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I have the HTC branded P3600 unlocked.
I tried out both LVSW's cooked ROM and the latest Dopod D810 ROM. Both are excelllent updates, but turned out not to be right for me. Thought I'd share in case this is useful to anyone else.
I am in an area of Los Angeles in the US which still does not yet have 3G. I also don't personally need the GPS feature. I am fine with an ordinary map and I need my battery life for phone and email. That is just my personal preference.
Anyway, in my case, I found three pitfalls with the new ROMs.
1. The phone got hotter and used more battery. I assume that the GPS was trying to do its thing even though I wasn't actually using it.
2. Signal can be sketchy at my home. The HTC P3600 has been the first PDA phone to give me a full strength signal here, on a par with a standard cell phone. But with the new ROMs my full bar strength fell in half. I assume this is to do with further optimizations for 3G which, unfortunately, currently give me no benefit. Anyhow, I got weaker GPRS/EDGE and weaker GSM.
3. The Dopod ROM (and LVSW cooked variant - which is a very nice job BTW) have significantly different ActiveSync/Direct Push settings. The Heartbeat Increments and other related settings are quite different. This was not good for my Exchange service and Push Mail. I started getting my mail at about 5 minute intervals, not right away. Some kind of timeout going on I guess. Of course, I was able to dip into the registry and make adjustments, but with my lower EDGE signal, things still were not working quite as well.
Bottom line: I went back to the Official HTC P3600 ROM (fortunately I had saved it before it had to be removed from the XDA-Dev FTP site. (HTC do not provide even the original ROM to customers at this time). There was no problem going back. So no harm, no foul.
I did save the HTC Task Manager application and added it back in. Nice addition, missing from the original HTC version. So it was definitely worth trying the new ROMs all in all.
Obviously, the issue here is that my local Network is lacking - the new ROMs are good. But the fact remained the original ROM gives me much better performance here, particularly battery life, signal strength and more reliable Direct Push.
Sorry for the unrelated post, but I needed some help after reading your post.
I am also in the Los Angeles area (OC) with T-Mobile.
I got an unlocked trinity about 2 months ago. It has worked very well, except I do not seem to be able to connect to Edge. Your post seemed to indicate that you have been able to connect to it.
Can you please tell me how I can make that happen?
Also, which GPS software would you recommend for Southern California, if I chose to enable the GPS hardware on my machine.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Kewlphone! I think (hope!) you are actually getting Edge. For some reason the HTC P3600 simply displays the G symbol even when you are getting Edge. To be fair I think Edge is just an upgraded form of GPRS. Actually if you install the Dopod ROM it does give you the E symbol. There may well be a registry tweak to show an E, but I just don't know it.
There are no special settings needed. I just connect to wap.voicestream.com.
internet2.voicestream.com also works with my Internet plan, but I prefer to connect the first one as it also is the right one for picture messaging. Also you want to have T-Mobile Internet, not just the T-Mobile Web plan (formery t-zones) which is restricted to sites for phones and does not allow full Internet access or downloading attachments.
T-Mobile just tightened up their protocols dues to a cheat some people had been using to get full access out of the Web plan. This temporarily messed up my Internet access but tech support reprovisioned my account as I pay for the full Internet plan.
First off, I suggest you check your actual download speeds using
http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?jisok=1
It is speed test specially for Mobile devices. If you get around 30 to 40 kbps ish that is standard GPRS. Edge should be around 100 to 120 ish in practice. Obviously it varies a lot by time of day, location etc.
There is also a registry tweak I found that may help download speed. You need a registry editor like Total Commander available from ghisler.com (You would want to download the 2.5 beta version for WM5. It is free).
The registry setting involved determines how much data the device will accept in a chunk.
HKLM\Comm\Tcpip\Parms\TcpWindowSize
If your device has this parameter set to less than 65536 change it to this amount. This helped me get consisitent Edge speeds. I am not aware of any harm that will be done be setting it higher still, other than you may need to set it back again if it doesn't work right!
Sorry, I have no experience with GPS software. The program people mention generally is Tom Tom. I believe this is the defacto choice for many people and it is made for many different devices. I am sure the company has a web site. If not I am sure it is available at places like mobileplanet.com.
Please bear in mind that we people using this site (XDA-dev) are enthusiasts who like to tweak and customize our phones. It is not our objective to help ourselves to free software, only to get the most out of the devices and the built-in software we have already paid for... I don't mean to suggest you are looking for any free downloads and you certainly did not imply that. I am just conscious there has just been an issue with Microsoft objecting to some of the downloads on this site so we need to be careful to keep things absolutely clearly legit. Tom Tom is a commericial product not included with the P3600 and will need to be purchased separately.
HTH
I am also in LA (West side.) Here is my experience:
I use LVSW's ROM and get 3G (Cingular.) Just tested a 1MB file download from the dslreports link above and got 642kbit/sec. There are some areas in town where it goes to E (for EDGE,) but at least in my case it's not too often (it went to E yesterday in the Custom's area at LAX, but to be honest, I was just happy to get signal there
The GPS works great. I don't really use it here, because I have built-in ones in my cars, but it is very handy when travelling.
I also don't use Cingular's push mail, but use my POP3 mail account, and have set the Trinity to check it every 15 minutes, which works fine for me.
642kbps?? WOW! Excuse me while a turn as green as the HTC theme with envy! That is intersting for me as I am also on LA's west side. BTW I concur about reception inside LAX customs area. Just being able to make a regular call from there is a feat! Hardly a concern that your data merely dropped to Edge speed!
I had been considering switching to Cingular to get 3G, although both where I live and where I work are both actually just off the official 3G map at the moment.... Switching would also just about double my bill, and put me back in a contract. So I am holding out till 3G coverage settles down a bit more. Looks like T-Mobile are finally going to 3G here, though that may still take many months...
Do Cingular even offer there own Push Mail? I was under the impression that their Xpress mail service retreives mail something like the T-Mobile equivilent (15 minutes intervals) I use Direct Push from my Exchange account so it requires only the Data connection, nothing else carrier specific.
Sorry, I am getting way off topic. This is not carrier comparision forum!
The relevant point is that it is good to know that the LVSW ROMs seems like the best for people in the USA too, assuming your carrier has 3G and especially if you use GPS. My situation sounds like the exception and will likely be transitory anyway.
BTW MacGuy2006, I think kewlphone might appreciate your advice on GPS software. Sounds like you have quite a bit of experience with it.
Thanks for the info I might join you on Cingular yet! I also think we may soon see even more ROM magic from our friend LVSW too!
Yeah, I am sort of satisfied with Cingular, and really do like 3G, which finally makes PDA Internet use a possibility for me (I can read the wires if I am stuck somewhere They refer to "push-mail," but I have not tried it, so I don't know if it's instantaneous or not.
As to GPS software, I use TomTom 6, which is generally fine and has a broad range of maps. I kind of like the design of Navigon 6 a bit better (http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/mobile_navigation/pda/screenshots,) but have not seen it in action.
As an aside, yesterday I installed the 1.38.00.11 radio ROM lurking here, and my 3G speeds never exceeded the mid-400s. It may have been a fluke, but I went back to 1.35 and clocked in the mid-700
Thanks for sharing that info. Just to check, do you find you are able to up and downgrade just the Radio ROMs without a hard reset? TIA
I'm using the Dopod Rom with the 1.38 radio upgrade. As expected, the battery life is significantly reduced with the GPS enabled (using TomTom6), but overall I really like the fact that my phone can basically do anything now.
I think it might have more difficulty picking up signals now than it did with the original HTC rom. When I'm in my home office, I really don't get any signal at all now, which my plethora of computer equipment doesn't help, but the phone shows a solid four bars when I'm at work, and it connects to Edge very fast there too.
I tried both TomTom 6.02 and 6.03, and 6.03 is definitely better. It automatically knows to use the built-in GPS receiver (You don't have to select NMEA, COM 9), and it grabs the signal faster. Unfortunately I couldn't get the maps activated for 6.03, but they don't have any problem with 6.02, so I'm stuck with it.
I'm definitely looking forward to upgrading to WM6. Woot!
-John
flamingcrumb said:
Thanks for sharing that info. Just to check, do you find you are able to up and downgrade just the Radio ROMs without a hard reset? TIA
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Click to collapse
No, I backed up, reinstalled the LVSW ROM and restored
Hi flamingcrumb,
Thank you for your detailed response.
I have the full t-mo web plan, but have specifically taken access to internet3.voicestream.com becuase of VPN access needs.
I ran a speed test on my device and it shows 39 kbps. That tells me it is a regular GPRS connection. Do you know of any areas in the region where Edge is available? Sounds like westside may be one.
As far as GPS software goes, I was looking for recommendations based on availability and correctness of maps for southern cal. I had purchased and used Ostia in the past, however I did not like either the interface or stability.
Thanks
kewlphone said:
... As far as GPS software goes, I was looking for recommendations based on availability and correctness of maps for southern cal....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can compare maps here: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53419
AFAIK, TomTom uses Tele Atlas maps, which are fine (but I had one problem finding a a street in Orange County.) Navigon, I believe, uses Navteq maps, which I think of as more accurate (one of mine built-in navigation systems uses Navteq maps, and it has never lied to me
I appreciate the helpful posts on using GPS and the various software options. Good to know. Nothing I can add, you good people all know way more than I do, I don't see reduced battery life with GPS as a "fault" in any way - just a law of physics. For example, if I had my phone on for web browsing all the time at full brightness and used bluetooth plus wireless non-stop, the battery is going to run down faster. That's fair enough. I did notice there seemed to be a little bit of more drain with the GPS ROMs even with GPS inactive. I wonder if it ticks away in the background ready for use? It does certainly seem that enabling additional features might be reducing standard GSM sgnal strength. My feeling is that a little bit of internal radio interference might be a reasonable thing to expect. The Trinity has goodness how many radios? 4 bands of GSM, 3 Bands of w/CDMA, BlueTooth, WiFi, GPS... all in a device the size of deck of cards. Again, the laws of physics may simply apply.
The bottom line I get from this is there is unlikely to be a benefit in upgrading to a ROM which provides features I am not accessing. That doesn't mean the new ROMs are anything less than great, just not of benefit with my carrier in my location at this moment.
kewlphone, I definitely think you should be getting Edge speeds everywhere in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, without even doing any tweaks. Bear in mind the standard HTC P3600 ROM always seems to just show the G, the key test is the speed not the symbol. But the speed you describe is not Edge. It will vary by time of day and location etc, so it is worth repeating the test quite a few times. You defintely should be seeing at least 100k when you have a full signal strength in urban areas, especially at off-peak hours... at least some of the time! I think you should call Customer Support and ask for a data specialist and talk it over with them. Perhaps they can reset your data account or help in some way. The positive spin I always go for to keep them on my side even though I have an unsupported phone is by explaining I am a loyal customer but the phones they offer don't meet my needs at present. So I am using my own phone because otherwise I would have to switch to another carrier and I don't want to "because you guys are so great" etc etc. In a few months there will be more T-Mobile phones available and I will be getting one. In the meantime I need to make things work so I can stay with T-Mobile. This is a semi-truth and but greatly overstates my loyalty, which is really only limited to the killer deal I get on a huge bucket of minutes (and is being serverely tested by their lagging in the 3G...) but it is a positive spin to give them a good reason to help me even though my phone is unsupported.
BTW I describe the Trinity as being most like the MDA but a generation or two on. If you get a decent data technician the chances are good they will know what you are talking about and will also be well away of T-Mo's limitations themselves. Chances are good they will do their best to help.
A place that might be helpful and more appropriate for discussing US carrier issues is howardforums dot com. They also have a Wiki which is quite useful. Obviously the XDA-Dev forum is for the tech stuff and tweaking to the the max! I think I have the same user name on howardforums so maybe we can find a good thread for trouble shooting our carrier stuff over there. Don't think I have actually posted yet but I will do as I ultimately need to decide whether to stick with T-Mo or jump to Cingy/ATT. If you register with the same name it will be easy for me spot you on their board. All the best. Please let me know about your progress
Sorry to bump this thread when it is probably only of interest to a small number of people - perhaps mostly in L.A. on T-Mo.
Quick update: I must confess that I caved in and have switched to Cingy/ATT. Much better signal strength where I live, even just on EDGE. I don't like their sky high rates or customer service all that much, plus their data plans are a riduculously complicated mess of choices... but they do have a lot of 3G and much better coverage in my location...oh well. Also feel like it will still surely take T-Mo a lot of time to deploy their own 3G... and I can always go back later!
Anyway, it now really made sense for me to upgrade my ROM. I have also been trying out GPS, just wih the free Google Maps for the monent as a little taster test! Pretty cool though
Another really big reason I gave up on the standard ROM was that I kept having the age old issue of my reminders not sounding and could cure only it with a hard reset each time. It has yet to be seen if the updated ROM helps or not. I realize the non-sounding reminders issue is a well known Windows Mobile problem, but it was happening every couple of weeks rather than once in a while. Anyone got any thoughts on this please???
The reminders issue is probably my biggest factor in picking a ROM and there is no obvious way of choosing between the HTC/LVSW/Dopod options other than trying them all. I cling to av ague hope someone might have already been through this one...
Oh, BTW I am using LVSW 1.24.0.0 with Radio 1.33.00.11
TIA
You only need the $19.99 unlimited media works plan to take advantage of 3G. Cingular will tell you that you must have the $49.99 pda plan but you do not, trust me I use my trinity with the media works plan and I use 3G perfect usually around 350kbs, for streaming video.
turcomora said:
You only need the $19.99 unlimited media works plan to take advantage of 3G. Cingular will tell you that you must have the $49.99 pda plan but you do not, trust me I use my trinity with the media works plan and I use 3G perfect usually around 350kbs, for streaming video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here...i'm using the unlimited $19.99 plan and i also use my phone for internet sharing with my laptop (e.g., phone as a modem).
Thanks good people. I had noticed that the MEdia Net plans seems to do the job (without restriction if the proxy is not used) but could not be sure if that was a lucky fluke or that is how it is...
Good to hear the definite facts from people with solid experience.... and I much appreciate it.
Coming in, I do really think the Cingy data plans are a confusing mess... I would imagine the average Joe or Jane walking into a phone store could feel overwhelmed. I think they should simplify the plans... but what do I know? (Not much, I admit!)
While we are talking Trinty and Cingular may I ask which ROM people feel is best for stabilty right now? I was having that prob with reminders not sounding... an old issue, but much worse than usual! Any guidance would be welcomed.
Best
P.S. turcomora, when you mention Streaming Video are you talking Cingy Video>...? I have been following the threads but still can't get that to work. Or are you refering to something else, like the Streaming Media application (which I have yet to figure out a use for!) Either way I would be most interested. Thanks again and B4N
I am a SPV M3100 (Tytn 1) owner at the moment running Schap's 4.30 Full ROM and the handset runs very well.
On Monday I am out of contract and can either upgrade to the Tytn2 with Orange free of charge or move to T-Mobile and their version for practically nothing (Orange or T-Mobile will be dependent on Orange offering me a decent data package instead of 30Mb for £8).
My main question is really, is it worth upgrading from a Tytn1 to a Tytn2?
On paper it seems to (camera/rom & ram/gps/tilt screen/thinner), but I been scanning through some articles and posts and lots of driver problems have been mentioned? Whats going on with this?
I saw an iPhone the other night and was very impressed with the interface but it lacks 3G/HSDPA and the camera is 2MP and doesnt do video and and and, not to mention having to shell out £269 and an 18 monther on the contract.
Whats the HTC Touch Cruise like and do any UK networks sell it yet?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts...
Will shortly be in same position so am interested in any responses.
I don't see Orange coming up with a decent data plan so I expect to have to leave them for Vodafone/O2 (Tmobile have a reception blackspot just about over my house)
Will probably upgrade so that I can reduce the time to the next upgrade if you see what I mean -not sure I see anything out there in the V near future to make the Kaiser obsolete.
Re Iphone - yeah looked at it but I need the hardware keyboard and have become a bit of a flashaholic etc.
That and I will get the Kaiser free. Don't like the excessive Apple control over everything.
I am with Orange and pretty annoyed myself... I think I'd be leaving too
Well O2 and Vodafone's dataplans are as bad as Orange's. (Voda unlimited = 120mb cap).
Orange did have a Orange World Unlimited package for £8 a month which gave you a gig of use a month which would be enough for me.
Can't really help in regards to whether it's worth the upgrade, as I've never used a TyTN I before, however, in regards to video driver issues, this seems to be hit and miss.
My TyTN II has never had any problems playing video's or games, and for the record, to play my video files I use Kingdia Video Converter to convert to avi, then use Ashampoo Movie Shrink and burn to compress file to QVGA (small file size, great quality). I then use TCPMP with the FLV 0.4.2 plugin to play them.
Not sure if it's because mine is UK bought with Original HTC ROM, but I don't mind as long as it works
Question really is....what do you want / need your phone to do?
I came to the Kaiser (o2 Stellar) from the HTC Universal (o2 XDA Exec) a month ago. I do miss the bigger screen and keyboard of the Uni. Apart from that the Kaiser is better in every way. So much nicer not having to soft reset every other day cos I'm running out of RAM (I have yet to soft reset the Kaiser for any other reason than installing software). So much nicer not having to juggle where I install stuff, it just all goes onto the device in the huge memory available (no sarcasm, after getting by on 30MB, suddenly having nearly 100MB to play with is huge!)
Camera, its a PDA not a SonyEricsson. I was hoping for better pics with a 3MP camera on board but it's no replacement for a real camera. It will do if you have nothing else, and I doubt you'd be disappointed with the results as I suspect the Tytn I camera is no better than the Uni's.
I suppose I do miss the flash on the camera, mainly cos it was a handy torch. I did miss the IR port, but got off my butt and set-up the BT on my PC and now use that instead for file transfers when I don't want to plug the sync lead in.
I have used the Kaiser with a SonyEricsson HBH-100 BT handsfree, it works fine. I also use a SonyEricsson MBR-100 BT thingy to connect to my car stereo and home audio system. Likewise this works perfectly. Finally I have a Nokia 610 car-kit and it connects to that via BTSAP, no problems. All of it straight out of the box, no patches, updates or hot-fixes. BT driver issues? Not in my experience. Only thing that doesn't work with the phone is my older HBH-10 headset. It is about 10yrs old, and is probably just too old to be compatible.
Video? I converted loads of videos years ago to wmv files to use with a HP Ipaq 5450. They play just fine, little jumpy, but this is due to the compression (25mb for 45 mins of video) rather than the device itself, they are jumpy on my laptop too.
Audio? Built in loudspeaker is poor. But what do you expect from something that small that was designed (I guess) for voice, not music. MP3's play well, and when connected to headphones or an external sound system, its great! I bet the type of people that can hear the difference (and care about it) between 192kbs and 320kbs encoding will argue the toss...
GPS. IMHO, no problems. Used it with several apps, gets a fix quickly, holds onto the signal well and is accurate enough. Bench testing against my Garmin standalone GPS (Kaiser plonked on the dash, Garmin with an external roof mounted antenna) both get a good signal and the tracklogs more or less match, good enough for sat-nav anyway (yes the Garmin is more accurate and gets stronger reception but it does have that powered, amplified roof antenna to help it remember! The Kaiser has never failed to get a fix)
WiFi and other data (GPRS, 3G, HSDPA etc) works well. I have the Opera Mini browser as well as PIE. No problems surfing the net, checking email, using MSN or Skype.
Just have a look at the threads in this forum, how many are from newbies asking for help, or moaning something doesn't work when they haven't tried to fix it, or just plain don't know what they are doing?! I'm not saying the Kaiser doesn't have issues for some people, but seriously, if you can get the Kaiser for little or nothing, just upgrade already and if it's really not to your liking stick it on Ebay and make a few hundred! I have a collection of old phones and PDA's so I don't have to use the Kaiser. If it sucked, I would have gone back to my Uni in a heartbeat. The only time I don't use it now is if I'm going out and want a phone with me I don't mind loosing or breaking.
Hope that helps?
It depends what you want out of a phone. My comparisons are between my Vodafone 1605 (unlocked Hermes) and my HTC TyTN II (unlocked Kaiser).
Camera: Useable but crap. Needs one of the cooked roms and cab update to get any real use from it.
Camera Flash: Missing on Kaiser. I used to use this a lot as a torch when taking instrument reaings outside in the dark.
Wifi: My Kaiser is better.
GPS: TomTom is brilliant and sold the Kaiser to me.
Video: Mine seems ok but I'm not a heavy user. Many people seem to have driver problems so I assume they use video more than me - also, I don't use streaming video so I can't comment - this may also be where all the video driver problems are.
Tilting Screen: A bit of a gimmick for normal use, but ok for watching a movie on a plane.
Speed: With Dutty's ROMs my Kaiser feels faster but this may just be imagined.
Memory: I'm a heavy user of space. I have 51 add on programs including converters, dictionaries and translators etc. Kaiser definately better.
All in all I'm glad I upgraded to the Kaisr, but despite that I haven't got the heart to get rid of my Hermes yet...
I will seriously miss the flash, especially with the camera.
And my Hermes does everything I need it to do right now, but things like more ROM/RAM, better camera (in MP), etc would be nice. But I dont fancy wasting an upgrade. (UK people will know what I mean by that).
My vodafone 1605 is a TyTN 1 and I upgraded to a TyTN 2. In most areas I don't think that there is much improvement with the new phone.
If you're happy with the TyTN 1 I wouldn't bother yet unless GPS becomes a real necessity, of unless you're a gadget freak who needs the latest and greatest. Maybe you should wait a while and then when you become less happy with your TyTN look at upgrading then - it won't be too long before the Kaiser comes down in price or there are newer versions available.
Well money isn't really a factor. In the UK we can upgrade our phone at the end of the contract term, normally for free. If I don't upgrade then I will just be wasting an opportunity.
That is my thought exactly. I think it will be a year at least before anything fantasticaly better comes out so then allowing time for initial bugs to be worked out, I think I will upgrade to the Kaiser so when contract ends in 18 months it should be about time for the next big thing.
Incidentally, I do have the 1gb Orange data bundle but it expires sson and cannotbe renewed.
120mb or 200 on O2 should do me quite well - 30mb however is just too little.
I upgraded from the Hermes to the Kaiser. Never looked back since.
Apart from the ****e Orange data packages. Currently using unlimited off-peak for £5 a month. Not ideal, but I work office hours anyways.....
Been There Done That
Had been with Orange for a while but was a very devout Nokia "Smartphones" Fanboy.
Had a free upgrade due and already had 2 of Nokia top phones at the time and instead of wasting the upgrade I upgraded to the SPV M3100 (Tytn I) just over a year ago. And boy was it something different. The hardware keyboard was a massive god sent. And just the sheer functionality of the phone coupled with the wide amount of apps you could install on it, plus the so much more useful roms I upgraded to courtesy of everyones fave developer forum. Really started becoming a massive tool and made my commuting time into Central London from the outskirts really productive and enjoyable.
Last week was due the annual upgrade and having checked out the features of the new Tytn II online, dived in without a second thought. After the initial transitional period and all the rom installations and getting the settings to suit my own individual needs. I can safely say that the beloved M3100 is been on a window sill gathering dust. Installed Duttys Dual Touch Rom II, a few apps, a few games, set up Windows Live and my own work emails and now just waiting on the 8GB Micro SDHC card i order and i should be all set.
Play Dvdrips and TVRips on TCMP with no lag and Dutty's rom doesnt seem to slow down too much, so havent reallly felt the affects of the missing graphics drivers. Just feels so natural now. I can safely say that if someone created a better Internet Browser solution right now I would definitely stop using the laptop for casual use. At the moment using a combination of Picsel, Opera, and IE and none seem to be doing a complete job. Picsel is awesomely fast and useable but its still in early development and doesnt support complete web solutions.
As for Orange, their data packages have never been the best but i usually use the net heavy apps like Windows Live Messenger, Youtube streaming and Net browsing in the Office or at home where theres a Wifi connection. But to be honest none of the other Network Providers have great deals and i've been with all at one point or another T-Mobile Web n Walk is good but they've started blocking certain ports that limit what you can do or so i have heard. The off peak data package (if you work 9-5) doesnt seem too bad.
But hopefully they'll come out with better packages soon.
Hi, interested you have skype working on your Xda Stellar - I can't seem to get this working? I downloaded the windows mobile version of skype and get a "this is not a valid pocket pc application" message and it fails to install.... Do you have any ideas?? Thanks
I am with vodafone and in a position to upgrade to which will be my first HTC phone. I was looking at kaiser but am thinking of hanging on for a couple of months for the HTC touch pro.
Kaiser audio quality
Hi,
I just upgraded from Hermes to Kaiser, and I'm comparing the two units at the moment.
I noticed that audio quality of Hermes is better, especially when listening to mp3s.
Does anyone agree?
I'd try and get a HTC Touch Pro if possible, just make sure it's the Pro and not the Diamond as you'll get the better (larger) battery and not have to give up the keyboard. The feature list of the Touch Pro is much better then the Kaiser.
The Kaiser is after all just an "update" that only new features are a slightly larger storage (not much of an issue with an SD-Card though) and built in GPS (but an externall bluetooth GPS gives you more battery.) On the downside of the Kaiser you have to convert videos to play just on your device where as with the Hermes I could use the same vids for my PC - which is basicly a downgrade.
I'm in the process of upgrading my phone. I've had the 6700 in the past and currently using the Q Black (Verizon). I miss the customization of the 6700, but the phone was terrible with reception. I can get the Q9H for ~$79 or the Tilt for ~$125. I went ahead and purchased both, figuring the extra $36 activation fee would be worth knowing exactly which one I wanted. I received the Q9h first, set it up, and have had no real issues out of it. I received the Tilt yesterday and going through the process of getting it set up. My first immediate reaction was that the Q has better reception. I haven't lost a call on either, just more bars on the Q (just a display difference?). Will the new radios help this? I'd like to make a decision before flashing the ROM on the Tilt just so I don't have to revert to default to return it. Do any of the ROMs make a difference? I've tried setting up the Touch screens, but haven't really had any luck.
My priorities are:
1) Phone call quality - I live on the road and can't be missing all my calls. The main reason I dumped the 6700 was because of the "phone". Great PDA, terrible phone. Has HTC gotten better with their reception?
2) Email - because I travel, I use email A LOT, Tilt faster due to copy and paste? I can get used to either keyboard, so I don't think that's an issue. The "tilt" feature is overrated as I can't use the top keys with it tilted. May help with video on airplanes, but if the video playback is terrible...
3) Tethering - both do this, Q better because of reception?
4) Entertainment - I use a slingbox and watch videos while in the airports. Q has a much smaller screen, but Tilt has video issues. This may well be the deciding factor. I want to create a video and put it on both devices to compare the playback. What is the best format (wmv, divx, etc) to use and settings for the Tilt? If I can get comparable playback, I'll probably still go for the Tilt.
Hey,
I love my tilt for a few reasons but they may help you...
1. It gets excellent reception. I have had a treo, 8525, a couple of blackberries and tilt on AT&T and the tilt gets the best reception. I live and work in LA/Ventura counties and it does very well here. Not quite as good as Verizon for me but it has been my best AT&T phone.
2. I use Blackberry Connect for E-mail and I really like it. I like it a lot better than other e-mail options and the full keyboard is very nice. Takes some getting used to due to the short travel, shorter than the 8525 or other blackberries but once you do you can bang out e-mail very quickly.
3. I returned my Sprint Aircard due to the tethering abilites of my Tilt. It works great. I do have the Q-Mobile rom on it...I usually tether through bluetooth so I don't need a cable. I know it is a bit slower but it is far more convenient.
4. Best device, bar none, for slingbox. No video issues with Slingplayer. Channel setup is a bit slow for some reason but once your favorites are set no problems. I can't recall if this was the case with other devices. As far as other things like google video or youtube it definately has some lag before playing begins but once it does, I have had no more issues than on other devices.
5. Due to the sleek feel and look somehow it feels much smaller than it is. I think it is supposed to be the same size as my old 8525, (I sold it before I could compare it) but it feels MUCH smaller. Also the sliding mechanism just feels nice due to the spring...
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
1-3) I'm actually plesantly surprised so far. I get a decent 2 bar signal everywhere (even in my basement). Since it's always 2 bars, that's why I was wondering if it was a display issue. I'll be travelling the next two weeks, so I'll have a chance to check reception and internet speed in several locations on both phones and also compare them to Verizon. I use push Exchange, so both of the phones work well there, but my typing speed is reduced trying to find all the special characters (different between all 3 phones). One reason I've stayed away from AT&T (Cingular) in the past is the network speed issue. I could download at 700Kb tethered with Sprint or Verizon. It's not as important as it was, but still would like decent speed.
4) I've been playing with different codecs (WMA, AAC, H.264, MP4, etc) trying to find a decent playback. Sling is good on either phone. Movies are better on the Q, but obviously smaller. So far, H.264 seems to be the best bet, but still playing with it.
5) Size wasn't near as bad as I seem to remember or this is much smaller than the 6700. It's actually smaller by quite a bit in face size than the Q, but about twice the depth. Q just seems smaller because of how thin it is and how it easily slides into pockets. I keep my Q in my pants pocket. Don't want to do that though with the Tilt due mainly to the touchscreen, but also thickness.
Last issue I've noticed is battery life. I've never seen the new Q under 2 bars even after a couple days (pulling 2 emails) and on the standard battery. I've had the Tilt at 70% just last night by playing around with it for an hour or two.
Please help me out with this, I'm getting very annoyed, upset and whatever else you can think of. Two days ago, I brought my Tilt into the ATT service center because of a problem, and they replaced it with a brand new Tilt. My older one was running 6.0 but this new one is running 6.1 WinMo, which I fear is the culprit here.
I get full HSPA bars here in NYC (kaiser tweak) under most circumstances, and it stays this way while I'm surfing the net and such but, whenever I make a phone call, it automatically switches to G ! ? There are times when it might go through with EDGE *the call*, but it's seldom. I never had this problem before the phone switch. It also happens without using Kaiser Tweak, with 3G. And while I AM able to use the phone with G, I feel that this might pose a problem at some point, and would like the phone to be able to reach its full potential or.. just be the way it was.
Help is seriously needed !
Doug
dougrb said:
Please help me out with this, I'm getting very annoyed, upset and whatever else you can think of. Two days ago, I brought my Tilt into the ATT service center because of a problem, and they replaced it with a brand new Tilt. My older one was running 6.0 but this new one is running 6.1 WinMo, which I fear is the culprit here.
I get full HSPA bars here in NYC (kaiser tweak) under most circumstances, and it stays this way while I'm surfing the net and such but, whenever I make a phone call, it automatically switches to G ! ? There are times when it might go through with EDGE *the call*, but it's seldom. I never had this problem before the phone switch. It also happens without using Kaiser Tweak, with 3G. And while I AM able to use the phone with G, I feel that this might pose a problem at some point, and would like the phone to be able to reach its full potential or.. just be the way it was.
Help is seriously needed !
Doug
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Click to collapse
i think theyre still using EDGE / 2G for voice calls.. not all markets have switched to 3G/HSDPA voice
I too have the same issue. I'm not saying a problem, cause in my opinion it is not. When a call is made it switches back to gprs. It takes about 30 secs after the call to switch it back to hsdpa. It is probably a bug or perhaps a lack of your carrier.
BTW. I'm with T-mobile Holland, perhaps it is network related.
What I'm trying to convey though is that my other phone (which was exchanged because I thought the top of the slider was loose) did not behave like this. It kept its full H bars through every call. And the only difference between the two phones is that the previous one ran WinMo 6.0 and this one runs 6.1
They DO use HSPA here in NYC, you have to turn it on with Kaiser tweak in order to use it, though.
Doug
u nailed it 2 times on the head here..
kaiser tweak..and ur stock winmo 6.1
- kaiser tweak is an essential tool for a kaiser..never leave it behind after a flash and always enable ur HSDPA
- winmo 6.1 is a dirty dirty devil, what i suggest is to reflash and use a good radio..i live in Central New Jersey and im in and out of NY daily ( midtown / diamond district ) and i have yet to experience a dropped call!
im running the below mentioned rom and radio..give it a go..most likely u wont be disappointed!
Jstar
JstarLuvsTina said:
u nailed it 2 times on the head here..
kaiser tweak..and ur stock winmo 6.1
- kaiser tweak is an essential tool for a kaiser..never leave it behind after a flash and always enable ur HSDPA
- winmo 6.1 is a dirty dirty devil, what i suggest is to reflash and use a good radio..i live in Central New Jersey and im in and out of NY daily ( midtown / diamond district ) and i have yet to experience a dropped call!
im running the below mentioned rom and radio..give it a go..most likely u wont be disappointed!
Jstar
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Click to collapse
Well, it's interesting. Paulbates over at hofo suggests (and I agree w/him) that it would have been silly for them to release a ROM which did this, and we'd see tons of threads here and elsewhere about it if it were the case. I only asserted though, that the radio version might not like the area in which I live yada yada..
As soon as the problem started however, I did install Kaiser Tweak, and enabled HSDA. It worked as usual, but the H disappears just as fast as 3G was disappearing, so it makes no difference. I'm also experiencing data connectivity issues on this phone for the first time ever. Last night, even with full E or H bars, as I tried to open Opera or PIE, I'd get an error saying I had no data session open and the web page wasn't available. I tried many different pages of course, so it was the phone.. This never happened with my other phone, and I'm really regretting having taken it back now.
P.S. as far as changing the ROM and radio, I'm very inexperienced (re: have never done it before) and will wait to see if changing the phone makes a difference first. I only wish they had given me an exchange phone with 6.0 on it. Even the guy at the shop said that a lot of people have been complaining about 6.1. Do you live in NYC btw ? If so, perhaps I will take your advice about changing the ROM/Radio myself. Only thing is though, I run Linux. I do also have a Macbook Pro.. Can I do it with either of those OS's ?
Doug
Oh this is so very annoying... I just brought the phone into the store and they replaced it again. The girl I dealt with was very nice, and went through testing it out, and agreed that it was indeed doing something it shouldn't be doing. She even swapped the SIM card, but it was still the same. I then got a new (refurb of course) and it seemed to stay on E in the store, but then I wandered outside into Bryant Park (where I am now) and the same ol' junk occurred.
The last call I made actually stayed on Edge, but that was about 1 of 7 calls. Not only that, but now my voice mail doesn't work either... It asks if I have an account, then prompts me to put in my phone number. When I do, it says it's not a valid account. I'm really regretting switching my phone over, big time.
I'm going to call CS and see what they have to say (yes, we know the network isn't solid right now, but we're "working on it") Yah...
This really puts me off, but if they can't do anything, I'll start messing with the ROMS. It's just that my download speed right now sucks, too. Can someone direct me to a mobile internet speed test, which is good ? I tried toast.net, but it's too slow to load anything on any of the servers. And speedtest.net requires flash, but those probably aren't very good for mobile phones, anyway.
Doug
I've been having problems with my T-Mo MDA (HTC Wizard) and picked up an AT&T Tilt to replace it. I've SIM and CID unlocked it, but I'm getting terrible signal strength on it. It's rare for me to have more than 2 bars in places where I'd have 4 bars with the MDA. So I'm wondering if it's a hardware issue or if I just haven't hit on the right radio version yet (I've tried 5 of them so far). Anyone have any ideas? I like the phone, but if I can't get a decent signal on it then it's not worth keeping.
I've used T-Mo phones on AT&T before (in fact the G1 gets some of the best AT&T reception I've ever seen) and vice versa, so it's probably a matter of hitting on the right radio. The Tilt radios are optimized for AT&T natrually, so be sure to try an assortment of radios. It is definitely a pain, in fact I have not hit on the perfect one for me yet (and I'm using a Tilt on AT&T lol) but you should definitely be getting better performance than you are, so keep trying
GENERALLY...let me say this again so i dont get flamed....GENERALLY.... The best radios currently out for Kaisers are
1.71.09.01 (been reported by some to shorten battery life however ALMOST ALL have reported a MUCH better signal and quicker GPS fix)
1.70.19.09 (Seemingly the most stable, with pretty good battery life, you will usualy get a solid signal and get most of your calls.)
I am on T-Mobile and have tried both radios on WM 6.1 and WM 6.5.x, I switch between the two depending on my needs but mostly stick with 1.70.19.09 and get pretty solid usage. However if your almost always near a charger, or never away from one for more than a few hours, give 1.71.09.01 a try and test its battery life on yours.
You can find both here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2210513&postcount=3
they are the two at the bottom of that post.
just finished a "desk test" of every radio I could find. Sitting here at my desk I have 4 bars on the Wizard regardless of where I placed it. I flashed the Tilt with every radio ROM I could find and tested in two locations on the desk: most had 2 bars in both locations, a few of the radios had 3 bars at one location and 2 bars at the other. With most of the radios I also made a test call to our local time and temp to guage call quality.
I'm going to try the 1.71.09.01 radio this weekend and see if it gives me any trouble in places like Lowes. I was really hoping to find a radio that would give me signal strength close to what i had with the Wizard
CoreyC said:
just finished a "desk test" of every radio I could find. Sitting here at my desk I have 4 bars on the Wizard regardless of where I placed it. I flashed the Tilt with every radio ROM I could find and tested in two locations on the desk: most had 2 bars in both locations, a few of the radios had 3 bars at one location and 2 bars at the other. With most of the radios I also made a test call to our local time and temp to guage call quality.
I'm going to try the 1.71.09.01 radio this weekend and see if it gives me any trouble in places like Lowes. I was really hoping to find a radio that would give me signal strength close to what i had with the Wizard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can gaurentee the 1.71 will give you some really great reception just be prepared for the battery drainage.
My personal recomendation is the newest 1.65 ROM that's one of the AT&T official ones, I get decent bars and rock solid calls with that on AT&T.
I'm going to be putting it up for sale on CraigsList or eBay this weekend. Signal strength just isn't cutting it. Spotty reception along a major highway (4 bars to 2 in less than 1/2 a mile and dropped the call while I was talking to my girl ), no signal in the restaurant I had lunch at today, no signal at Lowes, no signal at Sams Club, and weak/no signal at my local grocery store. The restaurant was new to me, but in the other places I normally have 3 or 4 bars when using the Wizard.
CoreyC said:
I'm going to be putting it up for sale on CraigsList or eBay this weekend. Signal strength just isn't cutting it. Spotty reception along a major highway (4 bars to 2 in less than 1/2 a mile and dropped the call while I was talking to my girl ), no signal in the restaurant I had lunch at today, no signal at Lowes, no signal at Sams Club, and weak/no signal at my local grocery store. The restaurant was new to me, but in the other places I normally have 3 or 4 bars when using the Wizard.
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Click to collapse
Really? Even with the 1.71? That is surprising. What OS rom are you using? I have actually had OS Roms that seemed to effect my signal, also have you made sure 3G in your data is off? Since our phones arent compatible with T-Mos 3G this could be effecting your signal (it will still attempt to search for a 3G signal) try turning your data off if your not using it, there are alot of things. Last but not least I just now noticed you said you JUST bought it.....are you sure its a Tilt and not a Tilt II? If its a tilt II that would be a great reason why its not working.
aestivalisakito said:
Really? Even with the 1.71? That is surprising. What OS rom are you using? I have actually had OS Roms that seemed to effect my signal, also have you made sure 3G in your data is off? Since our phones arent compatible with T-Mos 3G this could be effecting your signal (it will still attempt to search for a 3G signal) try turning your data off if your not using it, there are alot of things. Last but not least I just now noticed you said you JUST bought it.....are you sure its a Tilt and not a Tilt II? If its a tilt II that would be a great reason why its not working.
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Click to collapse
Yup...really!
I'm using JJ Blaster's WM6.5.3 build 23518 ROM right now.
3G and bluetooth and wi-fi and everything else are all turned off as I don't use them and wanted to limit battery drain.
Haha, thanks for the laugh. Yes, I'm sure it is a Tilt, even says 8925 under the battery. Never hurts to check the basics though
LOL you would be surprised sometimes, some people look at their phones and then look at the pictures of the phones in the forums and choose one that looks similiar...er you get the idea. Anyway I just called my buddy in your area who has a kaiser on t-mo and he told me he is using the 1.71 radio and gets great signal no matter where he goes, he is using it with the TPC 23071 Stock-Like Rom NORMAL VERSION He did say he is sticking with those roms as he has had probs with the other ones. Give it a shot, TPC makes some pretty good roms. Let me know what ur results are.
just flashed that rom....flashed the stock HTC WWE ROM first...and signal is about the same as with the other ROM's in my 'desk test'. It did seem to hold on to three bars a little longer than the others, but it did drop down to two.
Just before flashing the Tilt I had the Wizard up and going again (resynching txt messages and the like) and had a solid four bars with it.
I'll take the Tilt in to work tomorrow with my Wizard in tow....if it's still bad there I'll switch back over and move on. I'm running out of ideas. I updated the HardSPL to jockyw2001's 3.56 version today as well, that's the SPL version the chef of my previous ROM is using, but it didn't seem to make a difference.
OK....work results are just depressing. With the Tilt, sitting at my desk, I have no service. if I position it just right, I can get 1 bar...just enough to send/receive txt messages. I switch over to the Wizard and I have a solid 4 bars.
I don't know why I'm getting such poor signal with the Tilt when I'm getting excellent signal on the Wizard. I'm open to trying other things, but I'm thinking it's a lost cause.
Current setup on the Tilt is:
HardSPL: jockyw2001's 3.56 HardSPL
ROM: TPC 23071 Stock-Like Rom NORMAL VERSION
Radio: 1.71.09.01
Carrier: T-Mobile
Location: St. Louis metro area
Well I am at a loss, but I want you to look at one more thing, in your data connection settings if t-mobile is using epc.tmobile.com to internet2.voicestream.com do a soft reset, see if any diffrent, if that doesnt help, then I am sorry, you very well might have a hardware issue, as my buddy is in STL Metro area throughout most of the day and he says it works great.
it was set to wap.voicestream.com, I changed it as you directed, and the results of the desk test are the same. No obvious change. My girlfriend is on AT&T, I might borrow her SIM and throw it in to see if that gets 4 bars or not during the desk test. When I bought it, the guy had his AT&T SIM in it to show that it worked and it had 4 bars then....and I think it briefly had 4 bars on T-Mo when I was driving down the highway...so the phone is technically capable of it.
thanks for trying to help, I appreciate it. pass along my thanks to your buddy too.
I do not have an issues with t-mobile on my ATT Tilt
I have the following radio/hardspl:
Radio: 1.71.09.01
HardSPL: 3.56
I also am testing out AndriodonHTC.com and it works very well with these.