Review: HTC S710 (Vox)

Way dorsum when I first unboxed the HTC S710 (aka the HTC Vox), a reader commented that my phonation sounded lightheaded. Indeed, I was giddy. The s710 was (and is) an exciting form cistron for Standard-Edition Windows Mobile phones - a candy-bar slider that includes both a standard 12-key phone pad and a full qwerty keyboard. But innovative form factor does non a usable device make. How does the s710 stand to actual use? Read on for the full review.

Specs

The HTC S710 has pretty irksome specs, truth be told. Permit'due south list them and and so discuss what'south notable:

• Windows Mobile vi Standard Edition
• 201 MHz OMAP processor
• 128 MB ROM (63 user accessible for storage), 64 MB RAM (49.6 for Plan Retentivity)
• 240x320 non-touchscreen
• Quadband Edge
• WiFi (b and g), Bluetooth ii.0
• 2 megapixel camera
• 1050 mAh battery
• microSD memory slot

Windows Mobile half dozen is interesting considering the S710 was i of the very first devices available with the new OS, but no more. Equally far as the remainder goes - I find that processor to exist fairly disappointing. I found myself waiting quite a bit for things that should be very unproblematic, fifty-fifty when in that location were no programs running. About egregious among these waits is that it takes upward of 2 to 3 seconds for the screen to rotate when you slide out the keyboard. Not good.

Information technology'due south hard to rag on the processor, though, as information technology's fairly common correct now (the T-Mobile Fly has an identical processor, for example). It's meant, I suppose, to be a compromise between power and battery life, only mainly I just find it annoyingly slow.

Speaking of battery life - I'one thousand worried that I'm missing something. Ane of the reasons I spent a month and a one-half using the device on and off was bombardment life. HTC claims that you lot should become around vii hours of talk time and many reviews I've read said the same. Nevertheless I institute myself getting much less - the S710 would barely make it through a unmarried solar day of moderately heavy usage (I'm talking an hour of talking, push e-mail pinging once an 60 minutes or so, and perhaps a half hr to an hour of WiFi browsing). It's difficult to justify using a comparatively thick device (see below) when that extra thickness doesn't seem to translate into extra battery life. A full day of moderately heavy usage is good enough, simply it's certainly not what I expected.

The camera is splendid, though. Peradventure it'southward only that this was the beginning 2 megapixel phone I've owned, but I found it to have very high quality.

The rest of the specs don't really move me i way or t'other. Sure, information technology's non a 3G device, only once more there are nevertheless Edge-merely phones being released so that'due south not a bargain breaker for me. The WiFi works as advertised, as does Bluetooth.

Form Cistron

The big news with the HTC S710 is clearly the fact that it's a combination candy bar and slider. You get the best of both worlds - a standard 12-key pad (which works very well with T9) and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. I'll go to that keyboard in a bit.

The S710 is surprisingly hefty at 140 grams, a fact I don't mind much merely that may bother some. It uses the now-common soft-touch black paint around the dorsum and sides. The front, as you can meet, is mostly chrome and shows fingerprints a flake. The SIM menu slot is hidden underneath the top of the screen when you slide it out, and the microSD slot is likewise on the screen-side of the phone, on the lower-right.

All in all - the S710 is very comfortable to utilise equally a phone. The slight hump on the back of the phone isn't a pregnant carp. Overall I'd fifty-fifty become then far to call the S710 ergonomic. Later on using slab-fashion phones similar the Dash, Q, and Blackjack information technology's actually overnice to have a thicker phone to grab onto and hold up to your ear.

Buttons are a little sparse, truth be told. I like having a few extra hardware buttons around a device that I can assign to unremarkably used functions. With the slider closed you see the following: On the top is a power push button that also brings upwardly the "quick list" that lets you easily assign profiles, turn power off, etc. On the left are the volume buttons and too some other button to activate the voice tag organisation (not phonation command, which HTC regularly disables in favor of its own Voice Tag app). On the correct you'll notice that photographic camera button. Upward forepart is the 5-way, habitation, back, send, stop, soft-buttons, and the handy 12-key phone pad.

Ane chip I'grand happy about, pictured above, is that yous can remove the prophylactic cover over the mini-USB jack without breaking information technology. I am non a fan of those safety covers (I just broke ane on my Samsung Blackjack, grr!), then It'due south dainty to see y'all can remove it then put it back earlier you pass the phone 1. As long as I'm on the subject field, there is no 2.5 or three.5 audio jack on the S710, instead information technology's HTC'southward combo mini-USB/Audio jack. Nosotros're seeing this jack at present on the Nuance, the S710, the T-Mobile Wing, the HTC Affect, and others - my distaste for this solution is as strong every bit e'er, simply it's really looking like a losing boxing.

When yous slide the S710 open up to reveal the keyboard you'll find a few of those missing shortcut buttons - Fn+Chiliad for messaging, Fn+dorsum arrow for IE. There are also ii extra soft-buttons here - placed where the logically belong, i.e. immediately beneath their labels on the screen. Also visible hither is a nice touch: indicator lights for both Caps and Fn.

Software

The main thing to mention with software is that the S710 sports Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, with all the bells and whistles that come with it. One application in WM6 that I don't think has gotten well-nigh plenty attention is "Internet Sharing," which makes tethering your phone to your laptop to use as a modem expressionless-uncomplicated. It'due south a pity that information technology's just over Edge, but it piece of work. In fact, my favorite use is to ready a "Bluetooth Personal Expanse Network" (PAN) and get online without the USB cable. Even my MacBook is able to quickly see the PAN and employ it to get online.

Otherwise, HTC has included a few of their ain custom applications, which mostly makes me happy. Microsoft bone-headedly didn't make a standard text-note app standing in WM6 Standard Edition, so HTC gives us i. The other app I'grand very pleased to come across is "Sound Manager," which gives the S710 an iPod-like interface for browsing and playing music. Even better - Sound Manager is able to brand playlists on-the-go (yes!) and even trim MP3s for use as ringtones. It'due south a keen app, you tin can see a video of Audio Director in action here.

I'm less happy most HTC using its custom camera app. The actress features are nice, but it seems to 1) be a gigantic memory hog and 2) not trigger Windows Mobile to shut downward other apps when it launches. The consequence is I often get the message that at that place isn't enough retentiveness to use the camera and to shut downward some programs. I don't know how other people use the cameras on their phones, simply I use mine almost exclusively for candid shots - and taking a infinitesimal (or 3) to manage the memory on my smartphone is pretty much a guaranteed recipe for killing aboveboard shots.

Keyboard

Ah, now we come to it. I referred to the S710 as "disappointing" on Thursday and my gripes with the processor and the battery life aren't actually enough for me to say that. The keyboard, sadly, is.

First, the practiced. Tactile feedback is fine, as is response time. I'm perfectly happy with the layout of the symbols (I'm glad peculiarly to see that HTC is giving upward on a number row beyond the meridian of the keyboard in favor of a standard layout). I like that in that location are lights for Caps and Fn. I'm almost able to utilise information technology one-handed comfortably. I'm glad at that place's a delete/back central on the keyboard itself, unlike on the Q.

I'm picky about keyboards, though, if you didn't figure that out from my QWERTY Thumbboard Smackdown. The Vox'southward keyboard but doesn't cut the mustard. Hither's why: the top row of buttons is shifted one primal to the left. This was washed, clearly, for spacing reasons. At that place were merely so many places that HTC could put the arrow keys, the delete and enter keys, the Fn and caps keys. The outcome of these constraints was a keyboard that I've found well-almost unusable. The top row is aggravating in the farthermost, just the bottom row isn't much better. I tin't specifically say why, but I seem to mis-hit "g" and "due north" nearly all the time.

At present, I should exist writing in this paragraph that subsequently a while I became used to the odd, shifted keyboard layout. That once you've used information technology it'south non a trouble. I can't write that. I merely never did get used to it and I have little religion that I would without using the S710 every day for a proficient half dozen months. It'southward that bad. The trouble is exacerbated by the fact that the keyboard isn't centered on the screen over on the left.

Comparisons

S710 vs Blackjack

Well, first and foremost, the S710 and the Blackjack have different form factors and then comparison the two is a bit like apples and oranges. I find myself heavily favoring the Blackjack overall, simply I likewise heavily favor the QWERTY-slab course over the candybar form. That said, I don't think I'm out of premises saying that once the Blackjack gets its official upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 (which I expect to come shortly), it won't be any contest at all.

The keyboard on the S710 is more capacious and may be slightly easier for those with large or impuissant thumbs to type on (provided they aren't equally picky about the placement of those keys as I am). The Blackjack's 3G advantage is evened out past the fact that the S710 has WiFi built-in.

I generally observe the Blackjack to exist a little snappier (though their processors aren't all that different). This is probably due to the fact that y'all don't need to wait for the screen to rotate on the Blackjack when it's time to become QWERTY. Battery life is a launder, both are slightly less than I'd similar simply will get through a mean solar day of moderate employ.

The aforementioned bones idea applies to the Motorola Q in its various incarnations - the Q is better (though, in my opinion, not as nice as the Blackjack).

S710 vs T-Mobile SDA (and Cingular 2125)

A more than natural comparison would exist between the S710 and other candybar Windows Mobile Smartphones. In this case it'southward the T-Mobile SDA. Now when I say information technology's no contest I mean just the opposite, the S710 wipes the floor with the SDA handily. Although the S710'south specs aren't that much amend, the form gene makes the S710 the perfect replacement for the SDA.

The S710 is a touch on heavier, simply for that actress weight you get a smaller phone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard congenital in. Compared to the SDA, information technology's literally a curiosity of engineering and design.

Conclusion

What yous recall of the S710 comes down to a matter of context. If your context is a text-heavy email phone, the keyboard just isn't going to be satisfying to long-time smartphone users. But if you put it in the context of candybar smartphones, the S710 really shines. That's how I prefer to think of it when I'm feeling charitable. As a successor to the SDA/2125, the S710 is a apartment-out great telephone. If you (or someone you know) is looking for something in the candybar form factor but needs occasional email access, the S710 would adapt you well.

If you lot're not wedded to the candybar, though, there'south no compelling reason to choose the S710 over the likes of the T-Mobile Nuance or Samsung Blackjack. The slider keyboard should be easier to use ii-handed than these other phones, but its awkwardness keeps that from happening. I wanted to honey the HTC S710. Then I wanted to just like it. Now I but want to requite it to somebody else who will capeesh its class-factor more than I do.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/review-htc-s710-vox

Posted by: wisehumpertle.blogspot.com

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