[amw1972]

IMHO...

I've had a couple of days with My Touch Pro 2...

THE HARDWARE...the first thing that jumped at me as soon as I opened the box was the screen size. Love IT!! The device has a solid feel, especially compared to the Touch Pro, the sliding action and the hinge is very solid. There is no give or squeakiness to the action at all (on my model.) The texture of the battery cover was "velvety" which seemed to me improves on gripping the device. I am planning on dying the battery cover ala the original TouchPro and see if a black battery cover might look a tad better. That orange speaker mesh...I'm not feeling it. The silver buttons looks nice, but I have a feeling they'll lose their luster when they get scratched up thru daily use. The green/orange/red led likens itself back to its ancestry of the Mogul. Can't say I'm fond of it, but it does serves its purposes. Besides, the light doesn't flash for no apparent reason like the Mogul once did. The volume rockers and the power/standby buttons are solid...and can be located by feel. They don't "stand out" enough to make them annoyingly noticeable. The one feature I think that sets Touch Pro 2 head and shoulders above other smart devices in its class (My Opinion) is the hard keyboard. The keys are responsive, and they basically feel like "butter!!" Widely spaced, dedicated number row, back light is wonderfully bright, yet understated enough that you won't be blinded. The 3.5mm head phone jack is a nice addition...especially for those that uses wired headsets/earbuds. One BIG/GIANT complaint is the lack of easy access to the soft reset button. No explanation needed there really, its just dumb that you have to take the battery cover off to soft reset.

THE SOFTWARE...from powering up initially...I was a bit saddened when I was staring at the Windows Mobile 6.1 splash screen. I've been running custom ROM's on my Touch Pro almost exclusively (because it needed it) and have come to enjoy and even "love" WinMo 6.5 a little bit. Going back was not what I was looking forward to, however, it seems that HTC did it right by making Windows Mobile seem less anachronistic. TF3D Rhodium flavor is heads and shoulders above TP1's. I don't agree with other reviewers claiming that its unresponsive...or slow. Even when it was stock out of the box, TF3D ran fine...and I probably could have lived with it as it....BUT...the modder in me got the best of me. The heat issue from the original TP seems to have disappeared. While charging, I have noticed no discernable increase in heat. In fact I have yet to notice any increase in heat during usage (data, phone calls, wifirouter use, playing a movie, playing games...etc.)

All in all, I love my Touch Pro 2. Hopefully my opinions here will help someone that might still be on the fence about this device. I was planning on taking advantage of Sprint's 30 day return/replace window and jump ship to Android and the Hero. BUT, I think I'll stick with WinMo and my newest most favoritist gadget. Things can only get better when we receive (I hope) the official update/upgrade to WinMo 6.5...then of course we can wait for the inevitable grand unlocking of the TP2, and we'll be living in the upgrade section (Calkulin...drop us a TP2 kitchen PLEASE!!!)

Thnx for putting up with my long post...=D>

PS: We can all ( I mean ALL) attest that Windows Mobile is not the sleekest, newest, fastest O/S for smart devices...but lets remember the following:

1) How long have we had cut and paste??
2) Haven't we been able to multitask since the Mogul or actually it was longer than that. Granted the RAM in our older machines can't handle it half the time...but the O/S allowed it.
3) So the UI is behind the times...but what other O/S out there (aside from Android) supports 3rd party UI apps/skins like WinMo...SpbMobile Shell, PointUI, ThrottleLauncher, TF3D2, 2.5, 2.6...etc.
4) With the exception of those Apple/Mac/iPhone fanboy and girls out there THAT actually uses a Mac at work...most of us can deal with our Word docs/spreadsheets/powerpoints directly from our WinMo devices with no apparent lost of continuity.
5) App store...hmmm...have you googled windows mobile applications?? You'll find it ALL OVER the place (I know, precisely the problem...) However, the apps are out there...we just have to look.

I am not saying that Windows Mobile is the best (its clearly not) but its NOT without its qualities.