XDA Orbit Vs. XDA Orbit 2 (Is it worth the upgrade?)

[Tinnitus]

I've been using windows mobile for two years now. I started with the I-Mate Jamin for a year (Which I hated because of its weight and size) and then upgraded to my current mobile – the O2 XDA Orbit, which I have been using for the past 12 months. I love this phone, the only minor annoyance again being the size – I like to have as little in pockets as possible but there's been no better alternative to this device and its been a million times better than the Jamin.

Anyway...it's upgrade time again, only this time I'm struggling to find anything that looks like it might be worth upgrading for (apart from the Orbit 2...)

does anyone here think its worth it? Has anyone moved from the Orbit to the Orbit 2 and would like to share their experiences? I'm starting to think I may better off saving my money and sticking with the original Orbit as I'm not sure what the advantages of upgrading will be, they look very similar and I'm not having any major issues with my current phone...apart from its starting to look a bit tatty!

Does the improvement in weight and size make much of a difference? and is it much more responsive? Also compared to the rest of the market at the moment, what are the better alternatives (if any) to the Orbit for weight and size?

At the moment I'm thinking of holding out in case something better comes along because I'm not totally convinced.

I'm suprised I haven't found much talk about the upgrade from the Orbit to the Orbit 2 around here already!...

I see the Orbit 2 has got double the RAM, ROM and CPU speed and according the specs is marginally bigger and weightier than the orginal

Thanks for your thoughts!

[prank1]

I upgraded from the orbit to the orbit 2 and I can tell you theres not much difference. If anything it is slightly worse!

The main camera is choppy whereas the orbit 2 had no problems there

Missing video drivers means slow video playback.. no problems on the orbit

Barely notice the speed difference (Well for me)

The jog wheel is known to come off, whereas the orbit one stays on

And it is not worth what O2 are charging you. The orbit 1 is much cheaper and has no problems with it and does what the box says. The orbit 2 is just a rushed model that has been poorly constructed and doesnt even include the proper drivers.

I recommend you stick to your Orbit 1, its much more reliable.

Just my opinion though, some people might not have all of the problems I have listed (except for the video drivers they are definately missing)

[Tinnitus]

Thanks, I appreciate that.

Any software issues - such as drivers can obviously be resolved and normally are so that would never be a deal breaker for me. However, takeing on board the price for what might not be much of a difference in useability as you've pointed out will probably put me off upgrading.

Upgrade day is tomorrow and it looks like I wont be bothering at the mo!

Is it noiceably much different in size and weight?

Thanks again,

[pistonripper]

Size wise its the same...it might be slighty heavy...but can't really tell....

Aesthetically is looks better....I like the touch screen...really responsive...and nobody has really compained about the touch screen, it works really well....Its faster than the Orbit...camera is fine for outdoors..indoors gets tricky...touch keyboards work a treat (there is so many to choose from).


The downsides are:
Camera in low light
No video drivers at this moment (future is also a question mark)
Screen hard to see in direct light if backlight is set to low.

If you get a good deal Its definately worth upgrading
I got mine on a very good 12 month deal with O2.

[mikealder]

The mirror finish to the front of the device is a real pain when in the car if its sunny, I want a screen protector capable of blocking this mirror area out. Speed wise it is adequate, although I am not impressed with the internet speed, compared to my Advantage it is too slow - Mike

[Tinnitus]

Well guys, I've been on to O2 and got it for free for £30 p/m for 12 months. Can't argue with that, there's a 14 day cooling period so if I'm not happy I'll send it back.

I'll post my thoughts!

[fishes234]

If the breadknife hadn't run off into the distance with my old artemis, my orbit 2 would probably have found its way on to Ebay by now.

Having said that, I would have had the buyer on my case about the jog wheel falling off and the headphones packing up.

On reflection it's probably not reliable enough to put on ebay!

[Tinnitus]

I've had it a couple of hours or so now, put my SIM in, sync'd my data and put my old SD card in and set my apps etc up.

So far I'm impressed and think it’s worth the upgrade for anyone who's had the original orbit for a while and are ready for a replacement.

First impressions are that it’s noticeably a lot quicker and more responsive - this makes it feel much more comfortable to use. The rom it comes with is actually excellent and the touch flow, for scrolling through folders using the touch screen works really really well. It feels like a huge improvement.

I don’t know if this is a common thing but the vibrate feature seems to be a lot more discreet than it was on my previous Orbit which is nice.

The front side camera is pretty cool and the camera SW is good, the camera itself is a good improvement.

The big OK button is great. On the original orbit I always struggled to get in to the corner of the screen with my finger to push OK, that’s been resolved with this.

SD card access is obviously a huge improvement!

A bonus of the screen not being ridged is that it won’t accumulate lint and stuff as easily as the original did - the screen is a 100% improvement in my view.

Overall, I wasn't expecting this to be as much of an improvement over the original as it actually is, I'm a bit blown away by it.

If I had to pick one issue with it, it would be the size and weight. I'd still like something slimmer and lighter but then I wouldn't want to sacrifice any screen space and I know there's nothing like this device on the market at the moment that is thinner and lighter (I'm not including the I-Phone there!)

I'm a happy bunny, this wont be getting returned and I'm selling my old Orbit to a mate for £50 because I can't be assed with the whole EBay thing anymore!

[Arkish]

Thanks for the review my orbit died yesterday, Was hanging out for a bit until something else came along but had to take the plunge.

Orbit 2 ordered today!

[wheeliemonster]

Thanks for the comments above - I myself am thinking of upgrading to the Polaris from my Artemis.

One thing that particularly annoys me about my current phone is how slow it gets when I'm listening to music.

I use Audio Manager and a set of Bluetooth headphones with the music stored on my SD card. Whilst playing the music, the rest of the phone slows to a complete crawl.

I also quite often like to send my music via Bluetooth to my car stereo, but then I can't really use TomTom at the same time for the same reason...
So far, have you any indication that this would be improved on the Polaris?

Does the faster processor make this device much better? How about the extra memory, does this improve things too as it seems like the Artemis performs much much better when there's barely any software on it - as soon as you install 3 or 4 bits of software it seems to impact performance...

Thanks guys...

[fishes234]

I'd say, along with the flush screen, the fact that you can run more programs at once without the phone grinding to a halt is a definite improvement. I remember my artemis used to struggle with running tomtom and the phone at the same time, but the orbit 2 will happily run tomtom, audiomanager, and a few other bits as well as running the phone.

In other ways, I find it less responsive than older slower phones, and it's certainly the most unreliable phone I have every owned, three hardware faults in six weeks.

[wheeliemonster]

Thanks fishes234.

Sounds as though those things that annoy me on the Orbit 1 are OK on the new one but then you say some things are less responsive? Apart from the known problem with the video drivers, what specifically do you mean?

And the build quality really is that bad? That doesn't sound so good as I quite often have the device in my back pocket...

Cheers for your comments - much appreciated :)

[gnick666]

I didn't have any HW related problems whith it since early february... Only one, I managed to is scratch the screen whith my fingernail...