Must-have HTC Touch Pro applications for network afficionados!

In the previous post I highlighted some of the day-to-day utility apps to help you use your HTC Touch Pro (or windows mobile) more efectively. I’ve been using some of these networking utilities that make your smartphone just another step closer to a portable PC.

1. HTC Network Folder plugin: Ever felt the need to access files off your PC on a home network? Ever wanted to stream music from a media server? This nifty little plugin is the answer to your needs. It works just like accessing files across a local network on the Desktop PC.
2. WM WiFi Router: Out and about with two computers, one phone with 3G data connection and only one cable. What do you do if both computers need access to critical information? Here’s another scenario, something you might get caught up in yourself, laptop – check, phone with 3G – check, usb cable – doh! forgot. This is where the Wifi Router app comes in real handy. It converts your windows mobile phone into, well, a router ofcourse. It uses your 3G connection to access the internet. Once activated the phone acts only as a wifi access point. It does make some major changes to the internals of the phone so be sure to back up anything sensitive/important before you deploy this. I remember installing a n alpha test release with incomplete features and had to hard rest my phone, an yeah, I didnt back anything up, so it was rather frustrating. The only catch with this app is that it comes with a price tag. Evaluate it and see if it fits your needs first.
3. PocketPuTTY: Ah! the ole trusty terminal services client – now on windows mobile! Its pretty good in terms of the features it exposes, ofcourse it is still a stripped down version of the desktop client but it does support key based authentication. The terminal console looks just like the PC version but scaled down to fit the mobile phone screen. I personally think you’d need atleast a VGA screen like that of the HTC Touch Pro to be able to see something on the console.

HTC Touch Pro: First Thoughts

After reading a number of reviews about the phone I finally got myself one (more so because I busted my N95 while fiving it a makeover). The reviews seemed biased in favour of the smartphone until I found a video by the chaps at omio.com who put forth a more objective review. In the same stride here are some of my comments on the smartphone.

Performance: This is my first Windows Mobile powered phone and as expected in comparison to OSX mobile and Symbian S60v3 the responses seemed somewhat sluggish. Although HTC did a good job at putting in bold menu options, the native winmobile interface is better interacted with using a stylus due to the small size. The screen orientation changes smoothly most of the times, but then again while multitasking, its a little sluggish.

Touch: I also had to activate sound for touches because it was hard to figure out when the system had registered a touch. I did not notice this on the iPhone. Furthermore, gestures and actual touches aren’t as precise. While you may be trying to flip a photo, the system considers it a tap gesture and opens it fullscreen. Same for navigating through messages and program list.

TouchFlo: The TouchFlo 3D that everyone is flipping head over heals about isn’t quite as nice when there are a couple of applications running in the background. Its sluggish at times and does not respond too well when you scroll through the shortcuts (at the bottom of the screen in portrait mode) too quickly.

Navigation: I am unsure as to whether the phone has even a basic mapping application. I looked at QuickGPS which I believe just gets the location data off the GSM network because it worked even in a closed room. The GPS receiver however worked a lot better than the one on my old N95. Under the open sky it can get a good signal within a mater of seconds. I installed TomTom 6 navigation software which too is very well made.

Network: When using the WiFi be sure that you don’t specify the connection type as “Work” or it won’t let you get any further than the internal network. The good thing about the network is that once the access point settings have been saved the system won’t ask you for them again quite unlike the N95 where the settings had to se separately saved.

Filesystem: Had to re-format the memory card to FAT32 for the phone to detect it. File transfer from local memory to teh storage card is uber slow, not sure why.

Accelerometer: The accel is calibrated really well and for applications that do make use of it flip between portrait and landscape as soon as it detects a tilt. On the iPhone you really need to change the physical orientation before the screen orientation changes.

Boot: The system boots in under 1 minute. Although WinMobile itself boots in under 30 seconds the phone is practically unresponsive until the TouchFlo3D app loads up.

Keyboard: The keyboard is much appreciated. Soft touch and fairly large surface area contribute to a better experience. if you have fat fingers like you’ll definitely appreciate this. Also, if you’re going to be using the system for emails, you’ll find the physical keyboard an added advantage. The onscreen keyboard too is very well laid out and responds very well. The only downside with the onscreen keyboard is that the letters appear under the finger which makes it a bit hard to know if the touch was registered. Could have done with the OSX Mobile-like concept where the key press is indicated above the key.

Camera: The camera is decent enough to take casual pictures or record a spontaneous video. The microphone is quite sensitive I believe and thus loud sounds crack during playback. If you really like photography then you probably shouldn’t be using the phone camera at all.

Size: I don’t really understand why people have been dissing the device for its size. None of the PDA+Mobile phones out there are small enough. Infact this phone has been designed very well for the features it exposes. I compared it to the N73 and N95 and the sizes are only marginally different. Its obviously not very flat because of the keyboard but then its not as tall or as broad either.

Overall, the phone is beautiful and fun to interact with. If you don’t mind using the stylus, its a breeze to operate. However, to achieve one hand operation its still got a way to go.