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- My rating: 0 stars
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16 out of 19 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"Feature packed phone but bulky and difficult to use"
Pros: Really feature-packed smartphone:
<li>640x480 display resolution--gorgeous hi res graphics
<li>Touch screen
<li>Full QWERTY keyboard
<li>WiFi access
<li>Windows Mobile 6.1Cons: <li>Surprisingly heavy and bulky--it's uncomfortable to keep in the pocket of my jeans
Summary: I've been using a Motorola Q for the last two and a half years, and while it was pretty annoying in some ways, it worked great as a phone with Exchange-synched email, calendar and contacts. I also liked the full QWERTY keyboard.
<li>Touch screen scrolling really inconsistent between apps
<li>HTC TouchFlo app is more annoying than helpful.
<li>Goofy adapter required to
My contract expired about the time the iPhone came out, and while I love just about everything about the iPhone, it's Exchange integration is really weak. Thus, I've been holding out for a Windows Mobile device that was more iPhone-like.
I bought the HTC Fuze device because I thought it might fit the bill. Aside from having a 640x480 VGA screen and a full QWERTY keyboard, it seemed to have some of the iPhone bells and whistles, like a touch screen and good multimedia support.
But alas, after 24 hours I am simply annoyed. The HTC TouchFlo app looks really nice but is difficult to use and, frankly, annoying. Some examples:
<li>Scrolling between the tabs demos but in practice I find it somewhat difficult to use, especially compared to scrolling on my wife's iPhone. I have to move back and forth a couple times to get where I want to go, and if I don't put my finger on the currently selected tab, chaos ensues.
<li>The mail tab displays messages in a skewed semi-3D mode that looks kind of nice the first time you use it but is totally impractical for reading email.
<li>There is no way to get to your inbox from the mail tab--you can only read the one message that you're looking at, and scrolling to other messages is not an efficient way to scan your mail.
<li>The favorite contacts list seems to have no connection to contacts speed dials, so you need to manage your contacts in two different apps.
Overall, I'd like to turn off TouchFlo and just use pure Windows Mobile. Haven't figured out how to do that yet.
Other problems:
<li>The headset adapter is a ridiculously big dongle that hangs out the bottom of the phone. I don't see how I would ever actually use it, since it looks goofy and makes it impractical to put your phone in a pocket. I'll have to get a set of bluetooth headphones if I want to use the device as a media player.
<li>The touch screen is fickle. I feel like I have to press too hard for basic operations, yet the touch-scrolling requires a more intermediate level of pressure.
<li>Touch scrolling is very inconsistent across apps. It works in Outlook, for example, but only if you're careful not to press too hard, in which case you'll select messages or text. This is clearly an HTC add-on feature that is not well integrated with Windows Mobile.
<li>This device is a brick. It's small and narrow yet surprisingly thick and heavy. It's heavier and thicker than much bigger devices like the Q, iPhone and Samsung Epix.
I'm gonna stick with the device a bit longer but I'm very close to exchanging it. I dislike HTC's poorly integrated custom software. I think I want something that's more fully integrated, like a pure WM device or an iPhone.
Updated on Nov 13, 2008I've discovered several more things that I like, plus several I dislike about this phone. Getting very close to exchanging it...
On the good, the web browsing is snappy, and the pages look great on the VGA screen.
On the bad, I find the controls very cumbersome. There is an iPod-like directional control that you can use to click left/right, up/down. You can also zoom in on web pages and email messages by circling your finger around the enter button in an iPod-like way. Good concept but flawed execution. I find that when I try to press the left and right arrows to navigate I often end up unintentionally zooming in or out. It's very distracting when I'm trying to read email.
I've also discovered that I dislike not having a keyboard on the outside of the phone (like the Moto Q or Samsung Blackjack & Epix). I can no longer quickly look up a contact to call using just my thumb. Making calls is much harder.
Updated on Nov 16, 2008I just read some of the other early reviews and most of them seem to be shameless plugs.
I've learned that this phone is virtually impossible to use one-handed, which I'm sure is fine for anyone who uses it while sitting on a train or something. But I'm finding it exquisitely difficult to do even the most basic things.
An example: try searching for a contact one handed or with the keyboard closed. Blah.
I'm also just really frustrated by the controls. Half the time I try to press the right arrow hard key, I inadvertently press the "back" hard key. That's very disruptive.
- 3 replies to this review
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Regarding the mail tab, if you click on the word "Inbox" at the bottom left of the screen, it will take you to your inbox.
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Hello. Quick interjection:
To turn off TouchFlo3D:
Hit start
Go to settings, then personal tab.
go to "today"
Go to the "Items" tab
Uncheck TouchFlo3D and check anything you'd like to replace it with.
I feel obligated to warn you, however, that since this is apparently your first experience with windows mobile in touch-screen/slider format, prepare to absolutely hate it if you think TouchFlo is hard to use.
Personally, I'm using the ATT Tilt at the moment (upgrading for Fuze as soon as I get the time to go to the store) and I've actually gone to the effort of putting Manilla2D, a rip/port of the touchflo interface, on my phone, just so that I could get some functionality out of it.
Trust me, the interface on the fuze is by far the best stock interface on a WM based touchscreen device to date. -
Your complaint about the D-Pad left and right buttons is not new. But, most of the community just realized something - we were assuming where the left and right buttons were... and we were wrong. Click the link, and start enjoying your Fuze much more.
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=1698
%20user%20review%20and%20rating%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-fuze-at-t/4864-6452_7-33378478-3.html){kind=small}