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Impressions from HTC Cruise - Windows Mobile
Hello All,
I have been relatively new here, but I thought I could contribute in the forums by posting my (unbiased) views about HTC Cruise here, hoping other people may find them useful. I am a software developer, so although I do not have an experience with hi-tech PDAs and smartphones, (never owned such a device before), I am fine with the technicalities of such devices.
My everyday phone was a simple sony ericson K510i . What had always annoyed me was that in most "simple" phones, it was quite hard to control the phone via my PC, do backups, backup contacts, SMSes, etc. My sony was good, I had found "MYPhoneExplorer" which pretty much did all those things for my phone. The screen was little bit outdated in terms of resolution, but I did not mind much.
And then came iPhone (which I never owned). I was impressed by its design, usability and user friendliness. I also liked the idea of having WiFi on it. I was close to buying that phone and using one of the available tools to unlock it, (noway I would pay for a contract - I am UK based). My brother who is into mobiles and gadgets more than I am, commented on the fact that iPhone is an "old" generation phone in terms of phone technologies and overpriced. I soon realised it was quite overpriced and started looking at alternatives. I was happy to see HTC would release a really cool phone, which I could get as my Christmas gift (yes, dream on, I had my eyes on it since November and managed to get it this February)...
So, what are my impressions so far?
I dare to say, quite mixed...
On the one hand this device is really wicked and cool! It has all the things I had always liked and needed in a single device. Packing a GPS, a radio, 3G, WiFi in a nice package is just amazing. I can now listen to music, watch videos, find my way around using GPS and have a nice PDA. These are really cool things! No need to have my pockets filled with separate devices...
On the other hand, this phone costed me little bit less than 400 pounds. One can argue you can get a laptop for that price, but then again, a laptop is not a phone. The video issues has not been much of an issue for me, I encode my videos at QVGA and all is well. However, I do get *very* upset when I realise that there is hidden potential in the hardware platform which has not been utilised. What I found bad straight from the moment i used it, is that when i press the "phone-call" hard button, there really is a lag when drawing the blue rectangle above the dialpad, (I am talking about the area which shows the names of your contacts as you type the numbers below.) I mean, come on, so much CPU power, and I can see the blue area being drawn? The other things is that if a couple of applications are running, then the phone does not seem to be operating so smoothly. Again, in order to be fair, it is still very usable. However, as things stand now in the market, in terms of specifications this phone is easily on the upper part, so in my opinion it should be fast, not just "very usable".
My other bit of criticism is probably related to Windows rather than HTC cruise. I find this OS quite interesting on the device, there is a huge applications' base and the things that are missing can be coded by talented people. However, I find the platform a little bit of a pain to use in a pure phone context. Why do i have to check an option everytime I want to get back a delivery report for my SMS? Why do I have to hack the registry to make this permanent? I set a wallpaper in my phone, then I set its transparency, then I realise it is hidden by the today plugin, which I can of course disable. If I disable it I loose certain features which are accessible straight away. I can of course get a new plugin that matchs my needs. Why is it so hard to have tabs with incoming/outgoing/missed calls? This is a feature that phones that cost 10 times less have. Of course Windows 6.1 has this, but then I would have to "install" a new ROM. Simple question: Why do I have to do these things? Why dont' they get it right from the beginning? Don't get me wrong, I am a technology enthusiast and I am sure I will manage to set up the phone the way I want. A number of users out there will do the same thing. However, is this platform one that non-enthusiasts would find user-friendly?
Look at all those skins and modding. Really cool. And the moment you press a button on your really cool new Today plugin, an ungly Windows application will pop up.
I hope that my criticism will be received well here! I like the phone, Windows is cool on it, but I think Microsoft has quite some way to go in order to make their platform really simple to use and user-friendly (think iPhone for example, my parents could use that, but I am quite sure if I show them my phone, they will not know how to make a a phonecall with it!)
In many ways some requirements are contradictory: Being user-friendly means you may have to hide settings, having your platform run on a variety of hardware means you cut corners here and there. Hopefully Microsoft will get it right with version 7 and 8, screenshots look quite good.
As for HTC... They lost a little bit of their credibility with a couple of issues for me. First the sound issue with the french rom which was initially denied and then fixed by people in this forum, then of course the drivers issue. I intend to make good use of this cool phone and customise it to my needs, it just takes time.
For your information, I find these applications useful:
Coreplayer (obviously!)
TouchPal keyboard works good for me
WKTask (and get rid off that default task switcher)
MyMobiler installs on your PC and a little "daemon-service" on your phone, (which you can disable). Then it allows you to control your phone from your desktop.
PocketCM did not particularly appeal to me, so I removed it
FunContact was cool, and loved it. Unfortunately, two things were not so good:
a) Splash screen and loading time
b) sometimes it made my phone freeze
Thanks for reading this (long) post,
Michael
Good post...Here are my impressions as well.
I used to carry a Palm Tx and a Motorala SLVR. I have been looking for the most ideal device to "do it all", PDA, phone (quad band gsm, tri band umts), wifi, and gps. There was nothing realy that appealing on the market until I read about the HTC Touch Cruise.
I read about people's complaints about the "driver" issues and hardware acceleration, and decided to take the risk and bought the phone from a gsm seller online. The phone was unbranded and did not have any stupid carrier proprietary software.
For the most part, I am very happy with the Touch Cruise. I have dumped the palm pda and the slvr, and have not looked back.
I just spent the last 2 weeks traveling to UK (London), Germany (Frankfurt), and Italy (Padova). As a mobile phone, the Touch Cruise functioned flawlessly and had 3G connections where they were available. Couldn't have asked for better features out of a "world" phone.
The TomTom GPS also ran quite well (Western Europe maps). Had to drive alot in Frankfurt and never got lost. Even traffic reports were right on the money.
As for a PDA, it blows the Palm syncing and calendar features out of the water. I used to be a Palm pilot only person, but Palm has become a dinasaur in their attutude to features and interface. The pocket pc has in my opinion surpassed them.
As a portable media device, it does kind of ok . Core Media Player is a must install, microsoft's media players still suck and are not usable and dont support all codecs. This device is not really ideal for video in my opinion. You have to re-encode videos to QVGA for ppc level quality, then video will play fine. You cant simply take a wmv file and dump it on the device to view, it wont work. As for music/mp3's, it works great. I got on a 10 hour flight from UK to US, and used it play music and games, and still had 40% battery charge left over and used an hour of GPS on the way home, with 20% left over.
In all fairness, the HTC could run a little faster, but I blame Microsoft and HTC for hogging up the cpu and not using hardware acceleration.
Since media (video) is not high on my list of required features, I am quite happy with the HTC Touch Cruise.
darkazally, I tend to agree with you really...
I guess if one did not have such a device before or had a really old one, then HTC Cruise is really super. On the other hand I can see certain people's frustration with Cruise. It is mostly people who owned 3 or 4 PDAs before and were probably expecting to be blown away by its specs; I kind of sypathise with them....
I read in an article written by someone at Microsoft, that companies tend to overload Windows with their own propriatory software and then the whole experience goes downwards. He mentioned that for the next versions of windows mobile, they intend to post stricter requirements just because of this situation.
As I also read in these forums, people who got their devices from O2 (just to mention a single company), seem to have more issues with HTC's performance...
I enjoy using the phone everyday and I am in the process of customising it to my needs, though it takes some time!
Uhhh mymobiler is amazing thanks for posting that! That is frickin sweet!
Great review, I tend to agree.
As far as PIM Management, I came from using two devices, a slim panasonic phone and a Xircom Rex 6000 PDA in the early part of this decade (circa 2001), like you I converged them into a Sony Ericsson phone (T610>T616) which had limited capabilities and lacked a lot of features my Rex had. In 2006, I got my first Windows Mobile smartphone, a Qtek 8310 (HTC Tornado), and now I have the HTC Touch Cruise.
Ever since getting into Windows Mobile, I thought that HTC/Microsoft had delivered great functionality, but poor usability and way too much lag for such high powered devices. Take for instance the settings panel. There are probably over 8 programs (4+networking icons, 3+ button config icons, ect) in there that only have one check box, when I'm sure HTC/Microsoft could very easily put them into one or two easy to use program with a Help feature.
But at the end of the day, I don't care if no one can use my device as long as I understand it. Additional consolation is provided in the fact that this phone looks so damned sexy
My Own impression
First of all, I'm new here & let me introduce my self...
I'm Richard & i'm from Indonesia.
I've waited for +3 months, before I decided to buy HTC Touch Cruise.
My other candidate are Atom Life & Nokia N82.
Soon (2 days) after my pal (who own a PDA shop) introduce me to Touch Cruise, I bought it
First impression is luxury.
Second impression........Windows Mobile sucks......
I have done hard reset for 4 times now....due to mis configure the registry....
I've done quite intensive test on my Touch Cruise, including Video,Audio,GPS,3G & Internet,Battery life & Applications.
This is my score (0-10):
1. Stability : 3 -> Typical Windows product
2. Looks : 9
3. Dimension : 8
4. Features : 8
5. Usability : 8
6. User Friendliness : 6
7. Battery Life : 7
Average score : 7
The Driver issue doesn't bothered me yet, so I'm very pleased with my new Touch Cruise
NOTE:
FYI,try not to uninstall anything from your TC.
Microsoft Windows product tends to leave "garbage" into the Registry & it will slow down your TC.
Choose wisely before installing & if you have to uninstall,search & delete any leftover inside the registry.
d4rkkn16ht said:
1. Stability : 3 -> Typical Windows product
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's wrong with stability? I'd have to agree that it is probably not the best device overall, but I didn't have a single stability issue with it. Maybe, you've got a defective one?
You know, there are certain lag things that I don't think are due to video drivers. I mentioned this in another thread "Why the lag" but I used to have a Cingular 8525 and supposedly that device had video drivers. It still lagged with a phone skin when you hit the phone button. Rotating the screen was still slow. I hate little things that lag like that. it should be smooth navigation / interface.
The device doesn't have a cohesive feel to it when we have to customize the **** out of it to get it to work the way we want to. You're right when we make a today screen look good then all the underlying apps are ugly windows apps. Your transparency issue, that can only be done from within the Windows picture viewer not the HTC photo viewer. You need to install your own video player. The HTC video browser app only shows videos with certain extensions. It's like you have to have a specific app for every little thing and then it feels like there isn't a streamlined feel to the device.
I gotta give credit to HTC for trying to improve the interface with their apps, the Windows interface is archaic. It's just the combo of the 2 doesn't allow for a polished interface.
hambola said:
The device doesn't have a cohesive feel to it when we have to customize the **** out of it to get it to work the way we want to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the other hand, thanks to HTC for a platform that allows us to do so and even greater kudos to all the xda-developer wizards who make it possible (and relatively easy for the most part).
Not enough can be said for xda. Although I'm a new poster I've been reading these forums for about a year now. Helped me out greatly with the 8525 and is proving to be helpful with the Cruise.
>You're right when we make a today screen look good then all the underlying apps are ugly windows apps.
I am happy we agree on this, I just wish it had a little bit of the Apple touch on it, that's all....
>Your transparency issue, that can only be done from within the Windows picture viewer not the HTC photo viewer.
All I wanted is a kind of minimal interface, so I can set my own wallpaper and not have it hidden by the huge HTC today plug-in. I have installed spb shell for a couple of weeks now and it looks great. I also discovered the HTC Home Customiser which looks cool, so, that's nice too.
>You need to install your own video player...
I think HTC should actually write a very generous paycheck for the people that developed CorePlayer. Without that one, Cruise would be a *little* bit of a disaster.
Overall I guess Windows is a versatile OS with lots and lots of space of customisation and at the end you do get it right, it just takes a lot of patience and resets to get there...
rev3nant said:
What's wrong with stability? I'd have to agree that it is probably not the best device overall, but I didn't have a single stability issue with it. Maybe, you've got a defective one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After some intensive test, I found some irritating bug that caused stability issues.
Quick Menu sometimes disappeared after running several applications.
System Hang at random cause.
Some system settings cannot be changed even if you've already change it.
Redundancy in Registry Entry that can cause stability issues if you change the entry. (not considered a bug if you don't change it)
and some other (not quite sure yet...)
Have you tried a different ROM?
Yes, it was quite a long ago that I've published my last Misc news. The reason for this is my having been really busy:
1. I've acquired a Tablet PC, a HP TC1100, and have read through all the Tablet PC forums. I've had some severe problems with the XP SP3 upgrade - see THIS if interested -, which was cured by a BIOS upgrade and/or forcing it to download the SP3 from Windows Update, as opposed to downloading it manually and doing the "Checked" Registry hack explained HERE. I've also tried setting up Vista Ultimate checked/debug with SP1 on it, but, unlike what others have reported, I was just unable to make the Wi-Fi card (in my device, the 2100) work. (And, of course, it's pretty slow compared to XP, even with the 1.5 GB of RAM and 5400 rpm 160 GB Samsung HDD. Dunno if it'd be faster with a 7200 rpm one - I don't want to have additional heat, noise and power consumption from switching to 5400 to 7200 for sure.)
BTW, speaking of the Wi-Fi card, I've also made some thorough tests to find out whether it's indeed as good as some TC1100, comparing its sensitivity and range to that of the new HP iPAQ 210 Pocket PC (running the default 1.00.06 stock ROM) and the Nokia N95 (with firmware version v21). I must state the reports on the TC1100's having great range are overly exaggerated. The iPAQ 210 has definitely better range. The TC1100 has about the same range as the Nokia N95.
The TC1100, otherwise is absolutely gorgeous. It does have some minor problems (for example, it's very slow at scrolling PDF files and, in portrait, the screen I have in my device isn't very well polarized; fortunately, the latter is less of an issue if you increase the backlight and don't use it at its lowest level), but, for a year 2003 model, it's just great, especially at the (current, second-hand) price, you will hardly find a better tablet. The alternatives would have been either much more (at least two times) expensive or considerably heavier - or both. The weight of the device (3.1 lbs, 1.350 kg without the detachable keyboard) is pretty much acceptable with a feather-weight (350g without the shoulder strap; 520 with it) bag like the 12" Tucano designed for the Mac Powerbook (and is, therefore, slightly oversized for the TC1100, but there simply wasn't a smaller bag in the shop) I've bought. Just a comparison: the 15" notebook bag I've received as the MS MVP gift in 2006 weighs 1300 grams - and, of course, is laughably oversized for a 10.5" tablet. A tablet, with the bag, weighing 1870 grams, is already very easy to carry everywhere. Just a comparison: my old 15" IBM Thinkpad a31p weighs, with the above-mentioned 15" MVP bag, almost 5 kg and is very hard to lug around. My favorite pastime, in addition to using it as a computer in the bed, is taking it out for excursions and walks. Two shots of my using it outdoors; in the second case, for video phoning, tethered it to the N95 via (feel free to zoom into the image - with the second shot, I've left it at 12 Mpixel, "only" decreasing the quality to reduce the storage need) Mobiola WebCamera:
The battery life of the TC1100 is also very cool. With the lowest backlight level, when just reading a book or a static, unanimated Web page (that is, no CPU-hungry tasks like Flash animations on Web pages are running), the power consumption is around 7 Watts. (Just for comparison, the one-generation older, Pentium 4M-based a31p consumes about 24 Watts the least. The more than three times more power usage is both caused by the older architecture of the CPU and the huge, power-hungry IPS screens. Unfortunately, IPS screens, while they have orders of magnitude better quality than plain TN + film TFT's, have always been pretty power-hungry.)
BTW, now that I also have a tablet, except tablet-related news & tips & reviews too in the future.
2. And yes, another (Microsoft) mobile platform I officially start to publish on: I've received a Microsoft Zune (second generation 8GB model), thanks to the Microsoft Company Store, which does ship them to abroad. Were I situated in the States, I would have access to its major selling point: the flat rate Zune Pass (costing US$14.99 a month), "take it (almost) all" store. Too bad while the hardware is already accessible outside the US and Canada, you still can't sign up into Zune Pass (you need to enter a valid US / Canadian address). I might ask some folks there to help to sign up? ;-)
Hardware-wise, I like the (second-generation) Zune pretty much, particularly now that there already is some kind of third party XNA app / game development for the device (see THIS and THIS for more info). I will definitely post on the latest news, hacks and, of course, development (games etc.) news on it too - but, for the time being, no Zune Pass / Zune Marketplace-related info as I'm in Europe and, as has already been stated, can't sign up for Zune Pass.
The stock earbud headphones coming with the device are really-really excellent (for an earbud, that is; of course, they can't beat supra-aural headphones or tightly fit canalphones [in-ear monitors]); they are of definitely better quality than the stock headphones (which aren't bad either) of the Nokia N95. My biggest grief is "just" the complete lack of A2DP (this is pretty much a showstopper on the long run) and the lack of a miniUSB or comparable socket for universal and easy synchronization / recharge access (no need to carry around the proprietary sync cable). I really hope Microsoft fixes these issues in the third generation Zunes due out next year.
3. Having read the written version of my recent W3C presentation, I've been invited by no one else than Dominique Hazael-Massieux, the Activity Lead and the co-Chair of the Test Suites Working Group, to contribute to the W3C Mobile Web Initiative. (BTW, he also has frontpaged my presentation and called it impressive, which is a BIG honor for me!) This means I needed (and will need) to get up to speed with the projects in there and will post even more Web browsing related, even more in-depth and developer-friendly articles on all the mobile platforms I support (Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, BlackBerry, MS Zune and, hopefully in the not distant future, the iPhone).
4. Of course, I've been working on my generic Bible on Digital TV, radio and all the like. The task turned out to be of epic proportions because I'll also elaborate on a lot of related subject, even on maths and digital signal processing. That is, I plan to give you an overall picture on what books there are on DSP, telecommunications techniques, which you should use for actually understanding how these technologies work etc. Be patient.
5. A quick blog-related note: you may have noticed that, on my blog, migrating has removed the HTML chart and/or paragraph markup from several dozens (hundreds?) of my articles from b2evo to Drupal. I'll try to address the problem as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you do run into an unreadable (old) article, please use THIS LINK instead (notice old_blogs instead of blogs - that is, you can access the articles in the old engine if you just add old_ in front of blogs in all the (old) URL's). There, everything works as in the past. Please do NOT post comments in there, only under the new interface (that is, under http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/).
Rebates
mobile2day.de goes English - at last! So far, it being German-only caused a lot of headache to non-German speakers. What is more, they offer a generic 25% and a select 50% rebate until 6/22/2008; see THIS for more info. Just to name one of the developers sold at 50% rebate (yes, ALL their stuff is offered for half the price!) certainly worth purchasing from: SHAPE services, SBSH, Herocraft, Iambic and In-fusio. Quite a bargain if you ask me. (News source: email from Damien of PocketPlayers Reloaded).
BTW, still speaking of SHAPE services, the BlackBerry version of their RDM+ (see THIS for a complete review) has, finally, received file transfer support - time to update if you haven't already done so.
New software and reviews
(note that I haven't listed the titles I've devoted a separate review to; for example, Pocket Commodore 64 3.0, mDesktop / Jeyo 2.1, Orions: Deckmasters etc.)
1. Spb have updated Spb Backup to version 2.0, introducing a lot of goodies; for example, ROM upgrade support. The upgrade only costs $9.95 for previous users.
2. Resco have also released a backup application; it also supports ROM upgrade support and a lot of other goodies. I'll try to update my well-known Backup Bible with both this, Spb's new app and all the related, newly released, similar tools like PIM Backup
3. Still speaking of Resco, they have released Resco Explorer 2008; now, with a lot of goodies like iPhone-like touch support, speed enhancements, a brand new FTP module. (The latter is indeed good news as the old FTP module was pretty slow in cases; see my benchmarks HERE.)
4. PPCT have published an extensive review of the since-updated TouchBrowser (that of Nate Adcock HERE; also see my initial, now-outdated review HERE)
5. There's an excellent PDF reader roundup at MobilitySite - certainly worth a read, including the comments
6. MyTodayScreen has published a decent article on mobile browsing
7. There's a new version of the free(!) Desktop SMS Manager V2.02 + Smartphone 1.11 HERE
8. Now, there's a free version of Inlux Messenger (see my review HERE), Inlux Messenger Lite, HERE (thanks for XDA-Devs forum member RPG0 for the tip!)
9. As far as connection utilities are concerned (tethering Windows Mobile phones to, say, notebooks or other, not necessarily x86-based mobile devices over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and/or USB), WMWifiRouter has been updated to 1.20beta and ICS Control to v.21. As far as the third application in this category, WalkingHotspot, is concerned, I still haven't received any answer from the developers, despite my numerous mails (I used to exchange several mails with them before this). Hope they do answer soon on whether the new Windows Mobile betas have already been released. As I've already created a new Best Software Awards 2008 category for these kinds of (very important) apps and have already nominated WMWifiRouter and ICS Control, I urgently need feedback from the WalkingHotspot folks to see whether the current version is worth nominating or not. Also, as soon as I get the current version of WalkingHotspot, I publish a generic comparison of the three titles.
10. CorePlayer 1.2.5 has been released and 1.3 will be soon released. The latter promises, for example, 'Channels' (for not only YouTube video playback support, but also on a lot of other video repositories) and progressive downloading. I REALLY hope it also gets the promised HE-AACv2 support at last (it still doesn't have it; in my e-mail discussions with their CEO, I've been told about a month ago most of the coding have already been done). They also stated they'd release a BlackBerry and an Android version before long - along with, of course, the iPhone one.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem in 1.2.5, YouTube playback-wise (see my YouTube Bible for more info on this), haven't been fixed: hit lists still only contain 13 records and you just can't see the rest.
11. Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine has run a nice survey on the best games for Windows Mobile. See all the posts HERE (fortunately, they have a separate category and, therefore, I don't need to link to all the individual articles separately - this is also a big advantage of the common category system used in the new blog engine). The May blog subject was Spring Cleaning as is accessible HERE; the April one was Features I would add and the March one Hack or Tweak I Can't Live Without.
12. The VITO Technology folks haven't been lazy either: they've released several touch-friendly apps; some of which have been also announced in the PPCMag blogs; see for example THIS. I've also tested their EyePhoto but decided not to publish a comparative review of it because it, in my opinion, still needs some speed and memory optimizations. As soon as they're done, I post a review comparing it to other "sliding" image viewers like s2v and PocketCM reviewed and compared HERE. And, I will surely review their launcher, along with all the comparable titles and TouchFlo (3D)-alikes (including the free ones available from XDA-Developers coders and hackers) in a forthcoming Bible.
13. Speaking of iPhone-like launchers, you may also want to check out TekSoft's SkyBox, which is also stated to be pretty cool - see Nate Adcock's review HERE. I'll review it too.
14. (According to many,) probably the best and most tweakable (commercial) lanuncher Spb Mobile Shell has also been updated (to 2.1). There's a nice comparison between the traditional, well-known Pocket Plus and Mobile Shell (both from Spb) HERE, should you want to know which way to go.
15. Tim Hillebrand's reviews Text Message Clients and SMS Enhancements and How to turn your Windows Mobile touch screen into an iPhone are also worth reading.
16. I post this info here too because you may have missed my review: if you liked the multiplayer games on the Commodore 64, did you know the just-released Pocket Commodore 64 3.0 offers IP-based multiplayer capabilities? It's certainly worth checking out - for example, Wizard of Wor works just great in Wi-Fi p2p mode. Also, if you use it in multiplayer, you will only need one license (on the server); the client can be unlicensed. In this regard, it's pretty much similar to Starcraft's (by Blizzard) spawned multiplayer mode. My only grief is the fire button not working in Archon (not even in single player mode).
BTW, speaking of Archon, I've recently acquired the original Commodore 64 version of Archon II (Adept) for my computing history collection (I have hundreds of other old, original games). As the abandonware sites (and Wiki) have very bad shots of the box, I've made some for you:
(front of the "box")
(back of the "box")
Some other shots:
the inner contents of the (foldable) box
the platform-independent manual: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
the C64-specific manual: 1, 2
the CGW leaflet: 1, 2.
Also, still on the subject of retro games and emulation, I highly recommend the desktop Windows title Hurrican (German-only homepage of the developer HERE), a free(!!) remake of the Turrican on home platforms around 1990. And, of course, the also-free Xenon 2000: Project PCF, on which I've already elaborated HERE.
17. While still far from being released, there is a lot of heated discussion on the (unlike with the unofficial and long ago discontinued Minimo) official Firefox mobile port. The related, most important (pretty technical) Wiki page is HERE; there's Symbian-freak's mostly Symbian-specific but for other operating system users, also cool remarks HERE. There's also a concept video HERE. As of now, no downloadable, publicly available implementation is available.
Hardware
iPhone 3G
Yes, the subject everybody has been speaking of, iPhone 3G. I recommend the following threads:
MSMobiles - here, I elaborate on why I consider the lack of a front-page camera a VERY bad mistake. At All About Symbian, particularly if you (also) have a Symbian (most importantly, an N95 [8GB]) phone, I also recommend
THIS, THIS and THIS.
If you own a BlackBerry (or known them), you'll want to read THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS. The "review" the first article links to also spends some time explaining why the author thinks A2DP (stereo Bluetooth audio) should better be left out: "Sure, you can't (yet, see below) listen to hideously compressed BT audio via A2DP on an iPhone (though any audiophile worth their lossless codec probably thanks Jobs for that Apple has a long history of not releasing as-yet-unperfected technologies unto their devices. If the tech is good, they're the first to dump the old and embrace it (floppies for CDs on the iMac, CDs for WiFI on the Air). If the tech isn't so good yet, they just wait until it is. They have standards." This is (sorry for the language) complete BS: A2DP is of great quality as of today. Except for, of course, the legendarily bad Microsoft BT stack before Windows Mobile 6. All, and I really mean ALL other Smartphone platforms and implementations (Symbian S60, BlackBerry, Widcomm and Windows Mobile 6+ Microsoft for Windows Mobile for sure) have excellent sound quality and few people will tell the difference between a pair of good-quality A2DP headphones (like, for example, the Plantronics Pulsar 590) and a wired one. Even I, who used to be a big Hi-Fi fan and audiophile some 20-25 years ago, find the (better) A2DP headphones adequate for my needs.
Otherwise, I consider the lack of A2DP the biggest letdown with the new model - and, of course, if it'll be impossible to tether it to an external, say, notebook, which is the case with, at least, AT&T.
BTW, there are a lot of new iPhone-related blogs and even papermags out there. The All About Symbian folks have started All About iPhone; the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine will publish an iPhone edition etc.
Windows Mobile
As far as Windows Mobile is concerned, you have surely heard of the HTC Diamond and the MDA Vario IV (aka HTC Raphael). There are numerous threads and reviews on / of both models.
Diamond:
Review: mobile-review.com's: generally, they're pretty happy with the device. For example, the video playback performance, with VGA-resolution videos, seems to be pretty good. Of course, they also mention the TouchFLO 3D's sluggishness (hope this will be fixed later - albeit, frankly, knowing HTC's fix record, I don't have high hopes.).
PocketNow
ZDNet (it also has links to other reviews at the bottom of the article)
Note that the brand new TouchFLO 3D is reported to be a bit sluggish and you may want to get rid of (switch off) it entirely. See for example the forum comments HERE for more info on this issue. (Note that THIS XDA-Devs thread contains some hacks to - somewhat - speed it up.) I, in addition, certainly dislike its storage being only 4 GByte and the device's not having a memory card slot, even if under the battery as was in the HTC s310. This really makes it pretty much useless for real multimedia usage - 4 GB of storage is plain insufficient. No wonder the basic(!) model of the iPhone 3G comes with 8GB and the Nokia N96 will sport no less than 16 GB of built-in memory AND a microSD card slot.
Raphael:
Disucssion: MoDaCo
There are also some reviews of the HTC X7510 for example HERE. You'll also want to read my generic comments, particularly on the, in my opinion, lousy thumbboard, at MoDaCo.
Symbian
Symbian-wise, unfortunately, there isn't much to report on - that is, there still isn't a Nokia N95 killer anywhere. (Currently, I consider the Nokia N95 by far the best non-dumbphone.) There are two new E-series devices: the E71 (see THIS and THIS) and the E66. The N78 has hit the shelves, at least in Finland. There's an N78 review HERE (the first part only as of now).
BlackBerry: final version of OS 4.5 is finally out!
BlackBerry-wise, you may already have heard of the Bold. You can also find pictures of the other, flip model, the KickStart, for example HERE and HERE. Finally, the, it seems, Verizon Wireless exclusive and, unlike ALL the other BB models (including the Bold / KickStart), touchscreen-based Thunder is worth mentioning. Note that AT&T will offer Javelin and Niagra (see THIS for more info), a 3G-less and a CDMA version of the BB 9000 (Bold).
Also note that Vodafone Germany has released the final (!) 4.5 ROM for the 8100/8300/8800 (no 8700, sorry). Note that these ROM upgrades can safely be installed on even locked devices of other carriers. I had absolutely no problems with installing it on my T-Mobile-locked BB 8800 running 4.5.0.9 beta ROM; I didn't even need to remove Vendor.xml. Restoring my 4.5.0.9-based backup resulted in some problems like being unable to access the Net; therefore, I've wiped the entire device and reinstalled / set up again everything. The situation seems to be similar to the 4.2 -> 4.5.0.9 upgrade, where I've found out (after having severe problems with not being able to send mails and deleting them from the online mailbox) you should NOT restore a 4.2 backup to at least 4.5.0.9. That is, set up it from scratch.
Finally, with this ROM version, I no longer had problems installing the current version of Opera Mini 4.1 over-the-air - that is, by going directly to mini.opera.com from the built-in Web browser. (With the previous, 4.5.0.9 version, I did have problems - it just wouldn't install - always displayed a “COD error” error message upon downloading.) Fortunately, it supports the file system too - that is, you can back up and restore on the BlackBerry too.
Incidentally, still speaking of Opera, my fellow blogger at the Opera Mini Fan blog, Serola, has just published an article Opera 9.5 and Opera Link. I have only superficially read it; I'll try to read it more thoroughly. (I've long having been huge problems of synchronizing my Opera Mini favorites with my desktop Opera 9.5 betas: synchronization only seemed to work between Opera Mini clients.)
Finally, another Opera-related item of news: Opera 9.5 has finally been released for the desktop Windows; it even has a USB version not requiring any kind of setup. So far, few browsers (for example, XeroBank's xB_Browser) have done the same.
Other news
Some people have reported Vito AudioNotes v1.3 autorecording with data connections active, at least on the HTC TyTn II / Kaiser. Resco's Audio Recorder doesn't exhibit this problem. I'll try to look into the problem some time; in the meantime, keep this in mind if you use (in autorecord mode) Vito AudioNotes on a WinMo phone that you also access the Internet from. (See my Audio Recording Bible for more info on these apps.)
The HP iPAQ 210 has received a patch for the power problems. Some people reported on it having helped; others weren't so successful. See THIS for more info and comments.
My attention was brought to Nokia's using pretty strong JPEG compression with their high-end, N-series phones like the N95 (all models are affected, with the latest firmware versions) and the N82. I hope Nokia comes up with an additional quality level setting - or a third-party camera app is released, with an alternative JPEG encoder. (Which was, BTW, the case with Windows Mobile and CECam - see THIS if interested for more info on the very similar problems plaguing some past WinMo models and external camera cards.)
(Making this sticky until the next Misc news article - this article [as usual] contains a LOT of useful info.)
Got a company iPhone 3G yesterday and it's an intersting experience how different the devices and their OSes are. Think that's nothing new for the most but I like to share my impressions ...
The iPhone has an impressive build quality, feels very good and solid in your hands. The cold real glass touch screen paired with the chrome border and the smooth back are nicely put together. But it's a little too big, not thick, it's just rather a bigger phone. For surfing the web it's better to be big but for daily use the small dimension of the diamond appear to be more slick.
Safari is incredible in terms of speed and responsiveness. There are definetely moments where Safari isn't reactive but compared Opera it's another league. I am wondering that Opera who is doing browser development on embedded devices for years isn't able to build something similar. Just the time of the first connection and request is MUCH MUCH shorter than on Opera (both tested on 3G). I don' know if this issue is Opera's or WM's IP stack's or the radio ROM's fault. Site rendering, zooming, clicking on links is SO MUCH better than with Opera. I think that's clearly Opera's fault. The non-capacitive touch screen of the Diamond CAN BE reactive, look at TouchFLO on udK's latest BETA. Anyway and the larger screen is more comfortable despite its much lower resolution. But that's again a trade-off when it comes to transportation.
Just saying that the Diamond can be reactive with the right ROMs it's still awesome how much more reactive the iPhone's GUI is: Just swipe the main menu to the left or right a few times (screens are following your finger instantly) and you see what can be done with the right hard and software setup of a mobile device.
Great: the auto completion of recipients. The iPhone looks in your contacts and at the company server for matching namea the same time. SO SO FAST and stylish!
And now I'll make it short: what I am missing
- A2DP: all my devices at home are A2DP devices (3 devices) and it's damn convinient just to enter a room and within seconds you have music, a stylish remote and flexibility. My Diamond is my central music source, all the newest music on it (as my previos WM6 device). Second source is the notebook with my full collection also connected via A2DP with all the devices. Sorry but an iPod connector is so 80ies in times of A2DP
- A2DP tweaking - independently of the question if the iPhone ever will have A2DP I'll enjoy to be able to tweak the sound quality of a WM device to its max. Don't think that an iPhone will ever provide the flexibility when I look at the OSX A2DP stack (more a beta)
- Disc drive mode for syncing media - sorry but I don't want to manage iTunes or anybody to sync or handle my music and other media. Connect the diamond and you get asked if you want an ActiveSync device, a disc drive or an Internet sharing device, that's a PERFECT usability. Choose the disc drive option and go with high USB2.0 transfer speed.
- No calendar events with invitations, YOU CAN NOT invite participants?! Did I missed something? Crucial point, probably something for their next update
- E-Mails are not read/unread marked or do I have to change the settings?
- Smartdial, such a great feature on WM6, still ten times faster calling somebody with the Diamond
Still the GUI is amazing (loving OSX's font rendering) and I am happy that Apple raised the bar for mobile devices' OSes and hope that competitiors come with similar responsiveness & style but I doubt that. Apple showed the direction where mobile devices will go: replacing desktops/notebooks for many use cases.
Finally, the iPhone feels like a dinner in an high-class restaurant. You get four courses of finest french cuisine in a styled environment and pay 400 bucks for two persons. You are entirely impressed but still hungry because of small portions on big plates. So the next time you just get a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke when you are hungry, no style but you get what you asked for. That's Windows.
mttcee said:
Finally, the iPhone feels like a dinner in an high-class restaurant. You get four courses of finest french cuisine in a styled environment and pay 400 bucks for two persons. You are entirely impressed but still hungry because of small portions on big plates. So the next time you just get a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke when you are hungry, no style but you get what you asked for. That's Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fantastic description
mttcee said:
... the next time you just get a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke when you are hungry, no style but you get what you asked for. That's Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah,
not so fantastic description!
People forget too fast how much you can do with Windows Mobile! Installing or programming real offline application for exsample - or customization! The iPhone on the other hand: cut off your internet / 3G and you have most likely an useless (but yet expensive) toy with cool animated menus ... - ... however, still useless!
Junner2003 said:
The iPhone on the other hand: cut off your internet / 3G and you have most likely an useless (but yet expensive) toy with cool animated menus ... - ... however, still useless!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pssst, The Cold War is over,
you can come out of your nuclear bunker.
(long post warning...I'm placing the summary first for those who don't care to read the whole thing)
***
In summary, I want a mobile platform that I can tweak until I get it exactly as I like it; that will sync with Windows desktop and server platforms (this is a strong preference, not a "must"; upon which I own things and don't have to worry about them being stolen or broken; that doesn't tell everyone and their mother where I go and what I'm doing; and on which I can listen to Sirius radio; and to which I can transfer data back and forth via USB without any permission based cloud interface. It must also be compatible with Slingplayer software and I have a strong, strong, preference for a slideout QWERTY keyboard, but I'd sacrifice that if I have to for the above functionalities. I'm currently on ATT, but it doesn't have to be that way
***
I am thinking about purchasing a new phone. But the market is a bit more complicated than when I purchased my current phone (HTC Diamond), so I hope that you guys can give me some advice.
I have been a Windows Mobile user since 5.0. What I loved about WM is that I could come here and read about the various hacks, mods, and custom roms and generally find something to address any problems I had, or find a way to modify the phone to meet my preferences.
I love the mobile version of Office and I use it constantly for work purposes. I especially like being able to sync outlook contacts on both phone and device, and that I can make presentations from the phone, and can open and manipulate Word and Excel.
I was also using SiriusXM 6 by tcbush over on Geekstoolbox to listen to satellite radio. Unfortunately, Sirius has taken down their legacy servers that streamed content to third party providers. So it does not appear that I can listen to satellite radio any longer via my mobile device.
It is this turn of events (Sirius radio) that is my main motivator for seeking a new phone. I could listen to Sirius via the web, but that requires a Flash player and I can't find a version of flash for WM 6.1. I have both Opera Mini and IE. So, if any of you know a way for a WM 6.1 device to listen to Sirius, you will have solved my immediate problem and saved me some money. I would really appreciate that.
But on the larger scale, I know that one day I will have to replace my beloved Diamond. Her slideout QWERTY is starting to jiggle, there are a few scratches on her beautiful face even though she hasn't gone a moment without a case and screen protector. Every now and again her D-Pad loses its way, and I have to reboot. Alas, I fear the end is near. *sigh*
So, in looking over the current landscape, I see three options: iphone, Android, and WM7.
Apple products to me are out for personal preference reasons.
That leaves Android and WM7.
Problem 1:
I enjoyed my prior experience of owning a WM phone supported by a network of generous, friendly developers who found ways that we could modify our phones to our hearts' content. I also like the fact that I own my phone and all its content. Once I install or tweak something, then that's it unless I decide to change it.
But the current market seems to be based on a top-down control model. From what I've read, owning a phone with the current tech is like owning a home on leasehold property or in a HOA: You pay full price for ownership but you do not enjoy the rights of control normally associated with that ownership. It seems that the devices are locked, difficult to unlock, find ways to re-lock, and that a Nanny-server may at times uninstall or disable software that it doesn't like.
I just don't get it. Has the culture embraced a model where a user pays a provider only to be told by that provider what he can and cannot do with the property he has purchased?
Of course, my perception of these issues could be incorrect. I recently went back to school and have unplugged from most external things. I haven't been following the "insider info" on xda for nearly two years. If I'm wrong, please tell me.
Problem 2:
User tracking. Sounds Orwellian.
I get it that the cell provider can locate you. I understand the technology reasonably well for regular Joe, and I understand that the network needs to know where you are. But until recently, the cell provider could not release those records without a warrant or some emergency confirmed by law enforcement like a lost person, etc. I actually worked with Sprint in conjunction with the police to attempt to track a stolen phone. However, it now appears that the manufacturers themselves and many app developers are bypassing the law by tracking users without their consent. Am I right on this?
I've read a number of articles on the Apple and Android tracking problems - generic apps tracking you and reporting your movements to Apple, Google, etc. Apps turning on the mic or camera at intervals and tracking your surroundings or conversations. Route these concerns through the awfulness of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Patriot Act, and the fact that both the post-digital presidential administrations (Bush II and Obama) seem intent on eroding what remains of our privacy, and it makes me uncomfortable. To make it worse, Google and Zuckerburg are both in bed with the Obama administration, and stories of their privacy infractions are epidemic.
Yet none of the progs I use on my WM 6.1 device use tracking (that I know of). So, in a very short time, it appears that the culture of mobile communications has gone from an ownership model with Constitutional protections to a free-for-all where you essentially pay big brother to track you.
I have heard many of my younger friends who have grown up in the big-government era use the default: "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about." But that's exactly backward. The law presumes your privacy and allows infractions only after due process. The current culture seems to presume lack of privacy, and treat privacy-seekers as an anomaly. And the tech seems to reflect the culture rather than the law.
Am I crazy? Even if I am crazy, is there a way to block this tracking? And, if so, does Android or WM7 better lend itself to blocking this tracking?
Problem 3:
USB data transfer.
WM7 doesn't support smart cards. But, the devices seem to have adequate on-board storage for my needs. However, from what I've read, I'll need to use Zune (on WM7, don't know about Android) to move data back and forth. Is that correct?
I currently use Windows Mobile Device Center to transfer files back and forth via USB or Bluetooth, and I really want to keep that functionality.
Thank you if you have read this far. And, given those criteria, what are my best options?
Droid X2. Get it.
Droid X2
Droid X2. Get it.
+1
Thanks for the responses. I've done a bit of research on the phone you recommended, and some research in general. I really need to spool back up
It looks like there are apps out there like WhisperMonitor that will help with my privacy concerns. Actually, it looks like there are Android Apps to address most of my concerns.
I'll keep researching that to determine how much functionality I'll have to sacrifice. And I appreciate the responses. Love the dual core structure of this phone. From what I've read, the benchmarks don't differ too much from single core phones, but it looks like the dual core really helps with load distribution and multi-tasking.
It will be hard to leave Windows...been with it since it was Pocket PC 2000. But atm, it appears that Android may work best for me.
I agree Droid X2, although VZW is expensive, its the best network
Off the basis of wanting a slide out QWERTY and Windows Phone 7, I would go with the HTC Arrive for Sprint. You still have Windows Phone, you can get Sling Player from the Marketplace, and it has a slide out QWERTY that when it slides out, angles the screen for better typing the way I look at it.
samsung galaxy s2
or atrix
If you QWERTY I'd wait till my4g slide if it launches with s-off. I don't imagine you'd be keeping the os in tact.
The g2 is also a beautiful phone. Amazing specs for the good hardware.
T-Mobile is also cheapest, I find, of the four carriers.
The epic 4g seemed nice. Hummingbird (Samsung 1ghz processor) is very nice and has a great gpu.
If you're looking to use google talk video chat, avoid nvidia tegra 2 chips.
Google's suite of software is pretty sweet. Google docs works nice, and there's an app for that.
As long as you download from android market you're good from malware. (If you do get it from market, google does pull the app from the store AND your phone, that's the only time I heard them doing this, and that was once instance.)
Besides... Supporting your developers is a great thing.
Did I miss anything?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
IMO almost any of the android phones would work for what you have in mind. As you pointed out in your follow up post there are apps out there for your privacy concerns. I've had a Moto Droid and now the HTC Thunderbolt. Both have been synced with my works exchange servers with no issues, google apps work great with Office docs, and the available roms and other customizations are almost endless.
Also, don't get hung up on a QWERTY keyboard. I swore I would never have a phone without one, but now that I do I actually don't really miss it.
Edit:
USB data transfer - very simple to do with android. Install a driver for the phone and then connect to your pc with a USB cable. Your pc will recognize the sdcard as removeable storage. Just select it in My Computer and drag and drop anything you want to move like you would for moving any file around in Windows.
Hello everyone,
So i thought I would go ahead and chime in with my own experiences and observations of the Asus Transformer (AT). I wanted to write an article that might help others trying to make a decision about replacing their laptop with the AT or maybe asking about a one vs the other. I wanted to stay away from a “VS” conversation and talk more about my experience. The long and short of it, is it depends. I think the AT can augment your business and maybe replace a netbook as a travel computer but i still need my laptop/desktop in the office. However, as you will see I am now using fully when out of the office my AT for all business needs and it works just fine.
Assumptions/Reasons for Buying:
So lets start with the reasons for wanting the AT. I wanted to find a solid replacement for my day to day use of my laptop while out of the office. I wear a number of hats one of which is application development, the other is as a Commercial Real Estate Broker. So needless to say this is for my brokerage business as i am pretty confident that there will be no Visual Studio use on the AT, well with the exception of a remote desktop of some kind. So, that all said what was i looking for? (Lets be honest we all want it ALL right but hey we can settle right?)
1. Email, this was first and foremost. A majority of both my businesses are relying on email as a main form of communication to my clients. Well, i didn't really need a tablet for this my phone handles it just fine, but typing anything longer than a paragraph is tedious , i have big hands and its just not the best experience, that said when i am out of the office most of my email replies are very short and so though i wanted/needed a better way to work with email the phone would have sufficed.
2. Document reading/generation: This one was a sticking point as we all know reading pdfs word docs and such is possible and works well on most devices, again the phone would work, but not for generation. I bought Docs to Go for my phone and it made things better but still no way was i going to get a "Word" experience. I know this is a debate by itself Microsoft "shop" vs opensource etc but lets be real, there is still a majority of the business working world that uses and will continue to use Microsoft office and so we just have to comply. (Yes you will service US Microsoft, resistance is futile)
3. Access to my daily files and work: So i also needed access to all my files and work related information. This was more a business choice than anything, putting information into the cloud, but i also had to think about how i was going to access so i am putting it in as a decision factor.
4. Browser media service: I wanted to be able to browse and access media whether at a clients to show them an article or news clipping or maybe a website etc. I also wanted something for reading surfing while having my morning coffee(We can be all work right?)
5. media entertainment Yes it has to be a "Fun" device to, watch a movie while travelling, or playing a game while waiting on my next appointent so this was on the list though not a major factor, as this gets us into an "apps" war and thats not the focus.
OK so there is more but that covers the major items
Decisions:
So I shopped and shopped borrowed friends ipads and a xoom, I really do like android in a lot of ways, it has its problems but I had an Iphone and was ready for a change. I am not going to bore you with the research but needless to say i chose the AT as my device to put this whole notion of Tablet for business to replace my laptop/netbook for work to the test.
REASONS:
1. Keyboard number UNO i wanted the physical keyboard cant live without it for major typing and work related stuffs. I tried the bluetooth one with the ipad and it wasn't bad, but the extra battery power in the AT was a bit of a topper not to mention all the expansions. ( I do think $150 is a bit much, but in the end, its what makes the Transformer a Transformer right?)
2. Expandability: Up to 64gigs of additional memory i can have a card with all my data a card with movies books music etc this was just too good to pass up. Yes i had already figured out a cloud solution etc but lets face it I wanted the kitchen sink with my device. The HDMI and USB were great additions as well. (A note my laptop took a dump one day and I was able to connect my external mouse keyboard to the AT and easily finish the day and deal with my laptop later)
3. Screen: yes as i mentioned it is going to be a bit of a "Play device" so it needed a great display and i liked this one over the xoom though the galaxy tab 10.1 i compared it next to was sweet and it had a keyboard, but the keyboard had no battery and had a lack of other expansion ports.
4. overall performace: this wasnt really to much of decision factor as all tablets are running tegra 2's for the most part and i wasnt looking at an ipad
THE PURCHASE:
I am putting this in because well it was an ordeal. I bought from bestbuy and got their 2 year replacement plan. Well i am on my 4th tablet and 3rd keyboard. Now I will be honest i wanted perfection and as was pointed out in a previous thread that just ain't gonna happen so really the first keyboard and tablet were it but i wanted a perfect no leak screen and a non discharging keyboard so back to the BB i went, again and again and again. Ok so now i have a series 60 tablet with a 50 keyboard and it all works, some light leaks but nothing that is earth shattering and doesn't bother me(Ok well it does but i got over it) So for those of you who think i just keep returning etc till its perfect, um take it from me, each one was worse, the second keyboard the space bar stuck, the 3rd keyboard was great, it does discharge but not a bad as the first. The tablet, on the second the light bleed was worse than the first and the 3rd one had huge dead pixel/flaws in the screen now the fourth some light bleed but in my opinion perfect as perfect can be. Moral of the story read the forums there are people here who are super helpful and will get you set straight but also be practical. If the little things really are going to bug you and you feel the need to come to a forum and write a post of Why i am returning my AT then its not for you, i knew the snowball i created with being picky and i got over it.
ONWARD!!!!!
OK THE SETUP APPLICATIONS AND PREP
1. First thing I did prior to buying anything was setup my business info and stuff to be accessible via the web. This required its own set of decisions which i wont get into, maybe a blog post about it later, but i migrated my stuff to google apps. (Hey i am going android so using google apps everything should all work right? it's all google, well sort of i will address it later)
a. Files and storage, i actually chose a combination of google docs and Microsoft live(25gigs of free storage how could i turn that down) I moved all the necessary files to the cloud and i was set
b. All my email addresses were migrated to my google apps and i was set there
c. Contacts moved to Zoho (I am debating this choice good for a later discussion)
2. Tested everything using my laptop and a web browser it all worked fine. I ran for about two weeks while i was doing more research on Android tablets apps etc, and I didn't have any issues.
3. Applications
a. Polaris Office/Docs To Go: I already had the later and the former comes with the AT so i was pretty much set for tablet handling of office docs. Its not a perfect solution by any means and would i like to have office on my tablet YES, do i need it not really. If i REALLY need to generate a word doc with high end formatting etc or i need that complicated cash flows analysis spreadsheet i can usually wait till i am back in the office in front of my computer. Remember this device is for travel/on the go and for THAT these apps are fine. (I am hoping they fix the keyboard issues with Office 365 because that will be IT and you will have it all)
b. Evernote became my note software, I REALLY miss onenote its my favorite office program but alas Android does not have support for it, mobile noter is not that great so migrated to Evernote. Evernote works well just takes a little bit to get used to as i had to change the way i organized my stuff, its different from onenote. (One thing i miss big time is pen input. I looked at the HTC Flyer because i really wanted to have the pen/OneNote experience. I found that this was one of those compromises. If i was still in school or in a job where i had to take copious notes in meetings, i would probably opt for a Tablet PC Fujitsu Q550 comes to mind so i could use pen input.)
c. With everything migrated to Google apps email was a snap put my google apps account info in and BAM its all there. I had already got Zoho synced with my contacts in Apps so they came down as well.
d. Using a combination of gdocs and the docs apps above is fine, though i really think google needs to "Finish" their products they have a habit of starting something putting it out there then never finishing or refine it. Google apps had a chance but with Office 365 available for a dollar more its gonna have troubles unless they step up their game. (We can have a google apps vs office 365 debate somewhere else)
e. To access my skydrive i use Sorami which is working well. The bad part is that i have to drag the file to the asus work on it here then push/send it, not ideal but it works. Quick note on collaboration, one of my sticking points on gdocs is that in order to collaborate on it and get all the functionality you have to convert it to a gdoc, i am not to keen on this as usually the conversion of complicated word docs with lots of formatting is horrible, hence Office 365 maybe the answer with the ability to use web apps and edit things in the native .DOC format. In any case its fine for on the go, and truthfully i don't know about others but my needs for generating complicated or highly formatted documents when i am away from my computer are pretty low.
f. For ZOHO i am limited to their mobile website they have an ios app now but android development is lagging, as it seems to with a lot of things, however i am hopeful they will come up with a native android app. I am still shopping on the CRM front so we'll see this may be a non-issue
That's the basics of apps i have the file explorers and a few games and other stuff but that's the basis of the business stuff.
HOW HAS IT WORKED
Now we get into the dirt of the article how did using the AT as a replacement for my daily out of office use workout. in a word GREAT but here is the skinny
THE GOOD:
1. Weight, wow being able to carry around my portfolio folder to hold documents etc and my AT was fantastic.
2. Access, i had access to all my documents when i needed them when i wanted them. (Let me clarify I know the AT is Wi-Fi so i tether it to my Nexus S 4G when i am not in range of a Wi-Fi hence my statement i can access everything) Yes its true i had that with just my phone but on the 10" screen with a keyboard i felt like i could really work with them when i needed and i could draft from scratch some pretty nice letters etc.
3. Email, yes i know we all have this with our phones but as i noted my hands are big so typing anything of length on the phone is tough for me, the AT made this a snap, take a few minutes between appointments to dock with my keyboard which is in my trunk not only does the pad get a top up, which it didn't need but hey some extra juice nevver hurts for that extra round of Angry Birds, and i can type up all notes etc.
4. Worth noting i did need to make a change to a .NET app for a client i was no where near a pc and this needed fixing now, i used splash top logged into my pc launched studio and made the change, was it horribly slow yes would i want to try and work that way HELL NO but was my client beyond happy and will i get a ton more business from him cause his problem was addressed right away OH YEAH. So i can do the same with office docs etc its not ideal but dang in a pinch there are work around’s.
THE BAD: (This i boil down to i would have been fine had i had a pc)
1. Well obviously programming, I did like having my laptop and being able to sit in a Pete's or something and work on some projects that had been lagging. So not being able to do my development is a bit of a downer, but its all about compromise right.
2. I mentioned earlier pen input. I REALLY like Onenote and I am an advid pen user, i replaced all the notebooks and post its around my desk with a Wacom Tablet and onenote. I did a tremendous amount of research, and business organization in Onenote, so putting this on the table as a “Compromise” was difficult. I downloaded EverNote and started taking notes via typing, and it wasn't so bad. Hence, my decision to make the switch. Again if Office 365 shapes up the way I think it will, i will be back in OneNote in a heartbeat.
SUMMARY
So for me the AT system will accomplish what i need and i think will only get better as android and apps mature. Email, doc reading editing and file creation, file access ebooks movies on and on the device is fabulous. For those thinking of going this direction, here are some thoughts. I look at my purchase of 700 which includes my 2 year replacement with BB and I compare that to what i can get in the PC world. Well the New Fujitsu Q550 i believe is about 700 and that is a full slate pc with about 6 hours battery has the stylus for writting runs office including one note (onenote + stylus = Heaven) there are a few reviews out there and this seems to be a nice challenge in the pc arena, if you want a PC for your work. The AT is not a pc so you have to adjust your thinking and try not to compare it to a netbook or pc thats why this is more of a "How i went about using the AT" rather than a vs because truthfully its not fair to compare apples to oranges. After making some changes to the way i do business i am able to successfully use the AT as a replacement for my day to day operations OUTSIDE the office i still have my PC and still use it. I think that moving forward online services like office 365 and google apps will level the playing field a bit to make comparing tablets to pcs a little closer but right now there are things that my tablet does that a pc is really hard pressed to do. Grab from my bag push a button read a book surf the net watch a video the list goes on. Maybe the new pc tablets will sleep/hibernate better and the gap will get closer I don't know. I miss some PC functions once in a while and with Tablets PC’s coming out as light as the Q550 I think the landscape is going to change, but take a look at your situation and see whats right for you. You can read “VS” articles all day but those are simply peoples observations/opinions. Take a step back and decide what you want and then mold your world to it.
Thats my experience please feel free to comment if we want to use this thread as a building block of Business “how to's” for getting people to undertand that tablets and pcs can live together it doesnt have to be an either or thats great. Maybe share some uses/apps things you do to leverage your AT in the work world.
The Rahl (Heh)
Why not use Splashtop HD to remote into your PC to do programming?
RTbar said:
Why not use Splashtop HD to remote into your PC to do programming?
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He did mention that he did remote desktop to his comp for a quick fix. Its def not ideal, especially for a long time.
If you have your code stored on a Linux box, you could SSH into it and use a terminal-based text edit to do it. Yeah, not the most fun, but it takes less bandwidth/power to do.
i had thought about the linux box but truthfully if i need to program i will grab my laptop. My goal was to use the AT on the business side though i am finding new ways of doing things everyday. Though kind of wondering since i dont NEED an AT shoud i wait on next gen Tegra3. Heh yeah that opens the wholebcan of worms "if i wait ill get the newest and the best" youll never buy anything then butbyou cant help but wonder. Heh I think ifthey had some firm dates on tegra3 i might consider but since there are no firm dates ichosetheAT.