Customer Reviews

HTC PURE Windows Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Don't buy this telephone if you want to play games, surf the internet, or run esoteric apps which entertain the idle mind and create millionaires!
BUT.... if you want a true GPS navigator which will work anywhere in the world to within a few feet; if you want to be able to make telephone calls anywhere in the world, and you occasionally want to be able to check email if wireless isn't available for your laptop, then this is the phone for you.
In addition, built in services enable a quick check on flight status by flight number or airport, telephone number look-up with automatic routing to the location, a check on the weather where you are or anywhere else, and internet access in an emergency. It has to be in an emergency because trying to use a webpage on a screen as small as a cellphone is not comfortable! But if you have to, you can. You can text with a qwerty keyboard and a nice feature is that the entire conversation ripples down the screen as the messages continue.
You can also take pretty nice pictures and you can geotag them - no zoom though. You can use Ciao! to let friends know where you are... that's for those who can't be bothered to call and tell them.
What more do you want? It is a telephone, not a mobile entertainment center.

If you're ok with using a stylus, this phone may be for you. Being an iPhone user, I ordered this mostly for testing and to see how things have evolved with the current Windows Mobile 6.5. At first touch, I liked the following:

1. Phone seems durably built
2. Screen is very clear and touch sensitivity is good
3. The phone is stylish, as is the charger
4. It is SMALL! Smaller than I expected.
5. The Operating System is responsive. I didn't notice any lag.
6. The "haptic" feedback is great. When you press a button with the stylus, you get a tiny/short vibrate so you know you've registered the tap.

On the downside,

1. It takes a long time to boot if you ever have to restart it to take the battery out
2. The screen elements are so small, much of what you do has to be done with the toothpick sized stylus. Even though it registers a finger press fine, my small fingers are still too big.
3. Windows Mobile still feels "PDA-like". Every app you open stays open until you close it. You must go to the task manager and close it, not just going back to the applications menu screen. It's very easy to drain system resources without realizing it if you aren't on top of closing your apps.
4. Things like Facebook mobile still aren't nearly as good as they are on the blackberry & iPhone.

It didn't take me long to realize that this phone is no iPhone or Blackberry Bold/Storm class machine. Interacting with the Windows Mobile still feels a little like Window 3.1-- you can get lost easily with the layers. If you like a tiny stylus and tiny phone, this may be the phone for you. If you have any issues seeing small things, this probably isn't for you. Personally, I'd love to see this same hardware with a different operating system on it. The Windows Mobile 6.5 doesn't do a good job of "removing surrounding clutter/background clutter" when you are doing things like connecting to wireless, or entering text. They waste a lot of space by not clearing the background and enlarging the menus.

Can I recommend this phone? Yes. But not for everyone. If you love Windows Mobile or want/like a stylus entry, this is a very stylish attractive little phone.

This is my 4th Windows Mobile phone so I think I qualify as an experienced Windows Mobile phone user. I am not comparing this phone with iPhone, Blackberry, Android or Palm Pre phone since enough people have done that already.

First of all, I love the small size. My previous phone was a Tilt and that thing was bulky and heavy. When I'm in my gym short and put that phone in my pocket, I was in constant fear. The Pure however is slim and light, very pocketable.

Losing the keyboard is not a big deal for me. I found I seldom use the keyboard on my Tilt anyway since I installed the Touchpal keyboard software unless I'm typing a long email. The new QWERTY keyboard in the Pure is surprisingly nice although the keys are a little small because of the width of the phone.

As a whole, WM65 is much more finger friendly then WM6 although it's still far from perfect when you compare with other choices. The new app store makes it much easier to get new software for the phone. The new lock screen is useless when you cannot set the lock screen to automatically appear without asking for a password. I ended up installing the trusty S2U2 software again. TouchFLO 3D is nice and easy to use.

The camera produce nice looking 5M pictures and the quality is comparable with iPhone. The accelerometer works very well but not all software support it. The battery life is not too good. I usually finish the day with less that 50% left so I have to charge every night. Not having a 3.5 or 2.5 jack is a pain in the XXX but that how it was with the Tilt. My biggest problem with the hardware is not having the D-Pad. I understand many other touch screen phone never had D-Pad (iPhone) and they all work fine. The problem is almost all Windows Mobile phones had D-Pad before and many software assume it too. One good example is Microsoft Reader, it does not support swiping to turn page. You suppose to use the D-Pad to turn page or you can click the "tiny" left right arrows on the bottom of the page. These arrows are so small it's impossible to hit with you big thumb.

I like this phone for it small size and ease of use. I've always been a fan of Windows Mobile because I feel I have more control of it. I am able to customize it anyway I want. If you are using other PDA mobile phone, you probably don't want to switch to this phone, wait for Windows Mobile 7. If you like Windows Mobile and does mind the lack of keyboard, then this is the phone for you.

I'll start by saying that I really like this GPS phone. I did a lot of research, so I already knew it's limitations. Having said that, I completely understand why others are very frustrated with the marketing of this 'feature' phone. It has been pitted against the iPhone, but here are some reasons why that makes no sense:

There are some useful utilities bundled with the phone, but most require an extra subscription fee. There are no applications included, and none are available to add. Even a basic game like solitaire would be welcome for long layovers. I don't use social networks, but the included Ciao service apparently is not widely adopted, so it may be a struggle to get your friends to enroll. None of the popular services (Facebook, Twitter) are supported. There is no support for any instant messaging services. The phone does not record or playback video of any kind (That is such a serious omission, that I can't imagine this phone appealing to anyone, besides GPS enthusiasts). The Web browser is very slow (even over WiFi). Battery life has been poor. So, you can see that any comparison to the iPhone is, frankly, ridiculous.

Here are some reasons why I actually like this phone:

I like that this is a GPS first, and a phone second. I have always liked Garmin GPS devices, and this one is no exception. The map and POI databases are built-in, so there is no need to be connected to your wireless data plan to get around. I plan to use this while traveling internationally (I unlocked the phone for use with other carriers), and I don't need the headaches of no service, or exorbitant data roaming rates. It has an option to use Yellow Pages to lookup anything that's not in the database. There are many map regions available for the phone. Despite several reviews that panned the phone's user interface, I find it quite nice. A number of reviewers complained that there was no home button, but you only need to hold the back button for a second to jump to the home screen. The phone has a nice form-factor. There isn't a single blinking LED anywhere on the phone. The price has come way down on this phone, otherwise I would not have purchased it.

So, if you're like me and want a GPS that can make calls from around the world, then the Nuvifone G60 might be for you. If you've even thought about getting an iPhone, then you probably won't be satisfied with this phone. Garmin has another model called the Nuvifone M10, that runs Windows Mobile 6.5, and is a true smart phone, that I think many might prefer. But, it's not currently available in the United States.

Have had this device for a day now and am loving it. Its really small and sleek. The "resistive" touch screen is pretty responsive, the keyboard is good, it gives a short vibration or haptic feedback whenever a key is pressed. At first I thought Ill turn that off, but now I feel its really useful. It does have the G-sensor (gravity sensor/accelerometer), which is probably not as responsive as iPhone's and not all applications use it. But some applications do use it like the browser and outlook, and a cute little game called teeter. Its not multi-touch (I think), but the zoom bar makes up for the lack of it, and the flicks and gestures work really well. The 5mp camera is great. Windows app center is good too.

Cons: it doesnt come with a set of earphones! Who would have thought of that. The 'ok' or 'close' buttons on the top right corner are still pretty small. Sometimes its a little too responsive, when I am looking at the call history for e.g, it ends up making a call when I am just trying to scroll. Minor thing which most people have already pointed out: the earphones jack isnt standard 3.5mm jack and comes with an adapter for it.

All in all its a great cheap alternative to the iPhone.

It took me a while to figure out just what phone I wanted to upgrade to and I finally found it. I've had this phone for about a month now and I truly love it. I waited to post a review as I wanted to ensure I thoroughly explored the phone to give my honest opinion.

I am not a conformist, so stayed away from the iphone and the blackberry. I upgraded from the Samsung Blackjack II, so have to admit the HTC pure took some getting used too.

At first sight, the keypad does seem a bit small/crowded, but I seem to type text messages with little to no errors. I do not use my phone to compose email, but love being able to receive messages from my home email account with the ability to respond back to the sender if need be.

The things that I love the most with this phone is the bright screen, the camera, the ease of making phone calls, listening to music, and personalizing my home screen to my liking.

The two downfalls to the phone are the battery life and a slow running internet. I knew those were the main drawbacks to the phone prior to my purchase from reading other reviews, but figured it wouldn't be a main concern for me since I am not a big phone talker, texter, phone internet surfer and it isn't. I can get exactly what I need from the internet while on the road with no problem its just a little slower than the BBB. I do charge the phone every night but so does my husband who owns a BBB. So I guess the battery life compared to the BBB is about the same.

Again, great phone overall. If you are still having trouble trying to decide on a phone, log onto [...]. Under review, type in the cell phone model and get more detailed reviews to help you decide. Good luck!

Aneshea

I upgraded to this phone from a Fuze and love it. The screen is not quite as big as the Touch Pro2 but bigger then the Fuze. I find that the size is perfect for putting in your pocket on the go. I did like the standard WM 6.5 but am taking advantage of additional functionality after updating the firmware through XDA Dev. Call quality is excellent and internet is very fast for me. The new app store is nice but I'd like to see more apps in the future.

The nuvifone works very well as a phone and as a GPS. E-mail was easy to set up and is easy to use. The internet is fast, but it is not able to view video or run websites that use flash. Overall, very handy unless all you want to do is play games(no games) and watch youtube.

Having been a "flip-phone" fan for years and owning nearly every company's version of it, about six months ago, I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon. Unfortunately for me, the iPhone lacked in every detail that I needed a phone for - to talk on it. Less than 30 days later I was returning it for another flip-phone. However, I was intrigued by the number of things that I could do with the iPhone (i.e., apps galore) but was very disappointed with the battery life, call quality (reception) and phone functionality. I stumbled across the HTC Pure while browsing AT&T's website and was given a generous offer to upgrade. Having not put any research into the phone prior to ordering, I was a little hesitant but was pleasantly surprised once I got my hands on it. In many ways, the Pure acts and feels like an iPhone but doesn't require the amount of coin to accomplish it. The screen is clear (LCD), bright and easy-to-read (I'm a 30-something). At the bottom of the screen are tabs that you can customize to your liking that will connect you to your Home, Contacts (Favorites), Internet, Weather and Settings. The weather tab automatically updates approximately every three hours with animation (when raining, it rains on screen and a wiper blade swipes it clear) and is supported (linked) to [...]. You can also synchronize your contacts with their Facebook profile and use their pics as photo caller-i.d. The two browsers loaded with the phone - Opera 9.7 and Internet Explorer 6.5 are equally impressive. I primarily use Opera as it utilizes both portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) modes. IE does not. The call quality is exceptional. Crisp, clear and loud both with the phone and speaker. Battery life is the best I have ever seen on a smartphone. It is rated at 5 hours talk time and 15 days of standby. I have been able to use this phone starting on a full charge and play FreeCell for five hours straight, periodically checking email, etc. and having only used 10 to 20% battery life. I have also been able to make a 45 minute phone call with only 20% battery life left until I was prompted to recharge. The time it takes to recharge is approximately 2 hours to fully charge but I have done it in less and still had significant battery life to get me through my work day (8 hours). If you're considering an iPhone, I strongly urge you to look at the Pure as you would have to buy the 3GS in order to do everything this phone does for half the price. Also worth noting, I DO NOT use this as a music device and have read reviews that one of the downfalls of the Pure is the lack of an onboard headphone jack. This is solved with the included Multifunction Audio Adapter, however, that has been seen with mixed reviews. I also found the stylus to be easy to use and a great way to keep smudgy fingerprints from building up on the screen.

The bad: This phone locked up (or bricked) on me at least THREE times (within a 6 mos. period) which resulted in me having to get an early upgrade. I swapped it out for the new Samsung Captivate in Aug. of '10.

I bought this phone with no service. The phone idea is brilliant: cell phone with stand alone GPS and Wi-Fi Internet, E-mails and basic smart phone. But this phone is not smart phone at all. You can't view Microsoft® Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF files as they stated at the time I bought phone. When I ask Garmin about this future, then Garmin changed their web-page from original statement under tools and data from:
"document viewing: Microsoft® Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, JPG"
to:
"view email attachments: Microsoft® Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, JPG".
After that they don't respond to my e-mails. Also there is no file manager. I think they should recall this unit or update software. I will newer buy any Garmin product.