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After 2 years of faithfully sticking with me, my G2 died yesterday. It was a long time coming at this point so I had been preparing for the worst. My G2 was extremely resilient, surviving countless soft bricks, drops, months of 20k texts average, and even a bit of water damage. The ribbon cable connecting my screen gave out, and while fixing it was an option, I have retired it in favor of getting a Note 2. After about 12 hours of usage I thought I'd drop in here and share my thoughts about the transition, in case any of you are on T-Mobile and are thinking about making the jump.
For starters the Note is about the same width as a G2 with the keyboard open. The Note is about an inch taller as well. The phones feel almost even on weight, though the Note may feel a bit lighter because the weight is more distributed. As a heavy texter, the phone fits my hands pretty comfortably.
The first noticeable thing is the massive increase in screen real estate. I was intimidated at first but soon fell in love. There is room for endless widgets, apps, shortcuts, etc. The next thing I picked up on was the difference in screen brightness. Even at its lowest setting the Note has a vibrant and easily readable screen.
Next up is the massive initial charge of the battery. The Note has a 3100mAh battery! The capacity is almost 2.5 times bigger. Coming from the store the phone had about 50% battery. It took about 5 hours to get the charge full. In that time I preformed the OTA, and gently did some feature testing.
Multi-Window is neat, I've put it to good use already. I wish we could use any app with it, but that's an adventure for another day when I root the phone. Pop-up-browser is nifty. The S-Pen is useful in so many ways. From typing with it, to drawing with it, even the pre-made gestures. It really helps compensate with the massive screen. You can hold the phone one handed and use the other to complete navigate with the S-Pen.
Coming from AOSP based roms to TouchWiz is a bit weird. I pretty much followed CM / Andromadus development work religiously. Even on most of the other phones I have around, they were rooted and flashed within hours. I'm giving it a try for a change. While I do miss some things shuch as long press back button app kill, most of the things are quickly forgotten. I don't like how pushy the Samsung based apps are, (make a Samsung account, use is app store thing, etc....) but it's easily overlooked.
Overall it's miles better than any experience past CM7.2 provided over the G2. While the ICS & JB experience was not bad, the aged hardware really showed it's age when side by side. Even with all the tweaks and tricks we had, it is nothing compared to the responsiveness of the Note. The Exynos 4412 absolutely destroys anything thrown at it. The 2GiBs of RAM also help it out.
All in all the transition is going well. If any of you are looking to make the jump any time soon, it's a substantial and immediately noticeable upgrade. It's definitely money well spent. Hope to see some of you around the Note 2 forums!
Sent from my SGH-T889
Off topic
Hello all users of this beautifull phone from LG, i want to ask You (like in my signature, cause i want to get this phone) about good and bad sides of this phone.
Could You write what is the best and some examples or comparison to other phones and what is wrong wit this phone. The most problems with hardware (in my desire volume up and down are broken), how about back panel glass? Screen is good if we use it on sunny day? I mean if sun is over screen. How looks like overheating? It is all time? What is a battery drain? What is Your average or record in use, 1 day? 3 days max? How about lags in use?
Need to know from experienced users and newbie, also need little infi from people which use stock rom or custom.
Please help me a little, i am going to collect money for this phone - but for me it is a looong way.
Please give Your opinion, good and bad things. If You can write so much as You want to share. Thanks man! Or girl!
Ps. Can't find one topic of review, there are two topics about q&a or questions, but they are too big and hard to find info or opinions and comparisons This topic is a mix, if You find another please link here to all posts about questions. Thank You again. Best regards.
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Since it's almost entirely positive, I'll only list the major negatives that I can think of right now:
-Bad camera
-Screen has poor out of the box colours
-Overheating for some
-Back glass is easily breakable
-Speaker quality isn't great
I can't really think of any other negatives (definitely none that affect me at least) and everything else about this device is a positive. The screen calibration and overheating can easily be fixed with custom ROMs/kernels and the glass with a case. The camera and speakers you can learn to live with (especially given the ridiculous price).
With a nexus line, you're bound to experience android at its best (guaranteed updates, etc).
some of the cons are obvious but aren't devastating.
- Camera (doesn't compete with HTC One/S4/Iphone, but still gets the job done great)
- design, it's all glass back and front. REALLY FRAGILE. (recently just dropped it from about 1ft and have a crack running across. Now i can't use half the screen)
- speaker ( for me its positioning too, the way its implemented when lying on its back, the sound is really distorted/blocked)
Think the cons are mentioned above.
Small note for the speaker: they made a design change to make this better.
First version (I have) is really bad, speaker is on the back and if you place it on a table it is 100% blocked. Newer version has two small dots on the back, so if you place it on a table it isn't fully blocked anymore.
Further these dots will make it have more grip. First version is very smooth so slides away easily.
Search in google for 'nexus 4 small design change'
elpino.rv said:
Think the cons are mentioned above.
Small note for the speaker: they made a design change to make this better.
First version (I have) is really bad, speaker is on the back and if you place it on a table it is 100% blocked. Newer version has two small dots on the back, so if you place it on a table it isn't fully blocked anymore.
Further these dots will make it have more grip. First version is very smooth so slides away easily.
Search in google for 'nexus 4 small design change'
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Click to collapse
Thanks for Your info, but how to check which version is "young?". There is 2 version of Nexus 4 and differences between old and news it is a two dots on the back panel? It is visual change not hardware etc. If i check the phone and saw 2 dots it is the most fresh version of the phone?
Ps. Please guys give Your opinion here, i am looking for perfect phone hehe and also try to collect money - maybe for You it is really easy but not for me. Thanks for Your help.
just sent via tapatalk
CONS
- Screen Colours are off - This can be solved via screen calibration
- Overheating issues; in my experience the phone gets pretty toasty even when doing simple tasks. But I never had any shutdowns due to overheating . The highest temp I got to was 45C( 113F)
- Quality issues; several friends who own Nexus 4 had theirs exchanged due to screen problems such as light bleed and discoloration
- The Glass construction in pretty fragile, especially the back( Never dropped mine though)
- The Speaker is utterly horrid, the sound being weak and tinny. My old iPod Touch 4th gen has a better inbuilt speaker.
- The Camera compared to other phones is subpar (according to the photography nerds- honestly the camera is good enough for me though)
- Lacks native LTE support( Although there is a hack to get it back if HSPA+ is not fast enough for you)
PROS
- Vanilla Android - No crapware, skins or carrier junk
- Latest Updates (running 4.3 while most of the poor sods with their HTC Ones have 4.1.2)
- Easily unlockable bootloader; almost impossible to brick(unless you mess with the bootloader)
- Dirt cheap when looking at the specs.
- S4 Pro Quad which is still pretty beast with the Adreno 320 GPU
- Google Play customer service is excellent(in my experience at least)
- Most Custom ROMs based on AOSP run most smoothly and first support the Nexus 4.
- Seems like all of the devs and senior members on XDA own Nexus 4s,so it won't be hard to get support.
- Curved screen- feels awesome when you use it
kabini said:
(according to the photography nerds- honestly the camera is good enough for me though)
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THIS. I suspect it'll actually be good enough for most people since they use the camera only for photos on social networks/snapchat.
Here we go another boring review of the ZF2, I'll try to make it short and sweet...
Canadian Version, Asus Zenfone 2, 4g/64gb Silver version
What I came from?
Samsung Galaxy S5 16g, truly loved this phone when I got it less then a year ago. Has been serving me good until Lollipop update which on a 16gb version phone doesn't leave you much to play with. Even apps/games copied to MicroSD, I was left with 1 gb left on the phone to use and no idea what was chewing up the memory. My S5 was starting to lag a bit on a daily usage.
When I got the ZF2...
I wasn't looking to get a new phone but when my neighbour bought one, she had me set it up for her, that did it, I went out and bought it the next day, it was truly that good in my hands. It literally blew my S5 away in so many ways and I'll outline some of them here.
Unrealistic reviews...
I did a lot of reading that evening on the ZF2 before I got it, a good 10 hours of reading to be exact. The only things that I didn't like pre-purchase was the obvious, battery life, top power button and the non-removeable battery. I was quite amazed that a lot of people were listing negatives of the ZF2 compared to high end phones, ok ppl, this is not rated as a high-end phone although it competes quite close to them. You need to understand that you are comparing a $380 cdn phone to $800 to $1100 phones, apples and oranges folks.
Some glitches I've noticed...
Well, only one but not a huge deal. A couple of my games start up fine but controls are way off, ie. the controls are mirrored, meaning where the screen joysticks are, the sensitive is actually mirrored vertically, weird. The rest of my games are fine, just a couple I've noticed. Again, I don't play a lot of games so not a big deal. The other is we have LTE here and I'm use to the LTE icon on the status bar, on the ZF2, it just says 4G, which is basically the same thing, again, cosmetics, the speed is the same if not faster then my S5 for internet.
What I love...
Not sure what everyone is complaining about the battery, I haven't noticed any excessive drain then the usual, I get a whole day of usage from mine and even a bit left over before it hits the charger. This was the same as my S5 maybe a tad more probably because of the bigger screen. The fast charging makes up for this, the S5 took forever to charge. Also, the S5 was waterproof IF you remember to close the sync door lol.
In the end my decisions were the 64gb, you don't know how much nicer that is compared to a 16gb until you have the amount of apps/games I do Speed, this phone is insanely smooth and fast, I've used the Galaxy S6 and I'm not able to tell the difference between the two under normal use. Dual-sim, I use a US/Mexico Roam Mobility sim, so I can just leave this in my phone and activate it when I'm in those areas, nice and convenient. Screen size is nice and big but I'm not a big screen phone fan, single hand use is tough. Fast battery charging, this phone charges super fast.
Overall this phone I've had for about a week now has served me well. The screen is not as bright as my SuperAMOLED S5 but again, the price makes up for that. Screen looks good to me though, pictures are vivid, HD MKV movies play perfect, no complaints there. The outer case is fine, a little slippery, doesn't look cheap, volume buttons are oddly in the center on the back but I'm starting to like it there, I use to have fiddle around with my S5 on the sides and almost dropped the phone a couple of times doing so, the ZF2 volume buttons I think is more accessible because my index is naturally there when talking on the phone. A couple of things I did find interesting, the ZF2 has better call quality and reception then my S5 which I find quite odd for a phone that's much cheaper. Unassisted GPS works and syncs very fast using Sygic.
For the price and the caliber of this phone, I say I made the right decision. Unlocked, dual-sim, 4 gb/64gb, Quard-core, 5.5" screen, fast charging, you really can't lose. I just can't wait to get my protective case and glass screen protector, I'm really paranoid about dropping or scratching it now So, I will give it another week or so, if it performs like it does now still, my unlocked Galaxy S5 will probably go on sale with the unfortunately ZF2 incompatible Galaxy Gear watch (damn Samsung )
I can highly recommend the zenwatch to go along with your ZF2. It also punches well above its weight for the price.
Congrats Minim3. I just picked up a 4gb/64gb model in gold today from NCIX. Loving it so far.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
What I hate about zf2 is its black plastic bezzel got scratches easily if you are not using any case, second its button does not have any background lights
Yea I've literally received mine today but the first thing I've done is put it in a case. No matter how small a nick you get it will always annoy you.
As to backlit capacitive buttons that's a matter of preference. The last phone I had with them was the S3 and the first thing I did with it was switch the lights of as they annoyed me so much. (-:
Sent from my ASUS_Z00ADA using Tapatalk
When ppl are reviewing this phone how come no one mentions the 100GB Google drive offer, at least for me this was a fifty dollar value.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA
Yes codgib, that was a very welcome bonus. I am so pleased with this phone and the bonus.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app
nice review,
the 2nd sim slot is useful for me too, and the double tap to turn on/off is very useful on that big screen (even it consume power)
I've had mine for a few weeks now. I got the 1.8GHz/4GB/32GB model. I came from a 1st gen Moto G.
Pros
- Big, colourful display
- Good performance (in general and on gfx-heavy games)
- Multitasking is a breeze thanks to the RAM
- Great reception (at least compared to my previous phone)
- Native call recording
- Expandable memory
- OTG (although seemingly not NTFS. Disappointing)
Cons
- Average camera (although the app itself is much better than the base Google Camera)
- Average sound volume. I had to bump the dB levels of my mp3s before transferring to the phone (although it's fine through headphones). Misleading speaker grille at the rear of the phone (I was aware of this before purchase)
- Below average sound quality (bass seems almost non-existent/tinny)
- Average screen brightness. Can be very difficult to use in direct sunlight (The 720p model apparently has better brightness)
- Average battery life
- Power button is awkward to reach at times, saved only by double-tap on/off screen
- Volume up/down button on the rear. I use my phone to play radio/music so it sits on a table etc. Having to lift the phone to adjust the volume is a bit of a nuisance
- Can get sluggish after a while (granted, this is really more down to the 5.0 LP memory leak issue)
- Too much pre-loaded software
Yes I forgot those, good call. Was so use to my s5 buttons lighting this will take time to get use to.
Nice review, I have also had mine for almost a month now.
I am quite fond of the device, and have no major issues with it. I am still getting used to the size, and ZenUI is not my favorite., but a custom launcher makes it "feel" better to me. The latest update has done wonders for battery life, which I was initially concerned about as mine was drastically different then the one a good buddy picked up on the same day. For my usage patterns the phone works perfectly well; call quality, camera, audio, radios, and screen responsiveness included.
Some of my biggest pros for the device are: overall speed, storage, SD Card, battery life, camera, quick access lock screen apps, USB OTG, and tap to wake. Oh, and quick charging is awesome, I love it.
My cons are mostly related to all of the ZenUI apps now listed on "My Apps" in the Play Store, the occasional missed gesture, and lack of customization options for the tools on the quick settings panel (which is a nice option to have, but I would like take better advantage of it, especially from the lock screen). I would have loved to have had wireless charging, but if that is a trade off for quick charging, I am fine with it.
All in all, I am more than pleased with the device, and will recommend to anyone not scared of the size.
Maybe we are one of the lucky ones not experiencing the battery drain issue, I get a full days use with some left over on mine, which is what I got from my Galaxy S5. Yeah, I hear ya, the ZenUI is a bit gruesome but I'm a big fan of Nova Prime and that was installed pretty quickly after.
As for the bloatware, some are actually useful, it's not really creating an issue for me, just hide the apps if you don't want to see it and I use the Startup Manager to disable startup on most of them, no biggie. I am however a bit disappointed and I hope Asus reads these threads, with all the bloatware, you would think they could at least put in an app that syncs with Outlook Contacts and Calendar, it is a pretty widely used program but I'm force to buy a 3rd party app that syncs contacts and calendar. I've tried Outlook.com etc, but I'm not a big fan of dumping my contacts and calendar online and syncing that way. Samsung has Kies to do this and so does LG, really, with all the bloatware how hard is it for Asus to create a simple and effective sync app for Outlook.
I hear you with the size thing and the phone is a bit slippery, until my case and screen protector arrives, this is will be handle with extra care, gorilla glass or not I thought my S5 was big to handle, this one is bigger, will take a bit to get use to but I think the phone is worth it.
jaysus145 said:
Nice review, I have also had mine for almost a month now.
I am quite fond of the device, and have no major issues with it. I am still getting used to the size, and ZenUI is not my favorite., but a custom launcher makes it "feel" better to me. The latest update has done wonders for battery life, which I was initially concerned about as mine was drastically different then the one a good buddy picked up on the same day. For my usage patterns the phone works perfectly well; call quality, camera, audio, radios, and screen responsiveness included.
Some of my biggest pros for the device are: overall speed, storage, SD Card, battery life, camera, quick access lock screen apps, USB OTG, and tap to wake. Oh, and quick charging is awesome, I love it.
My cons are mostly related to all of the ZenUI apps now listed on "My Apps" in the Play Store, the occasional missed gesture, and lack of customization options for the tools on the quick settings panel (which is a nice option to have, but I would like take better advantage of it, especially from the lock screen). I would have loved to have had wireless charging, but if that is a trade off for quick charging, I am fine with it.
All in all, I am more than pleased with the device, and will recommend to anyone not scared of the size.
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godgib said:
When ppl are reviewing this phone how come no one mentions the 100GB Google drive offer, at least for me this was a fifty dollar value.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA
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phppt. In my case because I got 1TB when I picked up the i3 Acer chromebook last fall... 100GB is nothing...
Something that I forget to mention on the negatives, now having had the phone for several weeks now using it daily are the non-backlit capacitive buttons. In the dark, I generally hit them correctly but having them lit would've been nice to have.
The top power button doesn't really bother, but I'm not sold on the rear volume buttons.
Side mounter externally accessible uSD and SIM slots would've been better as well as a more readily user replaceable battery, beyond that I'm with the review coming from a nexus 5 with the added bonus that this phone is capable of twice the bandwidth(4G) that my n5 was capable of in the identical geopgraphical locations as well as apparently overall better antenna design(better signal reception from just above the n5 to WAY better in many cases...).
cutterjohn said:
phppt. In my case because I got 1TB when I picked up the i3 Acer chromebook last fall... 100GB is nothing...
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Click to collapse
Nothing when compared to 1TB maybe, but it's still a considerable chunk of 'free' cloud space. I still have my 50GB from my Moto G offer and that was ~18 months ago. To be honest, I only use ~8GB on my Dropbox/Drive anyway so it wasn't a big pro.
I think their gist was that they didn't make a big (or any) deal of the 100GB. I (and most others) didn't even know it was a thing until we got the phone. The 1TB on those Chromebooks was offered as an incentive and as a kind of offset for the small SSDs that normally come with them. What's on yours? 32/64GB?
I appreciate the free 100gb of cloud storage.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app
100 GB or 1 TB, all I know is you can never have too much Google Drive :good:
cutterjohn said:
phppt. In my case because I got 1TB when I picked up the i3 Acer chromebook last fall... 100GB is nothing...
Something that I forget to mention on the negatives, now having had the phone for several weeks now using it daily are the non-backlit capacitive buttons. In the dark, I generally hit them correctly but having them lit would've been nice to have.
The top power button doesn't really bother, but I'm not sold on the rear volume buttons.
Side mounter externally accessible uSD and SIM slots would've been better as well as a more readily user replaceable battery, beyond that I'm with the review coming from a nexus 5 with the added bonus that this phone is capable of twice the bandwidth(4G) that my n5 was capable of in the identical geopgraphical locations as well as apparently overall better antenna design(better signal reception from just above the n5 to WAY better in many cases...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you on the capacitor buttons but I'm starting to get use to it, the double tap on and off on the screen is actually becoming very handy. I come from the Galaxy S5, the lit buttons were nice I wish they had the double tap on and off, I much prefer that.
As for the volume button, I actually find it more natural for me the way I hold the phone if I need to turn the volume up or down while speaking on the phone, personal preference. Also, I'm use to putting my phone down face down on a table/desk because I'm paranoid about something dropping on my screen, this happened to my Galaxy S3, face up on my desk, I went to pick up my coffee mug and it slipped, landed right center on my S3 screen and cracked it and the mug wasn't very high off the desk, ever since then I've been paranoid about leaving my phone anywhere face up. That said, when I'm playing music on my phone, while face down, it's much easier to adjust volume when it's easily accessible on the back top rather then on the sides. Again, personal preference.
Absolutely, side mount accessible cards would be great, but again, you're comparing a phone that's less then half the price of most of the phones that have those features. Even some of the more expensive flagship phones don't have these options either. ie. Nexus, no exp. memory, built in battery also, the new S6 Galaxy, built in battery, no SD Card expansion etc etc. I read endless reviews and I find it hilarious that people out there want a Mercedes Benz phone but want to pay Honda Civic prices. When you build a phone at this price, some corners have to be cut, then when a phone comes out with all these features and the price is high, people complain about the price, you can't win.
I love the phone for what it is and how much it broke my bank, if it does what I need it to do and it's better then my last phone, then I see it as a investment, it's a new phone, there will be issues as all new phones do, Galaxy S6 is having their list of problems just now popping up and so on. The phone is only about a month old maybe? I won't write it off, way too early, talk to me in about 6-8 months, if the same issues persist, then that's another story.
My brother just got his Galaxy S6 Edge phone, I told him about this phone and all he does is knocked the phone down because he has the "almighty" Galaxy S6 Edge, we start comparing features and honestly, it's not that big a list, yes, granted, it has a beautiful screen, bit faster processor (but if you put the two side by side and actually use it, I really can't tell that much of a dif), wireless charging but no SD expansion slot. That's great, but then I asked him how much he paid for it..... $900 plus taxes. No comments.
Currently using it with Nova launcher and stock everything else.
The good:
- The awesome monitor to body ratio is still as amazing as it was the first time I see it, especially when game such as Alto's Adventure allows full screen immersion mode.
- Extremely high build quality, not only does the ceramic feel awesome and polished (feels like glass but smoother), the weight that it adds makes the whole phone feel extremely premium.
- Speaker is surprisingly good, and internal amp drives my full sized Audeze EL8 without any issue.
- Quick charge is as useful as expected
- Extremely quick finger print reading
- Some surprisingly good features, for example the notification bar when dragged down includes weather immediately. Also a great feature to have the battery show as a bar on top rather than an icon.
- Very useful alarm clock apps, sure it's not Sleep. But it has the option to only do alarm in all work days. Meaning it automatic turn off for red day public holiday.
The bad:
- Going into full immersion mode can be troublesome for keyboard. You have to hold your phone lower to get used to the keyboard location.
- Not able to change the default search bar in the notification bar, seriously this would have been so awesome if the default is google.
- Listening call still feels weird at times.
- Google play occasionally crash.
Camera:
Below is the album that I have uploaded from daily shots and from a trip. Without edit and with native app.
http://imgur.com/a/R7cIo
One word: Unreliable.
Good:
Very fast focus and exposure adjustment.
Good selection of modes and with internal filter if you are into this sort of things
Fun to use for selfie, there's a scoring system and guessing age/gender which often leads to laughter (but it is surprisingly accurate)
imo very good HDR mode, with only slightly overexposing the high light.
Bad:
occasionally it set pretty poor exposure values (too high shutter and lead to high ISO etc)
Poor sharpness. Could be the over aggressive noise cancelling.
Some lag after pressing shutter
Poor flair control
Colour is a hit or miss, occasionally very bad colour control (you can see it from the airplane flight shot, the sky is no where that blue)
Final words:
How long has it been that you see a phone with something special? Every phone is only slightly better spec, or different size, there's nothing groundbreaking. Smartphone market almost feel boring in the past 2 to 3 years.
Then come this phone, brave enough not only to include a bezeless monitor, but also put in a high end spec with a ceramic build.
if you are looking for something special, right now in the world, there is only this one phone with all these features, at a price tag that is not outrageous.
lyI agree with most of what you're saying. Major exception, for me, is the fingerprint reader: Works fine for an hour or so, then simple stops reading after that. Diagnosis (* # * # 64663 # * # *) reports it's fine. Have restored system, flashed developer ROM (didn't like it) then returned to China stable, with same results. I have not unlocked the BL, and with nougat on the horizon, it appears, for the first time in many years, I won't have a rooted phone boo-hoo).
I updated to China stable 8.0.12.0 just last night. Supposedly camera improvements (among others), so we'll see on that front.
Love the phone, the size is impressive (big/small) and the overall concept.
I'm loving the phone so far. Although it does have one big 'issue' which is the screen flashing red as I lock the phone, but it only seems to happen when the screen has white pixels.
Examples: http://imgur.com/a/jclHi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3C8j1o4-SE
Anybody else able to replicate this problem?
Apart from that problem though, everything is fantastic. Phone is incredibly fast (I have the 4GB model), it held GTA San Andreas, Torque Burnout, CarX Drift AND GTA Vice City all in memory! Seriously impressive stuff. Phone is very snappy, and very large, but it is very easy to get used to, I held and iPhone 4 the other day and I swear it could have fit into my Mix twice!
Camera is okay with the default app, I have since downloaded Snap Camera which makes the pictures much better and has lots more options. However, I'm not really very 'into' taking pictures with my phone, so my advice is probably lost anyway.
Had it close to five weeks now.
I forgot to point this out when I got it, but the finish on this thing is nothing short of predominant! (Nods to Michael Scott fans). But seriously, just wow.
I have been pretty fortunate with all my prior devices. The one fault I can think of, is that my Z1 has a singel bright pixel. Admittedly, my old TyTn did die after being exposed to the harshness of laying on my desk for a month when I brought a burner to the far east. A slap in the face when service said it had water damage (yaahh, from the high humidity we always experience up north ) which they supposedly had pictures of (they didn't). Wanted me to pay for shipping and service fees to return my dud. Needless to say, I swallowed the guys behind the counter whole, and walked outta there not paying a cent, paperweight in hand.
Sure, there have been some tiny misalignments on some devices. Where screen has not been 100% flush with the front, or other parts minutely sticking out. Albeit, these flaws have been too insignificant to warrant a return. Meaning, you would almost need a magnifying glass to spot them.
I say this to convey that I meticulously go over my devices to check for flaws.
The MiX is the first I can honestly say is totally FLAWLESS! Can't stop caressing this jewel. Toss away your stress balls and just hold onto your MiX.
On the software side, 2 minutes of removing crap = happy camper. Speed and stutter free experience only matched by my m8 on custom kernel and lightweight MM rom. Not had a lot of FC's and continuous toasts of stuff failing and whatnot. A+ again.
The camera is not beating current flagships. I don't snap pics at every waking moment, so I find the stock app to perform very satisfactory in all lighting conditions when in manual. I have yet to see a phone cam work optimal in auto anyway. Iso almost always end up too high, on tripods as well. In video recording, I don't have a ton of material yet to compare this and that in different resolutions, but yeah I have seen better. OIS would have been nice I guess. Will be more exciting to get some footage out and about in a few months, when I have scenery that includes more contrasting colours than just black white and grey.
Battery life is awesome. But I think others with a better device history should comment on that besides me.
Only thing I have to counter all this lovin' with, is the ultrasound proximity sensor. This may only be on mine, but often when the screen turns off, after maybe five or ten seconds it has a tendency to come back on. I have to move it away at least 10-15cm away from my head and wait a second or two before putting it against my ear again. After that it stays off. Odd! That can be a bit frustrating actually. Whether it be the sensor or the software making fudge, I don't know (happened on more than one ROM).
Last I'm gonna say for now is that:
Even though my Sharp gave me even more of "no edge on top" feeling, this slabalicious wonder makes me want to bite down on it just to get another tactile (toothtile?) sensation.
Merry X-mas y'all!
i have the exact opposite opinion as the original poster.
the only things i don't like is how heavy it is. no idea how this is a plus or that its heavy makes one think it is better built. you drop this phone on its corner and the screen is going to crack.
i'm also not a fan of the square bar design, if i pick up my nexus 6 which is the same size basically it feels so so much better in my hand.
that being said, i wouldn't trade this phone for ANYTHING else on the market. these are only very samll minor complaings, as well as i very much want an AOSP rom instead of MIUI. i bought this phone for the huge 6.4 inch screen and the screen is unreal. the battery life and speed are also like no phone i've ever had. this thing flies.
I've had the Mix for just about a month now, purchased from an eBay reseller based here in the US. The Mix came factory sealed with CN Stable 8.0.10.0 installed.
I took a few days on the CN ROM to decide that I didn't want that, and then followed @underlines' excellent guide to install TWRP, root with Su and install the EU ROM. I had applied to bootloader unlock when I ordered the phone.
I love this device. I don't think I've been this excited about a smartphone ever, and I have owned lots of them. My only gripe is the camera, which is fine but not as good as the iPhone 7+ or the Google Pixel or the SG 7 Edge. Though Snap Camera app in manual mode provides very good results and better than the stock camera app.
Otherwise my thoughts are as the other posters in this thread, amazing screen, excellent build quality, battery lasts a very long time and did I mention the screen? I think most importantly this feels like the future. Is it perfect? No. Does it include every LTE band? Apparently not. Is it the perfect size for most hands to hold? No. But everyone who sees it asks "what phone is this?". And that includes Samsung, Apple, HTC and Motorola users.
I would recommend installing TWRP and rooting, MIUI is optimized for the Chinese market and many of those optimizations don't make sense in other markets or negatively impact usability.
Cheers
J
Sent from my MIX using XDA Labs
CONGRATS on your purchase,
I know a lot of us have already received our devices, and some haven't. If you have received your new phone, post your first impressions. After using the device some, also post what little tricks you may have found, what you have fell in love with and what you dislike or absolutely hate. Also, what was your previous phone and are you enjoying your upgrade? I'll start by saying first impression is I love the size and screen. Real quick thing I do absolutely hate is Bixby. Tried it out a few times from the button, sucked. And the image recognition got me a little excited, but disappointed. I must also add, the face recognition is amazingly fast.
I use only FACE RECOGNITION - it is very fast, works 99% and I don't think one will steal, shoot a photo, print it... and so on.
It is the fastest and easy way to unlock the phone, I was wearing a hoodie and it worked very very well.
I am not the NSA, so face recognition is enough for me and I am happy that it is as fast as it is...
lienot
My Initial Thoughts
I received my Orchid Gray 64GB T-Mobile device yesterday around 5 PM EST. I have had a few hours to mess around with the device as a result. Here are my first impressions:
1. The screen is absolutely gorgeous. Samsung really hit it out of the park with this one. The images are clear, crisp, vibrant, and with absolutely zero pixels to the naked eye. This holds true even when the device is held close to the face. With that being said.... there are definitely some app and media content compatibility issues. Samsung tries to alleviate this with some built in cropping and optimization from the software side of things, but it just can't hide the fact that the content has quite caught up with the hardware. That is on the development community, though, and not Samsung.
2. Biometrics are the way to go when it comes to logging into and working your way through this device. The iris scanner isn't perfect, but, it is absolutely light years ahead of the tech that we had a taste of in the Note 7. The iris scanner ALMOST feels like a feature at this point, rather than a gimmick. With that being said. The fingerprint scanner is total weak sauce. This doesn't so much have anything to do with the actual location as it does the accuracy ratio of the scanner itself. I have long and thin fingers which make the placement of the fingerprint scanner a nonissue for me. To each their own. I would say that the accuracy is more a constant miss than a hit. I find myself using a combination of smart lock and the iris scanner with a pin to keep me going and it works well for me. I have not tried the facial recognition yet.
3. The device is blisteringly fast. There isn't any argument to be had here. Everything flies from web page scrolling to scrolling through the Playstore to loading apps from memory. No management issues yet that I have been able to spot. The only limitations are those of your data connection. The Snapdragon 835 is a thing of beauty.
4. The actual hardware absolutely oozes quality from the orchid color to the excess of gorilla glass and metal. The device is thin but not flimsy and big but not too heavy. Home run as per usual.
5. I am still working through battery life. I know it takes a few days for your software to settle so i'll report back at a later point with an update. Thus far, though, it is AT LEAST no worse than my Pixel XL. It might be a bit better but it is too early to tell. With that being said. The Pixel XL has faster fast charging. This sucker takes a bit to charge up. Not as long as it could take, but there is faster on the market.
6. My final point and my biggest issue with the device is primarily software. Whereas I felt that Samsung had finally reached a place of beauty with the final Marshmallow builds on the S7 Edge. The Nougat Touchwiz, or Grace, or whatever it is called these days feels like a bit of a step back. The software hasn't reached that point of optimization that the Pixel XL has nor even the level that the S7 Edge had. It feels more like the early Grace UX on the Note 7. There are scaling issues. The menus aren't always arranged in the best way. There is some scrolling jank in terms of the actual Android menus and whatnot. I feel that it probably has to do with an experience that wasn't quite optimized for such a unique screen, yet. I am hoping this will improve over time. I won't really hold it against Samsung. I mean, perhaps I am just spoiled after having been a Pixel XL user from the beginning but I won't say it necessarily works in their benefit yet, either. The S7 Edge felt polished. This experience still feels like a work in progress. Of course.....as of 420/17 we haven't even had a day one patch yet since day one is tomorrow...so......to be continued.
Feel free to ask me any questions if there is something I have missed. I feel like there is a lot I have left unstated.
EDIT: One additional thought. S7 Edge era standing wireless charging cradles are not completely compatible with the 8+ I have one and have tried it. The wireless charging cycles between connect and disconnect because the device is too tall for the cradle. The hardware inside as a result sits just at the edge of the top of the cradle and provides an inconsistent connection. This can be alleviated by sitting the device on the cradle sideways...but who wants to do that? Lol!
First impression...I no like it so much.
After playing with it all night tho, I like it. I got the 64gb s8+ and it's a lil tall but I think I'll grow into it. The fingerprint scanner that everyone is making such a huge deal about is in a great spot for me. When I go to pull it out of my pocket my finger falls right there and it's unlocked B4 I even look at the screen. The audio out of the akg headphones is great and it's even better in my car. Battery life, well, it's at 71% now and it's been on since about 7pm yesterday (10:49am now) and that's with heavy use. My only real gripe with it so far is I want to remap the bixby button to launch the camera. I think that would be perfect...Hope you guys are having fun with your new toys like I am
I've found it to be pretty snappy! I love the iris scanning, it works even with my glasses on. It is actually really easy to use one handed, with a rare supporting off hand assist.
The screen is of course impressive.
I've had 3 occasions where I needed to reboot the device because either an app refused to load. Play Store once, setting TW as my launcher (I was using Nova on my S7E so after smart switch when I pressed the home key it asked which launcher to set as default) and then trying to enable "Ok Google" where it didn't hear me. As an early adopter, I expect that there may be possible hiccups.
Not crazy about lock screen music player...Wish there were other options for that... Seems like I have to make sure I'm hitting exactly in the right spot to skip songs.
Becomes a bit of a annoyance when having to hit the button repeatedly to switch a song...
I'm currently at work and I have 4 bar signal while in the basement. My Note 7, S7, LG V20 got 2-3 or no bars. I'm extremely happy due to this. More to follow and im glad i got it.
took forever for Iris scanner to register my iris properly
Its a great phone overeall.
Fast and great looking screen. Feels really good in the hand.
I got the s8 plus and im able to access everything on the phone.
The fingerprint sensor works. I can have the phone in my right hand and press the power with my thumb and finger on the sensor.
The home key took a bit to get use to. I wasnt pushing on it like i should.
Gui/OS has some nice changes, that makes things faster or easier to do.
Bixiy isnt useful at all. Maybe once its update it will work better. But on a sids note i havent Accidentally hit the button. So thats good.
The obly complain i would have a bout the phone that some apps dont fit full screen. You can force them but then the sides get cut off.
I know its an Aspect rataio that should be fix in updates of those apps.
And ill have to test but i think the speaker is lower volume then the s7e. But not sure yet.
buttsak said:
First impression...I no like it so much.
After playing with it all night tho, I like it. I got the 64gb s8+ and it's a lil tall but I think I'll grow into it. The fingerprint scanner that everyone is making such a huge deal about is in a great spot for me. When I go to pull it out of my pocket my finger falls right there and it's unlocked B4 I even look at the screen. The audio out of the akg headphones is great and it's even better in my car. Battery life, well, it's at 71% now and it's been on since about 7pm yesterday (10:49am now) and that's with heavy use. My only real gripe with it so far is I want to remap the bixby button to launch the camera. I think that would be perfect...Hope you guys are having fun with your new toys like I am
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't updated it yet, so I was stil able to use the "All in one Gesture" app that was discussed on XDA before official release.
My second day impressions are pretty much spot on with @TheAnarchist1. This is hands-down the snappiest phone I have ever used. The screen is brilliant, and this version of Touchwiz is (finally) excellent. I've seen lot of features that the other launchers have had for years. I usually install Nova immediately, but this time I'm rolling with stock. I also was able to remap the Bixby button to Google Assistant with no problem.
My only issue (so far) is with the always-on screen. I've had two pocket dials and responded to a text with gibberish while the device was in my front pocket. Clearly, that's not going to work. I'll probably have to turn it off.
Just got mine going.
Design is pretty good, however, I think personally I would have preferred they stick with the sharper corners from the Note 7 and less rounded screen like the Note 7. Basically make the Note 7 but with smaller top and bottom bezels and this screen size. This is fine though, here's to hoping for the Note 8.
Obviously the fingerprint sensor on the back. Would have been exceptional for the fingerprint sensor to be built into the screen as rumored, but I don't particularly think this placement is much worse than any other fingerprint sensor that is on the back of the phone. I've mapped fingers from both hands, and when two handed, I find my left pointer rests on the sensor so it is kinda nice in some regard. I use smart location and bluetooth device unlocks a lot, so I avoid unlocking for the most part, at home, in vehicle, running with headphones, etc... Iris scanner is very useful, most of the time, but it can be awkward. Haven't tried facial recognition.
I see SIGNIFICANT improvement to Touchwiz and now they finally get at least some customization options. I'm trying to make it work, but a couple hours in, I'm already itching to switch back to Nova launcher. Small little peeves, but overall, it finally looks good, and has enough customization that I don't think the Samsung launcher is too bad. I really wish they would stop loading messengers for Verizon and Samsung, to which Samsung's is un-disable-able. Samsung makes special customization and actions for theirs, but I still don't want to use a manufactures messenger. Google brand for me.
1. So far, I'm amazed how well the iris scanner works and it is totally a fingerprint substitution. The battery life is simply amazing imo, I'm using it to the phone quite frequently in fact I have been browsing the web and using all sorts of social media the past hour. I should say I've only dropped about 8%, I'm genuinely pleased.
2. Performance is snappy, I haven't come across "real" lag (arbitrary statement). Coming from a note 4, TouchWiz has greatly been optimized and made much smoother.
3. 4gs of ram sounds like a little in 2017 but it's holding up like a champ!
4. So far I'm just in awe how great this phone is just to hold. I was scared the s8+ would be too big, but it fits perfect in the hand and is comfortable to use.
I can update this post as time goes by, but so far I only have a few gripes and some are not of the phone itself but the software:
1. I was upset when I was forced to go from the Note 7 back to the S7 edge due to the battery issues ( Twice! ) and was upset again when the s7 did not have the option of showing your calendar events listed on the Always On screen and instead just had the full month calendar. Eventually it was updated and gained that capability, but now, the S8 is the same way! I am an attorney and always have somewhere to be or someone coming by so it was nice just to look at my phone and know what was coming up without having to unlock it to check my calendar. Not a biggie, just annoying that a new phone is without that option.
2. The screen ration thing does look annoying sometimes. You can just tell that you have this big beautiful screen but almost everytime you turn it landscape there are black bars and your apps look the exact same as on the previous phone. Like I said, this is just the software thing and hopefully apps will catch up and start utilizing the larger screen more.
Otherwise, love the screen, love the speed. Wanted to stick with TouchWiz but I have a thing about the bottom of the screen not being available and the limitations of the 5x5 setup so I went back to Solo Launcher where I can hide the notification panel and dock at the bottom which makes this big screen look even bigger! More native customization of the home screen closer to home replacements such as that is what Touchwiz has been missing for a long time.
My initial impressions on my S8+:
1. It's incredibly fast. Snappier than any Samsung phone I've ever had or would ever expect them to produce. Loading time doesn't even exist for most apps, and the various animations seem much better than their older phones - the phone's performance reminds me more of the One plus 3T than an S7.
2. Battery life is really impressive. It looks like it might have the best battery life of any phone I've ever owned, which is particularly impressive considering it's a bigger screen and a smaller battery than the S7E.
3. The fingerprint scanner placement isn't quite as bad as people would lead you to believe. I haven't accidentally touched my camera lens once. However, it is a not too high up on the phone, which leads me to only touching it with half my finger, leading to it not unlocking. If they had located the entire set up a little lower on the device, it would've been fine.
4. The S8+ is a little too tall for my liking. It's practically impossible to reach the top opposite corner when using it with one hand. Obviously, activating one handed mode is one solution, but I really hope with flagships switching to 18:9 ratios, developers start moving any and all buttons to the lower half of their apps.
First impression, absolutely fabulous phone. Why ist the small cores maximum freq disabled?
Other than AT&T sent me the wrong color (You had one job...) I LOVE the phone. Coming from a Nexus 6P this thing is INSANE.
TheAnarchist1 said:
This can be alleviated by sitting the device on the cradle sideways...but who wants to do that? Lol!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a chuckle from that because someone asked me in another thread if the charger would work with the phone in landscape position. BTW, nice review.
Just set it up. My only gripe is so far is I wish Samsung used Google version of restore data. I connected it to my Pixel and it copied everything but data. I guess the app wasn't able to do it. So having to manually download all my apps sucked.