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I am about to order MDA JAM myself and wondering if I am doing the right thing. I currently own XDA 2 imate, which I am trying to sell right now with no apparent luck. New JAM cost about 518 Euro's. 64 megs of RAM...
It's small, nice looking and what I've heard, very stable and very well build. But I still can't justify this upgade...
Please, point a lost soul to the right direction
Is size a major issue for you right now? Do you get alot of strange looks from holding the very PDA-like XDA2 to your ear?
If size is enough of a justification to you, then go for it. Otherwise, you're getting a unit with pretty much the same capabilities. Yes, there is also a 1.3 megapixel camera, but the quality of the pics don't look any better than that of the pics taken with the XDA2.
Go for it !
Hi
I had similar concerns when I considered the upgrade, but I have absolutely no regrets now. I have a Pocket PC that is so unobtrusive, I feel so much better. If you travel a lot or move about a lot, keeping track of various things does turn out to be a bother, particularly if you have the rather large xda with you. I feel like I've been freed, somehow.
Just a feeling, but worth the upgrade. BTW, I got a good price for my XDA2 hence the upgrade.
Sands
No regrets here. It's a feather-weight and feels tons smaller compared to my old XDA...
I doubt you will have any regrets either! Just fetch the most possible for your XDA2...
Kai920 said:
No regrets here. It's a feather-weight and feels tons smaller compared to my old XDA...
I doubt you will have any regrets either! Just fetch the most possible for your XDA2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Already sold my XDA 2
It's a nice little unit. Seems pretty solidly built, and I've only had one crash so far when I was trying to run a game.
However, there are definitely downsides. I just switched from a SE Z600 to the Magician, and for one thing the bluetooth is not as stable as the SE. I transfered about 200 contacts yesterday, and the Magician completely stopped receiving about three or four times. I had to turn it off and then back on again to get it working.
The second shortcoming is the phone sound quality. Seriously, this is a major issue that has been discussed on almost all forums dealing with the Magician. It sounds horrible compared to the Z600. We can only hope this will be adressed in a future software upgrade.
Thirdly, the battery could last a little longer. I get about a day and a night's usage out of it before the thing runs dry. Then again, I am a heavy user. My trusty old Z600 lasted about 72 hours before I switched.
Finally, the camera is a massive waste of space on the device. The pictures are dark, grainy, very blurry and almost completly lack color. The only sensible thing to do is to reprogram the camera button to do something useful, and forget that there even is a camera.
Those are my major criticisms towards the Magician. Overall, it is a pretty sweet device that I would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to buy a smartphone.
Skip
This sounds insane!!!!! :roll:
Are you trying to compare a powerful smartphone to a Z600 in terms of battery life??? Jam is one of the most impressive pocketpc phones in terms of battery life!!!
Anyway as for the stability problems I guess we have to wait till they iron all the ROM problems and that is the case with most SE or Nokia phones too! And if you think how much more complex is a pocketpc phone then you can understand that its still too early.
What I have to say is that the English T-Mobile ROM is by far the most stable ROM compared to iMate's and Qtek's ROMS. I also never had any problems with the sound quality and it seems the sound problems are not there in T-Mobile's phones. I guess its a fawlty hardware component in imate's and Qtek's banch of phones! Then again only time will tell if its a software or a hardware problem after all.
As for the camera its really bad at the moment but I guess its a software problem and not just low quality lens! Other people with good knowledge of photoshop filters are saying that the pics are ok but the auto settings of the camera's software are crappy.
Katsj, I noticed your preference for the t-mob rom. Is it available and can I put it on an i-mate device? Thanks, A.
I agree that comparing a smartphone with a 400 MHz processor to the Z600 is slightly unfair, but that doesn't mean I am perfectly happy with the battery life of the Magician.
It is decent, since I can go for more than a day without recharging, and I might be able to squeeze some more out by shutting of Bluetooth and lowering the screen brightness.
As for the sound there appears to be two unrelated problems, one of them having to do with poorly constructed legs for the speaker, the other being poor speaker software. I seem to be suffering from the latter.
I have seen the photos that some people claim to be decent after improving them in Photoshop. I am far from impressed. Then again, I have yet to see a camera that produces good quality photos.
Releasing a device with inferior firmware seems like poor business practice to me. I know it has become quite commonplace, but it's still a nuisance. Additionally, as this is not the first Pocket PC Phone from HTC, one would think that they would have ironed out the major faults
My bottom line is: The Magician is far from perfect, but it's a neat and sweet little device. Prior to it I would have never considered buying a Pocket PC phone.
Skip
apap said:
Katsj, I noticed your preference for the t-mob rom. Is it available and can I put it on an i-mate device? Thanks, A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you can! You have to follow my instructions! You will need an SD card 128MB or bigger and a card reader! But remember flashing your phone with T-Mobile's ROM and then getting it to a service for any reason with a different provider's ROM will void your warranty! I would recommend you should wait for a newer iMate ROM where they will iron the bugs so you ll be fine without loosing your warranty.
I was the one that fixed a friend's iMate JAM speaker and as far as I understood the problem in iMate JAM is most probably both hardware and software! If I were to buy an iMate JAM I would wait till they fix all those problems in their production line first and I would make sure I would get a JAM not from the first ones! I am so happy I bought a T-Mobile MDA Compact and not an iMate JAM.
As for the camera YES they should use a better camera. Sometimes I think they only got a 0.3MPixel in JAM and they use an interpolation routine that makes it look like a 1.3MPixel one only in resolution! In my opinion HTC has to think of a CCD camera and not a CMOS in the next models! SonyEricsson S700 is a very good example of a nice cameraphone.
I love my MDA Compact and at the moment there is no other gadget that would keep more happy than it! :wink:
To get better results from the camera, make sure that the sharpness is around 10. The default 5 is horrible and was fixed in some imate extended ROM version.
Regarding colours, make sure you adjust the brightness and contrast. Avoid the default settings, they're horrible. When playing with the brightness or contrast, focus on something red in a light background. The red will help you balance the contrast while the light background will help you balance the brightness.
Changing the above settings will give you some VERY DECENT results for a camera phone. Certainly better than most Nokia and SE phones. Maybe not as good as Sharp's though! :wink:
Hi,
I thinking about change my TyTN for Nokia N95. Some one knows where I can find a good comparison review between TyTN and Nokia N95?
Worth change my TyTN by a N95?
Can some body post his/her thoughts about this change.
Regards,
Taguapire
bought n95 to replace my tytn and sent it back next day
poor battery
rubbish ram and cpu
nolovelust said:
bought n95 to replace my tytn and sent it back next day
poor battery
rubbish ram and cpu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you using right now?
Regards,
Taguapire.
nolovelust said:
bought n95 to replace my tytn and sent it back next day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tytn at the moment but urged for a vga phone like toshiba 900 (or was it g900)
I concur. I have both and i think that they are both awesome phones in their own environment. You just cannot compare the 2 with each other. Its like comparing a truck to a car. They each have their plus. I love the size of the N95 and the camera is awesome. especially after the firmware update. And inorder to save battery i turn off the dual mode band and just keep it on gsm. It probably gets you about 2 extra days of battery life. But i also love my 8525. so much stuff i can do with it. So its just up to you and what you like and what your looking to do with it my friend. Good luck.
deviusdragger said:
I concur. I have both and i think that they are both awesome phones in their own environment. You just cannot compare the 2 with each other. Its like comparing a truck to a car. They each have their plus. I love the size of the N95 and the camera is awesome. especially after the firmware update. And in order to save battery i turn off the dual mode band and just keep it on gsm. It probably gets you about 2 extra days of battery life. But i also love my 8525. so much stuff i can do with it. So its just up to you and what you like and what your looking to do with it my friend. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much stable is N95? There is any stability issue on Symbian OS used in this phone? What about usability and applications compared with WM6?
This 5 MPX camera can be compared with real consumer cameras @ 5 MPX or it is average camera if you compare it with Dedicated 5 MPX camera?
Regards,
Taguapire.
keep the tytn wait for the kaiser
A friend of mine has the N95 and is sending it back, it loses signal, the gps doesnt work, battery life is appalling, sometimes people cant hear him. He is now getting a tytn after using mine.
which one is the truck?
Saaduk said:
which one is the truck?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess Hermes
In this day and age I simply don't see myself entering my emails using the number pad.
When will Nokia enter the new millenium and add a frikkin touchscreen?
Thank God his is not HoFo. You would have had all the crazy Nokia and HTC fanboys at eachothers throats.
It really comes down to what your expectations are out of the gadget. Replying emails and the like, work related things. TyTN all the way due to the keyboard. Remember, the N95 is being sold as a media heavy phone, not business. Check the specs.
GPS is not the best but is far from the worst and the battery is anemic. However Hermes doesn't even have GPS so there is a point there. But the battery, is an issue, especially for such a hardware heavy phone. You will notice a lot of people say they can extend the battery life by cutting down usage, well, ironically the phone was made to be used. That is something Nokia has yet to wise up, since it goes for size over function. Just like the N80. Putting anything under 1000mAh on phones like this is just irresponsible.
Anyway, see what you need and then simply match it. Don't get me wrong the N95 is a impressive phone but with a few flaws, just like TyTN. Find which one fits best.
Exactly, everyone has their own flavors. I love both my phones and have had no problems at all with them. Maybe cause i take real good care of them too. The camera on the N95 is comparable to some 5mpx cameras. Clear enough to print. MY battery on the n95 last about 3 days with heavy texting and moderate phone calls placed. I love the symella program that you can get on symbian phones. kind of like wintorrent. Download tons of songs thru the wifi or edge. The lack of 3g for the us is one thing that really kind of bummed me out on this phone. But its all good, And good luck with the purchase.
I see...
Thanks for your replies. I just wanted N95 for GPS and Camera, but both are not top of line in multimedia phones or dedicated hardware.
I guess that I will kept my TyTN.
Regards and thank you very much,
Taguapire.
I've got a hermes and one of the gyus i work with has got an N95.
One of them is a phone with a few computer functions on it and the other is a computer with a few phone functions. Which you want depends on how you will use the phone.
Having had a good play with his N95, I can confirm it is a stunningly good phone - the camera is better than my Sony DSC-P12 and the screen is a joy to behold.
For me though, I can't get over that it's not touch screen - makes it too awkward to use properly.
I'd have one as a second phone and it would give me problems whenever I leave the house while I made my mind up which one to take but...the question is, would I swap my Vario II for it?
Not a chance
taguapire said:
Hi,
I thinking about change my TyTN for Nokia N95. Some one knows where I can find a good comparison review between TyTN and Nokia N95?
Worth change my TyTN by a N95?
Can some body post his/her thoughts about this change.
Regards,
Taguapire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are comparing two different kind of devices. TyTn using windows wheather Nokia using Symbian. What you wanted to do with your mobile on the go. It depends on the functions it is offering and your needs. About 5MP camera well it will take the picture that big you can make it wallpaper in your kitchen. I am using camera phones since 3 years now still have 2MP camera phone. But I never use it for photography. Man you can't use it as professional camera. Anyhow I am not professional but whenever I take pictures I use digital camera other than my phone device.
Lordsmiff said:
I've got a hermes and one of the gyus i work with has got an N95.
One of them is a phone with a few computer functions on it and the other is a computer with a few phone functions. Which you want depends on how you will use the phone.
Having had a good play with his N95, I can confirm it is a stunningly good phone - the camera is better than my Sony DSC-P12 and the screen is a joy to behold.
For me though, I can't get over that it's not touch screen - makes it too awkward to use properly.
I'd have one as a second phone and it would give me problems whenever I leave the house while I made my mind up which one to take but...the question is, would I swap my Vario II for it?
Not a chance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with Lordsmiff.
The Nokia is a phone trying to grow up to become a computer
The Tytn is a computer trying to be a phone - but hey, its doing a better job at it !!
Depends what one wants ! It's your choice !
for me ,cant do without a touch screen.
also read reviews on the camera, n95 vs sony ericsion 3.2Mp cybershot, thge 3.2 beat the 5.0 of the nokia
Hi,
I first had the tytn and I was curious about a symbian cellphone, so I sold my tytn and bought a N95.
I'm a little bit disappointed of symbian. The menu is really slow and it crashes once a day. In general, if you use the phone a little bit you can charge it every day. If you don't use it that much you have to charge it every 2-3 days.
Another problem is the missing touchscreen because it is just comfortable to scroll or tab on the screen, select more than one item, ...
The quallity of the n95 is also not the best, the zero-key was scrooping and you can hear the display while calling someone (but this is not that annoying).
But the camera is really nice, it is not as good as a digital camera but still very good.
So, at the moment I am buying the tytn again and I selling the n95.
km
donsaxena said:
keep the tytn wait for the kaiser
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Click to collapse
owyeah owyeah..thats what I will do(A)
I've been happy with my Vario 2 this last year, but my upgrade is coming up at the end of August.
Problem is, where to go next? For all the Hermes' faults (average battery life, the inherent flaws of WinMo) there really isn't a big leap forward out there as far as I can see. Considered the Vario 4, iPhone 3G, Omnia, X1, even the n96 but nothing has really grabbed me.
The Touch Pro / Vario 4 has an improved display, but that seems about it - and I'll lose all the buttons. Similarly the Xperia (if it ever surfaces). Underrated things, buttons - oh, touchscreens are all fine, but I'd hate to rely on just that. Every single button on my Vario is programmed and regularly used.
Seriously thinking of holding off for a while. Wondering what other folks' thoughts on Life After Hermes is.
Well, so much of that decision is personal preference. Just a quick thought though - If your Hermes is set up sweetly and does not have any of the screen issues and need for soft resets on a regular basis then in a sense why change.
Personally I find my Kaiser TyTn II achieves little more than my Hermes except in the memory department (lots better) and in the reliability department (never crashes or needs soft resets). And although there are those that say the Kaiser is slow, believe me when you change from Hermes to Kaiser you feel the increase in speed. If you are an avid video watcher then TyTn II probably not for you, although I find it performs identically to my Hermes in that regard.
However as you have the chance to skip a generation, then yes the Touch Pro should offer yet another small progression - except it's too soon to identify any problems that one may have. (Do you know, I have really gotten used to the Tilting screen on the Kaiser - can't imagine going back to the flat slide - now touch pro with tilt, that would be nice if only from a very practical point of view.
Mike
I've only just recently got a Hermes lol but have been enjoying it so much that I already have been giving thought to this same question. The only answer I've come up with so far is just to keep using the Hermes. If and when it dies I'll look at what else there is but at this stage I imagine I'll just buy another Hermes, they are getting better value all the time as they are getting cheaper.
I was also contemplating my next device, after the iPhone 3G announcement I thought my decision was made. The pricing was just right, but I found out that you had to take a 24/36 month contract that was the end of that. I am going to keep my phone until a third Hermes generation comes out as I feel the major push to the TyTn II would be the GPS, but I don't really need a GPS at the moment.
If there's any new phone without camera, please tell me (no, not Nokia E51). My 8500 is getting a bit old
If you can wait a couple of months then the Touch Pro is the way to go.
googles android platform
nqina dlamini said:
I am going to keep my phone until a third Hermes generation comes out as I feel the major push to the TyTn II would be the GPS, but I don't really need a GPS at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also waiting on a TyTn III someday!
galaxys said:
I'm also waiting on a TyTn III someday!
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Click to collapse
I'm waiting to see what T-Mo US does with a WinMo device that'll play nice with their AWS roll-out.
It's sort of a shame that they had no choice but to go the 1700/2100 route....the Xperia was mentioned as being 1700 friendly, but I've seen different reports that says, uh, no 1700 for you!
TheBrit said:
If you can wait a couple of months then the Touch Pro is the way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my point though. It's not. Better res, FM Radio, apart from that the Kaiser does it all and has all the buttons too.
I want a phone that keeps all the features I currently have and adds to them, not one that throws some of the best away.
Right now if I had to upgrade this year, it would be to the Vario 4. But it's not the leap forward I'd hoped for after 18 months of the Hermes.
first of all, sorry if i'm posting something that has been discussed before. the search function didn't prop anything useful, and as you can see i am a user of this forum.
if this has already been discussed, please give me a link of the topic.
my obvious question is if it is worth it to buy the diamond2 instead of putting its software on the original diamond. besides that, how is the better hardware working ? especially the gps chip ? same problems ?
any thoughts are much appreciated. thanks
What can I say... Diamond 2 is better on every aspect compared to the Diamond. I still got my old Diamond and I just started it up and it felt so bad using it if I compare to the D2.
To sum up everything: D2 is BETTER.
it would be strange to be otherwise. I mean, it's Diamond 2 sooo, tehnically, it comes as an upgrade. It would be strange to be a worse phone. Diamond 2 comes with some solutions to problems in D1.
The GPS is okay, after you have downloaded quickGPS, the connection is within seconds (4-5). I'd use iGo with GPS, it's great. Audio is good, many features. Any more questions? Cheers!!!
I had the Diamond for some days and I hated it. The screen is to small for such a device for my POW. The design is also ugly compared to TD2 (my pow again). I actually only got the TD2 because it was cheap and my plan was to sell it again. But I ended up keeping it. I think it's a great phone but battery life could be better.. GPS is working flawlessly tomtom with no probs what so ever
I used the Diamond for over a year.. it was a great phone however it always felt slightly slow, now on the diamond 2 (which i have now) the specs are very similar however the phone feels much much better!
On the diamond I was flashing roms every couple of days, never satisfied.
On the diamond 2 im sitting on the stock rom!!! ..go figure! Fantastic phone.
There was a dust under the screen issue with D2. Any of you owners still experience it or did HTC correct the problem?
loriolus said:
There was a dust under the screen issue with D2. Any of you owners still experience it or did HTC correct the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not experienced any dust under my screen yet.
u can find pretty nice overview of both over here: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=2368&idPhone2=2689
btw d2 ownz))im just so happy for it...
Diamond 2 is much better than Diamond in every aspect. But HTC has announced lots of new phones, Touch Pro 2, HD 2. These are all the nice device comparing with Diamond 2. And the HTC LEO will be announced soon. I believe it'll be a great device.
HTC LEO is one gigantic device. I love what it can do but you need a breefcase to carry it around....might as well just carry a netbook.
loriolus said:
HTC LEO is one gigantic device. I love what it can do but you need a breefcase to carry it around....might as well just carry a netbook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, HTC announces phones larger and larger. At first HD is large enough and a little bit larger for porket. Now they announced LEO.....Anyway if the phone is really top device, the size doesn't matter.
I switched from the diamond to the diamond2, and until now i regret it!
Maybe technically the d2's pecs are far more better than the original, but i've had a lot of problems with it. Freezes a lot of times (T-mobile stock rom), and the promised improved battery life is still bad (charge every 3 days, with normal use).
The worst part are the look and feel of the td2. Compared to the original i now have a brick in my pocket, the original was so much slimmer than this one! The t-mobile design is that bad that i can't use any car kit because t-moile decided to use a cap in front of the usb-port.
thanks for the replies guys. especially yours hellboy1970. it was clear that the d2 would be better than the d1 in the usual aspects - hardware, battery life, minor fixes, etc. but what i was asking was if it is actually worth it switching .. i mean, the differences between a customized diamond with all the apps and roms and all that and a, so far, stock d2.
of course the d2 will eventually receive more interest than the d1, and i'll switch too by that time, but right now, money wise and all that.
anyway, thanks. i'm thinking of keeping my d1 until d2 lowers its price a bit
Diamond 1 it's a joke compared to D2...
I just flashed the D2 ROM (AZTOR) to my D1 and i'm really fascinated about what a software can do with a device. First i had O2 SW, then some custom ROMs, then original HTC and now this D2 Rom. It's ingenious.
I see the only real disadvantage of the D1 in the "small" display.
I don't care about my GPS taking 3 mins to find a satellite - i usually know at least the direction where i want to go.
So in my eyes, the D2 is a good and certainly better device, but if you own a D1 it's just not worth switching.
hellboy1970 said:
The t-mobile design is that bad that i can't use any car kit because t-mobile decided to use a cap in front of the usb-port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. With frequent use, I am sure it will break off and the T-Mobile will be just like the HTC
Hi there, this is my first post and I have an interest in this phone. Can owners of this phone please briefly state the pros and cons of this device as it would be a real help for me (and others) to decide whether I purchase this phone or not.
I will create a list in the next post weighing out all the good and the not so good features of this phone.
Thanks in advance!
List of Pros/cons
The list so far:
Pros:
- Great value
- Very fast 2nd Gen Snapdragon CPU which is easily overclockable
- Adreno 205 GPU (very good graphics)
- 512mb RAM
- 2gb Internal memory
- Large 3.8" WVGA screen
- 3g / HSDPA / Wi-Fi b/g/n / Bluetooth / GPS
- 5mp Camera with 720p HD recording
- Parts are cheap to replace (batteries, chargers etc.)
- Feature packed
- Decent battery (personal preference)
Cons:
- Bulky
- Not the best aesthetics (personal preference)
- Low quality components (crappy Bluetooth, Mic, Camera, Internal Memory and Poor touchscreen/multi-touch implementation)
- Android 2.2 (However, you can easily flash a stable 2.3.5 Rom)
- Lack of knowledge/customer support from Huawei[
- Branding (I'm being picky )
only thing i could call a con and that's really stretching it is it's relative bulkiness.
No dual core
Actually Android 2.2 is pretty old already, that would be a bad thing. But we already have a stable 2.3.5-ROM so it is no big deal at all. Not the best aesthetics? I think it looks pretty expensive if you ask me. The galaxy s of a friend of mine does not look any better than the u8800. As far as I know the camera is not that great, and the megapixel do not provide any information about the quality (my old camera with 3MP makes better photos than any phonecamera, simply because it has a real object lens and a bigger sensor).
In my opinion the real advantage of this device is that you get the speed of devices that cost twice as much. Of course those devices have a much bigger screen, do not forget that.
There is one situation in which the processor will be too slow: Playing some n64-games; for example Zelda - Ocarina of time is not really enjoyable. Also the screen is almost too small if you do use the touchscreen-controls (you can use a ps3 controller).
Lack of prestige? You gotta be kidding, right?
If you have the money for the u8800, go get it. If you have slightly more money you can go for a used galaxy s. I would have bought the galaxy s but I wanted a phone with 2 years warranty. If you have a lot more money you could be a galaxy s 2 for example, it will have a dualcore (no problems with emulating n64, that i can assure you) and a bigger screen.
XphX said:
Actually Android 2.2 is pretty old already, that would be a bad thing. But we already have a stable 2.3.5-ROM so it is no big deal at all. Not the best aesthetics? I think it looks pretty expensive if you ask me. The galaxy s of a friend of mine does not look any better than the u8800. As far as I know the camera is not that great, and the megapixel do not provide any information about the quality (my old camera with 3MP makes better photos than any phonecamera, simply because it has a real object lens and a bigger sensor).
In my opinion the real advantage of this device is that you get the speed of devices that cost twice as much. Of course those devices have a much bigger screen, do not forget that.
There is one situation in which the processor will be too slow: Playing some n64-games; for example Zelda - Ocarina of time is not really enjoyable. Also the screen is almost too small if you do use the touchscreen-controls (you can use a ps3 controller).
Lack of prestige? You gotta be kidding, right?
If you have the money for the u8800, go get it. If you have slightly more money you can go for a used galaxy s. I would have bought the galaxy s but I wanted a phone with 2 years warranty. If you have a lot more money you could be a galaxy s 2 for example, it will have a dualcore (no problems with emulating n64, that i can assure you) and a bigger screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input. Updated list accordingly.
XphX said:
Lack of prestige? You gotta be kidding, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, from lack of prestige, I meant it as if somebody asks you what phone you have, and you say Huawei U8800, they'd probably think that you have a cheap chinese model. It's not really a big thing for many people but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Pro:
- Good specs for the price
- Good battery life on 2.3.5 (unofficial)
Con:
- Low quality components (crappy Bluetooth, Mic, Camera, Internal Memory - big but useless without hacking)
- Real problems with official Froyo Roms, which should have never go out on the market with so many bugs/issues (not going to sleep properly, unstable wifi etc etc)
- No official Gingerbread support, even Huawei actually owns the 2.3.5. license
- Lack of knowledge/customer support from Huawei (if you have an issue, they replace the handset and you get an identical handset with the same problem)
I would like to say, that this phone would have been one of the biggest fails on the market, if there was no support from excellent developers.
It's only because of people like Dzo, Stockwell and Genokolar, that I didn't throw this phone in the bin.
Huawei is fresh in the phone manufacturing industry and this handset reflects this aspect loud and clear. This is why no one really heard about it...
huawei is everything but fresh in the phone industry
darkado said:
huawei is everything but fresh in the phone industry
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Click to collapse
I said phone manufacturing, not telecommunications (I know that they are major manufacturer of WCDMA backbone and access network elements), there is a small difference...
katu2006 said:
I said phone manufacturing, not telecommunications (I know that they are major manufacturer of WCDMA backbone and access network elements), there is a small difference...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input. It's very disappointing that you get such a great value smartphone which is spoiled by basic features and low quality components. I'm really doubting if I should get this now.
everybody has a set of pros and cons on this phone, and i dont think its a good idea to make ur buying/non-buying decision purely basing on others comments..
for me, its only mattering "pro" is the high price-performance ratio..
(and one more now, after seeing such an active on-going development effort to make this phone better..)
and no "con" at all (as this is what i expect from a product of this price..)
thus if u think single-core cpu is a "con", no official support is a "con", little brand recognition (outside china) is a "con", u can alway pay a few bucks more to get dual-core, famous-branded models..
and honestly speaking, this phone is indeed NOT intended for everybody..
its just not as idiot-proof as iphone (as with most android phones..), not as good-looking (to some) as sensation, not as ego-boosting as sgs2, etc..
but its definitely easier to hack with, to manipulate with, and to brick with (not sure on this point though, as more flexibility does not necessarily imply easier brickability..)..
imho, its more suitable if u r the kind of person who would like to play with android instead of just using it..
as usual, the above represent my opinion only..
OP, just tell us what you are looking for and how much money you want to spend.
XphX said:
OP, just tell us what you are looking for and how much money you want to spend.
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Between £150 - £200 is my budget. The U8800 is more towards the lower end of my budget and as I can get it at that price brand new, it is quite appealing. However, you can get other phones like a second hand Galaxy S for a bit more while still being within reach of my budget.
What I'm looking for is killer hardware as well as a good community which makes the phone easily hackable and 'tweakable.' Regarding the U8800, it has exactly what I'm looking for at the price point but if it falls short of basic things like the touch screen, then what can you do. Being a previous ZTE Blade owner, I was extremely impressed as basic functions were not sacrificed.
There are a lot of people that switched from the Blade to the U8800 and are quite happy it seems. I think you do not have much choices here - luckily. You can either get the galaxy s or the U8800, as you already said yourself.
If the galaxy s is in a good condition and if you can live with a phone that has no warranty anymore, I'd say go for it. For me, none of my phones ever had any hardware-problem, so I could have easily bought all of them in used condition.
It is just that buying something off ebay is risky. I do buy little stuff there every now and then, but no expensive stuff - if the seller just lies about a "little" problem and you want to return it, you probably won't see your money again. If a friend of yours sells you his used galaxy s, take it. That would be the best choice in my opinion. Either get a galaxy s that you can inspect and try out before you buy it or go for the u8800.
katu2006 said:
Low quality components (crappy Bluetooth, Mic, Camera, Internal Memory - big but useless without hacking)
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Bluetooth was reported to be problematic, yes; some people reporting it to be fine (I just use the headset sometimes and it works perfectly well). Mic also works perfectly fine for me. Camera is not as good as with other handsets, yes. It takes 10 minutes to make the memory useable, but I admit, what Huawei did there makes not even sense.
katu2006 said:
Real problems with official Froyo Roms
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Froyo does not matter to me as it already is old and I would not recommend anybody to buy this phone if he wants to install Froyo.
katu2006 said:
No official Gingerbread support
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That with Gingerbread is a shame, right now I hope for support in the future. Worst case: You won't get the new features... but: it works fast and stable already, so you won't miss more than the new features (whatever they are and will be...).
katu2006 said:
Lack of knowledge/customer support from Huawei
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Instead we got the community. As long as everybody stays here at xda-devs or at modaco we will get support. When everybody leaves in one year or maybe in two, then you are pretty much f...on your own. On the other hand, in a year all the problems should be sorted out.
katu2006 said:
this phone would have been one of the biggest fails on the market, if there was no support from excellent developers
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Exactly, and now it is a fast and stable phone with android 2.3.5 - at least for me it works perfectly well.
Noob here....
I have this phone and bought it about 3 weeks ago. It's my first smartphone and did a little research on the reviews.
From my perspective, being a total noob, so far I've been really happy with the X5. Sure, battery life is horrible and the camera could be better but I've managed to take some nice shots and some OK video. For me it's great to have this capability in my pocket and liberating to be able to catch up on the day's news and podcasts siting by the pond in the backyard in the morning.
Strangely perhaps I haven't been having problems with the reported wifi problems nor any problems with the Hi Suite software from Huawei.
I have had a couple of little glitches but nothing a quick re-boot hasn't fixed.
My first android has exceeded my expectations but I come from a point of nothingness.
Towards the end of it's 1 year warranty I plan doing all what seems to be the fun things to do like rooting and other fiddling around
Even after reading about the X5 shortfalls I'm still happy with what I have and don't feel inferior at this stage.
I bought the phone for $AUD260. Have spent around $25 on apps and around a further $25 on accessories...like extra mini USB cables for my various stations where I can charge the phone, a in-car charger just in case, a case and some screen protectors.
I've been having fun on my X5 and that's what it all comes down to for me.
seems this phone doesn't support UMTS 850/1900Mhz
so it may only use 2G data service in North American
policeman0077 said:
seems this phone doesn't support UMTS 850/1900Mhz
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Someone said that he got an answer about that from Huawei and they told him they just forgot to write this on the description page... someone could try it out to make it clear.
Clevo89 said:
Sure, battery life is horrible
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Hold on, I get 2-3 days of standby when I do only use the phone for about 1 hour calling per day and about 20-50 sms per day. If I play n64 or something it lasts a day, maybe another half day. Actually this is the best battery life I ever encountered with a handset. I use 2.3.5 which seems to have a good battery management and SetCPU has 245min and 806max, scaling conservative.
XphX said:
Someone said that he got an answer about that from Huawei and they told him they just forgot to write this on the description page... someone could try it out to make it clear.
Hold on, I get 2-3 days of standby when I do only use the phone for about 1 hour calling per day and about 20-50 sms per day. If I play n64 or something it lasts a day, maybe another half day. Actually this is the best battery life I ever encountered with a handset. I use 2.3.5 which seems to have a good battery management and SetCPU has 245min and 806max, scaling conservative.
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You're exaggerating with 3 days... The most I ever got on this phone is 51h and that without using it at all, mostly on stand by the whole time...And I've tried ALL Roms available till today.
I'm 100% sure that NOBODY got 72 h of this phone.
You probably didn't had many phones and don't have a good term of comparison...This phone has average battery life and only on Gingerbread Roms. On any Froyo Roms, you'll be lucky to get 20 h out of it.
Pros:
If you can root it and install a good ROM, it can become really fast, faster than many android phones (except dual core).
Very nice price.
It seems expensive and has a really sturdy exterior. The screen crystal is also very hard and resistant to scratches.
It is fully featured (sensors, very nice screen, high resolution, etc).
I had not the slightest problem with any of its subparts (bluetooth, GPS, camera). (Maybe I am lucky, though).
If you root it and install a good ROM, video recording becomes very good.
If you dont play with it all the time, battery lasts for one day or two.
You catch friends with iPhones 1 and 3G looking at it with envy.
You catch friends with iPhones 4 looking at you with envy, as soon as they hear its price and find out about the prices of apps at android market. (They paid for many of the apps you will get free).
Cons:
As with all smartphones, if you play demanding 3D games, in 2-3 hours you will need to find a wall socket (so this is not really a con).
Something with the multitouch doesn't seem perfect. I don't know why.
It's not an iPhone.
It has not a dual core CPU.
It's not a tablet.
If you are amongst some friends with iPhones, you will still not have one.
Conclusion: I am very happy with the X5. My wife wants to steal it from me, and she plays with it all the time. She already has finished many games on it (Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio, Diversion, Cut the Rope and others). I managed to read two books on it, while on vacations.
It was a good buy.