[texag97]

To begin, I am/was a "fanboy" of Windows and Windows Mobile. My first "smartphone" was the Toshiba 2032 running Windows Mobile 5. My next phone was a PPC-6700 using Windows Mobile 5 and my last phone was the PPC-6800 using Windows Mobile 6.1. I honestly detest the iPhone and Mac computers and go out of my way to stay clear of those "popular" items. I'm not even a fan of the Android operating system. I played on it for a while and it seemed "meh" to me. What I was looking for was an "iPhone Killer" in the HTC Arrive with WP7. What I got was the iPhone/Kiddie Phone Light....



Perhaps I had grown too accustomed to the various customization options offered by previous versions of Windows on cell phones. Perhaps Windows Phone 7 has decided to no longer be a "businessman's phone." I understand that the market was for general consumers but to shift so far away from their original product, well that just sucks.



The Good



1. THE SPEED OF THE HTC ARRIVE AND WP7 IS EXCELLENT. Apps load quick and easy and without lag. I am impressed by how quickly my phone restarts once completely shut down. I measured the time it took the PPC-6800 to load the operating system in minutes where the Arrive load time is measured in seconds.



2. THE SMOOTHNESS OF THE SCREEN OPERATION AND WP7. Flicking my thumb, I can quickly scroll across to another page or scroll down a long list of applications installed on my phone. It also works well within applications and using Internet explorer.



3. THE MAIN START SCREEN. I like the way almost any app can be pinned to the main start screen for quick and easy access.



4. PLENTY OF PROGRAM MEMORY. I remember how I had to shut down programs on my PPC-6800 in order to conserve memory, especially if I was using Opera 10 for browsing the internet. So far, I have not had any slow-downs or freezes due to have various programs open on my phone.



5. THE PHONE INTERFACE. I like the way the phone works in that the screen goes black when you are using the phone up to your ear so that your cheek, ear, whatever doesn't hit any buttons and when you pull the phone away, it recognizes this and gives you the options to end call or open the keypad.



6. CALLS ARE CRYSTAL CLEAR. So far, the calls have been great, but I've only used it in an office setting or in my vehicle. I have yet to visit a construction jobsite with heavy machinery moving around. I'll see how it works in that scenario soon enough.



7. THE SCREEN. Wow! I love the screen. HD Movies are clear, colors are vibrant, it seems the screen is one of the best features.



The Bad



1. HUGE CHANGE FROM WINDOWS MOBILE. I think the Microsoft Programmers were too influenced by the Apple iOS and Android to stay with what they originally had in terms of "Windows" operating system. The name of the operating system is "Windows" so just keep it with actual windows on the phone. They moved so far away from the standard windows operating system that it isn't even recognizable. Was Windows Mobile really that bad? I was able to be quite productive with WM, let's hope WP7 proves to be the same.



2. CUSTOM OPTIONS. The phone leaves little for customization in terms of giving the user options for color, background, theme or even the transfer of multimedia or files (see Ugly #1). It seems Microsoft has made the statement, "Do it OUR way or not at all!"



3. HARD KEY SENSITIVITY.. I can't count how many times my fingers have accidentally hit the "search, windows, or back" keys on the face of the phone while browsing, texting, or picking up the phone. I like having the keys there, but they are too sensitive to the touch!



4. PHONE VOLUME. The volume maxes out at the number "30" which seems fine for a quite office or home setting but at the gym, driving, outdoors, or at a jobsite, one should be able to crank it louder. I hope HTC or Microsoft can come out with some kind of fix or crack to allow for greater volume on this phone.



5. A KEYBOARD WITH A "SMILIES" BUTTON. Seriously? Is this a kid's phone or an adult's phone. I'm ok with smiley use, but to actually have a key that pops up options for various smilies? My 3 year old daughter uses this, not me. That should have been my first hint that this phone was made more for adolescent teenie-boppers and not a businessman.



6. FORCED INTEGRATION OF CONTACTS. The worst is from Facebook directly into the phone. I know I can turn it off when looking at contacts, but why not give me the option to import them or not. There are people that are FB friends that I don't even speak to or haven't spoken to since High School. I should have just downloaded the FB app and skipped logging into the phone's built-in FB app which to me is worthless.



7. NO FOLDERS FOR APPS. At this time, I don't have an overabundance of apps for the phone, but as time goes by, I might have need for more. Why not have folders for apps or the option to place them in folders so that I don't have to scroll down through a long list. Sure, scrolling is quick, but with 100 apps (if possible) it could take a while.



8. PHONE TEMPERATURE. Remember when Dell's laptops would burn people's legs because they became so hot? Well, the HTC Arrive may not cause burns but it is the first smartphone I have experienced that actually radiates heat from the battery compartment. Maybe this is a heat exchange issue to allow the phone to cool off. Maybe it is a big problem to come.



9. BATTERY LIFE. I know many have complimented the battery life of the HTC Arrive but I have to state that it is not as good as it should be. I have to charge the phone at least once a day and it has actually shut down on me twice before I could charge it, whereas the old PPC-6800 gave me plenty of warning before shutting down. I am disappointed with the batter life and will need to purchase a spare for long trips where I can't stop to recharge the phone.





The Ugly



1. TRANSFER OF FILES. Honestly, why are we forced to use Zune to transfer files to WP7? I used a "hack" to allow me to open WP7 in my explorer but now what do I do? Do I just transfer files over? The files on the phone are not in the window so I have no idea where the files are going! And what about "syncing" Word and Excel documents? How do I do that without having to upload them to a skydrive??? I've already had problems trying to transfer a single photo from my computer to my phone. Let me choose how I want to transfer files. I'm not an idiot, I can work with computer hardware and software, I did it flawlessly on WM5 & WM6 but now it seems Microsoft doesn't trust me to do this on my own so I am forced to use Zune!



2. MS EXCHANGE SYNC ISSUES. I am not the only one that cannot sync my e-mail, calendar, or contacts with my Microsoft Exchange Server here at work. I've read numerous items on the net about these issues. I was hoping that a Microsoft Windows Phone 7 would work flawlessly with Microsoft Exchange Server. It used to be a piece of cake to use ActiveSync to establish a physical connection for the option to Sync this data. Why not bring back that option?



3. AUTOMATIC TILT. Honestly, why do I need to have my screen tilt automatically? I understand if I don't slide out the screen all the way I don't have to tilt it, but why not give me the option to tilt like the TP2? HTC really screwed up on this one. In order to type with my thumbs and view the screen in tilt mode, I have to bend my wrists forward to compensate for the angle. What is the reason for the tilt, anyway? The only reason I could come up with for the automatic tilt was to annoy HTC Arrive users so much that they would rather use the onscreen keyboard than to use the physical one. This way, HTC can stop making phones with a physical keyboard which costs more to manufacture in terms of parts and labor!



4. NO REMOVABLE MEMORY CARD. I know one can remove and replace it with skill (at least on the 7 Pro) and with voiding any warranty, but this was one of the WORST ideas yet! After painfully transferring multimedia with Zune and realizing I had to do a hard reset for another reason, I lost all the information that was on the card! At least with the PPC-6800 a hard reset just lost my phone settings and programs but not everything on the memory card!



5. FORCED TO USE ONLY ONE LIVE ACCOUNT. This sucks big time! If you enter a live account and need to change it to another one later (I get waaaay too much spam in my hotmail account - and have turned off syncing with it) one has to do a hard reset on the phone to return it to factory settings and delete everything, including what is on the internal memory card. See #4.



6. NO UPLOADING OF VIDEOS DIRECTLY FROM THE PHONE. Sure, I can upload photos I've taken with the camera but I have to transfer the video to my computer (through Zune, see #1) in order to upload it to Facebook? Honestly, quit treating us like children and let us work with what we know! Microsoft has added yet another barrier/step to a process that used to be so simple!



7. NO 4G, NO EASY ACCESS TO WIFI OPTIONS. I understand that "4G" is possibly on its way out, but why not have the phone have that option. I don't even know if I am getting 3G service with this phone! Also, the ONE thing I would have stolen from the Android OS is the ability to scroll to my left from the start screen and access my communication options, Airplane mode, WiFi, 3G, etc... Having to scroll down numerous apps to get to the phone communication settings is just plain idiotic.

[texag97]

If I were grading the phone I would give it a solid C+. No, I'm not returning it for an Android, I am too much of a Windows user to give this up. I'm not sure how much of a "fix" can be done with some of the issues so I guess I will have to wait for a new phone to come out next year. By comparison, when the HTC PPC-6800 came out, I graded that as a B+/A-.

[ashburnam]

OP - Your assessment is spot on...

[Slipcord]

Yeah I think there is somethings that they will address as they push out updates so forth.. Exchange should not be a issue, Wifi works fine, 4G not a issue due to most markets don't have it in another year or so I can see WP7 having 4G devices but not a big factor. Memory card folks should have a way to back their information up and never have to worry about loosing data on the card.. Live account I understand why they choose to do that but not that big of a deal folks can still use other email accounts with the phone.. Overall I feel like they done a good job and most of the cons folks can work around or their already there they just have to learn how to do them.. Video uploading I have not messed with much but there should be a way to up load video to different places so forth.. Transfer files yes could be better but that's something I think they could address with future update..

It's a new OS folks will have to learn how to use it and do things a little different. Nothing new there just takes time to get use to things is all.. I think they will address things as they come up.. Just my 2 cents..

[Wud_e]

"Release The Krackin!"

Ok, maybe not. You make some solid points. I guess some of those don't bother me as much however I see where you are coming from. I agree with Zune being middle/meddle ware and the SD card access.

As for being a kiddie phone I couldn't disagree more. You speak on the Smilie button but I've used it quite a few times, I'm 30 BTW. Also Sync has worked splendidly for me. I work at AMD and have to work in a few different labs. having Exchange on hand has allowed me to stay in the loop while I'm away from my desk. One Note has also come in Handy. Also having all of my works business meetings synced to my phone is nice. Not to mention being able to open a spreadsheet I am working on from an email.

I used to say that this had better have 4G but lookign at my wife's Epic she hardly ever uses it.

The only thing I think I'd really like would be personal ringtones.

[Slipcord]

Yeah I have setup 3 Arrives for Exchange without any issues folks that are having issues it will be most likely a setting issue or your IT department has your Mobile feature disable for your account which causes folks to get errors as well.

[seanism]

The joys of being the beta testers.

I feel this OS is a .8 or a .9 release. Almost finished. I can't imagine what pre noDo would have been like. I hope I can deal with it until another update shows up.

I pray it happens before 2012.

[seanism]

6. FORCED INTEGRATION OF CONTACTS. The worst is from Facebook directly into the phone. I know I can turn it off when looking at contacts, but why not give me the option to import them or not. There are people that are FB friends that I don't even speak to or haven't spoken to since High School. I should have just downloaded the FB app and skipped logging into the phone's built-in FB app which to me is worthless.

If you goto settings then applications then people you can set it up so it only lists Facebook users that you already have in your phone book.

I just found this and now I don't have all those extra people I never talk too in my People hub!

[jenashley]

Nice review... some things I didn't agree with though...

Can't upload videos to Facebook - Neither could the Evo! At least, I could never figure it out, so that's not a big annoyance to me.

4G - When I had the Evo (up til last Friday), I only used 4G maybe once or twice. We have 4G where I live, but really it drained the battery horribly.

Battery life - Coming from the Evo which had to charge every 6ish hours (that was at BEST), I love not having to charge it til I go to sleep!! Major improvement, though I have no idea what WM6's battery life was like.

Also, my brother had a WM a couple years ago. And HATED it. I went with my friend to T-Mobile cause he was looking at new phones. He looked at the HTC WM6 and it was okay, until he started playing with the Samsung Vibrant... WM6 was SOOOO slow! So I was hesitant about getting the Arrive. I do not regret this purchase and I couldn't be any more pleased.

[Slipcord]

Yeah allot of the older Windows Mobile devices were slow due to the hardware was running older CPU's so forth.. Now the new WP7 device are running the same type of CPU's as everyone else is but yeah it's nice to finally have a faster device.. My old 6.1 device was on it's last leg...

[Nimdock]

Hehe yeah, you had to be a specific kind of person to use WM6.1/6.5. I was ultimately starting to get tired of the things that I had to do that other people using other phones didn't.


Now, man oh man, I am in love with my phone. The quickness, the smoothness.

[texag97]

Originally Posted by seanism

If you goto settings then applications then people you can set it up so it only lists Facebook users that you already have in your phone book.

I just found this and now I don't have all those extra people I never talk too in my People hub!

I had already done this previously but when I enter a name for a new text message, it pulls up my facebook contacts as well as my regular contacts. The contacts may be hidden, but they are still there....

[Slipcord]

Originally Posted by texag97

I had already done this previously but when I enter a name for a new text message, it pulls up my facebook contacts as well as my regular contacts. The contacts may be hidden, but they are still there....

As far as your contacts go when you pull up one of them go to the bottom of the screen to "Links" and see how their linked... Also go to "Settings" then "Applications" then "People" once in People make sure you only have "Only add Facebook info to existing contacts". Once you are for sure you have that checked then go back to your contacts and check the "Links" for them...

So for example lets say "Joe" is a Live contact or Outlook contact that you want as a real contact. When you check "Joe" links if he one of your Live Contacts then one of the links for him should be "Live". If you had the same Joe in your Live account contacts and Outlook Contacts you will have 2 links for Joe one for live and one for Outlook.. Now lets say the same Joe is one of your friends on Facebook then you can Link Joe to his facebook that one it pulls in his facebook profile picture as well you can see his post and reply on his wall all from his contact page instead of having to go to your Facebook App which is a cool feature.. Now if it does not have the link option for Joe to his facebook then that's due to his name is different than the name you have in your contact list for him. So you might lets say if Joe is Joe S. Joe Snow on Facebook you might have to rename the Contact Joe to Joe Snow for it to pull in his facebook page so you can link it to his contact..

Now if you have Joe link twice one for Outlook and one for Yahoo or Live if you unlink lets say the Outlook Link it will make where you have Joe Listed Twice. If their listed twice just delete the one you do not want to use.. What I did was just link my contacts with one Email account lets say Live and the ones I was friends with on FB just link their FB to my contact. The others one that I was not friends with on FB just left them linked once to my Live.. So 1st always check the contacts to see how many times their link if you linked them to something you don't want just unlink them is all.. I hope that all made sense..

[Wud_e]

To add to the WM6 Discussion. Man I was SICK on my TP2. When I got the HTC Touch I though it was great and WM was cool enough. I liked being able to tether and it was a very stable phone. Then Sense Came out and I had to get it. Still it was very stable. Custom roms was a must and I was Rom Jumping ever few months. Still very stable. After 2 years with the Touch the TP2 was out and I had to have it. I knew it was going to be my last phone for a few years. It looks great and the Tilt was awesome. The Keyboard and bigger screen was cool. Stablity though was gone! I had to reset that phone almost every other day. I got Custom Rom and the same thing. I found myself resetting often and the phone was just slow. Well a few months after I got it Microsoft announces WP7. Oooohh! I couldn't wait to get it. Release date October. October came and CDMA version wouldn't be released until to January. January came and the date changed to March. Keep in mind I only had the TP2 for 1 year. I don't know if it was anticipation or what but the more I used my TP2 closer to March 20th the more mad I got at it. Furious! If I forgot my phone at home I didn't really care. If the battery drained sometimes I'd think oh well. March 20th came and I went straight to the Sprint store. I am a Happy camper!!