First full review of Hero - Hero, G2 Touch General

On gizmodo.
"Tragically flawed" but "the Hero is still the best Android phone yet" so my pre-order still stands

It's making me having second thoughts though. I think I'm going to wait and see. If speed issue isn't there when only a limited number of widgets are used, then I think I'm ok with that.

With a bit of tweaks it will be lightning fast. And who cares of the camera?

Someone in the comments on the article says that a Class 6 micro SD card should speed it up. Guess what I just ordered from Amazon?

The review was pretty much one sided...everything kept coming back to the iphone for some reason
Even after reading through it I decided to go ahead and order my Hero...delivery is on thursday tho...have to wait TWO DAYS lol.

This is interesting from:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/ph...hero-617981/review?src=rss&attr=all&artc_pg=2
The only problem, and it's a big problem for now, is the whole system does lag quite comprehensively at times. It's at its worst when you take the phone out of the box for the first time, and although it does speed up to an acceptable level on the homescreen, certain aspects (such as updating Twitter or the weather) can cause the whole system to slow down to a complete stop at times.
It's a real shame that this is the case, and could be something to do with the fact there's only a 528MHz processor under the hood, which could be a little underpowered when you're multi-tasking the level offered by the HTC Hero.
However, before you write the phone off, there's more than a ray of hope. The last time we played with the HTC Hero, around a month ago, the problem was there but so much worse. This tells us two things: it's likely it will be fixed by the time the phone is released onto the market (or at least the first firmware update will go a long way to doing so) and HTC have had to rush this to market for some reason (perhaps to stave off the challenge of Samsung's first Android phone, the i7500?).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It probably is due to the fact that these are review handsets or something like that. The Hero rom runs fine on my G1 tbh, it's slow in some places but with a system that has twice the RAM and ROm I would expect that to stop tbh.

Gizmodo reviews you can ignore anyway .
... but still there are quite a few of mixed stories.
Basicly it seems the animation and core Android menu's are smooth and speedy and responsive.
but it seems they put the HTC Widgets on very low priority, as not to slow down the rest of the phone. So the widgets take their time updating their content, which seems more as a connection-speed thing.
I'm sure that if it's not speedy enough from launch, it will come in ROM fixes, either from HTC or from XDA . And if we somehow can get root on the phone, the usual tweaks such as compcache and/or swap will speed it up a bit.
The CPU is fast enough on those MS7xxx based devicse, it's the internal ROM-storage that's kinda slow. The same reason that file-caching tweaks and using SD cards for storage / OS parts work on both the Diamond and the G1 for example.
I'm just gonna form my own opinion on this device when I have it in my hands . But seeing as I'm more than happy with my tweaked Diamond - which is named quite slow in every review out there - I expect good things from the Hero.

Cnet absolutely HATES IT!
(Not.)
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49303060,00.htm

bigbamboo5 said:
(Not.)
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49303060,00.htm
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Thats more like it!

Slash Gear loves it.
http://www.slashgear.com/htc-hero-review-2149880/
Interesting what they comment on the lag other reviews are reporting:
We’ve actually been talking about this in the forums over at AndroidCommunity.com. The reason I didn’t mention lag is because I didn’t really experience any; there’s a slight slow-down in flicking away from a homescreen pane if the widget is updating (such as Peep getting the latest tweets) but it’s incredibly minor (IMO). There was never a lag or delay that I could legitimately say was annoying. The camera, too, seemed faster than some sites are reporting.
The speed you see in the demo videos is basically the speed the Hero ran at all of the time. I’ve talked with HTC about the differing experiences, and they’re just as confused as we are; they say all the review devices (which I’m taking to mean those in the UK and those shipped to the US for reviews there) are running the same production ROM. However there are obviously some differences in performance across the board, not to mention I know a few people have had glitchier devices than others.
In short, this could be a “good” Hero and there could be “bad” ones out there with other reviewers, we just don’t know. Given that Orange UK are apparently beginning sales of the smartphone today, I imagine we’ll soon hear whether those versions live up to expectations or not.
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stilghar said:
Slash Gear loves it.
http://www.slashgear.com/htc-hero-review-2149880/
Interesting what they comment on the lag other reviews are reporting:
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Look at the video "HTC Hero media widget and Flash-capable browser:" in that review.
Now I know what the other reviews are on about. It takes a fraction of a second for it to move between home screens. On default android this was fluid and you saw the "transition" of dragging the screen from one position to another, on the hero it looks more like Homescreen 1, Swipe, 0.2 second wait, Homescreen 2.
Not a problem at all, but most reviewers would criticise for this, especially the ones that always go back and compare to the "all mighty iPhone"

The Hero is far better than the iPhone - me thinks. But I dont want a war about it.
This is just my experience from using apple technology for 20 years

Engadget crushed the hero in their review
"HTC has an explosive entry in the smartphone category with what its done on the software side... now it just needs the hardware to match"
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/23/htc-hero-review/
if hero is so weak, what's there to say about mytouch (sapphire) (((
rachael?

hihik said:
Engadget crushed the hero in their review
"HTC has an explosive entry in the smartphone category with what its done on the software side... now it just needs the hardware to match"
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/23/htc-hero-review/
if hero is so weak, what's there to say about mytouch (sapphire) (((
rachael?
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Or the Diamond when it was released or even the TD2... really it's all subjective!!

http://phandroid.com/2009/07/23/htc-hero-review/

Related

Sense UI too much for Htc Hero?

according to this gizmodo android review, it seem's so...
http://gizmodo.com/5318860/htc-hero-review-ambitious-but-tragically-flawed
"Guts and Miscellany
Powering Hero is 528MHz processor virtually identical to one inside the Dream and Magic, and it has the same 288MB of RAM as the latter. Frankly, it's not enough. At least not with HTC's custom user interface, more than a couple of widgets and an application running. Killing all of the widgets—especially the Twitter one—does help. But moments where the phone does nothing for a second or three after you've tapped, flicked or swiped happens far too often. Which is to say, a lot, especially after it's been on for more than an hour. Fast, totally smooth transition animations are infrequent enough I'm pleasantly surprised when a desktop screen immediately and gracefully slides to the left or right without a hiccup. It's frustrating"
sounds like it doesn't that much better than hero on our g1's, which is sad for such a lovely gui.
tho I all I would really want from rosie/sense/touchflo is people/albums twitter and facebook integration as well as the twitter widget.
to really i'd love to have all the damned widgets, even the stock widget that no one here seem's to want, onyl if they could integrate it w/ google finance for the most real-time pricing available for free.
im running off on tangents tho..so i will stop..
Don't put to much stock in the engadget or gizmodo reviews. It's hard to get a earnest review of anything other than Iphones from either site. Some people in the gizmodo thread state that there is a clas4 card included with the kits, and swapping it out for a class6 makes the sluggishness go away. Apparently hero uses a swap file aswell. It would be interested to see them retest with a class6 card. Head off to some of the other sites and you will find reviews that explicitely say they DID NOT notice the sluggishness.
It's also noted that alot of the widgets only update when the phone wakes, some of that bogging could simply be the edge connections choking truing to update all the widgets, of which im sure they loaded every possible page full.
It would be very interesting to see if the class4 sd card really is the bottleneck. If it is, i would like these guys to eat crow for lunch. Even HTC is puzzled by the fact that some people report no issues, while the highest profile sites report its just abysmal. I'm getting one regardless, when the NA 3g band version is available, even if it was sluggish, one cyanogen and the gang get ahold of it, it's a wrap.
I believe Android itself is part of the bottleneck - the Dalvik VM makes everything unbearably slow. Hopefully HTC will make use of the NDK.
There are several comments from actual Hero users who say that a lot of the sluggish behaviour was gone when they didn't use the Class 4 MicroSD card and used Class 6 instead, which indicates a problem with the IO as Android uses the mem card for its swap file. That means its not the processing time when all these apps are running concurrently afterall. Food for thought..
I've read both the gizmodo and engadget reviews, as mentioned before, both sites do have a bias towards the iPhone, but I found that engadget's review of the hero to be quite objective in their testing. As for the gizmodo review, they seemed ready to hate it as soon as they didn't see an apple logo on it.
I think Hero is just poorly coded. Have you watched the logs on this thing? Providers in Providers, hundreds of BroadcastReceivers, its crazy. To do anything on the device 100 different apps wake up.
mpeezay said:
according to this gizmodo android review, it seem's so...
http://gizmodo.com/5318860/htc-hero-review-ambitious-but-tragically-flawed
"Guts and Miscellany
Powering Hero is 528MHz processor virtually identical to one inside the Dream and Magic, and it has the same 288MB of RAM as the latter. Frankly, it's not enough. At least not with HTC's custom user interface, more than a couple of widgets and an application running. Killing all of the widgets—especially the Twitter one—does help. But moments where the phone does nothing for a second or three after you've tapped, flicked or swiped happens far too often. Which is to say, a lot, especially after it's been on for more than an hour. Fast, totally smooth transition animations are infrequent enough I'm pleasantly surprised when a desktop screen immediately and gracefully slides to the left or right without a hiccup. It's frustrating"
sounds like it doesn't that much better than hero on our g1's, which is sad for such a lovely gui.
tho I all I would really want from rosie/sense/touchflo is people/albums twitter and facebook integration as well as the twitter widget.
to really i'd love to have all the damned widgets, even the stock widget that no one here seem's to want, onyl if they could integrate it w/ google finance for the most real-time pricing available for free.
im running off on tangents tho..so i will stop..
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My G1 running Hero is NOT slow at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxLZOhUA3R0
I don't know if you guys remember, but the original release of android was also plagued with sluggishness when it first came out. Browser scrolling was choppy, using browser and then going back home would cause a re-load (on a stock system). The hero is not much more different than then Dream in terms of hardware (the qualcomm processor uses the same ARM core, and I believe the only change between it and the Dream's is improvements in the radio), much more like the sapphire. I was too disapointed when I saw videos of the Hero device and saw slowdowns and sluggishness, and like Cyanogen pointed out, HTC basically built Touch-flo on top of running android processes without caring for either disabling or reusing them. The size of HTC's framework is about as big as the original Android system (considering how much of android they've taken off too).
I also have to wonder, though what it is people are perceiving as "speed". If, like Breakthecycle2, you're reffering to speed as just flicking the home screen from side to side without slowdown, then you're just considering the UI aspect of the whole system (and only the home app at that).
A system that runs lean, boots fast, keeps all systems shut until they're required, and is able to start them quickly on demand is really a fast system, and android sucks at that. Android is much like vista, it likes keeping the memory full and all services ready to make up for the shortcomings of running a VM, but the Dream is not a desktop computer, nor does it come equiped with 4 gb or ram where you can get away with doing just so.
I don't believe it's gonna change anymore either, programmers, companies, nobody really cares about optimizing runtimes anymore. We've been spoiled with increased capacities, speeds, etc that we're completely comforatble with wasting resources to use shortcut instead of solving challenges programatically (ie, loading up bitmaps instead of creating and using vectors, just because we have the storage for them and it's easier), and companies will settle with "good enough" or "fast enough" just to make a profit, after all, if it's selling, why spend money on improving it?

Software Update Fixes the HTC Hero's Only Real Proble, speed

http://gizmodo.com/5340981/software-update-fixes-the-htc-heros-only-real-problem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYV9NNoI8Hc
Well, this changes things. Right after it came out, Matt called the HTC Hero "tragically flawed." Why? Because the otherwise fantastic Sense UI was slooooow. HTC, presumably run by competent, rational human beings, has fixed this.
From the review in July:
The Hero is flawed, though, in ways that are truly depressing in light of its potential and how much it does get truly right: It's often sluggish, which absolutely destroys the user experience. It's a particularly unfortunate affliction as the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre emphasize speed, making the Hero feel that much slower.
This was all but a dealbreaker, this frustrating slowness. But! Paul at MoDaCo has a preview of HTC's forthcoming update, which was vaguely announced yesterday, without much mention of what it would actually do. Now we know: It's about speed. And as someone who's been using a Hero for a few weeks now, this video makes by fingers tingle, ever so slightly.
Best of all, this update, due in a few weeks, looks like it could be ready before the Hero even shows up on whatever US carrier it's destined for, by which I mean, Sprint. Now, excuse me while I go remove the asterisk from that "Best Android Phone Ever" title. [MoDaCo via Slashgear]
Can I get a 'Hell yeah!'?
awesome
Can't wait. Loving my hero so far, except for the lagginess.
Rebooting helps but that's just a bit too "windows mobile" for my taste
I come from an iphone and i really like the openness.
I've got an unbranded urban brown so i should be able to get the update when they release it.
One thing i've noticed from the video is that the clock widget thingie is no longer animated but is now just a static picture.
It's very un-HTC like to actually release an update so quickly and to actually *gasp* fix things
But OTOH, they really set out to prove something with this phone, they can't afford to screw the pooch on this one.
HTC guys, we deffinately know you read these boards and all i can say is ... if this proves to be true and you keep releasing updates on a regular schedule ... i think you will win a lot of customers and dominate the android market.
Take Care,
-Kevin
does the new update lets HERO play video files encoded at 3p FPS ??
and what about the keyboard messaging speed?? is it better now??
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
ghoonk said:
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
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The keyboard can get very slow in webpages I find.
I hope that this update also fixes the missing text messages issue, lots of angry peeps because I don't reply to them!
ghoonk said:
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
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actually i meant 30 fps...LOL i made a mistake by typing 3 only...lol 3fps is supported by even the most basic video phone!
thank God...
I really wanted to love the Hero (but the speed problem totally made me reconsider, having had a slow Diamond before) as the UI really is one of the best among the likes of the iPhone, and despite the fact that I am still using WinMo now I must admit that the iPhone UI is just a hell of a lot more out there. The Hero's UI is the first I see on any phone that really does match the iPhone's UI (if not exceed it).
If it actually speeds up so much with the update, it would be absolutely perfect, and I will buy one.
nin2thevoid said:
I really wanted to love the Hero (but the speed problem totally made me reconsider, having had a slow Diamond before) as the UI really is one of the best among the likes of the iPhone, and despite the fact that I am still using WinMo now I must admit that the iPhone UI is just a hell of a lot more out there. The Hero's UI is the first I see on any phone that really does match the iPhone's UI (if not exceed it).
If it actually speeds up so much with the update, it would be absolutely perfect, and I will buy one.
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Click to collapse
Agreed. I've just boxed/RMAd my Hero for return. I thoroughly enjoyed the time i spent with it but as it is now, its just not practical for me. Plus i dunno how HTC do their updates and if they truly fix anything useful or just random fixes no one cares about, which is why i wasn't willing to gamble.
If the update does improve things significantly then i'll come back or simply wait for the next iteration but in the meantime i'm returning to my trusty iPhone. Yes its UI is dated, yes it sucks at multitasking, yes the app store policy is draconian, yes battery life sucks. However the little things the iPhone does, it does well and is dependable for me.
I'm looking for a phone to buy in the next 2/3 months and if the hero gets as fast as we can see on the video, my choice is done. Otherwise I'll stick with my old phone waiting for a real Iphone competitor...
Speed the only problem?
I'd say that functional shortcomings are even worse. The speed-issue is mostly a feature of true multitasking. Don't expect good performance from a low-end CPU when it's trying to run all the fancy widget applications simultaneously. Optimisation is always appreciated though.
More important issues IMHO are:
Email not able to display messages with digital signatures. Never mind verification of the signature, but there's no good reason why the unencrypted message body can't be displayed. K9mail from the market handles it, as well as the mail-app in a stock android 1.5 dev.kit.
Email has no option to specify the path for IMAP folders. No folders other than the inbox can be read from servers which require the path to be specified.
The currently used 2.6.27.x kernel has serious issues with wi-fi (performance issues, temporary loss of connection). There are good reasons why the entire wi-fi stack was replaced shortly after (see kernel mailing-list) and we should hopefully soon see Android built with kernel 2.6.30 or later.
LEDs and trackball lights have stopped working on some units. It's been claimed that these problems are software related.
The music-player needs more consistent sorting of songs. Now it sorts songs alphabetically when browsing all tracks from an artist, while the default should be sort by album+disc_number+track_number. Similarly when you browse all albums the ordering of tracks within an album seems random. The natural order here would be by track-number.
Fade out-in between music tracks can be more smooth, as can the fade in/out of alarms and phone-calls.
Peep needs fixing so that it doesn't drain the battery when there's no twitter account configured. I don't know what it does, but it certainly can't be idle when it reduces the standby-time to 6-8 hours. Kill Peep, or give it a valid twitter user-name/password and the problem is gone.
The dialler and phone-book could do with some optimisation. This is the only place I've found where lagging actually causes a problem as it sometimes leads to calls being accidentally initiated.
These are just some of the problems I've found. I'm sure people with other priorities and who use the device differently have other issues.
I really would like that person to post a video showing the contacts app THEN we can know if performance issues have been really solved.
Hero lag can't be worse than what the Pre has in just about every program. Looking forward to playing with one in person so I can check it out for myself. Palm has done a terrible job of implementing a good idea.
Aridon said:
Hero lag can't be worse than what the Pre has in just about every program. Looking forward to playing with one in person so I can check it out for myself. Palm has done a terrible job of implementing a good idea.
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Click to collapse
Pre was very zippy/responsive when i played with it
Speaking of terrible jobs of implementing good ideas, how about the fact that despite creating a fancy new UI for Android, including an innovative widget idea, yet again HTC have given us an essentially useless music player. Why on earth didn't HTC learn from the Diamond's problems in order to implement a music player that did not skip during tracks. Unbelievable! I'm so furious about this. And before someone tells me that if I want a music player I should use a seperate player, if the phone cannot perform the most basic function of any music player, which is to play music uninterrupted, it should not be included at all; I am not an HTC tester.
I have a class 6 micro SD card coming soon, if this doesn't help, it's bye bye Hero and hello iphone. It may not multitask and have a bland UI and have a draconian app store (frankly, who cares!?), but what it can do, it does very well indeed.
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
What a bum deal.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up HTC customer.
simcarloc said:
Speaking of terrible jobs of implementing good ideas, how about the fact that despite creating a fancy new UI for Android, including an innovative widget idea, yet again HTC have given us an essentially useless music player. Why on earth didn't HTC learn from the Diamond's problems in order to implement a music player that did not skip during tracks. Unbelievable! I'm so furious about this. And before someone tells me that if I want a music player I should use a seperate player, if the phone cannot perform the most basic function of any music player, which is to play music uninterrupted, it should not be included at all; I am not an HTC tester.
I have a class 6 micro SD card coming soon, if this doesn't help, it's bye bye Hero and hello iphone. It may not multitask and have a bland UI and have a draconian app store (frankly, who cares!?), but what it can do, it does very well indeed.
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
What a bum deal.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up HTC customer.
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Click to collapse
My Hero never skips when playing music not that I do so that often. Its so much better than my Diamond was.
simcarloc said:
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
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Well that may not be entirely true.
The Jones - listen more often and you will experience it. Unless of course, it's a problem only affecting certain handsets, in which case there are serious inconsistencies in HTC's manufacturing at work here, I doubt it though.
What audio formats you are using? With mp3 and wma (some are high bitrate) I use both wired and ad2p heastets about 4 hours a day and never experienced stuttering. I have a brown one from mobiles.co.uk with vodafone.
Also, while listening to music usually a few applications such as browser or news readers are being used as well.
Interesting sproxy, mine is also from Mobiles.co.uk on Orange and I get no skipping here either, listened to music loads on the phone over the last couple of days. Mine is also one of the ones with no lag, or screen gap I wonder they had a newer "fixed" batch or something?

Thinking of returning my HD2

As stated in the thread title, I am seriously considering returning my HTC Touch HD2, because I find it almost completely unusable compared to the iphone that I owned previously.
Pros
- Amazing screen
- Everything else that has been highlighted in all the positive reviews that persuaded me to buy the device in the first place (spec, camera, connectivity etc.)
Cons:
- Touchscreen keyboard is unusable and not accurate, even after calibaration (compared to an iphone)
- Web browsing using Opera is frustrating due to the unreliable touchscreen - I find it impossible to click on links; particularly on sites such as this one (with small page numbers etc.) - even when I zoom right in I still can't click the link - there is a huge delay before anything happens, without any feedback to show the link has been clicked - this stuff just worked on the iphone, depsite the smaller screen
- Random app switching, erratic behaviour (screen moving on its own) and regular freezes in all modes/apps
For those who think I am some kind of Apple fan-boy, that couldn't be further from the truth - my iphone developed a dead strip of icons, which forced me to sell it for peanuts, so I vowed to never buy another! The truth of the matter is that the UI of the HD2 just isn't in the same league as the iphone - it's just a cheap imitation.
Maybe if it had Android instead of WM it would stand a chance, but as things currently stand, I find the HD2 completely unusable and will probably be returning it on Monday and getting an iphone, assuming I can persuade Mobile Phones Direct to adhere to the distance selling regulations that provide a 7 day cooling off period (according to their T&C's this only stands if the box is unopened, which is wrong)
Please note that I am posting this for the benefit of others, to provide my personal feedback after using the phone for the last few days. If anyone has any suggestions for how to rectify the problems noted above, I will happily try them.
Catman
I feel your pain...
Hi,
I know how you feel - I've only had it a day and i'm already getting that dreaded feeling! On the plus side I'm delighted to be away from that Stalin 'Jobsie' and his locked down iPhones - on the down side this HD2 is about as user friendly as the space shuttle compared to the jesus phone, and I sued to be so impressed with the iPaq from 6 years ago!!
I do think that I can live with it - just it's not going to be the long winded love affair type relationship - more the 'throwing at the wall' one minute, loving it the next!
Luckily, mines through o2 so i'm going to run with it for 10 days and see how we get along - if all else fails then there's always the 3GS to fall back onto. Although I wasn't for Android on this handset to begin with - from where i'm sitting now it does make more sense!
Good luck figuring it all out!
Look here :http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=583638
For some handy tweaks including, haptic feedback in Opera and the abiltiy to click links without zooming in!!!
But I do feel your pain, a little let down with the OS on this phone, everything else is excellent..... build quality, screen, asthetics, CPU, RAM, etc.. Just the OS is a pile of poo! lol
The truth of the matter is that the UI of the HD2 just isn't in the same league as the iphone - it's just a cheap imitation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot. You just proof yourself wrong ^^. Whether its better or worse is another question, but imitation? You mean the shortcuts on home screen? You're just *****in'. Pls close this thread we dont need that destructive posts.
Advice: Sell the HD2 and dont complain. I can click even the small ugly boxes in Windows Mobile itself. I dont know how long you've tried to click somethin', but if you really feel that it is impossible for you go back to resistive screen, on the Touch HD it wasnt that bad IMO.
NetDwarf said:
Thanks a lot. You just proof yourself wrong ^^. Whether its better or worse is another question, but imitation? You mean the shortcuts on home screen? You're just *****in'. Pls close this thread we dont need that destructive posts.
Advice: Sell the HD2 and dont complain. I can click even the small ugly boxes in Windows Mobile itself. I dont know how long you've tried to click somethin', but if you really feel that it is impossible for you go back to resistive screen, on the Touch HD it wasnt that bad IMO.
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Click to collapse
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion...even one sided twerps like you.
It's kinda strange for me to read your feedback, I had chance to play with the test version of the HD2 and things worked pretty well, most of your "cons" I could not find on my preliminary experience!?
Catman3146 said:
assuming I can persuade Mobile Phones Direct to adhere to the distance selling regulations that provide a 7 day cooling off period
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(hollow laugh)
Good luck with that.
I hear you man. I have the same considerations..
I don't have freezes or random app switching though. and I don't really care about the UI since I use spb mobile shell which runs excellent and so god damn fast on this thing.
but the screen is a problem when browsing. it's not accurate enough for my taste. and using the keyboard is also more cumbersome than on my Topaz...
it really is a beautiful and fast device. sometimes it feels like using a computer more than a phone and that's pretty cool too.
I'm still thinking...
Your poor experience seems to be the result of a faulty handset. For the first 4 days of receiving my HD2, the phone's touchscreen kept making its own decisions, even when left idling on the desk. The touchscreen registered wrong inputs and I had the same impressions of the phone as you have now. It was the final straw when the phone just kept registering the 2 option in Phone mode and refused to stop until I hit the soft reset button.
I took it down to the shop I bought the phone from, had it exchanged after explaining the situation (it did take a threat of wanting a full refund when they initially refused to classify the phone as faulty) and the replaced new handset is a complete different phone to the first one I had, the touchscreen does what suppose to do!
Before throwing all hopes away on the HD2, trying getting it replaced first. It is a genuinely good product, it's a shame that quality control has let some of us down.
Your experience with Opera should be resolved by Karlos G's link.
[EDIT] My phone was also purchased from Mobile Phones Direct. They are rather poor when it comes to refund and exchanges, trying to make up excuses as to why you cannot refund or exchange the phone (lies, lies and more lies... just don't go with the flow). State your case and don't let them push you around.
I guess your are one of the unlucky people to get a "monday"-device. mine has none of the problems you have. my screen is accurate, opera is sometimes picky when you don't zoom in, and I have never experienced any erratic behaviour. the only problem I can recall is the camera issue (pink teint).
I applied Karlo G's link but I still have problems clicking links when zoomed out. maybe I have to get more accurate I'm still getting used to a capacitive screen.
chronicle said:
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion...even one sided twerps like you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think NetDwarf has a point... an imitation? Hello? on the iphone you've got hundrets of icons and THAT'S IT!... but this beautiful Sense UI. an Imitation? omg
I agree about the keyboard. I don't understand why they couldn't just have made it the same as the one on the Hero, which is excellent.
Maybe in the next software update they will sort the problem. I have tried some other keyboards and they are even worse than the stock one IMHO, so I'm starting to think it's partly to do with the screen sensitivity. I have tried the sensitivity tweak .cab which purports to help the issue but still it frustrates me.
The word prediction algorithms on the iPhone are infinitely superior, and the screen sensitivity is balanced just right. I have both phones in front of me right now and so have a good balanced perspective on this issue.
Here's my opinion on what is better and what is worse of the two based on a year's ownership of an iPhone and a week's ownership of the HD2 (just based on my USAGE, not pure spec!)
iPhone 3G Pros
More balanced screen sensitivity compared to the HD2 - fewer mistakes with the keyboard or onscreen selections.
More efficient and reliable browsing experience
Transflective screen.
Built in podcatching client. I'm yet to find one to compare with iTunes on the iPhone, although Google Listen comes close on Android. Hopefully they will port it to Windows Mobile soon. iTunes finds even the most obscure Podcasts, most other podcatchers require going online to find feeds that are not well known as their database doesn't have the same span as Apple's iTunes store.
Comparatively small in the hand
Better loudspeaker - clear and resonant.
Better Facebook client (by a HUGE margin)
Better BBC iPlayer experience/general online multimedia experience. Many sites tailor their output to iPhone.
Easier to quickly send/reply to a text (I use iRealQuickSMS and I dont think anything similar is available on WinMo)
Built in App Store with 100s of thousands of apps at very reasonable prices (yes I know a lot of them are crap)
Better Youtube app with full sign-in option which includes subscriptions' newest videos
I prefer the iPhone email client.......the Windows one is horrible for HTML content (sorry guys)
Much better IM client in the form of Beejive than anything Windows Mobile currently has on offer. IM+ is slow and ugly.
More tightly knit development and modding scene (XDAs is split over multiple handsets)
iPhone 3G cons
Inconvenient for quickly adding music - iTunes can be a bit of a cludge
Conversion of Video content is almost always required and takes so long that I don't usually bother unless I'm going on a long journey.
Comparatively low screen resolution, screen isn't as bright and clear as the HD2
Limited bluetooth support (although I don't GENERALLY need bluetooth
No option to buy an extra battery so I often have to carry an external one with me.
Low RAM so things often slow down with heavy usage.
Processor not as powerful as that of the HD2 (although it does have hardware acceleration)
HD2 Pros
Gorgeous, huge screen
Multitasking (although I only use it for IM and the iPhone has push notifications which don't use anywhere near as much battery as having an App constantly running in the background and connected to the internet.)
1ghz processor and plenty of RAM means few slowdowns
Video playback without conversion (through Coreplayer)
Nicer weather integration than the iPhone
Better camera than iPhone 3G (but not 3Gs), dual flash.
Great built quality, slimmer than the iPhone.
More comprehensive browser, similar speed but greater screen real-estate and download support. More browser tweaks available.
Open operating system....supports third party skins such as Touchflo and PointUI
Better sound quality through the same Apple headset as the iPhone (in my opinion). Richer, warmer sound.
Easily customisable ringtones and message tones through the device itself, with no jailbreaking required.
Once unlocked, stays unlocked. No worries about device baseband update causing SIMlock.
Facebook and Youtube account/upload integration.
Expandable memory, easier to add files than the iPhone.
HD2 cons
Fiddly UI generally compared to iPhone.
Oversensitive keyboard. Poor prediction algorithms that seem to rely too heavily on getting the first letter right.
Tinny and poor quality speaker. Sounds like an old AM radio on full blast. Awkward positioning on the back.
Paltry 2g card included in box. iPhone comes preloaded with 8gb minimum
Battery charges a lot slower than iPhone
Poor App store - overpriced Apps, too few innovative ones....most of the best ones such as Coreplayer just aren't there. This is not the HD2s fault, it's just that it has a big effect on the user experience when an App store has such a lame selection. Hands up the man who'd pay £5.99 for Pacman, or £18.14 for SPB Wallet!!!
Youtube app is limited and doesn't support account subscriptions. For such a socially-orientated device this is poor show for HTC, and I'm disappointed.
Inbuilt Twitter app is inferior to most iPhone freebies such as Echofon, and a million miles away from being as good as Tweetie. The nearest Windows Marketplace Equivalent TouchTwit costs £3.99 (Tweetie is £1.79 and still a lot better). Microsoft need to get their arse in gear and sort out the Marketplace.
Rubbish Facebook app, browser is better.
These points are just what came to mind for me based on MY WANTS AND NEEDS.
I do like the HD2, I'm not saying it's rubbish. Most of the problems are just about the software, and if Microsoft step up and get the Marketplace right, and HTC release a new ROM with some upgrades and tweaks then who knows.....things might be ten times better.
Aside from it's **** speaker and the slightly dodgy camera tint issue I cannot fault the HD2's hardware. It is really lush, and I love holding it. It is a joy to have in the hand.
Catman3146 said:
As stated in the thread title, I am seriously considering returning my HTC Touch HD2, because I find it almost completely unusable compared to the iphone that I owned previously.
Pros
- Amazing screen
- Everything else that has been highlighted in all the positive reviews that persuaded me to buy the device in the first place (spec, camera, connectivity etc.)
Cons:
- Touchscreen keyboard is unusable and not accurate, even after calibaration (compared to an iphone)
- Web browsing using Opera is frustrating due to the unreliable touchscreen - I find it impossible to click on links; particularly on sites such as this one (with small page numbers etc.) - even when I zoom right in I still can't click the link - there is a huge delay before anything happens, without any feedback to show the link has been clicked - this stuff just worked on the iphone, depsite the smaller screen
- Random app switching, erratic behaviour (screen moving on its own) and regular freezes in all modes/apps
For those who think I am some kind of Apple fan-boy, that couldn't be further from the truth - my iphone developed a dead strip of icons, which forced me to sell it for peanuts, so I vowed to never buy another! The truth of the matter is that the UI of the HD2 just isn't in the same league as the iphone - it's just a cheap imitation.
Maybe if it had Android instead of WM it would stand a chance, but as things currently stand, I find the HD2 completely unusable and will probably be returning it on Monday and getting an iphone, assuming I can persuade Mobile Phones Direct to adhere to the distance selling regulations that provide a 7 day cooling off period (according to their T&C's this only stands if the box is unopened, which is wrong)
Please note that I am posting this for the benefit of others, to provide my personal feedback after using the phone for the last few days. If anyone has any suggestions for how to rectify the problems noted above, I will happily try them.
Catman
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for me the HD2 is the best. I agreed with the keyboard but i found a solution.
Install Touch Pal and a cab in order to reduce the sensentive leval of the screen (the cab you can download on this forum). Now i can write even better as on the pro 2 - its really great. Forget I-Phone now.
I always find, the best thing to do with a new phone, is try some tweaks etc and then if it doesn't work out, return it. The tweaks usually fix most of the issues that people have. Without this site I would have really regretted getting my X1 for example. But XDA made it amazing.
I love the HD2, and the only problem I have had so far is getting used to the capacitive screen. Any of the other things (like task manager) have been fixed using tweaks from here.
We are so lucky to have all the amazing guys here on XDA developing and discovering all these tweaks for us, and keeping them all in one place.
I suggest you try some of these (they should fix most of your issues).
I would agree, the keyboard can be crazy. But I think it is a case of getting used to it. Every phone is going to be different. That's the nature of the world we live in.
Even then, I think the cons you have mentioned (most of which are fixable).
I hope you do try those tweaks and that they work for you.
Thanks for all your helpful suggestions and comments. I think it is important for people to get a balanced view about the device (particularly compared to the iphone), after reading so many unilaterlly positive reviews that fail to mention many of the flaws I have highlighted.
I will try the tweaks suggested and see how I get over the next couple of days before making a final decision (I'll post an update here), but HTC really should have done a better job with the initial release (the iphone had none of these problems - I bought one of the very first handsets in the US way before it was released here in the UK).
I am still hopeful that the issues are primarily software-related rather than dodgy hardware, but I will try to get a replacement out of MPD to try if this proves to not be the case.
I think you will find Catman, that most of the issues are related to the way the ROM is setup.
I think the tweaks should fix some of them. Have a read through the tips and tweaks list, and see what you can find. Some of them should help. Also, the CABs from smaberg here should also help.
If you sell it, contact me asap !
I am ok to buy !
For anyone struggling with the keyboard, go to the hints and tips thread and install the referenced CAB to reduce screen sensitivity. My keyboard was basically unusable but installed it and it works about the same as the iPhone maybe slightly better because errors are still corrected with the dictionary a lot better...
Catman3146 said:
but HTC really should have done a better job with the initial release (the iphone had none of these problems - I bought one of the very first handsets in the US way before it was released here in the UK).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow if you think the iPhone had no problems at launch, you really are living in backwards land.
BTW, I don't think any HD2s have exploded yet either. I'm not sure if you think incendiary injuries are a positive or negative feature? To be "balanced" we should agree that it is both.
Wow, I find the keyboard excellent, I wonder whether its a ROM-version thing...
Regards browser - have you tried Opera Mobile 10?

A couple of questions for Tattoo owners

Hello!
I'm still not sure about the tattoo, but since alot has with the development in the past months I thought I'd ask a couple of questions concerning your current satification kwith the HTC Tatttoo.
1. If you think about the issues that where real in the beginning (a big part of the market was closed for tattoo owners etc), how has these issues changed (perhaps many has disappeared now that you have root/custom roms?
2. Do you regret not buying a phone with a biger screen/higher resoluton? If so, which phone would you have bought instead for around 400 USD / 300 EUR.
3. For those who have tested a 2.1 rom on the Tattoo: Does 2.1 make the phone more responsive and less laggy (if you experienced lag before)? Does it solve any other issues that you had with the device?
4. How long are you planning to stick with the Tattoo before upgrading to another (android) phone?
5. What are your thoughts of the build quality of the device?
6. Would you recommend buying the htc Tattoo today concidering the price range stated in question #2?
Any other thoughts are also welcome=)
Thanx!
1. Still not great. I didn't realise the resolution of the device was going to limit it so much. Plus the camera doesn't have autofocus so barcode scanners dont work among other things.
2. I regret it, but its a free contract phone and im not paying £40 a month for an iphone.
3. not tested but may do soon!
4. Not impressed with android tbh...
5. Feels solid for the money. No complaints.
6. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Its a fun toy but a terrible phone. I think its far to slow. Hopefully this will change with future updates but I would stay away.
1. Still not great. I didn't realise the resolution of the device was going to limit it so much. Plus the camera doesn't have autofocus so barcode scanners dont work among other things.
2. I regret it, but its a free contract phone and im not paying £40 a month for an iphone.
3. not tested but may do soon!
4. Not impressed with android tbh...
5. Feels solid for the money. No complaints.
6. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Its a fun toy but a terrible phone. I think its far to slow. Hopefully this will change with future updates but I would stay away.
1. I've noticed that many apps became available later in the Market after devs added the QVGA tag for them. But it's still something greatly missed.
2. The smaller screen is a slight disadvantage which I was fully aware of when purchasing it, though the 7 home screens kinda make up for it.
3. I will test 2.1 in the weekend. Apparently it is much faster than 1.6.
4. Probably till the end of this year.
5. I'm pleased with the build quality. No issues there.
6. All I can say is weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. I bought this just to gain experience with Android.
Thanx alot for your input guys!
Sorry for the long questions, I thought I wouldn't get any answers because of that=)
sheik_yerbouti said:
3. I will test 2.1 in the weekend. Apparently it is much faster than 1.6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd really like to hear about how you experienced 2.1, and I hope
that it will provide you with a richer experience!
Me and my brother are currently looking at both the HTC Tattoo and the samsung i5700 "spica". Both phones has issues though.
What worries me the most is that the Tattoo might be a bit laggy and that is why I have such hopes in 2.1.
The Tattoo also seems more sturdy than the spica and I'm almost certain that I will accidently drop it some time.
I also like the fact that you can change the cover.
Some follow up questions: For those who has tried phones with a wider color range(?) than Tattoos 65k, spica has ~16 million,
will I really notice that much difference? I saw that the Hero had 65k too and that phone was a huge sucess.
3. Some reviews state that the resolution makes some text look blurred, is this something you have experienced?
How is the screen quaity in general (considering color range is only 65k) and what about video playback?
It's a shame that you can't try the phones in the stores here.
I tried installing 2.1 today, but I got to the Tattoo screen during startup, and then went to a blank screen. Waited for about 10 mins. So recovered the phone, and installing other ROM's now.
PS: I'm in MOD-installing-mood this weekend!
[B said:
Some follow up questions[/B]: For those who has tried phones with a wider color range(?) than Tattoos 65k, spica has ~16 million,
will I really notice that much difference? I saw that the Hero had 65k too and that phone was a huge sucess.
3. Some reviews state that the resolution makes some text look blurred, is this something you have experienced?
How is the screen quaity in general (considering color range is only 65k) and what about video playback?
It's a shame that you can't try the phones in the stores here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally notice the lack of colour depth (coming from touch diamond) but its a payoff to having a phone that will fit comfortably in my pocket (unlike the Hero = chin)
Theres not that much blurriness (imho) but you can notice it. Overall its a good android experince but I will be looking to the desire or legend for my next phone as long as they pass my pocket test!!
ragzy said:
I'd really like to hear about how you experienced 2.1, and I hope that it will provide you with a richer experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I tried installing it again after wiping my phone, and it installed fine. It's REALLY fast. Nice animations between opening windows. Bluetooth File transfer works after installing the BFT app. It was certainly a richer experience. Despite its current flaws, I'll be using it as my primary OS.
ragzy said:
Hello!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi mate!
ragzy said:
I'm still not sure about the tattoo, but since alot has with the development in the past months I thought I'd ask a couple of questions concerning your current satification kwith the HTC Tatttoo.
1. If you think about the issues that where real in the beginning (a big part of the market was closed for tattoo owners etc), how has these issues changed (perhaps many has disappeared now that you have root/custom roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With custom ROMs, the Market is fully available for Tattoo owners. This was the biggest issue I've had, since I'm a big lover of Twidroid and I can mark it as *SOLVED*!
ragzy said:
2. Do you regret not buying a phone with a biger screen/higher resoluton? If so, which phone would you have bought instead for around 400 USD / 300 EUR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the only real problem I have had is the full-qwerty keyboard in portrait mode. It's just a matter of attitude, though. Having used it for 4 months now, I'm able to write very long text messages in a very short time (even if I mainly twit ), and most of the time I disable the automatical corrector as I write both in Italian and in English. The very first days I was in a real pain, coming from a simple T9 Nokia, I felt the full-qwerty was really uncomfortable, but now everything is changed and I can't live without my full qwerty
So, I don't regret. Anyway, before buying the Tattoo I was taking some several looks at the Hero which should now cost around 300 EUR.
ragzy said:
3. For those who have tested a 2.1 rom on the Tattoo: Does 2.1 make the phone more responsive and less laggy (if you experienced lag before)? Does it solve any other issues that you had with the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never experienced lag with Tattoo but I'm not a big fan of gaming. I mainly use it for music, Google Maps (man, this is amazing!! I was in holiday some days ago with my gf and we were looking for a damn archeological site which was not on our map and not on the road signals, after walking around for about 30 mins I fired up Google Maps, searched for "Archeological Site" and BANG! He got us there, amazing. AFAIK, no GPS software is capable of such a search tool!), Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and all of those stuff you can do online.
The only way to make the phone very laggy is to use the RadioFM along with the GPS, but it's not a "daily" thing you do I guess.
As for the 2.1 ROM it's amazing. Even if it has not Camera and some stuffs are buggy, it's a GREAT ROM, man it's faster than hell, amazing animations, rewritten Messagging and Google Talk apps which are GREAT, every contact has its own tab which is more than good-looking and.. it's great!
ragzy said:
4. How long are you planning to stick with the Tattoo before upgrading to another (android) phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TBH, I'm already planning to change the phone but this has nothing to do with the Tattoo, it's only that I really love the Nexus One and I'm waiting for the summer as it should be available in Italy and I should have enough money But, really, nothing to do with Tattoo, it's perfect for me.
ragzy said:
5. What are your thoughts of the build quality of the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And.. this is a bad point. The plastic in which the stock cover is built it's not perfect. After a couple of months I've had some scratches (not in the display, though) and I'm now buying a new cover.
ragzy said:
6. Would you recommend buying the htc Tattoo today concidering the price range stated in question #2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. If that is your budget and if you don't plan in gaming all day long the Tattoo is definitely a perfect phone for you. As you can see, I'm enthusiastic with it, I use it all day, I tweet, I go to Facebook while I'm on the train, I Google, I maps, I read newspapers, I.. do almost everything. Perfect.
i like my tattoo very much. i paid 60-70 euros for it and since I'm a quad rider I usually wear gloves and the screen let's me handle the phone without taking them off.
if my other phone was ok i would have waited for Nexus to launch.
probably in 2011 i will sell it or when nokia morph is launched... :-??
sheik_yerbouti said:
So I tried installing it again after wiping my phone, and it installed fine. It's REALLY fast. Nice animations between opening windows. Bluetooth File transfer works after installing the BFT app. It was certainly a richer experience. Despite its current flaws, I'll be using it as my primary OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Sheik - I didnt realise the devs had a rom that was that close to being the finished item - any other probs withthe rom - i.e. all of the widgets and screen sizes ok? 3g or data and wifi ok etc?
Most of the perks, I can live with. Wi-Fi is a little dodgy, but I can partly blame my router for that. Speed and connectivity problems even with the stock ROM. Of all the widgets I have, they work fine. The Music player needs to be worked on as its size exceeds the Tattoo screen both in portrait and landscape mode. My phone doesn't have 3G. I'm still stuck on 2G, and it works just fine.
Thanx everyone for your replys!
Here is an update from me=)
I have had a spica home for testing but I'm sending it back today I did not like the build qualiy, also has less ram than tattoo, and no sense ui). Me and my brother got the spica for the same price as e new htc tattoo (spica was B-grade" though). No more B-grade for me, one of the charger pins was a bit bend and both the charger and the phone was really dusty, the seller assured it was not in "used condition" though.
I can't help but wonder if the Tattoo would have been a better choise=P
As Genargo pointed out, the tattoo seems to handle 2.1 pretty well (while other sources state that samsung spica lags when scrolling through menues and pulling up the menu (even though this is a official 2.1 release).
But our android craving has been put on ice, atleast for the moment.
gengaro said:
I was in holiday some days ago with my gf and we were looking for a damn archeological site which was not on our map and not on the road signals, after walking around for about 30 mins I fired up Google Maps, searched for "Archeological Site" and BANG! He got us there, amazing. AFAIK, no GPS software is capable of such a search tool!), Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and all of those stuff you can do online.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sums it up quite nicely, I mean that is is for these kind of moments I want a android phone with me music / gaming and video (divx) is not that important. I guess I see it as a more portable netbook.
Perhaps I should wait and see how android matures, I bet there will be many new models this year. It's amazing how fast android is evolving. Too bad there is no perfect device, I bet there never will be. Another thing that worries me os the dust problem on bothe the HTC hero, Nexus one and the desire (?). Dust underneath the screen would drive me mad=P
Right now there does not seem to be a android phone with a really nice and sturdy buid quality out there. Legends aluminum would scratch too easyli in my opinion and I don't like the cheap feel of the buttons. Hero feels great, too bad that it has the "dust issue"=/

Do you like your Galaxy S so far?

I'm thinking of getting this amazing phone, but would like to find out what it's really like from you guys first before I make the purchase.
Well i loved it in the beginning, then after all the problems and issues such as lags, hangs, and GPS crap, i sold the phone. But since then I've been looking at other Android smart phones and none of them seem to be better currently.
So, I think i made the right choice by selling the phone (i sold it at a profit of US$100) now ....
then a few months later i will recheck if Samsung has fixed all these problems.. If they have, then i would repurchase the phone, and i'm sure at that time the price has dropped by quite a bit....
I just can't afford using a phone that gives all these problems at the moment.....
If samsung cannot fixe all these problems in the future then i'll choose something else....maybe 3 months from now there will be a pletora of good android smartphones....
Buying the phone right now would be unwise since you will be paying high price only to have to install this and that fixes and patches and hacks and what not in order to fix the all the bugs that samsung hasnt ironed out since launching the phone. Unless of course, that is your hobby....
But for me, if i had to do all these things with the phone, i wanna get paid by samsung.... not the other way around.....
I've got the Tmobile USA Vibrant version. I don't think the problems that are being reported are as prevalent as people might think - I believe that folks that aren't having any problems are not bothering to come to these forums on the web, researching issues, so who you see reporting problems are folks that are having issues, looking for solutions
there's also a certain percentage that are researching tips, improvements, shortcuts or tweaks (which is why i'm on the web).
My vibrant's gps is actually showing incredible accuracy, better than my MyTouch 3g and than my 2 yr old garmin nuvi 680 indoors where neither would show any satellites and the vibrant does, and outside it's faster than the garmin nuvi in calculating / recalulating but i suspect the A-GPS plays a major part in that.
the signal "issue" is a prime example of folks imagining an issue where there isn't one (think about it, the signal bars are reporting signal strength on the weak side and then when you choke the phone in the "death grip" it further degrades the displayed signal strength, but phone calls for the most part aren't dropping. That death grip is like putting your phone inside a metal soup can, and then wondering why signal dropped. Mine will show the weak signal when i death grip it but is still pulling 3G (at increased download speeds over my MyTouch 3G/HTC Magic) in a weak Tmobile coverage area
I've got no lag issues - but i haven't downloaded but a few apps, about 10, no task killers, and i really haven't used any of the samsung apps, as folks are reporting those seem to invite lag
for what it's worth, I'm extremely happy with this phone's performance.
I absolutely love mine. First smartphone, great GPS, good battery life, great apps, awesome screen, I can't put it down and I've had it for over a week.
larryccf said:
I've got the Tmobile USA Vibrant version. I don't think the problems that are being reported are as prevalent as people might think - I believe that folks that aren't having any problems are not bothering to come to these forums on the web, researching issues, so who you see reporting problems are folks that are having issues, looking for solutions
there's also a certain percentage that are researching tips, improvements, shortcuts or tweaks (which is why i'm on the web).
the signal "issue" is a prime example of folks imagining an issue where there isn't one (think about it, the signal bars are reporting signal strength on the weak side and then when you choke the phone in the "death grip" it further degrades the displayed signal strength, but phone calls for the most part aren't dropping. That death grip is like putting your phone inside a metal soup can, and then wondering why signal dropped. Mine will show the weak signal when i death grip it but is still pulling 3G (at increased download speeds over my MyTouch 3G/HTC Magic) in a weak Tmobile coverage area
I've got no lag issues - but i haven't downloaded but a few apps, about 10, no task killers, and i really haven't used any of the samsung apps, as folks are reporting those seem to invite lag
for what it's worth, I'm extremely happy with this phone's performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're right in your assessment of new people coming to forums and what not. It's a biased sample for sure, personally, I was waiting to get on device where I actually had a reason to be here, this is it. So, while I didn't come to fix issues, I have learned a fair share and helped out a bit.
I'm upto 150+ apps showing in LauncherPro drawer, this includes some factory installed items and doesn't include all of my widgets (I keep two running at all times) and other things. My main lag only occurs during software installs, other than that everything else feels blazingly fast.
Really like this phone. After suffering the window mobile, this is definitely a great phone to have.
Its this or iphone. I have use iphone and I don't miss it one bit.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I am in same boat the OP, I am close to getting it, but what I am hearing is a somewhat mixed bag. Really would love to heard the good and the bad about the phone.
So far the biggest gripes I have come across are lack of notification light (I would miss that), lag on the other hand fix makes it even faster , lack of camera flash. But i really like what I have seen what the Hummingbird can do..
HyBry said:
I am in same boat the OP, I am close to getting it, but what I am hearing is a somewhat mixed bag. Really would love to heard the good and the bad about the phone.
So far the biggest gripes I have come across are lack of notification light (I would miss that), lag on the other hand fix makes it even faster , lack of camera flash. But i really like what I have seen what the Hummingbird can do..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a good write-up of "the good and the bad" http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=730131
The poll thus far seems fairly conclusive though.
bottom line is that if you are prepared to do a little customising then it can be the best phone out there atm (and lets face it why go android if you dont want to customise? thats what the iphones for right?...)
its only going to get better too as time goes on.
JF3 firmware out of the box and you may run into a couple of problems.
I own mine now for about 3 weeks and over all i heavy use it, my girl friend tells me that i touch my phone more often and tender then her which i think its an indicator of how much i love my Phone, even for native Xvid Support.
But of course there are thinks i really dont like at the Phone. I have much lags, but i also use much and diffarent kind of software at the same time. So maybe i have lesser lags if i dont use the phone like a Hardcore Home PC.
But there is one kind i think its an Knock Out Death Reason to not buy.the Phone before these Bug isnt fixed in an Newer Original Samsung FW.
The Timestamps of the Digital Camera are not written on File System layer. Of corse the are correctly written into EXIf and the digital image where named to the exact TimeStamp, but no attributes in the Fat are written. So if you organize your Pictures on a Nas, you can run into really big troubles.
But i hope thes issue will fixed in the next FW update.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
I'm loving mine, though it really did need to be rooted and the minfree* settings tweaked, the defaults are very bad - Samsung should be fixing this in the new firmware for all devices though. I have very few issues with the device and things I thought were potential problems before I bought it have turned out to be less so.
- Lack of search button/it's integration into the menu button is fine - I was worried because I used menu longpress to hide/show the keyboard a lot on my magic but no apps I'm using require this anymore since most android devices are keyboardless, this used to be fairly necessary when a lot of apps were developed on the G1. If you voice search with longpress of search on other devices a lot it could be an issue for you though.
- Plasticy feel/design of the back, it's nicer than it looks, feels solid despite being light and I'll be putting a resin case over it which disguises most of the horrible iphone 3G derived elements of the hardware anyway.
- Samsung customisation is actually quite nice once you've installed ADW launcher, I like the wifi/bt switches in the notification tray and the media player/in call controls that appear in there when those are active, it's a crying shame there's no widget for the media player though. Your tastes may differ but overall I think most of the customisations are good - with very noticeable exception of the homescreen.
* see here for an explanation, the default for EMPTY_APP and CONTENT_PROVIDER is some figure under 30MB, bump them up to 60 and 50 respectively and the phone runs brilliantly.
the greatest phone i've had to date, it's like a gameboy+office+email+movieplayer+mp3player+photoalbum+GPS+laptop+renote+terminal+web+wifi+bluetooth+phone, in 1 tiny little package
it sure beats my old HTC Athena in quality and speed, weight, durability, ease of use, amount of hacks and accessories for it
Had my UK spec galaxy for about a month. Not had any of the reported issues. Gps is great. Had 16 feet accuracy last night. Very little lag. Only when launching an app for the first time. Have zero regrets getting it. At least 3 other people have got one after seeing mine and they love it too. Highly recommended. Froyo will be amazing. But its the best out there even without it.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Yes, I freaking love it.
Intratech said:
Yes, I freaking love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL reminds me of the McDonald Ads "i'm Loving It! ta ta da ta ta . . ."
Or who the German Maci says : Ich liebe es! Lol
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
No, not very happy with it.
It's my first Android headset, I sold my 3GS to my sister figuring I'd finally give Android a chance. The homescreen is nice, notification system is brilliant and so on. But the system has a couple of major flaws...
It's just not as smooth, as easy to use or as elegant as iOS4. There's lag, the market is absolutely horrendous and Fring managed to break the camera so I had to uninstall that to get it back. I don't know what the eff Google are doing, but they need to bring the full marketplace to all countries. But even then, it's not very impressive. Yes I've rooted mine, yes I have market enabler, and it feels wrong. I should not have to do that just to get access to the rest of the market.
And this is, in my opinion, the biggest issue with Android today. I tried to find an app as good as AutoStitch or Pano for Android, but no, there is no such thing in the store. I tried to find a couple of high-quality games, I couldn't find any. I want Let's Golf 2, Worms and many others on this thing. I tried to find a photo editor comparable to PhotoForge and PhotoGene, or something similar to ColorSplash, and again, no. And what about synthesizers, virtual guitars and other fun apps? Haven't seen any.
This phone got me excited, but then I just realised... What's the point? All that power, but nothing is using it. All that power, and we still have lag all over the OS.
I'm sure people are going to hate me for this, but I am a bit disappointed by both the phone and the OS. I do have high hopes for Froyo, but flash support and a snappier OS probably won't be enough for me to keep it. I have bought over a hundred apps on my old 3GS, and I think I'd like those back now.
EDIT: If you think I'm wrong, if you have found the apps I'm looking for then by all means link me to them. I want to like this thing, I really do.
i like PhotoStitch, i keep a copy with me
Asphalt 5 is great, i consider that a quality game
Lets Golf 1 is also available
heck they even have my favourite Bejewled 1
they might not have version 2 of the software, but it will come soon.
Android is fairly new, it's only on version 2
there was not many apps nor games until Android 1.5 got matured.
Iphone OS is at least 2 version ahead of Android, give it some time for it to mature, and you'll see the big picture.
AllGamer said:
i like PhotoStitch, i keep a copy with me
Asphalt 5 is great, i consider that a quality game
Lets Golf 1 is also available
heck they even have my favourite Bejewled 1
they might not have version 2 of the software, but it will come soon.
Android is fairly new, it's only on version 2
there was not many apps nor games until Android 1.5 got matured.
Iphone OS is at least 2 version ahead of Android, give it some time for it to mature, and you'll see the big picture.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah I have Let's Golf, bought that in Gameloft's own store. Very nice.
As for the rest, not a big fan of racing games I'm afraid.
And yeah I know it's a new platform, but they've been bragging about it's growth for a while now and yes I'm sure they have 100,000 apps in the store. I just can't find the good ones, the store needs an overhaul.
I'm afraid I just can't give it more time. I might have to return a year later or so.
WiseDuck said:
EDIT: If you think I'm wrong, if you have found the apps I'm looking for then by all means link me to them. I want to like this thing, I really do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like someone didn't do any research before a big purchase. If you liked how the iphone operated and all the apps for it, why did you switch?
Before I bought my SGS, i went on androlib to look for apps I would need on my phone. I didn't find everything I was looking for, but at least I knew what was there and what wasn't. I also looked around all the android forums (like android central) for any android-specific issues I might encounter.

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