From Nexus One --> HD2: Please help! - HD2 General

I'm moving from Nexus One to HD2 and knew that I didn't like WM but I didn't realize it's this, (without offending anyone).... "unlike Android" (read: AWFUL). I'm trying to find some decent apps but the WM Market has little to no selection.
PLEASE HELP:
Can anyone point me in the direction of some decent apps, maybe outside of WM Market, and if I could be so lucky, and mods to make it more Android-like?
What are the best ROMs out there in WM land, thinking in the above mindset? I flashed many ROMs on Android side so I know it comes down to preference, but if anyone has any suggestions, greatly appreciated!!

Download Omarket app from http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/
It's all free.

Off topic: with the news of MS 'orphanizing' the HD2 and the approaching "broken from birth" version of WP7, I'm starting to consider other platforms. I'm curious: aside from the stated lack of apps, why are you switching?

UncleBeer said:
Off topic: with the news of MS 'orphanizing' the HD2 and the approaching "broken from birth" version of WP7, I'm starting to consider other platforms. I'm curious: aside from the stated lack of apps, why are you switching?
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Click to collapse
So the reason I want to switch from Nexus One to HD2 is simply the hardware: HD2's screen and hard buttons (vs. Nexus's capacative bottom row buttons) are simply incredible, the best out there.
HOWEVER, Android is IMO far superior to Windows Mobile in every single way. WM's "app market" is a joke, etc.
So basically, I'm watching and eagerly waiting for Android to be fully ported to HD2 but in the meantime, to make it tolerable, I'm trying to 'dress it up' as close to Android as possible.
Hope that clarifies

lp1527 said:
So the reason I want to switch from Nexus One to HD2 is simply the hardware: HD2's screen and hard buttons (vs. Nexus's capacative bottom row buttons) are simply incredible, the best out there.
HOWEVER, Android is IMO far superior to Windows Mobile in every single way. WM's "app market" is a joke, etc.
So basically, I'm watching and eagerly waiting for Android to be fully ported to HD2 but in the meantime, to make it tolerable, I'm trying to 'dress it up' as close to Android as possible.
Hope that clarifies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would you compare the picture quality between the Nexus One's AMOLED display and the HD2's TFT display?

I would say go to the Leo hints and tips sticky and choose the tweaks you like. My favourites are Cookie's home tab and Dutty's task manager. With those on the stock 1.66 ROM I'm very happy.

Related

HTC Sense - a waste of time on HTCs part?

htc have said they are developing the Sense UI for eclair, but in my opinion, there is nothing seriuosly wrong with the standard Android UI as it is,
why dont they release the Sense UI afterwards as as optional upgrade?
i think they are wasting their time, i buy HTC phones for the good hardware design and components, not for the UI, even on WM i used to turn off their enhancements to the WM UI.
does anyone else feel they are wasting their time?
edit: sorry about the slightly vague poll options
totally not on your side. sense ui is great, i like it much better than stock android. also not on your side concerning htc's improvments in general, sorry...
Love the Sense UI.
Gives it a polished feel. Onlt concern I have is over long term support for it as the device becomes last year's model. But by then, standard Android should be much more polished as well...
Zuber
Love the sense UI. Will not go back to Android UI.
Had a G1 running "vanilla" Android prior to my Hero, and I wouldn't want to go back to the standard interface. Sense UI all the way for me!
Regards,
Dave
I dont see a lot of people agreeing with you. SenseUI is fantastic. Can't wait to see what they do with Android 2.0
Sense is perhaps redundant in some ways, but also very much valuable in many places. The 7 home screens are way more spacious than the default 3. The unified contacts view allows me to get all I need to know about a contact from one place. The skinned apps are more finger-friendly and provide a more consistent user experience.
Overall, I think Sense adds great value to the Android platform, and sets the Hero apart from other Android phones. That's not to say vanilla Android is bad, but it's what it is: vanilla.
I think of Android as more of a bare minimum enabler as opposed to a full mobile OS. Yes indeed, it can be run as a full mobile OS, but the experience is minimal. However, it lays the framework for vendors to differentiate their products from the competition, while maintaining application cross-compatibility.
another problem i see in future is the android os fracturing in the same way linux has, ironically.
yes there is a vanilla feel to the standard android theme, but it runs fast and stable, unlike the sense ui which has already crashed at least once (yes, latest updates have been applied), this sort of thing was common with the WM skins that HTC developed.
for me, the main factor is stability not looks, as im not going to be spending my day looking at the screen. if its not stable enough to not go a day without crashing, then theres problems. moving to htc android from htc wm, i was hoping there would be more stability but not yet.
I kinda like good old vanilla, but sense does look really nice. Things I really like about sense is: contacts, browser, camera, album and calendar. These features are hard to let go of. The special widgets are not a real big deal.
warsng said:
another problem i see in future is the android os fracturing in the same way linux has, ironically.
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Click to collapse
This is always going to be an issue given that Android uses a non-copyleft open source licence. It is simultaneously both a good and bad thing!
yes there is a vanilla feel to the standard android theme, but it runs fast and stable, unlike the sense ui which has already crashed at least once (yes, latest updates have been applied), this sort of thing was common with the WM skins that HTC developed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not discounting your experience at all, but I came from a G1 running vanilla Android, and I've found that Hero/Sense is at least as stable as that.
for me, the main factor is stability not looks, as im not going to be spending my day looking at the screen. if its not stable enough to not go a day without crashing, then theres problems. moving to htc android from htc wm, i was hoping there would be more stability but not yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have problems with your Hero crashing daily, you definitely have problems. I seldom feel the need to reboot my Hero. Then again, whilst I use a Modaco ROM, I don't use Apps2SD, Swapper, or regularly kill tasks, and many of the problems I see on this site are likely related to those.
Regards,
Dave
Sense UI only means every nice thing Google does for Android has to go through HTC, which takes time. Also after 2.0 Android we will not get anything new to Hero from HTC, I can guarantee that. You will have to buy "Hero II".
Sense is a way for HTC to stamp their own branding on the phone. Its a differentiator amongst the coming wave of Android devices.
People have done this for years with WiMo and Symbian.
Its called marketing
I think HTC have done an amazing job with their GUI, as said above, it adds polish to an excellent OS.
Nothing worse IMHO than having a new handset that may look different hardware wise but just like everything else when you look at the screen. Which you do whenever you use it
i have never understood why people are so concerned about the looks more than the functionality/stability. but then i've never understood much about human behaviour
warsng said:
i have never understood why people are so concerned about the looks more than the functionality/stability. but then i've never understood much about human behaviour
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, in my opinion, it's more functional and at least as stable. So, I don't see your problem!
Regards,
Dave
warsng said:
htc have said they are developing the Sense UI for eclair, but in my opinion, there is nothing seriuosly wrong with the standard Android UI as it is,
why dont they release the Sense UI afterwards as as optional upgrade?
i think they are wasting their time, i buy HTC phones for the good hardware design and components, not for the UI, even on WM i used to turn off their enhancements to the WM UI.
does anyone else feel they are wasting their time?
edit: sorry about the slightly vague poll options
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
definetly: NO. Sense UI is the best thing which happened to Android.
Pure Android just doesn't look professional UI wise. HTC was the first company who provided a great skin to android AND made it more functional also (HTC SENSE Contacts app is nearly perfect).
Yes pure Android might be faster, and HTc Touch FLO on Windows Mobile was SLOW. BUT HTC Sense on Android is really fast enough for me. especially after the update. And i can't live without all the great Sense Apps and widgets.
Sorry for my self promotion, but i wrote exactly about this issue on my blog. I'm a longterm Windows Mobile user switching to android, thanks to HTC and HTC Sense. I think HTC Sense brought Android to the next level Usability and UI wise:
http://smartphoneblogging.com/2009/09/a-longterm-windows-mobile-user-switching-to-android-part-4-htc-sense-review/
jpalo said:
Sense UI only means every nice thing Google does for Android has to go through HTC, which takes time. Also after 2.0 Android we will not get anything new to Hero from HTC, I can guarantee that. You will have to buy "Hero II".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that maybe true. in this case you can always root your phone and get the further updates via xda devs...
still "not getting updates" for 3 years is not enough to let HTC Sense go. It provides just so much better usability. The folks at google can't provide such an experience up to now, and they never will because the whole concept of Android is: take the OS framework, and customize it to your liking, thats when companies like HTC come into play.
warsng said:
i have never understood why people are so concerned about the looks more than the functionality/stability. but then i've never understood much about human behaviour
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's not about looks, it's about USABILITY and FUNCTIONALITY, not only one of them. And overall HTC Sense has both.
HTC adds even more to the mix like multitouch and the whole facebook, twitter, flickr integration. Yeah Android 2.0 provides this too now, but HTC will keep adding stuff which is missing in vanilla android.
i accept the point that this is about marketing, but its not like i would forget that this is a HTC phone if the interface did not remind me 24 hrs a day.
i also resent the fact that the default is to have the Sense UI on. it would be ok if there was a more of a choice. maybe i havent yet learnt how to turn it off properly, im a bit of a android noob , i confess
warsng said:
i also resent the fact that the default is to have the Sense UI on. it would be ok if there was a more of a choice. maybe i havent yet learnt how to turn it off properly, im a bit of a android noob , i confess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each to their own of course, but to resent Sense being the default UI is probably a bit harsh when Sense is one of the key features that Hero is marketed with!
If you really want to use the default home screen, the easiest method would be to download "Home Switcher" from the Market (yes, I know it can be done manually, but this is easier!).
Regards,
Dave
warsng said:
i accept the point that this is about marketing, but its not like i would forget that this is a HTC phone if the interface did not remind me 24 hrs a day.
i also resent the fact that the default is to have the Sense UI on. it would be ok if there was a more of a choice. maybe i havent yet learnt how to turn it off properly, im a bit of a android noob , i confess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can switch to default Android home quite easily. Go to settings, mnage apps, findd touchFLO, reset it's default category. And press home button - you will be able to choose betwen 2 homes and set a default one again.
Hopefuly you will see how much worse the original home is - even sliding through homescreeens feels unpolished and not smooth. I use 1.6 on the Magic too and trust me, HTC is a savior for Android. Would not use Android at all without SenseUI.
Also, there is a myth that SenseUI stuff sit on top on original Android, like TouchFLO sits on top of WinMo. But that is not true. Since Android is open source, HTC just modify and manipulate it. HTC home is separate though, but it is based on Androids home and runs in the same level.

New sense

Does anyone know when this comes to HD2 look like this is new sense for android with new screen transition system.
THIS LOOK VERY VERY GOOD anyone know anything about this
marko987 said:
Does anyone know when this comes to HD2 look like this is new sense for android with new screen transition system.
THIS LOOK VERY VERY GOOD anyone know anything about this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just a task manager. There's a skinable one for WM whose name I can't remember right now, but it's been discussed on this forum recently. Since it's skinable, you can make it look however you wish.
but
I look at mobile reviw thats part of new sense for android
The new version of HTC Sense features several nice touches - a more detailed screen with contact's personal information and his activities, plus the new Sense's main attraction, new screen transition system.
I don't know how it's implemented on Windows Mobile phones yet, but on Android it works like this. What you are at the home screen, pressing the Home button calls the Screen menu allowing you to pick the one you need, which is pretty convenient, but there is one flaw to it. The phones that were featured at HTC's MWC booth made that window pop-up only when we pressed the button while staring at the Home screen. If we happened to be looking at Music, Weather or any other section of the phone, punching the Home key got us back to the Home Screen and that was it. I feel like this feature must work in any place around the UI, and I hope that it will.
from mobile review MWC2010. HTC
taskfacade
Android home screens are customizable and can only be switched one by one which is why the helicopter view might be more important. You can fly with the slider bar on WM Sense so it makes it less useful - plus it'll be difficult to get all our tabs in that Expose-esque view
johncmolyneux said:
That's just a task manager. There's a skinable one for WM whose name I can't remember right now, but it's been discussed on this forum recently. Since it's skinable, you can make it look however you wish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that's not a task manager, thats the new pinch to zoom homescreen that zooms out to let you select the home screen. It's called leap, see demonstration here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wprir04RIn8
@~2:50
That will never come to the HD2.
Get a Desire.
C:Sharp! said:
That will never come to the HD2.
Get a Desire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But that's such a massive downgrade.
Lose 0.6" off your screen size, lose WinMo6.5.3 (which is better than Android imo), and lose your NA 3G coverage (assuming you're rocking a T9193).
I will say that at least HTC finally smartened up and started putting flashes in their phones. My buddy has an HTC Hero and the only complaint he has about it is no flash.
To be honest, I ordered one and will sell my HD2. I lose 0.6" screen size and one camera LED, but I gain Android.
Since I'm in Europe, I don't lose 3G.
I've used Android on an old Samsung phone for some time, and I discovered that I simply enjoy using it.
Despite that this phone is awfully slow and has a very small 3.2" screen, I find the experience to be much better than the one I have with my HD2.
Thus, I'm getting a Desire.
(I'd buy a Samsung Galaxy S with 4" screen, but I want at least one LED for the camera: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/samsung-announces-galaxy-s-android-smartphone/)
C:Sharp! said:
I've used Android on an old Samsung phone for some time, and I discovered that I simply enjoy using it.
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Click to collapse
I hate Linux and Google, and don't like the look-and-feel of Android.
>: |
C:Sharp! said:
I want at least one LED for the camera
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Click to collapse
Pfft, don't lie...
...you just want a flashlight.
; )
lbhocky19 said:
taskfacade
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo!
chaoscentral said:
Actually that's not a task manager, thats the new pinch to zoom homescreen that zooms out to let you select the home screen. It's called leap, see demonstration here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wprir04RIn8
@~2:50
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing.
Taskfacade has nothing to do with that... except that it looks similar, but totally different functionality.

Ugly apps

This is probably a bit of a stupid question with probably a very obvious answer. But why are all the apps for windows mobile all ugly?
We have HTC sense and that looks great why can't other apps keep the htc sense feel like from menus or anything instead of reverting to windows mobile style.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people for example even love ginger children.
Many WinMo apps have been written to look the way they are so that they fitted in with a standard WinMo look and feel. Others were simply designed by talentless and tasteless folk (like Steve Jobs).
Believe it or not the apps have actually got better looking recently.
ETA: If you go to the link in my sig and check my recommended apps, you'll see that a lot of apps do look nice. Slacker, Bing, etc.
I think it should be compulsory to use the Sense SDK Look 'n' Feel now for every app developed for Windows Mobile
Partly because developers != designers.
At the same time, HTC Sense is but a few years old, while Windows Mobile and its associated 'ugly' interface have been around for 10. It's a bit unreasonable to expect all the applications to reflect the updated design of a single manufacturer.
madindehead said:
I think it should be compulsory to use the Sense SDK Look 'n' Feel now for every app developed for Windows Mobile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats bordering on fascism! Do you work for apple?
So it is actually possible to have a good looking app?
aLlamaWithARifle said:
This is probably a bit of a stupid question with probably a very obvious answer. But why are all the apps for windows mobile all ugly?
We have HTC sense and that looks great why can't other apps keep the htc sense feel like from menus or anything instead of reverting to windows mobile style.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's because WM doesn't have a unified screen size, like the iPhone for example. So the apps/games have to be made in VGA, QVGA, WVGA to name three of many many others. So the games have to be made for each naitive screen size to actually look 'pretty', and the poorer looking apps on the HD2 are made for a screen size that isn't WVGA.
Speaking of ugly apps, is there a starter's guide or someplace to look for skinning stock applications (in particular, I'm interested in Outlook, as email's one of my top use cases, and the default skin looks awful)? I can code, but am at a loss as to where to even start. I did a search on the forums to no avail. To clarify, I'm not simply looking for skins, but am interested in creating my own for specific applications. Any pointers?
Most of the newer apps (< 1-2 years) do look good, and on every screen size, take G-Alarm, Resco Photo Manager, Opera 10, etc...
Most other blunt-looking apps are several years old, and date back from when visual design didn't have any consideration from developers, they were just using the default looks and controls rather than spending as much time and effort redesigning their own UI as needed to actually develop the application's functionality. Pocket Outlook is just the same as it was 5 years ago or even more...
But now pretty much everybody agrees that custom graphics is worth it...
This really is quite a naive question... if it was all about simple, smooth looking apps we would have bought an iPhone...
Having said that, what particular programs are you looking for? Most functions of a WinMo phone can now be utilised using programs with amazing UIs.
Browser: Opera Mobile 10/Mini 5
Email: You have sense... and even when you open an individual email (where it defaults to Outlook) we have pinch-to-zoom brilliance
SMS: You have sense...
Contacts/Phone: You have sense...
Photos/Videos: HTC, or try Resco Photo Manager
File explorer: Standard one is actually fine imo, but there's also the skinnable Resco, Total Commander, Throttle Explorer
Others: Google maps, Facebook, iGO8
There's a plethora of options out there.

What's your opinion on this phone

Hey guys i was wondering how everyone likes their hd2 because i have a mytouch slide but this guy is willing to trade his hd2 for it and i know nothing about winmobile. Is it good i heard a lot of bad rumors about winmobile so just want some input from people who actually own this phone thanks.
Sent from my super badass rooted slide that all the chicks love
I wont lie. I never really liked the phone until after I flashed it. There were to many freezes and to me the start menu looked plain. I know the new tmobile rom fixed some issues but a custom really did the trick for me. Now, I don't think android could really satisfy me like windows mobile does. So, if you're not willing to flash I wouldn't trade.
What do you like best about the mytouch slide? I'm actually interseted in getting one cuz I miss having a real keyboard.
The keyboard is the best on this phone its actually fast as hell and the camera with flash is nice my only problem is there is only like two people deving for it so there arnt a whole lot of roms to choses from thats why im thinking about trading it.
sent from my super badass rooted slide that all the chicks love
jriv said:
The keyboard is the best on this phone its actually fast as hell and the camera with flash is nice my only problem is there is only like two people deving for it so there arnt a whole lot of roms to choses from thats why im thinking about trading it.
sent from my super badass rooted slide that all the chicks love
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll tell you this much. The worst thing about the HD2 is it's keyboard. I don't care what anyone says its impossible for me to get use to it. Fortunately, the amount of the support for the phone is awesome. And I love that I can play avi movies, use as a wifi router, and customize everything about the phone. There is a lack of support on the Microsoft market but almost everything can be found on xda or the net if you look hard enough. The one app i need is an age calculator for the hd2, which I'm convinced does not exist. If I were you I'd keep the mytouch and buy an HD2 off craigslist. I believe they're running about $250, which isn't bad.
Edit: Just found an age calculator. It's very plain jane but it's exactly what I need for work. http://uploaded.to/file/5m2co3/age-calculator.1.0.CAB
I would go for the HD2 as long as it hasn't been abused. I would play with it as much as possible before making the trade to make sure. As has been already stated the HD2 really shines when you flash the ROM. Since you rooted your slide I am guessing you wouldn't be shy about that. My wife is using the latest Tmous ROM though and is happy with the phone. If you end up absolutely hating WM you might not be stuck as Android for the HD2 is moving along fairly quickly. I am perfectly fine with WM so I don't see a problem. The only downside to the trade could be non-comparable battery life and that the HD2 doesn't have a hardware keyboard. For me the soft keyboard + swype is considerably better than a hardware keyboard. Run to a Tmo store a try it out if you are on the fence, just make sure you try out swype when you do.
The Htc Leo is a beast it's the Godfather of Wm 6.5 phones!
Stock the phone is ok but a touch buggy. Replace the stock rom with Energy or another custom rom and your in hog heaven running 10 times more stable then Android or iOS. Now that being said if your used to Android or iOS, WiMo is way way different. Its like a real computer crossed with a phone, you will need to download cabs manually to install software. There are a couple markets but nothign like apple or droid. But if you search the internet theirs actually 10's or thousands more apps made for wimo then either of the other OS's just because wimo's been around a decade. Ok after all that wimo is a business phone, if you plan on needing FTP, HTML editing, GPS apps, WORD, excel, streaming TV, streaming radio, or doing anything "hardcore" on your phone wimo is your only option. Its just quite a curve. People have gotten spoiled with all the new OS's that do everything for you and lock oyu out of everything. Then they come over to a wimo where everything is open and you have to go find everything and some have issues, they juts wanna click a button adn be done.
I also agree with DECIM8 , the virtual KB is far superior to a real phone KB. Especially swype. I can actually use that. I have mutated thumbs where one is short and fat, the other is long and slender so my thumbs suck for phone typing. But with swype I can use my index finger and just fly through words.
The slide comes with swype as well so its nice. But the keyboard is so spaced out on the slide its so nice the only downfall is just the lack of support everyone is tryng to sell theirs to get the vibrant or the nexus one so it kinda feels like the phone is outdated already
sent from my super badass rooted slide that all the chicks love
The most thing i like hd2 is the potential to run other OS such as: android, linux or even window mobile 7
take a lot of getting used to for WM users and even more fro those new to windows mobile, im still on stock rom and have been ok so far, i wont flash until ive experienced the real problems
Speed increase is worth flashing alone. I picked up about 50% more speed and smoothness with the custom roms over stock.
ddgarcia05 said:
I'll tell you this much. The worst thing about the HD2 is it's keyboard. I don't care what anyone says its impossible for me to get use to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the virtual keyboard. Swipe works only when you hold the phone in one hand upright and use the index finger of your dominant hand. It's not a very natural typing position, especially if you're used to using your thumbs. I don't know what it is about the virtual keyboard, but it is impossible to type a message quickly without mangling up the entire thing with errors (even in xd9 mode).
has any one came over from android and if so what do you think
Sent from my super cool rooted slide
Love the visibility of the screen.
Sense is nice, but not geared for those of us who need a lot of links to files on our devices.
Selection sensitivity of the screen was horrendous out of the box. I flashed Spikegotti's Unoff 23127 ROM and that helped alot, both with the sensivity and overall performance of the device.
It is very fast indeed, I think I'm going to like the Snapdragon processor a lot.
I installed Spb Mobile Shell 3.5.5 and I have to say that between that and Spike's ROM, it improves the device, for me, to the point where I'll use it as my daily phone. That being said, the capacitive screen is going to take some time to get used to. It is not really geared toward selecting small things on the screen, such as individual cells in Excel, especially when they are links.
The keyboard is OK. I am not really a fan of HW keyboards. If the QWERTY KB allowed for customization (ie remapping of keys), and over time I could get used to placing my fingers exactly so to get the key I want, I could grow to love it. But without the customization if is just OK. Also, in landscape it takes too much of the screen in some apps.
I've installed Gyrator2 after trying several other rotation apps. It makes the HD2 much more useful for reading and research of the documentation I rely on.
Radio reception seems to be as good for me, in my locales as the TP2. HTC has come a long way in that. My Nokias do not do any better than them anymore.
Is it perfect? NO. Is it as close to perfect as my TP2? In most ways yes, and in some ways it is closer. Do I regret my purchase? No, but I'm not giving up my TP2 yet either, just in case.
All right looks like tomorrow im doing the trade im really nervouse about leaving android
Sent from my super cool rooted slide
I would do the trade assuming the HD2 is in good condition and works fine. Winmo doesn't feel as refined as android and imo isn't as good of an OS BUT, the HD2 has tons of support and you can already run android on it fairly well and things are moving very very fast here. I would expect a fully functional android rom for the HD2 pretty soon. The phone can also run ubuntu (though still in beta stages here too) and has potential for windows phone 7.
The hardware also blows the mytouch slide out of the water.
The hardware is key for me just because all the developers are skipping the slide in favor of the vibrant or nexus one
Sent from my super cool slide that im trading for a hopefully cool hd2
I was using Milestone before picking up an hd2, and The hd2 is just awesome even if it's running wm 6.5.
jriv said:
has any one came over from android and if so what do you think
Sent from my super cool rooted slide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Came from a MT3G rooted. The hardware certainly flies compared to my previous phone and an iPhone 3g. The things I missed most are the pull-down notification bar, gmail integration (Android Gmail App), and the app market.
Yes, you can do just about anything and everything with the HD2 as people have already stated. Overall you will get a more "PC" like experience with this phone versus a "Touch-Optimized" experience like Android or iOS. The UI will scare you in a lot of aspects once you discover the WinMO underlinings, and the apps that you will find. If you don't mind asthetics, then this won't be so much a problem for you as it was for me.
As always, it comes down to what you are using it for, and what you expect from your phone.
What to update every one so I did the trade and tried windows for a bit just wasn't my thing but this phone runs android like a beast
sent from my hd2 running android froyo!

Advantage of Android Over WinMo??

I seriously dont get it, what is the real adavantage of Android??..many say Andorid is waaay better than WinMo6.5without any reason.. i for one still feel android and WinMo6.5are on the same boat .. there are NO distinctive advantages over each other.. i can find many demerits in android(atleast for me), yea there are demerits in WinMo6.5 also but in no way Android outweighs the disadvantages of WinMo6.5.
1. Android's battery management is very poor compared to WinMo6.5.
2. Android's memory management sucks BIG time, poeple say it's intelligent ... it's just kills apps whenever it needs to, basically loads all junk in memory and if it needs memory it kills low priority processes, i dont know how this is considered intelligent, why does it load all the installed apps process in the first place???.. i am even afraid to install a new app..
This is the reason for the battery drain!!!...
3. There is no TRUE multitasking, you play a game while listening to a song, in between you want to change the song, you cant do.. there is a huge possiblity that Android will just kill the game since it needs memory.
4. Theming is too static, you can only cahnge colours or images.. you cant completely change the whole interface as in WinMo6.5... every1 who is been using WinMo for some time would easily understand how great you can change the interfac of your mobile in WinMo6.5.
5. DATA Hag, for everything you have to goto market, goddamn, there are countries where 3g is not even introduced and poeple dont have unlimited plans, for everthing you need mobile internet in android.
6. Feels like it's a locked OS just like IOS and the copy cat winmo 7.
Only advantage of android over WinMo6.5 is android's got some good looking games!!!
Maybe it's just that people wanted a change and they are catching to Android , once they got bored they will come back to WinMo
Nobody is forcing you to use android, so why are you knocking it? If you don't like it, just don't use it.
The main advantage is the active development. We are early in the life of android with version 2.2. Windows mobile 6.5 is likely to be left behind when WM7 arrives. There are also many more developers who contribute to the android market.
How can you describe an open source OS as "locked" and compare it to IOS. Open source is the polar opposite of locked.
You are wrong to say that the theme is too static and can't be changed. There are many options. Sense, ADW, Launcher Pro, and now MIUI.
Most importantly XDA developers, the long time windows mobile devs, have now embraced android.
I just stopped by to say this is lulzy
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Simple question: why going back to an os wm abandoned and no longer support? You can talk about battery consumption, I have the same here, (super miui rom) and I still remember very well all the bugs and freezes I had with wm no mater what rom I choose. Remember very well too when I was so happy my phone ran 3 days without reset it. The cruel lack of applications. Ok, you can find by digging a bit an ugly wm app that do the trick, but its better to have the choice. There are so many developers here, future oriented.
Example : I decided to went to android when onenote mobile lost all my pictures inside my travel note ... Enough.
Now with the memoires app, I can take an encrypted note with picture and gps on map, backed up in sd, synchronised with google docs or export it in whatever output file I want. Happy user.
I made a silent backup too when I plug my usb cable, copying my sdcard meaning all my os and apps.
If you don't understand why people love android here you probably missed something ;-)
I wonder why there are still WM 6.5.3 releases everyday.. maybe microsoft stopped supporting and these builds are just coming out of nowhere .. possible??
if the developers stopped supporting i wonder how CHT 2.0 beta came out... CHT 2,0 pawns everything.. it's so awesome.. can you imagine anything of that sort to come out for android,...
Regarding theming
What is launcher pro offereing same old page scrolling and more widgets that is all... there is no drastic change..
In WinMo i had iphone ui(page scrolling), Sense ui, Windows xp style, windows 98 style, windows 7 style.. there is this wonderful app Wisbar.. with that you could possibly get any type of UI... you cant possibly do anything like that in android
THAT IS WHY I CALL IT LOCKED, you cant possibly edit anything like you have done in WinMo
Another disadvantage i saw was, i cannot share my PC's internet connection with my phone.. there is no way to do this.. WTH man.. in WinMo it's easy as a piece of cake..
Nobody is forcing you to use android, so why are you knocking it? If you don't like it, just don't use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please this is not a Android hatred or WinMo fan boyism thread... i am still trying out every new release of android and i will still continue to do the same.. all i wanted to discuss was it's Advantage over WinMo .. maybe i dont know stuffs , i wanted to learn more about android ...
I just stopped by to say this is lulzy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont want any android fan service here, if you have some stuff in your head speak it or go take a hike
Some noobs just dont understand anything, just for the sake of every1 using they will use and say Android rocks, this, that... tell us what you feel as an advantage
Both have their advantages and disadvantages... I like them both equally now. I used to say winmo was better, and in some ways it is. It's actually far more customizable and versatile when you know what you're doing, and just as stable. I bought the hd2 for winmo, and plan on keeping it on the phone because this will be the last great winmo phone.
But android is being actively developed, and is catching up in versatility quickly. Since froyo was released and the hd2 got such a functional port, I've given Android another chance and have really began to like it... its smoother and easier to setup than winmo, and its functionality & versatility are catching up to winmo in many ways.
They are just different. Android is definitely easier for the average user, and is continuously updated and has a lot of developers supporting it with a variety of apps. Winmo is still more customizable and versatile, but it isn't easy for the average user. It was designed as a pocket pc OS originally, and has had phone functionality added. Android was designed as a phone OS to begin with, but it doesn't have the desktop-like functionality that winmo does. They are very differently designed mobile OS's.
At this point, I now love them both equally, but in different ways. I love my winmo setup and the fact I can make it look and act exactly how I want... it takes some experience and work to get it as functional and stable as I like it, and it does everything I want it to do. Android is fun and easy to setup... it looks great and modern, and has a lot of fun apps. I'm pretty sure I can accomplish everything that I can with winmo if I really tried, and vice-versa, but I still prefer the way winmo & its apps are setup for a lot of things, though. But I'm liking the way android works and is set-up for other things. Web browsing is much more enjoyable on android, and there are more games and will continue to be more made.
Anyways, the great thing about the HD2 is that I can have both! And both run very well. I will never turn my dual-OS powerphone into just another android phone by flashing android over winmo... it doesn't seem worth it as android will run pretty much as good off a SD card as from nand... it all loads into RAM anyways and runs from there. Plus I still love winmo as much as I always have, and I got this phone because it is and will always be the best winmo device. It's a shame that it won't be developed any further.
I hope that when magldr is released, it will allow me to have both winmo and android on nand, as I have the tmous hd2 with 1gb nand, so there's enough space. That will allow me to access to my SD card without needing to leave it in for android.
Sorry for such a long post, but I had a lot to say on this subject. I'm tired of hearing fans of one OS bashing the other OS. I hear it most often from android users on this forum. It seems once android was functional on the hd2, many more immature posts have flooded these forums... saying winmo sucks, etc. They are both great mobile OS's, and are just different. It's great we now have a choice, but there's no reason to bash either OS just because you don't like it, or understand how to use it. Sorry for the rant. It's late & I'm very tired.
Edit: my rant isn't focused at anybody in this thread. Also, I agree with the op on most of his views. All of android launchers/shells are very similar and is not nearly as skinnable and customizable as winmo. But I do love the widgets android has, too. It's very easy to setup nice looking homescreens... winmo usually takes more time and work to setup the way you want, but there is a ton more options.
And CHT 2.0 looks awesome... haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but it looks like it takes sense to a whole new level. Takes the best parts of android sense and winmo sense, and makes the most customizable version of sense yet!
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
I've installed Android on my HD2 and are using it for main, daily use OS. The reason for this is the net browsing experience. Click a flash movie and it plays. Click it again and it plays full screen. Also the overall slickness of Sense on android + swype + spotify + native gps navigation is reasons for not going back.
I like both, as you get some great applications in both.
Although Windows never looks and feels as slick as Android.
Take some like for like applications, Facebook app on WM is terrible compared to the fantastic Android version. Radiotime player knocks any radio player on WM.
the cloud sync of google is so easy and works well.
But saying that I find the Memory map navigator a must on WM, some great bird and wildlife apps, prefer the camera on WM HD2 and think Sense UI on the HD2 is a lot better than sense on Android, although saying that I like the friendsstream....
See we are so lucky to have both...
yea good one dude.. i feel the same way.. people just blindly say WinMo sucks.. that is my argument.. they are in equal footing.. no way Android is better than WinMo...
Real thing is, An OS such as WinMo which came into existense some 6 or 7 years back can still hold it's uniquness and has almost all the features as that of an newly released os Android!!! ... what does android offer being it a brand new OS.. i dont get it... i can do anything android do in winmo itself... i was hoping Android to be far superior OS ... but after using it i dont feel like it AT ALL....
Well the biggest drawback of winmo , is its colors! They have never released a proper 16million color screen , common, its the 22nd century .. Lol .
A phone like the calibre of HD2 could hv had amoled plus 16 million colors , and it would have rocked both worlds, WinMO and Android!
But android , simply truly is more Open Source and more developer community oriented, than winMo .
Android , is being backed by The biggest player of the market , Google , which allows full integration with google services , winMo can never hve this no mattr what one does .
Google Maps simply rocks on android !
Sent from my HTC LeeDroid 2.2 using my swyping thumb!
@ zarathustrax Great job typing all that from your phone mate
As for this discussion both operating systems have their advantages and disadvantages I guess its just a matter of what you want to do with the phone and how you live your life day to day.
Android offers ALOTT more social network integration as you can sync your facebook twitter and google contacts into 1 account and manage them all from 1 place. See peoples latest updates or activities without having to go from 1 program to the other. This was my personal reason for changing from WinMo as well as the widget based screens. Yes I know CHT has done a fantastic job and has a few widgets now but it cant integrate with the whole operating system, and to access the rest of sense you still need to pop up the standard sense bar. Android 3 will be bringing alot of nice new features including multitasking and better memory management.
Now I still love using WinMo. I went off HTC Sense a long time ago after the 'prettyness' apeal faded but I have always been a user of Spb Mobile Shell and have made alot of improvments and alot of themes for it and will keep developing for it on WinMo as long as its around. Unfortunately with WindowsPhone7 they arent allowing Today plugins so Spb Mobile Shell wont be availble on that platform. I dont commend Windows for that decision but I guess they are taking a leaf out of apples book and it works for apple.
To answer the OP's question (if I havent already), WinMo and Android both have very different feels and both are loved and hated by alot of people. If you want perfect social network integration with the whole OS (you just cant do that in WinMo), more widgets and apps and ALOT better games (especially ones that use the gsensor) then go for Android. If you prefer a Windows based platform where you can play around with the registry, have more business based apps and dont really play many games then go with WindowsMobile. If you want the best of both then have both
The only thing I dont like about Android is that I cant use TomTom and I always thought that is the best satnav app available. Ohh well I still have copilot on Android lol..
Mark.
If Windows mobile had the Android marketplace, there would be no need for Android.
The HD2 in WM can easily handle some of the fantastic Android Apps, microsoft should be hung drawn and quartered for not implementing a better marketplace, they have had the opportunity, why not keep the WM6.5 and develop the market apps..apps.....did I say it...Applications, Applications, Applications, that's where development should be
I got an Evo cuz I'm on Sprint. I had a Diamond, (and still do), and loved it and was reluctant to stop using it, because I really came to love winmo. Android can't do anything with a .rar file, for example. (I thought it couldn't even create zips, but I was wrong).
Mostly what moved me though was the hardware. My diamond didn't come close to an Evo hardware-wise, and I was excited about the big screen.
I honestly would have preferred to get an HD2 than an Evo, but it just was not feasible for me to switch to t-mobile. I really did think about it and investigated it.
A lot of great devs on xda have picked up android though, and that has been great.
I will say, all the different UIs for android are essentially the same (as said before); swipe left/right, app drawer at bottom, etc. Winmo was/is far more customizable.
Winmo is still near and dear to me. I have gotten comfortable with android, though.
All that said, I was not able to get a winmo with the badass hardware (HD2), and since Microsoft is moving on to win phone 7 , which I want NO part of, and there will be no other winmo 6.5x phones coming available with current hardware, I went android/Evo, and had to just think of it as a big middle finger to Microsoft for their win phone 7 BS.
I'm pretty happy now thought with Android, but really poor .wma support, hard to accept.
Edit:
Oh and uploads are not supported from android browser. That kills me! Sure, you can install Opera on android, then upload via Opera browser, but Opera browser sucks on android (on winmo, it was perfect, all I used). Now in froyo, it half-ass supports uploads, but only kinda. Winmo has had upload for god-knows-how-long ?! Amazing to me Google can't fix this properly.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I ended up typing longer than I expected...
depakjan said:
I seriously dont get it, what is the real adavantage of Android??..many say Andorid is waaay better than WinMo6.5without any reason.. i for one still feel android and WinMo6.5are on the same boat .. there are NO distinctive advantages over each other.. i can find many demerits in android(atleast for me), yea there are demerits in WinMo6.5 also but in no way Android outweighs the disadvantages of WinMo6.5.
1. Android's battery management is very poor compared to WinMo6.5.
2. Android's memory management sucks BIG time, poeple say it's intelligent ... it's just kills apps whenever it needs to, basically loads all junk in memory and if it needs memory it kills low priority processes, i dont know how this is considered intelligent, why does it load all the installed apps process in the first place???.. i am even afraid to install a new app..
This is the reason for the battery drain!!!...
3. There is no TRUE multitasking, you play a game while listening to a song, in between you want to change the song, you cant do.. there is a huge possiblity that Android will just kill the game since it needs memory.
4. Theming is too static, you can only cahnge colours or images.. you cant completely change the whole interface as in WinMo6.5... every1 who is been using WinMo for some time would easily understand how great you can change the interfac of your mobile in WinMo6.5.
5. DATA Hag, for everything you have to goto market, goddamn, there are countries where 3g is not even introduced and poeple dont have unlimited plans, for everthing you need mobile internet in android.
6. Feels like it's a locked OS just like IOS and the copy cat winmo 7.
Only advantage of android over WinMo6.5 is android's got some good looking games!!!
Maybe it's just that people wanted a change and they are catching to Android , once they got bored they will come back to WinMo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the point you are trying to make. But before you make statements like poor mem managements and batt issues, we all need to realize that all android running on our HD2 is PORTED...and its bound to have few issues till its all ironed out. about multitasking/mem management, read here (http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html) before saying android is poor in mem management. Engineers at Google would have given it a fair amount of thought... I tried using multiple apps at the same time and switching in between them without a problem. Recent builds of android lasts the whole day for me without recharging, so i dont see any BIG downside there.
No doubt WM IS still great, but the approach was completely different in almost every way. To me, its like comparing apple to oranges ; because of how it is designed to function.
When i tried android the 1st time, i didnt like it at all. But recent releases have grown on me and i like them very much even for daily use. I guess the people like me would lose out some customization/personalization PURELY because i have ZERO knowledge when it comes to linux (I used to build my own WM6.5 roms...i cant do that with android). Im sure things can be customized (i.e: cyanogenMod, revolution theme, etc), its just that I (and most of the people cling very hard to WM) dont know how. Also, about your point 5: you do realize you can install the apk (apps) in android offline right? HTC with sense is also same as it requires lots of data??
We have to be fair in assessing both OS here....
I am a fan of both OS.
Just think about this - Why are we so quick to dismiss something and label it as bad when the memory usage is high?? (Ie: when a app / ROM uses a lot of ram, we say its bad in management) I don't mind fully utilizing (the ram is in HD2 to be used...why not fully use it?) all available ram it it gives a better user experience with negligible increase in batt drain.
I think we/most of us are conditioned our mind to the way of WM memory management. We should be more open to new approaches and give it time to develop further!
Well...when i started typing...i didnt mean to type this long.... look how long i end up typing...this is what i think
THUDUK said:
See we are so lucky to have both...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the best argument for Android on HD2 - it runs well enough from the SD card and you still have the WinMo option... Now we have the best hardware and two great operating systems - one very mature, stable etc and a new exciting one!
Personally I now only really use WinMo for SatNav (TomTom) because I'm used to using it and the maps are very accurate
Google nav maps are surpisingly out of date. Damn thing tried to send me down a road that I know has been closed off for 5+ years!! And don't even try to drive around Brixton with Google you will be arrested for dangerous driving hehe
Here's the problem I had with winmo, one which ultimately drove me away.
Microsoft has always lacked a certain finese in their OS's that other developers dont. After you dig through the HTC sense overlay on the HD2 and start finding areas of the system that they never tweaked, you start to see the real windows coming out of its shell, and it's ugly. Old fonts, very non-finger friendly, looks more like it was meant for a stylus. Menu driven systems that work well for someone with a computer and mouse, but not at all for a touch screen device.
The way I saw it, microsoft is simply not good in the UI department. They seriously need to hire more talented people who design the look and feel of their operating systems. The whole thing just feels amatuerish. I could design a better UI. The very fact that theirs is so sloppy says that Microsoft doesnt really know what they're doing. I already feel the same way about Winmo7 btw. Once again microsoft just shows they dont have enough creativity in their bones to whip up a functionally useful and unique OS. They sure tried, but they missed the mark.
Google and apple on the other hand know exactly what they're doing. While the core OS functions and how it controls the phone might all be similar, they understand people, what people like, how people think, and what feels good on a phone. Their menu hierarchy, finger friendly options, and features offered all make sense to me. They give me and present to me what I want how I want it. You can just tell by using it that they really "get it".
Winmo just feels like some forgotten OS that was developed around the first handhelds about 10 years ago, one in which microsoft never really understood how to advance in today's mobile market. It's like they're a lost puppy, trying to figure out why the big dogs get all the meat. It's really not that hard microsoft, they're just better than you at this stuff. I mean the entire reasons the HD2 was shipped with a sense theme is because the winmo theme is so ungodly and ugly that they simply had to basically remake the whole thing to get anyone to touch it.
its not crash so often on heavy useage
RunNgun42 said:
Here's the problem I had with winmo, one which ultimately drove me away.
Microsoft has always lacked a certain finese in their OS's that other developers dont. After you dig through the HTC sense overlay on the HD2 and start finding areas of the system that they never tweaked, you start to see the real windows coming out of its shell, and it's ugly. Old fonts, very non-finger friendly, looks more like it was meant for a stylus. Menu driven systems that work well for someone with a computer and mouse, but not at all for a touch screen device.
The way I saw it, microsoft is simply not good in the UI department. They seriously need to hire more talented people who design the look and feel of their operating systems. The whole thing just feels amatuerish. I could design a better UI. The very fact that theirs is so sloppy says that Microsoft doesnt really know what they're doing. I already feel the same way about Winmo7 btw. Once again microsoft just shows they dont have enough creativity in their bones to whip up a functionally useful and unique OS. They sure tried, but they missed the mark.
Google and apple on the other hand know exactly what they're doing. While the core OS functions and how it controls the phone might all be similar, they understand people, what people like, how people think, and what feels good on a phone. Their menu hierarchy, finger friendly options, and features offered all make sense to me. They give me and present to me what I want how I want it. You can just tell by using it that they really "get it".
Winmo just feels like some forgotten OS that was developed around the first handhelds about 10 years ago, one in which microsoft never really understood how to advance in today's mobile market. It's like they're a lost puppy, trying to figure out why the big dogs get all the meat. It's really not that hard microsoft, they're just better than you at this stuff. I mean the entire reasons the HD2 was shipped with a sense theme is because the winmo theme is so ungodly and ugly that they simply had to basically remake the whole thing to get anyone to touch it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree with you!!!!! I have used WM for years, Apple OS for over 1 year and now Android for 1 month. I rate Android #1, Apple #2 and WM #3. I cannot believe the UI that Android and Apple have compare to the lack of UI form WM. This includes Apps, Display, Stores, etc.
Will keep WM on my HD2 but using Android all the time now.
mskip said:
@ zarathustrax Great job typing all that from your phone mate
As for this discussion both operating systems have their advantages and disadvantages I guess its just a matter of what you want to do with the phone and how you live your life day to day.
Android offers ALOTT more social network integration as you can sync your facebook twitter and google contacts into 1 account and manage them all from 1 place. See peoples latest updates or activities without having to go from 1 program to the other. This was my personal reason for changing from WinMo as well as the widget based screens. Yes I know CHT has done a fantastic job and has a few widgets now but it cant integrate with the whole operating system, and to access the rest of sense you still need to pop up the standard sense bar. Android 3 will be bringing alot of nice new features including multitasking and better memory management.
Now I still love using WinMo. I went off HTC Sense a long time ago after the 'prettyness' apeal faded but I have always been a user of Spb Mobile Shell and have made alot of improvments and alot of themes for it and will keep developing for it on WinMo as long as its around. Unfortunately with WindowsPhone7 they arent allowing Today plugins so Spb Mobile Shell wont be availble on that platform. I dont commend Windows for that decision but I guess they are taking a leaf out of apples book and it works for apple.
To answer the OP's question (if I havent already), WinMo and Android both have very different feels and both are loved and hated by alot of people. If you want perfect social network integration with the whole OS (you just cant do that in WinMo), more widgets and apps and ALOT better games (especially ones that use the gsensor) then go for Android. If you prefer a Windows based platform where you can play around with the registry, have more business based apps and dont really play many games then go with WindowsMobile. If you want the best of both then have both
The only thing I dont like about Android is that I cant use TomTom and I always thought that is the best satnav app available. Ohh well I still have copilot on Android lol..
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said... I like both... The HD2 allows you to have both on your phone... No other phone allows that intergration... Hopefully when WP7 arrives we can have all three on the HD2??? I use both Android and WM on a daily basis... I've been using Android more to learn about... I like the ability to play with Android before I leap on it (need to see if I like Android first)... I can say that alot of development is moving to Android... Who knows down the road I may buy Android??? But for now I will stick to my HD2 (no phones released or will be released make me say WOW I must have it)..... Also Spb Shell 5 is taking to long to be released...... I like CHT v2 (gives you that Spb Shell ability)......
Tech Savy said:
Well said... I like both... The HD2 allows you to have both on your phone... No other phone allows that intergration... Hopefully when WP7 arrives we can have all three on the HD2??? I use both Android and WM on a daily basis... I've been using Android more to learn about... I like the ability to play with Android before I leap on it (need to see if I like Android first)... I can say that alot of development is moving to Android... Who knows down the road I may buy Android??? But for now I will stick to my HD2 (no phones released or will be released make me say WOW I must have it)..... Also Spb Shell 5 is taking to long to be released...... I like CHT v2 (gives you that Spb Shell ability)......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really have no idea whats going on with Spb Mobile Shell 5.. they initially announced that it would be released in Q3 2010 which has gone now so their timeline is running behind. They are always terrible about announcing updates and new versions so im expecting to wake up one morning and its sitting there waiting lol.
Cant wait to rip it apart and build it back up once it is out though, and the same if/when they release Shell for Android I will definitely be giving that a good going over and giving it the ProPlus treatment
Mark.

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