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Hi folks,
I was wondering, is this phone worth getting now? Or has anyone heard of new phones looming over the horizon that are coming to T-Mobile?
I'm planning on getting this (paying full outright 450), but I would like to hear the wisdom of some of the older folks here first.
How bad are the problems as people seem to be posting about? Is there an audio delay on any sort of audio playback, or just mp4 streams?
Cheers.
PoisonWolf said:
Hi folks,
I was wondering, is this phone worth getting now? Or has anyone heard of new phones looming over the horizon that are coming to T-Mobile?
I'm planning on getting this (paying full outright 450), but I would like to hear the wisdom of some of the older folks here first.
How bad are the problems as people seem to be posting about? Is there an audio delay on any sort of audio playback, or just mp4 streams?
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone was worth getting on day 1... You need to do a little tweaking and you can't make a judgement on it in a day or two, you have to use it. I came from a blackberry, so it's a huge step up in the UI from that. If you're used to an iPhone or Android phone, it's not quite as good. You need to play with it, install some registry mods, CoOkie's Home Tab (or maybe a custom ROM).
I am very happy with this phone. I really wanted a Nexus One, but this phone does everything I want it to do without issue.
YMMV of course.
Hey Poison.
If you're comfortable with winmo, then I think it's worth the investment. Despite all the native (and mostly known) shortcomings of the OS, this is still by far the king of the hill when it comes to WM phones...and will probably remain so for a while at least.
A quick scan of the first 2-3 pages of this forum, as well as the euro Leo section will give you a digest of all the problems people are having, and most of them have a number of different potential solutions or workarounds to try.
I know there's people who have gotten frustrated enough with their HD2's to get rid of them already...but I don't think there's a single WM phone that hasn't polarized it's users that way. I for one have had essentially no problems at all, despite heavy and varied use (and I think there's a lot of others out there just like me)....but then again, I think I might be a little more realistic about what type of experience to expect from this OS, and Sense as well.
As far as your question about the music playback issues...they definitely exist for many users, even with just plain mp3's, but that's really just in relation to using the built-in HTC music player to play or index a large library of music. There's ways to work around that, including just using some 3rd-party player. Again, I've never had those types of issues even though I use the HTC player almost exclusively...also possibly just due to how I manage my music collection.
If you're adept, patient, and comfortable with getting your phone "dialed-in" just right, I think this will give you a user experience like no other. You've already got the most valuable tool in your arsenal...right here in these forums (as I'm sure you already know!)
Good luck, let us know what you decide!
Thank you sirphunkee. I appreciate the detailed response. I'm no stranger to Windows Mobile, as I'm currently using a Touch HD. I do love it and I've always loved that customizability about Windows Mobile. While I am aware that it is clunky as a mobile platform, I've always been viewing Windows Mobile as a desktop in my pocket rather than a phone.
I'm a little concerned about the whole screen issues (there was a thread about ghost presses, etc). How widespread is this? And is the supplied 16 GB microSD card really trash? This seems to really be the case when the SD card gets too full.
I'm still contemplating if it's worth upgrading...I've played with it in the store, and I was dumbfounded by the speed. Argh!
sirphunkee said:
Hey Poison.
If you're comfortable with winmo, then I think it's worth the investment. Despite all the native (and mostly known) shortcomings of the OS, this is still by far the king of the hill when it comes to WM phones...and will probably remain so for a while at least.
A quick scan of the first 2-3 pages of this forum, as well as the euro Leo section will give you a digest of all the problems people are having, and most of them have a number of different potential solutions or workarounds to try.
I know there's people who have gotten frustrated enough with their HD2's to get rid of them already...but I don't think there's a single WM phone that hasn't polarized it's users that way. I for one have had essentially no problems at all, despite heavy and varied use (and I think there's a lot of others out there just like me)....but then again, I think I might be a little more realistic about what type of experience to expect from this OS, and Sense as well.
As far as your question about the music playback issues...they definitely exist for many users, even with just plain mp3's, but that's really just in relation to using the built-in HTC music player to play or index a large library of music. There's ways to work around that, including just using some 3rd-party player. Again, I've never had those types of issues even though I use the HTC player almost exclusively...also possibly just due to how I manage my music collection.
If you're adept, patient, and comfortable with getting your phone "dialed-in" just right, I think this will give you a user experience like no other. You've already got the most valuable tool in your arsenal...right here in these forums (as I'm sure you already know!)
Good luck, let us know what you decide!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PoisonWolf said:
Thank you sirphunkee. I appreciate the detailed response. I'm no stranger to Windows Mobile, as I'm currently using a Touch HD. I do love it and I've always loved that customizability about Windows Mobile. While I am aware that it is clunky as a mobile platform, I've always been viewing Windows Mobile as a desktop in my pocket rather than a phone.
I'm a little concerned about the whole screen issues (there was a thread about ghost presses, etc). How widespread is this? And is the supplied 16 GB microSD card really trash? This seems to really be the case when the SD card gets too full.
I'm still contemplating if it's worth upgrading...I've played with it in the store, and I was dumbfounded by the speed. Argh!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem Yes, that's exactly the reason I stay with winmo too...still the closest thing to a pocket-portable PC that there is. In fact, if you do end up with the HD2, make sure you check out the various methods for remote desktop connections and control (there's a nice built-in client, and vnc and others), this screen is awesome when displaying your full PC desktop from anywhere you can connect
I'm still getting used to the capacitive screen to be honest, but I'm already to the point where resistive now feels "muddy", for lack of a better term. You'll definitely need to get used to holding your thumb a tiny bit higher off the screen surface than before...that's what leads to a lot of "phantom presses". It's also possible to dial-down the sensitivity a bit to get it where it's more comfortable for you. It shouldn't take you too long to learn what now constitutes a "touch" vs. a swipe or whatever.
I'm still using the stock 16GB class-2 card with 0 problems or lagging, but I honestly don't have it but half full most of the time...and I think a lot of the SD-related issues people are seeing are more due to Sense just being slow when accessing/indexing a large volume of files on the card....although the class-2 speed could certainly aggrivate that problem. I believe the issues arise when the card has a large number of files on it, rather than just when it gets full in terms of volume consumed. In other words...having just say 10 full-length movies on the card at 1GB each, won't likely cause the same slowdown as a card that's only "5GB full", but with hundreds and hundreds of smaller mp3's and other files.
Hmm, that's what I'm expecting as well. It's going to be a little awkward using a screen that doesn't flex a little when I push on it. By the way, when you flash ROMs, will you lose your unlock-status of the phone? Or will it be forever unlocked once you've unlocked it?
sirphunkee said:
No problem Yes, that's exactly the reason I stay with winmo too...still the closest thing to a pocket-portable PC that there is. In fact, if you do end up with the HD2, make sure you check out the various methods for remote desktop connections and control (there's a nice built-in client, and vnc and others), this screen is awesome when displaying your full PC desktop from anywhere you can connect
I'm still getting used to the capacitive screen to be honest, but I'm already to the point where resistive now feels "muddy", for lack of a better term. You'll definitely need to get used to holding your thumb a tiny bit higher off the screen surface than before...that's what leads to a lot of "phantom presses". It's also possible to dial-down the sensitivity a bit to get it where it's more comfortable for you. It shouldn't take you too long to learn what now constitutes a "touch" vs. a swipe or whatever.
I'm still using the stock 16GB class-2 card with 0 problems or lagging, but I honestly don't have it but half full most of the time...and I think a lot of the SD-related issues people are seeing are more due to Sense just being slow when accessing/indexing a large volume of files on the card....although the class-2 speed could certainly aggrivate that problem. I believe the issues arise when the card has a large number of files on it, rather than just when it gets full in terms of volume consumed. In other words...having just say 10 full-length movies on the card at 1GB each, won't likely cause the same slowdown as a card that's only "5GB full", but with hundreds and hundreds of smaller mp3's and other files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PoisonWolf said:
Hmm, that's what I'm expecting as well. It's going to be a little awkward using a screen that doesn't flex a little when I push on it. By the way, when you flash ROMs, will you lose your unlock-status of the phone? Or will it be forever unlocked once you've unlocked it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that sim-unlocking is retained even through ROM flashes, but let somebody else confirm that for you for sure
Phone is not worth getting, it should not even qualify as a smart phone, as it can hardly do the tasks or have any apps.
Its trash
As a "dumbphone" its fine, as a smart phone it is not, the pics/video , texting is fine . Those are the pros
Web browsing and web apps are terrible opera is bad on this phone, with about 20 tweaks you can make it better
A lot of registry editing to keep music files out of the music album library, battery pulls happen often with this phone.
Cleanram seems to help but not much , avoid using the file browser and going to the "windows " directory, takes about 6 or 7 min to load , and you cant do anything else while it works on it
Having gone through the Apache, Titan, Hermes, Samsung i325, Blue Angel, and i900 Omnia, the HD2 is definitely worth upgrading to. I was debating the Omnia II and X1, but decided that ultimately any investment I made would effectively be dead money if I got anything that wasn't the HD2, since it's the only handset currently on the market that has the full featureset I want.
Funnily enough, I've found the stock ROM to be fantastic. Tried a few cooked ROMS (Including Kumar's) and didn't find any of them to my liking, having just come from some REALLY nice lite Omnia ROMs. Once the stock ROM is cleaned of the unnecessary T-Mobile bloatware, it's great, even with the 6.5 UI vs. 6.5.3 and up.
Yes, SIM unlocking is retained regardless of which ROM you flash. Hard SPL depends on whether you're flashing cooked or stock.
Re: problems:
- Firstly, this is a WinMo phone. No kidding. I didn't buy this NOT to tweak practically every element in some form. If I'd wanted a phone that didn't encourage tweaking, I'd have bought an iPhone, and I'd have been bored with it in a month or so when I couldn't change the UI elements on a daily basis (And probably hurled it against a wall for making me taint my music collection through the use of the horror known as itunes). If people can accept WinMo for what it is, with both its weaknesses and its strengths (Mainly its strengths - I've messed with iPhones and Android, and I guess I'm just used to doing what I want with WinMo), then the HD2 gets my full recommendation.
But I assume you're the sort that likes to tweak everything left right and centre anyway, else you wouldn't be here. Heh!
- Sense UI! It's a new one for me, coming straight from Titanium, which I loved. Previously tried M2D and hated it, yet Sense has grown on me. I've not had any crashes (Except when I installed a few incompatible themes and tweaks), and it can be nigh-endlessly customised. While I like Titanium's 'everything at a glance' factor, the Sense tabs are more functional the the Titanium panels, effectively being applications in and of themselves. It's pretty too.
- Giant screen is pretty much unparalleled, it's excellent for browsing. Don't tend to watch videos on the go, so I can't vouch for its qualities there, but I'd imagine it's great. Bet it'd chew the battery tho'.
Don't think I could go back to a resistive screen now - as mentioned, they feel kinda 'muddy' and soft in comparison. Capactive's sensitivity takes a little getting used to, yet it's a winning trade-off when you don't have to press everything five times to make sure it's actually lauching.
- Music library is one of the few issues I have had. It'd take a while for the Sense music tab to open up with 10 gigs of music on the SD card - I've had zero issues with the SD card itself. Fixed it by putting a shortcut to Audiomanager in the Startup folder - just takes a minute after a restart to rebuild the library, which is a non-issue since I only have to restart if I've installed a application that demands I do so (Or if I want to look at my pretty BIOS/Windows Seven bootscreens!).
- Battery life! Well, what do you expect, with that huge screen and 1GHz processor? No real change there, I was used to charging my phone all night and being down to 50% after a day. It really helps to try flashing different radios, though, make sure you give each a full day's testing to find the best for your area. Selecting the right radio made a huge improvement to battery life and 3G speed for me.
The other factor that a lot of people seem to be basing their purchases on is the potential for the HD2 to run WP7. Now, I'll be honest, and say that was part of my reasoning - I don't 'expect' it to happen, but if it does, I want in on that action.
digitallysick said:
Phone is not worth getting, it should not even qualify as a smart phone, as it can hardly do the tasks or have any apps.
Its trash
As a "dumbphone" its fine, as a smart phone it is not, the pics/video , texting is fine . Those are the pros
Web browsing and web apps are terrible opera is bad on this phone, with about 20 tweaks you can make it better
A lot of registry editing to keep music files out of the music album library, battery pulls happen often with this phone.
Cleanram seems to help but not much , avoid using the file browser and going to the "windows " directory, takes about 6 or 7 min to load , and you cant do anything else while it works on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Hardly do any tasks"? Seriously? What tasks have you tried? And as for having apps, have you..checked the HD2 apps forum? This thing runs PSX games like a charm.
Used to take forever to open the Windows folder on my Titan and Apache, the HD2 loads in 1-2 seconds. No problems there. What do you have installed that could be lagging it that much?
digitallysick said:
Phone is not worth getting, it should not even qualify as a smart phone, as it can hardly do the tasks or have any apps.
Its trash
As a "dumbphone" its fine, as a smart phone it is not, the pics/video , texting is fine . Those are the pros
Web browsing and web apps are terrible opera is bad on this phone, with about 20 tweaks you can make it better
A lot of registry editing to keep music files out of the music album library, battery pulls happen often with this phone.
Cleanram seems to help but not much , avoid using the file browser and going to the "windows " directory, takes about 6 or 7 min to load , and you cant do anything else while it works on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There must be something wrong with your phone or you have something installed thats causing all those issues. I haven't had any problems. This has been the fastest and most stable phone I've owned.... and this is my 8th WinMo device.
digitallysick said:
Phone is not worth getting, it should not even qualify as a smart phone, as it can hardly do the tasks or have any apps.
Its trash
...
Web browsing and web apps are terrible opera is bad on this phone, with about 20 tweaks you can make it better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pure subjective opinion, and unfounded. I run the stock install of opera, not a single tweak, and it's still the best winmo web browsing experience I've ever had (and I've used every one you can name over the years). No lags, no hanging, landscape and multitouch flawlessly.
digitallysick said:
A lot of registry editing to keep music files out of the music album library
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true, it takes all of 30 seconds in Total Commander.
digitallysick said:
battery pulls happen often with this phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the 3 1/2 weeks I've had the phone, I've only had to do a forced-hardware-soft-reset 3 times.
digitallysick said:
Cleanram seems to help but not much , avoid using the file browser and going to the "windows " directory, takes about 6 or 7 min to load , and you cant do anything else while it works on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had it take a full 7 seconds to load the windows folder.
digitallysick said:
Phone is not worth getting, it should not even qualify as a smart phone, as it can hardly do the tasks or have any apps.
Its trash
As a "dumbphone" its fine, as a smart phone it is not, the pics/video , texting is fine . Those are the pros
Web browsing and web apps are terrible opera is bad on this phone, with about 20 tweaks you can make it better
A lot of registry editing to keep music files out of the music album library, battery pulls happen often with this phone.
Cleanram seems to help but not much , avoid using the file browser and going to the "windows " directory, takes about 6 or 7 min to load , and you cant do anything else while it works on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, isn't this the guy who was bragging about having got rid of his HD2 and moved back to Blackberry? Wonder what he is doing back in a forum dedicated to HD2...
This guy is clearly trolling. All of his posts lately seem to be geared negatively toward a device he claims to no longer own. Here he is attempting to influence someone by posting "facts" that are not true. I don't think he has anything positive to offer the readers in this particular forum and I would appreciate it if you checked his last 20 posts, you might find some interesting tidbits.
For those of you who are having trouble with browsing the Windows Folder, use Resco Explorer instead. File Explorer is a sorry excuse for a program. With Resco Explorer, I can open the windows folder in 6 seconds on a Touch HD, and that is a phone with a mere 528mhz processor.
Having said that, I'm still having a very tough time trying to justify this purchase to my conscience.
PoisonWolf said:
For those of you who are having trouble with browsing the Windows Folder, use Resco Explorer instead. File Explorer is a sorry excuse for a program. With Resco Explorer, I can open the windows folder in 6 seconds on a Touch HD, and that is a phone with a mere 528mhz processor.
Having said that, I'm still having a very tough time trying to justify this purchase to my conscience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You get a full two weeks to try it out
PoisonWolf said:
Having said that, I'm still having a very tough time trying to justify this purchase to my conscience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you have to pay full price for the phone?
The reason I ask is because you can generally find it at the same price as other smartphones. For example: At T-Mobile, both the Touch Pro 2 and the HD2 were the same price ($199 w/2y).
Even full price it is comparable to others like the Nexus One and the iPhone.
If you were planning to purchase a new smartphone, these are the prices you are going to be dealing with.
Oh, and I bought the TP2 a full week before I bought the HD2. It was very hard to convince my wife that this was something I had to have Even though I sold the TP2 at a profit that same day, we had to work out a deal where she got a kitchen gadget she had been looking at for a while
I was beginning to get the Transformer itch earlier this week. I kept thinking about how tired I am of reading my news sites (slashdot) on an iTouch and my ever building animosity towards Apple doesn’t help either. Then I started to consider how the dock could really make this thing exactly what I need for at the motocross track. I’ll be able to log and calculate all sorts of information on my bike’s performance like I would on a netbook and also when I am kicking back in the pits I can watch movies or do various other things. Sixteen hours of battery sweetness pretty much sealed the deal. Yesterday I overnighted the Transformer and now I have about 3 hours on the thing. Since I have no tablet, android, or any smartphone experience: here are my unbiased and uneducated thoughts.
I guess it’d be best to go over the common defects that are everywhere. There is a small amount of light bleed on the bottom of the screen. It is not significant, but it is noticeable on dark screens if you look for it. The speaker imbalance is not present on this tablet. No charging issues to note, yet. Bezel width is very comfortable. It isn't small by many standards but its perfect for my grip, non interrupting of viewable screen space. I have zero issue with the plastic body. It isn't aluminum, granted, but the quality feels plenty sturdy and it bothers me none.
Keeping in mind I only have 3 hours on the Transformer so far, here are some things I really like about the Transformer. The screen image is very crisp. The IPS panel does not disappoint. The Android interface is very sleek, and very smooth, I like it a lot. The built-in GPS and ever advancing Google Maps combo is great and I know it’s going to be extremely useful for me this summer. The background shift while you scroll different screens is pretty slick, I thought. The live backgrounds are cool, I checked out a few galaxy imitating live wallpapers off the market. Touch screen responsiveness is fantastic. Web pages are rendered very crisply and are easy on the eyes even during extended paragraph read-through’s.
And for some things I’m not quite digging: Speaker quality is a definite low. In low lighting the camera pictures are not very good, and the color reproduction is a bit low-end (haven’t tried in good lighting yet). No Netflix client. Application processes seem to build up with no obvious way to end them. All the talk about trojans hitting the Android Market has me fairly reluctant on freely trying apps and games. There is plenty of room for improvement in Polaris Office and I strongly hope that comes.
With everything said so far, it is truly exceeding my expectations. It’s a breeze to work with and I believe it’s going to be fantastic for what I need it for and more. I’m absolutely sure I’m going to start using it for work as well.
I hope this quick new comer’s write up is useful to other’s that are eyeing this gem, just as I was a few days ago. I plan to get my mandatory 10 xda posts in over the next week or so, then you’ll mostly see me in the developer’s section as I begin my own rooted work. See you on the other side
Brandon
brandon... said:
I was beginning to get the Transformer itch earlier this week. I kept thinking about how tired I am of reading my news sites (slashdot) on an iTouch and my ever building animosity towards Apple doesn’t help either. Then I started to consider how the dock could really make this thing exactly what I need for at the motocross track. I’ll be able to log and calculate all sorts of information on my bike’s performance like I would on a netbook and also when I am kicking back in the pits I can watch movies or do various other things. Sixteen hours of battery sweetness pretty much sealed the deal. Yesterday I overnighted the Transformer and now I have about 3 hours on the thing. Since I have no tablet, android, or any smartphone experience: here are my unbiased and uneducated thoughts.
I guess it’d be best to go over the common defects that are everywhere. There is a small amount of light bleed on the bottom of the screen. It is not significant, but it is noticeable on dark screens if you look for it. The speaker imbalance is not present on this tablet. No charging issues to note, yet.
Keeping in mind I only have 3 hours on the Transformer so far, here are some things I really like about the Transformer. The screen image is very crisp. The IPS panel does not disappoint. The Android interface is very sleek, and very smooth, I like it a lot. The built-in GPS and ever advancing Google Maps combo is great and I know it’s going to be extremely useful for me this summer. The background shift while you scroll different screens is pretty slick, I thought. The live backgrounds are cool, I checked out a few galaxy imitating live wallpapers off the market. Touch screen responsiveness is fantastic. Web pages are rendered very crisply and are easy on the eyes even during extended paragraph read-through’s.
And for some things I’m not quite digging: Speaker quality is a definite low. In low lighting the camera pictures are not very good, and the color reproduction is a bit low-end (haven’t tried in good lighting yet). No Netflix client. Application processes seem to build up with no obvious way to end them. All the talk about trojans hitting the Android Market has me fairly reluctant on freely trying apps and games. There is plenty of room for improvement in Polaris Office and I strongly hope that comes.
With everything said so far, it is truly exceeding my expectations. It’s a breeze to work with and I believe it’s going to be fantastic for what I need it for and more. I’m absolutely sure I’m going to start using it for work as well.
I hope this quick new comer’s write up is useful to other’s that are eyeing this gem, just as I was a few days ago. I plan to get my mandatory 10 xda posts in over the next week or so, then you’ll mostly see me in the developer’s section as I begin my own rooted work. See you on the other side
Brandon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About your issues with the processes, get a task killer for it as there isn't an in built task manager into HC
Look at the reviews or get an antivirus for free apps if you're scared
(I use lookout mobile as it has an inbuilt scanner and locator if you loose the tab)
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
brandon... said:
I was beginning to get the Transformer itch earlier this week. I kept thinking about how tired I am of reading my news sites (slashdot) on an iTouch and my ever building animosity towards Apple doesn’t help either. Then I started to consider how the dock could really make this thing exactly what I need for at the motocross track. I’ll be able to log and calculate all sorts of information on my bike’s performance like I would on a netbook and also when I am kicking back in the pits I can watch movies or do various other things. Sixteen hours of battery sweetness pretty much sealed the deal. Yesterday I overnighted the Transformer and now I have about 3 hours on the thing. Since I have no tablet, android, or any smartphone experience: here are my unbiased and uneducated thoughts.
I guess it’d be best to go over the common defects that are everywhere. There is a small amount of light bleed on the bottom of the screen. It is not significant, but it is noticeable on dark screens if you look for it. The speaker imbalance is not present on this tablet. No charging issues to note, yet.
Keeping in mind I only have 3 hours on the Transformer so far, here are some things I really like about the Transformer. The screen image is very crisp. The IPS panel does not disappoint. The Android interface is very sleek, and very smooth, I like it a lot. The built-in GPS and ever advancing Google Maps combo is great and I know it’s going to be extremely useful for me this summer. The background shift while you scroll different screens is pretty slick, I thought. The live backgrounds are cool, I checked out a few galaxy imitating live wallpapers off the market. Touch screen responsiveness is fantastic. Web pages are rendered very crisply and are easy on the eyes even during extended paragraph read-through’s.
And for some things I’m not quite digging: Speaker quality is a definite low. In low lighting the camera pictures are not very good, and the color reproduction is a bit low-end (haven’t tried in good lighting yet). No Netflix client. Application processes seem to build up with no obvious way to end them. All the talk about trojans hitting the Android Market has me fairly reluctant on freely trying apps and games. There is plenty of room for improvement in Polaris Office and I strongly hope that comes.
With everything said so far, it is truly exceeding my expectations. It’s a breeze to work with and I believe it’s going to be fantastic for what I need it for and more. I’m absolutely sure I’m going to start using it for work as well.
I hope this quick new comer’s write up is useful to other’s that are eyeing this gem, just as I was a few days ago. I plan to get my mandatory 10 xda posts in over the next week or so, then you’ll mostly see me in the developer’s section as I begin my own rooted work. See you on the other side
Brandon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's definitely a sweet device. My Nook Color is in it's box awaiting it's new owner
Check out splashtop..awesome. I also like the DLNA feature. I can sit outside and connect to my Seagate network drive and watch a movie(s) I've ripped over the past year. After a long day at work, I like to wind down with some Fruit Ninja baby!
MurfsHTC said:
It's definitely a sweet device. My Nook Color is in it's box awaiting it's new owner
Check out splashtop..awesome. I also like the DLNA feature. I can sit outside and connect to my Seagate network drive and watch a movie(s) I've ripped over the past year. After a long day at work, I like to wind down with some Fruit Ninja baby!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Splashtop is sweet, thanks for the recommendation! I am interested in streaming blurays from my home server to the tablet probably downscaling a bit, there any popular methods of doing this yet? Maybe play on has something,I'll look into that
MurfsHTC said:
I can sit outside and connect to my Seagate network drive and watch a movie(s) I've ripped over the past year. After a long day at work, I like to wind down with some Fruit Ninja baby!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
So, are you playing the network drive movies via a desktop, and using the remote desktop to see the video? Or are you streaming the video files directly to your tablet? Are the video files pre-processed for a scaled down resolution?
I'm wondering because the stock video app and one I downloaded (mobo) doesn't seem to support streaming. I have ES Navigator to navigate to a windows SMB share. I can view files on the windows share, but when I try to open a video file, the tablet saids it can't stream - must download the entire file before it'll play.
Sorry to hijack the thread - but MurfsHTC commented on exactly what I wanted to be able to do.
Thanks.
coachclass said:
Hi,
So, are you playing the network drive movies via a desktop, and using the remote desktop to see the video? Or are you streaming the video files directly to your tablet? Are the video files pre-processed for a scaled down resolution?
I'm wondering because the stock video app and one I downloaded (mobo) doesn't seem to support streaming. I have ES Navigator to navigate to a windows SMB share. I can view files on the windows share, but when I try to open a video file, the tablet saids it can't stream - must download the entire file before it'll play.
Sorry to hijack the thread - but MurfsHTC commented on exactly what I wanted to be able to do.
nks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
basically I rip my dvds using ripit4me, dvd shrink & dvd decrypter. From there i combine the .vob files into one .vob and then convert them. Initially, I was using Divx and streaming thru the xbox 360. I also experimented with Sothink Converter and Handbrake. Sothink has many conversion options but I prefer handbrake. For some reason the Transformer will not load a .divx , .mp4 Itunes movie(.m4v) or .wmv file thru MyNet. it'll do .mp4 (via Handbrake). In a nutshell, I open MyNet, click on the seagate folder and it streams right to the Transformer. I did try mobo and haven't had much luck either. I use the Seagate GoFlex Net 1TB. Plug into your router, load the software and setup your user account. you can also access the drive thru a web browser. Google Chrome doesn't seem to work. Hope I didn't confuse or rattle on.
Well progress is being made on VLC for Android. That will certainly help.
droid_does said:
About your issues with the processes, get a task killer for it as there isn't an in built task manager into HC
Look at the reviews or get an antivirus for free apps if you're scared
(I use lookout mobile as it has an inbuilt scanner and locator if you loose the tab)
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is absolutely no need to get a task killer app. Let the OS manage that for you. You could even be slowing down your TF by closing apps. There are posts here (In the ultimate TF guide stickied) that detail why.
One of the best uses so far has been a rather reasonable music playback device, if you have quality headphones for it.
Enjoy the the TF Android adventure, it only gets better. Mine is three weeks old, and I have already taken the plunge and rooted, custom Rom, and overclocked mine.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Garf123 said:
There is absolutely no need to get a task killer app. Let the OS manage that for you. You could even be slowing down your TF by closing apps. There are posts here (In the ultimate TF guide stickied) that detail why.
One of the best uses so far has been a rather reasonable music playback device, if you have quality headphones for it.
Enjoy the the TF Android adventure, it only gets better. Mine is three weeks old, and I have already taken the plunge and rooted, custom Rom, and overclocked mine.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
only for the transformer I've heard
I dont' use task killers at all, but for HC I've read that you could.....just putting it out there
Brandon,
Glad to hear you're enjoying your Transformer. I know I am.
On the volume issue, there's an app: volume+ $1.44 at Amazon that made all the difference in the world after I did the 3.1 update, when it became lower.
About a week or so ago there was a thread on it, if you want to search for volume+. Seems a lot of people were pleased with it. I know I was, now I can't turn my volume all the way up.
Have fun!
sunsetbay said:
Brandon,
Glad to hear you're enjoying your Transformer. I know I am.
On the volume issue, there's an app: volume+ $1.44 at Amazon that made all the difference in the world after I did the 3.1 update, when it became lower.
About a week or so ago there was a thread on it, if you want to search for volume+. Seems a lot of people were pleased with it. I know I was, now I can't turn my volume all the way up.
Have fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the looking out but I am in fact having no volume issues
Also i edited the op with two more items I wanted to cover but forgot at the time: bezel width and plastic body. Word to big bird
MurfsHTC said:
It's definitely a sweet device. My Nook Color is in it's box awaiting it's new owner
Check out splashtop..awesome. I also like the DLNA feature. I can sit outside and connect to my Seagate network drive and watch a movie(s) I've ripped over the past year. After a long day at work, I like to wind down with some Fruit Ninja baby!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to sell my Nook Color but decided to keep it as I enjoy watching Netflix on it, there's no working Netflix app yet for the TF.
Well a few too many beers tonight at baseball practice, came home and neglected a few steps during my first venture into rooting, ha! Didn't take but 10 mins to fix, but I am now rooted and on the prime rom. Will be checking it out for the next few hours
@Geekbabe: I think I read PlayOn supports Netflix to Android now. Granted you need to run the PlayOn server on a PC on your network, but it's something.
EDIT: Now running Prime on top of the netformer kernel. So fun.
I have had this Xoom tablet since Monday and every evening after work I've been busy toying with it to see what it can do. Wasn't sure initially that I was going to get it since a new version is about to hit the markets, but I got a good deal at Dixons in Dublin airport (€289) for the WiFi version.
Anyway, in most of the things it's a great toy but it has a few, but really annoying, shortcomings:
- Not able to charge via USB cable
- Not able to mount like a normal Android device to my computers
- Playing movies is a a horrible experience, if at all possible.
For the second item, I have downloaded and installed the Motorola drivers for my Windows PC and after that it mounts just fine. Same goes for my Mac. For Linux I had to fire up the Terminal and do some fiddling following various guides on how to set up USB mounting and Samba sharing. So it's not impossible, just annoying that manual setup needs to be done on various platforms...or perhaps I'm just lazy.
I have quite a few .mkv movie files and I have searched this forum for players that will accept the files. None of the players I've downloaded are able to play mkv even with Codecs installed. All of the players mentioned in this thread do not work with a mkv file the size of 1.5GB. There appears to be software that can convert the files to be more Xoom friendly, but it costs about $30. Of course, seeing my mate being able to play all movie files on his HP TouchPad with WebOS without problems doesn't exactly help to lift my spirits.
I did have some issues with Google Music not wanting to remember my online collection but since downloading the latest app yesterday this now appears to be fixed.
My Xoom runs Tiamat Xoom Rom 2.2.2 - Moray and I flashed the Odachi kernel.
Other than my ranting above the Xoom is great for browsing the web, skype, listening to music and reading books (becoming addicted to buying books in Kindle)
For the MKV files - handbrake won't convert em for you? Cause that's free - and what I use to convert raw material for my xoom.
edit: and I personally have never seen a tablet that charges via USB. Samsung's galaxy tabs charge via their dock, my old nook color required the charger to charge, even though it was a modified USB cable, and the xoom is well.. we know already.
ZeroSX said:
For the MKV files - handbrake won't convert em for you? Cause that's free - and what I use to convert raw material for my xoom.
edit: and I personally have never seen a tablet that charges via USB. Samsung's galaxy tabs charge via their dock, my old nook color required the charger to charge, even though it was a modified USB cable, and the xoom is well.. we know already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't used Handbrake in a while so I'll have a try to see if it works. Any special settings you set up in Handbrake for it to work with the Xoom?
This is my first tablet so I don't actually have much to compare with regarding the USB charging. I just mentioned the lack of USB charging to two colleagues who have HP tablets and they were surprised that it needs an actual wall charger.
As its been said many times before USB charging would take forever on a tablet. I can charge my xoom to 100% way faster then my girlfriends Galaxy 10 which uses the 5v USB.
And the way the file managing is done is better and worse in a way. Phones and pcs handle it better and i haven't had a issue with corrupting my sd card like i did with my Droid 2 and the old mounting. But linux is a pain to get MTP to work with. On my Win 7 pcs it saw it right away and worked with out needing anything DLed.
And handbrake does all my video converting great. It may not be super 1080P HD but i really dont need super HD on a tablet. Ill try to pull my preset file for you to try.
I use MX Player off of the market for MKV files and it plays them flawlessly when changing to software decoding and such for certain files. You should look into that.
omac_ranger said:
I use MX Player off of the market for MKV files and it plays them flawlessly when changing to software decoding and such for certain files. You should look into that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second MX Player off of the market (http://goo.gl/WvXLa).
I also found pre-alpha VLC player that I've used without any issues.
http://dl.cvpcs.org/android/test/common/VLC-neon.apk
http://dl.cvpcs.org/android/test/common/VLC-noneon.apk
I used to convert my video with Handspring but I no longer have to with these two awesome video players.
omac_ranger said:
I use MX Player off of the market for MKV files and it plays them flawlessly when changing to software decoding and such for certain files. You should look into that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that but it didn't work even when changing to software decoding.
nephroid said:
I also found pre-alpha VLC player that I've used without any issues.
http://dl.cvpcs.org/android/test/common/VLC-neon.apk
http://dl.cvpcs.org/android/test/common/VLC-noneon.apk
I used to convert my video with Handspring but I no longer have to with these two awesome video players.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool thanks! Was looking for VLC earlier. Will give these a try.
Edit: first one (VLC-nonneon) works albeit the picture is not very steady. Loads of small breaks when playing a film. Second one force closes.
slonn said:
Cool thanks! Was looking for VLC earlier. Will give these a try.
Edit: first one (VLC-nonneon) works albeit the picture is not very steady. Loads of small breaks when playing a film. Second one force closes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity, how large are these files you're testing with? .mkv's, .avi's?
The VLC app works for me if I don't try to jump all around the videos too often. It's pre-alpha so there should be some quirks.
nephroid said:
Just out of curiosity, how large are these files you're testing with? .mkv's, .avi's?
The VLC app works for me if I don't try to jump all around the videos too often. It's pre-alpha so there should be some quirks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The files were about 1.5 GB. I've tried with smaller files and that seems to work. I just assumed that any file under 4 GB would play without problems. In any case I've fired up Handbrake to compress the movie files. Great with free software
My way of doing things.
so far i havent had any problems playing videos, partially because things have been too hectic for the 4g xooms so i keep changing stuff, and partially because most of the movies i own in digital form all play without hesitation, like from the google movies.
as far as mounting goes, windows does fine once u have the drivers, but i hate paying for software, so fudge windows. linux on the other hand is easy, all i do is boot into cwm and mount usb drive. works like a snap, prob work in windows too, just havent tried. that lets u access your externalsd, but theres prob a way to mount ur internal, just havent tried that yet either.
and the charging i read somewhere actually works through usb, its just so slow, and so low that one, it doesnt register, and two it would only really be fesible in an emergency. but i actually like the fact we get a full powered charger that just juices it up quick and painlessly. true the only way to charge it on the go is get a seperate charger, or a converter, but i can live with the battery power.
hope u figure your stuff out, i love this thing. does all i want and more, witht the added benefit of having a metal case, which is more important than u think!! wait till your mates drop their pads, i put mine through some rough wear, and that metal case has saved it several times. the biggest thing that breaks on these that ive seen is the glass on the screen, which is a pretty easy fix, plus it wont make it unusable if u do, just gotta live with it. have fun!!!
I use MX Player to play video files that were nearly 1.1GBs, never had a problem. Is the Video the problem or the audio when you were using it?
omac_ranger said:
I use MX Player to play video files that were nearly 1.1GBs, never had a problem. Is the Video the problem or the audio when you were using it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the video that lags.
no lag now after the films were compressed with handbrake. Happy days
I play 10GB MKVs with MX Video player, I have no idea why you would be having issues with your files. I love my Xoom and MX plays everything
charged it to 100 % last night and it was at 99% thus morning. Just one per cent down in 10 hours with screen off. That's very impressive!
slonn said:
no lag now after the films were compressed with handbrake. Happy days
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What format did you convert too? MP4?
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
slonn said:
charged it to 100 % last night and it was at 99% thus morning. Just one per cent down in 10 hours with screen off. That's very impressive!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep in my experience this is pretty normal! ;-)
Sent from my DEFY running CM7 using XDA App
From my personal experiences:
- Not able to charge via USB cable
Aye, that's a shame but understandable due to the amount of power needed.
- Not able to mount like a normal Android device to my computers
Unfortunately this will be the way for all android devices, also all phones. This is due to the switch to MTP connectivity from ICS and up. Google made this switch so they were able to pool all the memory in a device to a single storage pool, this to avoid all the issues with earlier (low amount of memory) devices which would run out of space after installing a lot of applications like for example the HTC Desire or original Nexus.
- Playing movies is a a horrible experience, if at all possible.
Agreed, it was quite a let down, mostly due to the limitations of the Tegra cpu. As mentioned by a lot of others MX player does it pretty well however, for my own collection i use and can advise you Plex. Its removes the need to recode anything in you library. On the move its not an option if you are without wifi in your case (i have a 3g Xoom myself) but its awesome when connected.
Enjoy your device.
King350z said:
What format did you convert too? MP4?
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, converted it to m4v.
My nexus 10 had become really warm around back camera after using chrome apps for a few minutes about 7 minutes or so. Web site I mostly visit are
kotaku.com
theverge.com
batoto.com
This noticeable warmness only occur when I use web browser app. Funny thing that when I watch movie using MX player Hw+, watching anime MKV 8 bit the device never seem to get hot, except when watching in SW for 10 bit anime it get extremely hot.
Youtube app also shows no singe of this warmness.
Do I get the defected device? Please help me with this I really don't want to get the replacement.
Thank you for your time.
benzs129 said:
My nexus 10 had become really warm around back camera after using chrome apps for a few minutes about 7 minutes or so. Web site I mostly visit are
kotaku.com
theverge.com
batoto.com
This noticeable warmness only occur when I use web browser app. Funny thing that when I watch movie using MX player Hw+, watching anime MKV 8 bit the device never seem to get hot, except when watching in SW for 10 bit anime it get extremely hot.
Youtube app also shows no singe of this warmness.
Do I get the defected device? Please help me with this I really don't want to get the replacement.
Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's only getting hot with certain apps or content, it's probably those apps or content stressing your device, not the device being defective. This CPU does get a bit hot sometimes. I don't know if all ARM CPUs are like this, or just the ones I have.
I suggest you install the Battery Widget app by Elvison, so that you can see how hot Android says the CPU is getting when you do these things. We can then compare temperatures, if you also note the background temperature in your town when you are testing, so we can compare how much hotter the device gets from the baseline background temperature. I have gotten my HTC One X+ to report a temperature of 60 degrees C when playing a lot of HD video, but while my Nexus 10 gets somewhat hot, it never gets that hot. :fingers-crossed:
benzs129 said:
My nexus 10 had become really warm around back camera after using chrome apps for a few minutes about 7 minutes or so. Web site I mostly visit are
kotaku.com
theverge.com
batoto.com
This noticeable warmness only occur when I use web browser app. Funny thing that when I watch movie using MX player Hw+, watching anime MKV 8 bit the device never seem to get hot, except when watching in SW for 10 bit anime it get extremely hot.
Youtube app also shows no singe of this warmness.
Do I get the defected device? Please help me with this I really don't want to get the replacement.
Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, that is perfectly normal. What a lot of people don't know is that web rendering is one/if not the most CPU intensive ask you'll do on your tablet. So for it to get warm at the back after several minutes stressing the CPU out from web rendering is not bad at all. It's nothing to worry about, every phone/ tablet does this. Hope this helps
Plus the wifi chip dumps out a lot of heat just by itself, even if it isnt even being used very hard.
EniGmA1987 said:
Plus the wifi chip dumps out a lot of heat just by itself, even if it isnt even being used very hard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The wifi combo chips don't draw a lot of power, and usually go into a low-power idle mode for even less draw (already just a few milliwatts max)...
(Giving benefit of doubt because N10 has dual MIMO fancy chip. Might draw a bit more. Still feels wrong, though.)
Are you sure?
Yep I am very sure. If I leave the wifi on when I play a game I will hit thermal throttling WAY faster than with it off, and the tablet feels much warmer overall as well. Turning wifi off and doing the same thing lowers the reported temperatures by around 5-6 degrees Celsius.
believe it or not it probably chrome... i had the same issue with my nexus 4.... try using boat browser or something else lightweight and see if that changes anything
EniGmA1987 said:
Yep I am very sure. If I leave the wifi on when I play a game I will hit thermal throttling WAY faster than with it off, and the tablet feels much warmer overall as well. Turning wifi off and doing the same thing lowers the reported temperatures by around 5-6 degrees Celsius.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, but the correlation between heat reducing with wifi off doesn't mean the wifi chip itself is the source of the heat. It could just as easily be that having wifi on allows background processes to connect to the network, and their use of the CPU increases load, thus heat.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that assuming cause from correlation is tricky.
Should be easy to resolve for someone with a laser thermometer.
Another thought: Display brightness is directly related to a fair amount of heat output. Maybe you changed that setting.
Guys, I'm soooo close to buying this phone.
But then I saw this:
https://youtu.be/AXF-J-zCKQM?t=420
In this video, the Axon 7 behaves pretty much identical to my galaxy S5: Instead of re-opening apps at exactly the same point/states where exited, most apps either reload from start (e.g. Youtube, Speedtest) or take significantly longer to open compared to the OP3, which manages the switch instantly.
Can you please check if Multitasking has improved at all compared to the video?
And when switching back to Chrome or Youtube from other apps, does the page usually reload for you or does it pick up where you left it?
I really need your honest feedback, as this is a deal breaker for me if app switching is still like in the video. It's one of the things I passionately hate about my Galaxy S5 and I definitely don't want a phone which despite 4gb RAM cant properly keep apps in a suspended state.
My phone does fine with keeping apps in memory and picking up where they left off.
I don't have the phone yet, but from what I know, that's the Chinese model of the A7 running the Chinese ROM which is more bloated than the ROM on the US version.
Also, the reviewer is incorrect in his statement that the 6GB of RAM is the reason for the OP3's speed performance, as the OP3 doesn't actually use all of it's RAM out of the box without kernel modification.
I am aware that the 6GB Ram doesn't make a difference in real life.
Regarding the bloatware point, well if I install 10-15 apps after getting the phone, it will have the same effect as having the phone with pre-installed bloatware.
If the phone then becomes like this, its definitely an issue for me.
Can please anybody else chime in on this topic?
The A2017G with Software B03 does it nearly like the phone in the video.
It takes a few moments to restore the app. I think it takes longer if the app was opened long time ago.
The last ~5 apps are much faster to restore and they restore at the same state.
When I reopen a app that was opened long time ago, e.g. Google Chrome, than it reloads the website or restarts the app.
Keiler90 said:
The A2017G with Software B03 does it nearly like the phone in the video.
It takes a few moments to restore the app. I think it takes longer if the app was opened long time ago.
The last ~5 apps are much faster to restore and they restore at the same state.
When I reopen a app that was opened long time ago, e.g. Google Chrome, than it reloads the website or restarts the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your input, exactly the info I needed.
Seems like this phone is a bit too aggressive in killing apps that haven't been used for more than a few minutes
Yeah, the ZTE software definitely has its downsides and quirks in many respects. Memory management and killing apps is one of them. Really looking forward to a fully working CM rom.
No, my phone does not act like this at all.
My phone multitasks just like the oneplus 3 in that video.
xxBrun0xx said:
My phone multitasks just like the oneplus 3 in that video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have many open though (10+ apps) and see if it reacts the same. Most of mine open instantly like you state but a few loaded just like on the video. It must be a "most recently" thing it seems. Honestly, I didn't notice it until watching this vid. I mean you're talking seconds if not milliseconds and that's not even for every recently open app only some. As a ex-iphone user (iphone 6+) I can say that the Axon 7 is much more responsive but unfortunately that's all I have to go off of. I watched many reviews as well as this one before I bought this phone. Even on the Verizon network I've been very happy with my purchase and it's half the price of most flagship phones.
not sure if this question belongs here... if not please move or delete it.
can the Axon 7 play high-bitrate 1080p videos... for example, both my Note5 and LG G4 can play 40mbps to 60mbps 1080p videos just fine(movies that I ripped from Blu-ray). However, my spare phone, the Nexus 5X can't cope with it.
Thanks!
It's 2016 and I just can't be bothered with a phone that reloads an entire webpage or youtube video because i have been using some other app for the past 30min. Every single android I have had so far had this behaviour and it's effectively ruining the experience for me.
Example: I'm at the gym, reading an internet page between sets. I read on a site, then do my set, switch to my training logging app, maybe go on youtube real quickly, then switch to the music player app and maybe also write a text in whatsapp. I finish my next set and while resting I switch back to chrome. It's been roughly 5min and the entire page is reloading from scratch.
This is just an example, and it could be 30min with several more apps in between, but you get my idea.
My spider senses are telling my that the same troubles await with the axon 7. I know it has nothing to do with 4Gb ram, but with how the OS is managing the background apps and processes.
I'm surprised there's no other reviews in this regard. All the reviews just say meaningless platitudes like "4gb of RAM is plenty so it should perform awesomely with multitasking", but then fail to actually test for this claim
Vipeout said:
It's 2016 and I just can't be bothered with a phone that reloads an entire webpage or youtube video because i have been using some other app for the past 30min. Every single android I have had so far had this behaviour and it's effectively ruining the experience for me.
Example: I'm at the gym, reading an internet page between sets. I read on a site, then do my set, switch to my training logging app, maybe go on youtube real quickly, then switch to the music player app and maybe also write a text in whatsapp. I finish my next set and while resting I switch back to chrome. It's been roughly 5min and the entire page is reloading from scratch.
This is just an example, and it could be 30min with several more apps in between, but you get my idea.
My spider senses are telling my that the same troubles await with the axon 7. I know it has nothing to do with 4Gb ram, but with how the OS is managing the background apps and processes.
I'm surprised there's no other reviews in this regard. All the reviews just say meaningless platitudes like "4gb of RAM is plenty so it should perform awesomely with multitasking", but then fail to actually test for this claim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solution: iPhones. (sad but true)
I love Android phones, but sometimes I wonder if the Google/Android engineers actually use the mobile OS they designed.
centerwaters said:
Solution: iPhones. (sad but true)
I love Android phones, but sometimes I wonder if the Google/Android engineers actually use the mobile OS they designed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, correct and sad but true. Last time I had a phone that could seamlessly switch between apps without reloading anything was my iPhone 3S *smh*