News

They won't be happy at O2 or T-Mobile: the XDA II has been set free!

Typically, expensive mobile phones are subsidised by a network. In exchange, you're supposed to use the phone only on that network; and to make sure you're honest about it - not that they doubt you! - the networks lock the expensive device so it simply won't work on other networks. Well, they try ...

But a developer at the XDA developers forum has put the mockers on that one.

The device itself is an old-fashioned PDA with phone abilities. The XDA was the first Microsoft powered PDA with phone circuitry; the XDA brings that up to date, adding Bluetooth and massively upgrading its capacities.

Unlocking the new XDA isn't for everybody. It involves a certain amount of technical know-how, and carries some risk. But if you fancy your chances, and really do want to use other SIM cards in it, the code to unlock the XDA II is now available. And there's a zip file with all the source code as well as the executable also available at the same site.

Details of the phone/PDA itself are available on the Carphone Warehouse site - a distributor for the UK.

Fundamentally, it's everything you'd get from the new Orange SPV e200 - but hugely more powerful, and with far more resources.

It also comes with a genuine PDA user interface - touch screen, and a substantially larger display, iPaq-sized - which some would prefer to the normal smartphone interface of the SPV.

Read the forum postings before running the software. It warns that the process destroys all data and settings - so before trying it, back it up, first, completely.