Hi !
I'm new to this forum, and a new user of Android (2.1) / SGS. I recently switched from the iphone 3G, which was ****ed up by ios4 and after swearing I'd never buy another crapple product ever again.
As a linux user / open source fan, I love my SGS so far. I've started messing around with a number of things already, mostly basic customization and application / widget picking, and have landed on a launcherpro+folderorganizer setup. Now enough about my life nobody cares about, I have a few noob questions that are yet unanswered by my initial research, thanks to anyone who will take the time to answer !
1) Regarding plugnplay'ness : when I plugged my SGS to my computer (win7), at first it wasn't recognized. I had to google the error, find some samsung drivers, install them (took a while) before I could access the phone in explorer mode. Is that normal behaviour ? I kinda hoped the phone would be recognized as a "usb key" on any computer without having to install anything.
2) For Android updates : from what I understand, the way of doing them is to install Samsung Kies on a PC and pilot the upgrade from there, correct ? Or is this only for major updates ? Is there a way to auto-update the OS from the phone itself without needing to use Kies ? Are there other things I can only do with Kies (without needing extensive knowledge of Android internals) ?
3) About root : apart from installing android versions that are not yet official, what are the common uses that require root privileges ? I'm familiar with what being root means under linux, but I guess my question would be more like : what are the restrictions on the default user and what do they prevent him to do ?
4) The "lag" : I see everywhere mention of this "lag" problem. I haven't noticed any. Granted, I come from a world where simply opening an application can take anywhere between 15s (iphone 3G+ios4) to 10s (iphone 3G+ios4.1), so maybe I just got used to things being slow ? Or is this happenning only on some specific devices / setups ?
5) The keyboard : is there a way to hand-pick the keyboard layout ? I have my locale set to english because I like the english OS interface better, I have my input language set to french because that's the language I write most in, which results in an azerty keyboard layout which sucks. I'd like to hand-pick the swiss keyboard layout (qwertz with accents), I know it exists because it switches to it if I pick german as input language, anyway to do that ?
6) Android market and security : is there any control from Google over if not the quality, at least the security of apps in the market, or not at all ? Is it my duty as a user to make sure that any app I would download from the market is "safe" ? Is there any justification for installing something such as an anti-virus on android ?
7) MarketS : there are other markets than the "default one" out there. I do not understand their sales pitch. Aren't applications that are in other markets also in the Android Market anyway ? Where is their added value ?
8) Taking notes. On the iphone I loved the iconic notes application. It allows to create a hierarchy of folders and subfolders and write/store notes inthere. I haven't been able to find anything similar yet, the market seems spammed with forks from an "hello world" notes application. Any recommendations ?
9) RSS : I haven't been able to find a good RSS reader as well. By good I mean feed categories, widget, and support for images. Any recommendations for this ?
10) Media files : it seems that the embedded applications that aim at reading media files (images / music / video) auto-scan the folders on the SD card for supported file types and include them. Is there any way to prevent this on some folders ? For instance I used ringdroid to create a few ringtones, but now those appear in my music player, so I'd like to prevent my ringtones folder from being used by the music player.
11) GPS : haven't played with it much yet, but I read here and there it was buggy. Is it a general state or country-specific ? On an unrelated note, are there offline maps navigation applications available ?
Well 11 questions is probably enough to start with. If you take the time to answer, I thank you in advance .
You do not find anything, Why :?? Rss channel is on all sides, until you can organize its yourself ... kies works for the exchanges,multimedia mp3, video.. the last Firmware is recognize the kies,but need the driver , firmware changes are another thing, I had the iphone 4 .safari browser ****, really slow and messy Iphone 3gs is more better.I sold that **** 250 pound When The prize is more 400 pound, crap, The iphone 4 his value is U.S. $ 200. If you feel good in Iphone buy one and play with him .. ahh and have problems with sound and audio capture .. And not just for me, the number of comment are no good to Iphone 4. My SgS 9000 Working 100% kies Working Good, Video , No lag , Browser,,Everything. if something is wrong there you need chekin out, My Firmware is JPM, And The Market have everything, Everything Working in my SGS , Regards
Related
to begin with, i want to tell you all how glad i am to have found and be a part of this community which taught and showed me a lot of things on how to configure and set up a decent working version of Windows Mobile. this is my first winmob phone, after having a dozen java/symbian/s60 operated phones.
i chose the HTC over the iPhone mainly because of the huge possibilities of tweaking, but for an inexperienced (WinMobile) user like me, to kick it off in the right way might prove to be harder than at first expected. so i decided to create this topic not only to ask for your help but hopefully to lay down some basic guidelines for all users new to this forum and to WinMob.
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my ROM version is 1.37.401.3 and my Radio version is 1.00.25.03 - that's how i bought it from store.
1. i installed the advanced confing utility but some options there don't work for me (e.g. Show SIM contacts - disable[doesn't work] or X button - close app [same]). why is that ?
2. is it in anyway possible to modify my start menu app list cause it laggs for about 2-3 seconds before opening the huge list i have there
3. what does the Radio version mean ? from what i've read on these forums, i'm thinking it has to do more than with the basic radio app, right ? what exactly does the higher version (.05) improve ?
4. the ROM version - correct me if i'm wrong .. are there official ROM versions from HTC that can be downloaded from their site that work regardless of the tweakings done to the phone? and how are user made ROMs better ? is there anything consistently better than my current version in terms of battery life and performance ?
5. i've read the manual and it says that the win media player supports .avi files yet mine doesn't open one. anything special i need to know of ?
6. what programs can i install apart from those i've found here? say yahoo messenger, if i don't want to use win messenger. and if that's possible, are there appz especially made for winmobile cause i doubt it that an ordinary PC .exe will work the same
7. is there any way to use the camera from the front of the phone for photos?
8. is there no other possibility of turning the phone ON from sleep mode other than the power button ? if not, where's the timer that sets how many seconds pass before entering sleep mode?
9. if i got it right, tomtom7 is a gps navigation program, right? does it work stand-alone? i mean, no external receiver? and does it connect to the internet while in usage ? what about google maps?
10. any other useful programs to recommend other than the ones found within this section of the forum ? i've read about users using Total Comander.. where can i find that ? or is it the normal PC program ?
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i know these are a lot of questions but honestly these were the first things that popped in my mind after using this phone for nearly 5 days now i'll be grateful for whatever answers, advice and solutions you'll be kind enough to provide.
8. Take out the stylus - wakes it up. Just got mine today and found this out by accident. After all - why read the manual??
9. TomTom 6 is the version I bought for my Trinity, and it works just fine on my Diamond. I just chose Com Port 4 for 'other bluetooth receiver' and it works without the need for an external bluetooth GPS receiver. Curiously it turns bluetooth on while TT is running - then turns it off when stopping TT. Does it really need to connect to itself via bluetooth? Any readers got an idea?
domnu' iliescu,
a. go to:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Diamond
and learn a few basics and in special a few therms some "slang"
b. go to:
http://modmydiamond.info/index.php and learn how to hardspl and flash a new ROM.
the "cooked" ROMs are by far better than the original one (the one u have for example). is like buying a car and using a kit to tune it, make it the way you like it. you tweak the motor and you''l get less consumption (more memory and longer battery life), more speed (faster and smoother diamond) and so on. escuse my car analogy but the thing i love even more than my diamond is my car (i wonder, is it really in this order?).
now, my answers to yr question. i might be wrong on some of the answers but there are enough ppl here hapy to correct me..lol
1. there is a high probability that flashing a new ROM will change that (see a.)
2. for sure flashing will solve it.
3. in simple words, the radio is the function that allows you to make calls, use bluetooth or yr gps. connectivity. see my a. for more info.
4. see the beginning of my replay namely, point b.
5. don't know why, again maybe a new ROM will solve this (strange ..)
6. live it to later. there is somewhere here a post regarding applications and programs supported by diamond. first flash new ROM and new radio, get familiar with the device and forget about applications. there are a few "must have" but again, l a t e r .
7. the camera is for video calls. why do u need to used when u have a better (much better) one dedicated to taking pictures?
8. pull out the stylus is my favorite.
regarding "the timer":
- go to settings/system/power/backlight for adjusting the backlight and go to settings/system/power/advanced for what u call "sleep mode". btw, it is in diamond's manual!
9. the diamond has an internal GPS. no need for external (see yr manual again). you can choose between lots of navigation programs. tomtom, igo8 and google maps (never used google maps, maybe somebody else is going to help you). i am using igo8.
10. total commander is somewhere as a cab file in the thread of one of the many ROMs here. i'll look for it or i'll upload mine somewhere.
important!!
read diamond's manual, keep reading in the forum, ask only after you are certain that the answer is not somewhere here (use search function) and read again some more! "invatzatzi! invatzatzi! invatzatzi!
good luck! Noroc!
On point 8, has anyone managed to wake the phone up/bring the screen light back on without pressing the power button or removing the stylus? Pushing the central button or even the home button would be better.
iliescu902 said:
1. i installed the advanced confing utility but some options there don't work for me (e.g. Show SIM contacts - disable[doesn't work] or X button - close app [same]). why is that ?
You should install diamond tweak, you'll find it on the forum, for easyier twaeking, it got 40 tweaks incl, and you can easy just disable or enable there.
if you hide sim contacs, it will be reset to show again after a soft reset i think.
4. the ROM version - correct me if i'm wrong .. are there official ROM versions from HTC that can be downloaded from their site that work regardless of the tweakings done to the phone? and how are user made ROMs better ? is there anything consistently better than my current version in terms of battery life and performance ?
Yes there is a new rom out, 1.93, you can download it from htc.com, htc e club, register there, and then register your product when you are logged on, and you should be able to install it.
5. i've read the manual and it says that the win media player supports .avi files yet mine doesn't open one. anything special i need to know of ?
Install TCPMP/core player, .avi, .mpeg etc. works there, best player for movies imo.
7. is there any way to use the camera from the front of the phone for photos?
Yes there is, when you use camera, go on settings and press the icon with 2 cameras on, and it will switch to the camera on the front
10. any other useful programs to recommend other than the ones found within this section of the forum ? i've read about users using Total Comander.. where can i find that ? or is it the normal PC program ?
NoData, tcpmp, S2P(music player), diamond TF3D config, diamond tweaks is some of those i find very good to have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope it helps
Hi,
I'm just new to android, i left my iphone 4 for a all new SGS.
some points are missing on the sgs,
i use froyo JP3 and lag fix.
the contact manager is not efficient, because too big, you only see 6 people in the list (top icons are very big and there is the search field on top, taking all the place,
1 -Is there any way to use the N1 one ? which is much small.
2 -Is there any way to use the phone application of N1, ore the sense one ?
3- Also, on the iphone, it was very useful to dial directly from email, (just click on a phone number inside an email, and then the iphone call it, how to do that on android ? I tried K9, which sounds good, but there is not that feature).
4- I use kernel 2.6.32.9, is that the last one ? i have a wifi problem, the phone is crashing when trying to connect on wifi to a BEWAN AP54, (in WEP or WPA or without security) but connect perfectly to a linksys WAG54G. There is no other firmware for the bewan AP54.
5- for developping on android, is there a one click install IDE and SDK apps or do we have to install eclipse, the java then the sdk and configure by hand eclipse ?
Sorry for the noob questions, and by the way, you are doing a very good job !:!:!
Thanks in advance for your help.
I post here because I think are more development than simple apps.
BR
CR11
Love Windows Phone 7, don't really love the hardware quality of the HD7. There are a few software issue that I am hoping are user fixable and not something I have to wait for an update to address.
1. Search button behavior in Internet Explorer - it irritates me immensely that when you hit the search button on the HD7, it brings up the Google desktop website. Similarly if you enter text in the address bar it searches Google, not Bing. If I wanted to use Google, I'd have kept my Android device. Is there a way to change this yet, and set the T-Mobile USA HD7 to default to the Bing app and not the Google website? Its especially annoying because the results bring you to mobile formatted pages.
2. This is more of a complaint than a fixable issue until copy and paste comes, but I have noticed that the text type recognition doesn't work all the time. In some places if I click an address it goes to Bing Maps but other times it does nothing, it looks like it highlights the word I touch. I haven't been able to find any pattern in which sites work and which don't, but its frustrating.
3. Sometimes when I get a text message the notification sound plays all choppy. It does seem to happen only where service is bad. Is there a fix for this?
4. Office and Skydrive. Maybe I am just retarded but I feel like there should be a way to access my Office files online, specifically through SkyDrive since I can save to it from Office on the computer. Do I have to have a Sharepoint server to do this? Can I really not access my SkyDrive files?
If I remember more I will post.
Also, is there an ETA for Flash?
I have been playing with the skydrive and I added a few files to it to try and see if I could open them on the HD7. The thing is I can open them but have yet to figure out how to open them with Word on the HD7 so that I can edit them and save them back to the skydrive(copy & paste would be nice...meh...soon I hope). But I opened IE and logged into my Windows Live account and I can open anything I have saved on the skydrive, PDFs, word files, excel sheets, ppt presentation, pictures, etc. Now the only issue is editing those files, I haven't tried sending files Word, Excel, etc. to the skydrive and trying to open them on my PC. Will update later with results of further tinkering.
My issues with HD7
Like many people I love this phone but coming from Windows Mobile 6.5 and donw (isn't that weird to say), this phone is really lacking.
1) The Zune software is crap for lack of a better word. No Smart DJ; No Artist photos; no random track play etc. These are not deal breakers but if you came from the Zune HD like me then you'll feel let down.
2) Font Size. It might just be me, but not being able to set a minimal font size is ridiculous. I use the word ridiculous because even my first pocket Pc phone edition in 2001 allowed font resize.
3) No ability to sync my desktop mobile favs. Yes! I know of the work around but wasn't the point of the new OS to avoid all that crap.
4) I want to be able to sync with my local address book. This whole facebook and windows live thing . . . .Look at it this way, if your contacts are based through FB then if one of those contacts cancels their FB acct then you automatically loose all that data. Of course this is not a MS thing.
4) With my HD2 and HTC Sense, I was used to seeing ALL my FB contact photos. Again not an MS thing but . . . .
5) This is really more of a gripe than anything but the battery icon doesn't tell much.How come I can't see exactly how much juice I have left.
6) Unified Inbox, flash, cut and paste. These are all things MS was kind enough to make us aware off so they get a pass on those.
Where is the File Explorer?
c0wb0ycliche said:
Love Windows Phone 7, don't really love the hardware quality of the HD7. There are a few software issue that I am hoping are user fixable and not something I have to wait for an update to address.
1. Search button behavior in Internet Explorer - it irritates me immensely that when you hit the search button on the HD7, it brings up the Google desktop website. Similarly if you enter text in the address bar it searches Google, not Bing. If I wanted to use Google, I'd have kept my Android device. Is there a way to change this yet, and set the T-Mobile USA HD7 to default to the Bing app and not the Google website? Its especially annoying because the results bring you to mobile formatted pages.
2. This is more of a complaint than a fixable issue until copy and paste comes, but I have noticed that the text type recognition doesn't work all the time. In some places if I click an address it goes to Bing Maps but other times it does nothing, it looks like it highlights the word I touch. I haven't been able to find any pattern in which sites work and which don't, but its frustrating.
3. Sometimes when I get a text message the notification sound plays all choppy. It does seem to happen only where service is bad. Is there a fix for this?
4. Office and Skydrive. Maybe I am just retarded but I feel like there should be a way to access my Office files online, specifically through SkyDrive since I can save to it from Office on the computer. Do I have to have a Sharepoint server to do this? Can I really not access my SkyDrive files?
If I remember more I will post.
Also, is there an ETA for Flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Apparently carriers can change the search engine within Internet Explorer, and we can't do anything about it. Once someone gets access to editing the registry, maybe we will be able to change that. BUT I do have some help for you: Search something in Google, and then scroll down to the bottom, find the "Settings" link. Then you can change it to NOT format sites for mobile phones. That should make the experience better!
2. Addresses have to be in a certain format: #### N Street Rd, Zip Code. Like this address, 6362 N Calle Campeche, 85750. If it doesn't have the zip code after the street, it sadly doesn't recognize it. Hopefully they fix that, it's a great feature otherwise.
3. Idk, never had that happen.
4. You can access your Skydrive files and download them to your phone by going to the SkyDrive website (they have a mobile version), but you can't upload any documents from your phone or upload the changes you make in a doc you download. It has been rumored that SkyDrive integration will be implemented at some point.
alabij said:
My issues with HD7
Like many people I love this phone but coming from Windows Mobile 6.5 and donw (isn't that weird to say), this phone is really lacking.
1) The Zune software is crap for lack of a better word. No Smart DJ; No Artist photos; no random track play etc. These are not deal breakers but if you came from the Zune HD like me then you'll feel let down.
2) Font Size. It might just be me, but not being able to set a minimal font size is ridiculous. I use the word ridiculous because even my first pocket Pc phone edition in 2001 allowed font resize.
3) No ability to sync my desktop mobile favs. Yes! I know of the work around but wasn't the point of the new OS to avoid all that crap.
4) I want to be able to sync with my local address book. This whole facebook and windows live thing . . . .Look at it this way, if your contacts are based through FB then if one of those contacts cancels their FB acct then you automatically loose all that data. Of course this is not a MS thing.
4) With my HD2 and HTC Sense, I was used to seeing ALL my FB contact photos. Again not an MS thing but . . . .
5) This is really more of a gripe than anything but the battery icon doesn't tell much.How come I can't see exactly how much juice I have left.
6) Unified Inbox, flash, cut and paste. These are all things MS was kind enough to make us aware off so they get a pass on those.
Where is the File Explorer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yeah, I miss SmartDJ too. I never looked at an artist's pictures however. Their picture does load as a background image, but I know that's not what you're referring to. By random track playing, you mean Shuffle? In the now playing screen, tap on the album art, and then click the shuffle icon.
2. Font size depends on the user of course. I'm good with it as it is, but they should have made an option to change it. Maybe a future update.
3. Eh yeah. I don't use favorites honestly
4. You mean how the HTC Album app in WinMo could access all of your friends online Facebook photo albums, right from their contact card? Yeah I loveeeed that in HTC Sense. I was really disappointed when my WP7 didn't have something like that.
4.2. Umm, if a friend cancels their Facebook account, you don't loose anything that you stored yourself. Just add a contact's info into your Windows Live contacts, it will never disappear.
5. Maybe someone will write a battery percentage app. Idk.
6. I personally can't wait for copy/paste!
7. Microsoft made it decetly clear months ago that there wouldn't be a file explorer.
Thanks for the tips, and I'm really hoping someone figures out how to change the search option. It's annoying when my bosses WP7 (HTC Surround) pulls up the bing app in IE, and mine goes to the Google site. You can remove all carrier and manufacture apps (1 step forward) but can't choose your default internet search while your carrier can (2 steps back.)
Hardware wise, the issues I have are these:
After a couple days, the back and battery color have some discoloration. I don't have particularly dirty or clammy hands, so I don't know why this is. It weirdly also doesn't look like where my fingers actually are, so maybe it's heat related. I've seen similar issues on the Touch Pro and the G2. I think it has something to do with the soft touch material.
There is also a gap between the two pieces of the battery cover. This I have seen on literally every unit I've touched. Mine, my boyfriends, the demo unit at T-Mobile, and the ones at Best Buy.
Likewise, if you press search a little hard, you see like a ripple in the bottom right hand corner. This also was on every device I played with, so it's a general thing.
These things, for me at least, aren't deal breakers, but they are annoying, especially compared to the absolutely astounding build quality of the HD2.
...
anyway.
All of this stuff aside, I must say, my actual general usage experience with the device (again, more WP7 than the HD7 specifically) has been honestly, wonderful.
I've found that in my experience,true to Microsoft's goal, everything just works, and works quickly. Coming from Android (recently, after the HD2 I just couldn't deal with WM6.5) and having had every phone in between (iPhone, Palm Pre, a crap ton of Android phones, even a Symbian phone) I must say that I have had the fewest problems, and most fluid experience of all, on WP7. General usage stuff like calls, texts, e-mail, web browsing, social networking etc. are all just super fast and efficient (with maybe the only exception being Facebook's annoying load time, but its not horribly necessary with the "what's new" section in People. Also, despite some issues (like it taking me a week to realize you can click on the song list under now playing) the media and gaming is hands down the best I've had on a phone.
Ugh, is the T-Mobile HD7 locked into Google?
I thought the whole idea of the Search button was to get quick access to the Bing Search Application. Is this so or is it only the search in IE?
Hoping they'll add a way to change that ASAP.
Jonno2343 said:
Ugh, is the T-Mobile HD7 locked into Google?
I thought the whole idea of the Search button was to get quick access to the Bing Search Application. Is this so or is it only the search in IE?
Hoping they'll add a way to change that ASAP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only in IE. Press Search from the start screen and it'll work like you expect (opening Bing)
Jonno2343 said:
Ugh, is the T-Mobile HD7 locked into Google?
I thought the whole idea of the Search button was to get quick access to the Bing Search Application. Is this so or is it only the search in IE?
Hoping they'll add a way to change that ASAP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The T-Mobile US variant of the HD7 works like this, in all places other than a) Internet Explorer or b) app that override the search button (like contacts) when you press the search key it bring up Bing. When in IE, it goes to google.com. When in an app with an override, it searches within that app.
c0wb0ycliche said:
The T-Mobile US variant of the HD7 works like this, in all places other than a) Internet Explorer or b) app that override the search button (like contacts) when you press the search key it bring up Bing. When in IE, it goes to google.com. When in an app with an override, it searches within that app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About your part B... that's how the search button is supposed to work, Windows Phone was designed like that. The T-Mobile USA HD7 is only different than other phones in part A.
as a few more days have passed, I also noticed that sometimes the Marketplace will lock up. The phone doesn't, I can still go back to the start screen, use all other apps etc, but when I go into Marketplace again it says loading and then goes back into to start unless I restart the device. Not a big deal, not too common, but still a bug. I think its related to the small freezes while browsing apps when it's loading the icons.
To clarify, you can upload and save your changes to SkyDrive. Simply tap down at the application settings and select synchronize. That will sync any changes with SkyDrive.
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
Edit: it just works with OneNote.
But I think if you download excel doc from SkyDrive and make changes it will sync with SkyDrive?
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
c0wb0ycliche said:
as a few more days have passed, I also noticed that sometimes the Marketplace will lock up. The phone doesn't, I can still go back to the start screen, use all other apps etc, but when I go into Marketplace again it says loading and then goes back into to start unless I restart the device. Not a big deal, not too common, but still a bug. I think its related to the small freezes while browsing apps when it's loading the icons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that's a problem with just about everyone that has an HTC phone. I'm not sure if it affects Samsung and LG too, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does too.
Hi all, just a quick question regarding the functionality of Wp8 that I am fighting with, that I need to resolve or another WP phone is going back to the supplier [I did the same with WP7].
First off, apologies if there's an answer that I haven't managed to find.
I currently have an HTC HD2 running very nicely on WM6.5, however, it's been creaking a bit recently & I'd decided with a favourable review of WP8 that I read the other day suggesting that finally the device can be plugged into a PC & seen as a USB drive, that the time was right to move forwards.
Now that I have the Nokia Lumia 820 & WP8 however, I still don't think I can get it to do what I need it to do.
ALL I would like to do, is be able to copy text files from PC to WP8, & then display them on the phone with text wrap switched off.
Easy hey? Well if so, I haven't worked out how to do it yet!
I plug the phone into my PC, & an Explorer window fires up on the PC [XP] showing 'SD card' & 'Phone'. Drilling down one level on the latter gives Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos etc.
The only way I can get to see the Documents folder on my Phone appears to be via Office Mobile, under 'places' > phone. It appears to be very fussy about what it allows to be displayed there - I can see .PDF, .DOC, .XLS & .TXT files [but not .LOG. .ONE, .ZIP etc (which remain 'hidden')].
When I tap a .TXT file, I have no choice of how to open it, Office Mobile pounces & that's that. Having got this far, all I would now like to do is switch off text wrap [so that it'll view in a usable manner] because there doesn't appear to be such an option.
I have scoured the Store, & the best I've found is 'Text Reader', though this requires that I load it via email [upload a file to Hotmail or wherever with a .LOG (or similar) suffix & away you go, which it then downloads & stores in its own sandbox]. Ok, but faffy.
I believe that other progs might enable transfer via the cloud [Skydrive or whatever], but because of the nature of the data [& the fact that I don't want my data in anyone else's hands], this is out too.
I've spotted a couple of other quirks.
Office Mobile also does not allow you to display the folder hierarchy that may exist in Phone>Documents, just giving a flat filesystem, which makes finding a file in thousands, say, horrible. All I'd like to do is exactly duplicate the hierarchy that exists on the PC [& then I am always looking for things in the same place on either device].
I have also noticed that Office Mobile Word sometime hangs part way through a file. e.g. on loading a 1mb file, & searching for a text sequence I know to be on the last line, it hangs on a line part way through the file [say a 1/3 of the way in]. Not great, & I have the odd file that's c.10mb so I dread to think with that.
Words fail me, & once again I am hugely disappointed with MS. Please, please get the odd decision right & maybe WP will be at the top of the pile again as it was with [the sometimes awful, but very functional] WM.
I am hoping that someone will explain an easy way to do this, & that I can finally move forwards from WM6.5. Android concerns me re privacy & I don't like iPhones, so not much choice really! Stuck waiting for MS to provide basic functionality or [worse] a potential need for a future jailbreak to make the thing work properly!
Here's hoping. Many thanks for reading.
First of all, nobody who knew what the hell they were talking about said that WP8 displays as a USB drive (properly called USB Mass Storage). It's an MTP device, like most media players (or indeed WP7, though that had an extra layer of encryption around it). MTP doesn't display the actual filesystem; although the hierarchical display that it presents *may* mirror a real filesystem, it's under no obligation to do so.
The dearth of supported file types in WP7 was a real pain, but it could be fixed by tweaking the registry. In WP8 it's still a pain, but now third-party apps can (officially) register to handle file types. However, as you point out, there's no real way to browse the phone, and the Office hub only shows the filetypes it recognizes. We *might* be able to fix that, if we could get registry write permission, but that's not possible right now. With that said, I don't know if it would be possible for another app to register the (for example) .txt extension; the phone does offer the ability to choose what app opens a given file type.
For what it's worth, Bluetooth file transfer to the phone works fine, and the files will open in whatever app is registered to the file's extension. You can then save them into the app's storage (Documents, for Office apps). This may be a better way to transfer your data.
In WP8 you can build Apps that associate themselves with certain filetypes (identified by the ending). If your App is associated with a certain file type the App can also open files of that type from anywhere on the SD Card.
So for example if you put a *.log file onto the SD Card any App that is associated with the ".log" ending can read it (the Explorer functionality for the SD Card would have to be implemented by the App itself but it is supported). This does not work with the integrated storage though. With integrated storage you would still have to receive it via E-Mail, SkyDrive, etc.
Now for the caveats:
- Apps can't be dynamically associated with File Types. If you want to open "*.log" files the App developer has to associate his App with the filetype in it's manifest. If several Apps exist for a given filetype the user will be asked which one to use.
- There is a quite extensive list of file types that are reserved for the OS or built in Apps. Any file type that is reserved in that way can't be associated with third Party Apps. This contains Office documents (except PDF, TXT files and lots of media file types). The complete list can be seen here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj207065(v=vs.105).aspx
- Apps can only read from the SD Card but they can't Change data there.
Now as for your Problem: someone could build an App that supports e.g. Log-Files and you could use your Lumia 820 with an SD Card to pretty much work the way you intend to with those files. It's not really trivial though, given that 10 MB big plain Text-Files regularly lead to Trouble even on PC text Editors (the developer has to be smart on how to handle These "huge" files, so just some midnight hack job won't do).
What are your further requirements? Search pretty obviously. But what are all the filetypes you would need? Would you need editing capability?
Just trying to understand the compelete picture of your requirements. Perhaps you can tell us what kinds of files you use and for what purposes.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
@GoodDayToDie
Re 'seen as a USB drive' - That's me being careless with words, what I meant to say was the ability to local sync over a USB cable, & then access the copied files on the device. I didn't think that you could do this with WP7 [without frigs], & had high[er] hopes for WP8.
I might have a look at Bluetooth FT as a method for getting the [bulk] data over locally, as I won't be doing it via the cloud [email or Skydrive]. Thanks for the advice.
@StevieBallz
Thanks for the MSDN reference - Very interesting.
Ok, so the apps can potentially access the data on the SD card but not write to it - As an aside, I thought I read something the other day that said data on the SD card was limited to Pictures, Videos, Music etc, as a security measure. That's interesting too then, though anything I want to be 'secure' I'd keep in the internal storage anyway.
Re the comment re 'Trouble even on PC text Editors'. Yes, I tried way back on WM2003 to get a file displayer going, but immediately hit problems with [I think] a 32KB limit on the textbox display. I've just made do with WM6.5's Word displayer since, which offers basic functionality.I keep meaning to go back to the coding, but haven't managed it yet [I think Visual Basic was missing for a while with WP, if indeed it's there yet (I thought I'd read it was with VS2012?)].
Re my 'requirements'. Just to be able to search [large-ish] text files & have the o/p displayed in a manner that's readable [no word-wrapping]. I realise editing is a whole new ball game, so read-only would be good enough. Longer term, I'd like the ability to have many text files open at once - On the desktop I use "Programmer's File Editor", & something like that [if only as a viewer] I'd find invaluable on the smartphone/PDA. I also have many thousands of files on my desktop [PDF, DOC, RTF, HTM, TXT etc] & ideally I'd like access to those on the go as & when needed, via a hierarchical file system on the mobile device, with the structure exactly mirroring the PC's file system, so that I'd search for & find data in the same places regardless of which device I was using [Why thousands? Might be 100s+ actually, & these could be electricity bills, sales receipts, insurance documents - anything - the stuff of life really].
I'll continue with my testing of Office Mobile Word's displaying & searching of text files. I've found it patchy & not consistent so far, but am going to have to move from WM6.5 eventually [more's the pity], & don't really want the hassle of sending the device back again.
Many thanks for your advice so far.
Device returned, many thanks for your help. Maybe WP9 then?
5v17 said:
Device returned, many thanks for your help. Maybe WP9 then?
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Judging by the ideas picked up for review on dev user voice, situation may drastically improve with the next SDK update.
Hi Folks, I hope I'm posting this in the right section withoud doubling another thread because I have found hints here and there but no actual, efficient solution to my problem.....
Excuse my english, I'm french and couldn't find any solution on french forums either so I'm knocking at your door....
I've always had Android devices but because of some technical issues my provider lended me a WM8 phone (Nokia Lumia 520) for a couple of months before I can get back a new Android phone.
I have the two phones with me for a couple of days but I'm having a hard time transfering some data from the WM8 phone back to my Android, especilly :
-call log (could cope without)
-pdf files (important)
-sms threads (critical)
I mainly focused on SMS's, thinking of different means I could expand upon later on if need be (app, backuping through desktop, outlook or Gmail synch, getting android to synch with OneDrive....) none of this worked so far.
Thanks in advance for your kind help
The only one you will get is the PDF files. You should be able to upload them all into OneDrive and then download them to your PC. From there, transfer them to your Android. The other two are stuck in the Windows cloud, just like how you can't transfer SMS threads from iPhone to Android.
if you come up with something, let the rest of us know!
It *might* be possible to import messages using Bluetooth. I know you can do it from Android to WP8. The other direction... never tried, no idea.
GoodDayToDie said:
It *might* be possible to import messages using Bluetooth. I know you can do it from Android to WP8. The other direction... never tried, no idea.
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I hoped so from the very begining but I couldn't find any info about doing it the other way round as you mention :/
in the worst case, is there a means to backup those sms in order to check them later on, or print them maybe ?
Well, they're automatically backed up if you turn it on (Settings -> Backup) but that just goes to Microsoft's "cloud" and I don't know how easy it is to find / download / import it would be.