Posted by jms2367
after staying away from SE phones for almost two years, i'm thinking of trying out either the elm or hazel. i'm just not sure what to get.
for the hazel, i like the big screen, but i'm worried about the slider thing since my nokia with the flex cable did not last me more than a year. the flex broke within 6months and after being replaced, it tended to have problems again when it was out of warranty.
for the elm on the other hand, is the wifi antenna really not that strong? is the wifi receiver on the hazel any better?
for both of the phones, is it true that you cannot use wifi for streaming youtube videos? also out of the box, both does not come with a usb cable which is the proprietary fast port one?
any thoughts on what phone to choose between these two will be much appreciated.
Posted by jms2367
anybody?
Posted by jplacson
Do you use 3G video calling?
And how often do you slide the phone?
The Elm is a great phone. Wifi reception is strong. I'll have to double check on the Youtube over wifi thing
For the price though, you're coming close the the X10 Mini (If you want a touchscreen phone that is)
Posted by jms2367
thanks. i rarely use video calling. i do not need a touchscreen phone right now coming from a tweaked omnia which i managed to be more touch optimized than the stock winmo 6.1 UI. i need a simple phone where i can type out quick replies while driving with one hand (i know, i'm supposed not to text message and drive at the same type). it's good to hear that wifi reception on the elm is strong. hope to get feedback from you on the youtube over wifi which gsmarena said is not working for both the elm and hazel units. i might damage the flex cable of the hazel early since i really use my phone quite heavily on text messaging and calls.
Posted by jplacson
Actually one of the main reasons I got the x10 mini pro was for one handed text.
But just so you know, YouTube works over wifi.
Just make sure you set all your Internet settings to connect over wifi.
Posted by jms2367
@jplacson
thanks for the info. guess there must be something wrong in the settings when gsmarena reviewed these units. i'm also looking at the mini pro but the non-replaceable battery is a deal breaker for me. are you able to type messages using the qwerty keyboard using one hand?
Posted by jplacson
The mini pro has a replaceable battery. No you can't type w/ one hand using the qwerty, but you can type w one hand using T9 with the Mini or the Mini Pro.
Posted by jms2367
o. may bad, it thought that the mini pro's battery is non-replaceable. i don't use t9 even on my omnia. actually i'm from the philippines too. my office mate is also using the mini pro and she is using the t9 input with the virtual phone pad. she texts in mixed language (taglish) which i don't want to do. i am going to the mall in a couple of minutes and might give these two phones a second look again. i really appreciate your valuable inputs. regards.
Posted by jplacson
Hey cool, glad I could help. Check out my blog as well for my review on the x10mini pro
Posted by jms2367
i might defer getting the elm or any other phone for that matter. i'll give the mini pro a second look. i will check out your blog when i get home.
what do you think of the price of the elm and mini pro? do you think it wil drop anytime soon? i got my omnia at a high price only to see its price drop down in 3 month's time and eventually it got phased out early this year.
Posted by jplacson
WelL, that's normal for tech. Wait 6 months and the phone will be obsolete and will drop in price. Elm and x10 mini are fair in price. You'll see it drop in a few months when the newer models are coming up.
Posted by jms2367
yeah i guess your right. in 6month's time these phones will be very cheap. the elm is selling brand new for only 9.5 to 10.9k, the mini pro ranges from 15k to 17k. i read your blog on the mini pro review. did you flash to a custom rom or did you just root the phone? great read btw.
Posted by mriley
I'm using the Elm, I play a lot of HD youtube videos using Wifi and it works very well as long as you have a good signal. I don't know why GSM Arena thinks it doesn't work, perhaps they don't know how to change the right settings, I did a 2 minute search of esato and that told me what to do.
The main problem with the Elm is the HSDPA reception, they've put the antenna at the bottom of the phone so you have to hold the phone upside down if you want hsdpa connection, but that's a common problem on phones. I can't comment on the Wifi antenna strength as I have nothing to compare it to.
If you're considering the X10 Mini/Pro, the antenna is at the top of the phone so you'll get better signal.
I see the cheapest you can buy the Elm in the Philippines is around £140
You can buy it from £100 here in the UK, (although I got mine new for £65 from esato
)
Posted by reeflotz
Hello I'd just like to add, you can also watch youtube using Wifi on Hazel
. Elm and Hazel suffers from having some light horizontal lines when taking lowlight pictures, (can be annoying at times) but otherwise camera is excellent at daylight. There's no fastport USB cable included 
Hazel is around 13k here in Philippines.
Posted by jplacson
I just root the phone when I need to use barnacle... Rooting caused a glitch before and I had to reflash my phone.
Everything else are just standard apps.
Posted by jms2367
I decided to get the Elm about 2 days ago and will use it as my regular phone for calls and sms. I will be keeping my Omnia as my smartphone on the go to read E-books, web browsing, etc.
@MRiley
I just read some reception issues with the Elm. I turned off 3G/HSDPA and still notice that it tends to lose its signal in areas of weak coverage where my Omnia performs quite well. I guess as you said that this is a hardware issue with the antenna's location and cannot be fixed with a firmware upgrade.
@JPLacson
Do you still own an Elm? Are you also having reception issues with it?
@Reeflotz
I was about to get a brand new Elm for 9.1k (GBP 132) when I found a seller in the net selling it for 6.5k (GBP 94) still with 9 months warranty.
Posted by jplacson
@jojosiscar, my mom owns the Elm, I'm just tech support...hahahaha. She has had no reception issues... that may be a provider issue more than a phone issue. Much like the famous iPhone 4 reception issue... most Philippine Globe iPhone users do not experience the reception problems than US AT&T users experience.
Posted by jms2367
thanks jplacson. do you notice a creaking sound when you press the battery cover near the shutter button? mine has that annoying creaking sound.
Posted by mriley
do you notice a creaking sound when you press the battery cover near the shutter button? mine has that annoying creaking sound.
I do, it's annoying
Other Elm users have noticed this too.
A lot of phones have their antenna at the bottom for some reason, I own another phone with the antenna at the bottom with the same provider but it's a lot better at getting signal than the Elm, so it's possible that it could be fixed with firmware.
[ This Message was edited by: mriley on 2010-10-04 15:52 ]
Posted by jplacson
I'll check the next time I visit my folks.
Just so you know, my X10 Mini Pro did that too... nothing a little tape in strategic places didn't solve. My phone now feels like a solid chunk of plastic, no creaks or flexing.
Posted by Sean..
As for the problem with the creaking battery cover what I do is a very teeny tiny piece of blue tack underneath the battery door. Put it in the corner where it's creaking on top of the battery & press it on the cover. It stops movement but as it's under battery door you cannot see it. But only a tiny small bit
Posted by jms2367
thanks guys. i read in other forums that eventually, after the battery cover is opened a couple of times, it will start to creak.
sean, i'm thinking of doing that too, if i get really annoyed with it.
mriley, yeah, the phones reception is a bit weak. i read somewhere that generally, they say that se phones have weaker reception compared to nokia's. yesterday at the office, I have to walk around to find a decent spot for me to understand the person whom i am calling (which happened a couple of times). i did not experience it when i was using my n82 then and not much when i was using my omnia on the same network. also, hope i can get the same decent shots you are getting in the elm/hazel photo thread.
anybody with the hazel who can share insights on the phone's reception? maybe it's not as bad as the elm? also, is the slider thing on the phone sturdy enough? will the flex not break say in 6 months time?
but generally, i am liking the elm. the simple ui of se is really good. a simple inexpensive phone with very good features.
Posted by reeflotz
Congrats on your Elm
that's a very good deal! only 6.5k 
Lol, I didn't know Elm had that creaking sound too, my Hazel also does that
must be the recycled plastic
Posted by jms2367
It was really annoying at first. I even compared it to our other mobiles at home like my wife's Nokia and my Omnia which both do not have that creaking sound. Even my son's very basic Nokia 1616 does not creak.
Reeflotz, How's the signal reception of the Hazel?
Posted by reeflotz
It's usually constant at 3 or 4 bars. But there are times when my signal indicator suddenly falls to one bar, the signal seems a bit sensitive at times, but the good thing is that as long as there's at least one bar I'm still able to text and receive text messages as well as receive calls without any problems.
[ This Message was edited by: reeflotz on 2010-10-06 13:49 ]
Posted by TinySarabia
Ask reeflotz how the hazel works... Its slider mechanism is magnetic so i think thats a ways better than the common belt sliders of most phones. And im not planning on making it my primary phone, just a "fun" phone.. I'm planning to buy it on OCT.30.. What's your say reef?
Posted by reeflotz
To be honest i didn't know at first that the slider is magnetic and what is it's difference with the previous sliders. It's my first slider phone, I'm hoping that the flex cable will be durable enough that it will last as long as the phone will last.
Signal reception of Hazel has been improved in the latest firmware R7CA065, there's only two things that I didn't like on Hazel, the light horizontal lines that appear on some lowlight pictures, and the LED flash is only useful as a flashlight, not really for taking lowlight pictures. Lowlight pictures is it's weakest point.
Other than that the phone is great! the display, connectivity (gprs, edge, hsupa, hsdpa, wifi), audio quality, daylight picture quality and video quality are all excellent. Plus the Hazel looks nice
Posted by Run_dawn10
You can ask me about the Hazel too.
Reception is now better with the new firmware, I can get 5 bars of HSDPA now, compared to 3-4 previously in the same area.
The Hazel does have a bit of an iPhone-style death grip, but the signal only drops by 1 or 2 bars and not until you loose service altogether.
(Dang, reef you beat me to it LOL.)
[ This Message was edited by: Run_dawn10 on 2010-10-13 14:22 ]
Posted by reeflotz
sorry about that,
@TinySarabia
Run_dawn can help you too, it makes me wonder how many Hazel users are members of esato.
Posted by TinySarabia
On 2010-10-13 15:11:46, Run_dawn10 wrote:
You can ask me about the Hazel too.
Reception is now better with the new firmware, I can get 5 bars of HSDPA now, compared to 3-4 previously in the same area.
The Hazel does have a bit of an iPhone-style death grip, but the signal only drops by 1 or 2 bars and not until you loose service altogether.
(Dang, reef you beat me to it LOL.)
[ This Message was edited by: Run_dawn10 on 2010-10-13 14:22 ]
So what do you think about it's slider quality?
@Reeflotz: Lol! you're like my guardian angel here. I always run to you about Hazel. Now Run_dawn is there, I can run to you both.
[ This Message was edited by: TinySarabia on 2010-10-15 14:13 ]
Posted by Run_dawn10
The slider's pretty good. It's better than some other sliders. Some people mentioned about the Hazel having a magnetic slider. I don't know how that works, I always thought sliders uses a flexcable.
Posted by Bonovox
Get Hazel much bigger screen with same great cam
Posted by groovepeppy
exactly!
Posted by jms2367
Got an Elm. If the slider of the Hazel is tough, I might get one in the future. I tend to play a lot w/ phones w/ moving parts like opening and closing my previous clam shell phones for no reason at all.
Posted by hung2vi
On 2010-09-26 14:48:24, mriley wrote:
I'm using the Elm, I play a lot of HD youtube videos using Wifi and it works very well as long as you have a good signal. I don't know why GSM Arena thinks it doesn't work, perhaps they don't know how to change the right settings, I did a 2 minute search of esato and that told me what to do.
Show me, how to change it? By default the quality of youtube application is very poor!
Posted by alenn
Elm for me,because i don't trust sliders i had my SE 395 and Nokia broken
.Also i had Motorola V3i and the screen died just after 1 year 