The UIQ Experience ( UIQ users plz enter ) [Archive]

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SuccessCre8or

10-12-2007, 17:16

Hey all...

Just a way to give an overall summary/experience to people wishing to get a UIQ smartphone about the UI, stability, Speed, userfriendliness ...

UIQ users only post the overall experience of their UIQ smart-phone here.. & plz mention the Model of the smartphone & how long did u use it..

I think its a cool idea...

I never used a UIQ smartphone..so I will write nothing...
waiting for ur reviews & Thanx...:)

iqtidar

10-12-2007, 17:53

never had a UIQ device(some of my friends and cousins have one) but played with one so many times one thing i can tell is that their screen is not dat bright even at max brightness..(p990 and p1)

simonjf2006

10-12-2007, 20:07

i don't think it's that bad but that's one of the things they do to make sure the battery life is acceptable considering the processor and OS are more consumptive.

einar

10-12-2007, 21:38

I haven't used any other newer phone on a while so I can't compare my P990 to other phones, but didn't have any problem with its user friendlyniess. And in this touch-screen-era I may add that it's finger friendly as well, atleat for me. For some actions it may take a little more finger-precision, but I only need the stylus to draw mustaches on peoples faces after taking their pictures ;-) I threw away the key flip a long time ago.

About lag, well, there is some. But with the P990 and UIQ 3 on Symbian 9.1 it seems all to be about whether the app may be kept tunning in the background or not. To clarify: opening e.g. the inbox first time after a phone-start it may take some seconds, but when you go back to the main menu the inbox stays in the background and the will open instantly the next time. Of course he amont of memory in the phone determines how many apps may stay in the background, therefore P1 as a lot more memory (about 5 times more free memory when started)

About stability, after my phone been running for about a month it may need a restart, but someone else may compare that to other phones. It's far from the "release candidate" P990 was when released. But I've read somewhere that M600 may not be trusted as an alarm clock.

Speaking for myself I'm sticking with my P990. I have no plans to buy a new phone any time soon. UIQ works well IMO. I've used it for about a year (even thou I bought it august last year but had to wait for updates)

Two things annoy me thou, the lag when starting the camera (the moment is most times already gone) and the brightness of the screen in summer (not helped by my screen protector)

knights

11-12-2007, 02:37

UIQ users only post the overall experience of their UIQ smart-phone here.. & plz mention the Model of the smartphone & how long did u use it..

done with p990 (3weeks), w950 (7months), and p1i (1.5month).... my major complain is the speed... p1i is said to be fast since it does have big RAM, but still a lot slower compared to newer generation s60s... p990 is a real pain in the first FW, crashed 4-5times a day...

Looking forward on w960...

andy.c

11-12-2007, 12:57

I've had a M600 and currently use a Moto Z8 (first UIQ qithout touchscreen) and a P990. I'll post my experience later as I'm heading in to a meeting now.

yagyu

11-12-2007, 17:07

HAD w960 for 1 day sold it first uiq experiance and last one word slow

McKinley

12-12-2007, 12:12

All I can say is, the slow speed of UIQ devices imbue your experience.
You don't feel happy with a slow device and fortunately P1i isn't as slow as some people are saying.
I have owned M600, which was not fun at all to use.
P990i, which I used for many months is feasable to withstand in terms of speed but still on the slow side.
Sony Ericsson's latest and greatest is what P990i, should have been and I guess the successor is what P1i, should have been.
This is by no means a flawless phone because it's slow sometimes but generally fast enough :)
I also think the cosmetic look leaves a lot to be desired. Compared to any later S60 handset, it looks rather dull.

SuccessCre8or

12-12-2007, 14:34

thanx all for interaction with the thread...
I hope to see more reviews...

Itachi

12-12-2007, 14:41

Its not as bad as some make out. Ive had in the past a P900, P990 and P1 and generally the experience was good but its not as fast as the S60 equivilent, plus I prefer Nokias S60 browser to Opera.

ron.jeremy

12-12-2007, 18:58

I owned a W950 for a few weeks, slow, not easy of use, everything i wanted to do, like write a sms, it took so much time, everything is faster on a "dumb" phone, faster and easier.
Besides, i don't have the need for a smart phone, not many have imo...
:p

are_s

12-12-2007, 19:10

well...in the end i write a sms quicker with my P1 than say with a k750:

1 - i have messaging always loaded (P1 abundance of RAM alows that all the time, unlike w950), so when i invoque the app, it loads faster

2 - the fact it is a smartphone, and with a touchscreen, alows me to have direct links with little photo icons of the contacts i send sms to more often...then i just have to click with my finger on the person i choose, and i am ready...then i write my message faster than any SE dumbphone alows, with the P1 qwerty

So...slow is a matter of how you use it :)

But compared with a recent s60 v3 device, that also have lots of RAM, the P1 is obviously slower because it has a slower processor

Anyway...i love the full qwerty+touchscreen combination, and UIQ3 in general...it has its problems, but still its my fav

And there are some things really really interesting appearing, like Gdesk

http://gdesk.wetpaint.com/page/GDesk+designs

ron.jeremy

12-12-2007, 20:05

simonjf2006

13-12-2007, 01:00

Karim

13-12-2007, 01:21

UIQ slowness is due to the fact it uses a lot of RAM as an OS and the processors in UIQ phones is generally slower...

andy.c

13-12-2007, 09:55

everything is faster on a "dumb" phone
Yes and that's why only those who really need a smartphone should use one. That would save us lots of complaining. ;)

The keypad of the W950 wasn't great by all means, and i've heard people can text very fast on M600, and P1, but on an conventional keypad, it's a tad slower perhaps, and specially on the W950.
I type much faster with my P990 compared to any other "normal" phone. I would also have to say that my M600 was even better, I loved that qwerty! :)

Perhaps i'll have a go on a few more UIQ devices, without TS, i think that's suit be more, and that's faster than the previous generation UIQ devices.
I've had a M600 and currently use P990 and Moto Z8. I would rank them like this: M600, P990, Z8. UIQ wihtout touchscreen isn't very good at the moment. It's much to complicated to navigate and it's just a tad quicker compared to P1. Probably because there's more memory making it possible to have more applications running in the background.

are_s

13-12-2007, 10:31

@karim, s60 v3 also uses lots of RAM, although a bit less, that is not what causes slowness, in fact using lots of RAM is a way Symbian 9 devices use to improve navigation speed, not the opposite. Like i said before, the fact the P1 is slower than say a n82 is because it has a slower processor, and only that

@simonjf2006, you just have to load the messaging app the first time, then if you don´t close it yourself it will stay in background untill you want...days, weeks...

SuccessCre8or

13-12-2007, 19:59

ahh...topic's going hot :)

Sorry for not asking about this: What about handling UIQs single-handed ?

knights

14-12-2007, 02:33

What about handling UIQs single-handed ?

UIQ in general is more flexible in terms of inputs, you can the TS, the qwerty keyboard and the standard numeric keys + jogdial ... i dont see any probs using it with one hand (since we have non-TS UIQ= the motoz8)

xkube

14-12-2007, 03:17

the z8 is a good start.. but now changes the awful keypad and the re-arranges the illogical menu.

i had P910 few months, M1000 (2 weeks), M600 (4 months), P990i(7 months and counting), W950i (1.5 months and counting), z8(few weeks and counting)

one thing all they have in common is the speed, Sluggish. even z8 get sluggish when handling more than 4-5 app. i really think all UIQ must rearranges the menu.. its kinda complicated sometimes.. just changing the theme takes alot of steps.

are_s

14-12-2007, 11:40

just changing the theme takes alot of steps.

well...i have shortcut icon for themes on my main menu...i click one for selecting themes, then again to select the theme i want, and that´s it...alot of steps???

you also can use gdesk for that

also, i managed to run almost 40 apps at the same time on my P1, and the phone speed wasn´t afected :) i bet the Moto z10, that should bring much more RAM than Z8, together with the great processor they already used and some sofware fixes will also make the z10 the first really good non-ts UIQ device

by the way, the P1 is actually easy to used one handed...i was suprised with that, because the P990 was not easy to use like that, without the flip

williammani

14-12-2007, 14:13

My experience with UIQ, P990i (sorry for my English but it is not my native language)

My experience has come from MY loyaial k750 after almost 3 year.:cool: A very good phone that has do me for almost every thing. In calls, messages, photos, music, games. But that little screen is too much pain for my yes and I fill is not right me for me any more. Than I look for a upgraded and find P990 (a used unit in change for my 3year old K750+60euro)

First impressions.

Uiq

First of all my uiq experience is with p990 and that’s why my uiq experience is connected with hardware or physical aspect of my p990.

Now I have pretty much the same + a bigger 2.8 screen followed by touch+ wifi+UIQ –speed-battery.
Like a k750user I was filling some time confident with my p990 uiq and some time not. Uiq have rally much more options, connected with thirty party applications.

Applications:
For example I like idea off Divix (bat have problems running it properly), like it (very much) DocumentsToGo . Viewing and editing is a nice thing. PDF my prefer it from books to fumets. Internet browsing (for this I love Wifi) is nice with touch but for me need more stability and speed.
I have successfully installed also:
X-plore
Swiss Mgr Pro (a must have)
Opera Mini
GDesk (a nice one)
Tweak Peaks (with this the phone is very responsive and work faster)
Adv. Learner’s
BestCalc
Handy Clock
And so on…
As you see there are some applications out there, but I feel that s60 is more privileged about this. Seem like any one want to do some application or game for s60 and uiq is not that preferred. This is connected with nokia successfully n73 n95 and for the big range of s60 smart phones (for this s60 is in mode)

Games:

Well from my experience symbian games are a level a head in comparison with java in quality. In number is another mater. From my experience I have no problem to find 1000
Games (java) for my k750 but for p990 I have found around 50 uiq games. Yes it is possible to install java in p990 but not all the games work and have some problem with command. (Note I use only FO mode)

But fortunately my p990 have two nice surprises for mi in this mater.
Those are:

ScummVM UIQ3

And

PicoDrive

:jump:
If we add those to the number of the game that is another story. My favorite for Pico is Erthworm Jim and the Lost Vikings. And Scumm complete the range with some other nice game to. I have enjoyed very very much those and some 3d uiq game (but there are a little)

After five weeks.

I like the:

Touch and 2.8” screen (if bigger better)
Keys
The look
Wifi
Thirty part applications
Games
Ability to touch for example icon battery and go to backlight settings is very nice and handy.

I don’t like:

Generally speaking finger friendly usability and stability.
Speed (is a word that is far away from this phone)
Dimensions
Battery (always compared with my k750)

For what I have understand this uiq phone need a faster processor (maybe double the speed) twice the ram and for mi this is the perfect combination.

I also need support for flash (ability to watch jotube, theme flash game):spy:

Any way I like it and for now I don’t have plans and don’t see the reasons to change it.
Only when N95 go relatively this cheep certainly I change it:D

are_s

14-12-2007, 16:11

Only when N95 go relatively this cheep certainly I change it

you said you wanted a device with twice the RAM of the P990...then you can forget the n95 classic (i suppose you were refering to that one)...only n95 8gb has twice the RAM

andy.c

14-12-2007, 19:51

z8(few weeks and counting)
How are you enjoying your Z8? I'm sending mine to the workshop to have them reinstall (or hopefully update) the software.
I switched back to my T650 for the moment and my god how easy it is to use. Not sure I'll keep my Z8 when I get it back... :-/

einar

14-12-2007, 20:34

Originally Posted by SuccessCre8or
Sorry for not asking about this: What about handling UIQs single-handed ?

You mean using the phone with one hand? I always do that except when typing on the qwerty keyboard, which easily can be done with one hand but is faster with two thumbs.

Dr Tran

14-12-2007, 21:34

Does UIQ have beeping when recording calls?

nipsen

15-12-2007, 01:26

It doesn't have call- recording.

..

I also came to UIQ from a k750. I had tried an m600 a while back, and I thought it was very nice, so I ended up buying a p1 when it came out earlier on. ..It took me two firmware- updates before I noticed there was an online manual, for some reason.. (I think the shortcut really wasn't included in my CDA version before. And it's not easy to find the manual online either.. Which is the reason there's an angry comment about how the picture- viewer is useless on the p1 wiki (http://uiq3.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Phones/P1i) ;) ). But I guess - apart from that, there wasn't really much reason to look in the manual, either, except for how to get activesync to work, or the "invitations" and so on. The controls with the touch- screen at least, and the standard functions are predictable, more or less, and fairly intuitive.

So you get past the initial first curve very quickly. Same with the keyboard, I think. It takes some time, and then I ended up agreeing with the design. Imo, the p1 feels incredibly advanced when I try other mobiles now.. :)

But there are some things. Like that the "copy" option in the browser is greyed out as long as the page is loading, for example. I'm grateful there was no helpful "function disabled while page is loading" message, and so on, popping up - but how on earth are you supposed to guess that? The manual instructs you on how to open the "messages" app, or how to "surf the web". It doesn't say - "oh, and by the way, there's something fishy going on with registering filetypes for various 3rd party programs in the file- manager, so don't be suprised if you get a completely useless message that asks you to "save" the file. It's just the default action for a filetype with no association. No worries". Etc.

The same really goes for the "put contacts on your shortcut- list" things. Very useful and nice- looking, but not mentioned in a crash- course on how to set up the phone (as far as I know, at least..?). Or, how to handle the connection- manager most effectively? It's a bit hit and miss. There also were a few changes in the last firmware on when the phone shifts between the priorities in the connection list: is the wifi connection tried for as long as the ssid is visible? Or will the wifi- connection always be tried if it's the first on the list (even when the ssid is gone), and never go the next priorities on the list, before you disable WLAN altogether? When will the phone try to switch between available networks? Does it change to the next priority before dropping out the 3g signal? Depends? Nothing like that is explained anywhere - and there are a few example of that. And this makes it all seem a bit random and unpolished. I prefer that over being guided by the ears through "the procedure", though..

So while the core stuff is intuitive and easy, there are a few things that could've been done and explained better. Because it would help use the unit more effectively, and save you half an hour scratching your head.

That's not the same as saying the basic setup isn't pretty good. Using the contact apps, messenger app, switching between them, sending vcards, or just copying the numbers you need, etc - all that is very good - flexibility without things being too complex - and that alone is something that puts the platform up on a pretty high standard for a mobile.

And some things just make you smile, and realise that someone (a fellow technician, probably, but still) on SE does use their phone everyday. Like the backup of the contacts and calendar, and so on. You choose "backup", and you get a file on the memory stick in a /backup/calendar or /contacts catalogue. Which is where the app looks again when you pick restore. Or you can just click the vcard files you have, and add them that way. "Do you wish to add these x number of contacts"? Yes/no. Same with the calendar. You've got no helpful "import function" ("the procedure") hidden in some sub- menu in the app you need to go through.

The periodic sync on the bergamot project was a great add- on to that, though. And that's where arguably we're turning into trouble. One philosophy would say that as long as it's possible to enhance the in- built programs (which are minimalistic, but "good enough") this way - this is a huge plus for the entire system. And like UIQ says: they're not going to compete with developers of good programs, they're just providing the framework.

The other philosophy is that any add- ons, specially on core functions, should have been provided by either UIQ or SE in the first place. And that anything made by 3rd party (browser, messenger app, voip plugin, vpn client, etc) will undoubtedly be mired in endless bugs, and always suffer from never being developed to integrate with each other.

Both views could be right in some cases. But on the other hand, the UIQ framework handily masks that there are separate developers for either of these programs - the UI is the same, the functions are oriented the same way, the menus are the same, etc. So arguably all of that is at least a potential strength. And something that lessens the learning curve for programs written for UIQ in general.

Another thing is that there's actual multitasking, and that it works. That's satisfying. Pull things up from the background, and you don't interrupt whatever was happening. Or things hanging unexpectedly because the program wasn't programmed to either suspend or continue in the background, and so on - that's not a problem on UIQ. Huge plus.

But I mean, if you're just using the phone- tools, the messenger app, and need a beep every time something happens on the calendar - and have never thought it would be nice to just cut that text out of the sms you started on, and send an e-mail instead. Or ever wanted to crop the picture you just took, before you add some scribbles on the side of it and send it, together with a few names and phone- numbers you just cut out of the phone- book, and so on. Or don't think you can use the text- editing and word- processor for anything useful - you don't need any of this. Either the UIQ quirks, or the extra functions.

So.. if it wasn't for ScummVM, mobireader, the better web- browser, the file- system functions (option to save files you buy where you want on the filesystem), zip- support, wlan, more control over content you download, better keyboard, quicker and more stable UI, word- processor support, larger screen, handwriting recognition, unlimited text- fields (at least in UIQ apps), an endless clipboard, interesting and helpful tools and things like that - I might've kept my k750.. :p

But I'm very pleased that the p1 isn't just a nice toy. And that's what justifies buying it for me, at least. (..playing Full Throttle while waiting for the train is all right, though).

xkube

15-12-2007, 02:17

How are you enjoying your Z8? I'm sending mine to the workshop to have them reinstall (or hopefully update) the software.
I switched back to my T650 for the moment and my god how easy it is to use. Not sure I'll keep my Z8 when I get it back... :-/

im really having a hard time getting use to the keypad.. its sooo bad ;/
its slows down once i opened more than 5 application.
but the software is pretty stable no crashes so far.
the phone itself feels amazing in hand..slider is smooth. trash N95 away. :)

andy.c

16-12-2007, 20:17

the phone itself feels amazing in hand..slider is smooth.
Yeah, the build quality is imho top in its class. The form factor is nice as well, but I can't really get used to UIQ without TS. It feels a bit complicated... :-/

Wildsau

18-12-2007, 11:30

Two magic words for speed complaints: Firmware Update

The first firmware versions are usually slow and buggy. I'm using my W950i since 2 years now and I can count the forced restarts on one hand. From my point of view UIQ is a very stable OS, esp. with unbranded phones.

wickedass

22-12-2007, 05:27

not to mention it has a better looking UI compared to series 60 phones IMO. if u let the frequently used apps like messaging,contacts and walkman run in background it is fast as well. also i find the handwriting input much better for writing sms's (u can c how much i suk at writing sms's generally).

on the downside we cant make our own presets in the equalizer,the playlist management sux, and the contacts are not as userfriendly when comparing W950 (UIQ device) to those on N91(series 60 devices generally)

SuccessCre8or

22-12-2007, 14:42

on the downside we cant make our own presets in the equalizer
but i think there is a manual eq. settings , if i m not wrong..:S

chlettn

22-12-2007, 14:50

On the W950, you have a fixed set of a dozen or so equalizer settings, but you can't edit them or add new ones.

hoba7777

29-12-2007, 00:36

Success, I have the P1 for over 4 months now and I can say confidently this phone is good but mentally disturbed and has performance retardation. Buy it if you like ergonomics and does not mind waiting for 3 seconds each time you open an application. salami le ahl elmansoura

SuccessCre8or

06-01-2008, 22:07

but you can't edit them or add new ones.

ohh..thats a big shame for UIQ :(

hoba7777, thanx ..w Salamk wasal :D

Itachi

06-01-2008, 22:34

Ive had a few UIQ products in my time. P990 and now im using a P1.

Overall its a tad slower than S60 but its still great to use. Ive not had any issues with my P1 apart from the green tint on pics. Overall id give it a thumbs up. I was still after all able to run all my favourate apps: msn, fring, shozu ect...