Related
Hi, I'm considering going back to WMobile phones and seriously considering the Kaiser. I currently have the N73 but had many wm5 phones before, SPV m600, Trinity, XDA Orbit, Wizard etc etc, all had annoying little "bugs".
I know the Kaiser is only just out, but can anyone tell me if you have noticed any of the following?
1) delay in ringing when receiving an incoming call. i.e. people on the other end hears a ring, but my phone takes about 3seconds before it rings...v. annoying!
2) delay in waking up.
3) slow response in dialing, i.e. when pressing a number on the dial pad.
4) Missing incoming comes, i.e. full reception but people unable to get through. Extremely annoying.
5) Rebooting itself
6) Alarm not going off.
Hows the call quality?
Anyone used and have any issues with the T9 pad, think that's what it's called. I use to use this, but gave me problems when i switched back to virtual keyboard, e.g. wouldn't switch back at all.
Sorry for all the questions.
1) Haven't tested this yet, i'm hoping this isn't the case though...!
2) Wakes up pretty quick, no unbarable lag
3) Same as 2) - all seems pretty responsive, no bad lag
4) Never had that issue before, don't expect to get it with the Kaiser
5) Nope, although i haven't installed any other apps etc yet...
6) Same as 4)
I can only really compare with the Universal (as that's the only other WM phone i've owned)... my initial impressions are that it's a lot quicker than the Universal... maybe that's partially due to the fact that i haven't installed any bits yet... or really tweaked it.
The 3 second delay was REALLY annoying.... as i'd have to start every phonecall with: "hello....... hello? heeeelllllllllo?" lol... i hope this isnt the case with the Kaiser!
Also i think a lot of the noticable improvements are also due to the fact that im using a vanilla HTC phone, as opposed to a crappy T-mobile 'runined' one! Also i think WM6 has brought in a lot of changes which are noticeably improved over WM5.
EDIT: oh and the only thing that really 'bugs' me - is that i'm used to the lovely VGA Screen of the Universal, so dropping down to QVGA is rather noticable... text looks blockier and using Cleartype seems to make it alot fuzzier than on the Universal.... but that's my only really negative point so far.... hopefully it'll be the ONLY one
EDIT2: Something else i just thought of.... the fact that when my Universal locked up... if i didnt have my Stylus on me (which i usually didnt) and i didnt have a small pin-like object to stick into the reset hole... i was SCREWED... which REALLY pi**ed me off.... countless times i'd be on the train home from work, about to email a friend... only to have my phone lockup... then i'd have to wait an hour before i could reset it and start writing... GRRRRR. Anyway, the Kaiser actually turns off when you hold down the power button... simple... and GREAT! (the power button on the Universal was so stupid.... in my opinion.... was there any way (except by using 3rd party apps) to actually turn the damn thing OFF?! lol)
Hi
hongsit said:
Hi, I'm considering going back to WMobile phones and seriously considering the Kaiser. I currently have the N73 but had many wm5 phones before, SPV m600, Trinity, XDA Orbit, Wizard etc etc, all had annoying little "bugs".
I know the Kaiser is only just out, but can anyone tell me if you have noticed any of the following?
1) delay in ringing when receiving an incoming call. i.e. people on the other end hears a ring, but my phone takes about 3seconds before it rings...v. annoying!
2) delay in waking up.
3) slow response in dialing, i.e. when pressing a number on the dial pad.
4) Missing incoming comes, i.e. full reception but people unable to get through. Extremely annoying.
5) Rebooting itself
6) Alarm not going off.
Hows the call quality?
Anyone used and have any issues with the T9 pad, think that's what it's called. I use to use this, but gave me problems when i switched back to virtual keyboard, e.g. wouldn't switch back at all.
Sorry for all the questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) The delay is/was caused by the CPU/OS coming out of standby. With PDA type Windows Mobile devices they have a standby mode where the whole operating system is suspended. The mobile chip remains powered and when a call comes in it has to send a wake up request to the CPU and OS. It is the time the CPU and OS takes to become responsive that causes the delay. I noticed this delay was quite a lot on the Toshiba G900, several seconds or rings before it had woken up to sound the internal audio to alert you to the call. Sometimes it wouldn't wake at all :-(
The Kaiser wakes very quickly, hardly any delay at all, they have certainly put in a lot of work in this area.
Windows SmartPhones don't have this problem as they remain "always on" so respond without delay even though they may look off.
2) Answer above, very quick, almost instant.
3) Seems okay to me.
4) This is probably the OS failing to wake up, I would doubt this happens on the Kaiser.
5) Okay so far.
6) This again is related to the CPU/OS failing to wake up to a request. It is likely the phone you have experienced this with has some problems waking up when asked and would explain all your concerns.
Hope that helps.
Regards
Phil
I read on another thread regarding the assembly which houses the green and red call buttons being loose. What is the opinion of other users over here. I am asking this as I am considering buying one soon to replace my Touch
Regards
Yes the whole section moves slightly on mine, it must just be where they float on a rubber section underneath.
I hadn't noticed this until now, why is this a problem? If it was fixed two tight the keys would scrape against the sides when pressed. Makes sense there is some space.
Regards
Phil
The buttons feel a bit 'loose' but no more than in any other device (the buttons on my PSP for example).
Thanks for the reply guys, kaiser sounds promising, just hope it continues to impress.
hongsit said:
1) delay in ringing when receiving an incoming call. i.e. people on the other end hears a ring, but my phone takes about 3seconds before it rings...v. annoying!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two contributors to this:
One is a registry entry, where all of the "standard" options cause a 3 second pre-ring delay and 3 second delay between rings. This can be fixed in the registry.
The second is network delay. The caller will hear ringing before your phone rings (usually 1-2 rings) no matter what phone you use. I've had such delays with every mobile phone I have ever used, smart or not. If you try the registry hack (search around for the exact key, numerous posts on it and I can't remember the exact registry key at the moment) and are still not happy, you have one option to reduce ring latency - get a landline.
OK..so we are all excited about the Kaiser and some of the lucky ones have it already. We all know the specs and we hear about the fun those lucky ones are having with the devices. Needless to say, with new devices, problems sometimes follow. I know there have been a few minor complaints but, let's use this thread to compile the issues (and hopefully the fixes).
I am thinking of jumping ship from my rather good plan in order to get a Kaiser and hearing both sides of the spectrum can help myself and others make a more educated decision.
I am interested in Kaiser also. One of the most issue that i hope being fix in Kaiser was the screen auto-on issue while changing song when listen MP3 with BT stereo handsfree which happened in D810 and P3600i.
Well, I've had my kaiser since the 7th and I have put it through most of it's paces so far.
The only complaint I can think of is the already known problem where storing pocket IE's cache on the storage card causes it to freeze up. I'm fully confident that someone here will figure it out.
That said it's a really nice upgrade from the Tytn I've been using for over a year. If you consider a different browser, like Opera mini it performs extremely well.
I've had one about a month. Overall very pleased with the purchase. Here are my top nits:
1. Audio clicks or audio cut-out when playing long audio files (>5min). click will happen every 5 min, which might suggest it's reading the file into memory in chunks and having trouble at the transition. I'm hoping a new, faster micro-sd card will fix this.
2. screen doesn't turn off by default, just dims to lowest level. Not that the phone doesn't go into standby when it should, it's just that when you are using it you expect the previous TyTN behavior where the screen goes off after a certain period. Annoying only in certain circumstances; for instance, when you play long audio files at night to go to sleep the screen stays on. Solution is easy: just push the power button. Audio keeps playing. Not a big negative per se, just a new behavior to get used to.
3. Hard to select multiple items (e.g. email) with finger. Used to be you could finger one item and then "drag" down the list, selecting multiple items. Now that causes the email list to scroll. Again not a negative, just a new way of behaving.
4. The camera. Takes forever to actually take the shot. Unless you set it on a stable surface or take long shots in good light, the images are blurry. It's a phone so I don't really care that much...
5. Lack of dedicated button for Comm Manager. You can have a soft button, but whatever... Also I haven't found a way to remap the otherwise useless PTT button.
6. Nobody has uploaded the 'cool' HTC rom. I have to install the HTCHome and Comm Mgr app cabs from the Hermes group. The AT&T roms look boring and are bloated with crapware like Ms PacMan eval version (including the frickin' .cab file) and MP3 files.
7. After hanging up a voice call, d-pad in email stops working. That is, I can use the screen to do actions like select and open an email, but the d-pad and center button don't work. Once the mail is open, I can use the d-pad. Seems like this doesn't happen every time, but it's annoying when it does. I'm sure a software update will fix this.
None of these things would prevent me from buying the product again. I personally find the browser perf about the same as the TyTN - downloading full HTML pages takes a while, but it's a phone so it doesn't bother me like it would if it were a laptop.
M
So how do they handle your #3 issue with the semi-touch flow now? How do you go about selecting multiple items?
I hadn't really thought of it until I wrote this... After some investigation I find that if I hold down my finger on the first selected item, wait, then drag it, it works.
how's the in-call voice quality & signal strength from the kaiser's qualcomm chip, compared to previous htc phones (fo example, ones which featured the TI omap chip)?
and also how's the gps? is it really that much worse than a sirfstar to the point where it would become unusable in a city with many tall buildings?
Here is my very small list of gripes..
1. There is no default hardware button that allows you to change the Sound Volume at any time...like when/if you're somewhere quiet and the phone rings loudly or a reminder pops up loudly. Many devices have Vol Up & Down buttons on the side of the device that will let you do this but with the TyTN II you'll have to either use the default Volume control icon at the top of the screen (which is tough to get to using a finger) or use the HTC Touch panel - assuming you have it enabled in the Task Panel settings. You can however adjust the volume during a call using the thumb wheel--which is nice.
2. For some reason, We can't redirect IE cache, cookies and history to the microSD card. I know there's been discussion about this. When you make the registry change, IE freezes when pulling up sites. When you put it back to the default folder or any folder in main storage memory, all sites work fine. Everything else--email attachments, apps, games, GPS maps, etc. seem to do fine when accessed from the card.
3. No HTC TouchFLO 3D Cube
For some reason, the TyTN II has TouchFLO but without the Cube. I would love to get this iPhone Killer app" working on the TyTN II. I know you guys are working on it!
TEC
I live in the US, and this is the reason why im waiting for the AT&T tilt, i want them to fix all the bugs. When the TyTN came out, the 8525 had less bugs, including the screen alignment thing.
Funny, I had just dumped the VERY unstable GPS enabled HP hw6945 in favor of the then new 8525. I was just about to return the 8525 because it was also pretty buggy and prone to hangs. Then I found XDA, applied the tweaks and eventually new roms and now the 8525 is just about perfect.
I'll have my Kaiser in 2 days and am looking forward to what the XDA wizzards will do with it in the comming months.
But a first release from AT&T is bound to be lacking, and probably bloated with less than usefull widgets.
The good you already know so I wont go into all of that, but after all the hype I'm actually dissapointed with this device.
I am a long time treo user (my last machine being a very stable, but dull treo 680).
Last month I bought the HTC Touch (a FANTASTIC machine, especially with HTC Home). But after the Treo, I still need a keyboard as its basically hard work to enter long messages, even with the SIP keyboard (plus TYTN II has 3G and GPS).
So I got my TYTN II 2 days ago and im not enjoying the exeperience, especially when compared to the Touch which was flawless for me. I find that the machine hangs, isnt that responsive, the sound level is much lower than the Touch (both ear and speaker) and while its supposed to be 2x as fast, it really isnt much faster than the Touch. It does have a better screen than the Touch and many other advantages, but none of these are critical for me. Plus I dont know anyone who uses video calling so I have noone to call with it!!!
But the worst part of the TYTN II is that its a MONSTER in both size and weight. Its like walking around with a brick in my pocket! For example, holding the phone while on a long call is very uncomfortable. I just dont like the form factor (actually I miss my Treos front facing keyboard).
So if you own a Touch, have a BT GPS device, can get by with wifi, and can get the hang of the on-board keyboard then I suggest you upgrade the ROM on the Touch and stick with it. Im sorry i didnt.
That said, now I own this device Im going to try to make it work for me and get used to it, or sell it!
About the size and weight, it should be subjective.
For me, it is perfect, not small, but not too big either.
The thickness is good, less than TyTn but more than Touch.
I have no problem handling and carrying it or making phone, etc.
The device is quite responsive, I dont have problem with it. The built-in keyboard is working fine except that I am not used to it yet, so sometimes I missed the key But, I am working on it (to get used to).
The thing that I dont like:
1. Takes a long time to fully charge from 10% to 100% ! More than 4 hours using USB connection.
2. Need more hardware button to map application I want to be able to switch application by using a hardware button. Well, I can replace one of the button, but ...
3. Camera and video recording sucks on indoor situation (low light), but very good on outdoor.
ekerbuddy said:
The good you already know so I wont go into all of that, but after all the hype I'm actually dissapointed with this device.
I am a long time treo user (my last machine being a very stable, but dull treo 680).
Last month I bought the HTC Touch (a FANTASTIC machine, especially with HTC Home). But after the Treo, I still need a keyboard as its basically hard work to enter long messages, even with the SIP keyboard (plus TYTN II has 3G and GPS).
So I got my TYTN II 2 days ago and im not enjoying the exeperience, especially when compared to the Touch which was flawless for me. I find that the machine hangs, isnt that responsive, the sound level is much lower than the Touch (both ear and speaker) and while its supposed to be 2x as fast, it really isnt much faster than the Touch. It does have a better screen than the Touch and many other advantages, but none of these are critical for me. Plus I dont know anyone who uses video calling so I have noone to call with it!!!
But the worst part of the TYTN II is that its a MONSTER in both size and weight. Its like walking around with a brick in my pocket! For example, holding the phone while on a long call is very uncomfortable. I just dont like the form factor (actually I miss my Treos front facing keyboard).
So if you own a Touch, have a BT GPS device, can get by with wifi, and can get the hang of the on-board keyboard then I suggest you upgrade the ROM on the Touch and stick with it. Im sorry i didnt.
That said, now I own this device Im going to try to make it work for me and get used to it, or sell it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gogol said:
The thing that I dont like:
1. Takes a long time to fully charge from 10% to 100% ! More than 4 hours using USB connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean USB cable connected to computer - it always was like that. Hermes was not different. If you use wall charger, it will get job done quicker.
3. Camera and video recording sucks on indoor situation (low light), but very good on outdoor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well.. what else can you expect? This is a phone, not real camera, it would always suck in low light. But camera is still pretty good, as for phone - while in good light conditions, of course.
demione said:
how's the in-call voice quality & signal strength from the kaiser's qualcomm chip, compared to previous htc phones (fo example, ones which featured the TI omap chip)?
and also how's the gps? is it really that much worse than a sirfstar to the point where it would become unusable in a city with many tall buildings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both are really good. I was impressed by call quality, really. In terms of GPS, IMHO there is also nothing to complain about...
hardware audio control
technillion said:
1. There is no default hardware button that allows you to change the Sound Volume at any time...like when/if you're somewhere quiet and the phone rings loudly or a reminder pops up loudly. Many devices have Vol Up & Down buttons on the side of the device that will let you do this but with the TyTN II you'll have to either use the default Volume control icon at the top of the screen (which is tough to get to using a finger) or use the HTC Touch panel - assuming you have it enabled in the Task Panel settings. You can however adjust the volume during a call using the thumb wheel--which is nice.
TEC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the jog dial on the side defaults to volume control when you are in a call or running (foreground) an app that has volume aspects, like Media Player or HTC Audio Manager. Agreed that there's no general audio control tho. You can install 3rd party apps to give you one-touch scheme changes - check the Hermes forum for apps like O2+ (DiStefano's cab collection is nice).
Problem after phone calls
There seems to be a problem with the Kaiser. After finishing a phone call on the Kaiser the backlight goes off and stays off and I cannot access the Start menu. I can access all other functions but backlight stays off and one still cant get into the Start menu from anywhere on the screen. I have to press the power off button quickly once and then wait a second, press it again to be able to access the start button or the light to come on. This is definitely a bug in the tytn II and I hope HTC is doing something about this.
Reload63 said:
There seems to be a problem with the Kaiser. After finishing a phone call on the Kaiser the backlight goes off and stays off and I cannot access the Start menu. I can access all other functions but backlight stays off and one still cant get into the Start menu from anywhere on the screen. I have to press the power off button quickly once and then wait a second, press it again to be able to access the start button or the light to come on. This is definitely a bug in the tytn II and I hope HTC is doing something about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No such problems with my Kaiser. Maybe some specific application is causing such behavior? Try uninstalling some of them, and check - but the best test would be hard reset and check on 'clean' ROM. If problem still persists - get the warranty replacement.
Hi
No such problems with my Kaiser. Maybe some specific application is causing such behavior? Try uninstalling some of them, and check - but the best test would be hard reset and check on 'clean' ROM. If problem still persists - get the warranty replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has already been reported and confirmed by a few people and happens when you have a password word set on the device. If no device password is set it works okay and you will not be affected. Workaround at the moment is not to set a password or press the power button again after a call to get the device back on.
Regards
Phil
strange, I have a password and do not experience this problem (thru 3 different AT&T roms). I'm happy to test it out on whichever rom exhibits the problem tho.
The problem only seems to exist on the official HTC ROM.
These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
EDIT: Things have moved on since this post, you might want to look at post #39 too (page 4)
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos
I too wonder how long I will last with TF3D. However, the joypad is no problem. Simply use the centre button as a reference point. If you rest part of your thumb in there and press any side of it, then it is easy to navigate. At least I find it easy anyway. Hope that might help you.
carlosp_uk said:
I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run
mcwtrekkie said:
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.
evilskanker said:
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the spirit!
Has anyone managed to add a UK city to the weather forecast page ? I found it almost impossible to scroll down to the last page, it keeps selecting wrong countries, the only way I see - scroll one-by-one using hardware buttons ....
Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.
evilskanker said:
Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
hertc said:
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.
evilskanker said:
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, still remember Sony J7 I had long time ago, all these things were so easy with a wheel ..
hertc said:
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently the Diamond is the first PocketPC device to have a tempered glass screen to make it extra tough. This makes it require a little more pressure than other devices.
But much more resilient to damage, and also nicer on the eye.
wasn't to amazed with the stock rom,
but after some days of usage and flashing the first cooked rom,
i am getting more and more into my new mobile..
Totally agree, using my Diamond for a week after three years on I-mate's.
carlosp_uk said:
CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a suggestion -
Speed Dialing.
you can place at least SOME off your favorites in the positions you want.. and then it will just be one long press.. and it will dial.
Phone - menu - Speed Dial.
and of course.. there is always voice dialing.
Turn off TF3D. Ive heard is does HUGE things for the interface speed, and you'll get your tasks back (first thing Im going to do when I get a sprint diamond on this side of the pond)
I agree on almost every point
Not having used touch before, I really can't say anything bad about the navigation. To me it's a revolution, but it's not quite there yet.
The biggest flaw is the biggest asset. Let me explain.
The biggest asset to this device is the screen. I have never liked the screen on any of the QVGA devices I have used (Wizard and Hermes). The VGA screen on the Diamond is fantastic! Crisp and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. The words by HTC "Not too big, not too small" really sums up my feelings about it. However. Screen size is relative to what you display on it. I'm sure a lot of research, testing and effort went in to decide the size of the elements on the TF3D interface. Personally I would have designed it differently.
The main professional reason I choose to use a WiMo is Active Sync OTA (Over-The-Air). Having direct push of Mail, Calendar and Contacts to my device is critical in my profession. This HAS to work, it has to be easy to use, and easy to read. On the Diamond it works fantastically. Lots better than on the Hermes. It takes some getting used to, when you have never used touchflo before.
The touch interface has to be finger friendly, demanding finger sized icons and buttons. Having a small screen required HTC to use the entire screen. That makes you wish for a larger screen, yet a larger screen would require a larger device and I dont want that. Dilemma.
Like you said, the TF3D interface lacks in visual feedback. This could be replaced by tactile feedback. The same technology used in the game TEETER could be used to give me feedback on my actions.
Being a WiMo certified pro I know that the main obstacle for HTC is WiMo itself, or rather the Windows CE it is built upon. Win CE 5 is nowhere near a realtime OS and the switch to Win CE 6 (afaik it will be the foundation for WiMo 7) will be a major leap. CE6 is not a RTOS either, but it has the means to enable truly great applications. I look forward to what Developers will create for WiMo7.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0)
The only thing I really dislike on my Diamond is the scrollwheel. I clearly does not work like you would expect it to. Unintuitive. And the Up/Down/Left/Right navigation around it is near unusable. Using the touch screen works though so it is not a showstopper for me.
Speed of the interface is good once you have used the cache size tweaks. Not great but good.
I fully agree on the speed comment, 527mhz... but it seems it's different mhz compared to my HTC Herald (P4350).
On my Herald I also have WM6.1, a 200mhz cpu (o'ced to 240 mhz) and everything starts faster!
I've got the 1.37.xxx.3 rom on my Diamond, TF3D disabled and still it's slower.
Very strange indeed.
guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly.
guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly. and c'mon guys, our shiny precioussssssss is out some weeks. look what they've done with the kaiser within one year... stay patient and keep being excited for that genius piece of hardware.
carlosp_uk said:
These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what a crap...
THE SPEED
Put one of the new ROMs on it (Dutty, Walshieau), runs like hell. No delay here!
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Simply switch TF3D off if you don't like it.
And use an existing tool for your today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
Disable the Diamond dialer, you get your traditional dialer back.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
Simply switch TF3D off.
Use an existing tool for today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
THE JOYPAD
Get used to it, it works perfect after a few weeks.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Ok, maybe you got a point...
On the other hand: do you really need ALL your music all the time. A sync now and then for other music isn't that hard.
GROSS GREASINESS
Ok, the shiny cover gets greasy. But is't so beautiful,,,
Hi all
I've succesfully updated to the new 1.93.XX ROM, I agree it's faster but I'm a little disappointed. The TouchFlo 3D menus transitions are not as cool anymore. For instance when you navigate through the menus with your finger acroos the screen (not using the slide menu in the bottom) the menu sections don't flow anymore, they just disappear and fade in instead.
Other than that I don't have much to complain about, but I just wanted to check if it's like this for you guys as well.
Has anybody else found any other disappointing "improvements"?
Cheers
as i have understood it, the transitions you mention was there to "hide" the lag in the previous ROM, and it's not needed in the new because of the speed increase.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=421311
Try using swots new ROM. It retains the animations yet apparently its much faster .
The Diamond is really disappointing me these days. I too am on the latest official (UK) ROM.
Some of my problems..
Battery Life - absolutely terrible if you use the phone for business means and push email. I dont leave BT or WIFI on and still the battery lasts no longer than around 12 hours
Alarm - the windows mobile alarm simply doesnt ring if you recieve an email or notification before the scheduled time. Its useless and has failed to wake me on a many a occasion
Reminders - for some reason dont pop up on the screen. You have to manually tell it to via sounds/notifications in settings, and even once you have done that, the Diamond some how reverts back to default settings automatically and the reminders fail to display again!
Answering calls - If your phone is docked in the official cradle and you tap the answer button when reciving a call before you take the phone off the cradle, it will reject the call regardless.
Opera - no flash and no way to click on a youtube clip and watch it. Why cant it operate like iphone and launch the you tube app when you click on a link to a clip on the webpage??!!
Activesync/Push/MS Exchange - loses sync sometimes and you have to softreset or manually launch activesync and hit the sync button... why??!
A2DP - doesnt work at all, it should be REMOVED as a listed feature. Im listening to music on a tube train via A2DP - I hit overground, I recieve a call, I answer via my headset. I end call, music continues playing THROUGH MY PHONE SPEAKER! Its embarassing and happens all the time. Useless. My old HTC Touch never acted that way.
Camera - Absolutely useless. We have a 3 Megapixel autofocus camera, yet the iphone still produces better quality images. Diamonds photos are fussy, soft and undefined - they lack sharpness and clarity. some say its because of the plastic lens cover, I see it as poor design.
GPS - works fine... apart from the LAG, which defeats the purpose of turn by turn navigation.
Its these annoying problems that are seriously pissing me off and will probably tempt me to the dark side come next generation of phone.
oh dear
I'm using Duttys latest rom..
I like the phone but I can give you my view on your points.
Battery life lasts me a day with pretty heavy use .. I expect to charge it and I'm not normally that far from a charger.. charges quickly
Ive never had a bad experience with the alarm. I will try and emulate what you said though.
reminders.. they sound and I can see them.. in fact it speaks them at the moment too
Answering calls. I don't use the dock but sometimes it does drop calls when i go to answer them ..
Opera No flash.. so whats new there then? You tube.. I like the you tube app.. but to be honest if i wanted something to watch you tube on id probably have gotten an Iphone
Active sync. I have never had a problem with active sync with any phone.. All my mail for my phone is collected/sent via orange so mail is no issue for me.. as for synching files.. no problems at all.
A2DP .. sorry but its not even an issue I don't listen to music through it. I do use bluetooth devices though and have no problems.
Camera.. Now I do use that and I like it. Its a good practical camera.. that takes adequate pictures.. except in poor light when its rubbish..
GPS.. mine doesn't lag and works much better than my old M700 and looks miles better
Dont get me wrong.. I dont live in Diamond Utopia .. but for what I need and use it for.. (on the move office related stuff, phone calls and sat nav) Its great.. it cost me nothing and it looks good too. I think its very good.
Now if i'd wanted a phone to play music through and watch videos on Id have probably gone to something else.
For what I need/want this phone hits the nail on the head.
Ive also grown to quite like the rom development side too.. !
UP date 6-16-09 (is show as -- )
i just picked up a palm pre the 1st day it came out.witch was the 6th of this month. this is only my opinion oky guys.
Cons :
- no 3rd party apps (yet)
- the alarm sucks but i can say its a lot better then stock alarm for ppc
- the keypad is not as good looking and feeling as the htc ppc(6800-pro)
- no micro sd slot
- cant record videos only takes PIC
- no onscreen keyboard
-- no reset button.(so if you freeze the phone you have to take off the cover and the battery to reset it.)
-- cant do one hand slide to get the keyboard out and need to also touch the screen and help it move up to get the keyboard out.
-- battery life sucks with brightness all the way up and lots of usage it last me 1 to 2 hours only.
-- you cant save a file from the net.(i made a ring tone online and send it to my phone it it wont d.l. the ringtone)
-- you can make ring tones on line but only transfer it from your comp to the phone
-- only 3 slides to hold your apps and other icons.( it just get longer down the more you add )
-- copy and past is harder to do. to many steps
-- typing is a bit hard bc its not to conformable to hold and type.
-- takes a long time to charge to full if empty about 1 hour and 30 mins
-- cant change txt tone or any thing ( only ring tones and to contact ring tones )
-- carrying case that come with the PHONE sucks.and if you buy one it will run you around 30 to 60 bucks. but i use my HTC 6900 case for it fit perfect.
-- the phone get hot when charging or using the phone
-- no led lights (can be good or bad if u like the led lights to show if bt is on and the flash like on some htc phone)
-- -- for more info on the phone go to you tube and type in palm pre.( there is LOTS of video of the phone and comparing )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pros :
- faster then ppc(htc 6800-pro-6900)
- i can have like 5 to 8 program running and wont be as lagy as the ppc(u can have up to like 3 programs running on some ppc and it be super lagy and have to close it out)to make it run faster
- i like the look of it better look more high tech
- the graphic is great.bright colors and the image seem to look like if u was looking at it on a lap top or desk top
- 8 gb of rom (7GB user available)
- Headphone jack is the 3.5mm size
- love the Touchstone Charging Dock(wireless charger for your phone)
-- you can reset the phone (not freeze) by going to the home screen and go to the palm icon and reset your phone from there(they give you 3 options to choose hard reset, semi hard reset, and reset.)
-- camera works great a lot better then ppc 6800 - pro must of the ppc phone.
-- google maps and sprint nav works and looks a lot better then htc and other ppc phones
-- you can save up to lots of book marks on your phone right now i have 18 book mark with pictures to show what they are.(internet)
-- speaker and call volume is super loud
-- blue tooth connects fast and well. quality is oky bc i have a cheap one only for 20 bucks but i can say it connects and detect it fast.
-- the touchstone wireless charger is amazing no more plugging up the phone unless you are connecting it to your desktop or laptop.
-- it have a auto sensor (kind of like the G Sensor for htc pro) where if you are on the phone it auto turn off the screen and when u move it away from your ear it comes back on and when u put it back it turns off its amazing.
-- they added some cool apps
HTML:
http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/pre-mobile-applications.html
-- emailing is THE BEST for this PHONE. nothing out there can win when it comes to emailing (yahoo works best) bc you cant get it the instant the sender send it. the others like gmail or hotmail you can set up time for it to check.
-- there is a switch for the phone to put the phone on vibrate or turn the phone off.(on tope of the phone)
-- for more info on the phone go to you tube and type in palm pre.( there is LOTS of video of the phone and comparing )
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
that is it guys i think that that is enough info n must of the stuff that we need to know about the phone. pm me if you guys want more info on have question .
[email protected]
Thanks!
Can you post some pics or videos?
Cheers,
Yeah, I played around with it and liked it for a couple reasons and didn't for a couple as well.
The keyboard is not as good as the Pro. And the 8GB makes no sense to me. Every phone should have a Micro SD slot!
I did really like the web browsing. Similar to the iPhone in the sense that it works like going to a real web page and you can easily make it bigger with the 2 finger trick like the iPhone. I will wait and see what others say for a few months before deciding. My Pro lags a bit too much and causes a problem with my yahoo email. Plus it's very bulky unlike the Pre which is very slim and nice.
I'd certainly be willing to give Palm Pre a try later, when there're enough applications, when there is a GSM version (rather than CDMA) available. I hope the second generation has bigger screen and storage. Also hope they release a version without keyboard 'cos I do'nt like physical keyboard (too slow and too limiting and forcing you to only use it in portrait mode. I want the ability to use lots of versions and different layout depending on needs, such as for foreign language input/handwriting) I think it gives iPhone a good run for it's money from the look of it. So, will be keeping an eye on this baby. Like your comment on the speed depsite multitasking so many applications. Great feedback.
Think you meant 8gb of ROM
kareem9nba said:
Think you meant 8gb of ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes thank you ...... !!!!!
eaglesteve said:
I'd certainly be willing to give Palm Pre a try later, when there're enough applications, when there is a GSM version (rather than CDMA) available. I hope the second generation has bigger screen and storage. Also hope they release a version without keyboard 'cos I do'nt like physical keyboard (too slow and too limiting and forcing you to only use it in portrait mode. I want the ability to use lots of versions and different layout depending on needs, such as for foreign language input/handwriting) I think it gives iPhone a good run for it's money from the look of it. So, will be keeping an eye on this baby. Like your comment on the speed depsite multitasking so many applications. Great feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you im trying to tell you guys on how i see it.coming from a HTC lover.
but i can say that i do like the pre also. and i think i will keep the pre untill HTC come up with a GREATER PHONE with multitasking.
Sho'nuff said:
Yeah, I played around with it and liked it for a couple reasons and didn't for a couple as well.
The keyboard is not as good as the Pro. And the 8GB makes no sense to me. Every phone should have a Micro SD slot!
I did really like the web browsing. Similar to the iPhone in the sense that it works like going to a real web page and you can easily make it bigger with the 2 finger trick like the iPhone. I will wait and see what others say for a few months before deciding. My Pro lags a bit too much and causes a problem with my yahoo email. Plus it's very bulky unlike the Pre which is very slim and nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes the pre should have came with a micro sd slot.that is one of the biggest mistake that they did. and with yahoo email you will LOVE IT bc i have 4 yahoo email account one for personal use other for registering and so on so on.
and when i get a new email it SHOW up on my phone the instent i receive it from the sender its GREAT for emailing GREAT...
To reset the phone without removing the back and the battery do the following.
Hold down the power button and toggle the ringer switch 4 times.
Zyphlin said:
To reset the phone without removing the back and the battery do the following.
Hold down the power button and toggle the ringer switch 4 times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i try it but it didnt work just say turn off / airplane mode ??
Good feedback.
I just bought one on Friday.
The battery thing is a major problem IMO, I charged it all night untill noon the next day, by six the phone was almost dead, BOGUS. Palm is supposed to have a replacement battery coming out very soon. Gonna argue I want one for free.
LET ME PUT MY OWN TEXT TONES!!!
DEFINITELY need an on-screen keyboard.
IMO the speaker could be twice as loud.
Yeah the stinkin thing gets HOT.
Buy the wireless charging doc, using the plug is a PITA.
Web pages load nice and smooth for me, better than the Iphone IMO. The Iphone was always freezing up on me, even with general apps. The Pre is nice and light, although I'm coming from a brick they call an HTC Tilt so anything would probably be lighter. Very bright, clear screen, this I like. I don't need an SD slot, why would I ever fill up 7 gigs on a phone?
Overall I'm content so far.
BEST PART so far, I got drunk the night I bought it and was callin it the Palm Tree.
i like how the pre looks but i love WM
Video of Pre
A video here of how its working on GSM in Vietnam!
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/...ht-playing-with-gsm-sim-in-vietnam/#continued