Smartphone Thoughts: Real World Reviews: The HTC S640

This is a new type of review that I'm experimenting with - rather than me doing an exhaustive review of a product, I'm giving a Windows Mobile smartphone to someone else for a couple of weeks and asking them about their experience using it. I think there's a lot of value in real-world testing of products by people who aren't experts, because as much as I try to put on my "Everyman Hat" when I'm testing a product, I still carry a bias with me. This first Real World Review fell together nicely: my wife had a phone on our local CDMA carrier in Calgary, Telus, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to ask HTC for an S640 for review.

Q: Let's start off with the basics: this is your first Windows Mobile-based phone. What were you using before, and why did you want to leave it behind to try a Windows Mobile smartphone?

A: Before I started using my HTC S640 with Telus, I was using a Motorola KRAZR (also with Telus) and an iPAQ Pocket PC rx1955 as my PDA. I would sync it over WiFi or at home to my Exchange server in order to keep track of appointments and contacts - when it would work. The WiFi was really unreliable on it! I often couldn't connect reliably to WiFi with it and it would then be out of sync. I really liked the look of the KRAZR - sleek and sexy - but as I started text messaging more and more, I found it just simply wasn't meeting my needs, largely because I wasn't very fast at using the predictive text input. My iPAQ wasn't connected, so it was useless to me as far as a device for communicating with my friends and family. It was at that point I decided I wanted to look into getting a Windows Mobile smartphone.

Q: You always told me you preferred being a two-device person. What changed your mind?

A: I don't think I fully bought into the concept of a single device until I started using the HTC S640 smartphone. Now that I have my email, calendar, contacts, phone, etc. available to me no matter where I am on a single device, without having to remember to sync it when I get home, or am in range of a wireless network, I can't believe I waited as long as I did to make the switch! More than anything, using a smartphone gives me the ability to be productive no matter where I am. I don't have to worry about things like whether I'm missing appointments because my calendar is out of date. I also love having a QWERTY keyboard to use for texting and responding to email. Composing messages on my KRAZR took far too long. Now it takes me a fraction of the time.

Q: So let's talk about the HTC S640. Are you finding it easy to use? You went from a touch-screen device to a keyboard-driven device. Is there anything you miss from the iPAQ?

A: I definitely was worried about losing the touch screen, as I'd grown used to the ease of using a stylus. However, transitioning to a keyboard-driven device has been a breeze. I've even figured out how to play games with a keyboard instead of a touch screen! I feel like data input was easier on a touch screen - specifically as far as calendar appointments and contacts were concerned - but other than a small learning curve to figure it out with a keyboard, I don't miss the touch screen at all.

Q: I remember you saying you had trouble finding the ringer volume, which is one of my long-standing complaints with Windows Mobile Standard smartphones - in this instance, they don't function like basically every other phone on the market where the volume buttons control the volume of the ringer, and putting the phone into silent or vibrate mode. How have you found the HTC S640 in use as a phone - does it measure up to the Motorola KRZR in pure phone functions?

A: I felt like a bit of an idiot when I couldn't figure out how to adjust the ringer volume, and had to ask for help. It seems like such a basic function for a phone. Generally I like the HTC S640 as a phone, but I've accidentally hung up on more people than I can remember. Even though I have the "Any Button Answer" function turned off, if I pick up the phone while it's ringing and locked, any key I hit hangs up on the caller. Very awkward and inconvenient, to be sure. Otherwise, I love having my whole contact list available to me everywhere I go.

Q: You haven't installed much on the HTC S640 yet - how do you find the included software on it? Is there anything missing in terms of what you use the phone for in day to day use?

A: I'm not a huge software user on this device yet...however, what I do have on it is more than adequate. I tend to use the email, text, and Internet software most, along with a few games, and I haven't run into any issues with any of these.

Q: How has the battery life been on it? How often do you have to charge it?

A: Battery life has been hit and miss. Normally I can get two to three days of use from a full charge, however, recently I recharged it fully, used it normally for a day, and it died on me that night. I'm not entirely sure what caused the major battery drain, but any phone should absolutely provide longer than a single day's use on a full charge. Thankfully it hasn't happened again.

Q: Has the phone been stable? Have you had to reboot it or has it crashed at all?

A: The only time I've rebooted it is when I accidentally hit the Power Off option when switching ring modes from Normal to Silent. :-) The other day the call button wouldn't work - I selected a phone number, and pressed the call button...and nothing happened. I was able to dial the number manually, thankfully.

Q: What about call quality and call volume? Has anyone noticed you've switched phones?

A: I haven't had any complaints about either of these. No one has indicated that they can't hear me, nor have I experienced incoming call volume loss.

Q: The HTC S640 uses 1x-EVDO for wireless data - any complaints about the speed?

A: I'm always looking for more speed, but it does a decent job at data transfer.

Q: Is there anything you'd like to change about the HTC S640 hardware itself, or the version of Windows Mobile it comes with? I recall you mentioning something about it not always "waking up" properly, and the fact that you sometimes power it down accidentally - tell me about that.

A: I think my biggest complaint about the hardware is that I accidentally hit the camera button regularly. Because it sticks out a smidge from the side of the device, if I grab it from my purse, I'll hit the camera button, take a picture of my wallet, and then have to back out of that function before using it for whatever I needed it for.

As you mentioned, I've also noticed that sometimes when I go to use the device, I'll hit the centre key on the D-pad, and it takes abnormally long to wake up. I find myself having to hit the button a couple of times before it recognizes that I'm trying to wake it up. And, I mentioned this above, that having the Power Off option as the first choice when I go to change the ring mode is silly. That should be the last option, and Vibrate, Silent & Normal should be the first three. It's too easy to accidentally hit Power Off when trying to simply switch the ringer to be silent.

Q: Thanks for answering my questions!

A: You're welcome! I'm generally very happy with my new smartphone. I'm officially a convert!