blogs.conchango.com

welcome to the conchango blogging site
Welcome to blogs.conchango.com Sign in | Join | Help
in Search
Blogs

Keni Barwick - The Mobile Guy

rants and raves of all things Microsoft Windows Mobile - Moved to http://www.theMobileGuy.net

Vodafone v1605 - HSDPA Pocket PC released

With all the fan fair of the latest devices popping out recently I'm not sure if anyone noticed the release of the Vodafone’s new Windows Mobile 5.0 HSDPA device.

The v1605...

I'm lucky to have been playing with one for a couple of days now and it’s an awesome bit of kit....

So is it just a Vodafone branded HTC Hermes... Well let’s look at the specs....

·                Qualcomm 6275 GSM/UMTS radio module

·                GPRS Class 10

·                voice command

·                vibrating call alert

·                slide-out QWERTY keyboard

·                backlit keyboard with backlight

·                macro mode

·                secondary CIF camera

The thing that stands out most to me is the Qualcomm radio module... Is that different to the others on the market? We'll see...

I have taken some photos with the device. It's 2.0MP seems ok, with flash, isn't as good as the i-mate JAMin , but that might be just my bad photo skills... I'd show you them but I don't think you want to see me dancing on the beach now do you Wink <img src=" />

With a JOG WHEEL on the side it is really easy to scroll Pocket I.E. and emails. With a couple of extra buttons on the bottom it's all good from Vodafone... Keep it up lads!

O and if your interested to know why the are calling it the v1605. It's not some random number thing... It's down to this 16 is for high end business phones and the last two digits are when it comes out. So 05 is April and 10 is October with March 14. So in other words its random numbers Stick out tongue <img src=" />

Published 09 August 2006 12:28 by Keni.Barwick

Comment Notification

If you would like to receive an email when updates are made to this post, please register here

Subscribe to this post's comments using RSS

Comments

 

neil.chapman said:

Just a note to this, the v1605 is not HSPDA capable out of the box, but requires an AKU upgrade which will be released in a month or so.

Neil
August 10, 2006 13:55
 

CJ said:

05 would be May surely?
January 8, 2007 21:28
 

ADS said:

I've been testing one for a few days now and it's a good peice of kit - just a shame the keyboard has no backlighting!!!

March 16, 2007 08:08
 

Keni.Barwick said:

CJ - Yup, your right... I'll get more info on why...

ADS - The keyboard has a backlight option that can be turned on via settings...

Start > Settings > Buttons > Backlight tab > Enable keyboard backlight auto sensor

March 21, 2007 10:10
 

geordi said:

Is it possible to connect my vodafone pocket pc with an external hard drive such as those for the desktops and laptops

March 21, 2007 10:36
 

Keni.Barwick said:

not the v1605 as this device doesn't have what is know as a USB Host capability... See more on USB host here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go

I'm not aware of any HTC models having USB Host... But I'm sure that some Windows Mobile devices have USB Hosting...

March 21, 2007 11:10
 

Ian S said:

Hopefully not TOO naive a question: Got my 1605 yesterday. One immediate downer I've noticed is that whereas my old Nokia 6230i gave great phone signal strength around the house (Voda - 4 bars consistently) the 1605 is dire - almost non-existent in fact. At time of writing I have zero signal. Is poor signal a symptom of this device? Shame if it is because functionality wise this is my dream device. I spend 50% working at home and 50% on the road, so all my customers have my mobile number only. I've had three edgy emails today asking where I am. Bit of a showstopper for me and I may have to make another trip to the Vodafone shop. Any advice welcomed. Cheers. Ian . . .
March 21, 2007 12:03
 

Ian S said:

Oh, one other query - my backlight settings aren't retained after a power off. At the moment the light goes off after 10 seconds which is very annoying. So I change it to 2 mins. If I power off, the settings revert to 10 secs. Am I doing something wrong?
March 21, 2007 12:06
 

Keni.Barwick said:

I agree the radio stack is shocking on the original ROM... However you can increase the quality by upgrading the Radio Stack... Now this Radio stack update that I talk about isn't supported by Vodafone and I can't guarantee that it will change the signal strength. Worse still if something goes wrong in the middle of a flash it will become a brick (a friend has just done this!)

So I pass this link to you with caution... Don't do this without knowing all the facts first... That said, I believe Vodafone MAY be releasing a ROM update soon... It might be worth waiting for that...

link - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=297651 (Follow instructions CAREFULLY!!!)

March 21, 2007 12:18
 

Ian S said:

Cheers Keni, I might have a talk with Vodafone first. Not convinced I'm that keen to brickify my new toy - sorry, business tool (already on second stylus!!).
March 21, 2007 12:24
 

Keni.Barwick said:

On the backlight issue... Never heard that one before... Sorry...

March 21, 2007 12:25
 

kim said:

can you tell me if this phone has the option to use voice tagging, i recently ordered a nokia 9300, and all was great except no voice tags could be assigned to it, so useless in the car, i do a lot of traveling and need a phone i can just say a name and it will dial from the car automatically. i have a nokia bluetooth car kit, will the V1605 work with it using voice tagging. Also i read the signal strength is a problem with this phone, can you confirm this for me. and maybe recomend a phone if this one isn't any good. i need bluetooth, tri or quad band, and qwerty keyboard
April 12, 2007 12:07
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Voice control is a standard feature in Windows Mobile 5.0 and beyond. You can "tagg" practacle any command, more to follow in a blog post :)

As for signal strength, well, it's a lot better since I upgraded the Radio stack... I feel another post a coming! :)

April 12, 2007 12:34
 

Keni Barwick - The Mobile Guy said:

In this post I was asked a question about the reception quality of the Vodafone v1605. When I first got

April 16, 2007 09:33
 

Andrew said:

I have the option of getting a Vodafone 1605v or a Sony Ericsson P990i, can anyone shine the light as to which is a better phone????
May 10, 2007 16:50
 

Spence said:

Does anyone know where i can get an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 for my Vodafone 1605. Regards Spence.
May 23, 2007 16:56
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Hey Spence,

Officially you wont be getting a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade from Vodafone... Well I'll say for no, that COULD change... But don't quote me ;)

The best option is to suck it up an wait for your own phone upgrade and then take a WM6 phone...

Personally, unless your on Exchange 2007, WM6 isn't THAT big a change... But I might be wrong....

May 23, 2007 18:12
 

JWM said:

I have just purchased my 1605 and am delighted with the purchase, however I can't seem to get the keyboard backlight to function, despite having enabled the backlight in the settings. Has anyone experienced the same problems - and if so; how did you solve it?
June 4, 2007 00:03
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Quick question.... You are opening this in the dark?

June 6, 2007 18:08
 

James Camplin said:

JWM - Took me a while to work it out.....but finally realised you have to push a button on the keyboard to activate the backlight. Duh!!! :o)
June 19, 2007 21:30
 

Keni.Barwick said:

:) - Glad you sorted it

June 21, 2007 11:03
 

AndyB said:

I'm thinking of getting one of these 1605's and would like to know 3 things 1. Can I run satnav software bluetoothed to a reciever on it? 2. As WM6 is now out will new ones be supplied with it? 3. Can it make a decent cup of tea? Good blog by the way
July 5, 2007 16:24
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Hey AndyB...

1) So ya... I do it all the time... I run TomTom 6 and a Flight Managment Software, PocketFMS (SHOW OFF, AGAIN! - ED)

2) There isn't any offical word on it, I wouldn't hold your breath. Though I hear you can find an unoffical cooked ROM on the web from some place ;)

3) No but me Mother can :)

to add... If you can wait around for a bit... Read my up and coming blog post ;)

O and thanks...

July 6, 2007 16:33
 

Jon said:

A much simpler question related to 1. above - how do i get this phone to be used as a satnav device?
August 4, 2007 12:03
 

Mary said:

I am having a bit of trouble playing music files.Have downloded on a SD Ultra 2 gb card. However those songs do not show on the mobiles media player/library/my playlist!!! They are accessible through file explorer on the mobile which takes me to the storage card folder.And then each song opens up a seperate folder meaning there is no continuous playlist rather i need to play each song one after the another.Any ideas guys why is this happening and how to sort it out.
August 6, 2007 16:58
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Sat nav on the device requires software (IMHO - TomTom) and harware (IMHO - Any Blutooth GPS device with a SIRF III chipset)

TomTom sell a bundle of the two.

August 7, 2007 16:23
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Mary, not sure why that is the case... Have you placed the music in a specific folder structure?

August 7, 2007 16:24
 

MARY said:

Well after lots of headache -- Finally the error message says that the micro sd card is write protected!! never heard of that in a micro sd card--and there is no switch or anything like that there--how do you UNLOCK this write protected issue ? Any idea.
August 8, 2007 19:22
 

Yorkshire Pullman said:

On the Start menu, my "Upcoming Appointments" does not show forthcoming appointments - it shows appointments from other days, apparently randomly. How do I correct this so that I see forthcoming appointments / events, please?
August 15, 2007 18:27
 

AMcK said:

Just spoke to Vodafone 191 who say that they expect to release WM6 "in a couple of months"
August 22, 2007 12:13
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Please don't hold your breath though... I don't want people turning a nice shade of Blue... Red and White only please... :)

August 23, 2007 11:04
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Yorkshire Pullman: To a fellow Yorkshire man me self, can you contact me of line and I'll get " 't bottom of problem like"... keni.barwick@conchango.com

August 23, 2007 11:06
 

Karl said:

I have been lucky enough to have been given one of these for work and its great. However, I have one problem .... my (Vauxhall) bluetooth car kit (Which has worked faultlessly for 12 months with my 6230i) connects car 2 phone and works as expected but will drop the bluetooth connection frequently and without any pattern I can identify.
August 24, 2007 21:51
 

Keni.Barwick said:

I've not come across this problem my self (Haven't got a Vauxhall), but I have just recently been asked about In Car Bluetooth by a sales guru here at Conchango... So watch this space...

August 25, 2007 08:30
 

PTRL said:

Our company has just purchased a whole fleet of these handsets. Inital response is that they are good bits of kit. 2 had to be returned due to 'rouge pixels' on the screens, but Vodafone made good these handsets very quickly and service was impressive. Considering some of the models available, these are quite well specced, we are finding them easy enough to use, battery life is very reasonable considering the features available. So far, very impressed with these handsets, no regrets.
September 15, 2007 22:32
 

Richard Kirby said:

Good blog! I see you're also running TT6. I find it often freezes up whilst navigating the TT menus. You can get it back by pressing the "OK" button then going back in but it's really annoying. We've got several v1605 all running TT6 and it happens on all of them. Any idea if there is an update for my v1605 or for the TT6 I can download. WM5 5.1.195 (Build 14955.2.3.0) if that makes any difference? Finally I've tried to register my phone on HTC.com but it says my serial number is not valid because it's not HTC branded i.e. v1605 not TyTn. I've looked around the Vodafone website to see if there's a product registration area to no avail. I'm concerned I'm missing out on some updates for ROM, software yada yada. Recommendations? Thanks in advance.
September 19, 2007 12:17
 

Richard Kirby said:

In answer to Karl above re Bluetooth car kits I believe it may be a problem caused when the phone turns off i.e. backlight off. I have mine sat in a powered cradle so it only turns off when I turn off the ignition however a colleague simply has the phone sat in the car not on charge. When his turns off after ~2 mins the bluetooth connection drops. To get around this we've had to buy an in car charger which has solved the problem.
September 19, 2007 13:09
 

Keni.Barwick said:

Richard,

TomTom: I've never had that issue on my v1605, strange eh... If you can update to the latest ROM anyway and let me know if it still is the same.

Updates: Yup, due to your purchase of a Vodafone version you'll not be able to get any HTC versions, only Vodafone... Annoying eh! (Though hunt around for XDA ROM updates) ;)

BT: When you turn of the device it does more than just turn te screen off, it also stops the Bluetooth from running... Patches are available, but I'd do what Richard says and buy an In-Car to Paraphrase a flying line "There is never enough juice in a Phone, except when it's on fire"

September 20, 2007 15:36
 

Craig said:

I have a v1605 but one thing I notice is that Pocket MSN is missing, anyone know how to get this? Vodafone Business say they remove this from all of their Windows Mobile based phones as standard...
September 26, 2007 21:50
 

CAMERAGUY said:

HAVIN TROUBLE INSTALLIN TOMTOM 5 ON V1605 PUT THE MICRO SD CARD IN TOMTOM STARTS THEN NOTHING JUST STOP'S ANY IDEAS ANY 1?
October 10, 2007 18:30
 

Justin said:

I have a vodafone 1605v and tried to update to the latest ROM but I keep getting Update Error [206] The radio signal on my handheld is really poor and I often lose conversations during my travel which is very frustrating My Current ROM version is: ROM Version: 2.04.161.2 ROM Date: 01/18/07 Radio Version: 1.32.00.00 Protocol Version: 32.65.7020W I really want to ty and get the radio sorted out as they are really good handsets so any help would be really appreciated. Many thanks
October 30, 2007 13:06
 

sam said:

i have a vodafone v1605 since july and it has kinda packed up on me touch screen has stopped working overnight along with the comm manager playing up, have switched on and off a few times and done a soft reset still no good. Does anyone have any ideas with this before i take to have it repaired.....£££ thanks
November 21, 2007 13:05
 

CraigB said:

Having problems with my 1605. Keeps periodically changing the timezone to be GMT -5. Sometimes can take up to 1/2 to set it back. Often get an error message about Vcal.exe. (Have to change it or all my appts are out of sync). Had to miss a couple of meetings before I realised what was going on... Any ideas?
January 25, 2008 00:33
 

Markstreat said:

I have a 1605 as a work phone and find it awful. It crashes all the time. I am told it can be upgraded to Mobile 6, anyone knwo how?

March 14, 2008 21:05
 

JAYC said:

My V1605 is a nightmare...works fine for ages, then starts locking up, going in to repetitive screen jumps (menus etc). Its almost like I am watching a device overheat, or its got a duff capacitor or summat. Anyway, my question is this - anyone know how to get the original(or latest) V1605 firmware? I want to return it, but its got black satin...dont think it will look too good when they fire it up at the workshop...!

March 21, 2008 21:17
 

Stephanie B said:

I found the same problem with the time zone changing.  The only thing that stopped it was for me to set both the home time zone AND the visiting time zone to whatever time zone I wanted it to be.  In other words, both home and visiting must be set as the same.  Hope that makes sense and was helpful! :o)

May 11, 2008 09:48

Leave a Comment

(required) 
(optional)
(required) 
Submit

This Blog

Syndication

News

I'm an AllExpert at Allexperts.com

http://www.csthota.com/blogmap/ Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Locations of visitors to this page

© 2008 - Any comments or statements made herein do not necessarily reflect those of Conchango.
Powered by Community Server (Personal Edition), by Telligent Systems