New features:

Windows Mobile 6.1
HTC Home Screen
Video Share Calling
Threaded SMS
MS Voice Command
OneNote Mobile
Remote Desktop Monitor
Enroll Domain
Managed Programs
PTT Button now available
for reassignment under
Start>Settings>Buttons.

Update: As people pointed out in the comments, the download goes to the old 6.0 ROM for some reason. Probably a mixup by HTC, so it should be fixed soonish?

Some of our top engineers have investigated video performance on our devices and have discovered a fix that they claim will dramatically improve performance for common on-screen tasks like scrolling and the like. Their fix would help most of our recent touch-screen products including the Touch family of devices and TYTN II / Tilt, Mogul / XV6900. The update is in testing and we hope to release it soon. However this fix is not a new video driver to utilize hardware acceleration; it is a software optimization. Video drivers are a much more complicated issue that involves companies and engineers beyond HTC alone. We do not want to lead anyone to believe they should expect these. To explain why we are not releasing video acceleration instead of the optimization I offer you our official statement... "HTC DOES plan to offer software upgrades that will increase feature functionality, over the air wireless speeds and other enhancements for some of the phones being criticized, but we do not anticipate including any additional support for the video acceleration issues cited in customer complaints. It is important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and time. HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products. To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will not enable every feature or function. In addition to making sure the required hardware is present, unlocking extended capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx requires in-depth and time consuming software development, complicated licensing negotiations, potential intellectual property negotiations, added licensing fees, and in the case of devices that are sold through operators, the desire of the operator to include the additional functionality. To make an informed decision about which handset suits them best, consumers should look at the product specification itself instead of using the underlying chipset specifications to define what the product could potentially become."

[Phone Mag]

The Price: $299 with two-year contract

The Verdict: The 3G, GPS navigation, and Push-to-Talk makes this a much more feature-rich phone than its predecessor, the 8525. However, even though its Qualcomm MSM7200 CPU runs at 400MHz, it's actually noticeably slower than the Sprint Mogul, a similar device that runs a 400MHz MSM7500 CPU. Sliding out the keyboard on the Tilt to switch from portrait to landscape takes about 3.5 seconds, whereas the Mogul only takes a second (the same second as the 8525, running Windows Mobile 5).

This same slowness can be seen when comparing the two's browsing speeds when viewing Gizmodo.com. It took the Tilt more than a minute to download the entire page, whereas the Mogul got everything in about 20. After it was done downloading, the page took forever to scroll up/down/left/right, and was on the verge of being unusable. In comparison, the Mogul scrolled pages just fine without much delay.

However, we'd be willing to deal with a somewhat sluggish phone thanks to its GPS functionality. The Tilt comes bundled with a copy of TeleNAV, which allows the GPS receiver inside to power an almost standalone-GPS-level of navigation. All the standard vehicle navigation features are there, unlike on the Helio Ocean, and the map is very usable and very responsive when both using directions (it detects when you've veered off course) and just driving around. There's even traffic information that updates in real time as you're redirecting routes. TeleNAV costs $9.99 a month for unlimited trips and $5.99 for ten trips, and requires you to have an active data plan. With the 3G data, it was able to pull down maps and directions at speeds comparable to standalone units.

Push-to-Talk is also there via a dedicated button on the side, and when tested, functioned decently for PTT. However, it's essentially a speakerphone call with the other party where you have to push the button to talk. Fairly useless unless you enjoy PTT.

The 3.0-megapixel camera isn't great (it's on-par with HTC phones), but it's serviceable if you have nothing else. You can push the camera button down a little to focus, and then all the way to take the picture.

All in all it's a standard Windows Mobile 6 phone with a great HTC keyboard, standard HTC functionality and a slightly slow processor—which slows down everything else. However, the added features over the 8525 such as the awesome GPS navigation, flip-up QWERTY and WM6 itself makes this an interesting choice. If you're looking for pure speed, you may want to consider the Mogul on Sprint. [AT&T Tilt]

The tilt board costs $39, and requires you to actually solder seven wires and install the thing inside your controller yourself. If you're not comfortable with that, we'd suggest you skip this. And to Talismoon? You should sell these things pre-installed if you want more than just a few hundred nerdy customers.

– Jason Chen

Product Page [Total Console]