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Monday, November 29, 2010

Telstra HTC Mozart Review 20101129 (4th Day)

If I refer to something in a prior post – just pick up the tag TelstraWP7 down below this post and you can refer to all the posts I’ve made regarding the HTC Mozart WP7 Phone.

The battery life is seriously deficit; I know a ‘fix’ is on the way, from Telstra, but still.

I can’t for the life of me – get Calender from Outlook, anywhere near the phone and I refuse to do it manually. I’ve downloaded Zune, I’ve downloaded Live Mesh and nowhere can I can any kind of program that will seamlessly connect the contents of my Outlook (and thus my Nokia phone) to this phone – I sure as hell can’t find it.

Another problem (for me) is the inability to tether to my laptop. I’ve ALWAYS used my phone, instead of a dongle, ever since Adam was a boy and this is a HUGE hurdle for me. I don’t want to carry more technology to do stuff that previously one handset was able to do.

The last two posts reviewing the HTC Mozart seems to be full of complaints, can’t be a good start, perhaps because I’m not a gamer, nor do I listen to music, nor do I take many photos with my phone. I use the phone book, the calendar, the alarm, and the internet AND tethering abilities.

I think part of my problem is that my phone is a tool not a toy and used accordingly. I don’t listen to music, nor watch videos from my phone, my kids have always been forbidden from playing with my phone without my express permission. I often play a game (Bejewelled, or similar) but more than not just THAT game. I’ve had this Nokia for 12 months and only downloaded one game and nothing else.

One thing I was concerned about was the fragility of the phone, it seems not to be of a concern, the phone is well weighted and smooth to handle, it’s of a weight I can appreciate. I dislike light phones, because I never know which pocket it’s hidden it!

I am going to spend the next 24-48 hours playing with the phone and trying to find some more positive things, I’m sick of complaining. There are good aspects of the phone, I just need to uncover them.

Saturday night I changed the APN to read Telstra.iph, at the same as doing that I noticed that I had NO Telstra coverage! Serves me right for living 40km from Melbourne CBD!

Since then, the battery life has vastly improved, so that is something. The average Joe shouldn’t have to do this though.

If you are on Twitter, follow the banter at #TelstraWP7

Telstra Exchange

5th Day Review

“I have been given a HTC Mozart with Windows 7 Phone by Telstra free of charge to review. The comments expressed by me reflect my own user experience and personal opinion and are not made on behalf of Telstra.”

6 comments:

  1. Tethering? Phone as a dongle? You are quite the tech head. As you suggest, perhaps you are not the target market. I am amazed that this phone brand has suddenly appeared from nowhere and is being much discussed.

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  2. yeah *blush* phone as a dongle! Plus it;s easy to back up and send text messages from a full size keyboard

    I've done it for so long - I can't remember when I started doing it - but it saves worrying about where I may have misplaced a dongle if I had one.

    HTC has been around for some time - but it lacked market share and I think that is what this is all about - to take some market share from Nokia and iPhones!

    I'm not sure if I'm not the target market - but like a sedan is good for some people and a 4x4 for others - I think the same analogy applies and although they both do the same job (drive) they drive in different manners with different uses.

    Does that make sense?

    Thanks for the tech-head comment Andrew, can't say I've been called that before - (I like it!)

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  3. Unfortunately the solution for your calendar issue is to use either Windows Live Calendar or Google Calendar and then sync that to the phone.

    Using Google Calendar & it's sync client means you can keep using your current Outlook calendar.

    Google Calendar Sync Client help: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=89955

    If you install the Windows Live Outlook Connector your Windows Live Calendar will appear as another calendar in Outlook which you can add & manage events in.

    Windows Live Outlook Connector help: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/use-a-windows-live-hotmail-account-in-outlook-HA010221823.aspx#BM7

    I personally use the Google Calendar sync in it's "1-way" mode to post my work calendar up to my Google Calendar so I can see appointments on my phone without having all my personal events in Outlook.

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  4. Adrian - I did try last night and failed miserably! - I only use google to receive email and oull via POP and SMTP, rarely do I go to Gmail, unless I'm on laptop and then only for short bursts.

    Windows Live is completely alien to me, I've never had hotmail address until Friday! Weird but true and considering I used to work for an R&D company, even weirder!

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  5. I can not believe that a phone that comes with the backing of Microsoft does not have a direct easy to use either with cable or wifi to do two way update from Outlook - who ever did the research for MS did a very bad job - I for one thouhgt it would be dead easy - why do I need Google or Windows Live or Hotmail - I do not use any of that crap. I think my Mozart will be heading back to Telstra and I will get an iPhone that can do direct updating from Outlook - MS and HTC will be loosing a lot of users if they do not come out with a free ap in the next few weeks. I am really pissed off and I have never been an Apple user but here goes.

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  6. Anon - As you may have already gathered, I use a Nokia N97 as my regular phone and it pulls directly from outlook.
    Sync's perfectly, calendars, phone numbers, everything.

    One of my last posts I make comment that I don't want to share everything online, (for me) that is a good way to get hacked and I try to avoid that at all costs.

    Call me slightly paranoid, but hey, even knowing computers, I'm still paranoid.

    I don't like and neither do I use Apple products, I prefer keyboard driven computers, not mouse and therefore stick with MS type products.

    I love the feel of the phone, but as I use Outlook to keep my life in check from dawn to dusk - I can't function without an easy to sync phone --> PC then the Mozart is not for me.

    I also tether to my notebook and the Mozart doesn;t do that either <-- which is a BIG failure on behalf of HTC Mozart and MS

    thanks for the comments

    ReplyDelete