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Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff
sounds like someone's just having a hard time adjusting to a different form factor. i'd hate to see your review of a touch hd, which has even less buttons i believe, but still everybody would love one in the states.
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I don't deny people would love the HD but not for the reasons I outlined above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff
if you can't work the phone without touchflo3d then it sounds like you just need to learn more about WM and research all the great software available. just look up peoples phones on youtube, youll see the great setups people have and it's without tf3d.
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Actually I develop apps for Windows Mobile so I'm quite comfortable with it as a stand alone OS. What I'm saying is that as a WinMo only device once you dump TouchFlo it's less productive than previous devices from an ergonomics standpoint. I didn't say it was impossible to do things, it just takes longer which is the definition of less productive. As well the time you spend looking for solutions to overcome it's missing 'features' counts towards your loss of productivity. I modded my Mogul out the ying yang but for basic functionality there wasn't much that needed working around.
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Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff
your back button is the ok button, if you didn't know.
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Yes, I know that, what I meant specifically was there is no Jog/select/OK combination.
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Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff
you can also remap your buttons with apps like ae buttons plus.
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Correct again, however it's difficult to remap buttons that aren't there
And the ones that are there tend to have handy functions already. In short while these solutions do work they are all work arounds for an issue that shouldn't need a work around in the first place... precisely what I was trying to say. You shouldn't need to be finding tools to work around shortcomings on a device this powerful when it's predecessors had these capabilities. Things that were removed all in the name of making it look prettier. Hence my "mistake" comment.
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Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff
and you seriously wouldn't want your screen flush with the casing??? it looks so much nicer now like that...
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It "looks prettier". A truly great UI considers functionality first and looks second... after all I don't just sit and stare at my phone all day and consider how beautiful it is... I rather like to use it as efficiently as possible
And yes, being able to locate the options on the lower menu bar or the Start menu / Close button in the top corners with my finger by placing it in the corners of the screen indentation is just one small addition to efficiency. Not to mention it prevents accidental touching and scratches when the device is in a pouch / turned over on its face.
Quote:
Originally Posted by orlandojumpoff
the mogul looked like a big toy - people were always impressed with what i showed them on the screen, but they always thought it was ugly and oudated looking. now we have power and beauty. if you're torn you should return it and wait for something else cause for the majority it's probably no contest.
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I do believe that is what I may be doing
Let's say for example if you took a Mogul and you did it all in black, a little squarer, and flush mounted all the buttons it had, with the new fancy d-pad, and even brought the screen up to a flush mount, would you not still have a beautiful device? And you wouldn't have lost nearly as much as you have in the TP.
In short I didn't say I don't like the phone, I just find this streamlining trend to be counter productive. I know it's the trend right now (spawned in large by the iPhone) but there comes a point when it's also limiting to the user. I design UI's as part of my job, specifically for touch screen Kiosks, and touch itself while a wonderful addition to the world of physical interfaces, is not the end all and be all. Its lack of tactile feedback leads to many situations where a physical component should not be replaced and I believe on this device a few too many of those were overlooked. And even more so when it was done just to make it look pretty.