HTC Mogul owners: How do you like it?

Scott R

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I tried out the Sprint PPC-6700 when it first came out and returned it within the 14 day trial period. I'm tempted to buy the Mogul now, even though I know that some of the things I didn't like about the 6700 will be present with the Mogul. I'm a bit surprised to see so few posts about the Mogul in these forums, so I'm not sure how many people have taken the plunge, but I'm interested to hear some thoughts from people who have bought (or even just used) a Mogul, especially if you've had experience with the PPC-6700 and/or Palm Treos (Palm OS or WM-based).

BTW, are Sprint stores stocking these and, if so, do they have working models on display? I stopped by a local Cingular store, mostly to play with the HTC 8525 (which is sort of the GSM equivalent of the Mogul) but was disappointed to see that *every single phone* they had on display was just a fake mockup phone.
 

Tempest790

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I've had the phone almost a week now, and I can tell you I very much enjoy it. Is it perfect? No. But, I do like it better than my 700wx that I had.

You have to tweak this phone to make it more usable, but once you do, it is probably the most advanced phone available. I'm not with Cingular, but I think these phones are much more capable than an iPhone for example. At least we have high speed internet.


My main pros:

Very compact, small footprint, and NO external antenna (Yay!)
Brilliant, crisp screen (better than the 700wx which almost looks washed out in comparison. 240x320 has more compatible software).
WM6 is prettier and more functional. (Not revolutionary, but definitely some nice improvements.)
Wi-Fi (Never really thought I would use it, but it comes in handy when I visit friends and family outside of the EV-DO coverage.)
The slide out keyboard is roomy (I've really gotten proficient with it in just this first week.)
Standard mini-USB charger that can be bought anywhere (I picked up one at Target for $10. That was after I spent $30 for one from Sprint when I ordered the phone.)
Bluetooth 2.0 works better and has a better range. (I can now keep my phone on the opposite side of my body without much static. My 700wx was nearly intolerable doing this. Also, my headset is louder than with the 700wx.)
Good camera mode. (Not great quality, but I like how you hold the Mogul sideways and shoot like a point and click camera.)
Numerous remappable external buttons (But NO volume rocker. :( .)
Jog wheel makes scrolling quick and effortless. (Still need to use the 5-way to go right or left though. LEFT mounted scrollwheel!??)


Now for the cons:

No volume rocker button or easy ringer off switch like the 700wx. (Someone did write a small app that lets you use an external button to quickly do this though.)
No exposed keyboard (Obviously. But with picture speed dial and my other tweaks, not a big loss.)
Onscreen battery gauge takes up a line on your Today screen. (I liked the battery gauge in the top bar like the 700wx. Once again, there is a free software tweak which will place a very thin multi-color line at the top for your battery gauge.)


As you can see, no phone is perfect, but spec wise, the Mogul is the most advanced WM phone available today. It's EV-DO capable, and will be Rev A by this fall, making the internet even faster. The main key is, be prepared to tweak this phone. Out the box, the 700wx is easier to use. But once you get the Mogul set the way you like, it works like a champ. HTC did a very good job.


Here's a list of some apps I put on my Mogul:

HTC Home (Today screen plug-in from the HTC Touch)
Calendar+ (Almost a necessity. It's free and it really expands on the built in Calendar. I used this on my 700wx too.)
Photo Speed Dial
HTC black theme
SMS Threaded App
 
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damigs

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I had my Mogul for a week and went back to my Treo 700wx last nite. It not that the Mogul has issues it just wasnt comfortable for me and quite combersome in certain aspects. I had my 6700 for almost a year until the WX came out. Once the palm threading app was introduced on Windows Treo all the slide out keyboards were thru for me.

Im a heavy SMS user and the constant sliding out of the keyboard was getting bothersome. It got so bad I was leaving the screen on landscape and for some time the keyboard slided out. I wouldnt have to do all of this with the treo with its exposed qwerty.

Like I mentioned it was more of an inconvenience than anything. I guess being on Treo is my comfort level. The 6800 may be the ticket for some if not most but once you get a taste of the easy true one handed-ness of Treo its hard to let it go.

Lastly the 6800 honestly seems to be a minor upgrade and not enough to expense the $$. Same hacks are needed that the WX uses so I shall wait for the Treo 800w at years end.
 

nsxprime

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The biggest problem on the 6800 is how slow the processor is. Screen rotation lag and video playback are abysmal. Even browsing to the Windows folder on the device has major lag. Maybe once overclockers are written that can be used with the phone it will be better, but then you can throw battery life out of the window.
 

stroths

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Did you install all of the HTC Touch addons? I read that slowed down access to the \Windows folder and the device overall for others. I just used the HTC Home Plug and the Comm Manager replacement and my Windows folder access is still much faster than it was with my WX. My screen rotation takes about a second or less. I did do some registry tweaks which might explain why my rotation is quick.
 

Scott R

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Thanks for the comments thus far. Boy oh boy, I'm on fence here. Part of me is very, very tempted by the iPhone (I expect to play with a display unit tomorrow), part of me is tempted by the Mogul, and part of me is thinking about the possibility of a 320x320 WM6 Treo. The iPhone's eye-candy, 8GB of storage, and WiFi capabilities are very tempting, but as a long-time VB developer who has more recently gotten somewhat up-to-speed on .NET, the idea of developing some apps for WM6 is extremely compelling.

I think what MS really needs to do is to build in some sort of advanced graphics support (vector and otherwise) into the OS, so that the UI could do some of these fancy iPhone-like tricks and developers could take advantage of it as well. Hopefully they're working on that for a future update of WM.
 

Tempest790

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I think what MS really needs to do is to build in some sort of advanced graphics support (vector and otherwise) into the OS, so that the UI could do some of these fancy iPhone-like tricks and developers could take advantage of it as well. Hopefully they're working on that for a future update of WM.

Kinda-sorta. The HTC Touch is a first implementation of skinning the WM6 OS into a user friendly touch based screen phone/pda. I downloaded some of the plugins the Touch uses and I do like it. I like what the iPhone will do to the companies (force more innovation), but personally, I think it is a bit overhyped. An iPhone 2 with HSDPA will be much more attractive.

Really though, there isn't much I can't do on my Mogul that someone can do on the iPhone. I do wish for a higher resolution screen though. Maybe the Mogul 2 will have 480x640 and set the bar higher.
 

aznmode

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I've had the phone almost a week now, and I can tell you I very much enjoy it. Is it perfect? No. But, I do like it better than my 700wx that I had.

You have to tweak this phone to make it more usable, but once you do, it is probably the most advanced phone available. I'm not with Cingular, but I think these phones are much more capable than an iPhone for example. At least we have high speed internet.


My main pros:

Very compact, small footprint, and NO external antenna (Yay!)
Brilliant, crisp screen (better than the 700wx which almost looks washed out in comparison. 240x320 has more compatible software).
WM6 is prettier and more functional. (Not revolutionary, but definitely some nice improvements.)
Wi-Fi (Never really thought I would use it, but it comes in handy when I visit friends and family outside of the EV-DO coverage.)
The slide out keyboard is roomy (I've really gotten proficient with it in just this first week.)
Standard mini-USB charger that can be bought anywhere (I picked up one at Target for $10. That was after I spent $30 for one from Sprint when I ordered the phone.)
Bluetooth 2.0 works better and has a better range. (I can now keep my phone on the opposite side of my body without much static. My 700wx was nearly intolerable doing this. Also, my headset is louder than with the 700wx.)
Good camera mode. (Not great quality, but I like how you hold the Mogul sideways and shoot like a point and click camera.)
Numerous remappable external buttons (But NO volume rocker. :( .)
Jog wheel makes scrolling quick and effortless. (Still need to use the 5-way to go right or left though. LEFT mounted scrollwheel!??)


Now for the cons:

No volume rocker button or easy ringer off switch like the 700wx. (Someone did write a small app that lets you use an external button to quickly do this though.)
No exposed keyboard (Obviously. But with picture speed dial and my other tweaks, not a big loss.)
Onscreen battery gauge takes up a line on your Today screen. (I liked the battery gauge in the top bar like the 700wx. Once again, there is a free software tweak which will place a very thin multi-color line at the top for your battery gauge.)


As you can see, no phone is perfect, but spec wise, the Mogul is the most advanced WM phone available today. It's EV-DO capable, and will be Rev A by this fall, making the internet even faster. The main key is, be prepared to tweak this phone. Out the box, the 700wx is easier to use. But once you get the Mogul set the way you like, it works like a champ. HTC did a very good job.


Here's a list of some apps I put on my Mogul:

HTC Home (Today screen plug-in from the HTC Touch)
Calendar+ (Almost a necessity. It's free and it really expands on the built in Calendar. I used this on my 700wx too.)
Photo Speed Dial
HTC black theme
SMS Threaded App


I have to agree with Tempest on this one. I've had mine for a week and I have most of the tweaks he mentioned including MMS. I was surprised to find I was able to send a picture or gif direct to a Verizon phone with MMS hack. They didnt get a web link. I dont remember being able to do that with PalmOS. Video I still have to test.

With the HTC today plug you can assign 7 apps you can easily launch along with the start drop down which you can also assign 7 apps to easily launch. Access to weather on screen without having to launch another program or even paying for it. It's all part of the HTC today plug.

For speed dial, I added Photo Contact in my HTC laucher screen. 1 tap to launch Photo contact and another tap to dial. One handed here.

Installed Pbar to close app so it doesnt run in the background. Was able to add it to my Start menu so I can launch the Pbar pop up and close apps or switch over to them. All one handed and no stylus. I can even do reset the phone with Pbar.

Window Live search allows you to look up phone numbers, address, directions, traffic POI's. Map on it works like google maps pretty much and you can use your GPS mouse to get directions from where you are at the time. Although I prefer Google Maps (PPC) for this however because you have a next and back button on screen. GPS mouse works on both. I no longer miss Directory Assistant although they have one for PPCs but is not configurable to use Google maps.

TCPMP works great on it like it did on PalmOS. Just make sure you set Video to Raw FrameBuffer other wise video is choppy.

GS Player (free) or Pocket Player to stream shoutcast. I was streaming shoutcast with GS Player the other day and ran a speed test on dslreports and 2wire on IE and was getting the same speed result as if I wasnt streaming. So streaming barely impacts your internet browsing speed and experience.

Hack to watch m.youtube.com videos. No need for Kinoma although not even offered on PPC.

(may not be Mogul related) but Opera mini 4 is great. Im able to open up multiple pages on one screen Tabs style. You can now actually approve comments on myspace with Opera. Blazer and Pocket IE doesnt.

Voice speed dial is pretty accurate although you do have to train it. But it can speed dial and open applications. I havent checked sending email or SMS etc however but I dont think this is possible.

Pocket Outlook is not like Chatter or easy to use as Snappermail but being able to view my Yahoo email HTML style is cool. (Doesnt work with Gmail though). Images are blocked initially but you can unblock and download pics. So it ends up looking like how I would see it on my PC. Yahoo and Gmail are easy to set up. You can have it search online for quick set up so you dont have to input server information etc. Just your email address and password really is all you'll ever enter during configuration. It has the ability to store to card but only images. So you'll end up using some of your internal storage space. The phone I believe has 128mb space (not RAM) so i think theres nothing to worry about here. You can also delete from server once you delete emails in Pocket Outlook but it requires clicking Menu/ Tools/ Empty Deleted Items. Then you have to do another Send/Receive. A little more work than snappermail or chatter but it works.

Window Media Player is ok. But being able to play WMV files is awesome addition.

Octro Talk is inoperability IM for AIM, Yahoo, MSN and one other i dont remember. It uses Google talk so if you have a google account you're good to go. This isnt as fancy as Verichat or Mundu where it can pop up a window when you get an IM if you're in another program. It does audible alert. Then you have to open it. Each chat sessions are tabbed. But the cool thing is you can actually see who's idled, mobile, google talk, away on AIM. You couldnt do this with Verichat or Mundu. Battery drain, I havent really seen a drastic drop but I think it sends keep alive once in a while but I'm really not sure. Oh and did I mention this is FREE? ok well it's FREE!

Thats all I can think of for now and sorry if I didnt include any links because it will take me all day to search for them again. But www.PPCgeeks.com, www.pdaphonehome.com (go here first), and www.forum.xda-developers.com is where I found bits and pieces. Some threads cross reference to other sites I mentioned. Also be ready to register for each site as some downloads require you to be logged in. Good idea to create shortcuts too on your desktop so you can go back to them. As tempest said, once you tweak the phone it will be a pleasent phone to use. The downside- It will never be as one handed as a treo 700p. And it does take a little longer for programs to open but you get used to it. Was it worth the upgrade?? So far YES and I'm quite happy now with my Mogul.

Below are my installed programs. Use them as keyword search if you like.

AE Button Plus
Photo Contacts 3.0
Threaded SMS
Wow Vibrate
Windows Live Search
Google Maps
Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX
Octro Talk
RvBCrS HTC Streaming Media
TCPMP
GreenSoftware GSPlayer
Trianglepowers.com Directory Assistance
PHM Registry Editor
A_C Slide2Unlock
Opera Software Opera
Geodesic Mundu IM v4
HTC Touch HOme Plugin
Arcsoft MMS
Audible Player (this ones comes installed already)
 
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Scott R

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What Palm device did you have that did a screen rotation?
FWIW, my Tapwave Zodiac (Palm OS) has a 480x320 screen and rotation is instantaneous. I believe the Palm TX and LifeDrive offer pretty instantaneous screen rotation as well. I'm not sure why rotation is so slow (comparitively) on WM devices.
 

aznmode

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I just found another reason to like my Mogul. Posted this also on pdaphonehome.com.

Calling or searching a contact number without using the slide out keyboard

In the dial pad screen, you can call a or search a contact by pressing the numbers with the associated letters of their names. In other words, look at the 3 letters assigned to each number. For example if you wanted to dial or look up JAMES in your contact list. You simply type 52637. If there are more than one James in your contacts then they will all show up. Either scroll down to the one you want or just tap the screen to call.
 

nsxprime

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FWIW, my Tapwave Zodiac (Palm OS) has a 480x320 screen and rotation is instantaneous. I believe the Palm TX and LifeDrive offer pretty instantaneous screen rotation as well. I'm not sure why rotation is so slow (comparitively) on WM devices.

Exactly. Maybe the processor is a dog?
 

kaoswlf

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Thank you all for such informative posts. I am sooooo tempted to get the Mogul. I'm really ready to walk away from palm and sell my 700p Pre MR. I never installed the MR because my 700 was working fine as it was. Even the pairing with my treo headset was perfect. So I was not going to risk bricking something that was working fine already. Sprint will only give me 75.00 off the purchase of the phone, but maybe I can work with retentions and get something better.

It seems once you get Sero 29.99 month plan you are dirt to them. lol They are less likely to work with you because you are not bringing in any real cash to the company. However I am a 10 year user of sprint and they have always been good to me. Maybe I can use that to get me a nice new Mogul. I stopped by the Sprint store last night to see if they had one on display but no luck. I was concerned about the size because the 6700 looked like a friggin' brick..

Anyway thanks again for all your thoughts on the device and keep them coming!

KAOS
 

mikec#IM

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yep

People forget the ol' Tapwave...it rotated just fine.

I'm sure some of the iPhone developers had a Tapwave and liked how it did that.
 

bubbatex

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Any of you guys want to comment on the phone quality of the Mogul? I have a Q, but would like more keyboard space. I use my Q for business and potientially do a lot of email while out of the office. Don't do SMS much at all. However, this is my business phone and I need a good phone. The Q does alright (better than my previous Treo) as a phone.
 

nsxprime

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The Mogul does well as a phone when using the handset but terrible as a phone when using BT because of the BT stack bug. The BT is inconsistent and sometimes during calls your speech gets garbled on the other end. Not good.
 

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