AT&T Fuze unboxing, first impressions

If I were any of you, I would skip the fuze and go with the bold or get the storm at vzw. I played with a brand new one at my ATT store and by god was it horrible. I was pumped up all day during my linux class, ready to return my girls bold so I could use my upgrade and get it.(Was going to give her my rogers bold). My god did this thing blow ass turds when I played with it. Screen is very unpleasant for fingers and the onscreen keyboard was a joke in size for anything other than a stylus. the keyboard felt wierd to use as well coming from a bold qwerty pad. Don’t get me wrong, the phone is a nice upgrade for windows mobile users and tilt owners but its price isn’t justified with the product. It is a fatty as well, felt like the old V phone from vzw and the screen is a magnet for prints

I’m going to get the Sprint version. 50 bucks saved a month = win. I’ll somehow get over the numerical layout.

Agreed! Will post pics of the keyboard shortly… was in a real rush.

@miacol

Honestly… depends what you want and need to do. If 3rd party apps don’t excite you and you don’t need the finest web experience, definitely a Bold over the Fuze.

BG,
This person (iboj007) ACTUALLY used the Fuze (The Best WM ever) I know he is not a professional reviewer like you, but he is factual and has no hiden motives.

(Posted in the AT&T HTC forum.11-10-2008 10:43:01 PM )

Got my FUZE this evening from the Burnt Mills store off of Columbia Pike in Silver Spring, MD.

Initial thoughts:

I am EXTREMELY disappointed with this phone after drooling over it for the last 3 weeks.

First of all, it appears that all data is out in my area and I can’t seem to connect to AT&T’s internet with my Tilt or my FUZE. Leave it to AT&T to launch new phones that don’t even work as they’re supposed to.

Observations:
TouchFlo 3d is SLOW and I mean SLOW. It looks awesome however.
The screen rotation is just as slow as my Tilt.
The accelerometer (sp) is pretty useless the way it’s currently implemented. It only works in 1-2 programs.
FINGERPRINT MAGNET. Absolutely disgusting. I’ve been playing with the phone for less than 2 hours and it’s already covered in fingerprints.
YouTube Application flat out sucks. The first time I used it, it completely froze the handset and I had to do a soft reset. It only seems to open in landscape mode
The directional pad is abysmal. 75% of the time when pushing the pad right, you will end up pushing the END key accidentally.
The slide out mechanism seems poorly built. If you slide the keyboard out, and shake the device, you can hear the pieces inside.
Opera is a nice touch, but not when it’s slow. This implementation of Opera isn’t as zippy as it appeared in the pre-release review.
GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE PHONE:

Quite a bit smaller/lighter feeling than the Tilt. Feels much better in the hand.
The screen is brilliant. The colors are bright and vibrant and the resolution can’t be beat.
Activesync was extremely fast when syncing to XP.
Battery life seems to be awesome.
Overall, I had high hopes for this device, and it doesn’t seem to be living up to those expectations as yet. Hopefully I’ll get used to it and will learn to like it.

Message Edited by iboj007 on 11-10-2008 10:46:39 PM

The Fuze was nowhere to be found in Az. Called numerous Corp. stores in Phoenix and Tucson and the stores either didnt realize it had been launched or also got the message that they have been told perhaps later in the month before they show up in stores. Are they trying to get rid of the Tilt before getting the FUZE in? I just want this phone.

@CellphoneT

Me too. I called every store in the Phx area and no one had the Fuze. The Glendale store on Bell Rd said they would have them on Friday. Good luck!

I played around with one at work today, while I love the screen and touch flo interface, I just can’t get over the sheer thickness of it and it was pretty laggy too… Looks like I’m sticking with my iphone and bold.

I played with one of the dummies at my local Best Buy mobile (the sprint version) and it looks interesting. Definitely a bit thick, especially considering how small the handset is overall, but its not outrageous. I also played with the touch diamond they had there (selling for $700 unlocked, I believe) and that was a little funky. The way the back is set up, with a sharp angle to hide the thickness, is odd, but it was nice overall. I wouldn’t trade my iPhone for one yet, though. (that VGA screen would be killer though)

I also played with the Bold dummy they had, and I absolutely loved it. Its definitely bigger, but its a nice size overall. The keys were just the right size, and it seems like it would be great for everyday users as well as business users. The only part that I’m still unsure about is the pleather back. I was happy to see that it was actually soft-touch instead of hard plastic (initially it looked like hard plastic), but how it wears would be a concern. It definitely adds a unique touch, though. If I was able to upgrade now, I’d get the Bold hands down.

I just picked up the Fuze earlier today, and from what BG said about it, declaring it the best is a step too far ahead.
Out of the box, sure it seems nice, but a lot of what was expected isn’t available.
Youtube app doesnt work, and Internet sharing is disabled.
Can not customize the theme w/o a hack.
Some other bugs I noticed.
I think I may keep my tilt unless I see a solution. Sure fixing something up is nice, but when it’s HOT out the box…is even better.

I must say..Nice….Had to go get mines yesterday and It’s quite sweet…coming from the Htc Tilt to this is by far the bet phone I had this year..I mean from the blackberry curve, to the Iphone, to tilt now this one….YES! its the best by far…maybe because im a phone freak…the style, programs and features make this phone stand up…

the only thing is im trying to get my blackberry email in here and it seems that they haven’t released this one yet althou you do have the icon to get blackberry..oh well I guess nothing is perfect.. But i must say if you dont have this phone go get it!!!!!

I got this phone Yesterday. It has been great generaly. Great graphic and resolution but like a Windows Pc, needed to restart it several times to get it back working. It has a limited Java support so if you want to access most sites that require java, you may have problems. I called AT&T and HTC support and they all said that the device doesnt have much java support and they were aware of this shortcoming but couldnt do much. I am returning mine since couldnt access some of the business websites due to lack of java support.

I have the Sprint version of this phone. And I do believe this is one of the best Win Mobile devices presently available. Can’t comment on the Touch HD (not available in US) and the Samsung Omnia (delayed *again* by Big Red), its a very good Win Mobile phone. It’s not iPhone-slick, but tries. It’s a bit thick, but narrow so it still feels small in your hand. Not the lightest phone, but the iPhone is also heavier than it looks, too.

Just got it!
Difficult as hell in the beginning to use….but get the hang of it and it’s unbelievable……5 stars!

This phone looks awesome, I would love to give it a test drive. I would like to see the Storm too, but I know it wouldn’t live up to expectations seeing how I’m sure it will be yet another great phone that Verizon will cripple and make not so great.

Does anybody know where I can get Blackberry connect for the Sprint touch Pro?…I have seen on some forums that it is available.

If I can get blackeberry connect on the Sprint touch pro the phone will be perfect for me and fit all my mobile needs.

@ khosrow:

No need to restart homie, you can click the top right of your screen, to the right of the signal and battery life. It brings up a pull down, and you can cancel programs that are running from there. YOUR WELCOME…..

With all due respect, BG, that’s one cop-out of a reply.

I got my Fuze yesterday and I agree that the Manilla interface can be a bit laggy. But overall it’s noticably faster than my 8525. Calling it a fingerprint magnet is an understatement. I’ve taken to carrying a microfiber cloth around to clean it before I show it off to people.

What I can say is that it does take getting used to. The screen requires the touch of your finger, not fingernail or stylus. I almost didn’t buy it because when I was trying it out in the store I couldn’t get the screen to respond to anything until I figured out to use my fingertip. Also in the store, it was SLOW and CLUNKY. The sales moron claimed it was the dummy-sim they put in for viewing. So we put the sim from 8525 in it and it was noticably more responsive, then we put a fresh sim in it and snapped up a little more. So I recommend demanding a brand new sim card…

@BG

Well I was really dismayed at first that AT&T had changed the keyboard, because I wanted single-press numbers, but your remarks RE: WIN key and OK key has convinced me to give it a try. One-handed, the number pad arrangement s easier to enter numbers with so I guess that’s a plus.

Coming from a moto q this is THE phone to get. I’m not the biggest fan of WinMo, but it’s been re-worked just enough in this phone to make it do-able. gonna wait for the price to drop, and the bugs to get squashed before i pick me up one.

love the teeter game! Level 27 in under 20 mins! don’t know if that’s a record, but damn is that game addicting!!

and the contact list picture flip def gets a smile and a nod from all the looky-loo’s checkin out the phone.

I played with one today. Took me 3 stores to find one (first 2 only had dummies). Would have bought it if they would have given it to me on the no commit, but they would only sell it to me if I did a contract … told me to come back in a week. By that point, I might as well just wait until Black Friday and see if they have a good sale like they did on the Tilt last year.

Overall, it seemed better than the Tilt. I absolutely love the screen. It seemed more responsive than the Tilt as well. However, it didn’t seem as finger friendly as I’d expect, and I’m disapointed that there isn’t any touch feedback like there is in the Epix. Couldn’t figure out how to see the accelerometer work.

So I’m on the fence now with which to get … either the Epix or the Fuze. I may go with the Fuze as the hacked roms seem to work better. LG Incite may be an option if it works well.

Saw a BB Bold and it was very nice as well. BB’s not my cup though. The track ball was MUCH nicer than the d-pad on my Q.

Super

The Treo Pro is the best Window’s device on the market to date… perfect balance of screen and keyboard on a very thin device that runs perfectly.

AT&T better pick up the Treo Pro soon.

Hi superguy,
I have a similar experience.
I went to an AT&T with high expectation for the Fuze.

But after playing with it for about an hour. it was a total let down.

The only similar phone is the Xperia
I will wait a week for it

Let me know if and when you are able to take a look at the Xperia. The Xperia is my first choice; however, the price tag is a bit more than I am willing to pay for ANY phone. That is why i began looking into the Fuze. Now I am really confused, some like it some don’t. Not to mention the stores that I have visited want me to make a purchase WITHOUT playing with it.

GET THE FUZE, i got it i dont care what anyone else says in my opinion its one of the greatest winmo phones out there get it get it