Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Product Category: PDA phone

Manufacturer: HTC

Where to Buy: Expansys [Affiliate]

Price: $524.99 USD

System Requirements: Comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 and HTC's TouchFlo 3D interface. Sorry, no word from HTC on 6.5 or 7 upgrade at this time.

Specifications: Qualcom MSM7200A running at 528MHz; 512Mb ROM, 288 Mb RAM; 3.2 inch TFT LCD screen in 480x800 resolution; Quad band GPRS/Edge + dual band (Europe/Asia only) HSPDA/WCDMA; 117.5g (4.1 oz) with battery; 108mm (4.3 in) x 53mm (2.1in) x 14mm (0.6in). Full specifications from HTC are available here.

Pros:

• Huge, bright screen with vibrant colours;
• Sleek, professional look; good feel in the hand and very pocketable;
• TouchFlo 3D interface is very smooth, responsive and finger-friendly -- little need to use the stylus for most functions;
• GPS Receiver is Phenomenal!

Cons:

• Soft reset button is located inside the unit so you have to take the back cover off if things get 'stuck';
• Really wish HTC would add a Tasks tab to TouchFlo.

Summary: Right from the top let me say I LOVE the Touch Diamond 2. It has a very classy look; the size and weight are very comfortable in the hand' and the WVGA screen is clear, vibrant and huge! HTC's TouchFlo interface is quicker and smoother in this version, with new features and greater depth into the Windows Mobile GUI. As a whole, everything about this phone just works exactly as you'd expect it to. Easy, Expected and Reliable is exactly what I'm looking for in a personal digital assistant and the Touch Diamond 2 has it all. I really hated to have to return this at the end of the review period. Read more...

"T-Mobile USA, Inc., and HTC Corp. today announced the upcoming availability of the HTC Touch Pro2TM, a powerful, stylish device with an intuitive touch screen and user interface that enables customers to simplify their communication and mobile Internet experience while staying connected, informed and in control of work and life. The device will be available in a mocha finish to T-Mobile customers beginning Aug. 12.

Enabled for T-Mobile's expanding high-speed 3G network and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), the HTC Touch Pro2 offers fast data delivery and an enhanced Web-browsing experience along with popular features such as built-in GPS and location-based services. Featuring a 3.6-inch color WVGA touchscreen that slides back and tilts up to reveal a full-QWERTY keyboard, the screen is perfectly positioned for reading and creating e-mail, browsing the Web, using applications, and playing videos and games. A 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus also provides customers with an easy way to capture and share high-quality images and video as well as view that content on the crisp display."

Image courtesy of Engadget Mobile.

I've had a chance to use the Touch Pro2 over the past week, and I've got to say, this is one impressive device. T-Mobile is the first US-based carrier to release this uber-device, but they won't be the last. I'm not sure how I feel about the "mocha" colouring on this though. Any of you T-Mobile users plan on picking this up?

Product Category: 3.5G GPS PDA Phone

Manufacturer: Pharos USA

Where to Buy: Expansys [affiliate]

Price: $479.99 USD

System Requirements: Runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

Specifications: Qualcom 400Mhz processor, 256mb Flash ROM, 128mb SDRAM, 2.5 inch QVGA display, QWERTY keyboard, Triband (850/1900/2100) UTMS/HSDPA/HSUPA, Quad Band (850/90/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS/EDGE. GPS (with AGPS compatibility), 802.11b/g, BT2.0+EDR, USB 2.0, Cameras - 0.3mp (front), 2.0mp (rear)+fixed focus, battery is 1410 mAh Li-Ion with is rechargeable/replaceable. Dimensions: 116mm (4.57in) x 62mm (2.44in) x 15mm (0.60in). Weight is 145g (5.11 oz) with battery. Full specifications are available here.

Pros:

• Trackball has a good, responsive feel to it, but software is still not fully integrated into its existence;

• GPS is very responsive and works well with the Smart Navigator software;

• Standard 2.5mm headphone jack, which also doubles as TVOut;

• Good all around package for traveling business people.

Cons:

• Lock/power button doesn't always turn on the screen;

• Small stylus;
• WiFi has difficulty with secured networks;

• 2 megapixel, fixed-focus camera is not up to current expectations.

Summary:

Following along from our review of the 117 last month, we now present Pharos' latest addition to the Traveler series -- the 127. Similar to the 117, but designed for those who prefer the front-facing embedded keyboard format, the Traveler 127 is a full 3.5G capable travelling companion for the mobile business executive. It's not an easy market to make your mark in, as it's crowded and competitive. How does the 127 fare against the HPs, HTCs and Blackberries? Let's take a look...

Read more...

Good news everyone! Yours truly has come into possession of two registration keys for Microsoft's My Phone Beta program! Since I'm such a nice guy I thought the best thing to do would be to give them away to our readers! For those of you that are unaware - "Microsoft My Phone syncs information between your mobile phone and the web..." - Basically it can best be described as a very simple and easy to use cloud syncing solution for Windows Mobile handsets. Exchange services for the rest of us!To qualify to win one of these two never before used registration codes, all you have to do is post a reply telling us about a time when data syncing has failed you miserably. It can be anything; like having your phone stolen and not backing up your contacts or getting the phone number of an attractive member of the opposite sex seconds before your waiter spills a cup of water on your Samsung Blackjack... Whatever you can think of!The contest will be going on now until Sunday April 12th, 2009 at 11:59PM PST, at which time I will go through and randomly select two entrants to be announced Monday April 13th, 2009. As I mentioned before the winners will be selected randomly so unfortunately bribing me with cookies will do you no good - but you are more than welcomed to try!

"Today’s Wall Street Journal has an intriguing story about Dell’s apparent plans to enter the smart phone business. It’s not clear what platform Dell will use. Apparently Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile are on the table. Maybe they’ll use both. But here’s the detail that caught my attention: The phones are being designed in an office in the Chicago area. That to me says this Dell phone will essentially be designed by former Motorola people."

It would not surprise me to see Dell hire ex-Motorola employees to design and develop their new smartphones. However there are a few industrial design firms in the Chicago area that have worked with Motorola in the past and could be working with Dell in the future. I think the real interesting part of this story is how the Dell smartphone rumors, just like the Zune Phone rumors, will not die. There has been speculation for years that Dell would jump back into the smartphone realm but to be honest I really doubt we will see this happen. With Dell's announcement last week that their sales have dropped over 16% in the past year and they will be cutting down on costs, jumping into a new already crowded market doesn't seem like the best way to recoup their lost sales.

This is a brief walk-through of the Motorola A3100 SURF, a Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 smartphone set to be released in Asian markets in 2009. It has a 2.8 inch, 320 x 240 touch screen, powered by a Qualcomm 528mhz CPU. No pricing information has been announced; it will be sold in Asian markets later this year.

The holidays are upon us and while I know a lot of Windows Mobile users out there will be picking up shiny new devices to play with on our respective gift giving holidays, there is always that one Windows Mobile gift that is overlooked – The gift of great Windows Mobile applications! From December 19th-23rd the company that manages our affiliate store, MobiHand, is having a huge 50% off sale on over 40 of the best-selling Windows Mobile applications. During this MobileHeist event you can expect to save anywhere from $10-$20USD on such applications such as Elecont Weather, Sprite Backup 6, Agenda One, Pocket Streamer and more!To pick up any of these best-selling applications you can just point your browser to our affiliate store(s) by using one of the links below!

• Smartphone Thoughts Affiliate Store
• Pocket PC Thoughts Affiliate Store

This is an unboxing and first impressions video of the HP iPAQ 910 Business Messenger, a Windows Mobile Professional smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.1. This is a 2.46 inch touch-screen phone (320 x 240 resolution) that also features a front-facing QWERTY keyboard, so it's a bit different than some of the phones I'm used to looking at.

The iPAQ 910 uses a Marvell PXA270 Processor at 416 Mhz, has quad-band GSM/GPRS and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA, meaning it's a true world-phone that can get 3G anywhere it's available. It also has a 3 megapixel camera, USB 2.0, 128 MB of RAM and 256 MB of ROM. Impressively, it boasts a 1940 mAh battery, so it should have solid battery life. Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g round out the offering.

Our star reviewer, Don Tolson, will be taking a look at this device and giving it a full review in the coming weeks.

"What do you get if you take an iPhone, remove the clean UI, user friendliness, nice industrial design, battery life, cachet, functional OS, and in general everything else that makes it worthwhile? The new Microsoft phone, powered by Nvidia. Yeah, you heard it right, MS is going to make its own branded phone, after all, everyone kicking the company around the block has one, so it should too! If you were wondering why Nvidia never mentions the phrase Linux when talking Tegra, even though it is the most appropriate OS for the chip, now you know. NV appears to have sold Linux out to get the MS flagship deal, how nice of them"

This is easily the snarkiest, most acid-dripping hack job I've seen in months - and I was shocked until I saw that it's syndicated content from The Inquirer...then it all made sense to me. Putting aside the ridiculous excuse for journalism - it's really an editorial, not a news story - there are some interesting rumours. Is this the fabled Zune phone? Or some other phone-based project? I refuse to believe that Microsoft would sacrifice all their gains with Windows Mobile partners all over the world by releasing their own Windows Mobile phone - that's just not going to happen, despite some people believing that it's the only way we're going to get the "ultimate" Windows Mobile phone. Is this a Zune phone then? Possibly. When you consider that the third-generation Zune hardware is identical to the second-generation hardware other than a capacity bump, the Zune team has had to be working on something. If Microsoft did release a Zune phone, they'd cause major rifts with their Windows Mobile partners, and those partnerships are worth a lot more to Microsoft than the MP3 player partners they alienated when they released the Zune.

2009 is going to be a very interesting year, that's for sure!

UPDATE: CNBC says this phone is code-named "Pink", but doesn't have much else to say about it.

"Here's something that is sort of under the radar: evidently a company called Mobileyes has teamed up with various local news networks to release customized live Traffic cam apps. Available for for WM Pro and Standard devices, you can download the app for your region and then select via various sub-menus locality and specific highways."

Now this is a handy application. I remember when I was a kid we use to watch this mythical box called the TV that would show us pictures from various "eyes in the sky" so my parents could see how traffic was looking on our always backed up highways. Now you can pretty much do the exact same thing from your phone and a few traffic cams making the days of helicopters recording traffic a thing of the past.

This is an unboxing and first impressions video of the HTC Touch Pro. This devices was given to me on loan by Expansys, and it currently (Nov 2008) retails for $799 USD. The HTC Touch pro is an evolution from the HTC TyTn, AT&T Tilt, etc. It packs a lot of functionality into a package that feels surprisingly good in your hand.

The HTC Touch Pro uses a Qualcomm MSM7201A CPU at 528 MHz, runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, and has 512 MB of storage ROM and 288 MB of system RAM. It is 102mm tall, 51mm wide, and 18.05mm thick. It weighs 165 grams with its 1340 mAh battery. It has a 2.8 inch VGA screen, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11 b/g, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It's a quad-band GSM phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), and this model is set up for Europe/Asia 3G with 900/2100 MHz band coverage for HSPD/WCDMA for up to 2 mbps upstream and 7.2 mbps downstream. The main camera is a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, and there's a front-facing VGA camera for video calling. It also has a microSDHC card slot and supports high-capacity cards, which are currently up to 16 GB in size.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog.

Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.

I was looking for something on Expansys this morning in our affiliate store, and I noticed that the MWg Zinc II has undergone another price drop - it's now only $299 USD. If you watched my unboxing or review videos, you'll know that I found this device to be a solid, capable Pocket PC - nothing terribly revolutionary, and not a real power user device with only 64 MB of RAM, but capable enough for most people. I felt that the initial price of $749 USD was just too expensive though because it put the Zinc II in close competition with the HTC Touch devices. But at $299 USD? This device is in a class all it's own - I can't think of any device that performs better on a price/performance ratio. And unlike every new device that HTC is cranking out lately, the Zinc II actually has 3G that will work in Europe, Asia, and North America because it covers the 850/1900/2100 Mhz bands. This is definitely a device worth considering at this price.

"One thing that stood out 1st and foremost when taking the HTC FUZE out of the box was it's size. You can look at pictures, you can check out size charts and the actual dimensions, but you can not describe the way a device feels in your hand in words. The FUZE just amazed me, it's not much smaller than the Tilt on paper, but when you hold it in your hands, it feels much smaller. It's not any lighter feeling and the bulk from the thickness is the same, but the feel of the FUZE in hand is quite awesome."

AT&T's latest and greatest Windows Mobile smartphone is reviewed in detail by Chris Leckness over at MobilitySite. Lot of pictures, lots of screen shots - worth the read if you're considering this as your next device...

We have a large variety of devices out there now. With Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Palm, Nokia, the Iphone, and Google's G1, many would call these smartphones. But as I look around the web I've read that some say devices like the G1 or iphone are not smartphones. Some say they are multimedia phones. When I compare my Dash and my Iphone, there are definitely some differences but there are also many similarities. They both play music, videos, handle all my appointments, contacts, ebooks, bible, internet, email, camera, and so on. So what do you all think? Are all the devices mentioned smartphones? Are some smartphones and some not? Does it matter if the device has a touch screen or not? And of course the real question: What makes a smartphone a smartphone? 

Microsoft has just launched a new developer portal for Windows Mobile to help advertise upcoming events, showcase applications, and introduce you to a number of team members and MVPs. And, of course, there's no shortage of guides showing you how to turn that idea in your head into a working Windows Mobile application.

"After teasing the market multiple times, Microsoft Corp. plans to finally confirm today that it's bringing its most money-making desktop software franchise online and to smart phones. Microsoft will release lightweight versions of four components of its Microsoft Office suite for the Web and Windows Mobile smart phones, said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of Microsoft's business division, in an interview on Monday."

I was incredibly excited by this news until I stopped and started wondering - Is Microsoft going to build this to be compatible with all smartphones or are they going to go the usual Microsoft route and only make it compatible to Microsoft's horribly deficient mobile web browser? Either way, as a Windows Mobile user, this means we should have access to basic Microsoft Office elements online. Unfortunately it could mean that once again the rest of the Internet population would have to go without. Hopefully the latter is not the case. We'll keep you updated as we hear more news on this subject!

Remember a few weeks ago when I reported that my Samsung Blackjack had an unfortunate run-in with a clumsy waiter and a glass of water? If so you will probably remember that I was taking suggestions for new phones to purchase. Being the undecided gadget enthusiast that I am, even after I decided to pick up the HTC Touch Diamond from Sprint, a company which I loathe, I decided to pick up a T-Mobile G1 as well. I figure if I am going to be stuck with one of these devices for the foreseeable future, I better put them to the test and see which one comes out on top and in the process expand my mobile gadget horizon.

Summary:
After playing with the T-Mobile G1 since I first picked it up bright and early at 8:00am and playing with the HTC Touch Diamond all day yesterday and today I can easily say hands down the T-Mobile G1 is so much more usable than the HTC Touch Diamond. There are some things I really like about the Touch Diamond and the TouchFLO 3D interface truly is beautiful. Unfortunately I have found the TouchFLO 3D interface to not be very practical and the device itself to be fairly unusable for my needs. After using a Windows Mobile Standard device for years on end and being accustomed to the streamlined layout which allowed me to get to whatever I needed with one hand quickly - jumping over to the cluttered and highly frustrating old school Windows 95 tap based interface of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional just filled me with pure rage. Why in the world does everything that triggers a reaction in the operating system have to be so darn small and hard to press?! Can someone PLEASE explain that to me!? Even with a stylus I spent a large majority of time thinking to myself "Really? Someone thought this was a good design idea…Really?" Read more...

"From our sources confidential and exclusive, we learned that Samsung would launch a new Windows Mobile smartphones, which we were able to hear very few but important details even if, unfortunately, we have had no image of the device... According to our information, the new Samsung smartphones was designed to target an extremely young and will be launched in Italy, although at the time there was communicated, even at orientation, the timing of final marketing."

Good news for our readers in Italy. It looks as if Samsung is working on a new Windows Mobile device target towards a younger crowd. There is no news at the moment if this device will be a Windows Mobile Standard or Professional handset, but it is nice to see that some manufactures are still catering to the younger and hipper consumer crowd. We will keep you posted as we hear more information regarding this new device.

"When we reviewed the Palm Treo 750 more than 1.5 years ago, it was a good phone with great ergonomics and Palm's usability touches that lacked competitive features like WiFi and a GPS. 1.5 years is a very long time in terms of consumer electronics and cell phones, and now we finally have a Windows Mobile Treo with all the trimmings, but minus the original Treo's wonderful palm-friendly (no pun intended) design, great keyboard and software tweaks. Funny how we can't have it both ways. That's not to say that the HTC-built Palm Treo Pro is a bad product by any means, but for those of you who are in love with Palm's special sauce-- it ain't here. There's no VCR-like screen controls for voicemail, no photo speed dial on the home screen and the custom applications like Comm Manager and the streaming media player are HTC's, not Palm's."

Once again, MobileTechReview offers an indepth look at a mobile device. This time, the Palm Treo Pro is examined, especially in the light of previous Palm devices they've reviewed. Since the new hardware bears a close resemblance to the design of the bargain Centro, the MTR take on ergonomics is especially interesting to those who anticipate using the keyboard heavily.

"Lately Windows Mobile Italy has scored a few scoops, thanks to its own exclusive and confidential sources, providing the Italian website with some very valuable unpublished details concerning the latest breed of Windows Mobile smartphones just announced by HTC and respectively named HTC Touch HD, HTC Touch Viva and HTC Touch 3G. After having been the first to reveal the HTC Opal's real name [Automatic Translation], during the current week the Italian web portal has scored some more scoops by revealing the (not yet officially announced) pricing and availability schedule for Italy as well as a few more exclusive details concerning the available colors of all three devices."

The article goes on to say that the HTC Touch HD, everyone's favourite object of lust lately, will be released in Europe in Q4, and will sell for 849 Euro (in Italy at least). The HTC Touch Viva will go on sale later this month (October) and will sell for 279 Euro. Lastly the HTC Touch 3G will run you 499 Euro and will also be released sometime in October. Those prices don't give us much insight into the North American market, because HTC sure isn't going to sell many HTC Touch HDs if they're selling for $1200 USD.