Posts Tagged ‘HD7’

#Maxis10 HTC HD7 : YAY Features and NAY Features.

December 8th, 2010, posted in Advertorials, Phone review, Random rants, Review, Shennanigans

Like every other phone out there, there are bound to be something awesome about the phone and of course something that just turn you off. As Windows Phone 7 is a new OS by Microsoft, many new features and UI are introduced to us that was never seen on any other phone. But at the same time, in the midst of rolling out something great, Microsoft tends to leave out some minor but important features that are supposed to be included in this beast.

So before i start elaborating on the awesome features, lets have a quick look on what makes this phone a beast!

1. User Interface ( Live tiles, animation, superior graphics )

2. Awesome hardware guidelines

3. Integration of contacts and calendars to Windows Live.

4. Full support of One Note, Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Sharepoint.

5. Integrate and sync with Web Office.

6. XBox Live and MultiPlatform gaming ( In future )

7. Zune player + Desktop Zune app.

8. Speedy, smooth, stable and reliable

9. Find my phone feature

10. Integrated search through Bing for Online and Offline.

11. Superb Microsoft Exchange support

12. No CRASHES but only occasional lockups.

I would like to highlight my point no. 12 because it is something that has to do with what all phone users want : NO CRASHES. Windows Phone 7 should be given a 2 thumbs up for their real stable OS. Ive been using this phone for about 2 weeks and I’ve never experience any real crashes and only occasional lockups due to my need for speed. LOL. Microsoft has come a long way to developed such a stable OS that is comparable to Apple’s IOS. If you would like to compare Android to WP7.. here’s a picture : I have 10 FORCE CLOSE popup on average everyday on Android. I’ve had none on WP7. So way to go Microsoft.

In terms of uniqueness, WP7 has a new revamped UI that is NOT a copy of any other OS out there. I’ve never seen such beautiful UI in any other phone and its something I really look up for once. For Microsoft to come up with something that amaze all of us, its an achievement for them.

On the integration part, Microsoft once again did a wonderful job with Windows Live. All contacts, office document, pictures, and email are seamlessly synced with the Phone. Anything that is dealt on your phone can be viewed and managed on the desktop. This is something Microsoft would like to push, the phone as your secondary laptop on the go. So that the thing you do on your desktop can be brought over to your phone! That’s something amazing i must say..

XBox Live integration is another wonder product by Microsoft which incorporates multiplatform gaming on their existing infrastructure. Before WP7, Microsoft came up with games like Shadowrun that is multiplatform such that it is playable online with Xbox 360 users and PC users. Now it has been brought over to WP7 although not fully implemented. But i think, this should be awesome when Microsoft really rolls out this feature.

NAY PART

For the nay part, Microsoft really did roll out Wp7 with style, with features that are never seen on any other phone but again, like ive mentioned earlier they too missed out features that are SUPPOSED/COMPULSORY to be on a phone. So lets break it down now :

1. Tethering. Any sort. No wifi and not even USB tethering.

( Tethering involves making your phone into a connection point be it wireless or wired and using your phone’s HSDAP/3G/EDGE connection for internet )

2. Copy-Paste function. MISSING. But so as Iphone when it was first launch. LOL

3. USB Flash Drive – You cannot transfer any files unless you use Zune. And like ITunes, only files like songs and videos are allowed. Any other, no…

4. Custom ringtone – Ringtones are pre-defined and not user assignable. 

5. Settings for system and apps are very limited

6. No true multitasking.

7. Push Notification do not work for 3rd Party apps

8. Limited customization of the home screen and other stuff.

9. No screenshot capability

Although these are the features that are missing in WP7, but all of these are not hardware related but rather software and can be address with updates, that is only if Microsoft ones to. There has been report on copy paste working on developers phone and some hacks on Samsung Omnia II to have USB tethering. So indeed in future, this missing stuff will be fixed and then it can only be a BEAST.

Overall, looking at the capability of the phone right now, it still falls short of glory. Its a half baked OS and it has lotsa room to improve. Hopefully Microsoft will be very passionate in their struggle to be get back on par with big guns like Android and Iphone. As for now…. Hmmm… I’ll still keep it for its stability.

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#Maxis10 HTC HD7 : Windows Phone 7 Hub

December 5th, 2010, posted in Computer, Phone review, Shennanigans, Sports

Hello once again guys! As you all already know, Microsoft introduction of what they would call hub on the Windows Phone 7. Well basically, the hub is like a specific segment/department in your phone that handles all that is intended for. For example, the office hub. In this hub, you get to access your one notes, Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel from the SharePoint server or Microsoft web office. Every hub has an integration feature. Before we go into the hubs. Lets view the 4 main hubs that I’ve compiled in the video below :

I’ve only included these four hubs because i really think this hub are the killer features for HD7 and Windows Phone 7. People hub is basically an integration with Facebook account, contacts sync to cloud and etc and this is already on Android. But the 4 main features are unique and what i think would just kill it for Microsoft.

Entertainment Hub

 

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Yup. In the entertainment hub spots the ol’ familiar interface of Microsoft Zune HD. And as expected, WP7’s Zune is completely synchronizable  to Microsoft owns flagship Zune Player. The main difference between this and the Itunes is that you can have full manual sync without needing to worry if ever the software will sync and reformat your phone. (Fruit product =.=)

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The Zune player in WP7 spots a black background with tons of animated effects. It sleek and simple. I <3 this interface to the max.  

Not only music and video, if you happen to subscribe to podcast , it will also be integrated and sync to your phone. Another nifty feature of the Entertainment Hub is FM Radio that is missing in some other phones that have the same concept of synching music. (:

And for audiophiles, the SRS Enhancement included will blow your bass thumping headphones. I’ve tried and it certainly have enough juice to pump that sound out!.

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Game Hub

Another notable features that also need special attention is the Game Hub! In the game hub, Microsoft introduced a game zone dubbed the Xbox Live that is certified cross platform and also integrated with its PC and XBox 360 counterpart. So what does this really mean?

Simple! Imagine playing ShadowRun on Xbox 360, and your brother wants to take over, so you play on your comp but you realize you need to go somewhere, but you still wants to play and thats where you realize you can continue playing your games on 3 different platform, different controls, but the SAME GAME and its interchangeble. Scores are intergrated! COOL RIGHT?

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Of course at the moment, these cross platform games has not b een released yet and is now waiting for Microsoft green light! But when it really does happen, Microsoft will bring the gaming world to a whole new level. As for now, you can only chat with other gamers, update scores, earn points and etc. Lets just wait for Microsoft and see how this goes.

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Wanna see what games are available? See my favorites below ! >

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See all the big titles? This itself beats other mobile gaming platform out there. There are even more games in the marketplace, so really, gamers should check this out. You’ll instantly fall in love with it. (:

Office Hub

Well, its Microsoft, what else you can expect? Their ‘infamous’ Microsoft Office is included in it as usual. But before you start to sigh and swear at this, let me tell you, Microsoft Office Mobile is SICK! With Microsoft’s own Web Office ( similar to Google Docs ), every document you have on the computer can be sync to the Web Office and then Sync to your phone. Lets say you’ve updated a document and save it, you dont have to upload or do anything because, its sync to your Web Office and also you desktop! Nifty feature aint it?

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If your company do deploy a Sharepoint server, well as you can guess, its fully compatible and integrated! One more thing i would like to point out, IF you are a heavy Microsoft Office user and you need on the go at times, please by all means, get this Monster. Every document that is thrown at the phone can be opened without issues unlike 3rd party apps on Iphone and Android.

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HTC HUB

HTC HUB is the place to have all your nifty useful utilities app by HTC. A lot of useful apsp like notes, flash light, calculator and etc can be downloaded here to make WP7 more pleasurable to use. Not only that, you can also check the weather with some nice sound and  graphic effects!

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People Hub

The people hub is like your integrated phonebook but with a twist. It integrates your Google, Windows Live and Facebook account into 1. If you have a friend with the same username on Google, Facebook and Windows Live it will automatically be merge into 1 with your phonebook contacts. Cool huh? But to be honest, i am not quite impressed with this because Android had first started this type of sleek sync. So it might seemed cool for Iphone ( oh wells, as usual) users, BUT for Android, you’ll feel like home!

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On the left is the Facebook timeline and on the right is your Contacts. All your contacts in here will be sync to a cloud in Windows Live website. So you can rest assure that your contacts are always safe! Now, if only the could sync SMS too……

Picture Hub

When Android came up with their 3D photo viewer, i was impressed… NOT until Microsoft came up with their own version dubbed the Picture Hub! This picture hub is not just any picture viewer, it will display all your latest updated pictures on the fly to make your life easier! Not only that, picture hub will also display your latest picture as the background picture of the main screen of the viewer. Unnecessary feature but damn awesome eye candy indeed!

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I forgot to mention, all your photos can also be sync to SkyDrive. A cloud server that stores your picture on the fly to be shared with your Windows Live Contacts! Its something similar to Facebook!

Search Hub

The search hub is what is called the power hub. And this power hub has a hardware button which i also called the Power Button. Why? The search button is so powerful you can search anything you want from any apps you are in! Lets say you are in the people hub and you want to look for a contact, just press the search button when you are in the hub and VIOLLA!. Another example if when you are searching for a SMS, MMS or even email. If you just need a normal general search on big just click the button at the home screen!

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Its really powerful and it certainly saves me lotsa precious time. I dont have to scroll through anything. It’s all searchable.

The introduction of Hub had brought a whole new level to the term : SmartPhone. Microsoft has been long criticized of their buggy and below par operating system but Windows Phone 7 have proved that Microsoft is on the right track to be on par or even better than the Market players. Of course there are certainly still many flaws but this is a new OS and a half baked one so lets just be patient and let Steve Ballmer justify himself. I heard there will be an update next month to address all the bugs and missing features issue. So lets just wait and see… as for now, I still love the phone and the OS although i still feel annoyed at times because of the lack of features.

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HTC HD7 Camera Problem and short review #Maxis10

November 30th, 2010, posted in Phone review, Random rants, Review, Shennanigans

As you guys know, I’ve been tweeting a lot lately on the pink tint problem that mystically surrounds the HTC HD series. Of course this is not the first case of pink tint on the HD series as HD2, the smaller brother of HD7, has the same problem too.

HTC apparently rolled out a fix to fix the tint but it was rather a short cut method. The method HTC did was to apply a mask to eliminate or minimize the pink color until its unnoticeable. Videographers would know, a mask do not work on video, thus video has the pink tint issue that is unresolved till this day.

I know, to most of you, its not a big deal and you can live with it. Some even suggested me to get a DSLR if i want some good quality photos. But look, thats not the point. The point is.. you give me a camera and i am expecting it to work like it SHOULD. And from a customer point of view, hell no i am going to fork out say extra RM2k for a DSLR when i just invested on a RM2k HD7! True aint it?

Anyway, lets get back to the point. Before i go any further, let me show you some example photos i took.

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  As you can see, this are one of the first few photos I took when i first got my camera. You’ll notice a pink tint on all picture.

After some initial investigation on the web, it seems that the pink tint is always in the middle of the frame and the only way to expose the tint to make the obvious MORE obvious is to shoot it against a white wall.

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The first picture (left) is taken without a flash. Notice the pink color? Second picture is when flash is on. Immediately the whole frame went pink.

Of course this was my first day of trying to manipulate the camera to get the pink. I tried it again the next day to get the pink tint without a flash, but the tint magically vanished.

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Slight tint, but its acceptable and i never get the obvious pink tint. The only problem that i will ALWAYS get, and you can read the same exact problem from other #Maxis10 reviewers is that when you use flash, the camera decides to turn the picture to a feminine side. I dont know maybe flash is girl thing huh? :p

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Yesterday, i decided to play around again with the camera and i found out something interesting. Many people report that the problem lies in the hardware in HD2 and cannot be fix using software. But what i found on the HD7 was totally different. I initially  thought that the CCD responsible for calculating colors is at fault but after some trials yesterday i am puzzled of which is which. My finding seemed like its a software problem where the WB color algorithm just failed to recognize the flash and somehow made the picture pink.

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This combination of photos were taken a different range. The first being in focus and covers the whole tile, while the second gradually gets closer and the last picture is when it is too close and is out of focus. Notice when it is out of focus, the WB gets more natural and not as pinkish before. More evidence below >>

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I don’t know if this is coincidence or what, but if my finding is true, i think that the focus and metering and WB algorithm is at fault and this is a software issue rather than hardware.

I get to manipulate this effect even in video mode but its the other way around. Watch the video below

Notice how the video turns to normal color when i focus it to the fan after a while? Before that wasn’t that focus and its pink. So i suspect its the software issue. And somebody needs to fix it. I don’t think its hardware because it is able to produce a normal balanced WB video and picture after tweaking it.

Oh yeah, after playing with some preset WB, i also found out that the pink doesn’t exists in anyone of it. Even with flash!

 

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Four different WB with flash. From top left : Portrait, beach , backlight, marco. As long as it is not auto, the pink is hardly there. I really do suspect the programmer screwed up in the algorithm part which recognizes color and etc. I am no programming expert but that’s what i suspect la.

Anyway, other than the pink problem i can damn tell you, THE CAMERA QUALITY IS SUPERB FOR A PHONE CAMERA WITH GOOD LIGHTING!

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Not bad right? (: It even fared well with marco shoots. The minimum focus lenght i could go is 3cm from subject. Not bad right?

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Yup. Anyway, the pink tint problem is not really a big deal as it happens on every camera. My Samsung Galaxy S has a pink tint too but its so small that its hardly noticeable. HD7 is very noticeable and obvious. I would really love to be given a chance to try and manipulate other HD7 phones just to see if i am able to produce the same result to determine if it affects all phone.

So guys, what do you think? Do you think its a hardware issue? I.e CCD sensor rosak or do you think its just a case of a noob programmer messing up the algorithm needed to determine colors?

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