Outside Help Makes the HD LTE Much Nicer

[RumoredNow]

I'm still evaluating this phone and driving it daily. It will be a backup to my 1520, but I'm on it full time right now. Shaking things down and getting a feel for it. Playing with the camera, etc. Hopefully I'll get to writing up a full fledged review later on...

Two things I knew going in: no Glance and no Sensor Core leveraging. Missing these features are a large part of what keeps the Blu Win HD LTE from wider adoption. The price is nice, so you have to sacrifice. Right? Makes sense to me. However, both of these are major components that I have come to depend on daily and are firmware related. Blu really does little in terms of firmware so far as I can tell. Just some tweaks in order to invoke hardware compatibility with their handsets are made to the stock OS that Microsoft bundles as an RTM. And I chose this phone as a backup, not my primary. I'm pleased with the performance of the SD 410 and I like the screen well enough. Blu seems to have addressed a pet peeve I had with the 1st gen Win HD; low sound volume on the earpiece and the speaker. While the phone isn't an 830 (great clarity and volume on that phone) it is much improved over the first version, IMHO.

Back to the Glance and the Sensor Core. A good wearable should solve these issues right? The choices on Windows Phone are a bit limited ATM...

I took a chance on a Pebble and managed (after some fussing and feuding) to get the Pebble Connect [Beta] loaded onto my Blu Win HD LTE and now have that up and running. I'm halfway there. I've gotten notifications pushing out to my Pebble. Makes a huge difference. It's actually better than Glance as I don't have to pick up the phone or take it from my pocket. It is even more immediate than Glance. Email, SMS, Calls, Cortana, News, etc. It has made me a LOT happier with the phone. And it's a portable solution. I've sideloaded the Pebble Connect to my 1520 as well so I can keep going when I swap phones.

Now I just need to find some good fitness Apps to sideload to the Pebble...

So maybe check into some wearables options to see how you can take better advantage of your Blu and extend the flexibility and utility of the phone. I'm certainly glad I did.

 

[pankaj981]

Whenever you get a chance could you post some pictures of some notifications on how they look on the pebble? This surely sounds interesting.

 

[RumoredNow]

OK... I don't have any texts saved in my history... It only holds so many.

The e-paper display is nice and clear even in full daylight. You can enable shake to backlight and each notification is scrollable when on the screen if needed. It will hold a lot of lines...


View attachment 110161View attachment 110162View attachment 110163

That last one is how it reads my Quiet Hours.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Thank you for the writeup RomoredNow. My L830 RM-983 went back to ATT and I've set up my wife with the backup Blu HD LTE since then. She likes it, especially the bright yellow . As for hardware, she didn't mind the glance missing. She did complain about the camera button but said that's OK. The screen is nice and the OS experience is fluid. Have to find a replacement for Here Drive now, but that would happen anyway sometime soon. I am using CoPilot myself and will probably install that on hers as well.

I am on a backup L520 until my Blu HD LTE ships. I was thinking about the 640 XL for at least two days before I decided to go with the $100 cheaper Blu HD LTE and wait until MS releases the flagship phones. I will miss the ability to hack the phone, but that is fine. Too bad we can't try the insider previews of W10 mobile. The color of mine is gray. Wonder what it will look like if my wife and I change the back cover between our phones....
I will not miss Glance as I have the MS Band. Great for notifications and fitness tracking (I mostly use it for sleep, biking and look at steps).

We both miss wireless charging. But that will change when we get one of the new MS phones.

 

[RumoredNow]

Have to find a replacement for Here Drive now,

Here and Here Drive + can be downloaded to any Windows Phone since Lumia went to Microsoft. I have Here Drive + on my HD LTE...

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Here and Here Drive + can be downloaded to any Windows Phone since Lumia went to Microsoft. I have Here Drive + on my HD LTE...

Doh, you are right. I assumed after restoring a backup didn't install Here Drive + it wouldn't work. Thanks

BTW, I looked at the Pebble Watch and thought this may be great for my wife. Then I looked in the store but couldn't find the Pebble Connect beta you mentioned. Did you get a link with the purchase or do you have to contact them directly?

cheers

 

[RumoredNow]

You have to Developer unlock the phone...

And find a source for the Beta that a Microsoft employee coded. That's the one that gets notifications pushed to the Pebble.

I'm also using Pebble Watch Pro out of the store for some watch faces and a URL sideload to watch method... And just starting to look around the Pebble Watchapp Directory - Pebble Forums for things to sideload.

You may want to check the wearables section here at WC. Seems 10 might break the Connect App... At least preliminary builds. I'm betting on a solution. Or hoping for one.

Other wearables might be more future-proof. like Band or Fitbit Surge, even the Jawbone Up series for straight up fitness applications. I got the Pebble on an impulse and if it bottoms out with 8.1, my wife can still use it on Android after the Blu moves to ten...

 

[RumoredNow]

I took a nap this evening. I put my phone manually into Quiet Hours.

I woke up a couple hours later, did a few things and went to the store... My Pebble vibrated and gave me a location based Reminder from Cortana.

Funny, my phone never sounded a tone. I still had it in Quiet Hours! But Pebble Reminded me anyway. I like that.

 

[jpharwood]

Not to be too far off topic, but you mentioned the lack of volume on the original Blu Win. I have that model, and agree with you completely. I noticed a post that mentioned updating the software through the Insider program resulted in more volume on a Blu Win Jr, so I tried it. It may just be my imagination, but it seems louder. Not HTC loud, but better. The update messed up my ability to play back videos, but I'm hoping that is addressed with WP10. Thanks for the review...