[Bluengel180]

Originally Posted by s4ch

I probably will have the phone for at least 2 years and so want the one that is gonna age the best.

If you want your phone to be future proof invest in the latest hardware .the HTC oneX is quad-core. The Xperia S is not .

And dont be put off by the screen size. 4.6 is mainstream nowadays,you'll get used to it

[ghpk]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Hope you are enjoying the phone.

Guys I dont know whether we need a separate app for screen shots but it seems that my phone(HTC Explorer) already has something that takes screen shots. I just cannot make out but it has happened twice. The home screen has been clicked twice both were by mistake, that is, I pressed random buttons. Then when I try to do it again I just cannot get the combination of keys which takes screen shots. Any leads to this?

EDIT: I have attached the screen shots.

Is it stock ROM or a custom ROM ?

Can you check the power button menu, does it list the screenshot as a option.
Also check if pressing home button and Back key together takes screenshot again.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Bluengel180

A "wipe" is used when you have installed a custom recovery on the phone and plan to install a non-official rom.if your phone is stock and you want it to stay that way factory reset is what you use to bring it back to stock . a factory reset might not wipe the contents of the SD-card though

What I really wanted to know is the difference between "wipe" and Factory Reset. I hope the factory reset clears the Dalvik cache and whatever else...

There is an option to delete all content on the SD card when you are doing a Factory Reset. And it does that. The system files seem to auto-create after that. Checked that myself.

Just finished updating my Xperia Ray after burning a gallon of midnight oil. Incremental update it was not! It downloaded the whole damn thing despite me being on 4.0.3. And it did not go smoothly with PCC not detecting my phone, etc., etc. Took a lot of time to sort it all out and after several hours my phone is back online. Missed an important event in the process...

Hope 4.0.4 is (relatively!) bug free and gives better battery life. Will discover all that soon.

[Speed.Demon]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Hope you are enjoying the phone.

Hey dude, still waiting for your review on the phone!!

I'm hardly getting any quality time with my phone since my exams are still going on!!

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Speed.Demon

In the google play store app , go to settings and check the option 'update over WiFi only'. Hope this works for you.

Thanks a lot mate!!

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

You can see the general option in Ajayc123's screen shots. For specific apps, go to their Google Play (why must google make us feel like kiddies? :( ) page and there will be an auto-update option.

Thanks for the info, mate!! *thumbs up*

[Pancham]

Heys Guys. So I think I am finally found some time off enjoying the phone I bought recently.

Firstly I would like to mention that I am a complete noob with custom ROMS and stuff and I dont have any idea about how those things work so I havent discussed any of that below. And this is a review about a baby low cost android which may not excite many but then again this phone is so quietly brilliant that it made me wonder what high end androids would be like.


What I bought?
HTC Explorer

Android Version
2.3.5 (Gingerbread)

How much?
Rs. 8800

This is my first ever android and is stock for now. I was using a Nokia 5230 and at one point I was pretty much satisfied with. The Android bug never really bit me but then 5230 was aging and was giving a whole lot problems. To top that up I somehow liked the looks of the HTC explorer which I incidentally tumbled upon while browsing GSMarena and the thought of having a phone which will ring when someone calls (my nokia never rang, it had a blown up speaker) itself urged me to persuade dad for another phone. Ok!! So exam over on the 17th and 20th it was when after roaming around a lot I found a shop which gave me a perfect combi of buying back price of the 5230 and selling price of the explorer.

About the phone:

The phone is really really really smart. I dont mean just smart smart but it is actually smart. I have been quite detached from the mobile phone scene for the past 2 years but if this what the world has come I am really impressed. This baby android has made me wonder why people would go for Androids which costs more than 30K. I know i am stupid and my friends thinks that too as he pointed out that those phones have better screen and camera and processor. But I didnt need all that. I am happy and satisfied with the 600MHz. It is not really slow. I have downloaded quite a few games including Temple Run and never ever was there a lag. So did I hit a jackpot? only time will tell.

Pros:
1) The phone doesnt lag. Although just 600Mhz still it does a pretty good job.

2) Battery- with 1230 mAh battery the phone survives a day with more than moderate use. For instance I once downloaded 6-7 apps, played games, made phone calls and it survived a day.

3) The touch is really nice and so is the interface. I found it much better than Samsung phones.

4) The phone has a dual unlock system which is really cool.

5) The backlight of the four small touch buttons are not always on. I find this feature really cool. It only comes on when there is inadequate light around. Now that is intelligent and smart.

6)It has a puny speaker but its very loud. Another satisfaction over the Nokia 5230 which didnt have the speaker in the first place.

7) I find the following 3 features really awesome which I guess is there in all the HTC phones:

a) flip the phone on the table while you are on a call and the speaker is on.

b) Tick a box in the settings and the phone will ring louder when in the pocket

c) Tick another box and the phone will become quiet when you pick it up.

8) I was again amazed to see the phone has a battery meter which tells what is actually draining your battery and also gives the percentage. Another smart feature.

9) ABOUT SCREENSHOT
Yes the phone does take screen shots. I have to hold the power button and then I press the home button .

10) I love the no-nonsense design especially the back cover.

The list goes on but I really want to focus on the cons which I never really found on any of the reviews that are put up in Youtube.


Cons:
If you ask me about the cons this hardly has any. Yes it is that good or atleast that his what I thought in the beginning. But that can never be the case with cell phones. So here you go:

1) THE KEYPAD or KEYBOARD

It has been 12 days and I still have not managed to get used to typing on this keyboard. It is full qwerty but when used vertically the buttons are so small that I tend to press all anab-sanab things and get embarrassed later. Infact the phone has made me really that I have big fingers. This not a deal breaker though. You just have to be patient and careful while typing.

2) Another problem is that when I hold the phone my palm tends to touch the search button and the bottom right. I am referring to the portion below the thumb of my right hand. This is a peculiar problem and would not be an issue with people having small palms. It is really annoying when the phone is unlocked.

3) Really low internal storage(only 90 MB usable):
This is already getting into my nerves. I have just 13 MB left and clearing cache is not helping. I dont what to do? Whether rooting will be able to help I have no idea?

4) Dust tends to accumulate on the edges of the screen. I noticed this just yesterday and trust me a black phone with dust on the edges will not really look good.

5) Camera quality is not that good. It says 3.2 MP but it really sucks.

So this is all I remember for now. Overall this is a very smart phone. I would recommend this. Sammys are too common. I think I made the right decision and also got rid of that menace N5230 for a good price. Hope this review helps you guys and ask me any thing you want.

I have a few pics here as well. This is what my phone looks like after 12 days of use.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Guys,this might be off topic but since i have an android based Reliance tab,am asking for help.The tab is network locked as in only Reliance sim can work.Can anyone help me with the unlock code?You can PM me the code.Thanks in advance.

Google reliance tab ZTE.
You'll get quite a few threads to get around this.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Guys,this might be off topic but since i have an android based Reliance tab,am asking for help.The tab is network locked as in only Reliance sim can work.Can anyone help me with the unlock code?You can PM me the code.Thanks in advance.

Reliance Tab is actually ZTE V9C device. Follow this link for unlocking and rooting

Reliance 3G Tab Rooting and Unlocking: Reliance 3G Tab Rooting and Unlocking

Originally Posted by Pancham

3) Really low internal storage(only 90 MB usable):
This is already getting into my nerves. I have just 13 MB left and clearing cache is not helping. I dont what to do? Whether rooting will be able to help I have no idea?

Congrats and welcome to the android family What you said as Pros is the bundle of joy that comes with android.
Regarding internal memory, you will have to root -> make an extended partition on SD card -> install "link2sd" and link all the apps to your SD card. A bit of googling will get you all necessary resources. Am not gonna put the links directly cos, you will lose the fun factor of it

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

Congrats and welcome to the android family What you said as Pros is the bundle of joy that comes with android.
Regarding internal memory, you will have to root -> make an extended partition on SD card -> install "link2sd" and link all the apps to your SD card. A bit of googling will get you all necessary resources. Am not gonna put the links directly cos, you will lose the fun factor of it

I wanted to root but I couldnt find my device neither in XDA nor in HTCdev. What do I do?

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by Pancham

I wanted to root but I couldnt find my device neither in XDA nor in HTCdev. What do I do?

Here you go

[TUTORIAL] Root HTC explorer - xda-developers

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

Here you go

[TUTORIAL] Root HTC explorer - xda-developers

Thanks. One more query. Wont rooting void the warranty?

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Thanks. One more query. Wont rooting void the warranty?

I am not sure about HTC devices, but normally there will be un-root methods also in case you have a warranty claim

[Pancham]

HTCdev page strictly mentions that unlocked devices will lose warranty.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by Pancham

HTCdev page strictly mentions that unlocked devices will lose warranty.

Oops, then you can try googling for methods to re-lock bootloader on HTC devices. Or else, you'll have to take a risk

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

Oops, then you can try googling for methods to re-lock bootloader on HTC devices. Or else, you'll have to take a risk

The process seems tiring. But never mind I will figure out something.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by Pancham

It has been 12 days and I still have not managed to get used to typing on this keyboard. It is full qwerty but when used vertically the buttons are so small that I tend to press all anab-sanab things and get embarrassed later. Infact the phone has made me really that I have big fingers. This not a deal breaker though. You just have to be patient and careful while typing.

Pancham,
Good to know about your HTC explorer. Congrats ! About 6 months back when I has started exploring for a good quality budget android, I had also finalized to two phones: HTC explorer & sony ericsson xperia mini pro. Finally I went for xperia for the keyboard & the front camera.

In fact, I also had initial problems with the keyboard., However I have settled down extremely well on it & can type quite decently even in the portrait mode holding the phone in my palm & using only the thumb for typing. When I type, my thumb covers four characters, but I end up getting the words on the screen without much problem because of the text prediction & 'learn word features' of the keyboard of the android. Check if this is enabled. The interesting thing i discovered is that even if i don't hit the correct alphabet on the keyboard, & I hit adjacent characters, due to the predictive algorithms in the keyboard software, it is able to offer the correct complete words based on my usage history by the time i hit the first three or four characters of the word. I am so impressed by this innovation, that all that I need to do is to hit the approximate area in the keyboard where the character is & within 4 of 5 punches, the keyboard proposes the words quite accurately. usually ok over 80 % of the times. I feel its so cool, that I dont even actually need to look at the keyboard & just punch the approximate area where the word is & it works quite well for me. Explore this option under "Text Input Settings" under keyboard settings. I know, it works for htc explorer for sure, bcos I remember when I had taken the demo of this model at the store, I had asked the store guy to enable this feature for me. Its actually an android feature ( my sense) so it must work for all androids. This is so amazing , that I am able to type faster than when I open the slide out landscape keyboard in my xperia phone. So I have stopped using the slide out keyboard & for me its a thumb operation by holding the phone in my palm. And I realized, that even though expert reviews on these smart phone say that the keyboard seems too small even in the landscape mode, but I feel that that I feel most comfortable keying in with my thumb a 3.2 inch screen in portrait mode. Even though I have a slide out keyboard, I hardly use it. Give it a try & my sense is you should settle down soon ! Cheers !