Anyone else waiting for a better WP7 device on Verizon?

[boe]

I really like WP7 a lot.   A few people I know have the Focus.   It works great with Exchange, office documents, pretty much all I care about besides being able to get signal when I call the Focus has.

The Trophy is an interesting phone but I really would prefer a higher end phone if I'm going to carry it for 2 years.   It certainly is slimmer than the Arrive and that is an important feature to me.   Rumors have it with the Mango release we'll see some new WP7 hardware.

I'd actually be willing to switch today if Verizon had gotten the Focus although it isn't quite as high end as I'd like to go.

• I want a 4.3" or 4.5" screen - super amoled plus like the Galaxy S II has would be sweet.

• I want 1650 mah battery like the Galaxy S II has or 1730 mah like the EVO 3D.

• I want 4G service like most recent smartphones have.

• I want BT 3.0 like most recent phones have.

I know WP7 runs well on the old snapdragon processor but I've been building computers for 20 years and you can never have a processor that is too fast (otherwise I wouldn't have to have replaced my first computer).    So a step up in the processor would be welcome although the size of the screen and the battery are my biggest concerns.

I just hope when the new hardware is announced, Verizon won't take so long to supply it to their customers like they did with the Trophy (which other than the worldphone part was released to the rest of the world about 9 months ago).

[#2]

I bought a Trophy just to try Mango and am hooked. It's a fantastic mobile OS, but the Trophy is kinda meh... I returned it and will jump at the next hi-end Windows phone even if it means leaving Verizon after 12 years.

[ChicagoVZUser]

What JSWriter just said got me thinking.   I know with the iPhone on AT&T, you can surf and talk at the same time. Does anyone know if AT&T has that working on Windows Phone?

I like the Trophy, but I'd like to move up to something better.  Windows Phone 7 is really nice.

[Ann154]

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ChicagoVZUser wrote:

What JSWriter just said got me thinking.   I know with the iPhone on AT&T, you can surf and talk at the same time. Does anyone know if AT&T has that working on Windows Phone?

I like the Trophy, but I'd like to move up to something better.  Windows Phone 7 is really nice.

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The inherent nature of the GSM network allows the user to talk and surf at the same regardless of the device and OS.

[hopmedic]

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haysouse1 wrote:

I'm eligible next month and I'll bite after one of the slew of dual core 4G Androids hit free or near-free online.

I'd like a WP7 but Android is not bad enough to make me forgo 4G and to a lesser extent dual core.

Android is out-MS'ing MS.  

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The difference in hardware requirements between the two is due to the differences in efficency of the core OS.  Android NEEDS the extra boost in order to perform as well as the Windows Phone OS works on the single core 1GHz processor.  Put the Android's OS on the cheaper hardware, and see what happens.

Myself, I'll forego the only operating system with a virus that records audio of your phone calls, and settle for the one that can make 1GHz look slick.

Android can keep on out-androiding MS.

[JasonSCarter]

Dual core this, dual core that.  Last night on the Engaget show, they had two new Android phones, the Moto Droid Razr and the HTC Rezound.  The Razr only got 5 hours of battery life in their tests, and the Rezound a little less than that. 

Dual core is great, in that it is very fast.  But it just uses TO MUCH battery. 

Look, even Apple went to a dual core processor in their new 4S phones, and people are going nuts over battery life.  They tried to fix it once with an update, and people are still having problems.  Dual core processors aren't just there yet as far as power goes, but it's coming.

Windows Phone using a single processor is smart.  You get longer battery life and it's still fast because of all the optimization Microsoft has done.

Qualcomm showed off a new dual core CPU last night on the Engaget show as well.  It has both the dual core prcossor, and the LTE radio processor on the same chip.  Right now, in LTE phones they are seperate chips, both using power resources.  That is where we will see power savings come in.  It should be out next year sometime.

Still would like to see better WP7 devices on Verizon, even if they are only 3G right now.  I won't get LTE in my area for a while.  Also, I hope when it comes, they have the ability to turn LTE off, unlike on the Razr and Rezound.  Those two phones are always on LTE in a LTE area because you can't turn it off.  Once again, hurting battery life.  I hope Windows Phone has a setting you can turn LTE off once phones starting getting it and go back on 3G when you don't need the speed of 4G.  Will save on battery.

[slapshotkc]

It really **bleep** me off that here we are in Nov. of 2011, and Verizon still has no other Windows Phone 7/Mango devices.  I am hanging on with my TP2 and a custom ROM - my only complaint is that it is so **bleep** slow.  I want a Mango phone with slideout keyboard, preferrable from HTC.  Android sucks if you want to use exchange - Apple has much better exchange support - I'd go to an iphone if they had one with a slideout.  Blackberry is dying, so why can't these guys put things together and have better business market phones?  I'm at the point of dumping Verizon - been with them forever, but they obviously want to sell nothing but Droids.

[JasonSCarter]

Leave the slide out keyboards to the Droids.  The onscreen keyboard in WP7 is sweet and works very well.  No keyboard means slimmer, more sexier looking phone...which is what most people want this day.  Including me.

[SickFreak]

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JasonSCarter wrote:

Leave the slide out keyboards to the Droids.  The onscreen keyboard in WP7 is sweet and works very well.  No keyboard means slimmer, more sexier looking phone...which is what most people want this day.  Including me.

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Depends on the person.  I've tried the onscreen keyboard and prefer the slideout keyboard.  That's the point of a consumer market - give us options to meet individual needs.

[JasonSCarter]

The people who are in the market for a WP7 device WITH a slideout keyboard is very small.  Look at all the new mango devices.  None have a slideout keyboard.  Not saying there isn't a market, but a majority want slim phones, and cell phone makers are going towards the majority of the market - which prefer no physical keybaord.  Even keyboards on Droids are getting rare now.  It's all about slim and sleek looking so each cell phone maker can one up each other, including Apple who really have a slim, sleek looking design.

[SickFreak]

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JasonSCarter wrote:

The people who are in the market for a WP7 device WITH a slideout keyboard is very small.  Look at all the new mango devices.  None have a slideout keyboard.  Not saying there isn't a market, but a majority want slim phones, and cell phone makers are going towards the majority of the market - which prefer no physical keybaord.  Even keyboards on Droids are getting rare now.  It's all about slim and sleek looking so each cell phone maker can one up each other, including Apple who really have a slim, sleek looking design.

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So those of us that have very large hands and don't like virtual keyboards (or those that just prefer the additional functionality of a slideout keyboard) should not be allowed to have a phone that works for us?  I've tried the HTC Trophy and couldn't return it fast enough.

You already have a lot of options of those "slim, sleek looking" phones.  How about the rest of us that want something functional?

If Sprint had decent coverage, I would have switched in order to get the HTC Arrive.

[chinch]

Your problem is Verizon has terrible phones historically.

Having a year old Focus 4" or HD7 4.3" or Titan 4.7" screen would change your mind in regard to virtual keyboards.

Change carriers or deal with the fact keyboards are going bye-bye on phones.

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SickFreak wrote:

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JasonSCarter wrote:

The people who are in the market for a WP7 device WITH a slideout keyboard is very small.  Look at all the new mango devices.  None have a slideout keyboard.  Not saying there isn't a market, but a majority want slim phones, and cell phone makers are going towards the majority of the market - which prefer no physical keybaord.  Even keyboards on Droids are getting rare now.  It's all about slim and sleek looking so each cell phone maker can one up each other, including Apple who really have a slim, sleek looking design.

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So those of us that have very large hands and don't like virtual keyboards (or those that just prefer the additional functionality of a slideout keyboard) should not be allowed to have a phone that works for us?  I've tried the HTC Trophy and couldn't return it fast enough.

You already have a lot of options of those "slim, sleek looking" phones.  How about the rest of us that want something functional?

If Sprint had decent coverage, I would have switched in order to get the HTC Arrive.

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[JasonSCarter]

What other phones?  Verizon only has one as far as I know.  And I am still on contract, but I have a upgrade due to me now.  The Titan is pretty sweet.  Go give that a try if you want a bigger phone, but you have to change to ATT.

[Slapshot]

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SickFreak wrote:

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JasonSCarter wrote:

The people who are in the market for a WP7 device WITH a slideout keyboard is very small.  Look at all the new mango devices.  None have a slideout keyboard.  Not saying there isn't a market, but a majority want slim phones, and cell phone makers are going towards the majority of the market - which prefer no physical keybaord.  Even keyboards on Droids are getting rare now.  It's all about slim and sleek looking so each cell phone maker can one up each other, including Apple who really have a slim, sleek looking design.

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So those of us that have very large hands and don't like virtual keyboards (or those that just prefer the additional functionality of a slideout keyboard) should not be allowed to have a phone that works for us?  I've tried the HTC Trophy and couldn't return it fast enough.

You already have a lot of options of those "slim, sleek looking" phones.  How about the rest of us that want something functional?

If Sprint had decent coverage, I would have switched in order to get the HTC Arrive.

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SickFreak, you're singing to the choir.  I don't give a **bleep** about "slim, sleek looking" phones.  Functionality is key for me, but I suppose for 90% of the market, they don't care as long as they can post their latest visit to the grocery store on Facebook.  Virtual keyboards stink, in my humble opinion.  Unless you have fingers/thumbs the size of a 10 year old, they are utterly useless.  With a slideout, I have tactile feedback, and I don't have to retype everything over and over to correct mistakes.  I don't have time to text or email from a virtual keyboard, and if that's the route they're going, then I will stop emailing and texting via cell phone. 

The ipad has a useable virtual keyboard - it's keys are the size of a finger.  Maybe that's the way to go - get a small, basic dumb cell phone and a tablet.

I was told over 4 years ago by a Sprint store geek that slideout keyboards were going away.  Here we are in (almost) 2012, and there are still quite a few new ones on the market.  Just Verizon that doesn't have many.  Apple is Apple - Steve Jobs philoshpy is (was) to design easy to use, great-looking products and **bleep** everything else even at the sacrifice of functionality.  That will work for Apple as they are king now, but it won't work for the rest of the players.  That's why they still offer options.  Verizon, obviously, has all the business they want, like Apple, and it's probably cheaper for them to churn us niche people out to other companies.  So that is I guess where I'll be going.

[primortal]

I can only speculate that either VZW doesn't like WP7 or they're waiting on Microsoft to release Apollo which is suppose to support LTE (although there news that a post release of Mango has LTE support).  Either way its getting tiresome waiting for any bit of news.

AT&T has been selling out the HTC Titan and Samsung Focus S devices it sad that VZW missed out on those holiday sales.  Andriod is not the end-all-be-all device and you need to recognize that.  You constant flooding of Andriod devices is getting tiresome.

Verzion your stance on not letting your customers know your intentions on Window Phone is poor customer service, shame on you.  You have loyal customers that just want information to help make descision on purchasing new devices for the holidays for friends and family and the more you remain silent to more customers are just going to leave and go where they can get the devices they want.

[chinch]

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primortal wrote:

I can only speculate that either VZW doesn't like WP7 or they're waiting on Microsoft to release Apollo which is suppose to support LTE (although there news that a post release of Mango has LTE support).  Either way its getting tiresome waiting for any bit of news.

AT&T has been selling out the HTC Titan and Samsung Focus S devices it sad that VZW missed out on those holiday sales.  Andriod is not the end-all-be-all device and you need to recognize that.  You constant flooding of Andriod devices is getting tiresome.

Verzion your stance on not letting your customers know your intentions on Window Phone is poor customer service, shame on you.  You have loyal customers that just want information to help make descision on purchasing new devices for the holidays for friends and family and the more you remain silent to more customers are just going to leave and go where they can get the devices they want.

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This is the 3rd holiday season for Verizon to pimp it's DROID marketing effort.  Verizon is probably well into the billion $ range for  driod ads. Next they're only 10 months into their iPhone efforts.

Windows Phone LTE support is said to be ready to go waiting on competent carriers.

At&T has 5 better WP7 devices than the Trophy (Focus, HTC HD7s, Focus Flash, Focus S, HTC Titan). The last 3 are "4G" as well.

[ChicagoVZUser]

I kind of like the Windows virtual keyboard.  I really loved the keyboard on my old HTC TouchPro 2, but I'm used to the virtual one now.

With that said, if VZW does comeout with an HTC with a keyboard, I'll tale a look.

With that said, cursor placement is difficult - no arrows. You ahve to press an area and a virtual cursor appears - it's okay.

For those that think the virtual keyboard is terrible but have never used it, I'd say give it a try. The predictive stuff is pretty good.

Like I said earlier, I really like my HTC Trophy.

[KathiMR]

I was told by someone at the Apple store the other day that you can get a case for an iPhone that has a keyboard to use with it. Don't know all the details about that.  It could probably be found on amaon.com. It's on the back of the phone, rather than acting as a cover for the face apparently. That's all I know from what he said.

I had a TP2 that had to be replaced because of a # of issues--backlight woudln't come on some of the time & got worse & worse. Also it started radomly switching orientation from portrait to landscape--right in the middle of trying to read an email--made it hard to read as it went back to top of message.

It was replace by the LG Fathom which Verizon called an upgrade--NOT. while the prodessor is 2x as fast, the phone sure isn't. It might be slighly faster than the TP2 for the web, but it is really slow sometimes bringing up emails.

I'd like to switch to a reliable phone like the iPhone, but really bummed by the bad experience with the windows mobile 6.5 phones. That was my 1st experience with smart phones.

So while the TP2 was a cool phone it didn't work real well-several hardware issues. & the LG Fathom doesn't work well either. So would be leery of getting a phone from either of them.

[chinch]

TP2 was horrendous compared to ANY WINDOWS PHONE 7 DEVICE.  Fathom was total garbage with too little RAM. Puke.

iPhone is a logical "comfort choice" for many but the screen size and apple "dumb it down and do it our way" aura rubs many the wrong way (there is a reason droid blitzed past it in sales with a grossly inferior ecosystem and software). There is no add-on keyboard that will hold up

at this point - witg iPhone prices not dropping - you should wait if you want a possible superphone

Of course the Trophy is fantastic compared to all 3. larger screen than iphone and better onscreen keyboard. you'll love that coming from TP2/Fathom

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KathiMR wrote:

I was told by someone at the Apple store the other day that you can get a case for an iPhone that has a keyboard to use with it. Don't know all the details about that.  It could probably be found on amaon.com. It's on the back of the phone, rather than acting as a cover for the face apparently. That's all I know from what he said.

I had a TP2 that had to be replaced because of a # of issues--backlight woudln't come on some of the time & got worse & worse. Also it started radomly switching orientation from portrait to landscape--right in the middle of trying to read an email--made it hard to read as it went back to top of message.

It was replace by the LG Fathom which Verizon called an upgrade--NOT. while the prodessor is 2x as fast, the phone sure isn't. It might be slighly faster than the TP2 for the web, but it is really slow sometimes bringing up emails.

I'd like to switch to a reliable phone like the iPhone, but really bummed by the bad experience with the windows mobile 6.5 phones. That was my 1st experience with smart phones.

So while the TP2 was a cool phone it didn't work real well-several hardware issues. & the LG Fathom doesn't work well either. So would be leery of getting a phone from either of them.

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[KathiMR]

Well, I have no desire for a Windows phone. I only got the others because we had biz software that needed them. That has gone away & now they are moving to web based & also support of iPhone & iPad.  I think the Fathom has the same internal memory as the TP2 but the faster processor that really doesn't help the phone, I guess because of the OS.

The thing is, there may be very cool phones out there, but the experience with both the HTC TP2 & the LG Fathom was bad. Also never did get a straight answer about that horrible Daylight savings time mess up whether it was Windows or HTC or what. & my contacts & calendar are still messed up since I made the mistake of syncing my info into my MacBook Pro bootcamp Outlook. So I've got birthdays showing up for 2 or 3 days since apparently with being off an hour it went over 2 days so now for some, I'm not sure which is the correct day. & like I said, I never did get a straight answer about that issue & no one really seemed very concerned about it--even though it messed up events after the switch.  Kind of basic for a pda to be able to keep track of appts--not me have to keep track of them for the pda as I did.

So both HTC & I guess that Fathom had hardware issues (although not positive with the Fathom, they could be software) so that doesn't make me want to trust either of them. But I do trust Apple. & from what I've seen, the iPhones seem to work fast enough to actually be useful for browsing the web--unlike either of the 2 win mobile phones.  I know smart phones are a lot more complicated than a regular cell phone, but still, while cool features are nice, if the phone & basic pda functions don't work well, the cool stuff doesn't mean much.

Having so many issues with both phones has inhibited productivity rather than enhance it ilke they are supposed to.

[chinch]

"windows phone 7" i.e.  HTC Trophy is nothing like what you had but unfortunately Verizon hasn't promoted that in any way and worse kept shipping the fathom with windows mobile 6.5 months after wp7 shipped last Nov 2010 in the USA. Typical verizon.

you should just get an iPhone and be a mindless iSheep then you'll see how Apple life is imperfect too.

Soon thereafter you'll see lame a 3.5" screen is in 2012 and how all the iHype is nothing substantial and you'll be miffed you never bothered to check out the HTC Trophy and WP75 Mango with an open mind.

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KathiMR wrote:

Well, I have no desire for a Windows phone. I only got the others because we had biz software that needed them. That has gone away & now they are moving to web based & also support of iPhone & iPad.  I think the Fathom has the same internal memory as the TP2 but the faster processor that really doesn't help the phone, I guess because of the OS.

The thing is, there may be very cool phones out there, but the experience with both the HTC TP2 & the LG Fathom was bad. Also never did get a straight answer about that horrible Daylight savings time mess up whether it was Windows or HTC or what. & my contacts & calendar are still messed up since I made the mistake of syncing my info into my MacBook Pro bootcamp Outlook. So I've got birthdays showing up for 2 or 3 days since apparently with being off an hour it went over 2 days so now for some, I'm not sure which is the correct day. & like I said, I never did get a straight answer about that issue & no one really seemed very concerned about it--even though it messed up events after the switch.  Kind of basic for a pda to be able to keep track of appts--not me have to keep track of them for the pda as I did.

So both HTC & I guess that Fathom had hardware issues (although not positive with the Fathom, they could be software) so that doesn't make me want to trust either of them. But I do trust Apple. & from what I've seen, the iPhones seem to work fast enough to actually be useful for browsing the web--unlike either of the 2 win mobile phones.  I know smart phones are a lot more complicated than a regular cell phone, but still, while cool features are nice, if the phone & basic pda functions don't work well, the cool stuff doesn't mean much.

Having so many issues with both phones has inhibited productivity rather than enhance it ilke they are supposed to.

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[KathiMR]

Well, some of us needed the 6.5 OS. Microsoft did a # on those of us who had aps that ran in Win 6.5 with no compatibility with Win ph 7 & mutual device incompatibility.  So I had biz software that still ran on Win 6.5 so I needed that phone & by then there wasn't much choice.

After my experience with the TP2 unreliability I don't trust HTC. Yeah, it was a cool phone with cool features that I liked but I really like a phone & now a smart phone that will actually be reliable & just work. I don't need a lot of fancy aps, etc. But after seeing Siri demonstrated, I think that will be a very useful feature for those of us with ADHD.

so it wasn't just the configuration of the TP2 (btw, I have an 8 gb card that I had in it & now in the Fathom so I have my user installed stuff & stuff like photos & data on the card) but rather the way it didn't work well.

That was supposed to be a premium phone that I paid good $ for even with New Every 2 (paid $99.99 for phone & $42.xx sales tax since CA charges on full retail). I fully expected to keep it for several years as I'm not one who has to have the lastest & greatest so if its working, unless I need something different, I will typically stick with what I have. So I have been highly disappointed in the hardware reliability.

The backlight woudln't always come on when I pushed the button & then it really got worse so even after a bunch of tries it sometimes wouldn't come on so of course I couldn't use the phone then. & then the things that controlled orientation stopped working so it would randomly shift on its own--like while i was in the middle of trying to read a lengthy email & when it shifted it would go back to the top--very annoying & made reading emails rather difficult.

I have also seen others using the previous iPhones & they sure seemed to work a lot better than my win mobile smart phones. They appeared to be able to actually surf the web.

Besides that, I'm one who having been using Microsoft products for longer than most--starting with Word 1 on a 512k Mac before there even was a Windows--& I would prefer to avoid them when I can. Yes they have powerful software that always seems to have glitches.

I used to do temp office work & worked in DOS in the old days & on Macs & then on Windows so have extensive experience using Microsoft software & like most there is a love-hate relationship. Like most, I've had to fight with it when it wouldn't do what it was supposed to--like the time years ago that i had to set up an additional database in Access, similar to existing ones but for a different branch. So I used the setup wizard, which would take me all the way through but not set it up. & the intermittent footers in Word 1 for no unknown reason. Sometimes the footer was there & sometimes it wasn't.

& then having to use Windows for biz, ugh with their unhelpful support on the website that seemed to be geared toward IT people rather than the home users that they marketed to. I don't think they even had free tech support people you could talk to if their software didn't work right.

No, I prefer Apple. Besides I would like to be able to sync with all those nice included Apple aps that came with my MacBookPro. & I also like Apple's elegant design & how it is user friendly.

& of course there is the issue that there are some aps I might be interested & I never hear of any for Windows phone.

So, if you like Windowsphone7 fine. Don't insult those of us who don't want to go there & who prefer to switch to iPhone.