New VZW HTC TP2 - Disappointed, Need Help, Multiple Areas

[bishop0114]

I upgraded from the Touch Pro 1 and to tell you the truth, I completely hated the device. Talk about an excessive in futility. The only thing that kept me from using it to start a fire (vs. holding it out the window while driving down the road to cool it off!) was the wonderful developers on this site.

As for the Touch Pro 2. So far, it appears to be a very good peace of hardware and is far superior to the TP1 (design).

I think as you continue using the device, you will find many bugs that you will wonder why they were not caught and fixed early in development. They are very obvious and easily repeatable so recreating the bug in code should be easy. The most ironic part is much of the bugs are the same as they were in the original software from the TP1...

I had really hoped that HTC would have paid much closer attention to (apparently) what the real developers are doing... That is to say the people that modify and create th ROMS that actually make these devices usable...

Give this device a month and these guys will start producing new ROMS (preferably WinMo6.5) that will make it a true award winner and a real pleasure to use.

[Cork]

FWIW, I came from a similar background: Tungsten C plus Motorola phone. First tried the Treo 755p, which was a lovely idea crippled by a slow processor and too small keyboard. Then last year bought a Titan (XV6800) and went through the WinMo learning curve. A customized ROM plus a commercial interface I purchased (SPB Mobile Shell, I think) made it usable. However, it never really approached the elegance of the old Palm interface.

As for Categories, if you use Outlook and can port your contacts from Palm to Outlook, the categories will be available on your phone. I can filter by category in my contacts on the TP2. Let me know if you need more info on that.

I am delighted with the TP2; it is a dramatic improvement over the Titan especially with the bundled tweaks installed. WinMo, like most Microsoft products, is not well-thought-out or well-implemented and is daunting for beginners, but once you get through the learning phase it can be made to do just about whatever you want. And the community of users & developers here is amazing in what they will do to help you.

[DLCPhoto]

Encouraging words from bishop0114 and Cork. I was wondering if there were something basically wrong with me. As Cord said, I've been spoiled by the elegance of the 4+ year old Palm interface.

I'll keep plugging away, trying to exercise patience. I just purchased a copy of Outlook, not yet received or installed. Just one step at a time, solve one quirk at a time.

And having this community resource (like the Brighthand community helped so much with my TX) should make a huge difference!

[JRRTolkien]

I like the TP2, but have made many tweaks already. I've yet to find a tweak for getting the zoom bar to work with other programs and applications. Anyone? Also, if you're disappointed with WinMo and TP2, Oct 11 the Hero (Android) comes out and will be a whole lot less money. I'm on 30 days with my TP2 and going to give Hero a very good look before I make a final decision.

[JRRTolkien]

Sorry, one other note. I'd recommend Skyfire...much better than Opera!

[jmorton10]

Originally Posted by JRRTolkien

Sorry, one other note. I'd recommend Skyfire...much better than Opera!

it's only better if you need flash, other than that it pretty much blows.......

~John

[FierceDeityLink1]

Asking why one version is better... why not just install it?

[DLCPhoto]

Thanks. I'm 1 week into my TP2 and things are improving slowly. Will be checking out Skyfire later in the week.
Working on setting uo Outlook, contacts, etc. Slowly bit surely...

[1up]

Originally Posted by DLCPhoto

2. Touchscreen itself - I also find this very hit and miss. Even when there are large settings icons present, activating those icons is yet more frustration. Sometimes extreme pressure is required to get a response, other times a simple touch will do. I've done a Calibration, but still no joy. Again, am I expecting too much? My TX touchscreen was much more consistent and responsive.

Took me a while to get used to it on my XV6700. Quick, distinct fingernail taps are your best bet.

5. Also when selecting Ringtones or Wallpaper - there doesn't seem to be a way to have the Ringtones autoplay as I select them to try them out. I have to select it, hit Play, and if I don't like it, have to drop down the list, try another, rinse and repeat.

This is one of many reasons to keep the Touchflo interface. Instead of using the WM sound setting menu, slide over to the Touchflo Settings tab, tap Sound, scroll down to Ringtones, tap one at a time to play.

I actually really prefer Touchflo to just about anything else, including Mobile Shell. While some settings can require quite a few taps to get to, most things are pretty easily accessed, and it's a hell of a lot more elegant than the old Win9x style start menu that WM still ships with. It took me a few days to get used to the slider, but pretty quickly you'll find that you can get around it blindfolded. I really miss the program tab though. Got used to it being at the end of the slider, now I have to remember to push a button to get there. Really don't miss hardware buttons at all.

This is the first PC phone I've had where I didn't have to hack anything just to make it usable. That said, I've done a few mods to it just to make it 5% closer to perfect. My main gripe now is that it takes no fewer than 8 taps to toggle bluetooth off and back on just so my headset doesn't stay connected after every call. Why doesn't this just time out?

[SecretAgentMan]

Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff

try opera mobile 9.7 beta... the stock one is OM 9.5.

I installed the 9.7 beta in addition to 9.5, but wound up uninstalling it. I think it will be fine when it's out of beta, though.

The thing that bothered me was that the mobile view did not work on my Verizon TP2. I showed me a skinny, unreadable ribbon which didn't "pop" to the normal mobile view until you touched it (like you would magnify a section of the page from the "normal" view. Since I almost always use the mobile view, I'll wait until this is fixed.