Given the choice, would it be iPhone or BlackBerry?

[ankhor]

Yep try internetting on the mobile phone, takes ages to type in a URL.
And you need magnifying glasses to read the stuff, (atleast I do).
But if you don`t have to do much typing, it is great, all kind of info on the go.
The best thing, the tom tom like stuff in it, I can finally find my
way in any city now (more or less). And the camera in it is great and handy.
and the radio ofcourse, and mp3 player.
So it is that it doesn`t have an inbuild microwave and shower, otherwise I could\leave my home and live on the street

But that is my nokia N95 and my even older sony ericsson K800i.
Iphone never really caught my attention, and a berry I don`t know enough about.

[stlewis]

Just got an HTC HD. I am prepared to be told that the iPhone is better (and its interface may be) but it has a better camera, longer battery life, can edit Ms Office documents, and you can use it as a broadband modem ('tethering'). The Blackberry Storm has no wifi - a major weakness. If, like me, you wanted to merge a Palm and a phone, then it is worth a look.

No Xara Xtreme on it tho!

[Rock]

I have the HTC Touch Diamond. I am moderately content with it. It is NOT a $700.00 phone. My vision is not what it used to be and I have to put on glasses to read texts or tell what the hell I am doing on it.

Its nearly impossible to use without the included stylus and you can forget doing about anything beyond answering phone calls while driving. (The Razr was much handier for straight calling).

Not as many toys as the iPhone. It has WiFi and a 3.4 megapixel camera (that has a slow shutter speed and has to be held very still).

Other than lacking WiFi, I think my wife's Instinct is a better tool.

[samrc]

I have an HTC Mogul with touch screen, camera AND full slideout qwerty keyboard. The blackberries had keyboards that were too small and did not like the response of the iphone.

Now that I have navigation program on it, am very satisfied with the unit. Heavier than some others but easy to read and use!

If the new touch screen blackberry were available when I bought mine, I might have considered it instead.

[stlewis]

After my first week with my HTC HD, what are my conclusions?

My History
I have been a Palm user since 1999. The most recent, a TX, added MP3 functions, Microsoft Office document editing capabilities, email management, Bluetooth and Wifi communications to the traditional organiser functions (diary, tasks, contacts and notes). Web browsing and email management was possible via Wifi only.

The HD adds the phone functionality, 5 megapixel camera, FM radio, and full data/email/web functions. Along with most other Windows Mobile (WinMo) devices, the HD also supports 'tethering' i.e. it can act as a modem for a laptop. Compared with its closest competitors it ticks every box except for a flash for the camera.

I think it is very usable. I will look at overall navigation, text entry, phone functions and applications.

Overall Navigation
A common jibe from iPhone fans is that however much you add clever interfaces over WinMo, you still have to resort to the stylus. Perhaps some users have to, but my stylus has stayed in its slot for the past few days.

The acid test of these devices is whether you can get to the most used functions in one click. The Palm failed on this and so does the out-of-the-box TD. The TouchFLO band gives one-click access to five functions and, by sweeping the finger you can reach five more. These can be hidden and re-sequenced. One of these is a Programs panel, which scrolls vertically, and can be fully customised to include your favourite applications. A Windows-style Start menu which drops down has seven configurable slots; I have used these for system-related functions e.g. the file explorer and communications manager.

There is a whole industry devoted to giving the WinMo user tools for customisation. SPB is the best known but one of their products is overkill for me and the other is not yet compatible with the HD. Work done by XDA developers and reported in their forum looks like they will come up with simple solutions like the Sony X1 Xperia's panels.

Text Entry
The virtual keyboard is excellent; I get high levels of accuracy (and far faster than the Grafitti2 used in the newer Palms.

The HD has a version of Grafitti as well as a letter recogniser which works well. I'll be sticking with the keyboard though.

Phone Functions
These do all that they are supposed to. The beauty of these phones is that your contacts from Outlook are there for you to call. Email works well, again using the same contacts. Both text message and email uses the same keyboard functionality.

Applications
The TD comes with decent versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Beyond that, as with the Palms, you need to add some key software:
• Enhanced synchronization of Outlook with PocketMirror Professional from Chapura
• A program giving a closer match to the desktop Outlook; I settled on Agenda One.
• Improved Outlook Notes functionality; SmartphoneNotes does a good job with grouping notes by category.
• You may also add a password manager such as SPB Wallet, a database with Access synchronisation such as HanDBase, and the ability to do basic manipulation of images; SPB Imageer does the job here.

None of these cost too much and there is no relentless upgrade cycle.

Conclusion
If you are fed up with carrying around a PDA, phone, camera and perhaps even an MP3 player, then a Smartphone will fit the bill. If you have to stay in the Apple fold then you have no choice but it can’t edit Word documents, there is no tethering and the camera is relatively low res. The Blackberry range is proven but the new touchscreen version is not perfect (the keyboard has no visual feedback and it has no Wifi). Of the WinMo family the HTC HD is probably the best if you don’t need a physical keyboard. And of the oddballs, the Google phone is getting good reviews but expects you to live in the Google world. There are rumours that the HTC HD will become the G2 for the US market. If you are in the UK, PC Pro has a useful detailed comparison; the only omission is tethering. It was this review which swung me to the TD.

[SIMcPainter]

I like the BlackBerry, wish it had a few more features though...

[Big Frank]

I bought myself a Samsung Wave 8500 just before krissmus. It's a deliciously beautiful tool/toy, I really love it but it's very, very smooth and I have dropped it at least four times onto a tiles floor and it's bloomin' bullet proof. Not a hiccup, just keeps working. It really is absolutely brilliant. I'm delighted with it. Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, everything you could want. But it uses Bada instead of Android and there's not that many apps available yet. But there's more apps appearing all the time. Great phone, highly recommend it.

[StevenWWinters]

Other: Casio G'zOne Ravine.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/s...edPhoneId=5540

Like my phone like my HTML, lean and mean... :-)

[M1SS D3V10US]

I voted for "Other" because I have my eye on the new the Windows phone.