Unveiling the Eten M500 Specs Pricing Pros & Cons

Overview of Eten M500

The Eten M500 is a PDA phone that made its debut in the fourth quarter of 2004, targeting users seeking a blend of mobile telephony and personal digital assistant functionalities. Despite being discontinued now, it was revolutionary at the time of its release, packing a range of features that were quite advanced for its era. In this article, we will delve deeply into the Eten M500's specifications, design, functionality, and user experience.

Design and Build

With dimensions of 111.7 x 60.7 x 22 mm and a weight of 170 grams, the Eten M500 is relatively compact and feels solid in hand. Its Mini-SIM form factor was a standard during its time, facilitating user familiarity. The device's design, predominantly functional, emphasizes usability over aesthetic flair, typical of early 2000s technology.

Display

The Eten M500 features a 2.8-inch TFT resistive touchscreen. While relatively modest by today's standards, this display offered 65,000 colors, ensuring adequate color reproduction and clarity for tasks at the time. The 240 x 320 pixel resolution, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, provided a pixel density of approximately 143 ppi, sufficient for basic graphics and text clarity.

Operating System and Performance

Running on Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE PocketPC, the Eten M500 allows users to perform a variety of tasks such as managing emails, organizing contacts, and managing daily schedules. The operating system also provided a basic browsing experience through PocketIE, enabling users to access the internet on the go.

The Eten M500 is powered by a Samsung S3C 2440 processor clocked at 400 MHz. This processor, while modest today, provided adequate power to handle the device's functions smoothly. With 64MB of RAM, multitasking was limited but manageable for lightweight applications typical of that era.

Storage

The device comes equipped with 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM. For additional storage needs, the Eten M500 offers an SD/SDIO card slot, which was a common solution for expanding storage capacity during its time. This flexibility allowed users to store more data, applications, and media files.

Camera Capabilities

The Eten M500 is equipped with a single 1.3 MP camera. The camera offered basic photography capabilities and video recording. While it may not compete with modern smartphone cameras, it was useful for capturing impromptu moments and documentation at a time when carrying a separate digital camera was more common.

Connectivity

The device was designed to support GSM technology and could operate on multiple 2G bands (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), giving it decent global connectivity for voice communication. GPRS Class 10 was available for data, albeit at lower speeds by today's standards. While lacking in modern connectivity features like Wi-Fi, it provided Bluetooth 1.1 and infrared port for local data exchange, both commonly used for transferring files or syncing devices in the absence of more advanced options.

Sound and Multimedia

Sound output on the Eten M500 was facilitated through its loudspeaker, and it supported a variety of alert types including vibration and downloadable polyphonic and MP3 ringtones. However, it lacked a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which limited private listening options unless used with proprietary accessories.

Battery Life

Powered by a removable Li-Ion 1440 mAh battery, the Eten M500 provided decent operational longevity. The battery life allowed for up to 200 hours on standby and up to 4 hours of talk time, which was competitive during its release period, given the energy demands of the system.

User Experience

Overall, the Eten M500 delivered a competent user experience, particularly for business professionals and tech enthusiasts of its time. Its blend of PDA functionalities with GSM mobile capabilities enabled it to serve as a bridge between traditional PDAs and the emerging smartphone market. Despite its modest specifications, it provided adequate tools for productivity and communication.

Conclusion

Reflecting on the Eten M500 today offers insights into the evolution of mobile technology. While its features may seem limited now, it represented an important step in mobile integration, providing early adopters with a glimpse of the convergence between mobile phones and handheld computers. The Eten M500 is an interesting artifact in the history of mobile devices, paving the way for more sophisticated smartphones that followed. As a relic of its time, the Eten M500 holds historical significance in the lineage of mobile computing evolution.