[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo General] eaglesteve:
My sentiment exactly. I've already mentioned that other than not being able to control the phone volume, Athena is superior to any other phone is every aspect, IMO.

Next, come to MP3. I don't own an iPod and don't intend to, but I do have many other MP3 at home, one was supposed to be an iPod Nano that I bought for my son (it turned out to be a Chinese Copycat iPod Nano). Athena is superior to all these MP3 in every aspect. I find Athena extremely easy to use as an MP3, with the hardware buttons sensibly map to all the things you need to do (such as darken screen, go to previous song, go to next song, volume up, volume down, pause, play, bring up the playlist). Changing song is a real piece of cake. In my case, I use the joystick left right for Previous/Next song, Joystick up/down to control volume, Action to turn off screen, ok button to bring up the playlist so that I can choose a new song with a single touch, the internet browser button to Pause/Play. One thing that many other MP3 player could not do is to have a good speaker so that you can listen to it without headphone. I do this when going to sleep (did'nt want to have anything on my ear if you want to induce sleep, do you). Even in other occassion, I frequently use only the speakerphone to listen to my music. With Ipod, we often see close friends each using one end of the head set to both listen to the music. Of course it's mono for both. To listen Ipod via speakers, you need to carry a bag to bring them along, and people do that when going for picnic. No such issue for Athena. Most of the time, however, I use wired headset to give me clear music. I would give Athena's MP3 player an A rating anytime. The thing about the useability of Athena as an MP3 player depends on the software you're using. I use TCPMP most of the time for both video and music and it works very well for me. Another thing is to choose a good wired headset if you are really really particular about sound quality.

The same with GPS. It has the best size for GPS as compared to any other PDA GPS I had got before. I have had no problem with GPS signal myself, especially with iGO which get fixed very fast.

Camera is very good for day picture taking, but I conceed it is lousy for night scene and in places without adequate natural light.

I personally do not have any issue at all with video playback. I don't get any out of sync problem for some reason. This is one area where I have had some trouble understanding what the real issue is to be very honest. I've asked a poster with this problem to make available his video file for download so that I can understand the issue, but unfortunately I have not been able to get this yet.

Internet browsing is not as fast as I would like it, but I don't get the

locating locating problem that often. It happens once in a very blue moon for reason that I could not identify, but not frequently enough to bother me. When it happens, it could resolve it very easily. Simply exit PIE and go back in again. The inability to play youtube video and display Java based webpages is a limitation. There are also some web pages that do not display correctly in PIE. Sometimes webpages that PIE could not display could be handled well with Opera, so I use it for such occassion. With PIE Plus, I get multi-tab, dedicated icon for forward (any number of step forward), back (any number of step back), favourite, refresh, etc, so useability has vastly improved over the stock PIE and in fact far far more useable than Opera. The nicest thing about using Athena for internet is that it is instant on, availale anywhere, anytime, on a big screen. No need to set up a wifi hotspot with another device, no need to boot up another operating system, no need to carry multiple devices, no need to carry any bag. Just web and walk. Becasue of its small size, it is truely mobile. Unlike the subnotebook solution, which is too bulky, not instant on, not always availalble, and not being able to web and walk (that requires you to sit down). So, while the browser is not perfect and fast, it is still ATM the best mobile internet device on earth. No need to compromise on screen size, which is worth it even if it is just slightly slower than other smaller solution. Therefore, if you ask me to rate Athena as a mobile internet browser it would score a B+, not a complete crap, as that would be lacking in objectivity and fairness in my own mind. One day, when it gets faster, play flash videos natively, and deal with java web pages, it would get an A++ as a mobile internet browser.

Sorry, post is too long again so will stop here:D