Posted on 03 October 2006, at 12:25 am, by Judie Lipsett
This post was created for Mitchell Oke, but hopefully many of you will enjoy the Hermes eye-candy…
There is a 0.1 mega pixel video camera on the front which may also be used for low resolution self portraits. The silver bar across the top toggles to select email or Pocket Internet Explorer; these buttons are re-mappable. So in other words, if you are using a different internet browser, the button can be set to open it…or a different application entirely.
Here is the thumb-wheel, and next to it is the OK button which will back out of the open window to the previous screen. There is also a re-mappable Voice Recorder button; I usually set this button to eReader.
Interestingly enough, there is a shiny spot in the middle of the directional pad; I think it’s not only meant to serve as a “select” button, but also as a mirror for the low-res video camera. Seven buttons are worked into the area around the d-pad, none of which are remappable.
The tiny microSD slot. Notice the Hermes’ classy matte black casing. It does not show fingerprints, and while it doesn’t really have a texture, it almost looks like it should.
This is pretty cool: there’s a lanyard hole for those that like to keep their phone attached to their wrist or worn around their neck.
The back has a 2 mega pixel camera with macro setting and LED light. There is yet another shiny built-in mirror - I guess that means there is no excuse for a bad portrait!
The keyboard slides open from the left; the tracks feel solid and firm with no wiggling.
The keyboard backlight is a very bright blue.
That’s it! No more teasers until the review! We’ll have to see if I can stick to that threat. ;-)
Tomorrow, I have promised Doug Moran that I will talk about the DualCor cPC.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:51 am
Thanks Judie
It looks great! I am just hoping I can afford one when they come out here!
Looking forward to the review too. Cheers.
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:28 am
Have had the HTC branded version of this for testing 2 weeks ago (named the TyTN), and was unfortunately not hooked.
It has many good features, but the keyboard on mine felt a little wonky, and the camera just didn’t cut it - and having used the SE K750i with autofocus for almost a year, I’m too spoilt to downgrade on that front! *grins* So my quest for a K750i replacement continues, having discarded both the HTC TyTN and the SE P990i.
Hope the Hermes serves you well, and keep up the blogging!
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:24 am
J, that Sony is sweet! Jenneth (of Girls Gone Mobile) brought a K800i to Thailand and I was amazed that the phone’s camera was the only camera that she brought…and it served her well!
I overheard several people being very complimentary about the way that Sony had utilized their camera division in tandem with the phone division to make a superior camera-phone.
Anyway, point being that I understand your being “spoilt” after taking a couple of pictures with her camera! That would be a hard one to replace.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Hi Judie, been a long time fan of yours. Nice review, btw I have both the Dopod 838 pro and 900 as well (aka Hermes and Jarjar). Got the Dopod 838pro (Hermes) for 2 weeks now, loving it. Here in Hong Kong, the 3G runs very smoothly especially with the 3G TV streaming. The high speed data transfer is awesome too. Only glitch so far is getting it sync with Activesync 4.2. At times, it smooth and at times, there’s problem connecting. Still working around it, must be the tons of program I loaded onto it the past week or so. Talking about RSS, would recommend A6times, a real sweet RSS reader, check it out at their website, http://www.a6times.com. I’ve dumped Eggress and other readers since. Well, so much for now, will post some of my own reviews on my blog once done. Ciao.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:28 pm
I hear you on the ActiveSync issues; I have really had “fun” with the process since 4.0. Hopefully it will straighten out soon.
Well, I should edit that to say that since ActiveSync is totally gone in Vista, and Sync Center is used instead, the issues may remain but they will likely be very different. Ah well…more to tinker with.
I’ll check out A6times, I’m also happy to try new things! Thanks for the suggestion.
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Hi Judie! Nice little corner on the net you have here!
About this phone, I’ve been wanting to purchase the HTC Tytn, but I like the looks of the Dopod 838Pro better. Where you did you go to get your hands on one?
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Hi & welcome Orion.
I was given the Hermes at this year’s Mobius event in Thailand. Otherwise I suspect that it would have been very hard to get my hands on one…at least this early. Special thanks go to HTC for hooking up my fellow Mobians and myself.
I am toying with the idea of using the Hermes as a give-away after I have written the review. So as long as no one minds a slightly “pre-owned” 838Pro, I’ll have one available.
And before anyone thinks that since I would consider giving it away, then I must not like it - that is not the case. I just know that I can probably get one later if I want it, and I want to share the love.
I’ll announce something more formal later in the main body of the site, but in the meantime, anyone who has already registered for Gear Diary is automatically in the running. Oh, and it comes with a really spiffy Vaja custom case, too. Are you drooling yet?
I may even have some other gadgety goodness that I can share with other runners up. Sound good?
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:07 pm
Are you kidding? Drooling already!
And a Vaja case to boot! Gimme gimme!
I would do anything to get my hands on that! Well… almost anything.
My eyes are peeled…
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:13 pm
I will post about the give-away in a few days. I am already hearing that I am crazy for doing it - but it just feels right. So spread the word; a registration is an entry.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:37 am
It is always better to give than receive.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Yeah, the SE P990i is sweet…but it doesn’t have enough flash memory: I received an e-mail with a link, which I then clicked: the browser opened, then closed, and I was told that there wasn’t enough memory to open the browser…?!? So I checked what I had running that was hogging all the ram: messaging. Simply having my inbox open and running in the background ate up all the ram?!? I’m hoping it’s a software issue, because the phone in itself is sweet! But until they fix this, I cannot recommend it in any way, shape or form.
So I’m sticking with my SE K750i - unless, of course, you decide to send me your give-away Dopod…
In case I wasn’t clear enough: gimme gimme gimme! I love free stuff!
October 5th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Nice phone…