My experience so far - Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General

I’m going to start this off by saying that this is not a review of the AT&T Tilt, the HTC Advantage, or the iPhone. These devices have been reviewed in depth already. This is more of a reflection on my use of the 3 devices mentioned. My primary phone is the AT&T Tilt, my wife uses the iPhone, and I bought a HTC Advantage 2 week ago.
I wanted to see if the Advantage would augment or even replace my laptop and Tilt, like a true convergence device. I mentioned the iPhone because my wife has one, and so I have access to the use of it along with the 2 other HTC devices.
All of the devices mentioned are box stock so to speak. They are locked to AT&T with the exception of the Advantage, which as you know can work on any GSM network, but for me it is used on AT&T’s network.
I was able to use all 3 while on a week’s Christmas vacation trip to Minnesota (I live in Jacksonville, FL.) to see my parents. I transitioned to the Advantage one week prior to leaving to get used to it. It worked as expected, sync’s to my laptop with Vista and Mobile Device Center no problem, as does my Tilt. Connected to AT&T’s network no problem. I was always able to get my e-mails and made and received calls on it, and Bluetooth worked flawlessly. I paired my Jawbone with no problems. The only software problem I encountered with it so far has been with Windows live services. It would fail to sync completely, signing out and then back in repeatedly. I have had zero lock ups and have not had to reset it yet. The GPS worked without a hitch and was able to use it with both Google maps and Live search to navigate. The only problem I can find to fault this device with is the size and weight, but I knew that when I got it. It is not designed to be carried around with you all day. I found myself leaving it in the car or on the desk and checking it throughout the day. I did carry it with me while walking around the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Throughout the whole trip I had excellent network coverage and the high speed 3g worked everywhere I was at. All and all the Advantage did everything it was advertised to do.
While at my parent’s house in Rochester, I also used my Tilt. Once again it worked as it has always been working. The only problem I have with my Tilt is it has a tendency to drop calls while using the Bluetooth headset (Jawbone). This has happened several times and I have read here on these forums that I am not alone with this problem.
To be honest, after using both devices I think the Advantage is at a slight disadvantage. Now, I realize they are meant for two entirely different types of users. I can do everything I need to do on the Tilt. The Advantage can do everything the Tilt can do, and has way more storage. The size, weight, and portability are just too much to work around for me. I must say though, that looking at that nice big VGA screen on the Advantage will spoil you.
I am more than happy with the performance of both devices, as well as the other HTC devices I have used in the past. (AT&T 8525)
Here’s the other point I wanted to make, and why I have mentioned the iPhone. I pay all my bills online, so I needed to be able to log on to my bank as well as other creditors to make payments. Of the 8 online bill paying websites I needed to access, I was only able to complete 3 of the tasks. The websites would not render correctly no matter what changes to the display I made. As a note I use a program called PIE+ by Rensoft, and it works great on my Tilt and the Advantage. I was able to log on and complete the other 5 transactions with the wife’s iPhone, in the Safari browser no problem what so ever. That’s the only thing I like about the iPhone, and it is not enough of a reason to switch to one, she likes that phone and it’s nice, but I prefer the functionality of windows mobile.
I would like to add that I am not a noob, nor am I an expert at using WM6; I learn new stuff about it every day on this site. I thought it might be interesting for someone to read about my experience with these 3 devices, and how they were used in my everyday life.
In conclusion, I would say that for me, the choice clear. I will stay with my Tilt, and possibly find a new home for the Advantage. I don’t know though, it’s like a guilty pleasure to use the Advantage.
One more thing I just thought of, maybe a HTC Shift is what I need.
Anyway thanks for reading.

why don't you try the full fledged opera browser, you might be able to login to the rest at the websites.

Not a bad idea, I will look into the Opera browser. The Advantage has it on there but, I have not used it much, not used to using it I guess.

Related

Tilt vs iPhone

I bought an iphone about 6 days ago and had nothing but 6 days worth of trouble with the phone. I only just got it working about 8 hours ago after 6 days of phone calls to at7t and apple. Each group whether it was the att store, apple store, att 800 techs or apple 800 techs would point to the other as the source of the problem and so on. What a joke. At any rate the phone is now working and I had a massive oh shiit moment just now. The iPhone does not support VOIP which is the primary reason why I started to look for smart phones. In all my confusion between the wing, the tilt and the iphone I somehow skipped over the fact that att doesnt offer voip. T-mobile does but it costs 20 dollars a month. If I take on a data plan its another 20 dollars a month. On top of that I have to get minutes but I'm affraid that even at the cheapest/lowest minutes plan, my final bill would be around 100 dollars for my phone alone. My wifes phone (non-data no wifi) would add another 50 dollars I'm sure.
The thing is, after all the newness wore off on the iphone and finally getting it working, I'm not all that impressed with it. It keeps switching off the wifi and going to EDGE which is way slower and there doesnt appear to be an easy way to switch it back. The latest firmwares for the iphone dont allow for third party applications which means I would have to pay through the nose to get apple authorized apps. I dont like the fact that you pretty much have to have an apple computer to do anything tricky with the phone. All the cool hacking tools and ring tone downloaders are built for use on apple computers. Windows for the iphone is an afterthought. On top off all of that, I am having to break my t-mobile contract. If I break it alone its 200 dollars but then my wife ends up with a large family plan thats twice more then she needs and yet the price stays the same. Our bill will pretty much double once the iphone bill starts to come in. If she changes her plan to a lower cost, she locks in another 2 year agreement with t-mobile. If we both break the contract its 400 bones and she isnt keen on that idea and wont do it. This leaves us to lie about us getting shipped off to IRAQ and hopefully we can get out of the contract for free. If not, then I may have to stay with t-mobile and ditch the iphone out of lack of options.
If I am able to ditch my t-mobile accounts then I have a choice to make. Do I stick with the iphone or go for the TILT? The Tilt looks like its just as powerfull if not more so then the iphone. The iphone storage might be more but I can get big memory cards for it. I really like the TILTS price, good through tomorrow. 250 to 300 depending on discounts which is the same as the iphone. I know I can do t-mobiles hot spot plan but maybe I can use other VOIP software for free? The iphone doesnt support flash so I cant run google talk and instead have to run meebo which although is nice, it isnt as nice as the full version. I hate having to leave the webpage up full time to run the program.
I like the Tilts windows os. It seems more open source to me then the iphone. So what phone would you go with given the choice?
Does the tilt support google talk? Iphone doest because it doesnt have support for java or flash. Does the tilt support flash and java applications?
In general, iPhone is good for its multimedia capabilities (music and video). On the other hand, if you seek for productivities and features, then you should go to Tilt I believe.
the tilt/kaiser/p4550/tytn ii has support for flash and java yes
i'm unfamiliar with the gtalk mobile application but i don't see any reason for it not to work as it supports other voip platforms
The Tilt simply needs another application to use google talk. I use either Palringo or Fring, both of which are free, and both will work with google talk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo messenger, etc.
cayotte said:
In general, iPhone is good for its multimedia capabilities (music and video). On the other hand, if you seek for productivities and features, then you should go to Tilt I believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me and my wife bought new phones week ago - she got an iPhone I got Tilt:
If u r looking for something that seamlessly works out of the box and has no issues at all - then Iphone is clear choice. However all of us here know that if thing works flawlessly out of the box it is no fun .... I bought Tilt because GPS mostly - so far works like charm with TOMTOM 6. Considering that cheapest GPS navigator costs mere $200 and I got tilt with my company discount for $150 choice was clear for me. On the other hand iPhone looks and feels quite "feminine" (Just look at default wallpapers)
I thought long and hard about this choice and decided to take the iPhone back. It cost me a 10 percent restocking fee but i think in the end I will be happier with the tilt. I have had to call AT&T twice now since having the phone and everyone of the agents has said something like. "oh wow, nice phone. I really want one of those." So even At&t seems to think its pretty cool. Thanks for the advice.
One of my calls by the way was to see if they would give me the unlock code so that I could use it on T-mobile. They said no problem but it would take 5 to 7 days to get it since the phone was new and they didnt have it in their records yet. At any rate, they are going to email it to me so hopefully I can have it unlocked inside a week for free.
I've had about 5 hours with this phone now and for lack of better terminology I will just simply state that I have been half erect for the entire time. This phone rocks and so kicks the iphones ass. I've been able to get google talk going so I can chat with my wife at work, I have been able to make google talk calls using voip which is totally free (if you don't count the $50 fee for fios or the $80 voice and date charges for the phone, haha) and just now I have gotten the GPS going with google maps. I didn't even know it had GPS. I'm not a poster child for google or anything but their stuff works and it's all I know about right now. I'm sure I will find more apps eventually.
The thing I want to work on now is emulators and roms. I need to get some games going on here now.
For some reason the wifi was a tool in setting up. I couldn't understand why the applications wouldn't connect using wifi after I set the wifi connection up. I ended up having to tell the phone that my wifi was a work connection and then in the connection manager tell all applications to use my work isp. It was bizarre to say the least. I'm not sure how this is going to work though when I get on the road. Am I going to have to tell the phone that all wifi connections belong to my work isp? It seems odd to me that the connections manager wouldn't simply have an option to use wifi as the primary means of connecting to the internet and if thats not available then use G3 or whatever its called.
I'm much happier with this phone then I am with the iPhone. I'm just not into audio and video enough to think its a good phone. I already have a 60 gig ipod and although its nice to have in my car, I certainly dont live and breath all things apple, not by a long shot. Cool phone this Kaiser/Tilt to say the least.
If VoIP is what you are after, then I don't see how the Tilt will make it for you. In fact, as far as I know, all VoIP applications (including Fring, Skype and the WM6 VoIP client) are only able to transmit sound through the speakerphone, rather than the earpiece. Which is totally pointless to me! Isn't this your experience?
I have found that the only decent choice for VoIP usage are Nokia smartphones (E series phones), which have a great emebedded VoIP functionality that works with any SIP-based VoIP service, or they can work with Fring, and have access to SIP, Skype, Google Talk and MSN all at the same time, and all through the earpiece. And they can keep WiFi up and running for at least two days without discharging the battery. And will connect to 3G automatically when WiFi is not available any longer, and back. I have seen no Windows Mobile device being able to do these things, and this is why I am so struggling to go back to Windows Mobile after trying Symbian (Nokia).
prodaytrader said:
Does the tilt support google talk? Iphone doest because it doesnt have support for java or flash. Does the tilt support flash and java applications?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you google for a program called Octrotalk, install it, voila! Googletalk! Great program and it works well with every ROM that I've flashed.
about contracts
yeah the iphone isnt that great and if you wait a 3g iphone is coming, but on another note, DO NOT say you are being deported overseas, just have your wife call and say you died. or viseversa most of the time policy will ask for proof but if you put up a fight over it and the customer service rep has a heart they will cave in. its a pretty touchy subject that most people dont wanna walk around. worked for me more than once.

Would you recommend a Kaiser to a friend?

Or me?
I can't recommend a Treo 750 to a friend based on my experience (even though it's been tolerable with WM6).
What's the point of this poll? Every person has different needs. I have lots of friends I would never recommend a Tilt to. Has nothing to do with issues of the phone, its just that a PPC is not right for them.
I actually have a good friend right now that was looking at a Tilt when I bought mine. I've already told him he'd probably be happier with a BlackJack than the Tilt. Why? Because he needs a phone and doesn't really need (or even want) a PDA (he has told me he never liked Palm's in the past). As I've told him, and lots of other people, PPC's are PDA's with phone capabilities. Smartphones are Phones with PDA capabilities. There is a huge difference between the two. There is also a big difference in the types of people that use the two different devices. Heck, i work in a high tech company (I think Microsoft is the only software maker larger than us) and most of the people I work with had an 8125 or Apache device in the last year or two. Most of them hated it, but they were forced to buy it. Sure, part of that hate was due to how crappy WM5 and the official roms were on the Wizard and Apache, but most hated them because they just wanted a phone. Now most of these people have BlackJacks and they love them. Its because they now have a usable phone with hard keys, and it has the ability to do cool things that smartphones can do.
Then, of course, a lot of people (most?) would be better off with a Razr or similar. The just need a phone and nothing else.
So how am I to answer a poll like this? If you are asking for yourself, then I'd need to know more about you, what you are like with computers and other technology, and whether you are looking for a PDA / mini computer, or are you looking for a Phone as your primary device. If you are the right type of person, then yeah, in my less than one week of experience with the Tilt, I'd highly recommend it to you. I even still recommend picking up a Wizard or Hermes for that matter if I think a PPC is what that person needs (I just let them know they should upgrade the rom to make the most of it).
I tell people the same thing I tell them about my carputer - it's only for people who enjoy hacking around a bit and are really comfortable with computers.
I've been able to turn my Kaiser into so much because I can hack my way around and figure things out. I am not confident that many of my friends could do the same.
So I while I would certainly recommend it to my tech-minded friends - in a hearbeat, in fact - to my non-techie friends I would probably suggest getting an iPhone. Easy to use, cool, but not too heavy on advanced features - in other words, it does everything a non-techie would want.
I would recommend it to friend shopping for a PPC and wanting to select a good PPC.
mfrazzz said:
What's the point of this poll? Every person has different needs. I have lots of friends I would never recommend a Tilt to. Has nothing to do with issues of the phone, its just that a PPC is not right for them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn... Why read so much into everything???
I'll re-word it for you... "Are you happy with your Kaiser?"
Never! I like to be unique and if I recommend it, then I won't be the only one in my circle who has one
ok, ill just put it in simple terms.
The Kaiser is the ultimate PDA for someone who is a Data User and is on a 3G network, it's just seems so convenient to slip it out and search something or do something for a period of time on it. For me, this phone is for the power user
i wouldn't recommend this phone for someone using this phone on a non 3g network, whereas a P4350 would come handy with its edge and its decent processor. I DO NOT recommend the Kaiser if your a big talker on your phone and talk over of 2.5+ hours a day and like to do web browsing at the same time without ever hooking it up to a dock station or car charger.
the truth is, this phone is mainly for the power user and if anyone owned a HTC Tytn and liked it, this is only the perfect upgrade
I already bought one for my brother, so I guess yeah I would recommend it. I do agree with others here though, it is definitely for the more tech-savvy.
Non of my friends/family are "Tech Savvie" and I would not recommend any pda based phone. If they needed a pda type phone then yes I would recomend a Kaiser. It offers the most functionality of any current device. It is "Horses for Courses" My Mother in law can just about cope with a Nokia 3210. My Brother is happy with his SE K800i as he can leave his Ipod and Camera at home. Me I prefer to have the latest and greatest and most feature packed that is available at reasonable/no cost. I am happy to be at the Bleeding edge of technology and actually enjoy having to trackdown fixes, hacks and apps as long as I can get a result.
Depends on the person. If their usage pattern is like mine, then yes. If they just want a simple phone then obviously no.
Moderator,
Please look at this so called poll and see it as overwhelming 'FOR' and remove with result posted.
Thanks.

Tilt or Curve?

I have a problem that I’d like some advice on... I have service with AT&T and HAD a Palm Treo 750. After 8 months I noticed my signal strength had degraded when I was in my home. I assumed it was a service/tower issue and called ATT tech support. I was told that my phone was defective and that I could exchange it at the warranty service dept. I did. NEW PHONE, same issue....I called again and was told that I received a defective replacement and that a new replacement would be shipped to me and my problems would be resolved. I received replacement #2 and continued to have the same problems. I called ATT again. I was then told that my problems were due to a "known" issue with the Palm 750 phones and that I could exchange for a Tilt. I received the Tilt and noticed the same issue of weak or no signal in my home or even in my driveway... I called ATT again... I was sent a replacement Tilt......Same problem. NOW ATT tells me that it is a maintenance problem with the 3g signal from the tower close to my house. ATT is now offering to exchange the Tilt for a Blackberry Curve 8310. My problem is that I know nothing about Blackberry... I’m still learning WM6 and the Tilt. Does anyone know if there are BIG differences between the two? What features will I lose/gain? I am so frustrated with this mess that has been going on for almost 3 months but I want/need a phone that will work when I need it and do what I need it to do. Any advice will be helpful.
There are HUGE differences between the Tilt and The Curve. Its like Going from Windows XP (tilt) to Slackware Linux (Curve).
I don't think the Blackberry has a Touch Screen. Thats the deal breaker for me.
No touchscreen, no wifi, smaller keyboard, less software to choose from. On the other hand it is somewhat smaller than the Tilt and very stylish. Also somewhat simpler to operate. Comparing the Tilt and Curve is a lot like comparing a PC to a Mac. If your needs are for e-mail only, then the Curve is a fine choice. If you are more of a power user, or like a phone that offers a lot more flexibility, then the Tilt is the way to go.
The Curve is a great phone, my brother-in-law has one. But I love my Tilt more.
very simple
tilt
of course we're gonna say tilt.
Here's my view
If you need email, uber usability, and more system stability go with curve
if you want a fun time and more customization, go with the tilt
fzzyrn said:
of course we're gonna say tilt.
Here's my view
If you need email, uber usability, and more system stability go with curve
if you want a fun time and more customization, go with the tilt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i gotta echo this. when it came time to renew our contracts we checked out a bunch of phones and my wife decided she liked the Curve, and i went with the Treo 750. i quickly switched to the 8525 (predecessor to the Tilt) because i like the more spacious keyboard and bigger screen. she loves the Curve, and if it does everything you need it to (email and such) out of the box and don't care about extensive custimization and tweaking then go with that. if you are like myself (and many others here) and obsess over tailoring every single facet of the phone through constantly trying new software, fiddling with the registry, and stuff like that then go with the Tilt/Windows Mobile.
as far as signal goes, i haven't really ever noticed much of a difference between our phones.
Thanks to everyone!! I’ve decided to keep the Tilt. Mostly because I like the WiFi, touch screen and the abundance of software available. I really LOVED my Palm Treo 750, but now that I’ve had the tilt for a while I like it better. Also, I finally got AT&T to admit today that my signal problems are due to service issues, not my phone.
Thanks again!

[Q] I need honest answer PLEASE

Is this phone and company worth switching over too ? Do to Sprints changing my plan without my approval,I have the opportunity to switch to another carrier.Out of the other big 3 Verizon,T-mobile & AT&T is the only one that is willing to put their offer in writting to me. The other reason I am even looking at this phone and company is because both of my sons want the IPhone and my wife only wants a phone offered by them as well..
So..please fellow XDA members tell me staright up..should I stay with Sprint and my Hero for 1-1/2 years more..or start fresh with this phone and AT&T..
Mac
50 views and not even 1 response..?
Is there no one on-line that has this phone wanting to step up and answer the question ?
I really would like to know the feelings of the folks here,since those that have this phone also have AT&T's service..
Mac
Not an easy one to answer really. I would say if you are completely turned of by what Sprint did to you then changing wouldn't be a bad thing. Going with AT&T will get you points with your family. And who couldn't use more points with their family, right?
That being said, you have by now undoubtedly heared about the GPS problems facing the Galaxy S phones. Some have found their phone is better with different versions, some claim all the updates and changes have made their GPS unuseable. If you are in need of a phone that has good GPS then I would say you can find better. Personally, the GPS issue isn't a deal breaker for me. I am also one of the lucky ones that find it works fine for how I use it.
The phone itself is amazing. Being on XDA also helps as there are many helpful and informative people. Also, the Captivate has been out long enough that the mods are becomming better and better every day, that is if you are into modding your phone. Heck, stock it still is a good phone.
So it all boils down to what you really want to do. I think that is why you haven't had anyone jump on giving you an answer. Good luck my friend!
There is no "right carrier". The advantage of AT&T (now) is coverage and GSM. AT&T has better coverage then T-Mobile, but about equal to VZW. GSM allows you take your phone to Europe - VZW CDMA does not;
But the future brings change - VZW has a slew of World phones coming out (they have GSM as well as CDMA) - VZW has LTE coming out - which is supposed to be a global standard - so travel issue may be a thing of the past.
AT&T has the iPhone today, but rumor says a CDMA iPhone on VZW for the holidays. But rumors are rumors.
I don't know what you are looking for in writing - all the carriers plans are on their web site. T-Mo does have the best customer service, and VZW has some great android phones. If you don't travel much, and T-Mo has good coverage where you live, they seem to have the best prices and some of the best phones.
AT&T is fine too - not trying to steer you away. I moved to AT&T for an iPhone years ago - and I travel to EU; so VZW wasn't cutting it.
Anyway If the family wants AT&T and the price for phones and service fits, then make the move. But you are stuck for 2 years.
Sounds like it's 3-1 in your house. I'd go ahead and make the switch if thats what your family wants. I don't think you'll be worse off with one carrier over the other, at the end of the day they will all screw you. Captivate is a great phone if you can deal with the sometimes difficult to deal with GPS.
I agree. Go with what makes your family happy overall. The Captivate is a fine device, and I've been much more pleased with it than I was with my iPhone. Talk it over with your family, putting them first won't do you wrong.
My first phone was from Virgin Mobile and was prepaid. I know they leased out network access from Sprint. It was awful. I never had good coverage, and then they started charging more for everything. I left them.
I've been with AT&T now since 6th grade. They've never screwed us over, they've always been helpful, and whenever we've had problems, like my sister signing up for those joke things they advertise on tv putting huge data charges on our bill, they cleared it up right away and even gave us a credit on the account.
Of course you're going to hear horror stories of bad customer service from everyone, but really it's not all that common. I've always thought AT&T had great phones, and they've all last me a long time.
My favorite phones have always been Samsung ones as all but one of my phones has been from them. My first was a Sony Ericsson S710a and it lasted me until one day I was sliding it open, and it slipped out of my hand and into a wall and the LCD shattered. After that I had a Samsung a727, then the SGH-i607 Blackjack, then the SGH-a877 Impression, and now the Captivate.
You will be happier with AT&T then with Sprint. But ultimately, you pay the bill and you decide where your money goes. I'll just add that I don't usually praise any company for no reason.
I love this phone with ji6 gps works completely fine for me it does what its supposed to every time lately gets me there no issues. Im very happy with att besides they make you pay for tethering, but theres ways around that with this phone, hehe ;-)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Thanks Guys..
I hate spending a-lot more money so soon on moving my service (since may 2010)..but I really don't know how I could stay with them.
As to any cell company posting their policy on line..well..that can and does change (with Sprint almost daily)..and actually having a written signed contract is something the other companies won't do,AT&T will.That does a lot for me..and for my wife peace of mind.My boys have wanted the I phones for sometime..I don't want one..which is why I am asking about the Captivate. BTW...Sprint elected to change my verbal contract given to me at the time of signing..and I fought it the best I could without turning my Lawyers loose..and I most likely would have won,but the cost to do so would have been prohibitive without a written contract,or so what they told me when I spoke to them about it..
So..the phone has a GPS problem..and that isn't a deal breaker for me,but I do want to see it fixed and soon.Having a 2.2 rom is what I am running on my hero now along with one of the best looking themes going right now IMHO..http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=797077 and so hopefully we can get this ported over here at some point..even if I have to learn how to do it myself
FWIW..I looked closely at this phone and also the Ios4 and hands down this one blows it out of the water on anything video..I stopped by T-Mobile and watched the HD Avatar movie on their version when I was looking at what they offered...It was just awesome..simply jaw dropping..
I am looking forward to the 2.2 upgrade and what comes after with it..So..I will be on here more and more reading what I can..
Thanks Again
Mac
Mac, just a heads up. The leaked 2.2 rom we have actually fixed the GPS. There's no real problem anymore. Obviously it will become more refined when the final release comes out but it definitely works now.
Sent from my Captivate
stuffy is a difficult company but I can't feral with poor service so I disk with them. get used to advanced features like tethering being blocked and such. but you can fix that by looking in the dev section. att isn't all bad though mostly because they are stupid, I told them verizon had a 15% vetrans discount (they do) and asked att if they had something similar. well they didn't but the customer service rep put me on an active duty discount because she didn't know better. it needs to be approved at a higher level with pics of my id and a valid military email according to there website, well I put the papers in anyway and had 15% off my bill the next month. so they obviously don't look at it.
verizons version of bloatware is full blown add ware. if you plug an incredible into a windows pc it hijacks explorer and goes to a v cast music site. on the fascinate they replaced the google services with microsoft services.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
I think it's refreshing to see all the honest answers, not a ton of chest pounding "our phone is the best" posts. Most people on XDA by nature are into tweaking so the out-of-the-box limitations aren't a showstopper.
For me, I really need a world-capable phone. My family also is on ATT so that helped as well. I think all the carriers are converging on offering similar product. ATT has less HTC stuff but has the IPhone. ATT is currently behind on Android, but the Captivate is certainly helping to address that. I like the phone and have recommended it friends. Go for it.
miztaken1312 said:
Mac, just a heads up. The leaked 2.2 rom we have actually fixed the GPS. There's no real problem anymore. Obviously it will become more refined when the final release comes out but it definitely works now.
Sent from my Captivate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool..that is good news..
Thanks
Mac
I will give my two bits. My experience has been good with att. Cs has never been bad, but at times there were moments that did not go smoothly. Always quick to address concerns of mine and they love giving credits out to keep me happy. I have been one of the lucky that never had major problems out of the box with the captivate. But coming from a storm running on atti think my standard were lower. Gps on froyo still doesn't work perfectly but has had improvement with locking and tracking. Dev support is actually really good so that is a big plus. My wife loves her captivate and she is not a techie at all. Hope my input helps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
flashman2002 said:
I will give my two bits. My experience has been good with att. Cs has never been bad, but at times there were moments that did not go smoothly. Always quick to address concerns of mine and they love giving credits out to keep me happy. I have been one of the lucky that never had major problems out of the box with the captivate. But coming from a storm running on atti think my standard were lower. Gps on froyo still doesn't work perfectly but has had improvement with locking and tracking. Dev support is actually really good so that is a big plus. My wife loves her captivate and she is not a techie at all. Hope my input helps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does,and greatly appreciated..
I understand the gps issue,and I am wondering if the delayed release of FroYo on this phone is partly because of it. Rooting and adding on customs roms has been working great for me on my Hero..and that phone is finnally acting the way it should have all along. Removing AT&T's bloatware will be my first priority after 2.2 is released..
I am curious about one thing..I know you can't load 3rd party apps unless rooted and a custom rom..but can you direct push them with the sd out of the phone and in a reader from a pc ? If we are working out of windows and a terminal..we should be able to insert any .apk or what we want.. anywhere we want..can't we ?
Thanks Again Guys
Mac
mobius911 said:
I think it's refreshing to see all the honest answers, not a ton of chest pounding "our phone is the best" posts. Most people on XDA by nature are into tweaking so the out-of-the-box limitations aren't a showstopper.
For me, I really need a world-capable phone. My family also is on ATT so that helped as well. I think all the carriers are converging on offering similar product. ATT has less HTC stuff but has the IPhone. ATT is currently behind on Android, but the Captivate is certainly helping to address that. I like the phone and have recommended it friends. Go for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here..I know folks have their favorites and also know there will always be folks that have problems..but it is refreshing to see a honest straight forward discussion with out any of the fan fair these types of threads always seem to degenerate into.
Mac
Mac11700 said:
I am curious about one thing..I know you can't load 3rd party apps unless rooted and a custom rom..but can you direct push them with the sd out of the phone and in a reader from a pc ? If we are working out of windows and a terminal..we should be able to insert any .apk or what we want.. anywhere we want..can't we ?
Thanks Again Guys
Mac
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can push them using ADB or even easier, if you google something called the "Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine" or just sideload wonder machine, someone created an app to so that you don't even have to use the command prompt or hack the phone. No need for a custom rom, and I don't believe rooting is needed.
Here, I'll link you to it.
SIDELOAD WONDER MACHINE
I made the switch you are thinking of about 1.5 years ago and I have no regrets. One thing to keep in mind is the data cap ATT now has on their new subscribers. I signed up when unlimited was an offering, and honestly I don't know that I would have been comfortable using 1 smartphone, let alone 3-4 of them with limited data usage. ATT also had better coverage where I lived last year but would say Sprint is on par within the city limits now. The Evo is a really nice phone (Several people I know have them and are pleased) but I won't go back to Sprint after all the horrible customer service I had with them for 8 years. My local ATT business rep does an incredible job and is a big reason that I just renewed with them(they let me keep unlimited data). Ultimately, if I was in your shoes, I would probably do what made my family/wife happy as long as it isn't going to cause financial heartache when you exceed the data limit. I think they charge in blocks of 200mb for overage but you should definitely look into how much data your family has/will be using. My .02
Edited to add: Depending on what kind of user you are (business/personal) you might want to leave that cog. 2.2 alone until it works. I loaded it last weekend, went out to a job, and was unable to d-load an important pdf that was in my e-mail. Fortunately I had a laptop but in the past I would have been able to count on my phone for a quick blueprint reference. Sounds like it may be a fun thing to play with as long as you don't REALLY need everything on your phone to work. Also, the GPS was horrid on cog. 2.2. Needless to say I flashed it back to the original software when I got home. My GPS works just fine after the JH7 OTA update was installed. Worked yesterday on a 2 hour drive where I only had phone coverage for 20-30 miles. I haven't "tweaked" the GPS settings, just whatever they changed with JH7 is working.
itsjustaphone said:
I made the switch you are thinking of about 1.5 years ago and I have no regrets. One thing to keep in mind is the data cap ATT now has on their new subscribers. I signed up when unlimited was an offering, and honestly I don't know that I would have been comfortable using 1 smartphone, let alone 3-4 of them with limited data usage. ATT also had better coverage where I lived last year but would say Sprint is on par within the city limits now. The Evo is a really nice phone (Several people I know have them and are pleased) but I won't go back to Sprint after all the horrible customer service I had with them for 8 years. My local ATT business rep does an incredible job and is a big reason that I just renewed with them(they let me keep unlimited data). Ultimately, if I was in your shoes, I would probably do what made my family/wife happy as long as it isn't going to cause financial heartache when you exceed the data limit. I think they charge in blocks of 200mb for overage but you should definitely look into how much data your family has/will be using. My .02
Edited to add: Depending on what kind of user you are (business/personal) you might want to leave that cog. 2.2 alone until it works. I loaded it last weekend, went out to a job, and was unable to d-load an important pdf that was in my e-mail. Fortunately I had a laptop but in the past I would have been able to count on my phone for a quick blueprint reference. Sounds like it may be a fun thing to play with as long as you don't REALLY need everything on your phone to work. Also, the GPS was horrid on cog. 2.2. Needless to say I flashed it back to the original software when I got home. My GPS works just fine after the JH7 OTA update was installed. Worked yesterday on a 2 hour drive where I only had phone coverage for 20-30 miles. I haven't "tweaked" the GPS settings, just whatever they changed with JH7 is working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dam good advise..Thanks
They charge in 1 gig allotments for overages now..not 200 mb. I too was worried about doing just this..and this is per line..not per plan. I went back through all of my bills and no-one has even come close to 1gig..let alone 2 gigs..but I understand that can change too.
The main thing for me and my family is getting a phone that is going to work..every time. I've run into some issues with mine on my job where I needed it and something crashed it. Also it's so tiresome for me to hear all the complaints and moaning when something crashes or FC's on their phones..I can deal with it happening on mine cause I am used to tinkering with it..but I have to say I am very tempted some by the I 4's simplicity...it would be nice just to not have to worry about updating mine almost daily,and just use the durn thing. I just don't know if I could deal with it or not as a day to day phone. I am at a loss in that regards..I know you can jailbreak them and do similar things we do with our Androids..but..I don't know enough about that to even consider doing it right now. I most likely would just so I could download apps and movies on it to watch from my pc..I got a week to figure this all out..and you all here are helping a-lot..
Thanks
Mac
I honestly liked the iphone4, and had one for a week. It was fun and all, but it had the same problem as my 3G, the ability to make and MAINTAIN a phone call. Obviously that isn't much of an issue for younger kids since you can still text with spotty coverage(my 13 yo uses about 60 min. a month and 1,000,000,000,000 text messages) I don't know if the iphone is somehow on a different signal than the other phones, but I have been very pleased with the PHONE CALL ability of the captivate. My wife loves the iphone (though she keeps eyeballing the captivate now) and like you, I do not enjoy fixing problems, so I have tried my best to keep her interest in my phone at a minimum. I can honestly say I do not miss the iphone for anything. I also enjoy the *cough cough* wireless tethering of my captivate(free app) that iphone never did get right(and when it did work, there was the whole loss of signal issue). The iphone is good at running apps and texting, outstanding even. I just really need to make phone calls and MAINTAIN a call when I make it. But like I said in my previous post, if your use is personal, iphone might work. If you make important calls, it fails.

Another New Member...ME!

I just made a post over in the Sony Xperia 10 Plus discussion forum. There isn't much to say about this phone really, but I had to share my herculean effort at trying 10000 pin codes manually over the past 16 days.
I've gotten into the world of smart phones primarily by watching youtube videos on how to bypass FRP locks. Even though I have a bunch of smart phones and tablets that I've managed to reset, my main phone - no joke - is a close to 20-year-old Motorola V60s which still works on Verizon's towers around here. This phone is so old, it will work on an analog system as well (AMPS). I've learned how to manually create my own ring tones with it and the speaker is so loud, I can hear it over the saw I run at work which is an amazing feat no smart phone has been able to pull off. I've rebulit the phone well over 10 times by buying old phones on ebay and then just moving the PC board from shell to shell as I wear out screens and buttons.
I've managed to use TWRP and installed Kali Linux on a smartphone a few years ago. I can't remember the model right off, but it was one that Verizon kicked off the network for not having High Definition voice capability.
A couple of years ago, I took my Samsung S4 to Australia and manually programmed in the access data and got it to work with Telstra. It's how I discovered what H+ is and how it's like 3.5G and the phone really worked well except for one minor hassle - when I would reply to a text, it would try and reply as if I was in the USA so I could never reply to a text (long distance charges), but I could go to contacts and text that way and then it would go locally through Telstra. It all boiled down to the fact that 4G is on different frequencies in Australia.
I hated it when Verizon dumped the S4 because I had taught myself to work on them so that I really knew the phones inside and out. I'd buy them as parts on ebay and make myself good usable phones out of them. Even so, I have an LG V20 sitting here ready to go the moment Verizon kicks my V60S off the network. I put a huge battery on the V20 so that I don't have to be tethered all the time if the inevitable happens. As it stands, I have the largest batteries Motorola ever produced that fit the V60s and I can go 2 to 5 days before I have to drop in the other battery (the charging ports are just too worn out to be of any use) and fortunately, I found out Motorola produces a radio that just so happens to take the same battery as the V60S so that I can still buy brand new extended life batteries for it.
That pretty much sums up my experience with android devices. I like to hack around on them a bit. I grew up in the 8 bit world (Commodore computers) and I'll be half a century old this year. I always liked to hack and dive into things to learn how they work and try to do things you're not supposed to do. I even got in trouble for messing around on the State Capital's computer system via modem in Nebraska in the late 1980s. Thankfully all of this before hacking laws were passed.
That's my introduction as a new member to the site. I hope I can contribute as much as I learn.
NQ
No_Quarter said:
I just made a post over in the Sony Xperia 10 Plus discussion forum. There isn't much to say about this phone really, but I had to share my herculean effort at trying 10000 pin codes manually over the past 16 days.
I've gotten into the world of smart phones primarily by watching youtube videos on how to bypass FRP locks. Even though I have a bunch of smart phones and tablets that I've managed to reset, my main phone - no joke - is a close to 20-year-old Motorola V60s which still works on Verizon's towers around here. This phone is so old, it will work on an analog system as well (AMPS). I've learned how to manually create my own ring tones with it and the speaker is so loud, I can hear it over the saw I run at work which is an amazing feat no smart phone has been able to pull off. I've rebulit the phone well over 10 times by buying old phones on ebay and then just moving the PC board from shell to shell as I wear out screens and buttons.
I've managed to use TWRP and installed Kali Linux on a smartphone a few years ago. I can't remember the model right off, but it was one that Verizon kicked off the network for not having High Definition voice capability.
A couple of years ago, I took my Samsung S4 to Australia and manually programmed in the access data and got it to work with Telstra. It's how I discovered what H+ is and how it's like 3.5G and the phone really worked well except for one minor hassle - when I would reply to a text, it would try and reply as if I was in the USA so I could never reply to a text (long distance charges), but I could go to contacts and text that way and then it would go locally through Telstra. It all boiled down to the fact that 4G is on different frequencies in Australia.
I hated it when Verizon dumped the S4 because I had taught myself to work on them so that I really knew the phones inside and out. I'd buy them as parts on ebay and make myself good usable phones out of them. Even so, I have an LG V20 sitting here ready to go the moment Verizon kicks my V60S off the network. I put a huge battery on the V20 so that I don't have to be tethered all the time if the inevitable happens. As it stands, I have the largest batteries Motorola ever produced that fit the V60s and I can go 2 to 5 days before I have to drop in the other battery (the charging ports are just too worn out to be of any use) and fortunately, I found out Motorola produces a radio that just so happens to take the same battery as the V60S so that I can still buy brand new extended life batteries for it.
That pretty much sums up my experience with android devices. I like to hack around on them a bit. I grew up in the 8 bit world (Commodore computers) and I'll be half a century old this year. I always liked to hack and dive into things to learn how they work and try to do things you're not supposed to do. I even got in trouble for messing around on the State Capital's computer system via modem in Nebraska in the late 1980s. Thankfully all of this before hacking laws were passed.
That's my introduction as a new member to the site. I hope I can contribute as much as I learn.
NQ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now thats what I call a full intro.
Welcome to XDA!

Categories

Resources