Related
... and noticed that all 3 demo'd devices were a bit... laggish. I mean, I tried running a game (blood and glory) and I noticed some frame skipping while no other apps running. I tried scrolling through lists in Google Play or Settings and noticed some sluggish preformance, kindly like using an HTC device.
Then I noticed while downloading an app, it started locking up the phone and became unresponsive at times until the download was complete, twice as slow as my GS2. This seemed a bit confusing.
I'm just having a bit of a dilemma as to whether it makes sense to upgrade to the North American version or buy the international version since it's better spec'd for performance.
What say you?
Probably had numerous processes running. You can close out of an app, but it can still run in he background.
That's the thing, I did by closing all apps and via task manager as well as clearing memory option. It was very odd.
ive been rethinking my purchase since jellybean.
i doubt ill switch to the nexus though.
I don't know about Bell but a lot of times AT&T demo's have special programs on them that run like a video brochure for customers to see many of the phones features and this program can't be unactivated.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I have a White SGS3 for AT&T and I will tell you it runs lag free!!!
I don't have lag neither it might have been their units maybe someone install something that weren't supposed to, I do not have any lag
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Not lagging here at all... So not sure what was going on
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2
did you try rebooting the phone?
I have the Telus Galaxy s 3, there is no lag and it is smooth and super fast compared to my galaxy note.
Zero lag.
This thing runs circles around my razr maxx running aokp. It is decently quicker than my transformer prime too.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I've actually noticed a similar thing with my SGS3. I'm coming from the original Atrix 4G with Gingerbread. That thing was so impressively fast that it would keep up with my absolute fastest taps (I just know where buttons are and I wouldn't even wait for the next menu to draw on screen before tapping).
I expected the S3 to be at least as fast but then I noticed something; ICS is a BEAST! ICS seems to be very labor intensive to run and this translates to the SGS3 being maybe 15% slower with general navigation. Not such an enormous issue (and Jelly Bean will likely fix that), but it gets worse with games.
Games never had an issue on my Atrix, then again I was never running NOVA 3 with a PS3 controller. The Snapdragon S4's video core just doesn't seem to be that powerful. Many games, even ones that are months old drop (many) frames when settings are turned up. The worst culprit however is NOVA 3 (probably the most advanced game). Maybe the version I'm running just isn't optimized for the Snapdragon, but that **** lags like a little *****! Barely pushing 5-10fps during on screen action. The international SGS3 with the Mali400 video core seems to be so far advanced that even the most labor intensive game can't begin to tax it...
Sad, just our plight. But it gets even worse. The Snapdragon is supposed to be super duper advanced and truly future tech, but NOW. It is amazing that it can even keep up with the most advanced quad-core of today, but it's biggest benefit is supposed to be battery life. Smaller manufacturing process, half the cores, advanced architecture, but only maybe a 10% improvement in battery life. Would you pass up LTE for better local performance? Maybe not. (They used the Snapdragon S4 because it has LTE built in and using the Exynos would mean needing a second LTE chip and SUPER ****TY battery life)
I don't really know much, but I feel like manufacturers should focus more on how to reduce the power consumption of the screen because I'm not sure how power hungry the processor is while I'm just reading an article in my browser (or playing a simple game for that matter). While AMOLED's are beautiful, I would prefer to have just a nice screen that frikin lasts a complete goddamn day at sufficient brightness for me to SEE ****!!(especially in the blasted sun!).
Samsungs quad-core is the processor of TODAY that all high end phones should match (not the case at all though). Dunno how they got the power consumption under control, but they did an excellent job. The rest of the world is very fortunate since their phones probably will not 'feel' slow in a year or two. As for the US? Well if it weren't for the rest of the package being so complete, the phone already feels dated to me. This phone, no, this generation of phones, seems to be more of a sidestep. Just like the SGS2 vs SGS3, there's a lot of the same stuff there, but it's all been a little more refined.
Ultimately, it was time for a new phone. This one should hold out for the next 18 months. After all, it is the undisputed best Android (the OneX is DOA due to it's lack of an SD slot; HTC is just plain stupid). In the next generation, I would really really really like to see some Pixel Q screen equivalent development, increased battery life, performance is a given, and some really clean designs with not so many lines and crap all over the place.
All that being said, the SGS3 is truly a beautiful phone in every respect. The enormous screen is packaged such that it feels so sleek and small and NOT cumbersome, that I actually want a larger screen because the whole phone feels smaller than it looks. I have an extremely high standard and this phone has yet to really annoy me with anything. It's an all around good phone.
Sorry for the long reply, I got a little carried away.
Its hard to judge a phones performance based on demo units. Think about how many people come into the store and mess around with the phone doing god knows what, installing who knows what, etc. Only way to really judge the performance is to play with a brand new one.
When people say zero lag, most of the time it is because their standards ridiculously low. They might be coming from a much slower device, or they really treasure their phone and subconsciously ignore lag. Whatever the case, there's definitely lag with the TW launcher. I use Apex, and there is much less lag with that launcher.
nabbed said:
When people say zero lag, most of the time it is because their standards ridiculously low. They might be coming from a much slower device, or they really treasure their phone and subconsciously ignore lag. Whatever the case, there's definitely lag with the TW launcher. I use Apex, and there is much less lag with that launcher.
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Click to collapse
Haha I had some lag from time to time but then I flashed a debloated rom and this phone flies. Too much crap on the US phones - like always. This Snapdragon cpu is pretty sick! I get great battery life and thats comming from a razr maxx, but then again I am no longer using the power sucking verizon lte network.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I appreciate all the replies. It definitely helps to provide some perspective. I will definitely try the phone with the 15 day return option JUST in case and see how this baby runs with de-bloated roms.
Thanks!
xoltrix2000 said:
I appreciate all the replies. It definitely helps to provide some perspective. I will definitely try the phone with the 15 day return option JUST in case and see how this baby runs with de-bloated roms.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't root if you plan on returning. Just an FYI Samsung seems to have done a fast job porting ics onto the gs3. A lot of the apps are actually compiled in gingerbread which lack GPU and other performance enhancements
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
You can root just make sure you use the root method that does not activate the counter. It's a sticky in the development section.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Pick it up finally from Bell yesterday... HORRY SHEET! As expected, this thing is mind blasting! I did not think Google Maps could lock and navigate any faster, seriously.
Only thing that is sad is a lot of the games do not work for it yet. Can't wait till that happens.
Hey guys
I'm looking at potentially buying a 16gb Nexus 4 and just had some questions regarding its performance.
Gripes I have with my SGS2 running CM10.1:
Texting a bunch of people at once, receving and sending a lot of SMS messages, phone lags considerably
Sending SMS messages, there is usually lag between sending the SMS, and it popping up on the screen
Random UI lag opening apps, closing, etc etc
Does the Nexus 4 have any of these "lag" issues? The whole reason I want to switch is to get rid of all the lag I face which with heavy usage (what I do), is considerable.
I've never seen videos of mass SMS on the Nexus 4 or anyone doing any heavy usage on it so I can't tell myself...
I used one at the store and it seemed quite snappy...just hard to tell without using it a lot. I'm really not looking for gaming performance or anything like that...I only care about day-to-day UI lag which I have on my S2.
I don't want to upgrade for nothing...I know it's considerably better than my S2...but how much better?
Thanks,
Elliott
Two words for you....quad core
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
WAY better. The performance is second to none right now. And for the price you can't beat it.
pak-stars said:
Two words for you....quad core
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
estallings15 said:
WAY better. The performance is second to none right now. And for the price you can't beat it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys. Is there still lag while the phone is under heavy load, though? As I mentioned like sending/receiving SMS from 4-5 people at once, etc?
Also any lag while scrolling in Facebook, Tumblr, etc?
Thanks again,
Elliott
Starholdest said:
Thanks guys. Is there still lag while the phone is under heavy load, though? As I mentioned like sending/receiving SMS from 4-5 people at once, etc?
Also any lag while scrolling in Facebook, Tumblr, etc?
Thanks again,
Elliott
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had any. The only lag I get is the bloody XDA app. I hear that is pretty universal, though.
This phone is one of the fastest phones you can buy on the market and one major reason it is so fast is because it has no custom skins to slow the phone down.
Thanks guys...anyone else?
Starholdest said:
Thanks guys...now reading about the battery life I'm a bit put off...
It seems as though even people who have similar routines are getting wildly different battery life from each other...have read good things about Franco's kernel...but even then some people still report like 1.5 hours of SoT...a bit ridiculous but it seems to be all over the board. Obviously it depends how you use it but they don't say heavy usage was involved...no wakelocks.
Worries me coming from an S2 with an extended battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then don't buy it.
estallings15 said:
Then don't buy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol...what is your battery life like? How much screen on time specifically? Anyway I didn't really want to turn this into a battery debate so I deleted that post.
Can't go wrong with the N4; absolutely no lag whatsoever and the best Android experience I've had so far, and I've owned (in order) a Droid X, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3 and an HTC One X.
The infamous heat issue is solved pretty easily with a custom kernel, that and the on-screen time you're aiming for
Cool thanks for the reply!
my sot(Wi-Fi & nothing syncing)...
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
This is fastest phone!
Sent from my V8404 jellybean using xda app-developers app
I had SGS2 and I switched to Nexus 4..
Using AOKP + custom kernel on it atm.
No lag or at all
Never really had 4 or 5 people sms me at once, but I run multiplies apps and is smooth as butter!
As for battery life, you are not going to get the same amount as you get in S2..I'm I am a light user; I will end up with 65~70% at the end of the day.
Get around 20% per and hour when browsering .. so 5 hours?
And you do get a better/bigger screen.
Thanks guys! QUIETLYloud is that on stock ROM and stock kernel? That's pretty amazing...although what were you doing the whole time?
bobola what kernel are you using?
7 hours is achievable only by looking at a black screen. 4 hours is more realistic.
By the way this is the fastest phone ever.
This phone rocks, I just sold the Note 2 to get this. I like my Nexus 4 better than Note 2. And much better than my two last year phones, the HTC One X international, and Galaxy Nexus.
Battery life is second best next to the Note 2 I had, but is better than the One X and Galaxy Nexus for sure.
I get around 4h On Screen time, sometimes 5h. Also total battery life throughout the day, can range from 10 hours total on super busy workdays, using phone non stop, to 16 - 18 hours on light days.
This phone will not give you 24+ hours battery life with heavy use, no. But its not as bad as many Android phones either. I'd rate the N4 battery life above medium.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 AM ----------
Oh yeah, the size of the Nexus 4 = best.
4.7" is just right to me, not iPhone 5 tiny, but also not outrageously huge like Note 2 I had. Even the Galaxy S4 at 5" will be borderline hard to truly one hand operate with ease.
Please Nexus-Five, no larger than 4.8".
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Starholdest said:
Thanks guys! QUIETLYloud is that on stock ROM and stock kernel? That's pretty amazing...although what were you doing the whole time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was playing poker(about 2 hours)... downloaded 6 30 minute hd videos(via tube mate)... watched about 4 hours worth hd videos... 1 hr call total... bunch of web(I'm a news hound)... bunch of xda... I'll be testing today without any Wi-Fi
I'm on stock odex'd and matrix kernel v8
calyxim said:
7 hours is achievable only by looking at a black screen. 4 hours is more realistic.
By the way this is the fastest phone ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not true... you get 5 hours completely stock
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
calyxim said:
7 hours is achievable only by looking at a black screen. 4 hours is more realistic.
By the way this is the fastest phone ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The color of the screen has absolutely no bearing on battery usage on a non-AMOLED handset. AMOLED, sure, each pixel is also it's own light source (black = no light, white = most light). LCD screens with a backlight? No. The only factor there is screen brightness; every pixel is lit from the same light source in LCD no matter what color they are.
Now, if you meant that the phone was doing absolutely nothing but displaying a static image on lowest brightness, that would make a difference. That would make more sense considering that the battery history does show that while the screen was on for extended periods of time the phone itself has very little awake time. Then again, I think the awake time indicator is for wakelocks when the screen is off. Either way, it's a very odd looking battery stats screen.
This phone rocks.
Nexus phones just feel so right to me. Good comfortable size, and the stock OS is just so slim and light, minimalistic, no bullsh!t bloat, no stupid UI's that still use Gingerbread green colors and themes ( looking at you Touchjizz, and Senseless )
I love the front bezel, all black, no branding on it. And this screen looks very nice, once calibrated with custom kernel.
Thing is, Nexus phone are never top spec power beasts, they come out at an odd time for Android releases. Like most high end new Android phones are released in Spring, where Nexus is always Fall. Samsung, HTC, and Sony release their top phones in Spring. So you can look at a Nexus as outdated hardware wise in just a few months after release.
At launch end of year, a Nexus phone is the top spec of that year, but not by much, just slightly best specs. But come 4 to 5 months later they are easily outdone by the next gen phones of the new year.
Saying all that, I still take a Nexus 4 over anything else now. And the Nexus-Five will be best phone of 2013, with Android 5.0 KLP, and Snapdragon 800, with a 3100mAh battery, released this Fall.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
I have a poor upgrade experience from S3->S4 T-Mobile 16GB version. I'm actually considering selling the S4 after only 10 days to be honest.
It's laggy, especially in the browser. When scrolling it's like it's with 25FPS. Very far from the smooth S3 experience. And when I try to scroll, it's if the phone takes 0.5 second to power up. So the first cm I move my finger, the screen doesn't respond to. It's not everytime it happens though. I'm thinking it could be the CPU governor, but then it should only happen once, and I can replicate it over and over within few seconds.
Second problem - it's hot as hell. The backside is heating up just browsing. I haven't even used the phone for Youtube or gaming yet.
I've tried installing a Google Edition image 4.3 from here, the Android system runs fine, but the browser experience plus the heat is exactly the same problem as with the Samsung TW 4.2 firmware.
*EDIT* Removing the animations in the developer menu doesn't do any good... Just removes the animations. The device LAGS.
I'd really like some input on this - I can't be the only dissapointed user with this
I've upgraded from the HTC One S, and I've been quite underwhelmed with this phone. Battery life and screen is an improvement, but I've been getting those same bugs that you've reported. The gaming performance on this phone isn't even that good on simple games like flow, even with a processor with double the cores, clocked higher and the new spec GPU. Starting to think that maybe the HTC One would have been a better choice.
Meh, sorry for rambling and tl;dr-ing, but yeah, I have the same issues.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
kylepont said:
I've upgraded from the HTC One S, and I've been quite underwhelmed with this phone. Battery life and screen is an improvement, but I've been getting those same bugs that you've reported. The gaming performance on this phone isn't even that good on simple games like flow, even with a processor with double the cores, clocked higher and the new spec GPU. Starting to think that maybe the HTC One would have been a better choice.
Meh, sorry for rambling and tl;dr-ing, but yeah, I have the same issues.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's nice knowing I'm not alone. I've never before gone back before, but I'm really seriously considering it. The phone is not totally new anymore and the Google "vanilla" edition hasn't cured anything. I'm seriously thinking it's bad hardware.
The build quality is absolutely awful on this phone, I'm petrified to put it in my pocket as so many people have had their phone bend and break just from putting it in the front pocket. Sadly, my network won't let me go back, but if I had the chance, this phone would be gone. The amount of pointless bloatware on this is beyond insane, I haven't gone onto the Google edition yet but I bet the performance would improve. Annoying that I won't be able to uninstall applications.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Maybe u should upgrade the firmware to get rid of the lags ... on my phone i have almost no lag at all but i have the exynos version
Heating is a problem that u cant do much about ... i don t know if a custom kernel may help to deal with it
And the phone is a big plastic device but the story behind the broken screens in pockets doesn t sit well with me ... its perfectly possible to happen but people tend to exaggerate a lot ... especially on internet or blame their fault on other things so despite i m being worried too about the fact it cant be so easy to brake the screen
Is anyone unhappy with the G2 and returning it? If so, why are returning it and which device are you getting?
Sent from my LG-D800 using xda premium
I am extremely happy with mine. No way I am returning it. Are you considering taking yours back?
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 4
I will be returning mine. After the initial honeymoon period of around 5 days, I'm starting to dislike a few things enough to return it.
1. External speaker is quite terrible, it's very quiet and they place it exactly where your hands rest when you're playing games so it mutes the sound completely.
2. Speaking of gaming, this phone has serious thermal and throttling issues. I can't play any of my graphic intensive games, MC4, NFS Most Wanted, or Asphalt series for more than 10-15 minutes. The phone would get burning hot and throttle itself to a crawl, I would need to exit and wait 10-20 minutes before I could play another 10-15 minutes of gaming.
3. Not a fan of the on screen buttons, it takes up part of the screen..again when gaming I would accidentally tap it many times exiting me out of my game at the worst time.
4. Camera recording, I can't tap to focus during recording like I could on any of my other phones. HTC One, S4, Note II, iPhone ect. Sometimes I would be stuck recording a blur image for the first 5-10 seconds before it automatically tries to focus. 1080p 60 frames per second recording seems to only work in outdoor light or very good lighting, once you go indoors it records at like 5-10 frames per second.
5. Knock on is very inconsistent, I would have to double tap the screen 4 or 5 times sometimes to get it to register while it's sleeping.
I'm going to use the Note 3 for a while to see how that baby works. Really sad to see the G2 go, I had high hopes and a great initial impressions of it at first.
bri315317 said:
I am extremely happy with mine. No way I am returning it. Are you considering taking yours back?
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I have overall liked this phone very much and I just dumped my S4 over the weekend, so not sure what I would get even if I did return it lol.
So to answer your question, I'm keeping it. But if I can't figure out my battery drain issues, I will strongly consider returning it.
Sent from my LG-D800 using xda premium
Jury is still out. I don't game much, but I was playing Hex Defense (old tower defense game) and when objects really started to fly around the screen, it started to drag ass pretty bad. Not at all what I was expecting.
Even though I'm returning the G2, there are a few things I loved and will miss.
When not throttled the phone is a complete monster. Easily the fastest phone I've used by far.
I love the web browser, super fast and smooth. Signal strength still amazes me. Battery life is second to none. The screen and form factor is perfect. Oh and what a screen! It still takes my breath away. Camera in low light is awesome, daylight shots are the best.
Maybe im just too picky.
WizeGuyDezignz said:
Awesome. I have overall liked this phone very much and I just dumped my S4 over the weekend, so not sure what I would get even if I did return it lol.
So to answer your question, I'm keeping it. But if I can't figure out my battery drain issues, I will strongly consider returning it.
Sent from my LG-D800 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A friend is having serious battery problems also, still trying to nail down what's causing it. He has disabled the apps that were keeping awake the most, even disabled gps, wifi location and the find my phone thing. He's lucky to get 8 hrs
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk 4
What gives with the bad gaming preformance? I thought this phone was built with graphic intensive tasks in mind by implementing GRAM and the snapdragon 800 should more than be able to handle it, no? Is it maybe because apps aren't written to utilize GRAM currently?
cslingerland said:
What gives with the bad gaming preformance? I thought this phone was built with graphic intensive tasks in mind by implementing GRAM and the snapdragon 800 should more than be able to handle it, no? Is it maybe because apps aren't written to utilize GRAM currently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like thermal throttling, something that plagued the N4 as well.
bose301s said:
Sounds like thermal throttling, something that plagued the N4 as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that something that can be overcame with software
I like the phone... even though a few things annoy me. love the stock launcher but the redraw makes it lag every time you go back.
I hate how laggy the drop down menu is on the lock screen too. god its awful lol
but anyway I have no reason to return it. the only other phone I'd want is the htc one but I doubt I could go down in screen size. seems like a nice phone but eh I hate blink feed and how non customizable the launcher is... and besides I still have a dna lol
Sent from my LG G2 using Tapatalk 4
I haven't decided yet.
Reasons I want to return it:
Non-AMOLED display: I can see it flickering and the black contrast sucks comparatively.
Camera software needs some major help versus Samsung's TouchWiz camera
Lack of external storage, though I may order an OTG cable
CarrierIQ
Reasons I want to keep it: Snapdragon 800
I still have a Lumia 925 and an S4, and the S4 wouldn't be a terrible phone to go back to as my daily driver. But this Snapdragon 800 is noticeably quicker.
cslingerland said:
Is that something that can be overcame with software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a kernel it can be.
Hell no. Loving it now that I have rooted it and killed all the bloat. Definitely a keeper for me for the next year.
It's worst feature (to me) is the shiny plastic back, which is at least fixable. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2447349
I will be keeping it, but that doesn't mean i won't get rid of it if another maker improves on this design (battery, bezel)
I remember when upgrading from the Thunderbolt to the s3 it was like nice, I finally have a nice phone but this phone is just something different. I am not one to get excited about things but i thoroughly enjoy looking at the phone, picking it up, holding it and turning it on.
I'm not picky enough with the camera. I think it does wonderfully and will only get better as the phone matures (development)
I'm not picky with the screen changing what appears to be colors (probably also can be fixed).
Sure there are a few nuances like the knock knock not always working but honestly as far as perfect goes for me, this phone currently is it. Will it get better? I hope so.
Speakers are better than the s3 so thats a plus even though i dont use them. Although, watching youtube videos i do agree the speaker placement is a little weird but that is easily remedied by shifting your hands slightly. I would assume the same for gaming, which i don't really do much of since i play PC games.
Anything can be picked apart. Its really all about how much you can tolerate.
I think I might send mine back for now, till the bootloader gets unlocked and I can have slimrom back. I picked up my n4 today and its just so much faster/smoother.
Will miss the battery life however but my n4 gets me through the day %90 of the time.
Darkestred said:
Anything can be picked apart. Its really all about how much you can tolerate.
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Click to collapse
I like the phone alot and have very few issues, none of which can't be overcome. This last part of your post truly says it all. No phone is perfect!!
randyspants said:
I think I might send mine back for now, till the bootloader gets unlocked and I can have slimrom back. I picked up my n4 today and its just so much faster/smoother.
Will miss the battery life however but my n4 gets me through the day %90 of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
N4 isnt 4G, is it?
Keeping mine!!!!! Love the stock launcher and all the stock apps, text/email. Phone is quick and snappy everywhere. I rooted it and removed VZW crap and it flies. The only drawback of this phone, to me, is no SD card. Batt life is great....wireless charging, screen size is perfect. Wish I had a white one..wish the back was flat color, but it's not enough to return. There's no phone out there now that can compete. I left an S4 for it and it crushes that lag bag. The Note 3 will be too large for me, so not even an option.
chrisexv6 said:
N4 isnt 4G, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it's not however I will be moving to India in a couple months so that won't matter to me soon.
Hi all XSP users
in just a few days, it will be 1 year since i own this phone. here i'm trying to give a sort of review-ish view and opinion about this phone
So without further ado, allow me to start (please forgive me for any inappropriate or ineligible english since its not my main language)
1 year ago i was looking for a replacement for my samsung galaxy gio which has become obsolete (hardware wise especially) because it cannot keep up with my demands. so at that time i was searching for a phone that meets my budget (cant go on a spending spree at that time) but still packs a can of whoop-ass.
at that time in my country was the time where 3 high spec phones launches samsung galaxy s4, sony xperia Z, and oppo find 5. all of them were top of the class. too bad they were all above my budget
other brand like HTC has no interesting line up for me, LG has some not bad spec phone but none to my liking.
Lo and behold i found out about the xperia SP about 2 weeks before the event. at the price it was offered, no other phone can match XSP specs, camera wise, processor wise (at that time of course). i bought the phone without hesitation.
my review
Size
for me this phone hits the sweet spot for size. although i can still held 5,5 inch phone without problem, but this phone is nice to grasp
screen size
screen size is adequate for me, although sometimes feel a little too small. too bad its not IPS
camera
one of the downfall for XSP for me. the camera quality is quite bad, my dads nokia x5 can even shot almost if not sometimes better images. though in my opinion since 4.3 update and using xperia M ported camera its a little bit better, i still wish it was better
processor
one of the best performance processor for midrange phone at that time and still is today IMO.
GPU
same, one of the best for playing games on a midrange phone
RAM
this is the ultimate donwfall for me in XSP. we were promoted with a 1GB RAM for XSP but how much did we get?? just a freakin' 768 ram.
thats downright false advertising. no amount of excuse and logic can justify a 1GB ram on spec sheet and only 768 in reality. this is what tied down our XSP from becoming the Beast that it could've and should've been.
although after 4.3 update the RAM increased to 848, it's still a long way from 1GB. even lenovo can put 900+MB on their 1GB RAM phone, so i am truly dissapointed at sony for this one.
My Experience
okay, hardware review aside, now im going to share how the phone feels for my daily usage
my XSP is LB, but i root it. i'll split this part to pre 4.3 and 4.3
PRE 4.3
the phone before the 4.3 update was so-so performance wise for me. mind you im a gamer, and understanding that our XSP have adreno 320 it should be handle all graphics intensive game, so i installed many heavy game. real boxing, real racing, asphalt 8, modern combat 4, NFS, chaos rings. all of that game should've played flawlessly if not for that darn RAM. you cant even browse and listen to walkman without the walkman suddenly stop. you gotta change the ram management and dalvik to help ease the RAM management, n i think that sucks. because if im not an xda member and dont root my phone, how else am i gonna improve XSP performance. there were slight regret buying this phone at that moment, but i cant change my phone again. no phone pique my interest yet again.
POST 4.3
post 4.3 update the phones performance got better a little bit since the increase in RAM but, performance wise its still so-so. if i have to give it a score before 4.3 was 7 and now it was 7.5. but luckily 4.3 update brings more than just bigger RAM it brings loads of things, from social camera, updated media apps, themes, so updating to 4.3 was like having a new phone all over again.
Conclusion
im still happy with this phone, eventhough theres major flaw (RAM)
so, will i still use this phone? YES
is it still one of the strongest budget mid range phone right now? YES (IMO, compared with other brand like samsung, LG, HTC, lenovo, OPPO)
will u still suggest this phone to friend of relatives? if they're not going to root it, NO, if they're going to root it then YES
well thats what i think about our beloved XSP
please share your opinion about this :good:
You don't need 500 MB of ram to run one game.
I love my SP,I recommend moving to a custom ROM to increase performance
Also,it's surprisingly strong. I dropped my phone on the asphalt and it slided few meters and it's fine (few scratches) !
darkkfruit said:
You don't need 500 MB of ram to run one game.
I love my SP,I recommend moving to a custom ROM to increase performance
Also,it's surprisingly strong. I dropped my phone on the asphalt and it slided few meters and it's fine (few scratches) !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well u need it if you want to play real racing 3 with default graphics. had not for rr3 graphics apps and reducing it to low, that game was quite a disaster to play for more than 15 minutes.
no, im not thinking of using custom ROM. im not going to unlock my bootloader
pavapizza said:
well u need it if you want to play real racing 3 with default graphics. had not for rr3 graphics apps and reducing it to low, that game was quite a disaster to play for more than 15 minutes.
no, im not thinking of using custom ROM. im not going to unlock my bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to unlock bootloader.:laugh:
You can find a list with locked bootloaders here.
Press CTRL F and type LB then search at the Stock Based roms. You will find 9 ROMs that do not require UBL
Klaudas said:
You don't need to unlock bootloader.:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
darkkfruit said:
You can find a list with locked bootloaders here.
Press CTRL F and type LB then search at the Stock Based roms. You will find 9 ROMs that do not require UBL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh yeah, forgot that there are ROMs that doesn't need unlocked bootloader. but still, I dont want to use custom ROM. its not that I lost hope for this phonr that I don't want to try custom ROM, its the opposite actually. I like this phone and its stock ROM. That's why I only do minor tweaks.
Still loving mine as well. The size, build, fit, look... It's perfect for me. I get lots of comments on it.
I can overlook the minor software quirks. I figure once Sony leaves it behind I'll move over to CM which will be nice n stable by that time!
cyapalmpos said:
Still loving mine as well. The size, build, fit, look... It's perfect for me. I get lots of comments on it.
I can overlook the minor software quirks. I figure once Sony leaves it behind I'll move over to CM which will be nice n stable by that time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, i may also do that when sony has abandoned our phone and no longer supports it. But right now im loving this phone the way it is with all the flaws. Still an excellent rocking phone :good:
Actually, the XSP does have 1Gb of RAM. The amount that you think missing is actually dedicated to the GPU
(kinda like a PC's Graphics card with its own chip and RAM, only here we have 2 in 1 chip, both CPU and GPU)
Other than that, a very reliable review, mate!
cnkhanh said:
Actually, the XSP does have 1Gb of RAM. The amount that you think missing is actually dedicated to the GPU
(kinda like a PC's Graphics card with its own chip and RAM, only here we have 2 in 1 chip, both CPU and GPU)
Other than that, a very reliable review, mate!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so does that mean our GPU memory decreases now, since after 4.3 our device memory increase?
(btw not a sarcastic question, i really do want to know :good
pavapizza said:
so does that mean our GPU memory decreases now, since after 4.3 our device memory increase?
(btw not a sarcastic question, i really do want to know :good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting question, maybe there is also some shared memory now. Or our GPU memory is decreased . Want to know .
Th3Duck said:
Interesting question, maybe there is also some shared memory now. Or our GPU memory is decreased . Want to know .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone has 1024mb of ram but only 839mb is usable because the GPU uses that 185mb that we can't use
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Free mobile app
Please tell me camera quality of SP? I'm gonna buy this tomorrow
I have 2 questions
1-how is the battery life after one year?
2-how often do you charge your phone
eranda84 said:
Please tell me camera quality of SP? I'm gonna buy this tomorrow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the camera is decent. Pictures tend to have a lot of noise. But outdoor picture can still look very beautiful though. If u buy this consider using 3rd party camera app, like camera 360 or lenovo super camera.
ironshadow2 said:
I have 2 questions
1-how is the battery life after one year?
2-how often do you charge your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Battery life is still not bad i think. Im an active user, i chat n play game. If i only chat, n email, n browsing, this phone can last 12+ hours. You can force it to 20+ hours too if u solely use it for chat. Mind you the provider im using has ****ty coverage so that probably factors.
2. I charge it every night. If i unplug at, say 6am, then probably i charge again at 10 or 11 pm. usually i play games at 8 or 9pm, before charge so i can reduce the battery percentage.
noahvt said:
This phone has 1024mb of ram but only 839mb is usable because the GPU uses that 185mb that we can't use
Sent from my C5303 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what i want to know. like i said before 4.3 our memory device is 760, does that mean our GPU can use the other 240mb?
if it can does that mean our GPU memory actually decreases after 4.3, since our device memory got increase to 840mb?
pavapizza said:
thats what i want to know. like i said before 4.3 our memory device is 760, does that mean our GPU can use the other 240mb?
if it can does that mean our GPU memory actually decreases after 4.3, since our device memory got increase to 840mb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They reserved more for GPU in Android 4.1.2 maybe due to Sony thinking it is vital like what they do on the Xperia Z. But after custom ROMs like CM shows that their RAM is north of 800MB, Sony releases more RAM for other purposes.
Nice post, guy! Since I bought XSP I just use it for listening to music, suffering the web, and I don't like to play game on mobile (PC too ). So I think it's actually good enough for my need.
I've been using XSP for almost 1 year too, now I think the RAM is getting not enough to use, maybe it's time to buy a new phone with 2G+ RAM.
quilipham said:
Nice post, guy! Since I bought XSP I just use it for listening to music, suffering the web, and I don't like to play game on mobile (PC too ). So I think it's actually good enough for my need.
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Click to collapse
well if someday you decide to play games, just know that this phone can play almost any game flawlessly
TinaSA said:
I've been using XSP for almost 1 year too, now I think the RAM is getting not enough to use, maybe it's time to buy a new phone with 2G+ RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, me too. been setting my eye for the new g3 or HTC e8. or maybe xperia z3 lol