Happy vs Not with Polaris

[bjrmd]

Given the driver issues and mixed reviews on the forum(speed, camera, scrolling) I was wondering if we could get a sense of overall satisfaction with the device. Would you buy one again, even if there is never a fix for the driver issues?

[sean20357]

I would, but definitely not for this kind of money!!

[sedde]

the device is worth every little penny. :rolleyes:

[JNGold]

It would help if you guys mention what device you came from. It helps to understand what you have been used to in order to gauge your current opinion. For example, if you came directly from a dog-slow KJAM (not OC'ed) and say the TC is fast, then that's good to know.

[turcomora]

By far best pocket pc device. Most complete with great form factor. I have owned the following:

Siemens SX56
Siemens SX66
Audiovox p4400
eten G500
xda atom
imate jasjar
htc tytn
htc p3300
htc p3600
htc kaiser

[SabbeRubbish]

Knowing the driver issue and HTC's stance about it - I would not. Too much money at stake!

[stesa]

By far best pocket pc device. Most complete with great form factor and best phone module. I have owned the following:


SP : typhoon , tornado , startrek , excalibur , cavalier.

pocketpc : magician , wizard , universal , prophet , hermes , trinity , artemis , cheetah , herald , kaiser , niki , and for last polaris.

and non HTC , eten m600 x500 x800 , hp 6815 , asus p525 , and a few of SE and nokia smartphone.

[diego1810]

:) the best pocketpc phone, I'd buy it again a hundred times!!!

[oppaunke]

i switched back to a P3600/Trinity.

if i would't consider to play games via nes/snes/gba emulators, i probably wouldn't sell the polaris...

next device will be the eten v900 or samsung i900 (vga+dvb-t VS 5mpx-cam+8gb internal memory) ... difficult decision.. :D

[reyjabs]

Given the driver issues and mixed reviews on the forum(speed, camera, scrolling) I was wondering if we could get a sense of overall satisfaction with the device. Would you buy one again, even if there is never a fix for the driver issues?

If I need another PDA, Yes.
If I need a pocketable video player or play games, I'd buy a PSP.
If I need a good picture quality, I'd buy a digital camera.
That mean's the answer is Yes I am happy and I will buy again if I need to! but never on the same price!:(

[xrrkrrkx]

definately would buy it again, it does combine most features one needs in a PDA/Phone

(which dont include.... Camera and Video player) if one needs to watch a video on the go a laptop is still the best bet... who wants to watch mini video?

they should have left the secondary camera out all together (or installed a flash)

some of us work, so the usefullness of watching video in perfect quality is not a high prio.

this gadget:
gets you where you are going (GPS)
has all necessary ability to handle day to day work tasks (Office Mobile)
can make calls (phone)
and has the benefits of all of the 3rd party apps out there for it (anything else you need)

[Sky740]

Totally agree with ‘xrrkrrkx’, I’ve had all sorts of PDAs from the Psion and Casio days, through Ipaq onto K-Jam, the T-Mob’s MDA’s...

The Polaris is a useful tool first and a toy second for me so some video lag (which hardly bothers me anyway) is acceptable due to all the other top features + its form factor make this a must for me and I’d pay up again to get one.

[christonge]

Having come over from the Kaiser thread it's incredible to for me to see all the negative comments about the Polaris which basically has the same (if not better) performance as the Kaiser, but without the weight! For me it's the best all round device I've ever used and I think my Kaiser will be up for sale....

[DirtDevil]

Remember that in almost any forum for hardware,
most posters do only write when they are unhappy about something.
Almost no one write any message just because they are happy with there phone.
Try count the negative weight of messages against sold phones.

I came from HTC 4350 to this one, its the best phone I ever owned,
and so I said about 4350 also. But it is !!
Before HTC I used all kinds of Nokia.

I use Push mail from work to the phone, 15 mails each day that I read,
I'll give IT support over the phone to 1500 people, 10-15 each day.
I use blue tooth over my car stereo back and forth to work,
else I'll use my Blue tooth headset 8 hours a day.
Sometimes I even use tomtom when going to another of our departments.

I never switch off the phone completely, but recharge it once every
second day or even sometimes only every third day.
I simply do not understand those who are unhappy with battery lifetime.
But I do never see any video on it, why would I do that?

Well, this is no doubt the best phone I ever had. I'll buy it again.

[raskell]

Having come from the Dopod U1000 (Athena) to the Cruise is a positive, mainly due to they size. The fact that the Cruise can do everything that the Athena could do is impressive, considering it is less than half the size and weight and is more useful as a primary phone. I still miss the VGA display and often carry the Athena with me on travel to use as an internet tablet and yes, as an A/V player. The 5" VGA is so much easier on my tires eyes and not having to scroll so much on web pages makes it a no brainer. On the other hand, I bought one of the very first U1000's out at double the price of the Cruise. Both have their place but the Cruise gets my daily use. You can see other devices in my Signature line, not including numerous PDA's prior to the Cell phone era.

[---Alex---]

I used a MIO A201, which doesn't have a phone, radio or WIFI.
I am impressed with the TC (Polaris).

One of the issues I have is the speed of the MicroSD memory card (8GB class 4) which is slower than my SD memory card (2GB 150x) on my MIO A201 which slows down Tomtom, but this is a memory card issue and not a TC issue.

[AndiHelldriver]

I switched from regular phones to the Charmer and was already very happy with it, now it was time to improve my "lifestyle" and get a all in one unit. It was hard to decide if I shall get a Kaiser or a Polaris. Finally the small size and less weight made my decision for the Polaris.
After nearly 2 weeks I just can say it is a great unit, it works without problems (beside the usual WM bugs), I can't complain about battery life as at home I have a pretty weak reception (but better than the Charmer) - I live in a "ray safe" appartement..... As I use it really a lot and always have to play around with it (especially in boring meetings), I have to charge it every day or second day during week, at weekend where I use it less I don't have to charge it.
The speech and connection quality of the radio improved, the GPS has a good reception and works fine.
Some complain about the price: it maybe high but try to get a Nokia N95 cheaper without operator contract, it has more or less the same price as the polaris.

So in summary: a high price unit but worth it!

[RSchris]

Sure I would ;)

Before :
SPV C500, SPV C600, Wizard, Trinity, TyTN, Artemis, Kaiser, and now Polaris.

I don't regret it. My top 3 is :

1- Polaris/Kaiser (it rocks !)
2- Artemis, it rocked as well.

[Turnipio]

I would absolutely buy TC again.

Although I understand the complaint that many people have with the video driver issue, for me, it does not distract too much from the device, as I do not use it as a primary video device.

The times that I do watch videos or clips etc.., I find the video good enough for my needs (but not excellent). I think that if one is buying a device ONLY as a phone and multimedia device, it is really quite difficult to presently beat the iPhone.

Over the years I have used PPC/WM devices, I find the TC excellent as a pda ( I cannot say 100% excellent because of the afforementioned video driver issue).

The phone portion is also really good - the best voice clarity and signal that I have had.

Previously:
PDAS: Compaq iPaq 3650
HP iPaq 5450
phones: various samsung and motorolas
PDA/Phones: Samsung SCH-i730 (which was really good in its day for PPC2003SE, but really sucked with WM5)

That's just my 2cents for what its worth.

T

[JNGold]

Well, I have had my TC now for about a week and I absolutely love it. It is everything I expected it to be and I think I was needlessly worrying about performance. Of course, the TC will be that much better with the proper graphics drivers, but the way it is now has surpassed my expectations. It is actually the first WM phone in a long time that I think is "fun" to use.

Check out my review here: http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/htc_touchcruise_impressions.html

[LargePig]

I upgraded from an XDA Orbit (Artemis).

I'm very happy so far. Actual navigation in CoPilot 7 runs at the same speed as the Orbit but route calculation is a lot faster. I hate TomTom so no problems there :P

General navigation/email/text... pretty much everything is much faster than the Orbit.

Now that I have turned 3G off the battery life seems fine, but it sucks with everything on, it ate 25% while sitting on my desk overnight before switching to GSM only!

GPS chip is better in the Orbit (SiRFStar III), but only seems to make a difference to the reported altitude rather than lat/lon position, so as long as you're not going to use the Polaris GPS as a parachute trigger or something then you probably won't even notice.

*Edit*
I'll be keeping my Artemis. I quite like driving with MemoryMap on one and CoPilot on the other!

I do await the new drivers though, as faster CoPilot performance would be what I would have expected.

[surgex0]

2 weeks ago i purchased a TC, upgrading from an HTC Apache.
I have to say I am mostly impressed, but not as impressed as I was when I first saw it on the web and read the specs...

I love the size and I love the weight, and features of the device (micro sd, gps, wm6).
Coming from the Apache this was everything I was hoping for and more.

I was however initially somewhat dissapointed with the camera and overall flow of the programs on the screen, but i figured that was normal for any wm6 device. I guess not, heh. Honestly I didn't even know about the drivers issue until I saw the sticky at the top of the polaris thread.

It was a very expensive purchase ($845) and if HTC had no plans or didnt even aknowledge the video issue then I would definately regret purchasing this device.

My overall opinion: I definately aknowledge that there is an issue with the video drivers, and i anxiously await for HTC to rectify the situation. However, currently it does not interfere that much the programs I run or how I use the device enough for me to want to return it.
Would I buy it again? Yes, but only after reading the responses from HTC saying that the drivers ARE indeed coming soon. Otherwise, no.

[fry42]

Hi,

Someone in this thread mentioned that the personal experience of this device depends on what you're used to.
I switched from a (don't laugh) S/E K610i :) So for me WM6 was completely new. And I bought it two days ago - so I don't have any long term experience.

Basically I wanted a mobile phone with integrated GPS&WiFi. I spent some weeks investigating those high-tech mobile gadgets (and testing a Nokia E51/Symbian). It became clear to me that I want a device with a touchscreen - and that, in my opinion, Symbian isn't really suited for the newest-gen hardware.
So I stumbled upon the HTC Cruise. The TouchFLO interface immediately cought my attention. And all those features/performance in such a small package turned the balance.

My conclusion after two days:
The TouchFLO additions are great and essential to use WM6 as a mobile phone. Would not want to use it without.

And YES, I would buy it again. But for me there are still some "annoyances", none of which being the limited video features:
- The small taskmanager dropdown on the home-screen keeps diasppearing/crashing
- I haven't (yet) found a quick way to get to the call list
- The control-wheel: It's just not responsive enough. Two full turns for just one page of contacts is a pain. Also i think there are better ways to make use of it i.e.: in contacts you could use the up/down buttons for page-up/page-down and the wheel to select contacts within the page.

Keep in mind that this is a short-term verdict.

Bye,
S.

[LargePig]

I haven't (yet) found a quick way to get to the call list


Slide up the cube, slide to the quick contacts side and hit the 2nd button at the bottom :D

[TheOnly1]

I upgraded from the Artemis and the TC is all I need for now :D Video drivers would be nice but not a "live or die" issue for me. For video playback we have Core Player, which fixes the issue and for games...well, I found a total of 2 hardware accelerated games for WM. Call of Duty 2 and 1 Nvidia exclusive, which will run only of certain Dell PDA'a with Nvidia video cards. As I cal live very well without Call of Duty on my phone it's certainly not a problem. PDA Mill Gamebox Classics runs fine and this is enough for me ;)

[tamAyT]

Upgraded from Artemis.
Bluetooth doesn't connect to my HTC BH S100.
Bluetooth doesn't connect to my JVC KD-BT1.
No sound on internal speaker with calls.
Problems with original rom (and before hardspl) and with several other roms (with hardspl).
I think I'm taking it back...

[omaga]

Upgrade from Trinity and i love my Polaris! Best device i had, my picture with the camera is very good so i cant understand the critic about the of poor pictures..:rolleyes: My device do all the things I want and cant complane at all
Can some device compite with this one? NO;)

[spalx]

So ... i have selected that i would buy the device again, but things are not so simple, firstly i think i have paid a bag of money (around 650 euro or around $970) for this device and the "i`ve been ripped off" feeling isnt quite nice, so maybe i would buy the TC again, but after the price drops a bit and HTC realize that nokia, samsung, sony ericcson and the whole world actually is going mad over the PDA smartphones, and noone of them will risk his title to have something like this on his hands. If the problem was with Nokia, the giant would have released a fix for the problem immediately, sites like htcclassaction will never be forgotten and i would think again about buyng an HTC device, hell there are so many devices coming out soon, and more and more of them have windows mobile 6, so what makes HTC better ? Until now, the only rivals were Asus, glofiish (aka Eten) and maybe HP, but now ... everyone wants a piece of the action, i see the new X1 from sony ericsson runs WM 6.1 Pro, OMG ... and it looks really nice ... so in final ... i will really really think again about purchasing another HTC device in the near future if they dont do something about these drivers.

[katbollie]

Slide up the cube, slide to the quick contacts side and hit the 2nd button at the bottom :D
Save yourself 1 step: press the green hardkey and then 3rd softkey from top(-right) downwards. ;)


My view: i'd certainly buy it again....coming from a....(pls don't laugh :p).....PalmLifedrive + Moto V80. (and a gps-thingy)
Fell in love with the first TouchFlo thingy that came out, but was still with a few doubts. And the waiting payed off, i now have an all in one device (w 8GB uSD), more than i could wish for.
Still have a few gripes with it, but mostly related to buggy soft (e.g. PCM and Kbd, but still good sw).
Now slowly educating myself in this whole upgrading thing (reading alot), and waiting for a "1.0" release of WM6.1 (or maybe WM7, who'll say what ms does next :rolleyes:)

[brrrt]

I would buy it again, definately. Maybe because this is my first PDA, but still... It could be faster some times, but the drivers don't bother me that much. It would be nice if it was faster, but isn't that the point for most (electronic) things?

BTW: I have bought the phone for € 530,- and my previous phone was the SE k800i. Come on, if you compare the things you can do and the prices of "normal" new phones (like SE, nokia etc.), those prices are also € 400,- or more! If you compare what you can do, I really think the money's well spent. :D

[Tupac_Shakur]

the bluetooth on this device really sucks, I have the phone in my pocket and my bluetooth is all garbled, pain in the ass. I am going to send it back, I have three htc phones, they all seem to suck at bluetooth, I have 5 different bluetooth handsets. Disappointed in this bullshit from HTC.