Related
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,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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...
Click to collapse
what today hang around for 5years time?
apart from social deseases ?
Hey there guys,
New to this great Comunity, still new to Windows Mobile.
I'm a tech geek alright, and I love having all the newest tech gadgets around. I've wanted to get a WM phone so many times throughout the last few years but they were always behind in lots of aspects compared to the Symbian ones. Then HTC released its TyTNII with its holy specs, great design and somewhat compact size. This was my phone! Yeah, right! Then I found out about this huge issue with the video performance and followed it for about three monts waiting for a solution either from HTC or XDA. And OK - HTC had some problems with Qualcomm support for its stolen from Broadcomm chipsets whatever. So they released Diamond (and announced Raphael) with a new chipset and "3D GPU" which "processor enhances the user interface". And then again it needs tweaks to make it - not better, but just usable. Then all the other bugs and flaws users say about in this forum.
Can't HTC build a quality device that just works out of the box?! Then leave it to us mostly to customize it and somehow improve its usability!? Man, everyday I read about newer and bigger bugs and flaws. May be most of them will be overcomed thanks to this comunity, but were is HTC with its support for its high-priced devices!?
And again I'm about to leave the idea of having WM phone.
I've looked around for any other brands and models but found none more appealing. What do you think? What's the best WM device I can get in the next few months?
Any opinions are much appreciated.
To be honest, I've grown quite tired of Windows Mobile. I used to like it more, but it seems like I spent way too much time getting things to work. Also, the interface is very user UN-friendly, which makes doing simple tasks like calling someone too time consuming. Then there is the random freeze ups like the one I had today, which caused me to miss 5 calls and no warning lights or anything.
I like the cusomizabilty, but sometimes, I just want something that works right out of the box. Also, performance wise, all of the HTC/WM phones I've used are sluggish. (My mogul, friend's 6700, another friend's Kaiser/TyTnII). The redraw time when you flip out the keyboard is rediculous, specially if you have a few plugins.
Overall, I may give one more WM phone a try, if I am impressed by it at the store. But I doubt it. I just don't see Microsoft doing any innovations since they hold the crown as far as market share goes in the U.S. Maybe when an Android phones comes out...
partyhardy said:
To be honest, I've grown quite tired of Windows Mobile. I used to like it more, but it seems like I spent way too much time getting things to work. Also, the interface is very user UN-friendly, which makes doing simple tasks like calling someone too time consuming. Then there is the random freeze ups like the one I had today, which caused me to miss 5 calls and no warning lights or anything.
I like the cusomizabilty, but sometimes, I just want something that works right out of the box. Also, performance wise, all of the HTC/WM phones I've used are sluggish. (My mogul, friend's 6700, another friend's Kaiser/TyTnII). The redraw time when you flip out the keyboard is rediculous, specially if you have a few plugins.
Overall, I may give one more WM phone a try, if I am impressed by it at the store. But I doubt it. I just don't see Microsoft doing any innovations since they hold the crown as far as market share goes in the U.S. Maybe when an Android phones comes out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give blackberry a chance They've never failed me. Infact, I had my HTC Touch Dual for about a month before switching back. lol.
calling someone is too complicated?
1.) hit the green button
2.) start tapping away or choose speed dial
3.) hit the green button
its similar to what other phones want from you in order to know who you want to call. If thats too complicated, you may also try voice commander?
that beeing said, I am very happy with my new i-mate 9502, but I also considered the samsung i780 and it looks like people who bought it are very happy with it, especially with the form factor and performance.
edit: key for me with winMo devices are things like hardware keys, to reach functions quickly, using a good launcher/today setup like pocketplus +
phoneweaver + todayagenda, etc. and a nice hardware keyboard.
partyhardy said:
simple tasks like calling someone too time consuming. Then there is the random freeze ups like the one I had today, which caused me to miss 5 calls and no warning lights or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Calling is simple, one button... de ding "call simon mobile" etc.
The no error message and not getting calls though is an issue i dislike.
I want a "nippy" device we need better hardware to run the software and better software optimisation for the hardware.
i just bought htc touch enhanced couple of days ago, and for the price it's great. Now with the Diamond coming out, htc touch is getting cheaper, but it's great to use nontheless.
Installed some stuff on it, not enough to make it sluggish but enough to make it a pure pleasure to use and i would definitely recommend it.
Prekrasen telefon za tzenata si.
partyhardy said:
To be honest, I've grown quite tired of Windows Mobile. I used to like it more, but it seems like I spent way too much time getting things to work. Also, the interface is very user UN-friendly, which makes doing simple tasks like calling someone too time consuming. Then there is the random freeze ups like the one I had today, which caused me to miss 5 calls and no warning lights or anything.
I like the cusomizabilty, but sometimes, I just want something that works right out of the box. Also, performance wise, all of the HTC/WM phones I've used are sluggish. (My mogul, friend's 6700, another friend's Kaiser/TyTnII). The redraw time when you flip out the keyboard is rediculous, specially if you have a few plugins.
Overall, I may give one more WM phone a try, if I am impressed by it at the store. But I doubt it. I just don't see Microsoft doing any innovations since they hold the crown as far as market share goes in the U.S. Maybe when an Android phones comes out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why cusomizabilty has to be at the expense of stability? Is it imposible to have a device that is performing great out of the box and has the potential to get improved usability by applications and custom tweaks? That would be the device for me. Don't get me wrong. I'm no mass user, I would consider myself as a techie business user and as such I need a device that I can rely on from the moment I buy it. I don't have the comfort to spend a small fortune and experiment weeks, even months with tweaking it just to make it work properly. I've always thought of WM as of business devices but I guess I was wrong.
demonizator said:
But why cusomizabilty has to be at the expense of stability? Is it imposible to have a device that is performing great out of the box and has the potential to get improved usability by applications and custom tweaks? That would be the device for me. Don't get me wrong. I'm no mass user, I would consider myself as a techie business user and as such I need a device that I can rely on from the moment I buy it. I don't have the comfort to spend a small fortune and experiment weeks, even months with tweaking it just to make it work properly. I've always thought of WM as of business devices but I guess I was wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that the people that use this site are not those that are going to say "my device is great" and then go away... The kind of people here are either those not satisfied, or those that want a little bit more from the hard ware and are not representative of all the device users.
The Diamond is an immensely powerfully device, and even with the UI stacked on top, it ticks away far more reliably than the iPhone (which for me just locked up a lot). If you don't like the UI, disable it and you'll have one of the most powerful WM devices there is...
WM devices don't need tweaking, but this site is devoted to tweaking them. I ran my Prophet perfectly happily on the stock WM5 ROM for over a year, before discovering this site to get it unlocked when the contract ended. I didn't need to tweak it or flash countless ROMs, but I wanted to...
I really hope you're right. I'm gonna wait a little bit more and get the Touch Pro version. It's just all these flaws I read about that stopped me from buying WM the past few years. But I guess I have to give up something to gain something more.
Maybe you want to take a look to the new Samsung. It seems as it's going to be a good device.
http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=1039
WM6 for the money?
I bought a Dash on ebay and upgraded it to WM6 for $150.00.
I have a Mogul now, but the Dash was way easier to use.
In terms of bang-for-the-buck I think the Samsung i780 takes the cake. It is the most specced out phone in that price category. And if you buy one today it will have the newer firmware so it shouldn't have any real issues.
Oh and calling people on a WiMo phone is far easier than any other phone. Voice Command baby. It's the reason I can't leave the WiMo platform even if there are other great choices like the iPhone, Blackberry or even the all-but-dead Palm Treos. And if you DON'T like using Voice Command come on it's very easy to call someone as mentioned. In fact, back when Nokia had crap for menus and directional pads to get to your contacts WiMo phones had touchscreens that made it really easy in comparison. Today the touchscreen is still easier to use than the various jog dials, joysticks or what not that conventional phones have.
+1 for the i780. It is by far the quickest and most responsive PPC I have ever used, and the form factor is perfect. No rotating screens to wait for, all the keyboard shortcuts you could want, terrific build quality, good battery life, bargain price, and none of the HTC Flo-bloat that turns their machines from reasonable PPCs into lagging, crash-happy iPhone wannabes.
I gotta add a +2 for the I780 as well.
I was holding out for a touch pro myself, in fact i cut out a picture of it and put it on my wall at the office. Iv'e owned quite a few HTC models over the last while as well as a I600, and i gotta say the I600 altho it had less functionality far outshined all but my tytn 2, altho the tytn 2 could not match the I600 im picture quality with the camera.
Last week i was in vodacom shop and saw the I780 demo model, picked it up and played with it for a while and i must say it has been a long time since a phone made me go "wow" , i was totaly amazed at the speed of the thing, the look and feel of it is great, samsung put alot of work into making the menu's just right for any user from beginner to power user. I made up my mind right there and then and bought one on my credit card, that was 7 days ago.
my experience so far :
Proprioty connector sux since i have a bunch of standard usb cables lying around, but still its not a train smash since you get usb cable, car charger, spare battery as well as a seperate portable battery charger as well with the phone.
Speed is AWSOME, 624mhz of power you will definitely notice, i have not found a single movie clip that has once lagged or was out of sinc with video/audio. this phone is really FAST, even when multi tasking it doesnt slow down. i have 2 friends who own tytn 2 and both commented on the speed, they both think i tweaked it to make it faster, they refuse to believe its the stock speed. ofcourse i did not tweak it.
Plenty of memory, i have 152mb free memory space on the phone and i have around 20 apps installed. the phone can also technicaly take up to 32gb cards i have read, altho most users use 1gb-8gb.
GPS is great, i had a bit of problem setting it up as i didnt bother reading the manual etc, but once i figured it out it worked like a charm, it pin pointed me in seconds. google maps work great as well. Garmin XT which comes with the phone is in my opinion far better than tomtom could ever be so i am very happy with samsung's choice of gps software.
Touch pad mouse was what put me off buying the phone in the first place, but after 6 days i find myself using it more than anything else, it was weird to use the first few days but it is second nature now and the phone just wouldnt be the same without it.
the keypad looks really tiny and i have biggish fingers. I dont know why, maybe its because they are beveled quite a bit or something, but i find it very easy and comfortable to use, do yourself a favour and try it on a demo model, you will see what i mean. the phone has a bunch of shortcut keys that sit in all the right spots, thumbs up to samsung for doing a good job there. one thing i would have liked was a jog dial for easy up and down scrolling in opera, I downloaded a app that changes volume up/down to scroll up/down and my problem was solved.
Screen is nice and bright, even in sunlight i dont have a problem. 320x320 at 128dpi is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. 95% of software out there works flawless at this resolution, since the release of the phone software developers have all been upgrading to support it. its mainly only HTC home that is a problem, but spb mobile which has more funtions works perfect so i am not bothered. I have installed all 20 of my favorite apps and all work nicely so im happy. there are some games that might be an issue tho, but its mostly old titles, every new game being released supports this resolution.
3G. Wireless, HSDPA etc : with my tytn 2 i had 1 bar to my router from the living room, with this phone i have almost full signal, i was really surprised with that. in the bathroom i used to get gprs only with the tytn 2, with this phone i get 3G+. anyway, that is how i have compared it to my old phone and found this one to have far better signal quality.
overall i love the phone, i am convinced i made the right choice. i would have loved a flash to be included with the phone, but other than that i just cant find any flaws.
I cant really comment on battery life as i am still playing with everything alot and using more battery life than i would on avarage, but currently battery lasts me almost 2 full days and trust me, i put it under alot of stress plus you get a second battery with the phone for free. but i estimate 3 to 4 days if you dont put to much strain on it.
O also forgot to mention, video calling worked out of the box much to my surprise. phone came with the E1 rom installed.
Software currently on phone and working perfectly :
Skype
SmS Chat ( threaded sms app )
google maps
Opera
core player
real player
Esmertec Jbed
Advabced config Tools
Adobe reader
Fun contact
Keyswop
Pocket IRC
Pocket Rar
PqzII
Safemode 2
Garmin XT
SPB Mobile shell
WKTaskL
Samsung today plugin
Astraware Casino
Tetris
Machines of war
Flash player
Total commander
Call firewall.
And no i did not install realvga, i am using the default 128dpi resolution i got the phone with.
Anyway, hope this helps with your descision. what you really need to do it test the phone yourself, i warn you tho, once you pick it up you wont want to put it down
In my country the HTC Tytn 2 is selling for R8900, and its already an dated model.
the I780 is selling for R5200 which is ALOT cheaper and this phone blows smoke in the tytn 2's face. so in my opinion this is by far the best bang for buck out there.
Its kinda like buying a 9600gt when everyone else is buying the 8600gts .... just love seeying their faces when they realise they just pissed away a chunk of cash on the wrong thing
If all else fails read this : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=411053
The best windows mobile device for it's money is undoubtely the HTC Shift, for a mere 1000 dollars you'll get a run-down WindowsMobile OS, but also Vista. So you'll have a hybrid for the price of just a good laptop.
Isn't is great ?
I think the HTC Touch PRO will blow the competition away, seriously!!!
I was a symbian freak for years untill I bought my current device, the HTC S710 "Vox". Before the Vox I went trough several Symbian S60 devices including Nokia 7610, 6630, N70 & N73.
At first I thougt wm was a complete mess... and the UI looked terrible imo... I was also a bit shocked that there was no copy/paste (at least in wm6 standard). In S60 there was a dedicated pencil key used for just copy/paste actions + other stuff..
Things have changed...
Now after using my Vox fox exactly one year there's no way I'd go back to only using symbian S60 again.
Even though I'm only using the non-touch version of wm I've noticed all the advantages of wm compared with symbian S60.
Let me list a few of them:
1. Messaging: Sending SMS & MMS with a S60 device is OK but nothing more, the whole messaging interface in a S60 3d edition device is inferior. It's hard to explain but it's just doesn't compare to what it feels like on a wm device. It's like using a 3310 with a color screen if you know what I mean. Oooold T9 (forget about xt9 with word prediction & etc), the whole interface looks like a joke, and the S60 MMS editor doesn't even have a 3'rd of every options you can find in a standard WM device these days.
2. Email: OMG, If you wanna check your mail on a S60 device you'll be seriously depressed. Reading emails on a S60 device is like reading a standard SMS. You can forget all about HTML email and everything looks incredibly boring. Yes there are some really good 3rd party apps like profimail but still they're no match for the built-in mobile outlook when it comes to displaying your emails.
3. Calendar: There's no comparision here, WM6 calendar thrumps the S60 one, nothing more to say!
4. Contacts: S60 is far far behind, there's so much easier and faster finding a contact in WM6, especially when you can search contacts quickly just by typing there first letters using xt9... And with Live messenger integrated (love it or hate it) with contacts it's a nice addition imo.
5. Office applications: OMG... This is overkill for S60!!! Even WM6 standard edition nowadays includes Office mobile which beatifully renders word, excell & powerpoint files. It's a shame it doesn't allow you to create new documents (on WM6 standard) but that can easily be fixed with a simple patch from modaco forums... S60 includes quickoffice, it's not a bad application at all but documents rendered in quickoffice doesn't even look nearly as good as they do in office mobile.
6. WIFI: No competition here at all... WM is superior in remembering hotspots and connectivity.
7. ActiveSync: Says it all doesn't it??? Nokia have PC Suite, it's a great app but it's no match if you're using outlook... It works ok but doesn't sync everything like activesync does so wm is the winner here as well....
8. Live Messenger: Probably not very important to a lot of people but for me it's very important. With WM6 I can use the native WM Live messenger client completely for free. There's no way to do that on Symbian because MS is charging for using it on other platforms
There's probably more I could add to the list but I must mention all my troubles with wm in the beginning have been solved, I'm using Vito Copy/Paste for the copy & paste issue & I've also added celetask to a hardware key so my phone actually works better in this apartment than I could ever wish four... Of course Symbian S60 also have advantages, like better cameras & video recording, more display colors & better gaming with the new N-gage platform etc... but in the end I think WM is a more advanced & better platform. I think WM is more appealing for geeks & techheads because you can tweak your device to infinity. And I'm still only talking about WM Standard, WM6 PRO is even more versatile.
S60 is fun for a while but in the end it gets boring as hell...
partyhardy said:
To be honest, I've grown quite tired of Windows Mobile. I used to like it more, but it seems like I spent way too much time getting things to work. Also, the interface is very user UN-friendly, which makes doing simple tasks like calling someone too time consuming. Then there is the random freeze ups like the one I had today, which caused me to miss 5 calls and no warning lights or anything.
I like the cusomizabilty, but sometimes, I just want something that works right out of the box. Also, performance wise, all of the HTC/WM phones I've used are sluggish. (My mogul, friend's 6700, another friend's Kaiser/TyTnII). The redraw time when you flip out the keyboard is rediculous, specially if you have a few plugins.
Overall, I may give one more WM phone a try, if I am impressed by it at the store. But I doubt it. I just don't see Microsoft doing any innovations since they hold the crown as far as market share goes in the U.S. Maybe when an Android phones comes out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Performance issue of WM are device specific. After being a HTC hardcore for many years, and after quite a number of frustating moments I decided to switch.....almost bought myself the new Nokia E71 and abandon WM altotgether BUT - I decided to give it one more try with WM and now it's with a Samsung. And that's how I ended with the i780.
With the i780 (DXHE1 Rom), it's like a rediscovery for me. After getting used to HTC sluggishness and sporadic freeze-ups, I was genuinely astounded by how nimble and steadfast this i780 is. I can recall until now I have not encountered any freeze-ups no matter how I abuse the programs running back to back. Yes some buggy program may screw up but the nice thing is it won't freeze the whole phone unlike HTC devices where a single program fails it will bring down the whole phone.
And for the price, the i780 is a steal. It has all the arsenal one could expect from HTC flagship models yet it cost way cheaper - that is a real deal to me.
If you are done with HTC, don't blame it on WM. Try different make, like i-Mate Arima build or Samsung or even Asus.
Hi,
I posted the following message (which is all true btw!) to iMAtes offical forum yesterday, and they censored it (by removing the thread). Since then, the promised callback from sbe (their UK repair center) failed to materalize.
I think the WM community deserves to know what level of service they can expect if they are silly enough to purchase a iMate device.
george
Hi,
I bought a 9502 on release day from Clove, for around £500. It lasted all of 2 and a half months, before the buttons stopped working. Clove recommended sending it to sbe limited for repair, which I did, 3 weeks ago.
Firstly, they tried to quote me £150 for the repair. I emailed them, and got no response after a week.
So I phoned them, and was told that it would be repaired for free, and be back within a week.
Ive now waited 3 weeks, during which I sent sbe 3 more emails, all of which have been completely ignored.
I phoned them up today, and after being on hold for 25 minutes, they finally answered, and said they are awaiting parts, and will call be back with more info... I will post here if they do, but I doubt they will!
They told me they have a massive backlog of emails to get through - thats a shame for them, but its not good enough for iMate to be successfull in this market.
Ive since bought a HTC Touch Pro, and, guess what? it works...
I will never buy another iMate device again, and i suggest noone else does either.
The device itself doesnt work very well at all (keeps hanging, slow, reminds me of the failed toshiba g900, but not QUITE as bad as the tosh). The Touch Pro, despite being practically the same chipset, works very very well in comparasion.
On the iMate ultiamte, the old Windows Mobile problem that it cannot keep up with my typing occurs. I have to literally tap one key, wait for it to respond, and then tap the next key and so on. The Touch Pro has the innovation of a keyboard buffer - if it cant keep up, it remembers what I typed, and processes the keys when it can.
We were also promised an official WM61 update in august... suprise suprise, that hasnt happened either.
The battery life is also crap compared to the Touch Pro (even though the iMate has a higher capacity battery). I put this down to lack of graphics accelleration on the iMate - you can literally see it struggle to redraw the home screen, whereas on the touch pro, it just happens instantly.
If you want any support at all on your phone DO NOT BUY IMATE. They are obviously too small a company to offer proper support (disclaimer - ive never had to use HTC's support, because their devices work, so I cannot comment on it, but I doubt the networks would let them get away with this poor level of support).
I will post an update tommorow (or before if SBE actually bother to ring back).
Does anyone have an email address for iMate themselves, so I can complain about sbe - surely iMate will want to know their reputation is being trashed be SBE??? their web page doesnt seem to offer any email address (a good way to keep pesky customers off their backs i guess), and their live support is only available for a couple of hours in the morning - i will try it tommorow).
A mobile phone is only valuable for 12 months IMHO (as I replace mine every year), so I have lost at least 1/12 of the value of the iMate, just by not having it for this time.
Even if the repair is slow, a good start would be to use a repair company that actually has the staff / resources to answer emails / phones. I dont feel like a valued customer.
ps. IMate - if you delete this forum message, I will make it my business to post it on as many mobile phone related forums as possible (modaco, xda developers etc).
/disappointed
george
that sounds a bit rubbish mate and i'm feeling your pain with you. Posting stuff like that here is definetley a good start as its read by a lot of people.
HTC stuff in my experience is just as poor build quality - so much so I avoided them for a while with my Tosh G900. My experience of my G900 has not been like your and mine was excellent... fast, responsive and built like a castle wall! My HTC devices have all failed at one point or another and i've yet to get 12months out of ANY HTC device I have ever owned. For example, my Touch Diamond feels like its made of paper, the paint is wearing off the back cover, the screen bezel/front cover has scratched, the screen is scratched and the buttons are scratched. This phone, like all my phones, is treated like a baby wrapped in cotton wool and has NEVER been dropped or banged, never put in a pocket with money or keys and always been treated like royalty. I have used HTC repairs and they are not actually that bad though.
Good luck with your Touch Pro and hope you get your Imate sorted
I agree with you 100% they provide the worst customer support I have ever seen
Our complains in thier forum and emails are always not answered
really I regret having one of thier ultimate 9502
and we don't kow how can we punish this company but at least new customers have to think twice before dealing with imate
I think everyone knows I agree. It's coming up to 5 weeks (+2 weeks the first time) and I still have no phone back thanks to a combination of I-Mate and Clove's incompetance. Been told to sit in today and wait for a replacement direct from iMate.
I bet:
a) It won't come today.
b) When it does arrive it'll have the same problems the old one was sent away for.
Terrible product, terrible support and terrible reseller.
I am really glad i found this fourm i was about to do the same thing. buy the 9502 from clove. haha. i dont know now though.
I guess i am still on the qwest to find the perfect phone for me.
it has to have atlest 128ram gps wifi and atleast vga
i am looking at the toshiba g910 but no the touch pro because there is no softkeys in landscape mode
Dont buy toshiba either
... i had a g900, and it sucked donkeys balls... for many reasons...
the touch pro is great - the lack of hardware soft buttons doesnt bother me at all..
g
Lack of scroll wheel / camera buttons etc does concern me about the Touch Pro.
Perhaps wait it out for the Sony Ericsson X1?
I thought that too, until I got it... the touch screen scrolls on finger movement (it seems to be able to tell the difference between a tap and a drag). It doesnt work on all programs, but it seems to work on mail, opera etc, which is where it matters IMHO
The camera button missing could be a PITA for some, but I rarely use the camera.
In fact, the hardware buttons are one of the most annoying features of previous phones ive owned, beacuse I was always pressing them by accident. I usually mapped them all to 'none'
g
Yeah. I think I'd probably end up mapping camera to the long press of 'end' key. Problem solved. My 9502 did that finger scrolling thing. SPB Pocket Plus enabled it. It's ok, but I preferred the wheel for being able to use the phone without having to poke the screen all the time.
I have heard though that it is possible to remap the volume buttons to scroll, and I think people are working on getting the zoom function to scroll instead like older HTC devices (which would be much more practical for me).
Oh, and my 9502 didn't arrive today. I'm not surprised.
I've really been considering to buy the Fuze, but I'm getting mixed reviews. For all the Fuze owners, please answer the poll so that us potential buyers will know what to do.
Thanks!
anyone else wanna vote?
theomni said:
anyone else wanna vote?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm stuck in between the Fuze and the Touch Pro now... I really don't know which one is better? They are the same price nowadays.
I recommend it. I had the Tilt before and I love the Touch, its probably the best WM phone I've had (I've used the Sprint 700wx, Sprint Q, Sprint Touch, AT&T Tilt and now the AT&T Fuze).
I'm sure the few issues that exist with the Fuze will be fixed within a month or two because of the wonderful people we have here making custom ROMs, porting radios, etc.
I am very happy with my Fuze. It's not perfect and definitely needs some tweaks, but I think it is the best Windows Mobile phone ever put out. The screen is fantastic and makes it worth it by itself.
Pros:
VGA screen
Excellent multimedia
Youtube works both in it's own app and the mobile website
Slingbox looks fantastic
Expanded keyboard
Sleek design
Touch Flo 3D really works good
Finally, good bluetooth reception
Cons:
So-so d-pad
More remappable buttons needed
No headphone out jack
I do miss the tilting screen of the Tilt
No forward facing camera (why AT&T?)
Overall, I love the phone. I don't even need to use my laptop much anymore. Plus, it should only get better. I can't wait to see the Fennec web browser released for WinMo.
The Fuze can run on AT&T's 3G bands, which is the biggest difference. Physically, the Fuze has a PTT button (remappable using a trick in this forum) and the Pro has a front-faceing camera, but they are otherwise the same. You can install whatever Touch Pro ROM you want on the Fuze once you flash Hard SPL on it, so the software difference should not be an issue. If you're on AT&T and in a 3G area, it's a no-brainer decision between the two.
Tempest790 said:
No forward facing camera (why AT&T?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
US carriers don't support that functionality so it's cheaper for HTC to leave it out all together.
I've swithed from iPhone after droolling over Fuze release date for 2 months. First couple of days had slight regret (my first WM phone), but once I got the hang of it I fell in love with it. My girl tried it out and dropped her iPhone for Fuze aswell. IMHO, Fuze is on a much higher level and you just can't customize the iPhone the way you can Fuze, no matter what Apple commercials say. Oh and by the way, I realized how crappy Apple products are, but that's another story.
I said no because its not for everyone. I read a lot of people wanting something other than the iphone because of the data plan, this is not an iphone. Then they go and complaint that they cant do this, that its slow, that this, that that. I confess, I am/was one of those whining byotches. I know its not an iphone, I'm just afraid to customizing with roms and then f-it up and be stuck with a nice $300 paper weight. So maybe after my month is up, I'll have the balls to customize it.
Do you have to buy a data plan with the Fuze like you have to with the iPhone, for AT&T?
Only if you want the rebate.
If you want the best browser/entertainment device thats easy to use get an iphone. If you need a business phone outside of entertainment, get the fuze. Both are aimed at different type of consumer.
I know this is exactly what everyone hates to hear, and they just want a plain yes or no, but it really does depend on the person.
If your the kind of person thats really into the stuff they buy, and wants a device that has tons of opportunities and possibilities, then you will probably like the fuze. The beautiful thing about winmo devices is how much you can mess around with them. You can download tons of apps, customize, flash new ROMs, experiment, all kinds of stuff.
If you want something that is ALWAYS going to be friendly and never ever give you any quirks or problems and you just want something that is very cut and dry, the fuze may not be for you.
I would line up your priorities and see what is most important to you and more importantly, what would make you want to throw your phone out the window, cause those are the things that are ultimately going to make you happy when your using your device.
Fuze thoughts:
I have had this phone for 3 days now. My prior phone was an 8125. I unlocked and customized that phone after 30 days. I will most likely do the same thing with this one. Gotta read read read.
Initial review: Absolutely the awesomest phone I have had to date, only the 3rd PDA, though.
I miss the programmable buttons. I haven't figured everything out, but I am getting the hang of it. It has advanced customization, though I haven't even touched the surface. The keyboard is a little different from my 8125, and as I have used it extensively for 2 years, I am accustomed to the numbers being along the top row. I think the 'Full 5 Row QWERTY keyboard on the phone should more closely resemble a normal keyboard, however, I am certain I will get used to it with a little practice.
I have one problem that AT&T doesn't know how to fix: the error message "Smart Chip Not Provisioned MM #2" comes up and shuts off phone signal. I initially thought it was the smart chip. I placed it in my 8125, and no problems. Then I exchanged the phone. Still no fix. It isn't a hard error I can readily duplicate, it just happens intermittently, but only in a specific location, so now I suspect the towers serving the area in which it happens. I suppose it could be the sim card in conjunction with the 3G network which the 8125 doesn't support, but further troubleshooting will eventually solve this one.
Addtionally I was hoping that AT&T wouldn't cripple the forward facing camera, but it isn't there, and I'm not willing to pay $550 more for a Touch Pro off Ebay just for that. As there isn't a lot of network support for live video conferencing, it really isn't that much of a problem for me anyway.
Reception seems to be about the same as my 8125, but again, further testing will support or disprove my initial experience. I am currently having trouble with the GPS function, but it is probably just a configuration/setup issue that I have not played with enough. The phone will tether without the laptop connect package, but you have to make a small edit in the registry. This is a relatively painless process.
This is not meant to criticize the Fuze. These are the only real problems (and minor to me) that I have encountered, and would give this phone a HIGH recommendation.
MrRuss
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 .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.