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WP7 owners, love it, hate it, or ...

Unlike those of us in the US, others can buy Win Phone 7 devices. So what do you think?

I have not tested it yet as mine is arriving shortly.
I think that it does look good and that Microsoft has the right idea.
The only issues that I can see with it is the SDK limitations and the general os limitations.

i love it, it has it's limitation but it will get better.

Used an HD7 for about 30 minutes in the T-Mobile store here. Smooth like butter, and it has 16GB storage.
I'm definitely leaning towards getting one.
Finally an OS that performs like one should on this hardware. Can't even imagine what performance will be like on next-gen hardware.

Up until 28th November I was an Android Fanboy - G1 when it was launched, Desire as an Upgrade.
I now actually prefer Wp7 to Android and love the fact I went and bought a HD7. My desire is now untouched, I put it on Ebay

i just played a bit with one at a t-mobile store... (htc mozart)
very smooth handling in every condition
i dont like pinch to zoom in any browser i used before (opera, safari, whatever android has...) but i like it in wp7 very much
but then there are the known limitations and some of them i realy dislike...
if there was a way to use wp7 device as mass storage my decision would be clear pro wp7...

Had it for 3 days, love it.
Blazingly fast and super solid - yes a few things are unavailable at the moment but its only been out for a matter of days.
Genuinely excited for the future of this OS.

Thanks for the replies. Sounds great. I was hoping to move away from AT&T but, if the WP7 devices are good maybe I will stay with them.
BTW, does anyone have a standalone Zune and care to compare the functionality of the WP7? I have a Zune 80 and love the Zune Marketplace and Zune client.

Love it as well. I miss the the messaging apps available on iOS and Android and some apps are a bit slow to launch, but it is a polished OS especially for a 1.0 with a lot of attention to detail taken on it. In a way it makes Android look like a toy, Aesthetics wise, and it is much smoother natively.

agreed with the ones above, had my HTC Trophy for over 2 days now and i'm really liking it. I see the Trophy as the base model for all Windows Phones. There is no stand out feature in this phone at all, it's all minimum spec, but it works... exceptionally! Games are a little slow on loading, but that's ok, the gameplay itself is fine. This limitation is due to the use of microSD (which you'll probably see in the other HTC phones). But I don't plan on voiding my warranty, and my carrier throws an extra year on top, so i have 2 years warranty. I don't use it for music all that much as i'm more of a radio listener... and let me tell you, when i fired up the radio for the first time this morning... man was it a really nicely designed radio. Simple, only get a bar with the radio frequency on top, and you just scroll left/right, and find the frequency you want. Favourite it, and done. SO NICE!

hmm looks like im really gonna have to get this lol

all good comments.. i suppose to have my HD7 with me right now but my friend could not pick it up in singapore for me... now i have to wait till dec 1st as i cant make it to SG till then..

I LOVE IT. its that simple. There is a few very tiny glitches but i had that with android blackberry and sare i say it ios as well. I do have a couple of poiunts for a few people that moan about some missing features though.
Mass storage - why oh why would you want to use your phone for this i don't get it? the memory inside is for the phone not your pc. Get a memory stick they cost about £20 and will sit on your keyring they are faster and easier to use.
Flash - this is coming very soon adobe and Microsoft have confirmed this.
Copy paste - as above (i suspect the January update for both though flash may come as its own download)
Multitasking - just a battery drain and all the main features do this anyway, the phone is quick at swapping between apps. I don't get why you would want to multi-task beyond what it already does if anyone can give me a good example i will retract that but so far its just "cos we like it that we can" i personally prefer a battery that lasts unlike the desire.
removable storage - once again why would you want this? I have an idea don't buy a load of small cards just get one good one. You can argue that the on board amounts given at launch are poor (i to stated this) BUT, America will get the focus this can be upgraded so to can the dell. The HD7 can be also if you don't mind getting under the back cover. I suspect as with the hd7 we will find others. So there are options even for the most data intensive. Your phone is not a memory stick people.
I personally think wp7 has it right esp for a brand new os that has not even had, dare i call the January update this, service pack 1. I don't like to say i will never touch things again because the world is constantly changing but i will say for now i am so glad i sold my desire and got a hd7 it beats anything else hands down.

I just realized i was so busy fending the so called downsides i forgot to look at why wp7 is the best.
Xbox live - this is so good it makes my nuts tingle though it was a lil slow at first once it has had chance to sync everything up it is amazing. I can see all my avatar stuff in 3d i can see my mates avatars in 3d i can compare gamer scores, i can earn achievements on games i can send messages to my live friends and see what they are doing. Basically all the same stuff i can do on my xbox but on a phone. Plus they will soon have multilayer games not just turn by turn and intergration into actual xbox games.
Zune - By far and away the best music/media experience you can get. Makes iphone look old and rubbish. I have loved Zune since i got my zune hd imported last year. Zune software is easier to use then itunes. It is far better at managing your media and is so good at getting the track data. Plus unlike itunes if it cant find it automatically you can just find it yourself easy as and make sure all the tracks have the right names with a no fuss at all. Put it this way my itunes on my mac has about 80% of the right art my zune has 100% (and for about 8 months i had to use the mac as my main pc due to frying my motherboard so it is nothing to do with me not careing about getting it sorted).
Hubs/live tile - just genius i hardly use my facebook app as i don't need to my friends are asy to contact and find and my pictures are all in one place. Yeah you can collect data together on android but until you have used a wp7, and i do say if your unsure go to the store and play, its hard to explain why its so much better but it just is. updates are right there on the home screen and even the lock screen.
Speed/transactions - This is a zippy os everything is smooth and looks sexy, this isnt a big point for many people i know but, there is no better feeling then when showing someone an email or a text or anything on your phone and it flys there but at the same time looks like something from minority report.

The phone is fantastic. The system is very smooth! The zune feature wit zune pass is great. One thing though, notification sounds for txt and email are very, very quiet (HD7). I can hardly hear them

robart76 said:
The phone is fantastic. The system is very smooth! The zune feature wit zune pass is great. One thing though, notification sounds for txt and email are very, very quiet (HD7). I can hardly hear them
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have you updated the audio controller from htc as it may be coincidence but i thought it was quieter before i did that.

lumpaywk said:
Multitasking - just a battery drain and all the main features do this anyway, the phone is quick at swapping between apps. I don't get why you would want to multi-task beyond what it already does if anyone can give me a good example i will retract that but so far its just "cos we like it that we can" i personally prefer a battery that lasts unlike the desire.
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I disagree. There are cases where multitasking would help, one area would be instant messaging. Also, I have looked at most reviews out there and battery life is on par with similarly specced Android devices. For example, the HD7 vs. EVO/Desire HD. Even my developer WP7 devices battery lasts around the same time as my Captivate.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

There is no denying the fact that multitasking would help in many cases. I am glad that MS never said they wouldn't allow 3rd party aps to multitask. I am sure it's already in development... may be being tested as we speak

Went from HTC to Samsung Focus, so far i do love the smoothness and speed. Active tiles are a huge plus and can see where this can be beneficial in various ways. Only 'major' things needed is tethering or turning the phone into a WiFi Hotspot (and would like bluetooth rSAP support).

emuneee said:
I disagree. There are cases where multitasking would help, one area would be instant messaging. Also, I have looked at most reviews out there and battery life is on par with similarly specced Android devices. For example, the HD7 vs. EVO/Desire HD. Even my developer WP7 devices battery lasts around the same time as my Captivate.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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You're wrong.
With Push Messaging, you get you IMs without the app even running. Multitasking IM applications is a huge waste of battery.
Do you even have a clue what you're talking about?
Also, the HD7 has a weak battery in it. It's around 1230 mAh, IIRC. Most decent phones have 1500 mAh batteries in them. Check that before you make a comparison. Also, use patterns on the two phones may not be identical. It's almost impossible to conduct a decent test for battery life outside of a controlled environment.

Gps lock concerns? If any.

Is anyone concerned on whether or not the phone will have issues locking on to your location? I currently have a samsung droid charge and the thing takes minutes to lock (talking 10 to 15 minutes at times). I'm aware samsung has had faulty gps with the first galaxy series as well, but haven't checked on their latest phones recently. Anyone know if the nexus s had any gps problems? Just hoping this phone won't suffer from the same problems as those other phones.

The built in barometer sensor will probably help.

Here's an article published by PocketNow:
Google Confirms Barometer Intent: Faster GPS Locks
According to Morgill, the intended use for the barometer sensor will be speeding-up GPS acquisition. We had mentioned the ability to gauge altitude via barometric pressure, but focused on its use in estimating altitude independently of GPS, saving battery life. Instead, Morgill says, it's to make initial GPS calculations go faster.
While it's easy to keep-up with GPS satellites, an initial lock-on can take a smartphone's GPS receiver a little while to make. Besides needing to wait to receive satellite constellation data from the GPS birds, the receiver needs to solve a complicated set of equations to figure out your location. One of those values it's solving for is your altitude coordinate, and if you already have a pretty good guess what it's near, you can speed up the rest of the equation-solving. Of course, you always could use the sensor for any of the uses we mentioned, given the proper app support, but this GPS-assist looks to be the primary motivation for the sensor's inclusion.
From: http://pocketnow.com/android/google-confirms-barometer-intent-faster-gps-locks
Source: Dan Morgill
Via: Android and Me
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Even better would be to know that it uses the Russian Glonnas system as well as the US GPS sats to give double the number of possible sats to lock to. The Samsung Note uses Glonass and the Apple 4s uses both. Let's hope the Galaxy Nexus does the same.

I am hoping that after more than a year and over thousands of complaints Samsung got their act together and got that damn GPS working like HTC's devices.

The gps lock seems pretty quick judging from this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-yWgzoJXMA#t=9m41s

Nexus s zero GPS issues full stop!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

The Galaxy S debacle gave Samsung a black eye they won't soon forget. Whatever the issue was though, it was solved when I got my NS about a week after launch. It locks usually in less than 5 seconds and has only lost signal a few times and has never failed to function for the nearly one year that I've been using it.

Yeah this was the only thing stopping me from pre-ordering the galaxy Nexus.
My Galaxy S Vibrant (T-Mobile) has a though usable GPS, it's complete garbage.
I remember driving down I-5 on my way down to Portland... it kept jumping in between local roads and the actual I-5.....
So I take it that GPS is fairly fast to lock and accurate? (keep in mind I don't use A-GPS since I have very limited Data)

very quick GPS lock and accurate from my attempts so far
Just stood outside in an alleyway between houses and got a lock in under 10 seconds !

Yeah mine has got pretty good GPS performance, although coming from a Galaxy S anything is better.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

It literally locks in 10 seconds while outdoor and 20 while indoor. Really works well
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

htc6500uk said:
Even better would be to know that it uses the Russian Glonnas system as well as the US GPS sats to give double the number of possible sats to lock to. The Samsung Note uses Glonass and the Apple 4s uses both. Let's hope the Galaxy Nexus does the same.
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Has there been any confirmation that galaxy nexus can use GLONASS satellites?

I've had no problems with gps so far.
sent from a galaxy far far away.

tested it right after the buy. i am a geocacher the fix was instant. Much faster than my Desire HD

Droid Charge (my dad and sister has one) can take several minutes or longer. My Motorola Triumph could take 5 minutes out in open area (pathetic)
Nexus, locked within 5s from within a bathroom first time ever using it, down to 10M accuracy.
Needless to say, I am very unhappy that it wasn't instant but I suppose I can live with 5s
Off Topic, I read that the galaxy note uses 3 different GPS systems, US/Russia and something else, so it's able to see about double the sats in the sky - anyone know if nexus is the same way?

[Q] Also considering this phone, Is it the right choice?

I'm one of those that really needs the slider keyboard, so this is the phone I'm considering. I'm also on AT&T with grandfathered voice and data plans and don't want to mess things up getting a phone from them.
My current phone is an LG Expo. It's Windows Mobile 6.5, stock ROM and just some tweaks. I went with WinMo because of the seamless integration with my work contacts and calendar. Employer does not allow use of cloud to sync these. I understand there is the Kies app that allows you to directly sync these (though I also have seen that many have trouble with it). I really, really need pop-up reminders of my appointments.
I don't use my phone for games, I don't tweet or facebook, and I don't listen to music or watch videos on it
. I do text a lot, Google, Wikipedia, check sports scores, occasionally use the camera or video, and , of course, make calls. I do occasionally need to sneak in some tethering via WiFi (for which I plan t use PDANet/FoxFi). So, I'm not very demanding. If my eXpo would do better on web sites, I'd probably just stick with it. But even the "mobile" sites have so many graphics these days that they often won't load completely on my phone.
After Microsoft left us WinMo 6.5 users high and dry, taking down the apps store well before it's time, I swore I's never get another Windows phone. No removable battery kills the iPhone. So, Android it is.
With new phones going for around $160 on eBay and the ICS upgrade available (stock AT&T or a few here), this seems the right phone to move to Android. I'm not sure I'm going to like a phone that's an inch longer and half an inch wider, but that seems to be the only real choice these days.
I know a lot of folks here are into getting the most from their phones with the hottest new ROM, but I think there might also be some less experimental that can help me determine if I'm making a good choice.

Well, its been out for quite a while now. Not that its outdated, it is still fast and usable. But the ROMS for it are quite limited, i suggest you stay with stock ICS if you dont want any trouble, but you will lack some features.
Other that that, i still have that phone, using it everyday, still working good, the battery died so i bought a new one (extended). The keyboard and mechanism is still working fine with no sign of it breaking soon.
The tegra 2 chipset is fast enough for any apps to run at a decent speed on it.
The only thing i hate about that phone is the wake-up bug, in a hurry, it can be frustrating that the phone doesnt turn on at the exact moment that i press the button (it normally takes 1-2, even 3 seconds to turn on the screen).
I would recommend it since its gone quite cheap and its been reliable for me.

I bought mine new very recently (2 months) from a seller on amazon, and I haven't been disappointed.
I also love slider qwerty, so the combination of specs and price sealed the deal. Unlike Gab1288 I can't say I recommend the stock ICS rom, it was unstable for me -- I had multiple freezes per day in the 3 days I used it right after I bought the phone.
I've been using spyke555's CM10.1.0 RC2 rom and never been happier with an Android rom. I can't get gps to work right with Sygic maps, which is a bummer, but apart from that, I highly recommend this phone and this rom.
Since I've gotten it, and learning how much I paid for it, I've had two people ask me to buy them one when I visit the US again.

This is my 3rd Captivate Glide in the row. The first had a damaged physical keyboard - the "s" key was very so hard to press that it caused me a pain. The second one had a damaged microphone - sometimes people could barely hear me. After being hit, it worked for a moment. The third phone finally works. So I'm not happy with I927 in terms of the overall quality. But I enjoy the working phone, 512MB RAM in my previous phone (HTC Desire Z / Vision) was not enough. Thus it was extremely slow and unresponsive. 1 GB RAM is not that much but unfortunately there is no 2 GB phone with a physical keyboard on the market. There's also Motorola Photon Q which I would probably prefer better, but I couldn't find a way to get it imported to my country.
EDIT: The third does not work either. After some time IMEI disappears as if there was no /efs. To get it back I need to reconnect the battery...

What to do with an old tablet?

hey guys, I have this tab 3 (210 version) since 4 years, and recently (well, I can say even 2 years ago) became really slow. So slow that I'm currently using it as an alarm...
But I would like to give it some use, at least to do not have such a big alarm :laugh:
so, considering that any rom is out-of-date and any app nowadays is hardware-using well above tab 3 skills...how to give is some worthiness?
I was considering to watch some movies while I travels (still it's a 7"...)
thanks!

First, there are many custom ROMs you can try, even Android 8. I personally am using this one:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-3/development/official-xenonhd-7-1-2-t3605172
Another thing you can do is to use it as a camera and look at your dog, home, garage etc when you are out. There are a lot of free apps on Play Store.
Or you can add it at your parents car so they can use GPS and Google maps.

Should i get a nexus 7 as of today (see description)

Hi, I used to own a nexus 7 (2013) and i loved that device, sadly the unit i owned died, and i've been using an ipad mini 1st gen ever since.
I would be using the device for almost exclusevely youtube netflix and reading and i wanna know if the device would perform well at that level. I think i would appreciate the resolution upgrade from the ipad mini, but im worried if the nexus would be able to perform those tasks well enough or if i should just save more and just bare with this ipad for a little longer then get something else better. Thanks for any insight on ur current experiences with ur beloved nexus

I am also interested in that question, have picked up a Nexus 7 but didn't realise how old it was.

I have a Nexus 7 (2013) and love it, partly thanks to the price I got it (50 CAD) but I have to admit that it struggles a bit with everything now.
Don't get me wrong, it's still usable but when you have a video embedded in a webpage for example, you'll feel it.
I am updating it regularly with LOS 15.1 btw.

Jonx55643 said:
I am also interested in that question, have picked up a Nexus 7 but didn't realise how old it was.
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You picked one up?! These things are hard to find when you're looking for them, especially a LTE model.
Anyway. I'd not get one unless you're doing some specialized like a car install.

Hi,
Yes got one off ebay with a cracked screen for not a lot of money, have ordered a replacement screen and will get that changed this weekend.
I actually bought it so I could use it in my car with and obd2 app. Hopefully it will at least work for that

It's awesome for in-car use. The LTE version is even better!

I use mine as a Kindle, Newspaper/Magazine reader, and Satnav.
Love it, actually.
Sent from my Asus P027 using XDA Labs

I use mine for exactly what you are looking for and it works great. I'm running LineageOS 14.1 and everything is pretty quick for a 6 year old device.

I installed Lineage 15.1 and its working well so far

If you think that you are going to thoroughly enjoy using it then purchase one. Who are we to tell you not to?

93zx7 said:
If you think that you are going to thoroughly enjoy using it then purchase one. Who are we to tell you not to?
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I just wanted the input on if it wouldnt be just too laggy with apps crashing and such, but i went ahead and bought myself one, and it does everything i wanted with no problem at all <3

works great still
chumpex said:
I just wanted the input on if it wouldnt be just too laggy with apps crashing and such, but i went ahead and bought myself one, and it does everything i wanted with no problem at all <3
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It still works awesome for me. I bought it initially to install in my car, and it's been amazing. Battery life is so much better with the lineage OS installed. I was just sad when they stopped updated with it. Somebody has lineage 15.1 installed and the camera is working? I thought it wouldn't with 15. I've just kept 14 on mine.

I have 15.1 and the camera is working fine

I use the Nexus 7 LTE as my daily driver actually. since 3g is sufficient for encrypted voice calls and text messaging i am fine in 90% of the situations. But be aware that installing any google services brings your batterylife and performance to inuseable. stuttering youtube, when watching 720p on cellular. noticable loading times for simple apps etc.
Since i use mostly my own infrastructure and services (and i am a noob so its all very basic), i can even lower the CPU step to ~1 GHz (60/70%) and i got a batterylifespan fullcharge to shutdown ranging from 2 days for extensive use (hourwise reading/streaming video) and on my average use i get 4-5 days (50/60 messages a day, ~2h/day streaming music on cellular, ~.5 hours of reading in the evening, casual online searches, marginal navigation/public transport lookup) on pure standby its over 10 days. I went for a vacation and cut the power to most of my apartment, but the Nexus wasn't turned of. Had 13% remaining battery when i returned.
For holidays/outdooractivities, where i need 1 week+ Battery and voice/SMS reception (either for emergency reasons or lack of mobile internet) i use an old b/w candybar phone with the option of external antenna.
So if you want a shiny game device with hours of mobile video and google telling you **** all day about the weather, the famous persons that walked this exact street once and that there is a mediocre rated restaurant of your favourite cuisine just 200 feet away. Dont go for the Nexus 2013.
But if you just need a mobile organizer, reader, a little multimedia, communication and you avoid telemetry, ads and tracking (google, facebook, whatsoever) anyways the nexus is a great device and probably will be for a good while, since a lot of good and consitent developers share that view.
Greetz, pitch