Introduction
I have been using the T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition (XDA) for the last nine months and just recently switched to the Hitachi G1000 (G1000). Why did I switch? I was pretty happy with the XDA and it had served me well, solidifying my position on being a "single device" guy. I also had the opportunity to use the Samsung SPH-i700 (i700) for two weeks (see Review: Comparison of Samsung i700 with the XDA). In this review, I hope to provide you with the information that I used to evaluate the two devices together.

One thing I want to make clear is that all three of these devices are very good pdaPhones. Each individual needs to size them up according to their own needs before making a decision. The G1000 has gotten some early negative reviews by folks that spent very little time with it and discounted it for one or two points that may not be an issue for you or I. I would certainly not give an "Editor's Choice" to any of them at this point, as they are very close. Recently, Laptop Magazine awarded the G1000 their Editor's Choice with 4 out of 5 stars, over the i700 with 3 out of 5 stars. I do not believe that these devices have that much separation in general, but may for a single individual when analyzed. This article will provide more information for you to use in doing such an analysis.

The XDA is manufactured by a Tiawanese company called High Tech Computing (HTC). HTC is a OEM that manufacturers products on contract for more well known companies, such as the HP iPAQs. The XDA is available from many different carriers under different names - T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, AT&T Siemens SX-56, O2 XDA, T-Mobile MDA, QTek 1010, etc. All of these devices are based on roughly the same hardware platform, but may vary in firmware, outside appearance, and hardware features that are enabled. For this comparison, I am using the T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, but will focus only on the product features that are available from all of the carriers. In the Carriers/Plans discussion, I will describe features that are specific to T-Mobile.

The G1000 is manufactured by Hitachi, a company that is not a new comer to mobile phones. They have thus far elected to offer the device exclusively on the Sprint PCS network in the US. This will greatly limit the market penetration of the device. I hope they rethink this decision and expand its use into other markets.


G1000 Specs

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=2 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Radio</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>CDMA2000 1xRTT, single band 1900Mhz </TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Weight</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>8.4 ounces</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Size</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>5.8" x 3.3" x 0.9"</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Platform</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>Pocket PC Phone Edition 2002</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Processor</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>400Mhz Intel Xscale</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Memory</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>32MB</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Battery Life</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>2.5 hrs talk, 168 hours standby</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Display</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>240x320 pixel, 65K color, touchscreen TFT</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Expansion</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>SD/MMC (no SDIO), IR, mini-USB</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>Camera</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>640x480, 0.3 Megapixel</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gensmall align=left width="25%" bgColor=#b9d3ee>In the Box</TD><TD class=gensmall align=left width="75%" bgColor=#f0f0f0>cradle, charger, battery (1), audio adapter, case, CD, Quickstart Guide</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Size Comparison

These pictures will give you a perspective on the size difference between the XDA and the G1000.



Here you can see the G1000 is not that much bigger than the XDA from the top down view. It is boxier around the bottom to account for the keyboard, and it is ballooned out at the top for the antenna and camera. I think they could have avoided the balooning with some more engineering work.



On the left side, you can see that the G1000 has many more buttons. Unlike the i700, thes buttons are recessed to make them easy to use, and difficult to accidentially activate. We will talk about all the cool things they do later.



Not much difference on the left side... both have a volume control.



From this view you can see the top is a bigger, you can see the camera, and the extra LEDs on the G1000. I like this part a lot. Rather than have one LED like the XDA (and i700), there are three. One for network, one for charging, and one for alerts. This makes it much more clear what is going on. And, the other nice feature is that the network LED flashes faster during data transfer. This is very nice, as I had often wondered if anything was going on when a transfer was taking longer than expected.

Display
The display situation is quite interesting. The G1000 has a 16 bit, 65K semi-transparant color TFT LCD display, while the XDA provides a 12 bit, 4K color reflective display. They are both 3.5" and 240x320, proven by the fact that an XDA WriteShield screen protector fits the G1000 very well. The XDA only has 2 settings for the backlight, on and off. The G1000 has 5 backlight settings and defaults to the second highest setting. The picture below shows the difference between the displays with both devices set to the brightest setting.

No jokes about my XDA screen being broken!

In the picture below, both the XDA and G1000 have their screens set to the brightest setting, but the G1000 is still noticably brighter when set at the default setting. The other thing to note is that the XDA has a naked screen here, while the G1000 has a WriteShield installed. Its pretty obvious in this picture the difference in the screens. It is very noticable in person too. I had always considered the XDA screen very good, and still do (my prior device was an Audiovox Maestro... not the best display... same as a Thera). When you put it next to the G1000 you think it looks bad. The color saturation is much more vibrant on the G1000 than on the XDA.



When I reviewed the i700, I found a similar comparison with the XDA indoors, but the i700 display performed poorly in sunlight. That is not the case with the G1000. It is equally good outdoors, and I tested this on a recent trip to the beach... using it in direct sunlight often.

Sound

Both the XDA and G1000 provide similar features for sound. They both provide speakerphone capability, stereo sound, vibrate function. The XDA and i700 ship with stereo earbuds, while the G1000 ships with an audio adapter. The adapter allows you so use a standard 3.5mm stereo headset for music listening. A universal mono-earbud will work in the G1000 without an adapter.

As a speakerphone, both devices perform similarly, but the G1000 has some extra touches. To enable the speakerphone function, you simply press the dedicated speakerphne button below the display. To disable the speakerphone, your reverse this step. For sound quality, they are both very usable as a speakerphone when in a normal office setting, but are tough to use in a noisey environment (as a speakerphone). The G1000 does get a slight edge here as it has an extra speaker on the back of the phone which is used for the speakerphone function. The XDA uses the same speaker as a telephone earpiece for the speakerphone.

The headphone adapters used on the XDA and i700 are different. The XDA requires and adapter to use a standard mobile phone earbud, while the i700 can use a universal earbud. To use standard stereo headphones, an adapter is required for both devices (included with the G1000). Inexpensive adapters are available for the XDA, while no such adapters yet exist for the G1000.