AT&T Tilt Smartphone
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The AT&T Tilt is a high-end HTC Windows Mobile phone, which should tell you exactly what it looks like. Its form follows the same basic idea as the Sprint Mogul, T-Mobile Wing, or, most significantly, the AT&T 8525, among others. The main difference is that on the Tilt, the screen lifts slightly when the keyboard is extended, giving users a better viewing angle. Unfortunately, this also obscures the soft keys, which are located under the crease, but the Tilt uses a touch screen, so you can simply tap your selection on screen instead of on the keyboard. In practice, we found this feature to look enticing, but it made little difference in the usability of the phone. In some cases, like text messaging, the tilted screen seemed to give our fingers less room to maneuver the keys. In others, like navigating while driving, the Tilt held the screen at just the right angle. Still, you certainly don’t have to Tilt the screen, so there’s no harm done if you’re not a fan.
Otherwise, the Tilt is a solid phone. The screen is high-quality, and the keys are firm but comfortable. They are slightly rounded and nicely spaced, making typing a breeze. Switching between portrait and landscape, as the keys are slid forth, was not instantaneous, there was a noticeable lag, but the phone seemed better at handling the change than slower models like the Wing. In all, Windows Mobile may be a slow operating system for phones, with plenty of lag time, but the Tilt felt like one of the faster Windows Mobile phones we’ve seen, and even complicated third-party apps, like TeleNav, opened quickly. Infosyncworld review
