Do you use the Panels system?

[SonicBoom]

Do you use the Panels system?

I've included a poll in this thread, as I think it will be interesting to see if people do use the Panels system that the Xperia brand is meant to be all about. A new innovative way to use your phone, that is meant to easily implement itself into your lifestyle.

I will admit that I very rarely use the Panels system. 95% of the time I have it on the Sony Ericsson Panel 1, which I use for reading the BBC news headlines feed. As I use Spb Mobile Shell 2 and S2U2, my tasks, calendar items, weather, email, text messages, applications and contacts are taken care of by these two applications. I do use the Sony Ericsson Panel 1 to turn my WiFi on and off, but this Panel often reacts very slowly, which is frustrating.

I've tried other Panels, such as the Fish Panel, but it is a gimmick, so I don't use it. I've tried the Facebook Panel, but I prefer to visit the mobile Facebook website instead, so have that as my home page in Opera.

I also have the Windows Mobile Today Panel, the Google Panel, the Media Xperience Panel, and the Radio Panel on my Panels menu. I don't use the Windows Mobile today Panel, as Spb Mobile Shell 2 does almost everything that does, and I don't use the Google Panel, as I prefer to search through Opera, and I don't use the Media Xperience Panel as it can't read many of the file types or play music as well as the two programmes I use, Core Player and Pocket Player.

The Radio Panel often crashes on me, and I don't listen to the radio much.

I am aware that my opinions are just one person's opinions, but I very much believe that Panels are, at present, a waste of time, and therefore, as I've explained above, I don't really use the Panel system at all.



I do look forward to a firmware update to speed things up a bit, and hope for innovative Panels in the near future, but I don't think Sony Ericsson will deliver on what the adverts claimed an X1 could do with its Panels. I do still like the X1 very much for everything else it can do though.

Sony Ericsson Xperia advert

[LEICA]

I would use the panels if there was something usefull there, i sometimes use the fish but
not very often.
Perhaps if some usefull panels came out i would use them more.

[SonicBoom]

We can always hope for some useful Panels to come out, but don't you think that the X1 is a bit too slow with some of its Panels? I'd get rid of the static pictures that load up before the Panel itself. They make it look tacky.

[LEICA]

I suppose it is slower than it could be but i dont find it a real problem.
I think that it would be a lot better if as you say the static pictures were removed,
Perhaps if it was just to slowly fade to black and then slowly fade back into the actual
panel it would not seem so bad.

[kheavy]

I use them all the time:
Facebook
Media Panel <lots of use
Today panel is the default
(using Jacks 2.2 medium rom based on the update)

*edit sonic: what rom are you using? after the update to the generic one everything just started working the way 'I' imagined it should have day one.

[SonicBoom]

Even a loading icon, specific to the Panel, or a standard Xperia loading Panel would be better. The Facebook one works best in that regard.

Maybe it is that the first crop of Panels are weak, and that there will be an updated Panel system, in the way that Apple updated their iPhone and iPod Touch with Version 2 of their software. I'm sure Sony Ericsson could produce a much better experience with their Xperia than how it is now. I'm just not sure if we will be seeing such an update in this Xperia. Maybe the next.

[LEICA]

I think it would also be usefull if you could apply a different colour to suit each panel,
Say if on you main homescreen you could have gold taskbar, to suit a gold picture, and then
for this to change to black taskbar if you go to a black panel instead of staying gold.

[SonicBoom]

I use the ROM which came with the phone (which I imagine most people who have X1's will be using too). It's also the ROM that Sony Ericsson provides officially.

I'm thinking about updating my ROM at one point as the official update doesn't seem to be happening, but as I don't own a Windows computer, and rarely use one, it is more difficult for me I think. Or at least, I'm not sure how I'd do it using OS X.

[zpyder]

I used it occasionally at the start, but even then, I've had the phone for 2 months now, and some of the panels (media and radio I think) - I've never opened.

It basically was a case of seeing the few today screen type panels, then I quite liked the fish panel (I do aquatic biology and the likes), and then discovered the SPB panel, and it hasn't been off that since. Just waiting for a nice easy way of removing all panels except that and rebinding the xpanel button to some feature I use a lot...

[emuneee]

I use (in no particular order):

standard today screen
Facebook panel
SPB Mobile Shell panel
Fish panel (for nights & weekends)...lol
Media Experience Panel (for music and video)
Sometimes the Youtube Panel