[cooperpwc]

I can't speak for Cingular but the signal for Telstra OS .309 was fine on the Rogers network. I'm now back to build .284 on my latest 8700 handset (for now) and the signal seems no better or worse. The only obvious differences are:

Ring tones don't seem to be quite as loud as Telstra (but still fine).
Zen theme is much much nicer.
Can't run the Today themes.

As I noted in another thread, by copying the Telstra Vodafone .cod file over to the .284 Loader files (Java folder), I am able to enjoy the improvement in that theme while running OS .284.

[gadgetfanatic]

How is Zen much, much nicer?

[cooperpwc]

Originally Posted by gadgetfanatic

How is Zen much, much nicer?

Don't get me wrong. I like Telstra and will probably upgrade again to return to Dimension Today at some point. But it's a trade-off. They ruined Zen when they took out the option to turn home screen application names off.
So you have to decde: do you want Zen lookin good, or do you want Dimension Today and the other minor bur cetainly tangible improvements in Telstra?
Unlike some, but for Zen I have found nothng wrong with Telstra.

[gadgetfanatic]

I leave the app names on Zen so that part doesn't bother me.

[IanHummel]

Ever since I upgraded to Telestra my 8700 has been dropping calls like crazy (couple times a day). When I had the normal software this wasn't an issue. The question I am faced with now is do I want to lose Dimension Today (not really) and have my signal be more consistant and just run Zen, or keep Dimension Today and deal with the call dropping....... These two options kind of suck.

[cooperpwc]

Originally Posted by IanHummel

Ever since I upgraded to Telestra my 8700 has been dropping calls like crazy (couple times a day). When I had the normal software this wasn't an issue. The question I am faced with now is do I want to lose Dimension Today (not really) and have my signal be more consistant and just run Zen, or keep Dimension Today and deal with the call dropping....... These two options kind of suck.

I like Dimension Today too but this doesn't seem like much of a choice at all. If Telstra is really destroying the usefulness of your phone, surely that's more important than a cool but buggy theme...

[IanHummel]

I agree partly, but the issue that remains then is the fact that I have really become accustomed to having my next couple of appts. on my calender so that when I look at my BB I know what I have coming up, rather than just a reminder pop up ahead of time. Oh well, I agree, I think I'll be just going to the version where you can get a good version of Zen, and not drop calls...

[jdjleo]

Originally Posted by cooperpwc

They ruined Zen when they took out the option to turn home screen application names off.
So you have to decde: do you want Zen lookin good, or do you want Dimension Today and the other minor bur cetainly tangible improvements in Telstra?
Unlike some, but for Zen I have found nothng wrong with Telstra.

Yah thats how i felt originally. But after turning my 1-touch dialing off and mastering the shortcuts i dont find myself scrolling up and down the home screen displaying the app names. I just leave it selected on the BB apps list icon at the bottom. that leaves your Zen desktop nice and clear!

And i do like that with telstra it displays the actual app icon instead of that busted-looking conputer icon for 3rd party apps!

[cooperpwc]

Originally Posted by jdjleo

Yah thats how i felt originally. But after turning my 1-touch dialing off and mastering the shortcuts i dont find myself scrolling up and down the home screen displaying the app names. I just leave it selected on the BB apps list icon at the bottom. that leaves your Zen desktop nice and clear!

And i do like that with telstra it displays the actual app icon instead of that busted-looking conputer icon for 3rd party apps!

I had another issue when I went to Telstra that sometimes the SMS app in Zen would display as "SMS Messages" (the new shorter form) and sometimes as the old "SMS and MMS Messages". I'm convinced now that it was because of it remembering the Ribbon Bar Positions from Bharti Zen. It made Telstra Zen particularly ugly.
So I'm now going to upgrade to Telstra again to get Dimension Today back but with the Ribbon Bar Positions part of the Restore database deleted; see if that solves the problem.
And indeed, now that I use PocketDay Lists, having Zen display the actual 3rd party app icon has become attractive.

[cooperpwc]

I just did my lazy Saturday return to Telstra. And really I'm shocked. I had not noticed the first time just how badly they had compromised Zen:

1. As noted you can't turn off app names on the home screen. But scrolling is no longer smooth because it has to grab the app names for the icons; there's an anoying delay.

2. Even worse, they got rid of a great feature. If you're like me, you keep your apps menu as simple as possible and do everything off hotkeys. With Zen in OS .284, you could choose the first 5 apps on your menu as the ones that would display on your homescreen and then hide them. The result was that they appeared on your homescreen but not on the menu. Very clean and very smart. Very stupid that they got rid of this feature in Tesltra Zen. Now if you hide the apps on the menu, they also disappear on your home screen.
I understand the reasoning: it confused too many people to have such complicated power. But it's this dumbing down to the lowest common denominator that I think is unfortunate.

[IanHummel]

Anyone else have the issue of dropping calls more frequently (the beeping in the ear with the message "call failed") with the Telestra upgrade?

[lgreenberg]

I get it every once and a while.

But it's not a dropped call for me. It happens when I first try to connect a call. It doesn't dial out instead it gives me the "call failed" message. I just keep trying and it eventually goes through.

Doesn't happen often though.

[sanjeevjoshi]

I have upgraded my Cingular OS first to Bharti, then to Telstra. Conference calling reliability has improved, ringer volume bug has gone, Today themes are nice. Call quality is as good, battery life has actually improved by about 30%. About the only issue I have with the Today themes is that sometimes messages that I have opened or marked opened stay in the home page. I have to mark them un-opened, then mark them again as opened so that they go away from the home screen. Does not happen consistently, but does occur every now and then.

[diegosalinas]

so would someone walking into TMO and getting a 8700g today automatically have this latest OS everyone keeps posting about?