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Meet the HTC STAR100 - The most beautiful Phone from HTC April 08, 2006 [MS Smartphone] | By Lutzh Haedrich. Yet again we got our hands on a not released Windows Mobile Smartphone, before it hits the markets. And we are very impressed by this HTC phone: Meet the Qtek 8500! Take a trip with us to the future of Windows Mobile - when technology meets beauty! 
by Lutzh The "Saturn black" coloured phone is the first clamshell phone from HTC and remembers very much on the Motorola RAZR design. From the feature perspective it is no revolution: It comes with Windows Mobile 5 and Microsoft Feature Pack for Push Mail, is driven by the OMAP850 processor with 195 MHz, mega pixel camera, bluetooth and it has A2DP on board for wireless stereo over bluetooth! Nothing special so far - no WiFi or anything else that would place it on top of other Windows Mobile Smartphones. Except for one thing: It's style! We would like to show you this black beauty in a photo comparsion to other HTC devices. Take a trip with us and meet the Qtek 8500 or STAR100 as it says when you start the device in the bootloader mode.  The outside of the STAR100. On top you find the camera lens (pictures taken with the cam at the end of the review), the outer display for network/battery status and clock, keys to control windows media player and two LED's for network status/notifications and bluetooth indication. The flip and the bottom is made in a carbon fiber look while the rest of the device is coming with a matted finish.  The carbon look feels very precious and looks very cool.  Unlike seen on other pictures from pre-releases the Qtek 8500 has only one circle on its keypad around the action key. This keypad is great but you have to get familiar with it first since it is a new experience that you don't have those physically keys you know from any other phone.  On the picture above: light sensor for automatic backlight, deepening for the speaker in the flip, hole for the microphone.  No chinks, no cracking, no grinding - the STAR100 is one of the most solid manufactured phones I've seen before!  This shows the new connector system of the STAR100 - say good bye to your beloved Mini USB cable, it's time for something new. This is the only connector of the STAR100. You plug your power, sync and headset (pictures way below) into this one hole. At first, I was a little p!ssed about it since this makes it impossible to charge and listen to music with the cable headset in one run. But because the Qtek 8500 has A2DP on board you can easily charge or sync PLUS listen to music at the same time. And then I thought "hey, if there's only one hole in the device it is the only entry point for dust, compared with the headset/sync/sd card slots that other phones come with - may be that's the reason!"  The hinge. The two nipples on the left are taking care that the flip doesn't hit the surface too hard when you close the phone.  From the other side. The key you see is used for voice dial.  Hinge and screen. See the matt finish of the phone.  The inner display is coming with a mirror like finish as you can see on the picture. It has the standard WM Smartphone width/height, is colourful and deep - but as always a little hard to read in direct sun light!  From right side: camera button and connector.  On top: The hinge.  On the left: Voice dial button, volume controls.        Side by side with another black beauty - the XDA Neo.   Bottom shots: No hole at the STAR100, two for the Qtek 8310.  From left: Qtek 8310, Qtek 8500, XDA Neo.     Back side: connector for external antenna.   The external display - different modes for the clock (digital/analog), the 7 stands for the date. We would like to keep the display enabled but the power management doesn't allow it and switches it off after a certain time.  More external display states.   Media player controls with closed flip. It doesn't show videos, only the information about the current track.  Fits the beauty - the keypad is light up in a blueish colour. As known from other smartphones you can choose between light sensor or time out controlling the backlight of the keys.  External display - even in day time clear and crisp.  Internal display. State-of-the-art quality of windows mobile smartphones.  Green LED for network/notification status.  Blue for - guess what - bluetooth status. As mentioned before the Qtek 8500 does support A2DP out of the box!  No need to paint it black - headset, charger, sync cable and phone look like they are made for stealth bomber crews.  The new connectors - power plug and sync cable for STAR100.  Dig deep - you know where to place your storage card? ...  ... rrrright under the Sim card. Not only that it is a new format (MicroSD, available at a maximum of 1 Gigabyte for ~ 75 Euro at the moment) - it is placed UNDER the sim card. So whenever you think that putting music, videos or any other data on that card with a card reader, you will be busy getting there. The idea MUST BE that Microsoft wants you to use Windows Media Player to place your music and video data on the storage card, just to controll the DRM as much as possible. Loud and clear from me to you: What a F.C.U.K.! This is more than stupid.  More inside views for those who care.      Some pictures taken with the camera of the STAR100:     Self portrait mode with closed flip - the outside display works as seeker then. Remember: Only the bad guys get the good phones earlier :-) Finally, here comes a little video I've made. It contains nothing special, no hidden features or extras. It only shows the phone in action and that I can :-) CLICK HERE FOR THE CLIP! If you have any questions regarding the phone or want to know about a specific feature - feel free to ask in our forums!  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 26 Comments ]
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