All Articles in SPE Round Robin

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

TreoCentral’s Jennifer has our iPhone 3G this week. She gave away her original iPhone 2G to her mom and got herself an iPod Touch, but the lure of the 3G actually encouraged her to get herself a brand new iPhone this year. How does this year’s only full touch Round Robin smartphone stack up for the lady who’s used to touch and a front facing Qwerty?

Check out her video and be sure to leave a comment in her TreoCentral thread for a chance to win a Palm Treo Pro as well! You can also comment on this very post, and in Jennifer’s thread on the iPhone 3G in TiPb’s own forums, or on my thread over on CrackBerry.com for even more chances to win.

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

Our Public Frenemy Number One continues his assault on the iPhone blog! Not only did Kevin post his video preview of the iPhone 3G, spend time on our forums learning what abuse really is, and even joined in for our iPhone Live! Podcast, he’s gone and done a near epic 7500 word iPhone 3G full, final review.

Fanboy much?

But what did he think of it? Did the man with two-tic-tactile thumbs-of-fury learn how to type on glass? Did he master the Super Monkey Ball? Did he get lost browsing “just the internet”? And did he finally, fully restore his childlike sense of wonder, something years of BlackBerrius Pusheruptus all but productivity’d out of him?

Check out his review to find out (hint: he calls it the Ah Frak Phone!), post a Crackberry.com comment for a chance to win the BlackBerry Bold, and post your thoughts on Kevin’s thoughts right here for a chance to win an iPhone 3G.

What? You want MORE chances to win? Head on over to the Crackberry.com forums to help me out with the Bold (the touchscreen isn’t working!) and then hit TiPb’s iPhone forums to give TreoCentral’s Jennifer a hand — she’s got the iPhone 3G this week!

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

So the WinManiacs kicked my butt a bit over the HTC FUZE review. David Pogue was wrong, neither Apple Nuts nor BlackBerry nuts hold a candle to WinMo users scorn. However, I’d counter by saying they were so busy being indignant, they didn’t really stop to consider the point of the round robin, or the points raised in the preview or final review. In other words, coming from where we’re coming from, iPhone users approaching other devices, we were right, and the enraged WinManiacs… well… read on after the break!

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[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

I thought my review last week for the Palm Treo Pro would be my toughest, little did I suspect Dieter would double up on my HTC and Windows Mobile experience (actually, triple up on HTC as I had the Android G1 for the first review). That’s a LOT of Windows Mobile, especially for someone who abandoned the platform a long time ago, first for Palm OS, and now for the iPhone.

Reviewing the same OS two weeks in a row is a challenge. I originally focused on the PIM apps last week, including calendar, tasks, and notes, and through in email and web for good measure. This week I planned on focusing more on Windows Mobile from a media and “under the hood” perspective. However, something changed that: TouchFlo 3D. Turns out, not only was the FUZE’s slider keyboard a big old hardware differentiator, their “skin” running on top of Windows Mobile was a fairly compelling software differentiator as well. So, instead of doing a poor job rehashing tech-specs that any writer over at WMExperts could run circles around, I’m going to go with the TouchFlo.

Just remember: I’m not coming at this device from a neutral point of view. That’s not my job here. My job is to give you an iPhone user’s opinion. So, consider me bias, a n00b, an iFanboy, a complete idiot, but consider this as well: my final, full review… after the break!

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[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

The iPhone 3G drives Crackberry Kevin nuts, no doubt about it. Sure, he likes a few aspects of it, including the inimitable App Store, but the push buzz when he’s talking, the lack of a back (button, that is), and a million other things add up to make him officially re-dub the device the Ah-[Redacted] phone.

While WMExpert Dieter kept hammering away about the openess of the platform, Crackberry Kevin focuses more on BlackBerry-type productivity. But that’s the beauty of the Round Robin — we get so many looks at so many different devices/platforms from so many different points of view.

Coming from a turbo tactile typing, push email addiction like the BlackBerry Bold, does Kevin have some legitimate gripes? Or is this just a case of post-Storm-FAIL sour grapes?

Confession: many of the things he picks on, we’ve complained about numerous times on TiPb already. But we’re allowed to offer constructive criticism about our beloved device. Can CrackBerry get away with it?

NOT. Head on over to CrackBerry.com and let him know what you think before El Jobso himself decides to call Public Frenemy #1 up and give him a little Apple-powered “Skidoosh!” You could even win a BlackBerry Bold for your trouble!

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

My time with the FUZE is just about over, my review almost finished, and with it both HTC and Windows Mobile will leave me, a little poorer, a lot less frustrated.

I’ve read the comments on my video preview. WinMo users think I’m a “moran”. Fair enough. But I’m supposed to be looking at these devices from an iPhone users point of view, and that means the usability bar is set almost as high as the configurability bar is low. WMExperts will give you every little tweak, CrackBerry, TreoCentral, and AndroidCentral will give you the keyboard comparisons, TiPb is focusing on the touch experience and the overall user experience out of the box (since that’s all you get with a non-Jailbroken iPhone!)

But here’s the thing: TiPb’s main purpose is to service you, our readers. So what if any questions you might you have about the FUZE. What would you like to see better explored? Compared more directly with the iPhone?

Let me know in the comments and you’ll also get another chance to win our iPhone 3G prize pack.

(And remember to head on over to our sibling sites for more chances to win a Blackberry Bold, Palm Treo Pro, WinMo HTC FUZE, and Android G1!)

Note: Some people are having trouble seeing the video (comes back as unavailable). It’s working fine for me, but if it’s not for you, please let me know in the comments, and please try this direct YouTube Video link.

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! More below!]

Did I need to review two HTC Windows Mobile devices in a row? Would it have been better to have the G1 or Bold in between, or would I then have back-to-back front-facing Qwerty or Slider bloat? I don’t know. Last week’s Palm Treo Pro and this week’s HTC FUZE are differentiated not only by form factor, but with the FUZE’s addition of Touch Flo 3D (which, during the video shoot, I came to lovingly re-brand “Press Really Hard Stammer 2D”).

Fair enough, coming from an iPhone I challenge any non-Apple device’s ability to deliver the same experience. They can’t. But that’s the point of the Round Robin: for each editor to look at every other device from their own smartphone’s point of view.

Will the humungous slide-out keyboard be enough joy to cancel out the Touch Flo blues? I don’t know yet; we’ll find out together in my final, full review later this week.

Meanwhile, check out the video above, and if I’m wrong, mean, or just stupid, let me have it in the comments, or — better yet — head on over to the WMExperts Forums and help me see the error of my ways.

Likewise, Crackberry Kevin is suffering without his keyboard and trackball, so be sure to give him all the assistance you can before he he comes gunning for our iPhone in his own video!

Doing so, of course, gives you a chance to win the iPhone 3G and HTC FUZE… and a ton of other cool smartphones and accessories. Prize details after the jump…

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[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

CrackBerry Kevin is a productivity machine, no doubt about it. When he’s not literally typing the plastic off his BlackBerry Bold keyboard, he’s simultaneously answering 87 emails, browsing 64 websites, exchanging half-a-nation worth of PIN messages, and running his trackball in 9 directions with both feet!

Well, this week our best frenemy has to put his addictive little messaging monster aside and immersed himself in a smartphone about as different as a smartphone can be: The iPhone 3G.

We here at TiPb know it might take Kevin a while to break out of his BlackBerry bonds and slip into some next generation iPhone duds, and he knows it too — he’s asking for your help in our forums!

Remember, each day you reply to his questions, you get another chance to win an iPhone 3G and accessories!

(And if by chance you want to win an HTC FUZE, or an Android G1, Palm Treo Pro, or BlackBerry Bold, be sure to hit up every Smartphone Expert site!)

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

Our video preview is done, our final review is posted, but you had Palm Treo Pro questions and so we’ll try to provide some answers… After the break…

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[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

The iPhone 3G doesn’t have a task manager. It doesn’t have a registry. It doesn’t have a sliding keyboard. It doesn’t have a start menu. It doesn’t have Pocket IE. And most egregiously of all — it doesn’t have a stylus!

Will that be the feature that breaks our Editor-in-Chief’s Windows Mobile back? Or will the ultra-modern OS and buttery smooth UI restore his childlike sense of wonder? Head on over to WMExperts to read his ultimate opinion, and — if he deserves it — give him a bag of hurt, TiPb style!

Be sure to comment both here and on Dieter’s review — on all of our sites — so you can try to win as many smartphones and accessory bundles as possible!

What’s next? Crackberry Kevin gets my beloved iPhone this week! Will he even know how to type on a touchscreen? (No Storm jokes!). He’s asking for your assistance in TiPb’s iPhone Forum, so you get another chance to win over in his thread. And I’m off to WMExperts for the (gulp!) HTC FUZE. Help me!