Windows Phone 7/8 Catch All

I can confirm that if you use the directions on the map, that if you go off route, you will get a prompt saying that, in fact, you have gone off course and to tap the message for updated directions.

TexasRay wrote:

I can confirm that if you use the directions on the map, that if you go off route, you will get a prompt saying that, in fact, you have gone off course and to tap the message for updated directions.

And that's bolded section is the stupid design decision there. Probably not fatal design failure, but annoying. Why would it not just tell you automatically what the next turn is after recalculating? If I just missed a turn, would it make sense for me to look off the road to the phone again, making me possibly even more lost?

Thanks for the test. Much appreciated.

farley3k wrote:

I am loving my phone but this morning I had an odd issue. It would just hang at the "HTC" logo on the white screen. I took the battery out numerous times and got the same results. Finally I found a way to reset the phone completely by holding the volume button in the middle and powering it on. Unfortunately I lost everything. Not a big deal to restore but it was rather annoying. I am quite a gentle phone user so it doesn't make me feel confident the phone will last for years like my iPhone did but I guess I am happy I was able to get it back up and running.

That's too bad. I never had that issue when I had the HD7. It was the most stable phone I've owned in years. Much more stable than my iPhone or Nexus One.

MannishBoy wrote:
TexasRay wrote:

I can confirm that if you use the directions on the map, that if you go off route, you will get a prompt saying that, in fact, you have gone off course and to tap the message for updated directions.

And that's bolded section is the stupid design decision there. Probably not fatal design failure, but annoying. Why would it not just tell you automatically what the next turn is after recalculating? If I just missed a turn, would it make sense for me to look off the road to the phone again, making me possibly even more lost?

Thanks for the test. Much appreciated.

I certainly see your point, but I can also say that when I use the nav in my car, it annoys the crap out of me when I'm heading somewhere, and detour for gas/food/etc and the nav auto recalcs and the voice starts telling me about it. Definately agree about looking down, tapping, etc - but the constant re-calcs are annoying (when you know what you're doing and not lost).

Has anyone used the new ShareStatusTask in any apps yet? Sounds like you pass it a status string, and it lets you choose what social network to share it on. From a usability perspective, how is that? Easy to use? Annoying?

It doesn't work in the emulator, and I don't have a real device, but I've added it to my app, which I'm re-releasing this weekend for free (but with ads). Sharing events is one of the new features, and I switched to SQLite for the DB. Still no ability to add events to calendars, thanks to Microsoft keeping that locked down.

TexasRay wrote:

I certainly see your point, but I can also say that when I use the nav in my car, it annoys the crap out of me when I'm heading somewhere, and detour for gas/food/etc and the nav auto recalcs and the voice starts telling me about it. Definately agree about looking down, tapping, etc - but the constant re-calcs are annoying (when you know what you're doing and not lost).

I'd rather pause the trip if I wanted it to stop recalculating when I know where I am than to make me manually recalc when I'm confused already. I'm in the Molly Wood camp on this one.

Or hey, just put a setting in the menu!

I sure hope Nokia brought the excellent hardware build of the N9 over to at least one of the Mango phones they are announcing this week.. That review on Engadget almost made me plunk down $900 on a dead OS just for that hardware.

Finally got the update to my app certified, and it's available here:

Milestone v1.1

Updates include:

  • Updated for Mango
  • The app is now free (with ads).
  • Switched to SQLite for storage
  • You can now share events using the ShareStatusTask, which should hopefully prompt you to share on the social network of your choice
  • Changed "Upcoming" and "This Week" to "Yearly" and "Monthly", which both show the same list, sorted in order of upcoming yearly and monthly anniversaries, respectively.

Still can't add an event to a calendar (thanks, Microsoft). Once I have a user base built up after being in the free section, I'll flip a switch in the code and make the unlimited, ad-supported version the trial version, and you can pay to get rid of the ads.

Again, any feedback/reviews/pimping my app elsewhere is greatly appreciated.

Some phones are getting updates that include tethering. Unfortunately, not the Venue Pro, yet.

Sweet. My phone and carrier are on that list. I'll have to try it out.

We had to replace my wife's Dell Venue Pro this week and I was very pleasantly suprised by the ease of restoring things back to the new device. It was just a matter of adding her Live ID, and Facebook login, then going to the WindowsPhone.com site and clicking which apps we wanted to reinstall. Also, was a relief to see that the phone automatically synched images and video to our home laptop (and images to Skydrive), as the thing was bricked and we feared we had lost some pictures and video of our daughter with my recently deceased father.

Neither of us have had a "smart phone" prior to the DVP, so can't compare to other devices - but comapred to the hassel with older phones, it wasn't nearly as bad.

Also, I was pleasantly suprised by the turnaround time from Dell. Called support on Monday afternoon. Had the replacement Tuesday afternoon. I wasn't expecting that quick of a turnaround given their slow repsponse to other issues with the phone hardware (still camera issues still not being addressed) and delays in intial shipments.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Sweet. My phone and carrier are on that list. I'll have to try it out.

I set it up, and it works great. It's really easy to use, and the connection speed was very good. It requires you to use your data connection, so you can't use it as a bridge to connect another device to a WiFi network, which makes sense.

The only real issue I had with it was wondering when the heck I'd use it for anything, although it is a nice feature to have.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Sweet. My phone and carrier are on that list. I'll have to try it out.

I set it up, and it works great. It's really easy to use, and the connection speed was very good. It requires you to use your data connection, so you can't use it as a bridge to connect another device to a WiFi network, which makes sense.

The only real issue I had with it was wondering when the heck I'd use it for anything, although it is a nice feature to have.

Cool. I hope Dell gets it out on the Venue Pro. I use it when our cable connection goes out and in the car. Today's phones are pretty quick but it's still more enjoyable on a laptop or iPad.

The last two items I miss from android are a nice calendar widget (basically to display more than one calendar appointment) and tethering. Come on, Dell. Give me some tethering.

Did folks see the XBox Live App is now available on iPhone. My wife just got an upgrade to the new 7.5 Samsung phone for just $50. It looks very nice and whereas the iPhone dropped calls right and left when we were around our wireless house, the Samsung phone has yet to drop wether we are next to other electronics. I am seriously considering getting this when my
upgrade time comes in June. (I just hope the $50 holds till then). Till then, having this new XBox live app on my iPhone is nice.

One thing that is making my wife hold on to the iPhone to use in our wifi environment is that Windows 7.5 doesn't have (at least on the Samsung) Words with Friends, or Word Feud, which is a bummer, and thus her keeping the iPhone around.

note: btw, I see everyone talking, 'Dell Venue Pro'. Is this the best phone for 7.5. I was told (being basic clueless about what phones are best) that Samsung is really the best at making
mobile phones.

It really depends on what you want in a phone. The Venue Pro is one of the best WP7 phones out there but I think that both Samsung and HTC have phones that could also be considered the best. Then, Nokia's recent Lumia 800 is very nice as well. Each has their strengths. HTC's latest phone (Titan) is the seems to have the best specs. The Venue Pro has a very nice screen and a slide out keyboard which works well and is well implemented. Samsung's Focus S is a second gen WP7 phone and is also very nice. Overall, unless you want the keyboard the venue pro isn't the best available right now as far as specs. It is also the least likely to continue to be updated since it's older than the other three. That said I really like mine. The screen is fantastic and the keyboard is excellent.

I know there isn't Words with Friends, yet but some people have suggested Words by Post as an alternative. I don't play either so I can't comment on how good of a replacement it is.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

It really depends on what you want in a phone. The Venue Pro is one of the best WP7 phones out there but I think that both Samsung and HTC have phones that could also be considered the best. Then, Nokia's recent Lumia 800 is very nice as well. Each has their strengths. HTC's latest phone (Titan) is the seems to have the best specs. The Venue Pro has a very nice screen and a slide out keyboard which works well and is well implemented. Samsung's Focus S is a second gen WP7 phone and is also very nice. Overall, unless you want the keyboard the venue pro isn't the best available right now as far as specs. It is also the least likely to continue to be updated since it's older than the other three. That said I really like mine. The screen is fantastic and the keyboard is excellent.

I know there isn't Words with Friends, yet but some people have suggested Words by Post as an alternative. I don't play either so I can't comment on how good of a replacement it is.

Thanks much for the information!...and...

My wife thanks you sooo much for the Words by Post recommendation. She has it and has two games going. Looks like fun!

Thanks again!

The DVP is a nice phone, but the camera is absolute garbage if you want to use it to take any kind of still picture. The videos aren't too bad. Also, I think Dell is getting out of the smart phone business, so it may not be a good idea to grab one as opposed to some of the nicer ones mentioned by EvilHomer.

Hopefully someone will release a WP7 phone with a portrait slider in the next year or two.

So the Xbox 360 dashboard has a promo going for the Zune pass, buy 1 month ($9.99) get 1 month free.

I've got to say this is one of my favorite features on my phone, I love having full access to the music on the marketplace

trueheart78 wrote:

So the Xbox 360 dashboard has a promo going for the Zune pass, buy 1 month ($9.99) get 1 month free.

I've got to say this is one of my favorite features on my phone, I love having full access to the music on the marketplace :D

Quite. I use the Zune pass all the time. I'm using it now, actually.

It's one of the few features that exists outside of the standard device service that I feel I should just include in my monthly cell bill. I've been using it for a few months and love being able to listen to something new anytime I want.

WPCentral just did a short write-up on "Ask Ziggy" which is the WP7 equivalent of Siri. Seems pretty nice.

On another note and not specifically Windows Phone 7 but I got the LG HBS-700 Bluetooth stereo headset for Christmas and I absolutely adore it. Syncs very well with my Venue Pro (unlike my previous rocketfish set), seems to be fairly sweat resistant (so far), sounds quite good, and has a great fit. You barely notice them. The phones are magnetized so they go back into the neckpiece nicely. The controls work well. Battery life is great. I highly recommend them.

I will likely be switching to a Windows phone when the Nokia Lumia 900 comes out. I have a couple questions that I was unable to answer via quick googling. Does Windows Phone 7.5 support playback of FLAC and/or ALAC lossless music files? It's not a huge deal because I would probably end up using the Windows Phone Subsonic app, but I'm curious. Also, will current devices be able to be upgraded to a Windows Phone 8 whenever that gets released, or are they going to be stuck with Mango? I know the Windows 8 tablets are going to be coming out this year, so I would think they would have a phone version coming out.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Does Windows Phone 7.5 support playback of FLAC and/or ALAC lossless music files?

Doesn't look like it.

Also, will current devices be able to be upgraded to a Windows Phone 8 whenever that gets released, or are they going to be stuck with Mango?

No idea. No one's said a thing. Previous Windows Phones weren't able to upgrade to WP7, though.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Also, will current devices be able to be upgraded to a Windows Phone 8 whenever that gets released, or are they going to be stuck with Mango?

No idea. No one's said a thing. Previous Windows Phones weren't able to upgrade to WP7, though.

Hmmm. What do you think of 7.5? Honestly, I don't play games on my iPhone 4 hardly ever. If for some reason there was a game I wanted to play, I'm going to hang onto my ole iPhone 4 in case something neat comes out like Sword & Sworcery. So anyways, I don't care about games. I just use my phone for internet browsing, email, Netflix, Hulu+, photography, and accessing my home music server via subsonic (i know there is a windows phone app available). Occasionally, I use it for phone calls and texting. If 7.5 can do all that, I'd probably be just fine with it.

WP7 doesn't have Hulu+ yet. Other than that, you'll be able to do all of what you want with 7.5 very well.

Personally, I prefer the WP7 interface (especially with the Mango update) over anything I've seen. I wouldn't trade my Windows Phone for anything other than a newer Windows Phone.

I'm happy with 7.5, or Mango. I really like how it manages my podcasts now. It's probably my number one use.

I don't game a lot on my phone, but I do like that I have access to XBL messaging and achievements. Bing's voice search is good, as well as picking up music. It's made Shazam irrelevant. Its map and directions work well for me.

I find it to be a solid OS that does most everything I thought I needed a smartphone to do. I'm sure power users can drill down and find its weaknesses. but while I may opt to ditch the Quantum and the extra heft of the keyboard, I plan on sticking with a Windows Phone moving forward.

I do like my wife's iPhone 4S, and could switch when the time comes, right now I'm feeling happy with what I have. My daughter has an Android, and I doubt I ever get one. I suspect she is going to ditch it when she gets a chance, too.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

WP7 doesn't have Hulu+ yet. Other than that, you'll be able to do all of what you want with 7.5 very well.

Personally, I prefer the WP7 interface (especially with the Mango update) over anything I've seen. I wouldn't trade my Windows Phone for anything other than a newer Windows Phone.

Sweet! I'm excited. I could live without Hulu+. They'll probably force me to ditch my unlimited plan whenever I upgrade next. AT&T is throttling the unlimited plans anyways, so it's not like it's actually unlimited anymore. Those bastards.

Yeah, I had to ditch my unlimited T-Mobile plan when we got my wife a smartphone. I think the days of unlimited plans are pretty much at an end.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Yeah, I had to ditch my unlimited T-Mobile plan when we got my wife a smartphone. I think the days of unlimited plans are pretty much at an end.

Well, I'll be able to live with it if I can get the 2GB + 2GB tethering plan. I just won't be able to watch any video without wifi anymore.

One of the coolest things about the Windows Phones is that dedicated camera button. That is freaking awesome. Anyone a big fan of that feature? Does it work as well as it sounds?