[turtle]

I just got my new phone in and I love it. While my area doesn't support 3G yet, it will in the next few months and I can't wait. I'm retiring my old 8125 for the new phone from AT&T. This phone is wonderful and it does everything I need in a phone. I really tried to convince myself that I needed an iPhone but it's just too limited for my needs. Maybe it'll expand and be able to work for me in the near future, in the mean time I'll just have to settle for this.

In true geek order, I took a bunch of photos of the opening. Forgive the image quality, but I used my wifes P&S rather than my good camera. For Mac+ I uploaded them to Flickr so he can see them. You can view the whole photo stream here.






It's pretty cool how it includes two stylus' and even a screen protector. I'm most likely going to hack it and change the OS some like I do all my phones, but for now I have everything I need in the stock configuration.

My big draw back is that I went from using a MiniSD card to a MicroSD card. While this isn't a big deal, I have a 2GB MiniSD card now that I can't really use. I'm going to keep it in case I need to fall back onto my 8125.

The camera on this Tilt is AWESOME! It's 3MP with great software controls. I've only taken a few images of my wife in the low light levels of my living room (so I won't be posting them here) but they came out really good (for a phone's camera). I'm going to have to get some tomorrow in better light and not of family members so I can post them too.

I use Missing Sync for WM6 and it works great. iCal and Address Book keep me up-to-date and current just like it did with Outlook. All of my email runs through IMAP so it stays current with my Mail.app too. The main feature of the phone that I needed and iPhone doesn't offer is the ability to tether under my current data plan. The iPhone just doesn't allow it at all. Now granted, for now I have to open XP in Parallels in order to tether, but I'm sure the Mac hack is out if not coming soon.

The Qualcomm 400MHz chip in the thing screams when compared to the 8125's 200MHz chip. It feels like I'm actually doing something when I press a button now. The touchscreen is very sensitive and responsive. It's a great improvement over the 8125's which was good, just not as sensitive and required much greater force. The Tilt function is pretty cool, though had nothing to do with why I upgraded. In fact, I can't even say I'm very fond of the tilt function, it's more of a "meh" feature to me.

One big difference between the 8125 and the Tilt is the direction the screen slides. I'm used to the screen sliding in a manner that keeps the D-pad on the right when the keyboard is exposed but the Tilt opens the opposite way. I'm a lefty and loved the fact that the 8125 opened in a manner better for a lefty. Oh well, I guess I'll adjust to the rest of the world again.

One of the other really cool features of the Tilt over the previous models is the keyboard now has a light to tell you if you are in Caps mode or Function mode. With the other models you were given a software indication rather than a hardware light like it has now. this is a very nice feature making it easy to see which mode you are in. This time they also relocated the numerical keypad making it easier to type out a phone number. Yet another big perk. The downside is they even color coded it for you.

The Tilt also brought a scroll wheel on the side of it that makes single handed operation much easier. Fortunately, these are on the left side of the unit making my left-handedness much easier to work with.

I can't wait to get a lot more time in on this phone but for now I can definitely say it is everything I wanted it to be and then some!

[turtle]

Well, the original ROM put on the phone by AT&T lasted about two days until I flashed it with the original HTC TyTN II ROM. It's actually a cooked version with most of the extra junk removed from it. "Big Storage" is the name of the ROM if you wish to Google it. I switched to the HTC theme as well because it is much nicer than the AT&T version.

I got the 2GB MicroSD card for this so I can put music and files on here too. One thing that I realized while messing with it is the missing IR port and wired headphone port. Bluetooth all the way with this baby (or USB). There is an external speaker to listen to your tunes with, but it's not a powerful as the 8125 or 8525's. Great for using as a speaker phone though.

The following are some of the screen shots from the phone's new home screen. The five tabs in the front section are for you to choose to see the clock, favorite contacts, weather for your local area, ringer type and favorite programs. I didn't include the favorite contacts because you don't need to see my names there. It looks like the favorite programs tabs but with names and number type icon.

Clock | Weather

Programs | Ringer


One of the features that I didn't even realize was included with the phone was GPS. This is awesome! No external unit needed and it works great. Here is a screen shot of one of the programs I downloaded to show satellite tracking. If you wish to use route planning with all the bells and whistles, all you need is a free copy of Google Maps for mobile or Windows Live Search for mobile. Both will show a street map style or aerial/satellite image tracking. Very cool indeed. The only down side to these programs is that you must have a cell signal to keep the maps updating on the go. On a recent trip to my mom's house there was only one small stretch of the trip that had no cell coverage though.


This is my camera test that is far from a great shot. It did pretty well considering how bad the lighting was out there. The car was in some great shade while the sun was really bright out there. So this isn't a very accurate representation of the camera's abilities, but it's pretty good for a phone. I plan to take some time getting some better shots with the camera to better show some of it's abilities thought I am spoiled by my DSLR. However this is a far cry better than any camera phone or PDA I've ever had.
(click for bigger)
Also, while I was down at my mom's I got AT&T to send me the unlock code for my phone so now I can run any SIM I want to. With the quad band this means I can really roam the world and even use pre-paid SIMs if I wanted to. I have no plans to go globe trotting anytime soon though.

Email is extremely fast with IMAP on here too. I'm really surprised when comparing it to my 8125. It's just that fast. WiFi integration is wonderful and there's even a keyboard shortcut to turn it on/off without having to access the Comm Manager. Adding WiFiFoFum2 made picking a signal a snap. Hotspots are acquired with a breeze. Heck, I even installed Flash player on here so I can see .swf files on web pages in Pocket IE. Java came pre-installed too. I also install MiniMo on here and it's great. A little slow compared to IE, but seems to work with some web pages better (like my bank's).

One other feature in this version that is just leaps and bounds ahead of the other HTC models AT&T had is the Task Manager built in. On the older models if you were to close a program it didn't actually close. It just minimized it. This really begins to hog system resources. So you'd have to head in the Settings and Memory to access the Task Manager where you would force them to close. I installed a third party app on my 8125 to accomplish this and was about to do so on this one...until I found they did the work for me and integrated it into the OS ROM. It's an HTC thing though, not MS'.

Internet connection sharing is as easy as setting the phone to share it's connection and then pairing with the computer via USB or Bluetooth. USB is built in, but there are a few hacks out there to get BT working, even on the Macs. Anyway, I love this phone and it was well worth my investment into it. If you have any questions just let me know and I'll answer them for ya!

[Wyatt]

That phone is pretty sweet. Do you know if they made a CDMA (Verizon) version? (Or if they're making one?) I would love to have this phone, but I'm switching to Verizon in the spring.

[torifile]

Damn you turtle! I had been able to keep my techno-lust under control since the iPhone, but that thing looks sweet! My biggest gripe with the 8525 was the size. Is it any thinner than that?

[turtle]

Looks like there is no planned CDMA version of the TyTN II as of now. There are going to be two new CDMA phones from HTC though. One's called Touch and the other is something like Dash (s620) or something like that.

As for if this phone is slimmer than the 8525, here's a comparison shot from HowardForums:

[torifile]

Thanks. I just checked and it's 3.6mm thinner. But it's still nearly 2x as thick as the iPhone. After having a Q (which was horrid in many ways but it was small) and now the iPhone, I don't think I can go back to Treo proportions again. That's good because I don't really want to mess with Windows Mobile.

[turtle]

Well, it certainly isn't as thin as an iPhone, but I'm ok with the thickness of the phone in connection with the benefits.

Plus, now I think I'm finally going to retire my LifeDrive and Palm OS "life" in favor of WM6 and MissingSync for WM. I don't think I'll need the PC for much of anything.

WM6 has come a long way and I'd rather not give up Palm OS and all my apps I've already paid for, but support for Palm has been lacking so much lately that I have to move on. It's a shame really. I think I heard about an app for WM that allows you to run your Palm apps. I'll have to see if I can find it.

[T-Man]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 . . .I think I heard about an app for WM that allows you to run your Palm apps. I'll have to see if I can find it.

If you haven't found it yet, here you go.

WM6 at least looks nice, but I wonder how better it is ? I could almost ignore WM6 if it has those alarm problems (though I discovered a reset at least once a week straightens it out). Just today, I'm starting to have appointment and alarm problems because of stupid DST. At least, a Palm wouldn't – and with concern to the WM-only alarm problems, doesn't – have these annoying problems. DST problems started with the AT&T (or whoever) released update from earlier this year. Caused a mess.

I was thinking of a normal flipphone from Sprint and HP's new iPaq coming out for when Cingular (I've 8125 also) ends in May, but they've just delayed that. Maybe an Android phone (if it comes out before May)...

[torifile]

I've found that since getting the iPhone *all* of my syncing problems - duplicate entries, missing appointments, problems syncing between my computers using .mac - have disappeared. I can't imagine it's just a coincidence that I'm no longer using the Missing Sync. The lack of headaches alone makes me not regret having a more limited device.

[turtle]

tori, you're right about the duplicate entries. I'm just grateful that Address Book has a merge and delete function for duplicate entries. It takes care of it without any problems!

[turtle]

Holy 3G! They just turned it on last night while I was relaxing around 10:30pm. All of a sudden my phone changed from the Edge icon to the "H" icon. Once I quit surfing it change to 3G. This was pretty cool to me! It's one heck of a boost too let me tell you!


You iPhone users will love it once they upgrade the HW. Man is it fast compared to Edge! What's so cool about it is that AT&T users were told we weren't getting the 3G upgrade until January in Tidewater. This was a great early Christmas present from AT&T.

I thought HSPDA and 3G were the same but my phone toggles back and forth between the two depending on if it's a data or voice call. Seems voice is 3G while data is HSPDA. Is this right? What's UMTS? Different name for the same thing? Google seems to indicate this.

[windowsblowsass]

HDSPA is basically 3.5 g. its a more recent faster 3g technology

[turtle]

Cool, thanks for the layman's terms.

[kieran]

I just did that same speed test on my iPhone and your result is almost 10x faster than my iPhone on Edge.

I had 140 kbit/sec.

Way to ruin the fun Turtle.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by windowsblowsass HDSPA HSDPA is basically 3.5 g. its a more recent faster 3g technology

T, FTFY

[turtle]

I certainly wasn't trying to ruin the fun of the iPhone users.

Actually I knew the iPhone wasn't for me because it doesn't do things I need a phone to do. (Tether being the biggest.) While I'd rather have the iPhone interface and OS, I am really liking the updates with this and WM6.

[turtle]

So I was sitting in the van waiting for my wife to finish up the holiday grocery shopping surfing AN and a few other places on my phone. Someone linked to a cool video on YouTube I wanted to see so I clicked the link and guess what, I saw it!


I watched that lion tear up the hyena! Thank God we have HSDPA here now, otherwise I can only image how choppy it would be. It was pretty smooth too for being on a phone. That and the fact that there is a Flash Player for Mobile now. I think it's still for developers though.

More and more I just plain love this phone! Does anyone else have one?

[Fooboy]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 So I was sitting in the van waiting for my wife to finish up the holiday grocery shopping surfing AN and a few other places on my phone. Someone linked to a cool video on YouTube I wanted to see so I clicked the link and guess what, I saw it! I watched that lion tear up the hyena! Thank God we have HSDPA here now, otherwise I can only image how choppy it would be. It was pretty smooth too for being on a phone. That and the fact that there is a Flash Player for Mobile now. I think it's still for developers though. More and more I just plain love this phone! Does anyone else have one?

Haha! I recognize that video! Prov 28:1

[turtle]

Ok, so today I gave up my MediaNet plan in favor of a true PDA plan so I could access the isp.cingular APN. I needed to be able to VPN and the ISP APN is the only way to do this. I was told that by changing over to the ISP APN I would gain speed because it is less used and considered AT&T's premium data connection. Well lets just say I'm REALLY impressed!




I remember when these speeds were the best I could get with cable in my area. All I can say is I'm ery glad I switched over, though I'm still not sure it's worth the extra $20 a month.

[torifile]

Have you had any problems syncing? Duplicates, etc.?

[turtle]

Originally Posted by torifile Have you had any problems syncing? Duplicates, etc.?

None once I installed the new version of MissingSync for WM6. I had a few duplicates in Address Book, but it's built-in function to find and merge or delete duplicates makes quick work of it. Nothing like when I was using Palm OS and had to buy a program called UnDupe to remove the duplicate entries. Sync with iTunes and iPhoto is nearly Mac OS smooth.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 None once I installed the new version of MissingSync for WM6. I had a few duplicates in Address Book, but it's built-in function to find and merge or delete duplicates makes quick work of it. Nothing like when I was using Palm OS and had to buy a program called UnDupe to remove the duplicate entries. Sync with iTunes and iPhoto is nearly Mac OS smooth.

WRONG ANSWER!!!!!!11111!!!!

You were supposed to say that your life is miserable because of the device and that anyone thinking of getting one (read: torifile) should avoid it like the plague!!!!

That's good to hear. How about with exceptions to repeating appointments? Say you've got a regular appointment at 9 am on Thursday and next week, it's moving to 11 am. Does that work? If you make the change within iCal or on the device? Thanks.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by torifile WRONG ANSWER!!!!!!11111!!!! You were supposed to say that your life is miserable because of the device and that anyone thinking of getting one (read: torifile) should avoid it like the plague!!!! That's good to hear. How about with exceptions to repeating appointments? Say you've got a regular appointment at 9 am on Thursday and next week, it's moving to 11 am. Does that work? If you make the change within iCal or on the device? Thanks.

I don't think you're going to like this () but it works smoothly when you make the change in either. You are given the option to edit all of the recurring events or just the selected event. All you do is make the change and then sync.

[turtle]

Something else just occurred to me today: With the Tilt I can talk on the phone and be using data as well. This wasn't an option for the 8125. I don't know about the 8525 though.

It used to be that if I were surfing the web or transferring mail when I got a phone call that my data connection would pause/stop. Not with the Tilt. I'm not sure if it's because the 3G thing or what, but it lets me keep on going.

I was tethering today watching some streaming content and got a phone call. The stream kept on going while I was on the phone. Pretty cool to me.

Oh, and with Panoramio and my GPS embedded images I can really show people where I have been.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 Something else just occurred to me today: With the Tilt I can talk on the phone and be using data as well. This wasn't an option for the 8125. I don't know about the 8525 though. It used to be that if I were surfing the web or transferring mail when I got a phone call that my data connection would pause/stop. Not with the Tilt. I'm not sure if it's because the 3G thing or what, but it lets me keep on going. I was tethering today watching some streaming content and got a phone call. The stream kept on going while I was on the phone. Pretty cool to me. Oh, and with Panoramio and my GPS embedded images I can really show people where I have been.

That's because 3G has the bandwidth to support both. If you were on EDGE it wouldn't be possible. The increased BW is also why calls generally sound clearer.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by torifile That's because 3G has the bandwidth to support both. If you were on EDGE it wouldn't be possible. The increased BW is also why calls generally sound clearer.

Oh, that makes sense. So then you could use the net and talk with the 8525 then. Wow, this is really like going from a Yugo to a BMW.

[sirnick4]

The Tilt looks pretty sweet. :-)

But I wouldn't trade in my iPhone for anything. Well, maybe an iPhone with 3g

[bender0069]

Bumping this thread. We will probably be upgrading my husbands 8125 to this phone in the near future. After using if for a few months, do you still like it as well? Any unforeseen problems that we need to consider? Would you still recommend it? Thanks!

[turtle]

Originally Posted by bender0069 Bumping this thread. We will probably be upgrading my husbands 8125 to this phone in the near future. After using if for a few months, do you still like it as well? Any unforeseen problems that we need to consider? Would you still recommend it? Thanks!

After using it for a few months I love it more than the day I bought it. I haven't encountered any unforeseen issues with this phone at all. Like really, none at all. As for recommending it, you bet! I still think this is far better than any phone out there for my uses.

Now I did flash it with a new ROM almost instantly so I can't speak for the stability of the original AT&T ROM, but I can't see why there would be any challenges with it at all. It's so awesome out of the box that I didn't *need* to flash it, I just wanted a few more features that you can't really do with the stock ROM. (Plus, I don't like all the AT&T branding and bloatware.)

The internal GPS has been a real lifesaver on a few times since it's real time with pretty accurate tracking too. There are two free programs out there I use regularly for this. Google Maps and TrackMe. TrackMe allows me to let my wife see where I am in real time. This is handy for things like when I'm coming home and she wants to have food ready or whatever. There's even a GeoFence in TrackMe that allows for an email or SMS to be sent when the boundary is reached.

Battery life on this device is great. I have it checking e-mail all the time and just about never turn on WiFi since I'm in a 3G area. I don't have to recharge but about every other day except when I spend a lot of time on the phone. Then it's an everyday charge and sometimes during the day, depending on how much I talk.

3G on this thing rocks so much compared to the 8125. Making the migration up for the 8125 to this was a breath of fresh air. If your husband likes his 8125 at all then he'll love the Tilt.

Tethering is another feature that's built into the WM6 that is just awesome. When needed it can pair with any Vista system and share it's internet connection. Nothing special needed other than a cable and to set the phone to internet sharing. It's great! With an XP system you have to install ActiveSync 3.5 or better though to use this feature.

Get the phone for him and he won't regret it a bit. It's well worth the money paid for and it is just plain awesome!