T-Mobile to launch 'Touch Dual' as 'Touch Plus'

[Guest derky]

I've just bought one from the T-Mobile store in Nottingham, who said they'd just got them in today. Tried over the phone as the guy in store said they may be able to do a better upgrade price, but phone sales had none in stock, so went for £70 upgrade in-store.

Just setting it up now :D

EDIT - So, is the battery supposed to get this hot when charging? It's rather warm :)

Edited January 29, 2008 by derky

[Guest Zach2k]

I've just bought one from the T-Mobile store in Nottingham, who said they'd just got them in today. Tried over the phone as the guy in store said they may be able to do a better upgrade price, but phone sales had none in stock, so went for £70 upgrade in-store.

Just setting it up now :D

EDIT - So, is the battery supposed to get this hot when charging? It's rather warm :)

lol, I thought it something was cooking inside first time I charged it. Havent noticed it since. Let me know if you can add contacts to the touch flo cube, my one doesnt seem to let me for some reason.

[Guest ahodgekins]

lol, I thought it something was cooking inside first time I charged it. Havent noticed it since. Let me know if you can add contacts to the touch flo cube, my one doesnt seem to let me for some reason.

Just picked one up from Oxford Street T-Mobile store. Apparently they only came in today.

New customer so no swanky retention deals. Got the £32.50 W&W plus, which gets me 3gig a month, free Wi-fi hotspots (with my laptop - obviously not the Touch Plus), can use the Touch as a modem, and about 300 mins/600 txts (std Flxt 25).

Got the phone for £9.99 as I took out insurance (extra £8.99 a month). Have 14 days to cancel the insurance if I find somewhere cheaper.

Hot as hell when first charging, but seems to have cooled down a bit now.

Anyone know if there's supposed to be a code for the F-Secure antivirus, or is it just 30day trial? (also suspect it's a bit of a gimmick).

Just need to break the bad news to Orange now!

[Guest derky]

lol, I thought it something was cooking inside first time I charged it. Havent noticed it since. Let me know if you can add contacts to the touch flo cube, my one doesnt seem to let me for some reason.

I've added one contact, but it doesn't have a photo attached, so I don't know if that makes a difference. I tend to prefer just typing the contact name in the dialer and accessing them that way.

At the moment I'm having issues with it not checking my email when in standby and running on battery power, but checking fine when in standby and plugged into the mains. I've looked at the kaiser thread on xda-deveopers (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=332362) but none of the suggestions there seem to have fixed it. Anyone got any suggestions?

[Guest naseeb1970]

My 18month contract ends 25Feb so I thought Id ring TMobile and get an upgrade to the Touch Plus (been waiting for it for ages).

They said the phone is available and I am eligble to upgrade.

I say I am happy to stay on the Flext 35 + Web'n Walk package I am on at the moment and happy to sign up for the 18 months.

Then they put me on hold and come back saying sorry can't offer you that phone.

(me) Why? I ask

(them) erm..because checking your billing history you rarely go above your monthly allowance.

(both)

(me) What? So you can't provide me with the handset I want even Im willing to commit to £37.50 per month for 18months?

(them) Yes thats right....

(me) So you are offering me no incentive to stay with you...I pay my monthly bills + insurance (never claimed) on time (direct debit)...stay within my Web'nWalk Fair Use Policy....and use 'LESS' then my monthly allowance per month AND because of this I am getting penalised!

(them) Yes because you are not a heavy user sir...

(me again getting more angry)....So you would rather encourage myself to get my PAC code and goto Orange/Vodaphone/O2 instead? or start all over again as a new customer and force me the hastle of getting a new phone number?

(them) ...You are free to decide all your options air ... sorry cant offer you much on handsets...how about a dscount on your plan?

(me) ...and a free handset?

(them) ...NO handset sir

(me) hmmm...no thanks...strange logic you have round here..bye thanks for nothing!

So been waiting for ages for TMobile to release the Touch Plus and then I cant upgrade!

My options are;

1) Join as a new customer (and get the £5 discount + fee weekend calls offer) - new phone number

2) Join Orange and get the Touch Duel there - get PAC code and tranfer existing number

Only reason I ever wanted to stay with TMobile is due to the Web'nWalk tariff (1GB per month). The only other operator offering a decent data plan is '3' but they dont have this handset....

Not Impressed :)

[Guest bydandie]

My 18month contract ends 25Feb so I thought Id ring TMobile and get an upgrade to the Touch Plus (been waiting for it for ages).

They said the phone is available and I am eligble to upgrade.

...

Only reason I ever wanted to stay with TMobile is due to the Web'nWalk tariff (1GB per month). The only other operator offering a decent data plan is '3' but they dont have this handset....

Not Impressed :)

Phone to leave and the muppet on C/S who's obviously having a bad day will be a bad dream! Stay calm though! :D

[Guest bydandie]

Phone to leave and the muppet on C/S who's obviously having a bad day will be a bad dream! Stay calm though! :)

Got mine today and well chuffed. Just the way a phone should be! :D

[Guest naseeb1970]

Phone to leave and the muppet on C/S who's obviously having a bad day will be a bad dream! Stay calm though! :)

Yes I tried that also , but the same thing happended. I be fair at least they are being consistant(!). On all occasions, the CS rep goes away positive and comes back negative - so I think it offical policy to treat existing customers with contempt <_<

Reading the forumns it seems like existing customers are not valued as much as new ones in the mobile phone industry - people are deciding to jump between operators and taking their PAC codes with them....

[Guest]

don't bother talking to the normal CS lot. Go straight through to the retentions team asking for your pac code. Then when they offer you the what do want to stay spiel say about the orange offer and ask if they can match. (orange offer is free phone and free data for 35 quid a month 600 mins unlimited texts on dolphin) (only 30 mb though but don't mention that)

Thats what i did no problems matched first time free phone on flext 30 and wnw no insurance Plus my existing £5 off a month total cost 32.50 a month and i hardly ever get above my inclusive allowance if ever.

Arrives Saturday. If fact he agreed so fast I should have asked for more. I didn't even need to bargain which is why I'm thinking i could have gotten more.

Try again it does work. Mine worked on 1st try

Jeremy

[Guest bydandie]

don't bother talking to the normal CS lot. Go straight through to the retentions team asking for your pac code. Then when they offer you the what do want to stay spiel say about the orange offer and ask if they can match. (orange offer is free phone and free data for 35 quid a month 600 mins unlimited texts on dolphin) (only 30 mb though but don't mention that)

Thats what i did no problems matched first time free phone on flext 30 and wnw no insurance Plus my existing £5 off a month total cost 32.50 a month and i hardly ever get above my inclusive allowance if ever.

Arrives Saturday. If fact he agreed so fast I should have asked for more. I didn't even need to bargain which is why I'm thinking i could have gotten more.

Try again it does work. Mine worked on 1st try

Jeremy

I agree, when I said phone to leave I meant take the option to leave T-Mobile, as for your PAC straight away and that sets the tone for the rest of conversation....! :)

[Guest naseeb1970]

Thanks guys for the advice - Im going to have to get my PAC code so will try again with retentions. In the meantime - Another phone has caught my eye, its just released on o2 as the XDA Orbit 2 from O2 (aka HTC Touch Cruise). O2 have done a good job in the looks department and they are offering me £35 (inc 'unlimited' web bolt on - yes really unlimited!)... check it out: http://shop.o2.co.uk/phone/O2/Xda%20Orbit%202

So my dilema now is the Cruise or the Dual?

Dual Pros:

Has a keyboard

Dual Cons:

No Wifi or GPS

Cruise Pros:

Has Wifi and GPS

Cruise Cons:

No Keyboard

Otherwise the phone specs are identical (!)

Ive still got some days to consider...Jeremy let us have your thought on the phone after you receive it on Saturday :)

[Guest bydandie]

Thanks guys for the advice - Im going to have to get my PAC code so will try again with retentions. In the meantime - Another phone has caught my eye, its just released on o2 as the XDA Orbit 2 from O2 (aka HTC Touch Cruise). O2 have done a good job in the looks department and they are offering me £35 (inc 'unlimited' web bolt on - yes really unlimited!)... check it out: http://shop.o2.co.uk/phone/O2/Xda%20Orbit%202

So my dilema now is the Cruise or the Dual?

Dual Pros:

Has a keyboard

Dual Cons:

No Wifi or GPS

Cruise Pros:

Has Wifi and GPS

Cruise Cons:

No Keyboard

Otherwise the phone specs are identical (!)

Ive still got some days to consider...Jeremy let us have your thought on the phone after you receive it on Saturday :)

Well 4Winmobile have reviewed the Orbit 2 now. To me, it depends what you want/need. The Dual without a decent data package is a waste of time IMHO due to the lack of WiFi (Luckily I have decent data package). I'm now being cajoled into doing a review of the Touch Plus for 4Winmobile so will expect to have it done within the next two weeks. To me, however, I'd say if you want a phone rather than a communication device, and have a good data plan, go for the Plus/Dual due to the size; if having GPS is more important or you have a poor data plan then look towards the Orbit 2/Cruise.

[Guest naseeb1970]

Well 4Winmobile have reviewed the Orbit 2 now. To me, it depends what you want/need. The Dual without a decent data package is a waste of time IMHO due to the lack of WiFi (Luckily I have decent data package). I'm now being cajoled into doing a review of the Touch Plus for 4Winmobile so will expect to have it done within the next two weeks. To me, however, I'd say if you want a phone rather than a communication device, and have a good data plan, go for the Plus/Dual due to the size; if having GPS is more important or you have a poor data plan then look towards the Orbit 2/Cruise.

Thanks points taken. I use my device mainly for web browsing using the touch screen - So my main concern with the Dual is the impact of the smaller screen on Web Browsing using a pan/zoom bowser like Opera Mini. How do you find it?

ps.. If I do decide to get the Orbit 2 when is the best time to co-ordinate informing T-Mobile (i.e. gettting my PAC code) and signing up with a new deal with O2?

Edited February 7, 2008 by naseeb1970

[Guest]

well I've had the phone 24 hrs now and wow its amazing im very happy with it. especially compared to my vario 2 . its so nice and small I installed jbed java and opera mini and all is good the extra memory and ram are really noticeable.

its so nice and small fits well in my pocket actually looks like a phone and gets good looks when I get it out.

all the bugs mentioned in the xda threads are not present on my model at all.

to those waiting on the fence im get it I did and am happy.

ill try and post a mini review later.

Jeremy

[Guest]

Ok I've been playing with the phone the whole day putting all the software I like on it. the reinforced touch screen is very very good you have to tap a bit harder still getting used to it but its very good.

the ram makes such c difference I have everything I could possibly want to run totalling 12 apps running and pocket plus phone suite mobile shell among other today plugins in fact I don't normally need all that running and I still have 40 mb left of ram! plus everything runs very smoothly.

ok minus points

the xt9 takes some getting used to and does not always predict what you think it should the obvious example being 2 comes up with c as default and not a. but not a major minus point.

more seriously is the slightly slower fps of the drawing graphics refer to htcclassaction for more details not a show stopper but noticeable compared to my vario 2 especially in pie. again I would emphasize that this is not the show stopper some people have made it out to be.

I think realistically the most annoying feature of the dual one I will have to grit my teeth on is the fact the the soft reset is not easily accessible and involves taking off the battery cover to access. this is annoying as I beta test software and soft reset often.

other cons are easily worked around the lack of am ok button is easily solved by mapping it to the camera button . ae button plus solves mapping the other buttons or double presses etc.

it is noticeably quicker than the vario 2 in opening programs and running programs might be the ram or could be the processor is faster. either way its more responsive.

build quality is good much better than the vario 2 and the feel of the device is excellent.

a personal plus for me is that the leds are more muted or not as bright and don't light up the room when I go to sleep.

the camera is actually a lot better than the vario 2 which suprised me a lot considering they are both 2 mp.

anyway that's it for now if you have specific questions post here.

Jeremy

[Guest bydandie]

Ok I've been playing with the phone the whole day putting all the software I like on it. the reinforced touch screen is very very good you have to tap a bit harder still getting used to it but its very good.

the ram makes such c difference I have everything I could possibly want to run totalling 12 apps running and pocket plus phone suite mobile shell among other today plugins in fact I don't normally need all that running and I still have 40 mb left of ram! plus everything runs very smoothly.

...

build quality is good much better than the vario 2 and the feel of the device is excellent.

a personal plus for me is that the leds are more muted or not as bright and don't light up the room when I go to sleep.

the camera is actually a lot better than the vario 2 which suprised me a lot considering they are both 2 mp.

anyway that's it for now if you have specific questions post here.

Jeremy

Sound like the experience I have had, there's a slight waggle on the X-axis but apart from that it's rock solid. Have you tried installing Coreplayer 1.1.3 yet? I found that it speeds the device up a bit (Could be my imagination though!)

[Guest Dr Who]

anyway that's it for now if you have specific questions post here.

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy, thinking of a similar upgrade path. However I am a heavy email user on my phone and recently having used a normal phone again for a week or so found typing so much slower than my VarioII that I came to the conclusion I couldn't go back to that style of input. How are you getting on with text input? Are you using the hardware keyboard or one of the software keyboards?

[Guest]

Sound like the experience I have had, there's a slight waggle on the X-axis but apart from that it's rock solid. Have you tried installing Coreplayer 1.1.3 yet? I found that it speeds the device up a bit (Could be my imagination though!)

I've read about core player 1.1.3 and the qtv setting and its mighty tempting. however running tcpmp in gdi mode I get 142% on a clip I used to benchmark while on the vario 2 I get 96%. don't really understand how the device gets faster with an updated media player though?

@ dr who

this whole post and the two above it were typed on the new phone the predictive text on the xt9 is really good so I find the I only ever press a key once. eg to type Word I just pressed the 4 letter keys once as such it has not really slowed things down a whole lot like I expected but every now and then I miss the keyboard.

still though that should not put you off getting it as you adapt very quickly and in c lot of cases the xt9 is much more useful.

one more thing I have noticed is that the radio is quite sensitive on my vario 2 I had 2 bars of 3g on the stock rom when I flashed to later radio rom it went to 3 bars here I have 3 bars with the rom out of the box. although that doesn't mean I won't be flashing roms when there are improvements and I have time a few moths down the line

anyway that's it for now any more questions post here and ill try to answer

Jeremy

[Guest]

Hi Jeremy, thinking of a similar upgrade path. However I am a heavy email user on my phone and recently having used a normal phone again for a week or so found typing so much slower than my VarioII that I came to the conclusion I couldn't go back to that style of input. How are you getting on with text input? Are you using the hardware keyboard or one of the software keyboards?

oh I forgot to say I nearly am exclusively using the hardware keyboard the software two letter keyboard I use rarely.

Jeremy

[Guest bydandie]

don't really understand how the device gets faster with an updated media player though?

Neither did I, but on the Kaiser and Niki they are both more responsive after installing the software. Bizzare and it may be me! :shock:

[Guest]

Neither did I, but on the Kaiser and Niki they are both more responsive after installing the software. Bizzare and it may be me! :shock:

they don't seem to have a trial at all which is disappointing 25 dollars is a bit steep. does coreplayer play wmv files as I would love to have there accelerated ?

one more thing I have noticed is the phone does not seem to wake up for emails although does fine for texts and phone calls. this might be some software I have installed interfering.

still very happy with the phone btw the battery tweaks mentioned in another thread work really well .

Jeremy

[Guest derky]

one more thing I have noticed is the phone does not seem to wake up for emails although does fine for texts and phone calls. this might be some software I have installed interfering.

I have the same problem with mine. I raised it with T-Mobile and have been speaking to one of their technical guys who was yesterday testing 3 mail accounts on 2 different Touch Plus devices and seeing different behaviour in each one. He has passed it over to Germany (who I guess do the ROMs what with it being the home of T-Mobile) who he said will investigate to see if it something in their customisations that has done it, if not they will talk to HTC about it, who could pass it back to MS.

He was honest and said it wouldn't be a quick process, but he seemed like he knew what he was talking about, so hopefully someone out there will find the cause.

Interestingly, Push email works fine all the time, so I've bitten the bullet and gone for an Exchange account in the meantime - fairly sure I can downgrade again (should really read the Ts & Cs) if T-Mobile do come back with a solution.

[Guest]

I have the same problem with mine. I raised it with T-Mobile and have been speaking to one of their technical guys who was yesterday testing 3 mail accounts on 2 different Touch Plus devices and seeing different behaviour in each one. He has passed it over to Germany (who I guess do the ROMs what with it being the home of T-Mobile) who he said will investigate to see if it something in their customisations that has done it, if not they will talk to HTC about it, who could pass it back to MS.

He was honest and said it wouldn't be a quick process, but he seemed like he knew what he was talking about, so hopefully someone out there will find the cause.

Interestingly, Push email works fine all the time, so I've bitten the bullet and gone for an Exchange account in the meantime - fairly sure I can downgrade again (should really read the Ts & Cs) if T-Mobile do come back with a solution.

See that's the weird thing I have two accounts pop3 and one IMAP and they all get checked on schedule it even beeps vibrates to tell me i have new email. It just does not turn the screen on when they arrive. The indicator LED changes colour to orange like you would expect it to so I do know i have email (as its normally in my pocket and i feel the vibrate and hear the beeping) but the screen does not come on till i manually press the power button.

Totally liveable with as it still checks emails and wakes up for everything else. Had it 72hrs now and have modified opera mini to be system level browser as well as the battery tweaks I miss wifi but I sync via bluetooth and the bluetooth class 1 dongle i have seems to cover the whole lounge and bedroom from the computer so I just connect via bluetooth and surf on that. Its like I have wifi at home (with a 3mbps dongle) not the same I know for elsewhere but the same for when im in the house. T mobiles excellent web and walk covers the rest.

Still very happy with the phone and I wont be returning it under the distance selling regulations.

now all I have to do is wait for some nice custom roms.

Im still pondering whether 25 dollars is a worthwhile purchase for coreplayer??

anyone else bought it and thoughts

Jeremy

[Guest derky]

See that's the weird thing I have two accounts pop3 and one IMAP and they all get checked on schedule it even beeps vibrates to tell me i have new email. It just does not turn the screen on when they arrive. The indicator LED changes colour to orange like you would expect it to so I do know i have email (as its normally in my pocket and i feel the vibrate and hear the beeping) but the screen does not come on till i manually press the power button.

Maybe I've just got a dodgy device then, as mine doesn't check email at all in battery standby. Hmm, makes me wonder what else on mine isn't working properly :)

With regards the screen not coming on when you get an email notification, I'm fairly sure my Compact 2 didn't turn the screen on for email, only SMS, but then I've not been using it for a couple of weeks, so naturally I've forgotten how it worked :D

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

When you use predictive text on the T-Mo version, does key '1' bring up 'c' instead of 'a'? Very annoying on the HTC version!

P