O2 blueroom

John Dodds has some great insight into the intuition using the phone. John’s original post can be seen here.

“I know it will take me months to master maybe 40% of its functionality, so why would I put myself through that?”A typical and unsurprising comment from some technology focus group research that I saw recently. But what’s the solution? Intuitive interfaces for sure. But let’s not forget what intuition is - it’s defined as immediate cognition. The trouble is cognitive biases mean that cognition (and thus, I assume, intuition) can differ greatly between individuals.

Along with others, I’ve recently been testing the new xda Orbit 2 from O2. It’s elegant, has great audio quality and made me want to use it, but that’s where my problems started. I’ve finally got around to locating a helpful and extensive online pdf instruction manual (sadly not a website). But the crucial “out of the box” experience was, for me, not what it should have been and I understand that some more technically-astute users have also been “unintuitive” - in one case being unable to find a feature that was heavily touted on the website. It’s a salient reminder for any company, not just O2.

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Will McInnes gives us his first impressions on the Xda Orbit 2, his blog can be found here.

“Disclosure: O2 is a client of mine. In a different capacity I am on the receiving end of a blogger outreach programme run by VCCP, one of their roster agencies, where they send out pre-release phones/devices for people to play with and keep. This is the second phone I’ve been sent - first time was the Coccoon which I never got round to writing about (oops) but I can say sincerely that my wife LOVES it and says she gets lots of positive comments about it, so there you go.

So first impressions of the O2 XDA Orbit 2.

Love the packaging - this is the kind of feel O2 needs to evoke in people if its own-label devices are to live up to the brand promise and the position that O2 wants to take in the marketplace. Packaging shouldn’t mean anything, but we’re not rational people really, and any Apple fanboi will tell you that great packaging does matter: it’s the fullness of design and experience applied across every touchpoint.

Love the user-friendly instructions and stickers.
There is so much ground to be gained in consumer tech by being easy to use. Although it may not be the cool brand amongst the young people, I personally believe Nokia owes so much of its position to having always offered the most intuitive, usable menu systems. In the USA there is much re-balancing of the Apple iPhone see-saw towards tried and tested Blackberries which super-users can bang out message on much easier (their words, not mine) than on the swish haptic iPhone interface.
So simple instructions and on-device in-location stickers that make it clear what I need to do using PICTURES (!) is great - I don’t read the manul, I’m afraid it’s just that simple.

Size-wise, I think this device is reasonable enough for the market: it’s not staggeringly thin and small, but it’s certainly not chunky - check this pic which highlights the lack of thickness:”

Anna Farmery has fallen in love with her Xda Orbit 2, quite literally. You can see her post on her blog here. Thanks Anna!

“I like gadgets, like the way that they can help me…but a couple of weeks ago I got the new O2 Xda Orbit 2 mobile phone to review - no strings attached .
Firstly, I have to congratulate the agency, VCCP as I think they have done a great job with their outreach program and also the xda blog for the phone. They have kept communication going for instance, last weekend I emailed Steve with a question - the reply came Saturday night…now that is someone trying to engage me, putting customer serivce first…not just doing his job!

Hmmm I thought well, I need a new phone so let’s have a look. What happened next shocked me!

I opened the box and fell in love with this phone….really! I mean this is a sexy, sophisticated phone, sin the mould of the iPhone. I found myself ripping open cables etc to get this up and running. For the last 2 weeks I have been using it and I absolutely love it….It is easy to use, light, functionality is great, setup is easy, it does everything well. Even the battery life is good.

I spend a lot of time on the road and this phone makes it easy to stay productive, but in a way that makes does not make me feel technology because I have to…but because I want to…just showing how an outreach program can convert a Virgin customer to an O2 customer!

My only issue now is how to transfer, I don’t find the O2 site easy, I don’t find the tariffs easy, I find I have to click on numerous links without ever finding the information that I want! Also, I have 5 months to go on my Virgin contract…so should I transfer? Should I not let my heart rule my head…

(For detailed 4winmobile technical review click here)”

Darren Straight, a Microsoft Student Partner, an avid blogger and technology enthusiast, has given an invaluable review of the Orbit 2. A massive thankyou to Darren, whose thoughtful in-depth review and concluding judgement make a great read!

“Last month I was contacted my Steve Cater who works at vccp as part of O2’s Marketing Team. He asked me whether I would be interested in trialling one of O2’s new phones in a seeding program, similar to that of the O2 cocoon seeding program which gave developers and technology lovers a chance to trial the phone. The idea sounded interesting and it looked like the cocoon program did well so I said yes to testing this new O2 Phone (didn’t know the name of it then).

Last week a package arrived, I opened it up and lo and behold it was an O2 Xda Orbit 2 Phone along with all the necessary accessories and a sim card. I got straight into taking some photos of this shiny new device along with testing it.
Technical Specifications:

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Lolly, who was also part of the Cocoon seeding campaign, seems to be enjoying her new phone. Here’s what she had to say:

“The highly anticipated Xda Orbit 2 is now available in the UK, and Steve at VCCP, the advertising agency behind the Cocoon seeding programme, asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was interested in reviewing the device… and I simply couldn’t say no to a shiny new toy!

The deal with VCCP is quite clear - I’ve been given this phone with no obligation upon me to say or write anything about it. But I will, as this is the sort of phone I was planning on upgrading to and I am glad to see a bigger range of smartphones available on the market.

I’ve been playing with my new toy in the last few days and my verdict so far can be summed up in one word: wow! The new Xda Orbit 2 is definitely a cutie with an impressive spec!

Whilst smartphones tend to be masculine looking, the Orbit 2’s design is gender neutral, yet stylish. The Orbit 2 is very easy to use … so intuitive in fact that the manual is still in the box! Saying that, O2 should still aim at improving their manuals (I believe I said the same thing about the Cocoon a few months ago…). I felt that the manual could have been organised in a more logical and comprehensive way (without being too bulky) as the information is all over the place…

I am so far terribly excited about the camera, music player/digital radio (can’t wait to see whether I can at last ditch my iPod) as well as Co-Pilot 7. I am planning on blogging about these features in the coming weeks…. In the meantime, more reviews can be found right here on the Xda Orbit 2 Blog. ”

Lolly’s origional post can be found here.

Keith Bond is definately getting to grips with his phone very quickly:

“I was recently contacted by Steve of vccp.com, part the 02 marketing team, he asked me if I’d be interested in trialling the new O2 phone, well anyone who knows me I’m always up for a freebie, my Fashion Blog is littered with reviews of various items of apparel that I’ve been sent, so naturally I agreed.

On Tuesday morning a carrier delivered my brand spanking O2 XDA Orbit 2 and wow what a phone.

The key features of this little beauty are:

• 3 Megapixel camera
• On-board GPS
• Microsoft Windows Mobile v6 Pro

One of the reasons I’ve never taken to mobile phones in a big way is that the tiny keys and my numb arthritic fingers are incompatible, not a problem anymore, the Orbit 2 comes with a touch screen and a neat little stylus.

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Stephen Davies, PR Blogger, also recieved his own Orbit 2 on Tuesday. Here’s what he had to say:

“Like quite a few others, yesterday I received my O2 Xda Orbit 2 mobile phone by the cool cats at marketing agency, VCCP. Steve Cater, who’s involved in the outreach, emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking if I’d like to try out the phone with no obligations to write about it. Of course they’d like me to (that’s the point of blogger outreach after all) and of course I will oblige after I’ve tried and tested it.

I was involved in the very good O2 Cocoon outreach last year and Amelia from VCCP very kindly shared with me the details of the initiative which I used when I presented at BizDays in Bucharest in November.

I haven’t had a chance to play around with the Orbit 2 yet but some of its key features are: 3 megapixel camera, touch screen, sat nav, Windows Mobile 6 Professional, mp3 player and FM radio. According to Neville Hobson, there’s a four day trial with CoPilot Live sat nav so I’m planning on giving it a whirl also.

Ewan from SMS Text News mentioned on Twitter that I can write a review for his blog so I’ll probably do that if he’s still up for it. Might be a bit like a 12 year old writing a piece for the Economist, however, given my lack of mobile knowledge. Compared to Ewan at least.

The Xda blog can be found here. No content on it yet though.”

Here’s another intial review of the phone from Simon Judge at Mobile Phone Development.

“O2 have kindly sent me their new Windows Mobile 6 based Orbit 2 as part of their blogger seeding programme. It’s very timely as I am currently doing some Windows Mobile work every other week (and Nokia N95/S60 in intervening weeks).

This has given me the opportunity to compare the current top of the range (WiFi, GPS, HSDPA, multi megabyte camera) S60 and Windows Mobile phones. Here are some initial random observations…

• First of all, the Orbit 2 is actually a re-cased HTC Touch Cruise with different bundled software. Personally, I think the rounded corners of the Orbit look better.
• The Orbit 2 comes with a fully functional version of CoPilot. This is a great plus point because both with the HTC Touch Cruise and N95 you have to pay extra for maps and turn by turn navigation respectively.
• I am pleased O2 haven’t included the HTC today screen plugin that’s found on other devices such as the HTC Touch that I have been using - I personally don’t think the plugin is much good. It just confuses users.

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