Upgraded from Desire HD to Galaxy S2 - Galaxy S II General

Well guys,
I thought I will take some time to express my feelings over my upgrade from DHD to SGS2. From a normal users perspective not taking into account, the numerous numbers and values
The first thing I felt was the lightness of Galaxy S2. Really light. And very thin too!! But the downside is that the build quality and finishing is nowhere near HTC. The USB jack, earphone jack are all poorly finished. The worst thing is the shiny lining around the screen which is supposed to look like metal. The finishing of the lining is pathetic for a top end phone, it is saddening to see how unevenly light is getting reflected from this surface.The back panel is not as poorly finished as some reviews might tell. It is the most well finished part in the body of the phone I think. Handsfree is bad compared to the one HTC offers, but HTC's wires did have the tendancy to get tangled up very easily.Similary all accesories are inferior compared to DHDs ones.
But ofcourse the lightness is a welcome factor. And most of us will be putting a cover anyway. So poor finishing can be ignored to some extent.
Now coming to the part where the users look almost 90% of the time, the display. It is too good compared to DHD, and this was my primary reason for ditching the DHD.Although AMOLED of SGS2 is the best at present, it too has its flaws. The black crush -The display struggles to distinguish between various black tones, say deep black and shadow black. And color banding is quite evident in the new AMOLED compared to the LCD. But altogether I am amazed with the display. Watching movies is real fun, but some wallpapers do ask for more resolution.
Coming to the UI, I do not miss sense much. Maybe it is due to the fact that sense always reminds me of DHDs dull screen. Whatever the Touch Wiz UI lacks, the display fills up the space... Not literally, but I dont mind staring a few more seconds to the wonderful display. I would say S2 provides a more close to andriod experience. And touch wiz is more colorfull too, with blacks, yellows, greens thrown all around.
Camera is better from DHD. DHD used to produce slightly blurred images, which I think is due to the low shutter speed. No such problems with SGS2.
The most irritating thing is the lag in some important functions. Home screen has some lag to appear after I press the home button. It is due to the software which waits to confirm whether the user has double clicked it or not!!! Stupid!!
The display takes some time to appear after the call is over, this is due to the bad proximity sensor configuration it seems. Again is said to be a software configuration issue.
Another bad thing is the low output of handsfree in a call. Very bad Samsung...
Verdict????
Superb phone!
1. The brilliant display which always remind you that you are looking at the worlds best.
2. Snappier performance.
3. Light weight
4. Good camera
5. Sense is good, but TouchWiz + AMOLED is a Sense killer

Nice to see you're enjoying your new phone, albeit with a few issues
Ordered mine from play.com 2 days ago, so expecting it today/tomorrow

what do u mean by low output of handsfree

See, this is a balanced review/opinion. I agree with most of the points - the GS II is a great phone, not perfect, but pretty damn close.
Hopefully some of the problems like home response time, end of call lag, handsfree volume level and battery life will be ironed out in future firmware releases.

It is possible to adjust headset volume through service menu:
http://answers.pubarticles.com/4766,in-call-volume-low-with-headphones-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-.html

My compliments. I believe the only impartial review ever find onto our phone. I agree with you about everything there are pros and cons and you evaluated them correctly
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Hey,
I'm using the DHD since about 3 months now. Actually got some issues that people tried to call me but got no calls on good connection xD(think it's a provider issue). My cousin has ordered the GS2 last week and is still waiting. I will have a look if this thing will be an opinion . btw I don't like samsung very much at this time, because I had some bad experiences in the past. But how you can say that touchwiz+amoled is a sense killer? The GS2 got a nice display, but I think you can't compare sense with touchwiz AND amoled. So without looking at the nice amoled...what would you say is the better UI? Sense or touchwiz? At the moment I'm using sense 3 on my DHD and I'm really happy, because it's the best UI i've ever used befor.

Imho sense 1.0 still beats touchwiz 4.0 let alone sense 3.0 but touchwiz is't bad, it's just that sense is so much better. I think samsung really want to become the world's leading smartphone. Manufacturer and have really been trying to become much more reliable, updates are frequent and relatively soon after the Google release.

tjtj4444 said:
It is possible to adjust headset volume through service menu:
http://answers.pubarticles.com/4766,in-call-volume-low-with-headphones-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an appliction "Volume+ " which does the same . I am using it and it
works fine.
It is on the site but I don"t remember where
Daniel

Low handsfree voice
qwerty warrior said:
what do u mean by low output of handsfree
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Click to collapse
The handsfree speaker output is low during a call, and the microphone wont pick up the sound properly unless it is held very close to the mouth.. Really irritating.
But the handfree volume is great when using the music player. So some issues with software i guess

tjtj4444 said:
It is possible to adjust headset volume through service menu:
http://answers.pubarticles.com/4766,in-call-volume-low-with-headphones-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this out when i did a bit of searching, but common, this is a basic functionality and they should have tested this out before launching the product
All the defects I have found so far are simple ones to find out, or if the tester had a common sense, and thats what is annoying me.

Using a silicone case wouldnt help for a better finish?
Anyone I saw some comparison videos between SGS1 and 2 and the new ''mat'' plastic looks way better than the glossy one.
I am just afraid of easy scratches on the plastic like Omnia HD

ike2903 said:
Hey,
But how you can say that touchwiz+amoled is a sense killer? The GS2 got a nice display, but I think you can't compare sense with touchwiz AND amoled. So without looking at the nice amoled...what would you say is the better UI? Sense or touchwiz? At the moment I'm using sense 3 on my DHD and I'm really happy, because it's the best UI i've ever used befor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without looking at the amoled, sense is better than Touchwiz 4.0 by a significant margin. But coming from the DHD, I am wowed by the amoled every time I switch the display on. I assure you, that you will feel the same when you compare both the displays. No need to doubt about that.
But sense has its draw backs. You might have noticed that all the designs and themes are now going towards the 2D side from the 3D side.. Like in gingerbread(evident in icon sets), windows phone 7 etc..... Sense still seems to be stuck with the 3D style with the various bars and other things still trying to imitate the 3D curved effect with various tones of black. It is completely a personal preference I admit. Then there is the app drawer of sense, which pretty much sucks without the ability to customize the order of icons, no folders etc.... One day i find the facebook icon in the second page, the next day after installing a few programs the icon is in 3rd page.. Very irritating for me.
Mail client is bad, which will not let you forward attachments unless you download the file on to your device!! Pretty inferior to gmail app.
Sense 3 lockscreen looks cool but no added functionality for me.. I like things simple, or in the long run i feel it to be a little overwhelming.
Where sense scores is the fantastic people application with real social network integration, perfect widgets... And the dedicated dialler. SGS2 does not have a dedicated dialer. Say i opened the dialer and then went to contacts which is a tab next to dialer. The next time i want to dial and when i press the dialer icon, the contacts shows up. Sense dialer searches the call log first and then the contacts. This gives contacts very quickly. Atleast my girlfriends number will come up as soon as I press two letters No such things for touchwiz dialer. Old way of searching contacts still continues.
Touchwiz keyboard uses auto correction when I search contacts. So if I search for baj, it would correct it to bag and shows contacts with bag..Dumb!!

Related

Some questions I could not find answers to

Hi everyone
Have recently moved to the x10i, previously owned the desire. Have been looking around the forums as well as google for some answers but could not find them. Would appreciate if you could help:
1. Reject call with sms - any app for this (or maybe I missed it in the settings)?
2. Turn to mute functionality - do I need an app for this in x10? if yes, recommend one pls
3. Contact groups - group sms, email needed for the google contact groups I have
Thats it for now. Thanks!
Guys, with so many android users, and so many of you xperia users, surely someone would know ?? Would greatly appreciate any help...would not have asked for it if I had found anything by searching..
for the second one why not just use the silent mode?
settings - sounds then turn on silent mode.
Or just use one of the many shortcut widgets in the market place to toggle it between silent, vibrate and full sound.
THere is a quick settings widget built into the phone that does this too.
umaronly said:
1. Reject call with sms - any app for this (or maybe I missed it in the settings)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know. I have voicemail and that seems to be sufficient for me.
umaronly said:
2. Turn to mute functionality - do I need an app for this in x10? if yes, recommend one pls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not exactly sure what you mean? Like rotate the phone to mute the ringer??
umaronly said:
3. Contact groups - group sms, email needed for the google contact groups I have
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're not already using Handcent SMS then go install it immediately, it's by far one of the best apps on the market. It will allow you to send group sms.
gmail allows you to make contact groups which I would think allow you to send group emails. The stock Dialer app on the X10 doesn't have contact groups, but I believe there are better paid for apps on the market for that kind of functionality, do some more searching because I know it's been discussed someone on XDA I just can't remember where.
Question for you: How do you like the X10 compared to the Desire? I'm debating about making the switch :S
FYI try posting questions like these in the apps section, you'll probably get a better/quicker response.
Hey, thanks for the responses
To answer your queries rvictorg:
1. Voicemail is not an option for me here, so reject with sms is what I am looking for
2. yep, (indesisiv, thanks for the tip but I need to have the option of getting the phone to ring and just mute it without looking if I am talking in a meeting if a call comes in)
3. Handcent sms is great but I find a few issues with it - after getting a number of sms in the phone, it slows down..not to mention it takes up quite a bit of memory. I have used it for quite a while, am not sure whether I want to revert back to it
To answer your question about desire versus x10i, lemme tell you first that I have had the luxury and misfortune to have used almost all the class A handsets from all the major manufacturers and OS platforms. I will be posting a full review very soon on the forum, but lemme give you a heads up that might be shocking to quite a few - I prefer the x10 by a big margin...why? a few spoilers:
1. Battery life on both the phones is almost the same with the latest firmwares - so all the talk of desire being better are crap in real world use. In fact, on my use (moderate) I found the x10 to be way better
2. I am sick and tired of the measly evolutionary changes in HTC sense since the Hero. And anyway, you can always root and get whatever UI or home replacement you want. I am sticking with x10 timescape since I find it not too bad and gels in nicely with the phone experience and is NOT slow, just relatively slower compared to sense which you probably wont notice in every day use.
3. The screen on the x10 is wayyy better than desire, and auto brightness setting on the x10 are far more intelligent. not to mention bigger size.
4. The physical design of the x10 takes my breath away - nuff said.
5. Some people complain about the speaker volume being low on the x10 - relatively, yes it is; actually, there are worse phones on the market. and it works well enough for you to use it, unless you have lost some ('quite a bit') of your hearing. And, you can chose some tones (if you must) that are louder than the others...so its almost a non-issue.
Practically, there is little to no difference between the phones when it comes to real world use, no matter how heavy a user you may be. The UIs can be customized, and the lower memory (RAM) and no multitouch in hardware seem to be the only 2 gripes, which are not dealbreakers (think about it, how many times apart from zoom have u ACTUALLY used multitouch!? as for the RAM, there is a thread on this forum that proves android is just as fast whether the ram is 256 or 512 MB..). BUT, the choice comes down to - screen quality and size, phone design, battery life. The x10 takes the cake by a big big margin in my opinion here. And do not forget the touch screen calibration issues HTC phones have been facing since the switch to AMOLED - its a serious issue, one that has cost me a lot of hassle on both the Hero (even it was not amoled) and the nexus one.
Hope this helps. This is one effin' darn good device, dont let whiners tell you otherwise.
I think that pressing the volume buttons on the side mutes the ring.. (seems to remember accidentally doing that a couple of times taking it out of it's case..)!..
Haven't come across anything which sends a text on a rejected call....
Haven't had any problems at all with handscent.. I've got tonnes of texts and mine runs fine..(??)..
Have to agree that since the last couple of updates the phone runs really well and the battery life is good for 3 days on light usage.. bloody brilliant!
Man you just made my day better by that quick review.
sent from my x10i that is banging for a 2.1 upgrade. ...
cool, thanks for that quick review too, definitely helps me out! It's very interesting to hear your opinion especially coming from a great device like the Desire and your experience with others. Any thoughts on Samsung Galaxy?? lol
I only have a few gripes with the X10, and almost all of them are software related. I'm just keeping faith that the devs can crack the bootloader so we can start flashing custom roms and possibly get Froyo running on this beauty. I'm getting a little more antsy with all these new devices launching and now their respective Froyo updates this past week, makes me really question SE's commitment to their devices and customers.
Timescape looks cool and...well that's about it. It has loads of potential imho, but it's missing way too much functionality to make it even remotely practical. I honestly have not used it once in the past 2 months which is really sad because it was a major selling feature of this phone.
Mediascape is actually pretty awesome...other than the fact it doesn't have a widget...or an equalizer...or the ability to create playlists...but other than that I think it's fantastic and honestly the best media experience I've seen on Android to date.
I really hope Sony Ericsson does more than basically change the digits 1.6 to 2.1 I'd love to see 2.2! more SE widgets for EVERYTHING (I think I have a widget fetish) 720p video, photos with flash, an increase in call volume (I can hear it, but it really does need improvement) then I'd be totally satisfied.
I just hate knowing that this gorgeous piece of hardware isn't reaching it's full potential, I really want to love the X10 but I don't yet...that really, is where my resentment comes from.
And good luck with your 3 questions, for 1) I just noticed an app in the Market called SMART SMS by Smart Apps LLC, it's $0.99 and appears to be able to reject calls and send a customized sms to the caller, hope that helps
give chomp sms a try...see if it works for you..
ring to mute..as someone said above, the volume keys should work fine..
rvictorg said:
cool, thanks for that quick review too, definitely helps me out! It's very interesting to hear your opinion especially coming from a great device like the Desire and your experience with others. Any thoughts on Samsung Galaxy?? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Recently bought 2 Galaxy S and a Desire, maybe Im gonna try do a video test soon. From my point of view, first touch to the Galaxy S doesnt feel good. Why? Because the Galaxy S feels cheapy in the hands, its way too light and absolutely doesnt feel solid. Imo its even not as good as the Desire one... The back cover is really thin, when u push it in the middle, it bends. The overall design looks more like a toy and a cheaper version of iPhone 2G, especially when the screen is off. One thing really let me down is the phone bezel around the screen, its higher than the screen itself, a really strange thing for a full capacitive touchscreen, even when I put a screen protector on, the screen is still lower than the bezel.
About the Super AMOLED screen that everyone is curious about, when u turn the brightness all the way up on galaxy and x10, the x10 seems to be much brighter in web browser... a really weird thing, the colors on Galaxy S tends to be hotter, its more yellowish and reddish, but defenitely the screen on X10 is brighter and more eyecatching, eventhough the default homescreen of Galaxy S loos very attracted, from here I really love the X10 screen. Last thing, if u put too many widgets on the homescreen, the Galaxy S will suffer some lags in animation, a real down point. Testing page loading in some heavy pages such as Goal.com, PremierLeague.com or GameSpot.com in default web browser, the Desire usually comes first with around 2-3s ahead of Galaxy S and the X10 is the last with just 1s behind Galaxy S (X10 running OS1.6)
The only thing I can see Galaxy S is better is the GPU, its a lot better than Desire and a bit better than X10 in some 3 D heavy graphic games in term of FPS and also help webpage scrolling a bit smoother than Desire and X10 (note that the X10 is running OS 1.6). Thats all I can say for now
PS: As umaronly said about the light sensor for auto brightness, I agree with him the sensor on X10 works a lot better than the other 2, in some low light conditions, X10 turn the screen down very low and seems to be more sensitive in changing environment than the other 2, same condition but the other 2 seems to be brighter, which affects battery life a lot
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Shake 2 mute...
In case ur wondering that ull just shake ur phone and it'll mute..yeah, ur right..the lite version let's u mute wen u receive a call just b shaking the phone..
The donator's version let's u pick the call after muting...
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Thanks for the app suggestion people, will surely try them out soon.
Am pleased to see you liked the feedback from my mini-review, am hoping for a good response from the detailed one. As for comparison with Galaxy S (which I have also tried), it is definitely not as solid and fluid as the other 2 sets. Leads me to blame the Samsung UI touchwiz (if you turn it off i.e. use a replacement home UI it works much better).
BUT, looking at the overall experience of the phones and physical design, I am still inclined towards x10...it is way more attractive in its entire package compared to the other two, unless you are only or mostly into 3D gaming. Also, 2 words on AMOLED and Super AMOLED screens - stay...away!! If you read up on the technology behind amoled and TFT LCD you will notice the inherent advantages of using LCD tech..pundits will try and convince you about the marginally better (12% or so on average) power consumption on AMOLED, but in real world use, if software is well tuned and auto-brightness works well, you can NOT tell the difference, other than the gorgeous display itself on LCD. In fact, in my tests the xperia x10 outlasts the other handsets on battery life even with the bigger screen (and of course bigger battery, but that is something you ought to expect from all smartphones!!)
Also, lemme tell you a bit of good news (don't ask me the source please). x10 will have an update to 2.2 later in the year as well, and apparently the thing flies on the 2.2 ROM even on the very early build, where SE engineers are tweaking the social integration much tighter into the OS (think: fb pics sync with contacts ), plus the added benefit of installing apps on memory card allows RAM to be free for phone UI. It flies, and kicks the @$$ off of other smartphones...stay tuned!
umaronly said:
Also, lemme tell you a bit of good news (don't ask me the source please). x10 will have an update to 2.2 later in the year as well, and apparently the thing flies on the 2.2 ROM even on the very early build, where SE engineers are tweaking the social integration much tighter into the OS (think: fb pics sync with contacts ), plus the added benefit of installing apps on memory card allows RAM to be free for phone UI. It flies, and kicks the @$$ off of other smartphones...stay tuned!
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Just got a little aroused there

Might get the DHD (Inspire), Some questions.

I have some questions for you dhd owners as they are basiclly the same phone, please be honest.
1.how is the screen quality? With super Amoleds and iphone and atrix's high res screens how does the super LCD hold up? Does it look good in person? Text look good? Is it much better looking then say a 3GS? Very important to me, I want a good screen as I went from the Captivate to the 3G3 (my Captivate broke) and it was a huge downgrade imo.
2.Does the LED light do blue, red, yellow as well or just green and orange?
3.How is the camera quality? Wasnt impressed with the N1's camera and I here the desires was bad as well, this good?
4.How is the phone in person? Build quality? Does it feel REALLY big?
5.Will they get 2.3 officially? Beyond? And will it be supported a lot by xda devs in the future?
6.Music quality is very important to me, is the audio loud and good through headphones?
7.is the phone call quality loud and clear, another problem I had with my N1 and I eventually had to get rid of it because the call quality was too low.
8.Battery, be honest. How is it?
9.And finally how happy are you with your DHD and would you reccomend it to someone at this point in time?
Thanks in advance!
solidkevin said:
I have some questions for you dhd owners as they are basiclly the same phone, please be honest.
1.how is the screen quality? With super Amoleds and iphone and atrix's high res screens how does the super LCD hold up? Does it look good in person? Text look good? Is it much better looking then say a 3GS? Very important to me, I want a good screen as I went from the Captivate to the 3G3 (my Captivate broke) and it was a huge downgrade imo.
2.Does the LED light do blue, red, yellow as well or just green and orange?
3.How is the camera quality? Wasnt impressed with the N1's camera and I here the desires was bad as well, this good?
4.How is the phone in person? Build quality? Does it feel REALLY big?
5.Will they get 2.3 officially? Beyond? And will it be supported a lot by xda devs in the future?
6.Music quality is very important to me, is the audio loud and good through headphones?
7.is the phone call quality loud and clear, another problem I had with my N1 and I eventually had to get rid of it because the call quality was too low.
8.Battery, be honest. How is it?
9.And finally how happy are you with your DHD and would you reccomend it to someone at this point in time?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. The screen quality is very good. (S)AMOLED vs (S)LCD is a thing that is really down to personal preference. I find LCDs better than AMOLEDs because the colors look more realistic. IMO the only thing AMOLEDs are better is the true black. Viewing angles in AMOLEDs are useless. You never look at your phone at that angle. Compared to iPhone 3G screen the DHD is mindblowing (I think 3GS has the same screen as 3G). Even compared to iPhone 4 the DHD holds its ground. Pixel density is lower but the big screen experience makes up for that.
2. Although the LED is tri-color and theoreticaly it can produce any color, AFAIK there is no way to make it flash other than green or amber for now.
3. Camera quality is good, minding it's a HTC's phone. You can check the camera guide in the sticky thread, there are ways you can improve the camera performance and some actual pictures taken with the DHD.
4. Build quality is amaising. It's my first phone with alluminum body and it makes a difference. Some users reported SIM and/or battery cover misalignment, but I have nothing of the sort. Also on mine DHD the camera is slightly misaligned with the body, but it doesn't interfere with its performance. Actualy I had the same issue with my second Touch HD, while the first one I had was perfect. Anyway that doesn't make photos blurry or anything.
The DHD might seem big, but in a few days you'll realise that it's just that all the other phones are small . I got used to it pretty fast. The fact that most of the area is used by the screen makes it's size reasonable. There is no feeling of a waste of space like on the iPhone.
5. I suppose the DHD will get 2.3 from HTC. Not so sure for anything else, but I'm willing to bet this great forum will not leave the DHD behind
6. The stock headphones are crap. With some quality headphones you can get great sound. Also SRS and Dolby make a difference.
7. Again there are user that complain about low in-call volume. I had no such issues, but it seems that if the headspeaker is not aligned with your ear the volume drops significantly.
8. Battery is good enough. With moderate to heavy use it easily lasts a day. At first it seems bad, because a/ it's still not conditioned and b/ you play with your new phone way too much. Once the excitement about your new toy has passed and the battery has few cycles behind it's back things improve. Charging every night is a must though. I could go through two days only with minimum usage.
9. Being my first Android I'm very excited about the DHD. I bought mine in late October and since then I had no reasons to be sorry about my purchase.
Anyway, if you have the chance to try the phone in person, I suggest you do it. Everyone demands different things from his/her phone and it's always best to see how you feel with the phone.
Thank you very much, main thing I was worried about was the Screen Quality, I mean it not being Amoled or anything and being so big, but thanks again.
solidkevin said:
Thank you very much, main thing I was worried about was the Screen Quality, I mean it not being Amoled or anything and being so big, but thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In that case I really think you should try it in a shop and decide for yourself. These are things that can most easily be checked with a live unit. Camera, volume, sound quality require more tweaking and time to evaluate, but screen and size are the two most noticable things in the phone
Yup on the 13th I will go to ATT and check out the inspire, I am kinda worried about the battery life but then again it cant be as bad as the 3GS im using...
solidkevin said:
Thank you very much, main thing I was worried about was the Screen Quality, I mean it not being Amoled or anything and being so big, but thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Big and more portable then a tablet or Dell streak 5"
The screen is more natural then the s-amoled screens. No hard non-natural colors bumping in to your eyes.
tkolev said:
1. The screen quality is very good. (S)AMOLED vs (S)LCD is a thing that is really down to personal preference. I find LCDs better than AMOLEDs because the colors look more realistic. IMO the only thing AMOLEDs are better is the true black. Viewing angles in AMOLEDs are useless. You never look at your phone at that angle. Compared to iPhone 3G screen the DHD is mindblowing (I think 3GS has the same screen as 3G). Even compared to iPhone 4 the DHD holds its ground. Pixel density is lower but the big screen experience makes up for that.
2. Although the LED is tri-color and theoreticaly it can produce any color, AFAIK there is no way to make it flash other than green or amber for now.
3. Camera quality is good, minding it's a HTC's phone. You can check the camera guide in the sticky thread, there are ways you can improve the camera performance and some actual pictures taken with the DHD.
4. Build quality is amaising. It's my first phone with alluminum body and it makes a difference. Some users reported SIM and/or battery cover misalignment, but I have nothing of the sort. Also on mine DHD the camera is slightly misaligned with the body, but it doesn't interfere with its performance. Actualy I had the same issue with my second Touch HD, while the first one I had was perfect. Anyway that doesn't make photos blurry or anything.
The DHD might seem big, but in a few days you'll realise that it's just that all the other phones are small . I got used to it pretty fast. The fact that most of the area is used by the screen makes it's size reasonable. There is no feeling of a waste of space like on the iPhone.
5. I suppose the DHD will get 2.3 from HTC. Not so sure for anything else, but I'm willing to bet this great forum will not leave the DHD behind
6. The stock headphones are crap. With some quality headphones you can get great sound. Also SRS and Dolby make a difference.
7. Again there are user that complain about low in-call volume. I had no such issues, but it seems that if the headspeaker is not aligned with your ear the volume drops significantly.
8. Battery is good enough. With moderate to heavy use it easily lasts a day. At first it seems bad, because a/ it's still not conditioned and b/ you play with your new phone way too much. Once the excitement about your new toy has passed and the battery has few cycles behind it's back things improve. Charging every night is a must though. I could go through two days only with minimum usage.
9. Being my first Android I'm very excited about the DHD. I bought mine in late October and since then I had no reasons to be sorry about my purchase.
Anyway, if you have the chance to try the phone in person, I suggest you do it. Everyone demands different things from his/her phone and it's always best to see how you feel with the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to this.
About audio volume, generally, I dont have any problems but playing YouTube video's useually nets me very low/weak volume. I have no idea why but everything else plays loud. It might be an app issue, methinks.
The only thing that really sucks is the mic.
1. Screen quality is great. Text is clear, images look wonderful, video is more than watchable on a screen this size (all depending on the source, of course).
2. I've only ever seen green and orange, but I've never needed any other colour.
3. It's an HTC phone; The camera is an afterthought, really. Autofocus performs well, images are typical for a camera phone really. For a quick snap at a party it's great, if you want photos to remember take a digital compact with you.
4. I found the phone very big to begin with, but got used to it very quickly. A lot of reviewers said it was too big to use one handed, but that's all I ever do now. I have big hands and can reach the screen with minimal adjustment. If you have smaller hands, you may have more of an issue. FWIW, typing even in portrait mode with both thumbs is easy on a screen this size.
5. No idea about Gingerbread officially, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got 3.0 on it too. Should be able to run the improved UI as the DHD has a dedicated graphics chip and capable CPU.
6. I sold my iPod. Enough said.
7. Like many people, I find that you need the phone placed very exactly over your ear to get good volume out of it. I also find that unless the phone is pressed against my cheek, the person on the other end has trouble hearing me. Not a big deal, just needed to adjust how I hold my phone.
8. I'd like more battery life, obviously, but I get a day out of it with moderate use, a weekend with light use.
9. I would absolutely recommend the DHD to anyone who wanted an android phone with a large screen, capable software and hardware, and the money to afford one. I almost sold it to get a Motorola Defy, but I'm glad I didn't.
4.How is the phone in person? Build quality? Does it feel REALLY big?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my Oppinion the size is not too big. But if you take the DHD than take another Phone, the other one will fell REALLY small!
matzestinks said:
The only thing that really sucks is the mic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying to recommend a AT&T phone for my mom, and I am thinking Inspire or atrix. I was leaning toward inspire because it will be available sooner, has a bigger screen, and a higher Megepixel camera. (plus I like my friends EVO)
I know that everybody likes to defend their phone, it is only natural,but please provide some cold hard feedback. There seems to be a lot of not so minor issues with this phone.
problems seem to be mounting from the feedback online:
1. Battery life is bad. every other 4"+ smartphone has a 1500 mah battery, and still have battery problems, so why make it even worse with a 1230 mah?
2. I am hearing the camera sucks. That is just the opposite of my Vibrant I find the pictures and video are incredibly good, and everyone always asks "did you really take that with your phone?" I figured an 8mp camera should be even better than the 5mp on my samsung, am I wrong about that?
3 The Mic sucks? what does this mean? Do people conplain about sound quality on phonecalls?
Dont get me wrong I love HTC build quality as I have had their phones before, but I dont want to buy a phone that I already know has some not so small problems. I also dont want my mom to have to tweak the heck out of the phone to make the battery last a day, or turn the screen down to where she can barely see it, or turn off 3g for goodness sake.
Are the problems popping up on the forums overblown? should I pick up an inspire, or should we wait for the Atrix?
My 2 cents
I'm a HTC die hard but I've had more issues with the DHD than any other devices before it.
A few (key) issues...
- Random reboots. Happened today during a call when an appointment alarm sounded off. Sometimes it just reboots when idle..
- Screen freeze - sometimes the device will not reach on touch input. Wait it out or reboot...
- Lag problem. The unofficial "USB fix" with reduced lags significantly, but not 100% on my device
- Bluetooth is slow to connect and sometimes only connects with HS profile (no A2DP). Half the times it's okay though. Also, A2DP disconnects randomly.
- Integration with Google navi removed in FW 1.72. But even with FW 1.32 there were problems - ex. Google Navi failing to lookup adress' searched from car panel.
This being a flagship device I expected a lot more. I still like HTC devices but I honestly cannot recommend the DHD to anyone.
HoundDK said:
I'm a HTC die hard but I've had more issues with the DHD than any other devices before it.
A few (key) issues...
- Random reboots. Happened today during a call when an appointment alarm sounded off. Sometimes it just reboots when idle..
- Screen freeze - sometimes the device will not reach on touch input. Wait it out or reboot...
- Lag problem. The unofficial "USB fix" with reduced lags significantly, but not 100% on my device
- Bluetooth is slow to connect and sometimes only connects with HS profile (no A2DP). Half the times it's okay though. Also, A2DP disconnects randomly.
- Integration with Google navi removed in FW 1.72. But even with FW 1.32 there were problems - ex. Google Navi failing to lookup adress' searched from car panel.
This being a flagship device I expected a lot more. I still like HTC devices but I honestly cannot recommend the DHD to anyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is something seriously wrong with your phone. For more than 3 months now, I didn't experienced a single random reboot, the only delay I have in touch input is when the phone is installing something and I think that's normal, the only lag issue I had experienced was back in the days when we had no permroot and I had the old version of Visionary (even without temprooting the device). The lag was gone as soon as I deinstalled Visionary, but I turned on USB debugging just in case. I only use BT to connect to my handsfree while driving and when transfering files to/from my laptop and had no problems with that. Don't know about Google navigation because it's not available in Bulgaria, the only flaw in the preinstalled navi app IMO is that it has no landscape mode.
Anyway check what you have installed on your phone and if you have overclocked, reduce the max freq, because the reboots you experience are deffinately not normal nor common.
No problems at all
HoundDK said:
I'm a HTC die hard but I've had more issues with the DHD than any other devices before it.
A few (key) issues...
- Random reboots. Happened today during a call when an appointment alarm sounded off. Sometimes it just reboots when idle..
- Screen freeze - sometimes the device will not reach on touch input. Wait it out or reboot...
- Lag problem. The unofficial "USB fix" with reduced lags significantly, but not 100% on my device
- Bluetooth is slow to connect and sometimes only connects with HS profile (no A2DP). Half the times it's okay though. Also, A2DP disconnects randomly.
- Integration with Google navi removed in FW 1.72. But even with FW 1.32 there were problems - ex. Google Navi failing to lookup adress' searched from car panel.
This being a flagship device I expected a lot more. I still like HTC devices but I honestly cannot recommend the DHD to anyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well mate you should go to a service center whit your DHD a friend of mine has simular problems and in the first serie s of the DHD is a lot that gives problems he went back whit it and they give him a new one
Regards
HoundDK said:
I'm a HTC die hard but I've had more issues with the DHD than any other devices before it.
A few (key) issues...
- Random reboots. Happened today during a call when an appointment alarm sounded off. Sometimes it just reboots when idle..
- Screen freeze - sometimes the device will not reach on touch input. Wait it out or reboot...
- Lag problem. The unofficial "USB fix" with reduced lags significantly, but not 100% on my device
- Bluetooth is slow to connect and sometimes only connects with HS profile (no A2DP). Half the times it's okay though. Also, A2DP disconnects randomly.
- Integration with Google navi removed in FW 1.72. But even with FW 1.32 there were problems - ex. Google Navi failing to lookup adress' searched from car panel.
This being a flagship device I expected a lot more. I still like HTC devices but I honestly cannot recommend the DHD to anyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do have a faulty phone i believe because i do not have does issues..
As for call phone volume i m on the stock rom and i don't have that kind of issues, weird maybe i put right in the first place i don't know.
1. Screen is fab. My original desire amoled screen wasn't as sharp as dhd and I love it.
2. Size well at first I thought it will be to big but after few days i've got use to it and now holding anything smaller feels weird
3. Build quality well. No problems here really. My SIM cover has maybe 1mm gap but I use barely there protection case and don't pay attention to it.
Aluminium body is great but due to the phone being so thin quite often it slips of my hand but with protective case it makes it slightly thicker and it's just right now...
4. Battery is ok I can easily get day use and it's actually better than original desire
5. Camera well I'm not a photographer but photos look very good to me and I love sense photo enhance feature
6. Sound quality well ring tone could be Lauder and i've not been using my phone as mp3 player.
Voice quality is ok imo
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Thanks for the info mattskeet sounds like a satisfied customer to me!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Just buy your mom an iPhone
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
crankdelly said:
Just buy your mom an iPhone
There's no need to be vulgar.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
What I dont like about the DHD?
1. The battery cover. That thing is damn hard to open.
2. That excess sealing thing at the right side of the LCD.
3. Volume rocker. Its a little to flush and difficult to use.

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.​
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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
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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

So I have an HTC One AND a Galaxy S4 now...unbiased observations between the two

I just wrote this this thread to humor myself and anyone else who cares or is interested in comparisons between the two phones. I'm coming from an HTC Sensation which I've had for about 2 years, previously owned the og Galaxy S (Vibrant), and instead of the S4 I chose the HTC one, and got the GS4 for my wife instead, and use both on a regular basis.
Here are my observations since I actually have both phones and can compare them with no bias...
-A lot of the online mainstream reviews you'll read between the two hit the nail on the head. The One imo is a better "phone". It does indeed have less features then the S4 (although many of them are gimmicks like the eye scrolling/tracking, airview, and a few others) but the speakers are far superior, which obviously aids for anyone who ever uses speakerphone or plays music and videos, the call quality is also a little better, the phone is more fluid and faster than the GS4 with basic functions like scrolling screens etc, and the phone of course has a MUCH more "premium" feel. Sense 5 is MUUUUUCH better than past versions of Sense and like a lot of review say, it *DOES* improve over stock android in actual useful features. The look is subjective of course but it's flat, useful and fast, and to me that's all that matters. The camera is better than any past smartphone I've ever used (Tmobile Dash>G1>Vibrant>Sensation>One) so I like it personally, but compared to its rivals like the GS4 I guess it's not the best, but does everything I've ever asked of it VERY well so no complaints from me.
-The GS4 on the other hand has a superior camera. The camera on the One isn't bad at all, and kills the Gs4 in low light conditions and the aspect ratio and wide lense captures waaay more in each frame, but the GS4 has more camera features, packs a crapload more detail in each shot, has some pretty useful camera modes the One doesn't have, and is just generally better. The Galaxy might not be made of aluminum like the one, but it's lighter and imo actually feels better in my hand (without a case). Once you add a case in the mix, hand feel is null and void obviously but if you like to go commando the Gs4 feels better and will probably hold up to abuse better than the One due to the polycarbonate body and gorilla glass 3. The screen on the Galaxy is bigger than the One while the actual phone altogether is lighter and smaller so that's pretty nice, but it's not really THAT noticeable to be honest. One huge, huge advantage the Galaxy has over the One is removable storage and battery, which *USED* to be a deal breaker for me back in the day, but I've learned to live without them since I got my One, so either way it's a definite advantage but I guess how much so is up to the user. The Galaxy also has native quick settings built in which the one doesn't have (yet), so minor issue but another positive for the galaxy.
As far as negative for each, I'm actually on my second One already. Somehow my camera lense glass cracked even though I keep the phone in case and have never dropped it or bumped it. It just appeared one day in addition to the top speaker grill starting to separate from the body. Weird, but I got it replaced and the replacement is doing fine and actually stands up to overclocking and undervolting better than my old unit, so that made me pretty happy lol. That's really the only issue I've had with mine, but on the whole, the phone is definitely more fragile than the Galaxy WITHOUT a case. It scratches easier, dents, chips, etc...while the Galaxy doesn't.
The Galaxy feels better in hand (caseless) than the One, but it's slippery as hell and slides around easily and can be more prone to being dropped. Again, only an issue without a case, but this is my observation.
Touchwiz...personally I think it's a mess. I don't care for the look, as many have said it feels like your still running Gingerbread 2.3. The look hasn't changed much since I had a Vibrant running Touchwiz from 3 years ago, and while Touchwiz DOES have some unique features and generally does more than Sense and stock android...it's just ugly as hell while doing so lol. The Galaxy also does feel a tad slower and microstutters every so often while the One is almost always fluid and seems much smoother even tho it's running a newer version of android and has slightly better specs on hardware...it just doesn't "feel" like it. Other than that it's a fantastic phone and we haven't had any problems with it whatsoever unlike the One.
Between the two...if I just had to pick one, it's a toss up. I prefer my One honestly but I can see the advantages of the Galaxy S4 with it having more features so I'll just break it down like this...
Usefuleness as an actual phone
One>S4
Camera
GS4>One
In hand feel, portability
One=GS4
Usefulness as a multimedia device
GS4=One
Expandability
GS4>One
I will say that between the two if this even matters to anyone...I get WAAAAAY more props and questions and even jealous stares directed towards the One.........although..........people tend to ask to let them play with the Galaxy S4 quite often lol...
This is going to be TLDR post
I think now I have owned all 1080P phones from mainstream manufacturers and Oppo.
DNA, Xperia Z, SGS4 and One.
Could not live with Xperia Z, unacceptable compromises on a flagship device. Sold DNA as well and now with SGS4 and One (And Oppo find 5 as well, but that purchase was of oa curiosity purchase )
Both have their niggles to be honest at this point. But as far as one is concerned, I am not going to live with Sense 5 in its current form. I just cant. I will keep complaining about blink feed until HTC fixes it to add custom sources or more sources comparable to Pulse. The social media capabilities of blink feed are irrelevent to me as I dont use facebook much and for twitter which I do use, it does not even comes close to functionality of Falcon Pro.
Then the caveats with app drawer, lack of options to change wallpaper from home by long pressing also gets on my nerves. Having to go through 3 steps extra to change wallpaper is just silly. So I had to resort to custom launcher which has its own share of problems due to the fact that for some reason lot of launchers are not butter smooth on One with MSM DCVS governor as well as not as smooth as Note 2 or Nexus 4 even on default On demand governor. For those who have not actually experienced what butter smooth experience means on these device, it appears smooth. My sis who came from SGS2 thinks its smooth. I can feel the jitter in UI and that is really disappointing. And it has something to do with governor and / or kernel as there are issues with jitter and microstutter in 2d arcade games like Hill climb racing on One when the same game runs just fine on older Krait 200 CPU on Oppo Find 5. I got Go launcher to be most close to what I want by adjusting animation speed. But it is still not as perfect as I want it to be.
That and menu button even when mapped to long press back using custom rom does not still behave perfectly 100% of time. Sometimes it just goes back. But I have learned to live with that. But these are notable niggles.
Camera issues I had with older camera are now fixed. I am happy with One camera results now.
The only other bugs that annoys the hell out of me is the contact bug that was there is Sense 4 as well and it is there in sense 5 as well where Sense decides to save new contact to my other gmail account than my primary account even when the second gmail account is not even set to sync contacts. Every time after installing new ROM clean I have to click on Google tab and select my primary account before hitting save.
SGS4 TWUI might be visual mess but it is very functional. Everything just works as it should on Android phone. The actions are not that far away from what we get on stock android. So even with Samsung plastering entire colour spectrum all over, everything works as I am used to. No surprises, no irritating faults. I dont might extra features. I have half of them disabled and bloat removed.
The power saving features on Exynos Octa does not seem to work properly yet, or not as good as they are suppose. The product was clearly rushed, but I guess it will be SGS3 story all over again with Samsung fixing most issues with unofficial leaks over coming weeks and with final release fixing this on OTA for those who dont want to experiement. I have that much faith in Samsung now.
Hardware I leave it to the users but SGS4 does not feel like cheap plastic. Sure it does not feel as premium as HTC One, but that typical BS people on forums and even some press spreading about SGS4 feeling cheap is just plain BS. It feels good in hands, it feels as premium as Note 2 and Note 2 did not feel cheap at all. Specially not in white colour. Rest is upto end user to decide but if you get the chance, do see S4 in person. It is great device to hold and use. With right case which I always use no matter what phone, it is not going to be an issue at all.
Coming down to personal choice, I am still using One as my personal daily driver and S4 as work phone. The bigger real estate on S4 does come in handy though and I have a feeling that in the end it is going to be better overall device to use for media consumption for someone like me who do not listen to songs or watch videos without using headphones. I dont like to watch videos even at home with the Ones wonderful speakers as I dont like disturbing my family members, and specially my hyperactive dog that just wants to get its head between me and my phone to investigate what sound is coming out of this weird device if I play anything on it using loudspeaker So really I am wasting the speakers on One. But that can be big selling points to some. For me, it is nice thing to have but I like to use phone strictly for personal media consumption and not broadcast it to others, neither do I want to disturb others at night in bed when I usually check up on some youtube videos from my subscribed channels.
The bigger real estate also helps a lot in gaming.
In the end S4 has less niggles at the moment. HTC has chosen risky strategy with Sense 5. People will either love it or those like me who simply hate it. I replaced it with custom launcher. Lot of people still love it but plenty are going to be frustrated by it. I never likes less options or restrictive behaviour on any android phone. That is exactly what HTC has done on their stock sense 5 launcher.
UI functionality is as or rather more important that UI design and feel. Sense 5 feels smooth and polished but it is very restrictive in nature and feels like HTC have done some things deliberately different just for the sake of being different without thinking logically if they really needed to do those things differently.
It is case of "So close to perfection, yet so far" with One. It is wonderful device. Good enough for me to be ready to live with the cavates it has. But sometimes I feel like switching to S4 as primary personal daily driver. But the beauty of this device is what keeping me from ditching it. That is ultimate thing in favour of One. But frustrating thing is, it could have been so much better with just few changes.
Thread closed
This thread is another sad example of the reason why we do not wnat any comparison threads here. Although the OP had the best goals with posting it, some fanboy users can't refrain from using it as another battle ground. Deleted 15 posts (some of them NOT being unfair, but I treated all equal)
So thank you OP for the comparison. It stays here as it is helpful. The rest of the discussion is not.

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