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GPS, WiFI, BT and Camera All in One Phone

:!: Sorry for the shameless attempt to get you here with a dreamy subject but it's relevant to the topic - honestly. :!:
I'm after a PDAPhone with built in everything. But looks so far like I'm going to have to compromise and get an external GPS receiver, however was just hoping someone might have a little gem that I couldn't find anywhere else in the forums.
I have owned and loved the O2 XDA range ever since my first XDA years ago and have since lugged around an XDAII. I damaged my II recently and have a nice cheque for £550 burning a hole in my pocket courtesy of the insurance company. This means that for the first time ever I don't need to go to a subsidised model. My initial thought was that I'd stump up a few extra quid and get a JamJar :lol: from expansys but now I'm a bit more mature I decided to check out the options first.
So far I've found (Ignoring Naming Variations):
Prices quoted are from expansys - they could be cheaper elsewhere. Pls let me know if you find any (UK Only though)
:arrow: iPAQ hw6515 - Looks a bit crap, small screen and no wi-fi listed but DOES have GPS & 1.3Mp Cam - Anyone know of any Square Aware issues with programs?
:idea: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=120563
:idea: £439.95
:arrow: i-mate JAM - Small and sexy but no Wi-Fi and no GPS but would stop people asking if I've got a brick taped to my head. + 1.3Mp, COuld afford external GPS with this one.
:idea: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=I-MATE_JAM
:idea: £359.95
:arrow:Qtek 9090- Has everything But GPS but would leave enough money for a BT GPS - No camera spec but I think it's 0.3Mp like the XDAIIs - Could be upgraded to WM5, My Mate has one and the Thumb Keyboard is easy to use whilst walking - If I use my head not my geekometer this is my favourite.
:idea: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=QTEK_9090
:idea: £414.95
:arrow: i-mate JASJAR - Dogs balls but still no GPS and not much more than the 9090 + v Expensive & Getting Bigger - 1.3Mp Cam I think. (I have no 3G service anywhere near me so that's not a bonus) I really like the 3.5mm Jack - Overall a severe number of geek points! NO CRADLE Still needs GPS Seperate, not sure how useable while walking the keyboard will be. I really want one.
:idea: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=119353
:idea: £669.95
:arrow: i-mate K-JAM - WiFi, BT etc, Smaller and lighter than Universal, WM5, 1.3Mp. I like the keyboard. Maybe my new best choice. JUST leaves enough money to think about an external GPS. Thanks JamiJam
:idea: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=125518
:idea: £504.95
My criteria to consider are as follows, argue with them and persuade me otherwise with reasons if you so wish:
Phone + PDA Essential (Tri Band+)
Camera - Prefer 1+Mp
BT - Must Have
Wi-Fi - Optional but Preferred a lot
3G - Not required
Keyboard - Like to Have (It's awkward using handwriting when travelling)
GPS - Very Nice to Have I Drive a lot and would like to use TT in the future.
OS - Not Bothered, these can be changed
I have 1 Month to decide before I burst and spray money all over the place so I'd really appreciate any comments you might have.
Don't go off on any obscure tangents though please, post them in a new topic and link to it if you wish.

Wizard...
(aka K-Jam, aka Qtek 9100)

Not sure when it will be out but Orange are going to release the Wizard and call it the SPV M600. If you can wait then you'll have it subsidised. :wink:

hmmmmm
Ok, so far the Wizard is my favourite now. I'd completely forgotten about that. What's the keyboard like though? I'm not too fussed about the size (the one on the XDA III is smaller and still useable)? It's more the key action I'm bothered about.
Does it have those rubbish 'rubbery' 'spectrum' style keys? It looks like it does.
I'm still yearning for a Universal cos none of my mates will have one but my head is still saying I don't need it and one of the others will do everything I want.

AFAIK HTC has some kind of arrangement with compaq - HTC will not make a phone with GPS as it competes with a model HTC makes for compaq that does have GPS or something like that (the hw6515 maybe ?)
I have a Blue Angel (O2 XDA IIs) and it does all of this.
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=I-MATE_III
WM5 now available and working fine on it.
It has a keyboard too, it's those blister things (more like a ZX81 than a spectrum) but it is useable, although the keyboard layout is a bit ****e.
What with the newer models coming out you should be able to pick one up cheapish.
I run mine with a Globalsat Bt-338 Bluetooth GPS and Tomtom 5

oh, and FYI, this PDA holder from halfords holds the BA perfectly and can be mounted to your dash. It obscures no ports.
(The pic is upside down BTW)
http://www.halfords.com/opd_product_details.asp?id=16600&type=0&cat=397

The keyboard on the wizard is excellent, in my humble opinion!
It also snaps in and out in a way that makes you feel it won't break down easily.
Finally, it automatically turns the phone's display into landscape mode, which is very handy.

Wizard or BA
I have to say I'm still impressed with the Wizard. Just made a scale model out of card (how sad is that) and it's tiny!
I like the BA but if the keyboard doesn't let the Wizard down I think it'll be my PDA of choice. The one thing I really didn't like about the Jam was its lack of Wi-Fi and that's solved in the K-Jam.
I assume the screen's readable, I like to think that I'll have good eyesight for a couple of years yet so I don't think the size will be an issue.

iPaq HW6515
I have tried without success to get details of the built-in GPS. The one authoritative source to whom I spoke was scathing about its performance. So whatever you do choose, I do not recommend the iPaq.
On a separate note I saw my first Jasjar close up today. It is lighter than you might think, but heavier than is reasonable for prolonged use as a phone. A bluetooth earpiece was being used that included a display for caller ID. As a data device it is pretty impressive.
I too run a GlobalSat BT-338 GPS, in my case with Mapopolis.

if you are going GPS, make sure it is SIRFstar III chipset (the current latest-and-greatest), especially if you live in a city as they are really good at "urban canyon" reception.
I have seen new BT-338s on ebay for £65 "buy it now" recently

plus another thing to think about...
a seperate BT GPS unit has various advantages:
1) Battery
It won't drain your PPC battery when operating, except the charge needed to communicate via BT.
2) Upgrading
If a new improved GPS unit comes out and you have an onboard GPS unit, you are carrying useless baggage and can't sell the old one.
Also bear in mind there will likely be new features added to GPS units.
one example: digital compass. At the moment, if you stand still and rotate, a GPS unit has no clue which way you are facing until you move. A GPS does already transmit heading AFAIK - it works out which way you are facing by assiming you are looking in the direction of travel. Integration of a digital compass therefore would probably require no changes to the protocol. This does exist ( see http://www.xemics.com/internet/solutions/compass.jsp?productID=108 )
3) Switching.
BT GPS units work on laptopss too you know
4) Safety. I use my GPS for a sport called mountain boarding. Same kinda deal as downhill mountain biking, I trace a route I have done using GPS software. I ride with my XDA in a reinforced case with foam in, but find the GPS reception suffers, so I keep the BT GPS unit in my bag and the XDA in the case.
Seeing as the XDA is MUCH more valuable than the GPS this makes sense.
5) Reception versus viewing position.
Sometimes the position with best reception is not the same as the position you can see the screen of your PPC best.

????
Good point.
Ok, more questions on the K-Jam
Camera: Says 1.3/2 Is this 1.3 with software to 'frig' it to 2?
Keyboard: Is the expansys keyboard silver ( http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=125518 ) or black ( http://www.expansys.com/zoompic.asp?type=item&code=125518 )
Silver ones look plastic whereas black ones look rubbery. Which have you got JamiJam? Is it from Expansys?
Processor: 200Mhz? Is that right? Seems quite a drop. Do you have any problems with media playback? I remember my XDA I used to have a problem playing big avi files.
Ta Very Much

Camera is 1.3MP, and it is ****.
Yes, it's better than the Magician, but it's still pretty bad. I wouldn't buy the Wizard hoping to use the camera for anything useful. In my opinion this is the #1 point on which HTC is lacking. They've worked on everything else, now they need to start putting decent cameras in these devices.
I have the silver keyboard and I bought my Wizard in a store. I believe that if you order from expansys you'll get a silver one.
Processor is 200MHz (different CPU architecture) but it seems to be on par with the Magician in practice, maybe 10% slower. So yes, you should be able to watch full screen movies, once you find a bit-rate/resolution/format that works for you. Not sure which XDA you had, but I would expect similar ballpark performance.
Hope this helps.

Ta
The 'performance lacking' XDA was the original XDA I and I'll take your word for it that performance is ok. I don't use it for anything too hot and my XDA II never had a problem with films.
To be honest, every camera phone I've had from the XDA Range was ****ty quality (Very grainy) but I spend a fair bit of time on site collecting info on wagons and stuff for my job and it's always handy to be able to snap a quick video or pic of something. The only reason I want a higher res is so that when some tit with a Sony Ericson goes on about his 2Mp camera I don't loose too many 'top trumps' points. I never print the pics and my main contract doesn't support GPRS so I don't often send MMS. You'd be surprised how easily you can still get by with just plain old WAP.
Good news on the silver buttons. I prefer them. Has anyone bought one from Expansys who can verify?

Sweetness & Joy
Just thought I'd post my decision for those of you who like seing things through to a conclusion.
After much ponderation and constructing various cardboard models I have decided on the HTC Wizard, purchased from expansys (i-Mate K-Jam). There's a delay on delivery at the moment (3 Days!!!! I can't wait) but once it arrives I'll post back with my oppinions.
I've also heard that my mate is buying the JasJar so I'll be able to make a comparison and post it back.
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:!: Come on Friday! :!:
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D'oh! Just a note not say the expansys delivery has been put back but they've dropped the price too.
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:!: Come on Some-Day! :!:
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Just been looking at some larger photos of the buttons
http://forum.xda-developers.com/files/keyboard-flash.jpg
I take back my spectrum comments, they look pretty good.

Hurrah!
Ok! I've got my Wizard at last. I ended up buying the Qtek 9100 rather than the K-Jam. Looks like I'll miss out on Club i-Mate. :-(
Thought I'd post my views on the phone here just to give closure to anyone reading this thread.
The screen is very sharp. Everything obviously is smaller because the pixels are closer together but the overall effect is a very good screen. The guy in our office with really bad eyesight liked it and he's normally a miserable git when it comes to gadgets.
I take back my comments about the keyboard, it looks fantastic, the action is really great and you can use it to type replies to text messages on the move, which is something I've always struggled with before using the Transcriber. People are also really impressed when the screen rotates thru' to landscape.
I've used it for playing some music and although the speakers built in are tinny as you'd expect, the headphones are really good. I don't know if they'd be the same for the i-Mate but they fit comfortably in my ears and have a very good sound compared to the old XDA & XDA II headphones (Not that that would be hard)!
I miss having a cradle. It was nice to be able to display your phone on your desk while it was charging. Just using a USB cable makes it all feel a bit less sexy as an experience but then you can't have everything I suppose.
The coolest thing I found was the Stylus. It's about 50mm long when it first comes out of the phone. Then you give it a little pull and it extends to... hold on let me get a ruler... 85mm. It's not as comfy to use as the XDA/XDA II styli but since i haven't used it for writing much it doesn't matter. The keyboard is so easy to pull out and use that I've only really used the stylus to point at stuff so that my fingers don't get the screen dirty. The softkeys in WM 2005 also mean that you rarely need to touch the screen.
It's a bit chunkier than I expected but still not big. It's only marginally bigger than my girlfriends Nokia 6230 and compared to an older XDA model it feels like it's tiny!
Voice recognition button on the side works really well so far. I've got about 10 contacts programmed in and it seems to be picking them up ok, even in the car.
Overall, i'm yet to find much of a fault with it. I'll try to get some piccies of bits posted sometime next week.
Feel free to ask any questions.

JASJAR II
When the damn thing releases.....of course
I really wouldnt auction my spare kidney and buy it, and then suffer with a RAM deficit! My xda 2 currently running on wm5, has 128megs ram and 32megs rom....compared to 43megs ram & rom of jasjar........one word.......RIDICULOUS!
i cant believe seeing a 7MB RAM free on a device, and i dont ever want to see it! HTC/ IMATE/ Whoever claim they put in less RAM for extended battery life....bucket of crap! I really dont care for those couple extra hours that i'd probably get, and i dont mind carrying a spare battery or a charger wherever i go....
Its a handicap which is BIG! Besides this, the Jasjar is divinely irresistable, and i cant stop oggling at it :shock:
So, i guess i'll wait for a JJ II to come out with same form factor, and somemore ram which would make the device practical....
HTC do you hear me??????
San

weeel
:shock:
RAM isn't everything. I have been using the device for a day now (Non-stop), often running WMP10, Outlook, PIE etc also playing Tomb Raider. I haven't noticed any diference between this and my XDA II which had I think 64Mb and a 400 odd MHz processor. The odd app is a trifle slow to load up but nothing more major than that.
If the battery life sacrifice is true, then it's not for this little puppy. All this usage (with wi-fi on but not actually using a wi-fi network) and the battery didn't drop below 60% yesterday (Using lightly whilst at work and heavily in the evening. I even synced using bluetooth).
Memory has crept down to 1Mb program mem free at times but I assume windows is just doing its thing because this comes back up after a while and I don't notice any drop in performance.

Re: Hurrah!
eayuwna said:
I miss having a cradle. It was nice to be able to display your phone on your desk while it was charging. Just using a USB cable makes it all feel a bit less sexy as an experience but then you can't have everything I suppose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This site: http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/5735.htm claims that this desktop charger/cradle is compatible with the K-Jam so if that's true then it should be OK for your QTek. 8)

Looking for small PDA phone

I currently have an O2 XDA EXEC, and i love it. The only problem with it, is that its a bit on the large side. This is a bit of a problem sometimes and im looking for an alternative, but not a phone to replace it based on functionality.
I recently saw the SPV E650 and rly liked it, but found that it cant yet be unlocked so im looking for something similar in size, maybe a bit bigger than that. WM5 is a must and must have wifi/bluetooth and possible full qwerty keyboard.
I dont ask much but im sure people here would know the kinda thing im looking for and could help me out.
Thanks in advanced.

Take a look a the Touch.
The processor is a bit on the slow side (OMAP 200MHz), but WM 6, WiFi, BT and its the smallest PDA phone I've seen so far.

The HTC Wings
You can compare the dimentions here
There's also the Treo 500v announced. It doesn't have Wi-Fi, but it has keyboard, WM6 and a touch screen.

HTC TOUCH is quite Sleek

kaotix said:
I currently have an O2 XDA EXEC, and i love it. The only problem with it, is that its a bit on the large side. This is a bit of a problem sometimes and im looking for an alternative, but not a phone to replace it based on functionality.
I recently saw the SPV E650 and rly liked it, but found that it cant yet be unlocked so im looking for something similar in size, maybe a bit bigger than that. WM5 is a must and must have wifi/bluetooth and possible full qwerty keyboard.
I dont ask much but im sure people here would know the kinda thing im looking for and could help me out.
Thanks in advanced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have jasjar also. i still love its functionalities but i thought a smaller (and lighter one) when going to the shopping centres etc, thus i bought touch which is less powerful but very handy. recommend the same to you.

As mentioned the Touch is a really nice phone. It's amazingly small and works well. If you're looking for a high performance device you might want to consider another one but for most things it works very well.
I got it because it was/is probably the smallest smartphone on the market. I wanted a good phone capable of keeping appointments etc. better than a 'normal' phone would do so I'm not that demanding. It is actually lighter than my previous SE k750i, just a bit wider, this means its size is really small. Think MDA compact and slice it in half. I'm very happy with it but there are some downsides to it as well. Wifi reception is not really strong and it lacks 3G, apart from the lack of speed for some it's a good phone with good value.

Personally, I like the Excalibur. It's a tad slow, with only a 200 MHz CPU, 64 MB of RAM, and EDGE, and slightly limited due to its lack of touch screen, but I love the little thing. that's just my opinion, but it's worth considering, if price is a big issue.

I strongly recommend the Touch.
I got my Touch only 3 weeks ago after my TyTn went broke due to screen problem. Believe me I do not find a very significant difference in speed of the Touch Vs the TyTn though the processor of the Touch is almost half the clock speed. But in real life no noticable difference.
The only area where the touch falls short is the available free ROM and RAM. I am more concerned with the RAM. With the same programs plugins installed on the Touch as I had on the TyTn I have only 10 Megs of free RAM after a soft reset. This used to be close to 24 Megs on the TyTn. With this RAM I cannot open some large websites specially java based through Opera 8.65 for example my Banks on-line website. I could easily have done so on the TyTn.
So to conclude if you are looking for a small, reliable, well built, good looking phone go for the Touch but if you are a power user and your style of usage depends upon a lot of free RAM you may find this a bit disappointing.
Personally I will go for the TyTn II soon

Its that new phone time again. Recommendations for Orbit/Armatis replacement?

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.

XDA Orbit Vs. XDA Orbit 2 (Is it worth the upgrade?)

I've been using windows mobile for two years now. I started with the I-Mate Jamin for a year (Which I hated because of its weight and size) and then upgraded to my current mobile – the O2 XDA Orbit, which I have been using for the past 12 months. I love this phone, the only minor annoyance again being the size – I like to have as little in pockets as possible but there's been no better alternative to this device and its been a million times better than the Jamin.
Anyway...it's upgrade time again, only this time I'm struggling to find anything that looks like it might be worth upgrading for (apart from the Orbit 2...)
does anyone here think its worth it? Has anyone moved from the Orbit to the Orbit 2 and would like to share their experiences? I'm starting to think I may better off saving my money and sticking with the original Orbit as I'm not sure what the advantages of upgrading will be, they look very similar and I'm not having any major issues with my current phone...apart from its starting to look a bit tatty!
Does the improvement in weight and size make much of a difference? and is it much more responsive? Also compared to the rest of the market at the moment, what are the better alternatives (if any) to the Orbit for weight and size?
At the moment I'm thinking of holding out in case something better comes along because I'm not totally convinced.
I'm suprised I haven't found much talk about the upgrade from the Orbit to the Orbit 2 around here already!...
I see the Orbit 2 has got double the RAM, ROM and CPU speed and according the specs is marginally bigger and weightier than the orginal
Thanks for your thoughts!

I upgraded from the orbit to the orbit 2 and I can tell you theres not much difference. If anything it is slightly worse!
The main camera is choppy whereas the orbit 2 had no problems there
Missing video drivers means slow video playback.. no problems on the orbit
Barely notice the speed difference (Well for me)
The jog wheel is known to come off, whereas the orbit one stays on
And it is not worth what O2 are charging you. The orbit 1 is much cheaper and has no problems with it and does what the box says. The orbit 2 is just a rushed model that has been poorly constructed and doesnt even include the proper drivers.
I recommend you stick to your Orbit 1, its much more reliable.
Just my opinion though, some people might not have all of the problems I have listed (except for the video drivers they are definately missing)

Thanks, I appreciate that.
Any software issues - such as drivers can obviously be resolved and normally are so that would never be a deal breaker for me. However, takeing on board the price for what might not be much of a difference in useability as you've pointed out will probably put me off upgrading.
Upgrade day is tomorrow and it looks like I wont be bothering at the mo!
Is it noiceably much different in size and weight?
Thanks again,

Size wise its the same...it might be slighty heavy...but can't really tell....
Aesthetically is looks better....I like the touch screen...really responsive...and nobody has really compained about the touch screen, it works really well....Its faster than the Orbit...camera is fine for outdoors..indoors gets tricky...touch keyboards work a treat (there is so many to choose from).
The downsides are:
Camera in low light
No video drivers at this moment (future is also a question mark)
Screen hard to see in direct light if backlight is set to low.
If you get a good deal Its definately worth upgrading
I got mine on a very good 12 month deal with O2.

The mirror finish to the front of the device is a real pain when in the car if its sunny, I want a screen protector capable of blocking this mirror area out. Speed wise it is adequate, although I am not impressed with the internet speed, compared to my Advantage it is too slow - Mike

Well guys, I've been on to O2 and got it for free for £30 p/m for 12 months. Can't argue with that, there's a 14 day cooling period so if I'm not happy I'll send it back.
I'll post my thoughts!

If the breadknife hadn't run off into the distance with my old artemis, my orbit 2 would probably have found its way on to Ebay by now.
Having said that, I would have had the buyer on my case about the jog wheel falling off and the headphones packing up.
On reflection it's probably not reliable enough to put on ebay!

I've had it a couple of hours or so now, put my SIM in, sync'd my data and put my old SD card in and set my apps etc up.
So far I'm impressed and think it’s worth the upgrade for anyone who's had the original orbit for a while and are ready for a replacement.
First impressions are that it’s noticeably a lot quicker and more responsive - this makes it feel much more comfortable to use. The rom it comes with is actually excellent and the touch flow, for scrolling through folders using the touch screen works really really well. It feels like a huge improvement.
I don’t know if this is a common thing but the vibrate feature seems to be a lot more discreet than it was on my previous Orbit which is nice.
The front side camera is pretty cool and the camera SW is good, the camera itself is a good improvement.
The big OK button is great. On the original orbit I always struggled to get in to the corner of the screen with my finger to push OK, that’s been resolved with this.
SD card access is obviously a huge improvement!
A bonus of the screen not being ridged is that it won’t accumulate lint and stuff as easily as the original did - the screen is a 100% improvement in my view.
Overall, I wasn't expecting this to be as much of an improvement over the original as it actually is, I'm a bit blown away by it.
If I had to pick one issue with it, it would be the size and weight. I'd still like something slimmer and lighter but then I wouldn't want to sacrifice any screen space and I know there's nothing like this device on the market at the moment that is thinner and lighter (I'm not including the I-Phone there!)
I'm a happy bunny, this wont be getting returned and I'm selling my old Orbit to a mate for £50 because I can't be assed with the whole EBay thing anymore!

Thanks for the review my orbit died yesterday, Was hanging out for a bit until something else came along but had to take the plunge.
Orbit 2 ordered today!

Media playback, etc.
Thanks for the comments above - I myself am thinking of upgrading to the Polaris from my Artemis.
One thing that particularly annoys me about my current phone is how slow it gets when I'm listening to music.
I use Audio Manager and a set of Bluetooth headphones with the music stored on my SD card. Whilst playing the music, the rest of the phone slows to a complete crawl.
I also quite often like to send my music via Bluetooth to my car stereo, but then I can't really use TomTom at the same time for the same reason...
So far, have you any indication that this would be improved on the Polaris?
Does the faster processor make this device much better? How about the extra memory, does this improve things too as it seems like the Artemis performs much much better when there's barely any software on it - as soon as you install 3 or 4 bits of software it seems to impact performance...
Thanks guys...

I'd say, along with the flush screen, the fact that you can run more programs at once without the phone grinding to a halt is a definite improvement. I remember my artemis used to struggle with running tomtom and the phone at the same time, but the orbit 2 will happily run tomtom, audiomanager, and a few other bits as well as running the phone.
In other ways, I find it less responsive than older slower phones, and it's certainly the most unreliable phone I have every owned, three hardware faults in six weeks.

Less responsive?
Thanks fishes234.
Sounds as though those things that annoy me on the Orbit 1 are OK on the new one but then you say some things are less responsive? Apart from the known problem with the video drivers, what specifically do you mean?
And the build quality really is that bad? That doesn't sound so good as I quite often have the device in my back pocket...
Cheers for your comments - much appreciated

I didn't have any HW related problems whith it since early february... Only one, I managed to is scratch the screen whith my fingernail...

HTC Touch Pro Owners' Poll

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.