[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General] simslater:
I got my first PDA Phone (even though my dad has gone through like 20+ palms and blackberrys) and I am pleased to say it was the AT&T Tilt that I got last Sunday night after reading several comparison reviews on the Tilt and the iPhone. The night I got it I had several problems just getting my Cingular SIM card to work which was in my Samsung SGH-D807. After several hours of painstaking problems between calling up AT&T and going to a nearby AT&T store, I was finally on the HSDPA/3G/EDGE network with my phone fully functional on the next day at 3:00 p.m.

Going back to the night I got it, when I opened the box I was pretty amazed with its functionality with its easy to use WM6 OS. I played around with a couple of the features and found much of them to be quality benefits. Since we have we have wireless internet in our home I was able to use the phone's WiFi capabilities to access the net. At first I was pretty amazed with having a little phone that can surf the net, but slowly lost interest as so much of it was limited to mobile content. So I checked up on forums and I installed Live Search Mobile. Live Search completely changed my views on the amount of accessibility you can have with a cell phone. There was gas prices, movies, and informations on random categories. The map feature was very intriguing as it included satellite imaging, traffic, and even current location GPS navigation. All that you can get on the web, but the one thing that really took me away was the voice enabled search for almost anything. I mean I said Chinese food and there it gave me 25 locations by distance, but the most surprising recognition was that it noticed the real estate business my parents own.

Then I thought about trying out some of the movies and music I had on my laptop. I actually thought the music played quite well and sounded nowhere near awful, even though it didn't have the quality of my Creative Zen Vision, and the video playback was another story lol. Nothing would really play other than some WMV files. So I looked for a solution and I found TCPMP w/ a Flash Bundle. I could watch pretty much anything and this even lead to allowing me to watch Youtube videos! I know this is more of a corporate phone, but who doesn't want some entertainment ^^.

All in all I was very happy with the phone at this point except for the stupid Internet Explorer! So I downloaded Opera Mini and was quite relieved to find out that a WM6 device could compete with the iPhone's Safari application. I could use full sites like Facebook, Economist, CNBC, Edmunds, etc. with no problem. On a scale from 1 to 5 about being smug for buying the Tilt over an iPhone I'd say I was at a 5 at this point.

I guess with all that said I am

VERY

interested in learning about more applications and ROM flashing (or cooking I think its called). I have been reading the forums and the wiki for more information and have found lots of the information to be quite helpful, but at the same time I can only skim the information with a busy college/part-time work schedule and expected plans for an international flight on the 19th. So I was wondering if you guys could help me, even though I should know better to search and help myself. Here are some questions I really hope some of you can help me with or refer me to a topic/link that can further fulfill my endeavors.

(Some of these questions may have simple solutions, but I would really appreciate answers that would ameliorate my situation rather than answers that belittle me. Also thank you for taking your time to read this and hopefully help me)

1. What are some very good applications that you could easily recommend without even getting second thoughts about? So to say you just love them! What are some good WM6/PocketPC/PDA Phone websites with databases on applications and I'm mostly looking for freeware unless its must have like the Spb Pocket Plus software I'm seriously considering (I have seen several posts about "What I got on my Tilt/Kaiser" but none of them really go in depth on why or what the applications do)

2. I used the KaiserTweak to enable HSDPA and haven't really noticed any calling problems, but someone from Europe stated that you cannot make calls, is this true even though my experience is quite the contrary? (Source: http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/10/04/hands-on-with-the-atandt-tilt/)

(Statement: http://www.blogsmith.com/profile/1422309/)

3. I live in Simi Valley, CA right on the edge to the San Fernando Valley (Most populated valley in USA I believe) in Los Angeles incase anyone has a clue about those locations, but I guess it might have something to do with this question: My data connection varies from 2 to 3 bars of HSDPA, to 2-4 Bars of 3G, and up to 3 to 5 bars of Edge. Are there any problems that could occur that haven't because of this issue? (Also I have AT&T's $39.99 unlimited data package, afraid to do $19.99 unlimited data package for lesser internet capable phones, but to get to the point there are also no extra charges for jumping to all these networks are there?)

4. When I bought the AT&T Tilt I also asked the store representative if he could unlock my phone because I'm going abroad to Asia in a few days and he said that the store is not the place to look for that answer (WTF I always get my phones unlocked at the store). Anyways I very briefly saw a thread on unlocking phones if you pay that person, but I think getting it unlocked through the store is a little more secure with little to go wrong. What would you recommend I do to get my phone unlocked, considering I don't want to pay someone online to do it?

5. In the event I do get my Tilt unlocked, I want to use internet at where I'm going so I'm wondering how Opera Mini works with international charges on other SIM cards in the sense I want to use my internet ONLY when I have a WiFi connection available... but when Opera Mini always asks if I want to proceed with this action and there could be internet data charges even though I'm on a wireless connection. So am I charged by the wireless provider in this case or is Opera Mini running through the WiFi? (This question could also go for the domestic issue of not having an unlimited data plan as well)

6. First off should I even consider flashing if I vaguely know what the word ROM means? (Probably a dumb question, but I saw a statement saying 90% of AT&T Tilt user's switch to HTC Kaiser [and yes I know it was greatly exaggerated])

7. Does flashing a new ROM void my warranty? Also if you hard reset does it bring back your warranty in case flashing does void my warranty? (I don't think I have ever worried about warranty until my external hard drive had an interface board malfunction, but I mean I guess it is important)

8. What are possible problems that can happen with flashing a new ROM? (As far as I know you HAVE to use HardSPL or else you can encounter numerous problems that I don't know about)

9. Can you hard reset (Set it back to manufacturer status) to fix any possible problems? (btw is the second soft reset button the one you have to hit with the stylus or is that a completely different button in the procedure?)

10. Is the AT&T ROM really just that bad? I've seen talk of much bloatware which I'll admit is very annoying, or is it kind of like the talk of HP computers sucking because of all the random software they put on them? (I really didn't want to ask this question because of all the flaming some guy got on another post for asking it, but it kind of is a logical question)

11. Does flashing a ROM reveal elements of your phone that are hidden? I saw a post saying someone got TomTom out of their AT&T Tilt even though it comes with TeleNav, then again that could be through flashing... (I'll admit this question was kind of stupid, but I saw on a topic that internet sharing or tethering is on the AT&T, but hidden with no shortcut)

Once again I thank you for taking your time to read this huge thing!