How many people actually USE their camera? And, how often?
Frankly, I can probably count the number of times I've used my phone's camera in the past four years on one hand. I wouldn't miss it if I never had a camera option again.
I use the camera on my phone nearly daily. I love having it available at all times, and I have my camera options tweaked for the best picture possible. Definitely not the best photos, but my PDA is always on my side.
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The processor and screen are the major disappointments for me on this device. They upgraded everything else and removed infrared, which I could care less about since I rarely, if ever, used it. I'm not sure the additional memory is going to keep Windows from locking up as usual without a more powerful processor. Currently, I have the hw6945 iPaq Mobile Messenger, which I've been fairly happy with, but I still have to perform a hard reset on it every so often. I want more stability in a phone. Also, the 4GB limitation on the mini sd card slot and high price of $499.99 have me leaning more toward the iPhone or the Tilt. I'm willing to try another platform for the next couple years until HP gets it right or something better comes along.
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I think this may be a chicken or egg argument. I don't use mine much, but that's primarily because most these cameras are SO awful. If the manufacturer actually included a camera that was half-way decent I would use it much more often.
I absolutely agree - I don't use the camera on my Advantage for just that reason. My previous phone (an SE K800i) had a superb camera, which I used a lot.
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The processor and screen are the major disappointments for me on this device. They upgraded everything else and removed infrared, which I could care less about since I rarely, if ever, used it. I'm not sure the additional memory is going to keep Windows from locking up as usual without a more powerful processor. Currently, I have the hw6945 iPaq Mobile Messenger, which I've been fairly happy with, but I still have to perform a hard reset on it every so often. I want more stability in a phone. Also, the 4GB limitation on the mini sd card slot and high price of $499.99 have me leaning more toward the iPhone or the Tilt. I'm willing to try another platform for the next couple years until HP gets it right or something better comes along.
Well, i don't think the processor will be a source of lockups on this device, but I have to agree, we sure aren't seeing much progress in this area. I don't think the specs will contribute to lock-ups at all, they are pretty standard fare for WM6 pro devices, and the platform is actually pretty stable, despite what some would want you to believe.
The Tilt you are considering has nearly identical hardware specs - the screen is a little bigger, and it uses a different brand processor, that clocks slightly lower (but maybe slightly faster anyway) than the one in the new iPaq, but same memory. I think the MicroSD slot will support any SDHC card, so you should be able to run an 8 GB model, despite HP's spec sheet. It's funny, I'm thinking of "upgrading" from a Tilt to this device. I really like the front facing keyboard and thinner profile. Of course, the iPhone is tempting, but I think i'll wait until the next round of upgrades when a 32 GB model is available, and maybe by then ATT and Apple will remove all the ridiculous restrictions.
Some might be interested to know that you can now order this direct from HP. I placed an order with overnight shipping. It indicates an estimated delivery date of 7/5, which probably isn't correct, since I doubt they'll deliver on a Saturday. But, perhaps I'll get it on Monday the 7th? HP.com has decent overnight shipping rates, only about $6.00 more than standard. I'm not sure this is really much of an upgrade over the Tilt I'm using right now, but I'm looking forward to having the keyboard available all the time. I will miss all of the "enhanced ROMs" available at XDA though, they've helped make the Tilt much more usable.
I did receive the phone yesterday. It's built pretty well, the size is almost perfect. It fits well in both my hand and pocket. It seems to be pretty responsive, but I haven't done much extensive testing with it.
The near deal breaker for me right now is the fact that HP disabled the screen rotate function. I have some older programs that won't work on the landscape screen, and figured it wouldn't be a big deal to just rotate and hold the device sideways for those. WRONG. I'm not sure what benefit HP derives from disabling a feature of the OS, but I'm seriously contemplating returning the device because of this.
I also can't get TCPMP to run on the device, which is a 2nd deal breaker. I know that's an older, no longer supported app and Core Player might work, but of course there isn't a trial of that to test with so, I'm not really able to test out the media abilities, and I really prefer to use the same player I'm used to.
To update my previous post. I found a compatible version of TCPMP at XDA, apparently it's been recompiled to be WM 6.1 compatible, and it works. I have only tried a couple of videos - all converted to WM friendly sizes, but they work well and the TCPMP benchmark shows between 280% - 333% depending on which of the videos is playing which seems fine.
I'm still concerned about the missing rotate function though. I have doubts this device will be a big seller, which means it's unlikely programmers will have much interest in fixing the issue.
I think that's one of the few things that will keep me away from this phone, a lack of interest from many developers, unless XDA takes an interest.
The screen rotation isn't as big an issue for me as long as it has the base applications and the system is responsive. Let us know when you are able to finish your tests.
If it doesn't work out, at least I have the Nokia e71 to look forward to.
Disappointments
Linear Mode
