Both the AT&T Wireless Tilt and the HTC
TyTN II are essentially the same base device with some minor differences. If you find more information about these differences, feel free to edit it.
AT&T Wireless Tilt- TeleNav GPS Software
- Blackberry Connect
- Xpress Mail
- Lots of Demo Game that are essentially useless
- AT&T Multimedia programs
HTC TyTN II- Second camera on the front of the device
- TomTom GPS Software (you still need to buy the maps)
- Business card scanner software
- Can lock the device by pressing the red End key
PerfAlbion's Input: The Tilt and TyTN II are really identical devices with one key exception. The TyTN II has both a front and back camera, while the Tilt lacks the front camera. Since this is really for video calls/conferencing, for most people this is a very minor, and likely meaningless distinction.
The only other "real" difference is the software that is loaded on the devices. The AT&T version contains:
- TeleNav GPS Software (usage fees apply)
- Blackberry Connect (monthly charge applies)
- XPress Mail
- AT&T Cellular Video
- Mucho demo software and other bloatware like games
- Support for AT&T's push-to-talk feature.
The TyTN II starts with a much smaller footprint (I know, the list is longer, but the bloatware really is pretty obscene on the Tilt). It has:- The HTC Home Plugin - a sort of "SPB MobileShell Lite" that provides tabs for time, weather, applications, contacts (with photos), and phone control (basic profiles, quick access to the Comm Manager).
- HTC Home Plug - a today add-on that shows icons for battery life, rotating the screen, etc.
- HTC Audio Manager - a very small, but very handy audio manager that lets you build playlists; play music by artist, genre, album, or playlist; trim individual songs; and set a song as your ring tone. Very slick and much lighter than Windows Media Player on processor/RAM.
- Direct access to Internet Sharing in the Programs folder (this is actually on the tilt, but not in the Programs)
- WorldCard Mobile - If you get lots of business cards in your line of work, this is a nice addition. Take a picture of the business card from the app, and it OCRs it to automatically populate a contact for you. Can be hit or miss due to lighting and camera shake, but very functional.
- ZIP for PocketPC - a ZIP file manager that lets you create or extract archives with the ZIP compression format.
- It's an unlocked phone so if you want to change carriers or travel internationally, it's just a matter of swapping SIM cards. This is possible with the Tilt, but you'll have to haggle with AT&T for the unlock code.
If you buy an imported version of the TyTN II (not the US distribution), then you may also get a copy of TomTom6 with one map. This isn't present for all geographies (the Middle East didn't receive it), but is on some. The one map is for a limited geographic area - for me, it didn't even encompass the entire LA area (Los Angeles, Long Beach, the Valley, and Orange County were all different maps) so beware - you may not get the coverage you're looking for and the discount code they provide for more maps doesn't seem to operate from within the US.
It's worth noting that you can add many of the missing features from either to the other with a little hunting, a little money, or both. I've got Cellular Video working on my TyTN II, for example. You'll just need to be comfortable installing a ROM, tweaking a registry settings, installing software, or some combination of all of the above. There's a very active community from around the world working on tweaks, hacks, and cleaned up ROMs to reduce the clutter, so regardless of which you purchase, you'll likely end up being able to do what you want.
Either way, a sweet device worth looking at.
end of PerfAlbion's input
Login
Panel
