A few questions for FUZE owners

[mfarlow]

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a new FUZE. Before I do, I was hoping some current owners could answer a few questions for me. I'm not a newbie to smart phones or WinMo, so I do understand some of the limitations of the device. My last phone wasn't a smart phone and I sorely miss not having it.

I was at the local AT&T shop to play with the FUZE in person, and honestly I wasn't at all impressed with the speed or the interface.

The sensitivity of touch was pretty bad, and I really had to push on the screen for it to register my finger. I've read on these boards that the sensitivity can be changed, so my question is, Can it be changed enough to be usable? It was pretty bad in the showroom.

The lag of the device was totally unacceptable to me. I would often not know if a key-press or screen gesture actually worked, and found myself hitting the key multiple times, only to realize it had registered the first time, but was taking forever to respond. I've read here that flashing the ROM and other tweaks improve the lag time, but does it improve it enough? Is there any lag time after using a cooked ROM? I understand that things may lag on occasion, but if there is a lag for most functions, I don't think I could put up with it too long.

Web browsing was a test of patience to say the least. It took a very long time for any page to load, and when it did load, it seemed to render in chunks very slowly. I was often confused if the page was even fully loaded after a minute or two. Is this experience to be expected, or can it be it be fixed?

I may just be confused about the contacts section. Do you have to scroll through each individual contact to get to the one you want? I have a couple hundred contacts in my phone now, and if I need to get to someone who starts with "N", that would take quite a while. I'm sure there is a better way, and I would just need to find out how to do it, but I wanted to ask first, as this could be a huge deal breaker for me.

It took me a while to find the call history on the phone. It seems like it's buried pretty deep. Is there anyway to modify the Touchflo3d icons to point to items I frequently use? I mean really I don't need the AT&T icon there at all, since I'll never use any of those features. I'd much rather have my call history available from the menu. Is this even possible?

I've read a lot of comments about the D-pad. I'm a gamer when on the road, so I need to make sure this phone will be able to handle my gaming needs. I didn't have the opportunity to try any games on it. Is the D-pad really an issue, and if it is, has there been a workaround?

I love the idea of having a touch screen. I need a phone that offers easy to use messaging and email features. I want simple access to my contacts, and easy to use phone functions. I also want a good web browsing experience, access to my MP3 files, and video files, as well as a decent gaming platform. Oh and I do like to tweak my toys. Is this the phone for me, or should I be looking at something different?

I appreciate anyone taking the time to answer any of these questions.

 

[The Jack of Clubs]

i have a fuze and love it alot. the sensitivity on the touch screen was bad until you change the registry key that controls it and of course a good screen calibration. its set for such a heavy touch. i changed it to ultrasensitive and its like using an iphone now. there are alot of registry keys to increase the performance. its real easy with diamond tf3d config app. best choice is to flash to a new rom though. the oem rom is junked up with so much crap. diamond tf3d conifig will help you change touch flo 3d to your liking. as far as a gaming device the dpad is a difficult thing to use tbh. and with the graphics drivers still not working right its not a good gaming device. in every other context, it is a good phone. it just takes some work to get it there.

 

[mfarlow]

Thanks for the input TJOC.

How is the FUZE as a phone? I mean, how easy is it to access your contacts, voice mail, or just make a call?

 

[jdomi99]

Best phone I have had. Most of what you point out in your message can be adjusted automatically or via a tweak or registry change. You would like this flexibility on something you own.

 

[The Jack of Clubs]

its not bad. the call history, calendar, voicemail (only if you have some messages) and contacts are right on the home tab. you can actually change the softkeys on the home tab to do other actions for you too. theres also one tab to the right called people which is a neat flippy interface if you assign pictures. when i go to my people tab it actually crashes touch flo 3d. i have to figure out what i did to make it do that.

i do have to say that for an htc phone it is the best for being a phone. ive used quite a few htc phones and they always have issues like bad signal, and most notably the volume and call quality have been pretty awful. but on the fuze its loud and clear.

that said its still not a phone for everyone. if you use speakerphone alot, then this may not be the phone for you. and alot of people cant handle windows mobile (i always say wm is not for beginners hehe). i would say try out the phone. att will let you take it back if you dont like it. and i wont call you crazy if you say you dont.

 

[mfarlow]

that said its still not a phone for everyone. if you use speakerphone alot, then this may not be the phone for you. and alot of people cant handle windows mobile (i always say wm is not for beginners hehe). i would say try out the phone. att will let you take it back if you dont like it. and i wont call you crazy if you say you dont.

Speaker phone not too much an issue for me. I'm familiar with WinMo, so that won't be a problem either, heck I still use my Dell Axim

I think I'm going to take your advice, and just grab one. If I'm not happy I'll exchange it for a Bold or something.

 

[jtoyz2]

I didnt like the Fuze stock as well but after tweaking it i love it, i would hard reset and then reset it right before it install all the att stuff back, when you get the phone and reinstall touchflo from the software column for raphael. that alone would make your device alot faster and then you can tweak it some mroe to make it even faster...since its your first Winmo phone read up on flashing and other themes or today screen...you can use other UI instead of TF3D just find one that you like. Cheers report back when you get the Fuze.

 

[marinerjoe]

mfarlo,

I just got my Fuze a few days ago, and am loving it. I had a Cingular 8525 that I modified with new ROMs from this site. I'm looking forward to upgrading my Fuze after I see how it does out of the box.

I got a great deal going through myself when purchasing it. If you're interested in checking out what I can do for you, please let me know.

Joe

 

[misfitwrx]

i too was unhappy with the fuze when i tested it out in the store, but after reflashing RRE 4.4.5 custom rom this phone is amazing, the signal strength is awesome, call quality is crystal clear for me, and the phone is lightning quick. if you buy a fuze play with it for a few days while you are reading up on flashing a new rom as it is a must with this phone, its like night and day. the phone has been out for a while now and the roms on this site keep getting better and better, you will not be dissapointed if you buy it.

 

[kgbeezr1]

From my experience with 4 Fuze's...Touchscreen sensitivity to a finger is adequate, although the stylus takes considerable pressure, especially at the edges of the screen. 2 of the Fuze's were slightly more sensitive, and two were slightly less, but none have the sensitivity of the older devices with recessed screens.

Sensitivity aside, you have to rely on the responsiveness of everything else, and that sucks for the most part. Performance "tweaks" and screen sensitivity "tweaks", either done manually with a registry editor, or with a program like AdvancedConfig do absolutely nothing. I've spent many hours comparing back and forth and didn't notice a single discernable difference. The device is sluggish no matter what you do to it (aside from flashing ROM's which i'm not doing). Try operating the phone with a song playing in the TouchFlo music player and it will be an exercise of patience. Disabling TouchFlo does speed things up, but that's a poor fix if part of the reason you purchased a Fuze was for TouchFlo (which I did). I'm perplexed by the folks who claim such a speedy device.

The Dpad is absolute garbage. Up/down work fine, left/right works about 80% of the time if you press in a very specific spot to the outside of the touch sensitive ring by a few millimeters. Funny, it takes extreme accuracy to scroll right or left, but 50% of the time when I try to hang up a call by pressing in the extreme lower right corner, it jumps out to the main menu and starts scrolling right with the call still in progress. I've had quite a few "I want to throw the phone as hard as possible" moments with that issue. The quality of the Dpad has varied from device to device, but none of them were anywhere near good. I can't imagine using it for gaming.

Opera loads webpages pretty quick for me. Unfortunately anything that requires touchscreen input like zooming or selecting links doesn't work so well. Generally I double tap 2-3 times before it zooms in or out. I'm not sure if it's a system issue, or a touchscreen problem. Zooming with the touch ring works well, but unfortunately, for me, the page won't reformat and the text won't wrap using the ring. Trying to zoom with the ring to make a link bigger so that it's clickable, results in the page moving and intermittent reloading of the page, then the link moves out of view. The problem is more common on certain pages and less on others.

Reception has been good, but the earpiece speaker issue looks like one that isn't going to get fixed. Even after loading a few alternate audiopara files, the speaker isn't loud enough, and when you do get lucky and call someone who's voice comes in at a higher volume, the speaker distorts. Pressing the sharp edge of the top rim of the phone against your ear, which I find myself doing often, results in soreness after. Fun!

Long term durability seems questionable, and the battery covers on all 4 phones that i've had suffered creakyness along the edges where the cover doesn't sit against the frame of the phone tightly. One even slid side to side everytime the device was handled.

I'm keeping the one I have now, it seems to be the best out of the 4, but still suffers from all of the issues listed above. Of course the keyboard was installed totally crooked, but it's par for the course with HTC. I'll never understand people who say HTC = great build/materials quality. I find it hard to believe i'm the only one who's struck out so many times. Not only with the Fuze, but with a Tilt and an 8525 before it. It's unfortunate that HTC seems to have cornered the market on this particular form factor for Windows Mobile. I would go with Xperia, but now that the metal cases are cracking left and right, I suppose I should pass. Way to go HTC.

One upside, the VGA screen is really nice, big improvement over QVGA.

Good luck.

 

[Radimus]

check out my post at:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/htc-touch-pro-t-fuze/234449-random-thoughts-about-fuze.html

and
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/htc-touch-pro-t-fuze/234303-necessary-software-fuze.html

 

[The Jack of Clubs]

the fuze/touch pro is a love or hate phone. as far as a windows mobile phone i would say this is the best there is. htc will not be out done when it comes to windows mobile phones. and no windows mobile devices have capacitive screens so its not the most brilliant for touch screen but its not bad tbh. good luck with your purchase and hopefully it will be as pleasant of an experience for you as it is for me.

somethings to remember, find a newer build of opera. i had downloaded build 15202 from this site. pages will load faster and theres some tweaks you can do to get 0 mobile websites. theres also a registry entry that will give you a zoom slider which is a nice touch for web pages than relying on the scroll wheel. and if you dont have good volume in a phone call, make a call to the phone and up the volume with the rocker during the call. it sounds weird but you can only adjust the call volume while making a call.

 

[MasterN02]

Get The Fuze!!!

After being almost scared away from the Fuze when I handled it in an AT&T store, I quickly went home and checked on XDA to see what could be done about the TERRIBLE performance. I found TONS of options for tweaks, fixes, and ROMs. After a LOT of reading and deliberating, I decided that the RRE HTC Fuze ROMs were for me. I'm currently running RRE v4.4.5SE which is AMAZING!!! My Fuze feels like it runs 1000% faster! It's great!

Get the Fuze; if you don't already know how, read about flashing; flash the RRE Fuze ROM (linked in my signature below), and ENJOY! You WON'T regret it!!!

Best of luck,
NR

 

[Sharing Confusion]

I have the Fuze and one of the bad things about it is the battery life, If you are really going to be on the phone alot I'd suggest buying an extra battery lik i did.

 

[mfarlow]

Thanks for all the comments, I am now a proud owner of an AT&T FUZE.
First thing I did was remove all the bloatware as described in tyguy's excellent post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=459335

It looks like I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time tweaking this beast until I get it just the way I want it, but that's the draw for me. I could have grabbed an iPhone and had everything I needed, but where's the fun in that? When I'm done with my tweaks, I'll have a phone custom tailored to suite my needs.

 

[The Jack of Clubs]

thats what i was thinking. the iphone doesnt need customization partially because you cant customize it to make it your own. the fuze may need alot of work when you take it out of the box but once you got it how you like it, its more made for you then an iphone. thats a downside for some people but ive been having loads of fun tinkering. my brother and my dad bough iphones and i poke at them doing things they cant, divx, tethering, garmin, taking pictures with flash, sending mms. i know theyre jealous because they bought the wrong phone.

 

[arthurbrownleeiv]

Moved to the FUZE from the Tilt and after missing my D-Pad for awhile until I figured out the Fuze's pad, I now miss nothing.

I've had a lot of excellent PDA/Phones over the years, and have been a WinMo guy since PocketPC2000, and the Fuze is just yet another small step closer to the perfect combination device. I just STILL want a bigger screen.


As far as battery life goes, I use it just as hard as my Tilt, and get a bit more life out of the battery. I'm not sure what the huge complaint is, a dead battery at the end of the night is a good day. A phone that goes DAYS on a charge I haven't had since my Motorola V60

 

[The Jack of Clubs]

i miss the "dpad" from my ppc6700 (htc apache). it had a joystickish thing which worked well. but if im going to say i miss any one thing from that phone it would have to be the keyboard. you will never find a better keyboard on any other phone ever. and thats a challenge.