Database Develop

Are the usual annoying bugs in the Kaiser?

Hi, I'm considering going back to WMobile phones and seriously considering the Kaiser. I currently have the N73 but had many wm5 phones before, SPV m600, Trinity, XDA Orbit, Wizard etc etc, all had annoying little "bugs".
I know the Kaiser is only just out, but can anyone tell me if you have noticed any of the following?
1) delay in ringing when receiving an incoming call. i.e. people on the other end hears a ring, but my phone takes about 3seconds before it rings...v. annoying!
2) delay in waking up.
3) slow response in dialing, i.e. when pressing a number on the dial pad.
4) Missing incoming comes, i.e. full reception but people unable to get through. Extremely annoying.
5) Rebooting itself
6) Alarm not going off.
Hows the call quality?
Anyone used and have any issues with the T9 pad, think that's what it's called. I use to use this, but gave me problems when i switched back to virtual keyboard, e.g. wouldn't switch back at all.
Sorry for all the questions.

1) Haven't tested this yet, i'm hoping this isn't the case though...!
2) Wakes up pretty quick, no unbarable lag
3) Same as 2) - all seems pretty responsive, no bad lag
4) Never had that issue before, don't expect to get it with the Kaiser
5) Nope, although i haven't installed any other apps etc yet...
6) Same as 4)
I can only really compare with the Universal (as that's the only other WM phone i've owned)... my initial impressions are that it's a lot quicker than the Universal... maybe that's partially due to the fact that i haven't installed any bits yet... or really tweaked it.
The 3 second delay was REALLY annoying.... as i'd have to start every phonecall with: "hello....... hello? heeeelllllllllo?" lol... i hope this isnt the case with the Kaiser!
Also i think a lot of the noticable improvements are also due to the fact that im using a vanilla HTC phone, as opposed to a crappy T-mobile 'runined' one! Also i think WM6 has brought in a lot of changes which are noticeably improved over WM5.
EDIT: oh and the only thing that really 'bugs' me - is that i'm used to the lovely VGA Screen of the Universal, so dropping down to QVGA is rather noticable... text looks blockier and using Cleartype seems to make it alot fuzzier than on the Universal.... but that's my only really negative point so far.... hopefully it'll be the ONLY one
EDIT2: Something else i just thought of.... the fact that when my Universal locked up... if i didnt have my Stylus on me (which i usually didnt) and i didnt have a small pin-like object to stick into the reset hole... i was SCREWED... which REALLY pi**ed me off.... countless times i'd be on the train home from work, about to email a friend... only to have my phone lockup... then i'd have to wait an hour before i could reset it and start writing... GRRRRR. Anyway, the Kaiser actually turns off when you hold down the power button... simple... and GREAT! (the power button on the Universal was so stupid.... in my opinion.... was there any way (except by using 3rd party apps) to actually turn the damn thing OFF?! lol)

Hi
hongsit said:
Hi, I'm considering going back to WMobile phones and seriously considering the Kaiser. I currently have the N73 but had many wm5 phones before, SPV m600, Trinity, XDA Orbit, Wizard etc etc, all had annoying little "bugs".
I know the Kaiser is only just out, but can anyone tell me if you have noticed any of the following?
1) delay in ringing when receiving an incoming call. i.e. people on the other end hears a ring, but my phone takes about 3seconds before it rings...v. annoying!
2) delay in waking up.
3) slow response in dialing, i.e. when pressing a number on the dial pad.
4) Missing incoming comes, i.e. full reception but people unable to get through. Extremely annoying.
5) Rebooting itself
6) Alarm not going off.
Hows the call quality?
Anyone used and have any issues with the T9 pad, think that's what it's called. I use to use this, but gave me problems when i switched back to virtual keyboard, e.g. wouldn't switch back at all.
Sorry for all the questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) The delay is/was caused by the CPU/OS coming out of standby. With PDA type Windows Mobile devices they have a standby mode where the whole operating system is suspended. The mobile chip remains powered and when a call comes in it has to send a wake up request to the CPU and OS. It is the time the CPU and OS takes to become responsive that causes the delay. I noticed this delay was quite a lot on the Toshiba G900, several seconds or rings before it had woken up to sound the internal audio to alert you to the call. Sometimes it wouldn't wake at all :-(
The Kaiser wakes very quickly, hardly any delay at all, they have certainly put in a lot of work in this area.
Windows SmartPhones don't have this problem as they remain "always on" so respond without delay even though they may look off.
2) Answer above, very quick, almost instant.
3) Seems okay to me.
4) This is probably the OS failing to wake up, I would doubt this happens on the Kaiser.
5) Okay so far.
6) This again is related to the CPU/OS failing to wake up to a request. It is likely the phone you have experienced this with has some problems waking up when asked and would explain all your concerns.
Hope that helps.
Regards
Phil

I read on another thread regarding the assembly which houses the green and red call buttons being loose. What is the opinion of other users over here. I am asking this as I am considering buying one soon to replace my Touch
Regards

Yes the whole section moves slightly on mine, it must just be where they float on a rubber section underneath.
I hadn't noticed this until now, why is this a problem? If it was fixed two tight the keys would scrape against the sides when pressed. Makes sense there is some space.
Regards
Phil

The buttons feel a bit 'loose' but no more than in any other device (the buttons on my PSP for example).

Thanks for the reply guys, kaiser sounds promising, just hope it continues to impress.

hongsit said:
1) delay in ringing when receiving an incoming call. i.e. people on the other end hears a ring, but my phone takes about 3seconds before it rings...v. annoying!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two contributors to this:
One is a registry entry, where all of the "standard" options cause a 3 second pre-ring delay and 3 second delay between rings. This can be fixed in the registry.
The second is network delay. The caller will hear ringing before your phone rings (usually 1-2 rings) no matter what phone you use. I've had such delays with every mobile phone I have ever used, smart or not. If you try the registry hack (search around for the exact key, numerous posts on it and I can't remember the exact registry key at the moment) and are still not happy, you have one option to reduce ring latency - get a landline.

touchscreen inaccurate?

Has anyone else notice the touch screen being very inaccurate on their kaiser? I mostly notice it in the dialer. For example i press 5 and it does 8 instead. Sometimes i even hit 2 and get 8 which is really bizzare. I'm using the HTC dialer, so maybe thats the issue. I'm going to switch to the windows dialer tonight and see if thats any better. I also have problems getting it to recognize presses at all sometimes. Sometimes i have to press the screen so hard that it distorts (i know thats bad for it but i just get so frustrated, especially when the photo album randomly opens while im on the phone, and then when i need to use the keypad I can't get the damn album to close because the screen doesnt recognize my tap, or thinks im tapping somewhere else. I've ran the screen alignment a few times, and tried doing it with my finger and with the stylus. Do i just have a dud?
Josh

Have you tried realigning the screen? Pretty basic stuff.

I have the same exact problem. Especially with the numbers. I switched to the other dialer (no video cal one) and its still the same. I have calibrated tons butits no better.

Yes, as i said, i've ran the screen alignment numerous times, and tried it both with the stylus and with my finger.

yea, i have teh same problem.. its definiately not a realignement problem.
It happens with the htc dialpad, and somtimes the htc skined calculator
i thought maybe it could be touchflo.. i didnt have this problem at all with the 8525

And I thought it just me!
I get this problem too when using the dialler (both HTC and WM6).

Looks like a few of us have this problem. I notice it on the today screen using HTC home, i go to tap the weather icon and end up opening the clock. Try diabling the touch cube (if you have it installed) seemed to improve things for me.

vlad69uk said:
Looks like a few of us have this problem. I notice it on the today screen using HTC home, i go to tap the weather icon and end up opening the clock. Try diabling the touch cube (if you have it installed) seemed to improve things for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed this. I always align my screen with the stylus to get the best accuracy but when certain app's are loaded that are designed for finger use, they change the touch-screen sensitivity so that when you need to use the stylus again for small items, its all screwed up!
I found if I stick to what the unit is designed for its OK!

Farsquidge said:
I've noticed this. I always align my screen with the stylus to get the best accuracy but when certain app's are loaded that are designed for finger use, they change the touch-screen sensitivity so that when you need to use the stylus again for small items, its all screwed up!
I found if I stick to what the unit is designed for its OK!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the Kaiser was not designed to make phone calls? Perhaps you are supposed to only dial people from your contact list (synced from MS Outlook of course) or use MS Voice Command?

jgermuga said:
So the Kaiser was not designed to make phone calls? Perhaps you are supposed to only dial people from your contact list (synced from MS Outlook of course) or use MS Voice Command?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, here we go...
NO, what I meant is that if you want an iPod type interface then buy one. The 'Kaiser' comes with a stylus that gives you precise touch input.
To use a 'grubby' finger to gain access the touch interface has to be 'DE-Tuned' to accept an approximation input and once an app that does this is installed you will have to accept some changes for precise input apps you already have!
For pity's sake, some people expect things out of this device even a Tablet laptop could not provide!!!

Farsquidge said:
Oh, here we go...
NO, what I meant is that if you want an iPod type interface then buy one. The 'Kaiser' comes with a stylus that gives you precise touch input.
To use a 'grubby' finger to gain access the touch interface has to be 'DE-Tuned' to accept an approximation input and once an app that does this is installed you will have to accept some changes for precise input apps you already have!
For pity's sake, some people expect things out of this device even a Tablet laptop could not provide!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I have always found the phone dialer to be a problem and after 4 device iterations and 3 OS iterations, you would think it could be resolved.
Plus, HTC included TouchFlo on this device, which to me is also severely flawed to the point of being worthless. Even so, this sets the expectation that you can use your "grubby" finger when you need to, not only to dial a phone number but to scroll a contact list.
I don't get why you toss out constant excuses for the Kaiser not being designed to do this, that or the other thing. As far as I am concerned, I paid 3 times the cost of a modest dedicated GPS, dedicated PMP and a phone to get it all in one CONVERGED device. If only I wanted a phone, I would have bought a phone, if only I wanted an MPS player I would have bought an MP3 player, etc, etc, but I opted to pay much (much, much) more for the ability to get all these things in ONE device. So why should I not have a right to be disappointed with problems that linger for years and years, or for poor implementation of features that had better support on lesser devices, such as video playback.
Granted, HTC does not out this product as a media player, but given that it is similar in design to previous models, which did at least an adequate job, has left many people who thought they were upgrading feeling disappointed. Plus, it is VERY difficult to try all these features out before making a decision, and when people come to place like this forum to ask questions, they get flamed.
It seems your solution to the disappointment is to buy a fanny pack and load it up with a camera, a game player, an mp3 player, a personal media player, a phone, a GPS... and what the heck, we'll even throw in a Kindle for good measure.
What's up? Do you sell fanny packs?

jgermuga said:
Well I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I have always found the phone dialer to be a problem and after 4 device iterations and 3 OS iterations, you would think it could be resolved.
Plus, HTC included TouchFlo on this device, which to me is also severely flawed to the point of being worthless. Even so, this sets the expectation that you can use your "grubby" finger when you need to, not only to dial a phone number but to scroll a contact list.
I don't get why you toss out constant excuses for the Kaiser not being designed to do this, that or the other thing. As far as I am concerned, I paid 3 times the cost of a modest dedicated GPS, dedicated PMP and a phone to get it all in one CONVERGED device. If only I wanted a phone, I would have bought a phone, if only I wanted an MPS player I would have bought an MP3 player, etc, etc, but I opted to pay much (much, much) more for the ability to get all these things in ONE device. So why should I not have a right to be disappointed with problems that linger for years and years, or for poor implementation of features that had better support on lesser devices, such as video playback.
Granted, HTC does not out this product as a media player, but given that it is similar in design to previous models, which did at least an adequate job, has left many people who thought they were upgrading feeling disappointed. Plus, it is VERY difficult to try all these features out before making a decision, and when people come to place like this forum to ask questions, they get flamed.
It seems your solution to the disappointment is to buy a fanny pack and load it up with a camera, a game player, an mp3 player, a personal media player, a phone, a GPS... and what the heck, we'll even throw in a Kindle for good measure.
What's up? Do you sell fanny packs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only advice to people who constantly moan about the device like you do is take it back or sell it!!
It obviously is not what you want so why do you keep it??

Sure, that's easy to say. I'll just go and drop another $500+ on a phone and memory card. What the heck. It's only money, right? And while I'm at it, I'll just plop down another $200 for getting out of my AT&T contract. And then keep my fingers crossed I can get a decent price off eBay. And that's even before spending time reflashing the AT&t ROM to stock and getting an unlock code. Cmon, get real.
If the Nokia N95 had a touch screen or the Sony W960i had support for AT&T bands, I would have already dropped this model. I could use a break from WinMo anyway. To bad Symbian isn't as popular on this side of the pond.
Otherwise, I don't see any non-HTC phones other then the E-Ten X800 that I would consider a major upgrade to my 8125. I sat on the sidelines for the Tytn I because I wanted on board GPS. What a poor tradeoff that turned out to be. It is likely I will wind up going with a T-Mobile Shadow keep the phone and and break the contract, which would still be cheaper than what I paid for the Tilt after the AT&T deal. Hopefully I'll be able to come out even after all is said and done. At least it is smaller and cheaper.
I'd wait for the Cruise but I am not too thrilled to pay nearly 3/4 of a grand for something that can't render video.
Yes, I am frustrated. From the AT&T bloatware to the lack of accessories (it didn't even come with a case????) to the video driver problems, the TouchFlo not working, yada yada yada, I've had it with this phone. I actually liked my 8125 better, and as a basis of comparison, I saw far fewer complaints about that model when it was the top dog.
So sad to say, the Kaiser looks great on paper, but it falls short on implementation.

[UPDATED 6 AUG 08] - Diamond - First Impressions of a Power User

These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
EDIT: Things have moved on since this post, you might want to look at post #39 too (page 4)
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos

I too wonder how long I will last with TF3D. However, the joypad is no problem. Simply use the centre button as a reference point. If you rest part of your thumb in there and press any side of it, then it is easy to navigate. At least I find it easy anyway. Hope that might help you.

carlosp_uk said:
I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run

mcwtrekkie said:
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.

evilskanker said:
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the spirit!

Has anyone managed to add a UK city to the weather forecast page ? I found it almost impossible to scroll down to the last page, it keeps selecting wrong countries, the only way I see - scroll one-by-one using hardware buttons ....

Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.

evilskanker said:
Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..

hertc said:
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.

evilskanker said:
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, still remember Sony J7 I had long time ago, all these things were so easy with a wheel ..

hertc said:
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently the Diamond is the first PocketPC device to have a tempered glass screen to make it extra tough. This makes it require a little more pressure than other devices.
But much more resilient to damage, and also nicer on the eye.

wasn't to amazed with the stock rom,
but after some days of usage and flashing the first cooked rom,
i am getting more and more into my new mobile..

Totally agree, using my Diamond for a week after three years on I-mate's.

carlosp_uk said:
CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a suggestion -
Speed Dialing.
you can place at least SOME off your favorites in the positions you want.. and then it will just be one long press.. and it will dial.
Phone - menu - Speed Dial.
and of course.. there is always voice dialing.

Turn off TF3D. Ive heard is does HUGE things for the interface speed, and you'll get your tasks back (first thing Im going to do when I get a sprint diamond on this side of the pond)

I agree on almost every point
Not having used touch before, I really can't say anything bad about the navigation. To me it's a revolution, but it's not quite there yet.
The biggest flaw is the biggest asset. Let me explain.
The biggest asset to this device is the screen. I have never liked the screen on any of the QVGA devices I have used (Wizard and Hermes). The VGA screen on the Diamond is fantastic! Crisp and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. The words by HTC "Not too big, not too small" really sums up my feelings about it. However. Screen size is relative to what you display on it. I'm sure a lot of research, testing and effort went in to decide the size of the elements on the TF3D interface. Personally I would have designed it differently.
The main professional reason I choose to use a WiMo is Active Sync OTA (Over-The-Air). Having direct push of Mail, Calendar and Contacts to my device is critical in my profession. This HAS to work, it has to be easy to use, and easy to read. On the Diamond it works fantastically. Lots better than on the Hermes. It takes some getting used to, when you have never used touchflo before.
The touch interface has to be finger friendly, demanding finger sized icons and buttons. Having a small screen required HTC to use the entire screen. That makes you wish for a larger screen, yet a larger screen would require a larger device and I dont want that. Dilemma.
Like you said, the TF3D interface lacks in visual feedback. This could be replaced by tactile feedback. The same technology used in the game TEETER could be used to give me feedback on my actions.
Being a WiMo certified pro I know that the main obstacle for HTC is WiMo itself, or rather the Windows CE it is built upon. Win CE 5 is nowhere near a realtime OS and the switch to Win CE 6 (afaik it will be the foundation for WiMo 7) will be a major leap. CE6 is not a RTOS either, but it has the means to enable truly great applications. I look forward to what Developers will create for WiMo7.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0)
The only thing I really dislike on my Diamond is the scrollwheel. I clearly does not work like you would expect it to. Unintuitive. And the Up/Down/Left/Right navigation around it is near unusable. Using the touch screen works though so it is not a showstopper for me.
Speed of the interface is good once you have used the cache size tweaks. Not great but good.

I fully agree on the speed comment, 527mhz... but it seems it's different mhz compared to my HTC Herald (P4350).
On my Herald I also have WM6.1, a 200mhz cpu (o'ced to 240 mhz) and everything starts faster!
I've got the 1.37.xxx.3 rom on my Diamond, TF3D disabled and still it's slower.
Very strange indeed.

guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly.

guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly. and c'mon guys, our shiny precioussssssss is out some weeks. look what they've done with the kaiser within one year... stay patient and keep being excited for that genius piece of hardware.

carlosp_uk said:
These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what a crap...
THE SPEED
Put one of the new ROMs on it (Dutty, Walshieau), runs like hell. No delay here!
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Simply switch TF3D off if you don't like it.
And use an existing tool for your today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
Disable the Diamond dialer, you get your traditional dialer back.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
Simply switch TF3D off.
Use an existing tool for today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
THE JOYPAD
Get used to it, it works perfect after a few weeks.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Ok, maybe you got a point...
On the other hand: do you really need ALL your music all the time. A sync now and then for other music isn't that hard.
GROSS GREASINESS
Ok, the shiny cover gets greasy. But is't so beautiful,,,

New 1.93 ROM disappointments

Hi all
I've succesfully updated to the new 1.93.XX ROM, I agree it's faster but I'm a little disappointed. The TouchFlo 3D menus transitions are not as cool anymore. For instance when you navigate through the menus with your finger acroos the screen (not using the slide menu in the bottom) the menu sections don't flow anymore, they just disappear and fade in instead.
Other than that I don't have much to complain about, but I just wanted to check if it's like this for you guys as well.
Has anybody else found any other disappointing "improvements"?
Cheers

as i have understood it, the transitions you mention was there to "hide" the lag in the previous ROM, and it's not needed in the new because of the speed increase.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=421311

Try using swots new ROM. It retains the animations yet apparently its much faster .

The Diamond is really disappointing me these days. I too am on the latest official (UK) ROM.
Some of my problems..
Battery Life - absolutely terrible if you use the phone for business means and push email. I dont leave BT or WIFI on and still the battery lasts no longer than around 12 hours
Alarm - the windows mobile alarm simply doesnt ring if you recieve an email or notification before the scheduled time. Its useless and has failed to wake me on a many a occasion
Reminders - for some reason dont pop up on the screen. You have to manually tell it to via sounds/notifications in settings, and even once you have done that, the Diamond some how reverts back to default settings automatically and the reminders fail to display again!
Answering calls - If your phone is docked in the official cradle and you tap the answer button when reciving a call before you take the phone off the cradle, it will reject the call regardless.
Opera - no flash and no way to click on a youtube clip and watch it. Why cant it operate like iphone and launch the you tube app when you click on a link to a clip on the webpage??!!
Activesync/Push/MS Exchange - loses sync sometimes and you have to softreset or manually launch activesync and hit the sync button... why??!
A2DP - doesnt work at all, it should be REMOVED as a listed feature. Im listening to music on a tube train via A2DP - I hit overground, I recieve a call, I answer via my headset. I end call, music continues playing THROUGH MY PHONE SPEAKER! Its embarassing and happens all the time. Useless. My old HTC Touch never acted that way.
Camera - Absolutely useless. We have a 3 Megapixel autofocus camera, yet the iphone still produces better quality images. Diamonds photos are fussy, soft and undefined - they lack sharpness and clarity. some say its because of the plastic lens cover, I see it as poor design.
GPS - works fine... apart from the LAG, which defeats the purpose of turn by turn navigation.
Its these annoying problems that are seriously pissing me off and will probably tempt me to the dark side come next generation of phone.

oh dear
I'm using Duttys latest rom..
I like the phone but I can give you my view on your points.
Battery life lasts me a day with pretty heavy use .. I expect to charge it and I'm not normally that far from a charger.. charges quickly
Ive never had a bad experience with the alarm. I will try and emulate what you said though.
reminders.. they sound and I can see them.. in fact it speaks them at the moment too
Answering calls. I don't use the dock but sometimes it does drop calls when i go to answer them ..
Opera No flash.. so whats new there then? You tube.. I like the you tube app.. but to be honest if i wanted something to watch you tube on id probably have gotten an Iphone
Active sync. I have never had a problem with active sync with any phone.. All my mail for my phone is collected/sent via orange so mail is no issue for me.. as for synching files.. no problems at all.
A2DP .. sorry but its not even an issue I don't listen to music through it. I do use bluetooth devices though and have no problems.
Camera.. Now I do use that and I like it. Its a good practical camera.. that takes adequate pictures.. except in poor light when its rubbish..
GPS.. mine doesn't lag and works much better than my old M700 and looks miles better
Dont get me wrong.. I dont live in Diamond Utopia .. but for what I need and use it for.. (on the move office related stuff, phone calls and sat nav) Its great.. it cost me nothing and it looks good too. I think its very good.
Now if i'd wanted a phone to play music through and watch videos on Id have probably gone to something else.
For what I need/want this phone hits the nail on the head.
Ive also grown to quite like the rom development side too.. !

Thinking of getting it

Hi everyone, right whoever has this HD7 can you tell me what its like? I'm really not sure if I should get this or the omnia 7, they both look great. Thanks for ya time.
Sent from my HTC Hero using Tapatalk

Moved to General

liverpoolfchero said:
Hi everyone, right whoever has this HD7 can you tell me what its like? I'm really not sure if I should get this or the omnia 7, they both look great. Thanks for ya time.
Sent from my HTC Hero using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just picked up one, its sweet. Go into any mobile shop and give it a test drive. I love mine.

I have had the HD7 for 4 days now and I am very impressed, however I also recognise that WP7 is very much a version 1 operating system and there are still a) a few bugs (nothing catastrophic) and b) some missing features. The promise is here though so if you don't mind a bit of "early adopter pioneering" go get one

if MS does not deal with the missing features and the bugs SOON I am selling mine again.
to name a few:
- No manual IP on Wifi
- No own ringtones
- no .avi container support - synch of 350mb movie takes aprox. 20 minutes.
- everything over 20mb needs to go over the marketplace (what do i have an unlimited data plan for?)
- no usb-hdd support
- no copy&paste (personally not missing this though)
- no proper multitasking. you can go back, but how do you go forwards?
- ringer only vibrates once, email sounds delayed
... i could go on

pencilcase said:
if MS does not deal with the missing features and the bugs SOON I am selling mine again.
to name a few:
- No manual IP on Wifi
- No own ringtones
- no .avi container support - synch of 350mb movie takes aprox. 20 minutes.
- everything over 20mb needs to go over the marketplace (what do i have an unlimited data plan for?)
- no usb-hdd support
- no copy&paste (personally not missing this though)
- no proper multitasking. you can go back, but how do you go forwards?
- ringer only vibrates once, email sounds delayed
... i could go on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do mean by everything over 20Mb must go over the market place?

all downloads coming from the marketplace that exceed 20mb in size need to be downloaded with Wifi or over zune/cable.

pencilcase said:
all downloads coming from the marketplace that exceed 20mb in size need to be downloaded with Wifi or over zune/cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you'll find this is not just WP7 Devices, all smartphones these days do that including the iPhones, I suppose it was to cut down on the traffic and stuff on our carriers networks that are already overloaded with stuff.
Not saying it's right but that's the way it is.

ThePhoenix2007 said:
I think you'll find this is not just WP7 Devices, all smartphones these days do that including the iPhones, I suppose it was to cut down on the traffic and stuff on our carriers networks that are already overloaded with stuff.
Not saying it's right but that's the way it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I remember reading somewhere about the carriers (including O2) having panic attacks about networks overloaded by legions of downloaders.

pencilcase said:
all downloads coming from the marketplace that exceed 20mb in size need to be downloaded with Wifi or over zune/cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is very unfortunate! With my former HTC Desire running a custom rom (DeFrost) based on the ofiicial Android 2.2, I could download 136 MB on 3G, it was DeFrost roms, with were available through his DeFrost setup Tools. I never had an issue because the download speed was crazy fast! But I had to be in an area of very good coverage (all signal bars in the green) to have it within 20-25 minutes (sometimes up to 40 minutes). I used to do it during lunch time and flash from sd-card on my way back to the office. It's the only feature I miss from the Desire: the simplicity of the flash process, provided you have a custom recovery image, in my case, Clockwork recovery image.
f.

I've had mine for just over a week now and am thinking about returning it and getting a Omnia 7 instead, It has that reset bug that HTC said about, and the physical buttons on it are extremely annoying, none of them have a 'click' to them so you can never tell if your pushing it enough to activate it, also you end up pressing buttons without even noticing, I often end up launching the camera just because my finger rests on the button and activates it for example.

i love my hd7 so much but i would say this, if i could swap it for a 16gb omnia 7 i still would but i could not live with only 8gb even if there would be a work around, and i am to impatient to wait and see if anyone will stock it.

i pre-ordered HD7 for US Tmobile but i'm considering to cancel it and wait for the dell venue pro
people who got the device, what would you do ?

I am very pleased with the hd7, the feel of quality in the hand, the superb big screen together with those 16gb give it the edge IMHO.

adesonic said:
I am very pleased with the hd7, the feel of quality in the hand, the superb big screen together with those 16gb give it the edge IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also how I felt for the first couple days, but after you've had it for over a week like I have you might start to get frustrated with the problems I've had.

Milky1 said:
I've had mine for just over a week now and am thinking about returning it and getting a Omnia 7 instead, It has that reset bug that HTC said about, and the physical buttons on it are extremely annoying, none of them have a 'click' to them so you can never tell if your pushing it enough to activate it, also you end up pressing buttons without even noticing, I often end up launching the camera just because my finger rests on the button and activates it for example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some other people have reported very "soft" hardware buttons (volume in particular) that are a bit mushy, and therefore hard to tell if you are applying enough pressure. Some people have swapped their HD7 for another one for this reason.
My own HD7 thankfully doesn't seem to suffer from this as the volume keys have a definite "click"-feel when pressed, so you can tell that you're pressing them right even if it's in your pocket.
Same with the camera button on mine; it's a 2-step camera button and you have to press fairly firmly to get the camera to activate. I've yet to accidently initialise the camera.
My HD7 is an O2 branded one in the EU with the dark gray chrome-like band. Perhaps the HD7s with the brighter chrome band suffer from this?

wheresmybeaver said:
Some other people have reported very "soft" hardware buttons (volume in particular) that are a bit mushy, and therefore hard to tell if you are applying enough pressure. Some people have swapped their HD7 for another one for this reason.
My own HD7 thankfully doesn't seem to suffer from this as the volume keys have a definite "click"-feel when pressed, so you can tell that you're pressing them right even if it's in your pocket.
Same with the camera button on mine; it's a 2-step camera button and you have to press fairly firmly to get the camera to activate. I've yet to accidently initialise the camera.
My HD7 is an O2 branded one in the EU with the dark gray chrome-like band. Perhaps the HD7s with the brighter chrome band suffer from this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is O2 UK and it has a dark band, and every button is completely soft, I don't know if it would annoy everyone but it drives me insane.

Odd! Mine was an O2 one... the only mushy button was the camera button. Never accidentally launched the camera app, but the Search keeps randomly appearing.

Milky1 said:
This is also how I felt for the first couple days, but after you've had it for over a week like I have you might start to get frustrated with the problems I've had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats EXACTLY my opinion

I evaluated the HD 7 and found the absence of adequate configurable options most disappointing.
1. Unable to disable the haptics (vibrate on key press)
2. Unable to configure own WiFi settings, which means NO access to known hidden networks such as mine at home.
3. Level of java application support unknown
4. Co-Pilot not supported with localised maps when travelling
5. No MicroSD memory expansion
6. No file browser
That was enough to put me off ... although it is a fast and sleek new interface almost mimicking the i-phone monkey-see-monkey-do interface (dummies phone but vastly improving on WinMo, although so many things have dropped away such as the wifi router etc.
A great phone, but not for someone expecting more from their phone out of the box such as the HD 2 for example.