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Getting ready to purchase 2 FUZE's. One for my wife and myself. She wants the iphone but I think the FUZE is the way to go for 2 big reasons. The FM radio is a must and the being able to watch the slingbox. I have read the wiki, noob rom basics, and this is what I am thinking.
I think upon reading i will need to
1. Hardspl the phone. (can you do this with a VISTA?)
2. Choose rom (NATF ver 2.3 seems the way to go)
a. I think his rom unlocks the fm radio no need for a cab file
b. I think it pulls up you tube from hidden att menu correct
3. Dont think I need to do anything to the radio as far as rom.
4. Patience...maybe play with phone for 2 months before trying to flash
a. Might be better off flashing from start since not used to phone any way
Anything else you think might be helpful before I purchase...
nervous and excited
Youre pretty much righton the money with everything... although speaking from personal experience dont waste any more than the first 10 mintues youd use to make sure the phone powers on with the stock ATT rom. Ive heard good things about NATFs rom...i personally use PROvens. just be sure of two things HARDSPL before flashing a GSM (not cdma) rom and also you will need to revert back to original spl and rom if you need warranty service
alright heres my 2 cents..i got mine last week and had a kaiser before and i have gone through stages of flash junkyness and from my experience with a wide variety of roms i went with Monx' RomeOS..he made pretty good kaiser roms (even tho i always stuck with L26's roms and Dutty before he left) so i noticed monx on here and his rom is off the hook..havent tried the other ones but by default ROMeOS is hooked up..you have alot of stuff in the system menus like forcehires (for forcing qvga to vga) you have alot of tweaks already in place but heres some really great programs that really open up the functionality of your fuze
and heres a link to a VERY thourough guide another xdaer set up with all the cabs he talks about
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=446306
and heres some info n my setup which ive acquired through the use of my tilt and now some changes with my fuze to form what ive found to to give the fuze the most capability
resco file explorer - really good touch optimized file explorer
quickmenu - cascading type of start menu that really rocks and has alot of extra functions
aebuttons - allows you to map applications to all buttons on the fuze (like camera for the ptt)and even multiple apps for each button (1 press, 2 press, 3 presses, press and hold)
gscroll - allows you to use the front button pad as a touch screen and act as a dpad or scroll and even use your gsensor as a dpad or scrolling and EVEN add more app shortcuts to double tapping the 4 butons on the front pad (because you are TAPPING not pressing it utlizes the touch screen not the hardware press)
gyrator - good autorotation app
htorch - use flash as a light
lumos - better than default auto backlight manager
wktask - give you tabs on your top bar like on your desktop windows task bar
thumbcal - finger friendly calender (very nice)
icontact - best finger friendly contact manager
xbar - when you hold down the action button it pops up in a little
window and acts a as a task manager and has menus as well whch you can
put shortcuts in too
heres a link to my cabs
http://www.4shared.com/file/74989849/d6a4d6e4/Fuze_Cabs.html
Thanks for the tips above. It is confusing reading all the different cabs out there because the descriptions given are vague at times to what they accomplish. I saw a you tube video of a FUZE and the sluggishnish seemed to be gone. I wondered how did they do that and then got to here. I am really looking for a rom that will decrease the sluggishness and remove the hard to read grey screen. Unlocking the radio feature was a bonus that pushed me to this phone.
Also for the cabs you listed above are they in one file for all the one listed above. When i hit the link I see on file only. I thought it would be one for each.
I think today is the day I order my FUZE!!!!
that file is a zip with most of those cabs.. if u get a chance tonight ill find and up all those cabs yo my 4shared page
Thanks Paz...got my fuze yesterday. I works and I have not done anything with it. I will try to hardspl it this weekend. just trying to decide on a rom. It is a must to include the radio but I need to make a cool theme and icon look for the wife's fuze. I dont think she is digging it. I think its the grey att stock rom background.
I would say the best way to spice up her phone is to get
S2U2 (Iphone like unlock slider on the dev and hack forum)
S2P
Rotating wallpaper (24 pictures that cycle every hour)
Galarm
Custom themes are located in a few places so look around (Diamond, Dev and hack, Raph)
I have to say, you should NOT get your wife any ppc phone unless she has some sort of knowledge about the WinMo OS. Otherwise you're going to have to be tech support for her from here on out like I was with the wife's 8525. I recently got her an iPhone 3G and, after the initial setup and basic instruction, she hasn't had to ask me a single question about how to make something work and has been able to download and install the apps she wants on her own.
You can say whatever you want about the iPhone, but it is the best phone for people who want a powerful device and have no clue what the hell they're doing. It really is the consummate idiot-proof device. (No offense to my wife if all the stars aligned and she finds this on google or something)
I agree
motionmind said:
I have to say, you should NOT get your wife any ppc phone unless she has some sort of knowledge about the WinMo OS. Otherwise you're going to have to be tech support for her from here on out like I was with the wife's 8525. I recently got her an iPhone 3G and, after the initial setup and basic instruction, she hasn't had to ask me a single question about how to make something work and has been able to download and install the apps she wants on her own.
You can say whatever you want about the iPhone, but it is the best phone for people who want a powerful device and have no clue what the hell they're doing. It really is the consummate idiot-proof device. (No offense to my wife if all the stars aligned and she finds this on google or something)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this statement. I started out with the HTC S710, S730, and when I got my Kaiser last year, I got my girlfriend an Iphone. Why? Because it's really idiot proof, so to say. It does not crash. Does not require any real setup. She has enjoyed it from day 1 and uses it everyday without resetting for weeks! Works great with the dock (it rings from the phone, not through the damn connected speakers.. even if they are off!)
With all that said, I will never purchase an Iphone for myself.
My friend hates his Sprint Touch Pro and blames me 4 selling him on HTC.
If anyone can offer any help or fixes, I would greatly appreciate it.
I am going to e-mail him a link to this thread.
Thank you.
The following in quotes is the e-mail he sent me.
Here's the low down on my HTC Touch Prop Experience thus far and why I will
sell this turd on ebay...
Cant type first and last name into messaging "to" field (once you hit the
space bar for the last name it selects the first 'josh' in your phone book,
etc.)
Cant search by company name in the address list (I need to look up account
in my phone all the time by company name)
Some names do not appear in contact list search at all but I know they are
there and can get to them manually
Cant search first and last name in contact list (must type one or the other)
GPS won't automatically drive to calendar appointment when the address is in
the appointment or give the option to drive to the appointment
GPS won't give you the option to drive to an address in your address book
GPS freezes up and stops navigating when you turn off the screen (to save
the battery). Won't start again until you close the app and restart.
Several times the phone has frozen up and the touch screen would not
respond...cant get into messages, can't get into contact list.
Auto backup fails every night (third party app but the best one on the
market)
every day the phone freezes up in my contact list...multiple times every
single day. I have over 1700 contacts....I have reset my phone at least 5
times already today.
using three fully charged new batteries a day...I am on my third battery
today as of 5pm and yes I bought three freaking batteries
T9 text input randomly turns itself on and I have to manually turn it back
to ABC input
Facebook and twitter apps suck to the point of being unusable (Facebook app
is the brand new one from Microsoft's upcoming windows mobile 6.5 OS)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put Juicy 8 on it and it's a whole new experience.
dwizzy130
Wow, i hate lists, but here i'll try to help with some limited knowledge from a touch pro owner since october (my first real smart phone)
use arrow keys left/right to select next person in list when starting to type name
cant help you there, i look up by person's name. There may be alternative software out there for a different address book connected to the main one? SPB mobile shell might have something. Found it! you can do it by going to contacts - then in the menu view-by and select company
maybe those numbers are listed on your sim card and not on your phone book, in the options there should be an option to show both address books
shesh you're picky again, Name one example where you actually need to type both to find the person you want! (i can't think of one example)
Wow, you really think windows thought of everything didn't you? GPS can't do squat without GPS software
This is most likely due to a problem with your firmware - update your ROM and see what happens
Update your ROM - i suggest a nice EnergyROM 2.0 or 1.3 - it is pretty damn stable and bug free - most of your issues from here out sound like things that can be fixed by wiping your phone and installing a better rom than the junk tossed together by the service provider
Why does it fail? What is the backup software? PIMbackup is a pretty solid one, and why do you need to backup nightly? I sync my contacts and calendar with google sync. Thats the only vital data i don't want to loose that changes daily (except for tasks, still waiting for google sync to add tasks)
Again - update your rom! Imagine a car torn apart by a kid in his first year at auto school, and then trying to put it together in a month. That is what the hack jobs who work as rom chefs for service providers do to these phones when they add in their junk bloatware. (Also HTC provided an update with new features, most providers now have released revised versions with their bloatware added of course, but they still work better than the original firmware that comes on the phone)
Battery life depends on use. How often do you have it check for email? My battery lasted only half a day when i told it to check every 5 minutes. Then i realized i really don't care about checking email (and nobody important emails me that often) so i set it to 4 hours - battery life went up drastically. Also turning down brightness, and turning off wifi will save a LOT of battery life. I get a sold day and a half out of my phone now. (with pretty decent amount of use)
Can be another issue with the firmware you're running. There is an app called Advanced Config Editor, I think there is a setting to disable T9
Sigh, indeed, applications are still a work in progress, before the iPhone, there was very little competition for slick applications, but consumers will prevail in the end. For now - its all about keeping up to date with your favorite phone blogs to find out about the latest software available
In all honesty, the TP and other windows mobile phones are not for everyone. They work great if you know what you want to do with them but if you expect to just pick up a phone and go, buy a freeken iPhone and enjoy your watered down smart phone for braindead people. (Hey, i bought my mom one for christmas, she's all happy that she changed the ringtone for me.... despite the fact her past 5 phones could also do that in less than 5 buttons......)
HTC makes a wonderful selection of mobile devices, I have always been pleased with their products.
Cant type first and last name into messaging "to" field (once you hit the
space bar for the last name it selects the first 'josh' in your phone book,
etc.)
Cant search by company name in the address list (I need to look up account
in my phone all the time by company name)
Some names do not appear in contact list search at all but I know they are
there and can get to them manually
Cant search first and last name in contact list (must type one or the other)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can do all these things by default in the stock WinMo contacts on my HTC Fuze
GPS won't give you the option to drive to an address in your address book
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Know nothing about the Sprint GPS nav app (I assume that's what he's using?) but Garmin Mobile does this, and I suspect most other GPS nav apps do as well.
As far as crashes and battery usage go, the only fix is to flash a different ROM without all the provider bloatware. Sounds like most of his gripes are related to Sprint's implementation of the device, not about HTC or the device itself. In any case, he'll probably never be happy with it - tell him to get an iPhone where he can blithely ignore all the missing features and lack of flexibility.
Hey there,
I'm a Winmo user/fan and have been for a few generations of phones now. My first Winmo device was the HTC/UTStarcom Apache for Verizon (aka the XV-6700). My next upgrade was to the XV6800, which I loved. It served me very well, even when friends around me went on and on about their iPhones, I couldn't help but say how much I loved my phone.
Now, I have the Verizon Touch Pro2 (Rhodium). It really was a natural upgrade for someone who loved full qwerty keyboards, and this phone really didn't disappoint. I pretty much stuck with stock ROMs for a while, from the original Winmo 6.1, to the MR1 update to 6.5, and finally when MR2 landed, I loaded up Mr X's custom ROM, which was the MR2 with some annoyances fixed (he did a great job with it, I picked it up at ppcgeeks.com). With Sense 2.5, I finally got to mod my home screen with Cookie's Home Tab, and it simply rocks. CHT is a very awesome mod.
So, suffice to say, it wasn't all that long ago, I got my phone to the point where I really really liked it. I'm extremely happy with my current phone; I have over a year left on my contract. Which gives me plenty of time to think about what's next. Where do I go from here?
So, what is next??
Hardware is just going to keep getting better and better. I'm not really worried about that so much as I am what OS I use.
I love Winmo simply because it is so customizable. It isn't all that hard to get it to do what you want it to do. Most times, all you have to do is look around, and someone already solved the problem you're working on.
Windows Phone 7 doesn't really appeal to me. I can certainly see why it would appeal to other people, but it doesn't look like its going to really be my type of phone OS. Honestly, if I wanted the type of OS Microsoft iss building, I would much rather go with an iPhone. And, for that matter, if a CDMA version of iPhone hits the big VZW I might really think about it.
And then there is the new kid on the block (sort of). Android.
Android intrigues me. So much so, that I tried installing the Project Android Port on my TP2. Gotta love Haret. I started with the basic ROM that looks a lot like the UI for the Motorola Droid. It wasn't too bad, but the ROM ran rather poorly on my device. Then, later on, I installed the Klinux version, that has the Sense UI on top of Android. I think I really like that interface. It rocks. The port is still a little slow, but its also running off of a SD card, and its not really a 100% working port yet.
Now, I think I like the Sense UI implementation in Winmo more than I do the implementation in Android. However, HTC has done a fine job with it on Android, and it's got a lot of potential.
So, I'm really starting to think now, "Could my next phone be an Android device?" And to be honest, it doesn't sound like a bad idea. It's an open platform, it's very customizable (why I liked Winmo so much), and it seems to be picking up steam in the Apps category (sometimes I'm jealous that I can get an app for something on my Android port and not on Winmo).
But, what would be nice to have, in my mind, is a little more help from the big G itself. Google already has a feature with its Gmail application that allows you to basically tell Gmail to log into your other email address (that you are presumably trying to switch from) and it will pretty much import all of your old messages and contacts, etc.
I think it would be really spectacular if they could do the same thing for Winmo users. Basically, have a new site --> phone.google.com (or something similar), and have it be your cloud based backup location for everything that doesn't get synced now from Google. Sync up all of your SMS Text Messages, your documents stored on your phone, music, videos, and photos. Also, it can be a portal linking you to other Google apps like your calendar and contacts. And then, give this new site the ability to log into myphone.microsoft.com and pull all of the old stored data from there.
It would be perfect for someone like me who has all of his content there. Bam, all of your saved SMS messages... pulled over from MS to Google, and you don't miss a beat with them. Seriously, SMS is becoming as important as email for a lot of people. I hate having to lose texts, so when MS offered MyPhone and the ability to back them up, I was all over that.
Heck, Google could even improve upon what MS started. Have customizable settings, where if any SMS is older than a certain date, it gets archived in the cloud (so its still stored and searchable), but your device doesn't have to get bogged down with actual files, and older messages that have been archived get automatically removed from your device. If your device gets wiped, and you reinstall everything, when it syncs up, you pull back all of the messages that are newer that "X" date, while everything else older than "X" stays in the cloud in your archives. They could make the data exportable... its just data in a database, you could export to a spreadsheet like Excel, or Google Docs equivalent. Give people options, they'll love you for it.
I'm sure that there is only a small fraction of their userbase that is coming from Winmo over to Android, so I really don't expect them to do this... but wouldn't it be nice. They'd surely win me over with it. I know, somewhere out there, there is an SMS backup application for Android, but it sends your SMS messages to an email account to be backed up there. I think a dedicated system in place for backing up, restoring, and archiving SMS would be better. To me, its one of the missing pieces to Android's way of doing things.
If any of you out there have any thoughts on this, why not comment. I'd love to hear other ideas that people have regarding this.
(Also, I couldn't really figure out a good place to post this, so "General" seemed as good a place as any. If any mods see fit to move this to somewhere better, go for it.)
I agree with this completely. I'm a big Winmo advocate, and I love the customiseablity that it gives. I've pretty much got my device to the point of perfection, and I'm practically in love at this point. Anyway so I decided to give android a go on my device, and at first I was pissed that they tried to force me to register a google account, which I was unwilling to do. I somehow got it to work and I quite liked it in all honesty. I bought my topaz outright, so I don't plan on getting a new phone anytime soon, but Android intrigues me and if there isn't any new WinMo or something in the future, that will be what I will switch to.
Switching for me wouldn't be a problem, I don't really have anything that I can't backup to an sd card so thats not a problem for me.
Android is 3 thime more customizeable than winmo, I switch from winmo to android and LOVED WINMO but now I can't stand it GET ANDROID
Sent from my myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
The wonders of the cloud... seriously. MS had a good thing going with the KIN and KIN Studio, where it would upload every single thing to a server in the cloud- pictures, videos, favorites, status updates, etc. And everything you put on the cloud from your PC would beam back down to your phone (contacts!).
Google could probably easily push this very easily- their cloud services are extremely powerful already, so I don't see why they couldn't and shouldn't.
I have a loyalty towards WinMo from having used the Touch Dual, Touch Diamond, and Touch Pro2.
But it's getting very difficult to defend WinMo. It basically comes down to WinMo gives users the option to tweak everything about the OS. You can make the OS look like whatever you want it to. You can tweak it for performance. But let's stop and think about this for a moment.
1. Why do we tweak the aesthetics of the OS?
We do it because the the OS looks ugly and outdated. The main look of the OS hasn't changed in over 10 years! We do it because it's not fingerfriendly since the OS was designed to be used with a stylus.
2. Why do we tweak the OS for performance?
We do it because despite the OS being known for multi-tasking, it just doesn't now how to handle RAM very effectively.
So far with Android, I've been able to do everything I could on WinMo. Plus, the OS looks modern and performance is excellent. Aesthetically and in terms of performance, Android is significantly much much better. So what's the reason for staying with WinMo? I can't think of a legitimate reason anymore...
Thanks for the input folks! ohyeahar, you make some very good points, and its some of the things that I have been mulling over myself.
I think my biggest point, is that Google has a chance to really improve its cloud based services with their phones, and I hope they do.
The iphone was very easy no matter where you were in the phone: double click on the home button and you were presented with your list of favorite phone numbers. Very quick and easy. With android, the best I can come up with is Home -> Phone -> Favorites -> Swipe to the right of a favorite contact.
I must be missing something here.
lebe0024 said:
The iphone was very easy no matter where you were in the phone: double click on the home button and you were presented with your list of favorite phone numbers. Very quick and easy. With android, the best I can come up with is Home -> Phone -> Favorites -> Swipe to the right of a favorite contact.
I must be missing something here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my most dialed contacts saved as shortcuts on one of my home screen panels. There are probably faster ways using apps or downloadable widgets, but for now this is working pretty quickly.
if you go on the phone keypad and press the setting butto you can configure speed dial numbers
Beats me, this is something I was wondering myself. I have done it both ways. Added my most called people to my "Favorites" list. Also, I put a shortcut to a few of my closest friends on one of my home screens.
But you're right, the iPhone made it much easier. This is something I realized last yr when trying out a Moto Droid. I see Android hasnt made it any easier yet.
There's so freaking many ways to do this on Android it's ridiculous.
One option is using Launcher Pro and making items of the dock shortcuts to your contacts.
Another option is creating icon shortcuts on your homescreens.
Or a shortcut to your contacts.
Tons of ways to do it.
TexUs said:
There's so freaking many ways to do this on Android it's ridiculous.
One option is using Launcher Pro and making items of the dock shortcuts to your contacts.
Another option is creating icon shortcuts on your homescreens.
Or a shortcut to your contacts.
Tons of ways to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just basically restated what we had already stated. Its a few extra buttons to push to make a call in android vs the iphone favorites list.
derek4484 said:
You just basically restated what we had already stated. Its a few extra buttons to push to make a call in android vs the iphone favorites list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you've got to do two taps to get the iPhone favorites versus having them on your homescreen... Seems like Android results in less taps to me.
It was two taps until ios4 came out
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I usually like to just "star" the contact... Or just add an icon to the home screen
Sent from my Samsung Captivate(tm) on AT&T
madjsp said:
It was two taps until ios4 came out
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I think it's three, actually... So thanks for reminding me.
I remember setting my iPod to two taps and iOS4 reset that... Without warning. Apple is just one of those companies that doesn't give a damn about compatibility or anything.
Contacts is the first thing I noticed when I got the phone. No simple import from Outlook. I bought the Captivate yesterday, coming from an iPhone 3G and may exchange the Captivate for an iPhone 4. I'll give it another few days to get used to the phone before I decide.
I wanted to back up my phone before I started playing with it too much but can't get Kies to work. It's a common problem.
The iPhone UI is way more mature and elegent than the Samsung. You may be able to take some time and customize the Samsung the way you want it but the iPhone is pretty much the way I want it already. The iPhone apps are more consistant with the UI and don't generally look as amateur as the Android apps.
BTW, my 3G was jailbroken so I could pretty much do what I wanted with the iPhone (wireless tethering, non Apple approved apps)
oldfossil said:
Contacts is the first thing I noticed when I got the phone. No simple import from Outlook. I bought the Captivate yesterday, coming from an iPhone 3G and may exchange the Captivate for an iPhone 4. I'll give it another few days to get used to the phone before I decide.
I wanted to back up my phone before I started playing with it too much but can't get Kies to work. It's a common problem.
The iPhone UI is way more mature and elegent than the Samsung. You may be able to take some time and customize the Samsung the way you want it but the iPhone is pretty much the way I want it already. The iPhone apps are more consistant with the UI and don't generally look as amateur as the Android apps.
BTW, my 3G was jailbroken so I could pretty much do what I wanted with the iPhone (wireless tethering, non Apple approved apps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you confuse two different things. It's hard to believe that Apple developed iPhone GUI "the way you wanted it". It's just a matter of familiarity. It's always easier to use the tools/GUI you already know than the ones you do not know. It probably took you 3 years to get there and now you are familiar and comfortable with iPhone. It's true for everyone. Give it a week or two and you'll learn how to use Captivate too. And BTW, I am knew to Android myself and I am going through the learning curve too. My first impression was - how the damn phone could be so complicated! But after a day of use I am thinking: and that's all? There is not really that much to these smart phones after all. I think that all these interfaces are about the same. It's impossible to compare familiar interface with an unfamiliar one. In the latter there is too many annoying things (that is until we learn why the things were designed the way they were and use them right).
As far as this specific issue is concerned, as I understand the standard interface on Captivate is just as good as on iPhone. To get to the list of "friends":
* Home
* Phone
* Favorites
This gives you the list of favorites and the list of most frequently called persons. BTW, I just learned this myself
oldfossil
I traded in an iPhone 4 yesterday for the captivate and have to say yesterday was a bit frustrating. Using an iPhone for the last year and a half from Windows mobile had caused me to be stupid. Its not that its harder but a different mindset. On the iphone there was one way to do something while on android many ways to skin the same cat. I personally enjoy my new freedom. Give it 30 days and if you truly don't like it trade it in and get the iPhone 4.
When I got my iPhone, I picked it up and started using it. There was no real learning curve really. Imported my contacts from Outlook (there were there from my WM6 tilt phone), put in my email accounts, synced my bluetooth, and started using the phone.
I find the Captivate to be kludgy, but yeah, if I spend some time with it I may be able to get to work the way I want. And if I get rid of the phone and FroYo is all that it's supposed to be I may wish I hadn't gotten rid of it. In the mean time I can't even get Kies to connect to my PC on the damn thing.
oldfossil said:
Contacts is the first thing I noticed when I got the phone. No simple import from Outlook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screw Outlook... Start using GMail and then use Google Sync to just have all your stuff synced over the air, and then you also gain the ability to use Google Voice as well, which gains you visual voicemail and transcription messages.
I used to love Outlook (still do) but when Google's stuff works so well together it just doesn't make sense.
Now, maybe you're in a business environment and don't have that flexibility, but IIRC there are easy sync Outlook tools out there.
oldfossil said:
The iPhone UI is way more mature and elegent than the Samsung. You may be able to take some time and customize the Samsung the way you want it but the iPhone is pretty much the way I want it already. The iPhone apps are more consistant with the UI and don't generally look as amateur as the Android apps.
BTW, my 3G was jailbroken so I could pretty much do what I wanted with the iPhone (wireless tethering, non Apple approved apps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I question why you left the iPhone then?
I'd also venture to guess you're just "used" to the iPhone. I think after you learn Android and how much more flexibility you have you'll gain more usability out of it.
rsohne said:
On the iphone there was one way to do something while on android many ways to skin the same cat. I personally enjoy my new freedom. Give it 30 days and if you truly don't like it trade it in and get the iPhone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. There's at least half a dozen ways to quickly access contacts... That might seem "complicated" (maybe it is), but... You get to CHOSE what you like. It's not just what Steve Jobs tells you what you want to use.
The menu system is also very easy to use as well... Alot like the iPhone, but I think it's even easier IMO.
oldfossil said:
In the mean time I can't even get Kies to connect to my PC on the damn thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn on USB debugging mode and use that... Simple Drag+Drop.
Shortest Alternative
lebe0024 said:
The iphone was very easy no matter where you were in the phone: double click on the home button and you were presented with your list of favorite phone numbers. Very quick and easy. With android, the best I can come up with is Home -> Phone -> Favorites -> Swipe to the right of a favorite contact.
I must be missing something here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen a response that spells this out, so:
Tap and hold an open space on your home screen, and wait for the menu to pop up.
From the "Add to Home Screen" menu, choose Shortcuts
Choose Direct Dial from the next menu
Now select a contact, and then the specific number you want to use
It will create an icon on the home screen, using the contact's avatar image if they have one, that will immediately dial the selected number when tapped.
You can place such direct-dial shortcuts on any of your home screens.
I used an iPhone for almost three years. Don't give up on Android too quickly, as it has really grown on me in the last 6 weeks.
To begin, I am/was a "fanboy" of Windows and Windows Mobile. My first "smartphone" was the Toshiba 2032 running Windows Mobile 5. My next phone was a PPC-6700 using Windows Mobile 5 and my last phone was the PPC-6800 using Windows Mobile 6.1. I honestly detest the iPhone and Mac computers and go out of my way to stay clear of those "popular" items. I'm not even a fan of the Android operating system. I played on it for a while and it seemed "meh" to me. What I was looking for was an "iPhone Killer" in the HTC Arrive with WP7. What I got was the iPhone/Kiddie Phone Light....
Perhaps I had grown too accustomed to the various customization options offered by previous versions of Windows on cell phones. Perhaps Windows Phone 7 has decided to no longer be a "businessman's phone." I understand that the market was for general consumers but to shift so far away from their original product, well that just sucks.
The Good
1. THE SPEED OF THE HTC ARRIVE AND WP7 IS EXCELLENT. Apps load quick and easy and without lag. I am impressed by how quickly my phone restarts once completely shut down. I measured the time it took the PPC-6800 to load the operating system in minutes where the Arrive load time is measured in seconds.
2. THE SMOOTHNESS OF THE SCREEN OPERATION AND WP7. Flicking my thumb, I can quickly scroll across to another page or scroll down a long list of applications installed on my phone. It also works well within applications and using internet explorer.
3. THE MAIN START SCREEN. I like the way almost any app can be pinned to the main start screen for quick and easy access.
4. PLENTY OF PROGRAM MEMORY. I remember how I had to shut down programs on my PPC-6800 in order to conserve memory, especially if I was using Opera 10 for browsing the internet. So far, I have not had any slow-downs or freezes due to have various programs open on my phone.
5. THE PHONE INTERFACE. I like the way the phone works in that the screen goes black when you are using the phone up to your ear so that your cheek, ear, whatever doesn't hit any buttons and when you pull the phone away, it recognizes this and gives you the options to end call or open the keypad.
6. CALLS ARE CRYSTAL CLEAR. So far, the calls have been great, but I've only used it in an office setting or in my vehicle. I have yet to visit a construction jobsite with heavy machinery moving around. I'll see how it works in that scenario soon enough.
7. THE SCREEN. Wow! I love the screen. HD Movies are clear, colors are vibrant, it seems the screen is one of the best features.
8. THE CAMERA. Some may disagree, but I think the camera on this phone is good. Not great, but good. It is good enough to take photos. The only change I would make would be for the camera to remember the previous settings and not default back to 5MP.
The Bad
1. HUGE CHANGE FROM WINDOWS MOBILE. I think the Microsoft Programmers were too influenced by the Apple iOS and Android to stay with what they originally had in terms of "Windows" operating system. The name of the operating system is "Windows" so just keep it with actual windows on the phone. They moved so far away from the standard windows operating system that it isn't even recognizable. Was Windows Mobile really that bad? I was able to be quite productive with WM, let's hope WP7 proves to be the same.
2. CUSTOM OPTIONS. The phone leaves little for customization in terms of giving the user options for color, background, theme or even the transfer of multimedia or files (see Ugly #1). It seems Microsoft has made the statement, "Do it OUR way or not at all!"
3. HARD KEY SENSITIVITY.. I can't count how many times my fingers have accidentally hit the "search, windows, or back" keys on the face of the phone while browsing, texting, or picking up the phone. I like having the keys there, but they are too sensitive to the touch!
4. PHONE VOLUME. The volume maxes out at the number "30" which seems fine for a quite office or home setting but at the gym, driving, outdoors, or at a jobsite, one should be able to crank it louder. I hope HTC or Microsoft can come out with some kind of fix or crack to allow for greater volume on this phone.
5. A KEYBOARD WITH A "SMILIES" BUTTON. Seriously? Is this a kid's phone or an adult's phone. I'm ok with smiley use, but to actually have a key that pops up options for various smilies? My 3 year old daughter uses this, not me. That should have been my first hint that this phone was made more for adolescent teenie-boppers and not a businessman.
6. FORCED INTEGRATION OF CONTACTS. The worst is from Face book directly into the phone. I know I can turn it off when looking at contacts, but why not give me the option to import them or not. There are people that are FB friends that I don't even speak to or haven't spoken to since High School. I should have just downloaded the FB app and skipped logging into the phone's built-in FB app which to me is worthless.
7. NO FOLDERS FOR APPS. At this time, I don't have an overabundance of apps for the phone, but as time goes by, I might have need for more. Why not have folders for apps or the option to place them in folders so that I don't have to scroll down through a long list. Sure, scrolling is quick, but with 100 apps (if possible) it could take a while.
8. PHONE TEMPERATURE. Remember when Dell's laptops would burn people's legs because they became so hot? Well, the HTC Arrive may not cause burns but it is the first smartphone I have experienced that actually radiates heat from the battery compartment. Maybe this is a heat exchange issue to allow the phone to cool off. Maybe it is a big problem to come.
9. BATTERY LIFE. I know many have complimented the battery life of the HTC Arrive but I have to state that it is not as good as it should be. I have to charge the phone at least once a day and it has actually shut down on me twice before I could charge it, whereas the old PPC-6800 gave me plenty of warning before shutting down. I am disappointed with the batter life and will need to purchase a spare for long trips where I can't stop to recharge the phone.
The Ugly
1. TRANSFER OF FILES. Honestly, why are we forced to use Zune to transfer files to WP7? I used a "hack" to allow me to open WP7 in my explorer but now what do I do? Do I just transfer files over? The files on the phone are not in the window so I have no idea where the files are going! And what about "syncing" Word and Excel documents? How do I do that without having to upload them to a skydrive??? I've already had problems trying to transfer a single photo from my computer to my phone. Let me choose how I want to transfer files. I'm not an idiot, I can work with computer hardware and software, I did it flawlessly on WM5 & WM6 but now it seems Microsoft doesn't trust me to do this on my own so I am forced to use Zune!
2. MS EXCHANGE SYNC ISSUES. I am not the only one that cannot sync my e-mail, calendar, or contacts with my Microsoft Exchange Server here at work. I've read numerous items on the net about these issues. I was hoping that a Microsoft Windows Phone 7 would work flawlessly with Microsoft Exchange Server. It used to be a piece of cake to use ActiveSync to establish a physical connection for the option to Sync this data. Why not bring back that option?
3. AUTOMATIC TILT. Honestly, why do I need to have my screen tilt automatically? I understand if I don't slide out the screen all the way I don't have to tilt it, but why not give me the option to tilt like the TP2? HTC really screwed up on this one. In order to type with my thumbs and view the screen in tilt mode, I have to bend my wrists forward to compensate for the angle. What is the reason for the tilt, anyway? The only reason I could come up with for the automatic tilt was to annoy HTC Arrive users so much that they would rather use the onscreen keyboard than to use the physical one. This way, HTC can stop making phones with a physical keyboard which costs more to manufacture in terms of parts and labor!
4. NO REMOVABLE MEMORY CARD. I know one can remove and replace it with skill (at least on the 7 Pro) and with voiding any warranty, but this was one of the WORST ideas yet! After painfully transferring multimedia with Zune and realizing I had to do a hard reset for another reason, I lost all the information that was on the card! At least with the PPC-6800 a hard reset just lost my phone settings and programs but not everything on the memory card!
5. FORCED TO USE ONLY ONE LIVE ACCOUNT. This sucks big time! If you enter a live account and need to change it to another one later (I get waaaay too much spam in my hotmail account - and have turned off syncing with it) one has to do a hard reset on the phone to return it to factory settings and delete everything, including what is on the internal memory card. See #4.
6. NO UPLOADING OF VIDEOS DIRECTLY FROM THE PHONE. Sure, I can upload photos I've taken with the camera but I have to transfer the video to my computer (through Zune, see #1) in order to upload it to Facebook? Honestly, quit treating us like children and let us work with what we know! Microsoft has added yet another barrier/step to a process that used to be so simple!
7. NO 4G, NO EASY ACCESS TO WIFI OPTIONS. I understand that "4G" is possibly on its way out, but why not have the phone have that option. I don't even know if I am getting 3G service with this phone! Also, the ONE thing I would have stolen from the Android OS is the ability to scroll to my left from the start screen and access my communication options, Airplane mode, WiFi, 3G, etc... Having to scroll down numerous apps to get to the phone communication settings is just plain idiotic.
If I were grading the phone I would give it a solid C+. No, I'm not returning it for an Android, I am too much of a Windows user to give this up. I'm not sure how much of a "fix" can be done with some of the issues so I guess I will have to wait for a new phone to come out next year. By comparison, when the HTC PPC-6800 came out, I graded that as a B+/A-.
You said it.
Everything you said is correct. I'm with you. They need to fix all these issues.
I have the Arrive and its like they put us on lock down. They need to unlock this.
I agree with your ideas and i...:
VERY, VERY, VERY UGLY
The phone doesn't have the confortable phonepad of wm6.5 that i could use to get the contact of everybody with some pression.
agree with u on some, disagree on some
overall, i find this an upgrade over my touch pro, but although the execution leaves much to be desired, it's ms's fault, not htc's
u didn't mention a nice feature.
tried sliding out the keyboard when using IE in landscape mode vs using ie in landscape mode without the keyboard slid out?
??????
so what's going on!!!
I really love to work with WM or WP .... but the new htc phones have android...
We can simply write program for WM with Visual Studio . and WM is so user friendly and programmable . I Really need a phone like Htc 7 Pro - but with this OS ....
my previous phones are : K-Jam and Touch Pro -- both of them have keyboard and good style and very very user friendly - Touch pro simply upgrade to WM 6.5 with good Roms Like : Tael Rom ..
maybe they force us to use android ??
Sorry guys. You want endless customization and a huge developer/hacker community, Android is the current platform for that. Android has basically become exactly what WinMo is/was: does a lot, can endlessly modify anything and everything, but user experience is mostly poor.
As far as UI and the complete experience, the Arrive is really the best phone I've seen. It is smooth, intuitive, and just looks great. The style is really unique.
That being said, I will be trading for an Epic tomorrow. While I really like the overall experience on the Arrive, the M$ "branding" really limits it for now. I understand they are trying to get a baseline across all carriers/devices, and it is still an early OS, but this isn't really a "smart" phone as far as I'm concerned.
Coming from WinMo, this phone seems just as useful as an iPhone. No real customization options, no Mass Storage device, no way to even download a file from the internet. IE is not bad(or Cube) but there's not even any other browsers that aren't based on IE yet.
I know it's still early on, but I would rather go with a phone for now that lets me do what I want to do, or can be customized to do so. And can multitask. I have used my Touch Pro to fix people's computers, and can run a mostly functional(if battery eating) Android. I can't even change the Arrive's ringtone(although I do like 8-Bit).
This is a great comment that I agree with 100%. If you want an experience that is very similar to what Windows Mobile used to be, Android is the platform for you. There is a huge developer/hacker community out there doing lots of awesome things for an unbelievable number of devices. If you could do it on WinMo, chances are you can duplicate it on Android and it'll be easier to do. So to the OP who doesn't want to go with Android because he's a Microsoft Fanboy - well, your loss.
Personally, I've recently discovered that I'm either no longer a power user, or never really was one. Sure, I tethered used BT PAN and then WMWiFiRouter on the 6700, Mogul, Touch Pro, and then a similar solution on the Evo. But I've since moved to where my smartphone is no longer my primary internet connection. Windows Phone 7 does most everything else that I used my WM/Android phones for. There are still some gaps - I miss multitasking and Google Maps from Android, and I miss... well, I can't really say I miss anything from my WinMo days. Those days were great to begin with, but when I got my Evo, I swore I'd never go back. And yet it only took ten months for my love affair with Android to sour and I was right back to where I was with WinMo - endlessly customizing my device and never being truly satisfied with the results. Basically it comes down to UI performance for me, and right now iOS and WP7 are untouchable. Android has become a laggy mess (this was especially evident last weekend, when my friend showed me his brand new Droid2 Global and it was chugging and stuttering right out of the box). WebOS could have been a contender but terrible hardware and a glacial pace for updates have spoiled any momentum it once had. Which is a damn shame, because I think I'd like a Pre3 just as much as I like my Arrive, but the Arrive is here now and I've already fallen in love with it.
jaqual said:
As far as UI and the complete experience, the Arrive is really the best phone I've seen. It is smooth, intuitive, and just looks great. The style is really unique.
That being said, I will be trading for an Epic tomorrow. While I really like the overall experience on the Arrive, the M$ "branding" really limits it for now. I understand they are trying to get a baseline across all carriers/devices, and it is still an early OS, but this isn't really a "smart" phone as far as I'm concerned.
Coming from WinMo, this phone seems just as useful as an iPhone. No real customization options, no Mass Storage device, no way to even download a file from the internet. IE is not bad(or Cube) but there's not even any other browsers that aren't based on IE yet.
I know it's still early on, but I would rather go with a phone for now that lets me do what I want to do, or can be customized to do so. And can multitask. I have used my Touch Pro to fix people's computers, and can run a mostly functional(if battery eating) Android. I can't even change the Arrive's ringtone(although I do like 8-Bit).
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You know, guys... I don't think it was Microsoft's intention to create the ultimate hacker phone.
thanks for the review with the anger.
i knew ms can do it again just like they did on winmo6.5.
now i know for sure not to touch anything cellphone related from ms.
Hmm, who has the anger issues?
I have upgraded from Mogul -> Touch Pro 2 -> HTC Arrive. All I can say that I am really happy with the update
I just got the Arrive and honestly, I love it. I haven't had any problems at all of any kind, ever.
I think the auto tilting thing will drive me nuts too... WHen I got my TP2 I used it a few times but, I can see how it got annoying and it's very rare that I tilt the screen now, unless it's got perfect with no light lost at a angle...I'd hate it