ATT Tilt 8925 / Kaiser Phone - 1 year review
Written: Oct 29 '08 (Updated Nov 05 '08)
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Pros: Good build quality, infinitely customizable.
Cons: Difficult to use interface right out of the box.
The Bottom Line: This is the flagship of business phones for under $500. Do your upgrades and prepare to love your phone.
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| kingpablo's Full Review: 8925 Tilt Smartphone |
History-
I purchased this phone almost year ago as a replacement for my Nokia 9300, which I reviewed here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Nokia_9300/content_369029189252 I finally cracked the outer screen of the Nokia and was forced to replace the phone, as it usually always comes out cheaper to replace than repair cellular phones. Nokia's upgrade was $1200 for the E90, which is more money than I wanted to spend. AT&T had just started offering the "Tilt," which is a re-branded HTC Kaiser TyTN 2, but without a second camera. I looked at the IPhone as well, but I need a Windows compatible business class phone. I purchased my Tilt for $399, with no long term contract.
Design Improvements:
Let's start with the design features as listed and a thought about the major points. I won't bore you with all the features, as you can go to either AT&T and read about things like "quad-band GSM with GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA and HSUPA." Simply put, this phone comes with all the most popular acronyms. It also comes with some current high-end smartphone standards, like GPS, Bluetooth, Wi/Fi, Touchscreen, and even a telephone. It also came with Windows Mobile 6.0, and a slide-out keyboard. I am a tech type person, and a heavy business user, so I care about functionality more than specifications.
Actual Use:
The Tilt interface is very "Windows" right out of the box. I recommend installing your blackberry software onto the phone before you totally sync your data for the first time. It seems to work better that way. The activesync works very well with Microsoft Office 2007, and the OneNote program also syncs very well.
This phone has so much functionality that it is really up to the end user on how they want to configure it. I originally purchased this phone thinking I'd use the keyboard, as I like the slide out option. Once I started using the phone, I realized that it included the character recognition program that works exactly like all the Palm devices. I already knew the character recognition alphabet from my days on a palm, so data interface is VERY quick, and I don't use the keyboard. I wish it had the old Giraffe game that made a tetris type game out of character recognition. I now know that on my next phone, I won't need the keyboard, as long as I have a good touch interface and a stylus. However, you have the OPTION of navigating any way you wish.
Known Quirks
All consumer devices have some sort of quirks, and this phone has a few. There were video driver problems, PTT button warnings, YouTube issues, gripes about the screen and bloatware. If you keep the original configuration (Who knows why you'd torture yourself) you have to remap the PTT button immediately if you aren't using PTT. All the other issues have been worked out with the custom ROMS, which I discuss later in this review.
E-Mail
The email works great, and you really don't have to use a laptop. I run five different email accounts (blackberry, Gmail, Yahoo) and it buckets each account properly, and the setup is very simple. I haven't ever received an attachment that won't open, which was a major issue with my Nokia. The WM6 software is broad enough to handle all types, and it has Adobe Reader as well.
Bluetooth & WiFi
Bluetooth and Wi/Fi are both easy to configure, and they work like they should. My car picked up my Bluetooth signal and I'm able to use the phone hands free in my car AND I'm able to use it to play music through the system. All without a single wire. That was cool enough for me to purchase an 8 gig chip and load up some MP3's. This cost me $22 on Ebay. It's my understanding that it'll support a 32gig chip, but I'll wait for the prices to drop. Having the SD mini chip is a blessing for file transfer as well.
GPS
The GPS chip also is a bonus. AT&T will sell you a monthly service called TeleNav. I never used it, as Google Maps is a free download, and it works just like the Google Maps on your computer. The GPS sometimes takes a while to "lock," but it does work well. One of my friends loaded TomTom and uses a SD chip with maps. I like that you can use the GPS chip in an open manner that doesn't cost you additional fees.
Camera
I was very excited to have a phone on my camera, and by spec , 3.0 mega pixels seems great. I use the camera whenever I'm not carrying an actual camera. I've seen other cell phone pictures, and this one is exactly par for the course. It's there, it works, and shoots video as well.
Other Included Software
The Tilt comes with about a dozen programs and some of them work fine. It also comes with a bunch of junk that AT&T insists on loading up, like AT&T Mall, AT&T music and so on. I hate clutter on my computer or phone.
Messenger Beware
I like the included messaging program, which fires up AIM, YIM or MSN messenger. The program works great. However, AT&T locked down the messenger to only work on the cellular network. This means that when you are connected by WiFi, which should mean "Free Messaging," you're still tethered to the AT&T network, which is a sneaky way for AT&T to make money. Text is the same way. You have to have a data package AND a text package. Silly splitting of service by AT&T, as it's all data. Note that this is still an issue, even with a custom ROM.
Battery Life
I was clearly spoiled by the long battery life of the Nokia, as I have to charge the Tilt nearly every night. Battery life is very dependent on service use, meaning Bluetooth, wifi and GPS. If you use these, expect to deplete the battery very quickly. I have a car charger in both my cars and chargers in my office and home. Treat it like a laptop and plug it in for laptop like duties. The battery is adequate for phone use.
First Six Months of Ownership
For the first three months owned this phone, I struggled with the functionality. The classic pull down windows interface is tough to use on a phone. You either have to adopt the blackberry style wheel, or have your stylus handy. The included dialing skin was not finger friendly. So my biggest gripe early on was not what the phone could do; it was navigation issues. Every function is there, but somewhat buried. Even the calculator was hard to use without a stylus. This is totally annoying with a touch screen phone. You should be able to use your fingers to navigate. I fully believe that this phone is more robust than the iPhone, but it comes with a steeper learning curve. If I'd rated this phone after 3 months, I would have given it 3 stars of 5.
Next three months of Ownership
I originally went to HTC and upgraded the software to WM6 Pro. This allowed a more custom interface, and made the phone more useable. It certainly helped the functionality, especially with the HTC interface. After a week or two of using the HTC interface, I kept reading more and more about the capabilities of the phone. It also solved an annoying PTT (push to talk) reminder that popped up constantly. The button is simply re-mapped to something you want, or not used at all.
There's a great forum on the phone here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=376
After reading through the message boards, I realized that many of my gripes had to do with the interface, not the hardware, and that many users of the Tilt platform had my concerns and had been working together to solve some of the issues. ROM development is the key. For you non-technical folks, your ROM is the original set of software that comes with the phone. It's supposed to mean Read Only Memory (ROM), but over time it has evolved to mean the original set of software. This includes all drivers and programs in the original package. I decided that this was what I wanted to do.
Should I Flash?
Before you jump in, there are some warranty issues involved in flashing your ROM, so if you're bold, make sure you read sections for newbies on how to do it properly. You will lose all your data when you flash your rom, so make sure you have your data sync'ed. Make sure your SIM is out as well. I found flashing the ROM as easy as plugging the phone into my computer and following the directions.
Greatest Hits Disks
You can go to XDA and learn more about ROMS, and all the choices. Custom ROMs are best described as "Greatest Hits" disks. You get all of the best out there, and none of the filler. As an example, all current camera phones have photo album software included in their ROMS. A phone other than the TILT might have cooler, more robust photo album software. Since these programs all are designed to run on WM6, they have interoperability. So a developer will basically re-code these modules for your screen size. Then the developer puts the best of the best modules together into a ROM. So each module is the best of the best. ROMS are then compiled and set to install all these modules in a single pass.
I chose a software set by a developer named sakajati on xda developers. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=397121&highlight=hyperdragon
He has compiled a rom package called HyperDragon that is outstanding.
Current Configuration
If I'd kept the original configuration (ROM) on the phone, I'd never have given the phone more than three stars. I now own a true five star phone. It runs almost entirely on touchscreen, which is just plain nice. The "Touchflo" package (in custom rom) from HTC touch is beautiful on the Tilt. It allows you to navigate the phone with your fingertips. The Tilt runs about twice as fast as it used to be, as there's no "Marketing" package pre-installed. I can now say I am extremely happy with my TILT.
Closing Argument
The Tilt is currently the flagship of AT&T offerings based on Windows Mobile 6. The build quality is great and the functionality is now outstanding. It's a better phone than the IPhone. All my people that I support have now migrated to this phone, but I now put a custom ROM on it when I unbox the TILT, so they are able to skip the learning curve. Without the community at XDA, I'd be shopping for a new phone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 399
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
kingpablo
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Member: Paul
Location: Columbus, OH
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 0 members
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