Sagem WA3050 PDA Mobile Phone Review
Sagem WA3050 PDA Mobile Phone
If you've ever dreamed of a pocket computer that doubles as a mobile phone, then read on. Sagem's WA3050 combines a dual-band GSM mobile phone with a powerful hand-held computer. It's also ready for higher-speed GPRS wireless data services.Last year's re-launch of Windows CE in version 3.0 guise finally delivered many of the improvements critics had demanded of Microsoft. Products like Hewlett-Packard's Jornada 545 and Compaq's iPaq, combined with the Pocket PC version of CE for these keyboard-less hand-helds, have proved to be strong sellers. Two France-based mobile phone companies, Mitsubishi Trium and Sagem, have worked closely with Microsoft to develop hybrid Pocket PC devices with integrated mobile phone functionality. Here we look at Sagem's WA3050 example.
The PocketPC bundle will look familiar to anyone who has used other examples of this family of products. Pocket PC versions of Microsoft Outlook for e-mail / calendar / contacts, Word, Excel and Internet Explorer are included. You also get the full Windows PC version of Outlook 2000 for synchronising your personal information and e-mail with your WA3050 using Microsoft ActiveSync 3.1. If you were put off by having to learn Palm's Graffiti, you get a choice of Microsoft Transcriber, which can work with cursive writing, or a character recogniser with the WA3050. Transcriber works reasonably well once you get used to it. A universal voltage mains powered USB sync / recharger cradle is also supplied, as is a serial lead.
Despite some audio distortion when the incoming caller is too loud, using the WA3050 as a phone is surprisingly acceptable. We'd advise some care in choosing some of the security options, like the power-on password and key guard functions, as these sometimes caused WinPhone to crash and calls to be missed. Battery life from the 3.6V 920mAH Lithium Polymer battery is acceptable at one working day for heavy use or two days of light use.