Mio Digiwalker A702

[Shaun McGill]

Mio has been producing GPS enabled products for some time and has just released the Digiwalker A702 which is a GPS enabled Windows Mobile Professional smartphone. This is an unusual device in that it appears to take bits from many other phones to create a single unit that manages to look and feel like everything else, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

In the box

The box containing the A702 is very large and incredibly heavy and the reason for this is as follows-
Mio Digiwalker A702
Pouch Case
Device Holder
Windscreen Mount
USB Cable
Car Charger
AC Adapter UK/EU
Stereo earphones with microphone
Screen Protector
Getting Started CD

The entire presentation is professional with just an edge of fun and you can’t help but feel that the package is value for money considering what you get. The screen protector is an anti-glare version and does a good job of shielding the detail when navigating in bright sunlight, and the included leather carry case is one of the best bundles items I have seen in ages. It is great to see a case, screen protector, car charger, windscreen mount and AC charger for various countries included in the box. This will certainly help avoid the extra expense of buying accessories later on.

Design

The A702 reminds me slightly of an older Treo and feels as sturdy as you could hope for with the large front screen dominating above the 1-0 numeric keypad. Some may see the keypad as a disappointment, but it still includes shortcut keys for the Windows start menu, a delete key and an OK button. The call start and end keys are perhaps slightly too small, but in general the keypad is well dimensioned and easy to use.

There is a handy JOG dial on the left hand side, with extra buttons for camera, GPS and on/off. There is also a miniUSB slot for charging and syncing on the left hand side (would be better on the bottom), a 2.5mm headphone jack, a microSD slot and finally a port to add an extended GPS aerial. All in all the buttons are positioned well and should be easy for the majority of users to pick up in quick time. Some may see the design as a bit too retro, but I personally like the graded black back and silver frontage.

Features

Call quality is very good for a Windows Mobile smartphone and I found the 1130mAh battery more than capable of powering everything along for a few days without recharging. The 400Mhz processor was never going to struggle and the majority of applications feel snappy, even when many are open at once. The 1GB ROM is impressive and great to see, but 64MB of RAM feels slightly out of place in a device with so many features.

WLAN 802.11 b/g is built in alongside Bluetooth 2.0 and EDGE support. Again, HSDPA support would be nice but in the real world the coverage is not wide enough to make it genuinely useful. The camera is rated at 3.2MP with auto focus and a flash, but my results were quite disappointing. It is close to the TyTN II camera and certainly capable of taking quick snaps, but nothing you would want to print.

The screen performs well under most circumstances and I certainly had no trouble navigating with it. It would be nice to see some bundles GPS software, but this would probably put the price point up to another level. In my tests the receiver performed slightly better than the TyTN II and was slightly less quick that the Samsung i780 at picking up a signal.

Conclusion

I would rate the A702 as an excellent device with enough features to satisfy the vast majority of users, and it is priced competitively. The design is a “love it or hate it” choice and I am on the loving it side. It has a genuine robustness that builds confidence and is a do it all without fuss option, that serves it’s purpose well. It may not be the flashiest smartphone on the market, but it is certainly one of the better ones.



Available from Clove for £329.

[Neil]

but in the real world the coverage is not wide enough to make it genuinely useful.

There's good coverage in most places I go