Universal the best of HTC... what could be better? - JASJAR, XDA Exec, MDA Pro General

Well I constanty watch HTC market and see that PDA phones are getting worser from one side and better from the other. NO VGA Screens, low-end processors, very small screens, but better cameras, HSDPA, 802.11g.
Well a flag-model of HTC I would say Kaiser (TyTN II), which has 240x320 screen at 2.8" while Uni has VGA at 3.6", but Kaiser has a slower processor, very good camera and HSDPA.
Why do they do like this? Kaiser is about 2 times more expensive than Universal in my country, and personally I find it worse (I think PDA shouldn't be so small, I have a classic touchless Smartphone to have phone functionality and SIM slot in Uni I use preferably for 3G Internet functionality).
So now, having so large variety, I chose Universal, a phone from about 2 years ago, instead of newer, more expensive but not better (I think) Kaiser.
Why don't they just release a better version of Uni with better camera, better fascia, and the same features as current one? I think HTC takes wrong way turning from business advanced mobile offices to typically show-off things like HTC Touch (which I found personally MUCH better than iPhone anyway)
Some could say that Athena is the thing I look for. Well, it coulda been the one. Anyway 5" display is a little too much for me, but anyway I shall be buying Athena as it gets a little cheaper, because I think it is the good successor of Universal. But why only this one, and so many compact-small-fingernail-size phones? I think that only touchless Smartphones should be as small and compact - because this is their role.
But HTC must not be wrong, and if compact PDAphones are so popular on the market now, they won't be producing something for ones like me.

Related

The Damn Thing is TOO Fat and Ugly!

Is it just me, or is the Wizard not as good looking as the Magician?
I wish they would give me integrated wireless, WM 5.0, a better bluetooth stack and more ram on the same device.
I really don't need the stupid keyboard. It seems to add quite a bit of thickness.
My .02 cents.
-CoolBeans
I totally agree. Its looks like a cheap and tacky attempt to make something look futuristic.
The Keyboard is really personal preference. I know I will get a ton of use out of that keyboard since I type about 30 emails a day on my phone and it is a logical step for HTC.
The wizard has not yet been branded by O2, Orange etc... these companies will add their own personal cosmetic flavour to the device. Have you seen the pictures of the CDMA version of the wizard? It is a very nice looking device(except for that ugly antenna sticking out)
Orange are going to call it the SPV M600 some info on www.coolsmartphone.com
I wouldn't even consider this device if it didn't have a keyboard. A keyboard is the absolute most important factor in any device I consider. Without a keyboard, I don't even look at it.
I thought the spirit of the Jam/Magician was to have a fairly full featured device in a small form factor.
If you need a keyboard, perhaps you should be looking to the Universal.
I bought a Javo case... thought it was too big. I then got a silicon skin for it and still felt it was too thick. I have now resorted to keeping my Jam naked and it feels just right (all puns intended).
Another 4-5 mm from the Wizard and I might look like I'm happy to see everyone I come across with this thing in my pocket.
It might have been a good thing in my dating days, but I'm married now.
Beleive me, if there were rumors about Sprint carrying the Universal, I would be getting one for sure. I'm only considering the Apache because I know I can get one within the next couple months.
Well, I guess I would probably get an Apache for my wife either way. But I would definitely get the Universal for myself. But as it stands right now, it's going to be 2 Apaches, 1 for me and 1 for the wife.
There are no rumors of a CDMA Universal, so there are definitely no rumors of my carrier (Sprint) offering a CDMA Universal. I'm locked into a contract with Sprint, so I can't just leave them. And besides, here in the USA there are only 2 3G networks at the moment, Sprint and Verizon. And both are CDMA (EVDO) so it would have to be a CDMA device for me to get it.
I won't consider it without a keyboard, but I won't buy it unless I can have broadband Internet on it.
I seem to be in the minoriy here, but I don't find the Wizard all that bad in terms of its shape/size/design.
I think first and foremost we need to be focused on FUNCTION, not form. HTC could have made something that looks fantastic and not do anything.
When looking at the side-by-side comparisons of the thickness of the device against the Magician, the extra thickness was necessary to add the slide-out keyboard feature. This is a feature that, IMHO, is well worth the extra thickness. When holding a device in one's hand, thickness is the dimension that's least noticible. I'd rather a device that's a bit thicker than wider or longer.
Couple the slide-out keyboard with WM5, WiFi, more internal memory, and approx. the same width/height as the Magician, and I'm sold.
While I agree it doesn't look "great", its far from ugly. Thickness? Please, it's still overall smaller than a Nokia 6600 and compared to the Magician the extra thickness is only half a centimeter... oh no!
I would have preferred that they went with a more professional look rather than this "styled" look. I'm glad to see that they keyboard is backlit - all the photos so far (except for the ones on the .nl site) haven't shown this.
I think I'll be getting the Wizard over the Apache simply because of the aerial. I'm not too fussed about the slower speed, but an external aerial would annoy me.
I agree.
All I wanted was a thinner JAM with wifi. I don't need a keyboard with my pdaphone. If i did, i would be going for the Universal, the Treo, a Sidekick or some HP device... :roll:
The JAM's design is elegant and functional. The Wizard's design isn't elegant, even though it may be very functional. (the Galaxy looked like my perfect pdaphone, until I realised it wasn't one... ) :lol:
Here's hoping that HTC will bring out a true succcessor to the minimalist JAM.
Come on, its got all these extra features and its only 0.5 cm thicker... thats this much: --
Oh my, how will we ever lug this extra size around! ;p
Guys, you're all missing the point!
The show stopper here is the processor: TI OMAP 850!
WTF :shock:
DEFINITE step down from Magician
Also v bad:
Mini-SD and 320x240
As has already been discussed - its a dual core processor which should help somewhat AND since it has a low clock rate this will help save battery life.
This isnt meant to be an "uber" PDA, its meant to be a small phone that can do the tasks of a PDA. If you want something faster, then you're going to have to get the Universal which is also bigger and has a VGA screen.
Whats the problem with MiniSD other than having to buy a new card? I needed to get a new SD card anyway... so I guess this is another non-issue for me
"Unfortunately, it will be considerably slower. While the OMAP does combine seperate processors for phone and PDA functionality, at the end of the day it is just a 195MHz ARM processor (as found in PDAs from years ago) - it's not even Xscale. " Guess who wrote that?! :shock: Dumbass
VGA would have been nice, but I agree, small screen.
SD card capacity is better than Mini-SD, 4Gb vs 1Gb at the moment.
Most people will not want to ditch their exisiting SD cards either, from their Himalayas, Blue Angels, Alpines, Andes, Magicians!
Squuiid said:
"Unfortunately, it will be considerably slower. While the OMAP does combine seperate processors for phone and PDA functionality, at the end of the day it is just a 195MHz ARM processor (as found in PDAs from years ago) - it's not even Xscale. " Guess who wrote that?! :shock: Dumbass
VGA would have been nice, but I agree, small screen.
SD card capacity is better than Mini-SD, 4Gb vs 1Gb at the moment.
Most people will not want to ditch their exisiting SD cards either, from their Himalayas, Blue Angels, Alpines, Andes, Magicians!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fail to see why I am a "dumbass". It will be considerably slower than a 400MHz Xscale processor, but the fact that its dual core will help it out. I see no contradiction between those two statements.
As for the SD cards - theres always eBay to sell your old ones on
Try learning some etiquette before posting on forums.
http://www.pocketpc-club.nl/contentimages/qtek9100_preview/2.jpg
Tell me that aint thicker...
This thing is thicker and uglier than all 4 of your mothers teeth! :lol:
Here's a picture of ugly right here, next to a much more elegant JAM.
http://www.pocketpc-club.nl/contentimages/qtek9100_preview/1.jpg
Haha, look at the buttons! This phone is for suckers.
Here's a picture of ugly right here, next to a much more elegant JAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotta admit it DOES look as if its scowling at me when put next to the magician
Cant really see why people are getting so personal in their insults and defences about this phone tho .... when it comes down to it the phone hasnt actually been in anybodys hands yet so until some brave soul actually goes out and gets one its all just conjecture
is anyone else here disappointed with the lack of choice at the moment? its either the Universal or Wizard and each one for me has serious drawbacks: universal is tri band with no high speed option for the US, wizard has miniSD ( i currently have over 1GB of data on mine.) The BA design has everything and just needs EDGE for US and 3G for Europe, improved camera, WM5.
This thread has become more like a voting place for the Wizzard.....With valuable infos though..... :wink:
Now CoolBeans....
I would advice that u edit ur post and add a Poll,this way everybody can say his opinion without the need to post....(althought above posts were really helpfull..).Still,post will always be welcomed.... :wink:
Oh,btw,I would vote for..."I love it"...
Greetings...
RAGO :lol:
efjay said:
is anyone else here disappointed with the lack of choice at the moment? its either the Universal or Wizard and each one for me has serious drawbacks: universal is tri band with no high speed option for the US, wizard has miniSD ( i currently have over 1GB of data on mine.) The BA design has everything and just needs EDGE for US and 3G for Europe, improved camera, WM5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there are the HP IPAQ 6515 (and the future 6715 which has WiFi and WM 5.0). Plus the new Motorolla Q so there are others out there coming out soon.

what are people moving on to?

The Universal has severed me well for several years, but I feel that there must be something newer, shiner out there.
(I basically want a new toy)
I love having a proper keyboard, the ability to open word/excel files as well as web browsing and email.
Any recommendations
Ash
I got an XDA Orbit - but still keep going back to my Exec. It may be bulky but I still love the flexibility of it.
Take a look at HTC Athena or HTC Shift, its bulky but a step up indeed.
I'm not moving on, the Uni is still the best IMHO. No other phone has a full keyboard (including number buttons), VGA screen, normal sized SD card slot, 3.5mm headphone socket, 3G, and massive extended batteries of over 5000mAH. The Athena is not counted, since you need a headset or speakerphone to use it as a "phone", which I find too inconvenient.
I will not upgrade until a phone comes out which has most if not all of the above features.
I upgraded to O2 XDA Atom Life a couple of weeks ago. I never used the keyboard of universal, so, being keyboardless on atom life does not hurts. 1gb rom is a big plus. I've stored everything on my device(including a 600mb movie too ). Its fast(624MHZ) too. Its qvga, but, at 2.8', it looks sweet. And hey, its beautiful from outside too
Overall, a happy guy. Impressed with quanta's hardware quality too.
edit: here is the review of it on my website
http://gadgetmix.com/reviews/atomlife/atomlife.htm
Kaiser - the HSDPA and GPS nearly makes up for the lack of VGA screen and full number row.
Surur
I'm upgraing to... The universal! Yep apart from going to the athena which i dont have the money for nothing compares to the Universal. Must admit the Kaiser did appeal to me but with it's GPS chip, but a 400 Mhz processor and QVGA persuaded me to that the Uni was better. Now if HTC was to put a GPS chip in the Uni? It'd be perfect and have everything.
Psi
when is the omni expected? any news?

Touch HD, best phone yet.... no more :(

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/product/3G/931sh/#specs
it's in japanese. but the jist of it:
3.8 inch, 1024x 480 HXGA, 3g, gps, 5.2 mpix camera with auto focus with IMAGE STABLIZER, accelerometer, and built-in TV tuner.
Hmmm... I think not, just one of those cheap Japanese junk gadgets. Ever heard of Aquos before? Also its not WM. The HD lives on the be the victor!!
next?
buggybug0 said:
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/product/3G/931sh/#specs
it's in japanese. but the jist of it:
3.8 inch, 1024x 480 HXGA, 3g, gps, 5.2 mpix camera with auto focus with IMAGE STABLIZER, accelerometer, and built-in TV tuner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it even a windows mobile phone?
And if it was that good, it would have had an 8x analog zoom lens and a processor with the speed of an Atom....
Sadly these phones will never leave Asia...
mwatson said:
Hmmm... I think not, just one of those cheap Japanese junk gadgets. Ever heard of Aquos before? Also its not WM. The HD lives on the be the victor!!
next?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The website did mention (at the bottom of the first of the four tabs) something about microsoft corporation registered trade mark, not sure if it was referring to the OS or something else related to media.
but umm.. you never heard of Aquos?!?!?! shame on you they are the premiere brand in LCD and LCD TV!!!!!!!!!! Sharp Aquos is like one of the top brand LCD/Plasma TV there is. Their LCD quality is second to none.. well may be Sony's up there. but you know what i mean.
samsung make all the screens though lol!
SOFTBANK 931SH from Sharp Corporation.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ACCESS-NetFront-Browser-Widgets-Empower/story.aspx?guid={6E244C97-43E9-4628-8633-FD5EA19925C0}
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?p=33382614#post33382614
mwatson said:
Hmmm... I think not, just one of those cheap Japanese junk gadgets. Ever heard of Aquos before? Also its not WM. The HD lives on the be the victor!!
next?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be right, I was ripped off before buying cheap Japanese mobile from eBay and did not last 6 month before stop working.. I will not pay a penny to buy those phone, stick to the brand you know... like Htc, Sony etc..
Yeah, truly a great phone...not. Design so yesterday...and Sharp...lousiest customer service ever.
Not even close to beating the HD! No WM...LOL
Sure, it has higher resolution but software wise, no comparison...
This phone as I realized from the promotion video is targeted strictly to japanese audience...
It's SOOO japanese... I'm not worried at all, blackstone still the best
Here's another article of the phone...
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/30/softbank-introduces-sharp-aquos-fulltouch-slider-with-quasi-xga/
it would be better if the sliding keyboard were horizontal instead of verticle like that. also, if it was qwerty, not number keys.
now that more information came out. it looks like it doesn't have WM. i don't feel too bad about my touch hd pre-order. but i am very very interested to see how the aquos LCD performs on that phone... at that resolution. i guess we can't have the best of both worlds. and besides dont' think it will ever make it out of japan.
mwatson said:
cheap Japanese junk gadgets
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol just thought of something based on your comment, made in japan vs. made in china, ummm..
HD still better!
Screen size!!!, etc
This one is not WM at all!
man this thing owns itself. I would rather have no keyboard at all than that keyboard. The only big deal thing is the resolution, which is slightly higher than the HD, BIG DEAL
It's the whole package that counts
Sorry guys but I think that the HD is probably the best device we are about to see using WM since this operating system does not support resolutions greater than WVGA.WM at firrst wouldn't even support WVGA, it could only go up to VGA, and they reeeeally tried to make it work for both HD AND Xperia (yes, since SE is new to WM the whole project was made real by HTC, which of course tells us something more about the quality of HD and its superiority over SE, even though I admit that I find SE environment more usable than TF3D).
I don't really know if the resolution restriction is going to be surpassed with WM 7. If not the only area of improvement is going to be the processor (and not THAT much since huge batteries will then be a must), and the touch screen responsivness (let's admit it, iPhone may be useless as a machine but it's responsivness is just out of this world).
If you wanted to look at screen resolution alone, Japanese phones have had 854x480 "16:9 widescreen" displays for years now, with a handful of them touchscreen capable.
But everything else (no WM, Japan-only features, numeric keypad instead of qwerty keyboard, etc) only makes sense inside the Japanese cellphone market. Anywhere outside of Japan and those phones are always lackluster.
Put it differently: if people consider the iPhone and HTC's WM devices to be in two completely different markets, then Japanese phones fall under their own category, so of course there's no comparison.
Can't understand the hyping about the Touch HD.
For me it is just a bigger version of the Touch Diamond....
And also it is really questionable whether the digicam is better or even worse compared to the one of a touch pro.
Otherwise i can't see new hardware.
Optimized software.
Nothing mindblowing.
EAPOCS said:
Can't understand the hyping about the Touch HD.
For me it is just a bigger version of the Touch Diamond....
And also it is really questionable whether the digicam is better or even worse compared to the one of a touch pro.
Otherwise i can't see new hardware.
Optimized software.
Nothing mindblowing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC broke a lot of ground with the Diamond, but a lot of users have had complaints about some of the Diamond's limitations. The HD arguably picks up where the Diamond left off. Namely:
- More memory.
- MicroSD card slot (currently up to 16gb).
- Larger standard battery.
- 3.5mm headphone jack.
Other points are debatable (whether you really need 800x480, 5mp camera, etc), but they're certainly not worse than the Diamond.
EAPOCS said:
Can't understand the hyping about the Touch HD.
For me it is just a bigger version of the Touch Diamond....
And also it is really questionable whether the digicam is better or even worse compared to the one of a touch pro.
Otherwise i can't see new hardware.
Optimized software.
Nothing mindblowing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Hype is not because it's a bigger version of the Touch Diamond, but because in the first time in many years HTC does a phone with a screen bigger than 2.8", VGA and a little more affordable. I know that HTC has even one model with 3.5" and several bigger than 3.5" but those don't count cause they are a lot bigger, heavier and a lot more expansive.

Are these a good buy?

I am thinking of upgrading from my Wizard, its a little slow on some aps (eg Opera) and doesn't have 3G. Are the Jades a good choice? Any others to consider?
The things I need are Windows mobile, 3G, WiFi and bluetooth. The GPS built in would be great as I wouldn't need to use a bluetooth one for MemoryMap, etc.
Also what price should I be able to get these for (in £)?
Looks pretty good, but....
I just picked up an Orange branded version, which to be fair could do with having the standard HTC Rom installed.
Pros are: I got this one for £150 (saw one go on ebay for £137) which I think is a good price for a phone PDA with the most current OS. Its SMALL, easily pocketable. Has a lot of good features and hi speed internet
Cons: I dont like the buttons much, and think that QVGA is a little poor for this day and age, no tilt sensor, only on screen keyboard and people do moan about the battery life.
As always, its depends what you want, I have a Touch Pro and a Kaiser, so am biased towards the keyboard models, but if its dinky you want, this could be the one.
Hope this helps...
MS
The Kaiser looks interesting, however I rarely used the keyboard on the Wizard. Presumably the Jade is also a tad faster.
Jade is fast. Also no hotfixes on offer in support section of htc website: there are already two for the new diamond.
i have both, Wizard and Jade.
Jade is thin, fast and good looking and the build in GPS is a major improvement.
I pimped the good ol' wizard with WM 6.1 ROM (hubby is using it), and i must admit.....it performs above expectations, though it looks like a refrigerator next to Jade.

Replacing the Universal

I broke my universal and have been using a Nokia N95 since. I prefer everything about the Universal except for the camera - the Nokia has rather spoilt me there. But the exchange clients I have tried are hopeless and so many of the other problems and annoyances mean the N95 has to go. So, to replace the N95, I've got two candidates:
Acer M900. these are cheap - £160 or thereabouts and offers me a keyboard, 5MP camera and WVGA screen. I'm guessing the lens is not a patch on the Nokia but hopefully is still "good enough"
Omnia Pro II b7620- the new one coming out in the qwerty slider form factor. I expect the camera to be comparable to the Nokia but the price to be double that of the Acer.
Or I could get another Universal.
Has anyone got any opinions on what I'd hate about the M900 or Omnia? I really, really want a proper QWERTY keyboard and a stylus and will use it largely for Exchange/Outlook, RDP, web. FWIW, the few websites I use a lot render really well in Pocket IE one column mode so I don't much care about browsers if I can still use PIE. Yeah, I know, I'm a freak
I've yet to see a really good camera on an HTC-branded device so that kind of puts me off the Touch Pro 2 (is it any better than the M900 for twice the price?). I can tolerate this on a £200 device but not on a £300+ 'phone.
I'm guessing "XDA-Dev" type independent support of Samsung and Acer devices is somewhat limited. Any gotchas I should know about?
looking in more depth, the Touch Pro 2 is in every tangible way superior to the Acer (extra row of keys for numbers, video out, slightly smaller and lighter, angled screen, 3.5mm audio jack, etc)
I guess I want the Omnia to be launched double quick, reviewed and priced low
Coming from Universal is very difficult to find a decent replacement.
I have buyed recently a TP2 and I can say that is the most closer device to be a real successor
However screen and keyboard are much better on our Uni´s.
Go for TP2 it´s a great device
Screen on the Omnia is OLED and supposed to be fantastic - and the camera should give the Nokia a run for its money I understand. I guess I need to try one, but fixing/replacing the XDA Exec sounds like it may be the best option. I guess I need to find a camera as good as the nokia that's conveniently small such it can always live in a pocket (or better, wallet)

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