O2 XDA Mini S Review

Posted by Neil Crosby on February 15, 2006 09:52 PM

Yesterday, my brand new O2 XDA Mini S arrived. I’d only ordered it on sunday and had been told to expect it to arrive 7 to 10 working days later - not something I was particularly relishing. So it came as something of a surprise when I found it waiting for me when I arrived home from work.

The “out of box experience” with the Mini S was fantastic - without wanting to spoil the surprise for anyone who does decide to buy this phone, these guys have really taken a leaf out of Apple’s book when it comes to packaging. As I opened the box for the first time I let out an audible “ooooh”, and called Becca through to show her how wonderful the box was. Thankfully she didn’t chastise me too much for pulling her away from the fantastic Valentine’s Day dinner that she was cooking, and didn’t think I was too crazy for cooing over a box.

The phone itself is only slightly larger than my previous one (the Nokia 6600), although once it’s in its case it does seem considerably bigger. The interface is a lot different than I’m used to on a phone, since truth be told this isn’t really a phone at all - it’s a tiny computer.

The Mini S runs Windows Mobile 2005, which after a day’s worth of use seems absolutely up to the task ahead of it. Admittedly, I’ve only really written this entry on it, sent a few texts and played a couple of games, but things still seem good. The touch sensitive screen is absolutely huge, and really quite easy to control with the little pointy stick that came with it. It’s got a 1.3MP Camera, Bluetooth and a miniSD slot. It’s also got proper wireless access built into it, so when I’m at home I can connect to our home network and surf the internet a lot more quickly than I ever would be able to via GPRS.

The killer feature of the Mini S, and what actually sold it to me was the fact that it has an inbuilt, slide out, QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard slides out of the side of the Mini S, and when it does the screen automatically re-orients itself so that it’s facing the right way for you to be able to type comfortably. The keyboard itself is just large enough to be able to use, although obviously I wouldn’t want to use it for huge lengths of time. Right now, I’m thinking that it’s just right for letting me write a few bits and pieces for the site whilst I’m on the train to and from work every day. After all, this is the reason why I bought it in the first place!

I don’t know how comfortable I’m going to be with using it as a phone though. I got annoyed enough with smudging my face over the screen of my previous phone – God only knows what I’m going to be like with this! There is a solution to this, however, in the shape of the headphones/microphone doodad that came with the phone. Bizarrely, the cords of the earphones feel like they’re made of a kind of fabric, rather than the normal plastic of earphone cords. It’s strange, to say the least. Of course, if I don’t get on with them, then I could just use my Bluetooth headset instead.

All in all, I really do like my new toy. It’s going to take a little playing with before I’m completely comfortable with it, but I’m glad I’ve got it. Now to go read the manual…

By the way, this phone is also known as the Qtek 9100, the iMate KJam, or the T-Mobile MDA Vario, depending on where you get it from. You can buy it (and you know you want to) as the iMate KJam from amazon.

If you enjoyed reading this and would like other people to read it as well, please add it to del.icio.us, digg or furl.

If you really enjoyed what you just read, why not buy yourself something from Amazon? You get something nice for yourself, and I get a little bit of commission to pay for servers and the like. Everyone's a winner!

comments (90) | write a comment | permalink | View blog reactions

Comments

  1. by Gavin Weal on March 7, 2006 03:51 PM

    I am looking to purchase an XDA mini s, but need to make sure that it can sync with Novell Groupwise, as that is the system that I use at work? Any ideas?

  2. by steve on March 8, 2006 03:35 PM

    Hi, i was wondering what the in call voice quality is like? i have read reviews and they say it is very poor. what is your opinion on it? thanks steven

  3. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on March 8, 2006 07:12 PM

    In call voice quality isn’t the best I’m afraid Steven. It’s decent enough, but nowhere near as good as my old Nokia 6600 in this regard. But phonecalls really isn’t what I use the phone for - I’m much more of a text person, and I’m really enjoying using the calendar and to do list.

  4. by scott on March 10, 2006 01:11 PM

    I use this phone for business. I work on builders sites, so you can guess theres lots of noise! I must take around 8 phone calls a day and i have never had a problem with quality yet!

  5. by Anonymous on March 12, 2006 01:21 AM

    thanks for the reply, also wondering how much memory does it have, or is there a memory card slot? if there is what type is it.

    Im thinking about upgrading my phone but my contract runs out in june… looks like i might have to do some haggling :)

  6. by Anonymous on March 12, 2006 01:23 AM

    sorry just re read you post, got a mini sd slot

  7. by joey on March 15, 2006 08:26 PM

    just wondering if anyone knew if i could put tomtom mobile on this?

    thanks in advanced

  8. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on March 19, 2006 08:40 PM

    Joey: I’ve had a look at the TomTom Mobile site, and it doesn’t say anywhere there that you can use this phone with it I’m afraid. However, the phone is pretty new so it’s quit possible that whoever’s in charge of the minisite just hasn’t updated it yet. Your best bet would be to contact them directly. Let me know what you find out?

  9. by robeeenio on April 20, 2006 10:40 PM

    YOu can put TomTom on it. Use the version for pocket pcs. I’ve done it with an imate jam (o2 xda mini, orange spv m500 etc..) and it workds just fine.

  10. by Benjimoose on April 26, 2006 03:36 PM

    Hi there i just got mine xda mini.All nice!!Very satisfied any questions? email me at:benjaminpol@op.pl

  11. by Brad Jenkins on May 10, 2006 05:15 PM

    I’m curious if you know if the XDA Mini S is compatable with a mac? i have a powerbook and I wnat to make sure it will work before I buy. Thanks

  12. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on May 11, 2006 06:49 AM

    Brad Jenkins: The XDA Mini S does not sync with the Mac using iSync due to it running Windows Mobile 5 (Microsoft apparently changed considerably the way that connecting to Windows Mobile happened in v5 compared to previous versions).

    However, there is one piece of software that will do the job - The Missing Sync. This is a paid piece of software (39.95 USD, with a 14 day free trial) which aims to replicate iSync functionality for devices which don’t already have it. The only problem is that there isn’t a stable version for Windows Mobile 5 yet.

    Instead, if you want to try to use the XDA Mini S with the Mac, you have to use the latest alpha version of the software. I am currently using this, and it does sync for me but there are some issues disconnecting the device from the Mac. I’m a little annoyed that in order to use the alpha software past 14 days that I would have to pay to register a previous version of the software and then use that registration code to unlock the alpha software again. People should not have to pay to use alpha versions of software! After all, are we not performing valuable testing of the product that just would not be able to happen inside the confines of the company?

    So, in summary, yes you can sync the XDA Mini S with the Mac but it isn’t exactly stable yet.

  13. by Brad Jenkins on May 12, 2006 09:25 AM

    Thanks! One more question: Do you know if Entourage?

  14. by Brad Jenkins on May 12, 2006 09:27 AM

    That didn’t make sense…I meant to say: “do you know if missing sync will sync with Entourage?”

  15. by Robby on May 12, 2006 04:02 PM

    Hi,

    I am curious if email on this device can be configured to my company exchange server? What are the requirements. I asked O2 tech support but the answer was that it can but we don’t support it. Hrrmmm! cheers

  16. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on May 12, 2006 06:17 PM

    Brad Jenkins: Don’t worry about making sense - I’m sure I often don’t :) Anyway, in answer to your question, The Missing Sync does have an option to sync with Entourage. However, I don’t use Entourage myself, so I can’t vouch for it working.

    Robby: I’m afraid I don’t know how you’d go about doing that. I just connect to a POP mail server to get my email.

  17. by Eamonn Mcfarlane on May 18, 2006 04:58 PM

    Hi,just got my xda mini and it’s brilliant…but do have a couple of queries if anyone can help.. I can’t seem to sync my contacts using Activesync..i can’t tick the box for contacts in the settings for choosing what you want to sync ie mail files etc…Secondly when i access my mail from outlook it downloads all the crap i’ve managed to filter out from my account.. is it something my isp can configure?…any ideas? Reply to Roby ref company exchange server..I believe you need dial up info and passwords and other info from your company it administrator.. it’s not a great deal different to your standard mail from what i’ve read Cheers

  18. by Brad Jenkins on May 20, 2006 09:34 AM

    A follow up question to you response above. How do I get ahold of the “alpha” version? Is that the same thing as buying the normal software? I downloaded the trial, but it’s not letting me sync. I’m figuring that I’m not using the alpha version.

  19. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on May 20, 2006 12:10 PM

    Brad Jenkins: The alpha version is up at http://www.markspace.com/testing/

  20. by Brad Jenkins on May 25, 2006 06:39 PM

    I can’t seem to get the missing sync program to read my XDA Mini S’s bluetooth connection. Any ideas? I think I’ll need step by step instructions…I’m not too hip on all this.

  21. by james on May 26, 2006 09:18 PM

    I’m disapointed with the download speed after being told to realistically expect 92kb but anything up to 384kb, but its not 3g so the gprs network only delivers 30ish on a good day. Think i may use the 14 day cool off period to reacess. -at the end of the day the TMobile network offers these speeds at a much more competitive price than O2.

  22. by gabrielle on May 31, 2006 04:28 PM

    is this phone the same/better/worse, as a blackerry 8700 phone??

  23. by Sid on June 7, 2006 12:52 PM

    Does the device support any size of Mini Sd card?

  24. by steve on June 9, 2006 12:45 AM

    Hi brad, Im having trouble sync-ing with my bluetooth headset too. Have you found a solution to this yet.

    P.s Good too know a lot of people have used this site since my first post! :)

  25. by Rachel on July 2, 2006 08:57 AM

    HELP! Just bought an o2 xda mini s and i love love love it! However, when i try to connect to the internet it says its connecting, locating and opening and then a few seconds later ALWAYS drops its connection. I’ve configured the settings for o2 as they suggested for PAYG but its just not working. The phones works fantastically for calls and texts so there can’t be a problem with it being PAYG surely? Any suggestions as to what i can do to get it on the internet? I have tried hard and soft resetting and neither works. Thanks so much xxx

  26. by Andy the source of Exchange knowledge on July 3, 2006 10:13 PM

    Yes you can sync to Exchange. This will give email sync functionality. For Direct Push (mail pushed “instantly” to your phone you need Exchange 2003 SP2 and the phone needs the Messaging and Securtiy Feature Pack from mobile provider. Its very good when u get it working.

    I dont think yu can sync with groupwise, even with the Exch —> Groupwise connector inplace. Get Exchange!

  27. by darren robinson on July 5, 2006 04:07 AM

    ive just received my 02 xda mini s.fantastic piece off kit,however it keeps trying to connect itself via gprs. ive tried different things but nothing will work.i can disconnect and it just reconnects.please help…..

  28. by Anonymous on July 7, 2006 04:03 PM

    Hi i was wondering did anyone get the serial number for the clearvue pdf or do we have to buy it seperatly? i got mine with o2 and ive just tried to instal it but it says it has expired and i need the serial number but i didnt find any with the instructions. thanks

  29. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on July 16, 2006 05:34 PM

    Hi anonymous - I’m not sure if we do or not (I’ve never tried installing it). I’ve got the Application CD that came in front of me though, and there’s what looks to be a serial number of some description on the back of the paper sleeve. Maybe that’s it?

  30. by ceasar on July 18, 2006 09:09 PM

    Hi i had my mini s for afew days now and it worked fine untill today! the normal phone call voice is crap on this, every call today somone has told me i’m breaking up or they cant hear me, and i’m shouting down the phone. the mic fails big time on this fone, to the point where i’m gonna bring it back for a next phone. its such a same aswell it has all i need but i need to talk too! you cant make call with this phone! apart from that its a very good phone, it turns heads. but you really gonna have to have two phones one for voice calls and the mini s for text, email, internet, but not phone calls.

    hope that helps anyone! ceasar

  31. by Gavin on July 19, 2006 04:16 PM

    Hi – Does anyone know of a Bluetooth (or USB connection) keyboard that works with Windows Mobile 05 on the O2 XDA Mini S. I bought my phone a few months ago under the advice from an O2 sales assistant that it would work with the Freedom Bluetooth Keyboard. So with the keyboard purchased, I went to the Freedom website to download the drivers, as per the instructions, only to find that the keyboard would still not work after loading everything up. The website states that the new driver works for some Smartphones, but not all, and that they are updating the drivers to work with most 05 Smartphones, but with no indication as to when they are might be released. I’m getting restless and don’t know if I can hang about for too long waiting for a new driver, which still may not work, to be released. I’m planning to go away on an extended trip in a few months time and was really hoping to be able to use my Mini S with a reasonable sized keyboard for typing up documents whilst on the move. When I took the keyboard back to the O2 store on Oxford Street where I bought it, the store manager told me that because my phone was working with Bluetooth 1.2 software(?) whilst this keyboard, and any other similar type keyboard they were selling, was only compatible with Bluetooth 1.1 software(..again…?). I’m really frustrated with O2 for leading me to believe that there would be no problem hooking my Mini S up to a keyboard for word processing only for them to come back and say that, “actually, no you can’t, and there’s nothing we can offer you as a substitute…..Perhaps we could interest you in a Bluetooth headset instead?� No thanks, just a keyboard. Aaaargh!!! Can anyone offer me some hope of there being a keyboard out there somewhere that’s compatible with my Mini S?

    Thanks in advance

    Gavin

  32. by rob on July 21, 2006 01:13 PM

    had my o2 xda mini s for a few days now and love it. i have the tom tom sat nav disc and want to install it on the phone, thing is im not sure how to do this and i dont no if i need any additional kit i.e exsternal gprs reciver. also does it cost to run the sat nav?

  33. by Allan on July 21, 2006 09:16 PM

    Rob, we’ve just got the mini as well and have looked into Tom Tom. You need a GPS receiver connected to it (via bluetooth preferably. O2 sell them fopr some ridiculous price, like 150 quid but you can get them from ebay for a fraction of the cost. The guy in the shop told us not to use Tom Tom as it has problems with this phone but other people here have said they’ve had no trouble.

  34. by rob on July 22, 2006 07:50 PM

    cheers for that allan. once its installed are there any costs involved in running it? thanx in advance. rob

  35. by Darren Talbot on July 23, 2006 05:08 PM

    if you use lotus notes or novell groupwise, mlnotes by commonwise is the software to use.

    tom tom 5.21 is the version that works with wm 5.0

    hope that helps you all

    Darren

  36. by John Punter on July 24, 2006 06:05 PM

    Hi - just received XDA Mini S… Struggling to get it to talk to other handsets via bluetooth. Is this a common problem - or do I have a dodgy handset?

    Everything else is great though

  37. by Johnny on July 31, 2006 06:48 AM

    i just got the xda mini..

    anyone tell me? does any mini sd card work in this phone? i’m look for a 2 gig one at a good price.. any advice would be greatly appreciated..

    also my phone did keep connecting to gprs on its own ( i think ) is this a common problem or is it something i’m doing wrong?

    cheers johnny

  38. by Michael on July 31, 2006 08:46 PM

    Love this phone/pc thing! I thought it had an FM radio with it? ?Do you have to download it?

  39. by Dive on August 2, 2006 09:45 AM

    Have same problem with Bluetooth. Can files be sent from a laptop etc? Can see the phone, but only as a modem.

  40. by Paul Dixon on August 15, 2006 08:20 PM

    Hi guys! Had my Mini S for a couple of weeks now and it’s great! Call quality on mine is fantastic, better than my previous Nokia 6600!

    Did you know that you can hack the registry (using Resco Explorer Registry Editor plug-in) to allow you to use Wireless G rather than just Wireless B??

    See http://www.msmobilenews.com/page/1127/

    In answer to a few of the posts, if your phone has O2 Active installed, it will keep trying to connect via GPRS to O2 to keep the news stuff and other bits up to date. To be honest, the O2 stuff just slows the phone down and it’s far better using it without it!

    Have fun!!

    Paul D

  41. by Paul Dixon on August 15, 2006 08:22 PM

    Oh also, on the subject of Bluetooth, have you made sure that the phone is discoverable to other devices using the Com Manager? You need to enable Bluetooth, then click on Settings at the bottom of the screen and select Bluetooth Settings…

  42. by bobthebuilder61 on August 16, 2006 09:19 AM

    i have had my xda mini s for a week and was told in the shop i could use it as a sat nav. I got a 2gb miniSD costing 26.99 and was just wondering what else software/hardware-wise will i have to purchase to use my XDA miniS for SAT-NAV

  43. by Steve on August 24, 2006 10:02 PM

    I need to be aware when I receive a text message. All of the tones available on the Xda Mini S are not loud enough as I work in a noisy environment. Can I download a loud continuous tone similar to the bell ring tone? If so how?

  44. by lee woodfin on August 25, 2006 01:41 AM

    this site has some sat nav applications for this phone take a look

  45. by ArticleHere on August 28, 2006 02:46 AM

    Thank you very much with this useful review. I am currently comparing this pda phone with HP IPAQ rw6828 which is having offer. It seem to me XDA Mini S is a better choice since it has inbuilt, slide out, QWERTY keyboard.

  46. by Claws on August 29, 2006 07:07 PM

    Hi. Just started my research into this fantastic-sounding machine! I’m a mac user but have Wi-fi at home. Can I download Pocket PC software directly onto the phone via Mobile Explorer, or do I have to download them onto the mac and then sync it?

  47. by Ben on September 1, 2006 08:34 PM

    hi,

    I am ordering mine 2mo. I just wanted to know what is the largest capacity memory card this will take? Would a 2GB card be ok in there? If not what is the maximum?

    Thanks

    Ben

  48. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on September 1, 2006 10:52 PM

    Hi Ben,

    Unfortunately, the manual isn’t being much help here - it simply says that there is a miniSD slot, not what the maximum capacity it can handle is. However, I can tell you that I’m quite happily using a 1Gb card in there. My guess would be that a 2Gb one would be fine, but obviously that’s just my best guess, not a guarantee!

  49. by Mike on September 2, 2006 01:38 PM

    Hi I have got the tom tom software and gps reciever for the xda mini s but whenever i open the program on the phone it just opens a screen saying No Maps Found. Has anyone else had this proble? It wont let me do anything else with the package at all. If anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated

  50. by Mike on September 2, 2006 09:58 PM

    Yeap, the XDA mini works fine with a 2gb toshiba mini thingy ……………

  51. by Sam A on September 15, 2006 10:47 AM

    Hello Guys , Iam using The O2 mini XDA and it is fantastic , But i noticed that my collegues mini has some menu and task bar at the botom of the screen which i dont have and i dont know how to set that up on mine . The bar has (home ,custom…help) . also there is a short cut menue on the left of the screen . I would appreaciate it if some one could show me how to get that

  52. by Marty on September 17, 2006 11:36 PM

    Sam A, the task bar your seeing on colleagues phone is just the 02 UI (user interface) update, if you do a hard reste on your phone then connect to O2 web thing when your restart it should download it automatically. But to tell you the truth it will make the phone a lot slower.

    To answer a questions , 2gb miniSD card works fine in this pocket pc, although a friend of mine has a 4gb which we tried and that does the job too.

    Theres a good site pocketpcaddict.com which has loads of programs you can download for this phone, some work, some dont its just trial and erroe, you do have to sign up to forum tho to download.

  53. by Jonny on September 19, 2006 05:45 PM

    i have just received my mini s back from repair and they have installed the 02 UI (user interface) update. its really really annoying me and i cant seem to get rid of it. when i remove it through remove programmes it still doesn’t go. any ideas??? chers

  54. by Stve2100 on September 20, 2006 03:24 PM

    I am buying an O2 XDA mini S and have been interested in many of the comments already made. A couple of questions. One is has the apparent problem with blue tooth connections been resolved ? A few people have said they have had problems - secondly, I saw one review which said that you should load it up with the ‘basics install’ O2 package and not the ‘full install’ as it slows the phone/computer functions down. Any comments on that ?

    Thanks

    Stve

  55. by Grant on September 21, 2006 07:10 PM

    Hi

    I notice that there was a query posted on the 18th May asking about a problem with ActiveSync and syncing with Contacts. I just can’t seem to get my contacts to sync? It is really frustrating. I couldn’t see any resolution posetd? Everything else about the phone is great, but this is really putting a downer on it! Please help!

    Cheers Grant

  56. by MrMartin [TypeKey Profile Page] on October 3, 2006 12:53 PM

    Functional Omissions of the XDA Mini

    Although my XDA is a great device, I am finding it has some strange functional omissions :

    • Unable to perform string searches on webpages,
    • Unable to select more than one contact in my SIM manager
    • Unable to drag and drop documents within my Favourites
    • When wanting to add a Favourite, it asks me which folder I want to put it in but it doesnt give me the option of creating a new folder there and then.
    • There is no Num-Lock facility on the keyboard.

    My old Nokia 6670 allowed me to string search a webpage, find a phone number and gave me the option of adding directly to my contacts, this is something the XDA does not permit.

    Does anyone know of a decent browser which will let me do these things?

    thank you

  57. by Alan on October 10, 2006 05:38 PM

    Can the ‘slide bar’ on the XDA mini S be change from the RHS of the screen to the LHS of the screen. For us left handers its difficult to see the screen when using it.

  58. by Arun on October 14, 2006 02:27 PM

    I’ve just got my o2 xda mini s, but I can not send anything to it via Bluetooth. It seems to be perfectly happy to send it’s files, just doesn’t want to receive things. Does anybody else have this problem? Any advice would be much appreciated!

  59. by Neil on October 14, 2006 10:20 PM

    I’ve only had my Xda mini a few days and love it already ! I had ‘fun’ getting it to receive Bluetooth files sent from my nokia mobile, it could send but not receive.. that was, until I realised that you have to go into start -> settings -> beam and tick the ‘receive all incoming beams’ box.. hope this helps anyone with the same problem !

  60. by olateju [TypeKey Profile Page] on October 19, 2006 08:40 AM

    hello , I’ve just found this site and it seems a fantastic wealth of helpfull and informative people! I have recently bought a mini s, as well as a 2gig memory card- although the card says it’s ony at around 58% capacity full for some reason niether my phone nor computer can put extra information on the card as a message saying no memory space available!!?? can anyone help me make sense of this.. Thanks

  61. by lee on October 20, 2006 03:50 PM

    your card is a fake

  62. by Neil Crosby [TypeKey Profile Page] on October 20, 2006 11:29 PM

    Actually, far more likely is that olateju is trying to put too many files into a single folder. When I got my 1Gb card, I had a very similar problem - I could not fill it up by sticking a tonne of mp3s into the root folder. After splitting the files into several sub folders everything was good again and I got to fill my card up.

  63. by Robin on November 2, 2006 03:15 AM

    I have XDA II Mini. and i want to know certain features which i can’t find

    1. how to listen Radio from my XDA II Mini ?
    2. how to install GPS Software ?
    3. how to SAT-NAV…Feature ?
    4. how to have maps installed into my xda ii mini ?
    5. how to use wirless features thru my modem(adsl) ? what is WIFI Connection??how to use it.
    6. how to browse mails/websites….etc ??? thru Modem,GPRS(Mobile),from my computer internet,

    For these do i need softwares or hardware… Can somebody suggest me a website for this..to cover all

    Thanks robin

    robinjerard@yahoo.com.au

  64. by Jason on November 5, 2006 06:55 PM

    Hi

    Can anyone please help me on this. Do you have to stnc this with outlook on your desktop ? I have office 97 with outlook 97 and i hate the calender / to-do’s etc on the desktop. The calender i use at the moment is an old programme i got with a Palm PDA ages ago. I no longer use the Palm but use the calender on my desktop. My question is can you get different software to use on your desktop to sync with the xda rather than using outlook 97

    Thanks in Advance

  65. by vinod on November 11, 2006 02:08 PM

    hi i was wnodreing how to get the tom tom onto the o2 xda mini s .i have heard that we can do it . could u please tell me ho wto get it done

  66. by DIANA on November 24, 2006 01:10 AM

    HOW CAN I DOWNLOAD A WIFI SOFTWARE FOR MY O2 XDA?

  67. by Daniel Cohen on November 27, 2006 02:27 PM

    I’ve one xda mini s for a long time and it has always been a pain to answer the calls. Sometimes it simply doesn’t get the call when I press the answer botton and sometimes it turns on the camera instead of answering. Also, sometimes the screen keeps changing from landscape to portrait and I remove it from my pocket. The other problem I have is that it usually keeps saying that it’s running low of memory..do you know how can I stop receiving this messages? I have a 1 Gb mini sd and it’s not even close of running out of space. I’ve tried to reset my mobile to stardart and it didn’t help. Anyone have similiar problems? Thanks for the attention, Daniel.

  68. by Lucy on December 13, 2006 10:02 AM

    Massive thanks to by Neil who posted on October 14, 2006 10:20 PM about bluetooth, i have sent one xda back because of this problem. O2 were crap they couldnt help, neither could an o2 shop. So took a chance, and thank you SO much….this site is officially in my favourites!

    Lucy

  69. by DGM on December 15, 2006 09:44 PM

    Hello all. Anyone had any luck linking up their Bluetooth GPS rx? I cannot get the DA to rx, have tried the suggestions as above. TomTom on OK, copy files to SD card and run the auto run files in folder 2577.

  70. by Usman on December 27, 2006 12:13 PM

    I have got mini xda and a 2 gig sandisk card. problem i am facing is that i can write to storage card but it seems that i cannot read from it. Is there a way to format storage card from phone? or any other solution?

    regards, Usman

  71. by Dom on December 29, 2006 08:36 PM

    I’ve jus bought a 2GB mini SD card for my XDA mini s only to find that when i tested 1st by putting one album on it - the xda crashed wen i tried updating my music library, and now ignores the card wen i insert it and says that there is no memorycard inserted. would my best bet be just to reset my phone??

    Dom

  72. by Lisa on December 30, 2006 06:39 AM

    I have bought Pocket Mac to sync with my Mac Book and O2 XDA mini but cannot get it to recognise that it is connected. It is driving me mad. I have the phone symbol but it never goes white ie recognising the connection. Any ideas

  73. by Neil R on January 10, 2007 03:43 PM

    Re tomtom. Copy all files from PC to storage card ensuring that ‘file conversion’ found in the activesysnc menu is off. Bought mine off ebay for a few pence and it’s great. Also use Memory Map for walking/flying. Both work seamlessly with a BT GPS, although the BT range is poor.

  74. by chris on January 19, 2007 02:41 PM

    i have had mini s for 3 months and have it setup really well except i dont wont the battery symbol up at the top, does any one know a registry hack to remove it. when i have looked at xda developers the path doesnt seem to match.

  75. by JoJo on January 23, 2007 10:39 AM

    Have a 2GB mini SD card - and while am able to put stuff into the storage card, can’t seem to read it consistently and usually results in a soft reset secondary to hanging. Anybody any suggestions?

  76. by Dave on January 23, 2007 07:08 PM

    Hi I Love my phone, but i have read parts of a forum you can remove the O2 Software how do you do this?

    Also there are people saying you cannot drag an drop. When you clikc the x it minimises etc There is a program that will fix all that for you its called SpbPocketPlus3

    People that are talking about problems about there 2gb SD Cards Visit http://forum.xda-developers.com/

    Also you do not need to download anything for you WIFI. Its pre installed, if you have any problems look at your CD there is WIFI Drivers if your stuck

  77. by Joe on January 24, 2007 02:18 PM

    i purchased an 02 mini s a while ago and i have had a problem that has been anoying but not over anoying untill now. when i send a sms it makes the “notify” sound once it has been sent. so i can;t send texts in lectures. i have tried turning all the sound allerts off and seting it to vibrate or not vibrate and nothing i have tried works. i have even tried to delete the “notify.wav” but i think it is in the ROM so it can;t be deleted. any help would be good. thx

  78. by Ken on February 2, 2007 01:34 AM

    Hi everyone

    Just getting to grips with a 1 week old XDA Mini II. The manuals good at the basics but as soon as you need some hard facts it goes all generic on you! Having a few issues with WIFI and Pocket MSN that I could do with some advice on please:

    WIFI - we’ve been near/within some fairly decent signals in the past few days and we’re getting a strong wifi connection but when we try and use Explorer to browse the web it throws up an error message asking us to check our settings. We’ve not had any settings through from O2 so is this something that I’m missing? I’m loathed to speak to O2 because they seem to know less than I do!!

    Pocket MSN - we were told by the CPW that we could access multiple web mail accounts (hotmail) using the XDA Mini which essentially we can but we have to ‘swap users’ in Pocekt MSN to make it happen which is a bit of a pain. Is there a way to set-up and store more than one MSN user and then switch? We don’t pay for the enhanced hotmail accounts that allow you to sync with outlook so I’m not even sure if I could IMAP them into outlook. Any advice on this one very welcome.

    Best option’s to email: technical@heelyoursole.biz

    Thanks in advance

    Ken

  79. by Adriano87 on February 5, 2007 03:09 PM

    hi i purchased an 02 mini s a while ago from USA (from a friend of mine) and i have a problem in my country (Romania) …. when i inserted my romanian sim card …. the phone ask for an Unlock Code.. can anyone help me? please … thnx

  80. by Jon on February 12, 2007 04:42 PM

    Now you’ve had the phone a year, fancy doing a re-review? Is it still a great phone now you’ve lived with it for a significant period?

  81. by Dr.K>S.Rajah on March 1, 2007 09:56 PM

    I had a O2XDAminiS in NOv06 and had to send it back for repair twice with the same problems,and waitng to be returned now.list of annoying problems, it takes a few minutes from the time you switch on for it to be ready for use,retrieving information takes a long time and often it crashes in the middle of the process,to reset to original factory set was not possible as i wanted to delete all the information before it was returned for the second time,the screen changes quite frequently without any input.Am i unlucky to have got a dodgy set or is there anyone with the same problems suffering in silence.ANY COMMENTS

  82. by Maniac on March 24, 2007 06:29 PM

    Hello,

    for everyone having trouble Synchronizing, I had the same but found the solution somewhere on the web. With all the trying around you would have done, it will most likely sound as if you done exactly what the instructions say (at least that’s what I thought) but if you do follow the instructions this will work for you.

    A couple of things before you get started: * go to start | settings | connections | Beam and tick Receive all incoming beams. * go to start | settings | connections |Bluetooth and tick Turn on bluetooth and tick Make this device discoverable to other devices * On your Computer, make sure BlueSoleil and Active Sync are running…..

    OK here we go:

    1) This first point was impossible for me to do as i have no bluetooth icon in my control panel. I’ll leave it in but if you are in the same situation as me - this will still work.

    On your computer, go into bluetooth settings. Check bluetooth is ON and set to discoverable. Add an incoming COM port, eg. COM5.

    2) On ActiveSync on your computer, go into connection settings. Tick all the boxes. If the COM port is greyed out, untick it, close the settings box, go back in, now tick it and set the COM port to eg. COM5.

    3) On the O2 Mini go into bluetooth settings, and delete the connection to your computer.

    4) On your O2 Mini go into ActiveSync, click ‘menu’ > ‘connect via bluetooth’ then you should see a message saying ‘cannot find an existing bluetooth partnership with a PC that supports ActiveSync. Would you like to set up a partnership now?’

    5) Click YES - you are taken to the Bluetooth settings screen.

    6) Now click ‘new partnership. As soon as you do this, the O2 Mini will search, and as long as your computer has bluetooth discoverable turned on, your computer will eventually be displayed. Check the computer name showing on the O2 Mini is the same as the name you gave the bluetooth profile on your computer. (Since I could never complete point 1, my computer showed up as my Computer name on my O2 Mini)

    7) On O2 Mini, click your computer name then NEXT. Now enter a passcode - any four digit number (remember it) then next

    9) When you do this, your computer will pop up with a message saying “a bluetooth device is requesting authorisation”.

    type in the code that you gave the O2 Mini. The next screen on the computer will tell you that it was successful - click FINISH.

    10) Back on the O2 Mini, the screen will now be showing the services available. AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOWED STEP (1 and) 2, ActiveSync will be an option, and you need to tick this and press FINISH on the O2 Mini.

    11) Go back to ActiveSync screen on your O2 Mini.

    Click MENU > Connect via bluetooth again. Your ActiveSync program on the computer should eventually pop up and connect.

    12) I had some further trouble with a program or two running my pc. I had to close the MSI webcam and the AVG anti virus before the device will connect… eversince it connected once it now connects even when they are running.

    I hope this works for you.

    PS: if any of you figure out how to get PAYG web browsing working on the O2 xda mini, please let me know at markus01384@o2.co.uk

  83. by Frank on April 7, 2007 02:53 PM

    Hello,Neil, Have you ever tried to install any third party sofeware in your mini? Say those stuff without MS approved digital signature? You know, O2 could set a so called ‘application lock’ to PDA, as they do to smart phone.

    Thanks a lot in advance!

  84. by Robbie on April 12, 2007 08:21 PM

    Hey, was wondering if anyone could help. Have had my phone now for a couple of months and love it, but it is now broke, boo hoo. The problem is, where you plug the charger in, it has come loose and will now not charge.

    I need to know if any technical minded people know how to take the back off and reconnect the charging socket, or do i have to simply send it back to be fixed (would rather not, can’t live without it too long).

    Thankyou in anticipation of a reply.

  85. by rob on April 15, 2007 10:46 PM

    I bought a second hand xda mini from the car boot sale a couple of sdays ago for £18, and it’s great, but does anyone know how to turn off the blue keyboard light? It makes my eyes go blurry when typing in low-light conditions!

  86. by DR.K.S.RAJAH on April 20, 2007 06:55 PM

    FURTHER TO MY EARLIER COMMENTS MY O2XDAMINIS WAS RETURNED WITH NEW MOTHER BOARD AND THE PHONE CRASHED WAS RETURNED FOR THIRD TIME AND I WAS TOLD BY O2 STORE IN bIRMINGHAM THAT THE PHONE WOULD BE REPLACED WHEN IT IS SENT FOR THE 3RD TIME.ALAS’ PHONE ARRIVED TODAY BUT NOT ABLE TO BE SWITCHED ON.hOPING TO RETURN TO THE STORE TOMORROW TO BE SENT OFF FOR THE 4TH TIME SINCE I BOUGHT IN nOVEMBER 2006. ANY ADVISE?iS IT POSSIBLE TORETURN THE SET AND CANCEL THE CONTRACT?THIS SET HAS CAUSED AWFUL LOT ON INCONVENIENCE AND ANNOYANCE.

  87. by KD on June 4, 2007 09:41 AM

    Hi. I have a strange problem with my XDA that i just can’t figure out. When I try and save appointments into my calender, they just don’t save, and my calender remains empty! I’m totally stumped on this one. Has anyone else had this problem? PS I hAVe tomtom 6 on my mini s and bluetooth it to a gps receiver - works like a dream.

  88. by Chris on June 13, 2007 04:36 PM

    I have just got one of these babies and i TomTom (5) on disk, but i need to buy a memory card to run the tomtom - doeas anyone know how big the card needs to be ??

  89. by gokul on June 13, 2007 05:33 PM

    HI does xda mini support fm radio on it. if so whre can i download it frm

  90. by Stuart Noall on July 17, 2007 01:28 PM

    Hi there, you can get new upgrades which says it can support FM Radio and other extras here : http://www.my-xda.com/alreadyHaveMini.html

    Waiting for mine to arrive this week cant wait !! ; )

other relevant pages

about wwm

workingwith.me.uk is a resource for web developers created by Neil Crosby, a web developer who lives and works in London, England. More about the site.

Neil Crosby now blogs at The Code Train and also runs NeilCrosby.com, The Ten Word Review and Everything is Rubbish.