the new HTC Kaiser

[difenbaker]

MEDC 2007 Europe - the first public presentation of HTC Kaiser ! HTC Kaiser official now !
June 25, 2007 [Pocket PC phone] | By Edward J. Rutkowski.

At MEDC 2007 Europe, in the so called "Microsoft Device Bar" that consists essentially of a table with some devices powered by Windows Mobile, one can notice HTC Kaiser Pocket PC phone:

http://x.msmobiles.com/portal/images/microsoft/htc-kaiser-1.jpg

That is a replacement of popular HTC Hermes and that additionally, on top of features of HTC Hermes, offers smaller size, tilted QWERTY keyboard, built-in GPS and 3 megapixel camera!

http://x.msmobiles.com/portal/images/microsoft/htc-kaiser-2.jpg

http://msmobiles.com/news.php/6477.html

leaked specs:

http://x.msmobiles.com/portal/images/phones/htc/htc-p4550-kaiser-specifications-1.jpg
http://x.msmobiles.com/portal/images/phones/htc/htc-p4550-kaiser-specifications-2.jpg


.... overall, I must say, this is a phone with awesome specs!

cheers!

[carcomptoy]

Not to downplay your headline, but hadn't either BoyGenius or Gizmodo already gotten their hands on this months ago?

[difenbaker]

I think so... not sure though. :)

[hotzigetty]

i read something similar to this on bgr a longtime ago..

[markuserectus]

I really Want this Phone but its rumored to be around £600 which is way too much for a first day purchase, the hTc Omni may come out around the end of the year which is the upgrade for the universal, or xda exec.

[Mrbkkt1]

This is looking more like what i will get for my next phone.
Hate to leave Nokia, but I really prefer to have a qwerty, and will like that i can use WM6. I like the way symbian works, but there were too many problems w/ the n95, So it looks like the kaiser will be the way to go.
The only question is do I order it early, or wait for the price drop after a few weeks.

[robbii]

too many problems w/ the n95Really? my n95 has been as stable if not more stable than my 3 previous nokia s60 phones. I used to have WinMo but it crashed like crazy.

[Mrbkkt1]

Really? my n95 has been as stable if not more stable than my 3 previous nokia s60 phones. I used to have WinMo but it crashed like crazy.
+1 on the winmo crashing.
I had an mpx 300, and finally gave up after the 100th crash, and the way it killed everything not saved to backup if i forgot to charge it overnight.
I'm a little tepid on going back to winmo, but hoping that the tytn II might be a winner.( at the same time, it is running winmo6, and we all know how stable microsofts new releases are...)
Don't get me wrong, I love my s60 n80, and really wanted to get an n95 8gigblack, but i'm also missing having a keypad, and don't want to get an e90.
The best thing about the n80, is that for the amount of use that i've gotten out of it, it's still in really good condition, way more durable than my w800's case.
dislikes i had on the n95 (my coworker has one):
screen is not as crisp as my n80 (but then again, it is a touch screen)
battery life is not as good as mine ( but after 16 months, the N80's is about to get worse)and I'm on mine online way more than he is ( well, it's not a good comparison, i don't pay attention to see if his bt is on all the time etc.)
phone is fat.
and I don't like the light colored sand color.

The black looks promising, but i don't see it coming to us soon...

I might just make this tytn II my next project until nokias ultimate phone comes out (whatever that may be)

[robbii]

dislikes i had on the n95 (my coworker has one):
screen is not as crisp as my n80 (but then again, it is a touch screen)My previous s60 was an E70 w/the same screen as the n80, everything was too small and TOMTOM lagged. Was it crisp...yes, have I missed it since going to N95...Not one bit. If you're criteria is touch screen then WinMo or Palm are your only choices.phone is fat.
and I don't like the light colored sand color.It's got unchallengeable multimedia capability, how small do you need it to be? It's not competing w/a RAZR and comparable in size to anything out there, it does come in other colors, I have a plum one and you can change the back/colored fascia easily.until nokias ultimate phone comes outmeaning you're waiting for N95's successor? You might be waiting till next spring.

[Mrbkkt1]

My previous s60 was an E70 w/the same screen as the n80, everything was too small and TOMTOM lagged. Was it crisp...yes, have I missed it since going to N95...Not one bit. If you're criteria is touch screen then WinMo or Palm are your only choices.It's got unchallengeable multimedia capability, how small do you need it to be? It's not competing w/a RAZR and comparable in size to anything out there, it does come in other colors, I have a plum one and you can change the back/colored fascia easily.meaning you're waiting for N95's successor? You might be waiting till next spring.
I'm not saying the n-95 is bad... I liked it, and almost bought one, but knew that the se k850 was coming. but after seeing the limited internal memory available, I knew I was going to need more of a smart phone, since i am already used to it.
I've had gps w/ my phones before, (nextel), and didn't use it much. I live on an island, and it really isn't that hard to find your way around.
I did not like the sand or plum colors for the phone, I do like the n95.

I'm sticking w/ the n80 for now, maybe waiting a week or 2 to decide on the TyTN II.
I like Nokia, my phone is bulletproof, w/ multiple drops, yet it doesn't look like it, no cracks or anything. in fact, every nokia I have had has been better built than any other phone including motorola, and they are supposed to have the "toughest" phones out.
main reason I want a smart phone w/ keypad is cause i have a lot of word/excel documents that i carry around, and the n80's processor just cant handle opening some of the larger ones(pdf), and the office viewer is good, it's just sometimes it would be productive for me to be able to edit some of the documents.
What I would really like is someone to be able to give us some experience w/ the kaiser to tell us about the stability.

Don't get me wrong, the N95 is badass, and To be honest, if the 8 gig black were to be available in the US, i'd even think about picking it up instead. but it's looking more and more like this new tytn II will be my next phone. mainly cause of it's practicality. I'll miss using symbian though, and if i do buy it, maybe i wont like it, and sell it and get an n95 instead.




One last thought: To be completely honest, maybe one of the other reasons that I don't want an n95, is cause my co-worker already has one too.

[Shun]

The only question is do I order it early, or wait for the price drop after a few weeks.

While I have not tried the Kaiser, my Windows Mobile 5/6 devices has been very stable, eg. my current iPAQ 512 runs for weeks without a single reboot or crash. IMHO, stability of mobile OSes depends very much on the users, though the chances of breaking Windows Mobile devices is greater if handle ignorantly.

My advise is to wait for a few weeks, check out the issues with Kaiser 1st and only purchase it if the issues are acceptable to you because you won't want to visit HTC service center, they are commonly extremely lousy... Also, check out the new HP iPAQ that should be released sometime this month too.

Reviews of Kaiser:

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC-TyTN-II-Review-review-r_1803.html
http://www.modaco.com/Paul-Reviews-HTC-TyT-t256569.html
http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile-devices/review/2007/08/10/HTC-P4550-Kaiser-Smartphone/p1
http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/htc_tytnII_review.html
http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/2007/09/07/htc_tytn_ii_review

[Mrbkkt1]

While I have not tried the Kaiser, my Windows Mobile 5/6 devices has been very stable, eg. my current iPAQ 512 runs for weeks without a single reboot or crash. IMHO, stability of mobile OSes depends very much on the users, though the chances of breaking Windows Mobile devices is greater if handle ignorantly.

My advise is to wait for a few weeks, check out the issues with Kaiser 1st and only purchase it if the issues are acceptable to you because you won't want to visit HTC service center, they are commonly extremely lousy... Also, check out the new HP iPAQ that should be released sometime this month too.

Reviews of Kaiser:

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC-TyTN-II-Review-review-r_1803.html
http://www.modaco.com/Paul-Reviews-HTC-TyT-t256569.html
http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile-devices/review/2007/08/10/HTC-P4550-Kaiser-Smartphone/p1
http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/htc_tytnII_review.html
http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/2007/09/07/htc_tytn_ii_review

The review have been mostly positive, only thing for me is that i have set a personal limit on how much i'm going to spend on a new phone at $700.

It seems weird if i have a phone that is half the price of my laptop , so i'm going to try and keep firm to this.

I have too, heard good things about the newer versions of winmo, so i'm pretty upbeat about this pending purchase of mine.

[Shun]

Though I didn't read most of the reviews, they should be positive unless there is some serious fault with the hardware or vendor's add-ins; the OS itself is definity not any less reliable than other mobile OSes.

If you only want QWERTY keyboard and office document editing, take a look at HTC S710, half the price price of Kaiser. MobileBurn review at http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=3544&source=ARCHIVE

[Mrbkkt1]

Though I didn't read most of the reviews, they should be positive unless there is some serious fault with the hardware or vendor's add-ins; the OS itself is definity not any less reliable than other mobile OSes.

If you only want QWERTY keyboard and office document editing, take a look at HTC S710, half the price price of Kaiser. MobileBurn review at http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=3544&source=ARCHIVE

nah, I need a little more than that. I've always had relatively rare phones, and usually cutting edge.
the crappy thing about being one of the firsts, is that w/ it comes all the bugs.
A long time ago, i spent 1k for an mpx300. cool phone, but battery life was crap, and the vga camera was almost as bad.
the dual flip was cool, but parts broke down on this phone, and by the time moto was ready to release it, it was already outdated, so they scratched it.
nowadays, the phones seem to be more rushed into production, in order to not be outdated when they hit the shelves, but that tends to lend itself to more "buggy" things.
hell, the n80 i have works awesome now, w/ very little problems, but it's only because it's on it's 5th firmware, one year later.( well, only bug i have left is the inability to erase themes)
nah, i like the way the kaiser looks, and it seems cool, but having learned my lesson before, i'm waiting for a more thourogh review, hopefully from a personal experience from someone on mobileburn first (or is that supposed to be me?)

[Mrbkkt1]

Oh, I almost forgot.
The other reason I'm a touch hesitant to buy now, is cause I heard that AT&T wireless will get this phone, which would suck later on for all of us who bought it unlocked, but then again, They were supposed to bring in the n95, but i haven't seen anyone rocking the branded n-95 yet.

[Shun]

nah, I need a little more than that. I've always had relatively rare phones, and usually cutting edge.
the crappy thing about being one of the firsts, is that w/ it comes all the bugs.
I don't know, the Nokia and SE in your list isn't "relative rare" here, except for the 9500... same go for the N95 and probably most upcoming models from the two companies, :)

A long time ago, i spent 1k for an mpx300. cool phone, but battery life was crap, and the vga camera was almost as bad.
the dual flip was cool, but parts broke down on this phone, and by the time moto was ready to release it, it was already outdated, so they scratched it.
nowadays, the phones seem to be more rushed into production, in order to not be outdated when they hit the shelves, but that tends to lend itself to more "buggy" things.
hell, the n80 i have works awesome now, w/ very little problems, but it's only because it's on it's 5th firmware, one year later.( well, only bug i have left is the inability to erase themes)
MPx300 was never released, Motorola must had cancelled it for good reasons. N80 was also a bit special, it's the very early device that move Nokia back into "cutting edge", with new version of the OS and advance features like WiFi. It's not surprising that they were faulty or buggy.

Like what I mentioned in another threat, Windows Mobile is in a different position as Symbian. While Symbian is creating advance features, Windows Mobile is sort of restoring features from it's root - Windows. Most of the time, new features don't need to create from fresh, there is an existing solid base to reference and rely on.

That's why while Windows Mobile devices was ahead of S60 devices in every aspect except telephony and camera, there really isn't as many as problems. I owned a HTC Wiard which was "cutting edge" at that time, ran for weeks continuously, never gave me much problem, :)

Nevertheless, I think S60 is quite mature now, problems with newer devices should be much lesser than the initial N80. While I don't encourage buying devices because they are "cutting edge", devices on both Windows Mobile and S60 are quite reliable now, just need to watch out for the "cutting edge" hardware and the vendor's add-ins.

However, problems with ignorant user will still remains for a while until better protection is doable on mobile hardware, :(

PS: for "cutting edge" Windows Mobile devices, there are smartphones from Eten with VGA display, Toshiba with WVGA display and biometric reader, HTC with quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA for real global access... not forgetting the built-in SQL engine and .NET Compact Framework which allows mobile application to run on both desktop and smartphone without modification (J2ME application cannot run on desktop directly)

[Mrbkkt1]

I don't know, the Nokia and SE in your list isn't "relative rare" here, except for the 9500... same go for the N95 and probably most upcoming models from the two companies, :)


MPx300 was never released, Motorola must had cancelled it for good reasons. N80 was also a bit special, it's the very early device that move Nokia back into "cutting edge", with new version of the OS and advance features like WiFi. It's not surprising that they were faulty or buggy.

Like what I mentioned in another threat, Windows Mobile is in a different position as Symbian. While Symbian is creating advance features, Windows Mobile is sort of restoring features from it's root - Windows. Most of the time, new features don't need to create from fresh, there is an existing solid base to reference and rely on.

That's why while Windows Mobile devices was ahead of S60 devices in every aspect except telephony and camera, there really isn't as many as problems. I owned a HTC Wiard which was "cutting edge" at that time, ran for weeks continuously, never gave me much problem, :)

Nevertheless, I think S60 is quite mature now, problems with newer devices should be much lesser than the initial N80. While I don't encourage buying devices because they are "cutting edge", devices on both Windows Mobile and S60 are quite reliable now, just need to watch out for the "cutting edge" hardware and the vendor's add-ins.

However, problems with ignorant user will still remains for a while until better protection is doable on mobile hardware, :(

PS: for "cutting edge" Windows Mobile devices, there are smartphones from Eten with VGA display, Toshiba with WVGA display and biometric reader, HTC with quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA for real global access... not forgetting the built-in SQL engine and .NET Compact Framework which allows mobile application to run on both desktop and smartphone without modification (J2ME application cannot run on desktop directly)
yeah, i like the glofiish stuff, the screen resolution is pretty neat, and is one of my lists of possibles.
to be honest, I have come to prefer symbian a lot more than winmo, but what really has me thinking of the kaiser is the 400 mhz processor- downside to al that speed will probably be of course battery life, but i have come to realize that i could use something that i can view spreadsheets, and word doc's on, and although i can use officeviewer, i can't edit w/ it.
global access is not important to me, since i rarely leave hawaii.
A lot of people here have basic generic phones, and only recently have people come to understand why i use unlocked phones- there response was usually, what makes your 600 dollar phone better than my $19.99 w/ 2 year contract phone???
I just have to laugh it off, and when they see pics that come out of the phone, or the voice recognition, they understand ( not to mention the emailing pics etc.)

i'm feeling wishy washy about this next purchase, so i'll probably wait a month to see whats coming out, and for more in depth reviews of the kaiser.

[Mrbkkt1]

hmmm, did some research, and realized that the m700 glofiish has a 400 mhz chip too... but not as much ram/rom....
maybe i'm dragging myself into hype...:naka:

[Shun]

Quite obvious that you prefer S60, that's why I have been trying to deviate you from buying the Kasier... I guess you will probably go back to S60 very soon and it isn't worth spending big money on Kasier... get something cheaper, have some fun and switch to a phone you really like later, :)

From a developer point of view, Windows Mobile does have some advantages over Symbian, but for users, S60 phones is still a more logical choice for the time being. I think you have make a wise decision by choosing to wait, no point rushing for the Kasier... If I am you, I would go directly for a S60 phone and save some money, :)

[Mrbkkt1]

Quite obvious that you prefer S60, that's why I have been trying to deviate you from buying the Kasier... I guess you will probably go back to S60 very soon and it isn't worth spending big money on Kasier... get something cheaper, have some fun and switch to a phone you really like later, :)

From a developer point of view, Windows Mobile does have some advantages over Symbian, but for users, S60 phones is still a more logical choice for the time being. I think you have make a wise decision by choosing to wait, no point rushing for the Kasier... If I am you, I would go directly for a S60 phone and save some money, :)
only reason in need winmo, is for the word/excel editing capabilities...
otherwise, i definitly prefer symbian.
unfortunately, I don't see something in the nokia pipeline (or SE for that matter)that runs symbian, and will give me what i need.
the E90 doesn't have a backlit keyboard (qwerty), and is a little out there at 1k. also, I didn't like the 9500 too much, so i'm hesitant to back to something in that size.

put it this way, unless i see a great deal, i'm not going to go for the kaiser.

[robbii]

only reason in need winmo, is for the word/excel editing capabilities...i went from ppc to s60 and never looked back, I find it hard to believe that editing would be so much better in winmo than S60. If I had to work on a document for more than 1 minute, I would wait till I was either at home or at work and use a pc, if i knew I was going to working on documents then I would bring my laptop.

I've owned PPC touchscreen, qwerty on s60, and tried qwerty on winmo w/a touchscreen, IMO...qwerty isn't for handhelds and single handed s60 is so much easier to use than qwerty or a stylus/touch screen. My line of thinking is that it is a PHONE that can view files created on a desktop and not anything close to mobile desktop experience so to think you'll get anything more done w/qwerty on a handheld is wishful thinking. Micrsoft must have thought the same thing in releasing a smartphone version of WinMo otherwise they wouldn't need a second version not requiring a stylus.

[Mrbkkt1]

i went from ppc to s60 and never looked back, I find it hard to believe that editing would be so much better in winmo than S60. If I had to work on a document for more than 1 minute, I would wait till I was either at home or at work and use a pc, if i knew I was going to working on documents then I would bring my laptop.

I've owned PPC touchscreen, qwerty on s60, and tried qwerty on winmo w/a touchscreen, IMO...qwerty isn't for handhelds and single handed s60 is so much easier to use than qwerty or a stylus/touch screen. My line of thinking is that it is a PHONE that can view files created on a desktop and not anything close to mobile desktop experience so to think you'll get anything more done w/qwerty on a handheld is wishful thinking. Micrsoft must have thought the same thing in releasing a smartphone version of WinMo otherwise they wouldn't need a second version not requiring a stylus.
Not doing hardcore editing, but minor stuff. also typing on some other forums is way easier w/ qwerty, but not too much texting for me....
I'm going to wait til i have a chance to find someone w/ winmo6 on any pdaphone before i buy... And yes, I really do like symbian better than winmo, and yes i have 2 laptops, both portable, both vaio's. , but have learned that even if the computer is small, it's no fun to lug around w/ you.

[Mrbkkt1]

I forgot to mention, that i broke down and bought the Kaiser.

a few comments.

TomTom does not come w/ models that come from the hong kong / china areas.

I used microsoft live search anyway.

Contrary to popular belief, you can use the t-zones for unlimited internet, you just have to manually set everything up.

for some reason, all my photos come out sideways, where i have to flip 90 degrees left w/ photoshop.

gps works fast. real fast w/ this phone.

I miss my voice command from nokia... I'm waiting to see if there is a suitable version where i don't have to program every command in.

It needs a photo editor- like w/ symbian, where i can quickly chop the pic, before manually uploading from the phone.

for some reason, when i try and upload pics, it won't find them from the memory card, only from the phone memory.

i cannot get the damn phone to sync w/ my laptop. it runs vista, and still am working on getting the phone to sync, sonce vista no longer uses active sync.

worth the money????
well, sort of, maybe i would have waited til it came down to about 600- that is what i truely think that it is worth.

[Shun]

Free Image Editor - http://www.xnviewpocket.org/

By default, uploads go into My Document in the memory.

[Mrbkkt1]

Free Image Editor - http://www.xnviewpocket.org/

By default, uploads go into My Document in the memory.
thanks for the editor.
Problem, is that i have all the pics on the memory card, and have to move them into phone memory before uploading.

[Ack]

hmm. i have the singapore version.

battery sucks down in less than 1 day if you have all your connections active.

gps is good. works with live search, yahoo go, google maps, smart2go and picks up very fast (less than 1 minute)

the most annoying thing to me is that i have to push the power button to activate the phone from standby. i guess this reduces the chance of accidentally dialing, but it still bugs me.

java works with google mail and opera mini.

i installed the opera browser and like it much better than i.e.

i haven't uploaded pics from phone to the pc because shozu sends them to my website automatically :D

i'm getting a 6gb card next week