Sendo X Smartphone
Sendo is a UK based phone maker with HQ in Birmingham and manufacturing in the Netherlands. The X was their first attempt at making a smartphone. Initially the X was scheduled to launch in early 2003 based on the Windows Smartphone platform. Things seemed to have soured between Sendo and MS with lawsuits and counter-lawsuits being filed. Sendo then redesigned X based on Symbian OS 6.1 – Nokia series 60 platform (v 1.2)
Here’s a brief review of the X. Feel free to comment. All the images in this review are hosted on a third party server. If they don’t show up for some reason please feel free to PM me. The review won’t make much sense without these images.
Look & Feel
Sendo X looks and feels like a phone. Strange as this may sound, you’d be hard pressed (with the exception of Nokia 6680) to come across a smartphone that does not have a weird form factor or keys placed in impracticable positions. Sendo X is a refreshing change from a design point of view.
Sleek and sophisticated is how I’d describe the X. Made of high quality materials it is available with an aluminium trim or look alike carbon fibre. Weighing in at only 120g (108cc) the X is a joy to hold. Although a bit bulky (thickness wise) it feels rock solid stable. The fit and finish is excellent with absolutely no creaky squeaky ill fitting parts. Actually the gaps (if you observe the photos minutely) belie this sturdy build quality. The top and back panel are aluminium, while the sides have matt finish plastic for grip. The model that I received had cool looking carbon fibre like edge trimmings.
The screen which occupies half of the phone length wise has standard Series 60 resolution of 208x176 pixels with 65K colours. Actually it’s 220x176 on the X, extra 12 pixels are permanently used to display phone stats like battery, signal strength etc. The screen is quite bright. The pictures above were taken at regular brightness. Superbright and Ultrabright options are available via the settings menu.
The 5 way joypad is a joy to use (no fidgety Motorola E398 joystick) and so are the keys. Small, but well spaced and raised so you can type without looking. On the sides there are two slug like round steel finished keys – one for edit function and the other to activate Voicesignal speech recognition. On the left is a rubber protector covered 2.5 mm stereo handsfree/headphone socket and a largish IR port. The USB port is at the bottom.
The X is equipped with a 1000 mAH Li-Ion battery good enough for 4 hrs of talktime and 100 hrs of standby (upto 7hrs and 170 hrs according to Sendo). I’ve found the battery drain very acceptable. A nightly recharge of 2 hours is all that it takes to keep your X’s (not ex’s
) from running out.
Camera
The X comes with a VGA camera + camcorder with flash. Actually the flash is just a bright LED which has a red eye reduction option with programmable number of pre-flashes. Works quite well illuminating upto a distance of 1.5m. It also has a self portrait mirror. Seen below, to the left of the camera is the antenna extension outlet.
Hardware
Processor - The ARM9 120 Mhz processor takes care of all the phones core operations while the ARM7 graphics co-processor kicks in for 2D screen graphics acceleration. A seperate graphics accelerator! On a mobile! Yep, you read that right. Sendo calls this GraphiX™ technology, the secret behind 30fps viewfinder while using the camera. I reckon they use the same technology for improving audio via DSP. Again Sendo calls it SoniX™ (see how everything ends with a big X). The co-processor is supposed to work transparently w.r.t. software i.e. no code optimizations are required on the programmer’s part to account for it. BTW, the phone excels at multi-tasking.
Memory – what most phones seem to lack! Sendo X comes with 64 megs onboard storage memory. Half is occupied by the system to run the OS. This leaves the user with 32 megs of free memory to play with. Additionally the phone has 16 megs of system RAM (operating memory) with 6 megs reserved for applications to run in.Memory can be expanded with SD or MMC card. With a 1GB SD card, memory is something that you’ll rarely run out of. Currently I’m using a 512 meg Toshiba SD and manage to fit in a full length movie (xvid) and about 4 hours of music. The card slot is hidden behind the rear battery cover. Memory card is hot swappable and does not require removing of battery to access the slot.
Speakers – Onboard speakers are mono with proprietary dual port design. The audio socket is a standard 2.5mm stereo. While the supplied headset is seriously loud and excellent quality, it lacks in the bass department. Anyway this is easily rectified with a 3.5mm adapter and a good pair of headphones.
Connectivity – Triband GSM, GPRS, CSD, USB, IR, Bluetooth and fax modem. Everything works as advertised. For more detailed specs, see end of this article.
Software
The Now! Screen sets apart Sendo X from other Symbian Smartphones. It consists of a unique concept of accessing the phones features via highly configurable panes. Quite similar in look to a tabbed browser, each pane can be customized, removed, moved etc. Each pane can have a different wallpaper and right soft key assignment. The Now screen also supports XML and Sendo Now! SDK will be out soon. The screenshot below shows my current setup (it’s obvious I haven’t explored this feature in great detail).
Document Viewer – supports more than 40 filetypes!
MP3 player – Buggy! Can’t receive calls when ON. Anyway Ogg Player totally eliminates the need to use this app.
Real Player – Upgraded to Helix Player 10. Supports 3GP, MP4, RM10 etc. Again, I use SmartMovie as a superior substitute.
Voice Recognition – Nice voice prompts like "Please, say a command", "Please, repeat the command", "Command not recognized". Voice tags can be assigned to apps, not just to contacts. Adjustments for speed, sensitivity and accuracy.
Ringtones – Full 64 voice polyphonic ringtone support. No MP3 and Midi.
Themes – Available on their website. Currently they have been removed as X2 is due
soon and the themes are being redone to support it. Will be available to the X via a firmware update.
Also included are apps like Opera browser, Camera and Camcorder app, Photo Album, Image Editor, Clock, Memory Manager, Application Manager, etc.
Killer Apps and Cool Games
Symbian Series 60 is the OS with largest number of available apps and games. Here’s what I have on my phone.
FExplorer – An absolute must have app. Works like Windows explorer. Great for all quick ‘cut, copy, pasting’ ops. Also for viewing processes, killing unwanted processes etc. Best of all it’s free.
System Task Manager – Simply press and hold Menu to view and switch between multiple apps.
OggPlayer – This is one app I can’t live without. Beautiful interface (with skin support), great sound, functionality matches that of Winamp on PC.
QuickWord, QuickSheet, QuickPoint – View and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint on your phone.
Mobipocket Reader – eBooks in prc, doc format. Handy converter for the PC.
SmartMovie – Fullscreen movie playback, XviD/DivX w/mp3 support. Need I say more??
PsiLoc miniGPS – Perform predefined actions based on your location within the GSM network. Switch to silent mode when at school, let your phone wake you on the train at your destination.
Doom – Classic Doom. Haven’t figured out how to make the sound work, though.
Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow – 2D version of the PC/PS2 variant. Still haven’t got past the first level.
Mad Macs – Arm a Panda in a tank with a rail gun. Get ready for some serious turn based battling. Great game to show off the amazing 3D capabilities of your new smartphone.
Availability
The Sendo X, or any Sendo phone for that matter can’t be obtained from an authorized outlet or dealership. Yes, Sendo has ZERO market presence in India. If you’re looking to buy one, hop on to eBay India. The X can be yours for as little as INR 11,500.00 shipped (as on June 20, 2005; includes stereo headset and 128 meg MMC memory).
Conclusion
Sendo X is a feature packed monster of a smartphone. It’s almost like a PDA without a touchscreen. Amazing how a previously unheard of company can not only come up a product this good, but also win a smartphone of the year award (2004) with their very first attempt. Looking forward to the X2.
Detailed Tech Specs
PHONE
# 176x220 pixels, up to 65,536 colour TFT display
# 120Mhz ARM 9, ARM 7, DSP and graphics coprocessor
# Tri-Band EGSM 900, 1800 & 1900, auto switching between bands
# GPRS Class 8 ( 4+1)
# Symbian OS / Series 60 with Sendo enhancements
# Battery Capacity: Lithium Polymer 1050 mAh
# Voice Codec Support: FR, EFR
# Inbuilt antenna
# SIM: 3V & 5V
CAMERA
# VGA still camera with flash
# "Red eye" reduction
# 4x digital zoom
# Integrated Camcorder
AUDIO
# MP3 Player
# Multimedia sound support: AMR, WAV, MIDI, SP-MIDI, XMF, Real, SMF and more
# 64 voice polyphonic ringtones
# Dual port SoniXTM sound speakers
Connect
# PC Email synchronization
# PC PIM synchromisation - Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and more
# SMS, NSM, MMS messaging, video MMS and Email ( IMAP, POP3 and SMTP)
# Multimode browsing ( HTML 4.01, WAP 2.0, XHTML MP, SSL Security, WTLS support)
# Document viewers ( Word, Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, ZIP and others)
# Built-in Bluetooth, Infrared & USB support
# Built in modem data & Fax support - 14.4Kbps CSD & Fax
Do
# The Now! Screen - customisable user desktop and themes
# 64MB flash, with up to 32MB free space
# MMC/SD memory expansion
# Speaker independent voice recognition and memo
# J2ME, MIDP, CLDC, Java™ compatible
# Games: Pinball, Funny Farmer
PC COMPATIBILITY
# Microsoft Windows® XP (Professional and Home Editions), 2000, ME, or 98SE
# Any internet browser
# Adobe Acrobat Reader® (included on the Companion CD)
# VGA or compatible video graphics adapter
# CD-ROM drive required (software is supplied on CD)
# 65MB of available hard disk space
# Connect via : Available infrared port, USB port or BlueTooth ™ (serial port profile)
# Synchronises with : Microsoft Outlook™ 98/2000/XP, Microsoft Outlook Express™, Windows
Address Book™ WAB), Microsoft Schedule+™, Lotus Organizer™ 5.0/6.0/97/97GS/4.0GS/4.1,Lotus
Notes™ 4.5/4.6/5.0/6.0
Source: Sendo X User manual
-Keith
Mobile Review: Sendo X Smartphone
Couldn't be happier. 
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