Here's just a few questions I have about how people use their HTC Hero:
Is the Hero your primary phone?
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement?
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it?
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)?
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone?
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon?
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it?
cytherian said:
Here's just a few questions I have about how people use their HTC Hero:
Is the Hero your primary phone?
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement?
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it?
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)?
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone?
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon?
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Until next week, it's my primary phone.
2. I would use this phone as a emergency replacement if my soon to be galaxy s3 should be damaged or not working, which i doubt will happen.
3. No I don't use this at all. Probably never will.
4. Nope
5. Just the trackball.
6. As soon as I get my galaxy, I'm burying this phone.
7. I wouldn't.
Is the Hero your primary phone? Not anymore
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement? Will soon be a secondary phone for business use
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it? No
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)? No
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone? It was my first Android phone and is still an awesome phone. Thats all I got. My Evo3D is by far a better phone though
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon? I will keep it till it fully dies and then toss it in with the rest of my dead phones. lol
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it? Probably if the price was right.
cytherian said:
Here's just a few questions I have about how people use their HTC Hero:
Is the Hero your primary phone?
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement?
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it?
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)?
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone?
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon?
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yes, till the LG Nexus comes out
2) N/A
3) I have swapped hero's, but only in a corporate store
4) Only have my initial hero had a radio problem
5) N/A
6) I'll be moving to the next LG Nexus phone
7) I don't see this happening. From a hardware and software standpoint, it's just not feasible.
Interesting replies so far. I hadn't supplied mine, so here they are:
Is the Hero your primary phone? Yes, although I have a 2nd Hero on standby in case my primary is out of commission or lost.
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement? N/A
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it? I once used the website activation to switch from my Hero to an LG Lotus for a temporary period, but that's about it.
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)? No.
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone? What I like about it over other phones I'm considering are: a) the form factor, b) the track ball.
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon? I am in the market for a replacement, with the HTC Evo 4G LTE as my first choice at the moment. Once I get it, I'll keep the Hero as a stand-by phone.
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it? Yes, if the price is reasonable.
cytherian said:
Here's just a few questions I have about how people use their HTC Hero:
Is the Hero your primary phone?
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement?
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it?
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)?
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone?
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon?
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a used Hero for ten bucks off ebay. I'm still on a dumb phone because I don't care to pay the monthly data fees and smartphone fees. So I slapped CM7 on it so I could have a device to hop on wifi should I ever need it. So I purged all the cellphone/data items on CM7 and I have a battery life of between four to seven days depending on how heavily I use it (of course if I'm using it heavily all day it drains but I use it very sparingly).
It's been very handy for instances like these. Since I live in NY I'm often walking around and carrying a laptop or even a tablet really is a huge pain. So it was worth the ten bucks
Repurpose Until Dead
cytherian said:
Here's just a few questions I have about how people use their HTC Hero:
Is the Hero your primary phone? No
If not your primary, is it used occasionally as a secondary phone or only as an emergency replacement? No longer used as a phone. See below.
Do you use the on-line activation to switch between your Hero and your primary phone? If not, how do you do it? N/A
Do you randomly switch between phones or do it for specific reasons (like going hiking, taking a trip, etc)? Specific reasons
Is there anything about the Hero you like over your primary phone? Form factor
Do you expect to continue using your Hero until it finally dies, or do you plan to get rid of it soon? Until it dies or becomes too painfully slow.
If a company made an aftermarket circuit board for the Hero that provides an upgraded processor, would you buy it? I would strongly consider it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the last year and a half, this phone has been used as a mini-tablet/media device for my daughter. An Otterbox is absolutely necessary and exceeded my expectations. My HeroC survived dozens and dozens of flights across the room. That thing would get disgusting with smeared food and snot over time, but a periodic disassemble and rinse was all it would need. I ran CM 7.1 & CM 7.2. I've installed the following apps: "No Lock" (as a lock screen added a pointless, additional step for a 2 year old), "Android Parental Control" (to lock down the device to only run three apps (camera, YouTube, and MxPlayer)), MxPlayer (movies), and an ad-blocker so no sketchy ads come up for her to click. I then stuffed the SD card full of movies for her. Had to split long movies into two parts due to the 1:20 freeze issue (which I never figured out how to fix). APC is ugly, but worked flawlessly. MxPlayer was intutitive enough for my 2 year old to navigate between movies and use, but she would occasionally get herself into trouble by entering the settings and randomly clicking. She was constantly accidentially turning off HW acceleration, but it was always easy to fix.
This month we are upgrading her to a Nexus 7. I'm now looking for new ways to repurpose this device. I'm leaning in two directions: Automotive PVR/Navigation/Torque or IP Camera for my front door.
abcdave said:
For the last year and a half, this phone has been used as a mini-tablet/media device for my daughter. An Otterbox is absolutely necessary and exceeded my expectations. My HeroC survived dozens and dozens of flights across the room. That thing would get disgusting with smeared food and snot over time, but a periodic disassemble and rinse was all it would need. I ran CM 7.1 & CM 7.2. I've installed the following apps: "No Lock" (as a lock screen added a pointless, additional step for a 2 year old), "Android Parental Control" (to lock down the device to only run three apps (camera, YouTube, and MxPlayer)), MxPlayer (movies), and an ad-blocker so no sketchy ads come up for her to click. I then stuffed the SD card full of movies for her. Had to split long movies into two parts due to the 1:20 freeze issue (which I never figured out how to fix). APC is ugly, but worked flawlessly. MxPlayer was intutitive enough for my 2 year old to navigate between movies and use, but she would occasionally get herself into trouble by entering the settings and randomly clicking. She was constantly accidentially turning off HW acceleration, but it was always easy to fix.
This month we are upgrading her to a Nexus 7. I'm now looking for new ways to repurpose this device. I'm leaning in two directions: Automotive PVR/Navigation/Torque or IP Camera for my front door.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was just reading this and I have to say thank you. My 3 1/2 year old is the primary user of my hero now for some learning games and stuff and I never really knew of any parental apps or even really thought to look for any really but I will be looking into the one you posted here as my kiddo will always get a fat finger and then comes running to me cause its not on his game anymore. lol
As for the IP camera, I was/am using that here and there and love it. Are you using that yet and if so, what app(s) do you like best?
Struck out again.
Hippie459MN said:
Was just reading this and I have to say thank you. My 3 1/2 year old is the primary user of my hero now for some learning games and stuff and I never really knew of any parental apps or even really thought to look for any really but I will be looking into the one you posted here as my kiddo will always get a fat finger and then comes running to me cause its not on his game anymore. lol
As for the IP camera, I was/am using that here and there and love it. Are you using that yet and if so, what app(s) do you like best?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. I'd be curious to know which parental control software that you ultimately choose. I haven't gone down the IP cam road yet. That will probably be next. Maybe I'll write a round-up of as many apps as I can?
I chose the car computer route and it didn't work out. Torque connecting to a cheap eBay ELM327 Bluetooth OBDII transmitter worked flawlessly, but the screen was just too small to be usable. The "black box" DVR was also hit and miss. I tried DailyRoads Voyager and I believe the software is top notch. Although GPS and motion sensor data logged just, the DVR video framerate & quality was too poor to be usable. It was very "jelly cam" and I could not even read the license plate of the car in front of me on the video. After having used it, I'm a believer in the Car Mode app. It very much makes switching between apps and using the phone safer and I will use it again if I ever get a spare Android device with a good camera.
Oh, well. Back to the drawing board. I'm determined to find a use for the Hero with some real-world value.
Related
But I've never bought one! Every time Apple come out with a new product I want to rush out and get one. Then, I don't. This has happened for the iPod, Apple TV, iPhone, new iPod, Mac, etc. There is always some limitation that is a deal breaker (and the high prices). With the iPhone, it is locked to AT&T or O2 or whoever. Take it overseas and your going to be paying incredible roaming fees. You can buy an unlocked 3GS in Europe (Italy) but it costs around $1100 (that is US dollars) and you probably won't find one without a contract. It won't play xvid/divx etc. The Apple TV looks awesome. Ahh, but you're locked in to iTunes and supported formats are not that great. The iPod Touch - wow, that looks fantastic. But I keep having to pay for upgrades? And it's not a phone? It just goes on an on.
So I went out and bought the HTC Hero. I absolutely love this thing. I'm not saying it is perfect, but there are only a few faults so far. Once I turned off that silly clock on the home screen it became quite snappy. The browser is amazing. Bookmarks are easy to access, though I wish you could do it with a finger swipe. Or at least cycle through open pages that way. Integration with Google accounts (maps, gmail, contacts) is fantastic. The maps work great with both GPS and just the cell tower information. Using Google street view and sky is really cool. The device knows its orientation at all times. Enable compass mode in street view and when you face North, the phone will show you that view. Turn in a circle, it will follow. I bet Google will eventually do turn by turn and 3D navigation. Why not? They'll make loads of money on it. The PDF reader is actually very useful. Since the Hero did not come with a manual, I downloaded the manual (all 220 pages) and actually skimmed it very easily with the PDF reader! That was amazing. Come to find out, the manual was actually on the included SD card, but there was no file manager to access it (but there is an app!) Now maybe this phone is so awesome because I'm getting ~4mbps throughput (yes, throughput) with my HSDPA connection....but it works pretty good on Edge too. The Wifi antenna is reasonable for the size of the phone, though my laptop usually gets a stronger signal. The ability to switch from the Sense UI to the normal Adroid environment sweet. I don't know why they have to still call it Touch Flo though. That is just confusing (but I can deal with it!). Start up time (boot) for the Hero is abysmal. I have not timed it but probably on the order of 1 minute. Hope you don't need to call the hospital or something. Have no idea how the iPhone compares. My solution, just leave the phone on.
The day after I bought the phone I set it next to my friends iPhone. I thought, ohh no! His screen is much bigger. This is going to be a train wreck. After a week, I much prefer the Hero size screen. It is so much easier using with one hand. I can type and browse fairly easily with one hand. Plus, when you actually use the Hero as a phone (to your ear) you don't look like you're talking into a small TV. It fits in my pocket much better than the iPhone. Still looking for a really good case that protects and is small. I do wish the "back" button was on the other side of the phone as it is a bit awkward. I guess the designer was a lefty. I can deal with that. The build quality is quite nice, though the back panel is quite flimsy. I hope they sell replacements because it is going to break sometime.
HTC Hero, what I always really wanted my Dell Axim X51v to be.
clobber said:
..... I do wish the "back" button was on the other side of the phone as it is a bit awkward. I guess the designer was a lefty. I can deal with that....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... bought mine couple a days ago, when breaking my Diamond.
just to say: I love the "hero". and as Im "lefty" I love it even more...
Now just waiting for decent outlook calendar syncing program (funambol) for android to be ready and good offline navigation option, as usually I need navigation when out in foreign country and roaming fees are quite high then.
P.S. I will never go back to WM... never ...
Another satisfied Hero customer here as well And I second the WM opinion, I had a XDA Exec for years - and although the hardware was good the OS just ruined it!
clobber said:
You can buy an unlocked 3GS in Europe (Italy) but it costs around $1100 (that is US dollars) and you probably won't find one without a contract. It won't play xvid/divx etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have an android divx player? Link please!
Kudos to the thread starter, I agree completely!
Hear hear(o)!
I had the iPhone 3g , good phone loved it , but I hated apple , their restriction have ruined it for me , I felt like if I was renting it and not actually owning the thing , but over all good phone .
You're right. I don't see a divx/xvid player yet.
clobber said:
You're right. I don't see a divx/xvid player yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You had my hopes up.
guys ... what should i say ... i was WM usr for years ... and tested one interface after the other (wisbar advanced desktop, touch flo 2d manilla, and so on)
but this here (YES I GOT A HERO, TOO) is just awesome... will be a hard fight for microsoft to bring me back ... (maybee windows mobile 7 - we will see)
but this phone is the best i ever had my hands on ... and i'm workin for a big german provider, so i touched much phones
LOVING THE HERO
How many people actually bought this, I heard from 3 or 4 verizon stores near me that they have yet to sell a kin. If you did purchase one is it your only phone or your main phone? Really curious considering the more obvious choices out there, even on verizon.
I'd want one, but they're not available in Europe. And it would be my second phone, since i've got a Nexus already. I REALLY want to toy with WP7.
I bought a Kin Two. This phone is awesome. I won't go through a whole review or anything about it but I can say that I'm loving it. It really is a simplistic phone. I came from an iPhone 3gs, to a Palm Pre, to a Droid Eris, finally to the Kin Two all in 5 months (believe me, you dont want to hear that story). In any case, coming from so many phones with so much functionality I'm really happy to get such a simple change. It may not do 40 bajillion things, but what it does, it does really well. Let me know if you have any actually question about the phone or the OS itself and I will be happy to expand on it.
I actually got one in the mail for free. I haven't activated it yet, but so far it's a pretty cool device judging from what I can do over WiFi. It lacks games, but I've heard they are coming. The music quality is comparable to a Zune (which has superb audio quality) when played over proper speakers/headphones (IE not the phone's external speakers). There's a good deal more I want to toy with, but I have to get it activated first.
You guys are really lucky, getting free phones and all that. I have to pay good money just to toy with these things...
NeoS2007 said:
You guys are really lucky, getting free phones and all that. I have to pay good money just to toy with these things...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I got it for free is that I am a member of projectkin.com, which helped MS shape the device. They had a drawing on the site for 5 people to win a KIN device. I happened to win.
Link9228 said:
The reason I got it for free is that I am a member of projectkin.com, which helped MS shape the device. They had a drawing on the site for 5 people to win a KIN device. I happened to win.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, congrats.
Ontopic: I wouldn't buy it, there is no development in the UI yet.
I for one would probably won't buy it either, but I definitely want to toy with it. So I might as well save up for it.
I just saw the Kin1 at my local Frys for $75 no contract. I came home and started looking to see if there are any hacks to get Android or WinMo on it. So far I found nothing so it looks like I won't be buying one.
gedster314 said:
I just saw the Kin1 at my local Frys for $75 no contract. I came home and started looking to see if there are any hacks to get Android or WinMo on it. So far I found nothing so it looks like I won't be buying one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its sad right? I wish I was better at hacking phones!
I just
picked up the Kin Onem from Verizion $19.99. Been enjoying the heck out of it BUT Bluetooth has me scratching my head. From what I have been able to find out, the Kin will not transfer phone book and will not use Voice dial in car kits. HUH!! Whats to use of BT if not hands free.
There is a possibility that if the car kit has it's own phone book that will work. The phone works fine in my G8GT but no with my Garmin 1490T or Motorola T505. Both receive calls fine but you need to actually place a call from the phone for outgoing.
OH Well for $20 I'll live with it.
I did, sorta ...
Seems like most are giving up on the KIN for valid reasons (volume of devices, Vz/Ms support, etc.). I specifically selected the KIN Two for another reason, so if your interested in some light reading ...
I have poor hearing. Hence I select my phone based on that. I currently use a Samsung Sch-a670 (circa 2004?). Its loud, has excellent coverage and I can text every once in a while. And quote a Vz service tech "Its bullet proof." I had one go through an entire wash cycle in my pants pocket and three days later, after it dried out it worked. After hitting it with worse than a "bullet", I bought the same phone on ebay for $12, works great.
So why the Kin Two. I read an article in the NY Times that said Vz will end the "New Every Two" plan. I really had no reason to upgrade but I figured I'd look as I had a freebie coming.
When I read about the Kin I got an idea. In the summer, I frequent the Beach with many friends. We all have a great time including lots of food, party and, of course tunes. My old mp3 player was failing (buttons from the sand). Problem was this was an old Sansa M260 that uses AAA batteries. Many days we are on the beach 12 hours. Most MP3 players will go dead in the middle of the day. With the M260, I just pop in another AAA.
So, the Kin has the sound of a Zune, a 8 mp camera and takes HD video. I figure with all the radios turned off (for good-Airplane mode), the battery would last a couple of days playing MP3s. So I loaded the Zune software, ratified the ID3 tags in my 4 G music collection and have a great new MP3 player. (Zune application expounded on id3 tag abnormalities in my music files not seen using copy and paste to the M260).
Some things I've found with the Zune ...
(1) It would always come up with the "activate" process, an annoying first step. There is a character sequence to bypass this (SHIFT+ALT+L) but you have to do this every startup. I turned the radio on, activated once (*228) then turned the radio off and reactivated my Samsung. Now the Kin starts up directly to the Home apps page.
(2) The battery was nearly discharged when I got the phone. Charged to 90% in a couple hours. Took two days of non-use to get to 100%. Now it gets to 100% fairly quickly. First time battery issue?
(3) For anyone not using the Zune software for mp3, picture, video library, it's a pretty nice application, does a nice job managing the media on the Kin Two - syncing is great. Cons: its large, its no roadrunner. But with any recent hardware, thos are non-issues. In perspective, I have and will never again load iTunes on my PC.
(4) WI-fi works and is easy to set up if you set-up your router. Make sure wi-fi is on (settings, wireless controls), select "other" enter your network name (SSID), select the encryption type used on your router and enter the encryption key. If your cable/FIOS/telephone guy set up your router, it may auto detect (no wireless security) or you may need to call customer service to get the wi-fi security settings.
I've rearranged the Home screen based on my planned usage. The only other thing I like to do is change the welcome/ending screens when I power the device. But i think that requires modding the firmware rather than a simple file download. From what I've gathered on these boards that ain't happening - the phone will fade away as quickly as it appeared (has once already). But I'll be happily dancing on the dunes for at least the year warranty.
Regards ...
Actually, I think this phone is selling rather decently as a feature phone. It shouldn't be surprising, because it easily out-guns Verizon's other feature phones in terms of hardware, it's the only one that has wi-fi (besides the one-m), it easily has a better camera, a larger touch screen, better processor, and more onboard storage than anything sold in their feature phone fleet. The main things that turn people off to this phone now are the stupid lack of common features like no forwarding messages, no timestamp on every message, no microSD card slot, the bluetooth doesn't work, no VZ Backup assistant or for that matter anyway to input your contacts any other way than manually. I have this phone, and for a feature phone, it absolutely owns, but it should do SO much more. It can't even view MS documents, I mean, seriously Microsoft? A document viewer shouldn't be too much to ask for. I agree, millstonemike, the built-in Zune is great. It's one of the redeeming features of this phone, in my opinion. I am never going back to my iPod or iTunes.
i just bought one for company testing... id love to see custom roms on it, especially with more feature filled bluetooth.
Just ordered a KIN TwoM
I have been using my Verizon Razr for just over 4 years now. I've been thinking about getting an Android smartphone, but in the end I just didn't want to pay $30 / month / line for the required data plan.
When I found that the Kin TwoM has web browsing via WiFi, and no data plan requirements, I was instantly sold.
I haven't gotten the phone yet, so can't comment much further. I really hope that more people will try this phone and that there will be some progress on developing the KIN platform.
Sent from my KIN
This Kin TWOm is pretty cool. I`m still getting used to it, but so far no complaints.
Regarding importing contacts, I took my old RAZR and my new Kin into a Verizon store and they transferred the contacts for me in about 10 minutes. Piece of cake.
Jon
-Sent from my Kin TWOm
hmm where do i even begin.........
This phone is actually not bad from a hardware standpoint, its fingerprint resistant (rubberized coating) with a responsive touch screen.
-CPU is very fast, never hangs up or goes jittery, all the animations are very smooth
-the keyboard has good feed back, you know for sure if a key is pressed or not, though it feels kind of cheap, as
-long as it holds up to my crazy texting for 2 years ill be happy.
-shift and function keys just piss me off, they are not in a very convenient location nor are they easy to find in
the dark, they don't illuminate, which leads me to my next point.
-the keyboard is not evenly lit, the right side has some buttons half dark however... with keys that require the function button to be pressed, you can also press and hold the button to use the special character like onscreen HTC keyboards
-the camera sucks, but then again i think all cell phone cmos cameras are junk. i also cant turn off the freaking camera sound, its so loud and annoying.
okay now to the software... here we go
we'll begin with the things that are right...
-animations are super smooth and very aesthetically pleasing, i would even venture to say its better than android and the iphone animations
-maps is amazingly fast and fluid, when you zoom into the max position it will auto change to sat view
-app store isnt bad, lots of cool free apps already (only time will fix this properly)
Onto the bad......
so many things are missing from the basic OS itself its ridiculous! its unusable out of the box..
- battery %, please dont use a retarded batter icon that doesn't tell me anything, not even the iphone is this crippled
- cant connect to hidden networks, this make the device totally useless as alot of companies choose to hide the SSID, i dont CARE if it doesn't add another layer of security, you hide it so guests connect to the public shown SSID and employees connect to the hidden.
- cant connect to exchange, this is completely unacceptable, i cannot type in a space on this device to connect, alot of companies use First Space Last as the user name for simplicity, short names or garbled user names dont identify a user as easily. when setting up your exchange connectivity, space is disabled.
- after getting the network admin to change my user name (ridiculous, i really shouldn't have to do that), i got connected only to find i cant sync text messages or Tasks, now this phone is as useless as android and the iphone. i have a ton of info in tasks that i need, and the SMS sync was for ease of use, in outlook 2010 i can send and receive text msgs right from the email window so i dont have to take my phone out.
- no file browser, we arent retarded apple users, why is this missing?
- bluetooth is completely crippled like the iphone, windows mobile 5 had more functionality! (cant send files, cant receive anything, cant do ****)
- proprietary drivers, wtf is this? again, crippled like the iphone doesnt show up as a removable drive, i cant access this phone on other computers (android and WM6.5 asks you if you want to charge, show up as flash drive, act as modem, etc)
as it stands now, i cant replace my sony X1 with this trash, basic functionality is GONE, i guess we can thank apple for making everyone retarded. this OS was obviously WAAAY too rushed.
In fairness, WP7 is not aimed at the business market, WP6.5 will continue I believe for precisely that reason.
It's a very different take on the OS that we're used to. They're looking to make it as user friendly as possible and quick and intuative to navigate.
Personally I think they've done a great job, and I'm a hardcore WM5,6,6.5 user. This is NOT a techy phone - hence why a lot of stuff is locked down, because 95% of users would have no idea of all the options you have for say bluetooth in WM6.5.
I really like what they've done with WP7, it's a new direction, and there are bound to be niggling bugs and features that aren't yet included, they've written this from the ground up so it's always going to take time to add features. I got one for my wife at the weekend, and she absolutely loves it - coming from an HTC Hero on Android 2.1 which she liked the apps and stuff, but hated the fiddliness of it all. Now she has what she loved without what she hated.
From your review above, it's clear that WP7 is not the kind of OS you want, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
rob_p said:
In fairness, WP7 is not aimed at the business market, WP6.5 will continue I believe for precisely that reason.
It's a very different take on the OS that we're used to. They're looking to make it as user friendly as possible and quick and intuative to navigate.
Personally I think they've done a great job, and I'm a hardcore WM5,6,6.5 user. This is NOT a techy phone - hence why a lot of stuff is locked down, because 95% of users would have no idea of all the options you have for say bluetooth in WM6.5.
I really like what they've done with WP7, it's a new direction, and there are bound to be niggling bugs and features that aren't yet included, they've written this from the ground up so it's always going to take time to add features. I got one for my wife at the weekend, and she absolutely loves it - coming from an HTC Hero on Android 2.1 which she liked the apps and stuff, but hated the fiddliness of it all. Now she has what she loved without what she hated.
From your review above, it's clear that WP7 is not the kind of OS you want, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i get what your saying and i think that this is a REAL competitor to the iphone, i am still using the LG phone and for the first time in 3 or so years i used the zune software again (had an original zune) and WOW, its a HUGE freaking change from what it was before, the animations and downloaded content is far better than itunes.
its pretty painless for a regular user to put music and videos on, any videos seen are auto trans coded and thrown on the phone, i honestly prefer the phone to be able to play any file that is dragged and dropped over
the smoothness of the UI is actaully what i wanted in a windows mobile phone with all the features. if microsoft can add the things WM6.5 could do, im sold, even if i have to use the zune software to transcode.
How did yall get a Quantum already?
Could you post a pic and movie example from the phone?
I'm holding out buying a new WP until I can play with all 3 in the store.. So far, every phone I have had has had a slide-out keyboard.. I have a Fuze now, so even with the Quantum's quirks it will still be a huge upgrade..
I just got back from the AT&T store where they had a Quantum on display. The phone seems smooth and fast, and the keyboard is great (I like it better than my Touch Pro’s keyboards). It is slightly longer and wider then the Touch Pro, and almost as thick. The screen is rather small, it is only 3.5” which I believe makes it the smallest of all the WP7 screens. I did pop off the battery cover and look what was there. The SIM card is easily assessable, but no signs of a hidden/covered micro SD card.
I've been waiting to play with the Quantum to make my decision on which phone to buy..
I have a broken Fuze now, so the 3.5" screen will seem huge to me..!
I'll check the store tomorrow and see if they have it..
I must agree with the first post as far as limitations are concerned, with one specific addition. I have to pay 14.99 in the Marketplace to get RDP functionality.
Okay, two additions: WTF is with the ringtones?! Please MS, please, please let me have a couple ringtones.
All I want for Chistmas is: RDP, a file manager, and ringtones.
(my exchange server works fine, and i'll have my sharepoint up in the week, so i'm good on that)
Hey,
can you please check the RAM on your C900 QUANTUM?
There is conflicting literature on this phone. Some sites say it has 256mb RAM and others say 512mb RAM.
Can you let me know what the actual phone says if there's a way to pull this information from the phone?
Thanks
pezius said:
I must agree with the first post as far as limitations are concerned, with one specific addition. I have to pay 14.99 in the Marketplace to get RDP functionality.
Okay, two additions: WTF is with the ringtones?! Please MS, please, please let me have a couple ringtones.
All I want for Chistmas is: RDP, a file manager, and ringtones.
(my exchange server works fine, and i'll have my sharepoint up in the week, so i'm good on that)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Quantum is supposed to arrive on Monday (from Amazon). I couldn't for the life of me figure out the right DataPlan from AT&T. I had one of their old school unlimited plans that let me do everything, but had to change over to get the new phone. I chose the DataPro 2GB Smartphone personal plan, and am worried I won't be able to setup my gmail to use Push Mail via activesync. Can you enlighten me on which plan you have? I'm afraid I may have to switch to the more pricey "Enterprise" plan to get this functionality.
Thanks In Advance,
Skorpyo
vst2010 said:
Hey,
can you please check the RAM on your C900 QUANTUM?
There is conflicting literature on this phone. Some sites say it has 256mb RAM and others say 512mb RAM.
Can you let me know what the actual phone says if there's a way to pull this information from the phone?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just picked mine up frm the ATT store. The outside of the box Def says 512mb of RAM.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Well, my Quantum cam early and while it took some acclimating from my fuze running 6.5 the UI experience is fabulous. It definitely is a UI groomed for the average joe/jane rather than a power user. I'm bummed there's no file manager and that many of the customizations available in 6.X aren't in 7.
As for the quantum it is a great piece of hardware. The screen is beautiful, the build quality is great and the keyboard slide is solid. The keyboard is an adjustment for me. My fuze sported a 4 row 54 key keyboard while the quantum has a large button 4 row 38 key keyboard with separate fn/shift keys. Overall the keyboard is nice for fat finger guys like me though the space bar is a bit clunky.
so far I'm thrilled with the unit, and look forward to wider app support. Oh, and itd definitely 512/512 RAM/ROM.
Skorpyo
honestly one of the nicest feeling phones i've held in my hand ina loong time.. win phone 7 is a brand new thing.. so don't expect there not to be a few things that aren't quite rite.. but hey... this forum will straighten most of that out i'm sure... def glad i got this phone all the way around.
Skorpyo said:
My Quantum is supposed to arrive on Monday (from Amazon). I couldn't for the life of me figure out the right DataPlan from AT&T. I had one of their old school unlimited plans that let me do everything, but had to change over to get the new phone. I chose the DataPro 2GB Smartphone personal plan, and am worried I won't be able to setup my gmail to use Push Mail via activesync. Can you enlighten me on which plan you have? I'm afraid I may have to switch to the more pricey "Enterprise" plan to get this functionality.
Thanks In Advance,
Skorpyo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the derail. So you had AT&T's grandfathered unlimited plan and they wouldn't let you transfer it to a new phone when you renewed your contract?
If that is the case, it's utter bullcrap.
EDIT: I found the answer to my own question. If you have the unlimited data plan, it remains grandfathered in as long as you are upgrading laterally (smartphone to smartphone). It won't allow me to post the link to where I found it but the relevant solution ID is KB110282.
gillbell said:
Sorry for the derail. So you had AT&T's grandfathered unlimited plan and they wouldn't let you transfer it to a new phone when you renewed your contract?
If that is the case, it's utter bullcrap.
EDIT: I found the answer to my own question. If you have the unlimited data plan, it remains grandfathered in as long as you are upgrading laterally (smartphone to smartphone). It won't allow me to post the link to where I found it but the relevant solution ID is KB110282.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, to be honest I probably would've still changed to the new plan cause I've never gone over 900mb in the two years I've has it and the new plan was $60 a year cheaper. Not much, but in today day and age every penny counts.
Five Quantum Days
Today is day five with the new Quantum. The keyboard is great and the odd fn and shift keys are easy to get used to. IMHO, there is no question that the Quantum feels better in your hand than any of the other WPs. It is REALLY solid feeling!
I have flashed many custom ROMs on my Fuze and had to go through the eMail setup many times with varying levels of success. When you fire up a new WinPhone for the first time it asks for your ‘Live’ account, and it sets itself up flawlessly the first time.
My wife is just emerging from the stone age with a flip phone and I have her using the Quantum with her SIM card, trying to spur her interest. Every so often I hear "Cool" or she says "Sometimes I turn on the phone to look at the purple birds” (one of the lock screen wallpapers). She has a couple of favorite websites and she has them pinned to the bottom of the home screen and sometimes looks one up while we are driving. BIG step for her!
Most of our family has iPhones and she likes some of the iPhone apps. Apps are lacking on the WP platform and there are some real shortfalls in the 1.0 version of the OS, but Microsoft is serious about competing in the Smartphone arena and I am willing to give them a chance. The December issue of MaximumPC magazine surprisingly rated the new WP OS number one in the field of: Blackberry, iOS, Android and WP.
We should see the first update to the WP OS soon and that should give us some indication as to how serious MS is about keeping the old WinMo fans in the fold.
The Atrix to me is one of the first steps of a mobile computing topic my buddies and I have been debating for about 3 years now. That the phone will become the center of basic personal computing and, if so, how. The laptop and desktop "docks" for the Atrix are early steps in the direction of those arguing the phone will become the central device with simple docks.
This wouldn't replace a hard core gamer's monster system or a CAD workstation. However most people I know use their computer for just 5 things:
1) Internet (browsing and email).
2) Documents (word processing, spreadsheet, and simple photo editing).
3) Multi-media (listening to music and watching videos).
4) Hard copy (print and scan).
5) Simple games (solitaire, sudoku, etc).Really, that is it!
I lean toward the dock being more powerful and providing the extra horsepower needed for what we know think of as "desktop level performance and graphics" when docked. But really for the 5 tasks listed above I think Atrix class hardware might be able to run those applications already (giving points to those who side with the simple dock solution, sigh).
What do you think?
I agree I long dreamed of such a situation. small dock with extra storage and processing power. mobile phone as a sort of key. pop it in, full desktop OS. take it out. full mobile phone.
kinda exactly like the atrix. but more refined.
vzontini said:
The laptop and desktop "docks" for the Atrix are early steps in the direction of those arguing the phone will become the central device with simple docks.
What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd have to agree. Even if I don't get the Atrix I am so happy that Motorola came out with the webtop application for the docks. This will push the smartphone industry upward and other manufacturers will have to follow suit with the smartphone becoming the central and only communication device for almost everything.
The laptop dock looks sexy as hell. I loved the macbook air's design but couldn't get myself to buy an overpriced mac with an extra "apple tax" attached to it. The Atrix laptop dock is even thinner and so beautiful its crazy. I'm really hoping that it's priced low ($150 - 200) in order to get people to want to buy the Atrix.
The only thing that I'm not sure of yet is the HDMI mirroring. I know they have a regular dock for the TV but I'm not sure if the phone has actual mirroring. If its not then the emulator gaming gets screwed up and I'll have to pass on this phone
Either way I can't wait to have a phone as my only device for everything. Pure heaven is coming
The Atrix looks cool, dual processor, etc.. But "docks" are a thing of the past, in my opinion. I just want the phone to seamlessly integrate with the cloud. As a matter of fact, I'd just assume when you bought a phone, the only cable you got was an AC adapter, no USB, nothing.
Motorolla locked bootloader coupled with AT&T bloat just makes this phone more of the same.
I've been very disappointed with recent cell phone offerings and that the unlocked/unsubsidized super phone isn't really taking off, and partly thats because we are still supporting the Atrix/G2/etc of the world that are locked down. Again, all nice hardware but "fastboot oem unlock" and unsubsidized is the way to go. Thats why I'm hoping a AT&T Nexus S is released even though I don't care for Samsung and the phone isnt much of an upgrade, I plan on voting with my dollars and not buying something a carrier has mangled..
Yes.
The question is will it be smartphones or tablets?
Many will still opt for the power and versatility of a full option desktop. Simply too far ahead in the power curve and it takes too many gens to shrink that power for portable use. (For now anyways)
Eventually BT/Dlna or perhaps a new wireless method will be available that simply placing your device on a *home* base will initiate the usage as opposed to physical wires. But again we're not just there yet.
Atrix is a huge step towards this and agree with the OP.
Main issue of course will be OS compatibility getting a TV / input methods / monitor /mass storage/ and ideally home controls to communicate seamlessly is proving impossible as every hardware maker wants to use proprietary methods.
Android maintaining momentum is key as Apples approach will always be restricting and MS will never get there heads out of there butts long enough to make something significant happen.
I seriously hope Atrix doesn't price users out of its features. I likely wont get one but I truly want to see it succeed just for this purpose.
I mentioned this in the EVO forum but this is something that excites me. The Atrix is a first step but its still too rough for me to enjoy. What I really want is a integrated experience. I.e. plug in to a TV and Google TV kicks in, plug it into a monitor and a Chrome-esque OS or Android like desktop experience kicks in, or if you plug it into a touch screen the tablet version of Android kicks in. Right now you'll get a probably horrible/crude Linux build to start up. Maybe some enterprising devs will get a better more satisfying distro on the Atrix but I'd still want that integrated experience over that.
This might stir up some folks here but I'd bet good money that Apple (iOS/Apple TV/the iOS-fication of OSX), Microsoft (WP7/Media Center/ARM based Windows 8), or even HP/Palm will do it first. Personally I'd probably opt for a Windows or Apple solution just because of the better professional apps (Adobe CS, etc.) that'll probably be available early on.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I'm pretty excited about the Atrix personally, but there's one thing that keeps spinning around in my head. I love the little laptop dock, extremely cool. And it uses the phone for everything and it's connection obviously. Then I got to thinking, will AT&T consider this tethering? Quite obviously to us, this isn't tethering at all. BUT!!! I wouldn't put it past AT&T at all to pull this kind of stunt. That would be the one buzzkill for me for this phone. Leave it to them to change the language and say that when you dock, it will consume more bandwidth and therefor be tethering.
AbsoluteDesignz said:
I agree I long dreamed of such a situation. small dock with extra storage and processing power. mobile phone as a sort of key. pop it in, full desktop OS. take it out. full mobile phone.
kinda exactly like the atrix. but more refined.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a dream and vision once; around 10yrs ago; moto atrix is the closest so far... waiting for the release and first person experience...
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk
crachel said:
I've been very disappointed with recent cell phone offerings and that the unlocked/unsubsidized super phone isn't really taking off, and partly thats because we are still supporting the Atrix/G2/etc of the world that are locked down. Again, all nice hardware but "fastboot oem unlock" and unsubsidized is the way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree 100% with that. Now what if the next Nexus phone is an Atrix type device from Motorola? Now *that* would be a worthy replacement for my N1.
Someone has to take the first steps and with my limited knowledge of the mobile market this appears to be the first step. I agree it lacks refinement but that what technology comes out of the shoot already polished. It takes multiple iterations of real world testing to work out the kinks. People end up doing things the original designers never dreamed of.
I also hope that the Atrix is just the beginning and the concept catches on. My hacker side doesn't want a locked down device. Again my thought is this is just the first step in an evolution of the phone. I think it will be the phone versus the tablet because so many people want something pocketable. IMO the tablet won't be the center because it is just too big.
Only time will tell. Anyway it is pretty exciting.
Actually now that I think about I think I would much rather have a bigger 4.3' screen android phone that I could pair with my foldable bluetooth keyboard as well as HDMI mirroring capabilities to play emulators with a bluetooth wiimote.
Not that the laptop dock isn't sexy as hell, but I'd rather just be able to pair an HID bluetooth keyboard with my bigger screen phone to use as my all in one device...
Now if the Atrix can pair with a HID bluetooth keyboard, has wiimote support, and HDMI mirroring then sweet! but if it's missing any of these 3 things then perhaps the Droid Bionic or LG Optimus 2x???
Is it bad that this phone sexually arouses me? I just hope that this is functional on rogers frequencies because I know other bell phones have before... I don't even expect rogers supposed lte network to work with it as long as the 3g works I'm gravy...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
crachel said:
... "docks" are a thing of the past, in my opinion. I just want the phone to seamlessly integrate with the cloud. As a matter of fact, I'd just assume when you bought a phone, the only cable you got was an AC adapter, no USB, nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't disagree more! "Integrated with the cloud" is a nice-to-have, but what I'd really want is for my phone to integrate with my own way of working. If that means having access to gobs of local storage in addition to (or even instead of) Google's online services, that should be my choice. An optional dock is a perfect companion for me, especially if I would be given a choice of operating system the phone would run when connected to one. Imagine if the next generation super phone ran a flavor of Linux when connected to a dock. We can already run Ubuntu on our Nexus Ones, so this isn't much of a stretch at all. The next wave of dual-core phones should have no trouble at all running a full desktop OS, with all bells and whistles.
crachel said:
Motorolla locked bootloader coupled with AT&T bloat just makes this phone more of the same.
I've been very disappointed with recent cell phone offerings and that the unlocked/unsubsidized super phone isn't really taking off, and partly thats because we are still supporting the Atrix/G2/etc of the world that are locked down. Again, all nice hardware but "fastboot oem unlock" and unsubsidized is the way to go. Thats why I'm hoping a AT&T Nexus S is released even though I don't care for Samsung and the phone isnt much of an upgrade, I plan on voting with my dollars and not buying something a carrier has mangled..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This I can totally agree with. I paid full price for both my HTC Dream and Nexus One (unlocked and off-contract) and don't regret it for a second. If Nexus S wasn't so "last year" in terms of specs, I'd be all over it. I am currently waiting for a true "next gen" phone like Moto's Atrix to be released as a reference developer phone before I give up my N1.
vzontini said:
This wouldn't replace a hard core gamer's monster system or a CAD workstation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give it a few more quarters and Moore's Law will take care of that. Already Tegra 2 equipped phones can run better games than my 2-year-old desktop machine that was considered top of the line when I put it together.
My provider is using the AWS band. As soon as one of these is available in this band, I'll probably get one.
This is the exact thing I need: 1 device does (nearly) all!
It seems to me that the KINm phones (or atleast the TWOm) are the only product in a specific niche of the cell phone / smartphone market, namely they offer WiFi browsing w/o an expensive data plan.
I would suspect that there is a pretty big group of users who would want exactly that. But, they probably don't know the option exists, especially if Verizon doesn't really advertise this phone. (They don't even have it in Verizon stores that I have been to, only online, listed under feature phones). Of course, it's not really in Verizon's best interest to promote this, considering they _want_ you to pay for a data plan.
So, this leaves me feeling very uncertain whether this "relaunch" of the KIN phones will ever catch on?
Also, is anyone else on the board interested in this phone still? I thought Kin threads were fairly active, but maybe it's just me?
Jon
jon2012 said:
It seems to me that the KINm phones (or atleast the TWOm) are the only product in a specific niche of the cell phone / smartphone market, namely they offer WiFi browsing w/o an expensive data plan.
I would suspect that there is a pretty big group of users who would want exactly that. But, they probably don't know the option exists, especially if Verizon doesn't really advertise this phone. (They don't even have it in Verizon stores that I have been to, only online, listed under feature phones). Of course, it's not really in Verizon's best interest to promote this, considering they _want_ you to pay for a data plan.
So, this leaves me feeling very uncertain whether this "relaunch" of the KIN phones will ever catch on?
Also, is anyone else on the board interested in this phone still? I thought Kin threads were fairly active, but maybe it's just me?
Jon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that if Verizon would advertise this phone it would possibly catch on. As for the Kin in Verizon stores, that's actually where I got mine and I've seen Verizon's reps trying to persuade people into getting the phone.
The phone seems to be getting pretty good reviews and response from buyers, but like you said Verizon is doing a poor job of promoting it.
And there are a handful of us both here and on Microsoft's forum site that have been trying many different approaches, but unforturnately none of us are experts in routing phones. A few us have bricked phones now, and we still haven't made to much progress, but still hoping someone can make progress.
This link rates the twom as the best messaging phone.
Kin TwoM= Win!
I am switching to the kin twom from a HTC Thunderbolt. I have a xoom as well, so I really don't need to keep paying for data on my handset. I have had several android phones, and for that matter several winmo phones in the past. I am excited about this because this really is a great phone for a "feature phone". No data, but having wifi is really sweet. I want to hack it and port android to it, which may not be possible, but either way, I think this really is a win, especially if you have a tablet.
Spectredroid said:
I am excited about this because this really is a great phone for a "feature phone". No data, but having wifi is really sweet. I want to hack it and port android to it, which may not be possible, but either way, I think this really is a win, especially if you have a tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that depends on the point of view. For me, even if i'm pretty naughty with it, it isn't a great phone, caused in most part by the software..
- Software lags a lot (should not for the "few" resources that we use).
More if you take in account that we are using a tegra device with a 0'6Ghz CPU. My crappy PDA with 203mhz can play Age of empires mobile without lagging, and this phone can't just run the menu smoothly (sometimes). I smell bad optimization...
- The browser support for rtsp is kinda lame (no flash support and just redirection to mobile sites to a streaming protocol). Browser in general is pure **add your favourite badword here**.
- The wifi detection is barely ok, but several times it can't find the ESSID even if it's near it (@ my home wifi router) and you have to turn on, turn off the wifi till it awakes.
- Suffers from random reboots (if some software freezes). Happens to me sometimes, even with the phone playing the "i'm like a brick" game alone over my desk.
- It's battery is fastly drained by the OS, cause you cant close apps, and they are surely running in the background, like other windows ce OS's. If you open your browser after rebooting, it's there forever. If i could add only 1 app to a kin in the wooorld, i would add a battery/app ultraconfigurator to reduce so.
- Sometimes it can't even load some apps and shows a "loading..." window till it's... well loaded.
.....
On the other hand, the screen is pretty well done, imo. It detected my touchs almost perfect, whenever i tried.
At least, they solved the old bug that the original kin two had, where you set a wifi and can't reenter wifi settings cause the os hanged doing so (one or several reboots needed).
It would be so cool if it was sold unlocked & without contract for 100$. Then use dataplan with the company you want, and with installable apps.