Just got AT&T N1, have some questions..

[dvandam]

I got my N1 this past Friday, and my overall first impressions are good, but there are a few usability issues I have and I'm wondering if any of them can be easily resolved. I'm hoping that most of these won't have the answer of "Root your phone then install xxx ROM." Not that I'm against rooting, but I'd prefer to wait a while, especially with 2.2 out there.

1. Is there any way to mute the camera shutter? I find the noise to be very annoying.

2. Continuing with the camera, I find often that faces come out rather red. I took a bunch of photos of my 2 month old daughter and in most of them she looked like she was 3 weeks old. You know how newborns have that red look when they first come out, like they're still "cooling off?" That's what she looks like in nearly all her photos. Is there any way to easily resolve that?

3. I don't like how the phone always "locks" when it's not in use for a minute. Is there any way to delay the lock, or to manually lock it like you could with Windows Mobile phones (Home Button then * key)?

4. Whenever I have WiFi on and don't use it for a while, the phone disconnects from the WiFi, which is good, but it seems like it's not automatically re-connecting to the network. I find myself constantly having to manually reconnect to my WiFi networks. I'd prefer it to just do that automatically.

5. I haven't got a case and screen guard yet so my phone already has some smudges on it, and a nice mark near the unlock line. What should I use to clean off the screen?

6. I tried out Nesoid and I found it to be incredibly unresponsive. Is this because the program isn't good, or is my touch screen not working properly? Like, when I play Super Mario Bros, I can't run and jump at the same time, which anyone will tell you is crucial to properly play.

7. It looks like the alarm feature doesn't work if the phone is off. Is there anyway to change it so it will work like that? It seems like my wife's Samsung Propel is the only phone that can do this.

As I said I am enjoying the phone and if I can find a resolution to these issues it would make a good phone even better. Thanks.

 

[ragingyeti]

1. Putting the phone on silent mutes the shutter. I don't think there is a setting for always silent for the camera because of issues with people taking photos they aren't supposed to. A lot of smartphones now (like BB) wont even let the camera be silent when the rest of the phone is.

2. Camera was updated in 2.2, and I find that the color in my pictures are a LOT better now (previously everything was yellow).

3. Don't think so, not without rooting anyway.

4. Check your wifi settings to make sure you have the network saved and such. It seems like a rather specific problem, so I'm not sure what could be causing it. Mine tends to work fine.
4b. As a side note, I have read that just leaving the wifi connected at all times when you are home saves some battery life rather than turning it on and off. This is due to the wifi antenna requiring less battery than the phone antenna. Leaving it connected means it wont be constantly surching for signals like the phone antenna always does, and since its on wifi the phone antenna will not need to search for signals. You might want to consider this as an option as well. Having the wifi antenna turn off when not in use but still at home will cause the phone antenna to turn back on and search for signals.

5. Any lens cloth should be just fine.

6. It might just be the program if everything else on your phone works fine. Or maybe its the multi-touch issues that the N1 has been known to have (2.2 helps fix this). I have noticed on mine that its a little unresponsive at times, but I don't worry about it too much.

7. I don't know about this one. I seem to think that might be in the main OS to have the phone shut off completely when off. Your wife's phone probably still drains battery to have a "memory" of the alarm, whereas most phones are probably configured to not use any power when off.

 

[MartinS]

I got my N1 this past Friday, and my overall first impressions are good, but there are a few usability issues I have and I'm wondering if any of them can be easily resolved. I'm hoping that most of these won't have the answer of "Root your phone then install xxx ROM." Not that I'm against rooting, but I'd prefer to wait a while, especially with 2.2 out there.

1. Is there any way to mute the camera shutter? I find the noise to be very annoying.

I think in some countries it may be illegal to have a silent camera phone shutter so no this is not always an option.

2. Continuing with the camera, I find often that faces come out rather red. I took a bunch of photos of my 2 month old daughter and in most of them she looked like she was 3 weeks old. You know how newborns have that red look when they first come out, like they're still "cooling off?" That's what she looks like in nearly all her photos. Is there any way to easily resolve that?

Not seen this on mine.

3. I don't like how the phone always "locks" when it's not in use for a minute. Is there any way to delay the lock, or to manually lock it like you could with Windows Mobile phones (Home Button then * key)?

You can increase the screen timeout to 30 minutes in settings.

4. Whenever I have WiFi on and don't use it for a while, the phone disconnects from the WiFi, which is good, but it seems like it's not automatically re-connecting to the network. I find myself constantly having to manually reconnect to my WiFi networks. I'd prefer it to just do that automatically.

I have never had a problem with this.

5. I haven't got a case and screen guard yet so my phone already has some smudges on it, and a nice mark near the unlock line. What should I use to clean off the screen?

Anything! I regularly rub it on my shirt or trowsers! Also an Oakley sunglasses bag works well.

6. I tried out Nesoid and I found it to be incredibly unresponsive. Is this because the program isn't good, or is my touch screen not working properly? Like, when I play Super Mario Bros, I can't run and jump at the same time, which anyone will tell you is crucial to properly play.

For me a touchscreen can never replace hard buttons. The response is slower and it's easier to miss the screen buttons completely. The Wiimote controller is excellent when used with NESoid or SNESoid.

7. It looks like the alarm feature doesn't work if the phone is off. Is there anyway to change it so it will work like that? It seems like my wife's Samsung Propel is the only phone that can do this.

Not that I know of. I usually put the phone in flight mode when I go to bed.

As I said I am enjoying the phone and if I can find a resolution to these issues it would make a good phone even better. Thanks.

Hope this helps.

 

[dvandam]

As far as the screen cleaning goes, is there anything I should NOT use? I mean obviously putting it in water or using Windex would probably not be advisable, but could I use like a damp (not soaking wet) towel to clean it? I use that for my glasses and it works better than anything else I've used. Still, one is just a plastic lens while the other is part of a $529 phone, so if using that to clean it is wrong let me know.

 

[sourmilk]

the 2.2 camera added additional exposure settings, which may improve things for you.

as for wifi, it usually reconnects once you open the browser.
you can also set it to stop disconnecting automatically. This actually saves the battery b/c the phone stops switching from wifi to 3g, which uses more power than staying on wifi.
Go to> Settings, Wireless and networks, Wi-Fi settings, press menu, Advanced, Wi-fi sleep policy, Set it to Never.

i haven't tried nesnoid, but snesnoid from the same developer works pretty well for me. you might want to try that out to see if it's more responsive.

 

[ragingyeti]

As far as the screen cleaning goes, is there anything I should NOT use? I mean obviously putting it in water or using Windex would probably not be advisable, but could I use like a damp (not soaking wet) towel to clean it? I use that for my glasses and it works better than anything else I've used. Still, one is just a plastic lens while the other is part of a $529 phone, so if using that to clean it is wrong let me know.

I wouldnt risk any fluids personally, but any soft cloth material should work fine. The glass on these phones is pretty scratch resistant, although I'm not willing to risk it to see how resilient they are. Just doing the ol' breath-on-glass-and-wipe-small-circles-with-my-t-shirt should work pretty well.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

If it's just smudges I wouldn't use any chemicals at all. I use a micro fiber cloth (same ones you would use if you were cleaning a camera len) and wipe my phone down. If I had to use a chemical I think I would probably use rubbing alcohol, at least if it gets into anything it will evaporate very quickly, but proceed at your own risk.

 

[Roze]

As everyone answered your questions, I'd just add to the wifi (not sure if it's something you might find useful):
Put your WIFI always on in setting, and on your home screen, use the 'Power Control' widget. This way when you are home, turn it on, and even if you're lock out, it'll be on and it's easy to turn it off. Also the widget allows you to control volume and sync as well.

 

[dvandam]

Putting the phone on silent alleviated the camera sound issue. Also, for anyone who has 2.2 and/or uses Microsoft Exchange with the N1, how well does the N1 work with Exchange, and has 2.2 improved it much? I heard that Exchange support has been bad with Android, but that 2.2 was supposed to improve on it. I know there are 3rd party apps that allegedly work well with Exchange, but I don't want to spend money on them only to find that 2.2 did everything I wanted for free.