Database Users

Desire HD to SGS2 - Thougts and AMA for anyone considering the upgrade!

I posted this in my ROM thread but thought it may be worth moving it to the General section, as I've noticed users asking what the SGS2 is like coming from the DHD.
These are just some initial thoughts, but feel free to ask me anything about the phone that would influence your decision. Just to be clear, don't turn the thread into a Sensation vs SGS2 thread please!! That said, I have had a good play with the Sensation so can answer some questions about it.
Being a HTC Fan for the best part of a decade, I was apprehensive of making the move to Samsung. Their previous Android offerings all had major flaws and didn't cut it for me. I used to laugh at the original SGS with it's lag/GPS/lack of camera flash issues. I upgrade my phones often and naturally assumed that my next phone would be the Sensation but the whole issue with the bootloader turned my head. Even though HTC have now backtracked, I'm grateful they turned my head because the SGS2 is unbelievably good!
The battery life is a major improvement, with similar usage I now find myself with 20-30% more battery at the end of the day and no longer dread the "15% Remaining" notification.
Although my N1 is an AMOLED model, nothing prepared me for the SAMOLED+ which is just unbelievable. The blacks, colours and clarity are on another level and I know I will really struggle going back to LCD after seeing this.
The speed of the device is just insane. Coming from the N1 to DHD, there wasn't any major improvements in speed as such, just the bigger screen. You'd think that it wouldn't be very noticeable coming from a 1.3Ghz OC DHD to SGS2 but side by side, the SGS2 just chews through everything almost 2x as fast. The browser, as many have shown is buttery smooth and makes for an awesome browsing experience.
The camera is much better and the 1080p recording looks stunning on my 42" 1080p TV with the increased bitrate mod. The main improvement is in low light conditions where the DHD would always give grainy distorted images and videos. I can actually leave my digicam at home now and use the phone for most of my quick picture taking.
Build quality is awesome. People always say that it feels cheap and plastic, but if you are like me and use a case, it "feels" the same just so much lighter. I can now read longer in bed and watch videos without feeling my arm aching! My DHD used to creak slightly when pressing on the touchscreen (the SIM cover) and I have no problems like this and don't forsee any the way the phone is built.
Sound quality through headphones is not as good as the DHD which is a shame. I've had to fiddle with DSPManager and PowerAmp to make it sound good. The stock player sounds horrible and the included 5.1 mode is garbage. I can cope now with my adjustments but really I was disappointed with this. The speaker is much better though and is much clearer than the DHD, so voices are easier to hear on podcasts and radio.
TouchWiz is rubbish. They may have improved it but I HATE the iPhone wannabe look and although I tried my best to use it, I had LP back up and running after an hour or two. I prefer stock Android anyway but can use Sense if I had to. I cannot use TouchWiz.
Phonecall quality is OK. Sounded slightly better on DHD, but people can hear me clearer on the GS2. They sometimes think I have hung up because the line is so clear from background noise.
Overall I can't recommend the phone enough to any DHD users who are not reliant on SENSE UI and want to upgrade to Dual Core.
Regards.

Thanks for the insights d00d, but you really can't compare two phones one with a single core processor and the other a dual core processor in terms of functionality, speed, lag/response. I tried the SGS2 myself on a Vmobile stand in a mall and I'd prefer the matte finish of the DHD over the somehow iphone 3G-ish gloss curved plastic finish for it's case. I'm just waiting for a GSM 3D phone and my brand of choice would be HTC.

plskillme said:
Thanks for the insights d00d, but you really can't compare two phones one with a single core processor and the other a dual core processor in terms of functionality, speed, lag/response. I tried the SGS2 myself on a Vmobile stand in a mall and I'd prefer the matte finish of the DHD over the somehow iphone 3G-ish gloss curved plastic finish for it's case. I'm just waiting for a GSM 3D phone and my brand of choice would be HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not trying to compare them head to head. This is more of an experiential viewpoint having used both phones and hopefully will help those considering the SGS2 as an upgrade from the DHD.
Regards.

Dude,I made the move just yesterday,and it feels like you've been in my head these two days.I can't stand the abscense of Sense.I'm so used to it that it feels so strange without it,it's like using another OS.All the other stuff though...What can I say?The phone's like a dream come true.
On a side note,Thursday night my DHD works like a charm as always.Fast,smooth and stable.Friday morning,after the call that informed me my GS2 was here,the DHD started behaving strangely.It lags like hell,it's slow and gives random reboots.Perhaps my DHD wasn't the best for overclocking as it couldn't handle 2GHz,but it felt jealous!How advanced is that?

How's the battery life? This is a big issue for me.

Thanks buddy for the comparison. From your insights I won't be upgrading then; due to the sound effects. I very much love the dolby effects, which I would miss in the S2........
Denny
sent from my Beloved Desire HD with ARHD using xda app

How about the white color on the SGS 2? It seems to me that white on Sgs 2 is blueish!
Personally I don't like Super, mega, extra, amoled because of the unnatural colors.

Meatboy42 said:
How's the battery life? This is a big issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life is great! While calibrating (first few cycles) it was draining quite fast when in use, but now I am calibrated I find it great. Obviously coming from the DHD, anything would seem better, but I still have a N1 and it outperforms that. The biggest differences I notice are when playing music it hardly moves, I still lose similar to standby drain (-1%-2% per hour) which is mind boggling. That said, super intensive use with lots of white backgrounds (think web browsing on 3G) can drain the battery quickly but yesterday I absolutely hammered the phone with YouTube, Music, Calls, Browsing etc and even after 17hours I was still in double figures (albeit at 10%). DHD would have been dead after 13-14 with similar usage.
vicedens2002 said:
Thanks buddy for the comparison. From your insights I won't be upgrading then; due to the sound effects. I very much love the dolby effects, which I would miss in the S2........
Denny
sent from my Beloved Desire HD with ARHD using xda app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh, coming from the DHD it was the first thing I noticed. There is a big thread in the SGS2 section started by supercurio, the developer of the Voodoo sound mod on the original SGS, where he analysed the hardware and came to the conclusion that the DAC performed poorly. I was reading this before I got the handset and was wondering could it be that bad? It isn't terrible but it's not great either. After combining PowerAmp and DSP Manager it now sounds much better and because my ears have adjusted i'm quite happy. I would say if DHD was 9/10 the SGS2 is a 7.5/10 for music. If SQ is SUPER important, I mean you one of these people with a full flac music collection and £100 headphones, then I don't think this phone is for you (Sensation is supposed to be good for SQ). The stock player sounds HORRENDOUS.
stylus1828 said:
How about the white color on the SGS 2? It seems to me that white on Sgs 2 is blueish!
Personally I don't like Super, mega, extra, amoled because of the unnatural colors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The whites are good, but I guess they are blueish whites. You only really notice this from an angle when the tint becomes apparent. Otherwise the whites are simply brilliant and eye burning bright! The colours can be unnatural at times, but that in a way is the appeal of the SAMOLED+. I understand on a PC monitor when you may be doing graphic and digital image work that having natural colours is important, but on a phone I really appreciate the pop and brilliance of the display. Don't take Youtube videos as a gauge of how the screen looks because to the naked eye, it simply looks AMAZING! As soon as I turned the phone on it was a jaw dropping moment. Unfortunately there is slight banding on some gradients but this is minor and doesn't take anything away from this awesome screen.
Regards.

Thanks for the replay! Why didn't you get the HTC Sensation because the bootloader will be unlocked?!

stylus1828 said:
Thanks for the replay! Why didn't you get the HTC Sensation because the bootloader will be unlocked?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pretty relative pal.They can unlock the bootloader,but don't think they'll make our lives THAT much easy.Nand-locks and stuff like that will almost surely be there.I hope not though!Not that I'll buy the Sensation,but I will probably be buying HTC again in the future(old habits die hard,don't they? ) and their policies probably won't change.
I have to admit though,messing with the Galaxy S 2 is easy as pie.Once you get the hang of it it's much easier than any HTC I've owned.

As a long time DHD owner and a previous SGS owner, I bought the SGS2 few days ago. Some quick thoughts:
1. I'm quite critical to build quality and I couldn't stand original SGS display bezel and back cover getting loose. Ok, why even consider SGS2 then? Well, I kind of fell in love for Case-Mate Tough case, and I'm happy with it after using it for a day.
Some quick notes about SGS2 build quality in general, display bezel seems very solid and since back cover only covers the back area of the phone (unlike SGS where the back cover went all the way to sides of the phone), and this is a good thing. It seems to be very tightly attached to the body and it has more snaps that attach than original SGS.
Back cover can be pressed a bit down and it makes a little click under camera module. But these are not an issue for me as I got the case on mine.
2. The main reason I bought it, SAMOLED+ display. Okay, first boot and I immediately noticed white is not very good white. It's blueish. I've already used to that, but that's just something that immediately jumped on me after looking at white with DHD LCD display.
Otherwise, viewing angle is awesome, but that doesn't matter much to me as I tend to look at my phone in the front.
Overall of course all the colors are very good looking and sharp. All in all I maybe expected a bit more, but I'm definitely happy with it. But I feel that moving back to DHD LCD display would not be such a big deal that I thought if I had to do that.
3. The physical home-button makes quite loud click when pressed, I'm not a big fan of it.
4. Now here's why I'm having serious second thoughts about having this device: ROM support. My main grudge of course is that there is no CM7 for SGS2 yet. I have to say that I REALLY REALLY, I mean REAAALLY miss CM7. *sigh* It's until now that I'm using Samsung's customized Android, I realize how much I miss massive number of features available in CyanogenMod.
Another thing is that as far as I can see, there is no official CWM support for SGS2, and currently users use a customized version by Chainfire. It's ok though, as long as it works.
All in all my general feelings about the phone itself is good, I like many things over DHD such as improved taking camera photos speed, camera picture quality seems a bit better and ADW screen transitions and 4D drawer runs smoother than on my DHD. But the more I use SGS2, the more I miss my DHD running CM7....
I know, my complaints are mainly related to CM7 not being available on SGS2 so it's pretty subjective view. I also know atinm and Teamhacksung is working on CM7 on SGS2, but I have no idea when it'll be ready. CyanogenMod is just that awesome.

Doesn't CM7 have massive battery issues on the DHD though?

Meatboy42 said:
Doesn't CM7 have massive battery issues on the DHD though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It used to have,something to do with the DSP chip not sleeping correctly I think.It has been solved a looooong time now.

General thoughts so far....

For those of you that now have this phone, what are your thoughts? I'm liking this phone more and more but do I need it, well, not really. I'm perfectly happy with my Nexus 4 running PA but there's something about this that has me wanting it. I think part of it is the fact that it's kind of the underdog. It will be exciting to see what the dev's come up with, ROM wise. Anyway, my brain is just spinning as usual, haha.

davela72 said:
For those of you that now have this phone, what are your thoughts? I'm liking this phone more and more but do I need it, well, not really. I'm perfectly happy with my Nexus 4 running PA but there's something about this that has me wanting it. I think part of it is the fact that it's kind of the underdog. It will be exciting to see what the dev's come up with, ROM wise. Anyway, my brain is just spinning as usual, haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm coming from a sony X10 but the oppo find 5 is working good, I had no dead pixels everything worked out of the box.
I have some problems with contact syncing and gmail updates. Photographs are beautiful, but HDR is not really good on dark spots. (lots of noise because of ISO value's)
I did not wanted the nexus 4 because of the glass back. But I think I would also be happy with the nexus 4. But it is overpriced in the Netherlands, my oppo is cheaper then the nexus 4.
It is super fast compared to my X10. No idea how fast the nexus 4 is.
I think you can better donate some money to charity instead of buying yet another high-end phone

nice
previous phone: HTC Sensation
+ Display: WOW! youtube trailer in HD and people start peeping their eyes out!
+ Sound: I never heard a phone playing it sounds like this
+ Speed: I changed the default (ugly) launcher to APEX, this give's the phone a better feel
+ Camera: Although my previous phone was already 2 year old hence i cannot compare it to recent in-phone-camera's it looks great
+ Desgin: It is sharp but not too sharp edged, it's light and thin. the phone is big in size but because its slim dimensions you will not notice it in your jeans (unless you wear skinny jeans i guess, but who does that )
- Temperature when under load, i feel the device is getting pretty warm, your hands start being sweatty.
- Stock UI

Display
Simply Amazing. Bright & Crisp.
However, the screen responsiveness to your touch isn't very good. I find myself having to tap many things twice or three times to get it registered.​Battery
Terrible. It seems to be draining even while sleeping.
My usual morning routine, I unplugged the phone from the charger. It's charged to 100% over night. I do a few light tasks like replying to text messages, flipping through Flipboard, see one 30 sec YouTube video, brightness setting at 50%.
After 20 minutes of usage, my battery gotten down from 100% to 78%.​Speaker
Nice and loud. Best, I have ever heard. But, when you lay it on its back, the speaker will be completely muffled.​Camera
Sucks. 13MP only in spirit. Colors are over saturated. And, the balance isn't there. Lots of graininess in images, even in ample light. Also, don't use the LED flash. Your pictures will be almost all blown white. Absolutely no setting like macro, scene mode, white balance, panaroma, etc.. Just point and shoot and hope for the best...and often times, it isn't.
My 8MP Nexus and 5MP iPad Mini can take picture and video much better.​Stock Launcher
The widgets are fugly. Period.​Build Quality
Strong like my unibody Macbook Pro. However, the power and volume rockers shifts around. The micro USB port is weak. I feel like I'm gonna break that port anytime soon.​Software
Random reboots at least twice or three times a day. No idea why. I feel like I'm using Windows 95 all over again. Oh, and Gmail doesn't open up. Yeah, seriously, Gmail DOES NOT work on this phone. I have to use the other mail app instead. Latest firmware & Gmail update.
Software is actually 4.1, not 4.2. Coming from Nexus 4, that was a let down. I miss the swype style keyboard on 4.2.​ROM
Currently, as of late March, no ROMs​Side Note
USB wall charger & headphones look EXACTLY like the ones for iPhones. Apple will be calling them soon, if not already.​
Conclusion
Beauty & the Beast.......okay, maybe just the Beauty and not much else.​

Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. Hopefully a lot of these things can be fixed with future updates. What's the deal with the Gmail not working and is this something that OPPO is aware of?

I really am happy with the phone. Looks great and stands out in the crowd. Screen is fabulous. It's a new kid on the block, so there are a few things that are not quite there yet. But it seems Oppo are really working hard to make a proper go at this. So far weekly updates and regular fixes. I attached a simple benchmark to give you an idea of the spec. I'm sure there are better performers out there, but it seems to hold it's own!

It seems that my take is a lot different than other peoples on the board, or maybe I got really lucky and got the perfect unit, My Droid DNA is in my drawer and my Oppo Find 5 is sitting on my coffee table right now. All I have to say is wow I am really quite surprised with the device, and I have a Droid DNA now, and my previous device was HTC One X International Version. So I have saw some very nice displays lately, and the Oppo Find 5 is right up there with the best of them, it handles its own. The only fault was that I got my Oppo Find 5 with 1 stuck pixel, you don't even notice it only if you look for it when it’s on the black part while its booting up, once the screen comes on you can’t even see it.
+ Display is really NICE! 1 pixel stuck, on par with Droid DNA SLCD3 and just as bright so you don't have to turn it up that far and waste battery.
+ Build Quality I can’t say enough about this, this thing feels like I could Drop it off the roof and it would last.
+ The All black front display looks so good just as nice or better than the One X, and it has that nice curve in the glass that makes it nice to use.
+ I haven't tried the stock ear buds, but with my Sony ear buds, this thing sounds great, no distortion at all, with bass high, all amps sound good.
+ The stock speaker is also a pleasant surprise, it sounds really good at high volume levels also, when set right, no distortion and it gets loud
+ I stuck with the default launcher to give it a try and it is pretty smooth, has a really nice settings layout. I may switch, it reminds me of MIUI
+ The camera is just as good as my HTC DNA, I don't remember which review said it was about like about like an 8MP LG, It shots fine pictures.
+ The white matte finish does not leave any fingerprints and the screen must have that stuff to keep fingerprints off it also, it barley gets fingerprints
+ I have ran plenty of benchmarks and my unit did not get hot at all as someone said, maybe I wasn't holding it where it was getting hot at on their device?
+ The complete design is what really shines on this phone on the outside, it looks so sleek, and I have already caught people glancing and looking at it, and I have only owned it for one day, if that says anything at all?
+ or - Don't know enough about battery life yet but so far mine seems to be holding up better today, now that it is on its second charge, With a full HD Display you have got to know how to manage your battery, turn things off that you are not using at the time, it worked on my One X and that thing was a nightmare. On my One X I also disabled all my apps that I didn't ever use. At least until we get Roms that will take out all the bloat junk. Today my battery is doing really well almost 2 hours screen time and 76% left.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- I would have to say that the launcher would have been better stock, but I like trying new things out. I really hope Paranoid Android comes to this phone that will be my rom of choice. I already know CM and MIUI are coming soon.
-- The Ugly widgets, Oppo have so many better widgets on their other phones (Oppo Finder, Oppo Way, Oppo 3?) all those widgets look better IMO. I wish I could replace them somehow by switching APKs; maybe someone knows how and could let me know?
-- Contrast I like the over saturated look we have a developer that is working on a kernel or app to set your display just how you like it, at least I think so anyway?- hopefully we can get this fixed soon I know it’s being worked on by paperweistage and his kernel hopefully he gets it figures out, but if you want to help he is looking for some help in his kernel thread, He is looking for JDI Display white-sheets. So help out if you can
And support our developer, that’s how we eventually get more custom Kernel Roms and Apps. Donate to them a couple dollars for a cold one or a coffee.
-- or + It is a little bit on the heavy side but look how it’s made! Some could call this a negative but I left it neutral because it is well balanced and with a full metal frame inside around it, I don't really mind it weighing 20 extra grams, at least hopefully my phone won’t shatter into a thousand pieces if it falls on the ground.
Add more later after I use it awhile longer.
Stock Find 5 Score
[/IMG]
BELOW MY DROID DNA with a custom kernel, once we get a custom kernel for the Find 5, I think it will do better than the DNA I couldn't get the scores I'm getting with the Find 5 with my DNA when it was stock maybe 18900 or 19500.
[/IMG]
[/IMG]

drvsbsm, awesome review! I was checking the OPPO forums earlier and was really getting mixed thoughts on the phone. I know this phone is new and things are just getting started and I think that is some of what's driving me to it. I remember when the Nokia N9 came out with it's Hartmann/Meego OS, I fell in love with that thing and it was pretty much a dead platform when released. It looks like OPPO is keeping up with bug fixes and putting out updates so that's a good sign. Most of all though, I think the thing is SEXY, a beautiful device.
I'm guessing the vendor on Amazon is the place to get it from, the one located in HK?
Thanks again guys!

Very , very good rewiew !
knite75 said:
Display
Simply Amazing​Battery
Terrible. It seems to be draining even while sleeping​Speaker
Nice and loud.​Camera
Sucks. My 8MP Nexus and 5MP iPad Mini can take picture and video much better. Absolutely no setting like scene mode, white balance, panaroma, etc in stock camera app​Stock Launcher
The widgets are fugly. Period.​Build Quality
Strong like my unibody Macbook Pro. However, the power and volume rockers shifts around. The micro USB port is weak. I feel like I'm gonna break that port anytime soon.​Software
Random reboots at least twice or three times a day. No idea why. I feel like I'm using Windows 95 all over again. Oh, and Gmail doesn't open up. Yeah, seriously, Gmail DOES NOT work on this phone. I have to use the other mail app instead.​ROM
Currently, as of late March, no ROMs​Side Note
USB wall charger & headphones look EXACTLY like the ones for iPhones. Apple will be calling them soon, if not already.​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1...... The good think is that the almost everything can be repaired (soft related )

Video camera isn't that very good.
Video is okay if the subject stands still. However, when subject runs or any fast moments, then video gets blurry or ghosting.
For example, here's a video of my daughter at her Taekwondo practice. Notice how she gets blurry when she starts running?
http://youtu.be/ln_2YvN6f78

knite75 said:
Video camera isn't that very good.
Video is okay if the subject stands still. However, when subject runs or any fast moments, then video gets blurry or ghosting.
For example, here's a video of my daughter at her Taekwondo practice. Notice how she gets blurry when she starts running?
http://youtu.be/ln_2YvN6f78
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully this will be addressed as OPPO is releasing an update within a few days for camera related issues.

I have a question about the screen durability. I read somewhere, maybe GSMArena, that the screen rippled very easily and was a bit flexible. That sounds very concerning. I've also heard a few things about poor touchscreen response. This may also be hardware only problem that can't be fixed with any updates.
A lot of these smaller phone makers can just buy off the shelf parts (figuratively) and bulid their own phone. They don't need to develop their own hardware components, just how everything fits together and the overall design. The camera is an Exmor RS from Sony, and the screen is probably a 1080p panel from Sharp. Of course the processor is Qualcomm.
The biggest problem these small relatively no name companies face is the software. It's the brains that makes the smartphone smart, and having a small and inexperienced team, especially while trying to make your own skin, can lead to many shortcomings, from bugs to performance issues to compatibility to poor hardware utilization and battery life. A lot of this stuff even the big boys have trouble with and they have far bigger teams with far more experience. Oppo should go the route that BLU is taking in the future. BLU has a really horrible skin, allegedly, and unstable and buggy phones, but they are supposedly putting stock Android on their new Life series line of phones.

From what I've gathered, the screen is made by JDI?

katamari201 said:
I have a question about the screen durability. I read somewhere, maybe GSMArena, that the screen rippled very easily and was a bit flexible. That sounds very concerning. I've also heard a few things about poor touchscreen response. This may also be hardware only problem that can't be fixed with any updates.
A lot of these smaller phone makers can just buy off the shelf parts (figuratively) and bulid their own phone. They don't need to develop their own hardware components, just how everything fits together and the overall design. The camera is an Exmor RS from Sony, and the screen is probably a 1080p panel from Sharp. Of course the processor is Qualcomm.
The biggest problem these small relatively no name companies face is the software. It's the brains that makes the smartphone smart, and having a small and inexperienced team, especially while trying to make your own skin, can lead to many shortcomings, from bugs to performance issues to compatibility to poor hardware utilization and battery life. A lot of this stuff even the big boys have trouble with and they have far bigger teams with far more experience. Oppo should go the route that BLU is taking in the future. BLU has a really horrible skin, allegedly, and unstable and buggy phones, but they are supposedly putting stock Android on their new Life series line of phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen is from JDI. seems pretty sturdy to me. They seem to be keeping on top of things. But they have a very good reputation in the high end Av community. It's also not their 1st phone. Just their first soiree in the international market.

I have had my Find 5 for more than a week now sans screen protector. Unfortunately, there are lots of micro scratches already. And, I'm very conscious about where I put and use my phone.
Same practice, my Nexus 4 fair much better even after six months of usage.
All in all, have screen protector or don't have too long of finger nails.
katamari201 said:
I have a question about the screen durability. I read somewhere, maybe GSMArena, that the screen rippled very easily and was a bit flexible. That sounds very concerning. I've also heard a few things about poor touchscreen response. This may also be hardware only problem that can't be fixed with any updates.
A lot of these smaller phone makers can just buy off the shelf parts (figuratively) and bulid their own phone. They don't need to develop their own hardware components, just how everything fits together and the overall design. The camera is an Exmor RS from Sony, and the screen is probably a 1080p panel from Sharp. Of course the processor is Qualcomm.
The biggest problem these small relatively no name companies face is the software. It's the brains that makes the smartphone smart, and having a small and inexperienced team, especially while trying to make your own skin, can lead to many shortcomings, from bugs to performance issues to compatibility to poor hardware utilization and battery life. A lot of this stuff even the big boys have trouble with and they have far bigger teams with far more experience. Oppo should go the route that BLU is taking in the future. BLU has a really horrible skin, allegedly, and unstable and buggy phones, but they are supposedly putting stock Android on their new Life series line of phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

New firmware 328,it has camera fixes...

No marked improvement or fixes to camera with latest firmware.
Just new feature: panorama.
Oppo should focus on fixing all the basic camera problems, rather than, adding gimmick useless feature.

knite75 said:
No marked improvement or fixes to camera with latest firmware.
Just new feature: panorama.
Oppo should focus on fixing all the basic camera problems, rather than, adding gimmick useless feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow knite please get back to your iphone.
They tweaked a bit around with the iso settings. But not something really spectaculair.
At least they did something. Most companies will be like :"DEAL WITH IT!"

Haas8 said:
Wow knite please get back to your iphone.
They tweaked a bit around with the iso settings. But not something really spectaculair.
At least they did something. Most companies will be like :"DEAL WITH IT!"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most company would release software when it's ready and in decent condition for general public consumption... Not beta....or alpha in this case.
Check the camera... Aside from poor image quality.... Do see any basic features like:
Macro
White Balance
Scene Mode
As a matter of fact, on Oppo forums, lots of threads and discussion on how poor the pictures and video are turning out... Oppo just ignore them...basically, saying "DEAL WITH IT!"
Instead, they spent their finite limited development resources in adding useless Panorama feature. When is the last time you took a panorama picture, aside from just wanting to see how it works?

I took a panorama earlier at dinner actually. I did the update out of the box and didn't know it added that so that's cool lol.
Sent from my X909 using xda premium

Post your personal S6E reviews

:highfive: congrats to those who have it early.
so tell us what you think about it, the feel on the hand, how fragile does it look and feel (is it slippery like the sony phones with glass, grippy?) , hows the performance of the camera, screen, battery, etc.

It's only been half a day but my early impressions are as follows,
-Fingerprint scanner is wicked fast.
-Screen is beautiful
-It is fast fast fast. I love Samsung devices and I admit that lag was always an issue. I have not been able to slow it down yet. Really I havent. Lol. Even the recent app switcher is fast.
-Like the themeing a lot. I can't wait for more themes.
-Feels good on the hand. The edge does make it a bit different to hold but I love the curved screen. Makes using the phone a pleasure.
-I have only taken a couple pictures but they turned out great. More on that later.
I'm sure I'll have more as the days pass..

I played with the phone in a T mobile store. For about 20 minutes battery was down to 93% from 100%.,Power hungry. Could you guys confirm?
Also I found the browser cannot hide the status bar hence no full screen browsing. Please also confirm this?
S6 edge in the bestbuy which is unbranded has no ability to sort the menu alphabetically. But T mobile edge has an option to sort.

You're correct on the status bar. Too early to know on the battery. The option to sort might have come in the software update that dropped today. Not sure though.

does this look like the edge to u? i think phonearena made a mistake
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...r-but-survives-this-violent-drop-test_id67696

It looks like the edge
The regular s6 has very recognizable edge as well and that is not it
Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Free mobile app

avenging said:
does this look like the edge to u? i think phonearena made a mistake
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...r-but-survives-this-violent-drop-test_id67696
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, that an Edge, and damn did she slam that hard! Good to know it can survive what she just did, lol.

From a performance point of view there is no doubt in my mind the Edge is going to be great, the only doubt is battery life... I realise its a bit early for conclusions yet but once people have used their phones for a week or so, its the questions that everyone wants answering. Everyone's use patterns are different but as long as I can make it through a heavyish day ok, I'll be happy with that.

madpete said:
From a performance point of view there is no doubt in my mind the Edge is going to be great, the only doubt is battery life... I realise its a bit early for conclusions yet but once people have used their phones for a week or so, its the questions that everyone wants answering. Everyone's use patterns are different but as long as I can make it through a heavyish day ok, I'll be happy with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's battery is only 7% less in capacity than S5, so I see no reason why battery life would be extremely different. The screen has higher res, but CPU is much more power efficient.

Szadzik said:
It's battery is only 7% less in capacity than S5, so I see no reason why battery life would be extremely different. The screen has higher res, but CPU is much more power efficient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes...still, I'd rather yes some real numbers from someone who actually has the phone. We know very little about its battery performance yet, and I have seen mixed reviews with some saying its good and others poor.
I should just say that I have the phone pre ordered and I'm looking forward to getting it, battery is the only doubt I have...I'd just like to see some numbers and I think most other people would too.

madpete said:
Yes...still, I'd rather yes some real numbers from someone who actually has the phone. We know very little about its battery performance yet, and I have seen mixed reviews with some saying its good and others poor.
I should just say that I have the phone pre ordered and I'm looking forward to getting it, battery is the only doubt I have...I'd just like to see some numbers and I think most other people would too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have pre-ordered it as well, but it is still 2 weeks before shipping. We will all see in due time. People in the US are already getting theirs, so we should have some info within a week as batteries start working normally after a few charges.

Also could you guys confirm available free memory?

I went to Best Buy yesterday to get a look at the S6 edge. Needless to say, I was very impressed. Touchwiz seems lightning fast compared to 4.3 on my S4. The shortcuts and ease of access really convinced me to buy this (when green comes along). The edge display looks absolutely amazing and does, in fact, feel more immersive. I love the metal frame and the new headphone jack location. Basically, this thing looks and feels all-around perfect. The black looks BLACK in person, whereas online it gave me the belief that it was a deep-blue. Don't know if I want to settle for the white 32GB or wait a month or two in hopes of the green appearing.

varunkumars said:
Also could you guys confirm available free memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot to look. With all my apps and a couple hundred pix loaded on have 107 gigs available.

varunkumars said:
Also could you guys confirm available free memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the 32GB should have around 22-25GB available
and
the 64GB should have around 53-56GB available

Szadzik said:
It's battery is only 7% less in capacity than S5, so I see no reason why battery life would be extremely different. The screen has higher res, but CPU is much more power efficient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, you forgot to mention that the screen was actually more efficient, too. Not only is it 14nm, the screen is like 23% more efficient than the screen on the Note 4, iirc.

tehdef said:
Eh, you forgot to mention that the screen was actually more efficient, too. Not only is it 14nm, the screen is like 23% more efficient than the screen on the Note 4, iirc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was not aware the screen would be more efficient with that much higher resolution, but that is a good thing to know as well. Might mean all this whining about smaller battery size is just for the sake of whining.

Thanks for your answers guys. Today again I walked into Best buy and T mobile stores to do my research more. What I found,
Battery: Yesterday when I played with the phone I suspected it to be Power hungry. But I think I should take it back. Battery is ok not bad after all. I am comparing with my LG G2(has a good battery, 3000mah) and I measured the time it takes to drop every %. S6 takes a little more time than the G2 to drop which tells me the battery is good. Also the picture below. I don't have an S5 so I can't really compare with that. I played a couple of games that were installed on the phone and the battery is still ok. This is by no means a scientific way of measuring, neverthless I wanted to share this with you guys.
Although I have chargers at home, car and work still a good battery(if not the best) gives a sense of confidence. and satisfaction that I have the best phone irrespective of all the breath taking features. Don't you agree?? S6 may not disappoint I believe.
Browser/Browsing: Browsing is a breeze. No sense of lag anywhere. But the status bar doesn't hide which I assume is a part of Lollipop. I would be curious to see if a dev can come up with a mod. A full screen immersive browsing on the S6 's beautiful screen would be super cool.
Youtube/Video: Flawless like its predecessors. Nothing special to mention.
Music: Flawless sound like its predecessors. No distortion. Sound is very clean with the headphones. I listen to a lot of Music and sound quality is very important for me. When I played the music on speaker I felt some vibration I wonder what that is??? I wonder if it is the speaker giving the vibration.
Menu:Arrangement of the apps in the menu is nice and simple although I would prefer the icons to be a little smaller. T mobile phones come with an option to sort alphabetically. AT&T don't have the phone for display yet(Slackers:crying so can't tell. All in all I like this new menu. No complaints.
GPS: I didn't spend a lot of time here but I thought it locked quick enough. Nothing special and no complaints.
Screen Quality : I thought the screen is much better than S5 (in the store) and on par with the note 4. But my G2 has a different color temperature which I believe make whites look a little bluish where as S6 whites are yellowish. To me both are ok. But I really have to admit the additional pixels on S6 make no difference in picture quality (S6 vs G2). Really a 1080p screen would have been enough. To clarify I am not complaining, just my opinion. Viewing angles are good unlike G2 (LG's for that matter).
I have to tell you, normal people passing by with no phone knowledge would stop by and take a glimpse at the edge screen, They all seem to like it. Seems like edge is getting all the attention it deserves.
Build/Design: This is where S6 edge outshines every other phone in the market. In my opinion, till date this the best design ever period. I have seen some complaints about finger prints. It is not bad after all. Looks like white takes less finger prints than others. Excellent build quality and feels solid in hands. Thums up.
Single handed use: It can be used single handed with no issues. Menu is set up for single hand use which I really like. Although my hand is not very big it fit nicely in my hand. Not sure about the non-edge S6. Should be the same.
Speed This is one thing that is very crucial. All android phones I used so far tend to be fast initially but as I go adding/deleting apps and other files phone tends to get laggy. It really gets on my nerves. But even as a brand new phone they stutter at times. But with S6 it is blazing fast. No lag anywhere (at least I did not see). App drawer is a little slow to open. Samsung probably configured it to be slower on purpose. Some might misunderstand it to be a lag, just a heads up. Speed speed speed is what it is.
Camera: I need not specially tell you about the camera. There are expert reviews which claim this to be the best camera. Flawless. Double press on the menu opens the camera in split seconds which is very impressive.
I care less about the heart rate sensor so did not test it. Although I care about finger print scanner I could not test it because it is not my phone.
This is a big leap forward not just for Samsung but for android as a whole.
I was disappointed about the battery yesterday but liked it today and took some time to test all the features. I like the phone, will get one. White Color 32gb. AT&T.

tdphotos said:
the 32GB should have around 22-25GB available
and
the 64GB should have around 53-56GB available
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he meant the true amount of RAM available. (Should be less than 3 GB)

Status bar maybe due to Lollipop. Its present on my Pure Edition Moto X and my Atrix HD running CM12.
Sent from my XT1095 using XDA Free mobile app

A Month with the Mix

Currently using it with Nova launcher and stock everything else.
The good:
- The awesome monitor to body ratio is still as amazing as it was the first time I see it, especially when game such as Alto's Adventure allows full screen immersion mode.
- Extremely high build quality, not only does the ceramic feel awesome and polished (feels like glass but smoother), the weight that it adds makes the whole phone feel extremely premium.
- Speaker is surprisingly good, and internal amp drives my full sized Audeze EL8 without any issue.
- Quick charge is as useful as expected
- Extremely quick finger print reading
- Some surprisingly good features, for example the notification bar when dragged down includes weather immediately. Also a great feature to have the battery show as a bar on top rather than an icon.
- Very useful alarm clock apps, sure it's not Sleep. But it has the option to only do alarm in all work days. Meaning it automatic turn off for red day public holiday.
The bad:
- Going into full immersion mode can be troublesome for keyboard. You have to hold your phone lower to get used to the keyboard location.
- Not able to change the default search bar in the notification bar, seriously this would have been so awesome if the default is google.
- Listening call still feels weird at times.
- Google play occasionally crash.
Camera:
Below is the album that I have uploaded from daily shots and from a trip. Without edit and with native app.
http://imgur.com/a/R7cIo
One word: Unreliable.
Good:
Very fast focus and exposure adjustment.
Good selection of modes and with internal filter if you are into this sort of things
Fun to use for selfie, there's a scoring system and guessing age/gender which often leads to laughter (but it is surprisingly accurate)
imo very good HDR mode, with only slightly overexposing the high light.
Bad:
occasionally it set pretty poor exposure values (too high shutter and lead to high ISO etc)
Poor sharpness. Could be the over aggressive noise cancelling.
Some lag after pressing shutter
Poor flair control
Colour is a hit or miss, occasionally very bad colour control (you can see it from the airplane flight shot, the sky is no where that blue)
Final words:
How long has it been that you see a phone with something special? Every phone is only slightly better spec, or different size, there's nothing groundbreaking. Smartphone market almost feel boring in the past 2 to 3 years.
Then come this phone, brave enough not only to include a bezeless monitor, but also put in a high end spec with a ceramic build.
if you are looking for something special, right now in the world, there is only this one phone with all these features, at a price tag that is not outrageous.

lyI agree with most of what you're saying. Major exception, for me, is the fingerprint reader: Works fine for an hour or so, then simple stops reading after that. Diagnosis (* # * # 64663 # * # *) reports it's fine. Have restored system, flashed developer ROM (didn't like it) then returned to China stable, with same results. I have not unlocked the BL, and with nougat on the horizon, it appears, for the first time in many years, I won't have a rooted phone boo-hoo).
I updated to China stable 8.0.12.0 just last night. Supposedly camera improvements (among others), so we'll see on that front.
Love the phone, the size is impressive (big/small) and the overall concept.

I'm loving the phone so far. Although it does have one big 'issue' which is the screen flashing red as I lock the phone, but it only seems to happen when the screen has white pixels.
Examples: http://imgur.com/a/jclHi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3C8j1o4-SE
Anybody else able to replicate this problem?
Apart from that problem though, everything is fantastic. Phone is incredibly fast (I have the 4GB model), it held GTA San Andreas, Torque Burnout, CarX Drift AND GTA Vice City all in memory! Seriously impressive stuff. Phone is very snappy, and very large, but it is very easy to get used to, I held and iPhone 4 the other day and I swear it could have fit into my Mix twice!
Camera is okay with the default app, I have since downloaded Snap Camera which makes the pictures much better and has lots more options. However, I'm not really very 'into' taking pictures with my phone, so my advice is probably lost anyway.

Had it close to five weeks now.
I forgot to point this out when I got it, but the finish on this thing is nothing short of predominant! (Nods to Michael Scott fans). But seriously, just wow.
I have been pretty fortunate with all my prior devices. The one fault I can think of, is that my Z1 has a singel bright pixel. Admittedly, my old TyTn did die after being exposed to the harshness of laying on my desk for a month when I brought a burner to the far east. A slap in the face when service said it had water damage (yaahh, from the high humidity we always experience up north ) which they supposedly had pictures of (they didn't). Wanted me to pay for shipping and service fees to return my dud. Needless to say, I swallowed the guys behind the counter whole, and walked outta there not paying a cent, paperweight in hand.
Sure, there have been some tiny misalignments on some devices. Where screen has not been 100% flush with the front, or other parts minutely sticking out. Albeit, these flaws have been too insignificant to warrant a return. Meaning, you would almost need a magnifying glass to spot them.
I say this to convey that I meticulously go over my devices to check for flaws.
The MiX is the first I can honestly say is totally FLAWLESS! Can't stop caressing this jewel. Toss away your stress balls and just hold onto your MiX.
On the software side, 2 minutes of removing crap = happy camper. Speed and stutter free experience only matched by my m8 on custom kernel and lightweight MM rom. Not had a lot of FC's and continuous toasts of stuff failing and whatnot. A+ again.
The camera is not beating current flagships. I don't snap pics at every waking moment, so I find the stock app to perform very satisfactory in all lighting conditions when in manual. I have yet to see a phone cam work optimal in auto anyway. Iso almost always end up too high, on tripods as well. In video recording, I don't have a ton of material yet to compare this and that in different resolutions, but yeah I have seen better. OIS would have been nice I guess. Will be more exciting to get some footage out and about in a few months, when I have scenery that includes more contrasting colours than just black white and grey.
Battery life is awesome. But I think others with a better device history should comment on that besides me.
Only thing I have to counter all this lovin' with, is the ultrasound proximity sensor. This may only be on mine, but often when the screen turns off, after maybe five or ten seconds it has a tendency to come back on. I have to move it away at least 10-15cm away from my head and wait a second or two before putting it against my ear again. After that it stays off. Odd! That can be a bit frustrating actually. Whether it be the sensor or the software making fudge, I don't know (happened on more than one ROM).
Last I'm gonna say for now is that:
Even though my Sharp gave me even more of "no edge on top" feeling, this slabalicious wonder makes me want to bite down on it just to get another tactile (toothtile?) sensation.
Merry X-mas y'all!

i have the exact opposite opinion as the original poster.
the only things i don't like is how heavy it is. no idea how this is a plus or that its heavy makes one think it is better built. you drop this phone on its corner and the screen is going to crack.
i'm also not a fan of the square bar design, if i pick up my nexus 6 which is the same size basically it feels so so much better in my hand.
that being said, i wouldn't trade this phone for ANYTHING else on the market. these are only very samll minor complaings, as well as i very much want an AOSP rom instead of MIUI. i bought this phone for the huge 6.4 inch screen and the screen is unreal. the battery life and speed are also like no phone i've ever had. this thing flies.

I've had the Mix for just about a month now, purchased from an eBay reseller based here in the US. The Mix came factory sealed with CN Stable 8.0.10.0 installed.
I took a few days on the CN ROM to decide that I didn't want that, and then followed @underlines' excellent guide to install TWRP, root with Su and install the EU ROM. I had applied to bootloader unlock when I ordered the phone.
I love this device. I don't think I've been this excited about a smartphone ever, and I have owned lots of them. My only gripe is the camera, which is fine but not as good as the iPhone 7+ or the Google Pixel or the SG 7 Edge. Though Snap Camera app in manual mode provides very good results and better than the stock camera app.
Otherwise my thoughts are as the other posters in this thread, amazing screen, excellent build quality, battery lasts a very long time and did I mention the screen? I think most importantly this feels like the future. Is it perfect? No. Does it include every LTE band? Apparently not. Is it the perfect size for most hands to hold? No. But everyone who sees it asks "what phone is this?". And that includes Samsung, Apple, HTC and Motorola users.
I would recommend installing TWRP and rooting, MIUI is optimized for the Chinese market and many of those optimizations don't make sense in other markets or negatively impact usability.
Cheers
J
Sent from my MIX using XDA Labs

Upgrading from Z5C, some concerns.

Hello,
Someone broke my Z5C and I'm now looking for a new phone.
I liked the form factor of the Z5C, but several things were "mehhh".
First of all, the fingerprint scanner wasn't working under certain conditions. I read here and there that it was mostly fixed and that the XC fingerprint sensor is much more accurate. Can you confirm ?
Secundo, the phone was overheating A LOT. I guess it had to do with the SoC. Is it fixed ? I don't know if it was related, but my phone randomly lagged (and would sometime reboot for no reason).
The amount of RAM was clearly not sufficient as apps would need to be restarted completely during multitasking.
Also, the screen was just "ok" for me. How deep are the blacks on the XC?
How slow is the camera to open? It was really unreliable on the Z5C for me. Can you turn off the "photo enhancement" feature that slows down the whole thing?
Concerning rooting, mods, etc.: I don't care about customizing if the ROM is good. The only thing I want is a root access. Is this something we achieve without losing any functionality on Nougat ?
And last concern... how often do you see people complaining about defective units ?
You've been using this device for several months now... so you should been able to tell me how well it survived!
I really want to love this phone, but tell me if there's anything you don't like about it!
Thank you in advance!

Stick with your Z5C, that's the phone I wish I'd have bought instead of this. In future I'll always opt for older premium over newer mid range.

XperienceD said:
Stick with your Z5C, that's the phone I wish I'd have bought instead of this. In future I'll always opt for older premium over newer mid range.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your answer.
Can you tell me what's wrong with your XC?
Because I don't know if I had a defective unit or not, but overall I wouldn't recommend the Z5C for the reasons I gave in my OP.

I've had my ZC for about 2 months now and it's my favorite phone to date. Got tired of the huge screen phones, my last being the oneplusone.
The fingerprint scanner only works if you flash the uk firmware from what I've seen. I have not gotten around to it yet so I can't say how well it work but from my reading everyone says it works well.
I have had 0 overheating issues. It barely gets warm.
Honestly I love this phone. It's fast, has every feature I wanted and is the form factor I wanted also.
The ONLY thing I really hate about this phone is sony made it out of the slipperiest material on earth, but with a case/skin that goes away.

evoliofly said:
Hello,
Someone broke my Z5C and I'm now looking for a new phone.
I liked the form factor of the Z5C, but several things were "mehhh".
First of all, the fingerprint scanner wasn't working under certain conditions. I read here and there that it was mostly fixed and that the XC fingerprint sensor is much more accurate. Can you confirm ?
Secundo, the phone was overheating A LOT. I guess it had to do with the SoC. Is it fixed ? I don't know if it was related, but my phone randomly lagged (and would sometime reboot for no reason).
The amount of RAM was clearly not sufficient as apps would need to be restarted completely during multitasking.
Also, the screen was just "ok" for me. How deep are the blacks on the XC?
How slow is the camera to open? It was really unreliable on the Z5C for me. Can you turn off the "photo enhancement" feature that slows down the whole thing?
Concerning rooting, mods, etc.: I don't care about customizing if the ROM is good. The only thing I want is a root access. Is this something we achieve without losing any functionality on Nougat ?
And last concern... how often do you see people complaining about defective units ?
You've been using this device for several months now... so you should been able to tell me how well it survived!
I really want to love this phone, but tell me if there's anything you don't like about it!
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't comment on everything but I can answer a couple.
First off the phone doesn't over heat, ever. It may get a little warm at times but that's only if playing a ton of videos. And when I say a ton I mean from 100% battery down to zero. The Z5C chipset has always had heat issues. Granted it's not Sony's fault all phones had heat issues that used the 810. That's why Qualcomm was so quick to move away from the 810 back in the day when it first released. The XC uses a 650 which is basically the same thing as the 810 but it doesn't overheat. That being said it also has an extra gig of ram compared to the Z5C so it's a little snappier too imo. Granted the Z5C and the XC are both very close to one another.
I have never had an issue with the fingerprint sensor on the XC. As stated above you will need to flash the UK firmware to get it to work though. Has something to do with a patent dispute between Sony and whoever in the US at the moment.
Overall you can't go wrong either way. It sounds like you had a lot of issues with your Z5C so switching to the XC is probably worth a shot as it has dropped in price quite a bit since release. I have had mine since late October and haven't had an issue with it so far. Plus I am willing to bet the Z5C is coming to an end as far as Android updates go as to where the XC should at the very least get a bump up to 7.1 at some point if not more.

evoliofly said:
Thank you for your answer.
Can you tell me what's wrong with your XC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The colour first of all, it's blue, not Universe "Black", the icon on the power button is upside down, can't connect wireless to my PC and curved edges that makes applying a screen protector a real PITA.

XperienceD said:
the icon on the power button is upside down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The icon on the z5c is exactly the same, for what it's worth.
We have both xc and z5c. I lean towards the xc because it lasts longer per charge. It also seems to run cooler. It doesn't look as nice as the z5c, but I am not as worried about damaging it

I had a z5c, and switched to XC back in sep 2016, every 'issue' you mention has been fixed on XC. The fingerprint sensor is better, so is the screen. It would be odd otherwise.
The biggest flav of the z5c though is the a57 cores (the performance cluster of z5c) is the first 64bit soc rushed out to complete with apple that had just released their 64bit soc and lets be honest this core is notorious for overheating, my raspberry pi uses 4 of them too and both can not sustain their highest clock without getting insanely hot and throttle back the clock. I realize this only happens if you play games or do a synthetic stress test, use poorly coded apps like Facebook etc, most normal os operation only produces spikes which keeps the throttling down. Imho this is a horrible core compared with the a72. The power efficiency is also as you can imagine way better, I get alot more out of a single charge on this phone than I did with the z5c and it never gets hot, maybe a little handwarm if you play games or keep the screen on for hours like watching several movies. Nowhere near the z5c which was worryingly at times.
That's not to say I did not like the z5c but overall the XC is a great improvement in any aspect just as it is supposed to be.
The colour first of all, it's blue, not Universe "Black"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you ever looked up at night ? Its not completely black either, its like a blackisblue. Furthermore I like it inside its black and outside you can see a different very dark blue color depending from which angle the light hits it. I am pretty sure it is on purpose and why its called universe black. I agree whether you like it or not is another matter.
can't connect wireless to my PC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to elaborate? Because like this guy I could not find an option in my phone either. This is the official answer from sony:
The feature to transfer files using Media transfer mode via Wi-Fi® has been removed in the Xperia™ Z4 Tablet and the Xperia™ Z5 series. Moreover, the Media transfer mode will not be available in Xperia™ Companion, the new tool that is replacing PC Companion, because Windows® 8.1 has removed the trigger menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But perhaps you mean something else?

Thank you everyone for your answers! You would be very good salesmen!
The Z5C was a bad experience, but I hope that this one will last me as long as my Nexus 4 did!
I bought it from a third-party seller on Amazon and should receive it in 2 weeks.
Also, I wanted to buy the black one at first... but the white one was cheaper, so I went for it (and I may even like it more in the end).

the camera opens in around 1 sec, 0.6 sec according to sony btw. I also dislike the photo enhancement that takes forever to apply and sharpen the image even on zxs. this is because sony decided to not use the performance cluster in the album app (I have no idea what they bumped their heads into) but as you I do not like it anyway as it over sharpens pictures and is way to aggressive. thankfully it can be disabled and pictures sharpen normally up in a instant, if I want to add more pow or adjust the colors etc I use a tool designed for that, usually i find the photo editor to be sufficient.
Good luck. I hope it serves you well. Initially i was sceptic too until I actually used it. (ie not just standing in a store flicking back and forth in the demo mode)

I didnt have time to read other comments but let me share my experience with you
Im a guy who changes phone after phone and a heavy android user but because I like to change phones I mostly buy good midrangers.
anyway this is the only phone that I have used it for more than 6 months( its almost 9) beside xperia sp some years ago.
The design really feels good in hand - but it gets scratches very easily so u might wanna look for a back protector or cover.
The performance is liquid smooth you are not gonna see any lags only if its app related, but I wished it was a better processor anyway.
Screen quality is super awesome you will enjoy looking at it every single time you use it.
Cpu have never went more than 45 C degrees but keep in mind that its a 28nm processor.
battery life is good goes up to 2 days with normal use
app loadings speed is perfect havent seen any better phone in this price range
fingerprint sensor is very good gets your id even with a little touch
speakers are not that good I can say that and Im noticing some wizzing noises sometimes...
in the end I really suggest you to buy it cause its way better than z5c and dont buy it only if you would go for XZ premium!
Just watch out for defective units there seem to be more than normal...
---------
Edit: I forgot to say the phone is waterproof I tested it myself but no body will answer you if you damage it because its not official...

Thread closed at OP request