Database Users

Sony Ericsson 15th Sept Webcast Event - XPERIA X1 General

just in case you guys are interested
there supposed to be giving a live webcast about the X1 today at around 1 PST
here is the link
http://www.sonyericsson.com/premiere/
i'm goin to try listen in and see what happens.

Seems i've missed it...
Gonna wait for the recording.
God, won't september 30th come already?

I watched this event and have to say I was incredibly disappointed by it. The phone that Magnus was using was so ridiculously slow that I thought it was actually broken. Really. He had a panel that looked fairly customised with the usual array of time/weather/shortcuts/calendar etc and when he opened the keyboard there was about 3 seconds of delay before the screen rotated. However, it didn't stop there. It only redrew most of the screen. It took over 10 seconds for the phone to redraw the icons in landscape mode. How can this possibly be acceptable? 10 seconds?!!? magnus said he had been using this phone as his personal phone for nearly a year and he said he loved it. How many times has he switched from landscape/portrait and wasted 10 seconds of his life waiting for his phone to catch up.
Further to that, the whole thing seemed ridiculously laggy. He covered it up very well by pressing a button and then talking about the feature whilst waiting for it to load. It was painfully obvious though to anyone in the know what was really going on.
I have seen the recent video on theunwired and the screen rotation looks very fast, which is excellent. But perhaps when you have a more heavily loaded panel that fast screen rotation becomes a thing of the past? Also disappointing was the lack of accelerometer.
I was so keen for the X1 but that was 9 months ago. Now I'm going to wait another month or two and get the Touch HD. It lacks the keyboard, but I'll learn to live without.

screen lag
Also saw what you did, but he came on a chat at Modaco afterwards and said that he had a lot of apps open; which could be true...did you see how fast Google Maps came up? Each panel is it's own desktop and programs on it keep running, bound to be a memory hog. He was supposed to be using a retail version also, so should be as fast as the unit at The::Unwired.
To be honest, I never have been happy with my TyTn II for the screen rotation, and looking at video of the Touch Pro it doesn't seem much faster.
Maybe if you set the task manager to close apps when you switch away?

I've just rewatched it and it actually took 16 seconds to rotate the screen at one point!!! Surely that's not acceptable, even if there are plenty of apps running. A device can be made smarter than that with more efficient code.

i didn't get a chance to watch but i dunno i had a lot of really high hopes for this phone but it looks like i might be leaning more towards a touch pro but we'll see how long my wizard holds up before i make decisions about what to do

Webcast
For those who miss it, you can watch it @:-
http://www.inxperia.com/index.php/2008/09/15/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-webcast

There is another (GREAT!) review from Arne available:
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-with-sony-ericsson-s-latest-xperia-x1-built
As you can see, the switching of orientation is very fast in all examples in this video (today screen, photo browser and opera). The LEDs are amazing and the whole device makes a very good impression to me. I also like the "moving slideshow" feature.
It's quite responsive and even the panels pop up in time.
If the reception quality is also good then this will be definitely my next device.

foo said:
There is another (GREAT!) review from Arne available:
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-with-sony-ericsson-s-latest-xperia-x1-built
As you can see, the switching of orientation is very fast in all examples in this video (today screen, photo browser and opera). The LEDs are amazing and the whole device makes a very good impression to me. I also like the "moving slideshow" feature.
It's quite responsive and even the panels pop up in time.
If the reception quality is also good then this will be definitely my next device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i'm just lookin at this now and i like this a lot better then that crappy webcast they did earlier
arnie did sony a lot more just then they did themselves

wow after watching the SE webcast I find myself turned off by it, you would think they would of added more razzmotazz? Anyone remember the HTC diamond press release? I'm swaying back back towards getting a pro now

Switching between portrait and landscape mode just seems to take milliseconds only and also the panels start much faster than before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's hope so.

ratcom said:
wow after watching the SE webcast I find myself turned off by it, you would think they would of added more razzmotazz? Anyone remember the HTC diamond press release? I'm swaying back back towards getting a pro now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should check out the other link posted it gives the xperia better justice then that

Keland44 said:
you should check out the other link posted it gives the xperia better justice then that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep just watched it and I must say it does give it more justice, I'm back to waiting for the release so a proper comparision can happen.

Well the suit guy (what a douchebag...) did say that he has been using THAT device since february, so it's probably some alpha version of the device
While the other video it's the almost release beta version.

I still think the device that modaco have done a small video review of is too slow. I mean, surely we're past the stage where we have to wait for things to happen. I don't want a phone that you press a button then wait for something to happen, or open the keyboard and wait for the screen to redraw. The first Diamond roms were a fairly slow, and after updating mine it was much better, so perhaps something like that will occur with the xperia. If not, I'll be glossing over this sexy device!

ratcom said:
yep just watched it and I must say it does give it more justice, I'm back to waiting for the release so a proper comparison can happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea same here i just hope my wizard hooks up long enough if not i might have to get a tilt and might wait till refurb's of the X1 are selling

Insaneboy said:
Well the suit guy (what a douchebag...) did say that he has been using THAT device since february, so it's probably some alpha version of the device
While the other video it's the almost release beta version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know if i had be using my phone for that long with out any backups or a new rom update my phone would have probably been as slow as that also
given that he's not a romhead like us if you don't know what to do with it you'll just let it be unlike us rom start running slow we flash it with something new with the quickness

I'm incredibly disappointed.
Response time for screen switching was a joke ... I've never had an issue with my TyTN or TyTNII ... even though I know some have ... but it was several seconds on the X1 in the video. Also it then seemed to take another 10 seconds to finish populating the screen with icons. The guy then left it open which suggests to me he didn't want to draw too much attention to the time it took.
They were reluctant to answer most technical questions and skirted over the ... it doesn't have tv out one. I was also amazed no one commented on 30FPS performance issues ... I watched the recorded one. I suspect they avoided any difficult incoming questions.
My gut feel is that this will be a very poor showing in it's initial release and if the P series are anything to go by ... updates fixing issues will be few and far between.
This was looking like a dream phone for me ... but now I'm not prepared to buy without trying first hand.
The TouchPro isn't enough of a jump over the TyTN II - same rubbish stills and video and no extra width to the screen ... 800x480 is native for most websites ... so the extra resolution for WVGA makes far more sense than VGA and the G900 showed me there were no issues with apps.
The Touch HD excited me ... and I thought I may get away without the keyboard ... but it also worries me in too many areas ... the first ... although it is 5mp ... the lens is no where as big as the N95 and therefore won't get enough light in to produce decent pictures ... and video is still QVGA which is just crazy for a modern high end device ... it's a little like bring out a car today with a 3 speed auto ... it was fine in '78 with a big old Ford Essex ... but not today. There are also many unanswered questions - Is there TV-Out or not ? How will games be played or those apps that rely today on the dpad - many today screens like Breeze etc ? The touch sensitive buttons ... if they are like the Samsung's we will all be closing calls with out cheeks mid conversation and dialing people when we just pick up the phone to move it.
Why can't these designers think a little. The capability of these phone is amazing now ... but they always miss out those essential things that make a device genuinely complete ... and I don't think it is to hold options for future devices, I just don't think the designers really think things through.
I feel .... very frustrated.

It is always amusing to read the bad and good feelings of all of you here without having one in your own hand. All pre-series and not one of the sold version.
I don't mind this all. I took a great risk to buy the Toshiba G900 with all the bad experiances written about (and the first rom might have been very poor). And what did happen? The G900 is the best manufactured PPC I ever had -best build quality ever seen. With its high resolution it is not slower than my TytnI before. And there you had to wait a good time switching portrait- to landscape-mode.
I am sure the X1 will not only give his owner a very unique design feeling but a good basic to work with. There may be faster PPC, there may be PPC with other features. But most people will buy it in cause of the large screen offering so much more than just 2,8" vga
Buying the X1 will mean not to take the most advantage with games, but texts, internet or similar. Just where the screen has its best sites

if i know htc there will be a Touch HD pro with slide out keyboard after Touch HD

Related

I have had my 3G iphone for about 6-7 months now, and have in that time tried several new phones, namely Nokia E71, Diamond (horrible), X1 (lasted less than 1 day!) and I also own a Trinity.
Anyway, the HD arrived via www.devicewire.co.uk in the UK (doh) on Thursday last week, and I powered it up right away. It was £522 delivered.
I think in the UK, people are better off ordering online, since you have the 7 day DSR (Distance Sellings Regs) to fall back on in the event of dislike, dead pixels etc.
With the HD, I am surprised how much I like it..........put it this way, it came Thursday, and Friday it was a case of "yes, this is good, but nothing much better than the iPhone, so I can not justify the cost, so back it goes".....read on for what happened next
I even have the return code from devicewire (very good aftersales, even when you are returning stuff!!)
I can not say the HD screen blew me away, since the screen on the iPhone is a truly, truly lovely screen anyway, and I had been using this everyday for the aforemention 6-7 months.....but, for anyone who has not been using an iPhone, the screen is gonna make you do a double take. It is clear, big, bright and the fonts look amazing.
First thing I did was switch off the ambient sensor (yes, it does have one!), and put brightness up to full, I love contrast as my eyesight is not so good these days.
Now, this is why the iPhone has been so good for me, (although I guess most of you lot here will be younger with perfect vision), I find it has good large fonts, and great contrast.
Compare this to the default text size on the Diamond, or indeed the latest Sony X1, its tiny, and yes, I do know you can altertext size, but on a small screen, it just means you get less on a sreen and have to be scrolling all the time.
The HD is just perfect for me, nice big fonts, so smooth, and perfectly usable with either a finger, (even with a glove on, something that is not possible on iPhone), or a stylus, which as it turns the HD on, is handy to have.
So, the screen is as good as the iPhone, with better resolution, and as I just read in the Slashgear review, the actual touching of the two screens is very close indeed. Even coming from several hours use of the iPhone eveyday, I do feel that I will get on with the HD screen very nicely.
But hang on, I am not keeping this am I, I already have the return code and devicewire are expecting it back......well, I doubt it now.......I had put it all away very carefully on Friday, but it sat there looking at me, and I kept reading about it on here........it was all too much, got up this morning and thought "lets take it to work, Sunday is quiet usually, I can have a play".
Well, the breakthrough for me was to turn off Touchflo and install PocketPlus, a great piece of software I have used on many devices. Oh, that and TomTom 6 running in landscape on the trip to work
As for GPS lag, it is only about 10 miles to my workplace, but there is little or no lag present in TomTom 6.
TomTom is a big deal for me, I find nothing touches it, and it is a great disapointment that there is still no TomTom (or anything else!) for the iPhone, when you recall the stories that TomTom already had it running back at the 3G launch, it must be Apple who are blocking its release.....
I think Touchflo is just too "black" for me, not sure if it will run with a brighter skin or not, but I like the way PocketPlus makes a device look, much brighter.
Now, a lot has been written about WM 6.1 being hard to use without D-Pad? The only issue (apart from games which I confess is of zero concern to me) is for selecting little drop down (roll out) menus, and that is sorted with AEBPlus http://ae.inc.ru/aebplus.php which allows you to assign the volume up and down keys to act as Arrow Up and Arrow Down, and this sorts it and works well.
I can confirm the UK HD comes with the little soft case (its quite nice actually), but a word of warning, do NOT assume all iPhone cases will work, my one, and nice Marware slip case is too tight, and the HD is a smidgen wider that the iPhone. Anyway, I like the softcase. It was also nice to get the 8gb Micro SD card. I have not installed the screen protector yet, can never really get on with those anyway.
Keyboard use on the iPhone is pretty good, and I was very doubtful that HTC could get anywhere near it, but they have basically cracked it IMV. The buttons are the same size as iPhone and easy to use. I am making less mistakes in a few hours than I do after 6 months on iPhone.
Web browsing is not in my opinion as good as the iPhone, well, let me qualify that. If you just use fingers, the iPhone wins, but if you use fingers and the stylus, I think the HD then just shades it.
One very welcome side effect of returning to WM is the multitasking, this is one massive issue for us geeks on the iPhone, combined with the lack of cut n paste, it really shows the two devices quite far apart in usability.
Email is very good on the iPhone, and if you only have the one account (gmail for example) it takes some beating for simplicity. However, the HD also does a great job, and with a little wireless keyboard (impossible on iPhone), I think it will make a good laptop replacement)
RSS is OK on the iPhone, but much easier on the HD, with the built in RSS Hub program, which downloads all feeds, including video feeds. I like to watch Cali Lewis on Geekbrief www.geekbrief.tv everyday, and you have to jailbreak the iPhone to be able to do that (yes, I do know its coming in 2.2 software, but with a limit of 10mb over cellular, which renders it useless for video podcasts, and anyway, its a pain in the arse to upgrade iPhone and then have to jailbreak each time.
We are good at making our decisions fit the case, so the iPhone user is always going to say "oh, I don't really miss cut n paste", when in fact, you quickly forget how often it is useful.
I think for me, it comes down to this, the HTC Touch HD can do everything the iPhone can do and lots more, but the the iPhone can not do several things the HD can do. Does that make sense?
I hope this view (not a review IMHO), helps some of you, and just like the chap in the other thread, please feel free to ask any specific questions about useabilty, although please don't ask me to run x test on y video, using xx program while standing in a bucket of water, as I probably can not be bothered
A couple of program I will miss if I sell the iPhone are TV Plus, a great APP which gives a 7 day EPG and more inportantly, links to Sky Plus (UK only) and lets you setup recordings.
I will also greatly miss Remote, an Apple APP which controls iTunes on my main desktop PC, although I should be getting up off my butt to change charge anyway.
So, who wants to buy an iPhone ;-)
Kev

So font size was your only problem with the Xperia? I'm trying to decide between the Xperia (had it for about 5 days now) and the HD.
BTW, my other phone is an iPhone 2G and I do like the screen.

Whoops, forgot that bit.
No, I got the X1 in the UK at Vodafone (if anyone is interested they are £500 are are not locked to Voda.....well, my one was not anyway)
The fonts were always gonna be too small for me, but I hated the keyboard, the keys barely protrude over the case, very little feedback.
But the killer and reason for return within a few hours for refund was a horribly wobbly screen, but I accept this could have been my one.
Also, given that you would have to use on screen keypad to dial people, it was too fiddly, too small. That 3" screen is very narrow you know.
Sorry.
Kev

I bet there's a program on WinMo that let's you control not only your iTunes but your whole PC. On my current 4 years old Nokia, there's System Freak, that lets you do that...

Thanks for that post KevWright.
Like VeloAudio, I'm deciding between the Touch HD and X1. I still have some niggling concerns about the Touch HD but I am assuming the X1 has the same 'problems' or 'complications' so am leaning towards the former.
Your post bolsters the case.

Great post!
Can you delve a little bit deeper into the screen responsiveness please? Just a few more sentences on how it compares to the iPhone's would be great.
Also, this is probably unbelievably subjective, but which phone do you find sexier? For instance, you are on the bus and you take out your iPhone and you take out your HD, which feels sexier?
Thanks.

kevwright said:
A couple of program I will miss if I sell the iPhone are TV Plus, a great APP which gives a 7 day EPG and more inportantly, links to Sky Plus (UK only) and lets you setup recordings.
So, who wants to buy an iPhone ;-)
Kev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be interested in a SlingBox, which allows you to stream and your own Sat/IPTV etc. over the web to your laptop or your WM device. It comes with software to control the IR on your video sources. I stream Bluewin IPTV and Sky to the SlingMobile software on my Trinity and intend to do the same with the HD tomorrow when it arrives. I hope it runs on the HD. I will report back later on that.

Matterhorn said:
You might be interested in a SlingBox, which allows you to stream and your own Sat/IPTV etc. over the web to your laptop or your WM device. It comes with software to control the IR on your video sources. I stream Bluewin IPTV and Sky to the SlingMobile software on my Trinity and intend to do the same with the HD tomorrow when it arrives. I hope it runs on the HD. I will report back later on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've read elsewhere, the Touch HD doesn't have an IR port, so you won't be able to use the IR functionality of Slingbox unless you mean the "box" itself attached to a TV?

kevwright said:
Oh, that and TomTom 6 running in landscape on the trip to work
As for GPS lag, it is only about 10 miles to my workplace, but there is little or no lag present in TomTom 6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version did you install, and will it work in full WVGA or are their black bars on the screen?
Thanks in advance

nu_D said:
Great post!
Can you delve a little bit deeper into the screen responsiveness please? Just a few more sentences on how it compares to the iPhone's would be great.
Also, this is probably unbelievably subjective, but which phone do you find sexier? For instance, you are on the bus and you take out your iPhone and you take out your HD, which feels sexier?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it is hard to say that much more, I have them both here and am playing now. Not sure if you know the iPhone, but on 2.1 software (jailbroken), when you press the button for say SMS, there is about a 2 sec delay while it loads up, now on the HD, its about the same, but on the HD if you leave messaging running in the background (which I suspect you can do with these better memory equipped models?) it is instant, with the iPhone you always get the delay cos nothing (well except the music player) is allowed to stay in background.
OK, using book reading software, I would say they are almost equal.........maybe the iPhone is fractionally better, or it could be I am more used to it.
As to your second point, I can't help mate, for one, I only have a vague idea of what a "bus" is, and the day I find either the iPhone or the HD "sexy", that is the day I go back to my Nokia 6310 )
OK, I think they look so similar mate, there is nothing in it.
Kev

kevwright said:
But the killer and reason for return within a few hours for refund was a horribly wobbly screen, but I accept this could have been my one.
Kev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying they are all wobbly or it is just yours. You going to replace it I guess?

luckyuser said:
What version did you install, and will it work in full WVGA or are their black bars on the screen?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I can not find a version number I am afraid.
It looks great in portrait, but bloody fantastic in widescreen, I have it on a manual rotate screen, and there are NO bars in any view.
Kev

exe said:
Are you saying they are all wobbly or it is just yours. You going to replace it I guess?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have no idea beyond my one mate. It was that bad that I could never live with it.
I have replaced it....with the HD )
I will not be getting another X1, fonts were too small, and after this screen, there is no going back.
Kev

Matterhorn said:
You might be interested in a SlingBox, which allows you to stream and your own Sat/IPTV etc. over the web to your laptop or your WM device. It comes with software to control the IR on your video sources. I stream Bluewin IPTV and Sky to the SlingMobile software on my Trinity and intend to do the same with the HD tomorrow when it arrives. I hope it runs on the HD. I will report back later on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I do have Slingbox, and have even register Slingplayer, but I just have never had good perfomance on it to be honest. I am not realy fussed about watching TV on my HD, just this little app was great to tell my Sky box to record something, mainly cos it enabled you to do it even without turning the TV and Sky box on.
I am hoping there is something for WinMo
Kev

nokia e71 vs. htc touch diamond
hi kevwright,
after a bad experience with an htc diamond (very poor battery and many ROM updates), I've decided to go for nokia e71. Now I'm considering an htc touch hd, but I'm very curios about it's battery life. how the touch hd compare to the e71 in terms of battery life and general?

in call recording
Hi alll - I have posted a separate thread on this issue, but alas, I thought i would also ask it here from those that already have an HD.
in call recording feature - anyone tried it out? some are reporting that it doesn't work...even though HTC calls it out in their specs online.
can anyone kindly shed some real world experience w/this feature on teh HD?
Thanks in advance.

Someone tell this guy how paragraphs work...

Great post.. I allready bought Touch HD, and I have the same view as you!
Cheers!

Thanks for the insight, kev. Great post.

dragosel80 said:
hi kevwright,
after a bad experience with an htc diamond (very poor battery and many ROM updates), I've decided to go for nokia e71. Now I'm considering an htc touch hd, but I'm very curios about it's battery life. how the touch hd compare to the e71 in terms of battery life and general?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life looks like it will be quite good, but not as good as an E71 (screen is tiny!).
Had it only a day really, so I will update this in a few days.
Kev

OK at the risk of starting a flame war I want to ask for some objective feedback on the HD. I tried the HD in a shop today for about 20 minutes and I was quite disappointed. (I have a HTC tytn so I used my experience over the last 18 months with that as a reference.). My brief conclusions
(a) The screen is big with a lot of detail as everyone says but its not as bright as the iPhone, G1 or blackberry Storm. Also the blacks are a bit murky so the constrast is not as good as the iPhone, G1 or the Storm.
(b) The interface felt very "laggy" with lots of freezing. (I've subsequently found a thread here on XDA-Developers where there are many compaints of freezes for several seconds - the unit I tried in the shop belonged to the Sales guy and had been up and running in less than 1 day with nothing extra installed on it - I ended up showing the sales guy how to do some things ! ) Certainly TF3D was no way as "slick" as the iPhone or the G1. When trying to browse the web the HD I perfered the G1 when if on the HD I could see more !
(c) One of my requirements is basic operations should be possible with one hand. The lack of hardware buttons and a D-pad / trackball or scroller seems to make that difficult? For example, it was difficult to take a decent close up picture of someone as you have to press the screen which moves the HD and so causes a loss of focus. On the third attempt I gave up trying to take a decent picture.
(d) For such a big screen TF3D makes inefficient use of the screen. I was particularly disappointed with the music player. I got the impression that rather than focus on functionality HTC really wanted to make things look good.
Overall I was dissappointed. I really want to get rid of my Wm5 based Tytn but it looks like I might have to look at something else
Please convince me otherwise !
Can those of you who've had real experience (I.e. for than a couple of days - where you are in the honeymoon period) provide some feedback on the HD?

not going to convince you to change. i suggest you stick with the Tytn and you'll save yourself a lot of second guessing and heart ache. based on a-d above, the HD is not for you.

I played with the iPhone for 20 minutes and hated it... But when I tried the HD for about 20 minutes I loved it.

What the hek every now and then someone comes and start his own comparison of HD to Iphone!!!!
IPHONE for many of us is Cr***ap ...

You have already started the thread by painting such as prefect picture of iPhone. If your requirements are better met by that, just go get yourself an iPhone. Everyone person's requirements are different. For me, iPhone does not meet my need and HD does. If you want to know why, go to this thread and read every post there by myself.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=443900

No point in flaming him (I have an Hermes as well and have a lot of questions about HD vs Touch Pro for instance)
It is really interesting to read people's opinion, may it be positive or negative to help many potential users chose with all cards in hand

Stick with your TyTn .... and wait for the next year 2009 devices.
For sure HD broughr fresh blood to the WinMo device, but thats not enough.
I am pretty sure, 2009 will be very interesting for mobile device (WinMo 6.5, Tegra?)

I have N95 for 15 Months and i thought i would never change phone again till iPhone 3G came out so i decided to upgrade.
At the same time my brother just bought Touch Diamond and I have to admit that I really hate the Diamond since the first few mins of playing with it. Laggy.. Sloppy.. Jerky.. Slowly.. Whatever u called it, Diamond has it all.
But now my brother decide to get a Touch HD, hoping that it will lift up our feeling some way some how, and he is right.
He got a phone last week and i have to say.. "It is in a different league with the iPhone"
Now i have to order another one for myself. Hope it will arrive soon ^^

Sorry but you are not right
By the way - the iPhone is indeed better because of the better OS
But also the HF Screen has not such a good contrast and has moires from different view angles ...
when you work for some days with the HD the iPhone screen shows pixels.
The HD screnn with th perfect resolution is much smoother
The HTC Touchflow SW is after a long time on devices quite fast ans very good ( not as good as iPhone OS ) - the only lag is that many functions are missing and HTC does not offer updates regularly to older devices.

annoying & ridiculous...
sorry ... BUT it really IS annoying to read so many threads where people are just complaining that the HD 'doesnt meet this and that and...' - whats the use in it ?! Everyone needs different things in a device, you wouldn't want my kind of shoes or trousers or car or whatever!!
So I don't give a s*** what anybody else has to say about the HD - I tested it for MYSELF, I found it to be excellent for me, I bought it two weeks ago, I do lots of flatrate-HSDPA'ing, business use 12 hours/day, permanent exchange sncy'ing, blablabla...my HD truely rocks. Simply said: theres nothing *I* miss - if you do, buy something you like.

First of all. Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm sorry that some of you seem to be overly defensive. What I am trying to get to the bottom of is that my short experience of the HD is at odds with the many many reviews of the HD on the web.
There are endless comparsions with the iPhone but I don't recall any mentioning the screen being not as bright or that the HD has a very "laggy" interface. The point is that the reviews hold up the iphone as the benchmark and generally give the impression that the HD is close in terms of touch sensitivity and better in terms of screen. I was therefore surprised when i got my hands on a unit to not get that impression in those areas. I am aware of the fact that the Iphone can't multi-task, has no FM radio, has locked down applications, video recording problems, poor support for MS office attachments etc etc. So I'm not that interested in it - its too restricted for me!
So what I'm trying to understand is why my, albeit, short experience is different.
So the questions remains guys.
Can you load a theme or change a setting to change the way the screen looks ?
(EagleSteve - I'm just reading that 49 page thread you refered to and I note the äuthor of the thread states - "I think Touchflo is just too "black" for me, not sure if it will run with a brighter skin or not, but I like the way PocketPlus makes a device look, much brighter" - So that suggests a possible fix to my concern of the screen being not as bright as I expected)
Is the lack of hardware buttons actually a problem or does the large touch screen make it a non issue in practice?
Do you have laggy behaviour ? Is there some App or setting which everyone loads to get rid of the "laggy" behaviour? For the me the real show-stopper is probably the laggy behaviour - I need to know how much of a problem it is in practice.
Thanks for the feedback

I don't know... my unit isn't laggy at all, tflo is flying, the only issue I have is about video playback. But this is going to be solved with the next CorePlayer release, I hope.

owen.cullum said:
[...]
Do you have laggy behaviour ? Is there some App or setting which everyone loads to get rid of the "laggy" behaviour? For the me the real show-stopper is probably the laggy behaviour - I need to know how much of a problem it is in practice.
Thanks for the feedback
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The laggy behaviour obviously depends on what ROM you have.
I for myself do not experience lags on my device.
EDIT: As for the themes. Giznetic has already made some. Check out this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=451731

I dont get it.
Is the lack of hardware buttons actually a problem or does the large touch screen make it a non issue in practice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U seems to like the iPhone so much but y u worry about this issue? It seems like u trying to point out that Touch HD lack of D-Pad and button so its useless.
What about iPhone? 1 lonely button is that enuff for u?
sigh..

Hi Owen,
Well I'm not a HD user, I actually have a raphael. but my experience with this device was similar to yours when I first got it. In my experience my device was very laggy to start with. I ended up downloading a ROM and the speed is beautiful, I'm sure the HD will have the same and when this device is around as long as the raphael you will have some amazing ROMs if you already don't. Although it does frustrate me that our performance issues have to be solve by personal developers (who by the way do a marvellous job). So if you are happy flashing a ROM you will certainly get to a point you are happy with in regards to performance. it may however take you some time to do so
In regards to the button aspect, which was going to be my primary focus, the raphael has a few more buttons and a scroll wheel device. Having the extra buttons is frustrating, I have only had minimal (if any) use for them and only feel like they take up room on the device. If you are happy to not have a keyboard I wouldn't be too concerned on the lack of buttons.
Cheers
TT

kids phone
there is nothing called iphone sorry buy its the kids phone, who said better os? if so why great apple went for exchnage ???gps but no application wow, 3g but u cant create 2 way video call so there is no compaison if u want to make u kids happy go for kids phone

owen.cullum said:
Please convince me otherwise !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No thanks
I bought the HD because I was sure it was the right device to answer my needs. One month after I'm still convinced it was a good choice.
But I'm even more convinced that there's just no interest in trying to convince other users that my phone is the one they need.
A consequence is the following: I'm not interested in being convinced that the HD was not good enough for me

The Touch HD has a very bright screen. Did you alter the settings, to turn off automatic backlight?
I don't find my HD laggy at all especially with the tweak that optimises the cache. Even out of the box I didn't find the HD laggy. Afterall it's only a phone and not your desktop PC...

Screen looks nice enough in my opinion. I can't convince you that it isn't over rated as after having one for a few weeks I feel it is nothing special.
For the people that say there is no point complaining, this is true if you don't own one I suppose. Although if a person did buy one because of the hype and it doesn't live up to it then I think they have every right to say why they feel they don't like it. I spent 500 quid on mine and I should be able to criticise things about it I don't like at that point.
If a person is happy with his device that's great but others that don't share that feeling are entitled to their views too.

Like I said, each has his own need and preference, so I can only summarise for you who iphone is not worthy of comparison to hd from my viewpoint only.
1. I like the hd screen and not iphone screen: because HD screen has the right level of sensitivity and supports stylus. Stylus is a critical requirements not only it is more user friendly to me, but also because it supports hand writing. Screen brightness of HD is completely adequate under bright sunlight.
2. I need availability of tomtom or similar software. Iphone does not have an acceptable navigation software.
3 I need desktop class word, spreadsheet, and presentation editing software, which iphone doesn't have.
4.I need better software keyboard than that iphone offer and winmo platform offers that.
5.I cannot live with iphone's battery design because I'd been stuck without battery. I do not want the bulk of a mobile charger.
6. the breath and depth of software in iphone is still not there yet.
7. I prefer HD's bigger screen.
8. I like having more buttons in HD rather than just one in iphone.
9. I like being able to customise. You don't like black? No problem. Use something like spb mobile shell, or change the skin and background of tf3d.
10.I like to have lots of choices when come to firmware or ROM. You don't have that with iphone. The ability to improve is very limited.
11.I like FM radio, I like cut and paste, I like all the little things which HD can do and iphone can't.
I like the build quality of iphone. I like it's browser. I like it's smoothness in displaying web pages more than Opera mobile. I like its multimedia capability.
I almost got an iphone.
For me, iphone is a very sexy women, and the temptation to marry her is great. But if I want someone who can manage the household, bring up the kids well, wise with finance, and kind to people, HD is the plain Jane whom can deliver.

I'm considering buying an Xperia, mostly because it is much cheaper than HTC Touch HD (I'd love to have this device). But after reading diverse reviews on the Internet, I found a lot of complaints about the performance of the device (too slow,..), on the whole the review make a negative impression on me
Apparently this is just a software/firmware issue, which should be fixed with a new firmware upgrade. But what worries me most is Sony Ericsson might not ever bother to bring a new upgrade, or they will do but eventually discontinue support for the device and switch to Android, because Windows Mobile was probably a failed start for them.
Nevertheless it is very likely that I will buy the device because I know there is site on the Internet which calls xda-developers . So I am looking forward to hearing your opinions to make my ultimate decision

SE has already released upgraded firmware and from my experience I have to say the phone is quick... very quick... I have had it for about 4 or 5 months now and it goes from strength to strength... the only down side I would say is the keyboard, its different from my Kaiser/TyTN II but I am getting used to it and its working out... GPS is very fast at getting a fix (sooo much faster than my old phone its like a biplane vs a modern jet fighter) and the internet is awesome... so over all thumbs up from me, however I bet you will find negative and positive reviews... depends on the person using it and the reason they are using it I guess...

I have been owner of the X1 for about 6 weeks now and I am very satisfied. Of course, as any other device, it has some problems. This is what I don't like about it:
-Camera takes too long to capture, images get blurry if you can't hold the phone without ANY shaking (Camera Button is hard to press, which makes this difficult)
-Panel performance is poor
-Original audio recorder was removed, I believe, There is, however, a way to record with the built-in software: As a Voicenote. But you won't get a WAVE file or anything like this with it.
I've installed a lot of software meanwhile and BASICALLY performance is very well. The display may take some time to rotate when you slide it open. The biggest problem is, from my point of view, that, when you are answering a text message, it lags and you accidentally send an empty message. So you hit the Reply-Button with your finger, phone doesn't react immediately, so you think it didn't get it and you touch again, and it activates the Send-Button which will come in place of the Reply button, so you send an empty message. This has happened twice to me so far (I've sent about 100 msgs).
No other performance issues.
I can really recommend the phone. Features are fantastic and very well worth the price... This device is next-gen, a piece of future.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, it has no Ctrl-Key on the Slideout Keyboard. That's bad.
EDIT2: And just to convince you, I have running WMWIFIRouter on my X1. My phone provides me with WLAN through 3 walls over a distance of about 20 meters. Signal Quality on the Notebook is at about 40%. Isn't this crazy?

Thanks for your quick replies.
I'm a heavy "business user" although I'm still a student , it literally means that I've been using windows mobile devices only for its business functions (calendar, task, note,email, web...) and never care about other multimedia features.
The main reason for which I wanted to switch to Xperia (from HTC Touch) is its high resolution screen, still the screen seems to be relative small (3 inch), in comparison to HTC TOUCH HD.
I use smartphone to read ebook quite often, since HTC Touch HD and Xperia share the same resolution, does it really mean that Xperia can display the same amount of content as the HD does ? Or with the same content we will barely see anything on the Xperia because the screen is too small ? In case of an ebook, does it mean that the Xperia can display the same amount of words on the screen as the HD does and the page on Xperia is still readable ?
And what about those cracks, they look scared, I've just found several auctions on Ebay from people selling their cracked Xperia ...

I've just "accidentally" won a 1 month old Xperia on Ebay for only 300euro. Nevertheless I'm still waiting for your diverse opinions Just in the worst case I can resell it and save money for other device
Truth be told, I really want to keep this device ... waiting for positive reviews

I use my phone for reading all the time... usually for about 4 or more hours a day... in English and Chinese and its simply brilliant... clear and crisp... I was originally worried about the clarity, especially for the Chinese but find its just that good I am very pleased... as for cracks... I have not yet experienced this and from the various polls on this board it looks like it might be a minority from a particular colour (silver) and a particular batch... I have even dropped my phone a few times (each time filling my shorts that I had ruined my phone) but so far (touch wood) its still good...

Shadowdh said:
as for cracks... I have not yet experienced this and from the various polls on this board it looks like it might be a minority from a particular colour (silver) and a particular batch... I have even dropped my phone a few times (each time filling my shorts that I had ruined my phone) but so far (touch wood) its still good...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont think this is limited to specific batches,
im on my 3rd device from a third batch (week 52 this time)
I now have 2 cracks, one on the silver trim and one near the volume button - this appears to be the common one...
dont get me wrong, it's a good phone, but I would suggest this is not just limited to one batch.

rosebud said:
Dont think this is limited to specific batches,
im on my 3rd device from a third batch (week 52 this time)
I now have 2 cracks, one on the silver trim and one near the volume button - this appears to be the common one...
dont get me wrong, it's a good phone, but I would suggest this is not just limited to one batch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fairplay... I am just glad that mine is not one of them...

Any idea how these cracks could ever happened It is not from the manufacturing obviously but rather the cracks develop over time ... The reason might be the metal case getting bigger due to temparature , thus crack the plastic ones ...
I always take good care of my phone or any electronic device in general, my HTC Touch still looks absolutely new after 1 year of usage, if I ever experience those crack with the Xperia (hopefully not) then I'm going mad !!

xperia is not bad just not worth the high price. if your going to do a lot of reading and not in the u.s, go for the bigger screen hd.

c_legaspi said:
xperia is not bad just not worth the high price. If your going to do a lot of reading and not in the u.s, go for the bigger screen hd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i agree with that, get a hd it's much better for your needs, the screen is so tiny in xperia you will regret later belive me.

Okay, HD and X1 share the same number of pixels. But X1 has smaller screen. So the conclusion is you will see the same amount of information on both devices. However, things will appear bigger on the HD - but sharper on the X1. For reading ebooks, the HD is probably the better choice. It depens on whetehr you are interested in a slide-out keyboard. I think that's quite useful for "heavy business users". And on the space in your pocket BTW I have no Cracks at all.

c_legaspi said:
xperia is not bad just not worth the high price. if your going to do a lot of reading and not in the u.s, go for the bigger screen hd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I paid half the price in Poland 'cause I bought it without Polish menu... now i have Polish ROM so I think I made a good deal

forumleecher said:
Okay, HD and X1 share the same number of pixels. But X1 has smaller screen. So the conclusion is you will see the same amount of information on both devices. However, things will appear bigger on the HD - but sharper on the X1. For reading ebooks, the HD is probably the better choice. It depens on whetehr you are interested in a slide-out keyboard. I think that's quite useful for "heavy business users". And on the space in your pocket BTW I have no Cracks at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I dont mind if things are smaller on the X1 as long as they are still readable. I've never used a device with a keyboard before but I'm getting annoyed with the on screen keyboard of my current device, so a slide-out keyboard must be a plus.
On my opinion, the bigger screen of the HD is good for people who want to use it like an Iphone with their fingers. I'm happy with the stylus, so I think I will go for the X1

the firmware updates for the X1 are making the Xperia better and better (and more like the kickass phone it was supposed to be - check out the R3AA rom extracts under the TOuch-IT 4.5 rom thread!). Yes the screen is tiny, but the new Panels coming out + dedicated ppl like itje making custom firmwares makes this phone worthwhile

remember people tend to post on forums when theyre unhappy about something so theres goin to be a lot of negative comments and not as many positive ones to counteract them. as to the screen size, i use the built in opera browser to surf the Three website and everything is nice and readable. id imagine an ebook or pdf would be just as legible. and if you use it in landscape mode then the screen isnt much shorter than the average paperback book page. the X1 has the extra advantage of the optical mouse which would be quite handy for scrolling through pages. id recommend turning down the sensitivity one notch though.
i think my main recommendation is to not be too disappointed at first, theres so much software available to tweak and improve it so consider it a blank canvas. i wasnt too impressed when i got mine but now ive had a chance to customise it im much happier. everyday i find at least one new cool program to add

Xperia is practically same hardware as recent HTCs. It has same speed issues as HTC and vice versa.
If you want keyboard, I think Xperia is better then Touch Pro because it has 3.5mm jack.
If you don't want keyboard, I think HD is better because of the display.
Touchlo is good system, better then panels (IMHO), but it can be ported to Xperia, and many people does not use it even on HTC.
I say wait .. in a year there will be new WM, new faster devices, new Palm, and new iPhone maybe too.

lamtung said:
Any idea how these cracks could ever happened It is not from the manufacturing obviously but rather the cracks develop over time ... The reason might be the metal case getting bigger due to temparature , thus crack the plastic ones ...
I always take good care of my phone or any electronic device in general, my HTC Touch still looks absolutely new after 1 year of usage, if I ever experience those crack with the Xperia (hopefully not) then I'm going mad !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My personal opinion for the regular crack near the volume buttons, is that this is caused by stress from the battery cover / removing the battery cover. anyone with that crack, push down on the nearest corner of the cover to the crack, the crack gets smaller.
Cheers
Steve

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (Kovsky) is THE BEST HTC PHONE EVER
Want un-arguable proof ??
visit the link in my signature

gtrab said:
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (Kovsky) is THE BEST HTC PHONE EVER
Want un-arguable proof ??
visit the link in my signature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
28% for X1 is really great
i think the X1 is a great device, it has alot of plusses, some minuses.
mainly, it's not a multimedia device so don't expect much on graphics (although they work perfectly, but you can expect some problems from time to time). all other features are great, panels are good.
i have been using it for about 4 months, i bought it for 1000$, and i would say if time goes back, i WILL buy it again
previosly i have been using P910 & P1, they are both good, X1 is the best so far.
SE are really supporting the device, releasing updates, fixing problems.
the device came with R1A ROM, 3 months later R2AA08 was released, then they fixed some other things and released R2AA10 few weeks after.
i think SE are doing a great job supporting the device, they are doing their best to keep us happy, and most of us are.
the only problem of Windows Mobile is that it has lots of configuration and tweeks, install the wrong one or modify something wrong in the registery and you have to make a hard reset.
i LOVE my SE X1, and usually i have alot of arguments with friends who use iphone and it mostly ends with them hating their phones
hope i helped.

If I am reading this correctly, it was published today
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Sony-Ericsson-Xperia-X2-Review-review-r_2377.html
EDIT:
Just for comparative purposes here is their X1 review: http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Sony-Ericsson-Xperia-X1-Review-review-r_2072.html

Camera is really better than, say HD2. Just see the indoor picture, the floor tiles definition is far better. Outside X2 seems quite nice, better, but not as much (although one is taken in summer other in winter). But then it is sluggish taking pictures... Videos seem better defined as well.
It is a pity the performance is so uneven and that SE never finalizes its ROM. So, other functions seem to lag, and development, updates seem very unreliable. Really considered X2, but I'm about to head to HD2 (despite photo's quality, but, well, much better than my Kaiser)...

mbernstein said:
Camera is really better than, say HD2. Just see the indoor picture, the floor tiles definition is far better. Outside X2 seems quite nice, better, but not as much (although one is taken in summer other in winter). But then it is sluggish taking pictures... Videos seem better defined as well.
It is a pity the performance is so uneven and that SE never finalizes its ROM. So, other functions seem to lag, and development, updates seem very unreliable. Really considered X2, but I'm about to head to HD2 (despite photo's quality, but, well, much better than my Kaiser)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah - my contract ends soon and i am definatley going for the HD2 - the x just looks so sluggish and i cant be bothered with a phone like that again

comeradealexi said:
Yeah - my contract ends soon and i am definatley going for the HD2 - the x just looks so sluggish and i cant be bothered with a phone like that again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. HD2 or LG Expo perhaps next, unless I jump to Android for the top notch Motorola cameras (really don't want to, but...)

The Xperia X2 looks nice, but I won't be going that route. It may sound weird, but as it is not made by HTC I will pass on it. Although the build quality may be questionable with the X1, I am very happy with my X1 and my previous HTC Prophet.
I will be probably jumping to the Telstra HD2 (I am also thinking iPhone or Android as well) however I won't be making my final judgement until the following:
(1) HSPL is able to be applied to the Telstra HD2 so that I can flash it with a generic ROM (I think you need HSPL to do so eh?)
(2) What is announced in February by Microsoft
(3) What Apple announces in June about a new iPhone (if any)
(4) Voice command (dialing) on both the Android and iPhone systems are equal to that of Microsoft Voice Command...great piece of software.
In the mean time, I love my X1i and I have no problems with it. The only thing I am looking to do is to get a NEW Xperia X1a so that I can use the 850 MHz 3G band...only eBay has them, but it's all good (maybe I might be able to get it crazy cheap!!)

Another review, very similar results:
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_x2-review-443.php

Let me quote my post from Esato:
"There's a significant difference - sometimes at least - between
user experience and reviews experience.
Reviews are needed but sometimes reality is different plus
the device usually gets updated/improved yet the review stays as it was....
I also read so many good reviews of devices which
turned out to be bad in every day usage.
Also, decisive factor is always user preferences...
X2 solves most of my needs,
We will see if X2 will get any optimising updates.
It's well manufactured and makes great photos what I really like,
plus - observe - they say that all the WM strenghts are there.
In the end I rather need a business than multimedia device,
I mean music is my core but I never watch films...
I also don't think WM 6.5 is much more resources hungry than 6.1.
Yet they just claim it's a bad processor responsible for lags - on what base?!
I have X1 on the same hardware and Flash Lite works fine until the buggy Opera 9.5 crashes,
but videos work fine and content too.
Just an example...
I learned my lesson - as MANY users were complaining how bad X1 was out of the box,
I'm still surprised that my X1 works 13 months now without single update nor tweak
and huge amount of installed software inside.
Flawlessly, fine.
We'll see, I will get it in Feb and see how it goes.
Truly, nothing else is interesting enough - for me - to switch my interest...."
Last paragraph from the GSMArena review:
"We can understand the predicament Sony Ericsson were in.
The original XPERIA X1 is not a device to give up on just like this.
But at some point they realized they needed to bring out an update before it was too late.
And as it was becoming obvious WinMo7 was going to take too long,
they decided to proceed with the XPERIA X2 as we know it."
The company is really relying on X10 now -> Android...
I think what they should do is to have a better sense of CONTINUITY...

Very good points. But reviews are good in the sense that these people who have access to many phones. They can compare performance etc. People like me who have to buy in the dark and can not return phone (in Brazil the phones are too expansive and get here 1 year later if they ever get here, so I buy my phones in trips to the US), need the more comments they can get. Another important point is, they take pictures in similar places and similar conditions so you can compare better photos performance. In this case the X2 performs very well.
I have a Kaiser and would be OK with some lag, etc. I rarely watch videos on my PPC (although with a screen the size of the HD2 it could change a little), so X2 could be fine with that. Other areas will be similar or slightly better than my Kaiser. But then, I bought my Kaiser more than 2 years ago. Do I still want (deserve ) to get these lags??
But now, my main concern is that support and development from SE seems to be soooo erratic for the X2. These delays and never officially released... They can't even update their UK page! It is still "expected Jan 10". From what I saw, WM 6.5.3 seems to be a real good update. Will they give it to us? Too many questions, too much confusion... And this not a 300 bucks machine. If it were I would just buy it and see, but it is not. Thus I'm less and less excited by it, despite its many attractives: hardware keyboard, good camera, size (screen could be a little larger, but it is good as it is), some hardware keys... Pity (for me, of course).

mbernstein said:
Very good points. But reviews are good in the sense that these people who have access to many phones. They can compare performance etc. People like me who have to buy in the dark and can not return phone (in Brazil the phones are too expansive and get here 1 year later if they ever get here, so I buy my phones in trips to the US), need the more comments they can get. Another important point is, they take pictures in similar places and similar conditions so you can compare better photos performance. In this case the X2 performs very well.
I have a Kaiser and would be OK with some lag, etc. I rarely watch videos on my PPC (although with a screen the size of the HD2 it could change a little), so X2 could be fine with that. Other areas will be similar or slightly better than my Kaiser. But then, I bought my Kaiser more than 2 years ago. Do I still want (deserve ) to get these lags??
But now, my main concern is that support and development from SE seems to be soooo erratic for the X2. These delays and never officially released... They can't even update their UK page! It is still "expected Jan 10". From what I saw, WM 6.5.3 seems to be a real good update. Will they give it to us? Too many questions, too much confusion... And this not a 300 bucks machine. If it were I would just buy it and see, but it is not. Thus I'm less and less excited by it, despite its many attractives: hardware keyboard, good camera, size (screen could be a little larger, but it is good as it is), some hardware keys... Pity (for me, of course).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mb'
If I were you, I'd seriously think about getting an X1 and saving $400. All-in-all, X1 is a very solid phone. The camera is actually excellent except for low-light indoor conditions, something I don't think the X2 fixes. I flashed williyung's WM 6.5.3 and it's very nice - just like a new WM phone. The lags aren't bad at all. I've had a few repair issues but I guess most phones have that? Otherwise, if you are going to spend $800, get an HD2 or maybe hold out for a phone upgradeable to WM7. When it comes out, bet many of us will be anxious to get it!
Just my random 2 cents!

Hey, thanks. Yeah, I'm 90% going on the route of the HD2. Just coming to terms of lack of HD Keyboard and a little too big size, but...
I actually think the X1 is pretty much the same for me comparing to my Kaiser, just a little bit better in few things. I would keep my good old Kaiser. I think its screen too small, kind of too flashy looking, and I never had any problem whatsoever with my Kaiser and many people report these built problems with the X1... Not for me, but thanks for the tip anyway. Appreciated.

The ONLY alternative I've seen around I'd think of
is HTC Trophy.
HD2 is a very powerful machine.
So sad it's disqualified for me
with so many lacks.

doministry said:
The ONLY alternative I've seen around I'd think of
is HTC Trophy.
HD2 is a very powerful machine.
So sad it's disqualified for me
with so many lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, lack of HW keyboard, resistive screen, and stylus are hard for me to get past. I think I could get used to them, but might be better to wait.

ring-bearer said:
Yeah, lack of HW keyboard, resistive screen, and stylus are hard for me to get past. I think I could get used to them, but might be better to wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would definitely wait.
I mean the capact. screen and lack of keyboard would drive me nuts.
Even if the screen is gorgeous and processor powerful...

doministry said:
The ONLY alternative I've seen around I'd think of
is HTC Trophy.
HD2 is a very powerful machine.
So sad it's disqualified for me
with so many lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man that's a nice device...however HTC is starting to piss me off (although I still love them)
Why can't they make phones like the Kaiser when it comes down to the 3G bands...it's usually 900/2100 and then some variants depending on network request.
What I am looking for is 3G 850/1900/2100, or even 900/1900/2100 (1700 right now, for me that is, is not a priority). Very few HTC devices have it, oh well. Anyways, I am very happy with my X1

doministry said:
The ONLY alternative I've seen around I'd think of
is HTC Trophy.
HD2 is a very powerful machine.
So sad it's disqualified for me
with so many lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Won't the Trophy have a capacitative screen? Otherwise, looks great. Always wondered why no one makes a candybar with a really big screen!
But don't you have to think that HTC will put out a WM7 touch pro3? That would be the one to wait for.

ring-bearer said:
Won't the Trophy have a capacitative screen? Otherwise, looks great. Always wondered why no one makes a candybar with a really big screen!
But don't you have to think that HTC will put out a WM7 touch pro3? That would be the one to wait for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest I really eagerly wait for WM7!
And - hope SE would make a device with it....
Trophy would be nice.
Capactive is crap but it has also trackball so no bad...
But to be honest - I still think of X2.

Well, I was hesitant like all of you, but in the end got X2 the first day available (about two weeks ago) in our country. It's not such an improvement over X1, but in my opinion it's currently the best device with WM and QWERTY. Only that processor is quite a flaw. However, it's not just bigger screen, much better QWERTY, TV-OUT and all the other known stuff, but also probably the best volume rocker and camera shutter I ever had on a mobile device. Making sharp pictures with X2 is much easier than with X1. I might also mention the battery cover, whose opening is not a problem now.
On the whole, X2 removed all the small shortcomings, which you normally ignore, but when using X1 every day they really become a nuisance. I'm very satisfied, but X2's ROM is still quite slow even though not much buggy, so I'm impatiently awaiting an update. Yeah, not to forget, what sucks the most is the absence of Mass Storage mode for USB to PC, hope new ROM will have this feature...

Waco2 said:
Well, I was hesitant like all of you, but in the end got X2 the first day available (about two weeks ago) in our country. It's not such an improvement over X1, but in my opinion it's currently the best device with WM and QWERTY. Only that processor is quite a flaw. However, it's not just bigger screen, much better QWERTY, TV-OUT and all the other known stuff, but also probably the best volume rocker and camera shutter I ever had on a mobile device. Making sharp pictures with X2 is much easier than with X1. I might also mention the battery cover, whose opening is not a problem now.
On the whole, X2 removed all the small shortcomings, which you normally ignore, but when using X1 every day they really become a nuisance. I'm very satisfied, but X2's ROM is still quite slow even though not much buggy, so I'm impatiently awaiting an update. Yeah, not to forget, what sucks the most is the absence of Mass Storage mode for USB to PC, hope new ROM will have this feature...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absence of Mass storage is a bummer
but than why on one of the reviews - GSMArena or Phonearena
they say it's there?!

the mass storage is a bit annoying. but i installed the active sync program and it can all be accessed from there without too much fuss. i turned off all the automatic sync functions so now it operates very similar to the X1 usb to pc. just click on "explore phone" and click on memory card and thats it. so maybe thats what they used in the reviews.

anothadave said:
the mass storage is a bit annoying. but i installed the active sync program and it can all be accessed from there without too much fuss. i turned off all the automatic sync functions so now it operates very similar to the X1 usb to pc. just click on "explore phone" and click on memory card and thats it. so maybe thats what they used in the reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like no problem really.
However one of them precisely mentioned both ActiveSync and MassStorage...

OK - so aside from bias/ability to afford/shipping/tax/price or other logistical factor - can we have a show of hands as to who has already bought a HD2 and has something to say - particularly what about the device makes you happy, what makes you sad?
Let's try keep it away from supplier/delivery issues or local network/band/signal issues - just pure usability/hardware/software.
Personally after trying one out in a store last week I finally received the experience I feel you want when moving to a PDA from a smart phone. What does our community think after using it for a while?

noofny said:
OK - so aside from bias/ability to afford/shipping/tax/price or other logistical factor - can we have a show of hands as to who has already bought a HD2 and has something to say - particularly what about the device makes you happy, what makes you sad?
Let's try keep it away from supplier/delivery issues or local network/band/signal issues - just pure usability/hardware/software.
Personally after trying one out in a store last week I finally received the experience I feel you want when moving to a PDA from a smart phone. What does our community think after using it for a while?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
too subjective a question....for every person on here that says get it, there will be one that says don't get it.
the final decision must be yours....nobody here can make your decision for you. Make a list of the important things for you in a phone, then find the phone that matches those needs the best.
for example, I think the iphone has a much nicer interface, more apps, better screen (touch interface, not size or clarity), but for me it just doesn't handle business functions very well and that made me choose the HD2 since this was my primary need.
if you do the same process you might find the ideal phone for you

I got mine on Sunday just gone, was an upgrade from a Diamond. I loved my diamond, but as soon as I had setup my HD2 with contacts and apps etc I was loving this even more. Each time I use it I find something new, like facebook linking, then seeing in a contact card all communications with that person.
I'm yet to use the footprints, but look forward to trying it out.
The main thing for me was the screen size, I always had problems with the tiny diamond screen, but this is so crisp, easier to use and much easier to keyboard with.
Also the damn speed of the device is amazing, so fast, the OS loads so quick. I soft resetted it and put it down to expect a few minutes wait like on the diamond, but was rebooted so quick!
The one thing I would love to see is a facebook tab, like the twitter tab, shame they didn't implement that!
The specs that come with this phone are truely awesome, and that was the overall selling point for me, as I knew how good HTC phones were I just had to have something with the specs that this phone comes with.

twisted-pixel - good point about the subjectiveness. I suppose what I'm fishing for here are peoples post-usage horror/love stories - moreso with regard to hardware and usability. It's a nice big screen but it's also a nice big slab of tech - how do you find the size, whats the battery life like, do you notice anything bad about the capacitive screen, how often (if ever) do you feel the need for a stylus and say 'doh', does the headphone port become dodgy after use - or the micro usb port? I suppose because of this community we all have flexibility and solutions around software, so I meant to make this more hardware related I guess.

noofny said:
twisted-pixel - good point about the subjectiveness. I suppose what I'm fishing for here are peoples post-usage horror/love stories - moreso with regard to hardware and usability. It's a nice big screen but it's also a nice big slab of tech - how do you find the size, whats the battery life like, do you notice anything bad about the capacitive screen, how often (if ever) do you feel the need for a stylus and say 'doh', does the headphone port become dodgy after use - or the micro usb port? I suppose because of this community we all have flexibility and solutions around software, so I meant to make this more hardware related I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I admit to loving the phone...with one exception...the sensitivity of the screen is a complete disaster for me. it's very difficult to type on, someones it responds to the slightest touch, other times it doesn't. accuracy is also an issue (that was to be expected on a screen with high resolution I suppose)
and yes, I've tried all the tweaks going before anyone suggests it (currently running v3.3 of the tweak with sensitivity on)
I think if I had come straight from my HD then I would have been impressed, but I come from an iphone where the screen was a delight to use.
however, the rest of the phone makes up for that small failing.

noofny said:
twisted-pixel - good point about the subjectiveness. I suppose what I'm fishing for here are peoples post-usage horror/love stories - moreso with regard to hardware and usability. It's a nice big screen but it's also a nice big slab of tech - how do you find the size, whats the battery life like, do you notice anything bad about the capacitive screen, how often (if ever) do you feel the need for a stylus and say 'doh', does the headphone port become dodgy after use - or the micro usb port? I suppose because of this community we all have flexibility and solutions around software, so I meant to make this more hardware related I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, you will find more people venting than praising any device on this forum, as people only seek help when they have problems.
I must admit, I personally think it is the best device I have ever used.
For a quick overview from me (in comparison to the X1, but most comments are applicable):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=5667230&postcount=6

I stumbled on this video on youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-3Bi-Eg2gQ
...and love his brutal (albeit bias and sometimes naive) honesty, it helps you make a decision because it's not a rant. So far you guys are proving some intelligent feedback also - so thank you and let's keep it coming!

I got the HD2 the day it was available in my country (one of the first in europe) and despite all the fixes and xda-dev recommendations i couldn't have it for more then 1 weekend. I sold it on monday morning.
I hated typing (i did try the keyboard cab which should lower the sensitivity), loading sms with some exchanged texts already (loading was awful for such powerful device), visibility outside was horrible, battery,..
Maybe my rant will be understanded better if i mention i'm a blackberry user that likes to try out new "hot phones" (no matter which brand or type of usage).
I've also tried the Nexus One and would say i liked it a tiny bit better then HD2, but still couldn't have it for more then a week.
So, why am i writing this.. After MWC last week, i've kind of wanted to give HD2 another shot. For the following reasons..
I've came across some nice taskbar buttons (which make it look so much better..), I saw there is a fix for sms loading time, i guess i could always install a different keyboard,.. and most imortantly i got a very nice (cheap) offer for a brand new HD2. Yesterday i even ordered a nice case (didn't like the one that comes in the box) and a screenprotector (which might reduce the fingerprints, which i hated so much and a visibility outside,.. hope i'm not too optimistic).
If i somehow manage to be happy with HD2, i might even go for the exnteded battery. And i'm kind of feeling the hype for WinMo7 rom for this device.. Don't know if it will be any better or worse, i just know there is some excitement about it
Hope my rant / "long mess" didn't bore you too much

+1 to buy with eyes closed.

OK, this will be quick because I'm supposed to be doing something else right now but anyway...
I've just sent my HD2 back because of a problem with the microphone so if anyone should be telling you to think of other alternatives - it should be me.
But I can't because I love the phone. It's fast, responsive, it's got most of the features that you could ever want (minus USB host), the screen is gorgeous and the interface is pretty damn usable.
It's not perfect however... Customising it is more trouble than it should be. There is a slight pink hue in the middle of the camera when the contrast and saturation are turned up high enough to make the colours look half lifelike and when the screen is completely white, at certain angles you can see the grid dots that make the screen's matrix.
So to resume, if you don't mind spending some time on it and you're not completely obsessive about things being absolutely perfect (I am and I can still get to sleep at night) then you should be very happy with an HD2.

NeoGreendawg said:
There is a slight pink hue in the middle of the camera when the contrast and saturation are turned up high enough to make the colours look half lifelike and when the screen is completely white, at certain angles you can see the grid dots that make the screen's matrix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pink hue is solved with an update from HTC (here)
The dots are also visible on an iPhone, its down to the technology, not the device alone.

rp-x1 said:
The pink hue is solved with an update from HTC (here)
The dots are also visible on an iPhone, its down to the technology, not the device alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm sorry but the HTC hotfix did slightly improve the issue but it certainly didn't resolve it in my case. I love the phone believe me but I somehow doubt that anyone who isn't employed by HTC or affected by Daltonism could honestly claim that it has completely solved the issue.
Edit : Not trying to be rude or make out that it's a deal-breaker but I know that as a potential buyer I'd want to know about it.

I've had the HD2 for three weeks and use it every day. I also end up resetting it every day. I've come from a Nokia N96 and before that the N73, so I'm comparing it to the N96. I am very pleased with the speed of the phone and how operations take way less than a second to perform, instead of several seconds a la N96.
The phone itself is a bit too big. Perhaps a 4 inch screen would have been enough. Even though I have big hands, it's just too big to walk around and hold the phone with one hand. I'm scared of dropping it. The headphone port's on the bottom of the phone - it causes the cable to tangle up around the phone when in a pocket.
I have found plenty of bugs in the stock O2 1.43 firmware and know how to deal with the main ones.
I didn't realise the phone had an FM tuner until I found it after a few days on the Start menu - I used the N96 FM tuner almost every day. Unfortunately the tuner on the HD2 is really poor. It is unable to obtain a good quality signal. Sound dips out. There's an awful lot of interference in places where the N96 would have relayed a good quality signal. In places where the N96 got a poor signal, the HD2 has static. BBC Radio 1 has the most powerful signal in my area, yet the HD2 fails to get consistent reception. There's just too much interference and I often just shut the radio off. A huge let down; I wonder if it's hardware or software at fault.
The N96 music player was very well featured, but incredibly (pathetically) slow. In contrast, the HTC Music app has no such delays, is very fast but somewhat basic in comparison. A lot of cool N96 features are missing; there's no way to call up the keyboard to locate tracks, track details can't be edited, tracks can't be deleted, backing out of an album takes you to the top of the album list and not to where you were. There's no hardware buttons to change tracks when the phone's in a pocket (a swipe up/down on the lock screen to change tracks would be nice). Volume control has too few stages so is either too loud or too quiet; volume within the Music tab has more stages but doesn't always work (error in Services.exe). General audio quality is rather poor - even the iPod classic 5G sounds better! Occasional unexplained sound dips and audio which lacks in bass and treble. The oddest thing is the shuffle feature tends to replay swathes of tracks that have already been played.
Video playback is very impressive because of the screen size. Can't fathom why the Windows Mobile OS cannot play WMV. Get quite a few dropped frames and put that down to the poor quality 1.43 ROM and perhaps not-fully-developed decoders. Video viewing in general is very nice, although an afterthought within HTC Sense, as the video playback has essentially just been tacked on to HTC's photo viewing app.
I do like the phone, it is good enough to stop me wanting to go back to my last phone. I'd get one, but the HD2's not quite the tech lover's wet dream that some of the big review sites make it out to be. Having bought it from the O2 network, I'll seriously doubt I'll ever be able to officially upgrade the firmware (HTC isn't even listed on their software upgrade pages), so I'll have to learn alternative methods one of these days to see if I can iron out some of the bugs!

Wish they would just whack a snapdragon and capacitive screen in a HD and re-release it....think that would satisfy a lotta folks. Cheers all for your input, it's really helping me to set realistic expectations.

I was contemplating on whether I should buy a Nexus One instead of the HD2, but I decided to go for the HD2 instead because it was cheaper, had a nice screen resolution, specifications don't differ much between both devices, and i'm looking forward to the Windows 7 release on the HD2

i am currently contemplating to switch from HD to HD2....is it worth it?

Buy it!
I come from the HD. The HD2 is what the HD should have been from the first instance.
Fantastic:
- speed (and I am using a stock French Orange ROM based on 1.43!)
- screen
- usability
As far as precision is concerned: I need a phone to check and type (even long) emails, and read documents. XT9 works just great, but even in ABC mode in landscape the accuracy is pretty good (and I type fast!).
If you need to play around with programs using stylus-based input, yes, then it gets really annoying (try to edit your registry in Total Commander and you'll get crazy).
In summary: if you want to tweak it like crazy all the time or intensively use older programs with small menus, then consider buying an alternative with a resistive screen and a stylus. But if you actually want to USE your phone with the standard applications, just buy it and you'll get the best of the market today imo!

to buy or not
i have it for a month after the trinity.
sorry but it hasnot voice call
no handwriting recognition
battery ends quickley
no video call
no .chm file reader
all of these were on the trinity.
so i am sorry buing it

Mastoid said:
I was contemplating on whether I should buy a Nexus One instead of the HD2, but I decided to go for the HD2 instead because it was cheaper, had a nice screen resolution, specifications don't differ much between both devices, and i'm looking forward to the Windows 7 release on the HD2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you do realize that there may eventually never be a WP7 release for the HD2?

rottttman said:
i have it for a month after the trinity.
sorry but it hasnot voice call
no handwriting recognition
battery ends quickley
no video call
no .chm file reader
all of these were on the trinity.
so i am sorry buing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U'd better search for infos about the phone after buying it