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EQO Windows Mobile 6 (eqomobile-wm-1.2.0) initial feedback

Submitted by christopherw on April 1, 2008 - 6:50am.

So, I upgraded Eqo Mobile to the latest version yesterday (over HSDPA while I was driving! :)

I had a strange graphics corruption after I first fired the app up - the Go Online text was missing from the left menu, and the top icons (messages / contacts etc) looks almost like a fruit machine which had stuck mid-way between symbols, but after a soft reset the icons came up fine and I've not had that problem since. Maybe the installer should suggest that you soft reset to complete installation.

However, more problematic is the data usage - like Palringo used to do, Eqo seems to ping the logon servers too frequently, resulting in extreme power usage. I left Eqo open for six hours (with the phone in standby, screen off etc) and I had less than 40% charge left from a 1500mAh battery (I normally get 25-30 hours out of a charge with regular usage, and this is on an HTC Hermes).

Also problematic is the handover back to data after finishing a call. For example, I load Eqo, dial a number via the "Dial Number" feature - tap in the number, press Call, the phone dials the Eqo 0207 access number and the call is placed successfully. However, when the call is finished, Eqo brings itself back to focus on the screen and attempts to connect again. Unfortunately, it gets stuck at "Connecting...", and no data is transmitted. Tapping "cancel" then tapping Go Online again manually makes it connect almost instantly. Sometimes, it just fails on its own, and you're left to reconnect manually.

When I was using Eqo to make long calls (>10 minutes), using a bluetooth headset as I was driving, I noticed that after finishing the call Eqo was obviously trying to connect but maybe trying too soon, as I was getting a standard Windows Mobile "the connection could not be established" style error dialog after the call had finished.

Maybe putting a hard delay of 1 or 2 seconds into Eqo so that it doesn't try and connect through the phone's data service until after the call is finished? Obviously Eqo's trying to reconnect immediately, but the phone's not coping with this handover very gracefully.

All these problems are reproducible, by the way.

Using an HTC Hermes in the UK with HSDPA 3G connectivity (and GPRS where there's no 3G coverage) in the UK on T-Mobile.

‹ EQO SAMSUNG SGH-J200hi ›

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RE: EQO Windows Mobile 6 (eqomobile-wm-1.2.0) initial feedback

Submitted by chris on April 1, 2008 - 9:09am.

Thank you for the feedback! This is great stuff. We will look into your reconnection problems after a call for sure. I hope that's something we can fix.

As for battery drainage issue, please go to Options->Settings in EQO and check to see if "Use TCP connection" is checked. If not, then check this option. Forcing a TCP connection should improve battery life. Other than that, there isn't much we can do. We think we have minimized our keep alive messages while at the same time maintaining usability of an IM service.

Thanks again for the great feedback and please don't hesitate to make any other suggestions.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

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Chris,yep, that's using

Submitted by christopherw on April 2, 2008 - 8:42am.

Chris,
yep, that's using TCP. unfortunately it sucks the life out of the battery in just a few hours, rendering the phone useless as a phone :(

I'll keep on experimenting and seeing if there's a way of using less battery whilst leaving EQO open, but I don't hold out much hope in the short term. (does unticking TCP use UDP?)

maybe an option to disable IM features or 'batch schedule' things like nudges and IM receives would work around the problem? ither that or allow the user to choose between update intervals, so if they wanted to perceive the software as online but not be pinging every 60 seconds, they could set the updates to once every 20 minutes or longer (much like ActiveSync's 'peak times' feature).

also Chris, im going to be a bit cheeky now - a while back I wrote a huge post about UK data tariffs and other info, and you offereed me some Eqo credit which I gratefully accepted - but I never received it. did you credit my account or did something go awry?

Christopher

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RE: Chris,yep, that's using

Submitted by chris on April 2, 2008 - 9:02am.

Hi Christopher,

I apologize for not adding your EQO Credit in the past. I must have forgotten, but I have added a generous amount just now.

Unticking TCP uses HTTP, which is more of a data and battery hog than TCP. We have tried UDP in the past, but it's just not reliable enough.

Trust me when I say that optimizing battery usage and data consumption while maintaining usability is a top concern of ours. I'm not sure that adding settings is the right answer for us and for most users. Settings add application complexity, QA overhead, and general confusion for most users. We will continue to optimize.

We really do appreciate the feedback and thank you for it. Please keep this good stuff coming.

Cheers,

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

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