Related
Well I said when I had the time I would write a review comparing the HTC Touch HD and Toshiba TG01. I got the TG01 as an insurance replacement for the HD, so was not a purchasing choice, but I liked the sound of the spec and agreed to the swap (they had no HDs in stock!). Sorry the review's not exactly comprehensive and is a bit all over the place, but is an immediate reaction having owned the TG01 for a couple of weeks and just a list of things which spring to mind!
The Toshiba is big. If you're used to bigger smartphones (Which I was with the HD) then it will still feel big. It's not thick though, it's decidedly thinner than the HD (slim enough to slip through the gaps in my decking it seems... but I caught it in time!), and does slip into an average trouser pocket without poking too much from the top. However, its sheer size makes it hard to use with one hand. The screen is a great size though, and is lovely and clear. It has a built in light sensor also to help with battery life so you may think the screen's a bit dull to start with - go outside and try again or switch the option off and you'll see how vibrant it is.
The hard buttons are laid out slightly differently and aren't too bad - with the HD I did suffer from turning on the phone by accident in my pocket quite often as that button is located on the top of the phone. On the Toshiba, it's on the side and it hasn't activated itself yet. The HD had touch sensitive buttons (as does the TG01) on the screen side at the bottom for 'Home' and 'Back', which are useful... though they don't give the reassuring 'mini vibration' feedback that you got with the HD - I'm guessing that could be rectified in software though.
Battery life - the TG01, quite frankly, sucks in this department. It goes down 3 bars during an average day of a few texts and small amount of calls, maybe a bit of data and needs charging each night. I also think when the charge cycle finishes, it fails to provide power to the phone through the adapter. I could be wrong, but when I charged it at 10pm one night, by 11am the next day it decided it had run out of battery already. The HD could go at least two days with the same amount of use.
The camera on the TG01, although only 3MP (compared to the HD's 5MP) feels less jerky, and it appears better quality than the HD, despite the max resolution. The autofocus works well, though there is a considerable gap between the shutter press and the picture being taken - I'd say almost a full second. The HD was quicker, but not considerably so. Video on the TG01 can be taken at 640x480 and at 30fps - something the HD would really struggle with. And it plays back well, I'm actually impressed with that! I can imagine the next generation will all be 720p, which is exciting.
The software makes all the difference between the phones. I shudder to think how awful the TG01 would have been with the original Windows Mobile 6.1 OS running. Thankfully the one I have is running 6.5 and makes things a little nicer. However, HTC really have trumped this phone with their Touchflow system which is so intuitive and nice to use... in comparison to the basic MS offerings. The keyboard on the TG01 (though made 'better' by Toshiba) is hard to use... easier than the built in Windows one, but still makes producing texts and emails a slow arduous chore. Somehow the HTC one was just better - probably to do with the differences in the type of touchscreen they use (I believe this one is resistive and the HD was capacitive... correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not a fan of predictive text but the TG01 does have it and it seems pretty good.
My TG01 is Orange branded, but it's just a case of switching the Today screen theme to Windows Default to get rid of their horrible attempt... then you get the usual WM6.5 options, which scroll smoothly up and down, and left and right... putting all that processor power to good use. The start menu is better than before - treating everything like 'Apps'... so you can move your most used ones to the top and have everything you want within a couple of clicks, which is good.
The TG01 feels faster and indeed it should, given the 1GHz processor which is a step up from the HD's older, slower one. Running Slingplayer is nice and zippy, though still a little choppy but you can't have everything. It's certainly more responsive flicking through channels and suchlike.
I'd say use Opera for your web browser, not IE because it's definitely suited to this phone - lovely to use with a great start screen for 9 of your favourite websites... and runs so quickly and smoothly, I don't think the HD could cope as well.
The Gyroscope is a little funky on the TG01. Many times I have to shake it up and down to get it to go into portrait mode having picked it up. Although I have calibrated it to try and fix it, quite often it thinks I want to see things sideways when I don't. A gentle twist 90 degrees and back normally fixes it but I can't help shake it when it doesn't! Never had that problem with the HD - but I'm not sure if this is WM6.5 creating problems that didn't exist in the Touchflow environment on top of 6.1.
I still can't get a 'Comm Manager' which rivals that on the HD, on the TG01. All I want to do is momentarily turn off the data connection - not disable it permanently or anything, and the HD had that really easily accessible. The TG01, as mentioned previously, just has 'Phone', 'Bluetooth' and 'Wifi'... turning off 'Phone' is the only way to stop the data connection. This I want to do in the situation where I'm on Wifi but for some reason the phone continues to use the 3G connection... so is annoying!
Next, until I found an option in the TG01 to disable the screen from coming on whenever it was touched, I was having a nightmare in phone calls with blips and beeps in my ear... presumably my cheek trying to go through my calendar etc. That really should have been off by default. It still happens too, even with the option off, when I cradle the phone between my neck and ear... so now I have to hold it, and be careful not to press the side button with my hand too!
The sound quality of phone calls on the TG01 is pretty bad in my ear compared to the HD - anything 'loud' - even with the speaker turned down - gets distorted. But it's useable.
Now to my current bugbear. The TG01 can't travel at speed and do anything useful. I'm writing this on a train, in Notepad. I have taken this particular train journey (Sheffield to London St Pancras and back) several times with the HD and enjoyed being able to use the internet throughout most of the journey. The TG01 can't even hold onto a network at speed for more than a few seconds at best, so tethering is out of the question and, yesterday, trying to call my bank took 18 attempts to get to the bit where I could hear my balance, I'm not joking. It is bluntly speaking, rubbish.
Unless Orange have moved every mast along the way so they're hardly ever in range, I'm putting this one down to the phone. I mean, we were still in North London at the start of this journey when it lost the signal and it hasn't regained it yet. I'm hoping to upload this review when we're stood still in Leicester, but even then it takes forever for the phone to find the network...
So... yes, you can imagine I'm overall less than impressed with the TG01.
But then it is a cheaper phone, and it is definitely a case of "If you never had an HD, you'd never know". Because overall, it's a good, and fairly amazing piece of technology. But I'd take back an HD tomorrow if offered I'm afraid.
I've decided now I'm going to the dark side anyway and waiting for the launch of the iPhone 4/HD, sorry to say!
Hope this was useful anyway. Any questions, I'll be pleased to answer!
patc said:
Well I said when I had the time I would write a review comparing the HTC Touch HD and Toshiba TG01. I got the TG01 as an insurance replacement for the HD, so was not a purchasing choice, but I liked the sound of the spec and agreed to the swap (they had no HDs in stock!). Sorry the review's not exactly comprehensive and is a bit all over the place, but is an immediate reaction having owned the TG01 for a couple of weeks and just a list of things which spring to mind!
The Toshiba is big. If you're used to bigger smartphones (Which I was with the HD) then it will still feel big. It's not thick though, it's decidedly thinner than the HD (slim enough to slip through the gaps in my decking it seems... but I caught it in time!), and does slip into an average trouser pocket without poking too much from the top. However, its sheer size makes it hard to use with one hand. The screen is a great size though, and is lovely and clear. It has a built in light sensor also to help with battery life so you may think the screen's a bit dull to start with - go outside and try again or switch the option off and you'll see how vibrant it is.
The hard buttons are laid out slightly differently and aren't too bad - with the HD I did suffer from turning on the phone by accident in my pocket quite often as that button is located on the top of the phone. On the Toshiba, it's on the side and it hasn't activated itself yet. The HD had touch sensitive buttons (as does the TG01) on the screen side at the bottom for 'Home' and 'Back', which are useful... though they don't give the reassuring 'mini vibration' feedback that you got with the HD - I'm guessing that could be rectified in software though.
Battery life - the TG01, quite frankly, sucks in this department. It goes down 3 bars during an average day of a few texts and small amount of calls, maybe a bit of data and needs charging each night. I also think when the charge cycle finishes, it fails to provide power to the phone through the adapter. I could be wrong, but when I charged it at 10pm one night, by 11am the next day it decided it had run out of battery already. The HD could go at least two days with the same amount of use.
The camera on the TG01, although only 3MP (compared to the HD's 5MP) feels less jerky, and it appears better quality than the HD, despite the max resolution. The autofocus works well, though there is a considerable gap between the shutter press and the picture being taken - I'd say almost a full second. The HD was quicker, but not considerably so. Video on the TG01 can be taken at 640x480 and at 30fps - something the HD would really struggle with. And it plays back well, I'm actually impressed with that! I can imagine the next generation will all be 720p, which is exciting.
The software makes all the difference between the phones. I shudder to think how awful the TG01 would have been with the original Windows Mobile 6.1 OS running. Thankfully the one I have is running 6.5 and makes things a little nicer. However, HTC really have trumped this phone with their Touchflow system which is so intuitive and nice to use... in comparison to the basic MS offerings. The keyboard on the TG01 (though made 'better' by Toshiba) is hard to use... easier than the built in Windows one, but still makes producing texts and emails a slow arduous chore. Somehow the HTC one was just better - probably to do with the differences in the type of touchscreen they use (I believe this one is resistive and the HD was capacitive... correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not a fan of predictive text but the TG01 does have it and it seems pretty good.
My TG01 is Orange branded, but it's just a case of switching the Today screen theme to Windows Default to get rid of their horrible attempt... then you get the usual WM6.5 options, which scroll smoothly up and down, and left and right... putting all that processor power to good use. The start menu is better than before - treating everything like 'Apps'... so you can move your most used ones to the top and have everything you want within a couple of clicks, which is good.
The TG01 feels faster and indeed it should, given the 1GHz processor which is a step up from the HD's older, slower one. Running Slingplayer is nice and zippy, though still a little choppy but you can't have everything. It's certainly more responsive flicking through channels and suchlike.
I'd say use Opera for your web browser, not IE because it's definitely suited to this phone - lovely to use with a great start screen for 9 of your favourite websites... and runs so quickly and smoothly, I don't think the HD could cope as well.
The Gyroscope is a little funky on the TG01. Many times I have to shake it up and down to get it to go into portrait mode having picked it up. Although I have calibrated it to try and fix it, quite often it thinks I want to see things sideways when I don't. A gentle twist 90 degrees and back normally fixes it but I can't help shake it when it doesn't! Never had that problem with the HD - but I'm not sure if this is WM6.5 creating problems that didn't exist in the Touchflow environment on top of 6.1.
I still can't get a 'Comm Manager' which rivals that on the HD, on the TG01. All I want to do is momentarily turn off the data connection - not disable it permanently or anything, and the HD had that really easily accessible. The TG01, as mentioned previously, just has 'Phone', 'Bluetooth' and 'Wifi'... turning off 'Phone' is the only way to stop the data connection. This I want to do in the situation where I'm on Wifi but for some reason the phone continues to use the 3G connection... so is annoying!
Next, until I found an option in the TG01 to disable the screen from coming on whenever it was touched, I was having a nightmare in phone calls with blips and beeps in my ear... presumably my cheek trying to go through my calendar etc. That really should have been off by default. It still happens too, even with the option off, when I cradle the phone between my neck and ear... so now I have to hold it, and be careful not to press the side button with my hand too!
The sound quality of phone calls on the TG01 is pretty bad in my ear compared to the HD - anything 'loud' - even with the speaker turned down - gets distorted. But it's useable.
Now to my current bugbear. The TG01 can't travel at speed and do anything useful. I'm writing this on a train, in Notepad. I have taken this particular train journey (Sheffield to London St Pancras and back) several times with the HD and enjoyed being able to use the internet throughout most of the journey. The TG01 can't even hold onto a network at speed for more than a few seconds at best, so tethering is out of the question and, yesterday, trying to call my bank took 18 attempts to get to the bit where I could hear my balance, I'm not joking. It is bluntly speaking, rubbish.
Unless Orange have moved every mast along the way so they're hardly ever in range, I'm putting this one down to the phone. I mean, we were still in North London at the start of this journey when it lost the signal and it hasn't regained it yet. I'm hoping to upload this review when we're stood still in Leicester, but even then it takes forever for the phone to find the network...
So... yes, you can imagine I'm overall less than impressed with the TG01.
But then it is a cheaper phone, and it is definitely a case of "If you never had an HD, you'd never know". Because overall, it's a good, and fairly amazing piece of technology. But I'd take back an HD tomorrow if offered I'm afraid.
I've decided now I'm going to the dark side anyway and waiting for the launch of the iPhone 4/HD, sorry to say!
Hope this was useful anyway. Any questions, I'll be pleased to answer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice post!!
Great comparison, however to correct you, they are both resistive touchscreen but somehow the HD is slightly more sensitive.
You seem dissapointed by the device. I highly recommend installing a HTC Sense custom rom. It will really make it superior much better than the HD and almost in the same league as the newer HD2!
Also i have also somehow found the Toshiba Keyboard to be less responsive aswell. If you are still use to the HTC Touch HD keyboard, search for HTC Ezinput 1.5 WVGA on one of XDA developers threads. Or you can try the new HTC Keyboard 2.0/2.1 found on newer HTC devices.
Anyway, i recommend flashing a HTC Sense Debranded custom ROM
Best of luck
Hi all,
Looking to buy a new phone for the wife, and I think it's time to get her one (she's still using a Nokia N80, haha). I didn't play around with the actual Mini 10 yet, but I played with Android on my Topaz and I like it (as a system). I imagine it'll run much faster on a dedicated piece of hw.
So I'm just seeing what everyone here thinks of X10 mini pro phone and if anyone has dropped it (she's clumsy), or if there are any known issues. It's for her, so she'll just be using it and not needing to root it or anything else.
Questions:
Speed, does it flow well, and how do you think it will hold up to Froyo? (if it becomes available)
How is the hardware in real life (does the keyboard last, how about dropping it?)
Are there any real popular problems with the hardware/software?
Real life battery? My Topaz needs to be charged mid-day, with EDGE on only
Anything that required you to root it so it does the job better?
How is it as a phone for text messages and chatting? Annoying, or just takes getting used to?
Let me know your thoughts,
Thanx!
My girlfriend has the x10 mini (not pro), but as nobody has replied yet I thought I'd make a quick post as they are almost the same hardware-wise I thought it might be useful.
Speed, does it flow well, and how do you think it will hold up to Froyo? (if it becomes available)
its very fast, really quick and snappy to move around the menus/apps, you can tell the difference between it and my hero (using stock rom) for example.
I dont see why it wouldnt handle FroYo well, my Hero is currently running 2.2 with no problems and as the X10mini has a slightly better ram/processor it should do it equally if not better than my hero does.
How is the hardware in real life (does the keyboard last, how about dropping it?)
I think the phones a bit small, by the g/f loves it, fits in her hand and more importantly her purse for a night out so she's more than happy. dont have the keyboard so cant comment on that.
as for dropping it, she did that after 2 days and took a small chunk out of one of the buttons and scratched the screen, 3 days after that she dropped it down the toilet and fried the little bugger (thank god for insurance!) The non removable battery was the killer as we couldn't shut it down quick enough to try and dry it out.
Are there any real popular problems with the hardware/software?
the non-removable battery is a pain as you cant pull it out when the phone crashes (it has done this a couple of times for her now), software wise its not the greatest android experience as SE have customised it a lot compared to the stock roms from HTC, but the g/f prefers it as its much simpler and she's not a tech geek like me so it doesn't bother her
Real life battery? My Topaz needs to be charged mid-day, with EDGE on only
a few people on here say they get a couple of days out of it, not sure how myself, the g/f is currently charging it every night, sometimes it will last till the following morning but she does use it a lot tho (avid facebook fan) am sure we could improve it tho by turning off the GPS, WiFi etc but she wants everything left on as otherwise theres no point buying a phone that has all these features if you turn them off to save battery. it lasts a full day with heavy use so pretty good really.
Anything that required you to root it so it does the job better?
I rooted it so I could remove all the god awful demo's that sony/orange have planted on there as they were doing her nut in, I also popped titanium backup on there and shootme for screenshots, other than that its probably not needed.
How is it as a phone for text messages and chatting? Annoying, or just takes getting used to?
like any phone, I think there is a small amount of getting used to it, but as my missus has come from a touchscreen phone relatively the same size, she has taken to it with ease. she sits their quiet happily tapping away. Obviously she doesnt have the hardware keyboard so cant comment on how it is using that.
Speed, does it flow well, and how do you think it will hold up to Froyo? (if it becomes available)
It's a brilliantly speedy device, menus flow well and there's never lag when loading new screens. Sometimes there'll be a slight lag when waking the phone up from sleep, but it's just as bad as any other device.
How is the hardware in real life (does the keyboard last, how about dropping it?)
The keyboard is a great addition to the phone, although it can sound a little bit cheap from the plastic squeaking, but that's only because the device is so small. I haven't dropped it yet but it seems sturdy enough judging by the close encounters I've had with it, the back cover seems to be made of a scratch resistant material anyway so it'll not get banged up too easily. In all honesty the screen could be better, I was a little disheartened when I was comparing it to a friends iPhone just to see the difference. However it's still an ample screen, text is clear and web browsing is a breeze. Although it can become cluttered very easily.
Are there any real popular problems with the hardware/software?
The only thing I was concerned about was the screen size, but it's given me nothing to be worried about. The software has a few bugs here and there, such as Wi-Fi dropping randomly, but these should be ironed out with the next update. Overall there are no 'problems' that should stop you from buying the phone.
Real life battery? My Topaz needs to be charged mid-day, with EDGE on only
With heavy usage I can get about a day and a half out of it - that's including Wi-Fi, the odd bit of GPS and constant music playing as well as apps, web browsing and regular texting, but I charge it every night as that's what I've always done with any phone I've had.
Anything that required you to root it so it does the job better?
I rooted mine so I could get around that nasty implication of having a lower-than-normal resolution screen, that is, half of the apps on the market don't show up. But rooting allowed me to use the patched market from a thread on here and all apps work great, the system scales them down anyway so everything's good. Rooting also allowed me to install an app which blocks all ads in apps - I know it's not the most moral thing to do, but with a screen so small you need that extra space taken up by an ad.
How is it as a phone for text messages and chatting? Annoying, or just takes getting used to?
I've had no problems while texting or chatting. The keyboard is excellent, although the addition of a spell-ckecker when using the keyboard wouldn't go amiss. The on-screen keyboard is great too, brilliantly responsive allowing for quick texting.
"The keyboard is a great addition to the phone, although it can sound a little bit cheap from the plastic squeaking"
Does the keyboard close securely? I've stayed away from sliding keyboards for a long time because they tend to open in my pocket. This device is so small, I have to give it a try when it hits the US.
Also, are there landscape keyboards that you can put on the mini?
I haven't used android yet...
bazalicious said:
Anything that required you to root it so it does the job better?
I rooted mine so I could get around that nasty implication of having a lower-than-normal resolution screen, ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you explain pls?
Baxter said:
"The keyboard is a great addition to the phone, although it can sound a little bit cheap from the plastic squeaking"
Does the keyboard close securely? I've stayed away from sliding keyboards for a long time because they tend to open in my pocket. This device is so small, I have to give it a try when it hits the US.
Also, are there landscape keyboards that you can put on the mini?
I haven't used android yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the keyboard closes securely. Hasn't opened up in my pocket yet. Not too sure about the Mini as I don't own one.
kimb0 said:
Could you explain pls?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App developers usually design their apps to work on a device with a HVGA resolution. However, because the resolution on the X10 Mini is QVGA, some apps do not show up in the market due to HVGA resolution screens being a requirement. Read this thread for more info
bazalicious said:
App developers usually design their apps to work on a device with a HVGA resolution. However, because the resolution on the X10 Mini is QVGA, some apps do not show up in the market due to HVGA resolution screens being a requirement. Read this thread for more info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
Thanks for the replies guys. The only thing that's making me hesitant about picking it up right now is the lack of damn firmware updates for this thing. SE only cares about their phones for the time that they're out. When the new model comes out, they stop updating the older ones.
I love Froyo on my Topaz and I want it on here before Q4, since that's when Win Phone 7's are coming out. It'll be hesitant, but if I buy it, you'll be the first to know.
The resolution hack seems like something that's much needed. Thanks!
Hi all,
got the Flyer today, after some hours of playing around I'd like to share my thoughts with other users:
- solid thing, just opening the top to insert the cards was a bit tricky for me
- very fast, no problems with the HTC Sense interface, works perfectly fine. Still in applicaitions like Google Maps a bit slower than the Xoom I'm testing in parallel.
- I like the new e-Mail client and calendar application a lot.
- Being an intensive evernote user, I am happy that there is a good direct integration, also with the notes you can take with the pen. Well done!
- The speakers are great, one of the few things where I don't agree with the Engadget review which has been posted today. And: They are extremely loud, louder than any of the - many - devices I could test up to now, including iPad, iPad2, Galaxy Tab and Xoom.
- The screen is great and very bright, together with the loadspeakers a great experience in Youtube or watching one of the HQ movie trailers which came with the Flyer.
- Generally, I prefer the 7'' format over the 10'' of the Xoom and the iPad. I think it is the best tablet format for me. The weight lets you hold it for a very long time without getting tired, the Xoom (which I like a lot because of Honeycomb and the incredible speed) is too heavy for me.
- the typing experience is excellent, the Flyer has the right balance between being responsive, but not over-responsive. The Xoom seems to react to even the slightest touch, this was almost a bit too much for me in the beginning
- there is a significant frame around the screen, much larger than the Xoom has. This is sometimes a problem when using the Xoom because it is hard to hold without touching the screen (and eventually doing something unwanted), but the frame around the screen of the Flyer is really huge. This makes it easy to hold the device in several ways, though.
- The bag shipped with the device is a joke from my point of view, first of all it does not allow you to use the device when in the bag, second the pen is attached outside and somehow always disturbing; also I guess it will be lost soon. I will wait for something which holds the pen inside and can be opened to use the Flyer without taking it out.
- Mixed feelings about the pen: The setup in the bottom right corner is excellent and intuitive and the pen seems to react quite quickly, it is fun to use. But: The hardware is not my favorite at all. Especially the buttons on the pen are hard to reach and it is not easy to hold it naturally
- Some new functionality in the browser including small thumbnails of the open windows, well done. Also pinch out works. I like it, it seems to be very fast and the re-arrangement of the text when zooming seems to be excellent.
- Although I don't need a camera in a device like that and I really don't care, still to mention that the camera seems to be really terrible.
- Installed tons of apps, everything works great, no speed issues at all.
- HTC Sense in the tablet edition is great. Some new additions for books, notes,... first impression everything well done, HTC
My first summary after a couple of hours is very positive. Let's see how I think after a week or two. No comments at that point about battery life for sure, but the Engadget review (and the very first, non-reliable own impressions) give me a good feeling.
Questions anytime, for sure! And appologies for my German English
Got mine today too.
I am fairly impressed and looking forward to taking it out and about with me tomorrow. I am curious to see if I can get 2 days battery life out of it or not.
The screen is wonderful. No other word for it. I used to think Super AMOLED was the best, but this is the best screen I have seen on an Android device.
The browser is excellent. Fast, stable, easy to use.
I find the pen fairly good. Though I keep pressing the buttons when I dont mean to. I cant wait to use it in a meeting!
Using Kindle on the device seems to be a great experience. The inbuilt ebook reader is really nice, but I am a Kindle user.
The updated HTC mail app is lovely as is the weather and calendar. But the software is not particularly tablet friendly otherwise. I like Sense and am using friend stream for the first time on at HTC device (this is my 3rd) and it works well.
The form factor is excellent. Easy to hold in one hand. It is quite a bit heavier than a Kindle despite not being much larger, but I am sure I could hold it all day without too much trouble unlike a 10" 700g device like the ipad2.
It's not all great though. I have had a few crashes through the day and the performance is not always silky smooth. I find the volume buttons a bit rattly and whilst the speakers are good, they are really not that good. There is no search button which I definitely miss and it is a major fingerprint magnet.
Overall, I am really pleased with the device so far. Feel free to ask any questions.
Hi Onkel,
Can you say a bit more about how writing with the pen feels like? The reviews are all saying that it's not that great for regular note taking (as opposed to doodling/drawing), especially in comparison with wacom digitizers on windows tablets. I have a win tablet right now and this makes me a bit
hard to tell for me, as my personal tablet experiences come from an IBM Thinkpad a couple of years ago.
Generally, I guess the Flyer will be for short note taking rather than replacing a tablet Pc. There is no handwriting recognition for the Flyer yet, and even if it will be available later, I think the handwriting quality I produce on the device will not be good enough.
I think there are many scenarios where the pen is helpful though, I had a Pdf document to comment today and the Flyer was a dream to use. Other example, for our corporate website I do a lot of commenting on improvements and bugs, the screenshot & comment feature with the pen is simply wonderful...
thoughts on performance?
i know you both mentioned performance, one as being excellent and the other as being ok. After spending more time with the device do you have any more details on the performance? One mentioned google maps being slower than on the xoom, slow enough to be an issue?
I am a little worried about purchasing a device that is already outdated, especially when there are rumors of amazing releasing both dual core and quad core tablets before the end of the year, the scribe tech has be pretty excited about this tablet, but i think i'm reeling in my expectations after reading some reviews.
thanks!
kborer22 said:
i know you both mentioned performance, one as being excellent and the other as being ok. After spending more time with the device do you have any more details on the performance? One mentioned google maps being slower than on the xoom, slow enough to be an issue?
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was me. If you start to go into 3D and then turn the map with the finger, I see a difference. No issue at all. As usual, once you have used a device like the Xoom, which is setting a new standard as I think, you get used to it.
This is a 1.5 ghz device and couple of months ago I thought 1 ghz is all I will ever need
I an very pleased with the performance up to now, and I started tons of apps yesterday and it works great. SlideIT keyboard, which I am using right now, is a great performance test and it works great also.
The bigger question for you will be whether the pen turns out to be a toy or an important tool. I am not sure yet...
kborer22 said:
i know you both mentioned performance, one as being excellent and the other as being ok. After spending more time with the device do you have any more details on the performance? One mentioned google maps being slower than on the xoom, slow enough to be an issue?
I am a little worried about purchasing a device that is already outdated, especially when there are rumors of amazing releasing both dual core and quad core tablets before the end of the year, the scribe tech has be pretty excited about this tablet, but i think i'm reeling in my expectations after reading some reviews.
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would describe the performance as similar overall to my Desire HD. It is all the speed you would need, but not the fastest thing out there. I have found it does bog down sometimes which a dual core might not, but nothing to cause me concern personally.
OnkelAlbert said:
hard to tell for me, as my personal tablet experiences come from an IBM Thinkpad a couple of years ago.
Generally, I guess the Flyer will be for short note taking rather than replacing a tablet Pc. There is no handwriting recognition for the Flyer yet, and even if it will be available later, I think the handwriting quality I produce on the device will not be good enough.
I think there are many scenarios where the pen is helpful though, I had a Pdf document to comment today and the Flyer was a dream to use. Other example, for our corporate website I do a lot of commenting on improvements and bugs, the screenshot & comment feature with the pen is simply wonderful...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I mainly want to use it as a substitute notebook for my college classes so how well it emulates pen and paper is something to think about.
Any impressions on the battery life? The reviews say you get a full day and more of standard use. Is the only batter hog video playback (the stated 4 hours of playback time)?
OnkelAlbert said:
I think there are many scenarios where the pen is helpful though, I had a Pdf document to comment today and the Flyer was a dream to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also looking forward to usage of the pen and found your PDF comment interesting. Did you have to take a screenshot and work with that, or could you open the PDF in the book reader, which I know has added pen applications?
veethree said:
I'm also looking forward to usage of the pen and found your PDF comment interesting. Did you have to take a screenshot and work with that, or could you open the PDF in the book reader, which I know has added pen applications?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a document which I recieved as an attachment. I opened it, wrote on it, press save, email. Simply great, no screenshot necessary...
Bigmuzzy said:
Thanks. I mainly want to use it as a substitute notebook for my college classes so how well it emulates pen and paper is something to think about.
Any impressions on the battery life? The reviews say you get a full day and more of standard use. Is the only batter hog video playback (the stated 4 hours of playback time)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
regarding battery life, I am on a conference all day and the Flyer was with me all day, pushing and answering emails, taking notes and doing Demos for my collegues...
after half day battery says 76%. So I guess running out of battery during the day seems impossible to me, as long as you don't spend most of the day with Angry Birds and movies
Did anyone manage to use the flyer in making gsm calls???!!!!!
Hi
Wants about video streaming to TV , does it have HDMI via USB cable or DLNA . HTC web site in official specs does not mention anything about it.
ahm1010 said:
Hi
Wants about video streaming to TV , does it have HDMI via USB cable or DLNA . HTC web site in official specs does not mention anything about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It definitely supports DLNA although I havent tried to get it working yet. I have heard there is meant to be HDMI out through the USB port and the fact the port is Ext-MicroUSB suggests as much, but I haven't seen the cable for sale anywhere.
The Jones said:
It definitely supports DLNA although I havent tried to get it working yet. I have heard there is meant to be HDMI out through the USB port and the fact the port is Ext-MicroUSB suggests as much, but I haven't seen the cable for sale anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen some EXT-microUSB tot hdmi cables somewhere... So yes, it'll be able to work trough usb port
OnkelAlbert said:
regarding battery life, I am on a conference all day and the Flyer was with me all day, pushing and answering emails, taking notes and doing Demos for my collegues...
after half day battery says 76%. So I guess running out of battery during the day seems impossible to me, as long as you don't spend most of the day with Angry Birds and movies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that I now use my Flyer too much! Love the note taking and ebook reading. The size is perfect. So the battery does last a day, but I always give a quick charge during the day just in case.
Hi. With regards to the Evernote integration on the Flyer, is it possible to maintain a copy of the created notes locally on the Flyer in addition to having them synced with Evernotes on the web ?
Having a local copy on the device will definitely speed up the retrieval of created notes and give you access to these notes when there is no internet access available.
A suggestion and a question.
The suggestion is for those who keep clicking the button inadvertently. There are pen/pencil grips you can buy that will cover the button so you have to press down firmly to activate it.
The question is whether there are any options to control pen vs. finger input. For example, on my tablet, I can set the N-Trig control to "auto." At this setting, the tablet will recognize finger input until I use the pen, at which point it will switch to pen-only input. When I want to use my finger again, I just tap twice on the screen with my finger. That way there's never any palm recognition issues.
sevoflurane said:
Did anyone manage to use the flyer in making gsm calls???!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As others have said elsewhere, NO you don't even have the dial button or app in the list of applications to make a gsm call.
Perhaps when the flyer is rooted we will have some devs working on that.
OnkelAlbert said:
Hi all,
got the Flyer today, after some hours of playing around I'd like to share my thoughts with other users:
- solid thing, just opening the top to insert the cards was a bit tricky for me
- very fast, no problems with the HTC Sense interface, works perfectly fine. Still in applicaitions like Google Maps a bit slower than the Xoom I'm testing in parallel.
- I like the new e-Mail client and calendar application a lot.
- Being an intensive evernote user, I am happy that there is a good direct integration, also with the notes you can take with the pen. Well done!
- The speakers are great, one of the few things where I don't agree with the Engadget review which has been posted today. And: They are extremely loud, louder than any of the - many - devices I could test up to now, including iPad, iPad2, Galaxy Tab and Xoom.
- The screen is great and very bright, together with the loadspeakers a great experience in Youtube or watching one of the HQ movie trailers which came with the Flyer.
- Generally, I prefer the 7'' format over the 10'' of the Xoom and the iPad. I think it is the best tablet format for me. The weight lets you hold it for a very long time without getting tired, the Xoom (which I like a lot because of Honeycomb and the incredible speed) is too heavy for me.
- the typing experience is excellent, the Flyer has the right balance between being responsive, but not over-responsive. The Xoom seems to react to even the slightest touch, this was almost a bit too much for me in the beginning
- there is a significant frame around the screen, much larger than the Xoom has. This is sometimes a problem when using the Xoom because it is hard to hold without touching the screen (and eventually doing something unwanted), but the frame around the screen of the Flyer is really huge. This makes it easy to hold the device in several ways, though.
- The bag shipped with the device is a joke from my point of view, first of all it does not allow you to use the device when in the bag, second the pen is attached outside and somehow always disturbing; also I guess it will be lost soon. I will wait for something which holds the pen inside and can be opened to use the Flyer without taking it out.
- Mixed feelings about the pen: The setup in the bottom right corner is excellent and intuitive and the pen seems to react quite quickly, it is fun to use. But: The hardware is not my favorite at all. Especially the buttons on the pen are hard to reach and it is not easy to hold it naturally
- Some new functionality in the browser including small thumbnails of the open windows, well done. Also pinch out works. I like it, it seems to be very fast and the re-arrangement of the text when zooming seems to be excellent.
- Although I don't need a camera in a device like that and I really don't care, still to mention that the camera seems to be really terrible.
- Installed tons of apps, everything works great, no speed issues at all.
- HTC Sense in the tablet edition is great. Some new additions for books, notes,... first impression everything well done, HTC
My first summary after a couple of hours is very positive. Let's see how I think after a week or two. No comments at that point about battery life for sure, but the Engadget review (and the very first, non-reliable own impressions) give me a good feeling.
Questions anytime, for sure! And appologies for my German English
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the multitouch? How much points does it have? Could you test it for me? I want to buy one too.
Thanks Tbo-art
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
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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
Before I bought the Fold, I read several reviews that all claimed the outer screen was too small to be of any use at all. I've found this to be totally untrue. I use the smaller screen more often than I do the inner screen. It's great for quick messaging, taking phone or video calls, and even reading news articles. I don't know what they were talking about lol
I figured I would make this post to let others know that the outer screen is very useful. I think the reviewers were just spoiled by the giant inner screen so they found the smaller outer screen "useless".
Using the phone closed with just the outer screen is actually more comfortable than anything I've used in years for one handed use. These days phones have become hard to handle with one hand, but the Fold when closed is not at all. Great when you're on the move or just want to be more discrete while reading something.
Cheers.
I agree 100%. The outer screen is what I use most of the time, If I am sat at home in the evening and want to watch some media (while the wife has something else on the TV!) or edit some photos, then I use the inner screen, everything else I use the outer screen. Maybe its because I can remember the days when a 4.6 inch screen would have been considered "large".
I use the outer screen to control my music player quite often, but the keyboard is too small for me to use that screen for much else.
samhall said:
I use the outer screen to control my music player quite often, but the keyboard is too small for me to use that screen for much else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at the keyboard when typing it's fine and swipe works well too.
For me the outer screen suits me for most usage and when I need a bigger screen I flip it open..
As a result of using both screens my battery life is much better than on the note 10plus
:good:
seh6183 said:
Before I bought the Fold, I read several reviews that all claimed the outer screen was too small to be of any use at all. I've found this to be totally untrue. I use the smaller screen more often than I do the inner screen. It's great for quick messaging, taking phone or video calls, and even reading news articles. I don't know what they were talking about lol
I figured I would make this post to let others know that the outer screen is very useful. I think the reviewers were just spoiled by the giant inner screen so they found the smaller outer screen "useless".
Using the phone closed with just the outer screen is actually more comfortable than anything I've used in years for one handed use. These days phones have become hard to handle with one hand, but the Fold when closed is not at all. Great when you're on the move or just want to be more discrete while reading something.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
absolutely correct.
pardon my partial vent, but this is what happens when these idiots make these "Review" videos, after only having used the device on Launch Day ffs.
for a bunch of "tech enthusiasts" whose job is to delve into a device, almost all of these reviews are cookie cutter, and just regurgitating spec sheets.
unfortunately, it's all about being first in this day. who cares, rifle out the content. end vent
back to the front screen, from all the fold videos i've seen, yes the thinner/narrower body is much better for one-handed use,
but almost everyone complains about typing, in which cases, is two handed typing.
i think only 2 reviewers have mentioned that it's very useful for a particular type of user: the keyboard swiping kind.
lastly, i didn't see any of these "two handed typing" people complaining about the keyboard on an iphone 3-4 with a 3.5" screen, when android phones of that time were already 5"+.
oh well i guess
You are so right!
100 percent agree with you come to think of it I'm using the small screen to type this haha
The outer screen is handy for a quick reply specially on the road.
I agree. I use the inner screen for composing Outlook messages or participating in Skype for Business/Microsoft Team meetings, LinkedIn Learning or ther media watching. Once Sun sets, I use my Samsung Ultra 20 5G for tweeting and other social activities.
100% agree. And When I started using swipe keyboard I was able to make the keys large enough to be useable for me. That might be an option for some.