So how has the update been?  To save you an hour to read 111 replies from the 8 pages (rather short -> update has been quite successful), we read up on the official Sprint forum for you.  And after all these, this is a summary from what users like you are saying — Our latest CareAce Exclusive to make your life easier.  Please tweet us and however to get the word out.  We’ll save about 1.5 hours worth of reading per person.  Thanks.

If you are scanning, we placed the important parts in bold.

UPDATE 6/02/10: Some new pointers found in green.  (up t0 124 replies now)

Good

• “Sprint, thanks for getting this out to us! I updated yesterday when the updater leaked to the download site and it’s been running great! Great job on a quality build!”
• “I definitely notice some speed difference between the 2.1 I had before and the 2.1 I have now. I’m still getting CDMA lockup and my phone still sends 2 messages sometimes. Go figure.”
• Usually I have a shorter or slower performance on upgrades but this one stopped having that problem after a week or two.
• “In the meantime, play with it tethered to the wall when you can. Your Moment is not so much a phone but a very small laptop with a phone built-in. The 2.1 update makes it so much cooler. If you have trouble with the update, go to a repair center or get together with a friend with a newer or different computer and use it (I did the latter). It’s worth the trouble and is is worth the wait.“
• “Big hint in battery life——-- go to your phone settings and and turn off back ground data, but u can leave auto sync checked… Drastic improvement, although 2.1 still does draw alot of power. i constantly kill my apps. btw…. why are so many apps running? i even went into phone settings and managed running apps, and stopped what i dont need--(be carefule when doing this!!!). And it does seem to run much faster and smoother..Phone is Excellent!!!”"
• “I updated my Moment last Friday, and dispite the battery life issue, I love the new speed and functionality.
• “I’m really digging the update… The moment is the best phone I’ve ever had…”
• “In my opinion my battery life has increased.”
• “I have re-installed all my apps, and it is working as it did before.  GPS works as before, battery life is as good, maybe slightly better.  Performance is about the same.”
• “WIFI is much better, and was my main reason fore upgrading.  I wanted support for WPA Enterprise, and 2.1 does that.  I found other WIFI networks that were troublesome in the previous version work a lot more reliably now.”
• “So far so good, I also updated the wife’s phone. Signal strength had actually improved and I love the new look and power control widget it offers. No other issues so far, everyting works fine and battery power is still the same as before the update. Smart phones like these use alot of power anyway and need to be charged daily. Remember, this is only the first day of the update for me, and if i do find issues I will update the forums”
• “On days with heavy usage on my phone…web, calls, texts, using apps, the battery will usually last about 10-12 hours…..more than enough for me to get through the day.  On days I don’t use it as much (such as today) it lasts a lot longer.  I took it off the charger at 8am this morning…is is 10pm now and still at 60%.  And that is with network location, GPS, and background data all on.”

Critic

“I generally like the 2.1 upgrade however there are two things that  have to be fixed.

The first and most annoying is the “Mute On” button that appears on the  phone while in a call. Several times I have held the phone against my  cheek and the phone vibrates when you touch it. I’ve managed to mute a  number of calls my holding the phone against my cheek and moving it  accidentally. This absolutely has to change. With the G1, as soon as a  call is placed the screen is locked until you tap it. That gives some  protection, at least, against accidental key presses.

The second is the “slide to unlock” feature. I don’t want to have to  look at my phone to unlock it. If I have an incoming text message, why  can’t I just press the “End” button twice or something like that, I can  then touch the top of the screen to scroll down.

These could and should be configurable options. I should be able to  choose IF my phone is ever locked and I should be able to configure what  happens to the phone during a call.

If it wasn’t for the fact that some apps are not available for 1.5 that I  used on my G1 I would seriously consider reverting back.”

“I have not lost anything, but I do think the calendar and contacts apps are a bit of a step back.  Previous versions did a better job of distinguishing between work and personal appointments and contacts”

Consolidation of Problems

• Phone is not recognized on PC.
  • Use the USB port at the back of your computer.  Some front USB ports may not by up to spec.
• Network loses connection often: calls, messaging
• Where are the live wallpapers?
  • There are tweaks for it.  Google it.  It’s on the Market.
• MAJOR: Battery life sucks!
  • Try updating it again (often the remedy).  And make sure you have the right requirements.  And you can always visit your Sprint store and have them do it.
  • Here is the Samsung Update Instructions.
  • The battery drain is not normal.
• Samsung moment web browser keeps closing after i go to www.google.com”
  • “The browser shutdown has something to do with Google getting your location.  Try Menu>More>Settings from the browser and uncheck Enable location.”
• “I primarily use my phone for text as far a communication, most especially with my daughter. I of course, use it for a lot more things, but if I miss a call or text, I don’t know it, and I find myself constantly bringing it up just to see if I missed anything.  Rather counterproductive.”
  • “There is a free app in the market called “Missed Call” that claims to give “Customizable LED/Sound/Vibrate/Repeat notification for missed calls”"
• Many apps say that I purchased it but I don’t (seem to) have them since the upgrade.
• “What sucks is that Rerware’s MyBackup doesn’t show up as one of the paid apps so I can’t even backup all my old data.”
• “Paid apps were blank on my market after update; I just did a search for MyBackupPro and when I selected it, it said it was already paid.”
• “Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off the vibrate when you unlock the phone and also when you use the dialer? I checked all the settings and I don’t see anything else to uncheck as far as vibration goes.”
• “issue with integrating my Facebook contacts with the phone. Anybody else have that issue?”
  • “i don’t think our phones will do the face book integration”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3c2cwW1ImU

Samsung and Yahoo! have partnered since 2007 to provide consumers with innovative and engaging Internet experiences on mobile devices.  On April 26th, Yahoo announced an extended strategic global partnership with Samsung to distribute Yahoo!’s services on millions of Samsung mobile devices including Android and bada devices.

Instead of Google’s mobile services, Samsung phones may come pre-loaded with one or more Yahoo! branded services:

• Yahoo! Mail – Access your favorite Web mail features: Read, reply, compose and send mail; view attachments; get to your personal mail folders; and organize messages by customizable groups.
• Yahoo! Messenger – Message your friends reliably in real time: view their availability and quickly see their status messages; update your own status; and show your style with emoticons, avatars, or photos.
• Yahoo! Contacts and Calendar – Look up and/or add contact information and update your calendar.
• Yahoo! Mobile Front Page – Bring together your favorite content and services from anywhere across the Internet to one location.
• Yahoo! Search – Get exactly the information and answers you need when you are on the go. Search results are grouped around your query, providing the most relevant information on a single screen.
• Yahoo! Flickr – Take, share, and discover photos and videos; geo-tag photos; and email them to your Flickr account from your Samsung phone.
• Yahoo! News – Get the news you’re interested in on your phone. Choose what is relevant to you from a complete list of news categories, including entertainment, sports, business, technology, and more.
• Yahoo! Finance – Follow broad market indices or a specific company and read the day’s top news, research, and analysis to keep up-to-date about the financial world.
• Yahoo! Weather – View current weather conditions or a three-day forecast; search for weather conditions by city; find sunrise and sunset times; and get wind, visibility, humidity, and barometer readings.

Source: Fierce Mobile Content

The dust seems to be settling on the whole topic of Flash running on Android, there’s just way too many indication that point towards the integration of Flash on Android.

Image: Engadget

Here’s a statement released by Flash-based CTO Kevin Lynch:

We look forward to delivering Flash Player 10.1 for Android smartphones as a public preview at Google I/O in May, and then a general release in June. From that point on, an ever increasing number and variety of powerful, Flash-enabled devices will be arriving which we hope will provide a great landscape of choice.

The Google I/O event seems to be the rumored date for the major announcements, with Android’s next platform release, Froyo also expected to be included in the release.

Source: Engadget and AndroidGuys

Google continue pushing for more added service to mobile. And the latest addition give users a more comprehensive view of their local merchants, including address, hours, reviews and more.

The organized information is bound to be helpful when you are looking to check if it’s too late to go to a certain restaurant for dinner or check on the review of the new cafe next door.

Check out the video for more information:

To test this service, just perform any mobile search on Google.com from your mobile browser. It’s officially supporting the Android and iPhone, no verification on Windows Mobile, but from our experience, it should work just fine (for Windows Mobile Professional versions).

Source: FierceMobileContent

Google Maps 4.1 introduces the long-waited voice search for it’s mapping service on Windows Phones. Previously only available on certain Android versions and Blackberry devices, Windows Phone users may now save the typing effort and just speak out their searches.

To top that of, developers have implemented linguistic features that differentiates UK English and U.S English, as well as adding Chinese (Mandarin) to the mix.

So on your next drive about, rather than endangering other drivers by typing out your search, just use the voice search!

Source: CNET

Google has brought its helpful search suggestion onto Android devices. Now you can search on Google’s mobile page to generate search suggestions as you type away.

This is going to be helpful on many occasion where you need help finding what you are searching for – it could be a case of mis-spelling, or even more practically, information pertained to flights, delivery services and more can all be displayed on the suggestion.

The functionality is currently supported on Android-powered devices, iPhones/iPods and Palm WebOS devices in the US. – Official Google Mobile Blog

As you can see, Windows Mobile devices has not been approved for the new service, perhaps due to the nature of multiple browser with various forms of support needs.

To give this a test run, go to google.com on your phone’s browser and type your search to see the search suggestion at work!

Source: Androinica via Official Google Mobile Blog

Gesture Search from Google Labs lets you search your Android-powered device by drawing alphabet gestures on the touch screen. It allows you to quickly find a contact, a bookmark, an application, or a music track from hundreds or thousands of items, all in one place. It is fast and fun to use.

If there was ever a competition to see which platform has the most complete set of search methods, Android would have won. Adding to the capability to search with voice and text is the search by gesture.

First brought in by Palm years ago, gesturing hasn’t really taken center stage in mobile computing (despite the grow for multi-touch). Gesture Search from Google Labs let’s you draw alphabets on the touch screen to quickly find items like contacts, bookmarks, application or a music track.

The service isn’t pack with a whole lot of gestures that you need to learn, just characters and common sense actions such as delete with a horizontal line going from right to left.

If you own an Android-powered device, this can be added to your arsenal of searches – great in situations where audio search is not convenient (concert hall) and keyboard just doesn’t work (no idea why).

You can find it by searching “Gesture Search” in the Android Market. It’s currently compatible with any Android device with Android 2.0 and up.

Learn more about it on its Google Labs page or read about it on the Official Google Mobile Blog.

Android currently has a lineup of delicious yet fragmented platform versions out in the market, ranging from the initial Cupcake (1.5), to the Donut (1.6) and the current Eclair (2.0/2.1). And in the coming months, we will be seeing the launch of Froyo and Gingerbread.

Adding them up, and you have 5 different versions of Android, all available (or will be available) on current models. While updates has been pushed out almost bi-weekly now, this platform fragmentation situation creates a very frantic environment for developers and users alike.

Google seems to have realized the issue and is ready to confront the problem.

Engadget got words during CTIA that instead of basing the updates on device, the updates for the components will be pushed out via the Android Market. This gives manufacturer and carrier flexibility to include relevant updates.

Froyo and Gingerbread would be a stepping stone for Google to slowly phase-in the solution. The latest version updates are also seen by many as a slowing down development pace for the Android platform, where the core features have matured and Google can now start to focus on applications and components.

There is yet to be any affirmative schedule for the process. It should be more apparent when Froyo and Gingerbread start to roll out.

Source: Engadget

Back in January, the MOTO Development Group produced a video that teaches us how to test the touchscreen on our own. This time around, they have assembled a robot to assist with the more accurate touchscreen analysis.

The 3:29 long clip conducted a touchscreen analysis on the iPhone, the Google Nexus One, the Motorola Droid, the Palm Pre, and the Blackberry Storm 2. While no Windows Mobile device was included in this test, it’s still interesting to see the differences in the quality of the touchscreen devices.

Robot Touchscreen Analysis from MOTO Development Group on Vimeo.

(Source: MobileCrunch)

Google has always been a major player when it comes to mobile. And not just for the service that it provides or the platform it has released, but more significantly, the intelligent algorithm that it has developed that adds to user experience (think of the Google Navigation for mobile).

Case in point, Google Shopping for Mobile’s latest ‘In stock nearby’.

Here’s a statement from the Official Google Mobile Blog:

We’re happy to announce that as of today, if you’re searching for a product that is sold by participating retailers, including Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, or West Elm, you can just look for the blue dots in the search results to see if it’s available in a local store.

Currently and officially available on Android, iPhone and WebOS phone, you just have to point your mobile browser to Google.com and tap the “more” link to find the “Shopping” tab.

Try it out by entering a product that you’re looking to purchase, check to see if the listed results have a link underneath with a blue dot indicating that there’s stock nearby.

Early adapting retailers who are interested in participating can do so by filling out a brief form (provided by Google) and making sure you have the required tools for the service.

(Source: Official Google Mobile Blog)

Now you can analyze your site’s Google Analytics data on your schedule! Run reports, review data in a table, even see visually stunning data charts.

If you are using Google Analytics to analyze the traffic on your website, chances are you are probably still looking for that perfect Windows Mobile application that let’s you track it remotely.

SynergeTech Solutions have a good track record for the paid apps that they offer, including Windows Mobile Call Block and Windows Mobile SMS Sync.

This tool will set you back $9.99, a rather reasonable price for users looking to analyze and maintain their websites.

Features on Google Analytics Mobile (Back to Top)

• Comes with a number of common reports.
• Support for accounts with multiple profiles!
• Build your own reports – use any data from analytics.
• Securely encrypts your communication with the Google Analytics servers.
• Optimized for limited data bandwith requirements of cellular data networks for quicker report generation!

Screenshots of Google Analytics Mobile (Back to Top)

Application Info: Google Analytics Mobile (Back to Top)

App Name	Google Analytics Mobile
Version No.	N/A
Developer	SynergeTech Solutions
Dev. Page	Google Analytics Mobile
Price	$9.99
Filesize	N/A
Ratings	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Purchase Google Analytics Mobile (Back to Top)

Google Buzz was launched earlier today. And as more Gmail accounts start to receive the latest social networking tool by Google, Google Maps is already supporting the new Buzz.

For Windows Mobile users, you may now point your mobile browser to m.google.com/maps to download the latest Buzz-supporting update.

Features on Google Maps 4.0 (Back to Top)

Learn more about Google Buzz.

Screenshots of Google Maps 4.0 (Back to Top)

Video Demo of Google Maps 4.0 (Back to Top)

Application Info: Google Maps 4.0 (Back to Top)

Download Google Maps 4.0 (Back to Top)

(Source: Pocketnow.com)

Nexus One is the next aspiring step in the still-advancing mobile industry. The Google and HTC team have put together a series of videos introducing the phone from concept and design, to testing and manufacturing and finally when it’s used by a user.

If you are interesting in getting a Nexus One and have about 10~15 minutes to spare, be sure to check out these 5 videos to learn more.

To get you started, below is one of the video from the series

Nexus One The Story – Episode 4: Manufacturing

Watch ‘em all here.

Despite the lagged period between production and retail, the Samsung Omnia II is still a solid piece of hardware. Setting that beside the latest Google ace, the Nexus One, we wonder in what areas is the Samsung Omnia II better than Nexus One?

What does Samsung Omnia II do better than Nexus One?

• Hardware Buttons: The 2 additional hardware buttons and the 4 actions that comes with it allows Omnia II users to set shortcuts to a variety of actions.
• File Explorer: A component of Windows Mobile that some love and some hates. Nonetheless, it gives users window to the files on their device.
• Task Switcher: Switching between tasks is a natural action on Windows systems, same applies for Windows Mobile. While multi-tasking is also available on the Nexus One, it doesn’t quite work the same as a switching between applications.
• Items on Today screen: Samsung Omnia II has a more customized today screen listing providing information including schedule, tasks, incoming messages/calls, and more.
• Touch Experience: Some actual user have laid down the claim that he’s struggling with the hard-surface capacitive touchscreen on the Nexus One. The resistive touchscreen on the Samsung Omnia II provides a naturally soft-to-touch experience (touchscreen Analysis included in video.)

If you are interested in learning more about the similarities and differences between the two devices, here is an interesting source you may take a look at: Samsung Omnia II (Verizon) vs. Nexus One on Diffen.

Video Comparison: How is the Omnia II Better Than the Nexus One?

So from the video comparison, you can see the functions that Samsung Omnia II has. The more outstanding difference has to be the touchscreen. From the analysis, the resistive touchscreen is much more responsive than the capacitive one on Nexus One.

Nexus One uses the same AMOLED display screen as the Samsung Omnia II. We have set the Omnia II aside Nexus One to test the camera application on both of these devices. For the comparison, we took a look at the camera’s settings, photo quality and video quality.

The Samsung Omnia II has more extensive settings available than the Nexus One. And in terms of photo and video qualities, the Omnia II has a brighter and warmer color. Nexus One, on the other hand has a more refined and sharp image.

Check out the comparison video below and the images taken by the 2 devices will be posted after the break.

Comparison Video of the Camera on Samsung Omnia II vs. Nexus One

Photo Quality Test: Omnia II vs. Nexus One

Samsung Omnia II

Google Nexus One

Video Recording Quality Test: Omnia II vs. Nexus One

Samsung Omnia II / Google Nexus One

Conclusion

Which one do you prefer?