Well when I first saw the reviews on the fuze, pretty much the primary gripe was the number keys weren't on top. I too was like woah...why in god's green earth would they do that. I previously had a verizon enV so that why i went to the fuze to begin with. Not to mention I had to switch to AT&T because everyone else was on it.
Now I thought it was extremely stupid of AT&T to mess with a cell phone's QWERTY keyboard, after all every cell phone with a QWERTY keyboard has a number row and I couldn't have imagined not having a number row. But now that I have been using the fuze I see why they would consider it.
Since this was beyond a typical smartphone and is one of the most advanced, the highest speced, and overall the fastest phone on the market (kicks the iPhone's behind in the RAM department) you begin to shift away from simply sending short bursts of information by texting, like on my enV, and more to doing things you would normally do on your laptop like going on forums, writing emails, etc. Thats when your like damn this is brilliant. Now that you are writing sophisticated messages that require punctuation and grammar, you use punctuation more often and have better grammar. I even notice that now when I text I put commas in my messages and question marks and basically write like I would on a laptop. After all, don't you use a lot more punctuation in your emails and even texts than you do numbers? I mean people use numbers for short texts on their keypads because it requires less characters. And it takes a lot longer to write out messages on keypads.
For example, "c u l8er
can i b ova 2nite"
And now that your 'sophisticated' with your snobby qwerty keyboard and touch screen keyboard (still kicks ass, one hand messaging ftw!) you don't write txts you write messages xD. For example us sophisticated fuze users we write messages like. "hey, i'll see you later. oh and btw, can I, please come over tonight? " (meh we are still too lazy to capitalize, next up is the entire bottom row as a shift key, jk)
Not only that but I personally think even inputting numbers is more comfortable on the fuze because its in a more natural faster keypad configurations. Everyone knows keypads are faster and heck every desktop PC keyboard has a keypad. So its a win win. Either way using the keypad and having to press fn is still just as fast, and more natural, than using a number row.
Just my little rant.
Btw. I am so happy with my fuze. i really think it is a better aesthetically than the touch pro. It feels a lot smoother and is a lot more original. Its very simple but at the same time the back is pretty nifty. I am especially happy with it because now that I have bodyguardz on my phone the back isn't a fingerprint magnet but its still nice and glossy and nifty. Overall I am not a big fan of the touch pros iPhonesque chrome. I think it look nifty on the iphone because its such a simple streamlined phone but the raphael doesn't really pull off chrome as well. I like the fuze better than the touch pro because its more hard lined, and more bold. It not the streamlined design of the iPhone and many other phones. It has hard lines and is not smooth, especially the back.
The fuze spits in the face of conventional designs. It is unique and wonderful. It is not made to steal iPhone users or be another "iPhone Killer". It is doing its own thing and could care less whether the other kids think its cool or not. Its got a small size factor and feels small but its design makes a bold impact. It feels solid and amazingly built. It is it's own phone and unlike other big name phones you can do whatever you want with it.
It's yours and you don't have to go to an "app store". You don't need to follow an "API" or an "SDK". Don't like the radio driver? Go try a different version.
Don't like the touchflo, just turn it off and install one of plethora of established today screen products. You can get a nice clean ROM (DA_G Clean Rom is fantastic btw) and install what you want. You can disregard the apps they give you.
PS: And the PTT button is awesome. Sure no one cares about PTT or uses it but it sure makes for an invaluable hardware addition. I remapped with AE Button Plus and now I got a button that is great just for launching little apps. I can put my browser, the camera, vibrate, and a task manager all on the same button. Trust me that little "worthless" button is great. The Raphael doesn't really have too many buttons so you really don't have any other buttons to use for apps. Sure you can use AE Button plus to map your buttons but its nice to have a little button that's doesn't do any necessary function. It's just yours. One man's POS PTT button is another man's interface enhancement.
Related
Hi all -
after buying a pocket pc (spv M3100) and playing around with the UI to get a Iphone like simplicity but with a bit of originality I was wondering what you guys use as a decent UI -
- is there any software you use to improve interaction - I'm on a Iphone clone/vista hybrid with wisbar advance, I'v tried RLtoday and Clauncg even Xperience but I cant find anything I fall in love with.
Clown fish are bugging me now - were all going to be bored of the Iphone before it released.
Let me know what you've got? - I'd be particularly interested if anyone uses a completely flash UI, or if they exist...
or what you want out of a decent user interface.
JJ McG.
Eh --
I value performance more than a polished GUI. WisBar Advance slows my device down too much ... as well as most other apps.
If I am in the car, and need to open my contacts to find someone's address, I don't want to wait 3-5 seconds more because of some dumb skinning program.
So you’re telling me you get your little stylus out every time you’re in your car and you need to get a contact? People crash because mobile phones distract them, so god knows what would happen if we all used styluses in our cars... I’m sure if it increased your survival rate whilst driving 3 or 4 seconds worth of loading time wouldn’t kill you, literally.
Or do you use your finger? In which case I'm sure you’ve opened the wrong program or mashed your touch screen activating 2 or 3 apps at once? Would you not prefer bigger buttons like an Iphone or a wisbar skin?
I opened this topic for discussion of this subject in the hope that I could maybe create a decent app that people actually want, not for sarcastic application bashing. Theres more to wisbar and Iphone than looks, its practical as well... do you not think.
Regards.
JJ McG.
SPB Mobile Shell is fairly fat finger friendly.
V
There have been some very good UI's posted across these forums.
From time to time I've thought Oh I like the look of that - I want it. But if I changed my UI every time I liked something I'd be forever dedicating time to it, because some of these methods aren't quick, i.e. the learning curve on Wisbar.
I will always commend people who make the effort for others to have something different on there phone rather than the bog standard interface, practicality does have to be a consideration as well...
It's whatever floats your boat at the end of the day.
For me I'm happy with my plethora of SPB products jamming up my screen, gives me everything I need and it looks nice too, IMHO.
If you Jonjamesm want to create something then crack on my friend, take a look round the forums and see some of the very nice UI's...
Form and functionality, just plain bling your the designer
smartskey I think hardware buttons are the way to go while driving (or voice rec). With green button, smartskey, you can quickly get to speed dials and call history.
The other big app I use while in the car is WMP, I assigned the IE button on my wizard to start WMP instead. Then the dpad and 2 softkeys can do about 99% of needed inputs. The only problems are:
-a couple functions in WMP require screen tap (library back button and ???)
-WMP forgets where I am at a lot
Firstly, I've been following the leaks so far, and so I don't want to hear, oh there won't be a multitouch. The bottom line is, we don't know what the final product will be.
Secondly, it goes without saying, that I support any efforts by MS to incorporate capacitative screens. Currently, there are two known and upcoming solutions to replace the stylus, one an RF pen (a stylus that should work with cap. screens- google it!) and a solution that MS has recently invested in, called something like N-trig.
The purpose of this thread is to discuss, and make content those who are against multitouch if it comes to 6.5, or for that matter, 7.
Now, the main argument against multitouch, is that it is against single-handed usage. Here I will list why that is a moot/null/void argument:
- Using the iPhone as an example firstly (and pretty much throughout but it is not due to me having a liking for it, rather I hate it, but I hope to convey a more profound message), though there is argument over the pinch gesture in Safari (their internet browser), the double-tap to zoom is still available. So, the double-tap that we are used to in Opera, is also in Safari. So one can have it both ways. So, to sum up this point, devs would need to make sure that their programs are made for single handed usage, but that multitouch offers a different (and as some would argue, more enhanced) method of using the phone. So single-handed usage is still there, basically.
- Some games, require pressing of more than one button simultaneously. Now if buttons A, B and C are onscreen and are only viable via touch entry, then we're screwed once again as only one given button can be pressed at one time. If you're a gamer, you will know how big a limitation this is to your phone. It hurts in so many scenarios. If you're not into games, or your games are limited to puzzles: trust me, this is a biggie!
- A similar and relevant point; phones like Touch HD bear the brunt of lacking multitouch, as they don't even have a D-pad for games. So all buttons onscreen (D-pad inclusive) can only be pressed one-at-a-time!
- Whether you like this app or not, it demonstrates that some apps simply cannot do without multitouch. Why put limitations? If you want to argue it is against single-touch usage, then press one button at a time !
- Another app that is somewhat heartwarming . I've used it on an acquaintance's iPhone, and it's nice to swirl two of your fingers through the pond making multiple ripples. Again, just use single touch if you're against double ripples .
- Text entry for those of us that type at lightning speed would be hindered where we are required to press one button right next to the next one in quick succession. Why put this limitation?
- I will add more here onwards if something comes to mind. Maybe. Maybe not.
So all in all, single handed usage can still be there, and MS can enforce this in their SkyStore (app store equivalent), though granted it could be difficult. But most developers would do this, as most do what their customers want, not what I, the dev want.
LASTLY, this is not a WM bashing thread if you think like that, so stop hating! This is for improvements only!
Just to let you know...it's not all M$'s fault..Mostly HTC and the companys that make the devices. Just look at the omnia. It has a capactive touchscreen.
Good Points, and just because WM6.5 has Mutlitouch available doesn't mean devs or phone builders would HAVE to use it.
I'm a big fan of "many options."
Side Note: Moved to General Discussion.
Kraize said:
Just to let you know...it's not all M$'s fault..Mostly HTC and the companys that make the devices. Just look at the omnia. It has a capactive touchscreen.
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Is this truly true ? If so, why doesn't Samsung advertise it as much? Also, doesn't the small buttons become difficult to use?
JimmyMcGee said:
Good Points, and just because WM6.5 has Mutlitouch available doesn't mean devs or phone builders would HAVE to use it.
I'm a big fan of "many options."
Side Note: Moved to General Discussion.
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This is precisely my point! The only little niggle is that devs should make sure that productivity tools allow single handed usage as well. One way would be to enforce this through the SkyStore. Another would be to let the magic happen itself.
I really want to see what people will say against my strong defence of multitouch. Come on people!
It will raise the cost of the devices (both due to the much more expensive screen AND the need for a special, larger stylus) and create a further layer of incompatibility between WM devices (those with multi-touch and those without).
Surur
surur said:
and create a further layer if incomparability between WM devices (those with multi-touch and those without).
Surur
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Click to collapse
Which is why everyone should have to buy a new device when Windows Mobile 7 is released.
Seems people are forgeting WM6.5 is more like Vista, a stop gap before the better OS ie Windows 7
Why WM6.5 does not have mltitouch ?
I will try to answer this question.
The big hardware manifacturers are in the begining of producin multitouch capable phones (you all know that you need multitouch capable digitizer in order to be able to use multitouch). Microsoft communicated with manifacturers and they were not ready with such devices, which is the reason multitouch to be reserved for windows mobile 7.
Seems people are forgeting WM6.5 is more like Vista, a stop gap before the better OS ie Windows 7
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Click to collapse
Totally agree
I see no real benefit in multi-touch on small screen. granted, in games with on devices with minimal input buttons, but until device manufactures actually start releasing 3D drivers for the devices the point about gaming isn't of much substance because there will only be mediocre games.
I don't know what the masses want but I see little benefit in it on screens that one can stretch the thumb from bottom left of the device and reach the top right.
I rather draw a counter clockwise circle to zoom and a clockwise to zoom out.
the real benefit is in the screen response, not the multi-touch. aside from gaming, tell me what other real benefit is there? because I don't see it.
Text entry for those of us that type at lightning speed would be hindered where we are required to press one button right next to the next one in quick succession. Why put this limitation?
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I think this depends on the sip you're using and have no reliance on multi-touch capabilities. I see myself as a very fast typist and this is thanks to the sip I'm using.
do this, ask your friend to do this with his iPhone: press 2 keys at the same time while typing the word "Quilts", so your friend would type it like this "Qu" then "il" then "ts" and tell us what's the result. I am pretty curious as to what the results will be. I would ask my girl to do it but she's at work now.
Hi Guys,
First thank you all for such a great community. XDA truly "sold" me the HTC fuze...as I was very excited about such an excellent user base. I lurked here for a few days before I bought, and have lurked a few more days while I have played with the phone, so far with very positive experiences...
So here is my question...
I am an ex blackberry user...4 years running. Had the 7290 and the more recent 8800. I liked the phones but were frequently frustrated by things such as lack of home-brew software (or at least lack of software easy to find and well supported), lack of a decent web browser, lack of an attractive UI (albeit theirs was very functional) and lack of 3G (on att at the moment). Now I know that the BB Bold fixed some of this, but to me its the same ole blackberry tricks (do email real well, slack off on the rest), and I was really ready for a highly extensible smart phone.
Enter the HTC fuze...
I love the apps, love the idea of custom ROMS, love that it runs a very common platform (windows mobile, important as some companies write apps that only run on windows mobile), and love the sheer power of the HTC fuze (can easily browse filesystem, look at memory usage...its essentially a very small laptop), but I have one primary complaint...it does all these cool things, but IMO it does NOT do email/messaging/contact management well...and worse, I have not been as impressed with the web browser as I thought I would be (using opera, have not tried IE...also some of this is my fault, I am trying to use fat-client web pages vs mobile web pages, which are faster and just perform better). Now before I get flamed, let me clarify that I am using the Energy Rom 3.0, so some of my griefing may be self inflicted. That being said, here are some specifics of what irritations Ive ran into with messaging/email/contact management...ill list them out categorized in order of importance (can you tell I am an engineer?)
Email
1. No heads up display of new messages on the home screen (have to poke around to the email area to see if you have new messages)
2. Does not enter an @ and . symbol when hitting spacebar key while typing email address in "To:" field (ex-blackberry users will sympathize)
3. I get too many emails for the graphical envelope to be useful...it looks cool, but when I am 30 emails deep i really don't want to have to click menu to get to all messages, just let the mail icon take me right to the goodies please...
4. read/unread/replied messages are not well represented (could be that it is just different that the blackberry feel, but a different color or something would be nice...the standard is bold/yellow/dark is unread and light/white/shadowy is read...and replied as some sort of representation as well
There are a few others but those are the main ones
Messaging
1. Clicking the message, and then immediately beginning to type (as in to reply) will take you to the address book!!, in order to start a new message! It is beyond me why it does not just start entering text as a reply for your current message you are viewing, and this is a huge annoyance!
2. Found this the other day...replying to an MMS message by clicking gives an error (wont deliver) but hitting menu and then reply will then prompt for "MMS or SMS reply?" and the message goes through fine...irritating!
3. Tapping spacebar twice does not place a period, although not capitalizing the first letter in a sentence auto-capitalizes - this is a blackberry feature that is not here and i miss it :'(
4. Once again lack of proper heads up in the home menu....why is the clock giant??? Looks cool but waste of space...I would rather have a breakdown of my messages/emails/missed calls with limited details so I can see whats going on, on my home screen.
5. General slowness when going from the message browsing with the envelopes to the reply, detailed view.
Contact Management
1. Adding a contact is no where near simple...and there are too many "mines" you can accidentally click in the process which will do odd things like add an address book entry with no name in it, or call someone!
2. The "people" tab is useless...i removed it (not really a complaint as I fixed it...but I just don't understand that concept of favorites....that being said my background is in database administration so all data is good data to me, the more the merrier...explains my 500+ contacts, half of which i prob dont need but keep around just in case)
3. Last name first???? Blackberry was always first name last...further more, I entered a business the other day in my contact list, and it put the second part of the business name as the last name, leading to a very odd address book entry...I did not like that bit of assumption on the phones part.
So I guess you could probably sum up all my complaints into 3 things:
1. I am way too used to blackberry shortcuts and having a hard time weening myself off
2. There are 10 ways to do the same things and get to the same places on the phone, and some times a few of those ways are less buggy/intuitive than others...why not just have the best methods enabled only?
3. Too many buttons take you places you did not intend to be...its not one way in one way out of each module (mail, messaging, ect.)...its 5 ways in, 10 ways deeper, uh....im lost, how do I make a phone call? (I'm being facetious of course but you get my drift)
Anyways, I am not trying to slam the phone, it is slick, sexy, and free (refurb through an ATT deal), but I just need some ROM/tweak/psychological suggestions to make it "fit" me better.
Thank you all truly,
Crackberry addict in serious withdrawal
Ok, so piece by piece:
Email:
1. For a pop-up for new email messages, go to start>settings>sounds¬ifications>notifications. There you can choose messaging: new email message, and select display message on screen. This will give you a pop up at the bottom every time you get a new email. you can do this for all those other events that are in the drop down too.
2. Don't know of anything to do this
3. There should be a inbox button for your i think left soft-key. Two clicks isn't much more than 1
4. Don't know of anything
Messaging:
1. This happens jut because of lag in the system. You have to wait until everything loads up to start typing. Sounds like you need a cooked rom
2. Bug?
3. My phone does what you ask, although I am running 6.5. My settings in input have "enable auto correct" with a check mark next to them. Don't know if this solves the problem in 6.1
4. Regular Today screen. Try something like TouchFlo Detacher, which allows you with the soft key button to easily and quickly switch back and forth between the regular today screen, which would have all that info that you desire, and touchflo. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=480475
5. Cooked rom, bigger pagepool
Contact Management:
1. Sorry this is just winmo. Contact entry area is not exactly the most finger friendly menu. Try the stylus. I know what you mean, though.
2. Basically the people tab is just for people you call on a daily basis, and it looks cool lol
3. You can change that in the contact's settings where it says "file as"; I like first name first also, so I just changed it so that was the way it is displayed.
Overall Points:
1. It is difficult to go from blackberry to winmo, but everything does have a slight learning curve.
2. Most view this to be the beauty of winmo. You have infinite possibilities, since everyone likes to do things differently. If microsoft wanted to assume that everyone wanted to do everything the same way and that there was one, best, all-powerful way to do things, then they could just merge with apple
3. Lol don't understand this one
Any more questions, I'd be happy to help
thanks
hey,
thanks for the detailed reply. got most of the answers i needed...I am using a cooked rom (energy 3.0) which runs WM 6.5, but it comes with the Manila skin. After doing some research I think I need to ditch that and start from there...any other pointers?
You could try to use the default WM6.5 home plugin instead of TF3D, it may suit your needs better.
Long-time Android user and always wondered this. Over time I have tried lots of keyboards. There are things I like about Better Keyboard, Swiftkey and Swype and I tend to alternate every now and then.
Is there any reason not to keep them all enabled so I can switch just from a long press?
-Steve
Yes, the world may explode.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
My concern is that maybe it makes texts or emails load more slowly or something?
Indeed, but it would be due to the world having exploded.
(Nonsarcastic answer: No because only one keyboard is active at a time)
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I don't think switching between multiple keyboards is a problem. I do it, and I haven't seen any significant slowdowns in overall performance.
I'd like to say...
Typing on the Android remains one of the few sore spots in my personal Android experience. I have been switching and experimenting with all sorts of keyboards for a long time. It's a bit frustrating that not a single keyboard format can mimic the smoothness and accuracy of the experience typing on an iPhone (or even an iPod Touch). Some do come close:
First, the stock Gingerbread keyboard is a vast improvement over past iterations, however I'm still experiencing oddities like missed presses (particularly with the space bar, resulting in words likethis, or when missing letters, words like tis or ths) or the complete opposite with overly sensitive touches (resulting in double hits like tthis or thiss) -- all frustrating. It's unfortunate the experience can be so polarizing.
Second, Smart Keyboard Pro is quite amazing. It's fully loaded with features and customizations (like custom auto-correction, something which is so helpful which I don't understand why it isn't implemented in the stock keyboard). However, I think until the developer optimizes it for Gingerbread, it remains a bit laggy. I've been in contact with the developer and he says he's looking into updating soon.
Lastly, I've recently been experimenting with Better Keyboard Beta 8 (fully optimized for Gingerbread) and I have to say I'm very impressed. I've only been using it for two days, but my initial impressions are positive. It doesn't seem to misfire too much, and the auto correction is incredibly smart. I'm excited for the potentials of this.
As for others, like Swype and Swiftkey, I find they are novel ideas but can work counter-intuitively to thumbing out long and quick messages. Swype is cumbersome when you're trying to write personal/custom words (slang, etc.) or when you're attempting to write long words (it's easy to lose track). And Swiftkey, when it lands and predicts accurately your sentences, is very impressive. Unfortunately, this happens rarely. More often than not, the predictions are off, and you end up having to type out nearly every letter of a word anyway. Also, because you are so busy focusing on picking the next and correct predicted words, it ironically makes completing messages slower. Even Swiftkey's own website says the predictions will be 1/3 correct. Impressive as that is itself, those odds don't translate to a fluid typing experience in the real world.
Having said all that, I'm hoping Blindtype will be implemented soon and change all of this. Until then, the typing experience on Android, regardless of which keyboard, feels second rate. It continues to be one of the few areas of Android I can't enjoy.
After discovering a lot of great features on my rooted E900, a new question made me using search function, but with not much help! So: is there any tweak in registry to change keyboard from full querty to keypad (like the physical keyboard from old phones, 1 to 9 with * and # and pressing three times on two for ex to write C letter) when you write a text message or text a web adress? I find this more handy when I'm driving, because with all that small letters from full querty is more dificult. Thanks in advance, and hope there is a solution, because when you write a number in the sms recipient, that keyboard appears.
I'm trying to think of a polite way to say this, and the best I've come up with is that, while I don't care terribly much about *your* car, I'm sufficiently concerned about the random people around you that the thought of making it easier to use your phone while driving is not even slightly appealing (for the record, it's illegal here, and for good reason).
For the record, I'm not so irresponsible so that I'm texting sms and driving, especially since I have a small baby in the backseat. When I PULL OVER and try to text something, the sunlight makes it harder to see the small buttons and I always hit the wrong button. I have pretty big fingers and that's why I want to use such a keypad.
And no offence, but I will never come to Seatle, only if I will win lottery and want to meet you personally, so don't be concerned.
The question still stays. Thank you
Please... Can someone help me with keypad?