[Q] My Experience with the WP7/Samsung Focus

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Hey Guys;

So this is my rant about the Samsung Focus. I'll try to keep this brief.

I've been a huge fan of the Zune HD and since day one I've said that I'd switch if they ever add phone features (I was on a 3Gs at the time.)
So enter WP7; I LOVE the UI SOOO much that even though it's missing some really key things I was willing to overlook that and still got the Focus.

- I called AT&T to make sure they'd let me unlock it BEFORE I bought it because I'm taking a trip to Europe for a few months so I need to be able to use their local SIM. AT&T said "NO problem!" Once I got the phone however it turned into "We're not allowing it to be unlocked for 6 Months" (AT&T Sucks)
- It was suppose to take 15 minutes to active, it took 2 days (AT&T sucks)
- found out that WP7 doesn't connect to wireless networks that don't broadcast SSIDs (MS is clueless!) UPDATE: I take this one back... Still a pain, but maybe I'm being harsh...

But even after all these ridiculous issues that had me calling AT&T OVER AND OVER again, I was willing to keep the Phone....

Then came the deal breaker....
Since this is a really new OS from MS, They're supporting the newest exchange servers (2008) and if you're company doesn't have those new exchange servers dependable account syncing isn't in your future! () I've been able to get it to sync, but it errors out before it finishes and then it's unstable. Shooting errors out all the time. Came across this forum: http://tinyurl.com/focus-outlook

So now I'm about to crawl back to the OS I abandoned (android)
Worse of all; I put my 32Gb MicroSD card in the Focus and although it works great, I can't figure out how to format it and get it usable on other devices again. Only the focus can see it now... (has someone come across a fix for that yet?)

So there you have it... I'm not having a good phone week...

Originally Posted by kcasante

Then came the deal breaker....
Since this is a really new OS from MS, They're supporting the newest exchange servers (2008) and if you're company doesn't have those new exchange servers dependable account syncing isn't in your future!

Firstly, the lastest Exchange is 2010 If you're not already on it, you really need to! It's awesome!

My Omnia 7 synched up first time, I really didn't expect it to be able to deal with the client certificate, but it seems to handle it all invisibly. I'm very, very, (VERY!), impressed by how flawlessly it has worked.

If you're not on Exchange 2010, you need to get your company into the Microsoft Partner Network and you will get licences for nearly all of the latest software. We jumped a version (from 2003 to 2010) and the improvement is gobsmacking. Exchange 2010 is so much more efficient, the servers are flying!

Originally Posted by Smoothound

Firstly, the lastest Exchange is 2010 If you're not already on it, you really need to! It's awesome!

My Omnia 7 synched up first time, I really didn't expect it to be able to deal with the client certificate, but it seems to handle it all invisibly. I'm very, very, (VERY!), impressed by how flawlessly it has worked.

If you're not on Exchange 2010, you need to get your company into the Microsoft Partner Network and you will get licences for nearly all of the latest software. We jumped a version (from 2003 to 2010) and the improvement is gobsmacking. Exchange 2010 is so much more efficient, the servers are flying!

Yes Smoothound, you're right it is 2010; my mistake.

And as for my company switching; I don't think I have any pull in that department. I don't think it's a good idea to call them out on the internet. Lets just say this is a company thats known worldwide as a household name ( and also just bought a dying phone brand due to their OS) I'm actually surprised that they're behind on that tech but I have no way of incluencing an upgrade unfortunately. I'm sure it's in the works but for when I need it, it's too little too late...

ActiveSync is working fine for me on Exchange 2003 without any issues at all. So, no, you don't have to be on the latest version of Exchange.

I'm pretty sure I have Exchange 2003 here (I know it's not 2010 or 2008) and it works just fine. The first time thru it wouldn't download images that were embedded in email but I'd pretty sure that was because of the half-assed network I was using at the time. When I got home and connected to my own network, did a hard reset and set it all up again, mail worked fine. No errors, nothing, just email. I read the same thing about the iPhone 4, too, but it works fine against my server, also.

Originally Posted by markgamber

I'm pretty sure I have Exchange 2003 here (I know it's not 2010 or 2008) and it works just fine. The first time thru it wouldn't download images that were embedded in email but I'd pretty sure that was because of the half-assed network I was using at the time. When I got home and connected to my own network, did a hard reset and set it all up again, mail worked fine. No errors, nothing, just email. I read the same thing about the iPhone 4, too, but it works fine against my server, also.

So now I'm really confused...

And when I set it up the first time it worked well too! All emails Contacts, and Calendar updates were flawless...
I have my corporate mail synced on my phone and iPad so when a mail comes in they all ding at the same time... Somewhere along the line, the focus stopped digging and I haven't gotten it back stable since....
When i set up the account automatically it has no problems finding my account but eventually errors out after pulling down some emails and contacts...
I can set it up manually but it doesn't make a difference.

I really don't want to return this thing because the only other phone thats useable on AT&T in my opinion is the iPhone 4 (or the Captivate) and I REALLY don't want to go back down that dark path

Any suggestions guys?

Originally Posted by kcasante

So now I'm really confused...

And when I set it up the first time it worked well too! All emails Contacts, and Calendar updates were flawless...
I have my corporate mail synced on my phone and iPad so when a mail comes in they all ding at the same time... Somewhere along the line, the focus stopped digging and I haven't gotten it back stable since....
When i set up the account automatically it has no problems finding my account but eventually errors out after pulling down some emails and contacts...
I can set it up manually but it doesn't make a difference.

I really don't want to return this thing because the only other phone thats useable on AT&T in my opinion is the iPhone 4 (or the Captivate) and I REALLY don't want to go back down that dark path

Any suggestions guys?

It has to be your Exchange infrastructure. I have tested the phone with Exchange 2003, 2007 & 2010 and they all work flawlessly. I'm an IT consultant and I have used my Focus to make sure it is compatible with my customers networks so that I can recommend it.

The only thing I'm sure is unusual about my set up is that since it's a dev system and it's just me using it for mail, I don't use SSL and have it turned off at the phone. Everything else is entirely straightfoward. I would think Microsoft would have decent integration between two of their own products BUT the phone is a Rev 1 system. You might take a look around the MS support site to see if anyone has had problems and if there's a reason and/or correction you can take. I second the thinking that it's probably something with your server and/or network but that's about the best I can do.

We are using Exchange 2007 and it works without a problem after the policy was corrected. Windows Phone 7 will not sync if the policy requires your phone to encrypt or strong unlock password (alphanumeric password). Our admin made a Windows Phone 7 policy for these items. Considering you cannot take the microsd out and it wont sync to desktops.. the encrypt is not a big deal.

In this thread the guy says going back and re-enter the information might work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...=833863&page=2
This happened to me as well. We have an Exchange 2003 server and what I did was go to "email and accounts" on the phone and went through the proccess and setup everything correctly but still got the error messages.
Now this is what fixed my issue (strange). I got out of the "email and accounts" and went into all programs list and opened "Outlook" , from there I put the settings in again for my account and presto, it just started working and syncing.

I did 2 phones likes this already and it works. Dont ask me how, but it does.
Hope this helps OP and anyone else using Exchange 2003.