Smartphone advice

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Cletus
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

selfish wrote: letus: you can copy from the iphone calendar, i just used that exact function. go into the details screen and then hold down on what you want to copy. hey presto!
Sigh.

So you can copy a calendar entry, not the text within the entry but the entire entry and paste it on to another day, leaving the original untouched? Or you can Cut the original entry entirely from a date and paste it to another date? If that's the case I'll buy an iPhone today. Otherwise you're trying to sell me a gimped cut and paste which as I've explained here over and over, is absolutely useless to me. We've established that Android can't do it. Currently WP7 doesn't do it. WM has always done it. I can't find the option on iPhone and nobody I know has been able to show me that it works.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Vzzzbx »

I just tried it, doesn't work. You have to make a whole new entry.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Vzzzbx »

And I bet if you asked an Apple fanboy they'd say 'why would you want to do THAT??'
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

Thank you. Some of you Zealots are alright. :)
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Burnzoire »

What about 3rd party calendars?
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

I may eventually have to do just that but it's not ideal. For a few reasons I'd much prefer to see the CCP in the calendar to be part of the OS rather than an app.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Vzzzbx »

Android sounds like a good option.
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Re: Smartphone advice

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How so?
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Vzzzbx »

Well I assume that, considering Google apps are woven right into the whole thing, and considering it's not as rigid and fucked-up as iOS, your calendar will be integrated and far more flexible. Worth a look I reckon.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

There is an App for Droid that pretty much does what I need the calendar to do. I'm waiting on the next WP7 update that supposedly has CCP. I just don't know if it includes the calendar. My contract ends this month. I'm waiting for the best option. If that means an app, then so be it. But as far as I know, the options are limited.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by selfish »

sorry, i didn't realise you wanted that. there's an app called http://calvetica.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which might be worth a look, all I know is that it works with the built in app (so it's not a seperate thing, it uses the built in calendar underneath) - don't know if it does what you need though.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

almost...by the looks it does a cut and paste but not a copy and paste. I need both. But it's half way there.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by unfnknblvbl »

Cletus wrote:
selfish wrote: letus: you can copy from the iphone calendar, i just used that exact function. go into the details screen and then hold down on what you want to copy. hey presto!
Sigh.

So you can copy a calendar entry, not the text within the entry but the entire entry and paste it on to another day, leaving the original untouched? Or you can Cut the original entry entirely from a date and paste it to another date? If that's the case I'll buy an iPhone today. Otherwise you're trying to sell me a gimped cut and paste which as I've explained here over and over, is absolutely useless to me. We've established that Android can't do it. Currently WP7 doesn't do it. WM has always done it. I can't find the option on iPhone and nobody I know has been able to show me that it works.
It may be worth it to suggest this to the Android dev team - they're constantly making improvements based on community feedback, and now that most of the 'gapps' are decoupled from the core OS, it may feed back relatively quickly.

The beauty of Android is all in the Google services though. Assuming you already have a well-maintained GMail account, it's like manna from heaven when you turn on an Android phone for the first time. It just asks you for your Google username/password and everything gets synced automagically. Even all your apps are synced OTA these days. Whoever thought of this shit needs a medal.

IMO, of course.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

unfnknblvbl wrote: It may be worth it to suggest this to the Android dev team - they're constantly making improvements based on community feedback, and now that most of the 'gapps' are decoupled from the core OS, it may feed back relatively quickly.
gotta link to the dev team?
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by van »

I could comfortably recommend any top-shelf HTC Android-powered phone; the Desire (this is the one I own, although it is now somewhat ageing), the Desire HD, etc. HTC's 'Sense' UI is exceptional - probably the best manufacturer-loaded UI getting around for Android - both in terms of its styling and speed, as well as the in-built functionality HTC has given it, on top of Android.

One that I haven't played with but I'm excited about is the new dual-core LG Optimus 2X. Super sexy, but that's because it's obviously very iPhone-inspired in its design.

http://www.cnet.com.au/lg-optimus-2x-339308138.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Pat »

OK so I tried out a couple of phones today.

HTC desire
HTC mozart
HTC wildfire

iphone 4 was an option but someone had changed the text to arabic and it was prompting for PUK codes. Same with the blackberry.

Oddly, desire had an eminently useable touch screen keyboard. Maybe its due to the key sizes, or maybe the screen settings but it was about 90% accurate to what I thought I was typing on a quick go. Mozart was at about 70% and wildfire on 80% (test was just typing out a random sentence about this long). Not sure why. It does open up two questions though.

1. Do you have to calibrate these phones touchscreens?
2. I noticed the desire had vibrate on so you had a subtle rumble each key entry. Do the other phones have this?

All in all I came away most impressed with the desire but still others to consider. Blackberrys track pad did seem pretty cool but theres only so much you can test on a locked phone.

Web browsing was the other thing I tested. I tried a couple of sites but I must say it wasnt very impressive on the default browser. What do people find web browsing like on the desire? Is it better with the firefox app? Or does it depend on the web page itself?

And before I get too keen on one mode, what are the issues and benefits with an htc desire (it is android, yes?)
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by van »

I can't tell you anything about screen calibration and so forth, but:

For typing, I'm glad to hear it was good for you. My fat fingers weren't happy with the Eclair and Froyo keyboard, but the Gingerbread one is apparently hugely improved. The one you used would have been running either Eclair or Froyo, though.

I use a third-party keyboard called SwiftKey. It has amazing prediction; it reads your SMSs (o noez!) to learn how you phrase things, and also analyses shit you type elsewhere. Over time, it becomes uncannily good at offering the likely next word in whatever sentence you're typing.

https://market.android.com/details?id=c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... e.swiftkey - as you type, it brings up three suggestions. The first is simply whatever you've typed, the middle is what it thinks is the most likely option and the one it will automagically insert if you hit the space bar (although you can alter that setting a few ways), and the third is an alternatively likely option.

For browsing, I use Skyfire and I fucking love it. Haven't tried the Firefox one, haven't felt a need to bother.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by unfnknblvbl »

The Desire screen isn't as good as some of the competition - I think Talez or Mech posted an article about how the subpixels aren't arranged in a very good way, so it's not very sharp. You probably wouldn't notice it unless you were doing a direct comparison to something else though.

Also, the multi-touch on the Desire is 'faked' and can be easily confused if you're wiggling your fingers around a lot. Again, you probably wouldn't notice it if I hadn't told you.

I think the HTC keyboard can be calibrated to your individual typing habits, if not then it learns. Also, there's bajillions of 3rd-party keyboards out there for Android. If you go down the 'droid path, you'll never be short of options in that department. I like Swifkey a lot, but in my experience (and I think van disagrees with me here), Swype is the king of the hill - you just draw a line through the letters you want, and it usually gets it right. It's another learning one, too. Not available on the market though, but I think there's an 'open beta' that you can install on any phone. If not, XDA probably has one you can install.

As for the haptic feedback that you noticed on the Desire - I can't speak for the iPhone or WP7, but in pretty much every Android keyboard I've used, there's an option for that.

While you're looking, why not check out some of the Motorola handsets? From what I've read, they make some of the best Android devices on the market, so long as you're not interested in hacking them.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by van »

I used Swype for a long time and loved it. For some reason though, I just prefer SwiftKey. Dunno why.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Peppermint Lounge »

Blackberry trackpad is a sluggish, slow, inaccurate, primitive mofo after using a good touchscreen phone. If it's all you have then likely not a prob. Again when running iPhone and 9700 in tandem it's akin to a very amusing contrast analogy of a sexual nature.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by GeneraL CyberFunK »

I tried swype but I prefer to type with both hands and found swype to be fiddly and slow. Ive played with a number of phones recently and I just keep coming back to the desire due to it being so consistent in all areas.
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Smartphone advice

Post by Vzzzbx »

When I'm replying to you I type with one.

...
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by van »

Oh Adam.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Madmya »

I just had a look at an LG Windows Phone, it was pretty nice and had the slide QWERTY keyboard. You might want to check that out Pat.

I actually quite liked the OS.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by David Carney »

There's also a Motorola one I've seen advertised. I don't know much about it, other than it can take a beating! :up:
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