[Q] My First Android Phone, ex-iPhoner, Going for awesome - Vibrant General

Hi There, new to the boards.
Heres the low down. Im a recent iPhone convert. I got my first iPhone when they first came out, quickly realized how terrible ATT is, and hacked/flashed it unlocked it and went over to t-mobile. Back then hacking was like it is as of recently, go to website, hit link, wait for download, and voila!
I'm familiar with assistive-programs that help you jailbreak, like redsn0w and ultra, etc. But when my battery died, and i looked around, I finally realized that phone hardware finally caught up with the iPhone, and Android started looking really appealing. I love the open-source community, and the newer devices(Evo,GalaxyS,Droid)
After a very short think session(cause im with tmobile and the selection is vapid) I bought the Vibrant. I love the phone, aside from a few minor complaints(i would like a better battery life, and charge time. and a camera flash would be nice.)
I'm wondering what i should do to get the best performance and battery life out of my vibrant? SHOULD i root it? and with my modest developer background, should I attempt to root the device? is rooting really advantageous or should I just stick with good ol TMOB/Samsung 2.1 with all the crapware?
in short, whats the optimal android experience? and is it worth the hassle and voided warranty to do it?

Why do you need camera flash? Use nightmode.. it works amazing in the dark.
Go ahead and root it, it is so simple and allows you to customize your phone a lot more especially when ROMs start to release. With rooting you are able to remove the "crapware" and apply a lagfix that will boost your phone's performance significantly and a lot of other things. Customization in Android can go on for days and days and there are a lot of choices, just look around for what fits into your personality. Rooting is just another level of customizing your phone. As long as you're careful and you can read instructions then I'm sure you'll be fine.

^ petty much nailed it. Night mode is way better than a flash and rooting is a must. Check the sticky if you haven't already.

I was an iPhone user for a while as well. I can say (being modest) that I master the iPhone (being a regular user and not a dev level). I have jailbroken, unlocked and owned every single iPhone (2g, 3g, 3gs and 4) and my wife still uses it. Now I have a vibrant, rooting is the exact same thing as jailbreaking, just with another name... it basically gives you access to the "root" directory, (hence the name) just like jailbreak does to the iPhone... so if you like jailbreaking your iphone to install some apps that only run on jailbroken devices and you like modding your iphone.. then you must root your vibrant.
the battery life is poor because its a new toy and you are probably playing with it all day. once you get it fully setup and use it in a "normal way" (calls, text, emails, etc) and not installing and uninstalling apps to try every 5 minutes and changing all the settings, playing with gps, wifi, screen resolution, camera, etc... and all the good stuff that you use when you get a new phone, then the battery life is not as bad as you think.. I had the same first impression, now my battery last from 5am that I wake up, until midnight that I go to sleep

Related

New to Android

Hey,
I'm on T-Mobile right now and I have the n900. I'm thinking of moving to Sprint and getting the EVO this friday.
I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and I haven't really found a post with rational complaints about the phone. So I figured I'd ask EVO owners what the main issues are with the phone.
Battery life for instance, the n900 has pretty awful battery life but I've been able to make it work. I can get it through a 9-3/4 shift with 3G always connected. How does the EVO compare? I heard the Droid X might be even better but that's a no go for me.
I want to use the EVO as a primary phone and I'll do my mobile browsing and all that facebook/twitter stuff on it. I compared the n900 browser and the Android browser at the sprint store and I was damn impressed. It was a lot faster and it wasn't even on 4G.
Sorry for the long post. Bear with me, I'm a tad excited.
I love the EVO, its probably one of the best phones i ever owned. The battery is a bit of a problem, but then again your running a powerful phone. I would recommend that you root the phone and add a rom, preferably Damage Control, the battery runs amazing with the rom. Also, you can fix the 30 fps problem it has with a simple signed file.
Other than that the phone is amazing, it actually runs really fast on 3g, i havent tried 4g yet but 3g on this phone runs faster than other phones. The camera is just truly amazing on it, 8 megapixels and great video, 720p. I would recommend this phone.
Another option is to wait a little and try out the new phone by samsung, i cant remember the name at the moment, but that is another great phone coming to sprint.
I really don't like the look of the Epic 4G. Sprint has that 30 day return thing, right?
What is the 30 fps thing?
Also, I have been wondering if I should root it or not. I really don't like playing around with my primary phone, I haven't even overclocked my n900 yet. Is rooting something the average user would do?
nosa101 said:
I really don't like the look of the Epic 4G. Sprint has that 30 day return thing, right?
What is the 30 fps thing?
Also, I have been wondering if I should root it or not. I really don't like playing around with my primary phone, I haven't even overclocked my n900 yet. Is rooting something the average user would do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a known issue of stock evos being maxed out at 30 frames per second. the devs here have been working hard to remove that cap and have progressed in that quest very well just make sure when u get ur phone u check the hardware and panel to know what kernel to flash to get better fps (only way i know of the checking the panel is by rooting. not sure if u can do it without). awesome thing about android is that its completely customizable. as said by ruben8448, u can add a custom rom to spice up ur UI and also some come with kernels to help out with battery drain. they've released the source for the evo so there is gonna be alot of good things coming in regards to custom roms. u think the evo/android os is fast? wait for froyo. its a complete overhaul of the OS and speeds will increase 3-5 times faster. once u go android, u really wont wanna swap to anything else the options are just too endless
Is the headphone jack like the iPhone/iPod one?
I couldn't use my ipod earphones with my n900. The mic doesn't work too well with nokias
I figured I'd chime in here,I've had my Evo since the Friday after launch and love it.Battery drain was a bit of an issue before the updated radios came out but I was able to pick up 2 spares and a charger on Ebay for around 10 bucks.Since they updated the readios I'm generally getting thru my 10 hr day with about 50% battery remaining with what I would consider moderate use(total of an hour or so of web browsing,checking and replying to emails several times a day and a hand ful of voicecalls).I have rooted and its really been made quite easy to do now.I'm in total agreement with thgoob,once you've had an android you'll never go back
Another thing, the 30 fps issue affects only game graphics for the most part, right?
I agree with you on the 3G speed, while waiting for food last night, I loaded up a couple websites and was astonished at how fast they would load. Just purchased my EVO on monday, switched from a 3g iPhone, So far So good.
I'm not a gamer, and 30 fps is a non-issue - I really don't get all the whining on this issue. Coming from WinMo, cutting & pasting with Android is a pain. I don't see a good solution yet for editing spreadsheets. Can't use Skype with Android. Battery life is OK - you can get through the day with moderate use without changing the stock software. Screen looks great, fun to use.
i've not noticed any issues with the 30fps cap. perhaps i will noticed a difference if CM6 incorporates a change. but for me, its a non-issue.
i'm more looking forward to see if they can activate the FM Transceiver.
battery life requires that you compromise with your phone. some ROMs are better at battery life than others. I personally prefer the FRESH ROMs. stable and solid. the 4G is turned off most of the time because i live right along the edge of the coverage lines...so i chew through the battery in an attempt to stay connected as i commute and go up the elevator. when i need it, i turn it on (thank you QuickDesk) and away i go. but to be honest, the 3g is fast enough for most of what i do. the one big advantage of having 4g on is that my meebo does not disconnect if i take a phone call. if i'm 4g is off, a phone call will disconnect meebo. again not a 'OMG issue', but i do look forward to stronger 4g coverage.
however, with cyanogen about to release CM6 for the EVO, i will be jumping over play with that. keep in mind that CM6 is Android 2.2 Froyo (not the current EVO OS of Android 2.1).
oh...here is a good battery related thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712990
Battery life will always be an issue especially with a phone as powerful as the EVO and a screen this big. However, like posted earlier, rooting opens up big improvements for battery life and performance. Android is not a great OS for productivity. That's what Blackberrys and WM are for. The fps fix does improve scrolling and video recording in my opinion. Also, I recently switched from T Mobile after 9 years of service and Sprint's data coverage and speed are WAY better. If you like a physical keyboard get a moment or wait for the epic. Otherwise, go with the EVO.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
DrawnToScale said:
I'm not a gamer, and 30 fps is a non-issue - I really don't get all the whining on this issue. Coming from WinMo, cutting & pasting with Android is a pain. I don't see a good solution yet for editing spreadsheets. Can't use Skype with Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does the cutting and pasting work? I didn't think about trying that at the store
There is no android skype client?
How do close apps on the EVO? How do you switch between active apps?

Anyone come from a "bigger/faster" phone to the aria?

Currently rocking a captivate, love the phone but thinking about getting a galaxy tab and downsizing my phone to aria with CM and overclocked to 850. I can make about 200$ towards the tab purchase selling my cappy and picking up a aria.
Any input? anyone make the move from a bigger screen?
The Aria's size and build is really great, with a lot of nice hardware features.
I'm not sure about overclocking though, it's reasonably fast without it, and would likely result in about 26 minute battery life.
I actually just posted a big long comparison on another forum for a debate between the two. I'll copy & paste the whole thing for ya, if you care to read it.
----------------------------------
So I'll lay my full opinion on the table, as its a pretty recent experience for me. It's a long story, so if you're patient enough to read it, here it goes:
I pre-ordered an iPhone 4, and when I got it, it was defective. Not one of the reception issues or other things people were complaining about at the time... it was just defective. Being that stores hadn't even filled all of their pre-orders, there wasn't a chance in hell I was getting a replacement any time soon. I decided, since that had been my 3rd iPhone (had an original 2g, and a 3G-S before it) that I'd head to the Android side and try it out.
I don't remember how I found out about the Captivate, but I think a friend mentioned it and we started looking into it. It seemed like a great phone, but it wasn't being released until about 2 weeks down the line at this point in time. I spoke to some folks at Best Buy where I had bought the iPhone 4 and expressed my interest in the Captivate. I was able to get the Aria for the time being, and return it with no return fee and exchange it for the Captivate when it was released.
My first reactions with the Aria were mixed. I was blown away by Android from the start, but knowing (spec's wise) that the Captivate was a better phone I never took the time to fully appreciate it. I was also naive to many things about it since I was new to Android and hadn't fully wrapped my head around it yet. So, then I got my Captivate and dove head first into Android. At first I loved it. It's a powerful phone and does a lot of things real well. It has its downsides, though. My biggest gripe at first was the GPS. I use a GPS pretty frequently for various things, and I hadn't bought a new standalone GPS unit because I had this phone. So it not working mattered to me. It rarely connected at all until the over the air update. Then I randomly had problems with it turning itself off. My first one was fine for months, then one day I pulled it out of my pocket to check the time and it was off. Then it happened again the next day... and then twice the next. I got a warranty replacement. That one did the same thing after a month. Got that one replaced... lasted about 2 weeks, same problem. I charge the phone once a night when I get home from work until it's full, and unplug it afterwards. The battery usually lasts me to at least 40% even with heavy use on the average day... so can't see it being that I messed up all 3 batteries some how. Also, when I'd turn it back on the battery was never dead. I've never had a similar problem with any of the smartphones I've had in the past.
So, I went back to AT&T and told them I want an Aria instead. I had done some research on the Andriod phones available on AT&T currently and I thought it would be my next best option. I went on different forums, read reviews, went into stores and played with the different options, etc. I knew I would be making some concessions and giving up some things, but at this point I just wanted a reliable smartphone.
So I've had the Aria for a few days now (less than a week), but I already realize so many things that I hadn't noticed in comparison to the Captivate at first because I was new to Android and didn't know better. Here's my list:
1. I love Sense. I was ready to load up ADW right away because I was use to using it, because TouchWiz sucked. I can't see myself replacing Sense anytime soon.
2. The GPS works perfectly. Connects just about instantly, and is way more accurate than any of my Captivate's were.
3. I actually appreciate the small size more now after having a big 4" screen for a while. While it was weird to type on the smaller screen at first, SwiftKey made that all better. Now I don't want a big screen phone anymore.
4. Based off of the dBm and asu numbers, I actually get a little better reception on my Aria at the places I frequent most.
5. A lot of my favorite apps run generally less buggy on the Aria then on any of my Captivates. Handcent is one of them, for example.
6. Now, I don't know or care why, but stock vs. stock my Aria seems smoother, snappier, and faster navigating around general apps and such. No, games don't play better on it for obvious reasons. Everything else that I use, though... not laggy at all.
The bad:
1. Storage... not a lot of room for apps (though, I haven't run out yet). I stuck my 16gig stick in it for pictures and such, but without Froyo on it yet, the low internal storage thing kinda sucks. Yes I know I can put a froyo rom on it and store apps to SD. I may, but right now I don't have any need to.
2. The camera doesn't compare. The only thing it matches up to is megapixels, which mean nothing really. The Captivate camera, even without a flash, is amazing. The Aria camera still does the trick for simple stuff, though.
3. The optical wheel can be finicky, but maybe I'm just not use to it yet.
4. I wish the screen was a little bigger for certain websites and things... but its really not as bad as I'd thought it would be.
In all honestly... those 4 things are the worst I can say about it so far. It's a great phone, and its changed what I thought I "needed" in a smartphone.
sportedwood said:
Currently rocking a captivate, love the phone but thinking about getting a galaxy tab and downsizing my phone to aria with CM and overclocked to 850. I can make about 200$ towards the tab purchase selling my cappy and picking up a aria.
Any input? anyone make the move from a bigger screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Captivate and my wife has the Aria.
Captivate rocking Cognition FroYo
Aria rocking Cyanogen FroYo
The Aria is a great little phone and I'm always tinkering with it BUT the difference in screen size and resolution is so many worlds apart that I don't think I could ever downgrade on the screen. It's like the difference between high and standard def tv. Now that I have a nice HD TV I cannot stand to watch standard definition anymore. The Super Amoled screen cannot be beat.
Besides the screen size, from a Captivate point of view, the keyboard can be a little cramped but i can still use but just not as easy.
It sounds like you will be using the Aria for normal phone stuff and your Galaxy Tab will become your surfing and gaming machine. That would be a pretty cool setup if you didn't mind carrying 2 devices. The ultimate setup if you could afford it would be the Captivate and the Galaxy Tab!
I know the Captivate has gotten a bad rap, but I have not had any issues with mine. GPS is weak but it does work but then again I have GPS in my vehicles so I don't really use it.
Thanks for the replies guys, I just want a smaller phone.. I think im going to pick up a Aria on craigslist and give it a go for a few days, can always sell it again.
Thanks again!

Who came from a nexus??

And how are you adapting?
Is the lock bootloader bothering you?, and how about the size of the phone?
is the development what you thought it would be?
And what made you jump ship?
thanks for the feed back!
chefb said:
And how are you adapting?
Is the lock bootloader bothering you?, and how about the size of the phone?
is the development what you thought it would be?
And what made you jump ship?
thanks for the feed back!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i came from the nexus and yes I am a bit sad that i cant flash whatever I want. But i am thankful at least we can flash roms.
Honestly, i bought the note 3 without doing any research, it wasnt until a few days after I found out that the bootloader was locked...which took me by surprise.
I dont regret it at all. To me, the galaxy nexus on verizon was probably one of the worst phones ever built. I am so glad to be done with it you have no idea. Living day to day with the nexus was painful. No amount of tweaks could save that crap phone. I am in heaven with the note 3 and its battery. Its actually kind of nice not having to flash something everyday in hope of improving my phone so its usable.
I also had the Galaxy Nexus, and while in general I liked it a lot, the battery life was pretty poor, and 4g/3g reception wasn't nearly as good as my wife's S4.
I debated upgrading for a while, but over Black Friday week-end, found a deal I couldn't refuse: Verizon lowered the price to $199, Comcast had a promotion giving a $200 PrePaid VISA card with the purchase of a new Verizon phone/Upgrade, and then I sold my Galaxy Nexus for $105 through Craigs List. Even with the upgrade fee and taxes, I netted $60 in the deal (assuming the $200 card comes in 4 weeks).
I never had the need to root/flash ROM's, etc., so my experience might be different from yours. But the GN3 is much, much smoother/quicker over all. The browsing experience is night and day better. Chrome works fine, and is incredibly quick. Battery Life is much better as well.
The screen size is much nicer for me, and yes the overall phone size is big, but not problematic. I use the basic TPU Case/Holster, and just put on the JLG Nano screen protector yesterday. Adds minimal size/weight, and keeps it protected and easily portable.
Radio reception remains to be determined as I haven't traveled much since getting it. Where I have been, it's been fine. Just took the OTA update yesterday, so can't yet evaluate what impact that had.
Bottom line - I am extremely pleased with this phone vs the GN I had - no regrets whatsoever (would feel the same even if I had to pay for it!).
I'm coming from the g-nex, and the N3 is far and away an incredibly, insanely superior device. Speed of the device, in general, is easily 3-4x faster, and with 3x the RAM, there's no comparison when it comes to multitasking. Features like multi-window and pen window put this phone light years ahead. Not to mention, the s pen features and technology are just amazing. This is the first time I've ever updated a device and felt like I've actually advanced 4 years in tech instead of 2.
Reception and the radios are vastly better - I haven't missed a single call yet whereas I'd miss calls pretty frequently with my gnex, and the 4G speeds are much better...but by far, most importantly, battery life is almost triple of what I could ever achieve on the gnex. I've regularly gotten 2-3 days of uptime on my N3 and can easily get 6-8 hours of screen on time. Insanity.
As for ROMs, the only reason why I installed ROMs on the nexus was to mod the nav keys, make the nav key background transparent, and a few other mods. With my N3 I feel absolutely no need to even install a ROM. Every single mod I ever wanted I've installed though xposed.
And I really though I'd hate not having nav keys (soft keys) after having them for two years, but now I actually much prefer NOT having them! The extra screen real estate is very nice, allowing full use of this huge display, and with xposed you can mod the capacitive keys, so my back key is now also my menu key when long pressed...no need for soft keys at all. Not only that, I have it so the keys are never lit so it's a very streamlined look, almost all display.
Hopefully on the Note 4, Samsung will finally ditch the physical home button and make it, too, capacitive. Then the device will look even that much more slick.
TL ; DR version: The N3 is light years ahead of the gnex in every imaginable aspect. A no-brainer; even at $300 it's WELL worth it coming from ANY previous-gen device.
All interesting. ...keep Em coming!
chefb said:
All interesting. ...keep Em coming!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bumpity bump
I too came from a Verizon G'nex, and I pretty much agree with everything that's been said so far. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Gnex...still do, as a matter of fact, but this phone is just superior in so many ways. I used to have to use 2 batteries just to get through a single day. Nowadays, I still have two batteries, but I've gone for entire days without ever having to switch them.
As far as development goes...I bought the phone, in large part, because of its stylus, and the various apps that come with it. Seeing as flashing anything based on AOSP would mean the loss of pen window, action memo, screen write etc, I would be unlikely to flash anything other than a Touchwiz-based rom in the first place, so SafeStrap is acceptable. Ideologically, of course, I hate the idea of a locked bootloader, but in practice it's not really that bad. I've flashed Beans' rom, and it looks like that's where I'll probably stay for a good long while. It's certainly nice, though, that the only reason I wanted to flash a new rom in the first place was to remove bloatware and take care of a few aesthetic concerns...flashing roms on the G'nex was more of a survival strategy to keep the phone working than a luxury. I felt like I was changing roms every two or three weeks on the G'nex due to some sort of performance or radio issue, and there's none of that with the Note 3.
Overall...it's a lovely, lovely phone, and an improvement over the G'nex in every possible way except for, perhaps, the locked bootloader. Some may gripe with its size, but I watch a lot of videos on my phone, and the screen is amazing for media viewing. The processor is good enough to handle literally anything you throw at it, with any codec, up to 1080p. I've come to expect that MX Player with the custom codec pack will play nearly anything, but I was sore amazed to find that the native video app can play most (not all, but most) MKV files, which allows you to do cool things like floating video. I've never had the phone slow down or stutter, even with multiple parallel app downloads going (which used to KILL the G'nex), and almost everything I didn't like initially can be patched with a few quick Xposed tweaks. So yeah...if you're hesitating about switching to this phone from a G'nex...don't. You'll love it and never want to look back.
there is a sticky for this discussion here ... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2466108

Yotaphone 2 on the horizon!

Starting to look less Sony Z'ish (version1), and more Sammy/Nexus'ish:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/yotaphone-2-review
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2014/12/03/yotaphone-2-dual-screen-eink-android-smartphone/
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/1...date-december-for-europe-worldwide-next-year/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2855112/seven-things-to-know-about-the-dualscreen-yotaphone-2.html
http://www.androidauthority.com/yotaphone-2-announced-571851/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/03/yotaphone-2-review/?ncid=rss_truncated
Its out and its beautiful. What are people's general thoughts on the yotaphone 2? I really really really want one but prefereably not until its less than £500
I have the phone, and i like it, here are some photos, sry for the quality, photos are taken with HTC Desire 816.
Antutu 37451 points
Quadrant 20879
3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited 15086
PCMark 3753
my quick review
i have one,
ink display can be a little sluggish, and takes a little but to set up - can only use prefixed screens which can be slightly customized ... not like traditional hone screen where you can add a lot of widgets and apps!!!
case is slippy like most phones but overall pleased.
.but think price is a bit ott
not too much clutter ie inbuilt apps but no memory card slot
battery not lasting much longer at moment but playing a lot with it so hoping for better when novelty has worn off
customer care appears ok.... had to chase up delivery but it was carrier problem
I have also one. It is fast and slim. It feels realy nice and the ink display is working fine.
Missing all the options I have on S4 with custom roms xD
However, I'm trying to get root on the phone and so far I only found a way via Kingo Root. My problem is however that there is no driver for win7. If I enable USB-debug Kingo root can not find the device....
Nice thing is that you can charge it via EasyCHEE® T900: Qi for example.
I hope that I will find a way in the future to root the device p,p
It could do with a memory card slot and waterproofing. Hopefully in the next version
I actually preferred the Xperia Z'ish look but it might be just me.
Would you say that this phone was worth using as a dev unit or is it just a good phone to have in general?
just took the plunge and spent hundreds upon hundreds of pounds on a YotaPhone 2 (used YOLO as an excuse )
It will arrive next week so will be able to give some feedback if anyone will be interested
waiting for mine as well, hoping for it to come next week. will get back with first impressions sooooon
Would be really interested to hear how the battery life is if only the e-ink display is used. I only ever use my phone for reading webpages, text and phoning so if there was a big enough increase in life I'd switch.
G0dly said:
Would be really interested to hear how the battery life is if only the e-ink display is used. I only ever use my phone for reading webpages, text and phoning so if there was a big enough increase in life I'd switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using the yotaenergy mode but still allowing full data and background account sync I have managed to run 24hours with only 15% battery used, so I could push if to go for a whole week without charging.
In reality I make a bit more use of the phone and am typically getting 2-3 days use out of it between charges with about 30% battery left.
First report - it is utterly beautiful and the bumper adds to the aesthetic imo. E ink screen is great, feels lovely, panels are pretty configurable. All the yota apps are working pretty well for me and being able to switch over is a great feeling. Still slightly disconcerting when putting hand in pocket and feeling screen on either side but its class being able to just take out phone and look at clock, notifications and whatever else without unlocking and using negligible battery. It hasn't had a full charge yet, it had a small one and then had a heavy night of downloading and updating apps and playing with. At work now, will give it a full charge when I get back and then can do a proper battery test (don't have gsam on him yet either). I'm impressed so far though, seems to be holding out well considering there were a fair few solid hours of heavy usage.
Full report to follow soon.
It's name is Yakov - after one of my favourite crazy Russians; Yakov Pavlov. (for those interested in a good story or two - http://listverse.com/2012/09/17/top-10-facts-about-the-battle-of-stalingrad/ has good summaries)
anyone tried rooting yet?
Framaroot not working, will try Kingo next
Kingo worked on the first yotaphone, fingers crossed.
Just stumbled across the fact that there is a YotaPhone 2. I had waited for the first one for quite some months before going for a Nexus 5 (well, it was over half a year after YotaPhone was announced and before Nexus 5 came out, you do the math)
Now, even after it was finally released, it was certainly not set up for success. But they seem to have done everything right with the secnd incarnation (almost, that is. Bit weak on the processor and battery, and what's this Qi-charging which cannot be done with E-Ink facing up?)
The phone is about 520 Euros in Russia and I'm getting really tempted, especially reading initial reactions on here. But at this point I'm not sure I could live without my custom Android tweaks. Do you guys think there will be any development on this device? Maybe Yota would be smart to actually release their code...
Cheers,
rien
TLDR version of my review that I stuck on a yota 2 review thread - Very pretty phone, great front screen, back screen surprisingly useful and nice to look at and touch. Software well implemented. Hopeful for long term development improvements. Very good performance, great battery. Occasional glitch but nothing that detracts from and limits experience.
Overall, loving it. Expensive but very different and a joy to use.
I admit I'm very tempted, but yes, will there be any development? The novelty of the double screen will wear off and then I will certainly miss the tweakability of a rooted phone.
YotaPhone 2 successfully rooted
Achieved root on YotaPhone 2 on 4.4.3, build KTU84L.4.4.3-S01-003-EU1.0.3.56a using Kingo Root on a Windows 8 device.
Used the original YotaPhone ADB drivers downloaded from yotaphone.com
Hope that helps
Nice one dude, thanks very much for the info. Happy tinkering / modding.

Question So after having the nothing phone 1 for a while, what are your thoughts?

So after all this time those of you who own the nothing phone 1, tell me your thoughts about it, about the OS, and your experience with the company customer service or responsiveness (if any).
I'm hoping if it did really well that a US carrier will pick it up next time they release
Heres my view on it, been using it for just under 2 weeks and im considering handing it back, purely because i have the option to do so but most issues are carrier related and not the actual phone.
So I had rooted all my phones for many years then got a P30 which i really liked and had most of the things i usually installed so left it stock, it always worked without any issues, a true workhorse then I saw the nothing 1 and loved it and as i want another rooted device to remove the bloatware so i got the 12gb black version - beautiful looking phone but the rear cover could have been a bit thicker imo tho as it sounds too plasticy when tapped.
The phone has been running fine with no lag and everything is nice and smooth, going into the UI, Personally i don't like the look and feel of certain sections of the layout and menus. everything is very basic and simple, i have been using EMUI 12 so it could definitely be that as they have nice detail on the stopwatch and timers and themes but its small details like that i miss the most. but love the font on the lock screen, its nice.
Camera is good and will get better as the updates come out but im really missing the auto mode to Macro/portrait/QR etc, as when your in a tight situation trying to get a part number off a small control unit and you need to change the camera setting and start over aint cool.
Wifi has been causing me a few problems also, I had to lower the encryption level on the router in order to connect to 2.4ghz, using WPA3 it wouldn't connect. I tried various other levels and settings but no joy.
5ghz was fine but couldn't quite hit the dead spots as good so had to set router down to wpa2-psk, quite shocked i had to do that as most smart equipment connect without any issues, i don't think anyone has had connection issues like that in here and its been untouched for 4 years or so, strange but working now.
The only other thing is the amount of screenshots i have, unsure if its a combination of good working buttons or too flexible a cover or how i handle the phone but im 94% sure when i press the power button to lock or unlock the screen it takes a screenshot on random occasions.
But my biggest gripe is...... I bought Nothing expecting to get Nothing, that was true for most part the other part where i was expecting Nothing I got Google, it is very geared at using all the google services and even basic functionality like email, music, video and gallery app have been removed in favour of google or is that how the android world has evolved.
I get its new but i feel the ui and android version have been let down when you base it on how good the actual phone looks, I think most of its success will rely on the community of devs rather than Nothing - maybe that is the plan, who knows, i remember all the one plus phones had great support from nearly all the groups of devs, maybe the devs will have android 13 on it before Nothing roll it out.
In an ideal would, I would of liked to have saw a more polished basic working minimal stock rom (nothing) and the icing on the cake would have been a setup process to install the level of gapps depending on how deep you want to go into google.
Hope some of that is useful but i needed to vent to people that may understand what im talking about.
I like the phone. I like the fact that there is no "Nothing" bloatware on it. It feels a bit more like a competitor to a Pixel a series phone.
Feels like a Pixel Phone but better camera and 5g in my country, and Android Auto troubles gone too.
First time in years i cannot find a bug on a phone!
The easter egg with the music visualiser os really nice.
Been using it every day since the end of July and I really like it, using it more than my S22 atm.
It feels a bit bare on features (Nothing Launcher is just not good for me as I like my gestures on icons to open apps and other little things) but obviously more stuff is gonna get added, the battery life and how it runs is stable so I'm glad for that from a new company and I don't feel the need to constantly check my battery like the S22 haha.
Not had any major glitches apart from the notification panel glitch in the first few weeks where the buttons went blank but that seems to have been fixed but yeah on the whole a pretty positive experience so far. Good to see regular updates for the phone and I hope they keep that up.
Had it now for about four weeks. Really like it, to the point of true love. No big problems with hardware or software, it all runs smoothly and swiftly. Really like the stock Android experience, feels mature and stable and everything i need is there. It is also the most beautiful phone i have ever had, with its even bezels all around. The Glyph gimmick is just a gimmick but it doesn't bother me since it is on the back of the phone and i rarely see it. I'm still happy!

Categories

Resources