Database Info

Silent Treo

So I know this is a known bug from what other threads have said. In my case I don't even need to use the slider, but guranteed my phone sounds will all stop working at least once a day, even the vibrate does not work.
Soft reset solves the problem till the next time.
Should I consider reporting and getting my unit changed ?
I am testing one thing right now, normally I have my pushmail running 24x7, I think this might be the cause somehow. It's not direct push, its Oracle Pushmail plugin with works with pocket outlook.
Is this normal ?

Voicecommand is the problem, disable it and you will never have that problem again!

ok I will try this out and get back

that did not work, i disabled and left push email running overnight and sure enough in the morning the sounds no longer worked.
Tonight I will turn push mail off and see what happens I am pretty sure the sound will work in this case.

i had this issue earlier this week and i've seen numerous threads about other having the same issue. NO true, duplicated scenario or solution has been found (or i haven't seen one). After several soft resets i had to do a hard reset and reinstall everything. That was the only way i got the sound back.

so in your case are you saying a soft reset did not bring the sound back ?
in my case soft reset always brings the sound back.
I have kept my email turned off and so far no problems with the sound, I think mine has got something to do with oracle pusmail plugin, which is a real pain as I need that.

Unless this occurs in a clean device [no installed 3rd party apps] it might be a software issue. Maybe you should try and weed out the offensive app/s?

So I know which app causes it, for me its the oracle pushmail plugin for outlook that we get from work, but I can't really remove this, after all this is the reason I have this device :-(

When you lose the sound on your device does the camera also die at the same time?

Will have to check that out next time. I have had the camera go a few times, needed to soft reset. Next time the sound goes I will check the camera and report back.

Camera was ok when the sound went.

Are you SURE you have voicecommand COMPLETELY disabled? (NO checkmarks on NO options AND!!!! NO SHORTCUT TO VOICECOMMAND ON ANY BUTTON)?
Regards,
Ingo

Will have to try again, today I noticed the voice command was enabled, very weird I never set it on.
Will see how it goes this time.

OF COURSE!
The sound goes away.... it also came back once, without softresetting. I am not sure the VC is directly connected to this... I spent a good amount of $$$ to buy this phone for my wife, on the wave that she loved the 650... but what a bad idea!! Is something going to be done in order to fix all these bugs? By the way, my 750 is unlocked, but I guess it doesn't make any difference, or does it? Thank you guys, Paul.

If I checked TTY/TTN in phone options, all phone sound ceased. Uncheck and its back. Nothing in Help about this feature - what is it?
Chris

the innocent Treo...the silence of the Treo...
Waht is it? It is a shame!!! After almost one year that this model is out, still no fix for the problem! I spent $600.00 for this phone...it is really a shame.

iloveheat said:
.. I spent a good amount of $$$ to buy this phone for my wife, on the wave that she loved the 650... but what a bad idea!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny - same here. She loved her TX, I bought her the 750.
Ringer gone. Comment "Isn't ringing a basic feature of a phone honey?"
Just had to hard-reset, all others failed.
Not nice.

Same story here. She loved the 650, it got to the end of its life, so I bought her the new 750. Even worse, it doesn't even vibrate for her....lol...

Silent 750
Seems that a lot bought the 750 for the wife.
Even more reason to get the sound issue fixed
Any news yet on this - any word from Palm?

Every day i have to reboot my phone, even when i receive a call the phone don't vibrate.
Is there any mortscript that screen on screen off the phone when you receive a screen ?

HTC Touch Pro Annoyances

So it's been a month since I got my HTC Touch pro and all the problems I have with it, I've had with the HTC TYTN II. To list them:
- Volume is too low during conversations, it has to be fairly quiet around to be able to hear the other person (even with the volume turned way up)
- There's a 2-3 ring delay on incoming calls.. which means people hang up before you get a chance to answer.
- Sometimes trying to call a number, the phone will just display the Calling Number screen and you hear no sound at all in the speaker.. then after 10 seconds it will end with 3 beeps.. Like it couldn't get a signal or something, even though there's plenty of signal on the signal gauge. You try again 2-3 times before it works.. REALLY annoying (Never had a phone that did that, other than the TYTN II!)
- Answers calls in pocket. You go for the phone, but the touch screen is on and you answer or hang up (in my case apparently almost always hangs up) while the phone is still in your pocket. Also VERY annoying.
- Alarm or snooze malfunctions. This happens rarely for me, but since I use it everyday as my alarm for waking up, I notice! It's not because I sleep past the alarm. I've been lying awake listening for it to ring... the vibrator works, but no sound is played. This means that I can't trust my phone to wake me up if I'm going to catch a plane or other important stuff. It's very rare, but it happens.. it also did on my TYTN II, except that didn't even vibrate! My guess is windows is busy doing something else .. then doesn't play the sound properly.
- Then there's the slowdowns.. not really a fault, but like windows 95 it can become very slow or unresponsive for a short period for unknown reasons. A phone has to work when you need it... not delay you for 30 secs while it thinks things over. I've had to reset my phone a couple of times this month. (No I didn't run 10 apps at the same time while trying to use TF3D to look at pictures)
- It takes 4 seconds to lock the phone (So that it doesn't also MAKE calls in your pocket) .. is there a way to tweak this? Like only pressing the off-hook button for 1-2 seconds instead?
These problems are the reasons that I'm considering selling my phone to some other unfortunate person. They are BASIC functions that just have to work! I love the HTC touch pro for it's PDA functionality and my Tom Tom maps etc. but I'm really starting to hate it for these basic functionalities that work very poorly!
I know other people have experience the same problems.. couldn't we make a sticky with problems and possible solutions for it? I also really hate that fact that I have to hack my phone in able to make it function properly!

ssndk said:
So it's been a month since I got my HTC Touch pro and all the problems I have with it, I've had with the HTC TYTN II. To list them:
- Volume is too low during conversations, it has to be fairly quiet around to be able to hear the other person (even with the volume turned way up)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tweaks enough around
- There's a 2-3 ring delay on incoming calls.. which means people hang up before you get a chance to answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have that problem?
- Sometimes trying to call a number, the phone will just display the Calling Number screen and you hear no sound at all in the speaker.. then after 10 seconds it will end with 3 beeps.. Like it couldn't get a signal or something, even though there's plenty of signal on the signal gauge. You try again 2-3 times before it works.. REALLY annoying (Never had a phone that did that, other than the TYTN II!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
never had that either
- Answers calls in pocket. You go for the phone, but the touch screen is on and you answer or hang up (in my case apparently almost always hangs up) while the phone is still in your pocket. Also VERY annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this solution
- Alarm or snooze malfunctions. This happens rarely for me, but since I use it everyday as my alarm for waking up, I notice! It's not because I sleep past the alarm. I've been lying awake listening for it to ring... the vibrator works, but no sound is played. This means that I can't trust my phone to wake me up if I'm going to catch a plane or other important stuff. It's very rare, but it happens.. it also did on my TYTN II, except that didn't even vibrate! My guess is windows is busy doing something else .. then doesn't play the sound properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try a different alarm already?
- Then there's the slowdowns.. not really a fault, but like windows 95 it can become very slow or unresponsive for a short period for unknown reasons. A phone has to work when you need it... not delay you for 30 secs while it thinks things over. I've had to reset my phone a couple of times this month. (No I didn't run 10 apps at the same time while trying to use TF3D to look at pictures)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't have that problem
- It takes 4 seconds to lock the phone (So that it doesn't also MAKE calls in your pocket) .. is there a way to tweak this? Like only pressing the off-hook button for 1-2 seconds instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now you mention it, yes, that is annoying... Would love to see a tweak for that as well!!
These problems are the reasons that I'm considering selling my phone to some other unfortunate person. They are BASIC functions that just has to work! I love the HTC touch pro for it's PDA functionality and my Tom Tom maps etc. but I'm really starting to hate it for these basic functionalities that work very poorly!
I know other people have experience the same problems.. couldn't we make a sticky with problems and possible solutions for it? I also really hate that fact that I have to hack my phone in able to make it function properly!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you considerd a custom Rom yet? I am currently running the DCS Rom, and don't have the problems you mention above. It made my TP much more responsive!
A lot of these problems though, are mentioned throughout this forum, and can be solved. Either by ROM updating, or tweaks... What Rom are you running?

I understand completely. I feel differently though. My TP is the best phone ever. The issues I have were seen on my previous devices (HTC devices for the US). The faster processor, increased storage, and TF3D make me happy. Don't get me wrong, I have cussed at this phone, missed inportant business calls, and missed a flight thanks to the alarm. I soft reset 1 - 5 times a day to proactively minimize these issues. But overall, the TP is a huge improvement over my Wing. So long as my new devices are improvements to the one before, I am happy. I can't live with a standard cell phone, and love my Raphael.

joeltje said:
I don't have that problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try calling your phone from a land line phone.. how long does it take before your cell actually start ringing?
joeltje said:
Did you try a different alarm already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but it happens so rarely I can't say if its the sound. Besides, it's the rooster sound that came with phone. No matter what it should never happen. It happened on my TYTN II too.. So I guess it's probably a windows thing.
joeltje said:
Have you considerd a custom Rom yet? I am currently running the DCS Rom, and don't have the problems you mention above. It made my TP much more responsive!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. I might try that.. but I often see people start having entirely different problems with their phone then (lock ups and strange behaviour). If there is a stable ROM that fixes these issues and doesn't break down hard once every week. I'm all for it!
I'm running the standard ROM that came with the phone. Ver.: 1.90.403.6 DAN (Danish) ROM date 08/23/08, Radio: 1.02.25.19, Protocol: 52.33.25.17U

If I call my cellnr. from the home phone, it starts ringning as quickly as all my other mobile phones... So no, I really don't have that problem, thoughj I did just see another topic from somebody with exactly you problem: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=432415
You might want to follow that.
On the alarm, I have 2 kids, so I don't use an electrical alarm Sorry...
The different ROM may be something you can test at least. It fixed a lot of annoyances for me anyway. Look in the Wiki for different Custom Roms, there are a couple out there, and for me, DCS worked best. You can always go back to original, should you not like the ROM. I'm running DCS now for three days, no resets, and it is still fast....

ssndk said:
- Sometimes trying to call a number, the phone will just display the Calling Number screen and you hear no sound at all in the speaker.. then after 10 seconds it will end with 3 beeps.. Like it couldn't get a signal or something, even though there's plenty of signal on the signal gauge. You try again 2-3 times before it works.. REALLY annoying (Never had a phone that did that, other than the TYTN II!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue above really annoying. Normally that will cause my TP to go mute and can't hear each other. Have to soft reset. This issue is discuss in another thread here. Since I'm overseas for at the moment, can't go complain to my vendor.

ssndk said:
- It takes 4 seconds to lock the phone (So that it doesn't also MAKE calls in your pocket) .. is there a way to tweak this? Like only pressing the off-hook button for 1-2 seconds instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using the registry hack for the touch diamond I'm now using the "lock on backlight turned off" fix.. it works, and my phone locks when I press the screen off button. Way less annoying than waiting 4 seconds for it to lock.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\BackLight\AutoDevic eLockEnable from 0 to 1 and everytime your backlight goes off the device is locked

Nice, 1 Question though; What happens if you make a call? The display goes of as well then, will the keyboard then lock as well? Cause that's not handy, to say the least

joeltje said:
Nice, 1 Question though; What happens if you make a call? The display goes of as well then, will the keyboard then lock as well? Cause that's not handy, to say the least
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The touch screen locks, but the keyboard (Off-hook etc.) button doesn't..

So if I'm listning to my voicemail, and need to press "3" for deletion, I can't? Or will it disable after I extract my stylo?

joeltje said:
So if I'm listning to my voicemail, and need to press "3" for deletion, I can't? Or will it disable after I extract my stylo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can extract the stylus but the you have to juggle around with it OR you can press the standby button on top to unlock it. It's a pain I know but the problem is that it is a touch screen so pressing a button to unlock is less worse than without it.

So functionality actually remains as it is now... That's good, I'll give it a try!

joeltje said:
So if I'm listning to my voicemail, and need to press "3" for deletion, I can't? Or will it disable after I extract my stylo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It unlocks when the stylus is extracted..

ssndk said:
So it's been a month since I got my HTC Touch pro and all the problems I have with it, I've had with the HTC TYTN II. To list them:
- There's a 2-3 ring delay on incoming calls.. which means people hang up before you get a chance to answer.
I know other people have experience the same problems.. couldn't we make a sticky with problems and possible solutions for it? I also really hate that fact that I have to hack my phone in able to make it function properly!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are using a ringtone from your microSD card. This will cause a delay. Your ringtones need to be copies to your device and activated by holding the stylus over your selection & hit set as ringtone.
Hope this helps,
Rgs,
J

ssndk said:
The touch screen locks, but the keyboard (Off-hook etc.) button doesn't..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try SensorLock. It's a great little utility that unfortunately has stopped working for me. Must be something I poked somewhere. lol
As for the alarm, mine works fine... but I do notice the ringing a couple of times on the sending end before the phone starts to ring. I'd sort of passed that off to a network thing, not a phone thing.

The 3 second ringtone delay is a WM issue. Look at the postings for VAlert in the general hacking section. The only known fix is http://www.tweaks2k2.com/portal/staticpages/index.php?page=20050224182009983
but no one seems to have figured out their registry setting change...

Quote:
- Alarm or snooze malfunctions. This happens rarely for me, but since I use it everyday as my alarm for waking up, I notice! It's not because I sleep past the alarm. I've been lying awake listening for it to ring... the vibrator works, but no sound is played. This means that I can't trust my phone to wake me up if I'm going to catch a plane or other important stuff. It's very rare, but it happens.. it also did on my TYTN II, except that didn't even vibrate! My guess is windows is busy doing something else .. then doesn't play the sound properly.
TRY G-Alarm. It works well for me.
Klaxon (sp?) alarm looked cool and would have also been practical, but it would crash - totally unreliable.

[email protected] said:
Sounds like you are using a ringtone from your microSD card. This will cause a delay. Your ringtones need to be copies to your device and activated by holding the stylus over your selection & hit set as ringtone.
Hope this helps,
Rgs,
J
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, in my TPro the delay is exactly the same (oviously using the same mp3 file in memory card or in the device)..i've reduced delay sound installing Diamond tweaks and setting "without delay" in ring tone..then i've erased diamong tweaks because use too much battery now i have only 1 ring with light (and identified call incoming on the screen) and without sound, and BEFORE the second ring my device correctly sound

bugsykoosh said:
The 3 second ringtone delay is a WM issue. Look at the postings for VAlert in the general hacking section. The only known fix is http://www.tweaks2k2.com/portal/staticpages/index.php?page=20050224182009983
but no one seems to have figured out their registry setting change...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your referring to this one,
108-Allow users to disable the 3 seconds delay between rings in devices with Windows Mobile Phone Edition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see the following thread at PPCGeeks.
If your talking about the fact that the NAV wheel starts flashing 5 seconds before the audio starts playing, then it's not the same scenario.

ssndk said:
Using the registry hack for the touch diamond I'm now using the "lock on backlight turned off" fix.. it works, and my phone locks when I press the screen off button. Way less annoying than waiting 4 seconds for it to lock.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\BackLight\AutoDevic eLockEnable from 0 to 1 and everytime your backlight goes off the device is locked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a HTC TouchPro and had the same issue of not wanting to press the long press end key for 5 seconds to lock the phone. I tried the code you gave and unfortunately the phone still does not lock when I push short press the power button to turn off the back light and put th phone in sleep mode. I really want this to work since when I am driving, I think when I go through good and bad coverage areas, the phone will automaticallly wake up about 3 times each way, so if it is not locked, I can accidentally call people while driving.

Need a solution for a quadriplegic to make his own calls.

The chair of my company is paralyzed from the neck down though has enough limited mobility with his arms to manage his wheelchair yoke and an oversized trackball for his computer. Whether in the office, home or wherever, he relies on either his secretary or his handler to call someone for him. He'd like to call people himself with a cell phone that someone leaves on a desk or a table for him without further assistance and wants me to make it happen so I turn to you for ideas (and maybe a registry tweak).
I set him up a few years ago with voice recognition software on his computer and that has worked out very well so I'm thinking MSVC. But the first and hopefully easiest obstacle is how to get the phone, a Touch Pro or Diamond specifically, to default to speakerphone. An earpiece is not the best option because that requires someone to put it on him (and take it off if it's wired) and the battery eventually dies. Any way to do that?
The next hurdle is how to get the phone to initiate whatever command that is the equivalent of pressing the button on an earpiece that triggers MSVC, hangs up and answers incoming calls ideally with the screen off so that the battery doesn't die too quickly or so that the phone doesn't need to be plugged in. So, again, can move his forearm and *maybe* be able to have enough coordination to hit the circular button hard enough to use that though he has no muscle control in his fingers so the pressure would rely on the natural stiffness of his fingers (he uses his thumb to click the large trackball buttons). On the other hand, I could map all the buttons surrounding the circle to do the same thing perhaps. But it would be fantastic if he could trigger the phone by shaking it a little to, again, do the same thing that would be done by pressing a bluetooth earpiece's button.
So, 1) how can I get a WinMo phone always to default to speaker and 2) can he take advantage of the accelerometer of the Touch Pro (or Diamond, whichever) to map a soft jiggle (the phone would otherwise be stationary on a flat surface or fully off) to trigger MSVC? I guess he doesn't need to be able to hang up and incoming calls could be set to automatically answer so if those two functions are out of reach that's not a dealbreaker. And leaving the phone on in order to take advantage of the screen for touching, though less desirable, is also an option as his handler can plug the phone in. Or do any other approaches come to mind?
I grately appreciate it.
Doug

Thought I'd take a shot at a possibility. Since you have his PC voice enabled, what about using something like Pocket Controller? I don't know if it can be voice controlled, but it might be worth exploring something like that.

it might be a drain on the battery but maybe something like having a script that runs msvc once a minute so if he need to call someone just wait and then say what he needs to say. or get him an oqo with data and set him up on skype and use dragon speaking software

get a bluetooth for car like : http://direct.motorola.com/ens/carkits/learn-IHF1000.html
install Cyberon Voice Commander on your phone for voice dial. you can answer and dial with one button and voice cammand.

Hmm.. how about windows Vista's built-in voice recognition software? although it takes little time, I did manage to make it do everything I wanted to do without my touching anything.

How about using My Mobiler to control it from his pc
http://freewareppc.com/utilities/mymobiler.shtml

Sorry to post such an unconstructive reply, but what use is a touch-heavy-reliant phone like Diamond or same-thing-but-with-HW-keyboard like Touch Pro to a quadriplegic?
In my humble opinion you should get a BT handsfree with a proper full-time-phone like Nokia or Sony ericsson.
Again sorry for actually not helping much with your problem. But still, my opinion stays the same as mentioned above. Both the telephones are more reliable on functional hands then others.

Thanks!
Wow these are all very good and equally appreciated suggestions! Feels like I've got enough to start googling and hopefully help this guy out. I am truly grateful for the time you all took to respond. I'll post if I have success or problems...
You people are fantastic.
Doug

Android Wear : A Retrospective

Okay so its been a while since the release of the first Android Wear devices, whats Changed ? Is it Worth It ? Was star trek onto something ?
Android Wear is still in its infancy, and clearly has a LONG way to come.
If your still undecided about getting android wear before the holiday period let me help you make your decision.
I have used both the Moto 360 & Lg's G Watch, so Im ignoring device Specific additions because thats not really anything to do with Android Wear its to do with the supplied hardware so don't expect to hear me talking about screen quality this is SOFTWARE ONLY !
After a summers use of Android Wear i have come to a conclusion that many may find hard to swallow and ill go through my reasons and thoughts lets start with what it does well.
From Now on Android Wear will be : AW
Driving :
It works perfectly in theory for driving, you can "Okay Google" and send a SMS or place a call ( provided it is safe to do so, or via BT in car audio ) Great ! you think but now the problems of reality occur.
If your Travelling to and from work / home e.c.t you may need to send a SMS or place a call to Standard numbers ( Home / Work / Mum / Dad e.c.t ) however asking to call " Joe Blogs *Insert work place name here* " is not always picked up correctly and AW.
The Screen will show a turning loading / thinking icon and do one of two things ( 1 ) Finally work it out but by this time you've given up or have tried again : (2) Sits there thinking and just times out and forces the watch to disconnect from your paired device.
Then you hit the issue of no phone signal and whilst driving you don't have time to check the tiny screen to see if the microphone icon shows that its ready and connected to accept your voice task again your sat there talking to your watch like an idiot.
Now android Wear has no way of telling you without looking that you have signal / Connection / ready to accept a command, so you may aswell have your phone hooked up Via BT audio in your dock and do it all via the stock Google now because its faster and easier to tell if you have reception.
As a Pedestrian :
This is a massive sticking point, you can glance at your watch to see the time ( and there should be a better option for the Date for all watch faces ) and the weather and that's about acceptable in society.
Talking to your watch to send an SMS e.c.t get you some funny looks and personal space, also you don't want the general public to know / hear about whats for dinner and your plans for the working week(end).
This can all be done from your phone and you won't look like you got beamed down by a passing space ship.
However Turn by Turn Navigation on your watch is great ! no longer glued to your phone screen burning up battery time trying to do a 15min walk you have never done before, AW handles this perfectly turn by turn !
Searching :
Google Android Wear , asking your watch to give you the 5 day forecast for your next holiday destination next week is a no go, your presented with a unreadable card crammed with search results and a swipe option to open it on your phone !? this bemuses me the whole point was to show us fast easy information.
This kind of task is better done on your phone and so are many other common searches like show me the nearest cash machine / Mc Donalds / Navagate to " Cinema e.c.t " this totally renders AW useless !
Asking for weather and time in other places or in your current region is fine as it seems to do these automatically as long as location reporting is activated on your handset.
Asking for anything beyond this well you may as well have used your phone or asked a passer by.
Alarms / Notes / Fitness Tracking :
These Functions work as advertised and as you'd expect on your phone and some even work offline ( Alarms / reminders / notes ), provided your hardware supports fitness tracking you can grab data using 3rd party apps or the soon to be released google FIT, however lots of phones already do this via a pedometer and there for this function is rendered useless because you end up with two sets of data that are quite different from each other ( I have logged 15,000 steps on my watch to find around 8,000 on my handset.
Phone Tasks :
Calling ( apart from the niggles described in the Driving section ) well here is a mess, accepting / declining a call is partly pointless accepting a call forces you to grab your phone and answer, so this option should be removed so you can only decline or view whos calling, I can hear my phone ringing from my pocket so i'll take it out to look if I can.
There is no option to answer a call and force it to be taken via speaker phone so if your doing a two handed task with your phone near by and some one calls you still have to stop, otherwise in situations like driving the accept call function is fine provided you can pass the phone to a passanger or are hooked up via BT audio.
Final Thoughts :
It works great In car provided you have signal and can shout at your wrist simple names and messages, and you don't already have a in car phone cradle set up where you have voice activation enabled - All of this will be super seeded by android auto so having AW for this reason alone is totally negated and you may aswell wait for Android Auto or carry on with your BT set up.
As of above the rest of AW is pretty useless because using AW is best in a car or doing two handed things where you can't stop and answer the phone, basic function is great and it looks nice but well though out functions are lacking and the actual deployment scenarios where its is applicable are far and few between for several reason stated.
Personally its a gimmick, and even for the G Watch's cheap price its still not worth it and i can't see it ever being.
Google's own voice actions on phones far surpasses AW's usefulness.
Possibly in developing markets I can see it being worth an investment for under $80 to pair with an android one device.
With my BT car stereo / Nexus 5 / Nexus 7 / PC computer its a nice luxury but thats about it, it doe snot let me achieve day to day tasks any faster than just having my phone around its just an annoyance.

I have a G watch and today it is pretty useless. I preferred my old Sony Smartwatch 2, it had better apps, I was able to check twitter, facebook, Whatsapp, call registry, whole sms emails in my phone. With android wear, by now I cannot.

I find it troubling that it has as much power under the hood as a low end smartphone but can't do nearly as much. If I was extremely busy and had bad memory I would use it more but for now it is just a fancy watch to me. I want to be able to actually open an app like Google music. Scroll through albums/tracks/etc. like I do the Google now cards. Use it as a remote for chromecast instead of pulling out my phone. I dunno. I can think of lots of cool things it COULD do but doesn't or won't ever do. Hopefully it is like chromecast and gets some updates and more features in the future. My Sony smartwatch 2 also had more function than the new aw.
Edit: I have read that the new sw3 will allow you to sync music to it and use it seperately from the phone as a music player. I will probably switch to that device simply for that feature alone. G watch is currently in its cradle collecting dust.
---------- Post added at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
One more thing. This is silly, I'm sure its some kind of disorder, but I don't like to talk much. I prefer text or email when people contact me or I contact someone else. I don't like to use the voice commands in Google now or on wear. I just don't like to talk much at all unless I am in a real conversation with real people in person. That makes it hard for me to utilize this tech in its current state. If they just add more touch functionality I would be grateful.

I find that accepting calls is actually very helpful when walking or riding a bike.
I usually have a headset on, a quick glance at my watch shows me who's calling and I can decide whether it's appropriate to take the call while in traffic, noisier surroundings etc.
Having the option to accept calls with speakerphone would be nice though.
From my experience the main use case for Wear watches is quick access to notifications w/out reaching into one's pocket. As of now it's only a small usability improvement but the platform has more potential.

Thanks for the overview of your experience. I tend to agree with most of your observations. I have had the Sony, Galaxy Gear, Qualcomm Toq, and now the LG. All have their pros/cons. Everyone wants something different/specific out of their smart device. I am enjoying the AW experience but miss several capabilities I had with the other platforms. I want some ability to look at history of email/messages/etc.. that I lose after I swipe a card. Battery life is manageable but needs to improve if they expect the masses to embrace (Toq with low energy Mirsol screen 5 days continuous use).
I question who Google uses to test their software. They need to use others from outside their company to beta test this. Get a wide variety of testers (XDA Developers/College kids/Business professionals) to slap on a beta watch/software and listen to what they say. I know the Google developers have a vision of how they want the software, but quite frankly the Google Now experience is not my favorite.
AW 2.0 is due out soon. I don't expect a radical departure from the current approach. I do hope that the development kit will open up more so 3rd party developers can put in some of the capabilities myself and others like.
I am still a smartwatch geek and genuinely enjoy my AW watch. I think by next year we will have hardware and software that can accommodate the vast variety of different things we all want out of our devices.

I would use the navigation on my AW watch a lot more if when google maps navigation started up on the phone it could have an option to not unlock the screen. My phone is always in my pocket and screen always pointing inward to protect the screen if I walk into a table. If I set AW navigation, the phone screen will wake up and my phone often will register screen swipes through my pocket material next to my leg and do random things.
I feel that kicking off AW navigation, then having to take out the phone and switch off the screen and put back in my pocket makes the AW part a bit redundant.
Likewise with making calls if I am using a Bluetooth speaker or headset with phone in pocket.
I would much prefer Waze had android wear function than google maps anyway.
Also i find of I go to do a Google command on my watch about a third of the time the dumb options list with 'drink a glass of water' comes up and the watch stops listening. Then if I have my hands full I end up having to swipe the screen downwards with my damn nose to resolve the situation. I use mini launcher & would love a way to stop the stock app drawer from coming up at all.
That said I do have a really busy work life and find the reminder feature really useful & I use it for everything.
However, the alarm function which I thought would be useful is rendered pointless by it's insistence to only set any alarm to go off every day at that time, rather than a one off. The few times I have used it I end up at the same time the next day having to go into the menu & deleting the alarm once it has gone off pointlessly the next day as well.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app

I can't help but agree with all the points the OP makes, my G Watch is currently gathering dust and awaiting the new update but I am not expecting much. Just like ruben46 I found my old Sony SW2 to be a much more useful device despite the superior hardware of the G Watch.

good thread.
i mostly agree with what's been posted, but much like when Quicktime 1.0 came out (160x120 video playing at 3-5 fps) AW has alot of growing up to do.
i'm a little depressed with the lack of activity in the watch & AW forums on here..there's not the kind of volume forums like the N4 and N5 enjoy..but that's to be expected with less than a dozen watches on the market that nobody is rushing out to purchase.
i'm excited about 2.0 and also the refresh (when it happens).
one thing not mentioned on here is the 'tinycam' webcam app. i have a webcam purchased for baby watching and when i get it set up, i think the webcam app could be useful anytime we're downstairs or something to get a notification if the baby is moving. same for using it as a security device.
i should point out i also bought a pebble for my brother but not sure if he really took advantage of it..i sure had fun setting it up for him.
so yeah..AW is very 'meh' so far but i think once the devs start digging in it will start to ramp up with new possibilities.
i'm holding onto the G and we'll see how it goes.

[Feature request] Minor stuff gone missing since Kitkat

Feature 1:
Lockscreen widget for music player lost the "Previous" button. I can skip a song, but I have to unlock the phone and navigate to the now playing screen to restart a track or go back to a previous one.
This was available in 4.4.4. It's a bit annoying, specially when you're driving.
Feature 2:
This might actually be a bug...
While playing music, incoming messages/call notifications do not play. The music merely lowers in volume. Again, while driving, I might not notice the 1 one second drop in music volume for a message, and sometimes I even miss a call.
On another note, I believe feature wise, Kitkat was the best(pratical and feature wise) rom we had. Had a few non Omni-related issues with Lollipop, most of them minor but still annoying.
Lockscreen is one for example. The default, unprotected Lollipop lockscreen is too easy to unlock. I found myself running out of money a few times because firefox was accidentally launched while the phone was in my pocket. Or sometimes the phone app calling random people.

[AltaiR] said:
Feature 1:
Lockscreen widget for music player lost the "Previous" button. I can skip a song, but I have to unlock the phone and navigate to the now playing screen to restart a track or go back to a previous one.
This was available in 4.4.4. It's a bit annoying, specially when you're driving.
Feature 2:
This might actually be a bug...
While playing music, incoming messages/call notifications do not play. The music merely lowers in volume. Again, while driving, I might not notice the 1 one second drop in music volume for a message, and sometimes I even miss a call.
On another note, I believe feature wise, Kitkat was the best(pratical and feature wise) rom we had. Had a few non Omni-related issues with Lollipop, most of them minor but still annoying.
Lockscreen is one for example. The default, unprotected Lollipop lockscreen is too easy to unlock. I found myself running out of money a few times because firefox was accidentally launched while the phone was in my pocket. Or sometimes the phone app calling random people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 sounds like it might be a bug, and it might be device-specific - you don't state which device you have.
It's not something I'd notice in my daily routine since I have an XM receiver in my car.

Entropy512 said:
2 sounds like it might be a bug, and it might be device-specific - you don't state which device you have.
It's not something I'd notice in my daily routine since I have an XM receiver in my car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought so too...guess I'd best report it in the device specific thread.
Own a Nexus 5, as mentioned in my sig. I guess these days sigs are so full of meaningless stuff that we don't really bother checking em out anymore. Iirc, there was a guide somewhere teaching how to make a useful one.

[AltaiR] said:
Thought so too...guess I'd best report it in the device specific thread.
Own a Nexus 5, as mentioned in my sig. I guess these days sigs are so full of meaningless stuff that we don't really bother checking em out anymore. Iirc, there was a guide somewhere teaching how to make a useful one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped including my devices in my sig ages ago because it was frequently inaccurate/out-of-date and I always assume someone else's sig is wrong/don't even look at it for that reason.
Does it happen on stock? I'm not sure if this is a 5.x thing in general, a device-specific bug, or an Omni bug due to some of @maxwen 's volume control tweaks . I won't be able to experiment with it until I get back from vacation in mid-late September.