Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Discussion and support for any other operating system out there.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by KillerByte »

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:
Stuart wrote:Already resorting to custom ROMs? Is the stock ROM that bad?
It's not about stock ROMs being BAD, as such; it's about custom ROMs being that much more awesome :D
Exactly!!!
The stock roms clock the CPU at about 233MHz. Custom ROMs clock the processor at full speed (528MHz)
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by Prime »

Got my hero. Its awesome :mrgreen:

though typing on the display is takings some getting used to. And they could have packaged the damn instruction manual with the phone instead of a 6 meg download :x I also bought a 100 meg data bundle.

Is opera mini available for the hero? I tried to download it and it told me i don't have java installed. :?
Mxit is working rather nicely. Wifi is a pain to set up. typing in a 64 character password on a tiny cellphone screen is less than pleasant :( (typed it 5 times in the end )
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by ADV4NCED »

I'm looking at getting a smart phone, and particularely the HTC hero

Only thing im concerned about is the virtual keyboard.... difficult or slow to use for typing messages say on mxit etc. ?

I've never owned a smart phone or a phone with a keyboard so this is the issue I'm currently stuck on... get a phone with or without the physical keyboard :?

What's your opinions?
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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ADV4NCED wrote:I'm looking at getting a smart phone, and particularely the HTC hero

Only thing im concerned about is the virtual keyboard.... difficult or slow to use for typing messages say on mxit etc. ?

I've never owned a smart phone or a phone with a keyboard so this is the issue I'm currently stuck on... get a phone with or without the physical keyboard :?

What's your opinions?
The keyboard takes a little getting used to. But they put a lot of effort into the predictive system. And it works well! Do yourself a favour and go out to Vodaworld and try one out. They have live versions. Rotation works On most windows except the home screens. The phone book is one thing I'm still struggling with. I keep calling calling people by accident :(

The screen is incredibly responsive which helps a lot.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by Jonboy »

ADV4NCED wrote:I'm looking at getting a smart phone, and particularely the HTC hero

Only thing im concerned about is the virtual keyboard.... difficult or slow to use for typing messages say on mxit etc. ?

I've never owned a smart phone or a phone with a keyboard so this is the issue I'm currently stuck on... get a phone with or without the physical keyboard :?

What's your opinions?
It depends on you man. Do you do a lot of texting or more browsing? I was stuck in the same conundrum but finally decided I text A LOT and would like the email and on-device browsing capabilities so I opted for the Blackberry Curve 8520 - Verdict - I am extremely happy with my choice. The device is fast as the clappers and easy to setup. Email and IM integration are a breeze. I was worried about EDGE browsing but the BB browser and MTN BIS mean constant, reliable speed and coverage.

Have not looked back once, touch-screen phones be darned!

As for the keyboard, I am LOVING the full QWERTY, I though my big paws would battle but the ergonomics somehow make things very easy to handle. I highly recommend this as the best value for money package out there at the moment.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by KillerByte »

i find the Hero's KB fast and very easy to use. I have big hands but it works perfectly.

I used to use Mxit on it and it does the job perfectly but I opted to use my old E51 as a mxit-only phone
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

You know, I'm up for an upgrade next month, and the Hero is REALLY appealing. I've had a chance to play with one relatively extensively (one of my friends has one), and I love it. My only problem is that freaking keyboard. I know you guys say it's great, but I don't find it to be that awesome. I've been using a touchscreen device for two years now and I hate this thing. I hate it so much. Primarily because it's a WinMo device, but I also hate the lack of keys. Man, if the Droid (milestone) arrived, I'd take one of those, as it has a full QWERTY keyboard.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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DAE_JA_VOO wrote:You know, I'm up for an upgrade next month, and the Hero is REALLY appealing. I've had a chance to play with one relatively extensively (one of my friends has one), and I love it. My only problem is that freaking keyboard. I know you guys say it's great, but I don't find it to be that awesome. I've been using a touchscreen device for two years now and I hate this thing. I hate it so much. Primarily because it's a WinMo device, but I also hate the lack of keys. Man, if the Droid (milestone) arrived, I'd take one of those, as it has a full QWERTY keyboard.
Blackberry, ftw then! And plus you need to pay for data to be able to enjoy the coolness of Android and I almost guarantee you that 100Mb won't go very far.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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Android > Blackberry > WinMo = Symbian
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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I never thought I'd get used to an on screen keyboard but seems I was wrong. :D

I turn off pictures and any unnecessary data connections when not in use. The is an HTC widget included to shut off all data at the tap of a finger.

Jonboy, bis only covers individual downloads up to 3 megs. And it actually costs 70 rand a month. My hundred meg data bundle costs 75
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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Prime wrote:I never thought I'd get used to an on screen keyboard but seems I was wrong. :D

I turn off pictures and any unnecessary data connections when not in use. The is an HTC widget included to shut off all data at the tap of a finger.

Jonboy, bis only covers individual downloads up to 3 megs. And it actually costs 70 rand a month. My hundred meg data bundle costs 75
Au contraire, I'm on MTN anytime 200, costs me R208 pm incl R200 airtime, BIS free for 24 months and 25 smses, plus the phone, RRP at about R3K. Woohoo. My next phone may be Android if they have more models with KBs by then and the price od data has dropped. I've streamed radio and data more than 3mb and haven't been charged a cent.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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Jonboy wrote:
Prime wrote:I never thought I'd get used to an on screen keyboard but seems I was wrong. :D

I turn off pictures and any unnecessary data connections when not in use. The is an HTC widget included to shut off all data at the tap of a finger.

Jonboy, bis only covers individual downloads up to 3 megs. And it actually costs 70 rand a month. My hundred meg data bundle costs 75
Au contraire, I'm on MTN anytime 200, costs me R208 pm incl R200 airtime, BIS free for 24 months and 25 smses, plus the phone, RRP at about R3K. Woohoo. My next phone may be Android if they have more models with KBs by then and the price od data has dropped. I've streamed radio and data more than 3mb and haven't been charged a cent.
Ok, that's weird. Maybe it was a special. I worked out all the tarrifs for packages I was interested in.

Thought the 200 rands airtime only covered calls? :/
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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Nah, also did my homework, package includes R200 airtime pm for calls, phone and BIS. Add in R8 for CLI and then any VAS you want (so I added in my R50 sms bundle and itemised billing).

If I wanted the phone on Anytime 100, the cost for package and BIS was R149, that's why Anytime 200 is best value for money.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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And that 3meg limit was what the guy at the blackberry counter at vodaworld told me. :? :dontknow:
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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Jonboy wrote:Nah, also did my homework, package includes R200 airtime pm for calls, phone and BIS. Add in R8 for CLI and then any VAS you want (so I added in my R50 sms bundle and itemised billing).

If I wanted the phone on Anytime 100, the cost for package and BIS was R149, that's why Anytime 200 is best value for money.

100 MEG bundle plus r40 sms bundle and insurance.

And paying in is about the same as paying more on the same package pm, in the end. But I wish there was a package that gave you sms's rather than calls. :/
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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Ok. Complaint time: pictures won't turn off in the android web browser. And there seems to be no page reload button.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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push menu and then you will see the reload icon in the address bar
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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KillerByte wrote:push menu and then you will see the reload icon in the address bar
Yes, I just saw that :oops:
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by ADV4NCED »

Androidish HTC Legend goes live, Hero feels threatened

Interesting....probably worth the wait it seems

I had a good look at the blackberry phones, especially the blackberry bold 9700 but it looks too 'business minded' for my needs so I'm gonna look elsewhere

On the other hand, im still deciding between the SE Aino, HTC Hero, and what might be best of all, the Nokia N900

Divx & xvid playback aswell as the hardware keyboard might just tempt me to buy it instead

I'm still pretty keen on the Hero though :P

Edit: lol sorry dudes if my post is way off original topic :wink:
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by Prime »

I just installed layar. Awesomeness!

Hero was phone of the year. It's pretty peppy despite the dated hardware, so I'd imagine that if they put the 2.1 and their superb dev work into a more powerfully phone, it will be insane!
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by M1ke »

I've been using the Hero for about a week now.

It's everything I could ever have hoped for - it's fast, looks great and is just pure AWESOME.

There's just one problem I wasn't aware of from the beginning. The HTC Hero is currently running Android 1.5, and HTC has confirmed that an Android 2.0 / 2.1 update for the hero is in the works. I decided to ask them more or less when the update was planned to come to South Africa.

This is the response:
Good Day

Thank you for contacting HTC Support.

We have received your email regarding Android Version 2.0 or 2.1.

The HTC Hero will still be on the 1.5 Android version as Google Global has not authorised Google SA to use Google Managed Service

Should you have any queries or require support please contact us on 0861 44 5323.

Kind Regards
HTC Support
Which pisses me off to a serious degree. I mean http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/ <-- Google Goggles requires Android 1.6 to run FFS.

Other than that, it's an awesome phone.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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That's weird. Would have thought that was dependent on leaf and HTC not Google sa. The local hero is not a Google branded device, like say, the Rogers version?
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

Oh come on guys, if you want 2.1, install 2.1 yourselves. You don't need your service provider to send you the update or Google to verify it based on your geographic location. There will be a ROM for this. So backup the closed source apps like Gmail and so on, install the custom ROM, and then install the closed source apps.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

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DAE_JA_VOO wrote:Oh come on guys, if you want 2.1, install 2.1 yourselves. You don't need your service provider to send you the update or Google to verify it based on your geographic location. There will be a ROM for this. So backup the closed source apps like Gmail and so on, install the custom ROM, and then install the closed source apps.
well that's what I thought, but in order to get the ROM you need to enter the serial number of your phone. Entering a serial number from RSA simply disallows the download.

Also, the ROMs that are going to be released are going to be for specefic carriers, like Sprint, etc and are aimed to ONLY work for those carriers. Won't that be a problem?
Apologies if I'm sounding ridiculous, I don't have much experience with how ROMs work with the Android platform.
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Re: Official Android OS thread - PCF style

Post by Prime »

HTC announced on Twitter that 2.0 Rom for the hero will only be released in Feb. Frankly, I'd rather wait, than risk borking my phone. The hero is completely skipping 1.6 it seems.
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