First time WP7 user - initial impressions

[incendy]

In case anyone is still interested in my initial impressions of the phone (MTC Trophy / Mango), now that I have had the phone for close to 48 hours:

I am starting to like WP7, however I am still having trouble with the following:

1. Camera turns on for no apparent reason. I am 100% sure that I am not accidentally holding down the shutter button.

2. Haptic feedback when I don't need it.

3. Very poor battery performance.

4. 3G data speeds

5. Browser does not render Gmail like Android / iOS

6. Poor camera quality.

7. Apps need to be built to support multitasking, and many of them haven't been updated

I know that the apps that I am looking for (Chase, Citibank, Pandora) will eventually come to the device and that improvements will be made, so I may decide to stick with the platform, but not the device.

For the short term, are there any current generation WP7 devices that are better than the Trophy? I'd like to see if my WP7 experience is any better on other devices.

I figure that I can continue to play with other WP7 devices while waiting for the second gen devices to be released by ATT in Oct, and will then switch to one of those.

thanks in advance for the advice!

Sounds like a fautly device, my HD7 does none of that. I mean sometimes I accidentally press the camera button in my pocket but that is not the phone's fault haha.

As for gmail you can add it as a mail client, but if you do need it to open in the browser then ask gmail to update their device list to add ie9 mobile. It just came out so I am sure a lot of sites will be adding it soon to their render html5 views.

The camera on the HD7 isn't that great either, Focus seems to have the best camera of current devices. Titan, Radar and whatever Nokia releases should be big steps up in this department.

Agree about the apps, wich the high profile ones at least would get updates.

 

[Clow]

Google major issues both droid bionic ...its in Android central..horrible issues

Sent from my mwp6985 using Board Express

 

[Coffee]

In case anyone is still interested in my initial impressions of the phone (MTC Trophy / Mango), now that I have had the phone for close to 48 hours:

I am starting to like WP7, however I am still having trouble with the following:

1. Camera turns on for no apparent reason. I am 100% sure that I am not accidentally holding down the shutter button.

2. Haptic feedback when I don't need it.

3. Very poor battery performance.

4. 3G data speeds

5. Browser does not render Gmail like Android / iOS

6. Poor camera quality.

7. Apps need to be built to support multitasking, and many of them haven't been updated

I know that the apps that I am looking for (Chase, Citibank, Pandora) will eventually come to the device and that improvements will be made, so I may decide to stick with the platform, but not the device.

For the short term, are there any current generation WP7 devices that are better than the Trophy? I'd like to see if my WP7 experience is any better on other devices.

I figure that I can continue to play with other WP7 devices while waiting for the second gen devices to be released by ATT in Oct, and will then switch to one of those.

thanks in advance for the advice!

1. sounds like a bad phone.
2. hard to imagine a 'fix' except to turn off haptic entirely. it's personal preference, as you say when you don't 'need' it.
3. hardware manufacturer
4. hardware manufacturer
5. I forwarded my gmail to my hotmail and never looked back. works great.
6. hardware manufacturer
7. with mango just releasing, and the ease of moving an app to multi-tasking in Visual Studio, I expect mango optimization quickly, and I'm getting quite a few mango update notices in the past few days. Not an OS problem.

Be careful what you lay at the feet of the OS, and what is a hardware issue. 'WP7' is the platform, yes, but that's like blaming Android for the G1 using a dongle instead of a standard audio jack.

This isn't Apple, there are multiple manufacturers and varying quality. Yes, the OS takes the blame most often and sometimes deservedly.

I've had my Focus for a while, but it took me a few weeks to really embrace it, just like it did when I started with Android when it first came out. But for an 'older' device, the Focus screams along with Mango. You update an old android device, it pretty much craps it's pants (I tried, many times).

Anyway, good luck.

 

[mapexvenus]

1. sounds like a bad phone.
2. hard to imagine a 'fix' except to turn off haptic entirely. it's personal preference, as you say when you don't 'need' it.
3. hardware manufacturer
4. hardware manufacturer
5. I forwarded my gmail to my hotmail and never looked back. works great.
6. hardware manufacturer
7. with mango just releasing, and the ease of moving an app to multi-tasking in Visual Studio, I expect mango optimization quickly, and I'm getting quite a few mango update notices in the past few days. Not an OS problem.

Be careful what you lay at the feet of the OS, and what is a hardware issue. 'WP7' is the platform, yes, but that's like blaming Android for the G1 using a dongle instead of a standard audio jack.

This isn't Apple, there are multiple manufacturers and varying quality. Yes, the OS takes the blame most often and sometimes deservedly.

I've had my Focus for a while, but it took me a few weeks to really embrace it, just like it did when I started with Android when it first came out. But for an 'older' device, the Focus screams along with Mango. You update an old android device, it pretty much craps it's pants (I tried, many times).

Anyway, good luck.

Thank you for your response. I am seriously considering switching carriers so that I can get the Focus. If I am lucky, the Samsung S will release in 30 days and I can exchange the Focus for the second-gen device.

I am starting to like this platform, I really am. Your point on manufacturers implementation of the OS is well taken.

 

[scottcraft]

Google major issues both droid bionic ...its in Android central..horrible issues

Sent from my mwp6985 using Board Express

I still check out the android forum I spent a lot of time on when I used my droid and there are a lot of threads about problems with phones. Significantly more than here. Seems like 1 out of every 5 androids have problems. I work with three guys that have the Motorola Atrix. Two love it and one has problems with his and hates it. It seems like when a new phone comes out it has problems and a month or so later the manufacturer releases an update that fixes some of the problems.

 

[Coffee]

Thank you for your response. I am seriously considering switching carriers so that I can get the Focus. If I am lucky, the Samsung S will release in 30 days and I can exchange the Focus for the second-gen device.

I am starting to like this platform, I really am. Your point on manufacturers implementation of the OS is well taken.

i'm def geeked for the Focus S, but not even sure I need an upgrade, due to how well the Focus is doing. but the S is so shiny...

 

[Clow]

my camera never turns on by itself, my battery life is acceptible and as good a modern smartphone could be (android phones battery life sucks..period) I don't get what you mean with the haptic feedback thing. I like the internet on my phone doesnt lag or get hung up at all..I mean I'm not gonna talk you into liking the phone, you have to like it yourself. but I can say this: this "issues" you mention are more like minor gripes...go to android and I promise you that you will have more bugs and problems than you can count. Just take a look in any android forum and count the threads on problems.

 

[mapexvenus]

my camera never turns on by itself, my battery life is acceptible and as good a modern smartphone could be (android phones battery life sucks..period) I don't get what you mean with the haptic feedback thing. I like the internet on my phone doesnt lag or get hung up at all..I mean I'm not gonna talk you into liking the phone, you have to like it yourself. but I can say this: this "issues" you mention are more like minor gripes...go to android and I promise you that you will have more bugs and problems than you can count. Just take a look in any android forum and count the threads on problems.

Thank you for your note. If you've kept up with this thread then you will see that I am trying to stay with the platform, but not with the device

 

[Clow]

My fault,
I thought you were going to an android device.

 

[baseballbert]

Have the focus. Screen is awesome. Don't like the plasticky feel, but in a case it's got some heft and feels better.

 

[jrstroud88]

I have an htc arrive and love it. I've used several RIM devices, iphone for a couple years, HTC eco, and now the wp7 and do not see myself going back to any other platform.

Only problem I have isn't actually a problem, its a preference.. The screen size of the arrive isn't as big as I'd want. Otherwise I have not experienced any of the issues you listed. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

-- Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities

 

[lippidp]

With the web browser as good as it is I'm not sure why you'd prefer to use banking apps instead of their website, with the exception of the take a picture of your check to deposit thing I've seen commercials for. Apps are good if they utilize some feature of the hardware. Otherwise, full-featured websites are the way to go now with IE9 on there. I thought the IE7 that came with WP7 was awful.

WP7.5 is lacking for me also, but for different reasons. If I can get the LG Quantum tethering hack to work I will keep it. If not it goes back to Amazon. Hidden SSID support is not there on the Quantum, which also is totally lame. Why this left up to the carriers is something I don't understand. Oh, and then there's the nice little error I get when trying to install *anything* from the marketplace. Oh, and Tasks are now synched with Exchange, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to actually access them. Yikes, they still have some work to do on this platform...

 

[mapexvenus]

With the web browser as good as it is I'm not sure why you'd prefer to use banking apps instead of their website, with the exception of the take a picture of your check to deposit thing I've seen commercials for. Apps are good if they utilize some feature of the hardware. Otherwise, full-featured websites are the way to go now with IE9 on there. I thought the IE7 that came with WP7 was awful.

WP7.5 is lacking for me also, but for different reasons. If I can get the LG Quantum tethering hack to work I will keep it. If not it goes back to Amazon. Hidden SSID support is not there on the Quantum, which also is totally lame. Why this left up to the carriers is something I don't understand. Oh, and then there's the nice little error I get when trying to install *anything* from the marketplace. Oh, and Tasks are now synched with Exchange, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to actually access them. Yikes, they still have some work to do on this platform...

Actually, I didn't think the browser (WP7) was all that great. The same sites that have excellent mobile experiences for iOS and Android look rather plan and some are even hard to navigate on WP7.