HTC Touch Pro

[Mr. Analog]

Well, after something like 10 years I finally relented and picked up a new mobile.

I was contacted by Telus a few days ago informing me that not only was I up for a new rate/plan but I could upgrade to a Smartphone service. I looked at all the options (including iPhone, Crackberry and even looking at when devices like Android were going to be hitting Canada). In the end I decided to go with the HTC Touch Pro. After having seen Tonnica's and looking at all the features I was after and then actually getting my hands on some of the alternatives I feel that I have picked the best solution available for my needs.

When my PDA was still functioning I used it quite heavily and already I can see myself adopting this mobile into a GTD platform as well as something I can sink my teeth into as a hobby developer (not to mention it's a phone/e-mail solution that I've desperately been in need of upgrading).

Anyway, don't want to gush about it but just saying I finally made the leap from the 20th Century...

[Lazybones]

Touch PRO was very high on my watch list till I got my iPhone.. Good choice for a WM device.

Gush all you want, it is a slick device.

What type of data plan did you get with it?

Here are some windows Mobile related links to check out
http://www.skweezer.com/ (proxy that compresses web pages to save data)
http://www.freewareppc.com/
http://www.modaco.com/content/smartphone-software-freeware-download-discussion/238545/wm5torage/ (Makes your PPC act like a USB HD)
http://pdaphonehome.com/
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/
http://pdadb.net/
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/ (great software)
http://www.howardforums.com/ (most useful for the provider specific forums)
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/ (hacking and mods)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/ (hacking and mods)
http://www.webis.net/ (the agenda app is really nice)

Also you can directly SYNC with your offices Exchange system to keep your Calander, Contacts, and get PUSH email.

[Mr. Analog]

My Rate plan is the "Your Choice 30", I picked up the "Smartphone Bundle 30" data plan (which is 500 MBs/mo, unlimited text, call display and voicemail).

I'm also going to try out the visual voicemail service (hey, he threw it in for free for 3 months, so why not). He also gave me a 2 Gb SD card

So far I'm very happy with the phone, it's easy to use and highly readable.

Me likey!

[Lazybones]

If you are going to do streaming over the Cell network I would download Spb Wireless Monitor and trial it to monitor your data use or check through the telus website.

During your 3 free months try an use as much data as you can to get a good idea how much you can and will use.

[Mr. Analog]

If you are going to do streaming over the Cell network I would download Spb Wireless Monitor and trial it to monitor your data use or check through the telus website.

During your 3 free months try an use as much data as you can to get a good idea how much you can and will use.

That's exactly what I said to the salesbot, I figure this plan will show me what my average usage will be and then go back and tweak the plan.

I can't wait to go home and start playing :-D

[Mr. Analog]

I just realized that I can make my own ringtones with my recording gear at home

[Tom]

Ohh, new phones are cool. Mine (Sony Ericsson w380) came with a 512M micro-sd card. Its no Smart Phone, but i like it

One of the cooler features is if the phone is ringing and you want it to shut up, just wave your hand over the camera!

[Lazybones]

I just realized that I can make my own ringtones with my recording gear at home

Keep them small, mono, and under 30 seconds and store them in Main Memory not your external storage. Trust me.

[Mr. Analog]

I just realized that I can make my own ringtones with my recording gear at home

Keep them small, mono, and under 30 seconds and store them in Main Memory not your external storage. Trust me.

Good advice! I can whip together a nice loop in that time easy.

[Tonnica]

Ringtones exceeding 30 seconds tend to get little blips or pauses in them so it's best to keep it within 30 seconds. Otherwise you can just chuck on almost any old song after a quick Goldwaving to normalize the bitrate and volume and it's good as a ring. Now how obnoxious your rings are is a personal choice (I have spysnort.wav on my phone for purely emergency purposes).

It may just be Windows Mobile 6.1 but it's flexible in its capabilites and the keyboard is pretty darn nice. There's lots of hacks out for the phone already and making new ringtones and themes is dead easy. This thread reminded me I was going to change my startup sound!

SIR YES SIR PRIVATE JONES REPORTING FOR DUTY!

(haha I love the Mister Gutsy robots in Fallout 3. All their quotes are so CAPSLOCK)

[Mr. Analog]

Holy crap I love this phone, everything is easy to understand and works as I expect it to.

Loading things like music and pictures and setting up e-mail and logging into sites and everything else is so intuitive and easy it makes using this phone a joy.

One of the reasons I didn't use the Contacts list in my old phone was because it was a huge PITA to enter anything, but with this I just whip out the keyboard and I'm off to the races!

[Lazybones]

One of the reasons I didn't use the Contacts list in my old phone was because it was a huge PITA to enter anything, but with this I just whip out the keyboard and I'm off to the races!

Or just enter / sync it with Outlook or Exchange.. That is the best way.

[Mr. Analog]

One of the reasons I didn't use the Contacts list in my old phone was because it was a huge PITA to enter anything, but with this I just whip out the keyboard and I'm off to the races!

Or just enter / sync it with Outlook or Exchange.. That is the best way.

I'll be using one of the sync tools for GoogleMail/Calendar but I didn't have a lot of contact data there either.

I haven't used the actual Outlook client since 2005 (crazy eh?)

[Thorin]

My biggest question when looking at phones these days is, how long does the battery last in an arena?  I can go in with a fully-charged phone (it says, "Charge Complete"), make one call before the game, and then make a second call after the game, and that second call causes the phone to beep at me that the battery's low.  Yet, if I don't go into an arena for three days I can place lots of calls.  Pretty sure it's got something to do with poor service because of the heat shielding in the arenas causing the phone to constantly try and search for a better connection.

Anyway, I'm happy for you that you got a new phone.  Like Lazy said, there's been lots of good reviews on it.  I hope you have fun playing with it (isn't there a hobby developer suite you can download for Windows Mobile from Microsoft for free?).

Oh, and now your voicemail works, right?

[Tonnica]

When you're in an arena the signal is weak inside and your phone will go in to digital roaming mode. This mode eats up tons of battery life and will make a phone that can last for 3-5 days of light calling lose charge in a matter of hours. I'm not sure how the Pro would do in roaming mode but I doubt it would fare all that well.

The battery life on the Pro is one of the biggest gripes about the device. It can usually last a day or two worth of light use but all those fancy functions, the big screen, and having it set to auto-download emails and texts effectively hobbles the battery life. I'd have to test it using some controls but I doubt a smartphone would really have the battery oomph to last you from start to end of hockey practice. That is without carrying an extra battery in your pocket.

[Mr. Analog]

Using all my features (e-mail, internet, calling, text, etc) my battery went down two bars (out of five) in a day.

Given that I am a fanatical battery charger, it's not that big a deal for me to ensure my phone is plugged in at the end of the day (and to be honest I had it synced with my PC for a few hours last night and the battery came back up through the USB connection).

There are a lot of options for me to make sure that the battery doesn't drain as fast, but for what I'm using it for I'm not worried about consumption too much (otherwise I would have bought a more basic phone capable of holding a charge for four or five days without breaking a sweat (like my old phone).

I think it's safe to assume that if you are buying a Smartphone the battery consumption rate is low on the priority list compared to other features.

[Lazybones]

Smart / Data phones don't normally last more than 1 day (WHEN NEW) unless you leave it in standby and have no background tasks running. (older blackberries also tend to last more than one day.)

If you have a NON smart phone most of the current ones will last several days including several calls on a (NEW) battery.

Lithium ION has a fixed life of around 500-1000 charge cycles depending on the vendor or a shelf life of around 2 years, which ever comes first before the battery life drops of significantly.

[Mr. Analog]

I think another benefit is that my battery can be replaced if I manage to drain it over time, not so much with the iPhone

[Lazybones]

I think another benefit is that my battery can be replaced if I manage to drain it over time, not so much with the iPhone

Call me when you have purchased one have actually needed to use it.

[Tom]

I think another benefit is that my battery can be replaced if I manage to drain it over time, not so much with the iPhone

Call me when you have purchased one have actually needed to use it.

I also recall hearing Apple Genius's will take and replace the battery for free won't they? Or at least fairly cheaply. And possibly even going so far as to just transfer your stuff over to a new unit (then they sell the old one with a new battery as a refurb).

[Mr. Analog]

I think another benefit is that my battery can be replaced if I manage to drain it over time, not so much with the iPhone

Call me when you have purchased one have actually needed to use it.

I will!

When I notice that I get less than a days worth of battery life after ~36 months or if it just dies for some reason I'll swap batteries and give you a call

You may not have noticed, but I tend to hold on to electronics for lengthy periods of time.

[Mr. Analog]

I think another benefit is that my battery can be replaced if I manage to drain it over time, not so much with the iPhone

Call me when you have purchased one have actually needed to use it.

I also recall hearing Apple Genius's will take and replace the battery for free won't they? Or at least fairly cheaply. And possibly even going so far as to just transfer your stuff over to a new unit (then they sell the old one with a new battery as a refurb).

Mmm, I'm pretty sure they have to do major surgery of some sort. From what I've read it requires shipping the unit somewhere and a complete wipe of data. Not that it matters, battery replacement is something that might happen once during ownership of any Smartphone I'm thinking.

My earlier comment wasn't to poke at Apple stuff, it was to highlight the fact that if something happens to my battery OR if it just dies off from use I can slap a new one in.

[Lazybones]

My comment was more to daily use. You can already purchase aftermaket battery kits for the first iPhone I am sure there will be one for the 3g after it's first year is up.

However the way things are going I suspect I will be switching to a new device around that 2 year mark.

[Tom]

I think another benefit is that my battery can be replaced if I manage to drain it over time, not so much with the iPhone

Call me when you have purchased one have actually needed to use it.

I also recall hearing Apple Genius's will take and replace the battery for free won't they? Or at least fairly cheaply. And possibly even going so far as to just transfer your stuff over to a new unit (then they sell the old one with a new battery as a refurb).

Mmm, I'm pretty sure they have to do major surgery of some sort. From what I've read it requires shipping the unit somewhere and a complete wipe of data. Not that it matters, battery replacement is something that might happen once during ownership of any Smartphone I'm thinking.

My earlier comment wasn't to poke at Apple stuff, it was to highlight the fact that if something happens to my battery OR if it just dies off from use I can slap a new one in.

But like I added, iirc, the apple folks will just do a swap. Takes a few minutes to transfer the data, and you get a new phone out of the deal.

[Mr. Analog]

But like I added, iirc, the apple folks will just do a swap. Takes a few minutes to transfer the data, and you get a new phone out of the deal.

Not to split hairs but, meh, I got time to waste today...

From the "iPhone Out-of-Warranty Battery Replacement Program" FAQ (which I linked to above):

Will the data on my iPhone be preserved?
No, the service process will clear all data from your iPhone. It is important to sync your iPhone with iTunes to back up your contacts, photos, email account settings, text messages, and more. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information while servicing your iPhone and does not offer any data transfer service. Please do not send any accessories with your iPhone.

*underline mine for emphasis

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/battery/

Just so you know, I came very close to going for the iPhone, it's very easy to use (played with a co-workers) so I started looking at stuff like support. Battery replacement was such a small issue for me that I didn't weigh it for or against either phone. But it is a fact, battery replacement nukes the phone according to Apple and since I don't know anyone who has had to have their battery replaced yet I have no choice but to believe their FAQ. As mentioned in the FAQ, your data can be backed up to iTunes, so it's not that big of a deal anyway, but when you get your phone back you will have to sync it.

[Tom]

But like I added, iirc, the apple folks will just do a swap. Takes a few minutes to transfer the data, and you get a new phone out of the deal.

Not to split hairs but, meh, I got time to waste today...

From the "iPhone Out-of-Warranty Battery Replacement Program" FAQ (which I linked to above):

Will the data on my iPhone be preserved?
No, the service process will clear all data from your iPhone. It is important to sync your iPhone with iTunes to back up your contacts, photos, email account settings, text messages, and more. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information while servicing your iPhone and does not offer any data transfer service. Please do not send any accessories with your iPhone.

*underline mine for emphasis

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/battery/

Just so you know, I came very close to going for the iPhone, it's very easy to use (played with a co-workers) so I started looking at stuff like support. Battery replacement was such a small issue for me that I didn't weigh it for or against either phone. But it is a fact, battery replacement nukes the phone according to Apple and since I don't know anyone who has had to have their battery replaced yet I have no choice but to believe their FAQ. As mentioned in the FAQ, your data can be backed up to iTunes, so it's not that big of a deal anyway, but when you get your phone back you will have to sync it.

Weird, I've heard stories where if you bring your phone in for service, a lot of the times the Genius will just copy your @%&# over to a new device and you walk back out.

[Lazybones]

I had a warranty replacement already, you come in, and they take your SIM out and hand you a new one.

When you get home you connect it to itunes and it completely restores your phone. It is DAMN EASY, you need 3rd party tools to do the same under windows mobile.