Database Users

MDA Questions after a week of use...

Hello...
I recieved my MDA last saturday, and since then, have been trying to figure everything out. After multiple calls to tmobile, and even a trip back to the store, i'm still stuck with a few questions that i cannot seem to get answered.
1. The MDA came with the default Tmobile theme which works fine in portrait & in landscape, as well as the default blue Windows theme.
However, I have tried to install multiple themes(including some from microsoft themeselves) and i have one annoying error! Whenever I use an "installed" theme, the portrait screen looks fine, but when I open the keyboard...there are two large greyish/white gaps on the side of the theme.
Ex: I'm using a green theme. When in landscape mode, i have a single green square in the middle of the screen with a strip on either side(left or right)
2. My phone is HORRIBLY slow when and if ANYTHING 3rd party is installed. I've tried today plugins that control the memory usage(figured that would help)...however, it just slowed things done. My phone usually runs at about 14mb Free Program Memory, out of the total 44MB(This seems horrible...with just the default programs installed*for the most part* and maybe agile messenger running.). If i install a today plugin, or a game...this drops below 10mb. Therefore, phone usage can be very aggravating. I cannot think of any other way to increase this memory expect for ONE thing. Would it be possible to transfer ALL programs, applications, etc to the miniSD Card(i have 1gb now, with a 2gb in the mail). This way...i certaintly would not be topping out the usage of the card, and hopefully I can free up alot of space on the phone.
3. As we all know, the packaged IM programs are AWFULLY slow and inconsistent. After a bit of research and trials, I have settled on using Agile Messenger. I'm loving it...expect for a few things.
The MAJOR problem I have with it, is the pop up notification. Its annoying to be surfing the web or playing a game, just to have a pop up tell you that you have recieved a message, EVERY TIME you get a new message(which can amount to a great deal in a short time). I've looked all over for a setting, so unless I missed it, is there any way to shut this off?
A side issue with this program, and also the connectivity of the phone is...:
(even WITH the GPRS hack*always on*), I still lose connection(with 2-4 bars of signal) and therefore i get signed off of Agile, rather often. This isnt' such a problem with me, as seeing it takes a short time to log back in. However, when you look at the conversation from another person's point of view...all you see is
"Soandso" Logged off
"Soandso" logged on
etc
etc
(not sure if that last part was a question or a statement, but if theres an answer, i'd like to hear it!)
4.
My girlfriend has a sidekick, and I LOVE the feature of being able to set phone profiles for specific times of the day. Especially during school, it'll go silent, and the second we are out, its back on normal. I have downloaded PZP to try and fix this loss of luxury. However, I personally don't find the program to be very consistent. Sometimes, it seems as if say my "school" profile is fully functioning, while other times, it really doesnt. Call me crazy, but I have taken a shot in the dark and ventured to say that if one touches the volume button on the phone while the phone is on a specific profile...it will throw it out of its cycle. If anyone has some hints/comments/suggestions of their own on this program or other favorites...I would love to hear from you.
5. After I went about and downloaded the Eten dial pad skin, I noticed that all of my contacts were unable to receive contact photos. I quickly realized that any contact that was saved on my SIM card from my previous phone was stuck in this predictament. However, if i were to create a new contact account, it quickly allows me to customize them alot further. Therefore, i was curious if there was any way to transfer my contacts on my sim card>my phone in a fashion that the phone will accept them.
I'm sure i'll think of more questions(these are just the ones that I havent been able to answer after days of searching :-D)
Thank you so much in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,
the speed of the HTC Wizard is very slow. That was my problem too.
for question no. 2:
Moving the apps to the card will result in more free space on the phone, OK, but running the apps from the card will also result in low speed, because the card is slower than the main memory. So I think you won't get more speed by this.
Try to overclock the device with OmapClock. My device works like a charm with 264 MHz (original was 180 MHz).
Use a tool like FreeUp RAM, which is part of the SK-Tools-package.
Running OmapClock and freeing up the RAM from time to time brings significantly much more speed. There is almost no waiting time if you click on an icon. You can even run Skype with OmapClock (many other users do so).
HTH

I have seen tidbits about overclocking through my endless searches the last few days. I've always heard that you have to be careful if you overclock a device, such as a phone. Has anyone had any known issues with the overclocking? Are there risks in having the phone run at that speed all the time?

The Wizard isn't slow. Install a Qtek rom without branding, and it will be much faster.

even the sales associate at tmobile seemed to think it was slow. Upgrading to a different ROM sounds ok, but i'm trying to keep everything via tmobile. thaks for the tip though.

Hi,
Im looking to get the Tmobile USA MDA, but after reading posts like this Im alittle afraid.
I need to run TOMTOM on this device and thinking that this might bring the device to a halt. Now Im starting to think that maybe I should get the 6700. Please let me know what you found out about making MDA faster. Thank you.

TazMan1688 said:
I have seen tidbits about overclocking through my endless searches the last few days. I've always heard that you have to be careful if you overclock a device, such as a phone. Has anyone had any known issues with the overclocking? Are there risks in having the phone run at that speed all the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There have been long discussion about what is safe with the Wizard on this forum.
See, for example, http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=40284
Also, the SmartsKey app automates startup of OMapClock.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=41060
(It has a number of other uses as well.
Hope this helps.

TazMan1688 said:
My girlfriend has a sidekick, and I LOVE the feature of being able to set phone profiles for specific times of the day. Especially during school, it'll go silent, and the second we are out, its back on normal. I have downloaded PZP to try and fix this loss of luxury. However, I personally don't find the program to be very consistent. Sometimes, it seems as if say my "school" profile is fully functioning, while other times, it really doesnt. Call me crazy, but I have taken a shot in the dark and ventured to say that if one touches the volume button on the phone while the phone is on a specific profile...it will throw it out of its cycle. If anyone has some hints/comments/suggestions of their own on this program or other favorites...I would love to hear from you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a known problem with backlighting. See http://zendrui.free.fr/PZPForum/viewtopic.php?t=197
Also, check to see what events PZP is handling for profile-switching. For example, if you have calendar-based or time-based rules, they may switch your profile without you doing anything. Go to Settings, Control to see what you Switches you allow. Or check Time and Calendar for your profiles under the Configuration option.

As much as i'm sure overclocking the device may help, especially in my case. I'm just not sure if its worth the risk. Kind of hard to explain to Tmobile why the phone decided to overheat. Seems overly risky to make such an expensive device, run at higher speeds than its DESIGNED to do. But i'm still not sure, it almost DOES seem worth it...decisions, decisions...
Yes, Thank you for clarifying that...I mostly meant, the inconsistency of PZP with the timing of profiles. It seems as if the program will "switch" to the correct profile, but i don't always see a change in the operation of the device itself. Ex: I have it set to go to school mode at 7:30am, this past week(since its spring break, i've noticed that my incoming calls all had the normal ring volume, as well as system tones, etc...
Although it "says" ""School"" i don't really know if its truely in that mode?!
On this note, i have a question about setting the times(which is what i really want to accomplish). My phone goes to LOUD around 5:30am, School at 7:30 am, Normal at 1:55pm, and Quiet at 4pm.
Nooow, do i have to put two times in the school profile such as 7:30 am-1:54(5)???? so that it has an entire time interval...or can i just tell it when to start, and the next profile will automatically kick in and stop the previous.
Also, does putting the phone in standby or shutting it down have any effect on the profile??
I'm sorry in advance if i'm asking very basic questions, i've just been searching for a long period of time, and i usually can't find a specific answer to my question. So I decided I would spend the time to actually discuss MY problem, with hope someone can help. Again, sorry for any inconvienence or redudant questions.

TazMan1688 said:
As much as i'm sure overclocking the device may help, especially in my case. I'm just not sure if its worth the risk. Kind of hard to explain to Tmobile why the phone decided to overheat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a german T-Mobile MDA Vario (= HTC Wizard) and I'm overclocking it permanently with OmapClock and SmartSKey. There is no overheating as far as I can say/feel. I can speed up to 264 MHz (original = 180 MHz). If I try more, the device softresets itself without any damage or loss of data. It's a kind of security mechanism. Of course, battery life is a little bit shorter when overclocking it. But I'm sure, slightly overclocking doesn't damage the device! Maybe the lifetime of the device will be a bit shorter, lets say 6 months in 5 years, but you won't realize that, because you won't be using your device in 5 years. You will sure own some other phone when the CPU dies. Together with the tool "FreeUp RAM" (comes with SKTools), I can reach a comfortable speed for everyday use. But never forget: The Wizard IS quite slow, compared with other devices. You can find smart workarounds for that, but don't close your eyes on that fact.
For running any GPS navigation tools I would consider buying not a Wizard, but a much faster device, if you would ask me. I'm using my Wizard only for addresses (~ 700 items), calendar (~ 1200 items) etc., and without overclocking and using a program like Pocket Informant 2005, that would be an annoying, maybe impossible thing. At the beginning, I had to wait almost 10-15 seconds until e.g. the month overview was created. Switch to the following month - wait again. Choose a specific day - wait again. Oh my god! That needed more patience than I had.

Are you running a basic install without all the phone networks customisation bloat?
you can do this by hard resetting (you will loose data doing this) and then doing a softreset when the customisation dialogue pops up after setting time zone etc.
this will speed things up over an install with tmobiles bloatware. I run tomtom and my device is in general as reponsive as the magician it replaces.
good luck with your phone
R

So guys based on your opinions and experience is it worth for me to get the MDA or should I go with a different carrier and a XV/PPC-6700 ?

Hi yozh,
I don't know the 6700-device at all. Maybe we don't have it here in good old Germany, or maybe under a differnt name. Does it have a bigger display (better for navigation)? Does it have a faster CPU? Then take that one! In my eyes I would never like to use the Wizard for navigation. It's only a better phone, not more, not less. For all other purposes I would buy a bigger machine. I do not want to talk bad about my own device, I have bought it and I use it and it's OK for the everyday things I do with it. It has nothing to do with "I'm proud of my device", like some people seem to be here. It's a phone, man, not a Ferrari or a Rolex. You would tell yourself lies, if you would call the Wizard a powerful device. I had a Palm Tungsten T5 before, and THIS is a powerful device. 2600 items in the calendar (true!), and the reaction time was half a second if you tap on the screen! You can go and have a coffee if you do that on a Wizard.
Just think about it. If you buy a Wizard, try it for a day and then write to me what you think about that phone.
Mh. My english should be better, I know.
Just my 2 Cents!

Hi well the 6700 is the apache I belive and the CPU is 416mhz but its not a "dual core" everything else screen adn such is pretty much the same. Thanks for the reply

SO any one on this forums can recoment apache over MDA ?

yozh said:
Hi,
Im looking to get the Tmobile USA MDA, but after reading posts like this Im alittle afraid.
I need to run TOMTOM on this device and thinking that this might bring the device to a halt. Now Im starting to think that maybe I should get the 6700. Please let me know what you found out about making MDA faster. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my posts on http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=48448 regarding processor speeds and TomTom.

Wow really TOMTOM runs better on the MDA then on a 400mhz DELL ? Then Im set defenatly getting the MDA, I like GSM network provide3rs better anyway and plus there are so much choices with the phones. I wish I was able to aford the JASJAS that looks really good.

Also don't forget that when you 'close' an appliation it does not really close, it just goes in to background, thus slowing the system down.
Check out your running processes and close all the ones that are not needed or load an app that really closed things.

TazMan1688 said:
1. The MDA came with the default Tmobile theme which works fine in portrait & in landscape, as well as the default blue Windows theme.
However, I have tried to install multiple themes(including some from microsoft themeselves) and i have one annoying error! Whenever I use an "installed" theme, the portrait screen looks fine, but when I open the keyboard...there are two large greyish/white gaps on the side of the theme.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Themes built for portrait screens look wrong in landscape view. Easy solution: build a theme that works in landscape view. The Guava Bubbles theme works fine in both because the background image is larger than portrait size.
TazMan1688 said:
4. My girlfriend has a sidekick, and I LOVE the feature of being able to set phone profiles for specific times of the day. Especially during school, it'll go silent, and the second we are out, its back on normal. I have downloaded PZP to try and fix this loss of luxury. However, I personally don't find the program to be very consistent. Sometimes, it seems as if say my "school" profile is fully functioning, while other times, it really doesnt. Call me crazy, but I have taken a shot in the dark and ventured to say that if one touches the volume button on the phone while the phone is on a specific profile...it will throw it out of its cycle. If anyone has some hints/comments/suggestions of their own on this program or other favorites...I would love to hear from you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use PPC-Profiles-Pro, but you can't slave this to a time. Besides, I'd rather just put it on Silent mode by holding the connection manager button for three seconds (top left side button). Otherwise I use PPC Profiles to switch from Work (BT) to Home (Wifi, no BT) to Sleep (No Wifi, no BT, no email alerts or reminders, just ringer). Walking into a theater, I just go to silent mode.

bilbo_28 said:
Also don't forget that when you 'close' an appliation it does not really close, it just goes in to background, thus slowing the system down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. I'm using MagicButton. And OmapClock with SmartSKey. And FreeUp RAM. In deed, I do almost EVERYTHING to make my device run faster.

Any one single issue that may stop me buying?

so, i've no doubt that many of you have been using your HD2's for a while now, during your experiences have you noticed any one significant problem? For example, the SMS sending issue or maybe with push email on the battery life is awefull?
What is your single biggest issue with it?

The biggest issue for me was the SMS problem. Now fully corrected by HTC. I'm proud of my little Leo I use mine with email in push all the day, and I've about 30% at the end of the day, using my phone every minute

My only real issue is the ultra slow messaging system. Not the sending bug which is apparently fixed. This is just where it takes forever to load your messages making you wait before you can type and send your message!
Very irritating problem but not a show stopper! Still loving the phone
I get 2-3 days of light use(Dont use it much at work just texting) and at least 1 day of heavier use(sitting browsing the web, playing music etc on the weekends). I have a second battery with me most of the time just incase i let it run out

There's tons of information already on here to help you make your own decision.
The question YOU have to answer is whether there are any deal breakers for you from the stacks of info that is already on here. This thread, for example, is a good place to start...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=583638
There are just so many threads on here now where people are effectively asking others to make a buying decision for them/asking exactly the same thing. The unique features of the HD2 will remain the same no matter how many times this question gets asked.
At the end of the day, whether you buy or not is entirely down to you.
WB

i've read that thread, usefull but far from concise. I am of course reading taking particular interest in this sub-forum, reading much of it but....
I'm not looking for what "most" people are looking for. I've left this fairly open ended question in the hope(?) that someone will mention what is a fairly unobvious to the masses issue but is a serious issue for them.
I'm looking for something that might be silly and therefore probably not mentioned by most of you but could stop it for me. I don't know what "it" might be but for example it could be that you can't put delivery receipts on a text message ....
I will be using ALL the functions of this phone and I wan't to try to eliminate any suprises!

Power hungry!
For me it's the power hungry nature of this beast. You can actually watch the battery draining right before your eyes if you are using it to surf or watch movies. I was shocked just how fast it drains.
Got a second battery now which I keep with me at all times. Batteries are the achilles heels of these powerful mini devices and I am very much looking forward to the new 3D lithium ion batteries becoming widely available as this will surely revolutionise mobile phones. Sorry going off topic there!

Can't say there's one MAIN problem, but it takes a lot of work to get it set up and running how you want it to, especially if you are unfamiliar with Winmo as I am

Hello again,
I quite understand where you are coming from but the approach I would have taken would be to make a private list of all the functions the device absolutely must have for you to be happy with it then confirm there aren't any issues with those functions through the info on here, sufficient for you to say no.
The key thing you have to remember, which new adopters from other devices don't realise, is that the HD2 isn't really a phone in the traditional sense. Its more like a small computer with telephony and messaging capability added on.
It therefore has much in common with the behaviours of a Windows computer (not surprising really as the OS is a "miniturised" version of windows). What kills it for a lot of people is that they expect it to behave exactly like a Nokia phone which it won't.
For many of us who have used winmobile devices for years, the things that may well be deal breakers for you just would not come up on our radar, hence my suggestion above of a different approach from you to get to a decision point. Being able to tweak the device, for example is a major plus as this gives great flexibility to customise the device. That attraction for me is a major deal breaker for others.
I would wager that there is a direct correlation between the numbers of people new to the winmobile platform and the number of posts on here expressing dissatisfaction with the device in one shape or form (SMS issue aside, of course).
Hope this is helpful.
WB

Indeed it is WB! very welcome and very helpfull.
Been in WinMo for years and very skilled with it so its not a new device to me.
Also spent many years in support roles so very adept at extracting relevant info from a mass of other stuff.

Monty Burns said:
so, i've no doubt that many of you have been using your HD2's for a while now, during your experiences have you noticed any one significant problem? For example, the SMS sending issue or maybe with push email on the battery life is awefull?
What is your single biggest issue with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have these issues at all. As long as you dont mind tweaking things here and there, I think you will enjoy the experience.

Monty Burns said:
...
Been in WinMo for years and very skilled with it so its not a new device to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And here was I , thinking you were a mere babe in the woods.
WB

It's a great device, but before buying one, I'd suggest to test it if you have the possibility...
In eastern Europe there were very many faulty devices; was unlucky to get one myself...

thanks but won't have that issue, we are very well protected in the UK when buying from a shop.

If you have experience with past WM devices, then the HD2 will blow your socks off!
I've had WM since my MPX200 back in 2004, and the HD2 is by far the best WM device ever, even with it's few minor niggles (and be realistic, what phone doesn't have niggles?).

Well, my main issue was the crappy messaging but with the latest sms-hotfix that is also corrected! No more issues now... loving it every single minute!

No Voice control over bluetooth
Have had an HD2 for a few weeks now, and while it’s a great machine in most respects, the main deficiency for me is the lack of voice control over bluetooth. It's mentioned in quite a few other threads.
I ride a motorcycle and have used a helmet mounted scala-rider headset with a Dopod 838Pro for a couple of years (mostly for initiating and receiving phone calls, but occasionally having messages or calendar entries read out).
The lack of this function on the HD2 is a major drawback for me, and I imagine anyone for whom voice control is important (eg. if you drive/ride a lot).
Have had WinMo since before there were WinMo phones (HP 620lx, then XDA II, then JasJar, JasJam and now HD2) and I bought an iPhone 3GS (surreptitiously for my girlfriend) to see what all the fuss is about and to see for myself if the device is as good as the fanboys in my office gush on about.
I hate the way it's all locked-in to iTunes and you can't really tweak things to the level we're used to with WinMo, but everything "just works" (wi-fi, voice control, SMS conversation mode etc.)
If the voice control isn't enabled in an imminent ROM update I may have to consider selling my HD2 and begrudgingly keep the iPhone for myself.
Just my opinion – hope that helps with your decision.

For anyone with a previous satisfactory experince of winmo it's a no brainer...go for it! I personally had all sorts of problems years back with an Orange MDA and was slightly nervous about going down that road again but so far my HD2 has lived upto and exceeded all of my expectations. My requirements boil down to:
Must work well with a bluetooth headset in a noisy place (I drive a truck)..it does!
Obviously must function well as a phone..it wouldn't be any good if I couldn't speak to anyone but no problems whatsoever on that count!
Must have decent internet access...it does (grabbing e-mails and surfing all day)
Must let me tweak it to add various apps..it does (6 sat nav progs and still adding them!)
Texts I use very infrequently as its easier just to speak but the texts I send and recieve seem to be fine (and thats without any hotfix applied!)
My only slight concern is battery life but as I'm near a charger all day long its no biggy and I've yet to address this with any of the tweaks floating about.
thats my twopenneth..
just seen the post above me...I use Cyberon Voice Speed Dial which works fine for me but as I have to tap a button on my headset to fire it up I guess it's not much use for you (unless you drill a hole in the side of your shoei so you can prod a button)
Retraction time...owing to a PM from Lordbowl I've just checked and it would appear that CVSD actually uses the mike on the HD2 and not the one on my bluetooth headset to obtain the info about which contact I want to call so it's not much use if you are wearing a helmet!

bzdemes said:
My only real issue is the ultra slow messaging system. Not the sending bug which is apparently fixed. This is just where it takes forever to load your messages making you wait before you can type and send your message!
Very irritating problem but not a show stopper! Still loving the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was fixed yesterday!

Monty Burns said:
so, i've no doubt that many of you have been using your HD2's for a while now, during your experiences have you noticed any one significant problem? For example, the SMS sending issue or maybe with push email on the battery life is awefull?
What is your single biggest issue with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, if you are lucky you may end up with a zero faults device, but you my also consider,that you may have the sms problem which is not solved as many here seem to say.
Also you may get the pink spot that even with htc fix it will still there but not as ovieuse.
Also you must take in consideration that you cannot trust your future phone for making calls, because some times he does not wake up.
And must take in consideration that you may end up with the noise bug while in a call. plus many littel other bugs that you can live with (extrimily difficult to type,with out faults) the screen is over sensitive......Hope it helps for your desition

Audio Booster
Since the SMS outbox bug was fixed yesterday there is only 1 bug that irritates the crap out of me... Audio Booster needs to be re-enabled for every song that is played using Audio Manager unless you want untouched EQ.
I have tried setting AB & hitting "Done"/Home/Back but whatever I do it still dies after 1 or 2 tracks.
HTC reassure me this is to be fixed in a future release otherwise I would be looking for other alternatives.
I think the HD2 is a fantastic piece of kit but let down by HTC's bugginess.

Impressions after a week...

A lot of us have had the device for at least week now so it would be a good time to post impressions after a bit more hands on time. I’ll start...
10 days in I’m still glad I got it but there are plenty of things that could be improved. I’ve been on HTC phones (Desire, Desire Z) before this running at different times standard HTC Sense ROMs as well as various versions of Cyanogen Mod and AOSP based ROMs. My views after 2 weeks of use:
* Loving the fact that Samsung appears to be treating this almost like a developer phone (ala Nexus) in terms of open bootloader, availability of source code etc. I’ve said my goodbyes to HTC precisely because of this.
* Based on the frequency of updates Samsung also appears to be focused on addressing issues. They are one if the first out of the gates for Gingerbread updates to their existing devices so I’m hoping they continue to focus on delivering on the latest versions of Android.
* Touchwiz is not as invasive as HTC’s Sense. It improves on stock android in many ways. My first Samsung phone so I can’t really speak of improvements over previous versions of Samsung ROMs but so far I don’t hate TouchWiz but I do find that they seem to take a lot of inspiration from Apple even when the standard Android implementation is better in some cases (I didn’t hate HTC Sense either but I did find it too far from stock for my liking). Having said that there are some totally brain dead decisions that Samsung appear to have taken which I just don’t get:
1) Default home screen on the left instead of the middle. Why copy Apple on this one when Android’s default makes so much more sense. I love having frequently used apps with a swipe to the right and an agenda widget on the left so I can get to both with a single swipe. Now I have to pick one.
2) Fixed icons at the bottom. I understand Phone and Apps being fixed but not messaging and contacts. I’d like to change those - hell, even Apple lets you change those. *** NEVERMIND *** See posts below. It CAN be edited.
3) Lock screen - talk about making something worse - this one takes the cake. Thank god for widget locker.
4) Dialer logs - I don’t want my SMS messages to show up on my phone dialer logs. There is no option to just view all calls without the rest of the stuff cluttering it up. (Yes I know I can switch to Dialer One but apart from this one major issue I actually like the default Samsung dialer).
* Wireless - Everything wireless about this phone has issues. May be a function of how thin it is but my experience so far:
1) Phone - Much improved after the latest firmware updates but data connection can take a while to latch on when moving out of WiFi coverage and sometimes just drops out for 5-10 minutes at a time for no apparent reason (even when the phone shows five bars in a strong signal area).
2) Bluetooth - The headset I have is not working well at all. Quality seems fine but every few seconds drops out or gets noisy for a second or so. The same headset works perfectly well with the HTC devices as well as with an iPhone.
3) GPS - Sometimes flawless but lock time is definitely a lot slower than the HTC devices. It also has a tendancy to lose lock a lot easier than the HTC devices. Other times it jumps around all over the place before getting a lock. Lots of weird behaviour here.
4) WiFi - Where other phones get weak coverage this one gets none. If you have strong WiFi signals everywhere you use the device this is not an issue. 5 Ghz also performs significantly worse than 2 Ghz.
* Battery life - It appears this phone has only 2 gears. A low gear for phone / SMS / push mail / browsing where battery life is excellent but then kicks into hyper-turbo mode if you use Flash video, games or anything taxing where it burns through battery life in no time. You can easily get through a whole day with power to spare if you stick to only the basic activities but best to use everything else while plugged in.
The reality is even with all these issues, I couldn’t give this device up. The power and speed coupled with the slim form factor and gorgeous screen are just too damn impressive and all the problems pale in significance. I might have had buyers remorse if the HTC Sensation was coming with an open bootloader and a slimmer profile but at the moment I don’t see anything that compares. I’m just hoping Samsung can fix some of the problems I’ve listed in software.

Regarding fixed items at the bottom: you can edit them from within the applications screen.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

2) Fixed icons at the bottom. I understand Phone and Apps being fixed but not messaging and contacts. I’d like to change those - hell, even Apple lets you change those.
You can change those - Go to app drawer-> menu -> edit -> and drop the app you wants.

EleCtrOx666 said:
You can change those - Go to app drawer-> menu -> edit -> and drop the app you wants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works! Thanks

Interesting thoughts indeed.... I hope there is some help out there ^^

Here's a solution for 1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13825680#post13825680

Nice honest and informative post. Most of the issues will hopefully be fixable once we start getting some custom ROMs I'm hoping. Or hopefully fixes direct from Samsung in regards to GPS, WiFi, and 3G. I guess time will tell.

gstar_raw said:
Nice honest and informative post. Most of the issues will hopefully be fixable once we start getting some custom ROMs I'm hoping. Or hopefully fixes direct from Samsung in regards to GPS, WiFi, and 3G. I guess time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very puzzling that Sammy would have issues in key connectivity areas on such a high profile phone. Wonder if they''re all antenna related? As you say, hopefully not, and it's all solvable with SW.

Homescreen order
C'mon guys - it's not that hard to reorder your homescreens...
Just pinch zoom (helicopter mode) longpress & drag.....
Hope this helps you...
---
Regards,
Ian.

EleCtrOx666 said:
Here's a solution for 1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13825680#post13825680
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Will try it.
BatterBits said:
C'mon guys - it's not that hard to reorder your homescreens...
Just pinch zoom (helicopter mode) click & drag.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)

Abra_Cadabra said:
Thanks! Will try it.
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the old TW, it allowed users to change the default home screen. I have no idea what happened to the new TW

Abra_Cadabra said:
Thanks! Will try it.
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doh!
Sorry, Didn't quite catch that - I understand now where you're coming from.
<note to self - dont respond to posts you haven't read properly>
---
Regards,
Ian

After my first day with this phone I switched to the the ADW Launcher, Samsung really didn't think the TouchWiz launcher through - not only the default homescreen being on the left, but also the fact that Apps in the drawer aren't sorted alphabetically.

I used to own the Samsung Galaxy Vibrant. It's disturbing that Samsung is still not getting the GPS working right!

briansj said:
I used to own the Samsung Galaxy Vibrant. It's disturbing that Samsung is still not getting the GPS working right!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My gps works like a charm
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

I'm on the latest firmware but it's still pretty buggy...
I've tried switching to launcher pro but I still get crash reboots and loss of sound.
Last night I entered the pin and the phone just reboots.
I also loose the clicks on the pin screen. When this happens you have to reboot go get audio back...I tried playing an mp4 video with no sound when it was in this state and it just said unable to play. Of course it worked fine after a reboot...
So pretty buggy at the moment

mine has no bugs or what so ever, after 2 weeks of used i can never compare it to other phones performance either android or iOS,i used both before but this one is simply way above them..

no built in stock music widget was a dissapointment for me as well as the horrible lock screen style and the lag during wakeup..apart from that this phone is really amazing..but touchwiz needs some serious thought...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Agreed that this phone is as speedy and steady as the HTC Desire and iPhone 4 that I have owned. The trick to all these phones is that if you play around too much with settings,tweaks,launchers you are likely to get problems.

Interesting error message 2300 / thoughts on phone after 1 month

Hello all,
Just thought I'd share a curiosity I never saw come up for the Xperia X2 in all my searches. I bought the phone new from an affiliate vendor off a major e-merchant. The box looked a bit worn but all the original accessories were inside, and all the protective screen film, etc. appeared untouched. Every time I boot the phone, I get an error message:
Customization (2300)
Error during operation. Try again?
Hitting yes, I believe gets the same message, and "no" continues the boot. This carries with it several interesting curiosities. I don't know much about flashing and primary vs secondary OS environment or whatever but it appears the phone is entirely devoid of customization (bastardization?) by SE and is like a demo WM 6.5 clean install with a few differences:
- I still found some SE ringtones, and probably other stuff on the SD that came with the phone
- The thing came with Google Mobile App
- The bottom 2 buttons don't work (the toggly thing or w/e it is and "Ok"). Still working on this - suggestions appreciated.
I guess the drawbacks are that I don't see all the custom SE skins that some may find to be cool, and that the time resets with every reboot, which was a major setback until I got SmartTimeSync, which essentially made it a non-issue.
I'm potentially lucky because:
- the phone may or may not run faster, although full web pages do take a while to load in IE. For some reason, I didn't like Opera Mobile 10 - feel it's too difficult to get out of it / multitask, and didn't find it a lot faster. I can watch even an embedded youtube on a web page, which sometimes even plays without frame shake or w/e, when the phone is happy. Plays well on the google youtube app.
- Skype, in this day in age . Works well, although not through earpiece but speaker or headphone
- I forgot what else people complained SE crippled, but maybe those other things as well
I also wanted to say I really like the phone - it really does the job for me as far as the deal I get for unlimited data on a major North American carrier by using a phone like this if people know what I mean. And I am getting great usage out of it. IMAP email (still working on Exchange - getting certificate errors but this may be a problem with the server end. Kind of sucks though that I get a Microsoft product and can't get the Exchange to work), tethering is a breeze both cable and bluetooth, Google Maps with GPS - haven't tried any dedicated soft yet, got the X2 light thingy working. A lot of this may be old and tried for you guys but I couldn't get on the smartphone craze bandwagon because it's not affordable/worth it for me if I have to pay up in the subsidy phone then shackled to data plan contract game. A year or two ago before iphone 4 came out, I was just amazed at screen quality on the HTCs but was shocked by price tag and could never believe I could get a similar experience so soon. I love the way the letters look in IE on this thing all tiny in Cleartype. I'm an old school Microsoft fan, so this was right up my alley - I've never owned an Apple product, although I'm disappointed with the new Microsoft products like the new Bing map styling, Phone 7, Vista, Windows 7, Word 2007, etc. Anyway, thought I'd share this, and I'd be interested in hearing from the experts on why my phone might be behaving this way, thoughts, advice, etc.
In near future, hoping to downgrade ActiveStink so it can go over wifi and install Terminal Services client. That could be cool on a screen like this...

download sony ericsson update service from here install on your pc and follow the instructions on updating the device from the description of your problem it's a bad flash.

Would it load up the latest release if I do that and deprive me of Skype?

openinterest said:
Would it load up the latest release if I do that and deprive me of Skype?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you will get the latest realease of the phone's firmware , (skype does not come pre installed) you can install it later again.

openinterest said:
Would it load up the latest release if I do that and deprive me of Skype?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skype does not work in the latest release. Then you cannot revert to the previous firmware under any circumstances.
This is a fact, it is your choice.
My advice is to let Skype go. First firmware is holding back the hardware and Skype doesn't work quite smoothly. My guess is this is why they ceased support, it was nice to know Skype was there but less then mediocre quality.
Put on the latest firmware and overclock the device to 1056. You'll find several useful tweaks on this forum. It will never rise up to what the hardware was meant to do but you'll find it a bit better than acceptable.
There is a workaround however, you can back up the current instalation with Resco then call it back if you need.

Hands on/First Impressions?

Has anybody done a hands on video for the standard Phab 2. I am thinking about ordering it, but I would like to see it in action and hear what people think about it. There is not much out there yet about this one as it is being overshadowed by the Tango phone. Thanks for any info guys.

I have had mine for a few days and had lots of trouble so far. Not to say it is a bad phone, just hoping I received a bad one. Waiting on Lenovo to ship a replacement now.
'Timely'(clock/alarm) app doesn't work at all(force closes on opening) but it is most likely an issue with the app itself.
The Phone/Dialer app was buggy as well. It was showing all contacts on the contact page of the app, but search feature on contact page and T9 input on the dialing screen wouldn't bring up any information(just a blank screen) making me have to go into the contact screen and scroll down to whoever I wanted to get in touch with just to make a call. Then, the microphone wouldn't work when using the phone as a handset(hold up to head like a regular phone) but would work fine for Google("Okay Google") searches (or if connected to Bluetooth). A full, hard-reboot seems to have fixed the Phone/Dialer issues but it was annoying for a couple days.
It has a horrible WiFi(WLAN) battery drain issue as well. It has used as much battery as the screen has with the SOT of almost 3.5 hours. I mean, over 50% battery life left with 3.5hrs of SOT is not terrible, but I wonder how much better it could be...
The plastic back/case make noises intermittently(squeaky plastic-on-plastic noise) that is pretty annoying as well.
Hopefully the replacement phone will be better, if not, I'll return it and pay the difference for either the Plus or the Pro.
Gotta love that 14 day return policy...

So I went ahead and made the purchase too. My phone dialer would never pull up and would immediately force close even after reboots. I just downloaded a 3rd party dialer app and that works just fine. Today, the other bug hit me. My wife called and she could not hear me. I tried speaker phone and even hung up and called her back, but the microphone was not recognizing me during the call. This is an irritating bug, but it seems like it is just software. I also have an issue with turning the wifi on. If it is off, my phone will immediately turn it back off each time after I try to turn it on. The only way I can find to make it work is to turn it on directly after a reboot and then just leave it on. The only bug that is a big deal to me is the phone call issue. If that does not reoccur often, I can deal with the other issues since the phone was such a reasonable price.
couldnthinkaone said:
I have had mine for a few days and had lots of trouble so far. Not to say it is a bad phone, just hoping I received a bad one. Waiting on Lenovo to ship a replacement now.
'Timely'(clock/alarm) app doesn't work at all(force closes on opening) but it is most likely an issue with the app itself.
The Phone/Dialer app was buggy as well. It was showing all contacts on the contact page of the app, but search feature on contact page and T9 input on the dialing screen wouldn't bring up any information(just a blank screen) making me have to go into the contact screen and scroll down to whoever I wanted to get in touch with just to make a call. Then, the microphone wouldn't work when using the phone as a handset(hold up to head like a regular phone) but would work fine for Google("Okay Google") searches (or if connected to Bluetooth). A full, hard-reboot seems to have fixed the Phone/Dialer issues but it was annoying for a couple days.
It has a horrible WiFi(WLAN) battery drain issue as well. It has used as much battery as the screen has with the SOT of almost 3.5 hours. I mean, over 50% battery life left with 3.5hrs of SOT is not terrible, but I wonder how much better it could be...
The plastic back/case make noises intermittently(squeaky plastic-on-plastic noise) that is pretty annoying as well.
Hopefully the replacement phone will be better, if not, I'll return it and pay the difference for either the Plus or the Pro.
Gotta love that 14 day return policy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

couldnthinkaone said:
I have had mine for a few days and had lots of trouble so far. Not to say it is a bad phone, just hoping I received a bad one. Waiting on Lenovo to ship a replacement now.
'Timely'(clock/alarm) app doesn't work at all(force closes on opening) but it is most likely an issue with the app itself.
The Phone/Dialer app was buggy as well. It was showing all contacts on the contact page of the app, but search feature on contact page and T9 input on the dialing screen wouldn't bring up any information(just a blank screen) making me have to go into the contact screen and scroll down to whoever I wanted to get in touch with just to make a call. Then, the microphone wouldn't work when using the phone as a handset(hold up to head like a regular phone) but would work fine for Google("Okay Google") searches (or if connected to Bluetooth). A full, hard-reboot seems to have fixed the Phone/Dialer issues but it was annoying for a couple days.
It has a horrible WiFi(WLAN) battery drain issue as well. It has used as much battery as the screen has with the SOT of almost 3.5 hours. I mean, over 50% battery life left with 3.5hrs of SOT is not terrible, but I wonder how much better it could be...
The plastic back/case make noises intermittently(squeaky plastic-on-plastic noise) that is pretty annoying as well.
Hopefully the replacement phone will be better, if not, I'll return it and pay the difference for either the Plus or the Pro.
Gotta love that 14 day return policy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought Lenovo Phab2. So far so good. No issues. Pretty smooth. You just got unlucky and got the bad one. I am trying root but cannot find any info.

Unfortunately my replacement device seems to have the same issues the original did in regards to the Phone App. No contact loading. I wiped and installed my Google account every different way I could think of(7-8 times...) but no luck. Sorry Lenovo, like I said, I really wanted to like this phone, but I feel there are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out. Good luck to those of you with the fortitude to rock this beast, but I'm out. Sent it back yesterday for a refund and ordered an Axon 7 that I'll be picking up later today.
---------- Post added at 11:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:45 AM ----------
archaleus said:
So I went ahead and made the purchase too. My phone dialer would never pull up and would immediately force close even after reboots. I just downloaded a 3rd party dialer app and that works just fine. Today, the other bug hit me. My wife called and she could not hear me. I tried speaker phone and even hung up and called her back, but the microphone was not recognizing me during the call. This is an irritating bug, but it seems like it is just software. I also have an issue with turning the wifi on. If it is off, my phone will immediately turn it back off each time after I try to turn it on. The only way I can find to make it work is to turn it on directly after a reboot and then just leave it on. The only bug that is a big deal to me is the phone call issue. If that does not reoccur often, I can deal with the other issues since the phone was such a reasonable price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it's a pain, but I would try a hard reboot/wipe. That's the only thing that worked for mine(the original anyway) as far as the mic goes. Hopefully you have better luck than I did.

Check, Check, 1, 2, 1,2 - Mic issue - Otherwise pretty good phone
I have mine since 12/6 (just under a week).
Likes: Big Screen. Quality screen. I'm coming from a 1080P display and it's a 720P, but I have to say, it's bright, colors are good. Very clear. Good for consuming media and as a remote terminal (for Citrix/RDS). 32 GB of internal storage. Reasonably responsive. Not much of a gamer.
Dis-Likes: Microphone disconnecting. Camera. Teflon-like slickness of case. MicroSD Card caddy - cannot read my card.
OK, after long, obsessive deliberation on my next new phone, I ended up with this phone. It was a long and winding road to end up a place I didn't expect to be. I was originally intent on purchasing the Zenfone 3 Ultra. But since the fine folks at Asus, didn't want to a put a radio on this model that would get 4G/LTE speeds (in the U.S.) AND being that I use my phone for hotspot and pay for the data bandwidth, I wanted the ability to realize that bandwidth when hotspotted in on a notebook. So, I decide on the Phab2 Pro, but purchasing through the portal seemed like "unavailable", "ships in 5 weeks", "ships in 3 weeks" etc......So, around Thanksgiving, as I'm checking in on the Pro, I see that the Phab 2 is available for $30 bucks off the pretty low $200. I think to myself "What if I'm only in love w/ the idea of a big phone and not the reality of a big phone?". My phone prior was the Moto X Pure (great value, love the phone) 5.7" display. Pretty big, but not this big. So, I figure, a buck 70? why not? If I don't like it, it can be a tablet/lifeboat for the next keg-tub diving non-waterproof phone incident where I need an emergency phone. Again, it can be a tablet on my sofa console.
So, I purchase it. It comes. The first thing I noticed was the slipperiness of the phone. It's a big phone, that I thought I'd be able to single hand (I'm 6'3" w/ ham hands, not-petite). I cannot. At the fear of breaking a new (though reasonably priced) toy, I heir on the side of cautious and I operate w/ both. So, I figure, I'll just "OK Google" dial and use earpods. I quickly find out (believe) that "OK Google" exacerbates a microphone issue. Not sure if the process being spawned has enough rights, holds on to the application, causes a memory leak, or what. But if you "OK Google" dial, it will (*may*) lead to the mic becoming unresponsive and playing the "I can't hear you game". I will be the first to admit that phones are phones anymore. They are computers that you can also make and receive phone calls from *BUT* the phone functionality is still a pretty necessary element of these handheld computers. So, hopefully Lenovo will get this sorted out in Nougat, or maybe they paid short shrift to bug squashing on Marshmallow knowing they were quickly going to Nougat. But the mic issue definitely not great.
I did some testing and found that I could reliabley place calls 10 times in a row (mic connected) manually, then 10 w/ google while it was unlocked, then 9 out of 10 w/ google dialing while phone was locked.
I followed this up w/ 40 manual dials where the mic was always connected. I was pretty sure the mic issue was related to OK Google (voice command), but then I let it sit overnight (last night), and found that w/o any OK Google, the mic disconnected on the phone. (That's why I'm thinking maybe memory leak, as OK Google might exacerbate the problem, not cause it). Reboot fixes this; but they need to get this squared away or it could create some negative buzz around an otherwise pretty nice little (ok, big) value phone.

Ok hello from India!!!! Got this phone today, screen is bright but in sunlight okkish,,call quality great,touch fabulous,slow dt2w,net wlan speed great,gets attentions, software can b better , lag sometimes or freezes very slightly, while commuting not handy cause size.

First Impressions...
I dropped my Xiaomi Note (5.7in), spider-webs appeared = I **HAD-TO** get a new phone. I decided to try a larger size. Impressed by the 3Gig RAM, the size, the capacity for expandable memory, the FM radio, the price, I bought the Phab2. The shop did not have a cover for this device, they advised me to go online. sigh... (that's how the spider-webs appeared in the first place... no cover!!!
The size takes some getting used to. Fits in my pockets ok. Camera = ok. Colors = ok. Calling and SMS = ok. Music reproduction = ok.
I. am. satisfied.
I have the Phab 2 (NOT the Phab 2 Plus - NOT the Phab 2 Pro) - bought in Prague, CZ.
-I had a problem to make GROUPS in my contact list. Android automatically added my contacts from my laptop Google Contact List. New folks that I added later to the phone could not be put into the newly created Group-List. What gives?
-A somewhat similar problem showed up when I attempted to make a Group-List of widgets / programs. Every morning when I switch on the phone, I have to re-organize the widgets & programs into groups AGAIN.
Is this a systemic problem? Am I doing the processes incorrectly? Can we add this to the list of known bugs?
LeePa

Love the phone, but can not get phone to work on voLTE. Anyone?

working 4 me but model is pb 650 m
works on 650 m model

sushil888 said:
works on 650 m model
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah mine is PB2-650Y

sushil888 said:
works on 650 m model
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you set voLTE on 650m. Mine switches backs to 3G when I make calls?

settings
Nothing special.
Settings
Mobile networks.
ENHANCED networks.
Just enabled it.thats it

see
See got update 1.4 gb approx

Got update today,,,
Now volte iß fixed , whichwas disappeared in previous update

Does this support OTG? and is it upgradable to android nougat?

Otg = yes.
Nought = no