[Q] iPhone users. What do you miss? - AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note II

*****UPDATED 11/30/12*****
tl;dr -- It was the best freaking decision I've ever made in my cellular life.
Things we miss:
- iMessage (Use something like Kik as an alternative)
- iLife and iWork for iOS (Various replacements. I started using ePrint by HP for my wireless printing needs. Works almost as well)
- Game Selection (I work on my phone, so playing games doesn't affect me much, but a lot of the core games are still there)
Things you gain from the switch:
- Bigger screen for easier reading.
- Battery life is omg good.
- The cameras are just as good in my opinion. Low light shots are grainy.
- S Pen is really useful for taking notes in a pinch. Pull it out, jot the note, put it back, note autosaves.
- Other S Pen functionality is really nice. Things like previews in the calendar, cutting out parts of the screen to save in notes, etc.
- Performance is bar none better 10-fold perceptively. I never have a moment of hesitation on my phone.
- Tops out at 128GB (Eat that 16GB iPhone 5)
- Size doesn't really hurt your pocket that badly. Bigger screen catches the bosses attention. I have had more than one comment at work about how I take my job seriously being ready for anything like that.
************************************************
I have an iPhone 5 presently and have been debating for several days now whether of not I want to get the Note 2. I have watched Phonedogs comparison and read article after article and it feels like the phones pretty well break even. So I thought I'd ask some former iPhone users about their experience with their switch.
I have Apple TVs and Airport Expresses all over the place. I stream things almost exclusively while I'm at home. I also mirror my phone to the TV at night laying in bed (doing that now typing this). That being said, I know android has apps that support airplay but not necessarily a screen mirroring solution short of VNC that would require a PC hooked up to my TV and a whole lot more of an inconvenience to get fired up.
I don't know what android has that is directly on par with iWork for iOS. I love typing up documents, syncing them to my phone with iCloud, and being able to edit and print them from my phone wireless on practically any and all wireless printers regardless of brand. iWork for iOS works completely and with a full feature set that I don't ever remember finding in Documents To Go. Has this improved at all?
Not knowing much about the Android ecosystem, what kind of apps are equivalent to iMovie? I use that quite a bit and am curious what android solutions match that in ease of use and functionality. I can't stress enough that when I ask these comparison questions, I'm not trying to prove one better. I'm actually wanting to make the switch. I'm just looking to be more informed about what I'm loosing and what I'm gaining before doing so.
What have you iPhone users missed about your iPhone since you made the switch?

I miss iTunes and some of the apps from the appstore. However, it all makes up it when I remind myself that "can't do no work on a 4" screen"

I switched. No regrets
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

In my opinion, the only thing missing on Android is the robust game/app selection and consistency in layout/design. I have an iPad 3 anyway, so I have the best of both worlds regardless. The iPhone in both 3.5" and 4" alike simply isn't useful for my needs anymore.
PS: I have a WDTV Live that will allow the equivalent of "Airplay" without any hassle through the Note 2. In terms of exclusive apps (e.g. Garageband, Numbers, Pages, iMovie, etc.) there is no equal. If you are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, it may be somewhat difficult to switch.
I know the Note 2 comes with Polaris Office included in the stock ROM. Probably won't touch the iWork suite in terms of interface and usability, but give it a try on a demo model and see if it may work for you.

Nothing
Sent from the TermiNOTEr 2!

I miss this little simple function on ios. Say you are at the bottom of a very long Page or document you could double tap the top of status bar and it would move to the top instantly instead of having to scroll up. Nothing big but nice little feature
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

ahjdmarchi said:
I miss this little simple function on ios. Say you are at the bottom of a very long Page or document you could double tap the top of status bar and it would move to the top instantly instead of having to scroll up. Nothing big but nice little feature
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought i was the only one who misses that little feature. Aside from that, I currently own both phones and theyre both fantastic but sadly I prefer my Gnote2 over my iph5. The big screen is a huge plus and the S-Pen is really neat. But I do like the apps more on the iphone.

Johncrist1988 said:
I have an iPhone 5 presently and have been debating for several days now whether of not I want to get the Note 2. I have watched Phonedogs comparison and read article after article and it feels like the phones pretty well break even. So I thought I'd ask some former iPhone users about their experience with their switch.
I have Apple TVs and Airport Expresses all over the place. I stream things almost exclusively while I'm at home. I also mirror my phone to the TV at night laying in bed (doing that now typing this). That being said, I know android has apps that support airplay but not necessarily a screen mirroring solution short of VNC that would require a PC hooked up to my TV and a whole lot more of an inconvenience to get fired up.
I don't know what android has that is directly on par with iWork for iOS. I love typing up documents, syncing them to my phone with iCloud, and being able to edit and print them from my phone wireless on practically any and all wireless printers regardless of brand. iWork for iOS works completely and with a full feature set that I don't ever remember finding in Documents To Go. Has this improved at all?
Not knowing much about the Android ecosystem, what kind of apps are equivalent to iMovie? I use that quite a bit and am curious what android solutions match that in ease of use and functionality. I can't stress enough that when I ask these comparison questions, I'm not trying to prove one better. I'm actually wanting to make the switch. I'm just looking to be more informed about what I'm loosing and what I'm gaining before doing so.
What have you iPhone users missed about your iPhone since you made the switch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iwork substitutes..
http://http://alternativeto.net/software/apple-iwork/?platform=android
Imovie substitute
http://https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.forscene.KestrelTest&hl=en
Mirroring...I don't think you can get as close yet outside of VNC...but for utilizing your Apple TV
http://http://doubletwist.com/help/question/how-do-i-stream-to-apple-tv-2nd-generation-from-my-android-device/
All in all...it's going to depend on how deep your into Apple's pockets..Phone for phone...there really is no comparison on the differences...all one has to do is to hold each and use each.
What do I miss the most about my Iphone...simple...all the money I lost making the switch back to my Note II...from all of my expensive apps and extra Icloud storage I can no longer use...but...IMHO...it's worth it...
Mac

I'm not so deep I can't get out. I can return the Airport and iPhone still and swap for the Gnote2. I need to google around more about DLNA devices because streaming is nice, and if there's a.... 'cleaner' product of method of doing it, it may be worth it.

This is available on the Note 2e
ahjdmarchi said:
I miss this little simple function on ios. Say you are at the bottom of a very long Page or document you could double tap the top of status bar and it would move to the top instantly instead of having to scroll up. Nothing big but nice little feature
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This can be done in 2 ways on the GN2. One wny is to switch on the feature in the settings under "Motion"/"Double Tap". Otherwise, assuming the long text is in a browser you can use Boat Browser (which is very customizable) and has this feature.
Regarding AirPlay and the other things mentioned in this thread, can you not simply keep you iphone as a Wifi only media player/streamer?
I use my old Galaxy SI as such with Spotify. Without a Sim card and a 3g data connection the battery can last almost three days also

borijess said:
Nothing
Sent from the TermiNOTEr 2!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

The question is per user. I prefer the non-locked down system of Android. Watch a lot of movies and the iPhone has to be jailbroken to do anything other then basic usage. XBMC on my Note2 + MHL adaptor and no rooting. I love the customization.
Another reason I switched was because of iTunes. What a mess. I have a lot of mixes for music and iTunes splits it up. I prefer just being able to dump on my sd card.
Only thing I miss is the gaming apps. But not that much that I would switch back.
Sent from my SGH-I317M using xda premium

ahjdmarchi said:
I miss this little simple function on ios. Say you are at the bottom of a very long Page or document you could double tap the top of status bar and it would move to the top instantly instead of having to scroll up. Nothing big but nice little feature
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do know the GN2 has this feature right?
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

yellowman82 said:
You do know the GN2 has this feature right?
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it work for the browser? That's where I need it the most.

I've owned and used as my main device every iphone up to the iphone 5. I'm loving the Note 2, but there are a few things I miss:
- Overall simplicity. There was a lot of handholding in iOS that I didn't even necessarily realize was happening, which I miss. Biggest/most annoying example so far: sending videos via MMS or email. Unless you have the "limit size to MMS" or whatever checked when you record the video (which would mean a crappy source quality in the video, should you want to use it for anything other than an MMS), you can't MMS it to someone (and unless it's more than a few seconds long, it'll likely be too big to email as well). There are some apps out there for transcoding the video to a lower bitrate, resizing, etc, but this is a royal pain to have to do any time you want to send a quick video. iOS did it all automatically when you went to send the video.
- Better versions of apps. Some apps are just better/smoother on ios. Examples include facebook, Steam, The Weather Channel.
- Photo Stream. My wife is on an iPhone, and we have an old ipad that we use as a photo frame. I miss being able to easily have photos I take appear on both her phone and the iPad.
- iCloud. I miss stuff syncing with my mac desktop apps for things like notes, reminders, etc. I'm sure I could find something to get me by for the notes, and the others I mentioned would sync to a Google calendar, but still. I miss all that happening automatically.
Overall though, I'm very happy to have made the switch. There is no way I could go back to that tiny iPhone screen now.

Mirroring via VGA dongle.

ahjdmarchi said:
I miss this little simple function on ios. Say you are at the bottom of a very long Page or document you could double tap the top of status bar and it would move to the top instantly instead of having to scroll up. Nothing big but nice little feature
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go back to iphone..obviously u dont know how to work ir own phone ....maybe u need it simplified from apple sgn2 is better in all aspects

skochw said:
I've owned and used as my main device every iphone up to the iphone 5. I'm loving the Note 2, but there are a few things I miss:
- Overall simplicity. There was a lot of handholding in iOS that I didn't even necessarily realize was happening, which I miss. Biggest/most annoying example so far: sending videos via MMS or email. Unless you have the "limit size to MMS" or whatever checked when you record the video (which would mean a crappy source quality in the video, should you want to use it for anything other than an MMS), you can't MMS it to someone (and unless it's more than a few seconds long, it'll likely be too big to email as well). There are some apps out there for transcoding the video to a lower bitrate, resizing, etc, but this is a royal pain to have to do any time you want to send a quick video. iOS did it all automatically when you went to send the video.
- Better versions of apps. Some apps are just better/smoother on ios. Examples include facebook, Steam, The Weather Channel.
- Photo Stream. My wife is on an iPhone, and we have an old ipad that we use as a photo frame. I miss being able to easily have photos I take appear on both her phone and the iPad.
- iCloud. I miss stuff syncing with my mac desktop apps for things like notes, reminders, etc. I'm sure I could find something to get me by for the notes, and the others I mentioned would sync to a Google calendar, but still. I miss all that happening automatically.
Overall though, I'm very happy to have made the switch. There is no way I could go back to that tiny iPhone screen now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those are good points to know, thank you. Looking back I do remember video sending being a pain. I eventually ended up doing private Youtube uploads all the time and linking people to the videos. An extra step.
Not that I'm saying that's a deal breaker at all, but it's those little things. Does Android have a response to Photostream out of the box? If I recall, doesn't it automagically upload to Google+ or something of the sort?

twanskys204 said:
Go back to iphone..obviously u dont know how to work ir own phone ....maybe u need it simplified from apple sgn2 is better in all aspects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on, if there's a way to do it and you know how, just tell the guy rather than being snarky for no good reason. This thread is obviously targeted towards people making the switch from iOS to Android, and there is a definite learning curve involved there.
Johncrist1988 said:
Those are good points to know, thank you. Looking back I do remember video sending being a pain. I eventually ended up doing private Youtube uploads all the time and linking people to the videos. An extra step.
Not that I'm saying that's a deal breaker at all, but it's those little things. Does Android have a response to Photostream out of the box? If I recall, doesn't it automagically upload to Google+ or something of the sort?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does upload to Google+, yes. I wound up turning that off, though, since I rarely use Google+. I did turn on automatic photo/video uploading for Dropbox, though, and I am absolutely loving that. I know there's photo/video upload in Dropbox for iOS, but this all happens via a service running in the background, so you don't have to have the actual Dropbox app open for it to happen.
Something else to note about the auto-upload for Dropbox (and Google+, for that matter): you can use that to share videos/images easily. Only issue is the person receiving it has to download/stream the full-res video or image, and you have to wait for it to upload before you can share itg. Still much easier than transcoding just to send a video, though.

I'm using both....Loving both

Related

Touch Pro 2 from perspective of an iPhone fan.

I’ve seen quite a few people struggling with the idea of which one to get. So thought i’d give my two cents. I know many people like to use the ‘Customizable’ argument for windows mobile over iPhone OS, ok fair enough. But for me and i’d say 99% of other mobile phone users. That isn’t such a huge issue. So this comparison isn’t based on that.
Recent history of mobile ownership has been.. iPhone 2G .. to .. HTC Touch Diamond .. to HTC Touch Pro .. to .. iPhone 3G.
So i sold my iPhone 3G 3-4 weeks before the iPhone 3GS was announced at WWDC – that way it sold quickly as majority of the for sale forums have now been flooded with the iPhone 3G.
I loved my iPhone 3G, cracking device. Although the hardware bump wasn’t quite as much as i wanted, i was dead set on getting the iPhone 3GS. Until i had a play with a HTC Touch Pro2. See i had almost given up on HTC, for me the HTC Touch Diamond was a cracking phone. But the resistive touch screen and touch flo 3D wasn’t responsive enough, it was clumsy and disappointing. Compared to the iPhone it was quite far off the mark as a phone you could conceivably use with your finger for everything.
The HTC Touch Pro i was equally a bit miffed about, essentially taking a HTC Touch Diamond and modifying it slightly with a keyboard.. There wasn’t a clear enough division between the two product lines. Again it was as poor as the Diamond when it came to sensitivity.
Now comes the HTC Touch Pro2 – something i loved the look of but ultimately wasn’t considering due to previous experiences. Fortunately a mate of mine got one of the first sets to land in the UK, so i had a little play. Well – crikey.. What an improvement not only to Touch Flo 3D but the screen in general seems almost on par with an iPhone for sensitivity. It really is a leap forward for HTC using resistance technology, a final stand before everything goes capacitive with Windows Mobile 7 / Andriod.
The new interface stuff is cracking, still some signs of Windows 6.1 through the cracks.. But definitely an improvement. With nice little touch’s like linking you contacts to a facebook profile.
So this meant instead of purchasing an iPhone 3GS – i got a HTC Touch Pro2 and really have begun to adore it.
However, couple of huge problems for me personally.. Still no windows market place.. I’m sorry but developers can harp on that there was loads more apps on windows mobile than iPhone, but without a centralized and easy link from the phone to them with reviews and ratings.. It’s a pain in the arse both sourcing and install compared to an iPhone.
Also no multi-touch – which is just indicative of resistive technology.. Have to say, Opera may be good.. But multi-touch really makes sense for mobile internet browsing. I find the zoom bar almost pointless.
So in all, if you can live without an app store and multi-touch.. I’d consider the Touch Pro2 – but be aware, if you’re moving from an iPhone 3G to it.. You will miss the app store, so very very much. Windows Mobile Apps just don’t stack up for me, especially from an interface perspective.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I think some kind of Windows app store (marketplace?) is coming in the WM6.5 upgrade.
Regarding the zoom bar, I actually quite like it, but I can also see it as a bit of a waste of space. There's talk on here about the potential to MOD the control for use as a D pad, which I think is a great idea.
From an iPhone/iPod user experience, I find that there are several shortcomings and several advantages on the TP2.
Disadvantages
1. No easy iTunes Sync (If you're a Mac user, this is very difficult to cope with. Missing Sync and also iTuneMy Walkman coupled with Playlist Manager on the TP2 are necessary to get the same level of sync)
2. No App store (for the plethora of applications out there, you can't install many applications very easily and the applications differ across processor types, screen resolutions, and component compatability. Is there no standard for Windows Mobile??? )
3. Movie playback/sync (which codecs work and which don't? How would you know how to encode the video? Why isn't there an iTunes store where you can just buy videos pre-encoded?)
4. Smooth OS (I have to admit, it's slick. Really slick. Android with Sense UI is slicker but hey, you have to start somewhere. The user experience is much simpler on an iPhone. Windows Mobile is prone to lots of odd issues such as memory leaks, bugs, missing features, random restarts which are all fixable after searching on XDA-Developers. Apple's iPhone OS is ready out of the box no questions asked)
5. Internet E-mail setup (It's so easy and simple. Why can't Windows Mobile do this??? Actually I just checked on the TP2 and it sets up just fine but menus for doing this are still a little bothersome.)
6. iPod function (Again, it's easy and simple. HTC Audio still has issues with playlist structure and track listings.)
Advantages
1. Big high resolution screen (at 3.6" and 800x480 resolution, this is close to quadruple the resolution of the iPhone. It's a much better display)
2. TF3D (an HTC invention and totally unrelated to MSFT. Information at a glance and at a swipe, it's done. iPhone doesn't have the same type of instant information access unless you use Intelliscreen which is still a little anemic)
3. Better external speaker (Ever lose a call because the hole on the bottom of the iPhone was plugged up in your pocket? Even if I plug the speaker grill on the TP2, it's still loud and I can still hear it)
4. Customization (Windows Mobile is extremely customizable. You don't have to use TF3D and you can use an alternative such as SPB Mobile Shell or one of those fancy XWindows kits. iPhones when Jailbroken still don't offer this level of customization. In the future, someone will probably be able to write a Jailbroken app that customizes the iPhone but you'll never see it on the App Store due to its restrictions.)
5. Smart Dial (Comes default with HTC TP3D devices now. No more digging through contacts, just dial a few letters from their name and bingo, instant connection. iPhone has a free one on the App Store but it's not as fast or as complete as HTC's Smart Dial.)
6. Full Exchange Synchronization (iPhone only syncs Contacts, Calendar, and the Inbox. You need to have an online connection to get subfolders or anything else.)
7. Push Internet (it's not completely there yet but it's a great concept. It saves me from having to refresh/load websites every time I want to view an important website. No such feature on the Mobile Safari)
Crazy really that one of the issues is with the centralisation of downloadable content, I mean take a look at the Xbox 360 - awesome online experience for games, music, videos etc big selling point of the console itself compared to others and un-rivalled
Just a shame they cant link it all together somehow for windows mobile using your xbox live account or something.
i was an iphone user before, started out iphone 2g then iphone 3g, then now im using td2 the baby bro of tp2. though i missed the fun multitouch apps on iphone, but i found htc's new devices very useful in a way that i can live without my iphone. cant wait for the tp2 to arrive so i got myself the td2. now, im waiting for the official 6.5 upgrade. i might also get an iphone 3gs just for games and as a secondary phone
WRT Point 5, I've found email set-up very easy for my gmail and Yahoo! accounts. Just enter your address and password and almost everything else is done automatically.
How did you create your email accounts? I used the Mail Setup program.
R.
Yeah, I tried the new setup which had been around since 6.0. It's better than 5.x which was archaic back in the day. iPhone still does internet e-mail sources much more easily with fewer options but both devices bury the function like 4-5 menus deep.
Guys, how did your HTC's compare to the iphone in regards to audio quality via headphone jack? I'm talking music.
I'm usually not an advocate of making post to knock threads but there is already a thread for this.
TP2 audio quality is about the same as the iPhone. I think I posted the response graphs for their performance in another thread with almost the same title.
Thanks to all the iPhone users posting this info. I've been trying to decide between an unlocked iPhone (I'm on T_mobile) and waiting on the TP2. The iPhone has some neat apps...my brother pointed his iPhone towards the radio and an app he had installed popped up with the name of the band and song being played! it was pretty impressive.
Nice summary mate! I am in the same position as you, with an iPhone 3G at the moment, upgrading to the TP2 soon!
whtrbt7 said:
TP2 audio quality is about the same as the iPhone. I think I posted the response graphs for their performance in another thread with almost the same title.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I'm just really torn between getting an HTC phone and an ipod touch + cheap winmo phone. The more personal input, the better.
booshwa said:
Thanks to all the iPhone users posting this info. I've been trying to decide between an unlocked iPhone (I'm on T_mobile) and waiting on the TP2. The iPhone has some neat apps...my brother pointed his iPhone towards the radio and an app he had installed popped up with the name of the band and song being played! it was pretty impressive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there is something like that for wm phones too
whtrbt7 said:
From an iPhone/iPod user experience, I find that there are several shortcomings and several advantages on the TP2.
Disadvantages
1. No easy iTunes Sync (If you're a Mac user, this is very difficult to cope with. Missing Sync and also iTuneMy Walkman coupled with Playlist Manager on the TP2 are necessary to get the same level of sync)
2. No App store (for the plethora of applications out there, you can't install many applications very easily and the applications differ across processor types, screen resolutions, and component compatability. Is there no standard for Windows Mobile??? )
3. Movie playback/sync (which codecs work and which don't? How would you know how to encode the video? Why isn't there an iTunes store where you can just buy videos pre-encoded?)
4. Smooth OS (I have to admit, it's slick. Really slick. Android with Sense UI is slicker but hey, you have to start somewhere. The user experience is much simpler on an iPhone. Windows Mobile is prone to lots of odd issues such as memory leaks, bugs, missing features, random restarts which are all fixable after searching on XDA-Developers. Apple's iPhone OS is ready out of the box no questions asked)
5. Internet E-mail setup (It's so easy and simple. Why can't Windows Mobile do this??? Actually I just checked on the TP2 and it sets up just fine but menus for doing this are still a little bothersome.)
6. iPod function (Again, it's easy and simple. HTC Audio still has issues with playlist structure and track listings.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Do you really need this bloated DRM infested program just to sync music? Cant you just sync a directory using USB mass storage or foobar or winamp or whatever?
2. Appstore? that will be only an excuse to charge for minor freeware apps in the future.
3. Buy videos? You mean like pay for encoding? That would only make sense if you bought HD videos on iTunes and also got a free mobile version to save you the time of encoding. And dont tell me you cant find a video converter and a suitable preset for windows mobile.
4. Gotta agree iPhone OS is smooth and full of eye candy. Its also extremely stable, since it does only one thing at the time, and tries to simplify anything. It's nice, but certainly not my kind of thing. I even prefer to use the stylus but have all the options available, and running 3 or 4 apps simultaneously is a must for me.
5. It could be better, but come on. It's a one time setup, and there are lot of guides out there.
6. iPod? DRM infested gay looking extremely expensive audio players that force the use of DRM infested useless bloated software? do not want.
whtrbt7 said:
Advantages
1. Big high resolution screen (at 3.6" and 800x480 resolution, this is close to quadruple the resolution of the iPhone. It's a much better display)
2. TF3D (an HTC invention and totally unrelated to MSFT. Information at a glance and at a swipe, it's done. iPhone doesn't have the same type of instant information access unless you use Intelliscreen which is still a little anemic)
3. Better external speaker (Ever lose a call because the hole on the bottom of the iPhone was plugged up in your pocket? Even if I plug the speaker grill on the TP2, it's still loud and I can still hear it)
4. Customization (Windows Mobile is extremely customizable. You don't have to use TF3D and you can use an alternative such as SPB Mobile Shell or one of those fancy XWindows kits. iPhones when Jailbroken still don't offer this level of customization. In the future, someone will probably be able to write a Jailbroken app that customizes the iPhone but you'll never see it on the App Store due to its restrictions.)
5. Smart Dial (Comes default with HTC TP3D devices now. No more digging through contacts, just dial a few letters from their name and bingo, instant connection. iPhone has a free one on the App Store but it's not as fast or as complete as HTC's Smart Dial.)
6. Full Exchange Synchronization (iPhone only syncs Contacts, Calendar, and the Inbox. You need to have an online connection to get subfolders or anything else.)
7. Push Internet (it's not completely there yet but it's a great concept. It saves me from having to refresh/load websites every time I want to view an important website. No such feature on the Mobile Safari)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. True
2. TF3D is good, but neither innovative or so useful. There where other, possibly better alternatives before TF3D, simply with less eye candy. I think its the minor menu, taskbar and other HTC enhancements that make the difference.
3. Didnt know that. I thought iPhone's speaker was better. Nice knowing that.
4. Customisation Customisation Customisation. Developers Developers Developers. Go windows mobile. Widely available SDKs and samples, and everyone can beggin programming for Windows Mobile without paying Microsoft for Closed SDKs etc.
5. iPhone doesnt have Smart Dial? You have to buy it? That's ridiculously sad. I had smart dial since 2004 on my magician.
6. A must for Business use.
7. Nice idea, but not needed anymore for me since i have a nice data plan.
if youre going to miss the appstore go to an android phone..htc magic or htc hero..it has multitouch and flash player
I would just consider the Iphone as a toy for kids. It's totall useless for business purpose.
I got the touch pro 2 which is a real business phone: conference in one single touch, perfect sounds in hand free mode (just put it upside down on the table to activate!), direct call from an email
AND a real keyboard!
kourampies said:
1. Do you really need this bloated DRM infested program just to sync music? Cant you just sync a directory using USB mass storage or foobar or winamp or whatever?
2. Appstore? that will be only an excuse to charge for minor freeware apps in the future.
3. Buy videos? You mean like pay for encoding? That would only make sense if you bought HD videos on iTunes and also got a free mobile version to save you the time of encoding. And dont tell me you cant find a video converter and a suitable preset for windows mobile.
4. Gotta agree iPhone OS is smooth and full of eye candy. Its also extremely stable, since it does only one thing at the time, and tries to simplify anything. It's nice, but certainly not my kind of thing. I even prefer to use the stylus but have all the options available, and running 3 or 4 apps simultaneously is a must for me.
5. It could be better, but come on. It's a one time setup, and there are lot of guides out there.
6. iPod? DRM infested gay looking extremely expensive audio players that force the use of DRM infested useless bloated software? do not want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. For Mac users, this is an only resource. I totally agree that iTunes is possibly one of the worst music management programs out there. It's not DRM infested anymore luckily but it's still a mess when managing music. I normally prefer Winamp but haven't found anything to emulate performance on a Mac yet. iTunes I have to admit is "easy" if you have an iPod or iPhone. It's just that if you don't really care for your music, iTunes is the easiest way to go.
2. Appstore is a double edged sword. Apple dictates what can and can't be on it and there is so much crapware on it that it's painful to browse (although really amusing and time wasting).
3. For normal consumers, they don't care if they have to buy the movie as long as it works. It's true for if you use an iPod or iPhone. Windows Mobile users have to encode their own videos normally since we don't have a centralized place to buy our movies and getting custom resolution encodes is not easy for a normal consumer.
4. I agree with you. A Jailbroken iPhone can do background apps and also has quick access to commonly used functions. I really hate digging around in the settings menu on the iPhone.
5. Yup, totally agree with you on this one.
6. For Mac users, it's the only thing that really works. It's smooth as long as you have an iPod or iPhone. Requires extra software if you want to use it well with WM.

Previewing Android Apps before phone purchase

I'm hoping to take the plunge and buy an HTC Desire when they are available. To date I have used both WinMob and iPhone extensively.
One area of concern to me is the quality of the 3rd party apps available from the Android Market Place. I've searched at length for them and always come up short. Being used to the iPhone App Store, I am worried that the Android apps are not up to the same standard.
Can anyone point me to a resource which I can browse/search for Android apps, without first needing to own an actual phone in order to see??
As an example, the HTC Desire has an electronic compass built in. Now, with the iPhone, you get a built-in beautiful compass app with which to use the sensor. From what I can see, an app is not included with the Android phones, and my searches to date for an Android compass app have only come up with some frankly appalling ugly basic compass apps, and one which looks roughly photographic, but doesnt show any flair.
So, where is the good stuff, and can I browse it from my PC? I keep hearing of 20,000 apps, but my searches turn up lists of perhaps 10 (mostly poor) apps.
not sure if you could view all apps without actually having an android phone, but here is a very useful website about Android Market
http://androidfeeder.com/
Update: using this site you can search Android Apps/Games http://www.androlib.com/, this one too http://www.cyrket.com/m/android/
Update: and here is a list of ultimate free apps for android http://techpp.com/2009/11/10/ultimate-list-of-free-android-apps-part-1/
http://www.cyrket.com/search?q=compass&market=android
Compass Pro (Free) looks a lot like the iPhone version.
When you got the desire, you can try every app for 24hours and if you dont like the app, get your money back!
Thanks for all the suggestions. But I must say that the suggested sites are the ones I had already found, and to be frank, they are a cacophony of disjointed information, poor screen shots, and distraction.
I'm sure there are some software gems in there, but the sites seem to be determined to hide them.
The ultimate free apps pointer is the best list I have seen so far. Many of the sites dont even seem to bother offering a decent screen shot, if any at all.
The-Nazgul said:
When you got the desire, you can try every app for 24hours and if you dont like the app, get your money back!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I didn't know this! That's very handy
I was worried that I'd purchase an app to find it doesn't work or isn't what was expected.
Also, try this site:
www.appbrain.com
Just be aware that most of these sites just reflect the information from the Android Market (accessed by your phone) onto a web page. This is not new or different information than what you would see in the market from your device - just copied in a slightly different package on the web.
Once difference with App Brain is you can choose not to see some of the spam apps. Also, with App Brain you can select apps from the website that you want to install - then, later open the App Brain app on your device and sync the apps - which will install the apps you selected on the web to your device using the Android Market interface. Works pretty well.
Neat. I will check that out.
TVM
XDAgeek said:
I'm hoping to take the plunge and buy an HTC Desire when they are available. To date I have used both WinMob and iPhone extensively.
One area of concern to me is the quality of the 3rd party apps available from the Android Market Place. I've searched at length for them and always come up short. Being used to the iPhone App Store, I am worried that the Android apps are not up to the same standard.
Can anyone point me to a resource which I can browse/search for Android apps, without first needing to own an actual phone in order to see??
As an example, the HTC Desire has an electronic compass built in. Now, with the iPhone, you get a built-in beautiful compass app with which to use the sensor. From what I can see, an app is not included with the Android phones, and my searches to date for an Android compass app have only come up with some frankly appalling ugly basic compass apps, and one which looks roughly photographic, but doesnt show any flair.
So, where is the good stuff, and can I browse it from my PC? I keep hearing of 20,000 apps, but my searches turn up lists of perhaps 10 (mostly poor) apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being absolutely honest - the standard of some identical apps is MUCH higher on the iPhone. I was checking out a friend's iPhone last night, and the RAC Traffic app is so much nicer. A little (fruit-machine type) roller to select the geographic area you want, as opposed to a crappy flat pop-up Android menu, and when you toggle between the map view/traffic update view, the iPhone version has an animation like you're folding back a page, whereas Android's is just a standard instant screen change. Oh, and the Android one doesn't always work properly. It is obvious that a lot more effort went into the iPhone version... I am getting serious envy over that...
There are also apps from big players who just don't even bother with Android versions. I know we keep saying "That will change as Android gains market-share", but how long is it going to take? I don't want those apps in 2yrs time, I want them NOW!
Having said that, the iPhone is locked down, you can barely customise it, and you have to put up with Apple's sh**. Still. I wish I could have iPhone apps on Android, that would be the best of both worlds.
I myself have owned Iphone 3gs, Hd2 and Hero and now waiting for delivery of Desire. To be honest For apps there is no comparison between Iphone and Andriod apps, iphone wins every time.
If apps are the major issue for you then don't buy desire, as you will be slightly dissappointed in lack of quality apps in comparison to the Iphone. But what it lacks in apps it certainly makes up in every other way.
The interface is better, it offers more seamless integration of your contacts from all of your various lists and address books - be they Skype, Twitter, your phone book, Facebook - and knits them together for a more intelligent experience. Multi tasking, optical pad, internet browsing better experience etc the list goes on and on.
That is why I choose to go with Desire and got rid of my Iphone 3GS, let's hope I'm not dissappointed.
riz157 said:
I myself have owned Iphone 3gs, Hd2 and Hero and now waiting for delivery of Desire. To be honest For apps there is no comparison between Iphone and Andriod apps, iphone wins every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For now.. Recent research has shown that more than 50% of the iphone developers is planning to develop for android too, so with a bit of luck and some patience, the level of quality will be improving.

A WM/Android User's Take

1st off this is not intended to be a flaming / bashing thread. If you want to do that please go elsewhere; I'm sure the vibrant forums will welcome you. If a MOD feels this belongs somewhere else, please move it.
I have been a long time WM user and recently switched to android for the past year. I am offering my take on WP7 on the pros on cons.
Interface - Finally something completely new and wonderful. Microsoft really did hit a homerun on trying to make information at a glance approach. Mail and search apps look beautiful. I thing missing, being able to quickly jump to apps in the app menu.
Lack of Landscape Support- For as great as the UI is I am shocked at the lack of landscape support. The start menu, app menu, nor Zune have lanscape support. You can not even refresh a webpage or type in a website if you are in landscape mode. Calling this anything other than an epic "FAIL" by microsoft is sugar coating it. Especially when the HD7 and Surround beg to be in landscape mode with their kick stands.
Browser - As expected from an IE browser it is pretty good. I already mentioned the lack of landscape support which is really frustrating but there is something else that gets under my skin more. Web pages do not resize to fit the screen when you zoom in. This was/is almost a deal breaking for me honestly. I love the organization of having all the buttons at the bottom and the interface is stunning but you lose way to many options in landscape mode. You can't even access favorites without first going back to portrait. MS, this NEEDS to be addressed soon. The browser is the main feature of smartphones now.
Zune - Wonderful if you have a Zune Pass. Honestly it was one of the main reasons why I bought this phone. I expected it to be awesome and it didn't disappoint. That being said they need to add a Play Now option to the market songs. When I'm browsing the market sometimes I want to queue songs and the Add to Playlist option makes sense but how could you leave out Play now? Seriously?
Another thing I don't like is I can not fast forward to a certain spot in a movie. Video files can be hours long, why should I have to hold the fast forward button to get to the point I'd like. Let me hit the progress bar and then use the rewind / fast forward buttons for getting to the exact point.
USB Storage Device- glaring admission, but I can kind of see why. It helps stop piracy, but I loved being able to hook my fuze / tilt 2 / nexus 1 / vibrant to my car stereo and play the music I had downloaded on my phone. I know I could get an audio cable and do the same, but while driving it is so much easier to use the radio head unit to control music rather than your phone. I knew this when getting in bed with WP7, but that doesnt mean I still can't miss it.
Bluetooth- for music works just like it should. however it will not play the audio from video files threw bluetooth. It keeps coming out of my phone's main speakers and there is no way to get into the bluetooth profiles to see if something is wrong. VERY ANNOYING MS. get to fixing it.
People- Wonderful. Could anyone ask anymore? I gave it my facebook and gmail accounts and I didn't have to worry about any contacts not showing up. Love the Facebook updates also.
Dailer- No smart dialer? This used to even be in my old wizard by default. How it get left out is completely beyond me.
Announced fixes- Flash, Copy & Paste, Turn by Turn navigation can't come soon enough but I am glad microsoft acknowledged they needed them.
Local Outlook Support- I knew this before hand, but I am in the crowd that says MS needs to add this ability.
Overall- I bought my HD7 without a contract and I am pretty sure i will NOT be returning it. I love my HD7 and WP7, however this OS isn't entirely complete. That being said was iOS and Android complete when they came out? To even suggest that is laughable. I can not wait for microsoft to release all the fixes for this OS because when it does it will be a powerhouse.
I will not buy that this phone is for dumbsmart phone users. I probably done more with my phones than 95% of android users who will do nothing by bash WP7 and i honestly see this for ALL users. It helps bring the powerhouse experience in an easier way without being tied down as much as iOS.
Why not just post in one of the other 50 threads? Now people will be copy-pasting replies from those into this one.
I did notice the lack of landscape mode in IE. I think that was the only thing that made me go WTF when I used the HD7.
However, the keyboard is so good that I don't think it even mattered that much.
I guess with a 3.7-8" screen it can be a bit annoying, but on anything 4" or bigger it didn't strike me as a big deal beyond the initial shock of it not being there.
Also, lots of people dont' seem to know the difference between an Operating System and an Application.
N8ter said:
Why not just post in one of the other 50 threads? Now people will be copy-pasting replies from those into this one.
I did notice the lack of landscape mode in IE. I think that was the only thing that made me go WTF when I used the HD7.
However, the keyboard is so good that I don't think it even mattered that much.
I guess with a 3.7-8" screen it can be a bit annoying, but on anything 4" or bigger it didn't strike me as a big deal beyond the initial shock of it not being there.
Also, lots of people dont' seem to know the difference between an Operating System and an Application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those threads became nothing but flaming / bashing threads. I thought it would be a good idea to try to get away from that.
Also a core application can be considered part of the OS. If you can not uninstall it, it is part of the OS.
I thought it was annoying not being able to get to the address bar with all that screen space.
I don't know about you guys but my Surround goes into landscape mode IE just fine...
The only thing I don't like is lack of landscape in marketplace and Zune...
also if you want a nice photo editor, Thumba photo editor for $.099 is awesome!
EDIT: Oh i see. I can't believe I have to switch to portrait to type a URL!! WTF microsoft!
jz9833 said:
Browser - As expected from an IE browser it is pretty good. I already mentioned the lack of landscape support which is really frustrating but there is something else that gets under my skin more. Web pages do not resize to fit the screen when you zoom in. This was/is almost a deal breaking for me honestly. I love the organization of having all the buttons at the bottom and the interface is stunning but you lose way to many options in landscape mode. You can't even access favorites without first going back to portrait. MS, this NEEDS to be addressed soon. The browser is the main feature of smartphones now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Overall I agree with just about everything you said. Regarding the browser, I've noticed that certain areas of webpages are zoomed in more than others. For instance, on xda, the text of people's posts is HUGE compared to the buttons such as User CP, etc. at the top of the page. What I've found is a double tap in my area of interest on a page will zoom the page so that ONLY my area of interest is approriately sized. Then, when I want to switch to another part of the page, I double tap there and the page will resize, and so on. The text does not dynamically reflow a la Android, but I think it's a pretty usable system.
-R
jz9833 said:
Dailer- No smart dialer? This used to even be in my old wizard by default. How it get left out is completely beyond me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is voice dialing in WP7 not sure what you mean by smart dialer???
rruffman said:
There is voice dialing in WP7 not sure what you mean by smart dialer???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By going to the dailer and being able to spell "MOM" for example on the keys and it would automatically come up with the number for that contact.
jz9833 said:
Also a core application can be considered part of the OS. If you can not uninstall it, it is part of the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, what? No, it's not. It's a stock application distributed with the OS. It is not part of the OS.
By the Logic people can say "Android is buggy because the GMail client is buggy." or "Windows Mobile is buggy because the Opera Browser HTC bundled with the HD2 is buggy." or "Linux is full of bugs because the KDE in that distro is buggy as hell."
Every OS comes with a set of stock applications, but they are just that, and are usually updatable independent of installing a new kernel or driver stack on the device.
In any case, I've already said I agree that the lack of landscape mode is an issue.
I just wanted to make that distinction, because lots of people on this forum are incapable of doing it themselves.
N8ter said:
Lol, what? No, it's not. It's a stock application distributed with the OS. It is not part of the OS.
By the Logic people can say "Android is buggy because the GMail client is buggy." or "Windows Mobile is buggy because the Opera Browser HTC bundled with the HD2 is buggy." or "Linux is full of bugs because the KDE in that distro is buggy as hell."
Every OS comes with a set of stock applications, but they are just that, and are usually updatable independent of installing a new kernel or driver stack on the device.
In any case, I've already said I agree that the lack of landscape mode is an issue.
I just wanted to make that distinction, because lots of people on this forum are incapable of doing it themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still completely disagree with you. Froyo for Android made plenty of browser updates so would you say that wasn't a OS update?
I like most people consider stock apps part of the OS
jz9833 said:
I still completely disagree with you. Froyo for Android made plenty of browser updates so would you say that wasn't a OS update?
I like most people consider stock apps part of the OS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. Basically system is made of apps.
If email app built into it is buggy, we can say OS is buggy.
jz9833 said:
I still completely disagree with you. Froyo for Android made plenty of browser updates so would you say that wasn't a OS update?
I like most people consider stock apps part of the OS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesnt meam ur right and most people are ignorant in os design and the diff between an os and an app distributed with said os.
Obviously...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
N8ter said:
Doesnt meam ur right and most people are ignorant in os design and the diff between an os and an app distributed with said os.
Obviously...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then you are going to have to disagree with almost all people. This isn't a techy vs jock debate. These are apps which are built into the os and therefore part of the os.
But anyway this thread is meant for objective evaluation of WP7. If you want to continue this debate we should continue it somewhere else.
jz9833 said:
By going to the dailer and being able to spell "MOM" for example on the keys and it would automatically come up with the number for that contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use search in the people hub for something very similar. Admittedly not an exact substitute but it works well enough for me.
jz9833 said:
I have been a long time WM user and recently switched to android for the past year. I am offering my take on WP7 on the pros on cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good post
jz9833 said:
USB Storage Device- glaring admission, but I can kind of see why. It helps stop piracy, but I loved being able to hook my fuze / tilt 2 / nexus 1 / vibrant to my car stereo and play the music I had downloaded on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does this increase piracy? If the files you buy on Zune are locked down they can still do this even if there is a common store of files accessible as usb mass storage. Either by drm or by using isolated storage for those files.
jz9833 said:
Local Outlook Support- I knew this before hand, but I am in the crowd that says MS needs to add this ability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do it this way, then you are working with two sets of data (email, calendar, tasks, contacts, etc.) neither of which is guaranteed to be up to date. I don't see why people think this is preferable to a server-based system.
jz9833 said:
I will not buy that this phone is for dumb smart phone users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully this will be true; I will keep my fingers crossed. Currently, as I see it, they are targeting people who don't understand what files are, and would be confused by files, and who believe that music consists of songs arranged by artists into albums. I.e. the dumb mass market.
CSMR said:
How does this increase piracy? If the files you buy on Zune are locked down they can still do this even if there is a common store of files accessible as usb mass storage. Either by drm or by using isolated storage for those files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cintent u purchase in zune have no drm..... The piracy statement is legit.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
though given you just purchased for your zune account, you can then access it on zune desktop, and burn discs from there. so no necessarily correct.
however, what i think of a common storage area is a good idea. just have it so that the pictures, videos, music, documents are in a folder view for when you plug the phone into your PC. it would really only require a bit of mapping within the OS to make it look like a storage unit. Even if it was just more restricted down to just the documents section, that's still something. better than nothing imo as i don't have access to skydrive at work. but aye, i can live with it, it's not going to make me want to return the phone.
The Gate Keeper said:
though given you just purchased for your zune account, you can then access it on zune desktop, and burn discs from there. so no necessarily correct.
however, what i think of a common storage area is a good idea. just have it so that the pictures, videos, music, documents are in a folder view for when you plug the phone into your PC. it would really only require a bit of mapping within the OS to make it look like a storage unit. Even if it was just more restricted down to just the documents section, that's still something. better than nothing imo as i don't have access to skydrive at work. but aye, i can live with it, it's not going to make me want to return the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its 2001, people pirate with digital media. Cd piracy may still be hip in the third world, but I haven't operated a cd player in years (or used my computer to play one), much less bought or burned one.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
N8ter said:
Its 2001, people pirate with digital media. Cd piracy may still be hip in the third world, but I haven't operated a cd player in years (or used my computer to play one), much less bought or burned one.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how about an MP3 cd? to play in your car? to lend to a friend? or your USB stick? as soon as it's available on zune desktop you have a copy of it... there is plenty ways around it. i'm not saying you should do it, i'm saying the possibilities are there.
N8ter said:
The cintent u purchase in zune have no drm..... The piracy statement is legit.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the files are not DRMed, and Microsoft wants to protect them, either it can DRM the files, or it can keep them in isolated storage. The existence of common storage doesn't exclude isolated storage.

Dear Steve Ballmer and Microsoft (WP7 Related)

Dear Steve Ballmer & Microsoft,
Before I begin my rant, please allow me to say that I have used many many many PDA phones. And WP7 has without a doubt, some of the most GLARING problems I have ever seen in a mobile OS.
My phone history (in no [particular order]:
-T-mobile Pocket PC (the 1st one)
- SE P800, P900, P910I
- Xperia X1
- Many different WM 5.0, 6.0 6.5 phones (maybe 10 or more). If I were to list them all this would take all day. My most recent WM phone before this HD7 was the HTC TyTN II.
- Nokia N93i, N95, N900 (still got it)
- Nokia Communicators 9210 and E90
- Iphone 1st Gen
- Kyocera Palm OS phone
- Probably other stuff I forgot about along the way.
(Btw, all of these phones had address books which worked great)
I am in no way saying that I am some PDA expert, but I think its safe to say I've used alot of PDAs.
Good afternoon. I really hope somebody from Microsoft or Steve himself or some MS dev is reading this.
I recently bought a HTC HD7 and after using it for 1hr my initial impressions were very good....THEN i used it a bit longer and I started to realize something.
Cons:
1. The contact list function is really really bad. You guys replaced the standard address book function with the Facebook contact list. It is horribly bad. It is so bad that it leads me to believe that NONE OF YOU have actually used facebook in your life. If any of you developers were actually familiar with Facebook, you would have realized that most consumers definitely do not want 80% of their Facebook contacts cluttering/polluting their cell phones address book. Also, why am I not able to browse through my Facebook contacts photos? Am I missing something? Why cant I simply just tap the portrait of my facebook friend and look at his profile pictures?
2. The WP7's media playerss seek function needs to work like a STANDARD portable TOUCH SCREEN media player. Why am I not able skip to the part of the video I want to watch by simply sliding my finger along the time bar until I reach my target moment? Why am I forced to press a seek button instead? I thought this was a touch screen phone, not to mention the fact that Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2003, WM 5.0 WM 6.0 WM 6.5 all included this missing function. Do you guys even watch movies on your cell phones? Or are you guys still using Nokia 5200s?
3. Xbox Live is buggy as hell. I download a game through Xbox Live and it says I need to connect my phone to my computer or connect to wifi (It was already both) in order to complete the install. There is no easy way to check the progress of the installation of download unless I try to download another application. Is the ability to check the progress without downloading another app hidden somewhere? If so, why is it hidden?
4. When I try to visit a previous webpage and I press the hardware backwards arrow botton, it kicks me out of IE.
5. The hardware buttons have great sensitivity, but I am constantly pressing them by accident (with my palm), thus closing my active program unintentionally.
And let me tell you, I do not have large hands.
6. I dunno why it doesnt work as a USB drive natively. Perhaps this is some sort of piracy control measure or you are trying to mimic apple.
7. Cant copy and paste. I dunno why this is so hard for you guys. You guys could have some sort of hardware button, that when pushed activates a 2nd function to the screen pressing. Instead of clicking on a link, if the hardware button is pressed, it would allow the user to select the letters and highlight them. Then copy/paste somewhere else.
8. I cannot delete/hide my recently browsed youtube video history. I was looking at videos of girls shaking their butts and afterwards when I went to my zune application, I saw the video thumbnails there! I cant delete or hide them? Where is the privacy?
9. Doesnt support Divx codecs, which it should because this is a phone for a "mobile life style". Why would I want to sit at my computer for hrs waiting for my videos to convert? Why do you guys and apple insist on your own proprietary formats?
Sub-Score: -9
Pros:
1. Works fast, very smooth. Is this a result of the reduced interface .
2. Web browsing is pretty good, except I cant fast forward through youtube videos by sliding my finger on the time bar.
Sub-Score: +2
Total Score: -7
I do not believe this phone is beyond saving. Surely you guys must have noticed some of the things I mentioned. Why you did not remedy these issues before the release? I do not know. If you guys were unaware of the problems I mentioned, well now you know. Please fix these issues soon and FFS, please add a proper address book application and allow me to use my finger/time bar to seek through a video/song/youtube vid.
Currently, I would have to say this phone is nothing more than a portable media player with some phone functions built in. And you guys already screwed up with the media player part.
If I could go back in time (which was only yesterday) I would have bought a HTC Desire HD. But I cant so I can only pray that you guys fix some/most of these issues.
If I am sorely mistaken and some of these functions actually are included and hidden somewhere, why are they not intuitive?
Thanks.....for nothing.....
I always liked the N95 symbian address book that allowed me to create groups for my contacts and I liked all WM previous phone dialers which would cross reference all incoming and outgoing calls with the numbers I was pressing.
Microsoft should atleast make a dialer thats as good as their previous ones, and maybe learn a thing or 2 from Symbian.
Edit: I just read that it was possible to cut down the number of contacts from facebook that appear in your phone, but it still should not be this difficult. I should be able to simple long press the contact and select delete or hide.
Nice One Star thread repeating issues in about 20 other threads
One thing I'd like to agree with the OP about is the Capacitive buttons. They're a good idea in theory (the Vibrant has them as well), but they're practically terrible. They are very prone to hitting by accident.
Lots of OSes can learn from Symbian, but being the Jack of All Trades has not worked for any OS to date. Windows Mobile also supported a ton of stuff and it's marketshare in the US suffered a lot. Symbian has great marketshare overseas because the OS is used in low-end feature phones as well. They aren't strong in the mid-high end smartphone market.
And they would be, if they didn't put such small NANDs in the phones, skimp on the RAM in the phones (it uses a Virtual memory architechture, but the phones still need at least 348 MB RAM, IMO), and have such an embarassing user interface. I really like that it has the most flexible development environment of any smartphone OS, though (similar to [again] Windows Mobile on that front).
Blazerfan722 said:
Dear Steve Ballmer & Microsoft,
Before I begin my rant, please allow me to say that I have used many many many PDA phones. And WP7 has without a doubt, some of the most GLARING problems I have ever seen in a mobile OS.
My phone history (in no [particular order]:
-T-mobile Pocket PC (the 1st one)
- SE P800, P900, P910I
- Xperia X1
- Many different WM 5.0, 6.0 6.5 phones (maybe 10 or more). If I were to list them all this would take all day. My most recent WM phone before this HD7 was the HTC TyTN II.
- Nokia N93i, N95, N900 (still got it)
- Nokia Communicators 9210 and E90
- Iphone 1st Gen
- Kyocera Palm OS phone
- Probably other stuff I forgot about along the way.
(Btw, all of these phones had address books which worked great)
I am in no way saying that I am some PDA expert, but I think its safe to say I've used alot of PDAs.
Good afternoon. I really hope somebody from Microsoft or Steve himself or some MS dev is reading this.
I recently bought a HTC HD7 and after using it for 1hr my initial impressions were very good....THEN i used it a bit longer and I started to realize something.
Cons:
1. The contact list function is really really bad. You guys replaced the standard address book function with the Facebook contact list. It is horribly bad. It is so bad that it leads me to believe that NONE OF YOU have actually used facebook in your life. If any of you developers were actually familiar with Facebook, you would have realized that most consumers definitely do not want 80% of their Facebook contacts cluttering/polluting their cell phones address book. Also, why am I not able to browse through my Facebook contacts photos? Am I missing something? Why cant I simply just tap the portrait of my facebook friend and look at his profile pictures?
2. The WP7's media playerss seek function needs to work like a STANDARD portable TOUCH SCREEN media player. Why am I not able skip to the part of the video I want to watch by simply sliding my finger along the time bar until I reach my target moment? Why am I forced to press a seek button instead? I thought this was a touch screen phone, not to mention the fact that Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2003, WM 5.0 WM 6.0 WM 6.5 all included this missing function. Do you guys even watch movies on your cell phones? Or are you guys still using Nokia 5200s?
3. Xbox Live is buggy as hell. I download a game through Xbox Live and it says I need to connect my phone to my computer or connect to wifi (It was already both) in order to complete the install. There is no easy way to check the progress of the installation of download unless I try to download another application. Is the ability to check the progress without downloading another app hidden somewhere? If so, why is it hidden?
4. When I try to visit a previous webpage and I press the hardware backwards arrow botton, it kicks me out of IE.
5. The hardware buttons have great sensitivity, but I am constantly pressing them by accident (with my palm), thus closing my active program unintentionally.
And let me tell you, I do not have large hands.
6. I dunno why it doesnt work as a USB drive natively. Perhaps this is some sort of piracy control measure or you are trying to mimic apple.
7. Cant copy and paste. I dunno why this is so hard for you guys. You guys could have some sort of hardware button, that when pushed activates a 2nd function to the screen pressing. Instead of clicking on a link, if the hardware button is pressed, it would allow the user to select the letters and highlight them. Then copy/paste somewhere else.
8. I cannot delete/hide my recently browsed youtube video history. I was looking at videos of girls shaking their butts and afterwards when I went to my zune application, I saw the video thumbnails there! I cant delete or hide them? Where is the privacy?
9. Doesnt support Divx codecs, which it should because this is a phone for a "mobile life style". Why would I want to sit at my computer for hrs waiting for my videos to convert? Why do you guys and apple insist on your own proprietary formats?
Sub-Score: -9
Pros:
1. Works fast, very smooth. Is this a result of the reduced interface .
2. Web browsing is pretty good, except I cant fast forward through youtube videos by sliding my finger on the time bar.
Sub-Score: +2
Total Score: -7
I do not believe this phone is beyond saving. Surely you guys must have noticed some of the things I mentioned. Why you did not remedy these issues before the release? I do not know. If you guys were unaware of the problems I mentioned, well now you know. Please fix these issues soon and FFS, please add a proper address book application and allow me to use my finger/time bar to seek through a video/song/youtube vid.
Currently, I would have to say this phone is nothing more than a portable media player with some phone functions built in. And you guys already screwed up with the media player part.
If I could go back in time (which was only yesterday) I would have bought a HTC Desire HD. But I cant so I can only pray that you guys fix some/most of these issues.
If I am sorely mistaken and some of these functions actually are included and hidden somewhere, why are they not intuitive?
Thanks.....for nothing.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. There's a separate Facebook app in the marketplace. If you don't want to integrate everyone, get it.
2. Agree on this point.
3. Never happened to me. If you want to see the progress stay on that page. A little bar begins to fill up. So I don't know what you're talking about.
4. Only time that happens to me is when I exit IE and then try to come back in.
5. Sorry, but that's user error.
6. There's already a workaround. You can use it as a mass storage device.
7. Its coming in the update. Why is that so hard to get?
8. Don't browse inappropriate videos? Or play a few more things after to make it replace the history items.
9. Kinda agree, but its not unheard of at all. So why would they do it?
EDIT: Poster above was more succint.
The problem isn't DivX as far as I understand, it's avi. Divx is just an implementation of MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile, which is supported. And the strange part here is that avi is Microsoft's own proprietary format, while mp4 is Apple's. Strange times.
Scrubbing is needed not only for long videos, I use it all the time for YouTube and music (especially podcasts, many of which aren't properly separated into chapters).
WOW, only the 20th "I hate WP7" thread for today so far? Hmmm, the trolls are slacking.
eternalemb said:
1. There's a separate Facebook app in the marketplace. If you don't want to integrate everyone, get it.
2. Agree on this point.
3. Never happened to me. If you want to see the progress stay on that page. A little bar begins to fill up. So I don't know what you're talking about.
4. Only time that happens to me is when I exit IE and then try to come back in.
5. Sorry, but that's user error.
6. There's already a workaround. You can use it as a mass storage device.
7. Its coming in the update. Why is that so hard to get?
8. Don't browse inappropriate videos? Or play a few more things after to make it replace the history items.
9. Kinda agree, but its not unheard of at all. So why would they do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He got the phone. It has many limitations he doesn't like.
So what's your problem?
"Coming in the update" means nothing. It may be month or 5 months.
Nobody buys a device to wait for update, well, maybe only tech geeks, but that's not the phone for them.
doministry said:
He got the phone. It has many limitations he doesn't like.
So what's your problem?
"Coming in the update" means nothing. It may be month or 5 months.
Nobody buys a device to wait for update, well, maybe only tech geeks, but that's not the phone for them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And he, like everyone else who bought one, should've known the deficiencies the devices carry atm. So, what's your problem?
You don't like the features a phone has or is lacking, you don't buy it. Simple, no?
And the update is expected in January.
f1restarter said:
WOW, only the 20th "I hate WP7" thread for today so far? Hmmm, the trolls are slacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, no, I'm watching ....
Blazerfan722 said:
Dear Steve Ballmer & Microsoft,
1. The contact list function is really really bad. You guys replaced the standard address book function with the Facebook contact list. It is horribly bad. It is so bad that it leads me to believe that NONE OF YOU have actually used facebook in your life. If any of you developers were actually familiar with Facebook, you would have realized that most consumers definitely do not want 80% of their Facebook contacts cluttering/polluting their cell phones address book. Also, why am I not able to browse through my Facebook contacts photos? Am I missing something? Why cant I simply just tap the portrait of my facebook friend and look at his profile pictures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do know that you can disable Facebook friends as contacts in the settings, don't you?
CR1M1N4L said:
You do know that you can disable Facebook friends as contacts in the settings, don't you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People these days expect the phone to pop up push messages from the microsoft servers for days after they buy it detailing every single detail of the device.
Reading, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking... These sorts of things are out the window these days.
N8ter said:
People these days expect the phone to pop up push messages from the microsoft servers for days after they buy it detailing every single detail of the device.
Reading, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking... These sorts of things are out the window these days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bet your house on that. Our society is getting dumber, lazier and more malleable by the minute. Though I digress...
LOL... This guy's not a troll!
He's genuinely disappointed with his purchase and has every right to complain about it. If you WP7 sympathisers were honest with yourselves, you would recognise that there are currently plenty of problems with this platform, and disaffected users have every right to complain.
There's no point pretending the problems don't exist.. it's obvious they, perhaps you only ever read Microsoft blogs and listen to Channel 9. If you want a true indication about how many users are feeling, just read the Microsoft questions and answers forum.
Guys,
This is still a new OS, it's been out for ONE month, many of these things gonna be replaced or added with updates. Just wait and see. The most important thing now is that's a fast and simple OS. Just remember what ****ty phone iPhone was, look what it became now... Time does miracles!
Alright guys, I'm leaving this open thread to know the answer, if it occurs.
And also for others to vent, but we will maintain an acceptable level before they start fighting funboys because of companies.
AceofSpades25 said:
LOL... This guy's not a troll!
He's genuinely disappointed with his purchase and has every right to complain about it. If you WP7 sympathisers were honest with yourselves, you would recognise that there are currently plenty of problems with this platform, and disaffected users have every right to complain.
There's no point pretending the problems don't exist.. it's obvious they, perhaps you only ever read Microsoft blogs and listen to Channel 9. If you want a true indication about how many users are feeling, just read the Microsoft questions and answers forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed,
Unfortunately I have the feeling that most people here now refuse to see the obvious problems with this platform (no USB, no DivX, and so many others...)
Seems like there is no right to judge and criticize the OS.
We shall not become like the iPhone fanboys. Seriously.
I also think that WP7 is a truly disappointing experience as I don't like to be forced to use all these external MS services (Zune, Skydrive, Marketplace, etc...) that just make me waste my time.
And I expect nothing from the so-called January update.
I love threads like this. Keep em coming lol jk. But man the pole jockers in here have fits when anyone say something about wp7. I dont know what everyones country rules are. But mine is freedom of speech. So if the dont like what the guy or troll have to say, dont feed him. Case Closed.
To the OP, I suggest you spill your mind on these boards http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7/threads
At least it gets some exposure for Microsoft.
lqaddict said:
To the OP, I suggest you spill your mind on these boards http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7/threads
At least it gets some exposure for Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good tip, if OP find interesting; closure here, and this link is for future users to enjoy!
Thanks!

Using WP beyond 6 months - Please comment here!

http://www.netbooknews.com/43643/why-i-left-windows-phone-7/
The reviewer here, left WP for Android after using it for 7 months.
Key issues that deterred here from using it beyond 7 months:
Lack of multitasking like Android where apps actually run in background
It did not connect to people as well as Android
Display resolution of 480 x 800
IE9 giving an error twice a month that - browser is out of date (new to me!)
Inability to share locations
You can't zoom in the maps (on pinned locations)
Can't share pics on Twitter (it's a **** experience -probably compared to iOS/Android?)
Now I for one know that I would disagree and can prove that those claims are wrong other than 3rd and 4th one as I've never had those issues. So they might be there waiting for me to discover it?
Anyone have similar issues after using the phone for more than a month or even better if you've used it over half a year!
Please don't troll.
drupad2drupad said:
Lack of multitasking like Android where apps actually run in background
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah he has a point there, although I think Microsoft's solution (toast notifications and Live Tiles) is better for the user and the battery life. However this limits the options of small developers.
drupad2drupad said:
It did not connect to people as well as Android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
drupad2drupad said:
Display resolution of 480 x 800
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At least for WP7 every app runs on (almost) every device, the only thing that's missing from some devices in the front facing camera.
drupad2drupad said:
IE9 giving an error twice a month that - browser is out of date (new to me!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Newer happend to me either.
drupad2drupad said:
Inability to share locations
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can share locations on Facebook or using foursquare, WhatsApp etc.
drupad2drupad said:
You can't zoom in the maps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really know what that means, in the maps app you can zoom in.
drupad2drupad said:
Can't share pics on Twitter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can, Twitter is built right in.
I have been using WP7 since April 2011.
slimshady322 said:
Yeah he has a point there, although I think Microsoft's solution (toast notifications and Live Tiles) is better for the user and the battery life. However this limits the options of small developers.
At least for WP7 every app runs on (almost) every device, the only thing that's missing from some devices in the front facing camera. You can share locations on Facebook or using foursquare, WhatsApp etc. I don't really know what that means, in the maps app you can zoom in. You can, Twitter is built right in. I have been using WP7 since April 2011.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you planning on moving away from WP anytime soon though?
A centralized notification area is definitely needed - probably within the 'ME' tile?
Never had any issues since Mango really, When I first started using WP7 on the HD7 early Jan 2011 I soon got bored with the lack of customisation as I had been using a HD2 and there was so much difference, I did go back to using my HD2 again but liked the new easy to use WP7 OS & after updating to mango I became more interested. I admit I don't fiddle with the phone as much any more but know it will do whatever I want when I want, Am happy with WP7 for now but eagerly await future updates to improve the few "lack of" features, I can't see me moving away just yet.
I personally do not agree with any of the issues listed and believe them to be false as far as useful experience. WP7 has been doing great for what I want and need since Mango and I actually have no plans to look at anything else. I use it for work as well and it fulfills it purpose and then some.
I have come from WM6 to Crackberry to this.
My family (4 of us) all have WP7 since VZW first released them and everyone is happy. I am the "IT" department for my family and we all came from RIMs and I have not had any "support" needs for the WP7 (same can not be said for RIM); it just works.
On a possessive note, as much as I grip and complain about WP 7; I have never had issues with IE 9 and find multitasking easy to use and don't see what people complain about. Twitter??? I personally don't use it on the phone nor the PC because it basically sucks. And about the display, well I see nothing wrong with it at all. There are so many other aspects of the phone that would have had made valid points for leaving WP which I will not bring up because I don't want to feed the troll/fanboys.
Been using it since Feb 2011. Am very happy with the platform and look forward to added functionality & features with Apollo.
I've not had any issues as he described. You can zoom in on maps. I've never seen that IE error. Sharing location is all over the place in WP and so is twitter sharing including pictures.
The resolution? Ok. Thats up to him if that is a platform killer. Can't argue with his preference on that.
Doesn't connect to people as well? Sorry I'm scratching my head here lol.
Apps running in background? Thats a preference as well, but I prefer the way MS has implemented it. When I was on Android it was a constant headache with stuff running my battery down when they shouldnt be running.
sinister1 said:
On a possessive note, as much as I grip and complain about WP 7; I have never had issues with IE 9 and find multitasking easy to use and don't see what people complain about. Twitter??? I personally don't use it on the phone nor the PC because it basically sucks. And about the display, well I see nothing wrong with it at all. There are so many other aspects of the phone that would have had made valid points for leaving WP which I will not bring up because I don't want to feed the troll/fanboys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THAT is such a change from your remaining posts through out the forum, thanks!
drupad2drupad said:
Are you planning on moving away from WP anytime soon though?
A centralized notification area is definitely needed - probably within the 'ME' tile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I'll stay with my LG Optimus 7 for some time. At some point I will upgrade and I will probably again chose a WP7 device, but before I upgrade I would like MS to provide an option to backup my LG Optimus 7 and transfer all the data to another phone. Even though most stuff is in the cloud, I have tree stars in every Angry Birds level and I don't want to loose that
But I agree with you that the notifications should be stored somewhere.
slimshady322 said:
No I'll stay with my LG Optimus 7 for some time. At some point I will upgrade and I will probably again chose a WP7 device, but before I upgrade I would like MS to provide an option to backup my LG Optimus 7 and transfer all the data to another phone. Even though most stuff is in the cloud, I have tree stars in every Angry Birds level and I don't want to loose that
But I agree with you that the notifications should be stored somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think your wish will come true with Apollo as a 'total' back up is scheduled to be introduced. You will be able to back up 'everything' - unlike Android full back ups like Titanium where game scores are not backed up and neither are progresses!
Probably Apollo is where WP will stop 'catching up' and start adding things
That reviewer must be on some kind of crack or something. I have not had issues with anything that he has mentioned and I have used WP since march 2011 and used all the mango betas. Only issue I have is with the disappearing keyboard and that you can't upload from the browser. I would also want a backup solution,Skype and integrated public transit directions (already found a semi-integrated solution) to be 100% satisfied.
13 month user, I didn't like WP for a week, but never put my SIM back in my HD2..that's all I'll say about that ...
Sent from The ACSyndicate Tower using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
11 months Mozart user here, since changing to WP, i had lots of free time to do my reading due to i spent less (actually almost none) time on tinkering or flashing my phone...
IMHO, I prefer the way MS integrated the "FAKE" multitasking method which I found it very suit my taste, and I can have total control on which apps I gave permission on background task, feel like I had total control of the phone (don't flame me because I know that some others had a different definition on Full Control of their device)
I find all of his accusations false except maybe 9. I think he means auto sharing location. There is some app i've seen peeps complain about because windows phone will only report your location automatically if it is in the foreground. From a security standpoint though, i'd be glad it doesn't but if you like that kind of app i guess that would be an issue.
The rest is BS. I've been using Windows phone since i got my surround for 180.00 off ebay (wasn't sure if i would like windows phone and my contract was up soon so i didn't want to waste my upgrade in case i didn't like it.) I used my upgrade to get a titan and my wife uses the surround to play games and use facebook. (she has a flip phone and didn't want to pay for data even though i swear to her i can shut the data off... i just got a purple case coming in from ebay so i may sway her )
i dont have any problems of them maybe the problem is the girl who tested DD
I have been using WP for a year. I still have my Nexus One that I used to use while travelling for Wifi hotspot and Navigation reasons. Mango and Navigon have resolved these issues. I still miss the notification tray/center and I sincerely hope WP gets it soon. Those who have used Android will vouch for me about importance of a good notification system.
Having said that, WP is my daily driver. The one thing that WP offers, that Android lacks, is the peace of mind. With Android, it was flash a ROM every week. Most of these ROM upgreades were not for features but for stability or improving some feature that google didn't integrate properly. Android reminds me of my WM days. Powerful but not a stable, cohesive experience.
I plan to stay with WP at least till beyond Apollo. I am curious to see how they integrate Windows 8, Xbox and WP8.
ive admitted only had my windows phone a week but after a serious play over the weekend when ive not been working - videos, photos, borwsing, messages etc.. you name it.
my only gripe is the volume/vibrate with no optin for silent and no vibrate.
Tother than that - coming from my HD2 which had been modded, my Titan seems very polished and smooth.
The article is BS, the only valid point is the screen resolution one.
[
my only gripe is the volume/vibrate with no optin for silent and no vibrate.
.[/QUOTE]
go to settings/sounds and ringtone/ set vibration to off
then on home screen you can toggle between ring and "silent"
pakure said:
my only gripe is the volume/vibrate with no optin for silent and no vibrate..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to settings/sounds and ringtone/ set vibration to off
then on home screen you can toggle between ring and "silent"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is true, but it is a far from optimal workaround. Changing that setting doesn't just affect silent mode, it affects both ring and silent mode. I think what Symondo is asking for is a way to conveniently toggle between ring+vibrate, vibrate-only, and complete silence without resorting to opening the settings app.

Categories

Resources