Fujitsu-Siemens' Pocket LOOX 720 is an impressive Pocket PC, but the price tag requires a quick trim. mark : 82%
Having always been at the forefront in the 'unadulterated power' department, Fujitsu-Siemens has yet again churned out a handheld which offers impressive specifications. Yet, there is a slight twist to the recipe. No longer an ugly duckling, the Pocket LOOX 720 is the first - aside from its little brother, the LOOX 420 - truly sleek and good-looking handheld to come out of Fujitsu-Siemens, making it one you'd actually want to use among other people. Let's see what it's good for.
Design
The LOOX 720 is unarguably good-looking and slender in its two-tone grey plastic casing. Measuring in at 122 x 72 x 15 mm and 170 g, ones attention is immediately drawn to the glorious 3.6" display with VGA resolution, which is a pleasure to behold in all its crisp- and brightness. Complete with excellent ClearType performance, it is the second smallest display of VGA Pocket PCs available at the time of writing, but nevertheless remains perfectly viewable.
As per usual, we find a five-way directional pad just below the screen, flanked by four shortcut buttons, one of which handily opens a wireless management application, and to the right of which resides the loudspeaker. The power on/off button also resides on the front, however this is located above the screen - where we also find the infrared port tapering towards the top and two LEDs, one of which signals wireless connectivity status and the other alerts.
The left side of the LOOX 720 harbours a lanyard loop, an oh-so-handy 3-way jog dial and a button to bring up Fujitsu-Siemens' own SpeedMenu application. The right side hosts a similar button for bringing up the voice recorder, and sadly both of the latter mentioned offer apalling tactile feedback - quite unlike the front buttons. As could be expected, the bottom offers up a serial/USB connector, whilst the top caters to a 3.5 mm earphone jack; the unit's dual expansion slots and the stylus well.
On the back, we find the (unexcusably protruding with no protection) lens for the 1.3 MP digital camera, adjacent to which resides a vanity mirror and a perfectly adequate photo flash. Results from the camera are slightly under par when compared to those found in recent devices from Nokia and Sony Ericsson, yet like the photo flash fully adequate. Returning briefly to the audio capabilities of the unit, its loudspeaker distorts audio marginally at its highest setting, whilst output through the 3.5 mm jack exhibited no signs of such.
Connectivity
Old habits never die, they say, but the LOOX 720 rids itself from most of the worst wireless traits of previous models. Now sporting Wi-Fi 802.11b with good range and reception, as well as vastly improved Bluetooth support with a broad line-up of profiles, utilizing wireless connectivity on the LOOX 720 is easier than it ever has been. Topping it all off, support is present for LEAP, WEP, WPA and 802.1x - enough to satisfy even the most security-conscious system administrator.
There's even more to the LOOX 720, however, such as dual expansion slots with support for CompactFlash Type II cards as well as SD/MMC Cards, complete with SDIO. For the legacy-concerned, there is also an infrared port, and fast PC connectivity is ensured by the USB connector and included cradle. Rounding out a very positive impression, the LOOX 720 also offers USB Host capabilities, allowing for certain USB devices to be connected to the unit by means of the included tri-purpose synchronization cable.
Specifications
Powered by a 520 MHz Intel PXA272 processor, the LOOX 720 does not utilize the fastest iteration of Intel's processors (which runs at 624 MHz), yet is by no means slow. This is backed up by a gob-smacking 123 MB of user available RAM, which is a boon for power users who install large amounts of software, as well as 28 MB of non-volatile memory; a tad on the short side, but fully mitigated by the amount of RAM - and sufficient for backing up vital data.
The amount of RAM isn't the only gob-smacking feature of the LOOX 720, as the 1640 mAh Lithium Ion battery is also one of the largest default batteries for a handheld in existence. In tests, the LOOX 720 was capable of performing continuous audio playback for a solid 7 hours, with the processor set to automatic and wireless radios switched off; not bad in itself, yet not impressive given the size of the battery.
Software
As with all other VGA Pocket PCs, the LOOX 720 is powered by Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC platform, although comes without the recently added version 10 of Pocket Windows Media Player. This features a number of small improvements over the first edition, most notable of which - with regard to the LOOX 720 - are the hot-swap portrait/landscape modes, system-wide text resizing, the improved reformatting capabilities of Pocket Internet Explorer and improved wireless support.
For some reason, however, it appears Fujitsu-Siemens couldn't resist adding a rather useless application to confuse frequent wireless users. Aiming to provide a unified user interface for all wireless aspects, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared and - for some odd reason - CompactFlash, ConnectMobility-E2C proves more confusing than helpful. Its only upside is that it gathers relevant configuration options in a tabbed view, but a counter-intuitive and all but informative interface sabotage what could have been an excellent idea.
Other aspects of the unit are more positive, such as the excellent wide-range manual gain control for the microphone, plus a simple yet functional equalizer which allows for better results when using earphones. Also, a handy settings applet allows for either manual or automatic control of processor speed, satisfying both power users and the more casual crowd in one fell swoop.
As always, Fujitsu-Siemens included their own SpeedMenu, which like Connectmanager E2C represents the poor execution of a good idea. Fortunately, the self-describing FSC Backup application is more usable, and the Album and Camera applications pertaining to the digital camera are also of high quality. Third party applications are amiss, which is something of a disappointment as previous LOOX models were bundled with various software ranging from the good to the superb.
Overall, the LOOX 720 proved speedy and responsive in comparison with other VGA Pocket PCs, despite lacking a dedicated GPU as found in models from Dell and HP, and even outperformed the ASUS MyPAL A730 in certain side-by-side comparison scenarios.
Availability
The Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket LOOX 720 is at the time of writing available in the majority of European markets, selling in the $700 USD range.
Conclusion
There is no doubting that the LOOX 720 offers an excellent feature set: a fast processor, plenty memory, broad connectivity options and a superb screen are among its strongpoints, as is an attractive design. The software has its drawbacks, but there are no show-stoppers in that department either - yet there is one thing that mars the LOOX 720, and that is its price tag. Better featured Pocket PCs can easily be gotten for less, so unless the digital camera is of prime importance, buyers would be wise to consider alternatives before purchasing.
What's positive:
Fast; roomy memory; superb screen; excellent connectivity
What's negative:
Expensive; camera lens unprotected
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xH) 7.2 cm x 1.5 cm x 12.2 cm
