Haunted by the HTC Advantage

Choosing the Samsung Q1 Ultra over the HTC Advantage the other day may have been a bad idea.

The impulsive decision, spurred by impatience, had been sitting well with me until an email from Buy.com landed in my inbox with the subject line "Important notice of delay regarding your order." Evidently, the Q1 Ultra that was in stock and shipping in 1 to 2 days when I ordered it is now backordered until further notice.

In other words, the primary reason for "trading" the Advantage for the Q1 Ultra in the first place (immediate availability) is no longer valid.

Now what?

Here's my problem, you see. I want both, I need neither, and I can only have one right now. Since both now seem to share a possibly similar delayed delivery date, I should just get the one I really want. And that, of course, is the Advantage. My only hesitation is that according to Buy.com, the Q1 Ultra could still ship as expected. Here's an excerpt from the email:

Your order status can change quickly as we do our best to fulfill your order, and it's possible that by the time you read this email the delay affecting your order might have been fixed. It's also possible that the items you ordered could still be unavailable.

Since my shopping behavior is guided by instant gratification, what I really, really want is either the Advantage or the Q1 Ultra right now. Whichever one will be in my hands sooner is the one I want. Of course, with Buy.com's vague timeline and Amazon's "usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks" estimate, there's obviously no way of knowing which one would get here first.

I'm just going to have to decide, once and for all, which one to buy and then simply wait it out like an adult (which, I confess, I am hardly qualified to do). The trouble I'm having is that I don't know how to choose. Since both devices have very little in common, I can't really base my decision on which one best suits my needs.

I've been saying (here and elsewhere) that the Advantage has always been on the receiving end of most of my gadget lust, so I know the choice seems obvious. And if I hadn't spend the last few days thinking about all the advantages of getting the Q1 Ultra instead, the decision would've been an absolute no-brainer. I would've just clicked over to Buy.com the second after receiving the email, canceled my order, and returned to Amazon to reorder the Advantage. Dumb as that may be, I know that's what I would've done in a heartbeat.

But now I don't know what to do. What I think would help me is some sort of chart or point system. That way, rather than just assume that the Advantage is the better choice simply because I want it more, I could just say that the Advantage scores the point for gadget lust. Maybe I could just come up with a bunch of categories, decide which device "wins" in each, add up all the points in the end, and take home the winner.

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on this silly dilemma of mine, but in particular I'd like to really hear from Bruno, a frequent commenter here who owns both the Q1 Ultra and the Advantage.

Comments

[dan]

What to do.... From what I saw from Hugo.................................
......................wait for the Shift... :)

(admittedly this is coming from someone who keeps checking Amazon to see if his Advantage has shipped.....)

:)

[Benz145]

Flip a coin and don't regret anything.

Everyone hates waiting, but the nice thing about time is that you can't stop it. You'll get what you want eventually, thats whats important.

[dan]

and if you get it and it isn't quite what you want....
there's always ebay!!!

[jfl]

I totally feel your dilemma Jenn, and it's got to be that much worse after watching Hugo's video of the Shift. It's basically the best of both the Q1U and the Advantage combined and bettered in one device, but alas not available anytime soon. Me, I've got credit card pay off momentum and enough residual iPhone euphoria to keep me patient for a while longer. But, if I were in your position right now (and you're so contagiously getting me there), I would trust the raving from James Kendrick and Matt Miller over their recent experiences with the Advantage and cancel the Q1U before you have any more time to think about it.

[Bruno]

Jenn: I think it all comes down to what matters to you: connectivity or rich user experience. Everything else being equal, go for the Advantage IF you have a SIM card to use in it and IF you can get 3G / HSDPA connection (it will improve the GPS experience also). Without a chance to use its excellent connectivity, Advantage will be seriously underused!
I love my Q1U to death, but since you already have Sony UX and Samsung Q1, it will make less of a difference to you than the Advantage will - if, and I stress that again, if you have a SIM card to use with your Advantage.
Let us know what have you decided to do!

[Jenn]

Thanks for all your comments. I ended up making that chart I mentioned in the post and the final score was 10-6, Advantage. So basically, I'm back where I started several weeks ago!

Ah yes, I've always had the Shift on my list. :-) It and the Q1U are the two UMPCs I always planned to buy this year, but I think now I'm going to have to choose only one (unless the Q1U gets a price cut by the end of the year).

@ dan: What's your delivery estimate now? Mine started at 8/6 to 8/24, became 8/29 to 9/10 the day I canceled, and is now at 9/7 to 9/21. Ironically, if I had been more patient, I would've gotten it weeks sooner!

@ Benz: I kind of like that: I will get what I want eventually. I'd much rather get what I want right now, of course, but there's still some peace in knowing that one of these days I'll have both. I hope "one of these days" comes sooner than later, though, because the longer I wait, the more I add new items to my wishlist. And that never seems to work to the Q1U's advantage. :-)

@ jfl: James and Matt really are raving about it, aren't they? Steve Paine wasn't too impressed with the X7500, which worried me, but it's very difficult to overlook the high praises sung by James and Matt.

@ Bruno: The funny thing is that the 3G connectivity and phone usage are features I actually never intended on using. You're right that connectivity is one of the Advantage's strong points, but I don't have an extra activated SIM (or the corresponding extra monthly data plan) and will use the device primarily at home. I'm probably the least mobile user of mobile technology ever!

Do you use the Advantage more at home or on the go?

I do have an extra T-Mobile SIM from my Treo, but T-Mobile isn't 3G here. They're still on EDGE, which I already try to avoid using on the iPhone. ;-)

What ended up playing a significant role in my decision was actually the OS. I don't have any experience with Vista or WM6, so I always thought of them equally in terms of their value to me (learning something new and all that). But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much more excited I was about WM6. There are so many apps that I've been looking forward to trying/using, which I can't say about Vista. I'm also not good at upgrading, optimizing, and tweaking, all of which seem to be desirable strengths for a new Vista user to have.

[dan]

Amazon is still listing my device as shipping some time this week. But... who knows.

For me it came down to this-- I love the form factor of the Q1U- it is really slick. But I found the processor to be really lacking. (This is especially the case because I do a lot of my professional writing using voice recognition and the Q1U processor just didn't cut it. The first gen Q1P I had did work well with it but there were too many other compromises- from screen resolution to the lack of a mouse pointer.) Since the Shift uses the same processor I suspect I would have the same problem. So instead I am using the P1610 for real work. A little bigger but a real keyboard, plenty of speed/power and a nice inking experience.

The Advantage, of course, doesn't do voice recognition at all, but that was a compromise I was having to make with any of the 2nd gen umpcs. It, on the other hand, is a real "grab and go" portable office/media player/web device. That, the outrageous connectivity options and the fact that there are some amazing windows mobile apps that make the pim interface remarkably useful, makes it the choice for me. (I used an ATT 8525-- the TYTN- this summer and I was amazed at how really useful, not to mention fun to use, it was. It is so much better than wm2003, and the wm 6 on the HTC Cavalier I am currently using is better yet. Add more power, a bigger screen and tons more storage (in other words the Advantage) and you've got a really nice device.

And it, unlike the other options that have been mentioned is actually "pocketable" (okay so you need a pretty big pocket... but beggers can't be choosers.)

[orbitalcomp]

Jenn -

I was kinda in the same boat as you - I really needed neither, but I was also trying to decide between the Advantage and the Q1U. I finally decided to order the x7500 from MobilePlanet, since they had it in stock. It was more than Amazon, but I didn't have to wait, and plus it has the front video camera and TomTom included.

Two things made up my mind - internal GPS and HSDPA/cell phone functionality. Those two things right there outweigh anything that the Q1U can do, especially considering I already have laptops for the "desktop" apps.

I couldn't be happier with my decision, the Advantage is awesome! I already have an iPhone, and I can swap the SIM into the Advantage and it gives me HSDPA/3G speeds here in my area. I have been using it as my primary phone for the last few days just to see how it works, but more than likely I will use it mainly with WiFi and BT, and use my iPhone as my everyday phone. But if the need arises, I can easily switch to the more powerful Advantage.

Look at it this way - the Advantage has every current technology built-in. World quad-band, GPS, 802.11g, BT 2.0, HSDPA, WM6, two cameras (on the x7500), LED backlighting, SDHC support.

When I compared the two devices by sheer number of technologies, the Advantage wins hands down. Even after watching that HTC Shift video, I am even more convinced I made the right choice - that thing is way too big, and no voice calling.

[Jenn]

I'm happy to hear how much you're enjoying the Advantage, orbitalcomp. It makes me that much more excited (not to mention more impatient) to get mine. Do you plan to upgrade to WM6?

You have HSDPA on your iPhone? I haven't removed my iPhone's SIM yet, but I have been wondering how functional it would be in the Advantage. Does everything work? I don't plan to jailbreak the phone, so I haven't been keeping up on the compatibility of the SIM with other devices. The last time I looked into it, a few people had discovered that calling features and data access were sometimes disabled.

[orbitalcomp]

Yeah, I plan on upgrading to WM6 as soon as the official version is released by HTC, probably this month. They already released the English version of the WM6 upgrade for the Dopod U1000 (same device, in silver) on the Asia site, so it's only a matter of time. There are plenty of people on xda-developers already running WM6...

The iPhone itself doesn't have HSDPA, but the SIM that comes installed in it is a 3G SIM, which allows HSDPA and unlimited data as per the iPhone plan. I saw a review on some other site where the guy did the same thing with his iPhone SIM and the Advantage, and it worked fine.

I didn't have to do anything to the SIM, no Jailbreak, just pop it in. The Phone app has an option to scan for the network, and it found AT&T. The bands are also selected automatically depending on where in the world you are using the phone. The only thing I had to do was setup the data connection, and that took like 30 seconds after I got the manual settings off AT&T's support site. The X7501 does all of this automatically because it knows it's in the U.S. and there are only two providers it can work with.

[Jenn]

I had no idea that could be done. Thanks for the tip, orbitalcomp! Now I'm even more anxious to get my Advantage. Hmm. I'm sensing a trend: every time you post a comment, my gadget lust is given a very healthy boost. :-)

If you still have the manual settings on hand (and they don't divulge any personal info, of course!), could you please post them here?

[orbitalcomp]

It'll be worth the wait, Jenn...you'll be surprised by the small size, it's deceiving in some of the pictures and videos.

Here is the link that has the info for setting up the Internet access. It's the support page for the 8525, which runs pretty much the same OS as the Advantage: Link

Since mine is a Euro version, it didn't have the 'Media Net' stuff on there like a normal AT&T phone would. Skip down to about step #12. You go to 'Start->Settings->Connections->Connections->My ISP->Add a new modem connection' on the Advantage.

From there, give your new connection a name (I named mine AT&T), and follow the steps from #12 on. It's real easy, just input what that web page tells you to in the correct fields.

Here is the link for the MMS settings, which is the only other thing you will have to do: Link

I haven't set this up on mine yet, I really don't do much texting or messaging...I use email, and that is the same to setup as any other WM device.

Keep in mind, if you get the x7501 U.S. version, you shouldn't have to do any of this, I think there is a wizard that sets up everything. But on the 7500, you'll have to do it manually - same end result.

Any other questions, let me know...

[Jenn]

Thanks for all your help, orbitalcomp. I appreciate it.

I did order the U.S. X7501, but I'm still very glad to have your instructions and the links in case something doesn't work as expected. I wonder if it matters that the X7501 runs WM6...

Thanks again!

[Bruno]

@ Jenn: I actually rarely ever use the Advantage at home - what is the point? For me it is purely a mobile solution - and quite a good one at that :-)
I have upgraded to WM6 couple of days ago and it rocks!

[orbitalcomp]

No problem, Jenn...glad to help...

@Bruno: How was the upgrade process? Did you use the Dopod version, and did you have to go through the whole SuperCID / HardSPL stuff that they talk about on xda-developers? I assume you have the black HTC version...

Thanks in advance...

[dan]

Okay.. you people are officially killing me. I have had mine on order for a little over a month. It still reads-- "expected delivery, Aug 13-21"
Well, it is the 15th and no sign of any movement.
And then you are all... "it rocks... it is amazing...you are gonna love it"

So do me a huge favor--- hold off your glowing about it for a couple of days until Jenn and I and the rest of us get them....
to do anything else is just ... mean. :)

[Bruno]

@Dan: Ok, I will, just because I know firsthand what a gadget withdrawal can do :-)

[Bruno]

@ orbitalcomp: I actually have the silver Advantage, bought from T-Mobile in the UK (where it is branded as Ameo).
I have downloaded the ROM from xda-developers, I did not need to unlock the device as the ROM provided was for UK T-Mobile branded device. Otherwise I would have to unlock it (which I am going to do anyways, I have got the unlocker from www.imei-check.co.uk).
The process itself was quite straightforward, download the ROM, connect the device, run the upgrade process (takes about 15 minutes) and that's it.
If you need to unlock your device (you will find out when you run the upgrade process - if it tells you that you have got a wrong Country ID or Vendor ID you will need to unlock), there is an unlocker available on xda-developers as well, but I have not tried that one.
Let me know if you need any more info!

[orbitalcomp]

Cool, thanks for the info, Bruno...

[dan]

Laptop Magazine has a review of the X7501 that is pretty darn positive. Interesting to see this thing taking on steam!!
http://laptopmag.com/Review/HTC-Advantage.htm

Oh yeah, and mine shipped from Amazon tonight... of the wait. :)

[Bruce Wilson]

Your dilemma is an interesting challenge -- I have both the x7500 Advantage with WM6 on it, and a Q1 Ultra with WinVista Home Premium. I got the Advantage first but wanted to try the Q1U, after some disappointment with a UX390N and the OQO 02 -- wasn't sure I'd like the large size (compared to my pda/phones). I had upgraded from a Cingular 8525 to the Advantage and discovered I really much prefer it even though it's not as usable as a phone (although I continue to use it as such -- BT in my car so it works great -- when I get or make calls elsewhere I just have to use the speaker phone). The Advantage is a "sleeper" IMHO -- its versatility, speed, longer battery life, and that gorgeous screen exceeded my expectations and are sadly underrated by most, unless they have one themselves. I use it w/o its case, relying on the keyboard to protect the screen and it fits nearly all my shirt pockets (a little heavy) so I've lost none of the mobility I had with my Hermes. I actually like the keyboard -- find I can type pretty well on it -- but the virtual keyboard is a dream to use because the crisp VGA screen and large keys make it really easy to use with either the stylus or my finger. It's layout (like a laptop) makes it easy to have next to me and to monitor email and other stuff, using the keyboard to acknowledge or open..... it's a really worthwhile design for the person whose primary need is for the pda-type capabilities. My Q1U surprised me also -- I found I really enjoy it in spite of its "larger" form factor -- the screen is excellent -- even WinVista is great, once the bloat stuff is removed (checkout CTitanic's recommendations). I like having the full Vista capability, although I realize if I load it up with my productivity software it will slow it down and fill up the HD, so I'm still using it with a relatively light load of software. It's great for surfing because of the two-hand design and the important keys being at each thumb. I don't particularly like the joy stick (too hard to home-in on icons, etc) and the lack of backlit keys makes that part useless in dim lighting.

All-in-all, if you go for the Advantage first I agree with the poster who pointed out you'll be seeing a lot more technology improvements. It won't "replace" the Q1U (or similar UMPC) because, even with WM6, it lacks the OS punch we're accustomed to in our laptops/etc. But I'd wager you'll end up glad with your choice -- as I said, the Advantage is an underrated "sleeper" in the sub-UMPC world.

[dan]

Got it... really like it...a truly innovative device.

Bruce- yeah, it is a sleeper, but people are waking up to it.

The only disappointment so far is that I tried syncing a tv show from my pc and it is choppy at best.

One of the great things is that spb's fullscreen keyboard works amazingly well, as does TengoThumb in when using it in portrait.

[Bruno]

@ Bruce: What you are describing is EXACTLY what I feel without being able to express it as eloquently :-)