Things I didn’t like about WM6: 1. You must upgrade at least to Outlook 2002 to be able to sync with your PC 2. Fewer button mapping is available, only 5 verses 12 for WM5 with the Samsung i-730. This makes it less one-handed friendly 3. They didn’t bother fixing the forced reset when you swap the battery, over WM5. What is the advantage here?

Hardware drawbacks: 1. Power plug gets in the way if you use the keyboard 2. Hands-free is a non-standard connector 3. No included hands free, holster, extra battery

Application drawbacks: 1. Camera takes about 5 seconds to take a photo, after you press the button 2. GPS didn’t work when I needed it; isn’t ready out of the box 3. Can no longer “recognize” handwriting in Notes (convert to text)

I am appreciating my old i-730 much more now. And I don’t see anything that is really worth buying right now…all have their shortcomings…

3.5 mm doesn’t sound like much until you math it — it’s around 20% less. The extra weight didn’t bother me at all, actually. I expect 3G phones laden up with features like 3G, 3MP camera, GPS, wifi, etc to be thicker, but there is a limit to what I’ll gladly put in my pocket. Driving while trying to get the tilt out as it rings = bad.

Most of that is for the sliding mechanism, not the tilt. The new Touch Cruise for example has no sliding keyboard, but is a similar dimension, but only 3.5 mm thinner. The penalty for the sliding keyboard and Tilt is therefore only 3.5 mm and 60 grams weight.

The Tilt is actually 3 mm thinner than the Tytn, its predecessor, which has a sliding keyboard but no Tilt mechanism. The Cruise, Tilt and Tytn have the same size 1350 battery BTW. And the Cruise has the exact same processor speed, and other features like WIFI and GPS.

I think the main sacrifice associated with the tilt feature is weight, as I assume there is plenty of metal in there to keep the structure sturdy. I dont think the dimensions suffered appreciably.

Surur

I think that the Tilt makes a lot of sacrifices to engineer that tilting functionality — slow processor, mediocre battery life, and thick form factor. It’s almost too big. Still usable, of course, but it looks awkward in a pocket. When you double the surface area and hinges, you add bulk, you have to engineer a safe connecting mechanism, the little ribbon thingy, etc. They still pack a lot of stuff in — wifi, gps, etc, but they still made some big sacrifices.

At any rate, that’s why I think candybar / brick is the way. I’ll probably see if I can finagle an LG KS20 out of Septimus for a fairer iPhone / WM comparison in the future.

When plugged in to my laptop to tether, the HTC Home screen makes a good desktop clock, and you can see your push e-mail arrive as it arrives.

Secondly, when you sync photos (same way you sync music) you can use it as a nice digital photo frame.

Also, text entry is slightly easier with the screen tilted (but not too far, as it encroaches on the keyboard them).

Finally, it works well as a built-in stand when watching video for example.

Anyway, I find the Tilt feature desirable and useful.

Surur

I think sliders are kind of a gimmicky form factor. I tended to use it vertically without sliding, just did the sideways for the emails. I’m convinced that brick / candybar is the way.

With the tilt and slide stuff, I can’t help but think that maybe the device would have better battery life or thinner profile if they didn’t have to do the extra engineering. ditto with styluses. ditto with the duplication of keys all over on the tilt.

I viewed this review more as a review of windows mobile than I did of the tilt specifically, though. I think that’s really the point of the smartphone round robin — to check out the other platforms and report on that; we’re just doing it through the lens of what’s hopefully that platform’s latest and greatest. With the possible exception of the Treo 680. :rolleyes:

So any gripes I have about the Tilt’s form factor should be taken with a grain of salt — there are other windows mobile phones out there with better form factors. It’s not WM’s fault that I think that sliders are a gimmick doomed to the rubbish bin of time.

How does that fit in, lol?

Long live unlocked devices.