Yes, this phone is not exactly new; I’ve had it the past year.

In that time, while it has not been as frustrating as the two Moto Q’s I went through, it certainly hasn’t been a fun trip.  At this point, it is nicely functional but I basically use it to call, text, check the web for the next approaching buses, and use Google maps.  I’m on Sprint so fortunately, I have the more powerful version of the Touch.  Full specs and features can be found here.  Don’t get me wrong, the hardware itself is actually pretty nice,  it feels good in the hand and is quite capable.  The real problem here is Windows Mobile itself.  After using the smartphone version of WM on my Moto Q, I realized the Professional (touch screen) version was the only version worth having because smartphone was pretty restricted in terms of apps and the control you have over them.  It was definitely an improvement and opened up the use of a lot more apps to me, but it is still the same OS with its inherent slowdowns, lagginess, and outdated UI.

What it does well is everything you’d expect from a WM phone, especially if you’re a corporate customer.  Yet, at the same time, it may drive you crazy to use the onscreen keyboard, which uses a Blackberry Pearl style two letters per key qwerty layout.  I installed the best full qwerty that is available for free, but typing is often frustrating because it’s so small and a resistive touchscreen (responds to pressure).  Finger typing on the iPhone can be frustrating too, but having an iPod touch as well, I can assure you, the Touch is a whole different beast in terms of frustration.

The phone is very prone to dropping.  I haven’t ever dropped a phone as many times as I have the Touch.  It’s so rounded like a pebble that it’s really easy to lose your grip, at which point, it drops, the back and battery explode out.  As a result, its mediocre camera has been rendered not very useful with a few lines on pictures due to damaged sensor pixels.

There is a very large developer community for the Touch, the best of which can be found at www.xda-developers.com and www.ppcgeeks.com.   There are many good apps to install and I would definitely recommend flashing your default Sprint ROM to one that’s a lot more customized.  The home screen with the flip clock at the top is called M2D which is a developer driven knock off of the M3D interface on newer HTC phones.  It works quite well when integrated properly and although I’m not totally happy with some of how it works, it gets the job done.

Battery life is a contentious issue for me.  On the whole, I can get through about a day and a half to two days without charging.  However, occasionally it’ll start draining in a day or less and keep doing this for a few days, even after rebooting the phone, there is no clear source of the problem.

It was definitely good to move from WM Smartphone over to the Professional edition, but at the cost of a real keyboard.  However, as the experience wears on, the same problems that plague WM keep popping up.  I have little hope for it until version 7 which will not be out for a year or two.  The promised 6.5 version for later this year appears to merely dress up the same old terrible UI and lagginess that plagues this platform.  As my Sprint contract is about to expire, I will either get a new phone on Sprint or switch to an iPhone.  I really like the looks of the Palm Pre, so if it is compatible with my plan, I’ll be jumping to that.  No more Windows Mobile for me.