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

Product Category: PDA Phone

Manufacturer: HTC

Where to Buy: Expansys [Affiliate]

Price: $699.99 USD

Specifications: From the Expansys site

Pros:

• Elegant design;
• Large, sharp and vibrant screen;
• The best, most "touch friendly" version of TouchFlo 3D yet;
• Excellent speakerphone;
• Nicely designed hardware keyboard will satisfy those for whom only a hardware keyboard will do.

Cons:

• Very expensive;
• Large and heavy.

Summary: As rival phone manufacturers continue to strive to emulate the success of the iPhone, HTC weighs in with its most sophisticated finger friendly WinMo Professional phones yet. The Touch Pro2, the topic of this review, supersedes last year's Touch Pro, with a revamped version of Touch Flo 3D, which strives to make stylus use a thing of the past. Have HTC been successful? Let's put the Touch Pro2 through its paces...

Read more...

Jump over to Engadget and watch the video they've posted of the newly-announced HTC Hero, an Android-based smartphone. Look at what HTC has done in terms of porting a version of TouchFlo from Windows Mobile over to Android - but also pay attention to the apps they've added and improved. Now picture those changes and improvements flowing back to future Windows Mobile devices. Between all of the customs apps that HTC has slowly but surely built up (photo viewer, music player, skinned browser, weather app, etc.) and the UI of TouchFlo, Windows Mobile is becoming nothing more than plumbing....which should terrify Microsoft. If the OS is just plumbing, then HTC could switch to whatever OS the wish on a given device. HTC is Microsoft's biggest smartphone partner - so what does it mean to Microsoft when their biggest partner is working to undermine the user interface of their operating system? Read more...

Product Category: PDA Phone w/keyboard

Manufacturer: HTC

Where to Buy: Expansys [Affiliate]

Price: $649.99 USD

System Requirements: Windows Mobile 6.1, with HTC's TouchFlo 3D interface

Specifications: Qualcomm MSM7201A CPU at 528 MHz, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. 512 MB of storage ROM and 288 MB of system RAM. It is 102mm tall, 51mm wide, and 18.05mm thick and 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. Quad-band GSM phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), 3G capable 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, with a secondary front-facing VGA camera for video calling (may not be available on NA models). It also has a microSDHC card slot.

Pros:

• Screen is amazing -- clear, bright, beautiful;
• HTC's TouchFlo 3D interface very well thought out and executed;
• Good package of accessories and added software.

Cons:

• Battery life isn't stellar -- not bad for a VGA though;
• Version reviewed is from Europe, so it wouldn't work on North American 3G networks (be careful what you buy!);
• Front screen is a magnet for fingerprints and streaks, but easily cleaned.

Summary: Truth in reviewing -- I lusted after this phone when I first starting hearing about it as the successor to the Kaiser/Tilt. Then, when I starting seeing some of the technical reviews and comments in XDA-Developer forums, my desire just got worse. I practically fell off my chair when Jason said he had one 'hanging around the office' and would I like to review it? "Uh, sure", I said nonchalantly, but I couldn't wait for it to arrive and to put it through its paces as my primary work phone/PDA for a week. So, did it live up to my expectations? Find out after the break.... Read more...

"Microsoft Mobile Communications Group Manager Scott Rockfeld was on Fox Business chatting up quite a lot of Windows Mobile devices. The context of the discussion is basically 'competitors to the iPhone,' which is a little aggravating because, let's face it, the iPhone and Windows Mobile aren't always going for the same demographic. Some of the smartphones shown off: HTC Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, and the BlackJack II."

I've watched this video several times, mostly because the Touch Diamond looked so swanky in it, but also because I thought Scott Rockfeld, Microsoft Mobile Communications Group Manager, handled himself brilliantly. Scott came out swinging showing off some of the more popular Windows Mobile 6.1 devices on the market, including the HTC touch Diamond, and was really hammering home that the Windows Mobile platform is all about choice. This seems to tie in exactly with all of the recent talk on the Internet of Microsoft’s new "Windows Not Walls" campaign. On top of that you throw in the fact that every device featured in this segment has sold over a million or more devices it starts to make a lot of the recent Apple sales hype start to look a little sad.

Microsoft builds fantastic products but unfortunately they're not the best when it comes to feeding the publicity machine. One of the biggest hurdles for Windows Mobile has always been lack of visibility in the public’s eye. All of us as Smartphone and Pocket PC fans have heard the pitch that Scott gave in this video dozens of times over but I think Microsoft is finally understanding that we are not the ones that need to be told this over and over again but instead the general populous needs to know. I just hope Microsoft does more of these segments on other news networks. So what did you guys think of the video?