Database Users

Sony Ericsson 15th Sept Webcast Event

just in case you guys are interested
there supposed to be giving a live webcast about the X1 today at around 1 PST
here is the link
http://www.sonyericsson.com/premiere/
i'm goin to try listen in and see what happens.

Seems i've missed it...
Gonna wait for the recording.
God, won't september 30th come already?

I watched this event and have to say I was incredibly disappointed by it. The phone that Magnus was using was so ridiculously slow that I thought it was actually broken. Really. He had a panel that looked fairly customised with the usual array of time/weather/shortcuts/calendar etc and when he opened the keyboard there was about 3 seconds of delay before the screen rotated. However, it didn't stop there. It only redrew most of the screen. It took over 10 seconds for the phone to redraw the icons in landscape mode. How can this possibly be acceptable? 10 seconds?!!? magnus said he had been using this phone as his personal phone for nearly a year and he said he loved it. How many times has he switched from landscape/portrait and wasted 10 seconds of his life waiting for his phone to catch up.
Further to that, the whole thing seemed ridiculously laggy. He covered it up very well by pressing a button and then talking about the feature whilst waiting for it to load. It was painfully obvious though to anyone in the know what was really going on.
I have seen the recent video on theunwired and the screen rotation looks very fast, which is excellent. But perhaps when you have a more heavily loaded panel that fast screen rotation becomes a thing of the past? Also disappointing was the lack of accelerometer.
I was so keen for the X1 but that was 9 months ago. Now I'm going to wait another month or two and get the Touch HD. It lacks the keyboard, but I'll learn to live without.

screen lag
Also saw what you did, but he came on a chat at Modaco afterwards and said that he had a lot of apps open; which could be true...did you see how fast Google Maps came up? Each panel is it's own desktop and programs on it keep running, bound to be a memory hog. He was supposed to be using a retail version also, so should be as fast as the unit at The::Unwired.
To be honest, I never have been happy with my TyTn II for the screen rotation, and looking at video of the Touch Pro it doesn't seem much faster.
Maybe if you set the task manager to close apps when you switch away?

I've just rewatched it and it actually took 16 seconds to rotate the screen at one point!!! Surely that's not acceptable, even if there are plenty of apps running. A device can be made smarter than that with more efficient code.

i didn't get a chance to watch but i dunno i had a lot of really high hopes for this phone but it looks like i might be leaning more towards a touch pro but we'll see how long my wizard holds up before i make decisions about what to do

Webcast
For those who miss it, you can watch it @:-
http://www.inxperia.com/index.php/2008/09/15/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-webcast

There is another (GREAT!) review from Arne available:
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-with-sony-ericsson-s-latest-xperia-x1-built
As you can see, the switching of orientation is very fast in all examples in this video (today screen, photo browser and opera). The LEDs are amazing and the whole device makes a very good impression to me. I also like the "moving slideshow" feature.
It's quite responsive and even the panels pop up in time.
If the reception quality is also good then this will be definitely my next device.

foo said:
There is another (GREAT!) review from Arne available:
http://www.theunwired.net/?item=videoview-hands-on-with-sony-ericsson-s-latest-xperia-x1-built
As you can see, the switching of orientation is very fast in all examples in this video (today screen, photo browser and opera). The LEDs are amazing and the whole device makes a very good impression to me. I also like the "moving slideshow" feature.
It's quite responsive and even the panels pop up in time.
If the reception quality is also good then this will be definitely my next device.
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yea i'm just lookin at this now and i like this a lot better then that crappy webcast they did earlier
arnie did sony a lot more just then they did themselves

wow after watching the SE webcast I find myself turned off by it, you would think they would of added more razzmotazz? Anyone remember the HTC diamond press release? I'm swaying back back towards getting a pro now

Switching between portrait and landscape mode just seems to take milliseconds only and also the panels start much faster than before.
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Let's hope so.

ratcom said:
wow after watching the SE webcast I find myself turned off by it, you would think they would of added more razzmotazz? Anyone remember the HTC diamond press release? I'm swaying back back towards getting a pro now
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you should check out the other link posted it gives the xperia better justice then that

Keland44 said:
you should check out the other link posted it gives the xperia better justice then that
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yep just watched it and I must say it does give it more justice, I'm back to waiting for the release so a proper comparision can happen.

Well the suit guy (what a douchebag...) did say that he has been using THAT device since february, so it's probably some alpha version of the device
While the other video it's the almost release beta version.

I still think the device that modaco have done a small video review of is too slow. I mean, surely we're past the stage where we have to wait for things to happen. I don't want a phone that you press a button then wait for something to happen, or open the keyboard and wait for the screen to redraw. The first Diamond roms were a fairly slow, and after updating mine it was much better, so perhaps something like that will occur with the xperia. If not, I'll be glossing over this sexy device!

ratcom said:
yep just watched it and I must say it does give it more justice, I'm back to waiting for the release so a proper comparison can happen.
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yea same here i just hope my wizard hooks up long enough if not i might have to get a tilt and might wait till refurb's of the X1 are selling

Insaneboy said:
Well the suit guy (what a douchebag...) did say that he has been using THAT device since february, so it's probably some alpha version of the device
While the other video it's the almost release beta version.
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i know if i had be using my phone for that long with out any backups or a new rom update my phone would have probably been as slow as that also
given that he's not a romhead like us if you don't know what to do with it you'll just let it be unlike us rom start running slow we flash it with something new with the quickness

I'm incredibly disappointed.
Response time for screen switching was a joke ... I've never had an issue with my TyTN or TyTNII ... even though I know some have ... but it was several seconds on the X1 in the video. Also it then seemed to take another 10 seconds to finish populating the screen with icons. The guy then left it open which suggests to me he didn't want to draw too much attention to the time it took.
They were reluctant to answer most technical questions and skirted over the ... it doesn't have tv out one. I was also amazed no one commented on 30FPS performance issues ... I watched the recorded one. I suspect they avoided any difficult incoming questions.
My gut feel is that this will be a very poor showing in it's initial release and if the P series are anything to go by ... updates fixing issues will be few and far between.
This was looking like a dream phone for me ... but now I'm not prepared to buy without trying first hand.
The TouchPro isn't enough of a jump over the TyTN II - same rubbish stills and video and no extra width to the screen ... 800x480 is native for most websites ... so the extra resolution for WVGA makes far more sense than VGA and the G900 showed me there were no issues with apps.
The Touch HD excited me ... and I thought I may get away without the keyboard ... but it also worries me in too many areas ... the first ... although it is 5mp ... the lens is no where as big as the N95 and therefore won't get enough light in to produce decent pictures ... and video is still QVGA which is just crazy for a modern high end device ... it's a little like bring out a car today with a 3 speed auto ... it was fine in '78 with a big old Ford Essex ... but not today. There are also many unanswered questions - Is there TV-Out or not ? How will games be played or those apps that rely today on the dpad - many today screens like Breeze etc ? The touch sensitive buttons ... if they are like the Samsung's we will all be closing calls with out cheeks mid conversation and dialing people when we just pick up the phone to move it.
Why can't these designers think a little. The capability of these phone is amazing now ... but they always miss out those essential things that make a device genuinely complete ... and I don't think it is to hold options for future devices, I just don't think the designers really think things through.
I feel .... very frustrated.

It is always amusing to read the bad and good feelings of all of you here without having one in your own hand. All pre-series and not one of the sold version.
I don't mind this all. I took a great risk to buy the Toshiba G900 with all the bad experiances written about (and the first rom might have been very poor). And what did happen? The G900 is the best manufactured PPC I ever had -best build quality ever seen. With its high resolution it is not slower than my TytnI before. And there you had to wait a good time switching portrait- to landscape-mode.
I am sure the X1 will not only give his owner a very unique design feeling but a good basic to work with. There may be faster PPC, there may be PPC with other features. But most people will buy it in cause of the large screen offering so much more than just 2,8" vga
Buying the X1 will mean not to take the most advantage with games, but texts, internet or similar. Just where the screen has its best sites

if i know htc there will be a Touch HD pro with slide out keyboard after Touch HD

This phone is great!!

I had a Tytn II then a Touch Pro before switching to the Touch HD. I was VERY worried after reading all the negative issues raised on this forum:
1. poor screen brightness
2. unable to play movies well
3. GPS lag in tomtom
4. poor battery performance
5. on screen keyboard not great
All I can say is I've had the Touch HD for a week now and its FANTASTIC.
1. Screen brightness is very good. At least as good as the iThingy (the wife has one of those). Out the box the HD comes with brightness on auto so itsn't that bright.
2. I took 5 movies from my PC, all mpeg4 AVIs (no 720p or course) ,24fps,around 660x360 in resolution, bitrate around 1000kbps....not converted for a phone in anyway, as they were when I downloaded them. All but one played absolutely perfectly. Only one is very slightly jumpy but perfectly watchable (bitrate too high).
3. I use GPSGate so maybe that helps but I have zero lag on the GPS in tomtom. With the big screen it looks amazing. so much easier to read than on the Touch Pro.
4. For me, battery is better than the Touch Pro. I haven't tried watching endless videos yet but I get 2 days out of a battery using phone, a bit of GPS, some wifi, some mp3s.
5. keyboard isn't perfect but its ok. there are plenty of other better keyboards you can download.
So lets try and be a bit more positive guys
I accept its not the perfect phone but until the tegra chips and wm7 appear, its as good as it gets and I love it!

Yes i agree, this is the best (in my opinion) windows mobile out there.
I love the screen,
only problem i have is that alot of applications/games are not compatable with the display, but im sure there will be updates to run these apps soon

marcel where do you have the screen brightness set to?

Today I changed the brightness to maximum when on battery. I'll see how that goes over the weekend to see what effect it has on battery.
But I found the auto brightness fine. I'm in the UK so don't get a lot of chance to test it in bright sunshine

marcel808 said:
1. Screen brightness is very good.
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Love the brightness and resolution, hate the viewing angle... Slightly off angle and it's very yellowish and unsharp, hence the IPhone and such look better in video's... Facing the screen however, it's awesome, a contender for any screen.
marcel808 said:
4. For me, battery is better than the Touch Pro. I haven't tried watching endless videos yet but I get 2 days out of a battery using phone, a bit of GPS, some wifi, some mp3s.
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I never compared with the Pro, only the Diamond (yes much longer battery life, both bigger battery and good software optimization), but my power usage still drains the device pretty fast Regular usage easily gets me a couple of days though.
marcel808 said:
5. keyboard isn't perfect but its ok. there are plenty of other better keyboards you can download.
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Just got TouchPal... The only non-hardware keyboard ever that really blew me away. I can type AT LEAST as fast on that as on my Blackberry Pearl, and that is a big statement.
TouchPal is 100% compatible with WVGA/Touch HD and even has a Diamond/HD/Pro skin.
marcel808 said:
I accept its not the perfect phone but until the tegra chips and wm7 appear, its as good as it gets and I love it!
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Couldn't have said it better myself. The only thing that I got left on my wishlist (after having had Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, several HTC's and an iPhone) as Windows Mobile 7 and the Tegra platform. WM7 looks very, very promising though. I hope it will be compatible with the HD, it's really totally different from the current WinMo interface.

xdaman85 said:
only problem i have is that alot of applications/games are not compatable with the display, but im sure there will be updates to run these apps soon
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According to the working programs post the list of apps that works is ten times longer than the apps that don't. Those few odd apps will be ported or upgraded quickly as this device is quite popular, IMHO.
+1 for enjoying an awesome device and not ragging on tiny little features.. no device is perfect and they will never make a perfect one, there's just so much more money in making nearly-perfect things

mlalahoi said:
According to the working programs post the list of apps that works is ten times longer than the apps that don't. Those few odd apps will be ported or upgraded quickly as this device is quite popular, IMHO.
+1 for enjoying an awesome device and not ragging on tiny little features.. no device is perfect and they will never make a perfect one, there's just so much more money in making nearly-perfect things
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Completly agree mate!
Shie-shie

I agree, it's an awesome phone, getting boring reading endless threads about tiny things that aren't perfect and iPhone comparisms.
Best phone I've ever had and used IMO.
P.S. If people love the iPhone so much why are they on a WM forum??

I'm glad this thread was created. I am sick of people slating this phone.
'The video playback isn't as good as my 40" HD panasonic tv' or 'it hasn't got a Dpad' or 'the screen isn't bright enough' or 'its got a gps lag'.
!!!!GET OVER IT!!!!​
This is the best touch phone on the market all things considered, and the best thing is with time it'll get better due to the nature of HTC and WM. I've had this phone for 4 days now and still can't put it down, not opnly does it run smooth but looks sooooo sleek and stylie. I've already posted this statement in another post but
let the haters hate and the doubters doubt, what they want is either in the past or i the future. HTC HD WHAT A GREAT DEVICE!

best mobile out there right now love it. I've had tytn11, iphone, diamond, blackberry storm but HD is simply the best. I did have my reservations, especially after reading alot of negative reviews including some opinions here but after few days playing around with it I'm very pleased.

Should i change to HD2? ( HD user )

My HD is barely a year old and i heard so many folks saying it is pointless..
i am hoping users who have both device can help.
My main dislikes of HD.
1) Video playback performance
2) System is sluggish. Even with custom roms
3) Camera is BAD. REAL BAD.
4) I always have misfires while typing. wrong letters etc.
5) Not so good batt. life.
does the HD2 solve all this and beyond? thanks so much.

I'm not an HD2 owner but I think I can fairly state that:
1) the device has been proven to be able to play very high resolution videos flawlessly;
2) system response is blazing fast, even with heavy-ass Sense 2.5;
3) camera is not really much better quality-wise, but you get a powerful flash and, most important, there's almost no lag at all between you clicking and the picture being taken;
4) the screen is considerably bigger and so will be the keyboard, accordingly;
5) numbers seem to indicate that battery life will not improve, but I'd ask owners first on this one.

Rizlo said:
I'm not an HD2 owner but I think I can fairly state that:
1) the device has been proven to be able to play very high resolution videos flawlessly;
2) system response is blazing fast, even with heavy-ass Sense 2.5;
3) camera is not really much better quality-wise, but you get a powerful flash and, most important, there's almost no lag at all between you clicking and the picture being taken;
4) the screen is considerably bigger and so will be the keyboard, accordingly;
5) numbers seem to indicate that battery life will not improve, but I'd ask owners first on this one.
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lol heavy-ass Sense 2.5

1) and 2) HD2 is infinitely better. I sold my HD to a colleague and tried to use it yesterday. I don't know how I tolerated it.
3) I don't know where and how you guys take pictures, but, as far as I'm concerned, HD2's camera is miles better that HD's one. I mean, with this camera I can actually take pictures in real life circumstances. The reason is that it is very fast. HD's camera took so long to focus and take the shot that the scene often changed several times by the end. Sure, these pictures won't make me a famous photographer, and for something really good I'll use my dedicated camera, but for occasional snapshots of friends and places it's good enough finally. HD was completely useless for me in this area.
4) is an issue of permanent flame wars here. Its very subjective. It was difficult for me to get used to it because of the capacitive screen and strong habits of using resistive touchscreen devices. Your taps may be registered in slightly different locations compared to what you may expect at first. With resistive, the tap happens where you press hardest, here it depends on the shape of your finger. People who've never used resistive seem to deal just fine with my keyboard. Also, HD2's keyboard wasn't modified by HTC properly for the capacitive screen. It needs to support multitouch and space buttons a bit further away from each other. But all in all, after a little getting used to, I type at least as fast as I did on HD2. Maybe even faster.
5) It's difficult to say. My HD lasted for 1.5 days (a full day, a full night in standby and another full day) easily. I've not been able to get this with HD2. But! I use it much more. For the first few days I caught myself turning it on and watching the silly weather animation on the home screen every five minutes. Disabling this animation seems to have increased battery life, even if by giving me fewer reasons to turn the phone on. I think that 1.5 days is achievable when my usage normalizes.

1) My HD2 plays all of my movies with out and problems, nice and smooth.
2) Doesnt slow down, pretty much ever, there is the occasion bit now and then, but thats very very rare! And with new roms it can only get better!
3) Camera is actually really, VERY VERY good.
4) Keyboard is really good if you leave XT9 on.
5) Battery life isnt that bad, obviously it could be better, but it lasts me a day and thats all I need.

Mate, there has been so many of these threads started already. I haven't commented on any but coming from a HD and loving it there really is no competition. The HD2 is literally twice the device the HD was. Its not that much bigger, 1ghz under the hood, upgradeable to WM7 etc etc etc. The only slight annoyance is the battery life is crap!! I use mine for work so get lots of calls and emails, barely lasts a day!
Other than this the HD2 is the best device (arguably) ever invented, it is that good.
DB

donbronzi said:
Mate, there has been so many of these threads started already. I haven't commented on any but coming from a HD and loving it there really is no competition. The HD2 is literally twice the device the HD was. Its not that much bigger, 1ghz under the hood, upgradeable to WM7 etc etc etc. The only slight annoyance is the battery life is crap!! I use mine for work so get lots of calls and emails, barely lasts a day!
Other than this the HD2 is the best device (arguably) ever invented, it is that good.
DB
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Not really anything to add to that. Some people have beefs and believe that not agreeing with them means you are lying, but they're just idiots. There's about 99% praise for this phone on these forums, and we're not fanboys. We're just glad to own something so good.
Get one. Get one now

I'd pretty much agree with vangreig. except to say i find typing in landscape is a joy, im almost as fast typing with this now as with the advantage hard keyboard, and if it doesnt appeal swype works pretty well as well. will be interesting too see which way htc go with the keyboard, it could support multitouch easily and by the looks if things htc are throwing plenty of roms out..
I'm upto about 36 hrs of battery life with heavy use, plenty of tweaks in there.
personally i think there is no comparison really between hd and hd2, i tried my hd2 after a weekend with the hd2, and went and immediately sold it...

I add a Touch Pro 2 before. TP2 is the same than HD but with a full keypad.. so I've some advice abotu your post :
2) System is sluggish. Even with custom roms
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System is stable, and fast. VERY fast. i didn't got any pb with it.
3) Camera is BAD. REAL BAD.
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The resolution of photos is better, but qualitiy looks like the same. I think.
4) I always have misfires while typing. wrong letters etc.
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The capacitive screen of an HD2 is really different from the resistive your HD. It's hard to explain, but REALLY better. On answer to this problem, is that whit a resistive screen, if you're taping TWO differents keys on your virtual keypad, you'll get a mistake (the screen will takes the letter at the middle of the both). Whith capacitive screen, they won't be any problem, the second letter tapped will not be considered. So, YES, the HD2 screen is REALLY better for it ! ;D
5) Not so good batt. life.
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With my TP2 (is think he has a better batery than HD), I had a batery life of 2-3 days. With my HD2, I get only 1 day, using WMLongLife program (auto-switching to 2G-3G when needed). The batery is suffisant. Not exceptional, but really suffisant Moreover, at the end of the day (9:00 pm), I'm about 3% (xD) but I use my phone EVERY hour (which I didn't with TP2). =)
Hope it helps you !

vangrieg said:
(...) with this camera I can actually take pictures in real life circumstances. The reason is that it is very fast. HD's camera took so long to focus and take the shot that the scene often changed several times by the end.
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I think this is what really matters, the real major breakthrough we were all expecting for the camera.
johncmolyneux said:
Get one. Get one now
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Hahahaha JEEEEEEEEEEEZ I'm so horribly tempted

If you are really ready to open the back to reset the machine every day, yes you can buy it now.

biranouran said:
If you are really ready to open the back to reset the machine every day, yes you can buy it now.
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That's an exaggeration. I do that maybe twice a week, but I play with it a LOT, and by play, I mean hack about.
Anyway, if the worst thing it does is mean you have to press a small red button once a day, YES!!!! Get it!

Rizlo said:
3) camera is not really much better quality-wise, but you get a powerful flash and, most important, there's almost no lag at all between you clicking and the picture being taken;
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I wish, the lag is about three seconds. Taking photos of my baby son is almost impossible. Still, I love the camera, especially the touch focus ability.

Pagnell said:
I wish, the lag is about three seconds. Taking photos of my baby son is almost impossible. Still, I love the camera, especially the touch focus ability.
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ISO 400 should do the trick, if not go 800.
Had the HD2 for over 3 weeks now, only once did I soft reset my device, and that was to get some changes to take effect.

erosennin said:
ISO 400 should do the trick, if not go 800.
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ISO settings only adjust the shutter speed. The problem here is the time it takes between pressing the "button" to take a picture, and the device actually doing it.

biranouran said:
If you are really ready to open the back to reset the machine every day, yes you can buy it now.
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You can simply load a software soft reset button such as Raisaks and lots of others, theres one in the tweak thread too with a nice Icon. No need to take back cover off.

I changed from the HD to the HD2 but then took the HD2 back as I could not adjust to the size of the device! It's like a tablet PC rather than a PDA. That was the only let down for me. Everytime I picked it up I just thought "This is too big".
Luckly I was able to return it to O2 for a full refund and they cancelled the 18 month contract. Im now back to my HD and love it to bits.
The HD2 was faster... Much faster infact and the camera was so much quicker at taking pictures. Also the multi-touch screen was very good. I had problems typing on the phone as it was too sensitive. The slightest movement of you finger would select the key to the side.
In my opinion I would have liked the HD2 specs to be inside the HD case and keep that size. Now that would have been a great phone.

Re camera speed, I certainly don't have anything remotely close to a 3 second delay. There are videos out there showing HD2 taking pictures - it's near instant, and that's been my experience. Maybe the reason you think there is a delay is that you confuse the preview you get after taking a picture for it?

I went from a Touch HD to the HD2 and am very happy.
Battery life is slightly poorer than the HD but adding the tweaks here has helped I can get through from 8:00am to 11:00pm comfortably, which is enough for me. Oh and +1 on the keep switching on to play and watch the weather animation.
Typing takes some getting used to moving from the Resistive screen to the Capacitive screen, takes some practice, but the experience is better once a little effort has been put in.
These are the only caveats I could point out, the HD2 is superior to the HD in every way and, in my opinion, the best that money can buy.

Pagnell said:
I wish, the lag is about three seconds. Taking photos of my baby son is almost impossible. Still, I love the camera, especially the touch focus ability.
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Now, if that's true you might consider to do a hard reset. It's not supposed to behave that way.
On topic: I had HD before HD2 and it's like day and night in all aspects (yes also in the aspect of the keyboard ) and I would'nt switch back even if I got paid. Actually I would'nt want to switch to any other phone after getting used to the HD2. I love it and when hardspl is done which will make us able to cook some fresh ROM's, well then we'll have a real iPhone killer for sure.

For those that have a XOOM in hand, what don't you like?

Title says it all, what doesn't live up to your expectations? We've seen in the reviews that the screen isn't viewable in daylight and the buttons get stuck. Have you experienced this? What else?

I've only had it for a half hour or so but the display seems no different than my iPad that I had before it (in terms of visibility in different lighting conditions).
What buttons get stuck? I only see a power button on the back...
Anyways, I have no dislikes at the moment aside from the lack of microSD support right now.

bogatyr said:
I've only had it for a half hour or so but the display seems no different than my iPad that I had before it (in terms of visibility in different lighting conditions).
What buttons get stuck? I only see a power button on the back...
Anyways, I have no dislikes at the moment aside from the lack of microSD support right now.
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Engadget's review said the volume buttons would get stuck from time to time. Also said the power button got stuck, forcing a shutdown.
Please compare and contrast with your iPad. Does the pixel density look worse? Have you tried reading a book on it? Have you seen it in direct sunlight (some reviews say it's completely unusable in direct sunlight)? Are the speakers bad, being on the back side and all?

It's cloudy out today so I doubt I'll be able to check in sunlight. My iPad was unusable in direct sunlight.
Reading a book in portrait mode works wonderfully (I use Kindle, not the google app). Worked great on my iPad as well.
Pixel density... seems about the same as the iPad visually. If I look for them, I can see pixels... though I have to stick my face within a foot of it to do so.
As I'm at work, I'll check the speakers later... I can't compare them to my iPad since I never used them before. I use a bluetooth headset for everything (phone, laptop, tablet).
I played with the volume and power buttons a bit, but I couldn't get them to stick.

No serious problems so far, though in some ways, the GMail client is less intuitive than I had hoped. For example, on the web, my priority inbox will move read emails to my inbox, but on the Xoom, they stay in my priority inbox, just marked as read. It makes for more clutter than I prefer.
But I'm an early adopter. I expect stuff like this.
No button issues at all.

don't like power button placement, other than that very happy with it so far, the size adn shape and screen ratio is great

great so far here with a few issues.
Power button placement doesn't make sense.
Browser loads mobile sites by default, with no option to change the user-agent (that I can find anyway)
no ad-hoc support, but I knew this from the start (hopefully can be patched soon)
and on a side note, the screen seems a bit on the lower quality side, BUT I have not yet removed the plastic film, it looks crystal clear, so I cant imagine it will have much of an impact, but it could just be me.

Button placement for sure. Trying to learn my way around it, doesn't feel as intuitive as my ipad but I am learning Also hate the power cord situation.

Speaking of power cord I don't get that either I mean WTF Moto looks like they stole a charger from Nokia...

The d!ck who spent 20 minutes trying to sell me other sh!t I didn't need at the VZ store.
[UPDATE]
Guess I'll encounter that d!ck again because i'm noticing a slightly discolored band running down the edge of the screen on one side so I'll have to take it back! Fudge!

agonzalez1010 said:
The d!ck who spent 20 minutes trying to sell me other sh!t I didn't need at the VZ store.
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Click to collapse
This is why I'm waiting outside for costco to open. They don't push as hard.

Just got home with my new Xoom...
Display - Pretty good but not nearly as great as the iPad's.. nor is it as bright as the iPad. Pixel density looks A LOT like the iPad.. I can't really say the Xoom is any sharper than the iPad.. Whites look much better on the iPad.. they definately have a much higher color gamut and contrast ratio on the iPad. This is disappointing considering how much the Xoom costs off-contract. The Xoom screen looks nearly identical to what Samsung uses on their Galaxy Tab 7". Viewing angles are "decent" but again, not as good as iPad. I would say they are using a cheap PVA type panel, not IPS on this unit. PVA is still much better than TN at least.
Weight - Same weight as iPad.. so to me, it feels too heavy for it's size... but I think the Xoom is much easier to hang onto/hold because of it's widescreen nature'd body.
Speed - Depending on apps I guess.. or how optimized they are.. Angry Birds Seasons (the tablet version) runs like crap compared to Angry Birds on my Galaxy Tab.. not sure why.. Web browsing is a real treat.. Definately renders web sites faster than the iPad.. content is ready to explore at a much faster pace.. However, scrolling isn't as nice as it is on the iPad.. I don't know why Android can't get scrolling anywhere near iOS's Safari. Scrolling is choppy and clunky depending on how many pictures are needed to be shown on the screen at one time. Quadrant scores LOWER than my Galaxy Tab.. Could be Quadrant's not optimized well enough for the Tegra2 platform.
Battery Life - I will have to edit this in later.. my Xoom came out of the box with 77% life..
Interface/UI - I actually like Honeycombs UI.. the quick-softkeys are delightful to use.. especially to multitask with.. Flying between apps is instantaneous and snappy.. much faster than iPad's multitasking.
I'll post more later.. going back to playing with the Xoom.
Edit: Created a new thread on my thoughts so that people can ask anything they want to know.

Power button placement is pretty bad. It's especially an issue with the Moto Portfolio case. That thing, although well manufactured, is poorly designed (covers all the charging/usb ports.)
The system is a little laggy in some parts.
Very few tablet specific apps. So, Kindle app for example, looks fine but isnt utilizing the extra resolution. Ipad version will show two page layout, Honeycomb wont (for now.)

I don't see where people are getting the menu lag from, i've had absolutely none so far. The power button placement is PERFECT, are you guys kidding? The device was designed for optimized landscape view and when you hold it with both hands, it's right there ready to be pressed without having to readjust. This may be different for portrait but I don't plan on using it much.
Connectivity issues with android market as usual but thats typical, they need to fix that, asap.
Angry Birds Seasons is NOT laggy, again, don't know where you're getting that from.
And i'm looking at my Ipad and the xoom side by side and the screen quality on the Ipad is not "considerably" better. Slightly, if even that.
One big negative, lot's of force closes when I try to multi task a lot. This is VERY disappointing, and if it continues, i'll be returning the device.

The screen brightness/quality/angle view is not as good as the iPad, it seems heavy for its size, although the screen is bigger then the iPad it seems smaller because of the aspect ratio. Battery seems to drain fast, maybe it needs to be conditioned. Occasional lag in the UI.
On the plus side the speaker is pretty loud.
To summon it up: currently not overly impressed.

I hate that the browser shows mobile sites. I don't see an option to change the user agent. It's stupid to have to install a different browser, but I guess that's what I gotta do.

jasbur17 said:
I hate that the browser shows mobile sites. I don't see an option to change the user agent. It's stupid to have to install a different browser, but I guess that's what I gotta do.
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Go to: "about:debug"
You won't see anything. Then go into the settings and there should be a debug section where you can change the user agent to desktop. Someone posted this in another thread, worked well for me.

bogatyr said:
Go to: "about:debug"
You won't see anything. Then go into the settings and there should be a debug section where you can change the user agent to desktop. Someone posted this in another thread, worked well for me.
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Thanks! The setting in debug is called uastring. Took me a while to realize.

Love the general feel and speed, mostly, of it. Most apps are faster than my X. Still playing with them.
Sling player (one of my favorite apps on my X) is useless, dial-up would work better, freezes and jumps. Video/audio NEVER in sync. Sometime emits a loud screech when un-freezing. (w/3G and all bars)
YouTube is terrible (same video compared to PC), like its always out of focus, contrast levels WAY off.
Hate the placement of the ports. Have to hold it upside down to use when charger is attached. I would have done this when placing it in the portfolio case (cheep and clumsy feeling) but then you cant get to the power button! DUMB, DUMB, DUMB design.
Cant find the setting to get the display to not time out when it on charge!
Cant get into my company website (can with my droid x) I think the new browser has TLS security set and I need to turn it off.
Generally I like it and will come up with work-arounds for most of the issues it's the first one out and both xoom and 3.0 need work and will mature with time. I do thin I will keep it.

bogatyr said:
Go to: "about:debug"
You won't see anything. Then go into the settings and there should be a debug section where you can change the user agent to desktop. Someone posted this in another thread, worked well for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I remember doing that on my phone. I don't like that it loses that setting on a reboot.

Unboxing and gestures and S Voice DEMO videos

Here are two videos I made with the SIII, first the unboxing, then the demo for the gestures.
Note that I left out the direct call and pick up to be notified functions as I didn't have a microSIM card.
Feel free to ask whatever question about the phone and I'd love to answer or test things for you. Enjoy watching!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GauEbTHJYNk&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edbhVsWdngo
Edit: I forgot to mention that I've fiddled with the S Voice in multiple languages (I'm not a native speaker of either of them) and it surprised me how well I managed to get along with the app. It's responsive, useful and can easily understand you (I'm kind of shouting at it because I wanted to get it right, but it works very nicely). Can't wait for the Romanian version!

Cool!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Tomorrow I'll be giving back the SIII, so post questions, if you have any, while I'm still able to verify things for you!

How were you able to acquire such a beast before release?

I'm with the Samsung Mob!lers Romania and we almost always get the devices prereleased. Unfortunately they are beta products and can have faulty software, but luckily I had no problem whatsoever with the SIII. Stay tuned for a full video hands on and many other Samsung devices

Funniest part is when it open maps in Korean language
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Rate your UX with the new nature inspired TouchWiz. How is it different than S2 TW? Smoother? Any small, but experience enhancing changes?
Reviews have shown that the stock S3 browser is much better and less laggy than the S2. Can you confirm this with real life usage?

Unfortunately I have no S2 at hand to try out, but what I can say based on my experience with TouchWiz is that it's very sharp and quick and in the time I used it I had no intention of using a custom launcher. The browser is the same I have on my Tab 2, and prefer it over Chrome, but I can't say how much faster it is than the predecessors.

There are many users talking about the possible screen issues on the SGIII. Were you able to notice some kind of tinting?
Thank you for your time and great videos by the way.

I saw some topics talking about the display quality, with a slightly pink hue, but the model I have is just perfect. A lot of people complain about the oversaturation, but I think the colors are very very vivid. You get four different display color settings to match your taste, with dynamic being the flashiest and then standard, natural and movie.
I've tested everything out and I never got a force close or any kind of error, although it got stuck in S Voice once, but bear in mind that I don't have an actual production model.

floiancu said:
and prefer it over Chrome
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i read about other reviewers saying this too. very cool. thanks.

And here's the full review, a short presentation of the features. I particularly love the screen, crisp clear as you can see in the close up at the end. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-fcYW3GRS0&feature=youtu.be

Thank you, Flo.
EDIT: Now I see that the other guy has replied to my question about the reader and the answer is that it is available for most sites!
Is there a "reader" type function in the web browser? In one other video demonstrating text reflow, the reviewer pressed an icon in or near the address field to go into a "reader" mode! So clearly it does exist, but the reviewer was browsing mobile wikipedia when he did it, I was wondering if it is available when for example reading an article on Gsmarena in desktop mode?

I didn't see any reader button so I can't say if there was one, when I browsed I simply used the text wrap on the standard double tap zoom, never at different sizes.
If it's the same browser with the one I have on my Tab 2 (ICS 4.0.3) then there is no such feature, but they nay be different.

have u used or looked at a htc one X before? if so could you make a brief comparison of its screen with the sgs3 screen?

I have only seen them separately and I only know that both displays are amazing. A romanian reviewer whom I trudt has made a detailed comparispn between them and he favours the screen of the One X. In terms of resolution or color tones they're both overkill, but he says that the visibility in heavy sunlight is better on the One X.
I can only say that there's nothing you can possibly use the screen for that requires a higher resolution. Check the close up in the end of my gestures video to see how crisp clear it is!

Fantastic mate. Thanks for the videos.
If you still have the device with you can you try to shoot and upload a video showing the multitasking capability. Open as many apps as you can including games and browser and switch back from one another to see how well is it functioning ?
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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?fife3i

I gave the phone back, but I've tested the problem reported on the One X, that the multitasking was not working properly (reloading web pages when switched back to the browser etc) and I can completely vouch for the multitasking on the S III. It switches the apps flawlessly and keeps them in the RAM not requiring a reload.

floiancu said:
And here's the full review, a short presentation of the features. I particularly love the screen, crisp clear as you can see in the close up at the end. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-fcYW3GRS0&feature=youtu.be
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Click to collapse
haha love the comparison with the 5110. I had that phone about 14 years ago and it wasn't considered to be a big phone back then.

Facepalm the phone to silence it is EPIC !