E-TEN G500 reviewed

PhoneArena just posted an intensive review of the ETEN G500 / Torq N100 for your dirty little gadget spelunking ways. This Windows Mobile 5.0 PPC Phone Edition handheld, you'll remember, sports a 400MHz Samsung processor, 2.9-inch QVGA display, 64MB RAM / 128MB ROM, a 1.3 megapixel shooter, Bluetooth, miniSD slot, quad-band GSM, and SiRFstar III GPS. So yeah, it's "bulky" as pointed out in the review, but then again this is one of the more "sophisticated" pocket PCs you'll find making it the ideal choice for both the highest-of-tech junkies and corporate users alike. Definitely not for the fashion conscious or average user due to its "great complexity" thus requiring a bit of know-how with them thar 'puters. But if opening 15 apps on a PocketPC without any noticeable performance degradation is your (like the reviewers) idea of a good time, then this is the work-horse for you. A few more snaps after the break.

top-to-bottom: v3 RAZR, T809, G500

left-to-right: G500, T809, v3 RAZR

[steve @ May 19th 2006 8:49AM]

double check your top-to-bottom on the profile shot's description

[HappyDude @ May 19th 2006 8:50AM]

400 MHz processor? GPS?

Yeahhhhhhh!!!

Oh...

Wait...

No Wi-Fi? No keyboard?

Hmmmmmmm...

Now if they could just mix the specs from this with the T-Mobile MDA you WOULD HAVE A REAL WINNER!

Best of luck though. Nice to see a company trying to bring us one step closer to true cell phone/PDA nirvana.

[Bilbo @ May 19th 2006 10:50AM]

No keyboard = no deal. When are these companies gonna learn that anything with significant messaging/web/computing functions needs a better input method than handwriting recognition (never works well) and a phone keypad?

[Brandon G @ May 19th 2006 1:44PM]

Is this verizon compatible?

[Alfred @ May 19th 2006 2:23PM]

A buddy of mine just bought this for Cali, I have helped him set it up, and man is it sweet I sold my PDA2K to buy one. And they aren't as bulky as you would think, and the GPS is right on in Cali.

[Navigation Blog @ May 23rd 2006 2:01PM]

love that 2.9-inch QVGA display

[joe @ Apr 17th 2008 8:42PM]

hi. i know this is old but i bought this back in december 2007. i really love it. i feel that the slide out keyboard is just another thing that can break on the device, like others that do have one. i dont mind the virtual keyboard. i really like everythig about it, as this being my first step into the pocket pc phone territory. i love the fact that the GPS is included (i managed to get my hands on TomTom 6 for my device and works extremely well). i think it is on par with current devices on today's maket, although a lot of other devices are pretty sweet too. in spite of its heavy weight and its size, i don't mind it at all (the TyTN II or AT&T Tilt is about the same size). i use a UI that is finger freindly so i can use my finger to navigate around. i dont know anyone else's opinions on the windows mobile platform, but i really think its a robust OS. i can do alot with it. i use a lot of the "office" stuff for my school needs and it exceeds my expectations. i know WM 5 is old, since the release of WM 6.1, but i do like the fact that there is a wealth of software for my OS. i don't have the push e-mail feature but i can stilll check my mail. i already had a success story with my device:
i was with a friend helping him on a project and he found 2 books in the bookstore, but he did

[Vic Michaelson @ Apr 17th 2008 8:51PM]

well here is the rest of the story that got cut off....

so my friend got his books... one had little information (which the book cost $30, and the other that had a wealth of info was $20). so then i gave him my PDA, opened microsoft word mobile, and he wrote down the most important infomation(s) from the book that was $30. he didnt have a pad & pen on hand. i saved his info for him, then sent to him from my phone to his e-mail and he was able to pull up the info he needed. i saved him $30 and a headache b/c that book had some things that the $20 book didnt have.

so there it is. one satisfied person goes a long way in my book. it came in handy in the most unexpected way... so i do give this phone a really positive review. it makes me happy. even my friend was impressed that he was ab;e to open his document without a problem and he was able to continue his work, and appreciative he didnt waste the $30 on the book. how f***ing cool is that. if i had an iphone, it would be a lot trickier to do that for him.