Develop Bugs

My 6 month impressions/review - long

I am very unhappy with the latest (1.40) ROM update and this has finally pushed me to this post. I thought I would provide some general thoughts/comments after about 6 months of use. I keep hoping and praying that each ROM release will actually fix some of the devices more serious issues but it never seems to happen. Certain things actually get worse through the updates.
Overall the level of integration and the sheer amount of things our device accomplishes is staggering. However, the reliability and robustness is terrible, about as good as an "alpha" release, but certainly not a production device. You may argue that I should be happy with what I have and I guess I am because I keep carrying my PDA2K. I love not having to carry so many devices but almost always feel like I have the worst of each. My "relationship" with my device is absolutely love/hate.
As background I use my device as a phone, camera, video camera, mp3 player, movie watching, internet, e-mail, gps/navigation, games, Metro subway maps, weather, pdf reading and of course all the std. windows goodies like Excel, Calendar, Contacts, etc. However, the device performs most all of these functions poorly. As a small bit of background I am not a programmer nor hardcore techie but do consider myself a power user and am comfortable with registry editing, ROM upgrading and most features/functions of all of the standard software. I do also install a fair amount of 3rd party applications. I do not see how you can get by without doing this. I use the device for work as a sales professional and also for personal use.
The phone is much less robust and reliable than almost all cell phones I have previously owned, just buggy in general, often not functioning despite a good signal and often will not connect nor hang up properly. The camera is plain terrible, nowhere even close to a decent 1MP camera, good only for a small caller ID photo taken in perfect lighting conditions. Networking in general is almost unusable: Bluetooth during navigation always disconnects when a call comes in, WiFi will almost never start with out a soft reset, and sometimes the same with GPRS. General system stability/robustness: terrible! With a device such as this it should not be possible to have spontaneous hard resets where you loose ALL data. I have them fairly often (without Sprite, I would truly throw my device away). I have also had spontaneous loss of SD card data. MS Voice Command is fantastic, except the first use of every day always requires the name to be repeated twice. The built in e-mail software is really poor, the invisible items that show up in various mail folders which require a complete cleaning out of all mailboxes to fix is beyond annoying. The long 20 second or so delay when opening the Calendar to show days with appointments really causes me delays at the most inopportune times. I suppose I could go on and on but I will wrap up this summary/gripe session
Again, the level of raw capability, variety of useful programs and integration is truly amazing. The speed when operating well is fine. However I am often nearly crippled by hard resets, poor phone, WiFi, GPRS and Bluetooth, usability and robustness and the need for soft resets. I guess this is the price one pays for being on the cutting edge, but again I can not help but feel this device is nowhere close to the reliability and performance any reasonable user would expect. From spending a lot of time on this board and other similar ones I expect to hear some quite similar echoes of my thoughts.
I do eagerly look forward to some similar comments (or different), fixes, general experiences or suggestions from the community.

Well put, some of the issues I have, some not.
Lets have a look at the hardware.
Well the case is metal which is great as it can take some punishment however the Keyboard, well.....
My Keyboard has a life of its own, I have the device in my hand and talk on the phone and it drops down. I pull the device out of my pocket and it comes out first screen then keyboard. I never use the keyboard as me fingers are to big so given a choice I would not have it.
If you hold the screen in one hand and the back plate in the other you can turrn the whole thing a good 3mm as its so loose. You can even lift the screen up away form the Keyboard at the bottom of the device and stick a piece of carboard into as a form of a break to stop it dropping.
Sound of calls is bad, tiny and to low.
Yup its a love/hate relationship and I love to hate the thing.
I too look forwared to a device that has camera which is useful (I still carry around a small 5 meg sony).
The only thing I feel that is realy good about owning a BA is this board, if I had not come here I would still have a german CE and be reseting the bugger every day.

love it
Probably, I am cheap and easily pleased.
I bought my IIs almost the same time with yours. I too have updated my ROM to 1.40 (stockROM 1.4Asia). Only the barest software I need are installed to maintain stability: KBattery, psShutXp, AgileMobile, Skype, VCard, Pcoket TV, GSPlayer, and Avantgo. For games, I only installed Smartfall, Chess, and BF Mines - not much of a gamer. IIs is too expensive for me to destroy its button playing games.
I love it very much except for some performance hiccups like restarting by itself. However, this only happens when I am using skype or agilemobile for sometime. Hard Reset rarely happens. in six months, I only remember it to happen to me once and I could not remember what I did then.
I love it because I could check my email whereever I am either thru WIFI or GPRS. In fact, I use to check my email thru XDAIIs rather than waiting for my PC to start in the morning before leaving the house. With so many "leaking" free WIFI around, no phone should be without.
I f---kng HATE the keyboard. A week after I bought mine it was already broken. Yes, it will open on its own. It was repaired though free of charge by Brightpoint Philippines. Now, I barely open it because constructionwise, it is so flimsy and I know will easily be broken again. Now, I know why they remove the keyboard in the IIi.
Will buy it again. YES, It is so neat and convenient that I could do emailing, IM and chat on the go. Of course, it is a great electronic photo album to show my family pictures to friends with MP3 background playing.
Before this phone, I was using NOKIA 9210 Communicator. It was a great phone during its time. WHAT I WOULD REALLY WANT NOW IS A NOKIA COMMUNICATOR 9500 RUNNING WM Ver.5. DREAMING....

So you guys say that the keyboard is a piece of s**t?
I'm asking because I'm going to buy BA or Nokias 9500. And if the keyboard sucks a** i'm not gonna buy BA, because I need the keyboard because I do lot of work in MSN and in IRC. So the phone must be capable to these specific applications. I know that Nokia 9500 is...

When I was still using my old trusty Nokia 9210, I sent literally hundreds of text messages per day. I love its built in keyboard. It was a breeze typing text in that old phone. I could even schedule sending text messages - what a neat feature.
The tiny keyboard of IIs is hard to use. Even painful to the fingers after long use. Now I sent few text messages because it is very hard to do so with the tiny keyboard (II's rehabilatated me, I am NOT text addict anymore). The tiny soft keyboard using the stylus is just as difficult to use.
If you will do lots of typing, I recommend you buy one of those external keyboards. Although, personally, I hate carrying extras like that. I dont want to look like Inspector Gadget carrrying with me that external keyboard. My Bluetooth suffered same fate. I dont carry it anymore. Too troublesome carrying two gadgets.
I use my IIs mainly as a communicating device (which should be) so the killer applications for me are:
Agile Mobile for IM like ICQ, MSN, AOL and yes YAHOO.
Skype for VOIP (yes, it works for me just dont expect quality calls. It's free who am I to complain)
AgileMobile will run on both Nokia 9500 and IIs BUT the SKYPE will not.
That is the deal breaker for me why I decided to go for the XDA path. Every one and then, I still do glancing look at that Nokia 9500 though.
If you will go for the XDA path and cannot wait anymore, get the IIi. The keyboard really sucks. Hard to use and easy to get loose.
If you go for Nokia path, please lend it to me sometime (hehehehe)

xcalibur said:
The tiny keyboard of IIs is hard to use. Even painful to the fingers after long use. Now I sent few text messages because it is very hard to do so with the tiny keyboard (II's rehabilatated me, I am NOT text addict anymore). The tiny soft keyboard using the stylus is just as difficult to use.
If you will do lots of typing, I recommend you buy one of those external keyboards. Although, personally, I hate carrying extras like that. I dont want to look like Inspector Gadget carrrying with me that external keyboard. My Bluetooth suffered same fate. I dont carry it anymore. Too troublesome carrying two gadgets.
I use my IIs mainly as a communicating device (which should be) so the killer applications for me are:
Agile Mobile for IM like ICQ, MSN, AOL and yes YAHOO.
Skype for VOIP (yes, it works for me just dont expect quality calls. It's free who am I to complain)
AgileMobile will run on both Nokia 9500 and IIs BUT the SKYPE will not.
That is the deal breaker for me why I decided to go for the XDA path. Every one and then, I still do glancing look at that Nokia 9500 though.
If you will go for the XDA path and cannot wait anymore, get the IIi. The keyboard really sucks. Hard to use and easy to get loose.
If you go for Nokia path, please lend it to me sometime (hehehehe)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's the thing...those are the programs I would also use plus I need an IRC client (Nokia has s2putty which is great), so this is going to be a real hard decision.
It seems in a operating system level, Windows/qtek9090 kicks Symbian80/Nokia9500 ass, because Nokia has a pretty slow processor and Symbian80 is a little bit greedy, but so is windows.
Nokias online time should be better than Qteks so that's important fact (going to use Wlan a lot). Nokia also has much better keyboard if I have read reviews right.
But...Qtek/WM2k3 has a lot more apps if I'm right and it's hardware is better than Nokias.
But the bigges issues are still on the fact that how does the device handle Instant Messaging and IRC environments. In IRC i'm in a few VERY active channels so would like to know how well does the BA handle IRC messaging, viewing etc....
Is the keyboard slider going to loose very easily? I have read that in some models it's big issue? Or is this only problem with branded phones(i mean like T-mo etc)? Qtek 9090 is the only one which they sell here in Finland.
xcalibur, yeah sure i'll borrow you the 9500, if you come to visit Finland someday =)
The above fact is the only thing keeping me away from ordering BA...

I don't want to keep on ranting against IIs.
Yes, the keyboard will easily get loose. We have here two units and it is the same. I talked to the Brightpoint service people, they say almost all IIs they repaired is about the loose keyboard.
And yaiks, I noticed now that my IIs keyboard is misaligned by a millimeter or two. I cant stop looking at it now. I hate it.
Consider also after sales service of XDA there in Finland. These things do break down. I am sure Nokia will have superb service there in Finland as they have already excellent service here in Philippines. In fairness, Brightpoint too has good service here though their location is not so good.

My keyboard experience
I have had no problems with my keyboard. I like it, use it and it has not developed any problem with the keys themselves nor the sliding mechanism. Perhaps you guys talking all about Nokia vs HTC could move that topic to a separate thread?

Keyboard's great! However, other than for impressing your friends this phone is horribly unreliable. Also, windows is not as polished as Symbian. You will find yourself installing so many 3rd party apps (which make an already unstable handset even less stable) just to perform basic phone functions.

In my opinion, XDA IIs is truely an ingenius device. However, Ias much as I hate to agree with most of you, I share the same sentiments of hating/loving it.
I really dislike the part whereby I receive/dial a call and no sound comes out of it. Also when my IIs hang the moment I exit from Bejeweled 2. I dont use a bluetooth headset, so the bluetooth bit doesnt affect me so much. I also detest the so very prominent gap between my keyboard and screen.
However, on the other hand, my IIs had helped me in so much many other ways, so much so its advantages exceeds its disadvantages. Despite the small keyboard, it had been extremely useful, and having compared with the onscreen keyboard and Transcriber, I personally found that it is so much faster and efficient to key text with the keyboard. Despite haing mid-sized fingers, with good practice, keying in text can be so much of a breeze. I especially liked its soft touch and blue iluminous glow.
Also, the calander feature of Microsoft CE is great. With appropriate 3rd party software, and its extremely ease/stability to sync with Outlook, my contacts and appointments are always at my fingertips. Tho the ringer is quite soft, I have no problems with it as I have always been using traditional ringing ringtones, which are much louder than fanciful mp3 music. Besides, I can see that O2 is doing its fair share by providing support thru O2 connect as well as the after sales service. O2 plus beta had been a great software. I had used it to replace phone alarm and pocket plus. I especially liked it phone profile feature and the part whereby my IIs vibrate upon receipt of call response. I no longer have to hold my device against my ears waiting for the other party to pick up the call.
Another comment is that the screen is clear and even using 10% backlight, I can view the screen to great details, even under sunlight conditions. The extra 4 hardware buttons for today, messaging, IE and OK had been great and it had aid me in single-handed operations with my device.
Overall, all I can say is, its been a great device. You choose to hate / like it. Cheers. Just my two cents worth...

I also came to the XDA series from the Nokia Communicators and have always been looking for a communicator with MS OS.
Can't wait for the Universal

a wonderful use of keyboard! + comments abt XDA IIs overall
hi all,
i have a very very good argument in favour of the keyboard on XDA iis and a big -ve for the absence of it in XDA IIi:
i live in india where the roads at times tend to be a bit bumpy. on such roads keying in with a stylus becomes frustrating! (those who have tried it will know). it is on these roads that u appreciate the inbuilt key board the max.
2ndly, by the grace of GOD, till date i have had NO SOUND issues with my XDA IIs.... so no probs about that..
with 1.40 update i have seen that wifi wont connect usually without a soft reset but thats not very bugging! also there is some camera application brightness control bug and thats also ignorable.
But overall i think that XDA IIs is overall a very good buy... better than XDA IIi and Mini.... NOKIA is ****ty in front of this and looks more of a brick!
i suggest you all not to load any 3rd party apps for password lock and dialler except smart dialling included in mini rom. and must haves are pocket plus, pocket informant,pocket music, skype, phonealarm, alarmtoday and 1-calc. dont forget norton anti-virus and sprite backup as the very very very imp. 1st loads.
All the best to XDA lovers... LONG LIVE XDA IIs... Doom to Nokia!

At one point I used to carry an iPAQ 3870, a mobile phone and a collapsible keyboard. With my suit on, some people thought I was a bodyguard due to my swollen breast pockets. I also also had a Navigator 3000 GPS sleeve and the WiFi CF card.
The iPAQ made me love the Pocket PC. However carrying two or more devices was cumbersome.
I then discovered the Blackberry. Look mum, no wires. Over the air synchronization using the GPRS network was great. The keyboard is also excellent. No GPS and a lack of good application was a minus. Furthermore any interesting application would be pricey.
… but I still missed the Pocket PC.
Then came the Blackberry Connect embedded in the Blue Angel. That is the best of both worlds. My dream was to have a Pocket PC with push email and WiFi with an embedded keyboard.
The cherry on the cake came with Skype. I use desktop Skype a lot and I love it. As I am an international self-employed consultant, my cellphone bills amount to at least £300.00 ($550.00) a month. Skype on the BA will save me money but I need to find a good noise cancellation headset. So what if the sound quality is not that good, my customers would expect that from a roaming mobile phone anyway.
As for the camera, at its current resolution it is a gimmick. I would rather have a lighter BA with no camera. My 5.1 Mega Pixel camera will have to stay.
I agree with everyone that says the keyboard has a bad build. The MDA III and the XDA IIs I have seen at the T-Mobile and O2 shops had the keyboard sliding out on its own as soon as I picked up the device. I had already arrived to the conclusion that the keyboard will break down even before reading this thread.
I know that I will miss the stability of the Blackberry software but the advantages I get from the BA far outweigh the disadvantages.
I don’t thing anyone of us on this board will ever find a device that is perfect in every aspect. This is technology.
I will be moving from the Blackberry to the BA XDA IIs this weekend and I am sure that most if not all on this board will encourage me.

i agree with you
hey,
i agree with you fully... no technology can be perfect... but still XDA IIs is the best bet!
just a doubt: how did u manage to get a BA with blackberry connect? any software for that available for asian users too?

Re: i agree with you
studdocs said:
just a doubt: how did u manage to get a BA with blackberry connect? any software for that available for asian users too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The T-Mobile MDA III supports Blackberry Connects. The XDA IIs should support it soon. I will be using the XDA IIs but I am hopping to use the MDA III software.

hoping 4 the best!
i am just hoping that XDA IIs supports it soon!
the earlier the better!

You have two choices...
1. Purchase an old used XDAII and upgrade it to WM5.0. Very stable and flawless communications and Bluetooth.
2. Wait for the new WM5.0 devices this summer.
(my 2 cents)

I fully agree with the love/ hate, as per others - I to have experianced neumerous resets, lock ups no sound etc. after two weeks I returned it to the shop and swapped my XDAIIs for another one (it was clearly faulty) - loaded it up with exactly the same applications as the previous one and since then I have only experianced the no sound issue twice in the last month, my unit runs on the "stock" O2 firmware loaded in using Corporate mode. I love the flexibility of the device and my ipaq-4700 is now rarley used as the XDA does everything I need of it with the addition of the phone functionality - great idea and concept, but I still feel it is nowhere near the level of maturity that it should be - Mike

Hi guys,
could you guys tell me where can I download for the latest firmware for my O2 XDA IIs that are going around currently? and is it true that updating firmware will results data losts ? thank you

A hard reset will allways result in data loss, but if you back it all up onto the SD card you should be able to return the unit to the same condition - note I say "should" its probably wise to re-install the lot from scratch to gain the true performance, as yet I have not tried the 1.140 ROM but I am tempted - you don't state whice service provider you are with - try their web site for a download to see if you are upto date - my philosopy is that the service provider should provide a functional device, in pratice the HTC unit is a bit hit and miss - but if you load up anything other than official firmware then taking it back and complaining is out of the window - I am on my second handset from O2 and this apears to work OK - at least it does for the demands I make of it, this includes running bespoke "home" created software scripted using Labview and it performs quite well - mike

Help me when my arguments againts the iphone please!

Hey guys.
Strange post perhaps, but Iv always loved my HTC Devices.
So tomorrow my Touch Pro 2 will arrive, when I told my friends this and showed them the pictures. They laughed and said I was just fighting against getting an Iphone.
I believe I have made an informed decision, mostly because I can choose what hardware I want, (in this case a proper keyboard and bigger screen). And also because I can use so many free apps for WM6.1 that the iphone users have to pay for.
So please can you give me some more ammunition so that I can stop losing the arguments about why the iphone fails. Cheers.

Find new friends with better taste in phones?

You cant really use the bigger screen size argument. Just a beautiful input device and ability to customize it to the hilt.

Well there's always the 1 step behind the times arguement...I mean Iphones aren't as hi-tech as many of HTC's phones...oh...and you can change your batteries or add memory with cards...

I mean Iphones aren't as hi-tech as many of HTC's phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are getting confused with almost any manufacturer apart from HTC.

Iphones can't multitask, not even the new ones.
The screen isn't as "responsive" as the iphone, but you can use a stylus for precision (like making a doodle with the stylus ) and if you live in a cold climate, you can wear gloves and still use your phone. With capacitive screens like the iphone you gave to take your gloves off. Really annoying if you use them.
You don't have to jailbreak it to get many of the things working. And supposedly flash is coming to Windows Mobile first if I remember correctly (by first I mean before the iphone).
You can use it with any network you want (if it's unlocked) and if it's a branded version, you can unlock it without fear of bricking it after an upgrade.
That's just what comes to mind.
Oh, the screen is .1 inches bigger. Not really enough to make an arguement. But it does have more than twice the resolution, which is a goodo point as images can be clearer and reading texts won't tire your eyes as much.

Why do you care what your friends think?

Aisorik said:
Why do you care what your friends think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I constantly seek validation and enjoy being right? Im not an armchair psychologist.
I can't stand the smugness of the iphone user trying to shove the latest nose flute app in my face, "do you have Excel?" I ask.
"Yes" replies the iphone user as they connect to the apps store and pay £15 for the most essential of software on a business phone.
I think my biggest reason for liking the touch pro 2 is that it just looks stunning with the screen on. Everyone has seen the iphone now, and I like to be different.
Cheers for the replies guys.

Yes, there are just too many iPhones on the street - no "WOW" factor these days. I find the pro2 can turn quite a few heads, especially when I pull out the keyboard and start typing... mind you, someone asked me once where I bought my iPhone with a keyboard!!

andypa1 said:
Hey guys.
Strange post perhaps, but Iv always loved my HTC Devices.
So tomorrow my Touch Pro 2 will arrive, when I told my friends this and showed them the pictures. They laughed and said I was just fighting against getting an Iphone.
I believe I have made an informed decision, mostly because I can choose what hardware I want, (in this case a proper keyboard and bigger screen). And also because I can use so many free apps for WM6.1 that the iphone users have to pay for.
So please can you give me some more ammunition so that I can stop losing the arguments about why the iphone fails. Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To not mention again read here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537219&highlight=iphone

The IPhone is too common. It also means you surrender too much rights to Apple. They control what you should use. They ignore you and work at their decided schedule. "Cut and paste" is a new feature -- only idiots will believe that.
"There is no vulnerability." -- between Iphone 3G and 3GS, Apple plugged 48 holes.
The battery overheats fast. The screen wears out fast. The material used to maufacture the IPhone is cheap stuff.
IPhone is totally hopeless without connectivity. At the least, TP2 can still be useful.
The famous Appstore! -- How many apps do you really use? Many of the apps are "fractured" because Apple does not allow the developers to add in some features for fear of opening up their closed ecology.
You need more?

Agree with above that the App Store is overrated. I have an iPod Touch, and I have about 2 or 3 useful 3rd party apps. Everything else are just time wasters.
I have a couple reasons why I wouldn't buy an fruitphone.
1. Useless homescreen. The lockscreen shows the date/time. Once unlocked, you just have grids of icons. You have counters that show number of new messages, but no previews. Notifications of new messages and appointments really suck.
2. Terrible multi tasking. Let's say I was wasting my time with a game on my fruitphone while listening to music. You can forward or rewind tracks by double pressing the one button to bring up the music controls. But you can't go into the music app to change your music and go back to the game! That's just dumb.
3. Internet browsing. You can't open links in new tabs! No text reflow. That means you have to use landscape mode if you want to zoom in to read the text and you don't want to scroll horizontally. Also, no full screen view in browser. You always have the top/bottom bars.
4. Low resolution display. Text can't easily be read in zoomed out web pages. Photos look terribly pixelated.

andypa1 said:
Hey guys.
So tomorrow my Touch Pro 2 will arrive, when I told my friends this and showed them the pictures. They laughed and said I was just fighting against getting an Iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you have sheeps as friends...

People have posted some really good points on this thread like TP2 can
- multitask apps
- a monster text machine
- a monster email machine
- a full keyboard
- two mics with noise cancelling abilities
- two speakers for better loudspeaker calls
- better wvga screen (better resolution screen)
- Touch flow 3d is so so smooth(people friendly)
- excellent notifications screen
- better calling options
- better word processor apps like power point, word, excel
- a crap crap crap load of more software for Wndows mobile than iphone will ever have
-the device looks better IMO
But you cant really fault the iphone that much. It is a very pretty with better processor, same ram, bigger onboard harddrive, 3.5mm jack. The OS for both devices are totally different. But in all honesty WM is better than iphone OS BUT Android is better than WM and IS the future of the mobile phone generation....FYI

I agree with the above post. Check out the N900 phone too, its OS is a pseudo linux desktop and its mobile front is very finger friendly looking at youtube.
I am looking at the TP2 myself despite having an iphone. The iphone isn't a very good organizer partly because of its notification/background app. problem, I still haven't got used to the soft keyboard on a 3.5'' device after a year of use - hinders alot of communication and productivity for me personally, the resolution of the screen affects my PDF reading and the lack of bluetooth signalling stops me adding mice/keyboards.
This forum also offers a lot of ROM's too. Although there is a lot to be said for the iphone (its best software comes supplied and the rest can easily be downloaded from the appstore/cydia mostly for free or next to nothing) and no doubt I will have to encounter the same annoyances i had with my touch diamond/kaiser back in Winmo land. I have no doubt for most leisure users who have mastered the soft iphone keyboard that its probably the most fun and beneficial phone for them though.

orb3000 said:
To not mention again read here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537219&highlight=iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, who could forget about a good ol' fashioned IPhone bashing thread.
you shouldn't let others opinions have an effect on what you want. different strokes for different folks. it's not like either the Tp2 or the IPhone are bad phones.
yes, you can make fun of them for not having the ability to multitask, not being able to sideload applications, interchangeable batteries etc.
just remember it's not wise to throw stones from a glass house.

just ask your friend to change something on your phone, then you do it...tell them to type something, then you type it, ask them what ap they have, then you go get it for free...I do it ALL DAY to my friends that have it, they hate pulling their iphones out now lol. The best is "can you tether? Yeah! For free? AH!!! YOUR PHONE IS CRAP! lol HTC wins. BUT............the iPhone does kill every other device in UI processing, hands down which IMO is a HUGE player in satisfaction. If you can do with 10-30fps UI, HTC with TF3D would be the better choice.

a huge issue for me was free internet tethering. I think with the new 3GS you can do this - but it costs an EXTRA £14.95 per month to O2 for the lowest deal! What a ripoff. That and the pull out keyboard are prob the main things for me.

There's an article at MSN that may be helpful....

Also, the Iphone loudspeaker is so-so despite calling itself a media machine.
The resolution is horrid.
The sound from the headphone is soft.
Voice command from BT definitely not working.
How do I know all these, I own a Iphone 3GS. Why don't I get rid of it? Too ashame to sell it to someone and have him curse me for selling him a lemon (despite it namesake).

Touch Pro 2 vs. Blackberry

I am basically a new user to windows mobile. I previously had a blackberry 8900 but decided to switch to the touch pro 2 because of all the great reviews that I heard about it. So far I like the phone but i am not to thrilled about it at all. The browser is excellent as well as the screen but the phone seems to lag in many different areas. For whatever reason the phone seems to lag a lot and would get stuck on certain screens. The e-mail doesn't seem to come as quickly as my blackberry did;the facebook application actually was better at synching contacts and who refresh by itself on my blackberry;Also i keep getting these phantom messages that are basically just accumulating. Even after a hard reset the problem is still occurring. The only real problem that I had with my 8900 was the battery on it wasn't the greatest. I guess the purpose of this post is to really ask in your opinion why do you like this phone over other devices because maybe it does a lot a great things that I just don't know about. Thanks to all who partake in this topic.

Welcome to forums
Are you kidding?
Enter to a Nike store and ask a comparative between Puma and Nike...
What will be the answer

Um not at all...I wouldn't be asking and posting it on here if I was . If anyone can please answer my question please feel free to. Thanks

jgood1987 said:
Um not at all...I wouldn't be asking and posting it on here if I was . If anyone can please answer my question please feel free to. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he meant was that the 8900 is more like the Dash 3G and isn't really in the same category as the Touch Pro2.
As for the lag, I really don't see it with mine. It really depends on how much you have running in the background, I guess. If it (the lag) is too much, you can always try flashing to one of the new WM6.5 ROMs.
My Exchange email makes it to my phone faster than it does my Outlook client on my computer.

The keyboard is immeasurably much better than anything on a Blackberry. I can't type accurately on a Blackberry because the size of my fingertips is considerably greater than the size of a key, so it's physically impossible for me to press one key at a time.
The screen is much larger (and I think higher-res) than a Blackberry. This is a big advantage if you want to play video clips, and makes web-browsing much more pleasant too - the high resolution is great for making small text legible. It's also good for some games.
The call quality is superb - loud, and clear, which is especially important for me because I'm partially deaf. I like the noise-cancelling and the lay-the-phone-face-down-to-switch-to-speaker features.
I like how tweakable it is, and I like the huge range of downloadable software.
I don't experience any lag with emails. Email from my work Exchange server gets pushed directly onto the phone almost instantly. Mail from my ISP is polled every 5 minutes, so there's not much of a delay. I don't get any phantom messages either. I don't use facebook, so I can't comment on that.
I think you may have some problems with your setup - perhaps even a faulty phone...?

Shasarak said:
The keyboard is immeasurably much better than anything on a Blackberry. I can't type accurately on a Blackberry because the size of my fingertips is considerably greater than the size of a key, so it's physically impossible for me to press one key at a time.
The screen is much larger (and I think higher-res) than a Blackberry. This is a big advantage if you want to play video clips, and makes web-browsing much more pleasant too - the high resolution is great for making small text legible. It's also good for some games.
The call quality is superb - loud, and clear, which is especially important for me because I'm partially deaf. I like the noise-cancelling and the lay-the-phone-face-down-to-switch-to-speaker features.
I like how tweakable it is, and I like the huge range of downloadable software.
I don't experience any lag with emails. Email from my work Exchange server gets pushed directly onto the phone almost instantly. Mail from my ISP is polled every 5 minutes, so there's not much of a delay. I don't get any phantom messages either. I don't use facebook, so I can't comment on that.
I think you may have some problems with your setup - perhaps even a faulty phone...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a possibility it is the phone. Also as far as the call quality. The speaker phone isd beautiful but as far as the handset it sounds muffled and not as clear as my 8900. I don't like altering softwares to get something to work especially if something cost so much it should work perfectly right out the box. I will see what happens after I exchange this thing

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3933586&postcount=6
That is what we do on this forum mostly!!

Blackberry is not more than a junk, it is super junk

cgigate said:
Blackberry is not more than a junk, it is super junk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are entitled to your opinion but for the last year and a half i havent had any problems with the blackberry devices. It has done ever job that I needed it to do quickly and efficiently. Now as far as the question that i posted, which I thought was easy and didn't require or ask for any smart remark comments, was only really answered by Shasarak and ruinertt which i appreciate greatly. Like i said in my previous post I will try exchanging the device and seeing what is the outcome of it. Thanks again to those two individuals that I have listed above.

jgood1987 said:
Also as far as the call quality. The speaker phone isd beautiful but as far as the handset it sounds muffled and not as clear as my 8900.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's certainly not been my experience - I find it very clear indeed. (The speaker phone isn't nearly as clear as the earpiece on mine, and doesn't go quite loud enough for my damaged hearing). Do you have the T-Mobile version of the phone? There have been a lot of complaints about the call quality on them - they seem to use different audio parameters from the stock version. (But this can potentially be fixed).
jgood1987 said:
I don't like altering softwares to get something to work especially if something cost so much it should work perfectly right out the box. I will see what happens after I exchange this thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not just about tweaking the way things work, it's about adding entirely new capabilities that you didn't necessarily know you needed at the time you bought it. The TP2 is flexible in the same sort of way as an iPhone or even a desktop PC - it does all sorts of things.

You can't really compare the TP2 and the Blackberry. Two different things. Just flash a new rom and your problem is solved.

The muffled sound on T-mo versions is a recognized problem. There is a fix which only requires copying a file to replace another one. It is even available in cab format. You might want to try it as it does not require flashing or hacking. The rest, well, you've already gotten pertinent replies so there's no need for me to repeat them or be redundant. Good luck.

jgood1987 said:
I am basically a new user to windows mobile. I previously had a blackberry 8900 but decided to switch to the touch pro 2 because of all the great reviews that I heard about it. So far I like the phone but i am not to thrilled about it at all. The browser is excellent as well as the screen but the phone seems to lag in many different areas. For whatever reason the phone seems to lag a lot and would get stuck on certain screens. The e-mail doesn't seem to come as quickly as my blackberry did;the facebook application actually was better at synching contacts and who refresh by itself on my blackberry;Also i keep getting these phantom messages that are basically just accumulating. Even after a hard reset the problem is still occurring. The only real problem that I had with my 8900 was the battery on it wasn't the greatest. I guess the purpose of this post is to really ask in your opinion why do you like this phone over other devices because maybe it does a lot a great things that I just don't know about. Thanks to all who partake in this topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am like you that came from a BB 8320 to the touch pro 2 which I waited 5 long months for. First, let me say that these phone comparisons are apples to oranges. I have been an avid BB user for 3 years starting with the pearl.
You are used to the speed at which the BB service pushes the emails, and the functionality of the BB. BTW, you can set the the time interval for your TP2 to check your mail boxes. I use the internet like crazy all day long, the BB is no comparison with this, TP2 hands down. The email, thats a different story but the TP2 is not far behind, like the BB I get my emails pretty fast. MYspace and Facebook I can not comment on since I do not like those sites.
I have similar issues with the lag but I will live with them. For the same reason I did not get the iphone; what is coming down the line for WM with 6.5 soon for the TP2 as an HTC upgrade and the cooked roms via Hardspl, the BB is no comparison.
My last WM phone was a motorola mdx-220 I believe, I still have it and I hacked the hell out of it!
Just give it some time, you will have to get used to a new platform like I am. Touchflo is good but it still has issues. Just wait for the upgades to come along or go back to the BB. BB has its issues too, especially with that 4.5v firm wear which constantly would crash my phone in the middle of a business call to reset. That used to piss me off!
Richard

jgood1987 said:
I don't like altering softwares to get something to work especially if something cost so much it should work perfectly right out the box. I will see what happens after I exchange this thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like things to work straight out of the box buying this phone was a bad idea. Out of the box its a brilliant phone but somewhat sluggish. You really need to Flash HardSPL http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=550131 then take a look at some of the ROMs, I'd reccomend EnergyROM http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547794 or Miri's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=552643 or if you like WM6.1 like me, BXsteez's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=550991
Enoy the tweaking, its the reason i buy WinMo.

BB push mail
I think the mail on BB is the fastest because the BlackBerry does Push Email...

I run both an 8900 and a TP2. I totally understand what you mean about the lag. I am fortunate to have access to all sorts of mobile devices but the Blackberry (for me) just works the best. Simple things like auto correction when you are typing. Easy capitalisation and a load of other features I now can't do without. I also think WinMo is crying out for a decent Twitter client.
I think the TP2 is the best WinMo device by far. It's fast and feature rich BUT my Blackberry remains my preferred and primary mobile device.

Luckily i have a Blackberry and a TP2 so i get the best of both worlds
My TP2 i use as my personal phone, i love its web browsing, keyboard for the heavy texting i do and all the smart little features like the WifiRouter.
Blackberry is just for seeing my emails as they arrive. I dont even really reply i just like to see them when im running around at work.

the_shamen said:
I run both an 8900 and a TP2. I totally understand what you mean about the lag. I am fortunate to have access to all sorts of mobile devices but the Blackberry (for me) just works the best. Simple things like auto correction when you are typing. Easy capitalisation and a load of other features I now can't do without. I also think WinMo is crying out for a decent Twitter client.
I think the TP2 is the best WinMo device by far. It's fast and feature rich BUT my Blackberry remains my preferred and primary mobile device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the twitter app....i havent found a good one yet

solsearch said:
The muffled sound on T-mo versions is a recognized problem. There is a fix which only requires copying a file to replace another one. It is even available in cab format. You might want to try it as it does not require flashing or hacking. The rest, well, you've already gotten pertinent replies so there's no need for me to repeat them or be redundant. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you know where this cab is located?

Got my HTC Surround today

I have been playing with it all day, my HTC Surround is quite a toy. While this is version 1.0 of WP7, its pretty good. There are maybe 125 free apps in the market place and most paid apps are $1-$3 or more. I see a lot of potential. The interface is responsive. It's not perfect but I expect MS will address all of its shortcomings. I lost all of my favorite installed apps I had on my Dash 3G - all the TV and radio apps, my MIRC app, most of the things I really care about, so I am holding onto my Dash for now. But I am SURE most of these apps will be ported over sooner than later. If I get desparate, I'll pay AT&T the $10 they want for their streaming app. Video quality is OK using the Zune software. I used it convert my smaller .mp4's using the Zune converter. I may get sharper pictures if I convert from the original .avi's. There are a few free radio apps that work well. So far I don't see any 3rd party video news apps, maybe Netflix is good, so haven't figured out how to get Sky video news, but again i am sure it will be available soon. There's a glitch in windows live causing some people to get error messages, but MS says they will have that fixed shortly. IExp works great, as does the weather maps and search. My contacts downloaded fine from my sim card and synced fine to my computer. All in all this was a good move....can't wait for the rest to come!

Congrats!! And a few questions please
Have you ever played with an HTC Aria and its Sense touch technology? Is the HTC touch interface the same or as stunning on your new phone? I love my Captivate (which askpcguy just helped me unbrick ), but have really always loved Windows' PC OS and the HTC Sense on my Aria just really seemed snappier to me than Samsung's TouchWiz. My fiancee will get my Captivate, but I'm torn between one of the new AT&T 7 phones or a decent touchscreen/real keyboard Android if and when AT&T gets one. I miss my real BB keyboard, but the Torch is too underpowered and the screen is to small for my aging eyes.
Also, I read a few reviews on your excellent phone at PCmag, CNET and Endgadget earlier today, and Endgadget mentioned the fact that the speakers are muffled when closed and you have to really have them open to hear well. That seems logical, but is it as noticeable as they lead one to believe please? Can you hear a call come in well? Endgadget indicates those are the only speakers on the phone, and if muffled, would I still hear my ringtones? For a totally useless question, can you set a whole song as a ringtone, or are you limited to a certain file size like most phones nowadays (my old Krzr, which I used today while Captivate was out of service, can handle a whole song, why not smartphones? One of those things that make me go hmmm?). The same review had issues with the kickstand. What have you noticed please?
I read an interview with HTC's owner and founder in Businessweek this past week, and he is truly a trendsetter. HTC came out of nowhere and are making the best touchscreens I've seen to date (just eclipsed by Samsung and Apple for now in crispness - but that won't be the case for long).

HTC Sense Hub
this is one of the reasons I went with the Surround instead of the Samsung (ok the screen is a bit smaller but I like the build and HTC seems to have better continuing device support)
Well back to the HTC hub, it is very sense like but not as we are used to on WM/Android devices, imho there is a bit too much animation but it is very cool and the device seems to handle the graphice very well. the hub mainly consists of the basic clock/weather combo with links to additional HTC free apps that are many of the unique value added apps we all know and love, Flashlight, calc, a very cool picture enhancer and some others that must be installed, the few att bloat ware present can be easily removed (a first i think) it's not the same as we are used to but they did a nice job of adding the HTC feel as a component to the metro interface. these are just my observations/thoughts and your milage may vary.
Cheers
BR

1toadfacedfrump said:
Have you ever played with an HTC Aria and its Sense touch technology? Is the HTC touch interface the same or as stunning on your new phone? I love my Captivate (which askpcguy just helped me unbrick ), but have really always loved Windows' PC OS and the HTC Sense on my Aria just really seemed snappier to me than Samsung's TouchWiz. My fiancee will get my Captivate, but I'm torn between one of the new AT&T 7 phones or a decent touchscreen/real keyboard Android if and when AT&T gets one. I miss my real BB keyboard, but the Torch is too underpowered and the screen is to small for my aging eyes.
Also, I read a few reviews on your excellent phone at PCmag, CNET and Endgadget earlier today, and Endgadget mentioned the fact that the speakers are muffled when closed and you have to really have them open to hear well. That seems logical, but is it as noticeable as they lead one to believe please? Can you hear a call come in well? Endgadget indicates those are the only speakers on the phone, and if muffled, would I still hear my ringtones? For a totally useless question, can you set a whole song as a ringtone, or are you limited to a certain file size like most phones nowadays (my old Krzr, which I used today while Captivate was out of service, can handle a whole song, why not smartphones? One of those things that make me go hmmm?). The same review had issues with the kickstand. What have you noticed please?
I read an interview with HTC's owner and founder in Businessweek this past week, and he is truly a trendsetter. HTC came out of nowhere and are making the best touchscreens I've seen to date (just eclipsed by Samsung and Apple for now in crispness - but that won't be the case for long).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to break it to you, but HTC cuts a lot of corners. Especially lately. It may be due to demand or whatever, but it's one of the primary reasons I'm looking to buy from another manufacturer this time around. I believe they used to make KIRFs, by the way. Though, I have no source on that.

I really don't like my Surround, but HTC never made KIRFS. HTC made just about everyone else's PDA and WinMo phones back in the day though. Including the XDA (hence the name of this forum, which is based on HTC phones). It wasn't until around 2006/2007 that they started trying to be a brand name in their own right though.

Croak said:
I really don't like my Surround, but HTC never made KIRFS. HTC made just about everyone else's PDA and WinMo phones back in the day though. Including the XDA (hence the name of this forum, which is based on HTC phones). It wasn't until around 2006/2007 that they started trying to be a brand name in their own right though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you going to give the Focus a try? I played with one at the store today and have to admit, it was pretty nice. Didn't look or feel cheap to me.

No, I own a Galaxy S I9000M that's in for repairs, with that I get the same 4" SAMOLED as the Focus, AND a real OS. Once it comes back, this Windows Phone 7 detour is over. After a day of using it, I'm certain Windows Phone 7 is not for me.
On the other hand, this might just be the perfect OS for my father, who still can't set the clock on his microwave.

ericc191 said:
I hate to break it to you, but HTC cuts a lot of corners. Especially lately. It may be due to demand or whatever, but it's one of the primary reasons I'm looking to buy from another manufacturer this time around. I believe they used to make KIRFs, by the way. Though, I have no source on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, agreed, agreed! I don't think I'm ever going to buy another HTC device, ever, which is why I never looked very hard at Android. I've been burned by their corner cutting several times too many. I was also burned by that WinMo phone from LG that was supposed to sell with the snap on projector and had "numerous UI enhancements" from LG which actually made the already lousy WinMo 6.5 UI even WORSE. It was a bad phone and I don't think AT&T tried selling it for very long. So I went with the Samsung Focus and so far I'm impressed. The hardware is nice, it works well and the system, while spartan, works well and hasn't slowed or crashed on me. As was also mentioned, I have a TON of stuff I use on a regular basis on the iPhone so I haven't sold it, nor am I 100% committed to the Focus yet....I have 30 days to return it and I may do that. But so far I have no reason to do so PLUS Slingplayer, my favorite app of all, is already available for WP. I waited almost a full year for Slingplayer for the iPhone and the day after I buy a WP phone, there it is. Now that's impressive!

Lots of interesting ideas and advice, and I love gaining the pros and cons of devices, as well as the history (thanks Croak ). You guys certainly know your stuff, but before you give up on HTC, get last week's Bloomberg Businessweek and read the interview with the top man, because if he knew of the problems you speak of it appears he would be highly upset. Some of what Croak indicated are in that same article. He seems to be a perfectionist like Mr. Jobs; but being human, we will never attain such a lofty goal, but sure have fun trying.
FWIW, the Sense UI blows me away, which is why I miss the underpowered Aria.

HTC HD7 - Buyer beware! (A somewhat scathing mini-review)

After finally getting music onto my HD7 (long story), here are my thoughts on what is turning into a nightmare handset for me.
1. Set up - First of all, the Connector for Mac software will only access iTunes libraries on a local computer, so if like me you have your media stored on a NAS, you're in the sticky stuff. This also goes for USB sticks and external HDDs.
2. Zune - After finally getting some music on to the phone, I checked out the Zune player component. Coming from an i-device, it took a while to find my way around it, but on the whole, it's quite a nice interface. One thing I don't like is when browsing by artist, instead of giving you the albums to pick, it just jumps straight into playing all songs by the artist. Not a big deal, but slightly annoying.
*EDIT* Actually, scrap that last comment. Double tapping on the artist brings up the artist's albums. Excellent!
3. Sound quality - I use some high quality Denon 'buds and have to say, the sound quality is so much better than my iPhone. It's also very loud. Unfortunately, you do get some background hiss when you're flicking between the icons and have no music playing. There was also some feedback as mentioned below in point 4, but when NOT on a call.
4. Call quality - I found this to be pretty decent, UNLESS you're using headphones. You know that feedback ditt-ditty-ditt noise you get when you put a cellphone next to a radio? Well I got that constantly when on a call. Not sure if this is a fault with my phone itself or whether they're all like this. Either way, it's not a good advert for HTC.
5. The screen - After reading about the 'screen tearing' and wondering what it was all about, I now have first hand experience of it. The handset is only 1 day old, so I'm not exactly happy. Does anyone know if this is a hardware of software fault? Have the Mozart or Omnia 7 had the same problem?
6. No gapless playback - A big one for me is this. I've got 200 or so live/dj mix albums, so not having this feature has pretty much made this phone worthless to me. I just don't understand why MS haven't implemented it. If there are no plans to add this, then my HD7 will have to be returned.
Right, that's my take on the HD7. Admittedly, it's not exactly positive, but I have been honest and hope that it will give prospective buyers something to think about.
If I'd have known about some of these things in advance, I would have given the WP7 format a wide berth. This is a shame, as the UI is excellent and there are so many good things about it.

in response
1. good to know, i didn't know this and hopefully MS will improve on it as they threw it together pretty quick, but who knows... doesn't zune detect the files on NAS though? mine does (well videos anyways, and i've got all sorts of videos formats which all worked), maybe try the k-lite codec pack and see if zune will pick it up then?
2. cool! i'm still getting use to zune myself. i found that if you try and sync an item, and then decide not to sync, there isn't any easy way to just clear it from queue. what you have to do is goto the device, then to sync groups, and remove it from there... bit od, but worked it out.
3. the hissing is most likely hardware related not software related. it is possible that the software could be outputting something to check if it's alive, but i think it's more hardware related.
4. same as 3, i don't believe this is OS related but more hardware related. best thing to do is ask to borrow someone's samsung/LG phone and see if you experience the same?
5. screen tearing? would be hardware as well... i have a HTC trophy which was the phone to show all these screen defects, but luckily i haven't noticed it with mine.
6. gapless playback, that is OS related... and yea they should implement this. Some were saying that it could be to do with the i3 tags? Could you try something for me? try ripping a cd using zune and then see if it plays gapless on zune, if it does, sync it to the phone and see if it's gapless. note though that cross fade (start playing just before the end of the previous sone) isn't available from what i've read.

DaveyBoy72 said:
6. No gapless playback - A big one for me is this. I've got 200 or so live/dj mix albums, so not having this feature has pretty much made this phone worthless to me. I just don't understand why MS haven't implemented it. If there are no plans to add this, then my HD7 will have to be returned.
This is a shame, as the UI is excellent and there are so many good things about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is a shame is the fact that you're returning the phone because of #6. Are you friggin kidding me ? Wow...

The Gate Keeper said:
in response
1. good to know, i didn't know this and hopefully MS will improve on it as they threw it together pretty quick, but who knows... doesn't zune detect the files on NAS though? mine does (well videos anyways, and i've got all sorts of videos formats which all worked), maybe try the k-lite codec pack and see if zune will pick it up then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's using the Connector for Mac instead of the Windows based Zune client. The Connector for Mac is still Beta if I recall correctly so issues like this are gonna get solved eventually I guess.

Basically your complaining about software issues or using a phone as a music player.
Im on my third day of using HD7 all day long and have no problems with it at all.
Zune loaded all my photos and music.
Have not had any screen problems, that could be your one hardware problem.
Sound is fine, though could be louder
No LED alert for notifications. My one complaint.
Everything runs smooth and fast.
I have to say its a nice piece of hardware.

NRGZ28 said:
What is a shame is the fact that you're returning the phone because of #6. Are you friggin kidding me ? Wow...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For someone who uses their phone primarily as a music player (why carry two things in your pocket), no, I am not kidding you. I could go on all day how iPod/iPhones work with this without problems, but we'd be covering old ground.
Also, it's not just live/DJ mix albums that are gapless these days. I don't know if you listen to a lot of continuous albums, but having a 1 or 2 second gap in a seamless DJ mix kind of defeats the object. It works on the Zune players (and iDevice), so why not on WP7?
To those who suggested using Zune PC to rip new files. I'm on a Mac, so at the moment the Zune software isn't available. I will try a 3rd party ripper though, which might give a different outcome to iTunes. I did try .M4A and .MP3 files from iTunes, but got the same result.
With regard to Connector for Mac, the external drive problem is being looked at and will hopefully be fixed when it moves from a beta release.
Unfortunately I don't know anyone else with a WP7 device, but will try another HD7 in the shop to see if the call interference is there. As mentioned, the earphones act as an antenna for the radio, so maybe it is this that is causing it. After digging around, I've found the screen tearing may be a driver fault and not the hardware itself.
One other minor (good) quirk, is that my Shure iPhone MPA remote/mic partially works with the HD7. It can only stop/start music, but a bonus nonetheless.

New phone
It's interesting each time a new or updated OS and phone comes out we don't really know what to expect or what the limits of the device will be. I went thru this last year (and every other previous year) with Win 6.5 on my Dash 3G. In the end I managed to get 100+ apps installed and the phone did everything except my laundry. I have a good feeling about WP7 (and my HTC Surround)....I've only had it 3 days and I've customized it, I see more (free) apps every day, and I will bet anyone MS will be implementing a lot of tweaks and new features i.e. spending a lot of money to insure these phones will compete with the others. We are all tweakers here and we want to push the limits..a little patience may be necessary.....it's only 3 days old

DaveyBoy72 said:
For someone who uses their phone primarily as a music player (why carry two things in your pocket), no, I am not kidding you. I could go on all day how iPod/iPhones work with this without problems, but we'd be covering old ground.
Also, it's not just live/DJ mix albums that are gapless these days. I don't know if you listen to a lot of continuous albums, but having a 1 or 2 second gap in a seamless DJ mix kind of defeats the object. It works on the Zune players (and iDevice), so why not on WP7?
To those who suggested using Zune PC to rip new files. I'm on a Mac, so at the moment the Zune software isn't available. I will try a 3rd party ripper though, which might give a different outcome to iTunes. I did try .M4A and .MP3 files from iTunes, but got the same result.
With regard to Connector for Mac, the external drive problem is being looked at and will hopefully be fixed when it moves from a beta release.
Unfortunately I don't know anyone else with a WP7 device, but will try another HD7 in the shop to see if the call interference is there. As mentioned, the earphones act as an antenna for the radio, so maybe it is this that is causing it. After digging around, I've found the screen tearing may be a driver fault and not the hardware itself.
One other minor (good) quirk, is that my Shure iPhone MPA remote/mic partially works with the HD7. It can only stop/start music, but a bonus nonetheless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your music DRM? With the Zune HD gapless works great as long as it's not with DRM so with my zune pass everything from the pass fails at gapless but works fine with the music I brought to the table without drm

DaveyBoy72 said:
6. No gapless playback - A big one for me is this. I've got 200 or so live/dj mix albums, so not having this feature has pretty much made this phone worthless to me. I just don't understand why MS haven't implemented it. If there are no plans to add this, then my HD7 will have to be returned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you support this idea on the WP7 wish list here
http://windowsphone7community.userv...ral/topics/85023-i-suggest-you-/filter/recent

Done.
None of my music is DRM as I've only ever downloaded 2 tracks in the last 5 years in iTunes.
Most of my music is from CD rips, with the occasional BitTorrent download.
I've still not had a chance to check another HD7 to see if it also produces feedback through the earphones. Has anyone else with an FM radio equiped handset ever had the same thing happen?

honestly I was shocked at the quality of calls on my HD7. I wouldn't call it decent, I'd call it excellent.

jz9833 said:
honestly I was shocked at the quality of calls on my HD7. I wouldn't call it decent, I'd call it excellent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is that coming from an ex-iphone user?

There are many problems with Wp7, but people have to remember this is a 1st release and only a couple of weeks old. I've had mine for 3 weeks and dispite the shortcuming it's my best phone yet.
I've only had the screen flicker problem once in Zune.

When you say gapless are you talking nearly instant vs absolutely instant or 2 seconds vs nearly instant/absolutely instant?
I have a few albums, some Linkin Park ones in particular that are compiled as a continuous album and i tried it first on the PC zune player. the transition was instantaneous. Then i synced the same tracks to my HTC Surround and played a few and there was about a tenth of a second skip before the next song started. Is that what you are talking about?

*Update*
I've made some progress with the HD7.
1. Finally got Connector for Mac to work properly. It now mirrors any changes in iTunes (eg adding media, playlists, etc) and accesses my NAS no problem. It also syncs ok. Previously I had to use the iTunes library on a local drive, but now it works with the NAS. I had to do a fresh install of iTunes, but it seems to be working now.
2. I've not had any further screen tearing issues. There were a few updates to the HTC apps/front end showing up, so I installed them. Not sure if this has fixed it, or whether I've just been lucky.
3. Gapless playback - Hopefully MS will implement this in the next OS update. I take gapless to mean totally seamless. At the moment, I get gaps of 1-2 seconds at least. Obviously on shuffle or with a regular album it's not a problem, but with an album like Radio Soulwax by 2manyDJs (45 tracks in 60 minutes), it's kind of annoying.
4. The interference! I'm going back to O2 at lunchtime today to try another handset (providing they have one). Still getting that noise when using earphones (my Denon or the supplied headset) and this is noticable with calls, when listening to Zune or the radio, and even when there is no music playing.
Do any other HD7 (or Desire HD) users have this problem??
Note: This is ONLY when using the headphones.
Thanks.

I don't know how you are getting such a long delay in between tracks.. Its barely a split second between mine. Not even close to 1-2 seconds.

Further update.
Popped into O2 at lunchtime. The guy knew exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned this interefence noise, and said they'd had a few others with the same problem.
Anyway, swapped the phone and gave the new one a try in the shop. This worked fine, so hopefully it was just a one-off for me.
Re: Gapless - I was probably exaggerating with the 1-2 seconds, but it's around 0.5-1 second. There's no click and chageover, it's a definite gap.

DaveyBoy72 said:
Popped into O2 at lunchtime. The guy knew exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned this interefence noise, and said they'd had a few others with the same problem.
Anyway, swapped the phone and gave the new one a try in the shop. This worked fine, so hopefully it was just a one-off for me.
Re: Gapless - I was probably exaggerating with the 1-2 seconds, but it's around 0.5-1 second. There's no click and chageover, it's a definite gap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I continue to wonder why HTC is regarded as being a top hardware maker, here is yet another indication they are anything but.

efjay said:
I continue to wonder why HTC is regarded as being a top hardware maker, here is yet another indication they are anything but.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, actually they look like a quite faulty hardware maker...
Software is definitely better from HTC.

i haven't had a bad run with HTC, but I would have easily swapped to samsung (omnia 7) if the carriers here really made it worth while...