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[Android] Tell me of the HTC Magic
VacuumJockey
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
OK, I'm looking for a new phone and I need some informed advice.
I've read all the previews, but they can't really tell me how this phone works, if you know what I mean.
First of all, is it responsive? I've had quite a few Nokia's and SEricsson's that were/are sluggish when ordered to do fairly basic tasks -- such as calling a number in my addressbook or texting a buncha guys. This annoys me to no end.
Secundus, is the touch interface responsive? I'm still scarred from the HTC Diamond. An iPhone level of responsiveness is the absolute minimum I can deal with. (I am at heart a button man; I crave the tactile feel)
Thirdly, what do you think of it? Good, bad, indifferent, what works for you, and what doesn't? I want your biased opinion.
A few bulletpoints about my phone (ab)use:
I've read all the previews, but they can't really tell me how this phone works, if you know what I mean.
First of all, is it responsive? I've had quite a few Nokia's and SEricsson's that were/are sluggish when ordered to do fairly basic tasks -- such as calling a number in my addressbook or texting a buncha guys. This annoys me to no end.
Secundus, is the touch interface responsive? I'm still scarred from the HTC Diamond. An iPhone level of responsiveness is the absolute minimum I can deal with. (I am at heart a button man; I crave the tactile feel)
Thirdly, what do you think of it? Good, bad, indifferent, what works for you, and what doesn't? I want your biased opinion.
A few bulletpoints about my phone (ab)use:
- I need to check Gmail as well as the Office MS Exchange
- My contact info is sacred!
- I text groups all the time
- Browsing, while nice, is not essential
- I use a Bluetooth headset when needed
PSN: VacuumJockey
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
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"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Thats the one I'm waiting for.
AMOLED, better battery, 3.5mm headphone jack. Don't think it has a trackball though, which is annoying.
Screen responsiveness is very good. I can't think of a single instance of me having to re-press the screen because a light tap didn't register.
Overall phone responsiveness is pretty good. My last phone was an n95 and the magic is noticeably quicker in general use.
Overall I'm in love with the thing. It's definately a step up from anything Nokia is offering right now, the whole system (interface, hardware) just feels like a generation ahead of the n95 or a windows mobile device (before the n95 I had an XDA windows mobile 6 device). I still miss the hardware keyboard, but I'm getting more and more confident with the soft-keyboard and it's certainly not a deal breaker. The market solution to downloading 3rd party apps works well...what else..... text messaging uses the same 'conversation' paradigm as gmail, which takes a little getting used to but which you might actually prefer to a standard inbox/sent items view. The interface doesn't feel as intuitive to me as the nokia did, but I guess that's more to do with familiarity than anything else.
anything else? feel free to ask away.
edit: there's no exchange sync out of the box (which I'm sure you already know) and all the 3rd party apps I've found for exchange syncing are either free betas which expire in a couple of months, or only available as paid for apps from the market (which you can't get in the UK). I'm currently using roadsync beta, but not sure what I'm going to do when it expires at the end of the month.
Tall-Paul MIPsDroid
That Samsung looks pretty good too. Problem is, I'm an impatient man -- I'll buy the first Android that gets here!
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Wait, then what's all this then?:
HTC Magic supports Exchange, Google says Android doesn't
This isn't the one I read, but it's the same idea, I suppose.
maybe it's just in the uk then but mine has the 'with Google' branding and no exchange client. You might want to check before you buy.
Tall-Paul MIPsDroid
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Because I'd rather use my old Nokia 3310 with its rudimentary -- but fast -- interface than struggle with HTCs Windows Mobile ever again. And then live without phone-mail; I have a netbook for that, although I'd have to drag it around with me...
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
It's definately faster than a standard windows mobile device. I had an HTC wizard, and then a Hermes and the magic just doesn't feel anywhere near as laggy as those did.
It's probably one of those subjective things that you really need to check out before you buy though. There is a tiny bit of delay on certain operations, opening a text 'conversation' for example is just about instantaneous, but then if you switch back to the main 'inbox' there's a tiny, almost unnoticable delay. I guess it boils down to how picky you are. I do have 'animations' turned on, so screens slide to the side rather than just instantly switching, that may account for the delays.
Tall-Paul MIPsDroid
How does the trackball work for you? A trackball for a phone sounds like a novel idea, but I don't really know of other phones with trackballs -- so it's hard for me to relate to it. By most accounts it seems to work well, though.
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
I've only used it in two situations. 1 is the browser, the trackball allows you to quickly move through the links on a page. 2 is a game (retro defense) which is easier with the trackball I find.
generally speaking though you won't use the trackball much in day to day operations, swiping and tapping is much easier.
Tall-Paul MIPsDroid
I don't have an iPhone for comparison but it seems pretty good. The only problem I have is that the keys are pretty small and my thumbs are pretty big. The predictive text works well once you get used to it (annoyingly though, if it thinks you're wrong it will default to what it thinks is right, rather than just giving you the option of what it thinks is right). Responsiveness is good though.
Overall I think I'd prefer less but bigger keys (maybe even a T9 layout) but it's fine for occasional texts and email use.
on another note, I have found something laggy that annoys me: switching from portrait to landscape (or vice versa) takes about 2 seconds. Although the fact that the 2 second delay there stands out enough to annoy me probably says something about the responsiveness of the rest of the system.
Tall-Paul MIPsDroid
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo
The only real weak point is the camera, which pretty much sucks. Fortunately I'm not much of a photographer myself but if the phonecam is important to you, Magic is not the phone for you should get. Hopefully it will improve a bit with the next Android upgrade.
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!"
~ Dr. Emilio Lizardo