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Review of the 3 Skypephone S2 - is it just me with these problems?!
digitaltoast
Posts: 403 Forumite
in Mobiles
This isn't going to be a feature review as such, more of a "having had it for 3 months, these are the bugs three deny the phone has and apparently have no plans to fix". It's also to let you know "you're not alone" if you had the same bugs or experience trying to get support from 3 customer services.
It's not all bad - I think the phone itself, an Amoi 8512, is actually a well-made, robust and fast phone. Also, the built-in modem works excellently via bluetooth and the cable - I easily get a sustained 1.3Mb down and 400k up, and it works fine for downloading BBC iPlayer stuff. It also allows me to use the "£5 for 3Gb" package, rather than the "£10 for 1Gb" package with other "mobile modem" users appear to be stuck with (correct me if I'm wrong) and with a 2-pack for £99 I'm not complaining on price!
Major Bugs:
Phone rebooting - I think this is a problem with the battery voltage sensor, because I was on the verge of taking both back and giving up (3 CS had "never heard of this" before!!) when they started behaving. I assume a few cycles of battery charge had done the trick (it was rebooting even with full battery).
The thing that really irks me is gmail mobile v2 not working - all it does is give a block instead of each letter. If you can work things out, you can actually sign in, but it's pointless as all you can see are square blocks!
I've contacted Google about this, and they say the problem is with the phone not supporting a standard character set. Here's an image of the problem:
I know you can work around it by using the older v1 version, but it's not very well featured and there are errors like:
which signs you out. There's also a 503 server timeout which doesn't sign you out. Also, when an application gives an error, the phone beeps even when on silent (the camera shutter also still sounds when on silent).
The annoying thing is that the gmail application is the one that is one of the selling points of the phone, and there is actually an inbuilt preset to download it. When you call three CS, all you hear is that "no-one else has reported this problem" or "please reboot the phone" or "your signal is poor" or "please send it back for reflash" - and yet, both handsets are identical and I can find over 20 other forums posts with the same problem. Just me, eh?
Other little annoyances are the lack of testing - when using the inbuilt browser, the error messages are less than helpful - take:
Very user friendly - not!
When you send a message, it says "message has been sent to...", but when the other person reads it, it says "message has been sent to...", so it's difficult to know whether it has actually been received - it should, of course, be ""message has been received by...". Also, when selecting multiple items for deletion (pics, messages etc), it says "delete the marked?", which is poor English. Not a problem, just not very polished.
You can't uninstall the useless pre-installed crap that clutters up the applications menu, and you can't remove Sky Sports from the feeds list.
When in text message function, the message count takes 20 mins (to do 400 messages)
Java rendering problems - one of the first things I did was download Opera Mini which beats the pants off any other mobile browser, however they phone has a java graphics rendering problem with causes vertical stripes one pixel or so wide down the screen, so although it's readable, K for example would end up looking like <
Strange phone book error - or perhaps it's just me not understanding how the phonebook works:
I have set the phone to display "contacts displayed on SIM and phone", and I have copied the phone contacts to the SIM. However, there are just a few contacts which don't show in the contacts list, either when browsing or adding to an sms. But when you try and add the contact again it says "contact exists - overwrite?" (or something) and when you get an incoming call, it displays that caller's name. BUT I can't find it in the phone book!
Back button "bug" - I've seen several posts with people complaining that the back button is broken and causes the screen to break into blocks - actually, that's the way it's meant to be - the "blocks" are preview windows of page history, and this is quite a good feature, although it caught me out at first.
Here's an annoying which has nothing to do with the phone, but Yahoo and ebay FORCE me to use crappy mobile versions based on my IP! I've tried several suggestions, but if I'm using my home PC connected by the mobile modem, it is absolutely infuriating to be forced into a mobile version of the site. But that's not the phone's fault, just something I thought I'd mention if someone had a solution!
It's not all bad - I think the phone itself, an Amoi 8512, is actually a well-made, robust and fast phone. Also, the built-in modem works excellently via bluetooth and the cable - I easily get a sustained 1.3Mb down and 400k up, and it works fine for downloading BBC iPlayer stuff. It also allows me to use the "£5 for 3Gb" package, rather than the "£10 for 1Gb" package with other "mobile modem" users appear to be stuck with (correct me if I'm wrong) and with a 2-pack for £99 I'm not complaining on price!
Major Bugs:
Phone rebooting - I think this is a problem with the battery voltage sensor, because I was on the verge of taking both back and giving up (3 CS had "never heard of this" before!!) when they started behaving. I assume a few cycles of battery charge had done the trick (it was rebooting even with full battery).
The thing that really irks me is gmail mobile v2 not working - all it does is give a block instead of each letter. If you can work things out, you can actually sign in, but it's pointless as all you can see are square blocks!
I've contacted Google about this, and they say the problem is with the phone not supporting a standard character set. Here's an image of the problem:
I know you can work around it by using the older v1 version, but it's not very well featured and there are errors like:
java.lang.runtimeexception: Unexpected server response: 504 Gateway Timeout
which signs you out. There's also a 503 server timeout which doesn't sign you out. Also, when an application gives an error, the phone beeps even when on silent (the camera shutter also still sounds when on silent).
The annoying thing is that the gmail application is the one that is one of the selling points of the phone, and there is actually an inbuilt preset to download it. When you call three CS, all you hear is that "no-one else has reported this problem" or "please reboot the phone" or "your signal is poor" or "please send it back for reflash" - and yet, both handsets are identical and I can find over 20 other forums posts with the same problem. Just me, eh?
Other little annoyances are the lack of testing - when using the inbuilt browser, the error messages are less than helpful - take:
Received response with status code other than 200 that does not have body part However, notification is not given of redirection unless settings is to display body part when dialog is canceled.
Very user friendly - not!
When you send a message, it says "message has been sent to...", but when the other person reads it, it says "message has been sent to...", so it's difficult to know whether it has actually been received - it should, of course, be ""message has been received by...". Also, when selecting multiple items for deletion (pics, messages etc), it says "delete the marked?", which is poor English. Not a problem, just not very polished.
You can't uninstall the useless pre-installed crap that clutters up the applications menu, and you can't remove Sky Sports from the feeds list.
When in text message function, the message count takes 20 mins (to do 400 messages)
Java rendering problems - one of the first things I did was download Opera Mini which beats the pants off any other mobile browser, however they phone has a java graphics rendering problem with causes vertical stripes one pixel or so wide down the screen, so although it's readable, K for example would end up looking like <
Strange phone book error - or perhaps it's just me not understanding how the phonebook works:
I have set the phone to display "contacts displayed on SIM and phone", and I have copied the phone contacts to the SIM. However, there are just a few contacts which don't show in the contacts list, either when browsing or adding to an sms. But when you try and add the contact again it says "contact exists - overwrite?" (or something) and when you get an incoming call, it displays that caller's name. BUT I can't find it in the phone book!
Back button "bug" - I've seen several posts with people complaining that the back button is broken and causes the screen to break into blocks - actually, that's the way it's meant to be - the "blocks" are preview windows of page history, and this is quite a good feature, although it caught me out at first.
Here's an annoying which has nothing to do with the phone, but Yahoo and ebay FORCE me to use crappy mobile versions based on my IP! I've tried several suggestions, but if I'm using my home PC connected by the mobile modem, it is absolutely infuriating to be forced into a mobile version of the site. But that's not the phone's fault, just something I thought I'd mention if someone had a solution!
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Comments
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digtaltoast
Your post made interesting reading for me as I have just got the INQ1 which is made by the same people and is pretty much the same phone.
I have been playing with it for about 4 hrs now and have found it great, however as you say there are some little bugs that should have been ironed out.
Do you use Windows Live Messenger? It works ok until you minimize it and then it just plays up. I have found skype to be excellent in both text and voice modes.
The gmail app works spot on on this but I am going to use the mail on 3 app as this does not use any of your data bundle.The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke0 -
Hi, I have a Skypephone S2 too, but is now resigned to a bedroom drawer as ever after multiple charges, it still turned itself off 3 or 4 times a day, requiring the battery to be removed in order to restart it. This is the second one I had too as I returned the first to the shop for the same reason!!!! As far as Gmail goes, there is a version that works as I have used it. If you search for gmail-g.jar and install that, then it works fine.
As far as the phone goes, I've now bought the new INQ1 phone with Facebook, MSN and Skype, which is very stable and which I much prefer to the S2. The stock Gmail install works fine with this and you can also setup gmail to be collected via the phone's email client too.
Forgot to mention, Opera works fine on the Inq1 (yea, I got the stripes on the S2 too!!). It displays a small unreadable webpage version of a page which you can then click on section of with an onscreen magnifier to display the page. I've even managed to read my work email via Outlook Web Access in Opera.0 -
Well, you're right, a very old version WILL work if you find and install it manually, as you say, but should we HAVE to go finding workarounds for a relatively new phone?As far as Gmail goes, there is a version that works as I have used it. If you search for gmail-g.jar and install that, then it works fine.
Go to OPTIONS on Opera and set it to render in mobile mode - works a treat every time!Forgot to mention, Opera works fine on the Inq1 (yea, I got the stripes on the S2 too!!). It displays a small unreadable webpage version of a page which you can then click on section of with an onscreen magnifier to display the page. I've even managed to read my work email via Outlook Web Access in Opera.
Are you sure? I've been caught out by that before - check your usage before you go sending anything TOO big!I have just got the INQ1. The gmail app works spot on on this but I am going to use the mail on 3 app as this does not use any of your data bundle.0 -
digitaltoast wrote: ».............
Are you sure? I've been caught out by that before - check your usage before you go sending anything TOO big!
Nope it definatly stats in the t&c's and on the website that email data is not included in the bundle, both the INQ1 special tarrifs come with "Unlimited" internet which has a fair usage of 1GB per month.The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke0 -
i had had this phone for just over 3 months now and no problems at all. will they start do you think. if they do i will be taking the phone back and getting a new one have you spoke to three about your problems as they have always fixed phones for me in the past if even just to put the new software on.QuidcoPaid;£989.08
Total Earnt:£1061.590 -
I've had this phone for 3 months too and today have sold it after upgrading to an iPhone (don't start me on that one - basics like text messaging are a nightmare, as I'm sure most of you already know). The problem I'm having is that after resetting the factory settings on the phone twice now, it won't remove my personal details from the Facebook, Skype or MSN apps. I've tried just resetting the Java settings too and still it's not doing it properly, so the buyer is going to be able to sign in as me. Looks like I'll have to reset all my passwords on all my accounts, which is very inconvenient.0
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