Help My new X10 versus old Hero.....

[Dem]

Well, not very impressed. Picked up the X10 from The Carphone Warehouse yesterday, but only had a chance to play with it today.

Negatives
- - - - - -
1) Text entry is very slow. It clearly registers the key stroke, but it takes a while for the letter to appear on the screen.
2) Keyboard doesn't allow a "long press" to enter numbers and other characters. That is a pain.
3) Definitely missing the pinch to zoom.
4) When writing this thread, I repositioned the cursor to the middle of the test and it took me an age to get the cursor back down to the bottom; just wouldn't let me do it. Something that was so simple on the Hero.......
5) Ringer is not very loud even on maximum.
6) Camera light is completely manual and can only be toggled through the menu; not ideal if trying to take a picture quickly in low light. Why they didn't have an auto 'flash' option is beyond me!


Positives
- - - - -
1) Large screen is a noticeable improvement over the Hero's smaller one.
2) Camera seems good, other than not having a flash (it's a 'light').
3) Stylish looking unit; in my opinion, the best looking phone out there right now, which was my main reason for buying it!

Overall, it's just not as easy to navigate as the HTC Hero. I know I was used to the Hero, but there are things that I feel I just won't get comfortable with on the X10. I really want to like this phone, but fear that the stylish looks, good camera and Timescape / Mediascape are just not enough to compete with HTC's latest, based on my experience with the Hero and specification of the Desire.

I would definitely hold out for the Desire if anybody is torn between these two! Luckily I have another phone on contract with O2 which is due an upgrade, so once they release the Desire, it's gonna replace this X10!

 

[kamm]

Press and hold in any text field to brings up the menu then select "Input method" then pick "Android keyboard" - there you go, all your (weird) issues are gone because you got back your stock Android keyboard (which sucks big time compared to SE's "standard" keyboard, at least in my opinion.)
FYI I tried a Hero some time ago and X10 blows it away in every way.

 

[Dem]

Press and hold in any text field to brings up the menu then select "Input method" then pick "Android keyboard" - there you go, all your (weird) issues are gone because you got back your stock Android keyboard (which sucks big time compared to SE's "standard" keyboard, at least in my opinion.)
FYI I tried a Hero some time ago and X10 blows it away in every way.

Cheers, but that don't help on the keyboard front as the keys still only have one function ("long press" doesn't bring up numbers etc.). Might look in the market for another keyboard.

Well, each to there own. Obviously, I got the X10 to blow the Hero away! Sadly, for me it doesn't. I will try to tune it and bmake it more in tune with what I'd like from the phone, as that's what Android's all about, eh?

 

[Flipperpurify]

Worrying news.... How about the battery life (standby, etc) on this model? And how does it perform when using bbc iplayer and/or youtube streams?

 

[Mxtc]

I though the battery life and standby was good. I didn't charge it overnight, and it still had significant battery left. Also to improve battery life keep wi-fi and gps off unless you need it. Keeping the auto-brightness on to save battery is also good.

Youtube worked fine for me. It's the standard Android youtube application. I didn't have to wait for videos to load, it just streamed, even on high-quality. (on T-mobile USA) Other than that I downloaded an application called "Mediafly" which also performed pretty good streaming video. Of course, this will depend on your network.

 

[Dem]

Worrying news.... How about the battery life (standby, etc) on this model? And how does it perform when using bbc iplayer and/or youtube streams?

Yeah, sad, but true!

I've had the phone on 6 hours with WiFi connected for about 4 of them and the battery dropped from 100% to 39%. I think it will take a few charges to get it up and running to ful capacity. I'm hopeful it's better than the one in my Hero, but I'm still just about expecting an 18 hour shift out of it with reasonable use before the battery is completely flat.

 

[kamm]

Yeah, sad, but true!

I've had the phone on 6 hours with WiFi connected for about 4 of them and the battery dropped from 100% to 39%. I think it will take a few charges to get it up and running to ful capacity. I'm hopeful it's better than the one in my Hero, but I'm still just about expecting an 18 hour shift out of it with reasonable use before the battery is completely flat.

WiFi was always a battery killer on any phone, don't turn it on unless you need to download something huge and there's no 3G coverage.

My X10 was charged yesterday, around 6PM then I took it home, poked around a bit in it, like an hour or so then put it away (around 10PM) and this morning I still got around 75%... and it syncs everything at every 30 mins...

Pay attention to your apps - there are a lot of data and battery hog apps in the Market.

 

[Dem]

WiFi was always a battery killer on any phone, don't turn it on unless you need to download something huge and there's no 3G coverage.

My X10 was charged yesterday, around 6PM then I took it home, poked around a bit in it, like an hour or so then put it away (around 10PM) and this morning I still got around 75%... and it syncs everything at every 30 mins...

Pay attention to your apps - there are a lot of data and battery hog apps in the Market.

Yep; I know that WiFi is a killer, so not surprised it's down on juice!

Oh, one other good thing about the phone though, is that at least I can transfer and receive files via Bluetooth! Missed that when I had the Hero!

 

[redesignni]

For the keyboard issues I recommend getting SmartKeyboard or better still go Pro and you wont regret it... eliminates everything keyboard related plus allows long keypress.

Also, when I first got the Hero (on day of launch Sim-free with no operator branding or software) it was worse than anything Ive found on the X10 and continued for 2 or 3 firmware updates from HTC so if you have any problems or lag let SE work on them. When a new product comes out it always has teething problems and the only reason HTC seems to have solved these is because they have had over a year working on the OS perfecting it on any number of handsets.

 

[Dem]

For the keyboard issues I recommend getting SmartKeyboard or better still go Pro and you wont regret it... eliminates everything keyboard related plus allows long keypress.

Also, when I first got the Hero (on day of launch Sim-free with no operator branding or software) it was worse than anything Ive found on the X10 and continued for 2 or 3 firmware updates from HTC so if you have any problems or lag let SE work on them. When a new product comes out it always has teething problems and the only reason HTC seems to have solved these is because they have had over a year working on the OS perfecting it on any number of handsets.

Yeah, fair point. I just bought 'Better Keyboard' and that has helped.