Switching platforms? | Thinking of leaving?...comment here!

[anon(50597)]

Apple finally decided to implement universal search. Just another webOS first that was followed by BlackBerry.

Love it! Its a great feature that I appreciated when I was using BlackBerry. Now I have it on iOS.

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[fatclue_98]

The S8+ experiment is over for me. I'm going to keep the Nexus 6 instead. The battery life on the Galaxy is crazy for an Android but there's just too much going against it from a usability standpoint. I simply couldn't get past the 2:1 display ratio. If I wanted such a narrow screen I'd use an SE. I view too many plans on PDF and CAD on an everyday basis and it was an awful experience. Granted, I was spoiled by the Passport but that's a different matter.

I gave DeX a whirl and I can honestly say that Continuum has nothing to worry about. The station renders the phone unusable while in DeX mode and that's not a realistic scenario. The Microsoft apps don't run any better than on Continuum and I don't see any real benefit from windowed apps on the desktop. Task switching is just as effective.

I've picked up an x3 relatively inexpensive so I'm going to use it as a WiFi companion for Continuum duties. Hopefully it gets to me by Friday.

 

[libra89]

The S8+ experiment is over for me. I'm going to keep the Nexus 6 instead. The battery life on the Galaxy is crazy for an Android but there's just too much going against it from a usability standpoint. I simply couldn't get past the 2:1 display ratio. If I wanted such a narrow screen I'd use an SE. I view too many plans on PDF and CAD on an everyday basis and it was an awful experience. Granted, I was spoiled by the Passport but that's a different matter.

I gave DeX a whirl and I can honestly say that Continuum has nothing to worry about. The station renders the phone unusable while in DeX mode and that's not a realistic scenario. The Microsoft apps don't run any better than on Continuum and I don't see any real benefit from windowed apps on the desktop. Task switching is just as effective.

I've picked up an x3 relatively inexpensive so I'm going to use it as a WiFi companion for Continuum duties. Hopefully it gets to me by Friday.

Wow I did not see this coming! I can totally get your point on the display though, you either like it or you don't. Since you look at it like all the time, it will either annoy you or be awesome. No in between.

Congrats on the x3. Now I will be looking forward to your thoughts on that. I hope that you get it soon too.

 

[fatclue_98]

Wow I did not see this coming! I can totally get your point on the display though, you either like it or you don't. Since you look at it like all the time, it will either annoy you or be awesome. No in between.

Congrats on the x3. Now I will be looking forward to your thoughts on that. I hope that you get it soon too.

Yeah, it's not so much a question of liking it or not, it's downright irritating to have to zoom and pan because content is so limited due to the narrowness of the display. Landscape is useless until apps are made to scale properly (black bars rule). Maybe as more phones adopt this ratio the devs will adjust their apps but not at this point in time. Oh almost forgot, the fingerprint scanner might as well not exist. The placement is a head scratcher of the highest magnitude.

Don't get me wrong this is a fine handset, probably the best out there right now. Awesome camera, ridiculous battery life and excellent build quality but it's not for me. I'm a "pro" user first and media consumer second.

 

[nate0]

Yeah, it's not so much a question of liking it or not, it's downright irritating to have to zoom and pan because content is so limited due to the narrowness of the display. Landscape is useless until apps are made to scale properly (black bars rule). Maybe as more phones adopt this ratio the devs will adjust their apps but not at this point in time. Oh almost forgot, the fingerprint scanner might as well not exist. The placement is a head scratcher of the highest magnitude.

Don't get me wrong this is a fine handset, probably the best out there right now. Awesome camera, ridiculous battery life and excellent build quality but it's not for me. I'm a "pro" user first and media consumer second.

Can you change the resolution like on the S7 Edge in Nougat? I saw an s8+ in the wild. I was surprised at how small everything was on the screen, but I figured it was the way the guy configured or lack of.

 

[fatclue_98]

Can you change the resolution like on the S7 Edge in Nougat? I saw an s8+ in the wild. I was surprised at how small everything was on the screen, but I figured it was the way the guy configured or lack of.

Yes, 720, 1080 or 1440. Only makes a difference if the app supports the resolution though. The problem is that 720 is x 1480, 1080 is x 2220 and 1440 is x 2960. Most apps don't support the extra vertical pixels. Regardless, the horizontal inches just aren't there. Reading a web page is an exercise in perpetual scrolling.

 

[N1cks]

Don't know about that device. All glass. Edge to edge screen. Yech! My son had both with his Note 7 and then S7. He eventually traded for a LG V20. Much better .

Yeah, my mate had an S7 Edge & he disliked the whole edge to edge display: made it hard to hold & he was always hitting buttons unintentionally. A good case would've helped, but that kinda defeats the purpose.

So yeah, wait & see what the iPhone 8 is like.
I can always get the 7 but I want wireless charging.

Another thing I just noticed on the Iphone. I can search and it provides results from contacts, the interwebz, my calendar, email, and OneNote.

.

That's awesome. Does the universal search work for Outlook mail & Outlook calendar?

P.s. Just won an eBay auction for a iPhone 6s, so get to find out for myself soon ☺.
Although this phone is intend for my sister, it'll be my first Apple product is my long forgotten iPod. (I hated iTunes so much...)

 

[nate0]

Yes, 720, 1080 or 1440. Only makes a difference if the app supports the resolution though. The problem is that 720 is x 1480, 1080 is x 2220 and 1440 is x 2960. Most apps don't support the extra vertical pixels. Regardless, the horizontal inches just aren't there. Reading a web page is an exercise in perpetual scrolling.

6.2 inch screen on the S8+ right? Based on that dimension seems there's no way around that issue until apps come up and the OS adds the ability to scale automatically. The g6 is similar. Longer narrower screen.

 

[N1cks]

Found out something today. While my Iphone doesn't have live tiles, it does have sort of a quick quick menu.

The iPhone may not have Live Tile - but it has a Today View.

After playing with Android widgets for a few hours... tweaking them with custom launchers - I concluded that widgets are annoying, & look ugly.
The Today View looks better and is more functional (even though I haven't spent much time with it yet).

 

[libra89]

That's awesome. Does the universal search work for Outlook mail & Outlook calendar?

P.s. Just won an eBay auction for a iPhone 6s, so get to find out for myself soon ☺.
Although this phone is intend for my sister, it'll be my first Apple product is my long forgotten iPod. (I hated iTunes so much...)

Congrats on your win!

As for your question, yes for outlook mail and kind of for outlook calendar. Outlook Mail literally appears in search. With outlook calendar, when you add your account, it will appear in the built in calendar.

 

[fatclue_98]

6.2 inch screen on the S8+ right? Based on that dimension seems there's no way around that issue until apps come up and the OS adds the ability to scale automatically. The g6 is similar. Longer narrower screen.

Yep. A 6.2" screen on a phone with the same width as an iPhone 7 with a 4.7" display. I can only imagine what the S8 must be like.

 

[PerfectReign]

That's awesome. Does the universal search work for Outlook mail & Outlook calendar?

yes! I finally can search my calendar again. That was so frustrating on W10M. I live by my calendar at work.

I hated iTunes so much...)

I never liked it. I still use Groove, which like many Windows apps, runs actually better on the Iphone.

 

[camaroz1985]

I agree about Groove. It is frustrating when the apps work better on other platforms.

About the only thing that I liked better on W10M (other than the live tiles and the start screen UI), was the way OneDrive integrated with the photos app. Was so easy to browse all photos, whether locally stored or on OneDrive, all in one place. Now I browse using the app, but I wish there was a way to quickly jump to a certain month, date, etc.

Still enjoying my SE very much. Waiting on my wife's 7 to get her and see how she likes it. I would still like to try a Plus, but after seeing them at a family function this weekend I can't get over how huge they are. I think I might try to grab one just to try out, but I have a feeling that I will not keep it very long. Who knows, I could be pleasantly surprised though.

 

[Christopher Kendalls]

I want to like the phone I'm driving, an Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5)... And I almost do. I like the hardware very much. Strong SoC, nice screen, excellent sound, decent camera (although I haven't had time to push it toward any limits). Adoptable storage is a plus since I'm using a quality SD card and the Bus speed is very good.

But the software is letting me down.

• android.hardware.camera2 was never properly implemented so I'm cut out from taking DNG captures
• SensorCore was never properly implemented so I don't have a step counter
• I don't seem to be getting Security updates (stuck on July 1, 2016 security patch level) and don't know if that is the OEM or the carrier intruding and it really shouldn't matter which it is, I need the peace of mind given the notoriously bad level of security (and no, I'm not talking about the leaks that come from sideloading unverified apps - read the tech news; I'm talking about how eminently hackable the system is by design philosophy)
• The labyrinthian device navigation is ridiculous
• Notifications require so much tweaking and you still only get almost what you want, not exactly what you want
• The wild west rodeo of app behaviors make it difficult to have a smooth and consistent UX
• The overbearing Google insistence that any app they have automatically makes any other service that does the same thing (often in better ways) a second class citizen that can't function as fully
• The obsessive compulsory inclusion of Google's intrusiveness: I don't really even want a Google account, but I must have one and I am loath to include other accounts on the device and use them fully since I don't trust the segregation - anything I put on there will be examined, analyzed and packaged as market research (some will say you can control this in large measure, but the methods to do so are tedious and exhausting)

Sure there are Apps, Apps and more Apps. So what? I don't give a flying monkey turd for 99.9999999999% of the sesquimillion wastes of coding that float around in the soup bowl and keep you from finding the tasty bits. Having so many apps ceases to become a valid positive when any good ones are buried under so much unusable dross and you spend orders of magnitude more time than a task takes to find the tool to accomplish it.

I have a feeling I'll be back on my Lumia 650 in a matter of days. It's not that I don't know how to setup and alter the device, it's that in the long run the results are never what I want, only what I have to settle for.

That's how I felt. I had access to all of these apps on Android but in reality there are only like, 100 good apps, in general, not just on any one platform. Once you find the apps you need it is all about your workflow. Apps are a distraction. There are a lot of things on Android that only work well if you're willing to shell out a couple hundred to get a decent phone. You don't have that issue on Windows Phone. So back I am.

There is also a lot to be said about the fact that you get updates on Windows Phone because the system is not set up for carriers to hold back. That did happen to me on WP 8.1 but I never had that issue on W 10 M.

 

[PerfectReign]

Another great example of the frustration. I am able to use my Elite X3 again after the last insider build. Awesome.

However, when opening an email with an attachment, the image still fails to load a preview and takes forever to download.

I took a video with my Iphone. (I was also able to upload the video with said Iphone instead of having to connect to the computer, copy the file, then upload.)

The X3 trying to download the image was connected via Ethernet to our LAN.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tsc0EeRMpos&feature=em-upload_owner

 

[anon(50597)]

Another great example of the frustration. I am able to use my Elite X3 again after the last insider build. Awesome.

However, when opening an email with an attachment, the image still fails to load a preview and takes forever to download.

I took a video with my Iphone. (I was also able to upload the video with said Iphone instead of having to connect to the computer, copy the file, then upload.)

The X3 trying to download the image was connected via Ethernet to our LAN.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tsc0EeRMpos&feature=em-upload_owner

I hear ya. I guess it just depends on how much you're willing to put up with all the frustrations. Becomes hard when you have another device that works more fluidly. I feel your pain.

 

[fatclue_98]

Finally got the x3 last night. Initial impressions are of a tight piece of kit. The chrome chin is every bit as cheesy as I thought it would be and the grille design is as sh***y as I had thought. That's as far as I'm going to go in bashing this device. Setting up was the usual hour and a half exercise and that includes 2 full updates, installing all my apps, logging in to said apps, updating the core apps, contacts, email accounts and so forth.

Having had the Idol 4S I knew the SD820 was more than adequate for W10M but I wasn't prepared for how much better this HP is optimized. Where the Idol was an F-16 this thing is an SR-71. I thought the Idol ran cool even on Continuum, this one barely registers. Some items to note though, double tap-to-wake is not desirable. The sensitivity causes the display to light up if the wind blows on it - and that's with the sensitivity slider set to its lowest setting. Battery life is unbelievable but I expected it to be with a 4140 juicer onboard. Had I noticed the lock screen issue sooner I would say this soundly beats the S8+. I'm still at 42% and it's been a looooong day. Trust me, I abuse batteries and only the S8+ and the Passport can go toe to toe with this guy.

I had no preconceived notions about the camera. As good as the Idol would have sufficed. The colors aren't as accurate or vibrant but there's considerably less noise and the images are visibly sharper than the Alcatel. This is not a Lumia, not even close. Serviceable would be a proper description.

I mentioned earlier about how HP has optimized the hardware and it extends to the software. The HP AIO printing app that comes built in is a little different than the one you get from the Store. Whereas the latter could be an exercise in one's faith, this version is rock solid. That makes me very happy. Some of you have seen pictures of my mobile office so you know how important this is to me.

All my other apps perform as they should but that's not surprising. Windows 10 Mobile needs to be appreciated when run by capable handsets. I've had them all except for the Acer Primo and believe me, Elite x3 or Idol 4S are your 2 choices. Their respective cameras really make you want a 950XL but it's not close. The SD808/810 chips on the 950 series can't carry the 820's jock.

It's only been about 24 hours but so far there hasn't been a single reboot, app crash or any of the other maladies I've read about. My guess is those were mostly early version problems. As I learned from my Idol, there won't be any Insider builds making their way to this beast.

Sent from my Elite x3 on mTalk

 

[libra89]

Finally got the x3 last night. Initial impressions are of a tight piece of kit. The chrome chin is every bit as cheesy as I thought it would be and the grille design is as sh***y as I had thought. That's as far as I'm going to go in bashing this device. Setting up was the usual hour and a half exercise and that includes 2 full updates, installing all my apps, logging in to said apps, updating the core apps, contacts, email accounts and so forth.

Having had the Idol 4S I knew the SD820 was more than adequate for W10M but I wasn't prepared for how much better this HP is optimized. Where the Idol was an F-16 this thing is an SR-71. I thought the Idol ran cool even on Continuum, this one barely registers. Some items to note though, double tap-to-wake is not desirable. The sensitivity causes the display to light up if the wind blows on it - and that's with the sensitivity slider set to its lowest setting. Battery life is unbelievable but I expected it to be with a 4140 juicer onboard. Had I noticed the lock screen issue sooner I would say this soundly beats the S8+. I'm still at 42% and it's been a looooong day. Trust me, I abuse batteries and only the S8+ and the Passport can go toe to toe with this guy.

I had no preconceived notions about the camera. As good as the Idol would have sufficed. The colors aren't as accurate or vibrant but there's considerably less noise and the images are visibly sharper than the Alcatel. This is not a Lumia, not even close. Serviceable would be a proper description.

I mentioned earlier about how HP has optimized the hardware and it extends to the software. The HP AIO printing app that comes built in is a little different than the one you get from the Store. Whereas the latter could be an exercise in one's faith, this version is rock solid. That makes me very happy. Some of you have seen pictures of my mobile office so you know how important this is to me.

All my other apps perform as they should but that's not surprising. Windows 10 Mobile needs to be appreciated when run by capable handsets. I've had them all except for the Acer Primo and believe me, Elite x3 or Idol 4S are your 2 choices. Their respective cameras really make you want a 950XL but it's not close. The SD808/810 chips on the 950 series can't carry the 820's jock.

It's only been about 24 hours but so far there hasn't been a single reboot, app crash or any of the other maladies I've read about. My guess is those were mostly early version problems. As I learned from my Idol, there won't be any Insider builds making their way to this beast.

Sent from my Elite x3 on mTalk

Wow, it sounds like you met your match! That's interesting that the camera is better though. How are the speakers? I'm glad that you was able to get your hands on one for a decent price!

 

[fatclue_98]

Wow, it sounds like you met your match! That's interesting that the camera is better though. How are the speakers? I'm glad that you was able to get your hands on one for a decent price!

You can't beat the speakers on the Idol. Period. Yes, I got it at a fantastic price ($325) just phone and charger.

Sent from my Elite x3 on mTalk

 

[anon(50597)]

You can't beat the speakers on the Idol. Period. Yes, I got it at a fantastic price ($325) just phone and charger.

Sent from my Elite x3 on mTalk

Wow, that was an awesome deal. Enjoy!