Develop Bugs

Why root?

Hi guys,
I was wondering why someone would want to root their desire?
If I don t need apps2sd of 720 recording, isn t it than better (more stable?) to stick with the current official 2.1 ROM that came with the phone and wait for the official Froyo release for the Desire?

I guess it boils down to how you use your device
personally i like being rooted so i can access more of the system, tell it what i want it to do and such, not to mention themes and apps etc etc
its like compairing Linux to Windows

Kinda what I wanted to ask, I've got a T-Mobile Desire and I had been thinking of trading it for something like a Dell Streak but I think that having a rooted Desire would let me play around with it a bit more, is it as customisable and open as Windows Mobile is? I enjoyed messing around with this on my old HD2.
Is it worth rooting my Desire to get the unofficial Froyo update? What else does rooting give me?

5 Reasons to root
lifehacker's website said:
A real performance boost
Android, as an alternative, open-source smartphone OS, is pure geek bait, but the hardware it's been officially released onto so far, in the U.S. at least, has been hard to love. Pushing a button and having to wait even just a second or two for something, anything to happen is a buzz kill; having to wait a second for a virtual keyboard press to show up is just plain aggravating. Using the CyanogenMOD ROM on my G1, it's definitely a better experience—not perfect and instant, but my phone seems to be actively trying to do what I want now. New browser windows snap open, the multi-part home screen doesn't lag when swiping between screens, the top "window shade" and bottom app menu don't hesitate to show me what they've got—I've been using this phone for just a few months, but I could go on and on. Cyanogen's developer himself notes that his ROM actively works the processor, RAM, and memory partitions harder, so you may get (even) less battery longevity from your phone. Having spent a late night and excited morning with this ROM, I will gladly pack a recharging cord and accept the trade-off. Photo by NathanFromDeVryEET.
Easy tethering over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
After installing your custom ROM, grab this android-wifi-tether app by heading to that URL directly in your Android browser (or using the Barcode Scanner app to pick up its QR code) and clicking the .apk link. The app will ask for root access to enable and disable itself.
Once it does, that's about all there is to it. Power up your laptop, connect it by Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to G1Tether (or your similarly-named ad-hoc phone connection), and you've got a data connection where none might have existed before. It will be slower than you anticipate, useful mainly for text-based email and browsing, and not something you'd want to use heavily, lest you tip off your cellular provider to your creativity. That said, it's not restricted to web traffic only, like previously mentioned PdaNet, and it's easy to use.
A better keyboard
The standard Android keyboard has its issues, and leading Android phone maker HTC knows it. They made their own keyboard for the HTC Hero, and the CyanogenMOD makes it available in any Android phone. Enable it by heading to Settings, Locale & Text, then turning "Touch Input" on and adjusting its spell/suggest/feedback settings.
"Better" is this editor's own opinion, though Matt Buchanan from Gizmodo agrees: The keys are "puffed up" and easier to hit, the "long press" is faster than reaching for an Alt key, once you're used to it, and the auto suggestions and replacements are, if not subtle, generally helpful. What's definitely better is the responsiveness and snappiness, which is crucial when you're blazing through text and don't want to guess what three letters you last selected.
Multi-touch browsing
It's not as responsive as the iPhone's iconic pinch and expand capabilities, and the browser isn't as good at adjusting the page to meet your rapid zoom demands. That said, most folks would rather press their fingers once to get a bigger view on text than tap once, click + and - buttons to get the right zoom, then re-adjust their screen position. Until Google decides to go ahead and look away from Apple's patents, we can just hope that unofficial multitouch improves from version to version.
Bonus apps and widgets from other builds
G1 users don't get the same built-in apps as myTouch owners, and myTouch fans can't grab all the neat stuff from the HTC Hero, not yet available in the U.S., or the Android Donut build not yet distributed by carriers. That's a strange condition for a phone built on openness. Cyanogen and other custom ROMs cherry-pick those neat exclusives and deliver them to anyone who wants them. The best of the pack, from a phone use standpoint, is the Power Control widget, which turns Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, data syncing, and screen brightness into simple toggles. Those bemoaning the lack of Microsoft Exchange support on G1s should check out Work Email, and anyone needing to do a little doc browsing can get it done with Quickoffice and PDF Viewer. There are other software goodies to geek out over—a full terminal emulator!—but those are the highlights.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Official Windows Phone Survey

From @windowsphone on twitter: http://newwp.it/i6NfzI
On the last page there's this question, "What, if anything, would you change about your Windows Phone 7?" Bombard away with what MS needs to be working on (file management or at least local document sync, direct Outlook sync, etc.) Please make sure what you guys write is thought out and most importantly, grammatically correct.

* Give us an official support page and a contact number for issues
* Clear outline & timeline of future updates
* More frequent updates and force carriers to deploy them in maximum of 45 days
* Enable to use own MP3 ringtones
* Sync directly to Outlook
* Allow tethering
* Turn by turn navigation for Australia with better maps
* Allow unlocking of the device for a one of fee! Only charge per year when someone wants to submit to marketplace

janemanno1 said:
* Give us an official support page and a contact number for issues
* Clear outline & timeline of future updates
* More frequent updates and force carriers to deploy them in maximum of 45 days
* Enable to use own MP3 ringtones
* Sync directly to Outlook
* Allow tethering
* Turn by turn navigation for Australia with better maps
* Tom Tom,Garmin etc GPS compatible software
* Allow unlocking of the device for a one of fee! Only charge per year when someone wants to submit to marketplace
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen to all of these.
Just changed one thing for every other country.

More recent hardware, and I am in.

agp64 said:
Amen to all of these.
Just changed one thing for every other country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed

Zune Pass in australia. Our zune hub isnt very pretty without it

Well, I would like to see multitasking, some options on the right of the home screen, let's say a button, that would open a line of Wifi on/off and etc., Copy paste, better browser. And what's important- update devices, give more info about the updates, what is coming and when

janemanno1 said:
* Clear outline & timeline of future updates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW, remember a little thing called "Longhorn" (aka "Vista")? So many promised features and released dates missed. I doubt you'll ever see anything other than vague descriptions and nebulous dates, Microsoft has been slapped around too much in the past for missing promises.

My comment:
- SkyDrive if you dont have sharepoint in the officehub.
- More reliable push notifications.
- Expanding Facebook integration with ability to send private messages from the message hub to facebook and other services... but this will probably not happen so hope the fb app gets better with notifications.

I would love to have a bug free ZUNE , it is crashing all the time and sometimes with BSOD'S

Turn-by-turn voice nav
User selectable ringtones and sounds
User created email folders
More themes and UI customization
Screen capture
Copy & paste

A good one:
http://wmpoweruser.com/the-art-of-stalling/

doministry said:
A good one:
http://wmpoweruser.com/the-art-of-stalling/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is unremarkably sad. I didn't know it was that serious.

That is unremarkably sad. I didn't know it was that serious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean remarkably sad?
And android wasn't the same way at launch?
I purchased the HTC Magic on launch day from Rogers.. Android market wasn't made available to us in Canada until roughly 5 months later..
I didn't get turn-by-turn until aprox a year or so later..
No voice search until ...what...3 updates which took roughly a year and half (1.5, 1.6...2.1)
They day I dumped my HTC magic I still didn't have local search.. unless I opened a browser and went to Google.CA and specified my city in the search field.
WP7 wil catch up eventually, it's still a baby OS compared to the others. Android didn't really become great until after 2.XX
I agree with other with the timeline business. I'd like to see that as well.

I just put a CDMA version of WP7.... It is about time we have the option of getting one.

Things to change about Windows Phone 7
--------------------------------------
1) Password protection on email. This is needed when you hand your phone to someone to check out or use and don't want them to be able to just click on your email while that happens and read private emails.
2) The marketplace should have an option to download first and install later. This is because public wifi or data plans in general are not nearly as fast as using your local wifi. You might pop into a coffee shop or mcdonalds to try some new apps on the go and you want to maximise your use of the wifi while you are there to get through the download queue. Installing/unpacking can take quite a long time but that can be done when you are no longer connected. This also aids in saving on limited data plans. With this approach, if there is no more space currently left to unpack the queue should move on and unpack successively but keep downloaded packages on the device to be installed later once the user frees up some more space.
3) Better managaement of marketplace download queue. I have had stuck downloads before, particularly at pending or corrupted downloads that were stuck at the installing phase. You should always be able to cancel or retry something. These options only come up when "attention is required". Queue reordering is also a strong "nice to have".
4) Better Management of phone download history. For example, when I restore a phone I don't want it to queue up literally everything I have ever "purchased", especially many trial or free apps. There should be a special "restore" queue for indispensible games/apps that you do want to automatically redownload when this happens.
5) Better lock phone i.e. android combination swype. The current 4 digit system is too easy to see over the shoulder and easily brute forceable, even more so if someone remembers only some of the digits.
6) Complete application data/isolated storage sync. Anytime you are at a local computer or connection to sync, you should have an option sync the latest application data for example news feeds and media as well. This way data connection apps are still useful in places without a connection i.e. subways. I understand this is a major feature just by itself
7) VPN options
8) Local file management/drag and drop.
9) Ability for Zune to play and organise media by folders with 8 implemented.
In general I think WP7 should be stronger with local/isolated storage features and not be so cloud dependent. The combination of cloud + local services will be a killer combination. In addition I think WP7 should be going after Android's #2 spot right now and not iPhone which it currently cannot compete with. Android has many weak spots including lower requirements on apps and games resulting in weaker quality when compared to WP7, lack of SD installability for many apps. and generally unpolished "iphone knockoff" feel. Secure #2 spot for now, which will be a good base to attack iPhone from. WP7 is already superior to Android in UX now and can gain quickly in app diversity and features.
Right now the OS feels like a beachhead but a strong one. There is good work, but unpolished and incomplete but the war can still be won. Keep fighting the good fight

The bottom line is that if MS wants this OS to fly for real, in the long term, they need to get their act together.

stillriza said:
I think you mean remarkably sad?
And android wasn't the same way at launch?
I purchased the HTC Magic on launch day from Rogers.. Android market wasn't made available to us in Canada until roughly 5 months later..
I didn't get turn-by-turn until aprox a year or so later..
No voice search until ...what...3 updates which took roughly a year and half (1.5, 1.6...2.1)
They day I dumped my HTC magic I still didn't have local search.. unless I opened a browser and went to Google.CA and specified my city in the search field.
WP7 wil catch up eventually, it's still a baby OS compared to the others. Android didn't really become great until after 2.XX
I agree with other with the timeline business. I'd like to see that as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what I hear you saying, any company that puts out products should not consider the current state of the industry? What should Apple do with the next iPhone? Put one out without all the current features and then migrate those features into it over the course of a year? Or how about the car companies, they should put out cars without navigation or high tech stereos or computer aided engine controls and just migrate those features into them over the course of a year?
Far be it from MS to stay up with even itself on new products and put out a smartphone without the current state of the industry features. Let them put those features in over the course of a year...or two. It's unwise to bring a mature product to market. People might begin to expect that kind of thing. Bollocks!

My feedback on the online survey:
-Current phone - WM 6.5
- Next phone - (i) Android
(ii) Other- Windows Mobile, if it is revived , will be preferred over Android
Suggestions:
(i) I don't like the Homescreen, it should be more customizable and at the very least the tiles
should be resizable.
(ii) There should be a favorite people hub with the option to pin a contact directly to this hub from
the contacts list (tap and hold on contact should give at least 3-4 options viz. pin to favorites, pin
to start, edit & send)
(iii) After device purchase, the user should have the option to replace the homescreen with an
approved one from reputed developers(I will prefer a solution from SPB software).
(iv) There is too much scrolling in the program list, option of grid view should also be there.
(v) Size of headings too large in the hubs. The headings should either be in a background layer or
they should Auto Hide after somtime and be replaced with blinking arrows on the left/right edges of
the screen.
(vi) File Explorer + Multitasking.
(vii) Office applictions should be more powerful.
(viii) Availability of powerful Calendar & Task management applications like pocket informant.
(x) Revival of Phone/End hardware buttons.
Forgot to add - (xi) Revive Smart-dialling
(xii) Bring back outlook sync

MartyLK said:
So what I hear you saying, any company that puts out products should not consider the current state of the industry? What should Apple do with the next iPhone? Put one out without all the current features and then migrate those features into it over the course of a year? Or how about the car companies, they should put out cars without navigation or high tech stereos or computer aided engine controls and just migrate those features into them over the course of a year?
Far be it from MS to stay up with even itself on new products and put out a smartphone without the current state of the industry features. Let them put those features in over the course of a year...or two. It's unwise to bring a mature product to market. People might begin to expect that kind of thing. Bollocks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you.. but what I was saying is Android was the same way. Apple already had a pretty good grip on the market at the time Android launched. As per what you mentioned above.. it was clear Android didn't have a grasp of the then current state of the market. Several updates later.. and look at them now.
Basically, any company that puts out a product should consider the current state..but sadly that just doesn't always happen. The phone is pretty complete to I would like to say 70% of the general phone using public. It seems MS had targeted the OS to those switching from 'dumb' phones, if you will, to smart phones. The only people who are really hurting would be the power users. The updates will come.

First time with....well everything almost.

I've been with Sprint for almost 9 years now, and before my Evo 4G in 2010 all I had were the old Nextel i95's...so needless to say I'm at a complete loss with WP7. I tinkered and tailored with Android ROM's for years now and have loved a lot about the OS...but I just couldn't pass up this deal for the Lumia 900 on AT&T. I'm beyond satisfied after having set everything up and loving how tightly knit and integrated a lot of the features are. But I still have some questions:
1) Can i screen capture with the stock rom? I don't want to have to unlock this phone (That was one of the reasons I left Android, you needed to unlock to do ANYTHING)
2) Are there any apps beyond the 3 that use a double tile? Is this a setting somewhere that I'm missing on? Kinda like resizing widgets?
3) Are there different themes, beyond the color switching pallete, that can be used with WP7? And while we're at it, is there a different lockscreen or anything else that can be done from it besides unlocking it? (Such as unlocking to text, email, custom app?)
4) What's up with the notifications disappearing after a while before I get a chance to check em? Is there a way to check them besides going to their respective clients to see what I missed?
5) Can you guys point me towards some alternative apps or settings to replace some of the stock feaures?
6) Besides having to login to AT&T all the time, is there a different way to monitor my data usage? A simple app perhaps?
7) Oh and how could I forget....do I have to go all the way to the settings every time to see what the percentage on my battery is? I found a couple threads saying that you have to unlock the phone for this feature but I refuse to believe that something this simple needs a workaround like that.
Thanks in advance guys, loving this OS and looking forward to some of the changes.

1) Unfortunately not. Most screen captures you see on the net are done using the development software.
2) Tiles sizes are determined by the developers. I wish there was a way of making them single or double too.
3) The colours are the only customisation you can do right now without unlocking the device other than changing the lock screen. The lockscreen I like, as it unlocks to the "desktop" when there is no notifications but if you unlock it as a notification happens then it will take you the application required to see the notification.
Also for some awesome lock screens go to the deviantart website.
4) This is my one and only gripe with WP7. Having said that after unlocking the notication is either facebook or twitter (the only ones not shown on the home screen) and both of those show on my "ME" tile. So really if I want to see anything I missed I go to the "ME" tile and slide across to notifications.
5) What stock features do you need help with?
6) Im not on AT&T and my phone provider has an app to do this so I would be contacting AT&T about this.
7) They do not show a % because its not very accurate I think. This is something I at first hated but I don't care that much any more. This is not like my Samsung Galaxy II which wouldn't last a day. I usually get over a days use out of my Lumia so I don't have to look all the time and be worried. When the love heart goes on the battery I know its getting low but still I have HOURS left.

In terms of number 5 I just meant is there an alternate keyboard, browser, gallery, search feature/marketplace etc. Not that I have a problem with any of these (although I do miss haptic feedback on my keyboard) I just wanted to know if there were alternatives.
EDIT: I do have a problem with ONE of those things I mentioned. The marketplace...it seems too cluttered and feels like the phone is always zoomed in with the way everything looks...but that looks like it was done on purpose.

You.can get two off your list with a Developer unlocked device. Think of it this way. Nokia is giving you a $100 credit because of the data issue. Use it to purchase a legitimate Dev key from Microsoft. Can sideload apps, and also develop with it.
1) can do it with homebrew Screen Capturer app.
2) Only Microsoft or OEMs can develop double wide tiles.
3) Need to have an interop unlocked device to add colors, etc. More involved than dev unlocked and not yet available for the L900.
6) The AT&T myAT&T app will give you the info you need. Nokia is also releasing a data tracking app. Coming soon.
7) Homebrew Battery Meter app. Updates a Live Tile every 10 minutes. Pretty accurate. Good history charts.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

There are a few other browsers and such but they are all just front ends for the existing apps supplied with the device. There is also a few marketplace apps which you might find better. I use AppTastic every now and then purely as it shows what's on sale. There might be an app which I don't think is worth $5 or $6 after the trial but would happily purchase to support the developers for a few bucks.

iiDeadSeriousii said:
In terms of number 5 I just meant is there an alternate keyboard, browser, gallery, search feature/marketplace etc. Not that I have a problem with any of these (although I do miss haptic feedback on my keyboard) I just wanted to know if there were alternatives.
EDIT: I do have a problem with ONE of those things I mentioned. The marketplace...it seems too cluttered and feels like the phone is always zoomed in with the way everything looks...but that looks like it was done on purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there are alot of the things that are different. Can't/Won't say if its better because thats a personal choice. I've grown to love the look and feel now. So has my daughter...but my son hates it. I gave them both 2 weeks to like it or I would buy them their next phone. My daughter converted...my son did not, and did not want new phone. But, with that said, there are some things I miss from Android....not much, but some. I do wish Live Tiles were a touch more customizable. I wish I could have some more color schemes instead of the just the current ones. I'd love to have a Black/White and/or Grey/white combination of colors also.
Otherwise....its a matter of just trying and getting used to it. I think it took my daughter 3 days to get used to the tiles and groupings of the hubs and what they are designed for. Her original list of must haves went away....

Thanks for all the help guys, yea I figured that most of my complaints/issues could only be solved with an unlock phone but I figured I'd ask. I've got another question, do apps auto update or do I need to manually check em every time?

Your marketplace tile will have a number on it showing the number of updates available. So no you never need to go check but you do need to initiate the update manually when you see that there is some waiting for update.

Again thanks guys for getting me started with the phone. Just a few more questions:
1) Is there a way to set a tile to immediately turn on/off either Bluetooth or Wifi? Or am I stuck with the default settings tile?
2) Can I save a setting where I don't have to download my pictures every time I open an email? I used to just pit "Always show pictures" on the Android GMail client.
3) I've looked and looked and still cant find a tile to just show battery. Can someone link me to an official one that I don't have to side load?
4) Is the app Bandwidth the only app for network speed test? Its kinda glitchy for me.
5) Is there a way to get that HTC Hub on this Lumia or is that another thing where I gotta unlock the phone? I really like the look of it.
6) Someone mentioned that you can change the lockscreen, or at the very least the wallpaper, how do you do that?
Thanks.

iiDeadSeriousii said:
Again thanks guys for getting me started with the phone. Just a few more questions:
1) Is there a way to set a tile to immediately turn on/off either Bluetooth or Wifi? Or am I stuck with the default settings tile?
2) Can I save a setting where I don't have to download my pictures every time I open an email? I used to just pit "Always show pictures" on the Android GMail client.
3) I've looked and looked and still cant find a tile to just show battery. Can someone link me to an official one that I don't have to side load?
4) Is the app Bandwidth the only app for network speed test? Its kinda glitchy for me.
5) Is there a way to get that HTC Hub on this Lumia or is that another thing where I gotta unlock the phone? I really like the look of it.
6) Someone mentioned that you can change the lockscreen, or at the very least the wallpaper, how do you do that?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont know if someone mentioned this, but you're in the droid mentality right now. Like Apple, alot of the framework is locked down. Even with sideloads, alot of the framework is not available. HTC Hub is one of those. MS did not want that kind of screen and they don't allow it. WP is based on Live Tiles and they are sticking with it...for now.
You can change the lock screen pic by going to settings and Lock+Wallpaper. You can change the timeing settings and the picture. If you have a picture you want to use, go to your pictures hub and simply long press on the pic, use as wallpaper is an option.
But mostly, do not expect alot of hack/modding on these phones. For the most part, most of Windows phones, were Android phones at 1 time...ie the Samsung focus line. HD7 was the HD2 line which has been successfully ported to Android and WP7. If you want android type functionality in terms of look and feel...probably not gonna get it here. Of course, I could be wrong....but...who knows.

iiDeadSeriousii said:
Again thanks guys for getting me started with the phone. Just a few more questions:
1) Is there a way to set a tile to immediately turn on/off either Bluetooth or Wifi? Or am I stuck with the default settings tile?
2) Can I save a setting where I don't have to download my pictures every time I open an email? I used to just pit "Always show pictures" on the Android GMail client.
3) I've looked and looked and still cant find a tile to just show battery. Can someone link me to an official one that I don't have to side load?
4) Is the app Bandwidth the only app for network speed test? Its kinda glitchy for me.
5) Is there a way to get that HTC Hub on this Lumia or is that another thing where I gotta unlock the phone? I really like the look of it.
6) Someone mentioned that you can change the lockscreen, or at the very least the wallpaper, how do you do that?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have answers for all of these, but here's a few (and fwiw I agree
with alodar1). But before I begin, not sure if you're aware of the Marketplace online (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/marketplace) - might make searching easier as you're starting out.
1) "Settings Tile" is 1 such app (I don't use these, so I can't recommend which one to install, but I've seen this one recommended... *shrug*) http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/102014a6-156e-4604-8f1a-2a86e4edf191
2 & 3 don't know, sorry
4) TestMyNet works decent: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/a25ec139-fc33-4571-9425-cf031a3312bb
5) No, sorry (I had it and never really used it...)
6) Answered above =)
You may also want to check out 'AppFlow' (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/578ef361-c265-46b7-b6f4-63cbd7fbefe0) or some similar application recommendation app.

alodar1 said:
Dont know if someone mentioned this, but you're in the droid mentality right now. Like Apple, alot of the framework is locked down. Even with sideloads, alot of the framework is not available. HTC Hub is one of those. MS did not want that kind of screen and they don't allow it. WP is based on Live Tiles and they are sticking with it...for now.
You can change the lock screen pic by going to settings and Lock+Wallpaper. You can change the timeing settings and the picture. If you have a picture you want to use, go to your pictures hub and simply long press on the pic, use as wallpaper is an option.
But mostly, do not expect alot of hack/modding on these phones. For the most part, most of Windows phones, were Android phones at 1 time...ie the Samsung focus line. HD7 was the HD2 line which has been successfully ported to Android and WP7. If you want android type functionality in terms of look and feel...probably not gonna get it here. Of course, I could be wrong....but...who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I realize I still kinda am in that mentality. It's just there's so many little things I took for granted that I never realized were there until this happened. I love this platform so far though, I have no major complaints, just small issues with it. But thanks for the tip, yea I know about the HD2 cause the first thing my brother did when he got that a couple years ago was have me put Gingerbread on it lol. I'll stick with what I've got for now tho, this is a ridiculously smooth experience and if I've gotta make some sacrifices, oh well. I still get everything done that I want throughout the day...I just wished some apps were better supported.

Accessibility

Hello,
I am a french blind and use a Razer Phone, not for gaming but for listening classic music. I am very disappointed because accessibility mode is pitiful. Is there some people who use accessibility mode and what do you think about it?
The gesture of shortcuts don’t permit a complete reading and after a come back to Razer support, the device changed for a little better but since Oreo the reading is disastrous.
Do you known some blind people who use Razer phone?
Thank you,
Best regards
André

verandre said:
Hello,
I am a french blind and use a Razer Phone, not for gaming but for listening classic music. I am very disappointed because accessibility mode is pitiful. Is there some people who use accessibility mode and what do you think about it?
The gesture of shortcuts don’t permit a complete reading and after a come back to Razer support, the device changed for a little better but since Oreo the reading is disastrous.
Do you known some blind people who use Razer phone?
Thank you,
Best regards
André
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey André!
As far as I am aware the Razer phone is mostly stock so any and all accessibility features it comes with are made by google android. I don't believe Razer have added any of their own or removed any from the android builds.
The only phone manufacture that I am aware of which includes any additional accessibility options is Samsung..
I must admit that I am curious as to why you chose the Razer phone as one of it's only standout features over other, better or more suitable, phones is it's 144 hertz screen which I'd image isn't of much use to you.
Sorry to sound a little blunt or be a downer but the impression I get from Razer is that they can barely make a phone for fully able bodies, there are plenty of hardware and software issues so I'd be very surprised if they intend to improve the accessibility of the Razer phone.
I've tried to format this in the hopes that screen readers or translation programs will be able to read it correctly.
Sorry if it's not perfect!
Azure Wren.

verandre said:
Hello,
I am a french blind and use a Razer Phone, not for gaming but for listening classic music. I am very disappointed because accessibility mode is pitiful. Is there some people who use accessibility mode and what do you think about it?
The gesture of shortcuts don’t permit a complete reading and after a come back to Razer support, the device changed for a little better but since Oreo the reading is disastrous.
Do you known some blind people who use Razer phone?
Thank you,
Best regards
André
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi andre.
I am visually impaired. Legally blind but not fully.
I use magnification a lot and i use a navigation bar button to activate the feature.
May you please explain me your needs and what accessibility features you uae?
As mentioned above, the razer phone has a moatly stock android version so "theoretically" there should not be any problem with that. Please respond. I would be glad to help.

Hi,
Thank you for your help proposal about the accessibility feature.
I use the syntesis Talk Back to discover what is displayed on the screen. Theoretically, the accessibility function is native in the Androïd system and should be able to work like all the features built into this system but alas! (three times alas!) There is a malfunction with the Razer phone. To make speech synthesis speak, the blind user uses shortcut gestures.
At first use, the two-finger swipe gesture from top to bottom or from bottom to top permiting to scroll text was inoperative and caused the opening of one unknown link. After a return to the support of Razer Society, his malfunction was corrected. Since the installation of Oreo, the statement of a word or a text is interrupted as a result of a crackle.
Only playback triggered from the accessibility button at the bottom and at the far right of the screen is operational, but other shortcut gestures allowing to trigger playback see their action interrupted by a crackling sound.
Through my email, I hope to find one or two blind users to share their experience with Talk Back and Razer phone voice synthesis. It will be a great pleasure that I will accept the help of curious users who would like to test the accessibility function and Talk Back to know their experience and especially that they confirm playback malfunction when it is triggered off by either shorthand gestures or the general context menu.
I thank you for your help and, perhaps not to disturb the forum, we could exchange directly unless the subject can be developed for the good of all.
In a previous email I declared that I have chosen the Razer phone for these two speakers and also for the system which does not have an underlay other than the android system. My contacts with the support staff are very good but, I think their superiors are not up to it.
I am counting on you since you propose it to me.
To simplify the test, I suggest that once the accessibility function and Talk Back are enabled to perform that you specify the result of shortcuts in the board in the end of my text.
Sorry, I had done a board but I can not join a link because I am a new user of the forum. If you want to help me, I can send the board in a private mail. You can write me at [email protected].
I thank you very much for your help and for the interest you have in the difficulties encountered by a person with a disability.
Best regard.

Review of a privacy oriented user

Well this is my review of the device. Haven't read a lot of bad stuff about it and was wondering about that. But if you think about buying this device, take the time to read through my review. It is by no means complete, some points that piss me off might be subjective.
I bought this device recently because I thought it was a cheap smartphone with decent hardware and support for custom ROMS (especially LineageOS).
At first boot I was shocked about what bloat and garbage the manufacturer and Google decided to preinstall, but I was expecting as much.
I don't have a Google account and neither do I want one. So naturally I skipped that part. I also skipped the part where I connected the device to the internet at first.
As soon as I connected it, I was greeted with at least eight new Google apps I never asked for. Also some cool games I really didn't give two ****s about. Thanks, more work required to get rid of all that bloat!
Lets try to get some order into the things I really didn't enjoy about the device, its manufacturer and the steps required to rid myself of the bloat.
> "Security": Obviously my device is regularly scanned by some snake oil (provided by Avast...) for malware, viruses and whatnot. I don't remember agreeing to that but at least it can be disabled. You just have to through the pile of garbage that is called "Settings" and its subitems.
> "Data Privacy": Seems like one automagically opts into a ton of data collection, analytics and telemetry. I bet it's buried somehwere in their privacy agreement but I also bet that not even a fraction of the end-users bother to read it. You can revoke your agreement to data collection for virtually every app which renders most of them unusable. Also for every app you revoke your agreement you have to wait ten seconds, because obviously you can't be sure this is truly what you want!
> "Automatic updates": I was given the option to disable those at first boot. That's for MIUI only. Google (or is it MIUI too?) will still download updates for apps you meant to get rid of the first time it actually gets a connection. As well as those great promotion apps, google apps, amazon apps, facebook apps..hell even eBay....
> "Unlocking": This is the absolute worst part of it all. Usually you get a phone, create an account at the manufacturers site, allow OEM unlock in Developer Options and can do it via Fastboot. Not with Xiaomi you can't! You have to create a Mi account. Took couple of hours to get a verification mail, no biggie. You have to connect that account to your smartphone. Now you need their supercool Mi unlock tool. I got a background in software development and if that was my work, I'd shoot myself...for this specific device you are linked to some ancient version of the unlock tool. Online you can find newer versions but you're never really sure you wanna use this, since the source is at least questionable. Someone hosted it on Android filehost or Google Drive...I totally wanna run that with privileges on my windows, which I just needed to install on some machine, because you can't possibly run the required commands over fastboot on any system...Oh and did I mention that one is required to connect a phone number to the account, in case you lose access to the account?...I never wanted the account in the first place and only put up with it because I wanted to unlock the phone.
The Mi unlock tool is just painful to use...some steps aren't working at all. Sometimes you have to sign in via entering your credentials, sometimes you have to use a QR code which you scan with your phone...both seem to fail an awful lot. I had to search for help for literally every point in the procedure to unlock and I am certain the fact that it worked at all is pure luck.
If you manage to go to the step of actually unlocking the phone and all the excitement gets built up, you end up at 99% and FAIL! For "security reasons" you have to wait a week (i have read there are even worse timeouts). But you should NOT be doing anything else with your Mi account as that might reset the countdown!!!...I have also read there is another 30 days timeout if you use the account to unlock another device. For, uhm, SECURITY reasons!
You finally get to unlock the phone after a week if everything goes well and are able to rid yourself of that bloat- and spyware. Well sucks that the drivers for the camera are proprietary and there isn't any attempt to release it, so have fun with your four cameras and almost a 100MP taking 8MP photos that look like ****.
> "Camera on Custom ROMs": Seriously...don't try to tell people you are taking awesome pictures with GCam and xyz's build of it, blablabla. The pics still look worse than the ones with the MIUI camera. They are decent at best.
> "Cleaner": It seems like the awesome "Cleaner"-App dislikes anything that was installed from an unknown source. It recommended me to remove F-Droid altogether, since it takes up a couple hundred megabytes of storage (you know, cache and apks residing there)
> "ROM Support": Seems like apart from LineageOS there isn't really anything else you could use. Pixel Experience seems to be discontinued, other custom ROMs as well...either get the bloated MIUI garbage or LineageOS. I take that on me. I should have checked out this forum before buying the device. I only saw LineageOS builds and thought it would be well supported...joke's on me :/
Shouldn't end it with that much negativity, right? Well. If you can accept a decent camera making mostly ****ty pictures, it works just great on LineageOS
If you disagree with any of the points, by all means contradict me on them. It is also possible that I'm missing something. If there is a MIUI ROM that removes most of the bloat and gives me at least some privacy that's worthy to be called privacy, feel free to point me to it.
Anyways, I just needed to vent about it. Perhaps something good will come out of this. This was my first and last Xiaomi smartphone.

well, i totally agree with you, xiaomi is not for those privacy inclined users, a total mess. but for those users who are not bothered by a lack of privacy, xiaomi delivers some awesome phones for their price.

I agree that with camera, Gram can not replace MIUI stock camera , but there is some improvement in development and I think that we will get MIUI camera magisk module,already have but not working on all ROM.