Excellent Windows Phone - Except in Subways

This is my third Windows Smartphone.  I've had it for about three weeks, and I've been delighted with it.  I won't bother listing off all the features because you can read those elsewhere.  Instead, I'll focus on the things I discovered after purchasing the unit.  

My first Windows phone was an Ipaq 6325.  Although I loved it for notetaking and other mobile applications, it was a brick.  My next Smartphone was no bigger than any other phone, and the screen size was much smaller, so I found it wasn't very useful for anything other than phone and calendar usage.  The HTC Touch splits the difference nicely.  The device is a comfortable size for a shirt pocket, without sacraficing screen size.  So it's practical as both a phone and a windows mobile computer. 

In addition to the normal windows Smartphone interface, the device comes with something called HTC TouchFlo.  Touchflo is a very cool touch-driven interface for accessing the most commonly used applications (phone, contacts, music, etc).  Touchflo is always running on the phone.  A quick touch gesture brings Touchflo to the fore, enabling you to navigate the phone much like an iPhone interface with cool animations to move from screen to screen. 

Music listeners may have two concerns about this phone.  The headphones are connected to the device by way of a miniUSB plug.  And rather than use an adapter which you could connect to any headphones, they've provided their own headphones with the permenent USB connector.  That means you can't connect your favourite headphones to the device, or easily/cheaply replace the headphones once the wires begin to fray (as happens with all lightweight headphones).   Perhaps some day I will find an adapter.  I tried a motorola USB-to-3.5mm adapter, but it didn't work with this phone.  If you're not too picky about headphones, this might not be a problem for you.  The headphones that come with the phone are comfortable and sound pretty good.

The second problem is a bit more universally concerning.  When the phone is out of cell tower range - like when you're on the subway, for example - it briefly interrupts music playback once every minute or so.  This is pretty annoying.  I recently reflashed the device with the latest software, and I'm hoping that takes care of the problem.  If not, I guess the solution is to turn the phone radio off when you're out of range, which is not a very elegant solution. 

The phone fits nicely in the hand.  I like the matt black finish that is easy to grip.  The phone's pen is too small for a man's hands.  Just holding it is awkward.  I carry around a retractable pencil and use the plastic tip or a fingernail before reaching for the unit's stylus. 

The phone has surprisingly good battery life.  I can go days without recharging. 

Overall, I'm quite happy with this phone.  I do hope they are able to fix the problem with the sound being interrupted every minute when the phone is out of range.  If I used the subway more frequently, I'd be more concerned about this problem.