Just prior to the official release of Windows Phone 6.5 on October 6th at&t released the HTC Pure which  is at&t’s version of the Touch Diamond 2. I have been using  the original Tilt for more than a year and a half and I have been wanting a replacement and so when Chris offered to let me review the Pure I was more than happy to do so. I have read some of the reviews out there and some of them seemed hurried and one where it seemed they just didn’t want to give the phone a chance. So what was my take on it after a week of use? Let’s take a look after the break.

What’s in the Box

• HTC Pure
• 1100mAh battery
• Charging adapter
• Sync/Charge Cable
• Headset dongle (sorry no dedicated 3.5 jack)
• Spare stylus
• Screen Protector
• Users manual and getting started CD

at&t select services

• AT&T Mobile Music Service
• XM Radio Mobile™
• AT&T Navigator
• MobiTV
• Mobile Video (formerly Cingular video)

Technical Specs

• Ultra slim bar type PDA phone
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM 7201A, 528MHz
• OS: Windows Phone 6.5 Professional
• Memory: 512MB ROM, 288MB RAM (include 32MB memory in the baseband)
• Memory Expansion: SDHC capable microSD card slot
• Dimensions: 4.33” x 2.10” x .59” (HxWxT) Weight: 4.13 ounces (with battery)
• Display: 3.2” TFT-LCD WVGA LED back-lit touch screen
• Battery: 1100mAh
• Network:  GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz / UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900 MHz
• GPS/AGPS
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
• Camera – 5.0 megapixel autofocus camera with Video capture
• User Interface – HTC TouchFLO 3D 2.1 (also WP6.5 default and Classic Today Screen)
• Operating Times – Talk Time: Up to 5.6 hours (GSM) – Standby Time: Up to 15 days (GSM)
• Motion G-Sensor
• Ambient Light Sensor
• FM Radio

First the the design.

The Pure is a touch screen slate phone running Windows Phone 6.5 ( I still catch myself want to say Windows Mobile) and was the first phone to be released with the updated OS. It is small compared to my Tilt, it weighs just over 4oz. and is very pocket-able, in fact it will fit in the key pouch in the right pocket of some of my pants. Now I know there are smaller phones out there but I can hardly tell it is in my pocket. It fits well in the hand and although the case is plastic it feels like a solid device. It is painted with a glossy dark blue metallic paint and between that and the touch screen it is a finger print magnet unlike my tilt which has a rubbery coating on the back that shows no prints at all.

If you watch Chris’ un-boxing video here you will know that it has only 4 buttons on the front, Answer, Start, Back and End call that also returns you to the home screen (no matter which interface you use) and if held down locks the device. Also on the front is the zoom bar for zooming in on pictures, web pages and the like.  On the left side is the volume rocker.  On the top is the power button and on the bottom behind a small cover is the ext-usb sync/charge port. Many will feel the cover is a pain and unnecessary, but for a pocketable device it would keep the lint out of the usb connector. While lack of buttons does give it a clean look I have to admit I had a little trouble getting used to it. The Tilt has buttons for everything. The Stylus comes out of the bottom right of the device and when you pull it out the Screen turns on and inside the stylus silo is the reset button. I had to look for it after installing Windows Messenger. (almost couldn’t find it.) Unlike the original Touch Diamond It has a Micro SD slot behind the battery cover and will accept up to 32 GB. (But no internal Storage card) Here are some comparison shots

Touch screen and Interface

The Pure has a 3.2 inch WVGA screen that displays 800X480 resolution. I have never had anything but a QVGA screen and I must say this thing is beautiful. Everything is so crisp and clear the is the most responsive resistive screen I have used. From reading email, contacts, browsing the web and viewing movies it is amazing. Because it is led back lit It is easily visible outside in the sun. Add to that the enlarged menus in WP6.5 and I found myself hardly using the stylus. It also has a sensor to allow it to adjust the screen based on the lighting.  The only real trouble I have with the Pure is the onscreen keyboard. With big stubby fingers and being used to the full keyboard of the Tilt it is a little difficult to type on the small squares I can do it, I am just slow.

With having an HTC device and  WP 6.5 you have really 3 choices of how to interact with the Phone and OS. These can be set in the Today Settings. Believe me these pictures do not do the screen justice.

Touch Flo 3D (The eye candy)

The Pure comes with Touch Flo 3D on by default. HTC has continued to develop it’s Touch Flo 3D interface and has solved much of the lag that many complained about with the Original Touch Pro and Diamond making it very responsive and smooth. With Touch Flo you will see very little of Windows Phone underneath. They have even modified the contacts page and new contact menu. You have the option to remove some of the tabs and change the order of them in the Settings tab of the interface.

Windows 6.5 Default (For the minimalist)

In the Windows Default setting you get the Zune style interface that many have come to call Titanium. It gives you the basic things you need to use the device without being complicated. This interface only takes a press or two to get to the core functions of Windows Phone like calendar, contacts and the like.

Today Screen (Get down to Business)

One of the our readers ask me to look and see if you could go back to the Classic Today Screen that many of us have become used to. The answer is yes. If you go to the today settings and deselect  Touch- flo and Default Windows and select the Items you want you can have just what you want to see all on one screen just as Windows Mobile has always been and while this is what is seems old and ancient and boring it is still a very efficient use of the screen you seen when you turn on the device.

With Windows Phone 6.5 one of the changes to the OS is enlarged menus that make the system more finger friendly. Which I really believe was the goal for 6.5 not to rewrite the whole system. I think that the reason many were so disappointed in 6.5 is that with the newer OSs out there Windows Mobile has become boring even though it has many features that came later to other platforms and is still the single best OS when it comes to exchange. Making it primarily a enterprise system and thus not really appealing to the masses.

I have read where many say you can’t modify or customize the Start menu, well you can rearrange the Icons in it. If you touch and hold any icon for a few seconds a menu will pop up which says move to top or if it is at the top it says move down. Allowing you to put your most used at the top and least used at the bottom.

Software

There is so much software installed on this device that it boggles the mind. Many of us, me included, scour the internet for instructions on how to remove much of the Providers customizations to make them less bloated and faster. I will mention that it has Opera Mobile as the default browser but I actually found myself using IE, it just seemed faster and it is a big improvement over Pocket IE.  Rather than list all the soft ware I will take some screen shots for you.

As a Phone

As I mentioned earlier I have been using a Tilt for more than a year and there is quite a difference in call quality. While both the Tilt and the Pure display similar signals, the Pure seems to lock on better and has better call quality. I have read where some feel that the speaker phone is sub-par I found it to be much better than my tilt and have been told that the clarity and volume on the other end is better than any I have used. I used it for a conversation with my wife while I was driving home and she commented that it sounded like I was holding it up to my ear. Another thing I noticed is with my Jawbone Bluetooth headset the volume and clarity is better with the Pure as well. PDA phones have come a long way from the phone being what  seemed an after thought to a fully integrated device.

Performance

Coming from the Tilt I noticed a big improvement in the speed and stability of the device. Of course this in largely due to the faster processor and increased memory over the Tilt. However I feel that some of it may be due in part to some underlying work done on WP6.5 as well. The Pure is much faster and smoother than the Tilt. For the most part I have not found the device to be extremely slow or glitchy. Here and there I have waited on it but usually because I get several applications running and  I start pushing buttons or touch the screen before it responds, because I want to see if I could lock it up. I have to admit that while I have got it to stall I have not had to reset it one time in a week other than for program installations. Now I know what some of you are thinking It shouldn’t stall.  As far as it stalling try this go to your pc and open 6 or 7 applications and then start clicking stuff and see how long it takes to stall it or even lock it up. Hardware can only do so much. If you manage your running applications the Pure is a solid performer. I am  surprised though that I didn’t have to soft reset it. I do my tilt about every other day. Touch Flo is fluid and speedy, Screen rotation usually takes a second although it does not work in every screen such as the classic today screen, the start menu and some others.

The Camera

The Pure has a 5.0 MP auto focus camera and I would be lying to you if I said you could leave your point and shoot at home. I will however say that it takes really good pictures for a phone. Even though it is 5.0 mp it is not as slow as the camera on my tilt and takes much better picture. It does not have a flash though so you are not going to take good pictures in low light situations. It will take good pictures indoors if there is sufficient light. I am not a photographer so I am not going to get into technical terms but I will show you a couple of shots. the first is an inside picture with incandescent  lighting and the second it

GPS/AGPS

The Pure has GPS built in and is supplemented by AGPS where it uses downloaded satellite data and I would guess Cell tower Triangulation to get a quicker lock. It has at&t navigator built in but it is a subscription service and I do not have an account. So I did not get to do any navigation with the phone but after updating the QuickGPS app in the tools menu I was able to get a lock on my house from inside in about 2 minutes using Bing maps and Track me with GPS. I checked again on my way to work and achieved a lock in less then a minute I was amazed.

As a Media Device

The Pure plays most formats of music and for those that it does not natively there 3rd party applications, some free some not, that will play just about any format you want. I ripped a DVD with DVD Ripper Platinum to highest quality mpeg at 600X480 resolution (798MB) and while it was a little glitchy it was watchable. I think had I used a better format or lowered the quality it would have been easy to watch and smooth the picture quality is beautiful and sound is quality is adequate for this non-audiophile. If you are looking for a phone to use primarily as a media device do not get this phone. This is one area where I would not really recommend this device and for one reason. The audio adapter is stupid big, it is two thirds the length of the phone. If you have a set of Bluetooth ad2p headphones then maybe, but with the adapter it is just not worth it. I don’t listen to music on my tilt for the same reason. I don’t have an adapter for it nor would I buy one. I just use my Sansa if I want to listen to music through a headset. Besides the battery probably wouldn’t hold up to it anyway.

Battery Life

Speaking of Battery life. With the 1100mAh battery I was able to get anywhere from a day to a day and a half on a full charge of light to moderate use, with exchange running, talking on the phone, checking a second email account about every hour and the screen on full bright. This seems to be on par with most phones of this type and better than my tilt on a expanded battery.

Conclusion

The Pure is a solid Device it performs well it looks nice and would be a fine replacement for an aging device. Windows Phone 6.5 performs well on the hardware and is prepared to do business. It is is not as smooth as some of the popular devices but if you are a fan of windows mobile as I am you already know some of the tweaks that can be done to improve performance of these devices. I believe it is a solid progression from the original Touch Diamond with the higher resolution led backlit screen and Micro SD slot. I have enjoyed this phone and other than the keyboard of my tilt it is a vastly superior device. I do feel that in today’s market $149.00 after rebate on a 2 year contract with a mandatory data plan is expensive. (We would have jumped at this 3 or 4 years ago)

The Good

• Compact Size and weight
• Beautiful 800X480 LED backlit screen
• Multiple GUI options
• Excellent sound quality on the phone
• Excellent camera (for a phone)
• Best integrated GPS I have used

The Bad

• No 3.5 audio Jack
• Glossy surface is a fingerprint magnet
• Many will feel Windows Phone (Mobile) is Outdated
• Price

It is available in at&t  Stores and online now for $149.00 after rebate with a 2year contract and $30 monthly data plan is required.

Have a question about the Pure? Post a comment below and I will try to answer it.

Thanks to at&t for providing the device and to you for reading.

Stephen Borders (23 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Stephen is an Veteran Automotive Technician turned Instructor who after getting introduced to computers on Automobiles, became interested in home computers and handheld PDAs. His love for cars and gadgets is second to his love for his wife of 27 years, his kids and grandkids. He resides and works in the Atlanta Georgia area.