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Impressions from HTC Cruise - Windows Mobile
Hello All,
I have been relatively new here, but I thought I could contribute in the forums by posting my (unbiased) views about HTC Cruise here, hoping other people may find them useful. I am a software developer, so although I do not have an experience with hi-tech PDAs and smartphones, (never owned such a device before), I am fine with the technicalities of such devices.
My everyday phone was a simple sony ericson K510i . What had always annoyed me was that in most "simple" phones, it was quite hard to control the phone via my PC, do backups, backup contacts, SMSes, etc. My sony was good, I had found "MYPhoneExplorer" which pretty much did all those things for my phone. The screen was little bit outdated in terms of resolution, but I did not mind much.
And then came iPhone (which I never owned). I was impressed by its design, usability and user friendliness. I also liked the idea of having WiFi on it. I was close to buying that phone and using one of the available tools to unlock it, (noway I would pay for a contract - I am UK based). My brother who is into mobiles and gadgets more than I am, commented on the fact that iPhone is an "old" generation phone in terms of phone technologies and overpriced. I soon realised it was quite overpriced and started looking at alternatives. I was happy to see HTC would release a really cool phone, which I could get as my Christmas gift (yes, dream on, I had my eyes on it since November and managed to get it this February)...
So, what are my impressions so far?
I dare to say, quite mixed...
On the one hand this device is really wicked and cool! It has all the things I had always liked and needed in a single device. Packing a GPS, a radio, 3G, WiFi in a nice package is just amazing. I can now listen to music, watch videos, find my way around using GPS and have a nice PDA. These are really cool things! No need to have my pockets filled with separate devices...
On the other hand, this phone costed me little bit less than 400 pounds. One can argue you can get a laptop for that price, but then again, a laptop is not a phone. The video issues has not been much of an issue for me, I encode my videos at QVGA and all is well. However, I do get *very* upset when I realise that there is hidden potential in the hardware platform which has not been utilised. What I found bad straight from the moment i used it, is that when i press the "phone-call" hard button, there really is a lag when drawing the blue rectangle above the dialpad, (I am talking about the area which shows the names of your contacts as you type the numbers below.) I mean, come on, so much CPU power, and I can see the blue area being drawn? The other things is that if a couple of applications are running, then the phone does not seem to be operating so smoothly. Again, in order to be fair, it is still very usable. However, as things stand now in the market, in terms of specifications this phone is easily on the upper part, so in my opinion it should be fast, not just "very usable".
My other bit of criticism is probably related to Windows rather than HTC cruise. I find this OS quite interesting on the device, there is a huge applications' base and the things that are missing can be coded by talented people. However, I find the platform a little bit of a pain to use in a pure phone context. Why do i have to check an option everytime I want to get back a delivery report for my SMS? Why do I have to hack the registry to make this permanent? I set a wallpaper in my phone, then I set its transparency, then I realise it is hidden by the today plugin, which I can of course disable. If I disable it I loose certain features which are accessible straight away. I can of course get a new plugin that matchs my needs. Why is it so hard to have tabs with incoming/outgoing/missed calls? This is a feature that phones that cost 10 times less have. Of course Windows 6.1 has this, but then I would have to "install" a new ROM. Simple question: Why do I have to do these things? Why dont' they get it right from the beginning? Don't get me wrong, I am a technology enthusiast and I am sure I will manage to set up the phone the way I want. A number of users out there will do the same thing. However, is this platform one that non-enthusiasts would find user-friendly?
Look at all those skins and modding. Really cool. And the moment you press a button on your really cool new Today plugin, an ungly Windows application will pop up.
I hope that my criticism will be received well here! I like the phone, Windows is cool on it, but I think Microsoft has quite some way to go in order to make their platform really simple to use and user-friendly (think iPhone for example, my parents could use that, but I am quite sure if I show them my phone, they will not know how to make a a phonecall with it!)
In many ways some requirements are contradictory: Being user-friendly means you may have to hide settings, having your platform run on a variety of hardware means you cut corners here and there. Hopefully Microsoft will get it right with version 7 and 8, screenshots look quite good.
As for HTC... They lost a little bit of their credibility with a couple of issues for me. First the sound issue with the french rom which was initially denied and then fixed by people in this forum, then of course the drivers issue. I intend to make good use of this cool phone and customise it to my needs, it just takes time.
For your information, I find these applications useful:
Coreplayer (obviously!)
TouchPal keyboard works good for me
WKTask (and get rid off that default task switcher)
MyMobiler installs on your PC and a little "daemon-service" on your phone, (which you can disable). Then it allows you to control your phone from your desktop.
PocketCM did not particularly appeal to me, so I removed it
FunContact was cool, and loved it. Unfortunately, two things were not so good:
a) Splash screen and loading time
b) sometimes it made my phone freeze
Thanks for reading this (long) post,
Michael
Good post...Here are my impressions as well.
I used to carry a Palm Tx and a Motorala SLVR. I have been looking for the most ideal device to "do it all", PDA, phone (quad band gsm, tri band umts), wifi, and gps. There was nothing realy that appealing on the market until I read about the HTC Touch Cruise.
I read about people's complaints about the "driver" issues and hardware acceleration, and decided to take the risk and bought the phone from a gsm seller online. The phone was unbranded and did not have any stupid carrier proprietary software.
For the most part, I am very happy with the Touch Cruise. I have dumped the palm pda and the slvr, and have not looked back.
I just spent the last 2 weeks traveling to UK (London), Germany (Frankfurt), and Italy (Padova). As a mobile phone, the Touch Cruise functioned flawlessly and had 3G connections where they were available. Couldn't have asked for better features out of a "world" phone.
The TomTom GPS also ran quite well (Western Europe maps). Had to drive alot in Frankfurt and never got lost. Even traffic reports were right on the money.
As for a PDA, it blows the Palm syncing and calendar features out of the water. I used to be a Palm pilot only person, but Palm has become a dinasaur in their attutude to features and interface. The pocket pc has in my opinion surpassed them.
As a portable media device, it does kind of ok . Core Media Player is a must install, microsoft's media players still suck and are not usable and dont support all codecs. This device is not really ideal for video in my opinion. You have to re-encode videos to QVGA for ppc level quality, then video will play fine. You cant simply take a wmv file and dump it on the device to view, it wont work. As for music/mp3's, it works great. I got on a 10 hour flight from UK to US, and used it play music and games, and still had 40% battery charge left over and used an hour of GPS on the way home, with 20% left over.
In all fairness, the HTC could run a little faster, but I blame Microsoft and HTC for hogging up the cpu and not using hardware acceleration.
Since media (video) is not high on my list of required features, I am quite happy with the HTC Touch Cruise.
darkazally, I tend to agree with you really...
I guess if one did not have such a device before or had a really old one, then HTC Cruise is really super. On the other hand I can see certain people's frustration with Cruise. It is mostly people who owned 3 or 4 PDAs before and were probably expecting to be blown away by its specs; I kind of sypathise with them....
I read in an article written by someone at Microsoft, that companies tend to overload Windows with their own propriatory software and then the whole experience goes downwards. He mentioned that for the next versions of windows mobile, they intend to post stricter requirements just because of this situation.
As I also read in these forums, people who got their devices from O2 (just to mention a single company), seem to have more issues with HTC's performance...
I enjoy using the phone everyday and I am in the process of customising it to my needs, though it takes some time!
Uhhh mymobiler is amazing thanks for posting that! That is frickin sweet!
Great review, I tend to agree.
As far as PIM Management, I came from using two devices, a slim panasonic phone and a Xircom Rex 6000 PDA in the early part of this decade (circa 2001), like you I converged them into a Sony Ericsson phone (T610>T616) which had limited capabilities and lacked a lot of features my Rex had. In 2006, I got my first Windows Mobile smartphone, a Qtek 8310 (HTC Tornado), and now I have the HTC Touch Cruise.
Ever since getting into Windows Mobile, I thought that HTC/Microsoft had delivered great functionality, but poor usability and way too much lag for such high powered devices. Take for instance the settings panel. There are probably over 8 programs (4+networking icons, 3+ button config icons, ect) in there that only have one check box, when I'm sure HTC/Microsoft could very easily put them into one or two easy to use program with a Help feature.
But at the end of the day, I don't care if no one can use my device as long as I understand it. Additional consolation is provided in the fact that this phone looks so damned sexy
My Own impression
First of all, I'm new here & let me introduce my self...
I'm Richard & i'm from Indonesia.
I've waited for +3 months, before I decided to buy HTC Touch Cruise.
My other candidate are Atom Life & Nokia N82.
Soon (2 days) after my pal (who own a PDA shop) introduce me to Touch Cruise, I bought it
First impression is luxury.
Second impression........Windows Mobile sucks......
I have done hard reset for 4 times now....due to mis configure the registry....
I've done quite intensive test on my Touch Cruise, including Video,Audio,GPS,3G & Internet,Battery life & Applications.
This is my score (0-10):
1. Stability : 3 -> Typical Windows product
2. Looks : 9
3. Dimension : 8
4. Features : 8
5. Usability : 8
6. User Friendliness : 6
7. Battery Life : 7
Average score : 7
The Driver issue doesn't bothered me yet, so I'm very pleased with my new Touch Cruise
NOTE:
FYI,try not to uninstall anything from your TC.
Microsoft Windows product tends to leave "garbage" into the Registry & it will slow down your TC.
Choose wisely before installing & if you have to uninstall,search & delete any leftover inside the registry.
d4rkkn16ht said:
1. Stability : 3 -> Typical Windows product
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Click to collapse
What's wrong with stability? I'd have to agree that it is probably not the best device overall, but I didn't have a single stability issue with it. Maybe, you've got a defective one?
You know, there are certain lag things that I don't think are due to video drivers. I mentioned this in another thread "Why the lag" but I used to have a Cingular 8525 and supposedly that device had video drivers. It still lagged with a phone skin when you hit the phone button. Rotating the screen was still slow. I hate little things that lag like that. it should be smooth navigation / interface.
The device doesn't have a cohesive feel to it when we have to customize the **** out of it to get it to work the way we want to. You're right when we make a today screen look good then all the underlying apps are ugly windows apps. Your transparency issue, that can only be done from within the Windows picture viewer not the HTC photo viewer. You need to install your own video player. The HTC video browser app only shows videos with certain extensions. It's like you have to have a specific app for every little thing and then it feels like there isn't a streamlined feel to the device.
I gotta give credit to HTC for trying to improve the interface with their apps, the Windows interface is archaic. It's just the combo of the 2 doesn't allow for a polished interface.
hambola said:
The device doesn't have a cohesive feel to it when we have to customize the **** out of it to get it to work the way we want to.
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Click to collapse
On the other hand, thanks to HTC for a platform that allows us to do so and even greater kudos to all the xda-developer wizards who make it possible (and relatively easy for the most part).
Not enough can be said for xda. Although I'm a new poster I've been reading these forums for about a year now. Helped me out greatly with the 8525 and is proving to be helpful with the Cruise.
>You're right when we make a today screen look good then all the underlying apps are ugly windows apps.
I am happy we agree on this, I just wish it had a little bit of the Apple touch on it, that's all....
>Your transparency issue, that can only be done from within the Windows picture viewer not the HTC photo viewer.
All I wanted is a kind of minimal interface, so I can set my own wallpaper and not have it hidden by the huge HTC today plug-in. I have installed spb shell for a couple of weeks now and it looks great. I also discovered the HTC Home Customiser which looks cool, so, that's nice too.
>You need to install your own video player...
I think HTC should actually write a very generous paycheck for the people that developed CorePlayer. Without that one, Cruise would be a *little* bit of a disaster.
Overall I guess Windows is a versatile OS with lots and lots of space of customisation and at the end you do get it right, it just takes a lot of patience and resets to get there...
rev3nant said:
What's wrong with stability? I'd have to agree that it is probably not the best device overall, but I didn't have a single stability issue with it. Maybe, you've got a defective one?
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Click to collapse
After some intensive test, I found some irritating bug that caused stability issues.
Quick Menu sometimes disappeared after running several applications.
System Hang at random cause.
Some system settings cannot be changed even if you've already change it.
Redundancy in Registry Entry that can cause stability issues if you change the entry. (not considered a bug if you don't change it)
and some other (not quite sure yet...)
Have you tried a different ROM?
Got a company iPhone 3G yesterday and it's an intersting experience how different the devices and their OSes are. Think that's nothing new for the most but I like to share my impressions ...
The iPhone has an impressive build quality, feels very good and solid in your hands. The cold real glass touch screen paired with the chrome border and the smooth back are nicely put together. But it's a little too big, not thick, it's just rather a bigger phone. For surfing the web it's better to be big but for daily use the small dimension of the diamond appear to be more slick.
Safari is incredible in terms of speed and responsiveness. There are definetely moments where Safari isn't reactive but compared Opera it's another league. I am wondering that Opera who is doing browser development on embedded devices for years isn't able to build something similar. Just the time of the first connection and request is MUCH MUCH shorter than on Opera (both tested on 3G). I don' know if this issue is Opera's or WM's IP stack's or the radio ROM's fault. Site rendering, zooming, clicking on links is SO MUCH better than with Opera. I think that's clearly Opera's fault. The non-capacitive touch screen of the Diamond CAN BE reactive, look at TouchFLO on udK's latest BETA. Anyway and the larger screen is more comfortable despite its much lower resolution. But that's again a trade-off when it comes to transportation.
Just saying that the Diamond can be reactive with the right ROMs it's still awesome how much more reactive the iPhone's GUI is: Just swipe the main menu to the left or right a few times (screens are following your finger instantly) and you see what can be done with the right hard and software setup of a mobile device.
Great: the auto completion of recipients. The iPhone looks in your contacts and at the company server for matching namea the same time. SO SO FAST and stylish!
And now I'll make it short: what I am missing
- A2DP: all my devices at home are A2DP devices (3 devices) and it's damn convinient just to enter a room and within seconds you have music, a stylish remote and flexibility. My Diamond is my central music source, all the newest music on it (as my previos WM6 device). Second source is the notebook with my full collection also connected via A2DP with all the devices. Sorry but an iPod connector is so 80ies in times of A2DP
- A2DP tweaking - independently of the question if the iPhone ever will have A2DP I'll enjoy to be able to tweak the sound quality of a WM device to its max. Don't think that an iPhone will ever provide the flexibility when I look at the OSX A2DP stack (more a beta)
- Disc drive mode for syncing media - sorry but I don't want to manage iTunes or anybody to sync or handle my music and other media. Connect the diamond and you get asked if you want an ActiveSync device, a disc drive or an Internet sharing device, that's a PERFECT usability. Choose the disc drive option and go with high USB2.0 transfer speed.
- No calendar events with invitations, YOU CAN NOT invite participants?! Did I missed something? Crucial point, probably something for their next update
- E-Mails are not read/unread marked or do I have to change the settings?
- Smartdial, such a great feature on WM6, still ten times faster calling somebody with the Diamond
Still the GUI is amazing (loving OSX's font rendering) and I am happy that Apple raised the bar for mobile devices' OSes and hope that competitiors come with similar responsiveness & style but I doubt that. Apple showed the direction where mobile devices will go: replacing desktops/notebooks for many use cases.
Finally, the iPhone feels like a dinner in an high-class restaurant. You get four courses of finest french cuisine in a styled environment and pay 400 bucks for two persons. You are entirely impressed but still hungry because of small portions on big plates. So the next time you just get a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke when you are hungry, no style but you get what you asked for. That's Windows.
mttcee said:
Finally, the iPhone feels like a dinner in an high-class restaurant. You get four courses of finest french cuisine in a styled environment and pay 400 bucks for two persons. You are entirely impressed but still hungry because of small portions on big plates. So the next time you just get a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke when you are hungry, no style but you get what you asked for. That's Windows.
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Click to collapse
fantastic description
mttcee said:
... the next time you just get a Big Mac, french fries and a Coke when you are hungry, no style but you get what you asked for. That's Windows.
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Click to collapse
Nah,
not so fantastic description!
People forget too fast how much you can do with Windows Mobile! Installing or programming real offline application for exsample - or customization! The iPhone on the other hand: cut off your internet / 3G and you have most likely an useless (but yet expensive) toy with cool animated menus ... - ... however, still useless!
Junner2003 said:
The iPhone on the other hand: cut off your internet / 3G and you have most likely an useless (but yet expensive) toy with cool animated menus ... - ... however, still useless!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pssst, The Cold War is over,
you can come out of your nuclear bunker.
it is interesting to follow the hype of WP7. i am not a fan of 'early adopter' idea. I am looking for a replacement of my good old HTC touch diamond and still searching some infos regarding WP7 from forums which received several negative feedbacks. I would like to hear from the WP7 power user how i could do the following equivalent tasks in the winmo 6.1 since i use it productively at work and rely heavily on them:
1. Excel Mobile: edit excel file either on the go or on pc to analyse the result graphically and sometimes show it to the client. a sync using mobsync would be done before switching the edit from mobile to pc or vice versa
2. Automatic Call Recorder (ACR): automatically record 2-way call conversation without pressing any button. Useful for recording phone number without taking notes (you could just replay the record many times) or recording directions given by the boss
3. GPS navigation app with offline map and rerouting function: I often lose GSM signal while driving to the clients in remote areas. rerouting is useful if i need to drive to new client which area is unfamiliar and easily to get the wrong turn :-(
4. Sync all outlook + backup SMS data: i am using Activesync for the outlook & PPCPimBackup for the sms. i can get the whole data back from the past to the the latest after the ROM is upgraded e.g. i have 3000+ text messages
5. No data in the cloud - company policy: company data is not allowed to be stored in the cloud whatever the reason. i know it is ridiculous because data could be easily taken if the mobile phone is stolen
6. File explorer: to organise all types of files in the internal storage
nope, wp7 will not fit your needs at all. I would look for a used hd2 if you want newer hardware.
budsant said:
it is interesting to follow the hype of WP7. i am not a fan of 'early adopter' idea. I am looking for a replacement of my good old HTC touch diamond and still searching some infos regarding WP7 from forums which received several negative feedbacks. I would like to hear from the WP7 power user how i could do the following equivalent tasks in the winmo 6.1 since i use it productively at work and rely heavily on them:
1. Excel Mobile: edit excel file either on the go or on pc to analyse the result graphically and sometimes show it to the client. a sync using mobsync would be done before switching the edit from mobile to pc or vice versa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has Excel.
2. Automatic Call Recorder (ACR): automatically record 2-way call conversation without pressing any button. Useful for recording phone number without taking notes (you could just replay the record many times) or recording directions given by the boss
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Click to collapse
This is potentially illegal.
3. GPS navigation app with offline map and rerouting function: I often lose GSM signal while driving to the clients in remote areas. rerouting is useful if i need to drive to new client which area is unfamiliar and easily to get the wrong turn :-(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would have to buy an app for this. Google/Bing Navigation isn't offline. I don't think TeleNav is, either. Personally, I would recommend a dedicated GPS system if this is what you need. Nokia phones come with Offline Map capabilities, and there are some apps (may get released soon) which offer it. But it's not a stock function and don't expect Microsoft to offer such a thing in Bing. These things take up a ton of storage space on you device, as well.
4. Sync all outlook + backup SMS data: i am using Activesync for the outlook & PPCPimBackup for the sms. i can get the whole data back from the past to the the latest after the ROM is upgraded e.g. i have 3000+ text messages
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No ( <- forgot that important 2 letter word unintentionally) Sync via USB to outlook. ActiveSync/DeltaSync keeps everything in Sync, anyways. Dunno why anyone keeps that many texts, but Microsoft will roll out Devices.Live.com for WP7 which will allow you to do almost all of what MyPhone offered for Windows Mobile - that includes backing up text messages.
5. No data in the cloud - company policy: company data is not allowed to be stored in the cloud whatever the reason. i know it is ridiculous because data could be easily taken if the mobile phone is stolen
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Click to collapse
Company data does not get stored in the cloud. It's sync'd via the Exchange server the same way Windows Mobile, iOS, Android, and Blackberries Sync it. Windows Phone 7 supports Exchange Remote Wipe.
Your camera roll gets automatically Sync'd to SkyDrive, but why would you take uber sekret company photos on a smartphone, anyways...
6. File explorer: to organise all types of files in the internal storage
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Click to collapse
Don't count on it. The OS organizes things for you into Libraries. This really isn't needed that much. I dunno why people keep asking for it when Microsoft made it pretty clear that it isn't coming. WP7 isn't the only smartphone OS that doesn't have a File Manager in it.
@ Thread Title: Productivity is subjective and depends on what the person does on his/her device. You haven't really give anyone a clue as to what you do on you device, so it's hard to tell if it'll be productive to you. All you've done was put a tacky title on yet another "this is what I want for WP7. Is it there, is it coming, why isn't it there, etc." thread.
That may sound a bit harsh. Not intentionally. But that's basically what it is.
Windows Phone 7 is way more productive than Windows Mobile, generally speaking. Anything except maybe Blackberry OS and Symbian^3 is more productive than Windows Mobile.
N8ter said:
Has Excel.
This is potentially illegal.
Would have to buy an app for this. Google/Bing Navigation isn't offline. I don't think TeleNav is, either. Personally, I would recommend a dedicated GPS system if this is what you need. Nokia phones come with Offline Map capabilities, and there are some apps (may get released soon) which offer it. But it's not a stock function and don't expect Microsoft to offer such a thing in Bing. These things take up a ton of storage space on you device, as well.
Sync via USB to outlook. ActiveSync/DeltaSync keeps everything in Sync, anyways. Dunno why anyone keeps that many texts, but Microsoft will roll out Devices.Live.com for WP7 which will allow you to do almost all of what MyPhone offered for Windows Mobile - that includes backing up text messages.
Company data does not get stored in the cloud. It's sync'd via the Exchange server the same way Windows Mobile, iOS, Android, and Blackberries Sync it. Windows Phone 7 supports Exchange Remote Wipe.
Your camera roll gets automatically Sync'd to SkyDrive, but why would you take uber sekret company photos on a smartphone, anyways...
Don't count on it. The OS organizes things for you into Libraries. This really isn't needed that much. I dunno why people keep asking for it when Microsoft made it pretty clear that it isn't coming. WP7 isn't the only smartphone OS that doesn't have a File Manager in it.
@ Thread Title: Productivity is subjective and depends on what the person does on his/her device. You haven't really give anyone a clue as to what you do on you device, so it's hard to tell if it'll be productive to you. All you've done was put a tacky title on yet another "this is what I want for WP7. Is it there, is it coming, why isn't it there, etc." thread.
That may sound a bit harsh. Not intentionally. But that's basically what it is.
Windows Phone 7 is way more productive than Windows Mobile, generally speaking. Anything except maybe Blackberry OS and Symbian^3 is more productive than Windows Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you spent way too much time on that response to someone who obviously has no intention of getting a wp7 device.
But a great response none the less...
nrfitchett4 said:
you spent way too much time on that response to someone who obviously has no intention of getting a wp7 device.
But a great response none the less...
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Click to collapse
Wrong attitude. He wants to know if he can use new OS and do things he needs to do.
doministry said:
Wrong attitude. He wants to know if he can use new OS and do things he needs to do.
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Click to collapse
He could have read any of the 400 reviews on this OS in its infancy and figured that out.
cloudy cloudy
@N8ter: thanks for the explanation. WP7 is connection data intensive, it needs a good data plan
@nrfitchett4: wow, i can feel the heat from your replies. calm down... anyway, i think older gadget such ad hd2 is more suitable for me (though i don't like its battery capacity for the huge display). you are right
@All others: any other opinions ?
my opinion: i get the feeling that without a good network coverage & signal the newer OSes (android/wp7/iphone) will reduce its ability to perform even a simple task. we are getting dependent a lot on the cloud
budsant said:
@N8ter: thanks for the explanation. WP7 is connection data intensive, it needs a good data plan
@nrfitchett4: wow, i can feel the heat from your replies. calm down... anyway, i think older gadget such ad hd2 is more suitable for me (though i don't like its battery capacity for the huge display). you are right
@All others: any other opinions ?
my opinion: i get the feeling that without a good network coverage & signal the newer OSes (android/wp7/iphone) will reduce its ability to perform even a simple task. we are getting dependent a lot on the cloud
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. Not trying to flame, just a lot of hate threads hear lately. Honestly for what you want to do, an hd2 is probably your best. Mature OS with high end device specs. Extended battery is available if you can stand the hump it will add, or carrying a spare battery is what I did with my tp2.
budsant said:
@N8ter: thanks for the explanation. WP7 is connection data intensive, it needs a good data plan
@nrfitchett4: wow, i can feel the heat from your replies. calm down... anyway, i think older gadget such ad hd2 is more suitable for me (though i don't like its battery capacity for the huge display). you are right
@All others: any other opinions ?
my opinion: i get the feeling that without a good network coverage & signal the newer OSes (android/wp7/iphone) will reduce its ability to perform even a simple task. we are getting dependent a lot on the cloud
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am poweruser of WM considering it's features as top.
And than I bought WP which I use for 3 weeks.
First, it's not true WP7 will not work without data transfer.
Mine works exactly like it should with data off. I mean it requires transfer for the things which need it anyway like email, browser etc.
I don't buy music from the marketplace...
Yes there are some apps which are connection based like translators ect. and I would love to see it offline too.
Now productivity - it's a question of what you really need.
In fact WP7 with Office and OneNote built in is very productive.
I love the platform for it's power and execution.
However I do miss things from WM. Android is unnacceptable UI wise....
So I am staying with WP7 if Microsoft will add more features to it.
If not - it will be tough call.
Now feeling how WP7 works I don't want to step back and everything else FEELS like a step backwards. And I hope I will not be forced to do it.
But my WM6.5 device is still with me ready to come back.
Well Said
doministry said:
I am poweruser of WM considering it's features as top.
And than I bought WP which I use for 3 weeks.
First, it's not true WP7 will not work without data transfer.
Mine works exactly like it should with data off. I mean it requires transfer for the things which need it anyway like email, browser etc.
I don't buy music from the marketplace...
Yes there are some apps which are connection based like translators ect. and I would love to see it offline too.
Now productivity - it's a question of what you really need.
In fact WP7 with Office and OneNote built in is very productive.
I love the platform for it's power and execution.
However I do miss things from WM. Android is unnacceptable UI wise....
So I am staying with WP7 if Microsoft will add more features to it.
If not - it will be tough call.
Now feeling how WP7 works I don't want to step back and everything else FEELS like a step backwards. And I hope I will not be forced to do it.
But my WM6.5 device is still with me ready to come back.
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Well said. I still have my HTC FUZE, in fact the SIM card I used in my new Samsung Focus was the one I used in the FUZE. I can insert it back into the FUZE anytime I want to. But, even though I used WM for years, and tweaked it, customized it, loaded 4 new Radio ROMs and 5 custom ROMs, I am staying with the WP7 phone. For me, it is smoother, faster, and everything is well integrated. I am looking forward to updates and new features, but for now, it is an awesome experience. I now realize that I had loaded up my WM 6.5.5 phone with a lot of crap I never used and don't miss now. OK, I understand that people want the "right" to load their phone up with "Crap" they'll never use, and some "Crap" they will use, and for those, they'll have to wait on WP7 or remain with WM or some other OS, and that's fine. Personally, I would have loved WM still being upgraded on the latest hardware, I would have stayed with that, I think. But having moved to WP7, I won't go back.
nrfitchett4 said:
you spent way too much time on that response to someone who obviously has no intention of getting a wp7 device.
But a great response none the less...
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it was time very well spent. N8ter's post answered my questions without me having to make a new thread.
thebranded said:
it was time very well spent. N8ter's post answered my questions without me having to make a new thread.
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+1
its good to see wm users experiences and questions about a possible up/down grade to wp.
very useful stuff.
Touching on N8ter's point on libraries and file managers... If you think about it, those libraries ARE file managers, and are actually more effective than a file manager would be. The only thing, which will be fixed with W8 and Mango working together, is better SkyDrive integration so you have a much easier way of syncing your files. I mean, I honestly have never used my phone as a flash drive, and the only reason I ever used a file manager in the past was for .cab files... Which we don't need any more.
But, I can't wait for SkyDrive to work as it needs to coming up, I think THAT is my most important feature coming considering I'm a student and would make my life significantly easier. I do see an ability to hook up the phone to a PC in the future and Word automatically recognize your Word files on a WinPhone device though... Not as a mass storage, as an additional "library" for files... If you understand what I mean here.
Libraries aren't a file manager. It isn't a replacement, either. There's no control over a library. It's an automatic classification of media on the device based on the media type. You can't take a private file and put it somewhere on the device where it will not show up in a Library, and that's an issue for some people. If you have any private documents/images/videos on your phone, it's hard to let anyone who thinks the phone looks interesting play with it because all of those files are right there in plain sight in the Hubs, so you have to tell them to go to a Carrier store if they wanna play with one. That's not an issue on i.e. an Android phone because you can hide the file in a nested folder and set it so that the folder's files are not displayed in the Gallery.
Also, the lack of a file manager is keeping things like BT File transfer and File Transfer in IM applications out at the moment, and it make sit ridiculously hard to put files on the device and keep them organized.
One of the best features of Android Office applications is their integrated file manager and Cloud Integration.
SkyDrive will be nice, but without a decent file manager Office will still be worthless to me because there's no way I'm putting all my files on SkyDrive. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have 5 computers here and do not need Microsoft to hold my files. I like my stuff to be organized, and I don't want everything on the internet... Skydrive also doesn't have the best file type support for Synching...
Do you back up your camera roll to SkyDrive automatically?
N8ter said:
Libraries aren't a file manager. It isn't a replacement, either. There's no control over a library. It's an automatic classification of media on the device based on the media type. You can't take a private file and put it somewhere on the device where it will not show up in a Library, and that's an issue for some people. If you have any private documents/images/videos on your phone, it's hard to let anyone who thinks the phone looks interesting play with it because all of those files are right there in plain sight in the Hubs, so you have to tell them to go to a Carrier store if they wanna play with one. That's not an issue on i.e. an Android phone because you can hide the file in a nested folder and set it so that the folder's files are not displayed in the Gallery.
Also, the lack of a file manager is keeping things like BT File transfer and File Transfer in IM applications out at the moment, and it make sit ridiculously hard to put files on the device and keep them organized.
One of the best features of Android Office applications is their integrated file manager and Cloud Integration.
SkyDrive will be nice, but without a decent file manager Office will still be worthless to me because there's no way I'm putting all my files on SkyDrive. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have 5 computers here and do not need Microsoft to hold my files. I like my stuff to be organized, and I don't want everything on the internet... Skydrive also doesn't have the best file type support for Synching...
Do you back up your camera roll to SkyDrive automatically?
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Bluetooth transfer isn't implemented because Microsoft hasn't yet, not because of any other reason. You could go to any file, or picture, and select Share, and the option could be there, regardless of library. I mean, by that theory, there shouldn't be any method of sharing then. You do it in text messaging at the moment, and in Who's Near Me, it's just the apps haven't implemented them.
If things on your phone are that important, there is a password option. I personally don't let anybody touch my phone. I think my texts are far more 'secret' than any document I can put on my phone, to be honest, but that's just me. I would though like folders in Office to sort out my documents, this may come with the new integration though. I would also like to option to protect the documents as I do on my computer.
As far as putting files on the device, I'm for the whole "only supported files" allowed deal. But, look back at my post, I would like to see something along the lines of: Plug my phone into the computer, open word, and it's there as an extension. Same with other Microsoft applications. Pictures and Music are already done through Zune.
I think I'm also on a different end of the spectrum than you are. Personally I keep all my files on my home network. I also access it remotely. So, full SkyDrive integration would be amazing in my eyes. I'm already at risk connecting to the internet, pretty sure Microsoft can do a better job than me at protecting my files. I already use SkyDrive on my phone through the mobile site too, it's just a hassle in dropping them into the folder I created on my computer, and then downloading them on my phone. This being done automatically would be amazing.
But as far as using it as a storage device for files the phone has no need for, I don't like that idea personally. You have to remember the types of users that are being marketed here. I think something along what I suggested would be best. Security just needs to be upped a little. Let me password protect certain files and I'm fine.
And no, I don't automatically put them on SkyDrive... I think mainly out of habit. But 99% of my pictures go on Facebook the second I snap them. And I use Photobucket quite often... If my Live friends were large in number I'm pretty sure my SkyDrive would be full of public photos.
From all my research on WP7 and HTC HD7, yes it seems very strenuous to do the things we used could do on other 'smartphones' ... Ever since apple came out with the 'app' world... things are being followed(android, Ms).. But what i think is, that with Win 8 on the Horizon, the app world is here to stay, and it shouldn't be a surprise when it will come to, what you can run on your PC, u can also run it on ur mobile... I don't know if such interface has happened with Apple and the Macs and the pods n phones to do that... Google is doing more with chrome to do that with their android... so, will they still have to sit upon other os's to accomplish this or as I think I've heard they are making their own Os... Future stats shows, Apple is on a downhill trend and Android to follow... In reading in MSN today, Android phones are being introduced with viruses, such as the one that will sit on your phone and send all your data to some phone numbers in china... So Android glory days maybe not so great... As the veterans have stood longer then the newbies...
just a thought
I'm sure this isn't the first time this thread has been made but as time goes on, things change, new updates come out, etc.
I'm an Android user, and something really interests me about WP7, not sure what it is, I really kinda want to try it, but would hate myself if I blew my upgrade on it and it sucked.
Can someone just give me the rundown on what it's like, pros, cons, etc.
From what I see as an ANDROID/WP7 (back 2 future - Yuki&XBMOD) - pro- email account integrations, notifications are seamless and reliable. Camera is ok, better than stock hd2. The Zune account is a cool feature, the temptation to explore all apps really isn't present like in ANDROID. you have to go into the Xbox live app for fun 'n games. My summation, WP7 for work, ANDROID for play and work. (my opinion)
Or you could just get an HD2 and check it out, and save yourself some headaches....(eBay, amazon, Craigslist, etc...)
Sent from my HD7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Quick question
I'm a android user for the past 1 year and I'm a heavy gamer.Will the WP7 fit for me?Where can i get the list of games available for WP7.And what are all the major advantages will i get after the mango update?
I Am Marino said:
I'm sure this isn't the first time this thread has been made but as time goes on, things change, new updates come out, etc.
I'm an Android user, and something really interests me about WP7, not sure what it is, I really kinda want to try it, but would hate myself if I blew my upgrade on it and it sucked.
Can someone just give me the rundown on what it's like, pros, cons, etc.
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As a complete laiman and just a consumer, these are my thoughts:
With wp you get:
1) stability and fluidity
No matter how many cores the cram in android devices, they always lag and stutter. there is no such thing in windows phone. 6 months and going, i am yet to restart my phone.
2) aesthetics
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but i believe no one with any sense of style and beauty can say that android UI is in any way equal or better than that of the wp.
metro on wp is elegant, clean looking, simple and beautifull. most of the apps that have android equivalents are nicer looking on wp.
3) older hardware
This is a point that matters nothing to me, since all i care is how it works. if wp works fast and fluid on a single core, that's good for me. If someone else really needs dual core chip for the bragging rights, let them have it.
4) no memory expansion
This is the biggest gripe i have with wp. If memory cards were there, i could just transfer my whole music/pictures library to the phone. As it is, i have to be selective.
5) decent selection of apps
There are no hundreds of thousands of apps, but i am lacking nothing. If there are some really important apps for you, you should check if they are present in the marketplace (windowsphoneapplist.com)
6) customization almost non-existent
You can change lockscreen wallpaper, pictures hub background, ringtones and notifications sounds, accent color and choose between white or black background. that's it.
7) im and social networks integration
While i still do not have mango, from what i have seen, this will be huge. Pretty much everyone i know has facebook and/or skype, msn. Having my conversations aggregated in such a way, and not having to remember what i talked to that person on which protocol, is huge for me. And once skype if fully integrated there will be a possibility of having just the data plan.
8) misc
Skydrive is moving in the right direction and i expect them (ms) to soon make it fully integrated.
Finding support and answers to some questions when you walk into a problem is a but pain in the ass.
I will say that after living on Windows Mobile for years and the massive amount of tweaking and fixing you did either for fun or for sanity sake, then giving Android a try (as well as having a Android Tablet (Nook Color) at home to tinker with), WP7 is just fantastic to have to Live With every day. The device does more than enough to satisfy my nerd side, while allowing me to actually get things done on it without the problem of reboots, crashes, slowdowns, etc. It is still missing Tethering for the moment (we all know it's coming but when/where/who bah) but besides that, everything else I do on it works great. Web browsing is a joy, E-mail on it has almost completely kept me off Outlook at home, Office and Xbox integration is great, the selection of apps is large enough to keep me interested and enjoying the quality ones I have, and overall the speed of the phone often times has me turning it on to check and just flick through a few times just for the damn hell of it.
It is a hard device to explain over an Android or iOS device, like you said you just want to try it for some reason, id say Go for it! you get a 30 day trial with almost any carrier I believe, so give it a shot now that Mango is out and see if you like it. You could wait till the HTC Radar and Titan are out and give one of those beast devices a shot with the new front facing cameras, improved rear shooters, and Tethering hopefully.
I'm looking really hard at the 1520 on sale Friday.
Love Android...really love Google Apps actually but am in love with the 1520.
Played with it for about 30min today.
But you former androider's who switched and actually live with Windows now, how was the adjustment, honestly?! What do you really miss?!
Thanks
rockky said:
I'm looking really hard at the 1520 on sale Friday.
Love Android...really love Google Apps actually but am in love with the 1520.
Played with it for about 30min today.
But you former androider's who switched and actually live with Windows now, how was the adjustment, honestly?! What do you really miss?!
Thanks
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I thought I was going to miss the customization of Android but I haven't yet. My 920 and 1020 are silky smooth and reliable. Apps? Every app that I used on Android I have on WP8. Even the 3rd party apps are excellent for those mainstream apps not yet on WP *cough* Instagram *cough*
I've had multiple iPhones and Androids and I will not be going back to either for the foreseeable future. Good luck with the 1520, it's a sweet phone!
Thanks for the response.
I'm gonna miss Google Now for sure! No windows equivalent I don't believe.
I just switched. Before I had a HTC HD2 (first several custom Windows Mobile 6.5 ROMs, then Android) and then a Note 1 with several custom ROMs and Kernels (stuck with Slim ROMs btw. for the last months).
So far (after almost two weeks) the things I miss most are:
- decent toggles to quickly switch on and off things like WiFi and Bluetooth and to see their current states (be it as live tiles or centralized inside an app)
- decent battery analysis tools (percentages are only refreshed every 30 minutes; OS limitation) to check for battery eating applications
- the swype keyboard (best voice recognition (esp. punctuation and capitalization); but plain typing and word prediction on WP8 are superb!!!)
- seperate volume levels for media and notifications (about to come in the black update, due in a month or two)
- custon notification sounds (SMS, Mail, etc.; you can set custom ringtones and alarms though)
- ascending alarms (best way to wake up in the morning; so far I mady my own ascending alarm sound in Audacity)
- a way to get a preview of the newest messages across all message options (WhatsApp, SMS, Mail,...) on the lockscreen (so far you can display only one from a single program that you have to set beforehand)
- an easy way to close an application (now you have to exit it via sometimes quite a lot of presses on the back key; but the black update will bring this option)
- seemless integration of playback from web-videoplayers (although even Google took its sweet time to get even close to that...)
As for the app situation... The selection IS smaller, esp. when you are a pro user. Also the general quality of implementation is somewhat lacking in many cases (I guess its the lack of competition, als well as OS limitations (see custom sounds and settings access)). But for day to day use I have no serious complaints. Normal users will be more than fine and even I can live with the omissions and compromises.
I will stay with my Lumia 1020 and keep it as my only phone (my Note is currently going up on ebay). The build quality is superb, the main Nokia apps are as well and the Windos Phone 8 UI actually feels more modern than Android. Clean, responsive, effective.
ThoroSOE said:
I just switched. Before I had a HTC HD2 (first several custom Windows Mobile 6.5 ROMs, then Android) and then a Note 1 with several custom ROMs and Kernels (stuck with Slim ROMs btw. for the last months).
So far (after almost two weeks) the things I miss most are:
- decent toggles to quickly switch on and off things like WiFi and Bluetooth and to see their current states (be it as live tiles or centralized inside an app)
- decent battery analysis tools (percentages are only refreshed every 30 minutes; OS limitation) to check for battery eating applications
- the swype keyboard (best voice recognition (esp. punctuation and capitalization); but plain typing and word prediction on WP8 are superb!!!)
- seperate volume levels for media and notifications (about to come in the black update, due in a month or two)
- custon notification sounds (SMS, Mail, etc.; you can set custom ringtones and alarms though)
- ascending alarms (best way to wake up in the morning; so far I mady my own ascending alarm sound in Audacity)
- a way to get a preview of the newest messages across all message options (WhatsApp, SMS, Mail,...) on the lockscreen (so far you can display only one from a single program that you have to set beforehand)
- an easy way to close an application (now you have to exit it via sometimes quite a lot of presses on the back key; but the black update will bring this option)
- seemless integration of playback from web-videoplayers (although even Google took its sweet time to get even close to that...)
As for the app situation... The selection IS smaller, esp. when you are a pro user. Also the general quality of implementation is somewhat lacking in many cases (I guess its the lack of competition, als well as OS limitations (see custom sounds and settings access)). But for day to day use I have no serious complaints. Normal users will be more than fine and even I can live with the omissions and compromises.
I will stay with my Lumia 1020 and keep it as my only phone (my Note is currently going up on ebay). The build quality is superb, the main Nokia apps are as well and the Windos Phone 8 UI actually feels more modern than Android. Clean, responsive, effective.
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Thanks for the information as I am looking to switch, I have a note 2 and iPhone 5. The 1020 would be my work phone. I now take a lot of pictures with many in low light. As people know Samsung and iPhones are not good performers in low light. One thing I would miss is the ability to insert word documents and excel files into replied emails and also adding in multiple ones. However I have had many of the iPhones, which have this same limitation,
I admit, it a a strange ommission, to cripple the email apps in such a fundamental way. But as far as I know, that is because there is no file manager in WP so there would be no mechanism, to choose the files you want to add. Sadly this is one of the many sore points, that lead to the pro crowd bashing WP. Missing even basic features, that f.e. my old Nokia N82 had no problems with, is simply astonishing. I really hope, this will get better soon, scince I really like the WP disign philosophy so far (or at least most of it).
I personally do not miss anything. Its just a period of understanding of how wp8 works, and its completely different from android.
I really miss the Hangouts app.
Really really miss it.
IM+ is kind of a replacement, but it doesn't support group chats and the video function...