HKC G1000 Dual Sim Windows Mobile 6

This is my first hand look at the HKC G1000 Dual Sim Windows Mobile Pocket PC WM6

Home Screen

The first plugin of the default theme is called TodayShortcut


The first icon shows the day of the week, date, and a big digital clock.

The second icon will show 5 shortcuts for the SMS folders namely Create New SMS, Inbox, Drafts, Sent Items, and the Deleted Items.

The third icon will give you shortcuts to Incoming Calls, Outgoing Calls, Missed Calls, All Calls, and Call Timers.

The fourth is an application launcher containing Search, Notes, Calendar, File Explorer, and Windows Media Player.
I haven't had the time to play around with the registry yet to determine if it is possible to change those shortcuts though.

The fifth icon is for the Settings. Owner Info, Power Management, Memory, Sounds, and Time.

The second plugin is the called Wireless Manager


This shows the 2 sim cards being used. For me, my SIM1 or main sim card is PH Sun Cellular, while my SIM2 or second sim is Globe Telecom PH.
A third icon shows the state of the Bluetooth connectivity.

Tapping on the Wireless Manager plugin will launch this window. From here, you can turn on/off the radio connection for one or both sim cards, and also the Bluetooth.

Dual SIM Function


The top bar shows 2 signal icons for both SIM1 and SIM2 which is fairly accurate. In between those 2 icons, the Data Connection Status for both sims is also shown.

When navigating to the Inbox, you will notice that the message icon includes a digit which is either "1" or "2". "1" means that the sms was sent to the SIM1 and "2" is for the SIM2. But all of the sms messages are stored in the PIM of the phone, unlike that of other dual sim phones.
I have experienced times when the digits in the message icon were not shown.

There is also an option to copy any sms message into either SIM1 or SIM2 memory.

When creating a new sms, if the "Send" (left softkey) menu is pressed, the main (SIM1) is used as the default sim to send the sms. The right softkey menu provides an alternative for the user to send via SIM1 or SIM2.

Yesterday, after installing a few applications, and doing some registry tweaks, i wasn't able to send or receive sms using both sims, so i had to do a hard reset.
This happened 3 times including this morning after i turned on the unit.
After the last hard reset this morning up until now, i haven't had that problem though. I'm still observing the phone right now, that's why i cannot go through with more application installations and more tests on the unit.

UPDATE: (April 30, 2008)
I've found the culprit! The OS somehow doesn't want to accept registry entries created by the message interception API.
Using message interception API, a "Rules" subkey is created inside the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Inbox registry. When the device is restarted, and the subkey is there, you won't be able to send or receive any sms on both sim cards.

Calls

While using one of the sim cards to call, it is possible to receive another call from the second sim card. An alarm is heard when this happens. You can put the first call on hold and then receive the second call.

Sometimes after talking to someone, even if i press the END button on the screen or the RED hardware key, the phone still shows that the call is still connected. I have to wait for it to hang itself up.

CPU

During bootup, it takes quite sometime to load the default plugins. I have tried running CorePlayer, Windows Media Player, and playing a flash game simultaneously but never experienced a hiccup.
I installed SPB Mobile Shell yesterday, i thought it would slow down the device but it didn't.
The 200MHz cpu is quite low for a PPC but somehow the G1000 runs smoothly.

Battery

G1000's battery is 1500mAh. This is my second day after fully recharging the device and my battery is still at 40%. Although my calls and sms sending isn't as heavy as my normal usage.
(May 2, 2008)
After 2 days and more than 200 sms send and received, and 25 incoming calls (24 minutes total) and 42 outgoing calls (43 minutes total), i'm now left with 30% battery life.
So this means that it's battery life is comparable to other Pocket PCs.

Hardware


Samsung i600, HKC G1000, T-Mobile Dash

TransFlash cover

The Hot swappable memory card cover is better than some phone because it's not made out of rubber. The bd thing though is that it's made of plastic and it is susceptible to chipping.



to be continued.....

T-Mobile Dash Mini Review

This is my own review of the T-Mobile Dash smartphone on WM5.

Specs:
Size: 4.4 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches (112 x 62 x 13 mm)
Weight: 4.2 ounces (120g)
Included battery: 960mAh Li-Ion
Talk time: up to 5 hours
Standby time: up to 9 days
Band (frequency): 850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz
Display: LCD (Color TFT/TFD) 65,536 (16-bit) 320 x 240 pixels
Memory: 23 MB

Screen:

The screen has a 320x240 resolution. It is very bright and clear. As a previous XDA Mini and T-Mobile SDA user, it quite a change for me to use a phone with landscape view as a default.

Menu:

The start menu items are arranged in 4 columns and 2 rows. Shortcut keys to launch the menu items are the keys QWER and ASDF.

Clearvue suite is already included in the ROM.

There is also a built-in instant messenger application for YM, AOL, and ICQ.

Keys:

When looking at pictures, the keys may seem too close for people with chubby fingers but in actual usage, they are quite accessible and very tactile. One hand typing is also easy.

There is a dedicated key for launching Tmail.exe on the keypad.

JOGGR:

The JOGGR functionality is very convenient for one hand operation. Just slide your finger up/down twice for continuous scrolling. There are also two buttons located on top and on the bottom of the JOGGR strip. They are used as Home and Back functions.

If the JOGGR function is turned off, the strip can be used to turn up/down the Dash's earpiece volume.

What annoys me though is that i sometimes accidentally touch the JOGGR strip and execute the buttons' functions.

Camera:

The camera UI is different from previous smartphone camera applications i've used.

It has 2x digital zoom, self-timer, brightness adjustment, time stamp, and the other usual camera adjustments for WM smartphones.

Picture quality is ordinary, just like all the other HTC smartphone camera captures.

Sound:

Audio out is very loud compared to other devices. The only problem is that the speaker is located at the back of the unit. When you put the Dash in a holster, the speaker is partially covered so the sound volume is muffled.

Miscellaneous:
The Dash is very slim, it even feels lighter than the T-Mobile SDA, although is is actually heavier.

OS performance is average. When i open a folder, it feels like it takes a little longer to open than that of T-Mobile SDA.

For people who like to remap hardware keys, there are only 3 buttons which can be changed: Top and bottom keys of the JOGGR strip and the T-Zones key on the keypad.

...