Alright, I've spent over 2 weeks with the phone now...
I picked mine up on the Monday it came out. So here are my impressions.
First off, I am surprised to say that it has replaced my iPod. Since the Arrive comes with a radio and can also sync with Zune, I haven't charged my iPod since I bought the phone. This is really surprising to me because I loved my iPod being able to play music + all the other stuff. But, the Zune integration with the phone makes it so easy to use that, well, the iPod is sidelined. The radio is also a big plus for me.
Second, the keyboard and phone and a worthy replacement to my TouchPro2. The keyboard is wonderful. But where the phone really blows the old TP2 out of the water is with the OS. When I had the TP2 I would be hard resetting almost 2 times a day. It was awful. Windows Phone 7 has yet to require a hard reset and if I did not decide to turn off the phone, it would never run out of battery, which brings me to my 3rd point.
Third, the battery life on this thing is amazing. I can use the radio, make phone calls, listen to Zune music, and text as well as use the GPS Navigation App and STILL the battery will not need to be charged until the next morning. It is very impressive.
Fourth, e-mail works without a hitch. I can sync it to my school e-mail without a problem which wasn't true with my TP2 OR my iPod. It also gives the option of only syncing with contacts that have matching names when it comes to Facebook which is a much loved feature in my opinion.
The few caveats I have are this. 1) The whole phone won't work in landscape, but I assume this will be fixed in an update from Microsoft. If that doesn't happen, well, no big deal. 2) Radio use requires the headphones. Again, not a big deal, but if I want to use the radio with the speakerphone on the back I still have to have the earbuds plugged in. 3) The bottom buttons are a little bit sensitive to the point where I could be typing a text on the virtual keyboard and accidentally my palm would set off the bottom buttons.
Overall, I am quite impressed with the phone, especially coming from a TP2. It is a solid piece of hardware with a bunch of great features in the OS.
|