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I've been buying HTC devices every year since the very first XDA came out. Normally its a simple affair, just ring up O2 and order the next model out but there's so many to choose from now and this year I'm just spoiled for choice.
I'm currently using an Orbit which I really love, it has just about everything I need. About the only improvements I would make is 3G, VGA, more memory, faster processor. So whats available? There seem so many to choose from these days.
I know the iphone is a pile of crap but you must admit it looks good. Don't HTC do a similar style i.e. all screen and fewer buttons?
Anyone got any opinions?
Top of the pops at the moment is the Athena but I think it may be too big for my pocket. Is there anything with a similar spec only smaller yet?
How about Orbit II ?
Has everything you want, except VGA display...
400Mhz CPU, 128MB RAM, UMTS/HSDPA, 3MP camera....
Olioaglio
Yep the Orbit 2 will be my next phone.
The iPhone is very very tempting, and regardless of what hardcore WM fans say, its a very fast, fluid interface and is generally what the public want to see from a touch phone, as proved by its massive sales figures,
Buuuuuuuut the orbit 2 has built in GPS, decent 400mhz proccessor, 3G, flush screen, 3MP auto focusing camera, with video, a second smaller camera on the front for video calls, loads of ram. Go for the Orbit 2 for the time been, get the iphone version 2 in a few years as its probly gunna take over the world lol.
I assume we're talking about the Polaris or Touch Cruise?
Didn't realize it was also referred to as the Orbit 2. Does that mean it will be released by O2 in the UK? Any idea when? (I know the Cruise has been put back to mid Jan)
Anyway I've decided to get a second hand Athena for now (no new contract). I've always wanted VGA and TV out. If I can't get on with the size then I'll get the Orbit2 or Cruise when it arrives.
Yeah its the o2's version of the polaris is called the Orbit 2.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11/09/o2_xda_orbit_2/ for some screenshots and info. Alot of sites are saying its going to get released 1st quarter of 2008, many are saying January.
Is money is no object there is always this phone.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...224-1010&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEM1526BY
What's after Artemis/P3300
Hello, I had the same dilemma, I have this phone for a whole year, I never had a phone for so long, but there is nothing really better out there to replace it with.
I thing the best thing if you don't need keyboard is the Cruise, and I guess I'll have to wait for it.
I think it's a good choice because it has all what this phone has plus 3G and flush screen.
The fact that it does not have VGA does not bother me, because VGA at this tiny screen does look better, but you can't really use it in the VGA resolution it's just too small for the eyes. All the other VGA phones just emulate a 320x240 screen, so it looks much nicer, but not more than that.
I tried a whole bunch of phones, I had the iPhone for almost a month, and it is really great, it is fast, smooth, beautiful and great at what it does, but it does not do much, if you are used to use a lot of the functions of the pocket pc you realize that the iphone almost worthless.
I also had the E-Ten x800 lately, I used it for about an hour and got rid of it, it is painfully slow, I couldn't get it to play a movie normally, it does not make sense, it has 520mhz cpu and it is still extremely slow, also I didin't like the way it looks at all. The VGA screen is good but there is no major difference, and I didin't try 3G in it.
I also have the Gigabyte Gsmart i350 right now, it's nice and small, very fast and has VGA screen, it also has GPS, I really like it but the lack of 3G is a real setback, it does not even have edge, only GPRS wich makes it really slow internet browsing.
One more important thing is the company that makes the phones, there is no such good quality as HTC, the build, the feel, and quality of calls, it beats every onther company out there.
Also this site makes me get only HTC phones, there is no such a site with so much support and options for your phone, with so many great people working and helping each other!!!!!
The bottom line is that the Cruise seems to be the best combination of all the features that are out there, VGA would make it a killer of a phone, but after playing with some VGA phones I don't think it makes such a big difference, also a lot of the apps out there don't support VGA screen, I think in a couple of months there will be a much better support for it.
I hope that my little thoughts and mini reviews will help you with your decision.
The Kaiser is great, but if I could do it again or had the bux to spare, I'd go with a Polaris.
I hardly ever use the Kaiser keyboard and the fm radio on the Polaris sounds like an interesting addition. Other than that, the feature sets (between Kaiser & Polaris) are identical.
See pdadb for comparison info.
Hey guys,
Although I am not among you, I think it would be extremely helpful/eye-opening to conduct a poll of all current HTC Touch Pro owners who have had their device for enough time to make an initial assessment of the device's quality. That means probably at least a week--but use your own discretion. Just a few suggested guidelines:
Don't let the initial euphoria blur your judgment
Think for a few moments before submitting a vote
Compare, if possible, the quality of the device to, say, that of an iPhone, if you've ever owned one or used it extensively, to provide a point of reference.
I look forward to hearing everyone's input!
-Steve
I think it would be helpful if you clarified what you mean by "device quality". Hardware, software, reception, screen, input, battery, performance, etc. Maybe you're asking for "all of the above", but at least it would help people approach it catagorically -- that way people can speak to specific things that have made an impression on them.
It's the best i've used, and the best there is on the market at this moment. I've shut off TF3D though and replaced it with Mobile Shell. Now using it with great pleasure.
With the exception of the "sleeve" and somewhat slow GPS, I am very pleased with my TP.
Great device, and i bet there is more to come with some updates in the near future. That's the reason I voted Above Avarage.
As far as functionality goes, it has all I want: telephone, mail, internet and navigation. Next to that there is a lot of software out there.
A few quircks here and there ofcourse. Like almost instant fixes with Google Maps...and 15 to 20 minutes GPS fixing time with Tom Tom 7.
Battery life could be better as well
I would have liked to add some today plugins into TF3D, or be able to add new tabs
fhsieh said:
I think it would be helpful if you clarified what you mean by "device quality". Hardware, software, reception, screen, input, battery, performance, etc. Maybe you're asking for "all of the above", but at least it would help people approach it catagorically -- that way people can speak to specific things that have made an impression on them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah; I was thinking about doing a categorical breakdown, but in the end, that would have taken a lot of polls.
I hope this is sufficient.
two big problems:
1. battery consumption
2. signal reception
othersteve said:
Yeah; I was thinking about doing a categorical breakdown, but in the end, that would have taken a lot of polls.
I hope this is sufficient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, maybe not with the poll, but at least for any comments. I mean everyone has different needs and expectations for the device so it'll be hard to judge the poll accurately without seeing some objective testimony.
But what am I babbling about, here's some of my thoughts:
- Not the most solid handheled device I've had (my old iPaq hx4700 was a tank), but it comes very close and is definitely not a cheap build. Better than the Blackjack and some Blackberries, but I haven't spent very much time with those and I certainly don't know how well the TPro's build will last over time.
- WM6.1 isn't perfect, but then XDA is very active. Plus there are apps for just about anything you need. I spent some time with a Nokia N800, and while it's nice that Maemo is (almost) completely open-source -- which makes for an equally active community -- you're plain out of luck if no one is developing something you need. Namely, the software probably exists on standard Linux distros, but very little of it has been ported to Maemo. This is the same reason I decided not to jump on the Android bandwagon right away.
- Finally, I now have one device that does everything I needed my old devices to do. US phone (Nokia 6300), Japan phone (SE W43S), electronic dictionary (hx4700), internet device (hx4700/N800), mp3 player.
- Same observations as others: GPS is laggy, though not really an issue since I only use it as a pedestrian; battery life isn't impressive. I will probably buy a USB battery pack later.
So far v.happy, just need to solve the backlight issue when in call, and the Sim contacts list.
I've had my TP for almost 3 weeks now - it was one of the first on the market. I have used HTC qwerty based devices for several years now and this is by far the best device. I dearly loved my Tytn II but the hardware in this device is much better.
I own a 3G iPhone also and while this device is definitely a joy to use it is far from ever replacing my TP as my preference business device.
I decided to continue to run the 3D flow against other utilities but it's far from perfect - however developed with the correct user feedback it will be a great tool.
While 6.1 runs quite smoothly on the device the interface obviously lets the device down. I also have had a few lockups but no more than other devices.
The battery is pretty shocking to be honest. I use a scheduler to shut down BT and even the radio stack at night to preserve battery but to be honest if I were going away for anymore that 24 hours I would have to take a charger.
GPS has has been quick to locate a signal but I've encountered issues with TT6 \ and or Googlemaps. I currently run IGO8 and it runs very well.
Finally this device has a half-decent web browser on it - Opera mobile is great. IE mobile is a shambles.
Micro SD is essential - currently running an 8GB card with all my music, apps and vids. No idea why they left it off the Diamond - crazy in my opinion.
If anyone has any quick questions I'd be happy to answer them.
I was hoping by going with a non-American device (which has three times the processor of its American counterparts), I would have a more stable device. Overall, best phone I've ever had. A little disappointed that I need to soft reset every couple of days.
Don't regret it...leaps and bounds over my previous device.
Wow guys, thanks a ton for the feedback so far. This is extremely informative stuff to all of us prospective buyers. Personally, I'll be getting the phone through our Sprint corporate account, but as with everything that's a significant investment I have been trying to read up as much as possible on it beforehand to accurately set my expectations and prepare myself for problems that will need to be solved.
I use SPB Mobile Shell on my Mogul right now, and while I like it, I love the flair of TouchFlo3D... I just hope it is equally useful and quick (so far to that end it seems to be not quite as useful). I think I will try replacing the default contact manager on my Pro with Finger-Friendly Friends provided that will work all right. I also hope that the US release a month or so from now will see additional improvements in terms of software stability and speed (though probably not battery life).
Apart from that, I'm quite excited about everything I have read about the device. And I've always been a sucker for statistics, so having a poll on such an educated and active forum is of remarkable interest.
-Steve
The best device that I ever owned.
Like others I´m having some troubles with the GPS (reception time) and other issues like the screen going of of on a call.
So far I kinda like it.
Nevertheless I'll vote in the pole and give a complete feedback as soon as HTC repairs it (I have a sound problem...)
Hows the sound quality of the internal speaker?
Greetings
LordK
The only problem of the internal speaker is that the volume is a little bit low (compared to my colleagues' blackberrys)
Rated it Above Average!
I am using the TP for 2 weeks now. I've experienced the 'broken glass' screen and the grey-screen once.
The device is pretty quick and TF3D works nice although there are some moment when it does something completely different than what i wanted it to do.
Issues i like to see solved:
- Album cover view in TF3D music tab
- Fix for lag with TomTom
- Battery usage
Things I love:
- Memory
- Speed
- Screen
- Keyboard
I've had mine 3 weeks so far, upgrading from my beloved HTC Universal. It's a great machine but I'm not blind to it's faults, I Like Touch Flo a lot but it's just a thin layer over old ugly windows mobile.
As powerful as it is it just isn't as responsive as an iPhone, way too sluggish, expect the usual windows mobile pauses and spinning wait cursor.
The screen is too small, I liked my big screened Universal but the screen is such high quality it goes some way to making up for being small (it really is crisp).
The keyboard is ok but it's a thumbboard, I won't be knocking out the emails I used to on it. The slide action is distinctly wobbly to me, not bad, but not the decisive slide movement I expected. The onscreen keyboard is surprisingly usable much more so than the bigger IPhone one.
Memory is fantastic, loads of it, I never bother shutting things down which I was always doing on the universal.
Lockups, yup a disappointing number but a definate improvement on the universal.
GPS, not really a problem, it seems fast, but as far as I can see tomtom5 doesn't initialise the built in gps reciever so I start googlemaps, get a fast lock then switch to tomtom I notice tomtom6 has an option for built in GPS.
Lack of headphone socket is a crazy omission, it's driving me crazy and was almost a factor in not buying it, it's only 10 quid for an adaptor but just something else to carry.
The opera browser is pretty good and responsive but the icons it uses are way too chunky considering the screen is so small, talking of chunky, the menus are all pretty huge, I found how to make the start menu smaller but most menus now eg messaging, need arrows at the top and bottom to scroll the duplo vision menus into place. Also needed a hack to get googlemail working and is so small that almost every site needs a zoom to read it whereas I found I could read a lot of sites on the iPhone without zooming.
I also hate the mini sd card being hidden inside the case, it makes changing cards a pain, I'd also rather have an sd card, for the sake of a little bit bigger unit.
I never considered the IPhone because it has no physical keyboard and it was unable to run GotoMyPC but the difference between the IPhone and the Touch Pro is responsiveness, given it's a more powerful machine it's a damning indictment of windows mobile that it's so sluggish.
I just hope that there's an Android rom released for the Raphael. I'll be getting the ATT Touch Pro (or is it still considered the 'Fuze'?) when it's available as I've been drooling over the TP for a long time now. I'll deal with WM6.1 as long as I have to, but I really like Android, and would switch to it in a heartbeat.
veljko.m said:
two big problems:
1. battery consumption
2. signal reception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vote 1 from me
Touch flow is nothing to write home about either.
using people favorites and Active Sync hates the photos you asign to them so that becomes a waste of time.
I'm shopping for my next cell phone and after looking over the selection on letstalk.com I decided on the Fuze. Initially my only hard requirement was a real slider style QWERTY keyboard, not those sorta-qwertys that the blackberries have and not the fully exposed ones that don't tuck away. I want something I can text comfortably on and not be pecking around in menus trying to find special characters. I was very impressed by both the robust keyboard and the PC-like features of the Fuze, particularly the high-res screen, wifi, and its ability to do remote desktop (awesome for someone like me who uses RDP constantly.)
So the Fuze was starting to sound like slam-dunk until I decided to research it further here and found the cpu/driver/qualcomm thread, battery life and other assorted complaints about this phone. They're certainly not deal-breakers given all the good things about the phone, but before I buy it anyway I wanted to ask for suggestions for an alternative. What would you get if you wanted a great slider qwerty and remote desktop, but didn't want to settle for the Fuze?
The Raphael(Fuze) is the best WinMo PPC hardware qwerty slider around. I still bought mine despite knowing the problems. It's possible that HTC/Qualcomm releases better drivers or an SDK in the future if we pester them enough, so there's even hope for future performance improvements. Plus the xda-dev community is very active with cooked ROMs, there at least 3 or 4 excellent ROMs you can choose from, and they are updated frequently.
nodnod...
That was pretty much exactly what I expected to hear. At least now I can buy this awful piece of junk guilt-free.
Update
Have had my Fuze for about a week now, so far not all that impressed. I already need to return it because the lcd has screen color problems (color ghosting, intermittent monochrome r/g/b) so I haven't tried flashing any roms or radios, tho I have gone thru the basic stock-rom, no-bloat noob setup a few times and tried out just about every interesting freeware app i could find.
I asked a friend to try out the browser on his iPhone. It started so fast, and browsed so smoothly. Mine lags at every single little action - scrolling the screen, zooming, clicking a link... painfully slow. However I found that entering text on his iphone was even more painful.
The main feature I liked from the start about the TP is the ability to do real remote desktop - a lifesaver for someone who's got remote servers to manage, AND a life outside of work. I haven't done anything too complicated thru RDP yet, just kinda played with the start menu - which I noticed has weird text issues at this resolution. However I was still very impressed by this functionality and this is where the vga resolution of this phone really shines.
I've been thinking about asking for a different handset when I send this one back, but still not found one that meets my needs and has a hardware keyboard. Seems like we are still a few iterations away from having a truly well-made, useful pocket pc phone so I may just get it replaced by the same model.
Other minor things I didn't like about it: Entire thing is extremely heavy and fragile, weird diamond-cut back causes certain spots to lose their paint immediately, battery life DOES suck despite what some say, phone back has to be removed to switch out microsd cards, no 1/8" audio out and you NEVER have that dongle adapter when you want it.
rcll said:
The Raphael(Fuze) is the best WinMo PPC hardware qwerty slider around. I still bought mine despite knowing the problems. It's possible that HTC/Qualcomm releases better drivers or an SDK in the future if we pester them enough, so there's even hope for future performance improvements. Plus the xda-dev community is very active with cooked ROMs, there at least 3 or 4 excellent ROMs you can choose from, and they are updated frequently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This does not sound like the HTC I know.
The only real next step up is the Xperia. However, the X1 has a lot of differences that would be a big turn off for me. X1 seems to be a much better build quality though.
Largest problems being WVGA (always a pain even with the WVGA <-> VGA work around) and the price.
behrouz said:
This does not sound like the HTC I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, there are few companies that would be willing to deploy a major software update like this once the unit is already selling. The only hope for this model is if the proprietary driver code could be leaked from qualcomm and incorporated into a rom.
I called the LetsTalk.com customer service line and asked if they could cross-ship me a new fuze so I wouldn't be without a phone for several days. They said yes but for some reason the deposit amount is equal to the retail value of the fuze PLUS a bunch more money for reasons which I did not quite understand due to the phone rep's "dialect" of english. So I now have an $850 (!) hold on my credit card (which happens to be my personal checking account) until the phone swap is completed.
What do you think?
There aren't much changes compare to the HTC Touch Pro... It's a real turn off for me. I don't even feel like I want to change phone.
- Different Design (I prefer the diamond back cover)
- The Tilt is back (YAY!).
- Bigger Screen, 3.6" instead of 2.8", and it's thinner
- It's Heavier than the HTC Touch Pro
- Processor "Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz" Instead of "Qualcomm® MSM7201A™, 528 MHz" (Same Speed thou)
- Memory and RAM are the same (Disappointed)
- Faster Download Speed, Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz (no America yet, but I'm sure they will come up with something)
- Camera is the same (so disappointed)
I was so eager to change phone from the Tilt to Touch Pro, but not to this phone... Except for the bigger Screen. The Good new is the phone seem to be cheap. So is it time to sell my Fuze yet?
Join this Facebook group if you have nothing else to do
Youtube review
And additionnaly, there's no more D-PAD.
That's the same reason why I didn't go for the Touch HD.
I don't understand this "everything touch" trend.
I love the touchscreen, but I like being able to use the D-PAD for gaming, scrolling through list items and then "right clicking" an item, etc.
mysterd said:
And additionnaly, there's no more D-PAD.
That's the same reason why I didn't go for the Touch HD.
I don't understand this "everything touch" trend.
I love the touchscreen, but I like being able to use the D-PAD for gaming, scrolling through list items and then "right clicking" an item, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
x2.
I hate not having a D-Pad. What if I don't want to smudge up my screen? A D-pad is a must-have for me.
I replaced an iPhone and a Tilt with a Touch Pro (Fuze) and I *really* miss the larger screen of the iPhone and the ability to tilt the screen. From everything I've read, I will be buying a TP2 as soon as it's available in the US for less than a fortune. Slingplayer will look fabulous on it, I'm sure.
The "everything touch" trend is real easy to understand. iPhone. Period. If it wasn't for Apple, I'd probably have gotten a new one instead of opting for a Fuze. But since Apple insists on treating iPhone users as if they're retarded, I moved on.
I love the bigger screen design but would miss the D-pad, love the tilt (but it is another thing to break) but i dont like the lack of new features (camera the same, same processor speed, same ram, same memory???) seems like they are tryin to pull a iPhone 3G on us... same phone minor improvements
How well do you suppose the camera will function? Do you think we will be able to learn anything from the Touch Pro 2 camera code/functionality that will help us improve the original Touch Pro camera?
pandaboyy said:
- Camera is the same (so disappointed)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
camera is not exactly the same as it wont have a flash, even more disappointing.
the tilting screen is a great thing, as i really miss the tilting screen of the tilt (kaiser)
Not worth it for me...
For me it's simple...
SAME camera (with no 30fps video)
+ SAME processor speed
+ SAME RAM
+ NO enhanced graphics
+ NO fixed GPS lag
----------------
Waste of $$$
Even when and IF they come out with a US 3G model, my money will be staying in my wallet.
And it's stil on WM6.1, so disapointed.
I'm getting bore of my Fuze, I want to change to a new phone, but there isn't any good reason for me to do so... I'm so bored
For me, the return of the tilt screen and a large screen itself make it worth my money. The camera is nothing to me, I use a real camera anyway. What price marks are we seeing for this phone?
While I appreciate the bigger screen, I am not sure how responsive the device would be with higher resolution and same processor since we all know HTC doesn't believe in video acceleration / drivers in business phones.
TP2 is the reason my TP will live longer in my pocket, plus I am looking for other brands (AGAIN).
WHERE IS MY D-PAD!?
...and why limit it to 3.2MP when every other model has 5?
...and where is the flash!?
No thanks.
KevinACrider said:
For me, the return of the tilt screen and a large screen itself make it worth my money. The camera is nothing to me, I use a real camera anyway. What price marks are we seeing for this phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't care much about camera either, but I care a lot about the speed. However, i agreed with you for the big screen...
Anyway, to answer your question about the price, this website is selling it for $750, which I think it's reasonable for a new phone. Check before you buy, I think it only works for Europe and Asia so far.
The bigger screen and the Tilt feature are big pluses for me, but the lack of D-pad is just weird. Also, I have a strong feeling that 2009 and 2010 will reveal alot of amazing devices from other manufacturers...plus HTC might release somethign else that is better. I currently have a Fuze and I think I will just wait. I want to see how WM7 pans out. I sold my iPhone for $400 and I'm saving the money for something that really deserves it. If I still had my Tilt, I would probably upgrade to the TP2, but from a Fuze to a TP2 doesn't make much sense to me.
Well...HTC lost me on this TP2. Not this time...
I honestly like the first Touch Pro more. I don't like the roundedness...I prefer sharp angles. It looks too fat lol.
I love the new Tilt design, it looks more tilted, but I personally prefer the diamond sharp on the back of my Fuze. And the USB slot look too UGLY, it's just coming out too much. I take back what I said about the Camera, I do use the camera on my device a lot lately, mostly because of the fast upload to Facebook.
Join this Facebook group guys...
Seeing the big screen on this youtube, really make me want it now
Gimme your advice about the D-PAD problem : what do you use instead of it, for example for gaming and so on ? I mean, if you want to control some game emulator, do you use on screen buttons ? As the current devices are not multitouch (I don't want to speak about some well known IwannabeaPHONE), i don't think these are suitable for proper gaming.
Maybe the simple answer is "I don't use my device for gaming...".
What do you think ?
"Some" emulator programs allow onscreen virtual Dpads... but without multitouch, you'll be unable to simultaneously press onscreen buttons.
All games are different though. Some are simply point and click games which don't require a dpad. Others work well without a Dpad.
Most games will flat out be impossible to use.
I came from the Samsung Epix with its Optical Dpad/Mouse... to the Fuze for the Dpad. I later found that the Dpad isn't really a Dpad... but a touchscreen with optical sensors (which is why the Dpad on the fuze sucks; but at least it is a functioning dpad).
I swore my next phone will have a physical dpad and a jog wheel.
player911 said:
I swore my next phone will have a physical dpad and a jog wheel.
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Click to collapse
I'm surprised how few WM devices have a jog wheel; my last one was a FSC Loox 720 and a jog wheel was one of its major positive points back then. It hardly seems like it would be an expensive or difficult control to add, but I guess it's not free and so there's something for HTC to gain by not including one.
I also prefer the diamond back of the Touch Pro, not that the Vario IV has it anyway though (not clear why they had to change that).
Interesting device imo:
http://samsung.letstalk.com/product/product.htm?prId=35487
Running WinMo 6.1
It is not a phone , so in my opinion we have far better alternatives here on the board..
Please note, this device is not a phone and does not come with voice capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phen0m said:
Interesting device imo:
http://samsung.letstalk.com/product/product.htm?prId=35487
Running WinMo 6.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if that was voice capable i would be all over it.
it has a microphone built in, so it could has the potential to be used as a phone as well. All that it needs is an app that would allow you to use voip
I've been lurking these boards for a long while (HP iPAQ hx4700 power user usually looking for cooked WM6.1 ROMs), but now I'm compelled to chime in for once.
We need more devices like this. NOT a traditional phone (we have way too many of those now), WiMAX if you want to subscribe to use it, large WVGA screen, only 450 US$ unsubsidized where most unlocked phones of this caliber are 600 US$ or more and with smaller screens...I could go on. (And having Windows Mobile 6.1 instead of 6.5 doesn't worry me at all because of these here forums.)
My hx4700 is getting long in the tooth; 64 MB of RAM does not cut it anymore, and it just can't run WM6.1 all that well, let alone WM6.5. This is the replacement device I've been looking for, so long as I can make sure that I can use it in portrait orientation. (All of the images I've seen of it are in landscape.)
I do not have a smartphone; I'm not even allowed to have one, or at least have one and use the phone bits. Why should I be forced to pay the premium for a phone modem I'll never use, and also suffer from the other disadvantages of the smartphone trend, like devices that have midget-sized screens to accomodate what would be considered an acceptable phone size? It wasn't until a few years ago that Windows Mobile smartphones in general could even stand on par with the HP iPAQ hx4700, or the Dell Axim X50v/X51v, or other such devices, and they were still way more expensive! (The HTC Universal was more the exception than the rule in terms of specs, but HTC has consistently failed to bring back that design...)
Show me a Windows Mobile smartphone with this basic size, form factor, and large WVGA screen, similar internal specs, and only a 450 US$ or less price tag WITHOUT SUBSIDY/CONTRACT, and maybe then I'll change my mind.
^^ Fragger, i have the Mondi & i absolutely love it! I'll go into detail or answer questions if you have any.. but this device would be a great to any winmo users lineup..Large screen/res, great keyboard, dedicated D-Pad, HDMI-out, GPS etc etc..
Also, its nearly the same size as an iphone, with a larger screen and physical keyboard:
4.8 x 3.03 x 0.63 5.8oz
4.5 x 2.4 x 0.48 4.8oz
Only downside so far is not having a community, as i would love to get WinMo 6.5 on this thing.
You have one now? Great! Now brace yourself for the questions...
-How's battery life? One of the things I like about my current hx4700 is that it's very long-lived, even on the stock battery.
-It does go into portrait mode like every other WM device, right? If so, can you set it up to be more like the HTC slider phones in the sense that closed keyboard = portrait, open keyboard = landscape?
-Built-in GPS, huh? Guess I may not need my Bluetooth GPS receiver (MTK-based, 5 Hz refresh rate, solar-charged), then. How's the initial acquisition time, accuracy, reception, and general latency? (I remember hearing a lot of complaints about lag on the integrated GPS on HTC Touch Pros. Different device, but I'd still hope that I wouldn't have that issue.)
-The format support sounds pretty robust out of the box, which is especially great since it has HDMI-out. Are you content with just Samsung's media player, or have you felt the need to break out TCPMP for certain files?
-Going along the lines of HDMI-out, I take it that it can output at least 720p over it with an H.264/AVC-encoded file and not have any dropped frames?
-The "great keyboard" bit sounds like it has good tactile feedback and a good layout, which is reassuring. Is there anything I may not catch about it at first glance? (For instance, while I doubt it has this feature, I really would like it if I could capitalize letters just by holding the key down instead of hitting Shift first. Never seen that trick implemented outside of the Palm Tungsten|C, and it really cuts down on the redundant keystrokes.)
-Does the build quality feel good throughout the device? Solid feel, no loose parts? Tight slider mechanism? That sort of thing?
-How does the digitizer feel? It's obviously resistive, but some resistive digitizers feel harder or softer than others.
-How could Samsung give out a specs list and NOT mention how much RAM (program memory) it has? Since you have it, you could probably give me an accurate figure. (I'm expecting at least 128 MB by now, but the more, the merrier-especially if it matches or exceeds the 288 MB on the HTC Touch Pro!)
-Can I get the normal Today screen in case I want to use PocketBreeze and/or iLauncher like I do on my hx4700? (The latter, I may be able to do without if Samsung customized it right, but I have to have PocketBreeze for easy PIM access.)
As for the lack of community, give it some time. The device just released, and even in spite of the general disinterest due to it NOT being a phone (actually one of the more compelling reasons for a few of us), I'm sure that someone with the skills has one and is working on how to flash a custom ROM onto it so we can enjoy some WM6.5. (I mean, the hx4700 and the Dell Axim X50v/X51v are still getting lots of attention in the Upgrades, Modifying, and Unlocking forum despite not being phones! Who's to say that the Mondi can't get that kind of love once someone opens the door?)
Some this stuff i will have to answer when i get off, but:
-How's battery life?
Thus far seems very good thus far & charges fast via usb or wall. I haven't done a full drain yet, but seems to be roughly 5 hours or so(this is watching video via orb)
-It does go into portrait mode like every other WM device, right? If so, can you set it up to be more like the HTC slider phones in the sense that closed keyboard = portrait, open keyboard = landscape?
Theres an option to auto-rotate in opera(accelerometer built-in), but i cant find an actual button that locks it in to portrait/landscape. The screen also doesnt auto rotate when u move it.
-The format support sounds pretty robust out of the box, which is especially great since it has HDMI-out. Are you content with just Samsung's media player, or have you felt the need to break out TCPMP for certain files?
I havent used samsungs media player only Kinoma thus far, but the video and audio output is very good imo(im not an audiophile however), the other device i own along these lines is the Nokia N810, and the sound on here is far superior.
-The "great keyboard" bit sounds like it has good tactile feedback and a good layout, which is reassuring. Is there anything I may not catch about it at first glance? (For instance, while I doubt it has this feature, I really would like it if I could capitalize letters just by holding the key down instead of hitting Shift first. Never seen that trick implemented outside of the Palm Tungsten|C, and it really cuts down on the redundant keystrokes.)
The tactile feedback is very good as well.. there is a slider that lets you control the strength.. however you cant just turn it on for the keyboard, its either on or off. The key's(hardware kb) cannot be capped by holding it down as theyre double mapped to symbols as well. There is a dedicated caps key though(on the hardware keyboard)
-Does the build quality feel good throughout the device? Solid feel, no loose parts? Tight slider mechanism? That sort of thing?
Build quality is superb, feels like a high quality smartphone.. good weight, smooth, no squeaks etc.
-How does the digitizer feel? It's obviously resistive, but some resistive digitizers feel harder or softer than others.
The screen feels similar to an HTC device.. soft, but not TOO soft, its also pretty accurate.
-How could Samsung give out a specs list and NOT mention how much RAM (program memory) it has? Since you have it, you could probably give me an accurate figure. (I'm expecting at least 128 MB by now, but the more, the merrier-especially if it matches or exceeds the 288 MB on the HTC Touch Pro!)
256 mem/4GB storage + MicroSD slot
-Can I get the normal Today screen in case I want to use PocketBreeze and/or iLauncher like I do on my hx4700?
Yes, set the Today screen to Windows default or Windows 6.1. There is also a dedicated "Home" key on the screen bezel that shoots you right to your desktop.
Anything i haven't answered above, i will when i get home later! There is also a blog on the front page of Pocketables.com that may answer so of these questions and more.
And yeah i'm hoping we can get a community of some capacity going on this device.. WM 6.5 on this hardware will be outstanding.
Oh, speaking of buttons, which ones can you rebind? And of those that can be rebound, how many let you press-and-hold for a different function? (For example, all of my hx4700's face buttons have a press function and a held function. Rotation is one of the held functions.)
As for no capping with a press-and-hold on the thumbboard because of symbols, that's no excuse because the Tungsten|C's thumbboard also has symbol mapping on all the letter keys, which had to be used with a shift/Fn button-that is, unless Samsung set it so that held keypresses trigger the symbols rather than capitalize letters. (Most thumbboards I've seen on pocket devices just repeat a letter when you hold the key down. I don't see much point in that.)
256 MB of RAM? That's enough for WM6.5 and then some! I could easily have a Web browser with a few tabs, media player, SoftMaker Office, and who knows what else going on at the same time with that much...
Normally, I'd complain about the microSDHC slot pretty hard, but the 4 GB of internal storage helps offset that and my largest full-size SD card is only 2 GB. (I only have one microSD card, and it's just 1 GB. Wouldn't really add anything significant.) In short, I could easily cram most of my music and videos on the internal flash alone. (What I don't like, though, is that they only have 90 MB or so set aside for apps. I'd like to see that doubled, perhaps even tripled so that I can have more apps installed there simultaneously, even if it does infringe on the rest of the storage mapped like a memory card. (Also, you can pass off the bulk of internal storage as a USB drive out of the box, right? No ActiveSync/WMDC needed?)
All in all, though, I'm beyond sold at this point. I just need 450 US$. (It'll probably be at least a month before I can afford it, though, and that's if I succeed in selling the hx4700 and all of its accessories for around 200 US$ or more.)
Oh, speaking of buttons, which ones can you rebind? And of those that can be rebound, how many let you press-and-hold for a different function?
Camera(short/long press)
IE explorer button(short/long)
Message(short/long)
Thats by default. I use an app called AEbutton plus that lets me remap everykey to my liking
And so far its a been a good purposeful purchase.. Office looks great on the screen, and kinetic scrolling is enabled throughout the entire o/s somehow(i dont remember 6.1 having kinetic scrolling in explorer etc. on my phones.)
Kinetic scrolling is also present in the Alkor RC 2.2 WM6.1 ROM for the hx4700. I don't know exactly where it came from, but it seems to be standard fare on new Windows Mobile devices. (I just wish I could disable it only in Resco Explorer 2007 and leave it on everywhere else, because it makes multi-selection difficult.)
Oh, almost forgot about the camera, since I'm not used to having one of those on a pocket computer. How's the quality, both for stills and video recordings? Is the camera button double-detent like on dedicated cameras (push it lightly for autofocus, push it down all the way to actually shoot)? Not common on devices like this, but I'm pretty sure one of the HTC phones (Kaiser/Tilt?) had just that.
I can just see myself with one of these right now. Does just about everything fairly well, can come with me where the TC1100 (Tablet PC) can't, and when Clearwire expands the Atlanta coverage to the point where I'm covered at home, I may end up with a VoIP phone and mobile information terminal down the road whenever I can afford the subscription, not to mention the possibilities with WMWifiRouter.
Finally, you said Kinoma. Free version, or pay version? Never experimented with the WM versions, but I did buy Kinoma Player 4 EX for the aforementioned Tungsten|C so that I could stream video over Wi-Fi with it. (It would be nice if they offered a discount for platform switches like that...)
orb3000 said:
this forum is for HTC devices only.
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the thing looks good, but it's huge.
It's truly smaller than you think.. as i said.. it's not much bigger than an iphone:
http://www.pocketables.net/2009/07/samsung-mondi-size-comparisons.html
Phen0m said:
It's truly smaller than you think.. as i said.. it's not much bigger than an iphone:
http://www.pocketables.net/2009/07/samsung-mondi-size-comparisons.html
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your right, not as bad as i had assumed. don't think it will fit in my pocket though.
wonder what it looks like next to the Tp2.
-It does go into portrait mode like every other WM device, right? If so, can you set it up to be more like the HTC slider phones in the sense that closed keyboard = portrait, open keyboard = landscape?
Found a simple program that rotates the screen instantly
-Built-in GPS, huh? How's the initial acquisition time, accuracy, reception, and general latency?
It's very average.. in the route 66 program the locks are pretty swift, on googlemaps, livesearch(bing) they're very slow. I'm about to try igo and iguidance.
How's the quality, both for stills and video recordings? Is the camera button double-detent like on dedicated cameras (push it lightly for autofocus, push it down all the way to actually shoot)?
The camera is either exactly like the Touch Pro's or slightly below that.. it's not great by any stretch and has no flash unfortunately. The upside is that there are two of them on board for skypeing, videoconferencing, webcam shows etc.
Finally, you said Kinoma. Free version, or pay version? (It would be nice if they offered a discount for platform switches like that...)
Pay version via trialpay: http://kinoma.com/play/
Whatever trial you signup for, just cancel it before the trial period ends.
The only thing that Samsung Mondi's got going for me is the large screen and that it's capable of fitting in the pant pocket.
so its not a phone, but it has a mic? :/
sightpress said:
so its not a phone, but it has a mic? :/
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No traditional radio onboard, but it can be usable as a VOIP phone.
And I'm thankful that there isn't a traditional phone radio onboard to jack the price up with something that I don't need. (If it did have the phone radio, it would cost 600+ US$ unsubsidized easily, not 450 US$.) VoIP is the future anyway, especially when WiMAX coverage starts spreading out.
Another question: how does it handle apps that aren't made for the extra width (generally 320x240 or 640x480)? They just run letterboxed, right? (Anything based on the standard Windows Mobile UI would just have extra dead space, I know that much.)
I still haven't been fortunate enough to use one, and I'm still well short of affording one, but I'll scrounge up the cash somehow. (I just need to find a willing buyer for my old Tungsten|C and my hx4700. Won't get me there all the way, but it'll help a lot.)
Mondi
I got the Mondi after looking for something like it for two years. I needed the largest possible pocketable screen plus hardware keyboard for a couple applications I run and resistive stylus for Chinese handwriting input. Mondi fit most of my needs perfectly and I've found I even do most of my voice calling using Mondi+voip. The only thing I hesitated on before buying and still don't have an answer for is how much of the XDA stuff I'll be able to take advantage of given this is a WM Classic device and Samsung Touchwiz-2 instead of HTC. Does anyone know whether I'll be able to use any of the WM 6.5 stuff from XDA or does having "Classic" put me out of luck?
BTW, I paid $359 for mine which is around what an iPaq 211 goes for.