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Keypad AND Keyboard anyone? Say hello to the new HTC S740 Smartphone


Guest PPCInformer

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I think this phone looks the biz and the specs are nothing to sniff at either. I have a Diamond at the moment which I love, but to be honest, I much prefer the Standard OS - the UI is more intuitive to me, an it just seems more stable.

My only wish is that this were a slim candybar with no slideout QWERTY, along the lines of the HTC Tornado/ i-Mate SPL, just thinner and more modern specifications. Hopefully HTC will get around to releasing one like that?

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Guest simon211175
Is there any feature on the Standard that is not present on the Professional version of Windows Mobile

Standard has a useful application built in called responsiveness.

With no decent WMS devices available last month, I've ditched my HTC Touch for a Sony C702 - the S740 might bring me straight back though if I can get it on contract when mine is up for renewal at the end of January.

I would of course prefer it without a keyboard, but it's better than no device at all.

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Guest barnyr
This device blurs the line between WMS and Windows Mobile Professional (WMP) devices. There should be a distinction between WMS and WMP devices, both in specs and in price point. Because this device tried to be more that it should be in terms of specs, it missed the target on the price point, and that this a serious stumble that has repeated for most WMS devices.

If Microsoft wants to conquer the mobile phone market, it needs devices that are small, simple, and cheap. This device is thick, bloated, and will very likely be expensive. It simply misses the point of the WMS platform.

Guy

I disagree. There is definitely a market for WMS devices with full QWERTY. I have been waiting, hoping that HTC would produce a device with a standard dialpad on the face and a slideout QWERTY. I much prefer dialing the phone with a real keypad rather than the touchscreen. The touchscreens look nice, but I don't need it. I was planning on waiting for the new pantech duo to come out and comparing that to the touch pro, but now I can choose this device which is exactly the form I was hoping for. Now I just need to wait for a US version...

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Guest richair

Whyyyyyyy, HTC, are you making my life hard.... :D

I was all pumped up to get a Touch Pro (still am BTW), but this little guy shakes the foundations of my decision a bit. I'm using an HTC Tornado now, and what I like most about this smartphone is the ability to use it one-handed and that one can use the keypad to navigate the menus quickly (because most menus have corresponding numbers).

Upside of switching to WM Pro is increased support for applications. THE killer app for me, navigation, is increasingly difficult, since TomTom ditched Smartphone support.

Anyway, I would actually love the QWERTY-keyboard, because it gives the ability to sidestep T9, which is ok for the occasional SMS, but a disaster when typing e-mails.

One question BTW: does anyone know how the navigation input on the s740 is? I see a Diamond-like circle in the middle, but there does not appear to be any room for d-pad buttons around that circle (vertically at least).

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Guest Rimjaw

Lose the QWERTY and you've got the phone I've been waiting for since the C500. Nearly there. Recon it can only be a couple more years before they actually get round to making one.

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Guest madbandit

finally something to upgrade my orange contract to from the VOX.

if they ever get around to adding it to the brand!

Maybe O2 will beat them to it!

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Guest Socrates

I suppose this little guy won't work it's 3G magic on T-Mobile USA.

I'll probably get one regardless, but 3G would be nice.

I absolutely ove my s710, but ever since it went in to HTC for "repairs" it just hasen't been the same.

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Guest noxide
Hopefully t-mobile will get them, not mess the rom up and have them in stock by December. Upgrade time in December. Hooray.

Have T-Mo ever offered any smartphone devices???

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Guest UnLoCkSmItH
Have T-Mo ever offered any smartphone devices???

T Mobile SDA ??

Everyone keeps saying best phone since C500... I had an I-mate SP5(Tornado) which was a really good successor to the C500 until WM6 came out and it felt a little outdated until the good guys from xda-dev came to its saviour and made WM6 for the tornado.

I would still use it and didnt think it needed replacing until the USB charge/sync connector broke off.. after 2 years of use.

Still would be nice without qwerty I reckon but come on guys, I think they'll obviously follow one through. They gotta be missin a few screws if they didnt.

Kapiche

--------------------

Edited by UnLoCkSmItH
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I would have liked the form-factor to have been more like below....a bit less like a TV-remote...

Hmm.. This photo from cropped from This post @ Engadgetmobile.com winmo7.jpg looks a lot like the S740 cropped by Looby post-116892-1219829800.jpg

Interesting.. And I´m seriously hoping for a non-QWERTY version in non-tv-remote size, because the S740 seems to be BIG compared to the S710.

(Espacially when you look at the comparison shot in This post @ Coolsmartphone

/J

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Guest Confucious

I think that's what he meant - lose the qwerty keyboard!

I hate the term 'candy bar' (what the heck is 'candy' and has anyone seen a 'candy bar' in the shape of a phone?) but a successor to the C600 is what is needed. I'm not keen on the square edge design that seems so popular now but I guess others like it.

This would make a great filler phone between a standard phone and a PPC but where is the standard phone top replace the paging C600 (mine works great with WM6.1)

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Guest madbandit

so has anyone heard if its gonna be coming to a nertwork provider anytime soon?

I know the Vox made it, but did i miss the wings on a UK network or was it not taken up?

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Guest mstephenson
so has anyone heard if its gonna be coming to a nertwork provider anytime soon?

I know the Vox made it, but did i miss the wings on a UK network or was it not taken up?

The Wings made it onto O2 I believe. Considering both the Vox and the Wings made it onto a network i'd imagine the S740 will be too, god knows which one or when though!

Latest i've heard for a release is early October for the proper HTC version, prices between £340 and £360

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I have to say I totally disagree with guybrush's post:

I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed with this device. I have been patiently waiting for a new Windows Mobile Standard (WMS) device from HTC. While the specs of the S740 handset are pretty impressive, I am not sure that this device has a market. I do not believe that the WMS market needs a QWERTY keyboard on its handsets, and I think that this is a serious design flaw.
I believe that HTC (with S710, S730, S630), Motorola (with Q-series) and Samsung (with SGH-i640) have already proven the opposite. QWERTY WMS phones have their market and that market is comparable to, if not bigger than, non-QWERTY WMS market.

This device blurs the line between WMS and Windows Mobile Professional (WMP) devices. There should be a distinction between WMS and WMP devices, both in specs and in price point. Because this device tried to be more that it should be in terms of specs, it missed the target on the price point, and that this a serious stumble that has repeated for most WMS devices.
Why should there be specs and price difference? WMS is alternative to WMP. It's not an underdog for some poor people from developing countries that cannot afford WMP device. I'm happily willing to pay for WMS as much as I would for WMP (if the specs are worth it). Besides - pricing for S740 has already been announced and with price tag below 450€ it's cheaper than Touch Pro and Touch Diamond.

If Microsoft wants to conquer the mobile phone market, it needs devices that are small, simple, and cheap. This device is thick, bloated, and will very likely be expensive. It simply misses the point of the WMS platform.
WMS is simpler than WMP in its nature - and that is - no matter how many radios it has. And talking about S740's dimensions - it's thinner and narrower (although a bit longer) than my last smartphone - HTC S310. And that one I certainly wouldn't call big. And once again - it won't be expensive - it's very much comparable (or cheaper) to other smart devices.

While the WMP platform is designed for touch devices that are spec heavy, relatively large, and mainly targeted to business users, media heavy users, and serious net mobile surfers, the WMS platform is/should be designed for devices that are minimal in specs, candy bar or clamshell in design, with simple 12 button keypads, and no QWERTY keyboards. WMS devices should be targeted to the everyday user or as a companion to the de facto business device (i.e., the Blackberry).
This could have been true some 8 years ago. Today the situation is very much different. With WMP devices becoming smaller and smaller and WMS devices becoming more and more powerful it really only comes to your preferences - if you like to use touchscreen device (with WMP interface) or non-touchscreen device (with WMS interface). And about Blackberries - sorry, but those are just outsiders compared to WM for such a long time already.

The everyday user needs a phone to mainly make calls, send SMS messages, check and update a schedule and a To-Do list, take simple notes, take the occasional picture, check non-time-sensitive e-mail, and look up something every once in a while.
A user you describe is dumbphone user - such user would never buy a smartphone. My 4-year-old Sony Ericsson K700i could handle all the things you have mentioned.

WMS devices (and the OS itself) should be designed to make these tasks as easy and as accessible as possible. The typical WMS device should not (in 2008), therefore, have GPS, 7.2 HSDPA, QWERTY keyboards, or other bells and whistles.
I really see how having many features contradicts being accessible and easy. They just sit there - and you are not forced to use them if you don't feel like it.

WMS devices could have such features and more, but not on the main line of devices by Windows Mobile handset manufacturers (which on last count, Samsung and HTC standout as the only active and serious players).
Motorola, Asus and lately also HP are active in WMS department as well. But that doesn't really matter for the sake of our topic.

Before the WMS and WMP platforms succeed, Microsoft and Windows Mobile device manufacturers need to determine which market segment to attack. They can choose from the mainstream mobile phone market (where Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson mainly play), the media and net surfer market (where the iPhone wants to dominate), or the business market (where Blackberry is currently king). I believe that with a little tweaking and with appropriately specced devices, the WMS platform can easily beat the offerings of its competition in the mainstream market (if not get embraced by the very manufacturers in that market). As for WMP, it appears that it is becoming a serious contender in the media and mobile net surfer market, as well as the business market. The devices are getting better and the OS is becoming easier to use, so WMP appears to be on the right track.
I believe that one of the greatest things about WMS devices is that they can easily represent each of 3 market segments you mention. They are accessible and (usually) look like mainstream phones, have no problem with media and net (like, well, iPhone) and yet offer full feature set for business users.

If HTC has a couple of more WMS devices up its sleeves that do not have QWERTY keyboards, and that are simple, thin, and cheap (see Samsung SGH-i200), then the state of the WMS platform could be saved. Otherwise, I am not sure where WMS goes from here, if anywhere.
Like every other market - WMS market needs diversity. HTC have proven in the past that it can deliver cheap low-end devices (such as S310 I have already mentioned). But I don't see how bringing high-end WMS devices destroys platform as a whole.

And a few words to the end: I was a very happy user of HTC S310. The only thing that really bothered me was screen resolution. Therefor I decided to switch to newer device. I have eagerly awaited S730, but when it came out it had quite a few deal-breakers for me. It's been very thick, quite slow, had memory leaks and lacked GPS.

Therefor I went for TyTN II which just came up and seemed to pack everything I could ever need in a reasonable form-factor. I was never satisfied with it as much as I was with S310. TyTN II, despite having much faster CPU, is slower and less responsive. And quite a bit bigger as well. And WMP interface has always been kind of too much PC-oriented for my taste.

I have, however learnt two things:

1. I am definitely WMS guy. And I don't prefer WMS devices because they tend to be cheaper, but because of their great, responsive and easy, yet extremely powerful interface in package very similar to standard phone.

2. I would never again buy a phone (or PDA) without QWERTY keyboard. It is just so much comfortable to have full key set to type SMS messages, e-mails etc.

HTC S740 is the device I have been long waiting for. And if it doesn't include some hidden (such as performance) problems, I will buy one. Every device I have been deciding to buy or not had at least one major drawback for me. In this sense S740 is IMO almost perfect (two minor glitches I see are non-AF LEDless camera and smaller capacity battery).

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  • 1 month later...
Guest dimension

Since nearly 3 years i am now using my HTC Tornado and i'm still very happy and satisfied with it, it's the best (smart)phone i ever had!

It has everything i need build in, it runs very stable and has the small form-factor which i appreciate a lot, all inputs can be done over the numeric keypad or with the joystick, fast and you only need 1 hand; I don't need/want a touchscreen!

Now i will have to upgrade to a Windows Mobile 6.1 device because the company i work for will only support the synchronization for devices running this OS.

I am very happy that the S740 came out becouse it's exactly the kind of device i have been waiting for and it is the only reasonable follow-up for my HTC Tornado i guess.

The QWERTY-Keypad is a thing i actually don't need but it's nice to have. The S740 'Rose' has a very nice design and the specs are very good to, i heard that it will be one of the FASTEST (resonse time) Mobile 6.1 devices because there are no cpu-hungry touch-screen appz runnung like touch-flo on the HTC Diamond.

Does anybody know if TomTom will run on the S740 ??? (No touch-screen input)

because a navigation programm will be a MUST.

How is this in general with software written for windows mobile 6.1 , does it need a special non-toch-screen version for devices like the S740 or does the OS handles the different kind of input methods (keyboard/touch-screen) itself ?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Monolithix

TomTom haven't released a Smartphone compatible version of their mobile nav software since version 5 from what I can tell from a quick google.

You'll also need Smartphone-specific versions of apps (as with your Tornado), which most developers do tend to offer (TomTom aside of course...)

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