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I have been deciding against a S4 or an HTC One. Right now, I have an epic 4g Touch, rooted stock. While I enjoy this phone it definitely hasn't let me down, I would like NFC support, LTE, and a better camera. I have a couple questions for people that can use this day to day, versus an in-store demo model.
1) Does anyone know if this phone will or can support Tri-band LTE? It seems the HTC one is unable to do so.
2) Normal usage (Listening to music, texting, checking e-mail, facebook on the web, web browsing, youtube, etc) how long does your battery life last? If you don't mind could you also indicate whether you live in a strong signal area (consistently full bars) or a low signal area (less then three).
3) Is the phone really plasticy feeling?
4) How is the camera on the phone? From what I have read, the S4 camera excels well all around, however the HTC One is better in low-light, but has terrible photo quality due to algorithms for noise and such.
5) Is wireless charging a possibility for this phone?
6) Does this phone only support tectiles or can you get away with other NFC tags?
7) Does sprint only have a 16GB model? Is that model still plagued by the rather low internal storage issue? Note, I understand that can be resolved with a microSD card, but, I just wondered.
8) Does this phone have a sim card slot behind the battery cover? I was surprised to see the HTC One had one, but, I couldn't check with the store model since well, the back cover has the alarm stuff on it and they wouldn't let me see it.
9) Is this phone similar to rooting/flashing kernels like the Epic 4G Touch? No HTC Dev trickery and such?
10) For anyone that has used the "S" features (airview, air gesture, etc) do they actually work well or is it just bogus gimmicky crap?
ROM Specific/Other questions
1) Does anyone know of any applications that can mimic the zoe like features of the HTC one on the S4?
2) Does anyone know if the Google Experience ROM will make use of the home button so that it instantly goes to Google Now, versus going to a task manager? I don't know if there is an option to do this on the normal sprint rom, but when I was messing with the floor model, I couldn't find a way to do this.
3) Does the IR Blaster work on any of the Google Experience ROM's, or any other AOSP ROM?
Final question, to anyone that has used both phones, is there any recommendation or opinion that you can give after using both (possibly those that bought one and then switched it out half way through)
I am having a real hard time deciding one way or another for the phones, and while yes, I understand most of the people at this point say if you flash a GE Rom, the only two remaining selling points are "Removable battery and sd card" or not, it is hard to base the decision off of that, especially if you take into account the other properties of the phone.
I would really appreciate any feedback Thanks
1. No. There are no phones available in the US that support it right now, probably by the end of the year there will be some. Probably Note 3 and LG G2.
2.Battery life is great, I'm in a terrible area for service, as most of the Sprint Network is a bad area for service.
3. I like the way it feels other than the back is a little too slick, but doesn't matter with a case.
4. S4 has the best camera for a phone on the market right now and has a lot of awesome features built in. Htc One takes better low light photos but not by a huge margin and overall is a lower quality camera IMO.
5. Yes. http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EP-P100IJWUSTA
6. Not sure.
7. Yep 16GB is the only option for Sprint currently, but that might change soon.
8. Yes it has a SIM. But you can't use the GSM capabilities unless it is unlocked and you are out of the USA.
9. This phone is too easy to Root and flash ROMs on. I had the E4GT and remember the issues with it when flashing ROMs. All that changed with the S3 and beyond.
10. S features work great. I don't use them always but they work.
1. IDK
2. The GE ROM has different assigned apps to the buttons but I'm not sure what they are, just that they are the same as the other Google Edition phone.
3.AOSP= on one that I know of but that will change anytime. The GE ROM can.
You ask a lot of questions. You a cop? Lol. I have used both and my sister in law has the HTC One. I went back and forth contimplating which to get also and I chose the S4 and haven't regretted it at all. I like the simplicity of the HTC One and it is freaking smooth as can be with the software. But IDK I still like the S4. I don't think you will be disappointed with either one so whatever you decide enjoy.
Thanks, and yes I completely understand the differences between GSM and CDMA. I did see autoprime's post, however I do completely understand the differences.
As far as battery life goes, you said it was great, on average, how many hours is "great" cause that is huge perspective issue.
As far as the storage issue changing soon, is there any ETA or is that just rumors at this point? My upgrade is in three weeks, and I highly doubt that any change would happen this fast.
My biggest concern with the S4 is any form of laggy feeling. As I get that feeling a lot on the S2/E4GT, and it is really annoying.
Plus, since they are both super phones, it is pretty difficult choosing between the two.
GH0 said:
Thanks, and yes I completely understand the differences between GSM and CDMA. I did see autoprime's post, however I do completely understand the differences.
As far as battery life goes, you said it was great, on average, how many hours is "great" cause that is huge perspective issue.
As far as the storage issue changing soon, is there any ETA or is that just rumors at this point? My upgrade is in three weeks, and I highly doubt that any change would happen this fast.
My biggest concern with the S4 is any form of laggy feeling. As I get that feeling a lot on the S2/E4GT, and it is really annoying.
Plus, since they are both super phones, it is pretty difficult choosing between the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never gotten under at least 10 hours or usage. Even heavy. I get about medium to light usage at work and I have full LTE bars there. And still have anywhere from 30-60 when I go home. I've never experienced lag on this phone. But some have, but those people say the new update solved it as well. As well as added apps to sd an option. So storage won't be a thing you'll have to worry about per say.
For me, in a good signal area, I normally achieve a bit over 5 hours of screen time on autobrightness on a total time of 16 hours unplugged.
As for the feel, I like it. The phone doesn't feel cheap and it feels very solid. I don't find it slippery either. The back gently sticks on to your fingers, which prevent slippage and accidental dropping. Coming from the E4GT, I find the feel and grip better.
The camera, of course, is much better and has many cool features.
As for rooting and flashing stuff, I find doing this stuff much easier and more logical than the E4GT.
The S4 is a great phone and I think you'll be really happy with it. If you want a phone with tri-band support, you should probably wait a bit to see which new models Sprint will be announcing. There is a rumor that a new, updated S4 might be released with the Snapdragon S800 and tri-band support, although I doubt it.
OK We're going to redesign our flagship phone from the ground up.......no compromises........no legacy baggage........no repeating of old mistakes...........where shall we start?
Well the iphone 6 has no expanded memory, no removal battery and it's the best selling phone out there....and as we're goign to launch the S6 perhaps if we make it similar enough people might think our S6 is in fact an I6?
Sounds good to me, let's do that then.
Seriously though, why throw away your differentiators because you're suddenly losing market share at the top end of the market? Instead trim the far too many number of devices and bring out faster updates for your existing devices (part of the reason updates are so slow is the software teams are spread way too thin over far too many different devices).
Speaking personally I've stopped buying Samsung devices until a year after they've launched and on the expectation that I'll get no more software updates.......because that's when they become cost efficient......usually 50% of launch price and still perfectly adequate devices.
The S6 is not going to solve their issues IMHO as they're trying to address the wrong problem.
Well you answered most of your own questions. They lost market share as the S5 sold well but not well enough with HTC and Sony making a decent impacts with their handsets. Samsung wants to be the one to beat so it makes perfect sense that they'd replicate a winning formula. Why wouldn't they? They're a commercial entity, they're in it to make money and sell as many as they can. For every person who won't buy it because it doesn't have an sd card or removal battery they will gain a ton more because to the average consumer these things aren't as important as having a super stylish phone which takes great photos and works well.
On that note; having a removable battery wasn't going to last forever. They were a niche in the market at this point. Other android manufacturers bucked this trend long ago and it hasn't dented people buying those handsets so it was only natural that Samsung were eventually going to do it as well. They made a point of addressing this in their unpacking saying that they wanted to wait until they reached a point where they knew battery life wouldn't be a problem so by using their own processor and using more efficient internals they felt that they were at a point to do this.
It's pretty much a similar story with the SD card not having expandable storage. With cloud and whatever else, it's never been easier to move extra files from your phone that aren't vital to other sources. Does the average consumer really need 64GB/128GB of storage? I severely doubt it. The biggest drain will be photos and music. 32GB will probably cut it for the average consumer but now there are more options for those who need those extra GB's. I too at first was skeptical as I like the idea of having an external SD card having finally got used to having it on my HTC M8 but I didn't miss it on my M7, I just wish i had more space. Having it on the M8 just meant I could add more music I wouldn't listen to anyway. I'm definitely guilty of that. Again, it's worked for the iPhone so why not anything else?
I have to commend Samsung really. For the first time I'm actually considering changing from HTC and I've had every flagship by them since the Hero. The S6 Edge in particularly looks fantastic IMO. They've listened to what people's main concerns were and changed them, then enhanced everything else and borrowed from Apple the things that work for them. My concern right now is the battery life which is the only thing that is going to potentially hamper this device. Even Touchwiz looks much refined and I have a Note 2 I picked up for when I travel abroad and absolutely despise it.
The proof will be in the pudding but I expect the S6 to be the best selling handset of the year and providing there are no concerns with the battery think it will even beat the M9 this year as Phone of the Year. As much as it pains me to say that.
I also feel the reason we only get a 16GB or 32GB version in the US (or worse in some markets) is the expandable memory excuse the carriers throw at customers. See you don't need a 32/64/128GB iPhone you can put a microSD in the phone and voila 16GB+128GB its MORE. Well its not, because nothing beats having all of your memory built in accessible for apps, BIG APPS we all like to play. Samsung can use more of their own memory, make more profit for their own company, they make everything including the kitchen sink so why not use their own display, memory, processor, etc and only outsource the parts they have to like the Sony Camera module. Also using Exynos across the board allows for standardization and perhaps that means when it comes to Android updates it won't take 8 months to get it out the door because they only have to build it for one processor instead of 2 or 3.
While it can be frustrating for a phone not to have a feature you use quite often, those people who are upset about a non-removable battery and no microSD card option HAVE to realise that they are in a very small minority. For MOST people, not having these options will not affect their experience.
I know very few people with Androids that have a microSD card reader who actually have a microSD card. And for the majority of people, 32 GB will be plenty enough for them.
My music collection dates back 15 years and in those 15 years, I haven't even acquired 32 gb of music! I honestly don't know why someone would want to put 10,000 songs onto their phone for. At an average of 3.5 minutes a song, that's 35,000 minutes (or 583 hours or TWENTY FOUR days worth) of music. Does anyone really need that much on their device at any one time?
More than 95% of the general public simply don't care about removable batteries or sd cards. XDA doesn't even represent 1% of smartphone buyers. I'm not saying I like these changes, just that the random Joe that doesn't know much about smartphones but will still spend $200+ buying one doesn't say "oh no, I can't remove this phone's battery or put an sd card. Let me get a different phone". They don't care, and Samsung will not cater to a overwhelmingly small minority.
Personally, if that was the tradeoff for having a beautiful metal and glass phone then I'm more than pleased.
I sure hope the future has more sd slots and removable batteries.
Its shocking for some people to realize that 99.9999% of other people don't believe in the same things that they believe in and that they are an insignificant minority.
As much as I love removable battery and SD slot, I'll give them up for beautiful design. The s5 had everything except the kitchen sink but a pig with lipstick is still a pig, imho.
Sent from my GT-I9100
I don't get why people get 'outraged'. I can understand disappointed, but come on - is a phone!
There are plenty of other phone options. Don't buy a new one at all if none of the new ones meet your needs.
To say samsung had lost their mind, or failed, is ridiculous. They just made a phone that doesn't appeal to YOU. They think it will appeal to more overall customers, and they are probably right. If they are wrong they'll make changes on the S7.
TLDR: is fine if the s6 doesn't appeal to you. Wait for another phone or buy something else. No need to get upset.
xavier2k3 said:
Well you answered most of your own questions. They lost market share as the S5 sold well but not well enough with HTC and Sony making a decent impacts with their handsets. Samsung wants to be the one to beat so it makes perfect sense that they'd replicate a winning formula. Why wouldn't they? They're a commercial entity, they're in it to make money and sell as many as they can. For every person who won't buy it because it doesn't have an sd card or removal battery they will gain a ton more because to the average consumer these things aren't as important as having a super stylish phone which takes great photos and works well.
On that note; having a removable battery wasn't going to last forever. They were a niche in the market at this point. Other android manufacturers bucked this trend long ago and it hasn't dented people buying those handsets so it was only natural that Samsung were eventually going to do it as well. They made a point of addressing this in their unpacking saying that they wanted to wait until they reached a point where they knew battery life wouldn't be a problem so by using their own processor and using more efficient internals they felt that they were at a point to do this.
It's pretty much a similar story with the SD card not having expandable storage. With cloud and whatever else, it's never been easier to move extra files from your phone that aren't vital to other sources. Does the average consumer really need 64GB/128GB of storage? I severely doubt it. The biggest drain will be photos and music. 32GB will probably cut it for the average consumer but now there are more options for those who need those extra GB's. I too at first was skeptical as I like the idea of having an external SD card having finally got used to having it on my HTC M8 but I didn't miss it on my M7, I just wish i had more space. Having it on the M8 just meant I could add more music I wouldn't listen to anyway. I'm definitely guilty of that. Again, it's worked for the iPhone so why not anything else?
I have to commend Samsung really. For the first time I'm actually considering changing from HTC and I've had every flagship by them since the Hero. The S6 Edge in particularly looks fantastic IMO. They've listened to what people's main concerns were and changed them, then enhanced everything else and borrowed from Apple the things that work for them. My concern right now is the battery life which is the only thing that is going to potentially hamper this device. Even Touchwiz looks much refined and I have a Note 2 I picked up for when I travel abroad and absolutely despise it.
The proof will be in the pudding but I expect the S6 to be the best selling handset of the year and providing there are no concerns with the battery think it will even beat the M9 this year as Phone of the Year. As much as it pains me to say that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you answered most of your own questions. They lost market share as the S5 sold well but not well enough with HTC and Sony making a decent impacts with their handsets. Samsung wants to be the one to beat so it makes perfect sense that they'd replicate a winning formula. Why wouldn't they? They're a commercial entity, they're in it to make money and sell as many as they can. For every person who won't buy it because it doesn't have an sd card or removal battery they will gain a ton more because to the average consumer these things aren't as important as having a super stylish phone which takes great photos and works well.
On that note; having a removable battery wasn't going to last forever. They were a niche in the market at this point. Other android manufacturers bucked this trend long ago and it hasn't dented people buying those handsets so it was only natural that Samsung were eventually going to do it as well. They made a point of addressing this in their unpacking saying that they wanted to wait until they reached a point where they knew battery life wouldn't be a problem so by using their own processor and using more efficient internals they felt that they were at a point to do this.
It's pretty much a similar story with the SD card not having expandable storage. With cloud and whatever else, it's never been easier to move extra files from your phone that aren't vital to other sources. Does the average consumer really need 64GB/128GB of storage? I severely doubt it. The biggest drain will be photos and music. 32GB will probably cut it for the average consumer but now there are more options for those who need those extra GB's. I too at first was skeptical as I like the idea of having an external SD card having finally got used to having it on my HTC M8 but I didn't miss it on my M7, I just wish i had more space. Having it on the M8 just meant I could add more music I wouldn't listen to anyway. I'm definitely guilty of that. Again, it's worked for the iPhone so why not anything else?
I have to commend Samsung really. For the first time I'm actually considering changing from HTC and I've had every flagship by them since the Hero. The S6 Edge in particularly looks fantastic IMO. They've listened to what people's main concerns were and changed them, then enhanced everything else and borrowed from Apple the things that work for them. My concern right now is the battery life which is the only thing that is going to potentially hamper this device. Even Touchwiz looks much refined and I have a Note 2 I picked up for when I travel abroad and absolutely despise it.
The proof will be in the pudding but I expect the S6 to be the best selling handset of the year and providing there are no concerns with the battery think it will even beat the M9 this year as Phone of the Year. As much as it pains me to say that.
))))))
After weathering the storm of chaos as huge crowds rushed to get the One, hearing countless horror stories of failing phones and terrible support, and waiting for (hopefully) all hardware problems to rear their ugly faces, I'm at a loss now--in March 2016--as to whether or not buying a used phone, said to work perfectly by the seller and has been tested enough by natural selection, would be a good idea if I can only return DOAs.
I'm calling on everyone here not to post just epic sob-stories; instead, if you had an issue (hardware, software, firmware, or other) please post what it was, when it showed up (how much use, any possible user error that may have caused it), whether it was fixed (and if it was, what it was fixed by), how long it lasted, what ROM/software version you were on, and any other important info.
Thanks so much in advance; I really like the specs and the original reviews, but just can't be sure if it got back up after falling flat right out of the gate.
I got a oneplus one. I love it!. Soon as I got i t I rooted and flashed CM13. NO ISSUES WITH IT AT ALL.
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
dreamwave said:
After weathering the storm of chaos as huge crowds rushed to get the One, hearing countless horror stories of failing phones and terrible support, and waiting for (hopefully) all hardware problems to rear their ugly faces, I'm at a loss now--in March 2016--as to whether or not buying a used phone, said to work perfectly by the seller and has been tested enough by natural selection, would be a good idea if I can only return DOAs.
I'm calling on everyone here not to post just epic sob-stories; instead, if you had an issue (hardware, software, firmware, or other) please post what it was, when it showed up (how much use, any possible user error that may have caused it), whether it was fixed (and if it was, what it was fixed by), how long it lasted, what ROM/software version you were on, and any other important info.
Thanks so much in advance; I really like the specs and the original reviews, but just can't be sure if it got back up after falling flat right out of the gate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nearly 2 years and no regrets..
I only got this phone at the end of 2015 and I haven't regretted a bit, ever. It's an amazing phone, I never had any problem with it. The metal around the screen is the only thing that wears out, it's not awful but it as some scratches, and I'm very careful. Believe me, for the price, this is still the best budget phone you can get
I have the ability to get it for as low as $180 here in the US. I know that is quite a good deal compared to the original price, but with the OPX having been released with similar specs and such I'm not quite sure I fully grasp whether or not this price is a steal, or just a good bargain. Thoughts?
Absolutely hate it. I regret trading my Nexus 6 for it. My data has been spotty and I keep getting random reboots. Today, I was using the GPS and Google Maps lost the ability to connect to my phone's mobile data during the commute. Completely overshot my destination, thanks OnePlus!
billybobchongo said:
Absolutely hate it. I regret trading my Nexus 6 for it. My data has been spotty and I keep getting random reboots. Today, I was using the GPS and Google Maps lost the ability to connect to my phone's mobile data during the commute. Completely overshot my destination, thanks OnePlus!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it comes to data, I'm not too worried as I use tracfone (so I'm not really used to the convenience of data on the go) and have great coverage around here--unless it is so significantly worse than the Nexus 6 so as to cause a steady 3-4 bars on one to equal intermittent service on the other.
For the random reboots, when did they start? What ROM? When do they happen?
dreamwave said:
I have the ability to get it for as low as $180 here in the US. I know that is quite a good deal compared to the original price, but with the OPX having been released with similar specs and such I'm not quite sure I fully grasp whether or not this price is a steal, or just a good bargain. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On paper, the OnePlus One and OnePlus X may seem similar, but it's only so much.
The OPO features (as compared to the OPX)
> a higher-tier variant of the Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC) @ 2.5ghz
> a larger 5.5in LTPS (IPS LCD) display (screen size is subjective, some people prefer smaller)
> better band support for US Carriers (the OPX lacks necessary bands)
> a better rear-facing camera (capable of 4K DCI/UHD recording) and can be vastly improved with Sultan's modifications
> WIFI AC + Dual band (2.4/5.0ghz)
> a larger 3100mah battery
> NFC (the OPX doesn't have NFC, seriously)
But most importantly, the OPO is sustained by one of the largest dev communities ever, right here at XDA. Even after OnePlus/Cyanogen discontinues official support for the device, the community will keep it alive and strong for a VERY long time. The OPX lacks this kind of love and support. Unsurprisingly, OnePlus themselves seem to be neglecting the OPX.
The OPX features (as compared to the OPO)
> a more portable 5in AMOLED display
> a better front-facing camera
I might sound biased, but that is justified by everything I've just listed. It's clear who's the winner here.
Spec sheets for reference:
http://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_one-6327.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_x-7630.php
JimJ2Mz said:
On paper, ... camera
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the insight. I kind of wonder why it's so cheap when it's so competitive with other phones of the time. The Galaxy s5 seems to go, used, for between $250-300 while the OPO goes for between 200-225 normally. I get that last generation phones can go down in price, but it seemed unexpected that it didn't even out to pretty much the same used price as most of those other phones. I was just thinking there must be something I was missing.
dreamwave said:
I kind of wonder why it's so cheap when it's so competitive with other phones of the time. The Galaxy s5 seems to go, used, for between $250-300 while the OPO goes for between 200-225 normally. I get that last generation phones can go down in price, but it seemed unexpected that it didn't even out to pretty much the same used price as most of those other phones. I was just thinking there must be something I was missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is expected. The Galaxy S5 is a Samsung device and as with all popular brands, these devices can go for a high price, from when they're released to even a few years later.
The OnePlus One was OnePlus' very first device and it was named "The Flagship Killer" for a reason- that reason being it had the same specs as popular flagship devices (ie. Galaxy S5, Xperia Z3, HTC One M8) but costed much less than they did. This is why the OPO, new or used, continues to be sold for lower than any other popular flagship device.
As a note, OnePlus claims that they barely made any profit at the time due to selling the OPO for such a low price, but they actually had a lot of backup from their overseeing company, OPPO.
Trust me (and everyone here), the OPO is still an amazing device. Everything about it screams high quality.
dreamwave said:
When it comes to data, I'm not too worried as I use tracfone (so I'm not really used to the convenience of data on the go) and have great coverage around here--unless it is so significantly worse than the Nexus 6 so as to cause a steady 3-4 bars on one to equal intermittent service on the other.
For the random reboots, when did they start? What ROM? When do they happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running Sultan's CM13 - had similar issues with CM12. Switched to CM13 because Sultan was actively developing it. Tried other roms but I didn't like them as much as Sultan's rom. Charging is also atrocious - 2 hours to go from 10% to 100% with the stock cable and charger.
The funny thing is, I had full bars and data, GMaps just couldn't connect until I restarted the phone.
I had three reboots in the past hour. One with the phone laying on my desk. Another while scrolling through GroupMe. The final after I took a screenshot of my lockscreen. I don't use xposed or any other customization app.
Best phone ever released till date, we can edit ANDROID to the core.. I am using since aug 2014, only thing i regret is camera compared to todays phones but even it lives it up to the mark
well!! it is reliable enough ...
I've had this device since November 2014 and going strong. This device is one of the best purchases I've ever made in terms of a device. Unless I cause damage to it or there are new band support that's needed in the near future, I might actually try to keep this device until end of 2017.
I've really have had no issues with this phone, probably my only real gripe is the lack of OIS support.
You really can't go wrong with the OnePlus One.
Being a phone junkie, I jumped at the chance for a flagship killer, and do not regret it. Looking at all the phones we have today, this one still stacks up great, and outperforms my buddies lg v10 (which was what I was going to get, but couldn't justify the price) in a lot of areas (mostly stupid golf games), though all his hardware is top notch.
This device is affordable, and still runs as smooth as day one. Dev community awesome. I had the slight yellow tinge when it first came out, but it's gone. I had another friend of mine buy the op2 just cause he liked my phone so much but wanted the dual Sim...
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
I'm looking to jump back in with a OPO after a year, has the touch screen issue been addressed? I had the issue on two OPO's. Very great device otherwise!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
MiguelSassoon said:
I'm looking to jump back in with a OPO after a year, has the touch screen issue been addressed? I had the issue on two OPO's. Very great device otherwise!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was one of the things I was wondering: there were a lot of people having problems with the touchscreen, they apparently had a firmware fix but I still saw some reports of problems afterwards. Haven't seen any recently, but no real discussion about what was the issue, whether there were some people with hardware problems AND some people with firmware problems or if there were just firmware problems. I think I might have seen something on their forums but I honestly don't trust that place with the reports of censorship and all the fanboys dismissing problems.
EDIT: Just found this thread that describes what causes the issue. Definitely an involved process, but at least it suggests a problem other than just faulty-digitizer roulette. I hate the lengths that Oneplus goes to to try and hide this kind of thing. They could gain a lot more support if they were just transparent about their fumbles and mistakes instead of trying to sweep stuff under the rug and waiting for it to create a scandal.
dreamwave said:
That was one of the things I was wondering: there were a lot of people having problems with the touchscreen, they apparently had a firmware fix but I still saw some reports of problems afterwards. Haven't seen any recently, but no real discussion about what was the issue, whether there were some people with hardware problems AND some people with firmware problems or if there were just firmware problems. I think I might have seen something on their forums but I honestly don't trust that place with the reports of censorship and all the fanboys dismissing problems.
EDIT: Just found this thread that describes what causes the issue. Definitely an involved process, but at least it suggests a problem other than just faulty-digitizer roulette. I hate the lengths that Oneplus goes to to try and hide this kind of thing. They could gain a lot more support if they were just transparent about their fumbles and mistakes instead of trying to sweep stuff under the rug and waiting for it to create a scandal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I remember reading about that .. Hoping they fixed the issue as I'm contemplating purchasing one new from OnePlus.
Just wanted to follow-up on my post from yesterday, OP.
I'm now on rooted stock COS12.1 - latest update, as of yesterday night. Only rooted apps I use are AdAway and TiBu (might not justify root tbh haha). But it's still not that great. The phone was definitely much smoother with Sultan's rom, with occasional hiccups. Just tried to do a raid in COC and the phone went unresponsive until I locked the screen but I had to resort to rebooting to make it actually work. It actually froze on the "rebooting" screen and I had to hard reboot.
For reference, I've had the phone since September 2015 and have been holding out for this year's Nexus but I might have to bite the bullet and pick up the 6P. My phone timeline is as follows: LG MyTouch, HTC Sensation 4G, Moto G 1st Gen, Nexus 6 and OnePlus One. Favorites have been Moto G and Nexus 6.
buy opo, leave opx....look around here on developments for both devices and u know why i say opo
I've been reading up about the Z5C because it's the only small yet powerful android phone currently on the market. Of course I always check XDA for root/rom/support experiences, and here I mostly see negative experiences. So many people are saying this is their last Xperia or that if the new Android M doesn't fix it's issues then they're going to switch to different phone, etc. This disheartens me greatly because I see no other viable option for a new sub-5 inch phone. I currently have a 1st gen Moto X - XT1053 Dev Edition. I love the phone and everything about it, but it's getting to be a bit slow with 2013 hardware running 2016 apps, and I think I will need an upgrade by 2017. I would buy another Motorola, but Lenovo has decided that Motorola should only make shovel sized phones (which goes against everything in Motorola's original vision.)
So where does that leave us who don't like gargantuan phones but still want a quality device? Do I wait and see if fixes come for the Z5C memory leak, stuttering, and its other issues? A few people report that their phone doesn't have these issues, do I gamble and hope I get a good one like that? Is there some other small form Andriod smartphone out there that I should consider? Or do I give up and get a 5+ inch device? It seems the Samsung G6 or G7 would be the next smallest option.
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and comments on this.
DrvLikHell said:
I've been reading up about the Z5C because it's the only small yet powerful android phone currently on the market. Of course I always check XDA for root/rom/support experiences, and here I mostly see negative experiences. So many people are saying this is their last Xperia or that if the new Android M doesn't fix it's issues then they're going to switch to different phone, etc. This disheartens me greatly because I see no other viable option for a new sub-5 inch phone. I currently have a 1st gen Moto X - XT1053 Dev Edition. I love the phone and everything about it, but it's getting to be a bit slow with 2013 hardware running 2016 apps, and I think I will need an upgrade by 2017. I would buy another Motorola, but Lenovo has decided that Motorola should only make shovel sized phones (which goes against everything in Motorola's original vision.)
So where does that leave us who don't like gargantuan phones but still want a quality device? Do I wait and see if fixes come for the Z5C memory leak, stuttering, and its other issues? A few people report that their phone doesn't have these issues, do I gamble and hope I get a good one like that? Is there some other small form Andriod smartphone out there that I should consider? Or do I give up and get a 5+ inch device? It seems the Samsung G6 or G7 would be the next smallest option.
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and comments on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You ever consider the Z3 Compact? Or you picky on year and specs?
uchechris said:
You ever consider the Z3 Compact? Or you picky on year and specs?
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Click to collapse
I'm picky on specs... Though I did consider it today and I watched several Z3C vs Z5C videos. I like it except that it's only one year newer/faster than my current phone, and it's only available in 16GB. My Moto X, being the Dev Edition, is a 32GB and it's usually full. the Z3C has an SD card slot, but not everything can go on an SD. If I was going to go with a Snapdragon 801 phone from 2014 I'd probably choose the Moto X 2nd gen and give a little on size to retain the seriously awesome Moto Display capability.
DrvLikHell said:
I'm picky on specs... Though I did consider it today and I watched several Z3C vs Z5C videos. I like it except that it's only one year newer/faster than my current phone, and it's only available in 16GB. My Moto X, being the Dev Edition, is a 32GB and it's usually full. the Z3C has an SD card slot, but not everything can go on an SD. If I was going to go with a Snapdragon 801 phone from 2014 I'd probably choose the Moto X 2nd gen and give a little on size to retain the seriously awesome Moto Display capability.
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Click to collapse
Well theres really isn't anything bad about the Z5 compact.....tho ppl complain about it being overheat and camera being not good, if those things is not an issue to you, then yea the z5 compact is a great phone, i say go for it, been having updates since it just had a update last two days ago
I know where you're coming from. My LG G2 has been getting really slow so I've been wanting a new phone,, but I really don't want a phablet. So I got the z5 compact (international model). It's ok. It isn't everything I hoped. The idle battery life sucks (it loses 1% per hour where as my g2 would only lose 1% every 8 hours. That makes it pretty much a 1 day phone, not 2 for most people I would imagine. And the fingerprint scanner seems to be a piece of garbage. It doesn't work 70% of the time. Other than that the phone is good. It's fast, the screen can get very bright. Obviously waterproof. So yeah, not the battery life king that the z3 compact used to be, and the fingerprint scanner might as well not exist. I bought a nexus 6p - I know I know, it's a phablet and I said I didn't want one - just to test ( I will most likely return it before the 15 day return policy) but I can't tell you how nice it is to have a fingerprint scanner that works 100% of the time and is accessible with both hands. I'm hoping the update that is just now rolling out fixes the fingerprint scanner if possible. So those are my thoughts.
uchechris said:
Well theres really isn't anything bad about the Z5 compact.....tho ppl complain about it being overheat and camera being not good, if those things is not an issue to you, then yea the z5 compact is a great phone, i say go for it, been having updates since it just had a update last two days ago
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Click to collapse
Heat isn't an issue because I don't do anything intensive for long periods of time, like gaming. The camera I don't know about. My Moto X camera is ok, my Galaxy S3 camera was good, but that's all I've got to compare to. So maybe if I never had a better one I won't notice.
ksc6000 said:
I know where you're coming from. My LG G2 has been getting really slow so I've been wanting a new phone,, but I really don't want a phablet. So I got the z5 compact (international model). It's ok. It isn't everything I hoped. The idle battery life sucks (it loses 1% per hour where as my g2 would only lose 1% every 8 hours. That makes it pretty much a 1 day phone, not 2 for most people I would imagine. And the fingerprint scanner seems to be a piece of garbage. It doesn't work 70% of the time. Other than that the phone is good. It's fast, the screen can get very bright. Obviously waterproof. So yeah, not the battery life king that the z3 compact used to be, and the fingerprint scanner might as well not exist. I bought a nexus 6p - I know I know, it's a phablet and I said I didn't want one - just to test ( I will most likely return it before the 15 day return policy) but I can't tell you how nice it is to have a fingerprint scanner that works 100% of the time and is accessible with both hands. I'm hoping the update that is just now rolling out fixes the fingerprint scanner if possible. So those are my thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also tried out a phablet, the Asus Zenfone 2. Really awesome phone, but awesomely huge as well. 64GB, 4GB ram, 4 Intel Atom cores, dual sim, SD slot, fully unlockable. I figured if I was going to go big, why not get crazy with specs too. While it performed great and had every option available, it was just too big. I felt like I was pulling out a ham sandwich to make a phone call. I could barely reach the power button one-handed, never mind navigate it one-handed. But my friend was enamored with it, so I sold it to him, and I'm on the hunt again.
The battery life could be an issue. Usually I end up with around 30% left on my Moto, but sometimes I'll have to use it a lot more than normal and hit single digits by the end of the day. I've never had it die on me though. I've heard mixed reviews about the fingerprint scanner ranging from "ok", to "crap." But I don't have one now, so I won't miss it if I don't use it, right? What I'll miss is the Moto Display where it semi-wakes when you pick it up or take it out of your pocket or get a notification. No other phones wake/unlock feature can hold a candle to that.
The thing that concerns me most is the RAM leak that people talk about and the stuttering. A lot of people complain that they have to restart their phone from once a day to once every 3-4 days to restore it's speed. Otherwise it starts to choke even with just one app open. Something about app caching or precaching or whatever, I can't remember. That would be a HUGE problem for me. I want a phone that's as fast today as it was a week ago when I turned it on. Even Windows doesn't have that problem anymore. And stuttering when swiping and/or moving from app to app. That would feel gheto, like I've got a $29 phone from Walmart. If I'm going to pay several hundred bucks for a phone, it needs to move like a several hundred dollar phone. My Moto is still smooth, even when it's loading or navigating a heavy app. It's just a little pokey about it sometimes.
I really appreciate your input guys. It helps substantially because no one I know AFK knows squat about phones.
DrvLikHell said:
Heat isn't an issue because I don't do anything intensive for long periods of time, like gaming. The camera I don't know about. My Moto X camera is ok, my Galaxy S3 camera was good, but that's all I've got to compare to. So maybe if I never had a better one I won't notice.
I also tried out a phablet, the Asus Zenfone 2. Really awesome phone, but awesomely huge as well. 64GB, 4GB ram, 4 Intel Atom cores, dual sim, SD slot, fully unlockable. I figured if I was going to go big, why not get crazy with specs too. While it performed great and had every option available, it was just too big. I felt like I was pulling out a ham sandwich to make a phone call. I could barely reach the power button one-handed, never mind navigate it one-handed. But my friend was enamored with it, so I sold it to him, and I'm on the hunt again.
The battery life could be an issue. Usually I end up with around 30% left on my Moto, but sometimes I'll have to use it a lot more than normal and hit single digits by the end of the day. I've never had it die on me though. I've heard mixed reviews about the fingerprint scanner ranging from "ok", to "crap." But I don't have one now, so I won't miss it if I don't use it, right? What I'll miss is the Moto Display where it semi-wakes when you pick it up or take it out of your pocket or get a notification. No other phones wake/unlock feature can hold a candle to that.
The thing that concerns me most is the RAM leak that people talk about and the stuttering. A lot of people complain that they have to restart their phone from once a day to once every 3-4 days to restore it's speed. Otherwise it starts to choke even with just one app open. Something about app caching or precaching or whatever, I can't remember. That would be a HUGE problem for me. I want a phone that's as fast today as it was a week ago when I turned it on. Even Windows doesn't have that problem anymore. And stuttering when swiping and/or moving from app to app. That would feel gheto, like I've got a $29 phone from Walmart. If I'm going to pay several hundred bucks for a phone, it needs to move like a several hundred dollar phone. My Moto is still smooth, even when it's loading or navigating a heavy app. It's just a little pokey about it sometimes.
I really appreciate your input guys. It helps substantially because no one I know AFK knows squat about phones.
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Click to collapse
You just need to realize that no phone is perfect....all phones has its pros and cons, kinda wish there was more small phones but nowadays its always big phones big phones big phones which is very annoying, but hey welcome to history of technology, it keeps improving every year
Most people come to these forums to fix problems or discuss issues so there won't be a lot of positive threads. But then again there's not much nice to say about the z5c lol if you can live with side charging go with the z3c. The xperia line has a lot of users that are too scared to root so the development is really slim. The z3c is at a more of a mature state than the z5c so it's your best bet.
I guess I just don't understand where did this problem of the phone being slow comes from. Because if there's anything positive that I can say about the Z5 compact that is that it is super fast and I am currently using a Nexus 6p which arguably is the fastest Android experience you can get and the Z5 compact doesn't feel any slower to me. I guess the camera is probably slower because I have noticed it take a half second longer to open than I would expect it and the photos take about a second to 2 seconds to fully load but really other than that the phone is blazing fast in my opinion.
civicsr2cool said:
Most people come to these forums to fix problems or discuss issues so there won't be a lot of positive threads. But then again there's not much nice to say about the z5c lol if you can live with side charging go with the z3c. The xperia line has a lot of users that are too scared to root so the development is really slim. The z3c is at a more of a mature state than the z5c so it's your best bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't mind the side charge, but with only 16GB, it's a step down from what I have now in terms of storage. It's also 2 years old and I'm looking for something a little newer. If you go to other forums, there are a larger percentage of people talking about how they love their phone in spite of some issue they created or something they're trying to achieve or fix. I've seen users on the Moto X forum state that they'll give up their phone when someone pries it from their cold dead hands. Others have wept when their phone was irreparably damaged. I've seen the same thing said about the LG G2. You are quite correct about older phones being in a more mature state though. The S6/S7 don't have a Cyanogen build available yet, and neither does the Z5C. But the Z3C does.
ksc6000 said:
I guess I just don't understand where did this problem of the phone being slow comes from. Because if there's anything positive that I can say about the Z5 compact that is that it is super fast and I am currently using a Nexus 6p which arguably is the fastest Android experience you can get and the Z5 compact doesn't feel any slower to me. I guess the camera is probably slower because I have noticed it take a half second longer to open than I would expect it and the photos take about a second to 2 seconds to fully load but really other than that the phone is blazing fast in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that the Z5C is slow all together, the complaints I've been reading are that it slows down after a few days of use due to an issue with the RAM not clearing properly. Everyone says a restart fixes/clears the issue till it builds up again. Sorta like Windows 98. If you don't restart your Z5C for a week, does it still feel just as fast as your Nexus?
DrvLikHell said:
It's not that the Z5C is slow all together, the complaints I've been reading are that it slows down after a few days of use due to an issue with the RAM not clearing properly. Everyone says a restart fixes/clears the issue till it builds up again. Sorta like Windows 98. If you don't restart your Z5C for a week, does it still feel just as fast as your Nexus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say that mine doesn't slow down somewhat after a week or so, but I've never had it happen to the point it is unusable. I've gone weeks without a restart with no real problems. I've noticed that it does slow down some, but nothing that I can't live with. And even with a slowdown, are you so in need of being connected 24/7 that you can't take the a minute periodically to reboot?
I've read some varying reports that the 6.0.1 update improves the memory management, and at least helps this issue. However, I haven't had a chance to use flashtool to update yet, so I can't say for sure.
The Z5 Compact (mine at least) does have a bit of the 810 overheating problem. The only time it impacted anything for me, I had been setting in a hot car and then tried to use the camera. I got the 'overheating... camera will close' message. I had that happen to me a few times on the Z3 compact the didn't have the Snapdragon 810 SOC.
Battery life isn't awesome, but then again I'm not really a power user. Little gaming, little social media checking, etc... I work in a location with no signal at all for the phone. It spends almost all of the day trying to connect. I generally go out to the car at lunch for a little while, but that is about all the time it is connected during the day. I don't think it has ever actually died on me doing this. If it has, it was maybe once.
When I'm somewhere that has signal all day, I've never had an issue unless I'm using navigation a lot, or something similar.
I've tried a few other phones over the last few years, and even if they have worked well they are just too freaking big. I've stuck with the Xperia compacts because they are the only <5" phone that offers true flagship specs.
Just my two cents. You're mileage may vary. If you get it and hate it, please don't blame me.
Look if you're happy, you're not gonna bother posting about it. That's human nature. There are a lot of happy users like me who don't have anything to complain about. People will only open a thread or comment if they run into a problem. Anyway, this phone has been fantastic for me since 6.0 update. And now after the 6.0.1 update, the camera starts almost instantly. So I can finally say that this was a worthwhile investment from my part.
Sent from my E5803 using XDA-Developers mobile app
i have z5c 3 months now, using MM and don't have any problems, using my phone for photos, navigation and regular calls and so on, last night i was travel with car, navigation was on 3,5 hours ( connected on charger ), phone was hot but didn't FC navigation and did't have any problems, but when i took it in my hands it was hot, checked temp and it was 42 C, so nothing to wory about, battery life depends how you use it, i can make whole day and before bed time i have over 50% left, but if i use wifi while in bed that 50% will be gone in 2 hours, i never tried on this phone but on my work phone( only calls and sms, data turned off) htc 320 battery last over 15 days in standby without problems, back on topic, camera is great for me, clear nice colors and 4k video recording is great, really can't find anything bed in this phone, if you wanna be sure battery would last whole day charge it over night
The z5c with MM is a very fast and capable multitasker.
The only negative is the camera really isn't a comparison to its competitors.
Sony sent the z5c out with an utterly p!ss poor Lollipop firmware. You can trust those review you've read at that point the z5c "was" an utter disgrace and let a complete let down.
However since MM the device is as you'd have expected it to be. It's a performer and a half.
Again it's only the sub par camera quality that negates away from an almost legendary device.
Sent from my E5823 using XDA-Developers mobile app
DrvLikHell said:
I don't mind the side charge, but with only 16GB, it's a step down from what I have now in terms of storage. It's also 2 years old and I'm looking for something a little newer. If you go to other forums, there are a larger percentage of people talking about how they love their phone in spite of some issue they created or something they're trying to achieve or fix. I've seen users on the Moto X forum state that they'll give up their phone when someone pries it from their cold dead hands. Others have wept when their phone was irreparably damaged. I've seen the same thing said about the LG G2. You are quite correct about older phones being in a more mature state though. The S6/S7 don't have a Cyanogen build available yet, and neither does the Z5C. But the Z3C does.
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Click to collapse
Ive never come close to running out of 16gb on internal storage on any phone ive ever had and I've got two grand theft auto installed. I put everything on a 200gb sd, I can't stand a phone without SD slots lol
I agree with other forums showing more love, this is the third Sony phone I've tried over the years and the third one that I have very little nice things to say about it. But the z5c forums have only just started to take off since the US release, it was real real dead before that.
DrvLikHell said:
I don't mind the side charge, but with only 16GB, it's a step down from what I have now in terms of storage. It's also 2 years old and I'm looking for something a little newer. If you go to other forums, there are a larger percentage of people talking about how they love their phone in spite of some issue they created or something they're trying to achieve or fix. I've seen users on the Moto X forum state that they'll give up their phone when someone pries it from their cold dead hands. Others have wept when their phone was irreparably damaged. I've seen the same thing said about the LG G2. You are quite correct about older phones being in a more mature state though. The S6/S7 don't have a Cyanogen build available yet, and neither does the Z5C. But the Z3C does.
It's not that the Z5C is slow all together, the complaints I've been reading are that it slows down after a few days of use due to an issue with the RAM not clearing properly. Everyone says a restart fixes/clears the issue till it builds up again. Sorta like Windows 98. If you don't restart your Z5C for a week, does it still feel just as fast as your Nexus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah in my opinion the phone is still as fast and I do not have to reboot every week or whatever. I would still say that it remains as fast and doesn't seem to slow down at all in my opinion. My sister also has the Z5 Compact and she also does not notice any slowdowns of any sort and doesn't have to reboot regularly and the only does it if necessary while changing SIM cards or something.
So again my main gripes with this phone are the idle battery life which I can live with even though it's really annoying, but the fingerprint scanner is just not good in my opinion. Especially after using a nice one that works every time and seamlessly and it's just so effortless, it's really hard to use this when it screws up more than half the time it feels like. However my sister's Z5 compact fingerprint scanner seems to be a little bit better, I don't understand why. The difference only is that she has the black model and I have the white one and I know that there was an issue with the screen not responding to touch properly when the phones first came out just for the white model so maybe there's a difference in the hardware of the fingerprint scanner as well.
DrvLikHell said:
I've been reading up about the Z5C because it's the only small yet powerful android phone currently on the market. Of course I always check XDA for root/rom/support experiences, and here I mostly see negative experiences. So many people are saying this is their last Xperia or that if the new Android M doesn't fix it's issues then they're going to switch to different phone, etc. This disheartens me greatly because I see no other viable option for a new sub-5 inch phone. I currently have a 1st gen Moto X - XT1053 Dev Edition. I love the phone and everything about it, but it's getting to be a bit slow with 2013 hardware running 2016 apps, and I think I will need an upgrade by 2017. I would buy another Motorola, but Lenovo has decided that Motorola should only make shovel sized phones (which goes against everything in Motorola's original vision.)
So where does that leave us who don't like gargantuan phones but still want a quality device? Do I wait and see if fixes come for the Z5C memory leak, stuttering, and its other issues? A few people report that their phone doesn't have these issues, do I gamble and hope I get a good one like that? Is there some other small form Andriod smartphone out there that I should consider? Or do I give up and get a 5+ inch device? It seems the Samsung G6 or G7 would be the next smallest option.
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and comments on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bear in mind that people who don't have problems have little reason to post on forums.
I went from a XT1058 to a discounted Nexus 5 to a Z5C and have been mostly happy.
The only issues I've had:
- Phone app crashes after a call ends when using Android Auto
- Camera app is a little slow to launch
- No "active display" (i.e. google's equivalent of moto display)
- Absolutely needs a case as it's too slippery to use bare (unlike the Moto X)
- Phone gets really warm after using it with Android Auto
Really after Mm update z5c is blazing fast, no complains what so ever when it comes to performance. Sometimes it gets a bit hot, but nothing to be concerned about. And I don't know why everyone complaints about fingereader, it works 95 proc of time for me. I register same finger three times. I don't really use camera that much, but it opens super fast for me, but even I can tell quality is not great. At least auto mode.
My experience with this device has been mostly a pleasant one. One of the previous poster mentioned that no device is perfect and this one is no different. You will always find something that you feel the manufacturer didn't get right. The gripes I have with this device:
- Slow camera app. (Also, I can't find a burst mode...is there one?)
- Wi-Fi connection when the phone is sleeping (this is sometime-y)
- Some of the Sony apps are useless
The positives:
- Size size size
- Fingerprint scanner is fast (not iPhone fast, but fast)
- Battery life is nice. I've gotten 2 1/2 days (mostly idle time. On screen was about 3hrs)
- Playing hi-res music (subjective...well, I guess all of this is subjective)
- The 820 is a great piece of silicone (it would be extraordinary if not for the occasional heat)
- SD card slot (and the ability to use it to back up your settings)
- The diagnostic tool in the "About Phone" section
- Front facing speakers. Not going to blow your mind, but they're facing you..not away.
I know there are more that I'm missing but the point is that it's been positive. I'm not a big fan of MM, but that is a different story.
Scribe'd on my everlasting Z5C
I dont recomend the z5c at all, i use it for working, and the phone really struggles with facebook pages, youtube, Chrome, facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp all the time receiving notifications and messeges.
The phone overheats to the point that everything lags like a 2008 Android phone.
When i play real Racing 3, i always have couple of Ice cube close to me, for let my phone cools down to avoid lag while playing.
Dont buy it, go for a nexus or Samsung, and sacrifice the size thing, and remember ALWAYS AN ALUMINUM PHONE WILL HAVE LESS HEAT ISSUES THAN A GLASS P PHONE, BECAUSE OF HEAT DISCIPATION.
(Newbie Friendly Thread)
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NOTE: Please do not quote the entire OP. Thank you!
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No doubt this will be old news for some Note 5 users, maybe even most, but as it is there are still people asking for tips, suggestions, work arounds, quick fixes and such for the Note 5, so here are some of my thoughts about the Note 5 as it stands today...
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No SD Card Slot?:The Note 5 doesn't have one as you know and this feature, I'm sure, was the one that most people absolutely missed the most immediately after powering up their Note 5. The very first thing I did to combat this issue personally was to buy this external little USB-OTG device.
http://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=dash+micro+mini
It's small, lightweight, allows you to plug in any MicroSD and goes on your keychain, so not only can I still put my old MicroSD to use, but I always have an SdCard on me that only takes a second to plug In. Also, if I ever lose my phone now, then I still have all my important data in my pocket. Just don't lose your keys if you go this route. [emoji14] You can encrypt it though too if you're worried about that. You an also use it as a 2 factor security device where both the phone and OTG device must be present and connected to access certain accounts and files. To be honest, I'm kind of liking this OTG SD Card thing now myself and in a way, I've almost come to prefer it.
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No IR Blaster?: Yes they removed this feature after Note 4. I never really used this feature myself and IR is a super old technology for phones anyway. Most apps now just use Wi-Fi instead. For instance, I use the Roku app myself as a remote control and it just does everything over WI-Fi. Removing the IR Blaster too may have been a push towards the new Samsung Smart TVs that allow you to control everything over Wi-Fi as well. There are also USB pluggable IR devices you can buy if you really still want an IR blaster though.
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Low Battery Life?: When I first got the Note 5 the second thing I noticed(after no SD Card) was the battery life seemed pretty low. This was a real problem for me too since I'm definitely more of a power user and the Note 5 battery can not be replaced with a higher capacity one. As of the recent Nougat update that came out for Note 5 though, I've noticed that the battery life is FAR better. Power saving mode also seems much improved, so no complaints there. My recommendation is to update to nougat ASAP if you haven't already.
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Should you Root?: If you haven't already, I would always say that any Android device is worth rooting if you can. There's just so many more features/options when you do. First thing to think about really is, "What are the cons of rooting?"
- Voiding your warranty? You may not even have a warranty, depending on where you got the device. I know I didn't, nor would I care if I did and voided it personally. It's a pretty solid device, so the chances that something will happen to it are pretty slim and it's not like I plan on selling it any time soon. Not that anyone will care about that when purchasing it from you anyway, if there is no warranty.
- The fact that Samsung Pay and the Samsung Health app does not work with root? Just use Android Pay instead and follow my tutorial here for quickly re enabling the Samsung Health app.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=71995091
The plus side to rooting, to me, will always just far outweigh any negatives. There is always a way around everything, which I think is the real beauty of Android. Just think of all the different kinds of roms you'll get to try too.
I would update officially to the new Nougat firmware before rooting though just to make it easier on yourself. If you've already rooted on Marshmallow though and want to update to Nougat, then you can follow my tutorial here.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=71988479
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Which Rom Should I install?: For now, I'd hold off on the roms for a little bit. Install them if you want, but even all the Nougat Roms out there, I believe, were all just using the Marshmallow base. Nougat just came out, so why not just enjoy that for a bit while you wait for all the new and improved Nougat base Roms that will surely be coming out soon. I'm about to drop one personally and I know there will be tons of others very soon.
UPDATE: Just finished my new lite Nougat 7.0 Rom. If anyone wants to check it out they can do so here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=72098300
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Which Case Should I get?:[/B] You don't have to spend a lot for a good case. There is a great selection on eBay. Personally, I got this one.
https://ebay.com/itm/232046932171
It's super durable, has a kickstand for video watching, is insanely cheap and overall just looks pretty bad ass. There are many other good ones as well. I recommend using the term "rugged" in your search if you want to get a really durable one.
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Anyhow, I just put this all together really quickly, so this post is fairly basic right now. I may add to this thread later as I think of other things to include. I know there's tons of stuff that I'm just not thinking of right now. Please feel free to add any suggestions you may have for the Note 5 now that we're in the Nougat age though if you want. Let me know if there's anything you think I should add to the OP too. If you have any questions as well, then just ask.
Overall though, I might just say that I think the Note 5 is still a pretty great device with virtually limitless possibilities and I hope that this post helps anyone out there who might have been looking for answers to some of these questions.
I would like to say that I almost didn't get the Note 5 for the lack of SD slot. However, I do understand the reason now. The phone is much more solid and anyone who used to install apps on the sd card will soon realize that they run MUCH faster on the built in storage. It's not like I used to remove the sd card anyway.
The battery on the other hand... I just went through the trauma of replacing my battery. It's night and day better now, but what a mess of a procedure to have to heat the phone up so hot that it almost burns your hands!
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