MWG Atom Life review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 15 Aug 2008

Price when reviewed: £200

Supplier: http://www.expansys.com

Reviewed By: Jon Bray

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Of all the phones here, the Atom Life has the fastest processor. It runs at a huge 624MHz, which is 100MHz quicker than the next fastest phone, HTC's Touch Diamond.

Unlike the Touch Diamond, however, which seems weighed down by its software extras, the Atom Life blazes along at a rate matched only by the Symbian-based Nokia phones. Applications launch swiftly, and switching from one program to another is instantaneous.

Responsiveness isn't the only benefit: the Atom Life also has good battery life. Its high-capacity lithium polymer battery managed a reasonable 13 hours and 40 minutes in our tests, which is very impressive considering its powerful processor. The phone also supports fast HSDPA data and wireless networking. Its Pocket Internet Explorer browser is reasonable, but not as good as Opera Mini.

Despite the fact that it's a Windows Mobile handset and has email support for POP3, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange servers, the Atom Life is not just a phone for those who want to email and edit documents. It has a pair of stereo speakers on the front, 1GB of integrated flash memory and an FM radio tuner, which make it good for mobile entertainment like Nokia's N78 and N82. Strangely, though, there's no standard 3.5mm headphone socket.

The lack of a physical keyboard restricts the speed at which you can type, but the phone's third-party onscreen keyboard is much easier to use than Microsoft's standard version. The phone is also bulky at 18mm thick.

The Atom Life may not have a physical keyboard, but it's the fastest Windows Mobile phone we've ever used and has reasonable battery life. It's good value and a great alternative to Palm's Centro if you need fast internet access.

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