Initial Thought and Questions - X10

[nb_mitch]

Ooooh K-9 has always behaved very well on my phone, that is strange! If you continue having problems then switch to Maildroid, pretty much the same when I had a look at it. I know a couple of other AT&T members are using this quite happily.

Thanks, I hope it is just a first day jitters and it will be ok now

On another note, I got a 8G card to replace the 2G card, can I just copy the data to the new card from the 2G card or do I have to format it in the phone?

 

[nb_mitch]

Today was another good day, took the phone out for it's first trip Everything seems ok, I do have a few new questions for today

1. Formatting a new 8G card, anything special, or just copy my current card to the new one and put it in the device?

2. Sending a Picture with email? I click on the email icon, it gives me a list of 7 possible email apps, I pick K-9, it gives me a blank email, I put in an address, subject, text, hit send and never see it again??? Is there something I am missing with k9 setup on default sending email or something? or is there something in the camera setting? Can I pick a default mail app, so I don't get the list of 7

3. Made a call today to some government agency and got the "enter 1 for english, 2 for spanish, etc, and realized I don't have a keyboard. I saw a little checkerboard looking thing below the "end call" button, but when I tapped on it, it did nothing.

As always, TIA.

 

[nb_mitch]

I figured out the swipe thing on the phone, not a nature thing coming from a Blackberry with a keyboard

I also cleaned up my address book on Yahoo and imported it to Gmail and was amazed that the X10 automatically sync all the updates without even connecting with a USB, that was nice.

Still haven't figured out the sending a pix thing and I am not real sure about something as simple as answering the phone.

When I get a call, the screen lights up, shows who it is found, but has the swipe arch across it. Do you have to swipe to answer a call or can you just tap on the screen?

Newbees, don't you just love them

 

[nb_mitch]

Still haven't figured out the sending a pix thing and I am not real sure about something as simple as answering the phone.

Got this one fixed, figured out none of my email was going out because my outgoing port was wrong, thanks to another thread here that I found with the "search function"

 

[nb_mitch]

After about a week of usage, I am starting to get use to it. A few things are still a bit awkward coming from a Blackberry, but then I was pretty settled in on my Blackberry hadn't installed a new App in probably a year, but then the basics just came with the Blackberry where Android seems to be more of a blank canvas.

Things that make me go "hummm?"

1. Camera - I haven't tried to take pictures in normal light yet, but the night time pictures I have taken are difficult. Not talking about quality of pix, but the experience of taking a pix.

I have downloaded Camera 360, it says my device can't zoom, but the standard camera zooms fine, is this a 1.6 OS issue? Both camera software/hardware (???) seem hard to use. I get the "press half way for auto focus" part, I see the green light or the square turns green, but I am struggling with getting a photo to "take". I feel like I am pushing the button so hard it is never coming back up, but nothing is happening.

Any advice would be appreciated.

2. On-Off/Sleep - Standard software on the Blackberry is a sleep mode, which really turns the device off with a timer. I have always shut my device off at 11pm and back on at 7am (work days) and 9am weekends. It helps battery life and stops annoying calls from the boss at 2am The sleep mode on the Android does seem like it actually shuts down everything, and I see an App that I like that seems to do about the same thing, but needs 2.1 to install (stuck on At&t right now).

3. Answering a call - Even when my Blackberry was locked, you could answer a call, but from reading the "User's Manual" it seems you have to unlock the device before answering a call, pretty awkward and time consuming at times. Is there a App to fix this?

4. Keyboard still sux, but I am getting better and the screen seems small to me, considering it is 3 times larger than my old BB Curve, I didn't think that would be an issue. I saw/held a Dell Streak for the first time tonight at a Best Buy and it seems huge . I can't believe how much bigger it seemed even though it is ONLY 1" larger.

5. Battery life. I initially installed ATK to kill unwanted tasked then decided I didn't need it, so I un-installed it for about 3 days and my battery life suffered, maybe it was unrelated. On a normal day I would just kill everything about twice a day. When I start the phone up I get about 30 Apps started, mostly Bloatware from At&t that I can't un-install, some Apps I have added. I don't know if I can go into each App and turn a "auto start" setting off? But I really am not use to stuff starting that I have never opened or used. I understand that some of these are Shortcuts/Widget on my Home Screen, is that what starts them up? Anyway, I re-installed ATK and it seems to be back to almost normal.

6. Battery Charging. It seems to take a long time, maybe overnight to get a full charge.

 

[rosered]

I can chip in on a couple of things..

The camera is not the speediest thing I have to agree, and daytime is better than night time. Not got 360, have Vignette but that is slow to save them too.

On the answer a call, on 1.6 I thought that swyping the unlock answered the call, so really only only stroke as such and you are done.

On the battery charging download an app called Battery Graph and you get a visual of your battery charge. Mine depends on how low it is when I put it on charge, just looked at the app and went from 34 to 100% in 1.5 hours, on another day 24 to 100 in 2.5 hours. You should see a bounce pattern on the charge graph in that it charges to 100%, charging ceases and then as the battery drains again charging recommences at about 92% and then goes back up to 100 etc.

The keyboard... work with what you have, turn it landscape for bigger keys, try some different keyboards.

 

[charlyee]

I am not sure if this is a 2. 1 option but in the "Capture Mode" option, if you set it to Touch Capture, it will shoot the picture when you touch the screen. I find this much better.

Take a look at the Bedside Mode app, it does everything the BB does and more.

You can always root your phone and use something like Titanium Backup to get rid of the bloatware.

My battery charges fully within 2-2.5 hours, which is about the same as what my BB 9700 did and my Treos prior to that, yours sounds way too long.

 

[madmurdoch]

I'm the opposite here. I got my X10 about 2 months ago for personal use then got a BB Bold 9700 2 weeks ago with work. I become so engrossed and technically sound on the X10 that the BB felt like comparing a calculator (X10) to an abacus (BB).

Obviously depends on what you want it for but I do find the BB pretty cr*p to be honest and pretty old fashioned and tedious to work with in general.

X10 rocks.

As a bonus comment, I love it when people with iPhone's think they are the bees knees and make it known, when in my view the X10 is far superior and I have a quiet laugh at them in my head.

 

[nb_mitch]

I am not sure if this is a 2. 1 option but in the "Capture Mode" option, if you set it to Touch Capture, it will shoot the picture when you touch the screen. I find this much better.

Take a look at the Bedside Mode app, it does everything the BB does and more.

You can always root your phone and use something like Titanium Backup to get rid of the bloatware.

I will give that a try on the camera and Bedside. Thanx.

I did install Z4Root but it didn't work so I gave up, I am too old to be rooting around on my own

Obviously depends on what you want it for but I do find the BB pretty cr*p to be honest and pretty old fashioned and tedious to work with in general.

I don't disagree, I have had 4 BB over the last 6 years and they really haven't changed much over that time. It is so old school, but the basic functions are solid. Email, Alarm, Phone, On-Off, Backup/Recovery, USB connections, etc. It is easy to set up and the desktop software for loading apps/back-ups, switching devices is solid.

I was comfortable and almost got a Torch, but I really wanted a bigger screen, looked at a Dell Streak and Samsung Tab (until they decided to remove the phone in the US). I just couldn't justify the price for either.

I believe the future OS is Android and I like most of what I see, but it has been a bit of a learning curve too. I know with each of my Blackberries, I had them completely set up and functional in a day, but the X10 has taken me a week to get to the same point. Maybe I am just getting too old to learn new things

I like the X10 and expect to keep it a year and hopefully learn allot more about Android, Market, Apps, etc. Then I will probably get something bigger, either 5" or 6" screen, who knows what will be on the Market by then.

 

[madmurdoch]

My view on BB's are that they are 100% work phones and do what they need to. People comparing them to Android is like comparing main courses and puddings.

They aren't comparable for me. You make an early decision for main purpose of your phone and it sends you to:-

Standard phone - people who just want to make the odd call and texts
Blackberry - work phone for people who email all day long and need a few business extras
iPhone - posers who are easily fooled by expert marketing and people who want a better phone than standard but easy to use and idiot proof
Android - the phone for a the connoisseur and technologically sound. It does bloomin' everything and more and you can make it pretty much do what you want. I'm teaching mine to walk at the moment.

 

[charlyee]

I will give that a try on the camera and Bedside. Thanx.

I did install Z4Root but it didn't work so I gave up, I am too old to be rooting around on my own

I don't disagree, I have had 4 BB over the last 6 years and they really haven't changed much over that time. It is so old school, but the basic functions are solid. Email, Alarm, Phone, On-Off, Backup/Recovery, USB connections, etc. It is easy to set up and the desktop software for loading apps/back-ups, switching devices is solid .

when I had 1. 6 I used x10Root, only thing is it is available in the Market and you have to go through the Side Loading procedure. With your computer knowledge you may have less problems with the computer recognizing the device than a lot of us do and did.

I only had a BB for 9 months, came from years of WM, I still miss my BB from time to time. Infact I am glad that the 9780 is not out on at&t yet, or I would be quite tempted to get it atleast as a back up to my X10.

 

[nb_mitch]

This morning my X10 is DEAD. I figured something drained the battery overnight, but I assumed plugging it in to the USB would at least allow me to start it up (while still plugged in), but it has been plugged in about 30 minutes and it still won't turn on.

I pulled the battery after about 10 minutes, but so far I got nothing (well almost nothing, after plugging it in, I got a red blinking light)

Is this normal? (still would like an answer

After 45 minutes, I disconnected the USB and reconnected it, then tried to turn it on, the phone came on, Battery says it is at 1%

 

[rosered]

Are you using the usb cable and plug that came with the phone? They are really temperamental... I had this prob when I mistakenly used my sons LG charger - it's black, had a usb lead plugged into it and fitted into my phone. When I used the SE one it charged no prob.

Have you tried connecting it to the PC and see if it will take a charge that way? It could be a number of things, bad battery, usb port in phone, usb cable or charger plug unit. The other thing that I heard which I thought was a bit random but worth a try when you are getting desperate... try a different wall socket. Contact your carrier / retailer and get it looked at, possibly take all your kit to a retail outlet so you can try the demo phone battery, usb and plug in combination with yours to eliminate where its failing.

 

[nb_mitch]

Are you using the usb cable and plug that came with the phone? They are really temperamental...

Yes, I am using the cable that came with it. I don't really like the mini-usb as much as a standard USB, and the cover on top of the phone just gets in the way. I think my charging issue was I didn't have it completely connected. But it still charged slow to me, connected to a computer.

11:30am 1%
1pm 26%
2pm 46%
3pm 62%
4pm 77%

Then I disconnected it until about 11pm, I was out doing my favorite thing, playing Mayor Clayton at Give Kids the World, so the phone should have been on 3G network, or searching for one for 7 hours. When I plugged it back in, it was down to 66%.

 

[nb_mitch]

Ever since I installed Battery Booster and Memory Booster my battery issues seem to be gone.

Everything is almost working well, I only have 2 issues that I know are settings related but I haven't got fixed yet.

1. When I make a call, even if it is only 5 seconds, as soon as I end the call, the device Immediately goes into lock mode. It is so frustrating to keep having to swipe the pattern, etc, just to get the screen back.

2. I have got it so well trained on Wifi, I realized today when I left the house and went shopping that my K9 mail or anything else for that matter would not work on 3g, the polling is off and I couldnt figure out how to get anything except the phone to work. I thought I had a 3G icon on the top of the screen, but I couldn't get it to send an email

It is sure cutting down on 3G usage though, I have had ZERO in 2 weeks