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Having finished my time with the HTC Pure I have now turned my attention to the second device from at&t to sport Windows Mobile 6.5, the HTC Tilt2. After two weeks I must say I have enjoyed this device. Although it is not perfect, it is, in my opinion the perfect replacement for my aging Tilt. I didn’t feel this way about the Fuze because the keyboard was cramped, it felt blocky compare to the Tilt and it still had a 2.8 inch screen (although the resolution had been improved dramatically.  The Tilt2 however has all the right hardware and software upgrades for me to make it a worthwhile purchase.This won’t be a comparison review as I feel many are doing these days, (well other than compare it to the original tilt), but a review of this device standing on it’s own from a person who still likes to use Windows Mobile. We’ll talk about the hardware and the software, the good and the bad what I like and dislike about it as a whole. So let’s get started – after the break

What’s in the Box

• HTC Tilt2 with Stylus
• Lithium Ion Battery
• AC Charger
• Mini-USB Sync Cable
• Spare Stylus
• Audio Adapter
• Screen Protector
• QuickStart Guide
• QuickStart CD

Technical Specs.

• Processor: Qualcomm MSM7200 528MHz
• Operating System: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Memory: 512 MB flash ROM, 288 MB RAM
• Dimensions: 116 X 59.2 X 17.25 mm (4.57 X 2.33 X 0.68 inches)
• Weight: 175.0 grams
• Display: 3.6-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 480 x 800 (WVGA) resolution
• Network: WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Device Control: TouchFLO 3D, Zoom bar
• Keyboard: Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
• GPS: GPS/A-GPS
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g, HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 ,tv-out and audio jack in one)
• Camera: Main: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus, Second: VGA-camera
• Audio: microphone, speaker, and FM radio, Ring tone formats: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI
• Expansion Slot: microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible), USB: 2.0 client, 480Mbit/s, mini-USB
• Battery: Li-Ion, 1500 mAh, Talk time: GSM: up to 400 minutes; Standby time: GSM: up to two weeks
• AC Adapter: Voltage range/frequency: 100 240V AC, 50/60 Hz, DC output: 5V and 1A

The Design

The Tilt2 is Touch screen slate Smartphone with a 5 row slide out qwerty keyboard, and I must say it is the best keyboard I have ever used on a phone. I have owned the 8125 a Treo 750 and the original Tilt and while all those keyboards were nice, the keyboard on the new Tilt2 is the most spacious and easy to use of them all. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better one. At&t did change the keyboard as they normally do and moved the number row and replaced it with symbols. For some this was the wrong thing to do but as someone who has owned a 8125 and a Tilt I am used to it and it is fine.

The screen is a  3.6 inch led backlit WVGA touch screen with a 800X480 resolution. It is bright, clear and easy to read. After dealing with the QVGA of the tilt it is such a joy to use. It is a resistive touch screen so it is not as finger friendly or as responsive as some would like but will respond to any form of input and can be used for drawing, handwriting recognition, or old style block recognition. It is visible in direct sunlight which is impossible with my Tilt. Web pages are clear and readable as are videos. I did find that with the Skyfire Browser the text was a little fuzzy, probably due to being designed for smaller screen QVGA devices. The only faults I find with the screen is it is very glossy, therefore highly reflective and it is flush which is a good thing except this phone is designed to be placed face down to use as a speaker phone and thus there is the danger of scratching it. If you are planning to purchase this phone, do yourself a favor and buy a non reflective screen protector and that should solve both problems.

As for buttons, the Tilt2 has 4 buttons on the front Send, Start, Back and End. Pressing the End key takes you back to the Home screen, which ever you are using (we’ll talk about that later). Holding the End key locks the device. On the left side there is a Volume Rocker and the Push to Talk buttons. On top is the power button and a mute button for when the phone is in speaker phone mode. There is no camera button which I would prefer over the on screen camera button but it’s not a big deal. There is also a zoom bar at the bottom of the screen for zooming in on web pages and pictures which seems to work pretty well as long as your not looking at your pictures through the picture application in TouchFlo, it seems to slow it down, probably due to memory usage. If you go through the the camera application in the start menu it works fine.

On the bottom is the USB-ext connector and the Stylus. Unlike the CDMA versions of the Touch Pro 2, the Tilt 2 does not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack which doesn’t bother me but seems to be a deal breaker for some. It does come with a Headphone adapter but it is huge and clunky. If you are really determined to listen to music on this device get you a Bluetooth Stereo Headset or one the the HTC wired sets for the the jack which can be found on the web for as little as $8.

The back cover is painted in a gunmetal gray metallic with what looks like a wire mesh speaker grill. the screen is surrounded by a chrome band. All in all build quality is good, it looks very professional, clean and well designed. At 6.3oz it is heavy and by today’s standards is quite large, however according to the specs it is actually lighter and thinner  than the Original Tilt which weighs 6.7oz. Put together with some special features phone and it is a business centric phone that is at home with the not so business user.

OS and Interface

As was mentioned the Tilt2 comes with Windows Mobile 6.5 and like the Pure that I previously reviewed you have a choice of how to interact with the phone. HTC has further developed its TouchFlo 3D shell that replaces or covers up much of the interface of Windows Mobile. While it is very nice to look and for the most part fluid it does take a large amount of memory and does lag a little at times but for the most part works very well and if you are not a power user will be all you need. There is already some cab files floating around that give you colored scroll icons at the bottom, change the clock colors and some other stuff. I have come to like the Touchflo interface and use it the most.

For the minimalist you have the Windows Mobile 6.5 home screen which is very similar to the Home screen on the Zune HD as well as the Windows Media Center interface, giving support to the recent talk of multiple Microsoft platforms and their “Three Screens and a Cloud” concept. While it is not customizable out of the box there is a customizer for free in the Marketplace that allows you to remove unwanted menu items  and add some others including a weather tab. Personally I don’t like this home screen because to me it seems you can’t get to the places you want very quickly. I could be wrong but I feel it is for people who don’t delve into the deeper aspects of Windows Mobile.

If you don’t like either of those you can turn them off and use the good old today screen that we have seen on Windows mobile for years. It will give you just what you want to see, no eye candy, scrolling or any fancy stuff. You could also load up one of the 3rd party shells like Spb Mobile Shell, Point UI, or Winterface. My favorite used to be Mobile Shell but I feel it has become too complicated. But I digress.

All in all Windows Mobile 6.5 has some nice improvements, for which I do not think it gets a fair shake. Many complained about WM not being finger friendly and so with 6.5  they made the menus bigger and enlarged the touch grids or areas for the screen removing the need for pinpoint selection requiring a Stylus. I actually like the improvements and don’t mind that they didn’t change some of the core functions of the OS. I think many people would if they gave it a chance. The OS seems more fluid  as you use it on the Tilt 2 when compared to my Tilt running 6.1 but a little slower than the Pure I tested last month. I experienced no lock-ups and only a few stalls on the Tilt2. I also tried some of the tweaks floating around that are supposed to speed it up but found it only destabilized the device and so reset it back to factory settings.

Software

As with the Pure, the Tilt2 comes with numerous applications and trial software and games, and it would take up too much space to mention them all, but I would like to mention some of the most note worthy items on the device.

World Card Mobile

This application is great, I am sorry I failed to try it on the Pure. What it does is allow you to take a picture of a business card and using a OCR program (sprite I believe) convert it to a contact file for outlook on your device. I must say it works really well. Of the cards I tried I only had to make minor corrections. If you are a business person and you have a WM device this software would be worth having. It comes pre-installed on the the Tilt2.

Jetcet Presenter 5

Jetcet Presenter is a program that allows you to according to the Manufacturer “Create, Edit, Save, and Print* Microsoft PowerPoint 97-2003 files (.ppt, .pps) using JETCET Presentation. Desktop PowerPoint transitions, animations and sounds are supported plus much more. Enjoy the freedom to create and edit slides anytime, anywhere.” Now the Tilt2 comes with Microsoft Office Mobile which comes with Powerpoint but as far I know it only allows you to view your presentations and not edit or create them. So for a business user this is a nice addition and one you would not have to purchase.

Jetcet Printer

Jet cet printer allows you to connect to a Network, Domain or bluetooth printers with driver support for the most popular brands of printers. I was able to connect to my Printer on my home network without too much trouble, however those without networking abilities might find it difficult. Still it is a valuable tool for those who need it.

Widgets

As with the Pure and WM 6.5 the Tilt2 has the ability it use widgets and comes with a few pre-installed. For those who don’t know what widgets are they are basically small slices of the web designed to show you specific information without having to open a browser. Included on the Tilt2 are:

• MSN Money
• MSN Weather
• Facebook
• Mobile Banking
• My-Cast Weather

NewsBreak

NewsBreak is an RSS reader/podcast application. According to Ilium you can: “Follow the news, listen to podcasts, and read your favorite blogs. Put wasted time – in airports, waiting rooms, lines and meetings – to good use with this news and RSS reader.” It allows you to plug in keywords like “Tilt2” and it will search for news containing the keyword or keywords you save.

Straight Talk

One feature of the Tilt2 that I don’t believe gets enough attention is Straight Talk. Straight Talk is an integrated email, voice, and conference calling experience that allows the user to seamlessly switch between emails, single calls, and even conference calls with multiple contacts. So for example you are reading an email from a friend or coworker in and email as you read the email you decide you need to call them. If you notice in the example below there is a call icon beside the persons name in the heading of the email touch it and the phone calls them. The phone also allows conference calling. If the email is addressed to several people you can hit the call button and select the names from the list and call them all. You can also place a conference call from the on screen dialer. Just switch to conference mode at the bottom right and select each person you want to call from your contacts list and call each one place them one hold and call the next. when all are connected conference them in. Place the phone face down and you are in speaker mode. Easily one of the best features of the device

As a Phone

Call quality on the Tilt 2 is wonderful. It is clear and loud enough that even with less than normal hearing I have no problem hearing or understanding the person I am talking to. Even my Jawbone headset is louder and clearer than with my current phone. The speaker phone is as many have said, one of the best speaker phones I have used and that is not limited to Cell phones. It is clear and noise free for both the you and the caller. The best part is all you have to do to switch to the speaker phone is turn the phone face down and it automatically switches over. It also has a mute button in case you need a moment of privacy. I did find that it does not work in a car because of the movement. If you want to use it there you need a really smooth car or switch it manually by selecting speaker on the dial pad. I also found the Tilt2 does not get quite as good of a signal as the pure but is still better than the Original Tilt.

Performance

The Tilt2 is a marked improvement over the Tilt I have been using for the past year and a half. Of course much of this is due to a faster processor and increased memory. It is not however quite as smooth as the Pure (which has the same hardware less the keyboard) nor does it handle video as well. Still stability is much improved over previous devices and seldom if ever requires a soft reset. What many may not think about is when we are testing these devices we are playing with them constantly, searching for glitches and problems in the operation of the device. I install software that I like and take it off again, play games, try this tweak or that one and surf the web trying to see how hard I can push it. I must say the Tilt2 tolerates it well and as a WM user I have enjoyed the device. Still I feel that some improvement in the Rom is needed. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see a update for the device in the future.

The Camera

The Tilt2 has a 3.2 Megapixel camera with autofocus. I does take pictures reasonably well and is much faster than the Camera on my Tilt. Unlike the Fuze, it does not have a flash for which some have complained, but if you use it in the way that was intended, the unexpected shot, it takes good pictures. I wouldn’t, however, recommend leaving your point and shoot at home if you were on an outing where you expect to take pictures. Here are a couple of shots, one outside and one inside.

GPS

As with most feature/Smartphones the Tilt2 comes with GPS built in. I have never seen a GPS get a lock as fast as this. I have a sirf III Bluetooth that I use with my Axim and It takes at least a couple of minutes to get a lock, this thing take 15 seconds or less. I am not joking. Using Bing maps and select “Track Me with GPS it will lock on usually before the screen changes back. My Tilt takes at the least 3min. I don’t know what changes they made but it is amazing. I also tried it with WAZE a free user updated software and it was the same. couple the speed with the 3.6 inch screen and your favorite software and you could have a real nice navigation device.

Web Browsing

I don’t know about you, but me I primarily use my data connection for email. I do light browsing when I am in a waiting room or in the car while waiting on someone (no not while driving). I work in an office so I don’t need to use my phone as a primary device. The large screen and high resolution on the Tilt2 make web pages very readable and I have no problems with using IE mobile 6 or Opera 9.5 although I find opera loads slower than IE. Web browsing is probably one of the weak points of Windows Mobile. In the beginning it was the browser. IE mobile left a lot to be desired. Other browsers were an improvement but the QVGA screens were small and hard to see. Now we have improved Browsers, better screen resolutions and faster hardware, but it still seems slow to load.  Is it the device, OS or the network or all three? Skyfire works well but is fuzzy because of being made for QVGA devices and Opera mini on a WVGA device has really small menu buttons. I don’t know but I feel there is more work to be done.

As a Media Device

I personally do not use my phone as a media player but some do so I feel it is my responsibility to test it. The Tilt2 will play most formats of music and for those it does not play natively there are 3rd party programs that will. I ripped a dvd to good quality and a resolution of 600X480 and it played without a glitch the picture quality was very good and the sound out of the speakers was adequate. The phone as many lament does not have a 3.5mm headset jack, but I have a set of HTC ear buds that connect directly to the phone and the sound is better with those. The phone does come with a audio adapter but it is stupid big, it will however allow you to connect your favorite earbuds for even better sound. While it would be possible I would not recommend this phone if you are wanting to use it as a primary media device but for occasional watching or listening it is fine.

FM Radio

One of the things I neglected to mention on the Pure and almost forgot on the Tilt2 is the fm radio. It works quite well, picking up popular stations in the area even inside my office. If you have a good signal and the Station supports it the phone displays the data to go with the song. One thing I wish it did was record from the radio. One other downside is you have to have a headset plugged in for it to work, which means carrying the huge adapter unless you have one of the headsets that plug in to the USB connector.

Battery Life

Since my first 3g device (Treo 750) I have not had a phone the would get more than 1-1.5 days on a charge. That is with push mail and 3g on all the time. The Tilt2 has a 1500mAh battery and can get two days normal use on a regular basis. If I take it off the charger in the morning I will not have to charge it again until at least dinner time the next day. If I don’t piddle with it (because it’s new and shinny and I am trying to review it) I have no problems getting 2 full days. In fact I took it off charge yesterday morning and as I am writing this it is almost 4pm and I have 50% on the battery right now. That has included some phone time, web browsing some email work and playing games. I see no reason why a mid to heavy user couldn’t get a full day on this phone.

Conclusion

The Tilt2 is solid and well built business centered device. While the internals have not been updated over the Fuze or Touch Pro as some would have liked the addition of Windows Mobile 6.5 and the updated hardware make this a highly desirable upgrade especially for those still on the original Tilt or an older device. For those with more recent devices like the Fuze it may not seem like much of an upgrade especially considering the price ($299 on contract). The internals are mostly the same so you would have to decide if the screen and keyboard was enough. For some it will seem better to wait to see what comes next, just as I did with the Fuze. Unless something happens to change my mind I will be upgrading to this phone when I am eligible.

The Good

• Large 3.6 inch 800X480 WVGA screen
• Best keyboard I know of
• Multiple UI options
• Excellent sound quality
• Excellent speaker phone
• Best integrated GPS I have used
• Straight Talk integration
• FM Radio

The Bad

• No 3.5 Audio jack (for some)
• Heavy 6.3oz.
• Price
• Browser experience needs more work

It is available in at&t stores and online for $299 with a two year contract after $50 rebate

Monthly data plan required

If you have any question about the Tilt2 please post in the comments below and I will try to answer them.

Thanks to at&t for providing the Tilt2 and to you for reading.