Database Users

Which would suit me better? htc touch hd vs iphone

THIS IS A THREAD FOR CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK AND UNBIASED OPINIONS. IF IT DOESN'T APPLY TO YOU, PLEASE HIT "BACK".
Hi, im currently waiting for the Touch HD, but the past few days have posed many questions with much criticism going on about HTC's new flagship product. This has brought up the idea again, whether i should go for the iphone. Im no fan boy and i would value anything thats factual and unbiased.
this are my most important needs for the phone off the hat, in order of importance.
1) text messaging. i need a good keypad to message and such. i know the touch hd uses a resistive and the iphone a capacitive. but bearing in mind that the resistive screen used by the touch hd is by far the best, is it really far of from the iphone? If the apple gets a score of 100%, what would the touch hd's touch screen get?
(i sorta do MMS messaging at times too)
2) web browsing, the easy of web browsing is kinda important. less the navigation but more of page viewing. this is where the 3.8" screen comes as a huge plus. i know navigation on the iphone is more user friendly, but in terms of amt of information in a scree, is the touch hd much better?
3) videos. just one question, can the touch hd watch SMOOTH and CLEAR videos with the correct codes and resolution(reasonable size please)?
4) extra stuffs. i know that WM has many 3rd party software out there, much more than the iphone. ignoring the design and such, does the boundless quantity of software provide sufficiently functionality as compared to what the app store offers?
5) the occasional picture. iphone or touch hd? in terms of speed and quality.
Edit: I do have tons of time on my hands to tweak the Touch HD to my liking and such. lol.
(Just gotta wait for it to be out in Singapore...)
Note: I dont appreciate flaming nor do i feel i deserve any :/

Look up in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=443504
1) no answer cos I dont have my HD yet
2) same as 1)
3) use Core Player v1.2.5 and it will work out of the box
4) Absolutely...Wait another month and you will find plenty of stuff exclusively for the HD. Thats xda any people in here are outstanding
Hope could at least help a little.
Ascenca

Sounds like the HD will be more up your street.
I think you'll probably get bored of the iphone interface after a while (with the HD you'll be able to customise and tailor it to your needs)
I'm waiting for my HD to be delivered within the next 2 days (fingers crossed), but according to the slashgear review, the HD has the best resistive touch screen available (almost on par with the iphone).
The touch experience is extended over to Opera so should make web browsing a doddle.
Plus you can play high res div-x videos smoothly - not sure about other formats.
Here's the review - http://www.slashgear.com/htc-touch-hd-slashgear-review-part-2-0721942/
With respect to camera quality - it'll have to be the HD as you've got a 5MP camera (i know pixel resolution isn't the only factor for measuring quality but it has to beat the iphones 2mp) plus you'll also get more options on how you want to capture images not to mention the video recording ability.
Hope that helps !

I've had both (got the first iPhone when it came out in the US and got rid of it a month later for various reasons - mainly things that it just didn't do well or at all that I really need from a phone) - but I was struck with the UI and how good it was (the capacitive touchscreen I guess basically and how polished the visuals were supporting it)
Anyway, I've never really understood this ludicrous 'fan' loyalty mentality [over EITHER brand]- it's an effing phone, it's not like a member of my close family make them or anything.........anyway....I digress....I can't answer all your questions, as one or 2 are a little technical and require more detail than I can provide I tihnk - plus I've only had the HD a few days and so I've not managed to try certain things (will try video in a sec though
1. Txt messaging .... '=IF IPHONE=100%,TOUCH_HD=97%,IMO' ;-) (seriously - it's v. good, I think so anyway)
2. Screen 'volume' browsing advantage - it tips a little in favour of the HD for obvious reasons - not much in it really though - definintion is fantastic on the HD
Jumping to 5. The HD just gets it I think - speed is about the same IIRC but the screen definition on the HD blows the iphone away (and anything else I've seen quite frankly, including the diamond, if only because it has a smaller version of the same screen and was a bit flickery on the brightness)
HTH
FWIW - I really do like the iphone...but.....it just lets itself down badly on several points for me at this stage - it may get to the point in a couple of gen's time where it becomes a contender for me again - but IF I can get ANDROID onto my HD [oh please oh please oh please....] ....I feel the bar will be set waaaaay up high - too high in fact!

so the touch HD can be said to be more "open sourced", especially with lots more apps and such out there?

Stelixus said:
so the touch HD can be said to be more "open sourced", especially with lots more apps and such out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh certainly. But not just the apps, also the ROMs, radios, unlockers, SPLs and all the other stuff the geniuses here dabble in.
One more factor to think about is the actual time and energy you want to spend on your phone. Buying the HD (or any WM phone) and participating in XDA-Devs is a dangerous recipe. Most people I see on here (myself included) don't just set up their phones and live happily ever after. It is a never-ending and frustratingly enjoyable experience trying to make the phone work exactly like you want it to.
The iphone on the other hand, just works. But probably not exactly like you want it to

Having owned both... (well still owning HD now and it's a keeper so yes I am slightly biased):
Stelixus said:
1) text messaging. i need a good keypad to message and such. i know the touch hd uses a resistive and the iphone a capacitive. but bearing in mind that the resistive screen used by the touch hd is by far the best, is it really far of from the iphone? If the apple gets a score of 100%, what would the touch hd's touch screen get?
(i sorta do MMS messaging at times too)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For typing, the differences between any touchscreen become much smaller as all you do is press your finger down on an area contrary to sliding and brushing and such. The HD types better in that regard as there is more keyboard options (I really dig suretype) and even on similar keyboards (qwerty) the HD utilizes the additional screen height with some additional controls.
To answer the other question: well both screens are 100% to me, maybe the HD is 98%... The differences in responsiveness are so damn small I can barely tell. Behaves a little differently though, mostly depending on UI differences, not screen differences. But the HD has a sharper, cleaner presentation and both UIs are very good, so I prefer the HD, by a small margin.
Stelixus said:
2) web browsing, the easy of web browsing is kinda important. less the navigation but more of page viewing. this is where the 3.8" screen comes as a huge plus. i know navigation on the iphone is more user friendly, but in terms of amt of information in a scree, is the touch hd much better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HD hands down. The huge screen and high sharpness are all major criteria for me, and this is mainly why I chose the HD (and why it has its name ). Navigation on the iPhone is barely more user friendly, multitouch is nice for pictures but annoying/overrated for browsing... I really prefer the doubletap.
There is not much more information on the HD screen as only the widescreen factor gets you more info, but because of the super resolution it is a lot sharper and thus you don't need to zoom in as much to get readible pages. In fact, I do global reading/site skimming without zooming in at all. Iphone won't let you do that as easily.
Stelixus said:
3) videos. just one question, can the touch hd watch SMOOTH and CLEAR videos with the correct codes and resolution(reasonable size please)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I watch DivX mostly on it, using 800MB and 1,5GB files. I use coreplayer, perfect for me... I don't do benchmarks so I can't tell you the scientific performance, but if I see razor sharp 800*480 and smooth playback movies with super fast seeking, I'm happy.
Stelixus said:
4) extra stuffs. i know that WM has many 3rd party software out there, much more than the iphone. ignoring the design and such, does the boundless quantity of software provide sufficiently functionality as compared to what the app store offers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would not let the WinMo platform cloud judgement here. The Apple App Store is huge and only getting bigger each day, it's got great developer support. Don't buy into WinMo because of applications. IPhone has got apps for anything you need, just like WinMo, biggest difference is that WinMo has 10 apps for anything you need, so you got more choice
However, WinMo is much, much MUCH more customizable. Like I said WinMo has 10 apps for each IPHone 1 app, well it's like you got 10 OS versions contrary to 1 as well... WinMo is a broad term and IPhone OS is always the same damn thing, and all these kids got the same apps on their phones
Stelixus said:
5) the occasional picture. iphone or touch hd? in terms of speed and quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC, Apple, Blackberry... Don't buy these brands for good camera, but yes, occasional picture, it's fine. You get the same quality from an IPhone and a HD, but the HD picture is much bigger (5MP contrary to 2MP), but sensor quality does not differ much.
But... Here comes WinMo again... Of course the HD camera lets you do 10 times as much as an IPhone cam, making it more suitable for the occasional picture.

larsuck said:
The iphone on the other hand, just works. But probably not exactly like you want it to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True for the most part, well, it works ... But many software updates were required to get there Bad call reception (still an issue), locked OS features because they simply weren't ready yet, temporary freezes, lockups, horrible battery life.... It reminds us that Apple phones are made by the same mere mortals that would make any other phone

and most imporant of all, with HD you have Voice Command available. There is nothing even remotely close on Iphone i have htc x7500 and iphone. HD coming tommorow

opinions

i currently have a kaiser and have being due an upgrade for my o2 staff account for i dont know how long, soooo should i get the x1 its all they can offer me being staff in the line of harware keyboard win mo devices, the o2 xda serra is not yet available to staff i know i can get a better price elsewhere but with my staff account i get cheep bills
So whats it like to use?
is the camera anygood?
and do any emulaters work (i.e. snes, nes, megadrive, psx?)
is the keyboard any good?
thanks i know this is subject to your opinions and you will likely say its great as you own them but i will take all answers with a pinch of salt
btw im due an upgrade on wifes orange in a month maybe the Blackstone? or should i wait for (serra) raphael on o2?

anyone any advice
?

Man read some reviews!
I mean how can I answer??

Hi thanks for replying but i have read reviews but just wondered how people were finding the device now the oww look at this shiny new sony erricson phone phase has worn off........
and most reviews at best compare it to other s/e phones and i know its better than there other smart or regular phones, im a big winmo fan and am looking for a new toy but not sure wanted an idea of someone who has had long term experience non of the reviews state if it runs certain emu's and comparing camera to other phones it will lose due to winmo's lack of decent camera software so if anyone would like to contribute anything of value to this thread?

the only thing that realy sux is the UI. i'd rather had a builtin Touchflo or similar since the manual installed ones have some issues. panels are useless
hardwarewise, great phone.

thanks for the reply
ive done a search about emulators to no success does anyone know which ones work if any?

they all work if u use WVGA fix. but u not goign to be happy with a half used WVGA screen.
beside that, the lack of a keypad makes using an Emu pretty usless since we dont have multitouch

You see, here we start again.
As achmed20 hates panels, I just love them and IMO Touchflo is a crap compared to SE Panels functionality...

i don't hate them! the available panels are all somewhat useless.
media panel and mobileshell are the only useable ones. and i personaly love the media panel. which the whole phone had this UI
the SE panels itself are just useless. Today screen gives somewhat more info then those 2 (well its just 1 basicly)
guess i realy have to code my own shell

but most of the emu's i use auto scale and buttons can be mapped to keyboard (i.e. wasd) thats what i do on my kaiser all the emu's except ps, would display full screen with vga on previous (universal athena) but would not work properly (ie screen rotation, button mapping) so yes the programs will work but if button mapping dosent there is a problem
and as for panels i would probably just disable them if i didnt like them so thats not a problem.

in my experience, the x1 is miles better than the kaiser but not in any groundbreaking ways - it's still winmo 6.1 underneath. it feels more like a normal phone rather than the brick i was used to carrying around. also, it's much snappier. menus and changing orientation is much faster.
i've basically set my x1 up so that it works in exactly the same way as my kaiser (htc home, etc) but it is much more responsive.
it's nice to have panels so that i can run tf3d at the weekend when i don't need access to the familiar elements of the today screen.
other big plusses for me are :
the built-in radio. i use this much more than i thought i would.
the standard headphone socket. not having to look for and worry about the adaptor has made a big difference to me. i use my phone for music a lot more than i used to.
so, basically it's a smaller, faster version of the kaiser for me with a few added bells and whistles.

"is the camera anygood?"
i've never found a cmos camera chip (the ones used in all webcams and phones) to be
any good compared to ccd which is the type used in real digi cams
the colours are never real right
the sensitivity to both dim and light is poor
the time from you press to the picture is taken is too long people go home and when it fires
you're alone and the party is finished ...
but thats not an x1 thing
imho it's the case of all cameras in phones
"and do any emulaters work (i.e. snes, nes, megadrive, psx?)"
they would but some may require wvga fix program to get a res they support
"is the keyboard any good?"
well 10 finger is not really an option as it dont react to 2 press's at once
again this goes for all hardware keyboards not just x1
but the keyboard works fine for my needs

cool well im still not too sure just being looking at the new toshiba winmo phone with a 1GHZ cpu and its so slim and has a nice large screen.. but can i wait for the release in the summer??

If you're after even a half decent camera i'd stay away from the X1. I found the camera to be absolutly useless. The 'flash' is more of a light, and picture quality is very poor. I went from an N82 which has a pretty good camera and xenon flash.

yeah i realy whisch they included the 3.2 Camer out of the K800i. dam that camera did amazing fotos considering it was just a Phone and 3.2 mp.
the 3.2MP processing unit is part of the qualcomm CPU (might be wrong). but that would explain why realy every winmopho creates such ugly pictures.
but to be fair, under daylight conditions the fotos are realy OK.but fear the darkness
my personal reason for teh X1 was the keyboard and the metal look. otherwise i would take the TouchHD (screenwise)

achmed20 said:
the available panels are all somewhat useless.
media panel and mobileshell are the only useable ones. and i personaly love the media panel. which the whole phone had this UI
the SE panels itself are just useless. Today screen gives somewhat more info then those 2 (well its just 1 basicly)
guess i realy have to code my own shell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well actually SE Panels contain just anything I want and collect all the needed apps plus calendar etc. They're highly useful... In opposition to other solutions!

nope! not realy (for me).
what i realy like about touchflo is:
i can read SMS messages directly on screen without opening something (MUST have for me)
way nicer favourites (people)
easy fav application adding and browsing
the Album (even thought it barely works for me)
teh Web panel
the MP3 panel
its basicly like the Panel idea from SE but way better and easier to access.
1 touch, here we go web browsing
another touch, lets view some pictures
yet another touch, and scroll through your fav apps/people

achmed20 said:
nope! not realy (for me).
what i realy like about touchflo is:
i can read SMS messages directly on screen without opening something (MUST have for me)
way nicer favourites (people)
easy fav application adding and browsing
the Album (even thought it barely works for me)
teh Web panel
the MP3 panel
its basicly like the Panel idea from SE but way better and easier to access.
1 touch, here we go web browsing
another touch, lets view some pictures
yet another touch, and scroll through your fav apps/people
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, exactly great for not-so-heavy usage.
If you really extensivley use some apps it's better to go to them directly.
And ONSCREEN of SE panel you can have just any app with one click, what is easier??
Anyway, always an individual pattern!

maybe also a "Function follows style" question

i've never found a cmos camera chip (the ones used in all webcams and phones) to be
any good compared to ccd which is the type used in real digi cams
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
careful there - I'm a semi pro photographer and I own two Canon DSLRs (a 20D and a 5D) and they BOTH use CMOS sensors, as do the new top line Nikons. The 5D is right up there near the top of the image quality tree.
It's more a size of sensor / cheap hardware issue than whether it's CCD or CMOS.
regardless of the above, the camera on the Kaiser is truly awful. Really, really bad. The X1 is a lot better (i may actually keep some of the pics I take on this one!) but still not amazing.
back on topic, I've gone from Kaiser to X1 find the X1 much better to use. I like the panels, although they could be a bit quicker, the call quality is really good compared to so-so on the Kaiser I had, GPS works better and the screen is fantastic. Plus it's smaller and lighter - more like a phone to hold. The keyboard is not for the large of finger though which may or may not be an issue for you. Battery life is better than my Kaiser had too, although I'm really comparing an 18 month old battery to a new one there.....
I like the optical pad as well, once you get used to it it's great. Oh and surfing using Opera is much better than it was with the lower res screen of the Kaiser.
One thing that DOES annoy me on the X1 is the slow video playback at full resolution (i've got to try the new converter out yet). AND the device occasionally locks up for no reason, but it's rare.
btw I loved my Kaiser (my wife has it now) but the X1 is newer, higher spec and generally better in most areas (in MY opinion, that is!)
HTH....

HD Review very poor

I can't believe how wrong and uninformed this Australian review of the HTC HD.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/digit...ew-htc-touch-hd/2009/02/07/1233423551702.html
It is just weird, I can only explain it as just ignorant, but just astonishing seeming that it comes from a 'professional reviewer'.
Maybe the easiest way to describe it is just total BS:
TheAge - Newspaper Melbourne said:
Review: HTC Touch HD smart phone
Nick Ross
February 9, 2009
The HTC Touch HD
HTC TOUCH HD
Price $1499 or $62 per month
Rating 2.5/5
www.telstra.com.au
HTC specialises in smartphones based on the Windows Mobile system. This is designed around stylus-based navigation but HTC developed TouchFlo 3D - a finger-friendly way of prodding the main features. It was sluggish on HTC's Touch Diamond but speedy on the Touch 3G. HD rivals the latter but occasionally lags.
Straight away it hits problems. TouchFlo is helpful on small phones but HTC has simply added a larger screen and that's it. For instance, when you add a calendar entry, the top right 1cm of the screen has six different buttons while the rest of the screen is virtually empty. This occurrence is all too common.
HTC points out that the large (9.7cm) high-res screen is great for pictures, video and music. But zooming and flicking through pictures and albums isn't nearly as smooth as the iPhone. Videos look good but you're constantly expected to get them by following numerous links to BigPond-Foxtel downloads, which demand yet more money. GPS is included but you'll again have to pay to use it when WhereIs Navigator becomes available next month.
The onscreen keyboard rivals the iPhone's but the HD's Opera web browser doesn't zoom or pan nearly as well. Where it does pull away is with its superior 5-megapixel camera and superb battery life, which manages seven hours talk time. It only requires charging after three days compared with the iPhone's one-and-a-bit. We liked the inclusion of a standard headphone jack too.
So who should buy it? It's hugely expensive, locked to Telstra and costs even more to get the best from it. Typing is much faster with keyboard-equipped phones such as BlackBerrys and Palm's Treo Pro.
Pictures and web browsing are more fun on the iPhone.
If you're a rich executive who doesn't do much work with their phone but needs the potential of Windows Mobile, it's ideal.
If not, look elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Dumbasses, almost sounds like they never even tried the phone, just looked at the spec sheet. The one area they praise (the camera) is clearly the worst part, but because it's 5 megapixel they assume it's better.

This guy's opinion should simply be ignored. He does'nt even know what to look for. He probably just used his phone only to listen to music and play game, and does not use as GPS software; does not open/create/edit office documents, and does not use the device much during the day (hence never experience the need to change battery in the middle of the day).
And yes, I think he probably did'nt really try out the phone. Else he would have discovered that the camera does not perform well indoor in poor light or the fact that it does not have flash.
And, he probably did not bring it outdoor and noticed how incredibly easy it is to read the screen under strong sunlight. If he had, he was probably unaware how strikingly good the display is, or may be he is too iPhone biased to want to mention it.
No mention of the fact that this has FM radio, something iPhone owners would love to have, give the choice.
To sum it up, this is an extremely shallow and biased "review" (if you even call that a review).

The Age is full of idiots. You know he doesn't know anything as soon as he called the camera "superior"

Yes, he can't possible have tried the camera, it completely sucks.
I think he's not that wrong with his points after all, if you are a "normal" phone user, you will find the touchflow 3D laggish sometimes, you will find the phone hard to use and so on.. it's because it's simply not a suitable device for those who want's what the iphone delivers. He doesn't mention all the things that are possible to do with the device that iphone lacks, just the things that arn't as easy and smooth. He's just a user that should buy an iphone instead. The ones who make these reviews has to look from all users perspective, not just hes own. That's what sucks with the review, just compare it with gsmarena, that's an objective reveiw in my opinion.
One thing that he mentions that actualla annoys me a great deal is the fact that in many menu-screens, all the information, buttons and inputs are crowded on the upper left part of the screen. (like when you choose ringtones for instance). Is there a workaround for this?

Look the world is full of idiots, and the iPhone was made for that crowd of idiots and morons.
The MS platform will always be superior in the business sense and more suited to the other type of crowd.
I showed this to one of my class mates and they didn't know how to use the phone, to only bring out his iPhone out, i realized then who i was speaking to.

Calm down, there isn't any objective test on this planet. See various games magazines, or other stuff test mags. The resumeé depends aways from the tester who tested the device if he is an iphine fan you have bad luck if he likes windows mobile more you may have better luck.
You can only collect as much tests of the same product as possible and then calculate the average mark from all tests. Then you might get a most objective remark as possible.
I read many tests before I bought the HD, because at the bottom line the average mark is quite good.

To a certain extent i think its true. The picture and video flickering is no where as smooth and as fast as the iphone. But it gets the job done just not as speedy as the iphone.

farewell fellow htc'ers and xda-developers!

got myself a n97 and i put my HTC Touch HD up for sale! this was by far the best cellphone forum!

how does it compare?

Why did you sell? I really like my HD, although not a fanboy, and always like to know how new phones compare
(Worst thing about getting a contract in the UK is knowing you've got 18 months to go until you next unwrap a shiny new toy!)

nokia
If you want the N97 you are going to buy the N97 no mater what phone you have now.. eg the touch HD .
The touch HD ( fro me ) is a fab phone, and does everything that I want it to do .
I have all the fixes etc on my Orange ROM . and it works fab .
I have done the nokia thing.. had a N95 , N73 etc.. and they were not " for me " the touch has it's downfalls.. but so does every phone.....

Best of luck with your new phone.
One thing to consider though. Whenever I am looking into purchasing a new phone, I am also looking at the help forums, backup, rom upgrades, improvements, features etc and IMHO nothing compares to having xda developers!!

I did away with my Touch HD and got my first iPhone 3G 32gb. Man I love how fast and silky smooth everything is. The user interface puts anything from windows mobile to shame. Even running at Edge speed is now acceptable on safari browser. Video and music plays buttery smooth with 0 hick-ups unlike the HD or touch pro or diamond.
Oh and btw because of the new CPU chip and ram boost there is not much of a need for multitasking..all applications open instantly with no waiting even games load lightning fast. Also it does perform some multitasking. For instance you can play music while in most other applications like google maps etc. Also when you go back into another application it remembers right where you left off. Have seen no need for true multitasking yet...there is always jailbreaking if I really want it, but I truly never used it much of the HD accept for playing music while I type an email or text, which the iPhone does this too which suprised me, because I thought it did not multitask in any shape or form.
Also installing a free ATT file you can access free USB tethering to a laptop or desktop. no unlocking or jailbreaking required.
The screen is much better than I thought it would be in fact its better than the HD's in many ways accept for pure resolution, which the HD doesn't make much use of in TouchFlo3D where it streches wallpaper to VGA res. Also in the HD's opera browser you can't even read web page text unless you zoom in. The iphone's browser text can be read without zooming.
There is absolutely nothing I miss from the Touch HD or windows mobiloe since owning my first iPhone 3GS.
Only cons I can mention in comparison to WM is less customizability unless you want to jailbreak it, which I don't for now. Also battery life is not as good as the Touch HD, but it may be more so because I've been heavily using it since I got it. Also battery is not broken in yet.

byebye !!!
i came from nokia.. i think it is fairly laggy.. unless n97 is better?? however do u have as many tweaks freeware as XDA?

utvol06 said:
I did away with my Touch HD and got my first iPhone 3G 32gb. Man I love how fast and silky smooth everything is. The user interface puts anything from windows mobile to shame. Even running at Edge speed is now acceptable on safari browser. Video and music plays buttery smooth with 0 hick-ups unlike the HD or touch pro or diamond.
Oh and btw because of the new CPU chip and ram boost there is not much of a need for multitasking..all applications open instantly with no waiting even games load lightning fast. Also it does perform some multitasking. For instance you can play music while in most other applications like google maps etc. Also when you go back into another application it remembers right where you left off. Have seen no need for true multitasking yet...there is always jailbreaking if I really want it, but I truly never used it much of the HD accept for playing music while I type an email or text, which the iPhone does this too which suprised me, because I thought it did not multitask in any shape or form.
Also installing a free ATT file you can access free USB tethering to a laptop or desktop. no unlocking or jailbreaking required.
The screen is much better than I thought it would be in fact its better than the HD's in many ways accept for pure resolution, which the HD doesn't make much use of in TouchFlo3D where it streches wallpaper to VGA res. Also in the HD's opera browser you can't even read web page text unless you zoom in. The iphone's browser text can be read without zooming.
There is absolutely nothing I miss from the Touch HD or windows mobiloe since owning my first iPhone 3GS.
Only cons I can mention in comparison to WM is less customizability unless you want to jailbreak it, which I don't for now. Also battery life is not as good as the Touch HD, but it may be more so because I've been heavily using it since I got it. Also battery is not broken in yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what about the IMs on your iphone? can't always stay online when you do some other tasks/sms/call/games,etc?
i got lots of iphones before. i just let it be as a small game toy. not else

utvol06 said:
I did away with my Touch HD and got my first iPhone 3G 32gb. Man I love how fast and silky smooth everything is. The user interface puts anything from windows mobile to shame. Even running at Edge speed is now acceptable on safari browser. Video and music plays buttery smooth with 0 hick-ups unlike the HD or touch pro or diamond.
Oh and btw because of the new CPU chip and ram boost there is not much of a need for multitasking..all applications open instantly with no waiting even games load lightning fast. Also it does perform some multitasking. For instance you can play music while in most other applications like google maps etc. Also when you go back into another application it remembers right where you left off. Have seen no need for true multitasking yet...there is always jailbreaking if I really want it, but I truly never used it much of the HD accept for playing music while I type an email or text, which the iPhone does this too which suprised me, because I thought it did not multitask in any shape or form.
Also installing a free ATT file you can access free USB tethering to a laptop or desktop. no unlocking or jailbreaking required.
The screen is much better than I thought it would be in fact its better than the HD's in many ways accept for pure resolution, which the HD doesn't make much use of in TouchFlo3D where it streches wallpaper to VGA res. Also in the HD's opera browser you can't even read web page text unless you zoom in. The iphone's browser text can be read without zooming.
There is absolutely nothing I miss from the Touch HD or windows mobiloe since owning my first iPhone 3GS.
Only cons I can mention in comparison to WM is less customizability unless you want to jailbreak it, which I don't for now. Also battery life is not as good as the Touch HD, but it may be more so because I've been heavily using it since I got it. Also battery is not broken in yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had 2 iphones, 8gb, 8gb 3g and i have tried the new 3gs (college has one).
Use it for a while and after a couple of weeks the weakness shows through, its a really nice interface, it just works, but so does a normal mobile with buttons.
the 3gs is quicker, the camera is almost as bad, the screen is the same, basically i would wait for the newer revision with a higher res screen next year.
once you realise you cannot just modify it (even with jailbreaking) then you get frustrated and wonder if its really worth the £45.00 a month tariff.
I am not getting into a slanging match as its not worth it, I have tried to jump ship but something keeps me returning back to the windows fold.
my 2 pennies worth....

Fallen Spartan said:
nothing compares to having xda developers!!
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Click to collapse
this is why i decided against Toshiba TG01 :/ almost everything worth having comes to THD via XDA as soon as possible....just watched youtube software reviews of Touch Pro 2 and Diamond 2 and was amused since i have all those things for a while now (thanks to Dutty)

itolson said:
I have tried to jump ship but something keeps me returning back to the windows fold.
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Click to collapse
I have to agree with you there dude, I tried jumping ship but couldn't due to the sheer amout of customisation/personalisation you can do with WM. No offence to all the iphone fanboys (although you will probably take offence) but the iphone is a phone for fashion victims, WM is for techies/pros.
That's my 2 pence, if we keep going maybe we can get a couple of quid together

You guys say good bye and I say hello. I just got a HD and moving from the Touch Pro. I had a 3GS for a while, but after you get past the "ooh shiny" and "omg it's so sleek" phase, all that's left is buttons...I had over 200apps and I had to scroll and scroll and scroll. Not customizable at all.. :| And the keyboard. Horrible. I hate qwerty. How come no one came up with compact qwerty for that thing? And why, oh why can't I replace the battery! I don't want to carry a charger or a battery pack. I want to carry batteries And did I mention the camera sucks? And most of the features they added WinMo already had? I'm glad to be going back to WinMo and besides, TF3D2 v2 should be coming out any day now

cu soon back here on xda-devs when you're done with the proprietary Hellbian OS of your new one!

itolson said:
once you realise you cannot just modify it (even with jailbreaking) then you get frustrated and wonder if its really worth the £45.00 a month tariff.
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Click to collapse
This is exactly why I sold my iPhone 3G and kept the HD. At first, I liked the beautiful interface, but after some weeks, I got really frustrated because the iPhone can't do basic tasks like exchanging files, downloading files from the internet or ftp servers and lots of other basic stuff I could do with Windows Mobile, even with Jailbreak apps that did not work most of the time (like iBluetooth, Backgrounder...).
This is what Adam Z Lein at pocketnow.com said about the Palm Pre today, and the same things could be said about the iPhone. It is just one example, but it describes very well my experiences with the iPhone and why I switched back to the Touch HD in the end (and won't buy an iPhone again):
itolson said:
This was good news. However, since I didn't have the USB cable with me, I would have to find another way to transfer the security certificate to the Palm Pre. On Windows Mobile, there are a number of ways to wirelessly access and transfer files. Normally my first try would be to beam the file via Bluetooth, however the Pre does not support Bluetooth file transfer profiles. On Windows Mobile, I could also access my network file shares over WiFi using the File Explorer and copy files to my device that way. Or I could log into a server using the Remote Desktop Client, map my phone's memory as a network drive and copy files that way. Or I could use Live Mesh beta to syncronize files to my device over any network. The Pre isn't capable of any of those methods.
It turns out, I had to browse to the certificate on my HTC Touch Diamond with File Explorer, then send that as a file attachment to myself on email. The only other option would be to go get the USB cable. Opening the certificate from the email address installed it directly, but I was unable to save the file to the Palm Pre's file system if I needed it in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Is it possible to play DivX movies on iPhone or unpack ZIP or RAR archive which is include in mail attachments?
Is it possible to downgrade to other firmware with iTunes 8.2 or something else... e.g. Baseband or other complicated stuff.
How to play flash movies in Safari?
You get the MMS.
Good luck with new toy.

iPhone speed...is it possible on the Touch HD?

Guys,
Never ever wanted to even bother about iPhone due to the fact that WinMo devices have almost endless custom apps available and tweaks etc.
That said...I played/fiddled with a mates iPod touch today and the speed at which animation took place and the scrolling of files was immensely smooth.
Anyone recommend any tweaks to help make the Touch HD run this smooth?

Wiggz said:
Guys,
Never ever wanted to even bother about iPhone due to the fact that WinMo devices have almost endless custom apps available and tweaks etc.
That said...I played/fiddled with a mates iPod touch today and the speed at which animation took place and the scrolling of files was immensely smooth.
Anyone recommend any tweaks to help make the Touch HD run this smooth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy an iphone 3GS!

Come on...seriously. Can the HD not perform to that level then?

You could try flashing a new ROM??

There's a huge difference between "smoothness" and "speed"!
While the iPhone's UI is VERY smooth, it's actually slower than the Touch HD (for the iPhone 3G, the 3GS is now a bit faster due to the Cortex A8 processor architecture).
The level of smoothness depends on the software. While Windows Mobile was designed for slow hardware and therefore is pretty fast on newer devices, it was not designed for finger use and therefore doesn't feature that smooth kinetic scrolling and nice animations.
Sorry, but you can't have an interface that's as "nice looking" as the iPhone's for now, though I think TouchFlo is already pretty good and leaves little to be desired.
Also, try out Miri's or Dutty's WM6.5 ROM and you'll at least get that smooth kinetic scrolling and bigger, nicer looking list items.
The iPhone's interface may look nice and smooth, but it's actually less practical for "professional" use because you don't have multitasking, you only get a bunch of icons, you've got to go back to the homescreen every time you want to switch between applications and there's no good solution for notifications (like the top bar on WM).

I agree - I'm not disputing that Touch HD is a better unit for professionals...and indeed myself...I'm just trying to get the smoothness to rival it.

Have you tried WM6.5? Microsoft has added kinetic scrolling to it.

No, I'm trying to stay with stock ROM

Then you must replace the default WM applications with "smoother" ones. I've made a package with finger friendly applications a while ago:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=473116&highlight=finger+friendly
You can use applications like ThumbCal, Kinoma Play, iContact etc. and make them the default ones via the registry.
The package is a bit outdated and I don't use it anymore because with WM6.5 and the newest TouchFlo it's not necessary.

Wiggz,
I spend the last hour doing my homework and I've found some useful tweaks that speeds up the interface a little bit.
First and foremost, read through this thread.
Having said that, I suggest you use some form of registry explorer and look for the following things.
FontCache / Glyphcache - Located at
HKLM\SYSTEM\GDI\GLYPHCACHE\
The limit should be 8192, if not, record that number and keep it somewhere so that if it doesn't turn out to be stable for you, you can revert it. Change this limit to 65536.
File System Cache - Located at
HKLM\System\StorageManager\FATFS\CacheSize
The limit should be 0 by default. Change this value to 8192. Also, in the same section, you'll see something called EnableCache. The value of that should be 1, if it's 0, change it to 1 to enable file system cache.
File System Filter Cache - Located at
HKLM\System\StorageManager\Filters\fsreplxfilt\ReplStoreCacheSize
The limit should be 0 by default as well. Change this value to 131072.
After doing these settings, do a soft reset and see what happens? Noticeable differences should be seen in Opera. If you find that you get instability as a result of these cache differences, simply reduce the numbers by dividing them by 2 (e.g., 65536 > 32768).
I hope this helps you get that iPhone fluidity that you're looking for.
Cheers.
Credits goes to this thread by vincent1 and this thread by hyphen.

if you like iphone interface ... buy an iphone for dummies ....
HD is better faster and superior ....
if you want more speed and iphone interface install Vito winterface or better mobile shell 3 the iphone UI killer

You can also buy a Samsung Omnia 2: http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=5734
Looks pretty smooth, hm?

You can also buy a Samsung Omnia 2: http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=5734
Looks pretty smooth, hm?

The iPhone is indeed smoother and more fluid. There is no tweak, custom Rom or other today plugin that can give you the same experience and still deliver the ease, clean looks and functionality in one package. Believe me, I've tried them all and thus got an iPhone
In theory the HD might be faster, but in practice it isn't. WinMo is fundamentaly flawed in many ways. Graphicly 6.5 is a joke, that's why every manufacturer (samsung, HTC...) are trying so hard to cover it up. And let's not forget iPhone's 3D capabilities!
The HD had potential, but HTC and microsoft failed (again) IMO.
The amount of apps shouldn't be the reason to buy the HD. Many apps don't support WVGA and the iPhone's appstore has thousands of programs and is growing fast. Some free, some not. It's nice to see a lot of iPhone apps are far more 'creative' and utilize multitouch.

While the iPhone interface seems smoother at first glance, it is actually slower because there's no multitasking and you have to close the application you're in and go back to the home screen in order to launch another application. This slows down the workflow dramatically.
When I got the iPhone 3G, at first I also was stunned by how smooth the UI was, but after some weeks of using it, I realized that the UI was actually pretty ineffective because you can only have that bunch of icons, no information on the homescreen, no multitasking and there's no good solution for notifications.
While the WM interface looks a bit "old", it's actually more effective/productive in my opinion.
You should really try out Miri's or Dutty's latest WM6.5 ROMs, the new Manila is a lot better and the kinetic scrolling makes for a huge difference imo.

I agree that with the shipped ROM or with a badly configured ROM the Touch HD seems a little "stucky" and not that smooth or fast as an iPhone (and especially the 3GS). But have you tried some good cooked ROMs? Especially the new WM 6.5 releases are VERY fast and smooth.
Almost all my collegues own an iPhone (3G). In the beginning they laughed at me (they're all Apple addicts, I am the only PC user). But with every new ROM I flashed I astonished them more and more. Now two of them even sold their iPhones

maati,
You kept saying that iPhone 3G is slower and 3GS is only slightly faster. I find this not to be the case at all. My cousins has both 3G and 3GS and we sat down few days ago and did a side by side comparison surfing some websites. We're on the same network. Both 3G and 3GS beats my HD by miles in speed. 3G still beats mine but by not much but for 3GS the difference is very noticeable.
I'm still using stock ROM, but I'm not sure if ROM makes any difference to Opera mobile's speed.
The thing is, iPhone is fast out of the box, no tweaking is needed. Whereas I'm struggling still with the randomly non-reponding screen. I still find myself having to press very hard to activate actions on my HD. Sometimes nothing happens after 5 or 6 presses, then suddenly a rapid strings of reactions comes, and it overshot what I actually wanted to do. I had the same problem with my HTC advantage with its cook ROMs. Everytime I flash a new ROM, the desktop UI is fast (though it seldom have any influence on the underlying applications) for a while but it usually quickly deteriorate once more tweaking and softwares are loaded.
Not only that, when she showed me her applications and walk though with me some of the 65,000 applications in the apple store, I was just dumbfounded. I had always ridiculed her for not using what I had always believe to be the most superior phone, which to me was window mobile phones.
So to tell the truth, I'm lately extremely tempted to jump ship myself.

I was not talking about surfing the internet. This depends on where you are and which network you are on (e.g. where I live, the Touch HD is faster than the 3G, especially on fast HSDPA networks).
I was talking about stuff like opening applications, everyday tasks. The HD does them faster than the 3G, especially when you leave the applications running in the background. And even with lots of applications running in the background, the HD's battery life is significantly better.
Maybe it's because I know how to use it (e.g. don't press more than once on a button just because it doesn't react immediately) but I've got no problem with the responsiveness of the HD. I even think it's a bit better than on the iPhone where some applications are also pretty slugish (though the resistive screen needs more force). And my iPhone crashed at least as often as my Touch HD (I think about once in 2-3 weeks with no soft reset).
(btw. I'm talking only about the iPhone 3G which I used together with the Touch HD for some weeks. I only tried the 3GS once.)

IMO...
speed = yes
smoothness and fluidy = no
(there is a difference but WinMo is just not designed to be smooth overall like the iPhone)

Wiggz said:
Guys,
Never ever wanted to even bother about iPhone due to the fact that WinMo devices have almost endless custom apps available and tweaks etc.
That said...I played/fiddled with a mates iPod touch today and the speed at which animation took place and the scrolling of files was immensely smooth.
Anyone recommend any tweaks to help make the Touch HD run this smooth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi Wiggz,
if u want a UI which has speed on WM6.1 then i recommend Point UI. it is finger friendly and the kinetic scrolling speed is great. with customizing it; there are a large no. of applets which r all free from the community page on their website
try it out...ive been using it for a while now and ill never go back to touch flo 3D. If u buy PointUI pro or find a cracked one somewhere then this increases the detachment from WM UI as u have a full contact card and no longer need 2 use Wm's ugly one. if u choose to download either version a great Applet mod is the Messaging Mod which lets u read ur SMS with out going to the WM app.