MWg Atom Life Review

The MWg Atom Life is a Windows Mobile smartphone that you'd not notice unless you were paying attention. Thankfully, it has the style to be noticed, and a price that isn't a put-off.

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If you're not familiar with MWg, it's the company that used to be called O2 Asia.

Thanks to Expansys USA for providing the Atom Life for this review.

• Design
• As a Phone
• As a PDA
• Conclusion
• Specifications

Design

The MWg Atom Life is a simply designed handset with some nice touches in both the hardware and software. It is weighted nicely in the hand, and feels a good bit like an expensive kit. The chrome rim looks more metal than chrome, and the matching stylus is a bit more weighted than those found in other devices.

The front of the device is dominated by the 320-by-240-pixel touchscreen. Showing millions of colors, it does a solid job in indoor and darkened room situations. Outdoors, it can be washed out by some levels of direct sunlight, but nothing worse than other handsets.

Also on the front of the device is the 5-way directional pad, which has indentations for Windows Media Player usage. There are also six buttons: the soft-keys, pickup/hang-up call, and the normal Windows/Start and Music player buttons. In addition there is a front-mounted VGA camera suitable for video calling in markets/carriers that support this feature. All in all a clean design, though users with large finger might find that remembering what is where might take a bit longer than with some other devices.

The top of the Atom Life has a stylus slot (nicely weighted styli too), power button, and miniSD slot(max 2 GB noted in the specifications, but SDHC support might also be present).

The bottom has a stylus-friendly reset button, mini-USB port, and 3.5 mm headphone jack.

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The left side contains just a volume up/down button and the IR port. The right side has only buttons for voice memo and camera capture.

The back of the Atom Life is as clean as the front, having only the 2.0 MPx dual-LED camera module and the hard-to-remove battery cover. The 1530 mAh battery is very nice, though.

Comparing it to a friend's HTC Touch, the Atom Life feels bigger ever so slightly. It doesn't have the rubbery coating of the HTC device, and attracts fingerprints on both the screen and case. The screen being sufficiently bright makes you want to touch it though.

There's no custom Today Screen on the Atom Life like there is on the Touch, and so the stylus might be a more preferred method of entry for most users.

Compared to another friend's HTC Mogul, the Atom Life feels less techie and looks the part of a fashion phone with a techie side.

The lack of a sliding keyboard gives the Atom Life a slimmer profile which is much more pocketable. Unlike the Mogul, you might not be spending a lot of time typing, even though the Atom Life does have several input options.

As a Phone

Because this is a Windows Mobile device that doesn't have a hardware keyboard or numberpad, interacting with it as a phone takes place through the touchscreen. Thankfully, Windows Mobile 6 is very capable in this respect, and most users will have no problem getting vocal with the Atom Life.

Starting with the Windows Mobile Today Screen, you just tap the screen, or the soft-key button under it, for Phone. That takes you to a simple yet effective dialer screen. Tapping the screen to dial a number will show both the number and any contacts that match the sequence of numbers being typed.

Clicking on a contact in this screen gives a menu of several actions that you can do with the contact selected: see last call details, call mobile/home/work, send SMS/MMS/email, or view addresses.

Contact management is done through Contacts. Those familar with Outlook will notice the similarity here.

It  was unfamiliar to me, as I've been without a touchscreen mobile for a few months now, I found it simple enough to get to calls and contact actions, though in some cases I would have preferred something on my Today Screen to make it easier to dial frequently called contacts (out of box, rather than as an add-on).

Battery life is pretty good. I got a solid two days of use with ActiveSync set to Push. Though, when adding Wi-Fi to the mix, it does drop fairly quickly.

Voice calls were clear as they are on my Nokia N75. Despite not having support for the 850 MHz band, the Atom Life is able to use what it can find here just find. Interestingly enough, while there is no 850 MHz band for voice service, there is 3G (UMTS) at 1900 MHz and 2100 Mhz, the latter of which is compatable here in the U.S.

As a PDA

The worth of any smartphone is not just in its ability to be a phone, but also a capable personal information and multimedia organizer. The Atom Life builds on the Windows Mobile 6 base and runs from there.

ActiveSync is a solid feature of the platform whether you are syncing to a desktop or to a MS Exchange Server.

The Calendar, Tasks, Notes, and Contacts will all sync fine. Using them reminds me why Outlook has a solid following still. Despite my issue of there being too many taps to do things like add contacts or appointments, the similarity to the desktop Outlook means that the learning curve is a bit easier. Those who are used to SharePoint 2007 environments might find this reassuring, as Windows Mobile 6 is designed to work great with SharePoint 2007.

Office Mobile is of the same type that has shipped with all those that have been updated. Version 6.1 of Office Mobile added the ability to sync with the latest version of Office on desktops.

Unfortunately, while Office Mobile has seen an update, Internet Explorer has not. It's just not good, and for a connected device, its inclusion in this smartphone is a mark against the power that belies the Atom Life.

Other applications include the JBlend Java client, ClearVue PDF reader, an Image Editor, a Media Album, Remote Desktop, a Streaming Media stub (which points to Windows Media player), Voice Speed Dial, and Windows Live.

The included stereo headset allows you to make the Atom Life a bastion for personal entertainment, or you can share sounds via the solid, but not astounding, external speaker.

The 624 mHz Intel processor is plenty fast for most operations, only stuttering when trying to wake the device after a prolonged time of not being operated.

There's plenty of room to run several applications with its 64 MB of internal memory. Because of this, I did not notice many slowdowns when running several programs at the same time while connected via UMTS and/or Wi-Fi. There is also 1 GB of internal Flash Memory to accompany the mini-SD slot for storing programs and other data.

The Atom Life just seems to just have an air about it that says it will just fit into your life. It's not necessary incapable of doing more, but its design, size and functions on the PDA side just slip in and do the job.

Conclusion

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Maybe it is because smartphones have entered into the consciousness of many users, or maybe the design of the Atom Life is just that it slips into your hand and pocket so easily that its just distinguishable; but, the fact is that this is an impressive smartphone on a features level that just doesn't seem to impress people.

Outside of those who might not have a touchscreened smartphone, it catches very little notice. Yes, it is quite similar to the HTC Touch which is on several carriers here in the U.S. -- and this is a mobile that has to be purchased outside of carrier -- means that it will garner less attention than it probably deserves.

The MWg Atom Life is nonetheless a solid smartphone entry, and one that will easily become part of the life of the casual mobile user, or even the power user.

Windows Mobile 6 is a solid enough platform and the 1 GB of internal memory that can be expanded with a mini-SD card gives much life to this device. I like it, but have to resign to the fact that if you don't see it more often, there might not be much of a fusion of this device in your mobile life.

Specifications

• Windows Mobile 6.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack
• 624 MHz Intel XScale PXA 270 Processor
• 2.7-inch QVGA (320x240 pixel) TFT LCD screen
• 64 MB RAM, 1GB Flash ROM, mini-SD memory card slot capable of using up to 2GB mini-SD card
• 3.7V 1530mAh lithium-polymer battery
• GSM 900/1800/1900 with UMTS 1900/2100 HSDPA
• 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Dual speakers with SRS WOW HD
• FM Radio with RDS
• 2.0 megapixel camera with macro mode and dual LEDs
• Front-facing VGA camera (video calling support)

Price: $399.95 at Expansys USA