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I am looking to upgrade my phone with something just a bit better, but I want to make sure I am upgrading, not losing out on features. So first I need a phone that has all of the same features but more.
I use my phone in lieu of a laptop on trips, as I am often in a situation where carrying a laptop is impractical, and I need something that can be shoved into a pocket at a moments notice.
Here are the features I have currently and I want in my new phone:
1. A Great Phone
This is by far the most important thing. A phone that has loud and clear voice quality, great reception, and picks up voice well. My phone currently I can use in the middle of a loud nightclub underground and still be able to have a conversation and great reception. This rules out the iPhone already.
2. Outlook 2007 Integration (or Outlook 2007 killer software integration)
This includes push email, desktop synced email, contacts with all fields, tasks, calendar and notes. I need them all.
3. Internet friendly
I use the internet constantly on my phone, browsing all day. I use Opera Mobile software, and it works great, even with tabs! Wether it is GPRS, EDGE or 3G, I can connectification.
4. Multimedia friendly
Windows media player converts and copies all the videos and music I want automatically and provides many great options for shuffling the music on the player automagically. I also use TCPMP for divx and youtube videos and the like with no problems.
5. Bluetooth A2DP
I swear by my stereo headset. I have no used a wired one in so long. Listening to music, wathcing videos and having phone conversations is so much easier with A2DP. This rules out the iPhone again.
6. Large capacity/storage cards
Currently 8GB microsd cards are avaliable for my phone, with a theoretical limit of 32GB.
7. Instant messengers
I use MSN, QQ, Skype and others on my phone. It is nice to be connected.
8. Wifi
for those times when 3g just aint enough.
9. Hardware keyboard
I message a LOT, so I need a device that caters to this. No onscreen keyboard can match the usability of a hardware keyboard (in my and most people's opinion)
10. Pocketable
This has to fit in my pocket easily. PReferably a suit inside pocket. My current phone is about 14mm thick and about 3.5 inches diagonal... smaller than many less functional phones.
11. Chinese/Asian language input
Perhaps this is just for me, but it an essential for me to be able to communicate in Chinese.
12. All the little things
All the little things that make the user experience better
- threaded sms
- autocomplete names, emails, numbers
- predictive phrases (not only words, the phone predicts sentence patterns as well)
- calling card support (adding prefixes, dialing predetermined numbers automatically)
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Things I want in my NEW phone that my current phone lacks:
1. Speed
My phone slows to a crawl when I am doing too many things at the same time.
2. Bigger screen (3 inch+)
Watching videos on a 2.8 inch screen is fine, albeit too small. My eyes get tired after a while. Extra screen real estate would be better for surfiung the web as well.
3. GPS
Google maps is functional, but can only now give me a location based on my nearest cell. true GPS location finding would be a huge advantage, as I am often searching for locations.
So after all that, does anyone have any sugesstions on the perfect phone?
why not try a x7510 ?
boinger66 said:
why not try a x7510 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, looks interesting, if a bit big and heavy... I am looking further into it to see how pocket friendly it can be...
phony said:
Hmm, looks interesting, if a bit big and heavy... I am looking further into it to see how pocket friendly it can be...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly what you are looking for (I think)
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC-Universal-phone-gallery-pg_1336.html
It´s not a new model, but till to this date not ANY phone has beaten Universal!!
Have a look mate
Cheers
orb3000 said:
This is exactly what you are looking for (I think)
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC-Universal-phone-gallery-pg_1336.html
It´s not a new model, but till to this date not ANY phone has beaten Universal!!
Have a look mate
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anotehr vote for the Universal. IMHO it's better than the Advantage - and MUCH cheaper!
The Universal definitely does look like a great choice, the only thing would be it's lack of GPS and perhaps it is a tad bulky to have in a jeans pocket. Otherwise, I agree, the Universal seems like a top contender. What is the successor to the Universal?
Is is possible to upgrade the Universal with WinMo 6.1 and TouchFLO?
Also, I was leaning towards the HTC Raphael (Diamond Touch Pro), but the small screen still is a bit annoying... just a half inch more and I'd be happy.
The Universal definitely does look like a great choice, the only thing would be it's lack of GPS and perhaps it is a tad bulky to have in a jeans pocket. Otherwise, I agree, the Universal seems like a top contender. What is the successor to the Universal?
Is is possible to upgrade the Universal with WinMo 6.1 and TouchFLO?
Also, I was leaning towards the HTC Raphael (Diamond Touch Pro), but the small screen still is a bit annoying... just extend the screen to the edges more by a half inch...
Hi guys,
I'm trying to pick between the two. The main problem I'm having is whether I'll miss having a physical keyboard. As I wont be able to have a play with either of these phones before I make a purchase I want to be completely sure that I'm picking the phone I'm going to prefer.
So whats your opinion? Is the HD's keyboard suitable for you?
Do you miss playing silly small games on your HD? How are games on the Pro?
Also another important thing for me is the performance, I heard the Diamond can be quite laggy (With the Touchflow, which I plan on turning off anyway) but I would still like to know if the Pro is just as bad as the Diamond, and whether the HD is a significant improvement!
Cheers,
Luke
diamond rocks
There is a small lag , BUt it again depends on wether the ROM is a light one or a packed one . There are many out here , lighter ones ..for eg V7 , and there is one other fact about these phones , that if you do have a lot of calender enteries and contacts ...it lags a little ...
Calender entries aren't a big deal, don't tend to take full advantage of the calender. Though I do have 60+ contacts.
Have Diamond and I like it but wish I'd waited for the HD. I don't miss the keyboard from the hermes much as I expected.
Keyboard
I'm using a Herald. During some days I used the Diamond keyboard SIP, but after a hard-reset I did not install it again.
I'm using the physical keyboard when sitting or stopping in a comfortable place (office, train, restaurant) and I must work a lot (i.e. writing some project memories or preparing some lectures); on other cases, I usually try to use the stylus. When at building, I fear about missing the stylus (or maybe missing myself) in some concrete reservoir or some hole, so I liked to use the Diamond keyboard SIP, to write some small notes. So, my experience is I use keyboard about 30% of my time.
Looking the HD and the Pro specifications, I suppose they don't defer more than in design and small details.
If you need to work as "at home", I suggest you to get the device with built-in keyboard.
Thanks for the replys guys.
As I do a fair amount of blogging and web browsing I have been thinking that the Pro might be best suited for me, but on the other hand I do use remote desktop a lot (From work to my home PC) so being able to use remote desktop "On-the-go" would be rather handy especially on the large screen of the HD.
Another question I have is how often do you Pro and Diamond users make use of the D-pad? It doesn't seem like it would have very much use on a touch screen WM device.
D-Pad? Hardly ever.
I have an old Trinity, and tried WM6.5 ROMs. Twice.
WM6.5 seems a bit faster for me, than 6.1. It is also stable.
But, it has, IMO, the WORST user interface of any OS out there!
It's cluttered. It's busy. It's hard to navigate.
The file screen is pure visual mess: something a grade student with bad taste would create, and think it's "cool."
And of course, below it all, it's still the old, old WM.
I love HTC hardware. But with WM7 beyond the horizon, I am taking a hard look at other options. Maybe the new iPhone coming out in June, maybe HTC Android, if they polish up a bit.
Has MS completely lost it? Or do people actually like WM6.5?
Umm, whats wrong with the interface? i love it, its easy to navigate, I really dont know what ur complaining about. Im using it on my tilt and it works great!
Same here, I'm using it on my kaiser, and in addition to being much more responsive, the UI is a big improvement over previous versions. Titanium is finger friendly, and nice looking too. The large start menu is nice and finger friendly, as well as more convenient than navigating through endless menus just to open a program. And speaking of menus, the finger friendly menus are really nice; I barely have to use my stylus anymore.
The only thing I don't really like about the UI is the start menu's meager level of customization, but I'm sure someone here will come up with a tool to fix that. If you want the old WM interface back, you can always just install an old WM theme, and everything but the start menu will go back to Windows 3.1 style.
Dave
If u think WM 6.5 has the worst UI then u haven't used WM 5 or below.
Agree with original poster, in fact i've listed my polaris on eBay and am just buying a nokia - and I've been using HTC's (about 6 of them) since the original xda.
Given up on MS.
it's the the best but it is one of the simplest UI to navigate. also, with WM6.5, i dont have to install 3rd party apps for sms (because of the big and scrollable UI), contacts (same as sms), and with all the titanium plugins being developed, no more favorite contacts launcher, pograms launcher, weather forecast, twitter, etc. but then again it's not the best UI
Havent tested personally, but from a graphical/friendly point of view I´m not rushing for testing...Not like it at all
Just my opinion,
Im quite a fan of the new interface
I find it incredibly easy to navigate around it.
The only thing i dont like about it is how you return to the desktop after using an app, i would prefer it to return to the start menu where it was last.
It's their first attempt for a finger-friendly UI. It's still ugly (compared to iPhone), and seems a bit too serious, that's why nobody uses the Windows Today screen and everybody installs custom roms or "today screen" alternatives like SPB mobile shell 3 and other similar products.
6.5 is a bit more operable when using it with your hands, but you still need the stylus or a nail for some operations. That's because WinMob started as a PDA OS and now that it's a Phone/pda OS they should redesign it from scratch.
Well, instead of making all UI parts big for a finger touch, Microsoft said that 6.5 will only be available on devices that have a dedicated button for "Start menu".
And I still don't like the honeycomb. (And I'm not gonna buy an iPhone because I like their UI )
For some reason I think this not-so-long development improved WM UI a lot more than HTC with all those touch flos...
meh...its not the best, but its not the wost..lol
meh...its not the best, but its not the wost..lol
Actually VanAuberjim, they changed the upgrade to 6.5 requirements a month or two ago. Requiring a hardware start menu was a stupid idea, and I think they caught on to their mistake. Now, a minimum of a 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM are the only things one needs to be eligible for an official upgrade. Unfortunately, it's still at the manufacturer's discretion, so older devices won't get an official upgrade. Of course, that's why cooked ROMs were invented .
Dave
I agree too.
They messed up Windows Mobile 6.5 completly.
The improvements are not enough, I expected a lot more from the "new" windows mobile.
In my oppinion it doesn't deserve the adjectiv "new" because it isn't. They made the buttons bigger (like we have a long time with finger menu), the scrolling better (there was no possibiliy to make it worse then it was) , a new start menu (which is nearly like the one from TF3D 2) and new lock screen (which is pretty good).
Wooow.
And the rest?
The UI is still like from a nother, old time,, but the UI of iPhone, Android and Palm, yeah, they look new and fresh.
The Windows Mobile 6.5 UI still looks like Windows 95.
And why we still have to use the stylus on Windows Mobile 6.5.
Hellloooo M$ welcome to the non stylus finger friendly century!!!
That's why I'm selling my Xperia right now to buy the new iphone in this summer. Just beause of the interface.
I hate apple and I would love to keep my Xperia. But not this way.
If M$ isn't able to create a nice new Windows Mobile, they will lose in the next years, the won't have a chance against Android and iphone when this OS will have things like Office which is one of the main arguments for a Windows Mobile device.
i agree with the OP and a lot of posts here, 6.5 is just not enough and im sick of the mediocre updates to winmo and they keep pushing back wm7 that i think it might not even stack up as well with the competition when it hits due to the fact that the give us real updates and it may not be up to par by the time it releases...... Im moving on come september or sooner when my contract is up and get me an iPhone 3rd Gen or a Palm Pre
at least they know how to bring the big updates to their OS (Palm gave us the Upgrade that M$ should have done and in a BIG WAY)
and apple (even though they are air tight) at least gave us copy-paste/mms and a lot of things that they were behind on so all iPhone haters can look for something else to complain about now
I like the new interface, and now more compared to the overloaded TF3D 2, I must say that WM6.5 is not the best thing out there in matter of usability and design, but it represents a big improvement over the older version, I just love the scrolling, and the new menus. I would like to see improvements on tasks switching and the control on the icons on the topbar, but I think that at this stage that's not gonna happen.
The real promise is Windows7 but they're taking tooooooooo long. I think the most interesting OS out there is the OS of the Palm Pre. Apple? well, I just realize that I don't want a phone with virtual keyb, I can't type without seeing the screen.
I have recently installed the WM6.5 ROM on my Diamond and I really like the responsivness of the new OS, especially with the new HTC Album, Camera, etc. So the underlying code must have been greatly enhanced.
When it comes to the visual of the home screen, I think I still prefer the HTC TouchFLO 3D. So together, they are a winner
I too agree with the original poster here. It is really terrible in my opinion. In fact, after installing it and using it for a few days, I came to the conclusion that microsoft is incapable of delivering any credible handheld OS for the foreseeable future at least, and have already switched to iPhone. I'm really very very happy with iPhone. WIth it jailbroken, I can multitask, cut and paste, do video recording, do bluetooth file transfer, do MMS, and many other things which everyone says iPhone can't do. Not only that, I find that other than GPS navigation software, which is still terrible on iPhone, the third party applications on iPHone are a lot better. Everything is so well thought out in iPhone, although it has just one button. Easy to switch tasks, VOIP and phone calls are of much better quality, volume control that could be adjusted in small increment, so much room for customization and tailoring (when so many incorrectly says that you can't customise iPhone).
I now use my HD to run my Tom Tom, iGO, Garmin and Mapking only. Once similar application exist on iPhone, I'd be 100% done with winmo.
WORST++
Definitely one of the most pathetic attempts of MS. Sucks big time, what on earth were they thinking?
For instance, if i've scrolled the menu down somewhere and the clock/date is not in the screen....and i leave it there and come back to my today screen....boom! i got to scroll back just to see the damn date!
A today screen is to give a quick glance on all the important stuff. This is plain ridiculous....all you get to see is some boring menus in font size 32.
boo MS....booooo!
I'm not going to tell anybody what they should think, but I think a lot of negative opinions in this thread are because people are misunderstanding what 6.5 actually IS.
It's a patch job. It's a little facelift to buy time for WM7, which is an actual overhaul. Based on comments that have dribbled out from the WM team, I don't think WM7 really has been "pushed back." Instead, WM8 was pushed FORWARD and rebranded as WM7. The "original" WM7 was drastically reduced and rebranded as 6.5.
IMO, 6.5 is MOSTLY an improvement over 6.1. The menus and scrolling are definitely better. There's a handful of little tweaks and changes that are definite improvements. CHome is a bit flashier and more "current" than a bare Today screen (and, remember, you can easily disable it and use the "classic" Today screen if you want).
The only part I'm not very fond of is the Start menu. The design is questionable, and it's too darn clunky to rearrange. They really should have made a fullscreen "smart" menu that works more like the Vista / W7 Start menu.
Also, the new version of IE is absolutely useless. Slow, clunky, and lousy page rendering. Older versions of PIE were lousy for the "real" web but great for mobile sites. The new IE is good for neither. Luckily, that can also be reverted.
Probably been posted before but I find its nice to get a fresh new post every now and then.
Well I'm impatiently waiting for my new HTC Kaiser as I'm upgrading from an HTC Magician so I'm looking at sprucing it up as soon as I get it. I know how programs get outdated and replaced so often in the WM world and I havn't updated my Magician in a long time. All I had was spb diary & weather, AE Button, cl launch, pocket agenda on my Magician and it did the trick but nowadays it seems so rudementry especially compared to my girlfriends new iphone lol...
I'm not looking to make an exact clone of the iphone, but to steal some of its more useful features such as kinetic scrolling and finger swipes and gestures to make my phone more appealing and finger friendly for day to day use. So far I've found a few very nice efficient and free programs such as icontact and slide2unlock, and some others you have to pay for like SPB Mobile Shell 3 and Vito Winterface, as well as Opera and Skyfire browsers.
Are there any other good programs along these lines? What would you guys suggest? Such as media players and such, as well as game emulators (Big reason why I bought the Kaiser, hope it doesn't let me down!). I can't wait for my Kaiser to finally come in so I can mod the crap out of it. I'd like to remove most traces of the ugly default windows mobile look without bogging my Kaiser down too much.
Thanks!
I cant imagine why an HTC/WM owner should want his/her device look like iphoney...
But in case you want to, have a look on developing & hacking section there are plenty of them
orb3000 said:
I cant imagine why an HTC/WM owner should want his/her device look like iphoney...
But in case you want to, have a look on developing & hacking section there are plenty of them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No not to just look like one, mainly to add its finger friendly interface, the iphones gesture based system is the way mobile touchscreen phones should be as far as I'm concerned, very intuitive, but without the iphones limitations, as for looks I would make it look quite different than an iphone as most WM programs are re-skinnable and very modable.
The problem is knowing WM I'll need a nice set of programs to have a fully touch friendly phone, as in phone/texting, contacts, pim, launchers, media, browsers, today plugins, office. So I'm just looking for the best ones atm, I love icontact for one and spb mobile shell 3 looks like it covers most of the others.
RedruM said:
No not to just look like one, mainly to add its finger friendly interface, the iphones gesture based system is the way mobile touchscreen phones should be as far as I'm concerned, very intuitive, but without the iphones limitations, as for looks I would make it look quite different than an iphone as most WM programs are re-skinnable and very modable.
The problem is knowing WM I'll need a nice set of programs to have a fully touch friendly phone, as in phone/texting, contacts, pim, launchers, media, browsers, today plugins, office. So I'm just looking for the best ones atm, I love icontact for one and spb mobile shell 3 looks like it covers most of the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok
Now I understand
Have a look on the section I told you and if you need any special app I can help you to find it
I´m agree with you
WM for itself is not very good, but with several apps you can have a great device!
I don't think the BB Mobile rep was supposed to let me get it yet as I thought it and the pre were due out on the same day? Of course, she was sweet and cute, but not very knowledgeable anyhow so it all worked out for me.
My HTC S511 came with Qualcomm 7625 528MHz processor. 192 MB of RAM with 80 MB for os as well as 256 MB of Flash memory of which the os takes up 160 MB. Software wise it ships with ROM version 1.14.651.1 dated 4/15/09 and radio version 1.25.05F. PRL version 60652 and PRI version 1.29_003.
Seems like a newer slimmer & lighter version of the Motorola q9c (which I also have on another line) except made by HTC with a 2mp camera. Not even close to the touch or mogul I also have so I will not even bother to compare it to either, but rather to it's closest match that I have experience with. I have pics of all these phones together, but no clue how to get them on here.
Keypad buttons seem a little wobbly but easy to use even for my big paws. Still playing with it trying to see if I like it or not. It feels better in my hand then the q9c and better suited to right handed use. Camera is alright, but no flash. Everything is pretty easy to find, especially if you are q9c friendly. Has MS Office instead of Documents to Go, but I can't seem to open word on it's own without a file already there to open. MicroSD card is protected under battery cover, which is kinda nice if it included a card that is. Includes 3 games Bubble Breaker, Solitaire and Wheel of Fortune. Also here is a quick list of included gadgets/software read from the bottom up on my phone:
YouTube
Voice Recorder
Video Recorder
Streaming Media
Sprint TV (Speaker is very loud though tinny)
Sprint Nav
Speed Dial
Software Store
RSS Hub
Remote Desktop
QuickGPS
NFL Mobile Live
NASCAR
Music
MP3 Trimmer (very nice for custom ringtones)
Messenger (Live) redundant?
Live Search
Instant Messaging (AIM, Live, Yahoo)
Inner Circle
HTC Mobile Guide
Google (not compatible with gmail mobile which makes me think no java support)
File Explorer
Comm Manager (Airplane Mode, Phone, Bluetooth, MS Direct Push, Data Connection) no wifi
Clock & Alarm
Camera (pretty nice and can send via email right from app)
Bluetooth Explorer
Audio Booster
Album
Adobe Reader LE
Internet Sharing
Accessories
Getting Started
Pictures & Videos
Voice Notes
Games
Call History
Windows Live
Voice Command
ActiveSync
Office Mobile
Windows Media
Tasks
Internet Explorer
Settings
Contacts
Calendar
Messaging
Overall, I must say it is much more polished than my q9c and not bad for $149 with new line contract. Too soon to say anything about battery life yet, however it is still running on the initial factory charge and only dropped from 3/4 to 1/2 in 20 hours of being on and mildly used. Data is typical HTC fast and should make it a good pants pocket phone for me instead of jeopardizing my now aging and harder to replace mogul/titan. This is good for me especially since my q9c seems to have forgotten how to shut off it's display of late.
Yes this Phone is very cool
I've got the old T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur) and was wondering if the screen readability in sunlight has been improved?
I've always been upset that I can't seem to read the screen at all when I'm outside and the sun is shining. I've noticed that friends with blackberrys and iPhones don't seem to have the same problem.