Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt (1/3)
HTC P3300 Artemis Pocket PC Phone
HTC has started selling its excellent Windows Mobile devices under its own brand. The HTC P3300 and P3600 mark a new naming scheme convention for HTC as well. The P3300 still has the cool "Artemis" code name, but under the HTC brand it is sold as the P3300. Artemis, of course, is the goddess of the hunt according to greek mythology. While this device can't communicate with wild animals, it can do just about everything else.
The HTC P3300 is currently only available in the "Taster Edition" flavor, which includes TomTom Navigator 6, but only allows you to download one City map of your choosing. A "Premium Edition" will also be available which will include TomTom Navigator 6 along with a DVD containing many more mapping data sets for your region as well as a 512Mb MicroSD card to store the maps on. If you're at all interested in this device, take a look at this review before making a decision. We've got some suprises ahead. Read on for the review!
WHAT'S HOT
The best parts of the P3300 are that it's thinner and lighter than the HTC Prophet and adds a GPS SirfSTAR III reciever as well as the very innovative trackball scroll-wheel interface. In terms of it's specifications, it's got Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11g/b WiFi, 201Mhz TI 850 OMAP CPU, 128Mb ROM, 64Mb RAM, Windows Mobile 5.0 (AKU 3), 2.8" 240x320px 64K color screen, Quadband GSM/EDGE and a 2MP camera.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
(all images link to higher resolution)
The HTC P3300 comes with all the usual suspects; a USB sync cable, AC adapter, stereo headphones with talk button/mic/volume control, belt clip case, software CD and manual. Sorry, cradles are passé these days.
THE DEVICE
The P3300's matte grey body is reminiscent of the old Palm V.
The most interesting feature of the P3300 is the trackball scroll wheel hardware interface replacement for the directional pad. When the backlight is on, the trackball glows blue. You've also got a nice layout of hardware buttons surrounding the scroll wheel. The Start menu key, Menu soft keys, and OK button are in the same layout as the Prophet, but you also get two additional customizable hardware buttons below the phone's send and end buttons. By default these are assigned to TomTom Navigator and Internet Explorer.
Play the above video to see the track-ball scroll-wheel combo in action.
Both sides of the P3300 have a row of shiny silver plastic where some extra buttons are located. Surrounding the shiny plastic is a matte grey area that matches the rest of the body. However, these matte grey areas on the edges are actually non-slip rubberized plastic similar to the type found originally on the HTC Prophet. On the left side, there's a voice command button, a volume slider, and at the lower end is a soft-reset hole.
At the bottom, you'll see a microphone hole, the ExtUSB connector, a lanyard hole, and the stylus slot on the right. The ExtUSB connector is used for everything including Audio, Charging, and Syncing. If you want to charge the device while also playing music or navigation instructions through the car stereo, you'll need a couple adapters and a Y-splitter which is not available yet.
The right side includes a camera button on the lower edge of the silver strip, and the power button on the upper end. You can also see the end of the stylus on the bottom.
The top end of the P3300 only has a few plastic ridges along with a couple slots for the external speaker. It's nice that the speaker is at the top of the device; this way you can hear it while it's sitting in a car mounted holder.
On the back is the 2 Megapixel camera, along with the reflection mirror. The black rubber area at the top covers a plug for external GPS and GSM antennae.
The SIM card and Micro SD slot are underneath the battery. The MicroSD card slit folds down underneath the SIM card holder. It's a very convoluted configuration and will make swapping MicroSD slots, in order to load different GPS maps for example, very frustrating. Your best bet is to buy the biggest MicroSD card you can find and keep it in there at all times.
The P3300 after launching TomTom Navigator 6. For some reason, TomTom takes a couple seconds to recognize that there's a GPS receiver built-in and then it will begin acquiring a fix for the current location.
The P3300 also includes a built in FM Radio. The software will only launch if you have the included stereo headphones plugged into the ExtUSB port. That means you can't use it in the car, or on its own. Pressing the seek buttons tend to make the radio stop working all together, so you'll have to take your time with the regular tuning buttons to save some decent presets. The reception isn't very good at all though, so I see this being useful only as a novelty. The software interface also doesn't match HTC's green branding.
If you're using it outdoors in the sunlight, you'll have to turn the brightness up all the way just to be able to see the screen. It looks like this one is not transflective! There's no ambient light sensor to automatically change the screen's brightness either, so you'll have to do it manually in the Brightness control panel.
COMPARISONS
The P3300 sizes up nicely on the chopping block. Here you'll see from left to right, the Qtek 8500 Smartphone, T-Mobile Dash, HTC P3300, i-mate JAMin, and i-mate K-JAM.
Here you can see a comparison of the thickness. On top is the Qtek 8500, then the HTC P3300, i-mate JAMin, and i-mate K-JAM .
As you can see, the P3300 is almost exactly as thin as the Qtek 8500 (when closed).
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