Dual SHOCK - is this the best Windows Mobile device ever?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I prefer the 20 key, as it guesses the words right more often, and I like suretype anyway... but the 12 key is still excellent, and you gain windows / mail / ie buttons. There's not a lot to choose between them really.

I'll cover the merits of each in my review, which will be online next week!

P

[Guest Simon Desser]

I agree with all the good comments, it's a beautiful phone! BUT, there's two things with my Orange version which drives me mad, and mean I've not been using it. :D

Firstly, the signal strength is definitely weaker than any other HTC device I've got, and regularly shows 3 bars when my others show 4, and in weak areas loses the signal when others hang on :(

Secondly, mine suffers from the little glitch/stutter every few minutes when listening to music which my Kaiser does too, which ruins it for me as a music player :D

Does anyone else notice this or d'you think I've got a dud one?

[Guest adicken]

I agree with all the good comments, it's a beautiful phone! BUT, there's two things with my Orange version which drives me mad, and mean I've not been using it. :D

Firstly, the signal strength is definitely weaker than any other HTC device I've got, and regularly shows 3 bars when my others show 4, and in weak areas loses the signal when others hang on :(

Secondly, mine suffers from the little glitch/stutter every few minutes when listening to music which my Kaiser does too, which ruins it for me as a music player :D

Does anyone else notice this or d'you think I've got a dud one?

I have found this on my device as well. Maybe it is something to do with the Orange rom? Maybe a fix will come out in the (near) future or maybe our handests are faulty. I think it's worth keeping an eye on!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I'll have to give it a go on mine....?

I don't really listen to music on mine (have a Zune)...

P

[Guest Simon Desser]

I'll have to give it a go on mine....?

I don't really listen to music on mine (have a Zune)...

P

Cheers Paul

How d'you find the signal strength, compared to say a Touch or TytnII ?

[Guest ror100]

Cheers Paul

How d'you find the signal strength, compared to say a Touch or TytnII ?

Sorry I'm not paul, but signal strength and battery life are the only real problems I have with my touch dual. Battery has improved a little, so hopefully i'll get it up more and more, but the signal strenght is becoming a problem. Definitely poorer signal than my prophet, to the point of dropping signal alltogether. I might call orange and see what they say.

[Guest gavboy]

I'd agree with most of the comments. I think it's a great phone. Small, light, stylish and does all the great winmo stuff we know and love.

Battery life isn't great in my opinion. No more than 24 hours with moderate use. I have to take a charger if I go away for a night. I don't think signal strength is particularly good either but to be honest I don't have anything to compare it too.

Other than that, I'm very happy with it. Shame the 20 key version isn't being released in the UK. I would definitely prefer it, but I'm not prepared to fork out £350 for it. The 12 key one will do very nicely thankyou!

[Guest Ovie]

Hmmmmmmmmm but how fast is 3G compared to WiFi? Also it depends on your signal doesn't it?

[Guest Kchrpm]

I'm very interested in one of these in 12-key guise, trying to decide between it and the soon to be released W960i (I'd love to have 8 gigs of storage built in and UIQs customizable interface leaves me scoffing at WinMo, but the data speeds would be criminal without US 3G or EDGE support).

Quick question: can it easily stand upright on its own? How about on it's side? Sorry if it's shown in the video, can't really watch at work.

[Guest Disco Stu]

It lies flat on its back really nicely but the narrow surfaces are too narrow and rounded for it to stand up happily without assistance.

A bit like a year-old baby in fact :(

[Guest Monolithix]

There are some damned nice WinMo homescreens out there if you look hard enough! As for storage, why not just pick up an 8GB microSD? :(

[Guest Kchrpm]

Well that's major fly in the ointment, it's major usage for me would be standing on my desk as a media player/secondary display.

Mono-

I don't mean just the homescreen, I mean most of the main menus of the system and even the calendar. The Sony Ericsson theme editor I use for my S710 already lets you make W960i themes, and the amount of control you have over colors, backgrounds and icons with a free app from the manufacturer is staggering compared to any other mobile or desktop OS I've had experience with.

The mega-card solution is of course a possibility and just needs to be factored into the price.

Edited December 13, 2007 by Kchrpm

[Guest Dr Who]

Secondly, mine suffers from the little glitch/stutter every few minutes when listening to music which my Kaiser does too, which ruins it for me as a music player :(

Arrrggghhhhhh! That sounds like the dreaded tsssss that was on the (C500???) doesn't it? IIRC that was related to the phone registering on the masts every so often and no fix was found in the time I had the phone.

[Guest gavboy]

Arrrggghhhhhh! That sounds like the dreaded tsssss that was on the (C500???) doesn't it? IIRC that was related to the phone registering on the masts every so often and no fix was found in the time I had the phone.

I haven't noticed any stuttering.

[Guest afhstingray]

i have a touch dual from orange, so its the one with the t9 keypad, other than the fact when i press the number 2 key "c" shows up instead of "a", i also have not discovered how to press "enter" as in you know....skip a line..... am i missing something or is it just handicapped?

i really wish the texting experience could be like on a Smartphone device, i absolutely loved texting on my c500

please if anyone has a solution to the lack of "enter" functionality do post.

[Guest afhstingray]

one other thing, when you slide it open , and you have that quick menu, wouldnt it have been more intelligent to allocate each item on the menu a number .... that way you can slide it open and press a button, very fast action if u remember the numbers

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

The 'action key' (ie pressing the dpad) starts a new line.

P

[Guest mattie01]

I used my misses contract to upgrade her orange phone and had it unlocked for t-mobile by the time orange registered the new sim i got which she then "dual"ly :( put into her old phone, I really do love this phone.

some points that stick with me when going from a varioII to the touch dual

the size, its alot more, "have around" meaning its easier to have it in your pocket, i dont get the urge to look over my should as i use the phone incase someone is laughing at the person in the pub with the brick for a phone :D

and the speed as someone said thier have been times when it has had 10 apps open and still moving though the menus fairly swiftly.

i'm sure this will be improved even more so when clean roms are relased that take out all the bloat that comes with alot of roms now days.

if anyone is thinking of converting from a varioII or varioIII (tytnII) and is woried about the lack of a keyboard the softkeyboard on this phoen is just fab, and i have adjusted in no time at all.

(using the hardware keyboard) for short messages and the software one for longer emails.

the features like the large start bar/ start menus and the zoomed in battery icon/ signal when touching the bar is another easy but inotive feature i am finding less and less use for the stylus which is a very nice feeling.

Incase anyone is intrested aswell the "modaco red box around the xt9 and abc mode" works really well :D for letting me know whch software keyboard mode i am in :D

sorry this started out as a quick reply and turned into a mini review...

guess i got carried away B)

Edited December 15, 2007 by mattie01

[Guest mattie01]

To the people that mentioned about wanting improved battery life,

(i have an unlimited data package and i have push email running constantly which does drain the bat abit)

The trick i used on my varioII was to use a custom created shourtcut in the comm manager that switched the phone from "3G/HSDPA" to "GPRS"

so that i would set it to use "GPRS" (alot less drain on battery then 3G/hspda) for when the phone i was just generally on. as i dont really care about it being connected at HSPDA speed if all it is doing is pulling in email headers slightly slower.

but then when i wanted to surf from the phone or use it as a modem. i would just turn on "3G/HSPDA" then back off when i was finished,

this inceased battery useage ALOT. as 3g was only in use for a couple of hours a day rather then all day!. but i guess its down to how you want the phoen connected when your not using it as a phone, for me its a non issue but i guess someone people will have a reason for wanting 3g on all the time.

it also had the side effect of increasing my signal as i getting a stronger signal on gprs (well thats what it reports) and i noticed alot less disconnects,

this signal strengh thing could just all be in my head so if anyone wants to give it a try feel free...

Edited December 15, 2007 by mattie01

[Guest Syphon Filter]

Best WinMo device ever eh?

Really though? It looks great...the SureType is the one I'd get for sure...but really Paul? Best ever? A bold claim indeed...GPS would be good.

[Guest stesa]

I can't say if Dual is the "Best WinMo device ever" but after one mounth using it I surely can say that Dual is the first WMphone more easy to use than a Nokia or anyother smartphone and cells :(

[Guest ror100]

To the people that mentioned about wanting improved battery life,

(i have an unlimited data package and i have push email running constantly which does drain the bat abit)

The trick i used on my varioII was to use a custom created shourtcut in the comm manager that switched the phone from "3G/HSDPA" to "GPRS"

so that i would set it to use "GPRS" (alot less drain on battery then 3G/hspda) for when the phone i was just generally on. as i dont really care about it being connected at HSPDA speed if all it is doing is pulling in email headers slightly slower.

but then when i wanted to surf from the phone or use it as a modem. i would just turn on "3G/HSPDA" then back off when i was finished,

this inceased battery useage ALOT. as 3g was only in use for a couple of hours a day rather then all day!. but i guess its down to how you want the phoen connected when your not using it as a phone, for me its a non issue but i guess someone people will have a reason for wanting 3g on all the time.

it also had the side effect of increasing my signal as i getting a stronger signal on gprs (well thats what it reports) and i noticed alot less disconnects,

this signal strengh thing could just all be in my head so if anyone wants to give it a try feel free...

Now this sounds like the ideal tweak for me! Any tips on how to do it?

[Guest mattie01]

Now this sounds like the ideal tweak for me! Any tips on how to do it?

i used to run a app created by schaps called advance config, but the late version i tried would turn the touch dual to "gsm/gprs" but would not turn it back to 3g...

it works fine on the varioII and on the kasier, so i'm sure it just changes a couple of reg keys, and someone could prob do a cab just to do this. if i find a working one i'll post up here...

[Guest greenturtle]

Sorry this is a silly question.

Can you answer/end a call by Sliding Open/Close the device?

[Guest ror100]

Sorry this is a silly question.

Can you answer/end a call by Sliding Open/Close the device?

I tried this yesterday, you can answer a call by sliding, but by closing it doesn't end the call. Totally wasted opportunity IMO.