Should i buy into the XDAII or not ? - General Topics

HI
Looking for some input from users of the XDAII.
I have been reading these forums for a while now and i see lots and LOTS of problems with the XDAII. Specifically it seems to be flaky as a phone ...go figure.....
So what i am wondering is if you had your time over would you buy into the XDAII again or give it a miss based on your user experience?
Primarily i need GPS navigation around U.K (as an Aussie who has only been here a few months i find the road signs and directions on signs confusing to say the least...lets not even get into some of the stupid junctions and the way they are set up...). The phone part is nice and is of course why i am considering it over an Ipaq. However whats the point of an XDAII if the phone is flaky ? i need reliable comms on the road not excuses ..or lost data on the SD card...or blue tooth problems etc etc....
Having said all that i still really want one but i am just worried about all the niggly problems i will in all likely hood have to deal with and frankly who needs more s*** in their life then the boss/wife/kids/lover/s already give us ;-) ( i'm talking about you guys there not me , i only flirt with my computer )
So i am stuck right now between the XDAII or an Ipaq........perhaps the Ipaq and my trusty 6310i is the way to go......but the idea of a phone wrapped into the pda is SO so appealing......
ah , decisions decisions.....
anyone got any words of wisdom ?
Thanks for your input
Regards
Mark

I'll always choose XDA II hands-down over Ipaq and 6310i. Bluetooth for the in the latest ROM update is fixed. I've had my XDA for 3 months now and I have no regrets...Well, maybe when XDA III comes out probably

I was pondering this same question just yesterday, wondering whether I was happy with my XDA2 when I see so many people in these forums with problems.
The truth is that it's still a superb machine. These forums will always be full of the users who have problems and questions - that's why this forum exists. The phone isn't flaky at all, IMHO. I've never had a problem, and everything works as well as I would expect, including my (original, never-upgraded) ROM and Bluetooth stuff.
But then I've never tried GPS, and this seems to be the cause of a lot of problems for people.
A small vocal minority of people will never be happy with their XDA2 because it isn't perfect in their definition. The posts of those people might give the impression that the XDA2 is fundamentally flawed, which IMHO it isn't at all. It's not perfect, but then nobody who complains has ever proposed an alternative that is.
All devices have their faults and weaknesses. The XDA2 has far fewer than anything else I've ever used. Go for it!

also people without issues dont really write that many thread
looking for asnwers as to why they dont have issues and what they
are to do to change that

Integrated Wi-Fi and blue tooth on the 6300 and it'll most likely be cheaper for U.S. customers who don't want a plan, it's an easy decision for me.

Hi
yeah i'm on the fence with this one. When i read a problem post i decide to give it a miss. then i read someone who say they have such joy with this unit and i think yeah i'm going for it.
i do this evryday. result ...a monh later i dont have anything !!!
so i reckon a lot of you are right, its probaly screwy software that messes up the phone.
I'm going for it !!!
Now watch all my frantic posts ...Help BT not working, my phone talks to me after midnight , ...my XDAII has a crush on me and wont stop stalking me etc
Thanks for the opininons
Best Regards and you'll be hearing from me soon heheheehe
Mark

Well, good luck! If I had a choice, I wouldn't go with O2 again. While the XDA2 may be good, I have been distinctly unimpressed with O2, having come from Orange.
If you can (and I'm not sure when Orange are to release their M1000) go for a non-O2 XDA2, or get an unlocked one.
Let us know how you get on.

i just gotten my 2020 after being without my xda1 since it were stolen i'm happy with it
though i think that people should know that a xda1 and 2 are much closer to the pc world then cellphone world
also i feel that palm is more of a PDA and pocketpc's are more well
pc's which fit the pocket
this mean that the user have to be more active making it spin
and also that the user have more power to mess up the device

sublimatica said:
A small vocal minority of people will never be happy with their XDA2 because it isn't perfect in their definition. The posts of those people might give the impression that the XDA2 is fundamentally flawed, which IMHO it isn't at all. It's not perfect, but then nobody who complains has ever proposed an alternative that is.
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very well said. i think the issue with the XDA2 is either people are too tech-oriented and want to make the XDA2 do amazing things (which it can, but of course we cant claim that it was designed to do EVERYTHING) or the noobs who tinker with it and end up messing up, then blaming the manufacturers, software, etc. etc.
But if you're a normal user. . . out of the box, the XDAII in GENERAL is a sublime piece of hardware.

Related

im done with PDA's

Had enough,
sure i shall miss the stuff you can do but tbh for me most avg phones are closing in fast,on ability and im sick to death of crashes,bugs,reinstall's
it jusy aint worth the headache,im off to find a decent Phone
well the more normal "smart" phones catch up
the more advanced their software will be and
the more issues they will get
:s
we're doomed if we do and doomed if we dont
yer your right just phone and msn n email will do me these days
If I would put the energy that I put into my PDA (to get it work properly to keep in touch with my mates), into the relationsships with my friends, they would like me more than now... Most of them don't care if I call then via VoIP or Skype if at least I DO call...
I had a few of things that bugged me about having a PDA ,but i compromised them in the belief that ,they it will be far more worthwhile to have one and live with the issues
but the faults list grows and the good point just arent enough
TBH I don't know what the fuss is about. I have an XDA mini which is fabulous. Never crashed in 6 months and I'm running Tom Tom aswell. The only problem is that it's not working properly now, but that's since it got soaked in my pocket riding from Newcastle to Edinburgh on the bike in the rain. It's still going and it handles everything I do and more without question. I'm sticking with my PDA phone to save me carrying two things around with me (I need all the stuff when I'm running a business).
I have had my last 3 HTC devices from a friend who has bought them, had problems, and bought the next one that comes along thinking things will get better.
I never have these unreliability issues he always has, and they are the exact same devices he has had.
I put it down to the type of person, and knowledge of the device.
Sure, you shouldn't need to be a technical person just to use a PDA, but it obviously makes a difference.
Maybe you just need to stick to a Palm or Blackberry
Jace - I'm interested to know which device you used.
I used the xda2s and the xda exec and got really fed up with both.
I'm not remotely technical and just wanted a good phone that does email and few other bits when needed.
Got the xda mini in July this year and have never looked back. It is a pure phone that does the few extra things I need without issue.
If possible I suggest you try it as you may be surprisingly pleased with it.
HPJ
In a way, I could understand where the original poster is coming from. But don't get me wrong I love windows mobile devices, but if your like most people, we just want things to work. So when things don't work, your either the type that'll find ways to make it work, or the type that'll just find another device. We have to be honest, those of us that come in and out of these forums on a daily basis with hacks and solutions and those of us looking for hacks and solutions for our windows powered devices are among the few that'll actually take the time out to do so. If you think about it, It can literally take up to 3 months are more to actually get the device operating exactly the way you wanted it. Mabey that's just a little too long for the average person.
I too have felt like the OP, contemplating over and over again, after the countless amount of resets, whether or not I should just go get a fancy nokia n series or something, but I have grown found of my wizard, and its kinda of fun hacking away at its OS to see it become highly operational, kinda like the way M$ should of made it out the box. Just my two cents.
Here is a story about a friend of mine (no point posting my opinion as part of the reason I love my Jamin is the fact that I can tweak it and make little apps for it - so I don't care even if it does require reset on occasion).
Any way this friend has a company phone (a simple Nokia) and he gets a lot of calls on it (part of the job). Trouble is this phone doesn't have BT so my friend complained that at the end of the day his ear heart.
The thing is, this particular friend always told me that Phone edition Pocket PC devices are too unstable, too big and generally useless as phones.
One they he got a MIO a701. At first he told me he was just using it for the BT so he can speak through the hands-free.
Now he just won't give it up. Even when his headset broke he still refused to go back to the regular phone.
Once while on a lunch break 2 minutes walk outside the office, he wanted to log in to his account on our server but for some reason the device couldn't connect (faulty GPRS settings). He begged me to use my Jamin.
I wouldn't let him, arguing that his work station was just an elevator ride away.
Eventually he broke, and admitted that he just couldn't give up the convenience.
HPJ
I have owned a MDA Compact,which was ok but when i up dated the ROM from the TMobile site it fried the unit,
I then got an Exec,i have found that ok for my needs,(being phone,email,msn,web browsing)
but i agree with the above comments for some one not so minded tech wise,then maybe an incorrect choice of device for me
Basically an out the box unit ,is ok,just ok
but to make it decent takes some effort to get the best from the device
Ok they cant make the device suit everyone out the box,i undertsand that
however freezing up and soft resets a plenty,they are just too unstable for me
beofre my job required me to be away for long periods and the Exec fitted my needs ,now i think ill just be happy with less abilitys and more stability
The smartphones and nokias are gaining ground fast,for my needs maye they are better
The upside for me is the way you can alter and personalise the devices
but to be used day in day out as also my main phone there are far to unstable
In my case i had a compact which went tits up after a simple ROM update,
then an Exec which would freeeze and be a bit moody but then when the shutdown.battery problem started ouccruing(got new battery now)i just said to myself
you know what aint worth the hassle
dodgy pics a cheap nokia can match and beng a brick etc etc
maybe id be more suited to a smartphone or just a humble phone but me and HTC Pda just dont work out
I suppose at this point in timei dont have the time to mess around too much with the units
So my ideal maybe my Exec for away from home times and other certain situs but day to day maybe a an all singing all dancing mobile
ntornics said:
its kinda of fun hacking away at its OS to see it become highly operational,
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You hit the nail on the head. You find it fun, and actually know how to get into the OS and mess around with it. There are plenty out there like me who haven't the faintest clue. We want our xda's to work out the box, and thats all. We come on this forum to 'take' information: get interesting apps, ask silly questions etc. I've very rarely ever actually contributed as such.
And then, when something doesn't work, we either continue to bang our heads against a wall trying to get a fix (from you guys, not from ourselves), or we move on.
Getting my xda mini s was my last attempt, and I am glad to say that it has never crashed; is never slow on answering a call; does not look like it belongs in a laptop case; and email works perfectly. The only thing I would like would be a today screen like I see so many screen shots of on here, but I haven't a clue and it would probably slow the thing down anyway :wink:
These devices are so young anyway it's no surprise they have problems. Can't wait to see what's gonna be around in 5 years time.....
good point mate
ive just read the hermes prob thread & ive had the exec battery problem
nothing is flawless in life,but it dont help that they release these products with faults
your mayor phone makers dont release units with big issues
i think id seen the light when having the exec battery problem came along and while a new battery arrived,i used a nokia 3250 it was such a nice change to have a device that preformed its functions
i just think we accpet a lot in PDA's that maybe we wouldnt put up with in a PC,Car or phone
we think its a trade of for there many functions for some problems but were do you draw the line
how many soft resets do we do?freezes?
anyone reading this do you feel ive just picked the wrong devices?,if so what do you think may have been with hindsight a better option?
Can't wait to see what's gonna be around in 5 years time.....
Click to expand...
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what today hang around for 5years time?
apart from social deseases ?

Hermes or Universal?

Hello All,
Which is the best between these 2 machines? What are the main differences? Please help....
I have a choice of these 2 PDA's and have no idea which to choose....
Many thanks.
Jimmy
One vote for Universal
407,592 votes for the Hermes
So far from my experience with both the Hermes has been the easiest to work with in terms of size and suitability for use as a primary phone.
EDIT:: Check the wiki pages for the main differences.....take into account the sizes however.
It all depends on whether you really need the VGA screen. If you don't, go for the Hermes.
Well I couldnt let the Universal go... I picked one up off Ebay for £45.
It was an old couple who had received it as an upgrade and didnt want it... It is in perfect condition, and has a 2GB SD Card.....
I have just got to learn how to use it now...
I have posted this somewhere else on this forum, but can anyone tell me about the GPRS? I need to ensure that I don't use this feature on the phone, otherwise I will get a massive bill....... Wifi is free and is almost everywhere so I can use this. Can the GPRS be turned off, or does it need this to work at all.... If it cannot be turned off, how do I make sure that I dont use it, and only wifi or the normal GSM...
Once again.. Many thanks... And I am a total beginner to PDA's and the likes.. So be gentle..
Enjoy your Universal! It's been my first cellphone ever and even until today one of the most sophisticated handhelds ever produced in my view. It misses a few things like builtin GPS, HSDPA (normal 3G is quite ok though), a 3D chip (purely optional at least for me) and the RAM is a bit on the skimpy side. But there's still one of the best hardware keyboards I've seen and the VGA screen that always made me wonder how anybody can still use QVGA (and how HTC didn't make the switch a long time ago). So many things (from PDFs over ebooks to webpages) are totally unusable with QVGA and only performance reasons are speaking for this resolution.
Apart from that swivel format was and is probably not the best choice. In the beginning there were lots of programs that totally didn't get along with the inverted screen (or the landscape factor) and even now that that is fixed the hinge sure is one of the weak points of this device. And while I haven't managed to break mine so far it sure is not as sturdy anymore as it used to be. What's more is that the Uni definitely is one bulky device, but I actually never minded when people stared incredulously at me holding "the brick" to my ear ;-) With a 4.800 mAh battery attached it's beyond good and evil anyway...
I just realized how many weak points I mentioned and how I actually couldn't care less about them. The Universal always seemed a bit like a case study and an experiment and it might very well end up being a one of it's kind in HTCs lineup if the Omni proved indeed to be vaporware. But like all good things it just gets better and better (I'm pretty sure that it is the perfect candidate for an early Android release as well) as time passes and I can hardly imagine myself replacing the little bugger before it has lived through its third year. So once again, have fun starting out with one of the greatest and most prominent WM phones on the market!

I love my Polaris , am I crazy ?

there is a planty of guys who read about the missed drivers and stop them polaris orders ...
many others may think that without the missed drivers polaris its a crap...
to all them I say : NO , polaris really isn't a crap , after one mounth I own it I can say that polaris is the best pocketpc I never owned !
and trust in me , I've owned many many of thats.
am I crazy ?
stesa said:
there is a planty of guys who read about the missed drivers and stop them polaris orders ...
many others may think that without the missed drivers polaris its a crap...
to all them I say : NO , polaris really isn't a crap , after one mounth I own it I can say that polaris is the best pocketpc I never owned !
and trust in me , I've owned many many of thats.
am I crazy ?
Click to expand...
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same me too mate!
Bye
stesa said:
and trust in me , I've owned many many of thats.
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Care to share what those prior devices were? If they were a bunch of OMAP 850 200mhz devices, then it's really not saying much.
confirmation in plan how much you say spread, every day that passes always discovers more this fantastic one ppc.
you and energy59 I ask why not to open a forum all Italian (like fact for tytn II)?
I'm just as crazy as you, trust me.
For me, the video driver is not an issue, but now that the community jumped on it, i do DEMAND that HTC releases something, because it feels kinda laggy
This is my first "decent" PDA (former were Palm 3 and V, both VERY black/white screens ) and I am very happy about it
is the gps really laggy as the video shown? Thanks
JNGold said:
Care to share what those prior devices were? If they were a bunch of OMAP 850 200mhz devices, then it's really not saying much.
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its a really long list , and a shame for my poor money , but if you care about ... well , i've owned
SP : typhoon , tornado , startrek , excalibur , cavalier.
pocketpc : magician , wizard , universal , prophet , hermes , trinity , artemis , cheetah , herald , kaiser , niki , and for last polaris.
and non HTC , eten m600 x500 x800 , hp 6815 , asus p525 , and a few of SE and nokia smartphone.
I think I have enough experience to make a comparison, you believe?
queener said:
is the gps really laggy as the video shown? Thanks
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navigation software on polaris work very well , I'm using tomtom , garmin xt and destinator 7 without problems
This is my first PPC device and I'm very happy with it. The GPS works very well with TomTom and Google Maps.
Worth every penny.
Yeah, same with me: I'm completely with this device, and I must have used a dozen other models over the years. I know people want to demonise HTC over this 'cause they've got their righteous consumer indignation on, but I feel like this device does everything that was promised and more.
It's a shame, really, because this is getting a lot of press, which might deter people from buying HTC devices, when I think they'd probably all be completely happy with them -- and those extra sales mean more focus on the Windows Mobile platform, which means more software solutions and better integration between other systems and these devices. So the community is kinda shooting itself in the foot with this.
Just one more vote from an avid PPC owner...
TC is the best I have used. Bar none. GPS is fantastic (TomTom), TouchFlo is great, weight and size are wonderful - and video performance suits my needs. I'm with the guys who say if you are looking for a high performance video device - why are you looking at a mobile phone??? I understand that it's like having a Ferrari and being forced to drive in the slow lane, but I convert my video to 240x320 and it runs smooth as silk on CorePlayer.
If we get the updated drivers from all this press, great - I'll use them. But as others have already said, I sure hope that we are not hurting ourselves by pushing people away from the WM platform and HTC!
PPC: Toshiba e740 -> e750 -> e800
WM: Blue Angel, Artemis, Trinity, Kaiser, TC
stesa said:
am I crazy ?
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your avatar is a cannabis leaf.
Olipro said:
your avatar is a cannabis leaf.
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Yeah! could make one crazy sometimes
Olipro said:
your avatar is a cannabis leaf.
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You are right, but I had the same avatar with the previous devices...
SabbeRubbish said:
This is my first "decent" PDA (former were Palm 3 and V, both VERY black/white screens ) and I am very happy about it
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Nowt wrong with the Palm V, they were a great PDA. Two stylii and a battery that lasted a fortnight, them were the days...
hamishmacdonald said:
Yeah, same with me: I'm completely with this device, and I must have used a dozen other models over the years. I know people want to demonise HTC over this 'cause they've got their righteous consumer indignation on, but I feel like this device does everything that was promised and more.
It's a shame, really, because this is getting a lot of press, which might deter people from buying HTC devices, when I think they'd probably all be completely happy with them -- and those extra sales mean more focus on the Windows Mobile platform, which means more software solutions and better integration between other systems and these devices. So the community is kinda shooting itself in the foot with this.
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I partly agree with you ,but what else can we do?
We know that they wont make the drivers unless we have them cornered somehow?
The point is that we have already bought these devices under what we believe is misleading specifications.
rhov23 said:
I partly agree with you ,but what else can we do?
We know that they wont make the drivers unless we have them cornered somehow?
The point is that we have already bought these devices under what we believe is misleading specifications.
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I fully agree with you , but this do not mean that actually you can find better devices than the TC at eten or imate etcetc , this is my point , shame on htc and his statements but the TC is a great great device.
fishes234 said:
Nowt wrong with the Palm V, they were a great PDA. Two stylii and a battery that lasted a fortnight, them were the days...
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A kindred spirit! My first device was a Palm V and I stayed in the PalmOS world until 4 months ago when I finally retired my Sony Clie TH-55 and moved to a Windows Mobile based Smartphone (a second hand Artemis initially as an experiment to see if I could live with Windows Mobile and a 2.8" screen, now Polaris).
Battery life is a huge issue for me because I remember the Palm V days when I could go on a week-long business trip and not need to pack my charger. I would fly somewhere on Monday morning and on the Friday evening, as I was reading an ebook on the flight home, I would usually get the first low-battery warning message. I used it heavily during the week though to read ebooks in the evenings and take meeting notes during the day plus regular contact lookup and even the occasional spreadsheet work.
My next device was a Palm m515 and that had about half the battery life of the Palm V and my final PalmOS device was the Sony TH-55 which had even better battery life than the Palm V, maybe about 30% more.
So what's my take on the Touch Cruise battery life? Well, to be fair and compare like-for-like you really should keep the phone switched off since the PalmOS devices I'm comparing with don't have phones, but I haven't done this. Even keeping the phone on (but not making or recieving any calls), I seem to be getting about 10-11 hours of PDA activity on a charge. This isn't quite matching my TH-55 battery life but it's way better than my m505 and probably pretty much exactly the same, or if not then really, really close to what I got from my first Palm V. And this is with a fairly bright colour screen (setting 3 on the slider) and keeping the phone registered with the GSM network.
Summary? So far I think the TC is a very worthy successor to my Palm V and I'm delighted with it; so much more functionality and broadly comparable battery life. Nice job HTC.
I always want more so I think my next upgrade will be triggered by either an out-of-warranty failure of my current device or something coming onto the market with at least the same performance characteristics as my existing TC and at least a 75% increase in battery life (that's about the level where I'd be willing to write-off my current investment to get that level of improvement). Failing that then I think this is a 2-3 year keeper at which point just the 3-year-itch might catch me and make me upgrade just for something new.
- Julian
JulianL said:
Battery life is a huge issue for me because I remember the Palm V days when I could go on a week-long business trip and not need to pack my charger. I would fly somewhere on Monday morning and on the Friday evening, as I was reading an ebook on the flight home, I would usually get the first low-battery warning message. I used it heavily during the week though to read ebooks in the evenings and take meeting notes during the day plus regular contact lookup and even the occasional spreadsheet work.
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Nowadays, you hardly need to pack a charger... If there's a computer nearby, just bring your USB cable...
When researching for a new phone I came to these boards and after reading about the elf and the nike(i) and seeing that the Polaris was released, I decided to buy the Polaris since I needed the 3G and Wifi option. I use the machine as part of my work since I am away from desk a lot. I just have one thing to say. It rocks!!!! I am glad I bought it before all the complaints came along because it might of made me change my mind. The Wifi, 3G and GPS work a treat (TomTom no longer needed!). The device is fast and lets me browse documents, keep-up-to-date with emails and reply to urgent emails, etc. Connectivity to email (e.g. Exchnage) is a matter of a couple of clicks. Surfing is great and I quickly can get traffic info, train schedules, browse websites, etc. If I need to do things that require my laptop, I then use the phone to get my PC on 3G. As part of my work I use the phone all the time. I have been so enthusiastic about the device that even my brother in-law is considering it for his sales execs instead of the far inferior Blackberry. One of my colleagues now also wants one. Hell, I am such a brand promoter I should be on the HTC payroll (which I am not). The device is that good.
David

Why ‘o’ why will they not learn

After owning HTC phones now for over 3 years, when will HTC start listening to people on forums like this one and htcpedia.com, then start making phones with the features that we are asking & waiting for. And just as important when will they start making accessories for these phones. Now owning a Touch HD for over a year I was looking at getting the new HD2, but it appears the mini usb port still does not support music or porting video through it (this is also true on the Touch HD yes I was disappointed when I found out). I would also like to have a built in FM transmitter. I think HTC are missing out on a great future for their phones.
Jez
P.S come on HTC sit up and take notice.
Contact HTC, if there are enough requests, they'll perhaps listen to you. Better than crying here .
Livven said:
Contact HTC, if there are enough requests, they'll perhaps listen to you. Better than crying here .
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Hello Livven
Not crying just disappointed with HTC and thinking maybe it’s time to change, to a phone producer that is listening ,it appears that’s exactly what apple are doing. Been in touch with HTC direct about a month after I got the Touch HD asking them to include certain things on the next model and a year later the HD2 was launched which appears to be a big screen HD with no more capabilities.
Cheers jez
I got tired of HTC's short-sightedness and bought an iPhone. It's a nice phone but it doesn't have nearly the feature set of a WinMo phone and Apple is a total pain in the ass. I'm still not thrilled about HTC so I just bought the LG Expo and, as I write this, I'm boxing it up to return it to AT&T. The hardware specs look pretty good but there are just too many things wrong with this phone that can't be overlooked. To start with, the UI is just awful. The bland, painful Microsoft stock UI is actually easier to deal with, in my opinion. It takes a dozen taps to do almost anything and you really need a stylus to get anything done. Which leads to problem #2...the stylus. It's like a little tube of lipstick which also means it's not attached to the phone. I wonder how many days would take before it got lost? You can attach it via a little string but it's beyond stupid that this got past QA. Then there's the GPS. It comes with AT&T's GPS app but I have my own that I've used for quite some over on a variety of phones without a problem. It will not recognize the GPS in the Expo, however, and therefore won't work. Strike three, you're outta here. So as I mentioned, I'm boxing it up and taking it back either for a refund or, if they'll do it, a trade for the Tilt 2 or something from...sigh....HTC. Despite some of the dumb things they do on occasion, HTC is still the best WinMo phone manufacturer I know of.
Hello markgamber
I know where you are coming from I had the Samsung Omnia last year for a month and sent it back because it was crap, it had the same idea for the stylus as well, a piece of string to attach it to the phone. Maybe Iphone is not the way to go then. It’s I’m getting politely frustrated with spending a small fortune on phones that do only half of what I want it to do. That’s the thing, these manufactures forget these phones aren’t cheap to us, it just seems to me they are thick and they think they know what we want . I know what I want on my phone
1. winmo
2. gps for satnav
3. fm transmitter
4. tv out.
5. usb port to play music through using a docking station
6. 3.5mm headphone socket
7. a 5+ meg pixel camera that actually works
8. gprs thats is quicker than the old 56k dial up
And so the storey goes on. Hopefully someone from HTC will read our thoughts and do something about it for the next model. If they do read these comments email me HTC and I will let you know what we want from our £500 phones. Bloody hell more money for a phone than a high spec laptop
markgamber said:
I got tired of HTC's short-sightedness and bought an iPhone. It's a nice phone but it doesn't have nearly the feature set of a WinMo phone and Apple is a total pain in the ass. I'm still not thrilled about HTC so I just bought the LG Expo and, as I write this, I'm boxing it up to return it to AT&T. The hardware specs look pretty good but there are just too many things wrong with this phone that can't be overlooked. To start with, the UI is just awful. The bland, painful Microsoft stock UI is actually easier to deal with, in my opinion. It takes a dozen taps to do almost anything and you really need a stylus to get anything done. Which leads to problem #2...the stylus. It's like a little tube of lipstick which also means it's not attached to the phone. I wonder how many days would take before it got lost? You can attach it via a little string but it's beyond stupid that this got past QA. Then there's the GPS. It comes with AT&T's GPS app but I have my own that I've used for quite some over on a variety of phones without a problem. It will not recognize the GPS in the Expo, however, and therefore won't work. Strike three, you're outta here. So as I mentioned, I'm boxing it up and taking it back either for a refund or, if they'll do it, a trade for the Tilt 2 or something from...sigh....HTC. Despite some of the dumb things they do on occasion, HTC is still the best WinMo phone manufacturer I know of.
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Click to collapse
hi Mark
I hear your frustration about the eXpo....I bought a IQ from Telus (the Canadian version of the eXpo) and really didn't like the UI AT FIRST. But the phone has really grown on me. Maybe you should consider keeping it for a couple of weeks, and then giving it back if you still want to.
1) I now find I am figuring out the UI and I am starting to like it. Using Throttle Launcher(free) or Spd Shell($) are both options that are very similar to the TF3D or Sence UI if you really find you want to abandon the S Class UI but I would say try it for a week or two and you may like it...there are things you can do faster than TF3D as well as slower.
2) The stylus situation really sucks. No argument. I have found that after I set my phone up, I can get by without one especially when you figure out how to use the optical mouse functions.
3) GPS I am on Telus, so maybe AT&T has screwed you, but my Garmin Mobile XT software works just fine on my Telus phone. I did have to play a bit though. I installed the Garmin software, and it couldn't find the GPS. I then went into the windows settings, and set up the phone to use COM port 4, and then went into the Garmin setup and selected COM4. STILL no joy. But I then changed the Windows setting back to controlled by windows, and the Garmin software found a "GPS Intermediate Driver". Works great! Locks FAST, and no lag like when I used the Garmin Mobile XT on my Touch Pro.
I have installed Opera Beta 2U, and it with the HSPDA data and the snapdragon it is simply is the best mobile internet experience I have ever used or seen.
Good luck with you Phone hunting,
Hi jez.stix
I have a similar list to you...I got a Telus IQ (Its a Canadian eXpo)
How the IQ compares to your list:
1. winmo
YUP 6.5 (21868)
2. gps for satnav YUP - but check into this (See above ATT may have locked to there software)
3. fm transmitter YUP....sorry! Read this as receiver, Has a FM receiver but no transmitter to go to your car stereo..
4. tv out. YUP
5. usb port to play music through using a docking station ...not sure what you mean here..if you mean like all the docking stuff they sell at Walmart for IPhones..NOPE..of course it has a USB connection.
6. 3.5mm headphone socket NOPE
7. a 5+ meg pixel camera that actually works YUP..works quite well with flash
8. gprs thats is quicker than the old 56k dial up YUP OH YAH BIG TIME
The real down side is that it is not a HTC unit so XDA won't support it the way they do a HTC product. I decided I could live with that but that was the hardest pill to swallow. The build quallity is heads and shoulders above my old HTC Touch Pro
good luck in finding your dream phone.
jez.stix said:
Hello markgamber
I know where you are coming from I had the Samsung Omnia last year for a month and sent it back because it was crap, it had the same idea for the stylus as well, a piece of string to attach it to the phone. Maybe Iphone is not the way to go then. It’s I’m getting politely frustrated with spending a small fortune on phones that do only half of what I want it to do. That’s the thing, these manufactures forget these phones aren’t cheap to us, it just seems to me they are thick and they think they know what we want . I know what I want on my phone
1. winmo
2. gps for satnav
3. fm transmitter
4. tv out.
5. usb port to play music through using a docking station
6. 3.5mm headphone socket
7. a 5+ meg pixel camera that actually works
8. gprs thats is quicker than the old 56k dial up
And so the storey goes on. Hopefully someone from HTC will read our thoughts and do something about it for the next model. If they do read these comments email me HTC and I will let you know what we want from our £500 phones. Bloody hell more money for a phone than a high spec laptop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPhone is actually pretty nice, I just had a couple technical problems with it and, being a dev, I grew really tired of Apple dictating what I can and can't do with my phone and my apps. The most notable thing about the iPhone is that it's fast. When you start a program, it's up and running in short order and stays fast unless it has to do something really intensive or relies on a slow network connection. This being opposed to WinMo where it can sometimes take forever to do anything. This is, of course, because the iPhone doesn't do much real multitasking but if that's not an issue, then the iPhone probably warrants a look. Another problem I had was that most of the world uses WMV/WMA for streaming audio and video and the iPhone not only doesn't support it, Apple has stated that it won't approve anything that does support it. Sometimes you can get around that using Orb but not always and that leads to the third big problem I had with the iPhone, Apple's little tinpot dictator attitude. I've been using Slingplayer for years on WinMo phones and yes, AT&T says you can't use it but the practical side is that as long as you're not an a-hole about it, they don't really care. The bottom line is that I can make the choice about whether or not I want to use it. iPhone's Slingplayer simply doesn't have the option to work over 3G. In fact, the only app of that kind which did was Orb and, as I hear it, Orb Networks just removed it on orders from AT&T and Apple. Technically yes, you can jailbreak the iPhone, install a hack that fools programs into thinking 3G is wifi and those various programs work, but it's a hack and not something you can count on working with the next system update since Apple is working hard to prevent those kinds of hacks from working. Plus they're starting to be exploited by hackers of a less than friendly nature. The iPhone also didn't support what I considered some basic functionality such as cut/copy/paste, MMS and bluetooth audio, for quite some time. When Apple finally decided to include that functionality, they acted as though they invented it. That continues today with the lack of quite a bit of multimedia types, refusal to allow Flash or any browser other than Safari, any kind of advanced bluetooth functionality, multitasking and so on. Again, if you don't care about any of the above, you should probably take a look at the iPhone if only for comparison. It's also *VERY* finger friendly, much moreso than WinMo, and you don't like having to wield a stylus at all, I'd definitely take a look at the iPhone.
I don't know why these WinMo companies are so slow to adopt things that seem like basic functionality to many users but they do improve their products, albiet slowly at times, and they're still a magnitude better than the competition, in my opinion. The HTC Titan sold by Sprint was, without a doubt, the worse piece of garbage I ever owned. HTC actually had the balls to put a measly 128mb of ram in there, put WinMo 6 on it and then let Sprint add all it's worthless slop to it. The bottom line was that it took half a day to boot and when it was finally done, it left somewhere between 8 and 12mb free...not even enough to run Slingplayer. Sprint charged $600 for that chunk of s*it and when I raised hell about it, Sprint not only refused to take it back, they wouldn't even cut me a break on what I had to buy to replace it. That's why I'm now with AT&T. So HTC (and other companies) do improve their products. One valuable thing about the Titan was that I learned to buy a phone for what it can do, not what it's capable of doing.
That's my main problem with the Expo and why I returned it. On paper it's a nice phone and there's a lot of potential in the hardware that is either unrealized or lost in the mess LG slapped together. Hopefully LG improves the system over time but right now it's pretty awful, in my opinion, and no update will ever help that poorly implemented stylus and, most likely, the poor battery life.
htc response
thanks for your email. You are correct, The HD and HD2 do not have TV out. Only the Touch PR line of devices has TV out for using with presentations and the like. The TV Out function was not highly requested in the market research that we did, so we concentrated on what the request were mostly for...larger screen, multitouch, standard 3.5mm jack etc. TV out was very far down on the list of wanted features. As for the music abilities, the only thing i know of that was removed on the HD2 was the remote control. This has returned on the HD2 as we needed to develop one that worked with the standard 3.5 jack that the majority of our customers wanted. This was the only thing removed from the HD. We think we must be doing something right as we are selling more handsets than ever, and winning lots of awards for our handsets as well. However, obviously you cannot please everyone, and if we have failed to meet your needs then i apologise, and hope that whatever device you choose, whether it be one of ours or not, i hope that you will be happy with it and it is everything you want. Best regards, Pete W HTC
I once contacted HTC about their lack of attention to this site.
The response i got made a lot of sense sadly.
Because of all the ROMs made on here and all the software that we reverse engineer from them and others, they cannot associate themselves with us at all due to illegality.
But still, this being the case, I think they could still use this site as a good place to do market research upon. Just because xda-devs is the largest collection of winmo users in one place that I know of, it seems to be the perfect place for them to go to see what their end users want.
I am a designer myself and it seems stupid to ignore the biggest resource of research and ideas.

[Q] Is this normal?

I don't know what the heck is going on, but I don't this is is normal. People are buying an excellent device and far from enjoying it, they spend all the time trying to find a defect, whatever it may. It sounds to me like mass hysteria fueled by unrealistically high expectations and highly polarized opinions and advices from false experts.
Not only people complain about behavior that it's perfectly normal and within the acceptable parameters, but also show surprise to design issues that they should very well know way in advance before purchasing the device: no FM radio, no notification LED, no 4G bands, etc. Or about application failing under a new Version ofnthe OS.
It could be me, but it seems this is getting to a level of paroxysm that is not healthy. I don't usually agree with Steve Jobs but I have to admit he was right when he allegedly say: it's just a phone!
I risk sounding like an old man, but I'm going to go on a limb and say that XDA did not sound like that during the windows mobile days, and those devices were horrible by today's standards. What's happened?
I so agree with you I'm coming from an iphone now on the S n 4 was the shi but even that had to be tweaked so much to actually get it to its best ability n ppl still had complains, I think first of ppl who really dont know how to take a phone to its full potential or know how to find a work around for what they are missing or they are just miserable complain about the phone. I paid the full price but I did do my research n knew what I was buying. Since day one I have been happy with my S and after putting Modoca Rom n a few apps n other tweaks n widgets my phone is perfect for me. Ppl want perfect from an electronic device, contradicting to what I said but perfect isnt attainable but the S comes close. Return the phone if u want to complain about these lil issuse or do more research next time before you.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Probably something to do with the increased cost of devices and people expecting more for their money and rightly so IMO.
If I fork out premium money I expect a premium device and not one with defects.
It may well be just a phone to some but it's also many other things to many people. If I buy a sat nav I expect it to be fully functional with no defects, likewise if I buy a media player, a camera, a games machine, an internet tablet etc etc... should we not expect the same of a convergence device?
This thread has the potential to get ugly...
Short answer to your question is YES, IT'S NORMAL. Normal in that it's common across the internet, not just on the NS, but on anything (smartphones, cars, computers, etc).
Outside of the development sections of a forum like this, most people who are just happy and loving their device aren't going to come and post about it, so there's a natural negative skew on most forums dedicated to a product. People usually find the forum because they looked for someplace to talk about the problems or dissatisfaction with the device.
No opinion on whether it's healthy or not; for some it's cathartic to vent in public...
distortedloop said:
This thread has the potential to get ugly...
Short answer to your question is YES, IT'S NORMAL. Normal in that it's common across the internet, not just on the NS, but on anything (smartphones, cars, computers, etc).
Outside of the development sections of a forum like this, most people who are just happy and loving their device aren't going to come and post about it, so there's a natural negative skew on most forums dedicated to a product. People usually find the forum because they looked for someplace to talk about the problems or dissatisfaction with the device.
No opinion on whether it's healthy or not; for some it's cathartic to vent in public...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. You have to be somewhat flexible when it comes to issues such as these. For some, spending $500 for a phone equates to months of saving, so yes, they want it to be perfect, or darn close to it. But stuff happens, and you just have to roll with the punches sometimes. If it's defective, exchange it for another one. I purchased an Asus G73 gaming Laptop (high end laptop) and had a ton pf problems with it. I exchanged it and had a problem with the replacement. I returned it and purchased an HP Envy 17 Beats Edition instead, and everything is right in the world again. It is what it is. I'm extremely happy with my Nexus S and my Hp Envy 17. Life is good.

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