HTC Touch Pro breaks free on Verizon
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Nov 24th 2008 6:23AM
posted Nov 24th 2008 6:23AM
[Thanks, Leindurstit]
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NICE, windows mobile included
Its a horrible phone i'm in process of returning my att fuze, windows mobile is terrible on this phone. Half the time its a touch phone (which you have to press hard, not like the iphone) then you sometimes use a stylus. It has lag, no matter what, even with the touch flow tweaks it lags to hell and back, trying to end a call, hit the home button, or any other buttons quicky and it might even dial people you dont want, i would say 4 second delay or more.
The screen is tiny, when trying to view a website its not responsive doesnt load well, when you try to touch on the screen to fill in text fields it can't seem to figure out that you are touching the screen, its just a horrible phone.
I would take an iphone anyday over this, and i currently have a nokia n95 thats far better than this phone
@ digitallysick
i totally agree with you
But windows mobile gives you the full freedom with applications, which make prefer it more, plus you dont have to pay for firmware updates and that's where the iToy fails to be a worthy phone.
Professional
Fusion Fuzo
"plus you dont have to pay for firmware updates and that's where the iToy fails to be a worthy phone."
lol
you FAIL for being a dumb-shit....
Yeah, that 2.2 update yesterday for the iphone sure was mighty expensive.
@Borzu
No, DUMBASS, you fail for being a total fucktard. How much did you have to pay for Firmware 2.0? Oh, and 1.1.4 Software Update?
yeah, stfu.
jeesusfreek: I'm pretty sure iPhone owners didn't pay anything for those updates. iPod Touch owners, yes, but that's not the *phone* we're talking about.
Fucktard.
I do not understand why people hate on Windows Mobile phones so much. It offers excellent Exchange and POP3 support, it offers endless possibilities of apps and modification, and it doesn't crash as often as the iPhone.
I own a Touch Diamond Telus and an iPod Touch, so I think I know what I am talking about. HTC did a good job with Touch Flo 3D, by making the fonts larger and optimized for touch screen.
The phone is laggy only when you are running 5+ background apps. You have to remember to close apps after you are done with them. I know that this sounds annoying, but at least Windows Mobile enables you to run apps background, unlike the iPhone.
Safari on my iPod used to crash all the time (before the 2.2 update), but my Touch Diamond never crashes on Opera browser. And I'm still on the original firmware they gave me (July 2008 version, I think).
Also, the thing with resistive touch is that you have to use your finger nails for sensitive control. It is meant to be used with your thumbnails. Conversely, if you try to use your nails on the iPhone, it won't register at all.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Windows Mobile fanboi. I love the iPhone's elegant and user friendly OS. I am a happy Mac user, after all. However, I just wish that people would stop bashing on Windows Mobile without objectively considering the phone.
My Iphone has never "crashed"
@ai4281
Wow... your story mirrors mine, except I returned my itouch. I didn't like that I wasn't able to view my favourite sites because of Safari's lack of flash. I also didn't Apple's nazi program iTunes. I decided to buy HTC diamond and I love it! Winmo and XDA is a dream. I was jealous at all the apps the iPhone was getting, but I found some of the apps are also available on winmo, Engadget is just too anal to report it.
@Roach
You're lucky you can return yours. Now that i ordered this it's kinda obnoxious that i will have 2 devices that can do practically the same shit. I got my 16gb itouch the day they were available, so i guess i shouldn't complain that i've gotten more than a years use out of it.
all three of you guys are big dummies, anyways...
so whats the deal with not getting touch flo 3d AND paying 50 bucks more than the fuze? its not like it has a front facing cam or anything...seriously, whats the deal verizon. not that i'd ever switch from at&t to verizon (like my open handsets)...but that sucks for verizon customers. $50 aint bad i guess, and i guess you can always hit up xda forums.
"If it's just gotta be Windows Mobile then the HTC Touch Pro is about as good as it gets."
I would like to disagree.. My HTC Touch HD runs way faster than any Touch Pro I played around with and I think the X1 is better as well, just the price is waaaaaay over the top..
You lucky bastard. God bless.
Touch HD versus Touch Pro. They look pretty even on the basis of this video, but these are unlocked, unmolested devices after all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSaW7U5tDXU
If it's gotta be win mobile (or even if it is'nt) my Samsung Omnia is far better than anything HTC has ever made.
I dunno about he HD. But like digitallysik I returned my HTC touch pro after 2 weeks of frustration.
Now that I have an Omnia (and that I have installed MS voice command)I think that I found the erfect smartphone.
Why not go with the 1yr contract? It's only $70 more after rebate...
Why so expensive?
Because they dont want it taking business away from the Storm, with which they have alot more invested.
We waited all this time for this price?
i think that price is without a contract.
I just ordered mine and got it for $269.99 with a $70 MIR.
Someone figure out how to put Android on it!
I just checked Verizon's site and they have already lowered the price to $309.99.
No... Still 350.
Sorry, I didn't see that you retracted your statement. I hope they decide to go with the lower price though.
god, what a disappointment Verizon is. first, they took the cool curvy look of the TP and changed that to this squared-off monstrosity. then they reduced the internal memory. Then they made it seriously overpriced. Verizon = sucks really, really hard.
When the iPhone came out I thought, wow that's a neat phone but I seriously doubted that mobile phone companies were going to let Apple just take the market like they had managed with the iPod. I might end up being wrong about that. Every good phone released is either priced much higher to the point only the diehards would ever buy it, or not priced low enough to make a difference. I thought the bold looked like a great phone till they announced the price. Why is it so hard to launch a decent mediaphone with some smartphone-esque apps for $99 on contract and a $50 a month plan? I wish someone like Apple/Google/MS would really try and compete with the actual phone networks, rather than just making devices to compete with each other.
@Nick, The Nokia 5800 is probably the closest anyone's come to a cheap(er) smartphone with media capabilities so far. S60 is still pretty powerful.
And now the website shows $349.99 again. Seems like Verizon can't figure out how much they want to over-charge for this phone. If you want to get this phone, it may be best to wait for the prices to stabilize.
Been out under Sprint for more than a month now.
Right, where it has been cheaper and hasn't had it's memory / software neutered.
Verizon released a really terribly crippled version of a very beautiful device. Did the Verizon version even come with a business card scanner?
Anyone notice that the VZW page this links to says the device only has 128M of RAM? Wasn't this supposed to have about 64M more, while still having less than the Sprint version?
Just ordered it with my new every 2 upgrade. It was $269.99 with a $70 rebate on top of that.
From the Verizon website:
This is yet another formidable addition to our Windows–based smartphone/PDA device line–up. The new HTC Touch Pro™ combines all the performance and functionality of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with the convenience of a slide–out QWERTY keyboard and a 5–way navigation key. Create and edit documents in Word and Excel®, view PowerPoint® files, filter your Inbox, and stay connected – securely – with your office via Wireless Sync or ActiveSync®. Take advantage of Wi–Fi connectivity, Bluetooth® Wireless Technology and its 3.2 MP camera w/flash and video capture. Use it as a tethered modem with BroadbandAccess Connect, find your way with VZ Navigatorsm and stay entertained with Windows Media Player. The Touch Pro is the ultimate no–nonsense mobile productivity tool for the busy professional.
SWEET! This phone does everything I will need my phone to do. The VZNavigator function added onto the phone is a fantastic addition. Also, I am finally going to be able to retire my HP iPaq since this phone will have the Windows Mobile function. The EVDO RevA capablilities will enable me to teather this phone into my computer and provide me with high speed Internet while I am on the road. Based on the functionality of the phone, I suppose I am going to have to bite the bullet and pay the price for it. Since I am a dealer, I wonder what our cost will be for it??? I will find out today!!!
please tell me that enthusiasm is sarcasm
vzw raped this phone. they ruined the keyboard and took out so much of the insides
do not give in to their awfulness by buying it. i have the fuze which is great but this is crap
you can use windows live search mobile for free(http://livesearchmobile.com/), granted VZW probably tried to lock everyone out of GPS access, but you can probably find away around it if you search online. it doesn't give voice prompts, but free is a shit load better than $10 a month.
any chance you will be able to get around that data plan somehow?
Get a job at Verizon.
no joke just said $269 on the site no back at 349
you were probably logged into your account, then logged out.
Good thing we're in a recession because I'm not even tempted anymore to get this phone. Hopefully in a few months the price will come down. I do love Verizon, but I wish they would just give us what we want for once, and not downgrade their phones.
I think the Verizon Touch Pro costs more is because they just released the BB Storm.
Since the Storm is the only phone "comparable" to the iPhone. Verizon is hoping to use it to attract more subscribers, especially business customers. Making the HTC more expensive will direct people to the Storm.
I just upgraded one of my lines to the Storm. It lags and freezes more than my HTC Touch (XV6900). Overall, it is a very nice phone minus the bugs. I would like to get the Touch Pro for the WiFi, but I guess I will wait until Verizon is done hyping up the Storm.
I doubt they will drop the prices soon with X'mas coming up. VZW will of course promote that Storm during the big shopping season so I don't expect the Touch Pro price to drop until spring. But I have my fingers crossed for a sale during X'mas.
The Verizon product page says that this device only has 128MB of RAM. The Sprint/Alltel/Telus/Bell Touch Pro and the AT&T Fuze all have 288MB of RAM. Yes, that's correct - the Verizon version has 150MB less RAM than its competitors, if this product page is to be believed.
I'm wondering if Verizon's decision to cripple the processor speed still went through... Sprint's Touch Pro runs at 528 MHz, and Verizon's version was reportedly going to use the same 400 MHz processor (Qualcomm MSM7500) as the xv6800...
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/05/more-details-on-htcs-touch-diamond-touch-pro-for-verizon-and/
...The flip side is, if this is indeed the same processor, does that mean that the video drivers can be ripped out and crammed into the xv6800/Titan?
Anyone else notice that they reduced the max MicroSD to 16gb from 32gb, and the RAM dropped from 288mb to 128mb?
anyone notice the lack of TouchFlo 3D?
horray verizon knows just how to cripple every phone they put out!
I think the reason this phone is so expensive is the same reason that the BOLD for att is aswell. My assumption is that Verizon gets raped everytime they sell a Storm, and so to help offset that, they charge a little more for their other handsets for a while. Cost for an 8Gb iPhone 3G is $674.00 and yet it sells for $199.00.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/15/iphone_3gs_final_build_price_just_174_33.html
Really?
Not to mention that whatever a phone sells for is minus the $200-300 subsidy bonus for getting you to sign on for an X year contract.
Besides the fact that apple got a good deal since they had the "killer phone" and requires a data plan, i'm sure they get an even bigger throw back for every iPhone sold. They're making money hand over fist on every iPhone sold, don't kid yourself.
Verizon has the prediliction for disabling things on phones. I've read they lowered the memory, disabled the sensor that tells teh phone which way you're holding it, and one other thing. Do a search for 'verizon htc pro disable' and you will find many links...oh, it may have been gps they disabled...can't remember, read about it several months ago...
So you'll likely get a sandbagged phone, crippled by verizon, for more than you can at AT/T...I've been a Verizon customer for 9 years, but this may be time to jump.
It definitely seems like they either disabled or removed TouchFLO 3D... it's mentioned nowhere at all on the Touch Pro page at the Verizon website.
Verizon == LAME