HTC Trophy Windows Phone (Verizon Wireless) - Get the Best Deals of Cell Phones with and without Plans

(POTENTIAL W7Phone buyer…this is a great phone…but, read complete review and read the end for an important issue associated with hooking up to your Outlook account at work…)

Okay – so, I’ve been jonesing for a new phone for work. Have Blackberry Tour(because old company is a Blackberry company). Come to new company where they’re “more lenient” on the technology you can have. So – started trying phones (I love Verizon’s 30 day satisfaction guarantee). First one: iPhone – sexy in an Anna Kournikova way (no one can debate that Apple has top-notch industrial design) – but, ultimately, an iPhone isn’t for a business guy. Cool apps (and alot of them)…but, seriously – most companies use Outlook Exchange and MS Office…and there’s the problem: Apple doesn’t like to play in the same sandbox. Stable platform, tons of apps, pretty to look at…but won’t win Wimbledon – because the integration between business programs (Office, Outlook, etc) isn’t there. Scheduling a multiple-person-invite calendar event? Holy… Droid: depending on the review – possibly stable platform…but, seriously – the app integration is all over the place – depends on the platform (verizon, sprint, t-Mobile, etc), the manufacturer, and the app itself. Tons of apps…but, it, too, isn’t MS. Blackberry? The only reason it’s still alive is because of the Blackberry Enterprise Server which allows monster Enterprise companies to remote-zap the blackberry if you leave the company with Blackberry in hand, and sensitive e-mails/contact information in said Blackberry…but, they are so behind on apps and touchscreen integration it’s scary. But, if you want e-mail and calendar and that’s it…It’s the phone for you. If you want more, and have friend iPhone envy or droid envy…just wait, my friend…just wait…

…for the HTC Trophy W7 Phone!!! Just got it, have played with it for two days now. I can only say…WOW. From a “user friendly” standpoint – it’s as close as MS is gonna get to an iPhone without pissing off Steve Jobs. It uses tile icons much like the iPhone and Droid which can be moved around, pinned to the Start screen, deleted from the start screen. But, what is different is that some of the tiles (not all) are what Microsoft calls “Live Tiles”, and they give you a real-time data feed as to what’s going on behind the tile (in the app itself). The Live Tiles (so far) are “Phone” (missed calls/voicemails), “Outlook”, “Hotmail” (not sure about Yahoo or Google mail), “Messaging” (texting). So – if you have four e-mails that have popped into Outlook…the Outlook tile will have a number “4″ on it. Once you tap the tile…the app launches…you do your thing (read, delete, respond, stare at the e-mail in shocked amazement as to the off-color joke your boss just sent to the company-wide distribution list) and when you close it, the tile resets to zero again. This way you can see at a glance what’s going on in your business and personal and communication life.

The tiles are also “contextual” in nature…and this is where the phone really starts to depart from the iPhone and the Droid offerings.

Tap a tile (let’s say, People) – it allows you to see, pull, edit, etc. ANY person that you deal with – it pulls your contacts from Outlook. It pulls your friends from Facebook. It pulls your contacts from Windows Live/Hotmail. If you tap Outlook – and pull up an e-mail that someone (in your contact list…or in facebook, or in Windows Live) sent you…you tap on their name…and BAM – their contact information pulls up (see “People tile” above)…whatever you’ve loaded in on whatever platform you are using…it assumes, at this point, that you now want to contact this person in some fashion (contextual link) – which is why it does this. So, if a friend sends you an e-mail…you can reply to the email or tap their name and CALL them. Same with Music/Video, Pictures…if you have it, anywhere, on any MS system that you use (on phone, in Windows Live, in Zune, on Facebook)…you can access it on the phone. It assumes that, if you want to see “pictures” – that you want to have access to ALL pictures. If you want to search for People…you want to search for ANY person you have dealt with on any platform you have their information on. But, where it gets really cool is the ability to launch into different, linked contextual apps because of what it assumes you want to do. If you search for a People in your phone (tap the People tile, tap the Search magnifying glass icon and enter their name) – once you find that person, you can then call, facebook, or send an e-mail.

…which brings us to the next cool Contextual link: When you tap their e-mail address…it opens a new window giving you a choice to send an e-mail from ANY e-mail app that you’ve got running on the phone: Outlook, Hotmail/Live, Google, Yahoo.

…someone sends…

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Robert M. Downey (Cambridge, MA United States) –

  

The phone’s hardware is good. Since Microsoft dictates fairly high minimum specs for all Windows Phones, you won’t find a whole lot of difference between the current batch out there.

That said, there are a few standouts for certain features. The Samsung Focus has the best screen (Super AMOLED), but its build quality isn’t great. The HD7 has a massive 4.3″ screen, but it’s bulky as a result. The HTC 7 Pro has a keyboard, etc.

As far as the Trophy, there isn’t anything “special” about it. What makes it a great phone is the combination of Windows Phone 7 and Verizon.

The screen is a nice 3.7″ LCD (*not* SLCD), and while the colors are rich and the viewing angles are pretty good, it feels a bit washed out at times – especially off axis.

The body of the Trophy is semi-rubberized, and feels both compact and sturdy. The build quality feels very high. I’ve already dropped the phone directly onto pavement from about 5 feet in the air. There is a tiny little indent (like if you made it with the tip of a pen) on the rubber back, but otherwise it survived unscathed.

The camera is OK. The auto-stabalization isn’t great, resulting in somewhat blurry photos unless you’re careful. But the bright side is – pun intended – the flash is very good.

Battery life seems fairly good. Critically, I can get through a full day of normal use (~20 minutes of talking, 30 minutes of web surfing, 10 minutes of app usage, etc) with about 33% charge left. With low usage, it can go a full 48 hours without a charge. In airplane mode, you’ll get 10+ days.

The call quality is fantastic. Crystal clear. Reception, thanks to Big Red, is awesome. I briefly had a Samsung Focus on AT&T back in November. Sitting in my living room in the middle of Boston, the phone was useless. 0 bars. The Trophy gets 4 out of 5 bars. Enough said.

Lastly, the OS is awesome. Even with a few features missing when compared with iOS or Android, Windows Phone 7 is by far the best phone OS available. Everyday tasks are easier, quicker, and prettier than on the competitors. The OS is super responsive on *all* devices, regardless of the maker. The Trophy is no exception. Once v7.5 lands (aka Mango), the feature gap will be completely closed – and that’s only a couple of months away. And yes, all existing WP7 devices – including the Trophy – will get the update for free.

In short – buy this phone. You won’t be sorry.

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I’ve been a long time Motorola guy (they are a local company here in Chicago) who was disappointed with his droid. I had no desire for an iPhone, so I thought I’d give this a shot. First, physically, it just feels right. The weight is right, the size is right. It just feels good in your hand. The rubberized back feels good and the camera button and volume rocker are strong enough that they won’t be accidentally be pressed. I have not had any issues with reception based on how I hold the phone. Call quality has been good, though admittedly, I almost ways use a Bluetooth headset. The only issue I could find with the physical device is the screen is not the best. It is an lcd, but it should have been a super lcd.

In terms of software, I am very happy with WP7. WP7 is fast and responsive. The tiles allow me to easily find and launch apps without getting lost in a sea of icons. The lock screen is great, with the date and time in big, easy to read lettering. It also has additional information, like your next scheduled appointment and if you have new messages, email, text or voicemail. The best part of message notification system on the start screen is how different types of email have different icons. That way you know if the message is from an account form yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail or exchange. One thing the start screen is missing is temperature from a weather app. The email experience is the best I’ve seen on a smartphone, much better than stock android or my Galaxy tab, which provide excellent Gmail experiences, but poor experiences for everything else. Office is nice, especially OneNote, which allows the creation of notes through any combination of text, voice and pics and also syncs into the cloud (the internet) at windowsphone.live.c o m. Xbox live is great as expected, as is the Music and Video hub. It brings excellent design of the Zune HD, including Netflix style subscription music services, highlighting recently added or played content, so you don’t have to dig around to find what you are looking for. It is missing some features of the Zune hd, most notably the excellent smart dj, but that will be addressed in the mango update coming late summer. I love having a proper media player on my phone, and streaming music through Bluetooth wireless speakers (several tried, Creative D100 recommended) works fantastic. The browser is well designed, with an incredibly easy way to move in and out of tabs.

One strength I see with this phone comes in the form of windowsphone.live.c o m. It provides a place online to access your phone. It can automatically sync your notes from OneNote, your pics taken by the camera and, when the mango update arrives, videos as well. It also provides the ability to ring your phone if you can’t find it, lock the screen or wipe it if it is lost or stolen, or even find its location on a map. I have testing that last piece and it works well, even if location services are turned off.

There are a couple of downsides compared to my previous experience with android. While I didn’t use it a lot, I miss the turn by turn navigation of Google Maps. Bing maps will give you directions, walking or driving, but not narrated, Tom Tom style turn by turn voice navigation. That will also be coming with mango. The other down side is the led on the front is underused. It would be great if it would blink when a message is received, even better if it could be customized to blink a different color for each account or type. Lastly, while much better than my droid or my friend’s galaxy S phones, initially, I was disappointed by battery life. I would get a little over 13 hours with heavy browsing/music/gaming/twitter use. I have since learned battery life will go up exponentially if you turn off location services, which I do when I am not out. With location off, it easily runs all day. There is also an extended battery for sale. The app store is growing and has a solid selection for the most popular apps from the other platforms, but it is not yet as robust as the android and iphone app stores.

All in all, I am very happy with the phone. It is an excellent device and has made me very optimistic for the future of windows phone.

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