The good: Compact size; good battery life; built-in Wi-Fi connectivity; onboard FM radio; sharp LCD screen.

The bad: Slow camera operation; smudgy casing; echo feedback during calls; miniSD slot; mediocre speakers.

The bottom line: A fast Intel processor, the latest Windows Mobile OS and a rich feature set make the Atom an almost-ideal PDA-phone for those willing to sacrifice an integrated keyboard for compactness.

Features:
This is not the first Windows Mobile 5.0 device and most people are already familiar with the enhancements such as its revamped Office applications. Instead of Pocket Word and Excel, you now have Word Mobile and Excel Mobile, with added support for embedded images, tables and charts.

By integrating wireless LAN into the Atom, O2 has finally resolved one of the biggest complaints from Xda II mini owners--the lack of onboard Wi-Fi. Previously, mini users had to buy an additional SDIO Wi-Fi card which took up precious SD expansion slot space in order to enjoy wireless connectivity.

With the Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, the Atom enables users to watch encoded videos as they commute… if they do not mind the sluggish video playback. Music playback, as expected, is of satisfactory quality. The stereo speakers located near the directional pad packs quite a punch when you play MP3s out loud. However, we noticed the speakers cracking up at the volume of 75 percent and above. Another glitch we discovered when we set the phone to vibrate or silent mode was a buzzing sound where audio was supposed to play. This was evident when you played Bubble Breaker in vibrate or silent mode. With game sounds turned on, do take note that there are two volume controls on the Atom: The main volume control that comes standard on all Pocket PC phones; and the volume control within the Equalizer application. If you should detect that volume is too soft, do ensure that both volume controls have been adjusted to optimal levels.

The radio feature is activated as with any other application on the Atom. It can be configured to one of the four reconfigurable buttons if it's a function you use often. However, the earphone must be connected to activate the FM radio, much like most phones and MP3 players with FM radio, as this works as an antenna.

Disappointingly, the receiving party tends to hear echoes during a call and picks up too much environmental noise. There were also a few occasions when calls were unexpectedly disconnected due to weak signals; for example, when commuting on the train.

Another interesting anomaly we found was persistent vibration when the PDA-phone was switched off amidst SMS notification in vibrate mode. We wonder if it's a special feature that prompts the user to respond immediately with its continuous buzzing or simply a hardware hiccup.

The speaker function is activated by holding on to the talk button. Surprisingly, it is quite an improvement from the Xda II mini. Likewise, the Atom's 2-megapixel camera takes better pictures and provides a strong blinding flash for taking photographs in low-light condition. However, we found the photos a tad noisy under dim lighting.

Its 128MB of ROM is sufficient for a normal user. Power users can simply purchase a high-capacity miniSD card and install more applications on the media. The Atom also comes with persistent storage which retains all your data when the battery runs out.

O2 has also provided some software of its own. Two noteworthy ones are O2 MediaPlus and O2 SMS Plus. The O2 MediaPlus is an all-encompassing application that enables the user to play any video, music, FM radio or view pictures in a user interface that's akin to the Windows Media Center PC style. O2 SMS plus, on the other hand, is an interesting SMS software that allows you to text message in a chat-style format.

Performance:
Based on the specs given, the Atom is expected to last for 150 hours on standby and 5.5 hours of talktime. On normal usage, the Atom survives for one to two days before its 1,530mAh cell drains. The battery itself is removable, and more can be purchased as standbys.

In terms of processor speed, the Atom's zippy Intel PXA27x 416MHz processor is comparable with the 416MHz chip on the O2 Xda II mini. It handles multitasking competently without signs of lag. As Windows Mobile does not support the closing of applications, all the programs are running in the background. A soft reset is recommended regularly to keep the PDA-phone speedy.

Conclusion:
The Xda Atom does look good in its piano black shiny casing with its sexy curves. It also packs all the bells and whistles that every PDA and phone user lusts for, including Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile OS. It is, indeed, a good phone for users who favor size over an integrated keyboard. In a comparison with its rival, the Dopod 818 Pro, the former's processor speed and integrated FM radio give it an edge up. The Dopod 818 Pro, though, packs an SD expansion slot and quadband GSM support as opposed to the Atom's triband capability.

If you already own the Xda II mini, there are no spectacular improvements offered. So there is no need for an upgrade to the Atom unless you really need Wi-Fi, an FM radio or some functions that are associated with Windows Mobile 5.0.

Overall Performance - Improves overall performance. Reconfigures memory system to allow more storage memory available to Outlook (PIM) data synchronization and to programs that must be run under primary storage space.

MMS client - Updates MMS software to 4.0.0 (Build 111) that supports insertion of multiple photo/video images.

GSM software - Provides better handling of GPRS, EDGE connection. Improves RF performance in weak signal areas.

Camera software - Improves performance of camera application and camera start up time. Adds a new video capture mode. Improves performance of album application.

Audio - Increases output level from stereo headset.

Resolutions to following issues:
Night mode issue in camera
SIM issues in some Gemplus USIM card
Making voice call when STK is running
Compatibility with certain type of STK applications
Using CSD as wireless modem
Hang issues in Windows Media Player while playing certain mp4 files

An Awesome Notebook... Camillea's no. 1 Choice Gadget for 2006 (",)... im so excited to get one this coming christmas... Guyz 100gb storage capacity.... its really WOW!!! MAC is well known in the field of multi-media & graphix... So it's really worth buying for and best buy for young yuppies whose into multi-media & graphix arts ! (",)

Review from PCMAG.COM

BOTTOM LINE:
For typical users running the iLife suite, iTunes, and even non-universal-binary applications—such as Microsoft Office and Adobe products—the MacBook Pro is a solid notebook. It's a sweet upgrade from the PowerBook G4, and new users will like it just the same. But for sophisticated media enthusiasts or professionals, we suggest you wait a couple of months, or at least until the software can catch up with the Intel components, before diving in.

PROS:
Intel components improve speed. Added FrontRow multimedia interface and remote. Integrated iSight Webcam. Excellent software bundle in the iLife '06 suite.

CONS:
No improvement in battery life. Some multimedia applications that aren't universal binary will run more slowly on Intel-based Macs. System runs hot. One-button mouse. Only two USB ports. Dual-layer DVD support is gone.

SPEC DATA:
Type: Media, Business
Operating System: Mac OS X
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo T2600
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
RAM: 2048 MB
Weight: 5.5 lb
Screen Size: 15.4 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon x1600
Storage Capacity: 100 GB
Networking Options: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW (Plus Minus)

“By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept” is another novel by Coelho that proves that love is not an obstacle to materializing one’s dreams, but a force urging the lovers to conquer their dreams and thus find God. Coelho has once again used his successful formula when writing this novel: poetic prose, symbolism, an air of mysticism, and his usual “follow your dream” theme.

Just like “The Alchemist”, “By the river Piedra…” is a story about a journey symbolizing the route towards self-discovery. “By the river Piedra…”, however, could more easily be described as a story of love, as it strives to show that “true love is an act of total surrender”. At a deeper level, Coelho also gives the message that as there are no rules when it comes to love, there are no rules when it comes to worshiping God: “to love is to be in communion with the other, and to discover in that other the spark of God”.

In this best-selling novel Coelho talks about a long-forgotten aspect of God: His feminine side, the so-called “Goddess”. The feminine face of God has been, as Coelho explains, present in every religion on the face of the earth: paganism (Great Mother), the ancient fertility goddess, Isis, the Virgin Mary. This Goddess, presented as generator of all life, is present in the love the two main characters feel for each other. It is as if Her presence haunts their relationship. The monk turned Goddess-worshiper at first thinks he’s faced with the dilemma of staying with the woman he loves and abandoning the life that fulfils him, or venturing on his planned mission to change the world. In the end he discovers that a choice need not be made: to love a woman is to love life itself.

The love between the couple is one that develops, and it goes through many levels: the childhood love, love hidden behind the bars of inhibition and oppressed feeling when they reunite, the liberated love whereby Pilar regains her “faith” and changes her philosophy on life, and whereby her lover decides to deny his nature and sacrifice his “gift” to have a normal life with Pilar, and the enlightened love which allows both lovers to conquer their dreams.

Just like fear of failure prevented some people from achieving greatness in “The Alchemist”, fear of rejection prevented the lovers from expressing their love in “By the river Piedra…” The expulsion of this fear is vividly symbolized with the deliberate breaking of a glass at a restaurant. This gesture shows that to surrender to love we must break through our fears and break all the rules and formulae. Also, to convert to the faith of the Goddess, which is seen as heresy by many, one must see beyond everything one’s parents taught one about religion and the limits of life.

When the glass is broken and the two lovers are liberated from all inhibition comes the kiss, the description of which is an excellent example of Coelho’s poetic style: “a kiss born by the rivers of our childhood when we didn’t yet know what love meant…in the moment of that kiss were years of searching, disillusionment and impossible dreams”.

At an age when everything has been discovered, Coelho suggests that there are greater discoveries to be made: those of the spirit. The two lovers have made the discovery that all people can speak the language of angels and perform miracles. Now their mission is to let the whole world know, “and experience the agony and ecstasy of pioneers”.

“By the river Piedra…” is an enjoyable love story that may also be seen as a metaphysical allegory. It is a characteristic sample of Coelho’s writing, and some questions are raised by the paradox of Coelho urging people not to use formulae in their lives and yet he once again uses the formula that gave him his best-selling status. Nevertheless, this novel, like all the novels he has written, is a delightful read which gives the reader a sense of much-needed faith in humankind.

Dreams, symbols, signs, and adventure follow the reader like echoes of ancient wise voices in "The Alchemist", a novel that combines an atmosphere of Medieval mysticism with the song of the desert. With this symbolic masterpiece Coelho states that we should not avoid our destinies, and urges people to follow their dreams, because to find our "Personal Myth" and our mission on Earth is the way to find "God", meaning happiness, fulfillment, and the ultimate purpose of creation.

The novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening to "the signs" the boy ventures in his personal, Ulysses-like journey of exploration and self-discovery, symbolically searching for a hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt.

When he decides to go, his father's only advice is "Travel the world until you see that our castle is the greatest, and our women the most beautiful". In his journey, Santiago sees the greatness of the world, and meets all kinds of exciting people like kings and alchemists. However, by the end of the novel, he discovers that "treasure lies where your heart belongs", and that the treasure was the journey itself, the discoveries he made, and the wisdom he acquired.

"The Alchemist", is an exciting novel that bursts with optimism; it is the kind of novel that tells you that everything is possible as long as you really want it to happen. That may sound like an oversimplified version of new-age philosophy and mysticism, but as Coelho states "simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".

As the alchemist himself says, when he appears to Santiago in the form of an old king "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". This is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that echoes behind Coelho's writing all through "The Alchemist". And isn't it true that the whole of humankind desperately wants to believe the old king when he says that the greatest lie in the world is that at some point we lose the ability to control our lives, and become the pawns of fate. Perhaps this is the secret of Coelho's success: that he tells people what they want to hear, or rather that he tells them that what they wish for but never thought possible could even be probable.

Coelho also suggests that those who do not have the courage to follow their " Personal Myth", are doomed to a life of emptiness, misery, and unfulfillment. Fear of failure seems to be the greatest obstacle to happiness. As the old crystal-seller tragically confesses: " I am afraid that great disappointment awaits me, and so I prefer to dream". This is where Coelho really captures the drama of man, who sacrifices fulfillment to conformity, who knows he can achieve greatness but denies to do so, and ends up living a life of void.

It is interesting to see that Coelho presents the person who denies to follow his dream as the person who denies to see God, and that "every happy person carries God within him". However, only few people choose to follow the road that has been made for them, and find God while searching for their destiny, and their mission on earth.

Consequently, is Coelho suggesting that the alchemists found God while searching for the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone? What is certain is that the symbolism of the text is a parallel to the symbolism and the symbolic language of alchemism, and similarly the symbolism of dreams is presented as " God's language".

It is also symbolic that Santiago finds his soul-mate, and the secrets of wisdom in the wilderness of the desert. The "wilderness" is a symbol that has been used by many great writers e.g.. Austen in "Mansfield Park", and Shakespeare in "King Lear". In the desert, Santiago meets his "twin-soul" and discovers that love is the core of existence and creation. As Coelho explains, when we love, we always try to improve ourselves, and that's when everything is possible. The subject of love inspires a beautiful lyricism in Coelho's writing: " I love you because the whole universe conspired for me to come close to you."

"The Alchemist" is a novel that may appeal to everybody, because we can all identify with Santiago: all of us have dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true. The novel skillfully combines words of wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of meaning and language, which makes it particularly readable and accounts for its bestselling status.