Database Users

Newbie needs your help in choosing a phone

hello,
first of all let me thank you for a brilliant forum. I was looking for a forum with loads of information on pocket pc phones and i guess i found you guys.
Okay I'm a total newbie and I need help with choosing between three phones and i'm extremely confused as to what i should choose.
I'm with orange and they are offering me:-
1. NOKIA N95 (Not the black edition, but does come with 8gb) - Has all the features, but i've heard these are very buggy and slow
2. TYTN II - Has all the features that i need, except the keypad is eithier virtual or i have to pull out the keyboard to make calls, which is a NO NO
3. TOUCH DUAL - Now this phone is the dream i was wishing for..i.e there is a keypad which exists, allowing me to quickly make calls, but then it has NO GPS and NO WI-FI .
My problem is that all phones have their advantages and disadvantages and therefore make it difficult for me to choose. Here is what i'm looking for:-
1. The phone must have a hard keypad (Not a keyboard or virtual keypad) to make immediate calls.
2. GPS is not immediately needed, but i hope that i can add it in the near future
3. WI-FI again is not urgently needed, but i hope that it can be added later in future
4. The phone software must be very adaptable software wise
5. Must be unlockable to all networks
6. Needs to have a decent battery life
I especially want to know about the Touch Dual..can this give me what i need?

2 & 3, u'd better assume a "no" in touch dual forever. if finally a brilliant brain solves it, it's a bonus. better not assume you can get it in "near future". meanwhile, you may have interest on this thread
4. Windows Mobile is an open platform that allows installation of the millions of programs in the market. meanwhile, pls be prepared that "soft reset" is unavoidable for the M$ product, just like reboot upon "blue screen" in win98.
5. see this
6. it's very dependent on personal habit. e.g. how many phone calls a day? how much data connection? how much online/offline content browsing? how much game playing? the word "decent" is very subjective as well. in general, if you work in office for most of time, it's not a worry at all, as you can easily recharge your WM devices from a pc using a standard usb cable.
hope this helps

many thanks pp18 your reply has been very helpful.
I use the phone 90% of the time to make outgoing calls..so battery life is fairly important
Regarding GPS...for the time being, can Touch dual work with a GPS receiver?

if you're very worried about the battery life, you can always bring a spare battery with you. can't share much on this, as it's always easy for me to find a usb cable to charge up my device even i forget to do it the night before.
re gps, yes you can use an external gps module and let it communicate with touch dual through bluetooth. you may have interest on this.

hi pp18.
I rang orange yesterday and after having a long chat with them, they backed off the n95 and tytn II as they said that the person who offered the mobiles made a mistake. I only had a choice between a nokia 6500 classic/slide or the Touch Dual II. Hope i made the right choice as i chose the Touch Dual II.
I thank you for helping me with all these questions and definately have interest in using an external gps receiver.
As a total newbie and after reading your links, can you clarify the following questions i have please? :-
1. If i use the recommended GPS receiver with the t-dual, is it as accurate and speedy & reliable as a general tomtom device would be? What i'm trying to say is that are there any known issues with GPS receivers and a phone? For example does the phone regularly lose signal and can't tell where i'm going.
2. Can i install tomtom software on it?
3. From your experience, has the guy who charges £5 to unlock this mobile, messed up anyone's phone?
4. I live in an urban area...Is it true that this phone has serious signal issues?
5. Lastly i have heard that the orange installed software is slow, drains the battery and unreliable. How difficult is it for a novice like myself to install a new rom that is faster and better than orange? Also what is the best/reliable rom going at the moment?
Many thanks for your very helpful info.
regards
newbiefone

in general, bluetooth communication between an external gps module and a WM device shouldn't be a problem. for details and specific to your area, i suggest you ask in the Niki Accessories forum so that your neighbours can offer better help.
for flashing cooked rom, i personally not recommend it to newbies, as the worst case for a wrong operation is "brick" the device. and, a device with cooked rom will void the warranty as well. you'd better find a friend to help. for choice of rom, suggest you read the great articles in the Niki Upgrading forum.

i had pretty much the same options as you. and i went with the touch dual. it kind of puts a dampner on it not having gps or wifi inbuilt like the other 2, but wifi isnt really that big of a deal, internet surfing on a phone screen is pretty worthless - if need be i just use gprs, its fine for my needs (i bearly ever used wifi on my old tornado). i already had a bluetooth gps reciver so gps isnt a problem, i just leave it in my car.
the touch dual is by far the most attractive out of the 3. the only thing i dislike is the camera, its not as good as the n95s. and i'd love tv out like the n95 has. i wouldnt want a tytn ii though. they're bulky and heavy and there is no need for all the extra weight just for gps and wifi.

thanks pp18 and ducamie.
From what you guys have told me so far, it sounds like i've made the right choice. Would you kindly help me with my remaining questions:-
2. Can i install tomtom software on it?
3. From your experience, has the guy who charges £5 to unlock this mobile, messed up anyone's phone?
4. I live in an urban area...Is it true that this phone has serious signal issues?
Thanks So Much!!!

tomtom installs great.. version 6 is pretty awesome with touch screen.
if you need it unlocking, i'd deffinatley use olipro's simunlock, its £5, its very safe, and your only other option is to pay £20 at imei check. with olipro's it cid unlocks your phone too. i wish he'd brought it out sooner.
ive never had problems with signal, its always been fine, if youre living in an urban area i wouldnt worry about it.

thanks so much ducamie!!! i look forward to seeing my phone.
Btw, do you have an orange dual? If so, have you updated it with another rom or have you left it as it is?

hey. yeah, got an orange branded niki.
i flashed tom_codon's rom after flashing the hardspl to get rid of the orange stuff on the phone more than anything but its a good rom generally, i'd upgrade it if i were you (once youre familiar with what youre doing ofcourse). might aswell.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=364335

HD2 Web Connectivity Issues and Analysis

Seriously people....
I've seen lots of threads recently. People are complaining that the HD2's data connection cuts out, leaving them unable to access the Internet from their phones for who knows how long. I know, it IS kinda annoying...But the thing is..
I can tell you this IS NOT a hardware problem. It's something to do with either the OS....or something in the phone's registry settings which no one has picked up yet...I hear that phones like the TP2 do not have this error, and I agree. My old unbranded Touch Pro 2 was brilliant, I could use it for IM and texts anywhere...LOL I used to sit on the Bus while people stared at my phone, while I was on Messenger talking to my phone. Anyways, here's what I wanna tell you guys. Hope I help out everyone in some way or another.
What I have:
HD2
3 Mobile Sim-So yeah, My Operator is 3 UK
Living in London, UK
Using ENERGY's 17th March Version ROM
HUSPA, HDSPA Enabled
What I've noticed:
The phone cuts out the signal when the transition between 3G and H occurs in the icons. As a result, the Internet cuts out temporarily, and programs such as Messenger lose connectivity for a while. For example, when the icon is on H, and no one's talking on Messenger, the Icon changes back to 3G....during this moment it cuts out sometimes..until it reverts back to the H icon (Got that? I know, it's a little long and complicated when I word it like that, but read it out and it'll make sense xD)
Now, whenever I have the phone connected to my PC/Laptop (Either as a Wi Fi Router or through the cable and then using Internet Sharing, either way, the phone does NOT change back to 3G, it stays constantly on H (Mind you, I usually download during this period). Anyways, the point being that the connection is VERY stable and constant, when in this state, connected to my PC/Laptop and the device is accessing the Internet through my phone's Data Connection. So what do you all think? And what have YOU found out? Leave your responses and ideas below

Some things I have found out are, if you Enable ONLY HUSPA in the Settings/Connectivity options, the connections seem to be more stable. Furthermore, if you really want to, Disable Advanced Connections, stay only on 3G, and enjoy a LOT of stability (At the cost of slower speed surfing and downloading )

My HD2 does not connect at all anymore. I called in to support because I completely lost data connectivity (web browser, email, slacker, whatever - no connection). They verified no troubles on their end. I moved the sim to my old touch pro (running Energy ROM w/ winmo 6.5 and Sense 2.1) and that phone connects fine. So it's not the SIM, and it's not the network.
I've also done a hard reset to get back to stock and still have the problem, which tells me that it's not a registry / software setting.
They only thing that leaves is faulty hardware - or firmware that a ROM hard reset wouldn't affect. Either way I need to replace the device altogether.
Unfortunately, tmo is out of stock and so I can only wait for a more to become available before it can be replaced.

csharper said:
My HD2 does not connect at all anymore. I called in to support because I completely lost data connectivity (web browser, email, slacker, whatever - no connection). They verified no troubles on their end. I moved the sim to my old touch pro (running Energy ROM w/ winmo 6.5 and Sense 2.1) and that phone connects fine. So it's not the SIM, and it's not the network.
I've also done a hard reset to get back to stock and still have the problem, which tells me that it's not a registry / software setting.
They only thing that leaves is faulty hardware - or firmware that a ROM hard reset wouldn't affect. Either way I need to replace the device altogether.
Unfortunately, tmo is out of stock and so I can only wait for a more to become available before it can be replaced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which phone company are you with? I experienced the same problem with 3UK in North London for a couple of months up until the beginning of last week but it was a problem at 3's end, not mine. Other people have been experiencing similar issues with non-3 phones in London (http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=102192).

yes, I had problems in London too before Good Friday. Especially on Tues+Wed.
Others around me inthe library also had similar issues with their iphones. I kept on switching the baseband and modes, and reapplying my 3G settings to keep it alive and solve the outages.
Most people with issues were on vodafone or O2 (like me).
It would work, then cut, then work.
I thought at first it was because I had a custom ROM, but iphone users had the same - and lots of timeouts on requests.
I DO believe however that running ROMS like energy's and Dutty's HG 1.7 with 2.10 (which I'm currently running) bases as 2_08 radios is not great for the uk and exacerbates the connection issue. 2_07 is better...and in any event we SHOULD be using 1.72 based roms with 2_09 radio.
I have also noticed that on COM5 23544 builds the opera mobile 9.7 and 10 google boxes do not work. They come up as failed connection, but then i click on teh link and it works...weird huh???
So I think last week was because of network faults in London. But in general, these 2.10 based ROMS and their radios are not ideal for stability.
I had perfect call and HSDPA stability with 1.48stock+2_09 radio.
Having turned to a 23544 rom (Dutty's HG) with 2_08 radio I've had much less call and internet stability (and quality) over the stock with 2_09.

jakem said:
Which phone company are you with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile US.

GSM data connection

Hello all,
First off, I just got this kit. Only had it a couple of days and already I am unhappy to pick up my HD2 - unless I wanna play playstation....which I dont cos I got loads of good games from marketplace
It is so all encompassing, its exactly what I expected the i8910 to be which sadly failed a little and didnt really get any development going - well not fast enough for me to keep it...
I am really really happy with it.
BUT.........I am suffering with the battery, lasts about 1/2 a day of use and then gives up as I am hammering it all the time. I have advanced task killer and I worked out that if you set it to medium security it sees most apps that are running and ignores the services. I use this and free it up somwhat.
I also ensure wifi and bluetooth are disabled and I put the phone on standby, on all devices I have used in the past mostly symbian and win mo, connections were visible, you saw when it went online and connected HSDPA and could either stop it or turn it off.
Now how on earth do I go about starting/stopping GSM data connections>? The drop down bar only shows WiFi n blueteeth>?
meh?
Thanks for anticipated assistance

this will help you
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=721111

You might want to consider carrying a spare battery if you're a real heavy user like me. As to switching off the data over 3G, You might want to try out SwitchPro. It's only a dollar.

[Q] 3.14 ROM Update and WiFi Tethering: Deliberate Sabotage by T-Mobile??

I've been looking at the T-Mobile official support forum on their website, and seeing quite a few people with problems running WiFi (or not being able to get it going again) and WiFi tethering after updating to the new 3.14 ROM.
Is it a coincidence that T-Mobile is announcing a new Tethering Plan just after this update? Or did T-Mobile deliberately "kill" WiFi tethering to force users to buy the new Tethering plan?

Asquared said:
I've been looking at the T-Mobile official support forum on their website, and seeing quite a few people with problems running WiFi (or not being able to get it going again) and WiFi tethering after updating to the new 3.14 ROM.
Is it a coincidence that T-Mobile is announcing a new Tethering Plan just after this update? Or did T-Mobile deliberately "kill" WiFi tethering to force users to buy the new Tethering plan?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi tether was never on the HD2 to begin with, so nobody will know if it was a coincidence or not.

Indeed, WiFi tethering is something that has to be added by the end user, so it was never officially sanctioned by T-Mobile to begin with...but as far as intentionally screwing it up, I do not think T-Mobile would do such a thing. I mean comeon, they aren't Apple afterall. I personally chalk it up to a poor WiFi driver stack provided in the new ROM. Installing a new radio MAY help, but it's unlikely.

Here's my theory:
It seems to me that the 3.14 ROM has a feature to turn off or put your data connection in standby mode, (same deal with the wifi), when the device is idle... Which makes sense. It also turns off your data connection if you are connected to wifi. Still makes sense. SO if you are using your phone as a wifi router, that means you are probably on your other device and not on your HD2 and it's idle, so it shuts it down.
Most likely it was implemented to save battery life as well as save wasted network data.
You can't really call it sabotage when this device didn't come with a wifi router program in the first place. Not even an oversight by the developers. Although I admittedly did feel a little cheated when I realized that the US HD2 didn't come with the wifi hot spot. It was one of the features that was highlighted by HTC's marketing team for the HD2. It was also one of the main reasons that I wanted the phone, besides the fact that the screen was huge and it looked awesome. Of course once I started nerding out on it I quickly found that I could just install a cab.
If my theory is correct, maybe someone will come up with a work around. If not, then those of you who depend on the wifi tethering and want a stock ROM, should install Shehrams stock 2.13 ROM with the 2.10 touch drivers. It's pretty much flawless with the exception of a few minor known 2.13 issues. There aren't many. The biggest one for me was the touch sensitivity, which this ROM fixes. With the 2.10 touch drivers 2.13 is pretty great.
Obviously you do need to have HSPL to flash the ROM, but you can always go back to stock by flashing a stock ROM from a microSD card.

I just got around to testing this and i've been connected to my HD2 Wifi Router for over an hour on the web and it hasn't disconnected once... Which program are you using? Also my Wifi signal is great.

ditto on the wrong program, tom codon still works for me.

mr8820 said:
ditto on the wrong program, tom codon still works for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Tom Codon for pres.

I really don't see the need for wi-fi tethering. What is its advantage over Bluetooth or USB tethering?

me said:
I really don't see the need for wi-fi tethering. What is its advantage over Bluetooth or USB tethering?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BT is sssssssssslllllllloooooooowwwww compared to wifi tethering and USB tethering
the main advantage over USB tethering is no cable required. The disadvantage is sucking the life right out of your phone's battery

anhyeuemmaimai said:
BT is sssssssssslllllllloooooooowwwww compared to wifi tethering and USB tethering
the main advantage over USB tethering is no cable required. The disadvantage is sucking the life right out of your phone's battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone compared WiFi VS USB tether speeds? I would think USB would be faster.

defective WIFI HD2

hi
i have a problem whit the wifi on my HTC HD2.
i can find some wifi hotspots if its close to the phone but cant connect.
anyone know where to buy a new wifi antenna? or other fix? i live in norway

thomashaa said:
hi
i have a problem whit the wifi on my HTC HD2.
i can find some wifi hotspots if its close to the phone but cant connect.
anyone know where to buy a new wifi antenna? or other fix? i live in norway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too live in norway
Have found that sometimes it helps to remove the battery from the phone for 30 seconds or so. After booting, wifi is back to normal.
If that doesnt work, a restart of the router (at least 10 sec without power) also have helped sometimes.
Good luck!

i have tried to remove the battery restarted the router. flashed new radio etc. i run android on it now

thomashaa said:
i have tried to remove the battery restarted the router. flashed new radio etc. i run android on it now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try for 30 sec on the battery? and at least 10 sec on the router?
Makes a difference you know

yeah i did pull it out for like 1 min. both the battery and the router. have also tried to find wifi hotspots at friends and at work still not working.
anyone know of a place to buy cheap wifi board to the HTC hd2 ?
have looked at ebay and mytrendyphone but no luck

thomashaa said:
yeah i did pull it out for like 1 min. both the battery and the router. have also tried to find wifi hotspots at friends and at work still not working.
anyone know of a place to buy cheap wifi board to the HTC hd2 ?
have looked at ebay and mytrendyphone but no luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what RADIO do you use?

HyperDroid-CM7-v5.3.0[a2sd][CyanogenMod7 LEO 2.3.7][seader_R7] ROM whit RADIO 2.15.50.14

so iam guessing hardware error. i have tryed the red button reset and hardreset whit the volum keys and powerbutton. still not working
EDIT:
i have tryed flashing rom and radio again

This could very well be ROM/Kernel related you would most definitly get a much more specific answer if you were to post in the ROM thread. there is probably more than just you going through this same issue.

in the same vein as the post above, i recommend testing wifi with STOCK WM6.5 to eliminate the (community-made) ROMs (like android, WP7, etc) as possible contributors to the issue.
if you get the same problematic results with the STOCK WM6.5 ROM, then it very likely is a hardware issue. if things are fine with STOCK WM6.5, then do consider a different android build and/or post your findings in the relevant ROM thread so that the chef and users can look into your issue.
if it is a hardware issue, i have read several threads here which seem to indicate that an antenna cable might be loose. a strong indication that this cable is loose is that bluetooth also suffers from a significant drop in range (because wifi and bluetooth share the same antenna). these threads seem to indicate that fixing the cable is somewhat easily possible if you are comfortable with opening the device and fixing it yourself.

ASCIIker said:
in the same vein as the post above, i recommend testing wifi with STOCK WM6.5 to eliminate the (community-made) ROMs (like android, WP7, etc) as possible contributors to the issue.
if you get the same problematic results with the STOCK WM6.5 ROM, then it very likely is a hardware issue. if things are fine with STOCK WM6.5, then do consider a different android build and/or post your findings in the relevant ROM thread so that the chef and users can look into your issue.
if it is a hardware issue, i have read several threads here which seem to indicate that an antenna cable might be loose. a strong indication that this cable is loose is that bluetooth also suffers from a significant drop in range (because wifi and bluetooth share the same antenna). these threads seem to indicate that fixing the cable is somewhat easily possible if you are comfortable with opening the device and fixing it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its really been a while since i used WM6.5 but i think here i will go with your comments.
BTW How are you?

SpottierPython said:
Its really been a while since i used WM6.5 but i think here i will go with your comments.
BTW How are you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm fit! yaar its been a while, hows life? i'll call you this week, need to discuss which phone to get next year when i plan to retire the HD2 to "backup" status

ASCIIker said:
i
if it is a hardware issue, i have read several threads here which seem to indicate that an antenna cable might be loose. a strong indication that this cable is loose is that bluetooth also suffers from a significant drop in range (because wifi and bluetooth share the same antenna). these threads seem to indicate that fixing the cable is somewhat easily possible if you are comfortable with opening the device and fixing it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A very good advice IMO.
Also it may be a losen contact between wifi/bluetooth module and correspondent antenna: both cases imply to open your hd2..., after this point could be an easy fix!
Good luck!

ASCIIker said:
i'm fit! yaar its been a while, hows life? i'll call you this week, need to discuss which phone to get next year when i plan to retire the HD2 to "backup" status
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am fit and super... u tell... I am planning to have XE... what is your opinion

Have a look at this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1190180
One set of contacts is for wifi. Worked for my radio signal.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium