HTC Touch PRO Phone, Black (Sprint)

by HTC

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches ; 5.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001MYM1EQ
• Item model number: PPC6850SP
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,209 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Get down to business and stay close to all your most important contacts and documents while on the go with the HTC Touch Pro Smartphone for Sprint, which combines a slide-out QWERTY keyboard paired with HTC's intuitive, graphic-rich TouchFLO 3D touchscreen user interface. The TouchFLO 3D user interface responds perfectly to your finger gestures when scrolling through contacts, browsing the web, and launching media--all vividly displayed as photos and artwork on the 2.8-inch screen powered by the 3D graphics processor. And with the power of the updated Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, you'll stay easily connected to your business and personal data on the go with support for a wide variety of email accounts as well as the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents.

With the TouchFLO 3D interface, album artwork, calendar items and snapshots are brought to life for you to interact, play and launch at your fingertips.

The HTC Touch Pro for Sprint provides a mobile Internet experience that uses the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network (EV-DO Rev. A). You'll also enjoy GPS navigation capabilities for accessing the optional Sprint Navigation turn-by-turn direction service as well as access to Sprint TV's video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound. Other features include built-in Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g), a 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder, Bluetooth for handsfree devices and stereo music streaming, and up to 4 hours of talk time. Compatible with MicroSD memory cards for expansion up to 16 GB, this package includes a 1 GB MicroSD card to give you the room you need for larger work files, presentations, reports, documents or fun files like photos and music.

Sprint Service
Supporting the EV-DO Rev. A high-speed data standard, this phone enables you to download and stream high-quality video, straight onto your phone. Where coverage is available, EV-DO Rev. A connectivity provides peak network download data rates of up to 3.1 Mbps and peak upload data rates of up to 1.8 Mbps; average download speeds range from 600 kbps to 1.4 mbps and average uplink speeds range from 350 to 500 kbps.

With Sprint TV, you can make your cell phone your always-on source for news, weather, sports and more. This comprehensive service allows you to access your favorite channels and networks within seconds to watch live TV or video-on-demand with full-motion video. Choose from more than 50 live television channels and watch programs such as CNN mobile, FOX sports and E! Entertainment; access NFL Network and special programming via Sprint Exclusive Entertainment.

Sprint brings you closer to this season's NFL action with NFL Mobile Live, which enables you to listen to the live radio broadcasts of every NFL game throughout the 2008 regular season. Sprint is making it easier to follow a specific team by carrying a live radio broadcast for each game, including pregame and postgame reports in most instances. NFL Mobile Live also allows NFL.com fantasy owners to monitor the performance of every player in real time directly from their phone. Key information for individual players will be easily accessible, including real-time game and season cumulative stats, rankings, player profiles and photos. NFL Mobile Live is free of charge to Sprint data subscribers.

The slide-out, backlit QWERTY keyboard makes sending email and editing documents fast and familiar.

This GPS-enabled phone provides optional access to Sprint Navigation for driving directions on your mobile phone--by voice and onscreen. Along the way, turn-by-turn directions will be announced in a clear voice and displayed on your phone. For example, Sprint Navigation will say, "Go 1.2 miles and turn right on Elm Street." As you approach the turn, you will hear, "Turn right on Elm Street." Sprint Navigation also provides proactive traffic alerts with one click re-routing. And it's easy to find restaurants, banks, cafes, hotels and more from over 10 million points of interest across the U.S.

The Sprint Mobile Sync service enables you to store and manage up to 5,000 contacts in your Sprint Mobile Sync address book, including phone numbers, addresses, notes and other fields. After your phone is activated, every change you make to your address book will be automatically saved on the Sprint network and every change you make online will be updated on your phone. Create and manage personal Group Connect groups to instantly reach up to 20 other users, at the same time, via Nextel Direct Connect or texting. Import contact fields to your address book or synchronize them with your Microsoft Outlook contacts.

Phone Features
With the TouchFLO 3D interface, HTC has taken a great leap forward in touchscreen innovation. It's designed for one-hand operation using simple, gesture-based navigation, allowing you to simply touch, hold and slide along the screen tabs. A quick slide on the home screen quickly activates the most used features such as e-mail, text messaging, music player and camera. This instinctive interface extends to the powerful Web browser, where a useful "zoom in, zoom out" feature makes it especially easy to access the Web via the included Opera browser, which provides for desktop-like Web page renderings and user interactions. An integrated accelerometer senses when you change the position of the phone from portrait to landscape viewing, and it auto-rotates the screen's orientation.

The HTC Touch Pro features a sharp, 262K-color 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen (480 x 640 pixels) for touch-sensitive navigation control, complete with three-dimensional animated transitions. For email, messaging and other data input, the HTC Touch Pro also comes equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out from the smartphone's side.

Business users can choose from several popular platforms to access your corporate e-mail. The Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional platform offers seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook information including email, contacts, calendar and to-do lists. You can access and edit email attachments using mobile versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint.

In addition, the HTC Touch Pro supports scores of industry-specific applications as well as Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM), an enterprise-grade mobile device management solution that also provides security, mobile Virtual Private Network (VPN) and software distribution for Windows Mobile devices enabled for Windows Mobile 6.1. For maximum flexibility, customers can choose to use either the classic Windows Mobile interface or HTC's acclaimed TouchFLO 3D graphical interface, which makes popular applications easily available at the swipe of a finger.

This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity with EDR (enhanced data rate), and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, and audio/video remote control. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. You'll also be able to access open Wi-Fi networks in offices and hotspots via the integrated 802.11b/g wireless connectivity.

Other features include:

• 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus; video capture up to CIF resolution (352 x 288 pixels)
• Windows Media Player compatible with MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV file formats
• 512 MB of ROM, 288 MB of RAM
• Compatible with ActiveSync 4.5 and Windows Mobile Device Center
• Support for polyphonic ringtones as well as real-music ringers
• Voice command capable.
• MicroSD memory card expansion (up to 16 GB capacities)
• WorldCard Mobile business card reader
• USB 2.0 connectivity with mass storage capabilities
• Bluetooth version 2.0+EDR with the following profiles: A2DP (stereo music streaming), AVRC (remote control), HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), BPP (basic printing profile for text, email), DUN (dial-up networking), FTP (file transfer), HID (support for mice or joysticks), OPP (object push for business cards, calendar items, and pictures), PAN (personal area networking), PBA (transfer contacts)
• Hearing Aid Compatibility = M3

Vital Statistics
The HTC Touch Pro weighs 4.94 ounces and measures 4.17 x 2.04 x 0.71 inches. Its 1340 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4.0 hours of talk time, and up to 350 hours (14.6 days) of standby time. It runs on the CDMA 800/1900 frequencies as well as Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A data network.

Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1
Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 offers a number of handy features that make searching through email, editing Microsoft Office documents, and staying on top of your most important communications even easier. Emails can now be viewed in their original rich HTML format and now offer the ability to visit embedded links. It also includes Windows Live for Windows Mobile, which provides a full set of Windows Live services, such as the Windows Live Messenger IM application, which now enables you to chat with more than one person at one time or send a file.

With Windows Mobile 6.1, your phone will finally be able to emulate the power and features of your PC's Microsoft Office suite. You'll be able to neatly view, navigate and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets in their original formatting--without affecting tables, images or text--as well as view PowerPoint presentations.

• Microsoft Office Word Mobile features include spell-check, Find and Replace commands, bulleted lists, text formatting, and support for tables for the first time.
• With Excel Mobile, you're not just confined to editing charts: with the new Chart Wizard you can create charts quickly and easily.
• PowerPoint Mobile allows you to view the full presentation, rehearse timings, check the order and any live links you may have in your presentation. You can then email comments back to the team or communicate via MSN Messenger for an immediate response.
• After creating or editing a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, you can synchronize it with your PC and it will automatically be converted to the PC version.

All Windows Mobile 6.1 powered devices include Direct Push Technology for up-to-date e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars, tasks and contacts through Microsoft Exchange Server. It also offers a set of important device security and management features that include the capability to remotely wipe all data from a device should it be lost or stolen, helping ensure that confidential information remains that way.

Product Description

This smartphone is a CDMA version of the Touch Pro, and similar to the CDMA Touch Diamond plus a slide-out keyboard and memory card slot. Other key features include HTC's TouchFLO 3D finger-touch interface, Windows Mobile Pro, VGA display, 3 megapixel camera, EVDO Rev. A data and Wi-Fi. Features: Modes: CDMA 850/1900 Locked Status: CDMA inactive Carrier Compatibility: Page Plus/Verizon Condition: NEW Form Factor: Slide Data Capability: Yes MMS Capability: Yes Camera (Video): 3.2 Megapixel (Yes) Speakerphone: Yes Bluetooth: Yes Voice Dialing: Yes Touch Screen: Yes Memory Card Slot: Yes Vibrate: Yes Available Colors: Black Language: English/Spanish Wi-Fi: Yes Warranty: 30 Days Package Contents: Packaging (Shipping Weight): OEM Packaging (1 lbs.) Home Charger: Yes Battery: Yes User Guide: Yes SIM Card: N/A Headset: No Memory Card: No USB Cable: Yes *Must have a Data/MMS Capable plan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LG Lotus - Stealth PDA phone, unique offering, January 23, 2009

By 

G. Kline "art hunter" (Hoboken, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LG Lotus LX600 Phone, Black (Sprint) (Wireless Phone)

** UPDATE ** 09/30
Going on 9 months with the phone. Still enjoying it and happy with my decision. There is word of the Lotus 2 (2nd generation) phone coming out sometime in 2010. It's too early to tell how much will have changed from the Lotus 1, but so far word has it that the micro SDHC memory limit has been expanded to 32Gb and the outer screen will be touch sensitive. The touch screen functionality suggests that the inner screen will have this too, but that was not mentioned. In any case, expect the phone to debut sometime in the summer. If you really need a phone right now, you can't go wrong with the Lotus given the extremely attractive discounts going on.

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REVIEW
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The LG Lotus was introduced in the fall of 2008, to reasonable fanfare and press. But do you hear anything about the Lotus now? Not much, which I find strange because the LG Lotus is such an amazing phone. Maybe the surging popularity of touch screen phones overshadows it?

I bucked the touch screen trend and instead went with an LG Lotus. I had to switch from Verizon to Sprint in order to get it, because US based cellular carriers still impose a carrier lock on most phones and have significant pricing discounts when buying a phone with a plan. At first, I was worried about leaving "American's most reliable network" and sacrificing the "in network" minutes with a few of the people I know... but then I came to realize that Sprint has an excellent network as well. So far in my first few weeks of being on the Sprint network, I've noticed no performance loss.

But back to the phone. This is what attracted me to the Lotus:

1) EXCELLENT QWERTY KEYPAD. I don't like the lack of feedback from a touch screen phone; but you've no choice with it, because that's the main interface you're given (unless you do everything by voice command). On the other hand, the tactile sensation of the Lotus keypad is excellent. I have XL sized hands and have no trouble rapidly "double thumb" typing on the Lotus. I tried the Blackberry Curve and Treo--the Lotus keypad works with fewer typos.

2) SMALL FORM FACTOR. The iPhone, Storm, and Omnia touch screen style phones are all quite large and a bit weighty. They don't fit comfortably in your pocket, especially if you've got it in a case to avoid screen scratches. But the Lotus disappears in your pocket. Even in a shirt pocket, it is unobtrusive. When folded, the inner screen and keyboard are fully protected. Yet, when you open it up, the size is doubled and it is easy to hold. THIS is what cellular communications should be all about. I've tried out the Motorola RAZR and I'd say the Lotus is about the same thickness but easier to hold. Overall, the design of the Lotus is very unusual. When opened, it almost looks like a miniature laptop! :-)

3) SEMI-SMART PHONE. What does it take for a cellular phone to be called a Smart Phone? "There is no agreement in the industry about what a smartphone actually is and definitions have changed over time." The Lotus supports Java applications, can browse the web, download files, exchange e-mail (when connected, e-mail is pushed to the phone), and work as a GPS device. This certainly sounds smart to me. Aside from the default browser, you can download others (like the Opera Mini) and even use a GMail application instead of going through the HTML interface. I'm sure as time goes on, the list of compatible Java apps for the Lotus will increase.

4) PLAN VERSATILITY. With smart phones like the iPhone, Storm, and Omnia, you MUST have a data plan. With the Lotus, you can choose whether or not you want a data plan. Plus, on Sprint, you can do this change mid-stream on your contract without incurring costs or contract change penalties (the countdown to expiration remains unchanged). I find this an attractive advantage over the competition.

5) SCREEN RESOLUTION. The inner screen of the Lotus is 2.5" diagonal. It is a beautiful wide screen that looks like one you'd see on a quality digital camera. The resolution is SUPERB. Pictures appear razor sharp and in full accurate color. Even the external screen looks great, and you can choose not only a few different clock layouts but a different wallpaper from the internal screen.

6) MENU SYSTEM. The default "Carousel" style menu system is actually very nice. It is customizable and provides very easy access to popular functions of the phone. It is great for novices but a little annoying for the technically adept. However, you can dispense with it and go with the LG menu system. With the help of a Sprint store rep, you can get the default LG menu activated (or if you know your MSL number, you can do it yourself). I prefer the LG menu as it removes the Carousel clutter (if the menu would auto-hide, I'd like it more) so you can see your wallpaper image in all its glory. Plus, you go from 5 to 12 favorites (shortcuts), something I really appreciate. Not only that, but the left menu button becomes a quick access link to the Calendar/Scheduler, instead of it being hidden behind a carousel tile you have to hunt for. Supposedly, going with the LG menu saves you some battery life, too.

7) NO THEFT MAGNET. Large and glamorous PDA phones are a theft magnet, especially the coveted iPhone. Personally, I find the idea of constantly whipping out an expensive device increases the chance for damage (who here hasn't dropped a phone at least once on a hard surface?) and involuntary loss due to theft. The Lotus is nicely inconspicuous (especially the black version).

8) MUSIC PLAYBACK QUALITY. The built in music player is a little cumbersome at first, in that upon initial insertion of the SD card, it scans all of your music and creates an internal index. But once that index is created, it is quick and easy to play music selections by "All Songs", "Artists", "Genres", and "Albums". Plus you can create your own playlists, as well as use random or sequential play by Genre, Artist, and All Songs. A very nice attribute for the way the SD card is used is that you can subdivide your music by whatever folders you want--the Lotus scans the card and finds them, rather than requiring all songs to be in one folder. Sound quality is impressive, although for this small size the bass is lacking. But mids and highs are clear and accurate. I couldn't believe what I was able to hear... better than the iPod earbuds, that's for certain. Plus, it has a 2.5mm jack so you can plug in earbuds if you wish to listen privately. Bluetooth headsets are also supported.

9) EXCELLENT GPS SOFTWARE. I was about to buy a Garmin Nuvi 255w. But now, I don't have to. The Sprint GPS Navigator is excellent! It really works. Plus, it's full featured. You get horizon view and bird's eye view, turn-by-turn voice navigation with street names, easily stored favorites, and interfacing with Google maps. It also audibly informs you about traffic conditions. What more could you want?

10) DECENT CAMERA. A 2.0 megapixel camera sounds passe, when 3.2 and 5.0 cellphone cameras are available. Well, I don't know what firmware LG put in this phone, but this is the best 2.0 megapixel camera I've ever seen. I'd swear it was 3.0 megapixel. Photos are of very high quality. It works OK in low light if the subject remains still. There is NO flash, unfortunately. I wouldn't use this over a full fledged digital camera, but it makes for an excellent backup.

11) OBVIOUS CHARGING INDICATOR. On many phones, you need to look at the LCD screen to see a message that charging is complete or that the battery indicator is now on full. With the Lotus, the external music controls are lit up red when charging is taking place, but change to white once charging is finished--quite obvious to notice from a distance, which is very convenient.

12) MINI USB CONNECTOR. The mini USB connector works very well with this phone, sliding into place securely. And now there are vendors supplying car chargers with retractable cords that work with the Lotus. It's an excellent solution for convenient charging on the go with no cords to hassle with.

OTHERS - the phone has 5 alarm settings, one "quick alarm" and 4 main ones that you can set for whatever period you need (once, daily, weekly, monthly) and with whatever sound you want (default or downloaded). There is even a feature that allows you to record a phone call--not bad.

So, those are the things I really like about the Lotus. But alas, no phone is perfect. Here is what I see needing improvement:

1) VOICE QUALITY. During calls, voices are projected through an internal speaker on the lid. Depending on the party reached, some calls sound a little flat and tinny on high volume. This is in contrast to the excellent voice quality I had on a Motorola E815. Now, it's not so bad that it is a deal breaker, but I wish it was a little better. If you're in a noisy room and crank up the volume, you'll be a bit disappointed. I tend to keep the volume set to about the mid-point. Using an ear set works well, as an alternative. In fact, at home I plug in a wired ear set and it works beautifully. I tuck the phone in my pocket and walk around hands free. The speakerphone quality is excellent, though.

2) BATTERY LIFE. If you leave your phone connected to the Internet most of the time, you'll probably need to recharge your phone daily. But if you shut off the Internet connection when not in use, battery life should be about average for standby and talk time. The Lotus is rated at 5.5 hours, but I'd say it's just about 3 hours. Most phone manufacturers exaggerate their talk time anyway. My last phone was supposed to be 3 hours but it was more like 2. The... Read more ›

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great phone!! Not for Smartphone Users though!, January 5, 2009

By 

Monique Fordyce - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LG Lotus LX600 Phone, Purple (Sprint) (Wireless Phone)

This phone is excellent!! It isn't a smartphone so for those of you coming from a Centro, or Touch Diamond, Iphone etc... you may be disappointed!! This is a great phone for texting, e-mails, voice calls etc...The calls are clear, the speakers are very nice and loud, no distortion what so ever, texting is a breeze on the keyboard. Although it is square it is very comfortable to hold, and even in your pocket. It isn't the thinnest phone around but a nice size. I did however have to disable the One Click UI in order to stop the slight lagging problem so now it works like a charm. It even gave me longer battery life when I did this!! For a basic phone user this phone is excellent, the browser could be better so Opera Mini was installed and now it is everything I could ever want in a phone. Of course everyone has their on opinion so there will be some that may hate this phone but if you want a small stylish phone that is great for texting, email and voice calls then this is the phone for you. I would like to warn you though, Sprint has disabled the feature to load your own custom ringtones vis USB or bluetooth, so you'll have to send them to your phone via WAP or via text. You also won't be able to use songs or mp3's from your SD card as ringtones either. You can however use video ringtones instead in 3g2 format. Aside from that I like this phone and those little problems aren't much to me because I have internet & texting on my plan!! Get this phone, you won't be sorry!!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cool phone but correctable shortcomings make it a tough sell., May 18, 2009

By 

A. Tubesing - See all my reviews

This review is from: LG Lotus LX600 Phone, Black (Sprint) (Wireless Phone)

I have been using this phone for several weeks now. I will refrain from repeating much of what others say and focus instead on a few more obscure but very important issues I have noticed. If you rely heavily on any of the features mentioned below, you might want to consider these points...

1. Audio quality:

This phone's audio is not as good as the last few phones I've owned (Rumor, Razr, others). Callers sound muddled, and if you're talking to someone who is mumbly at all, or is not talking directly into their mouthpiece, it is difficult to understand their words.

On the plus side, this phone has an earpiece that is very easy to position properly over your ear, and you can feel it when it's not positioned right. With the Rumor I was constantly moving it around trying to mate the speaker with my ear.

Speakerphone on this phone is a significant improvement over the Rumor which sounded distorted at any volume loud or soft.

One other auditory note... there doesn't seem to be a way to turn off the power-up and power-down songs it plays (ostensibly to congratulate itself for taking a long time to follow your instructions). This is extremely annoying in situations when you remember to turn off the phone after the class or meeting starts... there's no way to turn it off silently (even if you turn the volume all they way to silent, it still plays a song). I've never had a phone before that didn't let you silence those permanently.

2. User Interface:

It is frustrating for several reasons, mostly it's lack of customizability. The carousel system might please you if you like icon menus, but I prefer text-style menus and that's not an option on this phone. They say you can add custom items to the carousel, but that's sort of a misnomer. You can add a limited selection of 'features' to the carousel--mostly data-gathering web features like weather reports and stock tickers--it's a very limited list of pre-chosen items, you can't make up your own, and you can't add menu items. If you want quick access to a menu item (such as the calculator, note pad, or alarm clock) you can add it to the 'shortcuts' carousel item which puts it in sort of a quick-menu, but and it's limited to five items. Older LG phones allowed you to program one-touch buttons (usualy the 4-way arrow keys) but this phone has no one-touch buttons you can customize. Everything's done through the carousel which isn't any easier than finding stuff in menus so I'm not sure what the point is. And its very confusing to figure out how to customize it. It's not intuitive at all.

By the way, this carousel menu system is Sprint's proprietary user interface which they have forced all their non-smart phones to use, regardless of manufacturer. It's their attempt to brand all the phones with universal Sprint interface. So it appears that the old days of variety are over. It used to be that the different manufacturers did their software differently so if you didn't like one brand's interface, another brand might work better for you. Now they all have the same interface so you're stuck with it unless you want to switch carriers. There is a way around this if you're comfortable doing a little hacking. A program called "CDMA" can help you revert back to the phone's native user interface (very similar to what it comes with only the carousel one-click system will be gone). Browse the sprint user forums for more info, I did it and I like it much better without the carousel.

3. Charger/USB interface:

As unforgivable as this has always been, this phone uses YET ANOTHER new kind of charger/usb connector, so you have to go out and buy new chargers AGAIN. The B Micro-usb connector is gaining popularity though, so perhaps it will be somewhat standardized, but I'm not hopeful. I think there's just too much money to be made on needlessly (and wastefully) replacing all those components with every new phone--especially at $35 each in the Sprint store. Be sure you buy those items ANYWHERE else for at least 75% savings.

On the plus side, the charger that comes with this phone is simply a usb cord with a power supply that has a usb connector on it. So you can disconnect the cord from the charger and connect it to a computer for charging. I love this. I bought an 18" usb cord so I can use this charger on the kitchen counter without an annoying coil of wire to contend with.

4. Keyboard & Buttons:

The keyboard on this phone is great. Nice sized buttons and they're nicely rounded such that it's very easy to type on. I can type one-handed quite easily on this phone which was nearly possible on the Rumor. I still wish it had dedicated number buttons but apparently that's too much to ask. The dedicated 'text' button is a nice feature, it brings you right to the 'send a text message' screen. It's pretty much the only one-touch feature button on the phone aside from the camera button which seems to always get pressed by accident. I am not a fan of putting buttons on the sides of the phone where you're supposed to be holding on to it.

5. Screens/Backgrounds/Pictures.

Screen visibility in most features is very poor outdoors. Aside from the text message screen and note pad (which are black-on-white) nearly every screen is white(or another color)-on-black making it very hard to see in sunlight.

There is no option to have a blank background on the phone's screen. You're forced to use an image, and the pre-installed pics are crap. It's quite comical actually, the background pictures for the external screen are all so detailed that they obscure the clock from being readable. I ended up using the built-in camera to take a picture of a blank surface and I use that as the background picture.

Another oddity... similar to the Rumor, if you assign a picture to a phone number so it can show you a picture of who is calling, it overlays a text box on top of the picture so you can't see it anyway except for what's visible around the edge. (WTF, does anybody at the factory actually USE these things before they send them out to market?)

6. Alarm Clock:

While a standard feature on most phones nowadays, this one is quite crippled. The completely unforgivable oversight (which was also a problem on the Rumor) is that if you miss an alarm it does not show up on the missed alerts list. This is especially bad for me because I use it as a medication reminder, and if I leave the phone in the other room and I don't hear it ringing before it turns off on its own after a few minutes, I have no idea that i've missed it.

Also, if you press snooze to silence it temporarily, there is absolutely no way to deactivate it until it rings again (aside from going to the alarm clock menu and deleting the alarm).

A nice touch would be to have the default time for the alarm be the last time used, but instead it always defaults to 9:30 am. Extra hassle.

7. Text Messaging:

Here's a really nice feature of this phone (really the sprint interface, one of the few benefits)... text messages are organized into threads by recipient/sender, so if you're having a conversation with someone, it shows all the messages (both sent and received) in a single list in chronological order. So you can see the full conversation without having to switch between the inbox and sent folders. Great improvement. It takes some getting used to, but I like it.

8. Speed-dial/Contacts list:

Nobody does this better, but it's worth mentioning... why limit the one-touch press-and-hold speed dial buttons to just the number keys? With all those letter buttons, it seems you ought to be able to assign a speed dial number to any of them. I would love to program 'mom' to the M button for example, but you can't on this user interface. I suspect this is just a paradigm shift that phone makers haven't caught up to yet. They're still thinking as though there are only 12 buttons on the phone.

Another speed dial issue with this sprint interface (although my old Rumor had the same shortcoming)... when you press the speed dial button the only option is to call the default number for that person. My sanyo and samsung phones in the past have allowed you to press the button briefly to bring up the person's contacts entry, then use the L/R arrow buttons to scroll through that persons various numbers to choose the one you want to call. That feature is missing on this phone so if I want quick access to my wife's cell number and work number, I have to assign each to its own speed dial number (further reinforcing the need to allow speed dial programming of the letter keys).

9. Phone body:

Sadly this phone has fallen prey to our modern addiction to rubberized grippy surfaces. The exterior surface is coated with sticky junk so it clings to your pocket and does not slide in or out easily. Luckily it's only mildly grippy so it's not as bad as some other phones, but I find this stuff completely unnecessary and it actually makes the phone harder to use. Ugh.

10. Web browser:

Now this is the killer issue that truly ruins this phone. The browser offers absolutely no capability to scroll sideways or zoom out, which makes it completely useless. When looking at a web page that isn't specifically designed for use on mobile phones (so pretty much everything except facebook), you can only see a small strip of the left side of the page... everything to the right just disappears off the screen and there's no way to go look at it. The up/down arrow buttons scroll the screen vertically, so you would think the left/right arrow buttons would allow you to scroll horizontally, but no. Seriously? Who in their right mind thought that was an acceptable... Read more ›