Related
It seems like the cruise has been abandon. I am not a rom freak but its been forever since anything has been developed for the polaris. What gives??
If thats the case i guess its time to move on to the iphone
Only if the embeeded graphics acceleration were fully included in drivers, it'd be enough to satisfy most users of the device, it's really irritating that the device performs worse than other older devices in graphics... that reminds me never to buy another device with a Qualcomm chipset (hence any HTC phone), so my next device would will come with a Marvell or Samsung chipset (mmm, those new Acer phones looks interesting).
I would never go to an iPhone, it's a toy, no more than that... I must admit that Apple scores 10 in marketing and they can sell uninformed people their devices.
Sorry for the rant, I just needed to say that aloud
dortyboy said:
It seems like the cruise has been abandon. I am not a rom freak but its been forever since anything has been developed for the polaris. What gives??
If thats the case i guess its time to move on to the iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What new stuff exactly are you're looking for?
There's a heap of applications being written every day that will run on Polaris(check the Forum).
Some guys are doing a great job in porting Android to Polaris as well. Take a look - it's pretty cool.
Whether it's a Polaris, Nokia or iPhone there's only so much you can do with it.....
Yes I agree, Polaris is not dead, it only reached a level of maturity that there is no need for any other heavy develpment... after all it's a good device with qvga standar screen that can run anything for qvga, and has a dpad...
Yes the 3d drivers issue gone a little bad, some roms dont even support or include them, but they perform good anyway, I don't think it's that slow device if you know what your doing.... you wont run photoshop on it...
And dont be sure that having samsung or marvell proccessor will be heaven on earth... a lot of my friends are fustrated with crashes, no reason overflows... and most of devices carring them dont have 3d acceleration.
The Polaris has 3D acceleration, in a way. It's just still not finished yet. It takes a HELL of alot time and effort to fix it, and most developers don't want to put in so much effort anymore, especially with Winmo7 around the corner with it's new kernel.
However, i still think it's possible to get Manila3D running without the sleep-bug, as long as people are motivated. But for alot of people, that comes with a price...
@Drakh: What about the Tegra when it comes out? Sorta best of both worlds...HTC device, which means in terms of hardware most devices will actually be pretty fully featured, and in terms of chipset, it's coming from a far better company than any of the other options given. Only obvious concern, it'll be a completely new product and is still untested by the market, almost certainly there's going to be at least a couple of flaws in the early iterations.
I don't know that I'd call Time-of-Death on the Polaris yet. I suspect a lot more development will kick back up when the Iolite actually hits shelves. At the very least, when serious Iolite development kicks up, and starts incorporating newer features/versions of software, it'll be relatively easy to create pair of roms side-by-side to cover both devices.
Polaris is my worst phone ever. It was expensive at the time and everything is slow about it, even the 2d operations like opening windows, clicking startmenu, slow camera, slow scrolling in windows like file explorer, all programs list etc etc etc. Real disappointment and i'm also looking for other smartphones with a different chipset/manufacturer.
i agree. i bout my Polaris over a year ago for 720 usd in NYC. for that i could have bought 3 iphones and it was disappointing to me that htc doesn't take the time to upgrade there phones. instead the fool us with a new one with slight improvements then another one with slight improvements. why cant they just focus on one phone and try and make it as best as possible.
This is primarily a htc device forum.
For anyone who thinks they may fair better with another brand device it is worth noting that the development that go on - largely thanks to xda-developers - is not something that is replicated on any other device.
The iphone is a matter of taste and while they have plenty of programs on app-store, it is as someone said earlier - a toy, a fashion accessory, an ipod with a phone in it.
If you are cheesed off with htc's lack of dedication to one device then I dont blame you, we all get sick of it, but every manufacturer is in it to make money and they are all slow to push out decent updates and have their own advantages and shortfalls.
At least with the htc devices we have xda-developers - and as long as it is there (and long may it live) we have the chance of enjoying the CHOICE of different softwares instead of having to make do with whats there as most of the other devices.
dortyboy said:
i agree. i bout my Polaris over a year ago for 720 usd in NYC. for that i could have bought 3 iphones and it was disappointing to me that htc doesn't take the time to upgrade there phones. instead the fool us with a new one with slight improvements then another one with slight improvements. why cant they just focus on one phone and try and make it as best as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but what is it you want it to do that it doesn't do?
is it games? then buy a Nintendo DS - sure you can't make calls with it but it's a great games device.
want to watch movies? the Sony PSP has great video playback but it won't manage you calendar.
I guess the point I'm making is that devices like the Polaris try to do lots of different things - and it does some things better than others.
I'm sure that when you got your Polaris you checked it out at the time and probably thought it was a pretty impressive device.
Most of the recent improvements have been to screen resolution, memory and processor speed and performance. All of these are hardware related and something that can not simply be plugged in and made work.
As time moves on technology improves and devices look better, maybe work a little faster and do more things. To expect something that's a couple of years old to work as well as a device you can buy today is a bit unrealistic.
I agree with Bally - at least we benefit from up-to-date software through the hard work of the cooks and developers at XDA-Devs.
Personally, my Polaris has never worked better or faster.
u guys are so quick to jump to your own conclusions! i never said i did not like my polaris; i love it! i am simply saying that there comes a time especially with htc devices that as we say a particular phone has run its course.
i just wanted to spark some interest in the phone and apparently i did.
i was just frustrated how expensive htc phones are and its up to private individuals to make them work better. maybe htc should be paying XDA for there hard work
I dont think HTC like´s XDA much for obvious reasons....the reasons that made me fall in love with this community.
I bought my Polaris 2 years ago and i see new models in stores that are a few levels down so i cant complain and i will only trade my polaris for a tegra device,the rest is just small improvements
Hi All,
I bought my Orbit 2 for Christmas, second hand.
I immediately flashed the rom to C Shekar's' "a" rom, then his "b" rom; added S2U2, a few bits and bobs, changed the theme and am now happy.
It is fast enough, and I use it extensively for e mail and TomTom navigation.
I like it!
Where to go from here?
What should be the next phone, assuming I stay with HTC? (better the devil you know ...)
SpiggyTopes said:
Hi All,
I bought my Orbit 2 for Christmas, second hand.
I immediately flashed the rom to C Shekar's' "a" rom, then his "b" rom; added S2U2, a few bits and bobs, changed the theme and am now happy.
It is fast enough, and I use it extensively for e mail and TomTom navigation.
I like it!
Where to go from here?
What should be the next phone, assuming I stay with HTC? (better the devil you know ...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with u. thats why i havent bought a new phone as of yet. i dnt wanna buy another htc phone. am waiting for something new but much better than htc and that is not htc
Assuming this has become a "spill what`s on your mind" thread, i`ll let you in on my feelings as well. When i bought the phone i gave 1300 Buglarian leva for it, that`s about 650 Euro (a bit more than $860) ... i loved it, it`s my first PDA, it was GREAT ! ... all of my friends were so jealous, it was THE phone. Some time passed, i made some installs and the phone started to go bad, started freezing, gave me the worst time in my life, i`ve never had such issues with a phone. Even now i`m trying to reflash it, and it doesn't want me to, the ROM update procedure freezes at 0% and doesnt go on ... then the recovery wizard kicks in ... and here we go again, and again ...
I will NEVER, ever purchase a Windows Mobile phone anymore, its buggy, slow and it cant event work like a decent phone ... what more should i ask, if it cant do that decently. So please, spare me the "htc sux, xda rulz" stuff ... xda-developers is a place spawned by the NEED for working software, something HTC and Microsoft both cant provide. Now tell me why shouldn't i buy an iphone, it does everything it says its supposed to. Though i wont buy an iphone, i`ll wait for the Palm Pre and buy that, and i`m sure, that will be deal for my money.
whatever you buy you will get bored with it and envy some new model that comes out a week after you buy your new device......
the good thing about windows mobile devices is that at least you can fiddle around and add new stuff, change the interface etc. keeps you interested just that little bit longer
cr1960 said:
whatever you buy you will get bored with it and envy some new model that comes out a week after you buy your new device......
the good thing about windows mobile devices is that at least you can fiddle around and add new stuff, change the interface etc. keeps you interested just that little bit longer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thought exactly!
The best thing about a ppc is that it is a small computer!
So it gives you a lot of freedom.
But if someone just want's a good phone then buy a Nokia! And if someone just want's a good multimedia phone then buy a iphone!
cr1960 said:
whatever you buy you will get bored with it and envy some new model that comes out a week after you buy your new device......
the good thing about windows mobile devices is that at least you can fiddle around and add new stuff, change the interface etc. keeps you interested just that little bit longer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly I really want an iPhone because everything about it is just so polished, but im sure to get bored of it. I HATE my polaris sometimes, but fiddling around with it is just so much fun, Windows Mobile is crap, but trying to fill its inadequacies is fun in a twisted way.
adderz91 said:
Exactly I really want an iPhone because everything about it is just so polished, but im sure to get bored of it. I HATE my polaris sometimes, but fiddling around with it is just so much fun, Windows Mobile is crap, but trying to fill its inadequacies is fun in a twisted way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought a lot about the iPhone.
But .. as far as I know, it will not run TomTom.
Also, it is sealed- you can't replace the battery or get at the memory card.
AND - iTunes is terrible (imho), I much prefer Windows Media player for playlists.
What next, phone wise?
C'mon!, you cant compare a winmo device to an iphone, you're severily limited on the iphone platform (they just meet copy&paste and a2dp now for example), I'd never buy one of those devices, you wouldn't have the flexibility we have with winmo, and more thanks to communities like this... and it means a big thank to every developer here for your dedication and time.
cr1960, when I said before that the device performs bad I meant everyday use, I understand that if you want to play intensive 3D/2D graphics better buy an game console for example, or want the best GPS, buy a garmin or want the best photos, get a dedicated camera, etc; but no, it's the everyday use of Polaris that is affected, slow drawing, and is the very only one problem I see (video drivers), everything else is OK, the hardware specs of the Polaris don't have anything to envy other devices even more "modern" ones, 400Mhz is not any slow by the way, I'll put an example: the youtube app can't show decent video just choppy one and more processing power will help little without proper drivers (and as far as I know there are other HTC devices with more power than Polaris that have the same rendering problem), but watch the same video with Coreplayer (those guys someway figured how to talk directly to video hardware), and you'll see smooth video low CPU usage, see my point? It's not about demanding unrealistic performance from our beloved device, just that is underperforming in typical everyday use as it is now (maybe deliberate?).
Asking the polaris to run full size mpeg2 videos or do h264 or run quake at 60fps is unrealistic, asking it to run 320*240 videos smootly or show menus quickly or do smooth dragging inside google maps isn't.
The interesting thing is that the video driver (when 3D/2D hw acceleration is available) problem plagues most devices that use qualcomm not only HTC, even other manufacturers; I dont see much that problem in other chipsets, where it seems manufacturers dont have much problem adding correct drivers, maybe qualcomm doesnt make it easy to device manufacturers to add correct drivers?, some say so, dunno.
Hello!
I'm still not sure about the tattoo, but since alot has with the development in the past months I thought I'd ask a couple of questions concerning your current satification kwith the HTC Tatttoo.
1. If you think about the issues that where real in the beginning (a big part of the market was closed for tattoo owners etc), how has these issues changed (perhaps many has disappeared now that you have root/custom roms?
2. Do you regret not buying a phone with a biger screen/higher resoluton? If so, which phone would you have bought instead for around 400 USD / 300 EUR.
3. For those who have tested a 2.1 rom on the Tattoo: Does 2.1 make the phone more responsive and less laggy (if you experienced lag before)? Does it solve any other issues that you had with the device?
4. How long are you planning to stick with the Tattoo before upgrading to another (android) phone?
5. What are your thoughts of the build quality of the device?
6. Would you recommend buying the htc Tattoo today concidering the price range stated in question #2?
Any other thoughts are also welcome=)
Thanx!
1. Still not great. I didn't realise the resolution of the device was going to limit it so much. Plus the camera doesn't have autofocus so barcode scanners dont work among other things.
2. I regret it, but its a free contract phone and im not paying £40 a month for an iphone.
3. not tested but may do soon!
4. Not impressed with android tbh...
5. Feels solid for the money. No complaints.
6. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Its a fun toy but a terrible phone. I think its far to slow. Hopefully this will change with future updates but I would stay away.
1. Still not great. I didn't realise the resolution of the device was going to limit it so much. Plus the camera doesn't have autofocus so barcode scanners dont work among other things.
2. I regret it, but its a free contract phone and im not paying £40 a month for an iphone.
3. not tested but may do soon!
4. Not impressed with android tbh...
5. Feels solid for the money. No complaints.
6. I personally wouldn't recommend it. Its a fun toy but a terrible phone. I think its far to slow. Hopefully this will change with future updates but I would stay away.
1. I've noticed that many apps became available later in the Market after devs added the QVGA tag for them. But it's still something greatly missed.
2. The smaller screen is a slight disadvantage which I was fully aware of when purchasing it, though the 7 home screens kinda make up for it.
3. I will test 2.1 in the weekend. Apparently it is much faster than 1.6.
4. Probably till the end of this year.
5. I'm pleased with the build quality. No issues there.
6. All I can say is weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. I bought this just to gain experience with Android.
Thanx alot for your input guys!
Sorry for the long questions, I thought I wouldn't get any answers because of that=)
sheik_yerbouti said:
3. I will test 2.1 in the weekend. Apparently it is much faster than 1.6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd really like to hear about how you experienced 2.1, and I hope
that it will provide you with a richer experience!
Me and my brother are currently looking at both the HTC Tattoo and the samsung i5700 "spica". Both phones has issues though.
What worries me the most is that the Tattoo might be a bit laggy and that is why I have such hopes in 2.1.
The Tattoo also seems more sturdy than the spica and I'm almost certain that I will accidently drop it some time.
I also like the fact that you can change the cover.
Some follow up questions: For those who has tried phones with a wider color range(?) than Tattoos 65k, spica has ~16 million,
will I really notice that much difference? I saw that the Hero had 65k too and that phone was a huge sucess.
3. Some reviews state that the resolution makes some text look blurred, is this something you have experienced?
How is the screen quaity in general (considering color range is only 65k) and what about video playback?
It's a shame that you can't try the phones in the stores here.
I tried installing 2.1 today, but I got to the Tattoo screen during startup, and then went to a blank screen. Waited for about 10 mins. So recovered the phone, and installing other ROM's now.
PS: I'm in MOD-installing-mood this weekend!
[B said:
Some follow up questions[/B]: For those who has tried phones with a wider color range(?) than Tattoos 65k, spica has ~16 million,
will I really notice that much difference? I saw that the Hero had 65k too and that phone was a huge sucess.
3. Some reviews state that the resolution makes some text look blurred, is this something you have experienced?
How is the screen quaity in general (considering color range is only 65k) and what about video playback?
It's a shame that you can't try the phones in the stores here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally notice the lack of colour depth (coming from touch diamond) but its a payoff to having a phone that will fit comfortably in my pocket (unlike the Hero = chin)
Theres not that much blurriness (imho) but you can notice it. Overall its a good android experince but I will be looking to the desire or legend for my next phone as long as they pass my pocket test!!
ragzy said:
I'd really like to hear about how you experienced 2.1, and I hope that it will provide you with a richer experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I tried installing it again after wiping my phone, and it installed fine. It's REALLY fast. Nice animations between opening windows. Bluetooth File transfer works after installing the BFT app. It was certainly a richer experience. Despite its current flaws, I'll be using it as my primary OS.
ragzy said:
Hello!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi mate!
ragzy said:
I'm still not sure about the tattoo, but since alot has with the development in the past months I thought I'd ask a couple of questions concerning your current satification kwith the HTC Tatttoo.
1. If you think about the issues that where real in the beginning (a big part of the market was closed for tattoo owners etc), how has these issues changed (perhaps many has disappeared now that you have root/custom roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With custom ROMs, the Market is fully available for Tattoo owners. This was the biggest issue I've had, since I'm a big lover of Twidroid and I can mark it as *SOLVED*!
ragzy said:
2. Do you regret not buying a phone with a biger screen/higher resoluton? If so, which phone would you have bought instead for around 400 USD / 300 EUR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the only real problem I have had is the full-qwerty keyboard in portrait mode. It's just a matter of attitude, though. Having used it for 4 months now, I'm able to write very long text messages in a very short time (even if I mainly twit ), and most of the time I disable the automatical corrector as I write both in Italian and in English. The very first days I was in a real pain, coming from a simple T9 Nokia, I felt the full-qwerty was really uncomfortable, but now everything is changed and I can't live without my full qwerty
So, I don't regret. Anyway, before buying the Tattoo I was taking some several looks at the Hero which should now cost around 300 EUR.
ragzy said:
3. For those who have tested a 2.1 rom on the Tattoo: Does 2.1 make the phone more responsive and less laggy (if you experienced lag before)? Does it solve any other issues that you had with the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never experienced lag with Tattoo but I'm not a big fan of gaming. I mainly use it for music, Google Maps (man, this is amazing!! I was in holiday some days ago with my gf and we were looking for a damn archeological site which was not on our map and not on the road signals, after walking around for about 30 mins I fired up Google Maps, searched for "Archeological Site" and BANG! He got us there, amazing. AFAIK, no GPS software is capable of such a search tool!), Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and all of those stuff you can do online.
The only way to make the phone very laggy is to use the RadioFM along with the GPS, but it's not a "daily" thing you do I guess.
As for the 2.1 ROM it's amazing. Even if it has not Camera and some stuffs are buggy, it's a GREAT ROM, man it's faster than hell, amazing animations, rewritten Messagging and Google Talk apps which are GREAT, every contact has its own tab which is more than good-looking and.. it's great!
ragzy said:
4. How long are you planning to stick with the Tattoo before upgrading to another (android) phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TBH, I'm already planning to change the phone but this has nothing to do with the Tattoo, it's only that I really love the Nexus One and I'm waiting for the summer as it should be available in Italy and I should have enough money But, really, nothing to do with Tattoo, it's perfect for me.
ragzy said:
5. What are your thoughts of the build quality of the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And.. this is a bad point. The plastic in which the stock cover is built it's not perfect. After a couple of months I've had some scratches (not in the display, though) and I'm now buying a new cover.
ragzy said:
6. Would you recommend buying the htc Tattoo today concidering the price range stated in question #2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. If that is your budget and if you don't plan in gaming all day long the Tattoo is definitely a perfect phone for you. As you can see, I'm enthusiastic with it, I use it all day, I tweet, I go to Facebook while I'm on the train, I Google, I maps, I read newspapers, I.. do almost everything. Perfect.
i like my tattoo very much. i paid 60-70 euros for it and since I'm a quad rider I usually wear gloves and the screen let's me handle the phone without taking them off.
if my other phone was ok i would have waited for Nexus to launch.
probably in 2011 i will sell it or when nokia morph is launched... :-??
sheik_yerbouti said:
So I tried installing it again after wiping my phone, and it installed fine. It's REALLY fast. Nice animations between opening windows. Bluetooth File transfer works after installing the BFT app. It was certainly a richer experience. Despite its current flaws, I'll be using it as my primary OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Sheik - I didnt realise the devs had a rom that was that close to being the finished item - any other probs withthe rom - i.e. all of the widgets and screen sizes ok? 3g or data and wifi ok etc?
Most of the perks, I can live with. Wi-Fi is a little dodgy, but I can partly blame my router for that. Speed and connectivity problems even with the stock ROM. Of all the widgets I have, they work fine. The Music player needs to be worked on as its size exceeds the Tattoo screen both in portrait and landscape mode. My phone doesn't have 3G. I'm still stuck on 2G, and it works just fine.
Thanx everyone for your replys!
Here is an update from me=)
I have had a spica home for testing but I'm sending it back today I did not like the build qualiy, also has less ram than tattoo, and no sense ui). Me and my brother got the spica for the same price as e new htc tattoo (spica was B-grade" though). No more B-grade for me, one of the charger pins was a bit bend and both the charger and the phone was really dusty, the seller assured it was not in "used condition" though.
I can't help but wonder if the Tattoo would have been a better choise=P
As Genargo pointed out, the tattoo seems to handle 2.1 pretty well (while other sources state that samsung spica lags when scrolling through menues and pulling up the menu (even though this is a official 2.1 release).
But our android craving has been put on ice, atleast for the moment.
gengaro said:
I was in holiday some days ago with my gf and we were looking for a damn archeological site which was not on our map and not on the road signals, after walking around for about 30 mins I fired up Google Maps, searched for "Archeological Site" and BANG! He got us there, amazing. AFAIK, no GPS software is capable of such a search tool!), Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and all of those stuff you can do online.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sums it up quite nicely, I mean that is is for these kind of moments I want a android phone with me music / gaming and video (divx) is not that important. I guess I see it as a more portable netbook.
Perhaps I should wait and see how android matures, I bet there will be many new models this year. It's amazing how fast android is evolving. Too bad there is no perfect device, I bet there never will be. Another thing that worries me os the dust problem on bothe the HTC hero, Nexus one and the desire (?). Dust underneath the screen would drive me mad=P
Right now there does not seem to be a android phone with a really nice and sturdy buid quality out there. Legends aluminum would scratch too easyli in my opinion and I don't like the cheap feel of the buttons. Hero feels great, too bad that it has the "dust issue"=/
hey guys, im asking your opinion..im going to buy a new phone this february, i look that x2 looks nice...but i saw that many people disappointed with this phone because they said it always freeze, lag, low battery life...is that true?? please help me, if this phone good, tell me...im gonna buy this phone next month...if this phone is not good, then tell me why? what can i do to make this phone good? or u can suggest me better phone(must have 8mp camera, long lasting battery, wi-fi provided, great speaker for music, touchscreen, side slider qwerty keyboard, large resolution and screen)...
well, it depends on what do you expect from a phone. but mainly, no it isnt a good phone.
if your looking for a good phone buy HD2 (the second hand HD2 is around 80€ more then a second hand X2 but its worth every cent).
its a year old model with still good hardware. you can instal on it MW6.5.X or android... In my oppinion there is no better phone for a XDA forum entusiast.
but let me say another comparison from my own experience (since i had both X2 and HD2) X2 in my country costs like 200€ from second hand and it freezes. battery life is nothing to bragg abouth. bad touch experience its like slavery.
on the other hand HD2 cost from 280 up and its emense freedom. It works great, feels great. touch experience is great. hardware is strong. MW6.5.x, froyo, obuntu, wp7... freedom.
X2 does look good but the software is a joke and not a funny one.
if you have like to much money then get x2 just to see an example how can a solid phone on paper go disturbingly wrong in real life.
have a nice day.
A lot of people have opinions like the ones expressed by gbajzelj ... and I would like to express one of liking the X2 ...
I have had it since 4/2010. I am very hapy with the phone -- but I like the WinMo 6.5.3 interface with its flexibility -- and not having restrictions on the app use.
Regarding the phone -- I use the standard WinMo frame, disabled slideview, run overclock (with a clock speed of 1024), run Garmin XT, use Clean RAM, Lookout, have bluetooth always on, sync with IMAP email every 30 minutes and I am in HSPDA network coverage.
I get 2 days of battery usage, the last freeze was at least a week ago, and I don't remember when the one before that was. It doesn't play video very well ... but I am not sure if it is the video or not -- they are downloaded ones from UTube that were converted to mp3 format. Movies that I took with the phone itself work fine.
There are times when the phone will stutter and take time to respond -- usually when it is not getting a responce from the web (like PCs do when the network connection is hosed) ... If I wait for no more then 15 seconds, it responds, and then I do a Ram Clean and the X2 is back to normal ... it have been a week since that happened ... and it could be that I have learned not to do certain things -- but they do not appear to be related to a specific set of things that I do ...
The bottom line is that I am very happy with the phone ... and the times that it fails is no more bothersome then when Win XP failed or locked up on a desktop. I really like the keyboard for text entry and the office programs to run excel spreadsheets and storing of data in Word documents.
But as gbajzelj has said, other phones also run WinMo 6.5.3 and will also serve you well ... but I am a long term SE customer, and I have not been disappointed with the X2.
As a side note ... I looked at the new Dell phone (running Android -- I think) at a store, and its responce -- sliding screens / opening programs -- did not seem to be any faster then my X2 ...
If you don't mind loosing several hours in upgrading firmware, installing some fixes and avoiding to install almost all the Sony Ericsson buggy software, the phone will work fine. There are several post explaining how to do it, but doing this means that you won't have panels or slideview and some others SE's addings, but the phone will be faster than before (this doesn't mean that it will become in a fast phone) and what is most important, stable whit a decent battery life.
Despite of this, don't get cheated by its theoretical features: 8.2 mpx camera is not what is was supposed to be, it's not bad, but my old Nokia N73 takes better photos, smaller, but better, which is a shame. The video recording is painful. The response of the screen is not good, neither bad, but not good. The amount of RAM, 256 mb (about 100 mb free), could not be enough in some cases. Some features like the LED notifications, the light sensor or the backlight management don't work properly.
In conclusion, X2 isn't a bad phone (if you don't mind spending several hours in tuning it), but its paper features are very far of what they were supposed to be.
Greetings.
gbajzelj
then how could i make x2 be a great phone?? how to make it not lag anymore?
RJH57108
you convience me 2 buy it now..anyway, u disable the slideview, then how u use the phone in side-ways? are there hotkeys to turn the screen to slide view?
robuash
does it really take time to update it? what worst case can happen during update? is it true that update it to MR2 make it fast?
or u guys can suggest me other phone..i would like to have a phone that i can store many music, 8mpx camera, touch and sideslider, support games, great loudspeaker, wifi, no lag, great battery(atleast 2 or 3 days minimum for heavy and moderate usage)
MR2 makes the phone more usable and a bit faster, avoiding to install SE's **** adds another bit of speed and stability, but after all, the phone won't become in a snapdragon, it will be acceptable as best.
Upgrading firmware supposes the same risk than in other phones, if you run out of battery or you computer turns off, your phone will become in an expensive brick.
I don't know any other phone with this specs, the are great phones, much better than X2, but in my opinion always have a weak point, or the camera is rubbish, or don't have qwerty keyboard, or the battery is insufficient, etc... For me, no one is absolutely complete, so i can't suggest you anyone.
Hope this info helps, greetings.
thnks..well, last question, how much time did it take to update it?
esad (SE Xperia X2) said:
RJH57108
you convience me 2 buy it now..anyway, u disable the slideview, then how u use the phone in side-ways? are there hotkeys to turn the screen to slide view?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slideview is a panel that runs on the X2 -- there are panels installed on the phone, and Slideview seems to be started even though you use a different panel ...
Slideview has nothing to do the the screen rotation that is automatically switched when the keyboard is slide out -- there are also auto-rotate fixes for the x2 that will allow programs to rotate to the lanscape mode with just turning the phone (most of the -- don't rotate problems -- seemed to be related to games) ...
For playing music (I actually use it to play audio books) -- I use Mort's MortPlayer -- which seems to work well, and with an ADP2 bluetooth headset, they are easy to listen to ...
Good luck with your decision ...
@ RJH57108
(originaly plans to pm but then again the answers may help)
Does the notification bug (the one where alarms e.g. sms notifactions like sounds and vibrate wont work after a while of use) happen to your phone? Had me always resorting to soft reset so that I would know wheter I have sms or not..
Could use some help tuning this phone...
Might as well search for a overclocking program too..
Current using the 'free up ram' feature of sktools..how does it par with ramclean?
If its ok, I would like to pattern tuning my phone from yours..
I don't have the problems with the notifications ... I get them (both sound and vibration -- also when I have a bluetooth headset in use -- an A2DP capable one) even after days of having the phone on ...
I find that RamClean seems to work better without any problems -- I used to use the SKTools one, but it would occasionally freeze the phone ... the RamClean does not have problems ... I use the Level 3 clean with a scheduled clean every 3 hours ...
Will probably reset my phone this weekends if I'm not too busy...
Might as well try the 'start-from-clean-wm6.5' step..
Hope that fixes the notification bug too..
Good luck to me.
As for the overclocking, are you using the method in this thread?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=767538&highlight=overclock
That is the right thread ... using nueOverClockTest and Msm7kCpuSpeed ...
esad (SE Xperia X2) said:
hey guys, im asking your opinion..im going to buy a new phone this february, i look that x2 looks nice...but i saw that many people disappointed with this phone because they said it always freeze, lag, low battery life...is that true?? please help me, if this phone good, tell me...im gonna buy this phone next month...if this phone is not good, then tell me why? what can i do to make this phone good? or u can suggest me better phone(must have 8mp camera, long lasting battery, wi-fi provided, great speaker for music, touchscreen, side slider qwerty keyboard, large resolution and screen)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not had battery problems with X2; I've used it since Aug 2010. I always have bluetooth on, and connected to my BT watch, BT car stereo, or BT home phone. I have LOTS of stuff installed, and a 32gb SD card. I've been known to run certain apps for 2-3 hrs straight with screen on and still have some juice left over.
In all, I enjoy the phone for it's sleek design and excellent flush screen more than I did the X1 (I bought the X1 the month it debuted, and still have it). The keyboard is absolutely untouchable. That alone is something that makes any kind of bugs something you say, "I'll have to search for a fix for that," rather than, "I better get a new phone".
If SE ever really focused on fixing the firmware one more time, or present an Android option ...the X2 would stomp all over similar devices.
But, there are indeed many core issues with this phone that you have to surmount, even after upgrade to MR2 firmware:
1) Fix for the SD Card corruption-bug
2) Fix for the display backlight timeout not being controllable.
3) Fix for forcing the screen to go off, but not the device to 'sleep' (this helps with certain BT & wiFi connections & software)
4) Add software to select programs for auto-rotate w/G-sensor
5) Add Opera
6) Add Advanced Config to tweak system
7) It's better if you overclock it.
8) Add SK Tools for system maintenance
9) Add JetWare bluetooth extension in order to transfer contacts to car stereo (I had to do this with X2; didn't have to with X1)
Items 1-7 are all freeware, although some may be hard to find.
That being said, this is Windows Mobile...so not a real big surprise that you'll have some issues. If you want real 'freedom' with your OS, ...this is what you'll need to work through. If you want trouble-free but vanilla computing, get an iPhone.
The comments above by gbajzelj & robuash are extremely valid, on the opposing ends of view....
esad (SE Xperia X2) said:
gbajzelj
then how could i make x2 be a great phone?? how to make it not lag anymore?
RJH57108
you convience me 2 buy it now..anyway, u disable the slideview, then how u use the phone in side-ways? are there hotkeys to turn the screen to slide view?
robuash
does it really take time to update it? what worst case can happen during update? is it true that update it to MR2 make it fast?
or u guys can suggest me other phone..i would like to have a phone that i can store many music, 8mpx camera, touch and sideslider, support games, great loudspeaker, wifi, no lag, great battery(atleast 2 or 3 days minimum for heavy and moderate usage)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A note on SlideView: this is essentially an extension of their media panel from the X1. While being a frustrating and buggy piece of software as people say, ...it's slick as Hell. I mean, I don't want to delete it (or the whole panel interface). It's why I bought the phone. I just think it's ridiculous when people say, "Fix your X2 by deleting SlideView and all Panels". --Oh, Thanks for that.
Just understand: you do need to buy a standalone photo viewer (Resco is great), and if you can't learn to love Windows Media Player, then expect to buy something like Pocket Player. SlideView is great for a handful of files, but not if you want to spend a lot of time with it. By that time, it will generally have cataloged some file it didn't like and crashed.
SlideView is launched if you press the hardware panel button once; panels are called by pressing the same button twice in quick succession. This could be better. Especially if your phone happens to be bogging-down at the time, ...you might not get the desired result on the first try.
A note on MR2: The firmware includes the "Saturn" black/gold theme from SE, which totally changes the look of your WM6.5.3 interface. It is slick, and it smartly increases fonts in correct areas, while making WM look modern. MR2 however, does not make the X2 magically 'fast'.
And, I think robuash is talking about the type of fixes I listed above. You will need to spend time tweaking. As a matter of fact, after running since about Sept, ...it's about time for a reload from scratch to clean things up. When I have 8hrs to spare, I'll get around to it. (Maybe I'll take a day off from work sometime.)
Lastly, I think someone above mentioned memory. As opposed to the X1, internal memory is very limited on the X2. You have to be real creative how you install stuff, and install absolutely everything you possibly can on the SD card instead of the system. (This is also where SK Tools comes in handy, because it lets you 'move' programs between Card and System & back, even for some programs that don't give you a choice at install time.)
Also, once you dip below 20mb program memory in the phone, it tends to get real buggy. I'm just above that right now, but I've got LOADS of programs installed (creatively, on the SD card).
I too, been thinking about getting the X2 for a long time. But theyre still quite expensive (In my opinion). I've always loved sony ericsson phones. I had the X1 awhile ago, my first WinMo phone, paid $250 for it, I only buy full qwerty phones, but at the time, i was all crazy about the whole android thing and the X1's keyboard was already giving me issues (space bar and some letters registering twice) so i got really dissapointed and sold it.
Then finally got myself the motorola milestone which i loved, but after tweaking my X1 so much, i sort of got bored with android, but it was still a GREAT phone so i decided to keep it until a couple of months ago mainly because, unfortunately, the milestone i bought (from amazon) was not compatible with my carrier's 3G frequencies so i had to use EDGE all the time, slow as hell. So i sold it and and decided to go with the HTC fuze so i could try winmo again, paid $100 for one(used) and cool and stuff but it still didnt look as good as the milestone or the X1 (thick phone and the screen sucked compared to the X1 and milestone) so i looked up the X1 on ebay and bought one used for $100 too lol.
So now i have the X1 AGAIN and love it more than ever BUT, theres the keyboard and flex cable issue >< , plus, the keyboard isnt as comfortable as the fuze's. Anyways, it just seems like the X2 would be perfect for me at this time since it would basically be a X1 without the issues i just mentioned. The only problem is that they seem to cost $250/$350 on ebay. For that price i could get used phones with way better specs.
Also, im not sure about X2's current android development.
shure X2 can be made farely OK (but not GOOD) phone with a little work and help from our friends from XDA.
but just to reming you. this device when came out costed around 500€ ($600). at lunch (in january 2010) it had old CPU (qualcom msms 7200 came out in 2007, alot devices from 2008 had it) it also had only 265 MB RAM wich was already then to little.
it was slow and buggy at lunch and it still is now (last update in may 2010 i think thats only 4 months after release and that is liie saying your costumers F YOU).
for a phone that costed 500€ at lunch i can assume its high end phone. and some people assumed that and pay for this phone when it came out.
i have to point out that i got it for free in february 2010 and i still have a feeling of being cheeted. for that kind of money it shoud look great (that it does), feal good (typing on the qwerty is nice, but the touch is a joke, even x1 had better touch response but x1 screen was not secured as good as x2 is) and also it shoud WORK good, wich if we buy a phone that is assumed high end it should but x2 doesnt.
what kind of high end phone corupts data on SD card (jeah there is a SDFIX but some data deffinitly got lost before it was made. and that does not sounds like a high end phone) what kind of phone takes almost 1/2 hour to setup (after a hard reset) and then works so slowly that you have to hard reset every week (shure you can hardreset, and interupt the costumizatin to have clean WM6.5.3 and then install some staff by yourself to make it usable)?
if a costumer buys a product (and again 500€ for mobile phone means it should be a mean machine, a multimedia monster, not that it says [email protected] video then even on the QVGA the framerate is not totaly 30fps) that product should work without ours deletting the SE stuff hardreseting it, SD problem fixes, notification problem fixes, LED problem fixes, baterry problem fixes, killing a task in taskmanager freezes... the phone should work great out of the box for gods sake! are you that dumb! IF YOU PAY FOR SOMETHIONG YOU SHOULD GET WHAT YOU PAYED!
just a little comparison i have a X2, had HD2 (had to sell couse i urgently needed money (am deffinatly buying HD2 again), and again the X2 is such a ****ty phone nobody wants to buy so i had to sell HD2), and my friend has htc tattoo.
X2 costs almost like HD2 (x2 €500, hd2 €550 maybe €600 and im talking new phones at thair releases) x2 has the display resolution like HD2, has a very nice query that is great to type. but it has a cpu slover then tattoo (and those who sees 528MHz and think the cpus are the same, THEY ARE NOT. 7225 is newer then 7200 the 7225 it might not be alot faster but it isa little faster) and has the same amouth on RAM as tattoo (256MB). and at my mobile operator with contract X2 costed 300€ and tattoo costed 60€, tatoo at elast has android (donut is realy old now but back then it was fine). im a fan of WM 6.5.x but still on X2 some things, that work on others 6.5.X devices, doesnt work.
in short (not realy):
-price is high end,
-qwerty above average,
-touch is low end (its better with the stylus but average max)
i so miss the touchpad with up, down, left, and right butons from my X1.
-cpu/ram is the low end of smartfhones (already was low at relese in Jan 2010 if i tell you that tattoo came out in Sep 2009 and tattoo is a low range of samrthones)
-it has a high end display resolution (but combination of slow hardware and big display resolution isnt the best)
- it has stability problems (stability wise the phone isnt finished yet. it more feels like a beta tester unit) the SD gets corupted, killing tasks in task manager has a chance your device will freeze and the are then strange happenigh when making a call or reciving a call (not always but sometimes, at least 2x a week) and then people who you are calling or who is calling you is asking "hey man whats wron with your fency phone? is it broken already". and you know that its not broke its the software wich is not good.
the best part of SE programing is definitly the Phone program it runs great. its well finger optimized and the contact list is so fluid, has nice tabs and so on.
to say in one sentence. mediocre phone with good qwerty, slow hardware and a hefty price tag.
at the moment am using it just for mailing, and surfing the web on my wifi. for calling im using my 6 year old nokia 1600 at least nothing goes wrong with that one and the battery runs for 10-12 days.
sorry for bad english.
im not 100% sure yet but after reading this whole thread im thinking of just fixing my xperia X1 (ribbon cable issue) and sticking with it rather than buying the X2
well X1 is more fun then X2 for shure. 6.5.3 is more finger friendly but the touch respond is not good with fingers (if X2 had capacitve display this would be a totaly diferent song). plus 6.1 that is on x1 is more functional. more stuff works as it should. alot of programers did not rewrite their apps for 6.5, 6.5.X so some apps have some truble here and there. spb shell (used 3.5.3, 3.5.5 runs to slow) in landscape on my X2 with 6.5.3 has some problems with hight and width. its not a big problem but its notiseble.
plus X1 has SE panel1 and 2 that i love. and the biggest plus in my opinion alot of roms to flash.
if i had a chance to swap X2 back for X1 i would. oh and if you get your X1 repared. and if you get sick of panels, spb shell, android, ubuntu... give a try to spb pocket plus wich i adored on my x1 its a nice small plugin for todayscreen. you have icons on the today screen, and nice tabs (7 max i think) and it looks realy nice. uses nice icons for everithing.
X2 might be OK to get if you get one totaly functionl and with no demage to the body for less then X1 will cost to get repared. but i dont think that is possible.
wish you luck.
sorry for bad english.
I see, thanks for your answer. Well, what about the X2 camera? i keep reading mixed reviews, some people say its garbage, others say its as good as the cybershot branded phones. How good is the camera in comparison with the X1?
And also the keyboard, thats the main reason i'd buy the X2, the camera would be a plus, IF its any good. But i guess those reasons alone arent enough for for me to spend $250 right now. I'd just save a bit more and buy a moto milestone or something.
XtriFe said:
I see, thanks for your answer. Well, what about the X2 camera? i keep reading mixed reviews, some people say its garbage, others say its as good as the cybershot branded phones. How good is the camera in comparison with the X1?
And also the keyboard, thats the main reason i'd buy the X2, the camera would be a plus, IF its any good. But i guess those reasons alone arent enough for for me to spend $250 right now. I'd just save a bit more and buy a moto milestone or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realize this is a month later, but if you (or someone) is wondering about the camera, you should know:
The X2 camera, while indeed being 8.1 mpxl ... only manages "2 mxpl" when in 16x9 mode. At least, this is how the menus describe it. On the X1, there was no distinction about a lower amount of mpxl's in-use when in 16x9 mode.
In reality, I'm not sure if this is truly a surprising bit of 'reversal' (where the older model is actually superior, albeit with a lower 'spec'), or if they just didn't 'publicize' the lower mxpl in the 16x9 mode on X1. --It does tend to put a 'bummer face' on you when you see that in the X2 camera menu.
Now, that being said ... I'd say that (however you shoot) the X2 camera is superior to the X1 in one very major way: lower compression. Although I took many a fine shot on my X1 ... the compression was pretty bad (especially on a city scene, etc. with a lot of varying detail & colors). The X2 shots have a more 'normal' look.
On the downside, the X2 seems to be more 'focus-finnicky', no matter what you do. You really need arms of steel to take a perfect shot on the X2 (and that was not the case on the X1, especially when using the 'motion mode' in the presets).
On the upside, I think the X2 produces better color balance in most lighting situations. I often take pictures of whiteboards at work after meetings. With the X1, I always needed to run pictures through varying levels of color-correction before sending-out, etc. I still do with X2, but to a lesser extent. Something with the contrast-balance is better so that lined text (like you have from board markers) maintains its quality. --This may again be another example in favor of X2 because of lesser-compression, actually.
So, it's a trade-off:
X2 'feels' like a much better camera (overall)
X1 is a little more solid/reliable, but less-potent & 'feels' more like a cellphone camera.
(There we go again. Yep, X2 is a sleek, upgraded phone, ...but with its share of quibbles.)
maybe this website may help you to make a choice..
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_x2-review-443.php
So I'm coming off contract on my current phone soon so I've naturally been checking out the market for a new phone. When the Xperia Play launched earlier in the year, to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it, but I've been hearing good things about it lately. Specifically how SE have continued to support it and fix the little bugs and glitches, as well as providing more functionality in the future and OS updates (crossing my fingers for the 4.0 update). However I am a bit cautious because I am totally new to Sony Ericsson phones, and this will also be my first Android phone. I currently own a Samsung Omnia 2 (i8000).
I realise a lot of things could be gleened from reviews, but the problem is all reviews for this phone were written months ago when it was first launched, so seem hardly relevant now after the recent updates SE have been making. What I want to know is, have these updates improved the phone significantly? Is the phone worth it now?
I am a keen gamer, so the physical controls definitely interest me, but I am also after good functionality in the phone too...making calls, how easy the keyboard is to use, music and video playback, how well the GPS works, how good the web browsing experience is, how customisable it is, how good the camera is etc etc - does the phone perform these functions well?
Also of importance is how is stacks up in performance against other high end Android devices (currently the Galaxy S II is the only dual core device on the Australian market) - how many Android apps and games are actually written to support dual core CPU's? How well does it perform in everyday phone operations compare to say the Galaxy S II?
One feature I'm particularly bummed about is the lack of FM Radio...I use the FM Radio in my current Omnia 2 more often than I expected, so I'll definitely miss that if I decide to go for the Play - has anyone written an app that's able to utilise the radio in the Play's snapdragon CPU? It still baffles me that SE elected not to enable the radio especially when touting the thing as a multimedia device, given the hardware is there already. Course I could stream it but that's a waste of data (and battery, compared to using the radio).
Another feature is the lack of internal storage...for a device that's supposed to be about gaming it seems odd that there is basically no internal storage in it, forcing you to use a microSD card. If anyone in Australia has picked up this phone through Telstra, what size (and class) microSD card do they package with the phone? Need to know if I'll be shelling out more money for a nice 32 GB card or something. Is it relatvely easy (without rooting the phone) to move stuff to the SD card or force it to install to the SD card by default?
Lastly, how comfortable is the phone to hold when gaming? I've noticed the PSP go, which has a very similar basic design, can become uncomfortable after a while as the edges of the device kinda dig into your palms, has anyone found this to be a problem with the Play? I couldn't really tell this from the couple of minutes I spent with one in store while it was covered in security tags and attached to a desk with cables.
Thanks for your time...it's a bit of a wall of text so I apologise in advance for that.
my 0.02$
pros: the tons of emulator support and mind you its improving
the fact that we can convert our own psx titles thanks to psxperia
of course the controls tho the joysticks due need a bit of getting used to
honestly think if SE wouldve designed the joysticks like the psp go it wouldve been alot better
the phone overall feels solid not cheap the controls is like a good lapdance on your bday lol
keep in mind it was marketed as a gaming device not a multimedia etc
the camera is great also the front camera is a bit so so
cons:
basically the storage and no hdmi out which wouldve been the icing on the cake
and like really we all know emulators psx games and all the crap we can run is gonna eat up alot of memory mine came with a pre installed 8 gb which is okay but after all the shi you can do with it it does feel small a nice 32 gb pre installed wouldve been nice
also the battery life is horrible due to all the bloatware installed nothing a little rooting magic wont solve
i used to get about a day out of it but now after rooting and removing all the junk
i get about 2 days of heavy usage and gaming before i gotta recharge
yeah the missing radio is a con to some but others are just like ill just get on youtube
"jerrys final thought" lol
the hardware is decent i mean were not gonna run call of duty on it
the overall functionality as a phone is great
but this thing is honestly lacking SOFTWARE "anyone got geohots number"
Anyone else want to give their opinions? I'm trying to get as much information as I can about this phone before I take the plunge.
I was t very pleased with the keyboard, but I installed go launcher ex and all the extras that come with it, and not only does it give some extra look, but it adds some really good features. I noticed that it gets very low on memory, but that may be because I've got 15 startup apparently or so. Haptic feedback could be a bit better, but other than that I don't have many negative views on it. The hardware gaming pad is very nice, but I wasn't ecstatic about the sensor pads. They are a bit irritating and take a while to get used to. The physical buttons are very very nice. I also like the bottom row of buttons (back, home, menu, and search) are also pleasing. Touch screen is very responsive. Also, it comes with like $25 worth of games pre loaded on it XD but I uninstall most of them, because they were unnecessary. If you like monetary at all, you'll have to buy this phone. If I think of anything else, I'll post again.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App
Thanks for the reponses so far.
I'd still like some more though - please post your experiences with the Play both good and bad...ANY information you think might be useful to know.
As said in other threads like this, it all really comes down to how much you play games that needs a dedicated gamepad to be really enjoyable and even playable in some cases.
The phone is pretty much as other Android phones on the market and it's doing the job as a phone pretty good. There's some bugs here and there, but not anything serious. There's a battery drain bug that can be fixed by manual selecting your network instead of auto selecting (only on the newest FW). The UI is fluent and smooth, the hardware build is ok, could be more robust, snappy response, nice screen, good dev going on etc.
It's not that elegant even though they curved it on the back it' still a bit bulky and if you don't play that much it will be a bad plunge to go for the play. It will be a slightly big lump in your pant's for 'just' a phone. It's not a brick like the Nokia N900 but you can feel it and see it in your pocket.
I think i have average sized hands so for me it's comfy to hold the xperia play while playing and do sometimes play games 3 hours strait without any discomfort.
I don't miss the FMradio even though it's been on all my phones since... Well the last, say 8-9 years.
Haven't really encountered any problems with the low internal storage. You can move apps to the sdcard and the dalvik cache aswell to gain more that way.
Bottom line it's a phone to play games on wich is does with bravour and i'm really glad i got it and i'm not missing anything on the phone side nor the whole experience as an android phone.
Just get it mate and start the gaming
Regards Dousan...
In my opinion we should not be so harsh to SE, they made a rather experimental device. Of course they can do better, but not without your money. Also I think sony is holding this thing back because of the ps vita.
Its rather unique that you can never be truly bored when you are carrying this phone. (I think touch screen controlls are 100% crap)
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
I have some input I can share after my 1 week with my 800x(VZW)... I had an EVO for a year and have a Nexus S as well. When I was looking for a new phone I really wanted a keyboard... but after some play time on an Epic and my gf's EVO Shift, I noticed I'm totally over my soft keyboard hatred and didn't need a physical one.. except it helps for gaming. The XP was the most logical choice for me.
I LOVE having solid control over orientation. The d-pad is perfect for fine cursor control without dragging a handle around. The GPU helps it perform as well or better than my EVO/NexusS. I heard complaints that the screen is terrible in the sun, it looks almost exactly as my EVO does, I'd say slightly better due to the factory screen protector. With the latest OTA the auto brightness problem is gone, thankfully! Battery life is similar to underclocked/volted EVO. I love how the Home key is a secondary power button.
Now for the bad stuff! The front cam is grayed out and underwhelming, but it works well enough. Locked bootloader is a burn for me, but honestly I'm having a much better time dealing with it than I thought. Vanilla Android helps a lot, but the bloatware makes managing apps difficult. I've had to let some phone-only apps go, but thems the breaks sometimes!
Overall, I'm very happy with the XP so far, I think you should give it a week or so trial and see how you like it!
---
Edit with some more stuff! GPS has been tight, locks in seconds, and only problem I've had with the controls is that I'm having a tough time with SF Alpha 3, F-D-DF (dragon punch) motion is difficult for me right now. Otherwise it's been butter! I didn't care for the touch pad thingies on Crash Bandicoot, but I prefer d-pad gaming anyway.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App
Hi folks over A500 forum, i'm thinking to get myself an A500, but i afraid that i'll regret buying this tablet, because i've read some quite hmmm.... negative feedback about it.
some says that the charger wouldnt charge [i can assume that he has a faulty unit], poor mic, gps, unresponsive keyboard, weak wifi. So can anyone of you kindly enough to tell me what can i expect this tablet will be weak at?
I can tolerate at the poor camera quality though.
Please tell me, thanks!~
I have not found any issues at all with my tab. It is not an A500 but may as well be. (Gateway A60 running A500 roms). I use it at work and at home.
This tablet is pretty much perfect. The camera quality is fine as far as I am concerned (Front and rear), it is easily rootable, even if you install the OTA updates and the price point is where it needs to be.
The only thing that I have been on the lookout for is ICS but so far I am OK with HC. Way better than the Froto on my gtablet.
smishra said:
I have not found any issues at all with my tab. It is not an A500 but may as well be. (Gateway A60 running A500 roms). I use it at work and at home.
This tablet is pretty much perfect. The camera quality is fine as far as I am concerned (Front and rear), it is easily rootable, even if you install the OTA updates and the price point is where it needs to be.
The only thing that I have been on the lookout for is ICS but so far I am OK with HC. Way better than the Froto on my gtablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Perfect info. Any more? =D
Go to the store and play with the Tablets... the gps is a issue.. mic is a issue (only with video chat)
you need to root to fix the gps issues the patch is in the dev section also to tether again patch here in the forum.
keyboard that is stuck sucks badly... install THUMBS KEYBOARD
SUMMERY REQUIRED TO MAKE MY ICONIA PERFECT FOR ME..
BUY AND PUT A SCREEN PROTECTOR ON IT. (Even Gorilla glass can Scratch)
ROOT. install acer recovery install .. flash recovery ... Im now using the RA Recovery
install Root Explorer file manager (there is a free verson on makert.but support the dev BUY IT)
Install Titanium Backup (again Buy it DEV is awesome on this program)but to many updates pushed to often
Install the ad-hoc fix.
install Thumbs Keyboard
Install the gps fix
Install splashtop HD.. (to access my home computer)
Install IPRINT APP for my Brother Printer.
Install Office Program.. (i have two some do certin things better then other . find the one thats right for you)
Install CO-PILOT (THIS ACTUALLY BELONGS BELOW THE GPS PATCH)
Install sync sms .(to forword text msg to and from my tablet from my phone)required drop box account
Install DROP BOX
Flash my UI FOLDERS. to change the colors of the ui to A BURGUNDY Pinkish Color.. (I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS .ADVANCED USER EXPERIENCE REQUIRED)AND DEV TOOLS Needed on your Computer and I USE ADOBE CS5..
Setup my email accounts sometime in the above events
Backup my tab with T B
BACKUP MY TAB AGAIN IN RECOVERY..
After all of the above.. my tablet fits my life Perfectly..
As already said by others, weak GPS, keyboard kinda sucks, glossy screen that really shows finger prints, etc. What I haven't seen mentioned, is the inability to properly play HD mkv's, most ppl will say you don't need high quality on tablet, and they are right, but, what if you want to hook your tab to a hotel TV to watch HD, etc. There also seems to be a lot of stuff in the market that is not compatible with this tab (specifically for me, mybuick and onstar)
That being said, having a usable USB port is pretty handy, the micro SD,(missing on the Zoom) micro HDMI are all nice to have. Microphone works well for apps like Skype as long as you use headphones.
You should be using headphones for video conversations anyway, otherwise the mic picks up the sounds coming from the speaker and then you have yourself a poorstorm of feedback.
I have never had any sort of keyboard issue with my tab. This is actually the first I heard of any sort of keyboard issue.
The rear camera is 5 megapixels, so expect 5 megapixel quality. Except for the newest Tegra3 tabs, this is the best camera you can get on a tablet.
You have to expect that this tablet comes from the first generation of real Android tablets that hi the market. As a result, you have to expect that there will be some issues with it. The good thing is that devs has created fixes for common problems (like GPS, wifi etc) so if you are someone who is in to rooting, this is a great tablet.
hardslog said:
You should be using headphones for video conversations anyway, otherwise the mic picks up the sounds coming from the speaker and then you have yourself a poorstorm of feedback.
I have never had any sort of keyboard issue with my tab. This is actually the first I heard of any sort of keyboard issue.
The rear camera is 5 megapixels, so expect 5 megapixel quality. Except for the newest Tegra3 tabs, this is the best camera you can get on a tablet.
You have to expect that this tablet comes from the first generation of real Android tablets that hi the market. As a result, you have to expect that there will be some issues with it. The good thing is that devs has created fixes for common problems (like GPS, wifi etc) so if you are someone who is in to rooting, this is a great tablet.
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So true.. MY TAB WORKS Well as stated above.. But it does not come without some work... i have read forums of other tablets. we have less trouble then average..
Oh ok, thx for those feedbacks! BTW, have any of you suffer from keyboard delay? I played Transformer, G Tab10.1, and A500 at the store before, and fall in love with the port and weight of this tablet. But the thing that frustrated me is the keyboard delay it has[btw, i dont really know what happened on that tablet though]
And how was the wifi strength? I heard reports say that it drops quickly?
I love my a500 and should you learn to root and flash you'll uncover the real power and potential in the device. that being said it should be mentioned the a500 is old tech that is going to be replaced by newer more powerful models this year. as these models come out the cutting edge developers will migrate and Dec on the a500 will slow down somewhat. this does not mean the a500 isn't a good purchase option. its great hardware that with the right software is just amazing. but it is on the backside of its lifespan and that carries some downfalls that should be mentioned.
A501, same as A500 except with 3g...
I've never had wifi dropouts, either at home or at work.
The public wifi at work is pretty bad but I have never had a problem logging on and its never dropped out.
Keyboard, again no issue here...
Haven't really played with GPS properly but do use co-pilot. I do find we seem to have pretty bad satellite reception here in OZ but when I have played around it seems pretty reliable, but again only done short trips...
Love the USB, this is why I bought the Acer A501 in the 1st place, no other tab had one. Expandable memory also a BIG plus...
I like the fact I can attach a 1Tb HDD and use this on my tab too...
No real problems, aside from the locked bootloaders Acer insists on sticking on its tabs, most things are fairly good.
I love my A500, but after taking it to meetings and with me pretty much all the time, I find it a bit heavy. I use it almost exclusively professionally and end up using dropbox more than USB drives. I would probably go with a GT10.1 because of the weight and thickness.
Thanks guy! but i bought the G Tab 10.1 instead of A500, because it is really a lot lighter than A500, and my dad prefers it more ;D
Thanks anyway!
Picked up my A500 from The Source on a boxing day special price. It was a bit of an impulse, but also a bit of tech jealousy as my cousin had bought one the week before so he could learn to program apps for it and I got to play with it a bit on New Years. ANYWAYS. I loved it right away, and the prospect of rooting it was pretty awesome.
I have zero faults with this machine. It looks great, works great, was easily unlocked/rooted, and there is a ton of support on this forum. I just keep trying out new roms (4 diff. builds so far) and new kernels (on my 3rd one of those), and I'm having a lot of fun with it.
Only drawback is that I didn't buy one sooner.
picking one up today... 32GB for $220 I think its a fair deal...main reason i would even consider it is becuase its ICS upgradable
I also have a HP Touchpad with CM9 ICS... thats a great piece of equipment if your into modding as well!
mind telling where you got 32gb one for that price?? Im looking to get one myself by budgets tight so any savings is appreciated.
BTW one question about the tablet itself can someone give me an idea about the average battery life, Yes i know battery life is very subjective but i need some kind of referance as i read a review by engadget and it basically said the iconia had the worst battery life of all of the major 10 inch tablets.
220$ for a 32gb?! Who did you steal this from?? haha
I got mine from acer's official ebay store, 330$ (shipping+tax included), refurb 32gb. Works fine.
docnas said:
mind telling where you got 32gb one for that price?? Im looking to get one myself by budgets tight so any savings is appreciated.
BTW one question about the tablet itself can someone give me an idea about the average battery life, Yes i know battery life is very subjective but i need some kind of referance as i read a review by engadget and it basically said the iconia had the worst battery life of all of the major 10 inch tablets.
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I've gotten 5 days on standby with battery drain to 42% (busy week, it just sat on the bedside table for that time no usage). I figure it could have gotten to 10 days.
When I was using it as an e-reader running the Kindle app almost exclusively I was getting on average 3 days of use between charges, reading for about 3-4 hours a day (Game of Thrones books are LONG and addictive).
Right now I've been playing games on it and I can easily go a whole day (overclocked at 1504mhz) before having to charge it.
Standby had wifi turned on, but off when the screen was off. Reading I always had it in airplane mode, and playing games can be a mix between airplane and wifi. Actually it hasn't seemed to make a huge difference that I can see.