Going from HTC Touch (Raphael) to TYTN II (Kaiser)

Well, the nice man from Vodafone came today and gave me back a new TYTN II, in exchange for my Touch Pro. I’d objected to a clause in my contract renewal, so we agreed to differ and they downgraded my phone.

And… well… is it necessarily a downgrade? As I picked up the Kaiser for the first time, I jotted down my first impressions:

• Compared to the Touch Pro, the Kaiser feels larger, and the screen resolution is definitely ‘less gorgeous’, particularly through the Vodafone-standard screen protector (which I need to replace).
• As always, the box-fresh phone feels more responsive than one that I’ve had for more than a week.
• I’m lost on the keyboard change again, as I’m sure I will be for a couple of days. The keys are larger and easier to press. Also, I’ve just enjoyed my first press of the dedicated email button on the front.
• The snick of the stylus being pulled in by its’ magnet, is also missed.
• But…   AHHH! The scroll wheel!!!!! I can scroll!
• And a D-pad that actually works and doesn’t mis-press the whole time!

As for the rest of the Touch Pro features: The touch-wheel and the accelerometer were present, but didn’t really serve any purpose whatsoever. The FM Radio was actually quite nice to have once, but again, I don’t really listen to the radio

In compensation, the Kaiser fits my large hands a little more than the Pro – particularly since the jogdial is far more ergonomic than dragging around the screen with your thumb (if using one-handed). And the D-pad… yes, a flush fronted phone looks nice, but you need to feel your way around it to be productive.

So, in short, I’m not missing the Touch Pro at all! I’ll likely stick with this new Kaiser, and perhaps consider the SE Experia, or Blackberry Storm (still waiting for that)…

Revo Blik Radiostation Review continued…

Well, I’m still playing around with the Radiostation, and have a few more comments to add…

Has it revolutionised my life yet? Well – I do have it on most of the time; it’s nice to have sound on, and I’ve been trying various stations on and off over the last few days. A friend who speaks Italian came round yesterday, so I put on a few Italian stations, which reminded us both of the times when we were over there – which was not quite revolutionary, but still very nice.

On the downside, I’ve still not tuned in to a station on any medium (DAB, FM, WiFi) that impresses with sound quality. I think that could be the stations in the case of WiFi, and I know DAB is much lamented, but I would have thought FM would be better. However, playing some MP3s from my PC, with the Radiostation plugged into my surround system, isn’t bad.

The buttons still annoy – a design where they could be laid out more intuitively, rather than all being identical, would have been preferable.

Also – I’ve been playing BBC Podcasts this morning, but found that after a while (15-45 minutes), one will pause, disconnect, and then restart… from the beginning. I’m hoping there’s a fast forward, or a config to store the last position (nope, I’ve still not read the manual), because otherwise, this is an absolute pain for anyone who regularly listens to podcasts.

Actually, they could have a fast forward/rewind – operated by jogdial, a’ la iPod. They could tune using a Jogdial.. select using a jogdial… Do away with every identical button on the damn thing and replace them with just a jogdial!

And.. that’s my thoughts on jogdials.

So – good. But not great.