127 replies to this topic

[daze62]

The Guru, on 21 October 2010 - 04:58 PM, said:

Right guys I really need you to let me know where you want me to go from here with the review.

There are plenty of in depth articles out there on WP7 so a lot of the writing I could add would be pure duplication.

I was considering going through:

• Adding details of the Zune integration on the PC
  
• Adding a video of the HTC Weather application
  
• Running through my continued daily endeavors / issues / joys

Would that suit?

Your experience use Bing maps as a turn by turn GPS.

I would like a comparison of advantage and disadvantages when compared to a similar spec Android phone.

I have lots of nice apps and games built up over two years with my Kaiser. Since WM6 apps are not compatible with WP7, either OS will require consideration as to what it will cost to update those apps and the availablity of similar apps.
Example: As posted yesterday, TomTom are releasing their GPS software for Android preloaded onto HTC devices very soon. This, or a Navman app, are mandatory for me to consider upgrading! I've seen Googlemaps on a Desire and I'm not impressed.

[Mod74]

Question:

How does the email sync with Hotmail? Is it possible to sync the calendar to it?

I don't use Outlook/Exchange, but would still like to edit my contacts online. Or are they synced via the My Phone site as per Win6.5?. If the Calendar syncs, is it possible to have your calendar publicly viewable?

Sorry if already answered, I've skim read.

Thanks

[Rick H]

I have a couple of questions;

how fast does it take to boot up? (not wake up)

what does the on-screen-keyboard look like?

Thanks,  Rick

[waveydavey]

Any word on whether O2 are sim locking the WP7 phones Mr Guru?

[tonybro]

Rick H, on 22 October 2010 - 08:10 AM, said:

how fast does it take to boot up? (not wake up)

what does the on-screen-keyboard look like?

Hi Rick H,

Good questions, both!

I'd like confirmation that it's quite quick to boot (reports are suggesting around 20 secs from Off). Is that true, Mr Guru?

As the HTC Desire and HTC HD2 have very different keyboard tolerances, the Desire is great the HD2 I find far trickier in responsiveness, I'd like to know a) what the onscreen keyboard looks like and how responsive is it compared to both those devices and you have both so it should be relatively simple to provide a comparison.

[Marc E]

What's with the 16Ghz - was this on the 02 site
From first post; Internal Storage: 16Ghz (specially increased from 8Gb for O2)

I really like the idea of me coming back to WinMo as I have missed it. This device could be it form me or the Orange Mozart

[neilm]

I think that's probably a Guru typo!  I'd like to try a device with 16GHz storage

Claim you prize for being more observant than any of the moderators!

[The Guru]

Okay here we go:

Bing Maps as a turn by turn GPS:

I'll not be doing any great distance travelling until the latter part of the weekend and at that point I'll see how it works with respect to auto moving through the navigation steps. It will be limited testing of course as no car mount will be available and I'll be travelling solo! From what I've seen so far the navigation system is on par with (or better than) the Google Maps system of navigation prior to it getting voice instructions.

Applications:

App availability is indeed an issue at the moment, I'm lacking an application to read eBooks (I'm hoping Kindle is migrated over), and the RSS program I'm using works but is not as elegant as my fave app on the iPhone 4.

Hotmail:

Full synchronisation of Email, Contacts, and Calendar is supported, using EAS to yes updating on the Phone does update back to the cloud. For reference I'm now synching: Live ID, Facebook, personal hosted Exchange, Gmail x 2, Hotmail, work Exchange, and an Exchange account based on Google Apps. All work perfectly and all are set to receive mail on a push basis.

If you can set your Hotmail account on the web to be publicly viewable then yes as the phone just synchronises with that data. Not sure of it is possible though as I've never had the need for such a facility.

Start up:

The start up time is approximately 20 to 23 seconds. After turn on the HD7 gives a white screen for 2 seconds, followed by the green HTC logo which switches to the O2 logo after around 14 seconds. This then switches to the Start screen. The boot up process is amazingly quick compared to older Windows Mobile devices.

Keyboards:

See below as to what it looks like in portrait and landscape.

Responsiveness is very fast and smooth there is no keyboard lag at all and comparatively it's faster in operation than both the Desire and HD2 keyboards. Is it at least on par with the iPhone 4 keyboard. Typo auto correction is good too, much better than the other devices, and it does seem to learn ones special words like the iPhone 4. It even uses the SPACE SPACE input to generate a full stop as on the iPhone. I have found that you do have to hit the keys pretty straight on though to ensure the right key is detected, but this is more a problem of keyboard width in portrait where the fingers have to stretch over a wide screen. I had the same issue on the Desire so it's a screen / finger span issue not a design flaw. The suggested word / word recall ribbon that pops into use as you type is excellent and works well.

Storage:

Okay a typo slipped in (I'm rather famous for them at times) the storage is indeed 16Gb (not GHz) and not 8Gb like some other OEM HD7 incarnations.

[Boz]

Can the keyboard be changed from white to black, or am I dreaming that I read this somewhere?

[tonybro]

The one I tried in the O2 store just now was black keyboard (I think) so it's probably a theme issue/setting....

Also I tried the keyboard in Messaging and Word and it's at least as responsive as the Desire and far better (and therefore more accurate) than the HD2.