Was The Zune A Mistake?

According to Boy Genius Report, former Microsoft executive Robbie Bach has said that its Zune music players… were a mistake. Bach led the company’s entertainment division through the rise of the Xbox business as well as the launch of the Zune music player. Geek Wire, the source for the BGR article, breaks down Bach’s presentation to the Northwest Entrepreneur Network event in Seattle on Friday where he talked about what could be learned from the two experiences.

With the Xbox, they tried to be different. Bach said that if he could, “do Zune over again, we would skip portable media players completely. We would go to what, at the time, was the Windows Mobile team and say we’re going to produce the coolest music service for your phones ever. The portable music market is gone and it was already leaving when we started.”

I disagree. The portable music market is alive and well, it’s the portable music player that is seeing a decline because of merged devices like the iPhone and the iPod Touch, which is also a portable gaming platform.

He went on to say, “We just weren’t brave enough, honestly, and we ended up chasing Apple with a product that actually wasn’t a bad product, but it was still a chasing product, and there wasn’t a reason for somebody to say, oh, I have to go out and get that thing.”

I think the problem was that they didn’t chase hard enough. The Zune was a competent device and the only platform that, to me, had the potential to really compete with the iPod. Which brings us to the next point.

Bach noted that, “On the Zune side…I think our marketing message was very confused. I don’t think people walked away saying, this is what Zune is and this is why it’s different. … We did some really artsy ads that appealed to a very small segment of the music space, and we didn’t captivate the broad segment of music listeners.”

Direct hit! I saw two problems with the Zune when it first came out. The first, Bach hit upon. They had this whole music sharing thing with “the social,” that Apple didn’t pick up until only recently – and even then only partially, and they never really sold that aspect. Plus, they never, EVER made any sort of advertising or marketing push. It was, “Here’s the Zune. Take it or leave it.” The second problem was that the original player was BROWN! Brown is not a cool color for a fancy consumer gadget.

So, was the Zune a mistake? Having owned two, I don’t think so. The mistake was in how Microsoft handled, or failed to handle, the marketing and partnerships. Even when they had second chances with the Zune 2 and the Zune HD they still managed to fall flat.

Dangerously Close To Becoming A Fanboy

Back in June, I broke down and bought an iPhone. Despite having to play in a walled garden I still very much like the device.

For Christmas, I received an iPad and haven't put it down for very long since I was first able to sync it with iTunes. The experience is very much the same as the iPhone. Same/similar limits in the operating system. Same restricted app installation process. Same protection by Apple from the outside world of rogue apps. I love it.

I was thinking about these two devices, how much I enjoy using them (despite their dictated limitations), and how much they have revolutionized the mobile communication and computing industries. I will gladly discuss the advantages, usefulness and revolutionary features of either of these devices with anyone who cares to ask. And that's when I started to wonder if I was becoming a fanboy.

Let me first give you my definition of a fanboy. The IBM/Apple debate has raged since the time of the Apple ][ and the original 8088-based IBM PC. The introduction of the Macintosh only added fuel to that fire. For most people, the debates between these very different worlds of Microsoft-based and Apple-based operating systems are religious wars. The fanboy, on either side of the argument, is the one who extols the virtues of his favorite device, ignores or waves aside the shortcomings of the same device, vehemently discounts any advantage of the other device, and lays open the disadvantages of the other device with surgical precision. His device is The One and The Only True Device.

I started thinking about these characteristics and, while I have ridden on the [insert device here] bandwagon several times I have never been so narrow-visioned to only see my device as having the features that would be everything anyone would ever need to the exclusion of all other devices. No device is perfect. I grew to dislike my Windows Mobile phone. The Pantech Matrix Pro had its limitations. And there are even some negatives in the iPhone.

The iPad is a real joy. A much larger screen to read from, watch movies, browse the web and play games. Amazingly, none of my gripes with the iPhone apply to the iPad. Give me a couple of days and I'm sure I'll come up with some.

In the end you find what works for you and you go with that. My perfect device is not your perfect device and it never will be. And that's why I don't consider myself a fanboy.

No Reason Left Not To

I have an upgrade date coming up. Just yesterday I was looking at available phones and noticed a certain lack of Windows Mobile devices. Most of what I found were iPhones, Blackberries and Android devices. Sad, really, because I have liked the Windows Mobile platform (until recently when it became very stale and clunky very quickly).

I am bolstered by what I've learned about the latest incarnation, Windows Phone 7 but, presently, it can't be had on any device on any carrier. I think it's just too late in coming. But that's just the beginning.

I just heard that Microsoft acknowledged that it too will restrict all installs on Windows Phone exclusively to a Microsoft managed store. They will be more transparent than Apple on the front end and will allow corporate deployments but it's still restricting installations.

Half the reason I like the WM platform is the flexibility and customization. I can load whatever the hell I want on my phone. It's my own damn fault if I brick it. Now, that's gone. I might as well get an iPhone. Apple just does it better.

Can Windows Phone 7 Series Make It?

I was just reading that, as I feared, the tens of thousands of Windows Mobile applications currently available will be useless on WP7. In fact, current phones won't even be able to handle the new operating system so it's a brand new start for Microsoft.

Microsoft has made some moves that put them into a position to continue to be competitive in this market. They've created the Microsoft Marketplace (which I'm not even sure how to access - or if I even can) to compete with the App Store and have brought Zune functionality to the operating system to compete with the media functions of the iPhone (come on, we all know that's the phone to beat).

The Zune marketplace and social aspects are already in place and they're not too bad. It should be easy to plug the phone into that environment. What's going to hurt Microsoft is if they have problems with access to the Marketplace, if they carry over those stupid Microsoft Points that don't relate to any value in the real world and if they don't have a ginormous amount of applications available out of the gate. In other words, if they handle the phone store like they've handled the Zune HD markeplace, they're dead in the phone market. They're on good track if they don't f#@k it up.

Windows Phone 7 Series

That's what they're calling the new MS operating system for smartphones. I've skimmed a coupe of articles on it and immediately noted two things.

1: The interface appears to be borrowed straight from the Zune HD. This is not surprising since MS announced that Zune functions would be coming to the Windows phone platform. I like the Zune HD interface and this move should be good for both camps.

2: Some of the changes seem to be straight out of the Apple playbook (with some modification). For instance, "Tighter control over the phones with a minimum hardware definition for handsets to provide a consistent design experience for the user while allowing manufacturers and operators some flexibility to customize the handsets without changing the underlying core." (source: The Mobile Spoon)

Will this still be a Windows phone? I think so. I think we'll see that it borrows a lot of concepts from the iPhone that work and fit well with the Windows Mobile experience but the operating system won't be an iPhone clone with a Windows logo on it. What will be different is that developers will have to modify their applications for the new environment. how drastically remains to be seen. I am hopeful that many of our favorites will stick around.

I Like My Phone Again

SPB Software recently had a half-off sale (it expired 12/31) and I went ahead and purchased SPB Mobile Shell. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. It makes my phone usable again, gets rid of a lot of the quirks of TouchFLO 3D and is totally customizable. If you have a windows Mobile phone and you don't have this (I think it even works on non touch phones), don't wait any more. It is totally worth it.

http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/mobileshell/

At Their Mercy

I've been drooling over the iPhone again. A tech-friend of mine got one and my boss just got one, too. Now that they have some of those basic features like copy and paste enabled, it looks like a solid phone.

It's no secret that I'm not exactly ecstatic about the Fuze/Touch Pro. I've recently likened it to running Linux on a desktop. There's so much that can be tweaked and so much that has to be tweaked that it almost becomes not worth the effort.

I tried the Matrix Pro but it didn't fit the bill, either. I loved the form-factor and the dedicated numeric keypad was awesome but I couldn't get it to do things I thought it should be able to do (such as add items to the main screen). It worked great but I felt too limited in flexibility and too bogged down in the operating system. So, here I am, drooling over the iPhone again.

What I really want in a smart phone is something that can receive my work email/calendar/contacts, can have programs added to it to increase functionality, has a touch screen and generally just works without a whole lot of effort on my part. Sure, the iPhone fits the bill but I decided today that I would still really like a physical keyboard.

The offerings from AT&T that fit the touchscreen/keyboard criteria are the HTC Fuze, which I already have, and the Samsung Epix, which I hear has a few really annoying problems that they haven't managed to work out yet. Something about not ringing properly and not sending notifications like it should.

AT&T is supposedly going to carry the Palm Treo Pro but that probably won't be released until December. My upgrade date isn't until next April so that may work out but I would sure love to be able to just pay a cash price and switch now. My Fuze is functional but I just got tired of fiddling with it. I am currently not using it to its full potential because it effectively reset the unit when I upgraded the ROM and I just haven't had the strength to completely re-tweakify it.

What I'm caught in is a comparatively archaic and unwieldy operating system (Windows Mobile) running on a wide variety of hardware that, in trying to differentiate itself from the competition, falls short in key areas.

So, here I sit, drooling over the iPhone. I even devised a plan to get one. I still have the $100 gift card I got with the Matrix Pro. I'm currently selling the Matrix Pro on eBay and hoping to get ~$200 out of it. I figure the Fuze is probably worth at least another $200 so that would give me $500 to use toward an iPhone. Crazy, I know.

The truth of the matter is that I'm not convinced an iPhone would make or keep me happy. And I must be insane to even think about spending $500 on a cell phone. Honestly, if I could get email on my old Sony/Ericsson (and I could give it a full keyboard), I'd probably be quite content. I loved that little phone. But, alas, I am at the mercy of AT&T and all the other cell phone companies. Limited to their selection of what they think I need that isn't necessarily what I want, tempted by what is to come 'soon', and locked into a contract that makes hardware changes ridiculously expensive except on their schedule and their terms.

Week 1 (almost) With The Pantech Matrix Pro

It's been almost a week since I started using the Matrix Pro and it's kind-of growing on me. There is one thing that makes me want to smash the thing every time it happens and there are a few others that I would ding it on but overall, it's a nice phone.

Physical Attributes:
The Pantech Matrix Pro is a dual slider phone based on the popular Pantech Matrix. Slide the display up and you get a 9-key number pad. Slide sideways and you get a qwerty keyboard. It's a very stylish dusky blue with chrome-like highlights. When closed, the rounded top and bottom give it an almost capsule shape.

The front has a mirror-like shine to it that looks fantastic... for about 30 seconds until you touch it the first time. It is a fingerprint magnet (although not as bad as some parts of the HTC Fuze). The finish on the rest of the phone does not promote the visibility of smudges and fingerprints.

Just under the display is the control button cluster. There are two soft buttons, a pickup and an end button, back and home buttons, and a 4-way D-pad with center selector. The left side has volume and Rec buttons while the right has the camera button and data/charging port. The slot for the MicroSD card is on the bottom of the phone. On the back is the camera and speaker.

Compared to my HTC Fuze, the Pantech Matrix Pro is just as tall, minutely thicker, a little lighter and a little narrower. It also has a nice rounded design that makes it comfortable to hold up to your ear.

The number pad is flush with no effective tactile markings indicating where the 5 key is. It does have a backlight that activates when you slide the display up so that should help with locating keys in low light. The keyboard has slightly raised keys but they are crammed together pretty tightly. Because of the more rounded edges, the caps/shift key on the lower left and the back key on the lower right are almost cut in half diagonally. Another thing I have discovered is there is no & key. Maybe it could replace the semicolon? Nobody knows how to use that punctuation mark anyway.

Operating System:
The Pantech Matrix Pro uses Windows Mobile 6.1 standard. That means it doesn't have a touch screen. Navigation is assisted by a well laid out home screen. I don't know if this is true of all WinMo Std phones but I still have yet to figure out how to add or remove items from the home screen (notice I didn't say Today screen). I can change between a few pre-programmed layouts but that's it.

It's no surprise that, even though I may close a program, it stays running. Unless the programmer had the forthought to put in an Exit or Quit function, I have to either reset the phone or kill it with the task manager.

Speaking of resets, I have only had to reset once. The screen went blank. I have no idea why but nothing I did would cause the display to come to life. Oh, yeah, get this: there is no reset button. To reset the phone, you have to pull the battery.

Software:
The Pantech Matrix Pro comes with a pretty standard Windows Mobile/AT&T loadout. The HTC Fuze came with WorldCard Mobile and Sprite Backup. This one doesn't include any premium extras (of course, the $200 price difference may account for that). Live Search, Google Maps and Facebook all work well. I was surprised to discover that My Mobiler works on this phone and, in fact, installed itself when I plugged into the computer.

The Negative:

• I am used to having a lot of control over a WinMo phone. While the Pantech Matrix Pro does allow for some customization, the settings feel more like a dumbphone than a smartphone.
• There is no way to customize the home screen. A few pre-selected templates have been included but there's nothing special about them.
• The My Photos section of the home screen does not see photos in the default folder it saves ot on the stroage card. I had some pics leftover from my Fuze when I had used the card there and it's looking in that folder.
• No & key
• Cramped keyboard
  
• It uses a proprietary connector. It's not so bad on a dumbphone like the Matrix but there's no reason for it on a smartphone unless you're talking about something like the iPhone where it allows you to interface with a variety of external devices. If I need to charge my Fuze, all I need is a standard mini USB cable and a power source (I have a USB wall charging block and a USB car charging adapter). With the Matrix Pro, if I don't have the proprietary USB cable or proprietary charger, I'm screwed.
• It's picky about ringtones. Look, just play the MP3 file I point to. Is that so hard? What difference does it make if it's under 300K?
  
• Voice Command. This... THIS is the reason I have wanted to take a sledge hammer to the phone. The voice command on the Pantech Matrix Pro absolutely, totally, unequivocally SUCKS!!! Half the time I can't understand the voice. The basic words are fine but when it is trying to pronounce a name or something that isn't in its standard word set, forgetaboutit. To top it off, it seems to have a problem understanding me.
  
  To be fair, the problem seems to be a combination of my Blueant Z9 headset and the voice Command. When trying to disconnect a call, I am so used to tapping the main button on the headset but on the Z9 that changes the voice isolation level. You have to hold the button down for three seconds or something to disconnect. What ends up happening is that I set the VI to max, then switch it back to standard. By that time, the other party has hung up and when I try to disconnect, voice commander thinks I want it to kick in. It asks me to say command so I say "cancel." A few seconds later, it asks me to say command. I again say, "cancel." A few seconds after that, it says "try again." Listen, bitch, just SHUT THE F&*% UP AND GO AWAY OR I'M GOING TO REACH IN THAT PHONE, RIP OUT YOUR CIRCUITRY, AND DISOLVE IT IN ACID SO YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO CHANCE OF PISSING ME OFF EVER AGAIN!!! To which it responds, "Call bzzrtth mrafrozzth Mo-bile? Is this correct?" I just can't win.

The Positive:

• This phone just feels so damn good to hold and use. Its physical size and shape are just about perfect.
• Slide up answer, slide down disconnect. It doesn't get any simpler.
• Shit just works. When you push a button, it does exactly what you expect it to do.
• Familiar dialing interface. Hand a non-smartphone user any other smartphone and the first thing they'll ask you is, "How do I make a call on this thing?" Slide up the display on the Pantech Matrix Pro and almost anybody knows what to do next.
• Good battery life. Twice I've gone two days between charges.
  
• Limited customization. I know I put this on the negatives as well but maybe, just maybe, this is the reason shit just works.
• A2DP support for stereo bluetooth
• You can get a GPS lock in seconds, not minutes (the new ROM for the Fuze fixes that)
  
• Uh... it was free

Conclusions:
The Pantech Matrix Pro is a really nice little phone. It has taken a lot less time to get used to than I thought it would and, actually, I kinda like it. Unfortunately, because of its lack of customization/control of settings, it doesn't really feel like a smartphone. Yes, it gets my email but I've actually been ignoring it, which isn't good given that I'm paid to have email access wherever I roam. In the end, I will most likely switch back to my Fuze and will look at getting a slate-style phone the next time I upgrade. I'll see if the wife wants to swap out her Matrix for the Matrix Pro and, if not, I'll probably sell it on eBay.

Unofficially Official

Okay 90% of you, my regular readers, are not going to care one bit about this post. Okay, I give, 100% of my regular readers are not going to care about this post but I'm posting it anyway.

I finally did it. The leaked official ROM update for the AT&T Fuze has been out for almost three months now and AT&T has yet to officially release it. I got tired of waiting and flashed the ROM on my phone this afternoon. The flashing whores (their term, not mine) at XDA and Fuze Mobility would say I took the easy way out but, hey, you gotta start somewhere.

The update went smoothly. I did it because the radio is supposed to be better, some of the quirks of the GPS are supposed to be fixed, a couple of the stock programs got updated (i.e. Opera), and the PTT button remap is built in. The only lingering problem is that my computer keeps sound off the USB connect/disconnect. Gonna reboot after it finishes uninstalling the PC suite from my old Sony phone.

I went to restore my settings, etc. with Sprite Backup and it recognized that it was a different ROM. It popped up an upgrade mode dialogue and I opted to restore the whole thing. I soon noticed that it was restoring Opera9.exe and did a hard reset to start over. I think I'll just put back my personal data and rebuild the 3rd-party software from scratch.

Before flash:
ROM version: 1.95.502.5 WWE
ROM date: 10/20/08
Radio version: 1.02.25.32
Protocol version: 52.39c.25.22H

After flash:
ROM version: 5.08.502.1 WWE
ROM date: 02/19/09
Radio version: 1.12.25.19
Protocol version: 52.60.25.33H

UPDATE: I did a personal data only restore w/ databases. As I was reinstalling my software, each one would tell me the previous version needed to be uninstalled, then it couldn't uninstall, then the installation was unsuccessful... but all the programs worked.

Update 2: One of the phone features I like to play with use the most is the GPS. With the new ROM, it locks in about 15 seconds instead of 5 minutes. SWEET!!

I Should Have Played The Powerball

There's been a lot going on lately that I have wanted to tell you about or comment about but I just haven't been able to make the time to get the posts written. Then, when I do have time, I generally can't recall exactly what I was going to write about which is why I posted my last post.

One of the things I was going to write about was this weekend. The post would have been written in future tense but since the weekend is now over it will be written in past tense.

The middle nephew graduated from High School this weekend. Sunday, to be exact. We drove up to Kansas City, then up to Linneus, MO (about 2 hrs NE of KC) for the doings. There are 4 or 5 small towns (populations 200 to 500) in the county and I'm pretty sure it's a consolidated school. Even at that, there were only 18 people in his graduating class.

Side note: When we left for KC on Saturday, we had been on I-35 for 15 to 20 minutes and saw the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV1). We were heading North, it was heading South.

The small number of graduating seniors in his class doesn't in any way diminish the fact that M was 3rd in his class. The valedictorian and salutatorian were both major overachievers (that's not a bad thing). We are very proud of all of my brother's kids. Given the cards that life has dealt them, any or all of them could have easily written off their education and underachieved but none of them did. E graduated, went into the Army reserves and is now working on a college degree. N graduated with his HS diploma and Associates degree on the same day through a special academy in Missouri. M just graduated 3rd in his class with scholarships to pursue his chosen career of Funeral Director/Mortician (at least he'll never have a lack of clientele). B is a basketball star set to graduate next year and will probably end up with some sort of scholarships himself. Q is coming into his own and is shaping up to be just as smart and active as his brothers. I am proud of all of them... yeah, I know I already said that but I figure it's worth repeating.

Now, to explain the title.

When I got to KC on Saturday, I had an email from Sprite Backup. Sprite Backup is a backup program for windows Mobile devices. My phone came with a lite version pre-installed which has saved my bacon more than once. Anyway, they were running a contest to give away a copy of the latest version so I entered... and promptly forgot I even entered until I got the email this weekend. I didn't win the software but I did win 3rd prize which was an 8GB MicroSD card. Not too shabby.

But wait, there's MORE!

In mid-to-late-April, Pantech, AT&T and 26 blog sites started a contest to give away 26 Pantech Matrix Pro phones, each with a $100 AT&T gift card for activation or accessories or whatever. The contest rules were decided by the individual sites. Some of them asked for essays about anything from the best ways to using cloud computing to why do you need this phone. The ones I entered (about 15 of them) required entries about the contest on personal blogs, comments posted to the contest announcement or tweets about the site and the contest.

When I got home this evening, I had received a private message from the site administrator of GearLive saying that I had won their contest! I am so excited! I've just been getting stuff left and right this weekend... which now explains the title.

Switch Hitter

My replacement phone came in last night. I was immediately struck by a couple of differences. The replacement phone is just that - the phone and nothing else. No SIM, no battery, no cover, not even the stylus. Just the phone. I removed all of the 'accessories' from my original phone (after erasing all of my data) and started putting them into the replacement. The SIM card slipped in but I got some resistance when I put the MicroSD memory card in it's slot. I checked to make sure nothing was in the slot but it was clear. Turns out I needn't have worried. It was just the spring catch that holds the card in place. This was apparently lacking on my original unit. I hadn't noticed until now.

I need to get some new screen protectors. I was able to transfer the one that came with the original phone but it was already in need of replacement. Now it's got bits of dust trapped under it.

I have made a call and received a call. Everything went well except for a certain anticipation. Have you ever listened to a digital music file (or even an LP for you old farts like me) that had a skip in it? You've listened to it so many times you know exactly where the skip is and, in your mind, it has become part of the song. Then, you hear a 'clean' copy and you're waiting for the skip and it doesn't come and, while pleasant, it just doesn't sound right to you. That's what dialing was like. I kept waiting for it to enter multiple numbers or for the screen to respond in certain ways that it didn't. In some respects it's like having a new girlfriend. She has many qualities of the old one but those reactions you're used to getting don't happen.

The next few days should be interesting.

Not So Much Hate

Okay, after bitching about my phone the other day I decided to take action. I have had the problem with the multi-tap on the touch screen for a few months now. At one point, I performed a hard reset (resets the phone to out-of-the-box condition) then immediately restored a backup that included all of the tweaks, twiddles, and frobs I had applied to the phone. Just to be sure, I did it a little differently this time.

I hard-reset the phone then proceeded to reinstall all of the programs I previously installed except and of the configuration programs. This load needed to be completely tweak/hack free just to be sure it is a hardware problem not a software problem.

The first thing I did was to try IE. It seems to work fine. I suspected that was a configuration thing anyway. In addition, I have not (yet) experienced the problems I was having with Opera that required resetting the radios. The reset also allowed me to easily fix the note sync problem (I don't sync those anymore).

The multi-tap problem is still there. I pay for phone insurance but there's a $150 deductible that I really don't want to pay. I double checked the AT&T website and they have a special number to call for warranty replacement. They are, of course, going to take me through some troubleshooting (unless this is a known issue) before just sending me another phone but I don't have a problem with that. I have a reminder to give them a call later this afternoon. What would be cool is if they sent me a replacement with the new ROM on it... or sent me the new ROM just to be sure.

UPDATE: I should be receiving my replacement phone in approximately 5 business days. They agreed it was a hardware problem.

Ten Things I Hate About You

I have recently become disenamoured of Windows Mobile. I don't know if I got a bum device or what but for as much as I paid for my Fuze, I kinda expected more. Here is the list of problems I am experiencing and other things I want to bitch about.

1: Web Browsing - Opera and Internet Explorer will not function at the same time. In fact, I think I've only gotten IE to work once. As for Opera, half the time I fire it up and it won't connect properly. I have to cycle the radios off then back on (it's easiest to just turn airplane mode on then off) to get it to work. It all supposedly has something to do with the AT&T proxy server but I honestly don't understand why it has to be that complicated. This is one of those things that should just work.

2: Touch response - Is it too much to ask when I'm trying to dial or use the calculator that if I tap a button once I only get one instance of the number? This is actually where it is most noticeable but it happens trying to navigate Touch Flo 3D. I even undid all of the tweaks once and it didn't make a difference.

3: Navigating left and right using the D-pad. This is actually a design flaw.

4: GPS - Why does it take five fraking minutes for the GPS to warm up and get a solid lock? My friend with a Palm on Sprint does it in about fifteen seconds. Supposedly a new ROM (recently leaked) improves this but I haven't seen an official release yet.

5: Holiday mismatch - I think I may be the only person having this problem because I posted it to a forum and didn't get any 'me too' posts. My holidays are listed on the correct day on my Outlook calendar but my Fuze thinks they are the day before they are supposed to be (i.e. April 14 is Tax Day in the United States?). This does not happen with any appointments I create or meetings I accept. Just holidays.

6: TF3d vertical scrolling - The touch screen is either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. There doesn't seem to be an in-between. It never fails if I am attempting to scroll through programs, I invariably launch one I didn't intend to launch. Then, if I'm trying to flip through emails or text messages or contacts or whatever, I have to do it several times before it finally takes.

7: The keyboard - I have thought the horizontal sliding keyboard was cool for many years. Apparently I never used one of these phones long enough to really figure out just how inconvenient it really is to have to slide out the keyboard, turn the phone, then wait for it to decide that I've turned the phone to switch the orientation.

8: Hang up dammit! - To place a call I HAVE to use the hardware button. Even though there is a giant, red 'End Call' button on the screen, I can't use it because the phone turns off the screen during a call. And, apparently, the hardware button doesn't think I really want to hang up now.

9: ActiveSync - There is a function to be able to synchronize your Outlook notes with your phone/mobile device. There is also a function where you can tell the system that in case of conflicts, replace the stuff on the phone with the stuff on the computer. I plugged my Fuze into my work PC yesterday hoping a sync might tweak the clock and the PC would tell my Fuze it was a dumbass and had the holidays on the wrong day. When I went to open a note this afternoon that had a nice list of things I need to talk to my boss about, it had information from two weeks ago that I had deleted and replaced. Nice.

10: Useless stylus - Seriously? You think a 3 1/2-inch stick of metal the diameter of a Bic pen ink cartridge is helpful?

Honestly, the thing has been getting in my way more than it has been helping me lately. I wish it were easier to switch phones but beyond the problems with AT&T and my contract, I just had to get the most expensive WinMo phone they offer. The wife would never let me live it down if she found out how I feel about it now.

Maybe I'll do an experiment. I'll undo all of the tweaks and do a backup tonight. Tomorrow (or at my earliest convenience) I will hard reset the phone (basically reloading the ROM), restore my backup and turn TF3D off. Then I'll go at least a week with an untweaked phone using the standard WinMo shell.

ADDENDUM: You may get the impression from the paragraphs above that I hate my Fuze. That is not the case. I'm just frustrated with a few of its quirks (some of which seem to be isolated to my phone) and knowing what I know now, I might not have been so quick to snag one.

Hey, Mister Postman

The postman came by our house while I was at lunch today. And I now have my stereo bluetooth headphones in my hot little hands.

Ever since the First Saturday Headphone Debacle, I have wanted to go ahead and just buy another pair. I spent several days pouring through eBay listings and reading reviews of the different models withing my price range.

I seriously considered buying another Insignia brand but their QC seems highly variable and I'd already been burned once. I also looked at models from LG, NextLink, Sony and Maxfun. Some were cheaply constructed, others "so uncomfortable they hurt." In the end, I opted for a Motorola HT820. The negatives in the user reviews all seemed to be based on personal preferences rather than design or construction problems.

After letting them charge for a little over an hour, I went ahead and paired them to my HTC Fuze. To me, sound quality is just as good as wired headphones (that opinion may change after I use them for more than 2 minutes). All remote functions work as expected. I can control volume as well as play/pause and next/previous functions. When I press the call button, voice commander responded as expected, although I didn't actually try giving it a command. I tried calling the phone and the ringtone came through the phone rather than the headset. That may be something I can change or it just wasn't in the right mode.

Fit is as expected. The HT820 is a behind-the-head design. None of the BTH headphones are adjustable and fit is based partially on the size of your cranium. They're not uncomfortable although they do strain against my neck and ears if I tilt my head up. We'll see how they fare in extended, normal use but I'm not disappointed.

At first blush, I'm quite happy. Now I just have to get a bigger MicroSD card so I can store more music on my phone.

HTC Announces The Touch Pro 2

My AT&T Fuze is based on the HTC Touch Pro and HTC just announced the HTC Touch Pro 2.

Ain't she purdy?

I like the more rounded design. The D-Pad needed to go and I never cared for the faceted back. It still has the horizontal slide-out keyboard but they brought back the screen tilt feature. The TP2 is a little thinner (17.25 mm/0.68" vs 18.05 mm/0.71") but a little bit longer and wider (116 x 59.2 mm/4.57 x 2.33" vs 102 x 51 mm/4.02 x 2.01") to accomodate the 3.6" 400 x 800 screen (the Fuze is 2.8" with 480 x 640). They seem to have left the camera alone.

From the pics this is a sleek looking phone. The shiny has worn off my Fuze so I'm not entirely enamoured with it any more. She does have her flaws and, honestly, the horizontal slide-out keyboard can be inconvenient at times (but it's much much better than a "soft" keyboard on the screen).

I probably won't be getting a Touch Pro 2 since I'm not anywhere near wealthy and my upgrade date is more than a year out. But this encourages me for what might be available when that day rolls around. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll have enough reason to justify the expense but I can dream.

AT&T HTC Fuze Review (Software Part II)

Author's note: If you find this article useful, show me some love and leave a comment at the bottom.

Update 11/26/08: Since posting this, many of the tweaks have been incorporated into programs or stand-alone cab files. One of the most comprehensive lists is here (link to XDA).

This is the third in a three part review of the AT&T HTC Fuze, based on the HTC Touch Pro. Part 1 was a review of the hardware. Part 2 was a review of TouchFLO 3D and included software. This review will include must-have third party applications and useful tweaks.

One of the reasons to have a PDA phone is to be able to add custom software. With that in mind, let me tell you about some of my must-have software. The best part about this list is that, despite having paid $350 for the privilege of taking this phone out of the AT&T store, I’m married cheap. All of the software on this list is FREE.

[Side note: Many of these downloads are .CAB files. To install them, copy the CAB file to your phone then tap on it using a file explorer. The phone knows what to do with the file and will walk you through the process.]

Microsoft .Net Compact Framework 3.5 – Unfortunate as it may be, much of the software you can download for your WinMo device requires this.

HandyShopper is a shopping list program originally developed for the Palm OS but has been quite successfully ported to Windows Mobile. It is extremely flexible and configurable so that you can have multiple databases and can use it for much more than just shopping lists. An entire community of users exists for this software and many of them have shared their custom databases. Its only shortcoming is that it pretty much requires a touch screen.

Google Maps on the mobile platform takes on an entirely new dimension. Even without a GPS receiver, GMaps can give you an approximation of your current location based upon which cell phone tower you are connected to. Add the GPS and it comes very close to turning your phone into a navigation system. Honestly, if GMaps was available with audible directions I would be willing to pay for a premium version – hint hint.

Windows Live Search Mobile (If you're browsing on your mobile, visit http://wls.live.com/). For once, there is a Microsoft product done RIGHT. This little gem allows you to literally tell it what you are searching for and where to search for it. Just press the speak button and say, “Chinese restaurants in Naperville, Illinois,” and it will give you a list of exactly what you asked for. Tap one of the entries and locate it on the map. It’s a fun trick to show friends at parties, too.

Tipster is a tip calculator. Maybe there are better products for this but this one is simple and it works. Type in your bill amount and it automatically calculates a 15% tip. Tap in the proper locations and you can increase the tip amount or even split the check.

I originally had a replacement weather app loaded on my phone but later found a tweak to add cities to the Weather tab, making this unnecessary.

GPSToday by GeoTerrestrial is a multi-talented program that a friend turned me on to that makes solid use of that GPS receiver in your phone. It is designed as a Today Screen plugin but can also be downloaded as a stand-alone app (for those of us that want to continue using TF3D). The GPSToday screen shows your coordinate position, closest address (essentially, the address where you are), the name of the contact closest to you (based on address), and current weather conditions. It also comes with tools that allow you to log your movements (haven’t figured out how to use the data yet but it’s cool), geotag pictures, and email your location information. You can also do location-based search and it has a compass and map view. It really makes having a GPS in your phone worthwhile.

LightSaber is useful for… well… nothing. It’s just a nifty app that shows off the accelerometer. It makes light saber noises as you swing your phone through the air.

Diamond TF3D Config (also available here) allows you to tweak the TouchFLO 3D interface. Among its many options is rearranging tab order or disabling tabs, installing themes so you can change the colors of the TF3D interface (I’m getting used to the grey so I didn’t use this), and customizing your date format. You can also enable some of the registry tweaks floating around such as boosting TouchFLO performance (all 4 that are currently seen on various message boards). And it has a handy section for rearranging the order of shortcuts on the program launcher. You can even, apparently, add your own tweaks to the program.

Diamond Tweak. I just learned about this one as I was finishing up this article. It is written by the same people who brought you Kaiser Tweak for the 8525/Tilt. It includes a HUGE multitude of tweaks and even enables scrolling using the D-Pad (swirling your finger around the center button) in several applications (individually selectable, requires a restart). It also allows you to easily disable the obnoxious startup sound. I literally just installed this so I don’t have the full skinny on it but so far it looks GREAT.

Update 11/26: A third configuration tool that is often recommended is Schap's Advanced Configuration.

Total Commander looks like a file explorer replacement but it also allows you to edit the registry and view files and locations that are otherwise hidden.

Why is it that Microsoft has not seen fit to update the graphics for the calculator application? It looks like a reject from Windows 3.1. The appearance of the built-in calculator app is the only reason I have installed a calculator replacement (I’m using MyCalculator but there are several others, even some specialized calculators).

My Mobiler is an absolute MUST for any tweaker. With My Mobiler, when your WinMo phone is connected to your computer via USB, you can open up a window to view and interact with your WinMo device. If that’s not enough you can also take screen captures and avi movies. The movies don’t work so well but all of the screen captures in this article were created using My Mobiler.
If you read any of the forums related to this phone (or any smart phone, for that matter), it’s never exactly the way you want it when it comes out of the box. Half the fun of having a smart phone is being able to personalize it… and boy can you personalize this thing. Here are some of my favorite tweaks (I try not to call them hacks but you can if you want to).

In their grand wisdom, AT&T removed the YouTube application that is part of the preinstalled software from HTC. Okay, they didn’t so much as remove it as they removed it from the program launcher. The application is still there, you just have to go find it. You can restore the YouTube application by using Total Commander to copy the link (YouTube.lnk) from the Windows folder into the Start Menu folder or the Programs folder, depending on where you want it to appear. Yeah, it’s that simple.

The threaded view for text messaging is really nice but they only give you space for to view one line of your text entry when replying. You can get more lines for text messaging simply by editing a file in the Windows folder using Total Commander.

While I was writing this article, someone figured out a way to add a city to the weather tab. It’s a small program that edits the file the weather app looks at. You just have to know the Accuweather code for the city you want to add. For US cities it’s simply NAMUSSTCITYNAME. For instance, to add Stillwater, OK, I used the code NAMUSOKSTILLWATER.

Tweaks I have enabled with the use of TF3D config:

• Rearrange tab order
• Rearrange programs on quick launch (as needed)
• TouchFlo Performance 1, 2 & 4
• Adjust date format

Tweaks I have enabled with the use of Diamond Tweak:

• Disable fast sleep during calls (not sure how well this works)
• Disable light sensor during calls (not sure about this one, either)
• Ring without delay on incoming calls
• I eventually disabled this one because it was causing the phone to vibrate and ring before the Caller ID could even pick up who was calling
• Disable 100db sound limitation
• Set phone sound volume to high (default is medium - not sure what it did)
• Increase Bluetooth sample rate to 48000 (supposedly increases quality)
• Disable startup sound
• Now it just gives my a short beep instead of that OBNOXIOUS jet plane noise
• Boost TF3D scrolling speed
• Remapped the right soft key on the home screen to launch the camera
• You can remap the left key, too
• I have since changed this back to the default
• Enable ClearType in landscape mode
• Enabled touch sensitive wheel in calendar, call history, contacts, file explorer, programs, phone and Diamond Tweak
• Turned off automatic display of the on-screen keyboard (not sure if this one is working)

I told you there were a lot of them. And there are a lot more in the list.

Registry Tweaks

Most of the registry tweaks you can use are listed here. Several of them are covered by Diamond TF3D Config and Diamond Tweak. The following are ones that I did on my own:

[NOTE: To edit the registry, open Total Commander and type \\\ into the address bar to see the Registry folder]

• Adjust touch sensitivity
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\TouchPanel
• Value = PressureThreshold
• Change from the default dword:00000027 or 34 to dword:000000f0 or 240 in decimal
• Add 4th column to programs & settings screens
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=413562

There are also a few more tweaks that I know about but haven’t implemented because, frankly, I either don’t need them or don’t care about them.

Enable the FM tuner – Requires having wired headphones plugged in. It uses the wire as the antenna.

Remap the PTT button - I will probably do this one at some point but I just don’t want to go through that much work right now. For the time being, the Body Glove snap on case I bought causes all of the buttons to be recessed so there is little chance of accidental activation.

POP/IMAP hotfix? – I honestly have no idea what this fixes.

Tethering – Apparently, tethering does not function properly, even though the sharing option is right there on the surface. I do not have a tethering plan and do not plan to tether my device so I’m just not going to mess with it.

There is a lot more software out there and a lot more tweaks that currently exist or that people will discover. If you know of any cool software (especially freeware) or useful tweaks not covered here, please feel free to leave a comment.

Update 11/24: I have yet to find any tweak, hack or program that keeps the display from shutting off while you're on a phone call.

Update 11/26/08: Since posting this, many of the tweaks have been incorporated into programs or stand-alone cab files. One of the most comprehensive lists is here (link to XDA).

GeoTerrestrial GeoMail!

The following information was sent directly from my mobile phone using a program called GPSToday.

GeoMail My Location

GeoLocation: 36.1148,-97.1189

Address:
West WalMart
Stillwater,OK

Altitude: 787ft

Time: 11-21-2008 00:07UTC

Message:
GPSToday is so cool.

Desktop Maps:
http://www.geoterrestrial.com/map.php

Mobile Maps:
http://m.geoterrestrial.com/map.php

GPSToday Users:
In the message Menu, tap on "View on GPSToday Map"


// *Do Not Edit Below this line* //

{GPSToday}
36.1148,-97.1189
787ft,0mph,0
West WalMart
Stillwater,OK,
11-21-08,00:07UTC
1,0
GPSToday is so cool.

Mobile post sent by UncleBubby using Utterli. Replies.

AT&T HTC Fuze Review (Software, Part I)

Author's note: If you find this article useful, show me some love and leave a comment at the bottom.

I was going to put everything in one big post but when I got to the point where I had five typed pages in MS Word, I decided to split it up. The must-have apps and tweaks review is here.


Previously, I looked at the hardware of the HTC Fuze (a.k.a. HTC Touch Pro). Now, it’s time to start looking at the software.

The base operating system of the AT&T HTC Fuze is Windows Mobile 6.1. I’m not going to cover WinMo here. It is what it is. What I am going to cover is TouchFLO 3D, pre-installed applications, must-have applications, and various tweaks and tricks (and the tools needed to do them).

If you remember the days of Windows 3.1, you will recall that at that time Windows was a shell that made it easier to navigate DOS (the Disk Operating System). In other words, DOS loaded first and continued to actually run the show. Windows loaded on top of DOS and made DOS a kinder, gentler operating system with pretty graphics. TouchFLO 3D is kinda like that. It gives you a slick interface to navigate through Windows Mobile but Windows Mobile is still running the show. And it’s not so much a shell as it is a Halloween mask. WinMo is not very far under the surface of TF3D. In fact, you could think of TF3D as a wicked cool Today screen plugin on steroids. TF3D allows the user to utilize various gestures, called slides and swipes, to move quickly through various interfaces.

On the home screen of TF3D, the user is presented with a large, friendly clock, the current date, a call history and current appointments. At present, tasks are not listed on the home screen. To see more appointments, you can swipe your finger upward, which will shrink the clock. The very top and very bottom are the standard WinMo menu and shortcut bars.

Just above the shortcuts (i.e. Calendar and Contacts) are the TF3D tabs. You can either tap on the tab you want or slide to the tab you want. To slide, press your finger on one of the icons, hold it for a second until the screen switches to show the selected tab on the main part of the screen, then slide left or right. Release when you are at the tab you want.

The rest of the tabs and what gestures you can use on them are as follows:(they are presented in the order they have been changed to on my phone – more on that later)

• People
• 
• Store up to 15 favorite contacts
  
• You can swipe vertically through the pictures or slide up and down through the icons on the right side
  
• To open the contact information, tap on the picture
  
• To call the contact, tap the phone icon next to the number displayed
  
• Email
• 
• Shows an envelope with the top part of your first message sticking out
  
• Swipe vertically through the messages to skim
  
• Press envelope to open message
  
• Programs
• 
• Create shortcuts to up to 18 favorite programs
  
• 9 show on the screen at any given time – swipe vertically to see more
  
• SMS/Text Messages
• 
• The most recent text message shows on the screen, including sender and date/time information
  
• Swipe vertically to see cool animation and show next most recent text message
  
• Tap the message to go to a threaded view of all messages between you and that person with a quick reply input box at the bottom of the screen
  
• Music
• 
• TF3D music player showing album art
  
• Swipe vertically to change song
  
• Tap play button to play track
  
• Use “zoom touch” around center hardware button to scroll forward and backward through song
  
• Tap library shortcut to View (in order):
  
• Now playing
  
• Artists
  
• Albums
  
• Playlists (playlists are NOT shared with Win Media Player)
  
• All songs
  
• Genres
  
• Composers
  
• Purchased
• 
• Photos and video
• 
• Swipe vertically to flip through photo album
  
• Tap photo to show full screen
  
• Tap camera icon to bring up camera
  
• Tap projector icon to start camera in movie mode
  
• Tap album shortcut to switch which pictures you’re looking at
  
• Weather
• 
• Includes current weather, daily forecast, and 5-day forecast for every city except the one you are currently in (lists major cities only) [Note, there’s a fix for this that I will get into later]
  
• Internet
• 
• Includes pre-defined shortcuts/favorites that open in Opera
  
• I haven’t used this screen yet and haven’t really explored it
  
• AT&T
• 
• The dreaded Death Star tab
  
• Includes shortcuts to AT&T software and services
  
• Cellular video
  
• Telenav
  
• Messaging
  
• AT&T Mall
  
• Etc.
  
• Settings
• 
• Allows access to several common settings
  
• Most useful is communications settings to turn on/off different features (Bluetooth, wifi, etc.)

Like I said, it’s more like a powerful Today Screen plugin. Later, I’ll get into how some of this can be customized.

One of the neat features that has been added to the WinMo interface is the Quick Menu. When you are on the home screen, it appears in the upper-right corner where the OK and X appear when you are in a program. The Quick Menu shows the currently running programs. You can quickly switch between running programs, stop programs, and see how much program memory is being used. Think of it as a task manager shortcut.

The other built-in adjustment is the menu font sizes. They are adjustable but, by default, they are enlarged for finger poking.

Now let’s talk about some of the pre-installed applications of note.

Teeter is a highly addictive game that utilizes the accelerometer. The object is to guide the ball, by tilting the phone, into the green hole without letting it drop into one of the dark holes.

WorldCard Mobile is a handy application, especially if you get handed a lot of business cards. All you have to do is take a picture of a business card, tell WCM to recognize it and it will convert the image into contact information that you can edit if necessary then save as a new contact. I’ve tried it and it works pretty well.

AT&T would love for you to use their online paid backup service and there are built-in shortcuts to get you there. There is, however, an included option that will not cost you anything extra to use. Sprite Backup allows you to save your backup information to your memory card or other location. Do you really need an online option?

JetCet Print allows you to print selected types of information (email, contacts, etc.) directly from your mobile device to a network printer via WiFi. It only includes drivers for 3 brands of printers but one of the drivers is a generic HP Monochrome Laserjet that should cover quite a large installed base.

Microsoft Voice Command I think was designed more to talk to you than to receive commands but, amazingly enough, it works. I know people that use this software and it drives me nuts to hear the annoying electronic voice talking over their ringtones so I have the “reading” part turned off. What’s cool about it is the control part. For the first time across about 5 different phones, I can actually voice dial my phone, plus a whole lot more, from my Motorola H500 Bluetooth headset. I tap the call button, wait for the beep telling me the phone is listening and give it the command, “Call [contact name].” If it understood me, it will ask for confirmation in its electronic voice and I say yes or no. I don’t even have to train the contacts, the software compares what I say to the text in my contacts list.

Voice command has several other uses. I can give it commands like, “What is my schedule [today/tomorrow]?” or “What is my next appointment?” or even “What time is it?” For a full explanation of what this software will do, visit the Voice Command site.

I think that's enough for now. In our next installment, we'll go over must-have software and, if we have enough time, we'll go over the tweaks.

The Bottom Line:
Pros -

• TouchFLO 3D (in general)
• Tweaked out of the box to allow easy finger poking
• Included software is very useful
• WorldCard
• Voice Command (first phone I've actually been able to use voice dialing)
• Opera mobile (it's the default instead of IE)
• JetCet Print
• Threaded SMS view
• Expanded favorite contacts/programs capacity
• Better alert sounds
• Task manager menu on Today/Home screen
• A2DP support

Cons -

• TF3D is sluggish out of the box (tweakable)
• Touch sensitivity is too low (tweakable)
• TF3D not easily customizable without hacks
• Today Screen plugins don't work with TF3D and there's nothing comparable
• Can't add custom tabs to TF3D (see above)
• Can't rearrange or disable tabs in TF3D (tweakable)
• Screen shuts off during calls (tweakable?)
• Weather widget only includes major cities (tweakable)
• Shouldn't need all the hacks/tweakers to customize some of these items
• No software that makes good/fun use of the accelerometer (yet)

AT&T HTC Fuze Review (hardware)

Author's note: If you find this article useful, show me some love and leave a comment at the bottom.

Well there it is, ladies and gentlemen. The box for my new phone. I had originally thought I would do an unboxing but just didn't have the opportunity. Besides, the way they set it up, it was out of the box and operational before it ever left the store.

Now, after obsessing over it for two full days plus, it's finally just about dialed in, I think I'm familiar with it enough to say I know how to use it (but not to say I know how to use it well), and I'm ready to give my impressions.

Straight off let me say I L O V E this phone! It is everything I wanted and more. There are a few drawbacks that I will get into later but I'm hooked. TouchFlo3D is cool but some sacrifices have to be made to use it. We'll see how long it lasts. I may decide to turn it off for 24 hours some day and see how much I miss it. It is, however, much more than window dressing - it does add some convenience to operation... but I'm already getting ahead of myself.

Let's start off with the Physical Aspects of the phone:

The AT&T HTC Fuze, based on the HTC Touch Pro, is slightly shorter and slightly narrower than its cousins the 8125, the 8525 and the Tilt but, for all simplification of measurement, is just as thick. The screen is flush rather than slightly recessed. This style was first introduced by HTC in the Touch Diamond from which the Fuze/Touch Pro also takes its faceted back cover.

The Fuze has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard that sports five rows of keys rather than the four rows on the 8x25/Tilt. The OEM model uses numbers on the extra row, like a standard keyboard, but AT&T opted to modify the keyboard and replaced the numbers with symbols, relegating the numbers to a cluster of Fn keys like its cousins and almost every other QWERTY phone pad I've seen.

Adding the fifth row of keys and shrinking the dimensions a bit necessitated making the keys smaller and causing the loss of the "margins" on the sides of the keyboards on the 8x25/Tilt. The compactness does not hinder operation but it did slow me down a bit compared to the other phones. Use of the new keyboard requires a slightly different angle of attack (more thumb tip, less thumb flat) as well as a shift of holding position to access the outer keys. I've only mis-hit a few keys and I suspect I will become quite proficient with it over time.

As for the keyboard itself, the slide-out is solid and snaps into place very well. The keys are responsive and well-formed.

On the front panel are four buttons and a D-pad. The buttons are home, back, call and hang up. Pressing the call button launches the phone application and brings up the on-screen dialing pad.

You will notice the lack of a call/connect button on the screen. That is going to take some getting used to. I'm bothered by it a bit because I have to move my thumb off the screen and to the lower-left corner of the unit to complete the call. It's a trade-off for big, easy to push virtual buttons.

Side note: Holding down the call button activates voice command and holding down the hang up button toggles silent mode.

Update 11/26: By far, the hardest thing to get used to is using the hardware buttons to make & end calls. Being on the bottom of the phone, I just don't even think about them being there. I think of the call button as just a shortcut to the phone app. Since the screen turns off during a call, the most convenient way to disconnect is with the end button. I have to shift my thinking or find the right tweaks.

The D-pad is a 4-way directional button with a center push... but there's more to it. First, the outer edge is a capacitive touch (I think I have that right) mechanism ala the iPod. In certain applications (Opera, Google Maps, Photo browser, etc.) running your finger around the edge causes the image to zoom in and out. Second, they've programmed the light that rings the center button to do some really cool things (i.e. fading from bottom to top while charging). Not at all functional but some fun eye candy. Finally, it acts as the focus and shutter button for the camera. Touch the center to focus and adjust exposure, push to take the picture.

On The Back is the camera and "flash" (it's a single LED). Underneath the back cover is an easily accessed MicroSD slot that accomodates high capacity cards. I think I read somewhere that it can handle up to a 16GB card.

So, what's in the box?

• Phone, battery and back cover
• Mini USB cable for charging and PC connection
• Wall charger
• Headphone dongle
• Quick Start and Getting Started guides
• Getting Started CD
• Screen protector (BIG plus to AT&T for including this)
  

The phone, battery and back cover are self-explanatory. Thankfully, HTC has stayed with their Extended USB connector and a standard mini USB plug is all you need to charge or connect to a PC. You don't even have to take the twist-tie off this one if you've already got one. The wall charger is just a 5v transformer with a mini USB connector. I have a Motorolla charger that came with my H500 Bluetooth headset and it works just fine.

What, you may ask, is a headphone dongle? Take a look at this (click to make it bigger):
On the bottom of the phone is the Extended USB connector. It functions as a data connector as well as a headphone connector. You will notice that the port is not shaped like a mini USB and you will also notice there is no headphone jack. Don't let the picture fool you, that hole under the headphone icon is the reset button. The headphone icon refers to the dual nature of the other connector. Frankly, I think HTC made an error in not placing that icon underneath the USB icon. In one forum I have been following, we see the placement of the headphone icon and the reset button as a tech support call generator - "Every time I try to plug in my headphones, the phone reboots."

That brings us back to the dongle. On the bottom of the dongle is a mini USB port for data connection and charging. Along the side are three, count them THREE, different headphone connectors. One looks like the ExtUSB port and is presumably for mini USB headphones and there are mini and sub-mini plugs as well. Nothing like giving the end-user flexibility. I'm not terribly keen on the dongle but at least HTC made it give us something a little extra.

As a side note, the short piece of cable between the connector and the box on the dongle is somewhat stiff. This keeps the dongle from flailing around when connected, thus reducing the possibility of disconnection or, perish the thought, damage. (in case you're interested, the small hole at the top center is the microphone)

Now let's take a look at the sides. The right side of the phone has no buttons. None whatsoever. Some have lamented the choice not to include a dedicated camera button and I don't blame them. On the bottom of the right side is the magnetic stylus. Not only does its magneticness keep it from falling out, it also provides functionality. Removing the stylus while the screen is off, wakes up the screen. Removing the stylus while on a call automatically launches the note application.

The left side has three buttons:

What you see there are the volume up/down buttons and the Push To Talk (PTT) button (think Nextel). Lots of peolpe are trying to figure out how to remap the PTT button but never had success with the 8525 or the Tilt so I don't see how the Fuze will be any different. Some have reported some success in at least disabling the blasted thing. (I am told that the PTT hass been successfully remapped on the tilt but every post I read about it notes that there has been limited success, esp. on the Fuze. Color me corrected. See the comments for a link)

We've already looked at the bottom, now let's check out the top. The top has the most important button of all. You cannot do anything with this phone until you have pushed that button. It's the power button. Sorry about the buildup but I just didn't want a sentence that read, "The power button is on the top." dangling out there in space.

One more note. The Fuze has a glossy black finish. It is a fingerprint magnet. To take these pictures, I had to get out my lens cloth and scrub the thing down. And look what happened just in opening the keyboard and turning it around for placement:

PROS:

• More compact than previous HTC units
• Lots of RAM compared to other HTC units (it sports 256MB)
• MicroSDHC slot
• Memory card slot is covered but easily accessible without removing the battery
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
  
• Built-in GPS receiver
• 3G capability
• Flush screen
• Solid feel
• Standard USB data/charging
• Accelerometer

CONS:

• Small keys on keyboard
• Keys too close to the edge
• Glossy finish is a fingerprint magnet
• No dedicated camera button
• Lack of hardware shortcut buttons
• No headphone plug
• The angular edges look cool but it isn't terribly comfortable to hold to your ear

Next time, we'll take a look at the operating system, including TouchFlo3D.
Part 1 of the software review is here
Part 2 of the software review is here

Update: I just figured out what bothers me and slows me down the most about the keyboard. The space key is too small. It needs to be 3-keys wide instead of 2.

Update 2: After having it just over a week, an additional con would be battery life. I have to charge the battery daily. It's a sophisticated piece of hardware doing a lot of things that drain the battery so I understand but it's still a negative. Hopefully battery technology will take another leap ahead soon.

Also, in yet another complaint about the keyboard, there is no tab key. There is, inexplicably, a caps key. Why the caps key? Tapping shift twice locks the caps. I didn't even realize the caps key was there. Why couldn't it be a tab key?