Help Inspire Noob - Few Questions

[goya]

1. Swype? I've had the HTC EVO and Samsung Galaxy tab and I believe both had swype. I think the Sprint guy even said ALL android phones had swype. Is this true?

2. What is this sideload update? I'm getting my phone from Amazon Wireless so it would be ironic if I could not use the Amazon App.

3. Why do people want stock apps removed? If you want them removed, how do you remove them?

 

[2manyPHONES]

1. Swype? I've had the HTC EVO and Samsung Galaxy tab and I believe both had swype. I think the Sprint guy even said ALL android phones had swype. Is this true ?

No not true, it is not on the inspire. Swypeinc.com is where you have to get it. But read next answer to question about sideloading update.

2. What is this sideload update? I'm getting my phone from Amazon Wireless so it would be ironic if I could not use the Amazon App.

This update allows use of 3rd party apps or app stores other than the android marketplace. Before att decided to release this update all att devices where locked down to downloading apps strictly from the android marketplace.

Since swype is a 3rd party app you need the update to make swype install. There was another way to sideload (SWM=sideload wonder machine) but this method isn't really needed anymore. Some people who haven't gotten the update used the temporary root method to enable the unknown source option. Then once you reboot the phone you lose root but keep the unknown sources option.

http://androidforums.com/inspire-4g...ose-who-dont-have-sideloading-update-yet.html

To see if you got the update
Menu -settings -applications first thing under this menu should be unknown sources and a check box.

3. Why do people want stock apps removed? If you want them removed, how do you remove them?

To save space on the phone that is being taken up by useless apps. Inorder to remove them you would have to root the inspire (or any phone for that matter to remove carrier bloatware) you can read all about rooting in this section :
http://androidforums.com/inspire-4g-all-things-root/

 

[goya]

Thanks!

I have the 200MB data plan because I am almost never away from WIFI. What are the ways to tweak the phone so all sync stuff occurs over WIFI and not the network?


Also, I chose the Inspire over the Atrix and Infuse without seeing any of them in person. I lost my phone and needed to order something fast. Did I make a good choice?

I was drawn to the Infuse because of the faster proc and larger screen but it cost a little more than I had. I could have got the Atrix but the 4" screen kind of bothered me, heard bad things about motoblur and the plastic build quality I saw on YouTube looked cheap. Will the Inspire screen look better than the TFT screen on the EVO?


Also, how do you guys feel about AT&T? They are constantly blasted for bad service even in big cities. I will admit I had them for a short time in Chicago and service was edge in any building above a couple floors. IMO, I just feel like AT&T is America's GSM carrier and GSM is the future. Sprint has spent tons of money on wimax which is pretty much obsolete and Verizon, even though they have LTE, is largely built on CDMA which is obsolete as well. I just figured 2 years from now Sprint and T-Mobile will be gone and Verizon would still be relying mostly on the CDMA network.

 

[2manyPHONES]

Thanks!

I have the 200MB data plan because I am almost never away from WIFI. What are the ways to tweak the phone so all sync stuff occurs over WIFI and not the network?

To start you can change the sync options for most things like email fb twitter etc to like every few hours or manual refresh. If you go to menu- settings - accounts & sync tap on an account and change the sync intervals do each account. Also you can change this for widgets and how often they update. I believe for the widget you have to tap the gear icon or something like that.

Also I use Widgetsoid to create widgets with toggles to turn things off and on as needed such as blue tooth, wifi and mobile data(this is what you will want off when you are strictly on wifi and when you are away from wifi you can turn it on as needed)

Also, I chose the Inspire over the Atrix and Infuse without seeing any of them in person. I lost my phone and needed to order something fast. Did I make a good choice?

This is really a matter of personal preference. I liked the infuse but it was just too big. Also its just a captivate in steroids and ate the problems the captivate had upon release I told myself I would wait a little longer to get another Sammy phone just in case there were some more major bugs that needed to be worked out. Every phone has its own set of problems, pros/cons its just a matter of what you can live with i guess. And the atrix seemed too small and also I'm not a huge motoblur fan. So the inspire fits my needs better

I was drawn to the Infuse because of the faster proc and larger screen but it cost a little more than I had. I could have got the Atrix but the 4" screen kind of bothered me, heard bad things about motoblur and the plastic build quality I saw on YouTube looked cheap. Will the Inspire screen look better than the TFT screen on the EVO?

My cousins have evos and im not sure if it's maybe different brightness settings but i think my screen looks better (maybe im just biased)

Also, how do you guys feel about AT&T? They are constantly blasted for bad service even in big cities. I will admit I had them for a short time in Chicago and service was edge in any building above a couple floors. IMO, I just feel like AT&T is America's GSM carrier and GSM is the future. Sprint has spent tons of money on wimax which is pretty much obsolete and Verizon, even though they have LTE, is largely built on CDMA which is obsolete as well. I just figured 2 years from now Sprint and T-Mobile will be gone and Verizon would still be relying mostly on the CDMA network.

I have no problems with att service. I travel alot by car and plane between laredo, tx and buffalo, ny and have not run into any service problems through any state between those 2 cities.

 

[goya]

It's funny because maybe 5 years ago any choice between a Samsung and an HTC would have been Samsung by a long shot. HTC has really made a name for itself in a relatively short period of time.


I'm sure these companies beta test the products with real people... i.e the whole beta iPhone scandal but maybe they need to sink a little more money into it. I think the Atrix might have been a home run for Motorola had the screen been slightly larger than 4". Or maybe they just don't care with all the success they are having at Verizon.