality (indoors):	9
Quality (outdoors):	9
Podsvícení:	8,5
Dotyková vrstva:	8
Audio
Microphone:	7
Loudspeaker:	7
Headphones output:	6
Communication:
USB:	8
Infra:	7
Bluetooth:	7
WiFi:	9,5
Phone
GSM:	9
GPRS/EDGE:	5
General:	10
Digital Camera
Features:	8
Quality:	4
Battery, power settings
Features:	9
Battery life:	9,5
Expandability
General:	4
Software
System, settings:	7
Bonus apps in ROM:	9
Bonus apps in CD:	0
Accessories
Quantity:	9
Quality:	8
Other
Overall impression:	7
Manufacturer support:	9
Price/performance ratio	6
Total
ETEN M600	7.19 out of 10

Notes :: Rating is on the scale from 1 to 10. The higher the figure, the closer to the ideal. If a device receives 10 points for "Design", it means it is beauty from heaven. On the other hand, if it receives 10 points for "Weight", it means it is extremely light.

And that's all for today...

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