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Hi all,
I have had my HTC Hero for a little over 1 week now and feel compelled to write a small piece on how I am finding it.
As a bit of background I do not consider myself an expert on mobile phones and am not constantly swapping and changing every other week for the latest model. I generally upgrade my phone at the end of my contract every year for the latest model and have almost always felt disappointed a couple of days (or sometimes hours in) about how little mobile phones have moved on over the years (Nokia E71) or about how fiddly they are to use and how often they crash/need updating/need rebooting etc. (TyTnII).
In fact, I have not been as excited about a phone after a week since, well, ever! Everything about the handset just works.
The choice and selection of apps available is fantastic and are all so easily accessible via the Android market place that I am wondering how I ever coped without it before.
The interface is sooo slick and user-friendly with virtually no slow down that I have ever noticed. The ability to layout your homepage over 7 screens with links to all your most used functions without delving into menus has already saved me no end of time.
Compared with my previous WM phones this is soooo much more stable that I haven't even felt the need to play with additional ROMs.
Add on to that the soon-to-be-released Android 2.0 (hopefully with Google maps navigator) and I genuinely think that mobile phone OS's have come on more in the past 12 months than they have in the last 5 years.
The above isn't supposed to be a comprehensive review, and I realise their is nothing new their for the XDA regulars but thought I would post my feelings on the handset incase anyone stumbled upon these forums and wanted some first hand feedback.
Excellent overview. Modern phones like HTC and many others are micro computers with ability to make/recceive mobile calls and much more. I enisage that future updates will also have ability to make voice calls with GTalk etc.
One vital thing designers have lleft for future model is front camera for video calling. I experimented video call with sipdroid , worked well but almost nogood without a front camera.
cyberkid2002 said:
...and I genuinely think that mobile phone OS's have come on more in the past 12 months than they have in the last 5 years.
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you mean since android was published?
Will any future updates allow calls to come through while browsing or emailing?
Peter Franks said:
Will any future updates allow calls to come through while browsing or emailing?
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Do they not at present?
Peter Franks said:
Will any future updates allow calls to come through while browsing or emailing?
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I can certainly browse and make calls and email on my Hero - all at the same time. I believe every Android device on the market can do that - with the exception of the Moto Droid on VZW
Are you referring to the Moto Droid on Verizon in the US?
I just wish somebody would write something for vBulletin to make it easier to navigate xda-developers forum from Android! <hint><hint>
I tested this myself, and calls do not come through while a data connection is ongoing with EDGE or GPRS connection.
The data connection drops if I have a high speed connection (3G) if a call comes through, to give priority to the call, as it should.
There is obviously no problem when connected over WIFI.
After some searches I learned that this is a 2G network problem. As Android is using the data link much more then my previous WiMo phone, it is something to consider. So if I expect an important phonecall, I close the Mobile Network connection.
Someone else who can clarify what is exactly going on ?
Hmmmmmm. Now I'm confused. My calls are not coming through while data connecting. And my call waiting is not working property either. Either nothing or it works if you see it but not hear any bleeps.
I get several missed call alerts every day?
Right people, b4 you all get into a hissy fit, this is a network thing not a hero thing. If the network is dealing with your data connection they will redirect the voice call. unfortunately that's how it is.. But then again, why would I want someone interrupting my redtube time.......
Yes, that confirms my observations, that this would be a shortcoming of how 2G networks are setup. This is not a fault of the Hero or the Android OS.
It is just that Android is using the data connection just much more intensively.
It would be the same for the iPhone, remember that many people complained about lost calls when it just came out ?
The signal isn't brilliant, but on my old Moto workhorse phones, it's always full signal for the same network, side by side. The Hero does lack somewhat in signal quality. It's one of the pitfalls with this phone. The antennae isn't as strong as the old style phones.
Peter Franks said:
The signal isn't brilliant, but on my old Moto workhorse phones, it's always full signal for the same network, side by side. The Hero does lack somewhat in signal quality. It's one of the pitfalls with this phone. The antennae isn't as strong as the old style phones.
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seems to be the case with most (if not all) smartphones
I have to agree with Cyberkid. I also only change my phone at the end of a contract so I don't keep terribly up to date with the latest happenings in the mobile phone world. However, I knew I wanted an Android phone (mainly for the Google Navigation) when my contract came up for renewal and the Hero was the only one on offer from Three UK.
This phone is amazing. I had a TyTNII last and while very whizzy and impressive at first glance the whole thing was just an excercise in frustration. Yes, you could do all sorts of stuff with it but everything was awkward or just plain difficult to do.
For example, in the 18 months I had it I never managed to get connected to a public wifi hotspot. It'd tell me it was connected but nothing would be accessible.
This just does it. Wifinder tells me what's available and just connects to it with no fuss at all. Everything else seems to be just as easy.
Yes, it does lag a bit sometimes, mainly as far as I can see because it keeps non running programs in memory. I know it's not supposed to make any difference but the phone speeds up noticeably if I kill the apps I'm not using.
The only other problem I've found is the camera which is truly atrocious. The delay between pressing the button and the picture actually being taken is such that it's pointless taking a picture of anything that is moving at all, even slowly. I tried taking a picture of my daughter the other day as she was walking across the room and she was out the door before the shutter clicked.
Hopefully the new 2.1 rom will do something towards fixing this.
Betty_Swallocks said:
I have to agree with Cyberkid. I also only change my phone at the end of a contract so I don't keep terribly up to date with the latest happenings in the mobile phone world. However, I knew I wanted an Android phone (mainly for the Google Navigation) when my contract came up for renewal and the Hero was the only one on offer from Three UK.
This phone is amazing. I had a TyTNII last and while very whizzy and impressive at first glance the whole thing was just an excercise in frustration. Yes, you could do all sorts of stuff with it but everything was awkward or just plain difficult to do.
For example, in the 18 months I had it I never managed to get connected to a public wifi hotspot. It'd tell me it was connected but nothing would be accessible.
This just does it. Wifinder tells me what's available and just connects to it with no fuss at all. Everything else seems to be just as easy.
Yes, it does lag a bit sometimes, mainly as far as I can see because it keeps non running programs in memory. I know it's not supposed to make any difference but the phone speeds up noticeably if I kill the apps I'm not using.
The only other problem I've found is the camera which is truly atrocious. The delay between pressing the button and the picture actually being taken is such that it's pointless taking a picture of anything that is moving at all, even slowly. I tried taking a picture of my daughter the other day as she was walking across the room and she was out the door before the shutter clicked.
Hopefully the new 2.1 rom will do something towards fixing this.
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2.1 (or indeed a lot of custom roms) do speed up the phone loads and the camera problem is gone too.
Lennyuk said:
2.1 (or indeed a lot of custom roms) do speed up the phone loads and the camera problem is gone too.
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Yes you are correct. 2.1 will make Betty's child walk more slowly.
cbailey said:
Yes you are correct. 2.1 will make Betty's child walk more slowly.
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Do you have an url for the relevant API docs? Does it work on the teenage yob variety? There should be an app for that.
Like a lot of people on the forum, their HD2 has caused them a lot of headaches and problems. After waiting patiently from the Euro launch of this phone, my anticipation for this phone was at all time high, more so when I got my 2G iPhone. After I got it, lots of problems like phone slowdown, lag, freezing, SMS/Message App slowdown, lag and freezing. Weather tab freezing, Music player slowdown or skipping (.mp3 skip? What? lol). Data stop working, disconnecting or won't auto connect. Camera lag or slowdown, Email problems, delete email but they come back, or can't send emails. Sleep/Lock of death, phone won't wake up. Phone resets it's self on it's own and I can go on, lol.
I've done everything people have told me do here. I've kill all task, soft reset, hard reset 5x, taken the battery out, taken the memory card out etc. The only thing I haven't done (and will not do) is flash my ROM. The one thing I notice is, if I run "Today" instead of "Sense UI" the phone works fine, so that means Sense UI is buggy. I've contacted T-mobile and HTC, most recently HTC, I've talk to three different people and finally we are getting somewhere.
Here are the last 3 emails out of a total 11 emails I got back from HTC:
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your responses to our questions.
Thanks to your responses, I was able to work with our headquarters on this behavior with your device.
We are investigating this issue with your phone freezing. Since you notice this behavior with HTC Sense enabled, we will likely have to update the software for the HD2. I cannot provide a timeframe for an update, but I can tell you where to look for updates. T-Mobile hosts the updates for their Windows Mobile phones at www.t-mobile.com/wmupgrade.
I hope that we have addressed your question in detail.
Thank you again,
Ryan
HTC Technical Support
www.htc.com/us
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Hello Michael,
Thank you for your response.
The freezing issue is to be helped with a ROM update as soon as possible. Our ROM updates for T-Mobile phones are hosted by T-Mobile as soon as they are available.
If you still need further response, feel free to let me know what your concern is.
Ryan
HTC Technical Support
www.htc.com/us
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Hello Michael,
Thank you for your response.
You do not have to apologize to me. I understand how frustrating it is when your device freezes. I hope that the update will be out soon. There are many factors that go into finalizing an update between T-Mobile and HTC, so it may feel like it is taking a while. I do know that from HTC’s US headquarters that we are hard at work to address this issue.
Thank you,
Ryan
HTC Technical Support
www.htc.com/us
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Members, please, contact HTC by using this link HTC Customer Service, fill out the quick information and send it, and PRESS THE ISSUE that your phone is having terrible problems. I have link them to this forum and they are READING the threads here but it's more apparent if you keep contacting them, get the message out so they can get an update out ASAP.
are we really having this much trouble with our phones? I mean I understand that sense ui is laggy at times.. but if I remember to kill all my running tasks, its not that bad..
I have had a big problem with 3g connectivity but im not tech in a 3g area... but I go from h to 3g to g in the same spots my g1 has 3g.. I called and told tmo..
I mean granted this isn't a rooted android device but this is a good wm phone.. nearly everything I expected...
Raadius said:
...
The only thing I haven't done (and will not do) is flash my ROM.
...
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Why not?
There are roms that are nearly identical to stock, with just bug-fixes--which seems exactly like what you want.
That's overkill. If I had to do all of that to my phone. I would have gotten rid of it already. The only real problem I had was my phone would not stay on 3G and my wifes phone is always on it.
I'm getting a replacement though.
SaintNULL said:
Why not?
There are roms that are nearly identical to stock, with just bug-fixes--which seems exactly like what you want.
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It voids your warranty and if you for some odd reason when you wake up some day within the next year and your phone doesn't turn on, and you send it back for a new one, and they find that you have a custom ROM on it, you'll have to pay full price for a new one. It's simply not worth it in my eyes to put on a custom ROM that voids the warranty of a 550 dollar phone to see Sense UI move a little bit smoother.
no one
No ones going to do anything if you dont complain, they'll just say that they dont have records of complaints and its not a known issue. so they cant do anything about it.
i just sent a message
The only real problems I have with tmobile is their bad coverage areas and even though they have bad coverage areas, their coverage areas are exaggerated. It says I should have web coverage in my area, but when I try to place an order for a plan they tell me that cant do it because there is no service in my area. That and I could only half hear the person on the phone because I could hear a bunch of idiots in the back ground not doing their jobs and some god awful singing. And I have to order a new sim card because they said that my sim number must have been an accidentaly reissued number because its already in use.
jas0nw0ng said:
It voids your warranty and if you for some odd reason when you wake up some day within the next year and your phone doesn't turn on, and you send it back for a new one, and they find that you have a custom ROM on it, you'll have to pay full price for a new one. It's simply not worth it in my eyes to put on a custom ROM that voids the warranty of a 550 dollar phone to see Sense UI move a little bit smoother.
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Took the words out of my mouth.
I just sent a message, after this device might never buy a HTC phone ever again.
I don't know why anyone who's apprehensive to flashing ROMS is even here.
No offense, but this whole forum is built around flashing ROMS. It's one thing if you don't want to go that route, but getting on your high-horse and telling people its a bad idea to flash roms because it voids your warranty is a little much.
Most of the people here understand the risks involved with flashing roms, and anyone who really knows what they're doing knows that the risk is minimal, and that except for extreme cases (and stupidity), a phone can be brought back to stock if needed. Unless you flashed the wrong rom and bricked your device, the only reason you wouldn't be able to bring it back to stock is hardware malfunction due to physical damange...and in most cases, those aren't covered by warranty.
Most people here also know the benefits of flashing ROMS and modifying the UI to make it work, and aren't holding their breaths for a fix from HTC or T-Mobile. Most people here bought the HD2 expecting the stock ROM to suck, and knew that the only way to get it working at the level of their expectations is to flash a custom ROM. If waiting for a fix from HTC or T-Mobile is the route you want to go, then hit up the t-mobile forum, because honestly, the problems a lot of you are facing on the stock ROM, don't exist on custom ROMS. The chefs here will always be 5 steps ahead of T-Mobile and HTC.
It's not just about sense running smoother....its correcting innate problems in WM6.5 and sense that can make the device a pain in the ass to use. Its about making the OS and UI more accessible, capable, and above all, less prone to crashes and more stable!
mystik610 said:
I don't know why anyone who's apprehensive to flashing ROMS is even here.
No offense, but this whole forum is built around flashing ROMS. It's one thing if you don't want to go that route, but getting on your high-horse and telling people its a bad idea to flash roms because it voids your warranty is a little much.
Most of the people here understand the risks involved with flashing roms, and anyone who really knows what they're doing knows that the risk is minimal, and that except for extreme cases (and stupidity), a phone can be brought back to stock if needed. Unless you flashed the wrong rom and bricked your device, the only reason you wouldn't be able to bring it back to stock is hardware malfunction due to physical damange...and in most cases, those aren't covered by warranty.
Most people here also know the benefits of flashing ROMS and modifying the UI to make it work, and aren't holding their breaths for a fix from HTC or T-Mobile. Most people here bought the HD2 expecting the stock ROM to suck, and knew that the only way to get it working at the level of their expectations is to flash a custom ROM. If waiting for a fix from HTC or T-Mobile is the route you want to go, then hit up the t-mobile forum, because honestly, the problems a lot of you are facing on the stock ROM, don't exist on custom ROMS. The chefs here will always be 5 steps ahead of T-Mobile and HTC.
It's not just about sense running smoother....its correcting innate problems in WM6.5 and sense that can make the device a pain in the ass to use. Its about making the OS and UI more accessible, capable, and above all, less prone to crashes and more stable!
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+1
It's almost as if the OP was attempting a very elaborate troll. The site is called "xda-developers", not "xda-lovers".
If you are looking to mod your device within the so-called "safe" limits that HTC and T-Mobile force upon you, maybe you would be better off hanging out over at freewareppc, instead of a modding forum.
#JustSaying
Snarksneeze said:
+1
It's almost as if the OP was attempting a very elaborate troll. The site is called "xda-developers", not "xda-lovers".
If you are looking to mod your device within the so-called "safe" limits that HTC and T-Mobile force upon you, maybe you would be better off hanging out over at freewareppc, instead of a modding forum.
#JustSaying
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+2
I can tell you that I had many of those problems and after flashing a custom rom, I've fixed my HD2 almost to perfection, not only the way it looks but stability. Only problem I keep having is 3G connection problems, and by the looks of it, its not the device anymore, seems more like T-mobile's service.
I agree with both perspectives.
I flashed my phone the second day I had it. I'm new to WinMo and was a little nervous, but now I flash weekly (would be daily, but I don't want to become an addict... ) Flashing is night and day from stock and I would never go back (unless it was warranty related).
That being said, I agree with compaining to HTC and T-MO. If there are enough people complaining, then more work will be done to fix those problem, which will lead to better/more frequent updates for the chefs to work with. That way, it's win win. I love HTC devices, they are the best, but when I accidentally dial someone, and it takes me 10 seconds to get to where I can hang up because of lag on a device that technically qualifies to run Windows XP.... That seems unacceptable to me.
joe_coolish said:
I agree with both perspectives.
I flashed my phone the second day I had it. I'm new to WinMo and was a little nervous, but now I flash weekly (would be daily, but I don't want to become an addict... ) Flashing is night and day from stock and I would never go back (unless it was warranty related).
That being said, I agree with compaining to HTC and T-MO. If there are enough people complaining, then more work will be done to fix those problem, which will lead to better/more frequent updates for the chefs to work with. That way, it's win win. I love HTC devices, they are the best, but when I accidentally dial someone, and it takes me 10 seconds to get to where I can hang up because of lag on a device that technically qualifies to run Windows XP.... That seems unacceptable to me.
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In a perfect world, a company like HTC would hear their customer's cries and devote all of their resources and attention to releasing regular updates. In the real world, HTC has released 4 phones after the HD2, and lined-up several others...they aren't interested in developing for the HD2 anymore. People have been complaining to HTC about the HD2 since it was released in Europe back in November....and they still haven't really addressed most of the concerns.
Most of the 'problems' people complain about are innate characteristics of windows mobile....You see people complaing because their phones lag or crash because they don't manage task manager, but that's an innate characteristic of a multi-tasking OS! On the other side of the fence, you have MS getting bashed for getting rid of multi-tasking in WP7...you have people bashing the iPhone for years over its lack of multi-tasking....and when they come up with a quasi-multi tasking solution, they get bashed for it not being 'true' multi-tasking!
mystik610 said:
In a perfect world, a company like HTC would hear their customer's cries and devote all of their resources and attention to releasing regular updates. In the real world, HTC has released 4 phones after the HD2, and lined-up several others...they aren't interested in developing for the HD2 anymore. People have been complaining to HTC about the HD2 since it was released in Europe back in November....and they still haven't really addressed most of the concerns.
Most of the 'problems' people complain about are innate characteristics of windows mobile....You see people complaing because their phones lag or crash because they don't manage task manager, but that's an innate characteristic of a multi-tasking OS! On the other side of the fence, you have MS getting bashed for getting rid of multi-tasking in WP7...you have people bashing the iPhone for years over its lack of multi-tasking....and when they come up with a quasi-multi tasking solution, they get bashed for it not being 'true' multi-tasking!
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Ha! It's so true My wife has a myTouch and she complained that the battery life on it sucked and I said that all smartphones get worse battery life than the dumbphones she was use to. Well, one night she said that she understood that batterlife was worse on smartphones, but having to recharge your phone 2-3 times a day was getting rediculous along with the horrible unresponsiveness. Finally I took a look to see what was up, and I guess I must have forgotten to explain "task management" with her, as she had every application on the phone open and running at the same time! Poor phone took a pretty decent beating the first couple of weeks she had it
But back on topic, if HTC releases an update to its Sense UI for WinMo, it should benefit all users of Sense UI (WinMo) reguardless of what phone it's running on. So even if there are newer models, updates should work on older models. That's at least what happened with my Pioneer Navigation system. There were lots of complains about things not working (even a few posts like this on a forum) and that summer they released a newer model that used the same software so our models got the upgrade too. I'm not saying it was a "Windows 7 moment" but I do like to think that our nagging helped.
I'm all for complaining to companies if it means that they produce better quality products. If we just sit around and accept it, then QoS will go down. There must be some formula where the cost of developement is compared to the cost of responding to complaints. When complaints go up, the other adjusts itself accordingly to maximize profit. Lower complains, less developement until complaints go back up! That kind of thing.
Just my 2 cents. But over all, I'm quite happy with kumar's work. If I were still on stock, I'd be upset too.
This is what pisses me off about the whole issue... we ALL know what this site is about. Regardless, NO ONE should HAVE to flash a damn rom to get a phone to function like it should out of the box...especially when you have people that are spending $400+ for it. That's just plain pathetic, bs and I just couldnt go for it which was why I simply returned mine and got my money back. Flashing is cool, but not everyone comes here for new roms... some people come for software, tweaks or to figure out how to do other things.
Telling someone that they SHOULD just flash a rom and deal with it.. even though roms are nice lets just be real, almost every single one of them has SOME kind of bugs with it. That's one of the main reason I stopped doing the flash dance and chose to stick with the stock rom to begin with. But when you buy the phone and it already has bugs, YES people have the right to complain about it and want the issue resolved. That's about as dumb as buying a Mercedes with a blown header and saying.. well you should just put aftermarket headers on it anyways. Should the car just WORK when you buy it? And if it doesnt work.. you take it back and get it serviced or another car.
joe_coolish said:
Ha! It's so true My wife has a myTouch and she complained that the battery life on it sucked and I said that all smartphones get worse battery life than the dumbphones she was use to. Well, one night she said that she understood that batterlife was worse on smartphones, but having to recharge your phone 2-3 times a day was getting rediculous along with the horrible unresponsiveness. Finally I took a look to see what was up, and I guess I must have forgotten to explain "task management" with her, as she had every application on the phone open and running at the same time! Poor phone took a pretty decent beating the first couple of weeks she had it
But back on topic, if HTC releases an update to its Sense UI for WinMo, it should benefit all users of Sense UI (WinMo) reguardless of what phone it's running on. So even if there are newer models, updates should work on older models. That's at least what happened with my Pioneer Navigation system. There were lots of complains about things not working (even a few posts like this on a forum) and that summer they released a newer model that used the same software so our models got the upgrade too. I'm not saying it was a "Windows 7 moment" but I do like to think that our nagging helped.
I'm all for complaining to companies if it means that they produce better quality products. If we just sit around and accept it, then QoS will go down. There must be some formula where the cost of developement is compared to the cost of responding to complaints. When complaints go up, the other adjusts itself accordingly to maximize profit. Lower complains, less developement until complaints go back up! That kind of thing.
Just my 2 cents. But over all, I'm quite happy with kumar's work. If I were still on stock, I'd be upset too.
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That would probably be true if HTC were releasing more windows mobile based phones and updating sense for new models, but windows mobile is at the literal end of its product life cycle, and development has come to a hault. We've already seen sense updates for Android, but most of those probably won't make it to windows mobile.
Unless it becomes a public relations nightmare for HTC, I don't see them springing to the service of HD2 users....cost is the biggest reason. They've already sold us an HD2, and they've moved onto releasing several models to replace the HD2. Continuing to develop for it will do nothing to generate more revenue for them. HTC's market-share is growing significantly by constantly pushing the hardware bar higher every few months.
I dont think these people who flash roms understand that, a phone shouldnt have so many ****in issues. It should work properly, and their is no word on whether or not T-mobile/HTC are working on an update..This completely B.S for a phone to have so many issues..I've had a dash,iphone, BB 97000 no problems..
Raadius said:
Like a lot of people on the forum, their HD2 has caused them a lot of headaches and problems. After waiting patiently from the Euro launch of this phone, my anticipation for this phone was at all time high, more so when I got my 2G iPhone. After I got it, lots of problems like phone slowdown, lag, freezing, SMS/Message App slowdown, lag and freezing. Weather tab freezing, Music player slowdown or skipping (.mp3 skip? What? lol). Data stop working, disconnecting or won't auto connect. Camera lag or slowdown, Email problems, delete email but they come back, or can't send emails. Sleep/Lock of death, phone won't wake up. Phone resets it's self on it's own and I can go on, lol.
I've done everything people have told me do here. I've kill all task, soft reset, hard reset 5x, taken the battery out, taken the memory card out etc. The only thing I haven't done (and will not do) is flash my ROM. The one thing I notice is, if I run "Today" instead of "Sense UI" the phone works fine, so that means Sense UI is buggy. I've contacted T-mobile and HTC, most recently HTC, I've talk to three different people and finally we are getting somewhere.
If your device has so much problems im sure it's a faulty one why not replace it under warranty??
Mine working perfectly out of box (i wonder where's the lagging was) i dont flash my rom, if it aint broken why fix it? i just do some tweaks that's all
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because i dont want a refurbished phone. I seriously think i'm done with HTC and anything they add to a phone. I will never buy a phone with Sense U.I on android only ones that dont have it. Also why cant they keep us posted on an update. Its kind of B.S that they release a phone but stop making updates or wont make any because Windows Mobile is dead.. Thats like M.S not updating XP or Vista anymore because Windows 7 is out. People bought this phone a month ago so its ****in new in the U.S and their should be updates being handed out..If not HTC i hope they fail as a company and prob will in the future. Creative destruction new companies come and old ones die just like Palm.
Doesn't look like much dev work on this phone and what I have found seems to be mostly for sprint...is there much difference between the versions for sprint and virgin mobile?
Looking into a cheaper plan, but would like to keep a smartphone so VM looks perfect, but reviews I have seen look pretty sad for this phone.
I want to say I wouldn't really recommend this phone. It certainly doesn't live up to its expectations and specifications. I've ranted pretty hard about this phone, but after rooting and many, many tries of installing and reinstalling ROMs I've finally got it settled down and it's not that bad.
To answer your question, and I'm assuming you're talking about rooting difference, there's a pretty big difference. You must find a VM ROM. Although they are the same phone, a Sprint ROM will not work on a VM phone. However, most devs at sdx-developers make dual versions so you're mostly ok. Other than that the only difference is Sprint adds its bloatware and VM adds its bloatware.
vm phone
I just moved to virgin mobile from tmobile. as far as cost and functionalitly the intercept on virgin mobile is on par with my g1 (which i loved rooted with cm6). I am now running ubundroid for virgin mobile , works great with no problems.
cant beat virgin mobiles price .
I may consider getting this device.
Sent from my Ideos S7 using XDA App
Actually, there have been people who have accidentally flashed the sprint df27 tar to their virgin mobile phone and have been fine. You can even get the sprint froyo update running on a vm phone, but it'll break missed call notifications and mms.
Joeseph Mother said:
Actually, there have been people who have accidentally flashed the sprint df27 tar to their virgin mobile phone and have been fine. You can even get the sprint froyo update running on a vm phone, but it'll break missed call notifications and mms.
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Hm, I'd figure it wouldn't boot. Interesting, though.
So, those of you that have been able to root the VM Intercept; Is it worth it? I am looking to be able to apply Frodo (2.2) to my phone and have everything still function. I want to be able to make my phone install apps to SD instead of internal memory. I want to be able to make my phone faster.
Will this be possible with rooting and installing a new ROM? Can I revert back to the default ROM?
grabbed this phone. Best buy has it for $179. With a $25 a month unlimited data and text messaging plus 300 minutes, it's a no-brainer. Hell, it's cheaper than a cheapo data /text plan alone on verizon.
So what's the consensus on this phone?
Can it be flashed from Sprint to Virgin Mobile? I'm looking to pick one up to use really soon and can't find any VM ones cheap.
If this phone is able to be flashed, what are the chances of other non VM phones being able to be used on the VM network? From my searching so far it's been a definitive no on that. Is there really no hope?
Virgin will not allow non Virgin branded devices on thier network. Flashing a Sprint phone will not work. Sorry
Sent from my OC'd Virgintercept using Tapatalk
Thanks for the definitive reply. How do you like it so far? Phone and service. Are you satisfied or do you still feel like a better phone would improve the experience?
Virgin Mobile is very awesome for sure. I used them a lot during the past.
Sent from my SGH-T849 using XDA App
I switched over from Sprint to cut what I deemed unnecessary costs since we have an 8 month old and a new car payment now.
Saving the $60 bucks a month that I am definitely helps out.
With Sprint, I had the htc Hero and the 450 minute/unlimited data & text plan.
I can honestly say that the Samsung Intercept, at least IMO, is a MUCH better phone than the Hero. A much better processor and I love the slide out keyboard.
With my Hero, I had problems running some apps, mainly Angry Birds... It was nearly unplayable with that phone.
However, on the Intercept it runs like a charm.
I thought I would kind of regret my switch, but I actually couldn't be more happier. I still have all the benefits of having an Android phone + unlimited text and data for 1/3rd of the price that I was paying Sprint.
Another thing I love is that the only tax you pay on your bill is sales tax.
Ive been using the VM intercept since it came out and really like the service, for the price it can't be beat. Im still running stock, but with temp root via z4root and barnacle wifi this phone is fantastic. It works perfectly with my g-tablet running TnT Lite 2.4.0.
Now if they would just hurry up and release the VM froyo update....
Well... Coming from the Hero development threads, I have a strong background on Android in general and the way it works with different providers.
I'll give you all a heads up on the difference.
It's in the apns-conf file and voicemail-conf file that is tucked inside the etc folder.
apns-conf: Carrier specific settings.
voicemail-conf: voicemail settings (sometimes not needed either way).
if you just push the right apns-conf and voicemail-conf files to the phone if your on the wrong carrier and reboot, everything should be right unless your on a rom that uses visual voice mail when your carrier doesn't support it. I never did figure out what the exact differences between those are.
You can even double up on settings between those files (i.e. add both carrier's settings) to make the rom dynamic. I will be doing some rooting/devving for some friends who have this phone pretty soon, and if I decide to bust out a custom rom for you guys I'll keep you posted.
Played a few good hour on it:
the CPU is faster 800mhz than 5xx than G1, I switch from my froyo yoshi G1 to Intercept, samething Facny widget Launcher Pro Calander is all I need.
First 10hr using experience was ok....just OK not great, is like 5 or 6 out of 10.
But, I will stay at this machine instead LG optimus V.
PRO:
1) monthly price: $25 unbeatable, in fact this is cornerstone that just set for other carrier, since VM/Boost/Sprint are all sprint, they will eventually helping bring other carrier price down. Best service I ever have is VERIZON, NEVER drop call, worst was AT&T+cingular.
2)Intercept have great hardware, but not good resolution, is like glass screen (like BB stome but harder and clear)which is great+ for dirty finger like me, glass resist oil better, only down side is low resolution and color contrast is not as good as other phone.
3)the fast CPU but low memory, what this combo tell you? OVERCLOCK THIS MFKER LIKE NEVER BEFORE! is base on 800mhz, I think going 900mhz is not as hard as LG optimus going from 600 to 1000, I have not test out LG yet but as soon as I send in my broken intercept (it will ;P) and claim the LG to test out, then we can see what is going on from there.
1GHZ low end phone....I can hear the laugh from my feet
CON:
1)phone selection sux, since VM prevent flash or you want to do those hassle and live with not complete phone go ahead, as I suffer from my tether enable G1 with T-mobile Sidekick prepaid and BT the hell out of it, but when talk is with 15c a minute, OUCH!
2)the resolution resolution resolutionnnnnnn!
I think is comparable with Gameboy color (no kidding, I think Intercept resolution was the worst I see, glad it have ok screen size but I can live with it)
3)SOFTWARE SUX! 2.1 was not the problem, is that samsung always have weak software, like I said, HTC was pretty good on software engineering, in fact most of their apps are well engineered, but samsung......no, that is why is just hard to flash it on intercept, and sometime we risk too high to flash those device since samsung are the one that can brick like no others, at least in my case.
4)Funky and Kinky hardware QC, quality check check check, we used to have those KING OF THE XXX SERIAL, there will be one lazy QC personal on samsung just few quarter before suicide/fired and it will cause such unstable quality when they on the market, check moment for example, how is those crazy things happen? and sometime their quality are so unstable that cause people piss off samsung phone forever.
overall, I still give this phone a go, because I have not get a FC on 10hr play.
I give it 6.7 out of 10, and give my G1 100 out of 10, it was indeed a beast.
BTW I notice something on intercept, it can play a lot video/game SMOOTHER than some high end phone did, I was watching FULL EPISODE of cowboy bepop and Ghost In The Shell, OMG THE QUALITY WAS LIKE HD but in smaller screen.
My G1 can't even do that.
danielinirving said:
So, those of you that have been able to root the VM Intercept; Is it worth it? I am looking to be able to apply Frodo (2.2) to my phone and have everything still function. I want to be able to make my phone install apps to SD instead of internal memory. I want to be able to make my phone faster.
Will this be possible with rooting and installing a new ROM? Can I revert back to the default ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2.2 is coming to VM Intercept in about a month, that'll make a lot of apps run faster, it'll make root easier, you'll be able to tether easier, and you should be able to move apps to SD then.
As noted in the title.
I plan on buying a HD2 for the sole purpose of Android only. Besides cosmetic issues, what should I look for? Are there any software updates or flashing that has resulted in a point of no return (ie preventing one from flashing Android)? Let me know!
Get a T-Mobile US HD2, they have more ROM memory than the Europeans. Way better for running Android on.
-HD2 Android-
huggs said:
Get a T-Mobile US HD2, they have more ROM memory than the Europeans. Way better for running Android on.
-HD2 Android-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tip. since i live in the US, this shouldn't be a problem at all
If you're only going to use it for android, why buy an hd2 then? It certainly isn't better than any 1ghz android device out there, and some of the bugs (if you expereince any), may stifle you.
You might as well buy an android phone instead since it runs better with prolly less problems, excluding the samsung galaxy s series. (N.B. an android phone will prolly only run better after you've rooted it, tweaked, and maybe flashed a custom rom)
Anyways, other than getting a tmous hd2, that's about it I guess. Everything is reversible, from going back to android, to winmo, to WP7. You just have to read, and be able to know your device.
its likely cheaper to purchase a hd2 rather than a smartphone with android pre-loaded, since many people have had frustrations with windows mobile as the stock OS (that was me when I first got the phone) and are willing to get rid of it for fairly cheap.
1-2 months after the phone came out, craigslist was full of ads of people trying to sell their hd2. at first, i regretted not selling mine the day it came out (could've gotten $400+ for it), but now that I have gingerbread on it, it performs a lot better, except for the GPS, which is completely non-functional, but I'm hoping that will get fixed soon. if GPS is an important function on your phone, I'd suggest sticking to winmo for the time being.
andrewz182 said:
its likely cheaper to purchase a hd2 rather than a smartphone with android pre-loaded, since many people have had frustrations with windows mobile as the stock OS (that was me when I first got the phone) and are willing to get rid of it for fairly cheap.
1-2 months after the phone came out, craigslist was full of ads of people trying to sell their hd2. at first, i regretted not selling mine the day it came out (could've gotten $400+ for it), but now that I have gingerbread on it, it performs a lot better, except for the GPS, which is completely non-functional, but I'm hoping that will get fixed soon. if GPS is an important function on your phone, I'd suggest sticking to winmo for the time being.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just you, man. 90% of us have gps working fine.
I say if you can get a deal on it go for it (in my area, 150 is what I consider a deal). If the cost difference between this and, say, a mytouch 4g is less than a hundred or sitting at a hundred, just go for the mytouch. I broke my first hd2 a couple months ago, and I was about to pull the trigger on a mytouch, when someone popped up with a hd2 for 180. I negotiated him down to 140 and that was that.
Just my opinion though. They're both outstanding phones
Edit: sorry, that was off topic. Any software the hd2 comes with (stock, modded, whatever) can be flashed over very easily. I have had experience with some hd2s not working correctly. They get slow, laggy, start force closing, etc when running android, but this isn't something you can "look out for". Just have to find out I guess.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Kailkti said:
If you're only going to use it for android, why buy an hd2 then? It certainly isn't better than any 1ghz android device out there, and some of the bugs (if you expereince any), may stifle you.
You might as well buy an android phone instead since it runs better with prolly less problems, excluding the samsung galaxy s series. (N.B. an android phone will prolly only run better after you've rooted it, tweaked, and maybe flashed a custom rom)
Anyways, other than getting a tmous hd2, that's about it I guess. Everything is reversible, from going back to android, to winmo, to WP7. You just have to read, and be able to know your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there. Yes, you bring up a very good question. The reason why is because I am a T-mobile user with a very old, grandfathered $3 unlimited data plan. However, this data plan only works for certain phones, HD2 being one of them. The Nexus One works with the data plan as well, but I sold it after getting tired of its multi-touch issues.
Kailkti said:
Anyways, other than getting a tmous hd2, that's about it I guess. Everything is reversible, from going back to android, to winmo, to WP7. You just have to read, and be able to know your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. So there are no radio flashes that will send you over to dead man's land?
If you have HSPL installed on your device, no flashing will kill your device.
nexus14 said:
Thank you. So there are no radio flashes that will send you over to dead man's land?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you just know how to read and follow instructions, there in way you can't get things working.
I got my hd2 from craigslist for 200 but was only used less than a week. Got everything including receipt. Same for my daughter but was an older buy so I got it for 150.
Sent from my HD2 Droid HD using XDA App
Oh btw, the HD2's multi touch isn't perfect either. Whether or not the HD2 has support. hardware wise, for more than two fingers is irrelevant right now, as android on the HD2, WP7, and winmo, only enables us to use two fingers.
With WP7, multi touch is horrible. With android two fingers max, but the fingers mustn't be, i think, vertically or was it horizontally aligned with one another, one of them, I can't remember which. Pinching and zooming works fine, even with that problem, however in gaming, you'll notice it, and it may irk you.
With winmo i'm not sure, as I haven't actually played around with winmo much other than flash custom roms for the sake of flashing cuz I'm addicted to it.
jose makalolot said:
If you just know how to read and follow instructions, there in way you can't get things working.
I got my hd2 from craigslist for 200 but was only used less than a week. Got everything including receipt. Same for my daughter but was an older buy so I got it for 150.
Sent from my HD2 Droid HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, good to know.
Prices are similar where I live, 200-250. I am sure I can get down to 150 since there's 15+ new posts/day
Kailkti said:
Oh btw, the HD2's multi touch isn't perfect either. Whether or not the HD2 has support. hardware wise, for more than two fingers is irrelevant right now, as android on the HD2, WP7, and winmo, only enables us to use two fingers.
With WP7, multi touch is horrible. With android two fingers max, but the fingers mustn't be, i think, vertically or was it horizontally aligned with one another, one of them, I can't remember which. Pinching and zooming works fine, even with that problem, however in gaming, you'll notice it, and it may irk you.
With winmo i'm not sure, as I haven't actually played around with winmo much other than flash custom roms for the sake of flashing cuz I'm addicted to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. I have already researched on this topic and if you go back to my old posts, you'll see that HD2 multi-touch with Android is better than the Nexus One multi-touch. Gaming is not an issue since I don't plan on gaming on my device.
nexus14 said:
As noted in the title.
I plan on buying a HD2 for the sole purpose of Android only. Besides cosmetic issues, what should I look for? Are there any software updates or flashing that has resulted in a point of no return (ie preventing one from flashing Android)? Let me know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was only briefly touched on, but the importance of a Tmobile unit is critical for more reasons than just the amount of available RAM. The hardware which defines the radio frequency (specifically, data) differs. For example, I'm running an Australian (Telstra) T9193 on AT&T because the 3G band is the same, so I get HSDPA speeds on a device that was never intended to be used on this network. Though a Tmobile unit would work for voice on my network, I'd be SOL for data.
So, since you've said in a prior post you're a Tmobile customer, be certain the model you're getting is a Tmobile unit, which I believe is a T8585, if I'm not mistaken. Even though you COULD flash Android to a unit with less RAM (as I'm doing with mine), you'd risk not having it work for data if you get the wrong model.
Can't speak to how many times one can flash, but I'm up to dozens of times with various WM and Android ROMs and radio combinations with no ill effects. Well, none I'm aware of, anyway.
BillTheCat said:
This was only briefly touched on, but the importance of a Tmobile unit is critical for more reasons than just the amount of available RAM. The hardware which defines the radio frequency (specifically, data) differs. For example, I'm running an Australian (Telstra) T9193 on AT&T because the 3G band is the same, so I get HSDPA speeds on a device that was never intended to be used on this network. Though a Tmobile unit would work for voice on my network, I'd be SOL for data.
So, since you've said in a prior post you're a Tmobile customer, be certain the model you're getting is a Tmobile unit, which I believe is a T8585, if I'm not mistaken. Even though you COULD flash Android to a unit with less RAM (as I'm doing with mine), you'd risk not having it work for data if you get the wrong model.
Can't speak to how many times one can flash, but I'm up to dozens of times with various WM and Android ROMs and radio combinations with no ill effects. Well, none I'm aware of, anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Is there a way to "fake" the model #? I doubt the people I meet are going to be this shady since most of the people I talked to still have it on Windows Mobile 6.5
I'm having 0 issues with my DVP. BUT what I am haing issues is finding usable apps, not on the marketplace.
Every time I think i fine something useful like say a file explorer i find this noted on the page.
"Update: TouchXperience does not seem to work on non-HTC devices,"
I'm not a big user of Apps but certain things should be usable no matter who makes your phone, I mean it's still windows.
You are either the only NOT having problems with the 16GB Dell Venue Pro, or you have an 8GB Dell Venue Pro.
May 4th Venue Pro just died last night. Won't boot past the Dell Screen. These phones are complete POS. I am starting to lose my mind with these things. PLEASE.... if you don't own one, go with an HD7 if your are with T-Mobile. I don't care how much brighter the Venue Pro screen is, it is not worth the headaches of the 15-20 crashes a day. Or as I just stated -- the phone completely dying.
have you solved your problem?
Nope... they say they will send another, but I have to wait for them to manufacture it and ground ship it; hence - in about 3 weeks. Another monthly payment with no phone. I have really given up. These things were never built correctly and never will be. If you would like to see where I am at mentally:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/3824/t/19376375.aspx
I have to figure out a way to get an HD7 cheap I guess. I am not dumping another $400 on a phone. I wish someone from Microsoft would read this and see that I love my Zune, love my Zune software, and Love the Windows Phone 7 OS. But all this is being completely ruined for me by the Dell Venue Pro.
If someone from Microsoft is reading this... HOOK ME UP....get me an HD7 at cost! I need another Windows Phone but as I stated, I am not dumping another large pile of money into an almost identical product (minus the crashing and now permanent lock-ups) less than a year after I already forked money out.
MICROSOFT --- PLEASE HELP US. At least pull the Windows Phone license from Dell. They are taking your great operating system and dragging it through the mud. Everyone I know is incorrectly associating these Dell Venue Pro fiasco's with Windows Phone 7.
I havent had any issues with the phone. If you have having a problem with the apps installing, just wipe the phone and reinstall the update. If you still have problems just have Dell send you a new phone, you may have got a bad one. That happens sometimes with every type of phone. Personally, I think that these people complaining that the phone is a "POS", is more user error than anything else. And for them Im going to recommend a non-smart phone, and the idea that a developing website may not be the place for them if they cant even figure out how to work the phone. If you need help wiping the phone back to stock and then updating from there let me know. I can post the steps for you.
theusername said:
I havent had any issues with the phone. If you have having a problem with the apps installing, just wipe the phone and reinstall the update. If you still have problems just have Dell send you a new phone, you may have got a bad one. That happens sometimes with every type of phone. Personally, I think that these people complaining that the phone is a "POS", is more user error than anything else. And for them Im going to recommend a non-smart phone, and the idea that a developing website may not be the place for them if they cant even figure out how to work the phone. If you need help wiping the phone back to stock and then updating from there let me know. I can post the steps for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is close to the most insulting thing I have ever read. I smart phone isn't for me. I may not be able to code apps and develope a website, but this isn't rocket science. I have gone through 4. There is no "user error". The phone's have just crashed under normal operation -- app loading or not app loading. There are so many complaints all over the web by tech savy people (go look at the guy over at zdnet) with the exact same problem.
Since you are chalking this up to "user error" , enlighten me as to what you think has been done? As far as a wiping the phone back to stock, it is stock on the Dell screen. I can force a hard reset with the down volume, camera, and power button, but it fails everytime.
As I stated, before you chalk this up as "user error", go do some research on the web. The failure rate of the 16Gb units is astounding. There is not a whole lot of things you can do to these phones to brick them, unless you start tampering with the SD card, jailbreaking or hombrewing the OS, or both. Other than that it is pretty much idiot proof.
Thanks for trying to downplay the situation, but I am sure most people on here are not buying your excuse.
I have two 16GB Venue Pro's, one I use for personal use and one for development. I received my first DVP about 2 months ago, and have had no issues with it. I ordered my second one, and have it for about two weeks with no issues. So between development and personal use I have seen no major issues with these phones. The only problem I have seen here, is your many threads and complaints through out this section. Frankly if you have had 4 phones and they all seem to have problems, the only common denominator there is you sir. XDA is for development and help, not just to flame phones and complain.
The largest thread on Dell Mobility....
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/3824/t/19358469.aspx
apparently I am the common factor there too? Zero flaming here. As you see in the above thread, everything I state is WIDESPREAD, DOCUMENTED, and FACT. Nice try though, sir.
theusername said:
I have two 16GB Venue Pro's, one I use for personal use and one for development. I received my first DVP about 2 months ago, and have had no issues with it. I ordered my second one, and have it for about two weeks with no issues. So between development and personal use I have seen no major issues with these phones. The only problem I have seen here, is your many threads and complaints through out this section. Frankly if you have had 4 phones and they all seem to have problems, the only common denominator there is you sir. XDA is for development and help, not just to flame phones and complain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out the poll at:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=891295
Not all 16GB have problem, but a fairly high percentage do.
missionsparta said:
The largest thread on Dell Mobility....
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/3824/t/19358469.aspx
apparently I am the common factor there too? Zero flaming here. As you see in the above thread, everything I state is WIDESPREAD, DOCUMENTED, and FACT. Nice try though, sir.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would ignore him, there are obviously good working units but the issues are real, documented and acknowledged and anyone who would dismiss that fact just because he has had a good experience is not worth arguing with. Been through 4 myself so I guess I just dont know how to use the highly advanced features of the Dell
efjay said:
I would ignore him, there are obviously good working units but the issues are real, documented and acknowledged and anyone who would dismiss that fact just because he has had a good experience is not worth arguing with. Been through 4 myself so I guess I just dont know how to use the highly advanced features of the Dell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had 3 2 have been good. So I know there are issues. The one I am using right now is really good. But I only add the really part when I swapped sd cards. So that is indeed an issue. I assure you I have neither user issues nor flame anyone. Missions statements are true. Your points about complaining and flaming are right on though. At some point threats and complaints fo become overwhelming.
I'm not trying to upset you buddy, I'm just saying if you hate the phone return it. You don't need to keep posting everywhere here about how much you hate this phone.
Sent from my Venue Pro using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
I'm having 0 problems with the phone itself, and the apps from the marketplace are fine.
My issue is comeing from the actual usable homebrew apps. The ones we actually could use for something like adding ringers and files.
And I do have the 8 gig model with NoDo and am looking into a 32gig class 10 microsd card but it cost me almost 600 for the phone. (UPS charged me 80 bucks for crossing the border)
so for me it's quickly becoming a usability issue, not a phone issue. THe phone works as planned.