Pocket PC Thoughts: Hands-On With the Gigabyte gSmart Phone

As A Multimedia Device
This is the part of the overview that many have been looking forward to. After all, having integrated analog TV and/or FM tuners on a Pocket PC has been a dream to many, and we have long endured the wait. Though there have been some add-on solutions, they were just that: add-ons. Sometimes bulky and inconvenient, many Pocket PC owners passed on the idea just because it would be too much of a hassle to swap cards or deal with an extra wired headset (the add-on card's audio output is separate from the Pocket PC). Therefore, when Gigabyte announced that its first device would accommodate both a built-in TV and an FM radio, it became widely anticipated.

Analog TV
Before I even received the device, my Gigabyte contact warned me that TV reception could be relatively weak indoors and spots that would be hard for the gSmart to receive a decent signal.


Figure 32: You can set the channel range and signal type in the TV Control Panel.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get more than a few seconds at a time of just a moderate TV signal during my hour-long train ride from Edison to Jersey City, New Jersey. When I got into work, I was able to grab a better signal when I stood by the office windows along the Hudson River, facing the New York City skyline.

Since the gSmart writes directly to the screen, I couldn't capture any screenshots from within the device. So, here are a bunch of photos of the gSmart's TV in action:


Figure 33: Channel 2's Price is Right came in grainy with a lot of interference.


Figure 34: The View on ABC Channel 7 came in nearly perfect.


Figure 35: Ghosting and other artifacts could be seen when I moved my wired headset/antenna around.


Figure 36: Channel 9 was very hard to get, but then again, there's no accounting for taste on that channel.


Figure 37: The only thing I couldn't stand more than the static on Channel 11 was The Jerry Springer Show.