Related
I picked mine up yesterday, within 2 minutes I had it unlocked....I'm coming from an iPhone 4.
I have to say, coming from the iPhone 4 I've been spoilt to an extent. But what I have to keep reminding myself is the fact that iOS4 is pretty much in the autmn of it's lifespan and is going to need a massive update at some point.
Before the iPhone, I had a couple of Android devices and on paper, Android is the ultimate geeks phone. The only issue I have with it, is how it looks. It just seems so "Raw" and non-pleasing on the eye and the fragmentation of builds is a problem for me. one or two different versions is semi-acceptable but with Gingerbread soon to come out, We'd still have modern handsets scattered between at least 3-4 builds of the OS and that to me is just "Messy". Half the problem is the network providers stupid roll-out phases, which are pretty much worthless as we saw what a POS the O2 2.1 Eclair was like for the Streak (If you didn't, it was a disaster)
I've been following WP7 since it's very first announcement, so the 23rd has been a date in my calendar for a while now. I managed to pick up my HD7 this weekend and so far, I'm a little bit on the fence. The UI is exceptional, I love the vector styling with the Metro UI. I like the whole contemporary text off the screen, I truely love it. WP7 does some things really well, but others are just lacking. The lack of the custom Ringtone is really, REALLY annoying. The fact that it seems impossible to delete an email address you add to the phone seems outright ridiculous....for instance, I incorrectly entered an email address, so it won't sign in. I can change the password, but not the email. I look under the settings and I see no option to remove the account. The manual only shows you how to add them as well, not remove.....???
That is unacceptable in my opinion.
The best way to describe it is I feel this is more a pre-release version of the handset. Having come from a test / QA background I'm just not sure how certain parts of this were signed off. I knew the phone was never going to be "Open" like android, but some of the restrictions are frustrating. Just as I think "God, this is going back!" I then find something I like, which totally changes my mind. I think I'm going to continue using it over the next few days and see how I get on.
What is everyone else's overall opinion so far?
risq said:
I picked mine up yesterday, within 2 minutes I had it unlocked....I'm coming from an iPhone 4.
I have to say, coming from the iPhone 4 I've been spoilt to an extent. But what I have to keep reminding myself is the fact that iOS4 is pretty much in the autmn of it's lifespan and is going to need a massive update at some point.
Before the iPhone, I had a couple of Android devices and on paper, Android is the ultimate geeks phone. The only issue I have with it, is how it looks. It just seems so "Raw" and non-pleasing on the eye and the fragmentation of builds is a problem for me. one or two different versions is semi-acceptable but with Gingerbread soon to come out, We'd still have modern handsets scattered between at least 3-4 builds of the OS and that to me is just "Messy". Half the problem is the network providers stupid roll-out phases, which are pretty much worthless as we saw what a POS the O2 2.1 Eclair was like for the Streak (If you didn't, it was a disaster)
I've been following WP7 since it's very first announcement, so the 23rd has been a date in my calendar for a while now. I managed to pick up my HD7 this weekend and so far, I'm a little bit on the fence. The UI is exceptional, I love the vector styling with the Metro UI. I like the whole contemporary text off the screen, I truely love it. WP7 does some things really well, but others are just lacking. The lack of the custom Ringtone is really, REALLY annoying. The fact that it seems impossible to delete an email address you add to the phone seems outright ridiculous....for instance, I incorrectly entered an email address, so it won't sign in. I can change the password, but not the email. I look under the settings and I see no option to remove the account. The manual only shows you how to add them as well, not remove.....???
That is unacceptable in my opinion.
The best way to describe it is I feel this is more a pre-release version of the handset. Having come from a test / QA background I'm just not sure how certain parts of this were signed off. I knew the phone was never going to be "Open" like android, but some of the restrictions are frustrating. Just as I think "God, this is going back!" I then find something I like, which totally changes my mind. I think I'm going to continue using it over the next few days and see how I get on.
What is everyone else's overall opinion so far?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The feelings mutual.
I like the HD7 but a couple of things annoy me:
1) I cant import my sim contacts..
2) i cant stop it from syncing my hotmail contacts.
But i dont see any issue that an update cant fix which is a good sign.
I think its early days, developers and updates will iron out all the problems eventually.
rafter_01 said:
The feelings mutual.
I like the HD7 but a couple of things annoy me:
1) I cant import my sim contacts..
2) i cant stop it from syncing my hotmail contacts.
But i dont see any issue that an update cant fix which is a good sign.
I think its early days, developers and updates will iron out all the problems eventually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am I insane or is it actually impossible to remove a LIVE email account....as I mentioned above, I incorrectly entered the address (Missed a letter) and now, for love nor money I cannot amend the address nor outright delete the account and start over. It's horrible, as It just stands out "Your attention is required" Just let me DELETE THE ACCOUNT!
Looked through all the manuals, HTC stuff, Windows site....simply cannot see an option.
any idea?
Can you add a Google Account (EAS) and have it sync contacts and calendar from there. What it you have no or some contacts in your Live account, will they overwrite or integrate the Google contacts.
Does WP7 display and sync shared calendars or only the primary?
Mujja said:
Does WP7 display and sync shared calendars or only the primary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only the primary calendar currently but you can have it display multiple live account calendars and gmail calendars I believe.
risq, it doesn't look like you can delete the main live account you entered when you set up the phone initially (I might be wrong though). You CAN remove other email accounts in the Settings > Email & Accounts screen. Press and hold the account you want to remove and you get a 'synchronise' or 'delete' option.
I haven't tried it but maybe for the main account, try adding the correct live account, then it may allow you to remove the one that doesn't work?
Thanks for your review it really helps, i currently have an iphone 4...thinking of selling it to get an hd7...do you think it is currently worth doing or should i wait so they can iron out the bugs??...As i understand you cannot tether as well also whats the keyboard like vs the iphone?...i had an hd2 and hated the keyboard...
Theguru1 said:
Thanks for your review it really helps, i currently have an iphone 4...thinking of selling it to get an hd7...do you think it is currently worth doing or should i wait so they can iron out the bugs??...As i understand you cannot tether as well also whats the keyboard like vs the iphone?...i had an hd2 and hated the keyboard...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i can tell you one thing, the keyboard is amazingly quick and responsive on the HD7. My mate has a IPHONE4 and he thinks HD7 keyboard is awesome...
To delete an account
goto settings
goto accounts and email
long press on the account you want to delete
rafter_01 said:
The feelings mutual.
I like the HD7 but a couple of things annoy me:
1) I cant import my sim contacts..
2) i cant stop it from syncing my hotmail contacts.
But i dont see any issue that an update cant fix which is a good sign.
I think its early days, developers and updates will iron out all the problems eventually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought you could import sim contacts, I've not put a contact on a sim for a couple of years now but...
Go to settings,
swipe the screen from system to applications
tap People
there is a import sim contacts button there, it's not useable on my handset but then I know there aren't any sim contacts there, you may get more mileage.
As to annoyances, my biggest gripe is volume control, who thought it was a good idea to have one central volume setting, have the ring tone high to be able to hear the tinny rings, start using Zune with a set of headphones, take the volume down to a listen-able volume and then when finished have to put the volume back up for the ring tones ARGGHHH /rant sorry
I agree, the volume setting is a bit annoying and slightly unusual. Like I say, it's almost like they've chucked WP7 to the angry mob to rip it to bits and provide feedback on how to improve it..
at least that's what I hope they've done. Like a Commerical BETA.
interesting comments.
I still feel that WM7 is more rounded then the first version of iOS or Android
Sure MS have had some time to develop it but broadly the biggest pain to me is no removable SD card.
Everything else will be fixed by firmware. I understand the Q1 firmware release will be hugh (cut & paste, etc.)
thanks
so jump ship or stay with iphone 4 until the bugs are sorted and more features are added?
Theguru1 said:
thanks
so jump ship or stay with iphone 4 until the bugs are sorted and more features are added?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
If your an App whore and cant stand not having them....stick with the iPhone4
I have the HD7 and there are some things which really have peed me off, however coming from a 6.5windows mobile phone I have the biggest smile on my face
its a matter of time until Microsoft iron out these small little bugs, but overall an awesome phone/OS which will get better over time
lol i'm kind of an app whore but there is too much crap on there...300,000 apps and more than likely 90% of them is utter rubbish...
i have an ipad so i think have an ipad and iphone is too much wp7 seems to be a fresh approach on the OS and lets face iOS 4 needs a face lift its kind of boring now...and wp7 exactly does that...i'm just worried about bugs i had an hd2 before iphone because there were alot of things that bugged me about it...thats why i questioning wp7...
Initial thoughts
Been lurking around these forums for a very long time, only now decided to make an account so this is my first post i guess!
back on topic;
brought my HD7 this morning from o2 (pay and go)
It feel and looks brilliant, screen is quite sharp and looks very pretty regardless of what youre doing on the phone.
Sound quality isnt anything to drool over, you can hear things, it does its job but could be better.
Sound quality during phone calls is a bit better, but again, could be better.
Performance is great, UI is quick and pretty and works like a charm.
Charged it from close to empty to full within 2 hours, although the battery got quite warm which worried me, as ive never experienced that with a phone before.
Physical buttons on the device are are good, camera button works really well as do the volume rockers. However the power button up top has a VERY soft feel to it, (No click as you press it). not sure if this is how its meant to be, or if its the way it was designed. (Anyone confirm if there power button is the same?)
I think as the market store matures, the device will get even better along with firmware updates, and i look forward to experiencing them.
Obviously these are just my own personal opinions~
will hd7 work on att network?
I have the hd2 on att now and i know htc is releasing the srrond for att, but the 3.5 screen seems to be a step backwards, so more interested in the hd7.. Anyone know how hd7/windows 7 plays with exchange?
how would you compare the speakers quality comparing to an iPhone 4 or Nexus One ?
Finally made a decision and pre ordered from letstalk. Got tired of waiting on info from dell about the Venue. May get it later but know I will love the Hd7. Just hope the screen is better than my Evos
I think you need to Reset the phone to remove the main Windows Live Account (and all data!)
Ian
cjindustry said:
I have the hd2 on att now and i know htc is releasing the srrond for att, but the 3.5 screen seems to be a step backwards, so more interested in the hd7.. Anyone know how hd7/windows 7 plays with exchange?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD7 works well with my Exchange 2010 server. Some things missing that are present in iPhone 4 which frankly surprised me ..
1 - No content search of email
2 - No Search on server option
In its defence though the HD7/WP7 works well in offline mode - something that really frustrates on iOS
ian
7.0.7008.0 - 03/03/2011
Hi Guys Most people are getting the Update only few on Uk O2 and US Tmob seem to be not getting it
I have unlocked UK O2 and just popped a tmobile UK sim and have updated my phone
so good luck ........
Your Questions Answered about updates - 25/02/11
http://goo.gl/Fw4kW
First Windows Update and How to Get It - 22/02/2011
http://goo.gl/AS3SM
NEW on Upcmong UPdates :14/0212011
Microsoft announced several new Windows Phone 7 features coming in 2011, including a “dramatically enhanced” browser experience based on Internet Explorer 9; additional multitasking capabilities; support for Microsoft Office documents in the cloud; and the addition of Twitter to the People Hub. The expanded capabilities announced today include:
•
Copy and paste functionality via first major update, coming in the next month
•
Twitter integration directly into the People Hub in 2011
•
Support for Office documents in the cloud in 2011
•
Dramatically enhanced Web browser experience based on IE9 in 2011
•
A new wave of multitasking applications in 2011
•
Targeting significant volume of Nokia Windows Phones in 2012
Multi Tasking
Want to know how the eventual, inevitable implementation of app multitasking on Windows Phone 7 will look? Wonder no longer: it's cards, which seems to be the way a lot of guys are going after webOS showed how to do it right a couple years back, and it looks hot. If you press the Start button you'll see the app tiles, then press the back button and you'll be right back in your app right where you left off. However, that's just the beginning: hold the back button you'll get a card-like view of all running apps. Pick your app and you're back where you left off in that one. You can multitask even in games, have Slacker playing in the background, and if you press a volume button while on the home screen you'll get a quickie interface for changing track, pausing, and playing.
Official link here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/features/update-info.aspx
One question we hear often is: What’s next for Windows Phone? We’re obsessive about listening closely to our customers and improving our phone software. So over the next few months, look for updates that add some new features you’ve asked for and also tune up your phone’s performance.
Here’s a peek at some of what’s ahead:
Copy and paste
Soon you’ll be able to copy text from emails, text messages, web pages, and Office Mobile documents, and paste it anywhere you can type.
Using copy and paste is easy and intuitive. In many cases you just tap a word, slide your finger to highlight any additional text, then tap the Copy icon. To insert this text in a message or app, just tap the spot where it should go, then tap the Paste icon.
Copy and paste is a handy way to quickly send someone’s latest Facebook update, turn-by-turn directions from Maps, or a must-see link from Internet Explorer Mobile. Once you’ve copied something, you can paste it again and again.
The new feature adds to the list of time-saving shortcuts already built into Windows Phone, like the ability to tap an address on a webpage to map it (US only).
Faster apps and games
Nobody likes to wait. That’s why we’ve whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It’s all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster.
Better Marketplace search
We’ve streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the apps or games section of Marketplace and you’ll see only apps or games in the results.
Press Search in the music section of Marketplace to search just the music catalog.
Getting phone updates
How will you know when an update is available? Easy. Your phone is designed to automatically tell you via a pop-up message (unless you’ve turned this option off). For more details, see How do I update my phone software? link here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/wp7/basics/how-do-i-update-my-phone-software.aspx
Nice. Thanks for this.
SWYPE! GIVE US SWYPE!!!!!
jimbonics said:
Nice. Thanks for this.
SWYPE! GIVE US SWYPE!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most likely it will be a paid app in the market place..
tfn said:
Official link here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/features/update-info.aspx
One question we hear often is: What’s next for Windows Phone? We’re obsessive about listening closely to our customers and improving our phone software. So over the next few months, look for updates that add some new features you’ve asked for and also tune up your phone’s performance.
Here’s a peek at some of what’s ahead:
Copy and paste
Soon you’ll be able to copy text from emails, text messages, web pages, and Office Mobile documents, and paste it anywhere you can type.
Using copy and paste is easy and intuitive. In many cases you just tap a word, slide your finger to highlight any additional text, then tap the Copy icon. To insert this text in a message or app, just tap the spot where it should go, then tap the Paste icon.
Copy and paste is a handy way to quickly send someone’s latest Facebook update, turn-by-turn directions from Maps, or a must-see link from Internet Explorer Mobile. Once you’ve copied something, you can paste it again and again.
The new feature adds to the list of time-saving shortcuts already built into Windows Phone, like the ability to tap an address on a webpage to map it (US only).
Faster apps and games
Nobody likes to wait. That’s why we’ve whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It’s all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster.
Better Marketplace search
We’ve streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the apps or games section of Marketplace and you’ll see only apps or games in the results.
Press Search in the music section of Marketplace to search just the music catalog.
Getting phone updates
How will you know when an update is available? Easy. Your phone is designed to automatically tell you via a pop-up message (unless you’ve turned this option off). For more details, see How do I update my phone software? link here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/wp7/basics/how-do-i-update-my-phone-software.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All fine and dandy, when can we expect this, mine is collecting dust, so I need to know when to turn it on to get the update.
Reading through what they are updating, they are giving us one thing that is need, leaving out 20 other important things, then focusing on what makes them money, games and market place, go figure.
I am excited about the windows phone 7 updates that will be coming down the pipeline soon. I actually wrote an article about it for Yahoo the other day. You can check it out here
http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar..._phone_7_update_is_on_the_horizon.html?cat=15
What i would also like though is an update from HTC that fixes battery life issues and sound level from the speakers, then all would be well in the world
brett_day said:
I am excited about the windows phone 7 updates that will be coming down the pipeline soon. I actually wrote an article about it for Yahoo the other day. You can check it out here
http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar..._phone_7_update_is_on_the_horizon.html?cat=15
What i would also like though is an update from HTC that fixes battery life issues and sound level from the speakers, then all would be well in the world
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice way to advertise your self, or as its called in the marketing world " nice plug"
But your article misses the big picture as many have, they give us copy and paste to shut us up, and then focus on fixing or improving what makes them money.
Till they add in the other 20 important missing functions which every smart phone in todays markets should have, your praising a product which is an insult on our intelligence.
when are we likely to get the update? i just got my hd7 today switched from android. i have to say the os is smooth. but lack of apps makes me sad . and the youtube app does not have hq option which sux.
they need to let us manually configure hidden network...
2012iawait said:
the youtube app does not have hq option
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the HTC YouTube app from marketplace and be happy that it solves this problem.
2012iawait said:
youtube app does not have hq option which sux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Posted already
still waitting......
Why do we have this thread? We don't even have the update yet, it's misleading. Who knows exactly when they're releasing the update. By the time they release the update this thread will be 1,000 pages long LOL
Not a good idea to me
rysky007 said:
All fine and dandy, when can we expect this, mine is collecting dust, so I need to know when to turn it on to get the update.
Reading through what they are updating, they are giving us one thing that is need, leaving out 20 other important things, then focusing on what makes them money, games and market place, go figure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the marketplace search is an awesome update. I thought it was terrible searching for apps and music was thrown in there. Supposedly they're fixing all the other problems later in the year with a HUGE update.
Don't worry be happy. Good news it has been officially announced that there will be an update for hd7 soon....the exact date will be announced and soon as it is guess what You will know. In the meantime I suggest live your lives, make someone smile, make another happy. Get some fresh air and smile.
updated info on first page
Update coming by March now , fingers crossed and it does look promising,
although no news about what htc will be doing to sort some of the problems we are having or if MS will fix em for us
thread title is too misleading. It should say coming update!
vcard support coming??
http://twitter.com/#!/WinPhoneSupport/status/37205768843300864
http://twitter.com/#!/microsofttag/status/37299986991423489
just thought I'd share.
Windows First update
Read link on first Page
Apparently its gonna be a small update to update the updater
evolutionqy7 said:
thread title is too misleading. It should say coming update!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ditto...plus, what's the girls gonna cry about..? this os runs w/o the update...folks always want to ***** about something!
I still stuck at version 7004, anyone here have version 7008 already? Or the newest one from MS that brick the Samsum WP7 One?
As per title, i cant figure this out. My carrier seems to only be getting the Samsung ATIV S, and i use turn-by-turn alot on my Android device. Im worried about losing too many features such as Turn by turn, and a proper notification center?
Second question, how do WP8 users see notifications, do they have to open the app to check?
Rekzer said:
As per title, i cant figure this out. My carrier seems to only be getting the Samsung ATIV S, and i use turn-by-turn alot on my Android device. Im worried about losing too many features such as Turn by turn, and a proper notification center?
Second question, how do WP8 users see notifications, do they have to open the app to check?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia announced that they would provide Nokia Drive for other OEMs as well but it is up to those wether they will deploy it through the Marketplace. Currently we don't know for sure bit I guess the feature will show up.
For Notifications there are PopUp Messages at the top of the screen (Toast-Notifications) but unlike Android they vanish from there after a set time (a few seconds). Aside from that there are Tile notifications. Depending on the App that can range from simple counters (which can also be configured to be shown on the Lock screen (but a limit numberbpf apps can reside there at the same time)) to textual representations or full images. Those show up on Tiles that are pinned to the start screen.
Concerning the Turn-by-Turn functionality I would suggest to wait until we have a statement by HTC and Samsung on the situation.
No voice turn by turn on any WP8 device except Nokia.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nokia Drive is coming to all Windows Phone 8 devices if other manufacturers/carriers choose to offer it.
Nokia Drive+ is exclusive to Lumia devices and has some fancy features and enhancements.
prjkthack said:
Nokia Drive is coming to all Windows Phone 8 devices if other manufacturers/carriers choose to offer it.
Nokia Drive+ is exclusive to Lumia devices and has some fancy features and enhancements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This
Sent from my One X using Tapatalk 2
On the Nokia Drive + BETA app as it is listed, I went to download the USA map, and it was 2.4GB. I cancelled the download and just got Indiana instead. That was 140MB. It does warn/maybe require to download maps over WiFi rather than using cell data.
There are several turn by turn GPS apps in the marketplace. None of them really stack up to Google Maps on Android - or Nokia Drive on Lumias for that matter. But as other have said, Nokia is making Drive available to others.
As far as a notification center goes, thats a questions that always makes me grin. Your entire homescreen is a notification center really. If youd like a more centralized place for all of your social media updates and such, you can pin yourself to a tile. Then your "me" tile will auto update with all of your personal notifications.
I don't understand how OEMs get a say in what you can install from the Windows Phone Store. Either Nokia Drive goes in the store or of doesn't. What am I missing?
Cant we grab the XAP file. I have the xap for drive 3 but it is having issues with the signature but could we not resign it with a test one?
Rekzer said:
As per title, i cant figure this out. My carrier seems to only be getting the Samsung ATIV S, and i use turn-by-turn alot on my Android device. Im worried about losing too many features such as Turn by turn, and a proper notification center?
Second question, how do WP8 users see notifications, do they have to open the app to check?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia Drive is good, and you should be happy with it when it goes live for other devices. It's not as good as Google Maps, but I expect it will be getting better quickly. The only two real drawbacks to Nokia Drive is that it does not show an mage of your destination when you arrive, and the blocks are empty of buildings. Other than that it gives timely notice of when to turn, runs happily when gps signal drops, warns you when you speed, and is responsive when you pan around on the map.
The notification center is sadly missed. Hopefully something like it will be quickly implemented. What is even more missed is the quick setting in the notifications menu, or a quick settings tile.
Love comments about the lack of a notification being a good thing because the main screen is a notification centre. What nonsense. What is the point of toast notifications if you don't have a notification centre? There isn't one.... Its a major omission and yet ms find time to add rubbish like kids corner that is good for how many people? Microsoft really need to get a grip.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
DoogieDC said:
I don't understand how OEMs get a say in what you can install from the Windows Phone Store. Either Nokia Drive goes in the store or of doesn't. What am I missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are carrier- and OEM-specific subsections of the store, where they can release their own apps only to users of their phones. Nokia could, if they chose, let other OEMs offer Drive in their sections of the Store as well, rather than releasing it in the public area.
---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 PM ----------
Dr.Paul said:
Love comments about the lack of a notification being a good thing because the main screen is a notification centre. What nonsense. What is the point of toast notifications if you don't have a notification centre? There isn't one.... Its a major omission and yet ms find time to add rubbish like kids corner that is good for how many people? Microsoft really need to get a grip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kids Corner is a distinguishing feature that will sell phones. A notification center is a nice touch that people won't notice until after they've been using it for a while. Microsoft is prioritizing the former.
A notification center would be quite welcome - I will be quite happy if they add it. But I will say that all my messages/emails/etc. show up on tile counts anyway, so the point of a toast there is just instantaneous notification of what's going on right now. Once it's not immediate any longer, I'll still see the tile count/lockscreen notification. That doesn't apply to things like Foursquare checkins via 4th & Mayor, but that's about the only app I can think of that pops up toasts at me without also throwing a tile count on there, and I don't necessarily need a log of all my friends' past checkins. That's not to say I don't want to see a notification center, but it's really at the level of an extra that would be nice to have, but that I only rarely miss not having.
Dr.Paul said:
Love comments about the lack of a notification being a good thing because the main screen is a notification centre. What nonsense. What is the point of toast notifications if you don't have a notification centre? There isn't one.... Its a major omission and yet ms find time to add rubbish like kids corner that is good for how many people? Microsoft really need to get a grip.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I for one am very pleased with the lack of a notification center. It was unnecessary on Android with counters, and I find it unnecessary on WP7 and WP8.
There are other phones that offer it and if you need it then you go with one of them. I left Android after 3 years to get away from the clutter, the flash-a-holic I became, constant adjustment of my home screen, etc. I just wanted clean and usable - exactly what WP is. My favorite part...all the apps look like they belong! Android apps were all over the map in design.
WM 6.5
LudoGris said:
I for one am very pleased with the lack of a notification center. It was unnecessary on Android with counters, and I find it unnecessary on WP7 and WP8.
There are other phones that offer it and if you need it then you go with one of them. I left Android after 3 years to get away from the clutter, the flash-a-holic I became, constant adjustment of my home screen, etc. I just wanted clean and usable - exactly what WP is. My favorite part...all the apps look like they belong! Android apps were all over the map in design.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Ludogris, I think you should have stuck to Windows Mobile 6.5....
the windows phone team has admitted that a notification center is on their list of things to implement but they simply ran out of time with wp8, it will probably come in an 8.5 or similar update. while the system works okay without one, a catch all would be nice to be able to glance at in case you miss a toast.
as for the OP, like others have stated, nokia has stated they will release their drive app to the whole ecosystem with some extra features in the drive+ app being exclusive to their lumia line.
i love the addition of the tts for street names they added to the new app, and the new speech in wp8 is so much nicer than the siri sounding one in wp 7.5, more like the natural speech that is in google now.
how did a Nokia Drive thread turn into a notifications request thread? Seriously, though, i got HTC8x for family members to replace their HD7 (tmobile upgrades, I thought they'd be more familiar with HTC instead of the lumia810, wrong choice?). I myself am using Android/HD2, and know nothing about WP7/8, and just rely on threads like this to update my other phones. nevermind, somebody wake me up when the htc 8x gets nokia drive or some flavor of it... subscribed.
on a side note, anyone know how to move the SMS Texts and call history from WP7(HD7) to WP8(htc8x) ? stock phones, no dev unlock, so I'm relying solely on the marketplace and whatever free desktop sync MS has to offer. doesn't seem possible via skydrive either. oh, i don't have outlook on the desktop, if that matters. wish I could just use PIMbackupCAB like on my trusted hd2... why did microsoft have to mess with a good thing? pardon me, i digress. carry on... so, how did you guys migrate your SMS?
Bad news: you don't - not from WP7.
Good news: starting in WP8, the phone will back them up to the cloud, so it'll be seamless going forward.
I like this one:
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/navigon-europe/da8734ed-666a-4227-81ea-8fc937752d98
all the others have ****ty maps where i live (including google, nokia and bing maps) compared to garmin...
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Note: This version of the app has hit its token limit, for more info on my plans and its future, check out this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=56228193&postcount=553
Hello guys! From the creators of Sliding Messaging Pro, I would like to announce one of our new projects: Talon for Twitter!
This one, along with klinkdawg's EvolveSMS are the two brand new apps that we have been creating the past few months. They are full of polish, features, and beautiful design and KitKat style! Both of these apps are availible on the Google Play store today, but lets get to know Talon a little first
Talon for Twitter - Google Play Store
-----------------------------------------------------
Play Store Description:
Get fully immersed in your Twitter with this beautiful, feature PACKED Twitter client with a design that actually makes sense!
Created with Android 4.4 (KitKat) in mind. Includes full screen layouts, stunning animations and more! Of course that doesn't mean earlier versions of android get left out! The only thing that wasn't able to be recreated in Android 4.3 and below was the transparent navigation and status bars... Sorry! It just isn't possible
Beautiful, up-to-date layouts, designs, and neat animations isn't the only thing Talon has going for it though! The list of features is enormous as well, doing everything you could ever want from a Twitter app right off the bat. Even though it is new, I have added every single major and minor Twitter feature that I think is absolutely essential plus a ton that most people wouldn't even think of. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of its features:
Twitter features:
- Live streaming support
- Support for 2 accounts
- View your timelines (main, mentions, direct messages, links, and pictures)
- View retweets, favorites, Local and world trending, user profiles, Twitter lists, and more
- Favorite users
- Search Twitter
- Delete, favorite, retweet, quote, and reply to statuses
- view replies to statuses
- Update your profile picture, banner, location, and user description
- block, follow, and add users to lists
- search for your friends to tweet at
- Attach pictures to your tweets
- Attach locations to your tweets
- And the list goes on
Customization features:
- Extremely powerful developer theme engine (Read the second post )
- Choose between either "Talon" or "Hangouts" layouts
- Choose from 3 beautiful base themes (light, dark, and pitch black)
- Custom text sizes
- Night mode
- Auto-Refresh options
- Custom notification settings
- And many other goodies in there as well!
App Features:
- "Talon Pull" to be always listening for interactions (mentions, retweets, favorites, new followers, and direct messages)
- Expandable, actionable, and dynamic notification system
- Full app popup
- Full emoji support
- View in-line Twitter and Instagram pictures
- View in-line YouTube thumbnails
- Native YouTube player
- In-app browser
- Complete landscape and tablet modes
- Advance to new pages in a "windowed" viewing mode
- Never leave your timeline with in-line replies, favorites, and retweets
- Actionable toast bar so you always know where you are and can jump to the top
- Hiding action bar
- "Do not disturb" mode
- Widget for main timeline
- DashClock Extension
- Draft system for unsent/failed tweets
- Google style pull to refresh for quick refreshing
- Save tweet pictures
- Share content with other apps, to and from Talon
You will never go back to your old Twitter client again!
Enjoy Talon and don't hesitate to contact me with questions, requests, or bugs!
Thanks!
Contact me (Luke Klinker):
Email: [email protected]
My Twitter: @lukeklinker
Talon's Twitter: @TalonAndroid
Google+ Beta Page
Emojis
Here are two different emoji plugins for you to choose from, choose whichever suits you best, install it and never worry about it again!
Sliding Emoji Keyboard - Android
Sliding Emoji Keyboard - iOS
Permissions Explained:
- Write to Storage: Saves pictures to your SD card and writes them into the cache.
- Read from Storage: Used when backing up settings.
- Location: Used for trends and attaching locations to tweets.
- Network Communication: Obviously have to be able to interact with Twitter
- Network State: Used so the user can toggle background sync to only over WiFi.
- Run at Startup: Re-schedules the background refreshes.
- Keep Awake: Used for background refreshes and waking the screen.
- Vibrate: Used for the notifications.
Credits:
- Jacob Klinker: to many things to list! Tons of ideas, support, and inspiration
- Aaron Klinker: Icon Design
- Other open-source libraries and resources used can be found under the 'Get Help' section in settings.
-----------------------------------------------------
Screenshots:
-----------------------------------------------------
Closing Comments:
I have worked really hard to bring you guys a great experience right from the start this time and it really shows, from the login screen to the timelines, you will be fully satisfied with the design, execution and finesse that Talon brings to your phone. It isn't going to take months to get up to speed like Sliding Messaging did. I have designed this to be efficient, fast, and just work, right from the start. I learned a ton from that app and Talon goes to show just how much.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, sound off in the comments with question, concerns, suggestion, or whatever else you feel like saying about the app!
One more thing to say before I leave you here, please remember that this is XDA, and you are all expected to be a little bit different Android users, if you are having a force close or something, I would like you to be able to post a logcat of it. If you are wondering about why I did something the way I did, then I will probably explain it to you in a programming sense instead of how I would to a normal user on the Google+ beta page or something, because that makes much more sense to me, is easier on me, and you should be able to understand it a little bit better... Just keep that in mind and stay on topic please
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
1.) Push Notifications
I am just going to say this now, before anyone asks: Push notifications will not be coming to Talon unless something changes with the Twitter APIs. I have created "Talon Pull" with is simply an always on, listening/streaming service that will receive new tweets from Twitter whenever your Twitter handle is included. To read more about this option, look at the "Talon Pull" section below the "Reasons" section.
Reasons
This will be the more technical part of this post, if you don't want to read and understand it, then you will have to just accept my answer from above. If you don't accept that I know what I am talking about... Then by all means, read on, I will try to keep it as simple as possible.
To access Twitter, they have provided us with the REST APIs (currently version 1.1). These APIs allow developers to communicate with Twitter in real time by just submitting requests to get data from the network. They make it relatively simple - if you know what your doing - to obtain the data that they allow you to get and store, but there are plenty of limitations to these APIs, which make sense: Twitter is a completely free service and make their money off of advertisements. They want people to use their official Twitter products (such as the web or their own Android app) to access their services because they are able to place advertisements in them and that is the only way they make money. So they just aren't going to make some things available for 3rd party developers.
One of those things is their push notification system. As I said before, they allow us to access their services with these REST APIs, but they also have a Streaming API available so that a 3rd party service, such as this one, could be "always connected". Sounds great right? Maybe, maybe not. More testing probably needs to go into it, because it is very new in Talon. For the past few weeks though, I can say that it doesn't seem to take up much more battery than sycning on an intervol does. So try it and let me know. I have done the best I can to optimize this service, but if you want to know more about it, read below in the "Talon Pull" section
What these streaming APIs should be used for is a server side interaction that would then connect to GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) and send push notifications from there. I would love to say I am working on something like this, but it isn't possible for a developer like me. I don't have the time, resources, or knowledge to set up a complex server like this. The knowledge I could get, but I am a 20 year old kid, working off of this 1 MB/sec internet connection while being a full time college student at the University of Iowa. I wouldn't be able to handle the upkeep of the system like this or the traffic. I just don't have the backend necessary for this type of thing, and there aren't many developers who do. So push notifications from the server side? Way out of the question.
That leaves only one thing to do: wait. Maybe Twitter will open up some kind of push notification service to it's developers, but I wouldn't count on that. The ideal thing for them to do would be to set up their own GCM server for us to communicate with, but I don't see that as being likely at all because of the advertising. That would take away one of the main draws for their app, leaving it with almost nothing that 3rd party developers can't do. For now though, "Talon Pull" seems to be working well and I would encourage you all to try it out. Battery seems to be fine, the one drawback is that you must be connected to a datasource right when the interaction happens or it won't be saved or shown.
Talon Pull - My solution/workaround
As I said before, this is NOT push notifications. Push notifications are sent to your device to notify you from some kind of server. They aren't always on, and only turn on when your device receives the info from the web service.
Talon Pull on the other hand, uses Twitter's Streaming API to just create an "always on" service to be constantly listening for and streaming tweets that contain your Twitter Handle. The way this works is that you are signed in with your API keys after you turn on the option to enable Talon Pull. I then just create this "listener" that Twitter's servers will send new tweets to. Luckily, they will take care of most of the filtering of those tweets on their end, to reduce the load as much as possible on your device (because before the filtering, it literally will receive every single public tweet that is happening. It was amazing when I first flipped and saw the tweets flowing over my log haha). So we filter it down to as few of tweets actually reaching your device as possible, then I start broadcasting the notifications when you receive the new ones.
Overall, it is a relatively simple process, the problem with it though, you have probably already realized, you have to be constantly connected with a data service or the app won't know when to receive the new tweets. Obviously that is the part that is going to end up taking the battery (if it does), not "bloated" or "un-optimized" code as some of you I sure believed. So far though, through my testing, it doesn't seem to have a very big impact on battery overall, but I suppose that it potentially could if you are using Twitter that much more than I do.
If there was a better way, I wish I could find it. I think that this is the method that most 3rd party services use to send you those fake "push notifications". So there ya have it, hope you learned something. It works well and it is the only way to get a lot of information like who favorited or retweeted your statuses
Conclusion
Thanks for the read, if you made it all the way, hope that gives you an idea as to why push notifications just aren't even an option at this point and what my solution to that problem has been, even if it is not ideal. It works, and it seems to be working quite well for me.
So just know: "Talon Pull" isn't quite the same as push notifications, but it is as close as you are going to get and is working better for me than I would have ever imagined. Enjoy!
2.) Translucency
Why aren’t my status bar and navigation bar translucent like in all of the screenshots?!?
This is an Android 4.4 KitKat feature only. Get a new phone/ROM if you want it.
3.) Theming Support and Limitations
We have created a pretty powerful theme engine for Talon and EvolveSMS this time around, but it isn't without its limitations.
The main app color will always be orange. Don't ask to change it. That isn't something I can theme dynamically or read from an add on package, themers can change the orange glow on the in-line buttons (favorite, retweet, and send), but that is as much as your are going to get with that one.
4.) Viewing users who "retweet" and "favorite" your statuses
This is another thing that isn't going to happen at this point. It isn't possible to get the user ID's or their names with the current version of the API's.
Maybe Twitter will open this up in the future, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.For now, the best you will get is the numbers on them
The only way to get this information is through the use of "Talon Pull" and the Streaming API's. When you get a retweet or favorite, it will be put in the interactions drawer on the right side of any activities with drawers.The only way to get this information is through the use of "Talon Pull" and the Streaming API's. When you get a retweet or favorite, it will be put in the interactions drawer on the right side of any activities with drawers.
5.) Clearing the Cache
If you know much about caching in Android, then you may wonder why in the world I would want to clear it every time you switch themes.
The answer is pretty simple: to vastly improve the performance and the smooth scrolling in the app, I save the profile pictures according to the current theme's style, whether that is circle (like the "Talon" layout) or square (like the "Hangouts" layout). This preference is also available to themers in the add-on themes.
By caching them directly as circles, it alleviates the need to do it on the fly which could consume quite a bit of processing power on older phones and would just be a complete waste to render them like that every time.
You may think it is a hassle, but you would be thanking me if you knew the difference it makes.
You can also view the current cache size and clear it manually from "Advanced Settings".
6.) Battery Consumption
If you use Talon a lot throughout the day, it is going to take up battery, simple as that. I find that on a 30 min refresh intervol for the different timelines and manually going in and browsing/updating throughout the day, it takes about 4-5% of my battery. I would say this is pretty normal because there are days that Google+ takes up to 10% with just casual browsing.
If that isn't acceptable for you though, then there are a few things you can do to reduce battery consumption:
1.) Turn down the refresh interval on the timelines. This is the big one. It is those background services that are going to drain your battery.
2.) Turn off "Refresh on Startup".
3.) Turn off "Talon Pull" and "Live Streaming"
4.) Don't have it sync the second account's mentions
And if all else fails... Get off Twitter and do something productive for awhile =D haha any app that accesses the internet and refreshes as much as a Twitter client is inherently going to use more battery in the background. There are ways to reduce it, but not always ways around it!
7.) Custom ROMs Immersive Mode
My custom ROM has "Immersive Mode" and Talon doesn't seem to play nice with it! What's up with that?!
The way that immersive mode works in your ROMs currently isn't so hot unfortunately. There is a reason Google didn't put it into the whole system because app developers would have problems implementing the "translucency" with conflicting system stuff.
Not to fret to much though, I was able to get things working smoothly with it in Talon. The problem was that my ListView's are expanded through the different system bars. This can be a big problem if you try to switch to "Immersive" in the middle of doing something in the app. You will notice the margins get all wanky on the top and the bottom of your lists.
It can be easily solve though by just restarting the app by swiping it out of your recent apps screen. Sorry, but that is the best I am going to be able to do here, Translucent bars an "Immersive Mode" just weren't meant to work together.
Theming in Talon
Theming in Talon for Twitter
Real quick, before you get to far into the content, I want to let all you developers know about one of, if not the standout feature of Talon and EvolveSMS: one incredibly powerful theme engine.
Along with these apps, me and Jacob have completely redesigned and rethought our old "Theme Engine" from Sliding Messaging! Although the Sliding Messaging one was cool and great for the average user to customize, it was slow, cluttered, limited, and just bad design from a developer perspective. This won't be an issue with these apps though. We remade everything about it to bring you the ultimate themeing and customization experience, without the bloat and slowdowns. You won't be disappointed when you see what it can do!
All this theme engine takes is a little bit of knowledge about layouts and resources in Android, along with the Android SDK to compile and distribute your package as an APK, then you can make both of these apps into literally ANYTHING you want. We are able to read the layouts, drawables, and some of the colors directly from your compiled package and place them in our apps! Sweet huh, you thought this kind of design your own thing was only for homescreens
And the best part: it is completely free and you can easily share these themes with anyone when you are done by just sending the APK or putting it on the Google Play Store!
For more info on these and to start making Talon really your own, check out these links:
1.) Talon Theming Example/Walkthrough on GitHub
2.) Google+ Community Theming Section - A great place to share so anyone can see and use your themes, not just XDA users
3.) Google+ Theming Post
gonna try it out soon
Amazing Twitter app, absolutely loving it so far. It is just stunning, and kudos to going with transparent navbar instead of immersive, it looks fantastic and doesn't require a gesutre to get to.
Yeah, I completely agree that transparent is the way to go over immersive on something like this, it takes more work, but definitely with it!
Why do you only support for 2 accounts? It's just a question!
Pac-Man said:
Why do you only support for 2 accounts? It's just a question!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, a little embarrassing, but because the logic behind coding more than that gets way complex... haha
klinkdawg24 said:
Well, a little embarrassing, but because the logic behind coding more than that gets way complex... haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry! But I hope you'll add multiaccount. There're a lot of people that love it
Anyway it's a good app with a perfect design. My sincerelly congratulations!
Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 mediante Tapatalk
Will love to try it, I paid for falcon and then it got free
Hoping for xda version
Maybe I'm just stupid.. How do you pull up replies to others tweets? Beautiful app btw... Love it...
wow this app looks beautiful, would love to try it, unfortunately, i dont have a credit card and can't purchase from google play. Will there be a free or xda version coming soon? if not is there any way for me to try this out? signed up for the beta as well
I got the app a couple of hours ago and it's amazing.
Just a few things..
Where did the Talon Pull notifications go when they are received? I have to manually to update the timeline anyway.
You have to pull down for too long in order to update. You should adjust it
You should definitely implement threaded DMs, that would be pretty cool
Great app btw,
donwhall70 said:
Maybe I'm just stupid.. How do you pull up replies to others tweets? Beautiful app btw... Love it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right now, you can only look backwards at tweets, looking forward will come when i figure it out haha
alkspo said:
wow this app looks beautiful, would love to try it, unfortunately, i dont have a credit card and can't purchase from google play. Will there be a free or xda version coming soon? if not is there any way for me to try this out? signed up for the beta as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, because of the token limit, this app is going to be paid, I thought about an XDA version with different tokens, but that would just go against Twitters rules still
Kage0x said:
I got the app a couple of hours ago and it's amazing.
Just a few things..
Where did the Talon Pull notifications go when they are received? I have to manually to update the timeline anyway.
You have to pull down for too long in order to update. You should adjust it
You should definitely implement threaded DMs, that would be pretty cool
Great app btw,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) They go to the interactions drawer on the right, make sure you are on the newest version and it will work better (1.01)
2.) i changed it for the version im releasing now
3.) yeah the dm's have a lot of work i know!
Version 1.05
(up in ~2 hours)
Well, day one is coming to a close and i have added some nice stuff for all of you
There was an update earlier that solved some issues with the Talon Pull service not working and tweets being saved twice in some places. That was version 1.01.
Changelog for 1.05:
Correctly mute retweets
- Higher quality images on timeline
- Dismiss all on interactions drawer
- In-app browser is now optional
- Lowered swipe length for Pull to Refresh
- Option to display both screenname and name on timeline tweets
- Open app from clicking icon on widget
- Finished German translation
- Fixed contact images on layout change
- Attempted fixes for Play Store crash reports
I hopefully got the force closes that were reported today taken care of. Although there weren't many, which makes me happy
Let me know how this version works for all of you!
hi mate
the last update is wonderful
it fix almost every complain ppl have.... BUT.....
PLEASE and i repeat PLEASE don't use the same way of plume to manage DM
the DM must be in threaded conversations, with the ability to delete entire threads, just like a normal "sms" application does, and just like tweetbot does.
please fix the dm section and this could be the real deal for android users.
faremoney said:
hi mate
the last update is wonderful
it fix almost every complain ppl have.... BUT.....
PLEASE and i repeat PLEASE don't use the same way of plume to manage DM
the DM must be in threaded conversations, with the ability to delete entire threads, just like a normal "sms" application does, and just like tweetbot does.
please fix the dm section and this could be the real deal for android users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DMs will get a big rewrite, but I have a few other things I need to do first
klinkdawg24 said:
DMs will get a big rewrite, but I have a few other things I need to do first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very nice app. I only have two "issues" Local Trends is displaying trendings from another country. The same happened to me with Falcon Pro so, I guess you both use same location service. It would be nice to have an option to select trends manually for people who is living in another country and wanna know what is happenning in their "home"
The other issue I found is that I think data loading is faster in other Twitter clients especially with timeline refresh
OK, this gets better and better.
The pull to refresh is better than before, but it still needs some improvement. Take a look at how the one from the gmail app behaves. That one is perfect. But this is just a minor issue, so it's not a big deal
Regarding the DM issue, could you at least change the order in which they are displayed, or at least give us the opportunity to do so? It's kinda weird to have the old ones first. But it really depends on long will it take to rewrite the whole thing, if you're going to do it
Also, I really think mentions notifications from the Talon Pull should go directly into the mentions tab instead of the additional drawer, but maybe that's just me
awesome. perhaps the only competitor falсon. you can do that display images if given a direct link to it? (everywhere)
view who retweet/favorite. display real-time, I mean like 20:14, but not 14 minutes ago. thx, man.
Looking at the Nokia 640 on metro PCs , what are you guys opinions on this phone?I had a Nokia 521 quiet awhile back but switched to android because of the lack of SD card use back then.
I can't speak to MetroPCS as a carrier, but the 640 is a great phone for its price. The biggest problem with it is the same problem every WP device will have - there aren't as many apps available for the platform as there are for Android and iOS (although there are a bunch nonetheless, and more every day) - but the phone itself is quite good unless you need high-end specs for some reason. The OS runs very smoothly on it. Also, it's upgradable to Windows 10 Mobile (yes, Microsoft changed the branding on their phone OS *again*...), so you've got a reasonably future-proof design and it'll even be able to run at least some Android apps in the future.
In my opinion windows phones are always better and safe than android phones. You can also read about technology public relations.
Play Apps?
GoodDayToDie said:
I can't speak to MetroPCS as a carrier, but the 640 is a great phone for its price. The biggest problem with it is the same problem every WP device will have - there aren't as many apps available for the platform as there are for Android and iOS (although there are a bunch nonetheless, and more every day) - but the phone itself is quite good unless you need high-end specs for some reason. The OS runs very smoothly on it. Also, it's upgradable to Windows 10 Mobile (yes, Microsoft changed the branding on their phone OS *again*...), so you've got a reasonably future-proof design and it'll even be able to run at least some Android apps in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are these claims about Android apps to WP coming from? Isn't it still a rumour?
I can't seem to find any official substanciated news about this...
As I understand it MS currently have two problems regarding the app-gap;
1) if they open WP to Play-apps, then they risk losing interest from dev's to continue making apps specifically to WP, making WP more or less another version of Android.
2) making dev's keen on making apps for a third platform, which isn't futureproof yet (even tho it's been around for long enough). This "solution" will make WP it's own and keep MS in the mobilemarket as an real and actual alternative to the established platforms.
What is sure and what are rumours?
M
Metalbuddhist said:
Where are these claims about Android apps to WP coming from? Isn't it still a rumour?
I can't seem to find any official substanciated news about this...
As I understand it MS currently have two problems regarding the app-gap;
1) if they open WP to Play-apps, then they risk losing interest from dev's to continue making apps specifically to WP, making WP more or less another version of Android.
2) making dev's keen on making apps for a third platform, which isn't futureproof yet (even tho it's been around for long enough). This "solution" will make WP it's own and keep MS in the mobilemarket as an real and actual alternative to the established platforms.
What is sure and what are rumours?
M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will not enable android apps to run directly on the phone like in an emulator, they developed a tool so android developers can recompile their existing app code so it can be used in windows, see the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qgajY4An1I
I'm really looking forward to making the switch from Android. I've always been a Windows PC enthusiast, and Windows 10 is shaping up nicely.
So, a phone to match will be nice. As for apps for phones, I hardly use any nowadays.
The biggest disadvantage of WP is the low market share of under 10% .
This means that most of the useful apps or games will not be available to WP.
But if as you say you dont use apps and you like the windows style you should go for it!
My experience switching over
I picked up a 640 on T-Mobile the other day as a new "daily driver" - my S4 went swimming once upon a time and reception was never quite the same after that, and I've been thinking about app development and the possible advantages of being a bigger fish in a smaller pond - particularly if MS manages to be successful going forward with Windows Phone. I'm sure I won't have anything available by the time Windows 10 Mobile comes out, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out in the end - perhaps Android development would be a better choice after all? But my experience with the phone overall hasn't been bad so far, particularly not for $100.
The one thing that I hate about the phone is that I can't put it on WiFi at home - something about the WiFi config puts it into a boot loop when it tries to kick in the voice over WiFi piece. Seems like it's similar to the "no iOS zone" problem that turned up for Apple back in April, except that since (relatively) nobody is using Windows Phone nobody really cares. The "fix" recommended is "reset your router to factory defaults" which might be an issue since I'm running OpenWRT..... I'm thinking about putting the Windows 10 preview on so this may go away - even if it's only due to lack of support for T-Mobile's WiFi calling. At least I have LTE coverage in most of my house and an "unlimited" data plan.
The main thing I'm really missing is browser choice - I REALLY miss having Firefox and Dolphin, because I do a lot of long-form reading in my browser and the readability view in FF is much more usable. LastPass in Dolphin is also nice to have, though it never worked for me in Firefox. I'm also missing the addon ecosystems of both browsers. Surfy is at least a nice addition, but browsers on WP seem to be at least 2-3 years behind what's on Android. Both IE and Surfy "feel" kind of like the built-in browser in Gingerbread (2.3) or maybe in the early days of Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) before Google started pushing Chrome as the default browser. Having relatively weak browser(s) is a problem because with the lack of apps at least I can use mobile websites..... when they don't simply crash out the IE tab/window/whatever since it's not a tabbed or windowed interface.
I'm also hoping that Pocket Casts will work correctly for me after their next update (currently it hangs if I turn on sync to pull in my podcasts, then dies on app startup), but I'll survive for a while. I'm also feeling the lack of good ebook readers, I've been spoiled by Cool Reader and Moon+ Reader Pro on the Android side.
The only things besides browsers that I'm really missing:
Things tied in with Google's ecosystem - I use Google Voice for my voicemail, I've been using Location History for a long time to help me track when I arrive at and leave customer locations, and there's a group of us that uses Google Hangouts for group chat. I can get Voice notifications in email with the transcriptions then listen to the messages via URL. The Location History bit I may be able to replace with Phone Tracker, but I'm not sure what to do about Hangouts yet.
Replacement keyboards! I've been a big Swiftkey user for years and would love to have it back even without the voice recognition link (which launches Google's service). I hate having to do 4-6 extra keystrokes to enter passwords because of the switches to get to numbers/punctuation and extended punctuation (via the numbers page). There are places where Hacker's Keyboard (a much more full keyboard nice for terminal emulations) was also nice to have.
A GOOD text editor (e.g. DroidEdit which has syntax highlighting, etc.) or really even an adequate text editor. Maybe a mediocre one? Please? I've seen mention of Code Editor but was unimpressed by the "Free" version (first thing it does is throw you to the store page for the paid version, free version can't even see the "advanced" editor that's the only reason to actually consider it). The only other option that at least looks good in screenshots ("HTML+JS+CSS IDE") hasn't been updated since 2013 and has a total of 3 reviews - and the two with text are both 1-star.
CallTrack (which adds all of my phone calls to my Google Calendar, tagged appropriately and with start and end times) and SMS Backup (which uploads my sent/received SMS to GMail, tagged appropriately). CallTrack is great for going back and "Who did I talk to that day?" and SMS Backup is great for tracking down things received in old messages. I WILL be working on finding replacements for these.
And a few less-important things that I can either do without or still need to find replacements for:
My auto mileage/service tracking app - if there's something comparable to aCar then I haven't seen it yet.
OpenVPN, though the VPN service I use allows IPSEC as well so I'll need to set that up.
Lyft, though I've not actually needed to use it. I know Uber's on there, I just like what I know of Lyft better (and there's one area where my wife may need it that's on the edge of the areas for both but Lyft covers it and Uber doesn't).
KeePass - I believe I saw one implementation in the Store, but I'd want to check into the background of it given the number of scam apps I've come across.
@fencepost: Good list of stuff, there. I don't really have a good solution to much of it - I mean, Microsoft has alternatives to a lot of Google's stuff, but they are mutually incompatible so everybody you hang out with would need to switch too - but those are some good problems to list. The problem with WiFi calling is probably a T-Mobile bug, sadly; I don't have it myself but WiFi Calling on WP8.x isn't really as good as it could be. My biggest personal complaint with WiFi is that the OS is too damn desperate to stay on (unusably weak) WiFi signals even when it has cellular data; if I'm actively using my phone when I leave the apartment (for example, checking a bus schedule) it's faster to manually disable WiFi than to rely on the phone to notice that the WiFi signal is much too weak to use and fail over to cellular. Ideally I'd be able to tell the phone to use cellular by *default* and only use WiFi for stuff that it can't get ont he WAN (LAN servers, etc.), but the OS wasn't really designed to provide an optimal experience for people with unlimited data plans.
The custom keyboard thing may be fixable soon - at least, I really hope so - but for now it is indeed a problem. WP8.1 has the best *built-in* keyboard of the three leading mobile OSes, IMO, but it's not better than all the Android options.
As for a text editor, I generally avoid writing anything longer than notes or minor document edits (or emails, but usually only plain text) on the phone, so I haven't really looked. You might be able to use SSH or Remote Desktop, though; there's a number of decent apps for each (including a MS-authored one for RDP) and with unlimited data they should work. You may even find them more useful than a local editor. It might be worth setting up a Remote App server (so you'd *just* get an editor, rather than a whole desktop) for this.
OpenVPN *should* be possible to port, but it needs a driver (TUN/TAP) and MS would need to approve or provide that even more than they would need to approve a new VPN app (which I think requires a capability not normally available to third-party devs). I'm tempted to say that they really *should* allow it, but I'm also painfully aware that OpenVPN on Windows (and, possibly, other platforms) is sort of crap. I can usually beat it into submission on a machine where I have admin, but on a phone it could simply just sit there being unusable until the phone gets rebooted or something.
WP8 in general seems to have a lower risk of scam apps than Android, but it's definitely a good idea to look into any password keeper utility's trustworthiness.
EDIT: As for browsers, as far as I know there's not actually any rule against third-party browsers. Opera Mini does exist for WP8, which is cool, but so far as I know nobody has ported a Gecko or WebKit/Blink-based browser. Ideally, somebody should fix this, although getting them to work within WP8's application model might mean rebuilding a lot of the browser as well as just porting the rendering engine.
Metalbuddhist said:
Where are these claims about Android apps to WP coming from? Isn't it still a rumour?
I can't seem to find any official substanciated news about this...
As I understand it MS currently have two problems regarding the app-gap;
1) if they open WP to Play-apps, then they risk losing interest from dev's to continue making apps specifically to WP, making WP more or less another version of Android.
2) making dev's keen on making apps for a third platform, which isn't futureproof yet (even tho it's been around for long enough). This "solution" will make WP it's own and keep MS in the mobilemarket as an real and actual alternative to the established platforms.
What is sure and what are rumours?
M
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I read an article on Flipboard some while ago that MS had ditched it because of Lack of security in Open-source and it wouldnt work directly from the file system.. only if they sideloaded Android apps. Why do we want android apps anyway.. It removes the love of WP. MS need to invest more money in their WP store to entice new devs.
Let ms make a toolkit for the android devs
A toolkit to one click port it to MS ecosystem
Then the threshold to port it would be lower and a real mony maker for the devs
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Free mobile app
NightOrchid said:
I read an article on Flipboard some while ago that MS had ditched it because of Lack of security in Open-source and it wouldnt work directly from the file system.. only if they sideloaded Android apps. Why do we want android apps anyway.. It removes the love of WP. MS need to invest more money in their WP store to entice new devs.
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I don't want Android apps as such, but Android and IOS devs in the wp game.
I've had a lot of Apple and Andy devices the last eight years and have grown to like the variety of developers and want they put out for us.
WP is a good ecosystem, but the app gap is way bigger than I expected. There are just to many everyday apps I had on my other phones, which I cannot get in WP (yet).
I feel like I've walked into a grossery store and most of the shelfes are empty... I have to buy my oj and milk in another store, simply because MS can't get those dev's on board.
...And that's just a crying shame.
The 640 has a baked in WiFi calling feature rather than a separate app like almost every other Lumia device. I think it may be the only Lumia to have Wi-Fi calling baked into the SIM settings rather than running as a separate app.
Be careful if you are using any Google apps with it - Google is scared of Windows phone and they are doing everything they can to prevent app development. Any app they have taken over will never see another Windows phone release, and they are kind of crazy about it. For example Microsoft made their own YouTube app because Google wouldn't ,Google forced them to take it down. Now the YouTube app on the WP is just a link to YouTube - not because no one wants to make one for WP, but because Google won't let anyone make one.
---------- Post added at 08:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
I should add though - I have the 640 and it's awesome, extremely fast, well built, solid screen, expandable SD card slot, decent cameras for a phone and an ok flash. It's also neat the way the apps tie together with your windows 10 computer
NightOrchid said:
I read an article on Flipboard some while ago that MS had ditched it because of Lack of security in Open-source and it wouldnt work directly from the file system.. only if they sideloaded Android apps. Why do we want android apps anyway.. It removes the love of WP. MS need to invest more money in their WP store to entice new devs.
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Click to collapse
I have tried both Windows as well as Android Phone but everyone will agree that Android is anytime the best coz of features or benefits it has to offer. I used to be a Windows Mobile fan but now I love Android.
I would not switch to Windows again for now atleast