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Paul Reviews.... the HTC TyTN II (Kaiser)


Guest PaulOBrien

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Guest ninj3tsu
I'm a U.S. AT&T customer. I've dealt with the same knowledgeable Cingular/AT&T independent reseller (Darin Roth of "The Phone Store" (innovative, what?)) for years, and his information always is excellent. I placed my order for the AT&T8925/Kaiser/TyTN II/Tilt a couple of weeks ago...

FWIW.

Hello All:

Thanks for all the great info on this Kaiser blog. Admitted utter newbie here, so any helpful perspectives are very much appreciated!

Like many US users, I’m deciding between an AT&T and HTC branded Kaiser.

Considerations:

  • Unlocked or locked: I currently have no other phone with a SIM card (I have an antique Nokia which doesn’t even use a SIM card – gasp, what a loser!). Yes, I’m trying to enter the modern age. My need is to use it on a trip to Vietnam and then back in the states. I could get an AT&T branded and try to get it unlocked, but I think that will be problematic. If I buy an unlocked phone from UK or Canada and then get a SIM in VN, will I be able to use the Kaiser to ‘full capacity’ or does that depend on the SIM that I buy? IE, SIM shouldn’t affect GPS, wi-fi, etc should it? Should I first upgrade to a free “dummy” phone, as some say, and put that in when I get back Stateside? Will I need a smartphone SIM or will any ordinary SIM work?
  • ROM flashing: I like the styling of the HTC and don’t look forward to AT&T’s changes to it. AT&T “bloatware” and unnecessary applications doesn’t sound good, but AT&T customer service problems with a non-AT&T hardware doesn’t sound good either. I admittedly really like the look of the green homescreen advertised with the HTC product, but could I get the ROM “flashed” with the HTC ROM, or is that problematic / difficult? And how would I do that?
  • Other reason for HTC: I’m keen on the front-facing VGA phone, even if there’s no real support for it in the US (yet). Future options are nice. But at what cost: an AT&T phone sounds like it may be 500USD versus 800USD (best price I see is from SuperiorGadgets) for the HTC-branded. Feedback?

Gah – thanks for suffering through this. Any help is appreciated, and I’ll get you a few pints at Toronado or the Ruby Room if you come to SF Bay Area.

Sorry for already-answereds..

Cheers

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Guest GordonTGopher
Fantastic News !!!

Let me be the first to announce, the Kaiser will be available from Vodaphone on 17th September (Monday).

Could somebody please confirm that Vodaphone's v1615 is most definetly the Kaiser?

Chris

There is a thread running in the Kaiser section that may be of interest http://www.modaco.com/Vodafone-UK-Pricing-t259180.html (sorry it does mean you weren't the first ;) )

And yes the 1615 is Vodafones version of the TYTN II / Kaiser

Gordon

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Guest stanchion
does this work well in say a moderately noisy environment? like on the sidewalk of a main street or does it require that you be in a quiet area for the voice recognition to work?

i have an air conditioner, a fan, and a loud computer all running in close proximity and i have never had a problem with voice recognition.. the quality of the recognition cannot be overstated.. it is truly brilliant... even when I mumble or talk inconsistently, as ive been known to do. ;-)

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Guest stanchion
Who has learn how to use the world card program? I try it with a black shinny card and it on capture half of the card information any tips on how to do it correct like it gets everything. What I mean by half is when you export and the device trys to place in te contact information...

Thanks

3 tips for you:

1 - make sure you have good ambient lighting

2 - be sure to hold the camera as steadily as possible. the preview image has to be sharp for it to recognize properly.

3 - in Paul's post when he introduced us to this program i noticed he took the image at a bit of an angle rather than "square-on top-down", and when i snap business cards i find this actually helps a bit, for whatever reason. maybe it has something to do with the way the auto focus perceives distance i dont know, but try it it might help (as long as you arent getting a reflection on a glossy card!)

stanchion

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Guest Heinz2004
I tried it with Abby Finereader ocr and it worked great. Only one mistake in one word ;)

:wub: Thanx for trying! So the camera of the Kaiser can be used as an emergency scanner

for the letter-format.

These good results (OCR-quality) may need

1. good light conditions,

2. good application of the autofocus (macro) and

3. a steady hand.

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Thanks Paul...let us know if you have any success. BTW-- The TomTom starter doesn't work in the US. The system wont allow me to download any US maps-- even though it gives me that option during initial Tom Tom setup on the Kaiser. When I select NY City-- it goes to get the map CAB file through pocket IE and just sits there and hangs. Same for other US city cabs-- no download into the Kaiser trialware.

I'm not sure what the problem is when you try to download the US maps. I downloaded my local map here in the West on my TyTN II as part of the install. Pocket IE downloaded it right to the device. It works great. I may even purchase the complete US map set and convert over from CoPilot Live.

Edited by ipgenie
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Hello All:

Like many US users, I’m deciding between an AT&T and HTC branded Kaiser.

For any of you who work for large companies, or have a military connection, AT&T is offering discounts. The military discount seems to be about $100 off the list price (whatever they think that is), the company discounts that I have seen range from $100 off to $400 off (their list price, again). No assurances, but it might be a better deal.

So check around and you might save some $$.

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Guest borg.cube
I'm not sure what the problem is when you try to download the US maps. I downloaded my local map here in the West on my TyTN II as part of the install. Pocket IE downloaded it right to the device. It works great. I may even purchase the complete US map set and convert over from CoPilot Live.

Well it appears that TomTom has removed New York from its database. It offers it as an option but it comes up file not found. Even when I cut the URL to the NYC cab and paste into IE on the Kaiser or my desktop.

I'm just going to wait for CoPilot Live 7 from ALK which is due for release on October 1st. I'm not a big TomTom fan anyway.

Edited by borg.cube
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Guest CrasherZ

Hi Paul, I am Andy, from Hong Kong. I have been reading this forum for more than 4 months already (Really thanks for all your information and review posted here) and I was waiting the Kaiser to be launch in Asia for long. Now, I got my sweet deivce 2 days before.

Well, I have a question about the GPS. The QuickFix software works really great. This helps me initialize my GPS for first fix be done in seconds (e.g. within 30 seconds so far). But I found that there is a delaying issue here. After the GPS was fixed, the refleshing rate is pretty slow (say every 5 ~ 10 seconds). I can tell this by watching the GPS stream data. Those data always come in all the data at the same time and stop for couple of seconds (e.g. 10 seconds). During this period, my position remains no change even I was moving in a car. Before this device, I was using Dopod D810 (Tririty). Although, D810 took mintues to fix the position initially, the refleshing rate is really fast. I can see the "red" / "blue" bar (GPS Singal strength from GPS Monitor) kept moving (like refleshing in less than 1 seconds).

Do you have this problem on your device? or this is normal?

Thanks in advance.

Andy

Edited by CrasherZ
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Guest New HTC User

Hello... has anybody used Microsoft Portrait with this device? It is basically a videoconference add-on for MSN Messenger that even works on slow network connections. It can be downloaded here: http://research.microsoft.com/mcom/portrait/

If AT&T removes the front camera, then I would probably buy the unlocked TytnII even if AT&T does not provide a videoconference service.

Comments... anybody?

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Guest bignaz2k
Well it appears that TomTom has removed New York from its database. It offers it as an option but it comes up file not found. Even when I cut the URL to the NYC cab and paste into IE on the Kaiser or my desktop.

I'm just going to wait for CoPilot Live 7 from ALK which is due for release on October 1st. I'm not a big TomTom fan anyway.

I just downloaded the map for New York via TomTom taster just yesterday, so it is working now (if for any reason it wasn not before).  It works fairly well, other than the tall buildings occasionally causing some problems.

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Guest ChumleyEX

Gizmodo.com found something stating the pricing for the US Tilt (around $350), it looks like you can get one with or without the camera. If I understand correctly it looks like they've gotten rid of the front camera and of course there is no mention of GPS. The bonus, well if you can call it that, is that there will be push to talk. This could be helpful for those of us that haven't quite grown up and would like to play spy games with our beloved phones.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/att-...rame-300047.php

Edited by ChumleyEX
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A few comments on my Kaiser experience. I'm in southern California and using iGuidance Mapper with great results, getting 6-10 sats on the road. The phone/app play really nice together as well as Google maps with GPS. I do see the GPS bug, occasional long pause of 3-5 seconds where the map freezes and then continues.

Regarding the front camera, I don't have video calling here but I was playing with the front camera using the still camera app. It has Main Camera, Camera2, and Camera2 (Flip) choices. In Camera2 mode, you can see yourself and if you hold up a text card, the text is backwards. In Camera2 Flip mode the text is correct. While playing with this I found that in Camera2 mode, you can rotate the camera upside down a full 360 barrel roll and your image will remain upright on the display! In Camera2 Flip mode, it behaves like any camera, rotate the camera and the image rotates with it.

So my question is, How does it know?

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Gizmodo.com found something stating the pricing for the US Tilt (around $350), it looks like you can get one with or without the camera. If I understand correctly it looks like they've gotten rid of the front camera and of course there is no mention of GPS. The bonus, well if you can call it that, is that there will be push to talk. This could be helpful for those of us that haven't quite grown up and would like to play spy games with our beloved phones.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/att-...rame-300047.php

Thanks. Let's hope it's out this week.

No mention of GPS in that link, which is a little scary.

Tony

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Guest bignaz2k
A few comments on my Kaiser experience. I'm in southern California and using iGuidance Mapper with great results, getting 6-10 sats on the road. The phone/app play really nice together as well as Google maps with GPS. I do see the GPS bug, occasional long pause of 3-5 seconds where the map freezes and then continues.

Regarding the front camera, I don't have video calling here but I was playing with the front camera using the still camera app. It has Main Camera, Camera2, and Camera2 (Flip) choices. In Camera2 mode, you can see yourself and if you hold up a text card, the text is backwards. In Camera2 Flip mode the text is correct. While playing with this I found that in Camera2 mode, you can rotate the camera upside down a full 360 barrel roll and your image will remain upright on the display! In Camera2 Flip mode, it behaves like any camera, rotate the camera and the image rotates with it.

So my question is, How does it know?

It doesn't "know" anything - in flip mode, it is performing a horizontal flip on the image data, so it "rotates" in the opposite direction that you are turning the phone since everything is being flipped. Otherwise, in normal mode, it is just returning the same data it sees directly on the screen (but any text is reversed).

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Guest frydryce
Notice the attached AT&T discount form. Its only for phones purchased between 9/16 to 11/03. Interesting?

at least we're guaranteed an 11/03/07 release date =)

still crossing my fingers on a September date!

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Guest Kagenryu
Notice the attached AT&T discount form. Its only for phones purchased between 9/16 to 11/03. Interesting?

You have to have a $40 a month data plan! First week in to the second month and you have already eaten up the rebate! Why bother!

--

Kage

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Guest ChumleyEX

Yeah I'll be doing some math to make sure it's worth it. No GPS means no phone. My next option is that pantec that is due soon. I think it has the number pad and then over to the qwerty KB.

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Guest mortenandersen
Yeah I'll be doing some math to make sure it's worth it. No GPS means no phone. My next option is that pantec that is due soon. I think it has the number pad and then over to the qwerty KB.

Interesting... Could you please tell more about that "pantec", that is due soon?

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