Posted by masseur
Here is my little look at what I have come to call:-
Mi-mates – The i-mate JasJar and the K-Jam!
I've long been a happy user of pocketpc devices starting with the first iPAQ 3630, then the 3870, 5450, 4150 and the fantastic 4700 with the 4" TFT screen. At no time did I every consider getting the GSM jackets for the early models, or the phone version of later pocket pc devices, or windows mobile as it was later named. i-mate changed all that last year when they introduced the JAM which seemed to be a reliable and pocketable windows mobile phone and indeed proved so during the last 10 months or so.
Now, i-mate have taken the HTC wizard and HTC universal and made the K-Jam and the JasJar. Originally I assumed I would simply upgrade my Jam to the new K-Jam but that model was delayed and the JasJar became available so I thought I'd give it a try out. The trouble is I loved it so much I almost cancelled my K-Jam order but decided to get it so I could compare in my hands and decided which to keep.
So, here is a little review of both devices side by side and at the end you can find my final conclusions about which device I will be keeping.
This is all fairly superficial providing some basic specifications and personal observations so treat it as such, it will also provide some insight to people who have not seen or used a windows mobile phone. I’ll be happy to answer anything I can in more detail.
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Lets start off by looking at the

This is a Windows Mobile 5 Phone Edition device which offers a good variety of connection options including 802.11b wifi, GSM 900/1800/1900Mhz, GPRS and UMTS/3G. This model does not offer EDGE.
Its design is more like a mini laptop than that of a traditional phone and it is quite sizable being 127.7mm long, 81mm wide and 25mm deep and weighs a hefty 285g. This is not the kind of device you will carry on your belt and indeed the case supplied does not have a belt attachment.
Here is a comparison shot with the PSP

The screen supports VGA resolution, like my old iPAQ hx4700 and is a good size too at 3.6 inch, but is limited to 65k colours.
Memory is 128mb of Flash ROM and 64mb SDRAM which is non volatile meaning you won’t lose your data if the battery runs flat
Full details can be found on the i-mate JasJar page
Here is what the box looks like

In the box you get The JasJar, battery, a quick start guide and the user manual, a wall charger which connects to the mini USB on the JasJar, headphones, USB to mini USB sync/charge cable, spare stylus and a getting started CD for JasJar containing activesync 4, outlook 2002 and PDF versions of the various documentation.

The headphones are of note as they look quite stylish and deliver very good sound.

The front of the JasJar provides buttons for the camera activation and voice recorder/voice recognition on the left half. The right half has a backlight activation button and a volume slider. In the centre is the IR port and on the extreme left and right is the stereo speakers

On the back we find the send and end call buttons. Holding the send button for one second also activates the speaker phone. To the left you can see the stylus seated in its silo. The two grey things that look like buttons are actually rubber coverings. One is for a WCDMA antenna connector and the other is for a GSM antenna connector. Moving over to the right is the mini USB port for synching, a soft reset button and a 3 ½ inch headphone socket.

On the right hand side is the power button and full size secure digital card slot

Nothing at all on the left side

On the top there is the i-mate logo and an earpiece, if ever you really want to hold this beast up to your ear for a phone conversation J While viewing here you can also see the status LEDs on either side of the hinge. The LED on the left flashes green when wifi is active and blue when Bluetooth is active. The LED on the right flashes green when a network is available and red when not. It is also used to indicate charging status and various message notifications.

On the bottom is a large thin plastic panel sporting the windows mobile logo and with openings for the 1.3 megapixel CMOS camera and flash light.

Opening the bottom cover and removing the battery shows where the sim card goes. There is a sliding mechanism for holding it in place and there is also a red sliding switch for holding the battery in place.

The battery is 1620mAh but believe me it needs all that as will be explained later.

Here is the JasJar in all its glory, in full mini laptop mode. Note just above the i-mate logo is a little hole. This is a light sensor which decided if the keyboard backlight needs to be on but the sensor can be overridden by a setting so that the keyboard lights up all the time.

Now we start to twist the screen so that the LCD is facing backwards. This is one of the fairly unique and novel things I first noticed when this device was announced

And here is the JasJar in the more traditional PDA style. Here you can see the CIF CMOS camera for video calls and the navigation pad

Lets take a close look at the keyboard now. It has 62 keys which are very well laid out and although not really big enough for touch typing, I found I could type fairly fast. The backlight on the JasJar is red and does help to see the key values which require the press of the FN key. When the backlight is off these red characters are very hard to see in all but the best daylight.
Here is the keyboard with backlight showing in good lighting conditions

And here is the keyboard with backlight in dark conditions. It is very usable in both cases.

I was pleased to see the inclusion of the TAB key, arrow keys, e-mail and internet explorer quick access keys and even an “ok” key! There is a windows key, much like on PC keyboards, but so far I have found it only activates the start menu and doesn’t seem to have any tricks to it like the windows version.
Also on the keyboard is another send and end call button which work just like the external ones. The button with the eye and handset is a video calling button and to the left of that is the contacts button.
On either side of these two keys you’ll find something new in windows mobile 5 for phone, soft keys! The labels for these keys appear on the bottom line of the screen and change depending on the screen or program you are viewing.

The JasJar has quite a versatile main camera. As mentioned, its a 1.3 megapixel CMOS sensor and provides modes for:
- Photo at resolutions of 160x120, 320x240, 640x480, 1280x1024 and 1600x1280
- Video at resolutions of 128x96, 176x144 and 320x240 in both MPEG-4 and Motion-JPEG AVI. Video size is limited to memory available by default but can be restricted to 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds, 1, 2, 3 or 5 or 10 minutes, 50, 100, 250 or 500kb or 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10mb.
- MMS Video at resolutions of 128x96 or 176x144 in either MPEG-4 or H.263 (3GP) format
- Contacts picture at resolution of 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480
- Picture theme offering various frames to put around one, two or groups of people. See later for images of these. You can also add your own!
- Panorama offering a choice of between 3 to 6 pictures to be stitched together and also a choice of direction which can be down-to-up, up-to-down, left-to-right or right to left in resolutions of 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480
- Sport offering a choice of between 5 to 30 images taken at slow, medium or fast interval at resolutions of 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480
- Burst offering slow, medium or fast capture frequency at resolutions of 160x120, 320x240, 640x480 or 1280x1024
All modes have zoom capability up to 2x in increments of .2 and there are several ambiances including Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Flurescent, Night, Greyscale, Sepa, Cool and Negative
Lets now look at JasJar connectivity
The phone, Bluetooth and wifi can be turned on and off using the connectivity/wireless manager and the settings for these are also accessible from here.

- WiFi in the JasJar is limited to 802.11b which does surprise me with the wide availability of 802.11g and also given that the K-JAM offers 802.11g. You will find open, shared, WPA or WPA-PSK authentication combined with WEP or TKIP encryption. Leap authentication completes a very comprehensive set of features.
There is a power save mode offering best performance or best battery life or you can choose a medium balance of the two
- UMTS/3G works very well for data (Internet, email etc) and transitions automatically and smoothly to and from GPRS when on the move, say in a train, as 3G availability changes.
It is maybe a sign of the lack of 3G video calling uptake but I still don't know anyone who does video calling so this has not been tested.
- Bluetooth is v1.1 compliant with class 2 transmit power which gives around 20m range. Profiles include voice dialling, dial up networking and activesync using the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. This is one weak area of the JasJar as you can’t do file transfers etc unless you use 3rd party software. There are rumours that this will be enhanced in a future firmware.
- Infrared IrDA FIR
Pros:
A little more portable than a sub-notebook
Great keyboard for typing
Compact PDA mode or full laptop mode
Great camera flexibility
Cons:
Relatively expensive when compared to a sub-notebook
When twisting the screen to PDA mode it always chooses portrait orientation whereas I almost always use landscape. If I power off in landscape orientation while in PDA mode, when I power on again it revert to portrait – annoying!
Short battery life when using it to its full potential
No soft keys in PDA mode
That gives you an insight into the excellent JasJar so now lets explore the

This is a Windows Mobile 5 Phone Edition device which offers a good variety of connection options including 802.11b and 802.11g wifi, GSM 900/1800/1900Mhz, GPRS and EDGE. UMTS/3G would have completed the set but I guess the marketing guru's decided to give that to the JasJar
It shares a similar design to the original JAM model but now incorporates a fairly usable slide out keyboard from behind the screen.
Its design is more like a mini laptop than that of a traditional phone and it is quite sizable being 108mm long, 58mm wide and 23.7mm deep and weighs an acceptable 160g given its size and function.
Here are some comparison shots with the K750



The 2.8 inch transflective screen supports 240x320 resolution with 65k colours and is very readable, even for me without my reading glasses.
Memory is 128mb of Flash ROM and 64mb SDRAM which is non volatile meaning you won’t lose your data if the battery runs flat
Full details can be found on the i-mate K-Jam page
Here is what the box looks like

In the box you get the K-Jam, battery, a quick start guide and the user manual, a wall charger which connects to the mini USB on the K-Jam, headphones, USB to mini USB sync/charge cable, spare stylus and a getting started CD for K-Jam containing activesync 4, outlook 2002 and PDF versions of the various documentation.

Looking around the K-Jam
On the front side is the screen which fills a good proportion of the area available. Above the screen are quick access buttons for email and internet and the earpiece used during phone calls. Below the screen is the D-pad, send and end call buttons and the buttons for the two soft keys.

The top has the power button and the slot for the mini-SD cards

On the Bottom you can see the mini-USB port, 2.5mm headset socket and the back cover release switch. Visible from here also is the wrist strap hook on the left and the stylus on the right.

Looking from left to right on the right hand side there is the camera button, soft reset hole, infra red port and the voice dialling button.

The left hand side has the comm manager button and the volume slider

Looking at the back of the K-Jam there is the 1.3 megapixel CMOS camera, flash light and external antenna socket (covered by a small piece of plastic). You can also once again see the wrist strap hook and the stylus

Removing the back cover and battery this is what we have inside where the sim card goes

The battery offering 1250mAh

Here is what it looks like with the keyboard open

Looking closer at the keyboard you can see it has some compromises fitting the numeric digits into the qwerty line and placing other symbols on the other keys. Indeed every key has dual purpose. Having used the JasJar I was pleased to see they still left the TAB key on here together with the windows start key and the ok key. At the top of the keyboard are the buttons for the two soft keys so that you have access to the soft keys in both portrait and landscape modes.
The keyboard has a backlight, useful for typing in the dark. Here is what it looks like in low light

And also in the dark.


The K-Jam has quite a versatile main camera. As mentioned, its a 1.3 megapixel CMOS sensor and provides modes for:
- Photo at resolutions of 160x120, 320x240, 640x480, 1.3 megapixel and scaled 1600x1280 which can be stored as JPG or BMP
- Video at resolutions of 128x96, 176x144 and 320x240 in both MPEG-4 and Motion-JPEG AVI. Video size is limited to memory available by default but can be restricted to 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds, 1, 2, 3 or 5 or 10 minutes, 50, 100, 250 or 500kb or 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10mb.
- MMS Video at resolutions of 128x96 or 176x144 in either MPEG-4 or H.263 (3GP) format
- Contacts picture at resolution of 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480
- Picture theme offering various frames to put around one, two or groups of people. See later for images of these. You can also add your own!
- Sport offering a choice of between 5 to 30 images taken at slow or fast interval at resolutions of 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480
- Burst offering slow or fast capture frequency at resolutions of 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480
Unfortunately it is missing the panorama mode that the JasJar has.
All modes have zoom capability up to 2x in increments of .2 and there are several ambiances including Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Florescent, Night, Greyscale, Sepa, Cool and Negative
Lets now look at K-Jam connectivity
The phone, Bluetooth and wifi can be turned on and off using the comm manager and the settings for these are also accessible from here.

- WiFi in the K-Jam works at both 802.11b and 802.11g standards. You will find open, shared, WPA or WPA-PSK authentication combined with WEP or TKIP encryption. Leap authentication completes a very comprehensive set of features.
There is a power save mode offering best performance or best battery life or you can choose a medium balance of the two
- Bluetooth is v1.1 compliant with class 2 transmit power which gives around 20m range. Profiles include voice dialling, dial up networking and activesync using the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. This is one weak area of the JasJar as you can’t do file transfers etc unless you use 3rd party software. There are rumours that this will be enhanced in a future firmware.
- Infrared IrDA FIR
Pros:
Soft keys making one handed operation a breeze
Great battery life
Useful keyboard when needed
Cons:
No panorama function in camera
I really can’t think of much else!
Having seen something of both devices individually lets check out the common features
Stylus
I prefer the feel of the JasJar stylus for writing or drawing on the screen. Interestingly, although its already small, the K-Jam stylus is telescopic!


Windows Mobile 5 applications
Windows mobile 5 comes with a comprehensive suite of software to make these devices very productive. In the same way that Microsoft renamed PocketPC to Windows Mobile, they have now also renamed their software from “Pocket” to “Mobile”, except (strangely enough) for Pocket MSN!
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I actually used word mobile when starting this review to form an outline of what I wanted to include. It provides all the basic formatting and spelling you would need for creating documents on the go
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is a fairly useful version of the PC application providing multi sheet workbooks, a vast array of mathematical functions, charts, symbols, formatting, sorting and also auto filtering. One feature is missing that I use quite a lot and that is pivot tables.
Here are some sample screens showing my pilots log book details that I manage in Excel
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allows viewing of presentations and slide shows created in the PC version
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is a very useful PDF viewer though I have found some larger PDF files that it doesn't seem able to open.
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Contacts synchronising most of the details available in the PC version including multiple phone numbers, email addresses, pager, web page, birthday, anniversary, children names etc etc and also the notes from the contact.
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Calendar also synchronises most of the details available in the PC version
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again synchronises all the notes available in the PC outlook. I use this extensively and was frustrated when the K700 only allowed 10 of these and the K750 allowed not many more.
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This allow prioritisation and setting goal dates, and if you use this feature heavily and have many tasks you can filter and sort them
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gives access to text and multi media messages, pop3 and imap4 accounts and also access to you hotmail account if your hotmail or msn account details have been given. You can set up to receive only headers or full text up to a specified size. You can also limit emails displayed to the last n days and you can also specify an interval between 1 and 60 minutes (in 1 minute increments unlike SE phones) to automatically connect and retrieve new emails.
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provides a good browsing experience and seems to handle wap pages better than earlier versions. Full screen mode is also available as is saving images and linking to streaming content.
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is now at version 10 and offers excellent playback and streaming capabilities. Its also handy that activesync can now use the PC versions sync capabilities to get the music and videos onto your device. Its built in library is improved and shows categories for my music, my videos, my TV and my lpaylists. My music is broken down ino artist, album or genre It can show album art from the music you are listening to and it supports WMA, WMV, MP3.
Click here for more information on Windows Media Player 10 Mobile.
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as seen here in the today screen, provides access to msn messenger and hotmail
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Activesync version 4 is supplied on CD with these i-mates as the latest version 3.8 available at the windows mobile site does not work with Windows Mobile version 5.
The look of this has now changed and also there is now a settings allowing you to sync media via windows media player. Unfortunately I find it is much slower than earlier versions at synchronising so I hope Microsoft are working on that. Also, the integrated Avantgo client no longer works with this version of activesync.
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is the utility which allows you to load java applications and run them in their own environment. I have tried the k700 converter and world clock applets but they do not work unfortunately. Other software I have downloaded from the net work fin but native windows mobile applications are preferable in my opinion.
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is the utility used to enable or disable Bluetooth, wifi etc
This is the JasJar version
And this is the K-Jam version
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allows you to manage the phone numbers on your sim card. As you can see from the image below, I don’t keep number on my sim card as they are all in outlook. The sim manager also gives you information about the storage capability of the sim card.
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allows connection to terminal services on NT or Windows 2000 servers etc.
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provides easy setup for the device to be used as a modem, either by Bluetooth or USB cable, from a pc
Additional software supplied by i-mate
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is included on both devices for making telephone calls via the internet
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Zip utility which can find all zip archives in the device and provides add and extract file capabilities
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is only available on the JasJar and provides an alternative method to hard reset the device rather than the two button – soft reset method

I should also mention Avantgo as I have been using this to read content offline since the days of the Palm III and these days I use the premium service giving me 8mb instead of 2mb of content. I used to let activesync put the content onto the device but the integrated client is no longer compatible with activesync 4 so I have to use the full windows mobile client. That works great on the K-Jam but doesn’t display very well on the VGA resolution screen of the JasJar as you can see here.




Incompatible apps
Unfortunately some of my old applications no longer work with Windows Mobile 5. These include Worldmate and Smart Filter and others but I am informed that new versions are being produced soon.
There is a site devoted to this topic so if you’re moving to Windows Mobile 5 then check out WM5FixSite.com
Extended rom
Bother devices have extended ROM in which i-mate have supplied their extras, including operator settings which takes a lot of hassle out of the setup.
Here is what is in the JasJar has

And here is what the K-Jam has

Battery comparison
Its reasonable to expect that the faster processor, larger screen JasJar is likely to consume battery power at a higher rate than the K-Jam and that is quite a correct assumption. However, the JasJar does have a 1620 mAh battery compared with 1250 mAh in the K-Jam. That said, while testing both devices doing very similar tasks for similar durations, I would get home at the end of the day with around 30% battery remaining in the JasJar compared to around 60% in the K-Jam. Indeed I was often worried the JasJar battery was going to be flat before I reached home making the device useless to me.
Phone functions
The phone dialling pad is a good size and can be easily used with your fingers or thumb. A link to a speed dial page is offered as is your call history and a soft key gives you access to your contacts. The JasJar also has a separate button for video calling.

Speed dial

Call history

Looking closer at the voice dialling capabilities, there was a rumours at one time that Microsoft Voice Command but in fact software call Voice Speed Dial from Cyberon is installed. This gives you the option to define voice tags for numbers in the contacts list and/or sim card and also assign voice tags to applications



Although the Windows Mobile phones were derived from the pocket pc platform, they are no less feature rich in the phone department than any normal phone. Here are some settings screens for the phone.





Input methods
Windows mobile devices have many soft input method choices so lets take a look at those

Obviously there is the standard keyboard. Clicking





Transcriber is interesting in that it allows the user to write whole words though I prefer the full software called calligrapher


Next is the phone pad which I know many windows mobile users like and it offers similar features to a standard mobile phone including T9 etc




Letter recogniser and Block recogniser are variations on the Palm devices input methods


Photos
Both the JasJar and the K-Jam have 1.3 megapixel cameras and most of the camera functions and settings are the same with two notable exceptions.
Firstly, the K_Jam does not have the panorama function which for me is a little disappointing.
Secondly, while the k-jam has a resolution setting to match the native resolution of the camera, i.e. 1.3 megapixel, the JasJar does not. It has 1 megapixel or 2 megapixels. It is also interesting that the K-Jam shows the 2 megapixel setting as scaled whereas the JasJar does not. This originally made me think that maybe the JasJar was, in fact, a 2 megapixel camera.
Here are some sample images to compare.
JasJar 1 megapixel images


JasJar 2 megapixel images


JasJar Panorama (left to right) image

JasJar Panorama (up to down) image

K-Jam 1.3 megapixel images


K-Jam 2 megapixel images


K-Jam assorted images



Entertainment
Windows media 10 is included on both devices as mentioned earlier…
While I have never watched a full length movie on a PDA or phone I do enjoy watching music videos and make my own from my music video DVDs using Pocket DVD Studio which does an excellent job. I watch them using TCPMP formerly known as betaplayer.
Here is a couple of screen captures of a well known music video I enjoy watching smiley


My personal conclusions
After several weeks with both devices I am now happy in my decision to keep the K-Jam and sell the JasJar.
I have always had a problem with large devices, not matter what their functionality. I believe useful devices have to be not noticed when not needed but be totally useful when needed. This has been the primary reason why I have sold each of the P series I have owned and really, I found the JasJar just that little too large to carry with me at times when I didn’t have a brief case or jacket pocket whereas the K-Jam sits nicely and unobtrusively on my belt until a call comes in or I need to check my email etc.
I did, however, try to live with that initially and certainly the large screen, 3G data and fantastic keyboard won me over but before the size started to annoy me the battery life was already an issue. As with expecting devices I carry to be out of the way until needed, I also don’t expect to have to worry about whether the device power will last me the full day until I get home. I use my devices alot and the JasJar running out of power worried me a lot.
Initially, the K-Jam keyboard concerned me as many regularly used keys are in strange places but after a week or so I have become used to this and don’t even think about it now. I can type fairly fast with two thumbs and that’s good enough for me.
What really attracts me to the K-Jam though is that I can pull it from the belt case with one hand and check my email, check esato and do several other activities with one hand and no stylus. The new soft keys that windows mobile 5 has introduced makes doing one handed operations dead easy. Its unfortunate that the soft keys on the JasJar are on the main keyboard and thus are hidden by the screen until it is opened up which is definitely a two handed operation.
Having had the Jam before this I was disappointed that the K-Jam now uses the mini-SD cards when I already have a 2gb standard size SD card. This caused me extra expense to get a 1gb mini-SD card and also further disappointment that, in fact, only 1gb is currently available so I have had to reduce the amount of music and music videos I now carry with me. I guess 2gb mini-SD cards are not too far away though.
While on that subject, it is interesting to see the different sizes of the memory cards in my K750, JasJar and K-Jam. Although I used mini-SD last year in my i-mate SP3i I had forgotten just how small they are!

Having seen the memory cards that each take, lets also see a size comparison between the JasJar, K-Jam and K750

And here is the JasJar vs K-Jam with keyboards ready to go!

JasJar and K-Jam links
Esato threads
World's First Windows Mobile 5.0 Device
many new real pictures of the htc wizard!
i-mate K-JAM
htc wizard or htc universal?
External links
i-mate home page
i-mate JasJar product page
i-mate K-Jam product page
WM5FixSite.com (lists windows mobile 5 compatible/incompatible software)
TCPMP (the video player I use)
SuperSnap (the windows mobile screen capture program I use)
Introducing Windows Mobile 5.0 (Microsoft)
_________________
Unless I'm very much mistaken...
my reviews: V800 K700i
[ This Message was edited by: masseur on 2005-11-20 21:47 ]
Posted by DickySnapples
excelent review masseur,many thanks

p.s- if youve still got it to sell,how much for the JASJAR?
many thanks
Posted by Lembo
Hey Masseur! Looks like someones left their makeup case above your psp


....just joking

Posted by rj
nice.. i have my fab. 3 aswell.. Kjam, jasjar and my favorite jam :)
Posted by mad4mobiles
great great review mate really sweet!
Posted by mork
HI,
great review !!!=)
...i was wondering if you can reply to a couple of questions i'm having a hard time getting answered...
with the K-JAM :
VIDEO QUESTION
can you STREAM videos from your computer / router ( mine is 802.11b ) to the K-JAM without experiencing saccades ?
i'm talking about .avi ( divx,xvid, mostly ) or .mpg files NOT CONVERTED to low rez or bitrate usually around 700MB long ( movie rips ).
is there a difference in performance with videos of 640x480 and lower, or is it all good in the end ?
SKYPE QUESTION
i've been hearing skype does not work properly on the K-JAM, but other people suggest turning ECHO CANCELLATION off to have regular performance without problems.
what's your experience on this ?
THANKS !
Posted by 50Cent
Excellent review

Posted by Qoastro
Great review! Wish I had the money to buy one now

Posted by masseur
@mork, welcome to Esato!
thanks for the feedback, it always welcome.
good questions too.
1. I have streamed a couple of things direct from the web to my k-jam through my router but since my router supports 802.11g that is the connection I have used and I have not experienced and flickering issues at all.
I can test the exact scenario you describe by setting my wifi router to 802.11b only and see what results I get (but after a very liquid lunch I might do this tomorrow

regarding skype, echo cancellation is off by default and the few calls I have tested so far have been quite successful. I hadn't used skype prior to this and am quite impressed actually.
Posted by mork
Quote: |
|
...thanks for your prompt reply, glad to hear about the SKYPE successful test. Did you use the GSM/EDGE connection for your calls, or wi-fi ?
also, since WM5 supports auto-roaming, has it happened to you already to be exchanging data via wifi, then move away from the router and continue browsing/skyping on EDGE automatically ( and the opposite ) ?
...or do you have to manually reset the network to go on ?
Looking forward to your video test when you have more time to play with your K-JAM. I would LOVE to be able to stream my divx movies on the PC HD / 802.11b in the living room directly to the K-JAM in my bedroom ( around 7 meters away one door in between ) without having to convert the 700Mb files every time... =P
...even if it means i have to buy a 802.11g router ( or move the 802.11b closer to the bedroom ), SKYPE and video would be my BUY NOW factor, instead of waiting for the HTC HERMES in 9 months

THANK YOU !
[ This Message was edited by: mork on 2005-10-24 00:43 ]
[ This Message was edited by: mork on 2005-10-24 01:35 ]
Posted by J273
@Masseur
How do you find the k-jams speed compard yo your 128mb superjam you had.
Do you find it an upgarde or downgrade from the jam (with it only having half ram .etc .etc)?
Is the speed comparable to the jam with this running wm5.is it as fast as the 128mb superjam would you say?
Thanks in advance
Posted by Kryptik
Good review, M. You've touched on the 1 thing many people mostly regard as irrelevant, i.e. one-handed operation. It's certainly cumbersome having to fiddle about with both hands, particularly in a social setting. Given a few more years we're bound to see these devices in much smaller packages, so i suppose a bit of patience would be in order while the design gurus scale em down

Posted by masseur
@mork, I tested with wifi only. If I'm on GPRS (no EDGE in UK) then I'm not sure that the data charges would make it worthwhile making the call using that as against using my normal service provider where I have free calls included in my tariff.
also, since WM5 supports auto-roaming, has it happened to you already to be exchanging data via wifi, then move away from the router and continue browsing/skyping on EDGE automatically ( and the opposite ) ?
...or do you have to manually reset the network to go on ?
it does move smoothly from wifi to GPRS without intervention. on this subject I notice that even if I have a preferred wifi station nearby, but one that requires me to sign in, then the unit still chooses GPRS over the wifi connection.
Quote: |
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I do already have an 802.11g wireless router in the house so will certainly try this sometime soon. I'm still a bit ho-hum about skype but haven't really used it enough to decide one way or the other
@J273, in the hand its very comfortable. in portrait mode the k-jam has a rounded back to it but I mostly use landscape and with the extra width given by the open keyboard it makes holding the device much more stable.
I didn't go for the superjam. I just had the standard. I always have large memory cards (2gb SD) and install virtually everything there so internal memory is really just for running stuff. For this reason I don't notice any slowdown and in fact I'd say the k-jam is much snappier than the original jam. The only issue I have, and it was the same with the jasjar, is that occassionaly displaying icons in programs or settings can be a bit jerky.
Is the speed comparable to the jam with this running wm5.is it as fast as the 128mb superjam would you say?
@Kryptik, I really do get alot done one handed on the device compared with my old Jam
Posted by mork
thanks for your SKYPE reply MASSEUR, much appreciated and right on the spot as far as i am concerned...
=)
...ORANGE released the SPV m3000 here in france today, and now i'm totally DROOLING for real...
=P
...will wait for your streaming video test before i take the final decision...

Posted by myp800
@masseur thanks for the review facing the same choices i think I'll opt for the k jam if it comes out in the uk
@mork is the spv 3000 equivalent to the Kjam
Posted by masseur
the k-jam is available in UK. I got mine in UK at Expansys
Posted by mork
yes, the K-JAM is rebranded by ORANGE as SPV M3000 =)
Posted by irfan
Has anyone else got the o2 version of the jas-jar and confirm it doesnt come with skype
Posted by DickySnapples
i was gonna go for the k-jam.but after much deliberation,i just thought,screw it im getting a JasJar, i should be ordering it in the next day or so

Posted by DickySnapples
masseur- on the k-jam/JASJAR if the battery drains completly will all Data on the device be lost?(like my Jam did)
Posted by masseur
well, I've never fully drained the jasjar or k-jam but I have read that the windows mobile 5 spec requires the devices to use non volatile memory such that if the battery does fully drain, no data is lost, the device simlpy powers off
Posted by ofiaich
Hi masseur,
I have some easy questions! I think I know the answer to the first one.
Is the JasJar available from o2 and is called the O2 XDA Exec - 3G ?
I guess the two units are the same except for O2 branding ?
I am also wondering about Pocket Outlook for e-mail.
Can I add fonts and make, for example, Japanese my default language for emails? I know I can do this easily with Windows XP but I do not know much about Pocketpc devices.
I know I can receive and send email in Japanese with my Tungsten T3 but I need to carry a spare phone around for connections.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Now back to my searches.....
Ofiaich
Posted by irfan
Hi I can offer and answer or two seeing as I have often benefitted from the advice of others..
IT IS THE SAME but apart from the branding there are a couple of things you cant do or at least i havent been able to do so far...change the custom desktop screen and oddly place a new folder but the latter may just be me for the moment (the customisation is same as for many brnded phones i suppose...also a point masseur made to me was that you cant get imate support and as o2's wont be that good im presuming then THAT too may be a hinderance.
3g would be the same
Posted by ofiaich
Thanks Irfan,
OK..
The email setup is vital for me. As I said, my Tungsten T3 works perfectly for Japanese....
and I know how to add fonts etc in Win XP's Outlook Express and Outlook, but what about such support for this device?
This will be a key issue for me!
Ofiaich
Posted by mork
guys,
have anyone among you lucky owners of a K-JAM finally managed to stream an .avi movie ( 700Mb and not 640x480 or 320x240 ) from the PC to your smartphone through an 802.11b or 802.11g wifi connection without saccades yet ?
i still fail to find confirmation of this online, and i'm hurting everytime i talk on my dying cell unable to upgrade just yet because i couldn't find the answer to this question to make up my mind...
=P
...i'm hoping you have some good news.
THANKS !=)
Posted by DickySnapples
ordered a K-JAM from www.mphone.co.uk on friday morning,still hasnt arrived.Im getting a little worried now!
Posted by masseur
mphone are ok. I've bought from them a couple of times without issue. perhaps they don't have stock so just send them an email or give them a call to check on the status
Posted by DickySnapples
got my kjam this morning.absolutely loving it!
Posted by masseur
its definitly number 1 in my books though I am having trouble letting go of my K750 which, unfortunately, seems relegated to servicing me only as a radio at present. shame the k-jam didn't include the radio that a very few of the latest windows mobile 5 devices are offering
Posted by irfan
Hi Masseur long time since i asked anything silly of you.........but have I been done by o2?..........no skype and no pdf viewer........and if its just bad luck would i be able to transfer the quickoffice viewer on my p910 to the jasjar or are they totally different file types?
Posted by masseur
sorry, I can't tell you any specifics of what is preinstalled on the O2 exec.
For skype you can download this directly from the skype web site.
Unfortunately I don't know of any free PDF viewers and definitly symbian programs won't work on windows mobile devices
Posted by ofiaich
Hi masseur!
You pm-ed me some links the other day, but ....... the bookmark function in my brain, short-circuited....
Could you post them for me again, I want to investigate the possibility of putting Japanese on the JasJar, and sending and receiving emails in Japanese!
thanks!
Ofiaich
Posted by masseur
I've sent a copy of that PM but I was suggesting you look at the forums of pocketpcthoughts or xda-developers.com as I have no experience of changing languages
good luck!
Posted by ofiaich
masseur!
that's great! Thanks!!!
I will start again from here...
update - forum.xda-developers.com has great information,
http://forum.xda-developers.c[....]php?t=19099&highlight=japanese
but at least, 3 large Irish Whiskies are needed before attempting.
I'll sort those out first!

Ofiaich
[ This Message was edited by: ofiaich on 2005-11-13 19:51 ]
Posted by irfan
Thanks as always Masseur
Posted by irfan
with all the name confusions ie. mini or mini pro
and although THIS LOOKS like the k-jam im not 100% sure can anyone confirm it IS
Phone Details - O2 XDA Mini
Your selection so far:
1. Phone
Select a phone below
2. Tariff
Select a tariff >
3. Extras
Select extras >
Cost of Phone: 1
Pay Monthly
£99.99
Pay as you Go
Not available
Empty
The smallest XDA yet
1.3 megapixel camera with flash for high quality photos
WIFI for high speed internet access
Free standard delivery
You can easily keep your mobile number
O2 XDA Mini
Phone Specifications and Features
Camera
Yes - 1.3 megapixel
Video
Yes
MP3 Player
Yes
3G
No
Email Client
Yes
Ringtones
Polyphonic & MP3
Screen Colours
64k
Java Games
Yes
Picture Messages
Yes
Photo Phonebook
Yes
WAP
Yes
HTML Browser
Yes
Instant Messenger
Yes
GPRS
Yes
Bluetooth
Yes
Operating System
Windows Mobile v5
Speaker Phone
Yes
PC Sync
Yes
Memory Card
Yes - Mini SD
Band
Quad - Use it anywhere in the world
Size
109 x 58 x 24mm
Weight
160g
Standby Time
Up to 200 hours
Talk Time
Up to 5 hours
_________________
[ This Message was edited by: irfan on 2005-11-22 12:42 ]
Posted by masseur
that certainly describes the k-jam but according to this PDF chart O2 call this the XDA mini PRO, not just XDA mini as mentioned at the top of your post whereas the original JAM variant was called XDA II mini by O2
Posted by irfan
I know Masseur thast what confused me because it was specifically the chart you had kindly put on that i was looking at. EVEN THE PICTURE looks like the KJAM
Posted by masseur
@irfran, btw, don't pay £99, pay £74.99 on a 12 month £19 contract

Posted by TheWhizz_68
Its the 'o2 xda mini s' you want matey.
Posted by irfan
To Masseur.......thanks...lucky i have been too busy to buy yet then but why is it two different prices on the same site though do you think? and i take it your post confirms IT IS the kjam right?
To Whizz....are YOU saying it isnt? and i should be waiting for something other than THIS?
thanks to both for replies
Posted by TheWhizz_68
You want the 'o2 xda mini s' mate if your after a k jam from o2.
It is the one masseur linked you to but not sure if its in stock though so your best to ring and check.
Posted by irfan
Thanks Whiz..will check up on it today
Posted by TheWhizz_68
I got mine thru from o2 and its a great device, still getting use to it though

Posted by masseur
feel free to ask anything you like except I won't be able to help you with specific O2 custom items of course
btw, I'm using SPB Plus and SPB Weather on my today page and SPB time as my large clock (with the Big Ben theme)
Posted by TheWhizz_68
Quote: |
|
Thanks mate

Posted by irfan
Masseur this may sound daft ..............esp as u seem a stand up guy with principals etc..........but you BUY ALL that software.........honestly Im just asking coz i know you prob keep ur phones updated with all the latest gear etc.........must cost you a fortune
Posted by masseur
absolutely I buy all that. In fact I am also a beta tester for 2 of those 3 SPB products but that doesn't get me any discounts, unfortunately. I do it because they are good products that I want to help make better
I can say with full honesty that I do not have one piece of unlicenced software on my pc or mobile devices
Posted by batesie
excellent review, ive only just got round to reading it all. i'm impressed masseur

Posted by irfan
I didnt doubt it of YOU for a second.........im rather sad in that I spend money on the phones and the FORCED contracts but never BUY much software........but i dont use unlicensed stuff............just legitimate freebies and trials...........but im not saying im a saint.......i admit i use unlicensed stuff for my pc.....which is basically just as wrong