Related
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.
Hello,
Just wanted to post some thoughts. Recently bought the Atrix 4G. Over the past 7 months ive had 7 different phones. Here are my opinions:
1) iPhone 3GS:
Well everyone knows about this phone, so i wont go in much detail.
Pros:
Fast Phone, Everything worked seamlessly, battery was pretty decent, TONS of apps to choose from, iTunes integration (i hate itunes personally).
Cons:
Its apple, no customization w/ out have to jailbreak every update, Everyone and their grandma has the same phone.
2) Nexus one:
One of the most beautiful, well put together phones i have ever used. Really opened my eyes to android. Its a pity it didnt get more advertising.
Pros:
The form of the phone w/ the trackball, build quality for the phone was premium. Pure android. Blazingly fast, newer phones lagged while this phone was hauling. Battery life was decent
Cons:
No multitouch (which you dont really realize how important it is til you dont have it). Screen wasnt as bright or detailed as the newer screens. Parts and accessories were hard to come by locally.
3) iPhone 4g:
I strongly dislike apple, but i had to see what the fuss was about.
Pros:
Very well put together phone, extremely fast, access to large app store, very little lag, battery life was very good. screen was excellent quality, tons of accessories.
Cons:
Its apple, jailbreaking was becoming increasingly difficult because of baseband and OS. Everyone has this phone which makes me dislike it (personal reason but meh, we all like to be different). Everything is based through iTunes which i dislike.
4) Windows 7 Phone (samsung focus)
At first i thought the phone was stupid looking but then i decided to try out the metro UI.
Pros:
Fast phone, the metro UI on the inside of the OS (once you actually get into the apps) was brilliant, ease of use (good for most, bad for me since i like to change everything), BING! ( i really like bing after using the phone, integration was awesome). Zune integration was stellar. I really prefer zune (which i had never used before), to iTunes.
Cons:
There are alot. First, no multitasking or fast app switching. Relaunching an app every time you want to read a text message is annoying. Having a timer countdown and expecting it to go off when finished and it not going off because your screen wasnt currently on the timer app is very frustrating. Microsoft updates.... will happen eventually. The copy and paste update was 2 months late. That was just copy and paste and a few other touches. Lost faith in microsofts abilities in updating the OS. Lack of accessories such as car mounts etc... Battery life was pretty bad.
5) Blackberry Torch 9800
had to try it out on my quest to try every os. I actually came to like this phone
Pros:
BIS security, everything is encrypted. Email was the best i ever had. Had everything pushed to my phone from blackberry servers w/ only a couple mins delay after they arrived in my actual inbox. Form factor was awesome. First physical keyboard and it was really nice. No need to jailbreak/ unlock phone. Everything was open for user changes. TONS of options for everything. Battery was amazing, best ive had. Easily lasted 2 days of heavy usage. Multi tasking and multi touch like a pro.
Cons:
The phone came out in nov 2010. It has a 600 mhz processor. Its just not enough to support many games or intense apps. It saves the battery but in a field of emerging dual-core phones, they have to be more competitive in term of pure power. Screen was dim and resolution sucked. Lock button was designed by a monkey. couldnt put in pocket w/out unlocking the phone. Internet was slow, streaming apps (like pandora) was a joke, always skipping and lagging.
6) Palm Pre 2
Once again, it was next on the list. It would OS of the year on some poll.
Pros:
The OS is excellent on this. I really do like the cards and the gesture support. If there is one thing i could take away from this phone, it would be the OS. Just awesome and intuitive. "jailbreaking" was easy to do, and there is a 3rd party market "preware" that has lots of apps and "patches" that change things for your phone. Screen was nice, physical keyboard was nice (prefer the blackberry one more though). 1 ghz proc was able to launch apps and play 3d games decently. Dungeon hunters and angry birds etc...
Cons:
Battery life!! 1050 mah battery is abysmal. worst of all the phones ive tried. 5-6 hours of medium usage max. If you were playing a game, you better have it plugged in. Even playing solitaire drained the battery. I was able to use up the whole battery in 2 hours of 3d gaming. The form factor of the phone was a little kiddish. Did a little curve to the phone when keyboard came out. Phone is creaky. Started to have an "oreo" effect w/ in 2 weeks of usage. All hinges were loose and wobbled to the side. App market was sparce and there werent many new advances into the market. Screen was small and keyboard was... wierd. hard to describe but i didnt like it. Internet speeds sucks and streaming was not existent. Took 10-15 mins for pandora to launch and start playing. 2 min gap in between songs. if you paused a song it was take about 5 mins to start again if it started again.
7) Motorola Atrix 4G
Decided i needed to get away from kid hardware and back on the edge of tech
Pros:
Dual-core sexiness. psuedo "4g" speeds. Large screen. Nice resolution. Front facing camera. Fingerprint scanner. Build quality is nice. I prefer pure google experience, but i just installed spb shell and i love the interface and i dont have to deal w/ motoblur. This thing is blazing fast w/ no lag. Streaming music and video is easy. Navigation is brilliant. Oh how i missed android navigation. Tons of markets in the app store. Battery life is brilliant for the amount of power this phone is pushing. I easily get through the day of heavy usage. SD slot is a plus.
Cons:
I do get the occasional force close, androids open market is more open to malware. Motoblur = not up to date OS. Wish it was stock android. Finger print scanner is good idea but some times takes longer then just doing to the dots. Market place is kind of a cluster f***. Last thing is i keep pushing the speaker instead of the button on the back of the phone when im in the dark when i try to unlock it. Im afraid im going to break the speaker on accident lol.
All in all, the Atrix 4g is the best phone ive had, and i have had a lot. Hopefully this will help somebody if they decide to read through it all. Feel free to leave comments on your past experiences w/ other phones.
I agree with everything said here, and the lock button was designed by a monkey on the atrix as well.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Man, you are I are on the same boat except, I have never experienced a Palm phone, and I won't ever...
I loved nokia - symbian phones, but the OS is outdated, as well, the technology used to build the phones is from stone age...
Used all different versions of iPhone, iPhones are great and all, but they have same different boring UI. No customization until phone's JBen. Apple wants to monopolize the market with their iOS, great, go ahead and try, i'm not in.
Used HD7 as current WP7 and different bunch of phones with Windows 6.5, they are all okay, WP7 has potential but lack of applications is what keeping me away from trying their phones, also for some reason Windows phone release is really slow compared to Android phones in current market.
Android. Great potential, way better feeling while using the phone than other OS. Honestly, market may not have rich application selection as compared to iOS, but Google's getting there.
One thing I don't like about and I am not pointing at any negative aspect, what I don't understand is why the hell in the world every second software/application developer is running after iOS app development? Don't they see the potential in Android? Don't they see the growth? Just a simple comparison, EA mobile has more than 25 games/apps for iPhone, but only 8 or 9 for Android... And to be honest, I don't like it... I want all of the developers on board come up with an app for android... this is one of the reasons I would still like to have an iPhone on me, just to kill time, there is tons of apps you can just keep playing, reading, doing something with your phone... Again, all of these is my personal opinion... if someone have anything to say about it, well... go right ahead...
But, at the end, I am sticking with my Google Phone... To be precise, Moto Atrix and HTC G2... Lovin'em.
Thanks for share
path too long
I suggest you Long Path Tool will let you easily delete, copy or rename long path files, you can try it for better service.
This ended up being way longer than I thought it would. It might help newbies though. Happy reading (to those that don't fall asleep half-way through).
So, here’s my SGS2 story. First some background. My Android experience is with two phones, the G2 (Desire Z) and G2X (LG O2X). Prior to that I had numerous Windows phones, the last being an HD2. So interface wise I’ve never used or even seen TouchWiz and my Sense experience is from Windows. Both Android phones were close to “pure Google” so I’ve played with a lot of launchers and heavily customized them. I liked the G2, loathed the G2X. Also, being in the U.S., the SGS2 is my first non-carrier branded phone.
The phone came Friday but I didn’t get to set it up until Monday. I wanted to play with it for a few days before commenting on it. So, by category, here are my thoughts.
Physical
I like the size, weight, and the way it feels in my hand. For some reason though, I treat it like it’s fragile. You can’t lay it down on its face because the gray trim around the screen touches the surface. You can’t lay it on its back because the plastic on the bulge at the bottom will scratch as will the camera surround. I’ll feel better when the cases I ordered come.
The full-glass front is nice as it makes the phone look rich and is more durable than using multiple materials. It’s a very stylish phone with no flex in the chassis and a very premium look. The hard-key for home that also activates task manager and voice control is a clever touch. As is being able to answer calls with the home button and disconnect them with the on/off switch. The capacitive buttons for back and menu have a pretty wide sensitivity area which makes them easy to hit even if they’re not illuminated.
The on/off switch and volume toggle are firm and respond well. I’m used to the power button being top right but I have no preference.
Overall, other than my fear of damaging it, I rate the phones physical attributes highly.
Screen
LG should stick to TVs. The O2X/G2Xs are plagued with LCD screen bleeding from the corners. It drove me crazy watching video with dark backgrounds. The colors were good on the G2X but the SGS2 blows them away. Having a totally black screen from edge to edge is a nice change from the G2X. Also, 4” vs 4.27” may not seem big on paper but the extra space makes browsing and media a much better experience. My screen has no bad pixels, lines or discolorations so I’m happy. I see the banding in gradients on certain apps and pages that some people have pointed out but it doesn’t really bother me.
TouchWiz & Samsung widgets
I used ADW Launcher on my other phones and liked it a lot. The biggest change coming to TouchWiz was the lack of control – no changing rows and columns, no changing icons, labels, or backgrounds, no controlling transitions. Also, the home screen being the furthest left screen instead of center is taking some getting used to. But to use some of the cool Samsung widgets you have to use TouchWiz.
So, after adjusting to it, I like TouchWiz. The multiple methods of moving between screens is cool as is the methods they use for moving apps around on the screen, adding pages and folders. The gyroscopic zoom is pretty cool too and a great party trick when defending buying a phone for $800. Having used Sense I was expecting TouchWiz to be similar. Sense is pretty much an all-inclusive overlay with different Sense functions all tightly integrated. TouchWiz is less intrusive and leaves a lot of stock Android exposed.
The full page calendar widget is handy and so are the e-mail and mini paper ones. I’m using live panel on one screen but it’s really just a method of resizing widgets which all the other launchers do too.
There’s no lag but I can see TouchWiz being a bear on less powerful devices. Overall, it’s not to die for but as an alternative launcher it’s got some benefits including the use of Samsung’s proprietary widgets.
Pre-Loaded Apps
Some brief comments on the pre-loaded apps:
AllShare – Much better than the DNLA app on the G2X.
BBC iPlayer – Doesn’t work in the U.S., even on a UK phone.
Calendar – I like Samsung’s better than stock.
Contacts – Again, better than stock.
Clock – Some cool features and I like Samsung’s desk clock better than stock android.
FM Radio – Nice interface but I haven’t used it.
Game Hub – Seems pretty limited in content and simplistic but I haven’t used it.
Kies Air – A really neat feature when you just want to move a couple of files between the phone and a PC.
Memo – Simple and effective for taking quick notes and easier than opening a Docs to Go page.
Mini Diary – Pretty cool for vacations and other type of social outings.
Polaris Office – Can anyone figure out what it does that other apps don’t already do better?
Readers Hub – I like it for the newspapers and magazines while I’m traveling. It’s nicely implemented.
Samsung Apps – What a strange little app. I doubt I’ll use it for anything other than updating pre-loaded Samsung apps.
Social Hub – I’m using it instead of individual apps for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I lose some functionality but it’s easier to see everything in one place and be able to respond quickly. Also, Samsung’s figured out a way to link Facebook contacts to internal contacts which supposedly can’t be done in 2.3.3.
Samsung Suggests – Just a link to a web page where Samsung suggests certain market apps.
Task Manager – Nothing special but not offensive either.
Video Maker – Nice to have I guess if you want to edit something on the road before sharing it. A phone’s not a great device for editing though.
Voice Command/Recorder/Talk – I haven’t figured these out yet. They’re all just Samsung-ized versions of Vingo. The few times I played with it what I said wasn’t understood. I haven’t figured out the difference/benefit compared to Google Voice.
E-Mail
I use Exchange and love the Samsung app. It offers lots of customization options, is responsive, and supports advanced Exchange features. It includes a tasks app which most manufacturer e-mail clients don’t. Some people were complaining about the lack of tick boxes. They’re there. When you press delete or move they’re displayed. It’s actually a cool idea as it saves a bunch of screen real estate. Overall, I like it better than the stock app and Enhanced E-Mail which I’ve used previously.
2G/3G/4G
I’ve only used the phone in my home city but it’s worked as well as any other phone I’ve used. It gets signal where my T-Mobile phones wouldn’t but that’s more a tower issue. I’ve never seen the phone drop below 3G but it does intentionally drop H/H+ when no data’s being transmitted. Data restarts immediately so if it saves battery I’m fine with it. Interestingly, I’m not in an AT&T fake 4G area but my downloads and web page loads are faster than my G2X even though SpeedTest shows half the bandwidth.
Wi-Fi
I’ve only used it in my house but it works as well as the G2/G2X in picking up, holding, and re-connecting a signal. It’s actually 15-30% faster than the G2X using SpeedTest. I get close to 30MB down according to SpeedTest where the G2X could only pull in the teens.
Bluetooth
It’s much more reliable than the G2X. It pairs easily, stays paired, and re-connects quickly and automatically. Rhapsody sounds 100% better over Bluetooth in my car than it did with the G2X. Loudness in my car is great, my BlueAnt Q2 headset is a little lower than I’d like but livable.
GPS
No problem picking up satellites and locking with GPS-only enabled. It’s a bit faster with Wi-Fi and sensor aiding on but feels roughly comparable to the G2 and G2X. My area has a pretty unobstructed view of the sky so it’s not a difficult test.
Sound
I have a pair of Shure 530’s and can’t turn the volume up past half-way. The bass seems richer and the separation better than on my G2X and G2. I’m no audiophile but the sound is more than adequate and better than my previous phones so I’m happy. The external speaker is louder than the G2 and G2X but a little shriller.
Internet
I like the stock browser and am impressed with how fast it renders. It’s a lot more fluid and responsive than the one on the G2X.
Battery
Every time I get a new phone I follow the same process. Format the SD card on a PC and have it in the phone at first boot, load any phone updates over the untouched stock ROM, hard reset, than start loading apps and customizing. There’s way too much that’s interconnected in phone software today so I try to reduce the variables.
I’ve been configuring and re-configuring the phone for two days now so it’s hard to judge battery performance. Neither Android OS or Android System have gone above 16% and there are no deep dives in the battery usage meter to indicate a run-away app or service. I’ve used Wi-Fi for hours a day, Kies AIR, AllShare, have all the Hubs as well as news and weather synching and am using Exchange push e-mail. Yesterday I was also watching videos on PlayOn and Netflix over 3G and Wi-Fi and listened to Bluetooth audio in my car for a few hours. Yesterday I got 12 hours on the phone and today about 11. The G2X was good for about 14 to 16 so I think I’ll get that with the SGS2 when I start using it the same way.
It appears I have a different approach to apps I don’t use then most of you. A lot of you freeze or remove them. I open them, accept their nag screens, and register if there’s a registration offered. I then go in to their settings and disable them or throttle them to the least amount of intrusion as possible. With everything inter-connected in the stock ROM there may be a polling process taking place looking for the status of specific apps. Freezing them potentially continues the polling while activating and ignoring them allows them to just be dormant. This could also explain why the online reviewers aren’t having problems as their phones are pre-setup by Samsung. Just my two cents on battery and, please god, don’t turn this in to yet another battery life discussion thread.
Summary
I really like the phone. It looks and feels good, seems well made, and is incredibly smooth and fast. I think Samsung did a great job with the UI. I know there’s battery, 2G/3G/4G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth issues but there are tons of external variables that affect those things. If you think you’ve got problems go check out the G2X/O2X boards. And shame on LG because their ROM is on 2.2 which has been around a lot longer and should be a lot easier to work with. My phone’s running terrific (knock on wood) and I would buy it again and recommend it to others. It’s kind of like moving in to a new house. As I live with it for a while I’m sure I’ll find additional positives and negatives. But, overall, it was a good choice and investment.
perfect
Here is my response the phone kicks arse.....good review though
Hold on, you are on t-mobile usa and you can connect to 3g? I thought this phone can not do AWS? I haven't checked this forum for a while so if it works with tmous 3g frequencies I would be damn!
Nice review btw!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
ceroglu said:
Hold on, you are on t-mobile usa and you can connect to 3g? I thought this phone can not do AWS? I haven't checked this forum for a while so if it works with tmous 3g frequencies I would be damn!
Nice review btw!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He said TMo phones. He may have been buying them off contract.
Awesome review. Answered a few of my questions! Didn't know about the home button answering calls and whatnot. I love that!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I believe the browser is faster because stock android doesn't use hardware acceleration on the browser while Samsung does on its phone. I think ice cream sandwich will bring hardware acceleration to the entire os finally.
Glad you enjoy the sgs2. Nice review
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Good sane review. Hey but what about that crappy batter...jk.
Didn't know about receiving/ending call buttons. Thanks for the tip. I've always hated using the touchscreen buttons and it seems Samsung did me a big favor.
Have you tried purposely scratching your phone? I always baby my phone, until the inevitable first drop. Then it is meh, who cares. The phone is black/greyish so marks won't really be that noticeable.
Also good to hear a normal person who isn't whining about Touchwiz all the time, and actually finds the pre-installed apps useful. Touchwiz is a paper-thin veneer, but certain benchmark freaks would rather turn on Windows Classic and leave Aero off for whatever peanuts of savings they can muster.
How do use allshare
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
poloboogie said:
How do use allshare
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a ton of videos and pictures on my Windows Home Server. I also transfer TV shows from TiVo to it so I catch up using the phone while hanging in the backyard, doing chores, etc. The WHS can stream remotely but I haven't tried that yet. I also use it to transfer pictures back and forth.
silverwolf0 said:
Touchwiz is a paper-thin veneer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd imagine version 1.0 was a bit rough. When you think about it, everyone used to dump TouchWiz and Sense to make the phone's run faster and smoother. With dual-core processors UI speed really isn't much of an issue anymore. And you can get things done faster with some of the app integration like contacts/Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn all combined. Now let's hope the manufacturers don't start making bloated UI's because of the increased headroom.
great review.
Damn good review, used to iphone for last 3 years. Loving android more and more. This might be my next phone
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Regarding Polaris Office and how it stacks up against other office suites currently available on Android, have a look at this thread.
superrrrrrrrrrrrb review. thanks a lot buddy
I must say thats a nice review! I finally got mine two days ago, I was blown away! Haha
First when I took it out of the (awesome) box. So thin, so beautiful.
Then I turned it on, plastic was still on. Didn't see the boot up animation so well. During set up I already was like "wow, those are some deep blacks..". Then when I arrived in the homescreen and I saw the colours and sharp icons... Oo! (I'm coming from Desire with simple AMOLED)
Then I swiped to the right to go to the second page, again wow xD So smooth and fast.
I also didn't use swype before, I'm hooked now. I swiped all of this, in record time and with minimal effort.
Overall this is the best phone you can get right now, without doubt.
Edit: Just picked up my Desire again.. Slow and ugly haha! Everybody coming from a Desire generation phone will be amazed. Its definitely a big upgrade, worth it in many ways.
Thanks for the review. It was solid and it wasnt long at all.
Great review and I read it all, didn't fall asleep either. Agree with most of your observations.
The things I don't like about Touchwiz is mainly to do with the app drawer, I prefer the continous up/down scrolling of the stock one, apps can't be arranged in alphabetical order.
Also wished there was some kind of nightmode for the screen where it would turn down the brightness to an even lower level for those, like me, who do a lot of reading in bed in complete darkness. The lowest brightness level of the screen is still too high in those situations.
zen123 said:
Great review and I read it all, didn't fall asleep either. Agree with most of your observations.
The things I don't like about Touchwiz is mainly to do with the app drawer, I prefer the continous up/down scrolling of the stock one, apps can't be arranged in alphabetical order.
Also wished there was some kind of nightmode for the screen where it would turn down the brightness to an even lower level for those, like me, who do a lot of reading in bed in complete darkness. The lowest brightness level of the screen is still too high in those situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try screen filter which is free on the market, one click on the widget turns on good night mode..
This is my attempt to review the phone after a year (and a bit) of use. It may seem pointless to review a phone that is at least a generation old, but I think what I have to say gives some insight into HTC as a manufacturer, and Android as a whole. These are also the sorts of things that can't be understood from using a phone for a few hours. I'll also cover Sense in part.
I'll start by listing everything that has annoyed or just disappointed me over the last 13 months.
Battery life
One of my major worries with Android as a whole (and by extension, all smartphones and the direction the market is heading): it is just not acceptable for a phone to not last a whole working day on moderate use (which for me is: about 2 hours web browsing and listening to music, a few text messages and emails). There are ways to avoid this happening (and the question should be, if users can do things to improve the battery, why don't they come out of the
factory that way?) but the fact is that a phone that requires the user to tinker extensively to get a day's reasonable use is not well designed. The trade-off is a thinner, lighter phone. Well, it's not worth it. Consumers are being hoodwinked into desiring crazy thin handsets before the technology is really there to support them. Ever-faster specs are the other side of this sorry tale. Phone software shouldn't need dual-core phones running at above 1Ghz, with 1gig of RAM. WP7 and iOS show this.
Build quality: I've had several serious problems caused by the hardware:
The battery cover - everyone knows about this. It is possible to remove it, and reinstall it, but it's difficult - and it just shouldn't be. That's all there is to it.
Volume rocker - the poor arrangement of the battery cover and the volume rocker meant that when I tried to pull off the battery cover, I broke off the top half of volume rocker. Luckily it still holds on and the volume control still works, but again - not good enough. The fact that there are packages of replacement volume rockers complete with the needed tools on Ebay show this is not limited to me and my clumsiness.
USB port - for no obvious reason, and very suddenly, the USB/charger port stopped working properly - no power was going to the phone. The main board and so the whole until had to be replaced. I'd not been rough with the connection. Which lead to...
GPS. One of my biggest disappointments. Although it worked reasonably well to begin with, when my internals were replaced because of the USB port failure, the internals must have been from the batch with the poorly connected GPS module. Everyone knows about this issue by now. I never ever ever get any GPS signal, no matter where I am or what the weather's like. Yes there are solutions, none of which worked for me, and I couldn't bare to be without my handset for another 7-14 days to get it repaired. Very poor.
HTC Sense
I've not found Sense to have any additional functionality that make it worth the resource overhead on top of Android. Really the only useful thing it does is linking contacts between my contacts and Facebook and Twitter (though this brings it's own problems, for instance forcefully importing a friend's outdated phone number from Facebook without giving me the option to choose the stored number instead). I've never been able to use the default Android calendar app because the Sense one replaces it, and I don't like the Sense one at all, it's quite unintuitive.
I find the extra chrome is not especially attractive, and doesn't make efficient use of space. It looks very mid-late 00s. So dumping Sense was one of the first things I did, first in favour of ADW Launcher and lately GO Launcher, for it's superb and beautiful widgets.
HTCSense.com - I've nearly forgotten what it did. Suffice to say, none of the services were useful enough or reliable (they didn't work at all for the first few months) to keep me coming back.
General Android issues
Music playing
There are many brilliant music-playing programs for Android. I've happily paid for two that I love using (PowerAmp and PlayerPro). Sadly, four years in, the experience of getting music onto an Android phone lags behind iPhone fundamentally. Spotify subscribers will call me a dinosaur for caring about this, but for those of us with large mp3 collections that they like to change up on their phones regularly, it's an unhappy experience. Technology
blogs would have you believe the iTunes/iPhone experience can be replicated, but my experience is that this just isn't true.
To give an overview of the problem (for anyone thinking of coming to Android and hoping to use their phone for playing music), here's my experience of using several Windows music management apps, and their limitations as a solution for managing Android devices.
DoubleTwist - marketed as iTunes for Android - laughable, and crushingly disappointing: ignoring slow performance and instability, not finding all files, misreading mp3 tags, all DoubleTwist does is sync a playlist to the phone (over Wi-Fi if you pay the upgrade). If you use iTunes, it will sync any playlist that you create in iTunes - but does anyone want to install iTunes if it's just to transfer music? I hate having it on my system. The main failing is that it has no easy way to select tracks to be transferred - they have to be added to a playlist. Unlike iTunes, you cannot tick or untick songs from the main library. If you want to remove a song from your phone, you have to find and then remove it from the appropriate playlist. Which is far more time consuming. No developers of music management software for Windows seem to understand this. The same problem applies to Winamp, Songbird, MediaMonkey, all of which I've tried and none of which work as well as iTunes does for iPods. All have various bugs or limitations (Winamp won't let you browse the syncing playlist by artist/album, only letting you edit the sync list as a great big long list, does a really poor job of finding artwork and lyrics. But the wifi sync option is very cool, if slightly pointless. Songbird is still unstable after years of development and has enduring problems with recognising tags.)
So far the best option is MediaMonkey, which is fast, stable and has some brilliant additional functions even in it's free version. It does allow you to browse tracks stored on the phone by artist and album which makes it easier to remove tracks, but doesn't give the selecting tracks from the main library option that iTunes has. Also, CD-ripping is only available in the paid version ($40).
Ideally I'd like to see Google develop or encourage the development of an iTunes equivalent media manager for Android phones on Windows that would do the simple job of syncing music easily, effectively, and without bugs! However this would go against their ambitions for getting everyone to to everything (including music) through the cloud, so I don't have much hope.
Another small issue I've got with music on Android is that the system's music management library doesn't recognise the album artist tag on music files. This means that when browsing music in any application by artist, compilations are split out into each artist. This makes for a messy library. I want the option to have all compilations combined under the 'Various Artists' name - simple to implement, but only possible by recognising the album artist tag.
Android Market
A constant source of irritation to me is a couple of bugs in the Market. The first of these is automatically starting updates which stall before downloading starts, requiring you to long-press and cancel, and then manually re-start each of the updates. Tedious. The other major problem is that about 1/3 to 1/2 the time, completed downloads will fail to install, often repeatedly. No idea. It works eventually, so it's not an issue of compatibility. Aggravating.
In progress...
I have had the DHD for a year too and came from a Iphone and I agree with some of your issues.
Battery life: For me at first I was having to charge at sometimes 1 or 2 in the afternoon >< but now I get to midnight often with 50% charge if i have been using lightly, a day with some gaming music and calls its 15% 20% left this is around 11 when i normally goto bed and put it on charge so battery life is ok for me now (I am on stock sense rom 2.3 something, the latest one)
The GPS been flaky really annoys me sometimes taking 3 4 minutes to get one Sat, makes hoping in the car and getting directions something you have to add 5 minutes to your journey for.
Build Quality has been fine for me, but I have not opened really since i put in my SD card and it's been in a clear gel case with protector since day 1 so looks immaculate. I think the GPS issue is a design flaw.
HTC sense is ok, I only use a couple of their widgets but yea it's not really that useful and can be replicated with many things often free from the market.
Android music players: At first coming from Itunes I liked the fact I could add a new song with drag and drop but in retrospect its better to have a database driven system like itunes for organizing music and playlists means you end up with your music nicely organised tagged and searchable.
The market i have had no issues with really (Though IOS apps are overall slicker than Android still, though Android has caught up in a few now)
I think Android looks really promising with ICS and will finally root and put a Rom on once one is hacked on the Desire HD.
Overall the handset has been nice and I like been able have live wallpapers and change themes with things with different launchers, the Iphone got boring from a OS perspective whereas Android you can change everything and seem like you have a new phone.
Now for the gotcha...I solved all my Android & HTC problems by getting a Samsung Omnia 7 16gb WP7 I have had both phones now concurrently for 8 months and the WP7 is my everyday phone since about 3 weeks into buying it, but I have the desire HD with a backup sim in it and carry that too.
It lasted all day from day one on a charge and I found the OS to do everything I needed without any tweaking, that been social networking, syncing with google calendar, making calls, listening to my music and surfing the web on the go. (I am not really a phone gamer, maybe play the odd puzzle game like jems or something.)
It's a bit like the iphone I guess everything just kind of works with no tweaking but it looks different and you can actually make your home screen look really nice and personal with live tiles of your photos news feeds etc. And Zune I love its a really cool looking desktop client, it checkerboards album art when you play music and my phone wirelessly syncs any new music when its on charge over night (though PC has to be on ofc) I would never go back to drag and drop into folders now. WP7 has its quirks and annoyances too but I think it does the things I need better.
I still love Android though and may get the Galaxy Nexus, However will wait and see the reviews, if Android still has jerky lag scrolling and the random stutters on the homescreens and in browser will wait until next gen, hopefully though they have got the accelerated GUI working well enough, and it looks a lot nicer seems much more integrated from the demos I have seen less hodgepodge than it currently is.
It's great to have three different phone OSes to be able to choose from, currently its not looking like one will get a monopoly like MS did with windows so hopefully we can continue to have some choice and variety for years to come which also drives innovation which means better experiences for us the users!
I gave up with it
I eventually gave up with my HD a couple of weeks ago. The phone, as you wrote, has some strengths and some (serious) weaknesses.
The battery is awful. I stated that the first week I got it -- and the deniers said it was fine. It's not. It's crap. And seriously harms the device.
The phone is also heavy. If that sounds dumb, it's not when your hand is tired holding the damn thing for 45 minutes.
And, after a while, the phone lags badly. Only a complete reset fixes this.
The camera is also so-so, and slow as Hell. Video recording is poor and jerky.
Fortunately, there is a cure to all of these problems -- the Samsung Galaxy S2.
bobbyelliott said:
I eventually gave up with my HD a couple of weeks ago. The phone, as you wrote, has some strengths and some (serious) weaknesses.
The battery is awful. I stated that the first week I got it -- and the deniers said it was fine. It's not. It's crap. And seriously harms the device.
The phone is also heavy. If that sounds dumb, it's not when your hand is tired holding the damn thing for 45 minutes.
And, after a while, the phone lags badly. Only a complete reset fixes this.
The camera is also so-so, and slow as Hell. Video recording is poor and jerky.
Fortunately, there is a cure to all of these problems -- the Samsung Galaxy S2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bye Bye....
I've had my DHD for about 6 months now coming from a TyTN II on WinMob 6.0 which I still have. This one is miiiiiiiiles ahead. I agree that the major put-off with the DHD is the battery and I don't care how much freaking tweaking one does, it SUX!!!! I don't get a full day of moderate use at all. I am constantly plugging it in to charge. This seems to be a common Android device problem. Battery technology just has not kept up with the rest.
That being said, I am happy with most everything else. I love my music and I use Mortplayer. I love to be able to just plug my phone into my laptop via USB and just copy and delete music at my leisure. This goes for videos, series, movies etc.
I have the best apps I believe for my various needs. I will elaborate on this a little later.
I dumped SENSE!!! I have been using GO Launcher for the last 3 or 4 months. I love it! I also only use Live Wallpaper.
My GPS is great. I have had no issues at all. I get a lock indoors in an average of about 20 seconds flat. I have made no alterations or mods whatsoever. My phone is stock, unrooted etc. Don't fix it if it aint broke!
The apps I mostly use:
OfficeSuite Pro
Sygic Navigation
Perfect Viewer for comics
QuickPic gallery
Total Commander
Moboplayer for movies
Mortplayer for music
GO Keyboard (THE best Android keyboard after having tried seven or eight different ones)
Vlingo
Camera ZoomFX Pro
Photaf
PicSayPro
I hardly play games.
GO Contacts and Dialer
GO SMS Pro
Whatsapp
Black Facebook
Google+
LinkedIn for Android
Agile Locker
Animated Weather Pro
Weather Bug
Sense Analog Clock (The best one imho) Lots of skins available
GMail
Pocket Informant (Calendar)
Lookout Security
Equalizer
Volume Ace
Whiteboard Pro
Lots of dictionaries
Aldiko Book reader (The best for Android imho)
Camcard
Barcode Scanner
Camscan
Barcode Generator
Neocalc
Opera Mobile
...And various other tools and utilities.
well what i say m my sig tells everything about it . its just the worst decision of my life to buy it and even bad thing is that no one want to buy this kind of bulky phone here so i m kind of stuck with this phone still.
when i see ics boot up and running on dhd but not sgs2 well first time this phone give me some happiness .
I must say i haven't had many if any of the above issues, build quality is solid as a rock for me, phone been dropped a few times works perfectly well...
Sim cover did tend to be a pain to get off when i first got the phone, but i learned to pull it off by holding the sides of the cover and just gently pulling down.
The Volume rocker does suck, i don't think there's any debate here. You actually have to physically see the screen in order to know you've changed the volume level because it's not tactile whatsoever.
Battery life isn't as bad as people make out. Especially with custom roms, i can have 3 hours screen time and still last the full day in standby without my battery dying.
Camera performs quite well with the right settings as hamdir has demonstrated in his guide.
Overall i'm pleased with the DHD it's not perfect no, but for a year old smartphone it's got plenty of life left in it.
Ok... let's start with Music. The desire hd audio chip sucks. Period. My HD2 kicks its ass all over the place. Still... what you describe as a DHD problem with music sync etc, is present on most if not all Android devices. We only have mass storage.
Now, i do use MediaMonkey... but not the Free or Paid version. I downloaded the latest Beta4 and it manages my 180gb of mp3/ogg/flac/wav/ape whatevah. It syncs what i want and converts on the fly (why would i use FLAC on a cellphone?)
As for battery, with my DHD it lasts 2 days with very moderate use, but 3G always on, 2 google acounts, facebook, etc etc. Wifi is kept on, and when i arrive home, it connects to my wifi at it's own pleasure.
Battery door: Battery is not mean to be removed/inserted all that much. My DHD lasts months without a restart, so i don't see why you should need to remove that as often.
Volume rocker: Due to the above probably, it's still in it's place.
GPS: On this one i'll have to agree... it sucks. That plastic cover on the back is a issue, so much that a homemade fix is necessary.
As for the necessity of dual cores and so what... There really no NEED. We don't NEED this. We were fine with those dumb phones back in the Nokia Black/Green day.
As we want more, we need more... more processing power.
Now, i've used WP7 and iPhone. Lets not compare. WP7 is limited has hell. What it does, it does well. But it suffers for the same as iPhone. It need Zune to make it worth it. iPhone need iTunes. Who the hell designs a cellphone that requires a computer ?
So... please drop the comparision between WP7/iOS with Android. Yes, what they do, they do better than Android. But they do so little.. so so little..
Wrong thread
Black1982 said:
Bye Bye....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You write in the wrong thread br0. Go and cry on Samsung threads. It's not me it's DHD community which says this. Bye! Bye!
You understand Black1982: I'm with you.
Hello
I too use HTC Desire HD only problem is battery
Nice Thread.....
For me 1st year is just getting over today. This phone is awesome, I came from Symbian UIQ3 (W960i) phone. Actually I blindly chosen this phone due to Android+Dolby+HTC. But now am very happy with this decision. I had battery issues and GPS problems, but thanks to XDA devs all these gone over time. I will keep this phone till it dies.
Samsung Galaxy S2......
....is a very fast piece of plastic!
My brother has one and frankly I wouldn't swop my DHD for it ......EVER!!!!
After the DHD I will get another HTC. I am on my third HTC now.
I have seen Sony-Fricssions, Samdungs, (actually the proper name is SAMpple), and frankly HTC is still tops as far as build quality, etc. goes.
What can I say.....I luv me DHD!!!!
BTW, how on earth do people get 2 days without charging? Maybe flashing roms? but I don't want to do this.
The audio on my DHD is actually quite good. I use Equalizer and Volume Ace with Moboplayer and Mortplayer. I have an in-ear Phillips headset and the sound is maybe not the best but it is certainly good. Bass and loudness & clarity is actually quite good on mine. My family complains that my phone is too loud! hehehehehehe
Why do people keep whingeing about the battery life...its a smartphone...what more do you need to know...I've had a few of them...they are ****e,the galaxy s lasts about an he longer,look at this way,if your on the laptop plug it in...you got a sky hd box..plug it ...any device with a USB stick it in ..if your battery goes down to quick you can tweak it to be fair,in general though it just is accepted...the iPhones are even worse!
Htc sense is quality in my opinion,I've tried roms without and didn't gel,I like the DHd it still isn't old in my eyes
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Nice review there. Honestly, I agree with the first few points of TS regarding the battery, Sense and GPS.
For the battery, its also the major setback I noticed when I got this phone. It's not crappy, its utter bulldung. But hey, due to the battery prob forces me to snoop around and found my love, ROM flashing! It's a mixed blessing I guess. Without the battery prob, I wouldn't stubble upon the amazing devs at XDA. as for the battery prob, it lasts for me through the day, an hour of music, Bluetooth headphone connected, a little mail, text and 10 minutes call max got me through the whole day.. all that is possible with a little thing called flashing. It does improve battery life. Period.
Sense.. hmm.. no idea, skipped the whole marketing thing.. sense location and what not. What ONLY like about sense is that u call silence a call by flipping it over, or turn into a blowhorn during a conversation with the same method. Lol. But other then that, its not much about to bother look let alone try.
GPS... Hmmm... First few locks are slow.. sure. But hey, nothing like rooting, flashing CWM GPS.zip can't handle..
Finally.. its a beautiful phone.. albeit its weakness in some areas. It's like a classic car, few chinks here and there, but with a little personalized tweaking, it'll be your phone indeed. I cherish it more than any other phones I had cause its me in an aluminum shell... It's a great phone. And I'm a happy owner.
Ps: want a phone that last a week? Get a Nokia 3210. Lol.
sent from Borneo
What with the obsession with itunes, googlemusic works just fine for me, with a couple of hundred random tracks synced via banshee for offline appreciation
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
What with the obsession with itunes, googlemusic works just fine for me, with a couple of hundred random tracks synced via banshee for offline appreciation
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... Google Music works fine. I bet it does, i can't have it yet. Not here on my country anyway. But i can have iTunes.
I don't like iTunes. To be honest, iTunes is everything i HATE on a media manager.
But, it has a advantage that GMusic does not. iTunes does not store your entire collection on the cloud. I have 180gb+ of media... this makes Google Music a "no no" for me.
In just about two weeks, it'd be our anniversary
With DHD being my first smartphone, I really didn't have much expectations of it. I just bought it then because the HD7 was still unavailable. Sense rocks. Sure the stock eventually grew very laggy, Messages does not send messages.. But hey, that's what Android Market is for.
Eventually tried rooting and flashing custom ROMs, and hell yeah, I think I may well use it for, if time allows, still another year. In the internal side, I find nothing wrong with it. It's not like it's gonna replace my computer or anything. At this point, I kinda appreciate Sense, especially Sense 3.5, the UI is just perfect, and the Beats Audio works well at default compared to how PowerAMP does. Equalizer app makes it more perfect.
The build quality for me is kinda mixed. We gotta love the metal casing. But the detachable plastic parts, they're questionable. I also bought the phone with the power keys in a deeper position than advertised out of the box, which at the time I was unaware, so it's kinda takes more effort to press it.
Just around five months ago, the volume rocker somehow broke off and fell somewhere while I was walking home. I usually joke with my friends that DHD comes with a stylus.. a toothpick for pressing the volume lol. The h and t in the htc logo behind the phone got lost as well. I can only see the shining c with holes on the h and t lol.
But, given that the phone fell on the road with a strong impact once, fell in a pail full of water once while having a call, and ran against the rain with it once, and that my phone is still alive, I guess I like it. The mic's busted though.
I think I gotta bring this baby to the hospital, er the service centre one of these days. I still love it today. Custom ROMs rejuvenate it. )
Almost all the issues are caused by the alluminum body. You can't have a handheld radio device with metal casing that doesn't have some plastic parts to embed the antenna. Well, actually you can, but then you'll have to expose the antenna and explain to the users that they are holding the device the "wrong" way. But having the metal body has one great advantage over plastic - with proper care it still looks as good as new. I have mine DHD for little over a year and it's like brand new. And the only protection it has against the elements (including my two kids) is just the stock screen protector. I love that feature so much that it was one of the two things that drove me in the direction of choosing acer a500 for a tablet. And I seriously can't understand all the people complaining about the battery life. Mine lasts two days with normal usage and can easily last a workday with moderate to heavy usage. And if you don't have any access to a power source / usb plug near your workplace, I somehow doubt that your work requirements involve spending 8 hours playing with your phone . And I'm on a rooted stock 2.3.3 ROM with no battery tweaks whatsoever. Actually I pluged my phone yesterday for an hour while having lunch (that could not charge the battery completely) and 30 hours later I'm on 20%. True - I didn't use it that much (maybe 20 minutes talking on the phone) but it's still what should be expected of a smartphone. BTW iPhone4 battery life is worse despite it's tiny screen and limited functionality and I hear 4s is even worse.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
daedric said:
Well... Google Music works fine. I bet it does, i can't have it yet. Not here on my country anyway. But i can have iTunes.
I don't like iTunes. To be honest, iTunes is everything i HATE on a media manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not available here officially either, but hey us XDA'ers aren't going to let that stop us are we?
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
snowpatrol1702 said:
Why do people keep whingeing about the battery life...its a smartphone...what more do you need to know...I've had a few of them...they are ****e,the galaxy s lasts about an he longer,look at this way,if your on the laptop plug it in...you got a sky hd box..plug it ...any device with a USB stick it in ..if your battery goes down to quick you can tweak it to be fair,in general though it just is accepted...the iPhones are even worse!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? Because it's not satisfactory, that's why. Do you not understand the concept of a review?
Why do you even have a mobile phone if you never leave the house/office? If you're happy to stay plugged in all the time, why not just use your laptop for computing etc and a landline for phone calls? You do realise that smartphones are meant to be mobile too, don't you?
tkolev said:
I seriously can't understand all the people complaining about the battery life. Mine lasts two days with normal usage and can easily last a workday with moderate to heavy usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? Seriously, try reading my post again. As I described, I don't get the same performance as you. Clearly lots of other people have the same problem. I don't know why this is, but it doesn't stop it being a fact. What's not to understand? Do you think I'm making up my experience for fun, or something?
ghostofcain said:
What with the obsession with itunes, googlemusic works just fine for me, with a couple of hundred random tracks synced via banshee for offline appreciation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't realise there was anyway to access Google Music in the UK yet - I'm going to give it a try out of curiosity, but... continuously drain my battery and be dependent on a decent signal? No thanks. I'm really still not convinced cloud storage of music and video is the way forward at present in general. Plus the Google Music app is pretty bare bones and it doesn't seem possible to play music downloaded from Google Music in other music apps.
I'm not obsessed with iTunes, it's just really good for syncing music to portables. My point was that there's no decent equivalent for Android phones.
The Yotaphone 2 is now established, no longer on the horizon, so I thought we should have a dedicated thread to it, reviews about it, thoughts etc.
right, yotaphone 2 review so far.
First of all I will say that the specifications of the phone are perfect for me. Yes I like flagship specs but after a few generations of going for the best there is and having tried all the roms and UIs around (miui, touchwiz, sonys one, cyanogen, htc sense, windows, the oppo one etc, it goes on) I decided that I was bored. I wanted something completely different. Considered the jolla but when the yota 2 was announced I was instantly infatuated. Liked the idea of the first model, the second one nails it for me. And to be fair to it – a snapdragon 800 is a very competent soc, does all I need it to do and does everything fast. Currently I don’t need a 64 bit octacore chip, this one handles basically all the things I can throw at it and I don't really play the huge games anyway. Other than an occasional test of a heavy game, its gba and ps1 emulators, casual rpgs and a couple of shooters for me. Also, I read somewhere that Yota’s reasoning was they needed time to get the soc figured out with their device. Yota say they’re using the 800 to keep the heat low, preventing damage to the e-ink screen.
UPDATE: I have since realised that the phone is actually using the snapdragon 801. When announced in February it was using the 800 but it seems they quietly upgraded it before release. The phone says it's the MSM8974pro-aa which can be either 800 or 801 but the gpu clock speed is higher at 578mhz which is exclusive to the 801, so that's a lovely discovery .
On the face of it (both of them) this is a wonderfully pretty phone. At least from my point of view the aesthetics are all spot on. Everything is presented beautifully. This includes the box it comes in and everything in it. Even the charger is lovely to look at. Wonderfully compact and has yotaphone written across the back that lights up when the phone is connected. On the point of the charger, it outputs 1.5A and charges the phone in a couple of hours or so (25% to full takes between 1.30 and 1.45 hours). This adds to the convenience of the phone and lack of battery worries that I will get into later. You also get a load of earphone buds, like, loads.
The front facing screen is an excellent screen. Super AMOLED (my preference, I love the deep blacks), 442ppi on a 5inch screen produces a brilliant, crisp and clear image and the touch responsiveness is excellent. There are a few niggles with using the keyboard (slight over sensitivity with using swype input) but you soon get used to this, once your fingers and thumbs adjust to the screen this goes away I find. It’s much like using someone else’s laptop and their mouse pad is much more sensitive that yours. EDIT: I will concede that the keyboard probably needs a patch sent through, swipe input is fine but normal typing you have to learn to be more accurate than usual. Doesn't take long but if someone borrows your phone... (to be fair, no one is borrowing my Yota. There are many like it but this one is MINE).
The second screen is just beautiful. The whole back panel is made from the same piece of curved gorilla glass so you don’t notice the screen is there, it hardly feels like one but it’s joyous to the touch, smooth (so smooth) and a nice matte black/dark gray. The sensitivity is obviously slower and there are slight delays waiting for the screen to change, but these are minor and you get used to them. I’m still just wildly impressed that yota have pulled this off so well. The backscreen is excellently implemented, the yota mirror feature works like a dream, anything you want on the back can and will be. The screenlock is done using the gyroscope as well, whichever side is facing up is the one that unlocks when pressing the button. Also, the possibility of leaving some vital information like a map or a plane ticket on the back while the rest of the phone is turned off or utterly dead is likely to not be used often, possibly even if ever by some, but the fact that it can be done is a lovely bit of life insurance.
The yotapanels (configurable pages of widgets made for the EPD) are very pretty indeed and very functional. The back screen has its own phone and messaging app. My only niggle with notifications on the back is that the email part of the notification widget is at this point set to the stock email app, not customizable. Only a minor niggle as I would use the front screen for sending emails anyway but it would be nice to choose to check gmail (hoping for an update to change this). The panel grid layout and widgets can be changed to your liking, within reason. I have 2 businessy type pages with clock, calendar, weather, most called people, battery etc a news page with rss reader, emails, important apps and appy geek and a leisure page with games, book and music widget). What surprised me was downloading appy geek then finding a variety of widgets from them I could use on the panels. This gives me hope that more and more third party back widgets will be added over the course of development.
UPDATE: The widgets are better than I thought - the back panel music player associates itself with whichever music app you were playing from last. Also there are some nice easter eggs that you find as certain things occur on the backscreen which give a great sense of Yota going the extra mile. e.g. get someone to text you with just the word cool and leave the EPD face up.
On the subject of development I have received 2 updates so far, optimizing the back screen touch responsiveness, heat output, battery life, yotaenergy mode etc. Also, eventually someone will find a way to root them and then more possibilities reveal themselves. Honestly though, other than being able to use trickster mod, root explorers, remove system apps and a couple of other things I don’t miss all the little features of custom roms. Even sweep to wake isn’t as essential as it used to be for me – yota placed the lock button slightly above the right side (so your thumb is on it when the phone is front facing). This to me begs the question why doesn’t everyone else do that, it’s so much more natural, convenient and keeps the one hand ability going. Yota have made some smart decisions.
UPDATE: The phone has been rooted, Kingo root can do it with drivers you find on the yota website or other drivers online (mine was a case of trial and error). So a root file explorer, wakelock detector, system app remover and a kernel control app installed. Very happy and now its pretty much exactly as I want it.
The phone is very well put together and feels solid. This all improves with the bumper, which adds to the aesthetic further and makes you feel safer. Gorilla glass 3 on both sides or no, this is a phone you worry about dropping, 2 screens = double the vulnerability and double the worry. The back screen is wonderful to the touch but also quite slippery. The bumper gives you a bit more grip and therefore confidence. Despite the worry I have no qualms, it’s a brilliant thing to hold and have around you.
I think my favourite thing so far is being able to keep your phone locked and face down and still see the time, incoming notifications, respond if needed, read, play games and a host of other things. A simple glance is all you need, so convenient and saves those little bits of time and battery that build up over the course of a day. I still gush with appreciation when I look down.
UPDATE: I still do.
On to the battery life – it’s damn good if you want it to be, otherwise it's still not bad. 2550mah compared to 3000 may seem annoying to those that love a top spec’d beast and now that 4000mah phones are starting to come out this paltry little number is in danger of being outdated. However, this phone saves battery in so many ways such as:
1. Having the e-ink display (no battery usage except when it refreshes). How this saves battery is down to you – use the panels properly, get into chess, Sudoku and the other supplied games, use it for reading etc. Get into the habit of using it and you’ll save hours and hours.
2. Having yotaenergy mode. This is not to be underestimated. You can select what you want it to limit or turn off, if you select everything (except wifi cos obviously you need wifi) then cpu is limited, nfc and gps are off, brightness on main screen is down to minimum, the list goes on. Now, most of these I would do myself on a rooted phone, but it’s nice to have a mode that incorporates all the things needed to save a bundle of energy and implements it so well. This has the potential to save you days if used in conjunction with the back display. I use this at work and I can still check emails, notifications, play games for a bit, read etc and a work day ( 7 and a half hours ) will cost me like 5-6% + or – a few depending on the day. Granted I mostly use the back for that stuff but still, damn good so far.
3. Having a vanilla android experience. Having stock android with hardly any additions, all of which you can disable if you want, keeps the minimal drain down.
Now I’m a man that likes a phone to have a battery life that does not concern me. My old one x would require underclocking, a new rom that would need to be reflashed on occasion, greenify etc to get it through the day comfortably with decent usage and screen time. Now this is childs play, it’s a substantial weight off my mind. No real figures yet, haven’t done proper tests as it’s only been a few days. What I can say is that it’ll do a full 24h with heavy usage, wifi and data on, at least 3 hours of games and youtube, all without using energy saving or the e-ink that much and still have well over 30%. That was the second day of owning it, it’ll get better.
I turned yotaenergy on at 92% today, the first 8% drained in a few hours due to a naughty app that is now uninstalled. Going to test how it lasts over the weekend and will report back afterwards.
The bloatware is limited, some is annoying (don’t have twitter so don’t want twitter etc) but to Yota’s credit their own stuff is minimal, and I wouldn’t want to remove any of their own additions. The games chosen function great on the back screen and I dare say look better on it than on the front. There is the occasional little glitch, but most of these can be avoided or solved with a quick screen refresh of changing of modes etc.
I will stop now, I apologise for the length and hope I covered what most people wanted to hear. Will get back soon with long term battery test results.
UPDATE: Battery anxiety is truly gone. Example - took phone off charge at about 1am, up at 6.30, went to work, bit of browsing and game play during day. Got home, played bit of games, read a bit. Went out that night, stayed at a friends, got up at 11am next day. All of that was with mobile data or wifi turned on throughout. By using yota energy in times of minimal usage and EPD for standard things I saved bundles I intentionally took energy mode off when gaming and when was doing things on phone to create a fair test. When I checked gsam battery monitor it reported I'd used 50% in 34 hours, that was with 2.5 hours screen time, with about as much time spent gaming as reading and a fair amount of browsing and app updating etc. For a phone with 2550mah I'd say that's pretty excellent going. Maybe there are phones that can match it but even if so, they're not as much fun to use as this one.
If anyone has any requests for battery tests (full screen on time, how long on battery saver and EPD etc just ask).
Much TL,DR –
Very pretty phone, great front screen, back screen surprisingly useful and nice to look at and touch. Software well implemented. Hopeful for long term development improvements. Very good performance, great battery. Occasional glitch but nothing that detracts from and limits experience.
UPDATE: glitches have lessened significantly over a short space of time, haven't had one for ages.
UPDATE: there is a recurring one - the back panels app shortcuts will occasionally default to the originals. This takes less than a minute to rectify but still, hoping for it to be fixed in an update. This is only glitch I still encounter, the rest seemed to be teething problems.
Overall, loving it. Expensive but very different and a joy to use. Definitely worth it if you get a discount. I managed to get mine with 10% off and 2 bumper cases (longish story), to me that makes it great value because I honestly already see myself getting the subsequent generations, it would already annoy me not having the back screen.
Worth checking their facebook page every now and again to see if they've got another 10-20% discount going again.
Thanks for the in depth review, it's clearly hit the sweet spot for you ☺
I have a question about notifications.....when in the yota panel or yota cover mode and it is on your desk EPD facing up, what happens if you get a notification from say whatsapp or xda developers I.e. one that doesn't have a specific widget on the yota panel, is there any indication on the EPD that a notification has been received and if so can you interact with it or does it just send you to the OLED side?
Secondly, if you have your home screen mirrored on the EPD and again it's laying on your desk, will the notifications appear in the notification shade and can you swipe down the shade to check and interact exactly with them as you would on the OLED display? I.e using whatsapp as an example again , get the new message notification in the shade, swipe it down, click on the message, whatsapp opens and you type in a reply and send it....All from the e ink side.
Battery drain leads to battery anxiety, I am hoping that the yota 2 works how I've described above as I spend a lot of time lighting up the OLED on my phone just checking and responding to notifications and it could be a game changer to be able to do that from the e ink side. Saving the OLED for the more intense stuff like games, videos web browsing etc.
Thanks in advance
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Not a problem, it very much has and also it was a slow day at work .
The notification widget on the panels and covers has 4 items, phone, text, email and general notifications. Phone and text can be interacted with, and lovely apps they are to use as well. A great example is that if someone sends you a text that just says cool (even with third party text apps) then the text will show up and atop it is a picture of a man adjusting his bowtie. Lovely little easter egg. The email sends you to the stock email client, hoping for a way to get that to associate with gmail to come out eventually. The fourth is for other notifications (whatsapp, xda and everything else). The email and notification icons will simply send you to the front screen. You can just mirror them straight back over though. And I suppose having the phone implement everything would be a bit tricky. You never know, development might add them later. Sorry I write too much. In short, you can't interact with 'other' notifications straight from the screen but have to mirror it back.
To answer your second question - yes. If your using mirror on the home screen it will appear just as the same homescreen and same android, just on the back screen. Anything that comes up you can interact with, including pulling down the notification shade, opening your apps (in this case whatsapp) and interacting with them as you would (replying straight from the app). The only difference is its slower obviously, but still very do-able. If your going for super battery saving then it doesn't strike as a problem if you have to take a bit longer. It's enjoyable and pretty anyway, and very easy on the eyes.
So to summarise, yes, you can use the EPD just as you would the amoled. Even if you have to turn over activate the notification from a panel you can just mirror it straight back over, avoiding amoled over use.
I'm the same, always hate having the battery life hanging over me. The yota has got rid of that for me. It came off charge at 6am friday morning, its now just before 5pm - gsam says 34 hours. Battery is on 35%, both data and wifi have been on and being used constantly, games being played a lot, internet and youtube have occurred here and there. I've been trying to push it through its paces when have had the time. Had a couple of cheeky battery draining apps for first half of Friday so got rid of them but still.. It's nice to have 35% and feel confident that I could probably get another full day out of it if needed. And all in such an interesting package.
So, 48 hours battery life without a struggle with normal usage is perfectly feasible and also the charger charges it in a very short time, super convenient.
Hope I helped, sorry for the length again.
Thanks that really helped ?
I really like the idea of a more than one day battery life for moderate to heavy use, I'm out of contract in a couple of months and have been considering an xperia Z3 which has a large battery and is being reported by users as achieving 2 days use, however this phone is intriguing, I can think of so many potential uses for the snap shot on the EPD and to be able to control music and audio books etc. But it's the battery life that is most tempting with this device your quoted figures are impressive, how much were you using it during that period?
Another question if you don't mind, in some reviews and videos I've seen views of yota panels than display what look like short cuts to regular apps such as chrome, youtube, currency converter, maps, whatsapp , can you configure the yota panels to show an icon of any app in the app draw? For instance I use audible a lot and the EPD would be perfect for using and controlling audible from a short cut on the Yota panel. Would this short cut direct you to flip the phone to the OLED then mirror it back as per the general notifications you described above?
Thanks
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
It is a nice freedom to have to be sure, to not feel you have to charge it over night. If caught in those party situations, or when just away from charger its nice to know its fine. I read some z3 reviews and the z3 seems to do something similar with battery. The z3 would almost certainly beat the yota in a hands down typical battry test but for long term endurance with conservative usage (and lots of use of the EPD) then i'm certain that the yota could take it. And even if not, the EPD is amazing to have. Keep stumbling across more uses for it. (currently replying to your review on a laptop with your reply screenshotted onto back of my yota). I would say that other than when at work (minimal usage but still some games here and there) I was using it between normal and heavy usage depending on the time. Normal - moderate for most of the time with a few sessions of heavy usage. Data and wifi on the whole time, almost always downloading and updating apps too. More than I would usually use it basically and 2 days use was a breeze. In a few days I think i'll go for intentional conservative usage and see how long it goes for.
Not at all. The app shortcut widgets have different sizes available, 1, 3 and 6 apps. Each one of these widgets can be configured, you can choose any app. Clicking on the app from the EPD will open the app directly on the EPD, it'll basically activate mirror mode without having to switch over. A wonderful feature I think. So you would be able to open audible from the shortcut and control it straight from the EPD without the need to even activate the OLED at all.
The z3 is a good phone, better processor, better camera etc. It rivals the s5, the m8 etc in terms of features. For me though, the yota covers everything pretty well, even if it's using now slightly outdated specs - it does the job happily. And the EPD adds a whole new level of functionality and makes using a phone a very interesting practice again. It's a new way of using a phone and that's what's most attractive for me.
Thanks again for your reply, it seems that the yotaphone will do pretty much all I would want it to on the EPD, it has really got my interest up now! I'm seeing a yota panel with my most used apps that would not really suffer from being on the EPD, audible, fotmob, kobo, whatsapp, beyond pod maybe even words with friends!
I think along the same lines as you in wanting something a bit different and interesting, I've had two android phones now and before that an iPhone, to be honest another straight forward android seems a little samey now hence deciding that battery life would be my priority rather than screen size or the latest cpu etc.... If only that eye watering price would drop a little come March.....
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Yeah above all I wanted battery life with decent enough specs and something different. I finished my contract and began saving with the express aim of getting this phone, once got the money figured might as well as no other phone appeals to me enough. The modular smartphones coming up certainly piqued my interest but I can't wait for them, wanted a new phone now. For me the yota is worth it so far and I hold out hope for the duration of my ownership of it.
Good luck to you whether you decide to go for it or something else.
20% discount offer on facebook if your still wanting dude. £444 seems pretty reasonable.
zute333 said:
20% discount offer on facebook if your still wanting dude. £444 seems pretty reasonable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh that's so tempting, i don't have face book tho, where's the discount coming from,yotaphone themselves? I've been waiting for March to see what the HTC One M9 and Galaxy S6 looks like....trouble is android now looks the same on most handsets, so will a M9 be that much different from my M7 meh.
My kids have Facebook tho, how do you get access to the discount?
Thanks
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
yotaphone themselves indeed, celebrating 120,000 fans. Seems a bit harsh on the rest of us but i'm not one to begrudge success on a company I would like to succeed.
They all look the same now. Samsung have never been that good on the aesthetic look of their phone's imo, the m7 is beautiful in the same way as the m8 and m9 and possibly so on. And yeah, launchers are pretty stripped down now, and I find having a launcher that you can theme, or using something like dodol or themer you can get a phone looking exactly how you want, which negates manufacturers launchers anyhow. The only real difference comes from the odd gimmick here and there or in the case of the note edge a part of a screen. That one I kind of get but I'm also of the opinion that a whole second screen beats a sliver of one on the side .
Sorry, what you actually want to see is this: https://www.facebook.com/YotaPhone/posts/439221752895395
I hope the link works and the discount is still active if you go for it.
Well Zute333 thanks for the heads up on the discount , my daughter pulled up the voucher code via her FB and I've bought one at £421.80 ☺????????
It feels genuinely exciting to have something different to use over the coming months. Btw Is it a mini or micro sim?
Thanks again for helping me decide
Mike
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
Well I'm a bit gutted if i'm honest, got mine at £495-£555 (discount still pending, long story), with the bumper. But to be fair I've had a lovely few weeks and am getting the jolla tablet for hilariously cheap price so counting it a good overall load of deals lol. Still though, £421.80 is epic, congrats and I hope you enjoy it dude. Lollipop on the way at some point, can only improve things.
It's micro sim.
EDIT: nano-sim
No worries dude.
I'm even more gutted: it seems this is only valid in the UK, as I can't change the country field to any other. Website is partly in Dutch, though.
Sad for you dude. I think they made the post in other languages for other countries but can't find em and don't know if they did one for the Netherlands.
I don't really mind having paid full price, just happy to have it. You can always wait, another offer will surely arise, the standard price will also probably drop eventually.
By the way, a reseller here in Holland says in its specs the Yotaphone has nanosim. I assume they're wrong?
---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Also, I see different specs on radio: some say 3G, some say 4G.
bartveld said:
By the way, a reseller here in Holland says in its specs the Yotaphone has nanosim. I assume they're wrong?
---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Also, I see different specs on radio: some say 3G, some say 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, no I was wrong, I got the names mixed - thought there was mini and micro, equating micro with nano. The yota 2 sim tray is a nano-sim tray.
Also it can do 4g.
Thanks.
Hi all, newbie here! i've just bought Yotaphone 2 couple days ago, can't say how happy i am with this phone so far. It's fast enough and the always-on screen is amazingly convenient. Can't say much about battery life yet as only charged it once so far.
The only couple of minor things to mention though - the back-panel is very, very slippery so can easily drop the phone out of your hands. The other thing - email notifications on the back-panel. It's configured to default email app (as mentioned in some previous posts) and looks like there's no way how i can change it to gmail which is my primary email. But am i right thinking that there should be an update to fix this?
smekla said:
Hi all, newbie here! i've just bought Yotaphone 2 couple days ago, can't say how happy i am with this phone so far. It's fast enough and the always-on screen is amazingly convenient. Can't say much about battery life yet as only charged it once so far.
The only couple of minor things to mention though - the back-panel is very, very slippery so can easily drop the phone out of your hands. The other thing - email notifications on the back-panel. It's configured to default email app (as mentioned in some previous posts) and looks like there's no way how i can change it to gmail which is my primary email. But am i right thinking that there should be an update to fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude. Lovely phone isn't it. Yeah the back is pretty slippy, the bumper solves that problem if you can manage to get one? As for the email notification on the back, I agree, it's annoying that you can't configure it but I think they'll probably address that in an update, maybe make they're own email client like with the back sms app or something. Only time will tell on that front I suppose.
By the way, get someone to text you the word 'cool' and leave phone EPD facing up. Lovely little easter egg type addition by Yota. Figuring out various other ones over time