[the_sanguine]

I was going to upgrade my XDA11 to the XDA11i primarily so that I could use WLAN/voip at home. However for an extra £50 it looks like I can get the new XDA Exec. Other than supporting 3G, does anybody know how much better it is? I emailed O2 and they sent me the info below. Can somebody explain it in plain English? It looks like the operating system is different and makes more efficient use of RAM and therefore saves battery like, after that, I get a bit lost:


Xda Exec & Windows Mobile 5.0 - FAQ's

Q. When will O2 launch devices running Windows Mobile 5.0?
A. The Xda Exec (HTC Universal) will be the first Windows Mobile 5.0 device although a launch date is yet to be confirmed.

Q. Will any of the current Xda range receive a ROM upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system?
A. There is currently no planned upgrade for O2 Xda II, IIs, IIi devices to Windows Mobile 5.0 and it is highly unlikely this will happen.

Q. What is the spec of the Xda Exec?
A. The provisional spec (some of which is subject to change) is as follows;

Windows Mobile 5.0 (which includes 'persistent memory')
Intel XScale PXA272 520MHz processor
ROM 128MB (used as storage)
Ram 64MB (used for running apps only)
3.6” 640x480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD
up to 4/2/20/200 GSM Talk/3G Talk/PDA/Standby time
GSM Tri-band (900/1800/1900), UMTS Single-band (2100)
GPRS class 10, UMTS 64/384
Bluetooth 1.2, Infrared and mini-USB connector
Wireless LAN 802.11b
SD/MMC/SDIO slot
3.5mm Audio Connector
Stereo Speakers
Integrated camera (resolution 1280 x 960) with LED flash and 2nd CIF camera for 3G video calls
Integrated antenna
15 buttons (Answer, hangup, PTT, OK, Start, Camera, Power, VoiceRecord, 5-way nav
56-key QWERTY keyboard with light sensor to auto-adjust backlight
Removable battery (1620mah)
Weight: 285 grams
Minimum Activesync version required 4.0
PC operating systems supported Windows 2000/XP (no support for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT)
Supports Activesync synchronisation of video/audio files in conjunction with Windows Media Player 10
Screen: 640 x 480 VGA resolution
Enhanced O2 Active interface
Power Save software
Three setup modes - Full O2 Active, Intermediate and Corporate
Dimensions are 81mm x 127.7mm x25mm
Q. Why does Xda II have more RAM memory than Xda Exec?
A. You shouldn't compare RAM across the different operating systems as they use RAM very differently. The difference is as follows;

Windows Mobile 5.0 devices use RAM for running programs only.
Windows Mobile 2002/2003 devices split RAM memory in half - between running programs and user data storage (emails, contacts, pictures, videos, Word documents etc.)
So Xda II and Xda Exec use roughly the same amount of RAM for running programs. However Xda Exec stores user data in the Flash ROM memory, as part of the "persistant storage" feature of Windows Mobile 5.0.

It should also be remembered that more RAM impacts battery consumption, so more RAM would require a larger battery.


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General info on Windows Mobile 5.0

Info on operating system
Official launch of OS (from Microsoft site)
Microsoft article on 'Persistent Storage' memory and Windows Mobile 5.0

Windows Mobile 5.0 devices
HTC Universal (from HTC site)
Video stream demo of HTC Universal (from Microsoft site)

[Uridium]

Best place to find out about Universal is http://forum.xda-developers.com/