Database Users

Just had a live demo of the HTC Magic and now considering getting one!

Hi all,
I am at the end of my contract term with T-mobile and was potentially waiting for the Compact V (HTC Dimond 2) or the N97 or Iphone 3GS, currently have a Nokia 5800 which was bought on PAYG.
I went past a vodafone shop in town and played with the HTC Magic they had on display and it was really fantastic! I was really suprised how smooth the WEB experience was, the screen was super sharp. I tried typing a text message and the keyboard seemed alot better to use then the Nokia 5800 with a built in spell checked (5800 doesnt have that).
So what do you guys think of the HTC Magic? I can get the phone free on a £30 a month tarrif with 600min and unlimited text which is a pretty good deal.
My main usage for my phone is Music (a2dp) at the Gym and WEB browsing and email. Oh and also as an alarm clock to wake me up (which is actually VERY important!).
I really like the way that Nokia have the today screen which shows Calendar appointments but i dont think this is possible on the HTC Magic right?
Any comments or recommendation would be greatly appreciated

If you use Gmail as your main email account, then the email experience on Android is as good as it gets. If you use something else, then the email experience on Android is pretty second rate. Not horrible, but definitely not among the best experiences out there.
The Web Browser is great, on par with iPhone and Palm Pre. I've got no complaints, just don't expect to watch videos other than YouTube because the browser doesn't support Flash yet.
The music player is pretty bare-bones but I don't have any complaints about it. It obviously doesn't have robust desktop syncing software like iTunes or Zune Marketplace, but if you're just listening to albums and simple playlists then it gets the job done just fine. Just keep in mind that you're going to have to supply your own storage for music. I got a 16gb card for about US$50. Vodaphone may include a memory card with their version, I'm not sure, I'm using the unlocked Google version in the US.
The A2DP compatibility, in my experience, has been really great with a newer set of headphones. When I tried to pair it to an older set (about 3 years old) I had a really bad experience, it was difficult to pair and playing music through them rendered the rest of the system nearly unusably slow. I'm honestly not sure what the difference is between them, so your mileage may vary on A2DP depending on the headphones you're using.
The virtual keyboard is pretty great, I've seen a few reviewers who think it's better than the iPhone, so it's definitely about as good as it's going to get right now. I think the screen is a tad too small to use the vertical keyboard comfortably, but the horizontal keyboard (available almost everywhere except the home screen) is fantastic. It's also super-easy to teach the automatic spell checker new words, just type it in and long-press on the word until the "Saved" message pops up.
Just keep in mind that getting an Android phone without a physical keyboard means certain applications aren't going to work, including a lot of games and game system emulators that require more buttons.
The alarm clock is fine, the speaker is nice and loud and you can set multiple alarm times.
There is an included widget for the Home screen that shows your next calendar appointment, but as far as I know there isn't one that shows multiple upcoming appointments yet. There may be something in the Market, I haven't checked.
Overall, I love mine. I don't have considerable experience with any of the other devices you're considering, but I think you really can't go wrong with the Magic, especially if you're a Gmail user.

thanks for the info, i have a few more questions.
Does the alarm vibrate? As in can you make the device vibrate while playing the alarm?
With Nokia devices, you can set the alarm and turn the phone off and the phone will come on automatically, can this be done with the HTC Magic?
The next question is quite important. I am a GMAIL user however, at present, i sync my 5800 with two Outlook accounts. My home outlook is used to store my contacts (i guess the device will sync this with google contacts) and my work outlook is used to sync work calender appointments. I have read about some issues with syncing outlooking, so can my work laptop be synced automatically with google calendar and thus getting the appointments on my Magic?
Are there any turn by turn navigation softwares out for the HTC Magic? I guess this isnt a deal breaker but would be nice to have some navigation
Oh, one last thing, my Nokia 5800's browser vibrates slightly everytime a URL is clicked, can this featuure be present on the HTC Magic?
Thanks
-c

You can easily sync your Outlook Calendar to Google Calendar (2-way if you want) with the Google Calendar Sync tool.

chefgon said:
There is an included widget for the Home screen that shows your next calendar appointment, but as far as I know there isn't one that shows multiple upcoming appointments yet. There may be something in the Market, I haven't checked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I have checked, and there is only QuickCalendar that, while nice, is far from being a complete solution.
The lack of possibility to show upcoming appointments on Home screen is what still keep me away from Magic, otherwise a great device.
Sad thing is that I read quite a few people, most coming from Windows Mobile, missing this very same feature.
It should be implemented by default, but nonetheless I would pay to have it and get a Magic.

ceanth said:
thanks for the info, i have a few more questions.
Does the alarm vibrate? As in can you make the device vibrate while playing the alarm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can make it vibrate with the alarm if you want to.
With Nokia devices, you can set the alarm and turn the phone off and the phone will come on automatically, can this be done with the HTC Magic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It goes off when the phone is on silent. Not sure about turned off though.
Are there any turn by turn navigation softwares out for the HTC Magic? I guess this isnt a deal breaker but would be nice to have some navigation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there are free ones in the Market. Try AndNav (and AndNav2) and Nav4All.
Oh, one last thing, my Nokia 5800's browser vibrates slightly everytime a URL is clicked, can this featuure be present on the HTC Magic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. The browser has a lot of settings but that isn't one of them!

yes it has widgets for weather calender stock etc that you can download from the android market and put on your homescreen...but if you want to get the best out of your magic..root and put the superhero rom on it..it has a flash player, multitouch (yes pinch zooming like the iphone), custom htc widgets that look brilliant, great music player (alot better than the default android one and much more

Are you still considering this phone ?
You can get, I think, a cheaper offer if you get it online.
Also note that this phone has only 192Mb of RAM compared to unbranded HTC Magic that has 288Mb of it!
This could severly impact the Sense UI if it ever comes out for this phone.
Non-Sense UI ROMs run very nice, though...
You can have the alarm vibrate.
But it looks like it doesn't work when the phone is off, which is a real shame!
Aniello

ceanth said:
My main usage for my phone is Music (a2dp) at the Gym and WEB browsing and email. Oh and also as an alarm clock to wake me up (which is actually VERY important!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be aware that Vodafone currently has a 500Mb Fair Use Policy on their 'unlimited' internet package, which makes using it for streaming music somewhat impractical

wishlist for this phone...

i love this new phone and new os but some things are really annoying and i hope they will be fixed in a future software update
no custom ringtones and no seprate volume control for ringtones this really sucks cause if i turn down the game or music volume it turns down the volume for everything.
playing a game like need for speed and hitting that stupid search button will kick u out of a game ur playing.
setting wallpaers u cant set a full wallpaper u always got to crop the image first i hate this.
no turn by turn directions for maps.
the dialpad and message theme kind of sucks i hope this can be changed
i would like to be able to set a wallpaper for the main screen just not the lockscreen
headphone volume output need to be way louder
the phone tile when u miss a call or get a message would be cool if it would show u who u missed a call from and if u got a text message it would show who text u and half of the message or something like that kind of like what the me tile does when u post something new
putting contact tiles if it would show messages and misssed calls alerts on there tiles that would be great
the top menu bar should always show battery lift signal if u get a txt message etc.
improvment on loading time for games etc..
cant think of anything else i want changed right now
other then that i love this new os i been using iphone since the 2g iphone and this is just way diffrent i also use a android device

I'd like more options within text messaging. I'd like the ability to initiate a call from a text message, and the ability to add a contact from a text message.

I've been a Windows mobile user for quite a while, and made a switch to Android, now to Windows Phone 7, it's great, but I agree with everything you posted, but adding a file explorer it a must. The ability to select or hide different photos that show on the picture tile, an option to hide/show the keyboard while typing (so you can see the whole screen), and the ability to turn on/off wifi, Bluetooth from the main screen instead of digging into the settings each time. Plus a few more settings, like wifi rules, (turning off Wifi automatically after unused, if you like). It would also be nice to be able to remove that little white arrow in the upper right corner of the main screen, it takes up so much real estate on the main screen. Landscape mode on more screens would be nice too.
Oh, and the option to remove an account, I already have a Windows Live account that I don't use stuck on the phone. I don't see a way to remove it, and cant' change the email address or log in id info, only the password.
I'm sure updates will be rolling out to resolve some issues, or possibly apps.....??

surround
you can just add a second windows live acccount and disable the first one by unchecking everything effectively disabling it. I wish you could delete the main one too. However, I posted this somewhere else, the phone got corrupted and after i did a hard reset and connected to my computer, the Zune software restored all my programs (in the backgrouind without my knowledge) and all was good again. There are some bad reveiws of this phone on youtube, but some of the reviewers got it all wrong. For instance the screen resolution for movies is EXCELLENT. It takes the zune software a long time to convery and copy some movies but worth the wait. There are some bugs and some things could use improving. I would say the one thing that bugs me the most is when you zoom in on a net page...the text could be sharper. But I can live with it. All in all the phone is a pleasure and I look forward to the updates.

Thing i dont like about video watching is Netflix over 3G is good quality.. but youtube is crap over 3G. There NEEDS to be a setting for this. Its just a hub extension, but hopefully something gets fixed.

A lot of your suggestions are for the OS, not the physical phone.
It would be nice if the OS could utilize the awesome speaker on the phone a bit more. For example, speaker phone is pretty weak. I also dislike how if the speaker is not slid out, everything is muffled. I guess they expected the sound to reflect better, but it just doesn't.
That's really all I can think of besides the lack of a microSD slot that's visible anyway. I'd take my phone apart to see if there is one, but I don't have a torx bit small enough.
Besides the OS limitations, I think the phone is awesome.

I want to be able to set the notification LED to blink for new texts, emails, etc

dccorona said:
I want to be able to set the notification LED to blink for new texts, emails, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this. One of the things I miss most from my Tilt2 and all other winmo phones have been the blinking notification light.

Need more from microsoft
I want to be able to block unwanted call, more options in the settings menu and better functions for the camera.

definitely need to be able to explore the phone. more wifi options would be nice as well. also the speaker seems to be a bit lacking. ( sure thumps when i hook it up over the cd deck in my truck though!) I had the htc tp2 prior to this and i became completely addicted to the wifi router utility, so for me personally that would be the most important thing. if anyone knows about anything like this under development let me know. i'm always willing to donate to a good cause.

One of my teens got his old LG upgraded to a Surround for Christmas yesterday. I'd been thinking when my Tilt 2's upgrade time comes this summer I'd do the same -- but not after spending a frustrating afternoon helping him with it!
We played with it in the store several weeks ago. I think the slideout speaker is a gimmick but he's 16 and thinks it's great. We both agree the WinMo 7 tile thing is a bit silly but is FAST, and he loves the HTC Hub UI. The hardware is very good (though I'm not sure I agree with no micro-SD slot).
But using Zune software to sync is a PAIN!!! My Vista laptop took 1/2 hour to download the device drivers, then insisted on a reboot before downloading the Zune software (another 20 minutes). Then the Zune install insisted on checking for an upgrade (yet another 20 minutes) before going thru a rather painful 10 minute install.
Once installed, it was very unhappy when I changed the monitored folders, and took several attempts before it would sync with the folders I'd copied off the kiddos old micro-SD card. Of course what I was most amazed about was the lack of drag-n-drop support in Windows! What kind of lame-brained, Steve Jobs-style of engineer would nix that? (I did find the reg hack to renable that just a few minutes ago, but haven't verified it yet.)
Lots and lots of lockdowns in WinMo 7 that I don't like, as have been mentioned by previous posters. This whole thing reminds me why I disklike the iPhone's OS so much!
Maybe my next phone is gonna have to be an Andriod phone instead...

I kind of agree with all of you. Microsoft might have come into this having windows phone shut a little too tight.
However, that only means that there is more room for improvement.
Multitasking would be nice, especially ones that resonate when you dont have to see them, like streaming music. or at least faster app switching.
File Explorer is kind of important and Bluetooth file sharing too.
Tethering is not that important, but on my fuze I used to use it whenever I went on trips and the hotel tries to give me wifi for $30 a day...but eh... the screen is so much bigger, and it goes a lot faster too that I dont see any need for it, (besides plugins like java, or flash)
Oh and a definite must is the camera settings STAYING THE WAY I LEFT THEM. Whenever you exit the camera, it goes back to default. and on my phone at least, video recording goes to vga, so i would have to set it to 720p if i wanted it.

would love the call blocking and please a flash player!!!!!!!

Improvements
After Multi-tasking and copy and paste are added in the soon to be released update, I would like to see a few more additions. Flash player, Pandora, LED indicator light options for notifications, ringtone options beyond what they have allowed so far, the ability to send videos as MMS messages and a battery % remaining would make me ecstatic.

heh.... guys you will never see multitask like it was on 6.5 ..
as multitask they say - future CLOUD infrastructure update .. which will allow run signed apps on cloud infrastructure .. that means = you will be allowed to create ICQ client .. part of client will run on MS servers . that part will collect ALL YOUR ICQ EVENTS .. and then send to phone via PUSH notify .. on phone side nothing will be rly changed ..coz multitask goal does not collaborate with main WP7 idea - ISOLATED ENVIROMENT FOR APPS

Keyboard directional arrows
Is anyone missing keyboard up, down , left and right arrows? I sure miss them. Lifting your fingers off the keyboard to position the cursor on a particular spot in the sentence is really time consuming and not very precise.

Correct, I will really appreciate arrows in the keyboard
Sent from my Samsung Focus using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

My only feature request for all WP7 devices is gapless music playback. I really, really hate the two seconds silence between tracks, especially on electronic music or The Dark Side of The Moon (man, I love that album.)

Wi-Fi Router
The most important thing that is missing on Windows Phone 7, no doubt, is the wi-fi router function. Today I have to walk with two phones, because of the missing of wi-fi router.
Another important things are:
- File Manager
- Send photos/files via bluetooth
- Outlook Notes synchronization
- Office docs synchronized on the Windows Live could be open on a computer and vice-versa
Main software that I wish to be developed for WP7:
- Log Me in
- SQL Server Client
- Olive Tree Bible
- Google Maps (Oh Google Maps, you don't know how I miss you and your amazing Latitude)
- Auto CAD WS
- Skype
- MSN Messenger
I agree with everything else you published.

MMS Settings
Be able to customize the MMS Settings, some carriers have differnt tier's of internet with different APN's and it is a Necessity to have that option!!!!

[Q] Thinking of getting a focus

Hi, I wanted to know what you guys think of the Focus and is it a worth getting?
What are the ups and downs of windows phone 7?
Is there any major hardware issues that I should consider before getting one?
Thanks in advance

I bought the phone outright from Rogers for $630.00 and I don't have a single regret! I think WP7 is gonna be a VERY strong competitor against ios and android by the end of the year. Microsoft needs a few updates to give the devs more control to create better apps, it needs some more user customization, and as most complaints would be it doesn't have copy & paste (which I dont care about at all)
All these are coming in updates soon and once the ball really starts rollin' I think WP7 will be a major success.
Is it worth buying the Focus? ABSOLUTELY! I love the phone, its so fast, fluid, and feels great.
I have new hopes for MS now, and I think Im currently leaning towards WP7 more than android and ios.
just my opinion,,,,hope this helps.

Sweet! You won't regret it IMHO.
My top 5 tips for the Focus (extra important for someone like me outside US warranty cover):
1. TAKE TREMENDOUS care clipping on/off the rear plate-phone back. It is plastic, with a couple of tiny plastic clips holding it in. Break these.....replacment back plate or blu-tac required!
2. Think long and hard over a case (I got a body glove - review on this site). This can be a slippery little sucker once the back plate gets some natural body oils / sweat / humidity etc on it. It has such a small form factor – cases do not weight it down too much in my opinion.
3. Add expandable memory at your own risk until MS offer a certified list / approved card process. If you do – load up the phone above the 8GB limit ASAP to test stability over a week or so. If you add heaps of apps and custom info and then need to hard reset, you've wasted a decent amount of time.
4. Use the Samsung Profile app (marketplace) to move the MMS capability over to your preferred carrier if outside US (eg Telstra Australia = worked for me).
5. Remove the AT&T bloat/software if outside US App support.
From one very happy Aussie Focus owner.

Thanks guys I'm see about getting one in a few weeks.
So no custom roms for this device yet, no ones working with this or any of the WP7 phones?

Think again
Noz85 said:
Thanks guys I'm see about getting one in a few weeks.
So no custom roms for this device yet, no ones working with this or any of the WP7 phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are, like me, a former WM 6.5 guy who liked to flash custom ROMs and are thinking about a WP7 device, you are on the wrong path my friend. Custom ROMs on a WP7 device? Have you not read anything in these threads? I went to the Focus from a FUZE with a 6.5.5 Energy ROM, and tweaked and upgraded constantly, including my apps. I did this becuase I wanted to and thought I needed to. It was insanity and I realize this now that I have the Focus. I no longer need to do that, and no longer want to do that. My apps update on their own, the OS will too, and I would like to see some OS updates but don't need them. If what you want to do is tweak, customize and burn new custom ROMs, look elsewhere than WP7.

While we're on topic, how is the call quality?

Call quality
mcorrie1121 said:
While we're on topic, how is the call quality?
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Click to collapse
The best of any smartphone I've ever used - Kaiser, Rhodium, iPhone 1st gen and 3GS. It REALLY sounds good. MUCH better radio than any of the other mentioned phones, as well, in terms of reception and coverage on AT&T in my location.

wspaw said:
The best of any smartphone I've ever used - Kaiser, Rhodium, iPhone 1st gen and 3GS. It REALLY sounds good. MUCH better radio than any of the other mentioned phones, as well, in terms of reception and coverage on AT&T in my location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
that I can definitely agree with! Excellent call quality!

Samsung Focus WP7 pros and cons
Check Youtube video: "The Dark Side of the Samsung Focus"
I am hearing some a mono tone noise in the background while using my Bluetooth headset, such as Jawbone Icon, Sound ID5 etc.
The App store is still at its infancy. The interface is sometimes sluggish and crash without response especially on 3rd party apps. There is no VOIP applications yet because MS hasn't released the API. The screen of the Focus is sometimes way too sensitive that I have to do a factory reset or complete shut down of the phone.
CONS:
- Bluetooth + 3G call interfere with WiFi signal.
- Camera Settings are Not Saved after usage. I have to re-set 720P for video everytime!
- No video upload to social network nor Youtube yet.
- No dedicate Youtube app beside the mobile web interface. I really like the latest Youtube app in Android where you can have full screen in landscape and a small video still running on top with comments and related links at the bottom.... too bad it's only limited to Froyo or above version.
- Bluetooth Remote Control Protocol (No track change, No Volume Control)
- No Hidden WiFi SSID
- No native multilingual input support such as Chinese text and voice input yet.
- Voice control sometimes forces you to quite to the home page and need to press and hold the Windows Button again.
- No HTML5, Text rendering engine is sometimes very slow which results in unreadable pixelated form when zoomed in.
- Lacking confirmation before shut down when press and hold the power/sleep button. Both iOS and Android prompt for shut down not WP7.
- Charging time is very long. Sometimes it takes 8 Hours to charge from 0 % to 100%.
- Volume Button sometimes gets stuck depending on the surrounding temperature such as too cold at around 56ºF.
- Capacitive Buttons at the bottom are sometimes too sensitive which causes quitting a game and need to be restarted all over again.
- No Multitask or limited multi-task yet.
- A lot of games need to start from the beginning instead of pausing the state when quitting the app accidentally.
- No free turn-by-turn Navigation system.
- No Skype, fring, not even official Windows Live Messenger client yet (Zune HD has Windows Live Messenger already).
- No Front Facing Camera for video call
- Cannot change theme by default (without jailbreaking)
- Only Vibrate twice then ringtone instead of vibrating and ringtone simultaneously.
- No Threaded email
- Hard to manage tons of apps if MS still keep the same Metro UI without implementing some kind of folder system.
- Apps only sorted in Alphabetic order
- Text Message does not show nor highlight the phone number of the contact. I often get confused on which number did the caller call from, Google Voice, Mobile, Office, or Home??
- Cannot SMS to pager, home, and other category number except Mobile. Unless you type it in manually or go through the contact list.
- SMS doesn't use two colors or styles to distinguish you or the person you are trying to SMS to.
Pros:
- (Just Discovered) Able to record HD video with voice during any phone calls! No other Operating System can do that well and smooth. iPhone blocks the video capture during phone call, Symbian doesn't allow voice but video, Android camera is totally disabled, while the iOS allows you to take picture at least but not video.
- Thinnest and lightest WP7 phone
- 4" Super AMOLED screen
- Nice and loud speaker
- Chrome bezel and back cover.
- in-line and in-ear headphone with mic and volume control included
- Pin Apps, Songs, Website, People, etc to Home screen
- Large icons for touch
- Fast loading for MS's native interface
- Great Start for version 1.0 of the WP7. There are plenty of improvement and I'm sure MS will tackle the above issues in future updates.

Nice review, squarejp - thanks for sharing that.
User experience on the Focus is somewhat varied, I would say. Some prefer the plain glass "feel" versus having a third party screen protector like Zagg's InvisibleShield (my preference) on it, for example.
My experience with the Focus is that is an awesome phone. WP7 has some challenges ahead but I am optimistic (even if naively so) that most, if not all, of the issues will get hashed out over time. I'm very pleased with this phone and can't wait to see what the future holds for it!

Thanks guys looks like a solid device. I wasn't really looking to mod it just figured I'd ask. I got the aria for Modding anyways.
sent from my HTC Intruder

squarejp:
Some of Your cons seem to be a matter of personal preference, not an actual limitation of the phone. two colour sms? c'mon, if you can't tell that the bubble on the right is you and the bubble on the left is your sms partner, then Metro is obviously lost on you.
The best thing about this phone is what JamesAllen has said. it just works, you don't have to dicker around with it (that is unless of course you're taking it from one network to another).
If you want something to enable you to use the features most people expect in a smartphone while being able to enjoy an unlimited data plan, this is definitely a great phone.

Check out the Real CONS on Youtube.
Search "The Dark Side of The Samsung Focus"
Bluetooth + 3G interfere with WiFi signal.

Highly recommend this device and OS.
Put my nightmare X10 right back in the box.

can I chime in
the ONE thing that drives me crazy about the phone is the small landscape keyboard. I can live with almost all of the other nuances. My captivate keyboard spread accross the bottom of the screen and was really easy to type on. the landscape keyboard on WP7 is just too small.

[Q] What do these do now?

Now that all the services are shut down, what exactly does this device do?

rosser725 said:
Now that all the services are shut down, what exactly does this device do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This device serves are a cellphone, MP3 Player, Web Browser, E-mail Client, and an Alarm Clock. For me at least..

ditto
Same here - I would say my favorite software feature is the email client. You can set up multiple email accounts, so I have my personal gmail account and my work email account, it's super convenient for me. The slide out keyboard is great - it did take me a couple days used to it (never typed on anything smaller than a netbook before), but now I really like it & I'm able to type emails pretty quickly.
On a recent trip I used the camera a lot. The pictures are decent - on par with photos I've seen from iPhones - and much better than most cell phone cameras. But, I will say this, it's not replacing my Sony Cybershot digital camera or my Flip Video camera. Phone makers love to tout how many megapixels they have, but until you can put a better lens on there, your photo quality is severely limited. As for video, you are limited to recording very short clips, I think it was 1 minute? I was annoyed when I tried to record my brother playing a song on his guitar and I had to record it as 4 separate clips.
I use the web browser to check the weather in the morning. I did a Bing search for "weather 90210" (replace 90210 with your real zip code), then bookmarked it and I usually check that every day before I hop on my bike. In case you don't know, the result returned from that search is a lot like when you search it in Google, it tells you the current weather and the forecast for the next few days (Temps, wind, rain/sun, etc) in a pretty compact format.
I really like twitter on the KIN web browser. Most web pages I have tried work fine on the KIN browser, but I don't like having to scroll so much - you can only fit so much readable text on small screen. So aside from weather & twitter updates, the browser is mainly a novelty for me - hence why I am so happy with this phone and why I didn't "need" a Droid/iPhone w/ a Data Plan.
Which brings me to the best feature, in my opinion, which is what this phone doesn't do: it doesn't require you to pay for a Verizon data plan. For me, this is saving me $60/month (2 lines). The high cost of data plans has been the only thing keeping my from getting a smart phone over the past 3 years, so when I found the re-released KIN w/o a data plan, I was sold instantly.
Hope that helps

I have to agree with you there. I am glad that with getting 2 of these I dont have to buy those stupid Data plans

As for video, you are limited to recording very short clips
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realize that you can only record one minute in email quality to keep the file under the size limit? You need to record in HD to record longer and I believe you will find the quality of video much higher.

Thanks for the tip! I hadn't played with the video much, and just thought that was a built in limit. I will need to check the menu and switch to HD.

On the fence, can you help me decide

I don't know about ideal but I have my own personal requirements.
1. Notifications for Text messages, Phone Calls and Emails. I don't use Facebook or Twitter anymore but I do understand lots of people still do so those would be important as well.
2. Ability to dismiss incoming calls or answer. I hate those bluetooth headsets so talking directly into the watch would be better for ME. Don't know how well that would work but if the call is important enough or private than have the ability to swap over to just the phone.
3. The screen is so small games really won't matter to me but the ability to go to Playstore and download various Apps would be ideal. Don't really know what I would really need on my watch as any Apps I use regularly I would rather see on my 5" screen.
4. Calendar with Notifications would be great as I could set dates and times on my phone and be alerted thru the watch.
5. Not much else is really required besides changing watch faces to different designs and the occasional trip to the internet on the fly with readable screens. Sometimes I need to google something and it would be great to be able to do this at random.
Currently I am looking at the SmartQ Z Watch and the ZGPAX S5 Smartwatch

I have had this watch for 2 days, comments as below:-
1. This works perfectly.
2. I haven't figured out how you can talk directly into the watch. I do not think this is possible yet although you can plug in a headset and has a built in microphone. With the updates coming in weekly I assume this might be possible through an update.
3. Playstore is not pre-installed. Anyways I do not think most of the apps would work in Playstore since they are not tailored for the screen size.
4. No problem with this either.
5. No inbuilt web browser but I assume you can install one, some of the custom roms has this I have read.

coolface said:
I have had this watch for 2 days, comments as below:-
1. This works perfectly.
2. I haven't figured out how you can talk directly into the watch. I do not think this is possible yet although you can plug in a headset and has a built in microphone. With the updates coming in weekly I assume this might be possible through an update.
3. Playstore is not pre-installed. Anyways I do not think most of the apps would work in Playstore since they are not tailored for the screen size.
4. No problem with this either.
5. No inbuilt web browser but I assume you can install one, some of the custom roms has this I have read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What watch do you have???

All-Or-Nothing said:
I don't know about ideal but I have my own personal requirements.
1. Notifications for Text messages, Phone Calls and Emails. I don't use Facebook or Twitter anymore but I do understand lots of people still do so those would be important as well.
2. Ability to dismiss incoming calls or answer. I hate those bluetooth headsets so talking directly into the watch would be better for ME. Don't know how well that would work but if the call is important enough or private than have the ability to swap over to just the phone.
3. The screen is so small games really won't matter to me but the ability to go to Playstore and download various Apps would be ideal. Don't really know what I would really need on my watch as any Apps I use regularly I would rather see on my 5" screen.
4. Calendar with Notifications would be great as I could set dates and times on my phone and be alerted thru the watch.
5. Not much else is really required besides changing watch faces to different designs and the occasional trip to the internet on the fly with readable screens. Sometimes I need to google something and it would be great to be able to do this at random.
Currently I am looking at the SmartQ Z Watch and the ZGPAX S5 Smartwatch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have ZGPAX - they haven't released software for the notifications and call handling options, like the Galaxy Gear has... but it's a great device for sure!

All-Or-Nothing said:
I don't know about ideal but I have my own personal requirements.
1. Notifications for Text messages, Phone Calls and Emails. I don't use Facebook or Twitter anymore but I do understand lots of people still do so those would be important as well.
2. Ability to dismiss incoming calls or answer. I hate those bluetooth headsets so talking directly into the watch would be better for ME. Don't know how well that would work but if the call is important enough or private than have the ability to swap over to just the phone.
3. The screen is so small games really won't matter to me but the ability to go to Playstore and download various Apps would be ideal. Don't really know what I would really need on my watch as any Apps I use regularly I would rather see on my 5" screen.
4. Calendar with Notifications would be great as I could set dates and times on my phone and be alerted thru the watch.
5. Not much else is really required besides changing watch faces to different designs and the occasional trip to the internet on the fly with readable screens. Sometimes I need to google something and it would be great to be able to do this at random.
Currently I am looking at the SmartQ Z Watch and the ZGPAX S5 Smartwatch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have zgpax.
Mine came with playstore preinstalled. Can run most ICS compatible applications, oddly though launchers ie Nova Launcher do not work. There is no home button anyway. Switching between programs involves using the back button a lot and switching from the home screen/watch launcher. ADW launcher works but every time the phone is turned on the clock launcher starts instead. Don't know how to switch default.
Google calendar is preinstalled.
I use MySMS to mirror text messages from my main phone, and use a prepaid sim with cheap data just for notifications, ie gmail, ebay.
Do not get SmartQ Z watch if running apps is important to you. It runs a MIPS cpu instead of an ARM cpu, and most apps will not run on MIPS by default.
ZGPAX is not rooted by default but can be very easily.
No volume buttons, volume is best controlled by quick volume profiles from notification tray. Four profiles are set by default, general, silent, meeting (vibrate mode), and outdoor (loud mode).
Only buttons are power and back. Menu button is soft button in notification tray next to clock.
Wifi reception has been excellent for something of this size, though understandably a little slowish.

alcuin said:
Do not get SmartQ Z watch if running apps is important to you. It runs a MIPS cpu instead of an ARM cpu, and most apps will not run on MIPS by default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually on the smartq z watch most apps excluding a lot of games work just fine without MIP compatibility or MIPS conversion . some have screen issues but that problem lies with any smartwatch .
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app