Coming from the backflip? - HTC Aria General

I was considering heading over to AT&T tomorrow to exchange my backflip for the aria. Im sick of waiting for a root and the 2.1 that was promised. Judging by the CLIQ's progress, its not going to be around for awhile.
What im worried about is the software keyboard, how is it compared to the backflip's software keyboard? Since there's no physical on this thing im worried about typing.
Also, what about speed? I watched a video and it seemed to be flawless, but how does it perform in games? For example doodlejump, is it laggy like the backflip is?
Thanks

Skyfallkavu said:
I was considering heading over to AT&T tomorrow to exchange my backflip for the aria. Im sick of waiting for a root and the 2.1 that was promised. Judging by the CLIQ's progress, its not going to be around for awhile.
What im worried about is the software keyboard, how is it compared to the backflip's software keyboard? Since there's no physical on this thing im worried about typing.
Also, what about speed? I watched a video and it seemed to be flawless, but how does it perform in games? For example doodlejump, is it laggy like the backflip is?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The software keyboard takes a little getting used to, but I can type decently with it now, about as fast as on my old tilt since the auto-spell correction helps a lot. The voice dictation function is also pretty accurate.
The UI is very snappy and lag free, even with a ton of animated widgets on the desktop. Scrolling through the application list is very quick and I experience minimal lag when browsing websites. I don't know what doodle jump is, but if it's anything like 'abduction', then it runs perfectly. I actually haven't played a game yet that was laggy.
One thing that IS slow is watching divx/mkv videos with rockplayer. I still haven't figured out why, but I suspect either a lack of hardware acceleration or the hardware simply isn't up to the task of rendering slightly higher resolution divx videos.
Hope that helps.
edit: - to be fair, .mp4 files desynch with audio in rockplayer but run decently in act1, so it's also possible that it's just a software issue.

You won't regret it
I have a Backflip, the AT&T flavor of Google's HTC Nexus One, and now an Aria. I had the poor little Backflip out the other day so I could let it do the OTA update. I had forgotten just how slow and underpowered that thing is. Sure, I loved having an actual physical keyboard, but I absolutely don't miss the "tap and wait" interaction with the Backflip. If you have the chance to get an Aria, do it. It will be a whole new world for you.

Use Swype. Once you get used to that, you'll be like "what keyboard"?

Last sunday I decided to stop by the At&t store to play with the Aria a bit more and ended up leaving the store with one of my own. There are only a few things I miss about the backflip 1. Camera flash 2. flipping the camera forward 3. slightly better speakerphone.
All in all I think the Aria is leaps and bounds a far better phone than the backflip. When I picked up the backflip I was glad it had a hardware qwerty keyboard. Soon I found myself typing on the screen more and more. The original motorola onscreen keyboard is HORRIBLE and within a week of having the backflip I installed the HTC keyboard (HTC_IME.)
The Aria speeds along with out a problem, I'm so happy to be out of that 1.5 cupcake hell! I actually really loved the backflip, but due to it's underpowered hardware and inability to be rooted I gave up. If you have the choice to return the backflip and pick an Aria I say go for it!

seboj said:
Use Swype. Once you get used to that, you'll be like "what keyboard"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hahaha, i used to hate using the tiny keyboard on my Pure, ever since i got swype on it, i didn't mind it at all. though i do miss using a stylist with swype, it helps a lot.

My wife has had hers about three weeks, and her only persistent complaint about it is the speakerphone. HTC really should have spent the extra nickel on a better speaker. Turned up loud enough to hear (in a purse, in a crowd, etc) it's really distorted, so I suspect at some time there will be reports of speaker damage from being too high, etc..
Not that I'm that thrilled about the speaker on my Nexus One coming from a Tilt 2, but oh well..

Related

Software Update Fixes the HTC Hero's Only Real Proble, speed

http://gizmodo.com/5340981/software-update-fixes-the-htc-heros-only-real-problem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYV9NNoI8Hc
Well, this changes things. Right after it came out, Matt called the HTC Hero "tragically flawed." Why? Because the otherwise fantastic Sense UI was slooooow. HTC, presumably run by competent, rational human beings, has fixed this.
From the review in July:
The Hero is flawed, though, in ways that are truly depressing in light of its potential and how much it does get truly right: It's often sluggish, which absolutely destroys the user experience. It's a particularly unfortunate affliction as the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre emphasize speed, making the Hero feel that much slower.
This was all but a dealbreaker, this frustrating slowness. But! Paul at MoDaCo has a preview of HTC's forthcoming update, which was vaguely announced yesterday, without much mention of what it would actually do. Now we know: It's about speed. And as someone who's been using a Hero for a few weeks now, this video makes by fingers tingle, ever so slightly.
Best of all, this update, due in a few weeks, looks like it could be ready before the Hero even shows up on whatever US carrier it's destined for, by which I mean, Sprint. Now, excuse me while I go remove the asterisk from that "Best Android Phone Ever" title. [MoDaCo via Slashgear]
Can I get a 'Hell yeah!'?
awesome
Can't wait. Loving my hero so far, except for the lagginess.
Rebooting helps but that's just a bit too "windows mobile" for my taste
I come from an iphone and i really like the openness.
I've got an unbranded urban brown so i should be able to get the update when they release it.
One thing i've noticed from the video is that the clock widget thingie is no longer animated but is now just a static picture.
It's very un-HTC like to actually release an update so quickly and to actually *gasp* fix things
But OTOH, they really set out to prove something with this phone, they can't afford to screw the pooch on this one.
HTC guys, we deffinately know you read these boards and all i can say is ... if this proves to be true and you keep releasing updates on a regular schedule ... i think you will win a lot of customers and dominate the android market.
Take Care,
-Kevin
does the new update lets HERO play video files encoded at 3p FPS ??
and what about the keyboard messaging speed?? is it better now??
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
ghoonk said:
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The keyboard can get very slow in webpages I find.
I hope that this update also fixes the missing text messages issue, lots of angry peeps because I don't reply to them!
ghoonk said:
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually i meant 30 fps...LOL i made a mistake by typing 3 only...lol 3fps is supported by even the most basic video phone!
thank God...
I really wanted to love the Hero (but the speed problem totally made me reconsider, having had a slow Diamond before) as the UI really is one of the best among the likes of the iPhone, and despite the fact that I am still using WinMo now I must admit that the iPhone UI is just a hell of a lot more out there. The Hero's UI is the first I see on any phone that really does match the iPhone's UI (if not exceed it).
If it actually speeds up so much with the update, it would be absolutely perfect, and I will buy one.
nin2thevoid said:
I really wanted to love the Hero (but the speed problem totally made me reconsider, having had a slow Diamond before) as the UI really is one of the best among the likes of the iPhone, and despite the fact that I am still using WinMo now I must admit that the iPhone UI is just a hell of a lot more out there. The Hero's UI is the first I see on any phone that really does match the iPhone's UI (if not exceed it).
If it actually speeds up so much with the update, it would be absolutely perfect, and I will buy one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I've just boxed/RMAd my Hero for return. I thoroughly enjoyed the time i spent with it but as it is now, its just not practical for me. Plus i dunno how HTC do their updates and if they truly fix anything useful or just random fixes no one cares about, which is why i wasn't willing to gamble.
If the update does improve things significantly then i'll come back or simply wait for the next iteration but in the meantime i'm returning to my trusty iPhone. Yes its UI is dated, yes it sucks at multitasking, yes the app store policy is draconian, yes battery life sucks. However the little things the iPhone does, it does well and is dependable for me.
I'm looking for a phone to buy in the next 2/3 months and if the hero gets as fast as we can see on the video, my choice is done. Otherwise I'll stick with my old phone waiting for a real Iphone competitor...
Speed the only problem?
I'd say that functional shortcomings are even worse. The speed-issue is mostly a feature of true multitasking. Don't expect good performance from a low-end CPU when it's trying to run all the fancy widget applications simultaneously. Optimisation is always appreciated though.
More important issues IMHO are:
Email not able to display messages with digital signatures. Never mind verification of the signature, but there's no good reason why the unencrypted message body can't be displayed. K9mail from the market handles it, as well as the mail-app in a stock android 1.5 dev.kit.
Email has no option to specify the path for IMAP folders. No folders other than the inbox can be read from servers which require the path to be specified.
The currently used 2.6.27.x kernel has serious issues with wi-fi (performance issues, temporary loss of connection). There are good reasons why the entire wi-fi stack was replaced shortly after (see kernel mailing-list) and we should hopefully soon see Android built with kernel 2.6.30 or later.
LEDs and trackball lights have stopped working on some units. It's been claimed that these problems are software related.
The music-player needs more consistent sorting of songs. Now it sorts songs alphabetically when browsing all tracks from an artist, while the default should be sort by album+disc_number+track_number. Similarly when you browse all albums the ordering of tracks within an album seems random. The natural order here would be by track-number.
Fade out-in between music tracks can be more smooth, as can the fade in/out of alarms and phone-calls.
Peep needs fixing so that it doesn't drain the battery when there's no twitter account configured. I don't know what it does, but it certainly can't be idle when it reduces the standby-time to 6-8 hours. Kill Peep, or give it a valid twitter user-name/password and the problem is gone.
The dialler and phone-book could do with some optimisation. This is the only place I've found where lagging actually causes a problem as it sometimes leads to calls being accidentally initiated.
These are just some of the problems I've found. I'm sure people with other priorities and who use the device differently have other issues.
I really would like that person to post a video showing the contacts app THEN we can know if performance issues have been really solved.
Hero lag can't be worse than what the Pre has in just about every program. Looking forward to playing with one in person so I can check it out for myself. Palm has done a terrible job of implementing a good idea.
Aridon said:
Hero lag can't be worse than what the Pre has in just about every program. Looking forward to playing with one in person so I can check it out for myself. Palm has done a terrible job of implementing a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pre was very zippy/responsive when i played with it
Speaking of terrible jobs of implementing good ideas, how about the fact that despite creating a fancy new UI for Android, including an innovative widget idea, yet again HTC have given us an essentially useless music player. Why on earth didn't HTC learn from the Diamond's problems in order to implement a music player that did not skip during tracks. Unbelievable! I'm so furious about this. And before someone tells me that if I want a music player I should use a seperate player, if the phone cannot perform the most basic function of any music player, which is to play music uninterrupted, it should not be included at all; I am not an HTC tester.
I have a class 6 micro SD card coming soon, if this doesn't help, it's bye bye Hero and hello iphone. It may not multitask and have a bland UI and have a draconian app store (frankly, who cares!?), but what it can do, it does very well indeed.
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
What a bum deal.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up HTC customer.
simcarloc said:
Speaking of terrible jobs of implementing good ideas, how about the fact that despite creating a fancy new UI for Android, including an innovative widget idea, yet again HTC have given us an essentially useless music player. Why on earth didn't HTC learn from the Diamond's problems in order to implement a music player that did not skip during tracks. Unbelievable! I'm so furious about this. And before someone tells me that if I want a music player I should use a seperate player, if the phone cannot perform the most basic function of any music player, which is to play music uninterrupted, it should not be included at all; I am not an HTC tester.
I have a class 6 micro SD card coming soon, if this doesn't help, it's bye bye Hero and hello iphone. It may not multitask and have a bland UI and have a draconian app store (frankly, who cares!?), but what it can do, it does very well indeed.
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
What a bum deal.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up HTC customer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Hero never skips when playing music not that I do so that often. Its so much better than my Diamond was.
simcarloc said:
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that may not be entirely true.
The Jones - listen more often and you will experience it. Unless of course, it's a problem only affecting certain handsets, in which case there are serious inconsistencies in HTC's manufacturing at work here, I doubt it though.
What audio formats you are using? With mp3 and wma (some are high bitrate) I use both wired and ad2p heastets about 4 hours a day and never experienced stuttering. I have a brown one from mobiles.co.uk with vodafone.
Also, while listening to music usually a few applications such as browser or news readers are being used as well.
Interesting sproxy, mine is also from Mobiles.co.uk on Orange and I get no skipping here either, listened to music loads on the phone over the last couple of days. Mine is also one of the ones with no lag, or screen gap I wonder they had a newer "fixed" batch or something?

Long time WM user thinking of jumping to Android, looking at Milestone & Nexus...

As you can see from my sig, I've been using HTC WM devices for a long time. I really like my TP2, but I feel like there is better out there. Over the past couple months, I tried a G1 (loved android, but thought the phone was too outdated) and a Nokia N97. (awesome phone, horrible OS) I've also tried Android on my Fuze, and now on the Tilt 2.
I've also always had a hard keyboard, and can't see my self using a soft one. I've tried typing on my GF's iphone (great phone, awesome for her, but I hate em)and I do ok, but its nothing like a hard keyboard.
I am only really looking at the milestone because of the keyboard, but its getting some pretty lame reviews, I'm sure its not near as good as my TP2.
One of my huge gripes with these phones has always been lag, and slowdown/freezing. So I'm really leaning towards the Nexus. I'm just worried about having no keyboard. Also, it looks like the Nexus can be (or will soon be able to) flashed with custom ROMS. (which is why I love WM, HTC, and XDA)
So I'm on the fence about switching to Android. And I'm 80% nexus and 20% Milestone. Opinions? Has anyone here gone to Android from WM? Are you happy? Regrets? Will I miss my keyboard? Will I be cool with Android?
BoostedSR20 said:
As you can see from my sig, I've been using HTC WM devices for a long time. I really like my TP2, but I feel like there is better out there. Over the past couple months, I tried a G1 (loved android, but thought the phone was too outdated) and a Nokia N97. (awesome phone, horrible OS) I've also tried Android on my Fuze, and now on the Tilt 2.
I've also always had a hard keyboard, and can't see my self using a soft one. I've tried typing on my GF's iphone (great phone, awesome for her, but I hate em)and I do ok, but its nothing like a hard keyboard.
I am only really looking at the milestone because of the keyboard, but its getting some pretty lame reviews, I'm sure its not near as good as my TP2.
One of my huge gripes with these phones has always been lag, and slowdown/freezing. So I'm really leaning towards the Nexus. I'm just worried about having no keyboard. Also, it looks like the Nexus can be (or will soon be able to) flashed with custom ROMS. (which is why I love WM, HTC, and XDA.
So I'm on the fence about switching to Android. And I'm 80% nexus and 20% Milestone. Opinions? Has anyone here gone to Android from WM? Are you happy? Regrets? Will I miss my keyboard? Will I be cool with Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I recently switched from my fuze running energyrom 6.5 to a Nexus One and have NO regrets at all. The phone does everything my Fuze did and more, both faster, smoother, and sexier. It really is an amazing device. Good luck with your choice!
MCreane said:
Hey, I recently switched from my fuze running energyrom 6.5 to a Nexus One and have NO regrets at all. The phone does everything my Fuze did and more, both faster, smoother, and sexier. It really is an amazing device. Good luck with your choice!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx for the reply... one question. What about the keyboard? The keyboard on the Fuze was pretty good, and now your typing on a screen. Was it an easy transition?
the milestone HW keyboard sucks from what i've heard. definatly go with the nexus one.
just went to my local Best Buy to checkout a Droid, but they dont have any Verizons phones there. My nearest Verizon dealer is over 20 miles away, dunno if I wanna go that far just to play with a Droid...
I recently switched from my WM devices to a Nexus One and it's been very exciting. The phone does everything, easy transition, faster cpu, smoother, endless customizing, and the virtual KB is cool (once u get use to it).
I went from a sidekick to winmo(MDA - custom roms) for a couple of years to my G1 when that came out, I am a hard keyboard fanatic. So the MyTouch I got I was sure I would hate, I have 2 lines and while I still used my G1 as my main line I started to get used to the soft keyboard. Then came my decision of Droid vs Nexus or wait, I thought about waiting to see when/if they would release a version of the Nexus One with keyboard but then I decided to just buy it and worse case if they come out with one then I'll just sell it and buy that I guess. But i dont really have any complaints, the soft keyboard is actually pretty decent in landscape mode you really get used to it after a bit. In my opinion the minor concern of the keyboard is far outweighed by its overall performance. If they came out with a keyboard version yes id sell this to buy that, i love hard keyboards. However I would rather stay with this than have the droid. I think the droids pretty cool, 2 of my friends have it and I really like it but after using this beast I cant imagine using anything slower.
Well so far it seems the general consensus is I would get used to the soft keyboard, so I'm kinda over my fear of that. Now all thats left is my fear of leaving WM behind.
Also I forgot to mention, I'm on AT&T, so if I ditch my Tilt 2 for the Nexus, 3G is out the window. BUT, in my area I only ever usually see speeds around 400-600kbps, and Edge speeds of 200ish kbps. So I really wouldn't be losing all that much. I lived with it before when I had the G1, and my euro TP2. I have no idea when the evil empire (apple) will let att get any android phones, and I don't wanna wait.
Also, another thing. Email. I have an email addy with my ISP that I don't want to get rid of. Can you setup an email account (other than gmail) and have it check every couple of minutes? (like with WM)
I have a Fuze(and the hermes and kaiser previously) running the latest energyrom as well and my Nexus One will be here tomorrow. I'll report back after I play with it a bit. I can already tell ya that I'm bummed about the lack of BT voice dialing but I'm hoping they add it in future updates. I assume it will take abit to get used to the OSK, I've always told myself I need a physical keyboard so here goes nothing.
I also will be starting with the phone on ATT for a few days before I switch to tmobile. I'm hoping the 3g issue gets resolved on tmobile.
PS I like the screen name
zjchaser said:
I assume it will take abit to get used to the OSK, I've always told myself I need a physical keyboard so here goes nothing.
PS I like the screen name
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, thats me exactly.
And the SR20 came out last year, and the car is getting a 2JZ this year. Too bad I can't change my screen name.
BoostedSR20 said:
Yea, thats me exactly.
And the SR20 came out last year, and the car is getting a 2JZ this year. Too bad I can't change my screen name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
worthwhile upgrade. race, drag, or street app?
BoostedSR20 said:
Also, another thing. Email. I have an email addy with my ISP that I don't want to get rid of. Can you setup an email account (other than gmail) and have it check every couple of minutes? (like with WM)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am able set up my office email on my Magic so this should not be a problem.
i went from the dash (oldschool wm 2g phone) to the n1... wow what a difference, i feel like ive moved from the stone age straight into the iron age
i will admit i can type much faster on a physical keyboard but the softkeyboard is not bad, specially if you use landscape mode most of the time, i am ever improving... just takes getting used to
BoostedSR20 said:
Yea, thats me exactly.
And the SR20 came out last year, and the car is getting a 2JZ this year. Too bad I can't change my screen name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What car?
You'll need a decent intake mani for the 2J
Back to the OP, I heard that a hardware keyboard version is planned. Was mentioned by google I think.
Also, have you considered the xperia x10?
I'm going to wait and see how it turns out......
zjchaser said:
worthwhile upgrade. race, drag, or street app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJIulHcUTss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ozuL5ZHvo&feature=fvw
I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on the N1, just gonna see where this thread goes a little longer....
BoostedSR20 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJIulHcUTss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ozuL5ZHvo&feature=fvw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very Clean, I've always loved those cars. I'm only making ~270 at the wheels for now but it weighs under 1900
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jliRppFN0EE
Another thing, I have a folder full of sound files I've made (in .mp3 form) that I use for things like my ringer, txt, e-mail, mms etc..
Is it possible to use .mp3's for notifications w/android?
a lot of ppl here went from a 500 mhz windows phone to a 1gz android phone so of course it will be worlds apart.
try winmo on a snapdragon phone (TG01, HTC HD2) and things become so much better. Well depends what's available where you are - in the UK we get a lot of the good phones 1st simply because we have a compatible network.
I of course think I'm somebody and use two phones - a TG01 and a G1 (soon will be a N1 owner). As to which one becomes my regular phone - likely be the android phone - while the TG01 will be relegated to my media player. There is still nothng out there that can compare to the media quality of a snapdragon WinMo phone - Coreplayer players divx/xvid , streams and plays more audio formats.
Android still lacks any decent video playback and still stuck in the .mp4/3gp world. (Yes I can't be bothered to convert my vid files - why should I?)
Of course I am waiting the day when there will be the all in one phone and checking out the highlights of CES 2010 3 phones stuck out (google these):
the new unnamed Samsung running android with exact same specs as the Nexus (and with possible divx/xvid playback!)
the new Lenovo phone - lePhone running android with attchable modular keyboard CPU unknown...
The new LG phone - which I think was snapdragon - with 4.5 inch screen? More a MID or tablet but pretty sweet...
Ok there was news that winmo7 is coming end of march too but no demos..maybe at the MWC next month..
BoostedSR20 said:
Another thing, I have a folder full of sound files I've made (in .mp3 form) that I use for things like my ringer, txt, e-mail, mms etc..
Is it possible to use .mp3's for notifications w/android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup... Make folder on the root drive as follows
media -> audio -> alarms
media -> audio -> notifications
media -> audio -> ringtones
If you put any mp3 on these folders, it will be alarms/notifications/ringtones respectively.
Also, they won't show up in the Music players if they're in these folders.

MyTouch Slide - Initial Impressions

Just wanted to start a thread about the Slide that came out today. Feel free to voice your opinion. Remember, everyone is entitled to their opinion. No flaming/bashing please.
Here's mine:
I went to T-Mobile after work to check out the phone. I was on a waiting list. I got to handle one of the staff member's MT Slide. If you haven't seen pictures, it reminds me of the MT3G. It's styled after it - no surprise there. I played around with it for a few minutes. It was very responsive! Blows my G1 out of the water and mine is rooted with CM5.0.7 Stable (no cache, no JIT, no oc'ing). The keyboard feels very good. I actually like the click action of the keys when you press them. I would say that the keys are better spaced than the keys on the G1. However, the Slide only has 4 rows. I still prefer the G1 keyboard with 5 rows. But if you're used to a 4-row keyboard, the Slide won't disappoint.
I held my G1 next to it, and they're similar in size. The screen on the Slide is slightly larger (3.4" vs 3.2"). My G1 however feels more solid (the body is made of metal). The Slide is plastic and looks plastic. I didn't like the feel of the slide action when opening the keyboard. The G1 slide action, while forceful, feels solid. The Slide had some grinding/scraping against the backplate of the screen (another website mentioned this as well).
I'm not to keen on the optical trackpad. I wish they had kept the luminescent trackball from the MT3G. Umm...what else. I don't care for the icons with the square bubble/outline around them. Tacky in my opinion. And the bubbles obstruct what's in the background. Hopefully, there will be a way to disable them.
I decided not to buy it and wait it out. I interrogated the rep about June 19. She didn't say anything other than that there won't be an iPhone. I could care less. Pressing her further, she mentioned that HTC is working on a high-end android phone with a keyboard, but won't likely be out till the end of the year. What really turned me off about the phone was the plastic look and feel. After owning the G1, I don't think I could go back to a plastic phone. But that's just me.
I realize this is a mid-range phone aimed at the general populace. In my humble opinion, this phone is a good representation of what Android is capable of. Everyone compares new phones to the iPhone. It seems like the defacto standard. However, I think Android is at the point that it can set the standards now - especially phones like the Evo, N1, Incredible, Galaxy. Oh, she did say the Samsung Galaxy will be coming to T-Mobile. Nice specs, but looks like an iPhone clone which is why I will probably pass on it as well. And it doesn't have a keyboard.
Sorry for the long post.
Buyers Remorse
Wish I would have done the same as you.
Went right in and bought it. The phone is horrible.
Recent Apps in Notification bar is too large for the resolution and takes up all the space.
The keyboard is horrible. Multiple characters on each key, all the same color tricks the eye and you end up mistyping more than normal. Other phones use 2 color sets, Color 1 for Alpha + functions and Color 2 for secondary key functions. G1's keyboard is by far the best physical keyboard there has ever been. 5 row Qwerty, 2 colors, and spaced appropriately.
Trackpad works for short navigation movements, but doesn't roll or stay "active" for scrolling down more than 3 or 4 names at a time.
MyModes is a crap version of Locale minus all the good stuff, plus some of the useless stuff.
Multiple notifications if you text/email/etc is from someone in your MyFaves (which is now short for Speed Dial).
MyFaves is a horrible looking and difficult to navigate or read updates interface with your friends pictures.
The screen leaks light just above the home/menu/back/genius button on both sides.
When you slide the phone open you can hear the plastic on plastic (which will eventually wear out)
There is a lot to like...
...and a lot to hate.
I think the hardware is fantastic and I like some of the customized features. The friend stream widget and the messages widget are pretty darn slick. The My Faves and assorted T-Mobile apps not so much.
It would be really nice to be given the ability to uninstall some of the apps that come preinstalled. For instance...
AppPack
Barcode Scanner
My Account
My Device
MyTouch Music
Peep
News
Stocks
Weather
Visual Voicemail
None of these can be removed from the phone without root access. Feh. I cannot wait for root...
Root can't save this phone.
And here's something rather peculiar...
I made a disk image of the original 8 GB class 2 SD card that shipped with my Slide and restored it on to my 16 GB class 10 card with a 1024 MB EXT4 partition and the rest set aside for FAT storage.
The device, however, recognizes it only as an 8 GB SD card and does not reflect the ~15 GB of storage that should be available to it. And mounting the drive on my Mac over USB displays the same information. But when I pop the card out and throw it in my Android Developer Phone (Dream running CM5) it's recognized as exactly what it was partitioned as.
Very weird.
boldfacelies said:
Root can't save this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry you regret buying the phone. You have 2 weeks or 30 days to return the phone depending on where you are.
I agree the G1 keyboard is the best out there. I'm sure if you play around with the keyboard some, you'll get used to it.
I do wish some of the pre-installed apps could be removed. Takes up precious space.
Coming from the list of phones in my sig, the MTSlide is superior in all ways...
Most if not all above mentioned drawbacks/flaws are true. I'm going to wait for some custom hardware keyboards on ebay then swap it out. The keyboard is the only thing I TRUELY hate. The g1s HKB was damn near perfect. this reminds me of the spiderman font.
Just need root, and some custom roms.
No live wallpapers.....
I think this phone will be good for people looking for a simple fix or android virgins lol I haven't messed with the phone yet but it seems to be nice I like espresso ui. I think the thing I hate the most about the phone is the price. Just because your flagship phone is a mid-range devie you can't sell it as though it's high end...But it'll prolly drop. One really good thing I heard (and I hope it's true) Is that this device can be overclocked to 1ghz has anyone else heard about this ?
I really don't understand these negative stereotypes and the desire to run a bone dry ROM. I have found a lot to like about the Espresso UI and the way this phone handles tasks. Sure, Faves and the MyTouch Music apps are bloated but everyone is talking like the phone is a piece of garbage that should be thrown out because of it. The MyTouch Music app might be worthy to people who listen to Top 100 but not any of us in to punk/alt rock.
The AWESOME preloaded software includes
-Open Office
-Friendstream Widget(Love having twitter and facebook stream through in one widget)
-Contacts/people app is very well done with the ability to link to social networks
-Genius button does work very well with a southern accent
-Gallery is a million times faster than G1's
-Home has wonderful Pinch to Zoom
-My Modes is very useful
-The Music app gets a plus for being able to be used on the lock screen but ^3 is better overall
Seriously folks, this is not a bad phone. I'm contemplating not rooting (gasp) if froyo comes out soon because I used rooting mostly to compensate for the G1's lack of ram (compcache), Apps2SD, and tether. Sure it would be nice to get rid of one or two apps on here but I can live with it without condemning the entire phone as a whole.
As simplyTravis said, I'm not sure why people are so unimpressed with this phone. I've got an N1 and I picked up the MT3GS yesterday. I'm already more impressed with the MT3GS than I am with the N1.
I love the HTC Espresso eye candy with all the extra widgets, the clock with the weather, all kinda of add-ons. Not to mention, its a BLACK theme. I can't stand the white and light colors that Google uses on stock android.
The keyboard isn't great. I would have preferred a 4 row, numbers on their own row with symbols. But, I can't complain. It works, and with the little I've used it, I've already gotten pretty quick at it. I still prefer Swype for simple texts etc, and the HTC skin is nice. I've tried the genius button, but so far I haven't gotten it to work as advertised.
Overall impressions? This phone will be a hit. It was meant for the mid-market, and it will impress quite a few people. It is responsive, fast, and again, the eye candy. Good stuff.
Short and simple:
I'd like the G1 keyboard back, but I can get ovey this.
Any My* app should go, along with any other T-Mobile specific software
I find Modes absolutely useless, but thats just me.
SenseUI is OK at best. Will determine to keep it or not after root comes and see what kind of space and/or performance improvements come of it.
Genius is OK as well, but I'll find little use. Would like to map it to another app.
I don't know why all the hate. I'm really liking this phone so far. It's very snappy, I love the Espresso UI, I've owned the G1 and I prefer this keyboard. Even though I got used to the chin on the G1 it still bugged me, with this it's not a problem. We'll see how I feel in a week but so far so good IMO.
I've had the G1 since launch and I've been waiting for a suitable replacement. Unfortunately, I can't afford a high-end android like the N1 or service like Verizon, so a mid-level phone like this I'll take. Besides, it won't be long until it's rooted and we're overclocking the processor.
And I'm waiting to get it until the 19th just in case.
SD Card Issues
Anyone else been able to replace the SD card with a larger/faster version?
As I wrote above, my 16 GB class 10 card is being recognized as only an 8 GB card when inserted into the Slide.
Would love to see someone independently verify this weirdness.
Im really hoping with the root that I can just delete some system stuff and add wifi tether and thats it. I dont want to get into flashing ROMs I love how fast and snappy the phone is and wouldnt want to take anything away from that by starting to get too complex like my g1. I just want more app memory and of course root access bc all this tmo crap bothers me and I want complete control of the phone
I love the g1 over this phone. Yea the keyboard is different but im already use to it in two days. I cant go back to my g1 after this. I love the responsiveness, larger screen, and the damn speed. The only thing i miss is the call and end button. Other than that I love this phone.
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
did anyone notice that the headphone jack is not flush? i haven't tried it with the supplied ear buds but my other ear buds don't go in all the way.
The speed is impressive. I've never actually used a Nexus, but with how this phone is doing so far, I'm not worried about it being slow and laggy in 2 months. I've got a TON of apps running on it now.
I think the UI is a little over the top. It's supposed to be a "light" version of Sense, but I see it as actually being more complex. Only thing I don't really like about it is the icons though, other than that I'm happy with Espresso.
The only other complaint I have is the abundance of "Faves" and T-Mobile crap taking up valuable real estate on the phone. You can tell Tmo had a heavy influence on this phone, and that's what I don't like about it.
So far, it is a definite upgrade to the G1. We can complain about the keyboard (which I do vehemently), but that doesn't mean there aren't many upgrades. Obviously it is much faster. I do like some of the custom UI and the Genius Button is pretty cool.
It is true, 145mb of app storage with all the pre-loaded crap. My two biggest complaints about the G1 were speed and memory and it looks like I only solved one of those with better speed. Overall, the Slide is a good phone that all of us original G1 users have "waited" for. Swype works great and Froyo will help with the memory issue with Apps2SD.
Until another 5-line beast comes to TMo, I'll be happy with this!
7 out of 10.
I like the speed and look of phone,wish it was light as the original mt3g.the keyboard is ok but I don't like the roughness felt when sliding it out and wish it had a row dedicated to numbers and symbols.I like the ui minus the bubble icons and faves gallery.wish I knew how to make custom themes like the one you can dl from tmo.the touchscreen is too resposive constantly senses touch when using the hardware keys at bottom and swype always detects wrong word or letter where as it had damn near perfect accuraccy on original mt3g.a lot of bloatware and not much internal storage,we need apps2sd.I hope it gets rooted soon so I can see what it can really do.I heard 800mhz is definetly achievable

Significant touch input lag on the Evo

I'm almost positive there was a previous thread about this issue, but I can't seem to find it. In any case, I've noticed that the touch sensor lags behind my finger considerably. I recorded a video with two tests consisting of a. A quick demo with the multitouch visualizer app, and b. A half-assed game of table tennis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j7cYb7EtUM
This issue has also been noted by Android Central in one of their tests of the Evo's multi touch capabilities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieuB0VvkmwA
As you can see, the video clearly demonstrates a problem with either the hardware or software. The HTC Incredible uses the exact same touch sensor, yet exhibits none of these issues. As a result, I'm kind of doubtful it's an issue with the hardware. I'm sorry, but for such a high-end smartphone, I would expect better from HTC. Here's to hoping they address this problem in a future software update.
yeah.. im kinda disappointed in EVO..
personally, it not that big of a deal. So it's another obstacle while playing air hockey, just something to make the game more exighting. If you really are disappointed in a beast of a phone as this for having some touch sensor lag.... go dig a hole and bury yourself in it.
Rennat said:
personally, it not that big of a deal. So it's another obstacle while playing air hockey, just something to make the game more exighting. If you really are disappointed in a beast of a phone as this for having some touch sensor lag.... go dig a hole and bury yourself in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That really is not a good excuse for this issue. I don't want air hockey to be more exciting or challenging. I want the paddle to track my finger as accurately as every other high-end smartphone on the market. I have every right to be disappointed, because this isn't 'some' touch sensor lag. In fact, it's quite severe. I paid good money for a good smartphone, and I, along with the rest of the Evo owners, deserve better than this. We shouldn't have to settle for 'not that big of a deal'.
The lag is not on pressing buttons I think, I think it's when you drag stuff.
I mean I tried on my Droid and it feels slow to respond on the emulators with touch controls, but the Evo is slow as well. Also when clicking stuff it feels instant.
jigglywiggly said:
The lag is not on pressing buttons I think, I think it's when you drag stuff.
I mean I tried on my Droid and it feels slow to respond on the emulators with touch controls, but the Evo is slow as well. Also when clicking stuff it feels instant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well no, there's no lag on pressing buttons. The touch sensor can easily handle a single tap, since it isn't necessarily tracking anything. When it comes to playing something like table tennis though, the problem becomes painfully obvious.
Mecha2142 said:
That really is not a good excuse for this issue. I don't want air hockey to be more exciting or challenging. I want the paddle to track my finger as accurately as every other high-end smartphone on the market. I have every right to be disappointed, because this isn't 'some' touch sensor lag. In fact, it's quite severe. I paid good money for a good smartphone, and I, along with the rest of the Evo owners, deserve better than this. We shouldn't have to settle for 'not that big of a deal'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're missing my point. I meant to say that is a little bug in the screen tracking going to influence your desission on whether you are cool with he phone or not? Ever phone will always have minor bugs that you just have to live with. Now tell me, can you name any of your last phone's 'little bugs'? I had a Palm Pre, and I loved it. I will say the build quality was crap and I had to return it 3 times but I still enjoyed the phone. The Evo by the looks of things doesn't have any problems with hardware but the memory card issue that got resolved within a few hours of release.
Rennat said:
I meant to say that is a little bug in the screen tracking going to influence your desission on whether you are cool with he phone or not? Ever phone will always have minor bugs that you just have to live with. Now tell me, can you name any of your last phone's 'little bugs'? I had a Palm Pre, and I loved it. I will say the build quality was crap and I had to return it 3 times but I still enjoyed the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this little 'bug' is going to influence my decision because it shows utter negligence on behalf of HTC regarding their flagship device. A minor bug is the notification light going off every once in a while. A minor bug is not the main input method lagging behind by at least a second. This is a bug I'd rather not have to live with if HTC can fix it. What if all smartphones had this 'little bug'? I'm pretty sure nobody would just accept living with it.
When a G1 outperforms an Evo in terms of touch input tracking, there is a serious problem.
Agreed. I'd like to get this resolved. It isn't a deal breaker to me, but it is shocking that a device like this would have a significant issue with the touch sensor. I have a feeling that tracking can just be updated with a future software update, but if/when this occurs is anyone's guess.
This is definitely a software issue. From Chipworks:
Touch Screen controller
The Atmel device provides for up to 224 nodes (hence being called MXT224?) and a patented charge transfer technology that allows it to be used even in netbook screens (>10”). It features an SNR of 80:1, and an extremely fast refresh rate. All in all, the nearest competing off-the-shelf touch screen at the time of introduction has only half as many nodes, a screen refresh rate of only 83Hz (66% slower) and an SNR of only 25:1 (66% less). Another thing, it can recognize (first in the industry) not only touch but also stylus, fingernails and gloved hands. Because of the high SNR rate, the device consumes a smaller amount of power and a decreased response time (due to it not being required to make use of extra filtering circuitry).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
zeuzinn said:
This is definitely a software issue. From Chipworks:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. Now that you mention it, this might have some correlation with the 30 frames per second cap on the Evo. I mean, most other phones run at 60fps, and they have no problem tracking touch input. What's possibly going on is that because the phone is limited to 30fps, the screen can't refresh nearly as fast as it has to in order to track the input...
Mecha2142 said:
Right. Now that you mention it, this might have some correlation with the 30 frames per second cap on the Evo. I mean, most other phones run at 60fps, and they have no problem tracking touch input. What's possibly going on is that because the phone is limited to 30fps, the screen can't refresh nearly as fast as it has to in order to track the input...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just thinking the same thing. Perhaps fixing the frame cap will resolve both issues.
Mecha2142 said:
Yes, this little 'bug' is going to influence my decision because it shows utter negligence on behalf of HTC regarding their flagship device. A minor bug is the notification light going off every once in a while. A minor bug is not the main input method lagging behind by at least a second. This is a bug I'd rather not have to live with if HTC can fix it. What if all smartphones had this 'little bug'? I'm pretty sure nobody would just accept living with it.
When a G1 outperforms an Evo in terms of touch input tracking, there is a serious problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said before.....
Rennat said:
You're missing my point. I meant to say that is a little bug in the screen tracking going to influence your desission on whether you are cool with he phone or not? Ever phone will always have minor bugs that you just have to live with. Now tell me, can you name any of your last phone's 'little bugs'? I had a Palm Pre, and I loved it. I will say the build quality was crap and I had to return it 3 times but I still enjoyed the phone. The Evo by the looks of things doesn't have any problems with hardware but the memory card issue that got resolved within a few hours of release.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and no I don't care if the screen lag is hardware issue or software. If your going to yell and grip about this then go away. We really don't need ranters link you in the forum. The xda forum is to help others and create new ways of doing things and having more features.
At this point, I really don't care what you think. As you can tell from the other posts in this thread, and in fact the entire Evo forum, people do care about things like touch input lag, frame limit caps, and bad wi-fi reception.
Have you seen the thread on the Evo's graphical cap? Most people there seem pretty pissed off about the issue and want something done. Should they go away because they're 'ranters'? No, they're right because the only way to get things fixed is to point the problems out in the first place.
Mecha2142 said:
Yes, this little 'bug' is going to influence my decision because it shows utter negligence on behalf of HTC regarding their flagship device. A minor bug is the notification light going off every once in a while. A minor bug is not the main input method lagging behind by at least a second. This is a bug I'd rather not have to live with if HTC can fix it. What if all smartphones had this 'little bug'? I'm pretty sure nobody would just accept living with it.
When a G1 outperforms an Evo in terms of touch input tracking, there is a serious problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not a bug. As of now, the android base will have a minor delay, especially when it comes to user interface because that is just the way java is. Which is why you will not notice it in dalvik prepped apps.
That being said I don't notice it at all after switching to the evo. I did notice it on my hero. There was always a solid delay between my finger and anything it does. On the evo I would say it is almost gone for me. But everyone always compares it to the iphone which is not java but I remember reading about the comparable delays between the two platforms and its there on the iphone <= 3gs but its just not as noticeable.
To each his own but I see way more advantages in waiting for Froyo/JIT on this platform, at least until apple opens up a bit, which will never happen.
EDIT: By the way, RUU the device because I can tell you right now of the two evo's I have played with neither had an input lag anywhere NEAR a second. If that is in fact true I believe the device or install has got something wrong with it. Or it could be a runaway app that has been installed.
flexgrip said:
This is not a bug. As of now, the android base will have a minor delay, especially when it comes to user interface because that is just the way java is. Which is why you will not notice it in dalvik prepped apps.
That being said I don't notice it at all after switching to the evo. I did notice it on my hero. There was always a solid delay between my finger and anything it does. On the evo I would say it is almost gone for me. But everyone always compares it to the iphone which is not java but I remember reading about the comparable delays between the two platforms and its there on the iphone <= 3gs but its just not as noticeable.
To each his own but I see way more advantages in waiting for Froyo/JIT on this platform, at least until apple opens up a bit, which will never happen.
EDIT: By the way, RUU the device because I can tell you right now of the two evo's I have played with neither had an input lag anywhere NEAR a second. If that is in fact true I believe the device or install has got something wrong with it. Or it could be a runaway app that has been installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Are you saying that my Motorola Droid, which DOESN'T have the input lag, is because it's not running java vm on Android? hahahaha Java VM has nothing to do with the lag on Evo's input.
Not really sure where I said that the moto droid is not based on java or anything of the sort. Pretty much ever developer knows that java ui performance is mostly crap.
For example eclipse and OOO. Perfect examples. They have purely unacceptable lag in their UI.
Nearly ALL user interfaces based on java have a laggy UI. As a developer I made a conscious choice to not use java based ui and go with gtk/clutter. I have played with several motorola droids and they all have a solid delay that in most circumstances does not exist on the iphone. It is a pretty common reason for folks to not use java to build their apps. Take a good look at the sandbox dalvik apps. Even under the android emulator they are much more responsive.
I DO NOT see the moto droid having less delay than my evo. I think you are mistaking frame rate for input lag. As icons are moving, they look "jittery" or skip around. That is a long shot from saying there is a 1 second delay between your finger and movement on the screen. I had an app crash the other day while downloading files to the SD card and the whole system slowed down and had this massive input delay. So all I was really saying was try and see if there is maybe something you have installed that has made this happen because everything seems pretty "instant" to me, coming from the hero. Obviously it could be that my opinion is relative to my hero. But I notice that the evo is a bit snappier than the incredible. And that is backed up by a few reviews.
flexgrip said:
Not really sure where I said that the moto droid is not based on java or anything of the sort. Pretty much ever developer knows that java ui performance is mostly crap.
For example eclipse and OOO. Perfect examples. They have purely unacceptable lag in their UI.
Nearly ALL user interfaces based on java have a laggy UI. As a developer I made a conscious choice to not use java based ui and go with gtk/clutter. I have played with several motorola droids and they all have a solid delay that in most circumstances does not exist on the iphone. It is a pretty common reason for folks to not use java to build their apps. Take a good look at the sandbox dalvik apps. Even under the android emulator they are much more responsive.
I DO NOT see the moto droid having less delay than my evo. I think you are mistaking frame rate for input lag. As icons are moving, they look "jittery" or skip around. That is a long shot from saying there is a 1 second delay between your finger and movement on the screen. I had an app crash the other day while downloading files to the SD card and the whole system slowed down and had this massive input delay. So all I was really saying was try and see if there is maybe something you have installed that has made this happen because everything seems pretty "instant" to me, coming from the hero. Obviously it could be that my opinion is relative to my hero. But I notice that the evo is a bit snappier than the incredible. And that is backed up by a few reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Move your finger faster on the screen. Your finger will be going one direction while the interface is still going another direction. The delay is greater than the difference between 30 and 60FPS.
flexgrip said:
Not really sure where I said that the moto droid is not based on java or anything of the sort. Pretty much ever developer knows that java ui performance is mostly crap.
For example eclipse and OOO. Perfect examples. They have purely unacceptable lag in their UI.
Nearly ALL user interfaces based on java have a laggy UI. As a developer I made a conscious choice to not use java based ui and go with gtk/clutter. I have played with several motorola droids and they all have a solid delay that in most circumstances does not exist on the iphone. It is a pretty common reason for folks to not use java to build their apps. Take a good look at the sandbox dalvik apps. Even under the android emulator they are much more responsive.
I DO NOT see the moto droid having less delay than my evo. I think you are mistaking frame rate for input lag. As icons are moving, they look "jittery" or skip around. That is a long shot from saying there is a 1 second delay between your finger and movement on the screen. I had an app crash the other day while downloading files to the SD card and the whole system slowed down and had this massive input delay. So all I was really saying was try and see if there is maybe something you have installed that has made this happen because everything seems pretty "instant" to me, coming from the hero. Obviously it could be that my opinion is relative to my hero. But I notice that the evo is a bit snappier than the incredible. And that is backed up by a few reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You drunk?
I have the Droid and the HTC EVO 4g.
Get the a touch input application
Scroll around with the Droid, instant.
Evo 4g super delay
This issue has nothing to do with Dalvik, or Java.
jigglywiggly said:
You drunk?
I have the Droid and the HTC EVO 4g.
Get the a touch input application
Scroll around with the Droid, instant.
Evo 4g super delay
This issue has nothing to do with Dalvik, or Java.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 its there and verified

Demise of Epic 4G?

Recently, I have been so negative about my Epic 4G, so this time, I am writing why it became so outdated. I believe during Froyo era, Epic 4G was the best phone ever. It had better cpu/gpu for everyday experience and had better gaming performance than any other phones. When compared to Evo, our Epic crushes Evo with superior screen quality, better camera/camcorder+FFC and speedier everyday performance. It was once named top Android phone on some website.
Although Epic had its faults, such as keyboard skipping and inaccurate GPS, these were quickly fixed/mitigated by our proud devs in XDA. I was also pleasantly surprised when Epic natively supported 720P avi and mkv files. Epic really shined when all the emulators like FPSE, N64oid came out and they ran nicely and utilized keyboard well. I personally thought it was amazing to run PS games on my Epic. Some people even mistook my Epic as a PSP. So everything was good and I was proud to be the owner of the best phone.
Fast forwarding to Gingerbread era, where many high end phones are coming out with current OS installed, our Epic is still shining. When I run Netflix, the phone handles well, there are no signs of phone struggling. When on skype call, I can simultaneously browse webs or play games without causing the phone to slowdown too much. Also when using Google navigation and music simultaneously, the phone handles it with breeze. I didn’t have much frustration because of phone lagging/crashing. So Epic is still up there when it’s about performance. But why I do I still feel dissatisfied. Why do I feel so short changed?
The environment is changing. More specifically, technology is advancing in a way features of Epic 4G can’t utilize. More and more sophisticated apps are coming to Android and most of them are optimized for keyboardless phones. These sophisticated apps were already successful on iPhone platform, so naturally, these apps are optimized for keyboardless phones. Recent days, I rarely use my HW keyboard. I don’t play emulator games anymore as native games have better experience. Apps are becoming more virtual keyboard friendly that it is faster and comfortable than HW Keys. It seems like developers build apps without thinking about HW keyboard. The keyboard can still be utilized for document editing, but there are no good viable document editors. Also, this task is being quickly replaced by tablets as it has more potential thus developers are ditching developing good office apps for phones.
Also when talking about playing HD contents. It is now a trend to stream HD videos. People used to transfer mkv files to the phone to watch them but this is not only cumbersome to do it, it is a chore when having to deal with limited amount of SD space. It is very convenient to stream HD contents right on the phone with so much more selections. Epic can also do that but with critical limits. The current 3G is unreliable and 4G is not available for the majority. Phone still needs to rely on WIFI, when at this point, it is just better to use a tablet or a laptop.
A feature like FFC is not utilized as well since Skype is so slow on updating and supporting FFC for non-Gingerbread phones. It is difficult to have a video chat with people w/o high-end phones since they have to use the rear camera, which then they can’t see me, rendering video chat useless.
So all of sudden, the phone, Epic 4G, that had complete features, feels so outdated and unsupported. This is bound to happen for any phones out there, but it feels Epic was especially short-lived. The phone that had so many potential is quickly being outdated without ever realizing any of them. This is why I feel frustrated and how turn of events made Epic less useful.
mtwow789 said:
Recently, I have been so negative about my Epic 4G, so this time, I am writing why it became so outdated. I believe during Froyo era, Epic 4G was the best phone ever. It had better cpu/gpu for everyday experience and had better gaming performance than any other phones. When compared to Evo, our Epic crushes Evo with superior screen quality, better camera/camcorder+FFC and speedier everyday performance. It was once named top Android phone on some website.
Although Epic had its faults, such as keyboard skipping and inaccurate GPS, these were quickly fixed/mitigated by our proud devs in XDA. I was also pleasantly surprised when Epic natively supported 720P avi and mkv files. Epic really shined when all the emulators like FPSE, N64oid came out and they ran nicely and utilized keyboard well. I personally thought it was amazing to run PS games on my Epic. Some people even mistook my Epic as a PSP. So everything was good and I was proud to be the owner of the best phone.
Fast forwarding to Gingerbread era, where many high end phones are coming out with current OS installed, our Epic is still shining. When I run Netflix, the phone handles well, there are no signs of phone struggling. When on skype call, I can simultaneously browse webs or play games without causing the phone to slowdown too much. Also when using Google navigation and music simultaneously, the phone handles it with breeze. I didn’t have much frustration because of phone lagging/crashing. So Epic is still up there when it’s about performance. But why I do I still feel dissatisfied. Why do I feel so short changed?
The environment is changing. More specifically, technology is advancing in a way features of Epic 4G can’t utilize. More and more sophisticated apps are coming to Android and most of them are optimized for keyboardless phones. These sophisticated apps were already successful on iPhone platform, so naturally, these apps are optimized for keyboardless phones. Recent days, I rarely use my HW keyboard. I don’t play emulator games anymore as native games have better experience. Apps are becoming more virtual keyboard friendly that it is faster and comfortable than HW Keys. It seems like developers build apps without thinking about HW keyboard. The keyboard can still be utilized for document editing, but there are no good viable document editors. Also, this task is being quickly replaced by tablets as it has more potential thus developers are ditching developing good office apps for phones.
Also when talking about playing HD contents. It is now a trend to stream HD videos. People used to transfer mkv files to the phone to watch them but this is not only cumbersome to do it, it is a chore when having to deal with limited amount of SD space. It is very convenient to stream HD contents right on the phone with so much more selections. Epic can also do that but with critical limits. The current 3G is unreliable and 4G is not available for the majority. Phone still needs to rely on WIFI, when at this point, it is just better to use a tablet or a laptop.
A feature like FFC is not utilized as well since Skype is so slow on updating and supporting FFC for non-Gingerbread phones. It is difficult to have a video chat with people w/o high-end phones since they have to use the rear camera, which then they can’t see me, rendering video chat useless.
So all of sudden, the phone, Epic 4G, that had complete features, feels so outdated and unsupported. This is bound to happen for any phones out there, but it feels Epic was especially short-lived. The phone that had so many potential is quickly being outdated without ever realizing any of them. This is why I feel frustrated and how turn of events made Epic less useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool story
Agreed. At the time I loved my Epic but it seems like wireless companies are hell bent now on releasing new phones every 5 minutes it seems. This is funny considering most carriers look at reducing or preventing you from using it (capped data plans, touting 3D streams and Netflix sure is retarded when you can only watch so many episodes or stream so many movies a month). This has led to a large decline in support for existing devices, because why give a **** when you can just release something more powerful with upgrades software already built in that people can just buy. When I first got my Hero is was awesome, little slow but it was my first Android experience. The Epic 4G blew it out of the water, and I still love playing PSX games on it from time time, as well as Plants vs. Zombies and Cut the Rope look beautiful on the Super AMOLED screen. But when looking back, with all the hardware and software problems (GPS, keyboard, reboots, buttons) I still loved my device. Sadly, the trend has already started of shelling out half-finished products that companies can just "update".. but where do you draw the line when the product doesn't get updated? Both the carrier and the consumer lose. For me personally I've had my Epic since launch and I'm looking to trade it our for a Nexus S. Sure it doesn't have a keyboard and smaller resolution video but guess what: it's supported by Google themselves and gets updated off the bat.
Like Google said today, they are their own worst enemy. And with the shortened product cycle and lack of updates, people are foaming at the mouths for the iPhone5. And after stealing so many of Windows 7/Android "features" and calling them their own, Apple is looking at another record profit year because at the end of the day a large portion of people just want a phone that "works" and Apple supplies that kind of product. Reminds me of a nice little quote: "Evil will always triumph because good is dumb."
tl;dr: Newer phones are better than the 13 month old Epic. Also, apparently since it has a real keyboard, virtual keyboards don't work on it, for some reason.
vita10gy said:
tl;dr: Newer phones are better than the 13 month old Epic. Also, apparently since it has a real keyboard, virtual keyboards don't work on it, for some reason.
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Click to collapse
It comes with 3 virtual keyboards (swype, samsung, and android). And unless typing here or anywhere else I would type more than 5 word I rarely use the hw keyboard.
Sent from my un-rooted Samsung Epic 4G with XDA Premium
vita10gy said:
Newer phones are better than the 13 month old Epic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Imagine that
Sent from my SPH-D700
OP - Welcome to the world of Evolution.
...pull up a chair and have a set.
Honestly, my ET4G made me start to think my Epic was old. I didn't want a new phone at all until lately. The numbers don't lie. Screenies are stock ROM, stock kernel with root. Edit..the Quadrant test is actually a low score. I can't read those tiny previews...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I still don't think the current generation of phones is sooo much better that it's worth upgrading yet personally. The hardware has stood up to the test of time so far if we just get some official gingerbread finally, this phone will get me by just fine for another 9+ months.
CapsLockKey said:
I still don't think the current generation of phones is sooo much better that it's worth upgrading yet personally. The hardware has stood up to the test of time so far if we just get some official gingerbread finally, this phone will get me by just fine for another 9+ months.
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+1 A stable GB will do me just fine even beyond my upgrade date of 1/1/12
worldwidepmp said:
+1 A stable GB will do me just fine even beyond my upgrade date of 1/1/12
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Click to collapse
A stable Gingerbread would make this phone feel new again. I am just concerned because we have had what 3 or 4 leaks now with almost the same issues. I hope the next one will fix the reboot issue
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
What's this?? Exponential technilogical advances are making electronics obsolete at an exponential rate??? Gonna have to have the boys in the lab verify these findings and get back to you ...
Specialksg1 said:
What's this?? Exponential technilogical advances are making electronics obsolete at an exponential rate??? Gonna have to have the boys in the lab verify these findings and get back to you ...
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Click to collapse
Lol...well played sir
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Well, to be honest, what are you REALLY trying to do? Keep up with the Joneses?
What irks me the most is the random quirks: Unresponsive apps, random force closes, half-baked apps that feel like weekend projects, having to pull the battery on some freezes, GPS drops, video recording issues, and TOO MANY OPTIONS TO WORK WITH! I'm finding myself "working" with my phone rather than "playing" with my phone.
Now, I love this community. I'm a geek, but not a total geek. I have SFR 1.2 installed, phone unrooted, and a custom kernel running (I forget what off the top of my head). I love being able to customize my phone... but it's getting to the point to where I just want to say "SCREW IT! JUST WORK RIGHT SO I CAN USE THE DAMN THING!"
That's what Apple does right: It just WORKS. However, there are many things I will miss if I switch to an iPhone: Widgets, a bigger screen, customizing my home screen, Roam Control, Google Navigation, and Voice Search just off the top of my head.
It's weird: I have an iMac, Macbook Pro, and iPad, but I have an Android phone. I love it... but these quirks are pissing me off. I tell everyone I meet that my phone works amazingly well 95% of the time. That 5% drives me CRAZY!
But, going back to your rant about our phone being a beast of a phone like the new phones: Relax. The Epic 4G is pretty damn epic! There's no "killer" feature yet that is coming out that will make me want to get a new phone. I don't play many games on my phone. I have my iPad for that. The next killer feature is the NFC chip, which I think the iPhone 5 will have. If it does, I just might switch. I know the Google Nexus S has one, but the Nexus S is basically an Epic 4G without the keyboard. I'd wait until the next version of the Nexus comes out and compare with the iPhone 5.
Yeah, I find myself flashing every ROM and kernel that comes out because I am still trying to get my phone to the point where everything is working properly without issues. On my ET4G, I rooted it, flashed the CRT+1% battery mod and put the stock kernel back on it. I haven't flashed any of the early ROMs because I am very happy with how everything is functioning. I hope I can get my Epic to that point some day
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
JohnCorleone said:
Yeah, I find myself flashing every ROM and kernel that comes out because I am still trying to get my phone to the point where everything is working properly without issues. On my ET4G, I rooted it, flashed the CRT+1% battery mod and put the stock kernel back on it. I haven't flashed any of the early ROMs because I am very happy with how everything is functioning. I hope I can get my Epic to that point some day
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
EXACTLY WHY I CHECK THE FORUMS EVERYDAY! You just made me realize why I do it. I guess I'm always looking for the bigger, better, faster method. I have to admit, I check the Android Market once or twice daily to see if there's any updated apps. I must be OCD or something.
DangerZone1223 said:
EXACTLY WHY I CHECK THE FORUMS EVERYDAY! You just made me realize why I do it. I guess I'm always looking for the bigger, better, faster method. I have to admit, I check the Android Market once or twice daily to see if there's any updated apps. I must be OCD or something.
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Click to collapse
Its the whole android motive, even though everything is working perfectly for me I feel the need to brick it and odin just to restore everything and change it up a bit maybe different theme or ROM lol its never been that it doesn't work for me. I have an ipod touch and that's it,it just works lol I get bored with it jailbroken or not its boring after a while lol.
Sent from my SPH-D700
R3537L1F3 said:
It comes with 3 virtual keyboards (swype, samsung, and android). And unless typing here or anywhere else I would type more than 5 word I rarely use the hw keyboard.
Sent from my un-rooted Samsung Epic 4G with XDA Premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's why it was sarcasm. I'm not sure what the OP's point was there. What possible method of on screen controls won't work on the Epic?
vita10gy said:
Yes, that's why it was sarcasm. I'm not sure what the OP's point was there. What possible method of on screen controls won't work on the Epic?
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Click to collapse
I feel confident that the OP is trolling and most likely owns a htc evo 3d. Im running at 1.5 ghz stable and epic screams. It suks the life out of the battery like some members here on kokers but thats why I have 2 extra batteries free from our beloved asurion. Don't ask how trolls! Every app runs like a black man from police. Don't you trolls go anul and report me to mods! Im joking for gods sake! But the battery sucking pawer is true.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

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