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Ever since I spent a huge chunk of money on getting my HD shipped to the US I've been a bit disappointed with it. I'm also slowly becoming disenchanted with Windows Mobile.
I've played around with my fiance's iPhone and I'm not too impressed with that either.
So Android seems like the next big adventure for me to dive into! Especially since I can get a Captivate for $90 with a new contract. Hard to pass that up. Sure beats spending $700 or whatever it was that I spent getting this unlocked Blackstone. *sigh*
I've seen many threads here stating pros and cons, often times with conflicting accounts from different users. The biggest complaints I see are the GPS issue and the lack of Froyo. Well, I could care less about GPS, and I'm pretty confident that Froyo will arrive sooner or later from either Samsung or the geniuses in this community.
So does anyone have any experience of moving from the Touch HD to this phone? Was it like having an epiphany or just a ho-hum upgrade?
How about going from WinMo to Android? I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and experiment with new things. I've tried so many ROMs and apps on my HD that I think that won't be an issue.
I upgraded from an HTC Fuze. Here are my thoughts:
WinMo is slow, ugly as butt (including most of the blackberry "look alike" roms), people care way too much about touch features even tho the screen is designed for a stylus, horrible mobile browsing, zero apps i care about, and its a dead platform.
Android, I can back because its fast, actively developed, I can actually develop an app for it without going through microsoft's embedded framework or god forbid win32, interface is modern and usable, looks amazing without the god awful ugly roms, etc.
All in all I should have upgraded sooner, the HTC Fuze is a pile of yesterdays garbage and the Captivate has my full praise.
To provide an alternative viewpoint (some fo these problems are captivate some _might_ be android)
The captivate for one reason or another fails with fundamental tasks that WinMo has done for ages, custom ringtones, copy / paste an address from email (not gmail) to an appointment, heck copy / paste an appointment. GPS...sigh...uninstalling messaging leaves the system playing two ringtones for each sms. Synching of contacts / calendar / tasks that are NOT gmail...USB connections to back ports only...And coming from an HD, having Sense....I feel like I have taken a huge step backwards.
Now on to what I like...the captivate has a stunning display, runs fast and I am sure the android platform will outlast winmo and has or will have a larger developer base. It is the future (This is the reason upgraded). Handcent sms. And eventually the HUGE oversights on this phone will be fixed by the people here. I'll just have to buy another $50 to $100 in widgets that came with my HD.
All in all I dont regret my decision, I just wonder if it was pre-mature.
I went from a Touch HD to Touch HD2 to the Captivate and I am quite happy with the decision. I do miss the larger screen and ability to use my ps3 controller for games and emulators. I also miss the ability to use a stylus when I so desire. However, I feel that the decision was wise because the captivate has a beautiful screen and performance definitely blows winmo out of the water. Also, winmo 6.5 and below is pretty much a dead OS now anyways. The graphics performance of the captivate also blows the HD and HD2 out of the water. I am sure the captivate will only get better when 2.2 is inevitably released.
I cannot comment on the GPS problems because I have not used GPS. And even with the "lag" that the captivate experiences in comparison to some other android phones, it is completely unnoticeable in comparison to WinoMo. The device flies.
First android device
I have had many windows mobile devices in my life time. Also had the Touch HD and the HD2 along with the Fuze, Tilt 2 etc.
I absolutely love my Samsung Captivate. It's about time that Samsung stepped up there game and made a device to gloat about. Though I still have my HD2 and that by far is the best windows mobile device bar non. The screen size difference between the HD2 and the Captivate is negligible. 4.3" to 4" is not that big of difference because the AMOLED screen is amazing to look at. In my opinion even better than the iPhone 4 screen.
As far as the GPS. I don't have any issues with it. I use GPS test (from the marketplace) and I am able to get a signal lock in about 5-10 seconds when I am outside no problem. This is without making any changes to the GPS or doing the so called GPS fix.
I know that I read on engadget about Samsung says there is a "fix" for the GPS in the near future. In my opinion Samsung is looking out for the customer more than HTC is.
AllTheWay said:
Samsung is looking out for the customer more than HTC is.
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Click to collapse
I concur.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA
I love my captivate so much that if i could, i would marry it =D
i bumped up from a fuze. Getting this phone was like clearing up a life long constipation.
Awesome, thanks for the insight everyone. Including some downsides. They definitely don't seem like deal breakers for me though.
I'm sure there are other people on the fence too, so maybe this will tip them to one side or the other.
I would also like to add that I was quite surprised with the different camera modes. The low light shots look really great. I was personally never a fan of LED flashes on phones anyways (besides being a ridiculously good flashlight on my HD2).
I switched from the htc hd to iphone 3gs and now the captivate. The best thing about the touch hd that the other phones cannot beat in my opinion was the gps. It would get a lock very quickly due to the sirfstar iii chip in the phone and would rarely lose lock no matter what speed I was traveling at.
The iphone is the best for game apps since it has more developers and therefore more choices in the app store.
I missed the big screen of my touch hd and wanted better quality which is why I got the captivate. Compare the touch hd video playback to one on the iphone or captivate and you'll see that the touch hd is more washed out due to the 65k limit.
In my opinion android is kind of like windows mobile where you have chefs cooking different roms and the ability to customize all parts of your phone to make it better than it was stock. The iphone allows something like this as well but makes it more difficult as everything is on cydia and doesn't have a well known forum like xda to turn to for help (but then mb I never looked hard enuf)
Basically the captivate feels more of an upgrade from my touch hd than my iphone
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I have a tytnII that I can't stand anymore. I was considering the EVO4G GSm version when it arrives, but it didn't impress me (specifically the screen quality) so onwards I go. Iphone 4 seems like the most normal phone visually, but I don't want to give steve any money so for a defective phone so i'm waiting. There is nothing out there I would be happy to buy..nothing even to consider..
When will the following speced phones come out?:
-720p screen 4"+
-1080p video capture or excellent quality 720p. HDMI out.
-a quality 10mp+ camera
-1.5ghz or dual core cpu's or tegra 2. it seems no matter that a ghz cpu is in phones today there's horrible lag..iphone uses a weaker cpu and has almost no lag..Something I can't understand.
Iphone has an excellent GPU, and uses it to make scrolling, tabs, etc more realistic, and faster.
Sadly, the tytn2 has a very fast GPU, without drivers. Skrew htc for that. Some guys at htcclassaction tried to develop 3d acceleration for it but nobody has ever seen the full untapped potential of the tytn2.
That's why the iphone can run games really fast.
Wm phones also have a tendency of slowing down the more you use them, you know - usually 3rd party programs do not clean up well after a big mess in they create in the registry
Did you try installing VanilJ's Android Eclair to your kaiser? no lag on that, and it works great. And dont forget you can overclock it to 486mhz.(rogue tools)
As for a new phone with those specs.... forget it lol, Get a netbook if you want that kind of thing. for now.
Technically speaking, Qualcomm HAS developed new system-on-a-chips, capable of most of your desired specs.
Here's an interview with Qualcomm about the new processors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCOD59yh0dY
My speculation: There is no doubt these phones will come out, every company wants the biggest, baddest m-effer out there. It will be in the early months of next year, MAYBE around February(?). Nobody really knows though.
I've never used an iphone before and my brother who is a diehard htc fan(and previous very anti iphone) HD2/HD touch, now uses the iphone and is waiting for stock to get an iphone 4. I might get his iphone 3gs.
screw HTC for lack of driver for the TYTNII is 100% correct which really makes me think twice before I would go with an HTC product again. the classaction was a waste of time. Nothing came out of it..what a shame. there was a huge push but nothing moved..
Microsoft had 10 years to be the leader and develop the crap OS and now the fact theyre loosing sales is something they deserve. I hope WP7 fails. windows mobile- no more for me..never again.
Android has a lot of potential but the fact that there's no standard between phones is a problem, and it shows. I mean look at these people slapping 1ghz cpus in and still lag. iphone is the smoothest running phone out there, hands down no argument whatsoever. It's optimized to run with those specific hardware specs and it just works, and it does it VERY well. almost no lag, and gaming like on a PSP..amazing. But like I said I'm not giving steve money for an antenna defect and iphones that overheat and light on fire.
I will take a look at the android rom..do you happen to have a link for the rom/rogue tools? I'm a bit scared to flash my phone but have been really interested in doing it for a while now. I'll have to get my Nokia n86 unlocked so I can have a phone if I brick mine.
btw, didn't motorola say they would put out a phone by the end of the year with these specs? I mean the tech is there, what's holding these companies from not slapping a tegra2/dual cpu in a phone for full performance?
look at all the phones, all 720p video /5mp /1ghz/ hdmi /400x800 but none are lookers- all the same performers with horrible lag.
The sony x10 was the one that took the first step with the above specs I think, and it's the one I followed closely but it took them forever to release it and they lost momentum. IMO it's a big failure. Also those who bought the x10 will get an android 2.1 update 6 months after..can you believe that..by the time they release 2.1, 2.2 will be out before.
Then the evo popped up, but seeing it's screen compared to the iphone 4 made me realize it's not all that. Also the video and camera are worse than the iphone. HTC is always lacking in the camera dept IMO.
I did kinda looked into the Dell streak but with the HORRIBLE lag I realize dell has great things to come..dell is a dying company..check this review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3853/the-dell-streak-review/1
read "the performance problem" reminds me exactly of my tytnII.
How the hell is this..a 1 ghz processor, the product isn't even released and it has horrible performance issues..don't these retarded companies test these products beforehand and say this lag is unacceptable? there's nothing more that gets me fired up then waiting 3 seconds for the tytnII to cancel a phone. I press the button 7-10 times but it has all the time in the world..it's right then I want to smash the phone to the floor.
I did consider the Nokia N8 at 1 time but the screen spec turned me away really quick.
I did look at Samsungs I9000 but it too is a disappointment with the lag it has.
I guess if Apple would fix the overheating/antenna issue I will go with them, otherwise I'll wait and see if I can flash my tytn to android and will wait. The day I get a new phone I'm video myself smashing the phone against the wall and sending it to HTC with a bag of my dogs poop inside..I'm not kidding.
Give me a tegra2 phone and stand back..
baddest m-effer out there
HA HA..nice..
I used an iPhone 2g for the longest time on T-Mobile's EDGE network...I liked it because the music player was so nicely integrated into the device. I also liked how effortless the syncing was with iTunes, and most of the development/hacking was mac based. But then a guy named "planetbeing" ported android to it...and, well, here I am.
I'm now using a nexus one, and I'm actually pretty damn pleased with it, if I do say so myself . iOS may have been prettier, but I love the Android UI...Widgets, open-source...
The best part about the nexus is having Google's lovechild in me pocket...Early OTA updates, a HUGE community base, etc...
Iphones the only real option out there today, and I hate apple..I won't give in an buy a defective phone where the only thing he's willing to do (steve, at least be sincere about offering the dumb bumpers, and don't act like youre doing youre customers a favor..btw, haven't you ever heard of a recall?) is offer a stupid piece of plastic which ruins the aesthetics of the phone..
well like you and Malt said, I will have to wait..I'm hoping something around november will come..
untill you get your future phone....
remember, the tytn2 slows down if you install loads of crap on it. I downloaded a program called clean ram which helps a bit, but nothing beats a nice clean hard reset. If you install a program, then uninstall it, it WILL STILL HELP SLOW DOWN YOUR MOBILE. It adds up. Only with a hard reset can this be resolved.
You can download rogue tools on the android market, once you got it installed, it works nice.
VanilJ's android rom works really good for the kaiser, with the exception that the camera, and any other programs that use it, don't work. But believe me, it's a price veeeeeeeery well payed. Once you flush it, you won't be sorry.
Speaking of 3d drivers, android has opengl acceleration. And it's very good. I played quake3 multiplayer 30fps on my kaiser vs my brother on it( on lowest settings, but hey )
After 1 month using this rom however, it also started slowing down. So here are some of my suggestions.
1. Don't install unnecessary crap widgets. Each one will slow down your tytn2. I still use Calendar(Agenda widget), email, DigiClock and News though. Theyre just too usefull! ^^
2. It will basically turn your kaiser into a toy to show off to your friends. Sure its really cool and fast. But as for buisness there is NO outlook contacts/ calendar support, and once you leave windows mobile you will realize how comfortable your calendar was, and you will (don't quote me ) suddenly start to miss active sync. lol yeah. It was the only thing microsoft got right. Sort of.
But anyway, there is an alternative, it syncs through google contacts, gmail etc.
It is far worse than activesync, considering that you always need internet access, and that you are providing google with your business info. The appointments etc don't show up on the main screen without widgets. You will miss your calendar's colours and features :\
3. If it gets unreliable, drop your tytn2 at a height of 400metres, and it should all work fine again.
Anyway, on the whole I am pleased with it. You will be amazed if you try it.
And one more very important thing - hold the internet explorer button to switch between programs. press it to go to home. took me a week to figure out.
I think of all the tablets available today, the HP Touchpad is the one I would choose. I got to play with a few tablets recently. Among them were the iPad, Moto Xoom, HTC Flyer, Blackberry Playbook, Huawei Ideos and the HP Touchpad. The newest Sammys weren't available. Nor were the Acers.
First off, the BB Playbook was the absolute worst of them all. It took 3 people to accidentally figure out how to delete a picture. Whilst messing with it trying to navigate around the UI, I snapped a picture of myself and wanted it off the system. I looked and looked and looked and finally called one of the store associates to assist. After he played with it for a long time, he called another store associate. The second associate played with it for a very long time also and then accidentally figured it out. We all went through every menu we could find and the answer was a simple downward swipe from the top of the LCD frame.
This brought back memories of my experience with a BB phone. No friggin way would I buy a damn BB tablet.
The rest of the tablets were sweet. The HTC Flyer was super smooth and gorgeous. The Xoom is old news. And the iPad is tired. I was really surprised by the Huawei tablet. It's so inexpensive, yet it works really well. Nevertheless, I love WebOS and my play time with the HP tablets was great. It worked flawlessly and smoothly and has that excellent multitask system. Plus I love the style, size and shape.
When the Sammys come out, I'll give them a try also and see it they can best the HP.
I'm liking the xoom. A keyboard and a mouse and I can ditch the MacBook.
Following the rules
im not and idiot or a noob, im tyring to post legitimate feedback on an android rom i am currently using but i need 10 posts so here is one more, thanks for this stupid rule! 8
I have been using Droid ROMS, MODS and kernels since the G1.
OG Galaxy Tab
I have the OG Galaxy tab and it rocks honeycomb pretty well. By 2 year old loves netflix so I'm happy.
Oops
OG Galaxy as in the 7 inch version. Honeycomb is on thru a custom ROM.
When I was in the market for a tablet I took a look at the xoom, playbook, iconia, and the transformer. The xoom was off the list because it was out of my price range. The playbook, I could not find the back button do that was it. It came down to the iconia and transformer, and I chose the iconia because of the full sized usb port and flash on the back.
Sent from 234 Elm Street
MartyLK said:
This brought back memories of my experience with a BB phone. No friggin way would I buy a damn BB tablet.
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also that in order to get e-mail on the thing you need to be linked up via bluetooth with another phone.
i went to check one out, was in a game when i did, looking all over for the exit button, took me and another employee 20 minutes just to figure it out, swipe up....yeah, lets not put softkeys on it like we do with our phone, nah, no menu, a FRIGGAN SWIPE MOTION!, i can't blame them for trying to be inovative, but the "physical buttons" for the playbook are so small that someone would need a stylus just to press the friggin' buttons.
it has flash, and 1080p playback....yet the camera on it sucks.
RIM, try harder next time.
I don't have a tablet. But I would like one!
Kiboe said:
also that in order to get e-mail on the thing you need to be linked up via bluetooth with another phone.
i went to check one out, was in a game when i did, looking all over for the exit button, took me and another employee 20 minutes just to figure it out, swipe up....yeah, lets not put softkeys on it like we do with our phone, nah, no menu, a FRIGGAN SWIPE MOTION!, i can't blame them for trying to be inovative, but the "physical buttons" for the playbook are so small that someone would need a stylus just to press the friggin' buttons.
it has flash, and 1080p playback....yet the camera on it sucks.
RIM, try harder next time.
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Click to collapse
The store I was at had a couple Playbooks on display at different areas of the store and the first one I came to had a non-functional small round button on the top...the button about the size of a bb pellet. I didn't know it didn't function; that it was damaged, and figured it was some sort of LED indicator. On the second Paybook, which was fully functional, if I hadn't pressed that little round button by accident to turn on the device, I never would have figured out how to power it on because I attributed that round button as an indicator or something of that nature. I wouldn't have intentionally pressed it.
The Playbook is typical BB B.S. I had the same experience with my BB phone. I spent 90% of my time trying to find stuff on it than I did just using it. No wonder BB is in the crapper these days.
I went with a Transformer. I did some research too. I will say this that playing with a unit in the store and taking it home and using it for a week or two is a huge difference. I am sure you can make some basic decisions based on your likes and dislikes, To heavy dont like how it feels in your hand etc, but nothing takes the place of good ole fashioned "Use it". I wrote a pretty long article regarding my purchase and my decisions tree in the transformer forums, as there are a lot of "Can the Asus Transformer replace my netbook/laptop" threads on a lot of different forums and i wanted to put my thoughts out there as well. I will find the link and link it. But in short the basic answer is it depends. I know not the best answer and not the one you were looking for but its the truth.
Here is my post its long but might be worth a read if you are trying to decide
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=15679836#post15679836
I am very happy with the transformer and in my post i give the reasons i chose it.
The Rahl
we have the xoom here. not sure how we like it yet. can't get it to root. or rather can't find a walkthrough that doesn't assume you already have certain things installed on your computer. not their fault. it's the xooms for me needing to root to actually use all it's features.
i have the galaxy 10.1 its so dirty i love it. slim, light, and fast
Apple suxxx but by the way, I prefer the iPad 2 !
I prefer the 7 inch tablet, but there aren't any good ones. The best 10 inch is the sammy sung tab 10.1.
It down right makes all the other tabs look like s**t. Samsung did a GREAT job on the screen. I like the feel of the thrive but it's screen sucks. The ipad seemed heavy but I do like its keyboard. The touchpad and playbook are the worst. the iconia is pretty ugly. The xoom feels nice but has a bad screen in my opinion. Tab 10.1 is best then xoom or ipad.
Reply
I am using Apple i pad. Its features processing speed durability awesome.
Some tablets are truly great in the niche such as Xoom, Transformer and Ironia, but seems that it's still no one is good enough to beat the iPad. At least for me, I have to admit the using experience is really fantastic on iPad.
chikwarne said:
I am using Apple i pad. Its features processing speed durability awesome.
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skydeve said:
Some tablets are truly great in the niche such as Xoom, Transformer and Ironia, but seems that it's still no one is good enough to beat the iPad. At least for me, I have to admit the using experience is really fantastic on iPad.
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Yeah, I agree. The iPad is a powerful and well engineered tablet. But it lacks the high res display I desire and this makes it tired for me. I'm spoiled by the Retina display of my iPhone 4. There just isn't a display as good as the Retina display. If Apple puts an equivalent display in the next iPad, that would solve the tired problem.
i am waiting samsung tab 10.1 or sony
I have the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 and it rocks, so fast and easy to use.
I bought my 8 yr. old daughter a Velocity Micro Cruz. I sent that same POS back 2 weeks later. She is only 8 so I'm not looking to spend mega bucks and I don't buy anything made by Apple. I am thinking of getting her the Gen 9 Archos 8in tablet when it arrives in a few months. The Cruz isn't a bad tablet for the price point but it simply has too little internal memory. It constantly froze on us. It is great looking hardware, nice looking screen and a little heavy. Also, not having the genuine Android Market or XDA-Dev support was a killer. I came to realize I have no love for Android in it's current state (2.3 and below as I haven't used or seen a Honeycomb tablet yet). As a long time Windows Mobile user Android still reminds me of an incomplete and immature version of Windows Mobile that is more popular but not more effective. I am disappointed in this realization, especially when 90% of the tablets out there worth their salt, hardware wise, are Android based.
To be fair, I actually played with my friend's IPad II also. When I say played with, I mean sat there and used it for 2-3 hours to see if it could impress me. The answer is no. It's a $600 POS. What's scary is the Velocity Mirco Cruz was $179 total and the $400 or so price difference really doesn't show when it comes to using the damn things. The Ipad was lighter, faster and didn't freeze (because it has enough damn internal memory), but like every other damn Apple product it is limited and constricted. I swear if the Cruz had more internal memory it would have been 200x more effective than that Apple pos. Transferring information was easier. Using it as a part of my current environment was easier (HD2, Windows 7 laptop, Windows Vista PC). When I used the Dolphin browser it worked excellent (as did Safari). Basically the only satisfying experience I had on the Ipad was the Youtube application and the only thing that made it better than what I get on my HD2 is the screen size. Beyond that it has nothing on my 2 year old phone. Apple smapple.
I don't expect the HP or BB tablets to last very long in this market so I'm hoping Microsoft comes out with a viable tablet OS (which is rumored) and it doesn't actually disappoint me the way everything else has. Knowing I won't be able to replace the Cruz for under $200 I upped the ante to $300 and it looks like Archos is going to slide in with the gen 9's. Hopefully I won't remain disappointed.
Righty, my HD2 is about to go to where all good phones go when they meet their maker, the African sub-continent
Yup its time has come, the USB socket seems to no longer except data connections, (probably broken PCB/tracks) and the digitiser has started to act erratically
as much as id like to get out the soldering Iron and replace the digitiser it doesn't cost that much more to get a new one.
So I guess im coming here to pick your brains and gather up what the community feels is the best options
So the choices above are
get a cheaper HD2 and wait out for the WP8 device launch when I could then choose to get a cheaper WP7 device or get a WP8 one
Keep the king of all phones the HD2 and shell out on brand spanky new one
Nokia 800(cheaper)
Nokia 900(would rather)
Titan (cheaper)
Titan II (Would rather)
Something else, perhaps a Smaller HD2 comparable gem
Ive put those 4 on because im interested in what the general feeling of the community is on them, obviously the 900 and the Titan II are better but I suppose the question is, for those that know is it worth the extra money?
In terms of spec I don't care, they are all good, but if your suggesting another one then 3.7in is the absolute minimum screen size and CPU spec around that of the 3 year old HD2 is acceptable, I don't play games so a 1GHz snapdragon is ok and around 512MB of RAM is fine too, the HD2 has a bit less which is fine. screen size is what's important
Im aware those newer ones are not as mod able as the HD2, but apart from web based XAP installing I don't do that much on it that needs the Full unlock so would I miss it...I dunno, side loading some of my custom XAPs would be handy I guess....
One last thing, yes I can and have researched them, but im open to suggestions and im more interested in what you guys have experienced with them, good or bad. We XDAers tend to know out stuff a lot more than the average review site!
sooo..... over to you great chaps and lasses, what do you think?
I loved my HD2 and would still be using it if it wasn't for the social integration that wp7 holds, No going back now, But if you can pick up a cheap HD2 for now then surely its the better option being what ur familiar with and knowing wp8 hopefully has some nice surprises to look forward to later in the year.
I've got an LG E900. It works smooth, but has so many little flaws, that I would go for a cheap HD2. I don't know about the Titans. But after using WP7.5 I wouldn't consider to buy a new WP device which isn't capable of WP8.
Maybe you get an used WP7.5 device cheaper than an HD2 and consider this as an opportunity to test WP. Because I guess Android isn't perfect either, but you know of its flaws and there aren't any surprises. Like when I've got my first call. WP vibrates, then rings, then vibrates. When I wanted to change this behaviour I considered myself lucky of being able to at least choose a different ringtone.
OtoTheBear said:
But after using WP7.5 I wouldn't consider to buy a new WP device which isn't capable of WP8.
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That story is not over yet Microsoft just kept quit and that's it...
Anyway, I'd buy another HD2. It's already quite cheap and still the best. And when WP8 hits the stores, I'd buy a shiny new phone with new specs (second gen devices have not made a big jump but WP8 is hopefully going to catch up with android handsets).
The HD2 will always be nice (even when you got a new phone) as you can really, really play with it.
thanks guys, Its looking like a return to the king moment with half the vote suggesting getting a cheap HD2 and waiting for 1st gen WP8 devices to see what happens.....
Ok, ive had another thought, now there doesn't appear to be any development on this one but its unlockable to deploy xaps, I don't think its full unlock but as I said im not too bothered.
So, the phone im talking about, is the Samsung Focus s
From all information that I can gather its pretty good, all beit has a plastic feel about it, anyone have any additional thoughts on the matter?
ive got a day to decide before my phone will probably pack in, USB socket just fell off the PCB all together such an undignified end to the HD2 3 year reign
Well that's sad - but even the hd2 is not invincible
I think Samsung makes pretty decent phones (I played around with an omnia 7 and galaxy s2). The only downside is that they feel really cheap and shaby as you said.
Don't know what you're paying for it, but if it's really cheap, I'd buy it. Otherwise I'd stick with an HD2 and wait for the WP8 release.
chabun said:
Well that's sad - but even the hd2 is not invincible
I think Samsung makes pretty decent phones (I played around with an omnia 7 and galaxy s2). The only downside is that they feel really cheap and shaby as you said.
Don't know what you're paying for it, but if it's really cheap, I'd buy it. Otherwise I'd stick with an HD2 and wait for the WP8 release.
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well ive gone with the Samsung Focus S imported from the states, the screen size was the deciding factor, combined with the fact that dev unlock is fairly straight forward and interop isn't much harder. Titan was just too big, and the 800 was too small and inconsistent with what I was expecting, the 900 would have been great if I could have got one cheep, the Focus S ticked all the boxes bar the slightly plastic feel to them
theres sweet bugger all going on in development so perhaps ill try give something back to the community and learn a bit from the Gods on here
The HD2 is still holding in there, if I squash the whole lower portion of the phone very hard and remove the battery to charge it, it still kinda works, it just doesn't want to die
Well, after developing for a few different OSes (WinMo, Windows Phone, Meego, Maemo, Android, BBOS) and owning pretty much every high end phone under the sun, I thought I'd pour out my thoughts pertaining to each individual OS and why I feel this way about them. This is by no means a comprehensive guide or anything to live by. Just one person's experience in each OS that I've used.
Windows Mobile:
Have to start with the classic, I never owned a Palm and WinMo had a place in my heart from the first time I ordered that HTC Wallaby, of course back then it was something like, "Microsoft Pocket PC 200X" or some outlandish name like that. Oh man, 32 MB of ram on a phone? This thing was monstrous! Mockeries aside, it started a love affair, the likes of which many girls came to be jealous of. I was an avid Winmo fanboy, transitioning from the Wallaby, to the Samsung Behold, HTC Dash, Samsung Behold 2, HTC Touch, HTC PPC 6800, then the Samsung Omnia which was everything a phone should be at the time. I remember geeking out so hard over the accelerometer. So few phones had them back then. I even briefly went back to WinMo after starting Android when I saw how amazing the HTC HD2 was.
I always felt that, despite not being truly open source, Windows Phone was just so much more capable than Android. I know that's not the case but it definitely felt like it. That and the launchers for it offered so much more depth than the same generic rows of icons with one added, mostly menial, feature. I played my first PS1 emulator on Winmo which made me love it by itself and I also co-developed my first app on it. It was an awful little RPG with 32 bit graphics but I was so proud you wouldn't believe it. It was my high school project and my little game blew people away. The OS was definitely not without flaws. HTC delved in as far as they were allowed to make the menus usable by something that wasn't a stylus but could only go so far which required a pretty nice and very well-aimed push right on the check box. If you missed it, too bad. This was also mostly on resistive screen technology making the odds of being dead on much worse. I'd also get random reboots even when I was just texting at times. Still, I remember having so much trouble transitioning into Android only because how could I use an OS without Swype? Sounds like some kind of sadistic torture if you ask me... WinMo held it's own and just destroyed the iPhone in every way except being pretty. For that and for it's time frame, it will always hold a special place in my heart.
My next big transition was into Android. I saw HTC making a big move and I was an HTC fan. That Z Hinge on the HTC Dream/G1 was too cool and futuristic to pass up, plus who doesn't like track balls? So, I went to Android. Android has and will always be to me, a very basic OS that the consumer is expected to make usable. This isn't based off just the one HTC Dream (Which, funny enough, is currently flashed with Kit Kat) I've actually owned over 80 Android phones throughout the years. I've felt this way even on my Galaxy S4. I became a fan only because I got to say, "Oh, your iPhone can... Well, mine actually has 3G and can picture message." It was all a battle with the iPhone for us early adopters. A battle that back then, we won. Then, Apple kept progressing, they fixed all of the little things that effected everyone and only left flaws for us nerds to gripe about. That war quickly became pandering. Something along the lines of, "Well, my phone has this trivial gimmick so it's better than yours!" I was literally trading around and upgrading phones every 1-2 weeks. I lived in Austin and there is always someone dumb enough on Craigslist to trade you what you want there if you make yours sound sweeter, especially when it's not. I had pretty much every GSM Android phone released in the US from the G1 to the Galaxy S2 Of course there were some that I missed but I even had that awful Garminfone Asus that we all try to forget existed. I always wanted something that could keep up but as I was playing RoboDefense on my Android device, the iPhone was getting Infinity Blade. It got to the point where I harbored a distaste for Android but I was too stubborn to go iPhone. Roughly when I reached that point is when Windows Phone 7 dropped. Android was dead in the water to me though I still own Android devices. They're there for development. My opinion on Android is this, it is a foundation. It's something that you take and you build on to make good. It is awful as a standalone. That said, individuals aren't going to be able to make the same quality software that a multi-billion dollar company can. To this day there are no good keyboards on Android. The OS is still buggy, there are still no devices that feel premium and there is still far too much lag even on the revered Nexus devices. I think that perhaps the Oneplus One might aid in resolving some of these issues based solely on videos but anything can be spoofed in a video.
So, on to Windows Phone 7. Spoiler alert: I hated it. At least I thought I did. I got the HD7 three days prior to release due to an error and was so excited. After using the Galaxy S Vibrant with it's AMOLED display, the HD7 looked awfully washed out but I'll deal, whatever. I thought I wanted those roms though, I thought I wanted Swype, I thought I wanted app folders. So, I traded that HD7 for a Dell Streak. Many of us remember this as the first "Phablet" with it's absolutely massive 5 inch screen *snicker* and prior to the HD7, I thought it my dream phone. I was absolutely giddy to get that trade... Then, I started really noticing Android's flaws. The incessant lagging, the bad keyboard, everything. I missed that HD7. I missed Windows Phone. I missed a coherent and speedy experience. I hunted and hunted and finally found another HD7. This was late in the year, maybe October, and for Christmas, I knew what I wanted. The Dell Venue Pro. Hands down, the best hardware keyboard I've ever used and I've used most. It was the first of two phones to ever last me more than two months and actually retained use for a full 8 or 9 months. I loved the thing. It was everything I wanted in a phone. Then, in a stroke of luck, I got offered to be a part of Nokia's developer program and got a pair of Nokia Lumia 800s shipped to me. I believe one was supposed to be for my old development partner who'd left to pursue other interests two months earlier so I had two Nokia Lumia 800s. One of which I traded for a Nokia N9 and both of which inspired a love for Nokia in general Nokia sells Windows Phone as well, if not better than the OS and the early marketing was often effective and always hilarious. This phone was bulletproof... I got pushed into a pool holding it, I fell off a motorcycle with it in my pocket and landed on it and this thing just kept going. In my opinion, it's the highest quality Nokia device with a touchscreen. However, it wasn't long til I realized that it would soon be tragically obsolete with the release of Windows Phone 8. I made the sad decision to trade it for the iPhone 4S which was new and worth a lot more at the time in hopes that I might soon trade the iPhone for a Lumia whatever comes out. Windows Phone 8 is an entirely different monster so I'll come back to that one. Ultimately, Windows Phone laid a strong foundation but due to poor support on the part of developers, it really was as their advertisement said, A phone to keep you away from your phone.
So, as I stated, my next endeavor was Meego. I also branched in to Maemo at this point but it was pretty uneventful and I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other about it. I got myself a cyan 64 gig monster with a front facing camera, imaging software that destroyed any other non-Nokia phone at the time and features that Samsung is just now incorporating into their phones while claiming they're revolutionary. Meego is also a heavily gesture driven OS which, let's face it, is the future. Meego, to me, was what Android should have been. It was smoother, it felt alive, it was on a premium device, it seldom lagged, it was pretty and it was bursting with features. Honestly, I still wish I hadn't gotten rid of that thing. I might still use it as a backup if I hadn't but as a broke College kid obsessed with the latest and greatest I had to get rid of both for the Nokia Lumia 920 which I don't regret but I would still love to have that huge piece of cell phone history. To date, I'd say it's the only non-Windows phone to breach my top 5 favorite phones of all time. Everything was seamless, the experience was great... I'll be honest, I had 0 complaints with this phone. I mean, sure there weren't a lot of apps but the basics were there and at the time it trumped Windows Phone in that regard. Aside from that, I wish Meego were still alive.
Then, there's iOS. I had this phone all the way up to iOS 7 so I can give at least some opinion on each version from then on. iOS when I got it on the 4S was ugly, plain and simple. It looked so painfully outdated that I had to jailbreak it just so looking at it didn't give me an aneurysm. The keyboard was almost as bad as Android's and the auto-correct was worse. It just felt like a jumbled mess at all times regardless of how things were arranged. If I had to explain iOS as an OS at that point, I'd call it a glorified app launcher because it was little else in my eyes. That said, as it progressed they added new features to make it a unique experience and enhance Siri (The one part of the OS I enjoyed) to offer deeper integration though it doesn't touch Google Now or Cortana. My biggest issue is that if you went Apple, it seemed you had to go all Apple or bust. To get out of their stupid iMessage system is hell, want to transfer contacts away from iPhone? Too bad, go through this lengthy and unorthodox process to do so. It was pretty bad. 7 added a few gestures I really liked but having been spoilt by Meego at this point, it was pretty underwhelming in comparison. iOS, to this date, feels like a glorified app launcher that they occasionally attach a new gimmick to for people to confuse for revolutionary. At least they finally made it easy on the eyes though.
Now, back in to Windows Phone 8. Given that my brand new Lumia 800s were made obsolete, I wanted something profound. What it felt like I got were slight improvements and a lot of apps that I'd paid money for that didn't transfer over. Some of my favorite Windows Phone 7 games don't exist on Windows Phone 8. This includes several Xbox live titles that I poured a bit of funds into including Tentacles, Splinter Cell, and the bullet hell game that Cave released for us. The name escapes me at present. I was taken aback, I had given up my perfect little Lumia 800 for this? The Lumia 920 which felt okay in comparison. On top of that, the wireless charging coil wasn't even in my first one so I needed a replacement and had to settle for black instead of yellow for my replacement. Overall, the experience started rough. Then, there was wordflow. Since the beginning of phones, I'd always wanted a keyboard that was smart. Sure, there are learning keyboards out there but none compared to Windows Phone's. I don't know who Belfiore sacrificed to The Dark Lord but this is perfect. The live tiles also certainly kept me enveloped. The slightly better customization in different tile sizes also made everything a bit less stagnant. Overall, it warranted at least a continued interest. Since then, I feel that Windows Phone has made great strides plus, thanks to Nokia, they're releasing the highest quality devices of any OS. At this point, I feel like Nokia took Windows Phone and single-handedly built it. The 8X was a beautiful device with a lot of issues and no real added software and Samsung just tossed another OS on their galaxy series. However, despite being carried by a single OEM, Nokia paired with Microsoft has created an OS to be revered and even with little things like Glance background has really flexed their muscles. Overall, the OS wasn't enough of an upgrade to just sell me but thanks to Nokia's additions and the overall quality of the OS that it exuded from it's Windows Phone 7 roots, it is the premium OS. That said, there is still an app gap that was made even worse by the poor transition to Windows Phone 7 to 8 and they've shown that they're not shy about alienating users.
Then, there was the Blackberry. this is something I bought from someone locally for $40 very recently and overall, it's a new experience. What do I think so far? Well, it's budget Meego on higher end hardware. The gestures are not as good, the OS itself looks like a very confused version of Android (which has enough conflict of it's own) and it's heavily dependent on the work of other OSes to try to stay afloat. I never had the earlier Blackberry devices so perhaps there was a point at which they were ahead of the game and the hardware is honestly pretty amazing, easily matching the iPhone in terms of sheer quality. However, they sacrificed security which was a massive selling point for them in favor of trying to swim in the big kid's pool and to say that they failed miserably would be an understatement.
So, what am I rocking now? I'm sadly rocking a Lumia 1520. Not that it's bad, it's great really, just a bit big. I'd bite on the 930 but no Glance screen is a deal breaker. I also have a Moto G and a Blackberry z10 as backup/development devices. None of them have ever been taken out into the wild though because they're not functional daily drivers to me. A key point in my eyes is texting and the keyboards are pretty dismal. I know I've touted the Windows Phone keyboard a lot in this thread but honestly, it's that good and with the shapewriting technology in 8.1, they put themselves light years ahead of everyone else in a very necessary though sadly underappreciated area.
Wow, you've had quite the journey, it seems like you experience nearly every version of Android and the last couple versions of iOS, as well as every version of windows phone.
Personally, I've only had a 3GS, NL 521, and NL 1520 (current).
I got the iphone about two months before iOS 6 came out and so I really didn't experience any of the annoyances that made iOS less than pleasant. Still when I switched to WP somehow things still felt streets ahead.
SoI can say you have long experience using different smartphone OS
I have 3 questions
1- What is the best OS you have ever used ?
2- What is the OS which you think now is the best for your needs ?
3- What is the formula for the best Smartphone I mean which OS with which company hardware will make the best smartphone ?
Some people says Nokia smartphones hardware with Android OS.
one-option said:
SoI can say you have long experience using different smartphone OS
I have 3 questions
1- What is the best OS you have ever used ?
2- What is the OS which you think now is the best for your needs ?
3- What is the formula for the best Smartphone I mean which OS with which company hardware will make the best smartphone ?
Some people says Nokia smartphones hardware with Android OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. That's a real toss up between Windows Phone 8.1 and MeeGo
2. Windows Phone, you won't get something more intuitive. Sure, you can't customize or overclock or all that crap but you don't need to. It works perfet out of the box.
3. Nokia Windows Phone has me nailed down pretty hard. I wouldn't want Android on a Nokia because Nokia is about infallible quality and that's pretty much the opposite of Android.
I`he used Windows Phone, the system is intuitive, looks nice but there aren`t many features available on android.
iOS on tablets and iPhones is usefull but I always feel limited by prices or lack of some solutions that is why I choose android.
I know android from Capcake 1.5 and I was always pleased and surprised by subsequent changes of capabilities of the system.
Hi Poecifer
I agree with you, I have used Lumia 520, 720 & 920 and to be honest Windows Phone is such a stable system, but I left it back to Android because VPN & file manager wasn't supported at the time in the OS.
Now I'm waiting for the WP8.1 Nokia devices.
for me Lumia 630 is missing flash light & Lumia 930 come with small battery, hope Nokia will provide prime high end flagship soon.
Holy crap 80 androids, I've had like 3 or 4 phones in the last 10 years xD
Some experiences about the newly released Firefox OS?
You say you don't like android keyboards. What about SwiftKey? I've tried many keyboards, from all different os's, and I think SwiftKey is great. And as for androids lagging, I am currently using a n5, and have used a m8 and I experience zero lag from both of those phones. I was wondering where you experience lag in these higher end devices. Currently I'm all about Android, the only thing I dislike is the build quality. Even with the m8, it could have been designed better. All these companies designing android phones have no taste or style.