Julie's Gear Diary - Two Days with the HTC S620

Kris Kumar

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/diary/...th_the_htc_s620

"For the past 2 days, I've been using the HTC S620 (AKA Excalibur) Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone quad band mobile phone as my main device. When I first received this phone back in January, I charged it up, synced all my PIM info with my iMac and tried to get acclimated to it. After less than one day, I gave up though. I just couldn't get used to not having a touch screen and I ended up putting it in my ever burgeoning phone drawer. I know now that I made a big mistake by giving up so quickly on this phone..."

Julie, The Gadgeteer, is publicly admitting of being guilty of dismissing the HTC S620 (a.k.a. the Dash, a.k.a. Excalibur) as just another phone because it lacked a touch-screen. Finally Mother Nature had to intervene and show the error of her ways. Wink

The one thing I do agree with Julie is the lack of a built-in notes application. It is so frustrating. I have SmartphoneNotes and OneNote Mobile installed but I miss the over-the-air sync of notes. Why can't Microsoft provide support for notes?
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sven

aussienick · Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:45 pm Post subject:

Wouldn't it be great to have a touchscreen version of the HTC Excalibur...then we could "professional" users instead of "standard" users!

But seriously a touchscreen version would be great, I’m torn between my Treo 750v and the Excalibur one has wi-fi and the other has a touchscreen and office mobile....
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Palm Treo 750v + Dopod 838Pro
Can't wait for WM6!

Mike Temporale · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:25 am Post subject:

I'm not sold on Touch Screens. I gave up on them years ago and I don't miss it. In fact, if you look at the new JAQ3 Pocket PC - it's the thinnest Pocket PC to date, and it's huge in comparison to these devices. I don't think they have the technology yet to make a touch screen as thin as a normal one.
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"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein

Kris Kumar

Kris Kumar · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:00 am Post subject:

LG Prada and Apple iPhone are great examples of devices with touch screen that are extremely thin.

I don't think manufacturers are trying hard to innovate at the hardware level.

One name that comes to my mind that should be a trend setter but isn't, is Palm. Why is a Palm device so bulky? Confused

What are they packaging inside that chunky body?

But I agree with Mike, having a touch screen does not guarantee a great user experience. RIM has managed to prove that.
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dean56 · Smartphone Neophyte Joined: 08 Jan 2006 Posts: 6

it looks like the dash footprint is the exact same as the ipod. and yes it would be interesting if they made a version without the keypad. as with the blackjack i think the iphone will have battery life problems. pocket versions tend to not last very long with battery life. i find thi son eof the best phones to date. in VISTA there is one problem they need to work out... it does not recognize the memory card and therefore you cannot sync any media onto the card. i hope there is a fix soon! for all out there interested in GPS i have also installed Co-Pilot and it is working great. i own an HP6515 because of the internal GPS but after 5-6 months it burns out and i decided from now on to use only external bluetooth GPS devices to fix that problem. they now make them very small and alot cheaper in price. i also installed slingmedia and find it works fine both on EDGE as well as with WIFI. Both the new mobile google maps and windows live search work fine with edge as well. i wish it had 3G but obviously accept the trade off of smaller size to the need for more battery!

i also like the NON touch screan for everyday use. i find myself constantly cleaning the screans on pocket versions with touch screens

one final note. on Ebay i found a very small solar phone charger for $10 that is maybe the size of two zippo lighters. when i find myself traveling, outside or o0n the beach it works great. i am trying to figure out a way to hang it on the outside of my bag to charge while i am walking around...

JwY · Smartphone Neophyte Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 5

dean56 · Smartphone Neophyte Joined: 08 Jan 2006 Posts: 6

touching or brushing the screen or whatever you do..... any contact with the screen will leave marks. it's the natural oils on your fingers. look at the video of steve jobs very close and you can see the screen with lots of marks. by the way, i can only wonder what marks women will leave with makeup when they answer the all. i'm ok during the colder months but find during the summer and hotter weather it's only natural to leave a huge mark on the screen.

just an observation.

crispeto · Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:17 pm Post subject:

I had a Dell x30 before my Dash. I liked my Dell but not nearly as much as my Dash. I would take a SP w/ qwerty anyday over a touch screen. The Dash is the best electronic device of any kind I've ever owned and I've owned a bunch. We recently got a plasma TV and a Wii an I still like my Dash better. Is there something wrong with me?