My New TP2 Annoyances - Touch Pro2 CDMA

Good Morning All,
I've now had over a week with my Touch Pro 2. I like it in several ways and hate it in several others.
Videos, YouTube/etc look absolutely phenomenal...this looks like hdtv, the iphone looks like fuzzy pixelated sdtv...(the gf has an iphone)
maybe its that i get much better bandwidth on sprint compared to at&t, i dunno don't care...
I welcome that larger battery!!
I hate the functionality of the quick menu. In my TP(1), I used this heavily as it always showed the running applications. In my TP2, I barely see anything listed in there, especially running web browsers, I have to click on Internet/Launch Browser to get back to my running Browser.
I also haven't found a good copy of the HTC Wifi Router-Comm Manager combo application. But, I have found versions of the OTHER mobile wifi router on another ppc forum website.
I have other gripes, but I figured I'd start with these and see what others suggest. I always meant to install a new rom on my TP(1) and never got around to it. Maybe there's a rom that'll fit me better that others can suggest.
Paul

Everything "might change" once the "oft spoken off but never seen" update to 6.5.x comes from Sprint.
Depending on what market you're in the bandwidth might be reason.
I use WMWiFiRouter to share/tether my connection without issue. I've been using that since my Mogul (never had the TP).
You could use the FTC Task Manager to see everything running but that wouldn't solve your request to easily switch. The Task Manager on my Mogul was better so I agree with you on the TP2 one not being as good.
What other gripes do you have (I bet one of them is the CM_Guardian_Service)?

atriad said:
I hate the functionality of the quick menu. In my TP(1), I used this heavily as it always showed the running applications. In my TP2, I barely see anything listed in there, especially running web browsers, I have to click on Internet/Launch Browser to get back to my running Browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint defaults the "X" to close (rather than suspend). Thusly you'll never see anything in your quick menu if you always tap "X" to close a window. Go into the options and change it to the older default (tap to close the window not the program) and the quick menu will behave as you remember.

Search for "CM Internet Sharing".

Thanks for the tips guys!
I'll try the Tap X to.... in a few moments...
Yea I can't wait to try 6.5.X
My Boss has the Vz TP2 and I'm itchin' to do his upgrade just to see what changes there are.
I Hope sprint doesn't drop the ball on this.
Paul

FDC Task Manager is way better than the stock TM. I hate that the built-in TM doesn't show 3/4 of the crap that I run. And what is the exclusive list for? Nothing is ever in there. With FDC, it's exactly like XP Task Manager but way better. Shows EVERYTHING, not to mention all the running services, open windows, full blow registry editor, IP/TCP services. etc etc. Go get it, it's free.

Related

nervous and excited

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.

Various Problems with Fuze

Ok forgive me for actually posting a new thread. I am about to give up on the fuze and thought I would try to ask a few questions first.
Background: I was an early adopter of winmo phones (had a Wallaby, Alpine, Hermes, gave up on a kaiser and went finally to a Nokia n95 until my current trials with the iphone and the fuze) Frankly, before I was the mom of three kids I could manage to keep up with the technology, but now it all might be more than I can handle. You tell me if these are stupid questions I should know the answer to already.
I tried the iphone for 30 days, loved the out of the box ease of use but couldn't believe there was no voice dialing, cut and paste, video, etc. Now I am trying the fuze.
I managed to load up energy rom 3.0 the first day I got it, so that is what I am running. It is beautiful.
Problems:
-lower screen flicker (looked it up, changing to less than optimal brightness does not stop this from happening intermittently)
-youtube wont run (says there is not enough storage space to run - req 8mb - but I have more than 12 free)
-Even though I have it set not to delete my email off the server, it does. Then each time it connects it deletes ALL my mail off the phone. This appears to be a new problem, but a big one.
-browsing is clunky with IE and opera. Can I run safari on this thing because it worked great on the iphone - much more smooth and quick on the att network (sorry, true).
-finally found a storage card that the phone could actually see. Now I am wondering if there is an easy way to move all sorts of files over to the card. Are all files safe to move to the card? Can I move programs? Can I move my more than 300 contacts over there?
-google maps finds me in budapest more often than Austin TX (where I really am) what gives with that?
- I do miss that nice big screen on the iphone. So when is the fuze 2 really going to get here? Anyone think it is worth waiting for? This fuze is costing me a 2 year contract and I could wait...
Thank you in advance! I have spent hours in this forum trying to find answers to my questions. Now I am just asking and I hope I won't be flamed out of existence.
D
I don't think I can answer all your questions but I'll have a go
-lower screen flicker (looked it up, changing to less than optimal brightness does not stop this from happening intermittently)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read that pulling out the battery for a little while and letting the phone rest helped this. I haven't tried and it doesn't bother me enough to want to. I don't think there's a solution though...
-youtube wont run (says there is not enough storage space to run - req 8mb - but I have more than 12 free)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't installed the youtube app to test yet but do you really only have 12mb free? the phone has over 300mb of storage, at least on some ROMs.
-Even though I have it set not to delete my email off the server, it does. Then each time it connects it deletes ALL my mail off the phone. This appears to be a new problem, but a big one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which e-mail do you use? I haven't had any problems like this using gmail. It's possible you need to look in your e-mail settings online to see if they are set to keep e-mails on the server as well. If you're using POP mail that's a possibility. I use IMAP on gmail which functions very well, even marking e-mails you read on the phone as read online.
-browsing is clunky with IE and opera. Can I run safari on this thing because it worked great on the iphone - much more smooth and quick on the att network (sorry, true).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try www.skyfire.com or Iris http://www.torchmobile.com/download/download2.php
Skyfire works great for me, I haven't tried Iris yet but it uses Webkit which is what the iPhone's Safari browser uses
-finally found a storage card that the phone could actually see. Now I am wondering if there is an easy way to move all sorts of files over to the card. Are all files safe to move to the card? Can I move programs? Can I move my more than 300 contacts over there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can install programs to the storage card, but I don't recommend moving them manually. The registry still thinks the programs are on the phone storage. Other files such as music or pictures should be fine though. You can set your camera to take pictures to the card as well. I don't think you can store your contacts on the memory card, why would you need to? Contacts are nothing more than text, surely they aren't taking up much memory at all.
-google maps finds me in budapest more often than Austin TX (where I really am) what gives with that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting problem. It sounds like the GPS doesn't have a full lock, are you outside when doing this? Try running a program like QuickGPS to help the phone get a lock.
- I do miss that nice big screen on the iphone. So when is the fuze 2 really going to get here? Anyone think it is worth waiting for? This fuze is costing me a 2 year contract and I could wait...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Touch Pro 2 is supposed to be out later this year on AT&T. Apparently it's out right now but that's the HTC branded version and it's almost $1000. It's a 3.6" screen at 480x800 resolution, that sounds pretty good compared to the iPhone to me. Running WM means it'll still be a resistive touch screen which means it will never be as fluid to use as the iPhone's is. Still, with an interface like TF3D or SPB Mobile Shell 3 you can enjoy swiping your finger just as much.
Hope I was helpful on some points
I suggest trying different ROMs. Not that there is anything wrong with the one you are using but each one suits different users differently. I am a fairly new user to winmo (about 6 months) and one thing that surprized me the most is how much research and time it takes to get the device working to my satisfaction. I love the fuze, I like to tinker and tweak things.
Resolution
Man, if you are having problem with EMAIL
just go to GMAIL
i cant believe the time i waste at hotmail....
I have the PRO and dont found a way to keep the emails at server, then, just go to GMAIL, configure to that (keep in server), and CONFIGURE: to gmail get the emails from HOTMAIL. Well, im so happy when i saw that option!
Now im much more happy with my htc touch pro as email stuffs
dsajadea said:
-youtube wont run (says there is not enough storage space to run - req 8mb - but I have more than 12 free)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is a known bug if you change the wallpaper in tf3d... have you done this? i saw roms where this bug is fixed but i dont find a cab or reg key to change it back...???
dsajadea said:
-youtube wont run (says there is not enough storage space to run - req 8mb - but I have more than 12 free)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install the attached cab to fix this (named after jmckeejr, the person who found the fix. I'm just the "cab man", lol)
dsajadea said:
-browsing is clunky with IE and opera. Can I run safari on this thing because it worked great on the iphone - much more smooth and quick on the att network (sorry, true).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Opera Build 16643, and my browsing experience is very smooth. Perhaps you haven't found the right version of Opera?
dsajadea said:
-google maps finds me in budapest more often than Austin TX (where I really am) what gives with that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know about this one. Perhaps try installing the attached cab I made for myself, and it may help? (this enables aGPS, if it isn't already, so if you don't have a data plan, you'll need to go into Settings & disable it)
dsajadea said:
Thank you in advance! I have spent hours in this forum trying to find answers to my questions. Now I am just asking and I hope I won't be flamed out of existence.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We don't flame people who provide details about their problems/concerns, who search first, and who aren't militant about getting a response.
I hope something I provided helps.
In regards to the GPS problem with your location, tap the clock on the homescreen and make sure it has your timezone selected as your "Home City". Google Maps uses this as a default location just to speed up GPS fix time.
If the setting is correct, go to Start -> Settings -> Clocks and Alarms and make sure your city is selected there too, since this is a somewhat known bug in the newer version of TouchFlo3d v2 (sometimes called TF3D2, extracted from the HTC Topaz and Rhodium).
For your browsing experience, check out the new version of Opera Mobile 9.7 -- turn on Turbo Mode and it's SO FAST! I'm loving it, even my friends with iPhones are jealous
I hope this helps you somehow

Verizon tp2 suggestions

Hi. I should be getting a new verizon touch pro 2 and was wondering what I might be able to expect from it and if you guys could give me some new owner suggestions tips etc.
Thanks alot.
Joe
Be prepared to do a lot of reading if you really want to change things.
I have hosed up the phone several times and had to do hard resets because I installed so much crap that did not work.
Just make sure you search PPC forums and here and makes sure if you try something read up on it first.
What do you mean change things? I don't think I will change anything. At least not right away. Not sure if I'll even like the htc touch pro 2.
buggs1a said:
What do you mean change things? I don't think I will change anything. At least not right away. Not sure if I'll even like the htc touch pro 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he means is that if you want to reg hack or add any .cab files found here or on ppc geeks do your research first. Even though there are tp2s out there they all differ between cdma and gsm as well as carrier customizations. These differences can screw up your device causing u to loose original functionality or possible bricking your device.
A couple of things to do when you first get your phone:
Do a hard reset when you first turn it on. It will get rid of any errors or bugs you might or might not have. It will not hurt to do it regardless.
Next go to main page of XDA developers website and read the article about disabling push internet. It will free up some memory for you. It works great.
Also, search the XDA forum for the resproxy registry hack or edit or what ever you want to call it. It will also free up and stalblize your memory. you will need total commander to do it, so you will want to search and download then install the program before hand.
Those are the first three things that I would recommend as it made a big difference for me as far as performance is concerned
Thanks alot guys.
I should get it tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight.
How would I do a hard reset and what is that? Would I do that right after I open it and before doing anything else or right after I activate it?
Yeah. I read something that mentioned push Internet. Kinda sounded like rss. I don't think I would use push Internet.
Will it be possibleto landscape without sliding out the keyboard? Or could someone add this or is it something htc has to do?
How will I upgrade to winmo 6.5 when it's released?
I know I need to learn and read but not sure what and where. I do have the xda wiki bookmarked but couldn't tell what I should look at first.
I don't care about fm radio but will it be possible to have am radio? I would listen to my local baseball team games. I don't listen to the radio now as there's no music I like. So that's why I'm curious about am. Internet radio streaming is of course different story. Is shoutcast available?
I've seen here people talk about gps. What is possible to use that's free? I can't afford vz navigator per month.
I wonder if there are any phone body protectors and screen protectors available at the local verizon store.
If I did change anything will it void my warranty? How does that work? I did add the extended warranty insurance.
Thanks alot.
If you are starting fresh you may want to consider doing this right after you get the phone before doing anything.
This should cover most anything you would need to do including the resproxy and other tweaks.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=84404
Download the Verizon CAB and install it and it takes care of most everything you need done.
To hard reset you just go to SETTINGS>MEMORY TAB> and choose Factory Default. It basically resets the phone to settings of when you first got it.
The Radio as of right now either does not exist on the Verizon phone or is locked out.
The only way to void your warranty is to flash a new ROM, which you can't do yet anyway. But any tweaks you make wont effect warranty.
Streaming internet radio is available and included with the phone, you just need the web address.
Other services like orb from winamp is also handy where you can stream your music collection from home if your PC is on to your phone.
Most anything you can think of you should be able to find, with some searching.
And yes when WM6.5 is released you will have to wait for Verizon to officially release the update.
So even though you will see WM6.5 released next month don't expect Verizon to have the update ready right away it maybe a while.
Well I got my verizon touch pro 2. It's not bad. I hate the browser though. Scrolling sucks and moving around on a zoomed page is terrible when you swipe your finger to go up down etc. The page just keeps going. It's near impossible to touch links to go there. I have to many times just for it to register that I touched a link. Or I have to use the keyboard arrows. It really sucks. You can download files though and this rocks!! I didn't know you could. I got an mp4 and couple other files. Pretty cool.
The ui is ok. I'm surprised how smooth the ui is compared to iPod touch I have which is exactly the same as iPhone minus the phone. So htc did ok here.
I ran the cab installer for disabling push Internet but can't tell anything is different.
So my question now is this.
When winmo 6.5 is released how long might it take verizon to offically release it? Can't I just do the update from Microsoft? I want it as it's supposed to be way more touch friendly.
Why does it violate the warranty if you install a rom? Do any of the toc etc mention this?
Is there a way to do a backup of the phone incase anything goes wrong with a rom or something?
There's a couple things I don't like about that thing you mentioned that would take care of a lot of stuff. The guy disables something I don't want disabled. I forget what it is right now.
Is shoutcast available?
How does the sbp shell thingy work? Like is it just a file you install to change the theme or something? Can you easily install and uninstall without any issues? Same question for the iPhone look GUI.
Will marketplace be available as a widget type of thing or do we know how you go about using it when it's available?
I'm curious also where a good place is to download free themes and apps for the phone?
Is it possible to have free voice gps somehow? There's google maps of course but don't know it. Never used it more then looking at it on my Storm.
This touch pro 2 is supposed to be 3.6" screen but it's not as wide as my storm or iPod touch. How is that possible? I don't understand if it's supposed to be bigger why is it smaller? There should be only 1 way to measure size. This sucks.
how do I make the screen brighter? It doesn't seem as bright as other devices like my iPod touch.
Can I file share with my LAN?
What is remote desktop like? How does the built in one work? Is there something better?
Sorry for bombarding you all with so many questions.
Answers that I have are in BOLD within your quote...
buggs1a said:
Well I got my verizon touch pro 2. It's not bad. I hate the browser though. Scrolling sucks and moving around on a zoomed page is terrible when you swipe your finger to go up down etc. The page just keeps going. It's near impossible to touch links to go there. I have to many times just for it to register that I touched a link. Or I have to use the keyboard arrows. It really sucks. You can download files though and this rocks!! I didn't know you could. I got an mp4 and couple other files. Pretty cool.
Opera browser takes a little getting used to. Double tap to zoom in, and then you can click links pretty easy. I've been using WinMo phones now since the ATT 8525 (Hermes) and HATED the Opera browser the first time I tried it in a custom ROM. Since then, I've come to prefer it over PIE...just seems more user friendly once you do get used to how it operates - plus, it actually shows websites as desktop sites instead of as mobile sites.
The ui is ok. I'm surprised how smooth the ui is compared to iPod touch I have which is exactly the same as iPhone minus the phone. So htc did ok here.
I ran the cab installer for disabling push Internet but can't tell anything is different. If you don't have any pages set up to push on the web tab, I don't think you'll notice a difference. I could be wrong though.
So my question now is this.
When winmo 6.5 is released how long might it take verizon to offically release it? Can't I just do the update from Microsoft? I want it as it's supposed to be way more touch friendly. The phone is locked through what is called HardSPL to only accept "official" ROMs that are are correctly signed or whatever. MS won't actually issue a ROM for WinMo 6.5 - they'll issue the software to the individual manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, etc. At that time, the manufacturers then have to customize that OS into a ROM that works for the specific device (each device hardware requires specific stuff to function - which is why you can't put a FUZE ROM on a TP2, or a GSM rom on a CDMA phone, etc). Then, the manufacturer has to work with each phone carrier to put in the specific items the carrier wants included or excluded. So you won't ever see an "update" from MS, but only one issued by HTC possibly that won't be compatable with your specific phone until they release one that is authorized by Verizon.
Why does it violate the warranty if you install a rom? Do any of the toc etc mention this? The custom ROM is not officially authorized by your carrier, and requires you to modify the phone software and bootloader to install it. It also may or may not enable components of the phone that are not officially supported by the manufacturer or carrier. Will simply installing the ROM void your warranty - not necessarily. There are ways flash back to the original ROM before sending in for a warranty claim (assuming the phone is not 100% dead/destroyed), but if you make a warranty claim and it is determined that you had a custom ROM installed, they won't stand behind it because you modified the phone from the way they sent it to you.
Is there a way to do a backup of the phone incase anything goes wrong with a rom or something? There are backup programs out there - but you cannot do a "full restore" after changing ROMS because it may overwrite files that are newer or different and mess things up. I personally don't use any backup programs specificially. I keep all my media files on the MicroSD card, keep my emails synced through IMAP (personal account) and Exchange (work account) as well as all my tasks/calendar/contacts in Exchange. I don't have many SMS/MMS messages, so losing them when I reflash is not an issue for me. And I've gotten really good at restoring my settings and programs (which I keep saved on the SD card as well).
There's a couple things I don't like about that thing you mentioned that would take care of a lot of stuff. The guy disables something I don't want disabled. I forget what it is right now.
Is shoutcast available?
How does the sbp shell thingy work? Like is it just a file you install to change the theme or something? Can you easily install and uninstall without any issues? Same question for the iPhone look GUI. AFAIK, the different GUI overlays are simply a matter of "install and reset". I used to use SPB shell on my 8525 and Tilt, but it seemed to be a resource hog (version 2). Since the TF3D GUI on my Fuze and now TP2, I've been happy to simply use it.
Will marketplace be available as a widget type of thing or do we know how you go about using it when it's available?
I'm curious also where a good place is to download free themes and apps for the phone? You've already joined...search here and you'll find links to more places to find goodies for your phone than you'll ever be able to stay on top of.
Is it possible to have free voice gps somehow? There's google maps of course but don't know it. Never used it more then looking at it on my Storm. Don't know about free ones out there. I use Garmin Mobile XT myself - it's not voice command enabled (unfortunately) but does to audible directions and works pretty well. There are others out there too - TomTom, iGo, etc.
This touch pro 2 is supposed to be 3.6" screen but it's not as wide as my storm or iPod touch. How is that possible? I don't understand if it's supposed to be bigger why is it smaller? There should be only 1 way to measure size. This sucks. There is only one way to measure screen size - diagonal from corner to corner. That said, the TP2 is setup in a more HD style wide-screen format than many other devices. So the measured dimension may be bigger than other phones/devices, but the width may be narrower (when looking in Portrait view) because the screen is taller the other way.
how do I make the screen brighter? It doesn't seem as bright as other devices like my iPod touch. Start/Settings/All Settings --> System tab --> Power --> Backlight tab --> uncheck "Auto Adjust" and then you can manually play with the brightness
Can I file share with my LAN? Yes, but not with the stock file explorer I think. I personally use Resco Explorer, but have had a few issues with the network drive mapping locking up this device. Total Commander (free) has the functionality in it as well.
What is remote desktop like? How does the built in one work? Is there something better? I use the built-in RDC just fine. It actually shows a useable desktop image (albeit very tiny). No idea if there are other clients out there...the built-in one has always worked for me.
Sorry for bombarding you all with so many questions. No problem - hopefully I was able to answer a few questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm impressed...
dezoris, Humble1 and the others...
It doesn't mean a thing coming from me but....
I would like to thank you for not being assholes.
You both took time out to answer his numerous questions without a snide remark or rude comment.
Thats refreshing!
Thank you!
MBK
Well thanks so so much. Truly! I dunno what to say except thanks sooooooo much! I'm kinda speechless.
I have to save those responses locally to turn to incase I need to.
I do like the phone. That's for sure.
In Opera I did zoom right on top of links and tapped the links and it took multiple tries to get it to work I'd say if I had to guess and I am, 7-9 times out of 10. That's terrible. Could it be opera, the screen itself or winmo 6.1 or that I have not run the screen calibration thing? I hope the next browser version works way better and more touch friendly the I am experiencing so far. Oh yeah. It's currently like dial up speed compared to my iPod touch and I'm even using wifi on the phone. But yes, I have read that Opera is very slow. It works at least . Hopefully things will improove in this area in maybe the next version or another browser.
What is it like to install another theme or whatever it is called? The iPhone GUI one and that SPB thing? Are they easy to get rid of? I think I'd like to try them, but am wondering the what if something goes wrong question.
Hmm. I'm not sure where to start now. I should look through this sites wiki, but don't know what parts or where to start. Also I'd like to install some neat apps to see what this phone could do, but not sure where to start.
Thank you so very much! thank you for being patient in answering my questions.
Update. Remote deskto doesn't work. I try to connect via wifi to my vista and remote desktop on the phone imediatly after clicking connect says , the connection was ended because of a network error. Please try connecting to the remote computer again.
Also windows update won't connect either. Same type of message.
Remote desktop works from my other pc and laptop too.
Any ideas?
Ok. Now my phone won't get a connection to the net via wifi and I changed nothing on phone or router. Reboot router and shut off phone doesn't help. I'm on my iPod touch right now just fine. I don't get it.
Thanks a lot guys.
A few small things.
#1 Don't install a bunch of garbage.
#2 The version of Opera on it sucks. The Beta on their site kicks the crap out of it.
#3 Try Skyfire. I don't like the idea of using a proxy browser, but lordy if it isn't useful.
#4 Be patient. I hated both of my previous HTCs until they started releasing ROMs for it.
#5 If you are having troubles with remote desktop, then get VLC. I hate remote desktop because it locks the display and inputs of the host. I use my TP2 as a remote control for my media center. I'd like to find a smarter VLC client though. =(
Enjoy the phone. The WorldCard app is cool as hell.
Remote Desktop
buggs1a said:
Well thanks so so much. Truly! I dunno what to say except thanks sooooooo much! I'm kinda speechless.
I have to save those responses locally to turn to incase I need to.
I do like the phone. That's for sure.
In Opera I did zoom right on top of links and tapped the links and it took multiple tries to get it to work I'd say if I had to guess and I am, 7-9 times out of 10. That's terrible. Could it be opera, the screen itself or winmo 6.1 or that I have not run the screen calibration thing? I hope the next browser version works way better and more touch friendly the I am experiencing so far. Oh yeah. It's currently like dial up speed compared to my iPod touch and I'm even using wifi on the phone. But yes, I have read that Opera is very slow. It works at least . Hopefully things will improove in this area in maybe the next version or another browser.
What is it like to install another theme or whatever it is called? The iPhone GUI one and that SPB thing? Are they easy to get rid of? I think I'd like to try them, but am wondering the what if something goes wrong question.
Hmm. I'm not sure where to start now. I should look through this sites wiki, but don't know what parts or where to start. Also I'd like to install some neat apps to see what this phone could do, but not sure where to start.
Thank you so very much! thank you for being patient in answering my questions.
Update. Remote deskto doesn't work. I try to connect via wifi to my vista and remote desktop on the phone imediatly after clicking connect says , the connection was ended because of a network error. Please try connecting to the remote computer again.
Also windows update won't connect either. Same type of message.
Remote desktop works from my other pc and laptop too.
Any ideas?
Ok. Now my phone won't get a connection to the net via wifi and I changed nothing on phone or router. Reboot router and shut off phone doesn't help. I'm on my iPod touch right now just fine. I don't get it.
Thanks a lot guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this: http://www.rdmplus.com/
I was using it on my Storm and they allowed me to change to the Windows Mobile version when I finally unloaded that POS. Its a bit pricey but it works well even on a EVDO connection. Works great over wifi. One of the few bright spots in my Blackberry endeavor.
buggs1a said:
Well thanks so so much. Truly! I dunno what to say except thanks sooooooo much! I'm kinda speechless.
I have to save those responses locally to turn to incase I need to.
I do like the phone. That's for sure.
In Opera I did zoom right on top of links and tapped the links and it took multiple tries to get it to work I'd say if I had to guess and I am, 7-9 times out of 10. That's terrible. Could it be opera, the screen itself or winmo 6.1 or that I have not run the screen calibration thing? I hope the next browser version works way better and more touch friendly the I am experiencing so far. Oh yeah. It's currently like dial up speed compared to my iPod touch and I'm even using wifi on the phone. But yes, I have read that Opera is very slow. It works at least . Hopefully things will improove in this area in maybe the next version or another browser.
What is it like to install another theme or whatever it is called? The iPhone GUI one and that SPB thing? Are they easy to get rid of? I think I'd like to try them, but am wondering the what if something goes wrong question.
Hmm. I'm not sure where to start now. I should look through this sites wiki, but don't know what parts or where to start. Also I'd like to install some neat apps to see what this phone could do, but not sure where to start.
Thank you so very much! thank you for being patient in answering my questions.
Update. Remote deskto doesn't work. I try to connect via wifi to my vista and remote desktop on the phone imediatly after clicking connect says , the connection was ended because of a network error. Please try connecting to the remote computer again.
Also windows update won't connect either. Same type of message.
Remote desktop works from my other pc and laptop too.
Any ideas?
Ok. Now my phone won't get a connection to the net via wifi and I changed nothing on phone or router. Reboot router and shut off phone doesn't help. I'm on my iPod touch right now just fine. I don't get it.
Thanks a lot guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera is as slower browser no matter how you shake it. You could try the 9.7.1b version and see if it is any better for you.
I have an iPod Touch 2nd gen and was playing around last night with the TP2 and the iPod. I found that the TP2 was just as responsive as the iPod in almost every task aside from web browsing.
The link clicking in Opera bothers me too. The zoom slider has delay.
I just think it is the application. Good thing is newer versions are coming, and Firefox and IE mobile will have newer versions soon.
You could try Skyfire browser as well. In the end you have options.
A few things:
* Make sure you have a memory card
* Install all your apps to it
* Install the Stop Push Internet.cab
* Install the disable resource proxy .cab
Opera is built into the ROM. So basically it is always running, the stop push internet just stops it from running until you launch it among other things.
Resource proxy is something HTC uses to quick cache things into memory so its always ready to open. Its supposed to make launching last used apps quicker. Everyone finds it not to speed up anything and it just eats up RAM.
After you do those both restart the phone.
As far as your RDP issue with Vista and Win7 you have to make sure you allow connections from all clients and make sure the you add the user account you want to connect with to the remote users under the same tab.
Check your firewall settings in vista and make sure RDP is allowed.
Also try connecting by IP instead of PC name, often more reliable, bypasses the router for name resolution.
Skins and Themes, I make my own wallpapers.
I also don't install anything theme related until I see a thread or a bunch of people with the same phone doing something.
I did the HTC Black upper banner, one file and selectable in the home menu.
I did the standard HTC flip clock because it was verizon tested and made my own wallpaper based on something someone else did. I think mine is better.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Any theme stuff I want to be reversible or selectable without a registry change or 3rd party app that's just me.
As far as apps you have to decide what you want to do on your phone.
If you dont know and just want to start installing things just be prepared to hard reset it if you hose it up with some app that does not play nice.
These are the apps I run. (Everyone has different needs)
S2US Slide to unlock - I turn off every feature of it expect the one to lock when screen goes black. I found the phone was constantly dialing out in my pocket so I had to do it.
Smart Gear Emulator - To play old Nintendo and Genesis games. I tried the demo and at least for Genesis games it sucks. I will probably uninstall.
WVGA Fix - Allows you to change the screen resolution down to 480x480 or 640x480. My old Genesis emulator wont work at 800x480 so I have to switch it to 640x480 before I launch it.
Pico Drive - Genesis Emulator plays most genesis games perfect
XDAShutdown - Just an app that you launch that allows you multiple options, to shutdown or restart. It also has skins to make it look how you want.
GarminXT - I bought it as a NAV application. Works really well on Verizon. And you can copy it to other cards. Maybe be legal but works.
Advanced Config 3.3 - I dont trust it have no need for most of the options in it.
Weather City Editor 2.1 - Did not work, tried it 20 different ways adds more accuweather cities to your weather tab.
Nitrogen - Audio player does not work very well for me, but is good for directly opening audio files from opera
Bing - Live Search
.Net Framework 3.5 - Required for many app installs
Facebook App
Netflix App
MS Font Pack
Microsoft MyPhone - Handy for backing up all your files, SMS and more.
Palringo - Chat client does everything, pretty resource intensive
Midomi Audio Identifier - Play a song or hum a song into the micand it finds the name of the artist and song.
Skype
Flash Hack for Opera - Sucks don't bother, any webpage with flash usually freezes the browser.
Remote Desktop w Vista/7
If you have problems connecting to your vista or 7 machine using the built in RDC program on the phone, you need to change the security level on your computer to:
"Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)"
WinMo 6 doesn't have the new network level authentication bits. Maybe it'll appear in 6.5.....
Hi. I'm sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I been kinda lazy about posting a foow up. Plus 2 days ago Wednesday I had a tooth extracted on lower left side. So I haven't done much except try to rest, take my tylonol #3 codene and Pennicillan I been taking for a week to fight the infection from my tooth. Not a brushing issue but the tooth first was like cracked on the bottom around the root and then I was eating pizze a few weeks ago a d heard a high pitched pop/crack sound when I took a bite. That hurt like heck. I could not eat or touch it anymore. Went to my dentist and he saw immediatly the top of the tooth had cracked right down the middle. So it looked like a + kinda how it was cracked. So they took it out 2 days ago. I have to ice my left cheek for 30 minutes on, off then on again after every meal and I have to eat soft room temp foods. Plus take my meds. I also try not to talk much and when I move, specially up and down I go slow. My dentist said the healing now will take at least 6 weeks. He will take out the stitches next tuesday or Wednesday. Well that's what's going on with me now.
I have played with the phone a little each day. I have not made a phone call yet. I installed the no push Internet thing and don't notice any difference. Maybe a tiny bit less ram is used now. But I never used much anyway. I installed a few days ago the trial for the SPB 3 shell. It's not bad but I wish every button and window was uniform. Because with touchflo and the spb shell when you file browse or do messaging or certain settings screens you get tiny buttons that are like black and white. Like looking at the memory screen. It's nothing like spb and touch flo. This is annoying that the ui is not uniform the same all over. The spb shell and touchflo are responsive. Yes it does seem with only the web browser is it crummy. I did install yesterday opera 9.7 beta and looked at the local help docs. It was ok but scrolling still sucks major.
If you read what I posted you'll see my remote desktop works on computers just not the phone and that means it's set up already. I think I also already said I typed in the ip of the pc. I did everything right but no matter what remote desktop gives that error immediatly after clicking to connect. So I have no clue. I need to get it working though. Pay remote desktop apps I can't afford.
Why would you install apps only to the sd card? I haven't even put in my unopened 8gb card yet but I will.
The local verizon store said that verizon won't get the htc touch pro 2 in store for a long time. He said that's how htc is. Huh?
How can you make onscreen keyboard same as apples in safari on iPhone/iPod touch? It really sucks. No auto correct and the stupid keys aren't spread enough. Plus the stupid black and white text selection thing that pops up. Landscape really sucks for the keyboard since the keys are way too small a d way to close together. Portrait is much better and easier. The hardware keyboard I thought I liked. That is till I actually tried it. The keys are not spread enough. Way to close and I always have typos and there's no auto correct or auto punctuation or anything even remotely close to the iPod touch. Also there's a delay when typing and the sound sometimes. I like the sound and the vibration feedback when typing.
I wish messaging had add to contact in each message you read. And when you do try to add to contact it doesn't put in any info for you which is really stupid. You have to type in everything. It should auto the name and email address.
while XDA has huge amounts of programs on it, you may end up searching forever. A decent website for programs, themes etc. is http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ just make sure they are capable with the screen resolution (wvga) and some things may not work on the TP2. Also most of the phone forums on xda have some sort of thread that says must have programs or something along those lines. Read a few of those.
btw, WAZE is a community based gps program that has voice directions and is free. its kinda neat, you should give it a look.
Good stuff up there, gang. Some even was helpful to me, after a year with a Crapberry.
I think I am going to like it here.
RaggedOne said:
Good stuff up there, gang. Some even was helpful to me, after a year with a Crapberry.
I think I am going to like it here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto, except I've been on a 'berry for the past 4 years...
Thanks guys.
Should it take over 9 hrs for a full charge from 0 to 100% battery charge?

Android and why I want WiMo back

For almost 2 years I used a Touch Diamond. While WiMo is far from perfect in todays world with a bit of tweaking and some extra software I had a device that did what I wanted it to do. Sure, WiMo isnt what you´d call fast but as said, it did what it had to do.
For the past few days I´ve been using android with my new htc legend. I heard a lot of good things about android and that is why I decided to switch. But even after a few days I´m already having a feeling of regret. While android is very fast and finger friendly the OS/apps itself just don't cut it compared to WiMo. About 75% of the things I did on a daily basis with my phone just don't work (properly) on android.
Syncing mail with hotmail is a *****. It for example does not sync read messages so everytime I login with my pc I still have to click all new messages while I already read them on my phone. This worked perfectly with WiMo.
No automatic 3g disconnect. Now this isnt default on WiMo either but there are apps that just disconnect a idle data connection. Now android has a whole bunch of apps like juicedefender but they just dont work properly and are overcomplicated. Just disconnect if I don't use it. Thats all I want. Let apps and whatever connect when they want to and kill the connection when they are done. Simple you'd think but impossible on android it seems.
Youtube is a epic fail. In the exact same place, with the exact same simcard I just can't load a movie. They all stop after 3 seconds and don't load further. Also there is no option for always having HQ. The WiMo app had this and I could always load HQ movies without trouble.
But it gets even worse when it comes to much more practical things. The browser won't save exchange webmail login info. So now I'm expected to loging like 5 times a day to my uni mail by typing my info every time? Not nice.
And what about displaying agenda items? can't do that on the lockscreen. There are apps to do this but not on the htc sense one as far as I've seen. So I have to manually check my agenda which is just a ***** because I'm just to seeing things come up on the homescreen.
Also I can't login to the uni website. You should get a login popup but the android browser doesnt seem to be capable of this. Ofcourse this was no problem at all with a 2 year old browser... So now I can't check schedules and all.
Also there is no way to stream my favorite internet radio station.
Basically I pay 10 euro's a month for internet on my phone but all apps I regulairy use with internet don't work or only work a bit on android.
Don't get me wrong, I love the speed and all but what good is speed to me if I can't use most of the functions that are important to me? What is even more disturbing is that non of the things I want to do are very special. This should all just work but it seems to be far above what android is capable of.
Basically to me android is a disfunctional OS. If the above things would work, I'd love it but now all I got is speed, but no way of doing the things I want.
Nice try, but not quite it.
sjaak1234 said:
Syncing mail with hotmail is a *****. It for example does not sync read messages so everytime I login with my pc I still have to click all new messages while I already read them on my phone. This worked perfectly with WiMo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's hardly Android error - it just seems to be a bug in the mail client app. Maybe yry another one?
No automatic 3g disconnect. Now this isnt default on WiMo either but there are apps that just disconnect a idle data connection. Now android has a whole bunch of apps like juicedefender but they just dont work properly and are overcomplicated. Just disconnect if I don't use it. Thats all I want. Let apps and whatever connect when they want to and kill the connection when they are done. Simple you'd think but impossible on android it seems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not as simple as it sounds - android has to have an active data connection to enable IM messages as well as gmail imap notifications. Unlike POP3 e-mail accounts where you have to querry the server for new e-mails once in a while, gmail actually sends information to your phone when you get an email. And this wouldn't be possible if the connection was turned off.
And if you don't want to use gmail or gtalk, just disable background data in android's data sync settings and the 3g module won't eat your battery when unneeded. Don't worry, android is much smarter with power management than winMo and the fact that you didn't disable something by hand doesn't mean that it's eating your battery.
It's like GPS - even if it;s turned on in options/on power control wigdet the module isn't physically powered up until an app requests to use it. And when it's done the module powers down again. But still you see people disabling gps support in options after exiting maps believing that it will save some battery, or even requesting an app that would disable the switch on power control wigdet.
So just remember - it's a different OS, it has different rules and the fact that you did something by hand in winMo doesn't mean you have to do it here.
Youtube is a epic fail. In the exact same place, with the exact same simcard I just can't load a movie. They all stop after 3 seconds and don't load further. Also there is no option for always having HQ. The WiMo app had this and I could always load HQ movies without trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, this seems to be a problem with your rom/app version. I (and many other people) don't have any trouble with YT on android.
As for the HQ, it's turned on automatically when you're on wifi, on a gsm connection it defaults to standard quality. Personally i like this behavior but i agree that there should be an option to change that for people with huge/unlimited data plans.
But it gets even worse when it comes to much more practical things. The browser won't save exchange webmail login info. So now I'm expected to loging like 5 times a day to my uni mail by typing my info every time? Not nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird, but also not android bug, just the browser. You might want to try some alternatives (like dolphin, skyfire, opera mini)
And what about displaying agenda items? can't do that on the lockscreen. There are apps to do this but not on the htc sense one as far as I've seen. So I have to manually check my agenda which is just a ***** because I'm just to seeing things come up on the homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, and since when does WinMo display the agenda without any additional software? But i agree, htc really should make some "upcomming events" widget, and default android could use one as well. For now i use "CalWidget" and i know of "pure calendar widget" (paid). I don't know it they're compatible with sense but it may be worth a try
Also I can't login to the uni website. You should get a login popup but the android browser doesnt seem to be capable of this. Ofcourse this was no problem at all with a 2 year old browser... So now I can't check schedules and all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, hard to blame android for that. Some alternative browser might help (maybe opera mini?).
Also there is no way to stream my favorite internet radio station.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no way to do that or maybe you just don't know a way to do it? Try DroidLive (it might even have this station in its database) or StreamFurious. Both have usable free versions.
Don't get me wrong, I love the speed and all but what good is speed to me if I can't use most of the functions that are important to me? What is even more disturbing is that non of the things I want to do are very special. This should all just work but it seems to be far above what android is capable of.
Basically to me android is a disfunctional OS. If the above things would work, I'd love it but now all I got is speed, but no way of doing the things I want.
Nice try, but not quite it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, seems to me that you don't really have a problem with android but you just got screwed by HTC and their customized version of android
If i were you, i'd just look for an unofficial rom. It might actually fix all your problems.
Also, part of your woes seems to be the fact that you knew winMo, knew the tweaks and apps you needed to make the device do what you want. Going over to android is a fresh start where you have to find out everything again. I know, i had similar feelings on a stock rom on my G1 after being a hardcore winMo user But after some research and grabbing a new rom and few extra apps android is way more functional than winMo for me and i don't feel like ever going back.
Just give it a chance and do some research.
Android platform has to mature a lot.
WM without xda is a hell.
You really need to find a new ROM. I've never had one single issue you're talking about.
Edit: And I'm using a myTouch running 1.6.
mr_deimos said:
That's hardly Android error - it just seems to be a bug in the mail client app. Maybe yry another one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be, though I doubt that. But I might try a different one.
It's not as simple as it sounds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know all that. But for me it does not seem to work perfectly. If I disable data connection always on (I never actually completely disable it), it still leaves it open. I checked overnight compared with just totally disabling it and it made a clear difference in the battery charge left. Its not like GPS where the icon actally dissapears when you don't use it but this doesnt happen with 3g so far as I can see it, it still uses more power than when disabling it.
I understand all the google stuff needs it, but I don't use any of it so for me its rather useless.
Again, this seems to be a problem with your rom/app version. I (and many other people) don't have any trouble with YT on android.
As for the HQ, it's turned on automatically when you're on wifi, on a gsm connection it defaults to standard quality. Personally i like this behavior but i agree that there should be an option to change that for people with huge/unlimited data plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did some more reachers on this and the problems seems to exist on a lot of different models/rom versions. I got the latest 2.1 rom for legend so I should have the latest (v1.5 I believe).
Weird, but also not android bug, just the browser. You might want to try some alternatives (like dolphin, skyfire, opera mini)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I reacherd a bit more and it seems to be a IIS and android problem. Wm and Iphone have the same problem but they just ignore the IIS message and continue. I tried Opera and it has the same problem. Btw, I think Opera on android is a long way off from Opera on WM. Still missing lots of functions I think.
IIS problem for the website login btw. Not sure why the exchange site doesnt save credentials but that seems to be misconfiguration. For example it wont even work on most desktop browsers either.
Okay, and since when does WinMo display the agenda without any additional software? But i agree, htc really should make some "upcomming events" widget, and default android could use one as well. For now i use "CalWidget" and i know of "pure calendar widget" (paid). I don't know it they're compatible with sense but it may be worth a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes ofcourse with extra software I will try the apps you posted. Thanks.
There is no way to do that or maybe you just don't know a way to do it? Try DroidLive (it might even have this station in its database) or StreamFurious. Both have usable free versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats the problem. They work with their own databases. I just want to load a .pls or m3u file in a player and have it connect.
Well, seems to me that you don't really have a problem with android but you just got screwed by HTC and their customized version of android
If i were you, i'd just look for an unofficial rom. It might actually fix all your problems.
Also, part of your woes seems to be the fact that you knew winMo, knew the tweaks and apps you needed to make the device do what you want. Going over to android is a fresh start where you have to find out everything again. I know, i had similar feelings on a stock rom on my G1 after being a hardcore winMo user But after some research and grabbing a new rom and few extra apps android is way more functional than winMo for me and i don't feel like ever going back.
Just give it a chance and do some research.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you are right. I know everything about WM and for me android still has a lot of things beneath its skin I don't know. If the apps I want exist I could fix some of my problems.
But some problems are just android related. The whole website thing is a combination of android and IIS configuration that don't play nice. Nothing HTC can do about this, nor can any custom rom. Its something google needs to fix. Ofcourse, if my uni would change their IIS settings it could also fix the problem but I don't think I can get them to change settings just for me.
For me that really needs to work because its a daily function for me.
Also I wonder if some things can be done. For example in WM you can just select to only use your provider. I still havn't found a way to completely disable roaming on android. Fortunatly its easy to prevent data roaming.

An Open and Honest Review of the HTC Arrive & Windows Phone 7

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).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

Categories

Resources