joselillo_25 wrote:
Already did . It's available for free from the Ovi Store, and is a must-have for this phone. It's so awesome that I find myself bringing up the Notes or Messaging app just to swype in random stuff .
Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, David, mac_h8r1, Nelliesboo
joselillo_25 wrote:
Voldenuit wrote:I definitely hit those occasional seizing up, especially when it is doing background stuff like downloading/installing apps/contents.The device is normally very snappy, with smoothly animated transitions between home screens (you get 3 that you can swipe around), but it will occasionally seize up for a second or so.
Voldenuit wrote:Agree, but compared to the latest iPhone 4 and the faster Android devices sometimes the N8 feels like it can be faster.It's similar to the 1st Gen iPhone in that regard, but when it's fast, feels as snappy as a 3GS.
Voldenuit wrote:Question: Ovi store does not have the 3.06 beta yet, is it ok to download from betalabs? Will it properly "overwrite" the "retail" 3.04? 1.8GB is good stuff, that's what my unlimited data plan is screaming for. BTW, I was grabbing 300MB+ worth of stuff from Ovi store and the device did get a bit warm with all the radios working at full 3.5G blast. Battery also drained pretty fast. Now that I have battery monitor I can tell at what rate battery is dropping. The default meter really sucks that needs to be fixed asap.An update to Ovi Maps (3.06) added pinch zoom to the app. Unfortunately, it also forced me to redownload all my GPS maps - the USA maps were 1.8 GB!
Voldenuit wrote:Coming from dumbphones with physical keys this is my first full touch phone for day-to-day use. I already knew that my touch screen typing sucks, with typos and slow speed whenever I happen to grab friend's Android/iOS/WP7 (yes, even the big screen Focus I have trouble hitting the keys) devices. It seems like I have grown really accustomed to physical keys that my thumbs always hit the screen at a rather tilted angle instead of vertically hitting the spots. This may also contribute to me missing touches from time to time. Like I did touch the glass but the button may not respond from time to time, or it did respond when I did not want to. Case in point is clicking on a selection vs flick-to-scroll in a list. Sometimes it just does not do what I wanted. May be a getting used to thing, but I felt like the Focus has a more sensitive screen. It may be the default protective screen that is affecting this?Sadly, there is still no portrait QWERTY keyboard, even with Swype installed, although Opera Mobile (not included) very handily has its inbuilt portrait keyboard which is very similar to the iPhone's.
Voldenuit wrote:MKV and WMV files are hit and miss for me so far. I sent a bunch of files over USB-on-the-go, BT, USB mass storage and "phone device mode" (MTP?) and of them, 1 mkv played audio but not video, and 1 wmv played video but not audio. Strange. MP4 files I expect to be no problem, except may be if it has mutliple embedded streams of audio/subtitles. I will dig up some mkv's with those as well.It can play 720p videos and supports H.264, MPEG4, VC1 and a variety of file formats (I've had success with mkv, avi, mpg, mp4 but not vob or m4v). For audio, it plays mp3, aac, ac3 and wma but not flac.
Flying Fox wrote:My turn to test out my brother's dark gray N8 (ordering from newegg for him). Some random initial thoughts/questions below.
Question: Ovi store does not have the 3.06 beta yet, is it ok to download from betalabs? Will it properly "overwrite" the "retail" 3.04? 1.8GB is good stuff, that's what my unlimited data plan is screaming for. BTW, I was grabbing 300MB+ worth of stuff from Ovi store and the device did get a bit warm with all the radios working at full 3.5G blast. Battery also drained pretty fast. Now that I have battery monitor I can tell at what rate battery is dropping. The default meter really sucks that needs to be fixed asap.
Coming from dumbphones with physical keys this is my first full touch phone for day-to-day use. I already knew that my touch screen typing sucks, with typos and slow speed whenever I happen to grab friend's Android/iOS/WP7 (yes, even the big screen Focus I have trouble hitting the keys) devices. It seems like I have grown really accustomed to physical keys that my thumbs always hit the screen at a rather tilted angle instead of vertically hitting the spots. This may also contribute to me missing touches from time to time. Like I did touch the glass but the button may not respond from time to time, or it did respond when I did not want to. Case in point is clicking on a selection vs flick-to-scroll in a list. Sometimes it just does not do what I wanted. May be a getting used to thing, but I felt like the Focus has a more sensitive screen. It may be the default protective screen that is affecting this?
MKV and WMV files are hit and miss for me so far. I sent a bunch of files over USB-on-the-go, BT, USB mass storage and "phone device mode" (MTP?) and of them, 1 mkv played audio but not video, and 1 wmv played video but not audio. Strange. MP4 files I expect to be no problem, except may be if it has mutliple embedded streams of audio/subtitles. I will dig up some mkv's with those as well.
Tried the camera with the default protector sheet on. I thought it was clear enough to take pictures but most pictures came out foggy. Need to confirm with the thing off to see if I received a bad unit or something. No power off problems so far but I'm only 24 hours into the thing.
By far my biggest WTF complaint is Unicode characters: browser, file names and ID3 tags. Opera 10 luckily can show non-English characters (Chinese to be exact). My Sony Ericsson dumbphones can display Unicode file names a long time ago. Android has support right out of the gate. WTF this is 2010 and you still give me squares!?!? I don't want to play tricks like flashing a different country firmware and stuff. This is actually an under-the-hood fix that needs to happen ASAP at the same time as the browser. Opera 10 is nice but no multi-touch zoom yet, so there are compromises that need to be made. For me, if this does not get fix soon it is my deal breaker and I will be forced to learn the ways of the little green dude (just like Yoda?).
Apps installed so far (in addition to all the free Tron and trailer videos I have been downloading):
- Angry Birds - reminded me of the gorilla throwing banana thing back in QBasic, but nice time killer and good battery drainer
- Tron Legacy - hard to control but it looks cool, so I guess I will learn to play with it
- Nokia Battery Monitor 1.2 - no need to sideload it for me
- Sensible Sudoku - haven't tried yet, but only the handful that is free
- UpCode - have to try it some time too
- Opera 10.1 - as above
- Speedometer - will try tomorrow when I go out on the road
- Swype - haven't hit a mistake yet, I can see it saving my a** because I suck so hard at touch screen typing
Edit: one other weird thing that I noticed: If I hit the home/menu key and bring up the "Menu" app and then hit Exit, it does not completely quit the app (shown by the task manager or Options -> Show open applications)? However, if I go Options -> Exit from within the "Menu" app it completely exits it. I understand that keeping the Menu app in the background may have its uses, but is this just some inconsistency bug or what?
Tried the camera with the default protector sheet on. I thought it was clear enough to take pictures but most pictures came out foggy. Need to confirm with the thing off to see if I received a bad unit or something. No power off problems so far but I'm only 24 hours into the thing.
blitzy wrote:those photos are damn good quality considering they were taken on a mobile phone, pretty impressive IMO
cynan wrote:Other than the better build quality on the N8 and the presumably better camera (though suprisingly there are some conflicting reviews on this), is there any reason why I should go with the N8 over the Galaxy S?
Voldenuit wrote:[quote="cynan"
There is no uncertainty: the camera on the N8 is miles ahead of the Galaxy. However, there are certainly reasons to consider one over the other.
Galaxy Pros:
Faster processor and more RAM (512 MB vs 256 MB)
Bigger app marketplace
Gorilla glass screen (on some variants) - on par with N8 here
User-removable battery
Lighter (but only by ~20 grams)
Galaxy Cons:
Stuttering
Poor GPS lock
Glossy plastic back chintzy and prone to scratches
Poorer battery life
Not all variants have front-facing camera (my suspicion is that this is an evil way for carriers to lock users out of VoIP video calls)
Have to root to sideload and get latest updates on carrier-locked phones
No flash on camera - not even an LED flash! (wtf?)
Dposcorp wrote:Don't get me wrong, I like the Nokia and loved my N800 & N810 tablets, but be fair when comparing the phones.
codedivine wrote:1. For me, I was clear that I wanted to have a good camera in the phone and thus N8 was the first choice, Camera on the N8 is superior and there is no doubt about that. I wanted to have a camera always in my pocket as capturing life in good quality photos is important to me. Ever since I got the N8, I have started taking a lot many photos, because its now so convenient to take (and share) pretty good photos anytime. N8 has enabled me to take many photos that I would have otherwise missed because I didnt have a good camera in the pocket.
Dposcorp wrote:Some of that is untrue.
My Galaxy S (Epic 4G for Sprint) does not have all those cons:
*GPS locks fast.
Dposcorp wrote:Thanks for the feedback guys. As of right now, there is no "one phone to rule them all."
Voldenuit wrote:
The real loser here is the enthusiast compact. I forsee this market shrinking as cameraphones get better and better. Why carry 2 devices when 1 is good enough, and practically guaranteed to be with you when a photo op presents itsef?
The only use I'd have for a compact camera now is a ruggedised compact for beach/sports/snow use. But those usually have mediocre image quality at best, so are not a catch-all replacement for imaging solutions either.
If you're a photo enthusiast, a good camera phone and a system camera (be it DSLR or mirrorless) looks like the way to go.
codedivine wrote:Well megazoom compacts still have a place.
Voldenuit wrote:codedivine wrote:Well megazoom compacts still have a place.
True. But they usually have even smaller sensors (1/2.3-1/2.5") and tend to suffer from chromatic fringing and flare problems due to pushing the lens designs so far. And some of the superzoom designs are not exactly 'portable'. Most buyers of these cameras are after the zoom range rather than per pixel image quality or low light performance, so they will still have a place in the post-cameraphone world. The enthusiast compacts - the LX5, G12, S95, XZ1, GX200, GRDIII - with fast 3x or so zooms will be the ones to be squeezed out of the market, unless they do something drastic like moving to a m43 or APS-C sensor. APS-C compacts like the Sigma DPx and Leica X1 will probably still find their niche, too.
Flying Fox wrote:Funny you said that. I actually found it easier to get better pictures with the S90/95 than with the N8. I am doing side-by-side tests from time to time but I have not uploaded them to my IPS monitor yet for some pixel peeping closeups. But I seem to have more confidence in my Canon than the N8. Low light without flash the enthusiast compacts still have their place IMO. Can't beat the laws of physics - a bigger lens is a bigger lens.
Of course, the N8 is not for me. I already determined a while back that I will live with a crappy cam (even the EDoF ones) because I know I will have a real camera with me when I am out and about. That is why I am looking at other phones for myself.
codedivine wrote:My sunspider results are about 10x faster than those published by AT. Not sure what is going on here. Either they are using some other version of sunspider, or they are using an old version of Opera Mobile.