Love this phone

[anthonyng]

Bought the Alcatel for 99 the other day. I'm having an issue with the Spotify app that apparently came ?preinstalled? on the phone. It is stuck at "pending". I've tried long-pressing and uninstalling, but nada. I went to the store and downloaded Spotify, but the pending one still shows up in my app list. Anybody else have this issue, or does anyone know anyway to fix the issue?

weird, I don't have it preinstalled, just downloaded it ok... Region problem?

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

weird, I don't have it preinstalled, just downloaded it ok... Region problem?

It is odd. Don't know if it's a region thing. I'm in the US. I've also noticed that when I'm scrolling through the "My Library" section of the store, there are all kinds of apps that are"downloading", even though I have yet to click download. Once they finish, they are nowhere to be found on my phone. Guess I'll try a reset.

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Fixed the pending app download issue. When setting up my phone, I accidentally restored my Elite X3 data and apps onto this phone. That made everything wonky. Resetting as a new device fixed everything.

 

[fatclue_98]

Yes and No.

I bought my Idol 4S a year ago, its my only phone. I really like Windows 10 Mobile and the 4S is a sleek and great phone but....

Microsoft has quit on Win 10 Mobile and it shows. The updates do not address a lot of the nagging issues, and Alcatel never put out firmware updates to address some of the phone issues. I have to soft reset and hard reset my phone way too often. There are too many bugs to call it a great experience. It could have been great and I am very sad that it is being abandoned, but at this stage the experience is OK, and going to get worse over time.

True, we won't be seeing anymore feature updates but we got the Meltdown and Spectre fix about as fast as anyone.

As for the firmware update, that's squarely on Alcatel, not Microsoft. As good as the Idol is, a fw update could have cured this wretched camera and people would have been "Lumia what?"

 

[OriginalLucy]

After using the idol for almost a month, I have decided to send it back. No notification lights was one of the biggest reasons along with not being able to use shopify app for my small retail business or my RBC for banking. Being self employed, I came to rely on these must have apps. Lovely device, though. I wanted it to work so badly. I have only ever owned BlackBerry and was looking to a non android phone

 

[gvp 1995]

Lovely phone. For $100 you get the same hardware as $700 iPhone. But everything comes at a price. First, there a lot of bugs (Proximity Sensor is the biggest for me) and little hope they will be fixed. Second, the platform itself. One after another the limitations will pile up. For example, I recently discovered T-Mobile has 'DIGITS' feature, which allows you to have your phone number on multiple devices. But of course, no app for WP. You can live with it for some time, but than things will accumulate. I remember ditching my Nokia 808 after Symbian stopped supporting Internet Radio.

However, I am not sending my Idol 4s back. Will keep it as a spare phone. $100 is cheaper than replacing screen on my other phones.

 

[fatclue_98]

Lovely phone. For $100 you get the same hardware as $700 iPhone. But everything comes at a price. First, there a lot of bugs (Proximity Sensor is the biggest for me) and little hope they will be fixed. Second, the platform itself. One after another the limitations will pile up. For example, I recently discovered T-Mobile has 'DIGITS' feature, which allows you to have your phone number on multiple devices. But of course, no app for WP. You can live with it for some time, but than things will accumulate. I remember ditching my Nokia 808 after Symbian stopped supporting Internet Radio.

However, I am not sending my Idol 4s back. Will keep it as a spare phone. $100 is cheaper than replacing screen on my other phones.

I have my Idol on a Digits SIM. As long as the primary number belongs to an Android or iPhone you're ok. You register the primary number through the Digits app and that activates syncing with the other card. It's the best way I've found to switch between phones and not have to worry about missing call logs or texts.

 

[gvp 1995]

I have my Idol on a Digits SIM. As long as the primary number belongs to an Android or iPhone you're ok. You register the primary number through the Digits app and that activates syncing with the other card. It's the best way I've found to switch between phones and not have to worry about missing call logs or texts.

This is an interesting information. So it is possible to use a WP as a secondary phone? My issue is that Idol 4s is much better for day to day use. But Elite x3 is better for travel (dual SIM and more). But I did not want to bother swapping SIM back and forth. After a quick research and call to T-Mo I came to the conclusion it is not possible with WP.

Is your Idol 4s a Windows Phone? There is the same phone with Android, which caused some confusion while talking to T-Mo. And if yes, is it a T-Mo phone? And another question, you mention "syncing with other card". Does it mean your Idol has another SIM card? I thought the whole purpose of the 'DIGITAL' is that you don't need a second SIM...

I am not planning to move to Android, and if I do, I will not need WP any more as I will not be running 2 OS. At that time this problem will go away for me. But for now, is there any other way to register Idol without running Android or iOS?

 

[fatclue_98]

This is an interesting information. So it is possible to use a WP as a secondary phone? My issue is that Idol 4s is much better for day to day use. But Elite x3 is better for travel (dual SIM and more). But I did not want to bother swapping SIM back and forth. After a quick research and call to T-Mo I came to the conclusion it is not possible with WP.

Is your Idol 4s a Windows Phone? There is the same phone with Android, which caused some confusion while talking to T-Mo. And if yes, is it a T-Mo phone? And another question, you mention "syncing with other card". Does it mean your Idol has another SIM card? I thought the whole purpose of the 'DIGITAL' is that you don't need a second SIM...

I am not planning to move to Android, and if I do, I will not need WP any more as I will not be running 2 OS. At that time this problem will go away for me. But for now, is there any other way to register Idol without running Android or iOS?

One of the phones has to be an Android or iPhone. To use Digits you need to have a SIM card on each phone. One is your present, everyday card and the other is the SIM T-Mobile activates as a Digits number. I have the Digits SIM in my Idol (Windows phone). I've had it in a Surface 3 LTE and used it for phone calls and texts too but that was just as an experiment. What I meant by syncing is that when you first sign up for the service and you get the Digits SIM you have to activate it by logging into the app on your Android or iPhone. Once you have that Digits SIM activated you can use it on any phone and if someone calls your number both phones ring at the same time. Whichever phone does NOT answer the call will show a missed call but you'll have that incoming call on both phones' call logs. Same goes for texts, when you get a text message it'll show up on both phones. If you have the Digits phone off it'll populate whatever calls or texts came in while off as soon as you power it back on.

Once again, you must have an Android or iPhone to activate the service since there's only a Digits app for those platforms but it works on any phone AFTER you activate.

 

[gvp 1995]

One of the phones has to be an Android or iPhone. To use Digits you need to have a SIM card on each phone. One is your present, everyday card and the other is the SIM T-Mobile activates as a Digits number. I have the Digits SIM in my Idol (Windows phone). I've had it in a Surface 3 LTE and used it for phone calls and texts too but that was just as an experiment. What I meant by syncing is that when you first sign up for the service and you get the Digits SIM you have to activate it by logging into the app on your Android or iPhone. Once you have that Digits SIM activated you can use it on any phone and if someone calls your number both phones ring at the same time. Whichever phone does NOT answer the call will show a missed call but you'll have that incoming call on both phones' call logs. Same goes for texts, when you get a text message it'll show up on both phones. If you have the Digits phone off it'll populate whatever calls or texts came in while off as soon as you power it back on.

Once again, you must have an Android or iPhone to activate the service since there's only a Digits app for those platforms but it works on any phone AFTER you activate.

Thank you so much for this explanation! If I am understanding the situation correctly, I go to T-Mo store, pay some $15 for the SIM, they activate the SIM in their system. Then I come back home with this SIM, borrow an iPhone from a friend, run the DIGITS app, activate this SIM with my phone number and voila! Is this correct? It would be terrific. I would probably bought more than one SIM.

BTW, are there any charges except to buy a SIM? If not, do you know if they require a specific plan to be on? (Mine is one of those old ones).

 

[fatclue_98]

Thank you so much for this explanation! If I am understanding the situation correctly, I go to T-Mo store, pay some $15 for the SIM, they activate the SIM in their system. Then I come back home with this SIM, borrow an iPhone from a friend, run the DIGITS app, activate this SIM with my phone number and voila! Is this correct? It would be terrific. I would probably bought more than one SIM.

BTW, are there any charges except to buy a SIM? If not, do you know if they require a specific plan to be on? (Mine is one of those old ones).

It's the best 10 bucks a month I've ever spent. I'm on the same legacy Simple Choice plan I've been on for the past 3 years.

 

[gvp 1995]

It's the best 10 bucks a month I've ever spent. I'm on the same legacy Simple Choice plan I've been on for the past 3 years.

OK. So do you think it should be possible to use somebody else's phone just to activate? Or do they require that YOU have iPhone or Android. I would pay $10 a month.

 

[fatclue_98]

OK. So do you think it should be possible to use somebody else's phone just to activate? Or do they require that YOU have iPhone or Android. I would pay $10 a month.

You would have to put your existing SIM in that other person's phone. If that other phone is not a T-Mobile phone you may have to register that phone's IMEI with T-Mo first.

 

[gvp 1995]

You would have to put your existing SIM in that other person's phone. If that other phone is not a T-Mobile phone you may have to register that phone's IMEI with T-Mo first.

It is a T-Mobile phone. What do you mean by 'existing SIM'? My main SIM that I use now? Or the new 'DIGITS' SIM that I will buy from T-Mo?

 

[fatclue_98]

It is a T-Mobile phone. What do you mean by 'existing SIM'? My main SIM that I use now? Or the new 'DIGITS' SIM that I will buy from T-Mo?

Your current SIM.

 

[gvp 1995]

Your current SIM.

Thank you much for your input. I am still trying to figure how this DIGITAL thing works and whether it is possible to somehow use it with WP. Variant with buying a second SIM seems to be available, but it will not solve my issue. I wanted my two phones be absolutely identical in any respect, but T-Mo still preserves the notion of 'primary' device since they limit the speed of the second one (even with the separate SIM) to 512K.