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The At&t Tilt2 is the followup to the HTC Touch Pro, or HTC Fuze on At&t. After owning the original At&t Tilt and being a Windows Mobile enthusiast since the 2003 SE days, the idea of using one of the few devices to ship with Windows Mobile 6.5 was exciting. However, I have always felt as though Windows Mobile device left something to be desired in the performance department. For me personally it has always seemed that no matter how fast the processor Windows Mobile devices were always hindered by the operating system’s ability to manage resources. I left all my preconceived notions behind and set out to determine whether HTC’s latest flagship device, the At&t Tilt2, was a worthy upgrade to the Touch Pro (HTC Fuze).
Design
Styling like most aspects of a review is subject to personal taste, but the build quality and professional appeal of the At&t Tilt2 leave little to debate. With a weight of 6.3 ounces, the Tilt2 is a significant addition to your pockets and I would strongly suggest keeping the device on some sort of belt holster. The Tilt2 captures most of it’s style from the original Tilt thanks to a tilting mechanism that allows the screen to lay flat or angle towards the user at 45 degrees.
What really separates the Tilt2 from the competition is the 3.6-inch touch-sensitive screen with WVGA (480 x 800) resolution. At this resolution you are able to view many web pages in landscape mode without ever needing to resize the browser. Beneath the monstrous screen is an even more impressive 5-row QWERTY keyboard that truly provides a near-desktop typing experience. I’m not a big fan of the actual build quality of the keys themselves, but I can’t deny that typing on the Tilt2 was not a breeze.
On the back of the Tilt2 is a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus. Personally I would have liked to see a flash or at least a boost to 5-megapixel like we’ve seen on the HTC Hero. Howe’ver, the camera on the Tilt2 is fully capable of taking sharp pictures with adequate color balance in good lighting conditions. The autofocus is quick and it makes it very easy to snap off several pictures without hesitation. To get a good understanding of the Tilt2′s camera capabilities I invite you to review our comparison photo gallery
Photo Gallery: Nokia N97 vs Motorola Droid vs Touch Pro2
When it comes to processing power the Tilt2 maintains a Qualcomm 528MHz processor, 512MB ROM and 288MB RAM exactly as we saw on the Touch Pro it replaced. For a device to be considered the flagship of the HTC Windows Mobile lineup it baffles me to see these core components go unchanged after the tremendous strain TouchFLO 3D placed on the Touch Pro. It became very clear to me at this point that Windows Mobile 6.5 was going to need to be able to manage resources more efficiently if the Tilt2 ever hoped of delivering improved performance over the Touch Pro.
Battery life is a major issues for smartphones and to combat this problem HTC has included a 1500 mAh battery capable of 510 minutes talk and 500 hours standby in GSM mode. This is a notable upgrade over the 1340 mAh battery included on the Touch Pro, but in real world testing the end result of the much larger screen (3.6-inch vs 2.8-inch) is about equal battery life between the Tilt2 and Touch Pro. In comparison both the Motorola Droid and Nokia N97 were able to last through a full day of use with WiFi enabled and the same volume of text messages and emails received (thank you Google Voice).
Applications / OS
At one time the rumor of Windows Mobile 6.5 was the holy grail in smartphone news. Unfortunately Microsoft dropped the ball and after many delays I can honestly tell you that the final product is dissapointing. It seems that the biggest advancements in Windows Mobile over the past few years can be credited to third party developers, namely HTC and the TouchFLO 3D UI. I understand that Windows Mobile 7 is the next major advancement and 6.5 was only a stepping stone, but if that was as accurate as Microsoft would like us to believe why did it take so long for WM 6.5 to be released?
In terms of Windows Mobile 6.5 on the At&t Tilt2, thankfully HTC’s TouchFLO 3D saves the day. I found using the TouchFLO 3D interface a joy and I could not see myself using a Windows Mobile device without it. The smooth transitions, high-resolution graphics and polish are displayed beautifully on the massive 3.6-inch screen of the Tilt2. HTC is clearly setting the bar for what a Mobile OS UI should look like out of the box. In terms of speed and lag on the Tilt2, I found overall responsiveness to be significantly improved compared to the Touch Pro. Despite a more demanding high-resolution screen, the Tilt2 is able to render transitions better and scroll through TouchFLO 3D better than any of its predecessors.
Windows Mobile Marketplace is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s App Store. The Marketplace remains in its infancy stages and only officially supports Windows Mobile 6 devices or higher. This is problem for developers looking to target a large audience of users since the volume of potential buyers is reduced by this requirement. Luckily the Tilt2 fits the requirements and I was able to browse through the collection of software, but ultimately until the majority of software for Windows Mobile is added to the Marketplace, it’s usefulness is minimal. The Windows Mobile community has been developing software for years and much like RIM and their App World, the problem is bringing all of the existing software for their platforms to their application stores. In terms of quality of content and ease of use I would rank Apple’s App Store first, followed by the Android Market, then Windows Mobile Marketplace and last the BlackBerry App World.
Connectivity
The Tilt2 is no slouch when it comes to connectivity offerings. The device features quadband GSM, triband HSDPA/UTMS, WiFi b/g, and Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets. In terms of voice quality, the Tilt2 is on par with any of the other Windows Mobile devices we’ve tested in the past. To this day using a Motorola Razr on Verizon Wireless has still set the bench mark for voice quality in the LA area. I found the At&t 3G network coverage to be adequate, but living near the mountains often left me with no service and as a result I relied heavily on WiFi. Unfortunately I had some issues with the WiFi signal on the Tilt2 and found it difficult to establish a connection on the second level of my house. In the same area I was able to use the Nokia N97, iPhone 3GS and Motorola Droid via WiFi without any issues. For whatever reason the Tilt2 would have a much lower signal strength and the result was sluggish and sometimes stagnant WiFi web browsing experience.
What truly makes the Tilt2 a unique business device and the flagship for US-based Windows Mobile devices by HTC is a secondary rear mic and speaker. The addition of a separate mic and speaker gives the Tilt2 the best speakerphone experience we’ve ever witnessed on a smartphone or even a Nextel device. The dedicated mute key, the ability to instantly switch into speakerphone when the device is placed face down thanks to the proximity sensor and the sound clarity of speakerphone on the Tilt2 is amazing. For all the shortcomings in the Operating System and WiFi, the speakerphone and TouchFLO 3D UI are amazing.
Final Thoughts
The At&t Tilt2 is a victim of Windows Mobile 6.5 and what I consider an underpowered processor. After having the opportunity to use the HTC HD2, it is very clear to me that a 1GHz processor is exactly what Windows Mobile 6.5 and TouchFLO 3D need in order to deliver a complete experience. However, at the moment that device is not available on a US carrier and as it stands the At&t Tilt2 is our best Windows Mobile device to date. The performance is improved over the Touch Pro, it offers a larger and higher-resolution touchscreen and the keyboard is among the best we’ve ever used. If you plan on using the Tilt2 as your primary business device it will do an excellent job of complimenting your desktop or laptop thanks to the full Office Mobile Suite. The speakerphone is loud and crystal clear and with a strong At&t 3G signal we’ve managed to hit download speeds of up to 1400kbps in Los Angeles.
At this time the Windows Mobile Marketplace still needs quite a bit of work if it hopes to compete against Apple. As applications improve and users begin investing large amounts of money into the application libraries it will become more and more difficult to convince users to switch to a new platform. HTC has proven with the HTC Hero that with the same processing speed Android can power a device much more efficiently. If the Tilt2 was running Android I can honestly say that I would be looking at my perfect device assuming WiFi performance was improved. If you are a current Windows Mobile user and looking to upgrade from the HTC Touch Pro, the Tilt2 is a great choice and currently the best option available. If you can handle waiting until early 2010 when the HTC HD2 should arrive with a US Carrier I would consider holding out, but there’s no telling whether there will be a launch on At&t in which case the Tilt2 will be a much more affordable option.
CF Rating: 7/10
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