41 replies to this topic

[damonb10]

The only thing that turns me off from getting this phone is that it is covered in that horrible "shiny" plastic.  I don't know why all these phone manufacturers are changing from matte and soft-touch plastics to shiny casings.  Sure, they may look like they are more premium, but one touch and you have fingerprints everywhere...  

[mstephenson]

damonb10, on Nov 16 2008, 02:26, said:

The only thing that turns me off from getting this phone is that it is covered in that horrible "shiny" plastic.  I don't know why all these phone manufacturers are changing from matte and soft-touch plastics to shiny casings.  Sure, they may look like they are more premium, but one touch and you have fingerprints everywhere...  

I can see your point, i'd certainly prefer the matte finish that was seen in some of the early photographs. However that, and the inconveniently placed micro-sd card slot are the only 2 (very minor) complaints I have with this phone. In every other way i've found it to be outstanding so far. All the really important stuff like the hardware etc are great. So unless the fingerprint issue really is a big problem for you i'd say buy one and you won't be disappointed.

[richair]

Any good tips on carrying cases for the s740? Preferably for on my belt (I know, geeky, but I'm used to it...)

[hotlips69]

Something was mentioned near the beginning of this thread about a charging cradle?

I presume you are referring to a desktop charger that the phone can sit in and charge?

I've been looking for something that does that for my S730 for almost a year now without success!!!


P.S. Is the charging point on the bottom of the phone in exactly the same place as the S730 (so that any desktop charger can be used for either phone) ?

Edited by hotlips69, 30 November 2008 - 04:31 AM.

[Networkguy]

hotlips69, on Nov 30 2008, 04:06, said:

Something was mentioned near the beginning of this thread about a charging cradle?

I presume you are referring to a desktop charger that the phone can sit in and charge?

I've been looking for something that does that for my S730 for almost a year now without success!!!


P.S. Is the charging point on the bottom of the phone in exactly the same place as the S730 (so that any desktop charger can be used for either phone) ?

The chargiong point on the bottom of the phone is a standard ext USB thing so any charger will work however if you want a cradle then you need a specific one.

I have gone for the HTC G300 which looks great

[rchouk]

Hello Guys !

I just got one of these yesterday too, fantastic device ! It's UK origin, i didn't know before but it's Orange WM loaded... So I was wondering if it's possible to flash it an load it with an original HTC ROM and also how to that. The second thing is I do use for my work the French language and there is no XT9 french language preloaded. Any way to install a language pack that inculdes french ?

[rchouk]

rchouk, on Nov 30 2008, 12:09, said:

Hello Guys !

I just got one of these yesterday too, fantastic device ! It's UK origin, i didn't know before but it's Orange WM loaded... So I was wondering if it's possible to flash it an load it with an original HTC ROM and also how to that. The second thing is I do use for my work the French language and there is no XT9 french language preloaded. Any way to install a language pack that inculdes french ?

Finally i managed to make work the xT9 french language. File were already there, i had only to change the keys value to activate the French language in the Menu. Now stil having 2 questions though:

1) About the ROM, i would like to change the one it came with (Orange version) with an "unbranded" one
2) About backlight: when using the phone, why the keys "1" to "9" are not lighted ? even if we are scrolling through the menu... it is really painfull in the dark because when you want to make a call for example, you always have to press first of one of these key so that it lights up...

Edited by rchouk, 30 November 2008 - 01:34 PM.

[hotlips69]

Networkguy, on Nov 30 2008, 09:34, said:

The chargiong point on the bottom of the phone is a standard ext USB thing so any charger will work however if you want a cradle then you need a specific one.

I have gone for the HTC G300 which looks great

Are the inserts for the S740 available yet and if so, how much do they cost with/without the G300 ?

[Networkguy]

hotlips69, on Nov 30 2008, 15:51, said:

Are the inserts for the S740 available yet and if so, how much do they cost with/without the G300 ?

http://www.expansys....modaco&i=172165

£7.99 in stock (if you don't mind buying off Expansys)

[Omikr0n]

I have my S740 for about 3 weeks now and I can say I'm still astonished with it. It's really fast, really good-looking and packs up everything I have ever wanted in a smartphone.
The only two tiny glitches have already been mentioned - placement of microSDHC under SIM card and fingerprint prone facet. Both of these are very easy to live with considering that the rest of the device is, well, perfect.
Very well done, HTC. You have re-made your reputation at me after all those problems with TyTN II.

[PaulOBrien]

I wish some networks would pick this up, then we'd definitely see it rise in popularity!

P

[Omikr0n]

It seems that Orange UK is going to sell it soon.
But still no sign of picking it up by some Slovak or Czech operators (which I use). Just as always  <_<

[Socrates]

The s740 is a sweet sweet phone. Everything about it is awesome. I'm using it on T-mobile in the US, so no 3G, but I will say that it seems to use EDGE faster than my s710. Maybe it's my imagination, but I'll have to run some speed tests and see what the deal is.

My ONLY complaint is the button light up scheme which is over-engineered and too clever to be useful. It's annoying, but you get used to it quick. I mentioned this in the "customize my s740" thread, so if anyone knows if there are settings or reg hacks to control this let me know.

The phone is really fast. I have encountered only two oddities and both of those were with the camera software, both times requiring a reboot because of strang behavior after taking pictures. Been using it for photos a lot and so far overall it's fine, but as with all my previous HTC's the photo software and hardware leaves much to be desired.

[Socrates]

richair, on Nov 21 2008, 07:51, said:

Any good tips on carrying cases for the s740? Preferably for on my belt (I know, geeky, but I'm used to it...)

www.ADVERTISING SPAM.com

They have a variety. From book styles to puches to aluminum.

I ordered a pouch and an alluminum. I'll let you know hoe they are.

Edited by Socrates, 21 December 2008 - 09:20 PM.

[Socrates]

Socrates, on Dec 21 2008, 13:19, said:

www.ADVERTISING SPAM.com

They have a variety. From book styles to puches to aluminum.

I ordered a pouch and an alluminum. I'll let you know hoe they are.

So the first thing is that ADVERTISING SPAM is really slow at shipping things. I ordered the leather one for $10 cheaper from an ebay seller that's also in Hong King and that one got here in about a week. Still waiting on the aluminum ordered direct the same day.

Anyway, the leather case is a very nice fit. It has the same bizarre notch in the bottom middle of the case like so many after market pouches do. No idea what that is for, but it leaves part of your screen exposed to damage unless you insert it glass to the back.  The belt clip on this one is just the squeeze kind, no swivel pin and removable clip out of the box, but there is a hole there on it so I think you can add a clip on swivel thing to it.

The quality s great. The only "major" issue is that the elastic on either end covers up the charging port no matter which way you turn the phone. you can kind of slide that to the side to charge in the case, but it seems like that is going to wear out the elastic and put unneeded sideways pressure  on the charging cable/connector.

[Networkguy]

Socrates, on Jan 2 2009, 07:12, said:

So the first thing is that ADVERTISING SPAM is really slow at shipping things. I ordered the leather one for $10 cheaper from an ebay seller that's also in Hong King and that one got here in about a week. Still waiting on the aluminum ordered direct the same day.

Anyway, the leather case is a very nice fit. It has the same bizarre notch in the bottom middle of the case like so many after market pouches do. No idea what that is for, but it leaves part of your screen exposed to damage unless you insert it glass to the back.  The belt clip on this one is just the squeeze kind, no swivel pin and removable clip out of the box, but there is a hole there on it so I think you can add a clip on swivel thing to it.

The quality s great. The only "major" issue is that the elastic on either end covers up the charging port no matter which way you turn the phone. you can kind of slide that to the side to charge in the case, but it seems like that is going to wear out the elastic and put unneeded sideways pressure  on the charging cable/connector.

I actually found the shipping from ADVERTISING SPAM to be very good with my order being processed on the 26th and it arriving on the 29th here in the UK.

I actually now have the aluminum one and must admit I am very impressed with the overall quality. Sure it adds a little bulk to the handset (although not much) but does seem to offer a very high level of protection (remember I have already dropped my S740 once) in a ruggedised kind of way. Whilst I won't be using this case when I am out and about on business where the phone slips into my suit pocket, I shall be using it when I am actually "doing stuff" with the phone clipped to my belt and where there is a real risk of it getting knocked. For this purpose, I am very happy with this case.

[Socrates]

I got my aluminum today. That's about 2 weeks after I ordered it I think.

Anyway, this case is fantastically nice. My one and only gripe is that the push button to release the snap on the belt clip has this sort of serrated edge and it scratches on me if I'm wearing an untucked T-shirt.

It's a briliant design the way it flips over and allows the keyboard to slide out. I feel infinitely less nervous about my phone taking a bang or fall now.

My one worry with wrapping the phone inmetal was that it would affect either GPS or Cell reception and that doesn't seem to be an issue at all.

Edited by Socrates, 06 January 2009 - 06:39 AM.

[Networkguy]

Socrates, on Jan 6 2009, 06:37, said:

My one worry with wrapping the phone inmetal was that it would affect either GPS or Cell reception and that doesn't seem to be an issue at all.

I have found that the metal case seems to make a 1 bar difference on signal strength but does not seem to have any impact on GPS. For the protection, that seems a fair trade off.

[willl]

Socrates, on Jan 2 2009, 18:12, said:

So the first thing is that ADVERTISING SPAM is really slow at shipping things. I ordered the leather one for $10 cheaper from an ebay seller that's also in Hong King and that one got here in about a week. Still waiting on the aluminum ordered direct the same day.

Anyway, the leather case is a very nice fit. It has the same bizarre notch in the bottom middle of the case like so many after market pouches do. No idea what that is for, but it leaves part of your screen exposed to damage unless you insert it glass to the back.  The belt clip on this one is just the squeeze kind, no swivel pin and removable clip out of the box, but there is a hole there on it so I think you can add a clip on swivel thing to it.

The quality s great. The only "major" issue is that the elastic on either end covers up the charging port no matter which way you turn the phone. you can kind of slide that to the side to charge in the case, but it seems like that is going to wear out the elastic and put unneeded sideways pressure  on the charging cable/connector.

Sounds interesting. Has anyone tried the Krusell one for the S740? I've ordered this phone and am awaiting delivery.

And interesting news I've read this morning (it's morning here in Australia) is that this phone is being released in the US as the HTC S743, running on 850/1900MHz.

[willl]

Just did a bit more browsing around, apparently this phone is released in Japan as the HTC Dual Diamond (S22HT). The HTC Diamond is also known as the S21HT over there.

And they've got a white cased version (what they call "White Pearl"). Have a look here.

Also, this Japanese version runs on HSDPA/W-CDMA 1700/2100MHz. And no, I can't read Japanese either.