Now that the initial hype has died down, and t-mobile employees are officially advising against purchasing an hd2 it’s time for an educated and thorough review that new buyers can actually use. I’m not going to include any technical information, because 1) it is widely available 2) most people don’t choose a phone based on technical specs and 3) we all know this sucker is super fast. What I will do is offer up my opinions along with some tips and tweaks –NO HACKS—should you decide the HD2 is right for you.
To start with, what about the Galaxy S?
Yes, at least one t-mobile employee tried to steer me away from the hd2 and to the galaxy s. And yes, the screen on the Samsung, while a bit smaller, is also a bit more impressive. Darker blacks and more vibrant colors. If screen resolution is the only thing you care about, even over size and price, then stop reading now, because the galaxy s definitely has a superior screen. Holding the galaxy s in my hand though, I didn’t give it a single thought. Here’s why. To start with, I prefer the slightly boxier build of the hd2. Also I feel more comfortable with a couple hard keys, and for me at least, a slightly bigger screen is desirable over a slightly better one. The real decision factor however, was that I was replacing a Samsung touch screen phone which had become intermittently non responsive to touch and after three straight Samsung phones (sgh r210 - t909 - behold) I figured I’d give HTC a chance, after all Google did.
The early days were dark.
This was my first data plan with t-mobile, so the extra 25 bucks a month was a hard pill to swallow. I was really expecting the hd2 to blow me out of the water, thus making it easy to rationalize a 50% increase in my monthly bill. It didn’t. I won’t list all the issues I had with this phone because they are well documented through out the web, but also because that’s just the start of the story.
A happy ending.
Bottom line, Microsoft is great because you can customize the **** out of it. The hd2 doesn’t suck HTC Sense sucks. IT’S HORRIBLE. A waste and an annoyance, but, easily removed. That’s right disabling HTC sense is the first and most important step to loving your hd2.
Settings > today > items (bottom tab)
Then just select windows default (HTC sense is at the bottom, but who cares)
On to the tweaks…
I read a lot about hacking the hd2 registry, but seeing as I was still contemplating returning the phone, I didn’t want to do anything drastic. So I kept it simple. Here are the apps (cabs) I installed to perfect my HTC hd2 experience. Just search the web (and Microsoft marketplace) and you can download all these apps for free. Also, to install a .cab file, just drag and drop it from your computer (connected via USB) to your phone. Then unplug your phone from the computer and browse to the file.
Start menu> file explore> storage card
Click on the .cab file you just dropped onto your phone and the app will install. Then go back to the start menu and at the bottom there should be an icon for you newly installed app. Here are mine:
GYRATOR 2 - Brins0.net
-a simple rotator. A lot of the screens on the hd2 won’t go into landscape without this app
RESET ME - Y.K. Ying
-I think I downloaded this one from the market place. I was messing around with my phone a lot in those early days, and this app cam in handy for settings that required soft reset.
HOMESCREEN CUSTOMIZER - Danny Su
-Another marketplace free download - this is the MOST IMPORTANT app I downloaded for the HTC hd2. It removed that horrible HTC Sense crap, and replaced it with a simple, one screen option.
SHOWCASE - e-natives
-for some reason, when you hit the ‘X’ in the upper right hand corner of the screen, whatever app or function is running simply minimizes. The phone is so fast though, that launching applications takes just as long as switching to them, so there’s really no point in having a bunch of apps running, sucking up battery and processor resources. This app makes that X actually close a program and not just minimize it.
So What about the camera, what about the battery?
As for the battery, it takes just a couple hours to loose half your battery power, then the phone seams to operate for another 10-15 hours on the remaining power. I read that this is a snapdragon issue (the powerful 1 GHz processor running the HD2). So while those quickly dwindling bars cause much stress, the phone will operate for almost two days without charge.
I am still looking for an inexpensive camera app to replace the HTC camera, but I have managed to tweak the settings enough (contrast, saturation, white balance) to get some decent pictures in well lit situations. The fact is, the Samsung Behold has an amazing camera in it, and the hd2 just isn’t as great. Oh well.
I'm glad you're here to tell me how to use my HD2.
This is probably one of the most redundant reviews I have read, and about ten months too late at that.
Go and tell someone who gives a feck... Surely, Jeremy Beadle is dead?
wow, someone actually chooses the hd2 over the android galaxy and y'all are ripping him for it???
get a life already.
Wow...uhm...k thanx for the tutorial there...and the REALLY craptastic review. You where trying to help people.....how?
ashasaur said:
Wow...uhm...k thanx for the tutorial there...and the REALLY craptastic review. You where trying to help people.....how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see what he is saying. The phone runs ALOT better without sense slowing it done. Sense is a memory hog. It caches a lot of memory. Those out of memory errors that some people get, do not happen with sense gone.
I never had a SOD on my tp2 when I started flashing my own ROMs minus sense.
Now, I've learned to appreciate what sense does add to the experience, but on my tp2, it was unbearable, even when optimized.
They're mocking him because it's a poorly done review. Get past the part about the Galaxy and read the rest.
apallohadas said:
They're mocking him because it's a poorly done review. Get past the part about the Galaxy and read the rest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in his defense, he did call it a layman's review. In other words, someone who doesn't live on here 24/7, and doesn't want to flash his phone 3x a day.
nrfitchett4 said:
I can see what he is saying. The phone runs ALOT better without sense slowing it done. Sense is a memory hog. It caches a lot of memory. Those out of memory errors that some people get, do not happen with sense gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The out of memory errors don't happen if you know how to use the phone. People KNOW Windows Mobile is absolutely **** out of the box, but still years and years on people still complain about it, it's bewildering.
Sense is a very good base platform for CoOkie and ROM developers alike to work with and as a result make Sense a far more powerful platform for the end user.
Sense is the Cosmetics on the Zomby,and of course you know what the legend says,zombies live forever,LOL,so cheer up.!!
Wow,
Sorry but that was a disappointed review.
It was your first post on this forum and you only joined this month, so I am not sure what you were trying to advise us of to be honest. No disrepect intended.
People like me have had this phone since the November 2009 release and know all there is to know about it.
HTC Sense does not suck or slow down when you are using the correct ROM, either the lastest official ROMs, or better yet, a custom ROM like Artemis.
In interface of WM is best left in the background until you have something geeky to tweak, although WM6.5.5. is a big improvement.
Anyway, my 2 cents worth.
I agree with the last person staing that sense does not (dramatically) slow down the HD2, an I am still using Stock ROM.
The snapdragon is so powerfull.
The thing I notice however, especially with people complaining about battery life:
Most people think of the HD primarily as a Phone.
This also explains the complaint of a lot of poeple that there are no applications for it.
Given the HD2 has a big screen, which has an unusual format (like the touch HD had), there are still a lot of old apps around which run on the HD2 (some somewhat crippled, others do not run at all)
But, I came from Palm iV (monochrome) via Ipaq to p330o, Touch HD to HD2.
For me the primary use for this machine is: PDA with phone capabilities.
And not like for a lot of people, phone with PDA capabilities.
All phones of the latter category (Like eg. Nokia E71) lack a grat deal of PDA capabilities. This is where Windows Mobile has made a big heap of programming with a lot of open ends.... The PDA community jumped on top in order to improve the PDA experience.
The PDA community slowly moved to phone.
In my opinion, all die-hard tweakers / modders / programmers use the HD2 primarily as PDA. Most complaining users use the HD2 primarily as phone.
Yes, as a phone it lacks stamina (batterylife), Yes as a phone it is higly adaptable, but you will have to adress the HD2 as PDA.
On a PDA, one would tune applications (run this, kill that, beware of sync etc) Most ROM cooks still use the what I call PDA approach (load only what is nessesary, not what could eventually ever be needed, kean and mean) thus saving powerconsumption.
As to my past experience, I switch on things only when needed (wifi, bluetooth, activesync etc), except for push mail. This gives me after a normal day of use more than 50% battery life left (on a stock ROM).
For a PDA (except for the PALM iV, which did not have (serious) backlight and colour display) this is quite good.
A PDA should at least sync daily..... so this is acceptable in my opinion, and do not forget Older machines had wordse battry lives.
If one starts navigating, power consumption is incredible, and a good car-loader is almost an obligation, but then again, most navigation units need a powersource. Even the Nokia E71 drains the battery very quickly if navigating without loader attached.
As for sense/manilla:
I am an winmo addict, even an experienced user (ppc2002, ppc 2003, ppc2003SE, Winmo 5, winmo 6.1, winmo 6.5), and I seem to miss a lot of functionality in sense, so I use a lot of quicklinks to the original WinMo apps (eg. Outlook contacts, WinMo settings), yes WinMo is a bit cumbersome, but if you know your way..... Beats sense a lot of times in functionality.
On the other hand, for the quick "thingies" I still use Sense, but as soon as Sense does not live upto the functionality I need..... WinMo!!
All in all:
I can understand the review, seen from the perspective of a phone user, and I agree with it, but with a twist
For me the HD2 Rocks in a major way.
Currently I am sticking to stock, as the phne/pda does what I need and fulfills all my needs. (and more)
For apps: goto www.windowsmobilesoft.net, www.freewareppc.com, www.handango.com, www.wm6software.net, www.pocketgear.com, www.mobiletopsoft.com, pocketpcfreeware.com, pocketpcfreeware.org, freewarepocketpc.net, pocket-pc-freeware.com and many others....
IF one adds up all apps I believe there are a multitude of apps available for our winmo device even more than for any android, iOS or symbian phone all together. Agreed same apps exist 100s of times.....
Moreover even a lot of old ppc2003 software can run on winmo 6.1 (and perhaps also on wm6.5, but I have not had any time or need to experiment)
Concluding:
I am very happy with my HD2, still on stock,
Superfluous speed, no lag from Sense, but one need to use it with a lot of sense (but that has grown on me from ppc2003 on )
Battery life could be better, but I cradle it whenever I can, thus my batterylife is more than sufficient. (As an early adopter from pDA, I am used to cradeling )
Later on I will start experimenting, mainly because of Android (need to experience that too.)
For me the HD2 Rocks in a major way.
Currently I am sticking to stock, as the phne/pda does what I need and fulfills all my needs. (and more)
For apps: goto www.windowsmobilesoft.net, www.freewareppc.com, www.handango.com, www.wm6software.net, www.pocketgear.com, www.mobiletopsoft.com, pocketpcfreeware.com, pocketpcfreeware.org, freewarepocketpc.net, pocket-pc-freeware.com and many others....
IF one adds up all apps I believe there are a multitude of apps available for our winmo device even more than for any android, iOS or symbian phone all together. Agreed same apps exist 100s of times.....
Moreover even a lot of old ppc2003 software can run on winmo 6.1 (and perhaps also on wm6.5, but I have not had any time or need to experiment)
Concluding:
I am very happy with my HD2, still on stock,
Superfluous speed, no lag from Sense, but one need to use it with a lot of sense.
I could never agree more!!
In my opinion; the latest stock rom + CHT & its editor + apps = a master piece!!
All the respect for the OP's review!
i'm glad i could help spark a couple pages of discussion. I recently purchased my hd2, and i spent a lot of time on these forums learning all about it. i think my review bridges the gab between the xdadevelopers forums and those of tmobile
and to the second person that claimed my review had nothing new to offer the hd2 community, i think your actions speak louder than your words.
kyle_hd2 said:
and to the second person that claimed my review had nothing new to offer the hd2 community, i think your actions speak louder than your words.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that that saying makes any sense in the context that you used it, but all this thread did was mull over old news. But on reflection, what do I care? Welcome to XDA.
Kyle mate.. waiting your review on WM5.
Related
You don't have to read this, you can just vote.
Ok, we have all heard about OS 3.0.
Faster, multi - tasking, A2DP, other bluetooth improvements such as file transfer, MMS, video capture, onboard video editing software included, etc..
The new iPhone to be released end of June is also going to have a few hardware changes. Have heard that it is 16 to 32 gb, that there is a 5mp autofocus camera with a quality lens on back, and a 3mp on the front (compared to our VGA), thinner (of course, pretty much a guarantee), possible bigger and sharper screen, etc...
It seems to me as if Apple has really (unlike MS) done what a company should...analyze the competition (primarily Android but also webOS and RIM), and redesign and improve their product accordingly. They have gotten rid of pretty muh all of the stupid annoyances, made it faster and smaller, and given developers much more access to different system level things for their apps, along with about a million other changes and improvements that you can and probably have read about. I am also really thinking that they will have good integration with things such as facebook, gmail, and outlook.
I really think there will be no question and that it truly will be the #1 device really without any competition. The only competition I can see is maybe something such as the HTC Magic that is thinner, has a larger, higher res screen, and comes stock with unbranded Android 1.5 (such as some of the HTC line up we have seen).
I just DESPERATELY hope that Apple isn't so stupid and naiive as to not put on MORE BUTTONS! Buttons are always better...always having to quit what you're doing and go back to the home screen to do ANYTHING would drive me insane...I love texting on my HD, then pulling up the phone and calling someone, sticking it on speaker, then going back to texting...that's not too much to ask I don't think.
So vote!
As for what I'm doing. I am jumping ship to the new iPhone. If I find it doesn't satisfy me, I will sell it and get the best Android handset I can find. Hopefully something like the Magic, but thinner, having a bigger, more high res screen, and comes stock with unbranded Android 1.5. If no new non - keyboard Anroid handsets are out by that time...Magic it is! (if it is ever released)
im gonna have to see the official specs and the actual device before i decide anything,if what is mentioned is true then perhaps. but im looking more at the Palm Pre than the iPhone, we will see
Ok, firstly MS is doing something about it, they are working on two new OSs at the moment, secondly its not MS that makes the phone, this is the problem and the holy grail with WM phones, firstly its a problem because MS has no say what hardware is used with its OS, this means like its desktop cousin it needs to support many things well and i believe to an extent it achieves this, but it doesnt excel at any of them. Its the holy grail because with the Iphone, you get 1 phone, 1 set of gear, 1 design for every possible usage, with WM devices you get exactly what you want because you have the choice to choose different phones, different specs and design for your needs.
Im leaving out Android here for 1 reason, it sucks, no no hear me out, apple has a HUGH following with its iPods which translate in to potential iPhone sales, android has a "bunch of Hippies" style of following, they are not classy, they are not even that good but its an alternative to the evil of Microsoft and ties of Apple which makes then appeal to others and thats fair enough, its a market as good as any.
But here is the reason ill be sticking with my Microsoft Windows Mobile based PDA, it works, it works fairly quick, it looks as good as an iPhone and i can install pretty much anything i want on it. Weres Tomtom for android or the Iphone? where is memory Map? where is the ease of use when syncing with Outlook? wheres Igo8? core player? world card mobile? the various language programs? all my security and tracking programs, the million and 1 apps available on the net, free or paid that have a propper support base if it all goes wrong, data retrivel?
some of those i use every day, i use many others every day, and yes there may be alternatives for some, but unless i can get them ALL working on one of the other two devices ill not change because i need them all and thats as simple as it gets.
With a desktop OS you can dual boot or virtual PC it, an thats fine if thats your thng, but you cant do that at the moment on the PDA and even if you could i doubt i would because its a hassle i can do without, WM works and works well enough and im sure its only going to get better.
And what will be the screen resolution of new iPhone?
Current iPhone is a no go for me - with such low screen resolution reading eBooks and surfing the internet is really, really bad.
Waiting eagerly for the new iPhone so definitely jumping ship...
I've got a Mac and syncing is nearly impossible. I've tried all sort of apps but none worked perfectly. I really need to sync address book and calendar and I've had enough of transferring mp3 files one by one, artwork not working etc etc.
the mp3 function is very important for me and the iPhone is perfect for that.
only problem I've got is I don't like the iPhone's current design. It's so 2 years ago. Hopefully they'll come up with a nice sleek design.
Why are Windows Mobile Apps falling behind IPhone ones?
One of the things that has always interest me when making such a decision is: What do developers think? How do they view developing for iPhone versus for winmo platform?
To gain insight into the thinking of developers, including some rather big names in winmo application development, you guys might want to read these extremely interesting threads:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/ed...s-mobile-apps-falling-behind-iphone-ones.html
and
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=6481405#post6481405
dazza9075 said:
Ok, firstly MS is doing something about it, they are working on two new OSs at the moment, secondly its not MS that makes the phone, this is the problem and the holy grail with WM phones, firstly its a problem because MS has no say what hardware is used with its OS, this means like its desktop cousin it needs to support many things well and i believe to an extent it achieves this, but it doesnt excel at any of them. Its the holy grail because with the Iphone, you get 1 phone, 1 set of gear, 1 design for every possible usage, with WM devices you get exactly what you want because you have the choice to choose different phones, different specs and design for your needs.
Im leaving out Android here for 1 reason, it sucks, no no hear me out, apple has a HUGH following with its iPods which translate in to potential iPhone sales, android has a "bunch of Hippies" style of following, they are not classy, they are not even that good but its an alternative to the evil of Microsoft and ties of Apple which makes then appeal to others and thats fair enough, its a market as good as any.
But here is the reason ill be sticking with my Microsoft Windows Mobile based PDA, it works, it works fairly quick, it looks as good as an iPhone and i can install pretty much anything i want on it. Weres Tomtom for android or the Iphone? where is memory Map? where is the ease of use when syncing with Outlook? wheres Igo8? core player? world card mobile? the various language programs? all my security and tracking programs, the million and 1 apps available on the net, free or paid that have a propper support base if it all goes wrong, data retrivel?
some of those i use every day, i use many others every day, and yes there may be alternatives for some, but unless i can get them ALL working on one of the other two devices ill not change because i need them all and thats as simple as it gets.
With a desktop OS you can dual boot or virtual PC it, an thats fine if thats your thng, but you cant do that at the moment on the PDA and even if you could i doubt i would because its a hassle i can do without, WM works and works well enough and im sure its only going to get better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. We all know MS is doing something about it. But we also all know that virtually all MS products suck. We also all know that MS is SLOOOW...therefore (like I said), by the time winmo 7 is released, it will already be behind. It will be released around 3rd quarter 2010...that's ridiculous. Another year from now Android will no longer be so new, and Apple will have put out something entirely new as they know ppl will be getting tired of iPhone by then. Not to mention what RIM and Nokia will be doing.
2. Where is the basis that Android sucks? It is faster than WM, that much is for sure. It is also more customizable. It is more modern. 3rd party app support does not make an OS good or bad....your argument that they suck cuz they don't have apps is no good to me. Sure it can make or break the success of the OS but...that's got nothing to do with the OS itself. Android has a LOT on WM and WM has...virtually nothing on Android. It looks ancient, it runs ancient, and it's that simple. I think we can all agree on that last line there.
3. "android has a "bunch of Hippies" style of following, they are not classy, they are not even that good"
- Gotta admit that you really lost me there.
4. Windows Mobile is in fact rather slow, even on good hardware with good drivers.
5. Windows Mobile crashes all the time even fresh after a hard reset, no apps installed, on an official ROM (just like the desktop Windows!)
6. iPhone has better syncing solutions that ActiveSync and Outlook.
7. Just FYI to all reading this...I am a Windows user and have been for years (all my life). I am not an outsider looking in and criticizing Windows w/o due reason and experience. I recently installed OSX86 on my PC however and...it truly is really nice. MS sucks. Bottom line, and there is really no avoiding it.
8. All OS's have pro's and cons. There are just as many if not more arguments against all your arguments for Windows Mobile. My point is simply that the new iPhone truly is a lot better than any Windows Mobile device running the latest WM 6.5.
MrYdude said:
And what will be the screen resolution of new iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No kidding. Couldn't agree more. Coming from a Touch HD and having looked at a lot of friends iPhones...their screens look terrible when reading text (altho they do have 16 million colors compared to our 65,000. Side note: Android also has 16 million colors).
Sadly though I have read that they plan not to change the resolution in order to keep all apps usable. I reallly hope not.
It's true, MS does not have any influence on the phone hardware.
However, an operating system's success is not about hardware potential or software potential or about a combination of both: it's about a tangible offer of potentially attractive software which can be easily obtained via a single entry point, i.e. an APP STORE. That's currently the BIGGEST drawback of the WM platform. I love the customization part of WM but it took me ages to get there. Many users won't take that road and therefore go for the iphone.
There's also a lock-in effect to this -> More users to an OS platform means that developing for that platform gets attractive, thus attracting developers and making the apps offer even more powerful. That in turn increases the chances of attracting new users to the platform, etc.
Honestly, considering all this, do you really a 50 megapixel camera or a nVidia Geforce 8800 GTX in your phone ?? What about all the already hidden potential in your phones which never gets explored because developers and users do not get a realistic chance to discover all of its limitations ?
I'm pretty sure that the new iPhone does not support multi-tasking, you're still stuck to doing one thing at a time. I believe Apples official unofficial stand on it is that they spent way too much time and money on their failed push notifications, and they're not going to allow multi-tasking. (Apple does not like to say it's wrong...and if they would release multi-tasking, I'm sure they'll call it something else, and put a patent on it for no reason).
You know what...
I just love the WM and WM based devices.
They have ALL i need
They are fully customizable and have fully multitasking support.
With iPhone, you will get what it is, and you will get stucked with iTunes and online store
Many iPhone apps (though looks amazing) are not so usable
I just need functionality much more then a great user interface
Peace all
Well i won't go for the Iphone i have my HD and i'm stuck on it to change something that good you need to buy something "special" and from the looks of it the new Iphone will be a bit better than the last one so why do i give a great amount of money to switch to something "a bit" better.Let's see Palm Pre and other Android devices now the market will be devided not only for WM an Iphone but Android and Palm OS also so i won't hurry to go for the new stuff as you can never know which one is better until you try them for at lesat 4-6 months maybe even more....so let's wait and see "newer" is not the same as "better" .
andes83 said:
Well i won't go for the Iphone i have my HD and i'm stuck on it to change something that good you need to buy something "special" and from the looks of it the new Iphone will be a bit better than the last one so why do i give a great amount of money to switch to something "a bit" better.Let's see Palm Pre and other Android devices now the market will be devided not only for WM an Iphone but Android and Palm OS also so i won't hurry to go for the new stuff as you can never know which one is better until you try them for at lesat 4-6 months maybe even more....so let's wait and see "newer" is not the same as "better" .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really think it is going to be more than "a bit better".
As you saw there are hundreds of features and fixes in the new OS, plus new hardware changes such has considerably better CPU, double the RAM, better camera, thinner etc..
iori said:
You know what...
I just love the WM and WM based devices.
They have ALL i need
They are fully customizable and have fully multitasking support.
With iPhone, you will get what it is, and you will get stucked with iTunes and online store
Many iPhone apps (though looks amazing) are not so usable
I just need functionality much more then a great user interface
Peace all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iori,
There are lots of misconceptions about iPhone, so I don't blame you for having incomplete or wrong information.
iPhone is extremley customizable too, and you too can have multitasking once jailbroken. Therefore, you do not get what it is - you get what you want it to be. You don't get stucked with iTunes and online store. You get the benefit but you can also get things outside iTune and online store.
Whoever gives you the idea that the iPhone aplls are not useable does not know what he is talking about. When app store was first available, many low quality applications did get listed. Not anymore. Whether you're an advanced IT network adminstrator, sales executives, finance director, web site marketer, shipping agent, there are really nice applications for you. Trust me on this one. Don't just anyhow believe people who tells you that iPhone is just a toy and winmo is for corporate use. iPhone can be as corporate as you want it to be.
Cheers.
Anyway, iPhone is still quite poor on the GPS domain.
6 or 7 apps (park lane, radar, around me, traffic, etc) to do all that my iGO can natively do... and still no turn-by-turn soft buyable on the iPhone.
I want a real all in one, and neither the actual iPhone or the next one won't be a real one. My friends who own an iphone have all get a specific GPS, and well, everything's said...
Roupette said:
Anyway, iPhone is still quite poor on the GPS domain.
6 or 7 apps (park lane, radar, around me, traffic, etc) to do all that my iGO can natively do... and still no turn-by-turn soft buyable on the iPhone.
I want a real all in one, and neither the actual iPhone or the next one won't be a real one. My friends who own an iphone have all get a specific GPS, and well, everything's said...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's tue still. If you're in US, there is an application called G-Map, which on the surface looks quite decent, but nothing outside US yet. However, this is expected to change with Firmware 3.0. The reason why there was none in the past was because Apple did not allow any such application, thanks to their stupid policy. Respectable company like Tom Tom would of course refuse to release it into the "underground" cydia store. With the policy change by Apple, TomTom is expected there soon.
I'm all for having everything in one device too, and GPS has been a sore point for me. The other sore point is the fixed battery, but that I can accept because iPHone's battery life is not bad.
1, im sorry but your statment about everything MS produces are rubbish, is in fact rubbish, i cant comment what you do with your PC / Mobile but i rarely have system crashes, on my mobile i cant even remember the last time i was forced to do a hard reset, on my desktop im using one of the most stable OSs ive ever used and its BETA! I do agree it takes them time to produce the software and i do agree that in the past SOME of their projects are flakey but not all.
"2. Where is the basis that Android sucks?"
You miss the point of an OS here, if nothing good works on an OS NO ONE will use it, its that simple, If i cant use the programs i need then that OS is useless to me, it may have a place in the linux following groups who challenge everything MS and claim to be better than everything else but in the real world if i cant use what i want to use its useless. MS also has a massive software base including various distribution sites, some free some not, everything is cated for. Android looks no better than my WM device with Touch flo, its no quicker, i know this because i have both of them sitting in front of me.
Because something is more modern doesnt make it good, take the Pentium 4 over Pentium 3 as an example. but i agree android IS more customizable
"Android has a LOT on WM and WM has...virtually nothing on Android"
Really? a LOT is a big statement that i bet you cant quantify with factual information and not hand back subjective reviews and "feelings" about things.
"It looks ancient,"
The core OS does yes, but tell me, is android not a Shell over a command line? i believe it is, So technically the core OS on android looks crap too but thats just nit picking!
"it runs ancient"
that makes no sence, only and new programs work on it fine, quick and responsive so what makes an OS ancient?
3. "android has a "bunch of Hippies" style of following, they are not classy, they are not even that good"
- Gotta admit that you really lost me there.
Ah yes i was refering to Linux and its intresting cult of followers but i retract that statement as it was below the belt.
"4. Windows Mobile is in fact rather slow, even on good hardware with good drivers."
nope, it isnt to me, graphics wise its slow compared to hardware excelerated devices, whats bizzar is that the phone can still pump out ok graphics on its CPU and still multi task, if qualcomm released graphics drivers for many of the 7xxx based chipsets i think you will find a near perfect device. but even without that it works....just!
"5. Windows Mobile crashes all the time even fresh after a hard reset, no apps installed, on an official ROM (just like the desktop Windows!)"
I really cant comment, since WM2002 ive not had that on a multitude of different devices. and Windows doesnt do that either, perhaps the common denominator here is the user.
"6. iPhone has better syncing solutions that ActiveSync and Outlook."
quantify please?
"7. Just FYI to all reading this...I am a Windows user and have been for years (all my life). I am not an outsider looking in and criticizing Windows w/o due reason and experience. I recently installed OSX86 on my PC however and...it truly is really nice"
I too have used Linux, OSX and all the different versions of Windows and they have there places i do agree that in different markets different OS's suit different people. but tell me which one of those is the best for all markets all be it perhaps not as good as the other OS's designed for those markets?
"MS sucks. "
you lose all credibility with that statment attact a spacific product if you choose but to say Apple sucks or MS sucks is crazy and wrong.
"Bottom line, and there is really no avoiding it.
8. All OS's have pro's and cons. There are just as many if not more arguments against all your arguments for Windows Mobile. My point is simply that the new iPhone truly is a lot better than any Windows Mobile device running the latest WM 6.5."
You started off well there, but lost it at the end, PROVE to me that the new OS is better on the Iphone? without using speculation and subjective views an opinions.
I believe MS will be increasing the colour depth on the new devices but i doubt it will make any significate difference, except in its speed. what the WM based devices need is some new tech that uses resistive screens without the 70% (about that) loss of light, that in turn would increase battery life. Dont say capacitive screens, a stylus can be very useful, but definitely a combination of the two somehow.
there are 3 killers for me with the iphone
1. no gps (it has a chip but nothing other than gimmickey apps for it)
2. resolution too small
3. no multi tasking - if I can't listen to mp3's while driving on my bluetooth stereo whilst having TomTom tell me where to go its no good.
Now we know that the new iPhone is gonna ship with TomTom but unless they sort the other 2 issues I wont even be looking at it, let alone ditching my beloved HD.
lancemate said:
there are 3 killers for me with the iphone
1. no gps (it has a chip but nothing other than gimmickey apps for it)
2. resolution too small
3. no multi tasking - if I can't listen to mp3's while driving on my bluetooth stereo whilst having TomTom tell me where to go its no good.
Now we know that the new iPhone is gonna ship with TomTom but unless they sort the other 2 issues I wont even be looking at it, let alone ditching my beloved HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Lancemate,
How do we know that the new iPhone is gonna ship with Tom Tom? I must have missed that information somewhere.
I'm too disappointed with Steve Jobs for not providing multitasking. So, looks like we still have to jailbreak to get that.
HD's resolution is very nice. No doubt about it. Although vast majority of the applications (phone, weather, music player for example) would not really miss this. Web surfing is in my mind a leading exception, as it would be nice to be able to clearly read the font without zooming in. It is for me a compromise, although an acceptable one for myself. I guess one has to take everything into account (multitouch vs resistive, number of applications available, speed, smoothness, stability, user interface, etc) and decide for oneself if such a compromise is worth it.
its all over the internet mate and has been for a while
example
http://www.appleinsider.com/article..._0_app_highlights_tomtom_gps_line_6_more.html
lancemate said:
its all over the internet mate and has been for a while
example
http://www.appleinsider.com/article..._0_app_highlights_tomtom_gps_line_6_more.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm aware Tom Tom and Navigon will be available, but as separate purchase rather than being shipped with the phone. Guess I misunderstood what you said. Thanks anyway.
I'm in two minds.
The HD2 is a GREAT piece of hardware. I've had three different ones since November.
It looks excellent, the screen is gorgeous, the build quality superb
But I have two major gripes:
There is very little decent software: and by 'software' I mean things programmed from the ground up to provide access to things I like to do, such as Facebook. All the Apps that I DO find to provide this function either have a clunky and ugly Windows CE look to them, have jerky scrolling and/or provide very inconsistent/downright SH** functionality (See Microsoft Facebook App).
Unfortunately I am a big social networking and multimedia user and for me ALL the Twitter clients, Facebook clients and IM clients pale into insignificance compared with those available on Android and iPhone OSx. Logging into 'lite' versions of Twitter or Facebook through a browser just isn't good enough for me: I have seen the light.
There is a great deal of software development outside of the Marketplace - YES - but most of THIS development seems to be more about fixing core problems, missing features, settings and stability fixes than providing nice apps with a pleasant user experience.
Now I KNEW the Marketplace was poor before I got the HD2 BUT I expected it to improve somewhat. It seems though that a new app is thrown in there about once every six months...the Marketplace is just DEAD IN THE WATER, and all the while stupid companies like SPB sell their rip-off wares therein I feel that the Marketplace will be tarnished.
As I said though I KNEW the Marketplace was poor before I bought the HD2, but here I come to my bigget gripe with the HD2...
Its reliability.
Slag the iPhone off all you like, but my 3Gs (which had a tethered jailbreak and therefore needed plugging into windows to boot it back up if it was turned off) never ONCE needed restarting nor turned off whilst I was at work. (And before anyone mentions it I had backgrounder installed so I WAS multitasking)
On the other hand I have to reboot my HD2 at LEAST once EVERY DAY, regardless of which ROM I have installed. Now I have been using Windows Mobile phones for years and years and I KNOW that Windows Mobile is unstable and unreliable, but I was kind of hoping that with the super powerful processor, extra RAM and Windows Mobile update that I wouldn't have to worry about this any more.
NOT THE CASE.
I just cannot cope with the SMS app slowing down, missed keypresses and the cursor jumping to the start of the text all the time; I get fed up of everything freezing up; the screen not turning on but the lights still coming on on the keys; things going jerky for no reason.
NOW I know I'm going to get some asshole telling me I must have faulty hardware blah blah blah. BULL****. I've had three of the phones and it's the same whether I use a custom or standard ROM. I close down apps, and still things stay slow and jerky until I restart the phone....my conclusion:
WINDOWS MOBILE IS SERIOUSLY FLAWED.
I am no fanboy....not of ANY device. I will buy whatever I think is best and for HARDWARE there is nothing to beat the HD2; I love it....the software though seems to be showing its age REALLY badly, so now I just don't know what to do.
Yes I know that no device is perfect, but out of the iPhone 3G/3Gs/HTC Magic/Hero and Dext that i've owned/own NONE of these devices have genuinely hampered my ability to do NORMAL 'phone' things like sending a text by slowing down and getting glitchy for no reason...not EVERY DAY anyway...until the HD2 came along.
I'm going to keep my HD2 for another month or so and give it a chance as - like I said - I DO LOVE the hardware, and when it works WELL it is a very nice device to use...
But I'd like to hear from anyone else who's not having a good experience with the HD2, and what they would like to see from the device in the future and how much more of a chance they are going to give HTC to fix the problems discussed regularly on these forums.
I don't want to hear from people who think the phone is perfect....I'm not interested in your views as they are clearly tarnished in some way by either an amorous obsession with Windows Mobile or a lack of variation in the phones you've owned. I don't particularly want to hear anyone criticising the iPhone or Android either as this is pretty irrelevant.
Just please can someone tell me I'm not the only one, and offer some suggestions as to what might help or what phone they are considering as replacements.
Many thanks
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I'd say return it (since it's your 3rd time) and get an android or go back to your iphone. No point in lamenting about the OS if you're unwilling to make things work.
It's my third time because I sold my first upgrade for the money and my DEV phone broke.
What exactly do you mean by 'unwilling to make things work?' I've tried every tweak and fix I can; every task manager I could find and applied every patch available: would you define this as unwilling?
I want to hear from other people who have a similar experience to me and what they plan to do: wait or buy a different device.
I don't want to hear from people who get defensive and patronising at the very idea that their precious phone is less than perfect.
I haven't contributed twice as many posts as you through unwillingness, Lude219, so please don't try and make me feel small.
I am genuinely in two minds about what to do and thought that I would like to hear like-minded views and suggestions, not thinly-veiled insults.
forum (a public meeting or assembly for open discussion)
I empathise.
From my perspective:
1. WinMo & apps - Agreed. HUGE room for improvement.
2. Reliability - Top notch. No unneccessary reboots required, no hangs/freezes/non-responsiveness/missed keypresses/cursor jumping
....maybe it's your phone.
Doesn't bad luck come in threes? Maybe your next HD2 will be as good as mine. (p.s. I'm using 1.61 stock rom)
I had the N97 before this, and im really happy to have moved on, the HD2 owns the N97 ,... Nokia died .. sadly .. The best was the N95
Anyway, regarding the HD2, yes I love it, but what you said is actually ture
I for once thought that by getting the HD2, I will be able to connect with friends .. I thought its facebook integrated because you can add their info in contacts !!
But the blackberry, a new wall post, an inbox message, even a POKE .. you get a notification ...
I really thought the HD2 is more social .. but the facebook app sucks ...
A bit dissapointed at that part .. but oh well ... If you had the N97, you cant really complain alot ... The n97 killed nokia (IMO).
Sell it, wait for Xperia X10 - it seems this should be a social network beast.
And comes with Android 1.6 with tons of apps to choose from...
Not that those would have the eye candy look of iPhone apps by all meanings...
But you will have what you want. I don´t think you are the HD2 type.
I'm not sure why you need to restart the phone every day because I certainly don't have to do that. I'd say that you're problem is related to some software you've installed rather than the phone or the OS. I don't have any stability or reliability issues with Windows Mobile.
Perhaps you need to reflash an official ROM and install the apps you use one at a time to determine which one(s) are causing you problems?
Hi,
I've been surprised by all the problems with the HD2 myself. I don't own one yet but I've been wanting to get one since I first saw the leaked specs.
Unfortunately every HD2 that I've tried over the last two months has not been usable. I've tried different units from different vendors, sometimes for several hours and in each case the primary problem has been the keyboard.
Yes, it's far to sensitive but there are a number of other problems with it including the jumping cursor. I've used that keyboard on the HTC Hero without any problems so it should really be easier to use on the HD2. I know, I can install tweaks to reduce the screen sensitivity (although it's great for everything else) or install other keyboards but I'd like to see HTC address these problems first.
Anyway I have started thinking that the problem with things like SMS, phone slowdowns, etc, etc may not be WM 6.5 related but rather HTC Sense related.
I would like to know if anyone has managed to try a Sense-free ROM or better yet the closest thing they can get to a vanilla WM 6.5 build on this hardware, perhaps with and without the multi-touch driver.
I'm going to try and hold out for a bit because HTC haven't really managed to fix any of the major bugs and they still haven't addressed a number at all.
The Pink Camera issue has been reduced (but not fixed 100%), the camera flash is a problem, they have failed to fix the SMS issue twice already and they still have to address a whole slew of other problems including the 3G connection problem. I'm going to try and wait and see if they do so either this month or by MWC next month, possibly even alongside the next version of WM 6.x.
I also have an issue with available apps but in my case it's missing apps from the iPhone and Android and the lack of depth within apps in Android, so that limits my options.
These are the alternate devices that I'm looking at:
Acer neoTouch
Samsung Omnia II
Samsung Omnia Pro (not so much anymore)
Blackberry Storm 2 (a bit of an odd one out)
Since you like Android you may want to look at:
HTC Bravo (not released yet)
Motorola MILESTONE / DROID
Acer Liquid (you can get the CPU unlocked to 1GHz)
Also since you like Apple you may want to see if anything of interest is announced next week.
The Acer neoTouch has the same CPU as the HD2 but much less RAM and a very light skin on it and it seems to work really well. It also seems to be faster than the HD2 so this is my next choice unless something crops up to makes me think otherwise.
The Samsung Omnia II is a possibility but it is a lot less powerful than the Snapdragon phones. It has a decent 1500 mAh battery and an AMOLED screen as well as the option of 2, 8, or 16 GB of internal storage depending on the model.
The Samsung Omnia Pro is really there because I was looking at it as an alternative to the HTC Touch Pro 2 because it had a faster CPU and a flash. However after trying phones with lager screens than my TyTN II I think that I could live with a software keyboard.
I'm really hoping that the three phones above are added to the forums here at Xda-Developers because that will make the buying decision easier. I'd really rather not loose the great support that comes from the users of this site.
The Blackberry Storm 2 is an outsider but still a possibility as a last resort (but I may end up with one anyway since I want to replace my current phones with two new phones - I use one with a local SIM while traveling). I don't really like the clicky screen that much but it does work well. Right now there is no working VOIP software for use with Skype over 3G available and I'm waiting to see what happens with the BIS upgrades that are meant to happen this quarter and next quarter to see if it can be made to work for me.
I have decided to go back to the Iphone - nothing beats it for ease of use, application / media support and obvious sync ability if you own a Mac. The HD2 Hardware, screen and size is awesome but I find the WM and HTC UI just too messy and clunky compared to the Iphone. I have kept it though until a more cleaner UI is designed and the Windows apps store improves - Infinity looks promising...but by then the new iphone will be here - and other makes will always be playing catchup in terms of innovation and UI simplicity.
I suppose you cant beat it for customising though, but I don't want to spend half my time fiddling with silly theme tweaks and icons.
hawrai68 said:
I have decided to go back to the Iphone - nothing beats it for ease of use, application / media support and obvious sync ability if you own a Mac. The HD2 Hardware, screen and size is awesome but I find the WM and HTC UI just too messy and clunky compared to the Iphone. I have kept it though until a more cleaner UI is designed and the Windows apps store improves - Infinity looks promising...but by then the new iphone will be here - and other makes will always be playing catchup in terms of innovation and UI simplicity.
I suppose you cant beat it for customising though, but I don't want to spend half my time fiddling with silly theme tweaks and icons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But how do you go from a 5mp camera (although pink spot crap) to a 3mp camera with no flash !!!!!
On bright day, Iphone camera is just as good...and I prefer a bit of grain on darker scenes to pink spot of doom and blurry shots on HD2 - the video on iphone is just as good also...but the HTC is great and I miss it.
ZaZu90 said:
But how do you go from a 5mp camera (although pink spot crap) to a 3mp camera with no flash !!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On bright day, Iphone camera is just as good...and I prefer a bit of grain on darker scenes to pink spot of doom and blurry shots on HD2 - the video on iphone is just as good also...but the HTC is great and I miss i
Agreed... Social networking and multimedia software for HD2 is pretty low quality or completely missing compared to other platforms. I think that Microsoft is not releasing any update for their social networking apps because they're totally focused and committed to deliver WM 6.6 and WM7. Before switching to another phone I'd wait feb/march to see what Microsoft will show about these updates and if they will be available on our HD2.
Personally, I think that WM7 with its supposed wow-effect and eye candy will give a huuuge boost to the software catalogue of the platform and deliver strong social networking capabilities.
Taking about reliability... I just have to reset my device sometimes because my texts gets stuck in the outbox, but this problem is HTC related and I hope will be fixed asap. The same thing can be said about most of any other software issue on HD2. Based on some analysis that I did by observing the active processes on my phone, there are some memory leaks or high CPU usage also Start (HTC Sense), services.exe and HTC Messagging while the device is performing some SMS-related tasks or HTC sense is updating contacts and linking them with the newest Facebook Updates.
Also, by having tried for quite a long time a "vanilla" version of WM 6.5.x, I can say I didn't had any single problem that caused me to soft-reset the device, and the system itself was fast and stable. Then I went back to a modded ROM with sense built-in just because of the extra eye candy (I don't like how titanium/spb shell or pointui 2 look).
So my suggestion would be to wait a couple of months to see what Microsoft has under the hood and then decide what's the best for your needs.
EDIT: It seems that itje managed to grab a 2.06 version and will include it soon in his new rom, so it may bring some fixes to the most outstanding bugs (but have new ones aswell... we just have to wait and see)
For facebook try: http://touch.facebook.com/
so far it beats the facebook app and the lite site.
hi mate, i was watching the hd2 for a couple of months andi i finally got one about 2 weeks ago now. i must say initially i loved it, the look, the size the style, i thought it was perfect, but over the past week things are starting to annoy me now. ive had to pull my battery out a fair few times due to the screen staying blank but the buttons being on, message lag is the worst, its got to the point where im opening and closing the menu 3 times until its caught up... also im getting general lag and slowness in the menus now aswel. i have no music on here, about 20 photos, i havent done anything to it because i only just found out how to get into the registrys! its a joke, and you can say 'install the tweaks and roms' or whateve r,but why should we rely in people here at xda to adress the flaws and fix them, when the least id expect from a £500+ phone is to be able to send a text lag free! also, web browsings ridiculously poor image quality, poor you tube video quality, its crap! ive tried i.e., but its buggy, opera is my favored but with horendous image quality, and opera mini is the worst browser ive ever used...
In time cant wait to start customising it and playing around, but with things i want to, not because i have to due to htc's laziness...
I've not even considered sending i back once, and i wont, i love it, but im hoping htc are going to address and fix these things that shouldnt need fixing!
matt_attack_2k1 said:
hi mate, i was watching the hd2 for a couple of months andi i finally got one about 2 weeks ago now. i must say initially i loved it, the look, the size the style, i thought it was perfect, but over the past week things are starting to annoy me now. ive had to pull my battery out a fair few times due to the screen staying blank but the buttons being on, message lag is the worst, its got to the point where im opening and closing the menu 3 times until its caught up... also im getting general lag and slowness in the menus now aswel. i have no music on here, about 20 photos, i havent done anything to it because i only just found out how to get into the registrys! its a joke, and you can say 'install the tweaks and roms' or whateve r,but why should we rely in people here at xda to adress the flaws and fix them, when the least id expect from a £500+ phone is to be able to send a text lag free! also, web browsings ridiculously poor image quality, poor you tube video quality, its crap! ive tried i.e., but its buggy, opera is my favored but with horendous image quality, and opera mini is the worst browser ive ever used...
In time cant wait to start customising it and playing around, but with things i want to, not because i have to due to htc's laziness...
I've not even considered sending i back once, and i wont, i love it, but im hoping htc are going to address and fix these things that shouldnt need fixing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never had to take the battery out of mine, it never crashed, image quality was superb when browsing and You Tube videos were perfect!
Stoic33 said:
For facebook try: http://touch.facebook.com/
so far it beats the facebook app and the lite site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that - works great !
I used to have wm phone 3 years ago while there was nothing better in the market and it did the job very well. Then I bought an iphone 3G and I saw the new meaning of user friendly interface and responsive phone. I had the iphone for 2 years and 3 days ago I bought the HD2. Now the iphone looks like comparing DOS with windows! The iphone interface is so simple and the CPU is very slow. It crashes sometimes (once per 10 days approx) and Apple policy is the worst! They want to control their clients and release whatever and whenever they want. When I first got it I couldn't even send MMS or use my own ring tones(there was a whole list of things you couldn't do even though they were supported by the hardware). You cant customize anything because they want to keep and maintain an 'apple' look. Before I got my HD2 everyone had an Iphone whenever I was (train, bus, streets) and I was feeling like I was one small piece in the mass that apple was controlling...
HD2 allows you to do many things whitout comrpimising the user friendliness. I only restarted my phone after I installed critical updates. The battery lasts the same but at least you can replace it whenever you want. Also you can upgrade the memory and connect many different bluetooth devices. Yesterday I connected my bluetooth keyboard and wrote a page in word mobile. Can you do that with the iphone? I synched my contacts with facebook and now I have all the pictures automatically filled. Also with the HD2 you can play almost every media file without transcoding. Can you do that with the iphone? Of course not...The hardware allows you but Apple dont..
Also what about the radio? The led flash?
I am very happy that I moved from the Apple game into a free device that you can do whatever you want but at the same time having this very good looking GUI that makes you feel like being in the future....
I kept my iphone at home as an alternative console/pda because I knew that some programs and especially games will be missing from HD2 so whatever does not exist on HD2 (yet), it is on the iphone.
biofotis said:
I used to have wm phone 3 years ago while there was nothing better in the market and it did the job very well. Then I bought an iphone 3G and I saw the new meaning of user friendly interface and responsive phone. I had the iphone for 2 years and 3 days ago I bought the HD2. Now the iphone looks like comparing DOS with windows! The iphone interface is so simple and the CPU is very slow. It crashes sometimes (once per 10 days approx) and Apple policy is the worst! They want to control their clients and release whatever and whenever they want. When I first got it I couldn't even send MMS or use my own ring tones(there was a whole list of things you couldn't do even though they were supported by the hardware). You cant customize anything because they want to keep and maintain an 'apple' look. Before I got my HD2 everyone had an Iphone whenever I was (train, bus, streets) and I was feeling like I was one small piece in the mass that apple was controlling...
HD2 allows you to do many things whitout comrpimising the user friendliness. I only restarted my phone after I installed critical updates. The battery lasts the same but at least you can replace it whenever you want. Also you can upgrade the memory and connect many different bluetooth devices. Yesterday I connected my bluetooth keyboard and wrote a page in word mobile. Can you do that with the iphone? I synched my contacts with facebook and now I have all the pictures automatically filled. Also with the HD2 you can play almost every media file without transcoding. Can you do that with the iphone? Of course not...The hardware allows you but Apple dont..
Also what about the radio? The led flash?
I am very happy that I moved from the Apple game into a free device that you can do whatever you want but at the same time having this very good looking GUI that makes you feel like being in the future....
I kept my iphone at home as an alternative console/pda because I knew that some programs and especially games will be missing from HD2 so whatever does not exist on HD2 (yet), it is on the iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPhone that you had for 2 years is either the 1st or second generation iPhone, and they are of course slow. The 3GS is not slow compared to Leo.
If you just jailbreak your phone, which is a mere 30 seconds affair comprising clicking a button when running BlackRa1n, then the things which you want to do including typing on bluetooth keyboard would be possible.
The only real attraction of Leo compared to iPhone is the screen size and resolution. The pink patch in the camera spoils the otherwise better camera. As for speed, I think there isn't differential.
Using window mobile instead of Android is however the biggest weakness of this device. There is no future in window mobile. Any application that we invest in on Leo today will not be compatible with WM7, if there is going to be one released at all before Leo becomes average or dated.
The WM6.5 UI is extremely stale. Good applications are hard to come by. Many applications and developments are in the nature of fixing up stuffs in order to correct bugs or make them more useable. Nobody is developing application on an OS that's at the end of its shelf life.
You could always check out the Nexus One also. It's gotten good reviews everywhere that I've read.
These days, I've seen way too many threads like "Goodbye HD2, hello Iphone", "Htc Hd2 bye bye" or "Wtf with this phone". I cant stand it. So I want to have a praise thread for our HD2, our beloved and best one, also want to share my opinions on the HD2 and Winmo generally for everyone to see and think.
Here are some type of opinions quite popular these days:
"Windows mobile 6.5 is a dead os for lack of a better term and also know that the development for apps for it is going to taper and die off at some point"
"HD2 is too buggy, laggy, errors"
"Winmo is a waste for HD2"
"Where are the games and apps?"
"Not work out of the box?"
To answer, first of all, I dont care about apps that Iphone or Android has.
I dont play games much now so that's a second point. Although they do have some very interesting like Tunewiki or Layar, that's the only thing I miss from my old 3GS and Hero. And if u paid so many money for games on iphone, why dont paid a 5 Euro more for Fpsece, to have the best experience about PS1 games on a mobile device so far.
Secondly, about basic apps, Winmo wins.
For videos: I dont have to spend hours to find a good convert program and hours to config and wait for the converted file to transfer to my phone, Coreplayer and TCPMP serve them right.
For ebooks: the most popular format is prc, Mobipocket reader wins again, I dont have to convert either.
For office: what can win over office mobile, please show me, I have no idea about this.
And u know what, Winmo has these basic things and apps for free!!!
Third, the true multitask:
Winmo has been a winner since the start. I agree that Iphone can be jailbreak then install e.g Proswitcher, but that's not so convenient like Winmo. The basic thing about Android is it never really closes an app, keeping it running in the background for quick response, but that only makes Android become slower and laggy just like Winmo. But for convenient, and with a power specs like HD2, it's so great in terms of multitask for me.
Fourth, the screen:
HD2 has a great and super beautiful 4.3 inch screen. I can never go back to a 3.2 (Hero) or 3.5(Iphone) now, I will consider for a 3.7 one. Watching photos, videos, viewing documents, surfing. It's superb with HD2. And please dont expect a device with great screen like that to have a good battery life. More than a day with normal usage is so enough. I got 1.5 days or even more than 2 days with my HD2.
Fifth, and the best one imo, CUSTOMIZATIONS
Winmo is the best world for customizations, for devs and chefs. It got history, and it's truly popular, right? I love to tweak my phone, customize it the way I one, change every weeks or even every days, so I cannot get bored with it. And look at this forum, so many manila mods have been built and definitely going on and on. From maxmanilla, cookie home tabs, GTX, all are wonderful and amazing. I cant thank them and all the chefs here enough.
Now, look at Iphone, what can u do with this easy to get bored home screen, except for changing icons?
And even android, it's not easy to customize it without rooting. And things to customize so far? Not much, I see.
For all that has errors, bugs, laggy, I think it's just u to make the phone like that, not the phone itself (if it's not a defective one). Too many report shows the phone works out of the box, count me in for that. I went with stock rom for a month at first with nothing went wrong.
Winmo to me is never a dead OS like it seems now. It's still growing strong in the world thanks to xda, yes, xda is the one that makes it strong, imo. We love to tweak, we love to customize, we love to share our knowledge and stuffs, so we are here. If u just dont feel like to tweak, u better not be here, xda is not some place where u can just complain and complain everyday for ur own faults.
Finally, HD2 is not a waste to me to run Winmo, it's best with Winmo.
Whew, my longest post so far. Guys, dont leave me alone, come and praise our HD2, I know u will.
List the best things u ever had with HD2 and show the world
P.S: it's just my opinion, but we all have private and personal purposes for using mobile in our life, so that we have personal choices on mobile, so please dont flame on me so hard, haha
1. big screen - can see web pages better than my x1a 3" screen
2. software options (still compatible with the software i use on my old phone) tomtom 7 - no need to have a data connection to use gps, slick im - use this when im on the move, option of using several different types of web browsers (ie, opera, opera mini, skyfire)
3. phone is unlocked and can use it as a prepaid phone.
Exactly mate, should have mentioned the chasing game between apple and devs, it's really annoying sometimes. And the price for an unlock iphone is really ridiculous.
You know, I have both the Nexus one and HD2, but I am really thinking of selling my HD2. I love all the things you have mentioned, but texting is kind of a big deal to me. With an HD2, the keyboard so choppy, no matter the rom I try. If I can somehow fix it, bye bye nexus. If not, well...
Just thinking would there be a phone that has a screen larger than 4.3" in the future or this is the biggest already? By the way 4.3" wide is a common size for GPS device.
gtb5 said:
Just thinking would there be a phone that has a screen larger than 4.3" in the future or this is the biggest already? By the way 4.3" wide is a common size for GPS device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The athena had a 5inch screen.... but you couldn't use it as a regular handset. You needed to use either bluetooth headsets or speakerphone. It was a cool phone, though.
You guys covered it
I agree with everything you guys said, except texting prob, I use swype, love it!! By far best phone I've ever had!! Just added, msvc, love it, just made perfect, better!!
My main reason for choosing HD2 over iphone or android devices is privacy!
I don't have to have apple and google knowing everything about me!
fantasytozi said:
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly my thoughts.
I love it because the great hardware I saw this as a newstep after the qualcomm 528 mhz. Wich was used for 3 or more years. This was a newstep for 2 years this will be a fast phone. And the freedom of windows mobile is also great.
Simply the best phone I ever had! Does everything I need and more!
I love my HD2 because it's big, it's strong, it's fast and give me the possibility to customize everything like I want.
I love my HD2 even because makes me different from all the mass of sheeps that walk around with an Iphone and use their phono to simulate a beer drinking and s**t like this.
Having an HD2, like my good old HTC Topaz, makes me feel different and like a pro.
I have always been a win mobile user. love the ability to anything! can send files bluetooth, COMPLETELY change the theme of the phone, and modify the software ANY way you see fit. suck on that iphone.
The only thing I would change would be camera hardware button
They say the HD2 will be the last in windows mobile 6.5. what a way to go out with a bang!!!
windows mobile+huge screen+fast processor= one sick device
I could probably be classified as a (very) dull business user and I have never before cared over what device was put into my hands..
I have used SE, Nokia, HTC, you name it, and even a iPhone for a while, and all worked okay and I did type an occasional e-mail on them but in reality they all fell short, some with clunky e-mail integration other with unsuitable screens for reading long texts.
With the HD2 I have hit "home", I have become truly freed from my office - I can access and work with my e-mails, read trough and review extensive attachment, surf the web, get online with my laptop without hassle trough the WiFi router. First phone I ever used that work seamless with bluetooth both in the car and with headsets.
It's a serious device and not a toy with downloaded flashlight applications.
afive720 said:
You know, I have both the Nexus one and HD2, but I am really thinking of selling my HD2. I love all the things you have mentioned, but texting is kind of a big deal to me. With an HD2, the keyboard so choppy, no matter the rom I try. If I can somehow fix it, bye bye nexus. If not, well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah well, I agree that this is a let down thing at first, but after few months usage, I'm quite amazed at my typing speed right now
Did u try fingerkeyboard or swype?
uswe said:
I can access and work with my e-mails, read trough and review extensive attachment, get online with my laptop without hassle trough the WiFi router.
It's a serious device and not a toy with downloaded flashlight applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are the things that I never bother or want to do with my old 3GS and Hero
Hi,
I like:
1) Screen (come on 4.3 inch MAMA MYA that’s nice step for mobile phones. I will never buy IPhone 4G if it’s less than 4.3 inch screen)
2) Design (Very slim very sexy)
3) Speed (yeah it’s really speedy)
4) Freedom (WOW the best thing. No more F jailbreak)
I don't like:
1) SMS messaging interface (Please anyone know other messaging interfaces? or at least to tell me how to disable the loading of messages as once. I rather like IPhone messaging where it loads small amount of sms in the chat area and load more history sms on request if needed)
2) Battery life (To bad to be in such great device)
zoombay78 said:
Hi,
I like:
1) Screen (come on 4.3 inch MAMA MYA that’s nice step for mobile phones. I will never buy IPhone 4G if it’s less than 4.3 inch screen)
2) Design (Very slim very sexy)
3) Speed (yeah it’s really speedy)
4) Freedom (WOW the best thing. No more F jailbreak)
I don't like:
1) SMS messaging interface (Please anyone know other messaging interfaces? or at least to tell me how to disable the loading of messages as once. I rather like IPhone messaging where it loads small amount of sms in the chat area and load more history sms on request if needed)
2) Battery life (To bad to be in such great device)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always have over 400 sms in my inbox, and it loads quite quickly, I think. No problem for me. Why dont u try the old style thread messaging from Energy rom or some other roms?
Thank you for starting this post. I was reluctant to upgrade from my Touch Pro to the HD2 for the lack of a hardware keyboard, which I used constantly. The big, beautiful screen won me over and I'm happy to report that I'm typing as fast as ever now that I'm used to my HD2.
I love the huge screen, HTC Sense (Thanks to Cookie and averyone else, not enough room in this thread), one touch dialing, programs etc, etc.
Every, and I mean EVERY challenge that I had with my phone when I first bought it has been solved by using these forums.
Every, and I mean EVERY modification that I could have dreamed of has been supplied by using these forums.
This has been the case since I started using WinMo and with every device I've owned.
These sour grapes posts by individuals who refuse to take the time to use this fine provision in order to make full use of their HD2 are a slap in the face to the hardworking developers who have brought countless hours of joy to the rest of us who deeply appreciate their work.
To the developers and contributors of this forum: I salute you.
To the individuals who are posting their "Bye, Bye" threads. Please leave quietly, and don't let the door hit you in the iphone.
Oh finally some positive thread for HD2.
So what i love about my HD2.
Speed - lighting fast
Customization - Thanks Winmo 6.5
Usefull Programs - Programs that really matters. Like Resco explorer and image viewer, FPSEce,iGO with multitouch and compass
BIG screen - The Biggest!
Open platform (flashing ROMs) - Can be really fun
Loud speakers - Well maybe too much =)
Capacitive screen with multitouch - Say yes to best gaming experience
How the phone feels in pocket (comfortable) - You dont even know it's in your pocket
But there are few bad things =(
Development - The newest games looks like ripped of java with touch support
Really old core of OS - Winmo 6.5 is quite ugly too
Reset button under Battery cover - lol at this one
KowboyBebop said:
Oh finally some positive thread for HD2.
So what i love about my HD2.
Speed - lighting fast
Customization - Thanks Winmo 6.5
Usefull Programs - Programs that really matters. Like Resco explorer and image viewer, FPSEce,iGO with multitouch and compass
BIG screen - The Biggest!
Open platform (flashing ROMs) - Can be really fun
Loud speakers - Well maybe too much =)
Capacitive screen with multitouch - Say yes to best gaming experience
How the phone feels in pocket (comfortable) - You dont even know it's in your pocket
But there are few bad things =(
Development - The newest games looks like ripped of java with touch support
Really old core of OS - Winmo 6.5 is quite ugly too
Reset button under Battery cover - lol at this one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for support at fpsece, KB
About reset button, why dont u try to install the Long Press End Key Reset? That saves me a lot from opening the battery cover
Wondering what is the point of this thread? Well, simple. It is because of the fact,that many people have no idea what is Windows Phone 7 all about, and don't even know what they are missing. So these are the most important things why I don't use Android (nor WM) on my HD2 anymore.
1. Lighting fast booting.
There is no stock OS in the world which would be able to turn on the phone in less then 20 seconds. WP is.
2. Lighting fast reactions
There is no stock OS in the world with so snappy reactions. Never scrolled through my apps this fast.
3. Fastest gaming
WP7 gives you ability to play games with higher FPS compared to Android builds. Plus with the newest NoDo update for WP7 you can say good bye to the loading bar, because of the whole new way to load apps which actually makes loading time around 100% faster. See video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmv6rfrW-4&feature=related
4. Ability to record 720p videos
There is no other OS that gives you ability to record HD videos on your HD2, yet.
5. No more accidental making/answering phonecalls
Did your friends ever ***** that you were calling them, but didn't actually say anything, but you would swear you didn't call? Well, that's because the only thing that is neccesary to answer a phonecall is just to press the "green" button, and to make one, all you have to do is with unlocked screen press the button twice (altough it sounds impossible to turn on the screen and make phonecall all itself, it actually happened to me like 10 times. Not okay.) With the WP7, pressing that button won't do anything (it is linked to camera button). To answer the call you need to slide with your finger up, plus tap the little answer button in the middle of the screen (not at the bottom).
6. Things simply WORK
The WP7 is not like anything you ever seen, it simply works, no matter what are you doing, no restarts, no freezes. And despite it is relatively still in its early stages it has almost no bugs.
7. Modern look and feel
Looking at the home screen is like being in the gallery of art. It is so simple, that it is actually beautiful.
I can guarantee that after 2 days with this OS you are going to fall in love with it as much as i did. But always make sure you backed up your SD Card before switching to the wp, I didn't
Not trying to down play your enthusiasm for the new WP7 OS but I got my first hands on experience with a HTC Surround last night and all of what you said is true. I still found the OS lacking in a couple of areas, all of which are just personal issues. But the biggest issue I have with it not having multitasking is a very big deal breaker for me. But the OS is very smooth and sleek. I do think it is more of a OS for the masses and not for tweakers and moders like other OSs. Also I think it is very much focused on social networking and not business support or actual smartphone functionality. Just my opinion, glad you like your phone man.
I enjoyed my time with it.
Used it for about 2 1/2 months, but ultimately went back to Android for the selection of apps and the many variations of Android available for the HD2.
One thing about the WP7 ROM that frustrated me was the constant camera shots of the inside of my pocket... Can't tell you how many times that thing went off because the Green "Phone" button was held down by me sitting or something.
I may go back to it once multitasking is added and better apps become available.
T-Macgnolia said:
Not trying to down play your enthusiasm for the new WP7 OS but I got my first hands on experience with a HTC Surround last night and all of what you said is true. I still found the OS lacking in a couple of areas, all of which are just personal issues. But the biggest issue I have with it not having multitasking is a very big deal breaker for me. But the OS is very smooth and sleek. I do think it is more of a OS for the masses and not for tweakers and moders like other OSs. Also I think it is very much focused on social networking and not business support or actual smartphone functionality. Just my opinion, glad you like your phone man.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
it's an excellent OS and will definitely appeal to the masses. However it just won't appeal to people like me. Some people want more than something that simply looks good and works.
lolkoz said:
Wondering what is the point of this thread? Well, simple. It is because of the fact,that many people have no idea what is Windows Phone 7 all about, and don't even know what they are missing. So these are the most important things why I don't use Android (nor WM) on my HD2 anymore.
1. Lighting fast booting.
There is no stock OS in the world which would be able to turn on the phone in less then 20 seconds. WP is.
2. Lighting fast reactions
There is no stock OS in the world with so snappy reactions. Never scrolled through my apps this fast.
3. Fastest gaming
WP7 gives you ability to play games with higher FPS compared to Android builds. Plus with the newest NoDo update for WP7 you can say good bye to the loading bar, because of the whole new way to load apps which actually makes loading time around 100% faster. See video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmv6rfrW-4&feature=related
4. Ability to record 720p videos
There is no other OS that gives you ability to record HD videos on your HD2, yet.
5. No more accidental making/answering phonecalls
Did your friends ever ***** that you were calling them, but didn't actually say anything, but you would swear you didn't call? Well, that's because the only thing that is neccesary to answer a phonecall is just to press the "green" button, and to make one, all you have to do is with unlocked screen press the button twice (altough it sounds impossible to turn on the screen and make phonecall all itself, it actually happened to me like 10 times. Not okay.) With the WP7, pressing that button won't do anything (it is linked to camera button). To answer the call you need to slide with your finger up, plus tap the little answer button in the middle of the screen (not at the bottom).
6. Things simply WORK
The WP7 is not like anything you ever seen, it simply works, no matter what are you doing, no restarts, no freezes. And despite it is relatively still in its early stages it has almost no bugs.
7. Modern look and feel
Looking at the home screen is like being in the gallery of art. It is so simple, that it is actually beautiful.
I can guarantee that after 2 days with this OS you are going to fall in love with it as much as i did. But always make sure you backed up your SD Card before switching to the wp, I didn't
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Actually with the newer HTC Android phones (or if you run any Sense 2.0 ROM on an HTC phone), you can hibernate instead of fully shutting down and be up in less than 10 seconds.
2) That's because Google doesn't turn on hardware acceleration for the UI, but I believe Samsung's Galaxy S phones have it enabled.
3) Faster gaming because all WP7 phones out now use the same Snapdragon processor (even the Samsung Focus), so it's easier to develop games for one piece of hardware. Think iPhone.
4) That's not really a reason to switch to a different OS, but ok, I'll give you that.
The last 3 reasons are mainly aesthetics. Basically it depends on what you want to do; If you want things that "just work", go use WP7 or grab an iPhone. If you want to tinker and customize things, use Android. It's true, I've tried WP7 and it definitely is slick. I did get sick of the UI in a lot of apps, but it is a nice OS overall. However, in my case I like to tinker and that's why I use Android. I like that I can have different launchers. I like that, if I don't want to put my app up on the market, I can offer it somewhere else. I like that I'm not tied to desktop software.
Again, it's a nice OS, but not for everyday use for me. If I didn't care about tinkering with my phone and all I did was message people and talk on the phone, I'd probably grab a Blackberry Bold.
looks good is 1 thing
there are alot of other things which MUST work and MUST have
and WP7 is lacking at those areas, yet
believe it requires more enhancement (iOS took 2 years+) and hope Microsoft does something similiar, thought they are taking ages
WP7 is lacking at those areas?
GO to Windows mobile
karko1988 said:
GO to Windows mobile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 It is a shame the greatest device made to date is the last personal PDA/phone device that will ever have Widows Mobile as an operating system. All hail to Windows Mobile for showing the world what a mobile OS was suppose to be like and function like. Windows Mobile gives one the sense of true mobile computing in the palm of your hand.
tried wp7 for a maximum of 3 days, if i put together all the time spent using it. Personally.. i don't like it.
1. the feeling that a power user gets while using it. I don't feel like i'm using the phone, it's more like i'm tricking the phone to do what i want. i don't need zune crap, i don't neet default non customizable home screens, i need more functionality, i need a file explorer, i need usb storage, hell yeah.. i need a real wallpaper. I can get some of that.. but i got to hack the phone...
2. apple like sloppy market place. No, it's not about the few apps available (more will come). But if i want to install my own apps, if i simply download them from the pc and want to transfer, if i try some home cooked simple apps etc.. damn again.. i got to hack the phone first
3. Feels smoth and fast? Not enough for me. I want more then that. I have a 1ghz processor, some ****load of ram and 4.3 inch of screen to display 2-3 pages of insipid apps and that tom&jerry looking not customizable home screen. If i want simplicity and "things that simply work" i'll get an Iphone 3g and laugh at the face of MS that requires all that hardware components and about .. God knows how many years to develop some OS to do what my Iphone does with 1/3 resources. But i have the HD2, damn again.. i really want apps, i want functionality, i want to tweak the system.. but first i have to hack it
4. Nodo update brings us.. the glorified much awaited copy&paste functionality.. uaau, that's a feature.. windows ce 1.0 had it, my oldest casio organizer had it, wp7 receives it after an upgrade Guess we need a service pack to get usb mass storage or a better file explorer. also guessing i better start hacking the phone if i need them sooner.
5. Storage card policy. What's with the wacky 1 partition of nand+storage stuff or whatever MS is doing? Since i don't have usb mass storage i have to wait some awful amount of time to see thing copied via .. zune, because i don't have the possibility to use the memory card. I'm lucky hd2 has that slot, some wp7 phones don't have it, at least. They must be hacked first.
6. Multitasking... is there a hack for that?
7. i don't really need the "operating system of tomorrow" i first have to live today.
Thanks for your opinions. As you said it is not a OS for power users but for the masses. I am not a power user, all I want is clean, smooth and user friendly ui which works fast no matter what. And if the WP7 would be out for 4 years like your beloved iOS it would be like 4 times better than that in my opinion (by the way, its strict rules about no-usb mass storage and all that Zune thing is very similar to the Apple's iTunes, don't you think?). But seriously, what is all the tweaking and customizing for? If you want to play, just go out and buy a PSP or something, this is a phone which is supposed to work fast, and do what you need it to. Call me old-fashioned but that's simply what I think.
used android for 4 months, then dual booted wp7 and android for another 2 months...but iam back now to wm6.5...(dual booting with android on sd of course .)....nothing beats it....iam a doc and need my medical software apart from the other great "useful" software from 6.5
Fair point about WM7 not being as mature as iOS, but the simple fact is, that it's not 2007 anymore. MS doesn't have 4 years to bring its system up to date, coz Apple and Google are not going to stand still and wait for them. And looking at the speed MS is relasing the updates - it might be not 4 years, but unfortunately a lot longer.
As for your question about the need for customization, just listen to this: I've bought myself a Htc Desire HD, and as you probably know it takes quite a while for the manufactures to update its handsets to the latest versions of Android. But thanks to Rom developers my phone is running the latest system, with a lot customizations and tweaks, minus all the bloatware. In effect battery life is exceptionally better, the mobile is so much faster, and everything just works.
Never the less, the best thing out of all of that, is the choice we got from competition - so lets hope Android, iOS and WM7 will all prevail, because at the end of the day, as we're all different, the more choice we've got - the better for all of us.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
I have 2 reasons why WP7 isnt good for me.
1. Battery life. I havent tested the NoDo update, but the ROM I tested could barely hold one day of moderate usage.
2. Live services. Microsoft doesnt have a good partner in my country, so i cant get an activation code for the Marketplace, so the phone is mostly useless to me.
However, if any of you is willing to call MS in their country and get me and activation code, I would give a shot to this OS and eternal gratitude to the person which gets me the code.
oldmanofskye said:
Fair point about WM7 not being as mature as iOS, but the simple fact is, that it's not 2007 anymore. MS doesn't have 4 years to bring its system up to date, coz Apple and Google are not going to stand still and wait for them. And looking at the speed MS is relasing the updates - it might be not 4 years, but unfortunately a lot longer.
As for your question about the need for customization, just listen to this: I've bought myself a Htc Desire HD, and as you probably know it takes quite a while for the manufactures to update its handsets to the latest versions of Android. But thanks to Rom developers my phone is running the latest system, with a lot customizations and tweaks, minus all the bloatware. In effect battery life is exceptionally better, the mobile is so much faster, and everything just works.
Never the less, the best thing out of all of that, is the choice we got from competition - so lets hope Android, iOS and WM7 will all prevail, because at the end of the day, as we're all different, the more choice we've got - the better for all of us.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 I got your point. But the thing is, that WP is just good out of the box, with this OS there is no need to tweak or customize anything, coz it works perfectly fast and looks beautiful. Maybe my requirements for a good OS are kinda low, but this OS has everything I was looking for. I use my phone primarily for calling/texting and occasionally music/movies while traveling. All I am saying is, that WP7 is perfectly suited for an average user. Every OS has its own spell and every OS is suited for somebody else. Thank god for our HD2s that are giving us ability to use which one we like the most.
Yea, things simply work when there's not much there in the first place. It's like saying how a toddler's tricycle "simply works" compare to an advanced automobile with powerful computers/ECU and a crapload of mechanical parts. Both is a viable mode of transportation, but guess which one I'm favoring for?
As said some people want something more than something that just works. Even if it works great. People want to explore, try out, maybe do the impossible. Look at it like this, if it weren't for the tweaking/customizing/hacking, WP7, let alone android, would never have reached our HD2's. But as said again you only want something that works, and its your opinion, and that's good. But cuz of the hacking and modding you found the next type of phone you want to get next, a WP7 phone.
I'm not saying you should go on tweaking or customizing or whatever, just don't go around and say, "But seriously, what is all the tweaking and customizing for? If you want to play, just go out and buy a PSP or something, this is a phone which is supposed to work fast, and do what you need it to." cuz it makes you sound as if you aren't grateful at all, and that you're sounding like verizon/motorola, use it as it is, which we tweakers object to.
Note, again, hacking mobile phones/devices came long before the PSP even came out., and that time, people enjoyed it also.
Hey OP, have you done alot of web browsing on WP7? It is absolutely painful: poor rendering, sloooow, and no flash! This reason alone is enough for many non-tech users to avoid WP7 for now. On Android we get almost the entire web rendered as it should be. In addition, Android just works, even ported on an HD2. Plus, you can use the OS as is or you can explore multiple layers of customization and hacking. It's the best of both worlds.
Android is better in every respect than Windows 7 and iPhone, the facts speak for themselves people are turning to Android int he droves.
lolkoz said:
Wondering what is the point of this thread? Well, simple. It is because of the fact,that many people have no idea what is Windows Phone 7 all about, and don't even know what they are missing. So these are the most important things why I don't use Android (nor WM) on my HD2 anymore.
1. Lighting fast booting.
There is no stock OS in the world which would be able to turn on the phone in less then 20 seconds. WP is.
2. Lighting fast reactions
There is no stock OS in the world with so snappy reactions. Never scrolled through my apps this fast.
3. Fastest gaming
WP7 gives you ability to play games with higher FPS compared to Android builds. Plus with the newest NoDo update for WP7 you can say good bye to the loading bar, because of the whole new way to load apps which actually makes loading time around 100% faster. See video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmv6rfrW-4&feature=related
4. Ability to record 720p videos
There is no other OS that gives you ability to record HD videos on your HD2, yet.
5. No more accidental making/answering phonecalls
Did your friends ever ***** that you were calling them, but didn't actually say anything, but you would swear you didn't call? Well, that's because the only thing that is neccesary to answer a phonecall is just to press the "green" button, and to make one, all you have to do is with unlocked screen press the button twice (altough it sounds impossible to turn on the screen and make phonecall all itself, it actually happened to me like 10 times. Not okay.) With the WP7, pressing that button won't do anything (it is linked to camera button). To answer the call you need to slide with your finger up, plus tap the little answer button in the middle of the screen (not at the bottom).
6. Things simply WORK
The WP7 is not like anything you ever seen, it simply works, no matter what are you doing, no restarts, no freezes. And despite it is relatively still in its early stages it has almost no bugs.
7. Modern look and feel
Looking at the home screen is like being in the gallery of art. It is so simple, that it is actually beautiful.
I can guarantee that after 2 days with this OS you are going to fall in love with it as much as i did. But always make sure you backed up your SD Card before switching to the wp, I didn't
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 days? it didnt last 30 minutes before i got rid of it off my phone
Hey all,
Firstly, if this thread is in the wrong place, then by all means move it. There are specific threads for Android and Wp7 questions, however this does not have to do with either of them specifically.
Anyways, I'm thinking of getting the HD2; I know it's an ageing phone but it seems to do the impossible
My reasons are
1) I'm looking for a phone to tie me over until I can afford a more "Upgrade-y" kind of upgrade, specs wise it is a downgrade from my current phone.
2) I love tinkering with phones and using the latest builds of whatever this baby runs. Unfortunately I'm no dev but maybe I'll get to it some day. Anyways, this will be more or less a toy for me, and perhaps even an educational tool.
3) I've gone through a lot of phones and I tend to get somewhat bored with them, which is why I cycle through them pretty often. The amazing HD2 runs so many things I doubt I'm going to get bored.
Anyways, I would like some user opinions on the usability of this phone. I realize that using the latest Jelly Bean build or whatnot will probably be slow and sluggish, and that's usually fine (as long as it's not slow to the point where it's unusable) but at times I will need stable roms. I'd like to know how performance is on the most stable of roms. I don't use it for games much, only texting and light web browsing, so for these simple tasks I'd expect them to be buttery smooth, but is that how it works in reality? let me know.
Also, aside from the great things I hear about the HD2, I've also heard of a freezing issue that pretty much renders the phone unusable without a hard reboot, and I hear it is due to the CPU overheating. I'm not sure if this is such a common issue but please let me know.
Finally, how does this perform with day to day functions? Screen legibility, speaker volume, responsiveness, battery life, etc...
Thanks a ton!
-Dillon
I had no problems using the HD2 until the digitizer died on me (common issue).. Screen legibility is great on such a huge screen, speaker volume is good, responsiveness is good, and battery life is decent. I could get through an entire day with some calls, some games, some texting and still have ~40% left. The performance is great on most roms I have tried. All AOSP/CM/etc ICS, GB, and Froyo are all very smooth. Even the sense roms ported over from newer devices are butter smooth. There are so many choices, you can practically flash a new rom every week and won't be bored by the end of the year.
Hey, thanks for the reply.
Do you know what the digitizer problem is caused by? Perhaps I can prevent it. But if I can't, would buying a new digitizer fix the problem?
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app
No problem, the digitizer problem is caused by the digitizer flex ribbon physically wearing out over time. It only occurs because the "end call/power" button is directly on top of that flex ribbon.. You can avoid this by not using the power button at all and use an app that emulates that button to turn off your phone. Buying a new digitizer will fix the problem, but if you have never opened the HD2 before, best to pay a professional to do it since it is a pain in the arse to disassemble and assemble..
Been using an HD2 for a good while and basically I would have to think very caerfully before upgrading. It does everything I need and does most things very well indeed. If you can find one at a good s/h price I'd say go for it.
Advantages:
Good screen for Internet browsing,etc.
Gorilla glass so reasonably damage-resistant.
One of the best phone cameras I've used, can be tweaked even further, see hacks.
GPS and magnetic compass.
Plays music even when in standby.
NOT WM7 so you don't have to encrypt the microSD card.
Stable. Runs for weeks without crashing.
Disadvantages:
A bit large. (I keep mine in a shirt pocket, which I find works well.)
Needs charging daily if you use it a lot. (Spare batts are cheap though)
Limited RAM, therefore don't open too many apps at once.
OS WM6.5, less easy to use than Android, though plenty free apps available.
Major annoyance:
Random dialling when on phone screen, due to static or a shirtsleeve-touch. Wish I could find a way to remove that speed-dial background list which seems to be the culprit. Basically, NEVER leave the thing on the phone screen unless you are in a call.
Minor annoyance:
Badly placed volume keys. Hard to pick up without accidentally changing volume.
Not all headphones are suitable for music use. Some give very inadequate volume.
IWR said:
Been using an HD2 for a good while and basically I would have to think very caerfully before upgrading. It does everything I need and does most things very well indeed. If you can find one at a good s/h price I'd say go for it.
Advantages:
Good screen for Internet browsing,etc.
Gorilla glass so reasonably damage-resistant.
One of the best phone cameras I've used, can be tweaked even further, see hacks.
GPS and magnetic compass.
Plays music even when in standby.
NOT WM7 so you don't have to encrypt the microSD card.
Stable. Runs for weeks without crashing.
Disadvantages:
A bit large. (I keep mine in a shirt pocket, which I find works well.)
Needs charging daily if you use it a lot. (Spare batts are cheap though)
Limited RAM, therefore don't open too many apps at once.
OS WM6.5, less easy to use than Android, though plenty free apps available.
Major annoyance:
Random dialling when on phone screen, due to static or a shirtsleeve-touch. Wish I could find a way to remove that speed-dial background list which seems to be the culprit. Basically, NEVER leave the thing on the phone screen unless you are in a call.
Minor annoyance:
Badly placed volume keys. Hard to pick up without accidentally changing volume.
Not all headphones are suitable for music use. Some give very inadequate volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the informative response. Did you happen to have the digitizer issue that Jian had, or the overheating issue?
When you said that some headphones were unsuitable for music, was it specifically headphones with a Mic or Volume control on them? Trying to use a pair of Monster Jamz (which had volume/playback control for iPod/iPhone) didn't really give me a "full" sound without pressing on the play/pause button.
Also, all of these things were on WinMo 6.5, correct? Have you tried a WP7 or Android rom?
Had my phone since release date.yep your right, the phone is a Beast!
I cannot recall how many roms, builds, os's whatever you want to call em i have installed in the past year fews and everytime i love my phone even more .i think the only time i will get another phone is if the hardware specs outweigh the hd2 that it cannot cope will a new os ie window8 apparently
Listen, There are thousands of reviews on this website but dont read into it that much. Its all about trial and error and how you go about your own business - by all means read the threads too as common faults do occur- but every phone user is different and alot of factors have an impact ie have you got the right radio installed ,have you got the right SD card? Have you formatted the card properly ie task 29 before installing a new rom have you installed the right files etc all these issues people face are repairable but ultimately,so you will have a different experience than others.
The old windows6.5 rom were absolutely great and fun to customize
Android builds that i tried were up to scratch for everyday use , stability wise, battery life fantastic internt browsing email etc great no lag freezing
Windows7 some battery issues with certain roms and overheating i did come across at first , again if you experience this "trial and error" try another rom, im currently using pdamatejam now for 2months no looking back.. For everyday use, stability excellant, battery life over 24hours etc no lag freezing
Im dualbooting so chopping and changing inbetween android and windows 7 a feature many phones cannot offer.i love the hd2
Note..Newly release build/roms will be unstable when first , thats expected but overtime they become more stable as through feedback from this forum the little errors problems are reticfied -i always wait until these problems are eradicated but everyones different as lot ofpeople like to try new releases roms and leave feedback which is what the dev are asking for-
Another note the SD card ..this is a MASSIVE factor imho which causes many people problems ie boot loops freezing crashing.... I have been through 5different sd card from the start of the hd2 when you stop having problems you know you got the right one, but stay away from fakes Period.
Good luck
Thanks a ton guys
I've another question; Should I get the TMOUS phone for it's bigger ROM capacity? If so, how can I even tell if it has more ROM than the regular? All T-Mobile phones are like that?
DillonBladez said:
Thanks a ton guys
I've another question; Should I get the TMOUS phone for it's bigger ROM capacity? If so, how can I even tell if it has more ROM than the regular? All T-Mobile phones are like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes all tmous have 1gb internal rom. You can tell a tmous by the red+green send+end keys, and it says T-Mobile beneath the ear piece.(and its fractionally longer) They're slightly easier to brick than regular hd2, but only in one particular way (wrong radio) so as long as you know the danger it needn't be a worry.
As for jellybean, in the days since your first post there are now several jb roms that are shaping up to be as good as any previous versions. I'm running jb with my processor UNDER clocked, and barely a hint of lag anywhere.
Thanks for the insight!
This phone really seems to live up to it's name.
What do you guys think of WP8 on the device? I think I read somewhere that it's using a different kernel or something from WP7, and that it's a pain in the ass to get it to work with new hardware that it wasn't meant for.
i got the hd2 when it came out and i'm still using it today. It's just that good.
Also, I forgot to ask; Is there a notification LED on the HD2? It seems so small that it's not really mentioned anywhere, for any phone, but it's quite useful to me.
DillonBladez said:
Also, I forgot to ask; Is there a notification LED on the HD2? It seems so small that it's not really mentioned anywhere, for any phone, but it's quite useful to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is. It is on the left side of the speaker and it only has two colors: amber/orange and green.
I personally think the development effort would best be utilised on last of WP7 to make functionality superb & a few innovations to make W8 users envious.
Chasing latest OS's does not always result in real practical usable device.
friend its perefect the phone big variety of roms!
Sorry for not replying for a while,
Does the hd2 encounter some of the force close mishaps caused by lack of ram? Its only got 512mb, and I find my current phone with the same amount of ram to be doing this often. Would the wp7 Roms perform better in the stability aspects?
Thanks a ton,
Dillon.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I still have an HD2 sitting w/a couple extra cells I'm not using, it's still brand new, it was never used just the box opened. I'm kinda slow answering emails but give me a shout.
I'm running the latest Jelly Bean build without overclocking and I think it runs rather smooth. At times it can pause for just a slit second but this isn't very often.
If your looking for a great phone that can do just about anything (but Sense 4) then this is the phone. Because this phone has a very high developer following it
often has new ROMs being released. This is one of the biggest reasons why I got the phone myself. I came from the HTC Touch Pro 2 so I picked this phone up
back in late 2009 early 2010. There are some great deals for the phone now that its several years old but I really feel this phone is going to last a long time to come.
htccraze said:
I'm running the latest Jelly Bean build without overclocking and I think it runs rather smooth. At times it can pause for just a slit second but this isn't very often.
If your looking for a great phone that can do just about anything (but Sense 4) then this is the phone. Because this phone has a very high developer following it
often has new ROMs being released. This is one of the biggest reasons why I got the phone myself. I came from the HTC Touch Pro 2 so I picked this phone up
back in late 2009 early 2010. There are some great deals for the phone now that its several years old but I really feel this phone is going to last a long time to come.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking to use the phone mainly for text messaging, perhaps some facebook and light gaming.
Right now I'm choosing between the HD2 and the S II.
They both seem to have a bit of developer backing (obviously the HD2 has more), but is the S II worth the extra $150ish over the HD2?
Hmm thats hard to say. Both are great phones but personally I like HTC phones a little more. Mainly because I like HTC Sense. Samsung though is my second favorite so you really can't go wrong with either. I really like the Galaxy S II and the screen is a lot better then the HD2 as well as the camera. Some of its other specs are a little better then the HD2 but the big selling point is choice. With the HD2 if you start to get tired of Windows Mobile 6.5 (stock) you can switch to Android. Then if you ever get tired of that you can go to Windows Phone 7.5. I've bought several phones since I bought my HD2 some even that were dual core but I've always seem to end up going back to the HD2 so that should say something. I would check out some videos on youtube about both phones you're looking at to try and get an idea of what you feel you'll like best.