Database Users

My experience with the HD2

I have the device for 5 days and i went through every little corner of it so i would like to share this with you and maybe help others make a decision to buy it or not.
Hardware:
1. Very good build quality. The rubber coding and the metal plate feels good.
2. Its incredibly thin!
3. The camera has sharp edges which scratches my desk. I always put the phone on top of the leather pouch that came with it so i don't scratch my desk.
4. The screen is impressive. Having a capacitive 4.3'' screen on a WM device is like being in haven.
5. The earpiece does a good job. Its better than my (sold) TP2, but not too loud (as some have reported).
6. The speaker is decent. Not too loud and not to quiet. Having a device so small i guess its impossible to put a better speaker.
7. The 3.5 mm jack entry is so enjoyable. I always struggled with charging and listening to the headphones at the same time. It was impossible on my previous phones without some big, ugly adapter.
8. Finally we have a standardized port for sync/charge. Unfortunately i can't find a microUSB cable anywhere. The only way to get them is to order them online.
Software:
1. HTC Sense is very well done. Having a 1GHz processor it moves along panels and menus very fast. When i took my TP2 in hand after playing with the HD2 i felt like trowing it away. Once you played with the HD2 you never go back.
2. HTC skinned most of the settings of WM which is a good thing and a bad thing. In some cases the skinned settings don't show every little option in that category so its annoying, but i managed to get a shortcut for the windows mobile settings in my start menu.
3. The facebook integration doesn't let me choose what i want to update for my contacts. On my TP2 i would get asked if i want to get the contact's photo and his birthday. Now it doesn't ask anything and if the contact doesn't have a facebook photo but it has an outlook photo (set by me) it deletes the photo. After getting back my contacts i stopped using the facebook integration. SOLVED
4. The twitter client is OK, but i expect an update from HTC in a future rom where lists are implemented. Otherwise its useless.
5. Doing pinch to zoom in Opera is a joy. Having a large screen, web browsing becomes a pleasure. Now i can say that i can always rely on my phone to do web browsing.
6. Google Maps and iGO 8 work fast and the GPS signal comes in about 10 seconds with the proper tweaks.
7. The FM Radio just doesn't work. I only get static and its not like i'm in the middle of a field. I'm in a 4 million people city.
8. The Audio Manager does a good job but there's a problem with the Audio Booster which doesn't stay on after the first song you play. There's a solution for that but its ugly. Once you start the audio booster don't press done, just leave it running by pressing the home button for example.
9. The camera takes very good pictures. I applied the super fine tweaks. I own a semi professional camera and i have some experience in that area and the pictures taken by the HD2 are pretty OK for a phone camera.
10. In regards to the SMS issue: i don't have it. The device already came with the GSM only selected as a band for sending text messages. The only downside is that i tried once to send an sms to 16 persons and i got around 5-6 undelivered messages. I know it has a limit but i applied the tweak to make the limit go to 50 but no result.
11. My Location works and doesn't work. It gets my location but when its time to get the weather it fails. It shows and error message that it cannot retrieve the weather. So i disabled it completely.
12. The unlock screen is useless. I always set my phone to turn off the display after 1 minute. Watching a movie resulted in a lock. I removed it and installed S2U2 which accepts exceptions and it works great on the HD2. It's like it was meant for this device.
13. HTC Album creates a rather large cache on the main storage resulting in a decrease in available MBs. That is not acceptable for me so someone from xda modified the exe file (changed the path of where the cache is stored) and i installed it and it works great so far. The cache is now in My Documents folder on the storage card.
14. I changed the icons in the start menu using the reSTART application and the iReflect icons found on xda. Now my start menu looks very clean and beautiful.
15. I can type really well on it. I just have to trust the keyboard. I'm not using XT9 cuz i don't have my language there but with the ABC mode i'm quite fast. Its not always perfect but that's to be expected anyhow. I make a lot more mistakes on my brother's iPhone than on the HD2 (and the iPhone keyboard is famous for its accuracy).
There is a downside to all of this: the battery life. It's a little disappointing. I feel like i use an iPhone now. I usually get a full day out of it with moderate use. I plan on buying a desktop cradle and a spare battery just in case.
I'm running the 1.48 version and judging by my experience so far i'm almost certain that there was a batch of phones that was bad, that's why some owners state problems with hardware or software.
If i missed something let me know, or if you have any questions fire away.

Very well written. There's one point I'd like to correct, though. You can set the contacts tab to show Outlook pics even with Facebook integration. Here's how:
1. Start editing the contact.
2. Tap on the contact picture icon on top right.
3. A list of available pics for the contact should come up. The second of which is your Outlook contact pic, if you have one saved. Tap it.
4. Voila
Now, can you please link the reSTART and ireflect icons? I'm curious and want to check them our. I did some searching, but the results returned are staggering.

iReflect icons: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533993
reSTART: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=186033&d=1242539721
PS: Thanks for the tip on the facebook integration. I'm now going through all my contacts and changing the photos.

Nice review, lorin.bute.
I have switched back to this device after 4 months iphone 3Gs usage. This device is the best I have ever used in the past 7 years. The screen reacts and the softwares run just as fast as iphone 3Gs but with rooms for my customization. Just looks forward to the upcoming WM6.5.3 to enhance this device, and most likely WM7 in 2010.

The battery life is indeed disappointing. Well HTC wanted it to be slimmer than the iphone.
A desktop cradle and a spare battery is a must i feel. We are all using a relatively new battery. Just imagine 6-12 months down, it may not even last a day. A cradle apart from showing off the phone also prevent from tripping the cable while charging.

Well, if a spare battery is a must for the HD2, then what do all the iPhone users do?
The iPhone has even worse battery life and you can't swap out the battery...

freyberry said:
Well, if a spare battery is a must for the HD2, then what do all the iPhone users do?
The iPhone has even worse battery life and you can't swap out the battery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use mobile chargers.
click it in the iphone and it starts charging. works perfectly.

Yes, I had one of those, too, for my iPhone 3G
That was more of a rhetorical question, but I can add that those chargers are less convenient to carry around than a second battery.
Just looks forward to the upcoming WM6.5.3 to enhance this device, and most likely WM7 in 2010.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=606932

freyberry said:
Well, if a spare battery is a must for the HD2, then what do all the iPhone users do?
The iPhone has even worse battery life and you can't swap out the battery...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like what my friends do. They charge whenever possible, i see their phones wired most of the time in office.

Summary of known issues with Galaxy S

OK so from what I can gather looking at this forum and various stuff on the web the issues with this phone are (not in order of importance)
1. UI lags. However, this can be overcome via a 3rd party launcher and some 'Nand' hacks? which pardoxicallly means limited app memory again !
2. The GPS is unreliable. It can be fine one time and refuse to lock on another time?
3. The WiFi connection is also unstable for many users?
4. The battery life is not very good out of the box but improves after a few recharges? However, its still difficult to get a full day if using it heavily?
5. Samsung have a poor record when it comes to updates. There is no guarantee when / if the phone will be updated so it should be bought based solely on the features it has today?
Have I got this about right ? Anything missing or just wrong ? Are there any known fixes for issues 2 and 3 above.
Please note this not an attack on the phone I am considering buying and, as much as possible, I want to understand upfront what the issues are.

Don't forget Kies is rubbish and there's no apps for Android on the Kies marketplace, despite what the manual says.
If you are on a Mac (and presumably Linux) you have to enable USB debugging mode to be able to mount it as a USB storage device.

1 and 2 applies to my phone and I must be having a memory leak issue. My available memory drops pretty steadily throughout the day even after killing all the apps with a task manager. I need to reboot once or twice a day or the phone dips below 100mb. My guess is this is also the cause of the laggy UI.
My gps is quick to get a fix but it drops often for no good reason.
The wifi has been flawless for me, I'm on a 802.11n only network.
My battery is ok, not great but not bad either.
I still love this phone and I would buy again even with these minor annoyances.

Wifi wont reconnect when waking up from standby mode...(sometimes)
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

1- pretty minor problem IMO, i don't bump into it a lot. Let's see what samsung will do.
2- From what i see, after upgrading a firmware the problem is solved, in most of the cases.
3- Seen reports, but i didn't bump into problems with it even once.
4- After comparing with a nexus one, an HTC desire and a motorola milestone, i can clearly say that currently, after 5-7 charges, the SGS has the best battery in the android market.
I manage to squeeze over 3 days of moderate use from my device, or 2 days of heavy use.
5- I can't really say anything about it, samsung does have a poor support record for it's devices.

I'm running firmware XXJF3
1.Lag) applies to me, with any launcher. it's ok most of the time, but when it happens it is very annoying.
2.GPS) No problems so far. Not using it much for navigation, thus. Just for stuff like checking into foursquare and buzz.
3.WiFi) No problems now. I had a strange problem with wlan not working at all at my first day with the device, but I did a factory reset once and since then I never had any problems with networking anymore.
4.battery life) Everything just as with the nexus one or G1: I need to charge it at least once a day, unless I do not really use it.
5.update support) It's annoying, and it's a shame. But except for the nexus one, there are not really better alternatives with better update support out there. At least here in Europe. Motorola and HTC and Sony all abandon their devices after a few month as well.
We can only hope that Samsung thinks this is something that is worth doing better than in the past, and better than the competition currently does. Or that building custom ROMs based on upcoming Android Versions on the Galaxy S is not going to be as difficult as psychoace thinks.
If Samsung fixes the blackout/lag issues soon with a new firmware, I'm going to keep the device. Most of the time it is a great mobile. I even like touchwiz 3.

MetaDude said:
OK so from what I can gather looking at this forum and various stuff on the web the issues with this phone are (not in order of importance)
1. UI lags. However, this can be overcome via a 3rd party launcher and some 'Nand' hacks? which pardoxicallly means limited app memory again !
2. The GPS is unreliable. It can be fine one time and refuse to lock on another time?
3. The WiFi connection is also unstable for many users?
4. The battery life is not very good out of the box but improves after a few recharges? However, its still difficult to get a full day if using it heavily?
5. Samsung have a poor record when it comes to updates. There is no guarantee when / if the phone will be updated so it soils be bought based solely on the features it has today?
Have I got this about right ? Anything missing or just wrong ? Are there any known fixes for issues 2 and 3 above.
Please note this not an attack on the phone I am considering buying and, as much as possible, I want to understand upfront what the issues are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes I get lag. Very irritating on the supposed "most powerful phone around". On original jf 3 firmware though, but will surely try the new rom from modaco as I don't think I could live with this in the long term.
2. Only time I tried to use google navigation, it let me down badly.
3. Generally been ok but for the first time today I had wifi icon but no internet connection. Had to restart phone (toggling had no effect).
I've had other issues as well, complete lock ups, mass storage randomly not working, and other weird seemingly random behaviour.
Overall, so far this has been a frustrating device to live with. Things can only get better I hope.

Latest firmware seems to have solved almost all of these "problems"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=718621

Latest firmware released today solved the lag problem.
Not sure about the others. never had problems with the GPS.
Wifi connection was solved 2 firmwares ago

Impressions after a week...

A lot of us have had the device for at least week now so it would be a good time to post impressions after a bit more hands on time. I’ll start...
10 days in I’m still glad I got it but there are plenty of things that could be improved. I’ve been on HTC phones (Desire, Desire Z) before this running at different times standard HTC Sense ROMs as well as various versions of Cyanogen Mod and AOSP based ROMs. My views after 2 weeks of use:
* Loving the fact that Samsung appears to be treating this almost like a developer phone (ala Nexus) in terms of open bootloader, availability of source code etc. I’ve said my goodbyes to HTC precisely because of this.
* Based on the frequency of updates Samsung also appears to be focused on addressing issues. They are one if the first out of the gates for Gingerbread updates to their existing devices so I’m hoping they continue to focus on delivering on the latest versions of Android.
* Touchwiz is not as invasive as HTC’s Sense. It improves on stock android in many ways. My first Samsung phone so I can’t really speak of improvements over previous versions of Samsung ROMs but so far I don’t hate TouchWiz but I do find that they seem to take a lot of inspiration from Apple even when the standard Android implementation is better in some cases (I didn’t hate HTC Sense either but I did find it too far from stock for my liking). Having said that there are some totally brain dead decisions that Samsung appear to have taken which I just don’t get:
1) Default home screen on the left instead of the middle. Why copy Apple on this one when Android’s default makes so much more sense. I love having frequently used apps with a swipe to the right and an agenda widget on the left so I can get to both with a single swipe. Now I have to pick one.
2) Fixed icons at the bottom. I understand Phone and Apps being fixed but not messaging and contacts. I’d like to change those - hell, even Apple lets you change those. *** NEVERMIND *** See posts below. It CAN be edited.
3) Lock screen - talk about making something worse - this one takes the cake. Thank god for widget locker.
4) Dialer logs - I don’t want my SMS messages to show up on my phone dialer logs. There is no option to just view all calls without the rest of the stuff cluttering it up. (Yes I know I can switch to Dialer One but apart from this one major issue I actually like the default Samsung dialer).
* Wireless - Everything wireless about this phone has issues. May be a function of how thin it is but my experience so far:
1) Phone - Much improved after the latest firmware updates but data connection can take a while to latch on when moving out of WiFi coverage and sometimes just drops out for 5-10 minutes at a time for no apparent reason (even when the phone shows five bars in a strong signal area).
2) Bluetooth - The headset I have is not working well at all. Quality seems fine but every few seconds drops out or gets noisy for a second or so. The same headset works perfectly well with the HTC devices as well as with an iPhone.
3) GPS - Sometimes flawless but lock time is definitely a lot slower than the HTC devices. It also has a tendancy to lose lock a lot easier than the HTC devices. Other times it jumps around all over the place before getting a lock. Lots of weird behaviour here.
4) WiFi - Where other phones get weak coverage this one gets none. If you have strong WiFi signals everywhere you use the device this is not an issue. 5 Ghz also performs significantly worse than 2 Ghz.
* Battery life - It appears this phone has only 2 gears. A low gear for phone / SMS / push mail / browsing where battery life is excellent but then kicks into hyper-turbo mode if you use Flash video, games or anything taxing where it burns through battery life in no time. You can easily get through a whole day with power to spare if you stick to only the basic activities but best to use everything else while plugged in.
The reality is even with all these issues, I couldn’t give this device up. The power and speed coupled with the slim form factor and gorgeous screen are just too damn impressive and all the problems pale in significance. I might have had buyers remorse if the HTC Sensation was coming with an open bootloader and a slimmer profile but at the moment I don’t see anything that compares. I’m just hoping Samsung can fix some of the problems I’ve listed in software.

Regarding fixed items at the bottom: you can edit them from within the applications screen.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

2) Fixed icons at the bottom. I understand Phone and Apps being fixed but not messaging and contacts. I’d like to change those - hell, even Apple lets you change those.
You can change those - Go to app drawer-> menu -> edit -> and drop the app you wants.

EleCtrOx666 said:
You can change those - Go to app drawer-> menu -> edit -> and drop the app you wants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works! Thanks

Interesting thoughts indeed.... I hope there is some help out there ^^

Here's a solution for 1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13825680#post13825680

Nice honest and informative post. Most of the issues will hopefully be fixable once we start getting some custom ROMs I'm hoping. Or hopefully fixes direct from Samsung in regards to GPS, WiFi, and 3G. I guess time will tell.

gstar_raw said:
Nice honest and informative post. Most of the issues will hopefully be fixable once we start getting some custom ROMs I'm hoping. Or hopefully fixes direct from Samsung in regards to GPS, WiFi, and 3G. I guess time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very puzzling that Sammy would have issues in key connectivity areas on such a high profile phone. Wonder if they''re all antenna related? As you say, hopefully not, and it's all solvable with SW.

Homescreen order
C'mon guys - it's not that hard to reorder your homescreens...
Just pinch zoom (helicopter mode) longpress & drag.....
Hope this helps you...
---
Regards,
Ian.

EleCtrOx666 said:
Here's a solution for 1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13825680#post13825680
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Will try it.
BatterBits said:
C'mon guys - it's not that hard to reorder your homescreens...
Just pinch zoom (helicopter mode) click & drag.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)

Abra_Cadabra said:
Thanks! Will try it.
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the old TW, it allowed users to change the default home screen. I have no idea what happened to the new TW

Abra_Cadabra said:
Thanks! Will try it.
The issue isn't re-ordering. It's changing the default home screen from the left (on TouchWiz) to the middle (As on stock Android / Sense etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doh!
Sorry, Didn't quite catch that - I understand now where you're coming from.
<note to self - dont respond to posts you haven't read properly>
---
Regards,
Ian

After my first day with this phone I switched to the the ADW Launcher, Samsung really didn't think the TouchWiz launcher through - not only the default homescreen being on the left, but also the fact that Apps in the drawer aren't sorted alphabetically.

I used to own the Samsung Galaxy Vibrant. It's disturbing that Samsung is still not getting the GPS working right!

briansj said:
I used to own the Samsung Galaxy Vibrant. It's disturbing that Samsung is still not getting the GPS working right!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My gps works like a charm
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

I'm on the latest firmware but it's still pretty buggy...
I've tried switching to launcher pro but I still get crash reboots and loss of sound.
Last night I entered the pin and the phone just reboots.
I also loose the clicks on the pin screen. When this happens you have to reboot go get audio back...I tried playing an mp4 video with no sound when it was in this state and it just said unable to play. Of course it worked fine after a reboot...
So pretty buggy at the moment

mine has no bugs or what so ever, after 2 weeks of used i can never compare it to other phones performance either android or iOS,i used both before but this one is simply way above them..

no built in stock music widget was a dissapointment for me as well as the horrible lock screen style and the lag during wakeup..apart from that this phone is really amazing..but touchwiz needs some serious thought...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Agreed that this phone is as speedy and steady as the HTC Desire and iPhone 4 that I have owned. The trick to all these phones is that if you play around too much with settings,tweaks,launchers you are likely to get problems.

A few Questions Regarding the Iconia

Hi, ive decided to get the iconia over the transformer, but i would like to ask a few questions.
1. What is the max amount of points the iconia supports for multitouch, and how smooth is pinch to zoom in the browser and other apps.
2. Does the iconia have a microphone.
3. How are the viewing angles and screen clarity.
4. Does it have a gyroscope

10 all your fingers
yes ,although i doesnt find it,i can ues to record.
i dont know .it is good enough for me ,so i dont care the number .
yes ,it has.

Okay thank you the main concerns was the microphone, can it be used for video chat. Also many of the problems people say they have with the iconia is it software related?
EDIT: I read about a problem where the screen keeps coming on and off by itself, has this been fixed or is it still there and the problem with wifi disconnecting is that still happening or has that been fixed.

the mic is ok .
i use qq,a chat software which is widely used in china.
mic and camera work well.
i dont test mic with msn or skype.
in china , we dont use msn in daily.
but ,if it can be used with qq,i guess it will work with msn or other chat software.

Hi yeah i edited the post above could you answer those questions?

M..N said:
Hi, ive decided to get the iconia over the transformer, but i would like to ask a few questions.
1. What is the max amount of points the iconia supports for multitouch, and how smooth is pinch to zoom in the browser and other apps.
2. Does the iconia have a microphone.
3. How are the viewing angles and screen clarity.
4. Does it have a gyroscope
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, too was worried about the problems people seem to be having..
I bought a 32G A500, and the GPS works perfectly.
Wifi is a little sensitive to distance from router, but that might be my router..
To answer your questions:
Dunno - it does pinch zoom and expand perfectly though.
Clear, very clear and sharp. I can read the screen at such an angle it almost horizontal.
It has hardware compass, mine seems to be pretty accurate.
Microphone - dunno where it is, but it records for voice input quite well (although you look a right tit talking to your tablet!)
I suspect maybe a bad batch got out (especially the GPS units, maybe wifi antenna is a bit loses in some). You don't know what people have done to their tab before they start to whine about problems (failed root? deleted apps?)
What I don't like about it?
Full of apps (facebook crap, twittery crap) I'll never use, yet am worried about deleting them in case an update fails and it's bricked - this should have been release with full customisation!
No file manager from start-up - I had to go find some silly ad supported thing to install my backup file manager off the mSD card.
Some apps do't work (copilot dies all the time, NDrive is TINY!!!)

Fluffbutt said:
I, too was worried about the problems people seem to be having..
I bought a 32G A500, and the GPS works perfectly.
Wifi is a little sensitive to distance from router, but that might be my router..
To answer your questions:
Dunno - it does pinch zoom and expand perfectly though.
Clear, very clear and sharp. I can read the screen at such an angle it almost horizontal.
It has hardware compass, mine seems to be pretty accurate.
Microphone - dunno where it is, but it records for voice input quite well (although you look a right tit talking to your tablet!)
I suspect maybe a bad batch got out (especially the GPS units, maybe wifi antenna is a bit loses in some). You don't know what people have done to their tab before they start to whine about problems (failed root? deleted apps?)
What I don't like about it?
Full of apps (facebook crap, twittery crap) I'll never use, yet am worried about deleting them in case an update fails and it's bricked - this should have been release with full customisation!
No file manager from start-up - I had to go find some silly ad supported thing to install my backup file manager off the mSD card.
Some apps do't work (copilot dies all the time, NDrive is TINY!!!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thanks for the response and the problem with the screen turning on and off by itself is that fixed. Also how well do games play on it, and the camera quality when video calling how good is it?

I've not (yet) had the turning on/off thing.
Games play very well on it, smooth and crips.
EG: N64oid was almost unplayable on my previous tab, this plays it like BUTTER.
(Nenamark test of old tab was 16.7 fps, this tab is 37.7 fpds)
I don't do video calling. Rear camera is nice, good pix in low light (flash), nice pix in daylight. No tried front cam yet, not needed to.
(I have specific ideas of what I want a video app to do, and until i find one I won't use one. It basically need to do what the Logitech VID system does for PC, including allow tablet to PC video chat)

Questions and Answers A500
I've had mine for a couple of weeks and I'm really loving it...
I've done video chat with both Google Talk and Skype with many friends and many of them commented how clear my video was, sound was a tiny bit muddy to start, but with some tweaks, got it sussed out.
If you get root, get a program called Adfree which downloads a database of ad servers and keeps ads from running on your android.
On / Off issues still exists for a number of users. I've experienced it on a few occasions, mostly when I've let the unit go to sleep - not turned off. There is another thread that seems to think it's a wifi wakeup / router call issue and will probably be fully addressed when 3.1 rolls out later this month.
If you have any more questions ask away!

wifi works well ,at least on my device,build 135.
some people say wifi works better with build 141,a little update.
so i think it is fixed.
screen off/on ,it is not very often .
but ,i dont know wether it is fixed or not.
i dont notice it.

Okay I have another question how much free space for apps installation is there?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App

You can use all your memory for apps on the Iconia (27 gigabyte for me atleast).

abats said:
You can use all your memory for apps on the Iconia (27 gigabyte for me atleast).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay that's fine, just wanted to know because I guess its different to phones
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App

M..N said:
EDIT: I read about a problem where the screen keeps coming on and off by itself, has this been fixed or is it still there and the problem with wifi disconnecting is that still happening or has that been fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had mine just over a week and noticed the screen on/off thing for the first time today. The only 'new' thing I have done was connect it to my Ubuntu laptop via the micro USB. This caused USB debugging to activate which I also saw for the first time today.

My Journey from Note 4 to Mate 9 Thread

As you will notice from my signature, I had tried a move to a LG V20, but I came back to the Note 4. So, I'm tracking my attempt to have a happiness with the Mate 9. Putting my notes and info here.
I'm in U.S., and so have North America version. Received it this afternoon, and have had a SIM card set up in it.
I'll document as I go for my results on setup. Not starting off great:
Restoring Data
Phone Clone
Tried this first. On the Mate 9, all I could get was the spinning hour glass (or whatever it's called). Would never come up with the QR code that is needed to mate to the old phone.
So I moved to...
Hisuite
So, I installed Hisuite on my laptop. Below are instructions followed with results:
Instlal Hisuite on Laptop - Success
Plug Huawei device to the computer, and touch restore data in Hisuite. ... Well, first thing I was wondering was how was the laptop to be able to ge the data from teh old phone? So, I proceeded
So my device is found, as the PC came up with a box to select how to use the device. But I see no option to restore data. I noticed a note at the bottom that it will not connect if charging only for usb is selected. So the instructions say...
Touch Settings - success
Then touch Security and Privacy ... There is no Security and Privacy specifically to touch, but there is a category called Security and Privacy, and a Security option to touch. But, I did find the Security option, and clicked it and found the option to allow Hisuite.
So, now, having done all that, I see the phone connected. But I see absolutely no way to get my data: messages, phone log, etc from my oldphone to the new one.
Pretty unimpressed at this point.
Tried Phone Clone again. Nothing.
If anyone has any suggestions...it's appreciated.

I managed to get my SMS and call logs by using SMS Backup and Restore. Had to move files around via dropbox.
Observations
I'm finding that as I run apps, the common pop-up about needing rights often freezes and I need to go into Settings/Apps and assign priviledges. Not sure if this is a common issue for others or not.
Phone, of course, is performing well.
Screen resolution is fine for me
Fingerprint reader is very fast. I had come to really like the finger print reader on the back while using the V20. I'm having to get used to it not also being the power button.
I am finding that various things that fill the page and are white hides the on-screen buttons. I don't recall that as an issue when I was trying out the V20.
The email app is going to take some getting used to. I am very used to the Samsung email app, which I liked better than Gmail.

Stick with it. This phones menus and ways of doing certain actions is different than Sammy or LG. But I really like that. Once u use it for a bit. You'll love it!!!
G
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

def-g said:
Stick with it. This phones menus and ways of doing certain actions is different than Sammy or LG. But I really like that. Once u use it for a bit. You'll love it!!!
G
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I plan to. Liking it so far...but...
The GPS is getting zero satellites. Not working. I do have high accuracy turned on (Use GPS and Wifi). Loaded GPS Test, and no sats visible.
Another issue with first drive...when the screen goes off, intermittently it shuts down Pandora. I checked the Battery Optimizations to make sure Pandora is NOT set to close when screen is off, and it is not.
I'm on hold now with B&H Photo. I'm guessing I'll be exchanging it. PITA...but I'll l give one more a try.
Obesrvations (other than above issues)
Battery is looking like it will be great
I like that the icon in the noti bar shows what AP I'm hooked to
Volume is very good. Sound is OK (better for sure than Note 4)
I'd like to have dark notifications. Haven't checked to see if ther is a way to do that yet.
[EDIT]
I just checked. I was on FW 138. There is an update to 183. I'm downloading it now. If GPS still doesn't work, my next task is to call Huawei support...then if no good, exchange.

ewingr said:
I plan to. Liking it so far...but...
The GPS is getting zero satellites. Not working. I do have high accuracy turned on (Use GPS and Wifi). Loaded GPS Test, and no sats visible.
Download GPS Status from play store, set it up, reboot, and see if that helps
Another issue with first drive...when the screen goes off, intermittently it shuts down Pandora. I checked the Battery Optimizations to make sure Pandora is NOT set to close when screen is off, and it is not.
I'd uninstall, and re install Pandora; doesnt happen for me
I'm on hold now with B&H Photo. I'm guessing I'll be exchanging it. PITA...but I'll l give one more a try.
Obesrvations (other than above issues)
Battery is looking like it will be great
I like that the icon in the noti bar shows what AP I'm hooked to
Volume is very good. Sound is OK (better for sure than Note 4)
I'd like to have dark notifications. Haven't checked to see if ther is a way to do that yet.
[EDIT]
I just checked. I was on FW 138. There is an update to 183. I'm downloading it now. If GPS still doesn't work, my next task is to call Huawei support...then if no good, exchange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery is awesome on my mate 9 pro; your should be too
There are lots of themes you can install to get your notifications dark; check the apps/themes thread

wase4711 said:
Battery is awesome on my mate 9 pro; your should be too
There are lots of themes you can install to get your notifications dark; check the apps/themes thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery right now:
30%
9 hr 33 min
4 hr 22 min​
Definitely better than my Note 4. Not sure it's up to what some claim. But I think I'm going to be happy with it.
Good news on GPS: the 183 update got the GPS to functioning. Haven't done much other than be sure it is working. Out of interest, soon I plan to do a walk and see how it goes. That type of GPS tracking is what most folks complain about re: the GPS.
Observations
Lightflow does not work with the LEDs on Huawai phones
I installed Light Manager, which works when I test LEDs from teh app,.I had quite a bit of trouble getting it to work, but it appears that just now I did. NOTE: it appears that if you do NOT have PULSE LED on, that the LED does not work at all.
Interesting: If Hold to Ear to Answer is on, and phone is face down on a table, and a call comes in...it does not ring. It answers. Not exactly what should be expected.

I tried Lightflow again, and it IS working now. I uninstalled and reinstalled.
Observation
I wish I had purchased a dark phone which would come with a dark bezel. The LED is very small and not very bright. Makes it almost impossible to see if anywhere near sunlight.
The Note 4 definitely outshines the Mate 9 with regard to three LED.

Well, my Lightflow is giving me problems. It's intermittent. I think the problem may be related to my having restored the configuration from my install on the Samsung. Intent was to get all the LED settings for the various apps. But I think some specific Samsung related settings came in.
The interesting thing is that I can uninstall, and delete anything in the SD card that has Lightflow in the name, but then the next install, the previously restored settings are there. So I need to find out how to get that out.
All that being said, the Light Manager app is working pretty good. Just not as many options.
Today's Observations
GPS is working well for driving. Still need to test it for a walk
For anyone on a Note 4: be aware that the Mate 9 has proprietary charging. That was something that contributed to keeping me away from the Oneplus 3t. But I overlooked it for the other pluses of this phone. I have read that Power Delivery chargers work better than QC, but not as good as the stock Huawei one. I have a PD on order for my car. We'll see
The issue where a pop up comes up for rights needed is a PITA. It often locks up the app, and I have to go into Apps/Permissions and grant them there.
So far each BT device I have added is working well. (Problems with BT was the straw that made me pull the plug on the V20)
Had screen on for quite a while with GPS app. Phone did run just a bit warm. In fact, it seemed to be warm for quite a while after turning off the GPS software and browsing through a store
Current feeling about the move to the Mate 9 from the Note 4
I'm feeling very positive. I think the 4K battery will be a real plus. If I can just get a full day out of it I'll be happy. I think it is hopeful for that.
Performance is very good.
Size is perfect. Almost identical to my Note 4, 1/4" taller. I am able to use the Spigen holster from the Note 4. However I need to get a case that has at least hard edges so it will slide through the clip w/o pushing the case back.
Loving the fingerprint scanner on the back.
I hope this thread is helpful for someone.

ewingr said:
Well, my Lightflow is giving me problems. It's intermittent. I think the problem may be related to my having restored the configuration from my install on the Samsung. Intent was to get all the LED settings for the various apps. But I think some specific Samsung related settings came in.
The interesting thing is that I can uninstall, and delete anything in the SD card that has Lightflow in the name, but then the next install, the previously restored settings are there. So I need to find out how to get that out.
All that being said, the Light Manager app is working pretty good. Just not as many options.
Today's Observations
GPS is working well for driving. Still need to test it for a walk
For anyone on a Note 4: be aware that the Mate 9 has proprietary charging. That was something that contributed to keeping me away from the Oneplus 3t. But I overlooked it for the other pluses of this phone. I have read that Power Delivery chargers work better than QC, but not as good as the stock Huawei one. I have a PD on order for my car. We'll see
The issue where a pop up comes up for rights needed is a PITA. It often locks up the app, and I have to go into Apps/Permissions and grant them there.
So far each BT device I have added is working well. (Problems with BT was the straw that made me pull the plug on the V20)
Had screen on for quite a while with GPS app. Phone did run just a bit warm. In fact, it seemed to be warm for quite a while after turning off the GPS software and browsing through a store
Current feeling about the move to the Mate 9 from the Note 4
I'm feeling very positive. I think the 4K battery will be a real plus. If I can just get a full day out of it I'll be happy. I think it is hopeful for that.
Performance is very good.
Size is perfect. Almost identical to my Note 4, 1/4" taller. I am able to use the Spigen holster from the Note 4. However I need to get a case that has at least hard edges so it will slide through the clip w/o pushing the case back.
Loving the fingerprint scanner on the back.
I hope this thread is helpful for someone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I'm taking the trip from Note 4 myself. I would love to see how quickly the Power Delivery charges your phone vs QC 3, seems like an interesting new charging technology.

Swan Princess said:
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I'm taking the trip from Note 4 myself. I would love to see how quickly the Power Delivery charges your phone vs QC 3, seems like an interesting new charging technology.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be sure to post results.

I did the same change, Note4 > Mate 9.
I did however managed to get my phone cloned via the tap & send thing, I got it all on my new phone.

It's been a couple interesting days.
I got the 2 Led apps working: Lightflow, and Light Manager. A fresh install of Lightflow, with NOT restoring my previous configuration worked for it, so I stayed with it.
But the next day neither would work. WTF! I messed with it for a while, and could not get it working. I found another app, LED Pro, and it is on it's second day of working.
Then this morning my daughter called my wife and told her she had called me twice, and the phone answered but I wasn'on theh line...she could here the TV. Here's my thread about figuring out that problem.
Ready to declare success...keeping the phone
I am really enjoying the phone. albeit with expected new phone type learning curve to go through.
PROS
Very fast
Screen size very close to same as Note 4...1/4" taller
While I would liked to have 6GB of memory, the 4GB seems to be fine. Every time I've checked, I've had over 1GB free. Right now, I have 1.86GB free.
Some really nice features: Loving the instantlly responsive finger print reader on the back...fits just. right for my hand
Slide finger down the FP reader to bring down the notifications. Slide up on it to close.
Camera features are nice
Sound with stereo speakers better (but of course not like using headphones)
Charging is fast, but so is Note 4
Larger battery, at 4000, is lasting me well
Con
Proprietary charger
Small Led. I would recommend getting a phone that has a black bezel rather than white so that there will be more contrast between the light and bezel. I have a white bezel, and it makes that small, dim, LED hard to see
Some apps may not be compatible. Specifically LED related apps
There may be more pros and cons, but that's the list i can think of now. Others may chime in if they think of more.
So, maybe some day I will root, and I will add to this post of how rooting goes compared to Samsung. For now, I'm holding of of rooting.

Yep !!
ewingr said:
I hope this thread is helpful for someone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm just here in the reading of your journey.
Made the same choice, I was waiting for Note 7 ...
No problem for me for backing up my old files, I made the back up on my PC.
I wanted to discover, and still discovering EMUI 5 et Nougat.
Having my Mate for 3 days !
I will tell you my journey too, pros and cons ...

kctus777 said:
Hi,
I'm just here in the reading of your journey.
Made the same choice, I was waiting for Note 7 ...
No problem for me for backing up my old files, I made the back up on my PC.
I wanted to discover, and still discovering EMUI 5 et Nougat.
Having my Mate for 3 days !
I will tell you my journey too, pros and cons ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good. I have found more interesting things, likely can'at think of them all.
But one neat feature is this: When phone screen is off. there is a setting in the camera where you can double click the down volume and it will open and take a picture. Pretty cool.
Battery is lasting all day with no need to top off, and providing 5 hours SOT.
BT has been working good on everything I hook it to.
GPS is working good for driving and walking tracking.

check for firmware updat b190.... ( usa )
i also came from the note 4. leds drove me nuts. i now use an app called led blinker pro which puts a led(dot) right on the screen. it works great and is set in different colors for different apps.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ledblinker.pro

Thanks for pointing out the update.
I am using LEDBlinker Pro. Only led so I could get to work consistently on this phone.
So far I haven't the screen fur the notification yet.

Anther great feature...
This past week I found something happening in this phone that I had wished would happen on my Note 4: the WiFi will connect automatically to the stronger point. For example, when in the rear area of my house it will hook to the access point in my wife's scrapbooking room. If I get up and go to the office in the front of the house, it will disconnect from the one in the back and connect to the one in the office. Really nice. This is known in the settings as WiFi+.

Another Note 4 devotee who's moved to the Mate 9 - I'm in Australia and I've had the phone for 3 days.

Keep us posted on how it goes. Particularly the things that stand out.

I'm on the mate 9, had it four months, Chinese version, 6gb, 128gb, ufs 2.1 (fast ram, not the slower stuff that some have) running international ROM C636. Battery life is absolutely stellar however the camera IS a let down. Low light mode is better than the note 4 hands down but the Note does hold its own for video and day mode shots (superior fur video no question, especially 4K). Panoramic mode is mediocre. The camera for me is hit and miss, the one thing I dislike about the phone and the poor video stability.
I've been back to my note 4 a few times and will likely get the 7 when it's re-released next month but know the battery life will be an issue.
Mate 9 is a great phone that's let down by a camera that promises so much but fails to match the likes of the S7. If that's not important to you then you will love the mate.