[jessiethe3rd]

Ahh... the good ol' days of the Touch and Diamond... totally different phones for different purposes when looking at them versus the TP2 or TP. I feel your pain and I also see the over sights when stacking up a iPhone with a TP2/TP. From a feel perspective I agree - this phone is not the most solid phone as compared to a slab (iPhone/Touch/Diamond.) It has a few working parts like the keyboard, and a few other items which give the phone/PDA a more robust feel. The extra heft can easy lead one to question the need for the waste and to be honest, I agree with you to an extent in this area.

What is missing, however, is the keyboard on a slab, the speaker (and speakerphone capabilities), and the screen resolution (at least as far as the TP2 goes.) When I look at the TP2 and HTC's Touch and Diamond I see two totally different markets served by devices which have virtually the same OS / experience. Who who uses an iPhone or slab device is probably less interested in personal business productivity and probably more concerned about the multimedia/look/feel/flash of the overall end product. I believe Apple has done an OKAY job taking care of that middle ground and the reason why the Touch/Diamond were so very popular is because it did a better job of covering that middle ground with a slightly tilted preference towards personal productivity versus games and multimedia.

With this said, from a pure business perspective, the iPhone and the Touch/Diamond are no match for a TP/TP2. It is almost as if the TP/TP2's market segment should be REALLY geared towards that mobile warrior who is interested in messaging while the slabs should be more closely aligned with that basic smartphone needs of your typical iPhone user. As a corporate worker / roadwarrior with an organization with a big investment in Microsoft technologies iPhone is weak against my TP2... yes it looks good on the surface but the integration is no where near the capability of my TP2. I am not a big gamer, I care very little about fart apps, and I only need basic music capabilities (although I'll admit with the TP2 my appetite for Zune subscription music synched with the TP2 has been HUGE - my 16GB card is 1/2 full of music!)

I think what we'll see in the very near term is more devices like the Whitestone (on Verizon) and the Toshiba which will be slab in nature and running 6.5. Many users like you are being neglected a bit with this one OS method. I also think the fit, finish, and "wants" are different from someone like me who is a corporate user. Unfortunately there aren't a bunch of options right now but I believe this will change in time (maybe with Windows Phone 7 for Microsoft?) or even higher quality Andriod Phones by Google (they seem to be more interested in targeting and going after the social-elite net community then business users.)

Regardless, HTC does need to get better at putting out super high quality products and this again may change. If you look at some of the Chassis requirements for Windows Phone 7 you'll note that there are some high quality aspirations on Microsoft's part. Look at a Zune HD and it's sleekness and that finish product is a good example of what can be accomplished in a controlled environment under the MSFT platform.

Regardless - I understand and disagree at the end of the day. While HTC wants everyone and their grandma to buy their products this phone/PDA is geared towards someone who is a business class user who uses their phone exclusively as a tool of productivity versus a tool for flash (and I am saying that in the most respectful way... not trying to pin you down as a flash guy but more someone who is looking for a consumer phone with LOTS of beautiful fit and finish.) I think if HTC doesn't do it right for you take a look at what Samsung is doing with the Omnia which is really a very sweet phone that focuses on the multimedia capabilities.