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Hi everyone,
I received my new XDA Exec last Friday and today (Tuesday) I just returned it!
I'm not here to try to influence anybody, but if you haven't bought one yet, you might find this useful.
Then it's up to you.....
I owned 6 PDAs until now, from an old IPAQ with B&W screen to this great XDA Exec piece of kit.
This to me is simply a fantastic piece of hardware, but unfortunately it is severely let down by the software running on it and comiing with it.
Here is what I found in the last 4 days before I lost my patience:
PROS:
1) FAntastic screen, great resolution, brightness and clarity
2) Very good keyboard. It might be too small for touch-typing, but it's great if you don't have to write a book with your Exec. Most of the functions on the screen are replicated on buttons on the keyboard, so you can use the Exec without a stylo pretty easily.
3) USB charging. Nice after the previous XDAs to have one with a "normal" adaptor.
4) Nice new processor. I know many people on this forum had problem with the speed of their JasJar, but I found my Exec very speedy. I personally noticed an improvement from my XDA II.
I'm sure I could have other nice things to say about it, but here are the CONS:
1) It says everywhere about its 285gr weight, but I don't know if you really realize what you're getting yourself into. If you're used to bring your XDA into your bag or your backpack, then no problems. If you always found a place in your pocket for your XDA, then you better tighten your belt because this baby is a real brick!
2) The hardware is probably the best piece of kit I came across, but the software is the worst ensemble of problems I've ever dealt with.
Activesync 4.0 is a bag of .... Both my tomtom 5 software and a flight planning navigation softare that were working to perfection on my XDA II, are not working on the new EXEC.
I know somebody has been able to install the tomtom by transfering the .CAB files directly to the Exec, but I'm one of those "unlucky" (or too stupid) ones that couldn't install one of the 4 .CAB files and therefore....no tomtom 5 for me anymore.
The other piece of software is a VB written software, I installed the VBruntime and I was able to transfer the .CAB files individually. I managed to install the software, but it then started to play havoc with the Exec (the keyboard light would not come on anymore and even after few soft-reset and unistalling the application, I could only bring the system back to normal throught a hard-reset).
3) I also had the soft buttons disappear on me, and had to reset the machine before they reappeared. By the way, please note that the soft reset on my XDA Exec, takes approx 1 min to take place and restart the system. It's a lot longer than on my XDA II and if you think of how many times you'll need to restart it in its life (thanks Microsoft for its well known stabiltiy).
4) WM Player has problem with its full screen funcition. Even if you select the box, it won't play in full screen. If you like me, have plenty of movies converted in a 320x240 format and you'd like to use them in the new Exec, then forget the WMP because they'll only play in 320x240. WMP will not "stretch" them and they'll only look as big as a stamp.
You can easily download a free software (Core Pocket Media Player) which is a great piece of kit, but this brings me to my next point,
5) Storage memory in the new Exec is not "plentyful". The system should come with 128Mb, but around 80Mb are already taken by the pre-installed software. When you first start the machine, if you look and the memory settings, you'll only have around 40Mb available, 20 for Storage and 20 for programs.....and you cannot bias the size from one side to the other. In this new software, it's done automatically.
You can probably download software to correct or improve the one that the system is shipped with, but you'll soon find out that you'll run out of memory.
I installed on my new XDA:
The PDF viewer,
The VBruntime,
Microsoft Autoroute,
Core Pocket Media player,
and all I was left were 6 miserable Mb to play with.
I know somebody said that the system is designed for you to install the programs on SD cards, but I found this whole thing a bit ridicolous.
BTW, Microsoft Reader is NOT included in the system, so if you, like me, like to read books on the go, you'll have to download it separately and utilize even more memory
I'm sure I could go on for another few pages but I'll better stop.
I'm not trying to change anybody's mind, but I'm trying to make a simple point.
If you're an expert in PC and PDAs and if you're ready to "play" with your exec for hours on end to reach a "usable" machine, then enjoy it. It's really a great piece of hardware, with almost endless potential.
If you are an XDA (or probably any other PDA) user and you think that you can get the new Exec and transfer all of your programs on it and have it working in a heartbeat......think again.
I'm no pro, but I'm not a complete rockie.
I don't want to spend my next 3 months downloading ROM upgrades and hard-resetting this beast, just to get out of it what I already get out of my old XDA II.
My final thought is that if you haven't bought one yet, you might want to wait a litte bit more, until microsoft or somebody else, sorts out some of these problems.
I Hope somebody might find this useful.
ps My apologies for the grammar.....
Wow...
I am really confused on what to do...
I'm just confused!
trendystyle, don't you already have a JasJar!?
And mig31, returning "a fantastic piece of hardware" because it's not running some old (and therefore not fully compatible) software properly seems a bit hasty, doesn't it?
I love my Exec. I have no issues with memory, except it is misleading how they publish.
And software does need to be updated to WM5, so patience. The rom works well.
Its a PDA with a phone and thats the best way to look at it.
Well i recieved my exec this morning. First impressions are that its not that big. If your used to and xda then there isnt a great deal of difference. Its quite heavy but not massivly so.
The screen is fantastic, as is the keyboard. So far i am loving it!
The box that it comes in is wroth the money alone!
I'm returning mine too.
This was my first PPC after years with Palm and the Pam interface just seems to come across as cleaner and friendlier.
I've had AS 4.0 hose the wireless connection on my laptop and no one seems to be able to help.
Another thing that bothers me is the need to pay for 3rd party programs to do just about anything to make it more usable.
Even something as simple viewing the list of programs as a list instead of as large icons need a 3rd party program.
Want to close a program instead of just puting it in the background, get a 3rd party program to make the close button work like a close button.
Don't even get me started about Pocket IE.
I've had to hard reset it once and soft reset the device 4 times in 2 days, this was before loading anything new on it. Just while using it as normal right out of the box.
Finally, it's really slow.
I did not mind the size as I knew what I was getting into. I wanted the larger screen and keyboard. It actually felt just fine as a phone in my hand.
The phone seems to be designed with PPC afficionados in mind. For a regular user who does not have the time or inclination to play around with ROM upgrades, tweaks, 3rd party programs, etc. this doesn't seem to work. If you want to spend hours playing with it, this just might be for you.
I'm going back to my Treo 650 for now.
Hi,
i can´t really understand some of your cons.
> 2) The hardware is probably the best piece of kit I came across, but the
> software is the worst ensemble of problems I've ever dealt with.
> ActiveSync 4.0 is a bag of ....
Active Sync works perfectly for me, no problems at all.
> Both my tomtom 5 software and a flight planning navigation softare that
> were working to perfection on my XDA II, are not working on the new
> EXEC.
Both programs aren´t designed for use use with WM2k5, so what do you expect ? Instead of blaming the device, go and ask tomtom for an update.
> 3) [...] By the way, please note that the soft reset on my XDA Exec,
> takes approx 1 min to take place and restart the system.
Ok, it´s 35 seconds for me, sure, that´s not really fast, but i needed exactly one softreset in the last two weeks .. so i can live with that.
(i don´t count resets after installing ne software)
> 4) WM Player has problem with its full screen funcition. Even if you
> select the box, it won't play in full screen.
Yes, you are right ... the WM-Player is really bad, but just download the free betaplayer .. works very fine and this problem is solved - 2 minutes of work.
> 5) Storage memory in the new Exec is not "plentyful". [...]
> I installed on my new XDA:
> The PDF viewer, The VBruntime, Microsoft Autoroute, Core Pocket
> Media player, and all I was left were 6 miserable Mb to play with.
First of all, the pdf viewer is already installed in WM2k5, so no need to reinstall it (at least it was on my machine).
I have the following programs installed on my mda pro:
- Total Commander
- Chess
- Betaplayer
- Registry Editor
- i-Mate backgammon
- weather plugin
- grps monitor (from the t-mobile cd)
and i have 32 Megs storage mem free and 29 megs program mem free.
But .. hey, if you install a routing software like autoroute and don´t install it on the sd card .. your fault.
Sure, your conclusion is not so bad .. the mda pro is no device for bloody novices, but .. a minumum of knowledge and understanding is enough to use and configure it.
- Superbowl
Read your comments, its a shame.
I am a power user, and I have used the Treo. The only advantage the Treo has is its simplicity and size.
WM5 and the Exec are a complex beast. It can perform loads of tasks. There is no need to always close apps. I dont use any task manager as I do not see the need.
Standard MS apps can be closed with ctrl q on the SIP keyboard.
The device is new. You havent given it anytime to really understand it. It takes at least a week - a month to learn about it.
All of these 'issues' could have been identified before purchasing the Universal with just a tiny bit of research!
Again, it sounds like people are rushing out to spend their money on the latest greates device without the slightest idea of what they're getting themselves into. (I got a proper mauling for suggesting this a week or so ago in another thread, but I still firmly believe this to be the case)
I'd suggest a lot of people around here would be more comfortable with the far less threatening new P990. Looks like a decent 3G smartphone, and would be easier for a newbie. Perhaps get to grips with something like that before moving on to an XDA device when you've outgrown Symbian? (That route worked for me, anyway!)
If only I'm staying in UK.I don't mind buying a set from u guys . :wink:
Many thanks to mig31 for a useful guide to others thinking of buying this device. I do think though that as most of the Cons highlighted have been discussed at length in previous threads, maybe you should have held off a little longer before buying one.
As a first time poster, mig31 may have an excuse as indeed would any unfortunates who have walked into their local 02 shop and bought one on the recommendations of the sales teams. But surely, all regular readers of xda-developers forum should be well aware of the pros and cons of the device. I am also fairly sure that like me, most will be subscribed to many other sites as well.
I would therefore have to agree with sub69, (incidentally, I also agreed with your comments on the earlier thread but refrained from joining for fear of receiving similar irrational abuse). :roll:
Thinking of getting an Exec...
Greetings to all!
I'm new here, just recently registered. I've been doing some background research on the Exec and it seems reasonable. However, I am finding more mixed reviews about it.
I'm currently on the II and I am thoroughly enjoying it! Prior to switching to the II, I entrusted my mobile needs to my good 'ol 6210 and Vx which I do not miss at the very least. Those two served me well.
I am thinking of getting an Exec, do you guys/ gals think it would be a worthwhile investment? I use my II almost exclusively for work and I plan to do the same with the Exec if ever. I hardly get to use the camera and MP3 on my II, but I adore it for having access Word and Excel. The Exec currently isn't available in Manila, hence my search outside. Being behind the curve (in Manila) would guys/ gals know of any hitches that I might encounter by trying to operate my unit here in Manila (phone function)? Are there language settings to choose from on the Exec?
Lastly, by any of you might know of a user/reseller planning to dispose of their Execs?
Cheers!
gavinfabl said:
WM5 and the Exec are a complex beast. It can perform loads of tasks.
...
The device is new. You havent given it anytime to really understand it. It takes at least a week - a month to learn about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. That's why I'm going to try it out for close to the full 14 day trial period. Then, if it's still not for me, it goes back.
sub69 said:
I'm just confused!
trendystyle, don't you already have a JasJar!?
And mig31, returning "a fantastic piece of hardware" because it's not running some old (and therefore not fully compatible) software properly seems a bit hasty, doesn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviuosly I have it!
I am confused, cause I don't know what to do, and time is running out(1 month for refund...), should i keep it, hoping for a new update, or sending it back, and waiting for real and mature super device?^??
I've had AS 4.0 hose the wireless connection on my laptop and no one seems to be able to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm while you don't specifically state the problem here I think I may have one possible solution...if my hunch is correct.
When you connect a WM5.0 device using ActiveSync 4 Windows creates a Network Port for it.
Now Windows uses a series of Metrics for all networked devices, whichever device has the lowest metric becomes the default. It is possible that Windows is assigning a lower metric to your XDA's network device then your Wireless network, hence it picks that as your default device screwing up your wireless connection.
For more detailed information on metrics see this article
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0405.mspx
You can however over-ride the default behavior.
Go to Start>Control Panel>Network Connections
Right click your wireless network connection and choose properties. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) from the list and then click the Properties button
From the properties window click the Advanced button
In the advanced settings window at the bottom there is a tickbox which says Automatic Metric. Untick this and assign it a number, say 20
Click ok and close all the windows till you get back to the Network Connections Window. Do the same for the network connection assigned to your XDA but assign it a HIGHER number then you did for the wireless connection.
Your wireless connection should now be the default!
If it doesn't work then you can just simply put things back as they were and everything will be ok
trendystyle said:
Obviuosly I have it!
I am confused, cause I don't know what to do, and time is running out(1 month for refund...), should i keep it, hoping for a new update, or sending it back, and waiting for real and mature super device?^??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhhhhhhh, I see!
Well, if you return it for a refund you can always pick up a subsidised Exec or Pro later on for much less money, or you could stick with the JasJar and update as you go along.
Either way, you'll be waiting for a more mature device, just a matter of whether you want a less mature device while you wait, or no device at all?
mjames_84 said:
I've had AS 4.0 hose the wireless connection on my laptop and no one seems to be able to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm while you don't specifically state the problem here I think I may have one possible solution...if my hunch is correct.
......
If it doesn't work then you can just simply put things back as they were and everything will be ok
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input.
Here's a more detailed description of the problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=168289#168289
See my followup post in that thread for more info as well.
sub69 said:
trendystyle said:
Obviuosly I have it!
I am confused, cause I don't know what to do, and time is running out(1 month for refund...), should i keep it, hoping for a new update, or sending it back, and waiting for real and mature super device?^??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhhhhhhh, I see!
Well, if you return it for a refund you can always pick up a subsidised Exec or Pro later on for much less money, or you could stick with the JasJar and update as you go along.
Either way, you'll be waiting for a more mature device, just a matter of whether you want a less mature device while you wait, or no device at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as you might know, as you purchase a new device, there are always bacos, problem, or maybe bad firmware:
I prefer maybe to see, if in the next 4/6 month they will come out, with an improved Jasjar(at SW or HW level), maybe at a fair price, not at thieves price, that will allow me to do all the things I was doing normally with much cheaper and obsolete devices (like installing 3rd party applications, games, etc.), without rebooting every 20 minutes
I understand the post on the Treo 650, is by far much better delivering its mission, it goes smooth, never reboot, and cost the half!
trendystyle said:
Well, as you might know, as you purchase a new device, there are always bacos, problem, or maybe bad firmware:
I prefer maybe to see, if in the next 4/6 month they will come out, with an improved Jasjar(at SW or HW level), maybe at a fair price, not at thieves price, that will allow me to do all the things I was doing normally with much cheaper and obsolete devices (like installing 3rd party applications, games, etc.), without rebooting every 20 minutes
I understand the post on the Treo 650, is by far much better delivering its mission, it goes smooth, never reboot, and cost the half!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see where this is going, so lets just agree to disagree now, shall we? :wink:
sub69 said:
trendystyle said:
Well, as you might know, as you purchase a new device, there are always bacos, problem, or maybe bad firmware:
I prefer maybe to see, if in the next 4/6 month they will come out, with an improved Jasjar(at SW or HW level), maybe at a fair price, not at thieves price, that will allow me to do all the things I was doing normally with much cheaper and obsolete devices (like installing 3rd party applications, games, etc.), without rebooting every 20 minutes
I understand the post on the Treo 650, is by far much better delivering its mission, it goes smooth, never reboot, and cost the half!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see where this is going, so lets just agree to disagree now, shall we? :wink:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right!
It's a way of fact: TREO 650, at the moment works much better than the Jasjar: let's hope for the future!
1) Or I-mate solve a lot of problem
2) I will buy the new Treo 700, on Windows mobile 5.0
Ive had my 8525 for almost 2 weeks. The jury is still out on it for me. As an overall package its cool. Im having trouble getting it to sync to my work computer but thats because I work for a DoD contractor and I need an IT guy to come set it up for me. Everything else seems to work nice. Everyonce and a while it wont display a internet page right or when I close it it takes a few secs to reorient the screen. All stuff that I can deal with.
BUT
As a Phone it sucks. Its not intuitive. Like when I end a call I would like to push the call button and go back to my previous calls like every other phone in the world. but no, its push end then push key pad button then scroll the scroll wheel up. Is there another phone program or something that makes it function more like an everyday cellphone?
Upgrade to one of the WM6 ROMs, the phone interface is MUCH better. Not perfect, but MUCH better.
which one do you run?
I've bounced around, I like Black and Custel, though don't care for Custel's current CommManager.
A lot of it is totally device specific, not model, but YOUR handset and the apps you run. Some trial and error is involved...
Peter
Getting closer...
http://revver.com/video/711405/htc-shift-unboxing/
I Love It !!!
Hey .. thank you for the links !!
I totally love this UMPC.. this is the best device ever released yet ... I have to wait about 6months to have it .. but I want it as soon as possible.
It will be so nice using a big WinMobile screen (better than the small 320x240 on a 2"8 screen). Vista is a so nice OS... I will have my 2 favourites OS on the same device.. I can't believe it !
HTC has put everything needed in the device. The review is nice.. but they should have introduced origami 2.0 ... not just showing the start animation.
If someone want to offer one ... I take it !
Unless they have sorted out the 2 hour battery life, it will remain a gimmick and no buyer will be satisfied with the purchase
I was really into the shift until I spent about three hours with a Fujitsu Lifebook P1620 today. 9" touch-screen convertible, 1.2ghz dual core, 100mb hard drive, vista or tablet xp, PC card slot (hello cheap wireless 3g card), VGA out, fingerprint reader, 3 USB ports, bluetooth, wlan, touchscreen works great for writing/browsing (it is passive digitizer though), you can touch type on it with some practice, and over 5 hour battery life My 2008 budget comes in next week and I am absolutely buying one.
Making calls with shift seems like it will require a hack, no simple soft-reset for the crippled wm6, embarrasing battery life, 5 minute cold-boot time for vista, etc. Why pay nearly $2k for a gimmicky device that in the end doesn't really do what a phone or a laptop can do. We all have a phone anyway...who wants to carry that monster to the pub just so you don't miss a phone call??
Well. I got mine 24 hours ago and I like it. Keyboard is nice. I cand write using my 10 fingers after some training. Battery life isnt bad and if I need more live I ve a power bank that gives me 7 hours more. wifi, hsdpa and bt works very well. It moves Vista nicely. I ve installed my development tools (Visual Studio 2008, eclipse and jboss) and work nice. VGA output letme use hi res at home with a lcd screen. I wasnt very convinced when I bought it but by now I am very satisfied
mlalahoi said:
I was really into the shift until I spent about three hours with a Fujitsu Lifebook P1620 today. 9" touch-screen convertible, 1.2ghz dual core, 100mb hard drive, vista or tablet xp, PC card slot (hello cheap wireless 3g card), VGA out, fingerprint reader, 3 USB ports, bluetooth, wlan, touchscreen works great for writing/browsing (it is passive digitizer though), you can touch type on it with some practice, and over 5 hour battery life My 2008 budget comes in next week and I am absolutely buying one.
Making calls with shift seems like it will require a hack, no simple soft-reset for the crippled wm6, embarrasing battery life, 5 minute cold-boot time for vista, etc. Why pay nearly $2k for a gimmicky device that in the end doesn't really do what a phone or a laptop can do. We all have a phone anyway...who wants to carry that monster to the pub just so you don't miss a phone call??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well .. you are wrong on many things ! ouch ....
1°) making calls is still not sure that it will require a hack ... you can see french sites telling that it is a COMPLETE PHONE... so I think that it could depends on the country you buy it.... we'll see !
2°) for WM6 there are ability to soft-reset it .... because it will be A REAL WM6.. even if they talk about "Snap-Vue" it IS WM6.... what they put upon will never be enough to change it in another OS... it is running WM6 !
3°) embrassaing battery life ? if you are using WinMobile .. you will have about 1 week of battery life.... it's enough ! Vista is so greedy that you should never think about using it without a power supply.
4°) 5 minutes cold-boot time ... oh my god ! .. you are completely wrong !!!!!! it is faster than that .. it is about a minute ... not more than 2 minutes ! And with Vista SP1 it is the same time for hibernate boot ! (hibernate was not good with preview Shifts... because of Vista.. but Vista SP1 is a little better). On the video : vista starts at 6:36 and is running at 7:40 ... 1:04 for resuming from hibernate !
5°) The device is more about 1200$ .. than 2k$ ..
If you don't know anything about the real shift spec.... I understand why unuseful 9" laptop seems interesting for you !
danielherrero said:
Well. I got mine 24 hours ago and I like it. Keyboard is nice. I cand write using my 10 fingers after some training. Battery life isnt bad and if I need more live I ve a power bank that gives me 7 hours more. wifi, hsdpa and bt works very well. It moves Vista nicely. I ve installed my development tools (Visual Studio 2008, eclipse and jboss) and work nice. VGA output letme use hi res at home with a lcd screen. I wasnt very convinced when I bought it but by now I am very satisfied
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice !! have you tried installing winmobile application sending a cab by mail ? just to be sure that we will be able to install everything we need .
is there any way to shutdown both (winmobile and vista) ? Something about voice calls?
My main concern is if I'll be able to run full version of WM and access files on hard drive or SD card and work with them. If yes, I'm in! Anyone has been able to hack it so far?
No luck sending the cab because you can save it to disk (outlook doesnt want to execute it because It says is unsafe). But after saving it I dont know how to execute it....
I havent tried phone calls. well, I dont know how. Vista can be turned off, of course. But you can turn off windows mobile. Even I dont know how to reset it (except remove one second the battery). But I am sure we will solve all this issues.
Dani
once saved to disk, press CTRL while tap and holding on the clock. Select run
type FEXPLORE or FEXPLORER (don't remember)
Launch your cab.
thaihugo said:
once saved to disk, press CTRL while tap and holding on the clock. Select run
type FEXPLORE or FEXPLORER (don't remember)
Launch your cab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CTRL while tap and holding on the clock ?? Seems to be a pretty good hack !
danielherrero .. plz confirm that it works
1. YOu prove my point. phone functions are NOT widely available, if at all. I am glad you red something on a frech website, but I have actually held and used one of these and it did NOT make phone calls out of the box. Yeah, we can hack to do that if bought in a non-voice approved area, and get no support/possibly void the warranty. nice.
2. show me a soft reset hole, cause the one I played with didn't have one. THere is another thread in this forum from a guy who has to take the battery out of the shift he actually has in his hands to soft-reset. Your syllogistic argument is silly.
3. battery life of one week when using the phone...which I already carry one of, if you want to use the pc part of it the battery life is miserable so what's the point of having it there when it must be tethered to a wall wort at all times.
4. Watch the unboxing vids, this thing takes ages to cold boot vista, which i what i was talking about, not the hibernate resume you are quoting. also, the one I used for several hours took about 4.5 minutes to load vista. Desktop PC's fully specced have trouble loading vista in one minute my freind. IF that has been solved on newer releases I would like to hear someone who is holding one right now say that. Thanks for the tip to "never use vista without a power supply" now please continue to prove my point about the pc function of this thing being a joke by telling me how the shift can't be downgraded to xp....
5. The cheapest I have ever seen advertised for the shift is on the edge of $1700 US. Where are you seeing them for $1200?? I have seen them for 1200 EUROS, which is about $1680 US. Note that euros and us dollars are worth a different amount.
I'm not trying to bash the shift. Nor do I want some kind of flame war with you. I am reporting my experiences on actually having used both of these devices. I am sure that for some people the shift fills the little niche that they need. My point was that for me, and I would venture that for a lot of business users, the shift has a lot of shortcomings and is not the right device.
Your post makes me pretty sure that you have never ever actually used either of these devices, so you shouldn't tell people that they don't know anything about something you are even less informed about. If someone who owns one of these and is using it now wants take issues with my statements, I am very ready to listen. Perhaps the models they have are better than the one I used, if so I'd love to hear about it...from people who have one in thier hands!
koala996 said:
CTRL while tap and holding on the clock ?? Seems to be a pretty good hack !
danielherrero .. plz confirm that it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No luck....
It was working on a previous ROM. I am talking about the CTRL key from the physical keyboard. Try from the mail app for example. If it's not the clock, it's the battery icon.
As a side note, did you get the unit as a reviewer, or did you actually bought it from somewhere where anybody else can?
mlalahoi said:
1. YOu prove my point. phone functions are NOT widely available, if at all. I am glad you red something on a frech website, but I have actually held and used one of these and it did NOT make phone calls out of the box. Yeah, we can hack to do that if bought in a non-voice approved area, and get no support/possibly void the warranty. nice.
2. show me a soft reset hole, cause the one I played with didn't have one. THere is another thread in this forum from a guy who has to take the battery out of the shift he actually has in his hands to soft-reset. Your syllogistic argument is silly.
3. battery life of one week when using the phone...which I already carry one of, if you want to use the pc part of it the battery life is miserable so what's the point of having it there when it must be tethered to a wall wort at all times.
4. Watch the unboxing vids, this thing takes ages to cold boot vista, which i what i was talking about, not the hibernate resume you are quoting. also, the one I used for several hours took about 4.5 minutes to load vista. Desktop PC's fully specced have trouble loading vista in one minute my freind. IF that has been solved on newer releases I would like to hear someone who is holding one right now say that. Thanks for the tip to "never use vista without a power supply" now please continue to prove my point about the pc function of this thing being a joke by telling me how the shift can't be downgraded to xp....
5. The cheapest I have ever seen advertised for the shift is on the edge of $1700 US. Where are you seeing them for $1200?? I have seen them for 1200 EUROS, which is about $1680 US. Note that euros and us dollars are worth a different amount.
I'm not trying to bash the shift. Nor do I want some kind of flame war with you. I am reporting my experiences on actually having used both of these devices. I am sure that for some people the shift fills the little niche that they need. My point was that for me, and I would venture that for a lot of business users, the shift has a lot of shortcomings and is not the right device.
Your post makes me pretty sure that you have never ever actually used either of these devices, so you shouldn't tell people that they don't know anything about something you are even less informed about. If someone who owns one of these and is using it now wants take issues with my statements, I am very ready to listen. Perhaps the models they have are better than the one I used, if so I'd love to hear about it...from people who have one in thier hands!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the shift for about half an hour on a demo day (Microsoft Unified Communication launch). But I have not bought it yet.
1. yeah .. but I hope for a hack (without a warranty void !)
2. it seems that there are no soft-reset hole..but I'm sure that we will be able to soft reset with a program without having to have full WM6
3. battery life on my laptop is half an hour.. so the shift is more than what I'm used to ... maybe this is why I'm not worried about. and if you have read my scenario (few threads before) you would see that the Shift is not on a battery life that much in Vista mode.
4. I have watch the unboxed videos and read many reviews about the shift.. and what they said was always "resuming from hibernate take longer time than a cold boot" and that a cold boot take about a minute and a half to 2 minutes but these times were from the "test prototype" of the shift. And if resuming from hibernate take only a minute... you just have to use it and you should not care about the cold boot time ! (I'm on vista on my desktop and always use hibernation mode ... and it comes back in less than 30 seconds .. and from sleep in less than 2 seconds... but it's a faster computer than the shift).
5. I have read a lot about $1200 announced before the official released ... but maybe the price is a higher .. the iphone is 1000€ and I think that it is less than $1000 ... so don't believe that the price in € is significant to the price in $ .. it used to be the same price ($1000 --> 1000€ .. even if $1000 is only 680€) but I can't say if there is shops where the shift will be under $1400.
I don't want to enter in a war with you too .. I'm just sharing my opinion that's all. I have read a lot on the shift for more than a year (like so many people) and I'm not a current owner of a shift.
danielherrero said:
No luck....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.. I hope we will find out to do it ... I'm sure there is a way ! because they need to remove snapvue for the support !
I think the clue is to know how the updates will be applied. Probably It will be done using vista side. So I think there will be a way from this side to access flash chip WM6. This weekend I couldnt research about it but tomorrow I will do it because I want to install bandswitch to use gprs with direct push instead of umts to increase battery live. (althought I ve to say battery live is good so far..
Dani
ps. I bought it on shopping center in Madrid, Spain. They have it since last monday.
There is a way from vista, because the manual state you can install a certificate for the WM side from the vista control pannel. I think this is just a com port to redirect on the WM part for getting AS, but if the trick I gave you doesn't work, it's just a question of time before getting access to the OS.
Maybe you could try on you PDA to check what I'm talking about. Presse the center of your D pad instead of CTRL in this case.
danielherrero said:
I think the clue is to know how the updates will be applied. Probably It will be done using vista side. So I think there will be a way from this side to access flash chip WM6. This weekend I couldnt research about it but tomorrow I will do it because I want to install bandswitch to use gprs with direct push instead of umts to increase battery live. (althought I ve to say battery live is good so far..
Dani
ps. I bought it on shopping center in Madrid, Spain. They have it since last monday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi danielherrero, do you have any 16 GB SDHC Memeory card? if so can you let us know whether it works fine with the Shift, thanks !
it cost me €650
its buggy, hangs sometimes, I keep having to reset
keyboards sometimes dont popup
wifi is very weak (they used a cheap Texas Instrument chip for wifi that under lab tests runs at about 2/3 the performance of the Marvel chip in the iPhone). Again I remind you that I paid €650 for this thing.
ive owned the phone 6 days and already had to do 4 hard resets
cheap crappy speaker
camera lag 3 seconds to take photo
have to use virtal button to take photo
gps lags
cant assign / customise soft buttons (without installing third party cabs)
to do any customization on the dam thing, you have to install 3rd party cabs, ends up with a phone cluttered with all sorts of stuff most of which was not originally written for the HD. Phone gets unstable and starts hanging even more than usual.
touch screen is often unresponsive, the majority of dialogs put the ok button in the top right hand corner where it is least responsive. I often have to tap the buton 5-6 times to get it to respond
have to install everything on storage card as there is very limited storage built in
TouchFlo 3d has lots of bugs (have a read of the forum)
have to use headphones to get radio to work (be nice not to have to, id like to be able to demo the radio and use it in high strength signal areas w/o having to carry headphones around).
radio is noisy with poor reception
cant record radio
browser stops working at the drop of a hat. i.e. you manage to get a wifi connection, you use the web, leave phone for a minute, come back, hit power button, wifi wakes up, browser more often then not will no longer work (cannot find proxy server, no network, dns not available). I have to resolve with another soft reset
browser is a pain to use, it does not zoom intelligently, the amount of time I spend trying to line up after a zoom, then hitting links by mistake or trying to hit links and wondering wtf they do nothing.
the wifi on my unit is poor. i have written to htc and expansys and as of yet (a day and a half later) i have had no reply from either. sickening and worrying!
im in the middle of another hard reset right now after the phone screwed up yet again
doesnt lock properly (when a call comes in)
you have to install .Net 3.5. For god sakes its late 2008, could they not have shipped the rom with it already on there. not only that but you really need to install it onto device storage rather than card storage for performance so it takes up valuable space (of which there is not much to begin with)
battery lasts a day at best with light use. if you use wifi and browse for an hour on the train you can reduce that to 3 or 4 hours. pretty lousy
lousy (and I mean LOUSY) video playback. You need a degree in computing to go and encode videos in specific ways to get them to play reasonably. Even the demo video that comes with the phone plays poorly.
hard to scroll through lists on screen without invoking the items on the list. i.e. scrolling the programs list I always end up running unwanted programs
when you send a text message, the phone does nothing, no "sending message" status, no confirmation that message sent. You have to fix with a tweak. again to fix, you have to install schaps config tool that clearly is not written for the HD. Its brilliant and I am not having a go at all but its anothe rlarge cab u have to install just to do the most basic things. jesus a "sending text" status is the most basic requiremt surely to god!!!
very hard to figure out how to disable 3g (cud be real expensive unless u have ur wits about u)
gps is very slow initially and weaker than on normal gps devices. I have had it unable to detect gps signals when my mate beside was using another device and getting signal - just like the wifi.
not possible to edit/customize TouchFlo 3D. You can't put an shortcut to a program on its home page for eg. You have to scroll along the awkward scroll bar to get to programs.
TF3D completely takes over the Today screen so customizing the Today screen is absolutely pointless unless you remove TF3D from it.
screen protector is crap and difficult to install.
finally for now . . .
it cost me €650
I know a lot of you are gonna hate me after this post. I dont blame you. I am dissing your beloved new toy, the toy that you paid as much as I did for, the toy that you dearly wanna love cos it cost so much. the toy that you dont wanna hear a bad word said about cos it cost so much.
I'm starting to hate this dam thing.
think you have a defective HD
gt112 said:
it cost me €650
its buggy, hangs sometimes, I keep having to reset
keyboards sometimes dont popup
wifi is very weak (they used a cheap Texas Instrument chip for wifi that under lab tests runs at about 2/3 the performance of the Marvel chip in the iPhone). Again I remind you that I paid €650 for this thing.
ive owned the phone 6 days and already had to do 4 hard resets
cheap crappy speaker
camera lag 3 seconds to take photo
have to use virtal button to take photo
gps lags
cant assign / customise soft buttons (without installing third party cabs)
to do any customization on the dam thing, you have to install 3rd party cabs, ends up with a phone cluttered with all sorts of stuff most of which was not originally written for the HD. Phone gets unstable and starts hanging even more than usual.
touch screen is often unresponsive, the majority of dialogs put the ok button in the top right hand corner where it is least responsive. I often have to tap the buton 5-6 times to get it to respond
have to install everything on storage card as there is very limited storage built in
TouchFlo 3d has lots of bugs (have a read of the forum)
have to use headphones to get radio to work (be nice not to have to, id like to be able to demo the radio and use it in high strength signal areas w/o having to carry headphones around).
radio is noisy with poor reception
cant record radio
browser stops working at the drop of a hat. i.e. you manage to get a wifi connection, you use the web, leave phone for a minute, come back, hit power button, wifi wakes up, browser more often then not will no longer work (cannot find proxy server, no network, dns not available). I have to resolve with another soft reset
browser is a pain to use, it does not zoom intelligently, the amount of time I spend trying to line up after a zoom, then hittig links by mistake or trying to hit links and wondering wtf they do nothing.
the wifi on my unit is poor. i have written to htc and expansys and as of yet (a day and a half later) i have had no reply from either. sickening and worrying!
im in the middle of another hard reset right now after the phone screwed up yet again
doesnt lock properly (when a call comes in)
you have to install .Net 3.5. For god sakes its late 2008, could they not have shipped the rom with it already on there. not only that but you really need to install it onto the device for performance so it takes up valuable space (of which there is not much to begin with)
battery lasts a day at best with light use. if you use wifi and browse for an hour on the train you can reduce that to 3 or 4 hours. pretty lousy
lousy (and I mean LOUSY) video playback. You need a degree in computing to go and decode videos in specific ways to get them to play reasonably. Even the demo video that comes with the phone plays poorly.
hard to scroll through lists on screen without invoking the items on the list. i.e. scrolling the programs list I always end up running unwanted programs
when you send a text message, the phone does nothing, no "sending message" status, no confirmation that message sent. You have to fix with a tweak. again to fix, you have to install schaps config tool that clearly is not written for the HD. Its brilliant and I am not having a go at all but its anothe rlarge cab u have to install just to do the most basic things. jesus a "sending text" status is the most basic requiremt surely to god!!!
very hard to figure out how to disable 3g (cud be real expensive unless u have ur wits about u)
gps is very slow initially and weaker than on normal gps devices. I have had it unable to detect gps signals when my mate beside was using another device and getting signal - just like the wifi.
not possible to edit/customize TouchFlo 3D. You cant put an shortcut to a program on its home page for eg. YOu have to scroll along the awkward scroll bar to get to programs.
TF3D it completely take sover the Today screen so customizing the Today screen is absolutely pointlss unless you remove TF3D from it.
screen protector is crap and difficult to install.
finally for now . . .
it cost me €650
I know a lot of you are gonna hate me after this post. I dont blame you. I am dissing your beloved new toy, the toy that you paid as much as I did for, the toy that you dearly wanna love cos it cost so much. the toy that you dont wanna hear a bad word said about cos it cost so much.
I'm starting to hate this dam thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your HD is defective
wfhowell said:
Your HD is defective
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or perhaps its just not fit for purpose. if it is defective, then wouldn't it be nice of htc or expansys to respond to my email ?
defective
gt112 said:
or perhaps its just not fit for purpose. if it is defective, then wouldn't it be nice of htc or expansys to respond to my email ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt email. I would call them if its defective...Or talk to the place where you got it for a refund.
I dont think its defective, I think it is a poor product
His soounds about the same as mine. It isn't defective that's just how they are.
Looking at your post history I can only see *****ing and moaning during the past few days.
You are just trolling now.
Is this your first WM device...
I've been using WM pda for 10 years now...the first 2-3 years..some devices are like you describe..but not nowadays..
It's either you have defective unit or you just dont know how to optimize it..
It is not like Iphone that works perfectly out of the box..
I will say no more. However the browsing and freeze ups and difficulties in using it are what I have experienced. So far my wifi works though. Most of the things I was *****ing about is what the OP is talking about so... go figure.
MAK
I'm *****ing and moaning as you put it because I have spent a lot of money on a poor product. Thus this post.
I am sorry if you think it a troll. If people want this thread removed then please feel free.
I thought he was saying I am a troll LOL Gt mine has many of the same problems don't worry about it.
I think there is a bug somewhere which hangs the device frequently. It need to be solved. If you're patient and wait, I'm sure the XDA community, with all the talents around, will solve it one day. Of course, we should also report to HTC (which someone already has, and provided the links here to them) and get a firmware update from them.
Hopefully, you also look at all the good things: your wide choice of GPS software, the fantastic office applications, the wide choice of software keybaord, etc.
If you're new to the Winmo world, I understand it could be difficult in the begining.
In you want to get away from the winmo world, your choice is iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry and the like. You need to know what your requirements are. Do not jump from one imperfect solution to another imperfect solution. Sit back to define your requirement before making your next purchase. Otherwise you will have many many more €650 down the drain.
Do you have an Hd now Steve? Also in another thread I asked if Hd will improve the software, now that it is out only devs here will fix it? That's sort of sad. I don't mean anything against the devs here I am sure you guys do a great job.
thanks to everyone who replied, god I really have started something here havn't I.
I know, be patient, its not all bad, etc etc.
But hey, look at the WiFi issue for example.
This doesn't mean I have a defective phone, It means I have a poor product.
Theres a cheap crappy chip built into the phone. That cannot be fixed with a hack or software update or a replacement
Some of your complaints such as freezing and lagginess I have also experienced. The zoom not centering and links not being clickable are certainly valid concerns. My HD behaves exactly the same. I can understand that maybe you have a bad chip as well. In another thread here some people couldn'y understand how frustrating that can be.
Great Post Eagle
eaglesteve said:
I think there is a bug somewhere which hangs the device frequently. It need to be solved. If you're patient and wait, I'm sure the XDA community, with all the talents around, will solve it one day. Of course, we should also report to HTC (which someone already has, and provided the links here to them) and get a firmware update from them.
Hopefully, you also look at all the good things: your wide choice of GPS software, the fantastic office applications, the wide choice of software keybaord, etc.
If you're new to the Winmo world, I understand it could be difficult in the begining.
In you want to get away from the winmo world, your choice is iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry and the like. You need to know what your requirements are. Do not jump from one imperfect solution to another imperfect solution. Sit back to define your requirement before making your next purchase. Otherwise you will have many many more €650 down the drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive had a lot of WM devices too...THis one beats them all. Daughter has iphone. CUte phone, good for talking to others and music. Win Mobile is far from perfect, but its like Eagle says, weigh what you like and dont like, dont shift to another pda without counting the cost and research. Go and research some of the other phones too. Visit the forums, they have their share of problems too. For me the HD doesnt do everything i would like, some i wish improves. But there is no phone that is the perfect phone anywhere. Hope you find what you like. Not easy in the PDA world. Good luck!!
ryaninuk said:
Do you have an Hd now Steve? Also in another thread I asked if Hd will improve the software, now that it is out only devs here will fix it? That's sort of sad. I don't mean anything against the devs here I am sure you guys do a great job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My HD has not arrived yet, but I hope it's either today or tomorrow. The ebay seller which claims to be based in Melbourne, is apparently shipping out of Hong Kong.
There is a thread on the device hanging that I'm watching. Hopefullly someone nails the bug. I'm sure there is a bug somewhere.
When I started using my Athena, hanging was a common problem. Now it is gone. Sometimes it is due to defective storage card, sometimes it is wrong formatting parameters being used for the storage card, sometimes it is lack of optimization in the ROM... but eventually it got fixed.
gt112 said:
thanks to everyone who replied, god I really have started something here havn't I.
I know, be patient, its not all bad, etc etc.
But hey, look at the WiFi issue for example.
This doesn't mean I have a defective phone, It means I have a poor product.
Theres a cheap crappy chip built into the phone. That cannot be fixed with a hack or software update or a replacement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried changing the setting to have best performance instead of battery life? It might just help to keep the WIFI signal a little more stable.
gt112 said:
it cost me €650
its buggy, hangs sometimes, I keep having to reset
keyboards sometimes dont popup
wifi is very weak (they used a cheap Texas Instrument chip for wifi that under lab tests runs at about 2/3 the performance of the Marvel chip in the iPhone). Again I remind you that I paid €650 for this thing.
ive owned the phone 6 days and already had to do 4 hard resets
cheap crappy speaker
camera lag 3 seconds to take photo
have to use virtal button to take photo
gps lags
cant assign / customise soft buttons (without installing third party cabs)
to do any customization on the dam thing, you have to install 3rd party cabs, ends up with a phone cluttered with all sorts of stuff most of which was not originally written for the HD. Phone gets unstable and starts hanging even more than usual.
touch screen is often unresponsive, the majority of dialogs put the ok button in the top right hand corner where it is least responsive. I often have to tap the buton 5-6 times to get it to respond
have to install everything on storage card as there is very limited storage built in
TouchFlo 3d has lots of bugs (have a read of the forum)
have to use headphones to get radio to work (be nice not to have to, id like to be able to demo the radio and use it in high strength signal areas w/o having to carry headphones around).
radio is noisy with poor reception
cant record radio
browser stops working at the drop of a hat. i.e. you manage to get a wifi connection, you use the web, leave phone for a minute, come back, hit power button, wifi wakes up, browser more often then not will no longer work (cannot find proxy server, no network, dns not available). I have to resolve with another soft reset
browser is a pain to use, it does not zoom intelligently, the amount of time I spend trying to line up after a zoom, then hitting links by mistake or trying to hit links and wondering wtf they do nothing.
the wifi on my unit is poor. i have written to htc and expansys and as of yet (a day and a half later) i have had no reply from either. sickening and worrying!
im in the middle of another hard reset right now after the phone screwed up yet again
doesnt lock properly (when a call comes in)
you have to install .Net 3.5. For god sakes its late 2008, could they not have shipped the rom with it already on there. not only that but you really need to install it onto device storage rather than card storage for performance so it takes up valuable space (of which there is not much to begin with)
battery lasts a day at best with light use. if you use wifi and browse for an hour on the train you can reduce that to 3 or 4 hours. pretty lousy
lousy (and I mean LOUSY) video playback. You need a degree in computing to go and encode videos in specific ways to get them to play reasonably. Even the demo video that comes with the phone plays poorly.
hard to scroll through lists on screen without invoking the items on the list. i.e. scrolling the programs list I always end up running unwanted programs
when you send a text message, the phone does nothing, no "sending message" status, no confirmation that message sent. You have to fix with a tweak. again to fix, you have to install schaps config tool that clearly is not written for the HD. Its brilliant and I am not having a go at all but its anothe rlarge cab u have to install just to do the most basic things. jesus a "sending text" status is the most basic requiremt surely to god!!!
very hard to figure out how to disable 3g (cud be real expensive unless u have ur wits about u)
gps is very slow initially and weaker than on normal gps devices. I have had it unable to detect gps signals when my mate beside was using another device and getting signal - just like the wifi.
not possible to edit/customize TouchFlo 3D. You can't put an shortcut to a program on its home page for eg. You have to scroll along the awkward scroll bar to get to programs.
TF3D completely takes over the Today screen so customizing the Today screen is absolutely pointless unless you remove TF3D from it.
screen protector is crap and difficult to install.
finally for now . . .
it cost me €650
I know a lot of you are gonna hate me after this post. I dont blame you. I am dissing your beloved new toy, the toy that you paid as much as I did for, the toy that you dearly wanna love cos it cost so much. the toy that you dont wanna hear a bad word said about cos it cost so much.
I'm starting to hate this dam thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
grandma?
ops, sorry, you sound just like her...
wfhowell said:
Ive had a lot of WM devices too...THis one beats them all. Daughter has iphone. CUte phone, good for talking to others and music. Win Mobile is far from perfect, but its like Eagle says, weigh what you like and dont like, dont shift to another pda without counting the cost and research. Go and research some of the other phones too. Visit the forums, they have their share of problems too. For me the HD doesnt do everything i would like, some i wish improves. But there is no phone that is the perfect phone anywhere. Hope you find what you like. Not easy in the PDA world. Good luck!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never had any illusion thinking that HD is a perfect device. I already made a lot of noise about the small screen size (I wanted a 4.5 inch), lack of D-pad etc. But hey, we do research first, and go in with our eye open and not have false expectation.l
Dairy of A NRG rom HD2
Welcome to ramblings of a madman. This is a little diary i got an idee to start since i practicly live in my phone. In some ways this might be a life rewiev of a HD2. Its maybe not as entertaining as it is therapy for me Its not meant to be educational, but tips from my experience migh popup so who knows, maybe you find something usefull even. I do excuse any bad spelling. English is not native in Sweden, but very common.
I will try to update this as often as i can and if you like something or want to disscuss some of my ideas i have, feel free to post away. I can not insure i will do so much replying to answers, i will focus on updating my days mostly as i feel. With luck this post will be long and a distraction reading while your waiting for your next rom
Anyway hope you like it, and if not, read something else, you have already been warnd.
- Sunday the 5th sep 2010 (late night):
Just flashed latest NRG 6.5.3 rom, the clean version with only CHT. Time to try simple with this flash, have it as clean as possible with minimal installs. Im tired of having weird buggs happening, and they always seem to popup when i really need the phone.
So, last time i did a, stock rom, task 29, radio 2.12.50_2 and then my GTX regular cookie rom on 6.5.3. So this time i only clean up the SD Card a bit and decides to go straight to the sep 4th cookie 6.5.3 rom and do the magic trick.
.... ****, will i really stand it with the regular classic black looking rom now? Been using GTX for some time now and i love it, but always been annoyed i cant go pure white with no buttons on bottom and the theme doesnt really look that nice, wich is a shame, GTX is close to perfect. I love clean looks, its less confusing and the idea just pops in, why have non made a totaly black or white homescreen? Am i really alone feeling that for ex. A black wallpapper that covers from bottom to topp, no top bar, no operator text, no clock background, no bottom bar on slider, no buttons just text. And to make it perfect, large stock clock and appointments only on home.
Well well, flash is done, time for Zombie mode.
A hard resett, and wait..... On operator choise cancel, soft reset and wait.... Sigh. The wierd thing is while hating this, i also love it. Gives a feeling of a new device everytime. Also notice that the good old network missing startup message is there again in this rom, and dissmiss it.
I select Sweden on location settings, select 24 time format and ... Softreset again ... I really want everyting set manually since you never know what trash might follow so after setting Owner info and arrange tabs, manually selected windows connection and mobile operator and done the internet settings (gets the most stable internet selecting operator manually later, dont know why, but it works), i execute MyPhone and da daa. Time for the cookie monster settings.
First wierd thing happens when CHT have started ... I get no respons on screen. Hmm is it the classic "-i dont understand my own tochscreen"? and hits randomly around blank spots in CHT, and right, there it is, opens my notifications (the top right meny) and i have to wait untill phone lets me hit close. If i try to use the phone now without decicive action, it will soon come back. Only solution i found so far is turn of and unlock again, then do a screen alignment. Hope that does the trick.... Yes, there we go.
Calmly sets CHT to standard settings with no animation, 1 quicklink page etc. I have had my HD2 for almost a year now, i want it fast with no hockus pockus to annoy.
Hmm, twitter tab still dont work, well well, im down to bare minimal on tabs, maybe just as good, once again, speed is key. Weather is on though, strange since im atm permenantly sick and seldom goes out, maybe its a try to hang on to real life thing.
i feel the basics have been done. And i start with installing the basic must have apps for me.
Goes for:
- Copilot
- IM+ (best looking multi messenger)
- Pocket RAR
- Omarket (should be in the rom damn it)
- Sense Task (best there is, simple)
- WM Torrent
- Audiobox (music creation software)
After regestring my softwares i go browsing PocketNow and XDA Portal, got to stay up to date. Finaly some WM news, and a good one also. A camera activation app that could start it from sleep mode. I hit download and also sets a new Futurama episode on DL and returns to home page.... Mental breakdown. I cant use it as out beloved NRG god does it .. Removes all on home screen, sets big clock, black background and installs some X cabs to remove top bar etc, the clean look. To my dissepointment i now have buttons on the bottom i cant remove, but what the heck, looks better. Feels like my minimal install got a bit less minimal thou.
Tryes installing the camera lancher app .. doesnt work, and me whos even using default windows lock screen, what a let down. Well, time is 04:00 and time to get some shut eye. Gone drive a friend to the airport tomorrow at 15:00. Rembering i forgott to install G-Alarm i set regular watch to 13:00 and hope it does the trick, hope alarm on WP7 will be better. My soffa is not comfy, but i fall asleep.
- Monday the 6th sep 2010 (12:37):
Cat is hungry and with me being a softy, her will is my command.
Immidetly after seeing to her needs, i must check PocketNow, XDA Portal and HD2 rom threads. Checks out Shu's Cruzer rom and wonders if i dare to use a non NRG rom, so far his roms always been the most complete one with only the darn Parlingo client to annoy me. I decide to DL it, maybe will try it out later. I have a disturbing habbit on saving everything HD2 related, i think i have every NRG rom since release on my harddrive.
Well time to se if my friend and neighbour is up and about.
- Monday the 6th sep 2010 (14:15):
He is wondering how much weight he can have on his luggage, time to shine and snapps out my HD2.
Panik, lockscreen wont let go, can unlock the device and i keep talking as a distraction till i on my 3rd time gets the display to register my touch and unlock.
Surfs in on Lufthansa and gives the page some angry looks. Lufthansa app only for Iphone and Andriod, and on top of that, weight numbers are in "lb". Quckly thinks for a sec, must be pouns, opens Omarket and re-download myConvert, mish acomplished ... lets hope the pound to kg was right, or my friend will have to dropp stuff on the airport
- Monday the 6th sep 2010 (14:45):
My friends travel companion shows up late, but in good spirit and i take a pic on my HD2 of the travel feverish, wine drinking crazys. No lockscreen problem this time.
We jump in my car (a -93 Nissan sunny combi, and i connect my phone to the car sterio and try to calm em with soothing music, gets a push mail from Hotmail wich is news from a site i never have any intrests in, typicall, phone seems good to go. Of we go, drop this 2 of, home and surf some XDA again and finish typing up this.
- Monday the 6th sep 2010 (18:20):
While watching Futurama (on my HD2) i realized i havent presented my self in anyways so lets do a pre post thingy. My Name is Peder Nakazul Tjärnberg aka Nak'an and i live in Sweden Gothemburg, born and breed on the Swedish Northlands, moved to the big city 2000 (lol, i know, we dont have large citys in here, Gothemburg bragging on second largest where merly 900 000 peeps)
I been a Pocket PC user since back of the days, im not a young man anymore so there been some devices by now.
Started out with my first geeky phone somewhere around late 2000 or early 2001. Since the realese of the first GSM based mobile in the 90's i had marveld upon being able to make a call ... (and not get a bill the size of mount everest)... from ANYWHERE, i was totaly blown away and used various Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola phones and with me in the end having a Nokia 7110 (The matrix looking phone) , wich started out as a collaberation between Nokia and the Swedish mobile operator Telia as the first wap unit, i was amazed by it, surfing the web, almost, what if there was a mobile that had windows like my computer with all its feat.
Said and done, on my second 7110 and some years later, and after by accidently having dropped it in my bathtub (nooo, loved that phone, still does) and a friend talking about palms, i by accident stumbeld upon a store here in Gothemburg that was specialized in only Pocket PC's and palms and there, right on the spot, he sold me my first Pocket PC, a brand new Qtek 9090 aka HTC Blue Angel. My amazment lvl knew no boundrys, its almost like a real windows operating computer and it had it all. And with every talk about updates and the exiting future of Pocket PC's a dream of a phone being a full blown out windows computer started (Still does).
I started out with a 1GB card and people at worked gazed and was amazed, what a mindblowing amount of storage space and you have windows messenger!
Well, in love or not in the BA (Blue Angel in short), when finaly after much delay the Qtek 9000 aka HTC Universial arrived. Growin a bit frustrated at the limitations on the 9090 and it broke down, and seeing my vision of having a real computer in my hands i sold my soul, everything i could and bought one.
What a screen, what a performance machine. Themes poped up enabeling almost a authentic XP look and XPUScalar sent the processor flying. TCPMP started really to rock and it feelt as i had the world in my hands.
But after a while it started to feel unaccurate for my needs, as my media hunger grew, so did not the Universial so one day, i just sold it and bought me my next evolution ... The Flybook GSM. A mini PC before everything, the size slighty larger then a DVD cover, touchscreen, built in gsm phone, a screen you could rotate and fold i had reached nirvana. It had Windows XP Pro and built in HD and was *In that time( incredble fast. Wow what a geek dream. I could even install World Of Warcraft and just bearly play it.
Must have looked funny back in the days with me, having a PC headphone set with speakers on my head walking around with a small bag on my shoulder. Also dissmised the need for pockets. The device had pluetooth yes, but as i rememberd XP could not handle calls on BT back then, i knew for sure a small nice BT headset could not be used.
But technology grows better, and as my wish for what i wanted to do with my little Flybook slowly got halted due to the fact that the processor was seemingly usless, graphic card almost non existent and the ever haunting problem with touchscreens back then, the yellowish bad screens. My dream for the perfect portable device crumbled and finally crashed, i sold it and bought my self a Dell XPS M1710 computer and that was almost the end of my hi-end phone world days. I thought i was done with the buggy, laggy world of small devices.
Slowly the the small company Qtek got at least a little foothold in Sweden and i saw friends with HTC Wizards etc, but i never even glanced at them. But a technology awaited around corner forcing me to look a mobile pda's again. The birth of 3g.
Wow, i had been a growing resister of the use of Ericsson phones (wich is law to own in Sweden), and here, among the first 3g phones on the Swedish market was a Motorola. And the internet speeds should be great so i bought a Motorola A-920 and was now cruising on the wave of Symbian. If feelt kind of cool, but cofusing at the sametime. And Motorola released pretty shortly a device named A-925, and i thought, that screen quality, the colours, i had to change device .... and weeks or somthing later the Motorola A-1000 came out and a small glimps of my PDA days started to show, time for a change again.
Now the phone operator 3 was constantly a pain to use and there customer support wasnt even worth mentioning. And after a while i ditched the A-1000 also and went to samsung regular boring phone. My dissepointment had no boundrys. Still keept the A920 as i thought it to be cult (+it was bugg free!!! Havent heard of one) so its laying safely stored away in a bag nowadays with original box etc.
Now cameras started to intressed me more and more, and having it on the phone was practical since i always carried my phone with me. And LG came with a new device that seemd nice, divx support and all so there i go, i bought the LG Viewty and i must say, what a great phone. Simple to use, pretty nice operating system and i was in love. When a year or so later, when LG released the LG Renoir , now with 8mp camera there was no questions asked. Time to uppgrade. It was a nice phone and it could have been a keeper but for some reason it keept loosing the sd card, couldnt find it. And after several repears i saw a new device with a 12mp coming out, it was once again time for a switch. Sone Ericsson released the Symbian based device Satio. Wow this is it .... Or not. My god, i say it now and never again, put a bullet in Symbian, its been develovped to slow and is basicly crap if you dont have a Nokia phone. After 1 week of owning the device i was so frustrated by the slow responsing, laggy, totally unlogical device. Sure, i could take pictures so wonderfull i thought i burst of happiness, but my god the rest sucked. I started to look for a device to to it all once and for all, a high/end device that would do it all and that would be it. I went and bought a real camera and after studing the webb a long time .... The HTC HD2 was due to come out. I looked at Nokias N900 and this and said, the one that comes out first i buy. Keeping on reading on the HD2 on internet i changed my mind and pre-orderd it. And after delay i got mine 2009-11-09 and the wow effect had no boundrys. Now i had started to search for sites to give news, updates and info and stumbled upon XDA, PocketNow and here i am.
The HD2 is the best phone i ever bought, it satisfy my needs 24 seven. Sure, WM is buggy, but thnx to the XDA Community the device feels pretty perfect and stabile nowadays. What a journy its been. And will it end when WP7 comes out? Well, im on a tight budget, but i will do everyting in my power to keep it, i love it and its a keeper. My belives are that a device like the HD2 will not be released at launch so i have time to preper for a new monster device. WP7, im ready, i embrace you no matter the cost.
Btw all i write on internet, this diary is done frome my HD2.
Thanks for sharing, Peder. I will follow this diary....
Great Job!!
Nice work man!!
Hell of a job!!
Thanx for sharing ur experience with the phone and for the great effort on presenting it!!
Keep up the good work!!
- Thuesday the 7th sep 2010 (04:12):
So anotherday passes, i use my HD2 so much it seldom gets into lock screen. But went for a night stroll with my cat and had to use the flashlite on and of and only after a visit by my neighbour to post a question on XDA for him (he has tech lvl -10) i got 1 touchscreen bugg. Where i try to unlock but screen dont
Respond so i have to unlock device again. All in all a good HD2 day, only problem so far seems to be that unlock bugg. Played some StarCraft 2 and drunk some lite beer. Now to sleep with a movie on my torrent running in background. Lets se how much battery i have left when i wakeup.
- Thuesday the 7th sep 2010 (12:23):
Ohh, beer tastes great but the day after is never fun. Well i rests another 4 minutes before i have a look at the phone and... Battery dead. Not a big suprise, data connections is a killer for batteries so i call my battery testing a beer influenced idea.
Once back on i see i got 373MB down before it shut down. Phone seems as hangover as me and starts with a "oh noo, i lost my screen again" Darn this is annoying, and typing about it make me realise this happens quete often.
Well, a mail came in during the night, nice its from HTC. But the news is not so nice, i just gotten the answer from there lottery draw and i didnt win the HD2 (Only enterd the lottery in january so HTC seems to be doing lottery as fast as there upgradings). But there is another lottery now and i can answer basicly same stupid questions and choose a Desire, a Legend or a Wildfire. Well what to loose then exept time again, so does the qestions all over. I cant help to wonder how many peeps that will acctully pick the Wildfire next to these Andriod monsters. In my book not picking the Desire must be a proof that even dumb people buys HTC phones =).
Well ... That mail kind of drained my remaining energy so i fall asleep again.
- Thuesday the 7th sep 2010 (14:32):
I awake feeling i missed something ...aha, i did, a missed call from a buyer, hes intressted in some of my old Nissan S14 parts i have clammering up my storage. Calls him up and after we decided he will swing back later today we hangup and .... When i try to unlock screen it just blinks quickly and then it goes off again. Oh my, another old bugg to show its ugly face. Well, said and done, starts hitting the power button and simultaniusly hitting the other buttons to counter the lock screen. Takes a couple of times to fix , but eventully back in normal. Well, time to give the poor cat some ... Hey wait a min, i was tired but i got up and feed her in the morning, my oh my can i be tired or what. I have a headach now so falls back to sleep.
- Thuesday the 7th sep 2010 (17:23):
Yeah, i feel revieved and its time to surf the webb and do my morning rutine.
Startup wmTorrent check (Wy did i close it?)
Startup Opera .... Yes workes fast. I happen to live in a spot that go...operators forgott. Its really silly, i can move around in this suburb anywhere i want with great 3g coverage, but as soon as im home i have to crawl on the selfs and the walls to get mediocre 1-2 spots. What happend to antenna boosters!?
Anyways, opens favorites and klick XDA Portal and when it load loaded i remember i need to update my diary again so i startup word and try to press my doc. Nothing happens so i try again ... *sigh* sreen is dead again. On off and opens the document. Tryes to do a copy and past and .... No respons again... Aaaargghh. On off and does a screen alignment and tryes again. Screen aligment to sloppy re does it a second time and im back on track. Does some small typing and remember i forgott to read up on XDA news.
Ahaa, a new keyboard layout thats supposed to be better.... Oh and in GTX skin as standard (nooo Peder, nooo, dont flash, try to keep it as it is!) ... Okay, install it quickly and darn its nice. Great work by Boogiecornejo here.
I feel lucky, news from HTC, 2 HD2 news related posts, time to dust of my old WAD and se if the WVGA version of Windows SeVen is up to the task. Maybe will have to flash to a titanium if it is good but WAD and all the other skining softwares are old and outdated for a HD2 so i decide to try it out before deciding.
Disables Sense and get to work, install instructions is pretty easy to understand so it all seems done. Only instruction i cant understand what he really means is the last note on the numberd install list, but i do a guess and tryes it out.
- Thuesday the 7th sep 2010 (20:04):
Been trying out the new SeVen skin and try to get it all to work. As i suspected though, old skinning softwares are not very easy to use and seldom gets it right. Seems its been designed for the now old HTC universial. Guess its there it will work best then, because i had transparency buggs and other small issues. Being with wisdom from old skinning days i realise i can spend several hours now to try to get it working the way i like and work at all, probebly get it pretty decent, but it will only be that ... Decent and some buggs will popup here and there that i never had before so i decide its not worth the work. Of it goes, themes and all, and i restore Sense and cabs back to my usual liking. Phew, that was a couple of hours worth of nothing. Had some screen dropouts during this process also, seems the trouble is getting worse, so ....its close, i can feel it, my computer can feel it (wow, hes acctully gona start me again!)... Its time to download NRG GTX, but also do the hole 9 yards again, task 29 etc. But atm im also thinking that that Cruzer rom maybe needs a test spin before next NRG flash.
Also forgott to report that my guessing at pounds converting for my friend, who was to travel throu airplane went all right, no need to throw away stuff +) a kiss to the developers of mConvert?
Now all i need to do is step up to the challenge of starting my computer ..... will i play SC2 instead? Feels like my phone needs me more...aha, decisions decisions. Well, off i go.
- Wednesday the 8th sep 2010 (23:46):
Late entrence, been a slow day but finaly some words.
Well, downloaded my NRG GTX 4th sep last night and after that i installed Cruzer rom i had laying around.
Very nice rom indeed i must say, 6.5.5 Windows pure stock. It was painfully stock as it turned out. No extras installed, no owner info possibility, i mean stock! The wierd thing with all this stock was that in all this pureness, it had CHT. The thing that made my try to work with the rom was the theme work though. Darn i never seen such a nice skinned one, even the butt uggly CHT pointing arrow for hidden slidebar was great. The wallpapers was perfectly matched and it had the windows and ok/close key removed to hardware buttons.
Now with a nice skinned rom like this i tryed to help it breath. It was darn laggish and was in desperate help in performance enhancing. Its then i realize while having tons of software backed up on my sd card i havent been in need of a reg editor since all roms have them nowadays and i got a bit thrown of and in the end ....NRG GTX was back on..
Now after the new rom was finished and all the usual work to get it settled i realize there was a bugg on the clock. It was a emty line cutting the klock in half and the rom was behaving a bit strange so headed over to NRG thread for some info. Turns out there is a new version coming up soon and that the bugg is known by NRG already.
Now Dinik version was already up and on a new build so i thought i wait, and so i did.
I waited til i fell asleep and woke up and the change logg for GTX was up but still no rom ... So i waited, watched some movies untill finally, i could download it this evening.
This time it was a task 29, radio 2.10.50.28_2, and NRG GTX 24634 sep 8th. Hard reset, cancel operator setting, softreset. Started to adjust CHT and the screen started go stupid on me again so i Hard reseted again and did everything all over, and now everything went smooth as butter.
When all was setted, region settings, owner info, op settings etc, i came to a realization of depression. Maybe my soon to be 1 year old HD2 is somewhat defected!? I seem to have the same issues going around no matter the rom, and its always the losing screen problem. I know there are problems with the windows mobiles but im starting to belive its the hardware thats not functioning right. Everytime i had trouble now i try to squeeze the phone a bit and then does the unlocking and it seems to fix the problem somewhat. Maybe i need a new HD2, god know i have used it a lot and even though i protected it like a child, i have droped it several times here and there, used the flashlight in the night when a friends car broke down. (Thats why i drive Nissan, seems i only need to help others out =)
Well with that in my mind i went for the settup of softwares i do want.
So herre we go for my list of perfect must have apps (if not always, sometimes)
- CoPilot
- SenseTask
- IM-
- wmTorrent
- G-Alarm
- Pocket RAR
- Waterlevel
- Omarket
- mConvert
- AudioBox
- dwRuler (so simple, so briliant)
- MyStopWatch
- True Caller
- Keyboard fix from Boogiecornejo
And for screen mods its the Touch X remove top bar and BiGnAdAd transparent top bar as usual. Now as usual i leave BsB and Advanced Config alone and trust in the modds NRG does.
Now i belive there will have to be a big revolution like WP7 dumped for HD2 or somthing to ever flash my phone ever again. I need my phone in more then 1 way, i have no internet connection at all at home and uses the phone as a usb modem dongle. So this rom thingys is daarn inconvinient.
Well, time to se if there happend somthing special in the WM world and try to hope Iphone and Andriod news is minimal, its like a virus nowadays, just cant get rid of it.