Potential new user--Questions about problems with your phone - Focus General

I've been in and out of this forum a few times a month, and I feel like I have a relative handle on the issues that have bugged this phone. However, many of those issues are brought up in page 2 of a thread and are answered in page 14 of that thread. Hopefully my questions will be easy and quick enough to answer. Feel free to point to specific forum posts.
1. How has your experience with the Focus been in the last few weeks you've used it? I've had a Zune since the first generation--so I'm relatively familiar with the Metro UI and the Zune integration excites me--but that means I'm not interested in a UI review. More along the lines of, "Have any problems you've had been fixed? Is it much more usable than it was 3 months ago?" Etc. etc.
2. I'm deciding between the Focus and the Atrix when it comes out (birthday is March 19th, will be getting then). My primary uses for a phone are Calendar and Toodledo (toodledo integration is a must) for school, web browsing, music playback, and GPS for navigation. Obviously in terms of media WP7 blows the competition out of the water. In your honest opinion, would my needs be better suited to Android? or WP7? I will say I consider myself to be very computer savvy and am comfortable with things along the lines of rooting.​
Thank you guys!

1:
My experience with the Focus has gotten better over time, especially once I found a working MicroSD card. That's probably been the most frustrating issue for me, followed closely by the lack of updates. Application availability is getting better, but there's still some gaps. The things that WP7 does, I think it does quite well, but Microsoft still has a ways to go before they catch up to Android/iOS.
2:
From what you listed, the focus could probably do a passable job. Biggest issue would be GPS navigation, as far as I'm aware there's not any turn by turn navigation for the Focus unless you want to pay a monthly fee to AT&T. Bing maps does a decent job for directions, but it's not something you could really use well while driving. Hopefully turn by turn navigation is something that will come in a future update.
Calendar might be an issue depending on how complex your needs are, the calendar app only syncs to the primary calendar from each account.
In general, unless you're really sold on the other aspects of WP7 (Zune, Xbox integration, etc) I might look elsewhere if I were you. Don't get me wrong, I love the platform, but it really needs to mature a bit more before it satisfies everything you want to do, whereas android can probably do that a bit better right now.

Related

What is going on...?

Ok first and foremost this is not just another post of someone complaining, in no way am i trying to offend or criticize this new device...these are simply observations made by a previous HTC owner (MDA/Herald/Wing) me...
I understand that the open source to "create" applications is fairly new not to mention all us G1 owners (ive had mine for lil more then a month). My concern is why are we seeing such "simple" programing in applications and things tht in reality none of us would ever use? Not to mention graphics what is going on...Look i have not created any nor have taken the time to even try to create applications, and if you or someone you know has, then my hats off to you, i envy you for knowing how and taking the time to...what im saying is why do all these new applications have so many bugs and in my opinion (cause that is all it is) are sub-par...i know its not really fair to compare to any other device on the market since it is the first of its kind, but im getting a little skeptical...am i alone in this? i find myself checking the android market every hour hoping for some sign to motivate me, but nothing so far aside from the obvious winners (youtube,maps,imeem,wheather channel etc...)...ill shut up now i sincerely was not trying to stir things up, and know/knew when i purcased the G1 it was the first of its kind and would probably take time to show its full potential, i just thought there were some things google had up its sleeve that were ready...does anyone have any insight or knowledge of better things to come...?
timace said:
Ok first and foremost this is not just another post of someone complaining, in no way am i trying to offend or criticize this new device...these are simply observations made by a previous HTC owner (MDA/Herald/Wing) me...
I understand that the open source to "create" applications is fairly new not to mention all us G1 owners (ive had mine for lil more then a month). My concern is why are we seeing such "simple" programing in applications and things tht in reality none of us would ever use? Not to mention graphics what is going on...Look i have not created any nor have taken the time to even try to create applications, and if you or someone you know has, then my hats off to you, i envy you for knowing how and taking the time to...what im saying is why do all these new applications have so many bugs and in my opinion (cause that is all it is) are sub-par...i know its not really fair to compare to any other device on the market since it is the first of its kind, but im getting a little skeptical...am i alone in this? i find myself checking the android market every hour hoping for some sign to motivate me, but nothing so far aside from the obvious winners (youtube,maps,imeem,wheather channel etc...)...ill shut up now i sincerely was not trying to stir things up, and know/knew when i purcased the G1 it was the first of its kind and would probably take time to show its full potential, i just thought there were some things google had up its sleeve that were ready...does anyone have any insight or knowledge of better things to come...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I find the plethora of apps encouraging, yes, some are more useful than others but the wide range of effort is fan-flippin-tastic.
MY biggest observation is that the Market place needs some severe MODERATOR intervention... the one star "i is first u goons" and "this app suks (because I am too stupid to read the intro to figure out what it is for) really really really needs to be cleaned up/out. (A perfect example is the UTC clock... it does EXACTLY what it says, true, the numbers in the display look like they are from a missile silo, but hey, it is a tribute to the UTC heritage...anyway, people bag on it because they have no idea why, what, or anything else about it... morons)
[/rant]
--M
demontefixo said:
Personally, I find the plethora of apps encouraging, yes, some are more useful than others but the wide range of effort is fan-flippin-tastic.
MY biggest observation is that the Market place needs some severe MODERATOR intervention... the one star "i is first u goons" and "this app suks (because I am too stupid to read the intro to figure out what it is for) really really really needs to be cleaned up/out. (A perfect example is the UTC clock... it does EXACTLY what it says, true, the numbers in the display look like they are from a missile silo, but hey, it is a tribute to the UTC heritage...anyway, people bag on it because they have no idea why, what, or anything else about it... morons)
[/rant]
--M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree "first" comments are riduculous, and if you dont like the application from descrption then dont install it...positive criticism is more then welcome but "this sucks" is getting on my nerves...
timace said:
Ok first and foremost this is not just another post of someone complaining, in no way am i trying to offend or criticize this new device...these are simply observations made by a previous HTC owner (MDA/Herald/Wing) me...
I understand that the open source to "create" applications is fairly new not to mention all us G1 owners (ive had mine for lil more then a month). My concern is why are we seeing such "simple" programing in applications and things tht in reality none of us would ever use? Not to mention graphics what is going on...Look i have not created any nor have taken the time to even try to create applications, and if you or someone you know has, then my hats off to you, i envy you for knowing how and taking the time to...what im saying is why do all these new applications have so many bugs and in my opinion (cause that is all it is) are sub-par...i know its not really fair to compare to any other device on the market since it is the first of its kind, but im getting a little skeptical...am i alone in this? i find myself checking the android market every hour hoping for some sign to motivate me, but nothing so far aside from the obvious winners (youtube,maps,imeem,wheather channel etc...)...ill shut up now i sincerely was not trying to stir things up, and know/knew when i purcased the G1 it was the first of its kind and would probably take time to show its full potential, i just thought there were some things google had up its sleeve that were ready...does anyone have any insight or knowledge of better things to come...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with you; even though i love this phone there are a lot of things i dislike about it. the only advice i can give to you is to be patient. the phone has 'officially' been out for a little under a month and there is already so much improvements to it:
- 2 updates have already been rolled out,
- we have found a Root and a way to manually update it.
- we are beginning to see system folders moved to sdcard to save space(even though the phone should have came with more memory)
apps on the market are getting better i don't if you have seen the app "bubble". bubble is a basic bubble level that uses the accelerometer to see if something is level and changes as the phone changes orientation it may seem like a simple app but it shows that Google came come out with an update that uses the accelerometer to change orientation.
- first signs of on screen keyboards like akeyui, a7email and a7sms.
all of these improvements in about 3 weeks and tons more to come idk what anybody can complain about besides hardware issues
just wait come Jan 2009 the G1 isnt going to be anything like it is today.
demontefixo said:
Personally, I find the plethora of apps encouraging, yes, some are more useful than others but the wide range of effort is fan-flippin-tastic.
MY biggest observation is that the Market place needs some severe MODERATOR intervention... the one star "i is first u goons" and "this app suks (because I am too stupid to read the intro to figure out what it is for) really really really needs to be cleaned up/out. (A perfect example is the UTC clock... it does EXACTLY what it says, true, the numbers in the display look like they are from a missile silo, but hey, it is a tribute to the UTC heritage...anyway, people bag on it because they have no idea why, what, or anything else about it... morons)
[/rant]
--M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah there need to be some serious clean up in th commenting sections, some of these comments might discourage people from developing apps for the G1, i think comments should strictly about the apps and not about being 1st or 151st, or bashing other commenters, and people definitely should not comment on an app the don't know how to use.
however developers should include directions on how to use their apps so people do not have to rely on commenting to try and figure out what it does and how it does it.
The point is the development muscle that has been put in the device is minor.I feel like the market is made by kids or teenagers that stopped uploading on youtube and are writing apps using ready made lego kits (APIs). The apps in the market are all basic stuff. There is not even a Divx player for this device available but 5 Video players using the Google provided APIs to play mp4 which only play SOME mp4 files not all.
I love the sliding, bubble and Gmail on it but I cant name too many more things I love. Not even a Navi that works properly. I really cant think of anything else I love about it. No office, word, excel, PDF, flash, divx. The SMS system is grouped together. The actual phone keyboard is beyond basic with no options. There are simply too many bugs on the phone operation itself like bluetooth etc.
Time flies google, we need apps that have more than 10 man-hours of software programming spent on it. Lets stop the growth of many timers and alarms in the market and get some real stuff out there. Microsoft has probably put in millions of development hours into WM and it was not until now that I realized this.
brooklynite said:
The point is the development muscle that has been put in the device is minor.I feel like the market is made by kids or teenagers that stopped uploading on youtube and are writing apps using ready made lego kits (APIs). The apps in the market are all basic stuff. There is not even a Divx player for this device available but 5 Video players using the Google provided APIs to play mp4 which only play SOME mp4 files not all.
I love the sliding, bubble and Gmail on it but I cant name too many more things I love. Not even a Navi that works properly. I really cant think of anything else I love about it. No office, word, excel, PDF, flash, divx. The SMS system is grouped together. The actual phone keyboard is beyond basic with no options. There are simply too many bugs on the phone operation itself like bluetooth etc.
Time flies google, we need apps that have more than 10 man-hours of software programming spent on it. Lets stop the growth of many timers and alarms in the market and get some real stuff out there. Microsoft has probably put in millions of development hours into WM and it was not until now that I realized this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
muscle...DiVix...kids...office...flash...basic...bugs
words that stood out and i DEFINATELY agree
as i said before patience is the key here
the reason why there aren't many good programs out right know is because they are still in development, there are some apps that won google's app contest that are not on the market because they are still under development. developers take their to try and come out with a bug free app and you criticize them for taking to long however if they rush it and get it out with SOME bugs people crucify them. how long did you think it took for divx or flash to be developed for other phones?
why do people expect a phone thats been out for under a month to have the same capabilities as phones that been out for years?
how many phone do you know had divx support right out of the box or even one month after release? i estimate that divx support will be out before the end of the year.
i agree that apps on the market are going the the hole, especially with millions of the same type of apps, c'mon how many different weather apps do we need, how many background apps is necessary. but you got to admit out of the hundreds of apps on the market there are some good ones.
I'm waiting with great anticipation on the games for the g1. Sure i want cut copy and paste, document reader, full video player, full file manager and task manager as well as others but i'm dying to play nes games and others on this phone. The market is pretty lame in the games department but hey i got pacman, solitaire, and a few others free so i'm not gonna complain. I think the apps are very promising and there are a wide variety of them. Granted none of the crucial apps are out yet but i have quite a few on g1 that i love and got em all for free!!! We just have to be patient, i knew going in i would have to be.
All the apps are free. The hardware has only been in people's hands for a few weeks (at most). A serious developer, wanting to create the exact apps we're all hoping for, needs a heck of a lot more time. The SDK was fine, but any serious developer is going to want to log a lot of hours with a physical device (or several) to finalize the product.
And they're not going to do all that, for free.
This device has huge potential, and the reason we're seeing amaturish apps is because the only people who are willing to play around with creating apps for free are mostly hobbyists who want feedback to further their skills.
I predict that once the payment system is set up for the Market, the apps you're all stomping your feet about are going to show up.
The programs we're talking about are complex, writing them and testing them is time consuming, and I assume that they're going to be larger than the apps we're seeing now. It's entirely possible that some of these apps are almost finished, but are waiting for SD card loading to be added to the functionality before they can release them. Some may even be delayed by the announcement of the virtual keyboard -- they may want to integrate that for the launch of their apps.
I think two things need to happen before we're going to see the apps we all want.
-Pay system on Android Market
-The Ability for Apps to be installed and run from the SD card.
Until those two things happen, the App Store is going to be like it is. And it's also time you guys thought about something. The apps that are "missing" were never a secret, most of the complaints I see are about things that were known well before launch, or discovered the first week people had it in hand. If you didn't read up, that's your fault. If you read up and assumed things would be taken care of within one to two months (something no one promised you) that's also your fault.
I'll predict something for you right now, in light of the economy and everything else, it'll be 6 months to a year before HALF the apps we want are available and working. Now, that's just my estimate, but if that sounds "too long" to wait, then I'd invest in another phone rather than spending the next 6 months posting complaints like "why isn't _____ done yet? And where's the ______ app?!!"
Just my 2 cents
I have already heard many apps have been developed but the developers are waiting for the pay system which has already been annoucnced and is coming 3 months after launch.
I am similar to you... give it time and you will see the best things you have ever seen. I mean look at Linux... they have some awesome apps on most linux flavors that make me dual boot into linux just to have. I think this device will be the same as this was the entire purpose.
Google is updating features all the time in the git directory and it won't be long before they fix the main issues and then the developers will be looking at new things to give us.
So far the barcode readers alone seem like such a huge advantage as I haven't seen them on mobile devices before(at least none that worked)
brooklynite said:
The point is the development muscle that has been put in the device is minor.I feel like the market is made by kids or teenagers that stopped uploading on youtube and are writing apps using ready made lego kits (APIs). The apps in the market are all basic stuff. There is not even a Divx player for this device available but 5 Video players using the Google provided APIs to play mp4 which only play SOME mp4 files not all.
I love the sliding, bubble and Gmail on it but I cant name too many more things I love. Not even a Navi that works properly. I really cant think of anything else I love about it. No office, word, excel, PDF, flash, divx. The SMS system is grouped together. The actual phone keyboard is beyond basic with no options. There are simply too many bugs on the phone operation itself like bluetooth etc.
Time flies google, we need apps that have more than 10 man-hours of software programming spent on it. Lets stop the growth of many timers and alarms in the market and get some real stuff out there. Microsoft has probably put in millions of development hours into WM and it was not until now that I realized this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you said my answer in your own post. The device has been out less than a month. That's nowhere near enough time to make those killer apps you're talking about. To google's credit they did put in things like street view with the compass mode and there are those apps you've talked about. It takes MONTHS to do real software developement so you're going to keep seeing more and more alarms and stuff until then.
seriously, does ANYBODY give a ratsass or even use streetview?
They should have made sure all the media stuff and the email was topnotcxh.
I agree 100% with the first post! Google should have prepaired Android better. There is a lot of competition out there and I would say by what I've seen so far they are light years behind. I did not expect that with all the money in the world Google couldn't release product that was better polished. I have put my G1 back in its box and I'm back to my unlocked Tilt, what sucks is going back to the old screen and Edge but its functinality that I need. I wish they made some kind of task aplication that I can put on the screen kind of likr thr picture frame that would display my tasks for the day. I have a Motorola ROKR E2 that runs Linux and there are more useful stuff for it out there. I desagree we have to wait untill we start paying for apliications, I believe Google can afford providing us with free functional software as more and more people will be using their services.
i love my g1, but i agree with these people that google didn't do enough...and i hope they're working to fix it.
i think that their whole "leave it in the hands of developers" approach was probably a mistake. they should have made all the basic applications like they did but also gone a step further to spice up the phone. i hope that google, in the new few updates, incorporates some more stuff, like OUTLOOK SYNC (i wuld love it if they changed the google calendar sync for windows into just google sync and have it sync everything with outlook....funambol right now sucks i have like 80 of each contact!)
they also should have made a GOOD video recorder / player, and even a better music player. they're trying to beat apple at multimedia, and are failing miserably.
they should add a decent on-screen keyboard and maybe even a task manager...or make it only have like 4 open tasks in the backgroudn...because i've noticed my g1 slowing down a lot after having a few apps open.
google should add a manual update button...i'm still on RC28 because i dont feel like installing the modified rc30 or plugging it in to update. have a freaking "UPDATE" button in the system info thing or something.
i think google needs more than 3 home screens...i've already filled all of mine up. they also should have added more widgets, like the guy above me said.
SELECTING TEXT SUCKS. i have to use the trackball to select a ltter of a word...on my windows mobile i could just tap on where i wanted it to be and at least it would get me within 1 or 2 letters...if i tap on a word on the g1 nothing happens!
we need to be able to install stuff to the sd card!
i think i'm missing a lot of things but i've only had the phone for 2 days and i've noticed all that...i hope developers DO step in if google is too stupid not to add more basic functionality.
/rant
Look at it this way currently there is no way to charge for apps that are developed. This is why we are seeing nothing but apps programed by independant programers some of which are good and some of which are useless. Once companies can charge for apps then it will make sence to put money into the development of better more porfessional apps. My suggestion is to just hold off on passing judgement untill the market is finished to where people that spend money in development can recoup those losses. I do think that the market place should have been finished before launch but what can you do.
coffeboy23 said:
Look at it this way currently there is no way to charge for apps that are developed. This is why we are seeing nothing but apps programed by independant programers some of which are good and some of which are useless. Once companies can charge for apps then it will make sence to put money into the development of better more porfessional apps. My suggestion is to just hold off on passing judgement untill the market is finished to where people that spend money in development can recoup those losses. I do think that the market place should have been finished before launch but what can you do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agaqin, super lame of google.
We can get a bunch of usless wank programs, but not proepr ones, becasue they don't have the pay market ready.
Also, I think that certain things like exchange and a proper email client shoudl have been included.
And remember most people are new to development, don't know how many "this is my first try" apps I have seen. When you get that one that charges 20 bucks for the app... you will get another developer who will release it free and just ask for donations... I suggest donating whatever you can to the one that gives it free.
Henchman said:
Agaqin, super lame of google.
We can get a bunch of usless wank programs, but not proepr ones, becasue they don't have the pay market ready.
Also, I think that certain things like exchange and a proper email client shoudl have been included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
google isnt the one entirely in charge of the market... tmobile is the one wanting money
neoobs said:
google isnt the one entirely in charge of the market... tmobile is the one wanting money
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Click to collapse
No, but it was google who shoudl ahve made sure that the basics were coveredf well.
The Camera I'm sure can take greta pics, but the controls suck.
The email is severly lacking.
No streaming video.
And they shoudl ahve elarnt form the iPhoen release, that push email fro MsExcahnge should have been there fromt he getgo.
Or the should have built a BB app, just like you can get for WinMo.
No, they focused on teenagers, not professionals.
neoobs said:
google isnt the one entirely in charge of the market... tmobile is the one wanting money
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no....google is not taking any money but is giving 30% of all apps sold to the carriers...tmobile might be the one "wanting" money but they have no control over the app store at all.

G1 Very Sluggish

Not that I'm asking for help about the sluggishness, it's just that the G1 is just overall way more sluggish than my friends iPhone 3G. As in web pages load WAY faster (Wifi on both devices being used). The UI is way more snappy.
And I understand the trade offs I'd get with an iPhone. No true multitasking or alerts from apps (like twitter email etc. . .) No Gmail push (I think) no Google Cal sync over the air, or contact sync OTA. All these things are great, but I dunno, I think I'm going to crossover into iPhone land soon. The G1 just became a let down for me after using it closely for about 6 months. And using other peoples iPhones on and off.
This is just a rant. And mostly I'm talking about browser load speeds and UI. It would be nice if Google maps oriented the direction we're facing since it has a compass. But the new update is moving in the right direction. Love the walking directions. But I think I'm gonna move on to 1 app at a time, Draconian app approval, HYPE land, release 5 HW revisions before making a new product, iPhone land.
Any Takers. Who can refute my arguments. I'm using Google Ion ROM also.
Heh, and the iPhone 3GS supposed to be even faster!
You're pretty much begging for a flame by asking that in here.
It's all down to personal choice and preference. Your thread isn't about your 'sluggish G1'; You're asking us to convince you why you need a G1.
Nobody cares that you no longer want a G1. But don't make a new thread masquerading as a plea for help that is really about:
Any Takers. Who can refute my arguments.
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Click to collapse
i hope you enjoy your seemingly faster (much more expensive, much less useful) iphone.
my personal experience has been different, but you seem like the kind of person who wouldn't be convinced even with hard evidence.
Alright. Well. I don't benchmark or use "hard evidence" tests, I just go off the feel of things. Of course I know the iPhone is locking you into a Lot of things. But a jailbroken iPhone 3G / 3G S will be more fun app / mobile safari. And as far as a reason for keep the G1 I'm not looking for a reason. I've rooted the phone, used apps2sd 2 with an ext3 partition. Made sure data/data is in intmem etc. . . The Rom dev is great, but an iPhone is like having an SL500. Of course more gas, higher maintenance cost. G1 is like having a nice truck that's a hybrid. It just doesn't feel as sexy. It can do Way more, but its a truck.
I'm cool with hearing other reasons why the G1 isn't sluggish etc. I'll listen, but I was just posting this out of my frustration of a slower browser and slower UI. I don't really know what the flame talk was about or me covering up intentions. These are just phones. But I think a jailbroken iPhone 3G beats out a rooted G1. Plus I'm not trying to ssh into my linux server with debian installed over hero.
Anyway, its just a conversation I wanted to spark with people who understand what I'm talking about. Not to mention the apps are a big plus too. And don't get me wrong, the g1 is good for the things it was built to address. The iPhone will just be more fun.
do you have all the newest and update firmware and radio installed?
your title is misleading.
also, only way to find out which one is better......... go and get both and use both and decided from there
I'm pretty sure I have the newest firmware. Haykuro's that was causing bricks on non PVT boards. I was using JF 1.51 ADP. I moved to cyanogen mod of JF. I moved on to hero, then google Ion rom. Oh and the sapphire rom. Ion rom was fastest, but iPhone's overall fell and touch is simply night and day. So is the browser. Steel was great before cupcake but it closes so much now its not even useable.
Oh yeah, radio is up to date too, hence the non bricked phone. Nevermind no 3G here in our area. I just want to hear others opinions before I drop 300 / plus a deposit for bad credit / and charging me for txt msg! But I'll have more apps.
The g1 does seem to get sluggish over time. I would try a wipe. That should restore the speed of the phone.
However, there's no getting around the performance of the iphone as it supports 2d hardware acceleration. The g1 and android only does software rendering so its never going to be faster than the iphone until the google devs start supporting 2d hardware acceleration (g1 has a graphics chip so it should be possible).
I personally don't find the g1 very sluggish. Maybe its sluggish compared to the iphone (I don't know as I don't have one to compare with), but on its own, the g1's UI is quite snappy (i'm running cyanogen ROM).
larrygates said:
Not that I'm asking for help about the sluggishness, it's just that the G1 is just overall way more sluggish than my friends iPhone 3G. As in web pages load WAY faster (Wifi on both devices being used). The UI is way more snappy.
Do you have a lot widgets running or background tasks? All those take up memory and cpu cycles which will end up slowing down the phone a lot.
And I understand the trade offs I'd get with an iPhone. No true multitasking or alerts from apps (like twitter email etc. . .) No Gmail push (I think) no Google Cal sync over the air, or contact sync OTA. All these things are great, but I dunno, I think I'm going to crossover into iPhone land soon. The G1 just became a let down for me after using it closely for about 6 months. And using other peoples iPhones on and off.
This is just a rant. And mostly I'm talking about browser load speeds and UI. It would be nice if Google maps oriented the direction we're facing since it has a compass. But the new update is moving in the right direction. Love the walking directions. But I think I'm gonna move on to 1 app at a time, Draconian app approval, HYPE land, release 5 HW revisions before making a new product, iPhone land.
Any Takers. Who can refute my arguments. I'm using Google Ion ROM also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my take:
I love the iphone ! I think it's the best comsumer phone (and i'm not kidding). The 1 app at a time applies to G1 too (almost): try playing Mafia then going to the browser (or another game) and back... Good luck with that !
Now the reason i use the G1 is that i NEED to be connected to yahoo messenger, i NEED to have my tweets as soon as they come (i use twitter for work). And i NEED a hardware keyboard. And i NEED weather on a widget, and background downloading of RSS feeds (NewsRob). And i NEED better integration between apps (i'll explain).
When Push notifications come to the iphone, things are going to change. It will be very close to what i have now on my G1. The only things missing would be the RSS thing and the HW keyboard.
About the integration: I can click share on a picture, and it will list the programs that can do something with it (like Twidroid). I really like this, and there are more examples.
Now, what you have to ask yourself is: What do YOU need ? When you know that, you'll know what you have to choose.
Bah, long post. I hate long posts.
Do you find the G1 UI significantly more sluggish than the iphone?
RPG0 said:
Here's my take:
I love the iphone ! I think it's the best comsumer phone (and i'm not kidding). The 1 app at a time applies to G1 too (almost): try playing Mafia then going to the browser (or another game) and back... Good luck with that !
Now the reason i use the G1 is that i NEED to be connected to yahoo messenger, i NEED to have my tweets as soon as they come (i use twitter for work). And i NEED a hardware keyboard. And i NEED weather on a widget, and background downloading of RSS feeds (NewsRob). And i NEED better integration between apps (i'll explain).
When Push notifications come to the iphone, things are going to change. It will be very close to what i have now on my G1. The only things missing would be the RSS thing and the HW keyboard.
About the integration: I can click share on a picture, and it will list the programs that can do something with it (like Twidroid). I really like this, and there are more examples.
Now, what you have to ask yourself is: What do YOU need ? When you know that, you'll know what you have to choose.
Bah, long post. I hate long posts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dwang said:
Do you find the G1 UI significantly more sluggish than the iphone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If i were to rate UIs of phones (based ONLY on smoothness) i would give the iphone an 9/10 and the G1 a 8/10.
The thing is... actually the difference mostly comes from the touchscreen sensitivity. There are two bad things about the G1 here:
SPOILER ALERT: After reading you might notice new bad things about your G1...
1. Try touching the screen with a small part of your finger (the very tip) and you'll see it won't register. This happens more in real life than you would think...
2. Try opening the notification bar SLOWLY and you'll see it shakes as you move your finger. If you stop mid-way it will shake most of the time... Actually any list will shake if you drag it and then stop... kinda cheap.
3. The sides of the screen in portrait have a "snap" zone. Try moving an icon to one side, and it will stop folowing your finger at a moment, then it will snap to the border. (On my phone this only happens on the right side. On the left side it's worse. I CAN'T register touch on the edge there. It's a nightmare to move an icon to a screen to the left.).
I knew HTC was bad news when i dug deeper into my Kaiser.
So.. G1 actually 7/10... Android on a good phone 8-8.5/10.
Yes this is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not very in the know, but I do know how to follow directions and root phones. But YES the missing HW acceleration is felt when I go from iPhone to G1. It's unsettling. But . . .
dwang said:
The g1 does seem to get sluggish over time. I would try a wipe. That should restore the speed of the phone.
However, there's no getting around the performance of the iphone as it supports 2d hardware acceleration. The g1 and android only does software rendering so its never going to be faster than the iphone until the google devs start supporting 2d hardware acceleration (g1 has a graphics chip so it should be possible).
I personally don't find the g1 very sluggish. Maybe its sluggish compared to the iphone (I don't know as I don't have one to compare with), but on its own, the g1's UI is quite snappy (i'm running cyanogen ROM).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You gave pretty much all the reasons I waited for the G1 and went with it. I knew it acted more like a computer and actually integrated different api's into 1 whole (if you will). Or let the app devs get to the api's. But I like having my feeds come to me without thinking, I like twitter updates, I love gmail being like my old blackberry exchange solution. I WISH live maps or mesh or whatever it's called for Windows Mobile 6.1 would come to android. Someone asked about widgets etc. I disabled all widgets, actually I wiped to a clean Ion Rom that isn't running anything in the background but essentials. It's the HW accel I'm thinking, and the sensitivity of the touch screen. It's great on the iPHone. These were the replies I was looking for. Just something to chomp on before I make any moves. Cause I'm seriously thinking about making that move. I'll lose a lot though. But I'll gain a lot back.
Oh yeah, how come maps on the G1 doesn't auto orient like the iPhone does now. We have a compass, and the new maps is better, at least it shows the direction, but I have to rotate the phone though.
RPG0 said:
Here's my take:
I love the iphone ! I think it's the best comsumer phone (and i'm not kidding). The 1 app at a time applies to G1 too (almost): try playing Mafia then going to the browser (or another game) and back... Good luck with that !
Now the reason i use the G1 is that i NEED to be connected to yahoo messenger, i NEED to have my tweets as soon as they come (i use twitter for work). And i NEED a hardware keyboard. And i NEED weather on a widget, and background downloading of RSS feeds (NewsRob). And i NEED better integration between apps (i'll explain).
When Push notifications come to the iphone, things are going to change. It will be very close to what i have now on my G1. The only things missing would be the RSS thing and the HW keyboard.
About the integration: I can click share on a picture, and it will list the programs that can do something with it (like Twidroid). I really like this, and there are more examples.
Now, what you have to ask yourself is: What do YOU need ? When you know that, you'll know what you have to choose.
Bah, long post. I hate long posts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iphone 3gs does look pretty great, but I'm not switching from tmobile to att just for the iphone. There's going to be some nice android phones coming down the line, hopefully with upgraded cpu and memory to match the pre and 3gs. That should narrow the performance differences significantly. And hopefully android 2.0 (donut) finally implements 2d hardware acceleration.
larrygates said:
Yes this is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not very in the know, but I do know how to follow directions and root phones. But YES the missing HW acceleration is felt when I go from iPhone to G1. It's unsettling. But . . .
You gave pretty much all the reasons I waited for the G1 and went with it. I knew it acted more like a computer and actually integrated different api's into 1 whole (if you will). Or let the app devs get to the api's. But I like having my feeds come to me without thinking, I like twitter updates, I love gmail being like my old blackberry exchange solution. I WISH live maps or mesh or whatever it's called for Windows Mobile 6.1 would come to android. Someone asked about widgets etc. I disabled all widgets, actually I wiped to a clean Ion Rom that isn't running anything in the background but essentials. It's the HW accel I'm thinking, and the sensitivity of the touch screen. It's great on the iPHone. These were the replies I was looking for. Just something to chomp on before I make any moves. Cause I'm seriously thinking about making that move. I'll lose a lot though. But I'll gain a lot back.
Oh yeah, how come maps on the G1 doesn't auto orient like the iPhone does now. We have a compass, and the new maps is better, at least it shows the direction, but I have to rotate the phone though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See I'm worried about that. Why wouldn't android have he hw accel. I'm using an iPhone now to post this. Hw key is good, but this iPhone is very nice. I'll try to hold out and see. But I'll take it up the a!! Yeah I'm getting one. A 3G S.
dwang said:
The iphone 3gs does look pretty great, but I'm not switching from tmobile to att just for the iphone. There's going to be some nice android phones coming down the line, hopefully with upgraded cpu and memory to match the pre and 3gs. That should narrow the performance differences significantly. And hopefully android 2.0 (donut) finally implements 2d hardware acceleration.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
larrygates said:
See I'm worried about that. Why wouldn't android have he hw accel. I'm using an iPhone now to post this. Hw key is good, but this iPhone is very nice. I'll try to hold out and see. But I'll take it up the a!! Yeah I'm getting one. A 3G S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you laid out the talking points pretty well in your first post (and frankly aside from multitasking, iPhone OS 3.0 has fixed a lot deficiencies), so if you're set on an iPhone, just go for it.
Frankly, if having used a G1 for a while you are still considering an iPhone, then the iPhone is probably a better product for you. Reasons such as avoiding being locked into Apple's closed ecosystem probably weren't ever a factor for you at all.
Hey thanks for the civil post. The last thing you said is a hard one along with at&t. Apple is pretty slick with marketing, and they're hardware upgrades really screw you. Plus I think one of the guys here said something about dual core chips in phones next year.
About the Eco system hopefully jailbreaking side steps a lot of the walls on the phone. We'll see. I need to wait some things out and see how the dev team comes along. Someone said I should look into the pre, but I wonder if its similar to the G1.
jashsu said:
Well you laid out the talking points pretty well in your first post (and frankly aside from multitasking, iPhone OS 3.0 has fixed a lot deficiencies), so if you're set on an iPhone, just go for it.
Frankly, if having used a G1 for a while you are still considering an iPhone, then the iPhone is probably a better product for you. Reasons such as avoiding being locked into Apple's closed ecosystem probably weren't ever a factor for you at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bah. This is only personal preference nonsense. Go get the iphone if ur tired of the g1.
larrygates said:
Hey thanks for the civil post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because i'm using and love the G1 doesn't mean the iPhone is a bad phone. I really don't have time to spend writing up a long convincing article why you should stay with the G1, let alone flame-coat it.
The last thing you said is a hard one along with at&t. Apple is pretty slick with marketing, and they're hardware upgrades really screw you. Plus I think one of the guys here said something about dual core chips in phones next year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All hardware obsoletes, iPhone or otherwise. It's just a fact of tech life. If you constantly wait for the better hardware upgrade then you will never have any hardware at all.
About the Eco system hopefully jailbreaking side steps a lot of the walls on the phone. We'll see. I need to wait some things out and see how the dev team comes along. Someone said I should look into the pre, but I wonder if its similar to the G1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously the phone is better in some respects than others. But for example it will only sync with iTunes. I will never install iTunes or Quicktime ever again because they are poorly written pieces of spyware crap. Also, the cloud sync clearly prefers Mobile Me as the primary service. Remember when Mobile Me launched? It was a pile of cowpie. Even Apple admitted this.
The iPhone has a sleek interface and a powerful advertising machine behind it. That's why it and the iPod are such popular devices among consumers. However, being that I am an engineer by trade, I'm not so easily swayed by Apple's glitzy advertising. In that respect, iPhone's deficiencies, past and present come into stark contrast. For example, the inability to multitask userapps is just ridiculous. I actually want to receive my emails and instant messages in realtime, without having to open the Google App. Some people say "just use SMS", which opens up a whole new bag of rant about how SMS is the most ridiculous ripoff scheme ever...
One thing I want to mention regarding sluggishness is if u are running one of those third party home apps like dxtop or ahome, I would try uninstalling those and see if your sluggishness goes away. Also, badly written widgets can cause slowdowns as well. The g1 isn't as fast as the 3g but it really isn't that slow. Especially if u are running ion at 528mhz or cyanogens rom.
jashsu said:
Just because i'm using and love the G1 doesn't mean the iPhone is a bad phone. I really don't have time to spend writing up a long convincing article why you should stay with the G1, let alone flame-coat it.
All hardware obsoletes, iPhone or otherwise. It's just a fact of tech life. If you constantly wait for the better hardware upgrade then you will never have any hardware at all.
Obviously the phone is better in some respects than others. But for example it will only sync with iTunes. I will never install iTunes or Quicktime ever again because they are poorly written pieces of spyware crap. Also, the cloud sync clearly prefers Mobile Me as the primary service. Remember when Mobile Me launched? It was a pile of cowpie. Even Apple admitted this.
The iPhone has a sleek interface and a powerful advertising machine behind it. That's why it and the iPod are such popular devices among consumers. However, being that I am an engineer by trade, I'm not so easily swayed by Apple's glitzy advertising. In that respect, iPhone's deficiencies, past and present come into stark contrast. For example, the inability to multitask userapps is just ridiculous. I actually want to receive my emails and instant messages in realtime, without having to open the Google App. Some people say "just use SMS", which opens up a whole new bag of rant about how SMS is the most ridiculous ripoff scheme ever...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, how is SMS the most ridiculous ripoff scheme ever?
Also, a friend of mine has a 3.0 beta developer firmware of the iPhone which allows multitasking. I myself found a cheap 4gb iPhone on Craigslist and am planning to unlock it for (most likely) a backup phone or business phone, when I've seen both phones and compared for about a week I'll post my findings here.
I was noticing the same sluggishness and such with the G1. You have to remember that, if you're like most users on the forum here, you -are- using an unsupported version of the phone, and it's not working how it's supposed to and how the provider intended for it to be used. Someone else mentioned this, but third-party apps also contribute to that. Depending on what you use, some apps could constantly be taking up extra memory and make your use of the G1 more of a chore, because of the time it takes to open up even a browser.
Anyway, to OP: You could just do what I did. Instead of spending $300 on a new iPhone that you have to dump out another extra $x-amount for new service at AT&Suck, why not just buy a used one on Craigslist or eBay and unlock it? Then you can use it with your current T-Mobile service and not have a lot of extra loss. You don't even need to get rid of your G1, just use one or the other as a backup or something.

Buying a Nexus One...help needed

I'm from India and nexus one isn't officially launched. I know that if I buy the unlocked version, I'll be able to use it here in my country. I just wanted to know what features of this phone would be blocked in my country (i don't think any). Will I be able to use the GPS? iPhone worked flawlessly but I'm not a big fan of apple. I just don't like it. I really wanted an N1, because of android OS (custom roms) and the hardware its offering. If there is anything more you guys want me to know about the phone, please enlighten me
Its better than the iphone... thats all you need to know
Its a great phone buy one
Hopefully this attempt is mature and coherent:
PROS-
Multitasking
Maps and free gps navigation are accurate and awesome
Having a desktop is great for widgets and other customizations
Camera has adequate megapixels
5 screens is convenient
Google's apps are useful
Some multitouch capability
Live wallpapers are very cool
UI screen transitions are swell
Having access to Google apps can be really convenient
Amoled display is beautiful indoors and at night
If you want to root the phone the possibilities are abundant
CONS-
The stock and third party keyboards are terrible, HTC keyboard is less awful
The touchscreen is jittery
The amoled display is invisible in sunlight
Cameras pictures aren't what they should be considering the hardware
Most third party apps are useless
Randomly reboots
Sending mms is unreliable
Utilizes half of the ram it is capable of using
Browser is, for lack of room to elaborate, "finicky" (dont expect it to resemble a pc's browser)
I have 3g and full bars where I live but I lose all signal in most buildings (probably tmobiles fault)
In general I prefer Google to Apple. The Nexus is one of the better phones out there, I initially thought it was the best for the first couple of weeks, I haven't rooted and new software problems present themselves routinely. Since so many of the issues appear to be software related, If Google becomes motivated to address the multitude of those issues they could make this phone hands down the best mobile device for a pretty long while.
uhh... Cool story bro?
Anyway, everything should work in india, except google voice and maps navigation, except you can get a working(albeit limited) version from this very website. Check with your service provider for their frequencies. The original n1 is 900/2100, and a new one is out that supports 850. So find that out before you buy.
You will not be disappointed by this device.
DMaverick50 said:
I'm a huge fan of android but the iPhone is better than the nexus and better than android so far, which is really pathetic because the nexus has better specs and Google had ample time to see what works best about the iPhone but they chose not to learn from the most successful mobile OS on the planet. I've really been holding out hope that android would get their **** together. the g1 and mytouch were fun and cute little phones but the nexus purported to be a 'superphone' it has super potential but id definitely rather have an iPhone 3gs. I can't even see the damn screen on full brightness when the suns out. Android is better for geeks, and that's cool but its not for me, I want a phone that is backed by its maker. I don't have time or interest in fixing my own phone or having 3 different browser apps to collectively do what safari does. Every day I find a new bug in the android software. My confidence in android takes a hit daily.Today's android failure I found in a gizmodo article about thickbuttons or whatever its called keyboard, the article indicated that the iPhone already uses that technology. Only it does it better because androids crappy third party app moves the buttons over it doesn't simply enlarge them, so the letter isn't where you expect it to be. I tried it and thought wow finally some innovation for android. But buttons move and it isn't useful, plus its already on the iPhone in a useful implementation. Im so tired of having to rely on ****ty third party apps to do what my phone should out of the box. I've stopped looking at 'just in' apps, 99.5% of them are useless. I'm tired of waiting for google to update android to utilize this expensive hardware. I've got a year until my contracts up, if android hasn't got their **** together by then I'm moving my family to the iPhone. I'm sorry to many of you who read this, I really do like android, but I've been with android since the g1 and its just not good enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might have taken this post seriously if you didn't ramble and write like a 13 year old who just got his first phone.
Anyhow OP, I can't really see any features that you'll miss out on. I'm from the UK and apart from Google talk (US only), everything else works fine.
DMaverick50 said:
I'm a huge fan of android but the iPhone is better than the nexus and better than android so far, which is really pathetic because the nexus has better specs and Google had ample time to see what works best about the iPhone but they chose not to learn from the most successful mobile OS on the planet. I've really been holding out hope that android would get their **** together. the g1 and mytouch were fun and cute little phones but the nexus purported to be a 'superphone' it has super potential but id definitely rather have an iPhone 3gs. I can't even see the damn screen on full brightness when the suns out. Android is better for geeks, and that's cool but its not for me, I want a phone that is backed by its maker. I don't have time or interest in fixing my own phone or having 3 different browser apps to collectively do what safari does. Every day I find a new bug in the android software. My confidence in android takes a hit daily.Today's android failure I found in a gizmodo article about thickbuttons or whatever its called keyboard, the article indicated that the iPhone already uses that technology. Only it does it better because androids crappy third party app moves the buttons over it doesn't simply enlarge them, so the letter isn't where you expect it to be. I tried it and thought wow finally some innovation for android. But buttons move and it isn't useful, plus its already on the iPhone in a useful implementation. Im so tired of having to rely on ****ty third party apps to do what my phone should out of the box. I've stopped looking at 'just in' apps, 99.5% of them are useless. I'm tired of waiting for google to update android to utilize this expensive hardware. I've got a year until my contracts up, if android hasn't got their **** together by then I'm moving my family to the iPhone. I'm sorry to many of you who read this, I really do like android, but I've been with android since the g1 and its just not good enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FFS learn to use paragraphs, Jesus Christ.
All I read was "I'm sorry to many of you who read this" -- yes, because of the eye strain
Maverick: You should really just make a thread outlining the OBJECTIVE flaws you see with the N1. You always complain, but it's never based on fact.
liam.lah said:
uhh... Cool story bro?
Anyway, everything should work in india, except google voice and maps navigation, except you can get a working(albeit limited) version from this very website. Check with your service provider for their frequencies. The original n1 is 900/2100, and a new one is out that supports 850. So find that out before you buy.
You will not be disappointed by this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know google voice won't be available but why would map navigation not work here? It works on all other phones.
Most of the 2g networks function at 900/1800 MHz and 3g at 2100 MHz. So I guess, tmo version would work fine but I can get AT&T one to get the additional 850

my Review (or rant if you will)

hmm where do i even begin.........
This phone is actually not bad from a hardware standpoint, its fingerprint resistant (rubberized coating) with a responsive touch screen.
-CPU is very fast, never hangs up or goes jittery, all the animations are very smooth
-the keyboard has good feed back, you know for sure if a key is pressed or not, though it feels kind of cheap, as
-long as it holds up to my crazy texting for 2 years ill be happy.
-shift and function keys just piss me off, they are not in a very convenient location nor are they easy to find in
the dark, they don't illuminate, which leads me to my next point.
-the keyboard is not evenly lit, the right side has some buttons half dark however... with keys that require the function button to be pressed, you can also press and hold the button to use the special character like onscreen HTC keyboards
-the camera sucks, but then again i think all cell phone cmos cameras are junk. i also cant turn off the freaking camera sound, its so loud and annoying.
okay now to the software... here we go
we'll begin with the things that are right...
-animations are super smooth and very aesthetically pleasing, i would even venture to say its better than android and the iphone animations
-maps is amazingly fast and fluid, when you zoom into the max position it will auto change to sat view
-app store isnt bad, lots of cool free apps already (only time will fix this properly)
Onto the bad......
so many things are missing from the basic OS itself its ridiculous! its unusable out of the box..
- battery %, please dont use a retarded batter icon that doesn't tell me anything, not even the iphone is this crippled
- cant connect to hidden networks, this make the device totally useless as alot of companies choose to hide the SSID, i dont CARE if it doesn't add another layer of security, you hide it so guests connect to the public shown SSID and employees connect to the hidden.
- cant connect to exchange, this is completely unacceptable, i cannot type in a space on this device to connect, alot of companies use First Space Last as the user name for simplicity, short names or garbled user names dont identify a user as easily. when setting up your exchange connectivity, space is disabled.
- after getting the network admin to change my user name (ridiculous, i really shouldn't have to do that), i got connected only to find i cant sync text messages or Tasks, now this phone is as useless as android and the iphone. i have a ton of info in tasks that i need, and the SMS sync was for ease of use, in outlook 2010 i can send and receive text msgs right from the email window so i dont have to take my phone out.
- no file browser, we arent retarded apple users, why is this missing?
- bluetooth is completely crippled like the iphone, windows mobile 5 had more functionality! (cant send files, cant receive anything, cant do ****)
- proprietary drivers, wtf is this? again, crippled like the iphone doesnt show up as a removable drive, i cant access this phone on other computers (android and WM6.5 asks you if you want to charge, show up as flash drive, act as modem, etc)
as it stands now, i cant replace my sony X1 with this trash, basic functionality is GONE, i guess we can thank apple for making everyone retarded. this OS was obviously WAAAY too rushed.
In fairness, WP7 is not aimed at the business market, WP6.5 will continue I believe for precisely that reason.
It's a very different take on the OS that we're used to. They're looking to make it as user friendly as possible and quick and intuative to navigate.
Personally I think they've done a great job, and I'm a hardcore WM5,6,6.5 user. This is NOT a techy phone - hence why a lot of stuff is locked down, because 95% of users would have no idea of all the options you have for say bluetooth in WM6.5.
I really like what they've done with WP7, it's a new direction, and there are bound to be niggling bugs and features that aren't yet included, they've written this from the ground up so it's always going to take time to add features. I got one for my wife at the weekend, and she absolutely loves it - coming from an HTC Hero on Android 2.1 which she liked the apps and stuff, but hated the fiddliness of it all. Now she has what she loved without what she hated.
From your review above, it's clear that WP7 is not the kind of OS you want, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
rob_p said:
In fairness, WP7 is not aimed at the business market, WP6.5 will continue I believe for precisely that reason.
It's a very different take on the OS that we're used to. They're looking to make it as user friendly as possible and quick and intuative to navigate.
Personally I think they've done a great job, and I'm a hardcore WM5,6,6.5 user. This is NOT a techy phone - hence why a lot of stuff is locked down, because 95% of users would have no idea of all the options you have for say bluetooth in WM6.5.
I really like what they've done with WP7, it's a new direction, and there are bound to be niggling bugs and features that aren't yet included, they've written this from the ground up so it's always going to take time to add features. I got one for my wife at the weekend, and she absolutely loves it - coming from an HTC Hero on Android 2.1 which she liked the apps and stuff, but hated the fiddliness of it all. Now she has what she loved without what she hated.
From your review above, it's clear that WP7 is not the kind of OS you want, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i get what your saying and i think that this is a REAL competitor to the iphone, i am still using the LG phone and for the first time in 3 or so years i used the zune software again (had an original zune) and WOW, its a HUGE freaking change from what it was before, the animations and downloaded content is far better than itunes.
its pretty painless for a regular user to put music and videos on, any videos seen are auto trans coded and thrown on the phone, i honestly prefer the phone to be able to play any file that is dragged and dropped over
the smoothness of the UI is actaully what i wanted in a windows mobile phone with all the features. if microsoft can add the things WM6.5 could do, im sold, even if i have to use the zune software to transcode.
How did yall get a Quantum already?
Could you post a pic and movie example from the phone?
I'm holding out buying a new WP until I can play with all 3 in the store.. So far, every phone I have had has had a slide-out keyboard.. I have a Fuze now, so even with the Quantum's quirks it will still be a huge upgrade..
I just got back from the AT&T store where they had a Quantum on display. The phone seems smooth and fast, and the keyboard is great (I like it better than my Touch Pro’s keyboards). It is slightly longer and wider then the Touch Pro, and almost as thick. The screen is rather small, it is only 3.5” which I believe makes it the smallest of all the WP7 screens. I did pop off the battery cover and look what was there. The SIM card is easily assessable, but no signs of a hidden/covered micro SD card.
I've been waiting to play with the Quantum to make my decision on which phone to buy..
I have a broken Fuze now, so the 3.5" screen will seem huge to me..!
I'll check the store tomorrow and see if they have it..
I must agree with the first post as far as limitations are concerned, with one specific addition. I have to pay 14.99 in the Marketplace to get RDP functionality.
Okay, two additions: WTF is with the ringtones?! Please MS, please, please let me have a couple ringtones.
All I want for Chistmas is: RDP, a file manager, and ringtones.
(my exchange server works fine, and i'll have my sharepoint up in the week, so i'm good on that)
Hey,
can you please check the RAM on your C900 QUANTUM?
There is conflicting literature on this phone. Some sites say it has 256mb RAM and others say 512mb RAM.
Can you let me know what the actual phone says if there's a way to pull this information from the phone?
Thanks
pezius said:
I must agree with the first post as far as limitations are concerned, with one specific addition. I have to pay 14.99 in the Marketplace to get RDP functionality.
Okay, two additions: WTF is with the ringtones?! Please MS, please, please let me have a couple ringtones.
All I want for Chistmas is: RDP, a file manager, and ringtones.
(my exchange server works fine, and i'll have my sharepoint up in the week, so i'm good on that)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Quantum is supposed to arrive on Monday (from Amazon). I couldn't for the life of me figure out the right DataPlan from AT&T. I had one of their old school unlimited plans that let me do everything, but had to change over to get the new phone. I chose the DataPro 2GB Smartphone personal plan, and am worried I won't be able to setup my gmail to use Push Mail via activesync. Can you enlighten me on which plan you have? I'm afraid I may have to switch to the more pricey "Enterprise" plan to get this functionality.
Thanks In Advance,
Skorpyo
vst2010 said:
Hey,
can you please check the RAM on your C900 QUANTUM?
There is conflicting literature on this phone. Some sites say it has 256mb RAM and others say 512mb RAM.
Can you let me know what the actual phone says if there's a way to pull this information from the phone?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just picked mine up frm the ATT store. The outside of the box Def says 512mb of RAM.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Well, my Quantum cam early and while it took some acclimating from my fuze running 6.5 the UI experience is fabulous. It definitely is a UI groomed for the average joe/jane rather than a power user. I'm bummed there's no file manager and that many of the customizations available in 6.X aren't in 7.
As for the quantum it is a great piece of hardware. The screen is beautiful, the build quality is great and the keyboard slide is solid. The keyboard is an adjustment for me. My fuze sported a 4 row 54 key keyboard while the quantum has a large button 4 row 38 key keyboard with separate fn/shift keys. Overall the keyboard is nice for fat finger guys like me though the space bar is a bit clunky.
so far I'm thrilled with the unit, and look forward to wider app support. Oh, and itd definitely 512/512 RAM/ROM.
Skorpyo
honestly one of the nicest feeling phones i've held in my hand ina loong time.. win phone 7 is a brand new thing.. so don't expect there not to be a few things that aren't quite rite.. but hey... this forum will straighten most of that out i'm sure... def glad i got this phone all the way around.
Skorpyo said:
My Quantum is supposed to arrive on Monday (from Amazon). I couldn't for the life of me figure out the right DataPlan from AT&T. I had one of their old school unlimited plans that let me do everything, but had to change over to get the new phone. I chose the DataPro 2GB Smartphone personal plan, and am worried I won't be able to setup my gmail to use Push Mail via activesync. Can you enlighten me on which plan you have? I'm afraid I may have to switch to the more pricey "Enterprise" plan to get this functionality.
Thanks In Advance,
Skorpyo
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Click to collapse
Sorry for the derail. So you had AT&T's grandfathered unlimited plan and they wouldn't let you transfer it to a new phone when you renewed your contract?
If that is the case, it's utter bullcrap.
EDIT: I found the answer to my own question. If you have the unlimited data plan, it remains grandfathered in as long as you are upgrading laterally (smartphone to smartphone). It won't allow me to post the link to where I found it but the relevant solution ID is KB110282.
gillbell said:
Sorry for the derail. So you had AT&T's grandfathered unlimited plan and they wouldn't let you transfer it to a new phone when you renewed your contract?
If that is the case, it's utter bullcrap.
EDIT: I found the answer to my own question. If you have the unlimited data plan, it remains grandfathered in as long as you are upgrading laterally (smartphone to smartphone). It won't allow me to post the link to where I found it but the relevant solution ID is KB110282.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, to be honest I probably would've still changed to the new plan cause I've never gone over 900mb in the two years I've has it and the new plan was $60 a year cheaper. Not much, but in today day and age every penny counts.
Five Quantum Days
Today is day five with the new Quantum. The keyboard is great and the odd fn and shift keys are easy to get used to. IMHO, there is no question that the Quantum feels better in your hand than any of the other WPs. It is REALLY solid feeling!
I have flashed many custom ROMs on my Fuze and had to go through the eMail setup many times with varying levels of success. When you fire up a new WinPhone for the first time it asks for your ‘Live’ account, and it sets itself up flawlessly the first time.
My wife is just emerging from the stone age with a flip phone and I have her using the Quantum with her SIM card, trying to spur her interest. Every so often I hear "Cool" or she says "Sometimes I turn on the phone to look at the purple birds” (one of the lock screen wallpapers). She has a couple of favorite websites and she has them pinned to the bottom of the home screen and sometimes looks one up while we are driving. BIG step for her!
Most of our family has iPhones and she likes some of the iPhone apps. Apps are lacking on the WP platform and there are some real shortfalls in the 1.0 version of the OS, but Microsoft is serious about competing in the Smartphone arena and I am willing to give them a chance. The December issue of MaximumPC magazine surprisingly rated the new WP OS number one in the field of: Blackberry, iOS, Android and WP.
We should see the first update to the WP OS soon and that should give us some indication as to how serious MS is about keeping the old WinMo fans in the fold.

[Q] Considering the purchase of an Omnia 7

Hey there, thanks for reading.
I'm looking for a new smartphone to replace my 2-year-old HTC Touch 3G.
I'll probably be purchasing either an Android or a WP7 phone. Important to know is that I live in the Netherlands, so WP7 hasn't officially launched here just yet. However, I do know about the marketplace unlockers and such.
The Omnia 7 is on the top of my list, closely followed by the Dell Venue Pro (nearly impossible to get here) which are in turn followed by high-end Android phones like the Nexus S, Galaxy S, Desire, etc.
The thing I'd like to know about the Omnia 7 is if you encountered any oddities or things worth mentioning.
I'd also like to hear about any good or bad surprises, so that I can make up my mind.
Lastly, I'm very interested in the build quality - has any of you accidentally dropped it? If so, please describe the situation and any damage.
And how's the screen holding up against scratches?
Thanks in advance!
P.s: I've noticed that the WP7 vs Android discussion is rather tense - but please keep it civil - I don't wanna miss out on any advice because my topic gets locked
Obviously, buying a WP7 phone you will experience the usual problems of that. There aren't any devastating bugs I have encountered yet, but a few iritating ones, such as being unable to update trial apps through the market, meaning you have to unistall and reinstall them, or apps crashing unexpectedly.
The batery life seems to be pretty good on my Omnia seven, usually lasting through the whole day with moderate usage.
The build quality is surprisingly good, better than I expected, seeing as it is a Samsung phone. The feel is very nice, and seems to be pretty solid. I have dropped my phone a few times, and only have a few, very minor, scratches on the screen (almost unnoticeable). Also, the screen is amazing, particularly with all the black used in the OS.
The main annoyance with the Omnia 7 is that the battery cover seems to fall off quite easily. Drop it onto even a soft surface, and the battery cover will fall off, sometimes taking the battery with it.
As to WP7 vs Android, I have used both, and I'm not sure which I prefer. WP7 is much slicker and smoother, from what I've found, but obviously is less open and customisable than android. Depends what you want really, but either is a pretty good bet in my eyes. I only went for the Omnia 7 because I wanted to try something new.
Dutch user here. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and absolutely love it. I'm an avid WM user and only once switched over to Blackberry. But I came back and am loving it. The things is just so damn well put together.
I compared it with a friend who bought a Samsung Android phone recently (forgot which one, sorry). But while Android is in no way a bad system, the clean interface and bright screen of the Omnia 7 just sold it for me.
The only thing that bugged me today was when I wanted to send a contact number to someone by text. Ended up having to write it down on paper because of the lack of copy/paste. But for the rest I highly recommend it.
I got mine on Friday, tired of waiting for the Dell Venue Pro. I bought it on ebay Germany as it's the only country selling the 16GB. So far, no bug or bad surprise except I can't sign in on twitter (that's an issue with the app itself as many reviewers on the marketplace have mentioned it).
Coming from the HTC HD2 it feels a bit bare bone in functionality but then again there are 3 updates planned for this year (including the copy/paste one).
Build quality seems good but I try to never take risks with screens so I'm actively looking for a case/pouch for it.
I had an xbox 360 and zune and I'm a hotmail user so it all come together very well, if you're much more into Google maybe you should get Android, only you know. They're different OS with a different approach, both are good .
Allright, thanks a lot for the quick replies.
Froggenstein, since you're Dutch just like me - Which location did you choose for your live account, and how much trouble was it to set everything up to get the marketplace and such working? And which marketplace do you visit (Uk/US/...)?
From what I've read it probably wasn't hard, but I always enjoy confirmation
Speaking for the phone itself, it's a good solid build, good quality, and has a nice little feature with the USB port cover (keeps the dust out). I've never had a problem with the battery cover coming off... but then I don't drop it
As for WP7, I'm "lucky" enough to have a UK account (but only because I cant change country) so I have access to the marketplace and Zune Pass etc. If these services are restricted for you then that's a fair chunk of functionality missing. Also, I've heard Bing Maps in Poland is near useless - maybe the same in the Netherlands?
CreepinJesus said:
Speaking for the phone itself, it's a good solid build, good quality, and has a nice little feature with the USB port cover (keeps the dust out). I've never had a problem with the battery cover coming off... but then I don't drop it
As for WP7, I'm "lucky" enough to have a UK account (but only because I cant change country) so I have access to the marketplace and Zune Pass etc. If these services are restricted for you then that's a fair chunk of functionality missing. Also, I've heard Bing Maps in Poland is near useless - maybe the same in the Netherlands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I changed my Live account to UK, so i hope i can just use it without restrictions. Else i'll just make a new one.
I checked the desktop version of Bing maps, and though the sattelite images are pretty outdated the roads and stuff are actually on par with Google. Assuminf desktop and wp7 use the same database, it should be fine.
I lived in the US for a couple of months, so I have a US bank account, including a US Zune Pass and XBOX account. So that made US the location for my live account. Rumour has it you can use those prepaid creditcards for a US account, but I haven't looked into that in detail. I have had absolutely zero problems with location limitations after that. As long as your live account is set for a location, and your phone matches that location, you should be good.
Im in Netherlands and use a UK live account with ING (netherlands) credit card and all works fine.
Samsung Omnia 7 is the best, easiest to use and smoothest phone I ever had.

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