I eagerly awaited the XDA II Backpack for some time, and it’s another of the XDA II accessories that have been really difficult to get until now. Fortunately, I now have had one for a couple of months, courtesy of our friend Mr Gadget; prior to that forum user whocarez was very kind indeed to lend me his own.

The Backpack is sold for both the XDA II and i-mate Pocket PC Phone: it doesn’t matter which brand you buy; just as both devices are the same phone, both ranges of accessories are the same and compatible with either.

Pricing

The Backpack costs AUD$265 (inc GST) from our friends at  Mr Gadget Australia  - I've also discovered that our friends at Press Digital now have stock too . Free shipping for MTekk members from both of these will certainly help in this case! Naturally, the device follows the typically expensive nature of accessories for the device, but all that will hopefully start changing as more Pocket PC Phones come onto the market here.

Features

The Backpack incorporates an additional battery, Type II Compact Flash card slot, and a VGA/S-Video/Composite connector that permits display of presentations, PDF files, and even mirroring the entire screen.

When it was initially listed at the O2 website, the only image photo shown of the Backpack was that of the back-side of it, leading to speculation (even from myself) that it might possibly fit more or less flush with the unit itself. Nothing could be less true. The thing sticks out a good 1-2cm from the XDA II itself, and it’s a block shape that makes it more or less impossible to fit a case while using the backpack.

That’s not a great design choice, but perhaps it had to happen that way. It does cause  me to miss the old XDA I extended battery, which – although it did add bulk to the device – could at least be accommodated by one or two cases on the market. But so long as you don’t expect to have the Backpack fitted at all times, it’s bearable.

Attaching the Backpack

The Backpack is attached by removing the battery cover of your XDA II or i-mate Pocket PC Phone, slotting two small metal catches into the plastic cover around the Camera, and pushing down to slot the connector into the socket. If your device is powered on – or when it comes out of standby - the Backpack insertion will be acknowledge by a small “trill” sound effect. This is probably helpful for those whose Backpacks are prone to issues with the XDA II not detecting the Backpack as attached.

Initially when users at MTekk started receiving their Backpacks, there were reports of problems with it not being recognised on occasion. The Backpack lent to me by whocarez was one that he reported had an issue; however I never had a problem with it, and haven’t with my own. Evidently this could have been a ROM issue, or perhaps my customisation of the Extended ROM could have a bearing on it. Nonetheless, I’ve found it to be recognised instantly, and flawlessly.

To utilize the Video capabilities of the Backpack, it’s necessary to install the VGA Utilities pack, which is provided on CD with the Backpack. XDA II users will probably already have part of the Utilities in Extended ROM – ClearVue PDF and PPT are installed by default for XDA II’s (but not i-mate Pocket PC Phones) – but it’s necessary to install the Utilities in order to get the Screen Mirror application that really forms the heart of the Video functionality.

Installation of VGA Utilities is relatively quick and painless via the standard ActiveSync install.

Battery

The battery incorporated into the backpack has a capacity of 600MAh – this does not add to the overall battery capacity (such as with the XDA I’s extended battery), but rather, charges the main battery. Ultimately you do wind up with somewhere around 1800MAh of battery life, but it's simply a different arrangement.

This arrangement works well enough, although bear in mind that it can make your device life a little unpredictable, at least initially. By that I mean that the inbuilt Pocket PC 2003 battery meters don’t really accommodate this kind of arrangement. When the backpack is attached, an additional tab is added to the “Power” applet in Control Panel labelled, funnily enough, “Backpack”. This tab shows the amount of battery left for the backpack unit, and you may find yourself switching between the “Main” and “Backpack” tabs in the Power applet to try to figure out how long you have left.

Battery drain while the backpack is attached happens in a couple of different ways, depending on whether you have a CF card inserted or not When no CF card is inserted, the backpack battery will decrease as it charges the main battery. If a CF card is inserted – such as my Wi-Fi card – then both the main battery and backup battery will decrease; the effect here is to slow the main battery drain down to give longer usage, and it works quite nicely in my opinion. However this is why I say it may make device life a little unpredictable.

Video  

The Video functionality is the part of the Backpack which I have utilized the least. It’s handy enough, I suppose, but really not that much a driving need for me. A small dongle with VGA, S-Video, and Component output capabilities is provided with the Backpack, and this plugs into a small slot on the side.

I tested the Powerpoint viewing and Screen Mirror functionality, and found both acceptable; although Screen Mirror in particular is quite vicious for CPU usage, and perhaps inexplicably so.

Screen Mirror allows the display of the XDA II to be displayed simultaneously on your video output, which in theory would be terrific for product demonstrations and tutorials. However, I found this to be less than perfect.

It’s obvious that mirroring the XDA II video to the screen and another port simultaneously would have to take some CPU time, but setting the Refresh settings above "PIM, Word, Database" wound up in a slow, more or less unusable device. In addition, refresh of the current screen was typically quite slow to occur, with some screen changes being missed altogether. It’s very much a hit and miss affair.

The Screen Mirror app permits multiple displays or "Views" of the device, permitting the ability to switch on demand. However I did not wind up testing this capability.

Much smarter is the Powerpoint display functionality. This permits full screen display of Powerpoint slideshows to your monitor, projector, television; really very effective, and several MTekk users have commented on just how useful it is. In fact, if I were to use the Backpack’s video functionality at all, this would be the most likely usage.

Compact Flash

The XDA II comes with an SDIO-enabled memory card slot, permitting SDIO enabled cards – such as the Sandisk Connect SD Wi-Fi card reviewed by Dave – to be added to enable additional functionality. However, there are some drawbacks to this. Firstly, you are losing your ability to use the SD slot for memory (unless you have a combo card that features both functions and memory), not all add-in cards are available in an SD flavour, and not all available SDIO cards fit the needs of users.

A good example is my own wireless situation. I’d previously tried the Sandisk Connect SD Wi-Fi card with my Netgear FWAG114 Wireless Router; the result was ultimately failure after many different attempted configurations. I have since found that a common verdict is that the Sandisk and Socket SD Wi-Fi cards (which are physically the same card) do not work well with at least some Netgear equipment, including my own router. This doesn’t leave many options to get wireless enabled on the XDA II; at least, unless you have Compact Flash capabilities.

Compact Flash has been around longer, and significantly more products – including AM/FM Radios, VGA output cards, and I think even a TV Tuner – have been released in the format. If you have a Compact Flash slot, you can open up a much greater array of functionality for your device – at least for the moment. In time it would be reasonable to expect that most, if not all, cards will ultimately become available in an SDIO-enabled flavour, but for the moment Compact Flash still has quite a bit of useful life left.

I decided that, having the Backpack, I would revisit Wi-Fi via my XDA II. I purchased the Netgear MA701 Compact Flash card – which I’ll review separately – from Harris Technologies. With some trepidation, I plugged it in, and found it worked perfectly.

Wi-Fi from my XDA II has since been smooth, flawless, and speedy; indeed, it has proven to be a reasonably good test of the Backpack interface to download files, and in my opinion the test has passed with flying colours.

Integration

I would have to say that this is a definite issue. While the Backpack fits well enough into the XDA II, other components are a secondary consideration. For example, the Backpack and Thumb Keyboard do not fit well together without a small modification (removing the rear backplate). This is somewhat poor planning in my opinion, since logically if you were to use the Backpack for Wi-Fi, or even for storage, it would be quite possible (if not likely) that you might want to use some form of input device, and at the very least the Thumb Keyboard accessory should have been accommodated for.

Other keyboard devices – other than perhaps a Bluetooth keyboard, or a better designed IR keyboard – aren’t very likely to accommodate your XDA II with the Backpack attached. Certainly the Universal IR Keyboard doesn’t – and this could be an important consideration for some.

Comfort

When using Wi-Fi via the CF slot in the Backpack, it’s surprisingly comfortable to hold; bearing in mind of course that I do have large hands. The boxy Backpack does indeed make it somewhat easier for me to keep a grip on my expensive Pocket PC Phone, and at the very least, it sits well on a desk!

However this does pose an issue; the XDA II can’t fit in a case while the Backpack is fitted, and so is highly susceptible to the risk of damage from drops and knocks. I’ve been lucky this far, but I don’t tend to put the Backpack on in public places for fear of this, unless of course I’m safely seated!

Portability

The Backpack and its dongle for video are small enough to fit into a pocket, I suppose, and that’s what I certainly do. Naturally enough, if you are going to be doing a presentation with your XDA II, you would probably want to take a video cable with you for “just in case”, and this might make portability a little more of an issue (unless, of course, you’re going to hook into a data projector with its own cables).

For myself, I carry the thumb keyboard and Backpack regularly, not to mention a wide array of additional bits and pieces (often new review items, cables, etc); this does make for some full pockets and I often find myself looking around for a backpack to dump it all into. And people wonder why I look forward to the Motorola MPx!

Summary

The Backpack is quite a clever piece of hardware; the CF slot, extra battery, and video are really handy additions. Nonetheless, it will most certainly not be for everyone. The bulk and awkward size, combined with the inability to fit a case while using it, see to this.

The Backpack is certainly useful for professionals on the go who need to deliver Powerpoint presentations; and anyone with a driving need for Compact Flash has pretty much no choice but to go with this. However I’d certainly not be getting it purely for the extended battery life; you will spend most of your time without it connected.

You can purchase the XDA II Backpack from our friends Press Digital and Mr Gadget - Free shipping for MTekk forum users!

XDA II / i-mate Pocket PC Phone Backpack Overall Score

Good: Video for presentations on the run Compact Flash provides greater potential for add-on cards Extra battery gives you that little bit more run time

Bad: Bulky and awkward No chance of fitting a case! Might not be quite pocket sized for easy portability Poor integration with other accessories

Overall: I really like the Backpack; for myself, it's an indispensable tool that helps me get that much more out of my device, and it's certainly fixed my Wi-Fi problem. I would have loved to use my i-mate with an SDIO Wi-Fi card and a Microdrive fitted to the Backpack; however, I'm prepared to make do with my SD memory card and Wi-Fi via the Backpack. It's not for everyone, but it will certainly solve problems for some! Matt's Score : 7 / 10