First, my computer has a driver issue with my new video card (as well as my RAM failing, and motherboard failing), so I have been hit or miss for the past week, and I apologize to many of you for not offering some help in areas that I could. I have, for the most part, caught up on the forum (still have 30+ threads to read through from about a week ago), but things are moving forward with the forum, and my i760... Well besides the 20+ calls from users that have my number, the 20+ PM's over the weekend, and the 50+ IM's I have received from various people wanting to know what I think, I thought I would let you know what I think, and give you an update on the way the forum is moving, and the information that so many people have been asking about, my "SCH-i760 Setup Guide". So I will start with the Setup Guide information:

SETUP GUIDE

Well, it's in progress. But I can say that it will probably be less overall steps than the i730, because the i760 does more to what I need out of the box. It is a complete re-write, and will include basically a combination of the information of the WM2003/i730 and the WM5/i730 guides. So the setup guide will probably be a two part guide, which is what I am planning but things can change. First part will be the traditional setup guide with explanations and walk through to get my "stable" and "feature packed" device, along with (knock on wood) a new Phone Tools... The second thing I want to do, which will take longer is creating a "Newb Guide" for Windows Mobile devices. I have actually been writing this for a while, and am trying to plan how I want to release it, but it will probably be publicly available in a different forum on the site, possibly a "newbie WM professional" forum, if I can get it worked out with Convergent...

So, don't expect the guide to terribly soon, as I need to write it, do some testing, do lots and lots of hard resets, but overall it is moving forward. I appreciate the fact that many of you want the guide, but it does take some time since I just got the i760 on Saturday (it would have been nice if I was one of the early receivers of the device, thanks again iProb8 for offering me yours...)

My Thoughts on the i760

First impressions, great, but some getting used to. As you all know (or maybe you don't), I have used the i730 for a little over two years, so the form factor is what I have been used to. So the change in the i760 form factor is interesting, and I am already starting to like it, dare I say, prefer it over the i730...

The Horizontal keyboard is nice, the feel of the keys are nice, and I am actually typing as quick on it as I am on my i730, and starting to actually type faster. I don't like having to flip the device, as I like the slide up and type for quick stuff, but for longer messages, I actually prefer the i760 horizontal board.

The front and rest of the buttons... Well I am diggin' the location of the cursor, and the front keypad. It's taking some getting used to the location of the "soft" buttons, but I am starting to like the small "compact" location of everything. The OK button isn't in the best place, but it was sixftunda who pointed out the convenience of them when using the horizontal board, using your index fingers on them (the OK and Windows Button) while having your thumbs on the board. Although you have an OK button on the keyboard too... So the OK button could have been in a different location easier for one handed use. I also feel it's missing at least one other hard button, but preferably two of them, for direct access to Contacts and Calendar, and maybe a LONG press for access to a program manager or any other software. It is just one/two buttons shy of perfect on the buttons.

Speed. Well it's much peppier than the i730 when using. I feel it responds well to everything, but this is something I will approach after I get my standard software installed and use it for a couple of weeks.

Battery life. So far, amazing compared to my i730. I used the slim battery on Sunday, taking it off the cradle at 8 AM, using it for around 45 mins of talk time, in a building all day with only one bar of service, receiving/sending 20-40 emails, checking Google Maps for directions (twice, long story), sending about 20 txt messages, performing a hard reset (which in turn pulled all my data from my Exchange Server and reloading my couple of apps, and setting up the device), showing it off to 30+ people, and pulling it out every 20 mins to play with it or just turn it on to see if it was locked up or still working. Come 6 PM when I got back to Indy, I still had 60% battery life. I was shocked.

My i730 in the same time span would probably have around 30-40%. Next I swapped to the "extended", or should I call it, slightly larger than the slim battery. I jumped in the car to drive the 1.5 hours home and talked from the minute I left to my door at home, and then again for 30 mins inside my house. I still had 85% battery life after 2 hours on the phone, and driving through poor service area (where on the i730 I drop calls). I didn't charge the battery and made about 2 hours of additional calls last night, set it on my bed side table with 55% battery life, and went to bed. The phone synced through the night (haven't setup the sync schedule yet) and I got around 50 SPAM messages (since my PC wasn't on to filter the SPAM). So those kept coming in through the night, which I finally muted the phone. I got a call in the morning and talked for an hour, sent 5 emails from the "throne", and then went to my computer to charge, at which point I still had 30% life. My i730 wouldn't have made it through the 5 hours of talk time, let alone the syncing all night and the typing e-mails...

So battery life is better. And yes, I have new batteries on my i730 to compare to, purchased just three weeks before getting my i760.

Size... Although comparing the i730 to the i760 visually, they don't look much different, the lack of the external antenna really makes a different, and the fact the i760 is the i730's cousin on a diet. The way to explain it is the i760 doesn't have "bulk" that the i730 did. Height and width are almost identical, but it's not as thick, and isn't "round". It feels better in your hand, and isn't too small that it makes it hard to use. I wouldn't want the screen size to be any smaller than it is, but if it was 1/4" shorter, 1/8" narrower, and at least 1/3" thinner, than it would be perfect, much smaller than that would make it hard to use, and too small for my larger hands. Overall I am really diggin' the size of the i760. Just about right for my hands.

Stability... Well, only one unintentional lockup on the i760. I just remembered one time I had to soft reset, but it was loading software and I got a txt message right when someone was calling, and it just locked up (one of the reasons for a hard reset while on the go because of the failed software install). Otherwise, it's been great, and hasn't had the normal slow downs and "weirdness" that my i730 has been going through recently.

Overall... I really don't know what else to say as of yet, since I have only had it roughly 48 hours, but I do like it, and it's starting to get very close to taking my spot as my favorite device I have used (over the Moto StarTac, yeah, not a PDA Phone I know, but that was one good device). Would I go back to the i730? Not a chance, the i760 is a better device. Simple as that.

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i760 Forum Business

Well, I must say you all have been posting up a bunch over the past week. Here I was hit or miss because of RAM and drivers issues on my PC (was stuck with my i730 and my laptop), and I couldn't spend much time here. We have a LOT of new users, and even old users making the jump from all sorts of devices, and those that just have been "away" for a while. I would like to issue a welcome to those of you new, and those of you that don't know me.

First let me explain my moderation style. It's hands on, and for one word, organization. This worked very well in the busy Samsung i730, and it will carry here. I try to be helpful, give the answers, point in the correct direction, but as all the mods do, I ask that you search, and put a "little" effort in to finding the information before requesting it. This will help out and keep things on task, as well as getting answers much faster to your questions. So please search (upper right hand corner of the page), please check the FAQ (found in BIG red letters in the Yellow forum header), and look over the first few pages of threads. We are getting an average of 2-4 pages of threads each day, so it will be easy to skip over stuff.

Also don't be offended when someone asks you to search, even if you are an old timer, and someone that suggests it is new. If you don't like it, complain to me, and I will talk to them. If you feel you need to explain something to someone, like searching, do it nicely, or just report the thread to one of the mods (or use the report tool) and let the mods do their job...

Also keep threads on topic. There is a lot of posting of off-topic discussion happening on many of the threads. It makes it difficult to follow, and even harder to get the information you want. If you want to ask a question that isn't on the topic, "SEARCH" first, and then start a new thread if you can't find what you want. That's why this is a complete forum on the i760, and not just one thread...

Anyway, enough typing, enjoy the forum and help us make it a good place...

__________________
-Michael
Need help setting up your i730/i830 or other WM2003/WM5 Phone, as well as the other hacks I have done, check out the MRailing Guides and Links