Database Users

how many of you use this as your "everyday" phone?

I was thinking about getting one but was wondering how it is to use as a everyday phone? is it just to damn big? manageable? will it fit in a pocket? any pocket? I have a herald now and my my main reason for thinking about the switch is texting and wifi surfing (vga screen has gotta make it a joy to use). anyone have any build quality issues? im uber anal about build quality,especially at this price!! any other comments are welcome. Oh I did read some reviews and went through on here but I wanna know what the real life owners think after owning it for a while.

i got it , and i say it's almost accommodate %95 for everyday use , it has all features that you need , you never get stuck in any place you go , i mean when i'm in internet cafe i use wifi ,
when i want to listen to a song the original headset make it very coool and it rocks really they have a hi quality ,
when i want to take a photo in with my friend in college it shot nice though it have a 1.3 MP it can expand to 2 MP ( in camera options ) and the color and details is very good
and when playing a video clip it have a very very nice quality ( with VGA screen and 520 MHz) it's very powerful ,and it can play %90 of known multimedia files ( by using Core Player )
and it got very powerful application to be be used for every day task
and and and and............. , i recommended it by %95
very stylish device

i use it as everyday phone, organiser and modem for laptop. very pleased. Phone is a bit clunky, using stylus to dial can be a fiddle, but no problems otherwise. Works great with bluetooth headset and voice dial
regards,
Brian.

Use it as an every day phone. VGA mode, VJBigPhone and use my finger for dialling - no problems at all. Only thing is that I cant have anything else in the pocket I put it in, but thats no big deal.

sigh, i really wish i could hold one before I buy it. it sounds like im gonna need my own private shirpa to lug it around for me!!
honestly there are only 2 reasons im thinking about getting one..
1) surfing the net. Im hopeing that between the bigger screen and the vga resolution that it will format webpages better than the qvga "smaller" screen of my herald (i hate scrolling)
2) .......well maybe there is only the one reason, lol! i feel like a flake. im still pretty new to the windows seen as i have been a symbian guy for a loooong time.
I suppose honestly I use it as a phone first and everything else second. how would y'all rate the build quality on this thing?

VJBigPhone???

I use my Vodafone V1640 as an every day phone. It is quite chunky in the pocket, but I'm quite used to it now. I love the fact that it can be sat on the desk like a little laptop, so I can browse websites without having to actually hold the device during lectures at uni.
I'd love to have a thinner phone though.
Build quality: quite good, the hinge is still in very good form after about half a year's usage.

http://www.vijay555.com/?Releases:VJBigPhone
Never had a problem with build quality, in fact had less problems with this phone than I did with the Alpine.

gquipster said:
http://www.vijay555.com/?Releases:VJBigPhone
Never had a problem with build quality, in fact had less problems with this phone than I did with the Alpine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet, thanks man!!
Another question, are there any draw backs to the vga hack? will it still run qvga apps?

Some - not all. I use VGA all the time as I love the amount of info I can see on the screen.
For instance the built in games (Solitaire etc) don't scale particularly well, and I emailed the guy who wrote PocketConquest etc to inform him that his games didn't work in 640x480 but apart from that not had any problems.
Applications I use on a near daily basis:
Calendar,
Pocket Outlook (Text messages AND Email),
Internet Explorer,
Notes,
Pocket Word,
Adobe Reader 2.0,
Microsoft Remote Display Control,
Pocket Excel,
Terminal Services (with full-screen hack)
I also have PocketPutty which I use fairly frequently and am looking for a decent VNC client.
G

I use it as my primary Jack-of-All-Trades device.
It's my PDA, my phone, my remote control, my book reader, my GPS system, my car MP3 player, my secondary Internet booth, my gamebox, my e-mail reader (I'm driving Blackberry sh*t out of my company!).
Often I carry it in my hands, or a shirt pocket. In the car it's stored in the door.
With PocketBreeze and a new original battery from e-Bay for a mere fraction of O2 replacement price, I'm now a happy camper!

I have used it as a every day phone now for allmost one and a half year. Last weekend i replaced it out with a Motorola A780. Now it feels like i dont have any phone in my pocket becuase of the size (even though A780 is also a big cell phone).
I think the universal is a good pda, but as a phone it isent reliable. I have tried out a lot of diffrents radio versions but it is still unstable.
But, one day i will switch back to my Universal, and that day we will have fully linux support in it. And then it will be reliable again

wow, thank you for all the replies!!!
I have one on the way and I can't wait to get it!
I picked up a moto pebl to use if I wanna go out and only want a small phone (like the bar or formal functions) I can't remember the last time I was this pumped abut getting a new phone! man, the uni owners seem to be a most loyal crowd. Again, any and all comments are welcome as I don't know my a** from my elbow with not only the uni but PPC as well.

For me the size of the Universal becomes a problem only during summer months. Wearing shorts etc.
Apart from that it fits perfectly in my trousers,jacket pockets.
To be honest because of it's shape I prefer to carry it in the pocket than my Wizard, it just fits better...
But yeah, sometime the freezing and other "adventures" drive me mad!!!

If ya wanna get your hands round one just pop into a phone shop and ask around,,, im sure pleanty of places still have one or two left instock as this is the kinda phone only the people who want it buy, if ya want it ya get it,,, ive never turned back and its my best toy to date :lol:
-DTM

Use it every day. Never had a problem and everything is at hand. Can't fault it.

Used it every day for work and home, found it to be great, i have 2 of them But now i have a wizard and its much better than the Exec as a phone....
stevef1

Well, I got it.....
NOt sure if I like it yet or not. seems like most of the apps I have don't work due to the screen
I can't even get marsware weatherpanel to work. I may end up trading it off but im not to sure yet. that and the rf dont seem to great where I live but ill give it a bit more time.
Anyone wanna trade me??
I will say that I love the keyboard and the screen is amazing!!! Size isn't to bad and weight dont bother me none either. I have only had the phone for a few hours so ill give it some time before making a decision.

razamataz said:
Well, I got it.....
NOt sure if I like it yet or not. seems like most of the apps I have don't work due to the screen
I can't even get marsware weatherpanel to work. I may end up trading it off but im not to sure yet. that and the rf dont seem to great where I live but ill give it a bit more time.
Anyone wanna trade me??
I will say that I love the keyboard and the screen is amazing!!! Size isn't to bad and weight dont bother me none either. I have only had the phone for a few hours so ill give it some time before making a decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Upgrade the ROM and start to explore the Uni - you will very quickly find any other phone wholly inadequate!

apd said:
Upgrade the ROM and start to explore the Uni - you will very quickly find any other phone wholly inadequate!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
upgrade to what rom? I'm I have wm6 on here or is that not what you mean? is there a "best rom" to use?

Thinking about it

Well, I was thinking about buy a Kaiser and then I started to look at the specs and the Im really really thinking about getting 7501. I have few questions for people that own it.
1) First how is it as a phone ??/?
2) Is it posible to cary on belt, the belt clip case ?
3) How is the internal GPS ?
4) How is the camera quality ?
5) is it worth it ?
Thanks in advance.

1) It works great as a phone... if you're willing to use a bluetooth headset. Along with voice dial, I rarely need to actually touch the device for phone functions. Speakerphone is very good if you don't mind everyone hearing your business.
2) There is only one know belt clip case, and that had problems, I think. Updated model is "Coming soon!" (I hope)
3) GPS works well. Slow cold startup with some programs. Very convenient after years of carrying a hockey puck.
4) I find the camera good for a phone camera, some people have reported some color issues. I ahve not experienced that.
5) For me, yes, it is worth it. It is big... but I am in love with that gorgeous screen where I can actually see spreadsheets, web pages, etc. Wouldn't type the next great novel on it, but keyboard is fine for writing shortish messages. Workmanship is solid. The mag attachment of the keyboard actually works pretty naturally, although backlighting on keyboard would have been a plus. Probably not possible. Also nice sans keyboard as a lovely video player.
If you can afford it, don't mind comments about "your phone is HUGE", and like to have something that is more functional overall than the usual PPC phone, I'd say go for it. Otherwise, Kaiser might suit you better.
yozh said:
Well, I was thinking about buy a Kaiser and then I started to look at the specs and the Im really really thinking about getting 7501. I have few questions for people that own it.
1) First how is it as a phone ??/?
2) Is it posible to cary on belt, the belt clip case ?
3) How is the internal GPS ?
4) How is the camera quality ?
5) is it worth it ?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

PS: Great support network on this board as well.

wgary said:
PS: Great support network on this board as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THanks for a great explanation. THe belt part is really a killer for me. I really love to have such a nice screen. I would love to see it in person and try it out for my self. Video reviews are great, but until you see it, its not the same. Thanks again for the comments. Anyone else with some comments ?

The best one i ever had... never fell the same before... this is the best...
Nice screen, great functionality.. Perfect storage size... etc
Just recommended!!!

Belt clip
yozh said:
THanks for a great explanation. THe belt part is really a killer for me. I really love to have such a nice screen. I would love to see it in person and try it out for my self. Video reviews are great, but until you see it, its not the same. Thanks again for the comments. Anyone else with some comments ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am actually using the t-mobile HP 6315 belt case for the phone and it works perfectly. Its a pretty tight fit for the phone and keyboard but if you are of with just carrying the phone, it would not be a bad option!

cornelius said:
The best one i ever had... never fell the same before... this is the best...
Nice screen, great functionality.. Perfect storage size... etc
Just recommended!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like LOVE to me! And I know just how you feel. My wife says I love my phone more than her. No comment.
You do raise an excellent point -- not constantly running out of memory is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

wgary said:
1) It works great as a phone... if you're willing to use a bluetooth headset. Along with voice dial, I rarely need to actually touch the device for phone functions. Speakerphone is very good if you don't mind everyone hearing your business.
2) There is only one know belt clip case, and that had problems, I think. Updated model is "Coming soon!" (I hope)
3) GPS works well. Slow cold startup with some programs. Very convenient after years of carrying a hockey puck.
4) I find the camera good for a phone camera, some people have reported some color issues. I ahve not experienced that.
5) For me, yes, it is worth it. It is big... but I am in love with that gorgeous screen where I can actually see spreadsheets, web pages, etc. Wouldn't type the next great novel on it, but keyboard is fine for writing shortish messages. Workmanship is solid. The mag attachment of the keyboard actually works pretty naturally, although backlighting on keyboard would have been a plus. Probably not possible. Also nice sans keyboard as a lovely video player.
If you can afford it, don't mind comments about "your phone is HUGE", and like to have something that is more functional overall than the usual PPC phone, I'd say go for it. Otherwise, Kaiser might suit you better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(1) - (5) Agreed. As to size, I have never felt the ameo is too big. I rarely carry the keyboard (not that that adds much. It fits neatly into a pocket (suit, jeans, short) and you never have to put it to your head, using a BT headset. I always felt slightly worried with my Uni to my ear).
Finally, the crowning glory - the screen. I upgrade every year but could never go back to a smaller screen. That applies even when not running in VGA.......
Love? Probably.

I love it but I disagree about the size.
It is too big as a phone. The need for a bluetooth headset is such that one should have been included.
Although calls with bluetooth headset are PERFECTLY convenient it still means you have to have the device on your person: while this is fine for work or home it does mean that you need to take a second phone out if you fancy some leisure.
Yes the device can happily be used without the keyboard, but I never liked the idea of carrying £500 worth of technology in my jeans without some kind of hard protection over the screen, much as it did feel 'nicer' without the keyboard attached.
I have heard mention of belt cases but I couldn't bear the reaction from my girlfriend/friends if I had to unzip a big pouch strapped to my waist to send a text.
The camera is superb, maybe not as responsive as a Cybershot camera phone but very impressive in terms of clarity and sharpness. I suspect the Kaiser's camera will be identical to that of the Ameo, although the Ameo does have a very bright LED light compared to any other phone I've seen.
The build quality of the Ameo is superb. A really well-built little machine and I LOVE using it. I NEVER use it as a phone but a lot of people manage to, so it's probably more my easily-embarassed nature that stops me doing so.
Oh and you can plug gadgets into it!
The long and short of it is that despite the impressive spec of the Kaiser the QVGA screen still puts me off. I didn't used to be too bothered but the Ameo has changed my mind.
Yes I like it and I think everyone should get one, though you might want to keep your old phone if you've got a stag do or a birthday party looming on the horizon!

Leo, what gadgets do you plug to it?
yozh, you HAVE to look at the device in person. Everytime I saw a review on the x7500 I passed it by because I thought it was BIG and it never interested me. I went today to a local store were they import phones and I was about to purchase the nokia e90. I told the guy as I was getting ready to pay for it that I would just like to take a quick look at the x7500. He opened it and I said WOW WOW WOW. Love at first sight, I pushed the nokia to the side and told the guy to ring me up for the x7500!
Btw, I spent 2 hours reading reviews and some forums to make sure the nokia was for me. Than I finally gave in to buy it. But with the x7500 I had no clue what it was and what it did and just bought it that quick. I did know it was a ppc and that it had 3g support (which works great in chicago) and I was sold. Than when I saw the screen as he turned it on for me I was a happy camper. Than he tells me it also has GPS! And than he said it has 8gb on board! And a 3mp camera and ......... I went home with empty pocket and a smile in my face.
It is one GREAT device! OH, with a2dp,3g,wifi and if you want better battery life you can switch to just use gms,edge. You cannot go wrong. Just need to buy a BT headset that vibrates when phone rings.

Know what you mean!
I had a similar experience to you. Altho ive used alot of Windows Mobile based Pocket PCs and Smartphones, I wanted a decent high spec device to check emails, surf the net, wifi and 3G were both a big plus for me.
I wandered into my local T-Mobile store and asked to have a look at the Ameo, didnt even think id own one. But i took the plunge, travelling another 30-40 miles the next day as my local T-mobile didnt have it, so they called up another store and made sure that stock was available.
Ever since then ive been more than happy with it.
Yeah its huge, and yeah its cumbersome in terms of size in your pocket. Maybe its a substitute for the size of my manhood, hehe! we'll never know! (when i get the phone out usually i receive the response - 'look at the size of that!!!!!')
The point is:
1. Huge screen - Great in VGA mode, but also great in standard, out the box mode to. Watching movies on the Ameos generous sized screen is a joy. Ive never been able to do that on any other phone for lengthy periods of time.
2. 8gb Storage! wow! What more can i say!
3. GPS - as long as the frequent updates are applied, getting a GPS fix is quick and works like a dream
4. 3Million Megapixel Camera. Just got a seperate Canon camera for serious shots, but when abroad on holiday, the Ameos camera was fine.
5. Heavily used as an mp3 player, can use my Bluetooth headset OR standard 3.5mm headphones, a great little touch! (thats what I like, USB charging, standard headphone socket - shows that HTC arent greedy!!!! take note, Samsung / Sony etc etc!)
6. Mini SD memory! Cheeeap! Get a 4gb card! 12gb total storage! Now thats useful!
7. Wifi, rapidly available in most places now.
8. 3G - Sooo speedy, ive found its actually faster than Oranges 3G!
9. Internet Sharing - Use this when theres no Wifi for my laptop, great little feature which works really well.
10. Windows Live - Another application that uses the size of the screen to an advantage! This is the best Messenger yet!
This device is built for T-Mobiles Web'n'Walk plans. No worring about surfing the net, anywhere, anytime! Its great, complete data freedom!
Now when i look down at my device and the little G or 3G symbol has appeared, no frantic panic'ing trying to close the apps down and close the internet connection.
All i would say is that since the Apple iPhone, i really hope the Windows Mobile interface continues to improve. Rather that being the slightly dull business style interface, should be more like SPB Mobile Shell and Wisbar.
Roll on fancy interfaces, i mean, the quality screen would look amazing with a decent UI! Its only a matter of time.
Yeah its big, but who cares! Its not the size that matters! Its what it does that counts! and there are wayyyyyy to many plus points having this phone! (as i hope ive illustrated!)
I cant help thinking how the next device will improve on this one???? Better VGA Screen? Bigger Storage? Slightly smaller overall size? Mmm! Its gonna be tough!

Should i buy Athena??

At the moment i have the universal, and uses it primarily for navigation and reading e books. have normal SEk810i for phoning.
i have been waiting for the omni, but date keeps pushing and no official responses has been made whether it comes or not.
And now i have found me a very nice offer that i can afford
Its the HTC Advantage X7500 and not the 7501.
How simple will the upgrade be to wm6 ?
and what other differences is there beside the fmradio (which doesn't matter to me)?
should i go for this or should i wait ?
One last note, the size of the athena doesnt scare me, i like big screen when reading and using navi.

I bought one 7500 couple of months before. The upgrade to WM6 was easy, but... I wouldn't buy it again - the microdrive makes me very big problems (it stops working in unpredictable times - not realiable) and also the GPS chipset inside is not SirfStarIII, be careful, if you need it for detailed measurements... :-(((

the athenais an amazing device look at the thread in the upgrading section called 'athena & WM6 getting rid...' and have you considered the shift it is bigger but a huge screen gps and phone 30GB vista and everything you could everneed (apart from a great battery life if using Vista) it is a bit more money and not released till 21st of december in uk not sure about ret of world also a higher screen resolution

spzero said:
the athenais an amazing device look at the thread in the upgrading section called 'athena & WM6 getting rid...' and have you considered the shift it is bigger but a huge screen gps and phone 30GB vista and everything you could everneed (apart from a great battery life if using Vista) it is a bit more money and not released till 21st of december in uk not sure about ret of world also a higher screen resolution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does everyone keep saying the shift does large screen GPS, None of the GPS solutions for Vista are as good as tomtom and the like for PPC and none of the pictures of the shift show it using the full wide screen when in PPC mode, this means that the 4:3 image in a 7" wide screen is barely over the 5" screen of the athena anyway.

Shift would simply be to big for my tastes. need something that can fit in my pocket easily due to my job. and the battery life discourages me also.
so today i went in with both legs and bought a brand spanking new athena.
i had won one on an auction, but after winning i got email from the seller saying sorry but it has broken and he has to cancel auction. ( still thinks he was pissed not getting the doe he was expecting )
so now i have gotten it today. have hardSpl'd it and flashed the pk3 rom. and i have that warm feeling inside again
i have to say that with mobipocket installed it is just perfect for reading, and when it comes to navigation, i have the full tomtom6 and so far no problems with the gps reception. and if the problem should arise i have my tomtom bluetooth antenna to be fired up in case..
so for now i will enjoy my new toy and hope it will last me a good while (wife will go mad if i want a new one for at least the next year ...)
what i have seen so far has been all good, hope it lasts

charon72 said:
Shift would simply be to big for my tastes. need something that can fit in my pocket easily due to my job. and the battery life discourages me also.
so today i went in with both legs and bought a brand spanking new athena.
i had won one on an auction, but after winning i got email from the seller saying sorry but it has broken and he has to cancel auction. ( still thinks he was pissed not getting the doe he was expecting )
so now i have gotten it today. have hardSpl'd it and flashed the pk3 rom. and i have that warm feeling inside again
i have to say that with mobipocket installed it is just perfect for reading, and when it comes to navigation, i have the full tomtom6 and so far no problems with the gps reception. and if the problem should arise i have my tomtom bluetooth antenna to be fired up in case..
so for now i will enjoy my new toy and hope it will last me a good while (wife will go mad if i want a new one for at least the next year ...)
what i have seen so far has been all good, hope it lasts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
welcome to the club

spzero said:
the athenais an amazing device look at the thread in the upgrading section called 'athena & WM6 getting rid...' and have you considered the shift it is bigger but a huge screen gps and phone 30GB vista and everything you could everneed (apart from a great battery life if using Vista) it is a bit more money and not released till 21st of december in uk not sure about ret of world also a higher screen resolution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO, the Shift cannot be compared to a Windows Mobile device.
I carry a Windows notebook computer as well as a Windows Mobile device.
Now, that I have an Advantage, I find myself using the notebook computer far less often. The long boot-up time of the PC, and the easy synch of my data along with nearly-instant "on" of the Advantage, make my Advantage my first choice nearly all of my away-from-office time.

charon72 said:
Shift would simply be to big for my tastes. need something that can fit in my pocket easily due to my job. and the battery life discourages me also.
so today i went in with both legs and bought a brand spanking new athena.
i had won one on an auction, but after winning i got email from the seller saying sorry but it has broken and he has to cancel auction. ( still thinks he was pissed not getting the doe he was expecting )
so now i have gotten it today. have hardSpl'd it and flashed the pk3 rom. and i have that warm feeling inside again
i have to say that with mobipocket installed it is just perfect for reading, and when it comes to navigation, i have the full tomtom6 and so far no problems with the gps reception. and if the problem should arise i have my tomtom bluetooth antenna to be fired up in case..
so for now i will enjoy my new toy and hope it will last me a good while (wife will go mad if i want a new one for at least the next year ...)
what i have seen so far has been all good, hope it lasts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I congratulate you for making this wise decision. SHIFT is TWICE the area of Athena and three times the weight. It also is quite useless on the road because it has completely unacceptable battery life. Even if it has GPS, proper camera, MP3 player on the WM side, and voice call, it's not going to be worthwhile. Even if you don't mind lugging this phone along, you can't really use it worry free because anytime it's going to run out of power. Do you want Vista that badly? That's the real question. Even if you really really need portable VISTA, it is wiser to have ASUS eee PC, with an Athena.
In my mind there are two types of portability. The "body portability" and the "briefcase/backpack portabiliity". In first type of portability allows you to either put the device in your normal size pocket or a normal size belt pouch. The second category allows you to bring it along for holiday and travel, but you would not really need it to be carried on your body. Phone/GPS/MP3/Internet Browser/Camera/Radio should be converged into one device of "body portability". More serious work related and very infrequently used device such as VISTA could accept a "briefcase portabilty" as those applications typically requires much bigger screen and keyboard. These two types of device should not converge.
The real issue with SHIFT is not weather it can have phone, full WM6. It is the weight, size and battery life. Athena is the one to go for.

eaglesteve said:
I congratulate you for making this wise decision. SHIFT is TWICE the area of Athena and three times the weight. It also is quite useless on the road because it has completely unacceptable battery life. Even if it has GPS, proper camera, MP3 player on the WM side, and voice call, it's not going to be worthwhile. Even if you don't mind lugging this phone along, you can't really use it worry free because anytime it's going to run out of power. Do you want Vista that badly? That's the real question. Even if you really really need portable VISTA, it is wiser to have ASUS eee PC, with an Athena.
In my mind there are two types of portability. The "body portability" and the "briefcase/backpack portabiliity". In first type of portability allows you to either put the device in your normal size pocket or a normal size belt pouch. The second category allows you to bring it along for holiday and travel, but you would not really need it to be carried on your body. Phone/GPS/MP3/Internet Browser/Camera/Radio should be converged into one device of "body portability". More serious work related and very infrequently used device such as VISTA could accept a "briefcase portabilty" as those applications typically requires much bigger screen and keyboard. These two types of device should not converge.
The real issue with SHIFT is not weather it can have phone, full WM6. It is the weight, size and battery life. Athena is the one to go for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HERE HERE.
Very well put Eaglesteve.
I have, and will always have issues with the size of the Athena - as a phone I struggle to get along with it, and continually go back to my Hermes. The past few days with the Touch Dual ROM however I have warmed to it and think if you don't mind vociferous phone conversations or connecting bluetooth earphones it's actually a very good bit of kit.
I never use the keyboard as it adds bulk and isn't as nice to use as Fingertouch, I would LOVE a Linux hack but don't see one happening soon and I think web browsing is not as smooth and reliable as it should be, but you can't have everything I suppose.
If you enjoyed your Universal then I have no doubt you will be a happy member of the Athena club, and the Shift?!?! I wouldn't touch it with someone else's bargepole owing to 3 critical - and no doubt predictable - factors:
1 - It's too small to be a laptop replacement; too big to be a cellphone replacement.
2 - Owing to its expense and niche market, development will be VERY restricted.
3 - battery life is grimly short.
As previously stated, buy an EEE if you want a bit extra to go with your Athena - the cost of this AND the Athena is less than a Shift alone, with twice the battery juice.

leoni1980 said:
HERE HERE.
Very well put Eaglesteve.
I have, and will always have issues with the size of the Athena - as a phone I struggle to get along with it, and continually go back to my Hermes. The past few days with the Touch Dual ROM however I have warmed to it and think if you don't mind vociferous phone conversations or connecting bluetooth earphones it's actually a very good bit of kit.
I never use the keyboard as it adds bulk and isn't as nice to use as Fingertouch, I would LOVE a Linux hack but don't see one happening soon and I think web browsing is not as smooth and reliable as it should be, but you can't have everything I suppose.
If you enjoyed your Universal then I have no doubt you will be a happy member of the Athena club, and the Shift?!?! I wouldn't touch it with someone else's bargepole owing to 3 critical - and no doubt predictable - factors:
1 - It's too small to be a laptop replacement; too big to be a cellphone replacement.
2 - Owing to its expense and niche market, development will be VERY restricted.
3 - battery life is grimly short.
As previously stated, buy an EEE if you want a bit extra to go with your Athena - the cost of this AND the Athena is less than a Shift alone, with twice the battery juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether or not you find Athena's size to be a problem depends on how to use it. For me, I completely dislike the hardware keyboard. It's no where near as fast and accurate as Tengo software keyboard, so I don't have the burden of carrying it and the leather case.
Next, if you try carrying it with the pockets of your shirt or trousers, you will find it too bulky and heavy. The right way to carry this is to use a proper belt pouch. I have a self made one. I carry my Athena 24/7, even at home. The only time it comes off my body is when I shower and sleep. In my belt pouch I am completely unaware of its presence. I will not be able to do the same with SHIFT.

hardware keyboard is interesting but daft, unresponsive and a burden when it comes to answering calls. the universal's design is better in a sense (and it doesn't wipe hard drives), although once the keyboard is removed the Athena feels a lot nicer.
i have never used Tengo. is it better than fingertouch?

leoni1980 said:
hardware keyboard is interesting but daft, unresponsive and a burden when it comes to answering calls. the universal's design is better in a sense (and it doesn't wipe hard drives), although once the keyboard is removed the Athena feels a lot nicer.
i have never used Tengo. is it better than fingertouch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
much much better
many more options

leoni1980 said:
hardware keyboard is interesting but daft, unresponsive and a burden when it comes to answering calls. the universal's design is better in a sense (and it doesn't wipe hard drives), although once the keyboard is removed the Athena feels a lot nicer.
i have never used Tengo. is it better than fingertouch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
much much much much better. bigger hitting area, more accuracy, takes up less real estate, more comprehensive and complete in functionality than Finger Touch . I've posted a comparision somewhere under the thread called "Finger touch, much better than tengo".

To add to the idea of using an Athena along with an Asus, you don't even have to link them with USB for the Asus to get network access. Get the (beta) wmWifiRouter and your Athena turns into a portable wifi hotspot. Then your Asus, and anyone else travelling with you with a laptop, gets internet on the go.

techntrek said:
To add to the idea of using an Athena along with an Asus, you don't even have to link them with USB for the Asus to get network access. Get the (beta) wmWifiRouter and your Athena turns into a portable wifi hotspot. Then your Asus, and anyone else travelling with you with a laptop, gets internet on the go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey, thats what i do, and it works a treat. for anyone who cant be bothered to search ive attached it. just go to start, settings, connections, wifi, add new. give the new connection whatever name you like and make sure you tick 'ad hoc'. then just run wmwifirouter. simple.

And because of this program there is less of a need to hack the ee to add internal bluetooth like some have lately. I cant think of any reason, actually.

Wow, i am really amazed to how this thread has boomed since last night
My main reason for never even considering the shift is size and battery life.
and every night when i go work i bring my laptop anyway.
The job i do is nightguard for a mentally handicapped man in his thirties. this involves long hours sitting in a chair watching him doing weird stuff and sleeping on the couch. so i need a device to keep me company in the chair
and it has to be something i can flick shut at seconds notice in case he gets a seizure (bad spelling i know) or freaks out. and for theese reasons SHift would be very impractical.
i like the look of shift and would like to have it just for playing around with it, but i also know i would tire of it really fast, so i dont see a reason to waste my money on a shiny new toy i wont use(have plenty of those)
The athena is now 2 days old and bringing it to work now for the third night and so far it has fulfilled all my expectations and even more.
combined with mobipocket it is absolutely fabulous to read on, and i am even considering leaving the laptop at home
So far i am very happy to have made the transition from the universal.
And on a side note...
Now my mom can discard her old Moto A1000 cause i am giving her the universal instead

leoni1980 said:
I would LOVE a Linux hack but don't see one happening soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is a 'Linux hack' ?

eaglesteve said:
I carry my Athena 24/7, even at home. The only time it comes off my body is when I shower and sleep. In my belt pouch I am completely unaware of its presence. I will not be able to do the same with SHIFT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you wear it when you have sex?

spacecat said:
Do you wear it when you have sex?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought everyone has sex with his Athena. No?

My experience so far

I’m going to start this off by saying that this is not a review of the AT&T Tilt, the HTC Advantage, or the iPhone. These devices have been reviewed in depth already. This is more of a reflection on my use of the 3 devices mentioned. My primary phone is the AT&T Tilt, my wife uses the iPhone, and I bought a HTC Advantage 2 week ago.
I wanted to see if the Advantage would augment or even replace my laptop and Tilt, like a true convergence device. I mentioned the iPhone because my wife has one, and so I have access to the use of it along with the 2 other HTC devices.
All of the devices mentioned are box stock so to speak. They are locked to AT&T with the exception of the Advantage, which as you know can work on any GSM network, but for me it is used on AT&T’s network.
I was able to use all 3 while on a week’s Christmas vacation trip to Minnesota (I live in Jacksonville, FL.) to see my parents. I transitioned to the Advantage one week prior to leaving to get used to it. It worked as expected, sync’s to my laptop with Vista and Mobile Device Center no problem, as does my Tilt. Connected to AT&T’s network no problem. I was always able to get my e-mails and made and received calls on it, and Bluetooth worked flawlessly. I paired my Jawbone with no problems. The only software problem I encountered with it so far has been with Windows live services. It would fail to sync completely, signing out and then back in repeatedly. I have had zero lock ups and have not had to reset it yet. The GPS worked without a hitch and was able to use it with both Google maps and Live search to navigate. The only problem I can find to fault this device with is the size and weight, but I knew that when I got it. It is not designed to be carried around with you all day. I found myself leaving it in the car or on the desk and checking it throughout the day. I did carry it with me while walking around the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Throughout the whole trip I had excellent network coverage and the high speed 3g worked everywhere I was at. All and all the Advantage did everything it was advertised to do.
While at my parent’s house in Rochester, I also used my Tilt. Once again it worked as it has always been working. The only problem I have with my Tilt is it has a tendency to drop calls while using the Bluetooth headset (Jawbone). This has happened several times and I have read here on these forums that I am not alone with this problem.
To be honest, after using both devices I think the Advantage is at a slight disadvantage. Now, I realize they are meant for two entirely different types of users. I can do everything I need to do on the Tilt. The Advantage can do everything the Tilt can do, and has way more storage. The size, weight, and portability are just too much to work around for me. I must say though, that looking at that nice big VGA screen on the Advantage will spoil you.
I am more than happy with the performance of both devices, as well as the other HTC devices I have used in the past. (AT&T 8525)
Here’s the other point I wanted to make, and why I have mentioned the iPhone. I pay all my bills online, so I needed to be able to log on to my bank as well as other creditors to make payments. Of the 8 online bill paying websites I needed to access, I was only able to complete 3 of the tasks. The websites would not render correctly no matter what changes to the display I made. As a note I use a program called PIE+ by Rensoft, and it works great on my Tilt and the Advantage. I was able to log on and complete the other 5 transactions with the wife’s iPhone, in the Safari browser no problem what so ever. That’s the only thing I like about the iPhone, and it is not enough of a reason to switch to one, she likes that phone and it’s nice, but I prefer the functionality of windows mobile.
I would like to add that I am not a noob, nor am I an expert at using WM6; I learn new stuff about it every day on this site. I thought it might be interesting for someone to read about my experience with these 3 devices, and how they were used in my everyday life.
In conclusion, I would say that for me, the choice clear. I will stay with my Tilt, and possibly find a new home for the Advantage. I don’t know though, it’s like a guilty pleasure to use the Advantage.
One more thing I just thought of, maybe a HTC Shift is what I need.
Anyway thanks for reading.

My week with my advantage
It all started on christmas eve, i bought my advantage off someone on these forums, who got conned into buying an ameo with a blocked imei. Im 17 so i hardly ever call, and when i do its when im out with my K800i. It has been like this since i got my hermes in June. And texts work for me, so its a perfect buy, way cheaper then normal, and probably the best spec of a pda phone there is.
I got it out of the box, and i was actually surprised by the size. I thought it would be bigger, but its not really massive, seeing as i had a hermes. Its probably the same depth as a hermes, and width is about double the hermes, and height is id say about 1cm shorter then the hermes length. And, most importantly, it fits into my school blazer pocket perfectly, so no belt clip.
Straight away, i downloaded the latest athena project rom. I was surprised by the amount of apps cooked in, coming rom hermes where every rom is stripped bare, because of the half size rom.
I fired it up, played around a bit, but i found that even with double the ram, and more then 50% extra processing power, it was the same speed. But thinking about it, this is probably because it has to render double the number of pixels.
I downloaded google maps, tried to get a gps fix, and so far ive been able to get a fix in my house fdrom my bedroom window [5 satellites] and the living room window [3 satellites] i havent been able to when ive been in a car. I got tomtom for it, and the success has been the same. But quick gps does i think speed up getting a fix, but it may just be psychological.
The best app on the rom is id say real vga. The icon are massive on 192 dpi, and when i changed to 96 dpi, at first it was tiny, but now im used to it. Another massive plus is snapvue. The calendar is great and the viewing od new sms at the bottom is excellent. Then only thing wrong with it so far is that the clock never syncs fast. its always approx 10 secs after the normal clock. And, when i turn it on in the morning, it shows the time it was turned off at at night. And by turn off, i mean like screen off, not power down.
Yesterday, i had some trouble with it, when i turned the screen off, it wouldnt turn back on, i had to soft-reset. it did this twice in a row. but since then it hasnt done it.
That is the only problem so far [touch wood] that has caused a soft reset.
Wisbar advance desktop wouldnt work, but now i worked out that 96 dpi is just like qvga? lol. so my old hermes WA2 and WAD themes will work.
Thanks for reading, and i liked your "review" cib911.
x

cib911 - After getting a good case for my Athena (Tough-as-Nuts; it has the same quality as a good holster), I don't even notice its on my belt most of the time. I even have moments where I think I've lost it and reach down to make sure its still there. When I had some cheaper cases in the beginning it was a drag, literally. Especially one that had a swivel belt clip which held it so far from the belt it had leverage to twist the belt outward with each step. But the good case makes it an easy carry-everyday item now.

Hey cib911, I'm gonna assume you flew. Did you use the Advantage on the flight, around 3hours would be my guess. How was the battery life and what were you using it for? music? Movies? Work?
I've been considering one to add to my TyTn / Fujitsu p1510 stable.
thanks

cib911 said:
I’m going to start this off by saying that this is not a review of the AT&T Tilt, the HTC Advantage, or the iPhone. These devices have been reviewed in depth already. This is more of a reflection on my use of the 3 devices mentioned. My primary phone is the AT&T Tilt, my wife uses the iPhone, and I bought a HTC Advantage 2 week ago.
I wanted to see if the Advantage would augment or even replace my laptop and Tilt, like a true convergence device. I mentioned the iPhone because my wife has one, and so I have access to the use of it along with the 2 other HTC devices.
All of the devices mentioned are box stock so to speak. They are locked to AT&T with the exception of the Advantage, which as you know can work on any GSM network, but for me it is used on AT&T’s network.
I was able to use all 3 while on a week’s Christmas vacation trip to Minnesota (I live in Jacksonville, FL.) to see my parents. I transitioned to the Advantage one week prior to leaving to get used to it. It worked as expected, sync’s to my laptop with Vista and Mobile Device Center no problem, as does my Tilt. Connected to AT&T’s network no problem. I was always able to get my e-mails and made and received calls on it, and Bluetooth worked flawlessly. I paired my Jawbone with no problems. The only software problem I encountered with it so far has been with Windows live services. It would fail to sync completely, signing out and then back in repeatedly. I have had zero lock ups and have not had to reset it yet. The GPS worked without a hitch and was able to use it with both Google maps and Live search to navigate. The only problem I can find to fault this device with is the size and weight, but I knew that when I got it. It is not designed to be carried around with you all day. I found myself leaving it in the car or on the desk and checking it throughout the day. I did carry it with me while walking around the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Throughout the whole trip I had excellent network coverage and the high speed 3g worked everywhere I was at. All and all the Advantage did everything it was advertised to do.
While at my parent’s house in Rochester, I also used my Tilt. Once again it worked as it has always been working. The only problem I have with my Tilt is it has a tendency to drop calls while using the Bluetooth headset (Jawbone). This has happened several times and I have read here on these forums that I am not alone with this problem.
To be honest, after using both devices I think the Advantage is at a slight disadvantage. Now, I realize they are meant for two entirely different types of users. I can do everything I need to do on the Tilt. The Advantage can do everything the Tilt can do, and has way more storage. The size, weight, and portability are just too much to work around for me. I must say though, that looking at that nice big VGA screen on the Advantage will spoil you.
I am more than happy with the performance of both devices, as well as the other HTC devices I have used in the past. (AT&T 8525)
Here’s the other point I wanted to make, and why I have mentioned the iPhone. I pay all my bills online, so I needed to be able to log on to my bank as well as other creditors to make payments. Of the 8 online bill paying websites I needed to access, I was only able to complete 3 of the tasks. The websites would not render correctly no matter what changes to the display I made. As a note I use a program called PIE+ by Rensoft, and it works great on my Tilt and the Advantage. I was able to log on and complete the other 5 transactions with the wife’s iPhone, in the Safari browser no problem what so ever. That’s the only thing I like about the iPhone, and it is not enough of a reason to switch to one, she likes that phone and it’s nice, but I prefer the functionality of windows mobile.
I would like to add that I am not a noob, nor am I an expert at using WM6; I learn new stuff about it every day on this site. I thought it might be interesting for someone to read about my experience with these 3 devices, and how they were used in my everyday life.
In conclusion, I would say that for me, the choice clear. I will stay with my Tilt, and possibly find a new home for the Advantage. I don’t know though, it’s like a guilty pleasure to use the Advantage.
One more thing I just thought of, maybe a HTC Shift is what I need.
Anyway thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would try opera. it works on all the sites i do online payments on. i would also try my rom. u'll be spoiled by it and with hardspl u can always return to stock if needed for warrenty.
what i would do is loose the keyboard like i did because of the teksoft fingertouch keyboard included in my rom and use the qwerty layout which is layout 1(ull see on the bottom left hand corner a red square with number. thats used to change layout).
without the keyboard the athena is now close to moto razr thin. but as wide as about 2 razrs side by side.
coming from a hermes i do not have a problem with the size. it fits into my jeans pockets and i love the power of the device. with my rom the device just flies. i can throw everything at it and do anything i want with it.

rorydaredkign said:
It all started on christmas eve, i bought my advantage off someone on these forums, who got conned into buying an ameo with a blocked imei. Im 17 so i hardly ever call, and when i do its when im out with my K800i. It has been like this since i got my hermes in June. And texts work for me, so its a perfect buy, way cheaper then normal, and probably the best spec of a pda phone there is.
I got it out of the box, and i was actually surprised by the size. I thought it would be bigger, but its not really massive, seeing as i had a hermes. Its probably the same depth as a hermes, and width is about double the hermes, and height is id say about 1cm shorter then the hermes length. And, most importantly, it fits into my school blazer pocket perfectly, so no belt clip.
Straight away, i downloaded the latest athena project rom. I was surprised by the amount of apps cooked in, coming rom hermes where every rom is stripped bare, because of the half size rom.
I fired it up, played around a bit, but i found that even with double the ram, and more then 50% extra processing power, it was the same speed. But thinking about it, this is probably because it has to render double the number of pixels.
I downloaded google maps, tried to get a gps fix, and so far ive been able to get a fix in my house fdrom my bedroom window [5 satellites] and the living room window [3 satellites] i havent been able to when ive been in a car. I got tomtom for it, and the success has been the same. But quick gps does i think speed up getting a fix, but it may just be psychological.
The best app on the rom is id say real vga. The icon are massive on 192 dpi, and when i changed to 96 dpi, at first it was tiny, but now im used to it. Another massive plus is snapvue. The calendar is great and the viewing od new sms at the bottom is excellent. Then only thing wrong with it so far is that the clock never syncs fast. its always approx 10 secs after the normal clock. And, when i turn it on in the morning, it shows the time it was turned off at at night. And by turn off, i mean like screen off, not power down.
Yesterday, i had some trouble with it, when i turned the screen off, it wouldnt turn back on, i had to soft-reset. it did this twice in a row. but since then it hasnt done it.
That is the only problem so far [touch wood] that has caused a soft reset.
Wisbar advance desktop wouldnt work, but now i worked out that 96 dpi is just like qvga? lol. so my old hermes WA2 and WAD themes will work.
Thanks for reading, and i liked your "review" cib911.
x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
quick gps is ment to speed up the time for a lock so it isnt ur imagination. i am glad u love my rom and ur device. only comment i have is with the gps i actually get as good signal in my car as out of it.
i use the htc branded case and it sits in between the dashboard and front windshield of my car. it doesnt move around bc of the design of my car and the device with case. it is pretty much stuck in there and wont move no matter what i do with the car yet i can still remove it by hand from that spot.

Hey cib911, I'm gonna assume you flew. Did you use the Advantage on the flight, around 3hours would be my guess. How was the battery life and what were you using it for? music? Movies? Work?
I've been considering one to add to my TyTn / Fujitsu p1510 stable.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I did use it on the flight. 1 hour to ATL. and 2 hours to MSP. The battery held up fine. I haven't put any music or movies on it yet, but played some games. I use it more for e-mail and as a lap top replacement.
i would try opera. it works on all the sites i do online payments on. i would also try my rom. u'll be spoiled by it and with hardspl u can always return to stock if needed for warrenty.
what i would do is loose the keyboard like i did because of the teksoft fingertouch keyboard included in my rom and use the qwerty layout which is layout 1(ull see on the bottom left hand corner a red square with number. thats used to change layout).
without the keyboard the athena is now close to moto razr thin. but as wide as about 2 razrs side by side.
coming from a hermes i do not have a problem with the size. it fits into my jeans pockets and i love the power of the device. with my rom the device just flies. i can throw everything at it and do anything i want with it.
Today 06:27 PM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you mentioned your ROM, I haven't had to courage to try it yet. Don't want to brick it, plus I'm still adding cabs and configuring it. I am thinking about flashing it now though.

cib911 said:
Glad you mentioned your ROM, I haven't had to courage to try it yet. Don't want to brick it, plus I'm still adding cabs and configuring it. I am thinking about flashing it now though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just do it, unlock with Olipro's unlocker (best do all 3 steps) then flash the ROM - you won't regret it and it's almost impossible to brick your device.

Confucious said:
Just do it, unlock with Olipro's unlocker (best do all 3 steps) then flash the ROM - you won't regret it and it's almost impossible to brick your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
olipro is right: his ROM makes a world of difference to the usability of the athena. its a great device but in the end the size just got too much for me. there were also one or two disappointments for me. im an internet addict and found that neither opera nor pie did full enough job for me. i also thought video playback was less than acceptible, with lipsync gradually worsening throughout many films and general playback quality a bit hit and miss. it was possible to convert movies to a format that worked well but this was too much of a trial for me. perhaps i expected too much of the athena's raw power but try copying a video recorded on an N95 (330mhz ARM proocessor) onto the microdrive and playing it with tcpmp or coreplayer and you'll see that the athena was clearly never designed to play movies. this rendered the 8gb of storage a little redundant for me, and it remained pretty empty.
taking its relative spec into account i never thought the device showed itself any more nippy than the hermes. web pages for example rendered around the same speed on both devices, but i get the feeling that's a fault with windows mobile as a whole and not the athena.
overall i loved texting on the athena. there's something about the feel of it (minus the silly keyboard) that i grew fond of, and theres an abundance of really great apps out there, but in the end it never fulfilled my expectations and i felt obliged to sell it before its value depleted further.
if the size doesnt bother you and you're not too bothered about watching movies you'll definitely be sold when you try black touch though. its great, and no doubt it's helped HTC a lot as the stock ROMs are crap. without black touch i would have sold my athena months ago.

Where to after Hermes

My contract runs out next month. I was confident I would go straight onto a Kaiser, but I have just seen the touch cruise !!! decisions decisons
Which way are the ROM cookers going to jump? I have to say the hard work of those guys really brought the best out of my hermes.

there are rom cookers for most of the devices
i would guess the cookers who pref keyboard will go kaiser
and others will go tc

Haha... I think I'd have to get another Hermes if mine ever died.
I don't like the shoddy video performance on the Kaiser, it's also not quite clear to me if the Kaiser can be folded out flat, which is far more useful if you aren't at a desk than the 'pop-up' motion. Also, I use a bluetooth Sirf Star 3, which is infinitely better than the crappy built-in GPS on the Kaiser.

The Kaiser (and my hermes) just seems to be beginning to feel just a little too bulky !

I'm sticking with the Hermes for awhile ...
I'm sticking with my Hermes for awhile too!
1. I already have a Garmin GPS 10 (Bluetooth), so I really don't need the GPS of a Kaiser. I run Garmin Mobile XT (& BeelineGPS) from my SD card, so space isn't an issue either. And this is all more than accurate enough for my Geocaching adventures!
2. I have a 2 gig microSD (soon to be upgraded to 4 or 6 GB), so I really don't need the extra memory of the Kaiser (especially with these memory freeing ROMs - thanks to our ROM Chefs!) Even with my GPS maps, I still have plenty of room on my microSD.
3. I just recently went from carrying a Motorola RAZR, Dell Axim X50v and Bluetooth Keyboard ... to carrying only the AT&T 8525 (a.k.a. Hermes 100). So, I'm still enjoying carrying only 1 device.
4. True it's sort of large, but not as much space as 2 devices. Besides, it's not that bad when I use the leather belt holster or place it in the hidden pocket of my Docker's Mobile pants (part of Docker's premium line - so I can wear them at work). It's small enough that it doesn't bulge out on my leg, so it truly remains hidden!
5. Also, as far as size goes, if the keyboard/thumbboard was any smaller, I think it would loose it usefulness.
6. With all of our cooked ROMs, we're getting all sorts of software-based advantages of newer models. Why pay more $$$ for the same stuff?
Maybe I should be a salesman for HTC?

sbetts000 said:
My contract runs out next month. I was confident I would go straight onto a Kaiser, but I have just seen the touch cruise !!! decisions decisons
Which way are the ROM cookers going to jump? I have to say the hard work of those guys really brought the best out of my hermes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you used your Hermes for video playback and want to continue doing so with your new device then you'd better steer clear of any of HTC's devices using the Qualcomm 7200 and 7500 chipsets!

Why ditch your phone just cause your contract is running out? Pay month to month and keep your Hermes!

I'm in same situation as you. However I'm going to hold out for the sony ericsson x1.

I went into o2 on thursday to see if i wanted to get out a contract for a kaiser.
saw the phone picked it up and the screen was abit loose.. wobbling when flat on the keypad. I had also read about the issues with drivers / choppy graphics and that was the decider.. i walked straight back out and got a hermes, and imo it feels alot better and more secure than the kaiser. so i would wait until they revise the design of the kaiser or something.

I'd have to agree that the few advantages of the Kaiser are not enough for me to trade in my Hermes. The video issues alone are incredibly crippling...I watch alot of video on my Hermes and to have to fight with video drivers on a $600+ device is unforgivable.
The Kaiser does have a 3.0MP camera, but the default camera drivers on HTC phones has always been ****. Cool Camera's software give much more control and was the software that took the photos from my Hermes from looking so-so to being very nice. I could only guess that the Kaiser's camera could only look even better running Cool Camera software on it.
The GPS issue isn't much of an issue for me. I don't use GPS too often, but it would be nice to have it built in rather than to have to get out the Bluetooth unit.
The tilting keyboard I've yet to be able to see as very useful. I don't put my phone on a table and peck away at my keyboard...I hold it and type with my thumbs. However, I could see it as being slick for watching videos.
But even with all that, I don't want to drop all that money for a phone that does the same thing mine does, just slightly better. A tilting keyboard, slightly better camera, and built in GPS simply aren't enough to warrant the cash required for a Tilt.
Even though it is being somewhat of a traitor around here, it was the Kaiser's lack of large enough advancements that caused to pick up an unlocked iPhone rather than a Kaiser. I figured I would have the Hermes with all of its Windows Mobile bad ass-ness, and the iPhone for music and video.
...and then Slide 2 Play with coverflow comes out two weeks later. Go figure. There went my reason for the iPhone. ; )