[Q] Switch from Tilt2 to Focus? - Focus General

I think this may be a no-brainer. I spend so much on my Phone bill, that ATT is going to give me a Focus for free. (or one of many other phones of my choice).
I just got my Tilt 2 is running the exact way I want it to. Should I upgrade? How happy are you with WINMO 7 and Focus?
Yes I know it's a freebe, but if ATT is planning on coming out with another phone, I don't want to use up my free turn now. That's the only thing holding me back. Thanks.
Will

william8004 said:
I think this may be a no-brainer. I spend so much on my Phone bill, that ATT is going to give me a Focus for free. (or one of many other phones of my choice).
I just got my Tilt 2 is running the exact way I want it to. Should I upgrade? How happy are you with WINMO 7 and Focus?
Yes I know it's a freebe, but if ATT is planning on coming out with another phone, I don't want to use up my free turn now. That's the only thing holding me back. Thanks.
Will
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the Tilt working the way you want it to, why would you switch? The Focus has functionality pretty much on the level of a severely retarded iPhone. It's nowhere near and nothing like the old Windows Mobile. Mine is sitting on my desk without a sim while I wait to see if Microsoft is actually serious or if I'll be getting an Android phone this summer. I've actually used my old Fuze more recently than the Focus because even tho it was slow, unstable and barely usable half the time, the other half of the time it did almost anything I needed to get done.

I am a previous Tilt and Tilt2 owner. I am now a Focus owner. The limitations of WP7 are out there and pretty well known. If any of those are critical to you, then don't switch. If you want a completely refreshing experience, no memory problems, apps that actually close when you close them, and not having to worry about constantly tweaking your phone, go with WP7. I don't regret it for a minute. Everybody is so worried about c&p (which is coming) and multitasking... there is something to be said about the WP7 experience. It has really grown on me. I go days without a soft reset. Marketplace occasionally hangs, which is my only complaint. The beautiful thing is that they are still on the first release. The most under talked about feature of WP7 is the People hub. It is really amazing how simple it is yet how it integrates all my contacts. I'm also a big OneNote user and I love this version. I do like a hardware keyboard, but this soft keyboard is just as good as the iPhone. Critics like to say the iPhone's keyboard is better because how could something be as good as an iPhone? Well, it actually is. I had an iPhone between my Tilt and Tilt2 and the WP7 keyboard is just as good. WP7 is not perfect (yet) but it's a great start. I don't even think about my Tilt2 anymore. I figured I'd buy the best of the first set of phones (Focus) early, then wait for a good second gen one to come out and get that in a year. I don't regret my decision for a second and would never go back.

FUZE
I moved from my FUZE to a Focus on December 27th and have never looked back. Like you, I got my FUZE where I wanted it with a custom Energy ROM and lots of tweaks and apps. It was an ongoing process that I had learned to live with. I had the Focus for 4 days before I swapped the SIM out of the FUZE. In fact, my FUZE is still on the charger.
All of this crap about C&P and multi-tasking is a tempest in a teapot. I haven't missed either and I use my phone hours each day. It is smooth, seemless and everything just works like WM 6.5 should have. I can't explain here what I love about WP7, it would take too long. You have to experience it to really understand.

This summarized my thoughts exactly.
smuook said:
I am a previous Tilt and Tilt2 owner. I am now a Focus owner. The limitations of WP7 are out there and pretty well known. If any of those are critical to you, then don't switch. If you want a completely refreshing experience, no memory problems, apps that actually close when you close them, and not having to worry about constantly tweaking your phone, go with WP7. I don't regret it for a minute. Everybody is so worried about c&p (which is coming) and multitasking... there is something to be said about the WP7 experience. It has really grown on me. I go days without a soft reset. Marketplace occasionally hangs, which is my only complaint. The beautiful thing is that they are still on the first release. The most under talked about feature of WP7 is the People hub. It is really amazing how simple it is yet how it integrates all my contacts. I'm also a big OneNote user and I love this version. I do like a hardware keyboard, but this soft keyboard is just as good as the iPhone. Critics like to say the iPhone's keyboard is better because how could something be as good as an iPhone? Well, it actually is. I had an iPhone between my Tilt and Tilt2 and the WP7 keyboard is just as good. WP7 is not perfect (yet) but it's a great start. I don't even think about my Tilt2 anymore. I figured I'd buy the best of the first set of phones (Focus) early, then wait for a good second gen one to come out and get that in a year. I don't regret my decision for a second and would never go back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thresher said:
This summarized my thoughts exactly.
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Click to collapse
Double ditto. Also went from Tilt -> Tilt2 -> Focus. Minor bugs are annoying, but the upsides win over the downsides

william8004 said:
I think this may be a no-brainer. I spend so much on my Phone bill, that ATT is going to give me a Focus for free. (or one of many other phones of my choice).
I just got my Tilt 2 is running the exact way I want it to. Should I upgrade? How happy are you with WINMO 7 and Focus?
Yes I know it's a freebe, but if ATT is planning on coming out with another phone, I don't want to use up my free turn now. That's the only thing holding me back. Thanks.
Will
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Focus is a great phone. To say that it's as functional as a severely retarded iPhone is extremely shortsighted and entirely subjective. If you find usb thumb drives to be too cumbersome for mass storage, need wifi internet sharing (the Focus tethers great with my Win 7 x64 laptop via usb), vcard support, or to send video via mms (although the camera in my TP2 sucks so bad I never used it) then stick with the tp2.
That being said, the Focus is MUCH faster and way more stable. Even oc'ed to 748 MHz my tp2 was extremely laggy, especially when sliding out the keyboard. I never thought I'd be able to do w/o a hardware keyboard, but, this one is fantastic. Unlike the iPhone, the auto-correct is right 95% of the time.
I, personally, can live w/o the missing feature for the time being.
Also, you may want to wait for the LTE rolling out later this year. If you're in one of the cities that will get it, it should be much faster than the current 3G and WP May introduce phones supporting it by the end of the year.

A lot of really nifty new hardware got announced at CES this past week. But then, if you're willing to wait, something better is always going to continually be coming down the pipe. If you're looking at what's out right now, you can do much worse than a Focus.
Personally, I much prefer using my Focus over my old Tilt2. About the only thing I really miss is the ability to connect to IRC. That one does irk me. Other than that, I really am digging the new toy.

I went from an HTC Wizard to the Tilt - I never got the Tilt2 - to a Samsung Focus. Only rarely do I miss a physical keyboard. I miss some of the apps - SPB Wallet, Vito Audio Notes Touch and Mobipocket Reader. I miss syncing Office docs but I don't miss Activesync issues. Occasionally I miss the Tilt's scroll wheel and Dpad but I'm getting over it.
The Focus' screen is so beautiful and the WP7 interface is really a joy. I love this phone - it's fast and responsive and pretty as hell. I know that I'll find new apps to replace my old ones in time and I'll adjust to the differences.
My advice is that if you have programs on your Tilt2 that you can't live without then you should think twice before moving on. But if you go into a store and take a look at the Focus you might just get one anyway.
As mentioned before if you're into social networking the People Hub just handles that integration really well. Also if you use Windows Live Photo Gallery Online and or Facebook for pictures the Pictures hub handles this great.
I'm not a gamer so the Xbox live thing doesn't do it for me.
So, I love the Focus but I'm waiting for the apps to catch up.

Here are my two choices.
1. go from tilt2 now to focus
2. wait and use my freebe on another phone in the future that ATT will carry.
???

wspaw said:
The Focus is a great phone. To say that it's as functional as a severely retarded iPhone is extremely shortsighted and entirely subjective. If you find usb thumb drives to be too cumbersome for mass storage, need wifi internet sharing (the Focus tethers great with my Win 7 x64 laptop via usb), vcard support, or to send video via mms (although the camera in my TP2 sucks so bad I never used it) then stick with the tp2.
That being said, the Focus is MUCH faster and way more stable. Even oc'ed to 748 MHz my tp2 was extremely laggy, especially when sliding out the keyboard. I never thought I'd be able to do w/o a hardware keyboard, but, this one is fantastic. Unlike the iPhone, the auto-correct is right 95% of the time.
I, personally, can live w/o the missing feature for the time being.
Also, you may want to wait for the LTE rolling out later this year. If you're in one of the cities that will get it, it should be much faster than the current 3G and WP May introduce phones supporting it by the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not short-sighted, it's the way it is. I bought a Focus the day they went on sale but every day brought about at least a couple situations that the iPhone and Fuze could easily meet and the Focus had nothing. If it did any less Walmart could package it with a prepaid card and stick it on the rack with the $25 Nokia phones that come with $30 of talk time. I don't give a damn about copy/paste, the thing that made me put the sim card back into the iPhone was that the camera doesn't save it's settings. How asinine is that? Doesn't anyone at Microsoft even use a camera? Didn't anyone bother testing it? And *I'm* the short-sighted one? That's why I don't buy that rubbish about how it doesn't have any useful features because "it's two months old". And as hard as it was to believe, the browser is actually WORSE than the WinMo browser which, in the very least, could play audio and video streams. I'm half surprised WP7 didn't come with Trumpet Winsock to make a data connection. WP7 is stable because there's practically nothing to crash or freeze. WinMo is fast, too, when it has nothing to do and a 1 GHz processor to do it on. So if I had a Tilt2 and wanted something that was actually responsive and approached the same level of functionality, I'd get an iPhone or a decent Android phone for, I'd guess, the next year given how long it took Microsoft to get the current rendition of WP7 out the door.

markgamber said:
It's not short-sighted, it's the way it is. I bought a Focus the day they went on sale but every day brought about at least a couple situations that the iPhone and Fuze could easily meet and the Focus had nothing. If it did any less Walmart could package it with a prepaid card and stick it on the rack with the $25 Nokia phones that come with $30 of talk time. I don't give a damn about copy/paste, the thing that made me put the sim card back into the iPhone was that the camera doesn't save it's settings. How asinine is that? Doesn't anyone at Microsoft even use a camera? Didn't anyone bother testing it? And *I'm* the short-sighted one? That's why I don't buy that rubbish about how it doesn't have any useful features because "it's two months old". And as hard as it was to believe, the browser is actually WORSE than the WinMo browser which, in the very least, could play audio and video streams. I'm half surprised WP7 didn't come with Trumpet Winsock to make a data connection. WP7 is stable because there's practically nothing to crash or freeze. WinMo is fast, too, when it has nothing to do and a 1 GHz processor to do it on. So if I had a Tilt2 and wanted something that was actually responsive and approached the same level of functionality, I'd get an iPhone or a decent Android phone for, I'd guess, the next year given how long it took Microsoft to get the current rendition of WP7 out the door.
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Click to collapse
Not saving camera settings is just dumb (I seriously doubt this will be an issue for long). The browser is far better on WP7. It accesses and renders pages faster than my wife's iPhone, let alone the TP2 (IE, Opera, Opera Mini, Skyfire, etc.). At least it WILL support flash compared to the iPhone. Can you edit Office docs on the iPhone? Kinda. But, the Office hub on the Focus is considered to add great functionality to the phone by many people. TP2 can do some of this, too, if you don't mind the lag. Typing is far more accurate for me on the Focus, coming from a hardware keyboard. Believe it or not, that affects the functionality of the phone, at least for me. The Focus can tether without additional cost. If you care about music the Zune Pass is outstanding. The Focus might not have much functionality for you, perhaps, but many others would disagree. Then again, maybe all of us happy Focus users are just retarded Walmart patrons.

All I have to say is I loved my Tilt2! I got a Focus with my upgrade. I figured I keep my Tilt2 to fall back to if I didn't like it. Needless to say I loved the Focus so much I gave...did you hear me... gave my Tilt 2 because I couldn't even justify putting a price on it. That's how different the Focus is. I've read all the complaints and ironically it's the exact same ones people gave as a reason the Iphone would fail. Hell I even mocked Iphone owners. Well we know how that turned out.
As far the browser, here in New Orleans(signals vary in every region) WP7 IE is faster than any WM browser I ever had Opera 9,9.5,9.7, 9.7 with Flash,10 beta,10 Mini,Skyfire, UCWeb6,6.7,7,7 release2, NetFront 3.4,3.5,4,4 updated, Bolt,Iris, Pocket IE, Uzard. The sad thing is all of these damn browsers were installed on my phone because none were good enough. With the Focus I released much like the Iphone people I mocked, I don't need most of that bullcrap. I don't know if the IP4 has a different browser version than the 3GS, but WP7 IE is just as fast and accurate. as my nephews 3GS.
As for saving camera settings, I never taught of this till you mentioned it. Now that you mentioned it, it sounds crazy to me to save the settings. I constantly take pictures with my phone for work. Unless I'm in the exact same conditions then saving the settings would be just a big pain. Obviously, someone in the Microsoft meeting must have mentioned this. Damned if they do damned if they don't.

bennyj71 said:
As for saving camera settings, I never taught of this till you mentioned it. Now that you mentioned it, it sounds crazy to me to save the settings. I constantly take pictures with my phone for work. Unless I'm in the exact same conditions then saving the settings would be just a big pain. Obviously, someone in the Microsoft meeting must have mentioned this. Damned if they do damned if they don't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still are using a fixed set of settings, the default ones. If you are OK with those is no problem, but a user should still be able to customize the settings and then save them instead of always going back to default.

I am in my first day of "playing" with a Focus, coming from a Tilt 2. Sometimes I think I should have not started.
I love the simplicity but I miss the flexibility.
So far the biggest con for me is the small font used in various places that I find hard to read after using the phone for a while. Maybe it is time for glasses but get them only for the Focus? Too bad the font size cannot be adjusted other than the places where zooming works. Speaking of zooming I miss the reflow of text, so now after zooming I constantly have to scroll sideways to read a page.
When I got the Tilt 2 I thought I was going to use the slide out keyboard more. Turned out that I rarely used it so that was not an issue moving to the Focus. I do find the Focus keyboard very sensitive. The slightest touch or even coming close enough to the screen without actually touching registers on the touch screen. Even though the Focus screen keyboard keys are very close in size to the Tilt 2 screen keyboard I have lots of typos with the Focus. I guess though that this is something that gets overcome with time.
WiFi... cannot connect to hidden networks??? Please Microsoft, reconsider this.
Once connected to WiFi what is there to do other than using WiFi for data instead of 3G? I cannot connect to my Windows Home Server to save pictures and other documents or to load some documents for the road. I know I can go thru Skydrive but that's extra steps and maybe I have documents I would rather not upload to a third party server.
I would like a common email tile on the home screen instead of individual tiles for each account. The visible home screen is limited. HTC Sense does this beatifully.
Various apps that I use save their data somewhere in the phone's memory. I would like to be able to back it up at least by copying it to my laptop or home server. I do not see any sort of file management at the OS level where I could do this. Some apps save their data in the cloud... again a third party server.
But I do have another 25 days or so to play with the Focus. I'll see how things change.

Started with a Tilt --> iPhone --> Tilt2 and now Focus. The phone does have its quirks but I believe the pros outweigh the cons. The onscreen keyboard easily rivals or surpasses that of the iPhone. Transition between programs is fluid and seemless. The link with Xbox Live is awesome!
This is only day 2 of playing with this guy and I'm already hooked.

Just upgraded from the Tilt 2 (prior to that I used the original Tilt and then the Fuze) to the Samsung Focus -- and I will not be looking back. Finally a phone that works when I need it to! I'll trade a few, very minor limitations that I can work around for the lightning fast responsiveness of the WP7.
I can't count the number of times with the Tilt/Fuze/Tilt 2 that I stood outside an elevator needing to quickly look up a meeting room number or sitting in a meeting and needing to look up a phone number only to have it slowly lumber through the process at a snails pace with people waiting all around me in frustration. I need a phone that works in real world - real time - business situations. So I really value the simplicity and responsiveness of the Focus.
It's a keeper.

I also came from the long line of HTC phones and the iPhone3Gs. I upgraded to the Focus the day it hit the streets and as others have said I have never looked back. I do miss some of the customizing and some of the apps but in time they will come. I knew the limitations going in and while some of them have been a pain the pros way outweigh the cons. If MS keeps their word and gets the updates out and keeps them coming they have a big winner on their hands.

JamesAllen said:
I moved from my FUZE to a Focus on December 27th and have never looked back. Like you, I got my FUZE where I wanted it with a custom Energy ROM and lots of tweaks and apps. It was an ongoing process that I had learned to live with. I had the Focus for 4 days before I swapped the SIM out of the FUZE. In fact, my FUZE is still on the charger.
All of this crap about C&P and multi-tasking is a tempest in a teapot. I haven't missed either and I use my phone hours each day. It is smooth, seemless and everything just works like WM 6.5 should have. I can't explain here what I love about WP7, it would take too long. You have to experience it to really understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My sentiments exactly. As a former Fuze owner, the only thing I miss are the physical keyboard, and specific apps. I purchased my Fuze the day it came out, and used it heavily during that time. I still find myself clicking on the search button to end a call, but that's a habit I'll break soon enough.
The keyboard is probably the best soft-keyboard I've tried, and I'm still learning little tips to make it even easier. That said, I really do miss the hard-keys.
The only other area of concern are the apps. I had a number of apps that I used daily, which sadly aren't yet available for Win7, and possibly may never be available.
Still, this phone is just amazing. It is extremely responsive to gestures, screens load quickly, and the screen will blow your socks off. Everyone who gets their hands on it just love it.
Now I purchased mine off contract on eBay for an incredibly good price. I doubt I would take on another contract with a phone this early in its development. If I were you, I'd wait it out a little longer. The Tilt2 is a good phone especially with custom ROMs loaded.

Wait until after the MWC in February. Some new WP7 phones might be announced then.

Related

My iPhone experience

I am the proud owner of a HTC touch HD phone, and a very happy owner too. I got it just before Christmas, and it is currently running on Duttys rom, 2.6. All in all my best phone so far.
As many, I have always looked upon the iPhone as one of the absolute best phones ever made, in my opinion it more or less revolutionized how we look upon a phone’s capabilities. However, since I have never had an iPhone, I found it hard to argument for or against it. Therefore I have bought one (used), which will arrive by mail within the next few days. When I get it, I will use it for a month and keep posting here how it goes and how it performs compared to the touch HD. Why do I do this? Because I’m curious, and because I want to see what all the hype is about, and most of all, i hate the fact that everyone is *****ing about which product is the best, but only a few has actually had and used the two phones for a longer period of time.
So far I bought the phone (iPhone 3g), and I am waiting for it to arrive. I must say the wait is long I have downloaded iTunes, so all I’m waiting for right now, is the phone itself.
Besides the normal things you do with a phone (calling, sms), I daily use my touch HD for web browsing, email correspondence and video and music. All of which performs perfectly (thank you coreplayer ). So this is what I plan to use the iPhone for, since touch HD is a windows mobile phone, I rely upon activesync to take care of my outlook contacts and calendar notes, we’ll see how well iTunes does this.
I also like the fact that it is so easy to get what you want with windows mobile, mostly through you guys here at xda.
When the phone arrives I’ll post my first experiences.
Update: 15-4-2009
It'll arrive tomorrow. Thanks for all the replys
Update 17-4-2009
First impressions
So i’ve used the phone for all in all 5-6 hours so far, so I can only tell you about my first impressions. I had some problems getting my music from my pc to the phone, it turned out that you have to enable music synchronization in itunes, in order to get anything transferred to the phone. First thing I did was to transfer my music through explorer (drag and drop), more or less the exact same way as with touch hd, this isn’t allowed, so I had to go through itunes, convert all my music, find out how to get it from itunes to the phone, before I could listen to music. In all in all much more difficult than I had believed, but now I know how it works, so hopefully this won’t be an issue in the future. I can see the problem for those who has many more songs than I had on my laptop, it’s takes a long time to convert to the itunes format, so this would be a major drawback. Why can’t I just put my mp3’s directly on the phone?
This being said, I really like the flow on the phone, the framerate compared to touch hd, is better, giving a better feel. However, I’ve been a bit annoyed by the sensitivity of the screen; it probably takes some getting used to.
Finally, when I used the phone this morning in my way to work, I had some issues with the 3G connection. My touch hd has no problems what so ever when I am using to surf and check mails and so on, the iphone used 3G for 3 minutes, and then I found myself browsing using edge, which is in my opinion is not an option. This is something that will be an annoyance if it keeps up (I’m hoping it was a onetime only).
As for the browsing itself, iphone surpasses the touch hd. Opera is simply to slow compared to safari, but if I can’t get a proper connection, there really is no choice.
One thing that really impressed though was the app store. All though you have to put in your credit card information in order to create an account, it is really easy to browse through all the apps, find what you like and install it. And there really are many different and funny apps, which all in all lifts the overall user value.
I’ll return in next week with more views. Thanks for all the responses
04-05-2009
The first many days.
Hey, sorry for the delay. Been busy at work, but finally found some time to write some more. I have had and used the phone for quite some time by now, it performs as expected. All though I begin to see the small bugs, which most people forget to mention when recommending the iphone. I read somewhere that the iPhone simply “just works”. That is not entirely true, yes I have never had a smartphone that performs as well as the iPhone, it has the least amounts of crashes and so on. However, to say that it simply works, is wrong. When I browse the web, safari hangs on every load, so you have to wait for the entire page to load until you start navigating. Furthermore the video player used in safari has a tendency to hang a lot when you are viewing a longer video, and especially if wifi is turned on. But still, the browser is the best mobile browser so far. Opera hangs/stalls/dies a lot too, and of the two browsers, I prefer safari. There’s still a long way to go until web browsing on the mobile is perfect.
The phone itself has rebooted three times, one time in a game and the two other times it just stalled and went black. Odd… Again if I compare to touch hd, it is more or less the same. My touch hd also died a lot of times, and the one thing that annoyed me most on a windows mobile device, is the fact that the memory isn’t flushed correctly. To many times you have to do a hard reboot, in order to get the memory cleared and to get good performance again.
I mentioned the connection problems earlier, or the lack of connection… Well it hasn’t improved, when you are traveling, the phone looses connection so many times it’s a major problem. Sometimes safari stops working when the connection is lost. Damn, that annoys me… So why don’t you just use wifi? Because with wifi turned on, the battery is used up in no time at all. This brings me to the next issue: The battery. I have to charge the phone one time every day, even with wifi turned off. “Then you use the phone a lot” you might say, and the answer would be: “yes I do, but that’s what the iphone is all about…”. If you don’t use the iphone for all the things that are so nice on the phone, why use it at all. I listen to music, surf the web, check emails, and play games on it daily. And this results in a charge a day. So all in all, the battery performance is poor. Furthermore if you are playing a game, and receive a phonecall, the game is shut down, without save, stupid…
This brings me to the app store, this is the one thing that makes me praise the iPhone. Yes we have the same on windows mobile, but not so approachable and comprehensive. Installing a game or a program could be much much easier on winmo. There is only one big flaw in the app store, if you are connected through 3G, there is a max on 10 mb per download. So if you find a game that’s larger than 10 mb, you have to wait to download it. Why??? 10 mb on 3g shouldn’t be a problem… By the way, you gotta love the facebook app… All though you can’t connect a contact to its facebook profile, it’s still a nice app
The GPS is not entirely accurate, but still usable. I won’t say that much about the gps since I don’t use it allot. And google maps is more or less the same as on touch hd.
The last thing: I saw many movies on touch HD. I have ripped many of my dvd’s and converted them to divx. On touch hd you just transfer the movie to the phone and you can see it. On iphone I have to convert it to some stupid format in order to see it. I hate having movies in so many different formats, and hate to rely upon itunes.
I’ll write a new post in the near future, and as for the guy who commented on my description on to much sensitivity: Sorry, but that’s just my experience of the phone 
Samoht2003 said:
I am the proud owner of a HTC touch HD phone, and a very happy owner too. I got it just before Christmas, and it is currently running on Duttys rom, 2.6. All in all my best phone so far.
As many, I have always looked upon the iPhone as one of the absolute best phones ever made, in my opinion it more or less revolutionized how we look upon a phone’s capabilities. However, since I have never had an iPhone, I found it hard to argument for or against it. Therefore I have bought one (used), which will arrive by mail within the next few days. When I get it, I will use it for a month and keep posting here how it goes and how it performs compared to the touch HD. Why do I do this? Because I’m curious, and because I want to see what all the hype is about, and most of all, i hate the fact that everyone is *****ing about which product is the best, but only a few has actually had and used the two phones for a longer period of time.
So far I bought the phone (iPhone 3g), and I am waiting for it to arrive. I must say the wait is long I have downloaded iTunes, so all I’m waiting for right now, is the phone itself.
Besides the normal things you do with a phone (calling, sms), I daily use my touch HD for web browsing, email correspondence and video and music. All of which performs perfectly (thank you coreplayer ). So this is what I plan to use the iPhone for, since touch HD is a windows mobile phone, I rely upon activesync to take care of my outlook contacts and calendar notes, we’ll see how well iTunes does this.
I also like the fact that it is so easy to get what you want with windows mobile, mostly through you guys here at xda.
When the phone arrives I’ll post my first experiences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking forward to hear your experinces
Yep look forward to it!
Not sure it was revolutionary... the LG Prada was a full touch screen phone before the iPhone.. Apple just packaged it well... Steve jobs could box a turd and sell it. pretty much like Apples claim on the mouse! That was actually Xerox's baby!
Looking forward to your experience and an honest review / comparison between the 2!
I actually have both (HTC Touch HD and iPhone 3g), too
Yeah, waiting to see your comments...
We are talking about Apples & Oranges here!!! Arent we?
the real great things on the iphone are aps! they are realy cool, good looking, running smooth... but only one at a time with a verry bad cam and no mms... (yet )
if it had a better cam, MMS (soon) eand a real GPS (and GPS software) i would defintly forget my HD!
way to go pal, will be glad to read your reviews.
bouyaka said:
the real great things on the iphone are aps! they are realy cool, good looking, running smooth... but only one at a time with a verry bad cam and no mms... (yet )
if it had a better cam, MMS (soon) eand a real GPS (and GPS software) i would defintly forget my HD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh my.
Jesus phone has a lot of shortcomings, but MMS? Who cares? It's the silliest thing since plastic toothpick. Why do you want to pay your operator for this surrogate email?
And do you really consider HD's camera usable?
daraj said:
We are talking about Apples & Oranges here!!! Arent we?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really.... I'll explain...
I've just sold my iPhone 3G and bought a HD. My reasons were...
1) I get bored and I had the iPhone since last July and fancied a change
2) I wanted expandable memory
3) I think the iPhone is looking dated now. Controversial I'm sure...
4) I now want stereo Bluetooth streaming for a new iO Play car kit I have had fitted
I used to change phones far too often and had 13 in a year once, but the iPhone is the longest serving handset I've had for a while. Despite not being bleeding edge when it comes to the specification, the way you interact with it, the simplicity, the fluidity and the Apple ecosystem all added up to make it a revolutionary phone. There is a reason why every new touch-screen phone is an iPhone killer.
The email client is superb, web browsing superb and media playback superb. And the text inputs auto-correction is very intelligent and doesn't just look out for spelling mistakes, but patterns in typing which it relates to possible words.
The App store is great, but getting full of rubbish making the genuinely useful stuff harder to find. Rumours are there will be a premier store soon. The O2 contracts are great, as the free data and free WiFi access are superbly implemented, switching between seamlessly. And once you've authenticated with the free WiFi once that's all you ever have to do. I could walk into a Starbucks, McDonalds, Costa, Hotel, Airport etc etc and it would connect to the WiFi before I even realised I was in a hotspot.
But it's not the Jesus phone everyone seems to think. And I hate, really, really hate the fan-boy love affair some people have with it... to the point I was embarrassed by it sometimes.
"No, I don't want to talk to you about your iPhone, stranger...."
The limitations in the iPhone are 75% software based, most of which will be corrected in version 3 of the software. Things like additional Bluetooth profiles, landscape text input in all apps, MMS, tethering etc will be welcome additions.
And that's one of the things that bothered me. These are simple things that really should be included as standard.
Things like the poor camera didn't bother me. I mean, Sony Ericsson have been putting rubbish cameras in phones they didn't market as imaging devices for years. If the camera is the main focus, there are much better options (like buying a camera).
The lack of expandable memory is a big deal for a multimedia phone though. I can understand the marketing / product reasons behind it, but even that seems to contradict the 'one device to do everything' approach Apple take with this.
Now to go back to my original point, Apples Vs Oranges, the HD and the iPhone aren't that different. Both have huge strengths, both have huge weaknesses, both have massive amounts in common. The thing that differs between them is down to the person buying it. What do you want from a phone....?
Out of the box usability and slickness? iPhone.
Endless tinkering, customisation and free reign of what you do with your phone? Touch HD
But both have the capability of matching the other in every single aspect. There is pretty much nothing that you can do with one that you can't with the other. Exactly the same can be said for Windows PC operating systems Vs Apple Mac OS X. Funnily enough, most of what I have said above can be applied in some way to that argument too.
So, the other downsides to the iPhone.... (some of this is entirely personal opinion).
Text input needs work in it's current form. The keys are just too small. This is made up by the excellent auto-correction, but it's still poor. And you can't add in new keyboards without jailbreaking, which brings me to..
Restrictive approach to third party applications. Apples closed-door approach has no benefits. I originally thought it would be good as it would ensure reliability and stability, but there are some terribly shaky applications in the App Store. I see no benefit in this for consumers and the only way around involves invalidating your warranty.
Hardware restrictions - No expandable memory, as above. Screen size Vs chassis size and screen resolution are falling behind the competition. Poor build quality is another factor that's not uncommon either.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys Windows Mobile, I predict you will get frustrated with the iPhones shortfalls and will be jailbreaking it within a day.
Robster83 said:
Not really.... I'll explain...
I've just sold my iPhone 3G and bought a HD. My reasons were...
1) I get bored and I had the iPhone since last July and fancied a change
2) I wanted expandable memory
3) I think the iPhone is looking dated now. Controversial I'm sure...
4) I now want stereo Bluetooth streaming for a new iO Play car kit I have had fitted
I used to change phones far too often and had 13 in a year once, but the iPhone is the longest serving handset I've had for a while. Despite not being bleeding edge when it comes to the specification, the way you interact with it, the simplicity, the fluidity and the Apple ecosystem all added up to make it a revolutionary phone. There is a reason why every new touch-screen phone is an iPhone killer.
The email client is superb, web browsing superb and media playback superb. And the text inputs auto-correction is very intelligent and doesn't just look out for spelling mistakes, but patterns in typing which it relates to possible words.
The App store is great, but getting full of rubbish making the genuinely useful stuff harder to find. Rumours are there will be a premier store soon. The O2 contracts are great, as the free data and free WiFi access are superbly implemented, switching between seamlessly. And once you've authenticated with the free WiFi once that's all you ever have to do. I could walk into a Starbucks, McDonalds, Costa, Hotel, Airport etc etc and it would connect to the WiFi before I even realised I was in a hotspot.
But it's not the Jesus phone everyone seems to think. And I hate, really, really hate the fan-boy love affair some people have with it... to the point I was embarrassed by it sometimes.
"No, I don't want to talk to you about your iPhone, stranger...."
The limitations in the iPhone are 75% software based, most of which will be corrected in version 3 of the software. Things like additional Bluetooth profiles, landscape text input in all apps, MMS, tethering etc will be welcome additions.
And that's one of the things that bothered me. These are simple things that really should be included as standard.
Things like the poor camera didn't bother me. I mean, Sony Ericsson have been putting rubbish cameras in phones they didn't market as imaging devices for years. If the camera is the main focus, there are much better options (like buying a camera).
The lack of expandable memory is a big deal for a multimedia phone though. I can understand the marketing / product reasons behind it, but even that seems to contradict the 'one device to do everything' approach Apple take with this.
Now to go back to my original point, Apples Vs Oranges, the HD and the iPhone aren't that different. Both have huge strengths, both have huge weaknesses, both have massive amounts in common. The thing that differs between them is down to the person buying it. What do you want from a phone....?
Out of the box usability and slickness? iPhone.
Endless tinkering, customisation and free reign of what you do with your phone? Touch HD
But both have the capability of matching the other in every single aspect. There is pretty much nothing that you can do with one that you can't with the other. Exactly the same can be said for Windows PC operating systems Vs Apple Mac OS X. Funnily enough, most of what I have said above can be applied in some way to that argument too.
So, the other downsides to the iPhone.... (some of this is entirely personal opinion).
Text input needs work in it's current form. The keys are just too small. This is made up by the excellent auto-correction, but it's still poor. And you can't add in new keyboards without jailbreaking, which brings me to..
Restrictive approach to third party applications. Apples closed-door approach has no benefits. I originally thought it would be good as it would ensure reliability and stability, but there are some terribly shaky applications in the App Store. I see no benefit in this for consumers and the only way around involves invalidating your warranty.
Hardware restrictions - No expandable memory, as above. Screen size Vs chassis size and screen resolution are falling behind the competition. Poor build quality is another factor that's not uncommon either.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys Windows Mobile, I predict you will get frustrated with the iPhones shortfalls and will be jailbreaking it within a day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I meant by that is the fact the HD is highly customizable to the bones, heck you can even run an Android OS on it. Iphone is a very closed OS with very little tweaks allowed by Apple ( Not talking about Jailbreaking) From the usability to the screen to the memory to the GPS vs A-GPS.. from the camera to almost everything in both phones are different. I consider the Iphone a weekend phone While the HD is a very business oriented phone that gets the job done and good.
Not sure If I can really say they are very similar. Just my 2 cents
daraj said:
What I meant by that is the fact the HD is highly customizable to the bones, heck you can even run an Android OS on it. Iphone is a very closed OS with very little tweaks allowed by Apple ( Not talking about Jailbreaking) From the usability to the screen to the memory to the GPS vs A-GPS.. from the camera to almost everything in both phones are different. I consider the Iphone a weekend phone While the HD is a very business oriented phone that gets the job done and good.
Not sure If I can really say they are very similar. Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fair enough. But when you sit the two side-by-side and ask them to do the same task, there isn't much difference. If you think about what you do with your phone, I'd bet the HD does things in a very similar way to the iPhone. There are only so many ways to construct a text message, make a call or browse the internet on a touch screen mobile
The one big thing I didn't mention that you have just reminded me of, is the touch screen. The capacitive screen on the iPhone is much more responsive in use.
Robster83 said:
That's fair enough. But when you sit the two side-by-side and ask them to do the same task, there isn't much difference. If you think about what you do with your phone, I'd bet the HD does things in a very similar way to the iPhone. There are only so many ways to construct a text message, make a call or browse the internet on a touch screen mobile
The one big thing I didn't mention that you have just reminded me of, is the touch screen. The capacitive screen on the iPhone is much more responsive in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. WVGA on HD and VGA on Iphone ( Not sure if its even VGA)
pretty much it boils down to what you do with it. I have both devices. I use the HD and the iphone sits on the desk. I am an admin at my company and we are windows based the windows mobile device it the best phone for us. While I like the Iphone it is not praticle for me to use. I hav not found any thing that I do on the iphone that I gave not been able to find an app that works on the hd doing the same or better. I really like being able to change the rom on my phone and customise it. Can't really do that with the iphone. And I think the display on the HD is much better.
daraj said:
Yup. WVGA on HD and VGA on Iphone ( Not sure if its even VGA)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Capacitive Vs Resistive is a bigger aspect than the resolution which, I agree, the iPhone falls short of. It is HVGA (320x480).
You have to be crazy to think that the iphone hasnt changed the mobile industry. It is an amazingly capable, intuitive and beautiful device to boot compared to these piece of lard htc OS's (the stock ones).
I owned about 15 HTC/Winmo devices starting with the SPV c500 and culminating in the Diamond as soon as it came out and got an iphone 3g at around the same time. None of the roms could come close to the intrinsic slickness, speed and support for the iphone, I jailbroke it, and was blown away and it became my primary device. However the iphone is currently mediacentric and not a buisness/professional phone and I needed an OQO UMPC to carry around as well but it doesnt claim to be anything else in fairness.
I have been quite impressed by the cooked Win 6.5 roms and skyfire recently though, and I am going to buy the HTC Touch Pro2 when it comes out as I need to use programs like word with a built in keyboard and tv out facility and perhaps retire my UMPC/laptops. This forum is also a great feature in choosing a HTC phone for customisation.
And for people who say the iphone doesnt have microsd, poor camera etc... How many crippled HTC devices have we seen? The iphone has been in a class of its own untill recent catch up devices.
imperiallight said:
And for people who say the iphone doesnt have microsd, poor camera etc... How many crippled HTC devices have we seen? The iphone has been in a class of its own untill recent catch up devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Expandability is (in my opinion) essential for any electronic devices. I have an 8GB card in my HD now, and I plan on upgrading to a 32GB soon by simply inserting a memory card. iPhone...can't do that. You have to buy a new phone to do so. I also have a spare battery which I can swap out when I am on the road and can't charge my phone...like camping perhaps. Iphone...can't. I like to copy and paste text from one program to another (multitasking). iPhone...can't. The HD 5MP camera takes great pictures which can be geo tagged with great accuracy. iPhone (until v2.0 comes out)...can't. Sure, there are some HD's out there that are crippled or bricked. Why? Because people that have the mental capacity to appreciate a multitasking device/computer actually like to open the hood and tweak it. Sure, iPhone apps may seem to run smoother. But that's because of the lack of multitasking! My HD (or any other Windows Mobile device) runs processes and applications in the background so you can do more and be more productive.
Honestly, do a side by side comparison of the HD and the iPhone. And I am not talking software, I mean hardware. We can debate applications all day, but it's the hardware that defines the capabilities. If you want a list of HD hardware features then I will post them for you.
*double post*
DerrickD2,
You have misunderstood the thrust of my post, that the iphone was/is a trailblazing and revolutionary device in the mobile sector. It seems anywhere bar this 'nerdy spec-hugging' forum that its not too hard to accept. The Touch HD is a better device in my opinion too as like I already stated, other companies have played catch up. There is no need to tell me its hardware specs.
But to pick up on a few points:
* Upgradeable SD is important, it annoys me to only have 16gb but I can stream content off free iphone optimised filestores available, some providing 10gb a go. Not ideal but workable.
* Spare battery, well the iphones battery is pretty decent and lasts for many years. If you want to keep the battery charged you can do it on the fly by adding these 'double your battery' packs and their ilk/cases when you are running low and you dont even 'have to swap the battery':
http://us.kensington.com/html/15462.html
* You can cut and paste text in jailbroken phones within the app. You can mulitask too, to an extent on JB phones although I dont know if it's sytemwide cut and paste (prob. not)
* Megapixels aren't everything on a camera. Its about the lens too. The 2MP camera of the iphone image quality is known to be quite decent, better than most 3.2MP HTC offerings but I agree it should have a better camera.
* Like I said the iphone isn't productivity centred and its probably why they dont consider multitasking a crucial feature but from what I understand its processor is faster than any HTC phone. Jailbroken iphones can run background apps too but obviously native apps dont support this.
We can debate applications all day, but it's the hardware that defines the capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is so contentious! Hardware can define the capabilites and software/OS/User experience can define the capabilties! It depends on what the consumer needs. Horses for course's!

Are you happy with your HD2?

I am trying hard, coming from android but its very difficult the apps are so lacking. I do miss my google sky maps, and my real working gps. For some reasons gps on the HD2 is garbage, I dont even know if it works.
Open market is a big help on the HD2, and following a lot of tweaks, its manageable , I dont want to risk flashing it.
Any app recommends?
flash the device
resco explorer is good
zenonia is a great game for windows as is ivy the kiwi
what else? chainfire graphic acceleration
gtx5 theme
I don't do gps really at all...never have so that's an app I don't use...
tcpmp/coreplayer will help
Dutty's Task Manageris a must have.
I would post the link but I'm not allowed to since I'm a new member. You can find it in the Apps repository thread.
HD2
Hi,
I too came back to Winmo from android, and to be quite honest I miss nothing.
Yes I dont have the cool Bic concert lighter app, or the flashing cop car light app, but the phone does what its supposed to do. Its a productivity thing.
Keeps track of my work Exchange account, my other 3 email accounts. Edits Office documents on the fly, oh and has the best screen ever placed on a phone.
And the GPS works great on this phone. No you cant get the free turn by turn Google app, but for 29 bucks (its a steal) you can get Co-Pilot, which works well and doesnt require an internet connection to guide you. Try out the Co-Pilot, it works really well for me, and it now has TTS for street announcement and free live local search!
fhaines
Your GPS works fine, open google maps, hit menu, press "Use GPS", then press the small blue box which contains a small light blue dot on the bottom right side of the screen. Be sure to give the phone enough time to connect to the satellites displayed on the top right side of your screen.
I've never had a better GPS on any phone.
I like my HD2 after using it over 2 weeks.
However, I wish the standard keyboard was better. I HATE hitting the 'xt9/abc' toggle when I want to hit a or z. I also HATE accidentally hitting the show/hide icon for the keyboard and hiding the keyboard while I'm typing. I converted over to Swype due to this.
I also wish the HTC Messaging app didn't lag. I makes the phone feel slow when I'm trying use this app.
I'm coming from android too and to be honest I was thinking on cooking my Own Rom cause all of the ROMs available are not to my liking either to sloooow or crappy icons or maybe missing some tweaks and home tabs BUT! I rather Go back to my android (Had it since day 1)
I given up hope on HD2 sad I know I expected to be WWAAAAYYYY much more of a better phone.
I got the phone 2 weeks ago But I find myself using my G1 more.
so I'll prob sell it on Craigslist and get a N1 (which was my actual fir option)
You will probably endup doing the same
I like my HD2 Hardware not the operating system
Bitter sweat to say the least. I really like this phone, it has some crazy advance features over today phones but the software (WindowMobile / Sense UI) has really let me down. I did my research (as I do with all phones) so I was really excited to try something new (I have an iPhone) but it's been more headaches than joy.
The only reason why Im holding on to it is in hopes WP7 or Android ROM comes soon, as of right now, I've swapped my sim back into my iPhone.
Well, I took the plunge and did what i feared the most. I added a ROM and I'm loving this phone. No more lag, freezes, bugs, or having to have 10 cabs installed.
digitallysick said:
I am trying hard, coming from android but its very difficult the apps are so lacking. I do miss my google sky maps, and my real working gps. For some reasons gps on the HD2 is garbage, I dont even know if it works.
Open market is a big help on the HD2, and following a lot of tweaks, its manageable , I dont want to risk flashing it.
Any app recommends?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
best device i've owned (and i've had about 8). just get the tweaks so customize it and add a few key apps (for me: resco explorer, resco photo viewer, iGo8 -GPS - work great for me, & core player). my device runs almost flawlessly.
without a doubt this is the best windows mobile device I have run to date everything is flawless!\
trust me when I say this
MESS WITH A CUSTOM ROM
you will love your device. its as easy and fast as a jailbreak
digitallysick said:
I am trying hard, coming from android but its very difficult the apps are so lacking. I do miss my google sky maps, and my real working gps. For some reasons gps on the HD2 is garbage, I dont even know if it works.
Open market is a big help on the HD2, and following a lot of tweaks, its manageable , I dont want to risk flashing it.
Any app recommends?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If apps are you're looking for, it'd be best to go back to Android. Apps are not the strongest draw of the HD2. App development for windows mobile is essentially dead, as developers are now focusing on WP7.
On the note of GPS, it works great for me. I use it every morning on the way to work (helps me navigate around traffice jams).
So far love the build quality as its super solid with no slop like my former TILT and Fuze. The only issue I have is with the camera design which stick out too far and is unprotected from fingerprints and scuffs. The case they provide really doesn't shield it. WISH they would have kept the same design as the Euro/Asia specd HD2 so that accessories could be interchangable. They have some really good cases for the HD2 but not the TMobile versions. Getting screen protectors that truly fit and not leave gaps seems to be a problem as well. LOVE the screen and true capacitive touch.
Software so far - only owned it a week at most and its not been used all that much is pretty fast and the screen is amazing. Wished the bluetooth caller id announce worked and had the ability to record conversations which does not work. Status and other things work fine - so maybe they'll be some fix in the future.
BIG issue is with the 3g network reception. Goes from EDGE to 3g at will. Seems to lock on 3g when return from standby or power up for a few minutes then it will jump to E. Been doing this since I got it - don't think its a design/hardware issue just requires an update in the radio. Will not return it as in more populated areas it locks on 3g and stays locked. Will see. Had AT&T before so not too familiar with TMOBILE in my area. Download speeds are only in the 800 range. ATT in great area would get around 1200.
Voice quality so far is on par or better than AT&T but the volume could be a little higher even with it set full high.
For the price I paid with a new two year contract of (99 - discount code) 75 through a 3rd party and I get the AAA activation waived and 14% off my bill I definately can't complain. Ordered the phone last Monday - received it Wenesday.
Loving my HD2 with the energy tom
stim141 said:
So far love the build quality as its super solid with no slop like my former TILT and Fuze. The only issue I have is with the camera design which stick out too far and is unprotected from fingerprints and scuffs. The case they provide really doesn't shield it. WISH they would have kept the same design as the Euro/Asia specd HD2 so that accessories could be interchangable. They have some really good cases for the HD2 but not the TMobile versions. Getting screen protectors that truly fit and not leave gaps seems to be a problem as well. LOVE the screen and true capacitive touch.
Software so far - only owned it a week at most and its not been used all that much is pretty fast and the screen is amazing. Wished the bluetooth caller id announce worked and had the ability to record conversations which does not work. Status and other things work fine - so maybe they'll be some fix in the future.
BIG issue is with the 3g network reception. Goes from EDGE to 3g at will. Seems to lock on 3g when return from standby or power up for a few minutes then it will jump to E. Been doing this since I got it - don't think its a design/hardware issue just requires an update in the radio. Will not return it as in more populated areas it locks on 3g and stays locked. Will see. Had AT&T before so not too familiar with TMOBILE in my area. Download speeds are only in the 800 range. ATT in great area would get around 1200.
Voice quality so far is on par or better than AT&T but the volume could be a little higher even with it set full high.
For the price I paid with a new two year contract of (99 - discount code) 75 through a 3rd party and I get the AAA activation waived and 14% off my bill I definately can't complain. Ordered the phone last Monday - received it Wenesday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're looking for a really nice case that protects the camera, check out the leather cases at noreve.com. The leather flip case is very nice and you get to choose from different leather types and colors. It's made for the euro version, but it fits my tmous hd2 fine. Protects real well, too. Dropped my hd2 on my driveway the other day... couple small scuffs on the case, but phone is fine.
I too came from android g1, I didnt realize how much i loved android when I first got the HD2, After I figured out how to operate it, took about 48 hours, figured out how to sync it with WMDC got all my contacts and email. IT FREAKIN ROCKS. I am so impressed with syncing up with outlook on my computer and to my hd2. I have pretty much found all the same type of comparable apps as android. but so i love it!
I have also flashed it with a new rom as as long as you follow the instructions step by step, and use tested radios and roms. watch youtube videos so you know what goes on with your phone during the process so you dont get freaked out.
Are You Happy-Discount?
stim141 spoke about a discount code...paying only $99.00, as well as other "deals." Where did you get that code and how do you apply it?
I'm, in LA been living on the Edge with my Advantage 7501 onTMobile. Would rather have 3G than Edge, and a slimmer device.
And what ever happened to the 4.8 inch HTC Thoth (Athena2)?
bagua
I love my HTC HD2 running energy ro and battery lasts way longer than it did with stock rom
ecyoral said:
I love my HTC HD2 running energy ro and battery lasts way longer than it did with stock rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm people I have heard people say that ROM eats batteries. Nice to see yours is lasting longer. This is my top rom to use when I get the energy to root my phone, kinda scared as of now.
BUT YES..... I love my phone even through the freezes, bad reception, and constant 3g loss of signal.

My first week with the Evo 4g coming from an iPhone 3G

For the first five days I had a huge issue with the battery draining while in standby, and because of that I expected to return the phone. Now that I have logged out of google talk and changed to CDMA auto it's doing much better... I seem to get at least 6 hours of continuous use with little power draining when the screen is off, which I can definitely live with.
Here are the things I love about the evo:
* Being able to plug it in to my computer and mount it as a drive. So simple, and so frustrating that apple won't allow it.
* Google navigation. It's awesome, and much safer since it has text to speech.
* The screen size is amazing... I love that it lets me view docs in meetings so I hardly have to print anything
* Wifi tethering
Here are my main issues, the big ones that might make me have to return it:
* Horrible wifi reception. I have yet to pick up a signal at work, and I have no problem with my iPhone & laptop.
* It sucks as a media player. I have a huge library full of lossless files, and I don't have the energy to convert everything (yes I've tried doubletwist and andless but I can't get it to recognize the artist/album/songnames properly). I listen to a lot of music so this is a major PITA for me.
* Build quality kind of scares me, light leakage etc.; it makes me feel like I need to get the insurance. This plan is costing me way more than an iPhone 4 would (since I still have two other lines on AT&T with one year left on the contract and I get a lower corporate discount) and I hate the thought of paying any more.
The evo is not without it's imperfections, but I love it so far and shudder at the thought of having to go back to an iPhone. In fact I picked up my 3G today and it felt like a sad pathetic joke, like going back to one of those 12 lb. i486 laptops from the 90's. And nobody wants that.
Gary
cloudyphiz said:
For the first five days I had a huge issue with the battery draining while in standby, and because of that I expected to return the phone. Now that I have logged out of google talk and changed to CDMA auto it's doing much better... I seem to get at least 6 hours of continuous use with little power draining when the screen is off, which I can definitely live with.
Here are the things I love about the evo:
* Being able to plug it in to my computer and mount it as a drive. So simple, and so frustrating that apple won't allow it.
* Google navigation. It's awesome, and much safer since it has text to speech.
* The screen size is amazing... I love that it lets me view docs in meetings so I hardly have to print anything
* Wifi tethering
Here are my main issues, the big ones that might make me have to return it:
* Horrible wifi reception. I have yet to pick up a signal at work, and I have no problem with my iPhone & laptop.
* It sucks as a media player. I have a huge library full of lossless files, and I don't have the energy to convert everything (yes I've tried doubletwist and andless but I can't get it to recognize the artist/album/songnames properly). I listen to a lot of music so this is a major PITA for me.
* Build quality kind of scares me, light leakage etc.; it makes me feel like I need to get the insurance. This plan is costing me way more than an iPhone 4 would (since I still have two other lines on AT&T with one year left on the contract and I get a lower corporate discount) and I hate the thought of paying any more.
The evo is not without it's imperfections, but I love it so far and shudder at the thought of having to go back to an iPhone. In fact I picked up my 3G today and it felt like a sad pathetic joke, like going back to one of those 12 lb. i486 laptops from the 90's. And nobody wants that.
Gary
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome!
Thanks for your iPhone/Evo thoughts.
I have some friends at work that are curious about Evo and how it compares to an iPhone.
I've been with Sprint for 10 years, so I've never had an iPhone.
These XDA forums are full of really good folks that want to help out.
Enjoy you Evo!
I also came from a 3G and have similar opinions:
Screen - Damn this screen is beautiful. It definitely is hard to go back to the iPhone just because of this. In addition, I can see much more on the screen without having to zoom (unsure if this is because of the larger screen or increased resolution, or both). On the other hand, it does seems more reflective than the iPhone. I have a hard time seeing the screen in the sun because of all the glare. It's very nice indoors though.
Syncing - much better than the iPhone. iTunes is okay when it works but it just has too many problems. Plus, being able to manually put things on the android without having to root is awesome.
Navigation - Wow. Google navigation blew me away when I first used it. Streetview is a nice touch. Nothing compared to that on the iPhone unless you pay a decent amount.
Customization - being able to root and apply all sorts of different ROMS is pretty badass. Currently, I'm using a Froyo ROM and I have to say... much better than HTC Sense. I guess I like stock android better (I hate HTCs keyboard - too crowded).
Notifications - hot damn I love notifications on android. This is what may keep me on android. It works so well with gmail.
Widgets are awesome
My issues that may swing me back to the iPhone (and please, if I can fix any of these issues, let me know):
I hate having to press the power button to wake from sleep. Maybe I'm just used to pressing the bottom button on the iPhone, but it was just so much easier for me. Of course, not a deal breaker, but very annoying.
It could be just me, but the screen seems hypersensitive. When I'm scrolling up and down, I'm constantly opening apps/menus that I don't want to. It seems to be getting better, so maybe I just need to get used to it.
I'm in Hawaii and the 4G is supposed to be pretty good -- looking at the coverage maps on sprint shows mostly blue where I live. However, I seem to get spotty coverage and the speeds compared to 3G aren't what they advertise. I was so looking forward to 4G. To add insult to injury, leaving 4G on drains the battery like no other.
I'll probably get flamed for this, but I think most people agree the iPhone's OS is much more polished. It doesn't help that both HTC and Sprint add applications and background processes. Scrolling on the android is a tad slower and a little more jerky. One thing that bugs the hell out of me is, on HTC sense, if you press the applications icon, open an application, but decide to go back to the applications screen, it doesn't do that! It goes back to the home screen. That frustrates me so much. Froyo doesn't do that so right now I'm pretty happy.
I can't think of anything else, but I'm pretty torn right now about keeping the EVO or getting an iPhone 4. Any advice?
binxer said:
I also came from a 3G and have similar opinions:
Screen - Damn this screen is beautiful. It definitely is hard to go back to the iPhone just because of this. In addition, I can see much more on the screen without having to zoom (unsure if this is because of the larger screen or increased resolution, or both). On the other hand, it does seems more reflective than the iPhone. I have a hard time seeing the screen in the sun because of all the glare. It's very nice indoors though.
Syncing - much better than the iPhone. iTunes is okay when it works but it just has too many problems. Plus, being able to manually put things on the android without having to root is awesome.
Navigation - Wow. Google navigation blew me away when I first used it. Streetview is a nice touch. Nothing compared to that on the iPhone unless you pay a decent amount.
Customization - being able to root and apply all sorts of different ROMS is pretty badass. Currently, I'm using a Froyo ROM and I have to say... much better than HTC Sense. I guess I like stock android better (I hate HTCs keyboard - too crowded).
Notifications - hot damn I love notifications on android. This is what may keep me on android. It works so well with gmail.
Widgets are awesome
My issues that may swing me back to the iPhone (and please, if I can fix any of these issues, let me know):
I hate having to press the power button to wake from sleep. Maybe I'm just used to pressing the bottom button on the iPhone, but it was just so much easier for me. Of course, not a deal breaker, but very annoying.
It could be just me, but the screen seems hypersensitive. When I'm scrolling up and down, I'm constantly opening apps/menus that I don't want to. It seems to be getting better, so maybe I just need to get used to it.
I'm in Hawaii and the 4G is supposed to be pretty good -- looking at the coverage maps on sprint shows mostly blue where I live. However, I seem to get spotty coverage and the speeds compared to 3G aren't what they advertise. I was so looking forward to 4G. To add insult to injury, leaving 4G on drains the battery like no other.
I'll probably get flamed for this, but I think most people agree the iPhone's OS is much more polished. It doesn't help that both HTC and Sprint add applications and background processes. Scrolling on the android is a tad slower and a little more jerky. One thing that bugs the hell out of me is, on HTC sense, if you press the applications icon, open an application, but decide to go back to the applications screen, it doesn't do that! It goes back to the home screen. That frustrates me so much. Froyo doesn't do that so right now I'm pretty happy.
I can't think of anything else, but I'm pretty torn right now about keeping the EVO or getting an iPhone 4. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have currently an iphone 3Gs and just got the Evo opening day. I am just now able to really install and get a feel for the EVO since we just got back from vacation. I am becoming more and more pleased with the EVO each time I use it. THere are many things that the EVO can do that iphone cant do even being Jailbroken, which my Iphone is. As i use it i will report more. Right now im having loads of fun with my EVO. Yes, I will get the iphone 4 when it comes out. I guess you can tell im a gadget kind of person. There are just a few things with the EVO that has to be fixed, and I feel like it will be much better with the Froyo.
One thing I really like about the EVO is its browsing. How it resizes the screen and paragraphs so you dont have to scroll right to left. Iphone doesnt have that. Yet. Maybe the new update. Will wait and see. But for now, Evo is in my pocket and iphone is on the bedroom nitestand.
binxer said:
I also came from a 3G and have similar opinions:
Screen - Damn this screen is beautiful. It definitely is hard to go back to the iPhone just because of this. In addition, I can see much more on the screen without having to zoom (unsure if this is because of the larger screen or increased resolution, or both). On the other hand, it does seems more reflective than the iPhone. I have a hard time seeing the screen in the sun because of all the glare. It's very nice indoors though.
Syncing - much better than the iPhone. iTunes is okay when it works but it just has too many problems. Plus, being able to manually put things on the android without having to root is awesome.
Navigation - Wow. Google navigation blew me away when I first used it. Streetview is a nice touch. Nothing compared to that on the iPhone unless you pay a decent amount.
Customization - being able to root and apply all sorts of different ROMS is pretty badass. Currently, I'm using a Froyo ROM and I have to say... much better than HTC Sense. I guess I like stock android better (I hate HTCs keyboard - too crowded).
Notifications - hot damn I love notifications on android. This is what may keep me on android. It works so well with gmail.
Widgets are awesome
My issues that may swing me back to the iPhone (and please, if I can fix any of these issues, let me know):
I hate having to press the power button to wake from sleep. Maybe I'm just used to pressing the bottom button on the iPhone, but it was just so much easier for me. Of course, not a deal breaker, but very annoying.
It could be just me, but the screen seems hypersensitive. When I'm scrolling up and down, I'm constantly opening apps/menus that I don't want to. It seems to be getting better, so maybe I just need to get used to it.
I'm in Hawaii and the 4G is supposed to be pretty good -- looking at the coverage maps on sprint shows mostly blue where I live. However, I seem to get spotty coverage and the speeds compared to 3G aren't what they advertise. I was so looking forward to 4G. To add insult to injury, leaving 4G on drains the battery like no other.
I'll probably get flamed for this, but I think most people agree the iPhone's OS is much more polished. It doesn't help that both HTC and Sprint add applications and background processes. Scrolling on the android is a tad slower and a little more jerky. One thing that bugs the hell out of me is, on HTC sense, if you press the applications icon, open an application, but decide to go back to the applications screen, it doesn't do that! It goes back to the home screen. That frustrates me so much. Froyo doesn't do that so right now I'm pretty happy.
I can't think of anything else, but I'm pretty torn right now about keeping the EVO or getting an iPhone 4. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To shut off the locksreen go to the matket and get no lock.
After it is installed just launch it and click on the lock.
After that you will just heve to hit the volume button to bring upi the home screen.
I had pretty bad light leakage on the bottom after the first couple days, now that part of the screen has lifted by about 0.5mm and it moves when I squeeze down. This thing has to go back . Just for the hell of it I tried browsing the web on my 3G... I can't imagine going back to such a tiny screen, but it looks like I have to. ugh.
Gary
Cool good info here.
cloudyphiz said:
I love it so far and shudder at the thought of having to go back to an iPhone. In fact I picked up my 3G today and it felt like a sad pathetic joke
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LoL
You sir... have had an AWAKENING!
I came from the iPhone and I can personally tell you this thing DESTROYS the iPhone..
1. CALENDAR SYNC via Exchange - Calendar use is WAY better on Android - one touch navigation of the "Where" clickable numbers(granted the iphone had this) and a beautiful widget to go on the front screen... another widget to show me my upcoming appointment and another to make a "Calendar folder" which makes it a bit easier
2. Notifications, Multi-tasking... Ahh the beauty of using Pandora while writing an e-mail or text message instead of going out of the song each time... being on Skype and Facebook Chat at all times and being that much easier to get ahold of (without the phone call to use my minutes)... LOVE IT
3. Screen Size, Screen Brightness - the screen destroys the iPhone and I have no problem with the touch at all..
4. Apps - I love the openness of the apps.. any major app I used (Pandora, Slacker, etc) are on both Android and iPhone (granted they are usually a bit more developed on the iPhone but I get things like MP3 Explorer that let me download songs when I want them.. something I would need to jailbreak my iPhone for...
5. Customized Home Screen - No need to talk about that... way better then iPhone... I don't feel like I'm the same as every other iPhone user
Okay Okay I coudl go on literally forever ... My iPhone feels like a dinosaur.. Facetime will probably be better video chat then QIK - because QIK SUCKS!!! But its only over WiFi and iPhone 4 to iPhone 4... so I'm not that envious..
One bad thing - battery... granted you get way more power and you can expect that the battery won't be as good... and I'm near a charger most of the time anyways... but I wish they woulda put a super super strong battery in this thing .. I'd be willing to deal with a thicker phone for a battery that's twice as capable!
I just don't get why android can't play all video types.. I'm very surprised that someone hasn't figured out a way to make this work.
jtadeo said:
I just don't get why android can't play all video types.. I'm very surprised that someone hasn't figured out a way to make this work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah.. but my guess.. soon there will be an app on the market that will be better and use more formats.
Like most things on android.. if you dont like it.. you can find an app for that!
Mod. edit: Warez link removed. RockPlayer is a beta, the developer didn't consent it's distribution. Consider this 1st warning!http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6805512#post6805512http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6805512#post6805512http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=699824
cloudyphiz said:
For the first five days I had a huge issue with the battery draining while in standby, and because of that I expected to return the phone. Now that I have logged out of google talk and changed to CDMA auto it's doing much better... I seem to get at least 6 hours of continuous use with little power draining when the screen is off, which I can definitely live with.
Here are the things I love about the evo:
* Being able to plug it in to my computer and mount it as a drive. So simple, and so frustrating that apple won't allow it.
* Google navigation. It's awesome, and much safer since it has text to speech.
* The screen size is amazing... I love that it lets me view docs in meetings so I hardly have to print anything
* Wifi tethering
Here are my main issues, the big ones that might make me have to return it:
* Horrible wifi reception. I have yet to pick up a signal at work, and I have no problem with my iPhone & laptop.
* It sucks as a media player. I have a huge library full of lossless files, and I don't have the energy to convert everything (yes I've tried doubletwist and andless but I can't get it to recognize the artist/album/songnames properly). I listen to a lot of music so this is a major PITA for me.
* Build quality kind of scares me, light leakage etc.; it makes me feel like I need to get the insurance. This plan is costing me way more than an iPhone 4 would (since I still have two other lines on AT&T with one year left on the contract and I get a lower corporate discount) and I hate the thought of paying any more.
The evo is not without it's imperfections, but I love it so far and shudder at the thought of having to go back to an iPhone. In fact I picked up my 3G today and it felt like a sad pathetic joke, like going back to one of those 12 lb. i486 laptops from the 90's. And nobody wants that.
Gary
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good comparison. One app you might wanna try for you music needs is btunes. It is basically like the iphone music player. It does cost money but so far its the best one I have used. I have the Hero so I do not know if it works on the EVO yet but you might wanna give it a try. Also when you buy a app if you havent figured it out yet you have 24hrs trial if you dont like it uninstall and you will be refunded. Hope that helps
dwertz said:
Mod. edit: No it's not. Warez link removed. This is a beta, the developer didn't consent it's distribution.http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6805512#post6805512http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6805512#post6805512
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it a free program?
it is in beta right now so for this version yes

Do you own a Focus claim it here tell us what you think?

Samsung Focus​Beautiful, crisp, or a cheap piece of junk. I would like to know.
I would like to know if you own a Focus or are considering purchasing one. I believe that word of mouth is important so I ask the community to place their thoughts about the Focus here. Also I would like just 1 post from each member who is writing their own review. Remember you can edit your post. Help me out and if you actually own a focus let us know in the poll.
Try to look at the below review for a format. Of course it is your review so write it how you see fit.
Top things I love about my Focus:
1. Thin
2. Light
3. Beautiful screen
4. SD expandability
5. Fast and responsive
6. Diagnosis Screen
Top things that need improvement for my Focus:
1. Better SD support
2. Power charging should be on the bottom of the phone
3. Power button should be on the top of the phone or harder to press
4. Screen can scratch all be it very hard to do so.
How is my windows experience on the Focus:
1. Marketplace can be buggy
2. Games are fun and vibrant
3. Programs are stable
What would you like to see improved in you windows experience on the Focus:
1. Need to allow multitasking as an option for GPS and third party audio programs.
2. Wish marketplace would show how many download an app had
3. More live tiles
4. In email adding folders to sync is cumbersome.
Who would you recommend buy this phone?
I would recommend this phone to anyone. This is the best phone I owned.
I pretty much agree with what you posted. I've really come to like WP7 and the Focus although, there is still much work to be done on the OS.
I guess if Samsung had one with a physical keyboard, I'd be all over it.
It's so fluid in motion, readable and highly consistent in design. Overall, I've got to give MS a big thumbs up. The UI is beautiful and functional.
My only real complaint is the occasional marketplace freeze.
I've had a number of android devices and I've had more than one iPhone.. I was ready for something fresh and different.. and so far this is fitting the bill quite well.
Now make with the updates, Microsoft... some new features would be nice.
As for the focus itself, it's a nice piece of hardware. The screen is gorgeous, battery life seems decent, speaker sounds good, calls are clear. It has a little creak do it if I grip it too hard, but it doesn't feel like it's going to break. I'd pretty much put it even with my Samsung Vibrant.. it is plasticky, but it doesn't feel cheap.
I've had my Focus since they released them publicly. The hardware is great overall. I have two iPhones (3G and 4), a Droid, Blackberry 9000 and a new Torch. The iPhone sets the bar high, and in my opinion the Focus easily competes head to head with the iPhone in terms of the screen and performance, maybe even better for speed. So far I haven't had any problems with it, in terms of the hardware. No unexpected reboots or lock-ups. I've soft-reset it a couple times on my own, and did one hard-reset to attempt to get wireless Zune sync working (still doesn't work), but that I'm sure is an OS problem. I do wish Samsung just stepped up with 16GB of NAND storage from the get-go though. Sure, an optional SD card is nice to have, but the way WP7 uses storage it doesn't surprise me people are seeing random crashes and data loss. WP7 essentially combines both storage types as one large storage, but expects performance to be the same and that's not reasonable. There's really no reason why they couldn't make NAND the primary, and SD secondary for more static things like music and documents.
In the beginning battery life was pretty bad. But I think it just took a few charge cycles to correct that. I get almost two days out of it without wifi. With Wifi it drops to maybe a day and a half at most.
The AMOLED screen is just awesome. Clear, bright, smooth.
I'm looking forward to MS releasing a WP7 update though. There are so many little bugs/features that are missing, besides the popular copy/paste that I rarely use anyway.
I agree with the first post.
I (STILL) only get all of one bar of signal in my house with it. AT&T signal was bad seven years ago and hasn't improved which kind of forces me to return it and wait for a CDMA version. At least with Verizon I get three & four bars everywhere in the house. Too bad I have to wait another month or two to get a WP7, because other than not being able to make or receive calls at home I really like the Focus a lot.
Pretty much agree with the first post. I really like this phone.
When reading email, I wish there was a way to make the font bigger that would also word wrap so you don't have to move back and forth to read the email. Either autosize to a larger font with word wrap, or just let me select a larger font size.
I love the voice search! It's worked for me in noisy resturants and standing along side a busy road. Impressive!
I really like my Samsung Focus primarily because in my usage the OS has been stable, fast, and really easy to navigate.
The lack of available applications (for whatever reasons) is a huge issue. I own both an iPhone and Droid X. If I didn't have those phones on which to use apps I think I'd be a little less kind at this moment to WP7 and the Focus
Overall I think what MSFT has TODAY is a great first smartphone for someone who has not used one before.
Will this progress to a serious contender in the smartphone space? I don't know but I'm hoping that it can be one of the top 3.
webdev511 said:
I agree with the first post.
I (STILL) only get all of one bar of signal in my house with it. AT&T signal was bad seven years ago and hasn't improved which kind of forces me to return it and wait for a CDMA version. At least with Verizon I get three & four bars everywhere in the house. Too bad I have to wait another month or two to get a WP7, because other than not being able to make or receive calls at home I really like the Focus a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iPhone's reception fairly blows, also, and AT&T is awful at my house. I bought a zBoost YX-545 GSM/PCS repeater, stuck the antenna in the attic where I get at least a couple reception bars and put the unit in the upper floor of the house. That now gives me 4 or 5 bars throughout the house and yard and helped the iPhone considerably and does just as well with the Focus. If you have any reception at all, this is a better solution than AT&T's hit-or-miss microcell.
Personally, I like the screen and the weight. It's so nice being able to pull it out of my pocket, take a quick glance at the screen to see if there's anything of interest and, if not, pop it right back from where it came. The screen is bright, easily read at arm's length and laid out well. The commercials about "saving us from our phones" actually made sense once I used the phone for a few days. One thing that drove me nuts about the iPhone was the form and weight. It's akin to having a brick in my shirt pocket and the weight makes it practically jump out of my pocket any time I bend over a bit. The Focus has a much nicer form with the rounded edges, it's thin and it's relatively light weight means it's been less prone to wanting to slide out of my pocket. It's being so thin and rounded makes it more difficult to pick up off a flat surface than the iPhone.
I've used iPhones for the past 2 1/2 years and while the iPhone has it all over the Focus as far as functionality, what the Focus currently does is so much easier to do that I believe I'm ready to commit and forget about the 30 day return policy. All in all, the benefits and potential very much outweight the few drawbacks that exist, such as the plastic feel and mediocre reception.
Oh...and the expandable memory is a HUGE plus after 2 1/2 years of a phone I couldn't even open. Yes, I've read that plenty of people have had problems with it but using a Sandisk 8GB class 2 SD card I've been able to put some 10 GB of music on the phone without so much as a single hiccup in any way. I suppose Sandisk is still the best for a reason...accept no substitutes!
JDiddyC Review
(in conjunction with previous noted items)
What I like:
1. Integration of FB, apps and Live Skydrive, etc. Seemless!
2. Ability to customize the tiles on the home screen
3. Live tiles! Need I say more!?
4. Accessing info and sharing is quick and easy
What I don't like / needs development:
1. For the love of God, please let us use Bing Turn by Turn and not PAY for provider specific apps or add-ons!
2. Zune / Music portion needs work
- Channels would be nice
- Why do I have to pay for songs via AT&T when I have zune pass? This should work like market place on the Zune HD!
- Please let me use music I have on the device as a ringtone!?
Overall satisfaction:
LOVE IT! I feel pretty confident that changes to the OS and apps will come in the near future that will hopefully address the few things I don't like. Although I fear there are some agreements with providers around GPS and turn by turn directions that may keep us hacking to get around them.
Top things I love about my Focus:
1. Thin
2. Facebook Integration
3. Beautiful screen
4. SD expandability
5. Xbox Live
6. Fun UI
Top things that need improvement for my Focus:
1. Multitasking or at least backgrounding (i want pandora!!!)
2. When the Screen is locked i shouldnt be able to power off the phone with just the button! Come on now that should be common sense.
3. Flashlight app that acually uses the LED
4. Volume controls that are not all in one (i shouldnt have to turn my phone back up to 30 after playing a games at 10 because the games too loud, in turn making my ringtone way too quiet)
5. Cut, Copy, Paste!!!
How is my windows experience on the Focus:
1. Marketplace and UI can be buggy (especailly when downloading)
2. Games are fun and vibrant but with a lack of games ive grown interested in with other platforms
3. best camera phone implementation with the shutter button and ease.
bump
Can a moderator sticky this
I love the focus ALOT! I bought it outright at Rogers for $630! Its unbelievably fast and smooth....its the most fluid phone I have ever used in my life to be honest....I handed it over to my gf! Why? because I take alot of pictures and video, and so far while the focus has been good at both, it doesn't hold up to my Xperia X10,,,therefore I went back to my X10...but I play with the Focus all day long. If somehow they could write a camera app (like Vignette for android) and make the pictures cleaner in low light then the Focus would be my primary phone hands down.
Overall I'd give this phone a 9.5/10 just because I feel the camera is lacking slightly.
Lovin My New unlocked Samsung Focus
Samsung Focus is the BEST WP7 phone hands down right now! Just wished 3G and MMS would work with my T-Mo service Provider.
Anyone find out how to get into the MFG Mode?
I have been through the whole Diagnosis Mode, changed about every setting i could change and still no MMS.
btw.. thx sandrobber for listing all the codes for the diagnosis menu!
Just bought 3 foci (sp), Originally got one for my step father who had been working on some old handmedowns and wanted a real smart phone of his own and one for my wife who hated her Pure with such a purple passion that I was almost ready to overlook my no Apple rule and get her an Iphone. They both are loving it.
I went ahead and got one for myself. I have to admit I did a lot of waffling between the focus and the quantum.
Personally I think the quantum's size and form factor is slightly superior. It was just the right size to fit in my hand and be worked easily with one hand while the focus is just a tad on the large size to be truly comfortable.
That said I ended up going with the Focus because damn it's a huge gorgeous screen the potential for expansion and general overall ratings it's getting on the hardware side.
My past experience with smart phones has been with winmo and palm OS. Part of my decision to go with the Samsung was because of my experiences with their older smart phones. In fact I just ran across my old I300 the other day while sorting through some old boxes and the damned thing still runs just fine after a quick charge.
Pro's
that huge screen.
smooth seamless performance.
did I mention that huge beautiful screen?
Expandable memory
Con's
Bing button is too damned easy to hit.
form factor is just a tad to big to be used consistently with one hand.
Who thought putting the USB port on the top was a good idea?
Market place is buggy and has locked up on me several times requiring a reset of the device.
Other thoughts
As a former winmo user I'm definitely missing some of the features that I knew weren't going to make it into this os. I still think it was rather stupid to drop active sync and myphone for this platform. I understand some of the rationals but it's still missed.
Same goes for the lack of access to the files system (in particular the lack of drag and drop and real support for SD storage)
That said the phone is incredibly user friendly. My wife who hated the hell out of her Pure took to this thing like a duck to water and she's far from technically competent with this sort of thing in that she's a fairly typical user who's not interested in tinkering with a device just to get basic functionality. as such this works great for her.
For my part I very rapidly got my start page re-arranged the way I liked it with my tiles organized in the manner in which I typically need them.
I'm still learning things about it like it was a bit of a surprise when my step father showed me how to voice dial calls. (so damned easy it never even occurred to me to try.)
So far everyone I've shown the phone to has been impressed (primarily Iphone users) and several have already expressed an interest in switching to WP7 as soon as their contracts come up for renewal. Especially those who aren't using Iphones since they'll be able to keep their old unlimited data plans with these devices.
I have very high expectations for the future of this platform. As soon as MS gets a couple basic features pushed out (copy/paste, task switching) and developers start getting some quality apps out I see this platform being quite competitive with Apple.
I get that there are some things that it's just never going to match winmo on and that functionality will be missed but after watching Apple dominate the market so thoroughly and observing users such as my wife beating their heads against the WinMo experience I can't really fault MS for shifting design philosophy.
Considering the fact that this OS has only been out a couple months I'd say it's off to a nice start. Sure it would have been nice to have had cut/paste and multitasking so I wouldn't have to listen to the apple fanboi's teases (hey at least it's got MMS out the box) but it is a fully functional smartphone right out the box that can already do many things much easier than my old 6.5 phone could.
Now I just have to find a good case for it.
Happy Focus owner, elated to be a part of a truly 'smart'phone era.
This phone was the best investment I ever made.
After purchasing the phone outright from Rogers in Canada, I paid an ebay guy $15 to unlock it.
I came immediately to XDA-Developers for guidance with my new toy. The community here is excellent; with a level of knowledge far beyond my wildest expectations.
Once I followed the advice of everyone here, I was able to unleash the full power of the phone on my preferred network, SaskTel.
Prior to this phone, I got a contract a year ago with a Samsung Omnia. My carrier wouldn't push the OS update, and Samsung didn't offer it direct to consumers. I was forever stuck on a crippled WinMo6.1 OS.
I am looking forward to future updates provided direct from Microsoft. This was perhaps the most significant reason I bought into the idea behind Windows Phone 7 as a future-proof platform.
The reasons I chose the Focus are the same as most around here. The SuperAMOLED screen is just a wonder to behold, and I find myself just scrolling the lists just to see the brilliance of the display in action.
Memory expansion is another boon for this device. Having at least one option in the Microsoft launch lineup with this feature is key to the platform's success. I believe like the handset manufacturers, that everyone has different needs in a device.
Storage is a need some of us have. I like the security behind the S in SD. I believe the way MS implemented the expandable memory is the way to go from a security and usability standpoint.
My final reason for choosing this phone was to test the ability of my service provider to bring alternate devices to the table. My carrier just upgraded to 3G+ from CDMA. Having a SIM based solution opened the Focus as a possibility.
I am satisfied with my carrier's network, and the phone, and the apps.
I looked at the iDevices and Android devices before making this purchase. While the iDevices were pretty much all out of my price range for the flexibility provided, I considered the Samsung Galaxy line.... in particular, the Galaxy S Vibrant (known by other names on other networks, so let's not quibble).
The only thing that kept me from the Android platform was how cumbersome it was to use.
While there are some mobile enthusiasts out there who will claim that the platform is lacking, I have never once been in a situation where I thought to myself, hey I wish I could multitask. Once something draws me away, the back button is right there, my little friend.. who always helps me back to whatever experience I engaged in before the distraction.
Personally I do not care for MMS, as my carrier charges me per use. at that rate, I can use my unlimited data and share over Facebook and SKydrive to those I want to see my photos. As a result I haven't even tested to see if the feature works with my carrier's current APN settings.
My only pain point is that a few of the features that were demoed early in the year, are not yet available in Canada.
For instance, Bing searching does not bring back local maps. The city where I live has too small a population for 2D overhead maps. I find all of this interesting, as I do have birds-eye within the bing maps silverlight experience on the desktop.
Another feature our lovely land to the north is missing is the Zune Pass. I would happily pay for the ability to link Shazam to Zune, unfortunately due what I presume to be legal reasons, the zune pass is not presently available.
===============================
My only hope now is that someone out there will create a Kinect-Based Star-Trek Exploration game that allows me to use my WP7 device as the infamous Tricorder.
I think that would totally kick ass. I'm thinking of a title we'll tentatively name "Star Trek: Red Shirt Adventures" Where you get to explore the worlds of Kirk's day, and all those up until Picard's day.
In this fashion a good story teller could preserve Trek Cannon and shed some light on the rich history to us causal trekkies. Maybe the objective is to burn through 1000 lives in a single play through.... who knows.... it was an idea, which I give openly to the internet to turn around and capitalize on, as I lack the ambition. Surely with XNA architecture as a base on both platforms, this should be doable.
Skex said:
3 foci (sp)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct
Finally a phone I love
Even though I've been in IT for 30 years, I had my first taste of smart phone ownership a little over a year ago with a BB Bold. I never needed one, but finally WANTed one. It was okay, but slow and not the easiest thing to type on. On 12/27 I upgraded to a Samsung Captivate. I really like the keyboard, but the darn thing kept powering off all by itself. When I noticed board postings about others' Captivates doing the same thing, I was determined not to play "let's see if this one works" and I traded for a Focus on 12/31. It is absolutely lovely. The only complaints I have are 1) the keyboard is a bit to small and 2) the hidden "diagnosis" settings really need to be easier to access. The good thing about that is I have joined groups like this one, where I am learning things I didn't know I wanted to know!
First day, first customer!!!
I have been a loyal WM/PPC user (iPAQ, Axim, 3125, TD2), and have been waiting for this phone. Having used TD2 and several Softbank (Japan) phones, I desire the following (only):
(a) Smart dial
(b) Toggle switches for Bluetooth/Wifi (like Cookies Home tab) on the Home Screen.
Nevertheless, very happy with my Focus.

As Dell VP enters its last half of life, what phone is next for you?

I was one of those that pre ordered the Dell VP way back in November 2010. By the time I finally got the phone, it became my primary phone for several months, before moving on to better hardware. I recently turned the phone back on and decided I preferred the Windows Phone OS to other platforms.
But, I found the DVP too slow and missing key items that similar primary phones had. I have an HD7 and I tried that too. But the HD7 hardware is close to 2yrs old if not more.
I eventually found a deal at T-Mobile for the Lumia 710 and purchased that. The deal was essentially a duh because it added nothing to my contract and cost $20US. Of course the 710 is low end hardware with 4g.
I've seen other new gen Windows Phone hardware out there.....
Titan
Titan 2
Lumia 800
Lumia 900
Radar
Ominas.
I was just curious, if you're staying with Windows Phone, what will your next one be?
Me, I have the Lumia 900 in site.
I REALLY like my DVP and I REALLY like WP7. There aren't any other WP7 phones out there that catch my eye so I'm going to stay put for the next 3-6 months.
I hope that Microsoft can find a way to get core apps like Pandora and services like VOIP to work like they do on Android/IOS. If so, I will have absolutely zero reason to go with another platform when it is time to upgrade.
BTW Alodar1, what runs slowly on your DVP?
Given the chance I would love to move to a Lumia 900 or a higher model from Nokia. The Titan II also looks interesting but I really dont like HTC so would probably not buy that. Also not really interested in owning anything from Samsung.
However as I am still on T-Mobile and am likely to stay here for the forseeable future I will have to stick with my trusty DVP.
bbowman said:
I REALLY like my DVP and I REALLY like WP7. There aren't any other WP7 phones out there that catch my eye so I'm going to stay put for the next 3-6 months.
I hope that Microsoft can find a way to get core apps like Pandora and services like VOIP to work like they do on Android/IOS. If so, I will have absolutely zero reason to go with another platform when it is time to upgrade.
BTW Alodar1, what runs slowly on your DVP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I moved from the DVP to android G2x and evenutally the Bionic. Both are superior hardware wise, having 4g and several other functions like wifi N, and more.
I knew that android was just a fad for me, and that became true when I saw the Lumia 900. But still...I'd never had a nokia and the lumia 710 provided me some exposure. the 710 is faster than the DVP data wise. Since data is the primary way I use the phone, it is important. There is a significant speed difference here both by wifi and on radio.
The integration of Mango is almost the same so thats not a problem. Getting used to people hub is the biggest thing to get used to, but I'm good with it now. Calendar and contact integration is good on most devices. The skydrive app helps with visuals there.
I found an app, Cloud Music that links with Skydrive and will play stored music there. Its a v1 app, but works ok on the 710. I used Google lattitude for connections with my kids....but its somewhat flaky, working when it wants to....so its no longer the draw for me. Though its pretty cute when I'm in the restaurant and my daughter pings me and asks what I ordered....
As for Pandora...MS has come out and said, they consider Pandora a competitor. So I doubt we will see resolution soon on that. For me, the starbuck app is more important. Its the #1 app I use on android.
Most WP devices, first gen, were old design and hardware. the OEMs simply did not invest in them. With Nokia on board and a potential opportunity slipping away from the grubby money hungry mobile operators, Windows Phone is seeing some of the love of up to date hardware. It won't go dual core , yet...but, the 710 is a nice device. Gives me great hope for the 900.
I too used to be an HTC fan. But recently I've stepped away. From the Sense rendition on Android to the WP rendition...its a disappointment.
has anyone looked at the Omnia's out there? The new ones???
alodar1 said:
I moved from the DVP to android G2x and evenutally the Bionic. Both are superior hardware wise, having 4g and several other functions like wifi N, and more.
I knew that android was just a fad for me, and that became true when I saw the Lumia 900. But still...I'd never had a nokia and the lumia 710 provided me some exposure. the 710 is faster than the DVP data wise. Since data is the primary way I use the phone, it is important. There is a significant speed difference here both by wifi and on radio.
The integration of Mango is almost the same so thats not a problem. Getting used to people hub is the biggest thing to get used to, but I'm good with it now. Calendar and contact integration is good on most devices. The skydrive app helps with visuals there.
I found an app, Cloud Music that links with Skydrive and will play stored music there. Its a v1 app, but works ok on the 710. I used Google lattitude for connections with my kids....but its somewhat flaky, working when it wants to....so its no longer the draw for me. Though its pretty cute when I'm in the restaurant and my daughter pings me and asks what I ordered....
As for Pandora...MS has come out and said, they consider Pandora a competitor. So I doubt we will see resolution soon on that. For me, the starbuck app is more important. Its the #1 app I use on android.
Most WP devices, first gen, were old design and hardware. the OEMs simply did not invest in them. With Nokia on board and a potential opportunity slipping away from the grubby money hungry mobile operators, Windows Phone is seeing some of the love of up to date hardware. It won't go dual core , yet...but, the 710 is a nice device. Gives me great hope for the 900.
I too used to be an HTC fan. But recently I've stepped away. From the Sense rendition on Android to the WP rendition...its a disappointment.
has anyone looked at the Omnia's out there? The new ones???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just reread this and realized my thoughts may sound anti android. Not really. Its nice...but its extremely fragmented now...and hard to keep up with. I have a Xoom tablet with ICS. Love it. do MOST of my work on the tablet. But with the volume of android phones coming out....its a real mess...my opinion only....
Have you played with Windows 8? Just got an Acer W500 and waiting for the beta, personally looking forward to the final immensely. Love the integration of Metro UI and traditional Windows if I need it.
efjay said:
Have you played with Windows 8? Just got an Acer W500 and waiting for the beta, personally looking forward to the final immensely. Love the integration of Metro UI and traditional Windows if I need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'veonly touched the rawest of builds. Nothing optimized and nothing on the tablet. I;m going to reserve judgement on the tablet. Traditionally MS has had a MS uber alas attitude for periphials. I hope that changes. I think a fully funtional Windows tablet...that works....is unbeatable. when I say...that works it means:
touch works as it should, not as a work around
smart choices with thumbdrives and other external storage
sync ability with devices
remote syncing
skydrive access that is smart, not the limited interface we see now.
If MS gives us a functional tablet and a flexible os....I think the android OS will dry up. I love the idea of open source, but....within in reason. How do you globablly support open source and maintain security and compatibility? Use Android and netflix for example....OS v2.3.3 won't run net flix...but 2.3.4 will, if its a certain device. But how about 2.3.7...etc??? Right now its a cluster and not getting better. ICS supposedly offers stability, but the fragmentation has started with that one already and its only a month old. MS has an opportunity to drive a stake here....if it gets it close to right.
The difference between Seven and Mango is a breath of fresh air. But, Mango was in the path of seven all along. Features that showed up in mango, were finished and ready to go before NODO...this is a long, well thought out process for windows phone....I hope they stick to their guns.
There really isn't anything that interests me much. I refuse to buy a phone without a physical keyboard and there are basically no good ones out/coming out soon that we know about. The Galaxy Note interested me due to its sheer size, but the PenTile screen puts me off. I hated my Nexus One PenTile screen and while the DVP's isn't as bad, I don't want to buy another device with a PenTile screen.
I don't know why you're complaining about speed. Everything is really fast even if it is really old hardware.
I bought the DVP because of the hardware keyboard and the amoled screen. In the past few months, I've opened the keyboard maybe 10 times... that's how much i like the on-screen keyboard in windows phone.
A hardware keyboard will not be in my next phone's future although a super amoled or clearblack display most certainly will. I'm also holding out until Apollo gets released hopefully bringing in new screen resolutions and other features like NFC and I'm leaning very heavily towards Nokia unless HTC finally releases a WP with a super amoled display.
I don't see how people prefer on screen to physical keyboards. Physical isso much more accurate and faster.
I hope TMOUS releases the Nokia Lumia 900, or as rumor says the 910 with upgraded camera. I am also a fan of the HTC Titan.
Either way, the stock OS is great and doesn't require much modification to do exactly what it was designed to do which is work.
holding out until microsoft fixes the orientation lock thing. then we'll see if nokia makes a keyboard phone.
weatherx said:
holding out until microsoft fixes the orientation lock thing. then we'll see if nokia makes a keyboard phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone made a homebrew fix. It was published on the portal the other day. Sorry I don't have a link right quick. I have a headache and its making thinking and looking at a bright screen difficult.
jelliottz said:
Someone made a homebrew fix. It was published on the portal the other day. Sorry I don't have a link right quick. I have a headache and its making thinking and looking at a bright screen difficult.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, i saw that homebrew. problem is, it disables the accelerometer completely, rather than stopping the orientation switch, and requires a reboot to re-enable IIRC. this setting really should be a quick access setting (like volume) rather than having to go thru an app.
i'll be honest, about 1/3 of the time i slide the keyboard out on the DVP just to lock orientation.
petard said:
I don't see how people prefer on screen to physical keyboards. Physical isso much more accurate and faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree, I think physical keyboard is more accurate and I have small fingers.
petard said:
I don't know why you're complaining about speed. Everything is really fast even if it is really old hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not complaining. Ever ride in a Mercedes, then go home in a low end KIA or something. You become spoiled....even though the Mercedes is out of reach. With data speeds on the G2x and the Bionic, and now the Razr series, the data speed is blazing. Since most of my time on a phone is indeed data related of some sort, its noticable. Not like the Mercedes which is out of reach $$ wise, getting a dual core, 4g, android beast is very affordable. And I got used to it. If I never tried it, I could be of a different opinion...but it did.
With that said, the 710 with low end hardware, does indeed close the gap, alot. I've seen the reports from the TItans and some other devices, which lead me to no longer concern myself with the dual core question. But simple 3g vs 4g is an issue, and so is WiFi N availability. Both of these leave the VP in second place.
But, the VP is old hardware now. Its not so bad that you have to update, now. But, in the next several months, you will do it....as a normal progression.
crav4speed said:
I bought the DVP because of the hardware keyboard and the amoled screen. In the past few months, I've opened the keyboard maybe 10 times... that's how much i like the on-screen keyboard in windows phone.
A hardware keyboard will not be in my next phone's future although a super amoled or clearblack display most certainly will. I'm also holding out until Apollo gets released hopefully bringing in new screen resolutions and other features like NFC and I'm leaning very heavily towards Nokia unless HTC finally releases a WP with a super amoled display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, mostly. When the Dell was introduced, I had anHD7 in my hand. A Dell rep was at our work and pulled out the VP. INSTANT love affair. When he opened the keyboard...bing.....I was sold. During the entire time I used the Dell, I opened the keyboard ONLY to access the EM menu. Never did anything else. I eventually learned the feel of the phone and mistakes were rare. I was always impressed by Joe B's launch demo of WP7...with his wild typing...but it works...usually. But so does android and apple...but who cares.
I do know that MS is working on an NFC solution, and has been. I'll be interested to see what comes up....but for now that won't impact my next decision.
Regarding screen resolutions, I believe....MY OPINION ONLY, ... that first in MS's mind is the proper mix of resolution, speed, power overall, and battery life. Until they can master the issue of battery life, dual core and any other high power drains will not be part of WP. The Droid Razr MAXX was released today with a whopping 21 talk time claim. Of course, they doubled the pwer of the battery, so the efficency is the same as before....I believe MS is looking for efficiency improvements and not battery claim.
The truth is, I guess, I only purchased the 710 to see if I could handle a Nokia. I would not use this phone as my primary everyday phone. But, I now have faith in the 900, 910,930's I've seen reported by Engadget. Its better than even money I'll have 1 of these by June.
weatherx said:
i'll be honest, about 1/3 of the time i slide the keyboard out on the DVP just to lock orientation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, especially if I'm using it in bed at all.
I actually bought a used DVP a couple days back to replace my stolen iPhone 4 until something better comes along. So far, I'm actually a bit disappointed. Everything is great with the exception of the screen (stupid Pentile) and battery life.
I'm really looking forward to the Nokia Lumia 900, but until then, I'm not sure what to do. I suppose I can live with the screen for a couple months, but I don't know what to do about battery life. I really don't want to have to turn off push, but I also don't want to spend money on another battery when I'll probably replace the phone in a couple months.
I have been a DVP owner for over 1 year - switched from iphone 4 - and the Mango update breathed new life in to the phone - the lack of Internet Sharing is the only major problem I have with the phone given my 5 year old Palm Treo has this feature.
I recently cracked the screen on the DVP and was looking for a new option - I picked up the Nexus S and installed ICS 4 on it. Overall a great phone, ICS is complete and Android offers much more selection of apps and 'internet sharing' built in - you must spend a lot of time customizing as it is rather 'vanilla' out of the box.
Installed Swype on the Nexus S and it was decent - however, I am a physical keyboard guy and use the phone for work and email is the most important feature for me.
Long story short, after 5 days with Android I am back using the DVP with a cracked screen - as a business user I find the Windows 7 interface is much easier to "get in and out" for making a call, sending email, sms, webpage, etc. Also, I have ridiculously fast typing speed on the DVP keyboard, almost the same as a PC keyboard.
I am shocked that the portrait slider format is effectively dead - other than a BB Torch 9810 I haven't seen anything else on the market with a physical keyboard.
I would love to hear other people's experience transitioning from a physical keyboard, maybe I need to give it more time...
Also, if anyone has any rumors or just wants to make something up about a new portrait slider for WP7 or Android please post here...

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