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Hey there, thanks for reading.
I'm looking for a new smartphone to replace my 2-year-old HTC Touch 3G.
I'll probably be purchasing either an Android or a WP7 phone. Important to know is that I live in the Netherlands, so WP7 hasn't officially launched here just yet. However, I do know about the marketplace unlockers and such.
The Omnia 7 is on the top of my list, closely followed by the Dell Venue Pro (nearly impossible to get here) which are in turn followed by high-end Android phones like the Nexus S, Galaxy S, Desire, etc.
The thing I'd like to know about the Omnia 7 is if you encountered any oddities or things worth mentioning.
I'd also like to hear about any good or bad surprises, so that I can make up my mind.
Lastly, I'm very interested in the build quality - has any of you accidentally dropped it? If so, please describe the situation and any damage.
And how's the screen holding up against scratches?
Thanks in advance!
P.s: I've noticed that the WP7 vs Android discussion is rather tense - but please keep it civil - I don't wanna miss out on any advice because my topic gets locked
Obviously, buying a WP7 phone you will experience the usual problems of that. There aren't any devastating bugs I have encountered yet, but a few iritating ones, such as being unable to update trial apps through the market, meaning you have to unistall and reinstall them, or apps crashing unexpectedly.
The batery life seems to be pretty good on my Omnia seven, usually lasting through the whole day with moderate usage.
The build quality is surprisingly good, better than I expected, seeing as it is a Samsung phone. The feel is very nice, and seems to be pretty solid. I have dropped my phone a few times, and only have a few, very minor, scratches on the screen (almost unnoticeable). Also, the screen is amazing, particularly with all the black used in the OS.
The main annoyance with the Omnia 7 is that the battery cover seems to fall off quite easily. Drop it onto even a soft surface, and the battery cover will fall off, sometimes taking the battery with it.
As to WP7 vs Android, I have used both, and I'm not sure which I prefer. WP7 is much slicker and smoother, from what I've found, but obviously is less open and customisable than android. Depends what you want really, but either is a pretty good bet in my eyes. I only went for the Omnia 7 because I wanted to try something new.
Dutch user here. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and absolutely love it. I'm an avid WM user and only once switched over to Blackberry. But I came back and am loving it. The things is just so damn well put together.
I compared it with a friend who bought a Samsung Android phone recently (forgot which one, sorry). But while Android is in no way a bad system, the clean interface and bright screen of the Omnia 7 just sold it for me.
The only thing that bugged me today was when I wanted to send a contact number to someone by text. Ended up having to write it down on paper because of the lack of copy/paste. But for the rest I highly recommend it.
I got mine on Friday, tired of waiting for the Dell Venue Pro. I bought it on ebay Germany as it's the only country selling the 16GB. So far, no bug or bad surprise except I can't sign in on twitter (that's an issue with the app itself as many reviewers on the marketplace have mentioned it).
Coming from the HTC HD2 it feels a bit bare bone in functionality but then again there are 3 updates planned for this year (including the copy/paste one).
Build quality seems good but I try to never take risks with screens so I'm actively looking for a case/pouch for it.
I had an xbox 360 and zune and I'm a hotmail user so it all come together very well, if you're much more into Google maybe you should get Android, only you know. They're different OS with a different approach, both are good .
Allright, thanks a lot for the quick replies.
Froggenstein, since you're Dutch just like me - Which location did you choose for your live account, and how much trouble was it to set everything up to get the marketplace and such working? And which marketplace do you visit (Uk/US/...)?
From what I've read it probably wasn't hard, but I always enjoy confirmation
Speaking for the phone itself, it's a good solid build, good quality, and has a nice little feature with the USB port cover (keeps the dust out). I've never had a problem with the battery cover coming off... but then I don't drop it
As for WP7, I'm "lucky" enough to have a UK account (but only because I cant change country) so I have access to the marketplace and Zune Pass etc. If these services are restricted for you then that's a fair chunk of functionality missing. Also, I've heard Bing Maps in Poland is near useless - maybe the same in the Netherlands?
CreepinJesus said:
Speaking for the phone itself, it's a good solid build, good quality, and has a nice little feature with the USB port cover (keeps the dust out). I've never had a problem with the battery cover coming off... but then I don't drop it
As for WP7, I'm "lucky" enough to have a UK account (but only because I cant change country) so I have access to the marketplace and Zune Pass etc. If these services are restricted for you then that's a fair chunk of functionality missing. Also, I've heard Bing Maps in Poland is near useless - maybe the same in the Netherlands?
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Thanks for the reply.
I changed my Live account to UK, so i hope i can just use it without restrictions. Else i'll just make a new one.
I checked the desktop version of Bing maps, and though the sattelite images are pretty outdated the roads and stuff are actually on par with Google. Assuminf desktop and wp7 use the same database, it should be fine.
I lived in the US for a couple of months, so I have a US bank account, including a US Zune Pass and XBOX account. So that made US the location for my live account. Rumour has it you can use those prepaid creditcards for a US account, but I haven't looked into that in detail. I have had absolutely zero problems with location limitations after that. As long as your live account is set for a location, and your phone matches that location, you should be good.
Im in Netherlands and use a UK live account with ING (netherlands) credit card and all works fine.
Samsung Omnia 7 is the best, easiest to use and smoothest phone I ever had.
I am looking for a tab(like) device for a christmas present for each of my boys. We travel a lot to family and they are used to playing their DSs and PSPs but would the KF be a solid replacement (emulators...)? Battery life/durability/price and fuctionality will be the deciding factor. They enjoy games (birds and such) on my phone and using my phone as a wifi HS in the car, it makes sence not to spend the extra money for a 3G tab.
If the KF is not the answer would a NC(rooted) be a more acceptable item?
Other ideas?
Thanks
Why would you want to replace the PSPs and DSs? Are the boys unhappy with them? Both devices have a solid backing.
In general, I think the Fire would probably work out ok, especially since you do a buy-once-share-to-all on apps, books, and music (I'm assuming each boy gets his own).
get them the new ps vita (new psp) that's coming out for the holidays.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
Two use their DSi(s) and the PSP has gone by the wayside. I am pushing the tab issue due to is versitility (apps/learning/games/music/video). I dont feel they are ready for their own laptop. Ages are 12,11,10,9,7 .... 3 and 5 months but the later two are not considered in the equation, unless someone pops up with a water proof model.
I have been looking at the NC, I dont have an issue rooting it and making it more versitile.
The Fire wouldn't be a bad way to go for what you want, but myself, I would go ahead with the laptop instead. Snag a couple of older models for $100 or so off Craigslist, let them get the hang of things on before handing them something nicer.
Little812 said:
Two use their DSi(s) and the PSP has gone by the wayside. I am pushing the tab issue due to is versitility (apps/learning/games/music/video). I dont feel they are ready for their own laptop. Ages are 12,11,10,9,7 .... 3 and 5 months but the later two are not considered in the equation, unless someone pops up with a water proof model.
I have been looking at the NC, I dont have an issue rooting it and making it more versitile.
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My 2 year old daughter loves the Nook Color and iPad. On the iPad she can wake it, unlock it, swipe to the page she wants and launch apps. I suspect the fire will be just as easy. the Nook Color takes more work to make it toddler friendly. But your kids are old enough that either the NC or Fire would be easy to pick up. I personally would pick the Fire over the Color if I had to pick. The experience isn't as smooth as I hope it will be on the Fire. I would guess because it's essentially a hacked together piece of kit and a slower processor.
I think you'll have an easier time deciding when all the reviews come out.
But I can tell you that my nephews absolutely love the rooted nook color they have and the Kindle Fire will almost certainly be better.
For your kids? I'd wait and read User Reviews and not the Professionals once the device is out for a while.
A lot of semi-negative info is floating around on "scalability" and what it can or cannot do (the AF, that is).
Kids get bored quickly and a device (any device) that one cannot modify, add to or otherwise personalize may or may not be a good long term solution.
Thanks all around. The wife and I discussed it last night and we are going to wait before pre-ordering and look at some reviews.
Thank you all for your responses.
FYI: Nook Color refurb for $149 at Buy.com
They're not really refurb, they're new units with full 1-yr warranty from B&N. They're labeled that way presumably to clear inventory w/o impacting the official price.
I've gotten 3 refurbs from various discount vendors, and they've always been new. Since I open up my electronics to tinker, it's easy to tell when a device is new as vs been serviced.
http://www.buy.com/prod/nook-color-...ed/q/loc/111/221376447.html?sellerId=31227291
The good thing about the NC over the KF is that it's already supported by CM, and when ICS drops, it'll be one of the first to get it.
I just bought 3 of these (after buying one,) for my boys - 11, 9, and 8.
These are really ideal for kids, especially since you can easily limit their access to stuff if you choose to.
If you know how to hack these, then they are REALLY ideal. You can remove the Silk Browser (or, move it somewhere where it can't easily be found.)
They DO NOT have access to the Google Market - Good THING!
By disabling one-click, you can allow them to download free apps, but not spend any money - IDEAL.
You can setup e-mail on them pretty easily.
They can watch Netflix, Hulu (watch out for age appropriate content - Hulu doesn't limit this as yet,) or even certain shows on Amazon, if you have Prime.
They can read eBooks from the Amazon store, or check out eBooks from the local library.
Kids aren't usually as picky about interfaces. The Bookshelf Launcher is perfect for them.
Hello, I've been tablet shopping and i found an A500 for $300 refurb. Best deal i can find around.
I want to buy it, but i'd like to ask a few questions first.
First off. It advertises as a Honeycomb tablet. Will there be an OTA ICS update waiting for me when i set it up?
If so, How is ICS on this device? Is it buggy? does everything work? Or will i be constantly rooting/roming to get it to work properly?
If i have to root/rom, How is it? Easy? difficult? oneclick? I know my phone was a pain, but another one i did was a snap. Wanted to know how easy it is to rom this device?
How is video playback? One of the main things i wish to do is play movies/videos. mainly; Netflix, Streaming, and .avi and mp4's. How is playback? I can't stand choppy video or audio-lag. So this is pretty important to me.
Also, Some basic performance reviews would be great. not the main purpose of this thread, but hey, any information is helpful.
I was looking between this and the EeePad transformer. Basically within $20 of eachother.
Thank you.
FourForty said:
Hello, I've been tablet shopping and i found an A500 for $300 refurb. Best deal i can find around.
I want to buy it, but i'd like to ask a few questions first.
First off. It advertises as a Honeycomb tablet. Will there be an OTA ICS update waiting for me when i set it up?
If so, How is ICS on this device? Is it buggy? does everything work? Or will i be constantly rooting/roming to get it to work properly?
If i have to root/rom, How is it? Easy? difficult? oneclick? I know my phone was a pain, but another one i did was a snap. Wanted to know how easy it is to rom this device?
How is video playback? One of the main things i wish to do is play movies/videos. mainly; Netflix, Streaming, and .avi and mp4's. How is playback? I can't stand choppy video or audio-lag. So this is pretty important to me.
Also, Some basic performance reviews would be great. not the main purpose of this thread, but hey, any information is helpful.
I was looking between this and the EeePad transformer. Basically within $20 of eachother.
Thank you.
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depending where you live you will most likely have ics waiting for you most places have it now ics runs nicely hadn't had any bugs with it so far the video playback is great the only time it starts to lag for me is when 1080p is being streamed to a TV ......rooting and romming is easy enough after root flashing custom roms is about 3 clicks from cmw lol rooting i cant say now i mine was rooted before ics but there's lots of tutorials performance wise it can be over clocked to about 1.5ghz but even not over clocked i hadn't found a game that will make it lag yet even N.O.V.A 3 with its online multi player and sweet graphics xD
Its not all amazing though there are some problems
1.some tablets don't have the best wifi saying even in the same room as the router they get one block of signal i think to be an old Gen problem though....i have surprisingly great wifi connection????
2.The Video recording is TERRIBLE on honeycomb not the video but the sound is all congested and gross,but if you do update it there has been BIG improvements with ics
3.does not like Bluetooth headsets with a mic input it will pair but not connect with most of them ,but some still work xD...
One more thing there is also built in GPS not needing wifi and great for gaming and modding so i think...external 3g Hawaii usb adapter have had success working micro sd works up to 64gb and external hard rive up to 2tb xD good luck hope this helped
FourForty said:
Hello, I've been tablet shopping and i found an A500 for $300 refurb. Best deal i can find around.
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You can beat that price easily. The last one I bought was auction style and got it for $210 shipped. It was the 8gb version. The 16gb can be had for a little more than that if you don't mind playing the auction game. Personally, I'd never pay more than $250 shipped for a refurb. I expect the refurbs to get to the ~$200 price point by the end of the summer.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...+a500&LH_FS=1&LH_BIN=1&_sop=15&_osacat=171485
As far as the rest... What Gears said.
Thank you both for the replies.
The WiFi connection concerns me a bit. But not a deal-breaker for sure.
Glad to hear video playback is good. As that's most likely going to be my main use of this tablet.
I don't use bluetooth headsets, so not too worried about that.
As for beating the price. Here in Canada, That's literally the best price i could find. Newegg.ca has it for $268. so after tax/fees, it's $301.
I'm not a fan of buying used electronics off ebay. Too much risk. and a boat load of hassle with returns/paypal. well, almost all are final sales. And i don't want to get screwed.
At least with sites such as newegg i get a warranty.
Even with that being said. I used your link and found one on ebay. Currently winning at $122. But with 6-days left. I doubt it will be a good deal. my max is $225, so we'll see how long that lasts.
FourForty said:
Thank you both for the replies.
The WiFi connection concerns me a bit. But not a deal-breaker for sure.
Glad to hear video playback is good. As that's most likely going to be my main use of this tablet.
I don't use bluetooth headsets, so not too worried about that.
As for beating the price. Here in Canada, That's literally the best price i could find. Newegg.ca has it for $268. so after tax/fees, it's $301.
I'm not a fan of buying used electronics off ebay. Too much risk. and a boat load of hassle with returns/paypal. well, almost all are final sales. And i don't want to get screwed.
At least with sites such as newegg i get a warranty.
Even with that being said. I used your link and found one on ebay. Currently winning at $122. But with 6-days left. I doubt it will be a good deal. my max is $225, so we'll see how long that lasts.
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FYI & I don't know if they are available in Canada, but a friend & I each picked up refurbished a500s from the referenced "Official Acer Store" on eBay. They came with a 90 day warranty. It was about 4 months ago and they were $267US then. Upon receipt both appeared to be brand new. Mine has had absolutlely no issues. My friend's developed a couple of horizontal colored lines after about 3 weeks. The Acer Store folks quickly arranged for a prepaid return and sent him another immaculate appearing unit in about a week. It has been flawless. None of the 3 units had any difficulty with Timmy Dean's v3.2.1, HC downgrade , the ICS OTA, or bootloader or ROM mods. Whatever you decide, goodluck. The a500 is a super piece of hardware and these forums are a goldmine of information and hours of reading pleasure!
I bought mine around valentines day off eBay for $280 refurbished, a 16gb version. Got the square trade warranty for $40. The tablet was fine for about a week and then my screen started coming up along the top/bottom edges. So I shipped it back. The second one has had no problem. I rooted, installed recovery, custom rom, and backed up on the first one. When my 2nd tablet came I was able to just root, install recovery and recover from my SD backup with no problem.
I love this tablet! Personally, I choose it over the Asus ones that were out at the time I got mine. From what I've heard, the Asus and other tablets don't allow a constant HDMI out like the Acer. They only utilize it when an app calls it. That could have been a stock rom issue, but even then if u have a newer tf101 u can't unlock it like its older model. As stated above, all games run flawlessly. I can play Shadow Gun then load up GTA3 and switch between the two without either game lagging.
You'll be happy with your purchase after the first minute of playing with the Iconia.
Sent from my Iconia A500 using XDA
WiFi works quite well under Gentoo for me. On Honeycomb, it was sightly buggy at times. The changes in ICS seem to have gotten rid of this issue, for me at least.
apapousek said:
WiFi works quite well under Gentoo for me. On Honeycomb, it was sightly buggy at times. The changes in ICS seem to have gotten rid of this issue, for me at least.
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Agreed i havnt had any wifi issues at all since ics
what specifically do you want to do with a tablet? That should help narrow your search , do you need root? do you need custom roms or is the stock fine? are you into testing? If your squeamish about "tech" stuff ,root /rom wont be your thing ,the stock roms offer alot in these tabs ,just having ICS doesnt ensure you anything over HC , most people have this problem about worrying about updates , getting antsy over it , if you go custom rom it all depends on what your comfortable with , you might change the rom daily ,or you might be totally satisfied ,I have a Windows phone 7 that has a custom rom I installed back in december , havent changed a thing since , On my Acer I couldnt tell where I was a week ago ,everything gets changed between a few days to a week !
Read the dev section , anything by skrillax ,civato ,vache,blkthdr (thor if you can find it) and Moscow desire to name a few and you'll be on the right track and as civato says "dont be a chicken, just do it" otherwise stay stock and wait for Acer............
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
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Moving to Q&A
Finally got the Nexus 7 in the mail today. Very happy with it, like how it feels and performs. Very happy with the price too.
Being a iPhone and iPad user since the original iPhone to just selling my 4s. Android is very exciting.
I also recently bought the Samsung Galaxy S3 and been loving it, have it rooted and running a custom rom, it is everything I wanted from Android.
Now with this new tablet, I am wondering if there is anything I should do to make the most out of having both an android phone and tablet. Apps that synchronize or just work really well together.
I also wanted to say that although I really enjoy everything I've come across with this OS I am a bit disappointed with the app ecosystem, and wanted to ask if long time android users have noticed that there have been more app being produced recently or if it is picking up. Although their is a few replacements for some of the apps I'm used to, they don't seem as polished, specifically I had an app classed iStudiezPro that synced my iphone,Ipad, and macbook with all my teacher info, class schedules, homework assignments, final dates, grades, ect ect. Looking for stuff like that.
Thanks for the help in advance,
Alex
P.s. I see up top that SyncSMS is recommended, is that the best way to text from the tablet from your phone? I heard of MightText also. Any suggestions?
Alex2x3 said:
Finally got the Nexus 7 in the mail today. Very happy with it, like how it feels and performs. Very happy with the price too.
Being a iPhone and iPad user since the original iPhone to just selling my 4s. Android is very exciting.
I also recently bought the Samsung Galaxy S3 and been loving it, have it rooted and running a custom rom, it is everything I wanted from Android.
Now with this new tablet, I am wondering if there is anything I should do to make the most out of having both an android phone and tablet. Apps that synchronize or just work really well together.
I also wanted to say that although I really enjoy everything I've come across with this OS I am a bit disappointed with the app ecosystem, and wanted to ask if long time android users have noticed that there have been more app being produced recently or if it is picking up. Although their is a few replacements for some of the apps I'm used to, they don't seem as polished, specifically I had an app classed iStudiezPro that synced my iphone,Ipad, and macbook with all my teacher info, class schedules, homework assignments, final dates, grades, ect ect. Looking for stuff like that.
Thanks for the help in advance,
Alex
P.s. I see up top that SyncSMS is recommended, is that the best way to text from the tablet from your phone? I heard of MightText also. Any suggestions?
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I've used DeskSMS, and Textab. I didn't like the fact that Textab required bluetooth pairing of my phone and tablet. That resticted the distance between my phone and tablet. For that reason I liked DeskSMS. DeskSMS sends your txts to your gmail, and gtalk. This is very convient. All that is needed is a wifi connection to receive txts that go to your phone on your tablet. Also, I believe MMS messages are sent as attachments to your gmail. I have no experience with MightyText but the description says it runs through a browser. That is a restriction I do not what to have. I'm assuming that if I close the browser I won't receive txts on my phone. So with that said SendSMS was the best for me.
Here is a thread discussing alternatives to iStuziepro.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1483142
Try Class Buddy.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acj0.classbuddy&feature=search_result#?t=W10.
There are other suggestions in that thread.
Hello all.
Just wanted to share my experience with my new nexus 7 tablet. I picked it up at bestbuy Friday since it was tax free weekend here in Tennessee. I must say I am very impressed with this tablet. I had the original N7, and sold it 2 months ago to purchase a 32 gb nexus 10. I fell in love with the N10 immediately. It was by far the best tablet I had ever used. Well, this new N7 is just as good if not better. I will say, it is hard to compare the two because they are vastly different animals. I personally think the new N7 beats the N10, especially spec wise, but with the difference in screen size, these two tablets are really designed for completely different tasks.
One thing I have not been able to sort out yet is being able to use usb storage with my new N7. I am able to use my external hard drive with my N10 as well as my new Macbook air and even my Galaxy Note 2, but have not been able to use it with my N7 yet. Furthermore, I am also unable to get my Macbook air to recognize my N7 without booting the macbook into Win7. Sometime in the near future I will root the new N7 and install stickmount and see if it will recognize usb storage. I have not
researched a root method yet for the N7 but I'm sure there is one available, and if not there will be one soon. Most likely this will fix my usb storage on the N7. Still kind of stumped as to why my Macbook will only recognize it when booted in Win7.
If anyone has any questions about the new N7 feel free to post or shoot me an email at [email protected]. I don't mind answering any questions you may have because I know personally I like to do as much research as possible before I buy a new piece of electronic equipment.
Droid Nas app will make it easy to transfer files in between your Macbook and your Nexus 7. I haves used it on both models.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Tax free weekend in Tennessee? Is that a normal thing that happens? Curious!