This really gives it a real dynamic feel. Okay now, we’re getting into more interesting stuff. Opera 9.5 is set as the default web browser and in my opinion the best mobile web browser out there. A new feature on this device is the push internet. Push internet basically means that you can set your web browser to fetch and preload your favorite pages so you don’t have to wait for them to load. This is a good concept and works well in practice. I’ve set my most frequently visited pages to preload every hour. As you can see the loading time is next to nothing so far this feature has worked without a hitch. The 3.6 screen is quite ideal for web browsing. The high resolution screen makes it possible to read even moderately small text without zooming in.
But when you’ve had enough of eyes squinting, you can use the zoom key to get in a little closer. You never know when you just want to get in nice and close. Anyways, the zoom bar works okay, not great. It could be smoother and faster but it serves its purpose. Another way to zoom in is just to double tap the screen. Eventhough the Opera web browser maybe the best mobile web browser out there, it has its issues. Luckily, the guys at Opera are working on the next version of their mobile browser, the Opera 9.7. Hopefully, they’ll have it out soon enough. Meanwhile, the current version will have to suit our web browsing needs.
Next up is the comparison into loading times between 3G internet and WiFi speeds. As a reference page, I will be using Ngadget which is rich in pictures and rich in good content I may add. The 3G loading speeds on this device are fairly good but they are no match for WiFi speeds. WiFi seems to work without a hitch as well. I had some issues with my old TouchPro.
A new tab on the interface is the Stocks tab. Here, you can watch your stocks plummet. Okay, moving onto the Album tab in which the camera can be accessed. The camera can be accessed from the home screen as well. There are no hardware keys for operating the camera. Everything is done using the touch screen. For this review, I put the camera to the test.
I took several pictures in different lighting levels. I was quite impressed by the quality of pictures taken in broad daylight. Very sharp and the color and tone and balance exceeded my expectations but when the lights fade so fades the image quality. It’s obvious that when the optics of the camera is smaller than the tip of your pinky the device isn’t going to produce great pictures in low light situations.
All in all, I think the camera faired well eventhough the device lacks a flash. In the weather tab, you can get weather information about pretty much every major city in the world. A new addition to this tab is the weather forecasts icons for the next four days as well. As you can see, crap weather to come where I live.
In the settings tab, you can customize your phone to suit your needs. You probably notice my battle star galactica wallpaper. In the customize tab settings, you can rearrange the tabs to your liking.
Okay now, let's get into the good stuff. In the next segment, we’ll put the device to a real test. As you know, background programs can run simultaneously on Windows mobile devices. Let’s find out how many we can run at the same time and how multiple running programs will affect the overall performance. Okay, we’re running out of memory now so that’s about 10 programs. Pretty good.
So, how many programs did the iPhone run at the same time? Let’s test how filling up the memory affects the overall performance. TouchPro seems to run as smooth as ever and switching between programs works without a hitch.
One more test, let's fire up the music player okay. There is just a little bit of slowdown, barely noticeable. The Touch Pro2 fairs well in this test. My old Touch Pro would slow down considerably in situations like this.
Next stop is the GPS. The device comes with Google maps which will point you in the right direction but will not get you where you want to go. I recommend getting a real navigation application. I’ve purchased the TomTom 7 software which seems to work very well with this Touch Pro2. I think it’s been around town today and the application worked very well. The signal was constant and strong and there was no noticeable GPS lag. The big 3.6 screen works really well with the program. I highly recommend the TomTom 7 software for this device.
Next stop is the 3D gaming test. This maybe a business phone but even business dudes need to take a break. That’s where games come in. Teeter is a fun game that is included in the phone. The game takes use of the underutilized G sensor on the device. The game is very addictive and challenging as well. If you do finish the game, try playing the game while riding a bike now that takes skill. To test the 3D rendering capabilities of the device, I purchased Need for Speed Undercover. The game automatically adjusts resolution to fit the screen.
The graphics are pretty decent and the game runs at an Okay frame rate and it pleads well also. I happen to be an avid gamer myself and I might say that mobile gaming is not my thing. I rather play games on devices that are meant for games. I really believe that the iPhone games are more novelty gimmicks than games. Apple did a great job marketing the games and Microsoft missed out in a lot when not developing Windows mobile into the gaming side of things.
The big screen of the TouchPro2 works great on games. The keyboard works well also but it would be nice to see some dedicated keys for gaming. As I mentioned as a hard core gamer I play games with the devices that are meant for gaming. Okay, last but not the least we’ll see how well the Touch Pro2 handles different video colors. I’ll be using CorePlayer 1.32 this can be purchased online. It is undisputedly the best video player around. I’ll be running the benchmark tool within the CorePlayer, we’ll be reviewing the video player properties in terms of image quality and frame rate. As our benchmark video, we’ll be using the Terminator Salvation trailer. It happen to be a big terminator fan but you can imagine how thrilled I was when I heard that the director was Charlie’s angel full throttle was on the helm of my favorite movie franchise.
I kind of sympathize with Christian Bale for going off on that direct photography. I’d be pretty pissed of too if I were doing a movie with the guy who did Charlie’s angels moves. Anyways, to the video crew at—as you could see the 3.6 inch 800x480 screen is pretty ideal for watching video content. The colors are decent ant the black levels and contrast is very good. Although it would have been cool if they have included—screen. Those things are pretty amazing. When it comes to smooth video playback and good image quality, it all comes down to bit rate and resolution. If you want to have the maximum bit rate, the device is capable of playing. That combined with the highest resolution the device graphics chips can handle.
If the bit rate is too high, you will get frame skipping. That goes also with resolution as well. If you want a nice constant frame rate, the Touch Pro2 does not play high definition content. Theoretical, the maximum resolution for the device is 1008x1008 pixels. After extensive testing, I found a very optimal bit rate and resolution for the device. The optimal vertical pixel resolution for the device is 720 pixels. The horizontal resolution can vary a bit. But when you keep the vertical resolution at 720 and bit rate under 1500 kilobytes per second, you will be getting 100% playback speed and a great image quality. Opting the resolution and bit rate will result in frame dropping. I had the exact same result with both DivX and mp4 format content.
That indicates that the CorePlayer does a good job in coding and decoding content. Both formats mp4 and DivX are great in terms of storage space and well suited for this particular mobile device. In conclusion, the TouchPro2 is a great piece of hardware combine with great user interface. I played around with several devices in the past and I consider the Touch Pro2 to be the best Windows Mobile device on the market.
I may not be too thrilled about the Iphone look to it but it still a good looking piece of hardware. Overall, the Touch Pro2 is a very slick business device but it will fulfill the expectations of your average Tekno geek like me. We don’t have a website yet but if you like this in-depth review of the Touch Pro2, let me know. Until next time, this is Tekno with LP signing out.
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