Category Archives: Phones

Nexus S Review

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We happened to get our hands on Google’s new phone made by Samsung called the Nexus S. It’s running the company’s latest version of Android…Android 2.3. Check below to see what we thought!

Likes:

We loved the overall sleekness of the design. I’m a simple man and I was totally impressed with the form factor. It’s all black and unassuming, yet when you look at it, you know there is something special about it. The buttons capacitive buttons light up only when the device is on so when it’s asleep it’s just a dark black device in your hand. When you turn it off, it kinda flickers off in the same way your old CRT TV used to which we thought was a nice touch. There is also a really cool burst of orange (wish you could change the color) that happens when you get to the top or bottom of a long list…i.e the bottom of your contact list. It’s those little things that let us know that the folks over there at Google are doing good work.

The phone is really thin and light weight. This can go either way, but I don’t mind light devices if they work though the phone did almost slip a few times with simple gesturing.  The call quality is nothing special, but the speaker phone was a little better than I was expecting. It’s by no means the best speaker phone we’ve ever heard but it held it’s own which was surprising. These light-weight devices usually have terrible speakerphones.

The camera was ok – I really liked the HD2’s camera to be honest, but this one will do. Still 5 MPs with single LED flash. Some devices have dual LEDs which is nice, but I didn’t find myself missing the second LED.I found the shutter a little slow but I can’t really complain too much because its a phone however, some mobile devices are getting better at this. I also liked the front facing camera, though it may not be of much use if you don’t know anyone with compatible software.

The Operating System is great. It was quite zippy and I had no problems scrolling through long lists. As you may know, Android offers near seamless integration with your Google life. It picks up all of your Google Contacts, Calendar Appointments etc… This pure Android experience also offers wireless tethering to other devices via wifi or a hard connection. I wish there was a quick shortcut to the tethering functionality like the palm devices on Verizon, but a hotspot is a hotspot and I’m not complaining. We didn’t get to try out its NFC powers, but we knew it was there. We think this will be big in the near future, though it’s not very prevalent in other devices just yet. However, it may be something you wish to think about when making your next phone purchase.

Dislikes:

Data speed. I have a G2 and though it’s only coming in at 800 MHz  while the Nexus S has a 1 GHz processor yet many times the G2 felt faster because I spend a lot of time downloading information on the web. Because the G2 takes advantage of Tmobile’s 3G+ network, I was bringing up pages and downloading apps much faster on my G2. This is the one jinx in the armor so-to-speak for the Nexus S. I also didn’t like the plastic feel of the back cover. It makes the device quite light in comparison with other smart phones in the same size range, but it makes the phone feel a little cheaper than it should. Also, Samsung – please stop putting the lock button on the right side! I ended up going into the Android boot-up sequence by pushing the power button and the down volume button at the same time!  I also kept changing my sound settings accidentally because of this.

Lastly, my 3G conked out towards the end of use. Not sure if this was because the phone was a trial phone or what, but after a while, I was unable to reach 3G speeds at all on the device.

Overall:

Overall, the device is solid and would love to have it for the front-facing camera, sleek look and feel, along with the pure Google experience. Other than a few hang-ups like network speed, I found this phone to be quite useful and a pleasure to use. Not sure about that 3G issue though. That may be a major issue if it is widespread. However, if it’s isolated – then I’d just replace the phone for a new one as I found very little to be disappointed with.

 

 

Happy V-Day from Tango

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So I know a lot of you use Tango to video chat with that significant other. I’ve used it and it’s not bad. The program allows you to use your phone’s camera to video chat with another person. Its fairly new and I can’t wait for more updates to get the kinks smoothed out, but its got real potential. Actually, there’s really little downside to the app as it can be downloaded on both the Android  and iPhone OSes.  You can use it on the new iPod touch, iPhones, and Android phones along with Android tabs like Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet. Not only that, but you can talk across platforms as well. You don’t even need a front facing camera on your device as it can use the back facing camera to stream images to the other side. Sounds pretty good right? Well it doesn’t stop there. The app also works over 3G, 4G, and WiFi allowing it to function over virtually all networks.

The application has gathered a large amount of downloads, me being one of them, and I have been made privy to a new promotion they will have going on for Valentine’s day. It will be called “Tango Hearts”. Word has it that if you double tap the screen on Valentine’s day, little hearts will appear as you chat. It’s a neat little trick that may impress your lady friend. If your girl is like mine however, that definitely won’t replace the standard fare. Don’t be cheap and chuck the chocolates guys! I’m just saying!

Nokia N8 Review

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The wonderful people over at womworld.com sent us a unit and below are my thoughts. The N8 is definitely a powerful device, and I was quite curious about what my experience with it would be like. So lets get to it!

Hardware:

Its a solid piece of hardware – that’s for sure. Once before, someone demoing the unit did a key-scratch test and it did nothing to the unit. Needless to say, I didn’t do that with my unit, but I have no problems believing that if it was accidentally scratched the phone would be ok. Its fully encased in an aluminum shell. The shape is a bit odd to me, but I ended up liking it. It feels really nice in my hand and had a nice weight to it. Not unbelievably light, but not too heavy either. It really was just right. For its thickness, I wondered if they would have had problems adding a keyboard, but I guess that’s what the E7 is for. It had plenty of buttons and protrusions. Dedicated camera button, screen-lock slider, and volume rocker all on the right side. Power button and HDMI port  and 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top. Then there was the menu button on the bottom left and the 12 mp Camera with xenon flash, which was quite handy.

Software:

Symbian 3.  It’s been re-worked and I think it does well in many areas. For example, you have three home screens which is nice, and the ability to add widgets. They are quite useful like an RSS Feeder, or time and date, Instant Messaging clients, email clients, music, etc…. Transitions are quite smooth and you can find a lot of pertinent information at a glance. Your menu button takes you into the menu of whichever application you happen to be in which is nice, and the camera button allows you to quickly jump out of an application for a quick snap when the mood hits you. If you hold down the menu, a very well done task manager appears where you can manage your applications. It shows you a preview of any application that is still open and you can ‘x’ out of any one. I found this extremely helpful and will now be looking for something similar in my next device.  The OS was polished, but straightforward. Very simple.

What I Liked:

I liked the ability to customize to a level that many other devices don’t allow. Loved being able to customize my sound profiles and schedule them! Loved the email widget. I could get a quick snapshot of my last few emails and figure out if I wanted to get in and reply or check in another few hours. Quick access to my music with the music widget, and I could change the images that would appear once I locked the screen and how long that transition would take. I could have the ringer use the voice program to literally “say” the name of the person who was calling me if they were in my phone book which was awesome! My phone would suddenly say the name of the person calling – thought those were great geeky moments.

One of my favorite applications was the social app. You could link it to your facebook or twitter account and get a stream of updates. It actually got me more involved in my twitter and facebook life because I can’t stand a long process of logging on just to say a few comments and logging back off. This app provided quick updates. I could say what I had to say – upload a pic and be done.

Another nice feature was the clock. While your phone is sleeping, you can set it to display a clock. Its very simple with no animation so it consumes very little battery life. While on the topic, the battery life was pretty good. I could get more than a day of full use. However, you’d have to use the phone gingerly the next day if you wanted the phone to last till you get home to charge. However, I found its battery consumption pretty impressive. You can obviously improve the performance by being diligent about your app management and display settings, but all in all the phone generally has enough juice to do what it has to do. Symbian 3 also has a battery saving mode you can switch to which makes certain tweaks to display, data consumption, etc…which will tighten your phone’s belt so-to-speak. It worked well, but I found it too restrictive so I rarely engaged it, but it was nice to know that it was there just in case you were in a jam.

I also loved the tactile feed back. Seriously – its the best I’ve ever felt on any device before. It really feels like I’ve depressed a real button when typing a message.

What I Disliked:

This part of the review is inevitable and to be honest I had a few gripes with the phone in certain areas. I’m not sure if this was the phone’s fault, but I found myself dropping calls – a lot. A lot more than usual. It was noticeable to many people I spoke to and they would end saying “Something’s wrong with your phone” or something to that effect. Once I switched back to my old phone (HD2) it was normal again.

Another issue was that I would be pressing buttons with my cheek while on a call. I didn’t know why at first because there is a light sensor which automatically turns the screen off when the phone is against the face. I think what the issue was, was the fact that the phone isn’t that large and when placed against the ear, some light may get in. Enough to confuse the sensor just enough to have the screen display for a moment and for me to press the mute icon or the hold icon. This was quite annoying.

The menu button was oddly placed in my opinion because of the slope design of the phone. On more than one occasion I almost dropped the phone because it was a stretch to press the button with my left thumb. Also, getting through the phone settings menu was a bit difficult as some things were pretty hard to find. It took me the longest time just to turn off the battery saver!

I didn’t like the fact that you can only put widgets of one size on the screen. I also didn’t like the fact that you couldn’t put shortcuts on the screen – only widgets. You could put a widget on the screen called shortcuts though, but I wanted a little bit more control here.

The keyboard was pretty nice, and as mentioned before, I really loved the tactile feed back. When horizontal, you get a full QWERTY keyboard which is great. They also give you a pretty good predictive text program. However, you really have to press to get your words out. Pretend that it’s a real button and things will go faster. However, my issue is that it’s not a real button and I don’t feel like I should have to press that hard or that long to get my letter to display. No QWERTY Keyboard while Vertical is unforgivable. Some people prefer texting with a dialer, but let us choose. Many of us no longer like typing with the number pad and decided to upgrade the phone. You can say, well they can always have the full keyboard in landscape mode. While this is true, it leads my to my last annoyance which is why is there always an extra step?

Web experience was decent, and quite fast. But nothing special. To be honest, I couldn’t really get into the web with this phone, so web surfing became a chore – mostly because of the keyboard and entry.

While using the phone, I always felt like there was an extra step to accomplish for everything. Typing a message. I had to navigate to the message app, then press it. Then press the empty field to activate the keyboard – which would lead to the text screen where I could then type. Why wasn’t the keyboard initiated once I got in the app? Why did I have to get to another screen just for the text? Same with email, and many of the other applications. I always felt like I was taking at least one more step than was necessary.

Wrap-Up:

Overall, I felt like the phone was a very nice device. I loved the looks it got from people who had never seen the N8 before. Great form-factor and it was quite functional. There were some slowdowns and dropped calls, errant button pressing, and redundancies but I still had a good feeling about the phone. It really does do a lot. Full HD to the TV! Flash support from the browser, customization. It’s all there.

Samsung Fascinate Review

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I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the Samsung Fascinate and had a few weeks to play around with this beautiful phone. Does the phone live up to the hype, or does it falter? Check out my thoughts below.

Hardware:

The first thing I noticed about the phone was how stunning it was visually. Make no mistake about it, this phone has a beautiful form factor. It’s large and sleek with chrome trim around its borders. I like the touch buttons rather than physical buttons which i feel are a follow-through with the slick design. The phone is quite light in the hand. I definitely expected the phone to be a bit heavier, but was pleasantly surprised with its heaviness – or lack thereof. It weighs around 4.5 ounces compared to the iPhone’s 4.8 ounces.  I had to take a double-take at the specs because the Fascinate seems to be a lot lighter than the iPhone. Seriously, a few times I felt like the Fascinate would fly out of my hand if I made too many sudden movements! I think the weight might have been spread out over the wider surface area of the Fascinate. The micro USB port and 3.5 mm headphone jack are located at the top of the phone, while the power button/lock button is located on the right side of the phone. The volume rocker is on the left side. Sadly, no dedicated camera button in site. The display is a 4.0 inch WVGA capacitive touch screen display. It has a 5.0 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom. It also has a 1Ghz processor which makes things nice and speedy.

Software:

It’s running android 2.1 which is not the latest iteration of android,which would be android 2.2, but I suspect an ota update isn’t too far away. Its a lot more mature than android 1.6 of course with a slew of new functions, but with Google’s break-neck pace of providing updates, 2.1 is definitely getting old fast if only in name. Also, Samsung has obviously added their flavoring to the OS which also slows down the updates because it takes time to re-skin once they come out.

Likes:

I love the form factor. Its slim so it doesn’t quite put the bulge in your pocket that other 4.0 inch and larger phones would have. Its also so light which for some people may be a problem, but for me I find to be a plus. I also like the text to speech functionality, even though, I think it still has some improvements that could be made. Its still not as accurate as I would like, but i still love it. I also love the interactive backgrounds. You can also download a bunch from the application store. Also, the processor speed really makes you feel like your using a quality product. You rarely have to wait for anything. Swype movement is always smooth and snappy. I also like the Buddies Now Widget from Samsung. It’s a quick way to flick through your most used buddies, and it takes their images from your Google contacts. I also love the 3G Mobile Hotspot app, but that’s because Verizon supports that. Many carriers would cut that functionality out  all together, but I’m glad its here on the Fascinate. Call Quality is quite good as well with both myself and the caller on the other end surprised at the call clarity. Lastly, the lock-screen has lots of great information like time and date. You have to drag a puzzle piece to the open spot in order to unlock the phone, but what’s clever is that if you have when you have a missed call or new email, that new piece of information gets its own puzzle section. You can then drag that puzzle section to the open spot and go directly to the intended application.

Dislikes:

Earlier I was talking about how light the phone was, part of the reason may be because of the plastic back cover. I didn’t like the feel of the back cover as I would rather the back cover be metal. It’s definitely a small thing, and quite subjective, however, the plastic feel takes away from the mature feel of the phone. I also didn’t like the lack of a physical camera button. The camera controls are pretty extensive and the shutter speed is decent for a phone so a two stage button I feel is in order.

When it comes to contacts – Android automatically syncs with your contacts and if your like me, you may have a ton of contacts that you don’t necessarily use. So your contact list will be huge – so you will have to do a lot of fine tuning to do. That’s where the buddies now app comes in, but it can still be annoying to have so many contacts in your contact list.

Wrap up:

Overall, I loved the phone. It has such a visually stunning presence which can totally be a conversation piece in a social atmosphere. Its light in the hand, and the 1Ghz processor is not for show. Camera, is OK but nothing to write home about. Call quality is great and a great sign of a well put together phone. Android 2.1 is great, but 2.2 it is not. Definitely not a deal-breaker, but if I bought the phone, I would definitely be looking out for the updates. All-in-all , totally worth it for looks and functionality in my opinion. It’s shortcomings are easily overshadowed by the areas it excels in. Do you have the phone? Let us know your thoughts below!

check www.samsung.com for more info and gadgets

More Android Love from T-Mobile

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If your anything like me then you can’t wait to get your hands on the latest and greatest gadgets. The next lust-worthy piece of electronics is coming to T-mobile it seems and this phone is the successor of the G1. Three guess for what the name will be…that’s right…in a surprise move – they will be calling it the (wait for it….) G2! I actually still have my G1 and if it weren’t so slow, I would probably still be using it. Those of you who have had the G1 will attest to Google’s diligence in keeping it up to date as best they could despite the phone’s lack of horsepower and the phone’s sturdiness. It wasn’t the sexiest phone, but it definitely surprised you with it’s subtle elegance once you had it in your hand. Keyboard was killer and the snappy slide mechanics were cool.

Now its elder brother, the G2, comes in to take its place as the #1 Android phone in the T-mobile Stable. I say number one because it will be the only one carrying stock Android at launch. Personally I much prefer it that way instead of having to do with the phone company’s vision of what they think is cool. Stock Android has a simplistic beauty about it that I find to be both charming and refreshing unlike the business of Motorola’s “Motoblur” or Samsung’s iPhone-reminiscent “Touchwiz.” Sadly, I doubt it will come with Android’s ability to tether since T-mobile has traditionally killed that option on all its smart phones – but the rest is still there. The specs are as follows according to HTC’s G2 info page found here.

It has a Qualcom Processor humming along at 800 MHz, Android 2.2, 4GB ROM, 512 MB RAM, 3.7 inch WVGA display, GPS,5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash,wifi and bluetooth compatible, 1300 mAh.

It takes HD video, runs at 4G speeds on T-Mobile’s new network, and takes advantage of Android’s Voice Action Technology.

All-in-all I’d say its a pretty nice phone to give a try, but to be honest – I’m kinda wanting to see another phone besides the iPhone4 that has video-telephony. The rumored “MyTouch HD” should be just what the doctor ordered.

Why Apple isn’t Playing any Games

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Steve Jobs is playing for keeps as is evident by the moves he has made with the inception of the iPod and the iPhone. Love him or hate him, Apple has fought back from the brink with hit after hit and it looks like they’re here for the long haul. But that’s not what’s on everybody’s tongue right now. Enter stage left: iSlab, or iSlate or iThingy. Whatever you want to call it, it seems destined to be the next best thing since toilet tissue.

Just the mere rumor of its existence has sent shivers down the spines of large companies and has News Papers and Magazines clamoring for a Digi-Saviour. Can Apple do to the print industry what it did for the music industry? Honestly, our money is on Jobs. He’s a mad genius when it comes to this sort of thing, and the buzz alone is guaranteed to bring some high-rollers to the table. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Harper-Collins, and Condé Nast are already in talks over the rumored Tablet, and we are pretty sure there will be more. If you’re a non-believer, that’s fine. Consider yourself in good company, but the rumored specs paint a very pleasant picture.

Imagine a kindle – but in color and a larger 10 -11” screen, not to mention ten times sexier. Total access to your library of music anywhere you go and the ability to buy more in a web-based version of i-Tunes that downloads songs over wifi – or better yet, a 3G cellphone network like Verizon’s. It may also have a “Best of TV” service offering a subscription to your favorite Television shows. The inclusion of games is a no brainer, and a faster processor and larger hard disk space can only help matters. Now the clincher – the tablet will reportedly have facial recognition software that will recognize users and perhaps perform tasks meant for specific persons using a front facing camera. Maybe it will be like the chair settings in your car where you just hit the 3rd button and it automatically adjusts the seat because you’re too tall for your wife’s settings and she insists on driving your car even though you bought her a car for Christmas, but she likes the feel of your car better. Or maybe that’s just us.

The price range should be inside of $1,000, and could possibly be subsidized if it debuts with a cell phone carrier. If anyone out there needs someone to test this bad boy out, count us in.

Source:WSJ

UPDATE:

ok, so alot of the above information turned out to be wrong…or atleast a bit premature. This doesn’t mean all the information is garbage though. For starters, the camera may still be in the works. Soooooo glad we were wrong about the price. In approximately 60 days, you can pick one up for as low as 499.99 (16GB)with the 3G unlocked version coming in at a cool 629 (16GB).

Now there has been a lot of chatter, mostly by Geeks with super-powered devices, saying that the iPad doesn’t live up to the hype. I’ll have to agree to a point. But c’mon, what device does? Just because you thought the iPad was going to levitate, pay bills, make your bed, etc… and (surprise!) it doesn’t you wanna get all salty? Look, for 500 bucks your getting a premier device that works super well, and does everything it needs to. The iWork suite looks fantastic, browsing magazines and online content looks like an absolute pleasure to do, and gaming is pretty nice. It is the first and last device I want with me on any trip. Now I don’t own anything Mac branded and even I can tell that this is a great device. Jobs and his boys just aren’t catering to those of us who happen to know what the device should be able to do such as multi-tasking and voice calling with video telephony over wifi etc.

Now to a few more details about the device…

The device is 9.7 inches diagonally, and .5 inches thin. It’s a bit heavy (depending on what your comparing it to) at 1.5 lbs. Battery life is supposed to be 10 hrs of moderate use, and almost a month at standby, though something tells me that if your online playing games, you are gonna need to plug that sucker in a lot sooner. Now I have to give kudos to Apple for making their own performance chip. I really like the way they take a really hands on approach to their product. It really seems like they care about what they put out there.

You have access to three main stores now..iTunes of course, App store, and now the iBook Store. The Screen is multi-touch capacitive and is LED backlit. Take a look at the video below:


source:Apple

Nexusone Google “Superphone”

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If you have T-mobile and have been a loyal customer for years…than you can’t upgrade for a discount on this phone. Sorry – suck it up. Its available at 179.00 for people who are starting a new line and there is only one type of plan you can get if you are buying at discount. For ballers, you can get the phone unlocked at 529.00 and just add a simcard with whatever plan you want and be done with it all.

Here is the phone break down:

Hardware:

1Ghz Snapdragon processor with 3.7 inch capacitive display. It has 512 MB of Flash Memory and 512 MB of RAM. It comes with 4GB Micro SD card which you can upgrade to 32 GB when you get the urge. Camera is 5 Mega-pixels with LED Flash and 2x zoom. Its got Blue-tooth/Stereo Blue-tooth and Wifi as well. With all of that it only comes out to be about 11.5 mm thick!

Software: Runs Android 2.1 (Eclair). Google’s newest iteration. With such a fast processor, I’m guessing this phone will most likely see its fair share of upgrades.

Distinctions: What makes this phone different from say…the iPhone? It can multitask. Also, it doesn’t have multi-touch capabilities. It has voice recognition and dictation elements native only to this device. Not a whole lot else. What this means is that you can’t pinch to zoom in on web pages or photos, but you can say “Navigate to McDonald’s” and it will give you turn by turn directions to the nearest McDonald’s which I think is pretty sweet. You can also dictate a note or a text message which can come in handy for those who just can’t seem to stay away while driving.

Interface seems clean and snappy from what I can tell. Really like the moving wallpaper. They even respond to interactions! You can check the video below to see for yourself:

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Summary:

So all in all a pretty solid phone. Good-looking, but not terribly sexy in my opinion. Great functionality, but not quite ground-breaking or game changing. Smart phone? Yes. Superphone? Nah, not quite.

Update:

Eligible users with data plans can now upgrade to the Nexus One on T-mobile for $279. Those who paid $379 will get 100 bucks in a rebate check from Google. Sounds good to me!

Google Phone Craze!!!!

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image from Gizmodo.com

Have you guys heard yet? Google is coming out with a “Google Phone” called the Nexus (as of right now). According to the rumors floating around, they will be selling the phone themselves much like Apple is doing their iPhone. Gizmodo.com seems to have uncovered the price for this puppy and its about what you would expect. According to the leaked documents, the phone can be had for about $530 unlocked and $180 with a two year contract on T-mobile’s network. The clincher is the fact that you only have one choice and its not even the best plan! No unlimited Data. I suspect Tmobile is trying to take it slow and not cripple their network and make it as sucky as ATT’s. Perhaps its a wise move. At any rate, the phone is a beast with its 1Ghz processor and snappy android 2.1 UI. Check Tmonews.com for more pics and vids.

Update:

Those bastards at Engadget have gotten their mitts on their very own Nexus phone! They also have a pretty nice video of it in action. It looks super fast, and full of interesting little UI tweeks that we havent seen before on an Android device like interactive wallpapers and a separate applications screen. A drawback in my opinion is the same old dusty keyboard (can’t they just use the one from HTC’s Sense UI???) Also saw a microphone on the keyboard…dictation abilities anyone? You can check it all out for yourself here

Behold II Review

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Hey Yall,

so I got my hands on the Behold II for T mobile and am presently testing it out. The review will come soon enough…sorry kinda got lazy over the weekend! But never fear, I have some shots below to wet the appetite (as if you haven’t already seen pics and vids already). I will leave you with this. It feels really nice, and for those who are hating on it…chances are, they either a) didn’t have the phone for very long, or b) didn’t really have the phone at all and are copying off of what others are saying. The phone really flies in some areas like picture taking and speaker phone quality, and are mediocre in other areas such as battery life (which can be assuaged by some tinkering). The full review coming up!

Update:

Check out the video Review right here:

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ATT Tilt 2 (HTC Touch Pro2) Review

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Hey guys,

so lets just get down to business here. If you are a guy (or gall) who is busy, and needs to stay connected business-wise as well as socially we would definitely say this phone is for you. Its not the perfect phone, but it will definitely suit your needs. So lets get to it!

Hardware:

We like the way it feels in hand. Its sturdy enough to be launched as a projectile while staying true enough to the course to hit its target. However, since it’ll run you over 300 smackers on a 2 year contract, we doubt you would let it leave your person that easily, but we’re just sayin’. Anyway, the highly glossy resistive screen is much nicer in person than in picture. It’s also a lot more responsive than you would think. We’re suckers for capacitive screens, but we’d make the switch with all this phone has to offer. The silver lining is something that AT&T hasn’t x-nayed from its version of the Touch Pro2 and we like it. It ads a certain amount of class and sex appeal that the modern man should have. Definitely turns heads in the board-room or at the coffee shop. In a perfect world it would be a little thinner, but we will survive.

Its running a 528Mghz processor which is definitely noticeable. There is barely any lag in normal tasks. We had lots of different programs running at the same time, and things still seemed nice and zippy fast. The 3.6 inch screen is great and loading internet pages is great. I also love the zoom bar at the bottom. True, you probably won’t use it all that often, but the option is there…and that’s what we really want isn’t it?Also the tilt feature, though nice…is a bit over-rated. After having it for a little while, the mechanism is still sturdy, but a little looser than it was out of the box. Its great for avoiding glare but not too much else in our opinion.

Keyboard:

Everything you’ve heard about the keyboard is true. We really can’t think of a hard keyboard on any other phone that beats the one on the TP2. It’s as close to perfect as we can tell. Little touches like the lighting for the Alt Keys and the extra spacing set this keyboard ahead of the pack.

Software:

It’s Windows 6.5, but you don’t have to know if you don’t want to. That’s the beauty of HTC’s Touch Flo 3D with “Sense.” Now we all know that Window’s mobile platform isn’t exactly easy on the eyes, and HTC fills in the gap almost flawlessly. In the video you will see how snappy the skin is, as well as beautiful. It makes normal tasks that much more interesting. You scroll through the main nav-bar with a swipe of the finger or stylus and which takes you to the main areas of interest such as stocks, contacts, weather, and internet. All and all, we’d say its HTC’s best performance yet.

Overall:

The overall consensus is not surprising. Its a well-rounded and extremely functional phone. The little things such as speakerphone by turning the phone on its face, and the zoom bar are what really sets this phone apart from other smart phones. It makes the experience that much better, and we applaud you HTC. Again, it could be slimmer,(Droid anyone?) but we’ll definitely take it as is. Check out the video for more tid-bits and a view of the phone in action. Special shout out to Joel for the vid

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