Savannah W-ITS

When searching for information on on the latest batch of Windows Mobile phones (summer 2009) it is easy to get confused  – it seems that some phone models with the same names are not actually the same.  I downloaded the HTC Touch Pro 2 manual from the HTC web site – after reviewing the manual I found that some features/applications were missing/different in the phone that I have?:

• no second camera (forward facing for video conferencing use – YES – video conferencing from your phone…)
• a reference to an application called WorldCard Mobile (scan business cards using the phone’s camera.)
• the SIM card is blocked by a metal spring which must be pressed down to change the card.

UPDATE - 9/3/09 -  some of the items below described as missing/different are the result of using the TouchFlo Bar (bottom of the screen) on the phone.  While the bar does provide relatively quick access to some of the phone features it is not full-featured, i.e. the Window Mobile calendar provides daily/weekly/monthly/yearly views while the TouchFlo calendar only provides Month/day; also there is no link to jump to the complete calendar from the TouchFlo calendar display.)  This lack of full access to tools has me using Start–>whatever to reach programs (including reading email; the notification ‘pane’ is a pain IMO… – the phone interface for programs would benefit from features on phones like the Android or iPhone – i.e. single click access via on-screen icons as well as screen-flipping/sliding to reach groups of resources; perhaps Windows Mobile 6.5 will improve the user interface experience.

Update - 9/16/09 – You can dis-able the TouchFLO 3D interface by selecting:  Start –> Settings –> Personal –> Today –> Items; un-check TouchFLO 3d and then you can choose from the other options – while TouchFLO 3D is enabled the other options are not available.

When the phone arrived I found the T-Mobile version of the manual  on the CD – of course it does not mention either of the above missing items but it does explain the SIM card install procedure.  There may be other missing items/features on various branded cell phones so I suggest that you request the complete manual from your Cell provider if you wish to conduct a more thorough review prior to purchase.

So, what’s right with the Touch Pro2?

If you read my comments on the Android G2 phone (T-mobile MyTouch) then you know that I have been happily using my HTC MDA (Windows Mobile 5.0) phone for some time.  It recently began some bad behaviours (failing hardware) so I have been looking for  a replacement.  My smart phone requirements are simple (at least that’s how I see them) – the smart phone should:

• provide a simple, intuitive, flexible phone operations for making and answering calls
• have a reasonable speaker phone (for both sides of the conversation)
• be capable of WiFI (wireless) networking for email, web, data transfer, etc.
• be able to sync with my Outlook email/calendar
• be able to fully use my own POP/IMAP email provider
• provide standard web browsing operations as well as web browser customization (i.e. set display options, set desired home page, turn off image display, manage Favourites, view source and other page information, etc.)
• connection sharing (‘modem mode’ so I can surf with my laptop)

After being disappointed with the Android G2 I am hoping for a better encounter with the Touch Pro2 – the current results are:

• data sync with Outlook worked out-of-the-box; I just connected to an existing USB cable and my PC–> Phone data sync was successful (after simple setup on my PC.)
• setting up a POP email account was simple and everything worked (unlike the G2 feature that does not allow you to empty the trash…)
• WiFi setup was also simple, including connecting to my ‘hidden’ WiFi network (something that I could not do with Android G2)
• the phone call/dialer interface is simply wonderful – want to answer using the speaker phone? Just choose the speaker on-screen button when you are getting an in-coming call (the G2 required you to select menu options and then speaker…)
• the Windows Mobile OS interface options (i.e. Start –> {Programs, Settings, Contacts, etc/.} work as expected and allow users of previous versions (i.e. as on my MDA device) quick access to desired options.
• the screen is larger/better than on the MDA and you can tweak the phone to improve finger scrolling (the scroll bars were somewhat annoying on the MDA.)

Camera

• the 3.2 MegaPixel (single) camera is quite nice and provides settings for altering ISO, white balance, brightness, resolution, image quality, contrast, saturation and sharpness.  There are also special effects options (grayscale, sepia, negative), as well as additional settings for metering options, a panorama mode and picture themes mode.  There is also a video mode which has some additional options.  The camera is impressive for a phone camera.
• missing – GEO-Tagging via GPS information – I’m surprised that this is not an option.  (See Tweaks below.)
• since I almost always have the phone with me I have captured a few spontaneous images – I’m impressed so far – I will post about Camera Phones on my Photography Blog.

Web Experience (browsing with IE and Opera)

Both Internet Explorer and Opera were installed on this device.  Based on limited testing (visiting various web sites) neither browser provides enough simple control over the display (but Opera does provide some options.)  The MDA provided three viewing options including:  a) single column, b) default and c) full (as if you were on your PC.)  You could also disable the display of images.  Some comments about Opera and IE on the Touch Pro2:

• IE – you cannot set a default home page???? (so every time to start a browser you can be tracked.)  The home page seems to be tied to a Yahoo.
• IE – there are no View options in IE for setting font sizes or otherwise controlling the display.
• Opera  – provides zoom options but they don’t  ‘stick’; zoom in on a  page, click on a link and you are back to a zoomed-out view (not really legible view for many web pages that are not optimized for mobile devices – which, at this time means most web sites are simply not.
• Opera – does allow you to set a custom home page.
• Opera – clicking on links seems to be problematic – you have to ‘zoom-in’ to get a ‘hit’?
• Opera – some menu options exit Opera instead of returning you to the browser?  (i.e. select Favourites and then click ‘x’ in the upper right-hand corner – you will exit Opera – yes, I know that I could click on the ‘x’ in the bottom right-hand corner to go ‘back’…)  Or try:  open New Tab – your only options are to enter a URL, search, or hit ‘x’ – which exits the program…  [[Yes, I know that I could hit the 'back button' on the phone (located next to the Hang-up button...]]
• Opera – there is no on-screen ‘back button’ – you have to navigate via tabs? which maxes out at two (2)? web sites?
• The Opera Help includes basic information but the Icons used by the program are not mentioned?
• I found Mobile view to sort-of-work (relatively slow to load pages with no indication that the program was ‘working’ on downloading the page other than a red X – how far along is the download?)
• No import of Favourites from IE? (at least I did not see the option – you have to copy/paste or visit/add…)

Tweaks/Customization

At this time the number of applications seems to be somewhat sparse and they seem to be a bit pricey compared to Google Android applications.  It’s somewhat annoying that a user would need to scour the Internet to locate useful information about these devices – why don’t manufacturers provide this level of information?  For instance I found several utilities (free) which can be used to make sensible adjustments to the Touch Pro2 including:

• turn on GPS for camera use – you actually go into GPS camera mode – I think that the phone should simply have a GPS on/off setting – if on then photos include GPS info…
• turn on other camera features (Sport, Burst and Video share modes.)
• quick toggles  for several features (after finding the Diamond Tweak software (includes camera tweaks above.)

To customize the IE default home page (as well as add any new entries to the TouchFlo Web site list) you have to edit the file:  \Application Data\Manila\InternetPortal-en-us.xml. I copied the file to my PC, edited it and then copied it back to replace the original (you might want to make a backup…)   You can add/remove/re-order the OperatorLinks in the file.

What’s Missing/Different?

• The phone was packaged with leather case – in general this device is a bit large to be placed in a pocket.  Why is a belt clip/case not provided?
• A registry editor (it is a Windows OS so you would expect one from MS.)  After viewing MS Boards I found this one.
• Creating quick speed dial entry was simple on the MDA – I have not figured this out on Touch Pro2 – seems I can add Faves but entries from my SIM card are not shown.  I did, however choose Phone–Menu–Speed Dial and was able to create my list.
• Many menu options for standard programs need a re-think – IMO.  For instance on the Touch Pro2 (Windows Mobile 6.1):

1. on the MDA the status bar on the top of the display contained Active Icons – select them to make changes (turn WiFi off with two presses, adjust time, speaker, volume.) Contrast with the Touch Pro2 and everything is multi-step…
2. on the MDA the battery and network icons are on the bottom of the screen – one click to access.  Contrast with the Touch Pro2 and everything is multi-step…

Email management/notices

1. on the Touch Pro2 you get an email notification.
2. you tap the notification bar (top of phone.)
3. you select the email notification.
4. you wind up on an open envelope and you can read the subject, the sender’s email address and a portion of the text. (Note – 4 clicks for Start–> Messaging –> Select Email account –> Select message…)
5. you click on the message and it opens.
6. you select Menu.
7. choices pop up and you make your selection.
8. delete is the top choice (should be on the bottom of the list – or there should be a way to customize the order of menu options…)
9. there is no quick way to view the contents of the Inbox if you use the TouchFlo access to mail (an add-on by HTC?)  You can, however use Start–>Messaging–>Select Email account  but it still lacks basic folder management… 
10. No batch delete by hi-lighting a set of messages?  (worked on the MDA…)

Contrast the above to the Email notification process and email management on the MDA (Windows Mobile 5.0):

1. you get an email notification on the bottom of the screen.
2. your choices are View or Dismiss (Note that I had to get to step 4 above for the same information.)
3. if you only have one message in your inbox then you see who sent it and the subject (again, this is at step 2…)
4. if you select View then you can select Menu and manage things more efficiently/directly, i.e. view your Inbox, create folders, move mail to alternate folders, change email accounts – in short much better/easier management of emails – IMO.  Why the change from a solid, working solution???

** Overall, I think that this version of mail is a step backwards – toooooo many steps to do simple things (BUT, I can sync with Outlook! AND I can empty the trash – two things the G2 could not directly do…)

** UPDATE - Actually, if you use Start–>[Messaging-->Account] you get the same options as in Windows Mobile 5.0; The same for Calendar – to get full display functions use:  Start–>Calendar – the new ‘bar’ across the bottom of the screen (TouchFlo Tabs do not provide full-featured access to the applications that they link to – they provide an optional interface which while somewhat convenient is lacking IMO – I prefer full features…)

Reminders

You have two options – Snooze or Dismiss;  Snooze seems to snooze for ~5 minutes – there are no options for changing the snooze duration (i.e. as if you were looking at an Outlook reminder – which is what I was expecting and wanting…)

Using the Phone

Outgoing calls – The call button brings up a dial pad plus a list of recent calls – to get to Speed Dial you have to select Menu–> Speed Dial (where’s the speed with this!  Why not display  Speed Dial as the number one option?)  You can change your View to Speed Dial l (but the speed dial list is mostly covered by the dial pad (hmm, if I want to see the speed dial list do I need a keypad???) when you open the phone application – perhaps there is a tweak to change this behaviour…)

USB connection

When connected via  a USB cable with a computer running Microsoft ActiveSync the two devices will ‘sync up’ (if configured to do so.)  You also get gateway connectivity to the Internet so your browsing and email are passing through your PC to the external source.  If you connect the Touch Pro2 to your Linux box (you do have one, yes?) then it should be possible to configure a network gateway as well.

Charging the battery via a USB connection is slow – use the AC connector – it is many times faster (based on my limited testing; so when you travel carry the very small AC adaptor and your USB cable and plug in for a few minutes, i.e. while taking a coffee break.)

WiFi Performance is quite good (and faster than using USB.)

Incoming calls are SUPER – answer the call and select Speaker (or other options.)

Wish list

• more applications like those available for the G2 – I’ll visit Google Mobile to see what I can find.
• Simple GPS controls (on/off, where the heck am I?  Compass?)
• RSS reader (could be I just have not found it…)
• a practical, belt-wearable case for the device – the supplied case is a carrying case (it appears to have a magnetic cover so use care if you or your work environment is magnet sensitive…)

Summary – overall – still trying out the phone…

Update - New, Windows Mobile 6.5 announced Monday, 8/20/09 – looks like it may address some of the user interaction items mentioned above (i.e. a new IE browser version and more on-screen access – reducing the number of steps to reach a desired feature/program – checking on upgrade/update options…)

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