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I have an unusual question for the forum...my sister is completely blind and I have been looking into finding a phone for her. I have found Mobile Speaks software that works on Windows Mobile phones and also a Mobile Geo program that is a GPS program that works with Mobile Speaks to help the visually impaired navigate using a GPS receiver. I'm looking for a Windows Mobile phone that has a built in GPS sensor that she may be able to use without her sight. I've never seen an S740 in person and am concerned that the keys may be too flat for her to use since she may not be able to feel the different keys. Can anybody advise me on this?
Well, they are pretty flat. Of course she may have more sensitive touch than the rest of the people, however (for me) it is sometimes difficult to type in the dark with it. The keys arent easily distinguished one from another.
They are quite flat; but the 5 has a dot in the middle. After a tiny bit of practise I am able to text without looking on my screen... The "smart buttons" that perform actions are divided by the dial and end call buttons which are a bit higher than the rest. So I can get around quite well with it texting blind.. Still, I suggest you go to some local store to let your sister decide.
Hi, I am looking to purchase an accessory to accommodate me in college. Im looking to stray away from the traditional pen and paper note taking that I am so sick and tired of. Most of my lectures are via powerpoint and I have access to the files. I am looking for something that would be quick, reliable, have good battery, and easy to take notes on. I'll be taking 20+ pages of notes per lecture, so, comfort is a big factor as well. I would also, as a luxury, like to record the lectures.
My reasons for a Flyer:
Flyer Pen is the most native thing to pencil and paper
Voice recording sync with notes
Ability to upload to dropbox, etc
Size
No "clickity" keyboard
Questions for Flyer:
How easy is it to write legibly, small, and quickly with the pen?
How does note taking over top of slides work?
How is the battery life on widow constant use of note taking and recording?
I've heard reports of the device failing after 10+ pages of notes... explain?
Reasons for Chromebook:
Good battery
Quick boot
Cloud abilities
Keyboard is efficient and easy
Other:
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk
That is a good question. I have not used the flyer for more then a few pages of notes. But a screen protector is a must for taking notes, it adds friction and makes for a better experience.
As for battery life on the Flyer I can go about 2 full days on a charge...but I do have the WiFi only version.
I have not tried any Chrome books but for what you want to do I think a Flyer might be better suited for your needs.
Check out "livescribe". Ive been using it for over a year now and still think it's awesome. Especially now that it syncs with Evernote.
Combine it with a Flyer and all the college chicks will fall for you
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using XDA Premium App
Being a college student myself, I use Blackboard to download my lecture slides. But different professors upload their slides in different formats so this is just my experience dealing with slide formats. Aside from the Notepad app, the Flyer comes with a few apps that support the pen, but otherwise taping on the screen takes a screen capture of the current screen and lets you draw over it.
The default PDF app lets you scribble all over the PDF files nicely, but you can only write on the area of the page. The extra space on the edges of the screen will not take pen input. Having the pen on the thinnest ink, you can zoom in and fill in smaller boxes if necessary. Overall, writing on PDF files work well if your professors put up slides in the PDF format.
With the default Polaris Office, word documents (.doc, .docx) also takes pen input directly on top of the file. But .ppt files do not, and I have no idea why. Trying to write on a .ppt file will take a screenshot of the page and let you write on it, but its not saved on top of the .ppt file so you can't scroll through the slides with your ink on it. You can however append notated slides into the notepad app, but that means you can only add one page at a time and it becomes a bit of a hassle, especially if you deal with all .ppt stuff.
Writing on excel files also just lets you write on a screen capture.
I don't know if HTC will update or release more apps to use the pen, but that is all the pen can do at the moment. I believe they will release the pen's API in the future.
BTW, is is just me or you really can't write on top of .ppt slides without taking a screenshot? Seems a bit...feature-lacking to support .doc but not .ppt.
10+ pages seems to be a problem for the flyer. My meetings run about 90 min and go through about 3-4 pages of notes. I typically record audio from the meeting, hence fewer notes. I haven't experienced many problems... The autosave is annoying, but you learn to be patient.
People have reported problems with notes not saving, but I haven't run into that either. I usually exit with the back key, and multitask with the home key. No issues.
There is sound when the pen hits the screen. Similar to a chalkboard type effect, and it is picked up by the audio recording. Maybe a scrap piece of invisible shield on the pen tip would help. I print in block letters like architects... Maybe cursive would be a quieter fit.
You can get pretty detailed with letters... The letter size has increased due to loss of accuracy writing on glass. I find that writing in landscape mode makes the overall letter size smaller when reviewing notes... And also helps if you have a note-taking system which involves multiple columns for highlighting.
Play with the pen nibs also. They vary in the amount of smoothing in the pen line. Markers and the pencil definitely look more like normal writing, while the pen nib is a little more jagged.
If your notes are largely text based, stick with a slim netbook (learn to type faster ). If you need to draw diagrams, use a tablet... It's cool to take pictures of the lecturers drawing and include them in your notes.
Good luck with your decision. Get what works for you.
Hi,
I'm thinking to buy a new tablet pc for my school. I'll convert my books into pdf files and will continue lessons with tablet pc.
I need:
- Performance(performance means for me, what is smooth on home screen animations and switching between applications)
- Pen, which is has a thin pointer & body and useful for every app any second
- Screen size
And I searched the market for that options, result is : Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or HTC Flyer.
Now, I need to know truths about HTC Flyer. Let me know them please..
Firstly when I was searching on the market, I tested the Flyer and saw the:
- Screen brightness is not well as SG 10.1
- Screen side plastics(especially left one) are has some empty space or you can create empty space with your hands
- I think performanceful smooth animations depends on operating system version. Honeycomb will not be like that
What about your lookouts? Battery time on usage and more important question: battery life? I mean is battery time is always same on same usage or its decreasing? Screen size is enough to school? Are you using it for school? How about microphone?
Thanks a lot for your answers.
Performance: Great performance, 1.5 GHz, smooth animations unless you install Honeycomb which is in beta and not a great idea to install.
Pen: The pen can only be used in the Notes app, all other drawing apps you must use the back of the pen.
Screen Size: 7 Inch is perfect, about the size of a pencil case or something.
Screen Brightness: The brightness is great, what are you talking about? Jack it up to max.
Screen Side Plastic: Post a picture, don't know what ur talking about.
Performance like i said before is great on the original rom that comes with it.
Battery: Phenomenal, 2 whole days with casual use (checking email, surfing web, watching 40 mins of a movie, playing games.
I love the Flyer.
I think 7" is perfect for me when it comes to reading PDFs or books on here. I'm not exactly sure what books you'll be using, but this is excellent for novels and the such.
Performance, for what you'll need to do, is optimal. In fact, this 1.5 ghz will outperform many of the dual cores out there, since dual core hasn't even matured in tablets yet.
As for the body, the back is made out of a single piece of aluminum and there are some plastic pieces where it need to be. I'm not sure what you're talking about with the side plastics. You will need to have some plastics on the sides of the screens so that you can hold it without your thumb blocking the screen. As for the Samsung, I believe the whole tablet is plastic.
Regarding brightness, again, you'll need to be a bit more specific here. The screen is plenty bright but what I have a problem is that the brightness doesn't really have a "lower" spectrum. For example, it will go from brightest, to very bright, and then off. It becomes too bright to use at night without any lights, but in the day, its phenomenal.
Battery is really good too. I just got mine yesterday ago so don't take my word on it.
Pen is a good tool, especially if you're hand writing, however it has very limited functionality.
Hi guys, screen filter can set to lower brightness.
Sent from my HTC Flyer using XDA App
ftorres said:
Hi guys, screen filter can set to lower brightness.
Sent from my HTC Flyer using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I use that at night when I'm reading.
There is no truths...both do the same damn thing. For me it was the build..quality..and feel.flyer kicks butt over it.
According to the AnandTech Review the Flyer's screen brightness is 389 Nits, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is 492. According to the review "You need closer to 600 nits to be usable outdoors in sunlight".
I looked at a $4,000 high end Ruggedized, Daylight Enabled 12" Tablet (with a transflective screen) a couple of weeks ago and my HTC EVO View's screen was easier to read outside. (Although I had to turn it so the sun was not shining on the screen.) It is also easier to see my View's screen outside than my HTC EVO 4G phone.
I also use it to read books at night. I downloaded an app to dim the screen, and at it's lowest setting it's still a little too bright for comfort with the room lights off.
ikingblack said:
Pen: The pen can only be used in the Notes app, all other drawing apps you must use the back of the pen.
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Click to collapse
Actually the PDF reader uses the pen to annotate, but you can only annotate using plain lines. No fancy brushes.
kkinder said:
Actually the PDF reader uses the pen to annotate, but you can only annotate using plain lines. No fancy brushes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use the pen on PDF save and send (i.e. signing your name, I do it daily) - You can use to mark pictures and send, I do that 3-8 times week - You can take screen shots and mark them up too - AND of course you can use the pen in the notes app.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512
One of Samsung's main businesses is making displays. So its not surprising if the display is slightly more vivid or bright, although I haven't compared side-to-side, myself.
Samsung tabs are cheap plastic all around, and don't exude the sturdy, high build quality that the aluminum unibody on the Flyer or Jetstream do.
Like everyone else said PDFs can be used with the pen I do it for my job. Honeycomb is not a bright idea. But myself I take chances and installed and to me personally I don't find to many faults with it. Nothing I can honestly complain about nothings perfect. It not perfect but I love it. It's depending on your preferences I just play games type up stuff and write notes for work and let my daughter play games and watch netflix and periodically receive and make calls on it. And it works perfectly for that.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using XDA App
I've been in several discussions with users that have come from (or previously owned) the 5 inch HTC Advantage. I see Dell Streak users have a thread to compare/contrast to the Note, so I thought I would do the same for the Advantage. This may help some to decide to move from the Advantage to the Note - or not.
For those that don't know what the Advantage is, it came out 5 years ago - the first phone with a 5" screen. It also included a detachable keyboard, stereo speakers, video port, stylus/pen, and a 8 GB hard drive when most SD cards at the time were below 2 GB. It had its problems, too. Since it was so far ahead of its time it was fairly bulky and heavy even with the keyboard removed. It didn't have a private speaker for phone calls. It had room for a vibration motor internally but it was never implemented even in later models, presumably because it caused problems with the hard drive. The other references in the thread title are the development name, and model names/numbers used by various carriers. Here is the XDA forum for the Advantage: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=351
My personal reaction, as I've told several already, is the Note is by far a better phone. Physical stats, operating system, having things like a private speaker and vibration which the Advantage should have had, all add up. Not to mention that the Note costs 1/3 of what the Advantage did so you have far less to loose. The Note/Android has its deficiencies. I've had to install a half-dozen apps to add features which were built into Windows Mobile - things like incremental ring volume, ability to get more than a single system notification for things like texts and calendar appointments (miss the first one and you've missed your appointment!), or keeping the screen from timing out when it is plugged in or for specific apps. But at least you can extend/improve the OS with apps without unlocking/rooting or flashing to a whole new OS. Which many Advantage owners did including me.
All that said, the Advantage held a special place in my heart. In the 4 1/2 years I used mine, I often told my wife it was the best gadget I had ever owned and I meant it. Which is saying a lot with all the gadgets and computers I've owned since 1984. But the Note is so good that if IT had come out 5 years ago, I'm sure I would be saying the same thing about it right now. Buy one.
I have a x7501 for a few years, but haven't been actively using it in the last few years also (went to iPhone, Android etc). I am interested in the Note, but haven't decided to get one yet.
But I think one fundamental difference is that the Athena is a keyboarded device (you can use it without, but you also loose the stand at the same time). Its stereo speakers and other positioning makes it a mainly landscape orientation device.
I really don't care about its thickness, it's not that bad. It is a bit thick w/ its leather case, but it does that to any other devices anyway.
What I don't like about the Athena: battery life, speed (I'm shocked reviews that said it's fast), photo taken with camera (rear) has off (red) colour (no ROM can fix that). Especially the last piece, it's unforgivable for a $1,500. USD product! The 8GB HDD is both slow, and battery eating, and cannot be turned off.
I just can't say I like it as much as some of you do. I don't hate it, but I don't think it was worth the $1,000. I paid for. If I had paid $1,500. then, I'd have sued them (just kidding).
I lugged the keyboard around for 1 1/2 years, but finally left it on my work desk permanently. Only used it there when I was streaming XM.
I never had a problem with battery life, it would last me much longer than the 12 hours I would go between unplugging in the morning and plugging it back in when I got home. Never had a problem with the camera, either. Good colors all around, not that the quality was that great.
I think you'll like the Note, all the advantages (pun intended) of the 7501 and none of its problems. After you add some apps to tweak the downfalls of the OS.
i'm one, see my siggie
i've had still have that gigantic heavy monstrous HTC 5" for the longest time
still trying to get Android installed on it someday
I had the x7501, then the x7510, and the note is 1/2 as thick, has a "phone" speaker, and besides all of the obvious spec advantages, is lighter and easier to hold. The screen is far more responsive than the old tft pressure technology without the inaccuracy of the iphone/android capacitive blunt-object to write/draw with issue.
all thumbs up for the note... though the Advantage was WAY ahead of its time.
I don't understand these threads. I get that the advantage was way ahead of its time, but it's 5 years old. 5! Would anyone seriously pick the advantage over the note?
I sold my x7501 long ago. Good times, lol.
nstong said:
I don't understand these threads. I get that the advantage was way ahead of its time, but it's 5 years old. 5! Would anyone seriously pick the advantage over the note?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess sometimes people can't let their old devices go.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
This isn't about keeping the Advantage. Its about comparing one to the other for those that are familiar with the Advantage and loved all of its features.
I think it is not about keeping the Advantage / Athena, may be it's partly nostalgia, partly comparing what's missing on current devices (bad things are not missed, I'm talking about things that users might like or prefer):
1. Stereo speakers. How hard can that be? But so far, iPhone doesn't have it, none of my Android phones up to 4.65" have it, my Tablet P by Sony has a tiny mono speaker. Only the Playbook (once had, now sold), and the Samsung Q1 have stereo speakers and good sound.
2. The metal case has pros and cons. It can get dented and discolouring when bumped / scratched, but it made it more sturdy as it is metal. But at least it is unique, and also makes it feel more premium (until it gets dented, like mine, from dropping, that is). Now everything besides iPhones are just plastics.
3. Magnetic keyboard. Now, no more, never seen and all give way to on screen ones, except a few. But those few, including Blackberry, do not want to do a magnetic keyboard, may be it's the cost, or fear of bad contacts. But again, this is very unique and hasn't been replicated. The see thru window to mimic the status bar on it makes it even cooler.
4. External connections for: USB host (only very lately, there are USB OTG for Android devices, before this, support was very poor, mostly only HID stuff), VGA out, cellular antenna, GPS antenna. Granted, the last 3 are not as needed today, and some Android devices have HDMI outputs that replace VGA more or less.
right now, few Android phones can stand on a desk unless with a kick stand case (which is usually the kind I buy, as I want it stand similar to what Advantage can do w/ the keyboard).
I think some clamshell MIDs like UMID / Viliv had come close to the design of Advantage but physically not as cool, no magnetic keyboard etc.
I guess the problem with modern design is that nobody would make a $1,500. device unless it is for industrial or military use, so they have to save cost and won't engage in fancy design and materials. In the case for Advantage, it's HTC flagship product, so they went all out.
Looking at current HTC products now, there aren't anything really special (I'm talking strictly from the physical point of view, since operating systems are all the same across the manufacturers anyway).
People are often amazed when I tell them that the Note is my third 5" phone. I loved the Advantage and the Dell Streak I had before the Note. No way I can go to a smaller screen. Very happy that the rest of the world is catching on to the benefits of a large screen device. And there are things I miss from Windows Mobile. I found it easier to flash ROMs and change the look and feel of the device.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Is it time for a new Nokia 7280?
"When twilight falls, prowl the night with the mysterious Nokia 7280 phone. Shrouded in the mystery is a passion that will only reveal itself as you slide it open. Its sublime form is exquisitely crafted, leaving you with a slim, sleek object of beauty, unmatched by any other. You and the Nokia 7280 phone, a combination that's as compelling as the night."
The mobile market has changed a lot in recent times. The mobile phone, as we know, was quite petit at one time, the fancier the phone, the smaller it was. If you were a high flier just after the dot com boom, your phone was tiny - Then things like the Panasonic GD55 were the coolest things out there. As media and screens became more and more vibrant and phone capabilities started to expand, people demanded bigger screens to view media, and such, these days all of the flagship phones are 5.5" or even bigger in some cases.
This is further demonstrated by the tablet boom... People demanded tablets - with their 10" screens. Media is consumed now at a higher rate than at any other time.
For most people and most times it's OK - they view movies, read the internet, play games - All of that stuff. Immersed in a world by themselves.
For many people however, the weekend is a time to be anywhere except for alone watching a movie or looking up Pintrest while drinking a tea.
In 2005, Nokia launched the 7280.
A lot of people wondered why anyone would spend $1100 on a phone that... by the days standards, wasn't all that great. Bad battery life, look some learning to interface with, was a pain to text with... But it was simple, it was shaped like lipstick, so it fit in a girls clutch when she went out on the town. Also, it was as fashion phone, and primarily, it was a second phone. Nokia was selling so many phones at the time, that they wanted to sell people more than one! At the time, the 7280 and the 7380 sold pretty alright for what it was. I wouldn't call it a flop, but I wouldn't call it great.
These days... with Galaxy Note's and iPhone 6S's selling quite well, soon enough all of the "smaller" phones will be phased out... I can't even buy a new phone with a 4" screen anymore. What is a girl to do? Carrying a phone around is hardly elegant, and shoving one down ones bra is even less so. Clutches are kind of getting bigger to accommodate bigger phones, but once you've shoved mascara, lipstick, a packet of cigarettes and a few bank cards into it, space can be a premium.
Could another "fashion phone" sell well? One specifically to fit in a clutch and only to be used when one is out of the town? One designed to be a second phone. The components would be cheap, as there is absolutely no need for the latest processors, and 512MB of RAM would suffice, after all, i'm thinking of a slim device, one shaped like a 7280 that is half as thick. Typing SMS's could be done by holding the thing landscape, or maybe even an implementation of Swype.
It would only need one camera, maybe one that is optimised for low light. No need for a front facing camera, but maybe a small screen for selfies if space allows (Like the Samsung DV150F) I don't think multi-tasking would be needed, after all, once you're at home you pop your SIM back into your normal large phone. The light-on hardware would also mean the battery (which would be small) gets at least 12 hours. It could run on a slimmed down OS too, be that iOS, Android or Windows Phone. The light hardware also makes the device cheap, I would hope for no more than $150.
All of the cloud services available these days mean that any SMS's or photos taken would sync up to your normal phone once you get home.
Manufacturers are always looking for new markets, and I think the female fashion market is a big one that no manufacturer caters to.... yet. No-one wants to wear an Apple Watch when they're dressed up to the 9's.