I've had my Windows Mobile-based AT&T Tilt for a couple of months now; here's an update on how well it's doing for me.

First off, it's gotten very stable. When I first got the device I did registry hacking and the like and got the phone off the tracks somehow. Before Christmas (I don't remember when) I reinstalled it and it's been solid ever since. I've given up on most registry tweaking, but I'm running more third party apps than I did before (and a ton more than I used on my old PalmOS Treo) and it's been just fine. I leave lots of apps running in the background and it stays responsive. Score one point for Windows Mobile.

Now to take one point away from Microsoft. Almost uniformly, their apps are terrible. I say "almost" because there might be one I like that I can't remember off the top of my head. Outlook is probably the least bad of them, and it can be safely described as adequate.

Fortunately, there are tons of high quality third party apps available for Windows Mobile. After spending a bit, the phone is incredibly useful. I interact with purchased applications almost entirely, and the phone is a joy to use. Here is a list of the apps I consider must-haves.

1. Spb Software makes a pile of apps which every phone should have. Spb Pocket Plus is the first of these. It gives you great control over the home (Today) screen on the phone with an easy to configure launcher. It does a pile of other things (like multiple tabs for IE), but the Today plugin in is a must-have.
2. Spb Phone Suite gives a dial-by-photo plugin for the Today screen, but it's real value is support for multiple phone profiles. My phone now switches itself to vibrate during meetings (which it knows about because it syncs my calendar with Zimbra), and turns off the ringer at night (while allowing time-based alarms to still go off). No more getting up to ignore a text message at 2am!
3. Finger Friendly Friends is an alternate contact lookup tool which makes dialing by name a breeze. It shows a qwerty keyboard on the screen, but it's not picky about how close you get to the letter you meant. As long as you're near, it finds the right name in your contact list. I can't imagine life without it.
4. Garmin Mobile· XT makes the Tilt a great GPS. Reception is good, voice callouts work well, data entry is pretty easy... In short, it makes carrying a separate GPS worthless.
5. Microsoft Live Search is really good at finding addresses and phone numbers. It's also free, which makes it a must-have.

I'm still evaluating Opera Mobile over Internet Explorer. There are also replacements for Outlook I may take a look at. I also have other bits (a Sudoku game, Google maps, etc) which I've installed but aren't critical.

Overall, after spending some cash on apps this phone works great. Kudos to Microsoft for encouraging such a vibrant development community. Shame on Microsoft for needing it to make their phones usable.