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Hi There,
I am looking to purchase a device; mainly to be used to send/receive e-mail's on the move but also am interested in any extra functionality available to me!!
At the moment I am choosing between this (T-mobile Vario) and the Blackberry 8700. I was wandering if anyone would be willing to give me a quick comparison and maybe a personal reccommendation!!?
Also I was reading in a previous thread about a blackberry add on for the Vario....would anyone be able to give me a rough run-down on how/if that works at all please!!
I appreciate your understanding of my simple questions!!
Many Thanks
Dave
HTC Wizard .. its both cheaper and beter.
What good feature do you see in BlackBerry that HTC Wizard doesn't have?
I'm guessing that you've never used either a PDA or a Blackberry. The reason I say this is because if you had, the differences would be immediately obvious.
Blackberry is good at doing one thing and one thing only: email. There are very few apps available, and even fewer are free. There is no touchscreen. Browsing is difficult because of this, and many programs are a pain for the same reason. WM Smartphones has the same issue.
Both do email, but Blackberry is generally better (for now). What WM PDAs do better than Blackberry is... everything else. Look through these forums (fora?) and see what other people are doing with their PDAs. Anything they can do, NO MATTER THE PDA, you can do with a Wizard, and with very few exceptions, cannot do with a Blackberry.
My boss has a Blackberry from work, and I have a Wizard. I can't get my work email on my Wizard because it's not allowed yet at our organization. BUT, I can browse Outlook Web Access and view it when I want. I also can get my 5 personal email accounts on my Wizard, which he can't do on his Blackberry. Finally, he tried browsing Kelly Blue Book when buying a car, failed miserably and called me, and I looked it up on my Wizard.
Next, I have mapping programs, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, games, astronomy, a camera, dictionary, ebooks, music, videos, pictures, and on and on...
IMHO, anyone who's ever owned even a basic PDA would never bother choosing a Blackberry. You just lose so much functionality. If you don't need that and just want email, go for it.
uwaku said:
Blackberry is good at doing one thing and one thing only: email. There are very few apps available, and even fewer are free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Email with Wizard isn't a problem after the last ROM where SyncML for e-mail (push) is supported. You also have VPN support to accessing company networks.
uwaku .. what type of company mail setup do you have? You should not blame the Wizard for that your company don't allow you to connect your e-mail.
Comparing SyncML and BlackBerry.. is BlackBerry even a standard protocol? SyncML is a standard:
http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/wg_committees/workinggroups.html
Cool; sounds like the Wizard is definately more for me than the Blackberry....which is what I was leaning towards anyways. The one thing that I did want to know is whether you can get Hotmail on to the Wizard without having to go through the web browser (ie; go to www.hotmail.com).
Many Thanks
yes, hotmail access is pretty good on the wizard, It comes with Pocket MSN, once you've put your username and password into that it will add your hotmail emails and account the the windows email application, so no messing with www.hotmail.com
After jealously observing the Facebook app on my wife's Blackberry Pearl, I am shocked that neither ShoZu, Snap2Face/Skybook nor FriendMobilizer have come close to matching the simple elegance of Facebook for Blackberry. Each of the aforementioned Windows Mobile apps, I believe, will fail to become very popular among users because they are trying to do fundamentally different things than the official Blackberry and iPhone apps.
So I'm going to attempt to specify the basic features that would make for the best "Facebook for Windows Mobile" application. The developer who carries these out will, I predict, quickly dominate the rest.
What we already have
A couple of mobile-friendly versions of the FB user interface. Whether you use http://m.facebook.com in PIE, or http://iphone.facebook.com in Opera Mobile/IrisBrowser, or indeed desktop-level Facebook in Skyfire/Opera Mini/etc., we already have great ways to passively view most of Facebook. FB apps for WM appear to have devoted most efforts to remaking their own, sometimes uglier interfaces for viewing the same information. While this introduces the possibility of offline synchronization, this is nowhere near a key functional benefit offered on Blackberry and iPhone. The trend is toward more users having data plans and ubiquitous data connections.
A way to access Facebook Chat. 3rd-party multiprotocol chat applications offer this for Windows Mobile already.
Several ways to update your status. You can do this through Facebook Mobile, SMS, etc.
A crappy way to upload mobile photos. You can send an MMS to [email protected] - not ideal and lacks the ability to place photos in specific albums, tag, etc. But it is a start.
A crappy way to receive notifications. The FB notifications feed is actually available via RSS, and several free RSS clients exist for Windows Mobile.
A really crappy way to new FB message alerts and everything else. Suppose you registered a new Gmail account devoted solely to receiving Facebook notification emails. You could register that address with your Facebook settings, set it as the address to receive email notifications and then turn on notifications for everything that happens on Facebook. After setting up this email account on your Windows Mobile device, you could receive regular alerts from Facebook on your mobile device. (Heck, with System SEVEN beta or some other service that utilizes the IMAP IDLE feature, you could essentially have "push" FB alerts).
What we don't have (but Blackberry does)
Based on the features listed at http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/social/facebook.jsp , you can see that the man feature that WM users don't have is "push"-style homescreen notifications. On the Blackberry homescreen, the number of new Facebook notifications and messages sits beside a little FB icon. It is updated immediately as new messages and notifications are received.
Thus I would propose the following specifications for a WM Facebook app (or suite of mini-apps). The Facebook Developers API should be used, not some unreliable html-parsing library.
1. New/unread FB messages and notifications on a "push" or rapid-refresh basis. This either means (a) a Today screen plugin that lists the unread message counts and points Pocket IE to the appropriate http://m.facebook.com link when tapped, (b) WM popup notifications of the same, or (c) a MAPI interface library that allows the FB Inbox and/or FB Notifications feed to be added as regular mail accounts in Pocket Outlook - letting WM take care of popups if the user so desires.
2. A photo upload and tagging tool. The user must be able to select a photo (or take one) and then choose to either add it to any existing album or create a new one, followed by the option to tag that photo.
3. Dedicated Facebook chat. If it is easy, of course.
Everything else on Facebook - contacts search, Phonebook, etc - is just as easy to access on the existing Facebook Mobile site. My instinct is that developers inevitably waste our memory with bloated software when they make "native" interfaces that just rehash the content at http://m.facebook.com/
Or am I missing something? Maybe others have thoughts. I'm no developer and I don't mean to sound demanding - I'm just trying to give developers some ideas here.
would be fine if someone would fix the iphone.facebook.com java problems
libpurple already incorporates facebook im but i dont think there is a client for windows mobile that uses it. As for uploading, you can upload pictures but not videos directly from a touch series phone (videos are uploaded to youtube). If the protection can be stripped from an ipa and the can be decrypted then I dont understand why we cant port the facebook.app. I have an iPhone 3G and an iPod Touch, both jailbroken. I'll SSH into them and grab the files for the facebook app but the rest needs to be done by someone else. Just give me sometime to find them.
1. New/unread FB messages and notifications on a "push" or rapid-refresh basis. This either means (a) a Today screen plugin that lists the unread message counts and points Pocket IE to the appropriate http://m.facebook.com link when tapped, (b) WM popup notifications of the same, or (c) a MAPI interface library that allows the FB Inbox and/or FB Notifications feed to be added as regular mail accounts in Pocket Outlook - letting WM take care of popups if the user so desires.
2. A photo upload and tagging tool. The user must be able to select a photo (or take one) and then choose to either add it to any existing album or create a new one, followed by the option to tag that photo.
3. Dedicated Facebook chat. If it is easy, of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wFacebook will have ALL of these things that you mentioned. A little patience is all that is needed. I started developing this only 2 weeks ago Thanks for the breakdown though, it gives me something to work towards. I hope to have facebook chat up and running in the next release. Push style notifications will come as soon as I can figure out an "always signed on" connection to facebook. Photos and tagging are very easy to do, I just haven't gotten around to implementing it.
What you have to realize is that the blackberry apps and iPhone apps are both designed by facebook. They access facebook's data directly. Facebook does not allow this in its API so we have to find workarounds. Blackberry has nothing to do with it's facebook application (as far as I know). Facebook developed and maintains it.
Also, thanks for the tip on the rss feed. I did not know this and this may help with notifications!
Give computerjunkie some time....
And all the requested features will be hopefully implemented.
Btw since you have a BB and have positive feelings regarding it's user experience and user interface it would be great if you could dedicate some time to write down some detailed specs !
Ciao
Marco
The BB app doesn't really have a "push" notification system. All apps that use notifications, like Facebook and MySpace, are simple emails. When the same email account is registered under the BB profile, and Facebook profile, it recognizes the FB notification email as the app specific notification, and gives the notification instead of the email.
But, on the app, I really don't like it much, so I don't suggest it as your "template". All it really does is give you the notifications, allow you to update your status and view your friends list. You can't view profiles or photos through the app, it opens the browser, and you have to login! Further more, the news feed only shows the notifications, like birthdays and comments.
Try something like the BB MySpace app, I love that one! You can flow through pictures and view everything in the app.
wFacebook will be like the BB myspace app. You won't have to log in to the website to see info. It will be fetched from the application itself. Also, it will have push style notifications (maybe not ALL notifications but most: Wall, Inbox, photo comment, etc.). I am looking into an always on (or as close to always on) so when the notification occurs, wFacebook automatically fetches the info THEN notifies the user so all the user has to do is start up wFacebook and check the item. Also with the semi-always on connection, wFacebook users won't have to keep logging in to facebook which right now is taking about 1.5 minutes with wFacebook because of data speeds on mobile machines.
Problem with the xda app is it requires .NET 3.5
iphone.facebok.com in Skyfire is the best solution for me.
though I think a windows mobile facebook app is much needed I have to agree the very Bloated net cf is def not the way to go. I do appreciate all you are doing as this app has potential to be very useful . thanks again for all your hard work. pleasyo code in "C"
Hi
I have my HD for already a week and it's amazing!!.
but I decided to buy it because I needed a tool like this for business purposes, by now I'm using it for mail on the go, and of course like a powerful agenda with Pocket Informant, but due my short experience with a pocket PC, I know that there must be much more uses and software that I don't know yet, then I would like to ask for advices about this matter, may be software or even tips to be able to to take more advantages of this incredible phone!
BTW I found this two thread, but are quite short
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=450957&highlight=business
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=436642&highlight=business&page=1
Thanks!!
hi, im not quite sure what you are asking for? but, i use mine for work to. i dont find the need for anything extra than what is already included in M$ mobile office
i use the calendar and outlook which is synced through my organisations exchange server though activesync over the mobile network. in the main i do this manually but also by setting it up to do autosync at intervals.
you can set it to have pushmail too if your companies mail server will allow this
pocket outlook does all that the full pc version does (near as dammit) email, access to my corporate address book, meeting scheduling and invites etc etc
is that what you wanted to know?
OK, here is the "business" oriented sub-set of all my apps:
apMemo 2.3 http://www.apsoftsystems.com/apmemo/index.htm
apMemo allows for alarmed note taking on the go
Ilium Listpro 5.0.0.2016 http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/lp/listpro.htm
Listpro is great - I use this for whole loads of lists on the PC and HD and swop the lists back and forth
Metro 5.71 http://www.nanika.net/Metro/
Metro is useful for business trips (and pleasure)
MxCalculator 2.1 http://www.trancreative.com
NewsGator Go! 2.0.0.25419 http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals...o/Default.aspx
I use a RSS feeder for business news
Pocket Informant 8.51 http://www.webis.net/index.php
RCX Lexipedia 1.2 http://www.revolution.cx/Lexipedia/Lexipedia.htm
Yes, I know this is an old app but it's still there when I need answers and don't want to go online
SBSH PocketBreeze 5.4.15 http://www.sbsh.net/products/windows...c/pocketbreeze
Fantastic today plugin to view my calender (must be used with SecondToday)
SPB Finance 2.7.0 http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/finance/?en
Not really business, but keeps track my my finances
From my thread comment: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3117017&highlight=secondtoday#post3117017
I use keepass for securing those important but (sometimes) easy to forget ID's & passwords:
hi, im not quite sure what you are asking for? but, i use mine for work to. i dont find the need for anything extra than what is already included in M$ mobile office
i use the calendar and outlook which is synced through my organisations exchange server though activesync over the mobile network. in the main i do this manually but also by setting it up to do autosync at intervals.
you can set it to have pushmail too if your companies mail server will allow this
pocket outlook does all that the full pc version does (near as dammit) email, access to my corporate address book, meeting scheduling and invites etc etc
is that what you wanted to know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, well yes something like that I was looking for, but may be a little more focused in meetings and projects, I'm using list Listpro for this two purposes but I can imagine there are better and specialize software for this.
about meetings I need to lead meeting sometimes, and write down some ideas or comments in each topic on this meetings.
same with projects, I start a project, and I need to write down all the steps of it, and the progress of each one too
thanks Cheesy Dave, there are really useful app there!
thanks audscott
i guess im a caveman when it comes to such business things... i just use ms word to make lists
notepad for basic notes
i find that the ms mobile office suite included does all i need (along with the other software in pocket outlook such as tasks etc)
small tip if you do want to use a different front end like SBSH PocketBreeze or spb pocketplus etc
dont need to run secondtoday type progs which just chew up more memory, just untick manila from the today plugins screen and do away with manila. personally i find it to be just bells and whistles and not much function, uses loads more system resources than other after market apps with nothing more (less in my opinion) on offer
i use spb pocketplus together with spb weather and spb phone suite all sat as my front screen. i can access all my needed software with one touch, make calls with one touch, switch ring profiles with one touch fire up wifi with one touch... in fact 99% of what i need to do with my HD i do with 1 touch using this set of software. the only time i need to use the stylus is for typing (im kak handed using my fingers to type and am pretty fast with the stylus)
as i said up there^^^^ i use MS office for all my other bits as i can bang it stright over to my laptop to use the full versions if necessary
i guess its down to what you need, what you like and what you get used to. ive been using this combo of progs for 4 years now so am a bit stuck in the mud so to speak
ill try to do a screen grab of my today page to show you what i mean.... but you might not like it as i am very much in favour of function over form
(ive trialled spb mobile shell and spb diary but again find them unecessary.... why do you need a diary on your today screen when it is one touch away and a hell of a lot more confidential if your diary isnt open for all to see all the time (i work in healthcare so confidentiality is a big requirement! )
business
I have been using pda in my construction business for many years to keep appointments. I tend to forget them and rely on the alarm. I have most of the incoming phone calls redirected to the phone. I use agenda one because you can link contacts to appointements i.e the alarm sounds to tell me to meet Mrs Smith. I click on that and it brings up Mrs Smiths address.
We are trying business contact manager for outlook in the office as a CRM and have tried the pda add in to view them. It just does,t work. I have heard over other software that makes the contacts visible in outlook mobile.
I also use mine mainly for Business (and pleasure), work in an Australasian role with travel in Australia and New Zealand.
Must admit I am VERY impressed with the function and accuracy of WorldCard mobile. Sure beats the manual data entry of B-Card info
A few of the apps I'm using on my HD
SPB Traveller - to manage my flights, accomodation and rental car bookings.
GarminXT - with Australia and New Zealand maps to help me get to the places I need to.
SPB Weather - helps me know what to expect and what to take when I travel.
SPB Time - My travel alarm clock etc.
SPB Wallet - Helps me remember the multitude of logon details for company (and private)
systems access as well as credit cards and so on.
SPB Finance - Tracks my out of office expenses for me.
Pocket Investor - Mobile management of my stocks.
Softmaker Suite - A really great set of applications which provide me FULL edit and formatting alignment for my Word, Excel and Powerpoint files.
Pocket Informant - Replaces the PIM
RESCO Utility pack - Great file management for shifting documents around, deleting etc.
A few other general apps.
HD Tweak
Gsen
Sprite Backup
MSS Convertor
SKTools
SPB Mobile Shell (but using the "ChangeSKIN" application to provide multiple contact photo screens etc. )
SPB Phone Suite
SPB Brain Evolution
Opening multiple files in Excel Mobile
jonajuna said:
i use MS office for all my other bits as i can bang it stright over to my laptop to use the full versions if necessary
i guess its down to what you need, what you like and what you get used to. ive been using this combo of progs for 4 years now so am a bit stuck in the mud so to speak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi jonajuna, I am a new Touch HD user (and this is my first PDA). Since you use the Office so extensively, could you please help me - how can I open more than one document e.g. in Excel? I often use Excel documents in my work and I constantly need to copy&paste info from one Excel file into another.
Thanks!
I'm also useing mine for business and pleasure. Works well with appointments, addresses, GPS, etc. during business hours.
I've picked up an HTC Touch HD, and I'm a semi-business/pleasure/personal user.
Here are some of the items that I found were useful for me.
As far as the MSDict and MSPhrase apps go, you can find English -> Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Russian, Malaysian, Chinese (trad and simplified), Korean and so on!
Here are the links for the Japanese one since I've been up all night downloading these.
http://htc-touch-hd-t8282.handster.com/product.php?id=3113
http://htc-touch-hd-t8282.handster.com/product.php?id=639
And SPB Traveler is great when it comes on converting common knowledge from overseas such as units, clothing sizes and linguistics as it helps me identify and use the right phrases.
http://htc-touch-hd-t8282.handster.com/product.php?id=439
Also, since I'm both in class and at work, sometimes I'll need a really powerful calculator and the Touch HD does not disappoint with it's capabilities.
http://htc-touch-hd-t8282.handster.com/product.php?id=3627
http://htc-touch-hd-t8282.handster.com/product.php?id=175
There you go, hope this helps.
Hi there,
i´m also one of those guys who using the HTC HD for business.
Maybe the programms i use, would be helpful.
At least it depends on your special needs.
Main focus for me:
Mail -> BBconnect
ToDo list -> MLO ( My Life Organized )
Calender -> Calender Touch
Travelling -> SPB Traveller
If you need further information, just let me know.
Hey guys
I'm an entrepreneur from Brisbane, Australia. I'm looking into introducing a new product and am wondering if you guys would be able to help me clarify a few questions. I have to add I have no idea what so ever about programming languages or whats possible or not. I just going to post my vision of the application I will need and hope some of you guys can tell me what of that will be possible, what not and how much effort / money it would take to realise.
Firstly of all and most importantly I need the the Phone application to work with several other systems which would be at the moment : - Iphone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry Android, a Website interface, Windows Vista / 7 and Mac OS. I need this to work in two ways. One for the user to sync their data on different apps and secondly for the admin to receive and send data from the main system (that would be working on Windows or Mac)
On first interface the user would have to log in with a username and password, high security would be welcome, after the log in the general interface should be offering the user a booking request form with the ability to use a saved lists of items which have been previously use / prepared but also a interface for add one or editing
It also should offer a open bookings lists and the ability to edit this lists. This should also be able to be synced to the other systems. A third interface showing a history and updates should be also available.
If possible it should offer different accounts and groups where admins can edit the bookings of other users. If this is possible it also should offer a control for the admins which shows bookings and history of other group users.
I would like this obviously to be a professional looking app which offers a good service and is secure and bug free. If anyone has an idea if this is realisable or what parts of it would be difficult or have to be changed please do me the favour and comment.
Thank you for your help in advance.
JPM
Hello,
If you're looking for developers for your project, please contact [email protected]
Example of similar (ok, a bit different but technical approach is the same) web app and mobile clients for several smartphone platforms is in my signature.
Hi y'all,
After my EVO died two weeks after contract expired, on top of the original Nexus tablet that slowed to a crawl due to bad memory chips, I swore off the Android devices and went with iOS.
Now, over a year later, I got a shiny new S5 from my employer, with company policy allowing "reasonable" personal use (no 1-900 calls or direct international calls to Timbuktu but otherwise we're allowed to use it for personal calls and data since they have unlimited plans anyway).
So, I plan on giving my iPhone to my son and getting back into Android. I was missing all the customization options, although iOS really grew on me to be honest.
I do have a couple of question, hope someone can help
1) I still own Nova Prime and I much prefer it over the Touchwiz. However, I am unable to find a calendar widget that would show Exchange tasks. I found that the only service that reliably syncs tasks, contacts, and calendar events between Outlook on my work desktop and my home desktop and all of my Android and iOS devices is Hotmail. With Outlook 2013 setting up sync with a Hotmail / Outlook.com calendar / tasks is finally possible and requires no installation of any additional software. So I can finally copy a work email into a task and have it synced to my phone and tablet. But, the only calendar widget on S5 that actually shows these tasks is Mini Today and it seems to only be available in Touch Wiz. I can't install Outlook on Android because it violates company policy (God knows why, since I can set up a EAS account anyway ?). The only other possible solution I can think of may be Pocket Informant but it's $10 and the Android client interface is ugly as hell.
So, do you know of any other screen widget that would show tasks synced from Hotmail account ? Obviously Samsung calendar app shows them even under Nova, but I need a widget that I could glance at without having to start the app.
2) Is there a way to activate voice commands / voice dialing from a Bluetooth headset without having to touch the home button ? It's probably something obvious but I, for the life of me, can't find it. Press and hold on headset button does nothing and double-press redials.
3) The phone came with Otter box case which may as well just have backpack straps attached, it's so ridiculously huge. Can you recommend me a slim case with a clip holster that is sturdy and looks well and most importantly does not allow the phone to easily fall off / get unhooked by accident ?
4) I never had a Samsung before and they seem to have tons of software preinstalled, is most of it bloatware or are some apps actually worth trying ? Any tips appreciated.
Thanks !
Ummagumma said:
Hi y'all,
1) I still own Nova Prime and I much prefer it over the Touchwiz. However, I am unable to find a calendar widget that would show Exchange tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Event Flow calendar widget. it will sync to your exchange account and show events from outlook. I use outlook at work, and the gmail/google calendar on my personal phone (HTC One), and both calendars show up on my Event Flow agenda widget on the GS5. there are many calendar widgets on the play store though, so you may want to try a few.
2) Is there a way to activate voice commands / voice dialing from a Bluetooth headset without having to touch the home button ? It's probably something obvious but I, for the life of me, can't find it. Press and hold on headset button does nothing and double-press redials.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the google settings -- search and Now -- voice, you can enable the "Ok Google" trigger phrase to start voice recognition feature, and enable it to use your bluetooth mic for input. When you say "Ok Google", it will pull up the voice search app.
3) The phone came with Otter box case which may as well just have backpack straps attached, it's so ridiculously huge. Can you recommend me a slim case with a clip holster that is sturdy and looks well and most importantly does not allow the phone to easily fall off / get unhooked by accident ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only been using the Diztronic slim rubber cases as of late. they are thin, fit great, and look great, but I don't think they have a clip model.
4) I never had a Samsung before and they seem to have tons of software preinstalled, is most of it bloatware or are some apps actually worth trying ? Any tips appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh, welcome to the world of samsung bloatware. tons of stuff you probably won't use from samsung and your carrier. here's a tip. go to system settings - applications, and swipe to the "all" screen. from there you can scroll through every app installed on your phone. when you get to one you don't want, tap it, and you'll see an information screen. Most apps that came on the phone have an option to disable them That will freeze the app from the system, but it it won't wipe it out of the phone's storage, so it can be enabled at a later date if you want. I've disabled nearly all the AT&T apps, and quite a few samsung and google apps I don't use.
down the road if you root your phone, you can remove all the system apps you want. but until then, disabling them is the best you can do. The only samsung apps I still have enabled are the TV remote app, music, video, and polaris office.
Thanks !
Unfortunately Event Flow does not show tasks.
I found a few widgets that show Google tasks, but so far only Samsung's Mini Today shows Exchange tasks from Outlook.com.
(..rant..) Given how many people use Outlook at work and at home, and given that Hotmail / Outlook.com is the only service that can sync Outlook emails, calendar, contacts and tasks to an Android or iOS device without having to jump through hoops or install any 3rd party apps on the desktop (a big ordeal and often outright forbidden in many organizations), it is very surprising just how few calendar applications are supporting it. I mean, to sync Outlook to Google Calendar and Tasks you need to buy expensive software and install it; to sync Outlook to Apple you need to install iCloud, which again many companies forbid or block via firewall; to sync Outlook 2013 to Outlook.com you really don't have to do anything but create an account. Yet this seems to be the least supported option, and many programs won't even read Outlook tasks after Android syncs them via EAS account ! WTF.
Hello!
Ummagumma said:
Hi y'all,
4) I never had a Samsung before and they seem to have tons of software preinstalled, is most of it bloatware or are some apps actually worth trying ? Any tips appreciated.
Thanks !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only Samsung apps I use are the camera app, the audio & video players as well as the calendar application. I find that all others have bette free alternative on the market. I stop and disable all other stuff. To see what to stop
I usually use GSam battery monitor. Any application I do not use that drains on the battery, I simply disable it.
The reason for keeping the camera audio and video player is that they might use some samsung specific HW/feature (especially true for camera application) that are not fully standard and may not be available to "replacement application"
JM
Oh, if it is not too late...
You might like WatchON preinstalled application. It's universal remote control on your phone...
I use it to control TV, DVD and set top box.
Thanks !
To be honest, the more I use it, the more the darn phone frustrates me. Don't know if it's Samsung, or I forgot the feel of Android, or I just got too used to iOS. The list below can just be me, and I definitely don't want to get anyone offended. But...
1) Can't access flashlight without unlocking the phone. Something I used to do all the time.
2) Can't access calculator without unlocking the phone. Again, something I was very used to.
3) Can't use Google now without unlocking the phone. It listens but most of time I can't get a reply without unlocking.
4) Voice dialing without unlocking the phone is very spotty.
5) When I ask Google Now to tell me my meetings for tomorrow - something I used to do every day driving back home after work, about the only opportunity I have to sit back and relax and plan my day - it tells me that I have a meeting at 7:30, brings up the list of calendar items on screen, and shuts up. Siri would read them to me.
6) S-Voice stops listening after the first few words. Not always. But very often. I was trying to find some kind of a timeout setting but no luck. It just loses interest and runs with unfinished phone number. At least Google Now listens.
Basically using any voice commands without unlocking the phone is very iffy and unpredictable, especially when also trying to use a headphone. I sorely miss Siri.
6) There's no way to get my Outlook.com tasks show up in Widgets. Samsung Mini Today shows SOME of them - I never quite figure out why it would show some tasks due today and not the others. PI for Android is a terrible fugly monster with greatly reduced functionality when compared to PI IOS. Don't know why they couldn't design it to at least look the same. Outlook app could work but unfortunately we can't use it at work because of security concerns (it stores your credentials on Amazon servers so potentially someone could use them to log into company mail). I used to miss Android widgets when I had the iPhone but at least the ones that were available in the pulldown worked well and showed any info I needed and, again, could be configured to be accessible with phone locked.
7) The quality of video chat using Hangouts is worse than what I was getting on same cell or wifi network, calling the same numbers using Facetime. There's jerkiness and choppiness and every now and then the screen would just freeze for a second. Must be something related to Google servers.
The good - huge screen (compared to my old iPhone), customization, can use SD cards, and I am sure that I will eventually get used to it.
Sorry for the rant...