We are now near the Tango release and Windows 7 hasn't changed that much at all; it is still very limited as far as customization or generic functions compared with it predecessor. With that said has anyone gotten any closer to creating the ability to create a custom start screen wallpaper? Or will this ever happen at all?
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I don't like transparency and the glossy IE icon...
I don't like it too. Or maybe I have grown accustomed to the black background. Choice is good though.
Anyway, MSFT has announced that there won't be custom wallpapers in Windows 8, while it is in metro mode.
I guess it will be the same for Windows Phone.
Well that's just disapointing; at this rate I don't see WP going any where but down hill with it's you can't do this or that restrictions.
1 out of 4 posters are happy with black background and WP will go downhill? :|
Sent from my TITAN X310e using Board Express
sinister1 said:
Well that's just disapointing; at this rate I don't see WP going any where but down hill with it's you can't do this or that restrictions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Metro style is that what you will se of MSFT over the next years, because it is an eyecatcher, look at other operators that "steal" this style that msft make popular. if they stick with if long enough they will gain succes! all the fancy stuff that was from 1990 till 2010 was just personification that was "not necessary". and plus it needed more resource to work. all the little things like shadows under icons, gloss, metallic, transparent tiles, transparent icons, aero style, everything is just the past. Metro just lives on. and give it a chance, iOS had this chance with it blueish iOS on phones, and android had it chance with colorful styling, just give metro a chance and it will win, because it is NEW, FRESH, LIGHT, UNSTRESSED, FAST, MODERN and many more things. if anybody dont believe in msft with they metro style i suggest, sell your pc, buy a mac, or google device, sell your wp7 or in the future wp8. and uninstall windows 8, delete it, and move on like you wish to do
but believe me, ipad user would pay to get windows 8 on an ipad! dont be silly like them to want some other style that is not the style of your device! if you want another style, just switch...
and for the ones that want a change on windows 8, it is still the windows that you can modify like in the past. and the background picture is also only a picture on windows 8, and everything can be changed. everything that man can make, man can it change or destroy
Those transparent tiles and gloss with the cluttered background is painful to look at.
Give me simple, clean, clear metro any day over that garbage.
I highly doubt that anything like that will happen. What makes WP7 standout is the black background with the colored tiles. The photo you provided looks alot like Android, and that is terrible
The power of Metro is the simplicity
I'm on Android but I already try Launcher 7 to have a taste of what is WP7. And I agree with above, in your picture I personnally see more the background than the tiles and it not the aim, I think, of Metro UI (btw the transparency of your picture give me headache, no offense ).
Sent from my LG-P970 using xda premium
I think it's great,except the IE icon..
i have set my wallpaper, but don't remember how.
it was an app that allowed it, but then i didn't like it for some other reason and deleted it.
the more i use this stupid windoesn't phone, the more i HATE it.
my old G1 is so much more versatile.
sinister1 said:
Well that's just disapointing; at this rate I don't see WP going any where but down hill with it's you can't do this or that restrictions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPhone is pretty successfull for a restricted OS, wouldn't you say?
I'm sick of people saying WP is 2. rate because it's limited yet the most popular phone OS ever is just as, or even more, limited.
I'll say what I said on the "can I install Android on my WP7 xxx handset" threads: choice is bad! I hope you never get to the level of customization where you can Androidify WP7's Metro.
LOL, having a start screen wallpaper won't Androidify the Metro at all, just allow for personalization. WP is really going no where just look at it's Market share will at least here in the U.S. To top it all off now all of a suddent for no apperent reason, I can't send picture attachments from my phone at all. I try to keep a posotive attitude towards the plat form but this is just rediculous. I am starting to dislike WP again little by little.
sinister1 said:
LOL, having a start screen wallpaper won't Androidify the Metro at all, just allow for personalization. WP is really going no where just look at it's Market share will at least here in the U.S. To top it all off now all of a suddent for no apperent reason, I can't send picture attachments from my phone at all. I try to keep a posotive attitude towards the plat form but this is just rediculous. I am starting to dislike WP again little by little.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
seriously? windows phone market share is growing in the us, last time i saw was at 7% and rising. The nokia lumia 900 is getting a lot of marketing, in may and june there will be even more marketing and now every employee must sell one of those phones monthly. If anything windows phone is getting on the rise now espically when att is sick of taking orders from apple and verizon and joining that bandwagon too.
lovenokia said:
seriously? windows phone market share is growing in the us, last time i saw was at 7% and rising. The nokia lumia 900 is getting a lot of marketing, in may and june there will be even more marketing and now every employee must sell one of those phones monthly. If anything windows phone is getting on the rise now espically when att is sick of taking orders from apple and verizon and joining that bandwagon too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia is doing a good job and so are other phone makers like HTC there is no question about it but it is MS it's self that is holding back the full potential of what Windows Phone could be. Hopeful with the release of Windows Phone 8 this will all change but they just keep us holding out for nothing. And not to argue but 7% is nothing. I have a Windows Phone; you know how many other people have a Windows Phone? Maybe 1. The truth is the truth and the numbers speak for them selves.
Related
Hey guys, dont know if anyone has come across this yet but for those who havent it looks like there may be a new interface for your wm device. Its called Pointui but as yet theres not a lot of info just a youtube vid and some screen shots on flicker, the web site just shows a countdown to what apperes to be the new year but by the look of the screens it might be something to keep your eye on
Youtube link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pUBWYErW3s
Flicker link :http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/
Web site :http://there-is-no-place-like-home.com/
I must say after having look at it, I'd be very intrested to try this out when its released. It looks very slick
WOW I'm surprised that there has been less buzz about this. I'm intrigued!
Yes, seems to be inspired by the iPhone but no proof to say its a Windows Mobile device?
Regards,
Carty..
If you click on the youtube uploaders username and look at the other vid you can see that its running on a Wizard
Wizard specs..
Processor: OMAP850 - 195Mhz
Memory: 128 MB of ROM and 64 MB of RAM
Should run fine on my Orbit !!
Interesting
Looks promising. I wonder if it is flash driven or C+ coded. A little strange how the video shows him sliding his finger to the right and the screen animation goes left?? That would drive me nuts!
Carty said:
Yes, seems to be inspired by the iPhone but no proof to say its a Windows Mobile device?
Regards,
Carty..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...Also, you'll note very shortly into the demo the "Windows Mobile Settings" menu option...
I watched the video a couple of times and it seems to move very smoothly and quickly. I really like the way it works...........HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Thanks for the positive feedback. I'd say its more inspired by frustration of what I call Windows 3.11 Syndrome and poor excuses for performance because they have limited memory and slower cpus.
Never used an iPhone, sure looks nice. Not sure about user interaction consistency across all their apps which is something we hope to achieve with our framework.
Rest assured this is running on Windows Mobile. Unlike so many others we haven't forgotten those with Windows Mobile 2003.
tmknight said:
...Also, you'll note very shortly into the demo the "Windows Mobile Settings" menu option...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plus you can see "Windows Mobile" as the second option:
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And Active Sync as option two on this one:
Anyone else have any info on this project?
dorothyg07 said:
Thanks for the positive feedback. I'd say its more inspired by frustration of what I call Windows 3.11 Syndrome and poor excuses for performance because they have limited memory and slower cpus.
Never used an iPhone, sure looks nice. Not sure about user interaction consistency across all their apps which is something we hope to achieve with our framework.
Rest assured this is running on Windows Mobile. Unlike so many others we haven't forgotten those with Windows Mobile 2003.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow--amazing ui. I share your frustration with the Win 3.11 syndrome but I hate that other people keep using the iPhone comparison. The iPhone is like a new puppy--everyone loves it because it's cute and could do simple things (email, web, music, movies, pictures, oh calls too). After awhile, then what? Everyone here can name 100 things their PDA/Phone can do more than the iPhone--except on tiny little thing....and that's doing it with style! Swipe here, roll there, flip here, touch there, whatever which way.
Pointui will complete my PDA and will probably get more people to buy a Win Mobile device now that it's balanced with usability and functionality. Thanks, can't wait for Jan 1.
Dorothy, can you give us any idea as to when you'll be offering this up to the public, and are you planning this as a freeware app or will you be charging for use?
simplicity05, the answers to your questions can be found at there-is-no-place-like-home.com
I checked that just a few hours ago and all it had was a timer counting down to the new year haha!
Oh My God. This looks so freaking sweet!
Im sure you guys have clicked it but heres the link to the pointui main site http://www.pointui.com/
Says it will be available for download as soon as the clock from no place like home reaches 0. Wooo.
If it runs that fast on a 195mhz device, thats great news. All these iPhone clones run slow on my 247mhz orbit (overclocked) ... so, looking forward to this one.
Im back again
Just watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRw1T-N5dic
Seems it uses the standard WM phone pad, which sucks, hope they do there own phone pad/full phone system thing. Also, wonder how the text messages/email is handles, hopefully not the standard WM outlook??? Any guys in the know about this?
The scrolling/changing screens by sliding your finger seems counter-intuitive. I like how on my touch I grab and pull to the side of the cube I want, this Pointui looks like it is grab and push towards the place you want to go, very awkward...
Other than that, it looks very interesting!
Actually I think that scrolling the finger to go to the next screen is really sleek and intuitive.
And the speed is amazing! Really smooth, even on a Wizard! OMFG! These guys know how to program
From the screenshots and video I only miss some antialiasing on some text (top text saying "telstra", and some text on the initial screen), and it would be great to integrate further apps into Home, like the phone and messages (read, write, send).
I think this will be, again, one of those applications that disappoint the moment I press one of the "system menu" buttons and end up in the WM6 menu without any transition.
Becaus then, it just doesn't make any sense... Man, being all happy that you can go through the menu with your finger just to find out that if you REALLY want to make system changes you have to use the old stylus again sucks.
I think all the iPhone cloning is a massive backleash...
Hey folks!
I just wanted to ask if there´s any possibilty to get an Iphone-like calendar on my HD2. No, I dont´s want to start an anti-iphone war here, I do really just like the design of the calendar here^^ (seems not to force eye-cancer like many other calendar themes on WM ). I´m using Pocket Informant on my HD2 and it´s quite customizable, but I can´t get near this design:
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Any Ideas/possibilities?
Yeah, its called Inesoft Calendar http://www.inesoft.com/eng/index.php?in=calendar.html
I used it on my Omnia a while back and its great.
Reason for changing the Threadtitle:
grmpf...it is getting harder and harder for me. most of the WinMobile applications are really looking bad, one worst than the other...how can people through such unfinished apps on the market please?
take a closer look on the Homepage of Inesoft..the "menu" and the "calendars" buttons are using uncommon fontsizes, on the one hand the fonts at the bottom/edge seem to be untouched, on the other hand the fonts in the middle seem to have cleartype activated
The colors (for me) are not well chosen...and there is NO possibility to customize that???
Same with thumbcal...NO possibility to change the fontsize...
Is the difference that big between developing an Iphone app and developing the same for WinMobile? Of course, I know the "unique hardware" thing with the Iphone...BUT: why do free developers out there bring up very nice and goog looking applications/themes, while the commercial developers sometimes don´t give a penny on perfection?
I do not understand this issue..
Apple has standard controls that are used while developing apps. In wm, the standard ones are bad. So companies develop their own or use others... so there's no consistency between apps and other issues you mention. Maybe you should get the iphone in stead of the HD2.
lorin.bute said:
Maybe you should get the iphone in stead of the HD2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why everytime argue in that way? ---> don´t get my wrong, as I said above, I don´t want to start an Iphone vs. WM war here...but I think nobody can´t deny the fact, that many of the WM applications are still looking old fashioned or unfinished...aren´t they?? And my question is: why is this? especially here. inesoft wants to compete with other calendar-suppliers. take a closer look on the link I´ve posted above...i´ve installed the demoversion, it looks horrible to me!! $13,95?
As I said: free devs are programming nice tools/themes and so on...commercials often don´t.
brooon said:
Why everytime argue in that way? ---> go and buy an iphone...don´t get my wrong, as I said above, I don´t want to start an Iphone vs. WM war here...but I think nobody can´t deny the fact, that many of the WM applications are still looking old fashioned or unfinished...aren´t they?? And my question is: why is this?
As I said: free devs are programming nice tools/themes and so on...commercials often don´t.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you seem to be starting that discussion yourself lol. I think the comment to get an iphone was kind and reasonable. If what you are looking for is apps that all look the same with the same buttons and fonts then an iphone is a good product for you. However, if you require functionality that only winmobile provides that is a different story. A better way to have responded, instead of pointing out that nobody can deny certain "facts" was begging for people to point out the fact that those aren't "facts" I am smiling while i write so i am in a fun loving mood, take my comments as you will but realize that you are talking to die hard winmobile folks who generally do not like Apple for many reasons beyond the iphone. cheers
Try SBSH calendar touch I think that one is customizable, It's not iphone like but you may like it.
I do realize that win mo apps aren't as nice looking as the ones on the iphone, and i wish they were, but i'm also able to get past this and realize that the functionality i get out of those apps or win mo is far greater.
And yes, i was kind with the "get the iphone" comment. No harm intended.
EDIT:
Let me explain once more.
A control is a button, a text box, a search field, a drop down list, a check box, a list and so on. Apple has made those controls in a very nice fashion and they are available to every developer. Microsoft's win mo controls look really bad so that's why many win mo developers make their own. Many try but fail. That's why apps look bad. We need to get beautiful standardized controls for win mo and we will see a change. I guess that's coming with WM7. Anyway, one software company that impressed me with their apps is SPB. I can also add Iconsoft in that category, with their Phonex.
Hey again!
Thank you both for your comments! I have to add that my written english is not that good, so if my postings above sounded upset i´m deeply sorry for that, this should just be based on my lack of "feeling the language"!! I´m in more than a funny mood too and I smiled while writing the comments, because I was afraid having become an unintended "victim" of these unfactual WinMo/Iphone discussion (there are more than enough on this world, the worries are eligible, aren´t they? )
@lorin.bute: Thank you for your explanation! I knew that point, and you are right, many win mo developers make their own controls here (what even could be an enrichment I think! ). That´s perhaps one of the main points I initially wanted to ask for...I don´t know what you have programmed/designed yourself, but i´m sure that you all know the intention, to make something "perfect". When these guys from Inesoft are designing some buttons (e.g. menu and calenders)...why the hell aren´t these buttons designed in the same way/with the same fonts? To use a consistent style within one program makes it more valuable, or am I wrong?
Yes, full agree, SPB are one of my most cherished developers for WinMo, ageye is doing a good job too.
I was looking around at roms and themes for this phone (which I currently do not have btw, but I am planning on getting it)... it seems like all the themes are basically the same, just 'this moved here, this icon is now this icon'...etc... which honestly is leaving something to the imagination, i would like to have more customizations available, but maybe I am not looking in the right sections or at the right apps / roms / themes.... I am coming from an iphone just to give you the perspective and have been used to using things like inav themes/ dbar themes/ ...winterboard... and I have been able to completely re engineer the look and feel of the phone, and I was wondering if this is possible on the HD2 ?
I would love to be able to do these things because I would feel sort of 'walled in' by only being able to change things like colors, icons, etc...maybe I am missing something ? idk... please enlighten me... this is the only fault I can find on this phone (which does disappoint me, because I love everything else about this phone...).. I dont know what else to say, but to ask for your advice/ expertise on this topic... please help!
Not only is the HD2 born with 2 "base-themes", Sense and Titanium...
- there is also a vaste amount of UI tweaks and themes, which allows you to customize the phoneGUI in many ways.
I don't know exactly what you're looking for, as I have never felt the urge to play around with an iPhone (besides throwing them into things).
Could you perhaps provide some screenshots showing what you're looking for?
erebusting said:
I was looking around at roms and themes for this phone (which I currently do not have btw, but I am planning on getting it)... it seems like all the themes are basically the same, just 'this moved here, this icon is now this icon'...etc... which honestly is leaving something to the imagination, i would like to have more customizations available, but maybe I am not looking in the right sections or at the right apps / roms / themes.... I am coming from an iphone just to give you the perspective and have been used to using things like inav themes/ dbar themes/ ...winterboard... and I have been able to completely re engineer the look and feel of the phone, and I was wondering if this is possible on the HD2 ?
I would love to be able to do these things because I would feel sort of 'walled in' by only being able to change things like colors, icons, etc...maybe I am missing something ? idk... please enlighten me... this is the only fault I can find on this phone (which does disappoint me, because I love everything else about this phone...).. I dont know what else to say, but to ask for your advice/ expertise on this topic... please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a windows mobile phone is the most customizable phone! you can't compare this to an iphone, as you can nearly change everything.
you can use the ui of your choice, so when you don't like sense for example, you can use sbp, throttle launcher, titanium, or whatever gui you can find and you do like.
maybe a specific ui like sense is limited concerning customization, but the phone/winmo platform is definetly not. there are plenty of different guis for winmo.
erebusting said:
I was looking around at roms and themes for this phone (which I currently do not have btw, but I am planning on getting it)... it seems like all the themes are basically the same, just 'this moved here, this icon is now this icon'...etc... which honestly is leaving something to the imagination, i would like to have more customizations available, but maybe I am not looking in the right sections or at the right apps / roms / themes.... I am coming from an iphone just to give you the perspective and have been used to using things like inav themes/ dbar themes/ ...winterboard... and I have been able to completely re engineer the look and feel of the phone, and I was wondering if this is possible on the HD2 ?
I would love to be able to do these things because I would feel sort of 'walled in' by only being able to change things like colors, icons, etc...maybe I am missing something ? idk... please enlighten me... this is the only fault I can find on this phone (which does disappoint me, because I love everything else about this phone...).. I dont know what else to say, but to ask for your advice/ expertise on this topic... please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's wrong with you? Please DO read the Themes and Apps section properly before posting, and keep in mind that the phone is almost 6 months old... Personally, I don't know about a more customizable phone than a Windows 6.5/6.5.x phone.
I did not realize!
Wow thanks for all your responses! I did not realize that there were other GUI's that I could use, which is what I was talking about basically... I was only viewing Sense/manilla theming and those look all pretty simliar, same stuff in the same places etc....Also I will post a screen shot of my current iphone look as an example later on when I get the chance....I would like to be able to have alot of functionality with different gestures and alot of eye candy is a must! =)...
well could I ask you all this then : what is your favorite UI (or some of your favorites) and please shortly explain why ?
Thanks very much your comments are very helpful to me....
erebusting said:
Wow thanks for all your responses! I did not realize that there were other GUI's that I could use, which is what I was talking about basically... I was only viewing Sense/manilla theming and those look all pretty simliar, same stuff in the same places etc....Also I will post a screen shot of my current iphone look as an example later on when I get the chance....I would like to be able to have alot of functionality with different gestures and alot of eye candy is a must! =)...
well could I ask you all this then : what is your favorite UI (or some of your favorites) and please shortly explain why ?
Thanks very much your comments are very helpful to me....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As it's clear you're not quite familiar with Windows Mobile phones, let's bring you up to date:
Windows mobile allows you to do just about anything with the system, i.e. changing just about every aspect of your phone, including (especially) the user interface.
There are tonnes of shells out there. Most of the people like using Sense 2.5, so they would rather just tweak here and there so that it fits their liking. Those who don't use sense, they switch to all kinds of other things they prefer.. including someone whom i saw using the standard windows gui.
If you'd like to take a look at that monstrosity, click on settings, all settings, today, items, and turn GTC Sense off.
Below, take a quick look at what's possible, just because it's windows mobile:
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I love Sense, but here are some other stuff you can consider:
SPB mobile shell
winterface
home2
Androkkid
pointUI
(think there are quite a few others as well)
You can even use "UI Switcher" to play with multiple UIs on 1 phone. Me, I like Sense 2.5, though I must admit once in a while I switch to SPB mobile shell for the fun of it.
one of my recent iphone looks...
this is one of my recent themes I used on my iphone, as you can see it is very different from the original theme..it is also landscape... this is not my most recent one though, I am currently using another one which I will post later... and actually on the first picture, I fixed the theme to where the time, and date and such line up in the box on the bottom left (if viewing in portrait)..
the second two items are just some themes for an example ...they show you how different you could make the iphone look from its default look...
Hi to All and specifically to Singaporeans,
Do you live in Singapore and are quite peeved that you cant read straits times in your Windows Mobile handset?
Well this is the app for you. With UI similar to metro, it allows you to read full articles without the need to visit Straits Times' website on your phone.
Now with offline reading capabilities for your transit needs!
The app needs CF3.5 and is created with the help of the excellent sliderlist by Obelix_A
Current Features
- read full articles available from StraitsTimes.com Free
- view pictures and captions related to the articles
- change font size for articles
- offline syncing
- low-bandwidth mode (by displaying images only when articles are read)
- auto updater
Planned Features
- reading of articles from a specific date
- bookmarking articles
Known Bugs/Issues
- application is known to crash for Omnia2 and OmniaPro devices, upon a selection of a section
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download fromhttp://appslah.com/stmobile.cab Version 0.694
i would appreciate feedback and feature-requests.
GOOD JOB!
I'm SO downloading this.
thanks for the support
Some initial comments and thoughts about this app:
- The tick at the top right feels naturally clickable. I guess that's because to the average windows phone user, that top right has always either been an "OK" or a "X" so it's somewhat natural to assume whatever icon is on the top right is clickable
- The physics of the flow of the menu items are very very sensitive. If I drag them for a distance equivalent to half of my screen height, they disappear for quite some time before they bounce back. It is also kind of laggy. I understand alot of this has to do with windows mobile OS itself, so I'm not blaming you on this. This is really a good UI effort.
Otherwise this application feels way beyond good comparing with the average windows mobile application. Its metro-like UI is REALLY appealing for a change for my windows mobile device. All functions are working great and browsing the news is a pleasure.
Definitely recommend this app to any windows mobile users in Singapore. I'm gonna spread this app to some friends and partners of mine in Microsoft. I'm sure they will be impressed with this! Good work!
Tested on: HTC Touch Diamond 2 (Topaz) running Windows Mobile 6.5
aeronex said:
Some initial comments and thoughts about this app:
- The tick at the top right feels naturally clickable. I guess that's because to the average windows phone user, that top right has always either been an "OK" or a "X" so it's somewhat natural to assume whatever icon is on the top right is clickable
ahhh its the sync icon. will display some other icon instead of the tick in next releases... did not occur to be since i been using 6.5.3 for some time
- The physics of the flow of the menu items are very very sensitive. If I drag them for a distance equivalent to half of my screen height, they disappear for quite some time before they bounce back. It is also kind of laggy. I understand alot of this has to do with windows mobile OS itself, so I'm not blaming you on this. This is really a good UI effort.
did not really got to test it with resistive devices. But much of the credit for the physics of the slider goes to Obenix. I think he has done a great job with that wonderful control. i would refer to him on the matter of being able to lower the sensitivity for non capacitive models
Otherwise this application feels way beyond good comparing with the average windows mobile application. Its metro-like UI is REALLY appealing for a change for my windows mobile device. All functions are working great and browsing the news is a pleasure. Perhaps an addition of font size option perhaps in the forms of + or - will be good.
i was hugely inspired and loved metro UI when it came out. was around the same time when i was designing the backend, so heck decided it should follow the WP7 design elements.
The A + or - was orignially a feature request from 'wm007' of mobinauts, credits to him for that idea. Will follow your advice and add the option to change the font size for all other windows in the next release as well. thanks
Definitely recommend this app to any windows mobile users in Singapore. I'm gonna spread this app to some friends and partners of mine in Microsoft. I'm sure they will be impressed with this! Good work!
lol chris chin knows about it, am waiting for market place approval before i proceed to submit the other local news outlets apps (unoffical)
Tested on: HTC Touch Diamond 2 (Topaz) running Windows Mobile 6.5
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Most of the best pillars of this app would not be without the input or ideas of fellow users. thanks once again for the input.
oh ya, and here is the app compared against other variants on other platforms:
I have tried it on Omnia II and the application is well designed but abit of laggyness in scrolling up and down in the tiles section and the stories text section, if u reach the very end of the text, and overscrolls it, it will take a while to jump back to the text area. Overall i find the application simple and light
Btw, i noe the app through aeronex haha...
Wow! Great! Haha I guess the developers network for Windows Mobile in Singapore is indeed quite small! ^^ I know of several other windows mobile developers also working with not only Chris but also many other peeps in Microsoft.
In any case, The HD2 has the most capable processor, so I'm not entirely sure if it's a very fair test, but I can definitely vouch that this user interface is the best I've seen. I love it!
Apologies about the font + and - actually. I just realized that your app already has the small and big "A"s which in my opinion is more than enough. Very strange I missed that just now, apologies ^^
aeronex said:
Wow! Great! Haha I guess the developers network for Windows Mobile in Singapore is indeed quite small! ^^ I know of several other windows mobile developers also working with not only Chris but also many other peeps in Microsoft.
lol ismael? he seems quite busy with WP7 these days
In any case, The HD2 has the most capable processor, so I'm not entirely sure if it's a very fair test, but I can definitely vouch that this user interface is the best I've seen. I love it!
the only other wm i have is a LGKS20, it has the bounce lag issue. Also the part where the screen is QVGA and cannot "sense" the clicks on tiles. news loading times are averge. lol will do a comparison with all 4 devices next time
Apologies about the font + and - actually. I just realized that your app already has the small and big "A"s which in my opinion is more than enough. Very strange I missed that just now, apologies ^^neh, its ok. i kinda feel the news list needs it too... i personally find that font big... others says its small.... might as well leave it customizable per user
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CNA app also done. will PM you when i have a beta of it ready
hazeline said:
I have tried it on Omnia II and the application is well designed but abit of laggyness in scrolling up and down in the tiles section and the stories text section, if u reach the very end of the text, and overscrolls it, it will take a while to jump back to the text area. Overall i find the application simple and light
Btw, i noe the app through aeronex haha...
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Known Bugs/Issues
- application is known to crash for Omnia2 and OmniaPro devices, upon a selection of a section
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i am glad its working for you. i am still trying to find a permanent fix for my other samsung users who face the "outofmemoryexception". Do let me know if the app hangs for your device or what nots errors. So far this problem seems peculiar to the two samsung devices only.
Okae. Yeah, Ismael. The other Chris ^^
lol ya
anyhow, on a side note, got a nice email with some good news from microsoft this morning
Great! All the best for that!
ops, haha after the second try of the app and after i click on a news title to load a full story, i experienced a out of memory exception, it will go on and on even if i restart the application. Would you want the error details?
haha not to worry, am looking into that issue. hope to get it sorted out by this weekend
Congratulations on being featured on the frontpage! Read it on the twitter widget on my nexus this afternoon!
lol did not know until you informed me bro. wow, XDA is as supportive as what i always heard them to be. Thanks
Ooooops... this should be on the general apps forum instead of TOPAZ forum???
DLing....
Think there's more than one thread about this ^^
aeronex said:
Think there's more than one thread about this ^^
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yea, did not know the best way to find sg winmo users here... so resorted to that
Alright folks, here's my impressions/review of the Captivate after 3 days of use.
I won't go into technical details here, you can look those up elsewhere.
This is just some "real-world" usage info for anyone on the fence or whatnot. Obviously, no iTunes bloatware or anything to screw with. Rooting this took about two minutes once I had all the software I needed installed (which is simply extracting a zip file, so it's not that big of deal, in itself)
The unlock screen is a 3x3 screen that you can set into any pattern you'd like to set. Simply connecting straight lines of dots or doing a big S or something, you can set this pattern however you'd like. Unlike the iPhone, which you have to unlock THEN enter the pass code, you just have to know the unlock pattern to get into this phone, saving a step. Huge advantage just for casual folks.
Granted, the 9 dot (3x3) unlock isn't as numerous in possible combinations as is a custom code, but as I said: "casual" folks, and you can set an additional code there if you'd like.
Second, the Facebook integration (I'd imagine the Twitter/MySpace is the same, I don't use those) is great. Whereas the iPhone really won't integrate much other than photos, you can integrate calendar events, status updates, and everything without ever having to pull up the Facebook app itself. From one calendar I can see both Facebook events and my Google Calendar events... Just little stuff makes you happy. Of course stuff like this is to be expected on Android. I could go on and on of all these awesome little differences, but I'm just picking a few of what I think are popular examples.
Third, the size is just slightly bigger than the iPhone, of course. Thickness is about the same, but the bigger screen means it's SLIGHTLY bigger. IMO this is the PERFECT size of screen for something in your pocket. Looking at the iPhone's is like torture now. Whereas it's still a good size to fit in your pocket.
One note about this phone is that it's LIGHT. Very light, yet at least this ATT version feels solidly sturdy. It's also got the easiest to access battery cover I've ever used.
Tons of customizations. TouchWiz isn't bad, and I like Samsung's Facebook widget better than the actual Facebook widget... But I switched to Launcher Pro simply because it has a ton of options. Displaying your App Drawer in 3D is awesome, for example. You can set number of desktops, etc... Tons of options with Launcher Pro.
Battery life seems to be acceptable. As with many batteries it won't reach it's "maturity" until I've gone through 5 or so charges... Day 1 and 2 I had it plugged in quite often, so this will be my first day going straight through. I can say that I unplugged it 5 hours ago and it's dropped 25%, with moderate (IMO) usage. Again, that can only get better over time. I think it'd be safe to say I can get a whole day out of this phone.
Now the primary reason for this was the Super AMOLED display.
First, sunlight viewing. Here are some pics comparing it to my 3GS. This slightly wins in the sunlight test.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
You can also notice... Images (and everything) looks better on the Super AMOLED. There's debate about text, and I will admit the iPhone 4 is capable of better text display, but when held at arm's (normal) length, I can't tell any quality difference between my laptop and the text quality of the Super AMOLED. IMO if you have to study the display with a microscope to tell the difference, than well... I'll just say it: iPhone users paid a premium for a feature that lacks real-world relevance.
Onto viewing angles. Hands down, the Super AMOLED wins.
Obviously, color reproduction is better. Here's the same pic on both that displays the black levels, however... Super AMOLED again wins hands down:
Tons of advantages here. Android accounts for many of them. This is hands-down the best phone I've used (and yes, the iPhone 4 is included in that).
My only minor gripe is the home screen buttons don't stay lit up for the duration of the display, they time out after several seconds (versus the 30 seconds or so I have the screen set to). Just an annoyance which I'm sure will be fixed at some point, again: this device isn't even released yet and it has some great community fixes going for it already.
For those of you that want an awesome phone that doesn't drop the signal with a fingertip, this is it
Thanks man! Good review, and it is quick and straight to the point!
Great review, thanks for the info . When did you get yours and for how much? (on or off contract?)
p.s. I'd take those pics again for image comparison after you wipe both of those screens off . I think i can see a booger on the first iphone pic. lol jk, but it would really help us see the difference better if both screens were clean
*edit: that is if you care or have the time. Thanks again.
Great work! Quick question if you don't mind. I've heard rumors of not being able to download 3rd party apps from the Android Market thanks to AT&T... tell me this isn't true
Understandably this is Android and even if it were true,there will be a way around it thanks to this wonderful site and its users but I just wanted to know. Thanks
John J
jjimenezjj said:
Great work! Quick question if you don't mind. I've heard rumors of not being able to download 3rd party apps from the Android Market thanks to AT&T... tell me this isn't true
Understandably this is Android and even if it were true,there will be a way around it thanks to this wonderful site and its users but I just wanted to know. Thanks
John J
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Yeah its true but you can still use adb and the phone has already been rooted. Check the Captivate Software Development thread to learn how to do it.
That sucks that its true and great that we can go around it. Thanks for the info
@jjimenezjj 3rd party apps are those not in the Android Market, like betas or test run apps, so anything in the market should be fine. But with the free ADB tool in the Android SDK any app can be pushed to the phone and so "side-loaded. "
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Hmmm. I have all sorts of apps from the Android store on my Captivate. E-Wallet Viewer, Yelp, Documents-to-go, YPmobile. . . .
What I don't like is that AT&T doesn't package any useful business friendly apps on it, like Doc's2Go, so you have to buy those. They need to get rid of the bloatware and add some business friendly apps. Losing a couple of the map apps would be good.
If you use exchange for mail - there are some issues with that also. The mail client isn't a true exchange client. If you have a link in an appointment, such as checking in for an airline reservation like Southwest or American, you cannot click on the link and go to the website from the appointment pop-up. Bad form. Hopefully fixed in A2.2. Also, unlike the BlackBerry, you can't sync personal folders from outlook. Another feature that'd be nice. Customization is amazingly easy. And rooting is really simple.
Otherwise a great phone. Decent battery life, expecially if you don't use an Active Wallpaper. I'm not going back to my Blackberry Bold II. . . . .
systoxity said:
Great review, thanks for the info . When did you get yours and for how much? (on or off contract?)
p.s. I'd take those pics again for image comparison after you wipe both of those screens off . I think i can see a booger on the first iphone pic. lol jk, but it would really help us see the difference better if both screens were clean
*edit: that is if you care or have the time. Thanks again.
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I was lucky and got mine for 299 off contact.
Really don't care about cleaning the screens off lol. Purpose was simply too compare the two screens.