Daft irritations thread

[Guest ginnermark]

We're all bound to come across some of what I'll call "daft irritations". These are silly things that won't cause you to return the handset, but will cause you to scratch your head and say: eh?

Let me start with two:

SMS - why is there no time visible on the received message anywhere? What time was it sent? I just read a message - but when did it come? Is it now too late to reply? Grrr.

and

"The remote modem has disconnected" was a message I got on a train today while using the 3G link. Jeez, if there was ever a reference to the phone's heritage, this was it. I don't want an iphone, but I don't want a reminder of Windows 95 either. Grrr.

Any more? Come on - we must all have one? The point is: these are things that can be fixed that will improve the platform no end. Think of us as a friendly focus group.

[Guest dan13l]

We're all bound to come across some of what I'll call "daft irritations". These are silly things that won't cause you to return the handset, but will cause you to scratch your head and say: eh?

Let me start with two:

SMS - why is there no time visible on the received message anywhere? What time was it sent? I just read a message - but when did it come? Is it now too late to reply? Grrr.

and

"The remote modem has disconnected" was a message I got on a train today while using the 3G link. Jeez, if there was ever a reference to the phone's heritage, this was it. I don't want an iphone, but I don't want a reminder of Windows 95 either. Grrr.

Any more? Come on - we must all have one? The point is: these are things that can be fixed that will improve the platform no end. Think of us as a friendly focus group.

As for point one: the time is displayed. View the top section of an SMS; you'll notice that when you open one, you're looking at a slightly "scrolled" version of the message. The very top has delivery time on it, clear as day.

And two: doesn't bother me in the slightest bit. I don't see how rewording that error would "improve the platform no end".

I'm too tired to think of anything that really gets on my nerves right now though.

[Guest the_ape]

As for point one: the time is displayed. View the top section of an SMS; you'll notice that when you open one, you're looking at a slightly "scrolled" version of the message. The very top has delivery time on it, clear as day.

And two: doesn't bother me in the slightest bit. I don't see how rewording that error would "improve the platform no end".

I'm too tired to think of anything that really gets on my nerves right now though.

Being able to change the Delete softkey in the Pocket Outlook would be mine, but that's a WM6 issue, not device.

[Guest Webreaper]

The 'modem' reference is entirely correct, as you'll see if you visit Wikipedia.

Defn: Modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. Even your wifi connection is technically a modem, although most people don't consider it such.

The three things which irritate me the most (and yes, these are WM6 issues rather than Kaiser-related) are:

1. Double-click on an appointment in the calendar to view it. The next most-likely action I want to carry out is to edit it. However, since WM5 the option to edit it was moved from the softkey to a menu, requiring more clicks. The left softkey now has, instead, 'Reply' as its action - but it's almost always disabled as 'Reply' is not a meaningful action for an appointment. D'oh! How that one got past the MS HCI guys, $deity only knows.

2. I'm in my MMS/SMS mailbox, and I want to send a new SMS. However, rather than just click the RHS soft-key and choose 'New SMS', I have to navigate to 'New' and then to a sub-menu item 'SMS'. Why have two clicks when you can have four, eh MS? And why make MMS the first item in the submenu, given that SMS is far more oft-used (average of 100m/day in the UK, compared to an average of 1m/day MMS messages). At least the today-screen softkey mapper means I can avoid that.

3. WM5 always had the problem that sometimes an app would get 'stuck' and you could never get back to the home screen. In WM6 when the device comes back from standby, all the apps are minimized, forcing you back to the home screen. That's cool - except when I'm listening to music with something like Mortplayer, when I want the app to still be foreground when it comes back. ;)

Grrr. :wub:

Edited October 3, 2007 by Webreaper

[Guest mcwarre]

Is it just me or can you get the calendar on the homescreen to display the day as well as teh date? Was on by default on WM5

[Guest ginnermark]

As for point one: the time is displayed. View the top section of an SMS; you'll notice that when you open one, you're looking at a slightly "scrolled" version of the message. The very top has delivery time on it, clear as day.

And two: doesn't bother me in the slightest bit. I don't see how rewording that error would "improve the platform no end".

You're right - I hadn't noticed that! But I can revise the irritation to - given the amount of screen space, why do I need to scroll to see information that is already there. And why does the SMS list work differently to the email list - which does show the time in the message list if the message is dated today.

And a dialogue telling me "the connection was lost" is slightly more friendly - there's no need to blind everyone with science all the time.

And as for "improve the platform" I meant minor irritations in general, not just that message!

[Guest ginnermark]

duplicate post

Edited October 3, 2007 by ginnermark

[Guest sc0user_75]

I agree with all of the above - especially the text message annoyance. And here are some of my irritations:

- If the screen goes to sleep the ONLY button that can wake it is the Power button!

- I Bluetoothed all my Contacts from my old phone to the Vario - I now have Last Name, First Name. The only way to change this is to either go through ALL the contacts individually (I have approx 100) or to sync with outlook - but I have a Mac (partly my fault for buying a Windows mobile when owning a Mac - but im gonna get Markspace software.

- No radio

- When you press the call button you are not given a recent call log. This has to be done via another press!

- When you close a programme via the X button at top right of screen it DOESNT actually close down. You still have to go into the software closing programme (cant member what its called!!)

I have some others but cant think of em right now, so I'll be back ;)

Edited October 3, 2007 by sc0user_75

[Guest ginnermark]

Thanks Scouser but I think we'd have to declare the lack of radio to be a missing feature rather than a daft irritation! It is annoying, but I bought it knowing there wasn't one.

[Guest Mr.Clark]

- If the screen goes to sleep the ONLY button that can wake it is the Power button!

Isn't that a good thing though? So if you have the thing in your pocket and nudge buttons it doesn't start randomly dialling people or connecting to the internet or anything?

The Universal had a button lock feature which you can choose whether or not to allow any button to wake it or just the power button. Is there something similar on the Kaiser?

[Guest sc0user_75]

Thanks Scouser but I think we'd have to declare the lack of radio to be a missing feature rather than a daft irritation! It is annoying, but I bought it knowing there wasn't one.

Very true Mark - Im just being petty I think ;)

MrClark, I think it would have been good to have been able to assign the "bring screen back" button to another button of your choice. The power button is so small and fiddly that when you wake up at night there's a lot of... ... ... .... well, fumbling :I

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

- If the screen goes to sleep the ONLY button that can wake it is the Power button!

You can change this in settings (think under Power) so that it will come on with any button press.

When you close a programme via the X button at top right of screen it DOESNT actually close down. You still have to go into the software closing programme (cant member what its called!!)

By design. The programs are closed automatically if the memory is needed for anything else. By not unloading the application it is there quicker when you next need it again. Also it saves power by not having to load and unload complete applications each time you dip in and out.

Regards

Phil

[Guest Webreaper]

- If the screen goes to sleep the ONLY button that can wake it is the Power button!

As mentioned, that's by design. It's not the screen going to sleep, it's the device going into standby.

- I Bluetoothed all my Contacts from my old phone to the Vario - I now have Last Name, First Name. The only way to change this is to either go through ALL the contacts individually (I have approx 100) or to sync with outlook - but I have a Mac (partly my fault for buying a Windows mobile when owning a Mac - but im gonna get Markspace software.

Yep. Shouldn't have bought a Mac. ;) If it's an Intel Mac you could dual-boot Windows on it and then do this this.

- When you close a programme via the X button at top right of screen it DOESNT actually close down. You still have to go into the software closing programme (cant member what its called!!)

Again, by design. That's how WM5 worked too. It was only a problem on low-spec'd devices previously like the Wizard, etc., where RAM/ROM and CPU power was at a premium. I find now that the way the apps stay running (and the way the task manager works) is far better now that there's enough resources for it to work properly (e.g., I have MortPlayer, TT6, messaging, IE, Resco and other stuff all running at the same time, with no degradation in performance or reliability). IMO, MS got this one right - they just implemented it before the devices had the resources to cope with it.

Edited October 3, 2007 by Webreaper

[Guest Tullnet]

- If the screen goes to sleep the ONLY button that can wake it is the Power button!

Go to "settings" -> "System" -> "Key Lock"

- When you close a programme via the X button at top right of screen it DOESNT actually close down. You still have to go into the software closing programme (cant member what its called!!)

Go to "settings" -> "System" -> "X Button"

[Guest Confucious]

The 'modem' reference is entirely correct, as you'll see if you visit Wikipedia.

Defn: Modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. Even your wifi connection is technically a modem, although most people don't consider it such.

That explains exactly why it is NOT a modem (nor is a so called broadband 'modem') - there is no analogue sigmnal involved anywhere - it is all digital and therefore no need to modulate (or demodulate)

[Guest sc0user_75]

Thanks Lads for the replies and tips.

Tullnet, I almost sussed the keylock thing out myself - just was a little blind about what the words on the screen actually meant!!

The keypad lock thing is still a mystery to me though.

PS Webreaper - I am so glad I bought a Mac. In terms of computers I can never go back to a PC. They simply are the best (didnt some bird call tina once sing about Macs ;) )

[Guest the_ape]

I agree with all of the above - especially the text message annoyance. And here are some of my irritations:

- If the screen goes to sleep the ONLY button that can wake it is the Power button!

- I Bluetoothed all my Contacts from my old phone to the Vario - I now have Last Name, First Name. The only way to change this is to either go through ALL the contacts individually (I have approx 100) or to sync with outlook - but I have a Mac (partly my fault for buying a Windows mobile when owning a Mac - but im gonna get Markspace software.

- No radio

- When you press the call button you are not given a recent call log. This has to be done via another press!

- When you close a programme via the X button at top right of screen it DOESNT actually close down. You still have to go into the software closing programme (cant member what its called!!)

I have some others but cant think of em right now, so I'll be back ;)

Have a look on XDA-Developers.com there is an application(control panel) that will change the contact name order for you on the fly.

Radio? why would you want one, just stream it from the station over the net.

You can set Xbutton to close an app instead of minimising it, but I still dont get why people are so cared whether the app is closed or minimised.... But hey....

[Guest sc0user_75]

Thanks Ape. Will do.

As for the Closing Apps thing - now that I know that having a loada programmes running in background wont affect the phone I'm not too fussed about it ;) Gonna leave it as it is.

[Guest Tullnet]

.... And why does the SMS list work differently to the email list - which does show the time in the message list if the message is dated today.

My VIII shows the time/date in the same way as the email list does?

[Guest Webreaper]

That explains exactly why it is NOT a modem (nor is a so called broadband 'modem') - there is no analogue sigmnal involved anywhere - it is all digital and therefore no need to modulate (or demodulate)

Really.

So how, exactly do these 'all digital' signals get from your phone to the cellphone mast, without being converted from a digital signal into a radio wave (there's a big clue in that word, right there)? The entire GSM platform is based on modulation (your voice is encoded, modulated, sent via radio signal, and then demodulated by the mast). Search for 'modulation' on this page if you don't believe me.

We're into the realms of extreme pedantry here :wub: but your entire cellphone is actually just a radio modem. ;)

[Guest Alkali]

Have a look on XDA-Developers.com there is an application(control panel) that will change the contact name order for you on the fly.

I checked but could not locate the program. Please asssit further.

[Guest Manni01]

Thanks Ape. Will do.

As for the Closing Apps thing - now that I know that having a loada programmes running in background wont affect the phone I'm not too fussed about it :wub: Gonna leave it as it is.

If you press and hold the X, the program closes (frees the memory). ;) If you simply press X, it remains loaded in the background, ready to be brought back by the task manager. Quite easy!

[Guest Confucious]

If you press and hold the X, the program closes (frees the memory). ;) If you simply press X, it remains loaded in the background, ready to be brought back by the task manager. Quite easy!

And what program are you using that does that? Certainly not standard WM HTC have a prog (who's name I can't remember) that does that but not widely available and certainly not standard.

[Guest Flubster]

its HTC task manager and it was preinstalled on my vanilla HTC kaiser, and infact was already configured for that exact operation (long press close, short press as normal)

Flubster

[Guest Phil Lee]

And what program are you using that does that? Certainly not standard WM HTC have a prog (who's name I can't remember) that does that but not widely available and certainly not standard.

The Vario III comes with HTC X-Button pre-installed. This allows you to configure the way the X button works. You can set it up so that the X closes programs with a tap or a tap and hold. You can also create a list of exclusive programs not affected by X-Button. All in all it seems an excellent little program.