Related
By way of encouraging discussion -- The HTC X7500/7501 is the closest current HTC product to the emerging class of computers being dubbed UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) that seems to be catching fire. Of course the appeal of the UMPC is its reliance on currently popular PC OS -- WinXP or Vista, as well as its small size (most have screen sizes between 4.5 and 8 in). The Athena's 5 in VGA screen, relatively powerful cpu, 8GB HDD, and form factor with the easy-to-use keyboard makes it very close IMHO to the appealing features of the UMPC's, although it's not officially classified as such because it uses the WinMobile OS rather than XP or Vista. I'm personally torn between my x7500 (with WM6) and one of these UMPC -- have tried the Sony Vaio UX390N but sold it because I found its limitations (unreadable screen, reliance on mouse vs. touchscreen, slow processing with vista) too great. But there are a number of newer UMPC versions coming out that seem worth trying (but who can afford them?).... the OQO Model 02 is only slightly larger than the Athena but offers Vista (at twice the Athena price).... the Raon Everun due out shortly is also only slightly larger than the Athena but not as powerful as the OQO but seems like a "hot" seller.
As a longtime proponent of pocketpc/pdaphones and similar pocketable devices, I'm intrigued -- what thoughts do others in this forum have regarding the emerging UMPC compared to our Athena/Advantage devices?
brucewilsonpa said:
By way of encouraging discussion -- The HTC X7500/7501 is the closest current HTC product to the emerging class of computers being dubbed UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) that seems to be catching fire. Of course the appeal of the UMPC is its reliance on currently popular PC OS -- WinXP or Vista, as well as its small size (most have screen sizes between 4.5 and 8 in). The Athena's 5 in VGA screen, relatively powerful cpu, 8GB HDD, and form factor with the easy-to-use keyboard makes it very close IMHO to the appealing features of the UMPC's, although it's not officially classified as such because it uses the WinMobile OS rather than XP or Vista. I'm personally torn between my x7500 (with WM6) and one of these UMPC -- have tried the Sony Vaio UX390N but sold it because I found its limitations (unreadable screen, reliance on mouse vs. touchscreen, slow processing with vista) too great. But there are a number of newer UMPC versions coming out that seem worth trying (but who can afford them?).... the OQO Model 02 is only slightly larger than the Athena but offers Vista (at twice the Athena price).... the Raon Everun due out shortly is also only slightly larger than the Athena but not as powerful as the OQO but seems like a "hot" seller.
As a longtime proponent of pocketpc/pdaphones and similar pocketable devices, I'm intrigued -- what thoughts do others in this forum have regarding the emerging UMPC compared to our Athena/Advantage devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life is what separates the men (athena) from the boys (umpc). Even the ulv editions don't have that much staying power I have tried the Sony umpc TZ...., and now have the Stylistic ST5112 (not real umpc cos of larger screen) which claims 10hrs battery life, but not really getting that much.
personally i like zippy performance...
and the thing with vista is... with a 1.2ghz chip as these current umpcs are offerning these days...
i dont feel its well worth it for laggy performance...
and it really depends on what your use for the said device is.. ?
is it going to be primarily a workhorse type eqiupment ?
or is it going to be a simple phone that is powerful ?
i prefer to go for something like an athena... for quick work on the go...
but if im going to be doing any REAL work that requires a computer as in web design / various other apps ... i dont see myself successfully utilizing a umpc...
i prefer the large displays at home for webdesign and coding etc.
and there are many of small notebooks you can buy these days for a good price ... in the range of something like 10" notebooks
this is no bigger than a 8.5 x 11 notebook great for note takign etc.
i was thinking of getting one for college work...
boinger66 said:
personally i like zippy performance...
and it really depends on what your use for the said device is.. ?
is it going to be primarily a workhorse type eqiupment ?
or is it going to be a simple phone that is powerful ? ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is the key point -- and one which is acknowledged by some of those doing reviews of UMPC -- right now the UMPC's available, while pretty cool in lots of ways, still have a lot of limitations so they can't even match what our WinMobile devices can do. OTOH.... I keep asking myself if I really use all that power of my "primary" computer (core2duo laptop with lots of cpu power, ram and large HDD)..... maybe my challenge is to decide just what I really need??????
I am curious. Has anyone used the Advantage to drive a PPT presentation on a projector? How limited is P-PPT?
That would really drive my behaviour.
jab said:
I am curious. Has anyone used the Advantage to drive a PPT presentation on a projector? How limited is P-PPT?
That would really drive my behaviour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use PocketSlides from Conduits. http://www.conduits.com/products/slides/
While you do have to go through a "convert" step, I have found that it faithfully reproduces all features and layout, including most animations. Also allows editing on PPC, which for me is the downside to PocketPPT and why I have never given it a try.
I have projected presentations and videos with no problems using the VGA cable. (Other than troubles finding a video player that handles MPEG-2, which 90% of my stuff is encoded in.)
wgary said:
I use PocketSlides from Conduits. http://www.conduits.com/products/slides/
While you do have to go through a "convert" step, I have found that it faithfully reproduces all features and layout, including most animations. Also allows editing on PPC, which for me is the downside to PocketPPT and why I have never given it a try.
I have projected presentations and videos with no problems using the VGA cable. (Other than troubles finding a video player that handles MPEG-2, which 90% of my stuff is encoded in.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried TCPMP ?
I personally think it boils down to cpu, I would love to have the ameo running vista, xp, but it would take ages to do anything. I was looking at umpc's today, "was really looking for a bluetooth mouse, no joy as usuall, thanks pcworld." and thinking, nice, but the cpu isnt that much better than my ameo, plus running vista, which is cpu hungry, I just think no, I would like one, but since I got my ameo I don't turn on my pc as much, unless im video converting or doing somthing, which a umpc would be to slow. dual core and a 64 bit operating system, I like speed.
with wm6, or 5, I can do pretty much what I need to do. and lets face it I can remote desk top if I really wanted to do somthing else while I was killing time at work.
its a nice idea, but I think after contiplating one for this lenght of time, I think WM6 is enough for what your average Joe does with it. Be it presentations, excell in my case or sending emails.
Anyway, thats my drunken opinion, and im off to bed.
boinger66 said:
have you tried TCPMP ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
honestly, I tried it once a while back and it really gummed things up. I do use CorePlayer, but no mpeg-2 support yet. guess I need to give tcpmp another go...
wgary said:
honestly, I tried it once a while back and it really gummed things up. I do use CorePlayer, but no mpeg-2 support yet. guess I need to give tcpmp another go...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download the tcpmp file that mackaby posted it has all the codecs in it
boinger66 said:
download the tcpmp file that mackaby posted it has all the codecs in it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it have WMA support? I could not play a film with that format on tcpmp
victoradjei said:
Does it have WMA support? I could not play a film with that format on tcpmp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i didnt know there were wma films...
i thought it was windows media audio .. implying audio only ?
boinger66 said:
i didnt know there were wma films...
i thought it was windows media audio .. implying audio only ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WMV, sorry. My question still hold
victoradjei said:
WMV, sorry. My question still hold
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it has support, but is very poor. Corecodec are aware of this and will improve on the new Coreplayer over time, but for now, the best solution for WMV is to stick to WMP.
Personally, I detest playing vids in WMV.
jab said:
I am curious. Has anyone used the Advantage to drive a PPT presentation on a projector? How limited is P-PPT?
That would really drive my behaviour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works fine, I have just loaded a 20MB PPS file to the Hard Drive in the Ameo and it runs great via the 4in1 output cable to the projector, no video embeded, just text and photos, not quite as fast as the laptop but it certainly works well - the time lag is only apparant on certain slides with a number of pictures embeded in them - Mike
so talk about getting off topic...
but anyways to get back on...
i am actually considering the htc shift... but it will really depend on its price point... as i find it would be good for me to use at school... ofcourse the athena would still be my main device
I'm curious about a couple of things. This is my first android phone. Was waiting for good hardware specs and the N1 was it for me. Preface this by saying I think this phone generally rocks right out of the package.
Coming from WM, I'm used to coming here and figuring out what I need to do to get my phone to do what I want it to do. But it seems like there's alot of things that no one's cracked yet and I don't understand why there's either not an app or a hack for some of these things. Here's a partial list:
- AVI support. WTF not? If I wanted to watch H264 I'd have bought an iPhone.
- Why is multi-touch capable but not implemented?
- Why is Google Docs read-only? Should that not be a basic function of a Google phone?
- Multi-color LED
- A decent media player for both video and music
- FM functionality
Can I expect more development now that the 2.1 SDK is out as a Google afterthought? Should I expect iPhone-esque OS updates from HTC in the future or am I going to end up poking around here for cooked ROMS?
jackstraw said:
- AVI support. WTF not? If I wanted to watch H264 I'd have bought an iPhone.
- Why is multi-touch capable but not implemented?
- Why is Google Docs read-only? Should that not be a basic function of a Google phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are all questions we'd all love answers to as well, unfortunately... If you haven't found it already, download Dolphin Browser. It has pinch-to-zoom multitouch guestures.
jackstraw said:
- Multi-color LED
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically the trackball is multi-color. So far the only colors any apps make it change are blue and white. That will certainly change with time.
jackstraw said:
- A decent media player for both video and music
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out Nemo
jackstraw said:
- FM functionality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who?? I don't know how much demand there actually is for that... and even if there was, I doubt there are a lot of phones out there that have it... though I certainly could be wrong... between music on my phone, Pandora, and other apps like StreamFurious, DroidLive, and Last.FM... I can't see a reason for really needing FM radio... but everyone's different I guess. I see asking for FM in a phone, like asking for a VHS player in a car... On the plus side, Android will be getting flash soon enough, and lots of FM stations stream their broadcast on the web.
jackstraw said:
Can I expect more development now that the 2.1 SDK is out as a Google afterthought? Should I expect iPhone-esque OS updates from HTC in the future or am I going to end up poking around here for cooked ROMS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and kind of. HTC is only the hardware manufacturer. The software is straight from Google, and will come from Google in the future, which is a good thing, cause they seem to update a lot more often than HTC (see Hero users still running Android 1.5, for instance...).
Things have, and will get better, I guarantee it.
Thanks Spyder. I've played around w/Dolphin...technically the double-click to zoom works pretty well for me in the default browser. It's just the principle
I may have given given HTC too much credit. I was thinking the FM was Rx *and* Tx, e.g., in the mysterioso car dock no one's seen yet, you could Tx songs or nav voice from the phone to a blank FM station and car speakers. Sounds like maybe it's just Rx though which does indeed make it pretty useless. That's why God invented Pandora etc.
I bought this phone fully aware of the Tao of beta-ness of Google and lack of support, but w/these hardware specs, when/if they release Android 2.x I shouldn't have any trouble upgrading right?
And I stand corrected (a little bit). Tonight I noticed that you can now edit Docs spreadsheets on the N1. Presentations and documents not so much. This was not the case a couple days ago so maybe new functionality is in the pipe.
You can use Gdocs to edit a Google text document, it's not perfect and I agree, Google should have their own mobile solution.
I've been able to edit spreadsheets for a while in the Chrome browser (came from Samsung Galaxy), never found myself doing it that often because it's so hard on a small(er) screen.
With regards to multi-touch, I heard Apple asked Google (still pals I reckon) to hold off on multi-touch for a little while because Apple's patent wasn't very strong :| No real proof of that, I think it was mentioned on twit.tv but I can't find the exact podcast.
jackstraw said:
- AVI support. WTF not? If I wanted to watch H264 I'd have bought an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AVI is an awful _awful_ container format. Note that .avi is a container and H264 is a codec, you can have H264 video in an AVI container. It's unlikely that anyone will spend the time adding AVI container support in opencore, but possible. BTW You can change container on a given piece of video without re-encoding.
jackstraw said:
- Why is multi-touch capable but not implemented?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Multi-touch is implemented, if you're looking for the pinch-zoom gesture in the browser/gallery/maps and keyboard chording then I don't know what to tell you, Google themselves seem to be very cagey on the subject. (Multitouch != "pinch zoom") Still, pinch zoom is not so good with the dynamic reflow that the Android browser does, and I prefer "double click + reflow" to "pinch zoom without reflow" as I end up having to scroll over wide text areas on i[pods touches/phones]
jackstraw said:
- Why is Google Docs read-only? Should that not be a basic function of a Google phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't a "Google Phone" isn't just another Android device with Google as the retailer. Different departments have their own priorities and I guess mobile editing of the text portion of Docs isn't high enough on the list yet. Spreadsheets work fine (As you later mentioned).
jackstraw said:
- Multi-color LED
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep it was rushed out of the door, it'll most likely turn up in the first update.
jackstraw said:
- A decent media player for both video and music
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the new default music app (if has been changed a bit) And I use Meridian for video
jackstraw said:
- FM functionality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wasn't advertised and I'd guess is unlikely to ever work well without an internal antenna regardless of what's on the chip.
jackstraw said:
Can I expect more development now that the 2.1 SDK is out as a Google afterthought? Should I expect iPhone-esque OS updates from HTC in the future or am I going to end up poking around here for cooked ROMS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's likely there will be a number of updates, and a number of cooked roms when the source is released.
Thanks everyone for the info/suggestions. Gotta invest some time in getting up to speed on the guts of Android, but I appreciate your feedback in the meantime.
Mobius - Point taken re. .avi and all the codecs it can hold. 99% of my video is in that container but I've just taken it for granted that I had my PC, WM6 and TVersity tweaked to "just do it". It's so common it seems like it'd be worth developing an app...maybe once you can officially throw it on the SD card instead of main memory. I'd pay a good chunk for that app. At the same time, I was essentially re-encoding the rez and format for alot of my WM video anyway to save space so I guess doing it here is the same difference.
jackstraw said:
I may have given given HTC too much credit. I was thinking the FM was Rx *and* Tx, e.g., in the mysterioso car dock no one's seen yet, you could Tx songs or nav voice from the phone to a blank FM station and car speakers. Sounds like maybe it's just Rx though which does indeed make it pretty useless. That's why God invented Pandora etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOOH! You're talking about something completely different than what I was imagining. Unfortunately there are absolutely zero details on the dock other than the screenshot of Google's store showing it. We don't know how it will transmit sound to your car. I'd personally rather have a 3.5mm jack than use FM, but I know not everyone has a 3.5mm jack in their car as well.
jackstraw said:
when/if they release Android 2.x I shouldn't have any trouble upgrading right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't flash a custom ROM, you should be all good... but you will want to flash a custom ROM, believe me. Besides, you'll probably get whatever the next release of Android is via a custom ROM, sooner than you would get it OTA. Worst case scenario, if you flash a custom ROM, you can always flash back to the stock ROM, and be able to receive OTA updates without issue.
SpyderMS said:
Who?? I don't know how much demand there actually is for that... and even if there was, I doubt there are a lot of phones out there that have it... though I certainly could be wrong... between music on my phone, Pandora, and other apps like StreamFurious, DroidLive, and Last.FM... I can't see a reason for really needing FM radio... but everyone's different I guess. I see asking for FM in a phone, like asking for a VHS player in a car... On the plus side, Android will be getting flash soon enough, and lots of FM stations stream their broadcast on the web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FM transmission means wireless music playing in your car. That's the main reason for it. see the nokia N900.
Hey guys, share with us what are the coolest things you use your HD2 for.
1. Listening to internet radio and watching tv/news
2. Checking my home webcam, no matter where I am (hamachi for connecting and VLC player for broadcasting)
3. Playing youtube videos while at a Dj gig (playing songs customers request and I don't have in my collection)
Composing my own Songs with SunVox-Tracker
I do some Tracks with SunVox.
It's very funny looking at the peoples face while I record myself singing in the train
Playing final fantasy ix on fpsece tends to blow peoples minds, but use the HD2 for everything from movies, music to comics and books, and even throw in a phone call every now and then
Yep, for me, FpseCE is the coolest thing about the phone. Everyone I show, wants an HD2 immediatly after it. Can't thank the developers enough.
Morphgear or FpseCE whilst listenting to some tunes tends to be my fav thing to do on the way to work.
Always turns some heads when I'm sat there playing Tekken 2 on my phone ... lol
The coolest thing i did was sell it on ebay because it sucked ass.
Now i have a different phone that works perfectly.
wrong reply
TheDynamo said:
The coolest thing i did was sell it on ebay because it sucked ass.
Now i have a different phone that works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then why are you hanging around the HD2 forum? Miss it?
TheDynamo said:
The coolest thing i did was sell it on ebay because it sucked ass.
Now i have a different phone that works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if that is true (iphone sniffer?) it will be in better hands, for sure...
biokeks said:
I do some Tracks with SunVox.
It's very funny looking at the peoples face while I record myself singing in the train
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
never heard of it and I'm now checking it out - thank you very much
TheDynamo said:
The coolest thing i did was sell it on ebay because it sucked ass.
Now i have a different phone that works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well what do you expect when you have (clearly) been holding a pile of **** far, far to long... Iphone.
Best thing for me is by far FPSEce. I love it when i wip out Grantrismo, and the iphone users stuck with 'jellycar' just turn in shame MUHAHAHAH
I like the forums (when the fan boys arn't looking through rose coloured spectacles and actually admit the faults anyway) I also find the work interesting, along with the Android porting discussions etc.
I liked the phone, it had a lot of potential, but it just didnt perform.
TheDynamo said:
I liked the phone, it had a lot of potential, but it just didnt perform.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give some substance to your statement? I want to know why you think that is true.
I don't have HD2. I currently have a HTC Dream, Android.
I'm going to try to stay on topic
I love SportyPal, it boosted my runs, both frequency and length. Besides that I use it for e-mail, surf the web, watch youtube movies on it, and use it as a windows remote...
Lovely phone.
HD2 is great for video playback. No other phone can play normal SD AVIs without conversion (though 3 years old phone-less Palm T5 could as well). Or you can convert HD video to exact display dimensions, use mp4 format and built-in player .. and it looks just great.
Big screen is cool for maps, PDFs, manga.
But what I do with most please is using it as a torch when going to bed.
Dr.Sid said:
HD2 is great for video playback. No other phone can play normal SD AVIs without conversion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Er, sorry, but thats just not true. The Samsung i8000 and i8910 both can (along with a few other Samsung and LG handsets), the TG01 also does. I owned the i8910 before having the HD2, and actually its avi playback is much better (and looks better on the AMOLED screen), including its 720p playback.
I'm not saying the HD2 isn't a great phone, I love it and wouldn't go back to the i8910 (which is also very good in its own right), but lets stick to facts here eh?
Coolest things would be FPSece, although I really enjoy G-Remote when my laptops plugged into the television playing video/music, its hardly new but certainly ellicits a good response from people.
Dr.Sid said:
But what I do with most please is using it as a torch when going to bed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol +1......
The coolest thing I did was to show some iPhone users that their fruity phone cannot do what my HD2 can do. The expression on their faces was priceless, money can't buy.
I want to thank all the chefs and developers here to make the HD2 really great.
weenween said:
The coolest thing I did was to show some iPhone users that their fruity phone cannot do what my HD2 can do. The expression on their faces was priceless, money can't buy.
I want to thank all the chefs and developers here to make the HD2 really great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what did you show them?
the screen? duh? The screen is enough for them....
hey, i'm pretty new here, but not to windows mobile.
i've been using winmo 5 and 6 for years and it served me very well.
normally, i use my PSP to watch videos. after ripping DVDs, i need to convert it to a 480x272 AVC MP4 and its really time consuming on my 5 year old pc.
and after converting, i cannot turn off subtitles on the PSP, system doesn't support it.
then, i saw this phone with huge screen and yeah, in screen size and resolution:
nokia etc. phones < iPhone < PSP < HD2
hmm.
i researched and learnt that i still need to convert files on this machine. really? c'mon!
then i tried a dvd rip file on my P535, guess what, with 0.5GHz processor speed and no hardware help, it played flawlessly on TCPMP, modded for SRT subtitles.
but, i've read that not all apps work on HD2.
won't i be able to copy my TCPMP to it and just play?
my apps like rdcalc, airomap, coreplayer, adobe reader, garmin, age of empires, pocketgba... won't work? doesn't it run same OS, with even better specs?
another question, i see that many people is excited awaiting win phone 7.
it looks like some kind of iPhone OS, which i don't like.
is it really different than current winmos or should i wait for the new HD with phone 7 ? will i be able to do things currently i do now? why everyone is talking about it while it doesn't even support multitasking? do you think it will be hacked so it will be similar to current winmos?
and, a last question, is this phone easy to carry? man, it's huge!
thanks all for your help.
hd2
Phone is not bad at all to carry. I'm not upgrading to wm7, not interested, too many things I don't like, I'm happy with hd2 wm 6.5.. Other question, don't know, sorry. This is by far best phone I've ever had, "I have had lots""
wm 6.5 is going to be a dying breed but still has lots of apps. android seems to be on the rise and is getting more apps. iphone is still going strong.
even tho i got an hd2 just recently, i bought it because i can still run the apps that i have on my old sony x1a.
it really all about what you want to do with it now and maybe down the road a little. do research well before you commit to any phone you buy, especially if you buy one without a contract.
Hi!
I have both the HTC HD2 and the HTC Desire Android phone (my first Android, I have had a lot of WinMo phones though), and there is no doubt that I prefer the Desire over the HD2. I love the screen of the HD2 though, and would like to see that on an Android soon (supersonic maybe, if it ever comes to Europe). The Android OS seems much more integrated and the available apps in the market are great.
535 said:
i researched and learnt that i still need to convert files on this machine. really? c'mon!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
coreplayer on the hd2 can play divx and xvid video without any problems. coreplayer on my hd2 cannot play high definition 720p x264 video - the audio plays fine but the video is about 1fps.
tcpmp on the leo struggled to play the regular divx files, presumably a codec issue, but if the videos are converted to a smaller resolution/bit rate, then tcpmp can play them fine. tcpmp can't play the 720p videos at all.
535 said:
but, i've read that not all apps work on HD2.
won't i be able to copy my TCPMP to it and just play?
my apps like rdcalc, airomap, coreplayer, adobe reader, garmin, age of empires, pocketgba... won't work? doesn't it run same OS, with even better specs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD2 can run coreplayer, adobe reader and tcpmp, as I run these programs. As for the others, I'd be amazed if they don't run. I think what you have read is wrong.
535 said:
and, a last question, is this phone easy to carry? man, it's huge!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it's not. I have big hands and it's still a bit too big. You may have a different experience and not be bothered about that, but I am. Walking and texting isn't a good idea for me as it needs 2 hands to operate it and I'm always worried about it slipping out of my hands. I use a smaller phone (Nokia X6) during the week when I go to work.
so, many winmo apps can be run without problems?
i know it's not possible to run ordinary TCPMP on leo.
paalkr said:
Hi!
... The Android OS seems much more integrated and the available apps in the market are great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm afraid of "too many versions with are incompatible with each other" in that OS. i mean, the new version will come with flash support but oldies wont get it? not nice.
535 said:
i know it's not possible to run ordinary TCPMP on leo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have TCPMP 0.72RC1 ARM PPC installed on my HD2.
ah, so that means i didnt do my homework after i've read "messed GUI" and "buttons dont work" messages, i think i got over afraid ...
njeo said:
...tcpmp on the leo struggled to play the regular divx files, presumably a codec issue, but if the videos are converted to a smaller resolution/bit rate, then tcpmp can play them fine...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it uses only software decoding, right? i'd expect same results on all machines.
so, videos that my old P535 play fine is not always going to be played on leo?
I have ran into only 2 old old games so far that I was not able to play on HD2 - apps wise everything ran perfectly so far... and I got installed over 200 (currently have about 30 installed).
Hello-
I was hoping any and all users can giver their 2 cents here. What are the real world limitations of this device? I have done a fair amount of research and this phone seems to fit the bill, but wanted some feedback on it. I know I want an Android based smartphone, and I must stick with AT&T as it's what my company has and it's the ONLY provider in my rural part of Texas.
While the phone has been labeled "mid-spec" it still seems pretty impressive. I also know being tied to AT&T means I'm REALLY limited, and I do not want an iPhone. My wife has one, I've tried it... It completly DIED after 3 months. I know in other posts people have said iPhone still best bang for the buck for AT&T smartphone, but a smartphone that does not work as a phone, doesn't show the net as it really appears, and has updates that seemingly copy Android does not seem too "smart" to me. Yes, iTunes looks pretty, and I could play "Words w/ Friends," but seems like a lot of fluff.
I have found due to hardware Aria cannot run Google Earth, is there anything else it cannot do? I know there is debate about Gingerbread being compatible, but that seems a ways down the road. I'm really torn, as I like the size of this thing: it still looks like a phone and not a flat panel TV, but the car guy side of me thinks "no replacement for displacement" when it comes to a processor.
That would mean getting a Nexus One, but I worry about the trackball popping out like my sister-in-laws Blackberry, and the cost is hard to swallow. The Desire looks AWESOME but if I have read correctly it will not work on 3G for data, only voice, and it is expensive. Then there is the Samsung Captivate which is coming, but it seems HUGE, or does the camera add 10 lbs???. I'd like to limit the physical size to an iphone-esque size at most so it is pocketable. I also have read Samsung can be difficult to work with from a consumer standpoint with respect to updates, etc.
I also like the Sense UI as it seems elegantly simple and worked well while I messed with the phone in the store.
Overall, I want the most bang for the buck phone. A true "dream machine" would be an Aria sized phone, with the Desire specs, that does it all on 3G. What really would be the closest thing to such a device? I'm open to any ideas and suggestions, but again I CANNOT change providers; seriously, AT&T is the ONLY provider with coverage in my area.
Thanks in advance for any and all answers and help!!!
The phone does have some limitations (you have done your homework). If you want a great phone on att, this is a good choice. The galaxy s (coming soon to ATT) may be better if you must have a high end device.
I would say that if you are stuck with AT&T, the Aria may be your phone. I have a had HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and Apple phones and HTC has been the most solid of all of them. I just came from an iPhone and I can honestly say it has better reception, call quality, and adaptability than my 3GS. Phones seem to be almost a matter of taste, some people will deal with the most ridiculous shortcomings if it has a feature they feel is the most important. That being said, I played with a lot of phones and found the Aria to be the best package for a smartphone on AT&T at this moment. That could change as soon as another high end phone hops on but for now, I'm very pleased. I will say this, the battery life takes some getting used to, but its right in the same area and any other smartphone. Also, the speaker phone is quiet but since I never use it, it doesn't even make my list for pros vs cons. Being that it is locked down to certain apps and such is annoying, but coming from an iPhone makes it seem like a walk in the park to get other apps and such on it. I would say read a little more of these forums to see what some complaints are and see if any of them make your list of important features. But otherwise, you have on recommendation here.
Some of the gripes I have with this phone include:
* The screen isn't quite adequate in size for reading ebooks, which I didn't expect I would do at the time of purchase.
* The speaker is pretty crappy. It's not very loud and it sounds irritating at volume - very tinny.
* It doesn't appear to support very many video file formats. In fact, the only format I've gotten to work with Act1 video player are the base h264 and h263 formats. To my understanding, it is up to the manufacturer to include any extra codecs, so you're SOL if you're planning on using this as a mobile media player.
* It doesn't come with live wallpapers or an option to sideload apps. You can enable both of these by rooting the phone (which is a pain in the ass, by the way), but I've found that the processor isn't up to the task of running some of the more complex live wallpapers (like the mario wallpaper). I'm hoping this will be less of a problem with Froyo and the JIT.
* It gets a little warm when you have the gps on in navigation, but not enough to scald your junk if you're keeping it on your lap. It's actually not that big of a deal, just makes me worry about damaging the battery.
* Typing is a bit hard in portrait mode. Some applications seem to crash in landscape mode, like 'better terminal emulator', but I suspect that's more of a problem with the program and not the Aria.
* The camera is a bit mediocre and doesn't include a flash, but to be fair, it's primarily a phone and not a camera (I have yet to see a phone's camera be on par with a midrange point & shoot).
* Sense UI can't be disabled/enabled as an option, like on the Evo 4g.
I was going to test Google Earth for you, but I can't seem to find it in the Market.
Anyway, in summary, it has a few shortcomings, it's a midrange phone after all, but I love it regardless. It's slips into my pocket comfortably and feels solid in the hand. The interface is nice and smooth (unless you have some crazy live wallpaper enabled). It doesn't bog down when you fill the screens with widgets, and the browser experience thus far has been great. All in all, it was definitely worth the $50 I paid for it from Amazon.com.
P.S. I was considering holding out for something higher spec'd to come along on AT&T, but who knows when that will happen? The Dell Aero was supposed to be out months ago. Likewise, we are actually supposed to have 3 HTC phones running Android to choose from right now, and yet we only have the Aria. The Samsung Captivate is supposed to be 'coming in the next few months,' but I've grown to distrust AT&T's timelines. A major part of why I got the Aria was because I was simply tired of waiting for ATT to get their act together.
I went to an AT&T Retail Store here in Corpus Christi, TX to look at it again and see what they could do for me deal wise because I'm mid-cycle in my contract. The Mgr. told me he is suppose to get the "sample" Captivate on Friday, and it's suppose to be on sale the 15th. I guess to go head-to-head with the X??? I'll wait til Friday to see if it true. He claims there is a lot to coming down the pike with Android OS as it's the "next big thing..." (Well, for AT&T I guess....) I've waitd this long, another couple of days won't kill me to see it, and help reduce buyer's remorse...
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
I went to an AT&T Retail Store here in Corpus Christi, TX to look at it again and see what they could do for me deal wise because I'm mid-cycle in my contract. The Mgr. told me he is suppose to get the "sample" Captivate on Friday, and it's suppose to be on sale the 15th. I guess to go head-to-head with the X??? I'll wait til Friday to see if it true. He claims there is a lot to coming down the pike with Android OS as it's the "next big thing..." (Well, for AT&T I guess....) I've waitd this long, another couple of days won't kill me to see it, and help reduce buyer's remorse...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck fighting the urge!
modest_mandroid said:
* It doesn't appear to support very many video file formats. In fact, the only format I've gotten to work with Act1 video player are the base h264 and h263 formats. To my understanding, it is up to the manufacturer to include any extra codecs, so you're SOL if you're planning on using this as a mobile media player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly. Do a search on 'Rock Player'. It's a media player that's still in Beta, and it expands upon the selection of video codecs that are handled by the standard media libraries.
It plays DivX-encoded videos like a CHAMP.
EDIT: Actually, here's the forum for it: http://www.diffthink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4
Regards,
Corporate Dog
* It doesn't appear to support very many video file formats. In fact, the only format I've gotten to work with Act1 video player are the base h264 and h263 formats. To my understanding, it is up to the manufacturer to include any extra codecs, so you're SOL if you're planning on using this as a mobile media player.
I was planning on using it as a media player... So, in simple English for my simple mind, what does this mean: that it can only use those two formats? Does it mean it's limited to what can be seen via the internet or does it mean I'm limited to the type of video formats I could directly load from my computer, or both???? Is there a way around these limitations because I want to be able to have infotainment in one device and do not want to drag around multiple devices. (Sorry if this seems like a dumb question but I am FAR from well versed in this field.)
Also, thanks again for the replies and info.. It is GREATLY appreciated!!!
Corporate Dog said:
Not exactly. Do a search on 'Rock Player'. It's a media player that's still in Beta, and it expands upon the selection of video codecs that are handled by the standard media libraries.
It plays DivX-encoded videos like a CHAMP.
EDIT: Actually, here's the forum for it: http://www.diffthink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4
Regards,
Corporate Dog
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll check it out when I get home, don't have any divx files to play here.
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
I was planning on using it as a media player... So, in simple English for my simple mind, what does this mean: that it can only use those two formats? Does it mean it's limited to what can be seen via the internet or does it mean I'm limited to the type of video formats I could directly load from my computer, or both???? Is there a way around these limitations because I want to be able to have infotainment in one device and do not want to drag around multiple devices. (Sorry if this seems like a dumb question but I am FAR from well versed in this field.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my understanding, there isn't any "CorePlayer" equivalent. I dunno if you're coming from a Windows Mobile world or not, but CorePlayer could run pretty much anything your desktop computer could.
What I meant by my comment was that the Aria appears to be limited to the .mp4 format for videos (I have not tested .flv). So, if you wanted to toss some movies onto the sd card and use the stock media player or Act1 video player (appears to be pretty popular in the market), then you're stuck re-encoding all your videos to h264 .mp4. The iPhone is limited in this way too, or so I hear.
But, from what I've seen with RockPlayer just now, it's seems to be very bare on options but looks like it can play a very wide range of formats. I just played some mp4 videos I had on my sd card and they run flawlessly. Hopefully this program is in active development and will turn into Android's CorePlayer.
Thanks for the info and links; you both cleared up the questions I had. I just want to cover every aspect so when my iFamily tells me I made a poor choice I can show them it does EVERYTHING I want it to and more, not what the manufacturer thinks I need it to do or should do...
I just am not seeing where you can go wrong with this thing compared to other devices.....
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
I just am not seeing where you can go wrong with this thing compared to other devices.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the small size can either be a huge plus or killing minus depending on your habits/needs
for me it s a definate plus
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
Thanks for the info and links; you both cleared up the questions I had. I just want to cover every aspect so when my iFamily tells me I made a poor choice I can show them it does EVERYTHING I want it to and more, not what the manufacturer thinks I need it to do or should do...
I just am not seeing where you can go wrong with this thing compared to other devices.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are buying the phone for yourself or are you replacing iphones for your family?
Corporate Dog said:
Not exactly. Do a search on 'Rock Player'. It's a media player that's still in Beta, and it expands upon the selection of video codecs that are handled by the standard media libraries.
It plays DivX-encoded videos like a CHAMP.
EDIT: Actually, here's the forum for it: http://www.diffthink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4
Regards,
Corporate Dog
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using rock player on my Aria for a while, and I am hoping this is just cause it is still beta, but SD AVI files run like molasses. If there is more than one thing going on on screen the video lags and gets out of sync with the audio. You have to pause the video, wait for it to catch up and play it again.
This is my only gripe about this phone, but it may be the program, not the phone.
Whatever phone I get will be just for me. My in-laws got their 3Gs' about a yr ago and like most, thought they were the greatest thing sinced bread. So then my wife "needed" one. I've played with it and it is nice to be able to access the web, and have music right there, but.... there seemed something lacking. I like the concept, but I also like to tinker with stuff. I'll admit, I LOVED the Droid ad campaign of "Droid Does" and since my phone has died, I started looking to get something new. It just seems better in everyway I can think of, but I want to know all I can to properly inform those who will tell me I'm wrong when I get my new phone. (And there will be a lot, I know...)
I just don't see how they really can be compared. Everyone I know who has an iPhone loves them, but they use them for the web, Facebook, Words W/ Friends, and as an iPod. I think it's great there are 200K apps, but I don't know anyone that uses more than 1% of them and every "cutting edge feature" seems to be copied from Android. I guess there is also the fact that there are a truckload of docks and cases to "personalize" them, but I think I rather personalize the stuff that matters.
In reality, I want to blow their socks off with what it can do and know it inside and out as soon as I get it. (You know, the ones that were excited about folders and backgrounds on iPhones. Does that make me a bad person??? Or just honest???)
My wife has an Aria, I have a Nexus One. I'm REALLY surprised when I use her phone, it's actually smoother than my Nexus. Long lists scroll like butter, the launcher scrolls extremly smooth, apps list, etc... I've never seen the phone slow down, it's all very smooth.
She doesn't watch videos on it, but she will eventually load her iTunes music onto it, but hasn't yet. She loves the smaller size, but you're right that it is a tad touchier to type on.
She raves about how fast the browser is.. And how everything just opens, bam... And her GCal euphoria moment was pretty awesome too; suddenly she can see my entire calendar, add to my calendar, see when I'm in a meeting until 5...
She's really been looking for something to complain about moving from her iPhone and so far I don't think she's found anything.
Just an update on the video playback capabilities in RockPlayer - I tested it with a 320x240 mpeg, 700x500 divx, 640x480 .mp4 and a 720p mkv video. The mpeg and mp4 ran perfectly fine, the divx ran pretty slow (maybe 10fps) and the sound was constantly desychronizing, and the mkv was unwatchable. It didn't scale down to the Aria screen size, and it ran so slow that you could see the individual frames (like 2-4fps).
Considering the speed difference between the .mp4 and the divx, I'm assuming this is a lack of hardware acceleration issue with some codecs?