[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] JoeWilcox:
Ok, as it so happens, I have both a T*Mobile Touch Pro 2 and an AT&T Tilt 2 sitting here in my hands and I'm trying to decide with him I'm going to keep. In doing so I thought I would write a little review of both phones side by side.

I'll call the T*Mobile Touch Pro 2 the TP2 and the Tilt 2 the Tilt 2 :)

1. Cost

I paid $50 for the TP2 + $11 next day shipping. My plan is about $70 a month and that's with the insurance. Now I'm going to be hit with a $175 ETF so the final cost for the TP2 is $225.00 without any rebates or hassles.

I paid $300 for the Tilt 2 + $15 for next day shipping. My plan is about $70 a month without insurance. I had to pay a $18 upgrade fee + $100 for the Microcell to have any chance of using the phone in the house.

Winner: TP2, especially if you are free and clear of your current contract

2. What's in the box

The TP2 came with the battery, wall charger, Multifunction audio adapter, stereo headphones (wired), screen protector and a really nice case. Overall it felt like it's a well put together package with everything you would need. The screen protector was decent (though I'll order a real one from Boxwave).

The Tilt 2 came with the battery, wall charger, Multifunction audio adapter, and a screen protector. Compared to the TP2, this seems cheap. I mean come on, No head phones? Lame! I will say I had less problems installing the Tilt 2 screen protector though due to the the bottom buttons being flush against the bottom of the phone.

Winner: TP2

3. Build Quality

The TP2 has a standard keyboard but slightly smaller hardware buttons. It also has an external MicroSD slot and reset button. Over the back, it has a larger mute button and larger grill area over the speakers. However it's case is harder to remove than the Tilt and it lacks the PTT button.

The Tilt 2 has a very flimsy feelign back cover and just feels cheap. While it's buttons on the front are larger and has a PTT button, it lacks just about everything else. Like ruining the keyboard, having to open the case to insert the SD card let alone reset the device is criminal.

Winner: TP2

4. Memory

I'll be honest here, this isn't a fair comparison. 6.1 vs 6.5 but anyhow..

TP2:

Storage - Total: 285.57MB, In Use: 55.46MB, Free: 230.11MB

Program - Total: 181.21MB, In Use: 78.21MB, Free: 110.00MB

Tilt 2:

Storage - Total: 226.30MB, In Use: 89.12MB, Free: 137.18MB

Program - Total: 187.08MB, In Use: 101.36MB, Free: 85.71MB

Winner - Draw!

5. OS

TP2: Windows Mobile 6.1 with TF3D 2.1.38165.1

Tilt2: Windows Mobile 6.5 with TF3D 2.1.19183217.0

Winner: Tilt2

6. Installed Apps

TP2 is fairly light on the bloat. It does come with TeleNav and Handango InHand, Presenter 5 and Google maps. It also has a nice application for checking your account status, etc which I found to be pretty neat. The down side is Opera isn't the default browser. I didn't try TeleNav so I can't comment on it.

Tilt2 is pretty bloated. There's Mobile Web, AT&T Music, Navigator, AppCenter, Mobi4Biz, WorldCard Mboile, WikiMobile, MSN Weahter, Facebook, My-Cast Weather, Online Locker and more and more. Now I'm going to guess some of this is useful, but man that's a lot of bloat.

Winner: for me the TP2 but you might find some of the apps useful.

7. Signal

I live in Cary NC which is just outside of Raleigh. Today I traveled all around the triangle to see how the phones would do.

TP2 - Had good signal strength pretty much whereever I went for voice, but I almost never saw 3G. I did get a lot of Edge, but according to T*Mobile's map I should be square in the 3G area. I have to call tomorrow. Inside my Office I had 4 bars for voice and Edge while at home I had 2 bars for voice.

Tilt 2 - I had a number of cases where I had 3G but # of bars was slightly below the TP2. At the office, I had 4 Bars and 3G but at home at I 0-1 bars and 3G.

Winner - Draw (TP2 for voice, Tilt 2 for Data).

8. GPS

Both suck and are as laggy as my Fuze. Come on HTC! Now both are untweaked and I'll be trying out their included GPS apps tomorrow on the way to work but I expected more.

9. Customer Service

TP2 - Getting this phone was easy. It's available in my local store but I choose the $50 offer. Simple to order and express to get here.

Tilt 2 - My god AT&T sucks and it's because that are so bad I started the switch to T*Mobile. They lied to me, never contacted me when they said they would, and shipped me the phone even though I canceled it.

Winner - TP2

Final Thoughts

Sorry AT&T but I'm still switching. I am a little worried about the lack of 3G signal but I'll call T*Mobile tomorrow and find out what the deal is. But their phone is cheaper, made better and in my case gets a better signal.

But the real winner here is the solid design. AT&T I can't believe you made the choices you did. Even if I ignore the keyboard, having the SD slot and the reset button under the case is just stupid.

Winner: TP2!