HTC Arrive / 7 Pro (CDMA)
Phone Scoop Review
Mar 18, 2011 by Eric M. Zeman
HTC knocks out the first Windows Phone 7 handset for Sprint in the Arrive, a sideways slider that has a full QWERTY keyboard and the latest software from Microsoft. Does anything set the Arrive apart from the crop of WP7 phones? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Best Phone on Sprint
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My goal was to get some kind of non-Android phone on Sprint with a physical keyboard to replace my aging Palm Pixi. This phone fit that bill perfectly.
Pros:
- The screen is nice and bright. I have no problem seeing the text in sunlight when the theme is set to "bright". On "dark", it's a bit trickier, but that's a defect of that particular color scheme.
- The keyboard is fantastic, great button placement and clickyness without being too clicky.
- Intuitive and easy UI, although all WP7 phones have this.
- Very pretty UI and phone, it's quite attractive imo.
- Fast browser, renders everything just fine.
- Smooth scrolling throughout the UI and the browser.
- Fast app loading, especially noticeable. compared to my old Pixi and other "last gen" Android phones.
- Dual-position camera button: press in slightly to focus and down all the way to take the picture just like a point and shoot camera.
- Battery lasts me up to 2 days. I text a lot, browse a little, read RSS, and check sports scores and weather. I have 2 email accounts and calender accounts set to update every hour, as well as some live tiles showing weather and such. 2 days is double what I have learned to expect from other smartphones in these conditions.
Mediocre:
- Camera quality is ok. Much better than other phones I have owned but not as good as the iPhone4. The 720p video recording is almost as good as the iPhone4 I would say, but the darn setting doesn't stick!
- The tilt-up screen. It's a nice at first, but feels less and less useful as time goes on. It's neither here nor there imo.
Cons:
- The screen has a bit of wiggle to it. Pre users call this the oreo effect. It has not gotten any worse in the past 2 weeks, and really the movement is less than 2mm and really not a big deal. However, I do wish the slider was a bit sturdier like on the Evo Shift.
- This phone is heavy, heavier than most phones I have held recently. This is a major change for me coming from a pixi which was a tiny feather.
Very dependable Sprint phone
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This is the best smart phone that you can get on Sprint currently. It's battery life is reliable. The web browser is a smooth experience, and all the apps run smoothly. I had Samsung Android phone, and android has so many bugs, and android phones are not reliable. This phone has less features than android, but each feature is better quality. I would recommend this phone to any one who wants to get smartphone. I enjoy the spacings of the keyboard. The Xbox Live games have awesome graphics. The speaker of the phone is loud, and is awesome with the zune. The zune supports bluetooth audio which you can listen to in your car without wires!! I think Sprint has an awesome phone, and I will enjoy using it for the next two years.
The cons are the phone has the same specs as the windows phones that came out last year, but this is common with CDMA phones. Blackberry takes a year to get their phones out to CDMA. So it is an industry issue, not a phone issue.
Best Sprint phone on the market
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Background:
I am coming from a Samsung Epic. I have owned in the last few years:
BlackBerry
Palm Pre (Hacked to 1ghz)
Palm Pixi
Samsung Moment
Several WinMo Phones (Touch, Touch Pro, Diamond)
I feel this is hands down the best phone sprint has to offer *IF* you understand the short comings going in. WP7 (Windows Phone 7) is a brand new OS. And much like when iOS, webOS and Andriod were launched - there are things missing and unpolished. I would recommend you read what the issues are with this operating system are before you buy. All that being said - for what WP7 does - it does it amazing and fast. The phone is the snappiest/quickest phone ive ever used. Everything just works and it does it so smoothly. As for pro's and con's:
PRO:
Very Fast and Fluid
Feels really nice and well made
Keyboard is easy to type on
Screen produces beautiful image - almost as good as epic
Everything works the way it should
Tons of Games
Set up was fairly easy
Attentive Phone APP is amazing
CONS:
No custom ring-tones
Power Button is awkward
160 limit on text
Currently no 'HomeBrew' access
No Voice Texting
At the end of the day - The epic had an incredible screen but it felt cheap. Andriod for all its 'openness' and the 100ks of apps just doesn't WORK. It crashes and freezes and kills the battery for no reason. Its slows down and always needs to be reset. I love Android for the innovation and to satisfy my techno-dork side. But at the end of the day the Sprint Arrive is a significantly better phone for doing what I want on a day to day basis. Use some basic apps, play some games, surf the web, ect. And it does it with a nicer interface, cooler graphics, easier and FASTER.
Note - If I haven't made it clear yet. This phone is fast. Like, really fast compared to the epic. I know spec wise they are similar, but there is no comparison when your using them side by side.
HTC Arrive Best Phone on Sprint
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I recently switched from my HTC Evo to a HTC Arrive and its been the best move I have ever made. In fact its been the best phone I have ever owned. And I have owned a ton of phones!
Pros:
Feel of phone
Mango W7.5 smoothest operating system out there!
Battery Life (lasts all day and then some)
Cons:
Keyboard (I personally don't use it)
Sprint needs more WP7 phones!!!
HTC 7 Pro
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Pros:
Its a phone
Has a slide out keyboard
Large screen
Cons:
It uses Windows for the O.S
It has a 4 hour battery life - so constantly needs recharging
It doesn't sync correctly with the computer always
It doesn't always charge properly
It is EXTREMELY heavy for a cell phone
It doesn't run epocrates like it should
The alarm sucks ALL of the battery life out of it
It heats up when its charging
Did I mention its heavy?
I have this phone for 11 months and it was SO bad I could not stand it. I had to recharge it every 3 - 4 hours. It didn't have a silent mode for the first 3 months I had it (it was BRAND new when i got it), It was a huge mistake. The 300 for the phone wasn't worth it. I wouldn't have paid a dime for it if I had known how bad it was. I have happily upgraded to an iphone 4s and am quite content with how well it works.
What a Great Experance!
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Over the time I have used several different phones for Sprint. You name it, most likely I've used it. Over the past few months I got rather board with Android. I had the Hero, Evo, Nexus S, Evo 3D and none of them really set well with me. So I changed it up a bit and went with Windows Phone, and what a refreshing change it has been!
Right off the bat the Arrive feels solid. The metal back along with the sliding hinge the full device feels well made.
I am not a huge physical keyboard fan but I catch myself using it now and again.
The apps that I use mostly are located on windows phone so I migrated quite well. Still short a few (Skype and Google+ are two big ones for me.)
Touch screen is fantastic looking and very responsive. Metro UI is SO simple and fantastic! Alone with the ability that most things tie within Microsoft (Skydrive, Zune Player, Microsoft Office.)
The Downfall to Windows Phone. Do your research! Windows phone is very solid IF you are looking for specific things. If you are big on Email, Xbox, light gaming, and easy to use. Look into it. Android is Great for what it does, and so are iOS, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. Do your research, play with devices at stores, and ask questions.
Overall Windows Phone was/is a great experience, and a refreshing change from the other devices.
Fantastic Phone...Very Surprised How Much I Like It
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I'm sure I'm leaving out several items I like about the phone. However, here are a few pros and cons from a former wireless phone sales guy from the early 2000s. Bottom line: I recommend you go with the phone.
Pros: 1.) Phenomenal operating system. I'm coming from a series of BlackBerries, most recently a BB Tour. I never thought I could tolerate anything else after using the straight-laced BB menu. But the Windows 7 operating system is easy to use and actually fun.
2.) Great size screen. Picture quality is great too. No real lag time between pressing the camera button and the picture being snapped.
3.) Great music player...sync with Zune and you can fit hundreds of songs without worrying about memory card restrictions.
4.) Battery life is actually good. I'm on my phone all day long, primarily texting and using the internet. I charge my phone once for about two hours, and I'm good for about 24. I'm not sure if this is typical, but I have had no complaints. In comparison to my wife's HTC Evo (made by the same company and on the same network), I get much better battery life.
5.) Syncs great with Hotmail.
6.) Sturdy weight. Feels good in your hand. It looks like you spent a lot of money for the phone with the exterior materials used. It doesn't feel like a young kid's phone. However, it's light enough to take to the gym and use as a MP3 player. I put it in my pocket and lift weights and do cardio.
Cons: 1.) Horizontal slide out keyboard. I originally wanted the Dell Venue Pro's keyboard that lowered vertically. But I am a Sprint customer and it was a hassle to get rid of Sprint and go to T-Mobile's pre-paid plan. I never use the slide out keyboard, so it's not so much a negative as it is unnecessary.
2.) I haven't been able to turn my personal music into ring tones.
3.) There is no customization of the live tile screen. It's either white or black as a background...no pictures. The "wallpaper" only comes into effect when the phone locks.
Awesome New Windows Phone BUT.....
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Windows out did them selves with the new windows 7 phone its a smooth operating system easy to navigate and love the zune integrations but..... just like any other windows phone its all locked down. you cant get ring-tones or music unless you buy from zune, because there is no 3rd party apps yet for ring-tones or music cause windows wont let that happen so ring-tones your just s.o.l. until they release mango in the fall. meaning your stuck with whats preloaded on the phone. they locked the blue-tooth you cant download over the web they even locked the mms feature!! wow Microsoft really?!?!?
WOW! Amost there
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I use the phone primarily for business. I am replacing an HTC TP2 which had everything I wanted except CPU power. I wanted a windows phone to sync with my desktop Outlook application.
Pros:
- HTC builds a solid phone (Hardware)
- Fastest screens I have ever seen (CPU)
- WM7 is elegant and efficient (Software)
- Intuitive OS
- QWERTY
- Instant on button for the Camera even if phone is locked
- Addictive
- Customization is limited he applications. I suspect due to the OS still being relatively new. It will get better.
Cons:
- Does Not work with MS Outlook on a desktop.
- Does not let you import photos with Contacts.
- No card slot to facilitate transferring of data.
- Wish it had an embedded stylus like the HTC TP2.
- Had some issues with sound quality through Blue-tooth in the car but that seems to have cleared up
- I have a hard time typing on the screen. Buttons seem a little small to me
It supposedly does work with MS Outlook Exchange (which I do not have nor validated). There is a work around for importing the contacts from Outlook desktop which entails installing add-on to Outlook (hot connector). But it still will not allow you to import the calendar. You can transfer the contact pics to the phone but then have to attach each one individually to the phone number. I should mention that installing the Outlook add-ons and Live Essentials and cleaning up my contacts so that they are acceptable to upload has eaten up a lot of time. The add-ons have also slowed down my Outlook to the point it could barely open. I still do not have it working quite right.
I do not use FB much nor do I want my device automatically syncing with the cloud and auto uploading pictures, etc. So I see the high level of integration with the social network as good and bad.
If it worked with Outlook I would have given this at least a 4.5
AWESOME WINDOWS PHONE
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I had Windows phones in the past, so I was a bit skeptical. Well, this phone sure did it for me. Its amazingly fast smooth and way different then I expected. WP7 is for sure back and stronger then ever. But i wish they had more WP7 options on Sprint. I got this one for my Husband and I cant wait for the next one to come out so I can get it for my self preferably with a 4in screen since i love watching vids..
