I have been using a Motorola Q9 for some time and thinking about moving to an iPhone or Android. A good friend helped me get an HP Glisten, which I started using yesterday.
The bad: Windows Mobile 6.5 can be quirky sometimes and I never liked touch screen WinMo devices personally.
The good: After a day of use, I learned the quirks and got used to the touch screen interface, which is pretty cool actually: I can use the keyboard, my finger or a stylus. Scrolling on a web page or an email with your finger is quite nice. For things like playing solitaire you may want to use the stylus. But I have not used it today so far.
I really like physical QWERTY keyboards, one of the two main reasons I did not get an iPhone (the other one is that I don't want to use the phone everyone else is using - too much for think different). The keyboard in the Glisten is one of the best, probably as good as the Q9.
The screen is bright, but not very large - reasonable for this form factor.
I installed the Bing application and it works very nicely. GPS works great - I don't want to pay $10 a month for AT&T Navigator.
Adding my Hotmail, POP and Exchange accounts was a snap. Say what you want, but there is no better OS to connect to exchange than WinMo (OK I am biased, I worked at Microsoft until two years ago). You can do all saorts of interesting stuff like sorting your inbox, flagging messages and changing out of the office settings.
The frm factor is really attractive, it is smaller than the Q9. I think this phone looks professional and the build quality feels excellent.
WiFi is one of the big features. I have poor reception in a few meeting rooms in the office, which was not a problem as the Glisten has a physical button to turn WiFi on and off. It connected to the company WiFi network using WPA2 and I was online in no time.
Battery life is OK. After a day of use I am at about 50%. The hex menu is OK, but the Today screen is great for what I need - it is quite customizable.
because it is WinMo 6.5 it has the full IE experience, which means you can browse any normal site (as opposed to the mobile version).
I added a 256Mb MicroSD card with music and additional storage (i.e. caching maps for the Bing app). A really nice feature is a standard audio jack on the side, meaning I can use standard earphones. The camera is good but nothing out of the ordinary.
So far, the phone has been responsive and I have not experienced any lock-ups. Call quality and reception have been good so far.
Overall, I am very happy with this phone and would recommend it.
For those looking for a device strictly for reading, the new Kobo is a nice little option. It's small enough to slip into a pocket, can do more with a PDF than the competition, and at $129, it's $10 cheaper than both the Nook and Kindle WiFi.
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HOT ONE YESTERDAY AND I AM LOVING IT
I have been using a Motorola Q9 for some time and thinking about moving to an iPhone or Android. A good friend helped me get an HP Glisten, which I started using yesterday.
The bad: Windows Mobile 6.5 can be quirky sometimes and I never liked touch screen WinMo devices personally.
The good: After a day of use, I learned the quirks and got used to the touch screen interface, which is pretty cool actually: I can use the keyboard, my finger or a stylus. Scrolling on a web page or an email with your finger is quite nice. For things like playing solitaire you may want to use the stylus. But I have not used it today so far.
I really like physical QWERTY keyboards, one of the two main reasons I did not get an iPhone (the other one is that I don't want to use the phone everyone else is using - too much for think different). The keyboard in the Glisten is one of the best, probably as good as the Q9.
The screen is bright, but not very large - reasonable for this form factor.
I installed the Bing application and it works very nicely. GPS works great - I don't want to pay $10 a month for AT&T Navigator.
Adding my Hotmail, POP and Exchange accounts was a snap. Say what you want, but there is no better OS to connect to exchange than WinMo (OK I am biased, I worked at Microsoft until two years ago). You can do all saorts of interesting stuff like sorting your inbox, flagging messages and changing out of the office settings.
The frm factor is really attractive, it is smaller than the Q9. I think this phone looks professional and the build quality feels excellent.
WiFi is one of the big features. I have poor reception in a few meeting rooms in the office, which was not a problem as the Glisten has a physical button to turn WiFi on and off. It connected to the company WiFi network using WPA2 and I was online in no time.
Battery life is OK. After a day of use I am at about 50%. The hex menu is OK, but the Today screen is great for what I need - it is quite customizable.
because it is WinMo 6.5 it has the full IE experience, which means you can browse any normal site (as opposed to the mobile version).
I added a 256Mb MicroSD card with music and additional storage (i.e. caching maps for the Bing app). A really nice feature is a standard audio jack on the side, meaning I can use standard earphones. The camera is good but nothing out of the ordinary.
So far, the phone has been responsive and I have not experienced any lock-ups. Call quality and reception have been good so far.
Overall, I am very happy with this phone and would recommend it.
@TheGMan
Thanks for the review... I prefer actual usage over the theoretical umbrage.