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Hey guys! I am an avid reader of this forum and i was just wondering.....i'm looking to upgrade to another HTC phone. I currently have the wizard and i LOVE it! Just curious as to which HTC phone i should upgrade to, Are any of them as "open source" (for lack of a better term) as the wizard? As far as the community and the custom roms go? Any suggestions?
I was looking at the Tilt? is that a good choice?
Also, when i am buying one is there anything to watch out for like there is with the wizard? Like the G3 and G4 versions
TYTN 2 !!!!
Hmmm....i've kinda spent the last few hours just browsing through the forums on the newer phones, apparently there is some kind of video driver issue with the Kaiser....should i wait for maybe the touch cruise?
I will second XabdullahX's vote of the TYTN 2!!!
PhroztBite said:
Hmmm....i've kinda spent the last few hours just browsing through the forums on the newer phones, apparently there is some kind of video driver issue with the Kaiser....should i wait for maybe the touch cruise?
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I also vote that the Kaiser/Tilt/Tytn II is the way to go (I bought the Tilt and am loving it). Its a little different with the key layout than the wizard. I'm getting more used to everything being around the D Pad, but at first I didn't care for this (I still have to be careful not to hang up on a call when trying to press the right soft key). The phone has a ton of memory and is fast.
What you've been reading about in the Kaiser forums on the video driver is that the phone is capable of so much more, but HTC isn't using the proper drivers. What it does do is still very good, and personally I'm very happy with it and feel it was money WELL spent... Supposedly a media player app (don't recall which offhand but its a commercial one) is coming out with a new version that has fixed drivers or something in it. A lot of people are waiting to get their hands on this to see if they can use that to improve some other things.
So if you are a heavy watcher of movies or high performance games, you may want to evaluate the Kaiser/Tilt/Tytn II a little more. But for the majority of the uses of a PPC, its a fantastic phone...
OK, not to brag, but I have my Tilt fully loaded right now with Dutty's 7b ROM and a lot of apps (almost everything I have loaded into the phone's memory and not to my storage card). I have 85MB of free storage memory and 55MB of RAM free. HUGE change compared to the Wizard where you are trying to eek out every bit of space by cramming everything on your SD card and not having but a couple of apps open at a time to conserve precious RAM...
Yep, the Kaiser it is, or if you dont need a keyboard the Polaris.
Surur
I like the kaiser a lot too, but from personal experience, they have some issues with these devices. Hardware and software related. In particular, the BT Stack seems to um, SUCK big time. A couple of my friends had them (Tilts) and they both had horrible BT performance. Either they couldn't connect to certain Headsets/Car Kits or they couldn't walk five feet away from the device while connected without a bunch of static. These are common problems.
I'm waiting to see if they announce some kind of fix for that. It may just be the Tilt versions - not really sure, but BT stack issues are major to me. I always use BT.
apart from the fm radio and no keyboard and screen the cruse is pretty much the same hardware as kaiser so unless that suffer from the same driver issue as kaiser
only the keyboard thing should be the factor of which one to get if you ask me
shawndh said:
I like the kaiser a lot too, but from personal experience, they have some issues with these devices. Hardware and software related. In particular, the BT Stack seems to um, SUCK big time. A couple of my friends had them (Tilts) and they both had horrible BT performance. Either they couldn't connect to certain Headsets/Car Kits or they couldn't walk five feet away from the device while connected without a bunch of static. These are common problems.
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I must be lucky. I work in a home office upstairs in our house, and I can use my jawbone BT connected to my Tilt and walk downstairs to the kitchen and only get a small amount of scratching sound. When I was using my Wizard, by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs I knew I had forgoten my phone as the scratching and popping sounds were pretty bad.
Could be that this was because I was using the unofficial AKU AT&T ROM (I immediately upgraded to this when I got my Tilt as I at first understood it was an official AT&T upgrade). Now running Dutty's 7b which is based off the HTC rom and my BT sound is even better and more clear than the AT&T roms ever were, so it could be more the AT&T rom than the HTC rom with BT issues.
tilt
i just got my tilt(kaiser) and in my personal oppinon...it totally kicks ass...seriously. i was kinda wondering bc of how much it coses but let me assure it was well worth it
The Kaiser is a terrific device and I'm very happy with it. Ofcourse there are some issues (like the video drivers, and audio glitch) that do not make it perfect for all uses.
If you want to play a lot of games or video or so, don't go for the Kaiser right now - that situation might improve, I'd wait and see what happens.
Note that the Touch variants all have the same issue.
HTC TyTN II and HTC Touch Cruise (same as TyTN II but without keyboard) are the best phones out there.
Call me crazy but I like the wizard still. I have a Hermes 8525, Faraday 2125 and I tried out the Tilt for a day. Not much differant then the Hermes but has a ton of memory. For a smart phone, the Faraday is awesome.
Pumpiron579 said:
Call me crazy but I like the wizard still. I have a Hermes 8525, Faraday 2125 and I tried out the Tilt for a day. Not much differant then the Hermes but has a ton of memory. For a smart phone, the Faraday is awesome.
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'
agreed...i LOVE my kaiser....but at the end of the day im always like damn that wizard was one hell of a phone....seriously
i have a 8125 and a 8525 also tried tilt because my friend has one and he let me plaay with it for a day
if your looking for speed of course go to 400mhz but it does not mean that wizard is slow because of frequent change in roms it can match the speed more or less
only thing here is the memory of course tilt has the most; second is tytan and last but not the least is my 8125... what makes the wizard advantageous is that it has a double speaker unlike tytan the speaker is placed at the back it produces less sounds in a process
I dont know if 4gig or 8gig can support the wizard but it has happened to kasier and tytan
IMHO:
one last and important thing that I have noticed is in the wizard forum all of the good rom makers has not made roms nowadays??? that is the only sad part
in kaiser and tytan rom makers are very much active this makes the HUGE difference between the phone
character said:
IMHO:
one last and important thing that I have noticed is in the wizard forum all of the good rom makers has not made roms nowadays??? that is the only sad part
in kaiser and tytan rom makers are very much active this makes the HUGE difference between the phone
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Did you forget XM6R5, That rom is awesome.
yeah aside from mfrazzz... I miss the times when there are too many roms to choose from maybe it is because people here know now about cooking and still I am a noob for cooking and trust cookers t put there files here???
oh well I can only blame myself actually...
As my Nike is bust (see my sig) I will probably be looking to get another HTC phone in it's place. So I'm asking the same question.
From what I've read the Kaiser and TyTn 2 are the best, am I right in thinking that one of these two would be the best phones to have? Like the first post, I'd like a phone that's 'open source' so to speak (ie. popular, lots of mods for it) and WiFi and SD slot.
i can ask nothing more out of my vogue, till i get my hands on the touch HD
My vote is for the Tilt/Kaiser. I bought mine off craigslist for $200. Best $200 I'd spent in some time. I love my Wizard but the ROM's available for the Kaiser are just amazing and the device itself is fast, Stable, and just plain fun to work with.
Kirby
I currently have a nokia n800, that i am using less and less due to the fact that it is NOT a cell phone in any way. My second latest device is an HTC Touch Dual, i love WM6, and just about everything except the build of the phone. I am getting some disturbing side to side motion in the slide, and it effects how you press the top power on/off button. Luckily i have a squaretrade warranty and im gonna return it and get my money back. Now the point of the post, I have just picked up a new in box, unlocked, x7501. Should arrive in the next couple days and I am totally stoked, I cant wait to see the 5 inch screen! Any quick tips for a new x7501 owner? Thanks for all the help!
flash pk's rom, and instantly switch to realvga 96dpi. gives you masses of screen space. I got mine on christmas eve, and its been a joy to have. just installed all my fave apps and now got it working just how i want it. the realvga thing is my top tip.
x
Thanks very much, i just cant wait to get it! One of the things im most excited about is using an rss reader on the home screen and being able to see more than the first 4 words of the headline, thats how it is on my touch dual!
lol. at first i was annoyed by the large screen. on my hermes, i had the cube and an iphone ui, along with pocket plus on another page using wisbar advance desktop. then along came my athena, and when i finally got a working iphone vga theme, it lookes so stupid. now ive got pocketplus 4, with diary and gprs monitor integrated for all my shortcuts, and resco today plugin for my memory usage. perfect, and shows how you adapt to a device.
And youll probaly get a whole page of rss, with 96dpi, i think its like having 4 qvga screens right next to each other.
rory
x
rorydaredkign said:
lol. at first i was annoyed by the large screen. on my hermes, i had the cube and an iphone ui, along with pocket plus on another page using wisbar advance desktop. then along came my athena, and when i finally got a working iphone vga theme, it lookes so stupid. now ive got pocketplus 4, with diary and gprs monitor integrated for all my shortcuts, and resco today plugin for my memory usage. perfect, and shows how you adapt to a device.
And youll probaly get a whole page of rss, with 96dpi, i think its like having 4 qvga screens right next to each other.
rory
x
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I did the opposite and got rid of my Ameo for an N800!
Waiting for Gnokii to be ported so I can use the N800 to send sms/make calls through my N95. The ameo was good but too big, based on the fact that i couldn't 'detach' the cellphone aspect of the device and therefore always had to have an oversized phone on me, whether at the office or on a night out.
I prefer to have a phone (N95) and N800 (via bt dun) for Internet browsing as the browser is infinitely better than either opera or PIE on the Ameo and the sreen res is higher - despite the smaller size - but that's just my personal preference.
yeah, the n800 is still a great product, and it can do a wonder of things. The best part is the linux os, so just about all the best software for it is FREE! I would have never put my n800 down it it had cell abilities. The responsiveness of the touchscreen on my n800 blows away any touchscreen phones ive ever used...I love typeing with the soft keyboard on the n800 Huge thumb buttons. my touch dual has been the biggest dissapointment of all my cell phones....only because as each day passes i feel like the top slide portion is going to break off. Its been getting more play in its slide every day ...Im fairly confidant that i can handle the size of the advantage just fine...as long as i get me a good small earbud style bluetooth.
touchlasvegas said:
yeah, the n800 is still a great product, and it can do a wonder of things. The best part is the linux os, so just about all the best software for it is FREE! I would have never put my n800 down it it had cell abilities. The responsiveness of the touchscreen on my n800 blows away any touchscreen phones ive ever used...I love typeing with the soft keyboard on the n800 Huge thumb buttons. my touch dual has been the biggest dissapointment of all my cell phones....only because as each day passes i feel like the top slide portion is going to break off. Its been getting more play in its slide every day ...Im fairly confidant that i can handle the size of the advantage just fine...as long as i get me a good small earbud style bluetooth.
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wait for cellphone tool to be fully functional on OS2008 before you get rid of your N800. It will enable you to connect through your regular cellphone to make and receive calls and texts. The Athena is really no better than your Touch Dual aside from the screen: in fact if i still had my Athena I'd have swapped you!
In order to get over the problem of the Athena's size I bought some Sony earbud Bluetooth headphones, but I never managed to get caller I.D. working and it still didn't get over the size issue: I still had to take the damn thing out with me in some form or other! Without headphones the sound quality of calls through the loud speaker is appalling.
Would be nice if you could get back to us in a few weeks with your thoughts
this user bought an Athena less than a month ago and is selling it already due to usability issues.
I decided the Athena was more trouble than it was worse, and its size was simply unjustifiable given its poor video and browsing performance. Nice screen though, that I have to agree on!
Still got my Hermes though.
I don't think the sound is appaling without headset. I normally use just the speakerphone and have no issue with it. As long as I can have a phone conversation, I don't need the clearest sound in the world. It's a much better solution than having to carry another device. Just my personal preference. Others would like to have headset, which is also a much better solution than having to carry an additional device. I understand you prefer to have multiple devices, and have no problem with that. Hope you allow me to be as happy with Athena as much as you're happy with your N95/N800/Asus eee combination.
eaglesteve said:
I don't think the sound is appaling without headset. I normally use just the speakerphone and have no issue with it. As long as I can have a phone conversation, I don't need the clearest sound in the world. It's a much better solution than having to carry another device. Just my personal preference. Others would like to have headset, which is also a much better solution than having to carry an additional device. I understand you prefer to have multiple devices, and have no problem with that. Hope you allow me to be as happy with Athena as much as you're happy with your N95/N800/Asus eee combination.
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I had two Athena's and both had sound issues, though I naturally used to hold them to my face rather than away from me. This was probably the problem. I didn't like broadcasting my conversations to the world though!
I like everyone to be happy of course Eaglesteve and I really don't begrudge your love of the Athena. I like my setup because it gives me more choice, and since I am a browsing addict the N800 fitted the bill better since it not only has a better browser but a higher resolution screen for displaying web content. It lacks a GPS golf companion but that's not something I need right now .
I tend to drift in and out of love for things though. If Windows produce a better mobile platform I'll probably be back to them (after testing it with my Hermes of course). I just wish, Eaglesteve, that Windows were a little more open with outside developers. Perhaps then the true power of the Athena could have been felt. It could have been SO MUCH BETTER - a true multimedia powerhouse.
Aside from the obvious loss of Windows Mobile applications, if Linux were on the Athena THEN we would see what it could do - great video playback, fully functional Firefox browser, USB and a HSDPA modem....it would kick my EEE into touch, since INHERENTLY it is a bloody excellent bit of kit, marred by Microsoft's restricted and buggy software.
well i got my Advantage yesterday Soo, much in love with it, even without changing anything yet. Took it to the bar last night and gave everyone around me gadget envy I picked up the cheapest jabra bluetooth at frys until i order the one I want off ebay soon. So far, the responsiveness of the machine is noticibly faster than the touch dual, not to mention all the other issue ive had with my dual. I know the advantage has a faster processor and all, but i only have about 15 programs installed on my touch dual and at times it lags soo much i try a soft reset, and it boots up with the same lag. I think the roughly 200MHZ bump in processor speed will help a little with this. I love how the keyboard and advantage fit into its leather case, very creative. I find myself using the soft keyboard more than the hard keyboard so I may end up leaving the keyboard at home most of the time. Secondly about the keyboard, when you attach it to the advantage as a screen protector and use the clear portion for the "sub display" I found it very finiky to get the sub display to appear, and i definatly couldnt get it every time I tried. I'll update you as I begin to modify things
Ok, now to begin with the flashing, before I try flashing PK's rom, do I need to do any kind of unlock on the phone first? Its already factory unlocked to any carrier, but I thought i read that there was another unlock that had to be done to allow custom roms. THANKS
edit* It appears that i need to run olipros 3 step unlocker first before installing PK's black rom. Now on PK's page it says that the latest rom version does NOT INCLUDE a radio, and they reccomend upgrading your radio to version 1.50 before flahing the rom.....any tips on how I would go about doing this before I flash the rom?
Hey touchlasvagas, I would like to share in your excitment. I just recieved my Advantage this past Thursday 1/10/08. I too, went to work and made some gadget envy with my supervisor (the guy who hooked me to PDA's). All in fun. The screen is phenomonal. The clarity is superb...and coming from the x51v (which is another amazing machine) there is alot more to see with softwared installed. The processor is extremely fast. After updating the Opera and reworking the configuration...the internet browser does a fine good job at work and school.
I hope I can find an extended battery somewhere!
I'm following your post so please post when you discovered the steps to unlocking, flashing, and all the other good stuff.
Just sharing in the excitment!!!!!
Kenjari
Kenjari, is yours a factory unlocked x7501 as well? Im ready to begin the flashing, I just want to get word from someone regarding the fact that it states the radio is left out from PK's rom....the radio for what? He recommends updating the radio rom before flashing and I have no idea what hes talking about hopefully someone chimes in so I can get a'flashin
touchlasvegas said:
Kenjari, is yours a factory unlocked x7501 as well? Im ready to begin the flashing, I just want to get word from someone regarding the fact that it states the radio is left out from PK's rom....the radio for what? He recommends updating the radio rom before flashing and I have no idea what hes talking about hopefully someone chimes in so I can get a'flashin
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Touchlasvegas, I believe he is refering to either the Bluetooth, GPS, or Wifi. I will scan the forum to see if I can dig up more information. I could be wrong though.
Yes, I have an unlocked x7501.
If I'm wrong...hopefully someone will come along soon.
the phone comes with radio rom installed, but it might not be 1.50.0.0. people claim this is the best, but on both of my wm devices, ive only had one radio rom. so if you dont have signal problems with your advantage, there isnt much need to upgrade radio [my opinion]
x
thanks for the info rory, i havent tested out my wifi yet, however the gps and everything else seems to be working great, so i would imagine i have no real reason to upgrade my radio. Looks like in the next couple hours i will give olipros unlocker a try and then flash the new rom
kenjari i would say hold off on flashing for right now, i believe i followed all the steps and now it appears i have a bricked, or at least semi-bricked advantage in front of me I made a post with all the descriptions of what i did and what happened, please feel free to check it out if you can help
touchlasvegas said:
kenjari i would say hold off on flashing for right now, i believe i followed all the steps and now it appears i have a bricked, or at least semi-bricked advantage in front of me I made a post with all the descriptions of what i did and what happened, please feel free to check it out if you can help
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touchlasves, I just responded you your other post. Please take a look. I think you're still safe. Anyway, it's a good idea to wait fo touchglasvegas to complete his experiment from the viewpoint of risk management.
thanks eagle, im gonna try pks rom now as soon as i figure out which exe file to run first
Thanks for the advice touchlasvegas and eaglesteve. I hope everything works out okay. Let me know if there is anything you need me to do. I can research with you if you want!!
It seems like the cruise has been abandon. I am not a rom freak but its been forever since anything has been developed for the polaris. What gives??
If thats the case i guess its time to move on to the iphone
Only if the embeeded graphics acceleration were fully included in drivers, it'd be enough to satisfy most users of the device, it's really irritating that the device performs worse than other older devices in graphics... that reminds me never to buy another device with a Qualcomm chipset (hence any HTC phone), so my next device would will come with a Marvell or Samsung chipset (mmm, those new Acer phones looks interesting).
I would never go to an iPhone, it's a toy, no more than that... I must admit that Apple scores 10 in marketing and they can sell uninformed people their devices.
Sorry for the rant, I just needed to say that aloud
dortyboy said:
It seems like the cruise has been abandon. I am not a rom freak but its been forever since anything has been developed for the polaris. What gives??
If thats the case i guess its time to move on to the iphone
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What new stuff exactly are you're looking for?
There's a heap of applications being written every day that will run on Polaris(check the Forum).
Some guys are doing a great job in porting Android to Polaris as well. Take a look - it's pretty cool.
Whether it's a Polaris, Nokia or iPhone there's only so much you can do with it.....
Yes I agree, Polaris is not dead, it only reached a level of maturity that there is no need for any other heavy develpment... after all it's a good device with qvga standar screen that can run anything for qvga, and has a dpad...
Yes the 3d drivers issue gone a little bad, some roms dont even support or include them, but they perform good anyway, I don't think it's that slow device if you know what your doing.... you wont run photoshop on it...
And dont be sure that having samsung or marvell proccessor will be heaven on earth... a lot of my friends are fustrated with crashes, no reason overflows... and most of devices carring them dont have 3d acceleration.
The Polaris has 3D acceleration, in a way. It's just still not finished yet. It takes a HELL of alot time and effort to fix it, and most developers don't want to put in so much effort anymore, especially with Winmo7 around the corner with it's new kernel.
However, i still think it's possible to get Manila3D running without the sleep-bug, as long as people are motivated. But for alot of people, that comes with a price...
@Drakh: What about the Tegra when it comes out? Sorta best of both worlds...HTC device, which means in terms of hardware most devices will actually be pretty fully featured, and in terms of chipset, it's coming from a far better company than any of the other options given. Only obvious concern, it'll be a completely new product and is still untested by the market, almost certainly there's going to be at least a couple of flaws in the early iterations.
I don't know that I'd call Time-of-Death on the Polaris yet. I suspect a lot more development will kick back up when the Iolite actually hits shelves. At the very least, when serious Iolite development kicks up, and starts incorporating newer features/versions of software, it'll be relatively easy to create pair of roms side-by-side to cover both devices.
Polaris is my worst phone ever. It was expensive at the time and everything is slow about it, even the 2d operations like opening windows, clicking startmenu, slow camera, slow scrolling in windows like file explorer, all programs list etc etc etc. Real disappointment and i'm also looking for other smartphones with a different chipset/manufacturer.
i agree. i bout my Polaris over a year ago for 720 usd in NYC. for that i could have bought 3 iphones and it was disappointing to me that htc doesn't take the time to upgrade there phones. instead the fool us with a new one with slight improvements then another one with slight improvements. why cant they just focus on one phone and try and make it as best as possible.
This is primarily a htc device forum.
For anyone who thinks they may fair better with another brand device it is worth noting that the development that go on - largely thanks to xda-developers - is not something that is replicated on any other device.
The iphone is a matter of taste and while they have plenty of programs on app-store, it is as someone said earlier - a toy, a fashion accessory, an ipod with a phone in it.
If you are cheesed off with htc's lack of dedication to one device then I dont blame you, we all get sick of it, but every manufacturer is in it to make money and they are all slow to push out decent updates and have their own advantages and shortfalls.
At least with the htc devices we have xda-developers - and as long as it is there (and long may it live) we have the chance of enjoying the CHOICE of different softwares instead of having to make do with whats there as most of the other devices.
dortyboy said:
i agree. i bout my Polaris over a year ago for 720 usd in NYC. for that i could have bought 3 iphones and it was disappointing to me that htc doesn't take the time to upgrade there phones. instead the fool us with a new one with slight improvements then another one with slight improvements. why cant they just focus on one phone and try and make it as best as possible.
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but what is it you want it to do that it doesn't do?
is it games? then buy a Nintendo DS - sure you can't make calls with it but it's a great games device.
want to watch movies? the Sony PSP has great video playback but it won't manage you calendar.
I guess the point I'm making is that devices like the Polaris try to do lots of different things - and it does some things better than others.
I'm sure that when you got your Polaris you checked it out at the time and probably thought it was a pretty impressive device.
Most of the recent improvements have been to screen resolution, memory and processor speed and performance. All of these are hardware related and something that can not simply be plugged in and made work.
As time moves on technology improves and devices look better, maybe work a little faster and do more things. To expect something that's a couple of years old to work as well as a device you can buy today is a bit unrealistic.
I agree with Bally - at least we benefit from up-to-date software through the hard work of the cooks and developers at XDA-Devs.
Personally, my Polaris has never worked better or faster.
u guys are so quick to jump to your own conclusions! i never said i did not like my polaris; i love it! i am simply saying that there comes a time especially with htc devices that as we say a particular phone has run its course.
i just wanted to spark some interest in the phone and apparently i did.
i was just frustrated how expensive htc phones are and its up to private individuals to make them work better. maybe htc should be paying XDA for there hard work
I dont think HTC like´s XDA much for obvious reasons....the reasons that made me fall in love with this community.
I bought my Polaris 2 years ago and i see new models in stores that are a few levels down so i cant complain and i will only trade my polaris for a tegra device,the rest is just small improvements
Hi All,
I bought my Orbit 2 for Christmas, second hand.
I immediately flashed the rom to C Shekar's' "a" rom, then his "b" rom; added S2U2, a few bits and bobs, changed the theme and am now happy.
It is fast enough, and I use it extensively for e mail and TomTom navigation.
I like it!
Where to go from here?
What should be the next phone, assuming I stay with HTC? (better the devil you know ...)
SpiggyTopes said:
Hi All,
I bought my Orbit 2 for Christmas, second hand.
I immediately flashed the rom to C Shekar's' "a" rom, then his "b" rom; added S2U2, a few bits and bobs, changed the theme and am now happy.
It is fast enough, and I use it extensively for e mail and TomTom navigation.
I like it!
Where to go from here?
What should be the next phone, assuming I stay with HTC? (better the devil you know ...)
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Click to collapse
i agree with u. thats why i havent bought a new phone as of yet. i dnt wanna buy another htc phone. am waiting for something new but much better than htc and that is not htc
Assuming this has become a "spill what`s on your mind" thread, i`ll let you in on my feelings as well. When i bought the phone i gave 1300 Buglarian leva for it, that`s about 650 Euro (a bit more than $860) ... i loved it, it`s my first PDA, it was GREAT ! ... all of my friends were so jealous, it was THE phone. Some time passed, i made some installs and the phone started to go bad, started freezing, gave me the worst time in my life, i`ve never had such issues with a phone. Even now i`m trying to reflash it, and it doesn't want me to, the ROM update procedure freezes at 0% and doesnt go on ... then the recovery wizard kicks in ... and here we go again, and again ...
I will NEVER, ever purchase a Windows Mobile phone anymore, its buggy, slow and it cant event work like a decent phone ... what more should i ask, if it cant do that decently. So please, spare me the "htc sux, xda rulz" stuff ... xda-developers is a place spawned by the NEED for working software, something HTC and Microsoft both cant provide. Now tell me why shouldn't i buy an iphone, it does everything it says its supposed to. Though i wont buy an iphone, i`ll wait for the Palm Pre and buy that, and i`m sure, that will be deal for my money.
whatever you buy you will get bored with it and envy some new model that comes out a week after you buy your new device......
the good thing about windows mobile devices is that at least you can fiddle around and add new stuff, change the interface etc. keeps you interested just that little bit longer
cr1960 said:
whatever you buy you will get bored with it and envy some new model that comes out a week after you buy your new device......
the good thing about windows mobile devices is that at least you can fiddle around and add new stuff, change the interface etc. keeps you interested just that little bit longer
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My thought exactly!
The best thing about a ppc is that it is a small computer!
So it gives you a lot of freedom.
But if someone just want's a good phone then buy a Nokia! And if someone just want's a good multimedia phone then buy a iphone!
cr1960 said:
whatever you buy you will get bored with it and envy some new model that comes out a week after you buy your new device......
the good thing about windows mobile devices is that at least you can fiddle around and add new stuff, change the interface etc. keeps you interested just that little bit longer
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Click to collapse
Exactly I really want an iPhone because everything about it is just so polished, but im sure to get bored of it. I HATE my polaris sometimes, but fiddling around with it is just so much fun, Windows Mobile is crap, but trying to fill its inadequacies is fun in a twisted way.
adderz91 said:
Exactly I really want an iPhone because everything about it is just so polished, but im sure to get bored of it. I HATE my polaris sometimes, but fiddling around with it is just so much fun, Windows Mobile is crap, but trying to fill its inadequacies is fun in a twisted way.
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I thought a lot about the iPhone.
But .. as far as I know, it will not run TomTom.
Also, it is sealed- you can't replace the battery or get at the memory card.
AND - iTunes is terrible (imho), I much prefer Windows Media player for playlists.
What next, phone wise?
C'mon!, you cant compare a winmo device to an iphone, you're severily limited on the iphone platform (they just meet copy&paste and a2dp now for example), I'd never buy one of those devices, you wouldn't have the flexibility we have with winmo, and more thanks to communities like this... and it means a big thank to every developer here for your dedication and time.
cr1960, when I said before that the device performs bad I meant everyday use, I understand that if you want to play intensive 3D/2D graphics better buy an game console for example, or want the best GPS, buy a garmin or want the best photos, get a dedicated camera, etc; but no, it's the everyday use of Polaris that is affected, slow drawing, and is the very only one problem I see (video drivers), everything else is OK, the hardware specs of the Polaris don't have anything to envy other devices even more "modern" ones, 400Mhz is not any slow by the way, I'll put an example: the youtube app can't show decent video just choppy one and more processing power will help little without proper drivers (and as far as I know there are other HTC devices with more power than Polaris that have the same rendering problem), but watch the same video with Coreplayer (those guys someway figured how to talk directly to video hardware), and you'll see smooth video low CPU usage, see my point? It's not about demanding unrealistic performance from our beloved device, just that is underperforming in typical everyday use as it is now (maybe deliberate?).
Asking the polaris to run full size mpeg2 videos or do h264 or run quake at 60fps is unrealistic, asking it to run 320*240 videos smootly or show menus quickly or do smooth dragging inside google maps isn't.
The interesting thing is that the video driver (when 3D/2D hw acceleration is available) problem plagues most devices that use qualcomm not only HTC, even other manufacturers; I dont see much that problem in other chipsets, where it seems manufacturers dont have much problem adding correct drivers, maybe qualcomm doesnt make it easy to device manufacturers to add correct drivers?, some say so, dunno.
My phone history is no small list i've tried pretty much everything out there From N97, to Blackberry 9700... HD2 cought my eye because i originally had the HD, however it seems that i'm getting the itch to move on to possibly the N900 or E72
Anyways just wondering what your experiences have been like with your device, and what are your most cool applications?
I change phones quite often too. My last phone in fact was a N900. Great phone yet I felt it was a bit slow. So far I am loving the hd2 and don't have plans to switch for quite some time. With every phone there was always something that bothered me. I thought Windows mobile would be it but so far it has been great. My only past issue was with a touch diamond being a bit sluggish, this hd2 definitely does not have that problem.
I could possibly see a jump to the N900, but an E72 (used to own an E71)?! No way. Using symbian is like jumping through a time warp to the past.
i know im lil off topic but i feel you guys on never finding perfect phone before one i got now. I dont mean to push android on WM guys but other then lil lag sometimes its been best phone for me.
It's gonna take a real monster of a phone for me to even think about considering getting rid of my HD2.
I've never been as happy with a phone as I am with this, and I don't think I'll start having wandering eyes for a looooooooong time!
wait till Winmo 7 comes. I reckon it will be a real sweet OS
I also change phones quite often. I always loved my iphone 3GS, but the HD2 has kept my attention for a while now. It does everything my iphone used to do for me.
I think once Microsoft implements Xbox live games into winmo, we'll all be laughing!
I'll get bored when they have a dual core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon or Tegra 2 HD3 with WM7
DMAND said:
I'll get bored when they have a dual core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon or Tegra 2 HD3 with WM7
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And AT LEAST a 4.7" screen. lol - I wouldn't really want one that big, but I definitely don't want smaller!
johncmolyneux said:
And AT LEAST a 4.7" screen. lol - I wouldn't really want one that big, but I definitely don't want smaller!
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I wouldn't mind an even bigger screen. They could do it with the hd2 by removing the border around the lcd. Imagine nothing but screen corner to corner.
in the end it's still a phone.. doesn't have wheels or boobs..
The experience of the HD2 in most cases spoils you, and you will find it difficult to use a phone with a smaller screen. Apart from the earpiece quality at the higher frequencies, i am completly happy with this phone having owned about 10 different phones including iphone.
bel_z_bub said:
in the end it's still a phone.. doesn't have wheels or boobs..
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But I heard that on WM7 it will preform BJ's .
I must say, the HD2 is one of the best phone I came across.
I've worked over 2 years as the buyer for a multimedia chain and got the oppertunity to test drive a whole lot of device.
Also I'm using a ppc over 7 years now and untill the HD2 there were only 2 devices who have the "professional"/fun factor that the HD2 has.
And that was the Magician and the Universal.
Now I don't argue about the N900 because he has a "full" linux on it and for the linux guru's this is a wonderfull device. But if you aren't that good or fond in Linux then there is nothing special on the N900, and he is idd quite slow in normal use.
The other problem is that several years ago people did not compare a ppc with a normal phone (nokia symbian and etc...) but the mainstream users now also want a pcc thus the discussing is started... (certainly no personal blame meant)
I have no intentions of getting rid of the HD2 until there is a Nvidia Tegra powered platform available running WinMo7 with a screen equal to or bigger than the HD2.
The extra screen size compared to other mobiles on the market today really does make all the difference. I see people considering exchanging their HD2 for the Nexus One, but personally I find the screen a real letdown after being used to my HTC.
The one thing that does bug me about it is the low capacity battery included but, touch wood, so far I've managed to keep it running 24/7 by charging thru the night and every now and again in the car. Not enough of a let down for me to start looking at other handsets anyhow.
emigrating said:
The one thing that does bug me about it is the low capacity battery included but, touch wood, so far I've managed to keep it running 24/7 by charging thru the night and every now and again in the car. Not enough of a let down for me to start looking at other handsets anyhow.
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That is a serious battery drain, do you work so much on your device?
Eg I use my device constantly, 15 sms/day, 1 a 2hours phone, 30min surfing wifi and or hspda and I can do over a day and a half with one battery charge
This topics makes me laugh (not being offensive).
But it's pretty difficult to get bored of it. Of course we could have much more action on it but i'm sure in time we will have that also.
I cant see myself getting bored of the HTC HD2 anytime soon. Still got lots to do to it. Custom Roms, writing my own apps etc. Once i have it perfect then I will be using it until my contract runs out and i can get the latest super phone for free
Seeing as I have just discovered 800x480 encoding of 720p videos using WinMenc makes amazingly clear videos, and the demo of Electopia showing OpenGL 2.0 capabilities, I don't see myself getting bored any time soon.
thomas_pieps said:
That is a serious battery drain, do you work so much on your device?
Eg I use my device constantly, 15 sms/day, 1 a 2hours phone, 30min surfing wifi and or hspda and I can do over a day and a half with one battery charge
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Yeah, I use it constantly for the web and MSN (wifi/hsdpa/3g) as well as calls/sms. I could probably tweak it to last longer by disabling wifi/bluetooth etc when not connected but haven't found a good app to automate this yet.
Of course, once I find a 'cheap' car-cradle with built-in micro-usb (ie. put the phone in the cradle and it automatically starts charging - rather than fiddle around with cables and whatnot) the batterylife won't be a problem no more.
karkid said:
My phone history is no small list i've tried pretty much everything out there From N97, to Blackberry 9700... HD2 cought my eye because i originally had the HD, however it seems that i'm getting the itch to move on to possibly the N900 or E72
Anyways just wondering what your experiences have been like with your device, and what are your most cool applications?
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Click to collapse
No where near board with it but as you've most likely tried everything there is for the HD2 why don't you list your best top 10 apps that you've tried and then we'll compare notes
For me the HD2 is my very first PocketPC/Smartphone. For me this phone is very powerful that it'll do fine for the coming years, if the phone can last that long. My only reason for switching to another phone is when the specs are at least equal to the one of the HD2, MUCH improved battery life and support of both capacative and resistive touch with adequate software and UI support. You can't get better than that. I'm not a gamer, so more power and a higher frequency is not necessarily my wish.
Hey all,
Firstly, if this thread is in the wrong place, then by all means move it. There are specific threads for Android and Wp7 questions, however this does not have to do with either of them specifically.
Anyways, I'm thinking of getting the HD2; I know it's an ageing phone but it seems to do the impossible
My reasons are
1) I'm looking for a phone to tie me over until I can afford a more "Upgrade-y" kind of upgrade, specs wise it is a downgrade from my current phone.
2) I love tinkering with phones and using the latest builds of whatever this baby runs. Unfortunately I'm no dev but maybe I'll get to it some day. Anyways, this will be more or less a toy for me, and perhaps even an educational tool.
3) I've gone through a lot of phones and I tend to get somewhat bored with them, which is why I cycle through them pretty often. The amazing HD2 runs so many things I doubt I'm going to get bored.
Anyways, I would like some user opinions on the usability of this phone. I realize that using the latest Jelly Bean build or whatnot will probably be slow and sluggish, and that's usually fine (as long as it's not slow to the point where it's unusable) but at times I will need stable roms. I'd like to know how performance is on the most stable of roms. I don't use it for games much, only texting and light web browsing, so for these simple tasks I'd expect them to be buttery smooth, but is that how it works in reality? let me know.
Also, aside from the great things I hear about the HD2, I've also heard of a freezing issue that pretty much renders the phone unusable without a hard reboot, and I hear it is due to the CPU overheating. I'm not sure if this is such a common issue but please let me know.
Finally, how does this perform with day to day functions? Screen legibility, speaker volume, responsiveness, battery life, etc...
Thanks a ton!
-Dillon
I had no problems using the HD2 until the digitizer died on me (common issue).. Screen legibility is great on such a huge screen, speaker volume is good, responsiveness is good, and battery life is decent. I could get through an entire day with some calls, some games, some texting and still have ~40% left. The performance is great on most roms I have tried. All AOSP/CM/etc ICS, GB, and Froyo are all very smooth. Even the sense roms ported over from newer devices are butter smooth. There are so many choices, you can practically flash a new rom every week and won't be bored by the end of the year.
Hey, thanks for the reply.
Do you know what the digitizer problem is caused by? Perhaps I can prevent it. But if I can't, would buying a new digitizer fix the problem?
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app
No problem, the digitizer problem is caused by the digitizer flex ribbon physically wearing out over time. It only occurs because the "end call/power" button is directly on top of that flex ribbon.. You can avoid this by not using the power button at all and use an app that emulates that button to turn off your phone. Buying a new digitizer will fix the problem, but if you have never opened the HD2 before, best to pay a professional to do it since it is a pain in the arse to disassemble and assemble..
Been using an HD2 for a good while and basically I would have to think very caerfully before upgrading. It does everything I need and does most things very well indeed. If you can find one at a good s/h price I'd say go for it.
Advantages:
Good screen for Internet browsing,etc.
Gorilla glass so reasonably damage-resistant.
One of the best phone cameras I've used, can be tweaked even further, see hacks.
GPS and magnetic compass.
Plays music even when in standby.
NOT WM7 so you don't have to encrypt the microSD card.
Stable. Runs for weeks without crashing.
Disadvantages:
A bit large. (I keep mine in a shirt pocket, which I find works well.)
Needs charging daily if you use it a lot. (Spare batts are cheap though)
Limited RAM, therefore don't open too many apps at once.
OS WM6.5, less easy to use than Android, though plenty free apps available.
Major annoyance:
Random dialling when on phone screen, due to static or a shirtsleeve-touch. Wish I could find a way to remove that speed-dial background list which seems to be the culprit. Basically, NEVER leave the thing on the phone screen unless you are in a call.
Minor annoyance:
Badly placed volume keys. Hard to pick up without accidentally changing volume.
Not all headphones are suitable for music use. Some give very inadequate volume.
IWR said:
Been using an HD2 for a good while and basically I would have to think very caerfully before upgrading. It does everything I need and does most things very well indeed. If you can find one at a good s/h price I'd say go for it.
Advantages:
Good screen for Internet browsing,etc.
Gorilla glass so reasonably damage-resistant.
One of the best phone cameras I've used, can be tweaked even further, see hacks.
GPS and magnetic compass.
Plays music even when in standby.
NOT WM7 so you don't have to encrypt the microSD card.
Stable. Runs for weeks without crashing.
Disadvantages:
A bit large. (I keep mine in a shirt pocket, which I find works well.)
Needs charging daily if you use it a lot. (Spare batts are cheap though)
Limited RAM, therefore don't open too many apps at once.
OS WM6.5, less easy to use than Android, though plenty free apps available.
Major annoyance:
Random dialling when on phone screen, due to static or a shirtsleeve-touch. Wish I could find a way to remove that speed-dial background list which seems to be the culprit. Basically, NEVER leave the thing on the phone screen unless you are in a call.
Minor annoyance:
Badly placed volume keys. Hard to pick up without accidentally changing volume.
Not all headphones are suitable for music use. Some give very inadequate volume.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the informative response. Did you happen to have the digitizer issue that Jian had, or the overheating issue?
When you said that some headphones were unsuitable for music, was it specifically headphones with a Mic or Volume control on them? Trying to use a pair of Monster Jamz (which had volume/playback control for iPod/iPhone) didn't really give me a "full" sound without pressing on the play/pause button.
Also, all of these things were on WinMo 6.5, correct? Have you tried a WP7 or Android rom?
Had my phone since release date.yep your right, the phone is a Beast!
I cannot recall how many roms, builds, os's whatever you want to call em i have installed in the past year fews and everytime i love my phone even more .i think the only time i will get another phone is if the hardware specs outweigh the hd2 that it cannot cope will a new os ie window8 apparently
Listen, There are thousands of reviews on this website but dont read into it that much. Its all about trial and error and how you go about your own business - by all means read the threads too as common faults do occur- but every phone user is different and alot of factors have an impact ie have you got the right radio installed ,have you got the right SD card? Have you formatted the card properly ie task 29 before installing a new rom have you installed the right files etc all these issues people face are repairable but ultimately,so you will have a different experience than others.
The old windows6.5 rom were absolutely great and fun to customize
Android builds that i tried were up to scratch for everyday use , stability wise, battery life fantastic internt browsing email etc great no lag freezing
Windows7 some battery issues with certain roms and overheating i did come across at first , again if you experience this "trial and error" try another rom, im currently using pdamatejam now for 2months no looking back.. For everyday use, stability excellant, battery life over 24hours etc no lag freezing
Im dualbooting so chopping and changing inbetween android and windows 7 a feature many phones cannot offer.i love the hd2
Note..Newly release build/roms will be unstable when first , thats expected but overtime they become more stable as through feedback from this forum the little errors problems are reticfied -i always wait until these problems are eradicated but everyones different as lot ofpeople like to try new releases roms and leave feedback which is what the dev are asking for-
Another note the SD card ..this is a MASSIVE factor imho which causes many people problems ie boot loops freezing crashing.... I have been through 5different sd card from the start of the hd2 when you stop having problems you know you got the right one, but stay away from fakes Period.
Good luck
Thanks a ton guys
I've another question; Should I get the TMOUS phone for it's bigger ROM capacity? If so, how can I even tell if it has more ROM than the regular? All T-Mobile phones are like that?
DillonBladez said:
Thanks a ton guys
I've another question; Should I get the TMOUS phone for it's bigger ROM capacity? If so, how can I even tell if it has more ROM than the regular? All T-Mobile phones are like that?
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Yes all tmous have 1gb internal rom. You can tell a tmous by the red+green send+end keys, and it says T-Mobile beneath the ear piece.(and its fractionally longer) They're slightly easier to brick than regular hd2, but only in one particular way (wrong radio) so as long as you know the danger it needn't be a worry.
As for jellybean, in the days since your first post there are now several jb roms that are shaping up to be as good as any previous versions. I'm running jb with my processor UNDER clocked, and barely a hint of lag anywhere.
Thanks for the insight!
This phone really seems to live up to it's name.
What do you guys think of WP8 on the device? I think I read somewhere that it's using a different kernel or something from WP7, and that it's a pain in the ass to get it to work with new hardware that it wasn't meant for.
i got the hd2 when it came out and i'm still using it today. It's just that good.
Also, I forgot to ask; Is there a notification LED on the HD2? It seems so small that it's not really mentioned anywhere, for any phone, but it's quite useful to me.
DillonBladez said:
Also, I forgot to ask; Is there a notification LED on the HD2? It seems so small that it's not really mentioned anywhere, for any phone, but it's quite useful to me.
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Yes there is. It is on the left side of the speaker and it only has two colors: amber/orange and green.
I personally think the development effort would best be utilised on last of WP7 to make functionality superb & a few innovations to make W8 users envious.
Chasing latest OS's does not always result in real practical usable device.
friend its perefect the phone big variety of roms!
Sorry for not replying for a while,
Does the hd2 encounter some of the force close mishaps caused by lack of ram? Its only got 512mb, and I find my current phone with the same amount of ram to be doing this often. Would the wp7 Roms perform better in the stability aspects?
Thanks a ton,
Dillon.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I still have an HD2 sitting w/a couple extra cells I'm not using, it's still brand new, it was never used just the box opened. I'm kinda slow answering emails but give me a shout.
I'm running the latest Jelly Bean build without overclocking and I think it runs rather smooth. At times it can pause for just a slit second but this isn't very often.
If your looking for a great phone that can do just about anything (but Sense 4) then this is the phone. Because this phone has a very high developer following it
often has new ROMs being released. This is one of the biggest reasons why I got the phone myself. I came from the HTC Touch Pro 2 so I picked this phone up
back in late 2009 early 2010. There are some great deals for the phone now that its several years old but I really feel this phone is going to last a long time to come.
htccraze said:
I'm running the latest Jelly Bean build without overclocking and I think it runs rather smooth. At times it can pause for just a slit second but this isn't very often.
If your looking for a great phone that can do just about anything (but Sense 4) then this is the phone. Because this phone has a very high developer following it
often has new ROMs being released. This is one of the biggest reasons why I got the phone myself. I came from the HTC Touch Pro 2 so I picked this phone up
back in late 2009 early 2010. There are some great deals for the phone now that its several years old but I really feel this phone is going to last a long time to come.
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Click to collapse
I'm looking to use the phone mainly for text messaging, perhaps some facebook and light gaming.
Right now I'm choosing between the HD2 and the S II.
They both seem to have a bit of developer backing (obviously the HD2 has more), but is the S II worth the extra $150ish over the HD2?
Hmm thats hard to say. Both are great phones but personally I like HTC phones a little more. Mainly because I like HTC Sense. Samsung though is my second favorite so you really can't go wrong with either. I really like the Galaxy S II and the screen is a lot better then the HD2 as well as the camera. Some of its other specs are a little better then the HD2 but the big selling point is choice. With the HD2 if you start to get tired of Windows Mobile 6.5 (stock) you can switch to Android. Then if you ever get tired of that you can go to Windows Phone 7.5. I've bought several phones since I bought my HD2 some even that were dual core but I've always seem to end up going back to the HD2 so that should say something. I would check out some videos on youtube about both phones you're looking at to try and get an idea of what you feel you'll like best.