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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.
Hi,
I still intend to obtain this smartphone, yet I thought I could get some opinions from people who actually own S730. I've read a bunch of reviews, but I am aware that reviewers might have skipped some issues (as proven with this driver issue and what TyTN II owners wrote on this topic). I mean - plain opinions, what do you like/dislike about the phone.
I newer owned a smartphone before and I am attracted to the keyboard+keypad idea (I own Nokia 6820), which leaves me with quite a narrow set of choices. S730 looks good and gets some nice reviews (negative ones typically center on how it is not so great upgrade from S710, which is irrelevant to me).
For example - I know that S730 is one of those devices affected by lack of proper drivers, but is it so painful? Despite possibility of resolving this problem by HTC - I never read anything about it being seriously lacking in terms of rendering graphics (which again - doesn't mean it isn't).
All opinions very welcome.
Thanks.
Fertesz said:
Hi,
I still intend to obtain this smartphone, yet I thought I could get some opinions from people who actually own S730. I've read a bunch of reviews, but I am aware that reviewers might have skipped some issues (as proven with this driver issue and what TyTN II owners wrote on this topic). I mean - plain opinions, what do you like/dislike about the phone.
I newer owned a smartphone before and I am attracted to the keyboard+keypad idea (I own Nokia 6820), which leaves me with quite a narrow set of choices. S730 looks good and gets some nice reviews (negative ones typically center on how it is not so great upgrade from S710, which is irrelevant to me).
For example - I know that S730 is one of those devices affected by lack of proper drivers, but is it so painful? Despite possibility of resolving this problem by HTC - I never read anything about it being seriously lacking in terms of rendering graphics (which again - doesn't mean it isn't).
All opinions very welcome.
Thanks.
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Click to collapse
I changed from HTC TyTN (I). I am really satisfied. TyTN was very good, but I hated touch screen. Now I am completely accustomed to non-touch screen and am satisfied. I don't play games so I even didn't check out that graphics driver issue. The only one thing I dislike about this phone is the lack of RAM. But it's also not so bad - I just have to restart my phone once a day. Also this was the same about TyTN, it went better with ROM upgrade (which I am now just waiting for). I know Nokia and Sony Ericsson (I had also P910) and you can't compare any other OS with Windows Mobile, it's best. I can absolutely recommend this phone to all men who use phone to work or to geeks.
HTC S730
I have had mine for about a month now and find it to be a little anemic. There is a memory leak problem which may or may not have a resolution. There are also features in these phones which do not seem to be activated ie... GPS (which is neither here nor there to me), but what does concern me is the lack of HSDPA services which this phone is advertised to have. There are several permutations of this phone including the Softbank X03HT which seems to have more of the radio active than the models being pushed on the market by HTC direct. I am about fed up with mine and am going to go to something with a more robust chip set such as the new HP models which are more business centric. It is unfortunate because you get roped in to paying a lot of money for features that you expect but do not get.
On a positive note though the senior members of this form are very adept at manipulating the software and documenting what can be done to make this phone more useful.
I really like mine, the memory issue is starting to slow me down in some places since I got used to actually having a smartphone (first one for me too) I watch video's and play games on it. Compaired to my old phone its night and day better so I cannot complain about that yet. Could it be better for the specs? Of course it could but until HTC or someone cooks something up what is is. Just keep the memory clean and you will be happy I love the keybard, I started texting heavily near the end of my old phones life and it was killing me. Same for online usage. A few days ago I learned that I can hold the button down for the secondary press instead of having to hit function... Small things that you wouldnt think about make it good.
I am happy with Edge speeds here in Texas, my old phones CDMA speed was slower than edge so eh, and I think last month I used almost 120 megs of data. Not a lot but enough.
As to their lack of HSDPA support, it never was advertised to have 3g here in the states, a few seller sites miss represented it but on HTC's site they never said it had the radio for the states. Stupid I agree but its not for the states and they never said it would work on 3g here.
If I was coming from the s710 which had better drivers or another well supported phone then I might be less satisfied, but I really enjoy this phone.
I'm really satisfied, love it for being a smartphone with no touchscreen. I hope the few bugs I've found so far could be resolved with a future upgrade. I have just two weeks on it and very happy, resolved the memeory issue with oxio closeapps, so pretty satified.
I like it, I changed from a nokia n91 8gb. I wanted to try windows mobile on a phone. It's a small phone, that looks normal, but it has great features. WiFi, 3G, fast processor, keyboard, high res screen, bluetooth,...
Imo it has everything a phone should have, except for the gps(it would rock if they fixed that!). The memory is not such a big issue, if you would run out of memory, you can use the taskmanager to close some apps.
I must say that WM6 is a little bit buggier than symbian, but it's not annoying.
I also love the program coreplayer, I can play high quality divx-movies without converting, like the prison break episodes. On my previous phone, i had to convert those, because the program(smartmovie) and the phone couldn't handle such files.
It's a very good phone. a bit too bulky but the keyboard is REALLY good. I makes a lot of difference. You can type anywhere in a very user friendly fashion.
The well publicized memory problem is just a concern, not an issue. I run a free RAM application once in a while and get on with life.
Video driver is good enough for small movies. It runs approx at same speed as my old Qtek8310 which had a slower clock.
Could be a bit faster with the menus but it's not really annoying. It's windows under the hood...
I use it for GPS tomtom and it's cool with external BT receiver. G3 in Europe is a blast!
I would recommend that device.
My only concern so far, besides the lack of gps, is its responsiveness. Considering the S730 is supposed to be a pretty powerful phone, I find it a bit slow opening menus, turning the screen, etc.
Arcano said:
My only concern so far, besides the lack of gps, is its responsiveness. Considering the S730 is supposed to be a pretty powerful phone, I find it a bit slow opening menus, turning the screen, etc.
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that was my first impression too: a bit on the slow side. But... surprise surprise... after getting a SDHC memory card (and not the standard old-fashion SD card I used to have earlier in my wings) all went much faster! and i really mean fast!!! Overall I am very happy and fully satisfied with my wings. just keeping a constant eye on the memory, and using an external gps, and all goes very well...
hey all!
i use my S730 since 1 month here in europe. it works pretty fine with HSDPA, WIFI etc.
i use it as a real business-tool every day. speed and memory is okay for me as i use a 2GB memory-card.
the only really big problem i have with that device is the battery-run. i have to use 2 batteries to keep it alive for the hole day without charging. specially when you use HSDPA the battery runs so fast.
all together a nice tool for daily usage of communication (phone, mail, chat ...)
hope the developers will solve that battery problem for the future.
So, if I make the results from contributions above - poor battery life, speed is not so fast as we expected, we are waiting for new ROM to solve the memory lack, we are waiting for new ATI graphics drivers, we are frustrated that GPS is really not working as HTC announced - and we hope that HTC will be so polite, that they cook the new rom which maybe solve some described problems - in that case S730 is really great smartphone.
rooomish said:
So, if I make the results from contributions above - poor battery life, speed is not so fast as we expected, we are waiting for new ROM to solve the memory lack, we are waiting for new ATI graphics drivers, we are frustrated that GPS is really not working as HTC announced - and we hope that HTC will be so polite, that they cook the new rom which maybe solve some described problems - in that case S730 is really great smartphone.
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Hmm, altough what you mentioned above - yes, it is. Probably because these problems are little blown up. I migrated from TyTN which can be considered to be "top class" and I am really very satisfied.
rooomish said:
So, if I make the results from contributions above - poor battery life, speed is not so fast as we expected, we are waiting for new ROM to solve the memory lack, we are waiting for new ATI graphics drivers, we are frustrated that GPS is really not working as HTC announced - and we hope that HTC will be so polite, that they cook the new rom which maybe solve some described problems - in that case S730 is really great smartphone.
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Click to collapse
I agree with you in everything except one detail: I don't recall HTC announcing that the S730 would have gps (at least not in my country).
The phone was never advertised as having GPS, but since it shares the chip with the TYTNII it has GPS abilities. Now like with some other phones they could choose to support it, but thats kinda lame, they would sell a whole lot more of these things if it supported it out of the box.
Thanks guys
So, I assume that this RAM issue works kinda like in case of PC - computer becomes less responsive after several days w/o restart? Despite my ignorance on what technically causes this problem, I guess that this is common to pretty much all smartphones/PDA'a/whatever - I mean those 'more powerful' devices (gimme a break - my first PC had a processor few times weaker than S730!).
And as I understand, there is software that helps you deal with lack of free RAM. Is it build-in (don't think so...),or you have to buy/download it?
(OK, I googled up Oxios, mentioned by Litoven and I see it's freeware Funny thing - the post that mentioned it was the first thing I got when searched the google)
Another thing that I don't get: vrolok71 mentioned that his device's speed improved after getting a SDHC memory card... Could someone please explain what is so special about it - isn't it just an additional space, like most memory cards?
As for battery life - I already asked it in another thread and I believe that those conectivity options (3G, WiFi, bluetooth, etc.) are the ones that drain bettery most (this was kinda confirmed here too). So it seems that I can extend bettery life when I have too (trips?), by using standard connections, right? Some people reported a reasonable battery life, extending to few days w/o recharge. They weren't sitting on 3G and WiFi (not all the time at least) though.
As for upgrades from HTC - this whole classaction thing (I am impressed with this - I really am) resulted in, as I believe, an upgrade coming. Regardless if it means the drivers (as it seems - not, and that kinda makes HTC.... "unfriendly" company, and this sucks), it will supposedly affect S730's performance. In a good way I hope
Thank you for all the replies You have a great community here. All replies help really - nothing beats honest user opinions. Glad I found this forum
Oh - and about GPS: I don't believe it was advertised as having GPS, but certainly HTC (intentionally I guess) allowed some rumours to arise (pre-production model), which surely made S730 more interesting. Marketing I suppose.
Somewhat, but just like a computer you can keep your memory clear. I leave my PC on for months at a time without reobooting and dont run into problems. And most of what I do is memory intensive.
The program I use to keep my memory clear is build in taskamanger for closing things that dont have that option, and SK Tools (free to download) which has a good memory cleaner that will go in and free up the other stuff that isnt being used. But yes eventaully a quick reboot is the easiest way to just free it up again.
Some of what can speed it up with using the memory card is installing programs to this, or dumping your temporary internet files to the memory card instead of the phones memory / storage space. That type of thing can help performance a little.
When actively using those connections they will drain the battery a little faster, but without using them they dont affect it too much. Even using Edge I can drain my battery in a day easily, just depends on how much your using the phone.
OK, maybe I need to clean my CPU memory more intensively, or maybe it's just Microsoft Thanks for the reply anyway
I guess I'll have to get used to new routine - keeping memory clean. Not sure how painful this'll be, but it sounds like a reasonable thing to do. I mean - closing after you're done (with particular app).
Yeah, I'll never really now what battery life will be for me, unless I actually use the phone on day-to-day basis. Info gathered here gives me hope though.
Nice day to you all.
Fertesz said:
I guess I'll have to get used to new routine - keeping memory clean. Not sure how painful this'll be, but it sounds like a reasonable thing to do. I mean - closing after you're done (with particular app).
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But remember - that is just the first half. Second is to free memory. To this you can use some "hibernator". E.g. Oxios Hibernate (freeware) or some task manager which has this feature built in - e.g. Smarttoolkit (freeware). Otherwise you help yourself just a little.
10332007 said:
Somewhat, but just like a computer you can keep your memory clear. I leave my PC on for months at a time without reobooting and dont run into problems. And most of what I do is memory intensive.
The program I use to keep my memory clear is build in taskamanger for closing things that dont have that option, and SK Tools (free to download) which has a good memory cleaner that will go in and free up the other stuff that isnt being used. But yes eventaully a quick reboot is the easiest way to just free it up again.
Some of what can speed it up with using the memory card is installing programs to this, or dumping your temporary internet files to the memory card instead of the phones memory / storage space. That type of thing can help performance a little.
When actively using those connections they will drain the battery a little faster, but without using them they dont affect it too much. Even using Edge I can drain my battery in a day easily, just depends on how much your using the phone.
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Click to collapse
I have found that when I use a memorycleaner like SKTools or Oxios, it crashes the cellphone: I cannot get any network and I cannot make phonecalls anymore - SMS is still functional.
The only thing I can do is reboot to get it going again.
Anyone has the same experience and/or a solution?
jvlerick said:
I have found that when I use a memorycleaner like SKTools or Oxios, it crashes the cellphone: I cannot get any network and I cannot make phonecalls anymore - SMS is still functional.
The only thing I can do is reboot to get it going again.
Anyone has the same experience and/or a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems weird to me.. Does it happen every time you use Oxios or SKTools, or just sometimes?
Hey,
just found this very interesting board and read through many of the articles here so that i may finally be able to pose my questions.
I'm currently using a old brick, a Nokia 6310. Since this thing is slowly falling apart I thought about moving to a new device. Normally I would take the cheapest thing availabe, because I don't really do lots of phone calls a month. But I miss my old Palm 1050 and instead of buying two seperate devices I thought of buying a smartphone.
The Kaiser seems to combine everything I want. Its quite uptodate, GPS UMTS and all this stuff included plus the hardware QWERTZ (and I think I want this thing, those touchpad-versions are just not fast enough). In addition it seems to be quite easy to modify this thing to fit your own special purpose (adding all these new ROMs, progs etc. pp.). The only problem is this damn video driver thing you read about everywhere.
So, my question is: How much of a problem is the driver situation? How bad is it, considering that I want to use the phone from web surfing over office use to multimedia and games (those Duke 3D videos are really cool, you know ), will it really bother me or is the phone still very useful (not as fast as it could be, but fast enough)?
If no, where are the alternatives? The Hermes seems to be faster, but it lacks GPS. Even if the Touch Pro is coming soon, it may cost far more than the current Kaiser. Same with the Xperia. Is there any other device which is as well equiped as the Kaiser and also good to customize?
Thanks for your help and maybe some recommendations
I think that the Kaiser should be able to suit your needs.
As a business phone it should very easily be able to handle almost anything you throw at it. And as a multimedia phone it lacks, to some in gaming performance, 2D/3D rendering and such, but as for viewing videos and surfing the web, these can be quite easily solved through tweaking and using the right apps. A combination of coremedia and a good ROM should have video working just fine.
i have had my tilt for almost 6 months now and have fully customized it to suit my needs. Everything works exactly the way I need it to. Take time to customize your kaiser and it will be able to handle just about everything you throw at it.
Maybe I can help you out a little. Being a user of both the Hermes and the Kaiser, the Kaiser wins but it's a close race. Both devices are similar in form and function with the Kaiser navigation and function buttons in a slightly better layout. The Kaiser and the Hermes have 400mhz processors but from different suppliers, The Kaiser is a little faster and beats the Hermes in opening and running applications, not by much but it is noticable. The Kaisers built in GPS works fine for me, but then so is the Bluetooth receiver I use with the Hermes.
On the other hand the Hermes was easier to customize initially, one step to Hard SPL and CID unlock the Hermes, plug in the USB, Activesync, and run the RUU, in 10 to 20 min it's done. With the Kaiser, well it's not as easy, as there are a few extra steps and 4 or 5 different Hard SPL's to to choose from. After the Kaiser is Hard SPL'd, upgrading ROMs is a simple task.
ROMs, the Kaiser was built to run the WM6/6.1 ROMs and the Hermes WM5/6. Almost all the WM6.1 ROMs for the Hermes are based on the Kaiser ROMs.
As for customizing, both will run pretty much any WM5-6 programs and/or applications.
For me tho, the Kaiser is the better device, with the built in GPS and slightly faster performance being the deciding factor.
Hope this helps you and good luck with whichever device you choose.
So you think there should be no problem with the right amount of tweaking?
Because in some videos on the tube I even saw it lagging when scrolling up and down a list or a website whereas other vids of Duke or Quake looked absolutely playable and in the range of 30-40fps.
Edit: Thanks to both of you for your opinions. I'm just a bit worried how much this driver thing will affect the overall useability of the Kaiser when processing anything with graphics, from simple site layouts to vids or games. And in addition my head is still working on the whole ROM thing right now, at least I got the differences between SPL, Radio and ROM finally
Okay, just have to push this up again as there came up some new questions (before I can finally order this thing here):
1.) Graphic Drivers
I'm still a bit confused about those. HTC did not implement real drivers for hardware acceleration, that's what I already got. But then there are some roms like the HyperDragon III WM6.1 WWE (which seems to be ported from the Diamond) that has "Direct3D Mobile Display Drivers", there's the "26_Kaiser_Diamond_V8" release with some ATI Drivers and there is the OpenGL project which seems to get into the hot phase right now. So what is the real deal here, where is the difference between those drivers and which impact do they have, compared to an untouched Kaiser.
2.) Roms
Also, just to get it clear: Roms are a user "cooked" combination of a tweaked OS (Windows Mobile with drivers or registry changes) together with a mostly changed interace and a cleaned up program package (removed and/or added), right? But I will still be able to configure the whole unit by myself, maybe not on the driver/OS level but on the program or interface level (for example: enable slide to unlocked if not already included, or disable a touchFlo feature, add or remove other software and so on).
Again, thanks for your help.
Skirr said:
Okay, just have to push this up again as there came up some new questions (before I can finally order this thing here):
1.) Graphic Drivers
I'm still a bit confused about those. HTC did not implement real drivers for hardware acceleration, that's what I already got. But then there are some roms like the HyperDragon III WM6.1 WWE (which seems to be ported from the Diamond) that has "Direct3D Mobile Display Drivers", there's the "26_Kaiser_Diamond_V8" release with some ATI Drivers and there is the OpenGL project which seems to get into the hot phase right now. So what is the real deal here, where is the difference between those drivers and which impact do they have, compared to an untouched Kaiser.
2.) Roms
Also, just to get it clear: Roms are a user "cooked" combination of a tweaked OS (Windows Mobile with drivers or registry changes) together with a mostly changed interace and a cleaned up program package (removed and/or added), right? But I will still be able to configure the whole unit by myself, maybe not on the driver/OS level but on the program or interface level (for example: enable slide to unlocked if not already included, or disable a touchFlo feature, add or remove other software and so on).
Again, thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, the driver issue is a pretty complicated thing, to some it completely cripples the device, and others get annoyed by all the "buzz" created by such a "small" issue. It really varies from user to user how big of a problem the missing drivers are. Normal use of the phone, excluding 3d and some 2d games, is very good. As you may be aware there have been, and still are many focused on creating and implementing drivers, and if you take a look at the htcclassaction.org website you can get a lot more info on the subject, 3D drivers will not do much for the normal wm6 interface or any other uses as they are not 3d applications. take a look at the website i listed and you should have all of the information you need. Keep in mind that this is a very good phone and pda. If you want a phone with a smooth iphone like interface, take a look at other HTC devices or maybe even the new iphone, these are both good alternatives.
As far as the issue with ROMS, there are many different ROMS out there by many different chefs, if you decide to get the Kaiser you should try out anything that you think looks interesting until you find something you like. wanting to customize your phone is easy through ROMS as well, take a look at clean, or lite roms which have the registry changes and small driver implementations from chefs but no "extra" apps. There are a few new drivers floating around, some do make the device a little snappier but are not 3d or even 2d acceleration drivers.
Hope i answered your questions, good luck with what ever you choose!
Thanks, indeed this is a help. So all this ATI stuff coming from the Diamond is not the real deal, maybe a small improvement but nothing more since they are just ported. For sure I already read the site you proposed, but I especially wanted to be sure about those drivers the Diamond roms carry with them. I don't think they are mentioned there, or did I miss something?
Anyway, I think I will just have to try and see for myself if the Kaiser would be "crippled" or "absolutely useful" for me. The new iPhone is cool, but for my needs it will be far to expensive, same with the Touch Pro. And I still want to have the QWERTZ-keyboard, so the other HTC devices are not really satisfying either.
Did it, now the Kaisers on the way, for the cheap price of 350€ unlocked etc. pp. Thanks guys, now I'm going to get everything I need in advance for pimping up my new phone
I very recently bumped to the TouchFLO 2D interface on my Tilt, and have fallen in love with my phone all over again.
I took the time to attempt Android, and while it is still being developed and buggy and such, the nature of the interface alone is not as intuitive (to me) as HTC has made TouchFLO.
Anyone else tried Android? Anyone else sort of disappointed, at least initially?
I've had a small play with Android running on a friend's Kaiser, and honestly I'm not liking the look of it at all.
That said Google Maps is much nicer in Android.
Oops - Double post
I've been playing with the Android port to Kaiser (see this thread), have played with the emulator that's part of the SDK and played on a Android G1 phone.
I found the interface to be intuitive and have been able to navigate my way around the usual features with ease. It has a few rough edges but in general I'm very impressed.
The guys doing the port to the Kaiser are making tremendous progress, with big improvements coming almost daily. That said there's still a lot of work to do before it's ready to replace Windows Mobile. If the port is completed (and I suspect it will be) then I'm pretty sure I'll make the switch and give up on Windows mobile.
So no, I'm not disappointed with Android. I'm just disappointed I can't run it on my Kaiser properly yet ;-)
Cheers,
Lanroth
I really like android on my Kaiser. It is getting more upon usable release. The only problems I see are with connectivity like cellular service and Wi-Fi, calls only being on speakerphone, the issue where if you open the keyboard-the screen rotates the wrong way, and the touchscreen calibration being off. Android for Kaiser has come a long way from the simple and pretty much unusable test version that couldn't do really anything. Also, all the problems I mentioned above are currently being worked on my our best and brightest developers. Although I will certainly stick with windows mobile as my primary OS, I will definitely use Android more as it becomes more stable. All in all, I'm very happy with it.
Dave
I have been reading 1000's of posts on this great site. How was
slow graphics solved on the Kaiser/Tilt? I just searched
another few hours without solutions. Just lots of threads
complaining about the same thing and many ending in getting
other devices, etc, etc...
One of the bigger threads on the issues:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=339745&page=109
which indicates there is still confusion and different ideas.
Polyrhythmic makes it sound like there is finally a decent solution
to speed up at least simple 2D drawing operations, including the
user interfaces of normal applications? What is this?
Where is a good solution to this?
polyrhythmic writes-
> Look around you at the 1000s of posts, and try the search button.
> We solved the graphics issue a long time ago.
jet writes-
I have been using the Tilt (original Kaiser) since the day it
came out. I think it is a great device. However, the
BIGGEST COMPLAINT I have always had was the SLOW graphics.
I am still running Windows Mobile 6.0 waiting for a
good / stable ROM to come out by someone with great
graphics performance. There have been some fantastic cooked ROMS
for the device but I have always held off waiting for
something with good graphics drivers in it. Did I miss
something that is worth moving to now that 6.1 and even 6.5
roms are out and about?
I have seen a lot of posts about which roms are best,
etc, etc and why but graphics performance has always been an
issue from what I have seen...
There are so many posts and even entire sites (see
below if interested) about our device and the poor
performance. Is there finally a decent solution to speed up
at least simple 2D drawing operations, including the
user interfaces of normal applications?
Does a good Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 ROM make much difference
in 2D or 3D on the Kaiser vs 6.0? Perhaps that
is the easiest solution to getting good graphics performance??!
Since the Tilt uses the MSM720x chipset and many other
devices use that chipset, has someone finally cooked a
rom for the tilt with good accelerated drivers from another
device yet and that is a good solution?
ALL COMMENTS WELCOME.
Of course good OpenGL ES and D3D acceleration would be great too.
Seems our device by default is only using software mode
Many now say our Kaiser is dead / "obsolete hardware" now and
decent drivers are not worth anyone's trouble.
I'm not sure what I think about this.
I understand there have been a million posts
and lots of threads like:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=339745&page=109
and even
http://www.htcclassaction.org/driverprogress.php#update_20080717_1
which seems to have ended over a year ago.
Perhaps that was when someone found a way of enabling
OpenGL ES on Android? Either way, can someone make some comments
on what they think?
Is this what you wanted?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=409191&highlight=Hardware+graphics+acceleration
cab in 1st post.
rom
download a new rom and just update everything its well worth it, the graphics cab will be included if the cook is worth anything..
I personally like shifu's roms there awesome. I'm using his 6.5 rom, but it seems he devs his 6.1 roms much more.. go grab one. you'll also get much more ram..
Final kasier 2d and 3d performance
Thanks for the input. The thread you mention links back to the site I
mentioned: www.htcclassaction.org.
Polyrhythmic says they solved the slow graphics a long time ago.
What is he talking about?
I have seen many times:
"These drivers do not accelerate video playback. These drivers do not accelerate normal Windows operation. Some of you have asked if we have abandoned accelerated 2D. We have not, it may still come. The simple fact is, that in this particular case, it was easier to work with the 3D drivers first"
Did decent/working/somewhat-finished 2D and 3D ever come to the kaiser?
It has the right hardware but no drivers. Seems they hacked on some but
never finished and abondoned the project, or am I wrong?
Perhaps someone solved the slow graphics another way? What was that?
Btw, thanks for the rom comments too. Always interested in
what the latest have. Also still hear Dutty made some of the all
time best for the device. Perhaps that is not true anymore?
Please link me to your current favorite 6.1 and 6.5 roms
with stability and graphics performance in mind. Love to hear why they
are your current favorites as well. I find the many roms incredible.
The video speed issue was never truely resolved, there are some drivers out that help with some 3D, but I think that's only for certain applications. The Tilt still runs very slow.
tyler51773 said:
I personally like shifu's roms there awesome. I'm using his 6.5 rom, but it seems he devs his 6.1 roms much more.. go grab one. you'll also get much more ram..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Shifu 6.5 ROM. Pretty darn good imo.
But are you saying that there seems to be better performance with his 6.1 ROMs?
Thanks!
I have no idea. I've never tried his 6.1 rom, I was extremely pleased with his 6.5 and my rom is beefy customed now..
I have stuck with 6.5 because I am extremely happy with the performance. Seriously, i could say that my phone ruined my life cause I spent so much time on it (I'm joking). I can't get better than shifu's rom. Maybe there is one. But I tried quite a few and they where all better than stock, but shifu's seem to be the #1. I'm not sure if I tried TPC yet, and the new 6.5.3 has me raizing an eyebrow. I'm going to hold off from flashing for a while. I'd be sold if I heard of some voip improvements, i.e. the rtp ports don't behave right and that means the most I can have is 1 line (which sucks if I'm leaving a voicemail, and that same person calls me while im leaving it - call, call back, call call back is a process that gets on ppl's nerves). I'm running his v3, or v2 of his 6.5 rom. I have too much invested in it too just to flash up (lots of apps installed, a bunch of reg customs).. My voip is crystal clear, the volume is loud, you can hear a pindrop over the voice and I can take good cam videos. The android is getting there as soon as they fix the mic for real I'll have a working android phone. My active sync works perfect w/ google, so I have a calender service and push email. I'm saving a ton of money being on prepaid, having gizmo5 + google voice. My sms works via active sync and google voice so I have free sms (just alot easier to reply, than it is to start one, if I'm going to go through active sync). If not I just goto the browser where my default page is google voice.. The roms have all these speed tweaks like page pools, and stuff, not to mention video drivers soo its not just video drivers.. My rom is stable and fast and it doesn't freeze. I have pretty good battery life if the wifi is off, and I can get maybe 4-6 hours with it on. I just noticed that when I first got my 6.5 rom from shifu he kept updating the 6.1 roms and those version numbers have incremented much faster than his 6.5 his last release was about a month ago. His roms are damn good. I actually bought him a beer last night, and I don't buy people beer very often. The only other person to get anything out of me was cmonex cause she totally unlocked my bricked kaiser over irc she got a little more than a beer..
I've tried a few 6.5 roms and was about to go back to 6.1 (fone issues) when I ran across sakajati's HyperDragon IV Mega 6.5 CE OS 5.2.23081 Build 23081.5.3.0
It works fantastic!