bought a omnia 7,Trophy, or mozart and are a still dissapointed with the paltry 8gb? Memory/data costs. what every way you do it, just look at the prices of an iphone to see how much their 32 and 64gb versions are! not to worry, heres a few ideas to help. others welcome......
1) like i said, Memory/data cost, if you investing in an 8gb phone it would be a wise decision to get an unlimited (1gb usually)internet plan or a decent one at least. once secured,, this moves onto......
2)Use the Skydrive. its fully intergrated into your WP7 already, and once connected you will now have access of up to 25GB of storage. upload your documents and pics from your PC to the skydrive and you can access these from your wp7 device. i was surprised at the speed i could access all my pics from the phone. unfortunately, this does not yet work for mp3 files yet.
3) Music files, personally my biggest problem. rip cds at 128k or 192k rather than 320kps. ive either got really bad hearing or something cos i cant tell the difference once the bitrate hits 128kps, apparently the difference is clear to hear, if you have £300 headphones. who has that? Exactly.
4) XNview. Picture files still too big? download this pc software, and batch convert your images. you can reduce a 5mb pic to 1mb or lower...then skudrive it.
any more tips pelase let me know...... what about video??? there used to be pocket divx..........
With pictures / video from the camera, you can always take them and then when you get home... Take them off the phone and store them either on the computer or onto Skydrive.
those can also be upload straight to skydrive from the phone...a nice feature........
davidebanks said:
3) Music files, personally my biggest problem. rip cds at 128k or 192k rather than 320kps. ive either got really bad hearing or something cos i cant tell the difference once the bitrate hits 128kps, apparently the difference is clear to hear, if you have £300 headphones. who has that? Exactly.
any more tips pelase let me know...... what about video??? there used to be pocket divx..........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... I can hear the difference quite clearly with a set of $50 USD headphones. It may depend on what sort of music you listen to, and how detailed the sound is. Anything under 256k sounds "fuzzy" to me (rather like a slight FM sound on the music).
On video, there's going to be a problem on the standard Skydrive space, with a limit of 50 MB per file. I believe there is a smaller 5 GB section of Skydrive that doesn't have that limit (the "synced storage" area), but you can't store office documents there, and there are other issues with storing very large files "in the cloud" and then trying to access them later (i.e. - even if you have truly unlimited data plans, it will take forever to access those files over 3G). I think most of that is moot until MS actually allows people to access media from Skydrive though.
davidebanks said:
those can also be upload straight to skydrive from the phone...a nice feature........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One caution about storing directly to Skydrive... the full quality photo is not uploaded. It is compressed down from 2560 x 1920 resolution and 5 MB to 719 x 539 and around 150K. If you then delete the phone copy to free up space, you don't have a printable quality picture any more. See:
http://windowsphonesecrets.com/2010/10/24/windows-phone-and-photo-sharing/
interesting, i will have to keep a look out for that. i took a few pics and uploaded them to skydrive, just so i could look at them on my laptop. not bad however, does anyone really print photos from their mobile phone cameras???? i like having a camera on the mobile, but when i want to take decent printable pictures, i use a real camera. 8mp or not. mobile cameras just dont cut it for print.
I find crazy that people really try to "survive" with 8GB storage phones.
The reasonable solution would be not to buy any of these devices.
So maybe the manufacturers would stop playing with customers this way if they don't sell.
Seriously I feel sorry for all the customers with only 8GB. Because I know it's almost impossible to manage. Come on, ou will hate your phone as soon as you'll run out of storage.
- Firstly, it's not 8GB. The available storage is actually even less
- All your downloaded apps will waste this precious internal storage
- Only the sole GPS will waste 10% of the storage
- Skydrive is not an option for music and videos.
arturobandini said:
I find crazy that people really try to "survive" with 8GB storage phones.
The reasonable solution would be not to buy any of these devices.
So maybe the manufacturers would stop playing with customers this way if they don't sell.
Seriously I feel sorry for all the customers with only 8GB. Because I know it's almost impossible to manage. Come on, ou will hate your phone as soon as you'll run out of storage.
- Firstly, it's not 8GB. The available storage is actually even less
- All your downloaded apps will waste this precious internal storage
- Only the sole GPS will waste 10% of the storage
- Skydrive is not an option for music and videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said.
its ok for the europeans who can get 16GB or more, but a lot of the wp7 phones here UK only come with 8gb. other wise i would have got a 16 gb omnia. everyon is different and has different needs for their mobile. i had a touch diamond 2 for 18 months with only 4GB and that was enough for me. sure its always better to have more memory, but do i really need my WHOLE music collection on my phone???
I have an 8gb Mozart. Please don't feel sorry for me I'm sure I'll cope ok!
Just upgraded from my 8gb Touch HD and managed no problem with storage limits the 2 years i used it. I dare say if your used to a 16gb handset you wouldn't want to drop down to 8 tho.
I agree with the previous poster, its about the individual and how they use their phone. If you need more than that then buy a handset with more storage, its as simple as that.
I think a major factor for big phone storage with other handsets is music storage.
With my 32GB 3GS I had probably 24GB of music loaded but this mostly becomes redundant with WP7 because of my Zune Pass.
The cloud is the way forward, not keeping everything locally on your device.
Once SkyDrive and Live get deeper integration into the OS along with how Zune works there won't be much need for devices with storage of above 16GB I would say, if that.
arturobandini said:
I find crazy that people really try to "survive" with 8GB storage phones.
The reasonable solution would be not to buy any of these devices.
So maybe the manufacturers would stop playing with customers this way if they don't sell.
Seriously I feel sorry for all the customers with only 8GB. Because I know it's almost impossible to manage. Come on, ou will hate your phone as soon as you'll run out of storage.
- Firstly, it's not 8GB. The available storage is actually even less
- All your downloaded apps will waste this precious internal storage
- Only the sole GPS will waste 10% of the storage
- Skydrive is not an option for music and videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agee with you 100%.
I travel OS every few months so using sky-drive is not an option. The fact that there is no 32 or 64 GB option is also a problem for some users.
I like to have all my music, videos and files on the device for instant access, After all this is the reason I use a smart-phone.
Heres hoping the second generation of WP7 smart-phones offers bigger storage options and larger batteries or better longevity out of the batteries.
JEEtoP said:
I think a major factor for big phone storage with other handsets is music storage.
With my 32GB 3GS I had probably 24GB of music loaded but this mostly becomes redundant with WP7 because of my Zune Pass.
The cloud is the way forward, not keeping everything locally on your device.
Once SkyDrive and Live get deeper integration into the OS along with how Zune works there won't be much need for devices with storage of above 16GB I would say, if that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any chance you own shares in a mobile carrier. Not every one is on an unlimited data plan.
Also have you thought about how you are going to access you files while flying on an eight hour flight?
for those that want the capability to have bigger cards, get a Focus or Venue Pro. Both of which have exposed memory card slots. You can add a Kingston 32GB class 4 card available on Amazon. This will solve your issues.
If you don't mind voiding warranty, you can also replace the HD7 memory card as well.
For the rest of us who are getting the 8GB/16GB models, i'm sure we'll survive.
Besides... how often are you on an eight hour flight?
The Gate Keeper said:
for those that want the capability to have bigger cards, get a Focus or Venue Pro. Both of which have exposed memory card slots. You can add a Kingston 32GB class 4 card available on Amazon. This will solve your issues.
If you don't mind voiding warranty, you can also replace the HD7 memory card as well.
For the rest of us who are getting the 8GB/16GB models, i'm sure we'll survive.
Besides... how often are you on an eight hour flight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every 6 to 8 weeks if you must know
I also travel with my 6 year old boy very regular. When I had my HD2 I would load lots of shows on the 32 GB card and keep him entertained while waiting for flights etc.
This device will also serve as my media player as I am fed up carting two separate devices. I listen to music every day.
I suppose I could stop using using lossless to allow more room on the card.
I was not aware the Focus would be available Outside the US?
wow man... i've never even had a passport... want to swap jobs?
The focus won't be, so I guess the Venue Pro is your only option... or voiding the warranty on the HD7.
Given that you're going to be using it quite a bit for entertainment purposes, the windows phones are real solid units for that with the Zune integration, and the Xbox Live integration. As much as there are quality games on iPhone, I believe over time many of these will be available on Windows Phone, and then you'll see a lot more on Windows Phone than iPhone given the xbox backing as well. Though as a counter-arguement there are also game developers saying they won't develop for Windows Phone due to lack of native support, so it could go either way. But yea, if you're not wanting to drink SJ's gasoline... sorry kool-aid, then in terms of entertainment, Windows Phone might be a good way to go? Android is awesome for customisation, don't get me wrong, but I'm not too sure if it's the best OS for entertainment.
davidebanks said:
its ok for the europeans who can get 16GB or more, but a lot of the wp7 phones here UK only come with 8gb. other wise i would have got a 16 gb omnia. everyon is different and has different needs for their mobile. i had a touch diamond 2 for 18 months with only 4GB and that was enough for me. sure its always better to have more memory, but do i really need my WHOLE music collection on my phone???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you don't have a twitter nor a facebook account because all the feeds will eat up this precious storage over time and because there's no file manager where you could find precisely the file to delete (likeon the HD2), your only solution will be a hard-reset to free up memory. Good luck and have fun!
JEEtoP said:
I think a major factor for big phone storage with other handsets is music storage.
With my 32GB 3GS I had probably 24GB of music loaded but this mostly becomes redundant with WP7 because of my Zune Pass.
The cloud is the way forward, not keeping everything locally on your device.
Once SkyDrive and Live get deeper integration into the OS along with how Zune works there won't be much need for devices with storage of above 16GB I would say, if that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cloud and zune pass (music and videos streaming) are the way forward? I doubt it: Zune pass is costly, not free: to push this service further M$ didn't alloy removable storage. The cloud? Skydrive reduces the size and the quality of the pics you upload, so it's rather backwards to me, just like the whole WP7 and its actual state.
f.
agp64 said:
Any chance you own shares in a mobile carrier. Not every one is on an unlimited data plan.
Also have you thought about how you are going to access you files while flying on an eight hour flight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha no I don't, honest. It did sound a bit preachy didn't it.
I'm probably biased though being in UK and I still have an active contract from the unlimited data days.
I must admit I've only been on 1 long haul flight since owning a smartphone and it had Wi-Fi access included, 1GB I think. Lasted me fine for 23 hours to New Zealand.
forelli said:
The cloud and zune pass (music and videos streaming) are the way forward? I doubt it: Zune pass is costly, not free: to push this service further M$ didn't alloy removable storage. The cloud? Skydrive reduces the size and the quality of the pics you upload, so it's rather backwards to me, just like the whole WP7 and its actual state.
f.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the Zune Pass is great value for what it gives you.
I do agree though at the current state of the OS/Cloud is far from ideal and there are significant improvements to be made, getting the Kin Studio variant up for WP7 would be a great step (I still think the Kin debacle was worth it just because it produced Kin Studio).
I also think though that this will happen and the OS looks good to be able to adapt well in the future. It's obviously been built with that idea from the ground up.
JEEtoP said:
I think the Zune Pass is great value for what it gives you.
I do agree though at the current state of the OS/Cloud is far from ideal and there are significant improvements to be made, getting the Kin Studio variant up for WP7 would be a great step (I still think the Kin debacle was worth it just because it produced Kin Studio).
I also think though that this will happen and the OS looks good to be able to adapt well in the future. It's obviously been built with that idea from the ground up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no fan of giving money for MP3s. I buy CDs, even singles, but not MP3s, sorry, I'm too old-fashion for that. The Zune pass will not be mine, definetely, plus, I have iTunes at home, my wife owns a 3GS, and my iTunes is packed with more than 30 GB of music ranging from Beethoven to Wu-Tang Clan, Metallica, Cassius, Bob Sinclar and the like, all nicely ordered in playlists. I'm don't move around with all this music, rather syncing playlists according to my mood. Plus, I have some shows I watch when I'm not listening to music on my way to work, and they're around 350 MB big per episode. With any of my SD cards, it's a matter of 10 minutes maximum for say, 5 episodes. With the Zune software, it's about 20 minutes for 1 episode! Well, WP7 have storage issues which could hamper its success as a multimedia smartphone. And, btw, how in Earth is a phone "smart" when it can't handle multitasking and doesn't have a file explorer?
f.
side note: I did pre-order a HD7 unit, but I still have the choice to take it or leave it when it comes, sometime this week. I'm still not sure about it, so disappointing that the HD7 doesn't have the EVO's or Desire HD's 8 MP camera, for example...
forelli said:
I'm no fan of giving money for MP3s. I buy CDs, even singles, but not MP3s, sorry, I'm too old-fashion for that. The Zune pass will not be mine, definetely, plus, I have iTunes at home, my wife owns a 3GS, and my iTunes is packed with more than 30 GB of music ranging from Beethoven to Wu-Tang Clan, Metallica, Cassius, Bob Sinclar and the like, all nicely ordered in playlists. I'm don't move around with all this music, rather syncing playlists according to my mood. Plus, I have some shows I watch when I'm not listening to music on my way to work, and they're around 350 MB big per episode. With any of my SD cards, it's a matter of 10 minutes maximum for say, 5 episodes. With the Zune software, it's about 20 minutes for 1 episode! Well, WP7 have storage issues which could hamper its success as a multimedia smartphone. And, btw, how in Earth is a phone "smart" when it can't handle multitasking and doesn't have a file explorer?
f.
side note: I did pre-order a HD7 unit, but I still have the choice to take it or leave it when it comes, sometime this week. I'm still not sure about it, so disappointing that the HD7 doesn't have the EVO's or Desire HD's 8 MP camera, for example...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally get what you're saying, we just obviously work with music different ways and I think getting a platform to cater to both very well is near on impossible.
It seems Microsoft has made a choice with WP7 which I think is shown by the fact they are still going to ship WM6.5 as Windows Phone Classic or whatever it's called.
Just on a pure technical note - WP7 can handle multi-tasking without a problem. It's a multi-tasking OS. It's just as yet not open to third parties to utilise which is the only sensible option for Microsoft.
From their point of view they have launched a very solid OS with a great set of core features and a fantastic user experience which is up to date with the competition, technically. Over the next 12 months it will be opened up as people are asking.
They could not risk having reviews and user feedback criticising the OS for a problem with a poorly written app draining all the battery in 2 hours, as a basic example.
The entire Windows Mobile effort rested on WP7's shoulders - it was too big a risk to take.
I don't really see 8GB as a problem, but then I'm not watching films on the phone. For me, going from 16GB down to 8GB just means I've had to third the amount of music I've put on to the device. It's unfortunate but not really a problem, 4GB is enough for nearly 30 hours of music at 320kbps, which personally I think is plenty. Until phones can store my entire music collection I'm always going to have to choose what to sync, and until then I'm not overly bothered how much I can sync (less takes me less time but means I'll be syncing more often).
forelli said:
I hope you don't have a twitter nor a facebook account because all the feeds will eat up this precious storage over time and because there's no file manager where you could find precisely the file to delete (likeon the HD2), your only solution will be a hard-reset to free up memory. Good luck and have fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im pretty sure it doesn't work like that. The oldest feed in the People hub on my handset is 16 hours old. If i want to check older feeds it'll pull those from the cloud for me. I'm not sure if it just keeps a certain number of feeds or if it keeps them for a certain amount of time, but they definitely aren't kept on the phone forever.
I don't know about you guys, but I am hoping with the re-branding of Zune the Zune pass gets rolled into the XBL Gold membership anyone else think this is a good idea or will happen?
It would be nice. I don't see why there isn't a combined XBL / Zune subscription that also allows access to movies via the 360. I'd definitely pay for that combo.
I was wondering about why Microsoft would mimic with Zune same behavior of iTune in first place?
That'd be great, but it'd have to be discounted. No point in just adding the extra £89 for Zune pass on top of the £40 Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Maybe some something like £100 total?
Obviously the figure would depend on your current prices in the US etc.
Freypal said:
It would be nice. I don't see why there isn't a combined XBL / Zune subscription that also allows access to movies via the 360. I'd definitely pay for that combo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps it's because I'm in the US, but since I have an XBL Gold account and a Zune Pass tied to the same gamertag all movies/TV shows I purchase on Zune are visible in the Zune market on my Xbox automatically and vice/versa. I have bought season passes to shows whilst sitting on my couch and then later downloaded an episode to my Zune or my phone for watching on a plane.
Yeah should definately be a combo deal. The main problem I have with ZunePass (in the UK anyway) is the lack of the 10 download tokens as offered in the US. Paying £8.99 a month and not recieving anything permanent in return is a little bit of a dissapointing and the main reason I no longer pay for the pass. I think they really could have been massive competition to iTunes had they sorted this out. Really hope they can get it together in line for Mango release.
They are doing so much right in other areas, the Zune Software is gorgeous, the Free Tracks given away is a great pulling point, the Bing features coming soon, the social aspect etc...we just need tokens, podcasts, and web marketplace!
Running trend with Microsoft on services sometimes - so close to topping but falling short at the last hurdle.
I don't think rebranding is the answer at all. I actually like Zune. I don't understand why they didn't just categorise certain handsets this way. IE the HTC Surround as a Zune Phone (powered by WP7). Trophy as an XBox Phone (powered by WP7) etc..
Not to fragment the WP7 line in terms of features, but to promote certain aspects to consumers. XBox phones could come with MS Points vouchers exclusive Avatar items, branded up a little, whilst the Zune phones could do the same with Music Tracks, preinstalled apps (ie Last.fm etc) different themes etc etc...
i like wp7
After having my Fire phone for almost 3 weeks, I am relatively happy with it.
It is a slim phone, watching video on it is a pleasure, music sounds great. If you are an Amazon Prime member, the xray feature on some TV programs which is linked in with IMDB is just way to cool.. I think this way cooler than "Dynamic Perspective," which may be a feature yet to be exploited by apps and technology which are NOT yet in the Amazon appstore.
Amazon Prime Music is being way undersold by Jeff Bezos in promoting his new phone. Why, I do not know!? From the man who wants to sell you everything, this is a big marketing mistake in the world of iphones, itunes, ipods!!!! And for God's sakes, he owns Audible now, he should make that bargain basement now too, while he is playing Monopoly to gain control of absolutely everything fun.
Granted, my phone is more fun since gaining root, that is one reason I bought it, that and one year of extra Prime, the chance to throwaway a locked Samsung Galaxay S3 with crappy Boost mobile service. I never thought it was that great a phone, anyway.
Unlimited cloud storage of photos.
And by the way, Does anyone listen to all the iPhone fanboys complain about horrible battery life on their latest iteration of the iPhone? I thought Apple took care of that early on? All I'm saying, this is the FIRST Amazon phone. You don't have to be a fan, you can still love whatever iteration of iPhone out there (and still be apron-stringed to i-Tunes) or love your favorite Android...
Yes complaints that Amazon wants to sell you a store and not a phone, I ***** about that every time I buy a new PC with bundled so ftware.
To me, an iPhone is more paralyzing than either a Fire phone or generic android, and a Fire phone, rooted, is the best of android devices, but still some annoying features.
I have to agree with you. I work for o2 and I had the device 4 weeks before the realise date for 3 days.
Have to say I loved it, It just oozes pure quality much like, and I hate to say it... iPhone's except the build quality.
When I was using it all I could think of was "this would be amazing with the full play store on".
Now I can see Root access, it may not be a dream.
I have told a lot of people about this phone, me being very surprised.
A little hard to get your head around the OS butas Dilbert says, Its a store with a built in phone.
From an analytic point of view, Amazon have missed the boat on this.
A good 55% of consumers have brand loyalty, 20% follow them, 10-15% have the same but can not afford to have their 1st choice so opt for the closest and probably oldest. The rest take anything.
Now you might get some Kindle users wanting 1 but most would still rather have the iPhone etc,.....
They should target them 10-15% in price but not at £399.99 ($650). If I lost my phone or didn't have the money to get a new HTC or iPhone, Had £400 in my pocket............ I'd go and buy the Moto G2.
If they're planning on making money from their stores, they should focus on that lower the price and let word of mouth do the talking because they have the hardware to back it up.
Great phone, great first attempt.
Does anyine know how to use the Spotify equalizer instead of the Samsung one. It just seams like the Samsung one is a lot more quiet than the Spotify one was. Mostly listening on my bluetooth radio
You would need root to disable the systemwide Samsung equalizer. Worth it to you?
I'm so disgusted with Spotify. They seem TO WEEKLY be down for some nonsense "maintenance" and they restrict my amount of offline downloads.. Pretty crummy business. I can find all my music on Apple Music and can download an unlimited amount of albums and they are NEVER DOWN. Google music is what I used for years but they shut down and Apple is as close to that as I can get. #spotifyisajoke
OJsakila said:
I'm so disgusted with Spotify. They seem TO WEEKLY be down for some nonsense "maintenance" and they restrict my amount of offline downloads.. Pretty crummy business. I can find all my music on Apple Music and can download an unlimited amount of albums and they are NEVER DOWN. Google music is what I used for years but they shut down and Apple is as close to that as I can get. #spotifyisajoke
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im serious about Spotify being PURE CRAP. They are highly over rated and obviously reading their own press releases. Spotify is terrible in the whole scheme of offering an entire scope of historical band's albums.. If you like all the nonsense "extras" (videos, partial albums, hits only, podcasts, playlists, etc) and ZERO FULL ALBUMS outside of the most popular ones then Spotify might be for you. If you like MUSIC and dont want to pay for one single song to complete an album, then there are better, cheaper, RICHER options out there. #Spotifyisforchumps
I have the family paid to use in my classroom, and share with the family.
Never have the weekly maintenance issue. They have bands I haven't heard since high school, as in they were local bands I saw live all the time.
Downside is that some songs are unavailable, and they don't really have a reason why. But it's few and far between.
I find it worth the cost.
dirtybudha said:
I have the family paid to use in my classroom, and share with the family.
Never have the weekly maintenance issue. They have bands I haven't heard since high school, as in they were local bands I saw live all the time.
Downside is that some songs are unavailable, and they don't really have a reason why. But it's few and far between.
I find it worth the cost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL I was crazy hard on Spotify the other night. Yes, I'm sure plenty of people are happy but I really have a bad taste in my mouth about Spotify. Personally, I do NOT find it worth the money. Thats just me, of course. I know they're quite popular and I'm an old guy so I probably expect more from music than most people do today.
OJsakila said:
LOL I was crazy hard on Spotify the other night. Yes, I'm sure plenty of people are happy but I really have a bad taste in my mouth about Spotify. Personally, I do NOT find it worth the money. Thats just me, of course. I know they're quite popular and I'm an old guy so I probably expect more from music than most people do today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel ya. At 43 it's nice to be ale to get some older tracks. But I do get it. I tried Amazon music and Pandora...just not impressed. But to each their own.