65 replies to this topic

[arirang]

Stevenlomb, on Feb 6 2010, 22:30, said:

I'm hoping that by the time Nexus One gets to Verizon, all the bugs will be worked out.
I love WinMo, but Android might be just as customizable. If not now, maybe soon.

if the rumors are true about winmo7--no multitasking, locked-in synching with zune app. i think android may be the OS to rule them all.

[rfarrah]

arirang, on Feb 7 2010, 21:41, said:

if the rumors are true about winmo7--no multitasking, locked-in synching with zune app. i think android may be the OS to rule them all.

Just ran across this:

http://www.elsemobil.../Touch/ThesPlay

(You have to go thorugh their portal with a few information pieces before you get where you want to go.  Hang in there.)

Totally new phone and OS.  Not out yet, but the UI looks interesting.

[arirang]

rfarrah, on Feb 23 2010, 10:26, said:

Just ran across this:

http://www.elsemobil.../Touch/ThesPlay

(You have to go thorugh their portal with a few information pieces before you get where you want to go.  Hang in there.)

Totally new phone and OS.  Not out yet, but the UI looks interesting.

it looks promising, and there is definitely a GUI-based paradigm shift taking place all across the field.

also, based on several reports, including this, it appears that 4G/LTE roll-out and full deployment will be a major and costly cross-road for phone manufacturers. phones would have to be backwards compatible as far as 2G. therefore, holding out for a 4G/LTE phone in 2010 [and even 2011] may be moot and more vapor than reality.

google's android shows no sign of intelligence when it comes to unifying/streamlining a very fragmented OS ecosystem. the iphone and blackberry has moved to the top of my list. winmo7 is also still vaporware in my book and not in the running until i actually can fiddle with one.

i have a year remaining on my contract, and the OS/service landscape will dramatically change [more openess? more closed?] when it's time to decide. so expect continued waffling :-D

Edited by arirang, 23 February 2010 - 10:15 PM.

[arirang]

interesting POV from a BB->iphone->BB user
http://designmind.fr...blackberry.html

[cruddasj]

My next phone would be an HTC touch pro 2 IF it were a bit slimmer and had a higher cam res/flash (and a capacitive screen would be nice =/)

Reasons being that it can be flashed from SD so custom ROMs are pretty safe to flash to the phone Android can be run on it using haret and has nearly ALL features working just needs some further tweaks and it should be there! Awesome qwerty staggered keyboard too

Would definately not get an iPhone. I want a phone, not a fashion accesory. If you want to argue against that apple fans, learn what a proxy server is then try and connect your iPhone to it. You'll find it wont work on version 3.0 and higher because it is buggy.....it doesnt just work, in fact it doesnt work at all. Also pressure points in its design means you'll easily crack your screen when you drop it (i have seen so so many broken screens, all in the same way) Yes windows mobile has its flaws, but then microsoft doesnt claim for its products to be perfect, and your not paying through the nose for hardware/software that is nothing new to the mobile world (copy & paste.....woohooo!, and holy crap! a camera!)


As for my HTC hopes....maybe the htc tera will be the answer at least it should have a few of the extra features i was looking for

[arirang]

if you got your omnia before 11/09 then your ETF is only $135. if after then, it's $350. i'm in the former group, and this has really got me DIGGING hard in research and forum-lurking. however, the more i dig and lurk, the more i realize giving up the omnia i910 is NOT so easy. if you thought last year was busy with new makes and OS udpates, wait till this summer.

*verizon is desperately trying to clear their stock of droids and eris with BOGO offers.
*google nexus is a clusterf*ck when it comes to customer support--who you gonna call? t-mobile? HTC? google? good luck!
*android platform is so fragmented it has fragmented the android community over who should get an OTA 2.1 update first. droid? eris? though google says it want them all to run 2.1, not all will run it well.
*HTC is coming out with more models to confuse the consumer even more.
*blackberry video/camera HW sucks--i'm an amateur photographer. i like to share good pics/vids. not crappy ones.
*the iphone is due for a refresh in the summer so i'd rather wait and get new contract discount on a 4G then the current 3GS. however, there's still the issue of well-documented dropped calls, and spotty data connection with its carrier. look to see how well ATT handles the iphone mob at this year's austin, tx SXSW--this will be a litmus test.

...and they all have crappy battery- and talk-time. the eris is the worst [3.5hrs per OEM].

the more research i do, the more i like my omnia. thanks to the chefs, winmo 6.5.3 [28223] is a balanced performer and battery-sipper. i like how it organizes mms, sms, exchange and domain accts. the GPS chip could be better, but i've done location-based lock-on races with friends' BB, and iphone, and i get an AGPS lock as fast, and though last, GPS locks minutes later. its camera/video is peerless among smartphones. the overall build is tough--nothing loose, the connector's dust-cover is still firmly attached, the telescopic stylus still snaps and clicks, ALL the buttons are responsive like new. and it still looks SEXY. i know resistive screens are a thing of the past, but the omnia works really well. while iphone users are literally poking at their iphones with sausages, i just grab whatever has a point that wont scratch--add swype keyboard and now you're typing.

at this juncture, i really dont feel like i'm using an OLD phone. samsung got it right on the i910--affordable, use-able, durable, flexible, powerful, i could go on and on...which i have

if i've got anything wrong, pls link to correct info. we ALL want to make an informed decision.

Edited by arirang, 03 March 2010 - 11:13 PM.

[rfarrah]

I agree!  There is STILL nothing better out there for the money if quality, customizing, and overall cell experience are what you're after....as long as you're okay with the virtual keyboard.  And I am.

[arirang]

so i finagled a 2yr contract renewal [incl. phone discount], and am awaiting the moto droid. if you got your omnia before 11/01/09 then your ETF is still $135. it's a compelling bargaining chip--i told them dollar and cents-wise, it would be cheaper for me to cancel with them and go somewhere else and take of advantage of other carriers' new activation phone discounts.

i researched HARD, and it was down to android or BB. unforunately, with BB OS5.0 in the horizon, software developers are holding off their updates [ie--evernote, qik, etc.] until its official release and list of models are official. moreover, i read reviews on newer BB models [ie-tour 9630] that all complained of short battery life compared to older models [curve 8330]. in the past, long-battery life was the BB's strength; however, as RIM adds on more features and eye-candy, it is finding itself in the same boat as other emerging smart phones.

the android platform is ideal for me since since i fully utilize google's services [picasa, gmail, gvoice, etc]. so it boiled down to choosing an existing model [eris, nexus1, G1, droid]. Eris's is great except for its glaringly poor battery life among its peers. nexus1 customer support is too convoluted. G1 is on a carrier that i feel doesnt match big red's coverage, so that left me with the droid [with its warts and all]. plus, android's update/upgrade roadmap will include the droid much longer than the eris and G1. holding off on a senseUI-skinned HTC wasnt appealing either since HTC needs to mod android upgrades to SenseUI first THEN release the upgrade. ASFAIK, droid and nexus are bare-bones; consequently, at the front of the line for upgrades.

i will miss the omnia's high, quality build and HW components--very hand-held friendly, SD-card storage, dedicated camera button [w/quick&long press options], start-end call buttons, optical mouse, amazing camera, powerful battery, customizable Main menu bottom [quick&long press]. if samsung had come out with an omnia replica with an android platform and just a few HW upgrades [capacitative screen, 3.5mm headphone jack, standard micro-usb, GPS], i would've chosen it in a heart beat.

i am sensing a common strategy with all platform developers [ala iphone and BB]--control the HW and diversity as much as possible. HTC needs to trim its line otherwise it risks fueling the osborne-effect, and confusing consumers with its steady stream of new releases.

Edited by arirang, 15 March 2010 - 04:38 PM.

[rickhamilton620]

I'd choose the HD2 if Microsoft wouldn't have killed it's upgradability to WP7S. I love my Omnia but find the screen to be just a bit too small for easy typing. The HD2 solves that but then MS take's the wind out of the US launch (essentially osborne effecting the device) by saying it won't be upgradable directly. After hearing that it might be a formidable challenge for people to port WP7S to the HD2 w/out a upgrade, I'm torn because while I love Windows Mobile 6, I want the choice to take advantage of the apps that developers are only releasing for the "in" platforms. It's disheartening every time I want to try something like Slacker or last.fm free and find out "oh its only on iPhone and Android." Hell, even the BlackBerry get's better new app support!  Engadget released a app...for everything but Windows Mobile. It gets kinda frustrating after a while I guess, esp. since the Omnia's hardware is still one of the most attractive, robust, handset's I've used.

[renee613]

I am taking a break from my omnia and using my husbands blackberry storm for awhile. and so far I am loving it   my omnia was having some serious touchscreen problems (got to the point that I was using the optical mouse more than the touchscreen)and I was ready for a change. at first I thought the storm touch screen was a nuisance but now that I got the hang of it, I think its awesome. when it comes to customization, the crackberry apps r endless.

I am eligible for an upgrade and Ive been holding out for the nexus one but as of right now vzw doesnt have it. I read somewhere that sprints getting it now. according to rumors i read somewhere else it was supposed to be released through vzw TODAY. anyway, when I decide to use my upgrade my next phone is definitely gonna b an android device or storm 2.

[arirang]

i've been test-driving the DROID [option to exercise 30-day return]. because of the hyper-speed of innovation since the i910's release, it's apples to oranges so i'll omit comparisons. however, some negative misconceptions about the DROID can be put to rest.

1. flaky camera auto-focus--current production releases have 2.01 installed, and i've not experienced any issue.
2. battery hatch lose--current production releases have added a thin rubber pad underneath, so it's snug and secure.
3. horrible battery life [<12hrs]--i easily get that and more with normal usage [voice, web-surfing, enabling GPS, BT, WIFI, aut-sync when needed, etc]. moreover, after a 12hr day, i had 50% remaining so i thought it would be a good time to condition and train the new lithium battery by draining it completely. so with 50% remaining, i enabled BT, WIFI, GPS, maximum display lighting, and played non-stop youtube videos. with all the battery-hogging features enabled, it took an add'l 2hrs before it finally shut down.
4. call quality [inbound/outbound]--i haven't been able to duplicate the tinniness some reviewers have described.
5. sliding keyboard keys not well-designed--compared to what layout? BB and its clones? G1 and its clones? i type SMS, email [but NOT novels] just fine with it and the virtual KB.

so with all the buzz about upcoming smart-phones with 1GHZ processors, 512 ROM/RAM specs, will i return the DROID for one of those? likely not, because...
1. nexus 1 isn't supported by a brick-and-mortar store. i have to navigate through Google's and HTC customer service and deal with finger-pointing.
2. anything with a skinned android [senseUI] can expect delays when rev. updates are released since HTC will have to modify the skin.
3. sure it may say 1GHZ but it's under-clocked [from 200 to 700GHZ] to conserve battery. innovation makes something slow go fast, but not vice-versa.
4. it's hard to go back to plastic bodies once you go DROID with its steel frame
5. if MS wasnt sitting on a mountain of cash to sustain buzz and recover from missteps with WM7, it would be in a death spiral like palm.
6. BB is truly in a quandary as the android and iphone slowly but surely make themselves more enterprise-friendly and secure.

god only knows what google has up their sleeves and when the DROID will no longer be included in their future releases. the heat and battery consumption associated to 1GHZ processor is a technological ceiling that no one has yet to break. therefore, the new buzz is the radio chip inside [LTE/4G/wimax/etc].

Edited by arirang, 24 March 2010 - 07:25 PM.

[kdkinc]

Arirang,

Re:
3. horrible battery life [<12hrs]--i easily get that and more with normal usage [voice, web-surfing, enabling GPS, BT, WIFI, aut-sync when needed, etc]. moreover, after a 12hr day, i had 50% remaining so i thought it would be a good time to condition and train the new lithium battery by draining it completely. so with 50% remaining, i enabled BT, WIFI, GPS, maximum display lighting, and played non-stop youtube videos. with all the battery-hogging features enabled, it took an add'l 2hrs before it finally shut down.

I believe that Ni Cad batteries had the memory issue  they had to be "trained" they had a "chip".
Lithium batteries will go to the end of charge then crap out ,no weaking of output so to say.Also they can't be over charged, I'm not saying to leave on the charger for days... or charged to often.

Great thread and assessment.
At present I'm happy with my O2 but most likely will go "robot" next fall

Edited by kdkinc, 25 March 2010 - 10:08 AM.

[arirang]

kdkinc, on Mar 25 2010, 04:07, said:

Arirang,

Re:
3. horrible battery life [<12hrs]--i easily get that and more with normal usage [voice, web-surfing, enabling GPS, BT, WIFI, aut-sync when needed, etc]. moreover, after a 12hr day, i had 50% remaining so i thought it would be a good time to condition and train the new lithium battery by draining it completely. so with 50% remaining, i enabled BT, WIFI, GPS, maximum display lighting, and played non-stop youtube videos. with all the battery-hogging features enabled, it took an add'l 2hrs before it finally shut down.

I believe that Ni Cad batteries had the memory issue  they had to be "trained" they had a "chip".
Lithium batteries will go to the end of charge then crap out ,no weaking of output so to say.Also they can't be over charged, I'm not saying to leave on the charger for days... or charged to often.

Great thread and assessment.
At present I'm happy with my O2 but most likely will go "robot" next fall

i think the end-result of fully discharging a new battery [and periodically after that] is a more accurate calibration between the phone's firmware and the battery for day-to-day charging. the phone's firmware will more accurately 'know' when the battery is truly topped off.  my experience since the full discharge matches this. prior to discharging, it would have 50% after 12hrs, now it has 70% remaining.

if you use alot of MS services then WM7 will be it [xbox live, myphone, hotmail, etc]. if you use alot of google services then the droid is it. google voice integration is seamless and now has real-time SMS push [an android OS exclusive].

Edited by arirang, 27 March 2010 - 09:52 PM.

[arirang]

arirang, on Mar 27 2010, 11:56, said:

i think the end-result of fully discharging a new battery [and periodically after that] is a more accurate calibration between the phone's firmware and the battery for day-to-day charging. the phone's firmware will more accurately 'know' when the battery is truly topped off.  my experience since the full discharge matches this. prior to discharging, it would have 50% after 12hrs, now it has 70% remaining.

if you use alot of MS services then WM7 will be it [xbox live, myphone, hotmail, etc]. if you use alot of google services then the droid is it. google voice integration is seamless and now has real-time SMS push [an android OS exclusive].

i've decided to keep the droid, and let the new releases with their battery-hungry snapdragon 1ghz processors and various skinnings duke it out amongst themselves.

those of you on the fence between motorola droid and N1. here's a great display-benchmark testpitting N1 with droid and iphone 3gs. spoiler alert--Droid Does.

[kdkinc]

THINK INCREDIBLE April 24 (about)


Now thats HOT   

[cerberez]

kdkinc, on Apr 7 2010, 18:23, said:

THINK INCREDIBLE April 24 (about)
Now thats HOT   

Yeah... love my i910, it's nearly 2 years old and outperforming most phones out today, thanks to the phenomenal people of the omnia communities and their hard work.

but I'm starting to get bugged by a few little things (especially the weak gps chip and lack of a digital compass: geocaching is high on my list of priorities) and my battery is wearing out: doesn't hold as much juice as it used to. Rather than replace the battery, I might take the opportunity to go for a whole new phone.


I think I'll wind up with an Incredible, a Pre Plus, or (and this is less likely) one of those WM7 babies coming out this winter, if they hit verizon.



I'm excited to try out Android OS. It's already got apps I really want and it seems like it'll outlast many of the OSes out there right now. Regarding fragmentation, I did hear that google has planned to slow down its production of OS versions and concentrate on the ones that are out right now.

I was really pumped for the nexus one, because I'm nuts for google and I thought it would turn out to be the ultimate google phone. Instead, they seem to have a really laid-back attitude towards marketing/supporting the phone and fixing its bugs.

I ruled out the droid because I actually see qwerty keyboards as a downside. I much prefer swype and I don't like the idea of a whole piece of the structure of the phone that I don't use. Anyway, Swype, I hear, is coming to android in an official capacity (maybe it'll work even better than the beta port we have for the omnia now).

so I wonder if I'll be able to wait for the Windows 7 phones to come out. Their specs look insane... But I do EVERYTHING on google's mail and docs and calendar; do you think there'll be any problem integrating those services into a windows phone?

However, the palm pre plus might turn out to be too cheap for me to turn down, regarless of how sexy the other options are.

Edited by cerberez, 10 April 2010 - 10:05 PM.

[arirang]

cerberez, on Apr 10 2010, 15:57, said:

But I do EVERYTHING on Google's mail and docs and calendar; do you think there'll be any problem integrating those services into a windows phone?

Google will always have Mobile Apps for windows platform; however, it's naturally not the same experience compared on android platform. some Google service features on windows will never feel integrated--voice, voice+SMS, picasa [aka web gallery], mail+contacts+calendar sync/push, etc.

if you've fully leveraged Google services, then android OS is a no brainer. if you've distributed services among different hosts [hotmail, flickr, etc], then your mileage may vary.

Edited by arirang, 13 April 2010 - 07:49 PM.

[kdkinc]

+1  CERBEREZ

I look also a the number of great chefs that have left this Omnia thread.   (i910 + i920)
Where did most of them go???    how many returned??
BGA55 came back for a couple of days then went to i920 then..... got captured by the robot
Some of the new phones IMHO are far Superior to the i910 in many ways. However like you said the i910 is now  2+ years old !

BIG changes are coming.
When I my 2 year contract is up this fall I most likely will choose the Incredible.  I'll think hard about going the 1 year option with VZW. Unless I'm missing something it will cost about $75.00 more to go the one year option than by that time the Incredible will be yesterdays news.

As far as WP7 goes I'll let the test pilots mess with it for a year before I consider a "new" OS

My 1 cent   

Thanks Arirang for a great thread

Edited by kdkinc, 17 April 2010 - 09:19 AM.

[Root-dir]

HTC droid Incredible looks like where im headed there's a lot of things that are omnia reminiscent about this phone
its mostly touch screen based but has an optical "trackball" (not sure how it differs from the "joystick" but look forward to finding out) this was something i was waiting for i didn't like how the moto droid didn't have some sort of directional control without opening the keyboard

pros
Processor: Snapdragon 1ghz monster > the moto droid's though it lacks a dedicated graphics chip which the droid has
Screen:WVGA AMOLED Capacitive touch screen yeah I think thats all that needs to be said about that.
Memory: 500(and some change)MB of program memory
storage:8GB internal memory first android phone ive seen do this its basically just like my storage on the omnia and it of course still has an sd slot
Camera:Like the omnia at its launch the incredible will have one of the best cameras on the market coming in at 8MP also Dual LED flash
all those crazy sensors that seem to be standard on android phones now including accelerometer(for sure), compass(i think), proximity(i think),and light(i think) [I say i think because i have seen descriptions that leave these out but have seen them in other descriptions i have NOT seen anyone say it DOESN'T though so i think its safe to assume they are there)
FM radio built in: just like the omnia and i know i accutaly used it on my omnia more than i expected to so it will be a nice thing not to loose
3.5mm headphone jack: this has become pretty much standard but it seems its on the top of the phone which lends it's self well to using earphones that dont have a bent adapter
non proprietary charge/data port.
wifi and bluetooth obviously
like the omnia no moving parts(trackballs, sliders ect) nothing to break



cons:
the back has a sort of sculpting to it which i would be fine with me except the camera bezel ends up being the highest point on the back which makes me nervous idk ill have to play with it to decide on this also if i understand correctly the back is kinda rubbery to give it a more tactile feel than the slippery fingerprint magnet that comes from something like an iphone

from what i can tell there's no dedicated camera button so no half click to focus (the camera does have auto focus tho)

THERES NO DEDICATED SEND AND END KEYS this one is going to take some getting used to something i loved about the omnia was no mater what i was doing i knew the phone was always one button away because after all while i use my phone for A LOT of things it is at heart a phone the end button isn't so big a deal as it basically served the same purpose the home button does on this but still this march away from hard buttons is NOT a good thing IMO

the battery is reported to be smaller than the droid's (not by much but i think and correct me if im wrong the droid was already smaller than the omnia) so im not sure maybe they think the will save massive battery on the amoled and auto throttling of the snapdragon we will have to see but either way unless someone comes up with an aftermarket batery this will not be a phone you can afford to forget to plug in at night.

the camera apparently cant do 720p video but that's no big deal to me as long as its decent quallity and smooth which it is based on the preview video i saw.

No dedicated GPU like the droid so idk about open gl or games in general even with the snapdragon



Things I dont know and other thoughts:
i dont know if it can do Tv out and while i haven't acctually used it on my omnia its nice to know that i could if i wanted to.
as i mentioned im not sure about the compass light and proximity sensors although if you look at the picture there seems to be two discolored circles to the left of the ear piece which to me says light and proximity sensors.
while this is releasing with the latest and greatest version of android (2.1) it does have sense which might cause updates to come a little slower than for handsets with a base ui. speaking of sense idk much about it like rather you can turn it off or how well its integrated in to the os.
some have complained about the red highlights but i acctually kinda like it or at least better than the gold accents on the droid i thought the looked out of place
I dont know if this has a scratch resistant screen like the droid or not but an invisible shield can take care of that just like it does on my omnia.


well hope that helps someone please excuse any spelling, punctuation, or grammar mistakes as ive already spent too much time writing this and dont have time to go back and fix errors

Attached Files

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[rfarrah]

Root-dir, on Apr 19 2010, 14:44, said:

HTC droid Incredible looks like where im headed there's a lot of things that are omnia reminiscent about this phone
its mostly touch screen based but has an optical "trackball" (not sure how it differs from the "joystick" but look forward to finding out) this was something i was waiting for i didn't like how the moto droid didn't have some sort of directional control without opening the keyboard... snip!

It does look like an awesome phone.  I just need to see if it will sync and play nicely with Outlook (contacts, appointments, tasks) on my computers.