Support NeoGAF

[ep85]

Congrats, be sure to give some impressions.

Also, a few quick questions. I currently have this phone:

and obviously have no 3g. If I were to buy the phone from Dell, could I just stick the SIM card from my old phone into the Venue Pro and be able to call and text?
And how does the process of upgrading to 3g on T-Mobile work? Do I just go into the store and ask for a new 3g SIM card?

Actually that phone has 3G its just used of voice and WAP internet.

You can stick your sim card into a venue pro, but be warned you will pay data charges up the yang. You will need to add a data plan to your monthly bill.

 

[Darkener2]

no... the only thing on the SIM card is your cell number, SIM id#, and any contacts saved on to it. You could take your SIM card out and put it into any t mobile and/or unlocked phone that supports t mobile's network.

 

[antiquegamer]

Anyone got the Focus? I want to add the SD memory card but I keep hearing that it will cause the phone to become unreliable. I was thinking this only if you remove the memory. If I plan to just leave it in there would it be just fine?

At&t and MS both currently not recommend adding SD card but 8gb on a today mobile smart device is pretty lame.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Anyone got the Focus? I want to add the SD memory card but I keep hearing that it will cause the phone to become unreliable. I was thinking this only if you remove the memory. If I plan to just leave it in there would it be just fine?

At&t and MS both currently not recommend adding SD card but 8gb on a today mobile smart device is pretty lame.

The 8GB memory is internal, but the Micro SD is expandable/"addable". ATT has recently advised NOT to install a Micro SD card until they implement a fix for stability/reliability, so hypothetically, you WILL be able to.

 

[trinest]

I heard memory problems where mostly with low class SD cards?

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'm really not into cases for my phones, but I really don't want to damage the Focus's drop dead gorgeous screen. I also have phone insurance through ATT, which covers drops. Should I still go for a case? If the insurance covers drops, then I'm hoping it would be easy to replace if necessary...but I'm still anxious. Anyone get a case for their Focus?

 

[jagowar]

Anyone got the Focus? I want to add the SD memory card but I keep hearing that it will cause the phone to become unreliable. I was thinking this only if you remove the memory. If I plan to just leave it in there would it be just fine?

At&t and MS both currently not recommend adding SD card but 8gb on a today mobile smart device is pretty lame.

Me and a friend both got the focus yesterday.... We were advised at the store to not put the card in but we went ahead anyways. Have not had any issues so far. I really did not want to wait and then have to redo all the customizations when ms finally gets around to fixing whatever the issue is so I went ahead and gave it a try. We both got the 16 gig card from the at&t store (sandisk). I know it cost a bit more but I assumed that if I went ahead and got it from the at&t store there would be less of a chance of getting a bad quality card.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

I heard memory problems where mostly with low class SD cards?

The exact opposite. From all of the forums I've read, the higher in class you go, the less reliable it is. If you stick with like a class 2 or a class 4 your chances of success are pretty good. At class 6 and above, you start running into tons of potential issues. There are of course people who are getting it to run fine, but it's hard to say if others can repeat that success.

If you want to throw caution to the wind, I'd suggest getting a class 2 card.

 

[Vanillalite]

I just picked up my Samsung Focus after dinner tonight! It was weird as fuck. I went into my local AT&T store to see if they had any in, and they hadn't sold a single focus.

Yet the chick goes were are just sold out of the LG Quantum. I was like WTF! :lol

Guess people still like fuck'n hardware keyboards, and that's the only legit smart phone on AT&T with one.

Would anyone like me to take some quick pics of my phone? I can take some and throw them up in the thread if you guys and gals want!

PS: Chick just said you know about the memory card right? I was like yeah. She was like they just made extra extra sure to tell everyone it wiped your phone, but that's all she mentioned.

 

[brotkasten]

I just picked up my Samsung Focus after dinner tonight! It was weird as fuck. I went into my local AT&T store to see if they had any in, and they hadn't sold a single focus.

Yet the chick goes were are just sold out of the LG Quantum. I was like WTF! :lol

Guess people still like fuck'n hardware keyboards, and that's the only legit smart phone on AT&T with one.

Would anyone like me to take some quick pics of my phone? I can take some and throw them up in the thread if you guys and gals want!

PS: Chick just said you know about the memory card right? I was like yeah. She was like they just made extra extra sure to tell everyone it wiped your phone, but that's all she mentioned.

What are you waiting for?

 

[Blackhead]

What are you waiting for?

.

 

[Cirekiller]

Actually that phone has 3G its just used of voice and WAP internet.

You can stick your sim card into a venue pro, but be warned you will pay data charges up the yang. You will need to add a data plan to your monthly bill.

Thanks for the info, so I can just go to T-Mobiles site and add 3g onto my plan regardless of which phone I'm using?

 

[Vanillalite]

What are you waiting for?

My best two friends called me. I'll take pics after this. I got it plugged in now syncing my shit in Zune.!

 

[besiktas1]

First MGS shovelware released: Avatar Gadgets

http://wp7gamers.blogspot.com/2010/11/first-mgs-shovelware-released-avatar.html

Ever felt you needed to pay for an app that had you flip a coin, use a ruler or hold a virtual lighter. Now you can pay for one that pointlessly puts your avatar on the same screen. I would feel dirty to whore my avatar to hold an imaginary flash light for a price.

Seen as though this is an Xbox Live game I wonder what the achievements are? 20GS for pulling this out a concert instead of a lighter and make a total ass out of yourself?

Also who of you made this higher rated than CarneyVale: Showtime?! For shame.

How about this folks if you want to pay a pound to flip a virtual coin, here's an idea. Take that pound out your pocket and flip it, then put that pound back in your pocket for something useful like 4 hot wings at your local cheap chicken shop....

Halo waypoint released
http://wp7gamers.blogspot.com/2010/11/halo-waypoint-now-on-marketplace.html

To coincide with the release of Avatar Gadgets, Microsoft Game Studios has released Halo Waypoint. Everything Halo you want can be found here, from videos to Halo related progress. It's worth the distraction, and it's free so it can't hurt to give it a try.

 

[user_nat]

First MGS shovelware released: Avatar Gadgets

http://wp7gamers.blogspot.com/2010/11/first-mgs-shovelware-released-avatar.html

Kinda want.. just to see what the achievements are. :lol

 

[Firestorm]

Th hell is that. Where is Audiosurf =( If there is an Audiosurf port I think I'd actually buy a Focus as soon as it was out (unless the Venue Pro actually becomes available on Rogers' frequencies).

 

[Vanillalite]

Hey the pics kind of suck cause I took them quickly. Yes I know I don't have steady hands and that my picture taking abilities suck. This is why I let my gf take pics, and we use her old dslr instead. :lol

Anyways here ya go nerds!

 

[Lkr]

for AT&T users, is the Surround better than the Samsung Focus?

 

[Sean]

First sales data, dunno how reliable: Microsoft Sells 40K Windows 7 Phones

Even with a glitzy media intro last month hosted by champion inside-seller and company chief Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, which spent a reported $100 million on the phone's advertising campaign, sold a mere 40,000 Windows 7 phones Monday, according to a market research source who tracks phone sales.

The anemic sales number does not include the 89,000 Microsoft employees that will be given free Windows 7 phones.

Microsoft reps declined to comment. A T-Mobile spokeswoman did not offer a number of phones sold, but said Tuesday that the Win7 phone was "already receiving strong interest from our customers right out of the gate."

 

[besiktas1]

An Interview with Matt from Flying Development Studio (final approach!)
http://wp7gamers.blogspot.com/2010/11/interview-with-matt-from-flying.html

Matt from Flying Development Studio LLC, creators of Final Approach! the awesome looking control tower game (on the marketplace now!) took his time out to answer some questions. Enjoy!


First off congratulations on the release of final approach!. I was
just wondering what the development process was like for the new
platform?

Thanks, the development process was very easy. I've always been a big supporter of managed code, Silverlight and .NET so this was the perfect opportunity for me to try something interesting on a new platform.

The SDK is easy to install and use, most of the code that I had already written for PC was reusable easily, and debugging on the device is really easy with Visual Studio 2010.

Read the rest after the jump

 

[Tornado Condor]

First sales data, dunno how reliable: Microsoft Sells 40K Windows 7 Phones

Maybe if they had phones in other carries like Sprint and Verizon they would've done better.

 

[Robobandit]

People are going to be hesitant to jump on board with Microsoft..

I think this platform will get more positive press in the coming weeks and word of mouth will encourage sales.

 

[Firestorm]

Maybe if they had phones in other carries like Sprint and Verizon they would've done better.

They'd have sold 0 then because we'd have to wait for them to make the CDMA phones so everything could launch at once.

Sales numbers are expected considering how little stock there was and how much Microsoft has to prove before people actually give a damn about them.

 

[vangace]

First sales data, dunno how reliable: Microsoft Sells 40K Windows 7 Phones

That number seems like BS considering it came from Street.com who love trashing MS every opportunity they get. In addition, it has been substantiated by anyone. I call BS.

 

[Earl Cazone]

That number seems like BS considering it came from Street.com who love trashing MS every opportunity they get. In addition, it has been substantiated by anyone. I call BS.

i hope so, those numbers seem microsoft kin-esque low. i think windows phone 7 has the chance to become a pretty popular OS

 

[Zozz]

When will these phones hit Verizon? I'm a huge Android fan but I got an upgrade coming in 4 months and I would love to give Windows Phone a fair trial, things look good.

 

[PG2G]

When will these phones hit Verizon? I'm a huge Android fan but I got an upgrade coming in 4 months and I would love to give Windows Phone a fair trial, things look good.

Verizon hasn't really pledged support to the platform. There really is no way to estimate when it'll hit Verizon. It surely will if it takes off, otherwise.. who knows.

But yeah, its AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint (early 2011) for now.

 

[clav]

Maybe if they had phones in other carries like Sprint and Verizon they would've done better.

Are you considering switching to SERO-P for real?

What phone do you have now?

 

[Tornado Condor]

Are you considering switching to SERO-P for real?

What phone do you have now?

Yeah, of course.

Right now i have the Touch Pro 2, which after some time, it's startin to get pretty slow and such. It's great that the Sprint wm7 phone coming out is not 4g.

Are you considering getting a better Sprint phone? Sure, the EVO is the best sprint phone but a $20 increase from SERO isn't that justified, imo.

 

[clav]

Yeah, of course.

Right now i have the Touch Pro 2, which after some time, it's startin to get pretty slow and such. It's great that the Sprint wm7 phone coming out is not 4g.

Are you considering getting a better Sprint phone? Sure, the EVO is the best sprint phone but a $20 increase from SERO isn't that justified, imo.

I'm on a Touch Diamond after having my Touch Pro 1 break repeatedly several times. Man that thing was the biggest piece of shit ever.

Yeah, I don't like how you have to pay $10 for a premium phone + an additional $10 for 4G. Ridiciulous. You would think this will trickle down to everyone in the future.

Damn. I like what I have for $30 as Opera Mini 5.1 works for me + HTC Sense + WMWifiRouter+ TTS Bing Maps GPS + Scilor's GrooveMobile works for what I like. Running a WM Rom I cooked myself.

Perhaps when XBL Games play a bigger presence, I'll hop on over to SERO-P and grab a Windows phone.

 

[Blackhead]

i hope so, those numbers seem microsoft kin-esque low. i think windows phone 7 has the chance to become a pretty popular OS

WP7 has captured the attention of the early adopters and has good word of mouth, unlike the Kin, so I wouldn't worry about those numbers, assuming they are true.

So there's no cheap way to try out WP7 without getting a new 2 yr contract? I don't see the point of hacking the HD2 if there is no access to the marketplace and no sideloading of apps. Bummer. I'll just play with it in store

 

[Tornado Condor]

I'm on a Touch Diamond after having my Touch Pro 1 break repeatedly several times. Man that thing was the biggest piece of shit ever.

Yeah, I don't like how you have to pay $10 for a premium phone + an additional $10 for 4G. Ridiciulous. You would think this will trickle down to everyone in the future.

Damn. I like what I have for $30 as Opera Mini 5.1 works for me + HTC Sense + WMWifiRouter+ TTS Bing Maps GPS + Scilor's GrooveMobile works for what I like. Running a WM Rom I cooked myself.

Perhaps when XBL Games play a bigger presence, I'll hop on over to SERO-P and grab a Windows phone.

Oh yeah, wmwifirouter and scilor's groove mobile are fantastic. The touch pro 2 Is a great phone with cooked roms (mightyrom).

I understand how happy you are with your phone but it seems like most phones coming to Sprint will need SeroP.

 

[jagowar]

First sales data, dunno how reliable: Microsoft Sells 40K Windows 7 Phones

I wouldn't be surprised if that is what one of the less popular devices sold (like the lg) and it would still be an accurate number. Unless they severely understocked their stores there are too many reports of stores selling out for me to believe that number.

 

[Vanillalite]

Okay 1st night impressions...

1) Well 1st off I got a new sim card and started over in terms of contacts. I'm not a person that just adds people to my FB page. I have less than 100 people (and won't add you unless you're really a friend or I've hung out recently and such). Then along with my windows live/gmail stuff I just added in phone numbers from my old phone. Got rid of the useless shit, and my contacts are much better now overall.

2) Synced 3 albums over from my comp with the zune software. Drag and drop worked perfectly, and it'll be easy to just keep what I want on there. Some may note I asked earlier about keeping only what I need, and it appears to be easy.

3) Actually I sort of did this 1st. I was just started my contacts and my best friend called. He then put me on hold to call our 3rd musketeer so they could both be like zomg you got uncheap and finally got a phone. Phone call clarity was good, and I used the speaker phone which was surprisingly loud and still clear.

4) Last thing I did was throw on some apps. I know the app store sucks, but oh wells. I really only wanted official stuff right now anyways. I grabbed the Xbox Live and Twitter apps. Then proceeded to stare at my lame Avatar with my Night Vision goggles on (got them free one day when someone on the gaming side of gaf posted they were free). Then I logged into Twitter. Twitter seemed fine, but I wish I could change my background color. I'd like the option to theme it just like on the desktop version.

5) PS: I also set my alarm for the morning and picked out my alarm and ring tones.

All in all the phone is buttery smooth, but then again I haven't done anything with it yet. I will say it was nice to easily uninstall the AT&T bullshit, and the preinstalled Samsung app with weather/news/stocks is pretty slick. This is especially nice since the apps in the marketplace aren't all ball'n. Got my weather, my world news from reuters, and my general how the stock market is doing info updated. Also sent my 1st random text to my gf, and went nuts with the predone smilies! :lol :lol

Big test for me will be tomorrow when I charge it and see how bad this fuck'n screen kills the battery. Screen is fuck'n sick though. Honestly outside of my mom's iphone screen I think it would be hard to go back even after a night to a normal run of the mill touch screen phone lcd screen.

 

[Vanillalite]

SIDE NOTE: I just tried to go to the radio part of the music player to set it to NPR. It said

No antenna
This phone uses your headphones as an FM radio antenna. To listen to the radio, connect your headphones.

Kind of found that interesting.

 

[clav]

SIDE NOTE: I just tried to go to the radio part of the music player to set it to NPR. It said

No antenna
This phone uses your headphones as an FM radio antenna. To listen to the radio, connect your headphones.

Kind of found that interesting.

Zunes have always done that.

 

[Vanillalite]

Zunes have always done that.

Guess I've never noticed. My GF has the OG zune, but I've never messed with the radio thing! :lol

 

[TylerD]

So anybody know if on my account it says my contract expires on 11/10 I will be able to go and get a phone tomorrow? I am ready to get my new Windows Phone and start spreading the hopefully good word of mouth to those not in the know. My brother really loves his so far and just keeps raving about the UI and ease of use.

Thanks for your impressions Brettison.

 

[Vanillalite]

I just plugged it in, and am about to head to be. I'll post back tomorrow with my 1st full day of impressions.

5 quick things....

1) I never quite "got" the buttons in the reviews, but the home and back work perfectly fine for me

2) Haven't had any multitasking problems yet, but then again I haven't done anything yet! :lol

3) Love the UI and the speed. Might be older(ish) tech, but the shit is buttery fuck'n smooth. Plus in terms of a music player this is THIS place to be IMO.

4) I'm a much bigger FB whore than Twitter whore so that part of the phone is winnar for me

5) Now I just want some apps. It's early, but I can tell you a ton of apps my mom has on her iphone like NPR News, NPR Music, ESPN Sportcenter, Dropbox etc...! Obviously it's early and my phone is cool now, but it's only gonna stay cool if the marketplace can keep up.

I'll say this though. If you want a nice alternative UI even in it's 1.0 stage, I wouldn't hesitate to look at WP7 phone, and even in the 1.0 stage I think it's THE best thing for music lovers. The zune shit is stop notch. If you're app heavy, or gamer heavy hold off. If you look at the marketplace for apps it'll look like the sarah desert of wastelands compared to Apple and Android right now! :lol

Good Night and Good Luck!

 

[PG2G]

Anyone familiar with Zune? Seems like it doesn't update play counts correctly. I did some googling and saw some people that said it updated if you didnt play the complete song (wtf?) and that's what I'm seeing as well.

Apparently this is the case with the Zune HD as well?

 

[zedge]

SIDE NOTE: I just tried to go to the radio part of the music player to set it to NPR. It said

No antenna
This phone uses your headphones as an FM radio antenna. To listen to the radio, connect your headphones.

Kind of found that interesting.

Galaxy S does that too.. actually I think most phones that have a FM radio need the headphones plugged in as they act as the antenna.

 

[Firestorm]

Galaxy S does that too.. actually I think most phones that have a FM radio need the headphones plugged in as they act as the antenna.

Yeah. My old Sony Ericsson W300i did that too.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Anyone familiar with Zune? Seems like it doesn't update play counts correctly. I did some googling and saw some people that said it updated if you didnt play the complete song (wtf?) and that's what I'm seeing as well.

Apparently this is the case with the Zune HD as well?

I'm actually happier with that, depending on which point it considers a song as a complete "play". I frequently switch songs a few seconds before they're over :lol

 

[PG2G]

I'm actually happier with that, depending on which point it considers a song as a complete "play". I frequently switch songs a few seconds before they're over :lol

That's one thing I hated about iTunes. It forced me to listen to complete tracks This should count complete plays too though, damnit!

 

[Firestorm]

That's one thing I hated about iTunes. It forced me to listen to complete tracks This should count complete plays too though, damnit!

iTunes does consider it a played song if you get close enough to the end.

 

[jagowar]

I don't think its the full play.... dont remember exactly but its a certain percentage before it counts as a play (50% or 75%). I have not listened to the whole track before and had it counted as a play.... but they want to make sure you listen to more than the first 30 secs to count as a play.

 

[Anton Sugar]

That's one thing I hated about iTunes. It forced me to listen to complete tracks This should count complete plays too though, damnit!

Oh, it's not counting complete plays??? I'm pretty sure it is counting them for me...that's a weird bug.

 

[dLMN8R]

(reposting for new page)

 

[PG2G]

Oh, it's not counting complete plays??? I'm pretty sure it is counting them for me...that's a weird bug.

Let me go back and play with it a bit more. The whole Zune Social thing makes things more confusing than it needs to be, lol.

Edit: Think I was thrown off because the Date Last Played didn't update as well.

 

[kazinova]

I've just got over 100 gamerscore playing Flowerz and Flight Control. I know there's game center on iPhone but, really, I think we all know which cheevos really matter...

I am loving this phone!