O2 Xda Zest review

O2’s Xda range is something of a stalwart in Windows Mobile circles. The company’s own label smartphones have been around for many years, and a quick peek at the current range is all the evidence you need of O2’s liking for HTC, because almost every handset in the current line-up is made by them. In most cases you can get something identical both SIM free and from other operators.

But the new Xda Zest is different. It is made by Asus and the design is unique to O2. And perhaps even more interestingly, it is the first Xda to be available on prepay (where it will set you back £249.99) as well as on Pay Monthly where it will be free on some contracts.

This is a decidedly middle-of-the-road Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional device, with some real plus points and a few niggles.

The overall dimensions make it a little squat as it is rather wider than we are used to at 60.5mm. It is 102mm tall and a slightly chubby 16.5mm thick, and weighs very slightly over the odds at 120g. This translates to ever so slightly less comfort in the hand than we are used to, but we don’t want to overplay that point and it is certainly not a deal-breaker.

The casing is pretty predictable in looks. The plastic shell is mostly black with a few silver highlights, most notably the D-pad on the front fascia. The Call, End, Start Menu and OK buttons are all a bit small, but they are neatly integrated into the overall look.

We like a lot that there is a hold button on the right edge. Slide this and it dims the screen and locks out the touchscreen and all buttons. Windows Mobile has its own lock feature but this is software driven and is only accessible from the main screen – and only then if you choose to show it there. The option here is far more useful as you can get to it at any time.

Here comes a niggle. There is 256MB of ROM and 128MB of RAM. These numbers are standard fare and nothing to grumble about. You can add more memory with microSD cards – again a standard feature. But the card slot is under the battery which means you have to power the Xda Zest down to get to it. Really, these days, we expect memory slots to be more accessible than that so we can hotswap cards easily.

There is a GPS antenna and you get a three-month trial of the CoPilot navigation software. We are more used to seeing this bundled for free for good, and forking out for it later on might be irksome to you. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are also built in. The Xda Zest is a HSDPA device and there is a front facing camera for two way video calling.

One highlight of the Xda Zest is its screen. This measures a generous 2.8-inches with a 640x480 pixel resolution. Screens with this resolution are much clearer and sharper than those with 320x240 pixels, and we really found that to be a boon.

Following the trend to hide the now rather dated Windows Mobile interface, O2 has put its own alternative on board. From the standard Windows Mobile Today screen you can choose the softmenu marked ‘O2 Menu’, and from there you have access to three screens, either by tapping their icons on the bottom of the screen or by finger-sweeping on the horizontal plane.

The screens offer a 4x4 grid of photocontacts, a 3x3 grid of shortcuts to applications, tools and settings, and a main screen that shows the time, weather and information about messages, emails, missed calls and so on. There is nothing revolutionary about the system, but it has a graphical design that appeals and the finger-sweeping is smooth and efficient.

There is a camera on the back of the casing and this shoots stills to 3-megapixels. Again this is nothing revolutionary, but the right side mounted button makes it very easy to use as do on-screen tappable icons for everything from zooming to choosing the image resolution, switching into macro mode, using the self timer and selecting shooting modes.

Another significant niggle is that there is no dedicated headphone socket. Headsets have to use the mini USB connector that is shared by mains power and the PC cable. This is far from ideal, and for us it is bit of a deal breaker as it means we need an adaptor to use our favourite headphones.

We are pleased to see O2 offering an Xda on Pay&Go as well as Pay Monthly, and we like the high res screen, finger-sweep interface and HSDPA. But we do have some niggles too. There is a lot of mid-range competition out there to check out before taking the plunge.