AT&T Tilt: Built for speed
Posted: Friday, October 05, 2007 4:11 PM
AT&T |
The screen tilts forward slightly so you can see it better while typing. Hence the name.
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AT&T’s new Tilt is fast. Really fast. I know that because I’m familiar with the phone in other forms.
The Tilt is nearly identical to AT&T’s previous 8525 device and to T-Mobile’s current Wing smartphone.
They’re all manufactured by HTC, they’re all GSM-based world phones which run on Windows Mobile OS, and they all have similar controls and buttons. They’re also all very good cellular phones.
But there's a huge difference. While according to AT&T's Website, the 8525 runs on the older, slower Windows Mobile 5 and the Wing runs on the older, slower EDGE wireless data network, the Tilt has the most recent OS and runs on AT&T’s super-fast, 3G system.
The Tilt has a large 2.8-inch screen and a spacious QWERTY keyboard. In addition to taking full advantage of broadband-speed features, such as mobile Music, Video, TV and games, there’s also Wi-Fi, GPS and even push-to-talk communication. The 3.0 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and microSD card memory expansion slot are included.
Being a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device it means it has the whole Microsoft cell phone software suite including versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. If you have to deal with Microsoft Exchange mail, Windows Mobile devices are your best bet.
On the other hand, I’m not a fan of the mobile version of Internet Explorer. It never lets you see the full, graphical version of a Web site like Safari on Apple’s iPhone does. That’s something I hope gets fixed in the next operating system release.
But the browser seems like just a small speed bump once you start using your Tilt. Unlike the slower iPhone and the Wing, the 3G Tilt is noticeably faster handling any and every task. Wireless synching with your e-mail server takes two to three seconds compared to a minute or so for similar phones hampered by their slower EDGE networking.
Same for sending photos, downloading music and videos or any other thing you might throw its way. The difference is anything but subtle. I actually found myself using my phone less to handle all my tasks. That saved me a lot of time.
For the person who needs their wireless voice and test communications to be super fast and precise the Tilt is an elegant solution.
The phone is being a marketed as a business device. On the AT&T site, I was offered the Tilt for a whopping $999.99, minus a business discount of $499.99, minus a Web discount of $100 for a total of $399.99 (with a new 2-year with a new contract and phone number). That’s in line with other premium smartphones on the market today.
