Windows Phone 7 Launch Thread

evolutionqy7

Well thats what i was trying to find out.

Flashing updated firmware on my Omnia now. Alot of people on XDA said that theres a noticable increase in performance and wifi signal stability

So ill see in a day how the updated firmware works

WP7 downloader sucks. Its overcomplicated compared to HTC tools.

On HTC it was one click on exe file. And keep pressing next next next.
On Samsung you have to located 4 files and then press start. Alot more effort

shadowninty

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

On Samsung you have to located 4 files and then press start. Alot more effort

can I lol?

gizmo

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Well thats what i was trying to find out.

Flashing updated firmware on my Omnia now. Alot of people on XDA said that theres a noticable increase in performance and wifi signal stability

So ill see in a day how the updated firmware works

WP7 downloader sucks. Its overcomplicated compared to HTC tools.

On HTC it was one click on exe file. And keep pressing next next next.
On Samsung you have to located 4 files and then press start. Alot more effort

You have the correct bootloader then? I have the one which seems to be blocking the phone going into Download mode. I'd read the same info myself on XDA, especially about the Radio update being quite improved too.

evolutionqy7

shadowninty wrote: »

can I lol?

Yeah u can its just alot less complicated for a non techie person to press one button and keep clicking next rather than going around clicking to put in files he doesnt know about. Like formats being asked there people would get confused.

gizmo wrote: »

You have the correct bootloader then? I have the one which seems to be blocking the phone going into Download mode. I'd read the same info myself on XDA, especially about the Radio update being quite improved too.

Yeah i have a working bootloader. Phone seems to boot alot faster now. Only thing i noticed so far, since im still reinstalling all my apps. Seems quicker now but might be just cause of fresh install. It breaks my heart that theres no way to save game. Wish the game saves would be stored on xbox live too would need to do any back ups or any sort of crap then. Ive lost interest in nearly all the games i bought at this stage lol

Anyway will know more tomorrow when to phone is loaded with apps and music.

My poor HD7 sitting on the table in flight mode all day lost about 3% id say

evolutionqy7

Just got a notification for the Omnia 7 and HD7 to update see how that goes

Both went along very smoothly

markpb

I got an update notification on my Omnia 7 again this morning. First time failed with the same error as before because Zune timed out while Windows was trying to download new device drivers from Windows update. During the second attempt, I skipped the Windows Update part and it went fine. It was much slower than I expected, I was a little worried for a while.

gizmo

Tried again, now getting the 800705B4 error which some people are saying can be avoided by having more than 4GB free on the phone.

Tough **** MS, I'm not wiping everything off my phone just because you can't get a god damn update process working properly. :mad:

markpb

gizmo wrote: »

Tried again, now getting the 800705B4 error which some people are saying can be avoided by having more than 4GB free on the phone.

I had 600Mb free on my phone when I did the upgrade - perhaps it's to do with free space on your hard drive? A full phone backup is done on your PC before the upgrade starts.

gizmo

markpb wrote: »

I had 600Mb free on my phone when I did the upgrade - perhaps it's to do with free space on your hard drive? A full phone backup is done on your PC before the upgrade starts.

Hmm, I had ~950MB free on the phone and desktop hard drive space certainly isn't an issue. The update seems to install alright but just at the last step, the rebooting one, it fails due to a time out. This is despite the fact that the phone as actually successfully rebooted itself. :rolleyes:

evolutionqy7

I had 135GB free on PC HDD and 1.7GB free on Omnia 7

Had 8GB free on HD7

danger_mouse_tm

did my update today on vodafone's LG e900. It went smoothly. I won't know till it gets a week of hard work if there are any performance improvements. I haven't noticed any new features.

Malice

Does anyone know how to upload PDFs onto the HD7? That stupid Zune software only appears to support movies and music. Why oh why can't the device just be accessible in Windows Explorer? :mad:

wheresmybeaver

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

did my update today on vodafone's LG e900. It went smoothly. I won't know till it gets a week of hard work if there are any performance improvements. I haven't noticed any new features.

This is just a preupdate so there are zero changes to the UI or performance, it's purely just to make sure that the next updates will work ok.

Malice wrote: »

Does anyone know how to upload PDFs onto the HD7? That stupid Zune software only appears to support movies and music. Why oh why can't the device just be accessible in Windows Explorer? :mad:

Email them to yourself as attachments, or better yet use the excellent (free) Send to WP7.

Just applied the update on my O2 HD7, went fine and took 5 minutes. Word on the interwebz is that NoDo is due in the next week; copy/paste, bugfixes and improved marketplace ahoy!

evolutionqy7

I just use my skydrive to get the docs i need on the phone office and pdf. Have it bookmarked in the browser. So once i put it in my pc sync folder it goes straight to the cloud then i just download it to a phone.

Still cant decide which is a better phone HD7 vs Omnia 7

Both have very good cons and pros.

Ill need to wait till NoDo update to see which one performs the best.

Onecoolcookie

Just bought a new HTC Mozart 7 after moving from my old android phone, still talking me a while to get used to the new marketplace though. Does anyone have a list of must have apps for windows 7 phones?

evolutionqy7

Depends on what you need

Theres not alot of great apps out there right now only a few since developers dont have access to full API's which should be introduced soon enough hopefullly

Concentrating on games now

wheresmybeaver

Onecoolcookie wrote: »

Just bought a new HTC Mozart 7 after moving from my old android phone, still talking me a while to get used to the new marketplace though. Does anyone have a list of must have apps for windows 7 phones?

I listed some of my favourite apps here if you want to check them out. But yeah once developers have access to more APIs we'll see some more innovative apps, like augmented reality, compass apps, camera apps etc. There's also talk about MS allowing native code access (C+ I think) to some developers, which would mean easier migrating of complex games and apps from WM (for example) to WP7. Think easier migration of Tomtom GPS software, 3d games engines and the like. Since Nokia are on board now, pretty much anything could happen.

evolutionqy7

Right so i had the Omnia 7 for a week while HD7 is sitting in the drawer

So i can make a sure comparison

Screen: AMOLED on Samsung is a clear winner. The black colours make a massive difference in Windows Phone 7. Whites arent as great but when you put the two together colours on HD7 look washed out. But you wouldnt notice this unless you owned both In personal preference i preffer the 4.3" screen cause its just that bit nicer.

Make and Feel: I usually would be against Samsung cause their build quality was never the best, but Samsung pretty much nailed it with the Omnia7. Phone is very solid. No squeeking when under pressure unlike the HD7. Though Omnia 7 is very slippery compared to HD7 and the metal coating or paint on Omnia 7 isnt very durable and you will need a skin or a cover to keep away all them scratches. Same goes for the screen. Screen seems to be coming out with a few very very very light marks vs i used the HD7 for over two weeks and nothing on its screen. So screen cover on its way too as cover is meant to be coming next week.

Biggest downfal to me on Omnia 7 is that the phone is not comfy to hold in hand for a long time, never had this issue with HD2 or HD7.
Buttons: Biggest most annoying thing on HD7 is the hard and soft buttons. Hard buttons are very hard to press cause their not sticking out enough. Where as they are nice an easy to press on the Omnia. Cause the Omnia has a hard windows button it lower the amount of mispress i had on the

HD7 where it has all soft button. Also you can unlock the phone with Omnia's windows button where it doesnt work like that on HD7 or LG phone.

Speaker quality is far more superior on the Omnia. Music is nice loud and crisp as where on my HD7 its damn horrible.

Performance: Mixed review. Omnia seems to perform better with third party apps. Applications load faster on the Omnia where they take ages on HD7. But for ie. rotation animation is miles slow than HD7 and system run seems to be slower on Omnia vs HD7. Omnia also boots and shutdowns faster

Battery life: Omnia 7 is the clear winner. Omnia has a 1500mah battery vs 1280mah on HD7 that extra pushes out extra good few hours and can last way longer than my HD7 ever did. Also im sure this is cause the screen is smaller and due to Omnia's screen technology.

Software: HTC has always managed to provide extra software for your buck with their phones and they still managed to pack in more value than the Omnia 7. Most missed apps for me provided by HTC were Sound Enhancer and the HTC Hub which provides a live tile for weather updates and the sound enhancer provides superb and superior sound quality coming out of the headphones compared to the Omnia.

Storage: Biggest downfall of Omnia 7 is the 8GB storage limit. Ive alot of games installed and approx 200-300 songs on it and im stuck with 900mb free. This wasnt a problem with the HD7 cause it has 16GB and offers alot more freedom and less thinking of what to delete to make space for new stuff on the phone.

Final: Both phones have pros and cons and tbh i love both phones. But gonna stick with the Omnia just cause of extra battery life and the AMOLED screen and better build quality.

I might edit this in case i forget something

Just my thought on both phones

shadowninty

^^^^ nice review

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

I listed some of my favourite apps here if you want to check them out. But yeah once developers have access to more APIs we'll see some more innovative apps, like augmented reality, compass apps, camera apps etc. There's also talk about MS allowing native code access (C+ I think) to some developers, which would mean easier migrating of complex games and apps from WM (for example) to WP7. Think easier migration of Tomtom GPS software, 3d games engines and the like. Since Nokia are on board now, pretty much anything could happen.

yeah, support for native code would be great - hopefully it can be actually actively supported by MS, unlike with Google :rolleyes:

evolutionqy7

Hey guys thought it would be a good idea to get some Xbox live friends that own a wp7 device to compare games and scores so if you don't mind add Evolutionqy71 on Xbox live

Must have apps

Calc Pro - very good calculator
Convert Units for Free - best converter i used so far
Morfo - Cool 3D app to map someones face and make em do silly things lol
Tools - Handy tools apps with useful converter, spirit level, morse code (lol), ruler screen light, seismometer and a stop watch
Weather bug - Find it better than HTC Hubs weather
XDA Wallpaper - Some good wallpapers, as well as the ability to make your own ones with fixed templates
Boards Express - For reading forums (obv except boards.ie)

Games

Bejewel Live - Arcade puzzle
Ilomilo - 3D puzzle game
The Harvest - Action Game
Tiki Towers - Funny tower building game
Max and the Magic Market - Puzzle
Assasins Creed - Altrairs Chronicles - Action
Moron Test - Best test ever
Revolution

Free Games
Canny - Cannon Shooter game
Bubble Birds
BlackOut
Swipy Man
Traffic
Unite
Vizati
Scribble Defence+
Pixel Man Zero
Hangman Deluxe
ElectricBeans
Chicks `n` Vixens

stevenmu

"Gravity" is a another good free game. The colour scheme is awful, the controls are a bit finicky and the initial difficulty curve is steep, but it's a good challenging action/puzzlish game worth sticking with.

evolutionqy7

Yeah have a trial Gonna wait till the update with better controls otherwise a brilliant game

You should check this website out http://wmpoweruser.com/

It usually makes reviews of games and apps for Windows Phone 7.

Also keep an eye on PocketNow.com since they make weekly app reviews from across iOS WP7 and Android platforms

evolutionqy7

Found quite a very good inexpensive case for Omnia 7 on ebay.

Paid 5 pound in total and it arrived today Think i ordered last week on Tuesday.

First impression. Very solid and durable. Unlike silicon ones i found around Dublin it doesnt slip of the phone when you take it out of your pocket and it looks brilliant. Grip is perfect. The middle back of the phone isnt too grippy though it would be perfect not getting too stuck in the pocket, but the sides where the reflective back is it offers great grip ive been missing

Also design is great and looks lovely on the phone

One con. The buttons are as easy to push. They dont offer such tacktile feedback as without it. But im sure ill get used to it

Generally 9 out of 10 One of the best cases ive ever seen

evolutionqy7

So good news HD7 leaked roms with Nodo appeared

And we found a way on XDA how to flash an unbraded rom to branded O2 UK rom

Will post intructions on how to for HD7 users soon

______________________________________________

Ok so first just to make it clear If you flash it this way you will loose all your data. So back up what you need

First You must flash this O2_UK_1.57 ROM

Then you must extract it into a folder

Then find ModelID.fig in the folder

_______________________________________

Download the Nodo Rom

Extract the rom into a folder

Place the ModelID.fig from the 1.57 ROM file into the extracted NoDo folder.

Launch Rom uptade uptility and your done

____________________________________________

You got the NoDo update and your unbranded from O2

Boy if games load faster on HD7 now and they used to be slower on HD7 than Omnia. What will it be like on the Omnia 7 after the update?

wheresmybeaver

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

So good news HD7 leaked roms with Nodo appeared

And we found a way on XDA how to flash an unbraded rom to branded O2 UK rom

Will post intructions on how to for HD7 users soon

______________________________________________

Ok so first just to make it clear If you flash it this way you will loose all your data. So back up what you need

First You must flash this O2_UK_1.57 ROM

Then you must extract it into a folder

Then find ModelID.fig in the folder

_______________________________________

Download the Nodo Rom

Extract the rom into a folder

Place the ModelID.fig from the 1.57 ROM file into the extracted NoDo folder.

Launch Rom uptade uptility and your done

____________________________________________

You got the NoDo update and your unbranded from O2

Boy if games load faster on HD7 now and they used to be slower on HD7 than Omnia. What will it be like on the Omnia 7 after the update?

So.... you wouldn't need a Goldcard / special USB cable or the like? And all branding gone? Intriguing!

Only two things preventing me from doing this however:

1. I'd lose all my text messages, and I'd have to relink all my facebook and Windows Live contacts. App and games data gone. Camera Roll starts from scratch again.
2. I'd lose the ability to sideload my kindle ebooks

Still, might be worth it to get rid of the O2 logo permanently and not be stuck on the O2 update cycle! Thanks for the guide.

evolutionqy7

All O2 stuff gone never even had a goldcard

I wouldnt do it on the samsung since its my main phone and i already did a few hard resets and struggling to find my new games interesting since ive done half of them and then had to start over.

Though the update isnt as much as i expected. Its still welcome and nice. Copy paste is done very nicely

Marketplace improvement is nice too

And no more frustration waiting for an app to start or load its nearly instant in most games. Games like assasins creed start in about a second or 2 on the HD7 now

______________________________________

Btw chicks and vixens update is out got some nice improvements

chrislad

Excellent news. I've stopped bothering with Bejeweled because it takes about a year to load up on the Omnia.

evolutionqy7

chrislad wrote: »

Excellent news. I've stopped bothering with Bejeweled because it takes about a year to load up on the Omnia.

Well it still takes quite a few seconds to load bejeweled live. Ive no idea why though since its one of light weight games yet it takes the longest to load

Still not as long theres a video somewhere on youtube showing how fast the games to load compared to pre nodo

Scrolling in panorama apps is also alot smoother

Odaise Gaelach

That's quite promising indeed. Now, if only the rest of us could get our hands on the fecking update!

wheresmybeaver

MS are now saying the update will definitely be here second half of March. Yeah. They're justifying the delay as wanting to make sure they have all their little ducks in a row before unleashing a "big" update.

It does mean that future updates won't suffer the same delays. There should pretty much be a WP7 update come along every 2 to 3 months, same as iOS.

Meanwhile, back to Chicks n Vixens ;-)