Related
These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
EDIT: Things have moved on since this post, you might want to look at post #39 too (page 4)
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos
I too wonder how long I will last with TF3D. However, the joypad is no problem. Simply use the centre button as a reference point. If you rest part of your thumb in there and press any side of it, then it is easy to navigate. At least I find it easy anyway. Hope that might help you.
carlosp_uk said:
I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run
mcwtrekkie said:
If you were really a fan you would have made sure you were the first, and didn't have to run
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.
evilskanker said:
I think I may well have been Orange's first online order! Could not wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the spirit!
Has anyone managed to add a UK city to the weather forecast page ? I found it almost impossible to scroll down to the last page, it keeps selecting wrong countries, the only way I see - scroll one-by-one using hardware buttons ....
Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.
evilskanker said:
Yes, I added 3. Scroll with finger, well, more of a flick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
hertc said:
I think I've tried about 20 different ways of scrolling with a finger, always end up with a list of south american cities ... (
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.
evilskanker said:
It's at times like these that it would be good to be able to use the wheel for scrolling down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, still remember Sony J7 I had long time ago, all these things were so easy with a wheel ..
hertc said:
Comparing to my old Orbit, I would say I have to press harder for screen to react ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently the Diamond is the first PocketPC device to have a tempered glass screen to make it extra tough. This makes it require a little more pressure than other devices.
But much more resilient to damage, and also nicer on the eye.
wasn't to amazed with the stock rom,
but after some days of usage and flashing the first cooked rom,
i am getting more and more into my new mobile..
Totally agree, using my Diamond for a week after three years on I-mate's.
carlosp_uk said:
CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a suggestion -
Speed Dialing.
you can place at least SOME off your favorites in the positions you want.. and then it will just be one long press.. and it will dial.
Phone - menu - Speed Dial.
and of course.. there is always voice dialing.
Turn off TF3D. Ive heard is does HUGE things for the interface speed, and you'll get your tasks back (first thing Im going to do when I get a sprint diamond on this side of the pond)
I agree on almost every point
Not having used touch before, I really can't say anything bad about the navigation. To me it's a revolution, but it's not quite there yet.
The biggest flaw is the biggest asset. Let me explain.
The biggest asset to this device is the screen. I have never liked the screen on any of the QVGA devices I have used (Wizard and Hermes). The VGA screen on the Diamond is fantastic! Crisp and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. The words by HTC "Not too big, not too small" really sums up my feelings about it. However. Screen size is relative to what you display on it. I'm sure a lot of research, testing and effort went in to decide the size of the elements on the TF3D interface. Personally I would have designed it differently.
The main professional reason I choose to use a WiMo is Active Sync OTA (Over-The-Air). Having direct push of Mail, Calendar and Contacts to my device is critical in my profession. This HAS to work, it has to be easy to use, and easy to read. On the Diamond it works fantastically. Lots better than on the Hermes. It takes some getting used to, when you have never used touchflo before.
The touch interface has to be finger friendly, demanding finger sized icons and buttons. Having a small screen required HTC to use the entire screen. That makes you wish for a larger screen, yet a larger screen would require a larger device and I dont want that. Dilemma.
Like you said, the TF3D interface lacks in visual feedback. This could be replaced by tactile feedback. The same technology used in the game TEETER could be used to give me feedback on my actions.
Being a WiMo certified pro I know that the main obstacle for HTC is WiMo itself, or rather the Windows CE it is built upon. Win CE 5 is nowhere near a realtime OS and the switch to Win CE 6 (afaik it will be the foundation for WiMo 7) will be a major leap. CE6 is not a RTOS either, but it has the means to enable truly great applications. I look forward to what Developers will create for WiMo7.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0)
The only thing I really dislike on my Diamond is the scrollwheel. I clearly does not work like you would expect it to. Unintuitive. And the Up/Down/Left/Right navigation around it is near unusable. Using the touch screen works though so it is not a showstopper for me.
Speed of the interface is good once you have used the cache size tweaks. Not great but good.
I fully agree on the speed comment, 527mhz... but it seems it's different mhz compared to my HTC Herald (P4350).
On my Herald I also have WM6.1, a 200mhz cpu (o'ced to 240 mhz) and everything starts faster!
I've got the 1.37.xxx.3 rom on my Diamond, TF3D disabled and still it's slower.
Very strange indeed.
guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly.
guys i suggest you all to flash duttythroy's diamond project v2 rom. it increased the usability amazingly. and c'mon guys, our shiny precioussssssss is out some weeks. look what they've done with the kaiser within one year... stay patient and keep being excited for that genius piece of hardware.
carlosp_uk said:
These are the first impressions of a power user after a week with the Diamond - I hope they might help others to decide whether to get one.
Background
I'm a power user but also a heavy day-to-day user as well. I use my phone for calling people, basic PDA functions, OTA google sync, web access, IMAP mail, GPS and also .NET software development. (I'm the author of 'Touch Settings') I used to have an HTC Touch. Before that, an HTC Prophet. Before that, an HTC MDA Compact.. ..you get the idea. I like HTC devices. I've stuck with them all, put up with their frustrations and watched them steadily improve. But this phone felt like the most exciting release yet. A massive leap forward in terms of specs. I was calling up Orange for about a month to find out the ETA. I actually RAN to the Orange Shop in Oxford Street and managed to get their last one in stock at the weekend!
So, one week in, here we go...
Great things
THE SCREEN
My favourite thing is the VGA screen. I cannot believe the difference it makes to the look of the phone, seriously. I could never go back to QVGA again now, this is a major improvement. Just reading the operator name in a slim, Arial-Narrow type font at the top of the screen and not being able to see the individual pixels, this is a true step forward. Everything, repeat, EVERYTHING looks better.
THE CAMERA
The auto-focus camera is nothing short of brilliant. Still rubbish in low-light levels, still no flash, but this is light-years ahead of the last one! I still get a little smirk of delight on my face when I hear it whirring as it focuses ahead of taking a picture!
A FASTER PROCESSOR
Hooray! FINALLY!... 528MHz ...4 times faster than my HTC Touch!...in theory. See below.
THE NEW ADD-ONS
Having GPS, FM radio, a tilt switch, a light sensor and more is fantastic. Teeter, the game, is awesome and will impress every person you know at a party.
THE SIZE
The Diamond is slightly smaller than the HTC Touch as well - easier to fit in a pocket. And it really does look gorgeous. Well done HTC.
Enough praise. Because then there's all this:
The Not-so-great things:
THE SPEED
Pop Quiz. Take your Windows Mobile phone. Tap the start button. Then tap 'Programs'. Does the window flash onto your screen immediately? No. There's a delay, isn't there? And sometimes you can even see it drawing every individual icon, top-to-bottom. On my HTC Touch, after a day of use, this took about 2 seconds.
On the Diamond, with TouchFlo 3D running, it's worse.
Skip this paragraph if you don't want a rant. Seriously, when are Windows Mobile phones actually going to get responsive enough to be useable? Delays when you press buttons, delays when you bring up menus, switch applications, etc, etc. What the hell is this operating system DOING with those 537 mega cycles per second??? Having patiently waited through my last THREE sloooow devices, I was thrilled at the thought of a phone that actually whizzed along... ...but it's a bit like going from XP on a slow computer to Vista on a fast computer - no noticable increase in speed at all. Such a crushing disappointment. My old Nokia could re-draw a screen faster 3 years ago. In this day and age, and with a processor doing a belting 500+ MHz, this should NOT be happening. Things should appear INSTANTLY and react the VERY MOMENT you touch them. I am running out of patience. The iPhone is looking more attactive every day.
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Fantastic to look at, but surprisngly sluggish to use. The more days that pass, the more it's becoming apparent that this interface is more about form and less about function. It's also often lacking in visual feedback; sometimes a button will move when you drag it (main nav bar at the bottom), sometimes not! You just have to swipe and see! Visual feedback is a very important part of user interface design.
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
I feel that, action-wise, some things have (incredibly) got HARDER since my HTC Touch. For example, I used to be able to call my favourite contacts with a swipe and a tap.. ..now it's a swipe, a complicated side-swipey thing, a painstaking wait for the piccies to flip around, and finally a tap. Er, hello? This is the MAIN THING I USE THE PHONE FOR - CALLING PEOPLE! I can't even position my favourite contacts in memorable places; again, a big factor in user interface design, hence why you remember where your icons are on your PC's desktop.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
I can't add any custom home screen items! What the hell happened to being able to view my list of things to do? (tasks) Seriously, this is a shockingly bad step back. I know there are some apps to work around this, but I'm doing a review of the stock phone and software here.
THE JOYPAD
This should be renamed the joy-less pad. It's virtually impossible to click the Left and Right buttons without frequently mis-tapping and hitting the 'Back' or 'Hang Up' keys instead. There are no markings, you just sort of have to 'guess' where abouts on the flat screen to tap. The actual target area isn't big enough and I'm getting sick of quitting out of screens when I just want to move right or left. I've got fairly big hands but I'm no elephant.
The ipod-style 'whiz-around' wheel seems promising but when you try it, it's under-responsive and jerky in its movements. I would suggest that's why they've limited the applications that support it by default.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Another step back - from 8Gb storage on my HTC Touch (with a mini SD card) to a paltry 4Gb now. Not enough to put all my music on the phone plus nav software, and no slot for more storage.
GROSS GREASINESS
As other forum users have pointed out, all that swiping on this shiny black device - it looks like the back of a transit van after a minute or so of use.
CONCLUSION
Owning an HTC Diamond is without doubt a step forward from an HTC Touch, but it's a smaller step than you might think. Be prepared for a mixed bag of emotions. Joy at the look of the thing, disappointment when you realise it's slower than you hoped, shouts of happiness when you first play 'Teeter', cries of frustration when the screen turns off randomly during calls or you miss-hit the joypad button or you can't swipe the tiny bit of the screen you're meant to.
After all that, I might surprise you by saying this. I would still say this phone is the best option on the market for the day-to-day user who wants an ultra-portable device that packs enough power to do that bit more than just making calls.
Just 24 hours into owning the phone I did my first ROM flash, from 1.37...1 to 1.37...3 - and this helped the speed somewhat and fixed a memory leak. I also tweaked the registry as much as I could. This has helped too, but the above problems are all still too evident, nothing has really improved enough to make me retract any of them. Keep watching these forums, though, because future ROM updates have the power to make this device much, much better.
That's about it, I hope these comments have helped, or given you something to debate in the space below. I'm going to stick with the Diamond for now. But I wouldn't mind betting I'll have completely disabled TouchFlo 3D before the week is out...
Carlos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what a crap...
THE SPEED
Put one of the new ROMs on it (Dutty, Walshieau), runs like hell. No delay here!
TFL3D - INTERFACE
Simply switch TF3D off if you don't like it.
And use an existing tool for your today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
COMMON ACTIONS, E.G. CALLING PEOPLE
Disable the Diamond dialer, you get your traditional dialer back.
HOME SCREEN (TFL3D again really)
Simply switch TF3D off.
Use an existing tool for today (SPB Mobile Shell ect.).
THE JOYPAD
Get used to it, it works perfect after a few weeks.
NO MINI SD CARD SLOT
Ok, maybe you got a point...
On the other hand: do you really need ALL your music all the time. A sync now and then for other music isn't that hard.
GROSS GREASINESS
Ok, the shiny cover gets greasy. But is't so beautiful,,,
UP date 6-16-09 (is show as -- )
i just picked up a palm pre the 1st day it came out.witch was the 6th of this month. this is only my opinion oky guys.
Cons :
- no 3rd party apps (yet)
- the alarm sucks but i can say its a lot better then stock alarm for ppc
- the keypad is not as good looking and feeling as the htc ppc(6800-pro)
- no micro sd slot
- cant record videos only takes PIC
- no onscreen keyboard
-- no reset button.(so if you freeze the phone you have to take off the cover and the battery to reset it.)
-- cant do one hand slide to get the keyboard out and need to also touch the screen and help it move up to get the keyboard out.
-- battery life sucks with brightness all the way up and lots of usage it last me 1 to 2 hours only.
-- you cant save a file from the net.(i made a ring tone online and send it to my phone it it wont d.l. the ringtone)
-- you can make ring tones on line but only transfer it from your comp to the phone
-- only 3 slides to hold your apps and other icons.( it just get longer down the more you add )
-- copy and past is harder to do. to many steps
-- typing is a bit hard bc its not to conformable to hold and type.
-- takes a long time to charge to full if empty about 1 hour and 30 mins
-- cant change txt tone or any thing ( only ring tones and to contact ring tones )
-- carrying case that come with the PHONE sucks.and if you buy one it will run you around 30 to 60 bucks. but i use my HTC 6900 case for it fit perfect.
-- the phone get hot when charging or using the phone
-- no led lights (can be good or bad if u like the led lights to show if bt is on and the flash like on some htc phone)
-- -- for more info on the phone go to you tube and type in palm pre.( there is LOTS of video of the phone and comparing )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pros :
- faster then ppc(htc 6800-pro-6900)
- i can have like 5 to 8 program running and wont be as lagy as the ppc(u can have up to like 3 programs running on some ppc and it be super lagy and have to close it out)to make it run faster
- i like the look of it better look more high tech
- the graphic is great.bright colors and the image seem to look like if u was looking at it on a lap top or desk top
- 8 gb of rom (7GB user available)
- Headphone jack is the 3.5mm size
- love the Touchstone Charging Dock(wireless charger for your phone)
-- you can reset the phone (not freeze) by going to the home screen and go to the palm icon and reset your phone from there(they give you 3 options to choose hard reset, semi hard reset, and reset.)
-- camera works great a lot better then ppc 6800 - pro must of the ppc phone.
-- google maps and sprint nav works and looks a lot better then htc and other ppc phones
-- you can save up to lots of book marks on your phone right now i have 18 book mark with pictures to show what they are.(internet)
-- speaker and call volume is super loud
-- blue tooth connects fast and well. quality is oky bc i have a cheap one only for 20 bucks but i can say it connects and detect it fast.
-- the touchstone wireless charger is amazing no more plugging up the phone unless you are connecting it to your desktop or laptop.
-- it have a auto sensor (kind of like the G Sensor for htc pro) where if you are on the phone it auto turn off the screen and when u move it away from your ear it comes back on and when u put it back it turns off its amazing.
-- they added some cool apps
HTML:
http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/pre-mobile-applications.html
-- emailing is THE BEST for this PHONE. nothing out there can win when it comes to emailing (yahoo works best) bc you cant get it the instant the sender send it. the others like gmail or hotmail you can set up time for it to check.
-- there is a switch for the phone to put the phone on vibrate or turn the phone off.(on tope of the phone)
-- for more info on the phone go to you tube and type in palm pre.( there is LOTS of video of the phone and comparing )
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
that is it guys i think that that is enough info n must of the stuff that we need to know about the phone. pm me if you guys want more info on have question .
[email protected]
Thanks!
Can you post some pics or videos?
Cheers,
Yeah, I played around with it and liked it for a couple reasons and didn't for a couple as well.
The keyboard is not as good as the Pro. And the 8GB makes no sense to me. Every phone should have a Micro SD slot!
I did really like the web browsing. Similar to the iPhone in the sense that it works like going to a real web page and you can easily make it bigger with the 2 finger trick like the iPhone. I will wait and see what others say for a few months before deciding. My Pro lags a bit too much and causes a problem with my yahoo email. Plus it's very bulky unlike the Pre which is very slim and nice.
I'd certainly be willing to give Palm Pre a try later, when there're enough applications, when there is a GSM version (rather than CDMA) available. I hope the second generation has bigger screen and storage. Also hope they release a version without keyboard 'cos I do'nt like physical keyboard (too slow and too limiting and forcing you to only use it in portrait mode. I want the ability to use lots of versions and different layout depending on needs, such as for foreign language input/handwriting) I think it gives iPhone a good run for it's money from the look of it. So, will be keeping an eye on this baby. Like your comment on the speed depsite multitasking so many applications. Great feedback.
Think you meant 8gb of ROM
kareem9nba said:
Think you meant 8gb of ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes thank you ...... !!!!!
eaglesteve said:
I'd certainly be willing to give Palm Pre a try later, when there're enough applications, when there is a GSM version (rather than CDMA) available. I hope the second generation has bigger screen and storage. Also hope they release a version without keyboard 'cos I do'nt like physical keyboard (too slow and too limiting and forcing you to only use it in portrait mode. I want the ability to use lots of versions and different layout depending on needs, such as for foreign language input/handwriting) I think it gives iPhone a good run for it's money from the look of it. So, will be keeping an eye on this baby. Like your comment on the speed depsite multitasking so many applications. Great feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you im trying to tell you guys on how i see it.coming from a HTC lover.
but i can say that i do like the pre also. and i think i will keep the pre untill HTC come up with a GREATER PHONE with multitasking.
Sho'nuff said:
Yeah, I played around with it and liked it for a couple reasons and didn't for a couple as well.
The keyboard is not as good as the Pro. And the 8GB makes no sense to me. Every phone should have a Micro SD slot!
I did really like the web browsing. Similar to the iPhone in the sense that it works like going to a real web page and you can easily make it bigger with the 2 finger trick like the iPhone. I will wait and see what others say for a few months before deciding. My Pro lags a bit too much and causes a problem with my yahoo email. Plus it's very bulky unlike the Pre which is very slim and nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes the pre should have came with a micro sd slot.that is one of the biggest mistake that they did. and with yahoo email you will LOVE IT bc i have 4 yahoo email account one for personal use other for registering and so on so on.
and when i get a new email it SHOW up on my phone the instent i receive it from the sender its GREAT for emailing GREAT...
To reset the phone without removing the back and the battery do the following.
Hold down the power button and toggle the ringer switch 4 times.
Zyphlin said:
To reset the phone without removing the back and the battery do the following.
Hold down the power button and toggle the ringer switch 4 times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i try it but it didnt work just say turn off / airplane mode ??
Good feedback.
I just bought one on Friday.
The battery thing is a major problem IMO, I charged it all night untill noon the next day, by six the phone was almost dead, BOGUS. Palm is supposed to have a replacement battery coming out very soon. Gonna argue I want one for free.
LET ME PUT MY OWN TEXT TONES!!!
DEFINITELY need an on-screen keyboard.
IMO the speaker could be twice as loud.
Yeah the stinkin thing gets HOT.
Buy the wireless charging doc, using the plug is a PITA.
Web pages load nice and smooth for me, better than the Iphone IMO. The Iphone was always freezing up on me, even with general apps. The Pre is nice and light, although I'm coming from a brick they call an HTC Tilt so anything would probably be lighter. Very bright, clear screen, this I like. I don't need an SD slot, why would I ever fill up 7 gigs on a phone?
Overall I'm content so far.
BEST PART so far, I got drunk the night I bought it and was callin it the Palm Tree.
i like how the pre looks but i love WM
Video of Pre
A video here of how its working on GSM in Vietnam!
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/...ht-playing-with-gsm-sim-in-vietnam/#continued
I currently own a Captivate and I'm tired of the ROM-switching, and the laggy interface (On each and every ROM I've installed) and want to give this device a shot, so my questions to people that migrated from Android to WP7 are:
What's better? What's worse? What will I miss? Is it worth the move?
Thanks!
xgibran said:
I currently own a Captivate and I'm tired of the ROM-switching, and the laggy interface (On each and every ROM I've installed) and want to give this device a shot, so my questions to people that migrated from Android to WP7 are:
What's better? What's worse? What will I miss? Is it worth the move?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just left the droid bionic 4 days ago. I am not new to windows phone though. What's better:
Ease of use. Its simple
Reliable. Connects every time
Hardware is now comparable with a lot of dual core droids. This does not lack for speed.
Its attractive and light.
Once you learn the Os, it becomes addictive in its simplicity.
Connects my jabra hands free and allows voice actions. Cool.
What's not so good:
If you have any notion of custom, forget it. What you see is what you get. I mean that...exactly as it sounds.
Apps. WP has many of the more familiar apps, but not all, yet. There is no Starbucks app, or Barnes and noble to name 2. Its getting better though.
Still limited in ringtones. Takes some doing to get your tone.
Battery life is not great. Not awful either.
The buttons on this focus are backwards. The volume id on upper left. A right handed phone holder changes the volume everytime.
No led notifications..at all.
Would I buy this again. Yes. I say this knowing I'm getting the 900 soon. I'll have both. This is a good phone.
Thanks, that is very helpful. One thing you didn't mention is that compared to Androids of the same level the speed is astonishing. The experience is so smooth!
So far I have found most of the same apps I used regularly on Android and a very good alternative to another.
As you said, battery life is not the best in the world, but it sure beats the 7-8 hours I got on the Captivate. I went through a whole day (~13 hours) of heavy use (OTA downloads, take a couple of pics, etc) before I needed to recharge.
The one thing that ticks me off in particular is the way multitasking is managed. I open something and hit the home button. If I go through the active apps (holding the back key) I can get back to the exact place I was in before I left it. If I tap on the tile of the app it restarts the app from scratch. What gives?
xgibran said:
Thanks, that is very helpful. One thing you didn't mention is that compared to Androids of the same level the speed is astonishing. The experience is so smooth!
So far I have found most of the same apps I used regularly on Android and a very good alternative to another.
As you said, battery life is not the best in the world, but it sure beats the 7-8 hours I got on the Captivate. I went through a whole day (~13 hours) of heavy use (OTA downloads, take a couple of pics, etc) before I needed to recharge.
The one thing that ticks me off in particular is the way multitasking is managed. I open something and hit the home button. If I go through the active apps (holding the back key) I can get back to the exact place I was in before I left it. If I tap on the tile of the app it restarts the app from scratch. What gives?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't mention speed because most people's first response to a speed claim is no way, or you missed something. Fact is, I didn't believe it either. I went to t-mobile to pay my bill. There was an in store special on the 710. $20, that's it. So I took it. That little low end phone outpaced the bionic in almost everything. When my bionic went on vacation decided to take off, I did not hesitate. I have not looked back. I'm successfully weaned from android, with no regrets..even my girlfriend made the trip back. She's even more integrated with windows live, office, SkyDrive, OneNote, the entire cloud scenario. She uses the concept at work. They think shes a genius.
So yeah, good concepts, good phone. Perfect, no. Like you mentioned. But a good show none the less.
I just made the switch from the HTC Desire. Honestly, the Focus S is a great phone. It's beautiful, stupidly thin like a cat walk model, great camera, etc.
WP7 is a beautiful OS, oh I've wanted to have it on my phone for so long now, but it's got a gammy leg. My main gripes are:
-Multitasking is a pain - it's so slow to resume applications I'm not sure what the difference is in relaunching an app. That said, without proper multitasking apps that should receive push notifications sort of... DON'T! This whole, let it run under the lock-screen is lame. In Android I thought it was ridiculous that EVERYTHING just ran in the background and now I'm complaining about the inverse. Is there no happy medium?
-Facebook Chat integration is another hobbled feature. I can't send pictures which you can in the Android app. I receive pictures as a LINK to the desktop FB site which is ridiculous because if you zoom you are bounced back to the left margin for some reason. Even the official FB app is useless when it comes to FB chat/IM! I used this with my wife constantly. The alternative is WhatsApp but then the whole seemless continuity from mobile to desktop is shattered!
-Integration with Gmail is a bit ropey, but seems quite adequate I suppose. I guess here too push notifications aren't possible it has to be 30 min intervals.
-I do admit to wishing that the keyboad had the key long press functionality for special characters like in Android. Flipping to the numeric keyboard is labourious
-Notifications are also a little inconsistent. The whole toast thing. Without a doubt the Android (and now iOS) pull down notifications bar is fantastic. This also goes for quick access to stuff like switching wifi, airplane mode on or off, etc
I'm sure I could go on... The positives are amazing. Damn it's smooth, beautiful and functional, but the above issues and others make it kind of a deal breaker for me. Android has sucked for a while, but it has matured and WP7 needs to do the same pretty quickly. I know the above issues might not be a deal breaker for a lot of people, but for me they are
Hmph! I'm a little annoyed now...
Coming from an ATT Cappy, I'm stoked.
Been on the Focus S for a few weeks now and I love it. IMO, it just works. What I need and want a phone to do, it does very well. EYE CANDY! There are a few things I miss coming from Android however.
1. The ability to toggle WiFi always on. This really sucks when sitting on my couch and using my phone to control my htpc (xbmc). It takes about 10 seconds for the wifi to re-connect after the screen is turned on. By no means a deal breaker and I'm sure will be addressed in future updates.
2. Individual audio volume controls. I miss the ability to have my alarm, system, media and other notification volumes at different pre-configured levels.
3. Apps are more expensive and the free ones are still a bit lacking.
4. Home screen customizing. I really would find it useful to have 3 home screens rather than 2 (tiles and apps). There's just too much **** i want quick access too I guess
5. Zero expandable memory. This one totally blows and was almost a deal breaker for me. ~16GB's is enough storage space, but just barely. There is no way I can have all my music, audio books and some movies on here. Currently I just have music :/
That's my 5. Everything else I think is comparable or better than Android currently. This phone is sleek and super fast. We just need some updates and app development to get this thing tip top.
Switched from Captivate to Focus S via the Smoked challenge.
- As far as operation goes, the Focus does indeed smoke the Captivate. Severely. I was always fighting the Captivate, but with the Focus S, the phone actually works as it was intended to. Metro is a bit plain, but the performance is steady and predictable. Personally, I'll take steady and predictable every time.
- The app situation on Windows isn't as solid as Android. Which only matters if the specific apps you are looking for aren't there. For example, if you can't live without Angry Birds, stay home.
- Video transfer *SUCKS*. Moving over large video files (movies) that aren't already formatted in a Zune friendly format takes *hours*. Seriously. Once they are transferred, they are beautiful, but if you are the type that likes moving different movies back and forth, stay far away from WP...at least until Apollo.
- Taken as a whole, this is an easy upgrade to recommend.
sarlo100 said:
Switched from Captivate to Focus S via the Smoked challenge.
- As far as operation goes, the Focus does indeed smoke the Captivate. Severely. I was always fighting the Captivate, but with the Focus S, the phone actually works as it was intended to. Metro is a bit plain, but the performance is steady and predictable. Personally, I'll take steady and predictable every time.
- The app situation on Windows isn't as solid as Android. Which only matters if the specific apps you are looking for aren't there. For example, if you can't live without Angry Birds, stay home.
- Video transfer *SUCKS*. Moving over large video files (movies) that aren't already formatted in a Zune friendly format takes *hours*. Seriously. Once they are transferred, they are beautiful, but if you are the type that likes moving different movies back and forth, stay far away from WP...at least until Apollo.
- Taken as a whole, this is an easy upgrade to recommend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually returned my Focus S for an SGS II. There were just too many little things I missed coming from Android that I couldn't live without. Going to the SGS II seems to be the best of both worlds for me and I'm super stoked.
Thoughts on it, display in sunlight, battery life, handling of notifications, look/feel of it on your wrist..... basically anything to do with the watch!
i like it. granted that its a new class of its own, i still get confused especially when i get multiple notifications on an app (ie hangouts). its confusing where the group text starts or if im still being shown a private text..
the screen is kinda hard to read in direct sunlight but tilting it a bit or using a different watch face helps.
i like the feel of it.. i preferred this over the g watch coz of the added feature and the look.
I really like it; however, screen is difficult to see in sunlight at times; screen is also a smudge magnet which adds to difficulties in seeing the display outdoors.
Love it - compared to the sony smartwatch and the Galaxy Gear it really has great improvements. Only Day 2, but my initial thoughts:
Pros
- Look/feel - it is little large (I don't have big wrists) but still stylish.
- Screen: awesome that the clock is always on, this was my biggest gripe about the Gear
- Usefulness: I've spent time training Google Now, and that's really paid off. Notifications mean i take my phone out of my pocket a lot less, and Google Now surfaces reminders and other useful info pretty well (although you don't have a lot of control over the order of notifications etc). The fact that it syncs dismissed notifications on the phone immediately is, in a word, awesome
- Apps: early days yet on this, but most big apps I'm sure will integrate so you can do the key features easily
- Voice recognition works great so far
Cons
- No speaker means if you want to do stuff without looking at the screen with your voice, it's harder. But seems like something I can live with
- Charging dongle is kinda annoying to fit on, and have to remember to travel with
- Starting an app (say Fit) takes a few too many swipes (if you're in a place where you don't want to be speaking to your wrist...)
A lot of the other potential "cons" like not many watch face designs, no feature to locate your phone (I know there's an app for this though) I reckon will play out over time and Google can fix pretty quickly...
A
eurorauser said:
, no feature to locate your phone (I know there's an app for this though) I reckon will play out over time and Google can fix pretty quickly...
A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at this one for that: Wear Aware
i'm pleasantly surprised with how much i'm enjoying it.
my first full day with it will be tomorrow so i haven't taken it outside in the sunlight much yet, but checking email, counting steps, reading and replying to texts (i use evolve and it works great) is great and much more reliable and smoother than it was on my OG gear, and it's proving to be far more useful than my pebble.
the strap is actually quite comfortable and i'm glad i didn't buy a new strap before getting the watch.
the charging cradle, if you put it on tab side first it snaps in much easier. it's annoying but i haven't found it to be the spawn of lucifer as some people were screaming about it. treat it like part of a $200 gadget and it will be fine. mash it on like the hulk and it's going to break, it is plastic tabs after all.
i used it for about 7 hours today and it's now around 65% remaining. moderate use, but i def was clicking and swiping for no reason since it's new as well. i am pretty sure i'll have to charge it every night, but i don't sleep with a watch on and i charge my phone every night too, so i don't see it as being a big issue. my pebble lasted longer, but it would often die since i didn't have a set pattern on when to charge and would head out and a few hours later realize i had 20% left.
so in short, i'm happy, yes there are growing pains but those are the early adopter blues.
So far very please for what it can do. Regarding bot visible in sunlight, tell me what phone is visible in sunlight. None of them are great, only the kinfpdle due to the ink screen it has. I can wait till indoors or in shade. 9 more days testing and then deciding to keep or not. Off charging cradle at 6:30am today and as of this post still has 34% left. About the same as my previous Gear watch.
Ian B
The number of apps pouring in each day are a great sign for the platform as a whole. The Tizen gears were nothing like this.
Quick reply.... I like it. Had Nero, no comparison.
I've had a few issues and design factors that I'd like changed:
Hate the alarm mute icon. I would love to figure out a way to hide that on the clock face. Would make the watch look more watchie if you will.
Also would like to only wake the watch from the button vice touchscreen, or atleast an option to set that insettings.
Does anyone else find themselves open palming your watch to put it in hybernate?
FynxSyndct said:
Does anyone else find themselves open palming your watch to put it in hybernate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pressed it against my forehead earlier because I was in bed and my other arm wasn't free.
SkuzFoz said:
I pressed it against my forehead earlier because I was in bed and my other arm wasn't free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This really made me LOL
I'll be the lone wolf in the wilderness by bucking the trend and saying that I'm very disappointed with my Gear Live. I'm a gadget lover and really wanted to love this device. But I was far more enthusiastic about this thing before I actually received it. Once I had one, I quickly grew disappointed with it.
Out of the box, pairing with my Nexus 5 took multiple attempts. Once I finally did get it paired, only the stock apps would work. Any apps that I downloaded from the Play store would run on my phone but the watch interface would never show up (no matter how many times I tried to force the apps to sync via the Android Wear app or rebooted the watch).
Factory resetting the watch and starting again cleared up that problem but I still found the functionality of the watch to be quirky at best. Add to that the fact that the screen is virtually impossible to read outdoors, the lack of support for continuous heart rate monitoring, and the sudden dramatic drop in my Nexus 5's battery life (which cleared up after I uninstalled the Android Wear app).
Bottom line for me is that this isn't ready to replace my old fashioned watch. So until I read about some new killer Wear app that I can't live without, the Gear Live had gone back into its box to be stored away. I'm hoping that the software will mature quickly to a point where I can give it another try.
Does gear live suport sleep monitoring? Can it automatically figure out that user is cycling?
How good is the fitness tracking on it?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Well.. here goes another post, right?
Just needed to say my 2cents about this phone which i was waiting for impatiently.
To be clear, I've owned the Mate 9, Mate 10 & P20pro loved them all when they came out. But this is a different story. I'm also on .122, no gluegate issues, no face unlock issues, or other (guess i'm lucky).
- Bluetooth issues when connecting to my car (WTF!). Connection is done well for normal phone connections, but to play media, i had to put in airplane mode and reconnect 3-4 times.
- The display more like the font DPI and Notifications... what the hell Huawei? It's ugly. When you try to change the DPI those notifications are atrocious.
- Notification bugs on lockscreen : It's hard to sweep them out, to delete them or even to read them.
- Status bar : Huawei could of implemented, like on the Pixel 3XL , that if you want to hide the notch, have another line appear where you could see all the notifications. Not ideal... but an "option". Or choose the icons you want to appear, and not needing to go ADB style in your phone.
- Browsing the net on Chrome : Again a DPI issue, which doesn't fully, logically and normally set the page correctly.
- Camera : Sorry to say, but it's not a wow for my daily usage. I'll give it a couple more testing days, but in general i'm not impressed by the focus speed of moving objects (kids & dogs). Still images yes, for sure. But when you live a life as a family guy you need to be quick to snap that right moment when your kid or dog is doing something crazy. And it just doesn't make it happen.
- Camera lenses : I miss the BW lens honestly speaking. Changing it to a wide angle might please some people, but the BW pictures i used to take with the phone on the go are gone. Those pictures used to be great (+1 for P20Pro)
- Speakers : Dual ? *cough* *cough*. I feel the are muffled, not clear.
- Wifi Connection : Now that's a funny one... i have a 500/150 connection. On wifi my Note9 goes up to 487/127. My Mate 20p does 80/65. Once i go into recovery and clean the cache.. it hits 380/120. Then messes up again during the day.
- Dual SIm : Sometimes i have my second SIM card having issues. The "not registered on network" kind. I have to switch to airplane mode and back to make it work. If i don't see it right away people can't reach me..
- GPS : Works great, really.
- Battery : So yes.... it has has a great battery, not to forget that you need to go into the settings and put the apps you really don't want to get closed in manual. Otherwise, baby cams, waze, and other notifications don't come through.
I really expected another experience than this, I thought they learned and listened to their customers, but they didn't. I hope they will resolve the issues down the line. I feel sorry for the guys that have a Gluegate phone, i just think that is unacceptable for a phone with such a price tag.
I really hope Huawei are gonna do something about it, this is why i'm keeping it in the drawer waiting for a new firmware. It took the p20pro 3 4 firmwares to make it a great phone.
Back to my Note9 in a couple of days once i finished really testing this camera out.
Hey for the notch you can change this in under settings click, display, then more display settings then notch. Should fix it for you
Android auto works mostly but not for the phone option. That's my grumble right now
Grm12 said:
Hey for the notch you can change this in under settings click, display, then more display settings then notch. Should fix it for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but did that. I think there is an option on the 3XL that the notch goes down a bit, and then you can see the notifications like a normal status bar. But you lose screen size by doing that... i read that somewhere, but can't find it.
Sounds almost exactly like my post. Pixel 3 comes at the end of the week. Sadly only the 64gb version in black, but you can't have everything.
David Horn said:
Sounds almost exactly like my post. Pixel 3 comes at the end of the week. Sadly only the 64gb version in black, but you can't have everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, read yours which gave me the inspiration to type mine. Funny that you mention the 3xl...I've been looking and reading reviews on it for the last hour.
3 things scare me though
1. The battery life, 2. The lack of RAM and 3. non dual SIM. On the last point, I can't understand why having an eSIM and a physical SIM they didn't put two IMEI like the iPhones...crazy. but that camera is really tempting. Been testing the M20Pro Vs my Note 9 cameras this evening... I have to admit I still prefer the m20 pro's.
SAO said:
Well.. here goes another post, right?
Just needed to say my 2cents about this phone which i was waiting for impatiently.
To be clear, I've owned the Mate 9, Mate 10 & P20pro loved them all when they came out. But this is a different story. I'm also on .122, no gluegate issues, no face unlock issues, or other (guess i'm lucky).
- Bluetooth issues when connecting to my car (WTF!). Connection is done well for normal phone connections, but to play media, i had to put in airplane mode and reconnect 3-4 times.
- The display more like the font DPI and Notifications... what the hell Huawei? It's ugly. When you try to change the DPI those notifications are atrocious.
- Notification bugs on lockscreen : It's hard to sweep them out, to delete them or even to read them.
- Status bar : Huawei could of implemented, like on the Pixel 3XL , that if you want to hide the notch, have another line appear where you could see all the notifications. Not ideal... but an "option". Or choose the icons you want to appear, and not needing to go ADB style in your phone.
- Browsing the net on Chrome : Again a DPI issue, which doesn't fully, logically and normally set the page correctly.
- Camera : Sorry to say, but it's not a wow for my daily usage. I'll give it a couple more testing days, but in general i'm not impressed by the focus speed of moving objects (kids & dogs). Still images yes, for sure. But when you live a life as a family guy you need to be quick to snap that right moment when your kid or dog is doing something crazy. And it just doesn't make it happen.
- Camera lenses : I miss the BW lens honestly speaking. Changing it to a wide angle might please some people, but the BW pictures i used to take with the phone on the go are gone. Those pictures used to be great (+1 for P20Pro)
- Speakers : Dual ? *cough* *cough*. I feel the are muffled, not clear.
- Wifi Connection : Now that's a funny one... i have a 500/150 connection. On wifi my Note9 goes up to 487/127. My Mate 20p does 80/65. Once i go into recovery and clean the cache.. it hits 380/120. Then messes up again during the day.
- Dual SIm : Sometimes i have my second SIM card having issues. The "not registered on network" kind. I have to switch to airplane mode and back to make it work. If i don't see it right away people can't reach me..
- GPS : Works great, really.
- Battery : So yes.... it has has a great battery, not to forget that you need to go into the settings and put the apps you really don't want to get closed in manual. Otherwise, baby cams, waze, and other notifications don't come through.
I really expected another experience than this, I thought they learned and listened to their customers, but they didn't. I hope they will resolve the issues down the line. I feel sorry for the guys that have a Gluegate phone, i just think that is unacceptable for a phone with such a price tag.
I really hope Huawei are gonna do something about it, this is why i'm keeping it in the drawer waiting for a new firmware. It took the p20pro 3 4 firmwares to make it a great phone.
Back to my Note9 in a couple of days once i finished really testing this camera out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get where you are coming from on this. Unfortunately I have the glue issue, but non of the others.
The internet speed thing, well my internet connection at home is 100mb and this is enough for me.
As for the camera, the Note 9 will blur photos of almost anything especially kids and pets, and even more in low light. The note 9 camera is actually pretty terrible and I have one as well.
If you want photos of kids and pets, only the Pixel 1 / 2 /3 will do that.
I do miss the Monochrone but not for monochrome photos, I don't rate those, but for image quality. Low light, especially night mode, is much worse on the mate, almost unusable actually.
I can come across online as nasty or confrontational but I do truly hope you find an experience you deserve from a phone, I know the struggle of trying to find the right phone, I have been buying almost every single flagship barring iphones for years and still not there.
The mate 20 pro with the versatility of the wide lens was almost it, but if my replacement comes and has issues, I will stick with my Note 9 and buy a pixel 1 for photos as the pixel 3 camera is not really improved on it. It takes shots of moving subjects perfectly and low light shots are taken very well as well.
Jonathan-H said:
I get where you are coming from on this. Unfortunately I have the glue issue, but non of the others.
The internet speed thing, well my internet connection at home is 100mb and this is enough for me.
As for the camera, the Note 9 will blur photos of almost anything especially kids and pets, and even more in low light. The note 9 camera is actually pretty terrible and I have one as well.
If you want photos of kids and pets, only the Pixel 1 / 2 /3 will do that.
I do miss the Monochrone but not for monochrome photos, I don't rate those, but for image quality. Low light, especially night mode, is much worse on the mate, almost unusable actually.
I can come across online as nasty or confrontational but I do truly hope you find an experience you deserve from a phone, I know the struggle of trying to find the right phone, I have been buying almost every single flagship barring iphones for years and still not there.
The mate 20 pro with the versatility of the wide lens was almost it, but if my replacement comes and has issues, I will stick with my Note 9 and buy a pixel 1 for photos as the pixel 3 camera is not really improved on it. It takes shots of moving subjects perfectly and low light shots are taken very well as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took my p20p out yesterday, and tested the 3. I have to admit that the p20p takes better pictures out of the bunch. Never tested a pixel before due to the lack of dual sim. Butbim really curious to test it out this time. Just worried about the battery, ram and well....missing the dual SIM.
The note 9 takes great pictures when in full sunlight but tested inside pictures last night. And I discovered it had a lot of flairs due the lighting. Mate 20 I feel has a lot of noise in general.
But most of my requirements are GPS , BT music (car), camera (kids and all) , battery and logical easy clean UI....and of course a good screen.
I neaaaaaaarly , really neaaaaaaarly hesitated to get the iPhone XSmax dual....but my soul and geek mind started playing rehab from Amy Winehouse in my head. I haven't touched (except my wife's) an iPhone for over 5 years.
Last night I was on the verge of keeping the Mate 20, but turned the phone on this morning to a list of weird and empty notifications which cemented my decision. If the Pixel 3 and 3 XL were made by Huawei and running pure Google software, you would never need to buy anything else.