My impressions ((not so) mini review)

[vindication84]

Alright, after about 3 weeks of owning my touch pro, I'm ready to do a mini review of it, and maybe see if some of you guys can help me with some of my problems. I'm not sure if this thread is appropriate here, so if it's not, please let me know so I can post it elsewhere.

So first of all, let me give you some background info. This is my first windows mobile device. Before this I had a sidekick 3, before that I had a Nokia 6133, and before that, some crappy motorola. Actually, thinking about it, this is my first smartphone/ppc period. The sidekick can't really be considered one, and definitely not the others.

Okay, now the Review.

First, the Software: Windows mobile is definitely a powerful platform. Having disabled TF3D for the sake of reviewing WM, I can say that it's usable, but not without a stylus. While I know that MS is coming out with WM 6.5 and 7 in the future which will be more finger-friendly, WM6.1 is like an ugly girlfriend- not much to look at, but you love her anyway. I love the fact that HTC has gone and made TF3D-- It's a beautiful UI that blends very well with the home screen in WM. The interface truly does "sit on top" of windows mobile, which unfortunately means that the different panels pretty much only "link" to the respective WinMo applications. Having said this, HTC did include some of their own programs like the weather tab, the music tab, and the photo viewer. Still, it would have been nice had they included calendar and SMS programs like they did in TF3D2. Using the screen with touchflo is passable with a finger or fingernail. My best example is HTC's onscreen keyboards. The phone keypad is nice because it helps me to transition from my old nokia flip phone. The full qwerty is ok, but the keys are kind of small. I think this keyboard would be more usable if they would have bigger "bubbles" floating above them so that you can see which letter you're typing (a la iPhone... i promise that's the first and last time i mention that disgrace of a phone ). The compact qwerty is the one i use the most when I don't want to bust out the hardware keyboard. I like the fact that the buttons are larger and I really don't mind having to press the button two times to get a letter, not to mention that the T9 functionality is pretty nice. I'm really glad that for the web browser, HTC chose Opera. It completely trumps microsoft's disgrace for a web browser, PIE. It's pretty much unusable. I like the fact that you can see all of your bookmarks right on the internet tab and the Youtube application right there. The youtube application is phenomenal. Much much better than Youtube's own try. I like how it gives you a generously big control setup when you tap on the screen during a video. I really like the music player that HTC has created for the TP. It's stunning in graphics and very functional. I like how when you enter the library, the menu options match the TF3D UI. My only complaint about this is that the tab is entitled Sprint Music and the tab has a big honkin' button that links to the sprint music store. If they really insist on doing that, couldn't they have made it a softkey or something? Besides, who buys music from sprint? For some reason sprint enjoys over-branding and i don't like that free advertisement I see every time I scroll past it in TouchFlo. Thankfully, I can mod the registry and call this "Justin's Music" if I want, so it's not a big deal. That's what's great about WinMo- you can do ANYTHING you want with it- the possibilities are really endless! If you want a different battery meter, there's a cab for that. If you want to disable something, there's a cab for that. If you want a different clock, theres a cab for that. If you want some cool fart apps or something (haha), theres cabs for those too. I have been able to find any kind of program i want with this thing. But I digress. Anyway, The photos and videos tab is great-- the pictures are placed in a border that makes them look like actual tangible pictures and you can just flick them up to see other ones. Very cool, IMO. When you click on a picture, it expands, and the the screen rotation is not only there, it is very very snappy. The only complaints I have are that the scrolling from picture to picture (in fullscreen mode) is not in real time- it takes about 1.5 seconds for the next picture to show up. Also, you can't double tap to zoom like in Opera. Instead, you have to do this awkward circular motion on the screen or use the capacitive d-pad. Would it have been that hard to include double-tap functionality? The sprint tv tab is a nice feature, but since I dont use it often (at all, actually) and it chews up precious battery life, I got rid of it. The weather tab is really nice. The animations are "cute" and there's a soft key that takes you to a nice 5 day forecast. The only problem is - and I know it's been said a million times- is that you can't just enter in a city- you have to choose one of HTC's predetermined cities. But I know that there's a fix for that, so I'll shut up. While I like the program launcher included, I still don't understand why there are only 18 program vacancies. Other than that, it's pretty straightforward and easy to use. As an overview, TF3D is a really great plugin- it definitely saves me, for the most part from going into Windows Mobile. The only problem is, it slows the operating system dramatically. I really dread having to make a call quickly and have the dialer lag. When I try to send a text, I have to wait seriously 30 seconds for the text to catch up with my typing. It's quite annoying. And yes, I know that using a ROM will increase speed tenfold, but I am really skeptical about flashing one. Maybe this is what some of you can help me with- I want to use a rom, but I do not want to brick my phone. I paid a great deal of money for it and I don't think my extended insurance with Sprint will cover it if I brick it. What's the success rate for flashing the TP? Is it recoverable if I brick it? (like the PSP? that's the only reason I modded the PSP) Which ROMs do you recommend? I've heard good things about MightyRom.

Now for the hardware:

The touch pro is a stunningly beautiful device. People tell me that all the time. It has a very easily scratched chrome- something I always worry about because I'm anal about scratches. I do love how the backing is that rubbery kind of orange peel feel, and not a scratchable glossy backing. However, the unnescessarily large space for the camera is raised about a millimeter from the backing- so if the phone is set down on a table, the glossy black finish on the camera space gets scratched. Wouldn't it make more sense for that area to be recessed a little bit? that way, the backing would get the wear. And like I said before, that's kind of hard to do considering it has a matte finish. My question is, why couldn't they have made that camera area much smaller? the HTC and "3.2 Mega Pixels" texts are very unnecessary. Couldn't they have been printed on the backing? Anyway, i'm nitpicking, so i'll move on. On the front, there's the screen and the controls. The screen has a stunningly clear resolution and it is flush with the rest of the front- a very nice and professional feature. The speaker, located on top of that is pretty clear, but the volume is kind of subpar. Thankfully, audiopara kind of fixes that. underneath is the navigation controls. These controls are very clean, and they make use of the space. Unlike the Tilt, these buttons are all the same size, they're flush, and capacitive, which is made good use of with third party software. The d-pad is great, and it's very convenient if i want to scroll through a webpage or inbox without having to rely solely on the touch screen. The circle around the center button is also capacitive- which makes use in Opera to zoom and also pictures. You can also use a third party program to make the circle usable in other areas of the OS, like with scrolling. Very nice. On the right, there's nothing, and on the left, there's the very odd and frustrating positioning of the volume rocker. This really bugs me, because if i want to turn my volume down rather quickly, each press of the rocker slides the screen out a little. This is very annoying because most of the time it prevents me from pressing the buttons in the first place. Wouldn't it have made more sense to put the rocker on the bottom half or on the right side?? On the top is the sleep-wake/power button (which honestly I think would be better on the right side, but it doesn't really matter) and the speaker. On the bottom there's the stylus, which is great because it's a nice size and the well it's in is magnetic, the mic, the soft reset button (conveniently located right by the stylus) and the EXT-USB port. I know this is beating a dead horse, but WHY IS THERE NO 3.5 mm JACK?? Would it be that hard to include? I honestly don't even like to use the music features because of this. Who wants to carry around a big old clunky adapter "dangling" off the bottom of it? Couldn't there have been a better way? I guess the stock headphones are alright, but that's not my point. What if they break? Second, I don't get the idea of EXT USB. What's the point of HTC making a proprietary jack that also works with Mini USB? Why not just use mini usb? Interestingly, I've tried to use a regular mini usb cable to sync my phone, but it only works as a charger for some reason. Lastly, the keyboard. 2 words- it's phenomenal. I really mean it. The 5 rows are very nice, a ton of keys are implemented, and they are easy to push and big enough for my thumbs. I am thoroughly impressed. My only complaint is that for some reason, you can't use the shift key with the number buttons to get the symbols. This I don't understand. I'm used to doing it on my computer. Instead I have to use the FN key, which is okay, but there isn't one on the right side. That makes it awkward because i have to do all symbols with my left hand.


All in all, that's my review. I hope you like it. Feel free to comment and help me with some of my problems. Thanks

[tsbrewers]

Well, first thing I would say is use the enter button on your review so it is not two giant paragraphs, makes it much easier to read when it is broken up a little more.

Brew

[pastafarian]

I'd question the need for a review of a product that's at the very end of its production cycle, but I respect your desire to share. As mentioned, you need to break the review up by feature, two giant paragraphs make for a hard read. To nitpick, your mention of *replacing* the audiopara file is confusing as is your ROM reference for anyone unfamiliar with the phone and sites like this. I have no problem syncing and charging from any mini usb cable I own. Thanks again for sharing!

[boredandtattooed]

wow, im a pothead, so my eyesights great(weeds better for your eyes than carrots) and that was one rough read...

ummm, hmmm, dont think you came up with anything not previously discussed... dont understand why you NEED a stylus to run WinMO, but hey, were all diff... i think ive pulled my stylus out twice b4, period, and it was my daughter not even me...

as far as ROMs go, goto the upgrades section, as post about whats the best have been beaten to death, everyone will have a different answer and reason... look through first 5 pages here and theres atleast 2 or 3 threads on what ROM to pick and y.. its all user preference...

as far as pic loading goes, you need the newest HTCAlbum and thats fixed...

You just need to spend a few days looking, searching, and alot of trial and error and you can fix almost every prob you think your already experiencing with your TP... theres very few bugs that the awesome people here and from XDA cant or havent fixed already...

hell were already ready for WinMO 7, 6.5s been here a few months already lol

[HBOOT]

short attention spam here and need for optimization always...dont think I can dig that