Disqus
Recently I have had chance to have “extreme possession” of the MS800 device from Gigabyte (labelled under the “G-Smart” brand). Below are some brief highlights, pointer to the specs, and the G-Smart website itself:
Initial impressions were that the G-Smart devices come in a professionally put-together set of packaging. Included are in-car charger, USB cable, spare pointer, instructions, wired stereo headset, and multi-country component mains charger – a nice set of accessories. A case wouldn’t have got amiss, but it’s not a showstopper
The device itself is well-made – nice construction, and plenty of time and effort obviously spent avoiding the serious “creak” problems that many plastic-bodied devices have:
The O/S is WinMo 6 Pro – on top of this G-Smart have layered their “Smart Touch UI”, which is another attempt to make a finger-based input possible, rather than using a Stylus:
This isn’t entirely a success – whilst it is quite well-integrated with the traditional Win Homescreen, when you are utilising the carousel, it doesn’t react as accurately as you might expect. Compared to a certain “i” device, it’s not in the same league.
On the upside however, it’s fitted with a SiRF Star III GPS system, has HSDPA, a 2.8″ screen, 2MP camera, and also Mini-USB, Bluetooth 2.0, and WLAN b+g. Oh, and a Micro SD slot!
So overall then, I would see this as a nice business device – it’s understated, has a good suite of functions, and is well-built. Unfortunately it is not currently carried by any of the Operators in the UK, which means you’ll need to buy it outright. Speaking of which, you can find the list of stores carrying the MS800 here.
If you want to check out the Gigabyte website, you can go here.
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
