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today i had the opportunity to attend the Xperia Play launch event here in London and managed to have a play with err well the Play! so i thought i might aswell put across my first impressions of it to you guys and any potential buyers!
* take note any reference to the PSP will be based on the PSP phat, not PSP Slim or PSP Go.
first thing i noticed when i saw the phone and held it, its actually not that big or bulky at all, in-fact i think it could do with a 4.2" or 4.3" screen. but the 4" screen and the phone dimensions are pretty well balanced, its really not that big a brick at all.
now the screen. we were indoors, in a very dark area, so i cant vouch for in-direct-daylight viewing but at least indoors; the screen was crisp, sharp and clear. the brightness i thought was absolutely fine, no more or less than any other phone tbh (bar AMOLED!). that said it is no AMOLED screen, it does'nt compare, but it is definitely better than your average LCD screen, by how much? i guess that'll change from person to person.
The performance? i'm going to talk about gaming performance first. hmm this was hit and miss tbh and i will partly blame the Qualcomm/Adreno setup. i never really liked Qualcomm or Adreno chips tbh as i think they are behind the game and have been for some time, this thing could have done with something similar to a hummingbird processor or at the very least chuck in a PowerVR GPU. Asphalt 6 for me was NOT running at 60fps, there was lagg, was'nt huge tbh but it was there and if you're picky (like me) you'll notice it. same goes for the Spider Man HD game that was on the phone, no way was it running at 60fps. again it was'nt bad bad lagg, but if you're used to smooth as honey gaming, you will notice it.
on the other hand i tested Bruce Lee Dragon warrior, which i can say did run very very well and can believe the 60fps quote. also tested fifa 10 and this also worked very well.
now i have to stress, this being a demo phone every Tom, **** and Harry had their mitts onto it so i did check running services after i closed the games and there were a hell of a lot of **** running in the background, heck there were two instances of the music player open! how much of this affected the 60fps performance? i do not know, but i sure hope it did and that was the root of the lowered fps count.
the controls themselves? hmm again, for me, it was a hit and miss but i defo need more time to give a honest review on this part. the controls felt quite a fair bit different to any playstation console controller or PSP controls that i had ever used. the D-pad and X,O,Triangle,and Square have this clicky sound when pressed. guess some people will like this others wont. i found them a bit stiff to use tbh, i can see pulling off a hadouken on this d-pad will be harder than you think. it just did'nt feel the way i thought it should. the control's size seems a little smaller aswell, probably as expected to fit in such a device though. i do hope these controls do "break-in" over time and will allow you to become more fluid in their operation.
The shoulder buttons were better imo, they pressed in easy enough and were responsive. however i had some fidgety moments trying to use the face buttons and shoulder buttons together, although shifting my hand position seemed to help a bit. i guess you just need to get used to it.
And lastly the analogue touch pad thingies. to be honest i was pleasantly surprised by these! they actually work very very well IMO! in fact while i was playing FIFA and spider man HD i actually moved to the analogue touch pads out of preference (probably helped on by the stiff'ish d-pad!) and they worked like a treat! the indentations really help and you dont need to look down at all to see where your thumbs are placed. i was quite impressed by them.
well theres my mini review guys, hope it helps some of you out there to make a decision. IMO if you want a nice smartphone; look elsewhere, the galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix, LG Optimus 2X, etc would probably be much better choices. But if you want a gaming smartphone? i think you cant get better than the Xperia Play, because, come on, lets face it, you cant beat physical controls!
As for me, my Xperia Play arrives tomorrow in the post and i cant wait to chuck on some Emulator madness!
UPDATE: i've recieved my xperia play, for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).
Thanks for your review my xperia play hoping arrives tomorrow. Just depends on Royal Mail. I'll post my findings on XDA too.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Thanks for the review my xperia play will hopfully come in today if not tommorow by UPS
Will post my findings about it aswell
Although I think it will be positive to play all my childhood games again
yay! i've just received my xperia play! for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).
Can someone confirm whether the screen is plasstic?
I really wanted this phone but having a plastic screen and not glass is a deal breaker for me.
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
so there is already a screen protector installed? no need to buy one more or evne use the one it comes with??
yh as far as i can tell there seems to be one installed, looks very well done. plus you get a spare one in the box. so alls good.
I got the phone today and ran it thought a few tests.
First of all - Beware! If you're getting the phone from the UK but are not currently in the UK, it seems Playstation Pocket is unavailable in many countries still. I am in Ireland and it's not available for me yet. I contacted support and hope it'll be enabled soon.
Let's get to the performance - Quadrant does around 1600, Linpack around 38. All in all, a little disappointing, it's about as high as the Nexus One gets. I'm pretty sure that's because it's still running a rather early build of the software. Let's see how well it'll perform with Android 2.3.3, I'm sure there's still a lot to improve.
The screen feels solid and nice, it's hard to tell if it's plastic or glass, to be honest. Feels a lot like the screen of the Nexus S. It supports a 4-point-multitouch and it works well. The Notification-LED supports all colors from red to white, the Playstation controls work really nice, but I had troubles with the analog sticks - altho I didn't really need them much. The buttons work awesome for emulators and even quite a lot of normal Android-Games, like Radiant and EVAC HD.
The browser is fast and the flash player works great. All in all, it's quite nice and it got quite some potential. Altho I miss the Notification power widget from the Touchwiz/Cyanogenmod roms
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I got it after the Galaxy S and for me, it really was an upgrade. Not on a hardware side, it's still in that Droid 2/X - Galaxy S/G2/DHD Range, but it's still absolutely worth it for the controls. Being able to play Zelda like that with my phone? So freakin' worth it. Aside from that, it looks really sleek and feels great. True, the screen isn't Super Amoled, but it's very good, and true, the Software still feels a little rushed but... Compared to what the Galaxy S shipped with, it's pretty amazing. And when looking back at what we where able to finally make out of the Galaxy S, I think this thing got a great future. Aside from that, the Dual Core phones still seem to be plagued by a lot of issues like battery drain, performance hickups and the like - this one is very consistent and running Zelda in an GBA Emulator for about 30 Minutes drained 3% Battery. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I'd say
holy **** im so on the fence but comments like yours make me want to get it now. stupid rogers not accepting orders yet.
Zub7 said:
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
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Click to collapse
Sounds like the shatter proof skin that se put on the x10, this would suggest that the screen is glass. The x10 screen felt very plasticky to me initially.
The xplay might still be in the running for my monies.
Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Techdread said:
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gran Turismo!?!? Did you say Gran Turismo?!? Dude if that's running smooth and controls are spot on, I'm so getting this phone.
But you're right, benchies, don't tell the whole story. How is web and flash performance? I feel on my X things are a bit sluggish. Scrolling around, its as if I'm seeing 10-15fps.
Also, is the screen readable outside on a sunny day. It is on an X, but you have to strain.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
The screen is perfectly readable in sunlight and flash content as well as websites load, scroll and play very smooth.
Niiice. Thanks so much
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Okay, after two days with playing around with it, some pro and contras.
Pro:
- Great screen! It's vibrant, bright, perfectly readable. The blacks are not as awesome as on Amoled-Displays, naturally, but it looks a lot better than normal TFTs, I'd say it's closest to the iPhone 4's IPS display.
- Great controls! The controls are awesome. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have actual buttons to press, ESPECIALLY in Emulator games. GBA, NES, SNES, Gameboy, PSOne, they all work perfectly with this thing.
- It feels good in the hand - with the game controls slided out or in, it always feels comfortable to hold. The screen is small enough to be used with one hand, but big enough to enjoy movies and games on it.
Contra:
- The software is still a little wonky. Especially the auto-brightness seems to be working only sometimes. Still, you can set the brightness manually, so it's not so bad until it's fixed. Also, the performance is still a little hit or miss sometimes. For example, while the Galaxy S has pretty consistent FPS in Quadrant, it wildly varies on this device - The DNA only has 15 FPS, while the Planets have 59. On the Galaxy S both had about 30. I'm pretty sure that's a software issue as well, tho.
- The internal Memory is quite tiny, especially with the pre-installed games. You can move most apps and games to the SDCard, which is insanely fast, really. I never noticed a difference in the speed to launch a game from SD or internal memory. However, some games, apparently especially Gameloft games, don't allow you to install them on SD Card. Hopefully, with root access, we can uninstall some of the useless apps and games to free up more space.
- The Notification LED is hard to see. It's nice it has one, but it's hard to see when the phone is on the table.
- No Notification power Widget, no Gingerbread Screenoff-Animation. I'm pretty sure those two will come once the sources and Root are released.
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
Barguast said:
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
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Click to collapse
I can't really agree to those reviews. When you manually set the brightness on max, that thing is bright as all hell and perfectly readable even in direct sunlight. So the screen defiantly is able to be very bright. It's just the auto-brightness software that's wonks.
Seriously, I love this phone. I got it 2 days ago and i can't take my hands off it.
I'm 32 years old (yea yea getting old now), and was brought up on computer games. This phone makes me remember just how good the old megadrive/genesis/snes games were compared to the (mostly) crappy indie games that we see these days. I've fondly been playing Sonic, Mario, Super Star Wars, Streets of Rage and a whole host of others flawlessly on this little beauty. It's an emulation dream come true.
The N64 emulator lags a little bit for me, but mostly it's just occasional sound skipping, it is certainly still more than playable, although the control mapping could be a little bit easier. I'm hoping a MAME emulator will be released that supports all the old mame games and not just the capcom games. (Anyone can tell me if there is one already or one coming out?)
Some fears i had for the phone before i purchased were these -
- Worried it would be too bulky
- Worried about the screen auto dim feature and not being able to turn it off
- Worried about the battery life
- Worried about the hardware being outdated before it even hit the shelves
- Well, the phone is bulkier than alot of other phones, but it is still slim enough to easily slip in and out your pocket. I didn't look at the phone before i ordered it, i just jumped in and ordered it off the net and hope it was what i wanted (or i could send it back within 7 days to get a refund). Overall i am very happy with the size of the phone. I certainly don't feel like an idiot getting it out my pocket, it looks very cool.
- The auto brightness on the screen is not all that bad. I got annoyed at first, not being able to turn the phone on max brightness, but after a few minutes my eyes got used to it and i hardly notice it anymore. It must serve a good purpose because the battery lasts a long time. I think that an official patch is definately needed though, not giving people an option to turn off auto brightness is disastrous. Saying that, more than likely i would leave auto brightness turned on, it does save battery and it is implemented excellently imho.
- Battery life is amazing. I got through 12-14 hours of gaming, browsing, and general usage + a full night withought charge on standby and when i woke up it had 7% battery life left. You can not go through 2 days with this phone though, so still you will have to charge it every night, but you can guarantee a full, proper day usage out of it without too much worries about the battery dieing.
- Hardware is a bit meh. On one hand the phone runs super smooth. And FPSE plays PS1 games super smooth, no slowdown at all. The N64 as i mentioned has a few sound skips. So the hardware does exaclty what it was designed to do. This is where it stops though. There will be no PS2 emulation, no dreamcast emulation, no xbox1 emulation. Not until the next handset gets released. This is the limits of this phones power.
Overall i think this is the best phone made to date. I don't care it hasn't got 1080p recording, i don't care the camera is only 5 megapixel. This phone owns and is easily the best phone i have ever owned to date.
Roll on the Xperia Play 2. I am now a branded fan.
edit - Just thought i would say that my phone came with a 16gb Micro SD card, 2 screen protectors (1 of them already put on flawlessly, no air bubbles or dust underneath at all, 1 spare). I have heard people only getting 8gb cards and no screen protectors, but this did not happen with my order.
i mostly agree with you, this is the best phone i have had and i have owned a G1, motorola dext, motorola milestone and a HTC HD2, i would only recommend the HD2 out of these and even then, only after installing android (unless your into windows)
the thing is, i no some people dont value proper gaming as much as me or others so they think this device is not needed but im glad we dont all feel the same way
what im really hoping for this device is, for it to be popular enough so that other manufacturers (or even sony) make a similar device, hopefully with dual or even quad core in mind, add 1GB ram and dreamcast/PS2 emulation is a possibility
but for right now? the play is excellent considering its the first of its kind
agree with most of what you say. but yes hardware is a bit meh.
could have done with better implementation on shoulder buttons and i still think they coud've stuck in an L2/R2 somewhere
overall, the best android phone i ever had was hands down the galaxy S. ****ing beatiful, screen, performance (with custom rom and lagfix!), etc.
but as a gaming phone, this is THE best, despite it's lackluster hardware, it has hardware controls, which, IMO, makes up for all its shortcomings!
L2 and R2 buttons.....
Yeah, i guess they could be put next to each other so that it doesn't increase the thickness of the phone.
So it would look like this -
_______________________________
(L1....L2..............................R2....R1)
_______________________________
Still, FPSE allows you to put L2 and R2 at the bottom left and right of the screen. They are easy enough to get to with your thumbs, so it's no big deal tbh.
usually not a big deal, but when you have to use simultaneous button presses, i.e. press R2 and X together, can become tricky.
Sony * Rule * Got mine Today
Hi peeps,
Got mine today, excellent phone love the Ginerbread.
a few issues so far but no problem.
Love this phone, looks so stylish and plays excellent.
TapperOUT!
Im in the same camp as you mate, same age and gaming experience and I agree 100%
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
johnsongrantr said:
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just wanted to say i read your review and it was pretty good, i was interested in pandora at first but because of how long it took to release i completely forgot about it, although looking at it now, i totally envy the keyboard except the D pad and triggers, having gaming controls AND a qwerty keyboard is just excellent, sony should consider this with the xperia play 2 or what ever manufacturer decides to make a PS certified phone, if extra bulk was needed i could certainly live with it
that said, the keyboard is the only thing i would take from pandora, in my opinion the play beats it in every other area except screen size but then thats balanced with capacitive vs resistive
EDIT - forgot to check the pandora website to see how much it costs.....wow, 440 euro is alot, i was expecting a little over half that, just for comparisons sake i bought my play , sim free for £400 a few days after release, considering the play has more useful features (in my opinion) 3G, android OS and its market, phone functions etc....im surprised it cost so much
I agree here !
I am 27 and also brought up with retro games it's so nice able to play my games again from my childhood.
The device lays good in your hand indeed the as for the brightness well it's fine although my xperia x10 with lowest brightness on is still readable and not with my xperia play but even cranked up at highest brightness the battery still remains exellent thought it would drain like hell like my x10 does but it doesn't !
Glad I got rid of my omnia with win mobile and now have 2 nice xperia devices !
Android is the OS I am currently hooked on never was to happy with my omnia due winmobile but the phone was hyped in my country and it was the biggest mistake I made.
Hardware wise yea there are already dualcore devices and tegra2 gpu powered
as for the emulators of xbox , ps2 , dreamcast & gamecube
I don't think we will see them in the next year or so
but then again there is a developer working to get a dreamcast emu working and progress is already nice I think it's a matter of time we will see
as for my order I recieved a stock screenprotector already on screen , extra screen protector ( they are very scratch resistant my x10 didn't have such a good screenprotector had to take the factory applied on off and apply a newly bought screen protector ) Wall charger , car charger , leather poach & 8gb SD card which I recently upgraded to 32gb
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
baaa3 said:
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
silvacrest said:
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know how the sales are going in Europe of this device?
If sales were crazy, like on the iphone, then probably we will have more joypad versions, if not, then this will be like the Nokia Ngage... how many years have passed from that phone to this one? i dont remember well, but at least 6 o 7...
So basically, we will have to wait until the phone gets released worldwide and see how the numbers go to SE.
Probably on the next version i will expect an exclusive suite and not an android suite that all phones can play with. Because if we have something exclusive, then we will have a game that will be made for this controls. (from what i heard, the PS Suite will be available on android market for all high end devices)
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
FrAsErTaG said:
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
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Click to collapse
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
dsswoosh said:
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
FrAsErTaG said:
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
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Click to collapse
Actually, to me it also seems nearly impossible to turn the device off while gaming
must agree, has never happened to me also
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
FrAsErTaG said:
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or maybe you guys just have chubby sausage fingers?
Hello guys... First of, I have never used a tablet before so I need your suggestions and opinions about this device.
- Does this device lag if I fill my homescreen with widgets that constantly refresh after intervals like rss feeds, gmail, facebook, youtube, weather ?
- I have been reading threads about games lagging on it, like nova 3, asphalt. Also I read there are random turns in Shadowgun and dead trigger. Is this issue resolved or any hope it will be resolved? Also does small games like Fruit ninja, Where's my water, Templerun look stretched out on 7" screen or it manages it beautifully?
- How is the build quality ? Is it strong enough that it can manage the falls from short distance ? Considering its price, I am very curious to know about its build.
- Is this a good choice, If I sell my smartphone and get Nexus 7 and a simple phone to manage calls and sms.
- Overall, how much will you rate your Nexus7 out of score of 10.
Your opinions are very much appreciated, please also tell me if you own Nexus 7 or you read the above answers somewhere.
mehdi110z said:
Hello guys... First of, I have never used a tablet before so I need your suggestions and opinions about this device.
- Does this device lag if I fill my homescreen with widgets that constantly refresh after intervals like rss feeds, gmail, facebook, youtube, weather ?
- I have been reading threads about games lagging on it, like nova 3, asphalt. Also I read there are random turns in Shadowgun and dead trigger. Is this issue resolved or any hope it will be resolved? Also does small games like Fruit ninja, Where's my water, Templerun look stretched out on 7" screen or it manages it beautifully?
- How is the build quality ? Is it strong enough that it can manage the falls from short distance ? Considering its price, I am very curious to know about its build.
- Is this a good choice, If I sell my smartphone and get Nexus 7 and a simple phone to manage calls and sms.
- Overall, how much will you rate your Nexus7 out of score of 10.
Your opinions are very much appreciated, please also tell me if you own Nexus 7 or you read the above answers somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I don't have the Nexus 7 yet, but I am familiar with the most stuff around.
- I used the way slower Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 @1,38 GHz with Android 4.1.1, very smooth & "buttery", I can't believe that the faster Nexus 7 would lag here
- Gaming: Sorry, no idea.
- Well, it can't be that bad crap from Asus, it's cheap because of missing things (eg back camera & light, microSD-card slot). It has a Gorilla Glass display, that's really good -> check out Ericas XDA Video: http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-t...ass-drops-tests-composition-xda-developer-tv/
- I own also a Galaxy Nexus, use it mobile/out of the house and anywhere and I don't wanna miss that one. It will be a "it depends on" thing. Honestly, more important to me it's the smartphone.
- Ratings - it also depends on. But for my usage it would be about 8/10.
benkxda said:
First of all, I don't have the Nexus 7 yet, but I am familiar with the most stuff around.
- I used the way slower Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 @1,38 GHz with Android 4.1.1, very smooth & "buttery", I can't believe that the faster Nexus 7 would lag here
- Gaming: Sorry, no idea.
- Well, it can't be that bad crap from Asus, it's cheap because of missing things (eg back camera & light, microSD-card slot). It has a Gorilla Glass display, that's really good -> check out Ericas XDA Video: http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-t...ass-drops-tests-composition-xda-developer-tv/
- I own also a Galaxy Nexus, use it mobile/out of the house and anywhere and I don't wanna miss that one. It will be a "it depends on" thing. Honestly, more important to me it's the smartphone.
- Ratings - it also depends on. But for my usage it would be about 8/10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I am confused between smartphone and tablet, want to enjoy youtube,browser,games on bigger screen but dont want to give my smartphone
mehdi110z said:
Thanks. I am confused between smartphone and tablet, want to enjoy youtube,browser,games on bigger screen but dont want to give my smartphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I use both. At home I just update the Galaxy Nexus but use the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for surfing from the couch. The GTab 2 is sold and will be replaced by the Nexus 7 16 GB.
If you want to save money, buy a Nexus 7 with 8 GB, buy a USB OTG cable and use a USB stick or small USB plug for more memory. Then you could use the USB OTG + USB stick with your Smartphone as well, if it has also an micro USB slot and if the kernel supports USB OTG.
I dont' know, if the Nexus 7 natively supports USB OTG, but Francisco Francos kernel does this for the Galaxy Nexus and I guess, this will work with the new Nexus 7 kernel also: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1367341
Edit: Maybe helps you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30803801#post30803801
mehdi110z said:
Hello guys... First of, I have never used a tablet before so I need your suggestions and opinions about this device.
- Does this device lag if I fill my homescreen with widgets that constantly refresh after intervals like rss feeds, gmail, facebook, youtube, weather ?
- I have been reading threads about games lagging on it, like nova 3, asphalt. Also I read there are random turns in Shadowgun and dead trigger. Is this issue resolved or any hope it will be resolved? Also does small games like Fruit ninja, Where's my water, Templerun look stretched out on 7" screen or it manages it beautifully?
- How is the build quality ? Is it strong enough that it can manage the falls from short distance ? Considering its price, I am very curious to know about its build.
- Is this a good choice, If I sell my smartphone and get Nexus 7 and a simple phone to manage calls and sms.
- Overall, how much will you rate your Nexus7 out of score of 10.
Your opinions are very much appreciated, please also tell me if you own Nexus 7 or you read the above answers somewhere.
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Click to collapse
No of will not lag at all
Sometimes this happened because they might not be built for the tegra 3, the problem of asphalt 7.
Small games are awesome and I prefer them on my n7.
Build quality is very good, fell on the stairs and dropped my nexus, not a scratch.
I have a regular phone to call and text and my nexus works fine. Although you can get tablet all and use your nexus and use it as a phone working with your smartphone.
My nexus is a........ 9 1\2 out of 10
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I have my Nexus for over a month now, i dont use it heavily for gaming but it runs temple run beautifully.. id say the 7" screen actually suits it a bit better than smaller phone screens..
Here's an interesting article i read on tegra 3 the other day
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-how-powerful-is-tegra-3
Thats an interesting idea about selling your smartphone and going for the nexus.. a lot of the functions i use my smartphone for as easy/easier to replicate on the nexus 7. I have a Galaxy Nexus phone but wouldnt part with it. I run tablet talk on both the 7 and phone so can send/receive texts on the tablet. If you do go for a cheaper phone make sure you can still use it as a portable hotspot so you can tether the nexus 7 to it, unless you are always in wifi coverage
Re build quality - I would say its fine.. its probably no better/worse than any smart phone/tablet nowadays.. if you drop it and it doesnt have a case, you are going to damage the corners.. it will probably survive but i wouldnt be without a case on any device like this.
The home screen doesnt lag, Some apps cause lag, I had an app called ultimate rotation control and it would take a few seconds for the icons on my home screen to redraw when rotating the tablet. im still not sure whether i'd like the home screen to rotate or accept googles stance that its better than its always in portrait mode.
Anyway good luck deciding oh and out of 10.. for me so far its 10/10... if i could improve i'd say put a higher quality DAC in the device.. but hopefully some android compatible usb DACS will be available to purchase soon..
Cheers,
Mick
mehdi110z said:
Hello guys... First of, I have never used a tablet before so I need your suggestions and opinions about this device.
- Does this device lag if I fill my homescreen with widgets that constantly refresh after intervals like rss feeds, gmail, facebook, youtube, weather ?
- I have been reading threads about games lagging on it, like nova 3, asphalt. Also I read there are random turns in Shadowgun and dead trigger. Is this issue resolved or any hope it will be resolved? Also does small games like Fruit ninja, Where's my water, Templerun look stretched out on 7" screen or it manages it beautifully?
- How is the build quality ? Is it strong enough that it can manage the falls from short distance ? Considering its price, I am very curious to know about its build.
- Is this a good choice, If I sell my smartphone and get Nexus 7 and a simple phone to manage calls and sms.
- Overall, how much will you rate your Nexus7 out of score of 10.
Your opinions are very much appreciated, please also tell me if you own Nexus 7 or you read the above answers somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mehdi110z said:
Hello guys... First of, I have never used a tablet before so I need your suggestions and opinions about this device.
- Does this device lag if I fill my homescreen with widgets that constantly refresh after intervals like rss feeds, gmail, facebook, youtube, weather ?
- I have been reading threads about games lagging on it, like nova 3, asphalt. Also I read there are random turns in Shadowgun and dead trigger. Is this issue resolved or any hope it will be resolved? Also does small games like Fruit ninja, Where's my water, Templerun look stretched out on 7" screen or it manages it beautifully?
- How is the build quality ? Is it strong enough that it can manage the falls from short distance ? Considering its price, I am very curious to know about its build.
- Is this a good choice, If I sell my smartphone and get Nexus 7 and a simple phone to manage calls and sms.
- Overall, how much will you rate your Nexus7 out of score of 10.
Your opinions are very much appreciated, please also tell me if you own Nexus 7 or you read the above answers somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there, I actually upgraded to both a Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 7 coming from a Nexus One. The Nexus 7 being my first tablet, it fills my need for a portable entertainment device (games, media, news, browsing). Going on to your questions:
Lag Issue: No lag from widgets although it depends on what ROM you have. I used stock for a week with 3 active home screens filled with widgets and I experienced no hiccups whatsoever. I've been using AOSP based ROMS with the Apex launcher without lagginess as well.
Games: As mentioned by people above me, the lag is due to the developers and not the OS. As an example, I've been playing Max Payne and have experienced the touchscreen being unresponsive or having random turns. After the update a few days ago, all issues have been fixed. Temple Run scales well IMO.
Build Quality: Mine experiences the screen flicker and screen lift, but it isn't a deal breaker. It still is under warranty so I can ask for repairs, repair it myself, or ask for a replacement. The back and screen is a smudge magnet (I have oily hands) so it would be best to buy a case and screen protector the same time you buy the Nexus 7.
Downgrading smartphone: Depends on what kind of smartphone you have. If you have a phone from the past year, the Nexus 7 will complement it nicely. In my case, I still regularly use my phone for emails, SMS, calls, and some games, so you won't lose any utility out of your phone if you buy a Nexus 7.
Rating: I'd rate my Nexus 7 to an 8/10 with the minus points being the build quality.
- Does this device lag if I fill my homescreen with widgets that constantly refresh after intervals like rss feeds, gmail, facebook, youtube, weather ?
The N7 is well spec'd and punches above its weight. I have rarely, if ever, noted any slow down. I don't have a ton of stuff over my home screens but the usual. Very impressed with performance.
- I have been reading threads about games lagging on it, like nova 3, asphalt. Also I read there are random turns in Shadowgun and dead trigger. Is this issue resolved or any hope it will be resolved? Also does small games like Fruit ninja, Where's my water, Templerun look stretched out on 7" screen or it manages it beautifully?
I used to be a big online fps play in my youth (kids seem to have taken over now!) so I haven't played many games on mine, but I have tested a few. I found no problems with Dead Trigger, it looks fantastic and seems as smooth as I could possibly want. If there is an issue with slowing down I haven't noticed it but then I have only played through a few levels.
- How is the build quality ? Is it strong enough that it can manage the falls from short distance ? Considering its price, I am very curious to know about its build.
It certainly feels well built. But I have noted a couple of people complain on Twitter that they have broken theirs by dropping it. My view on this is that these things are being dropped everyday - they've sold millions and people can be clumsy (my toddler plays with mine!). Inevitably some are going to fall the wrong way and will break. Mine isn't wrapped up in cotton wool but it cost enough to want to take reasonable care of it - perhaps the best advice is try not to drop it!
- Is this a good choice, If I sell my smartphone and get Nexus 7 and a simple phone to manage calls and sms.
It depends. Do you need 3G access? Do you like having a handy camera in your phone? The N7 is very portable, but you wouldn't want to slip it in your pocket on a night out. I think only you can judge this.
- Overall, how much will you rate your Nexus7 out of score of 10.
I'd give it a 9. I really love it but I wanted SD card expansion so that was my compromise. There are ways to live with this though and you'll find plenty of chat on the forum. Flash support is another niggle. Other than that there's not much I'd change.
Honestly the best $250 I've ever spent. Lacking in a few areas but Deff wished they put in a micro sd slot. Regardless still give it a 9/10
Sent from my Rooted, LazyPanda S-Off, White "Destroy Mode" Evo
benkxda said:
First of all, I don't have the Nexus 7 yet, but I am familiar with the most stuff around.
- I used the way slower Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 @1,38 GHz with Android 4.1.1, very smooth & "buttery", I can't believe that the faster Nexus 7 would lag here
- Gaming: Sorry, no idea.
- Well, it can't be that bad crap from Asus, it's cheap because of missing things (eg back camera & light, microSD-card slot). It has a Gorilla Glass display, that's really good -> check out Ericas XDA Video: http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-t...ass-drops-tests-composition-xda-developer-tv/
- I own also a Galaxy Nexus, use it mobile/out of the house and anywhere and I don't wanna miss that one. It will be a "it depends on" thing. Honestly, more important to me it's the smartphone.
- Ratings - it also depends on. But for my usage it would be about 8/10.
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Click to collapse
The Nexus 7 does not have Gorilla Glass. It's just a scratch resistant glass from Corning.
i would say it needs a screen protector.. the first nexus 7 i had the kids managed to get some hair line scatches on it.. i managed to sell it for full purchase price and bought a new one... i am quite anal about scratched screeens! i havent taken the replacement out of its plastic wrap yet.. am waiting for screen protector to arrive
veeman said:
The Nexus 7 does not have Gorilla Glass. It's just a scratch resistant glass from Corning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
veeman said:
The Nexus 7 does not have Gorilla Glass. It's just a scratch resistant glass from Corning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Argh. You're right. I always assumed that this is Gorilla Glass. Google did not agree, just said "scratch-resistant Corning glass". I'm sorry .
Since I bought my Nexus 7, I don't use my galaxy s2 anymore, only for calls nexus 7 is perfect for browsing YouTube videos and gaming
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
I thought it would be hilarious to play racing or shooter games on this thing, but it turns out its not that bad lol Sure, at first it was a little awkward holding a small TV in my hands, but man it's not even that bad! You get used to it pretty quick and my wrists don't get that tired or anything. You really get some great real estate to game with lol
After burning through 4 other tablets trying to find something to game with (smaller ones 8 - 9.7 inch) I had no choice but to give this a try as nothing else was doing the job. The Tab s2 has a weak processor for serious gaming so bad fps, the Tab s3 is destroyed by Samsung software issues and you can't game with it at all, the Nexus 9 while great is definitely showing it's age and starts to throttle pretty quick, and the shield has a broken touchscreen (can't do precise movements, only big ones). So I had nothing left that had any sort of performance and literally was forced into the Pixel C.
Anyway do you guys all use this thing for serious work type stuff or are any of you holding this beast out in front of you to place racing games with lol I can't be the only one
I don't use mine for games very often because I don't play many in the first place. But I think it should do well enough at it.
NFS is fun screen casting to my tv and home theater system with no lag. Since the game controls are simple, you stop looking at the tablet and just watch the big screen and the Pixel C intuitively becomes the controller. The sound is also good. I can feel the crashes from the subwoofer, and I crash a lot.
I mostly play retro games on mine with this thing: http://www.8bitdo.com/n30pro-f30pro/
My little bro and I were having a blast playing Donkey Kong Country last night
For me, this is my tablet for just about everything. I have an old iPad Mini Gen 2 that I use for YouTube watching (at 480p because that's all it can handle). I bought a (overpriced) leather folio from an off-brand seller with their own website which has an included bluetooth keyboard (I'm using it to type this right now). The keyboard works great (BT 4.0 with 30 day battery life mixed usage), then I grab an old USB trackball, plug it into my USB C Hub (Two USB 3.1, Realtek Ethernet 1 GBps, and USB C Power Delievery Port- up to 60(?) watts but I just use my Pixel XL 18w charger). I mainly play racing games on it, Asphalt 8, need for speed and use my XBOX 360 controller in a OTG Hub and I'm set. I set the display size to smallest to make the most of the display along with font size. I'm swapping out the stock oreo for Lineage 14.1 (soon 15.1) because one week ago, (as of January 2018), Google killed off the Pixel C to make way for the pixelbook. For major things, I'll plug in a full size keyboard instead of my bluetooth one because It is a little bit cramped but great for small things.
Two months ago, I half bricked it because of my inability to 1) read disclaimers and 2) read known issues. That happened when I was installing SuperSU (when it didn't support ChromeOS boot images) and have now left my bootloader in a non-lockable state so (no matter how much flashing I do) it reports to fastboot that it isn't locked nor unlocked which is a pain because I have to wait 30 seconds each time I want to boot this (or recover from the random reboots).
Overall, 4 out of 5
Links to the acessories I use (lol spelling)
Keyboard Case- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Removable-...599418?hash=item2cc30757fa:g:AK0AAOSwh-1W1lKU
USB C Hub with Power Delievery- (can't find but as long it has a realtek ethernet chip and USB C PD, it'll work fine)
Everyday
[B][/B]
seh6183 said:
I thought it would be hilarious to play racing or shooter games on this thing, but it turns out its not that bad lol Sure, at first it was a little awkward holding a small TV in my hands, but man it's not even that bad! You get used to it pretty quick and my wrists don't get that tired or anything. You really get some great real estate to game with lol
After burning through 4 other tablets trying to find something to game with (smaller ones 8 - 9.7 inch) I had no choice but to give this a try as nothing else was doing the job. The Tab s2 has a weak processor for serious gaming so bad fps, the Tab s3 is destroyed by Samsung software issues and you can't game with it at all, the Nexus 9 while great is definitely showing it's age and starts to throttle pretty quick, and the shield has a broken touchscreen (can't do precise movements, only big ones). So I had nothing left that had any sort of performance and literally was forced into the Pixel C.
Anyway do you guys all use this thing for serious work type stuff or are any of you holding this beast out in front of you to place racing games with lol I can't be the only one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I play all games with great fps and video quality,
I'm looking to purchase a tablet for light work/recreational purposes. Price point on this tablet seems good considering the cost of the higher end tablets. I don't want to spend over $400.
I've read the processor is not great. Does the tablet act sluggish sometimes? How is the screen?
I'll mostly be using it to view PDF, Excel, Word files, and use various Android apps. Not gaming so much but could be one here and there. Thoughts? Is there a better device for the money out there?
Also, what Android version does this ship with? I'm having trouble finding that out.
CCallahan said:
I'm looking to purchase a tablet for light work/recreational purposes. Price point on this tablet seems good considering the cost of the higher end tablets. I don't want to spend over $400.
I've read the processor is not great. Does the tablet act sluggish sometimes? How is the screen?
I'll mostly be using it to view PDF, Excel, Word files, and use various Android apps. Not gaming so much but could be one here and there. Thoughts? Is there a better device for the money out there?
Also, what Android version does this ship with? I'm having trouble finding that out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use it for light reading, Netflix and WSOP poker. It does have some lag with the poker game after 1/2 hour or so. Web browsing, etc works well.
Android 10 June security patch.
The Exynos 9611 is about equal to the SD660, albeit with a weaker GPU. This is a productivity tablet more than anything, I'd say, as the highlight is definitely the s-pen.
For day to day tasks it's pretty snappy and I rarely notice any stuttering (I set the animation scale to 0.5 and everything opens instantly), I use it for reading, browsing, taking notes and just jotting down sketches and work-related stuff.
The screen looks great, even coming from a higher (~273) ppi tablet, I don't notice much of a difference, it's crisp and bright enough.
The rule with Tab S6 Lite is this: if you don't game heavily and you need an active/s-pen and, like me, dislike the Apple way of doing things, then the lite is your best bet on a budget.
Otherwise, if gaming is involved or you don't need the spen - there are better options out there, the S5e, if you can still get one, will do better in gaming and has superior speakers and
screen (I myself don't like the OLED flicker, hope they fixed it on the newer S7+).
On the dark side the iPads rule this kingdom performance and prices. The 7th gen iPad cost the same and runs circles around it, the Air 3 is another option, with better screen and specs.