In followup to my previous InvisibleSHIELD review, here are some pictures of the Touch Pro with a cured InvisibleSHIELD. 

Immediately after application:

The battery cover doesn’t look half as bad, but the screen looks absolutely hideous with all the air bubbles.  However, after about two days, most of the air bubbles had cleared up.  After a week, the InvisibleSHIELD was completely cured and the air bubbles had worked themselves out from the screen, as well as in other minor parts of the body.

Month and a half later:

As you can see, the InvisibleSHIELD cured very nicely, especially the screen part.  Notice that the hideous air bubbles have worked themselves out.  The only part that’s a little messed up is where the screen meets the hard buttons.  I ended up stretching out the InvisibleSHIELD screen piece a little too much which left a little overhang at the bottom.  Its not very obtrusive so I don’t mind it at all.

The skin is still sticking very well.  I’m a fidgety person by nature and sometimes I’ll fidget with the skin.  Fidget as in take my fingernail, find an edge on the InvisibleSHIELD, and try to dig it up with my fingernails.  I don’t know why I do it; I’m just fidgety, but the skin has held up well and hasn’t become detached in any area. 

I’ve also dropped the phone about 3 times since I’ve had the skin installed.  The phone was dropped from about waist high onto hard wood flooring.  One time it dropped so hard, the battery cover and battery popped out.  After putting everything back together, the Touch Pro was still in perfect condition.  Not one scratch or nick on the body.  Can you tell the phone was dropped from the pictures? 

Flashing a custom ROM to your HTC Touch Pro allows you to have an operating system that fits your likes and needs.  In many cases, custom ROMs strip out non essential preinstalled software as well as apply various performance tweaks.  In my experience, using a custom ROM is much better than the stock ROM simply because of performance.  The difference is night and day!  Touch Flo 3D does not lag, programs open faster, switching between programs is much faster, returning to the Today screen is faster, and overall system responsiveness is much quicker than before.

NOTE: These steps only apply if you have a CDMA Touch Pro.  These instructions WILL NOT WORK with a GSM Touch Pro*.  Also, if you to return your phone for any reason, you will have to flash back to the stock ROM and relock the phone.

Basically, there are three steps to flash a custom ROM to  your Touch Pro.

1. Unlock the phone to allow it to load and boot custom ROMs
2. Choose and download your choice of custom ROMs
3. Flash the custom ROM to your Touch Pro using the ROM Update Utility (RUU)

*If you have a GSM Touch Pro, the process is virtually similar except you will need to use a GSM unlocker and GSM custom ROMs.

Preparation

Backup your personal information using a program such as PIM Backup (freeware).  Also make sure your phone has at least a 50% charge.

Please read through this guide and download the all the necessary files beforehand. That way, you know exactly what you’re getting into.

Unlock Phone
You will need to use the HardSPL utility to unlock the phone.  This is a relatively simple procedure; all instructions and files needed to do this can be found here:

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=42503

Download and install Raphael_CDMA_HSPL_037.zip if you have a Sprint Touch Pro.  If you have a Verizon Touch Pro, use Verizon_HSPL_Package.zip.

Choose and download your custom ROM
There are many, many custom ROMs out there for the Touch Pro.  Here is where I go to find CDMA custom ROMs:

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=68

Look through the threads and find a ROM that you like.  Custom ROMs differ in their preinstalled software, system settings, performance tweaks, and more.

I chose to go with Yay 4 Juggs’ v4.0 ROM because of the increased page pool and a nearly clean slate of applications.  ROMs usually come compressed in a .zip file.  Extract the RUU_signed.nbh file to somewhere on your hard drive temporarily in preparation for the next step.

Flash Custom ROM
You now need to obtain the ROM Update Utility (RUU) which can be found here.  Extract the RUU folder to somewhere on your hard drive, like your desktop.  Then copy the custom ROM file (RUU_signed.nbh) to the RUU folder you just extracted.  For example, the RUU folder is at C:\RUU and the custom ROM is located at C:\RUU\RUU_signed.nbh .

Touch Pro bootloader screen while connected to PC via USB

Power off your phone by holding the power button down until you get this message:

“Power will be turned off, and you may lose data if you have not saved them.  Do you want to continue?”

Choose “Yes” and the phone will shut off.  Now, hold the down power and volume down button at the same time until you see the tri-color bootloader screen.  Then connect your phone via USB cable to your computer.  The picture to the right shows what your screen should look right before flashing.

Once you’ve got everything hooked up correctly, run the ROMUpdateUtility.exe program inside of the ROM Utility Updater folder (e.g. C:\RUU\ROMUpdateUtility.exe).  Follow the onscreen instructions to flash the custom ROM to your phone.  Reboot your phone at the end and you’re finished.  Enjoy the new custom ROM!

I ordered an InvisibleSHIELD a week ago and it has finally arrived.  Prior to installing the skin, I swapped out my chrome defective phone with a brand new replacement so that I would have a clean phone with no scratches. 

The InvisibleSHIELD comes nicely packaged and includes the plastic protective skin, a plastic squeegee, and a bottle of “Shield Spray”, which is mostly water.  A perforated plastic sheet holds the many individual skin pieces in place.  Unfortunately, Zagg did not include a legend, so you’re left to figure out what goes where.  Therefore, it would be a good idea to tear out the individual skin pieces and compare them to your phone before you begin so you’ll know what piece goes where. 

Installation is easy, but takes time and patience.  If you rush this process, you will have poor results.  Total time from start to finish was about an hour and 15 minutes to install.  First, you must remove your battery to avoid any shorts due to the water used in the installation.  Then, find which skin piece matches the phone, peel it off the sheet, and spray the Shield Solution on both sides of the skin.  The water in the Shield Solution prevents the skin from sticking to your phone on contact.  That way, you have some time to slide the skin into place.  Apply the skin to the phone and use the squeegee to drive the air bubbles out. 

Be patient with the air bubbles

Once you’re finished, let the phone dry out for at least a few hours before inserting the battery.  That way, the adhesive has time to set in.  Once cured, the InvisibleSHIELD stays firmly attached to the phone.  No edges are peeling up and I don’t for see that happening anytime soon.  If you have air bubbles, which you are bound to have, don’t worry, just let time do its work.  It typically takes 1-2 days for the bubbles to clear up on their own.  I’m about 20 hours into my new skin and I still can see air bubbles.  However, they are gradually clearing up and it doesn’t look half as bad compared to immediately after the installation. 

The main tip I have is to work slowly.  Make sure the edges line up correctly to avoid overhang.  Also be sure not to stretch the plastic out too much; the skin is manufactured to pretty tight tolerances.  If you stretch the skin, especially while applying it to the chrome siding, you may have to trim a small amount of over hang. 

The skin itself is slightly textured and feels almost tacky because of the soft plastic.  Some people don’t like this tacky feel, but I do because it gives you a nice firm grip on the phone.  Phones like the HTC Touch Pro tend to be a little slick and slip out of your hand easily as a result.  The tacky feel of the skin also helps keep the phone from sliding around, making it much harder to knock off a table.  Touch screen sensitivity remains the same as far as I can tell.  I like the screen protector because it is slightly tacky and makes my finger “stick” to the screen instead of sliding around.  One of the huge annoyances I had with the phone were all of the fingerprints and grease streaks over the screen and chrome.  With the InvisibleSHIELD, fingerprints and grease are almost completely eliminated!

I was impressed by how much surface area the skin covered.  I’d say at least 90% of the phone is covered by the InvisibleSHIELD with the exception of items like the power button, volume controls, USB port, microphone, speaker, reset button, and stylus opening.  The major impact points, like the sides and edges, are completely protected and I’m pretty confident that the phone will survive a fall no ugly scratches or dents.

Finally, here are some pictures of the Touch Pro with the InvisibleSHIELD installed.  These pictures were taken shortly after the installation so you will notice some air bubbles.  Be patient and the air bubbles will clear themselves up.

Update:  If you are looking at getting a set for your device, Zagg is running a site wide 30% off promotion on all their InvisibleSHIELD products until December 31, 2008.  Use the code “sitewide30″ during checkout on their site at http://www.zagg.com .

To follow up to my prior post regarding defective chrome in the HTC Touch Pro, I visited a Sprint store to obtain a replacement. As expected, the employees were fully aware of the issue and promptly began to switch my phone out with a brand new replacement. I knew that the replacement was new since the Sprint employee took my replacement out of a retail package.

However, we ran into a little snag when I had to tell the salesperson that the phone was originally purchased from Best Buy. She informed me that typically with third party sellers, any issues would have to be taken up with that seller. I’m assuming this applies only during the intial 30 days from the purchase date because when she asked me how long ago the phone was purchased, I said about a month.  She went to speak with her manager for approval and then promptly swapped my defective Touch Pro with a brand new replacement.

Comparison of HTC Touch Pro with Good and Bad Chrome

It appears that there is a manufacturing defect in some of the Sprint HTC Touch Pro handsets.  Good news for you and many other people, Sprint is well aware of this issue dealing with the cracks in the corners of the HTC Touch Pro.  The problem with the chrome involves very small cracks which are appearing on the edges of the phone.  You won’t notice the cracks unless you look very hard.  However, Sprint is well aware of this issue and are swapping out defective Touch Pro handsets with replacements.

If you have these cracks on your phone, and you bought your phone from a Sprint store, to go to your nearest Sprint store and ask them to swap it out.  If they try and give you the run around and act like nothing is wrong, tell them to look at their known issues log, which should note the defect with the chrome.

Crack in the chrome. Click to enlarge

My friend, who works for Sprint and other providers, tells me that you should seek a replacement phone at the original place of purchase if A) you purchased the phone from a reseller and B) you are within 30 days of the initial purchase date.  For example, if you bought your Touch Pro 2 weeks ago at a Best Buy, go to the same Best Buy for a replacement.  After those 30 days, you should seek replacement at a Sprint store.

Luckily for me, I can get a new and shiny replacement.  If you dropped your phone (like I did) and have some nasty dents and scratches, you can easily get a replacement if your chrome has cracks.  I plan to get a replacement after my InvisibleSHIELD comes in, that way I can pick up a brand new phone with zero scratches and protect it right away.  I strongly urge anybody with an HTC Touch Pro to look into full body protection because the phone is extremely prone to hairline scratches and dents.

Let’s face it, the stock screen protector supplied with the HTC Touch Pro sucks.  It’s too difficult to install since it leaves very little room for error.  If you are off by 1mm, the screen protector will hang of the side just a little.  Over time, the edge of the screen protector will pull up and  all the dust and lint inside your pocket will dig into the screen protector.  Eventually, the whole screen protector will come right off the screen, leaving it naked and prone to scratches.  This is exactly what happened to me after 2 weeks of using the stock screen protector.

Scratches along the top (click to enlarge)

When I first got my HTC Touch Pro, I immediately looked at an InvisibleSHIELD product to protect my device.  However, they didnot have one developed at the time the HTC Touch Pro was released.  I just checked their website recently, and to my surprise, they finally have them in stock.  HURRAY!

Supposedly, the same material used in the screen and body protectors are also used in helicopter blades to protect them from debris.  The film is only .2mm thick (2 tenths of a millimeter) and is scratch-proof.  The video on their website is more than enough proof of the InvisibleSHIELD’s capabilities.

Scratches around the bottom and a dent from being dropped onto wood floor from 4ft high (click to enlarge)

Not only does the InvisibleSHIELD protect the screen, it also protects the entire body of the phone.  This is extremely important to me because I don’t use a belt clip or holster and I hate bulky silicone cases.  Bulky cases seem to defeat the purpose of having a small, portable phone.  However, with the InvisibleSHIELD installed, the phone won’t get any thicker and it becomes protected from drops.   I can’t count the number of times I’ve left my cell phone in my lap while driving, then eventually getting out of the car and having the phone fall from my lap onto the pavement.  With the InvisibleSHIELD, I can finally put my worries to ease.

I put my order for an InvisibleSHIELD in today.  It should be here sometime next week or the week afterwards.  Once I get it, I’ll write a review and post some pictures.  In the meantime, take a look at the pictures to see what I’m griping about.

While the HTC Touch Pro comes with an array of applications loaded by default, there are a few good programs they left out, like Google Maps.  After sorting through tons of applications for Windows Mobile, I’ve come up with a list of useful programs to load onto your virgin Touch Pro.

• Advanced Configuration Tool - This program allows you to tweak all sorts of settings
• CorePlayer - Media player.  Plays almost all music/video formats and has better streaming capabilities than the stock Windows Media Player.  TCPMP is not working on the Touch Pro (yet), so this is the next best thing.
• Diamond TF3D Config - Although the program was made for the Touch Diamond, it will work on the Touch Pro.  If you’re using TouchFlo3D, this program will allow you re-arrange the tabs as well as remove unwanted tabs.
• GMobileSync - If you use Google Calendar, this program will allow you to sync your Google Calendar to your phone.  You may get an error after syncing, but don’t worry, the calendar entries will sync.
• Google Maps- Surprisingly, this wasn’t included in the list of stock programs.  Google Maps is almost a no-brainer; it lets you search maps, get directions, show traffic, etc.  Better yet, Google Maps even works with the Touch Pro’s built-in GPS.  Using GPS with Google Maps will let you create a route from your current location, but it does not automatically re-route in the event of a detour.
• Kevtris 2- Tetris for your phone, ’nuff said.
• PdaNet- A must have program if you plan to tether (use your phone as an internet connection).  You can connect via bluetooth or USB connection.  Supposedly, the program disguises your data usage so it looks like you’re browsing from the phone, not from your computer.  Most carriers have a tethering fee in addition to the standard data charges.  PdaNet basically lets you evade those tethering fees by disguising the traffic.  I’ve used PdaNet on and off for over a year and have had no tethering charges or additional fees.
• PHM RegEdit - Registry editor for Windows Mobile.  A must have if you plan on doing any advanced tweaks.
• Remote Desktop for Windows Mobile 6 - This is just what it sounds like, a remote desktop program for Windows Mobile which lets you access your remote desktop enabled PC while away from it.  Why they did not include this in the stock ROM is beyond me.  Remote Desktop comes in handy if you need to access a PC, but don’t have a computer available.
• SPB Mobile Shell- An alternative to TouchFlo3D.  Mobile Shell basically replaces your home screen with its own interface.  I use SPB Mobile Shell because I find TouchFlo3D to be laggy at times and cause overall sluggish performance.  Installing Mobile Shell helped performance overall and there’s also a ton of customization that can be applied to suit your liking.
• SPB Insight - An alternative to the default newsreader “RSS Hub”.  RSS Hub is pretty good, lightweight, and fast, but it lacks a few things.  One is the lack of images, the other is how RSS Hub only downloads part of an article, making you visit the site to read the rest of the article.  SPB Insight not only downloads images, but it also (most of the time) downloads the entire article for offline viewing.
• SPB Pocket Plus - A very powerful today screen plug-in.  Lets you add all sorts of plugins and shortcuts to your today screen with lots of other features.  I use Pocket Plus as one of the tabs in SPB Mobile Shell.
• Sprite Backup - This program backs up your phone, contacts, programs, etc.  Backups can be scheduled and only take about 5-6 minutes to run.  It is always a good idea to have backups!
• TorchButton - Lets you use the camera’s flash function as a flashlight.  The application is lightweight; you just run the program to turn on the light and run the program again to turn it off.  By default, the LED light will only stay on for 30 seconds to prevent burn out.
• Total Commander - A feature filled file explorer program with too many features to list.  This is a definite must have program because you will never know when you’ll need it.
• VNC Viewer - Exactly what you think it is.  Will let you connect and control the desktop of any VNC server.
• vxUtil- Network utilities such as ping, traceroute, whois, etc.  Network administrators may want to look into this program; it could come in handy and save you time.

My Touch Pro Today screen with SPB Mobile Shell and Pocket Plus	Recently used programs tab in SPB Mobile Shell
Weather Tab in SPB Mobile Shell	SPB Insight Tab with News Feeds

Out of the box, the HTC Touch Pro is really an amazing device.  However, it still brings the infamous Windows Mobile lag with it.  While the lag is not as bad as previous Windows Mobile smartphones, it still is present and may bug people who notice the lag.

Slow tab scrolling in TouchFlo 3d, laggy scrolling in windows,  slow opening programs, slow opening menus, etc are all typical lag indicators.

The good thing is, there are a few things tweaks you can perform to make the Touch Pro more responsive.  First off, you will need to install Advanced Configuration Tool on your phone.  Before you can install Advanced Config, you need to install .NetCF 3.5 which can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E3821449-3C6B-42F1-9FD9-0041345B3385&displaylang=en

Once you’ve installed .NetCF 3.5, download and install Advanced Config here:

http://www.touchxperience.com/en/advanced-configuration-tool/downloads.html

After you have installed the program on your phone, launch the program and make the following changes:

Under the “Perfomances” category:

• Change file system cache to 8MB
• Change file system filter cache to 131072
• Change Glyph cache to 32KB

Here’s what the configuration should look like:

After you’ve made the changes above, soft-reset your device for the changes to take effect.  Once the phone is booted up, enjoy the increased speed and performance from your Touch Pro!

The HTC Touch Pro not only comes with lots of amazing features, but it also includes a 3.2 megapixel digital camera with flash.  I had always thought that pictures taken with phones were worthless because the picture quality was horrible and the resolution was too low.  However, the Touch Pro totes a semi-decent camera compared to todays standards.  I wouldn’t use it to take wedding pictures, but it would work perfectly fine for snapping pictures of documents (text is readable with the camera), online auction photos, pictures for a forum, etc.   Below are two sample pictures taken with the Touch Pro camera at the highest settings.  Click on the pictures to view the photos in their full resolution.

Sample picture taken outside. Click for full size image.

Sample picture taken indoors. Click for full size image.

One feature of the camera that people will either love or hate is the autofocus.  While it does take a second or two to focus, the pictures come out relatively clear with no blurring.  However, because the autofocus takes a few seconds, getting a quick shot of something interesting won’t be as easy.

While the camcorder isn’t up to par with the video capabilities of stand alone digital cameras, it’s not half as bad either.  The framerate isn’t horrendous like previous generations of Windows Mobile smartphones, however, it isn’t quite 30FPS (frames per second).  Sample of footage taken from the Touch Pro camcorder is below.  The video was taken inside of my office at my university where smoke was pouring out of the Arts and Sciences building, which I thought was pretty cool.

NOTE: The video has been re-encoded from .3gp to .flv (flash).  There was no framerate loss, but the video resolution was enlarged by about 20% so the video is a little more pixelated than it would be.  Also, because of the re-encoding, there was a slight decrease in audio quality (sounds more “tin can” like), but it’s very close to what it actually sounds like on the Touch Pro.

I recently managed to snag a Sprint HTC Touch Pro early before the release date.  I must say, the HTC Touch Pro a.k.a. Raphael, has fulfilled all of my expectations, and then some.  As a bit of background information, I had a Treo 755p, then I switched to an HTC Touch (CDMA) for about a year until I acquired the Touch Pro.  For starters, some of the main features include:

• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz processor (The Touch has a 400mhz processor)
• 288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM (Touch has 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM)
• Wireless 802.11b/g (Touch does not have wifi capabilities)
• 2.8″, 480 x 640 VGA resolution screen (Touch has 240 x 320 QVGA screen)
• Accelerometer (Touch does not have an accelerometer)
• Hardware keyboard (Touch only has an onscreen keyboard)

For this entry, I’ll go over performance, web browsing, and some extra features.  Be sure to check back for more updates which will come soon.

Speed/Performance

Having dealt with Windows Mobile for years now, I was always left wondering when the OS will be “snappy”.  The Touch Pro is about the closest thing you’ll get to “Treo-like” snappiness when switching programs, changing screen orientation, etc.  Programs open very quickly on the Touch Pro and overall the phone is very responsive.  No more waiting for your Today screen to load and no more waiting on Windows to open up SMS/emails.

The new TouchFlo 3D interface is also pretty quick, with no noticeable lag when switching the tabs.  Switching to phone doesn’t take forever either.  When you type in the number you want to dial, the phone actually responds right away and outputs the number to the screen whereas slower Windows Mobile phones would lag and display the numbers a few seconds afterwards.  The same goes with SMS/text messaging as well;  with older phones, I found myself typing the message, only to have it come on the screen half way through.

The only noticeable lag I get is by having 10+ programs running simultaneously after turning on the phone from standby.  Even still, the lag is only for a few seconds and the phone is up and running smoothly in a matter of seconds.  One of the main reasons I had swayed away from Windows Mobile phones was my experience with the sluggish HTC Mogul (PPC-6800).  However, I’m now a Windows Mobile believer because of the improvements in performance with the Touch Pro.

There are a few tweaks you can do to really speed up the phone even more.  I recommend taking a look at the following threads for some very helpful tips and tricks:

XDA-Developers Forum - Tweak Collection
XDA-Developers Forum - More Tweaks
XDA-Developers Forum - Themes, Applications, and Software

Internet

One of the main things I love about the Touch Pro is the VGA screen.  Without the VGA resolution screen, web browsing on the phone wouldn’t be as good as it is now.  Web pages display just like they would on a regular computer.  There’s no more “mobile” view where the page is horribly reformatted with text and images all over the screen.  The Opera browser works very similar to the iPhone’s browser.  Web pages will first display fully zoomed out, then you can use your finger to scroll, double tap the screen to zoom in, or use the touch sensitive scroll wheel to zoom in/out of the page.

Click on the picture for a higher resolution image

Another advantage to the VGA resolution screen is that you can view more text and images due to the higher resolution.  The text will appear tiny on the 2.8″ screen, but it comes out very clear and readable if you’ve got good eyes.  Click on the image above to view a higher resolution image where you can actually see how small and clear the text is.  The text size is about the same size as text size 6 in Microsoft Word, if you can read that, you’ll be able to read the text in the Opera browser.  Of course, you can zoom in and make the text larger, but at a cost of not being able to see the whole page, which basically negates the benefit of having a VGA resolution screen.

Using wireless 802.11b/g doesn’t speed up the internet enough to write home about.  In my experience, the speed increase was slight, although noticeable.  A bandwidth speed test measured wireless speed at about 1.5mbps down, while EVDO Rev. A clocked in at about .9mbps (900kbps) using the same test.  No, the wireless wasn’t slow due to my internet speed, which is 20mbps, but probably because the phone couldn’t handle the bandwidth.

Extra Features

One nifty feature of the Touch Pro is the built in accelerometer.  One cool thing is the ability to switch the screen from portrait to landscape, just by physically rotating the phone.  There are also lots of cool applications that take advantage of the accelerometer, like Klaxon, a feature filled alarm clock in which you turn off the alarm by shaking the phone.  Games, like Teeter which comes bundled with the Touch Pro, also take advantage of the accelerometer.

The folks at HTC really impressed me by including a mini-USB audio output module.  Obviously they saw that some people use their phones as multimedia devices.  This module plugs into the mini-usb port on the bottom of the phone and provides a 2.5mm headset jack, 3.5mm headphone jack, mini-usb headphone jack, and a mini-usb charging port.  My previous phones (Treo 650, Treo 755p, HTC Mogul, HTC Touch) did not have a 3.5mm jack and most phones on the market today don’t either.  What’s the big deal you ask?  A 3.5mm headphone jack lets you use standard headphones to listen to audio.  No more crappy 3.5mm to 2.5mm headphone adapters with horrible quality!  The quality of audio output on the 3.5mm jack is surprisingly great!  I connected my Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones and I was simply amazed by the quality; I could tell no difference between music playing on my computer and music playing on the phone.

HTC also decided to add a fifth row to the keyboard.  This introduces a new row of keys which includes the 0 - 9 keys, which have come in handy more than once so far.  The keyboard is comfortable to type on and I find the keys to be the perfect size, not too big and not too small.

All in all, the Touch Pro is a great upgrade from any previous Windows Mobile smartphone.  The developers at the XDA forums are hard at work creating custom firmware (ROMs) and applications for the Touch Pro already.  It will be interesting to see how far the hardware can be pushed and what it can accomplish.  Check back for more updates on the HTC Touch Pro in the future!