Related
I have just moved over to Android after using WM for over 4 years and I am starting to have buyers remorse because Android 2.2 cant do some basic things natively and even with an app.
I hate the following things about my phone and its OS:
1) No file explorer
2) No Microsoft office bundled which means I cant view or create office documents. Most of the office apps I can see in the market say they will allow you view and edit documents but cant find one that will let you create a new document (Quickoffice is a complete waste of my time)
3) No Notes
4) The position of the microUSB slot (its a pain for me because my phone is my SatNav)
5) Cant set up Yahoomail in Mail and even after downloading the Yahoo Mail app, I cant view picture attachments.
6) When playing some videos, voice and video are well out of sync.
7) Volume is too low (Sound quality seems ok though)
1- there are lots of file explorer apps in the market.
2 - you can open gdocs in the browser and create docs
3 - search for colornotes in market. The are apps which does sync in the web too
4 - better than some proprietary plugs and cables used by some devices.
5 - try to config it in the native htc mail app, not the yahoo app.
6 - yes... sound is not loud as we want, it's like the palm treo 650
lombardo8 said:
I have just moved over to Android after using WM for over 4 years and I am starting to have buyers remorse because Android 2.2 cant do some basic things natively and even with an app.
I hate the following things about my phone and its OS:
1) No file explorer
2) No Microsoft office bundled which means I cant view or create office documents. Most of the office apps I can see in the market say they will allow you view and edit documents but cant find one that will let you create a new document (Quickoffice is a complete waste of my time)
3) No Notes
3) The position of the microUSB slot (its a pain for me because my phone is my SatNav)
4) Cant set up Yahoomail in Mail and even after downloading the Yahoo Mail app, I cant view picture attachments.
5) When playing some videos, voice and video are well out of sync.
6) Volume is too low (Sound quality seems ok though)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Tons of free ones in the market some (astro, IO, Linda etc)
2) Try thinkfree, worked well for me on my vibrant http://product.thinkfree.com/mobile/android
3) Again, tons of option in the market. I currently use colornote which is great.
4) I agree with this. wish the micro usb slot was at the bottom of the device.
5) sorry cant help you here. I use gmail. did you try downloading K9? (mail app in the market - never used it but heard good things about it)
6) Download mvideoplayer - i've been using it for a week and its great
7) Tell people around you to shut up (just playing). yeah the speaker is cheese on the G2, but I hardly use it anyway so its a small sacrifice for me.
http://iphone-developers.com
JK
But most of those you mentioned there is eithe a fix or app available
try setting it up as imap account
imap.mail.yahoo.com 143
smtp.mail.yahoo.com 25
got it to work with a lot of sprint phones
EDITt:
My mistake on port #
double checked settings on my phone and it worked
Thanx guys for all the constructive replies. I was just letting off some steam. Its hard to adapt to change sometimes. Like I said I have been using WM for over 4 years and it can get difficult if something has worked in a certain way all this while and all of a sudden it changes. I am going to try some of ur suggestions and i,ll report back on how I get on.
i feel your pain. I started with a mda ended with a tp2 then went to my g2
Hello everyone
I too had similar issues with Android but with time (1month) I got used to it, almost.
Not too sure what you mean by '3'? I use my DesireZ as satnav all the time (just love Sygic's Aura!!!) And I use Brodit's active carholder (charger only version) and it does the job brilliantly.
I saw a thread about it a few weeks back so just do a search
My only REAL disappointment with android OS is complete lack of Bluetooth activated dialling and lack of contacts voicetags making it literary illegal to use this OS while driving.
Ps. Before all of you jump at me for slagging the android , I know I can answer calls with bt button press, but initiating a call without touching the fone is impossible (Google voice is rubbish, even for American native speakers, let alone other nationalities)
Rant over
sent from htc desire Z
lombardo8 said:
Thanx guys for all the constructive replies. I was just letting off some steam. Its hard to adapt to change sometimes. Like I said I have been using WM for over 4 years and it can get difficult if something has worked in a certain way all this while and all of a sudden it changes. I am going to try some of ur suggestions and i,ll report back on how I get on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only painful thing about change is resistance to it.
Jump in and really see the what a great phone you have, Ive had WM and to be honest I will never go back.
Just my personal opinion of course ,but I came to Android from WinMo and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. The only good thing that WinMo had going for it was great Office integration. Android blows it out of the water in all other respects.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z
steviewevie said:
Just my personal opinion of course ,but I came to Android from WinMo and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. The only good thing that WinMo had going for it was great Office integration. Android blows it out of the water in all other respects.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i totally agree with you. that sucks for any phone that isnt htc
joemm said:
The only painful thing about change is resistance to it.
Jump in and really see the what a great phone you have, Ive had WM and to be honest I will never go back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
steviewevie said:
Just my personal opinion of course ,but I came to Android from WinMo and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. The only good thing that WinMo had going for it was great Office integration. Android blows it out of the water in all other respects.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
WM made its job but it's definitely the past, Android is the future
I almost have some kind of disgust when I think of the "finger-friendly" design of WM, the lags and the RAM issues
I love the Google (Gmail, calendar, tasks, contacts) synchronization so much! I couldn't live without anymore!
Mod Edit: I WILL NOT tolerate rude comments towards other members in this fora, even if you are "JK" ~TheRomMistress
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Ha, having also come from the WinMo world (G2 is my first Android), I actually felt the complete opposite of you---WM is much less friendly/functional out of the box than Android (especially if on a stock WM ROM).
If not for manufacturers like HTC developing UI's like TouchFlo/Manilla, you pretty much had to use a stylus for many operations (or the hardware buttons, which I do miss some days). There was no marketplace until recently, so installing apps required a bit of research/work and relied heavily on forums such as XDA. In fact, in my experience, I always had to tweak the phone considerably to get it working decently (there were always countless registry tweaks to make if they weren't cooked into the ROM already, files to edit to increase the volume if your phone needed it, programs to install and tweak in order to get push email working, all of the pains of ActiveSync, especially if you weren't running an Exchange Server, etc.). That being said, WM had been around for a long time and a lot of the software and tweaks out there were already fairly mature, so it wasn't bad (for example, I always had problems playing videos on WM without the use of a third-party solution like CorePlayer, which until it matured, had it's fair share of stuttering and sync issues as well).
While there are definitely some growing pains involved, I'm a convert now. Plus, if you still want to have some control/tweakability, it allows you to still do that without much effort (as opposed to say Win7 or IOS).
8) Cant BT contacts from my phone to my car's phonebook (heard you need to download an app called Bluetooth File Transfer)
9) Random loss of installed apps and downloaded videos (nothing a good ol' WM style restart wont solve)
wolek76 said:
Hello everyone
My only REAL disappointment with android OS is complete lack of Bluetooth activated dialling and lack of contacts voicetags making it literary illegal to use this OS while driving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a paid app, Choice Dialer Plus, from the market. It lets you voice dial the phone, control the stock music app, set facebook status, etc.
burtcom said:
I'm using a paid app, Choice Dialer Plus, from the market. It lets you voice dial the phone, control the stock music app, set facebook status, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, apparently it works (I did read some comments) but it still requires touching the screen to activate it, doesn't it?
Also, uses voice recognition which will only work for English names, right?
Now how would one pronounce my login here.... 'wolek' so that the machine would recognize it??? Not to mention some other non-English names within my phonebook
Sorry for being picky
Regards
sent from htc desire Z
wolek76 said:
Hello everyone
My only REAL disappointment with android OS is complete lack of Bluetooth activated dialling and lack of contacts voicetags making it literary illegal to use this OS while driving.
Ps. Before all of you jump at me for slagging the android , I know I can answer calls with bt button press, but initiating a call without touching the fone is impossible (Google voice is rubbish, even for American native speakers, let alone other nationalities)
Rant over
sent from htc desire Z
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I make voice dialed calls all the time without touching the phone. I'm using a Motorola H17...not sure if that makes a difference.
2 thoughts here:
Yes, the usb location sucks. it's the worst possible spot, it's in the way no matter how you hold the phone. It really should have been on the bottom.
I didn't know windows mobile phones from 4 years ago could play HD movies?
My G2 has no problem chewing through an unconverted 720p divx using rockplayer in software mode. Now I don't have to spend 3 hours converting a 2 hour movie.
I'd agree about the USB port location. The one major plus that the iPhone has is that it uses a standardised docking socket, so there are hundreds of docks, cradles, adaptors, interfaces, etc around for it. Try and find even one for Android phones.
It would have been such a good idea to come up with a standard spec hardware port for all Android devices (not limited to just that, but so that every phone has the same basic interface, power connector and audio options). Then we could have lots of lovely accessories.
Handsfree Bluetooth dialling works just fine in my car by the way, but it is the car stereo that does the voice recognition bit.
Oh, and I did like the Notes program in stock WinMo - the ability to seamlessly draw or write (with optional pen-to-text recognition) with the stylus, or type if you prefer, was great.
Andre
Thread dedicated to the initial challenges when changing from a Tilt 2 to an LG Quantum.
Why is this thread needed?
AT&T insurance for the Tilt 2 is now sending the LG Quantum as a replacement.
The phones are hardly comparable. Windows Phone 7 is vastly different than Windows Mobile 6.5. It is not HTC. Does not have Sense.
Windows Phone 7 has some very annoying characteristics that can be avoided if you set things up with specific care and knowledge originally.
I just got me replacement phone today. I will continue to update this thread with information as I find it. Hopefully it will help others in the process, since there will be more of us as insurance replaces people's phones.
Tips from day 1 of use
#1. Your intial live account can not be changed without a hard reset. Do not use an old hotmail account as you Windows Live ID. Create a new one. I recommend one that you will only use for this purpose. If you need to change it, you must wipe your phone (hard reset) to replace this. Your primary hotmail account cannot be removed and there is no way to not sync the contacts from it.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2430020
I recommend telling no one this id. Do not use the email for anything. Include some number or something, so it will not be guessed. do not store information in this account, such as emails or contacts, if it can be avoided. Plenty of other options like gmail for this purpose.
#2. Common email domains are easy to setup. Even custom ones are. But it first will try, then let's you configure.
#3. There is a list that has settings. Swipe from right to left to get to the list. Then go to settings. Now you can change things how old of emails to get and how much of it.
#4. Open an email with an attached pdf. Get the viewer. better to do this earlier than later when you need it. By default, the phone has no ability to view a pdf. The pdf viewer lets you do this.
#5. Stop looking for tasks, you won't find them. They don't sync with Exchange.
#6. There is not a built in twitter app. I am downloading moTweets, because I liked that before. I am using the Try option. There is also a free Twitter and a free Foursquare.
Looks like there is some map software. Not sure if it costs money yet.
Not finding Bing or Google Maps.
Bing is built in. just press the button in the lower right. Not sure why that is the only way to launch it though.
#7. Installed Zune with no issues on Windows Home 64 bit. It updates the software on the phone. You do not loose settings during this. Not like a ROM flash. Synced Videos, pictures, and music.
#8 Blue tooth paired easily. Remember most devices are 0000 for the pin.
#9 Found my WiFi and I connected it fine.
#10 Uninstall the bloat that AT&T puts on. It's not much, but you don't want apps that cost a monthly fee when free ones exist.
First impressions after 1 day
Allthough the look and feel is not customizable, it is very consistent.
A few things are not 100% obvious, but once learned is not difficult.
Things do just work.
Very fluid display. Nothing lags.
It's easy to get your stuff onto it. I need to still test copy and paste with Office.
I was thinking that I would be totally unhappy with the phone. But, I think it might just be doable. A non technical person should have no trouble with this phone.
Marketplace has alot of free apps.
Day 2
Not all clock alarm apps are equal.
Big Clock, which I downloaded from the marketplace failed to wake me this morning.
Tested the normal Alarms this morning and it did work with the screen locked.
As always test your alarm before you need it.
Annoyed that there are no snooze options. Just 5 minutes.
Glad Mango is coming soon. Mango gives all the snooze options we used to have.
Back in Windows Mobile 6.5 Digital Outcast gave us the snooze options that we were used to. M$ had taken them away.
For Win Phone 7, I haven't found a short term solution to this yet. Going to have to wait for Mango.
Liking the OS more and more. Marketplace makes the downloading and installing of apps very painless. Wish it was more clear about what has live tiles though.
AccuWeather weather app appears to be live. LG Clock and Weather does not appear to have a live tile, but lets you put in multiple cities.
Wish I could find the HTC tile with weather and clock. HTC Hub is not it.
Post #5
Intended to later have more info.
I like to have 5 posts of each thread I create.
As a potential future WP7 Device owner, I can't think of a better thread to follw than this one, so on behalf of myself and other TP2/Tilt2 owners who may one day move on, thank you very much for creating this thread...a lot of people move on from a deice earlier than the majority but don't leave the majority much of anything to work with in regards to what to move on to or to stay away from, or how to dial in the new device a better way than what the manufacturers have configured, so this thread is indeed very much appreciated...at least by me, and I am sure others as well.
While you will be missed in the Energy thread, I'm glad I have someone familiar to work with the new OS so should the time come, I will be versed as well as can be on what to expect, and do or not do...thank you for all you did for us with the Rhodium, and thank you in advance for all you will do for the WP7 community...you better the community here wherever you go or whichever thread you are posting in ....
Now for my first WP7 noob question...can the live tiles color be changed...and are there alternatives on this device to the live tiles?
GT247 said:
... Now for my first WP7 noob question...can the live tiles color be changed...and are there alternatives on this device to the live tiles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. They can be changed, but you get to change them all from 1 color to another.
slide the panels to the left. This now shows a list. Slide down to settings.
In the section titled Theme, tap it and pick a different color.
Other tiles, like music and video, and pictures get the image from what you have played or viewed.
The Me tile gets it's image from Facebook.
And apps can choose to follow the theme or provide their own image.
For the pictures tile, you can manually set it, by: "Open the Picture hub and tap and hold on an empty space and you'll get the option to select the picture you want." source of quote
End of day 2
Realizing that I do not dislike the phone or Windows Phone 7. This is very hard to admit.
With Windows Mobile 6.5 and 6.5.3 and Sense 2.5 with Cookie 2.0. It was fun figuring out all the ways to make the phone do what it should just do. With Windows phone 7. It just does them the way it is supposed to do it. It might not do it how you are used to it doing it, but it does it and it does it well. It can't do everything you're used to it doing, but it does what you actually need it to do and want it to do.
I was expecting to be extremely disappointed in the phone. But I'm not. Things work. You rotate to landscape. They still work. Energy Roms are much prettierand NRGZ28 did a fantastic job at making it do what it should do.
But Windows Phone 7 does a great job.
The things it falls short on will soon be corrected with Mango.
And no M$ did not pay me anything for this post. I am totally surprised that I would feel this way after just 2 days.
I suspected this would be the case....when everything runs faster and smoother and better without having to tweak it to do so, and the initial worry of not being able to tweak to your hearts content to make something you want to work work...when that worry wears off because you dont have to tweak it...well...when any worry wears off and you realize the new phone with the new OS actually really does improve a lot of things.. when everything opens up as your finger is leaving the screen and just starts doing what it's supposed to do...really...how can that be beat?
I'm glad you're giving us positive feedback, as I knew everything would run butter smooth, like yourself, I had reservations about liking the new platform and the new appearance and other changes you're going through with the new device could be overcome by functionality (lol)....
Yep....Mango should come out and lock you in my friend...I imagine after that you'll be glad that usb port died (just please, if you do end up happy about it, don't tell me so...cuz I'm bummed it happened still lol)
I'm curious as you explore...if there will be little things wp7 doesn't have, that the old winmo did...as I have two android devices and the tilt2, I'm finding some things lacking in "the other OS"...little settings (that are sort of kinda actually big deals, to me) are missing...one is...on the tilt2 I can select to show my caller ID to everyone, noone, or just to contacts...can you do that on the Quantum? Have you noticed a need to wonder how ram is controlled? Have you tried opening a zip?.....I'm happy you're on wp7 now (kinda)....I will want to buy a wp7 if someone I trust tells me theye tested it out, put it through it's paces and that it's a solid performer that's user friendly that I can count on to keep me connected to my customers and employees calls and messages and navigates me through my day and gives me awesome browsing and streaming media over the net between my appointments...yep...I'm paying attention to your thread my friend...my usb could go any day too....lol
Thought I found something that I could not do
Thought I could not accept an appointment from Outlook.
In the email, there is a link that takes you to your calender. You accept it from the tentative meeting. I like this better, because you can actually see what your day looks like when accepting it.
Have not found a free twitter program with a live tile.
For weather, the only free one with a live tile update seems to be The Weather Channel. Weather bug does not show anything on the tile. AccuWeather is not updated live.
As plain as the tiles look, they are clear too read. And everything scrolls so fast and smooth. I'll take plain with function for that responsiveness any day.
GT247 said:
I suspected this would be the case....when everything runs faster and smoother and better without having to tweak it to do so, and the initial worry of not being able to tweak to your hearts content to make something you want to work work...when that worry wears off because you dont have to tweak it...well...when any worry wears off and you realize the new phone with the new OS actually really does improve a lot of things.. when everything opens up as your finger is leaving the screen and just starts doing what it's supposed to do...really...how can that be beat?
I'm glad you're giving us positive feedback, as I knew everything would run butter smooth, like yourself, I had reservations about liking the new platform and the new appearance and other changes you're going through with the new device could be overcome by functionality (lol)....
Yep....Mango should come out and lock you in my friend...I imagine after that you'll be glad that usb port died (just please, if you do end up happy about it, don't tell me so...cuz I'm bummed it happened still lol)
I'm curious as you explore...if there will be little things wp7 doesn't have, that the old winmo did...as I have two android devices and the tilt2, I'm finding some things lacking in "the other OS"...little settings (that are sort of kinda actually big deals, to me) are missing...one is...on the tilt2 I can select to show my caller ID to everyone, noone, or just to contacts...can you do that on the Quantum? Have you noticed a need to wonder how ram is controlled? Have you tried opening a zip?.....I'm happy you're on wp7 now (kinda)....I will want to buy a wp7 if someone I trust tells me theye tested it out, put it through it's paces and that it's a solid performer that's user friendly that I can count on to keep me connected to my customers and employees calls and messages and navigates me through my day and gives me awesome browsing and streaming media over the net between my appointments...yep...I'm paying attention to your thread my friend...my usb could go any day too....lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no idea that you could control the caller id being sent on a per contact basis with the Tilt 2. I imagine it was just inserting *82 or something before dialing. Ultimately the carrier needs to handle the *82 since they do know your number when sending from the tower to the rest of the phone network.
Still early in the testing.
I don't know WP7 settings, on the tilt2, to control caller id setting, I go to start menu>settings>personal>phone>services and then from there I can select "call barring" "caller id" "call forwarding" "call waiting" and "voicemail and text messages"....once an item is highlighted I can click "get settings"...once "get settings" is selected it checks the network settings and then displays the current setting on the network...on the TP2 caller id settings they can be changed on the network from the device...I'm hoping this is possible on WP7
Another question I have is if pinch to zoom works in emails and other apps, not just the browser
GT247 said:
I don't know WP7 settings, on the tilt2, to control caller id setting, I go to start menu>settings>personal>phone>services and then from there I can select "call barring" "caller id" "call forwarding" "call waiting" and "voicemail and text messages"....once an item is highlighted I can click "get settings"...once "get settings" is selected it checks the network settings and then displays the current setting on the network...on the TP2 caller id settings they can be changed on the network from the device...I'm hoping this is possible on WP7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GT247 said:
Another question I have is if pinch to zoom works in emails and other apps, not just the browser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pinch to zoom works when reading emails, but not when replying or text messaging.
found the setting about sending caller id on the Quantum
Settings - Apps - Phone. You can pick send to everyone, no one, only contacts
when the device is on a call does the lockscreen lock the buttons and touchscreen? ie: is it a waste of time to try to lock the device while on a call? lol
GT247 said:
when the device is on a call does the lockscreen lock the buttons and touchscreen? ie: is it a waste of time to try to lock the device while on a call? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The exchange server that I use for work pushes a policy forcing the phone to lock.
Pressing the power button on the top not only shuts off the screen but it also locks it.
When I answer the phone, it is easy to unlock, if I want. Just slide up, and enter the code. Then I can do anything while on the call.
The proximity sensor disables the touch screen when you have it by your ear, so you don't actidentally hang up.
Something the phone does not have is physical talk and end buttons. But, I honestly have not had a need for them.
Custom Ringtones and Alert Sounds
Although it's real eay for a developer add ringtones to their device or for anyone that has unlocked it. It is annoying that they have locked this down.
Mango is supposed to allow custom ringtones, so just need to wait.
Supposed to be on September 15th.
Wow...ringtones are locked down? Amazing....really. Please don't think I'm knocking them for doing it, I'm sure there's a reason for it, I just find it surprising is all. Have you examined the GPS Capabilities?
GT247 said:
Wow...ringtones are locked down? Amazing....really. Please don't think I'm knocking them for doing it, I'm sure there's a reason for it, I just find it surprising is all. Have you examined the GPS Capabilities?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS works great.
Good news is that the LG Quantum has a built in reg editor. Kind of clunky. Nothing like the good old Total Commander or Dot Fred Reg Editor.
And the location of there is an app the runs on your computer to make a xap files for ringtones.
And you can then sideload the xap onto the device and the ringtone remains.
First you need to unlock the device.
I have not unlocked mine yet. I should be able to unlock with just a few reg ediits. Haven't done it yet though.
On the 15th Mango officially will be available, and that allows custom ringtones without any hacks.
Some Good threads
Use your Windows Phone as a thumb drive.
Registry mods for WP7 - NoDo
Custom Ringtones
mp3 files work just fine, at least with the NoDo 7392 update.
All the built in ringtones seem to be mp3 as well
Lot of good links here
Hi++
Introducing microsoft windows phone 8 new features (listed by SPIDER7 :fingers-crossed
(source= wpcentral )
1- Internet explorer 10
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A number of highlighted features included in Internet Explorer 10 for Windows Phone:
Hardware-Accelerated Graphics. Uses your phone’s built-in GPU to improve performance when rendering HTML5-based animation or video in the browser.
Faster JavaScript Engine. When rendering webpages based on JavaScript, Internet Explorer in Windows Phone 8 is up to seven times faster than the version in Windows Phone 7.5.
Improved Support for HTML5 and W3C Web Standards. Including CSS3, SVG, DOM, XHTML, and ECMAScript. Support for HTML5 is double what it was in Windows Phone 7.5, including new support for HTML5 touch events.
A Clean UI Design. Enables you to experience the beauty of the Web instead of the browser frame.
Protected Mode. Helps improve security by constraining the browser session to a low-rights security sandbox.
Tab Isolation. Runs each browser tab in a separate process so that one poorly-designed website won’t crash the entire browser or affect other tabs.
2- Live wallpapers
3- NFC sharing between Windows Phone 8 and Android
4- Xbox music
Xbox Music has been designed to work across multiple devices and allow for a more seamless music playing experience. You’ll be able to buy music from the phone using the store and later either stream or download that purchase to another device like your Surface tablet or Windows 8 laptop.
Windows Phone 8 will allow you to see download or stream previous purchase from your ‘cloud collection’
5- Data Sense
++
Nokia Counters - similar functionality to Data Sense for all windows phone devices
6- One note mobile
you can now dictate a note and have it automatically transcribed into OneNote. Using voice to text technology you can save yourself some typing and let Windows Phone 8 do the work for you. Using this function is similar to how speech to text works in Windows Phone 7, hold down the start button to enable speech and say “Note” and commence dictating your notes. The feature will even work while the screen is locked if you wish it to, saving you having to unlock the phone.
8- New Accents
9- Rooms
These are the features available to the group you create in this application:
Room Chat Unlike with group texting, every Room member in a Room Chat session sees each other’s messages and replies, making it easy to keep everyone in-the-loop—and only Room members can see those messages. And with the new Location Sharing feature you can just as easily let everyone else in a Room know exactly where they are.
Shared Calendar Every Room has a shared calendar, which all Room members can view and update. If anyone adds an event or makes a change, it is automatically synced to all other Room members’ phones.
Shared Photo Album Rooms also provide a shared photo and video album—just share a photo or video with a Room and it’ll be visible to all Room members.
Shared Notes Rooms also make it easy to share OneNote notes, which are automatically synced across all Room members’ phones.
10- Wallet
One of the new features with Windows Phone 8 is the Wallet app. Microsoft has added a digital wallet that you can use to keep your debit, credit, loyalty and membership card information handy on your Windows Phone.
11- The Kid's Corner
Kid's Corner will introduce new ways for parents to allow their children to access content on their Windows Phone without the concern of accidental misuse. But it's not only limited to children, should you wish to lend your device to friends or the loved one for a minute or so, and wish to keep private areas of the device secure, Kid's Corner can be provided with peace of mind.
++I'll waiting for more
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(source= wpcentral )
so according to #8 there still now way of set your own color? wtf?
eortizr said:
so according to #8 there still now way of set your own color? wtf?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
++
Maybe that settings is in another place because they confirmed the custom Accent colors !
Some of these features are already available in WP7.5
One note, data counters (for nokia only), Xbox muxic is the same as zune, and a few more will come in 7.8 lol.
Not really a big loss as it seems, for old windows phone users.
two new features:
1. Allow multiple mobile no.
2. Enable any languages.
see attched snapshot from MS Community forum. I do not have WP8, can anyone confirm?
++
update
++
12-New features for Skype
First, and maybe the most important improvement, is that Skype can keep you signed-in and reachable even when you've closed out the Skype app. Skype stays asleep in the background until an incoming call or message is received. Not only can you receive calls just like you would through your wireless carrier but staying dormant, you save battery life.
The new Skype app also automatically adds your Skype contacts to your People Hub. This will allow you to start a Skype conversation directly from a person's contact card.
Other improvements include Live Tile support to show unread message counts and/or a text preview of the most recent message and Skype notifications for your Lock Screen.
++
update
++
13-multiple select
-we can see the “select multiple” option in the gallery; which is a huge relief for many who have faced the horror of wanting to delete more than one picture (God forbid).
14-In App purchase
-support for NFC, contactless payments, deals, loyalty cards and the likes
++This feature is just for wp8
15-Group Tile will be a live tile ( like the people tile )
Another little tweak to the Windows Phone 8 People Hub has been noticed. Besides the Recent Contacts now being a vertical pivot, another pivot has been added for groups specifically, showing a similar animation to the start screen People tile.
The discovery shows there is likely many more small changes in Windows Phone 8, which, despite the emulator leak, we will likely only really discover once we hold a real device in our hands.
16- 4 Hot in one
16.1-You will be able to Search from the lock screen
16.2-Download Maps for offline use
16.3-Basic Photo Editing tools like crop, rotate, fix, aspect ratio, etc will be included in the OS
16.4-Voicemail, Email, Text or IM, Email Notification Support
------------------------------------------------
++more coming soon
"wow"...
HTC_FUZE said:
two new features:
1. Allow multiple mobile no.
2. Enable any languages.
see attched snapshot from MS Community forum. I do not have WP8, can anyone confirm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
++
You think they lie to us Because one of wpcentral friends confirmed that
This is small, but something Ive been missing ALOT: you can paste to dialer. At least here in Finland so often phone numbers from explorer dont appear as clickable links.
Loco5150 said:
This is small, but something Ive been missing ALOT: you can paste to dialer. At least here in Finland so often phone numbers from explorer dont appear as clickable links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes in WP8 you can paste in dialer.
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-8-will-finally-let-you-paste-phone-numbers-into-the-dialler/
For WP 7.5 you can download my easy dial app :fingers-crossed:
monotheist said:
Yes in WP8 you can paste in dialer.
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-8-will-finally-let-you-paste-phone-numbers-into-the-dialler/
For WP 7.5 you can download my easy dial app :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you ! :good:
By the way your app is great
++
update
++
17-paste in dialer
Microsoft did not allow one to paste phone numbers into the dialler. This has been such a problem that there has even been apps developed to allow one to copy a phone number from a web page or IM for example and paste it into an app, which would then dial the number.
Like with so many things, Microsoft finally fixed the issue in Windows Phone 8
SPIDER-7 said:
++
You think they lie to us Because one of wpcentral friends confirmed that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks. However, I think the multiple mobile no. is still limited to 2? From the hotmail, now I see Mobile 2 becomes available, but still you cannot customize it, e.g. change "Mobile" to Mobile-Personal, change "Mobile 2" to "Mobile-Company" etc. or add more than 2 no.
monotheist said:
For WP 7.5 you can download my easy dial app :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes easy dial and few others are great apps for WP7. Only problem for me on all of these is the fact that the tile of the app cannot show missed calls. This of course its due to limitation of WP7, not because people dont want to include this function to their apps. The way the home screen and notifications is build in WP7 would mean basically having 2 tiles for dialing and ehh, its too much. Smart dial is something I thought was very strange that it wasnt present in WP7, but I have got used to dialing from people hub.
SPIDER-7 said:
thank you ! :good:
By the way your app is great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Some of the features you missed
1) Now you can take screen shots with the phone, this was demoed long back in the first look of Windows Phone
2) Custom lens, you can have apps that create Custom Lens for the Phone for taking pictures
3) Downloadable Maps for offline Maps support.
++
Update
++
someone please wake me up !!! wow!! wow! and wow!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18-Dual Core Chipsets
Microsoft plans to have the latest and greatest hardware on their new phones, and that includes dual-cores and more (read, multi-cores).
19- 3 Screen Resolutions
WP8 will no longer be restricted to the lowly 800×480 (by today’s standards). Coming forth are 2 new resolutions, HD (1280×720) as well as WXGA (1280×728). The second resolution spec is particularly interesting. WXGA keeps direct aspect ratio compatibility with WP7′s WVGA screen resolution.
20-Micro SD Card support
Not having Micro SD slots was a bummer with Windows Phone 7 as that pretty much limited offline storage capacity. Most phones were stuck with 8 GB of storage (less than 6 GB useful most of the times). For an office guy, it might be enough. But start to take pictures and carry them around, store music and apps and you would soon be running into tight spots. We are glad MS addressed this petty problem with WP7 and is introducing the feature (finally) with WP8.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21-Unleashed Gaming
22-More Countries, More Languages
In their continued expansion, Microsoft highlights the number of different countries and languages in which their apps will be available.
...
Any improvement of the calendar tile?
Thanks for this thread and info!
Is there any improvement of the calendar tile. In particular, more than 1 appointment showing on the start screen tile (Such a big tile of nothingness in WP7). I'd like to see 3 or 4 appointments. Ideally the ability to control how many and from what calendar, all day or not. At present one has to achieve this via third party apps.
HI Guys: The good news! :victory:
Sony Confirms Android KitKat provided for Xperia SP in the Near Future! :victory:
Link this news to Sony's site:
http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/software/phones/xperia-sp/
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Thank you very much Sony! :fingers-crossed:
No need to create a whole new thread, when another is already created.
The info you posted is already here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47696383
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
whitemamba said:
No need to create a whole new thread, when another is already created.
The info you posted is already here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47696383
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True whitemamba, but the news was updated to Android Kitkat important enough to be a separate thread!
Amin.HVS said:
True whitemamba, but the news was updated to Android Kitkat important enough to be a separate thread!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
I mean, you saw the other thread, read it and then thought 'Hey, lets make another thread'. -_-
Robin>Hood said:
No.
I mean, you saw the other thread, read it and then thought 'Hey, lets make another thread'. -_-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, your Purpose do not understand!
You have seen me in the other thread?!
What's this?
Amin.HVS said:
Sorry, your Purpose do not understand!
You have seen me in the other thread?!
What's this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im glad you made this thread! I wouldnt have seen the other post. Thanks! Cant wait, JB 4.3 next month and then KK sooon! :laugh:
Pavilo-Olson said:
Im glad you made this thread! I wouldnt have seen the other post. Thanks! Cant wait, JB 4.3 next month and then KK sooon! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome my good friend. :highfive:
I was very glad of this good news. Kit Kat Best Android version Subset 4.xx Android version of the collection. and it has very good facilities.
I hope this version for the Xperia SP will be provided as soon as possible.
Robin>Hood said:
No.
I mean, you saw the other thread, read it and then thought 'Hey, lets make another thread'. -_-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pavilo-Olson said:
Im glad you made this thread! I would'nt have seen the other post. Thanks! Cant wait, JB 4.3 next month and then KK sooon! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay Robin Hood
You Notice, As I said, it was!
Closer look at the features and capabilities of Android Kitkat
Google's newest version of its mobile operating system, Android 4.4 KitKat, doesn't deliver a huge list of transformative design and feature changes, like what we saw when Ice Cream Sandwich was introduced. Instead, KitKat's main purpose is to usher in a strategy from Google to get the latest Android version on all Android devices, both premium and low-end.
That's a big deal because every year, lower-end handsets come out running old versions of Android, fueling the argument that Android is fragmented and giving customers an inconsistent Android experience. With KitKat, Google shrank the operating system so that it can run on many more devices, thus helping close the gap between low-end and high-end devices.
This hands-on examines Android 4.4 as it runs on the Nexus 5, as that is the only device that currently has the operating system. Not all of the features mentioned will be available on other devices when they get the update. We'll continue to update this material as we spend time with the operating system on other devices when we can. For an in-depth review of the Nexus 5, read Lynn La's review on CNET.
The newest Android for all
Google's ultimate goal is to get KitKat on all Android devices from this point forward. Every year, we see new devices running the latest flavor of Android, but also some running versions that are, in some cases, years old. That makes cheaper devices seem less appealing even given their low prices, and leaves the budget-minded miffed that they can't get the latest features without a cost.
The problem is that budget devices often have smaller amounts of internal storage and RAM and can often only run an older version of Android. More powerful, and more expensive, phones pack faster processors and more RAM, allowing them to run the most updated version of the OS, previously Jelly Bean. Google fixed this issue in KitKat by shrinking the footprint of the operating system by 16 percent so that it can run on devices with only 512MB of RAM. That means that budget devices and phones aimed at emerging markets, which is exactly what Google is after, can run KitKat, instead of now-outdated Gingerbread (2.3) or Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0).
Google is giving manufacturers and carriers the opportunity to put KitKat on all devices in 2014. However, since there's no pressure or directive to only ship devices with version 4.4, it's up to them to follow through. It remains to be seen if carriers and OEMs will jump at the chance to only go with KitKat, and if the past is any indication, it's likely that we'll continue to see new phones shipping with Jelly Bean for a while.
Fresh, simple design
KitKat sports a minimalist design that still has remnants of the Holo look introduced in Ice Cream Sandwich. Many of the design changes I talk about in this section are ones I came across on the Nexus 5. We don't know yet if they will show up on other non-Nexus devices if and when they get Android 4.4. It's safe to say that if your phone has a custom skin, such as HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz, and gets upgraded to KitKat, you're not likely to see many design differences.
The app drawer and status bar are now transparent.
First, the home screens on KitKat look a bit different. Icons are now much larger and the text is condensed. The top status bar is translucent and blends with your wallpaper. Google says that other apps can take advantage of this as well. For instance, Twitter could have the blue background on the app's header extend into the status if it so desired.
There are no longer five home screens visible by default; instead there are only two. You can add more by grabbing an app or widget and moving it to the right or left of an existing screen. Just as you can do in TouchWiz and other skins, you can now rearrange entire home screens, instead of moving apps and widgets around individually. To do it, you just tap and hold the screen and then tap and hold the screen you want to move.
There's a new menu where you can change your wallpaper and add widgets that pops up when you press and hold the screen. There's also an option called settings in that menu, but it takes you to Google search settings, not your phone's settings menu, which is strange and unexpected. When you select wallpapers, a row of thumbnails of new wallpapers designed for KitKat appears. On the far left, there's an option to choose photos from your gallery. When you choose your own photo, it will show a full-screen preview of what it will look like as a wallpaper, instead of forcing you to crop the photo with a box, which is a welcome change. It reminds me a lot of how you set the backgrounds on an iOS device.
If you select widgets from that home screen menu, you'll get a grid of available widgets that you can add to your screens.
The app drawer also got a makeover. There is no longer a section for widgets and no icon for Google Play in the top-right corner; all you see is a grid of your phone's apps. It also has a translucent background that shows your home screen wallpaper.
What hasn't changed is the notifications menu, though Google did add a new location tile in the quick-settings panel. Lastly, the persistent Google search bar that popped up in Android 4.0 and stays at the top of your home screens is still there. You still can't remove it unless you use a launcher or install a new ROM.
Next up is the lock screen. Though it doesn't look much different from 4.2 and 4.3, there's a new music widget that lets you control audio playback from the lock screen without unlocking your phone. When you play music from the Google Music app, the lock screen will show the song's album art full-screen. Additionally, if you're playing a video on a Chromecast from your phone, the lock screen will show the video or movie's art and give you an option to pause or play the video.
With third-party music apps, there's no album art, but the app's icon, song title, and artist will show up on the lock screen, right above the playback controls. Apps like Spotify and Pandora and most podcast players have had lock screen controls for a while, but the new widget gives them a much cleaner look.
You can still add other widgets to the lock screen, for Gmail or other apps, just make sure you check the box in the security settings that says "Enable widgets."
Google introduced a new immersive experience for some apps in KitKat. The idea is that when you're watching a video, reading a book, or playing a game, the status bar and onscreen buttons will fade away so there aren't distractions. In the Google Books app, that means each page takes up the entire screen.
Google Now at your fingertips
With Google Now, Google is aiming to bring you all the information you could possibly need in one place. There are cards for your upcoming appointments with travel times to help you plan your journey, weather cards to tell you the forecast, and sports scores that help you stay on top of your favorite team. In KitKat, Google Now gets more robust.
First, I need to mention that Google built a special launcher for the Nexus 5 that makes Google Now even easier to access. If you unlock your phone, you can say, "OK Google" to activate voice search without needing to tap anywhere on the screen. Also, when you turn on Google Now, you can swipe all the way to the left to pull it up. Those two features are exclusive to KitKat on the Nexus 5, at least until future notice. That said, the Nexus 5 is not the only phone that allows you to use voice commands to launch Google Search. Motorola's Moto X, Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx, and Droid Mini all sport Touchless Controls, where you can say "OK Google" to start a search without needing to touch the phone at all.
Though the Nexus 5 gets the most Google Now features, KitKat will bring updated search features to other phones as well. First, when you run a search, Google will dive deeper into your phone and pull results from your installed apps. It works like this: Say you search for a restaurant on Google Now and already have the OpenTable app installed on your phone. You'll get the same Web results, but if you scroll to the bottom, there will be an option to launch the OpenTable app which will immediately show the reservation page for that restaurant. In the past, you'd have had to open the app yourself and search separately. Google says this will work with apps from OpenTable, Etsy, Flixster, Moviefone, and Newegg, with more to come soon. In my testing on the Nexus 5, it didn't work, and Google has yet to say when exactly you'll be able to do this.
Next, Google Now is getting a few new cards. One will show you updates from favorite Web sites and blogs, without overwhelming you with every post in the way an RSS reader would. Another will try to understand your recent searches and group together related queries, such as "Nexus 5" and "Android KitKat." Again, these cards did not pop up for me in my testing, but they are expected to roll out soon.
Lastly, Google gave us a vague promise of future cards that will provide context when you're near a certain event or attraction that is getting a lot of search hits. For example, say there's a parade in your city and there are a lot people searching for information on what's happening. Google would display a card about the event's time, location, and other important information when you're near the event.
Google, place my call
KitKat includes a brand-new dialer, which remembers who you call the most and keeps those people front and center. When you open the dialer, the dial pad is hidden away and you'll see a list of frequently called contacts.
One of the biggest changes is that you can now search for businesses from the dialer and call them with one tap. That means instead of opening Google Search or Google Maps and looking for a business, finding its number, and then placing the call, you can just start typing in the dialer, and select the correct result, and your phone will start dialing. You can get specific by typing "Starbucks" to find nearby locations, for example, or just type "coffee" for broader results.
Also, you can type the words of a vanity number -- such as 1-800-Flowers or 1-888-Wait-Wait -- into the search bar, and the dialer will translate it into a numerical phone number. It's a small touch that makes the actual phone part of your phone much more user-friendly.
Another major feature is Caller ID. When a business that's not in your contacts calls you, its name will show up on the screen, helping you figure out who's calling. This only works if the business has a listing in Google Maps (most do) and the number that's calling you is the same number in that listing. If someone calls from an extension, it won't work.
Hangouts meets texting
It's long been rumored that Google would fold the basic stock SMS text messaging into the IM, voice, and video calling app Hangouts. It finally did that with the release of Android 4.4.
If you already use Hangouts on your Android phone to IM with your friends, the experience hasn't changed much. You can still search for contacts by e-mail address or Google account name and send them IMs. What has changed is that, at least for the Nexus devices, there is no longer a separate dedicated SMS app. You now send and receive text messages and photos from the Hangouts app.
Hangouts separates your SMS conversations and Google Chat conversations into individual threads on the main screen, even if you're communicating with one contact. You can, however, switch between those two conversations when you're in the message thread by tapping the person's name at the top.
While Hangouts is easy to use, it doesn't bring anything else to the...tablet that any other SMS client doesn't. I'll stick with a separate app on my Android phone, mostly because I've never been a fan of Hangouts for its original purpose and I can customize the look of my text-messaging app. If you'd rather use something else too, I recommend Textra.
Extra features
Even though emoji was available in earlier versions of Android, they officially come to Android in KitKat. Emoji are part of the stock Google keyboard now and can be used anywhere you input text. Luckily, if you send a message with emoji to a friend with an iOS or non-KitKat device, your friend will still be able to see the tiny pictures, as they can translate to other emoji protocols. I, for one, am a big fan of the new emoji, especially since that's one of the few features from iOS that I was hoping would someday turn up in Android.
You can now print photos from the Gallery app with Google Cloud Print. If you have a cloud-enabled printer, you need to register it with its cloud e-mail address. For non-cloud printers, you need to use a USB cable to connect it to your computer and register it on Google Cloud Print.
For my Wi-Fi-connected HP all-in-one, which doesn't have a cloud print option, that meant I had to connect it to my laptop and sign into Google Cloud Print in my Chrome browser's settings menu. Once that was set up, I could go to the Gallery app, choose a photo, select print from the menu, and find my correct printer.
You can now open files in Google's productivity suite, Quickoffice, from any cloud apps you have installed on your phone, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. You can easily save them back to the cloud when you're finished.
Android is making it easier to manage your launchers with a settings option called Home. There you can switch between the stock launcher and any that you have installed, such as Apex or Nova. This is a personal favorite feature of mine, since I like to use launchers and this makes it really easy to switch back and forth.
Other smaller changes introduced in KitKat include faster multitasking, improved touch-screen performance, low-power audio playback, and a lower-accuracy battery-saving location mode.
Here's a full list of the changes:
The revamped phone dialer app will evaluate which contacts you talk to most and automatically prioritize your phone book accordingly. Also, integration with more Google apps such as Maps will let you search for nearby places and businesses right in the phone dialer.
Caller ID gets a boost, as well. For incoming calls that don't match a phone number not in your contacts, Google apps will scan and display any matches from local businesses listed in Google Maps.
The immersive mode clears up clutter on your screen by automatically hiding everything except the one thing you're viewing (like a photo, map, or game). In other words, you'll be in full-screen mode without status and navigation bars. When you're ready to move on, you can bring back your status bar and navigation buttons by swiping the edge of the screen.
A new Hangouts app consolidates all of your text and multimedia messages, conversations, and video calls in one place.
You'll be able to print photos, documents, and Web pages from your phone or tablet. Any printer connected to Google Cloud Print will be compatible, along with HP ePrint printers and other printers with Google Play apps.
If you have an Android device with an IR blaster, you'll be able to use applications that make it function as a TV remote.
Capable devices will now support Chromecast.
When you reach the bottom of a menu, there's a faint white glow instead of the earlier, brighter blue glow.
Support for the Message Access Profile (MAP) will let drivers exchange messages between their Bluetooth-enabled cars and devices.
Closed captioning comes to most applications.
A new look for the e-mail app brings nested folders, contact photos, and revamped navigation.
NFC features now will work with more wireless carriers.
App developers can take advantage of new step detection and counting composite sensors.
Smaller details range from a uniform color for status bars to a new condensed font.
(Credit: CNET)
Thats was am awsom information about Kitkat.. Thanks for the share my brother
Rajeev said:
Thats was am awsom information about Kitkat.. Thanks for the share my brother
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome, My dear brother Rajeev, this overview of the Android Kitkat
But soon, very interesting information about the Android Kitkat will share the same topic!
9 Lesser-Known New Features In Android 4.4 KitKat!
9 Lesser-Known New Features In Android 4.4 KitKat
Shortly after Google revealed the latest version of its mobile OS a few days back, we wrote about some of the new features & improvements introduced in Android 4.4 KitKat. It’s been over a week since the release now, and many of us have had a chance to play around with the OS. With that, we have come across a few features that weren’t highlighted by Google, but can nevertheless prove to be quite useful to many users. Not all users are going to find a use for each one of these features, and not all of them are entirely new major additions to the OS; in fact a few of them are more along the lines of refinements to existing features, or handy components of newly added KitKat features that haven’t been specifically highlighted by Google or the press so far. So, let’s take a look at a few of the lesser-known features brought to Android in the 4.4 KitKat update.
Advanced File Picker With Full Storage Access
In KitKat, Google introduced an all new file picker with support for integration with Google Drive as well as third-party cloud storage services to make the process of picking a file easier and more universal. This feature has been talked about a lot by both Google and the media, but did you know that you can also use it to pick any file on your Internal storage and external SD card (on supported devices) directly?
To enable full storage access, go to the file picker’s settings from its menu, and enable the option labeled ‘Display advanced devices’. You can also set file sizes to be displayed from here. After enabling the former option, you should see an entry for your Internal storage (as well as your external SD card, if your device supports it) in the Open from navigation drawer. Tap it, and you’ll be able to select any file from your device’s file system.
You can also sort the files by name, last modified date and size, and choose between list and grid layout. One can’t help but think how nice it would have been if Google had also added basic file management options (opening, deleting, renaming, viewing properties etc.) to the feature and added its shortcut to the App drawer to make it a stock File Manager app – a feature that was considered a standard for mobile operating systems in the pre-iOS, Android & Windows Phone era.
Easily Switch Default Launcher & SMS Apps
If you’ve been reading up on the new features of KitKat so far, you probably know already that upon installing a third-party launcher, you’ll see a new ‘Home’ option in Settings that lets you choose the default one (demonstrated in the left screenshot below). You likely also know that the new Hangouts app in KitKat includes support for SMS messages, rendering the stock Messaging app redundant. Though that doesn’t mean stock Messaging has been completely excluded from the OS; it’s still there as a part of AOSP (though Google and device manufacturers/carriers may decided to not ship it on their devices), and there is also an easy way to choose your default SMS app among all stock and third-party options available. You can find this option under ‘Wireless & Networks’ in Settings.
The option allows you to choose your default SMS app between Hangouts, Messaging and any third-party options that you may have installed.
Advance Alarm Notifications With Option To Dismiss
This is an enhancement to an existing feature that shows attention to detail, and I am already in love with it. At times, we set an alarm but end up waking up before it has sounded, and either out of laziness or due to getting busy with something, we end up not stopping that alarm till it starts sounding. With KitKat, you will view expandable notifications for upcoming alarms one hour before their time, with a ‘Dismiss Now’ option that does just what it says, without requiring you to open the Clock app and go the Alarms section to disable the alarm manually.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s not a new major feature but a very useful addition to an existing one, and once you get used to it, you’ll find it hard to live without it.
Toggle Lockscreen Widgets
Google introduced Lockscreen widget support in Android Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and the feature was immensely praised by users and critics alike. However, there were still many who didn’t really see a need to put widgets on their lockscreen. However, there was no way to disable the feature. That changes in KitKat, as you can now easily enable or disable lockscreen widgets in the Security section of Settings.
So, if you only use the lockscreen to keep your device secure and unlock it when needed, go ahead and disable the feature to make sure you never land on that ‘Add widget’ screen on your lockscreen.
View Text-To-Speech Support Status For Default Language
Text-to-Speech has long been a part of Android, but not all languages supported by the operating system itself were supported by this feature. KitKat adds a ‘Default language status’ section to the Text-to-speech subsection of Language & input settings that shows if your currently selected default system language is supported by the Text-to-speech system or not.
So, no more confusion on why you can’t hear any text-to-speech output for a language you’ve selected.
Mobile Plan Management
There’s a new option labeled ‘Mobile Plan under Wireless & networks settings that seems to be intended to help you manage your mobile plan right from your device, but it’ll only work if your carrier has a known provisioning website for the purpose in order to offer you any options to configure.
We couldn’t test this feature because our carrier doesn’t provide such a provisioning service.
Always Enabled Dial-Pad Autocomplete
Dial-pad autocomplete (also known as T9 dialing) is an extremely handy feature that lets users bring up contacts by typing the numbers representing the alphabetical characters of their names in the Dialer. This was probably the most requested feature in Android since Google decided to include it as an option in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. In KitKat, the feature is no longer an option that you can toggle; it is instead always on. It’s really hard to think of a reason why anyone would want to have it disabled, so it only makes sense to have it always on, and removing the option to disable it.
In addition to the changes in KitKat that we have discussed above, there are also a few more new options hidden in the Developer options section of Settings that aren’t likely to be too useful for the everyday user, but can prove to be quite handy to developers. We said ‘hidden’ because since Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Google has hidden the Developer options section by default. Though you can easily follow our instructions to reveal the hidden Android Developer options. Once revealed, you’ll notice several changes from the options available till 4.3, and we’ll be discussing a few notable ones from them below.
New ART Runtime (love This Feature )
Dalvik has been the default runtime environment of Android since its first public release. It has also been the primary bottleneck of the OS because it uses JIT (just-in-time) compilation, requiring apps to be compiled on the go before running them, which can be quite taxing on performance as well as battery life. ART (Android RunTime) is a replacement for Dalvik that uses AOT (ahead of time) compilation, meaning your apps are compiled to a ready-to-run state before you even launch them, making the process of launching and using them much faster and smoother. And since this would reduce their compilation frequency significantly, you can expect to start seeing better battery life.
While ART isn’t quite ready for prime time yet, an early version of the new runtime environment has been included in KitKat, though Dalvik is still selected as default. Developers who need to test their apps on ART, or users who want to try out the new runtime (at their own risk, since it’s not fully ready yet) can switch to it by tapping Select runtime under Developer options, as shown above.
Process Stats
One thing developers and power users are both interested in is seeing what’s going on under the hood in their devices. For this, KitKat now includes Process Stats – a section under Developer Options that shows you performance and usage stats of all your background, foreground and cached processes.
You can choose a custom duration for the stats, show or hide system processes and toggle the display of different stats types.
A few other new developer options include the ability to select and switch between different modes of HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) checking between always, for DRM content only, and never, a snoop log for Bluetooth HCI (Host Controller Interface), and more.
So, which one of these features do you like most? And have you found a lesser-known feature in KitKat that we’ve missed? Feel free to drop a line in the comments below!
Source
This is a great notice!!
and hope that there is not a trick marketin.
mpiero11 said:
This is a great notice!!
and hope that there is not a trick marketin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is a good news for us.
Sony confirmed Upgrade Xperia SP to Android 4.4, and probably in early 2014, we will witness the presentation.
**********
OP Updated.
Cool cant wait:laugh:
What you need
A Windows Phone with accelerometer and compass (magnetometer). (Gyroscope not required - but makes every movement smoother and more accurate)
App Headtrackr ($2, full featured trial available)
PC
Opensource software opentrack
A pc game that supports FreeTrack/TrackIR or a similar protocol (e.g. Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and many more)
headband / hair tie / tape or something similar strap your phone to your head / headphones / headset (see pictures at the end for examples)
Video of head tracking with Headtrackr in Star Citizen:
Tutorial/Instructions also available as PDF and Word document here: www.headtrackr.com/instructions
And available in german here: www.headtrackr.de/instructions
First of
Please note, Headtrackr only transmits your movements to your PC. The desktop application opentrack then relays the movements to your game via different protocols (most commonly freetrack). I, the developer of Headtrackr, am not affiliated with the developers of opentrack or freetrack.
If a game does not support head tracking you have to contact the developer of that game and ask them to implement freetrack! I will not be able to do anything.
To test whether the game you would like to use head tracking with works, you can install the free trial version of Headtrackr!
Instructions
Setup
Install Headtrackr
Preconfigured download of opentrack 2.3 rc5: View attachment opentrack_2.3_rc5_d.zip Onedrive mirror: here.
The latest version of opentrack can always be downloaded from the official site here.
Please note: All tested versions will be listed below. It’s not guaranteed newer untested versions work with headtrackr!
Open the Zip file and extract it to a location of your liking. No installation needed.
Configuration
You can download a preconfiguration file here (right click -> save as)
Save it to the “settings” folder in your opentrack install folder and you can skip the opentrack config steps
Start opentrack.exe
Opentrack configuration steps
Select “UDP sender” as Tracker.
Tap on the “…” button on the right to select a port, in this example we’ll be using “4242” (If there are any problems with receiving data, change the port!).
If you have a firewall, you might need to allow this port in your firewall settings.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
On “Protocol” select “freetrack 2.0 Enhanced” for most games. Some games only support other protocols but freetrack is the most common.
On “Filter” select “Accela”. Tap on “…” and set a small value for both “Rotation smoothing” and “Translation smoothing” as seen below. This will filter out any inaccuracies from the sensors on your phone and make everything smoother.
Now on to the “Mapping” settings:
On the tabs “Yaw”, “Pitch” and “Roll” you can select a movement mapping. At the default mapping settings there is a 1:1 mapping, meaning you have to turn your head 180 degrees to move the view in your game 180 degrees. (This of course is not feasible since you can’t see the monitor anymore).
For all three I suggest a setting of 100:180 (see screenshots below)
Now on to settings that depend on how you strap your phone to your head and on the game you want to play
On the “Options” tab of the “Mapping” settings there are the “Output remap” settings.
Set Yaw, Roll and Pitch so, that your character follows your movements. If for example your character looks right, while you look left, you have to check “Invert” on “Yaw”. Same for looking up/down (Pitch) and rolling your head.
(You can also use the small octopus as a test before you start your game. It should move exactly like your in-game character)
Click the “Save” button to save these as your default settings.
Whenever you want to start tracking or testing, click “Start”.
Phone configuration steps
Unfortunately Windows Phone does not allow tracking movement with the display turned off. Because the display is one of the biggest battery drainers I would recommend the following (however, it is not needed for the app to work):
Turn your display brightness to the lowest setting (not needed with OLED displays)
Turn on Quiet mode, battery saver and/or airplane mode. This saves power and also ensures no interruption while playing.
Headtrackr setup
Make sure your phone’s WiFi is on and connected to the same network your PC is connected to.
Start Headtrackr
Tap on “Configuration” and enter your PC’s IP address and the port that was selected in opentrack.
That’s it, now you can test your connection:
Click on start in opentrack and then on “test connection” in Headtrackr. You should see the octopus turning left and right. If not, your connection is not working. Make sure you have entered the correct IP address / Port and both phone and pc are connected to the same network.
Save the configuration by pressing “Confirm”.
That’s it, you are now ready to start.
Tips and Tricks
Use the head shaking feature of Headtrackr to re-center your view in game. Simply shake your head and one second after the audio cue has played your view will take your current orientation as the new center value. In settings you can adjust the sensitivity of the head shake detection.
Known problems with opentrack and games
Tested opentrack versions: opentrack 2.3 rc5 and opentrack 2.3 rc9.
Please note: opentrack 2.3 is still in development and not withour errors.
Known problems with opentrack 2.3 rc5
“Output remap” can map one axis to another. (E.g. you can’t set that pitch means roll and roll means pitch)
Known problems with opentrack 2.3 rc9
On opentrack 2.3 rc9 and higher you have to first click “Start” in opentrack and then on the phone via “START TRACKING”. If you start tracking on your phone first, the re-centering feature of Headtrackr doesn’t work correctly.
Known problems with Star Citizen
At this moment, Star Citizen is still in alpha. Sometimes headtracking does not work. Restarting Star Citizen, opentrack and sometimes your pc can fix that problem. (Tests have shown that Star Citizen works better with opentrack 2.3 rc5 than the current newer versions)
Problem: No Text-To-Speech output in Headtrackr
Speech for your language has to be installed. Go to system settings -> language and make sure of that. If it’s not installed you can do that there.
Examples of how you can easily strap your phone to your head
Why did I develop Headtrackr?
I have always waited for a viable virtual reality headset. With Oculus Rift we might get one in a few months/years. But I just couldn't wait that long. Unfortunately the next best thing (TrackIR) costs way to much for me (180€). (Or rather: I think it costs way to much for the features it delivers)
I already had a Windows Phone and multiple apps released, so I developed Headtrackr as an alternative to TrackIR.
You might ask yourself: Why is Headtrackr so much cheaper than TrackIR? It must be pretty bad.
No, TrackIR is so expensive because you pay for the hardware as well as the software. With your phone you already have all the hardware you need and only need the software!
I personally can't go back to playing games like Star Citizen without head tracking.
If you find any bugs, have any questions or have any suggestions feel free to contact me in the comments, per pm, mail or from inside the app.
Links
Download: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=11777f9d-9261-42e6-acc3-84e3046703bb
[QRCODE]http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=11777f9d-9261-42e6-acc3-84e3046703bb[/QRCODE]
http://www.headtrackr.com and http://www.headtrackr.de
The developer: www.dehodev.com
hi i am trying to use headtrackr with my phone acting both as an HMD/vr.headset and as an gyroscope data sender for opentrack..
my problem is that i can get headtrack to work in potrait mode but not in landscape with screen facing my face..
would be really awesome if Headtrackr could receive an update to fix this problem it would act not only as a headtracker device for freetrack games bu also for VR games !!
i hope that this can happen some day awesome app btw
greymouser said:
hi i am trying to use headtrackr with my phone acting both as an HMD/vr.headset and as an gyroscope data sender for opentrack..
my problem is that i can get headtrack to work in potrait mode but not in landscape with screen facing my face..
would be really awesome if Headtrackr could receive an update to fix this problem it would act not only as a headtracker device for freetrack games bu also for VR games !!
i hope that this can happen some day awesome app btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed this problem a few months ago. I wrote a UWP version of Headtrackr with the goal to fix this problem and make it possible to work with VR games. The current version is still a WP8 app that can't work when it's not in the foreground, so it can't have any other app open (for streaming your pc's video output).
Unfortunately I hit a snag that I was unable to figure out. (Worked on it for 3-4 weeks) The sensor API in Windows 10 has this problem where when your phone is in landscape and you look in certain directions it suddenly changes axises and angles. I was unable to find any documentation on this issue. Why this happens, how this happens or how to compensate for it. It's one of the most frustrating things I have encountered. This problem did not exist in Wp7.5 or Wp8. I was planning on taking another look at it in a few weeks.
I was really confused, because I was reading everywhere on how this api is meant for VR and AR but could'nt find a single example that actually worked correctly without those issues.
i see so facing two problems here,
here is an idea how about adding VNC capability to headtrackr, this way there will be no reason to switch to a streaming app..
i also found this article seemed relevant.. especially the sensorbatching feature and readingtransform-initialize..
WP VR is really a lackluster unfortunately :/
Yeah, I solved the problem with background head tracking with the UWP app. That works by registering the app as an "ExtendedExecution" with LocationTracking as its type which allows the headtracking code to continue running while the streaming app is in foreground. (I also thought about creating a combined Headtracking and Streaming app, but for the time being that would take to long)
The article you linked is unfortunately useless. I read it a few months ago. At first I thought that would be the solution but in reality it doesn't change anything. Since then Microsoft seems to have released some online courses on the subject (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/mt715765.aspx). I'll go through them tomorrow to see how they solved the sensor problem.
Believe me, I would be more than happy to find a solution to this. I have been looking forward to try one of my devices as a VR device for some time.
greymouser said:
i see so facing two problems here,
here is an idea how about adding VNC capability to headtrackr, this way there will be no reason to switch to a streaming app..
i also found this article seemed relevant.. especially the sensorbatching feature and readingtransform-initialize..
WP VR is really a lackluster unfortunately :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've created a stackoverflow post describing the problem with example source code. Hopefully someone can point me to a solution because unfortunately I still couldn't find any solution for this:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions...eird-undocumented-sensor-reading-jump-when-fa
Head tracking eh? Pretty slick! Keep up your progress guys.