Focus S, here's what I'm thinking so far

[baseballbert]

Pros:
1) Construction/Build Quality
Feels good in the hand. It doesn't feel cheap, or less than a premium device. The edges are (pardon the analogy) iPhone-esque in terms of how the roundness of the phone feels in the hand. I like the USB port is on the bottom of the phone as well, looks cleaner.

It has good heft to it, felt good in the pocket and has a pretty high quality build. Better than I expected. Feels just right in terms of balance/weight/size.

I am extremely high maintanence on my toys in terms of what I expect them to look like and feel when I hold them. This phone passes the test easily. The glossy look to it is pretty nice, and with a Zagg, BestSkinsEver, etc film cover it will have more tackiness to it, look great for a long time and take some of the worry out about dropping it.

2) Screen
Super AMOLED+ is amazing, vivrant colors that jump off the screen. Auto adjust isn't the factor I've read about, and the display background/brightness has been pretty conistent. Didn't notice any lag while scrolling either. Nice to have the bigger screen to type on.

Plenty bright even at medium, and much better than the Focus.

3) Mango
You know all of the awesome so I won't tell you about that. It was pretty seemless to put my accounts on this phone that I had on the other one.

4) Camera
Is great, pretty high quality. The FFC isn't something I thought I'd need/wanted until I had it. Pretty cool, don't know how much it will get used, but I like it.

5) Speaker seems better than on the original and appears to have a little more bass. Volume seems better too.

6) Storage
If you know you are getting 16gb without being able to expand, and still get the phone, you can't claim storage as an issue. In fact, putting the apps back on, I'm realizing how many of them I don't need and how bloated the Focus was. 16gb will be plenty of room.


Cons:
Here's the tricky part. I'd say it is an 80/20 for/against split for this phone, and unfortunately, they could be deal breakers. The two things that really stick out in my mind are:
1) Music player
There is a loud pop switching songs. I listen to music a lot in my car, and this will make me nuts. I think I saw this on another post and was hoping that was just an issue with that individual phone, but doesn't look like it.

2) Button placement
Bad design here. I activated the camera button no less than 15 times in three hours. I could reposition my hand, but when I grab the phone, its not something I want to think about. In the right hand, if the thumb is about midway between the power and camera button, you're in business. Any lower, and you can easily activate the camera.

Left hand, middle finger sits right on the camera button and activates it much easier. Whoever did the final product testing on this thing must have either had HUGE meat hooks or tiny mits where this wasn't a factor.

Summary
If there is a patch for the popping sound issue in the music player changing songs, and you hold the phone the right way, its a pretty flawless device. High quality, incredible screen and it runs Mango. What else do you need?

 

[aimfire72]

Thanks for your thoughts.
Do you find that the screen has sort of a strong blueish tint to it?

 

[jmerrey]

It's a good phone no doubt, glad you are liking it.
Two things to note here:
One, I've only had mine a little over a week, and I'm already noticing some wear showing on the back of the phone on the ridge that separates the phone from the battery cover. This glossy black plastic doesn't seem very scratch resistant. I'd consider getting the Zagg or equivalent skin pretty quickly.
Two, if the loud popping is a big deal to you, I'm not sure I'd be holding out for a patch to fix it. I'm no engineer, so this is just a guess, but I think the design of the plug hole is flawed. Want some more evidence of this? Plug in the stock headphones and attempt to play/pause/next track/previous track with the included remote. Sometimes it pauses the music, sometimes it doesn't. If you fiddle with the plug it seems to work for awhile. Using the double and triple push to get next track and previous track almost never works. Again, this is just a guess, but I think there is a hardware problem here.

 

[erike3198]

FYI, the popping sound between tracks does not happen over bluetooth

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

 

[naplesbill]

Ok, so I am listening to music on my desktop speakers at work and I am getting the popping noise. I then plugged in my Bose headphones and the pop doesn't exist. It would appear to be an issue with amplified signals. This may very well be a hardware issue.

I find this very depressing as I am liking this device otherwise. How stupid can a company be?

 

[Rob41664]

I saw a post on a Titan forum over at XDA that said several were also experiencing the popping on the Titan so I dont think this is a strictly Focus S problem maybe..

 

[naplesbill]

Well, I returned the phone. I spend most of my music listening time in my truck. The pop issue is just too much for me to live with. Especially considering I paid full price.

I was able to return the phone as defective and did not have to pay a restock fee. They didn't have any Titans for me to try, so for now I will just use my HD7s again. I may see if I can't score one at a discount on Sat. When I bought my original Focus last year, I was able to take advantage of the BOGO after the fact. I am going to try ordering over the phone Sat and asking for the difference between the offer price and regular price off the phone. In other words, I will ask them to subtract $198 from the $549 no commitment price. Wish me luck.

 

[jameskk1]

Well, I returned the phone. I spend most of my music listening time in my truck. The pop issue is just too much for me to live with. Especially considering I paid full price.

I was able to return the phone as defective and did not have to pay a restock fee. They didn't have

any Titans for me to try, so for now I will just use my HD7s again. I may see if I can't score one at a discount on Sat. When I bought my original Focus last year, I was able to take advantage of the BOGO after the fact. I am going to try ordering over the phone Sat and asking for the difference between the offer price and regular price off the phone. In other words, I will ask them to subtract $198 from the $549 no commitment price. Wish me luck.

I bought one today in the store and they knocked $150 off the no commit price plus gave me $200 in free accessories of my choice.

 

[enahs555]

How do people active the camera by accident?

The camera button is in the exact same position as the focus. Everybody is complaining about this, but I just do not get it. People must be holding their phones crazy weird!

 

[mailman27]

How do people active the camera by accident?

The camera button is in the exact same position as the focus. Everybody is complaining about this, but I just do not get it. People must be holding their phones crazy weird!

I picked the phone up in the store with my right hand (one handed grip) and within 30 seconds had accidentally activated the camera button.

 

[peestandingup]

How do people active the camera by accident?

The camera button is in the exact same position as the focus. Everybody is complaining about this, but I just do not get it. People must be holding their phones crazy weird!

On the surface it would seem so, but on the units I've played with, the camera button was SUPER easy to press down. So I could totally see it activating if someone were to just be cradling the phone a certain way.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Can anyone with a Focus S tell if this phone has NFC or not!

 

[Major]

Doubtful. WP7 doesn't support it, so I don't think they'd bother to put the hardware in it.