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Before I get started, please don't scream. I am just *waiting* for the douchebag assault to begin, because after all, this is an internet forum and it'll happen come hell or high water no matter what I say. This post is not for the douchebags, it's for the reasonable people who are willing to discuss, listen and talk in a rational way.
I got my first fuze the day before launch (November 10th), and out of the gate it was problematic. Now, I was and still am enamored by the feature set, and the hardware is amazing when it's working right. My first fuze locked up and crashed programs *constantly*. After a week and a half I exchanged it for another, and this was a better experience, but still flawed.
Fuze #2 never once locked up, but it did crash programs pretty frequently. Not every day and not every program and not even consistently, but it did so with enough frequency to be damn annoying. The AT&T software load, as everyone already knows, is complete ****. It makes a 528Mhz phone with 8 times the RAM of my old Wizard feel slower than the Wizard with a hacked ROM, and that's just sad. I've been using my Wizard (a cingular 8125) since launch, and I can honestly say that unlike most phones the experience only kept getting *better* as the hardware aged, and it was able to do so as a direct result of the fine folks of XDA who have cooked up some really amazing ROM's. The work you guys do is phenomenal and it only gets better as time goes on.
And so I loaded up a custom ROM from here on my Fuze. It was, to say the least, WORLDS better than the AT&T stock ROM. But it still had its annoyances. Some programs would still crash. There was still hesitation here and there when using the Manila 3D UI. Finding and acquiring software to run on it is a pain. Don't get me wrong--Windows Mobile has GOBS of great software available and I've blown hours upon hours finding it, playing with it, enjoying it, over the last 2 and a half years.
Of course, that's part of the problem--to get the really good stuff you have to search endlessly all over the web to find the really great stuff for WinMo. XDA is a terrific place because there is so much stuff discussed and linked to, but even here you have to trudge through miles of posts and it's a pain, plus there's the whole process of downloading, unarchiving, copying to the device, installing to the device--only to do it all over again when the next great ROM comes out. This isn't the fault of anyone here, but it's evidence of a problem that's grown beyond the community's ability to solve--the problem is with Windows Mobile itself and the infrastructure that does--or more accurately does NOT--support it.
Let me 'splain. When I finally had enough of my Fuze, I took it back to AT&T to find something else. I dicked with the Blackberry, I hated it. I've always hated blackberry, both from an infrastructure support side and from an interface side. So that was out. I've never been an Apple guy EVER. In college we had some piece of **** Mac's that were just miserable to use and I learned very well to hate them, so I hadn't even considered an iPhone.
And then I tried it. My first response, as an official Mac hater, was to find its flaws. The camera is mediocre (2mp? LAME!). But then, I have a REAL camera for taking any serious pictures (let's face it, no cell phone camera is going to replace a nice Canon or Nikon any time soon for high end photography). The screen resolution isn't as nice as the Fuze...yet it's still better than the Wizard was, and it's not so low that it ends the world. I hate that there are no hardware buttons except for Home, Power, Mute and the volume toggle, but then, the Fuze wasn't replete with buttons either and I'd already weaned myself off the Wizard's multiple buttons anyway. And it pisses me off that I can't use a friggin' MicroSD card to cheaply expand my storage.
But then I started to see what the device is really all about, and what really blew me away is how easy it is to use and to access a fat library of good apps, both paid and free. I don't even have to leave the device, I can browse it all straight from the phone, install it straight from the phone in a single step, and when I plug it into my PC it's all synced. When the next software update happens I just sync and everything I installed is put right back where I wanted it to be.
In short, I finally see why people are tripping over the iPhone. It's not the hardware, because let's face it the iPhone is outclassed in hardware by plenty of phones, including the Fuze. It's the interface, it's the software, it's the ease of use. And for me, at this point in my life where I'm trying to do more with my time than ever before, that makes it a great device choice for me. The iPhone, simply enough, will save me time and effort, and it enables me to do things I just can't do with Windows Mobile.
Now, my sincere hope is that WinMo 7 fixes these many issues. I hope it comes with an easy and fast UI. I hope the devices have multitouch screens. I hope there is finally an integrated backend infrastructure and an app store that nets easy access to both developers and consumers of applications and games. I hope it standardizes on a required minimum of built in storage but outdoes Apple by allowing you to expand it further with MicroSD (or whatever the hell comes next, but man do I hope NanoSD isn't next or I'll never be able to find my goddamn cards). And for goodness sakes, STOP vendors from loading the damn phones with all this bloat!
Compared to what Apple's done with the iPhone OS it feels like Windows Mobile is standing still, like Microsoft has dropped the ball and just stood there slack jawed as it rolled away. Maybe it's because they're so focused on kicking Sony in the nuts in the console wars, I dunno. All I can tell you is that what iPhone's software is today, WinMo's should have been a long time ago. The only reason it's survived this long is because guys like the geniuses on this forum have made it do things it was clearly never built to do in the first place.
With any luck I'll be trading in my iPhone for a WinMo 7 device, but I guess that remains to be seen. To everyone who's done anything for this community, I want to say thanks, because you made my enjoyment of my Wizard a true joy for almost 3 years.
Thanks,
Jason
I have mostly always used WM devices but in the mix of my many phones I have used both iPhones and I too agree that the interface is much simpler, easier to use, and direct, I also agree that certain apps specifically the games on the iPhone are uncomparable to the WM devices. Lastly, also think that the ease of app searching in the iPhone is the best, just browsing through the many apps is a joy.
With that said, using the iPhone is (to me) frustrating because most if not all apps crash, the web surfing is a pain because I remeber surfing and safari would constantly close. I traded my iPhone for the fuze and updates have done little to improve these problems, my wife still has the iphone 3g and I always have the same problems on her phone. In addition, I exchange my iphones multiple times because of these problem and they kept on happening. The only truly thing I miss from the iphone are the games and sometimes the appstore. The lack of multitasking is also horrible even by using the background tasking app when jailbreaking doesn't solve this dilema.
It really depends on what you need.
I honestly couldn't care less about the whole openness debate.
At least personally, I can jailbreak and get whatever (ok, maybe not) I want on an iphone.
The ui is much more responsive, and the screen is much larger.
BUT! I need physical keys, and that pretty much was the sole reason to not consider anything else.
Yesterday, while on the train, I was reading some stuff on Opera, while listening to music on Kimona, and typing away on Word, while swtiching between apps using Task Facade. Can I do this on the iPhone? Not as far as I know.
And about the larger screen, if I need to be typing frequently, the larger screen really doesn't benefit me since half of it will be filled with a virtual keyboard; what matters is a high res display. After comparing the two side by side, my choice was pretty clear.
Then there's another thing about the whole "responsiveness" debate. Honestly, at least with custom ROM's (which is really a bad excuse, since no one should have to do this to get past the minimum responsiveness), and running one app at a time, it's very snappy.
My point is, I find it inaccurate to state that the Fuze is a gateway to an iPhone without considering the target group and general purpose of winmo devices. Granted, more winmo phones want to hit the mainstream market, but let's face it, Fuze isn't targeted to hit any of the consumers out there. At&t did absolutely nothing to market it, and that really should be enough to invalidate the statement you provided. After all this is a forum where more technically inclined people hang around.
Wow, that's a lot of words. I'm surprised my ADD didn't kick in while reading it.
If you think that the iPhone will free you from crashes, think again. Yes, the interface is slick, but it is not the flawless stable system you see on the TV adds. I had the IPhone for a month before and returned it for the Fuze mainly because I got tired of Safari as well as any other memory intensive app constantly crashing.
The phone just doesn't have enough memory to be as good as it can be. My wife still has her iPhone which I recently upgraded to firmware version 2.2. This weekend, out of the blue, I asked her how it was performing. She replied "I just has to reboot the phone a minute ago."
I figure, if I have to deal with software lagginess and crashes, I might as well have a system that is accessible and customizable instead of one that is locked down. Oh, and the few extra buttons on the Fuze certainly do make a difference. But really, I find the Fuze with a new ROM MUCH MUCH more stable than the iPhone ever was.
Nice post, well thought out and honest. I, too, have a Fuze and am considering an Iphone. The bigger screen is a major factor; the Fuze screen is just so .. small! high-res is great, but pointless when you need to zoom in so close on things to read them that you might as well be running QVGA.
It seems I have a love/hate relationship with the Fuze, as many do here. One day, it drives me nuts -- Opera freezes up, scrolls and zooms in and out and behaves weird, the phone acts slow, bad GPS fix, and so on. I get frustrated and seriously consider returning it. Then, the next day it works like a dream! Quick GPS fix, opera works perfect, I discover something I did not know about before (i.e., circling your finger on a portion of a photo to zoom in right there -- cool!) and I would be sad to see it go.
I guess all we can do is be patient. As you said, other phones got better with age; I think it stands to reason that the same thing will happen with the Fuze. As better optimized web browsers get released (i.e., Fennec) and (hopefully) video drivers get updated, the whole experience should get better. If by some miracle we get WM7, who knows what that might bring. yeah, the hardware is frustrating -- small screen, weird buttons, no headphone jack -- but I think it is enough to deal with for now if we can get the software and drivers all optimized.
Thanks for all the great replies, guys. So far I have had the iPhone for just a shade over 48 hours, and I've updated to 2.2. I've experience no crashes yet, but I did need to reboot once after installing an app last night (weird, yet no biggie to me because I'm used to it in the Windows world).
I have to agree--I HATE that I can't run more than one app at a time on the iPhone. I don't know why they do that, but I can only presume that it's done that way in order to force memory to stay free so the OS remains quick and responsive. It's kind of a ****ty tradeoff IMHO, but at the same time...I'm liking the responsiveness and I *usually* don't do more than one thing at a time anyway. It's nice to have the option though.
By all means, I don't think Fuze is a waste at all (except in AT&T's horrible software load. What the hell are they thinking? Honestly they need to fire whoever builds their ROM's and hire somebody who does this as a hobby on XDA), and I think that when it matures it'll be damn difficult to beat. I fully expect WinMo7 to eventually arrive on it (barring some bizarre hardware requirements, but who knows?), but even if it doesn't I think the ROM devs around here will eventually harness this thing into a terrific device. Unfortunately I just don't feel like waiting around, because for my almost $400 out the door I feel I should have walked out of the AT&T store with a phone that blew the doors off most others without any need for a hack.
On the bright side, by the time the ROM's are really mature and crazy fast/stable, the Fuze will probably have dropped in price substantially
For those developing ROM's, some of my thoughts on UI are:
1. Larger buttons! Especially for closing apps and using drop downs, those tiny little default X's are miserable for finger access. Finger friendly is the way of the future.
2. Customize Touchflo. I've seen some slick youtube videos with guys doing very iPhone/Coverflowish stuff and it appears buttery smooth. Of course, I could never find where to get the software to try it out, but if it's doable, heck...do it
3. I dunno if this is possible, but how about setting up some sort of repository for free apps and building a thin client that could run in touchflo, connect to the server, and snag a list of apps available and maybe even install those directly to the phone. I don't see any reason not to steal the App Store's idea, it works well and it's a joy to use. Microsoft should have done this already
Just some thoughts!
I can relate to OP. I'm upgrading form a Wizard as well (T-Mo US MDA). While new ROM's certainly made my Wizard better, I can say that custom ROM's on it were not an absolute requirement. While I continued to be more amazed by my Wizard, I just continue to be a little less pissed off at my Fuse.
XDA is the ONLY reason I have not returned my Fuze. I'm finally back to a totally stripped ROM, with no fancy I wish I bought an IPhone TouchFlo Horse ****, and no AT&T application Douchebaggery.
OP, I feel you on the lack of buttons. I miss playing pocket Nester / GB on my Wizard. I think it says alot when it is totally outclassed and still sticks around as my "GameBoy".
I definitely have mixed feelings about the Fuze. I waited to buy this over the Tilt for the camera, and I have been somewhat impressed by it. I miss the Wizard's Keyboard layout and overall style, with the buttons NOT touching each other.
@Fatheadpi,
I can't agree more (though I am rather enamored with the iPhone's UI. It's not the animation and all that crap though, it's the sheer *speed* of it and ease of getting to anything I want to get to).
Fuze is an impressive piece of hardware, yet at the same time there are issues with it--primarily software--that are really hard to overlook on such an expensive device.
The iPhone has been around for quiet a while now, and has had 2 revisions. The Fuze is fresh out of the box, so making a comparison so early in it's release is a little judgemental. it is possible that alot of out problems can be solved by a nice ROM update (like video drivers). Or just out right fixed by custom ROMs here. if you think that apple listens to what the people want, just take a look at the cut/paste, or Video recording issues.
One of the "great" things about the iPhone is one of it's biggest weakness too. The app store, while its a one stop shopping for apps, is also controled by apple, and they are the final say on what kind of programs you are allowed to run on your device. You also can write new ones (think Schaps Advance config) you have to take what they want you to have and like it. If you try to break their rules, then you might find yourself owning a brick when you sync it.
I think you need to look at this in a little bit of a different light here.
Apple has for the most part stated that they are a software company; almost all of their efforts these days are portals to Itunes where Apple makes money hence the reason for lacking hardware but great UIs and access to Itunes. They make loads more money on Itunes than on hardware.
Looking at this from AT&T's viewpoint they make money on data plans, minutes, texting, basically anything crossing their network so these types of things work great on the phone.
A third party to all of this is HTC which has to make something attractive but gets no additional money at all after you buy the hardware.
So looking at it this way, it makes perfect sense why a pleasurable experience on a Winmo device is driven by the end user, in essence no one else is interested in your problem because they don't make money off of you.
So maybe some entrepreneur out there should figure out a nifty UI like iTunes but for Winmo where a user can buy a new ROM, or try out/buy some cool apps and so forth, figuring out a cool way to upgrade the device.
The real truth here is that Apple owns everything about the iPhone, there is no one entity that owns Winmo devices so individuals end up taking over and this creates multiple and sometimes confusing paths to good stuff.
-Tim
jasongw said:
(except in AT&T's horrible software load. What the hell are they thinking? Honestly they need to fire whoever builds their ROM's and hire somebody who does this as a hobby on XDA)
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If they don't do that, we may have to pay more for the device. So I really don't mind all the bloatware (you get what you pay for )
3. I dunno if this is possible, but how about setting up some sort of repository for free apps and building a thin client that could run in touchflo, connect to the server, and snag a list of apps available and maybe even install those directly to the phone. I don't see any reason not to steal the App Store's idea, it works well and it's a joy to use. Microsoft should have done this already
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http://getgecko.org/
I think these guys are trying to do just that. The problem is, ironically, but obviously, the openness.
Then there's this. It's from handango. Never tried it, probably not even close to what apple has. It's not the lack of it, but the way it's presented, which is precisely why--and you nailed this point--iphones sell. Of course, as I mentioned previously, most winmo users are at least prosumers, so they know what to do without all the oversimplifications.
Jblakk--
I get what you're saying about comparing the two, but I have to disagree. The Fuze is brand new, but essentially Fuze is to, say, an HTC Wizard as iPhone 3G is to iPhone. That's to say, it's not new, it's merely a refinement of what's come before.
And Fuze gets a lot right, I know, just as iPhone gets a lot wrong. Yes, it's judgmental to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the fuze, but I don't see anything wrong with that. Judging is a natural and appropriate action for humans, and I'd argue we should judge more, not less (but in a rational way, not an emotional "I'll kill you for disagreeing" way). That's philosophy though, and I'm just talking phone/PDA's
I realize that Apple has final say on the app store, but from what I can see it appears that they aren't being too tyrannical about the content. There are literally thousands of apps available, and so far I've filled up 5 screens worth of apps I wanted to try out. It was easy to find them, easy to install them, and for the ones I didn't quite like, it was easy to kick them to the curb.
I have to say you're dead on about cut/paste and video recording. I can't even imagine how they left those out, especially cut and paste. I mean does it get any more basic than cut and paste? . Hopefully that will be resolved soon, I can't imagine it's all that complicated.
My point here has never been to say that the Fuze is super terrible and iPhone is the uber shizz; clearly both phones have their strengths, and both have their weaknesses. Right now, based on my experience with both and coming off the still-my-overall-favorite-phone-to-date the HTC Wizard, I feel that where the iPhone leads is entirely in the execution of the software. Windows Mobile 6 is barely a step above 5 (in fact, it IS 5 if you get right to it, 5.2.xxxx) and it's really showing its age.
I think a reasonable argument could be made that the Fuze hardware deserves better than what Windows Mobile's current incarnations have to offer. However, as I mentioned, I do think the miracle workers at XDA will pull some sweet tricks out of their hats eventually and make the fuze pretty damn sweet. And if Microsoft follows its usual pattern, WM7 will finally catch up to iPhone's OS and probably refine and improve on it in various ways. It'll be exciting to see what happens on that front
@g2tl-- Gecko seems like a great idea, I really hope they make some good progress. I hadn't heard of that before, but I'll definitely be following their progress from here on out! Thanks for the heads up!
As for getting what you pay for, that's almost always true but I think there's an exception here. On the fuze you're getting more impressive hardware, but you're getting a much less polished piece of software that's quite outdated and difficult to manage by modern standards. Now, I'm a 13 year IT geek (good lord, did I just admit that?) so I've never been afraid of getting my hands dirty, and goodness knows it's a miracle my old 8125 survived all the flashing I did to it, but at a certain point it's nice for a device to just *work* without a lot of dicking around with it.
I am sure WinMo will eventually be that software, probably with WinMo7. It's just not there yet, and I think the real shame of that is that an awesome device like the Fuze (or any flavor of the touch pro for that matter) won't really be used to its full potential because the software is lagging so far behind the device itself.
Tim, I do get all that, and you're exactly right. I also think that's where a great many of the problems with WinMo come from, the fact that carriers can just shovel piles and piles of junk onto these phones just drags down the user experience.
I'd say maybe Microsoft needs to put out their own phone where they can present a coherent experience (their new Xbox Live interface is friggin' awesome), but then I'm sure we'd have a lot of crying foul from assorted carriers and competitors who cry monopoly. There's probably no easy solution from a development and implementation standpoint, but from a consumer standpoint it's actually fairly easy: go buy the device that offers what you need.
Right now for me--and surprisingly so because I never imagined buying one of these until 2 days ago--that device appears to be iPhone. I truly do hope for a WinMo7 device or even a Fuze WinMo7 hack that'll win me back eventually. I still love the dark side
jason - Suggestion for you, as this is finally what has made me very happy with my Fuse. Probably a little too late as you're running an I-Phone.
Think about this: You were a Wizard user. When you upgraded, you probably wanted a better camera, more power, and 16 gig storage options. You were probably running an OC'd cooked rom WITHOUT TouchFlo.
Here's my suggestion.
Starting from scratch, I have the phone I wanted after about an hour's work. TouchFlo 3D just continues to piss me off. The only nice things about it were the picture viewer, weather, and the music setup. However, I have music controls on my BT Headset, and I'll probably go find the HTC Music player / plugin tonite. I have HTC picture viewer installed in an out of the way place for the rare times I look at my pics. I'll figure something out for the weather option, tho I've lived without it for a number of years.
Thinking about it, it all kinda makes sense. PC users build PC's and use Windows because we know exactly what we want and how we want it. We don't put flashy, pointless bull**** interfaces up front to slow things down. (at least pre-Vista, anyways.)
Still tho, the Raphael and Diamond needed a different control pad and button set. Macs were built around the idea that an average idiot (no offense to MacFags) could just use something. PC's are designed with a bunch of buttons because PCFags will customize that to do awesome stuff.
jasongw said:
Jblakk--
I get what you're saying about comparing the two, but I have to disagree. The Fuze is brand new, but essentially Fuze is to, say, an HTC Wizard as iPhone 3G is to iPhone. That's to say, it's not new, it's merely a refinement of what's come before.
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I'll have to dissagree with you there, as the hardware is so different, it's a copletely different device. I came from the Hermes(8525) and it's not even close to the same(and I did love my heremes)
And Fuze gets a lot right, I know, just as iPhone gets a lot wrong. Yes, it's judgmental to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the fuze, but I don't see anything wrong with that. Judging is a natural and appropriate action for humans, and I'd argue we should judge more, not less (but in a rational way, not an emotional "I'll kill you for disagreeing" way). That's philosophy though, and I'm just talking phone/PDA's
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I think what I said just came out wrong. I think over-critical would have been more accurate. I think that we look at things in perspective, and make decisions based on our needs. While I know that neither device is perfect(what one is?) we just need for figure out what job does the job best for us, and makes us happy.
I realize that Apple has final say on the app store, but from what I can see it appears that they aren't being too tyrannical about the content. There are literally thousands of apps available, and so far I've filled up 5 screens worth of apps I wanted to try out. It was easy to find them, easy to install them, and for the ones I didn't quite like, it was easy to kick them to the curb.
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Don't forget that not all of thoes apps are free, and you don't get demos of stuff try make sure they work as advertised. I have friends that nickle and dime themselves too death due to the app store. I don't think the idea is bad idea by any means though.
I have to say you're dead on about cut/paste and video recording. I can't even imagine how they left those out, especially cut and paste. I mean does it get any more basic than cut and paste? . Hopefully that will be resolved soon, I can't imagine it's all that complicated.
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iPhone users have been asking for thoes 2 functions for well over a year, and they all say...Its comming soon...for a year now. I'm guessing that Mr. Jobs doesnt want you to have it for some reason.
My point here has never been to say that the Fuze is super terrible and iPhone is the uber shizz; clearly both phones have their strengths, and both have their weaknesses. Right now, based on my experience with both and coming off the still-my-overall-favorite-phone-to-date the HTC Wizard, I feel that where the iPhone leads is entirely in the execution of the software. Windows Mobile 6 is barely a step above 5 (in fact, it IS 5 if you get right to it, 5.2.xxxx) and it's really showing its age.
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I won't dissagree with you on that. 6.1 was a bigger improvement that 5 to 6 was. Hopping that 6.5 will get the boost it very much needs. And don't ever forget that Touchflo 3D was HTCs way of hiding the windows interface, due to its seriously unfrendlyness. But also remember that iPhone was geared towards the casual Multi-media use, and the Fuze is aimed towards the average power user.
I think a reasonable argument could be made that the Fuze hardware deserves better than what Windows Mobile's current incarnations have to offer. However, as I mentioned, I do think the miracle workers at XDA will pull some sweet tricks out of their hats eventually and make the fuze pretty damn sweet. And if Microsoft follows its usual pattern, WM7 will finally catch up to iPhone's OS and probably refine and improve on it in various ways. It'll be exciting to see what happens on that front
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I will agree with that. But just like the arguement over PC vs mac, it's not a fair comparison. It needs to be Dell XPS vs Mac, or Toshiba Satalite vs Mac. There is no such thing as a PC (technicaly a Mac is a PC too...Personal Computer). And Apple has the unfair advantage of only writing software for papriatary hardware, where Microsoft has to write software for millions of combinations of hardware, and in the end it's all about drivers.
In the end, see what serves your needs best, but I do not think that the Fuze will drive anyone to be iPhone users. With the Fuzes lack of advertising, and the Apple's Mind numbing advetising, I think that people that look at the fuze as an option already have the mindset that the iPhone just will not do what they need.
In advance let me say thanks to everyone for having such a civil discussion. I am thoroughly impressed and appreciative. I was *sure* somebody would have come in with the raving and yelling attitude by now and I've happily been proven wrong. I REALLY appreciate that; flame wars got old and boring a loooong time ago IMHO
@Fatheadpi,
Thank you for the suggestion. At some point in the future I hope to get another fuze or perhaps its successor. Of course, by then I hope for WM7 and an actual answer to the ease of use features in iPhone (I'm still a PC guy at heart, I'd love to see Apple get ***** slapped at their own game). Suffice to say, unless AT&T cleans up its act (which I doubt, they never did do right by Wizard users and it was only XDA cookers who made that device be all that it could be) I am sure that the Fuze will continue to be a "Cooked ROMs only" device.
@JBlakk,
Wow, what a nice response . I won't go point by point, but I think you've made a lot of good points, and I agree with many. Hell, I still build my own PC's (I've only recently started using Vista though, and I mostly hate it so I turn off almost all the fancy crap).
Also I think you definitely have a point about the marketing aspect and who the fuze is (or at least ought to be) targeted toward. I'd make the argument though that if AT&T is targeting the "power user" they still missed the mark with the software by loading it will all that ridiculous bloat.
I like the appearance of TouchFlo3D, but man the performance is just sad, especially on such a high end piece of phone hardware. My biggest gripe is absolutely in the software execution, but I am, to reiterate again, quite confident that as the ROM's mature and the cookers get their heads around the nuances of the phone itself, we'll see some amazing performance from Fuze.
Thanks again guys! It's been loads of fun
Jason
I'll be civil...
I understand what you are saying, if you just want something that works 99.9% of the time the iPhone is the perfect phone for you. I however like to play with things and no how much I deny it I like finding problems and fixing them, and Microsoft's products are perfect for that. Also the open source-ness of M$ is another thing that draws me to their products.
I was worried, being an open Apple hater(I have nightmares about getting iPhones for Christmas...), that AT&T would not carry another phone with a touch screen after they signed the deal with Apple. The Touch Pro is/will be perfect for me in that sense. Apple is flashy and pretty, but extremely constrained in the sense that Apple likes to keep it's followers in a choke hold, but that's my opinion too.
I also like the keyboard of the Fuze/Touch Pro/Raphael(Why do they need so many names for the same device?!)
So in short I'm not going to flame you because you chose an Apple product over a M$ one, I honestly don't care as it's your money and your decision. I think the latest Touch Pro's are better than the first release models though...but that could be just speculation.
((Also the lack of cut/copy/paste is an EXTREME drawback for me))
I also went to the darkside (iPhone) after returning my fuze. I have said it in previous posts and to my co-workers that have both iPhones and WinMo devices - it. just. works.
Being an engineer/sys admin by trade I love to tinker and tweak and rip apart and put back together stuff, but in this case the effort it took to get the Fuze/TP to a usable state [for me] wasn't worth it. I am at the stage of my life where I don't have the time to play (7 mo. old will do that to ya).
I wouldn't kick a free or deeply discounted Fuze/TP out of bed, lol, but as many have said, it's what you want out of a device and I needed my device to work out of the box.
That said, so far so good. About 2 trouble-free weeks with the iP3G.
I still come here daily to keep up on the HTC WinMo happenings to satiate my tinker desire. But the iPhone is here to stay - or until WinMo 7 drops at least.
After owning HTC phones now for over 3 years, when will HTC start listening to people on forums like this one and htcpedia.com, then start making phones with the features that we are asking & waiting for. And just as important when will they start making accessories for these phones. Now owning a Touch HD for over a year I was looking at getting the new HD2, but it appears the mini usb port still does not support music or porting video through it (this is also true on the Touch HD yes I was disappointed when I found out). I would also like to have a built in FM transmitter. I think HTC are missing out on a great future for their phones.
Jez
P.S come on HTC sit up and take notice.
Contact HTC, if there are enough requests, they'll perhaps listen to you. Better than crying here .
Livven said:
Contact HTC, if there are enough requests, they'll perhaps listen to you. Better than crying here .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Livven
Not crying just disappointed with HTC and thinking maybe it’s time to change, to a phone producer that is listening ,it appears that’s exactly what apple are doing. Been in touch with HTC direct about a month after I got the Touch HD asking them to include certain things on the next model and a year later the HD2 was launched which appears to be a big screen HD with no more capabilities.
Cheers jez
I got tired of HTC's short-sightedness and bought an iPhone. It's a nice phone but it doesn't have nearly the feature set of a WinMo phone and Apple is a total pain in the ass. I'm still not thrilled about HTC so I just bought the LG Expo and, as I write this, I'm boxing it up to return it to AT&T. The hardware specs look pretty good but there are just too many things wrong with this phone that can't be overlooked. To start with, the UI is just awful. The bland, painful Microsoft stock UI is actually easier to deal with, in my opinion. It takes a dozen taps to do almost anything and you really need a stylus to get anything done. Which leads to problem #2...the stylus. It's like a little tube of lipstick which also means it's not attached to the phone. I wonder how many days would take before it got lost? You can attach it via a little string but it's beyond stupid that this got past QA. Then there's the GPS. It comes with AT&T's GPS app but I have my own that I've used for quite some over on a variety of phones without a problem. It will not recognize the GPS in the Expo, however, and therefore won't work. Strike three, you're outta here. So as I mentioned, I'm boxing it up and taking it back either for a refund or, if they'll do it, a trade for the Tilt 2 or something from...sigh....HTC. Despite some of the dumb things they do on occasion, HTC is still the best WinMo phone manufacturer I know of.
Hello markgamber
I know where you are coming from I had the Samsung Omnia last year for a month and sent it back because it was crap, it had the same idea for the stylus as well, a piece of string to attach it to the phone. Maybe Iphone is not the way to go then. It’s I’m getting politely frustrated with spending a small fortune on phones that do only half of what I want it to do. That’s the thing, these manufactures forget these phones aren’t cheap to us, it just seems to me they are thick and they think they know what we want . I know what I want on my phone
1. winmo
2. gps for satnav
3. fm transmitter
4. tv out.
5. usb port to play music through using a docking station
6. 3.5mm headphone socket
7. a 5+ meg pixel camera that actually works
8. gprs thats is quicker than the old 56k dial up
And so the storey goes on. Hopefully someone from HTC will read our thoughts and do something about it for the next model. If they do read these comments email me HTC and I will let you know what we want from our £500 phones. Bloody hell more money for a phone than a high spec laptop
markgamber said:
I got tired of HTC's short-sightedness and bought an iPhone. It's a nice phone but it doesn't have nearly the feature set of a WinMo phone and Apple is a total pain in the ass. I'm still not thrilled about HTC so I just bought the LG Expo and, as I write this, I'm boxing it up to return it to AT&T. The hardware specs look pretty good but there are just too many things wrong with this phone that can't be overlooked. To start with, the UI is just awful. The bland, painful Microsoft stock UI is actually easier to deal with, in my opinion. It takes a dozen taps to do almost anything and you really need a stylus to get anything done. Which leads to problem #2...the stylus. It's like a little tube of lipstick which also means it's not attached to the phone. I wonder how many days would take before it got lost? You can attach it via a little string but it's beyond stupid that this got past QA. Then there's the GPS. It comes with AT&T's GPS app but I have my own that I've used for quite some over on a variety of phones without a problem. It will not recognize the GPS in the Expo, however, and therefore won't work. Strike three, you're outta here. So as I mentioned, I'm boxing it up and taking it back either for a refund or, if they'll do it, a trade for the Tilt 2 or something from...sigh....HTC. Despite some of the dumb things they do on occasion, HTC is still the best WinMo phone manufacturer I know of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi Mark
I hear your frustration about the eXpo....I bought a IQ from Telus (the Canadian version of the eXpo) and really didn't like the UI AT FIRST. But the phone has really grown on me. Maybe you should consider keeping it for a couple of weeks, and then giving it back if you still want to.
1) I now find I am figuring out the UI and I am starting to like it. Using Throttle Launcher(free) or Spd Shell($) are both options that are very similar to the TF3D or Sence UI if you really find you want to abandon the S Class UI but I would say try it for a week or two and you may like it...there are things you can do faster than TF3D as well as slower.
2) The stylus situation really sucks. No argument. I have found that after I set my phone up, I can get by without one especially when you figure out how to use the optical mouse functions.
3) GPS I am on Telus, so maybe AT&T has screwed you, but my Garmin Mobile XT software works just fine on my Telus phone. I did have to play a bit though. I installed the Garmin software, and it couldn't find the GPS. I then went into the windows settings, and set up the phone to use COM port 4, and then went into the Garmin setup and selected COM4. STILL no joy. But I then changed the Windows setting back to controlled by windows, and the Garmin software found a "GPS Intermediate Driver". Works great! Locks FAST, and no lag like when I used the Garmin Mobile XT on my Touch Pro.
I have installed Opera Beta 2U, and it with the HSPDA data and the snapdragon it is simply is the best mobile internet experience I have ever used or seen.
Good luck with you Phone hunting,
Hi jez.stix
I have a similar list to you...I got a Telus IQ (Its a Canadian eXpo)
How the IQ compares to your list:
1. winmo
YUP 6.5 (21868)
2. gps for satnav YUP - but check into this (See above ATT may have locked to there software)
3. fm transmitter YUP....sorry! Read this as receiver, Has a FM receiver but no transmitter to go to your car stereo..
4. tv out. YUP
5. usb port to play music through using a docking station ...not sure what you mean here..if you mean like all the docking stuff they sell at Walmart for IPhones..NOPE..of course it has a USB connection.
6. 3.5mm headphone socket NOPE
7. a 5+ meg pixel camera that actually works YUP..works quite well with flash
8. gprs thats is quicker than the old 56k dial up YUP OH YAH BIG TIME
The real down side is that it is not a HTC unit so XDA won't support it the way they do a HTC product. I decided I could live with that but that was the hardest pill to swallow. The build quallity is heads and shoulders above my old HTC Touch Pro
good luck in finding your dream phone.
jez.stix said:
Hello markgamber
I know where you are coming from I had the Samsung Omnia last year for a month and sent it back because it was crap, it had the same idea for the stylus as well, a piece of string to attach it to the phone. Maybe Iphone is not the way to go then. It’s I’m getting politely frustrated with spending a small fortune on phones that do only half of what I want it to do. That’s the thing, these manufactures forget these phones aren’t cheap to us, it just seems to me they are thick and they think they know what we want . I know what I want on my phone
1. winmo
2. gps for satnav
3. fm transmitter
4. tv out.
5. usb port to play music through using a docking station
6. 3.5mm headphone socket
7. a 5+ meg pixel camera that actually works
8. gprs thats is quicker than the old 56k dial up
And so the storey goes on. Hopefully someone from HTC will read our thoughts and do something about it for the next model. If they do read these comments email me HTC and I will let you know what we want from our £500 phones. Bloody hell more money for a phone than a high spec laptop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPhone is actually pretty nice, I just had a couple technical problems with it and, being a dev, I grew really tired of Apple dictating what I can and can't do with my phone and my apps. The most notable thing about the iPhone is that it's fast. When you start a program, it's up and running in short order and stays fast unless it has to do something really intensive or relies on a slow network connection. This being opposed to WinMo where it can sometimes take forever to do anything. This is, of course, because the iPhone doesn't do much real multitasking but if that's not an issue, then the iPhone probably warrants a look. Another problem I had was that most of the world uses WMV/WMA for streaming audio and video and the iPhone not only doesn't support it, Apple has stated that it won't approve anything that does support it. Sometimes you can get around that using Orb but not always and that leads to the third big problem I had with the iPhone, Apple's little tinpot dictator attitude. I've been using Slingplayer for years on WinMo phones and yes, AT&T says you can't use it but the practical side is that as long as you're not an a-hole about it, they don't really care. The bottom line is that I can make the choice about whether or not I want to use it. iPhone's Slingplayer simply doesn't have the option to work over 3G. In fact, the only app of that kind which did was Orb and, as I hear it, Orb Networks just removed it on orders from AT&T and Apple. Technically yes, you can jailbreak the iPhone, install a hack that fools programs into thinking 3G is wifi and those various programs work, but it's a hack and not something you can count on working with the next system update since Apple is working hard to prevent those kinds of hacks from working. Plus they're starting to be exploited by hackers of a less than friendly nature. The iPhone also didn't support what I considered some basic functionality such as cut/copy/paste, MMS and bluetooth audio, for quite some time. When Apple finally decided to include that functionality, they acted as though they invented it. That continues today with the lack of quite a bit of multimedia types, refusal to allow Flash or any browser other than Safari, any kind of advanced bluetooth functionality, multitasking and so on. Again, if you don't care about any of the above, you should probably take a look at the iPhone if only for comparison. It's also *VERY* finger friendly, much moreso than WinMo, and you don't like having to wield a stylus at all, I'd definitely take a look at the iPhone.
I don't know why these WinMo companies are so slow to adopt things that seem like basic functionality to many users but they do improve their products, albiet slowly at times, and they're still a magnitude better than the competition, in my opinion. The HTC Titan sold by Sprint was, without a doubt, the worse piece of garbage I ever owned. HTC actually had the balls to put a measly 128mb of ram in there, put WinMo 6 on it and then let Sprint add all it's worthless slop to it. The bottom line was that it took half a day to boot and when it was finally done, it left somewhere between 8 and 12mb free...not even enough to run Slingplayer. Sprint charged $600 for that chunk of s*it and when I raised hell about it, Sprint not only refused to take it back, they wouldn't even cut me a break on what I had to buy to replace it. That's why I'm now with AT&T. So HTC (and other companies) do improve their products. One valuable thing about the Titan was that I learned to buy a phone for what it can do, not what it's capable of doing.
That's my main problem with the Expo and why I returned it. On paper it's a nice phone and there's a lot of potential in the hardware that is either unrealized or lost in the mess LG slapped together. Hopefully LG improves the system over time but right now it's pretty awful, in my opinion, and no update will ever help that poorly implemented stylus and, most likely, the poor battery life.
htc response
thanks for your email. You are correct, The HD and HD2 do not have TV out. Only the Touch PR line of devices has TV out for using with presentations and the like. The TV Out function was not highly requested in the market research that we did, so we concentrated on what the request were mostly for...larger screen, multitouch, standard 3.5mm jack etc. TV out was very far down on the list of wanted features. As for the music abilities, the only thing i know of that was removed on the HD2 was the remote control. This has returned on the HD2 as we needed to develop one that worked with the standard 3.5 jack that the majority of our customers wanted. This was the only thing removed from the HD. We think we must be doing something right as we are selling more handsets than ever, and winning lots of awards for our handsets as well. However, obviously you cannot please everyone, and if we have failed to meet your needs then i apologise, and hope that whatever device you choose, whether it be one of ours or not, i hope that you will be happy with it and it is everything you want. Best regards, Pete W HTC
I once contacted HTC about their lack of attention to this site.
The response i got made a lot of sense sadly.
Because of all the ROMs made on here and all the software that we reverse engineer from them and others, they cannot associate themselves with us at all due to illegality.
But still, this being the case, I think they could still use this site as a good place to do market research upon. Just because xda-devs is the largest collection of winmo users in one place that I know of, it seems to be the perfect place for them to go to see what their end users want.
I am a designer myself and it seems stupid to ignore the biggest resource of research and ideas.
Hello all,
I'm a former iPhone 2.5G, 3G, 3GS, I4 owner, and have now spent two full weeks with the Captivate. I thought I'd give a few observations to those that are either still on the fence, or are just looking for something Captivate related to read.
I'll break this down into sections for an easier read.
First Impressions: The first thing that struck me was the screen (obviously). The screen seemed HUGE, even though it's technically only .3" larger than my I4. The rest of the form factor was very clean, which I like.
Hand feel: I have larger hands... That made my life with the iPhone rather difficult. I found myself fumbling with the handset, as well as the keyboard. I learned to handle it over the years, but it was not my favorite one handed device. The Captivate fit right in the palm of my hand. I appreciate the weight and overall thin feel of the device, while still giving me a large touch surface. The battery cover looked incredible, but it's brushed metal made it slick enough that I could easily see it falling from my hand. I had iPhone 2.5G flashbacks. I bought a Body Glove case to remedy the problem, and with that, I found the perfect cell phone case. It's wonderful.
Screen: What's there to say, really? It's beautiful. The color saturation and black levels are unrivaled by anything I've ever seen on this level. The only negative I have here is that I had an iPhone 4 previous to the Captivate and that really made the lower resolution on the larger screen noticeable. It was an adjustment, but I've made it.
Touch response: The IOS will always seem to be perfection personified when it comes to the touch response on a phone, but the Captivate gives the I4 a run for it's money. I do notice some recognition lag on the Captivate. Usually upon scrolling through the app list or in the browser. Just not quite as smooth as the IOS. This may very well be linked to the lag in the unmodified Captivate. I have not done the lag fix, as my best friend did the fix. It worked well for the first several hours, then started to slow down. Top it off with the fix going wrong and corrupting his file system.
EDGE and 3G: I know... I know... The thing is supposed to be a phone, and thus make calls... Boring, but definitely a nice experience with the Captivate. I notice the signal bars being a bit on the low end with the phone. I truly believe that they are designed this way, for better or worse. I say this because I get much better reception and call quality in poorly covered areas than my iPhone 3GS, which would typically show more bars. The data response on the phone is fantastic. I'm very happy with the speed of downloads, video streaming, and web page loading. Again the bars look low, but operate like they should show much higher. The negative here is definitely the lack of HSUPA. AT&T decided to disable this feature, I'm assuming, to help with the overly congested data network in iPhone saturated areas. Luckily for those of us with an android device, the community will soon remedy this (hurry up Rogers).
GPS: The biggest pain in my ass... I rarely use the GPS for turn by turn directions, as I'm a man and require no direction... But seriously, the GPS is integrated into every aspect of the OS, and the work flow and experience with the phone would be greatly improved if this functionality worked as intended. We seem to really be at Samsung's mercy here. I truly hope they come through. If not, I feel like there could be some possible modification from the Vibrant, where I've heard there isn't an issue.
WIFI: Very very happy here. The first Captivate I bought had a broken antenna. Wifi didn't work very well. After I traded it in it worked like a champ. I can pull incredible speeds, up and down stream from several stories above my wireless router.
Media Playback: Not super happy here. iTunes(on Windows) is a raging pile of crap, but at least it provided us with a one stop shop for music, cross platform organization, upgrading, and one click syncing. There isn't a real good solution here. I've tried a number of music players, but ended up right back with the Samsung player. It's completely functional, but not elegant, and not feature full by any stretch of the imagination. Now, movies are something different. Getting them to the device is easy, and playback looks incredible. The audio quality of music and movies is much better than my iPhone, but the media management and players themselves aren't up to snuff. That's really where Apple shows it's pedigree.
App Market: Another place where Apple man handles the Android devices. The market is improving at a blazing rate, but it has many issues that the App Store doesn't. With Apple having a strangle hold over the apps and reviews that make it to market, there is very little chance of malware making it to the store at all, much less to the Top Apps (review spoofing bastards). Thank god for Appbrain... That's all I have to say.
Community: Yes... Yes... Yes.... There are so many helpful and brilliant people in the Android community. That really gives me a feeling of longevity for the device. Even if the developer throws in the towel, there will be an entire group of people who seem to be more than willing to step in and tune the device to it's utmost potential. I'm so excited to see what happens when the Froyo roms start hitting. I expect this little phone to really turn some heads. Mine included.
In conclusion, I'm really happy with the phone so far. The GPS is testing me a bit, but I just have to take a few deep breaths and power through with my patience. I think that anybody coming from a Blackberry, iPhone, or any other device will be happy here. But there are some things you have to be willing to do. You must be patient. These phones can do anything, but sometimes the community has to have time to accomplish it. Also, you have to be willing to play... Seriously, tinker with your phone. Download every launcher you can find, download widgets, fonts, apps, play with your settings. Truly explore your phone. There's a lot here that you may not even know exists. Just because you don't see a feature, doesn't mean it isn't there. This isn't Apple, things aren't locked down.
Beautiful review!
The one thing I was most worried about with switching to a Captivate from an iPhone 3GS was the GPS issue as my Apple touting friends were poking fun at me and wishing good luck with getting a GPS fix to check in to venues etc but I haven't had a single issue at least as far as check ins go. I rarely if ever use turn by turn directions, which I could see being an issue if I did.
Overall I'm extremely happy with my Captivate, Android and it's flexibility with customization is a breath of fresh air over iOS! Even with jailbreaking iOS just seemed to be really lacking with quality customizations, sure there were widgets you could add to the lock screen etc but none of it seemed very polished even though there were commercial apps for it.
The only thing I would change about the Captivate would be to add a LED flash for the camera for those random indoor/evening snapshots and it baffles me as to why Samsung left that out, otherwise it would be close to perfect. A front facing cam would have been nice to have as well but I really think those more belong on tablets at the moment than phones, I don't really see myself making video calls when on the go but rather places where I would have a tablet handy.
Correction, two things I would change... The other would be the addition of a physical home button, I'm still getting used to hunting for the touch buttons at the bottom and often hit the wrong one still. It did help once I installed WidgetLocker though so I can press the volume buttons to wake as well as the power button as hunting for the power button was also a bit hit & miss.
The jury is still out on battery life especially as I have been constantly playing with it during to it being a shiny new toy so I will wait to see what real world usage is like.
I hear you on the customization. I am flipping between Launcher Pro and ADW Launcher right now, and it's nice to be able to change things up on a whim. Also, the different keyboards (SWYPE is amazing) also give a nice change of pace.
I don't really care about the flash, really. My I4's flash pissed me off more often than not. When the flash would go off it would cause everything that I was photographing to look like a mug shot. I never really needed a flash with my long history of iPhones, and I guess not having one on any of my phones just made it easy to not notice it missing.
Okay... After spending most of the day before yesterday getting myself all revved up to return my Captivate and show Samsung that their time table was unacceptable by going back to my iPhone 4, I would like to say that I am now once again back on the Captivate, and am shockingly more relaxed than I have been for the last 48 hours. That was the shortest lived, most misguided tantrum that I've thrown in recent memory... I just couldn't do it. The Captivate is, with all it's little flaws, an amazing phone that is really hard to step away from. To add insult to my little snap decision, my iPhone has a massive proximity sensor issue. I was face dialing through most of my conference calls today.
Sad... But anyway. Have a laugh at my expense. My wife asked if I was having some trouble with commitment. I had to remind her that I asked her to marry me... It's just with phones that I have a problem.
It's time we band together to file some neccessary complaints against Samsung until they either:
1. Give us a full refund so we can buy an out-of-contract smart phone through our provider.
2. Provide us with the same phone or a software update IMMEDIATELY that makes GPS work
There are no other options. What Samsung is doing is fraudulent and illegal. You cannot advertise a product with a feature it does not have. We were lied to and charged for a device under false pretenses. It's completely illegal and there should be some sort of restitution. It's not like we're asking for something it didn't have or we're asking for better performance...we're simply asking for a major major feature that is on most/all high-end phones and, more importantly, a feature it's advertised to have...
So we ALL need to take 15 - 20 minutes out of day to file complaints until someone takes notice.
1. The Better Business Bureau - http://www.bbb.org/us/ Go through the process, choose the HQ in Texas with the COMPLAINT in the title.
2. Samsung directly - This seems to fall on deaf ears but I think if a few hundred or a thousand people keep complaining...someone will notice a pattern.
3. The FTC - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
4. The Attorney General of Texas (HQ for Samsung) - https://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml
5. AT&T or your provider - File on site and over the phone
6. Submit it to CNN - http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html and any other news site that will listen.
I'm not trying to be some complaining jerk but it's been months since this issue has been known about and we still have no fix. I am pissed because I use GPS all the time and I now have to carry a 2nd device...my 2-year old G1 or a dedicated device. LUDICROUS.
There is strength in numbers so please file some complaints...we paid for these phones and we deserve a fully functional device.
/drama
You might be ok getting ripped off. I'm not. And if you are ok with it, I've got a bunch of stuff I'd like to sell you. You can buy my Audi A8, it doesn't have an engine but I still want full asking price as if it had an engine. I've got a rolex I'll sell ya for $5k, except it's a fake and it doesn't keep the correct time...but I still want the price as if it worked.
I'm not ok with getting lied to, indirectly, or buying a broken product. It's not like it's $10 shirt I can return because it's missing a button (although, if you couldn't return a new shirt because it was damaged...I bet you'd be upset about that, no?)...it's a $400++ phone that does not work.
What functions would you be ok with not working? What if the wifi didn't work? Then complain? No?
It's a broken product, bottom line.
Did you do your research about the phone before you bought it? Did you not read that there were GPS issues? Did you buy it anyway?
Yes, you did buy it, and probaby didn't do the research. A company's worst nightmare is an educated consumer. Someone that they can't rip off. You fell into Samsungs trap and now you feel unhappy and lied to. When I got this phone I knew the GPS didn't work. I did my research. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I have GPS built in to my car, and I have a few other Garmin Nuvi's laying around the house.
Don't complain about the phone, just sell it, try and get some of your money back, and buy something that works for you. There are plenty of options out there. Just don't come in the forums and try to bash a phone that many of us love.
I just sent Samsung an e-mail through their web form. Jerks.
miztaken1312 said:
Did you do your research about the phone before you bought it? Did you not read that there were GPS issues? Did you buy it anyway?
Yes, you did buy it, and probaby didn't do the research. A company's worst nightmare is an educated consumer. Someone that they can't rip off. You fell into Samsungs trap and now you feel unhappy and lied to. When I got this phone I knew the GPS didn't work. I did my research. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I have GPS built in to my car, and I have a few other Garmin Nuvi's laying around the house.
Don't complain about the phone, just sell it, try and get some of your money back, and buy something that works for you. There are plenty of options out there. Just don't come in the forums and try to bash a phone that many of us love.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol. So wait, you paid full price for a phone with a "feature" that you knew didn't work? And that makes you educated? Wat.
I have NO CLUE why you're OK with a company advertising a feature that does not exist...yet you still bought it. http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-I897ZKAATT-features Check the list...GPS...does it have GPS? No.
I did research on it, but, like everyone else, figured it would be fixed quickly with a software fix since I couldn't fathom a company as large as Samsung advertising something that blatantly didn't work.
Bottom line is the phone is great but it does NOT HAVE GPS...like it's advertised to have. Therefore, I cannot use MyTracks, GPS, Google Maps, Waze or any other feature that requires GPS. Therefore, I should get a refund for a full new phone out of contract.
I still can't believe you're OK with buying a separate device for something your phone is supposed to have...lol...yea corporate America...we're so insecure that we don't mind getting ripped off anymore.
USA! USA! USA! lulz.
I Agree
Drew489 said:
It's time we band together to file some neccessary complaints against Samsung until they either:
1. Give us a full refund so we can buy an out-of-contract smart phone through our provider.
2. Provide us with the same phone or a software update IMMEDIATELY that makes GPS work
There are no other options. What Samsung is doing is fraudulent and illegal. You cannot advertise a product with a feature it does not have. We were lied to and charged for a device under false pretenses. It's completely illegal and there should be some sort of restitution. It's not like we're asking for something it didn't have or we're asking for better performance...we're simply asking for a major major feature that is on most/all high-end phones and, more importantly, a feature it's advertised to have...
So we ALL need to take 15 - 20 minutes out of day to file complaints until someone takes notice.
1. The Better Business Bureau - http://www.bbb.org/us/ Go through the process, choose the HQ in Texas with the COMPLAINT in the title.
2. Samsung directly - This seems to fall on deaf ears but I think if a few hundred or a thousand people keep complaining...someone will notice a pattern.
3. The FTC - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
4. The Attorney General of Texas (HQ for Samsung) - https://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml
5. AT&T or your provider - File on site and over the phone
6. Submit it to CNN - http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html and any other news site that will listen.
I'm not trying to be some complaining jerk but it's been months since this issue has been known about and we still have no fix. I am pissed because I use GPS all the time and I now have to carry a 2nd device...my 2-year old G1 or a dedicated device. LUDICROUS.
There is strength in numbers so please file some complaints...we paid for these phones and we deserve a fully functional device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree and I will do "ALL" i can to help in this sure to be LONG TRUDGE - If you are not in agreement or satisfied with a half working product then play with your phone and STOP mouthing off about how satisfied you are or about what this forum is for or about because you are not in agreement _ Just Play With Your Phone and K.I.M.
Keep It Movin!
miztaken1312 said:
Did you do your research about the phone before you bought it? Did you not read that there were GPS issues? Did you buy it anyway?
Yes, you did buy it, and probaby didn't do the research. A company's worst nightmare is an educated consumer. Someone that they can't rip off. You fell into Samsungs trap and now you feel unhappy and lied to. When I got this phone I knew the GPS didn't work. I did my research. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I have GPS built in to my car, and I have a few other Garmin Nuvi's laying around the house.
Don't complain about the phone, just sell it, try and get some of your money back, and buy something that works for you. There are plenty of options out there. Just don't come in the forums and try to bash a phone that many of us love.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that we should all educate ourselves before buying a product. I bought my captivate on launch day and had done as much research until then about the phone, mostly because I had been long debating getting a N1. However, seeing as I did buy my phone on launch day I had no idea the GPS didnt work. Frustrating yes, dealbreaker no. Guess Ive learned not to buy first run products.
p4ranoid4ndroid said:
I understand that we should all educate ourselves before buying a product. I bought my captivate on launch day and had done as much research until then about the phone, mostly because I had been long debating getting a N1. However, seeing as I did buy my phone on launch day I had no idea the GPS didnt work. Frustrating yes, dealbreaker no. Guess Ive learned not to buy first run products.
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Yeah, I've never been one to buy something on launch day (aside from maybe an video game). iPhone4 users learned that the hard way. Educating yourself as much as you can before you buy something is the best thing you can do for yourself. It's not like you'd go out and buy a Ford Pinto these days without researching it first. Everyone knows they were crappy cars.
Drew489 said:
You might be ok getting ripped off. I'm not. And if you are ok with it, I've got a bunch of stuff I'd like to sell you. You can buy my Audi A8, it doesn't have an engine but I still want full asking price as if it had an engine. I've got a rolex I'll sell ya for $5k, except it's a fake and it doesn't keep the correct time...but I still want the price as if it worked.
I'm not ok with getting lied to, indirectly, or buying a broken product. It's not like it's $10 shirt I can return because it's missing a button (although, if you couldn't return a new shirt because it was damaged...I bet you'd be upset about that, no?)...it's a $400++ phone that does not work.
What functions would you be ok with not working? What if the wifi didn't work? Then complain? No?
It's a broken product, bottom line.
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My GPS has worked perfectly from day one. I bought my captivate on launch day and have nothing to complain about. Sorry to hear you have had issues with your device. Perhaps you should try to trade it in under your retailers return policy? Just a suggestion.
Shovelhead84 said:
My GPS has worked perfectly from day one. I bought my captivate on launch day and have nothing to complain about. Sorry to hear you have had issues with your device. Perhaps you should try to trade it in under your retailers return policy? Just a suggestion.
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No offense Shovelhead, but the GPS functionality for many of us is extremely spotty. Even after several returns. Usually the AT&T folks tried to discourage me by saying it is just a software problem that will soon be fixed. Experience has shown me that a working GPS is a rare beast (at least one that works after a few days/weeks of use).
I have had 3 phones with GPS, one Samsung Blackjack and two BB. All have performed admirably with quick (less than 10-20 s) locks and excellent accuracy as seen on Google Maps and GARMIN Windows mapping products. I KNOW that phones are very capable of decent GPS performance. So far this is a gaping hole in my Captivate experience.
My speculation is that this is a combination software/HW problem. I am guessing that there may have been a batch of sub par GPS chips as well as poor driver interaction with the OS.
Shovelhead84 said:
My GPS has worked perfectly from day one. I bought my captivate on launch day and have nothing to complain about. Sorry to hear you have had issues with your device. Perhaps you should try to trade it in under your retailers return policy? Just a suggestion.
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I thought my GPS was working fine as well. Until I tried My Tracks in the market. It's clearly wrong. It's got your general location, but on the highway, it's saying I cross over east/west bound highways. And veers me off the road.
stuff said:
I thought my GPS was working fine as well. Until I tried My Tracks in the market. It's clearly wrong. It's got your general location, but on the highway, it's saying I cross over east/west bound highways. And veers me off the road.
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I feel your pain but when your GPS locks what is the accuracy? Best mine gets is about 15m. That could easily put you on either side of the road.
stuff said:
I thought my GPS was working fine as well. Until I tried My Tracks in the market. It's clearly wrong. It's got your general location, but on the highway, it's saying I cross over east/west bound highways. And veers me off the road.
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Now I do have a working GPS on my phone since I upgraded to the leaked Froyo. But it is not by any means dead-on accurate. Now of course the day I tested it, it was sitting in my cup holder with a straight view of the sky via my sun roof, but it was also cloudy and rainy. For the most part, it followed me exactly, but there were some spots where it did go off. When I use it now I put it on my dashboard and it works better.
Now in my belief, a device like a phone which does multiple functions, does none of them well because you have to have some kind of compromise internally either with hardware, software, or coding. I would never use my phone as a GPS when I'm in dire need to go somewhere, for instance if I need to find my way to the nearest hospital ASAP. I'd use a real GPS like a Garmin or TomTom because that's what they are dedicated to doing. Now I realize that now they add other features to GPS devices like bluetooth and music players and whatever, but those are added after the GPS has been written, tested, guaranteed to work as advertised.
cappysw10 said:
I feel your pain but when your GPS locks what is the accuracy? Best mine gets is about 15m. That could easily put you on either side of the road.
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I believe mine is similar. If i'm walking, or just using GPS for the fun of it (not driving) it's got me. But when I'm moving, it's not the best. I still think it is a software problems, but meh... I really don't know.
I haven't tried tweaking with any settings though.
I agree totally and will be filing complaints, we should have a sticky how to jump throught all the paper work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Also, I've got a buddy in europe with the i9000. He said the 2.2 update fixed the GPS. But, cog2.2/COE beta 4 "fixed" it as well. It just didn't give you the most accurate fix. It's 10-20meters in variance.
When I had my 3gs, I could turn on maps, and watch the little blue dot follow me whereever I went. I got rid of my first captivate bacause of the GPS and I got my second cause I love the phone...and 2.2 was leaked...lol
Anyway, I agree with the OP about Samsung being douches about GPS. It sucks. I've had 3 other Samsung phones and all worked without a hitch. I get this one, and GPS tells me to kiss its ass. My GPS hasent made a lock in 2 days. I don't want to take it back cause I really do love the phone, and I can live without GPS, but Samsung did advertise GPS and its not there. Wether we did research or not about the phone, it still doesn't change the fact that Samsung sold, and is still selling, a phone not as advertised and that is wrong.
What really makes people mad is that Samsung hasent addressed it yet. I think there hoping we forget about it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
mmarquis said:
No offense Shovelhead, but the GPS functionality for many of us is extremely spotty. Even after several returns. Usually the AT&T folks tried to discourage me by saying it is just a software problem that will soon be fixed. Experience has shown me that a working GPS is a rare beast (at least one that works after a few days/weeks of use).
I have had 3 phones with GPS, one Samsung Blackjack and two BB. All have performed admirably with quick (less than 10-20 s) locks and excellent accuracy as seen on Google Maps and GARMIN Windows mapping products. I KNOW that phones are very capable of decent GPS performance. So far this is a gaping hole in my Captivate experience.
My speculation is that this is a combination software/HW problem. I am guessing that there may have been a batch of sub par GPS chips as well as poor driver interaction with the OS.
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Yeah however their has been a fix for this for awhile now.
Here is a good thread for this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732030
The GPS is there it just has a software issue right now however i did hear that 2.2 fixed this.
you work for samsung i bet...
lordstrife said:
Yeah however their has been a fix for this for awhile now.
Here is a good thread for this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732030
The GPS is there it just has a software issue right now however i did hear that 2.2 fixed this.
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People we all know about the fixes and so called tweaks to date. No bueno.
My GPS is finally working consistently with Serendipity. What I am looking for is an app that would compensate for the 20 to 30 meters south that my gps is off so that it will stop redirecting me. Is there anything like that. I know its a bandaid but better a bandaid than nothing? I can't find anything and I guess I am hoping one of your programming super genius' around here will take up the task. Just a thought on what could possiblely make this GPS better (plumbob and all the other fixes are not working for me)
best bet to get accurate GPS all the time is get yourself a bluetooth GPS receiver. just bought one for $30 off amazon and accurate down to 5ft. with tracking on the spot.
I'm lucky enough to have one but I was just hoping that someone out there might think it super easy to code something like that and see the benefit for himself as well as the rest of us cappy users and undertake the project for ****s and giggles. I know it's wishful thinking but what the hay, had to give it a shot.
Freaking Samsung....maybe its time for the atrix...hell I better check into that one to as companies don't seem to giva fffff about customers anymore, it probably has issues to.
Thanks for listening
Jerry
I know where you are coming from man. I used to have a Nexus One and it has an awesome GPS, locked instantly (under 10 seconds from cold boot) and accurate to 1 metre (3.28 ft).