{"id":396,"date":"2010-02-28T21:36:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-01T04:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mpsharp.com\/blog\/?p=396"},"modified":"2010-02-28T21:36:53","modified_gmt":"2010-03-01T04:36:53","slug":"one-month-with-the-htc-tilt-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/?p=396","title":{"rendered":"One Month with the HTC Tilt 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So I&#8217;ve been happily using an old Samsung Blackjack (the original) for at least 2 years now (maybe more).\u00a0\u00a0 Turns out there was a recall, and AT&amp;T sent me a new one for free about a year ago, so I had a new phone again.\u00a0\u00a0 Recently,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.htctradein.com\/att\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> HTC offered a trade in program<\/a> with $100 credit for my Blackjack if I upgraded to an HTC phone. (This offer has been extended through April) \u00a0 Given my upgrade cost for the Tilt 2 was $150 with a $50 rebate from AT&amp;T, free smart phone #2 was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p>I was able to upgrade the old Blackjack to WM 6.1 (which provided support for the on-board GPS), hence most my needs were being met by the following apps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mobilitysite.com\/boards\/1059593835-post107.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TCPMP<\/a> for streaming <a href=\"http:\/\/radioparadise.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RadioParadise <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/kqed.org\">KQED (NPR)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.codeplex.com\/beyondpod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BeyondPod <\/a>which downloads podcasts directly to the phone<\/li>\n<li>Built-in Outlook for work email<\/li>\n<li>Google Maps (with GPS)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.skyfire.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Skyfire<\/a> for full Javascript and Flash support<\/li>\n<li>Tethered Internet connection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Blackjack even supported Bluetooth Stereo A2DP. \u00a0 In short, 3 years ago, I was doing everything with WM 6.0 and the Blackjack that the IPhone couldn&#8217;t.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lately, they finally relented on the streaming media,\u00a0 added support for A2DP and I hear Outlook support is improved (assuming you fork out the $ for the apps that support them), but you still have to doc your IPhone to update your podcasts and we know Apple will never pay Adobe a penny for Flash, though I imagine they will give up the ghost on tethering soon.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Safari on the IPhone is still the most usable hand-held browser out there (even sans-Flash), and Pocket IE on WM 6.1 is nothing for anyone to be proud of.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Skyfire is an interesting solution, but the experience still leaves much to be desired over a 3G link.\u00a0 But I still find putting\u00a0 WMIE in mobile mode, and setting the home page to nytimes.com, makes a fast and simple news reader.<\/p>\n<p>So I was basically looking for three things in my next phone: a bigger screen, a better web browser and Wifi support.\u00a0\u00a0 I also knew I had to have a full keyboard.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When the Motorola Droid was released, I seriously started considering a purchase, until I was offered the Tilt 2 free.<\/p>\n<h3>The Good<\/h3>\n<p>So the Tilt 2 is AT&amp;T&#8217;s branding for the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HTC_Touch_Pro2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HTC Touch Pro 2<\/a>. \u00a0 Even though this phone is almost 1 year old, it still has an impressive feature set with a 3.6&#8243; 480&#215;800 touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, GPS, WiFI, BT and a 3.2MP camera. \u00a0 Some features I&#8217;m quite happy with:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The keyboard:\u00a0\u00a0 The buttons on the keyboard are very big, which is perfect for someone with large thumbs like mine.\u00a0\u00a0 I have a very hard time typing on my wife&#8217;s IPhone on-screen keyboard and also hate the fact that screen rel-estate is lost.\n<figure id=\"attachment_398\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-398\" style=\"width: 614px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/SANY1259.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-398\" title=\"HTC Tilt 2 big keys\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/SANY1259-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"614\" height=\"346\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-398\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nice fat keys for fat thumbs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Note, while the letters are in standard QWERTY positions, they replaced the numbers in the top row with commonly used punctuations.\u00a0\u00a0 So the : \/ and @ characters are easily typed without a shift function.\u00a0\u00a0 The downside is that all numbers require a FN shift, but a simple double press on the FN key acts as a numlock, so the trade-off feels like the right one.<\/li>\n<li>Standard mini-usb connector!\u00a0 It means I find an extra data and charging cable at the local dollar store for $1.29 (no shipping) and I can charge using the same USB\/Car Converter used by my wife&#8217;s IPhone.<\/li>\n<li>Seamless Bluetooth connectivity.\u00a0\u00a0 The new phone coincided with the purchase of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mazdausa.com\/MusaWeb\/displayPage.action?pageParameter=modelsMain&amp;vehicleCode=CX9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2010 Mazda CX-9 <\/a>(welcome to family life).\u00a0\u00a0 Once I paired the phone, it switches to the car speakers seemlessly and downloaded my phone book to the car&#8217;s system. \u00a0 Through newer BT protocols, the touchscreen GPS\/control system on the car can select and play music and podcasts from the phone.<\/li>\n<li>Swapable battery.\u00a0\u00a0 I was easy enough to find an extra battery for $12.99 at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cellphoneshop.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CellPhoneShop<\/a> along with a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cellphoneshop.net\/pro2desktop.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">standalone battery charger<\/a>, which includes a USB port as a bonus.\u00a0\u00a0 Throw in a $1.29 mini USB cable, and you have an extra phone charger as well.<\/li>\n<li>Active Sync vs Disk Drive vs Tether:\u00a0 Each time you plug into a PC, it gives you three choices, and I often switch between all three modes. \u00a0 It&#8217;s the little things that count.<\/li>\n<li>16GB HDSD card support.\u00a0 I&#8217;m still using the 4GB card I had in the Samsung, which made moving my data over trivial.\u00a0 Waiting for the price to get under $20 for the 16GB versions.<\/li>\n<li>Touchscreen (sometimes).\u00a0\u00a0 Below, I don&#8217;t have many nice things to say about the touchscreen interface, but there are a couple apps where it seems to work well: Outlook, GoogleMaps and BeyondPod.\u00a0\u00a0 When using the web browsers, it turns out to be a bit of a wash.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/forum.xda-developers.com\/showthread.php?t=576957\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ROM Development Community<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 It seems HTC is quite open with their specs, allowing the Mobile hacking community to create all sorts of customizations.\u00a0\u00a0 I probably won&#8217;t try this unless I need the <a href=\"http:\/\/forum.xda-developers.com\/showthread.php?t=550131\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">phone unlocked for Europe<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 There&#8217;s also a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.simore.ch\/en\/mobile_phone_accessory\/HTC\/Tilt-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dual-sim adaptor<\/a> available!\u00a0\u00a0 This seems to be a common hack in the <a href=\"http:\/\/asia.cnet.com\/blogs\/geekonomics\/post.htm?id=63013197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Far East<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>The Bad<\/h3>\n<p>So as with any device (and especially <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcpro.co.uk\/news\/351895\/ballmer-blasts-windows-mobile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Windows Mobile 6.1 as pointed out by Ballmer<\/a>) there are a number of disappointments in store as the technology is just beginning to catch up with what we really want.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>No standard headset connection.\u00a0 I told a small fib when I said the phone had a standard mini\u00a0 USB connector.\u00a0\u00a0 They actually added a few more pins to support the headset connection.\u00a0\u00a0 Any mini cable still works for data and charging, but you have to use the same connector for the headset.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you want to use a standard headset, they make this screwy connector which also allows you to charge the phone while the headset is plugged in. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/HTCAdaptor.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-401\" title=\"HTCAdaptor\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mpsharp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/HTCAdaptor.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a>This is a passable solution for the other car which doesn&#8217;t support bluetooth, but it&#8217;s just another accessory you are forced to buy (they give you one with the phone) rather than using standard headset or even just ear phones for listening.\u00a0\u00a0 It does provide another mini-port, so you can use the HTC headset and charge at the same time.<\/li>\n<li>Windows Mobile 6.5 IE.\u00a0\u00a0 Much to my suprise, OOTB, the phone is configured with Opera 9.5 as the default browser.\u00a0\u00a0 I decided to try IE with the touchscreen &#8220;Zoom bar&#8221; (more on that later).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 IE was configured in desktop mode, but it basically crashed the first time a tried it, and pretty much everytime after that.\u00a0\u00a0 I finally switched IE to mobile mode, and it was much happier.\u00a0\u00a0 As mentioned above, I only use it to read nytimes.com now.<\/li>\n<li>Opera 9.5:\u00a0\u00a0 As I was writing this, I went to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.opera.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Opera web site<\/a> and just downloaded the 10.3 Beta.\u00a0\u00a0 Although it doesn&#8217;t crash, I was disappointed at the performance.\u00a0\u00a0 Also, it seems very reluctant to use the WiFi interface (I haven&#8217;t put a sniffer on my network to prove this), but I notice no difference when I hook up to WiFi in the Opera browser performance, while BeyondPod and Skyfire scream on the WiFi connection.<\/li>\n<li>Touchscreen Performance: Best I can tell, the key problem with the phone (and WM 6.1) is the response time to touch actions.\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, the WM UI isn&#8217;t designed for a touch screen, and things generally work better when using the stylus, but there&#8217;s a terrible delay when using a browser between when you slide your finger across the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.htc.com\/www\/product\/touchpro2\/product-tour.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Zoom bar&#8221;<\/a> and when the action actually takes place.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are a number of hacks you can make to the phone to improve performance.\u00a0\u00a0 I guess I don&#8217;t understand why these aren&#8217;t done OOTB.<\/li>\n<li>FM Radio.\u00a0\u00a0 Why waste the electronics space when every FM station in the western world also has an Internet stream? Also there&#8217;s no way to enter a radio station address, you can only search? \u00a0 Create more space for heat dissipation, and turn up the processor clock.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Overall, I&#8217;m quite happy with the upgrade from the Samsung Blackjack, especially given the cost (OK, it was actually $38 in sales tax).\u00a0\u00a0 Two of my three goals were hit head on: bigger screen &amp; WiFI support.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bonus value was a better keyboard and better BT connectivity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I haven&#8217;t given up hope on the web browser just yet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I now have Opera 10.3 to play with and WM 7 is around the corner and looking compelling.\u00a0\u00a0 And if for some reason they don&#8217;t make the upgrade available, then I can always reprogram the ROM and install Android&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So I&#8217;ve been happily using an old Samsung Blackjack (the original) for at least 2 years now (maybe more).\u00a0\u00a0 Turns out there was a recall, and AT&amp;T sent me a new one for free about a year ago, so I had a new phone again.\u00a0\u00a0 Recently, HTC offered a trade in program with $100 credit&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/?p=396\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">One Month with the HTC Tilt 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23,31,34,41,70,77,78,100,113,114,117,130,136,159,162],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","tag-att-mobile","tag-blackjack","tag-bluetooth","tag-cell-phone","tag-free-phone","tag-htc-review","tag-htc-tilt-2","tag-mobile-phone","tag-opera","tag-phone-review","tag-podcast","tag-skyfire","tag-tcpmp","tag-windows-mobile","tag-wm-6-5","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpsharp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}