First of all, I have to say that I am a die hard webOS fan. I have been sharing what I think on some of these other threads, but wanted to get all (or most) of my thoughts out in one place. The truth is, is that you could probably chop this thread up and scatter it throughout multiple threads.
I have only been using "smartphones" since the latter part of 2008 when I started medic school. I started with a used Motorola Q9c for Sprint. Overall, I thought that it was an awesome phone, but one of my biggest issues was the calendar. I needed to see my appointments, and they had to be easy to edit... Hacking took place.
Eventually, the Palm Pre came out. I hated it. I mean, to me, it looked liek a sissy phone. Small buttons, plastic hardware, etc. It doesn't help that I had my heart set on this new phone called the HTC Hero. OH! It was going to be bad @ss! I knew everything there was to know before that darn thing came out. Unfortunately, when it came out and time to play with it, I was severely disappointed...
Well, I decided to play with the Pre. Watched reviews on it. Looked at speed test with the browser and so forth. Needless to say, I was sold. This phone became everything that I could ever want in a OS. The multitasking was unmatched! The calendar, and the email, and the messaging which was fully unified, each to it's own respective place, was amazing. Overall, the ease of use, whether it was adding, editing, or the use of gestures just made sense.
Oh, was I upset when I heard that HP bought Palm, and then to make it worse, the news that no more devices were going to be made! My phone was falling apart. What to do? I caved and bought a HTC Evo 4G. I loved the Navigation. Loved it. Everything else though, especially the notifications and the poor calendar widget. I could go on and on.
The roller coaster continues. I get word that HP is making another Pre. All new devices! Finally! I have been trying to sell EVERYONE on webOS. Telling them about the new devices and the capabilities. Showing them my old Pre and saying that the new devices were going to be unmathced. And this had be in the midst of iPhone lovers, and Android freaks that just looked at me stupid. I had already sold my Evo ( and my wife's) and decide to wait for the Pre3. And wait. And wait. And then to hear that it was most likely not even coming to Sprint.??? What? Sorry, but I can't just jump ship. I have an awesome plan. I am a power data user, and the customer service has been good to me.
As I mentioned in another post somewhere on here, I had been on the ambulance with a partner and he had a Samsung Focus. He was telling me how much he loved it. This is coming from a guy that isn't as hardcore into devices as me, so what could he possibly know? He showed me, and tried to sell me, but I just kept coming back with "well, I can open multiple cards and apps" (well, something like that)
I went into Best Buy and played with their Focus. I searched content on here. I was in love. I thought. But Sprint only had this Arrive. Geesh! I read all I could about what Mango was, and about what it was going to bring and what it was going to fix... I was sold. Hey, I've waited for my perfect device this long.
I searched on Craigslist everyday, a couple times a day for a used HTC Arrive just so I could "try" it out and test WP7 for its self. I finally found one for $100. Mint but phone only. I loved the heft of the device. It felt quality. The keyboard layout was great. The scrolling was quick and responsive. But, how would it match up to my beloved Pre and webOS?
Ugghh! I thought! As beautiful as this OS was, it was nowhere near my webOS. I was having a hard time with the notifications. I didn't like the browser, or even hitting a back button. I kept telling my wife ( who had originally told me not to get the device) that I hate and love this device... Then it just went to hate. Haha. But only for a few hours. Ok, maybe a day.
I hadn't had the time to really sit with the device. You may wonder why you need time with a device for it to be easy to use? Well, because for me, I got so used to an OS that was based soley on gestures. I was used to hitting an extra on screen menu key to bring up other options, or views. I was used to swiping cards off to close apps so that they wouldn't use power. I was used to using Google for everything under the sun and having to hit those extra keys to bring up specific searches (example: local, shopping). I was also used to opening up a complete list of my applications, find the one I want, and launch it... Oh, and THE EMAIL! MY GOODNESS! What a pain. I mean webOS had the unified inbox right? I have a personal Gmail, a family Gmail, a Yahoo, and now I needed to have a LIVE ID?
I had read a thread on here about Zune pass before and questions regarding a family account. So, I created a family Live ID for Zune, and I also have a personal Live ID for my stuff... Two Gmails, and two Live ID's. Wow! I won't lie, this was a huge pain in the buttocks (But, this is a fix on Mango!) For now, because I am waiting on the Official update, I had to find a work around. I am using POP3 forwarding to my personal Live acct... Like I said, the family Live is only for Zune, so that stays on the app menu.
Thankfully, the calendar is one of the best I've used. I hate when people come and tell me that, "Oh, what do you mean, I got a great calendar, it's called... I paid...". Stop! You shouldn't have to pay for a calendar. This is a basic feature of a smartphone. And WP7 does it well. Very well. Not one complaint there. The best part about it too, is that on my lock screen, my next or current appt shows up. Easy peasy editing as well.
At first, I wasn't a big fan of the tiles. Clunky looking... That has changed. I love the constant updating. I love the notifications. Having only what you need on the home screen. I like how easy it is to scroll down and side to side. I like the FONT! Yes, the font!
No, there aren't as many options or menus. That is because most of what you need or will view is only a side swipe or scroll away.
I never like Bing search before this. Now, I love it. I love that my partner and I were both using our voice search to find Dunkin Donuts yesterday and mine not only brought up the proper search and results, but that it did it with a location based search with a simple scroll to the side. With his Android, you have to go to the top of the screen and hit "local" or "shopping". Puhleez. Annnnd, it shows a partial map for me with my location (moving with GPS) and the closet places to me, with a complete list of locations right underneath. With Android, you get the map or the list and have to hit one of them to bring up further options.
Along with the above, when I found the location I wanted, I called it. Yeah, you can do that with Android and iOS, but when I called- it came up as "Dunkin Donuts" and saved that way in my recent call log. No guessing on which was the right number on those days when calling multiple placed to find a specific service with the best price...
Another thing with my partner and my phones yesterday- He went to soft reset his device, an Evo. I didn't even think of showing him how fast the boot up time was until he was a good 20 to 30 seconds into it. I quickly powered mine off. And turned it back on. No lie, my Arrive still booted up 10 seconds faster. Yup!
The speaker on my Arrive is awesome. Loud.
The camera on my Arrive is pretty nice too. I would like to see some improvement... But hey, for now, it is easily on par with my old Evo and better than my Pre, and close to an iPhone. Close.
Camera. Yeah, there is a dedicated button for that. Tell me that isn't needed with a camera phone.
I don't know really what else to say. I've wanted to give my 2 cents worth for a couple of weeks and am glad I waited. There are some things that I probably left out, but this is the gist of it.
I am very happy with WP7. I want to stay (Sprint, you better step it up). I think that this OS by far rivals any other out there. Android is far too amateur and animated (childish). As someone else has said, iPhone is an app launcher. It does it well, but I want something with personality, and I have to say, the layout and design of the apps is amazing. Next to none.
I have only been using "smartphones" since the latter part of 2008 when I started medic school. I started with a used Motorola Q9c for Sprint. Overall, I thought that it was an awesome phone, but one of my biggest issues was the calendar. I needed to see my appointments, and they had to be easy to edit... Hacking took place.
Eventually, the Palm Pre came out. I hated it. I mean, to me, it looked liek a sissy phone. Small buttons, plastic hardware, etc. It doesn't help that I had my heart set on this new phone called the HTC Hero. OH! It was going to be bad @ss! I knew everything there was to know before that darn thing came out. Unfortunately, when it came out and time to play with it, I was severely disappointed...
Well, I decided to play with the Pre. Watched reviews on it. Looked at speed test with the browser and so forth. Needless to say, I was sold. This phone became everything that I could ever want in a OS. The multitasking was unmatched! The calendar, and the email, and the messaging which was fully unified, each to it's own respective place, was amazing. Overall, the ease of use, whether it was adding, editing, or the use of gestures just made sense.
Oh, was I upset when I heard that HP bought Palm, and then to make it worse, the news that no more devices were going to be made! My phone was falling apart. What to do? I caved and bought a HTC Evo 4G. I loved the Navigation. Loved it. Everything else though, especially the notifications and the poor calendar widget. I could go on and on.
The roller coaster continues. I get word that HP is making another Pre. All new devices! Finally! I have been trying to sell EVERYONE on webOS. Telling them about the new devices and the capabilities. Showing them my old Pre and saying that the new devices were going to be unmathced. And this had be in the midst of iPhone lovers, and Android freaks that just looked at me stupid. I had already sold my Evo ( and my wife's
) and decide to wait for the Pre3. And wait. And wait. And then to hear that it was most likely not even coming to Sprint.??? What? Sorry, but I can't just jump ship. I have an awesome plan. I am a power data user, and the customer service has been good to me.As I mentioned in another post somewhere on here, I had been on the ambulance with a partner and he had a Samsung Focus. He was telling me how much he loved it. This is coming from a guy that isn't as hardcore into devices as me, so what could he possibly know? He showed me, and tried to sell me, but I just kept coming back with "well, I can open multiple cards and apps" (well, something like that)
I went into Best Buy and played with their Focus. I searched content on here. I was in love. I thought. But Sprint only had this Arrive. Geesh! I read all I could about what Mango was, and about what it was going to bring and what it was going to fix... I was sold. Hey, I've waited for my perfect device this long.
I searched on Craigslist everyday, a couple times a day for a used HTC Arrive just so I could "try" it out and test WP7 for its self. I finally found one for $100. Mint but phone only. I loved the heft of the device. It felt quality. The keyboard layout was great. The scrolling was quick and responsive. But, how would it match up to my beloved Pre and webOS?
Ugghh! I thought! As beautiful as this OS was, it was nowhere near my webOS. I was having a hard time with the notifications. I didn't like the browser, or even hitting a back button. I kept telling my wife ( who had originally told me not to get the device) that I hate and love this device... Then it just went to hate. Haha. But only for a few hours. Ok, maybe a day.
I hadn't had the time to really sit with the device. You may wonder why you need time with a device for it to be easy to use? Well, because for me, I got so used to an OS that was based soley on gestures. I was used to hitting an extra on screen menu key to bring up other options, or views. I was used to swiping cards off to close apps so that they wouldn't use power. I was used to using Google for everything under the sun and having to hit those extra keys to bring up specific searches (example: local, shopping). I was also used to opening up a complete list of my applications, find the one I want, and launch it... Oh, and THE EMAIL! MY GOODNESS! What a pain. I mean webOS had the unified inbox right? I have a personal Gmail, a family Gmail, a Yahoo, and now I needed to have a LIVE ID?
I had read a thread on here about Zune pass before and questions regarding a family account. So, I created a family Live ID for Zune, and I also have a personal Live ID for my stuff... Two Gmails, and two Live ID's. Wow! I won't lie, this was a huge pain in the buttocks (But, this is a fix on Mango!) For now, because I am waiting on the Official update, I had to find a work around. I am using POP3 forwarding to my personal Live acct... Like I said, the family Live is only for Zune, so that stays on the app menu.
Thankfully, the calendar is one of the best I've used. I hate when people come and tell me that, "Oh, what do you mean, I got a great calendar, it's called... I paid...". Stop! You shouldn't have to pay for a calendar. This is a basic feature of a smartphone. And WP7 does it well. Very well. Not one complaint there. The best part about it too, is that on my lock screen, my next or current appt shows up. Easy peasy editing as well.
At first, I wasn't a big fan of the tiles. Clunky looking... That has changed. I love the constant updating. I love the notifications. Having only what you need on the home screen. I like how easy it is to scroll down and side to side. I like the FONT! Yes, the font!
No, there aren't as many options or menus. That is because most of what you need or will view is only a side swipe or scroll away.
I never like Bing search before this. Now, I love it. I love that my partner and I were both using our voice search to find Dunkin Donuts yesterday and mine not only brought up the proper search and results, but that it did it with a location based search with a simple scroll to the side. With his Android, you have to go to the top of the screen and hit "local" or "shopping". Puhleez. Annnnd, it shows a partial map for me with my location (moving with GPS) and the closet places to me, with a complete list of locations right underneath. With Android, you get the map or the list and have to hit one of them to bring up further options.
Along with the above, when I found the location I wanted, I called it. Yeah, you can do that with Android and iOS, but when I called- it came up as "Dunkin Donuts" and saved that way in my recent call log. No guessing on which was the right number on those days when calling multiple placed to find a specific service with the best price...
Another thing with my partner and my phones yesterday- He went to soft reset his device, an Evo. I didn't even think of showing him how fast the boot up time was until he was a good 20 to 30 seconds into it. I quickly powered mine off. And turned it back on. No lie, my Arrive still booted up 10 seconds faster. Yup!
The speaker on my Arrive is awesome. Loud.
The camera on my Arrive is pretty nice too. I would like to see some improvement... But hey, for now, it is easily on par with my old Evo and better than my Pre, and close to an iPhone. Close.
Camera. Yeah, there is a dedicated button for that. Tell me that isn't needed with a camera phone.
I don't know really what else to say. I've wanted to give my 2 cents worth for a couple of weeks and am glad I waited. There are some things that I probably left out, but this is the gist of it.
I am very happy with WP7. I want to stay (Sprint, you better step it up). I think that this OS by far rivals any other out there. Android is far too amateur and animated (childish). As someone else has said, iPhone is an app launcher. It does it well, but I want something with personality, and I have to say, the layout and design of the apps is amazing. Next to none.
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