Introducing Qtek 8310 !

Finally I’m approaching the end of my Vodafone subscription and I could go out and choose a new telephone and after heavy studies of all pros and cons I finally went for the Qtek 8310.

The Qtek 8310 is really designed and manufactured by Taiwanese HTC and is also known as T-mobile SDAII and i-mate SP5.

Using the 8310 is similar to using any other smartphone or Windows device. There are a few tweaks with Qtek 8310 and Windows Mobile 5, which make the experience nicer: You can upload pictures of your contacts in sync and the screen is larger than on previous models.

But obviously the REAL added value comes from the built-in Wireless LAN (802.11b), which can be switched on or off on the fly. It works easily with most networks and it’s easy to pick up network signals and set up an Internet connection.

Windows Mobile 5 and HTC’s move to a faster processor has dramatically increased the speed compared to past models like the Hurricane. That change makes the experience more like working with a PDA than sitting with a telephone.

With the introduction of Windows Mobile 5 Microsoft has chosen to change the way that devices communicate with ActiveSync – the software used for synchronisation. The problem is that Microsoft has chosen to treat Smartphones and PDAs running Windows Mobile 5 as network devices. If you have a firewall installed on your desktop – and you most likely do – it will block what the traffic from the device as traffic through the ports required by ActiveSync is normally blocked by default. Even if ActiveSync works is a trusted program you need to open the ports yourself.

Microsoft has provided a troubleshooting guide, which should help you solve the problem. Still, a certain level of confidence in dealing with network security and general PC settings are valuable assets in this process. That makes the Qtek 8310 (a.k.a. HTC Tornado/T-Mobile SDA-II/i-Mate SP5) a smartphone unsuitable (and probably anyway undesirable) for anyone without those skills.

Finally make sure that your telephone has the T9 dictionaries of your choice. Mine did not come with the Danish dictionary, and now I have to start tweaking the registry and find the right dictionary file online to make Danish work, which is quite a hazzle.

Note btw. that I do not mention the new Orange SPV C600, which is essentially the same telephone, but without WLAN support.

In summary the new things are the WLAN-support, Windows Mobile 5 and the new processor. Those three make this telephone worth a look, if you’re in the market for a telephone with WLAN support.

[tags]qtek, 8310, i-mate, orange, t-mobile, mobile, wm5, wlan, telephony, microsoft, windows mobile, spv, htc, tornado, qtek 8310, smartphone[/tags]