I feel like a traitor to my own cause. I now own a Windows smartphone and like it. Of course, I would rather an iPhone. However, the only service that works in my house (I live in a rural area) is Alltel/Verizon and they are locked out of the iPhone market for the time being.
This is the first cell that does everything I ask it to do.
Strangely enough, the thing I do least on this phone is talk. I’m all about email and text. I have three email accounts coming into this phone (two personal and one work) and it enables me to stay into with my email without having to be tethered to a laptop. This was the greatest feature that I used with my Palm T|X and continues to be the killer app for me. Contact management is pulling a close second with calendar synchronization a close third.
The big thing that makes this phone work so well for me is that my employer uses Microsoft Exchange for their email. Thus, I have instant contact, calendar and email synchronization. I would like to have my tasks synchronized, too, but I guess that is too much to ask.
I rate email handling a B-. It gets the job done, but without a lot of glitz. I would like the ability to insert graphics and vary fonts. When you send an email from the phone, it strips all the fonts from the email and sends it as text. I would really appreciate a menu option to turn an email into an event.
Calendar A-. The calendar is very smooth, but it is missing a few pieces. When setting a schedule of repeats, you are limited. To do an event that repeats in a non-trivial way, you have to set up the repeat on Outlook or OWA.
Contacts A. This is a really cool feature, especially when combined with Google Maps. GM allows you to search for a business and then save that information as a contact. When you do this, you get the business’s email, phone number, address, website and whatever else GM carries. This is a real plus for me.
Negatives:
My screen is too small. Compared to the T|X, the screen is about 1/2 the size. This makes looking at videos lame and forget about looking at photos. You can barely make out a pic on the tiny screen.
Battery life could be better. If I use my bluetooth head piece, the battery doesn’t last a day. Without, the max I’ve gotten was about 18 hours.
Alarms—> only 2?! WTF? This is supposed to be a programmable device. The workaround is to create an event and set a reminder. But, wouldn’t an option of having more than two alarms be nice?
Well, that’s about it for tonight. I’ve got to get some Zs. Let me set an alarm on my Q9c. Good night.