Related
For does who are intressted in my WM5 experience
I have spent my weekend upgrading my XDA IIs to WM5. With all the comments in this forum and Wicki I was able to do this in a painless and strait forward way. But after 3 days of daily usage I came to the the conclusion that WM5 on my XDA IIs is not ready now for real business use. There are too many bugs which are very disturbing if you are depending on this tool. So I have downgraded to 1.40 and restored my datas with Sprite Backup.
Anyway WM5 looks very good to me and I will be back and install it again when the time is right.
Thank you very much for all the support placed in this forum by you guys!
I've installed it about 2-3 days ago so far, and I'm loving it, I've had a few minor issues but I've managed to work around them. The installation for Windows 2005 was very simple and to the point which I liked, it didn't give me any wonder off questions like "How do I do this part?" it was all done through a nice application. I'm sticking to Windows Mobile 2005. ;-)
FACT: WM5 is maybe ready for freaks, programmers and "wannabe cool guys". But for real business it's definitely NOT ready.
I work in a very hard business and need that thing very often, and it was much better with the WM2003SE, trust me. WM2003SE is a bit faster with my PH20B1 device, but it has definitely less bugs than WM5.
But it's just fair to say, that our WM5 version is just a beta version and for nothing (money). I already have it on my device, I'm not sure to downgrade. May when I have some time. :wink:
WM5 is a love hate friendship.
What gets me the most about this is the fact that if you buy a PC with 2000 on it you can LEGALY upgrade to XP or Server 2003.
If you buy the same machine in a GERMAN version you can LEGALY change the language to what ever you want.
We have paid good wonga for a device which was shipped with a licence for the CE. Here we are stuck as we can't change the language nor version without creative means (lets not get into that).
As a communaty I would say that XDA is a great source of information and has found many ways to fix issues that are both Carrier and OS based. Many of us have spent hours fumbelling in the dark to inprove our very expensive toys and passed on this info via the forum and wiki.
We all know that BIG Brother is watching us. We all know the so called gods of Richmond have flexed thier mussels on this site.
What I just fail to understand is the simple fact that in the long run we all want to better our devices and inprove the issues of perfromance and stabilaty. Whether this is from the side of us users or the manufactures.
So Microsoft make our day and leak a newer Build of the WM5 for the BA and I promise you that we will again documnet the issues, problems, incompatabilaties, faults and general messups.
Would a controlled beta testing by a bunch of Geeks that give a damm and use the device daily not be better than some lab rats that just see if the icons are color matched?
Will I go back to 2003, think I will have to and it pisses me off big time. Would I stay with wm5, well if I could charge my device and then answer a incoming call with out haveing to reset the bugger it would help.
Well - no additional comments. I agree with you :wink:
Agree
I agree with all of your views. As Saisoku-R i am also using my XDA very heavely every day. I do not have the time to play around bugs. But anyway I think WM5 will be a great OS and I may try to upgarde in some more weeks again. Thanks to the great work of all you guys out there!
Thanks!
I agree with the argument in this thread. I use the XDA for non-business purposes, and am enjoying WM5 and its improved verstality no end. I specially love the contextual soft buttons below, the enhanced office and the improved quality of sound. But I do realize that for serious business users, it would be smarter to stick to 2003SE for the moment, and hope a more stable version of WM5 is released.
I have had the version2 with all appropriate patches installed since it was released. I am fortunate to say the I can hear/answer all incoming calls and all SMS features. I don't care much for MMS and taking pictures on low quality imaging product so I have not tested it to a great extent. The only gripe I have with WM5 is that it is slow. Much slower than I can handle compared to WM2003. Even the overclock patch by Mamaich has it's limitations.
Mamaich and Buzz has done a great service to us and I personally would like to thank them for giving me first hand experience in using WM5. Unfortunately, WM5 on a BA is still in it's infancy and I await the day when they tame it. For now, I am on my way back to 2003 and will weight my options when a mature WM5 or a Linux Stable is available.
Downgrading
i have been using the WM5 for weeks now and it is not stable, i can't use bluetooth, wireless is bad, does not ring when i am getting a call, it might ring during the last ring and stuff, so i will downgrade and stay till bluetooth and stuff is fixed. Thank you guys for making WM5 possible, it looks nice but thats all it is so far, looks. I would love to upgrade again if u guys get it stable, thank you very much.
I really wonder why there are so many different problems that some have, but other haven't got. The WLAN and BT turning itself off when the unit is suspended is common for all. But the problems you mention are rare, and I have none of them. Maybe it comes down to other, third party applications that are installed, or perhaps a bad upgrade?
no real problems
I have to say that I have had no real problems since installing wm5.
I have had no reason to soft reset and I have been using for about a week. I must say that at times it goes a bit slow but if you run the mamaich overclock again it seem to rectify for a day or so.
everything works BT, MMS, EMAIL, pocket msn, spb weather, spb clock, Agile messenger, Fax. Oh and phone with no sound issues at all.
To me it is far more stable than 2003se ever was.
Cheers gang
I have been using WM5 for about 6 days now, and it is much more stable (if slower) than 2003 was for me.
Some things don't work
1. Spb Diary
2. Spd Today Plus
Windows Media Player doesn't play Windows Media streams (32k) that TCMP can play.
Overall I am happy with WM 5, it would be nice if Microsoft could figure out how to write code that executes faster though.
I'm back on WM5... I had serious problems with WM2003SE, it softresets itself every 5-10 min. That's right, WM5 is much more stable, even the splash image doesn't nerve me, because with WM5 I don't have to softreset 1time every day :lol:
Where can I get the overclock util from mamaich ? Couldn't find it. Are there any cons concering the overclock util ? My BA is just 3 months old, I don't wanna crack it. :wink:
2 things that isn't as good as it was in WM2003SE: WLAN/BT and performance.
Oh, I found another problem: I have the german keyboard fix for the hard keyboard, and when I type emails or whatever, the buttons sometimes "hang". i.e.: I push the "E" button and it types 60 times the "E". When I press backspace, it deletes the whole text till the beginning. :?
MDAIIIUser said:
So Microsoft make our day and leak a newer Build of the WM5 for the BA and I promise you that we will again documnet the issues, problems, incompatabilaties, faults and general messups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That´s part of HTC and not MS. MS only delivers the PB and some extensions for WM5.
So go and ask your carrier for changes, so they can order something at htc.
In WM2003 a lot of problems may have been fixed a long time before you got it, but it was to expensive to create a new version,test it and deliver it...
I had WM5 for about 2 weeks on the BA. I thought it was very stable, just WAY TO SLOW. Loading a program like Resco Explorer normally takes <1 second on WM2003 but about 5 or 6 on WM2005. Now before you think, "well that isn't that big a deal", remember everything is going slow like this. I just could not take it anymore.
That being said, I believe BUZZ, (maybe mamaich as well?) is looking into making a version without persistent memory, (basically going back to using RAM for storage and program) like the XDA2 builds.
If that was made then the speed would no longer be the issue, (though persistence would be lost )
I cannot agree with you, my PocketPlus 2.5 loads very fast, ALL games I've installed on my device are much faster with WM5 than with WM2003SE. Just if you re-activate the BA it is slower than WM2003.
And I was just sick and tired of doing almost all 2 days a softreset with WM2003SE... I don't have this issue with WM2005.
All in all, it's like MDAIIIuser said, it's a love-hate story.
I'm a network consultant and I use my BA entirely for business, which is the biggest reason I was SO happy for the work that Buzz, mamaich, ramram, cdaly1970 and the others on WM5 for the BA. Being as that my email, like my clients, is entirely through Exchange 2003 I really don't use text messaging, MSN and such. My only real problem has been with the BT, which I can live with for a while as I need the other things that do work, like my Pocket PC actually syncing to my Exchange server in the cradle, tasks syncing over the internet, contacts containg photo's, setting importance in outgoing emails, etc. I reset in the morning before I get in the car and maybe once more during the day. Yes it opens emails, Word, etc slower.... but the Outlook email and Contacts are just SO much better!
I've gone back to 2003 twice .... and now I just can't imagine going back. Just my experiences....
Steven
^^ hey, what else could I say... this is exact my situation !!! :wink:
hello all I have been using it since the gurus figure it out, and gone trough all the patches and fixes and stuff, after removing the camera stuff, I never had a problem again, and with the overclock app, it works great, its fast, reliable, get all phone calls use it for business everyday its just great, exept for the album, I cant get that to work, other than that its great! thanks to all the geniouses!
win2003 is good still
Well i have used WM5, it is slow, i thought about using hte overclock tool but i would rather not damage my device and be stuck with dead weight. I was really really upset about the bluetooth issue and not being able to use my ear peice, i bought it for a lot of money and i would prefer to use it, cause it is safer and i cannot really hold the MDAIII between my head and shoulder like a regular phone. WM5 looks really good, no doubt, but so far since i went back to 2003SE, it is fast, i have not missed any call and bluetooth is a hell lot more stable. I have happy we have WM5 but i think i will not go back to it till it is well fixed
Hi all,
Just got myself an O2 XDA(ii). I have heard people banging on about WM5 and how I should upgrade the OS.
However, one question - why do it?
What will I gain by doing the upgrade?
Will it consume more system resources and therefore have an overhead performance?
What woes will be introduced by upgrading - will it break anything?
Is WM5 really as stable as WM3?
I hope I can get answers to these questions!!
Many thanks!
why use windows when dos works fine?
Windows is a GUI, dos is a CLI.
Both human interfaces are radically different.
The questions I posed are reasonable.
Try this..
borrow a WM5 device from someone for a day and dont use ur WM2003 device.
If u like something in that device, install WM5 on your BA and test it, try it
I thought that this was a technical website for developers - I had hoped for some slightly more in depth answers, like contrasting for example:
consumption of system resources
bugs
reliability
speed
new system features
security
power management
etc...
WM5 VS WM3
Hi,
It is a true question,
- I have just used WM5 a week. So I hope my experience will be useful for you.
Fist, the WM5 store all data on it's ROM so you won't lost you data example: instaled program in device, contacts, SMS, MMS... if it run out of energy, hard reset... But, that causes the speed is slower than official WM2003 Version 1.42.
It still remain some bugs example: sometime freeze when you turn it on, BT and wifi sometime need a softreset to turn on.
The energy consumsion is the same (waiting phone mode). Others depend on backlight, % CPU usage.
Certainly WM5 have much more feature. I really don't known what I should advice you now because I still often reset 1-2 time/day like my laptop. But I don't like thing which is the same forever expecialy softwares.
I hope you can have your answer.
Daeljan said:
I thought that this was a technical website for developers - I had hoped for some slightly more in depth answers, like contrasting for example:
consumption of system resources
bugs
reliability
speed
new system features
security
power management
etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for that answer!
To be honest, I got the XDA because I need something to keep me organised time-wise, so I'm more interested in stability than eye-candy. I don't want to fall behind the times either, but I may hold out untill WM 5 matures a little more. What you said about hanging when you switch on is off-putting enough - I had heard similar things about WM5 related to connectivity, but I've never had the chance to hear about it first-hand.
If anyone else would like to add something of similar content to this thread, I'd be very happy to read about it.
Cheers.
This is xda-developers so the question of why use WM5 on BA sort of answers itself by the simple fact that M$ has not given it to us in the first place (well this could also not be true as M$ did make a copy but none of the providers gave us a rom so that we all go out and by a new WM5 Device).
So why not? In the long run its more of a matter of taste, some have gone for and stayed with the WM5 on a BA, others have gone back and others have gone and brought a REAL WM5 device.
Its up to you, if you read the threads (of which there are many) you will find reasons to stay away and reasons to install it. Like I say its sort of personal.
Oh yes DOS was and is cool, still to this day I use it.
Dude
why don't you just flash to WM5 try it out
Dude
why don't you just flash to WM5 try it out, and if you don't like it go back 2k3, makes the most sense. You seem like a smart chap i'm sure you can figure it out, no harm to the device, and you'll get all your answers bra
My two cents if you like command line and stability learn linux, bash away!
Daeljan said:
I thought that this was a technical website for developers - I had hoped for some slightly more in depth answers, like contrasting for example:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Daeljan,
Welcome to the community! I'm sorry if some of the guys answered like that, but you have to understand that this question pops in from newbies every couple days "Why shall I do it?", "What's the difference", etc... So some of us just get tired of answering!
I am sure however, that you'll find many extremely interesting, highly technical threads.
So, to answer your question: WM2K+3 vs WM5
- I believe that part of doing it was actually to try to see it could be done, I mean the operators left us with an exceptional device (the BlueAngel) without upgrade, so many of us felt "betrayed" and wanted to get the latest, and greatest despite the lack of official support for a release.
- The LATEST version of WM5 (Helmi v3.2) is much more stable that the early versions, I'm currently running it and never think about downgrading back to WM2K3. Amongst the things I find interesting:
- The OS is almost as fast as WM2K3, in fact I run all most of the new versions of software flawlessly.
- WM5 has flat memory and no sharing between the "Storage" and "Execution" spaces (Which is something you will immediately notice on your old OS), so you get more running memory for your applications.
- Because of the above, WM5 has "resilient" storage, i.e. a reset will not erase your data, that alone is a great advantage.
- Some apps that do not run anymore on WM2K3 are now accessible for our community.
- Some applications are natively available on WM5 (Like Mobile PowerPoint) for example, and are not there on WM2K3.
- Better synchronization with your desktop device (You can, for example see your contact pictures directly synchronized, whereas with WM2K3, you can't).
On the other hand, we have a few issues (That are getting fixed with every new release), like:
- Slightly higher power consumption.
- A very, very ugly bluetooth protocol stack... People are doing an amazing job there, and the problem is almost over.
- Other minor issues that you'll discover while browsing the links.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
W.
1) click search, type an abbrevieted version of your first post in it.
2) be swamped with a massive amount of posts ABOUT THE SAME THING.
3) repeat in future.
(sorry if im being a bit harsh but i myself have awnserwed this question many times before, just search in future!)
Thank you all for your answers, and sorry for making you repeat yourselves.
I suppose that this is an obvious topic for discussion that many people naturally want to know about.
So why not post a summary of it all somewhere where people can find it without having to mine the forums? I searched the FAQ for WM5, Upgrade, Windows Mobile 5, in various combinations and nothing came up.
The bluetooth problems are a little scary though if the XDA is to be used as a GPS, connected to the antenna via bluetooth.
Anyhow, thanks again.
Hic
You can try, it is easy to downgrade, not compelex as in the instruction.
1. Change to bootloader mode, connect USB run Ship file,
2. After the instaltion procces finished, softreset your BA.
3. The first start maybe get mistake, cause ExtraRom could be changed, softreset again, your BA will run in a pure state, unhide ExtraROM-softreset, copy all files in the ExtraROM of Ship file (extract from Ship file) to the ExtraROM, you can also change ExtraRom as you want.
4. Hardreset---everything is OK.
Wzaatar
Very nice post you did there old chap, thanks. You almost got me to try it all over again.
I use the ROM in my signature and I find it great apart from the odd problem but that could be from the 50+ apps I have on it.
Go for it...
Daeljan said:
Thank you very much for that answer!
To be honest, I got the XDA because I need something to keep me organised time-wise, so I'm more interested in stability than eye-candy. I don't want to fall behind the times either, but I may hold out untill WM 5 matures a little more. What you said about hanging when you switch on is off-putting enough - I had heard similar things about WM5 related to connectivity, but I've never had the chance to hear about it first-hand.
If anyone else would like to add something of similar content to this thread, I'd be very happy to read about it.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'll try to give you a different slant on things....
WM5 utilises persistent storage (as stated above) which means that, should you find yourself in the unfortunate position that your BA has run out of juice you'll retain all your data (even the RAMDisk contents contrary to some other peoples posts). This is not the case in WM2003SE. If you let the battery run down in WM2003SE it's adios amigo! And start all over again.
WM2003SE while quite stable, is not perfect, especially once you have several apps installed and use it aggressively. WM5, while technically only in beta for this device (as they are mostly hacked/patched/ported ROM's) can prove to be a very stable platform. I have used nearly every version of WM5 on this forum to try and find the 'right' one... and I use my BA constantly, for business purposes and satnav guidance.
Comparing the 2 OS's is like comparing Windows XP and Vista... XP is a proven system, Vista is not, so direct comparison would be unfair to either... as for performance, with the tweaks now found in the newer WM5 ROM's I find my BA responds as well, if not better, than with WM2003SE, battery consumption is a little higher but that can be resloved with any of the CPU throttling apps available...
I wholeheartedly recommend the AKU 2.6 version of Helmi's ROM. I went away on business recently with WM2003SE installed and while away flashed this version of the ROM. My reason for being back with WM2003SE prior to this was the sluggishness of my BA after a while of running WM5. During my absence the Page Pool fix reared its head and all seemed to be good in the world. While AKU3.2 is the newest version of WM5 it has inherent compatability issues with much of the software available for WM5, even Microsoft's own such as Voice Command (an app I actually make use of!). The AKU2.6 ROM doesn't have these issues, and with the paging fix does not become sluggish at all.
9 weeks on and my system has only frozen once, and that was with a 'hacked' piece of software so I don't blame the system... I have not had to reflash once, and I honestly don't remember having to soft reset... I have yet to find a WM5 compatible app which doesn't work with it, and I use it day in, day out.
In short, I jumped on the WM5 bandwagon some time agao and was very disillsusioned at one point, so much so that I returned to WM2003SE... However I missed the smoother GUI, the much better handling of popups and alerts, the tighter integration with Outlook, the better operation of ActiveSync and so forth, so I came back to the fold, and I will not be downgrading again...
If you use Push Email anything after AKU2 (or is it 2.3?) is a Godsend, and believe me, the overall feel of the OS is much smoother, it feels like a 'pocket pc', rather than a really gucci phone!!
I use my BA to play media, read newsfeeds, browse the web, check/send email, and all the other stuff my mates do on their laptops, and if you have the right settings for your provider there should be no issues with connectivity... I have A2DP set up as well so I have a stereo BT headset for music/video etc... I run TomTom, Garmin Que, OziExplorer...
Oh! And I use it as a PDA/Organiser, my life is on that brick, and believe me, it gets hammered!!
I also have an XDA Exec now and to be honest I prefer the BA... although I do love my IQ (but Smartphone is a whole different kettle of fish)!!
I hope this gratuitous plug of WM5 helps sway your decision
I personally like WM5. The issue for me, and the reason I bought the SX66 in the first place, was screen size and muscle. Alot of the affordable WM5 devices out have small screens compared to what I am used to in a PDA. I cannot afford and Jasjar (wish I could) so I looked for something with a decent screen size and processing power.
The SX66 was the only choice for me, EXACTLY because I could flash it too WM5 Haven't looked back since. I run my games (Morphgear - SNES), work with my files without having to squint too much, play my music and get phone calls. Coolest thing in the world.
I have compared it side by side with the 8125 and the windows Treo, it kept up easy enough. Out did them in some area's, lost in one (no camera)... but in the end its just as functional as the new ones.
Flash it and see!
Daeljan said:
Thank you very much for that answer!
hi Daeljan,
Just reiterating what people has said before
To be honest, I got the XDA because I need something to keep me organised time-wise, so I'm more interested in stability than eye-candy.
-- if this is what you need, then you definitely need to upgrade to latest WM5 (Helmi, Xplode - both are great). The sole idea of "persistent storage" itself is a must to upgrade. I am using IIs (Helmi's rom) and I actually found my BA is more stable than when I used 2003SE. I had this hard reset issue when I pressed the green button to receive phone call. It annoyed the hell out of me. It happened to me about 3 times... Now this problem is gone. Just imagine yourself is out of town for a business trip and suddenly our "stable 2003SE" hard reset by itself and the back up file is at home in your pc... what a bum huh? it happened to me.
I don't want to fall behind the times either, but I may hold out untill WM 5 matures a little more. What you said about hanging when you switch on is off-putting enough - I had heard similar things about WM5 related to connectivity, but I've never had the chance to hear about it first-hand.
-- This is a subjective comment from me, I think the current version of WM5 out here are good enuf. I dont think it will "mature" too much cause people WILL be busy playing with WM6. As far as I know, more and more developers make new softwares for WM5/6 and less make them for 2003.
Yes, WM5 still has some issues now, but I have not found 1 piece of software that is perfect. even 2003SE had issues. However, these are acceptable issues (for me anyway).
Just a happy user of WM5 and I would never go back to 2003SE (unless I want to sell my beloved BA, then i might have to flash it back to factory rom ).
If you want to wait, dont wait for WM5... wait for a more stable WM6.
Like other happy users, I still have hopes the geniuses from xda-dev would find a way to make WM6 work on BA... whatever solution that is...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WM5 allows me to install apps to my storage cards - very useful! There is also the "device lock" feature which has saved me $$$ in phone bills from calls I didnt make.
I'm considering switching from my Blackberry 8700 to a Kaiser. (T-Mobile MDA vario III).
I'd welcome any information on the stability of the unit? My last windows mobile about 3 years ago, XDA ii, was awful, crashing and locking up.
How far have things come? How often can I expect crashes if I just use the inbuilt apps?
Many thanks
D
I also moved from Blackberry Pearl. Kaiser and WM6 is very stable. No lockups, programs work as expected. For ATT, I just transferred the sim from the Pearl and made some changes to the contract.
michalopoulosgk said:
I also moved from Blackberry Pearl. Kaiser and WM6 is very stable. No lockups, programs work as expected. For ATT, I just transferred the sim from the Pearl and made some changes to the contract.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
I've been reading the battery life is not too good?
Also do you use Exchange push email? How much drain does that put on the battery? It seems negligible with the Blackberry.
I'm frustrated by the lack of features on the BB, ie no 3g, camera or wifi.
D
The battery life is indeed not as good as the BB. I do use Exchange Push html email, works perfectly, you can see all attachments much better than the BB. I installed an extened battery (2700 mAh, you can get it from many sources) and I run Bluetooth, Exchange mail (push) and several phones and web searches all day. I recharge at night. The battery is the weakest part of all WM6 devices in my opinion. It is compensated however by the richness of features, the email attachment issues, etc. I also love the GPS on this phnoe. I installed TomTom and I use it in any car I rent and it works flawlessly.
Dirky said:
Thanks,
I've been reading the battery life is not too good?
Also do you use Exchange push email? How much drain does that put on the battery? It seems negligible with the Blackberry.
I'm frustrated by the lack of features on the BB, ie no 3g, camera or wifi.
D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I am using exchange email via Visto PushEmail solution on my kaiser and battery life hasn't been of any issues. Emails viewing, office attachment viewing has never been so much easier on Kaiser, not to mention, typing of email as well.
My push email application integrates itself onto the system, so my contacts, task and calendar are sync directly to my kaiser, doesn't require me to do any wired syncing to outlook. it is on 24hrs a day, battery consumption is negligible to me. I have not use an BB device before, but if compare with Nokia E61i, the battery life is definitely alot better and also lots of application available to enhance your experience.
anyway, if you guys are interested in this Visto Solution, try www.visto.com
if interested in a test account, let me know, i know someone from the company who can help us. just want to say that i am a frequent handset changer, so this is one application which I must say, I have never regretted installing ... definitely better than BB Connect.
ruffruff said:
Hi,
I am using exchange email via Visto PushEmail solution on my kaiser and battery life hasn't been of any issues. Emails viewing, office attachment viewing has never been so much easier on Kaiser, not to mention, typing of email as well.
My push email application integrates itself onto the system, so my contacts, task and calendar are sync directly to my kaiser, doesn't require me to do any wired syncing to outlook. it is on 24hrs a day, battery consumption is negligible to me. I have not use an BB device before, but if compare with Nokia E61i, the battery life is definitely alot better and also lots of application available to enhance your experience.
anyway, if you guys are interested in this Visto Solution, try www.visto.com
if interested in a test account, let me know, i know someone from the company who can help us. just want to say that i am a frequent handset changer, so this is one application which I must say, I have never regretted installing ... definitely better than BB Connect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is this Visto service ? It's not clear on their website.
Do they purpose a pushmail application or a pushmail account on their server ?
I would be very interested to sync my Calendar/notes/ etc with my company account through 3G connection, I tried many VPN softwares but none worked.
I could access my emails/calendar infos via a microsoft exchange server using a web browser but I could not sync it.
Any working solution would be appreciated ...
Hi,
I still intend to obtain this smartphone, yet I thought I could get some opinions from people who actually own S730. I've read a bunch of reviews, but I am aware that reviewers might have skipped some issues (as proven with this driver issue and what TyTN II owners wrote on this topic). I mean - plain opinions, what do you like/dislike about the phone.
I newer owned a smartphone before and I am attracted to the keyboard+keypad idea (I own Nokia 6820), which leaves me with quite a narrow set of choices. S730 looks good and gets some nice reviews (negative ones typically center on how it is not so great upgrade from S710, which is irrelevant to me).
For example - I know that S730 is one of those devices affected by lack of proper drivers, but is it so painful? Despite possibility of resolving this problem by HTC - I never read anything about it being seriously lacking in terms of rendering graphics (which again - doesn't mean it isn't).
All opinions very welcome.
Thanks.
Fertesz said:
Hi,
I still intend to obtain this smartphone, yet I thought I could get some opinions from people who actually own S730. I've read a bunch of reviews, but I am aware that reviewers might have skipped some issues (as proven with this driver issue and what TyTN II owners wrote on this topic). I mean - plain opinions, what do you like/dislike about the phone.
I newer owned a smartphone before and I am attracted to the keyboard+keypad idea (I own Nokia 6820), which leaves me with quite a narrow set of choices. S730 looks good and gets some nice reviews (negative ones typically center on how it is not so great upgrade from S710, which is irrelevant to me).
For example - I know that S730 is one of those devices affected by lack of proper drivers, but is it so painful? Despite possibility of resolving this problem by HTC - I never read anything about it being seriously lacking in terms of rendering graphics (which again - doesn't mean it isn't).
All opinions very welcome.
Thanks.
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I changed from HTC TyTN (I). I am really satisfied. TyTN was very good, but I hated touch screen. Now I am completely accustomed to non-touch screen and am satisfied. I don't play games so I even didn't check out that graphics driver issue. The only one thing I dislike about this phone is the lack of RAM. But it's also not so bad - I just have to restart my phone once a day. Also this was the same about TyTN, it went better with ROM upgrade (which I am now just waiting for). I know Nokia and Sony Ericsson (I had also P910) and you can't compare any other OS with Windows Mobile, it's best. I can absolutely recommend this phone to all men who use phone to work or to geeks.
HTC S730
I have had mine for about a month now and find it to be a little anemic. There is a memory leak problem which may or may not have a resolution. There are also features in these phones which do not seem to be activated ie... GPS (which is neither here nor there to me), but what does concern me is the lack of HSDPA services which this phone is advertised to have. There are several permutations of this phone including the Softbank X03HT which seems to have more of the radio active than the models being pushed on the market by HTC direct. I am about fed up with mine and am going to go to something with a more robust chip set such as the new HP models which are more business centric. It is unfortunate because you get roped in to paying a lot of money for features that you expect but do not get.
On a positive note though the senior members of this form are very adept at manipulating the software and documenting what can be done to make this phone more useful.
I really like mine, the memory issue is starting to slow me down in some places since I got used to actually having a smartphone (first one for me too) I watch video's and play games on it. Compaired to my old phone its night and day better so I cannot complain about that yet. Could it be better for the specs? Of course it could but until HTC or someone cooks something up what is is. Just keep the memory clean and you will be happy I love the keybard, I started texting heavily near the end of my old phones life and it was killing me. Same for online usage. A few days ago I learned that I can hold the button down for the secondary press instead of having to hit function... Small things that you wouldnt think about make it good.
I am happy with Edge speeds here in Texas, my old phones CDMA speed was slower than edge so eh, and I think last month I used almost 120 megs of data. Not a lot but enough.
As to their lack of HSDPA support, it never was advertised to have 3g here in the states, a few seller sites miss represented it but on HTC's site they never said it had the radio for the states. Stupid I agree but its not for the states and they never said it would work on 3g here.
If I was coming from the s710 which had better drivers or another well supported phone then I might be less satisfied, but I really enjoy this phone.
I'm really satisfied, love it for being a smartphone with no touchscreen. I hope the few bugs I've found so far could be resolved with a future upgrade. I have just two weeks on it and very happy, resolved the memeory issue with oxio closeapps, so pretty satified.
I like it, I changed from a nokia n91 8gb. I wanted to try windows mobile on a phone. It's a small phone, that looks normal, but it has great features. WiFi, 3G, fast processor, keyboard, high res screen, bluetooth,...
Imo it has everything a phone should have, except for the gps(it would rock if they fixed that!). The memory is not such a big issue, if you would run out of memory, you can use the taskmanager to close some apps.
I must say that WM6 is a little bit buggier than symbian, but it's not annoying.
I also love the program coreplayer, I can play high quality divx-movies without converting, like the prison break episodes. On my previous phone, i had to convert those, because the program(smartmovie) and the phone couldn't handle such files.
It's a very good phone. a bit too bulky but the keyboard is REALLY good. I makes a lot of difference. You can type anywhere in a very user friendly fashion.
The well publicized memory problem is just a concern, not an issue. I run a free RAM application once in a while and get on with life.
Video driver is good enough for small movies. It runs approx at same speed as my old Qtek8310 which had a slower clock.
Could be a bit faster with the menus but it's not really annoying. It's windows under the hood...
I use it for GPS tomtom and it's cool with external BT receiver. G3 in Europe is a blast!
I would recommend that device.
My only concern so far, besides the lack of gps, is its responsiveness. Considering the S730 is supposed to be a pretty powerful phone, I find it a bit slow opening menus, turning the screen, etc.
Arcano said:
My only concern so far, besides the lack of gps, is its responsiveness. Considering the S730 is supposed to be a pretty powerful phone, I find it a bit slow opening menus, turning the screen, etc.
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that was my first impression too: a bit on the slow side. But... surprise surprise... after getting a SDHC memory card (and not the standard old-fashion SD card I used to have earlier in my wings) all went much faster! and i really mean fast!!! Overall I am very happy and fully satisfied with my wings. just keeping a constant eye on the memory, and using an external gps, and all goes very well...
hey all!
i use my S730 since 1 month here in europe. it works pretty fine with HSDPA, WIFI etc.
i use it as a real business-tool every day. speed and memory is okay for me as i use a 2GB memory-card.
the only really big problem i have with that device is the battery-run. i have to use 2 batteries to keep it alive for the hole day without charging. specially when you use HSDPA the battery runs so fast.
all together a nice tool for daily usage of communication (phone, mail, chat ...)
hope the developers will solve that battery problem for the future.
So, if I make the results from contributions above - poor battery life, speed is not so fast as we expected, we are waiting for new ROM to solve the memory lack, we are waiting for new ATI graphics drivers, we are frustrated that GPS is really not working as HTC announced - and we hope that HTC will be so polite, that they cook the new rom which maybe solve some described problems - in that case S730 is really great smartphone.
rooomish said:
So, if I make the results from contributions above - poor battery life, speed is not so fast as we expected, we are waiting for new ROM to solve the memory lack, we are waiting for new ATI graphics drivers, we are frustrated that GPS is really not working as HTC announced - and we hope that HTC will be so polite, that they cook the new rom which maybe solve some described problems - in that case S730 is really great smartphone.
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Hmm, altough what you mentioned above - yes, it is. Probably because these problems are little blown up. I migrated from TyTN which can be considered to be "top class" and I am really very satisfied.
rooomish said:
So, if I make the results from contributions above - poor battery life, speed is not so fast as we expected, we are waiting for new ROM to solve the memory lack, we are waiting for new ATI graphics drivers, we are frustrated that GPS is really not working as HTC announced - and we hope that HTC will be so polite, that they cook the new rom which maybe solve some described problems - in that case S730 is really great smartphone.
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I agree with you in everything except one detail: I don't recall HTC announcing that the S730 would have gps (at least not in my country).
The phone was never advertised as having GPS, but since it shares the chip with the TYTNII it has GPS abilities. Now like with some other phones they could choose to support it, but thats kinda lame, they would sell a whole lot more of these things if it supported it out of the box.
Thanks guys
So, I assume that this RAM issue works kinda like in case of PC - computer becomes less responsive after several days w/o restart? Despite my ignorance on what technically causes this problem, I guess that this is common to pretty much all smartphones/PDA'a/whatever - I mean those 'more powerful' devices (gimme a break - my first PC had a processor few times weaker than S730!).
And as I understand, there is software that helps you deal with lack of free RAM. Is it build-in (don't think so...),or you have to buy/download it?
(OK, I googled up Oxios, mentioned by Litoven and I see it's freeware Funny thing - the post that mentioned it was the first thing I got when searched the google)
Another thing that I don't get: vrolok71 mentioned that his device's speed improved after getting a SDHC memory card... Could someone please explain what is so special about it - isn't it just an additional space, like most memory cards?
As for battery life - I already asked it in another thread and I believe that those conectivity options (3G, WiFi, bluetooth, etc.) are the ones that drain bettery most (this was kinda confirmed here too). So it seems that I can extend bettery life when I have too (trips?), by using standard connections, right? Some people reported a reasonable battery life, extending to few days w/o recharge. They weren't sitting on 3G and WiFi (not all the time at least) though.
As for upgrades from HTC - this whole classaction thing (I am impressed with this - I really am) resulted in, as I believe, an upgrade coming. Regardless if it means the drivers (as it seems - not, and that kinda makes HTC.... "unfriendly" company, and this sucks), it will supposedly affect S730's performance. In a good way I hope
Thank you for all the replies You have a great community here. All replies help really - nothing beats honest user opinions. Glad I found this forum
Oh - and about GPS: I don't believe it was advertised as having GPS, but certainly HTC (intentionally I guess) allowed some rumours to arise (pre-production model), which surely made S730 more interesting. Marketing I suppose.
Somewhat, but just like a computer you can keep your memory clear. I leave my PC on for months at a time without reobooting and dont run into problems. And most of what I do is memory intensive.
The program I use to keep my memory clear is build in taskamanger for closing things that dont have that option, and SK Tools (free to download) which has a good memory cleaner that will go in and free up the other stuff that isnt being used. But yes eventaully a quick reboot is the easiest way to just free it up again.
Some of what can speed it up with using the memory card is installing programs to this, or dumping your temporary internet files to the memory card instead of the phones memory / storage space. That type of thing can help performance a little.
When actively using those connections they will drain the battery a little faster, but without using them they dont affect it too much. Even using Edge I can drain my battery in a day easily, just depends on how much your using the phone.
OK, maybe I need to clean my CPU memory more intensively, or maybe it's just Microsoft Thanks for the reply anyway
I guess I'll have to get used to new routine - keeping memory clean. Not sure how painful this'll be, but it sounds like a reasonable thing to do. I mean - closing after you're done (with particular app).
Yeah, I'll never really now what battery life will be for me, unless I actually use the phone on day-to-day basis. Info gathered here gives me hope though.
Nice day to you all.
Fertesz said:
I guess I'll have to get used to new routine - keeping memory clean. Not sure how painful this'll be, but it sounds like a reasonable thing to do. I mean - closing after you're done (with particular app).
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But remember - that is just the first half. Second is to free memory. To this you can use some "hibernator". E.g. Oxios Hibernate (freeware) or some task manager which has this feature built in - e.g. Smarttoolkit (freeware). Otherwise you help yourself just a little.
10332007 said:
Somewhat, but just like a computer you can keep your memory clear. I leave my PC on for months at a time without reobooting and dont run into problems. And most of what I do is memory intensive.
The program I use to keep my memory clear is build in taskamanger for closing things that dont have that option, and SK Tools (free to download) which has a good memory cleaner that will go in and free up the other stuff that isnt being used. But yes eventaully a quick reboot is the easiest way to just free it up again.
Some of what can speed it up with using the memory card is installing programs to this, or dumping your temporary internet files to the memory card instead of the phones memory / storage space. That type of thing can help performance a little.
When actively using those connections they will drain the battery a little faster, but without using them they dont affect it too much. Even using Edge I can drain my battery in a day easily, just depends on how much your using the phone.
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I have found that when I use a memorycleaner like SKTools or Oxios, it crashes the cellphone: I cannot get any network and I cannot make phonecalls anymore - SMS is still functional.
The only thing I can do is reboot to get it going again.
Anyone has the same experience and/or a solution?
jvlerick said:
I have found that when I use a memorycleaner like SKTools or Oxios, it crashes the cellphone: I cannot get any network and I cannot make phonecalls anymore - SMS is still functional.
The only thing I can do is reboot to get it going again.
Anyone has the same experience and/or a solution?
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Seems weird to me.. Does it happen every time you use Oxios or SKTools, or just sometimes?
We are going to give all the employees in our 15 persons company a mobile phone with a least these requirements:
- 3G, UMTS (in Europe)
- Mail, calender etc. with easy syncronisation with MS Exchange server
- QWERTY keyboard
- More phone like than PDA like
- Use as modem for notebooks
- Able to use Skype
The S730 is an obvious choice, however, it scares me that apparently there are some problems with this model.
Do you think the problems are so serious that we should consider alternatives?
Thanks.
Jan
Going back I would not have purchased the HTC S730. Overall it was a bit of a disappointment. I will be replacing it with a iPhone or BlackBerry.
Hope this helps,
Cheers
Thanks.
What specifically was the disappointments?
Jan
I bought this phone 6 months ago, and I'm quite satisfied.
I use it for:
- phone (obvious)
- a bit of email
- calendar (whit Exchange sync)
- messenger
- voip (sip and skype)
- gps navigation
- internet browsing
It's not perfect, but good for business purpose as you ask; it may not shine for multimedia - due to a lack of memory and accelerated video drivers - but if you don't care that's not a problem.
I came from a pda phone, and I was missing the good old number pad.
I agree with np247 and would not recommend the S730.
This is my first smartphone so I cant compare it to others (nor do I know much about other phones).
My top 5 reasons I would not recommend it are:
5. Coming for a PDA, I would prefer to also have a touch screen.. (Personal preference)
4. The battery life is pretty bad. I check emails, occasionally surf, make a few calls and need to fill her up every day and a half at best.
3. It is slow.
2. Known memory problems.
1. HTC support is terrible.
There are good things about the phone but I always have the feeling it should still be in beta and was released to soon.
Good Luck.
I would consider Samsung Blackjack II, Palm/BB-like design and more free RAM for running applications than S730. S730 is faster than BJ II (400 MHz vs 260 MHz) but it should be still so so ok for VoIP.
Well, count me in on those not recommending you purchase these units. I had a Treo 700p and complained a lot about it, and thought, this S730 was going to be the greatest phone. However, multiple memory issues, applications locking, and a whole new set of issues I did not have with the Treo. I need to be efficient and on call 24 hours a day, this thing is not helping.
To tell you the truth, I did not go back to the Treo because they still have propietary plugs for USB. Everyone has their own reasons I guess.
I have to admit that with the WM 6.1 from this forum things are better. But I would not put my guys into all this trouble for a phone.
J