The Mitac Mio A701 is like a swiss-army knife for the urban environment, with its integration of hundreds of features into a lightweight, pocket-friendly package. While it features all the usual PDA functionality, its party piece is its integrated GPS capabilities. Now we're left to wonder just what they can't cram into an all-in-one device.
Design
The Mio A701 is one of the smallest Windows Mobile devices available today. Weighing in at 150 grams and with dimensions of 117 by 59 by 21.8mm, the Mio is definitely a Pocket PC that doesn't need to go on Atkins. In fact, you can put it in your pocket and not have to worry about all the "is that a PDA in your pocket or are you just happy to see me" jokes. It's still larger than phones such as the O2 Atom Exec, but not much.
On top of its light weight, it's not dull to look at either. The combination of black and silver, as well as its strongly rounded corners, give it an appealing look while remaining comfortable in your palm. The Mio is very well put together, and feels sturdy as well as elegant, even though the body is made of plastic.
The front panel is dominated by the screen, which takes up most of the real-estate save for the four navigational buttons and the joystick that occupy the lower quarter of the Mio. Two of the keys are user-definable and are preset to launch Windows Media Player and GPS Navigation.
On the left-hand side of the Mio are volume control buttons while the right-hand side has an SD slot as well as a user-definable button which is preset as the camera shutter release. The right hand side also has a small headphones connector, and storage for the telescopic stylus.
And the strange looking black stub at the top of the phone? Well, at least it isn't some marketing guy's idea of "aesthetic appeal" -- it is actually an integrated GPS antenna.
Features
Like other Pocket PCs, the Mio packs a healthy amount of features into its tiny footprint. Its 520MHz processor makes light work of most tasks, and the phone comes loaded with Windows Mobile 5.0, giving it access to all of its features. In terms of connectivity, most users will find it adequate as it features Bluetooth, USB, and GPRS.
As a GPS device, the phone works very well, with GPS running on a 20-channel SiRFstar III system. The GPS worked very well in dense city environments, only dropping out once the entire time for about 10 seconds. The GPS works better on foot than in a vehicle as sometimes the distance measurement can be a little bit off when you are travelling quickly.
As a digital camera, the A710 takes very respectable photos considering it only sports a 1.3-megapixel camera, however the quality of the shots is very dependent on the lighting conditions and tend to be rather erratic in terms of quality.
Performance
Overall, the Mio A701 is a very well thought out phone. Its combination of good looks and functionality make it a good everyday phone. The 520MHz Intel XScale PSA-270 processor certainly has enough grunt to make things run smoothly and the menus and functionality are intuitive and simple to pick up. There's also a solid 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM installed in the device. Our only gripes were with the fact that there aren't enough user-definable buttons, and that the stylus isn't suited for long-term use.
Battery life is at a healthy 200 hours for standby time, and four hours of talk time which is about average for Pocket PCs. Standby time drops significantly if you use features such as Bluetooth and GPS regularly. Heavy users will find they'll need to charge the phone every day.
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gcm747
29/02/2008, 09:06 AM
rating
5/10
A well styled phone which packs a punch in terms of onboard features. No Wi-Fi, but can either be lived without or easily remedied with an add on card. Relatively simple to use if you're looking for basic functionality but will please those with a hankering for more. HOWEVER, I am getting rid of mine due to ongoing and extremely frustrating problems with the OS locking up, MMS failing to work at all, SMS intermittant reliability, answering phone calls locks up the system 50% of the time and requires system reset as well as various other niggles. MIO have had the device in twice for inspection before agreeing to replace it. Oddly, the same problems persist. MIO, Microsoft or Mobile provider?? Who knows - but my A701 is heading for a very early retirement. Now where's that NOKIA product page...?
Pros: - Styling
- GPS
- All-in-One capabilities
- Plenty of out of the box extras like spare stylii (?), screen protectors, decent case etc
Cons: - OS locks up regularly
- Many of the phone features including SMS and MMS are intermittant at best
- Somewhat bulky
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Michael Chapman
29/09/2007, 08:31 PM
rating
9/10
Pretty much in a league of its own! While small, cute and light - it actually packs a powerful punch. You'll have to be patient at first (there's NO mention of its GPS or WiFi capabilities ANYWHERE in the material, and the only 'manual' is a cd-rom) but it doesn't take long to realise the awesome multi-tasking potential of this little machine. Its a pity there's no inbuilt WiFi, but you can simply slip in a Spectec 802.11g (or b/g) WiFi Card into the SD slot ... then browse the web for free from your favourite cafe hotspot or Skype the night away! But my feature of choice has to be the a701's GPS function. With Tom Tom v6 software; it's fast, clear and generally spot-on accurate. Of course this does mean you have to switch cards again ... the Spectec comes out and is replaced a normal SD memory card (loaded with your GPS maps). This takes all of about 10 seconds. There's even a special holder for your Spectec/SD card in the protective leatherette case that comes with the unit.
Pros: * 520MHz Intel Processor handles your photos, videos, MP3s, MP4s effortlessly
* Powerful GPS directs you ANYWHERE
* Windows Mobile platform means there are TONS of great programs, games etc (many free)
* Incredibly light and portable
* SKYPE enabled - use WiFi to call the world ... for peanuts
* Price (mine was $550 with TomTom)
* It even makes 'phone calls
Cons: * No inbuilt WiFi (but easy to remedy)
* Battery life is just a day or so, so get a couple of spares and a spare charger (about $20 on eBay)
* Only has USB1 connection, so downloading videos can be tedious
* Camera is pretty basic (no flash) - but it does take movies with sound
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Daniel
29/09/2007, 04:49 PM
rating
9/10
Beautiul phone GPS PDA. I like it.
Pros: *Good Maps provided
*Good user interface
*GPS takes few seconds to detect satalites
*small in size
*All accessories provided, generouse manaufacture, good on them.
Cons: *Battery talk time could be better
*Slow runing Destinator software
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jimger
12/09/2007, 07:31 AM
rating
7/10
Can i add wifi support through usb wifi stick?
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routier1642
11/09/2007, 12:07 PM
rating
9/10
I love it! Very functional, handy replacemnent for my PDA & phone. And I really wanted a GPS. This is starting to get very Sci-Fi now.
Pros: GPS
Phone integration
MS Office
Wide choice of input methods
Cons: No Wi-Fi
Bluetooth is dodgy/useless
No softkeys
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WOMAC
11/08/2007, 01:21 PM
rating
3/10
No instruction manual provided. Need to disable most functions to obtain decent battery life. No instructions at all for GPS function, not even on disks. Not worth the trouble.
Pros: Yet to find
Cons: Phone reception poor. Takes a while to make & recieve calls. GPS function is complicated.
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luca
14/06/2007, 12:01 AM
rating
8/10
Very nice device for someone who wants to have a "all in one" device. Works well with TomTom, lot of sw available on the net for pocket-pc. Like all PDAs, sometime windows crashes or freezes and you must reset...
Pros: Phone+PDA+GPS+photocamera in a light device, almost all basic accessories (car charger, car holder, ...) already in the box
Cons: No Wi-Fi, some annoying bugs in sms and telephone, embedded flash and RAM could be a bit more.
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old user
06/06/2007, 05:39 AM
rating
10/10
great pda , gsm, gps
Pros: good price
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cranberries_r
15/03/2007, 10:34 AM
rating
7/10
good as pda, but phone blocks and send a strange message regarding mscprog not found. Otherwise a good GPS, even for a beginner as I am
Pros: windows compatibility
gps sensitivity
Cons: software still medium quality, bugs present
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bluedogonaboat
14/03/2007, 03:37 PM
rating
4/10
I bought one for the GPS and other fun functionality, and while yes you can check e-mails and take pictures...technically, the thing is a total pain in the **** The phone reception is terrible ANYWHERE with constant buzzing noise in the background. I tried to do a hard reset and lost some basic funtionality such as bluetooth and contacts quick search. Apparently you can fix this by upgrading the firmware, but after downloading it, it says that it is not suitable for this device. I'm going to leave it my car with my spare sim and go back to my old nokia.
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