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E-Ten G500 What do you think

Okay I THINK this isn't an HTC device but I wanted to know if anyone has looked into it.
I really like the built-in GPRS and Bluetooth 2.0
I do know that it doesn't have WIFI but on my PDA2K I don't really even use the wifi so it's not a big loss for me.
I also wanted to know if anyone knew of a website like this for that device, I really like the way people help here and would hate to not have a place to go like this if I did buy the G500.
Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated
http://www.etencorp.com/products/Communication/G500.php

I just bought 50, for a specific purpose, but first impressions are:
rugged
stable
small
but
average battery life using GPS
no sodding instruction manual
FM radio promised but not yet released
No Keyboard
No WiFi
i haven't tried to install any GPS software yet, but i can confirm the hardware works virtually underwater, as we use it to track drivers as well as mobile data.
We're paying £272 plus VAT, and for our purposes it's great - which doesn't involve wifi or keyboard....
if the battery life was better i'd be buying 100 more

I'd suggest also thinking about the Mio A701.
I think it does everything the G500 does but is smaller. I went for it over the G500 mainly because of it's size. And also because it takes full size SD cards

Hi mach1!
There is a forum for ETEN owners:
http://www.eten-users.net
One thing you should consider is that this device uses mini-sd so there is no SDIO support, thus no way to add WiFi if you decide you need it.
Also no EDGE, HSCSD or 3G so forget about dissent internet access.
Any way, you should check out http://www.gsmarena.com. They got info on phones (PDA / Smartphones) from all leading companies including ETEN, all arranged nicely with full specs and user ratings and comments.
No prices though...

flicka said:
I'd suggest also thinking about the Mio A701.
I think it does everything the G500 does but is smaller. I went for it over the G500 mainly because of it's size. And also because it takes full size SD cards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We have 10 of the a701 and 5 a700 yes thay are a bit smaller but
thay are not as stable as the G500 we use ours for personal tracking etc
and have not had any problems with then at all
and thats with tomtom and our own GPS tracking software.
hope this helps

bought a mio a701 and to be honest i really like it and i think it'll go a long way before i replace her. tried out the gps navigation using mapking (in bangkok) and i sure didn't get lost. the voice nav told me where to go and such and from there all went fine. i didn't get the eten because of the mini-sd; all of my accessories are using sd card (example; my digicam). i also like the mio because of the looks and the size. i'm not a fan of wifi nor do like having a keyboard so it works fine for me. mio will be releasing a rom sometime later on and that will support push email AND a2dp (for stereo bluetooth function). since i use an itech clip s headset it's just a matter of waiting until the new rom is released. when i listen to the tunez i can hook up my bluecon bt adaptor which allows me to listen wirelessly.
cheers

A701 GPS
Were currently testing both the A70 and G500. Has anybody seriously tested the 'location call' software on the A701?
In the tests we have performed the GPS position is incorrect. In a comparison between TomTom and Visual GPSCE the position do differ. I am assuming there is an offset or algorithm which computes the correct location.
What i'm looking for is a program which does the same thing as location call, i.e. send your gps position by sms, but actualy send the correct gps position.
Has anybody come across one?
Cheers
Paul

E-TEN G500 bought instead Qtek 2020i (waiting for Qtek S310)
Hi,
I changed devices cause i wanted integrated gps. Sometimes you're in your car and the bluetooth receiver is at home (for safety of stealing), and sometimes pairing bluetooth takes a while.
Actually i'm waiting for the HTC Trinity (Qtek G200) or Qtek S310.
Both devices will be with GPS & WIFI inclusive.
The Qtek S310 looks very spacy and will be released end of 2006 (hopefully).
At the moment I also have an all-in, the E-TEN G500 with SPECTEC MINI WIFI-SDIO CARD. I like the smooth blue colourlines / size / battery and functions.
I updated the rom to the 0097 and now can receive FM radio & TMC (Traffic messaging control) which gives you information about busy traffic and leads you away from it. This only works when you connect the wired headset as antenna,but no problem.
Now that it's also become an all in, i'm doubting to buy the new upcomming Qteks, I like this E-TEN very much, smooth look, compact, processor very good, and carkit included in package!
I never doubted about the Mio A701, the E-TEN is a much cooler device. Only the sound quality & speaker is less, but I love this device!
Greetz,
Innovator 8)

The "my TyTn works just fine" post

I get scared real easy, and I'm now starting to worry about the TyTn. Several people are now reporting problems with these devices, including serious hardware problems.
So please comfort me; your TyTn works just great right?........righ?

Mine is fine so far, no key problems or screen alignments only problem i have is slow access to web sites with tmobile
Cheers
Chris

This is a good idea, but unfortuntely your going to get a pretty skewed result seen how most ppl that have issues are on these boards because they want to resolve them, if your device is working fine its less likely you will be at this juncture to post 'all's well'.
It seems a massive amount of problems seem to be directed to the Vodaphone models and not necessarily the TyTN models. Also other forums arent reporting wide spread problems, and furthermore I just spoke (email) with 2 other Australians who had purchased HTC TyTNs from USA, and they havent had any issues with their devices.
I hope this information is of some comfort to you. If it helps I had the same feeling with the jasjar as it had widespread complaints, although m ainly software ones which I knew could and were addressed.

Trion ... Can't stop singing praises
Really happy with my Trion.
I had started with the original XDA which was the first one of it's kind and kind of cool but that quickly fell out of use due to the phone usability and the need to always use a stylus. I was really happy with the Smartphones as it really was usable using one hand but when the Trion came out I thought it was time to take the plunge back to a PPC, well at least as a office phone. Haven't looked back. Thejog dial button works a charm and with all the extra buttons you can actually use the Trion full time without use of the stylus. WLAN functions perfectly even with Skype. Push email functions like a charm syncing contacts and calander, tasks and email instantly (I recommend mail2web as a cheap way of implementing push email). A2DP actually works and is finally usable especially with the A2DP improvement hack. Now listening to music is crystal clear with no skipping (I'm using the Motorola HT820 which gives start stop pause functionality and with some other hacks you can program the speaker button to trigger programs such as voice command). Tomtom works fine. Definately the 400 Mhz CPU has made the Trion function well with most apps.
The size is slightly smaller than the Wizard but it actually makes a huge difference. Pictures are actually usable with 2MP and a flash light which helps a bit as well.
I finally found the perfect business phone I can use!

TYTN
Mine work fine now for 3 weeks w/o any soft reset.
English version from the Netherlands
Only 2 time (in the night) he was crashed but I think it's because I use pocket wakeup.
Michel

Mine is fine (vodafone v1605) although I cant get vodafone live just a blank screen but the rest of the web is great. No Issues after a hard restet when I first got it, it seems I wasnt the first person with it as I didnt have to set it up and it had 2 minutes on the call timers. But apart from that mine works great.

hey,
i've had my v1605 for a total of 22 hours now. I got mine on a wicked upgrade deal (released from contract for free and got handset for free too)
So far I must say that I haven't found any issues with this baby.
Here are my ROM details - are they different from others?
ROM 1.20.161.3
ROM Date 06/06/06 - (eeeek!)
radio 1.03.06.00
protocol 32.34.7010.01W
PTM

HTC TyTN Pro here
ROM version: 1.18.255.3
ROM date: 5/30/06
radio: 1.03.03.10
protocol: 32.34.7010.01H
ExtROM: 1.18.255.105
waiting for the 1st ROM update to fix some minor issues (like not being able to hold the comm-manager button to switch to vibrate mode).

Mine works very well....I never soft reset it, I've had it for 2 days and it works great!!!!!!

I've got two and they are both fantastic.
Not had any problems at all and 3g absolutely flies along!
Both are v1605
ROM 1.20.161.3
ROM Date 06/06/06
radio 1.03.06.00
protocol 32.34.7010.01W

Had no problems with my HTC TyTN here.
Works great.

could people post the start of there serial numbers please which are working fine.
i.e HT26

My XDA Trion working just perfectly and without any problem at all...thanks god ^^

Sick of it, returning it, sooo disappointing

Okay, I'm going to (try and) return my device (through devicewire, anyone know how good their returns policy is?). Here, in order of importance, is why:
1- Bluetooth doesn't work any more (it comes up saying "Error: bluetooth hardware problem"
2- Phone needs a hard restart (battery out) ONCE A DAY. This is despite resetting it and keeping it clean as received. Something will freeze
3- It's slow. REALLY slow. OMG how boringly slow.
4- Most screen taps require one, two or three attempts to get it to recognise - whether I do the registry hack or not
5- It ain't that pretty, it ain't that small, it ain't that light
Shame, because it does have a fair bit going for it. But I'm finding that they've just tried to push the envelope too far, especially on a system that is such a HUGE MESS already (Windows Mobile).
Gawd I HATE it when a gadget doesn't work out. And I hate it more when it cost me near enough £400 ($800) to get it

It really sounds like you have defective unit. Maybe you should try to exchange it for another one.

sonus said:
It really sounds like you have defective unit. Maybe you should try to exchange it for another one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Not one issue with mine. As for speed, I guess that's all relative. However, I have had enough WM devices in the past to base my comparisons to and I don't find the TC to be any worse than my past devices. In some respects, it is faster at some operations (ie. opening applications, browsing directories, etc) than my past device. I have no issue with touching the screen and the amount of pressure needed.
As for the size and weight of the TC, you'll be hard pressed to find anything that's leaps and bounds smaller and lighter on the market right now with the exception of the original Touch series.

madinga said:
Okay, I'm going to (try and) return my device (through devicewire, anyone know how good their returns policy is?). Here, in order of importance, is why:
1- Bluetooth doesn't work any more (it comes up saying "Error: bluetooth hardware problem"
2- Phone needs a hard restart (battery out) ONCE A DAY. This is despite resetting it and keeping it clean as received. Something will freeze
3- It's slow. REALLY slow. OMG how boringly slow.
4- Most screen taps require one, two or three attempts to get it to recognise - whether I do the registry hack or not
5- It ain't that pretty, it ain't that small, it ain't that light
Shame, because it does have a fair bit going for it. But I'm finding that they've just tried to push the envelope too far, especially on a system that is such a HUGE MESS already (Windows Mobile).
Gawd I HATE it when a gadget doesn't work out. And I hate it more when it cost me near enough £400 ($800) to get it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Taking the battery out does not hard reset the device, it just reboots it. If you check the wiki, you sill see how to really perform the hard reset. This may be all your device needs. Sounds like some corrupt files in the active OS. Doing a true Hard Reset will restore all files from ROM and correct any corrupt ones. You will lose all settings and contact information so have them backed up or accessible. Also, you may want to remove your microSD before you hard reset.
Good Luck and report back

raskell said:
Taking the battery out does not hard reset the device, it just reboots it. If you check the wiki, you sill see how to really perform the hard reset. This may be all your device needs. Sounds like some corrupt files in the active OS. Doing a true Hard Reset will restore all files from ROM and correct any corrupt ones. You will lose all settings and contact information so have them backed up or accessible. Also, you may want to remove your microSD before you hard reset.
Good Luck and report back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I should have said i DID do a proper hard reset (hold buttons down, restart, software reinstalls on a bare phone), and still problems with bluetooth. AND, incidentially, WIFI! This evening I'm going to try throwing it against a wall (joking). Thanks for helping though

madinga said:
Sorry, I should have said i DID do a proper hard reset (hold buttons down, restart, software reinstalls on a bare phone), and still problems with bluetooth. AND, incidentially, WIFI! This evening I'm going to try throwing it against a wall (joking). Thanks for helping though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got a bad device. It happens. If you are satisfied with what the device offers, exchange it for another.

it's true that it's too slow to search a name in all database !
I had a QTek 9090 also cadenced to 400Mhz during nearly 2 years,and I used to search a name not only in contacts but using the "search" tool in all the datas and with the same database of almost 3000 contacts + calender over 1000 entries, with the QTek it took only a few seconds, here on the TC (and I used also before a TYTN it was the same problem : very slow),it takes more than 1 minute ! It is so slow that the screenlight turns off before it has found !! It is really boring and not easy to use: I have to go in contacts and type the name or surname, then it is much faster....BUT if I want to find a keyword I put in the notes of my contacts, the only way is to use the search tool and it is REAL too slow !
What do you guys, testers, think about this ? The QTek had the same processor speed, half less RAM and ROM but maybe it consumed more energy, more power, maybe the battery lasted less time, but ok, I prefer to charge my battery more often and to have a fast PDA . I cannot wait so long to search an item !!!

try to exchange you device for a new one and you will be a happy chap

Cedel: The 9090 (Qtek = HTC) has an Intel CPU I owned a Qtek S110 (also Intel) and it was in fact very fast. But comparing raw CPU speed in this case is not correct. I'm pretty sure Intel uses a completely different architecture. There are IMO several reasons for HTC dropping Intel from their phones:
1. Cost - Intel have never been a cost effective solution and I strongly suspect that they are at least 30% more expensive.
2. Battery - A 9090 or S110 would not live though the day with GPS, 128 MB DDR RAM and all the other features you now have I can confirm this from an iPAQ 316 I tested recently. 2 hours @battery power was it's maximum!

madinga said:
3- It's slow. REALLY slow. OMG how boringly slow.
4- Most screen taps require one, two or three attempts to get it to recognise - whether I do the registry hack or not
Gawd I HATE it when a gadget doesn't work out. And I hate it more when it cost me near enough £400 ($800) to get it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's every touch cruise made by HTC...yours, mine, everyone who owns one in this forum
HTC consideres these two things "features" because this is a "business device"
i thought you knew that! (lol)
just for kicks though, what registry hack are you referring to?

surgex0 said:
that's every touch cruise made by HTC...yours, mine, everyone who owns one in this forum
HTC consideres these two things "features" because this is a "business device"
i thought you knew that! (lol)
just for kicks though, what registry hack are you referring to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point!
The registry hack is the one to increase screen sensitivity posted elsewhere - screen still needed a couple of prods to work.
Any case, I've sent it off to HTC with my list of complaints - let's see what they send back...

yeah i've tried that...didn't do much difference
i hope u get ur probs fixed, good luck dealing with HTC :-\

madinga said:
Good point!
The registry hack is the one to increase screen sensitivity posted elsewhere - screen still needed a couple of prods to work.
Any case, I've sent it off to HTC with my list of complaints - let's see what they send back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have recently sent me touch dual back to HTC twice- the first time they said they replaced the mainboard but when I got it back it still had problems, the second time they said they couldnt find any issues with it and reflashed the rom and sent it back- they were unhelpful and unapologetic. Was thinking of sending in a written complaint as I never had any problems with my wizard or TYTN but I honestly dont think it will achieve anything.
I was thinking of getting rid of it and getting a touch cruise but it seems to have just as many problems. I think its windows mobile that is the weak link here.

RetroFlux said:
I was thinking of getting rid of it and getting a touch cruise but it seems to have just as many problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What problems are those? Aside from lack of graphics drivers, the device performs as I expect.

Well, I got my device back from HTC. Appart from the fact the screen glows in the bottom left corner (though not really visible once the screen is bright), they seem to have improved it. In the sense that it's not totally broken. So bluetooth and WIFI work again, which, frankly, they should for this much money.
The TC is still a slow phone with pretty terrible usability. But even with a faster processor, the usability would be terrible. So, I dunno, I'm stuck with it for the moment.

madinga, i really understand you. It's a ****ed up device! I bought it for $1000 and for such money it freezes, doesn't wakeup on power push, and got a very bad performance. I wanna throw it to the wall!! ****

Well I like mine...
But it's not a massive improvement over the original Orbit. The Touch interface is loads better though, I'd miss that if I went back to the Orbit.
A proper VGA screen in it would be great though, since it would make it a lot more possible/easier to use to read PDF novels etc. Currently you can't have the entire page of a book full screen and the text still be readable. A higher DPI would sort that out.

madinga said:
Well, I got my device back from HTC. Appart from the fact the screen glows in the bottom left corner (though not really visible once the screen is bright), they seem to have improved it. In the sense that it's not totally broken. So bluetooth and WIFI work again, which, frankly, they should for this much money.
The TC is still a slow phone with pretty terrible usability. But even with a faster processor, the usability would be terrible. So, I dunno, I'm stuck with it for the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not a slow phone i think your device still have a problem.
Send it back again and demand a new device tell them this is a clearly DOE/RMA Case
they have to give you a new Device.
Cheers
Tarik

andyturner said:
But it's not a massive improvement over the original Orbit. The Touch interface is loads better though, I'd miss that if I went back to the Orbit.
A proper VGA screen in it would be great though, since it would make it a lot more possible/easier to use to read PDF novels etc. Currently you can't have the entire page of a book full screen and the text still be readable. A higher DPI would sort that out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really don't have any problems reading books/novels... GowerPoint uBook does the job... well it can't read PDF files but it can read RTF files, so the text formatting can be preserved, also it has lots of features...

10 Min For Cube To Load
It took 10 mins for the cube to open. During that time, it locked my PDA. I've been disappointed in this and all the bugs with the Word Completion and returned it as a manufacturer defect.
In all the years prior to now, I cannot believe the processors currently out there have not advanced in speed.

Overall quality trend of recent HTC devices

Hi!
I am wondering if I am the only one who thinks that quality of HTC products is constantly decreasing...
Some years ago, I had a HTC Magician which was a great mobile phone. The metal case showed absolutely no signs of wear and tear after using it for two years and the software was at least what I call stable. There were some minor bugs and the fact that all data is lost on power failure (broken as designed), but it had more flexibility than any other phone in its time.
Then I got an HTC Elf. Its case is significantly worse compared to Magician. The software was unstable when using features like the camera, because HTC decided to make the built-in apps more memory-intensive than the hardware can take. It was usable, but needed a soft reset almost every day. Using the custom WM6 firmware from xda-devs fixed some of the problems (and brought some new ones ).
Now I am using an HTC Touch Diamond for half a year and I have never been so disappointed by a phone. The phone hangs during almost every call, the GSM/UMTS module stops working in standby mode for no particular reason and so on. Whenever I am waiting for a call, I have to check every once in a while whether the phone is still connected with my service provider. Sometimes I have the phone wake up from standby and see a mosaic like graphics error. Frequently, TouchFLO crashes and I am repeatedly prompted to file a bug report until I soft reset the phone.
I already tried a hard reset without installing my favourite apps afterwards, so I am using the phone out-of-the-box and it really sucks as I primarily need a reliable mobile phone.
Additionally, I used HTC Elf and Diamond with automotive Handsfree kits from Mercedes-Benz, JVC and Parrot and neither worked. After each call, I have to reconnect the phone manually, the bluetooth protocols for dialing a number from the carkit's controls does not work and so on. There are some Sony Ericsson and Nokia phones in my family which all work fine with these carkits.
I have an iPod Touch which works so smoothly and I rebooted it three times in a year (when I bought it and with each firmware update). No problems so far...
So I ordered a Sony Ericsson C905 now - bye bye HTC. Sorry.
Anyone else who can share this opinion?
Regards,
Schlot

But this is nothing related just to HTC
In general all products now are made with lower quality than before, they are made to last less so you go and buy another one!
Of course there are some exceptions...
I´ll stick to HTC and WM definetly!! as any other brand will present the same situation.
Not any other brand will have the great suport and knowledge that XDA gives to HTC/WM devices

I've had several HTC Devices, starting with the Magician, and the only time the build quality was not up to scratch was with my Hermes. As for the Hero I have now...it's probably the best built HTC device I've had.

I've had the Touch and Touch Diamond, and I've had none of the problems that you've been having. My Touch Diamond has a much better build quality than my previous phones, including the Touch. It sounds like the network you're using is rubbish, and what's your problem with soft resets? I've always soft reset pretty much every piece of technology I've had at least once per day...

orb3000 said:
But this is nothing related just to HTC
In general all products now are made with lower quality than before, they are made to last less so you go and buy another one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi again,
so now, I have a Sony Ericsson C905. Of course, it does not have that "smartphone feeling", so it is not that much customized like a WM device. My last three phones had enough setup options to keep me playing around for a week after a hard reset. The "dumbphone" is ready to use out-of-the-box, which is good and bad indeed. 10 minutes after unboxing, everything is configured and working. Then:
- BT connection to my Mac. Address Book sync, copy ringtones and files. Just works.
- Open the camera lid. Loads 2 seconds and is ready to shoot. No memory problems afterwards...
- BT connection to my carkit. Pairing, ready. HFP, A2DP, AVRCP, PBAP and SMS work fine.
So I do like smartphones as their functionality impress me, but when it comes to reliability, a normal phone does a better job FOR MY PURPOSE.
Materials and mechanical finish of C905 feels a bit better than HTC Touch and Diamond, comparable to HTC Magician.
Key response is faster than any WM phone I ever had.
BUT it does not have an offline wikipedia. So ideally, I need a smartphone and a dumbphone, so now I use the C905 and an iPod Touch.
It sounds like the network you're using is rubbish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vodafone DE, no problems with Nokia, Sony Ericsson etc.
and what's your problem with soft resets?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a Mac user for a while now. My Mac is rebooted whenever there is a new OSX release. Same for my iPod Touch. Do you reset your car every day? Your TV? Satellite Receiver? Grandma's pacemaker?
It is OK for me to soft reset a PDA or something. But it is not ok to miss urgent calls because a phone does not work without a daily reset (my opinion).
I don't want to say that HTC devices are just bad (otherwise I would not have bought them for three generations). But they really have to work on reliability and usability.
They have to prioritize features to see which are important (phone, adress book, communications) and which are "nice to have" (customization, games, 3D GUI, ...).

I have had a Touch (Elf) and My Diamond II (6 months) and the build quality and problems you have had a have not had at all. I used to be a loyal Nokia and MOTO fan but now will never change from an HTC. But I may change to Android if we will never get a port for it on the TD2. But that is coming along now so yeah. We will see what comes out in 2010.

I'm finding I don't have to keep rebooting my HTC Hero. Android is well stable.

[Q] New Device Suggestions please!

Both my partner and I have Touch Pro 2's that have just become unbearable..
Even after hard resets and pretty much nothing on them - they are very slow, internet tethering is extremely painful (often says check USB connection when the USB is fine), send/receive is fickle (works when it likes), connecting to Internet Explorer takes about 30 seconds even to load Google home page (even if 4 bars of reception)... The camera takes up to 30 secs to take a pic even in good light and loads of free memory..
Meanwhile my partners TP2 is locked and the screen is unresponsive.. lets you type the pin and hit unlock but then nothing happens... so he cant even get into it. Have tried many options for this but have given up as all the software I find requires you to connect with Activesync which he can't do as it comes up locked!
and so we are both in the market for a new phone.. !!!!!!
I am set on Android as I haven't been able to use Activesync on my laptop for well over a year, due to Windows updates (that I have turned off - yet continue to install)..
Whenever I Activesync it deletes all my contacts and calendar and then stops working.. after much research its a known issue and there is no resolution (sighs)... which has pretty much immobilised my phone backup... and i am so over it.
We have recently gone back to our Tytn II's in the mean time - just until we can decide... and have noticed all the features that we loved when we first got our Tytn's.. Everything happens fast! copy and paste on first click (no need to Make selection)! customisable! no Telstra bloatware.. true GPS with Copilot.. direct contact access.. not that stupid interface where you have to click on "more" to add all the contact info.. etc etc.
Phone must be 850Mhz capable as due to our location we have to be with Telstra to get any reception.
Am looking forward to your suggestions please!
Required is at least 5mp camera with flash (and pref lense cover). GPS and mapping software (true GPS preferred not internet dependent).
Thanks in advance

New Device Suggestions
well, if you are looking for android..Samsung Galaxy S will be quite good, and the price have been slightly lower now..

If you go Galaxy S (which I really don't recommend), avoid Verizon's Fascinate at all costs.

galbsadi said:
If you go Galaxy S (which I really don't recommend), avoid Verizon's Fascinate at all costs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Em, why did you did not recommend Galaxy S??Its quite a good phone actually, although its been quite old...of course new devices are becoming better and better(for a higher price tag of course), but i do think the device is still worth by its recent cost...

But the Galaxy S doesn't have a flash
Next phone must have a flash! Tired of carrying an Olympus around for low-light shots!
Thanks for the suggestion though..
I just wish the Desire Z would work on the Next G network here in Australia (sighs)...

Samsung galaxy nexus