Database Users

Cellphone Evolution

Caveats. I love my nexus one, and have never owned any form of Apple product.
I am more or less trying to see what other people's opinions are regarding the evolution of cellphones.
In my opinion these are more or less the large evolutions.
Skipping the Bag phone, and Night at the roxx bury model
1) Nokia - Who didn't have that wonderful brick!
2) Razr - Never had one, but certainly made size crucial -
3) Blackberry - They discovered there was money in smart phones.
4) Iphone - Will stay unbiased, they certainly moved the smartphone concept.
Where would I put the nexus one? I would say it's the pinnacle of #4. Personally, i think we are stuck in #4 for awhile, and much like computer's dont need to be upgraded as say 5 years ago, phones may be there as well(for now).
I highly doubt the next Iphone makes any huge leaps. The front camera may evolutionize phone sex, but that's about it.
How do we get to #5? In my opinion, this will be stuck on the borrrrrring battery technology. What does everyone else see?

Nexus One is 4.5. It shares many features of the iPhone and adds on top iof it with the concept of developer freedom, which I beleive is crucial for moving smartphone software forward.

Just to clarify. I definitely think the Nexus one is a massive improvement, and 4.5 is certainly accurate. You could be right in that we may never see a 5 by my metrics. Or not a clean jump at least. Continual small improvement could be the ongoing future.
Eitherway, I feel good that I wont be itching to "upgrade" this time next year(which says alot for the Nexus One)

Much as the MP3 player is being obsolesced by cell phones, I think "phones" in the traditional sense will eventually be obsolesced by the all-around computer that smartphones are becoming.

but its still called a smartphone lol

I don't think the Nexus One itself is that great of an evolution, it's just another Android phone.
I'd say the platform itself is much more important.
I love my Nexus One, it's far and away the most advanced phone I've ever owned, however it's not without faults, and ultimately it's just a high end Android handset, just like the Motorola Droid/Milestone.
As for the next "big" step/evolution, I don't know if there will be anything "big" per say. As has been touched on in this thread, smartphones as we know them are metamorphosing into mobile computers, so I don't really see the scope for anything more than incremental increases in processing power and operating systems.

video calls will be a big step... however the networks will have to mature before something as data intenisve as that steps up to the plate
another thing i think would be interesting as far as the future goes is developing a phone that truely functions as a portable computer where i can ditch my desktop (granted not my gaming pc) but hook the phone up to a dock of some sort which will give me access to a monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, ect... the phone sort of goes into "pc mode" and functions as a regular computer

Video calls will be a big step?
Video calling was big advertised years ago.
And now, almost nobody really uses it.

K69 said:
Video calls will be a big step?
Video calling was big advertised years ago.
And now, almost nobody really uses it.
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Click to collapse
when? i dont remember anything...
my thing is phones dont have a camera on the side that the screen is on... therefore its really not possible... not to mention its incredibly data intensive side so i really doubt what you are talking about is true... I would love to be able to video chat on my phone in a quality manner
sadly though, batteries are going to hinder mobile progress, li-ion batteries are nice but lets face it, its not very hard to run your nexus dry in about 5 hours if you wanted to... battery technology itself is getting old and some other source of power really needs to emerge to really stir the mobile market up

JHaste said:
when? i dont remember anything...
my thing is phones dont have a camera on the side that the screen is on... therefore its really not possible... not to mention its incredibly data intensive side so i really doubt what you are talking about is true... I would love to be able to video chat on my phone in a quality manner
sadly though, batteries are going to hinder mobile progress, li-ion batteries are nice but lets face it, its not very hard to run your nexus dry in about 5 hours if you wanted to... battery technology itself is getting old and some other source of power really needs to emerge to really stir the mobile market up
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Click to collapse
Look at many phones in Asia, they've had video calling for years now. The US is just far behind when it comes to certain technologies. Japan has had international 3G video calling since August 2005 (3G was invented in Japan). And has been running a 3G network since late 2001.
Video calling is way old.
As for the battery issue, nuclear batteries are the answer: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/07/tiny-nuclear-battery.html

Video calls are not going to b next. We had those since 2004 in europe and nobody really uses them. They are expensive and a good old phone call gets the job done anyway. I concur with batteries and increemental steps in OSs and computing power, allghough nuclear batteries are still far to come. (Too bad, i had my proton pack almost ready...). This said the N1 is probably the best phone i had ever. Nothing it cannot do. Nothing I have to think"it's just a phone" for. I just love it

SPAS79 said:
Video calls are not going to b next. We had those since 2004 in europe and nobody really uses them. They are expensive and a good old phone call gets the job done anyway. I concur with batteries and increemental steps in OSs and computing power, allghough nuclear batteries are still far to come. (Too bad, i had my proton pack almost ready...). This said the N1 is probably the best phone i had ever. Nothing it cannot do. Nothing I have to think"it's just a phone" for. I just love it
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Click to collapse
I can't see video calls on mobile phones becoming practical. The whole point of making phones calls on a mobile phone is because its MOBILE! For a video call, you have to be looking at the screen. This presents a few issues: First off, walking down the street while talking and looking at the screen is not a good idea for obvious reasons. Second, both the earpiece and microphone will be far away from you, forcing you to use either the speaker and yell into the phone, destroying any concept of privacy, or wearing a headset every time you want to talk on the phone. Having a wired headset will be a bit uncomfortable becasue the phone will be in your hand at a good length from your face, leaving the most ideal option to be a bluetooth headset.
There is also the problem of battery life. Talking on the phone AND streaming a video feed will no doubt put a lot of strain on the battery, especially if the video stream must be high quality and play back smoothly. In addition, bluetooth may be used for your wireless headset. Current batteries in smartphones will be able to pull this off for ~3 hours MAX, not including battery drain while on standby, and not taking into account how good your signal is (the lower the signal the more drain on the battery).

Austria was one of the first countries where video calling was available (may 2003).
Many phones with front cams where sold and in the first months you even could video call for free.
Now almost seven years later nobody talks about it.

How to improve Android GUI experience

I hope this isn't perceived as spamming or fishing for votes. I think most of us would like to see a smoother Android GUI instead of that choppyness on our 1GHz phones. I and many people believe that Google can do something about this but are not prioritizing this as they should. I think we can change this by visiting and voting here, clicking on the star under the headline, if we want to see a change: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6914
Who knows, if we start voting now, maybe they will implement this feature in the next Android version.
P.S. You need a Google account to be able to vote.
EDIT: Maybe this is why we haven't seen it yet?
From what I've heard, the fault lies mostly with HTC, encouraged by wholesale indifference by the carriers. Here's the story I was told:
* Qualcomm makes the core chipset used by most HTC phones, and most Android phones were built by HTC until VERY recently. Thus, the things that got the most attention during Android's first year and a half of commercial availability were things directly supported by HTC phones.
* The price charged by Qualcomm for its chipset varies, depending upon what features the handset manufacturer chooses to license from them. Put another way, every Qualcomm chip in a given family has the silicon resources to do everything... but manufacturers are only allowed to use the features they pay Qualcomm for the right to use.
* Because the carriers don't care, and the carriers are HTC's real customers, HTC didn't care about GPU support, either. It saved a few cents per phone, and washed its hands of GPU support to boot.
* Making matters worse, Qualcomm only makes its chipset documentation available under NDA (at least, the parts dealing with "premium" capabilities), and only made it available to licensees (of which there were very, very few). Ergo, the documentation has been VERY hard to come by, and less likely to be leaked by a public-minded HTC employee for the good of humanity.
Put another way, there probably isn't a thing Qualcomm can do to stop the folks at xda-developers.com from releasing guerrilla video drivers for HTC Android phones that take advantage of acceleration if they can figure out how it works, but you'll never see a phone come out of the box new with GPU acceleration unless HTC officially licenses the capability from Qualcomm. Nor will you see Google making it easy to do an end-run around the official release to graft it on, because then Qualcomm would sue THEM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- This is from: http://androidforums.com/android-news-talk/29584-why-doesnt-androids-gui-use-gpu-acceleration.html

I starred it.
Definitely is bizarre that GPU integration isn't enabled in Android 2.1+

This hardware-can-do-qualcom-wont-allow-it is old...
It happens with a LOT of devices...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I'm glad to see that we are climbing on the chart of issues.
I have come to notice that the issue of the choppy Android experience is not only a problem because of the lack of GPU acceleration. Android phones tend to respond to our gestures way too exactly. This results in uneven transitions, one half of the animation is fast and the other half is slower. This unevenness being a result of us not making, or following through, with perfectly even movements in terms of speed. I believe this is something Apple has addressed and they did it very nicely because even though you are moving your fingers unevenly and slowly, the UI transitions follows your finger in an even and smooth fashion but in a speed that matches your finger. This looks phenomenal. Same goes for faster input gestures, the Ios (iOS) responds in an even and smooth fashion but the transition is faster.

It was the same with my old HD1, the xda gpu-drivers helped alot. Looks like we'll have to take the matter into our own hands again.
Wasn't HTC mass-sued for this a while back?

Syc said:
It was the same with my old HD1, the xda gpu-drivers helped alot. Looks like we'll have to take the matter into our own hands again.
Wasn't HTC mass-sued for this a while back?
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Nope. There was a whole load of talk of it over the TyTn II debacle, but the only thing to ever come of that was the rather excellent XDA GPU drivers.

I hate to admit this, but if Google, or whoever it is responsible, doesn't do something about this, I'll have to look elsewhere (Iphone). It might sound crazy but it's that important to me. I mean, it's so basic. Why add mega-ultra-fiction features and all other sh*t, when you don't know how to make a smooth transition. The basic element of the GUI.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like Apple, their policy or their attitude towards the rest. However, I'm being honest about this: they care. I haven't seen one Android phone capable of delivering smooth transitions although they are more powerful than the Iphones. On the one hand you have a team utilizing the entire potential of their sh**ty phones, and on the other hand you have a team doesn't give a rats a*s about the hardware in them.
I don't know if Google is to blame or the phone manufacturers. I just don't like the idea of owning a 1 GHz CPU and an awesome GPU (Samsung Galaxy S) and not being able to use it.

Sorry to bump an old thread.
Has there been any progress on this issue?

Using spare parts and setting all the window animations and transitions to very slow has made everything "smoother" to me for all purposes of discussion. during the slow but smooth transition, my phone has time to fully load the next screen or popup menu, therefore it all appears to happen seamlessly.

android is very smooth on my Hd2 ... Did you try a cyanogen mod build ?

Sorry, i was referring more towards the GPU being actively used by the UI front end.
Im using a Legend with Azure's cyanogen mod (froyo) things are pretty slick but I can tell when there are slowdowns, but the worst offender is definately the web browser.
The best example I can find is going to the html5 test website, I get a score of around 180 and the iphone about 140, but the legend browser (built in and Dolphin) really struggles to scroll that page, whereas on the Iphone its extremely smooth. Its these kind of inconsistencies which are annoying.
Another gripe is the whole portrait-landscape switch, its not gpu based in the least and its a rather half assed solution at the minute (visually). But I understand that no app could ever interfere with how this works as its so deep in the os? Such a shame.
I work in animation which is why im overly critical

Do you own a Focus claim it here tell us what you think?

Samsung Focus​Beautiful, crisp, or a cheap piece of junk. I would like to know.
I would like to know if you own a Focus or are considering purchasing one. I believe that word of mouth is important so I ask the community to place their thoughts about the Focus here. Also I would like just 1 post from each member who is writing their own review. Remember you can edit your post. Help me out and if you actually own a focus let us know in the poll.
Try to look at the below review for a format. Of course it is your review so write it how you see fit.
Top things I love about my Focus:
1. Thin
2. Light
3. Beautiful screen
4. SD expandability
5. Fast and responsive
6. Diagnosis Screen
Top things that need improvement for my Focus:
1. Better SD support
2. Power charging should be on the bottom of the phone
3. Power button should be on the top of the phone or harder to press
4. Screen can scratch all be it very hard to do so.
How is my windows experience on the Focus:
1. Marketplace can be buggy
2. Games are fun and vibrant
3. Programs are stable
What would you like to see improved in you windows experience on the Focus:
1. Need to allow multitasking as an option for GPS and third party audio programs.
2. Wish marketplace would show how many download an app had
3. More live tiles
4. In email adding folders to sync is cumbersome.
Who would you recommend buy this phone?
I would recommend this phone to anyone. This is the best phone I owned.

I pretty much agree with what you posted. I've really come to like WP7 and the Focus although, there is still much work to be done on the OS.
I guess if Samsung had one with a physical keyboard, I'd be all over it.

It's so fluid in motion, readable and highly consistent in design. Overall, I've got to give MS a big thumbs up. The UI is beautiful and functional.
My only real complaint is the occasional marketplace freeze.
I've had a number of android devices and I've had more than one iPhone.. I was ready for something fresh and different.. and so far this is fitting the bill quite well.
Now make with the updates, Microsoft... some new features would be nice.
As for the focus itself, it's a nice piece of hardware. The screen is gorgeous, battery life seems decent, speaker sounds good, calls are clear. It has a little creak do it if I grip it too hard, but it doesn't feel like it's going to break. I'd pretty much put it even with my Samsung Vibrant.. it is plasticky, but it doesn't feel cheap.

I've had my Focus since they released them publicly. The hardware is great overall. I have two iPhones (3G and 4), a Droid, Blackberry 9000 and a new Torch. The iPhone sets the bar high, and in my opinion the Focus easily competes head to head with the iPhone in terms of the screen and performance, maybe even better for speed. So far I haven't had any problems with it, in terms of the hardware. No unexpected reboots or lock-ups. I've soft-reset it a couple times on my own, and did one hard-reset to attempt to get wireless Zune sync working (still doesn't work), but that I'm sure is an OS problem. I do wish Samsung just stepped up with 16GB of NAND storage from the get-go though. Sure, an optional SD card is nice to have, but the way WP7 uses storage it doesn't surprise me people are seeing random crashes and data loss. WP7 essentially combines both storage types as one large storage, but expects performance to be the same and that's not reasonable. There's really no reason why they couldn't make NAND the primary, and SD secondary for more static things like music and documents.
In the beginning battery life was pretty bad. But I think it just took a few charge cycles to correct that. I get almost two days out of it without wifi. With Wifi it drops to maybe a day and a half at most.
The AMOLED screen is just awesome. Clear, bright, smooth.
I'm looking forward to MS releasing a WP7 update though. There are so many little bugs/features that are missing, besides the popular copy/paste that I rarely use anyway.

I agree with the first post.
I (STILL) only get all of one bar of signal in my house with it. AT&T signal was bad seven years ago and hasn't improved which kind of forces me to return it and wait for a CDMA version. At least with Verizon I get three & four bars everywhere in the house. Too bad I have to wait another month or two to get a WP7, because other than not being able to make or receive calls at home I really like the Focus a lot.

Pretty much agree with the first post. I really like this phone.
When reading email, I wish there was a way to make the font bigger that would also word wrap so you don't have to move back and forth to read the email. Either autosize to a larger font with word wrap, or just let me select a larger font size.
I love the voice search! It's worked for me in noisy resturants and standing along side a busy road. Impressive!

I really like my Samsung Focus primarily because in my usage the OS has been stable, fast, and really easy to navigate.
The lack of available applications (for whatever reasons) is a huge issue. I own both an iPhone and Droid X. If I didn't have those phones on which to use apps I think I'd be a little less kind at this moment to WP7 and the Focus
Overall I think what MSFT has TODAY is a great first smartphone for someone who has not used one before.
Will this progress to a serious contender in the smartphone space? I don't know but I'm hoping that it can be one of the top 3.

webdev511 said:
I agree with the first post.
I (STILL) only get all of one bar of signal in my house with it. AT&T signal was bad seven years ago and hasn't improved which kind of forces me to return it and wait for a CDMA version. At least with Verizon I get three & four bars everywhere in the house. Too bad I have to wait another month or two to get a WP7, because other than not being able to make or receive calls at home I really like the Focus a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iPhone's reception fairly blows, also, and AT&T is awful at my house. I bought a zBoost YX-545 GSM/PCS repeater, stuck the antenna in the attic where I get at least a couple reception bars and put the unit in the upper floor of the house. That now gives me 4 or 5 bars throughout the house and yard and helped the iPhone considerably and does just as well with the Focus. If you have any reception at all, this is a better solution than AT&T's hit-or-miss microcell.
Personally, I like the screen and the weight. It's so nice being able to pull it out of my pocket, take a quick glance at the screen to see if there's anything of interest and, if not, pop it right back from where it came. The screen is bright, easily read at arm's length and laid out well. The commercials about "saving us from our phones" actually made sense once I used the phone for a few days. One thing that drove me nuts about the iPhone was the form and weight. It's akin to having a brick in my shirt pocket and the weight makes it practically jump out of my pocket any time I bend over a bit. The Focus has a much nicer form with the rounded edges, it's thin and it's relatively light weight means it's been less prone to wanting to slide out of my pocket. It's being so thin and rounded makes it more difficult to pick up off a flat surface than the iPhone.
I've used iPhones for the past 2 1/2 years and while the iPhone has it all over the Focus as far as functionality, what the Focus currently does is so much easier to do that I believe I'm ready to commit and forget about the 30 day return policy. All in all, the benefits and potential very much outweight the few drawbacks that exist, such as the plastic feel and mediocre reception.
Oh...and the expandable memory is a HUGE plus after 2 1/2 years of a phone I couldn't even open. Yes, I've read that plenty of people have had problems with it but using a Sandisk 8GB class 2 SD card I've been able to put some 10 GB of music on the phone without so much as a single hiccup in any way. I suppose Sandisk is still the best for a reason...accept no substitutes!

JDiddyC Review
(in conjunction with previous noted items)
What I like:
1. Integration of FB, apps and Live Skydrive, etc. Seemless!
2. Ability to customize the tiles on the home screen
3. Live tiles! Need I say more!?
4. Accessing info and sharing is quick and easy
What I don't like / needs development:
1. For the love of God, please let us use Bing Turn by Turn and not PAY for provider specific apps or add-ons!
2. Zune / Music portion needs work
- Channels would be nice
- Why do I have to pay for songs via AT&T when I have zune pass? This should work like market place on the Zune HD!
- Please let me use music I have on the device as a ringtone!?
Overall satisfaction:
LOVE IT! I feel pretty confident that changes to the OS and apps will come in the near future that will hopefully address the few things I don't like. Although I fear there are some agreements with providers around GPS and turn by turn directions that may keep us hacking to get around them.

Top things I love about my Focus:
1. Thin
2. Facebook Integration
3. Beautiful screen
4. SD expandability
5. Xbox Live
6. Fun UI
Top things that need improvement for my Focus:
1. Multitasking or at least backgrounding (i want pandora!!!)
2. When the Screen is locked i shouldnt be able to power off the phone with just the button! Come on now that should be common sense.
3. Flashlight app that acually uses the LED
4. Volume controls that are not all in one (i shouldnt have to turn my phone back up to 30 after playing a games at 10 because the games too loud, in turn making my ringtone way too quiet)
5. Cut, Copy, Paste!!!
How is my windows experience on the Focus:
1. Marketplace and UI can be buggy (especailly when downloading)
2. Games are fun and vibrant but with a lack of games ive grown interested in with other platforms
3. best camera phone implementation with the shutter button and ease.

bump
Can a moderator sticky this

I love the focus ALOT! I bought it outright at Rogers for $630! Its unbelievably fast and smooth....its the most fluid phone I have ever used in my life to be honest....I handed it over to my gf! Why? because I take alot of pictures and video, and so far while the focus has been good at both, it doesn't hold up to my Xperia X10,,,therefore I went back to my X10...but I play with the Focus all day long. If somehow they could write a camera app (like Vignette for android) and make the pictures cleaner in low light then the Focus would be my primary phone hands down.
Overall I'd give this phone a 9.5/10 just because I feel the camera is lacking slightly.

Lovin My New unlocked Samsung Focus
Samsung Focus is the BEST WP7 phone hands down right now! Just wished 3G and MMS would work with my T-Mo service Provider.
Anyone find out how to get into the MFG Mode?
I have been through the whole Diagnosis Mode, changed about every setting i could change and still no MMS.
btw.. thx sandrobber for listing all the codes for the diagnosis menu!

Just bought 3 foci (sp), Originally got one for my step father who had been working on some old handmedowns and wanted a real smart phone of his own and one for my wife who hated her Pure with such a purple passion that I was almost ready to overlook my no Apple rule and get her an Iphone. They both are loving it.
I went ahead and got one for myself. I have to admit I did a lot of waffling between the focus and the quantum.
Personally I think the quantum's size and form factor is slightly superior. It was just the right size to fit in my hand and be worked easily with one hand while the focus is just a tad on the large size to be truly comfortable.
That said I ended up going with the Focus because damn it's a huge gorgeous screen the potential for expansion and general overall ratings it's getting on the hardware side.
My past experience with smart phones has been with winmo and palm OS. Part of my decision to go with the Samsung was because of my experiences with their older smart phones. In fact I just ran across my old I300 the other day while sorting through some old boxes and the damned thing still runs just fine after a quick charge.
Pro's
that huge screen.
smooth seamless performance.
did I mention that huge beautiful screen?
Expandable memory
Con's
Bing button is too damned easy to hit.
form factor is just a tad to big to be used consistently with one hand.
Who thought putting the USB port on the top was a good idea?
Market place is buggy and has locked up on me several times requiring a reset of the device.
Other thoughts
As a former winmo user I'm definitely missing some of the features that I knew weren't going to make it into this os. I still think it was rather stupid to drop active sync and myphone for this platform. I understand some of the rationals but it's still missed.
Same goes for the lack of access to the files system (in particular the lack of drag and drop and real support for SD storage)
That said the phone is incredibly user friendly. My wife who hated the hell out of her Pure took to this thing like a duck to water and she's far from technically competent with this sort of thing in that she's a fairly typical user who's not interested in tinkering with a device just to get basic functionality. as such this works great for her.
For my part I very rapidly got my start page re-arranged the way I liked it with my tiles organized in the manner in which I typically need them.
I'm still learning things about it like it was a bit of a surprise when my step father showed me how to voice dial calls. (so damned easy it never even occurred to me to try.)
So far everyone I've shown the phone to has been impressed (primarily Iphone users) and several have already expressed an interest in switching to WP7 as soon as their contracts come up for renewal. Especially those who aren't using Iphones since they'll be able to keep their old unlimited data plans with these devices.
I have very high expectations for the future of this platform. As soon as MS gets a couple basic features pushed out (copy/paste, task switching) and developers start getting some quality apps out I see this platform being quite competitive with Apple.
I get that there are some things that it's just never going to match winmo on and that functionality will be missed but after watching Apple dominate the market so thoroughly and observing users such as my wife beating their heads against the WinMo experience I can't really fault MS for shifting design philosophy.
Considering the fact that this OS has only been out a couple months I'd say it's off to a nice start. Sure it would have been nice to have had cut/paste and multitasking so I wouldn't have to listen to the apple fanboi's teases (hey at least it's got MMS out the box) but it is a fully functional smartphone right out the box that can already do many things much easier than my old 6.5 phone could.
Now I just have to find a good case for it.

Happy Focus owner, elated to be a part of a truly 'smart'phone era.
This phone was the best investment I ever made.
After purchasing the phone outright from Rogers in Canada, I paid an ebay guy $15 to unlock it.
I came immediately to XDA-Developers for guidance with my new toy. The community here is excellent; with a level of knowledge far beyond my wildest expectations.
Once I followed the advice of everyone here, I was able to unleash the full power of the phone on my preferred network, SaskTel.
Prior to this phone, I got a contract a year ago with a Samsung Omnia. My carrier wouldn't push the OS update, and Samsung didn't offer it direct to consumers. I was forever stuck on a crippled WinMo6.1 OS.
I am looking forward to future updates provided direct from Microsoft. This was perhaps the most significant reason I bought into the idea behind Windows Phone 7 as a future-proof platform.
The reasons I chose the Focus are the same as most around here. The SuperAMOLED screen is just a wonder to behold, and I find myself just scrolling the lists just to see the brilliance of the display in action.
Memory expansion is another boon for this device. Having at least one option in the Microsoft launch lineup with this feature is key to the platform's success. I believe like the handset manufacturers, that everyone has different needs in a device.
Storage is a need some of us have. I like the security behind the S in SD. I believe the way MS implemented the expandable memory is the way to go from a security and usability standpoint.
My final reason for choosing this phone was to test the ability of my service provider to bring alternate devices to the table. My carrier just upgraded to 3G+ from CDMA. Having a SIM based solution opened the Focus as a possibility.
I am satisfied with my carrier's network, and the phone, and the apps.
I looked at the iDevices and Android devices before making this purchase. While the iDevices were pretty much all out of my price range for the flexibility provided, I considered the Samsung Galaxy line.... in particular, the Galaxy S Vibrant (known by other names on other networks, so let's not quibble).
The only thing that kept me from the Android platform was how cumbersome it was to use.
While there are some mobile enthusiasts out there who will claim that the platform is lacking, I have never once been in a situation where I thought to myself, hey I wish I could multitask. Once something draws me away, the back button is right there, my little friend.. who always helps me back to whatever experience I engaged in before the distraction.
Personally I do not care for MMS, as my carrier charges me per use. at that rate, I can use my unlimited data and share over Facebook and SKydrive to those I want to see my photos. As a result I haven't even tested to see if the feature works with my carrier's current APN settings.
My only pain point is that a few of the features that were demoed early in the year, are not yet available in Canada.
For instance, Bing searching does not bring back local maps. The city where I live has too small a population for 2D overhead maps. I find all of this interesting, as I do have birds-eye within the bing maps silverlight experience on the desktop.
Another feature our lovely land to the north is missing is the Zune Pass. I would happily pay for the ability to link Shazam to Zune, unfortunately due what I presume to be legal reasons, the zune pass is not presently available.
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My only hope now is that someone out there will create a Kinect-Based Star-Trek Exploration game that allows me to use my WP7 device as the infamous Tricorder.
I think that would totally kick ass. I'm thinking of a title we'll tentatively name "Star Trek: Red Shirt Adventures" Where you get to explore the worlds of Kirk's day, and all those up until Picard's day.
In this fashion a good story teller could preserve Trek Cannon and shed some light on the rich history to us causal trekkies. Maybe the objective is to burn through 1000 lives in a single play through.... who knows.... it was an idea, which I give openly to the internet to turn around and capitalize on, as I lack the ambition. Surely with XNA architecture as a base on both platforms, this should be doable.

Skex said:
3 foci (sp)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct

Finally a phone I love
Even though I've been in IT for 30 years, I had my first taste of smart phone ownership a little over a year ago with a BB Bold. I never needed one, but finally WANTed one. It was okay, but slow and not the easiest thing to type on. On 12/27 I upgraded to a Samsung Captivate. I really like the keyboard, but the darn thing kept powering off all by itself. When I noticed board postings about others' Captivates doing the same thing, I was determined not to play "let's see if this one works" and I traded for a Focus on 12/31. It is absolutely lovely. The only complaints I have are 1) the keyboard is a bit to small and 2) the hidden "diagnosis" settings really need to be easier to access. The good thing about that is I have joined groups like this one, where I am learning things I didn't know I wanted to know!

First day, first customer!!!
I have been a loyal WM/PPC user (iPAQ, Axim, 3125, TD2), and have been waiting for this phone. Having used TD2 and several Softbank (Japan) phones, I desire the following (only):
(a) Smart dial
(b) Toggle switches for Bluetooth/Wifi (like Cookies Home tab) on the Home Screen.
Nevertheless, very happy with my Focus.

Lapdock Concept Successor? NexPhone

http://www.nexcrea.com/
Looks interesting, especially since they plan on implementing Ubuntu for Android on their phone, though I wouldn't get my hopes up, since Canonical hasn't mentioned them at all, so far.
Still, if this isn't Vapourware or some scam to phish money from some poor geek, there's my next phone, gentlemen.

seem like Atrix 4G....

The problem is that this is coming from an industrial designer who has no experience with making phones. He has the concept which isn't much. Plus, that is a very specific connection that only the one phone would have and you would have to always stay with that phone if you wanted to use your accessories (which probably cost a lot). What those accessories need is a universal connection that can work with any phone and then software that can be integrated into any phone. While they're nice renderings I'm not holding my breath for this even becoming a reality. Their donation site doesn't even offer the product for high donors which leaves little incentive to donate.
Sorry for being a Debbie Downer. If it comes out I'd love to see how it works

Imo the Asus Padphone is the real lapdock successor.
You can transform it into a tablet and a notebook with working touchscreen .
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app

The tablet design is quite horrible.

For something like this to fly, it will need to be non proprietary. Also, physical connectors need to go, NFC or some version that is high speed enough for video is needed.
Cheers!

Yeah, I agree this sounds fishy, especially since Canonical hasn't said a word so far, and I'd think they would be spreading the word to the four corners of the earth if they had finally managed to get some traction on the smartphone market.
Personally, I'd much rather have physical connectors, though. Most things wireless chew through battery and tend to go haywire at the time you most need them. An option to go wireless or wired would cover all bases, though.

Fishing for investment funds is my guess.
I would love to see the concept play out, but expect it to happen as natural evolution from the couple products we already have.

41. said:
Personally, I'd much rather have physical connectors, though. Most things wireless chew through battery and tend to go haywire at the time you most need them. An option to go wireless or wired would cover all bases, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was referring to docking the phone as opposed to streaming video over wifi over distance, I say use NFC for communications including video/sound and induced recharging ala powermat all at the same time. Technically challenging perhaps but not science fiction.
Cheers!

Induction charging is horribly inefficient, no good for a mobile device.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

light reading

Thought I would post this to the community for a light reading..
Behind the scenes the big money is gearing up for the takeover of the car console and one way to do this is via these systems.
If you haven't read how much "Here Maps" sold for the do a google search on it.. that and we already see cross interface information from Waze showing up in Google maps..
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/volvo-google-android-infotainment-polestar-2/
Interesting enough.. the banter had with another poster on "interaction" of these units while driving brings up the point of liability.
If a driver is using these systems and crashes and
a: kills someone
b: kills themselves..
c: hurts or maim
Then it could be argued that the units are at fault..
Of course this is wear motion sensors come into play in that the acknowledgement screen is presented and agreed that the driver is not the one controlling the screen..
Thus hands free kits on steering wheels should in theory get better.. ie maybe trackpads embedded into the steering wheel.. so it's controlled by feel like a mouse so no need for eyes off road..
Please note just theories here and shouldn't be be taken as "as driver shouldn't have a licence if they use this while driving type ultimatum. As it's a bigger discussion then that..

And another one..
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/01/t...ce-is-heating-up-and-will-be-won-in-software/
I am guessing that there are a few readers as most of us that have been early adopters are also interested in the code and tech behind the unit's we use..
As this last article states.. the space is only going to get hotter with this amount of money getting thrown at it.
Mind you that doesn't do anything for those poor bigger suffering from low quality mish mash of parts that are featured in these units we have got.
Hats off to those that tinker with the hardware and develop the roms.
Your making the world a better place for us plebs that are end users and don't have the knowledge or time and just want all our wishes in one little box to work..

dgcruzing said:
And another one..
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/01/t...ce-is-heating-up-and-will-be-won-in-software/
Mind you that doesn't do anything for those poor bigger suffering from low quality mish mash of parts that are featured in these units we have got.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've honestly started to wonder what it would take to design and build a higher quality unit. Everything about these Chinese units we're all using is terrible, non-ergonomic and buggy. From the glossy, cheap screens, to the power supplies that seem to cause most of the poor quality audio issues on the newer units…
I'd pay more for something better.

Yes, I think most of us here would.
As 30+ years ago I spent 2 weeks wages on getting the best system I could for the car back then..
LOL, Apprenticeship wages and that was a 45 hour week ..
When you think about it, most of us are using $1,000+ phones thus if and when there is consistency with this equipment then I am sure that is a price point that could be achieved.
Just need one of the majors to really have a go at it much like some have with the TV setup box's.
With luck, an extension of the Google Home devices into the car is on the way soon enough.
Understand at the moment that Android Auto is being perfected at the moment for this very day.