Windows Phone Thoughts: Leader of The Empire: The HTC TyTN II Reviewed

First Impressions
I received the device on a Friday afternoon - after the staff at MobilePlanet / Expansys were exceptionally responsive to make sure that the promised delivery date was fulfilled. (I've had issues with Expansys before, and I'm happy to report that my experience with them this time around more than made up for some of the oddities and availability problems that I have had in the past).


Figure 1: The black packaging, looking very svelte.

First impression of the device and HTC's new branding was "Wow, someone at HTC bought an iPod!" The box that the device came in, as well as the packaging in the box, made it appear that I was opening up something special, not just any old device. In comparison to the packaging I'm used to, such as that of the T-Mobile Dash, which isn't at all interesting, or the Treo 750v's packaging that's more like unpacking a tightly packed ship than opening a device, the nice packaging made me feel good about my rather expensive purchase!


Figure 2: Lift the magnetic flap and see the TyTN II, presented nicely amidst icons of productivity.

In addition to the device, the retail packaging contains a nice belt case, headphones, wall charger, USB cable, getting started and software CDs, printed manual, screen protector, and a variety of cards & inserts. I was pleased to see that the shipped battery had a pretty good charge on it, so I fired up the device and used it the rest of the day.

A few things struck me right off the bat. For starters, the scroll wheel and power button locations confused me. Was this device meant to be used by a right hander or left hander? In the end, I think it's supposed to be good for mixed-handed sorts! I could use both the wheel and the power button in either hand, but I had a large degree of difficulty finding the power button when pulling the device out of its case or my pocket. I kept thinking the button should be lower, or more toward the back of the device than it was. The scroll wheel, while very nice to use, seemed to require a bit too much force to push in, but that may be just my fingers on it. In any event, I was amazed at the plethora of ways you can navigate the device. HTC built in some TouchFLO software in the TyTN II, so you can use a finger to drag the screen up/down and use HTC's home plugin. The device also has the usual D-pad, a scroll wheel, and keys on the keyboard to navigate around. No problems finding a way to navigate! I've used a bunch of Pocket PCs and other devices, and must say this one has some ergonomic pluses despite its small size.


Figure 3: TyTN II & Friends. (i-Mate JASJAR, Treo 750v, i-Mate K-JAM, TyTN II, iPAQ 6915, T-Mobile Dash, 5G iPod Video (60 GB)).

HTC, in addition to making navigation easy with hardware, also included a nice homescreen plugin that provides a unified plugin to show a variety of information, with different tabs as well. However, for some reason I didn't find this all that valuable. It took up way too much space, and didn't do anything I really wanted on my Today screen.


Figure 4: The HTC plugin and Today layout.

I switched it off and installed a favorite app of mine, PhoneAlarm [Affiliate], and found a skin for it that looks amazingly like HTC's plugin (no coincidence I'm sure!). PhoneAlarm, unlike the HTC plugin, has functionality I want and as such, I've replaced my HTC plugin with PhoneAlarm's clone. If HTC's plugin had built-in flexible profiles like those of PhoneAlarm's, I probably would have given it more than the day or so I gave it.


Figure 5: PhoneAlarm Clone! Much more functional.

Finally, an initial impression I had within my first 24 hours with the device was the amount of work that has gone into the TyTN series as a whole that wasn't present in my last slider, the i-Mate K-JAM (HTC's Wizard). It had no scroll wheel, no spring loaded slider, a slow processor, and a color scheme and overall fashion value of a crumpled up paper bag! If you never used a TyTN / 8525 / Hermes / Jasjam / whateveryoucallit, and are thinking of replacing a Wizard, you'll be nicely surprised with the TyTN II.