Wow.. this article is disappointing. No offense guys, but swiping to switch tabs is probably the LEAST significant feature of the 6.1-6.5 upgrade. I also wonder if this is an add-on of some sort, as I've used pre-releases of everything from build 21925 (pictured) to 23004 builds and they do not have this feature yet. Seriously though, what about the large changes across the entire OS?
- Flick scrolling menus - Large softkey menus - Dedicated notifications by tapping the top bar, no longer a pop-up - SPEED! ALL 6.5 roms I've tried start on my Raphael in under 15 seconds soft-reset to Manila - RAM usage, ALL 6.5 roms use less RAM on my device, and for some builds the difference is major. - Titanium Home Screen. For those that don't like Manila, now they have yet another extremely solid and well thought out way to get around the OS that's quick, finger friendly, and original looking. - New Dialer. Larger finger friendly buttons, slide to unlock/ignore. - New Alarm System, again with slide to snooze/dismiss.
I could go on and on and on about how much better 6.5 is than 6.1. I'm really disappointed that most tech blogs don't mention these things. Most even are ballsy enough to say 6.5 is nothing but a new "skin" on the existing OS.
Sidebar, what page from PPCG is that on? That thread is over 600 pages.
Unfortunately this has to be specifically enabled on a per-applet basis. And if you try to enable it on a ROM that doesn't support it, the applet completely fails to load. You can read more at www.nuerom.com
So they have now made it a fully "touchable" os vs half the time touch screen, the other half poking around with the stylus? To me, winmo on the last device I used, was a horrible miss-match. You never knew when to touch the screen or use the stylus, its horrible
-Dedicated notifications by tapping the top bar, no longer a pop-up
They look like popups to me. They are no easier to use than on 6.1. Are you talking about a single notifications area with all of them grouped? Because thats a product of HTC.
- New Alarm System, again with slide to snooze/dismiss.
Specifying new alarms has not changed, and is still a pain in the ass to do. Even with all that extra empty space at the bottom, they have not expanded the size of the components to make them easier to hit. And the Snooze/Dismiss assumes you locked your phone. If you didn't, then its the same stupid notification. Read below.
- New Dialer. Larger finger friendly buttons, slide to unlock/ignore.
The dialer is barely bigger than 6.1. Again, are you using an HTC dialer which is actually larger. The stock one is still small. And if using the 6.5 dialer, having the slide to answer/ignore assumes you lock your phone. Microsoft doesnt even have an auto-lock when hitting the power button unless you are willing to have to enter a password every time. You have to install a program to lock it for you when you hit the power button. Unacceptable.
"Specifying new alarms has not changed, and is still a pain in the ass to do."
I do mine in the Rhodium Manila.. which to me is much easier than the stock WM dialog, which unfortunately is still there.
"They look like popups to me. They are no easier to use than on 6.1. Are you talking about a single notifications area with all of them grouped? Because thats a product of HTC."
Hmm.. yeah all my ROM flashes have had this HTC grouping. It is readily available without much of searching.
"The dialer is barely bigger than 6.1. Again, are you using an HTC dialer which is actually larger. The stock one is still small. And if using the 6.5 dialer, having the slide to answer/ignore assumes you lock your phone. Microsoft doesnt even have an auto-lock when hitting the power button unless you are willing to have to enter a password every time. You have to install a program to lock it for you when you hit the power button. Unacceptable."
Yes, I do use the HTC dialer, mainly because of the haptic that's built into it. I didn't really have a problem with the stock one however. That said, I've got several years of WM use under my belt, I'm used to the stock size. Since I use an HTC device, the larger dialer was in my stock 6.1 ROM. Keep in mind the auto-unlock bug, is just that.. a bug with the Tachi SIP. It's not present in all ROMS (NFSFAN's 6.5 0104 for instance), if you find one with say, the stock 6.1 CDMA SIPs, this problem is also not there. Also, the Tachi SIP roms have the Blackstone slide to answer built in and active regardless of whether or not the phone is locked, which I like. Sometimes pulling the phone out of my pocket ends up in me hitting the hardware keys anyway, so that's a welcome addition to me.
Personally, people can bitch about 6.1 vs 6.5 as much as they want, but the bottom line to me is that 6.5 is a complete replacement for 6.1. There is no reason to go back to 6.1 after you've had 6.5.
With the dialer, I wasnt talking about the unlock bug.
Assume you are not using HTC dialer and are using the 6.5 stock dialer.
MS introduced the slide to answer, which is part of the new 6.5 lock screen. If your phone is not locked at the time, when you get a call, it shows up as a notification just like a text message or a voicemail. If you have your phone locked, and a call comes in, you get the new slide to answer ignore dialog.
The problem is that the slide to answer dialog only shows up if the phone is locked. MS doesnt have an auto-lock on standby feature in the phone. They require you specify a password to auto-lock the device. Otherwise, you have to install a cab to auto-lock when you press the power button. Why isn't that a simple checkbox provided by MS? That is too much of a core function not to be.
The fact that I can install stuff to make my experience better is a really good feature of WM. The fact that I NEED to is not. MS should be doing better with their default implementations at this stage. Some of the things they have done with WM in general is on the verge of unacceptable.
NFSFAN's roms are pretty decent, but I switched to cooking my own when his rom wasnt compatible with some games. Its a common problem, and depends on the SYS used. Currently using 23007 6.5
The Cobra Tag may help you win that losing battle, acting as a Bluetooth device that attaches to your key ring and connects to your phone, it gives you the opportunity to find the missing item if it's less than 30 feet away.
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Wow.. this article is disappointing. No offense guys, but swiping to switch tabs is probably the LEAST significant feature of the 6.1-6.5 upgrade. I also wonder if this is an add-on of some sort, as I've used pre-releases of everything from build 21925 (pictured) to 23004 builds and they do not have this feature yet. Seriously though, what about the large changes across the entire OS?
- Flick scrolling menus
- Large softkey menus
- Dedicated notifications by tapping the top bar, no longer a pop-up
- SPEED! ALL 6.5 roms I've tried start on my Raphael in under 15 seconds soft-reset to Manila
- RAM usage, ALL 6.5 roms use less RAM on my device, and for some builds the difference is major.
- Titanium Home Screen. For those that don't like Manila, now they have yet another extremely solid and well thought out way to get around the OS that's quick, finger friendly, and original looking.
- New Dialer. Larger finger friendly buttons, slide to unlock/ignore.
- New Alarm System, again with slide to snooze/dismiss.
I could go on and on and on about how much better 6.5 is than 6.1. I'm really disappointed that most tech blogs don't mention these things. Most even are ballsy enough to say 6.5 is nothing but a new "skin" on the existing OS.
Sidebar, what page from PPCG is that on? That thread is over 600 pages.
Unfortunately this has to be specifically enabled on a per-applet basis. And if you try to enable it on a ROM that doesn't support it, the applet completely fails to load. You can read more at www.nuerom.com
So they have now made it a fully "touchable" os vs half the time touch screen, the other half poking around with the stylus? To me, winmo on the last device I used, was a horrible miss-match. You never knew when to touch the screen or use the stylus, its horrible
-Dedicated notifications by tapping the top bar, no longer a pop-up
They look like popups to me. They are no easier to use than on 6.1. Are you talking about a single notifications area with all of them grouped? Because thats a product of HTC.
- New Alarm System, again with slide to snooze/dismiss.
Specifying new alarms has not changed, and is still a pain in the ass to do. Even with all that extra empty space at the bottom, they have not expanded the size of the components to make them easier to hit. And the Snooze/Dismiss assumes you locked your phone. If you didn't, then its the same stupid notification. Read below.
- New Dialer. Larger finger friendly buttons, slide to unlock/ignore.
The dialer is barely bigger than 6.1. Again, are you using an HTC dialer which is actually larger. The stock one is still small. And if using the 6.5 dialer, having the slide to answer/ignore assumes you lock your phone. Microsoft doesnt even have an auto-lock when hitting the power button unless you are willing to have to enter a password every time. You have to install a program to lock it for you when you hit the power button. Unacceptable.
"Specifying new alarms has not changed, and is still a pain in the ass to do."
I do mine in the Rhodium Manila.. which to me is much easier than the stock WM dialog, which unfortunately is still there.
"They look like popups to me. They are no easier to use than on 6.1. Are you talking about a single notifications area with all of them grouped? Because thats a product of HTC."
Hmm.. yeah all my ROM flashes have had this HTC grouping. It is readily available without much of searching.
"The dialer is barely bigger than 6.1. Again, are you using an HTC dialer which is actually larger. The stock one is still small. And if using the 6.5 dialer, having the slide to answer/ignore assumes you lock your phone. Microsoft doesnt even have an auto-lock when hitting the power button unless you are willing to have to enter a password every time. You have to install a program to lock it for you when you hit the power button. Unacceptable."
Yes, I do use the HTC dialer, mainly because of the haptic that's built into it. I didn't really have a problem with the stock one however. That said, I've got several years of WM use under my belt, I'm used to the stock size. Since I use an HTC device, the larger dialer was in my stock 6.1 ROM. Keep in mind the auto-unlock bug, is just that.. a bug with the Tachi SIP. It's not present in all ROMS (NFSFAN's 6.5 0104 for instance), if you find one with say, the stock 6.1 CDMA SIPs, this problem is also not there. Also, the Tachi SIP roms have the Blackstone slide to answer built in and active regardless of whether or not the phone is locked, which I like. Sometimes pulling the phone out of my pocket ends up in me hitting the hardware keys anyway, so that's a welcome addition to me.
Personally, people can bitch about 6.1 vs 6.5 as much as they want, but the bottom line to me is that 6.5 is a complete replacement for 6.1. There is no reason to go back to 6.1 after you've had 6.5.
With the dialer, I wasnt talking about the unlock bug.
Assume you are not using HTC dialer and are using the 6.5 stock dialer.
MS introduced the slide to answer, which is part of the new 6.5 lock screen. If your phone is not locked at the time, when you get a call, it shows up as a notification just like a text message or a voicemail. If you have your phone locked, and a call comes in, you get the new slide to answer ignore dialog.
The problem is that the slide to answer dialog only shows up if the phone is locked. MS doesnt have an auto-lock on standby feature in the phone. They require you specify a password to auto-lock the device. Otherwise, you have to install a cab to auto-lock when you press the power button. Why isn't that a simple checkbox provided by MS? That is too much of a core function not to be.
The fact that I can install stuff to make my experience better is a really good feature of WM. The fact that I NEED to is not. MS should be doing better with their default implementations at this stage. Some of the things they have done with WM in general is on the verge of unacceptable.
NFSFAN's roms are pretty decent, but I switched to cooking my own when his rom wasnt compatible with some games. Its a common problem, and depends on the SYS used. Currently using 23007 6.5