Database Users

XDA III (3)

now that I've had the XDA II for a week...
what/when will the XDA III come out?
I'm pretty sure it will have:
1. faster CPU
2. more memory
3. WiFi
4. better screen (probably VGA resolution)
I hope it also have:
1.. GPS
2. WiFi
3. longer / bigger / optional battery
4. better camera
5. better software e.g. camera, pic id, ie, backup, ...
6. usable as a wireless in-house phone via bluetooth
What else do you guys expect?

Ummm,,, I think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself. It isnt even out yey (XDAII) in most parts of the world. I mean, you might as well ask when is the XDAIV or XDAV coming out? Im sure all of your speculations will be addressed in some time to come.....

not to mention that iPaq is planning to release a whole new ppc rumored to be with even more capabilities than the xda2. heard about it while attending a techie conference in hong kong...they're planning to use the iPaq 5550 (the one with bluetooth, fingerprint bio-thingee, etc) as the base model. from there they're going to add a high res camera, phone edition, possibly gps, etc. so it may give xda a run for it's money as they try to overtake one another in terms of capabilities. that's the sad part about releasing your product ahead of the pack; it becomes the basis for releasing an improved product by reverse engineering. in any case, it'll be most interesting to see how the next generation ppcs will look like and how they will perform.
2 cents worth..
robson

I heard it's based on the 4xxx form factor (aka no more sleeves..ever).
And it will only have 64 MB of RAM.
Haha yeah right, the MDA II was rumored at one point to only have 64 MB of RAM, but it didn't come out with that. Gotta keep in mind, stuff is only rumors. Don't keep waiting around for that perfect device.
I'm happy with my XDA II for now, and if the H6000 comes out six months from now and is way better, well, then I got 6 months good use out of my XDA II, and I can decide then if I want to upgrade.
Those people saying "I'll hold off on the XDA II and wait for the H6000 cause I've heard it's so good, etc. etc." seem silly to me, because when the H6000 comes out, something else bigger (or smaller in the PDA world, lol) and better will be rumoredm and they'll be saying "I'll hold off on the H6000 and wait for the ______ because it's so good, etc. etc."
-arebelspy

if you think about for how long from the xda were released to the xda2 got here i say it's pretty hard to say what it will offer
it's hard to predict more so about the furture
maybe it'll have
wireless glasses / eye pad screen
maybe it'll have ESP interface
maybe it'll connect directly to satelites
maybe it'll give you a brain turmor after a few hours use

Maybe you can add "TV Tuner" and "CF Slot" in your list...

I reckon it will be 3g compatible.

3G, CF, TV
TV/FM tuner will be nice. Samsung already came out with something
like this in the far east, I think.
I'd guess the XDA III "information" will be here in 9-10 months,
and by then a CF card will be useless, especialyl if we get WiFi+GPS
builtin and standard 1Gb SD cards.
If you guys think that HTC engineers aren't already working on
the XDA III, you're very wrong.
I think 3G is unlikely to show up on a global form anytime soon.
Adding WiFi and/or GPS receiver to already GSM/Bluetooth signals
is going to be hard enough, electorically (shielding), so 3G might
be 2-3 years away.
Hopefully, with WM2004, we'll have more than 32 processes and
better overall device management. Right now, I'm forced to
soft-reset every 2-3 days, and I don't like that.

Man, I soft reset every few hours. What's the big deal? It boots up as fast as it would load a webpage, so the wait isn't that bad.
Why do people complain about soft resetting? I just like that I get to choose when to soft reset (i.e. after saving all work, closing all apps, etc.), rather than it locking up and forcing a soft reset. The XDA II is a stable device, to be sure.
-arebelspy

Rudegar said:
maybe it'll have
wireless glasses / eye pad screen
maybe it'll have ESP interface
maybe it'll connect directly to satelites
maybe it'll give you a brain turmor after a few hours use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
seriously -> LOL
btw...i think i already have a brain tumor, right above my right ear :shock:

regarding soft reset
he he. Maybe I should soft-reset every now and then.
My problem is, I've had ie+multie+battery2004 create some lockup
that soft-reset didn't really cleanup.
I suspect I pressed the mult-ie func-menu while a page was loading
and something more was going on... anyway:
I had to Hard-reset.
I restored my xBackup from my SD (night before, device was soft
reset and no active apps while running)
and guess what, after the restore the device won't reboot.
tried it twice. had to go back to activesync backup... yak.
I've had multiple times where I had to soft-reset while an app was
active, but the menu has gone "dead"... I turn the device off,
then press reset, as if "when it is sleepy" a soft reset is "safer".
I'm pretty sure this is just vodoo... but it works for me.
Now everytime I soft-reset I wonder if I ever going to see it reload...

Hi mgolanlan!
It's some off-thing, but can you write a key for MultiIE3 to me?
I'd be so happy
Thanks!

mgolanlan
well since a 3g phone works on the current gsm networks aswell
same thing with edge i dont find it all that unlikely that xda3 may support some of these new tech's
guess in many ways it also depend on ms's view on edge and 3g and video phone issues
btw...i think i already have a brain tumor, right above my right ear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hhmmm are you sure that you just dident forget to take off your bluetooth ear piece ? sleeping with it on may cause an uncomfortable ache

All the above and
It will have a find OBL/Saddam/hackers button
Make world peace
be 2mm thick
only occasionally crash when making a phone call, or syncing to outlook.
:roll:

It will of course be much smaller, 1"x1", but compensate this with a (foldable) 15" display :wink:

my exp show that things which fold end up as
1 worn out so it'll not stay in any pos
2 the plastic breaks (happent 2 times with crap acer laptops for me)
so it's better to project the image then fold it out

VGA screen ?
WM2003 specs say 240x320. No more, no less !
Maybe next version of OS will allow other rezs, but for now it will remain 240x320.

so what ?
xda1 came with 2002
xda2 came with 2003
xda2 will come with XXXX???

kitarolivier said:
VGA screen ?
WM2003 specs say 240x320. No more, no less !
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. it is official that wm2004 will support higher resolutions
2. 3rd party software already does, for PDFs, IE etc
3. a Toshiba pocketPC already avail with VGA res,
and it is typically run the 4-pixel-is-one thing, but has
exceptions for some software (pictures?!)
VGA-resolution ppc-size screen is already here!

I personally will not be happy until my PDA is a tiny, rounded stainless steel implant with a small cable that inductively couples to my optic nerves, a pickup coil for the charger mat that is under my bed-sheets, another tiny cable to hook to my inner ears for mike and earpiece, and some pickup electrodes to be fitted near certain regions in the brain.
Man, I can just see myself sitting there, enjoying the 4800x2400 stereo overlayed display, simply thinking my E-mails. And of course the device would use the same inductive optic-nerve pickup as a camera, and it would have enough processing power to replace people and objects I do not like in real-time, add nice works of art on otherwise boring surfaces, and add up all visual information about certain people until they can be renedered without their clothes on. Just think of the money saved on home decoration and travel.

Serious Post! Should i keep my JasJar or Sell it ?!?!

Okay guys, this is serious. I'm impressed by my JasJar but i'm not sure it does anything more that i actually need it for than my Imate Jam. As far as I can see there are some good points and some bad points about it and i wouldn't mind some opinons about whether its worth keeping or selling.
Okay my first view on the plus sides:
Screen is excellent quality
Wifi is very fast and much faster than the wifi sd card i have at the moment.
Keyboard is useful combined (but not as big as the fold out one i have for my imate)
Negative Sides:
3g doesn't seem to work in my area so i can't seem to benefit from that
Size is big (i would need a second phone to go out with etc)
Can't see much difference in speed with my level of usage
Pain in the ass to anwser it (imate jam is not a big phone at all)
Software is still a bugger to install etc.
Okay, my mine uses for the jasjar were to be for work. I would be booking appts and keeping track of those appointments and information regarding them on the pda for my work. Although harder to type in, i could in theroy do that on the imate jam. I don't use the wifi alot outside of the home (although it would be useful to use mirc, the web etc while girlfriend is on the pc).
At the moment i'm umming and ahhing because i have to take the phone with me everywhere (actually considering using the jasjar sim free while i'm off work and putting the imate jam back on the road as it were)
REALLY appreciate anyones help to this, its good but i'm not sure if its enough of a step for me to merit not selling it and getting ALOT of money for it (brought as upgrade through o2)
Look forward to the replys
Ian

I'm gonna tell you what I tell other people:
If you don't know what to do with a jasjar then buy the wizard.
The wizard size is as good as big as the jam, has wifi, keyboard and is in those ways much better then the jam.
The reason I need the pro is because I love the vga screen, keyboard and WM5, and I can give support to my customers through logmein.com using 3G.
So sell your jasjar and jam and go buy a wizard.

thanks for the quick response. I'm not sure that I would want a wizard really. I do think that I need to use the exec in a work situation before really considering getting rid of it.
That logmein.com looks rather cool, would like to be able to control my home pc while at work to setup downloads etc. the screen on this is rather special and i'm not against getting a second handset to use for going out etc.
would like to hear anyone elses views if possible.
just to point out to you and myself really i'm lying in bed writing this on the forum with real ease via wifi. hmmmmm another pro to the exec I think!
Ian

thanks for the quick response. I'm not sure that I would want a wizard really. I do think that I need to use the exec in a work situation before really considering getting rid of it.
That logmein.com looks rather cool, would like to be able to control my home pc while at work to setup downloads etc. the screen on this is rather special and i'm not against getting a second handset to use for going out etc.
would like to hear anyone elses views if possible.
just to point out to you and myself really i'm lying in bed writing this on the forum with real ease via wifi. hmmmmm another pro to the exec I think!
Ian

I've tried both, and apologies for readers of this forum, but the Wizard wins hands down. The Universal reminds me of why I ditched the first Ipaqs and went back to Palm years ago. Sure the Pocket PCs had better displays and you could show off playing movie clips, but that novelty soon waned when it was too big to carry and it took ages to lookup a phone number or check your diary.
You've got to weigh up what you _really_ need when you're away from your PC. The whole point to me of having a PDA is that I can access or update my information quickly at all times. The Ipaq seemd to be always at home or in my desk drawer just when I needed it, because it was a pain to carry. Even when I had it, it was sluggish finding the information I needed. The Palms won over because they went with me everywhere, and information retrieval was almost instant.
So, the Universal is a step back to the bad old days - except it's bigger and heavier. Good to show off with but impractical in most situations outside of the work environment because of its bulk.
Don't be fooled by the CPU either. Whatever advantage the Universal has on paper over the Wizard is sapped in real life by the need to update the VGA display. True, the Wizard is no speed merchant (even when compared to a Treo). But I found responsiveness to critical tasks (e.g. starting up Messaging to read/send a text, screen rotation, answering calls) significantly slower on the Universal - and that _really_ starts to annoy when you're in a rush.
So, everything I did with the Universal I can pretty much do on the Wizard, with the big difference that I can take it anywhere. Anyhing else can wait until I'm back at my PC. What's more, I can actually see who's calling and answer a phone call before it drops or diverts to voicemail
And don't forget the resale value. Given the trend of HTC Wizard / Prophet / Atom devices, the longer you hold onto the huge Universal the less saleable it's going to be. Sure, it fills a niche at the moment, but in 12 month's time, is a 1st generation device that big going to have anything but collectors' appeal?
So, unless you only use the Universal in the home and office, the larger keyboard and VGA display are"must haves", and you don't mind missing the odd phone call, then I would say the Wizard was the better bet.
If you really need a VGA display, a keyboard, and top performance, go for a proper PDA like the Dell X51v, a bluetooth keyboard and a seperate cellphone - it'll probably be cheaper, more flexible and easier to carry. And each element will work much better at what it is designed to do.

@Ineedtoys, what a refreshing and objective view on the subject. Having owned a Treo 650 and Clie TH55 I know what you're talking about. In the real world stability, size of device and battery life are still the key requirements and showing your latest toy to friends/work colleagues etc is nice but for most people is not a sufficient reason for buying a device. You either buy a device to meet a personal requirement or buy a device so that you can play with it "like a toy". Decide if you want a real tool or a "toy" first and then you'll be happy with your decision.
My view is that the Universal is not really a cell phone, it is an advanced PDA/mini tablet and you need to use it with another cell phone. The story for the Wizard may be different.

At first I always open the screen and rotated it to see who is calling me, and pick up the phone. Just like my old xda has it's screen outside.
But this take way to long, and most of the time the caller hung up before it was ready to rotate the screen and is able to pick up the call..
Now I just open the lid to see who it is. then close it again and pick up with the side green phone button leaving the pro closed.
If you use it this way i'ts perfect.
At first I had to get used of the size but now I am used to it.
People sometimes think: what the hell is that big thing?
But when I op the "laptop" and rotate it's screen and show the phone it's the coolest thing they've seen .

very interesting reading
Ihave a Universal (o2) for a week now, and am SERIOUSLY thinking of returning it for something else,
I like the Mini s (Wizard) too, but one subject that I believe is left aside is the battery life : with the Universal that I have tested for over a week if I did use the Wifi like 2 hours and a bit of BT and phone, then its battery would be gone by 5pm (starting at 9am !) quite a shame.
My point is : do these devices need to be pluged to the AC anytime we want to use to use the connexions, in that case I can stick with my laptop if need to be wired.
Or is it ony the Universal that is amazingly sucking the battery like no other ?
I appreciate your help as I have to decide if I send it back before friday ! ;-)

Re: very interesting reading
I presume you tried turning the screen brightness and WiFi power right down, and IR beaming off? The Wizard will definately give you longer as it doesn't have the battery sucking screen and has the low power OMAP processor.

The battery life in the Universal seems to get conditioned after a couple of weeks and does improve, but you don't have enough time to wait for that!

already better after 8 days
in fact I have noticed that it is getting better after a week (the battery),
but it's only because I now used the wifi only when I know I have a power nearby and I disable all connexion when I have it in my pocket, same for the brightness etc...
still.. the second point to change it is definately the size : I already have a tablet-pc to play with, so that will do it for now.
Back soon on this forum with the Wizard. :lol:

ill take your universal for my wizard

Orange spv m5000 - my impressions

Total arse!!!!
why....
size - way too big as a phone or pda - great as a sub notebook though!
signal strength - crap! 1 bar where my v 600 motorola had 4 barsand my m2000 had 4! (all on orange)
cannot play movies smoothly at 640x320
ate all of my data allowance in 1 evening - dunno why - it was just in my coat pocket!
however,
lovely screen - really really great!
thats about all the good stuff!
its going back! i wish orange did the m3000 over here!!!!!
please feel free to flame me or agree!

Agree in parts, but no in others.
The films problem could be due to your program, or the compression methodology.
The gripes I have are mainly about usability. Why are the SD card and power button on the BOTTOM of the unit??? just weird. Also why can't we easily map different buttons, why does virtually eveything have to be a registry hack??

ORANGE WE NED AN UPDATE
I sort of agree. I had a m1000 and had it upgraded to m5000 and It could be better.
I had the memory issue too. My wifes fault though she decided to accidently record a 25 minute phone call. SO CHECK FOR LARGE RECORDED FILES.
The long delayed ringing issue and 2 second silence on answer is a joke. Spoke to Orange on this explaining that it was a common issue on everyones m5000 they were puzzled.
Also Bluetooth tools what happened! What a let down.
****ORANGE WE NEED A ROM UPDATE DOES ANYONE HAVE A DATE IF THERE IS ONE****

I dont really understand why you posted this. Everyone on this board already has an HTC Universal (or very close to everyone). Since the device has been out for months now, any of us who wanted to take the device back already have. So the people you are giving these "first impressions" to already have the device and what you are saying here is nothing new to anyone. (Although I disagree with all of your points.)
size - way too big as a phone or pda - great as a sub notebook though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Surely you saw the size of the phone before you bought it? I personally quite like the size, and wouldnt have minded a slightly bigger version with a bigger screen. You also need to realise that the size of a device is *not* independant of its features. The device has a 520mhz cpu, VGA screen, bluetooth, wifi, phone, 3G(WCDMA), decent full keyboard, camera, flashlight, stereo speakers, microphones, 2nd camera for voice calls, fairly heavy battery to run all of this, IRDA, etc etc. With our current technology, the Universal is the absolute smallest you can get all these features in. There is simply no way they could make the device significantly smaller without dropping features.
Given all this, the phone obviously was not designed for some people, for example, 15 year old girls. This should have come as no suprise to you, since you must have either looked at the phone before you bought it, or looked on the internet to see the size of the phone. Yes?
signal strength - crap! 1 bar where my v 600 motorola had 4 barsand my m2000 had 4! (all on orange)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect signal strength here, my bars are always maxxed out. You may have very bad 3G/UTMS/WCDMA coverage in the area where you live. Go into phone options, go to the band tab, and change it from AUTO to GSM. This may help your signal.
cannot play movies smoothly at 640x320
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using the latest TCPMP player?
If you are, Click Options->Video->Video Driver, and choose either Intel XScale or Raw Framebuffer.
640x320 movies should play very smoothly then.
ate all of my data allowance in 1 evening - dunno why - it was just in my coat pocket!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, this can only be user error. Ive been using the device for awhile now, and it only ever uses bandwidth when I set it to use bandwidth. If you only have a 5mb or so allowance, opening up a very graphic heavy page could use as much as 5mb. I'd recommend turning off images or using a service which downsamples images to make them smaller to download. You could also use something like this: http://www.google.com/gwt/n

m5000
You are right in most of what you say other manufactures i.e O2 etc. have brought out radio upgades that appear to sort out signal errors etc. However Orange have not brought out an update we are still on radio 1.3. So i'm sure returning them wont make any difference. Other people have had many problems using updates from other network providers. We just want something simple that works. Surely that's not too much to ask.
Other that I quite like the handset and the size to me isn't a bother.

Sold my Qtek 9100 today... and am happy about it

After owning it for 5 month, I got rid of my Qtek 9100, it turned out a piece of junk..
First the Mail and Internet Explorer keys peeled off, then the gray paint on the sides peeled off, then the keyboard became loose, then the stylus began to fell off by itself...
I don't know what my next PPC will be, I am looking into something more rigid now.

naughty said:
I got rid of my Qtek 9100, it turned out a piece of junk..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blasphemy...... and in a wizard forum!
I know what you mean though - maybe a prophet will do you, some times i think i would have preferred a prophet being slimmer more rigid and 2mp camera. But today when writing a long text. i know why i like the wizard - the keyboard

naughty said:
After owning it for 5 month, I got rid of my Qtek 9100, it turned out a piece of junk..
First the Mail and Internet Explorer keys peeled off, then the gray paint on the sides peeled off, then the keyboard became loose, then the stylus began to fell off by itself...
I don't know what my next PPC will be, I am looking into something more rigid now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrighty - Dont let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Exactly what did you hope to achieve by coming here and posting? Were you hoping to justify your decision to yourself.

Bratag said:
naughty said:
After owning it for 5 month, I got rid of my Qtek 9100, it turned out a piece of junk..
First the Mail and Internet Explorer keys peeled off, then the gray paint on the sides peeled off, then the keyboard became loose, then the stylus began to fell off by itself...
I don't know what my next PPC will be, I am looking into something more rigid now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrighty - Dont let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Exactly what did you hope to achieve by coming here and posting? Were you hoping to justify your decision to yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just wanted to share my disappointment. I will talk to you after you own the Wizard for 5 months, PM me then with feedback.

Well I've had mine for 6 now, and here's my experiences...
- it's slower than expected ( yes, I could overclock, but really.. I don't want it faster that badly )
- the paint peeled off the IE/Mail/Soft key buttons.. ah well, big deal - the mail button goes to the start menu and the IE button clicks on the app close button, so the icons don't match my functions anyway.
- no paint peeled off the sides yet
- no loose stylus yet (I tend to collapse it before inserting it - maybe that reduces stress on the part that breaks off?)
All in all, I'm quite happy with it. Sure, I would've liked it faster, and maybe 640x480 would've been nice (and built-in GPS, FM radio, a 3.5mm headphones plug, better volume on hands-free (oddly, an episode of stargate I put on there plays quite loudly - so it should be possible.. haven't tried those reghacks yet), maybe a scroll wheel, and a 2-3MP decent camera would've been plusses)... but here's the thing... None of the devices out there that fit that bill (to greater or lesser extent) appeal to me. They're either even bulkier and less practical to me (e.g. Universal) or their button layout irks me (Magician, and upcoming 'Wizard replacement' Hermes), etc. Form-factor wise, the Wizard suits me best, and that's why I got it - the slightly slower performance (I noticed it in the store) wasn't so much an issue for me.. I'm not using it to play the latest 3D game.

I have had my QTEK 9100 since January and I have to say that it is the best phone I have ever owned. Of course it is my first Pocket PC so that doesn’t give me much to compare to. It does have some small issues but overall, I am glad I bought it. I am also experiencing the stylus fallout issue but plan to try the suggestion offered in another thread once I receive my replacement stylus next week. No issues yet with the paint but that is not important to me because I have reprogrammed most of the buttons to perform another function anyway. I also find it a pain to have to hard reset when upgrading the ROM or sometimes the device just starts acting weird (like windows 9x) so I just reformat it. Long process but it works. I would have to say that this device is not friendly enough yet for the average consumer but this forum has been a great help with resolving issues and offering tips. I think I would have gone nuts if it weren’t for this forum! The QTEK website is useless for help or ROM updates so I will likely not get another QTEK but will consider the same model from another manufacturer.

keitht said:
The QTEK website is useless for help or ROM updates so I will likely not get another QTEK but will consider the same model from another manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just updated to last ROM using Qtek website, all what you have to do is registering your IMEI in their site, and then you can download any new ROM for free with instructions how to do it, plus there is area fo registered users where you can download Tonerings, games, appz etc... for free. Just wanted to defend Qtek Site and clearing this misunderstanding.

naughty said:
After owning it for 5 month, I got rid of my Qtek 9100, it turned out a piece of junk..
First the Mail and Internet Explorer keys peeled off, then the gray paint on the sides peeled off, then the keyboard became loose, then the stylus began to fell off by itself...
I don't know what my next PPC will be, I am looking into something more rigid now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I had the same paint problem with Himalaya device (qtek2020). I suppose this is due to wet hands I also have the same problem with my notebook ASUS M2Ne. But the problem is solved by annual ordering of the case for notebook and I suppose you can order cases for your handhelds too.
As for now, I don't have any problems as you did with wizard. I will try to be careful with mentioned areas

Thomas1234 said:
keitht said:
The QTEK website is useless for help or ROM updates so I will likely not get another QTEK but will consider the same model from another manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just updated to last ROM using Qtek website, all what you have to do is registering your IMEI in their site, and then you can download any new ROM for free with instructions how to do it, plus there is area fo registered users where you can download Tonerings, games, appz etc... for free. Just wanted to defend Qtek Site and clearing this misunderstanding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish it was that easy... tried that and they claim my number is not valid and that I need to contact the vendor where I purchased for updates... well that vendor is EBAY so I am SOL on that. So I rely on this site for my updates.

@keitht :
I guess that the person - who sold this to you - registered the IMEI already therfore you have to know his Username and Password to login, or tell him to delete the IMEI from his account, then you can register your imei for your account.
I don't know if you can reach the seller anyway, but I think this is what happened and this what can be done to solve this problem.
BTW I am happy with the Wizard, but this is only my 3rd day using it , that means this thread doesn't count me.

with regards to the paint peeling off... no, that's not normal, really. If you want these things to last, then you don't use decals (cheap keyboards use these... you'll see the letters 'chip' off) or paint (slightly more expensive keyboards.. the letters will fade) - you use cut-outs or impregnation. On the Wizard, for example, check the green/red phone buttons (when they're not backlit). Those will never fade or chip, as they're cut-outs.
Note that they could have used cut-outs for the other buttons as well, but cut-outs are slightly more expensive, and it would be even more expensive once you factor in branding (e.g. T-Mobile would need a whole special cut-out for their HotSpots icon instead of the IE icon - whereas now, that's just a different stamp)
However, even given that it's not normal - it *is* common, and I've just come to expect it from anything that uses decals/paints for any graphics/lettering. You lean to live with it, unfortunately

I have had more than 10 different pocket pc's and 2 different pocket pc phones in the last 5 years and have to say that my Qtek 9100 is my favorite handheld device yet. It has a great battery life, does not lose data if the battery dies, works great as a web browsing tool, computer, and phone, and also works remarkebly well with bluetooth. I find it to be the first converged device I have owned that I can just use, without having to constantly fuss with it to make it work. It is far from perfect, but definitely good enough for my purposes so that when I travel I do not need to carry my laptop, as it fulfills all my computing needs, albeit with a slightly less than ideal user experience. I am more than willing to put up with the minor idiosyncracies of the device when I consider how many devices it can fill the gap for.

I'm using my Wizard for 7 months now, and it's definitely the best PDA/phone I've ever had. Ok, the build quality isn't on par with brands like Sony-Ericsson or Samsung, but the functionality makes up for everything. I use it for push-mail, navigating, browsing, contacts and calendar. When traveling by train, I hook it up to my laptop and use it as a GPRS-modem (I've got flat-fee GPRS from T-Mobile), zo I'm connected to the internet and the office. I use it at home on the sofa for browsing and MSN when my wife is watching stuff I really don't wanna watch (like soaps). In my car it's used as a navigation device (Adapt 300 GPS) and it's connected with my BT Logitech headset.
The paint hasn't scraped off anywhere, but the stylus comes loose too easy (a single wrap of tape around the black tip works fine).
Great phone, I'd cry if I had to miss it

I have the K-Jam since october 2005, so almost 8 month now.
For me it is also the best PDA in years.
It's the first PDA that lasts longer than half a year with me. :lol:
And I don't even see a suitable successor in the near future.
I don't face the problems with paint peeling off.
Ok, the mail and the IE button have faded a little, but that's all.
And, of course, the speed isn't everything, it could be improved.
The stylus is a little loose, but it doesn't falls out (yet)
And I am very, very pleased with the pushmail and A2DP.

I've had my Vario for around 6 months now, and don't see any of the problems the thread starter has found.
I treat my phone with care amd respect, in return it keeps all its paint on for me.
It may be true that the Vario build quality is not a patch on the MDA Compact, but it's still in good condition.

I've had my vario now for 3 months and the main problem I have with it is the stylus not holding as well as it did when it was new. No paint peeling off etc.
It may only be a 195mhz processor, but it is faster than my Treo 650 with a 312mhz processor.
I've used most of the Treos' and this is my first device on the 'dark side'! The treo is simpler to use, but the wizard was the closest I could get with the same size form. Unfortunately for Palm, WM5 is streets ahead of Palm os - maybe that is why they released the 700w.
Anyway, the 700 is not an option for me in the UK.
Connecting to 2 bluetooth devices at the same time, stereo bluetooth capability - all things treo 650 users wanted, multitasking - the list goes on. I can see me upgrading to the 3G version of the wizard when it's time to upgrade my phone in the future, in a little over a year.
When I was given the phone by T-Mobile, I wasn't going to use it, and just use my Treo 650, but the more I read about the vario and then used it, the more I liked it.
The wizard rocks.

I LOVE everything abouth my wizard! I'll upgrade only to wizard with microdrive (when ever it be)!

My 8125 is my first "Dark Side" device too. I've never been happier. The only thing I miss about PalmOS was the wonderful screen realestate on my Tungsten T3.
I've punished the case on mine pretty badly too and it's never chipped or peeled. The only thing that happened was that little rubber "foot" on the battery cover came off. I wonder if the various style of Wizard cases are built by different manufacturers? That could account for this.

How do you use your shift?

Was wondering how most people use their Shift. I like to write and it is pretty good at recognizing my crappy left handed writing. My biqgest problem is keeping my hand off the screen and the other is keeping it from overheating. I use it often on my lap. or resting on my leg and if I don't put a book under it to keep it off my clothing IT OVERHEATS.
Diane

thats right you should keep on your lap for short periods only. I just have to say that I enjoy the multitude of possibilities with this baby. I use it in a nr of ways, but actually sit it on a table and type/surf most of the time.

i love the battery life in the WinMo side... and Opera Mini is superb in full screen... i'm using Vista a lot more than i thought i would as well. I guess this is mainly as the WinMo side is still so crippled without the SD access. Fingers crossed that access to it is feasible!

I use the TAB key as F11 key for full screen when browsing (remapped it, and of course the "Caps lock" into "Left Shift").
Use Both IE and Firefox. And both use the F11 luckily. Full screen swapping is quite important with such a small real estate.
Waiting eagerly for some updates, like those problems with SD card adn Shgctrl.
But I force myself to use it more frequently. Even ordered an extra battery at Expansys. (92 euro's with shipping!)
Pitty there is no hot swapping for batteries. So now it will take me an extra six minutes I think.
Do not use yet the Winmo options you guys found out. I need more spare time for that.
Huib

Must admit I don't use it now as it has too many restrictions and limitations and I tend to just use a laptop and smartphone.
This device could have been so good but has been badly let down in implementation by HTC

Shift is good for my mobile life.
For WM:
I check my stocks by Stock Manager and watch the TV news everyday by a TV Program
I get all the daily info from http://pda.xy.hk
For Vista:
I uses powerpoint for presentation weekly.
I access the ebanking for trading by IE

herpi said:
I use the TAB key as F11 key for full screen when browsing (remapped it, and of course the "Caps lock" into "Left Shift").
Use Both IE and Firefox. And both use the F11 luckily. Full screen swapping is quite important with such a small real estate.
Waiting eagerly for some updates, like those problems with SD card adn Shgctrl.
But I force myself to use it more frequently. Even ordered an extra battery at Expansys. (92 euro's with shipping!)
Pitty there is no hot swapping for batteries. So now it will take me an extra six minutes I think.
Do not use yet the Winmo options you guys found out. I need more spare time for that.
Huib
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you try reanpping F11 to a pen flick? I use it everyday, and it's better than losing a key for it.

how do you do that?

Click on pen flick icon, on tray, or in control pannel. choose pen and input settings, then flicks and customize. Choose the direction you want to assign, then bring the on-screen keyboard to register the F11 keypress.

I am using it now for most admin type functions in work. After some practice sessions I am now using the shift in meetings. A problem with tablets/PCs for notes is that if you dont get the info first time its gone.
I tried using One Note but found it a bit flakey for on the fly stuff. I am now committed to using Journal for all meetings. It seems to work flawlessly and the handwriting recog seems pretty accurate. I concur with the overheating concerns and have found that if you havent got a book or something similar then the screen needs to be extended and laid flat and the keyboard used with your thumbs to avoid heat issues.
I am using the Office progs and One Note for carrying all my reference docs that I need and I sync those with my desktop. I am now not bothering to take my laptop to work. This is good as sometimes I go to work on my push iron. I am using the Shift for general surfing. This can sometimes seem like hard work but Im persevering. I have given up on Origami and Im not that keen on using my fingers except for the odd OK button.
With regards to the snapvue I have instsalled the full wm6 and office in an attempt to get me turned on. Its more useful now its synced with my outlook - however despite having been virtually joined at the hip with an XDA Orbit for a few years I cant really get turned on by snapvue when I have a full Vista one click away. However it is useful for contacts and diary if you dont have time to boot up.
Im going to explore the possibility of watching movies on it but first impressions arent that great. I have been listening to music but have found that it doesnt stream that great across my wifi using The Orb. I am going to try and use Media Monkey instead to see if that improves things.
All in all a great tool but you have to adjust to it.

Use for share trading
Well,
The wait for a device that can be portable enough to take anywhere is over.
I use my Shift for primarily share trading. I use a share trading package and Next-G WLAN. Yes, it is expensive, but you get what you pay for, i.e. always relaible, unbeatable reception, etc, etc.
I take it with me on lunch breaks, meeteings, out and about and do trades, and never miss a good trade!!! I have probably made the money I spent back on it already. I am contemplating keeping my Dell M1330 at home!!!
I also use it for e-mail (secondary), that is, I set email to check mail but leave copy on server. My main laptop will be final home for the emails.
I also use it to make VoIP calls, I use Express Talk, costs about USD$20, but it is the best VoIP around (in my opinion of course). My service provider is Engin (also expensive, but 100% quality, of course my opinion again). 10c calls to anywhere in Aussie, 20c/min mobile is great. Works well with BT headset!
I also use it to connect to a couple of servers at home using TServ. It works great, both in Vista and WM6 (thanks to the Liberate!!!)
WM6 is disappointing, but it serves its purpose, i.e. it keeps the 3G connection always active no matter what the state of the HTC shift. I think the way the SHIFT works is that a NDIS connection is made b/ween the Vista and the WM6 device (same as if you used your 3G PDA connected to laptop for internet access). It is also a gap-filler (haha) when you are waiting for Vista to load up!!!
WM6 polling (pull) mail is great. Havent given much thought or care to the push mail, who cares? Unless you need real-time mail, set poll to 5 mins. Most 3G packages are in the 3-5GB range now, so dont stress about bandwidth usage.
The device does get warm, but once again, who cares. Be sure to keep the rear vent and the side vents clear enough, i.e. the device sucks air from the side vents. Hand-hold the device is fantastic, esp the mini-mouse pad, takes some getting used to. I find myself using my finger most of the time.
I have been a veteran hand-held device, as early as the good-old Casio organisers, Sharp Zairo, and owned ever XDA ever made. I have also owned a couple of "try-hard" UMPCs. And I have to say, this is the grand-daddy. Remember, technology is all about trade-offs. And HTC have traded of things for useable features.
The complaint about the heat, etc, where do you expect the heat to go? It must dissipate somewhere. Until they make 0.1mV 0.1nm processors we will have to live with this heat.
Oh, and not been too cheecky, this is not a laptop, i.e. dont put on your lap This is design to hand-hold and/or put on a desk.
Another mobilility point, the device has a G-Sensor that is supposed to detect drops. I carry this around with me while its on, and I have had two occassions where the G has supposedly detected a "drop". Havent given much thought as to whether the device has a "G-setting", and dont really care, I guess I just need to put it to sleep each time.
At home, I connect a 24" 1920x1200 monitor to this little badboy, run BT mouse, keyboard and Ethernet and the [poor] thing still works very well. Therefore, if you dont look down you will almost feel like you are using an actual desktop!!! I like to keep the rear slightly elevated to assist in cooling (the fan works at slightly lower RPM)
Happy to answer any questions you may have about this device, or if you want some comfort to buy one

I mainly use it (and any computer) for writing documents, web and mail. I do use it on my lap! I find that the leather case is rigid enough to provide a flat surface that keeps the vents clear. I'm using Opera and OpenOffice on the Vista side, which work very well. In WM, I use IE for browsing and for writing, I tend to just use unformatted text in an e-mail and mail it to myself.
Basically, if you are OK with the small screen and keyboard, it's the perfect travel machine. I was a Toshiba Libretto user in the late 1990s, but always felt I needed a Psion 5 or Revo for the ability to switch on and start typing.
In thes days of PDA/phone convergence, I am amazed that HP and others who used to make touch-typable folding devices have given up on that form-factor. Every journalist I know would buy one. One guy I know still uses his Psion 5, despite having to sync.
I have Mobile Office but have not really used it yet apart from viewing attachments (for which I also use XPDF). If another couple of months go by without needing it for composition, then I'll uninstall it and find some lightweight DOC/XLS/PPT viewers.
I have also been using Google Maps for WM, which tries and often succeeds to sniff out the cell location in the absence of GPS. It gets the maps pretty quickly with 3G, and adequately with GPRS, so you don't have to store them locally.
That's about it.
Thanks to everyone working on the project.
Matthew Karas

HTC sucks big time
I leave my htc shift at home. I found that its quite A HANDICAPPED device. Windows mobile is useless as the ram is so tiny. After liberating it and putting just a few software it runs out of memory. I cannot access the SD card. Although some guys here are trying, this should have been the job of HTC. Those HTC programmers are truly sleeping or simply lacking in talent. To have Vista on this device is a joke. Why can't they learn from OQO or Asus EE where they realize the user experience is better with XP on such a small device.
Lastly the battery life is so short. There is no extended battery. Even if there is the weight will increase to 950gm. 100 grams more will get me a Sony TZ 18GN which last for at least 8 hours, on a big screen. HTC should not have sold this product as this has tarnished their reputation. Most of the retail shops tell me if u want a good machine buy a Sony. If u want a cheap machine buy the Asus. Forget about HTC SHift. This is a pure waste of money

greatestkelvin said:
This is a pure waste of money
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so bad reaction ... reading your post is a total waste of time

arvinf said:
At home, I connect a 24" 1920x1200 monitor to this little badboy, run BT mouse, keyboard and Ethernet and the [poor] thing still works very well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1920 x 1200... really ??? so nice !!!
are you still using vista? what do you think about it ?
can you tell me the time it takes for a COLD boot and for coming back from Hibernate ?
I really would like to buy it.. to replace desktop, laptop and.. maybe PDA/Phone.

My HTC stand at home.
Will not OS of him.

greatestkelvin - I will save your frustrations by buying your machine from you!...plenty of folk waiting for them here. Oh, wait, that is if you actually have one? If you do it sounds like you didn't do your homework first....

koala996 said:
1920 x 1200... really ??? so nice !!!
are you still using vista? what do you think about it ?
can you tell me the time it takes for a COLD boot and for coming back from Hibernate ?
I really would like to buy it.. to replace desktop, laptop and.. maybe PDA/Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to boot up vista to password screen it takes 1 min for me (I don't have SP1 btw)
after logging in you have to wait a few more seconds because of shagctrl etc starting up - and you *need* shagctrl (= shift control center).
to come back from hibernation, about 12 secs to reach "resuming windows" and the whole process is about half a min
and to resume from sleep, 4 secs now, but maybe if it is left in sleep for longer then it's a bit longer to come back, but still fast

Most time i use the WM/SnapVue side with softmaker Office 06 (without grammer dictionary to save memory). I can write over 10 hours on an longer text or work with Real-Exel without any noises- and headproblems. With WM the Shift ist really "ultramobile". Other programs i use are freeware like Tombo (TreeList Texteditor) - ResInfo (Systeminformation) - WKtask (Quick Launcher, Taskmanager, and more), Hotkeys (remap keyboard), Cleartemp and Total Comander. It´s a shame, that the WM Side is limited only 13MB free memory left to save and share files. For office documents okay, but other nice WM things like mobipockes e-books an disaster.
But i like the Shift and look hopefully in the Shiftproject Thread

Just started spending time on the WM6 time
I'm just starting to use WM6 on my shift. It's my first device using this OS, and I am amazed at how good Mobile Google Maps is. It's the perfect application for the WM side as it makes good use of the high bandwidth connectivity, whilst not using up much memory.
I'm on the lookout for any other cool WM apps that suit the resources of the Shift in this way. I'd be most grateful if those of you with superior knowlege in this are could share their recommendations for cool/useful apps for WM6 on the Shift.
I bought my Shift because I like the outdoors, and I like computers. I like having the knowledge of the world at hand where ever I am.