[Timeband]

Review:

Outstanding phone that does what a smartphone should:

A) Call's are clear, connection is very solid compared to my other phones on the same network and towers. Speaker phone is simply the best I've ever experienced.
b) Work releated email, document viewing (excel and word), ease of browser use (the zoom function really is handy once you can remember its there) make this the most productive phone i've used so far.

The Good News:

1) Its a handsome phone, and i"ve already had many people ask to see it. Its worth showing it only to watch their jaws drop after commenting on the screen when they see a keyboard slide out as well.
2) Battery life is much improved over the TP1. If you want this phone to last 2 days (CDMA) under good tower reception it will. You will have to set weather updates, etc... to less frequent, but it will do it if you want it to.
3) Battery doesnt heat up. Is it just me, or did'nt the TP1 make a great handwarmer for those cold days? If you own a TP2 buy a set of gloves as the overheating problem is thus far absent.
4) Screen size. WOW In portrait mode is simply awesome, but little discussed is the extra size for landscape (keyboard extended). The scrolling in landscape mode is lessened due to the space for extra characters per line. It makes viewing on this phone simply a joy. This is what a smartphone should look like. Anyone even remotely farsighted will love this phone.
5) Controls (VZW model). The size and placement of the controls is excellent. I don't accidently find myself hitting controls during the day by accident. When I need to use them they are intuitive and useful without being excessive. 1 Button to pull up your programs/favorites, and 1 to exit back one screen. Phone initiate, and end buttons do what they are expected to do. I had left the TP1 and went back to an HTC Touch just prior to this phone coming out. While others have voiced their concerns the abscence of a D-pad hasn't bothered me at all. Amazingly, I've gone a few days without even pulling the stylus out of its cave.
6) Overall Size. I was concerned about this following the write-ups on the phone since Feb/March. However, I was pleasantly surprised the phone is smaller than I anticipated. I have larger hands and it fits wonderfully in my hands. In no way does it seem oversized 5 days since I recieved it I never find myself thinking "omg this thing is a huge brick." +1 for HTC on phone size.

The cons:
1) The phone could have a better battery indicator (easily fixed with a change btw). So far when my TP2 has died its done so with no fan fare. Merely, "puff" and its down for the count. It could use a bit more OEM warning on the battery running down. Is it really so hard to give us a stock battery indicator in 5% increments we can get to easily? When you click on the battery indicator, you get a notification window (via TouchFlo). Basically it will notify you its dead, or say nothing. Why not simply let me see my battery is at 15% and I need to rememer to take a power cord with me that day?
2) Autodimmer. While I understand this is what adds to my battery life, sometimes it seems to dim a bit too much or when I need a brighter screen. This is really a trival thing but it is an occasional annoyance.
3) Memory in use. This is really more about my anticipation it may be a future problem then a reality atm. The phone uses a lot of its ram (60-70% often). When the WinMo 6.5 upgrade comes out.... is there really anyone on the planet expecting a new windows OS to use LESS Ram than a previous model? That said, this phone rocks with its current OEM setup. Will it rock post Oct 6th and the subsequent free upgrade? We will see. I have my concerns.

Summary,

This is an incredible smartphone. Windows Mobile 6.1 can't be found better delivered than the Touch Pro 2 Platform. Writing this I couldnt help but feel I was "looking" for Cons to come up with, and doing all I could to make the Pros brief. This smartphone is advertised to be the best on the market. After 5 days, all I can do is agree. It IS as good as advertised, and in my case, VZW deserves a big hand for stepping back and letting HTC deliver the best Smartphone big red has ever carried.