A Review on O2 XDA Stealth Smartphone

I consider O2 as one of the leaders in the Pocket PC market. I have been an avid supporter of O2 smartphones for quite sometime now. I got my hands recently on an O2 XDA Stealth model and I can say that it's a wonderful phone! It has everything I need and furthermore I love the keypad that is hidden underneath the phone. All you need is to slide the phone up to reveal the keypad.

Of course with quality comes the price. O2 is one of the pricier brands for smartphones out there. Nevertheless, I felt that my money is well spent on the phone.

I bought the black O2 XDA Stealth and I just have one word to say - it's classy! The overall black color casing gives it an elegant look. Also, the O2 is pretty small for its category. Here are the dimensions of the phone:

Height: 110mm
Width: 53mm
Thickness: 22.5mm

For a PDA, it's pretty small. Furthermore it has a keypad underneath which didn't further increase the phone's size.

For a smartphone this size, it comes with a 2.4 inch LCD screen with 65K color. I find it easy to read messages and to do some text documents with the phone. However, in my own opinion, I think people with larger hands might not really appreciate this phone fully. Some might even squint their eyes to read from the screen.

To make calls on the XDA Stealth, all you need to do is to slide the phone up. Just dial the number and your call would be made. If you are lazy to even key in the phone number or search for a name in the phonebook, simply use the voice dialing. Hold the volume control button and dial a number of your choice.

However, I find it rather disturbing with the phone's battery life. With regular usage, messaging and making some calls, the battery couldn't even last a full day. I had to recharge it at least twice a day after normal usage. The phone comes with a 1,300mAh Li-Ion battery which is supposed to delivery good battery life. I think that the components in the phone itself use a lot of electricity. Maybe O2 should give a serious thought in improving the battery life.

As a smartphone or Pocket PC, the XDA Stealth comes preloaded with Windows Mobile 5.0. I find it easy to use as I had an older smartphone in the past. The Windows Mobile is pretty standardized and I don't even need to read the manual to start using the phone.

As a conclusion, I love using the O2 XDA Stealth phone for my daily usage. I could access the WiFi hotspots and this always come in handy each time I'm having my usual coffee fix down at Coffee Bean. However, what I really didn't like about this smartphone is the battery life! The phone couldn't even last a day with average usage.

Hope this review helps.