[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

Is this a smart phone that Telus will allow using?

No, the HTC Touch is a GSM-based phone, and Telus is a CDMA-based network. HTC would have to make a CDMA version for Telus.

Originally Posted by bmurphy

Bring on the Usability video next!

Coming up soon! Hopefully today <crosses fingers>.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

Is this a smart phone that Telus will allow using?

No, the HTC Touch is a GSM-based phone, and Telus is a CDMA-based network. HTC would have to make a CDMA version for Telus.

Originally Posted by bmurphy

Bring on the Usability video next!

Coming up soon! Hopefully today <crosses fingers>.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by DaveSadler

If you want to post it on a higher quality streaming site, check out divX's www.Stage6.com

So here's my "rock and a hard place" problem: using a site like that requires the person to have the Divx Web player installed, which is a hassle, and currently not available for Vista. That's not a good thing - I need the low-res video to work for pretty much everyone. That means Flash, because almost everyone has Flash installed. I'm going to investigate some higher-quality Flash video sharing sites...

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by cgavula

Lack of corporate access: In many corporate environments, where many of us read our news, outside video is blocked...when a video clip is on a site, why can't site show a default image file (a JPG or GIF, etc.) as a placeholder for the video?...Lack of foreign-language access...Video should be an enhancement for the review process - not a replacement for the existing process, otherwise you end up with supposedly "better" service but available to fewer and fewer people.

Thanks for your thoughts Chris. That's good for me to think about people that can't use Flash video due to corporate workstation policies - I admit I have never heard of such a thing.

Regarding the GIF/JPEG placeholder, that would be a great idea, but so far no site I'm aware of offers that - and I believe it would have to be something that the video hosting site offers because when you see the YouTube video (or in your case, don't see it), it's us using a block of code they provided.

Lastly, regarding the video augmenting the review, not replacing it, I agree that's the ideal - I just wish I had more time to review the devices. It's very hard to get a device, use it for a couple of hours, then write a review - especially if a dozen other sites have already published their reviews. It's something I'll try to do better at!

[T-Will]

Yeah anything *.youtube.com is blocked at my entire company (tens of thousands of people). I just star the article in Google Reader and check it out when I get home.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Paragon

HTC makes these adapters for other devices in their stable that use the mini USB connector for sound.

I see on the Telus page there's one that allows for charging + bundled headphone use, and one for charging + 2.5mm headphone use...there's gotta be one out there that allows for charging + 3.5mm. It doesn't really change my root criticism though: who wants to carry around an extra adaptor? The HTC Touch needs a 3.5mm headphone jack on it.

Originally Posted by Paragon

Question: How deep is the TouchFlo functionality? Does it work system wide? Does it work on third party apps? Or does it only scroll in contacts and PIE?

It's system wide insofar as you can do the rolling scroll thing in any application where there's a scroll bar. I can push and "roll scroll" in File Explorer for instance. I doubt it requires special programming, I think it's just a way of controlling the existing scroll bar.

[Paragon]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

It's system wide insofar as you can do the rolling scroll thing in any application where there's a scroll bar. I can push and "roll scroll" in File Explorer for instance. I doubt it requires special programming, I think it's just a way of controlling the existing scroll bar.

Thanks Jason.

I think this is an excellent feature. One that Windows Mobile has been lacking. I recently reviewed the Nokia N800 Portable Internet device which has this ability. Scrolling is a whole new adventure when all you need to do is plunk your finger down in the middle of a webpage and move it around at will. There is no scroll wheel, dpad or scroll bar that can match the ease of scrolling this way....Two thumbs up HTC. Some may say the device itself has lower end specs, but the usability seems to be head and shoulders above the rest because of TouchFlo.

Can't wait to hear, see, and read your thoughts on it Jason.

Dave

[mikewchandler]

wonderful review. I'm very excited to here that touchflo seems to allow scrolling in any prog. Is there anything else to the touchflo....anything you've noticed since getting it? Just curious what ALL it can do. Thanks again.

[steddyman]

I also bought a touch on Friday (UK) and I am pretty surprised by it.

I had seen a couple of reviews and expected it to suck a little. I only bought it because I am a dev and wanted a touch device for testing.

I'm now surprised to find it is my all time favourite device (i own loads) and I am now going to be retiring the TyTn.

I find because I have quite small hands I can use finger input in nearly all apps, even native WM6 ones. Keyboard entry is a little awkward, but there are alternative finger inputs like Blimkeys and the HTC Phonepad.

The lack of a 3.5mm jack is a pain, but a lot of HTC devices are like that now. My TyTn was the same and I ended up buying one of these:

http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=138247

Its not such a big issue for me anyway, because I like my music encoded lossless. This means I have 30Gb of music so my iPod has to go everywhere with me.

I'll work on a couple of apps for the Touch to help it work better, then I think it very well could be an iPod killer. Its certainly a lot cheaper, but the build quality and presentation is second to none.

In answer to a previous post, you can use the finger scrolling and panning in ANY application, so long as there are scroll bars present on the screen. It works great.

[davea0511]

Kudos, Jason, for jumping on the bleeding edge of video reviews. Of course, I would expect nothing less.

Low bandwidth video reviews is an art, but you're well on your way ... it was smart to mount the camera. For example, you can retain some acceptable quality resolutions even with low bitrates by setting any item on a table focus up on it and let the image resolve itself over 10 seconds while you discuss it.

I don't know if this is doable with YouTube - but if you can put keyframes in strategic locations then you will have get good resolutions at the right time even with a relatively low bitrate video.

If you make these into vodcasts like DL.TV then you will likely find a whole new audience. This is becoming hugely popular, and as of yet nobody in that space is focusing on handheld technology.

[Steven Cedrone]

Great job! I am looking forward to the next installment!!!