Do you own a Focus claim it here tell us what you think?

Do you own a Focus claim it here tell us what you think? - Focus General

Samsung FocusBeautiful, crisp, or a cheap piece of junk. I would like to know.
I would like to know if you own a Focus or are considering purchasing one. I believe that word of mouth is important so I ask the community to place their thoughts about the Focus here. Also I would like just 1 post from each member who is writing their own review. Remember you can edit your post. Help me out and if you actually own a focus let us know in the poll.
Try to look at the below review for a format. Of course it is your review so write it how you see fit.
Top things I love about my Focus:
1. Thin
2. Light
3. Beautiful screen
4. SD expandability
5. Fast and responsive
6. Diagnosis Screen
Top things that need improvement for my Focus:
1. Better SD support
2. Power charging should be on the bottom of the phone
3. Power button should be on the top of the phone or harder to press
4. Screen can scratch all be it very hard to do so.
How is my windows experience on the Focus:
1. Marketplace can be buggy
2. Games are fun and vibrant
3. Programs are stable
What would you like to see improved in you windows experience on the Focus:
1. Need to allow multitasking as an option for GPS and third party audio programs.
2. Wish marketplace would show how many download an app had
3. More live tiles
4. In email adding folders to sync is cumbersome.
Who would you recommend buy this phone?
I would recommend this phone to anyone. This is the best phone I owned.

I pretty much agree with what you posted. I've really come to like WP7 and the Focus although, there is still much work to be done on the OS.
I guess if Samsung had one with a physical keyboard, I'd be all over it.

It's so fluid in motion, readable and highly consistent in design. Overall, I've got to give MS a big thumbs up. The UI is beautiful and functional.
My only real complaint is the occasional marketplace freeze.
I've had a number of android devices and I've had more than one iPhone.. I was ready for something fresh and different.. and so far this is fitting the bill quite well.
Now make with the updates, Microsoft... some new features would be nice.
As for the focus itself, it's a nice piece of hardware. The screen is gorgeous, battery life seems decent, speaker sounds good, calls are clear. It has a little creak do it if I grip it too hard, but it doesn't feel like it's going to break. I'd pretty much put it even with my Samsung Vibrant.. it is plasticky, but it doesn't feel cheap.

I've had my Focus since they released them publicly. The hardware is great overall. I have two iPhones (3G and 4), a Droid, Blackberry 9000 and a new Torch. The iPhone sets the bar high, and in my opinion the Focus easily competes head to head with the iPhone in terms of the screen and performance, maybe even better for speed. So far I haven't had any problems with it, in terms of the hardware. No unexpected reboots or lock-ups. I've soft-reset it a couple times on my own, and did one hard-reset to attempt to get wireless Zune sync working (still doesn't work), but that I'm sure is an OS problem. I do wish Samsung just stepped up with 16GB of NAND storage from the get-go though. Sure, an optional SD card is nice to have, but the way WP7 uses storage it doesn't surprise me people are seeing random crashes and data loss. WP7 essentially combines both storage types as one large storage, but expects performance to be the same and that's not reasonable. There's really no reason why they couldn't make NAND the primary, and SD secondary for more static things like music and documents.
In the beginning battery life was pretty bad. But I think it just took a few charge cycles to correct that. I get almost two days out of it without wifi. With Wifi it drops to maybe a day and a half at most.
The AMOLED screen is just awesome. Clear, bright, smooth.
I'm looking forward to MS releasing a WP7 update though. There are so many little bugs/features that are missing, besides the popular copy/paste that I rarely use anyway.

I agree with the first post.
I (STILL) only get all of one bar of signal in my house with it. AT&T signal was bad seven years ago and hasn't improved which kind of forces me to return it and wait for a CDMA version. At least with Verizon I get three & four bars everywhere in the house. Too bad I have to wait another month or two to get a WP7, because other than not being able to make or receive calls at home I really like the Focus a lot.

Pretty much agree with the first post. I really like this phone.
When reading email, I wish there was a way to make the font bigger that would also word wrap so you don't have to move back and forth to read the email. Either autosize to a larger font with word wrap, or just let me select a larger font size.
I love the voice search! It's worked for me in noisy resturants and standing along side a busy road. Impressive!

I really like my Samsung Focus primarily because in my usage the OS has been stable, fast, and really easy to navigate.
The lack of available applications (for whatever reasons) is a huge issue. I own both an iPhone and Droid X. If I didn't have those phones on which to use apps I think I'd be a little less kind at this moment to WP7 and the Focus
Overall I think what MSFT has TODAY is a great first smartphone for someone who has not used one before.
Will this progress to a serious contender in the smartphone space? I don't know but I'm hoping that it can be one of the top 3.

webdev511 said:
I agree with the first post.
I (STILL) only get all of one bar of signal in my house with it. AT&T signal was bad seven years ago and hasn't improved which kind of forces me to return it and wait for a CDMA version. At least with Verizon I get three & four bars everywhere in the house. Too bad I have to wait another month or two to get a WP7, because other than not being able to make or receive calls at home I really like the Focus a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iPhone's reception fairly blows, also, and AT&T is awful at my house. I bought a zBoost YX-545 GSM/PCS repeater, stuck the antenna in the attic where I get at least a couple reception bars and put the unit in the upper floor of the house. That now gives me 4 or 5 bars throughout the house and yard and helped the iPhone considerably and does just as well with the Focus. If you have any reception at all, this is a better solution than AT&T's hit-or-miss microcell.
Personally, I like the screen and the weight. It's so nice being able to pull it out of my pocket, take a quick glance at the screen to see if there's anything of interest and, if not, pop it right back from where it came. The screen is bright, easily read at arm's length and laid out well. The commercials about "saving us from our phones" actually made sense once I used the phone for a few days. One thing that drove me nuts about the iPhone was the form and weight. It's akin to having a brick in my shirt pocket and the weight makes it practically jump out of my pocket any time I bend over a bit. The Focus has a much nicer form with the rounded edges, it's thin and it's relatively light weight means it's been less prone to wanting to slide out of my pocket. It's being so thin and rounded makes it more difficult to pick up off a flat surface than the iPhone.
I've used iPhones for the past 2 1/2 years and while the iPhone has it all over the Focus as far as functionality, what the Focus currently does is so much easier to do that I believe I'm ready to commit and forget about the 30 day return policy. All in all, the benefits and potential very much outweight the few drawbacks that exist, such as the plastic feel and mediocre reception.
Oh...and the expandable memory is a HUGE plus after 2 1/2 years of a phone I couldn't even open. Yes, I've read that plenty of people have had problems with it but using a Sandisk 8GB class 2 SD card I've been able to put some 10 GB of music on the phone without so much as a single hiccup in any way. I suppose Sandisk is still the best for a reason...accept no substitutes!

JDiddyC Review
(in conjunction with previous noted items)
What I like:
1. Integration of FB, apps and Live Skydrive, etc. Seemless!
2. Ability to customize the tiles on the home screen
3. Live tiles! Need I say more!?
4. Accessing info and sharing is quick and easy
What I don't like / needs development:
1. For the love of God, please let us use Bing Turn by Turn and not PAY for provider specific apps or add-ons!
2. Zune / Music portion needs work
- Channels would be nice
- Why do I have to pay for songs via AT&T when I have zune pass? This should work like market place on the Zune HD!
- Please let me use music I have on the device as a ringtone!?
Overall satisfaction:
LOVE IT! I feel pretty confident that changes to the OS and apps will come in the near future that will hopefully address the few things I don't like. Although I fear there are some agreements with providers around GPS and turn by turn directions that may keep us hacking to get around them.

Top things I love about my Focus:
1. Thin
2. Facebook Integration
3. Beautiful screen
4. SD expandability
5. Xbox Live
6. Fun UI
Top things that need improvement for my Focus:
1. Multitasking or at least backgrounding (i want pandora!!!)
2. When the Screen is locked i shouldnt be able to power off the phone with just the button! Come on now that should be common sense.
3. Flashlight app that acually uses the LED
4. Volume controls that are not all in one (i shouldnt have to turn my phone back up to 30 after playing a games at 10 because the games too loud, in turn making my ringtone way too quiet)
5. Cut, Copy, Paste!!!
How is my windows experience on the Focus:
1. Marketplace and UI can be buggy (especailly when downloading)
2. Games are fun and vibrant but with a lack of games ive grown interested in with other platforms
3. best camera phone implementation with the shutter button and ease.

bump
Can a moderator sticky this

I love the focus ALOT! I bought it outright at Rogers for $630! Its unbelievably fast and smooth....its the most fluid phone I have ever used in my life to be honest....I handed it over to my gf! Why? because I take alot of pictures and video, and so far while the focus has been good at both, it doesn't hold up to my Xperia X10,,,therefore I went back to my X10...but I play with the Focus all day long. If somehow they could write a camera app (like Vignette for android) and make the pictures cleaner in low light then the Focus would be my primary phone hands down.
Overall I'd give this phone a 9.5/10 just because I feel the camera is lacking slightly.

Lovin My New unlocked Samsung Focus
Samsung Focus is the BEST WP7 phone hands down right now! Just wished 3G and MMS would work with my T-Mo service Provider.
Anyone find out how to get into the MFG Mode?
I have been through the whole Diagnosis Mode, changed about every setting i could change and still no MMS.
btw.. thx sandrobber for listing all the codes for the diagnosis menu!

Just bought 3 foci (sp), Originally got one for my step father who had been working on some old handmedowns and wanted a real smart phone of his own and one for my wife who hated her Pure with such a purple passion that I was almost ready to overlook my no Apple rule and get her an Iphone. They both are loving it.
I went ahead and got one for myself. I have to admit I did a lot of waffling between the focus and the quantum.
Personally I think the quantum's size and form factor is slightly superior. It was just the right size to fit in my hand and be worked easily with one hand while the focus is just a tad on the large size to be truly comfortable.
That said I ended up going with the Focus because damn it's a huge gorgeous screen the potential for expansion and general overall ratings it's getting on the hardware side.
My past experience with smart phones has been with winmo and palm OS. Part of my decision to go with the Samsung was because of my experiences with their older smart phones. In fact I just ran across my old I300 the other day while sorting through some old boxes and the damned thing still runs just fine after a quick charge.
Pro's
that huge screen.
smooth seamless performance.
did I mention that huge beautiful screen?
Expandable memory
Con's
Bing button is too damned easy to hit.
form factor is just a tad to big to be used consistently with one hand.
Who thought putting the USB port on the top was a good idea?
Market place is buggy and has locked up on me several times requiring a reset of the device.
Other thoughts
As a former winmo user I'm definitely missing some of the features that I knew weren't going to make it into this os. I still think it was rather stupid to drop active sync and myphone for this platform. I understand some of the rationals but it's still missed.
Same goes for the lack of access to the files system (in particular the lack of drag and drop and real support for SD storage)
That said the phone is incredibly user friendly. My wife who hated the hell out of her Pure took to this thing like a duck to water and she's far from technically competent with this sort of thing in that she's a fairly typical user who's not interested in tinkering with a device just to get basic functionality. as such this works great for her.
For my part I very rapidly got my start page re-arranged the way I liked it with my tiles organized in the manner in which I typically need them.
I'm still learning things about it like it was a bit of a surprise when my step father showed me how to voice dial calls. (so damned easy it never even occurred to me to try.)
So far everyone I've shown the phone to has been impressed (primarily Iphone users) and several have already expressed an interest in switching to WP7 as soon as their contracts come up for renewal. Especially those who aren't using Iphones since they'll be able to keep their old unlimited data plans with these devices.
I have very high expectations for the future of this platform. As soon as MS gets a couple basic features pushed out (copy/paste, task switching) and developers start getting some quality apps out I see this platform being quite competitive with Apple.
I get that there are some things that it's just never going to match winmo on and that functionality will be missed but after watching Apple dominate the market so thoroughly and observing users such as my wife beating their heads against the WinMo experience I can't really fault MS for shifting design philosophy.
Considering the fact that this OS has only been out a couple months I'd say it's off to a nice start. Sure it would have been nice to have had cut/paste and multitasking so I wouldn't have to listen to the apple fanboi's teases (hey at least it's got MMS out the box) but it is a fully functional smartphone right out the box that can already do many things much easier than my old 6.5 phone could.
Now I just have to find a good case for it.

Happy Focus owner, elated to be a part of a truly 'smart'phone era.
This phone was the best investment I ever made.
After purchasing the phone outright from Rogers in Canada, I paid an ebay guy $15 to unlock it.
I came immediately to XDA-Developers for guidance with my new toy. The community here is excellent; with a level of knowledge far beyond my wildest expectations.
Once I followed the advice of everyone here, I was able to unleash the full power of the phone on my preferred network, SaskTel.
Prior to this phone, I got a contract a year ago with a Samsung Omnia. My carrier wouldn't push the OS update, and Samsung didn't offer it direct to consumers. I was forever stuck on a crippled WinMo6.1 OS.
I am looking forward to future updates provided direct from Microsoft. This was perhaps the most significant reason I bought into the idea behind Windows Phone 7 as a future-proof platform.
The reasons I chose the Focus are the same as most around here. The SuperAMOLED screen is just a wonder to behold, and I find myself just scrolling the lists just to see the brilliance of the display in action.
Memory expansion is another boon for this device. Having at least one option in the Microsoft launch lineup with this feature is key to the platform's success. I believe like the handset manufacturers, that everyone has different needs in a device.
Storage is a need some of us have. I like the security behind the S in SD. I believe the way MS implemented the expandable memory is the way to go from a security and usability standpoint.
My final reason for choosing this phone was to test the ability of my service provider to bring alternate devices to the table. My carrier just upgraded to 3G+ from CDMA. Having a SIM based solution opened the Focus as a possibility.
I am satisfied with my carrier's network, and the phone, and the apps.
I looked at the iDevices and Android devices before making this purchase. While the iDevices were pretty much all out of my price range for the flexibility provided, I considered the Samsung Galaxy line.... in particular, the Galaxy S Vibrant (known by other names on other networks, so let's not quibble).
The only thing that kept me from the Android platform was how cumbersome it was to use.
While there are some mobile enthusiasts out there who will claim that the platform is lacking, I have never once been in a situation where I thought to myself, hey I wish I could multitask. Once something draws me away, the back button is right there, my little friend.. who always helps me back to whatever experience I engaged in before the distraction.
Personally I do not care for MMS, as my carrier charges me per use. at that rate, I can use my unlimited data and share over Facebook and SKydrive to those I want to see my photos. As a result I haven't even tested to see if the feature works with my carrier's current APN settings.
My only pain point is that a few of the features that were demoed early in the year, are not yet available in Canada.
For instance, Bing searching does not bring back local maps. The city where I live has too small a population for 2D overhead maps. I find all of this interesting, as I do have birds-eye within the bing maps silverlight experience on the desktop.
Another feature our lovely land to the north is missing is the Zune Pass. I would happily pay for the ability to link Shazam to Zune, unfortunately due what I presume to be legal reasons, the zune pass is not presently available.
===============================
My only hope now is that someone out there will create a Kinect-Based Star-Trek Exploration game that allows me to use my WP7 device as the infamous Tricorder.
I think that would totally kick ass. I'm thinking of a title we'll tentatively name "Star Trek: Red Shirt Adventures" Where you get to explore the worlds of Kirk's day, and all those up until Picard's day.
In this fashion a good story teller could preserve Trek Cannon and shed some light on the rich history to us causal trekkies. Maybe the objective is to burn through 1000 lives in a single play through.... who knows.... it was an idea, which I give openly to the internet to turn around and capitalize on, as I lack the ambition. Surely with XNA architecture as a base on both platforms, this should be doable.

Skex said:
3 foci (sp)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct

Finally a phone I love
Even though I've been in IT for 30 years, I had my first taste of smart phone ownership a little over a year ago with a BB Bold. I never needed one, but finally WANTed one. It was okay, but slow and not the easiest thing to type on. On 12/27 I upgraded to a Samsung Captivate. I really like the keyboard, but the darn thing kept powering off all by itself. When I noticed board postings about others' Captivates doing the same thing, I was determined not to play "let's see if this one works" and I traded for a Focus on 12/31. It is absolutely lovely. The only complaints I have are 1) the keyboard is a bit to small and 2) the hidden "diagnosis" settings really need to be easier to access. The good thing about that is I have joined groups like this one, where I am learning things I didn't know I wanted to know!

First day, first customer!!!
I have been a loyal WM/PPC user (iPAQ, Axim, 3125, TD2), and have been waiting for this phone. Having used TD2 and several Softbank (Japan) phones, I desire the following (only):
(a) Smart dial
(b) Toggle switches for Bluetooth/Wifi (like Cookies Home tab) on the Home Screen.
Nevertheless, very happy with my Focus.

Related

My iPhone experience

I am the proud owner of a HTC touch HD phone, and a very happy owner too. I got it just before Christmas, and it is currently running on Duttys rom, 2.6. All in all my best phone so far.
As many, I have always looked upon the iPhone as one of the absolute best phones ever made, in my opinion it more or less revolutionized how we look upon a phone’s capabilities. However, since I have never had an iPhone, I found it hard to argument for or against it. Therefore I have bought one (used), which will arrive by mail within the next few days. When I get it, I will use it for a month and keep posting here how it goes and how it performs compared to the touch HD. Why do I do this? Because I’m curious, and because I want to see what all the hype is about, and most of all, i hate the fact that everyone is *****ing about which product is the best, but only a few has actually had and used the two phones for a longer period of time.
So far I bought the phone (iPhone 3g), and I am waiting for it to arrive. I must say the wait is long I have downloaded iTunes, so all I’m waiting for right now, is the phone itself.
Besides the normal things you do with a phone (calling, sms), I daily use my touch HD for web browsing, email correspondence and video and music. All of which performs perfectly (thank you coreplayer ). So this is what I plan to use the iPhone for, since touch HD is a windows mobile phone, I rely upon activesync to take care of my outlook contacts and calendar notes, we’ll see how well iTunes does this.
I also like the fact that it is so easy to get what you want with windows mobile, mostly through you guys here at xda.
When the phone arrives I’ll post my first experiences.
Update: 15-4-2009
It'll arrive tomorrow. Thanks for all the replys
Update 17-4-2009
First impressions
So i’ve used the phone for all in all 5-6 hours so far, so I can only tell you about my first impressions. I had some problems getting my music from my pc to the phone, it turned out that you have to enable music synchronization in itunes, in order to get anything transferred to the phone. First thing I did was to transfer my music through explorer (drag and drop), more or less the exact same way as with touch hd, this isn’t allowed, so I had to go through itunes, convert all my music, find out how to get it from itunes to the phone, before I could listen to music. In all in all much more difficult than I had believed, but now I know how it works, so hopefully this won’t be an issue in the future. I can see the problem for those who has many more songs than I had on my laptop, it’s takes a long time to convert to the itunes format, so this would be a major drawback. Why can’t I just put my mp3’s directly on the phone?
This being said, I really like the flow on the phone, the framerate compared to touch hd, is better, giving a better feel. However, I’ve been a bit annoyed by the sensitivity of the screen; it probably takes some getting used to.
Finally, when I used the phone this morning in my way to work, I had some issues with the 3G connection. My touch hd has no problems what so ever when I am using to surf and check mails and so on, the iphone used 3G for 3 minutes, and then I found myself browsing using edge, which is in my opinion is not an option. This is something that will be an annoyance if it keeps up (I’m hoping it was a onetime only).
As for the browsing itself, iphone surpasses the touch hd. Opera is simply to slow compared to safari, but if I can’t get a proper connection, there really is no choice.
One thing that really impressed though was the app store. All though you have to put in your credit card information in order to create an account, it is really easy to browse through all the apps, find what you like and install it. And there really are many different and funny apps, which all in all lifts the overall user value.
I’ll return in next week with more views. Thanks for all the responses
04-05-2009
The first many days.
Hey, sorry for the delay. Been busy at work, but finally found some time to write some more. I have had and used the phone for quite some time by now, it performs as expected. All though I begin to see the small bugs, which most people forget to mention when recommending the iphone. I read somewhere that the iPhone simply “just works”. That is not entirely true, yes I have never had a smartphone that performs as well as the iPhone, it has the least amounts of crashes and so on. However, to say that it simply works, is wrong. When I browse the web, safari hangs on every load, so you have to wait for the entire page to load until you start navigating. Furthermore the video player used in safari has a tendency to hang a lot when you are viewing a longer video, and especially if wifi is turned on. But still, the browser is the best mobile browser so far. Opera hangs/stalls/dies a lot too, and of the two browsers, I prefer safari. There’s still a long way to go until web browsing on the mobile is perfect.
The phone itself has rebooted three times, one time in a game and the two other times it just stalled and went black. Odd… Again if I compare to touch hd, it is more or less the same. My touch hd also died a lot of times, and the one thing that annoyed me most on a windows mobile device, is the fact that the memory isn’t flushed correctly. To many times you have to do a hard reboot, in order to get the memory cleared and to get good performance again.
I mentioned the connection problems earlier, or the lack of connection… Well it hasn’t improved, when you are traveling, the phone looses connection so many times it’s a major problem. Sometimes safari stops working when the connection is lost. Damn, that annoys me… So why don’t you just use wifi? Because with wifi turned on, the battery is used up in no time at all. This brings me to the next issue: The battery. I have to charge the phone one time every day, even with wifi turned off. “Then you use the phone a lot” you might say, and the answer would be: “yes I do, but that’s what the iphone is all about…”. If you don’t use the iphone for all the things that are so nice on the phone, why use it at all. I listen to music, surf the web, check emails, and play games on it daily. And this results in a charge a day. So all in all, the battery performance is poor. Furthermore if you are playing a game, and receive a phonecall, the game is shut down, without save, stupid…
This brings me to the app store, this is the one thing that makes me praise the iPhone. Yes we have the same on windows mobile, but not so approachable and comprehensive. Installing a game or a program could be much much easier on winmo. There is only one big flaw in the app store, if you are connected through 3G, there is a max on 10 mb per download. So if you find a game that’s larger than 10 mb, you have to wait to download it. Why??? 10 mb on 3g shouldn’t be a problem… By the way, you gotta love the facebook app… All though you can’t connect a contact to its facebook profile, it’s still a nice app
The GPS is not entirely accurate, but still usable. I won’t say that much about the gps since I don’t use it allot. And google maps is more or less the same as on touch hd.
The last thing: I saw many movies on touch HD. I have ripped many of my dvd’s and converted them to divx. On touch hd you just transfer the movie to the phone and you can see it. On iphone I have to convert it to some stupid format in order to see it. I hate having movies in so many different formats, and hate to rely upon itunes.
I’ll write a new post in the near future, and as for the guy who commented on my description on to much sensitivity: Sorry, but that’s just my experience of the phone 

Samoht2003 said:
I am the proud owner of a HTC touch HD phone, and a very happy owner too. I got it just before Christmas, and it is currently running on Duttys rom, 2.6. All in all my best phone so far.
As many, I have always looked upon the iPhone as one of the absolute best phones ever made, in my opinion it more or less revolutionized how we look upon a phone’s capabilities. However, since I have never had an iPhone, I found it hard to argument for or against it. Therefore I have bought one (used), which will arrive by mail within the next few days. When I get it, I will use it for a month and keep posting here how it goes and how it performs compared to the touch HD. Why do I do this? Because I’m curious, and because I want to see what all the hype is about, and most of all, i hate the fact that everyone is *****ing about which product is the best, but only a few has actually had and used the two phones for a longer period of time.
So far I bought the phone (iPhone 3g), and I am waiting for it to arrive. I must say the wait is long I have downloaded iTunes, so all I’m waiting for right now, is the phone itself.
Besides the normal things you do with a phone (calling, sms), I daily use my touch HD for web browsing, email correspondence and video and music. All of which performs perfectly (thank you coreplayer ). So this is what I plan to use the iPhone for, since touch HD is a windows mobile phone, I rely upon activesync to take care of my outlook contacts and calendar notes, we’ll see how well iTunes does this.
I also like the fact that it is so easy to get what you want with windows mobile, mostly through you guys here at xda.
When the phone arrives I’ll post my first experiences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking forward to hear your experinces

Yep look forward to it!
Not sure it was revolutionary... the LG Prada was a full touch screen phone before the iPhone.. Apple just packaged it well... Steve jobs could box a turd and sell it. pretty much like Apples claim on the mouse! That was actually Xerox's baby!

Looking forward to your experience and an honest review / comparison between the 2!

I actually have both (HTC Touch HD and iPhone 3g), too

Yeah, waiting to see your comments...

We are talking about Apples & Oranges here!!! Arent we?

the real great things on the iphone are aps! they are realy cool, good looking, running smooth... but only one at a time with a verry bad cam and no mms... (yet )
if it had a better cam, MMS (soon) eand a real GPS (and GPS software) i would defintly forget my HD!

way to go pal, will be glad to read your reviews.

bouyaka said:
the real great things on the iphone are aps! they are realy cool, good looking, running smooth... but only one at a time with a verry bad cam and no mms... (yet )
if it had a better cam, MMS (soon) eand a real GPS (and GPS software) i would defintly forget my HD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh my.
Jesus phone has a lot of shortcomings, but MMS? Who cares? It's the silliest thing since plastic toothpick. Why do you want to pay your operator for this surrogate email?
And do you really consider HD's camera usable?

daraj said:
We are talking about Apples & Oranges here!!! Arent we?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really.... I'll explain...
I've just sold my iPhone 3G and bought a HD. My reasons were...
1) I get bored and I had the iPhone since last July and fancied a change
2) I wanted expandable memory
3) I think the iPhone is looking dated now. Controversial I'm sure...
4) I now want stereo Bluetooth streaming for a new iO Play car kit I have had fitted
I used to change phones far too often and had 13 in a year once, but the iPhone is the longest serving handset I've had for a while. Despite not being bleeding edge when it comes to the specification, the way you interact with it, the simplicity, the fluidity and the Apple ecosystem all added up to make it a revolutionary phone. There is a reason why every new touch-screen phone is an iPhone killer.
The email client is superb, web browsing superb and media playback superb. And the text inputs auto-correction is very intelligent and doesn't just look out for spelling mistakes, but patterns in typing which it relates to possible words.
The App store is great, but getting full of rubbish making the genuinely useful stuff harder to find. Rumours are there will be a premier store soon. The O2 contracts are great, as the free data and free WiFi access are superbly implemented, switching between seamlessly. And once you've authenticated with the free WiFi once that's all you ever have to do. I could walk into a Starbucks, McDonalds, Costa, Hotel, Airport etc etc and it would connect to the WiFi before I even realised I was in a hotspot.
But it's not the Jesus phone everyone seems to think. And I hate, really, really hate the fan-boy love affair some people have with it... to the point I was embarrassed by it sometimes.
"No, I don't want to talk to you about your iPhone, stranger...."
The limitations in the iPhone are 75% software based, most of which will be corrected in version 3 of the software. Things like additional Bluetooth profiles, landscape text input in all apps, MMS, tethering etc will be welcome additions.
And that's one of the things that bothered me. These are simple things that really should be included as standard.
Things like the poor camera didn't bother me. I mean, Sony Ericsson have been putting rubbish cameras in phones they didn't market as imaging devices for years. If the camera is the main focus, there are much better options (like buying a camera).
The lack of expandable memory is a big deal for a multimedia phone though. I can understand the marketing / product reasons behind it, but even that seems to contradict the 'one device to do everything' approach Apple take with this.
Now to go back to my original point, Apples Vs Oranges, the HD and the iPhone aren't that different. Both have huge strengths, both have huge weaknesses, both have massive amounts in common. The thing that differs between them is down to the person buying it. What do you want from a phone....?
Out of the box usability and slickness? iPhone.
Endless tinkering, customisation and free reign of what you do with your phone? Touch HD
But both have the capability of matching the other in every single aspect. There is pretty much nothing that you can do with one that you can't with the other. Exactly the same can be said for Windows PC operating systems Vs Apple Mac OS X. Funnily enough, most of what I have said above can be applied in some way to that argument too.
So, the other downsides to the iPhone.... (some of this is entirely personal opinion).
Text input needs work in it's current form. The keys are just too small. This is made up by the excellent auto-correction, but it's still poor. And you can't add in new keyboards without jailbreaking, which brings me to..
Restrictive approach to third party applications. Apples closed-door approach has no benefits. I originally thought it would be good as it would ensure reliability and stability, but there are some terribly shaky applications in the App Store. I see no benefit in this for consumers and the only way around involves invalidating your warranty.
Hardware restrictions - No expandable memory, as above. Screen size Vs chassis size and screen resolution are falling behind the competition. Poor build quality is another factor that's not uncommon either.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys Windows Mobile, I predict you will get frustrated with the iPhones shortfalls and will be jailbreaking it within a day.

Robster83 said:
Not really.... I'll explain...
I've just sold my iPhone 3G and bought a HD. My reasons were...
1) I get bored and I had the iPhone since last July and fancied a change
2) I wanted expandable memory
3) I think the iPhone is looking dated now. Controversial I'm sure...
4) I now want stereo Bluetooth streaming for a new iO Play car kit I have had fitted
I used to change phones far too often and had 13 in a year once, but the iPhone is the longest serving handset I've had for a while. Despite not being bleeding edge when it comes to the specification, the way you interact with it, the simplicity, the fluidity and the Apple ecosystem all added up to make it a revolutionary phone. There is a reason why every new touch-screen phone is an iPhone killer.
The email client is superb, web browsing superb and media playback superb. And the text inputs auto-correction is very intelligent and doesn't just look out for spelling mistakes, but patterns in typing which it relates to possible words.
The App store is great, but getting full of rubbish making the genuinely useful stuff harder to find. Rumours are there will be a premier store soon. The O2 contracts are great, as the free data and free WiFi access are superbly implemented, switching between seamlessly. And once you've authenticated with the free WiFi once that's all you ever have to do. I could walk into a Starbucks, McDonalds, Costa, Hotel, Airport etc etc and it would connect to the WiFi before I even realised I was in a hotspot.
But it's not the Jesus phone everyone seems to think. And I hate, really, really hate the fan-boy love affair some people have with it... to the point I was embarrassed by it sometimes.
"No, I don't want to talk to you about your iPhone, stranger...."
The limitations in the iPhone are 75% software based, most of which will be corrected in version 3 of the software. Things like additional Bluetooth profiles, landscape text input in all apps, MMS, tethering etc will be welcome additions.
And that's one of the things that bothered me. These are simple things that really should be included as standard.
Things like the poor camera didn't bother me. I mean, Sony Ericsson have been putting rubbish cameras in phones they didn't market as imaging devices for years. If the camera is the main focus, there are much better options (like buying a camera).
The lack of expandable memory is a big deal for a multimedia phone though. I can understand the marketing / product reasons behind it, but even that seems to contradict the 'one device to do everything' approach Apple take with this.
Now to go back to my original point, Apples Vs Oranges, the HD and the iPhone aren't that different. Both have huge strengths, both have huge weaknesses, both have massive amounts in common. The thing that differs between them is down to the person buying it. What do you want from a phone....?
Out of the box usability and slickness? iPhone.
Endless tinkering, customisation and free reign of what you do with your phone? Touch HD
But both have the capability of matching the other in every single aspect. There is pretty much nothing that you can do with one that you can't with the other. Exactly the same can be said for Windows PC operating systems Vs Apple Mac OS X. Funnily enough, most of what I have said above can be applied in some way to that argument too.
So, the other downsides to the iPhone.... (some of this is entirely personal opinion).
Text input needs work in it's current form. The keys are just too small. This is made up by the excellent auto-correction, but it's still poor. And you can't add in new keyboards without jailbreaking, which brings me to..
Restrictive approach to third party applications. Apples closed-door approach has no benefits. I originally thought it would be good as it would ensure reliability and stability, but there are some terribly shaky applications in the App Store. I see no benefit in this for consumers and the only way around involves invalidating your warranty.
Hardware restrictions - No expandable memory, as above. Screen size Vs chassis size and screen resolution are falling behind the competition. Poor build quality is another factor that's not uncommon either.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys Windows Mobile, I predict you will get frustrated with the iPhones shortfalls and will be jailbreaking it within a day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I meant by that is the fact the HD is highly customizable to the bones, heck you can even run an Android OS on it. Iphone is a very closed OS with very little tweaks allowed by Apple ( Not talking about Jailbreaking) From the usability to the screen to the memory to the GPS vs A-GPS.. from the camera to almost everything in both phones are different. I consider the Iphone a weekend phone While the HD is a very business oriented phone that gets the job done and good.
Not sure If I can really say they are very similar. Just my 2 cents

daraj said:
What I meant by that is the fact the HD is highly customizable to the bones, heck you can even run an Android OS on it. Iphone is a very closed OS with very little tweaks allowed by Apple ( Not talking about Jailbreaking) From the usability to the screen to the memory to the GPS vs A-GPS.. from the camera to almost everything in both phones are different. I consider the Iphone a weekend phone While the HD is a very business oriented phone that gets the job done and good.
Not sure If I can really say they are very similar. Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fair enough. But when you sit the two side-by-side and ask them to do the same task, there isn't much difference. If you think about what you do with your phone, I'd bet the HD does things in a very similar way to the iPhone. There are only so many ways to construct a text message, make a call or browse the internet on a touch screen mobile
The one big thing I didn't mention that you have just reminded me of, is the touch screen. The capacitive screen on the iPhone is much more responsive in use.

Robster83 said:
That's fair enough. But when you sit the two side-by-side and ask them to do the same task, there isn't much difference. If you think about what you do with your phone, I'd bet the HD does things in a very similar way to the iPhone. There are only so many ways to construct a text message, make a call or browse the internet on a touch screen mobile
The one big thing I didn't mention that you have just reminded me of, is the touch screen. The capacitive screen on the iPhone is much more responsive in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. WVGA on HD and VGA on Iphone ( Not sure if its even VGA)

pretty much it boils down to what you do with it. I have both devices. I use the HD and the iphone sits on the desk. I am an admin at my company and we are windows based the windows mobile device it the best phone for us. While I like the Iphone it is not praticle for me to use. I hav not found any thing that I do on the iphone that I gave not been able to find an app that works on the hd doing the same or better. I really like being able to change the rom on my phone and customise it. Can't really do that with the iphone. And I think the display on the HD is much better.

daraj said:
Yup. WVGA on HD and VGA on Iphone ( Not sure if its even VGA)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Capacitive Vs Resistive is a bigger aspect than the resolution which, I agree, the iPhone falls short of. It is HVGA (320x480).

You have to be crazy to think that the iphone hasnt changed the mobile industry. It is an amazingly capable, intuitive and beautiful device to boot compared to these piece of lard htc OS's (the stock ones).
I owned about 15 HTC/Winmo devices starting with the SPV c500 and culminating in the Diamond as soon as it came out and got an iphone 3g at around the same time. None of the roms could come close to the intrinsic slickness, speed and support for the iphone, I jailbroke it, and was blown away and it became my primary device. However the iphone is currently mediacentric and not a buisness/professional phone and I needed an OQO UMPC to carry around as well but it doesnt claim to be anything else in fairness.
I have been quite impressed by the cooked Win 6.5 roms and skyfire recently though, and I am going to buy the HTC Touch Pro2 when it comes out as I need to use programs like word with a built in keyboard and tv out facility and perhaps retire my UMPC/laptops. This forum is also a great feature in choosing a HTC phone for customisation.
And for people who say the iphone doesnt have microsd, poor camera etc... How many crippled HTC devices have we seen? The iphone has been in a class of its own untill recent catch up devices.

imperiallight said:
And for people who say the iphone doesnt have microsd, poor camera etc... How many crippled HTC devices have we seen? The iphone has been in a class of its own untill recent catch up devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Expandability is (in my opinion) essential for any electronic devices. I have an 8GB card in my HD now, and I plan on upgrading to a 32GB soon by simply inserting a memory card. iPhone...can't do that. You have to buy a new phone to do so. I also have a spare battery which I can swap out when I am on the road and can't charge my phone...like camping perhaps. Iphone...can't. I like to copy and paste text from one program to another (multitasking). iPhone...can't. The HD 5MP camera takes great pictures which can be geo tagged with great accuracy. iPhone (until v2.0 comes out)...can't. Sure, there are some HD's out there that are crippled or bricked. Why? Because people that have the mental capacity to appreciate a multitasking device/computer actually like to open the hood and tweak it. Sure, iPhone apps may seem to run smoother. But that's because of the lack of multitasking! My HD (or any other Windows Mobile device) runs processes and applications in the background so you can do more and be more productive.
Honestly, do a side by side comparison of the HD and the iPhone. And I am not talking software, I mean hardware. We can debate applications all day, but it's the hardware that defines the capabilities. If you want a list of HD hardware features then I will post them for you.

*double post*

DerrickD2,
You have misunderstood the thrust of my post, that the iphone was/is a trailblazing and revolutionary device in the mobile sector. It seems anywhere bar this 'nerdy spec-hugging' forum that its not too hard to accept. The Touch HD is a better device in my opinion too as like I already stated, other companies have played catch up. There is no need to tell me its hardware specs.
But to pick up on a few points:
* Upgradeable SD is important, it annoys me to only have 16gb but I can stream content off free iphone optimised filestores available, some providing 10gb a go. Not ideal but workable.
* Spare battery, well the iphones battery is pretty decent and lasts for many years. If you want to keep the battery charged you can do it on the fly by adding these 'double your battery' packs and their ilk/cases when you are running low and you dont even 'have to swap the battery':
http://us.kensington.com/html/15462.html
* You can cut and paste text in jailbroken phones within the app. You can mulitask too, to an extent on JB phones although I dont know if it's sytemwide cut and paste (prob. not)
* Megapixels aren't everything on a camera. Its about the lens too. The 2MP camera of the iphone image quality is known to be quite decent, better than most 3.2MP HTC offerings but I agree it should have a better camera.
* Like I said the iphone isn't productivity centred and its probably why they dont consider multitasking a crucial feature but from what I understand its processor is faster than any HTC phone. Jailbroken iphones can run background apps too but obviously native apps dont support this.
We can debate applications all day, but it's the hardware that defines the capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is so contentious! Hardware can define the capabilites and software/OS/User experience can define the capabilties! It depends on what the consumer needs. Horses for course's!

People who Switched from iPhone 4 to Focus?

to the people who switched from the iphone 4 to focus. any thoughts?

In the last year and a half, I've gone through a Nexus One, iPhone 4, Samsung Captivate, and now I'm on a Focus.
TLDR version at the bottom, since after writing this out I realized this is a mini essay..
Here are my thoughts:
Android is the OS you should be on if you want (nearly) complete control and lots of features not necessarily supported by your carrier (free tethering!). Unfortunately, assuming you're on AT&T, your options for serious Android phones are limited to a Nexus One or a Captivate. Between the two, I actually preferred the Nexus. Slightly weaker CPU, but you'll get updates pretty immediately, and it's a lot easier to mod that phone vs the Captivate. Also, I never had a single problem with the Nexus One as a GPS unit, but like many others my Captivate was sketchy at best when it came to GPS.
So far, the iPhone in my experience has the best battery life. I never really had to worry about it, and I'm a fairly heavy text/web browser/email user. It's obviously going to have the widest selection of apps, though that didn't necessary mean they were all useful. If games are your thing, the iPhone was also ahead of that by a long shot. However, without jailbreaking, it really is locked down. Tethering through AT&T's rate is a joke, seeing as it uses your already purchased data plan, and outside of changing your ringtones and wallpapers, you're fairly limited in customizations. Despite this, there isn't currently an option to tether at all on WP7.
Now having a Focus with WP7, I can say that the interface is very refreshing. Sometimes I just want to stare at the home screen because 1) the live tiles are cool and 2) the SAMOLED screen is amazing with a black background and brightly colored tiles. The web browsing experience is fast, but noticeably lacking compared to Android and iPhone (due to lack of webkit/html5). It's not a deal breaker by any means, but it was something I noted. The keyboard is about on par with the iPhone.
Build quality compared to the iPhone feels just as sturdy, in my opinion, despite the plastic body. It actually feels better in the hand to me, because of the curve back and slight lip on the bottom. It's also noticeably lighter to hold and carry around. So far the battery is holding up nicely with moderate to heavy text/web browsing/email/staring at pretty tiles.
Call quality was good, found the ear piece to be a bit clearer and louder than the iPhone. The biggest difference for me at the moment is of course the Marketplace. This is where the iPhone's ~4 years on the market really shows the gap. But given that this is Microsoft we're talking about, I don't expect their market to go the way of the Pre (which I also briefly owned) and be a barren wasteland (comparatively).
TLDR
iPhone 4 has ~4 years of exposure behind it with it's marketplace and iOS functionality, and it shows. Focus/WP7 has a fresh UI and is promising with Microsoft backing it. Build quality is very different between the two, but both feel sturdy and reliable. If you're making the leap to Focus/WP7 from an iPhone 4, you shouldn't have any big regrets, so long as you're not tied deeply into the iTunes ecosystem or your life depends on certain iOS only games.

I have both still and am trying one against the other for everyday use for my needs. So far, the Focus lacks on a few things, but no deal breakers, as the functionality should come with future updates like cut and paste.
Since I fired up the Focus, it has given me hope that this OS will give Apple a run for the money.

I like the iPhone 4 but the whole iOS thing has gotten kind of stale for me after 2 1/2 years of iPhones so I bought a Focus to try out and so far so good. It lacks many of the nicities and features in the iPhone but overall it's been easier to use, it's MUCH lighter and doesn't feel like brick in my hand. I'm also a big user of Slingplayer and man, there's no comparison with the video and audio. HD shows up as bright, colorful and full screen and the audio is much louder and more understandable then when using the iPhone or iPad. I still have 3 weeks to return the Focus and I'm not committed yet but it's a damn good Rev 1 phone.

I agree with all of you but for me there have been some things I just don't understand why MS did what they did.
Notifications - There is a noticeable space at the top of the screen that hardly used. It is sometimes used for notifications as in text messages but not for email or twitter notifications.
Keyboard - In portrait its on par with iphone and even MT Android but why not a full landscape keyboard have you guys seen it? The empty space at the top of the screen is there on the side now and wasted.
Phone - 2 keystrokes to get a dialer why and to make it worse why no smart dialing in the dialer. I know you can use the search button but its not the same.
From a hardware perspective the phone is great light and long battery life so far. I just wish MS would have polished it a little more I dont really see a lot of Apple users jumping ship to it. Just my 2cents

boogieboogie said:
to the people who switched from the iphone 4 to focus. any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both a Droid Incredible and an iPhone 4 and I love the Focus and WP7 interface over both. what I'm having trouble with is the little things that allow you to control the phone more that are still missing from WP7, probably because MS rushed it to get it out before the holidays. What I miss and need on WP7 include:
A Sound Profiler that allows you to control various preset sound modes and volumes for Alarm, ringer, music, system and keyboard clicks...why is this missing
An equalizer in the zune music App
An integrated favorites app for quick dialing. I'm using the tile approach for some contacts, but it does take more real estate than necesary.
Ability to change system font size. Some of the fonts are a bit too large.
Background processing for Facebook, Twitter, and some of those other things that require that.
That ability to connect to hidden Wifi networks! Come on MS this is suppose to be a corporate phone, corporate networks are often hidden. how do you miss that!
Abiltity to fast dial using the number keys in the phone app, ala HTC Sense! Much quicker to look up contacts that way.
Contact Pictures in Call history and SMS. they are everywhere else, why not there.
Native turn by turn directions Like Android has. Come on, this is a big one the iPhone is missing out of the box and MS is making the same mistake.
the notification system is a little wacky on WP 7...if the tiles that are changing are within view, then you are good, or if you are on the lock screen you can see certain things change via the icons at the bottom, but I'd still like to see an android like pull down.
this isn't microsoft, but can someone tell me why Google Reader doesn't format on WP7 and Windows Mobile like it does on the iPhone and Android. It's annoying! and none of the Google Reader market apps like gReadie and WReader work very well....
And why can't I get WP7 on Verizon! the AT&T network seems to be extremely slow, even more so with teh focus than the iPhone.
When will this stuff be fixed!

codyt01 said:
I have both a Droid Incredible and an iPhone 4 and I love the Focus and WP7 interface over both. what I'm having trouble with is the little things that allow you to control the phone more that are still missing from WP7, probably because MS rushed it to get it out before the holidays. What I miss and need on WP7 include:
A Sound Profiler that allows you to control various preset sound modes and volumes for Alarm, ringer, music, system and keyboard clicks...why is this missing
An equalizer in the zune music App
An integrated favorites app for quick dialing. I'm using the tile approach for some contacts, but it does take more real estate than necesary.
Ability to change system font size. Some of the fonts are a bit too large.
Background processing for Facebook, Twitter, and some of those other things that require that.
That ability to connect to hidden Wifi networks! Come on MS this is suppose to be a corporate phone, corporate networks are often hidden. how do you miss that!
Abiltity to fast dial using the number keys in the phone app, ala HTC Sense! Much quicker to look up contacts that way.
Contact Pictures in Call history and SMS. they are everywhere else, why not there.
Native turn by turn directions Like Android has. Come on, this is a big one the iPhone is missing out of the box and MS is making the same mistake.
the notification system is a little wacky on WP 7...if the tiles that are changing are within view, then you are good, or if you are on the lock screen you can see certain things change via the icons at the bottom, but I'd still like to see an android like pull down.
this isn't microsoft, but can someone tell me why Google Reader doesn't format on WP7 and Windows Mobile like it does on the iPhone and Android. It's annoying! and none of the Google Reader market apps like gReadie and WReader work very well....
And why can't I get WP7 on Verizon! the AT&T network seems to be extremely slow, even more so with teh focus than the iPhone.
When will this stuff be fixed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WP7 is coming to Verizon in January along with turn by turn directions and Flash support.

I've been playing with mine for a couple hours now. I like the device itself but it's probably going back in the morning. Couple thoughts, IMHO:
The back cover is worthless. Cheap. I never know if it's going to break when I pull it off. Having a removable battery again? Priceless. The SIM slot, specifically the contact nodes themselves, are poorly designed and I think mine bent/broke when I inserted and removed my microSIM adapter with my microSIM inside it. That's insane for a new device. They are just three little prongs waiting to break. Love the TILES!!! Love the font and the clean look of the whole OS!!! Gmail refuses to display my full email box. This makes me angry. Love the screen, when displaying the primary colors of tiles and most of the apps. On the other hand I Can't stand the washed out appearance of the IE and the screen when browsing. PTI podcast works, so big points on that one. Contacts sync is annoying, particularly since I don't have anything save for email in my Gmail contacts. My choice, my fault. I don't have a Live account and really don't want one but see no choice to download anything from the Marketplace. This is tomfoolery. Love the lightness of the phone along with the 4 inch real-estate.
Interesting so far but nothing that makes me want to replace my iPhone.

bmstrong said:
I've been playing with mine for a couple hours now. I like the device itself but it's probably going back in the morning. Couple thoughts, IMHO:
The back cover is worthless. Cheap. I never know if it's going to break when I pull it off. Having a removable battery again? Priceless. The SIM slot, specifically the contact nodes themselves, are poorly designed and I think mine bent/broke when I inserted and removed my microSIM adapter with my microSIM inside it. That's insane for a new device. They are just three little prongs waiting to break. Love the TILES!!! Love the font and the clean look of the whole OS!!! Gmail refuses to display my full email box. This makes me angry. Love the screen, when displaying the primary colors of tiles and most of the apps. On the other hand I Can't stand the washed out appearance of the IE and the screen when browsing. PTI podcast works, so big points on that one. Contacts sync is annoying, particularly since I don't have anything save for email in my Gmail contacts. My choice, my fault. I don't have a Live account and really don't want one but see no choice to download anything from the Marketplace. This is tomfoolery. Love the lightness of the phone along with the 4 inch real-estate.
Interesting so far but nothing that makes me want to replace my iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity, where do you keep your phone contacts?

emjee87 said:
Just out of curiosity, where do you keep your phone contacts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my head and in a backup email labeled "contacts" that sits in my inbox. I redraft and resend the email to myself when I need to update any information. I only have about 10-15 or numbers to remember.
I like the OS very much. I think it has great potential, great upside. But the hardware side still leaves much to be desired against the gold standard Apple offering.

bmstrong said:
In my head and in a backup email labeled "contacts" that sits in my inbox. I redraft and resend the email to myself when I need to update any information. I only have about 10-15 or numbers to remember.
I like the OS very much. I think it has great potential, great upside. But the hardware side still leaves much to be desired against the gold standard Apple offering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"redraft and resend"
What?
Really?

mcmexican said:
I agree with all of you but for me there have been some things I just don't understand why MS did what they did.
Notifications - There is a noticeable space at the top of the screen that hardly used. It is sometimes used for notifications as in text messages but not for email or twitter notifications.
Keyboard - In portrait its on par with iphone and even MT Android but why not a full landscape keyboard have you guys seen it? The empty space at the top of the screen is there on the side now and wasted.
Phone - 2 keystrokes to get a dialer why and to make it worse why no smart dialing in the dialer. I know you can use the search button but its not the same.
From a hardware perspective the phone is great light and long battery life so far. I just wish MS would have polished it a little more I dont really see a lot of Apple users jumping ship to it. Just my 2cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the notifications. I would of love to seen Twitter or Facebook notification heck even e-mail for that matter pop up and have a option to disable it if need be. I'm sure this is something coming in the future.
Also agree about the keyboard. I am shaking my head and wondering why there is a significant amount of unused space on the screen in landscape mode.
More active live tiles. I would love to have a live tile that would update the weather for me. I'm sure there is a app in the making but it would be nice to see that.
Also...there is no YouTube app? (I'm not talking about the YouTube that brings you to the mobile version of YouTube) Is that just a way for Google to stick it to M$?
Update:
Spoke to soon about the live tile for the weather. Weather bug has an app out for it.

AllTheWay said:
I agree about the notifications. I would of love to seen Twitter or Facebook notification heck even e-mail for that matter pop up and have a option to disable it if need be. I'm sure this is something coming in the future.
Also agree about the keyboard. I am shaking my head and wondering why there is a significant amount of unused space on the screen in landscape mode.
More active live tiles. I would love to have a live tile that would update the weather for me. I'm sure there is a app in the making but it would be nice to see that.
Also...there is no YouTube app? (I'm not talking about the YouTube that brings you to the mobile version of YouTube) Is that just a way for Google to stick it to M$?
Update:
Spoke to soon about the live tile for the weather. Weather bug has an app out for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Lazy Worm as my YouTube app in the mean time. It doesn't have all the functionality of the other YouTube apps yet, but it does keep the theme of WP7 and it works well enough.

i know this is an old thread, but i will add my 2 cents.
i owned the 3G, the 3GS, and the iphone 4. the worst of the 3 was the iphone 4. it was practically worthless as a phone. i dropped 80% of my calls with it. i returned it after a few weeks because of this.
the 3G was fine and i owned it for a year and a half, but it was really slow. the 3GS was my favorite by far, and really i have very few complaints with it.
obviously the iphone was revolutionary. it started the wave of multi-touch displays and the app world was pretty phenomenal. but the truth is that technology is uncapped now and apple doesn't have the entire market, nor should they.
while MS has some glitches, they were to be expected. the marketplace doesn't provide the number of apps that the iphone market does, but how cool is it that you get to own a focus now and be on the ground-level and see new and refreshing apps as they come to life? i find that pretty cool.
my main reason for switching was just to do something different, and so far i am very pleased with the phone. i think it does everything the iphone does and potentially more, you just have to be willing to learn new techniques as you would with any new phone.

Gonna try to not repeat what others have already said.
Loving WP7 OS and everything it does. Fresh start, smooth UI and a great design paradigm. Missing some features but nothing has been a deal breaker yet. I can tell it's just a matter of time (short time) and a lot of these features will land in the OS.
Focus is OK. It's not great. I don't like the camera as much as I did on my iPhone 4. I used to take a ton of pics with my iPhone 4 but not as much now with the focus. You have to tinker with the settings to get similar quality pics and even then not all the time. Specially in low light settings, the iPhone crushed the focus clarity-wise. In day light, they are mostly the same.
If I could have WP7 on my iPhone 4, I would be extremely happy. But that's not the case. WP7 is good enough to make up for me missing my iPhone 4's hardware so far though.

The camera is actually the reason I've shelved the Focus until there's an update for it. I have to change a bunch of settings to get a half decent picture out of it and then, of course, it doesn't save those settings so I have to do it....every.....single..........time. Hard to believe Microsoft hasn't released a fix for this by now. Well, no...not really. Typical Microsoft, actually. And the hardware button isn't doing the phone any favors, either. The iPhone's on-screen button is nice because it takes no pressure so the phone doesn't budge when you take the picture. The hardware button means you can't help but move the camera when taking a picture and if it's not taken with plenty of light good luck getting a picture that isn't smeared. And finally there's the complete lack of any real features. No panoramic shots, no effects, nothing. I use the camera all the time and the Focus' software makes it almost useless so I went back to the iPhone.

nazeeh said:
Gonna try to not repeat what others have already said.
Loving WP7 OS and everything it does. Fresh start, smooth UI and a great design paradigm. Missing some features but nothing has been a deal breaker yet. I can tell it's just a matter of time (short time) and a lot of these features will land in the OS.
Focus is OK. It's not great. I don't like the camera as much as I did on my iPhone 4. I used to take a ton of pics with my iPhone 4 but not as much now with the focus. You have to tinker with the settings to get similar quality pics and even then not all the time. Specially in low light settings, the iPhone crushed the focus clarity-wise. In day light, they are mostly the same.
If I could have WP7 on my iPhone 4, I would be extremely happy. But that's not the case. WP7 is good enough to make up for me missing my iPhone 4's hardware so far though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I have to strongly disagree....I am a photographer, not a pro, but lots of experience and the iphone 4 camera is NOT that good. Im actually able to produce much nicer results with the focus now than my friends iphone 4. Downside is the focus doesn't save the settings you use...which will be fixed. The iphone 4 quality is WAY to oversaturated...Im not saying the focus quality is amazing...but when I change my settings its definetly acceptable quality. EV and ISO can be your best friends when used properly.

to me the focus wins hands down, my friend who is a self confessed iphone/ iphone 4 BIG time fanboy, has had all the other iphones he had got his iphone 4 like a week before he met up with me tooled around on my samsung focus for like a hour packed up his iphone 4 went to at&t store and exchanged it for a samsung focus....

Paolo01 said:
"redraft and resend"
What?
Really?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my thought maybe it is time for him to setup a Hotmail account,

iPhone vs Focus
I have no regrets switching from iPhone 3GS and 4G to Focus.
They both have pluses and minuses, but I thing WinMo 7 is a new OS and the market place is catching up quickly.
What I miss in WinMo 7 is the customization and low level access (e.g. registry, file system).

[Q] Switch from Tilt2 to Focus?

I think this may be a no-brainer. I spend so much on my Phone bill, that ATT is going to give me a Focus for free. (or one of many other phones of my choice).
I just got my Tilt 2 is running the exact way I want it to. Should I upgrade? How happy are you with WINMO 7 and Focus?
Yes I know it's a freebe, but if ATT is planning on coming out with another phone, I don't want to use up my free turn now. That's the only thing holding me back. Thanks.
Will

william8004 said:
I think this may be a no-brainer. I spend so much on my Phone bill, that ATT is going to give me a Focus for free. (or one of many other phones of my choice).
I just got my Tilt 2 is running the exact way I want it to. Should I upgrade? How happy are you with WINMO 7 and Focus?
Yes I know it's a freebe, but if ATT is planning on coming out with another phone, I don't want to use up my free turn now. That's the only thing holding me back. Thanks.
Will
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the Tilt working the way you want it to, why would you switch? The Focus has functionality pretty much on the level of a severely retarded iPhone. It's nowhere near and nothing like the old Windows Mobile. Mine is sitting on my desk without a sim while I wait to see if Microsoft is actually serious or if I'll be getting an Android phone this summer. I've actually used my old Fuze more recently than the Focus because even tho it was slow, unstable and barely usable half the time, the other half of the time it did almost anything I needed to get done.

I am a previous Tilt and Tilt2 owner. I am now a Focus owner. The limitations of WP7 are out there and pretty well known. If any of those are critical to you, then don't switch. If you want a completely refreshing experience, no memory problems, apps that actually close when you close them, and not having to worry about constantly tweaking your phone, go with WP7. I don't regret it for a minute. Everybody is so worried about c&p (which is coming) and multitasking... there is something to be said about the WP7 experience. It has really grown on me. I go days without a soft reset. Marketplace occasionally hangs, which is my only complaint. The beautiful thing is that they are still on the first release. The most under talked about feature of WP7 is the People hub. It is really amazing how simple it is yet how it integrates all my contacts. I'm also a big OneNote user and I love this version. I do like a hardware keyboard, but this soft keyboard is just as good as the iPhone. Critics like to say the iPhone's keyboard is better because how could something be as good as an iPhone? Well, it actually is. I had an iPhone between my Tilt and Tilt2 and the WP7 keyboard is just as good. WP7 is not perfect (yet) but it's a great start. I don't even think about my Tilt2 anymore. I figured I'd buy the best of the first set of phones (Focus) early, then wait for a good second gen one to come out and get that in a year. I don't regret my decision for a second and would never go back.

FUZE
I moved from my FUZE to a Focus on December 27th and have never looked back. Like you, I got my FUZE where I wanted it with a custom Energy ROM and lots of tweaks and apps. It was an ongoing process that I had learned to live with. I had the Focus for 4 days before I swapped the SIM out of the FUZE. In fact, my FUZE is still on the charger.
All of this crap about C&P and multi-tasking is a tempest in a teapot. I haven't missed either and I use my phone hours each day. It is smooth, seemless and everything just works like WM 6.5 should have. I can't explain here what I love about WP7, it would take too long. You have to experience it to really understand.

This summarized my thoughts exactly.
smuook said:
I am a previous Tilt and Tilt2 owner. I am now a Focus owner. The limitations of WP7 are out there and pretty well known. If any of those are critical to you, then don't switch. If you want a completely refreshing experience, no memory problems, apps that actually close when you close them, and not having to worry about constantly tweaking your phone, go with WP7. I don't regret it for a minute. Everybody is so worried about c&p (which is coming) and multitasking... there is something to be said about the WP7 experience. It has really grown on me. I go days without a soft reset. Marketplace occasionally hangs, which is my only complaint. The beautiful thing is that they are still on the first release. The most under talked about feature of WP7 is the People hub. It is really amazing how simple it is yet how it integrates all my contacts. I'm also a big OneNote user and I love this version. I do like a hardware keyboard, but this soft keyboard is just as good as the iPhone. Critics like to say the iPhone's keyboard is better because how could something be as good as an iPhone? Well, it actually is. I had an iPhone between my Tilt and Tilt2 and the WP7 keyboard is just as good. WP7 is not perfect (yet) but it's a great start. I don't even think about my Tilt2 anymore. I figured I'd buy the best of the first set of phones (Focus) early, then wait for a good second gen one to come out and get that in a year. I don't regret my decision for a second and would never go back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thresher said:
This summarized my thoughts exactly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Double ditto. Also went from Tilt -> Tilt2 -> Focus. Minor bugs are annoying, but the upsides win over the downsides

william8004 said:
I think this may be a no-brainer. I spend so much on my Phone bill, that ATT is going to give me a Focus for free. (or one of many other phones of my choice).
I just got my Tilt 2 is running the exact way I want it to. Should I upgrade? How happy are you with WINMO 7 and Focus?
Yes I know it's a freebe, but if ATT is planning on coming out with another phone, I don't want to use up my free turn now. That's the only thing holding me back. Thanks.
Will
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Focus is a great phone. To say that it's as functional as a severely retarded iPhone is extremely shortsighted and entirely subjective. If you find usb thumb drives to be too cumbersome for mass storage, need wifi internet sharing (the Focus tethers great with my Win 7 x64 laptop via usb), vcard support, or to send video via mms (although the camera in my TP2 sucks so bad I never used it) then stick with the tp2.
That being said, the Focus is MUCH faster and way more stable. Even oc'ed to 748 MHz my tp2 was extremely laggy, especially when sliding out the keyboard. I never thought I'd be able to do w/o a hardware keyboard, but, this one is fantastic. Unlike the iPhone, the auto-correct is right 95% of the time.
I, personally, can live w/o the missing feature for the time being.
Also, you may want to wait for the LTE rolling out later this year. If you're in one of the cities that will get it, it should be much faster than the current 3G and WP May introduce phones supporting it by the end of the year.

A lot of really nifty new hardware got announced at CES this past week. But then, if you're willing to wait, something better is always going to continually be coming down the pipe. If you're looking at what's out right now, you can do much worse than a Focus.
Personally, I much prefer using my Focus over my old Tilt2. About the only thing I really miss is the ability to connect to IRC. That one does irk me. Other than that, I really am digging the new toy.

I went from an HTC Wizard to the Tilt - I never got the Tilt2 - to a Samsung Focus. Only rarely do I miss a physical keyboard. I miss some of the apps - SPB Wallet, Vito Audio Notes Touch and Mobipocket Reader. I miss syncing Office docs but I don't miss Activesync issues. Occasionally I miss the Tilt's scroll wheel and Dpad but I'm getting over it.
The Focus' screen is so beautiful and the WP7 interface is really a joy. I love this phone - it's fast and responsive and pretty as hell. I know that I'll find new apps to replace my old ones in time and I'll adjust to the differences.
My advice is that if you have programs on your Tilt2 that you can't live without then you should think twice before moving on. But if you go into a store and take a look at the Focus you might just get one anyway.
As mentioned before if you're into social networking the People Hub just handles that integration really well. Also if you use Windows Live Photo Gallery Online and or Facebook for pictures the Pictures hub handles this great.
I'm not a gamer so the Xbox live thing doesn't do it for me.
So, I love the Focus but I'm waiting for the apps to catch up.

Here are my two choices.
1. go from tilt2 now to focus
2. wait and use my freebe on another phone in the future that ATT will carry.
???

wspaw said:
The Focus is a great phone. To say that it's as functional as a severely retarded iPhone is extremely shortsighted and entirely subjective. If you find usb thumb drives to be too cumbersome for mass storage, need wifi internet sharing (the Focus tethers great with my Win 7 x64 laptop via usb), vcard support, or to send video via mms (although the camera in my TP2 sucks so bad I never used it) then stick with the tp2.
That being said, the Focus is MUCH faster and way more stable. Even oc'ed to 748 MHz my tp2 was extremely laggy, especially when sliding out the keyboard. I never thought I'd be able to do w/o a hardware keyboard, but, this one is fantastic. Unlike the iPhone, the auto-correct is right 95% of the time.
I, personally, can live w/o the missing feature for the time being.
Also, you may want to wait for the LTE rolling out later this year. If you're in one of the cities that will get it, it should be much faster than the current 3G and WP May introduce phones supporting it by the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not short-sighted, it's the way it is. I bought a Focus the day they went on sale but every day brought about at least a couple situations that the iPhone and Fuze could easily meet and the Focus had nothing. If it did any less Walmart could package it with a prepaid card and stick it on the rack with the $25 Nokia phones that come with $30 of talk time. I don't give a damn about copy/paste, the thing that made me put the sim card back into the iPhone was that the camera doesn't save it's settings. How asinine is that? Doesn't anyone at Microsoft even use a camera? Didn't anyone bother testing it? And *I'm* the short-sighted one? That's why I don't buy that rubbish about how it doesn't have any useful features because "it's two months old". And as hard as it was to believe, the browser is actually WORSE than the WinMo browser which, in the very least, could play audio and video streams. I'm half surprised WP7 didn't come with Trumpet Winsock to make a data connection. WP7 is stable because there's practically nothing to crash or freeze. WinMo is fast, too, when it has nothing to do and a 1 GHz processor to do it on. So if I had a Tilt2 and wanted something that was actually responsive and approached the same level of functionality, I'd get an iPhone or a decent Android phone for, I'd guess, the next year given how long it took Microsoft to get the current rendition of WP7 out the door.

markgamber said:
It's not short-sighted, it's the way it is. I bought a Focus the day they went on sale but every day brought about at least a couple situations that the iPhone and Fuze could easily meet and the Focus had nothing. If it did any less Walmart could package it with a prepaid card and stick it on the rack with the $25 Nokia phones that come with $30 of talk time. I don't give a damn about copy/paste, the thing that made me put the sim card back into the iPhone was that the camera doesn't save it's settings. How asinine is that? Doesn't anyone at Microsoft even use a camera? Didn't anyone bother testing it? And *I'm* the short-sighted one? That's why I don't buy that rubbish about how it doesn't have any useful features because "it's two months old". And as hard as it was to believe, the browser is actually WORSE than the WinMo browser which, in the very least, could play audio and video streams. I'm half surprised WP7 didn't come with Trumpet Winsock to make a data connection. WP7 is stable because there's practically nothing to crash or freeze. WinMo is fast, too, when it has nothing to do and a 1 GHz processor to do it on. So if I had a Tilt2 and wanted something that was actually responsive and approached the same level of functionality, I'd get an iPhone or a decent Android phone for, I'd guess, the next year given how long it took Microsoft to get the current rendition of WP7 out the door.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not saving camera settings is just dumb (I seriously doubt this will be an issue for long). The browser is far better on WP7. It accesses and renders pages faster than my wife's iPhone, let alone the TP2 (IE, Opera, Opera Mini, Skyfire, etc.). At least it WILL support flash compared to the iPhone. Can you edit Office docs on the iPhone? Kinda. But, the Office hub on the Focus is considered to add great functionality to the phone by many people. TP2 can do some of this, too, if you don't mind the lag. Typing is far more accurate for me on the Focus, coming from a hardware keyboard. Believe it or not, that affects the functionality of the phone, at least for me. The Focus can tether without additional cost. If you care about music the Zune Pass is outstanding. The Focus might not have much functionality for you, perhaps, but many others would disagree. Then again, maybe all of us happy Focus users are just retarded Walmart patrons.

All I have to say is I loved my Tilt2! I got a Focus with my upgrade. I figured I keep my Tilt2 to fall back to if I didn't like it. Needless to say I loved the Focus so much I gave...did you hear me... gave my Tilt 2 because I couldn't even justify putting a price on it. That's how different the Focus is. I've read all the complaints and ironically it's the exact same ones people gave as a reason the Iphone would fail. Hell I even mocked Iphone owners. Well we know how that turned out.
As far the browser, here in New Orleans(signals vary in every region) WP7 IE is faster than any WM browser I ever had Opera 9,9.5,9.7, 9.7 with Flash,10 beta,10 Mini,Skyfire, UCWeb6,6.7,7,7 release2, NetFront 3.4,3.5,4,4 updated, Bolt,Iris, Pocket IE, Uzard. The sad thing is all of these damn browsers were installed on my phone because none were good enough. With the Focus I released much like the Iphone people I mocked, I don't need most of that bullcrap. I don't know if the IP4 has a different browser version than the 3GS, but WP7 IE is just as fast and accurate. as my nephews 3GS.
As for saving camera settings, I never taught of this till you mentioned it. Now that you mentioned it, it sounds crazy to me to save the settings. I constantly take pictures with my phone for work. Unless I'm in the exact same conditions then saving the settings would be just a big pain. Obviously, someone in the Microsoft meeting must have mentioned this. Damned if they do damned if they don't.

bennyj71 said:
As for saving camera settings, I never taught of this till you mentioned it. Now that you mentioned it, it sounds crazy to me to save the settings. I constantly take pictures with my phone for work. Unless I'm in the exact same conditions then saving the settings would be just a big pain. Obviously, someone in the Microsoft meeting must have mentioned this. Damned if they do damned if they don't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still are using a fixed set of settings, the default ones. If you are OK with those is no problem, but a user should still be able to customize the settings and then save them instead of always going back to default.

I am in my first day of "playing" with a Focus, coming from a Tilt 2. Sometimes I think I should have not started.
I love the simplicity but I miss the flexibility.
So far the biggest con for me is the small font used in various places that I find hard to read after using the phone for a while. Maybe it is time for glasses but get them only for the Focus? Too bad the font size cannot be adjusted other than the places where zooming works. Speaking of zooming I miss the reflow of text, so now after zooming I constantly have to scroll sideways to read a page.
When I got the Tilt 2 I thought I was going to use the slide out keyboard more. Turned out that I rarely used it so that was not an issue moving to the Focus. I do find the Focus keyboard very sensitive. The slightest touch or even coming close enough to the screen without actually touching registers on the touch screen. Even though the Focus screen keyboard keys are very close in size to the Tilt 2 screen keyboard I have lots of typos with the Focus. I guess though that this is something that gets overcome with time.
WiFi... cannot connect to hidden networks??? Please Microsoft, reconsider this.
Once connected to WiFi what is there to do other than using WiFi for data instead of 3G? I cannot connect to my Windows Home Server to save pictures and other documents or to load some documents for the road. I know I can go thru Skydrive but that's extra steps and maybe I have documents I would rather not upload to a third party server.
I would like a common email tile on the home screen instead of individual tiles for each account. The visible home screen is limited. HTC Sense does this beatifully.
Various apps that I use save their data somewhere in the phone's memory. I would like to be able to back it up at least by copying it to my laptop or home server. I do not see any sort of file management at the OS level where I could do this. Some apps save their data in the cloud... again a third party server.
But I do have another 25 days or so to play with the Focus. I'll see how things change.

Started with a Tilt --> iPhone --> Tilt2 and now Focus. The phone does have its quirks but I believe the pros outweigh the cons. The onscreen keyboard easily rivals or surpasses that of the iPhone. Transition between programs is fluid and seemless. The link with Xbox Live is awesome!
This is only day 2 of playing with this guy and I'm already hooked.

Just upgraded from the Tilt 2 (prior to that I used the original Tilt and then the Fuze) to the Samsung Focus -- and I will not be looking back. Finally a phone that works when I need it to! I'll trade a few, very minor limitations that I can work around for the lightning fast responsiveness of the WP7.
I can't count the number of times with the Tilt/Fuze/Tilt 2 that I stood outside an elevator needing to quickly look up a meeting room number or sitting in a meeting and needing to look up a phone number only to have it slowly lumber through the process at a snails pace with people waiting all around me in frustration. I need a phone that works in real world - real time - business situations. So I really value the simplicity and responsiveness of the Focus.
It's a keeper.

I also came from the long line of HTC phones and the iPhone3Gs. I upgraded to the Focus the day it hit the streets and as others have said I have never looked back. I do miss some of the customizing and some of the apps but in time they will come. I knew the limitations going in and while some of them have been a pain the pros way outweigh the cons. If MS keeps their word and gets the updates out and keeps them coming they have a big winner on their hands.

JamesAllen said:
I moved from my FUZE to a Focus on December 27th and have never looked back. Like you, I got my FUZE where I wanted it with a custom Energy ROM and lots of tweaks and apps. It was an ongoing process that I had learned to live with. I had the Focus for 4 days before I swapped the SIM out of the FUZE. In fact, my FUZE is still on the charger.
All of this crap about C&P and multi-tasking is a tempest in a teapot. I haven't missed either and I use my phone hours each day. It is smooth, seemless and everything just works like WM 6.5 should have. I can't explain here what I love about WP7, it would take too long. You have to experience it to really understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My sentiments exactly. As a former Fuze owner, the only thing I miss are the physical keyboard, and specific apps. I purchased my Fuze the day it came out, and used it heavily during that time. I still find myself clicking on the search button to end a call, but that's a habit I'll break soon enough.
The keyboard is probably the best soft-keyboard I've tried, and I'm still learning little tips to make it even easier. That said, I really do miss the hard-keys.
The only other area of concern are the apps. I had a number of apps that I used daily, which sadly aren't yet available for Win7, and possibly may never be available.
Still, this phone is just amazing. It is extremely responsive to gestures, screens load quickly, and the screen will blow your socks off. Everyone who gets their hands on it just love it.
Now I purchased mine off contract on eBay for an incredibly good price. I doubt I would take on another contract with a phone this early in its development. If I were you, I'd wait it out a little longer. The Tilt2 is a good phone especially with custom ROMs loaded.

Wait until after the MWC in February. Some new WP7 phones might be announced then.

Just a few days with my Samsung Focus...[Review]

this is just a personal experience, opinion, and review of Windows Phone 7 and Samsung Focus based off a few days of heavy use and playing around with the phone. I'm originally coming from an HTC Aria android phone. which some..or most of you may be weary and questioning and doubting microsoft's new and fresh OS.
this'll basically a side by side comparison of both phones and OS's. and hope it helps answers some questions some folks may have before purchasing the phone. and in hopes it will help interest users and give this forum a little growth.
Body and Feel of the Phone
The size was exactly what i was looking for. coming from the HTC Aria..the screen size was a huge bonus for me. it was perfect for viewing and using, but not too big where i felt like my fingers had to stretch. slid in my pocket easily where it's light enough to not weigh down my pants, but just enough to let me know it's there.
minor gripe is the back of the phone..the battery cover. flimsy plastic compared to the Aria's solid rubber like back. it was easier to get off than the Aria's, but the little hooks at top to hold the cover under the body of the phone were just a little small for my comfort. so i'm taking it extremely easy whenever removing and replacing the cover.
the buttons on the sides were pretty solid and flush with the body, but had enough ridge to them so you knew where they were. dedicated camera button, love it, since the Aria and most android phones don't have one. helps with those spontaneous random shots.
the overall thinness and just right curves make this phone pretty damn sexxy.
Body: 9/10 - (if they make an after-market solid backcover..definite 10)
Windows Phone 7 UI and Software
I was actually surprised how quickly i adapted to windows new UI coming from an android phone. gotta say everything is extremely fluid and gorgeous. watching early previous video demoes before Microsoft officially released it, i did not think it would be that fluid, smooth, and quick.
i definitely like how everything i need to know and see is all in one screen. Android's use of multiple pane screens was..genius at first...but tedious over time and too similar to iphone's UI. with my HTC Aria, i had one pane dedicated to my calendar and events notices, one for basic info..time - date - sms - email - weather, another pane with a group of my most used apps, and another pane to regulate GPS - Bluetooth - Sync - Brightness..via widgets. my thumb did A LOT of swiping. most don't recognize with WP7..its touch and go and rarely any swiping, except within the apps.
adding apps was a breeze and less stressful than with the android phone. with microsoft regulating what's in the app store, i feel a little more comfortable with the security measures. i think Apple did one thing right when they went in that direction. how is giving a list of warnings before installing an app supposed to make you at ease with your phone and what you're putting on it? I of course immediately downloaded Netflix app, which works perfectly! i was able to snag near HD quality on a solid 3G connection. and with the Focus's gorgeous and bright screen..gonna love watching movies on it. App Market took a little getting use to, search button makes it a little easier if you know what you're looking for. and it had it's share of hiccups where it wouldn't load back up if it froze, requiring a reboot. not a huge issue and something microsoft is aware of and working on a fix for. I was just glad i didn't have to sift through thousands of crappy apps or apps that were variations and copies of similar apps (memory matching games...those of you android owners should know so well).
Getting my gmail account setup was easy and basic. i honestly gotta say that Windows Phone 7 email interface is the best i've used so far, coming from iphones and blackberries and android. i just can't explain it. it's just something to experience personally. i never really saw google's need to use push notification with their gmail app. i'm fine with having my mail checked every 30 mins. that was probably one of android's many battery draining issue faults. now getting Xbox live synced up with the phone was a little of a chore, but worth the reward in the end. getting messages from xbox players on my phone is definitely a neat addition. and i'm looking forward to being able to play xbox live games on it.
i have a feeling that Windows Phone 7 will be more fluid and well controlled like iPhone. Android is just too sloppy and fragmented. too many app reviews on the Android Market with folks complaining the app won't work on their phone or having different side effects. if you're gonna have an OS on multiples phones, 99% apps should work with every phone. free open source freedom is nice, but it definitely has it's downside. like the old west...everyone and everything needs a law and order to survive or everything goes to sh_ _. - i'm pretty sure John Wayne or someone said it
and as ATT customers we all know that they like to bloat the phones with their crapware. ESPECIALLY with android. but i found it easy just to uninstall ATT's software on this phone. i kept the U-Verse app just in case. may look into getting that possibly as where i live is just out of their area for U-Verse service on the tvs. Unlike with the HTC Aria i had to root the phone and sit around waiting for talented developers to remove the bloat and make a smooth running ROM, flash it, and hope it worked without bugs. without talented XDA Developers..android would be a mess and hassle for a lot of users.
just give it some time. Microsoft hasn't been in the mobile phone market this long and not learned it's lesson (obviously with windows mobile 6.5)
Software and UI: 8/10 - (it's still in it's infancy)
Sound Quality
sound is unbelievable on this phone. music pours out the phone like a good pair of logitech computer speakers. talking on the phone's mic or on speakerphone was very clear and smooth. unsure of why HTC Aria's volume was so low when making calls. i literally had to enable the hearing aid function on the phone, which boosts the volume level slightly higher. still too low in my opinion.
i don't use and do not care for bluetooth, so i can't give an honest opinion or review on that. but Samsung definitely not slack on the audio quality of the phone.
Sound: 10/10
Screen
screen is what caught my attention in the ATT store while eye browsing the whole scene originally looking for the HTC Inspire 4G. the Samsung Focus's screen just popped out and caught my attention. sitting in between the LQ Quantum and the HTC Surround..it was CLEAR the Samsung Focus's screen was the best of the bunch.
Using it in the sun was no problem with the brightness setting set on Medium. I occasionally switch back to low setting when i'm indoors in my apartment or shopping. everything is clear and crisp and almost pop off the screen. i've played with friends' iphone 4's and honestly don't notice too much of a difference in the quality of the display.
Screen: 10+/10
Camera
camera is EXCELLENT on this phone. pictures are crisp and bright. the LED flash is bright but doesn't last as long as it did with a previous Blackberry Curve phone. i've played around a little with the video recording, which is crisp and clear also. sound recording through it is a little deep...expected though. it's not exactly a high-end camcorder. could do with a review option. pictures are snapped and automatcially back to camera mode without a chance to looking at the picture you just took. which i guess is good for those fast random shots. but it would be nice to have an option. and the reverting back to default options after you exit the camera is a little of a hassle and something Microsoft felt was what users would want. hopefully an update will allow more options. other than that i'm very satisfied with the camera's quality and ease of use.
Camera: 9/10
Battery
battery actually seems to be pretty solid for 1500maH...standard for most smartphones. after a couple of days of heavy use, i'd say it would last a whole day with fair amount use. i'm definitely not charging it as much as i was with the Android phone. android apps you took too much of a risk of it sipping on your battery. it was like trial and error trying to figure out what apps wouldn't drain your battery. time waster. i'd probably get a solid 9-10 hrs of use on my HTC Aria before grabbin the charger. on the first full charge with the Focus and full day use...heavy browsing, emails throughou the day, average amounts of texts from friends, picture taking, recorded a short video, installed and tried out some weather apps...i was able to get a good 12-14 hrs of use. possibly longer as with the battery indicator..it's hard to tell how low you really are. there is no app or option to tell you. and from what i've read online, the programming kit Microsoft allows for the phone doesn't allow for pulling the battery information from the system. not a biggie though.
I can honestly say i'm happy with how long the battery lasted where as with the android phone, my charger was a constantly needed accessory no matter where i go. and the worry if an app would drain my battery while i'm out.
Battery: 9/10
Overall
i have a little less than 30 days to give this a good test run and give it back to ATT if i don't like it. but i'm pretty solidly chosen this is my phone to keep and daily driver. HTC Aria is going up on craigslist within the week.
Don't get me wrong now. i'm not trying to be one sided. the HTC Aria is a GOOD phone if you really want an android phone. for it's size and processor speed, it's a VERY fast and snappy and easy to use phone. but professional and smoothness...android hurts it. and i'm just too amazed how WP7 has just won me over so easily.
quoting one user...
Originally Posted by heymen9x
i think iOS is useful , android is interesting and WP7 is so .........sexyyyyyy

THANK YOU for that review.
I am in exactly the same boat as you having just gone from a HTC Aria to a WP7 Focus. It's taking me a bit to adjust.
I've only had the phone 24 hours and the obvious major difference is the screen size compared to the Aria. It's definitely different having all that extra screen real estate.
I was a major tweaker with Android so am finding it a little strange to not be doing much with the phone at the moment.
I also have 30 days to return the phone but want to give it a good run before making a decision.
Any suggestions for some really good apps / games?

yeah it's nice not having to flash roms, do nandroid backups and restores, and all that mess. and the keyboard alone on the WP7 is 100x better than using it on the Aria.
purchasing apps is also a lot less of a hassle on the WP7 Marketplace, as it's just added automatically onto your cell phone bill, well for AT&T users at least.
personally i have the following apps that i use almost daily...
Netflix - instantly grabbed it on the first search on the Market. movies look great on it and battery life could easily last thru 2 movies. so it makes it great for long road trips
Twitter - just makes it simple to use twitter. and i follow a few WP7 related twitters which helps keep me informed early on updates and news and new apps.
last.fm - i had mp3s at first..a couple hundered, but found myself bored with them after awhile. last.fm is close to pandora as you can get and it saves on using up the memory on your phone. and for us WP7 users, it's completely free. iphone and Android users have to a pay a $3 monthly fee or deal with ads. songs stream in pretty quick on 3g and it plays under the lockscreen.
thumba photo editor - one of the best photo editing apps on the market and only 0.99 cents. it does pretty much everything a PC photo editor does, minus layers and transparency. it helps crop down and resize the pictures you take since it's 5MP by default.
4th & Mayor - is great if you use Foursquare. it's better than Foursquare's official app. it loads quicker and just simpler to use. and from what i've read it has features even the official app doesn't app.
The Weather Channel - just to keep up with the weather.
The Harvest - great game to play if you have an Xbox Live account. it's like Halo RPG and shows off the WP7 gaming power pretty well. steep price ($6.99) but well worth it i've had it for a month and play it every now and than and still haven't completed it with the first unlocked character.
Bubble Birds - just a great time killing free game with great graphics
Quadra - another great free game that uses both your fingers at the same time.

Cool, thanks for the pointers.
I notice from your sig that you've installed the NoDo update. I'm assuming this is the unofficial one?
How easy it and is it worth it or shall I wait for the ATT roll out?
What other hacks / mode have you done / are there?
Been playing with the phone a bit more today, it's growing on me for sure but still unsure. I wish there was a better app drawer than having one big long list.

Yeah, the unofficial update.
Which I would avoid since you're still in your 30 day trial of it, until you're sure you want to keep her =)
It requires turning your Focus into a developer unlocked phone.
Its the only mod you really can do with it, besides sideloading unofficial apps. Which I'm avoiding. I just wanted the nodo update.
And if you haven't read up on it, avoid the cheveonwp7.updater PC application. Google it to read up why. The Hungary VPN hack is the only safe way.
Maybe an update will allow a folder structure in the app list to shorten it. Not that big of a deal overall

asiancuta said:
Yeah, the unofficial update.
Which I would avoid since you're still in your 30 day trial of it, until you're sure you want to keep her =)
It requires turning your Focus into a developer unlocked phone.
Its the only mod you really can do with it, besides sideloading unofficial apps. Which I'm avoiding. I just wanted the nodo update.
And if you haven't read up on it, avoid the cheveonwp7.updater PC application. Google it to read up why. The Hungary VPN hack is the only safe way.Maybe an update will allow a folder structure in the app list to shorten it. Not that big of a deal overall
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that to do with the fact MS can see what apps you are loading etc. with the Chevron method?
Haven't seen the Hungary VPN hack - is it listed on xda? I'll go have a look.
I'm pretty sure I'm keeping the Focus - I just put the Aria on eBay and CL. I like the Focus overall, I'm definitely spending less time messing around and tweaking and I'm just using the phone for its features.
Mind you, I still haven't had a really good stretch of time to just sit and play with it as I've been so busy at work. Downloaded a bunch of apps and games to try but just no time to try them yet.
I've decided I will probably just wait for the official AT&T NoDo update as it really should be landing this month anyway.

Actually, I unlocked my Focus using instructions found on this forum. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=857127). I did not hack registry to change phone from AT&T.
I hooked up to my PC -different one than I used to install "unlock".
Logged on to Zune. My Focus then showed "Update Available". I went on to install the February update. Rebooted. Hooked phone up again to PC. Then showed "Update Available". Downloaded March update.
Everything working fine. No problems.
So, it is possible that you do not need the Hungarian link.

Any former iPhone users using a Nexus 4?

I feel like this is going to belong. Apologies. (feel free to skip to......)
When I turned 18 in '07, I purchased my first smartphone which happened to be the first generation iPhone on launch day. Since then, I've continued on this strange road with Apple products. That iPhone opened my eyes. It was my everything. Since then, I've had every iPhone (including my purchased & returned iPhone 5.) I am currently using a 4s and am unhappy with it. Well, not unhappy. I don't know the word. I'm just satisfied with it. Not happy, not enthusiastic about it. It's just... there.
My tenure with the iPhone hasn't always been grand. In 2009, my iPhone 3Gs took the biggest crap on me. I ended up replacing it 3 times. When it messed up for a 4th time, I decided that I'd switch to Blackberry. What was Android anyway? it was such a knockoff to my superior iPhone. I stayed with Blackberry for 10 months before going back to an iPhone. This time it was the iPhone 4. I loved it, until I didn't.
In 2011, I finally dumped my iPhone (for what appeared to be the last time) for my first Android phone, the Motorola Atrix. I did everything to hate that phone for the next three months... That was until I loved Android (with the help of this website and forum). Earlier that year, I started working a job at a cell phone retailer and began to learn Android in and out. I got to play with the coolest phones. We don't sell any Apple products, by the way, so it was all Android.
I thought I was done with Apple, that is until the 4s. I ditched my Atrix and newly acquired Droid X2 for the iPhone 4s. I felt bad as if I were regressing to a horrible drug after being sober for so long. Now a year has passed and I see that I've completely effed up.
(....here) I am currently in the market for a new phone. I've purchased the Nexus 4 and I'm waiting for the 5-to-6 weeks to pass until I get it. The thing is, that I'm so used to my iPhone that I'm afraid it will be a frustrating adjustment for me and this device will end up being a $400 (more like $383.93) paperweight. I've watched every unboxing and comparison video that I could find on YouTube and have read as many threads that my eyes could take on XDA.
I can spew out specs for days. Hell, I'm a salesman. I know the flagship phones in and out because I am setting them up all day and fixing issues for customers. It's always fun when they ask me what phone I'm using... Oops?
Are there any Nexus 4 users that switched from an iPhone? What features do you miss? Does the Nexus 4 adequately make the transition seamless?
I'm just looking for a bit of real life users and not a bunch of reviewers on YouTube and LG Reps at my job sounding extra robotic about the phone.
Thanks!
(Kudos if you read this whole thing. Seriously. K-U-D-O-S.)

Nexus is the closest thing to iphone you will ever find in the android world. Fast updates, excellent HW/SW integration, etc.
This year I've had a lot of phones, iphone 4 > sensation > GS2 > atrix > GS2 > GNex > GS3 > nokia e5 > Nexus 4, and a lot of iphones 4S, and no one gets close to a nexus.
Trust me, you could never go wrong with a Nexus

I don't fit in the criterion for responders, but hopefully you can appreciate my contribution.
It's very rare that you'll find an iOS feature that isn't implemented on Android. It's usually the other way around.
Anand Shimpi describes the two operating systems better than I can: iOS is an appliance and Android is an OS. With iOS, you have to work with what you're given and the phone is a tool, in the same way a toaster oven is really convenient for a lot of purposes. However, Android is the whole damn kitchen. It's a real OS and gives you the opportunities to do precisely what you want done.
On iOS, jailbreaking is a bit daunting due to the loss of Appstore access and security features. I've also heard that stability is notably worse. However, rooting on Android is a very common and standard process. It's akin to providing yourself an administrative account on Windows, as opposed to a kid's account with limited access and abilities.
In all likelihood, there's not a thing you'll miss about iOS that isn't identically fulfilled by system and third party apps. Except in the case of a few select games and apps (Hype Machine is one that comes to mind) Android equivalents are just that: the same app, but for a different platform.
Now for my bias: I think of iPhones as glorified dumb phones. Widgets are essential for me, and the modularity of the system allows you to actually use an OS fit to your liking. In don't see a functional difference between iPhones today and the Sony Ericsson phone I had on 2003. Both just run apps and give extremely limited access to the file system. I want a real file explorer, and apps that can utilize libs/APIs that significantly improve performance (the reason why iOS browsers not based on Safari suck). I want to install apps that replicate system functions, and do so in better ways. Sometimes, in illegal ways (WiFi sniffing and unpaid tethering), but it's my choice whether or not to do them.
I don't think you'll miss anything about the iPhone. At first, you may think Android is a little clunky, nonstandard, or even un-navigable. But just give it time and you'll come to appreciate the difference between the two OSes. One provides a great out-of-the-box experience that can't be tinkered with, but everything will be generally familiar. The other provides nearly complete freedom to change how you use the phone, at the cost of a dictatorial structure. I prefer the latter, as no phone OS is even close to what I want. Android let's me add, remove, and modify itself to let me get a little closer to having a desktop in my pocket.

raul90 said:
Nexus is the closest thing to iphone you will ever find in the android world. Fast updates, excellent HW/SW integration, etc.
This year I've had a lot of phones, iphone 4 > sensation > GS2 > atrix > GS2 > GNex > GS3 > nokia e5 > Nexus 4, and a lot of iphones 4S, and no one gets close to a nexus.
Trust me, you could never go wrong with a Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my job, I have an extensive in-store experience with all of those, except for the E5. There is a HUGE difference from setting someone's phone up, showing them a bit of cool features, and then having them sign a contract, as opposed to actually owning it and going home with the device to make it your own.
I love the ability to make drag and drop folders that ICS added. I'm hoping to get the same clean experience that I've gotten used to, but I just want more. iOS isn't cutting it anymore.
I will miss the keyboard, though.

Hung0702 said:
I don't fit in the criterion for responders, but hopefully you can appreciate my contribution.
It's very rare that you'll find an iOS feature that isn't implemented on Android. It's usually the other way around.
Anand Shimpi describes the two operating systems better than I can: iOS is an appliance and Android is an OS. With iOS, you have to work with what you're given and the phone is a tool, in the same way a toaster oven is really convenient for a lot of purposes. However, Android is the whole damn kitchen. It's a real OS and gives you the opportunities to do precisely what you want done.
On iOS, jailbreaking is a bit daunting due to the loss of Appstore access and security features. I've also heard that stability is notably worse. However, rooting on Android is a very common and standard process. It's akin to providing yourself an administrative account on Windows, as opposed to a kid's account with limited access and abilities.
In all likelihood, there's not a thing you'll miss about iOS that isn't identically fulfilled by system and third party apps. Except in the case of a few select games and apps (Hype Machine is one that comes to mind) Android equivalents are just that: the same app, but for a different platform.
Now for my bias: I think of iPhones as glorified dumb phones. Widgets are essential for me, and the modularity of the system allows you to actually use an OS fit to your liking. In don't see a functional difference between iPhones today and the Sony Ericsson phone I had on 2003. Both just run apps and give extremely limited access to the file system. I want a real file explorer, and apps that can utilize libs/APIs that significantly improve performance (the reason why iOS browsers not based on Safari suck). I want to install apps that replicate system functions, and do so in better ways. Sometimes, in illegal ways (WiFi sniffing and unpaid tethering), but it's my choice whether or not to do them.
I don't think you'll miss anything about the iPhone. At first, you may think Android is a little clunky, nonstandard, or even un-navigable. But just give it time and you'll come to appreciate the difference between the two OSes. One provides a great out-of-the-box experience that can't be tinkered with, but everything will be generally familiar. The other provides nearly complete freedom to change how you use the phone, at the cost of a dictatorial structure. I prefer the latter, as no phone OS is even close to what I want. Android let's me add, remove, and modify itself to let me get a little closer to having a desktop in my pocket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Glorified dumb phone" -- Couldn't have put it better.
Right now, I'm at the point where customizations are so limited with my iPhone. I want widgets and I want to be able to move my icons where I want them and not be locked to this stupid grid. I've also ALWAYS complained about downloading apps and being kicked out of the app store to my desktop to watch the damned thing download and install. Now that they've added the ability to stay in the app store, it seems like "too little, too late."
I haven't even bothered with jailbreaking my 4s, because I know it still won't do the things that I've seen Android OS phones do.
I feel like I've reached my peak with my iPhone experience and I'd prefer so much more. I just don't want it to feel like some huge trade off because of the little idiosyncratic things that iOS has done for me. It's been very intuitive. I only used Android 2.3 for 5 months before going back to an iPhone. I didn't do much with it other than complain for 2 and a half months! LOL!
From what I hear, 4.2 on the Nexus is the best Android experience yet. That's what made me purchase it without even having a handson experience with it yet.

I came over from iOS, after being with the operating system since my first smart phone, the iPhone 3GS. (I had the 4S just before).
I'm very enthralled by my tech gadgets, and the iPhone is no exception. I jailbroke it, tweaked it to my liking, and have been content with its functionality. However, when I saw the price of this phone--also it's factory unlocked--I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out Android. I was a bit apprehensive at first to switch over to something completely new, but for me, the transition has been seamless.
I actually avoid much of the cloud-based systems from Apple because I have been with Google to begin with, so the integration of contacts, email, and music were such a relief, and extremely useful. The widgets in Android are analogous to Dashboard X, if you are familiar, but so much better because of their native integration.
I received my Nexus 4 the week of release, and I haven't run into any problems since then. The customization is just as awesome--if you're into that--and it's actually much better on Android because of the limitations set by iOS.
Hopefully this is useful! I'll be happy to provide any more insight if you need.

Zaimojin said:
I came over from iOS, after being with the operating system since my first smart phone, the iPhone 3GS. (I had the 4S just before).
I'm very enthralled by my tech gadgets, and the iPhone is no exception. I jailbroke it, tweaked it to my liking, and have been content with its functionality. However, when I saw the price of this phone--also it's factory unlocked--I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out Android. I was a bit apprehensive at first to switch over to something completely new, but for me, the transition has been seamless.
I actually avoid much of the cloud-based systems from Apple because I have been with Google to begin with, so the integration of contacts, email, and music were such a relief, and extremely useful. The widgets in Android are analogous to Dashboard X, if you are familiar, but so much better because of their native integration.
I received my Nexus 4 the week of release, and I haven't run into any problems since then. The customization is just as awesome--if you're into that--and it's actually much better on Android because of the limitations set by iOS.
Hopefully this is useful! I'll be happy to provide any more insight if you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your train of thought seemed to be the same as mine. I saw the price-point and that it was unlocked and figured "what the heck?" This could be my only opportunity to try something new for such an awesome price. I spend that kind of money on my newest iPhone models plus a case to be locked into AT&T (snow Sprint... whew! Don't get me STARTED) to have the same features that I've already had.
The price point is enough trade off for me to buy out of my contract with Sprint and utilize one of the dealer-lines that I get for working where I do. They all require me to provide my own phone, so this is the perfect chance to do so.
As far as customizations, I haven't done anything since my 3Gs because I haven't jailbroken my 4 or 4s. I would LOVE to do more. It's just so hard to get anything done when your have the stock icons and a stock grid. Hell, my Mars Blackmon "theme" is all kinds of ruined (see the attachment). I'm anxious to get into a few more things.
Also, I, like you, have been using google since the days of the invite. So, I'm pretty sure that will be EASY AS EVER to get all of my contacts and stuff over. I'm excited about that. The thing is, I'm so deep into the Apple ecosystem. For example, my iPhone notes automatically update on my MacBook. The same goes for reminders and notifications. I like that. I feel like I'm going to miss that a lot.
Oh, and how's the music player? I'm really OCD when it comes to the organization of the music on my phone.
I don't mind not having expandable memory or LTE. Hell, I haven't had it for this long. LOL! HSPA+ will be a huge improvement over my 0.23mbps averaging Speed Tests on Sprint's network.

morejaylesswar said:
Your train of thought seemed to be the same as mine. I saw the price-point and that it was unlocked and figured "what the heck?" This could be my only opportunity to try something new for such an awesome price. I spend that kind of money on my newest iPhone models plus a case to be locked into AT&T (snow Sprint... whew! Don't get me STARTED) to have the same features that I've already had.
The price point is enough trade off for me to buy out of my contract with Sprint and utilize one of the dealer-lines that I get for working where I do. They all require me to provide my own phone, so this is the perfect chance to do so.
As far as customizations, I haven't done anything since my 3Gs because I haven't jailbroken my 4 or 4s. I would LOVE to do more. It's just so hard to get anything done when your have the stock icons and a stock grid. Hell, my Mars Blackmon "theme" is all kinds of ruined (see the attachment). I'm anxious to get into a few more things.
Also, I, like you, have been using google since the days of the invite. So, I'm pretty sure that will be EASY AS EVER to get all of my contacts and stuff over. I'm excited about that. The thing is, I'm so deep into the Apple ecosystem. For example, my iPhone notes automatically update on my MacBook. The same goes for reminders and notifications. I like that. I feel like I'm going to miss that a lot.
Oh, and how's the music player? I'm really OCD when it comes to the organization of the music on my phone.
I don't mind not having expandable memory or LTE. Hell, I haven't had it for this long. LOL! HSPA+ will be a huge improvement over my 0.23mbps averaging Speed Tests on Sprint's network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can empathize with you with syncing of notes/reminders/things Google doesn't handle because I have an iPad as well. It wasn't too huge of a loss for me because I use a Windows laptop, and my school email is integrated with gmail so the tasks work well. It definitely is something to consider though since you have a MacBook.
If I were in your shoes, it would be difficult to lose all those features because of convenient it makes everything. I'm guessing real world testing will be the only way for you to decide if you can be without it or not.
As far as the music player, I'm particularly OCD about the organization as well. It's not bad, nor is it exceptional; it does what it needs to. Since getting the Nexus, I've uploaded my music into Google Music and have been streaming it all since then--I have the grandfathered unlimited data plan from the 3GS--and it hasn't given me much issues.
The only thing I can say for certain that I sorely miss is music controls via the hardware volume buttons. I used them all the time to avoid taking my phone out of my pocket, or looking at my phone while driving. Fortunately, the feature should be brought back with ROMs in the near future, so there's not really much encouraging me to go back to my 4S.
I actually bought the 16 gb Nexus 4 because the 8 gb wasn't enough space, and I've sold the 8gb while waiting for the 16 gb to come in. I'm using my 4S again tentatively until the 16 gb comes in, and I can't believe how important screen real estate is. I really don't appreciate the 3.5 inch screen on the iPhone, nor the elongated 4 inch screen on the 5; the Nexus 4 really nice. The bigger screen size is much more useful for watching videos, and all around usage since you can see more.

morejaylesswar said:
"Glorified dumb phone" -- Couldn't have put it better.
Right now, I'm at the point where customizations are so limited with my iPhone. I want widgets and I want to be able to move my icons where I want them and not be locked to this stupid grid. I've also ALWAYS complained about downloading apps and being kicked out of the app store to my desktop to watch the damned thing download and install. Now that they've added the ability to stay in the app store, it seems like "too little, too late."
I haven't even bothered with jailbreaking my 4s, because I know it still won't do the things that I've seen Android OS phones do.
I feel like I've reached my peak with my iPhone experience and I'd prefer so much more. I just don't want it to feel like some huge trade off because of the little idiosyncratic things that iOS has done for me. It's been very intuitive. I only used Android 2.3 for 5 months before going back to an iPhone. I didn't do much with it other than complain for 2 and a half months! LOL!
From what I hear, 4.2 on the Nexus is the best Android experience yet. That's what made me purchase it without even having a handson experience with it yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've got to ask yourself a few questions. Do I need any advanced functionality? Is it extremely beneficial to be able to glance at my phone and get a lot of information at once? Are there any platform-specific apps that I use?
My father is an older gentleman and only uses his phone to call, text, check email, and check his bank accounts. He occasionally takes pictures, but he's a photographer so he prefers to use his DSLR. I certainly recommend that users like this can use an iPhone and be more content than they would with Android. The iPhone dictates your usage, which can be useful if you don't really know what you have to do. The problem with Android is that the experience from one app to another can be very different. Further, you have so much freedom, it can be difficult to know what to do.
Also, here's a little album that has some of the customizations I made to my phone. Note the navigation bar colors, the widgets, the different dpi (text size) among different apps. I can really do what I want with the phone, however limited phone OSes may be at the moment.

I will put it simply. If you are considering a switch because iPhone feels too locked down, its because it is and you have been spoiled by Android. Android does all iOS does and much more and to a higher level of complexity. I was a former iPhone user and I love that now I am able to use MY phone however I want, not how Apple intended. I can use my phone as hotspot, create an FTP, share any file via NFC or Bluetooth, use whatever ringtone, download whatever typr file I want and being able to open it, sideload apks, pretty much anything I imagine. And no iTunes, either. Good old drag and drop, usable as a pen drive for that matter.
If you are not somebody who is satisfied by simplicity, but rather seeks customizability and expandability, then it's a no brainer. Especially at that price point.

I have come from a similar position as you morejaylesswar. (iPhone 3 -> 3GS -> 4 -> 4S) I'll give you my quick and dirty opinions after having my Nexus 4 for nearly 3 weeks now. Good and bad.
GOOD:
I love the freedom of android compared to IOS, you can just do so much more. Even more than a jailbroken iphone.
The screen size is great, at first i thought it was maybe a bit big for me but it didn't take long to get used to it, going back to my 4S which i still have seems way to small now in comparison.
Widget, widget, widgets!! i will say no more than that
NFC, i love using NFC tags for switching profiles e.t.c like switching bluetooth on, wifi off and launching the music player for when i get in my car.
EQ for the music player, this was one of my BIG issues with IOS. Why they never added just a simple 3 or 5 band EQ to the iphone i will never know.
BAD:
The camera on the nexus is poor compared to the 4S, outdoor shots in good light are ok but anything else is frustratingly bad, slow shutter speed, noisy images and a flash thats WAY too bright.
Music apps, this is obviously a personal one but if you like using music production apps (Korg e.t.c) you will be disappointed by the lack of apps on the play store, something to do with the lag thats inherent in the android os.
Battery life, my standby time is good but actually using the phone eats the battery like hell, of course this is to be expected with such a large screen but it is just a bit of a shock when first coming over from the 4S.
All in all the goods outweigh the bads for me by a long way, and i can only see me loving android (and my Nexus) more and more as i learn more about android and what i can do with it. I was bored with IOS, i didn't think it had evolved enough in the last few years and had become a bit stale.

morejaylesswar said:
Are there any Nexus 4 users that switched from an iPhone? What features do you miss? Does the Nexus 4 adequately make the transition seamless?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Things I miss about my iPhone 4/5.
iMessages (medium issue)
In areas where I have wifi and no cell signal (ie: work), it was convenient for me to communicate with people who had iOS
Size (minor issue)
Some people will argue this, but my i5 was perfect for jogging, I could hold it in my hand, switch tunes, even text one handed.. a little trickier on the N4 but not impossible.
LTE (minor issue)
Yes I do miss it, it's not as big of an issue but I did love the fast speeds that were available in my city.
Screen (very minor issue)
Side by side the i5's screen (to me) is a tad bit better than the N4.
All in all though, I am very satisfied with the N4. I thought I'd be reaching for my iPhone 5 again (I have a nano converter so I can easily switch it back out) but I find myself just using the N4 exclusively now. As people have said the customization will keep you busy for a while, and just the sheer amount of things you can do vs iOS is just night and day.

Argenist said:
Things I miss about my iPhone 4/5.
iMessages (medium issue)
In areas where I have wifi and no cell signal (ie: work), it was convenient for me to communicate with people who had iOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use Google Talk, it's an open platform that's not just locked to Apple users, you can type, voice call, or video call anyone. Be it Android, Apple, PC or whatever...
The reason I would never touch any Apple product is it's proprietary nature that use to lock users in (hardware connectors, quicktime format, iCloud/iMessage etc)

germanj said:
I will put it simply. If you are considering a switch because iPhone feels too locked down, its because it is and you have been spoiled by Android. Android does all iOS does and much more and to a higher level of complexity. I was a former iPhone user and I love that now I am able to use MY phone however I want, not how Apple intended. I can use my phone as hotspot, create an FTP, share any file via NFC or Bluetooth, use whatever ringtone, download whatever typr file I want and being able to open it, sideload apks, pretty much anything I imagine. And no iTunes, either. Good old drag and drop, usable as a pen drive for that matter.
If you are not somebody who is satisfied by simplicity, but rather seeks customizability and expandability, then it's a no brainer. Especially at that price point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being that I am a Mac user, iTunes (unfortunately) is a huge part of my life. I hate the time it takes to sync my iPhone. I mean, seriously, there is years worth of stuff in my iTunes. I'm a music hoarder. '
You're right, dealing with Android everyday, I'm a bit spoiled. In my down times at work, I'd rather browse on the Galaxy S III at my job than my own phone. I haven't gotten into messing around with it for more than what I do on my iPhone and that's just browsing, updating my social networks, and watching videos. It's just because I don't know WHAT to do. I know I can do more, but man, that's all I can do on my iPhone. LOL. I haven't downloaded an app in forever while I'm out because Sprint's network is PAINFULLY SLOW. I wish I would've stuck with AT&T.
Google boasts having over 700,000 apps. I'm looking forward to getting into that. I also haven't owned an Android device since it went to the "Play Store." The 'Market' was one of my big complaints when I used Android. It just wasn't my well known 'App Store.' Google Play has come a HECK OF A LONG WAY. Man, I'm impressed at how clean it looks and how user friendly it is.

Oh yes i forgot one more thing...
The search facility on the Nexus is nowhere near as good as the Spotlight search on IOS. You cannot for example type a name in and have it show all emails, texts, notes, calendar things related to that search. Also there is no option to search within any exchange email accounts you have setup.
To say that google is the king of search engines this is a little disappointing

keepittidy said:
I have come from a similar position as you morejaylesswar. (iPhone 3 -> 3GS -> 4 -> 4S) I'll give you my quick and dirty opinions after having my Nexus 4 for nearly 3 weeks now. Good and bad.
GOOD:
I love the freedom of android compared to IOS, you can just do so much more. Even more than a jailbroken iphone.
The screen size is great, at first i thought it was maybe a bit big for me but it didn't take long to get used to it, going back to my 4S which i still have seems way to small now in comparison.
Widget, widget, widgets!! i will say no more than that
NFC, i love using NFC tags for switching profiles e.t.c like switching bluetooth on, wifi off and launching the music player for when i get in my car.
EQ for the music player, this was one of my BIG issues with IOS. Why they never added just a simple 3 or 5 band EQ to the iphone i will never know.
BAD:
The camera on the nexus is poor compared to the 4S, outdoor shots in good light are ok but anything else is frustratingly bad, slow shutter speed, noisy images and a flash thats WAY too bright.
Music apps, this is obviously a personal one but if you like using music production apps (Korg e.t.c) you will be disappointed by the lack of apps on the play store, something to do with the lag thats inherent in the android os.
Battery life, my standby time is good but actually using the phone eats the battery like hell, of course this is to be expected with such a large screen but it is just a bit of a shock when first coming over from the 4S.
All in all the goods outweigh the bads for me by a long way, and i can only see me loving android (and my Nexus) more and more as i learn more about android and what i can do with it. I was bored with IOS, i didn't think it had evolved enough in the last few years and had become a bit stale.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The music apps is why I have to keep a mobile Apple product. I've already figured that it would be my iPad, since I use that the least. I'm a musician, songwriter, and recording and mix engineer. There are so many apps that make my life easy when it comes to that stuff. I have apps that control my recording consoles, actual mobile DAWs that allow me to sketch ideas out and export them into their full counterparts on my Mac.
I know that I will be having some tradeoff with the Nexus S speaker vs the iPhone speaker. When I'm at home, but not in my studio, I use my iPhone speaker to play the music that I am writing to at the time. I don't use headphones to write, because I need to hear myself as I go over the material.
Damn, another thing I will miss is the ability to control my iTunes if I have something playing there, but am pacing around my workspace while I'm writing. Unless there is an app that allows me to control those kinds of things wirelessly on Android. That'd be pretty dope.
I'm interested to see how the battery performs. Despite EVERYONE saying the 4s had horrible battery life... I've gotten 1.5 to 2 days out of it sometimes. But that's because I don't run many apps because of my network and all I do is read sports news on it right now. I feel so caged, lol.

keepittidy said:
Oh yes i forgot one more thing...
The search facility on the Nexus is nowhere near as good as the Spotlight search on IOS. You cannot for example type a name in and have it show all emails, texts, notes, calendar things related to that search. Also there is no option to search within any exchange email accounts you have setup.
To say that google is the king of search engines this is a little disappointing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google had that on the Galaxy Nexus until Apple sued them over it and made them change the search because "they had that idea patented." (BREAKING: They also have breathing through the nose, walking upright, and the opposable thumb patented, too.) The less informed customers that shop at my location were nervous that Apple would make them forfeit their device over those lawsuits. LOL. It was so strange.

Argenist said:
Things I miss about my iPhone 4/5.
iMessages (medium issue)
In areas where I have wifi and no cell signal (ie: work), it was convenient for me to communicate with people who had iOS
Size (minor issue)
Some people will argue this, but my i5 was perfect for jogging, I could hold it in my hand, switch tunes, even text one handed.. a little trickier on the N4 but not impossible.
LTE (minor issue)
Yes I do miss it, it's not as big of an issue but I did love the fast speeds that were available in my city.
Screen (very minor issue)
Side by side the i5's screen (to me) is a tad bit better than the N4.
All in all though, I am very satisfied with the N4. I thought I'd be reaching for my iPhone 5 again (I have a nano converter so I can easily switch it back out) but I find myself just using the N4 exclusively now. As people have said the customization will keep you busy for a while, and just the sheer amount of things you can do vs iOS is just night and day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iMessage has saved my life on more than one occasion. Most recently, my brother hadn't paid his half of the phone bill and our phone service was cut off. I had no idea until I was running late for work because of traffic and had to call into my job to let someone know. Long story short, I was able to turn on my hotspot (provided by my job) and iMessage someone to let them know of the situation.
As far as the screen size, most people laugh at me because of how small the iPhone looks in my hands. I'm 6'8" and can palm a basketball with ease. So, holding the Nexus 4 will probably be more natural to my hand than the iPhone is. I'm just used to it.

Zaimojin said:
I can empathize with you with syncing of notes/reminders/things Google doesn't handle because I have an iPad as well. It wasn't too huge of a loss for me because I use a Windows laptop, and my school email is integrated with gmail so the tasks work well. It definitely is something to consider though since you have a MacBook.
If I were in your shoes, it would be difficult to lose all those features because of convenient it makes everything. I'm guessing real world testing will be the only way for you to decide if you can be without it or not.
As far as the music player, I'm particularly OCD about the organization as well. It's not bad, nor is it exceptional; it does what it needs to. Since getting the Nexus, I've uploaded my music into Google Music and have been streaming it all since then--I have the grandfathered unlimited data plan from the 3GS--and it hasn't given me much issues.
The only thing I can say for certain that I sorely miss is music controls via the hardware volume buttons. I used them all the time to avoid taking my phone out of my pocket, or looking at my phone while driving. Fortunately, the feature should be brought back with ROMs in the near future, so there's not really much encouraging me to go back to my 4S.
I actually bought the 16 gb Nexus 4 because the 8 gb wasn't enough space, and I've sold the 8gb while waiting for the 16 gb to come in. I'm using my 4S again tentatively until the 16 gb comes in, and I can't believe how important screen real estate is. I really don't appreciate the 3.5 inch screen on the iPhone, nor the elongated 4 inch screen on the 5; the Nexus 4 really nice. The bigger screen size is much more useful for watching videos, and all around usage since you can see more.
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Click to collapse
Yea, I definitely had to do the 16GB, because of how much music I have. I'm certain that my music will overtake this phone... So much so that I'm thinking about just getting an iPod for my car.
Unlimited data is precisely why I chose T-Mobile over AT&T. When I left AT&T last year, I obviously forfeited my unlimited. I don't use much data now (again, blame Sprint) but if I have to do a lot of cloud based things, I'd much rather be on T-Mobile. As well, in my area, when I speed test the T-Mobile phones at my store, I get about 15-20mbps on TMO HSPA+ 42 over AT&T's 3-5mbps on HSPA+ 14.1.

morejaylesswar said:
Being that I am a Mac user, iTunes (unfortunately) is a huge part of my life. I hate the time it takes to sync my iPhone. I mean, seriously, there is years worth of stuff in my iTunes. I'm a music hoarder. '
You're right, dealing with Android everyday, I'm a bit spoiled. In my down times at work, I'd rather browse on the Galaxy S III at my job than my own phone. I haven't gotten into messing around with it for more than what I do on my iPhone and that's just browsing, updating my social networks, and watching videos. It's just because I don't know WHAT to do. I know I can do more, but man, that's all I can do on my iPhone. LOL. I haven't downloaded an app in forever while I'm out because Sprint's network is PAINFULLY SLOW. I wish I would've stuck with AT&T.
Google boasts having over 700,000 apps. I'm looking forward to getting into that. I also haven't owned an Android device since it went to the "Play Store." The 'Market' was one of my big complaints when I used Android. It just wasn't my well known 'App Store.' Google Play has come a HECK OF A LONG WAY. Man, I'm impressed at how clean it looks and how user friendly it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are hundreds of apps that make your transition from iTunes a breeze. But for perspective, also note there are no apps of this nature in iOS. For example, Kies software from Samsung. A lot of free apps from the market, such as DoubleTwist, easysync, etc. But you don't even need an app for ios->android, once more thanks to the openness (?) of the OS. On iTunes preferences there is a box that let's it organize everything in their own folders (iTunes media folder, Michael Jackson, bad, for example). Its all organized, you would just need to drag and drop into the phone music folder and Google Music takes care of the rest. Not to mention the plethora of music apps.

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