I have been privileged to have the HTC Pure from at&t for a couple of weeks and it has provided me with two new experiences. The opportunity to used some updated hardware and to use the latest version of Windows Mobile or as it is now called Windows Phone. Both have been an enjoyable experience. So I wanted to post some final thoughts on both and I encourage you the reader to post your thoughts in the comment section as well. Continue reading past the break.

The Pure: Some final thoughts

As each day goes by I find I am reaching less and less for my tilt. The Tilt is by no means a bad device, in fact it got very good reviews when it was released. But the Pure looks better, runs faster and feels better in the hand. The screen is the best I have seen and is visible in sunlight and with the light sensor the screen is always bright enough. The only reasons I grab the tilt is when it rings or to answer an email that is longer than a couple of words. I just can’t get good at the virtual keyboard. My wife on the other hand answered a message for me while we were in the car and she had no trouble typing on it and she uses a Treo 750 which has an excellent keyboard. She does however have much smaller fingers and pointy fingernails which are more precise at touching the resistive screen than my fat mechanics thumbs. It fits nicely in the pocket without being heavy and I am impressed by the call quality and signal lock. As I mentioned in my review here the indicated signal is the same as on my tilt but I can have a clear conversation in my office without a problem.

I have also come to like TouchFlo 3d at first I just thought of it as just eye candy, after two weeks I now know where everything is and can maneuver through it with ease. It has 90% of the information I need available in one of the tabs and with a couple of exceptions (like I wish you could tap or double tap the mail account icon and it open the inbox) I don’t need anything else. Many will replace it with Spb Mobile shell which is a great program, but has become overly complex in my opinion. If this were my phone I could do a few tweaks and be very satisfied with it. It is a very good device

As far as features the phone has everything you need unless like me you are not ready for a virtual keyboard. The camera, while not a replacement for a point and shoot, takes very good pictures (you wouldn’t replace a digital SLR with a point and shoot either). I only wish it had a hardware button but you cant have everything. The GPS is the fastest I have used and that includes the Global Sat Sirf III I bought to use with my Axim. It gets a lock with Bing maps or Google maps in less than a minute on a cold start, if you update the Satellite data first, my Tilt takes at least 3 minutes. It has Wireless and Bluetooth 2.0 which supports multiple connections and Bluetooth stereo profiles.

Windows Phone 6.5

Windows Phone 6.5 has been out for a little more than 2 weeks and most reactions to it have been negative, many feel that it is dying and just isn’t valid anymore. I disagree. It seems most of these reviews come from people who only looked at it superficially and didn’t want to like it in the first place, or were looking for a Windows Mobile iPhone. The way I see it Windows Phone is like a 3/4 ton truck. You can refine the ride, modernize the shell but it is still a truck. It has power not for speed, but for work. It still has a old style frame underneath and will haul anything anywhere. Some of the newer OSs are like a Honda Ridgeline (nothing against Honda) It looks like a truck but it is a car underneath. It rides better, it has a more modern look, has a better stereo and it do some stuff like a truck but not as much as a real body on frame truck. It is more stable and like Windows XP when it came out one of the pluses over 98 was its ability to recover from an error without giving a blue screen, Windows Phone does as well. A couple  of times due to third party software the phone acted as though it was going to crash, but after a moment or two it recovered itself, something 6.1 would not have done. (This is by the way one of the few benefits of a closed platform like the iPhone they by their approval process can refuse to offer software that causes instability)

Windows Phone still has the best Exchange integration, natively supports Remote desktop and has some features that other are still trying to fully implement . It supports a multitude of resolutions Square, QVGA, VGA and WVGA, along with a vast choice of hardware formats. Yes there are things it doesn’t do well. It’s not the smoothest, it’s not a replacement for a media player (I don’t use it for one) and it lacks the wow factor, but it is truly the most open of the platforms, android included (as of now it is open source but not really an open platform). Windows Phone/Mobile can be tweaked and skinned and modified beyond your imagination. If you doubt me just take a look at what is being done over at XDA Developers and you will see things you never thought possible.

What 6.5 added were new menus, a new Zune HD style home screen (which frankly is the thing I like the least) all to make it more finger friendly. A new start menu which can, contrary to what many say, be customized. If you tap and hold on an Icon a menu will pop up and ask if you want to move it to the top or if it is near the top, to move it down. Thus allowing you to put your most used at the top.They have added The Marketplace for downloading applications directly to the phone and have about 300 applications. But what many seem to forget or ignore is the 10s of thousands of application that are already and have been available online for years, many for free.  I guess what surprised me was we all saw this in February when it was RTM’d and somehow expected it to change drastically. We all knew this was a stepping stone to WP7 but many expected more and they have that right, but me I would be happy to use WP6.5 and look forward to the next version.

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.