Joey's Blog » Zune

My New AT&T Tilt 2 by HTC – Windows Phone 6.5

Joey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:35:57 +0000

I’m not a phone geek but on the other hand I don’t want a clunker phone. I want a good phone that will last a couple of years. After having an AT&T Tilt (made by HTC) for nearly three years I decided it was time for a new phone. This was a good phone that has seen several crashes on the ski slopes, a drop here or there, and most impressively my two young boys. Getting a new phone now is good timing since Windows Mobile 6.5, now known as Windows Phone 6.5, was just released. I compared several phones including the Pure and Tilt 2. (BTW, I’m stuck with AT&T since that’s the carrier my company has selected.) The two phones were comparable with slight differences:

The Tilt 2 is a little larger than the pure.
The Pure has a 5MB camera and the T2 has a 3.2.
The T2 has a very nice speaker phone, I’m not sure what the Pure has but it wasn’t obvious.
The T2 has a physical keyboard, the Pure does not. This contributes somewhat to the larger size of the device, but they did a good job keeping the keyboard as thin as possible. This obviously makes the Tilt 2 thicker than the iPhone.
The T2 seems to have a nicer screen than the Pure.

Although I don’t use the physical keyboard much anymore on the original Tilt, I went with the Tilt 2 over the other devices I considered. It felt good in my hands, the screen was one of the best I have seen, and believe it or not, I use the speaker phone.

So how does the new Tilt 2 compare to the original Tilt? It’s night and day:

The old Tilt had Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1, the new one has Windows Phone 6.5 which is basically the same OS but with a much needed face lift.
Included in 6.5 is a vastly improved mobile Internet Explorer. I can’t even begin to describe the improvement here.
The Tilt now feels like a brick in my hands compared to this sleek ergo device.
The new Tilt has a radio. Haven’t tried it yet.
The screen, as I mentioned before, is amazing on the T2. At the time, the Tilt screen was nice but we’ve come a long way.
The Tilt had no accelerometer so the only way to change the orientation was to slide the keyboard out or hit an onscreen button. The T2 does have an accelerometer but it is very underused with the bundled software. The bundled game Teeter does an excellent job demonstrating the capabilities.

I wasn’t sure I would like this phone at first, but after I removed some proprietary HTC/AT&T stuff I am thrilled with my decision. Namely, I removed the TouchFlo 3D and enabled the default 6.5 UI. The TouchFlo interface is nice looking and great programming but it’s not that efficient or useful. You can flick photos and emails all around, but it seems more for show and selling phones in the store than it does for actual use. The TouchFlo interface quickly becomes a nuisance and gets in the way. On the other hand, the native 6.5 UI is efficient and very natural to use.

Note: Even though Windows Phone 6.5 was officially released just last week (as of this writing on 10/21/09), there are already rumors and leaked builds of 6.5.1 (or 6.51). I’m sure there will be an HTC upgrade in flash ROM format when this is officially released. HTC did this with the original Tilt providing a ROM upgrade from Windows Mobile 6.0 to 6.1.

Here are a couple of screen shots of the TouchFlo and the native Windows Phone 6.5 interfaces. Both have a nice look in these screen shots, but you can’t get a sense of their usefulness until you get your hands on the device.

How to disable the HTC TouchFlo 3D interface:

Start > Settings > Today > Items. Now uncheck TouchFlo and check “Windows Default” – This will give you the new 6.5 UI. I really like this interface, it is very Zune and/or Windows Media Center like. (Don’t get me wrong, there is room for improvement in 6.5.1 and the complete rewrite of Windows Phone 7.) Alternatively, if you prefer the WindowsMobile 6.1 look, you can select your own items for the Today screen. However, I find the 6.5 interface very useful and efficient.

How do I remove my Microsoft Live or Hotmail account?

This isn’t exactly obvious, but if you set up a Live or Hotmailaccount and want to remove it, follow these steps: Start > Windows Live > Switch LiveAccounts This will remove all emails and account settings which you previously entered.

How to create your own Windows Phone 6.5 Theme:

I haven’t done this yet, but it looks simple. Simply go the site, select your phone, select your preferences, and if desired supply a background image. You’ll then get a link sent to your phone to install the theme: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/theme-generator.mspx

Remaining questions I am working on. Can you help?

The phone came bundled with some software I can’t remove. Specifically, how do I remove Opera Mobile 9.5? I like Opera but I prefer to use 9.7. Skyfire is also a very good browser that supports Flash.
How do I remove the “Getting Started” menu item? This problem is solved HERE!
How do I add/remove any item in the Windows Phone 6.5 menu?
Why is there a preinstalled YouTube app but no shortcut? Most users will never find this app buried in the folder structure.

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Free iTunes Downloads from Starbucks

Joey — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:30:35 +0000

Starbucks is offering free music again via iTunes. Since I’m weaning myself off iTunes in favor of my wife’s new Zune, I don’t have a need for these songs. I am not weaning myself off Starbucks, so when I think of it, I’ll grab more codes and post them here.

These codes can only be used once, so if you are the first to read this then you are the lucky one. Check back every couple of days to see if I’ve posted more codes. Don’t be a hog, if you don’t like the artists, then don’t use the code. Also, if there are multiple codes for the same song, then please only take one.

To use the codes, simply open iTunes, go to the store and click redeem. You should see the field to paste the code in.

Enjoy.

Adele – “Chasing Pavements” Song: MAMAMPFJEMF7, XNWKHEAAYYX9, E4YYF3PME4EL, M3P7Y7JHF3W4, YXXTX9MH6E4L, TFYFXYA39NY9, 74WM9N99Y47K
Duffy – “Mercy” Music Video: A4R4TR9E734P, 4EPYJ437W6MM, M39MAN4EHFNA, MPM6RRAHWFNT, 7RPFALFE9MKJ, EYN97JJEMX77, 774AYFAFMJ6F, RMMKLHKY6PE4
Carly Simon – “So Many People To Love” Song: RMFJP4MK649H, A3KMNRYW9KEL, LA7FY3JX6M49, 9TR7HW949XL7, MRXET4THLY9T, TMN9LWJJWXWN, 44EHT3LT3JTH
Hilary McRae – “Every Day” Music Video: THEWENKFP4JP, 9MW7F3NX3KKA
Counting Crows – “Washington Square” Song: JE9WK7F6MEWT, W7R43R7HPMLX, WM6EFR3FFWWP, MLRFKL9FAP79, XFM6A64JL4X4, XKKRKFEJM7HH, XLLW7KMK9MFP, J3774667TRXT, N9J9P6WMRY7K, 9KX34KMPYYML

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I bought a Zune

Joey — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:06:44 +0000

I was the guy for years who HATED Microsoft for everything they did. When someone would mention they were looking at a Microsoft product, I would chime in with an alternative. In fact, when my company merged with another company it ruined my week thinking that my email system would soon be Exchange/Outlook. I spent a year pointing out the advantages that Domino/Notes had. In fact, I remember going into the campus PC store in 1993 just to let the clerk know how superior Ami Pro 3.1 was to the new Word for Windows 6. (Petty, I know, but I had my convictions.) I even bought a separate PC at home just to run Linux. However, over the past the few years I have chilled somewhat on that stance and have actually liked some MS products. I guess my transformation began when I worked at Noria. There, I was solely responsible for the complete MS back-office environment. In one large project I implemented MS DNS, Windows Server 2003, Exchange 2003, and of course Active Directory. This involved a lot of planning, but the Microsoft tools made the migration seamless to the users. I was impressed. I’m still not a huge MS fan, but I realize they make some good products. Windows XP has been a rock, Outlook 2007 is an incredible corporate email system, I use Windows Live Photo Gallery to organize photos, and Windows Media Center is probably my favorite software applications of all time.

However… I never imagined I would buy a Zune. According to the Apple commercials, Apple is the only cool company around. To buy MS would make me look like “PC Guy.” I like my iPod. Aside from some battery issues, it’s been a good device and is very easy to use. My problem with ipod has been with itunes. I don’t like itunes. It looks like a software relic and has been patched and glued together more times than a downtown Tulsa road. So, I bucked the trend and purchased a 2nd gen Zune for my wife for Valentine’s day. It’s an 8 GB flash model, and of course, pink. She loves this device and the Zune software. I have to admit I am very pleased with this purchase. I tried the original Zunes and was not impressed. It’s amazing how much progress they made from Gen 1 to Gen 2. (If you read the tech magazines, it’s not even the same device. Gen 1 was a rebranded Toshiba.) What is it that I like so much?

The screen is very bright and clear. Even on the small flash-based device.
Video playback is cool. If the video is widescreen, it will rotate the screen and the controls. So, if you need to increase the volume, then you don’t need to think about which way is really “up.”
Sound quality is much better than my ipod with the same headphones. I don’t have the newest ipod, so sound quality may have improved with a newer codec.
It plays all my WMA and WMV files without converting!! This is a huge pain in itunes.
The Zune has an FM radio with a RDS. The radio is as clear as my car radio.
Wireless sync. We were able to sync media content over our wireless network. (we may turn this off, I bet it kills the battery)
The Zune software is a pleasure. Setup took a long time on her old PC, but it is very simple to use. Just drag the videos/songs/photos/etc… to the Zune icon and it syncs. There is no “undocking” or “ejecting” the device. You simply unplug it. All content is very organized. The photo content is especially attractive.
The onscreen menu of the device is easy to use and intuitive. For example, it is simple to set a photo as your background because the control is where you think it would be and not buried under 24 layers of sub menus.

The features are all controlled via flash updates. The device had Zune 2.0 software, but on the first sync it upgraded to 2.3 automatically. A Zune software upgrade is due soon which will include games. Check out this video of a game on a Zune: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080221/video-xna-game-running-zune/
If I ever upgrade my Media Center to Vista, then all my Media Center content will auto sync. This is really cool since I use Media Center as my only DVR. I’ll be able to watch recorded TV on the Zune.

What don’t I like about the Zune?? Not much – it works like you think it should.

One thing that stood out was that the control wheel is different. With my ipod, you scroll in a circle. With Zune, you scroll up and down.
Also, the included earbuds do not have great bass response and are too big for my wife’s ears.
I don’t understand the integration between WMP11 and Zune. Do my tag edits in WMP11 effect the Zune library? WMP12 and Zune need to merge for simplicity
Since the laptop that runs the Zune software is old, we don’t get all the flashy animation.

Does this now make me a Microsoft homer? Not even close. I have yet to drop the cash to upgrade my Media Center to Vista. (Not that I think Vista is bad, but I don’t see a reason to upgrade.) However, I am no longer convinced that a single manufacturer makes the best media player now.

BTW, I also considered Sansa and Creative Zens. I liked these, but I liked the little Zune better and honestly I am concerned about the future of Creative.

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