Database Users

is touch hd better than x1?

unhappy x1 owner

Better screen, lighter, better UI.
What are you looking for in the answers?

maybe you want to explain why are you unhappy with x1
browsing this forum will give you all informaton about issues of the Blackstone
you can even find some compartive benchmarks between HD and X1
so, what exactly do you want to know?

is touch hd faster less lag?
does the bigger screen keyboard makes up for the real keyboard of x1?
does the battery last longer?

leobox1 said:
is touch hd faster less lag?
does the bigger screen keyboard makes up for the real keyboard of x1?
does the battery last longer?
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no
no
don't think so

? so u mean x1 is better??

no i don't mean that as long as i own a HD and not X1
in some aspects HD is better is some other aspects is X1 that take the lead
for example, i never consider X1 just because it's thikness. i don't need the phisical keyboard because i don't text so much
so better is what is better TO YOU

how about the camera>

Definately Touch HD will be better because of 5MP camera compare to X1 only come with 3MP

belon_cfy said:
Definately Touch HD will be better because of 5MP camera compare to X1 only come with 3MP
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i seriously doubt that
htc cameras are well known being of poor quality. beside that it seems that the software is not well designed, as a lot of people noticed
on the other hand, sony is well known for quality cameras
so.....

leobox1 said:
? so u mean x1 is better??
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nope I dont think so... nearly the same... i compared them before buying my HD and to my mind the X1 is too bullky-to big. (FOR ME! Its my opinion, If you have big pockets, than its no problem!)
But I think you can play games better with yout X1! We dont have hardware buttons!!! :O
But I can read eBooks more comfortable , because the screen is a little bit bigger (but has the same resolution)

The screen makes all the difference, HD got a bigger and easy to use screen, X1 screen is recessed so you might have problems clicking on the screen limits like the X in the corner.
Also the keyboard and hardware keys of the X1 can be easy to use but they might fail after some time of intensive use.

noris08 said:
i seriously doubt that
htc cameras are well known being of poor quality. beside that it seems that the software is not well designed, as a lot of people noticed
on the other hand, sony is well known for quality cameras
so.....
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AFAIK, X1 is also manufactured by HTC, but for Sony. I don't recall where I read this, but this is what I have been lead to believe.
For me HD is awesome. Especially after upgrading/changing ROM. Absolutely love the high res, non-recessed screen. My only problem - complete lack of hardware buttons.
And it looks much much better than X1, but that's too subjective...
Internal hardware wise, I don't think it makes much of a difference. I've tried lots of HTC devices (including 200 MHz Omap processer - Charmer), and the only thing that makes a difference is amount of memory so that you can run more applications at the same time without worrying about running out of memory.

damac said:
AFAIK, X1 is also manufactured by HTC, but for Sony. I don't recall where I read this, but this is what I have been lead to believe.
that is true, x1 is made by htc
the difference is the software designed by se programmers, some drivers that htc usualy miss, small issues like that
i assume though that there are also some hardware components specificaly requested by se, like metal casing, for instance
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X1 better than the HD ?
Personally I don't think so.
If you're someone that texts allot, you'd be happy with the X1 since it has the physical keyboard.
But the HD is lighter, thinner and the TF3D is more user friendly than the standard WM6.1 stuff on the X1.
Though you can change all of that by flashing your device.
The battery of the HD is ok.
I play alot with it and the batterylife can reach like 2 days max.
If I stop playing with it and use it for phoning only, it may reach 3 days.
The screenquality on the HD is the thing that does it for me.
Since its a bigger screen, the experience of watching movies or streaming media is far cooler than you'll ever get on the X1.
Together with the big screen you'll find the 3.5 mm earjack which you can use to plug your favorite audiophone.
Don't know if the X1 has a extention to plug 3.5mm audiophones...
I'd choose for the HD.
X1 is more practical sometimes, but the HD is in my opinion very stylish.
Even more stylish than the Iphone... I think.
Greetings and goodluck

noris08 said:
i seriously doubt that
htc cameras are well known being of poor quality. beside that it seems that the software is not well designed, as a lot of people noticed
on the other hand, sony is well known for quality cameras
so.....
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Click to collapse
Hmm I've had a few SE phones in recent history. I was very happy with my SE W810i, camera was pretty decent on that.
Upgraded to the K850i and hated the damn thing, especially the camera which while supposed to be 5mp was attrocious. I had so many faults with the model in the end Orange got sick of sending me new ones and upgraded me to the C902. Decent phone but again the camera was nothing special. I personally have found the quality on my HD better than the C902 which is also 5mp. I considered the X1 but have had so many issues with SE of late that i wanted to try something different and i am absolutely loving the HD so far.

touch hd
I have had my HD for severl months now and it is always failed to impress me (aprt from the gorgeous screen) by far the best HTC I have had were the orbit and XDA exec, both good phones. My only problem with it is that it was hiped to buggery when it was released as a super amazing fast all singing all dancing media phone, it isnt at all, it is a business phone, a slick shiny Iphone-esq one but a business phone nonetheless. it could have been so good, its hardware is outpaces game consoles and the iphone for instance. If it wasnt crippled by winmo and the lack of full 3d and video acceleration it would be the shoulders above the rest. I feel let down by HTC and I am not going to buy one again until they can properly optimise there hardware like Apple have done with the Iphone, you have to give it to Apple, they have squeezed every ounce of juice out of that bady they can, you only need to look at the wealth of app. I would sell my HD tomorrow if the Iphone wasnt so locked down and had a bigger screen, iphone next gen here I come...

stoolzo said:
I have had my HD for severl months now and it is always failed to impress me (aprt from the gorgeous screen) by far the best HTC I have had were the orbit and XDA exec, both good phones. My only problem with it is that it was hiped to buggery when it was released as a super amazing fast all singing all dancing media phone, it isnt at all, it is a business phone, a slick shiny Iphone-esq one but a business phone nonetheless. it could have been so good, its hardware is outpaces game consoles and the iphone for instance. If it wasnt crippled by winmo and the lack of full 3d and video acceleration it would be the shoulders above the rest. I feel let down by HTC and I am not going to buy one again until they can properly optimise there hardware like Apple have done with the Iphone, you have to give it to Apple, they have squeezed every ounce of juice out of that bady they can, you only need to look at the wealth of app. I would sell my HD tomorrow if the Iphone wasnt so locked down and had a bigger screen, iphone next gen here I come...
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And how does all your review answers to the thread question ?

stoolzo said:
..iphone next gen here I come...
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I will have a iPhone AND a HD
iPhone for playing HD for everything else (movie watching, eading, working, learning, sms-ing, phoning xD
The next iPhone should have at least WVGA resolution until then-HD RULEZ

X2 wishes. Only 1 item allowed.

I had a conversation with a couple of friends the other day and we talked about the X2. Everyone made a ton of suggestions as usual. That got me thinking...... what is the single most desirable feature/part/option that YOU would like to see in the X2.
It may be anything from android or WinMo 7 to capacitive touchscreen, dvb-h receiver, flush screen, accelerometer or a 5 row keyboard . You may choose only one thing, so choose wisely....
After a lot of deliberation I decided that the featue I want the most is.....
Multi-touch resistive screen . Yes, I said resistive. Check it out:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/stantums-mind-blowing-multitouch-interface-on-video/

I hate resistive touch screens because you can't use a stylus. I would say 4 inch screen Xperia.

it should be programable hw keyboard...change the language, then the letters on the buttons change accordingly

The ability to play an 1376 Kbps Bit Rate Xvid, 164 Kbps Audio MP3 at 624x352 Pixel File at a full 100% without dropped frames.
You didn't say I couldn't list the faults of the X1 which are:
Keyboard slightly too small.
Main Hardware buttons a little fiddly
External speaker/ringtone output rubbish.
Camera too slow.
Other than that I absolutely adore my X1 (Even though it does have 'the crack' (Which I've never bothered to return to get fixed))

itje said:
it should be programable hw keyboard...change the language, then the letters on the buttons change accordingly
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For that to work, typing in the sun will be a pain!

keep the same physical size but 3.2" or larger screen.

poetryrocksalot said:
For that to work, typing in the sun will be a pain!
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Click to collapse
Unless you had one of these keyboards!
Samsung's Alias 2 dynamic E-Ink keypad in action
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/08/video-samsung-alias-2-dynamic-e-ink-keypad-in-action/

well since my baby is near perfect, Id say Id like a more intuative OS, even if itswindows based...it need to flow alot smoother.

having one video player to play all videos (divx, xvid, wmv,mp4,3gp,mov...) smoothly no matter how high the bitrate.

12.1 mp camera, something I want in a phone that's both sexy and powerful.

I would say better support from SE, regular firmware updates, a separate support group who know in and out of the X2, including the workings of WinMO.

THJahar said:
Unless you had one of these keyboards!
Samsung's Alias 2 dynamic E-Ink keypad in action
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/08/video-samsung-alias-2-dynamic-e-ink-keypad-in-action/
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How do you know this can be seen in sunlight?

Not a cheap housing
a decent and good one please s.e that the only thing regret my buying this peace of cr....

3.2" WVGA screen, not more than 53mm width, no moving part (no slide out keyboard/keypad).

Fulgore69 said:
Not a cheap housing
a decent and good one please s.e that the only thing regret my buying this peace of cr....
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cheap housing? You have got to be kidding me, the quality is second place to Iphone. cheap housing? it's almost completely covered in some sort of metal. Not even the N95 has a good quality design that beats the Xperia!

second_east said:
3.2" WVGA screen, not more than 53mm width, no moving part (no slide out keyboard/keypad).
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LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's basically a Touch Diamond 2...lmfao!!!!!!!!!

Shave at least 5mm from the thickness. Having a thin slider would wow just about everyone.

1ghz + dual core processor
ps. itje, when your friend gets his prototype model of the x2 are u going to be a ble to post some pics or tell us some pre release model specs?

Ganondolf said:
1ghz + dual core processor
ps. itje, when your friend gets his prototype model of the x2 are u going to be a ble to post some pics or tell us some pre release model specs?
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I dont know, Ill take what I can, and share what I am told I can share..thats all I can do

itje said:
I dont know, Ill take what I can, and share what I am told I can share..thats all I can do
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after they have sent prototype models out im sure SE will show something before it gets leaked on the net. as it will be noticed that certain se staff have a new model phone.

Gaming on the slide

after i read the article about the slide outperforming the nexus on 2.2 droid etc.. i thought i should try some of this out so i played raging thunder 2 and ran neocore and raging thunder had no lag except on startup where its counting 3.2.1 go!without sound it didnt lag at all this game is meant for high-end phones too so i guess the slide is now high-end outperforming other phones and all and then in neocore i got 31.1 FPS with sound on! with it off i got 34.2 FPS nice scores!
NOW can we consider the slide High-end outperforming others,playing high-end games well,scoring high benchmarks and running great with its 512 mb of ram! and with a keyboard i like NES and quake did i forget to mention that
i can make a video of it if requested!

What I'm wondeing is, what keys do you use as the D-Pad?

I have gameboid on my slide and it runs great.ashphault t runs ok but the game itself sucks.

C0dy said:
What I'm wondeing is, what keys do you use as the D-Pad?
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what game ?

What I'm wondeing is, what keys do you use as the D-Pad?
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what game ?
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Just general NES or SNES games, since the phone doean't have directional buttons.

assign keys simple for emulators but other games eh
OK to answer your questions im sure I have seen a button configuration option in the settings area of those emulators. use wadz or wasd for directional buttons like so:
w= up A=left (S= down or right) D= right Z= down
and then just set the other buttons to whatever fits your need.
I know Zenonia is preset you can use that setup i just gave you and it will work but some keys do not have settings and will not recognize those keys as directional arrows etc...
They do however have bluetooth mini keyboards for phones if you look on ebay you could probably find a cheap 30$ alternative compared to the 80$ options I have seen people demonstrating on videos. Apple bluetooth keyboard also works incase you have one.

ive also hit higher scores like 33.2 33.4 ha thats on utube..
here's the reason..
yes, the mts is a beast. however, it is HVGA reso. vs the WVGA reso that the N1, htc incredible, droid, etc. since its only having to render have the pixels, you get a much smoother playback experience. the 3.4 inch screen is perfect.
again. mts is a beast.

yes, the mts is a beast. however, it is HVGA reso. vs the WVGA reso that the N1, htc incredible, droid, etc. since its only having to render half the pixels, you get a much smoother playback experience.
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The screen looks great for a "Phone". All of those other devices look amazing but are power hogs when working off of a phone battery. I am completely satisfied with the MTS screen and am looking forward to owning and Android powered tablet in the future. Now that device, whoever the manufacturer may be, better have one hell of a screen on it!
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Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

[DISCUSS] Xperia Play Hands-on, my mini-review

today i had the opportunity to attend the Xperia Play launch event here in London and managed to have a play with err well the Play! so i thought i might aswell put across my first impressions of it to you guys and any potential buyers!
* take note any reference to the PSP will be based on the PSP phat, not PSP Slim or PSP Go.
first thing i noticed when i saw the phone and held it, its actually not that big or bulky at all, in-fact i think it could do with a 4.2" or 4.3" screen. but the 4" screen and the phone dimensions are pretty well balanced, its really not that big a brick at all.
now the screen. we were indoors, in a very dark area, so i cant vouch for in-direct-daylight viewing but at least indoors; the screen was crisp, sharp and clear. the brightness i thought was absolutely fine, no more or less than any other phone tbh (bar AMOLED!). that said it is no AMOLED screen, it does'nt compare, but it is definitely better than your average LCD screen, by how much? i guess that'll change from person to person.
The performance? i'm going to talk about gaming performance first. hmm this was hit and miss tbh and i will partly blame the Qualcomm/Adreno setup. i never really liked Qualcomm or Adreno chips tbh as i think they are behind the game and have been for some time, this thing could have done with something similar to a hummingbird processor or at the very least chuck in a PowerVR GPU. Asphalt 6 for me was NOT running at 60fps, there was lagg, was'nt huge tbh but it was there and if you're picky (like me) you'll notice it. same goes for the Spider Man HD game that was on the phone, no way was it running at 60fps. again it was'nt bad bad lagg, but if you're used to smooth as honey gaming, you will notice it.
on the other hand i tested Bruce Lee Dragon warrior, which i can say did run very very well and can believe the 60fps quote. also tested fifa 10 and this also worked very well.
now i have to stress, this being a demo phone every Tom, **** and Harry had their mitts onto it so i did check running services after i closed the games and there were a hell of a lot of **** running in the background, heck there were two instances of the music player open! how much of this affected the 60fps performance? i do not know, but i sure hope it did and that was the root of the lowered fps count.
the controls themselves? hmm again, for me, it was a hit and miss but i defo need more time to give a honest review on this part. the controls felt quite a fair bit different to any playstation console controller or PSP controls that i had ever used. the D-pad and X,O,Triangle,and Square have this clicky sound when pressed. guess some people will like this others wont. i found them a bit stiff to use tbh, i can see pulling off a hadouken on this d-pad will be harder than you think. it just did'nt feel the way i thought it should. the control's size seems a little smaller aswell, probably as expected to fit in such a device though. i do hope these controls do "break-in" over time and will allow you to become more fluid in their operation.
The shoulder buttons were better imo, they pressed in easy enough and were responsive. however i had some fidgety moments trying to use the face buttons and shoulder buttons together, although shifting my hand position seemed to help a bit. i guess you just need to get used to it.
And lastly the analogue touch pad thingies. to be honest i was pleasantly surprised by these! they actually work very very well IMO! in fact while i was playing FIFA and spider man HD i actually moved to the analogue touch pads out of preference (probably helped on by the stiff'ish d-pad!) and they worked like a treat! the indentations really help and you dont need to look down at all to see where your thumbs are placed. i was quite impressed by them.
well theres my mini review guys, hope it helps some of you out there to make a decision. IMO if you want a nice smartphone; look elsewhere, the galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix, LG Optimus 2X, etc would probably be much better choices. But if you want a gaming smartphone? i think you cant get better than the Xperia Play, because, come on, lets face it, you cant beat physical controls!
As for me, my Xperia Play arrives tomorrow in the post and i cant wait to chuck on some Emulator madness!
UPDATE: i've recieved my xperia play, for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).

Thanks for your review my xperia play hoping arrives tomorrow. Just depends on Royal Mail. I'll post my findings on XDA too.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Thanks for the review my xperia play will hopfully come in today if not tommorow by UPS
Will post my findings about it aswell
Although I think it will be positive to play all my childhood games again

yay! i've just received my xperia play! for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).

Can someone confirm whether the screen is plasstic?
I really wanted this phone but having a plastic screen and not glass is a deal breaker for me.

its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/

so there is already a screen protector installed? no need to buy one more or evne use the one it comes with??

yh as far as i can tell there seems to be one installed, looks very well done. plus you get a spare one in the box. so alls good.

I got the phone today and ran it thought a few tests.
First of all - Beware! If you're getting the phone from the UK but are not currently in the UK, it seems Playstation Pocket is unavailable in many countries still. I am in Ireland and it's not available for me yet. I contacted support and hope it'll be enabled soon.
Let's get to the performance - Quadrant does around 1600, Linpack around 38. All in all, a little disappointing, it's about as high as the Nexus One gets. I'm pretty sure that's because it's still running a rather early build of the software. Let's see how well it'll perform with Android 2.3.3, I'm sure there's still a lot to improve.
The screen feels solid and nice, it's hard to tell if it's plastic or glass, to be honest. Feels a lot like the screen of the Nexus S. It supports a 4-point-multitouch and it works well. The Notification-LED supports all colors from red to white, the Playstation controls work really nice, but I had troubles with the analog sticks - altho I didn't really need them much. The buttons work awesome for emulators and even quite a lot of normal Android-Games, like Radiant and EVAC HD.
The browser is fast and the flash player works great. All in all, it's quite nice and it got quite some potential. Altho I miss the Notification power widget from the Touchwiz/Cyanogenmod roms

Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
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I got it after the Galaxy S and for me, it really was an upgrade. Not on a hardware side, it's still in that Droid 2/X - Galaxy S/G2/DHD Range, but it's still absolutely worth it for the controls. Being able to play Zelda like that with my phone? So freakin' worth it. Aside from that, it looks really sleek and feels great. True, the screen isn't Super Amoled, but it's very good, and true, the Software still feels a little rushed but... Compared to what the Galaxy S shipped with, it's pretty amazing. And when looking back at what we where able to finally make out of the Galaxy S, I think this thing got a great future. Aside from that, the Dual Core phones still seem to be plagued by a lot of issues like battery drain, performance hickups and the like - this one is very consistent and running Zelda in an GBA Emulator for about 30 Minutes drained 3% Battery. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I'd say

holy **** im so on the fence but comments like yours make me want to get it now. stupid rogers not accepting orders yet.

Zub7 said:
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
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Sounds like the shatter proof skin that se put on the x10, this would suggest that the screen is glass. The x10 screen felt very plasticky to me initially.
The xplay might still be in the running for my monies.

Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.

Techdread said:
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gran Turismo!?!? Did you say Gran Turismo?!? Dude if that's running smooth and controls are spot on, I'm so getting this phone.
But you're right, benchies, don't tell the whole story. How is web and flash performance? I feel on my X things are a bit sluggish. Scrolling around, its as if I'm seeing 10-15fps.
Also, is the screen readable outside on a sunny day. It is on an X, but you have to strain.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

The screen is perfectly readable in sunlight and flash content as well as websites load, scroll and play very smooth.

Niiice. Thanks so much
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Okay, after two days with playing around with it, some pro and contras.
Pro:
- Great screen! It's vibrant, bright, perfectly readable. The blacks are not as awesome as on Amoled-Displays, naturally, but it looks a lot better than normal TFTs, I'd say it's closest to the iPhone 4's IPS display.
- Great controls! The controls are awesome. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have actual buttons to press, ESPECIALLY in Emulator games. GBA, NES, SNES, Gameboy, PSOne, they all work perfectly with this thing.
- It feels good in the hand - with the game controls slided out or in, it always feels comfortable to hold. The screen is small enough to be used with one hand, but big enough to enjoy movies and games on it.
Contra:
- The software is still a little wonky. Especially the auto-brightness seems to be working only sometimes. Still, you can set the brightness manually, so it's not so bad until it's fixed. Also, the performance is still a little hit or miss sometimes. For example, while the Galaxy S has pretty consistent FPS in Quadrant, it wildly varies on this device - The DNA only has 15 FPS, while the Planets have 59. On the Galaxy S both had about 30. I'm pretty sure that's a software issue as well, tho.
- The internal Memory is quite tiny, especially with the pre-installed games. You can move most apps and games to the SDCard, which is insanely fast, really. I never noticed a difference in the speed to launch a game from SD or internal memory. However, some games, apparently especially Gameloft games, don't allow you to install them on SD Card. Hopefully, with root access, we can uninstall some of the useless apps and games to free up more space.
- The Notification LED is hard to see. It's nice it has one, but it's hard to see when the phone is on the table.
- No Notification power Widget, no Gingerbread Screenoff-Animation. I'm pretty sure those two will come once the sources and Root are released.

Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!

Barguast said:
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
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I can't really agree to those reviews. When you manually set the brightness on max, that thing is bright as all hell and perfectly readable even in direct sunlight. So the screen defiantly is able to be very bright. It's just the auto-brightness software that's wonks.

[DISCUSS] Is this the best phone ever or what? (with mini review)

Seriously, I love this phone. I got it 2 days ago and i can't take my hands off it.
I'm 32 years old (yea yea getting old now), and was brought up on computer games. This phone makes me remember just how good the old megadrive/genesis/snes games were compared to the (mostly) crappy indie games that we see these days. I've fondly been playing Sonic, Mario, Super Star Wars, Streets of Rage and a whole host of others flawlessly on this little beauty. It's an emulation dream come true.
The N64 emulator lags a little bit for me, but mostly it's just occasional sound skipping, it is certainly still more than playable, although the control mapping could be a little bit easier. I'm hoping a MAME emulator will be released that supports all the old mame games and not just the capcom games. (Anyone can tell me if there is one already or one coming out?)
Some fears i had for the phone before i purchased were these -
- Worried it would be too bulky
- Worried about the screen auto dim feature and not being able to turn it off
- Worried about the battery life
- Worried about the hardware being outdated before it even hit the shelves
- Well, the phone is bulkier than alot of other phones, but it is still slim enough to easily slip in and out your pocket. I didn't look at the phone before i ordered it, i just jumped in and ordered it off the net and hope it was what i wanted (or i could send it back within 7 days to get a refund). Overall i am very happy with the size of the phone. I certainly don't feel like an idiot getting it out my pocket, it looks very cool.
- The auto brightness on the screen is not all that bad. I got annoyed at first, not being able to turn the phone on max brightness, but after a few minutes my eyes got used to it and i hardly notice it anymore. It must serve a good purpose because the battery lasts a long time. I think that an official patch is definately needed though, not giving people an option to turn off auto brightness is disastrous. Saying that, more than likely i would leave auto brightness turned on, it does save battery and it is implemented excellently imho.
- Battery life is amazing. I got through 12-14 hours of gaming, browsing, and general usage + a full night withought charge on standby and when i woke up it had 7% battery life left. You can not go through 2 days with this phone though, so still you will have to charge it every night, but you can guarantee a full, proper day usage out of it without too much worries about the battery dieing.
- Hardware is a bit meh. On one hand the phone runs super smooth. And FPSE plays PS1 games super smooth, no slowdown at all. The N64 as i mentioned has a few sound skips. So the hardware does exaclty what it was designed to do. This is where it stops though. There will be no PS2 emulation, no dreamcast emulation, no xbox1 emulation. Not until the next handset gets released. This is the limits of this phones power.
Overall i think this is the best phone made to date. I don't care it hasn't got 1080p recording, i don't care the camera is only 5 megapixel. This phone owns and is easily the best phone i have ever owned to date.
Roll on the Xperia Play 2. I am now a branded fan.
edit - Just thought i would say that my phone came with a 16gb Micro SD card, 2 screen protectors (1 of them already put on flawlessly, no air bubbles or dust underneath at all, 1 spare). I have heard people only getting 8gb cards and no screen protectors, but this did not happen with my order.

i mostly agree with you, this is the best phone i have had and i have owned a G1, motorola dext, motorola milestone and a HTC HD2, i would only recommend the HD2 out of these and even then, only after installing android (unless your into windows)
the thing is, i no some people dont value proper gaming as much as me or others so they think this device is not needed but im glad we dont all feel the same way
what im really hoping for this device is, for it to be popular enough so that other manufacturers (or even sony) make a similar device, hopefully with dual or even quad core in mind, add 1GB ram and dreamcast/PS2 emulation is a possibility
but for right now? the play is excellent considering its the first of its kind

agree with most of what you say. but yes hardware is a bit meh.
could have done with better implementation on shoulder buttons and i still think they coud've stuck in an L2/R2 somewhere
overall, the best android phone i ever had was hands down the galaxy S. ****ing beatiful, screen, performance (with custom rom and lagfix!), etc.
but as a gaming phone, this is THE best, despite it's lackluster hardware, it has hardware controls, which, IMO, makes up for all its shortcomings!

L2 and R2 buttons.....
Yeah, i guess they could be put next to each other so that it doesn't increase the thickness of the phone.
So it would look like this -
_______________________________
(L1....L2..............................R2....R1)
_______________________________
Still, FPSE allows you to put L2 and R2 at the bottom left and right of the screen. They are easy enough to get to with your thumbs, so it's no big deal tbh.

usually not a big deal, but when you have to use simultaneous button presses, i.e. press R2 and X together, can become tricky.

Sony * Rule * Got mine Today
Hi peeps,
Got mine today, excellent phone love the Ginerbread.
a few issues so far but no problem.
Love this phone, looks so stylish and plays excellent.
TapperOUT!

Im in the same camp as you mate, same age and gaming experience and I agree 100%

I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.

johnsongrantr said:
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just wanted to say i read your review and it was pretty good, i was interested in pandora at first but because of how long it took to release i completely forgot about it, although looking at it now, i totally envy the keyboard except the D pad and triggers, having gaming controls AND a qwerty keyboard is just excellent, sony should consider this with the xperia play 2 or what ever manufacturer decides to make a PS certified phone, if extra bulk was needed i could certainly live with it
that said, the keyboard is the only thing i would take from pandora, in my opinion the play beats it in every other area except screen size but then thats balanced with capacitive vs resistive
EDIT - forgot to check the pandora website to see how much it costs.....wow, 440 euro is alot, i was expecting a little over half that, just for comparisons sake i bought my play , sim free for £400 a few days after release, considering the play has more useful features (in my opinion) 3G, android OS and its market, phone functions etc....im surprised it cost so much

I agree here !
I am 27 and also brought up with retro games it's so nice able to play my games again from my childhood.
The device lays good in your hand indeed the as for the brightness well it's fine although my xperia x10 with lowest brightness on is still readable and not with my xperia play but even cranked up at highest brightness the battery still remains exellent thought it would drain like hell like my x10 does but it doesn't !
Glad I got rid of my omnia with win mobile and now have 2 nice xperia devices !
Android is the OS I am currently hooked on never was to happy with my omnia due winmobile but the phone was hyped in my country and it was the biggest mistake I made.
Hardware wise yea there are already dualcore devices and tegra2 gpu powered
as for the emulators of xbox , ps2 , dreamcast & gamecube
I don't think we will see them in the next year or so
but then again there is a developer working to get a dreamcast emu working and progress is already nice I think it's a matter of time we will see
as for my order I recieved a stock screenprotector already on screen , extra screen protector ( they are very scratch resistant my x10 didn't have such a good screenprotector had to take the factory applied on off and apply a newly bought screen protector ) Wall charger , car charger , leather poach & 8gb SD card which I recently upgraded to 32gb

I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator

baaa3 said:
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard

silvacrest said:
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know how the sales are going in Europe of this device?
If sales were crazy, like on the iphone, then probably we will have more joypad versions, if not, then this will be like the Nokia Ngage... how many years have passed from that phone to this one? i dont remember well, but at least 6 o 7...
So basically, we will have to wait until the phone gets released worldwide and see how the numbers go to SE.
Probably on the next version i will expect an exclusive suite and not an android suite that all phones can play with. Because if we have something exclusive, then we will have a game that will be made for this controls. (from what i heard, the PS Suite will be available on android market for all high end devices)

my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter

FrAsErTaG said:
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.

dsswoosh said:
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...

FrAsErTaG said:
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, to me it also seems nearly impossible to turn the device off while gaming

must agree, has never happened to me also

Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App

FrAsErTaG said:
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or maybe you guys just have chubby sausage fingers?