Database Users

Can't decide...

Read countless reviews and still can't decide.
Two things putting me off. The lack of ICS and Samsung take forever to get updates out (example my old mans galaxy s2 is still on 2.3.4 while my brothers Liquid Metal is on 2.3.6) Also the fact that quad core phones will be out next year.
My being picky? How are you guys gettin on with you' re notes?

Seeing as there is one phone in existence sold with ics on it, that is kind of a tough stance to take. Also this has nearly the fastest currently available processor, why do you think you need a quad core?
I guess you could wait till they stop making new phones, that way there is nothing better just around the corner. I heard that will be next year, so I would wait.
Honestly, the best thing you can do is just get a new phone every year. until the next best thing, the note is it.

recklesslife85 said:
Read countless reviews and still can't decide.
Two things putting me off. The lack of ICS and Samsung take forever to get updates out (example my old mans galaxy s2 is still on 2.3.4 while my brothers Liquid Metal is on 2.3.6) Also the fact that quad core phones will be out next year.
My being picky? How are you guys gettin on with you' re notes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could learn how to root & install custom ROMs, so you never have to wait for the Samsung's updates.
If you could wait for a Quad core phone then wait for it. If you can't, then the Note should do you well.

RMXO said:
You could learn how to root & install custom ROMs, so you never have to wait for the Samsung's updates.
If you could wait for a Quad core phone then wait for it. If you can't, then the Note should do you well.
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Click to collapse
I know how to root so if ICS was ported I could do it myself. I'm just being picky and making up excuses to not buy the damn thing I think.. I do want it but the Galaxy Nexus went back cause I couldn't stand the volume bug and the crappy build. Just looking for opinions really to see if this device is really worth it and if the size is a problem. Trust XDA users opinions over Engadget and other tech sites.

recklesslife85 said:
I know how to root so if ICS was ported I could do it myself. I'm just being picky and making up excuses to not buy the damn thing I think.. I do want it but the Galaxy Nexus went back cause I couldn't stand the volume bug and the crappy build. Just looking for opinions really to see if this device is really worth it and if the size is a problem. Trust XDA users opinions over Engadget and other tech sites.
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Ummm how to put this in simple words...
Once you start using the Note, all other phones will seem like small, slow pieces of garbage.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

recklesslife85 said:
I know how to root so if ICS was ported I could do it myself. I'm just being picky and making up excuses to not buy the damn thing I think.. I do want it but the Galaxy Nexus went back cause I couldn't stand the volume bug and the crappy build. Just looking for opinions really to see if this device is really worth it and if the size is a problem. Trust XDA users opinions over Engadget and other tech sites.
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Wasn't sure if you knew or not hence the suggestion.
xAnimal5 said:
Ummm how to put this in simple words...
Once you start using the Note, all other phones will seem like small, slow pieces of garbage.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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So true. My friend bought Sprint's version of the SGS2 & she can barely go back to her SGS2 after using my Note for many hours.

So true...
Just got it since last week, but I don't think I'm ever going back to smaller... Only if there won't be any of theselovely 5" phones
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

recklesslife85 said:
Read countless reviews and still can't decide.
Two things putting me off. The lack of ICS and Samsung take forever to get updates out (example my old mans galaxy s2 is still on 2.3.4 while my brothers Liquid Metal is on 2.3.6) Also the fact that quad core phones will be out next year.
My being picky? How are you guys gettin on with you' re notes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
samsung arent too bad with updates, it could just be your device is locked to a region or carrier that doesnt update regularly.
my note was locked to the PLS region. it took 1-2 weeks longer than the other regions to get 2.3.6, but even so, its quite a quick update considering its a carrier branded device thats only been out for a month or so.
quad core phones have their strengths and weaknesses. the only advantage is in multitasking. you wont be able to use the raw power for a single app though aside from nvidia tegra 3 games. most PC apps are only now beginning to support multicore, i'd say android will take a fair while as well. when devs make apps, they make them so they will run on a wide variety of devices to maximise earnings. most people using android devices are still using single cores, devs will focus on maximising compatibility and improving performance on single cores first, so on a quad core phone, you may have one or two active cores with the other two doing pretty much nothing.
by the time the software catches up, you'd be stuck with a 40nm tegra3 that would burn your hands when a newer 28nm or 20nm cpu will be available and would be much faster and run much cooler.
i'd say just get a note now, enjoy the snappy performance of the apps samsung have optimised for dual core and the gpu and have fun knowing that you'll be using all you paid for in the phone rather than only getting half your money's worth with a quad.

As I know wildfires will not come out next year. There are coming some bastards 2x2 cores 2 at 1.5-1.8 and 2 low MHz cores so the battery live is increased when you don't need high usage of the cores. So don't think there will be much difference from the 2cores that are in the market atm. Maybe a better you on them will do the trick as now ics will provide hw acceleration.
Just my thoughts about that.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

International S3 Quad-Core vs US Dual Core

I haven't seen anything in the T-Mobile Forums on this issue but if anyone is concerned about how the two version compare real world scenario wise here is a good video displaying the differences. Benchmarks aren't everything.
http://youtu.be/-XmfQZoYqbY
**Sorry if this has been discussed in these forums I didn't see anything, Moderator if there is already a thread please Close or delete.**

FRuiTBoOT said:
I haven't seen anything in the T-Mobile Forums on this issue but if anyone is concerned about how the two version compare real world scenario wise here is a good video displaying the differences. Benchmarks aren't everything.
http://youtu.be/-XmfQZoYqbY
**Sorry if this has been discussed in these forums I didn't see anything, Moderator if there is already a thread please Close or delete.**
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DUEL core. I see what you did there! (even though you probably didn't see it yourself)

Outrager said:
DUEL core. I see what you did there! (even though you probably didn't see it yourself)
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Yeah I did that on purpose....actually no I didn't My FAIL.

Thanks for sharing that video. It was really nice to see that the S4 could really hang neck and neck with the exynos.

lame comparison!

dasistsparta said:
lame comparison!
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The internet is a strange place. Would it be too much to ask for you to elaborate on that? In the limited amount of time he had I thought he covered just about everything that I wanted to know about.

Paging Dr B said:
The internet is a strange place. Would it be too much to ask for you to elaborate on that? In the limited amount of time he had I thought he covered just about everything that I wanted to know about.
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+1 :good:
my thoughts exactly...well, yours is worded better with absolutely no profanity in sight unlike mine would've been. except i don't care what that user thinks.

Better battery life. twice the RAM, cheaper for US buyers, same speed and performance, has LTE. Only reason you would want to pick the international version is for the better GPU, if you play a lot of 3D games on your phone that is (I leave that to my playstation and big screen TV). It'll also get faster updates, but for those who care about updating, most will have already flashed a third party rom. Oh, and benchmark numbers. Very few and specific benefits if you ask me. You can unlock the AT&T or T-mobile phones with a cheap unlock code from eBay, or probably for free if that unlock app carries over to the US versions.

katamari201 said:
Better battery life. twice the RAM, cheaper for US buyers, same speed and performance, has LTE. Only reason you would want to pick the international version is for the better GPU, if you play a lot of 3D games on your phone that is (I leave that to my playstation and big screen TV). It'll also get faster updates, but for those who care about updating, most will have already flashed a third party rom. Oh, and benchmark numbers. Very few and specific benefits if you ask me. You can unlock the AT&T or T-mobile phones with a cheap unlock code from eBay, or probably for free if that unlock app carries over to the US versions.
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Click to collapse
Much better devs as well.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

US vs International S3

I now have both and here is what i found out.
-US gets same battery life as International with LTE ON
-US has same amount of idle ram used (aroung 678mb) bit has 1.8GB total ram.
-International has overall higher processor scores but US is better per core.
-To much of my surprise, 3D and 2D graphics are rated higher on the US version in all benchmarks (though not by much)
-US version has smooth gaming performance but gets hot. International has smooth performance for most games and stays cool, but there are some choppy games most like due to bad optimization.
-US version is best selling android phone and a lot of developers are optimizing their app for it. Mass Effect was optimized for the US version on day one.
-US version does not currently support GameLoft games. International plays most GameLoft games perfectly, some newer ones have a little lag.
Both are great phones, but if you live in the US (like me) than the US version is the way to go. It does everything the International version does and plays games very smoothly.
Note: I have the AT&T S3 for my US version.

Nvm
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

I got international for America. Oh well lol
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

locoboi187 said:
I got international for America. Oh well lol
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Me too.. and to OP I dont understand why all you US GS3 users feel the constant need to come in here and tell us your device is better... Do we come to your forums and troll? no, as a matter of fact I've been in your forums since I'm an ATT customer and even have answered a few questions for people and was helpful. I just dont understand why the US GS3 users feel the need to come tell us how much supirior their device is to ours.. if you ask me they are trying to convince themselves of that more than anything.. To help so they feel better about their purchase
This thread should be closed because it's such a blatant troll thread. and by the way.. I just odered mine today and I went with the international.. you know the device as the way Samsung intended it, not mutilated to serve the us markets

graffixnyc said:
Me too.. and to OP I dont understand why all you US GS3 users feel the constant need to come in here and tell us your device is better... Do we come to your forums and troll? no, as a matter of fact I've been in your forums since I'm an ATT customer and even have answered a few questions for people and was helpful. I just dont understand why the US GS3 users feel the need to come tell us how much supirior their device is to ours.. if you ask me they are trying to convince themselves of that
This thread should be closed because it's such a blatant troll thread. and by the way.. I just odered mine today and I went with the international.. you know the device as the way Samsung intended it, not mutilated to serve the us markets
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Click to collapse
You hit the nail firmly on its head. I'm pretty sure we already know which one is better if insecurities cause fan boys to attack other boards.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Rszafraniec93 said:
International has overall higher processor scores but US is better per core.
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Click to collapse
You realize how funny this sounds, right? Since the price of the phone isn’t determined “by the core" and you can only have four on the i9300 and two on the U.S. variants "better per core" is a pretty meaningless statistic.

Closed, we already have multiple us vs international sgs3 threads, we dont need another.

Took some pictures of the display model at Best Buy

So i was at best buy, and downloaded the phone info app and took some pictures of the the S7 and S7 Edge.
http://imgur.com/a/OeWxs

little troubling that the demo models are running the exynos instead of the 820.Wonder what the reasoning for that is.

rdcamero said:
little troubling that the demo models are running the exynos instead of the 820.Wonder what the reasoning for that is.
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Its because they are the international versions. The US carrier versions will have the S820. Also why is it troubling? The Exynos is pure beast.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk

barondebxl said:
Its because they are the international versions. The US carrier versions will have the S820. Also why is it troubling? The Exynos is pure beast.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk
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I would rather have the Exynos.It makes me wonder if the Exynos may provide a better demo experience.I know they claim minor differences in performance but why not have the demo be the actual version you will be buying.Kind of like test driving a chevy with a ford engine under the hood.Sure it may provide the same experience but its not what you are getting in the car you are buying.

Thats true. I was looking for carrier branding on the demos. This is explains it.
These phones are so nice in person!!!!! That camera too. Wow.

barondebxl said:
Its because they are the international versions. The US carrier versions will have the S820. Also why is it troubling? The Exynos is pure beast.
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What is the international version doing in the US as a demo phone? That's the question, its a bit puzzling why samsung sent any there when they should all have the sd820.

peachpuff said:
What is the international version doing in the US as a demo phone? That's the question, its a bit puzzling why samsung sent any there when they should all have the sd820.
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It makes perfect sense. The goal is to show off the S7, not what carrier its on. The carrier versions will be the same plus bloatware and an S820.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk

barondebxl said:
It makes perfect sense. The goal is to show off the S7, not what carrier its on. The carrier versions will be the same plus bloatware and an S820.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk
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Not really because some of the features will be missing from the carrier versions like the Samsung browser.Why not a version from each carrier so people can see exactly what they are getting, which is not the international version.

Hard to judge as it not a real test, but it's not that impressive, not big upgrade over Note 5.

rdcamero said:
Not really because some of the features will be missing from the carrier versions like the Samsung browser.Why not a version from each carrier so people can see exactly what they are getting.
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That makes less sense because you're then advertising that there are differences between each devices. Again the goal is to show the S7 period. If there was hardware changes like there was on the S2 then yes but since there won't be any changes other than the SoC which Samsung does not advertise then its easier to have one model on display to show what the phone is about. Then you can go and check out carrier versions when it is released.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk

barondebxl said:
That makes less sense because you're then advertising that there are differences between each devices. Again the goal is to show the S7 period. If there was hardware changes like there was on the S2 then yes but since there won't be any changes other than the SoC which Samsung does not advertise then its easier to have one model on display to show what the phone is about. Then you can go and check out carrier versions when it is released.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are differences.Software differences are just as important as hardware differences.If Samsung were more Like Apple and not bend to every whelm of the carriers there would be no issues.

rdcamero said:
There are differences.Software differences are just as important as hardware differences.If Samsung were more Like Apple and not bend to every whelm of the carriers there would be no issues.
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Click to collapse
Android is open source unlike apple. So that's just the way it is. And again you're missing the point. Its about showing the S7 as a whole. Yes the carrier versions will differ in some areas but overall it will still be a galaxy s7. And we don't even know for sure what features will be available or not. Its like saying Samsung should display an S7 with an unlocked bootloader and one with a locked bootloader.
Sent from my BLU LIFE ONE X using Tapatalk

Just got back from my local Best Buy and played around with both the S7 and S7 Edge. What fantastic phones.

Why does it list 3.5GB of RAM instead of 4? I could understand the phone is currently using 0.5GB out of 4GB but that seems odd since that list isn't the RAM management feature.

daLareid said:
Why does it list 3.5GB of RAM instead of 4? I could understand the phone is currently using 0.5GB out of 4GB but that seems odd since that list isn't the RAM management feature.
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Lol, did samsung just copied nvidia GTX 970?

daLareid said:
Why does it list 3.5GB of RAM instead of 4? I could understand the phone is currently using 0.5GB out of 4GB but that seems odd since that list isn't the RAM management feature.
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0.5 GB might be GPU reserved

system.img said:
0.5 GB might be GPU reserved
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That makes sense, is just that I had never seen it like that on a phone.

Samsung has a specific demo unit variant without cell capabilities denominated by the X affix (G930X), and of course they'll only do one variant of that.

Do we need another thread on camera, we already have one
Galaxy S7 Camera thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3316316
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

omeryounos said:
Do we need another thread on camera, we already have one
Galaxy S7 Camera thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3316316
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
This isn't a camera thread. It's a thread showing photos of the device itself.

Is anyone concerned about optimization?

So as I'm sure everyone here is aware given XDA's articles on it, Samsung phones with the Snapdragon 820 (well, really ALL Samsung phones, but the 820 ones in particular) had some serious performance issues compared to both the Exynos version, as well as other phones with similar Snapdragon processors.
Does anyone have any info or inkling or just general thoughts on whether the S8 series will have similar problems?
Personally, I'm kind of turn, as I was more or less pleased with the performance of my Note 5, but downright can't stand the S7's performance, so I'm kind of torn on what direction I'm going to go with buying the S8 or not.

I always worry Samsung and Qualcomm will screw it up. I wouldn't be surprised if my OnePlus 3T outperforms the Snapdragon S8's.

Yeah, that's pretty much the exact comparison I've been thinking about.
Of course, I don't think it's even possible for a phone to be faster than the 3T is in day-to-day use.

CConn882 said:
Yeah, that's pretty much the exact comparison I've been thinking about.
Of course, I don't think it's even possible for a phone to be faster than the 3T is in day-to-day use.
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Yea it blows away my old note 5 and nexus 6p by a huge margin

CConn882 said:
Yeah, that's pretty much the exact comparison I've been thinking about.
Of course, I don't think it's even possible for a phone to be faster than the 3T is in day-to-day use.
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Oh please. I had zero complaints with my Mate 9 when I had it, and my Pixel XL is perfectly smooth as well. My 7 Plus is a hair smoother sometimes, and that is faster than the 3T.
HOPEFULLY Samsung has their **** together this time, especially with the 835.

Nitemare3219 said:
Oh please. I had zero complaints with my Mate 9 when I had it, and my Pixel XL is perfectly smooth as well. My 7 Plus is a hair smoother sometimes, and that is faster than the 3T.
HOPEFULLY Samsung has their **** together this time, especially with the 835.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my EXTREMELY limited time using the device in store, it seems that Samsung has tightened things up a bit. It's a good bit smoother than last year's 7 and 7 Edge. Everything is noticeably more fluid and I didn't experience any hangs when opening apps.

Anyone else notice the speaker volume extremely low?

Nitemare3219 said:
Oh please. I had zero complaints with my Mate 9 when I had it, and my Pixel XL is perfectly smooth as well. My 7 Plus is a hair smoother sometimes, and that is faster than the 3T.
HOPEFULLY Samsung has their **** together this time, especially with the 835.
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Click to collapse
Haha, calm down there. I'm not trying to throw any other phones under the bus, I'm just saying the 3T's performance is impressive.
And, obviously, Apple is usually faster than Android in general.

954wrecker said:
I always worry Samsung and Qualcomm will screw it up. I wouldn't be surprised if my OnePlus 3T outperforms the Snapdragon S8's.
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Click to collapse
Hopefully we can get some custom kernel and roms with good performance, I hope Samsung can put more effort on 835 S8.

54wenzhao said:
Hopefully we can get some custom kernel and roms with good performance, I hope Samsung can put more effort on 835 S8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who wants to spoil this for him?

peachpuff said:
Who wants to spoil this for him?
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Should I cancel the order and get a international version? Hard to decide when you can get free gear VR.

54wenzhao said:
Should I cancel the order and get a international version? Hard to decide when you can get free gear VR.
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Click to collapse
Did you just miss the last few years of Samsung development? You won't be getting custom roms or kernels unless you get a OnePlus.

954wrecker said:
Did you just miss the last few years of Samsung development? You won't be getting custom roms or kernels unless you get a OnePlus.
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Click to collapse
Partially true, the S7 has plenty for the Exynos. It's the Snapdragon variant that won't see any support, if it's locked down again of course.

954wrecker said:
Did you just miss the last few years of Samsung development? You won't be getting custom roms or kernels unless you get a OnePlus.
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My last android phone was LG G3 and last time I use a samsung is Nexus S. I think I missed a lot. Thanks for the head up, I need to reconsider the purchase.

54wenzhao said:
My last android phone was LG G3 and last time I use a samsung is Nexus S. I think I missed a lot. Thanks for the head up, I need to reconsider the purchase.
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if you only care about custom roms then don't get a samsung, but if you care about camera, screen, build.......get the S8

54wenzhao said:
Should I cancel the order and get a international version? Hard to decide when you can get free gear VR.
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Click to collapse
i think even the exynos get a lot of more support than the snapdragon one
assuming how the snap 820 was, the Xiaomi Mi5, One Plus 3, got really a lot lot of custom roms, meanwhile LG G5 and HTC 10 not much, meanwhile the S7 Edge, as i can see in the forum, has nothing for the 820
I assume now the Xiaomi Mi6 will have a lot of custom roms, with the Snapdragon 835, i don't know about other future phones with this besides the S8, but i'm sure the Exynos S8 will get more community support than the Snapdragon One

panchovix said:
i think even the exynos get a lot of more support than the snapdragon one
assuming how the snap 820 was, the Xiaomi Mi5, One Plus 3, got really a lot lot of custom roms, meanwhile LG G5 and HTC 10 not much, meanwhile the S7 Edge, as i can see in the forum, has nothing for the 820
I assume now the Xiaomi Mi6 will have a lot of custom roms, with the Snapdragon 835, i don't know about other future phones with this besides the S8, but i'm sure the Exynos S8 will get more community support than the Snapdragon One
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Click to collapse
I'll never buy another Xiaomi. They violate Googles policy and take forever to release the kernel source. They won't even bother until the next model is out. Also, they have below par camera's and are slow with important updates. Their idea of a firmware update is to add something to the calculator, or improve their forum app. Lol. Downloading an entire ROM for that is a joke. Can't wait to sell my Mi 5s Plus.
Oneplus is the best way to go for custom ROM's. I wouldn't choose a phone just for that though, each to their own I guess.

Highspeed123 said:
I'll never buy another Xiaomi. They violate Googles policy and take forever to release the kernel source. They won't even bother until the next model is out. Also, they have below par camera's and are slow with important updates. Their idea of a firmware update is to add something to the calculator, or improve their forum app. Lol. Downloading an entire ROM for that is a joke. Can't wait to sell my Mi 5s Plus.
Oneplus is the best way to go for custom ROM's. I wouldn't choose a phone just for that though, each to their own I guess.
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Click to collapse
i have a Xiaomi Mi 5 and i won't say that you are wrong lol, the camera is not the best in any means
anyways i'm guided to buy a phone by it performance and no other things, but that is just my case, so i'm good with the Mi5
the Mi 5s has Snap 821 if i'm not wrong? same as the OnePlus 3T, but it seems the 3T has a lot more roms than the Mi5S (and Mi Mix, this phone has Snap 821 too)

abdelha said:
if you only care about custom roms then don't get a samsung, but if you care about camera, screen, build.......get the S8
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All I want is root..that bout it

mlock420 said:
All I want is root..that bout it
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there is root for every device....