I am another user of the HTC Touch. This phone is absolutely great! I have no actual business need for the phone at present (I will in the future) but I still find it very very useful for daily life. I got it in Feb 2008 before the iPhone was released and I don't regret it at all. I use it for all of the following:
- Facebook (Kinoma Play, Skyfire)
- Twitter (Kinoma Play, Skyfire)
- Youtube (Kinoma Play, Skyfire)
- RSS feeds (Kinoma Play)
- Full web browsing including flash (Skyfire)
- News feeds (Kinoma Play)
- Remote streaming access to multimedia on my home computer - music, pictures, videos (Kinoma Play, Orb)
- Online radio stations (Kinoma Play)
- mp3 player (Kinoma Play)
- camera (built in)
- GPS using internet GPS software (live search mobile, google maps mobile, etc)
- Full GPS software that doesn't involve any data (iGuidance)
- Finding points of interest (live search mobile, google maps mobile, Yelp [Kinoma Play], iGuidance)
- Reminder notes / to do lists (built in)
- Voice recordings - record all meetings with my doctor, etc so I can go back and see exactly what was said (built in)
- Text messages sent to me from Google Calendar when my appointments are coming up (built in)
- Lots of games (been collecting windows mobile games for years)
- Calculator (built in)
- Unit conversion - speed, weight, etc (ConverterCE)
- Tracking expenses using budgeting software (Pocket Finance Diary)
- Bible - 4 versions of it (Olive Tree)
- Phone (obviously built in)
- texting (built in)
- weather updates (built in)
- instant messaging (palringo - includes msn, gtalk, yahoo, aim, etc)
- free long distance (skype, google voice, fring)
- flight tracking (Kinoma Play)
- all my email accounts, how could I forget? (built in)
- other google services - finance, 411, notebook, docs, spreadsheets, search, images, etc etc (Skyfire)
- watch / stopwatch / timer / alarm (mostly built in)
Unlimited data + voice mail + caller id + 200 txt msgs only costs $15/month. That's on top of my regular voice plan ... but I have a great deal on that too. All our bill for 2 cell phones with all these features + fees + high speed internet at home + taxes comes to about $110 per month. I think it's worth it. This is with Bell Aliant btw.
On the other hand I don't recommend the phone for the technically unsavvy. Windows Mobile isn't the best OS out there. It locks up or crashes every few days so I have to restart. A minor annoyance. I had to upgrade the ROM on the phone myself to enable the GPS functionality and get faster data rates + a newer version of windows mobile. The windows mobile interface is pretty crappy compared to the iPhone. However, if you get the Kinoma Play software it basically makes your phone as easy and fun to use as an iPhone. It should be the operating system for the phone instead of windows mobile
You can also get unlimited tethered data to your laptop if you are willing to break a few of the terms of your contract a little bit ... which I'm not but I've heard of people who do this. I really would like tethering ... but I'll have to wait until it is allowed on my current plan or it becomes a lot cheaper.
Finally, one more plug for Kinoma Play. This is truly the best software ever made for windows mobile. Other than the things I already mentioned that I use it for it can do the following:
- make playlists including any content imaginable all mashed together, not just musc or mp3s (music, streams, videos, youtube, orb content, pictures, much more)
- picasa web albums on your phone
- a unique guide (Kinoma Guide) containing tons of podcasts, video comics, and tons of original content from places like ABC, CNN, NBC, National Geographic and on and on.
- audio books (using Audible)
- built in app store for downloading more cool apps
- clould backup and storage of files using box.net
- Flickr
- Image search (google, yahoo, bing)
- last.fm scrobbling (can't actually play music from it yet, but I'm sure that will come once last.fm allows it)
- Google Reader
- uploading pictures you've just taken to Facebook, Picasa, twitter, etc
- uploading videos you've just taken to YouTube
- integrated history of all content you've been looking at
- built in launcher for all other programs you have installed on the phone
- yes, it's that good. Spend the $30 if you have windows mobile ... now There is a free version (Kinoma FreePlay) that is really great ... but the pay version is still way better!
- Facebook (Kinoma Play, Skyfire)
- Twitter (Kinoma Play, Skyfire)
- Youtube (Kinoma Play, Skyfire)
- RSS feeds (Kinoma Play)
- Full web browsing including flash (Skyfire)
- News feeds (Kinoma Play)
- Remote streaming access to multimedia on my home computer - music, pictures, videos (Kinoma Play, Orb)
- Online radio stations (Kinoma Play)
- mp3 player (Kinoma Play)
- camera (built in)
- GPS using internet GPS software (live search mobile, google maps mobile, etc)
- Full GPS software that doesn't involve any data (iGuidance)
- Finding points of interest (live search mobile, google maps mobile, Yelp [Kinoma Play], iGuidance)
- Reminder notes / to do lists (built in)
- Voice recordings - record all meetings with my doctor, etc so I can go back and see exactly what was said (built in)
- Text messages sent to me from Google Calendar when my appointments are coming up (built in)
- Lots of games (been collecting windows mobile games for years)
- Calculator (built in)
- Unit conversion - speed, weight, etc (ConverterCE)
- Tracking expenses using budgeting software (Pocket Finance Diary)
- Bible - 4 versions of it (Olive Tree)
- Phone (obviously built in)
- texting (built in)
- weather updates (built in)
- instant messaging (palringo - includes msn, gtalk, yahoo, aim, etc)
- free long distance (skype, google voice, fring)
- flight tracking (Kinoma Play)
- all my email accounts, how could I forget? (built in)
- other google services - finance, 411, notebook, docs, spreadsheets, search, images, etc etc (Skyfire)
- watch / stopwatch / timer / alarm (mostly built in)
Unlimited data + voice mail + caller id + 200 txt msgs only costs $15/month. That's on top of my regular voice plan ... but I have a great deal on that too. All our bill for 2 cell phones with all these features + fees + high speed internet at home + taxes comes to about $110 per month. I think it's worth it. This is with Bell Aliant btw.
On the other hand I don't recommend the phone for the technically unsavvy. Windows Mobile isn't the best OS out there. It locks up or crashes every few days so I have to restart. A minor annoyance. I had to upgrade the ROM on the phone myself to enable the GPS functionality and get faster data rates + a newer version of windows mobile. The windows mobile interface is pretty crappy compared to the iPhone. However, if you get the Kinoma Play software it basically makes your phone as easy and fun to use as an iPhone. It should be the operating system for the phone instead of windows mobile
You can also get unlimited tethered data to your laptop if you are willing to break a few of the terms of your contract a little bit ... which I'm not but I've heard of people who do this. I really would like tethering ... but I'll have to wait until it is allowed on my current plan or it becomes a lot cheaper.
Finally, one more plug for Kinoma Play. This is truly the best software ever made for windows mobile. Other than the things I already mentioned that I use it for it can do the following:
- make playlists including any content imaginable all mashed together, not just musc or mp3s (music, streams, videos, youtube, orb content, pictures, much more)
- picasa web albums on your phone
- a unique guide (Kinoma Guide) containing tons of podcasts, video comics, and tons of original content from places like ABC, CNN, NBC, National Geographic and on and on.
- audio books (using Audible)
- built in app store for downloading more cool apps
- clould backup and storage of files using box.net
- Flickr
- Image search (google, yahoo, bing)
- last.fm scrobbling (can't actually play music from it yet, but I'm sure that will come once last.fm allows it)
- Google Reader
- uploading pictures you've just taken to Facebook, Picasa, twitter, etc
- uploading videos you've just taken to YouTube
- integrated history of all content you've been looking at
- built in launcher for all other programs you have installed on the phone
- yes, it's that good. Spend the $30 if you have windows mobile ... now
There is a free version (Kinoma FreePlay) that is really great ... but the pay version is still way better!
