Database Users

Leo - To buy or not to buy - what you guys think?

OK - so aside from bias/ability to afford/shipping/tax/price or other logistical factor - can we have a show of hands as to who has already bought a HD2 and has something to say - particularly what about the device makes you happy, what makes you sad?
Let's try keep it away from supplier/delivery issues or local network/band/signal issues - just pure usability/hardware/software.
Personally after trying one out in a store last week I finally received the experience I feel you want when moving to a PDA from a smart phone. What does our community think after using it for a while?

noofny said:
OK - so aside from bias/ability to afford/shipping/tax/price or other logistical factor - can we have a show of hands as to who has already bought a HD2 and has something to say - particularly what about the device makes you happy, what makes you sad?
Let's try keep it away from supplier/delivery issues or local network/band/signal issues - just pure usability/hardware/software.
Personally after trying one out in a store last week I finally received the experience I feel you want when moving to a PDA from a smart phone. What does our community think after using it for a while?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
too subjective a question....for every person on here that says get it, there will be one that says don't get it.
the final decision must be yours....nobody here can make your decision for you. Make a list of the important things for you in a phone, then find the phone that matches those needs the best.
for example, I think the iphone has a much nicer interface, more apps, better screen (touch interface, not size or clarity), but for me it just doesn't handle business functions very well and that made me choose the HD2 since this was my primary need.
if you do the same process you might find the ideal phone for you

I got mine on Sunday just gone, was an upgrade from a Diamond. I loved my diamond, but as soon as I had setup my HD2 with contacts and apps etc I was loving this even more. Each time I use it I find something new, like facebook linking, then seeing in a contact card all communications with that person.
I'm yet to use the footprints, but look forward to trying it out.
The main thing for me was the screen size, I always had problems with the tiny diamond screen, but this is so crisp, easier to use and much easier to keyboard with.
Also the damn speed of the device is amazing, so fast, the OS loads so quick. I soft resetted it and put it down to expect a few minutes wait like on the diamond, but was rebooted so quick!
The one thing I would love to see is a facebook tab, like the twitter tab, shame they didn't implement that!
The specs that come with this phone are truely awesome, and that was the overall selling point for me, as I knew how good HTC phones were I just had to have something with the specs that this phone comes with.

twisted-pixel - good point about the subjectiveness. I suppose what I'm fishing for here are peoples post-usage horror/love stories - moreso with regard to hardware and usability. It's a nice big screen but it's also a nice big slab of tech - how do you find the size, whats the battery life like, do you notice anything bad about the capacitive screen, how often (if ever) do you feel the need for a stylus and say 'doh', does the headphone port become dodgy after use - or the micro usb port? I suppose because of this community we all have flexibility and solutions around software, so I meant to make this more hardware related I guess.

noofny said:
twisted-pixel - good point about the subjectiveness. I suppose what I'm fishing for here are peoples post-usage horror/love stories - moreso with regard to hardware and usability. It's a nice big screen but it's also a nice big slab of tech - how do you find the size, whats the battery life like, do you notice anything bad about the capacitive screen, how often (if ever) do you feel the need for a stylus and say 'doh', does the headphone port become dodgy after use - or the micro usb port? I suppose because of this community we all have flexibility and solutions around software, so I meant to make this more hardware related I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I admit to loving the phone...with one exception...the sensitivity of the screen is a complete disaster for me. it's very difficult to type on, someones it responds to the slightest touch, other times it doesn't. accuracy is also an issue (that was to be expected on a screen with high resolution I suppose)
and yes, I've tried all the tweaks going before anyone suggests it (currently running v3.3 of the tweak with sensitivity on)
I think if I had come straight from my HD then I would have been impressed, but I come from an iphone where the screen was a delight to use.
however, the rest of the phone makes up for that small failing.

noofny said:
twisted-pixel - good point about the subjectiveness. I suppose what I'm fishing for here are peoples post-usage horror/love stories - moreso with regard to hardware and usability. It's a nice big screen but it's also a nice big slab of tech - how do you find the size, whats the battery life like, do you notice anything bad about the capacitive screen, how often (if ever) do you feel the need for a stylus and say 'doh', does the headphone port become dodgy after use - or the micro usb port? I suppose because of this community we all have flexibility and solutions around software, so I meant to make this more hardware related I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, you will find more people venting than praising any device on this forum, as people only seek help when they have problems.
I must admit, I personally think it is the best device I have ever used.
For a quick overview from me (in comparison to the X1, but most comments are applicable):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=5667230&postcount=6

I stumbled on this video on youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-3Bi-Eg2gQ
...and love his brutal (albeit bias and sometimes naive) honesty, it helps you make a decision because it's not a rant. So far you guys are proving some intelligent feedback also - so thank you and let's keep it coming!

I got the HD2 the day it was available in my country (one of the first in europe) and despite all the fixes and xda-dev recommendations i couldn't have it for more then 1 weekend. I sold it on monday morning.
I hated typing (i did try the keyboard cab which should lower the sensitivity), loading sms with some exchanged texts already (loading was awful for such powerful device), visibility outside was horrible, battery,..
Maybe my rant will be understanded better if i mention i'm a blackberry user that likes to try out new "hot phones" (no matter which brand or type of usage).
I've also tried the Nexus One and would say i liked it a tiny bit better then HD2, but still couldn't have it for more then a week.
So, why am i writing this.. After MWC last week, i've kind of wanted to give HD2 another shot. For the following reasons..
I've came across some nice taskbar buttons (which make it look so much better..), I saw there is a fix for sms loading time, i guess i could always install a different keyboard,.. and most imortantly i got a very nice (cheap) offer for a brand new HD2. Yesterday i even ordered a nice case (didn't like the one that comes in the box) and a screenprotector (which might reduce the fingerprints, which i hated so much and a visibility outside,.. hope i'm not too optimistic).
If i somehow manage to be happy with HD2, i might even go for the exnteded battery. And i'm kind of feeling the hype for WinMo7 rom for this device.. Don't know if it will be any better or worse, i just know there is some excitement about it
Hope my rant / "long mess" didn't bore you too much

+1 to buy with eyes closed.

OK, this will be quick because I'm supposed to be doing something else right now but anyway...
I've just sent my HD2 back because of a problem with the microphone so if anyone should be telling you to think of other alternatives - it should be me.
But I can't because I love the phone. It's fast, responsive, it's got most of the features that you could ever want (minus USB host), the screen is gorgeous and the interface is pretty damn usable.
It's not perfect however... Customising it is more trouble than it should be. There is a slight pink hue in the middle of the camera when the contrast and saturation are turned up high enough to make the colours look half lifelike and when the screen is completely white, at certain angles you can see the grid dots that make the screen's matrix.
So to resume, if you don't mind spending some time on it and you're not completely obsessive about things being absolutely perfect (I am and I can still get to sleep at night) then you should be very happy with an HD2.

NeoGreendawg said:
There is a slight pink hue in the middle of the camera when the contrast and saturation are turned up high enough to make the colours look half lifelike and when the screen is completely white, at certain angles you can see the grid dots that make the screen's matrix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pink hue is solved with an update from HTC (here)
The dots are also visible on an iPhone, its down to the technology, not the device alone.

rp-x1 said:
The pink hue is solved with an update from HTC (here)
The dots are also visible on an iPhone, its down to the technology, not the device alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm sorry but the HTC hotfix did slightly improve the issue but it certainly didn't resolve it in my case. I love the phone believe me but I somehow doubt that anyone who isn't employed by HTC or affected by Daltonism could honestly claim that it has completely solved the issue.
Edit : Not trying to be rude or make out that it's a deal-breaker but I know that as a potential buyer I'd want to know about it.

I've had the HD2 for three weeks and use it every day. I also end up resetting it every day. I've come from a Nokia N96 and before that the N73, so I'm comparing it to the N96. I am very pleased with the speed of the phone and how operations take way less than a second to perform, instead of several seconds a la N96.
The phone itself is a bit too big. Perhaps a 4 inch screen would have been enough. Even though I have big hands, it's just too big to walk around and hold the phone with one hand. I'm scared of dropping it. The headphone port's on the bottom of the phone - it causes the cable to tangle up around the phone when in a pocket.
I have found plenty of bugs in the stock O2 1.43 firmware and know how to deal with the main ones.
I didn't realise the phone had an FM tuner until I found it after a few days on the Start menu - I used the N96 FM tuner almost every day. Unfortunately the tuner on the HD2 is really poor. It is unable to obtain a good quality signal. Sound dips out. There's an awful lot of interference in places where the N96 would have relayed a good quality signal. In places where the N96 got a poor signal, the HD2 has static. BBC Radio 1 has the most powerful signal in my area, yet the HD2 fails to get consistent reception. There's just too much interference and I often just shut the radio off. A huge let down; I wonder if it's hardware or software at fault.
The N96 music player was very well featured, but incredibly (pathetically) slow. In contrast, the HTC Music app has no such delays, is very fast but somewhat basic in comparison. A lot of cool N96 features are missing; there's no way to call up the keyboard to locate tracks, track details can't be edited, tracks can't be deleted, backing out of an album takes you to the top of the album list and not to where you were. There's no hardware buttons to change tracks when the phone's in a pocket (a swipe up/down on the lock screen to change tracks would be nice). Volume control has too few stages so is either too loud or too quiet; volume within the Music tab has more stages but doesn't always work (error in Services.exe). General audio quality is rather poor - even the iPod classic 5G sounds better! Occasional unexplained sound dips and audio which lacks in bass and treble. The oddest thing is the shuffle feature tends to replay swathes of tracks that have already been played.
Video playback is very impressive because of the screen size. Can't fathom why the Windows Mobile OS cannot play WMV. Get quite a few dropped frames and put that down to the poor quality 1.43 ROM and perhaps not-fully-developed decoders. Video viewing in general is very nice, although an afterthought within HTC Sense, as the video playback has essentially just been tacked on to HTC's photo viewing app.
I do like the phone, it is good enough to stop me wanting to go back to my last phone. I'd get one, but the HD2's not quite the tech lover's wet dream that some of the big review sites make it out to be. Having bought it from the O2 network, I'll seriously doubt I'll ever be able to officially upgrade the firmware (HTC isn't even listed on their software upgrade pages), so I'll have to learn alternative methods one of these days to see if I can iron out some of the bugs!

Wish they would just whack a snapdragon and capacitive screen in a HD and re-release it....think that would satisfy a lotta folks. Cheers all for your input, it's really helping me to set realistic expectations.

I was contemplating on whether I should buy a Nexus One instead of the HD2, but I decided to go for the HD2 instead because it was cheaper, had a nice screen resolution, specifications don't differ much between both devices, and i'm looking forward to the Windows 7 release on the HD2

i am currently contemplating to switch from HD to HD2....is it worth it?

Buy it!
I come from the HD. The HD2 is what the HD should have been from the first instance.
Fantastic:
- speed (and I am using a stock French Orange ROM based on 1.43!)
- screen
- usability
As far as precision is concerned: I need a phone to check and type (even long) emails, and read documents. XT9 works just great, but even in ABC mode in landscape the accuracy is pretty good (and I type fast!).
If you need to play around with programs using stylus-based input, yes, then it gets really annoying (try to edit your registry in Total Commander and you'll get crazy).
In summary: if you want to tweak it like crazy all the time or intensively use older programs with small menus, then consider buying an alternative with a resistive screen and a stylus. But if you actually want to USE your phone with the standard applications, just buy it and you'll get the best of the market today imo!

to buy or not
i have it for a month after the trinity.
sorry but it hasnot voice call
no handwriting recognition
battery ends quickley
no video call
no .chm file reader
all of these were on the trinity.
so i am sorry buing it

Mastoid said:
I was contemplating on whether I should buy a Nexus One instead of the HD2, but I decided to go for the HD2 instead because it was cheaper, had a nice screen resolution, specifications don't differ much between both devices, and i'm looking forward to the Windows 7 release on the HD2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you do realize that there may eventually never be a WP7 release for the HD2?

rottttman said:
i have it for a month after the trinity.
sorry but it hasnot voice call
no handwriting recognition
battery ends quickley
no video call
no .chm file reader
all of these were on the trinity.
so i am sorry buing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U'd better search for infos about the phone after buying it

Xperia Z2 Tablet - Initial impressions thread

Xperia Blog is reporting that the Xperia Z2 Tablet is now shipping.
It would be good to collect initial impressions of the tablet from the early adopters. Please let us know your thoughts.

Aripex said:
Xperia Blog is reporting that the Xperia Z2 Tablet is now shipping.
It would be good to collect initial impressions of the tablet from the early adopters. Please let us know your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fast. Light. Slim. Fantastic screen and stereo speakers.
I thought the original tablet couldn't get much better, but it did!
Just waiting for my noise cancelling headset to arrive this morning so I can test it at work today!

SWFlyerUK said:
Fast. Light. Slim. Fantastic screen and stereo speakers.
I thought the origional tablet couldn't get much better, but it did! After using it for 24hrs, I've come to the conclusion it is a worthwhile upgrade
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - how are you finding the speed versus the old tab? Is there a noticeable difference in your real world use (I'm not referring to benchmarks)?

Aripex said:
Thanks - how are you finding the speed versus the old tab? Is there a noticeable difference in your real world use (I'm not referring to benchmarks)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an issue with the Xperia Live Wallpaper. With it active, the homescreen micro lags, but then again, it also happens on my Z Ultra so evidently a wallpaper issue.
With a static wallpaper there is a noticeable difference in the operation of the device. Pinch to zoom in Chrome is perfect, I experience micro lags with animations on the Z which aren't apparent on the Z2.
Early indications on the battery life are positive and GTA SA plays flawlessly on full settings with the Z2, but it stutters immensely on the Z.
The design feels even more premium in the hand. Sony has rounded off the edges slightly and given it's weight and thickness, is alot more comfortable to hold for long durations.
Software feels well rounded. There are a few tweaks such as the separate notification tray and quick settings that make it feel more like a tablet (rather than the ugly tray on the Z from 4.2.2+), you can now "Cose All" from the recent apps tray, with multiple small apps open there is an additional option called "Grid" which positions them randomly on the screen, smart back light control and noise cancellation, plus the new lockscreen. Swipe up from the home button there is now "What New" alongside Google Now which is a well designed app which gives you top music, video, apps and games.
The additional of the vibrator for haptic feedback is also pleasing.
Huge improvement with the camera too.

SWFlyerUK said:
There's an issue with the Xperia Live Wallpaper. With it active, the homescreen micro lags, but then again, it also happens on my Z Ultra so evidently a wallpaper issue.
With a static wallpaper there is a noticeable difference in the operation of the device. Pinch to zoom in Chrome is perfect, I experience micro lags with animations on the Z which aren't apparent on the Z2.
Early indications on the battery life are positive and GTA SA plays flawlessly on full settings with the Z2, but it stutters immensely on the Z.
The design feels even more premium in the hand. Sony has rounded off the edges slightly and given it's weight and thickness, is alot more comfortable to hold for long durations.
Software feels well rounded. There are a few tweaks such as the separate notification tray and quick settings that make it feel more like a tablet (rather than the ugly tray on the Z from 4.2.2+), you can now "Cose All" from the recent apps tray, with multiple small apps open there is an additional option called "Grid" which positions them randomly on the screen, smart back light control and noise cancellation, plus the new lockscreen. Swipe up from the home button there is now "What New" alongside Google Now which is a well designed app which gives you top music, video, apps and games.
The additional of the vibrator for haptic feedback is also pleasing.
Huge improvement with the camera too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your very thorough review. If you don't mind a question, how is the performance in Chrome when scrolling through a image heavy website (something like Google Image search or one of the news sites with lots of pictures)?
Thanks!

watsonmf said:
Thanks a lot for your very thorough review. If you don't mind a question, how is the performance in Chrome when scrolling through a image heavy website (something like Google Image search or one of the news sites with lots of pictures)?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a Google search for the word "Google" - the Z2 doesn't stutter, even when the images are loading or haven't fully loaded.
The Z stuttered only when the images where loading. When all images where loaded, both devices where smooth
The Z2 definably has the upper hand.
As another example of the speed. If I open the Play Store and immediately swipe right to bring out the navigation tray. The Z2 is instant and the animation is smooth. The Z lagged and instead of showing the tray, it just appeared out of thin air.

Could you do a system dump for us all? PM me if you need any tutorials and can't find one (it's pretty easy, but you might need help). Just app, priv-app and framework folders needed.
Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk

Thanks SWFlyerUK.Did the noise cancelling headphones come in the box by any chance?

Aripex said:
Thanks SWFlyerUK.Did the noise cancelling headphones come in the box by any chance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There weren't any headphones in the box. I ordered the Noise Cancelling headphones from Handtec but they didn't show today as expected so it'll be Monday.
@Felimenta97 Not at a PC currently, but I don't see why it would differ from the leaked Z2 dump.

SWFlyerUK said:
There weren't any headphones in the box. I ordered the Noise Cancelling headphones from Handtec but they didn't show today as expected so it'll be Monday.
@Felimenta97 Not at a PC currently, but I don't see why it would differ from the leaked Z2 dump.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot animation, remote control thing, and maybe you have a build with the new media apps (do you?)
Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk

Bah. My pre-order is delayed because I ordered the damn case with it.
Wanted it to be protected from the get-go, but it seems if I want the tablet, I could have it this week, but the whole order, with the case, means it's all on back order.
Bggrit.

Man I was all set to order this and just surfing around found a Ipad mini 2 64gb $400. Brand new full warranty no refurbished. My kids have apply stuff not me. I never even looked at Ipad. For ME this little thing has the best battery life of any Android I have ever had. The only reason I got it was I could jailbrake it. Got the 7.06 on it just before they put out 7.1. Why they dont let people just theme and ad widgets I have no clue.
I do have another android (kinda older). Its just I was looking at $499 16 vs $400 64. I can still sell this and make money. I miss the live wall paper yet I always turned it off thinking its sucking battery lol. Then I find out some of the games that had those extra effects that only Nvidia could run. The ipad mini retina has all those effects. Hmm I bet that 801 chip would have no problems running any nvidia THD game.
If the Sony was just cheaper I would have got that. Not here to sell anything. I would rather have the Sony.. just love Android. But just wanted to share....I love this site.

Just got mine.
Initial impressions:
It's so thin and light , it's almost uncanny.
Build quality is OK but the use of plastic feels a bit cheap for a device in this price range.
Way to many useless and unremovable apps for my taste (Facebook and Google+ first come to mind)
Tap does not always register. I often have to tap twice. This is a deal breaker. Does anyone experience the same thing?
The covers for the SD and USB ports look weak.
It also could have used a rotation lock switch .
This is me *****ing otherwise it looks like a great devices except for the part where touch doesn't always register (faulty unit?)
I'll make a system dump (non root) and post it in he development thread this afternoon.
Edit: Grammar

bbarou said:
Initial impressions:
It's so thin and light , it's almost uncanny.
Build quality is OK but the use of plastic feels a bit cheap for a device in this price range.
Ways to many useless and unremovable apps for my taste (Facebook and Google+ first come to mind)
Tap does not always register. I often have to tap twice. This is a deal breaker. Does anyone experience the same thing?
The covers for the SD and USB ports look weak.
It also could have use a rotation lock switch .
This is me *****ing otherwise it looks like a great devices except for the part where touch doesn't always register (faulty unit?)
I'll make a system dump (non root) and post it int he development thread this afternoon.
Edit: Grammar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The touch issues could be related to a faulty unit or maybe a not so perfect FW. If it is related to that, could be fixed. I think the first fw of the Tablet Z had the other way around: Too sensitive screen. And really, REALLY thanks about the system dump
Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk

bbarou said:
Initial impressions:
It's so thin and light , it's almost uncanny.
Build quality is OK but the use of plastic feels a bit cheap for a device in this price range.
Way to many useless and unremovable apps for my taste (Facebook and Google+ first come to mind)
Tap does not always register. I often have to tap twice. This is a deal breaker. Does anyone experience the same thing?
The covers for the SD and USB ports look weak.
It also could have used a rotation lock switch .
This is me *****ing otherwise it looks like a great devices except for the part where touch doesn't always register (faulty unit?)
I'll make a system dump (non root) and post it in he development thread this afternoon.
Edit: Grammar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got mine yesterday, and thought I had a few times with it not registering touches, but upon further testing, I think I was just missing the navigation buttons. I enabled the show touches option in the developer options and they seem to all register for me unless I'm on the very edge, overlapping the bezel. It does seem like the target areas for the navigation buttons are pretty small though and black navigation buttons blend right into the bezel. I'm confident this can all be addressed in firmware/software updates. Hopefully yours is too.
Overall I'm loving it - it's so light! The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but I can live with that since it looks great. The sound is great too - really everything I expected. I didn't order any accessories, but am now thinking the charging dock will be much more convenient than fiddling with the flaps to charge it. I am glad it is waterproof though, so I don't really have to worry about dropping it in the tub or pool.
~Troop

I'm torn between the Galaxy tab pro 10.1 and the Z2
Can anyone post about their battery life? How is build quality? Any lag moving around the interface?

I agree on that screen issue. It seems like the navigation buttons only work if you completely hit them. If you miss them by a small margin they don't register. That's probably a software thing though. Apart from that.... Wow what a tablet, it's so thin and light. I really really like mine so far.

jonlad1 said:
I'm torn between the Galaxy tab pro 10.1 and the Z2
Can anyone post about their battery life? How is build quality? Any lag moving around the interface?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trooper_Max said:
I just got mine yesterday, and thought I had a few times with it not registering touches, but upon further testing, I think I was just missing the navigation buttons. I enabled the show touches option in the developer options and they seem to all register for me unless I'm on the very edge, overlapping the bezel. It does seem like the target areas for the navigation buttons are pretty small though and black navigation buttons blend right into the bezel. I'm confident this can all be addressed in firmware/software updates. Hopefully yours is too.
Overall I'm loving it - it's so light! The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but I can live with that since it looks great. The sound is great too - really everything I expected. I didn't order any accessories, but am now thinking the charging dock will be much more convenient than fiddling with the flaps to charge it. I am glad it is waterproof though, so I don't really have to worry about dropping it in the tub or pool.
~Troop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After playing a bit with it, I have the exact same impressions: the navigation buttons are easily missed. The dead zone around the bezel is too large, and for some reason I often touch a few pixels away from my target. It's definitively not hardware related. But it bugs me, if it stills bugs me a week from now it'll go straight back to Sony.
About the battery life , I charged it to full yesterday afternoon, played with it for about 4 hours in the evening, mostly web and HD vids, It got 70% battery life left. It discharged 1% overnight . Too early to tell but looking good so far.
It feels very snappy. I did have one severe slowdown (once just opening a new tab in Firefox the whole tablet froze for like 10 seconds ) , it never happened since and it running butter smooth.
It's so slim and light that it's quite hard to hold actually. I struggled a bit to find an easy was to hold it with one hand whereas my old Iconia A500 (twice as thick and almost twice as heavy) feels more natural although more straining. Even with two hands the square edges are not comfortable.
I put the Z2 in my Iconia case for the time being, it does not fit perfectly but is much easier to hold.
Aside from the unremovable apps, as always, I'm quite positively surprised with the Sony ROM, it's very pleasant to use.
Nice touches: multi color notification led, front speakers are loud and clear, IR blaster (although the app sucks)
Now all I really want is root access...

Awesome!
They should arrive in Australia next week, looks like I'll have to get one
Please keep dropping thoughts on it when you feel the need!
I'm sure the touch issue will be resolved with an update.
CM11 would be freaking amazing on this!

Review and benchmarking
A Polish site has published a review. Though I don't understand Polish the benchmarking results look very good; this tablet scores top in most, but not in the SunSpider Javascript benchmark where it is outperformed by others. Playing a HD-movie at 55% brightness gave a battery life of 12,5h. For normal usage the battery lasted about 3 days:
http://www.benchmark.pl/testy_i_recenzje/sony-xperia-z2-tablet-test/strona/21973.html

Nexus 6 and 5.0 pitfalls / gripes !

So i have had the nexus 6 for 3 days and flashed a rom after 2days, and here my gripes !
1. The camera app from stock, IS worse than the N5 ever was ! It focuses re focuses, randomly under exposes / over exposes - frankly its a roulette
2. There is still no EQ ! Out the box
3. Both speakers are NOT used for speaker phone !
4. Volume gradient is terrible, first 2/3rds is acceptable thennits just plain ear drum bursting.
5. The handset has the properties of soap, unless you have a case or textured skin / case.
6. The stock keyboard is horrific, key boundarys seem to overlap and you really have to be accurate to type anything longer than 1 or two lines !
7. The screen really does go all kinds of pink / yellow / off shaded dependant on what brightness your set to.
8. The QI coil really could do qith being closer to the rear case centred, rather than off centre ( this would make more chargers work and work better with cases ! )
It really does feel like an android silver device that was botched into a nexus and they spent more time on the OS than making the package work as a whole, the nexus 5 / 4 have better out the bix function than the N6, it feels rushed and unfinshed software wise.
However its not too big, its well built and solid, the finishing touches are just not there

I'll take it if you don't want it, I could use a spare.

The only gripe I have is the camera UI - otherwise this device and software bests the M8 (previous device) in every category except for the boomsound speakers. I honestly do not think that I will ever go back to a skinned android experience - Vanilla android on this device is buttery smooth, and I really enjoy all the features 5.0 has incorporated that previously only skinned versions of android had

TheEmpyre said:
The only gripe I have is the camera UI - otherwise this device and software bests the M8 (previous device) in every category except for the boomsound speakers. I honestly do not think that I will ever go back to a skinned android experience - Vanilla android on this device is buttery smooth, and I really enjoy all the features 5.0 has incorporated that previously only skinned versions of android had
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am the opposite. I will never go to pure android again. I missed out on so many features like the m8 has. So long beta testing.

I agree , I feel like google rush android 5.0 out the door.

I totally disagree with all of this. Mine is basically flawless. The camera is the best I've ever had. The keyboard works way better than past devices, probably because of the size so I rarely hit 2 letters at the same time anymore. The VTT is better. THE OS is the bomb. All the apps I use, I have in here, all the ones I never would use, I didn't have to remove, but hey, if you need Amazon, 3 different lame game demos and some cruddy navigation app, go get a Note 4. I hear it may get Android L..... someday

This is just silly. Can people stop creating troll threads designed to get people arguing? Most of your points aren't even true of the device. Camera is great (ui could be better) eq can be done in app but these would great stock (I spend a lot of time doing pro audio work), volume transitions fine, you can install a different keyboard, screen only goes pink at lowest brightness. How it feels is relevant, but the rest are just making stuff up.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Dang it I can finally get all the negatives off my chest;
1. The Nexus 6 will not allow me to fly, I really though it would, but nothing.
2. I hate the way it does not call who I want when I think really really hard about that person, I mean it was so freaking expensive and all.
3. When I read the initial reviews, I know I read somewhere it said it would make me independently wealthy, crap, I'm still kind of just middle class, POS.
4. Wasn't it a 3D 4K screen? WTF???
5. When I hold it I don't transcend this reality and walk with the angels, that was the last straw really, I think I'm going back to my ..... (your better phone here)
Its a freaking cell phone and I'm not sure anyone but your family gives a crap if you like it or not and I doubt even they care. My god, if you don't like it, go get something else and go complain there.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

hutzdani said:
So i have had the nexus 6 for 3 days and flashed a rom after 2days, and here my gripes !
1. The camera app from stock, IS worse than the N5 ever was ! It focuses re focuses, randomly under exposes / over exposes - frankly its a roulette
2. There is still no EQ ! Out the box
3. Both speakers are NOT used for speaker phone !
4. Volume gradient is terrible, first 2/3rds is acceptable thennits just plain ear drum bursting.
5. The handset has the properties of soap, unless you have a case or textured skin / case.
6. The stock keyboard is horrific, key boundarys seem to overlap and you really have to be accurate to type anything longer than 1 or two lines !
7. The screen really does go all kinds of pink / yellow / off shaded dependant on what brightness your set to.
8. The QI coil really could do qith being closer to the rear case centred, rather than off centre ( this would make more chargers work and work better with cases ! )
It really does feel like an android silver device that was botched into a nexus and they spent more time on the OS than making the package work as a whole, the nexus 5 / 4 have better out the bix function than the N6, it feels rushed and unfinshed software wise.
However its not too big, its well built and solid, the finishing touches are just not there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. try using it the right way, instead of letting it behave how it want to behave. you have to touch to focus. this will bring into focus what you want focused on, and itll adjust the light properly.
2. sure there is. its in the settings of google play music.
3. no, you are right. you did notice, congrats!
4. viper4android. root your phone, install viper4android. sound will never be better.
5. well, not really. im not big, 5'7", and my hands arent big, yet they manage to grip the n6 rather well, in the southern brooklyn winter/late fall.
6. i kind of like it?
7. i keep my brightness around 10-15%. that wsy i can see, and its good on battery. oh, and the screen auto adjusts, all by itself, even when all adjustments are disabled.
8. huh?

Powdered toast man!!!!!

My gripe is how 5.0 Lollipop handles the "Priority" of alarms and alerts.
Why I am not able to just silence my phone is beyond me?! The current implementation is a solution looking for a problem. I miss the one button click to silence the phone.
I had made the mistake of assuming that my wake-up alarm would still sound when my phone was set to "None". And why I can't have my phone silent, and still have an alarm?!
-J

Icons and fonts too small imo
Also not thrilled with the warm stock colors.. I like? The coool blue iphone5 colors
Via my NeXus™ 7FHD on XDA Premium app

jfcooley said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it set to huge and? Its still tiny for? Me lol
Via my NeXus™ 6 on Tapatalk⁴

Dxtra said:
I agree , I feel like google rush android 5.0 out the door.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
completely disagree. with a ~5 month public beta, i think they made some great strides to making this the best OS yet. every year people say the same thing "ICS was rushed", "KK was rushed"... just because it's nearly 100% different from ICS/KK doesn't mean it was rushed.

hutzdani said:
3. Both speakers are NOT used for speaker phone !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rest of the free world does not want to hear your conversations. You are not that important.

jackpollard said:
Dang it I can finally get all the negatives off my chest;
1. The Nexus 6 will not allow me to fly, I really though it would, but nothing.
-You didn't try hard enough. Did you forget to enable it in the settings?
2. I hate the way it does not call who I want when I think really really hard about that person, I mean it was so freaking expensive and all.
-Again, you need to enable it in the settings, under Cerebral>Call Settings>Think Calling
3. When I read the initial reviews, I know I read somewhere it said it would make me independently wealthy, crap, I'm still kind of just middle class, POS.
-It takes time. Maybe do a battery pull and allow 5-9 battery cycles.
4. Wasn't it a 3D 4K screen? WTF???
-Mine is 3D and 4k just fine. Maybe yours is a defective unit.
5. When I hold it I don't transcend this reality and walk with the angels, that was the last straw really, I think I'm going back to my ..... (your better phone here)
-That feature is still in beta testing. Do a hard reset and grip it harder. You can always try ADB. I heard some people are getting to jog with Cherubs, which hey, it's good enough for my needs. and go ahead, I'm sure your iPhone 3g was miles ahead of this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use this phone the right way, or at least look up some reviews. Many android websites teach you how to do this through videos.

PaisanNYC said:
The rest of the free world does not want to hear your conversations. You are not that important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have a problem dude! Every time someone complain about the speakers, you say the same thing! If you don't have a solution or something to add a value to OP, please keep whatever you are going to say to yourself and stop being funny! You don't know about his situations. Maybe he has a weak hearings or something.

bassil2022 said:
you have a problem dude! Every time someone complain about the speakers, you say the same thing! If you don't have a solution or something to add a value to OP, please keep whatever you are going to say to yourself and stop being funny! You don't know about his situations. Maybe he has a weak hearings or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The item mentioned is not a "problem", it is a feature. Speakerphone was designed to use only one speaker. You can say it is a problem all you want, but it simply is not. So instead of calling me out and saying I have issues, take your own advice and keep it to yourself. Have a wonderful day.

MIX as primary device since November. Thoughts.

Coming from an LG G Flex 2 (hailed a failure amongst devs for the device, but mine ran stable and smoothly all the time just by following the stickies here; IMO original G Flex showed so much potential ). Running global 6.12.8, with some xposed tweaks. I haven't touched a thing since I got that setup. I run the device continuously, with no reboots, and its respectably stable at any given moment. Let me know I'm missing out on anything huge by letting the weeklies go by.
The screen size upgrade was much appreciated - I have big hands, I can Swype reasonably fast using the thumb of the hand I'm holding the phone with. Heft and size plus added reach make two hand usage more comfortable, nonetheless.
Screen itself is absolutely stunning (and tbh, I've never really qualitatively observed any quality problems with 1080p on mobile devices); colors are brilliant.
TLDR: The display is enjoyable to look at
No need for a stylus here. I once rocked an iPad mini as a full fledged phone using GV voice (when it was so simple), and had a stylus for that. Carried that for a while during undergrad. Never cared for styluses since.
Phone camera does what phone cameras do. I'm no expert in cameras (well kinda - Optics PhD student), so I choose not to count too much on the numbers/specs provided. I get good shots that contain all of the information necessary in a phone camera image.
I cheated a bit. I use Nova Launcher. Have settings locked down to a science since LG launcher fail in the original Flex.
No complaints. Everything is quick and fluid. I also have a neat trick that enables knock ON/OFF, so the phone behaves itself and gets locked (one way or another).
The softkeys and accessibility button provide more than enough shortcuts to do whatever you need to do is. Fingerprint sensor is right where it should be, and recognizes my fingers at any given time.
I have a Google voice number, so I switched my default dialer and incoming call receiver to Hangouts dialer. NO COMPLAINTS. I used the regular phone app to make calls plenty before I realized I wasn't actually dialing out through GV (MIUI issue, afaik). VOIP sounds better through the phone's screenspeaker than does a traditional voice call. My carrier tallies my data usage to a ridiculously low number every month, so I don't think VOIP phone causes trouble.
Battery life is a must for me. I'm OCD perfect with battery management of my devices, but I need to know I can take my phone to work every day a and use it for lots of real stuff and/or leisure. 8-9 hours of work a day sets me back to the realm of ~65% battery life. I could come home and play nintendo DS on 400% speed for hours on that kind of juice. 4400 mAh was a major selling point for me, and that's paid off.
Speaker quality is surprisingly good for what the speakers look like sitting there at the bottom.
Once you've rooted and used Lucky Patcher to block ads, you've got one smooth, slick, stone to carry around that will not fail you; cavemen would be very jealous.
Concerns:
Dropping. The case provided makes for a really nice grip. I have never once almost dropped the phone. It's slid out of my pocket once, but short fall = no damage.
Features I miss:
IR blaster. I love them. They make owning entertainment centers even lazier.
Not much else.

Thanks for your impressions. I ordered mine from Light in the Box two weeks ago, and am (im)patiently awaiting.
Quick question on MIUI; I started with Samsung phones, then had a Nexus 6, so full Android all the way. Do you feel like there's a learning curve, getting around MIUI? I love tech, but don't like change too much; I'd love to get this phone working as close to AOSP as possible.

jeromekobriger said:
Thanks for your impressions. I ordered mine from Light in the Box two weeks ago, and am (im)patiently awaiting.
Quick question on MIUI; I started with Samsung phones, then had a Nexus 6, so full Android all the way. Do you feel like there's a learning curve, getting around MIUI? I love tech, but don't like change too much; I'd love to get this phone working as close to AOSP as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kinda why I opted for a Launcher I was familiar with (it's MIUI themed though, so I get points for trying). I've never found there to be more of a different learning curve from one Android device to another. You figure out what your device can and can't do, you set up your shortcuts, gestures, other personal accessibility options, and then you use it. When you find something about it you don't like, you fix it.
I could give you an enormous list of XPosed tweaks and small things here and there that I've changed, but that might not do you any good because it's personalized to me.

Good to know, thanks. I haven't played around with MIUI yet, so wasn't sure just how different it might be. Xposed on the other hand; that was my bread and butter on my Note 3 and Nexus. That'll go a long ways.
Thanks!

No calls on Verizon.
I have date and text working, no voice calls going thru. Have updated the apn as per the site here. What am I missing. Would appreciate any help.
Thank you.
bigcc32 said:
Coming from an LG G Flex 2 (hailed a failure amongst devs for the device, but mine ran stable and smoothly all the time just by following the stickies here; IMO original G Flex showed so much potential ). Running global 6.12.8, with some xposed tweaks. I haven't touched a thing since I got that setup. I run the device continuously, with no reboots, and its respectably stable at any given moment. Let me know I'm missing out on anything huge by letting the weeklies go by.
The screen size upgrade was much appreciated - I have big hands, I can Swype reasonably fast using the thumb of the hand I'm holding the phone with. Heft and size plus added reach make two hand usage more comfortable, nonetheless.
Screen itself is absolutely stunning (and tbh, I've never really qualitatively observed any quality problems with 1080p on mobile devices); colors are brilliant.
TLDR: The display is enjoyable to look at
No need for a stylus here. I once rocked an iPad mini as a full fledged phone using GV voice (when it was so simple), and had a stylus for that. Carried that for a while during undergrad. Never cared for styluses since.
Phone camera does what phone cameras do. I'm no expert in cameras (well kinda - Optics PhD student), so I choose not to count too much on the numbers/specs provided. I get good shots that contain all of the information necessary in a phone camera image.
I cheated a bit. I use Nova Launcher. Have settings locked down to a science since LG launcher fail in the original Flex.
No complaints. Everything is quick and fluid. I also have a neat trick that enables knock ON/OFF, so the phone behaves itself and gets locked (one way or another).
The softkeys and accessibility button provide more than enough shortcuts to do whatever you need to do is. Fingerprint sensor is right where it should be, and recognizes my fingers at any given time.
I have a Google voice number, so I switched my default dialer and incoming call receiver to Hangouts dialer. NO COMPLAINTS. I used the regular phone app to make calls plenty before I realized I wasn't actually dialing out through GV (MIUI issue, afaik). VOIP sounds better through the phone's screenspeaker than does a traditional voice call. My carrier tallies my data usage to a ridiculously low number every month, so I don't think VOIP phone causes trouble.
Battery life is a must for me. I'm OCD perfect with battery management of my devices, but I need to know I can take my phone to work every day a and use it for lots of real stuff and/or leisure. 8-9 hours of work a day sets me back to the realm of ~65% battery life. I could come home and play nintendo DS on 400% speed for hours on that kind of juice. 4400 mAh was a major selling point for me, and that's paid off.
Speaker quality is surprisingly good for what the speakers look like sitting there at the bottom.
Once you've rooted and used Lucky Patcher to block ads, you've got one smooth, slick, stone to carry around that will not fail you; cavemen would be very jealous.
Concerns:
Dropping. The case provided makes for a really nice grip. I have never once almost dropped the phone. It's slid out of my pocket once, but short fall = no damage.
Features I miss:
IR blaster. I love them. They make owning entertainment centers even lazier.
Not much else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Pointmanipo said:
I have date and text working, no voice calls going thru. Have updated the apn as per the site here. What am I missing. Would appreciate any help.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I've never messed with CDMA networks (Verizon is still considered CDMA, right?); my cell service has always been GSM based.
I use Hangouts to handle all of my phone calls now, mainly because I did have a few issues getting Google Voice to play nice with MIUI, so I'm probably not the right person to ask. I'd suggest making a new thread - increasing your chances of getting the answer you're looking for (it is a legitimate issue, so it's worthy of a new thread).

bigcc32 said:
Unfortunately I've never messed with CDMA networks (Verizon is still considered CDMA, right?); my cell service has always been GSM based.
I use Hangouts to handle all of my phone calls now, mainly because I did have a few issues getting Google Voice to play nice with MIUI, so I'm probably not the right person to ask. I'd suggest making a new thread - increasing your chances of getting the answer you're looking for (it is a legitimate issue, so it's worthy of a new thread).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thank you for your reply.

Love mine as a daily driver too, have had it since January or so. Got a transparent tpu case for grip and off i went. I have everything working data wise and software wise, even got my Samsung gear s2 to sync up and run well.

Nicolfa said:
Love mine as a daily driver too, have had it since January or so. Got a transparent tpu case for grip and off i went. I have everything working data wise and software wise, even got my Samsung gear s2 to sync up and run well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many have reported that due to the case, the piezoelectric speaker doesnt work as intended giving a very low volume during calls, could you comment on your experience while making or receiving calls with ur tpu case on? is it that low? or perhaps you dont notice cos use earphones or bluetooth earphones??
Please if you could be detailed it would be much appreciated.

Calls and volume have been fine as long as your holding the headset like a phone and not at odd angles or other methods I've seen people do when talking on the a cell phone.

mp3elv said:
Many have reported that due to the case, the piezoelectric speaker doesnt work as intended giving a very low volume during calls, could you comment on your experience while making or receiving calls with ur tpu case on? is it that low? or perhaps you dont notice cos use earphones or bluetooth earphones??
Please if you could be detailed it would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I use hangouts for all my voice calls, and it seems as though Hangouts has a significant volume boost over the standard phone app.

bigcc32 said:
Again, I use hangouts for all my voice calls, and it seems as though Hangouts has a significant volume boost over the standard phone app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do u use a case on your phone? a tempered glass? or just naked, it seems these addons affect the sound from the piezoelectric device

mp3elv said:
Many have reported that due to the case, the piezoelectric speaker doesnt work as intended giving a very low volume during calls, could you comment on your experience while making or receiving calls with ur tpu case on? is it that low? or perhaps you dont notice cos use earphones or bluetooth earphones??
Please if you could be detailed it would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mp3elv said:
do u use a case on your phone? a tempered glass? or just naked, it seems these addons affect the sound from the piezoelectric device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got a tempered glass screen protector on right now. I haven't noticed any degradation of call quality.

Had mine since november and absolutely LOVE it. I have treated it so carefully, and yet I managed to bring it out with me while partying saturday. Got drunk which I rarely do these days and smashed it in the pavement. I immediately ordered another one. It simply cannot get here soon enough.

I have been using my Mix as a daily driver for a month now running Epic ROM. Glass screen protector and case and no problem with quality of sound. Probably the best phone I have ever used(been using Nexus 6, OPO and OP2 before). When I will miss stock Android I will flash RR or Lineage OS. But for the time I like something different and EPIC Rom (MIUI ) is good for a change.

benziii said:
Had mine since november and absolutely LOVE it. I have treated it so carefully, and yet I managed to bring it out with me while partying saturday. Got drunk which I rarely do these days and smashed it in the pavement. I immediately ordered another one. It simply cannot get here soon enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear about that.
Are you getting a better price this time?
IDK what you paid previously,but, I'd imagine pricing is a little bit better than when it first became available.....
Sent from my Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 using XDA Labs

KOLIOSIS said:
Sorry to hear about that.
Are you getting a better price this time?
IDK what you paid previously,but, I'd imagine pricing is a little bit better than when it first became available.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Paid 780$ last time (4/128). This time around 620$ (6/256). Could probably look around for an even better offer, but I was still buzzed and freakin out hehe.

Got mine today (6/256);
I need to agree with 1 simple fact; pictures & videos are not able to do this device justice. I can safely say that this is THE most premium (excluding the likes of Vertu) device I held.
Amazing. (but slippery AF).
I just finished setting it up with my apps & will report usage after a while.
All in all, apps run super smooth.
The only issue I encountered till now, is the slow transfer speed via USB. I get 2x-3x higher speeds on the same PC with my other devices.
I need to isolate the issue - whether it's the cable, or the handset itself.
#EDIT 2017-05-05
- Still need to underline how slippery it is ;]
- call volume is quite low, even on the highest settings
- the USB cable is thin, so I am expecting needing to buy a replacement after a short time

It has rendered my laptop as useless, haven't turned it on since owning the mix just don't need it with this screen size.

Impulse buy

I picked this device up as a impulse buy to replace my Note 8 and even though there was quite a lot of negative talk about this phone mostly for the software I have to say I don't regret my purchase in terms of why I bought it. I was considering the Z Fold 2, but couldn't justify wasting THAT much money for something I'd most likely break just using it (screen). Anyway, the Duo has been a great multitasking device so far. The only area I'm highly disappointed by is not so much the crappy potato camera, but the fact 1. it takes soooo long to deploy the camera ready to take one. 2. the gigantic f$%&ing delay when taking a picture vs when the camera shutter sound signifies it took a picture. I'm hoping that future updates resolve this phones issues although it sounds like there hasn't been much attention given other than this past January... At any rate, I've bought a few things to improve the usability of this phone. Magnetic usb-c cable for charging and data transfer (miss Qi charging...) and added screen protectors. Finally made some vinyl overlays for the outsides and used CF for grip although negated when the screens are folded open.

Looking forward to receiving mine next week to finally try dual screen. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Note 10 I've been using for the last year or so, particularly for battery life. Also heard it doesn't support ARCore which will be disappointing as was key to one of the main uses I wanted this phone for.

Pretty cool
A lot better build than any of the Folds...

wez_p said:
Looking forward to receiving mine next week to finally try dual screen. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Note 10 I've been using for the last year or so, particularly for battery life. Also heard it doesn't support ARCore which will be disappointing as was key to one of the main uses I wanted this phone for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I think you'll be disappointed straight away. You'll have to forget most of what you expect a android phone, much less a phone to be and learn how to navigate Microsoft's version of Android and a duel screen (not all Microsoft's fault and the nature of duel screens). With that said if you get comfortable enough with how they want you to do things you may start to love it more than any single screen phone and not want to go back. While I feel pretty adjusted and comfortable with using it for what it is as I was intending. With that said I've run into a few situations where the Duo will just NOT replace a phone at least a flag ship like what I was used to with my Note 8. I don't know if this good or good enough, but I can take the Duo off the charger, go to work, have the bluetooth connected to my headset, playing video, screen at around 15% brightness, be browsing the net or social media at the same time the video is playing and after my 8 hr shift be at around 10-5% battery left. Or I can do a charge for about an hr and a half? and be at around 80 - 90%? Not sure what ARCore is. Let me know if you need any info or help, although in some ways still learning myself.

blackhawk said:
Pretty cool
A lot better build than any of the Folds...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I feel like I'd have wrecked the screen if I had a Fold. I'm not hard on devices, but I still expect it to hold up since I have to use touch so much to interact.
I've changed the outer protectors since this original post. Since I have the ability to make my own vinyl stuff I've been experimenting with a logo. The CF was too big and was peeling at the edges so I needed to adjust the size of the vinyl and cut a new one out. My laptop for comparison to cover the stock logo.

vipfreak said:
Thanks, I feel like I'd have wrecked the screen if I had a Fold. I'm not hard on devices, but I still expect it to hold up since I have to use touch so much to interact.
I've changed the outer protectors since this original post. Since I have the ability to make my own vinyl stuff I've been experimenting with a logo. The CF was too big and was peeling at the edges so I needed to adjust the size of the vinyl and cut a new one out. My laptop for comparison to cover the stock logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, the Folds are designed to self destruct like a Mission Impossible tape... brute force not needed
This isn't intended as a phone per se but I really like the way it's hinged and its conservative but innovative solid design.
A sharp micro laptop... Gene Roddenberry would have loved it.
I'm very interested to hear what your experiences are like with it. It a cool hybrid

blackhawk said:
This isn't intended as a phone per se but I really like the way it's hinged and its conservative but innovative solid design.
A sharp micro laptop... Gene Roddenberry would have loved it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely agree. It's really nice hardware. Speaking of which I will watch re-runs of Star Trek TNG if it's on some times.
blackhawk said:
I'm very interested to hear what your experiences are like with it. It a cool hybrid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My primary use case is in "Nintendo DS" view where I have a screen for video playback on top and then I'm browsing the net, social media, or games on the bottom screen. This is where I think it shines the most. My second use case is like regular phone with one screen mostly for ease of typing like replying to a text message. A cool use case that I haven't done all that much is book view where I have youtube open playing a video and doing whatever on the other screen. This view is primarily nice if I have music playing off of youtube because usually if you try to multi task and youtube will stop the music and close the app entirely. With the Duo I don't have to worry about youtube taking up the screen since I have a secondary one. Something a single screen can't do. Why don't I pay youtube? I'm cheap and part Chinese. lol...

Hi,
Well, given the massive price drop from Microsoft, I decided to go for one that I bought from the MS Store directly.
Openend the package and powered up the device. Well, first thing is you will probably have to wait for 30 minutes for the successive updates to apply... Not really nice on a device that still is 800€ after 50% rebate, but OK.
Once powered up and ready to go, the first impression is amazing. The build quality is about the best you can get. The displays despite what reviewers write, are splendid. And the "Duo" panels are just amazing. App are installed super fast (not sure what memory they used, but here is it indeed pretty fast) ; GPS is super accurate ; communnication areoud and clear and so that is all good
But unfortunately, that only last for some time... And then the problems arise :
- no Led or outter display : you don't have a watch. You'll have to grab the device and open it just to know what time it is. You got a notification ? Same thing just to see what arrived. Even worse : you get a phone call ? You have to grab your phone, open it, see who's calling... and half the times, you'll miss the call because you weren't fast enough !
- the hinges ? Superb piece of craftmanship. Honestly. They feel super solid. They have the exact balance between being stiff enough to allow the displays not to move by themselves but still not to be too difficult to operate and unfold. But once your device is open and if you display, say a webpage, in "full screen" (so on both displays) then you'll just have a gap and so some parts of the page won't be legible... I thought MS would have worked on a seamless displaying of the pages when in "full screen", but no. They went the easy route ;
- the way the dual display are working is totally confusing. When I launch an app, it sometimes will display on the left panel, sometimes the right one. Why ? No idea. But that is OKAY. A little more problematic : let's say that I am using my web browser in full screen (on both displays). I get a notification that I got an e-mail. I go to recents and check the mail, then go to recents again to go back to browser... it works, but will go back to single display, not "full screen", so I have to drag the slider again to have full screen. Maybe I would be able to live with that. But on my device, one of the displays randomly decides to power off. I have to close the Surface Duo and reopen it to get the second display back. That really doesn't fill me with confidence in durability :-(
- and then there is the battery. It's melting like snow in hot summer day. I am used to 5kAh batteries that last almost a week-end given my usage. I know MS wants to mimick some of Apple's features, but why taking the worst and choose the same battery power ? Here, playing a simple game like "Cody Cross" and I will be out of juice within 2h30...
I will not talk about other small glitches, like the MS launcher, which in the Surface Edition is simply a joke ; the fact that some apps will not work in the Surface ; the incredibly poor camera (I don't care, I don't use it but did they even gave a look at the smartphone reviews where the stupid reviewers can take away 1 full star out of 5 for a smartphone just because it's camera is not stellar ?) ; the lack of accessories (proof that it simply hasn't sold)... and some other details.
But the ones I described earlier will probably get me to send the Surface Duo back to MS.
Will wait until September 22 to do that.
Let's see what they'll release on Surface Duo 2...
Because I really would like to love it and justify spending 800€ on a smartphone !
Regards

I bought mine Amazon $419 just to play and get to know - it is a fun device - I couldn't justify the Fold 3 which I had been using contemplating. If I trade this in for a Duo 2 and get US $250+ it's all good.
It fast charges really quickly. It can get to 40C and yes it drains battery terribly.
Even SwiftKey seems buggy - whole thing is more prototype than a finished product - they should be paying us!
But I think I'll wait for Android 12 at this point. 11 is a great already a year old. Also the I like to wait 4-6 months anyway for the any issues.

Hi,
If the Surface Duo was sold in France for 400€, I'd keep it too
But best brand new price I've found here is 800€ (for 256GB model) unfortunately.
This is why keeping it is a question for me :-(