BB Tour or the HTC TP2

MikeF

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Dec 2, 2003
195
0
I am having a hard time choosing between these two. I currently have an 8330 Curve and I am more than satisfied with it, but I am intrigued with the TP2. But, I don't know how I will "really" like the touch screen in everyday use, which consists mainly of phone, text, and internet use. I played around with both at the store tonight and I have to admit I got along much better with the Tour, but that should be expected. It also seems much snappier in what it is doing. The TP2 seemed sluggish when on the web and opening different things. But, I really like some of the things you can do with the TP2, like emulators for games, and the much larger screen for video, and I realy prefer the TP2 keyboard. Can the sluggishness be cured by a different .rom that I see mentioned here? Do you get used to the Touch screen after using it some? As you can see, I really don't know what to choose but it has to be this weekend as the US Cellular BF deal will be too good to pass up.
 
I came from a BB... and would I go back after using a Touch screen WinMo phone. Nope. I prefer the flexibility and all the stuff you can do with WinMo.

And yes, the aftermarket ROMs do help with speed, features, etc. Stock ROM is down right laughable.
 
you have 30 days to decide if you want to keep the TP. you know what you have with blackberry. try out the other phone and if you don't like it then feel free to rejoin us blackberry folks ;):D i have the tour and its a great phone! try the TP2 first
 
If e-mail for your corporate requirement is primary, then BB is it. It is the only reason my wife has to have BB. Her company requires it. When she has problems with it, I absolutely hate dealing with that awkward interface to fix it.

If your job doesn't require BB, then I would avoid it like the plague.


I chose the TP2 at first because of Digiblur's recommendation and I must say he was right on target. I'm not sure what you mean by sluggish but the screen updates on mine is like greased lightning. It just flies. We're you referring to web page downloads? That casn be slow at times if your internet connection is bogged down. Another thing is when you double tap the screen or use the screen zoom slider, it first zooms to a blurry screen and thenm updates to a refocus. This takes 1- 1.5 seconds. In a scroll down the applications page or other fully downloaded web pages the scroll is quite smooth and very fast. Compared to the Droid everyone raves about, the Droid is not as smooth and hesitates as the zoom feature or pan feature is used. I haven't tried custom roms yet. From the reviews, I haven't found anything compelling to make me want to switch but I keep looking. It certainly isn't speed and the GUI is not that different that I have seen.

But is the TP2 for you?
If you want more than just a phone and e-mail. The TP2 is about the bets thing I have seen to date.
1. Multitasking- Listen to a podcast or music while surfing the net and downloading in the background, then a phone call comes in and the podcast is suspended while you take the call, then when you finish the call you are automatically returned to the podcast, all while relaying the sound to your BT headset. Or run your GPS navigation while listening to a podcast via BT.
2. Sling your video from home.
3. Operate your computer with remote desktop.
4. Send a document or web page to your laser printer via wifi connection.
5. Tether the EVDO Rev A at 1.5 Mbs to your laptop or desk top.
6. Track pictures with your GPS.
7. Play pinball, chess, checkers, pool and a ton of other games while listening to podcasts.
Plus tons more, if stuff like this fascinates you and you want to do it, the TP2 is for you.

Oh did I mention you can hard wire it to a TV set and get everything, sound too, on a large screen TV. In a hotel room most hotel TV's have A/V inputs these days. just plug the TP2 into your hotel TV and sling your home content to the TV. It's amazingly good resolution.

Most of this stuff you can't do with a BB, I-phone, or even the Droid (yet).
 
If e-mail for your corporate requirement is primary, then BB is it. It is the only reason my wife has to have BB. Her company requires it. When she has problems with it, I absolutely hate dealing with that awkward interface to fix it.

If your job doesn't require BB, then I would avoid it like the plague.


I chose the TP2 at first because of Digiblur's recommendation and I must say he was right on target. I'm not sure what you mean by sluggish but the screen updates on mine is like greased lightning. It just flies. We're you referring to web page downloads? That casn be slow at times if your internet connection is bogged down. Another thing is when you double tap the screen or use the screen zoom slider, it first zooms to a blurry screen and thenm updates to a refocus. This takes 1- 1.5 seconds. In a scroll down the applications page or other fully downloaded web pages the scroll is quite smooth and very fast. Compared to the Droid everyone raves about, the Droid is not as smooth and hesitates as the zoom feature or pan feature is used. I haven't tried custom roms yet. From the reviews, I haven't found anything compelling to make me want to switch but I keep looking. It certainly isn't speed and the GUI is not that different that I have seen.

But is the TP2 for you?
If you want more than just a phone and e-mail. The TP2 is about the bets thing I have seen to date.
1. Multitasking- Listen to a podcast or music while surfing the net and downloading in the background, then a phone call comes in and the podcast is suspended while you take the call, then when you finish the call you are automatically returned to the podcast, all while relaying the sound to your BT headset. Or run your GPS navigation while listening to a podcast via BT.
2. Sling your video from home.
3. Operate your computer with remote desktop.
4. Send a document or web page to your laser printer via wifi connection.
5. Tether the EVDO Rev A at 1.5 Mbs to your laptop or desk top.
6. Track pictures with your GPS.
7. Play pinball, chess, checkers, pool and a ton of other games while listening to podcasts.
Plus tons more, if stuff like this fascinates you and you want to do it, the TP2 is for you.

Oh did I mention you can hard wire it to a TV set and get everything, sound too, on a large screen TV. In a hotel room most hotel TV's have A/V inputs these days. just plug the TP2 into your hotel TV and sling your home content to the TV. It's amazingly good resolution.

Most of this stuff you can't do with a BB, I-phone, or even the Droid (yet).

You can do most of this stuff with a jailbroken iPhone.
 
you have 30 days to decide if you want to keep the TP. you know what you have with blackberry. try out the other phone and if you don't like it then feel free to rejoin us blackberry folks ;):D i have the tour and its a great phone! try the TP2 first

I fully agree with this Rey. Since he knows what he has with the Blackberry he should give the TP2 a try for the 30 days. I personally hate the Blackberry but it has been over a year since I have last tried one.
 
you have 30 days to decide if you want to keep the TP. you know what you have with blackberry. try out the other phone and if you don't like it then feel free to rejoin us blackberry folks ;):D i have the tour and its a great phone! try the TP2 first
I concur. It is exactly what I have done twice. Went from a 8830 world edition to the HTC Mogul. Decent enough phone, but I preferred the berry. So I got a curve. When it came time to upgrade again, I decided on the HTC Hero (android phone). Again, great phone, but as before, I preferred the berry. So now I have a Tour, and am extremely satisfied
 
Thanks for all the imput. I will go ahead and see what the TP2 has to offer and see if I can get used to it. And if not, it will be back to the BB.

And Don, if I get lost with the thing, youu will have to help me find my way ;)
 
You can do most of this stuff with a jailbroken iPhone.

Yeah, but you have to deal with the old school QVGA 320x480 screen compared to the TP2's 480X800 screen. It's like going from SD to HD in comparison when I moved away from the QVGA world.
 
You can do most of this stuff with a jailbroken iPhone.

I understand! Heck, anyone can also get free satellite and cable, free money from a bank too, but all this stuff is illegal. You may not agree with your terms of service agreement and I will admit some things that are not legal are worse offenses than others but once you go down this road, basically, anything goes. Most people I know, outside of this forum, do NOT jail break their iphones. When have you seen an ad for an iphone from Apple where they brag about all the stuff you can do with an iphone that is jail broken? On the contrary, Apple has been known to brick your phone if they caught you using illegal jail break. With Verizon and Sprint, if you load an unsupported ROM, all the provider will do is not warranty your phone. If you break the phone with a non-supported ROM, you'll be better off losing it in the ocean than taking it in for repair, (assuming you have the loss insurance). And even this might be considered insurance fraud if caught.

I believe there IS one feature you can do on an iphone that no one can do on a CDMA phone- Simultaneously surf the internet while talking on the phone. In our case that requires the internet connection to suspend while the phone is dedicated to the conversation and then automatically returns to the internet application once the call is ended. Most people might say, so what? But one good example is using GPS navigation. On all our smart phones on CDMA, the navigation suspends while the phone call is in place.
 
Thanks for all the imput. I will go ahead and see what the TP2 has to offer and see if I can get used to it. And if not, it will be back to the BB.

And Don, if I get lost with the thing, youu will have to help me find my way ;)


While I haven't tried this, Verizon does offer the service, but I think you would have to give me access to your phone for me to track your wherabouts. :)

If you do decide to end up with a BB, make sure the one you get is a touch screen model that sling supports. Of all the applications I have on my phones over the years, I get the most from sling. Everytime I get detained or have to wait on someone and find I have a few minutes to spare, I watch something from by sling box and stream the sound to my BT hands free ear piece.
 
Don, having something against the terms of service and being illegal are two different things. Heck you can say loading a rom that did not come with your phone is illegal then as you don't have a license for that rom.

You also assume that I have a jailbroken iPhone, which I don't.
 
I understand! Heck, anyone can also get free satellite and cable, free money from a bank too, but all this stuff is illegal. You may not agree with your terms of service agreement and I will admit some things that are not legal are worse offenses than others but once you go down this road, basically, anything goes. Most people I know, outside of this forum, do NOT jail break their iphones. When have you seen an ad for an iphone from Apple where they brag about all the stuff you can do with an iphone that is jail broken? On the contrary, Apple has been known to brick your phone if they caught you using illegal jail break. With Verizon and Sprint, if you load an unsupported ROM, all the provider will do is not warranty your phone. If you break the phone with a non-supported ROM, you'll be better off losing it in the ocean than taking it in for repair, (assuming you have the loss insurance). And even this might be considered insurance fraud if caught.

I believe there IS one feature you can do on an iphone that no one can do on a CDMA phone- Simultaneously surf the internet while talking on the phone. In our case that requires the internet connection to suspend while the phone is dedicated to the conversation and then automatically returns to the internet application once the call is ended. Most people might say, so what? But one good example is using GPS navigation. On all our smart phones on CDMA, the navigation suspends while the phone call is in place.

It isn't warrantied with the unsupported ROM on it, all it takes is 2 or 3 minutes and your back to stock ROM. No biggie. I've actually showed my TP to a couple people at stores when they try to sell me a cell phone. After the conversation, the end up PPCGeeks pulled up on the PC in the store ;)

CDMA actually allows simultaneous voice and data with the right hardware on the network side, but the way it is designed now is just like the AT&T EDGE network, one thing at a time.
 
While I haven't tried this, Verizon does offer the service, but I think you would have to give me access to your phone for me to track your wherabouts. :)

Go to Windows Marketplace and download Glympse...or I guess you can get it from their site if you don't have Windows Marketplace loaded on your phone. Pretty cool app. It texts or emails people a link where they can follow your location for a time you specify. I use it all the time when I'm trying to meet someone somewhere.
 

Espn 360

Holy Gizmodo Batman! Talk about laying it out!