Hi, I wanted to know what you guys think of the Focus and is it a worth getting?
What are the ups and downs of windows phone 7?
Is there any major hardware issues that I should consider before getting one?
Thanks in advance
I bought the phone outright from Rogers for $630.00 and I don't have a single regret! I think WP7 is gonna be a VERY strong competitor against ios and android by the end of the year. Microsoft needs a few updates to give the devs more control to create better apps, it needs some more user customization, and as most complaints would be it doesn't have copy & paste (which I dont care about at all)
All these are coming in updates soon and once the ball really starts rollin' I think WP7 will be a major success.
Is it worth buying the Focus? ABSOLUTELY! I love the phone, its so fast, fluid, and feels great.
I have new hopes for MS now, and I think Im currently leaning towards WP7 more than android and ios.
just my opinion,,,,hope this helps.
Sweet! You won't regret it IMHO.
My top 5 tips for the Focus (extra important for someone like me outside US warranty cover):
1. TAKE TREMENDOUS care clipping on/off the rear plate-phone back. It is plastic, with a couple of tiny plastic clips holding it in. Break these.....replacment back plate or blu-tac required!
2. Think long and hard over a case (I got a body glove - review on this site). This can be a slippery little sucker once the back plate gets some natural body oils / sweat / humidity etc on it. It has such a small form factor – cases do not weight it down too much in my opinion.
3. Add expandable memory at your own risk until MS offer a certified list / approved card process. If you do – load up the phone above the 8GB limit ASAP to test stability over a week or so. If you add heaps of apps and custom info and then need to hard reset, you've wasted a decent amount of time.
4. Use the Samsung Profile app (marketplace) to move the MMS capability over to your preferred carrier if outside US (eg Telstra Australia = worked for me).
5. Remove the AT&T bloat/software if outside US App support.
From one very happy Aussie Focus owner.
Thanks guys I'm see about getting one in a few weeks.
So no custom roms for this device yet, no ones working with this or any of the WP7 phones?
Think again
Noz85 said:
Thanks guys I'm see about getting one in a few weeks.
So no custom roms for this device yet, no ones working with this or any of the WP7 phones?
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Click to collapse
If you are, like me, a former WM 6.5 guy who liked to flash custom ROMs and are thinking about a WP7 device, you are on the wrong path my friend. Custom ROMs on a WP7 device? Have you not read anything in these threads? I went to the Focus from a FUZE with a 6.5.5 Energy ROM, and tweaked and upgraded constantly, including my apps. I did this becuase I wanted to and thought I needed to. It was insanity and I realize this now that I have the Focus. I no longer need to do that, and no longer want to do that. My apps update on their own, the OS will too, and I would like to see some OS updates but don't need them. If what you want to do is tweak, customize and burn new custom ROMs, look elsewhere than WP7.
While we're on topic, how is the call quality?
Call quality
mcorrie1121 said:
While we're on topic, how is the call quality?
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Click to collapse
The best of any smartphone I've ever used - Kaiser, Rhodium, iPhone 1st gen and 3GS. It REALLY sounds good. MUCH better radio than any of the other mentioned phones, as well, in terms of reception and coverage on AT&T in my location.
wspaw said:
The best of any smartphone I've ever used - Kaiser, Rhodium, iPhone 1st gen and 3GS. It REALLY sounds good. MUCH better radio than any of the other mentioned phones, as well, in terms of reception and coverage on AT&T in my location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
that I can definitely agree with! Excellent call quality!
Samsung Focus WP7 pros and cons
Check Youtube video: "The Dark Side of the Samsung Focus"
I am hearing some a mono tone noise in the background while using my Bluetooth headset, such as Jawbone Icon, Sound ID5 etc.
The App store is still at its infancy. The interface is sometimes sluggish and crash without response especially on 3rd party apps. There is no VOIP applications yet because MS hasn't released the API. The screen of the Focus is sometimes way too sensitive that I have to do a factory reset or complete shut down of the phone.
CONS:
- Bluetooth + 3G call interfere with WiFi signal.
- Camera Settings are Not Saved after usage. I have to re-set 720P for video everytime!
- No video upload to social network nor Youtube yet.
- No dedicate Youtube app beside the mobile web interface. I really like the latest Youtube app in Android where you can have full screen in landscape and a small video still running on top with comments and related links at the bottom.... too bad it's only limited to Froyo or above version.
- Bluetooth Remote Control Protocol (No track change, No Volume Control)
- No Hidden WiFi SSID
- No native multilingual input support such as Chinese text and voice input yet.
- Voice control sometimes forces you to quite to the home page and need to press and hold the Windows Button again.
- No HTML5, Text rendering engine is sometimes very slow which results in unreadable pixelated form when zoomed in.
- Lacking confirmation before shut down when press and hold the power/sleep button. Both iOS and Android prompt for shut down not WP7.
- Charging time is very long. Sometimes it takes 8 Hours to charge from 0 % to 100%.
- Volume Button sometimes gets stuck depending on the surrounding temperature such as too cold at around 56ºF.
- Capacitive Buttons at the bottom are sometimes too sensitive which causes quitting a game and need to be restarted all over again.
- No Multitask or limited multi-task yet.
- A lot of games need to start from the beginning instead of pausing the state when quitting the app accidentally.
- No free turn-by-turn Navigation system.
- No Skype, fring, not even official Windows Live Messenger client yet (Zune HD has Windows Live Messenger already).
- No Front Facing Camera for video call
- Cannot change theme by default (without jailbreaking)
- Only Vibrate twice then ringtone instead of vibrating and ringtone simultaneously.
- No Threaded email
- Hard to manage tons of apps if MS still keep the same Metro UI without implementing some kind of folder system.
- Apps only sorted in Alphabetic order
- Text Message does not show nor highlight the phone number of the contact. I often get confused on which number did the caller call from, Google Voice, Mobile, Office, or Home??
- Cannot SMS to pager, home, and other category number except Mobile. Unless you type it in manually or go through the contact list.
- SMS doesn't use two colors or styles to distinguish you or the person you are trying to SMS to.
Pros:
- (Just Discovered) Able to record HD video with voice during any phone calls! No other Operating System can do that well and smooth. iPhone blocks the video capture during phone call, Symbian doesn't allow voice but video, Android camera is totally disabled, while the iOS allows you to take picture at least but not video.
- Thinnest and lightest WP7 phone
- 4" Super AMOLED screen
- Nice and loud speaker
- Chrome bezel and back cover.
- in-line and in-ear headphone with mic and volume control included
- Pin Apps, Songs, Website, People, etc to Home screen
- Large icons for touch
- Fast loading for MS's native interface
- Great Start for version 1.0 of the WP7. There are plenty of improvement and I'm sure MS will tackle the above issues in future updates.
Nice review, squarejp - thanks for sharing that.
User experience on the Focus is somewhat varied, I would say. Some prefer the plain glass "feel" versus having a third party screen protector like Zagg's InvisibleShield (my preference) on it, for example.
My experience with the Focus is that is an awesome phone. WP7 has some challenges ahead but I am optimistic (even if naively so) that most, if not all, of the issues will get hashed out over time. I'm very pleased with this phone and can't wait to see what the future holds for it!
Thanks guys looks like a solid device. I wasn't really looking to mod it just figured I'd ask. I got the aria for Modding anyways.
sent from my HTC Intruder
squarejp:
Some of Your cons seem to be a matter of personal preference, not an actual limitation of the phone. two colour sms? c'mon, if you can't tell that the bubble on the right is you and the bubble on the left is your sms partner, then Metro is obviously lost on you.
The best thing about this phone is what JamesAllen has said. it just works, you don't have to dicker around with it (that is unless of course you're taking it from one network to another).
If you want something to enable you to use the features most people expect in a smartphone while being able to enjoy an unlimited data plan, this is definitely a great phone.
Check out the Real CONS on Youtube.
Search "The Dark Side of The Samsung Focus"
Bluetooth + 3G interfere with WiFi signal.
Highly recommend this device and OS.
Put my nightmare X10 right back in the box.
can I chime in
the ONE thing that drives me crazy about the phone is the small landscape keyboard. I can live with almost all of the other nuances. My captivate keyboard spread accross the bottom of the screen and was really easy to type on. the landscape keyboard on WP7 is just too small.
Several games are being forced into full screen. Games that normally show the home bar at the bottom are not. Causing the games to stretch and making it difficult to leave the game. Is there a way for to force the home bar to stay? It doesn't do this on any of my other phones.. I'll provide a screenshot of what it's supposed to look like and in the next comment of what it looks like on the essential phone.
Edit: I am at work and my essential Phone died. It'll be awhile before I can post the screenshot of that device.
LG G6
Ok I've figured it's got to due with the aspect ratio being used. On all current Android phones you can adjust the aspect ratio of the game but it's not giving me those options on the essential phone. Causing my games and a few apps to stretch.
Hello there,
I am an iPhone Jailbreak user, who has always been curious about the capabilities of an Android phone to see if it matches upto anything the Jailbroken iPhones can do in my own perspective. I've posted on other communities before to ask these questions but since I got no real good answer, I decided to buy an old Nexus 4 phone (running v5.1.1 i believe) to see what the Android can do myself.
Now, I've noticed that with these "Dual Screen Browsers", specifically the "Dual Screen Browser" and the "DualScreen" app has this capability of when you have a Flash Video playing, and if you go back to the Home screen, it continues to play the video in the background. My understanding was for Android, because it uses an OOM memory management system, playing videos as if it remained in the foreground should not be possible, but some how these two apps are able to do this.
I also realized the app "Floating Apps" also achieves a similar effect of playing any Flash videos in the background. although for this it seems like it leaves a tiny icon floating around the phone. which seems totally fine. i would assume this behavior can be made available to all apps with an option to disable this feature (including games)
Could anyone shed light to how these three apps works, and what allows them to do this? Can this behavior be mimic'd for things like a Game app?
Or could anyone point to a better forum to ask these questions?
Since I now have an Android phone I can actually try out whatever suggestions may pop up so this is exciting.
Thank you all in advance.
I'm wondering if there are any ideas on how to utilize the second screen for video playback in addition to the primary.
In the age of notched displays, the corner camera cutout suddenly seems in vogue. With the second screen taken into account, the V20 ends up with a 1:1.9 display which is pixel perfect for cinema 2K full envelope video (1440x2720).
I recall hearing about bugs in various AOSP implementations on the V20 that resulted in this effect; however, it'd be great to have the option as part of a stock ROM, or at least deliberate and controllable in AOSP.
Any thoughts or takers?
Here's a quick mock up: https://imgur.com/a/rkjqU
nickthaskater said:
I'm wondering if there are any ideas on how to utilize the second screen for video playback in addition to the primary.
In the age of notched displays, the corner camera cutout suddenly seems in vogue. With the second screen taken into account, the V20 ends up with a 1:1.9 display which is pixel perfect for cinema 2K full envelope video (1440x2720).
I recall hearing about bugs in various AOSP implementations on the V20 that resulted in this effect; however, it'd be great to have the option as part of a stock ROM, or at least deliberate and controllable in AOSP.
Any thoughts or takers?
Here's a quick mock up: https://imgur.com/a/rkjqU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This would be absolutely be sweet if somehow implenmented/done. Even gif usage would be cool like by signature or even all screen scrolls.
I am on XDA, so obviously into tech. However, I have never wanted a smart watch because my watches have always worked just fine and I didn't want to complicate my life with another device. Now, I am considering a smart watch, but only because I want features of certain faces from watches I can't afford. So I am looking at some websites like facer and facerepo, and I see these faces, but I get the feeling the faces don't really do what I want. Jumping right to it, here are a few faces I'm talking about. I want to know if any of these actually have a fully functional rotating bezel slide rule, because they don't really say on most of them.
https://www.facer.io/watchface/UJHabwygLz
https://facerepo.com/app/faces/details/citizen-promaster-eco-drive-15be46ec61a
https://facerepo.com/app/faces/details/navitimer-world-164d340d79f
Point is, if I could have any watch, I would want a Breitling Navitimer, but I can't spend $5k on a watch. I want a chrono with 3 subdials for seconds, 30-60 minutes, and 12-24 hours, along with a slide rule bezel. I assume most of these faces don't have a functional bezel ring. Some of them that I have found specifically say that the bezel ring is for something like battery charge or simply not functional.
But then there are some like these...
https://facerepo.com/app/faces/details/titan-gmt-diver-15412757952 (It says functional diver's bezel ring, and "just start tapping")
And most particularly interesting to me is this one:
https://www.watchfaces.be/roger-dubuis-diver/
It specifically says tap 12 o'clock to access the dive bezel and tap center to zoom. So this tells me that I am able to make a face with a rotating bezel function, but I can't test it out since I don't have a watch, so I don't really understand how it works.
So my questions are basically, is it practical to make a rotating bezel function like a slide rule? And secondly, what exactly does the "zoom" look like? Because small numbers on a watch face are difficult to read. Can I make a face with slide rule bezel that works and be able to zoom into a portion that I am trying to dial in and then zoom to another part of the ring to read the numbers? If so, a smart watch is in my future.
Finally, I see some of the watches like the Samsung Galaxy or the Fossil Sport that have physical pushers on the face. Can I program those to work like chrono buttons? Or do they only function for OS navigation? I would like to be able to make a watch that functions like an analog watch and uses the pushers like a regular watch if possible. I don't even really care that much about the smart functions right now. Any advice is appreciated.
You can use facer and watchmaker without watch. It is an Android app working on phone. So you can load the faces into the app and see how they works. I think that Watchmaker was better (and easy) than Facer. For bezel rotate or anything else you can do what you want yourself with Watchmaker(facer) so no limit
dersie said:
You can use facer and watchmaker without watch. It is an Android app working on phone. So you can load the faces into the app and see how they works. I think that Watchmaker was better (and easy) than Facer. For bezel rotate or anything else you can do what you want yourself with Watchmaker(facer) so no limit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If those features are available to make into a face, I guess it might be worth it to try it out. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into the watches more and will try a face on the phone before I buy anything, to make sure I like the functions.