Me & My HTC Touch Diamond 2

Bye TD2 and Hello ChaCha

2011-07-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've been using the TD2 for two years.
After all the punishments it went through and damages it suffered (blisters all over the silver part of the casing, two big blobs of dead pixel clusters near the center of the screen), I have bought a HTC ChaCha and the TD2 will be kept as a navigation system when I travel overseas.

Go to this page to see my experience with my HTC ChaCha.

Backup backup backup

2011-01-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

Never occurred to me customizing the today screen can lead to losing all data. OK it's my stupidity.

Was playing with a tool which customizes the today screen (I am not telling the name of the tool since I see this is a problem due to the user not backing up data, not the tool causing loss of data). The first few times when I tried, it was not giving the desired results (in fact not observable at all) so I did more changes.
Then shit! The phone boots up but does not respond to any screen touches, nor the menus when the supposedly designated buttons were depressed.

Hooking up to the PC does not allow me to connect via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Centre either.

The only way is to do a hardware reset and will all data on the mobile's memory trashed.

Lost photos and videos. Now have to reinstall all software again.

Let's this be a warning. Whenever you want to do something to the phone, make sure you backup the data.
Also, try to save your photos and videos on the memory card instead so in case you forgot to backup,
less data loss will result when you perform reflash / hardware reset.

TD2 interferes with car electronics?

2010-11-02T05:24:00.001-07:00

While I have been enjoying to use my TD2 as GPS while driving, I experienced a strange problem that sometimes the clock & trip computer were reset mysteriously.

First I thought it was due to some problem such as shorts in the USB adaptor I use to power the phone while using it in the car. But then, the other day I just placed the TD2 on top of the clock/trip computer on the dashboard, and somehow the clock & trip computer were reset!!!!!

Is it possible the radiation from the TD2 (or mobile in general) so strong that it can interfere with such type of electronics? anyone experienced the same?

More on GPS

2010-10-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

This time went to Muar.

A few quirks were noticed this time.

First, the routing out of Singapore was always via Tuas 2nd link, even when I tried Woodlands MRT as the starting point.

Second, on my way back from Muar, the unit failed to indicate a left turn (which I actually stopped at the red light at the junction) and only upon passing the junction, it recalculated and brought me back on the right track.

Somehow the satellite lock time seemed longer than what I experienced in the past. Sometimes it took a couple of minutes to lock. Not a major issue this time but can be frustrating when one needs to figure out the direction asap.

Otherwise the software did a good job.

More experience with TD2 as GPS

2010-09-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

Went to Langkawi last month.
It is not hard to realize that one must rent a car when they visit this island. I did not recall seeing any bus around, and maybe countable taxis. Partly it is also because I arrive during the fasting month.

First thing after touching down was to rent a car. Despite I have the hotel transfer from my free'n'easy package, I decided to drive from airport to the hotel for a simple reason - that I can left the car at the airport on my way back. Mine was a 3D2N package and just over 48 hours at Langkawi. The lady at the car rental was flexible enough just to charge me 2D's rental cost since I only exceed by 1-2 hours (maybe not much business? :P). It was a Nissan Sentra which has less than 10k km on the clock. The car felt old, likely due to the abuse by the previous drivers. Anyway, enough said about the car.

Plugged in the cigarette lighter charger and connected to my phone, switched on the GPS and headed to the hotel. Guess what? Within 5 minutes of leaving the airport, the fuel tank empty light came on and I have to look for a gas station. Immediately switched to the nearest fuel station function to check out where is the nearest to fuel up. First one required me to turn left into a very narrow path, which was not a covered driveway, so decided to skip it and look for the next gas station. Good, the next one was < 2 km away and finally refueled 20litres (half tank) and headed to hotel.

Note I have pre-programmed all the attractions I wanted to visit before the trip. This is strongly recommended as 1) you get a rough idea of where the place is located (use the map view), 2) it can be frustrating to look for a place while you are on the road, without knowing the distance and time to the destination, 3) your passengers may feel uneasy when you fiddle with the GPS, thinking you might have lost you way, 4) personally I do not like the idea of stopping by the side of the road and figure out your direction (any country). It is like advertising to everyone you are a tourist and can invite trouble. 5) Finally, sometimes the place you are looking for may not be available in the GPS, or under a different name. For the former, I would just skip it (unless I know it is next to immediatley another place which I can find in the GPS). For the latter, you can keep trying with different search keys but then, you should do this before the trip not with a car full with people.

The TD2 performed very well again as a GPS during this trip. The map I used contained most of the places I wanted to visit (the same as the map used in my Malacca trip). It was easy to gain a lock and quickly figure out the route. In one case, I was going to the Eagle square and there was road work, and I have to detour. It was great to have GPS to guide me around the place else I probably will waste a lot of time going around the place.

I know if I change phone in the future, I will surely keep my TD2 as a GPS. :)

GPS software

2010-06-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Previously tried the applicatoin "Where is" software which I use as a simple positioning system / compass.
I felt it took a long time to gain lock to the satelites before the application starts to give directions (i.e. compass mode).

Just try Garmin XT application with free maps from MalSingMaps.com.
Followed the instructions online to install the app and the maps. Click the Garmin icon. Application starts up immediately. No issue at all!!!!!

The applicaton starts to calculate the route almost instantly when I load the destination, which could be when I just walk out of a building. The lock time is clearly faster than what I observe for "Where is" and on par with real navigation system. BTW I am not saying "Where is" is good or bad since it is a different applicatoin all together.

Garmin XT on TD2 still suffers some lag and some inaccuracy with the information given, such as distance to go before turning. Given this is running off a smart phone not a fully fledged navigation system, I have no issues with it and in fact, I don't think it is worse then the NeverLost I used previously when I was in the States.

Take note the phone screen is much smaller than a true navigation system so reading street names off the map will take a bit more effort! I set mine to large fonts just to make it easier : )

Haven't tried the other Navigation applications such as TomTom. Maybe in the future I will do a comparison.

Wish list
- currently the Garmin apps runs in portrait mode only. Landscape mode would be good because I can stand the phone on the dashboard while charging it. Otherwise the driving map is good enough.
- annoyance with the 'batter' screen from Today screen (?) popping up every now and then. Need to click "back" and the screen goes back to the Garmin screen.

New ROM - not that great after all

2010-04-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

I concluded with this statement when compare my experience when my phone came new with the original ROM and the latest ROM.

It is clear the phone is less stable with the new ROM. It hangs every two to three days, sometimes just a few hours after a soft reset or hard reset.

In general the phone became slower, uses more RAM.

Being slower, it means I have to wait a bit longer when I want to write/reply to SMS. Otherwise, if I try to type too soon, the text selection will not come up (auto completion) and I simply cannot write the sms (regardless XT9 or ABC mode). The only way is to exit SMS and restart SMS reply again. It means I lose even more time.

The other improvements do not matter to me so much, such as twitter. To some this maybe a good thing.

The only good thing is more shortcuts in the today screen allowing me to access frequently used applications quickly.

More comments on new WM6.5 + Sense 2.5 ROM

2010-04-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

Speed - there is more lag on the device compared with the previous WM6.5 ROM.
Stability - seems no major issue but there were a couple of times the device hanged and I have to resort to hardware reset.
SMS interface - two remarks i) the popup box which informs user the SMS was sent successfully or not was taken out. It can be replaced by a SMS notification but I find this option a pain. ii) I am an impatient person very soon after the sms screen appears and I also type very fast. On a few occasions the text typed did not appear, and also the XT9 text did not appear at all.
Battery - seems to last longer but also because I have fewer calls in the last few days (maybe side effect of the long Easter weekend).
Today screen - the main screen allows the user to add shortcuts to programs. I find this a major advantage. I never liked the default calendar and now I can take it out of the Today screens and replace it with the Calendar program I prefer. I also put the other programs like for screenshort, soft reset etc which is much more handy then going to the START menu to search for them everytime. Improves access speed!
Similarly People page displays 3x3 people's icons at the same time. Again improve access speed.

Not reall a feature but the startup tune is more pleasing to the ears than before. I always jump when I hear the last tune.

Overall I like this ROM more than the last WM6.5 ROM. Some minor quirks but I can live with it.

New ROM WM6.5 + Sense 2.5 - day 1

2010-04-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Recall the phnoe generated some funny error messages during the boot up of the previous ROM update exercise.

Today I experienced problem seeing my phone in the Explorer from ActiveSync, when I was trying to upload the pictures for my previous post. It was frustrating. I decided to repeat the ROM flashing exercise sine I was free this evening.

Flash and rebooted the phone. This time there was absolutely no issue and no error messages. Apparently my previous attempt of using the on/off switch to wake up the phone was a bad choice.

Strange. Still cannot see my phone in activesync despites the tool claims it can sync data with my phone. I am confused!

Latest WM6.5 + Sense 2.5 ROM review / first experience

2010-04-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

Didn't receive any email but some how I checked the HTC site and found a new ROM (and a few other hot fixes) were available for download.

Since my last attempt to upgrade to WM6.5 was not exactly successful. Recap: I selected to merge the restoration of the sprite backup file with the data on the phone, resulted in some loss of functionality of the UI of the new ROM.

This time round I just restored the personal data from the Sprite backup file and things were a lot better. Details later.

There is one issue I have with the HTC site. Somehow the access and download speed has always been very slow for me. Maybe it is a combination of my ISP + HTC site loading but it never was a brisk to use this website. Strange.

After spending about 2hours plus to download the almost 180MB RUU, the install started and went smoothly just like the guide described.

First sign of problem was when the phone starts for the first time after flashing the new ROM. It stayed at the initial screen for very long, which I then tried to 'wake' it by pressing the on/off buttom at the top of the phone briefly. This seemed to help wake the phone and continue with the boot up. But then there were several error messages which claimed missing files popping up during the setup sequence of the phone. At the end, the pop up box stopped me from doing anything with the phone (cannot click anywhere else) so I have to do a hard reset....

Everything was normal after the hard reset, fortunately.

After restoring the sprite backup file, installed the usual tools like HD Tweak etc. Phone works fine since.
Just need to get use to the SMS tool because it looks a bit different. Also it seems I cannot type too fast now otherwise even though the phone registers the key pressed, nothing would be displayed on the screen.

Here are a fewscreen shots that show how the new screen looks like. Note I don't need/want so many pages like Twitter or Email so they have been taken out immediately after restoring the personal data..

Upgrade from WM6.1 to WM6.5

2009-11-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

For instructions to upgrade and where to download, go to HTC official site.

Personally, the upgrade too much shorter time than the suggested 30mins (on web page) and 10mins (when I run the RUU). Maybe it was the 5min and if I was the more adventurous type, I could have clicked through the dialog boxes quickly to start the upgrade, making it a even shorter task.

Restoring data backed up was the main problem I encountered.
Somehow the version of sprite backup on my PC and TD2 were different,
and during the restore phase the TD2 requires an autorhization code to be provided.
I have to pay for one. This is not good. Now I may run the risk of losing the backed up
data if I fail to find a combo of trial versions of sprite backup tool.

First impression of WM6.5 is it is more colourful (the row of buttons are colored iso b&w), The start menu seems harder to read. Apart from that don't really think there is much difference I experienced yet. Memory hungry as usual. Good side effect is it helped me to rid the landscape hack I put it as it was starting to bother me.

WinMo 6.5 ROM availale!!!!

2009-11-16T06:33:00.001-08:00

Finally, received an email from HTC informing me the WinMo 6.5 ROM is available for download from HTC website. Actually, I happened to check the site one day before I got the email so it was not a surprised. More to feel their customer support is doing their job.

Just go and do a search on http://www.htc.com/ and you'll find the information and download.

As all ROM upgrades, make sure you backup the content of the handset's memory before flashing the new ROM. I'll wait till this weekend before I try the new ROM. According to the instruction the flashing can take up to 30mins. A very long time indeed.

Bad Crash!

2009-10-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

Fully charge my TD2 last night.
Switched it on when on my way to work.
Wanted to look for a number after I reach office.
Guess what happened!?

The screen was off, regardless how many times I pressed the on/off button.
I can see the actually registered the button was pressed, as the back light
of the other hardware buttons (e.g. call/hangup) were on.

This is the first time that my TD2 crashed without any apparent reason,
especially I offed the phone the night before, expecting it to startup properly.

Only way out was hardware reset.

Looks like I am going to join the club with other HTC users to reguarly perform hardware reset.....

Battery life shortening

2009-10-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

After about 3 mnoths light usage, battery life already dropped to one bar after the following usage.
83 hrs 48 mins standby time, 1 hour 10 mins talk time, 3 hours 49 mins device usage.

So roughly I need one full charge every 3 days.

Reminder: HTC TD2 comes with its own USB cable, different to what you see these days for the mini USB plugs (believe this is the older version). It is mega inconvenient since you must have this cable to recharge your phone, either from PC or from wall charger. Anyone knows whether to get a 3rd party cable let me know please!

Practicality of GPS as guiding system

2009-10-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

As said before, I downloaded "Where Is".
This is a useful application as it can figure out your direction (i.e. compass) and when coupled with a map, can show you the route you are taking.

That is, if you have a map on the phone.OK, Google Map is free. The problem is GM uses Internet.

It will be really good to have a cheapo map on your phone and able to use it with WhereIs.

I don't need a voice guiding system, just indication of where I am will do.

BTW I had little luck getting a lock on the GPS when the phone is placed on the dashboard.

Battery life is short

2009-09-22T07:10:00.001-07:00

After 2 months usage, standby time is approx 150 hrs with 1-2 hrs talk time and light usage.
Very quickly battery will drop to two bars although I may still talk for another 30mins.

Full charge takes 3-4 hours as compared with < 2 hours with typical mobile phones.

Is this common among the TD2?

How the phone lately?

2009-08-30T02:32:00.000-07:00

I've gotten the phone for about 2 months now.

Features I clearly like:
- loud volume when not in speaker phone mode.
- speaker phone mode also loud.
- the other end can hear me clearly
- faily long battery life
- sleek design and light weight
- two stylus provided - I lost one in my car and still cannot find it for two weeks!
- WIFI is reasonable reliable.

Features I don't like so much:
- touch screen for SMS requires my full attention and two hand operation.
- inconsistency in support of landscape mode (actually most applications cannot run in landscape mode).
- screen gathers grease and dirt, and the carry case provided also makes the screen dirty.
- only one USB cable provided which is needed for PC connection and wall charger - I cannot charge the phone other the weekend if I leave the cable at work!
- cheapo headphone that cannot hangup a call (can only accept)
- poor quality camera
- clumsy way to setup an alarm - must specify a day (it won't assume if not set, then alarm is for the current day)

I assume the occasional crashes or strange behaviour with software were due to MS WinMo not HTC hardware.

Customizing Today Screen

2009-08-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

The default Today screen from M1 (SGP) is very simple. Basically they didn't modify anything. Only item I notice is with the Start menu which they have the MiWorld link fixed.

I'm going to customize the Today screen to add buttons of a few of my frequently used applications for faster access. Programs I found so far are

- CLauncher - http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/~welic/claunch.html
- Easy Today Launcher - http://loffactory.webs.com/easytodaylauncher.htm (based on Haka's TD Launcher)
- SPB Shell - not free, so won't try unless the freewares don't work

Also in XDA forum, I found a utility which allows changing the wallpaper for all manila pages.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530888. Will try this later.

Watch this space on my update on success of these tools.

Landscape mode enabled!

2009-08-09T03:24:00.000-07:00

Found a tool "TD2 Tools" when browsing XDA Developers forum.

By checking "Enable TouchFLO Rotation", now most of my screens can autorotate between portrait and landscape mode.

Note all all programs work with landscape mode.

Screenshots were taken with SPB ScreenShot freeware.

The same can be done with the following registry settings (also copied from XDA developer Topaz forum)

1. HKCU\Software\HTC\Manila -> add a new String Value with the name "EnableLandscape" and the value "true" (both without "")2. HKCU\Software\HTC\HTCSENSOR\GSensor\ModuleName -> add a new String Value with the name "TF3D" and the value "\Windows\manila.exe" (both without "")3. HKCU\Software\HTC\HTCSENSOR\GSensor\WhiteList -> add a new String Value: Name: "TF3D Value: "Manila" (both without "")

D2 price down!

2009-08-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Saw at M1 (SGP) the price for D2 is now SGD298 with SGD200 trade-in.
Good news for those who want to get one. Magic is SGD398 with SGD200 trade-in.

Apart from the camera, I am very happy with my D2 and would recommend it to my friends without hesitation. Its a bit smaller than the iPhone 3G. To me this is important. I hate carrying big phone with me as I typically put it in the front pocket of my pants.

Rainbow!

2009-07-24T03:09:00.001-07:00

GPS locked

2009-07-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

Tried Go-Where while in transit at airport.
Sat near window at lounge, GPS locked within 2 minutes (maybe less).
Subsequent GPS was able to lock while travelling in car within 1-2 minutes.
Yee ha!

It is strange, however, the compass mode (while travelling in car) is not very responsive,
and seem to stuck in the same direction most of the time (e.g. if I rotate my phone 180deg, I don't see the compass reflect this movement).

The default google map does not have the map for the country I am in. Will look for possibility to download the maps for major cities around the world / places I travel to regularly.

GPS experience

2009-07-19T03:38:00.000-07:00

Tried Google Map and Where is.

Left phone next to window for 30mins but still couldn't get a lock on the satelites.
Added all the registry mods found in xda developers but still no luck.
Where is looks like a very good application including compass. I hope I can make it work soon.

Is it really essential to stand in the middle of nowhere to get direct signals from satelites to gain lock!?

Found ClearRam. Very useful application. No more soft resets just to recover unclaimed memory.

Also added Total Commander and G-Alarm but haven't spent much time on them yet.

Hung!!!!!

2009-07-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

My D2 hung for the first time since I got it 1.5 weeks ago.

What happened?

I was playing with the TODAY setting (setting -> All program --> Personal -> Today).
Wasn't sure what it does so tried to check Skype and TouchFlo. Nothing noticeable happened.
Unchecked TouchFlo and see what happened? Main screen shows Skype only, with Start showing a drop down manual listing a few applications and SETTING. Didn't like to have Skype only as main screen so clicked SETTING which brings me to the setting-->All program screen. When tried to click Personal --> Today, my D2 hung.

Why? I didn't modify the ROM and do anything that didn't come from the stock ROM.

About the 5MP camera

2009-07-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

Looking closer at the photos taken with the D2, many of them showed streaks and rather noisy at normal lighting condition.

Its disappointing to see a 5MP camera perform only at this level, which is like a cheapo phone camera from a few years ago. : (

Hope some people can provide a patch to the software to improve the JPEG compression, white balancing and noisy reduction.

Test shot

2009-07-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

Uploaded directly from my D2

Day 5-7 Experience

2009-07-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

Played with the games that came with the phone - Tweeter & Bubble Breaker. Good games which also demonstrates the G-sensor when you play Tweeter (consider they are free). Solitaire is difficult to play as the cards are tiny.

Used the Google map. Useful application despite it is not a fully fledged GPS software. Was not sure if the D2 is supposed to continue to update our location as I drove along the route indicated. I had A-GPS switched on but presume since it uses WiFi, it is not doing much after getting my home location.

Went around shooting pictures (I posts some pictures later on this website). In general, apart from the longer auto focus time, the camera worked fine for my purpose for today's visit to the museum. Didn't take any video though.

Encountered one obscure problem. I always bring my USB cable to work to charge my mobile. I left it at my office desk and cannot charge my phone during the weekend.
I knew I will do this one day when I saw the wall charger uses the same USB cable. Maybe need to get a spare one just in case.

Day 4 experience

2009-07-09T05:33:00.000-07:00

More colleagues expressed interested in my D2 and find it better than their current ones (including BB, N95 etc).

Is there a ToDo list in the default application list? Found Notes but its not good enough especially the interface seems inconsistent.

Finally managed to disable all GPRS/Edge etc and connects with only WIFI. Hope I didn't accidentally spend too much $$$ on data connection in the last 3 days.

Played with the Opera browser a bit and uploaded picture to my daughter's blog directly from the phone. Cool. Saves me the trouble of getting the picture uploaded to PC first then to blog. Unfortunately the interface does not allow upload of movies. Maybe have to do this with YouTube. Will try later.

Day 3

2009-07-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

Some problem started to crop up.

SMS didn't always send out immediately. THere was one case I have to click "send SMS" before several sms'es I wanted to send earlier finally were sent out.

Installed HD Tweak and played around with some settings. Wanted to disable GPRS but the HD Tweak menu items do not match with the instructions on XDA developers (item 6, disable last 3 items).

Spent total about 1 hour on voice call today, normal, on speaker, and the stock headphones. quality of audio on speaker is a bit lower than expected, but this maybe because I put volume on max. Otherwise normal phone mode and headphones work well. My peer said the quality of the call was way better than my temporary phone (not surprising, it is a low end phone).

Next is to stop PushInternet complete to stop loading Browser by default to free up memory.
(see http://mytd2.blogspot.com/)

Installed Skype. Its an unusual flow. Run the app on the PC to install the Windows Mobile installer, then connect mobile to PC and the WM installer installs Skype on the phone. Strange but it works. Started Skype. It can see my contacts and I tried text messaging to one of them and we were chatting! Cool.

Installed Advanced Configuration tool but there is some error saying the file is corrupted. Try download again and see how.

Tried to register my phone at HTC website but their system kept saying there was some problem. Dropped HTC an email and ask for help.

Experience on Day 2

2009-07-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Alarmed sounded off as needed. Good morning :)

Sent a few SMS's around. First thing noticed is that, as already known to other D2 users, SMS alert does not always happen when a SMS arrives when the D2 is in standby mode. Bring it out of standby, immediately the device shows new SMS is in the inbox. Hot fix needed (already avaiable in HTC website).

Cleaned up the contact list a bit. Found a slightly faster way to delete contacts (but another strange problem). While in "People" select "all contacts" then choose "SIM manager" under menu. If I tap and hold the stylus on an entry, a popup menu will appear and allows me to delete the entry. Better than going to menu and delete. However, I noticed some entries are not duplicated in the SIM manager appears duplicated in the contact / phone book (SIM + phone). Weird. How to clean up? One by one again?

---------------------------------------------

After dinner, setup WIFI connection with home wireless. It was so simple. The D2 detected the wireless networks around my place. I provided the WEP pass word to my network, and it was able to connect to it straight away. So far did not see it drop off the network.

Downloaded the hotfix from HTC on SMS notification (not sounding when phone is in standby). Tested by sending SMS from another mobile. Works!!!

Last played with Google Maps. A bit strange when it was started, as if it was not able to determine my location. But this is likely due to GPS not locked yet. When Google Map finally starts, my position is a bit off - GPS sees me in the correct street but the wrong side of the street. What is the resolution of the GPS? Basic features of GM was working such as find route. However when I resize the map, the screen cannot refresh properly. This could be a potential problem. Indeed once in GM, the display becomes slow.

My HTC Touch Diamond 2 just arrived

2009-07-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ordered my phone online last Saturday from a local service provider and my phone arrived Monday evening.

Unboxing was an uninteresting experience. Partly this is because it was delivered the courier and I have to check the items in the box in a rush, so tore the plastic shrink wrap violently and quickly took everything out of the box to check if all items are there.

It was a decent surprise to find a 2GB MicroSD was included in the package, when there was no mention of this item in the service provider's menu. I am happy because I haven't got time to go to the shops to buy a MicroSD card for my D2.

Inserted my old SIM card, MicroSD and battery into the phone. By then the touch screen was covered with greasy finger prints. Yucks! Have to fnid a micro fibre cloth to clean the screen (which didn't come with the package...) Stick on the screen protector that came with the package and started charging the phone. I guess the phone was fully charged within 1 hour but I left it on the charger for another hour.

After watching the evening TV programme, played with the phone a bit.

The initialization / customization of the phone was a simple process, because I opted not to setup the communication information but just copy the contacts from SIM card. After this step, the phone was ready.

Response of the phone and the sensitivity of the touch screen (with protector) was good. Faster than the Samsung Omnia I tried before. Probably on par with the LG Arena and iPhone 3G. Took some time to learn how to move between different widgets/icons and it was fairly intuitive.

When I reached my contacts, I noticed there are duplicated copies (my fault, I copied all contacts from my old phone onto the SIM card, then use this SIM card to setup my D2, hence many duplicated contacts). Wanting to clean up the repeated contacts, I noticed I can only delete one contact at a time. Basically click on the contact, click "menu" then "delete". This is a pain. Must find some software that has a smarter contact management feature.

Tested the call quality by calling my voicemail and switched between speaker phone mode and normal mode. The speaker phone mode is fairly loud (maybe its because its late in the evening) but the quality wasn't so good. Fine with normal mode.

Next I set the alarms. Its strange. The default alarm application only allows up to 3 alarms to be programmed. Isn't this a pocket PC phone, that is programmable and flexible? Can I add more than 3 alarm setups ? Weird. My SE K800i gave me 5 alarms and I am shocked to find a WinMo device can only take 3. Anyway, there must be a way.

1st day's impression is the phone is pretty good. Smooth start (bar the repeated entries for each contact in my SIM card).

Getting late.

Tomorrow, I'll try the GPS and setup WIFI for home network.

I'll post my experience on the 2nd day with my D2 when I start to use it.