Eten V900 Review

Software:

V900 runs on the Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 OS, which in previous models of the manufacturer (e.g. X600, X800) was personalized with the SBP Shell software. In our case, it’s the fullest and latest version which brings essential changes.

The device has the same old Windows Mobile homescreen, but from the settings menu you can set the modified SPB Shell one as default. Unfortunately when you hit the end call button on the keypad you are brought back to the well known WM.

The new interface definitely looks good and features large buttons making it easy to use with fingers. On top of the screen is a small status bar, showing the battery indicator, carrier name, network reception indicator and other connectivity icons (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and EDGE). Below it are a weather icon (shows the meteorological conditions in you region), e-mail with number of unread ones bellow it, messages, missed calls and last is the volume icon, which acts as a shortcut for accessing the phone’s profiles.



The homescreen’s second element is the Clock with displayed date and day of the week. When click on it you are greeted with another personalized screen which shows a countdown to the next alarm and current time in three cities. There is also a big calendar that takes half of the display’s real estate, but if you have upcoming appointments for the next seven days or alarms it is reduced in size and displays them below the clock and alarms.

On the bottom of the screen are four shortcuts. The first one is a homescreen button, the second one brings you to a personalized main menu. In the top there’s a bar with the last 12 applications used, which you can “pin” and create a mini shortcut menu. Below is your software combined in six categories (Organizer, Internet, Multimedia, Tools, Programs and Settings). The cool part about the menu is that the personalization is also present deeper in thesubmenus. For example, when you click on organizer and then choose notes, instead of opening the classic WM notes application it opens a menu with the available options (new note, show notes). The third tab shows fifteen of your favorite people and gives you access to the phonebook and the last is just an exit button which brings you out of the SPB Shell and back to the plain WM environment.



All of the various animated transitions in the SPB shell menu are good looking and run smoothly without any delays. You can also switch between the tabs by swiping you finger horizontally on the screen and looks like changing a page on a book, which can be changed from the settings menu in SPB Shell.


The only other customization is found in the phonebook. It allows for easier usage with fingers and contains a big sized numeric keypad. When you click on its buttons it automatically searches for matches in the contacts list. For browsing the web the manufacturer has provided the outdated Internet Explorer, which cannot handle most modern pages, as we’ve mentioned in previous reviews. This is unfortunate and we recommend installing Opera or Skyfire instead, so you can take full advantage of the global 3G support.