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I haven't found the z5 thread for those of us that are happy with their device, so I am starting one! Most forums, for any phone, fill with issues/questions. Those are certainly helpful, but most devices, even if they do it right, won't get much in the way of positive reviews.
Well, I've had my Z5 for about two weeks, and like other Sony's I've owned, I've found it to be a very solid device. Previous three devices;
LG V10
Motorola Pure
Sony Z3
I've unlocked / rooted and am running MM with no issues. Compared to the V10 / Pure, the size of the Z5 is just about perfect. About the only thing I NEED to do to all my devices is change the DPI and drop the soft keys... build.prop and Xposed to the rescue!
Anyway, hopefully some third party dev stuff comes rolling in ( I selfishly like Slim), and thanks to all those that are actively working on development efforts!
It's a pleasure to use this device, and it's a pleasure to use Marshmallow, which is what Lollipop should have been.
I'm stuck with a locked bootloader , but phones great lol
Some additional things I've grown to like;
1) The power / fingerprint security button is great. I've setup most of the fingers on my right hand to unlock, which makes one hand use a breeze.
2) IMHO, the camera takes great pictures. Not sure if there's RAW mode support....
3) Battery is getting better as I use the phone more, though it's still not as good as the V10. I am mostly a business user.
4) Voice quality is good on both ends of conference calls.
5) Bluetooth seems very stable for me... connecting to both my Infiniti and my BT headset for work calls.
6) Charging is relatively quick with the charger from my Moto Pure.
7) I find, as usual, that the Sony Android build is minimal compared to some others (though not as good as the AOSP Moto).
well after I got my phone back from RMA it has been working flawlessly so ye I'm more than happy Sony, then again I like the brand, still got a sony tv from 1988 and it is still working, no problems
two weeks ago I was at this wedding, where I was the only one that could take photos with my phone, all others were laggy cause of the very low light conditions including samsung and iPhones, I just pressed the shutter in superior auto and this phone didnt let me down, one after another 6 or 7 continuous shots all of'em perfectly visible and ppl starts asking me "The hell of a phone which one is it?" proudly Z5
Thanks for this thread, it is refreshing to read more positive stuff about this phone as opposed to the hoards of negativity and hate that is present in these forums.
After I initially had issues with my Sony Xperia Z5 (mainly on lollipop), currently with MM my phone is excellent. The only complaint I have is that I still am plagued by the mobile radio active bug, but I don't think it actually consumes more battery and is instead just an error reading bug that gives misleading battery information when on 3G/4G.
For me, my battery life is great and I can easily go 2 days with a full charge. No Bluetooth issues anymore. Standby time is superb. My device does not overheat at all, even with extended usage browsing web or watching YouTube it just gets warm. And finally the camera is just amazing.
Coming from a Z1 this device is the perfect size and the fact that Sony managed to make it smaller, thinner, lighter and include a larger screen size is commendable. Design wise, for me personally, the Z5 is simply beautiful. I love the feel of the matte glass back and how nice it feels in the hand, it truly is one of the best looking devices currently available.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto Z2 Force, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto Z2 Force is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
The best Android phone I've owned to date.
I love the phone enough to buy it multiple times, searching for the combination of carrier compatibility, unlockable bootloader and color.
I also love the phone enough to overlook its main shortcomings (no headphone jack, not truly waterproof, small battery) I love the hardware enough to use an unrooted phone. *gasp* literally every Android device I've ever owned has been rooted within a week, my first was a Nexus one.
This is a bit of a monumental device for me. It's my first ”phablet." My last daily driver was a Sony Z3 compact and a Z1 compact before that. I dropped my Sony trying to put it in my pocket while juggling keys, a backpack and my water bottle. The back glass shattered and the front has a hairline fracture.
Initially I was going to get the Z5 compact but I decided maybe I'd try something a little bigger, so I ordered an Xperia XZ from Amazon. It was a nice phone, but I hated the purplish color of the "black" model and I found myself constantly worrying about it after my last drop, so back it went in about a week.
The thing is, I hate using cases. What's the point in buying a phone you like the look and feel of just to cover it up? Enter the Z2 force. When I first saw promos talking about the shatter proof screen I was intrigued. I was never miffed by the easily scratched screen because an $8 screen protector is all you need to solve that problem.
Between the piece of mind of an unbreakable screen, stupid fast experience, solid aluminum body and gorgeous OLED display this phone is a keeper.
It's one of those phones that got shoved under the rug the second everyone saw the battery specs on paper, myself included. My previous long term daily driver was a Nexus 6 for the most part and that was the last high end, highly customizable Android phone I've used before briefly dailying a Nextbit Robin and then switching to Essential PH-1 for a few months. Both of those have great custom ROM support, but the battery life on both and signal strength on the PH-1 with T-Mobile were barely tolerable, so the only other sub $500 flagship/high end device with an up to date hardware feel was the Z2F from T-Mobile ($375 new), and glad I took the plunge despite the smallish battery capacity. From my experience, Motorola (at least as of their 2013 and newer models) have had a great track record for keeping close to stock Android experience, superb cellular signal, and great battery life and efficiency (despite often using smaller batteries, ie Moto X2, Moto G2, Moto E2). Somehow their devices always had awesome standby to screen on time efficiency. Essential didn't do this for me as much as I wanted to like it (although those on Verizon had a completely different perspective of that device).
This device gets some seriously great battery life (I've managed 8+ hrs sot with 20+ hrs total discharge from 100% charge capacity), excellent signal strength (probably why the battery doesn't suffer too much), solid screen (for those that do lots of accidental drops), front facing flash (with forward facing torch option in Moto camera flash settings), useful Moto gestures to enable main torch and camera with simple chop and twist gestures even when screen is off, solid and super thin build (Jerryrigeverything on YouTube approved it in his infamous bend test, it passed!), and because it's so thin, a simple tpu case gives this phone a perfect grip and thickness. There's a lot to like about this phone, it certainly checks all the right boxes. Most of all, it's the Android device with a Nexus/pixel-like experience; unlockable bootloader, easy to root, custom ROM availability (although from what I gather it currently works best in it's Motorola stock factory firmware form, custom ROMs are currently suffering from weaker cellular signal, failing safetynet due to the current state of selinux being set to permissive, and no sound in default video recording, also on some ROMs WiFi calling and Moto mods have issues), and to be quite frank, this device is very livable with stock firmware, just add root via Magisk and customize from there. Nexus 6 was by far my favorite device, but it is starting to feel a bit dated at this point, it had (and continues to have) some of the best third party dev support, and everything almost always works as good or better than what Google offered in it's stock Android form, that device was truly ahead of it's time and just like this device, was criticized and thrown under the bus numerous times, but low and behold a year or so after it's release, it was one of the best, if not the best device to mod. Of course with this device it's a bit finicky to mod or convert to another carrier firmware (if at all possible), but when it comes to working in it's native firmware for the carrier they were configured to run on, it truly doesn't miss a beat. You get a lot for the asking price, and until another developer device like Nexus 6 comes along, this will serve as a perfect successor for the time being. Yeah I'd love to have the dual front facing stereo speakers, and I'd love to have tons of custom features found in Resurrection Remix ROMs, but not at the cost of battery, cell signal, and failing safetynet check. Many of the custom ROM features can be manually added on stock firmware with root access enabled. Custom firmware just makes it easier to do so and also implements its own features, but often takes away features that are only available on stock firmware, for this reason, Nexus 6 was superior on every front in its time, everything was open source and easy to carry over to a custom firmware. Essential phone is like that, but unfortunately it doesn't play well with all carriers, despite being compatible with every carrier like the Nexus 6.
Some other cool and useful features include:
-Ability to remove navigation bar and allow fingerprint sensor gestures to navigate in the essence of Android P (swipe left for back, right for recents, short tap for home)
-fingerprint scanner also doubles up as a power button (normal tap for turning on to bypass screen lock, and normal press for screen off)
-voice assistant via long press on fingerprint scanner
-Moto voice for useful info on the fly, even with screen off
-Moto display, which unlike ambient display, doesn't waste much battery and is very precise when hovering your hand over and lifting vs keeping face down or in pocket (to keep screen from accidentally lighting up))
-dual rear facing camera with a dedicated rear facing black and white (monochrome) camera as one of the lenses
-twist gestures can double up as front/rear camera swapping
-lift to silence ringtone
-flip device onto screen to mute calls
-built in phone video calling
-power button to end call
-double chop for flashlight
-double twist for camera
-front facing torch through stock selfie camera
-night display (adjusts screen tint based on time if day)
-announce calls while driving
-and last but not least, water repellant nano coating, which is something I can't thank Motorola enough, my Nexus 6, Moto G2, Moto X2, Moto E2 all have this coating and I can confirm it works because the G2 owned by my grandma and my friend's Nexus 6 both fell into a tub and sink full of water, both devices worked without issue after removing them from water. Sure they're not water proof per say, but water proofing requires seals/gaskets and adhesives, both of which are compromised over time due to excessive heat from the internal hardware components and when screens or back glass (where applicable) break. So in essence a repellant nano coating may not be as water resistant as gaskets and adhesives, it does it's job most of the time when accidents happen and can surely withstand rain and shower splashes (just don't go plugging headphones or power cables before drying the ports and device as that may cause a short) and best of all, it doesn't get compromised because your screen broke or because of excessive heat and wear and tear.
The only cons I see are the few carrier and Motorola bloat apps most of which can be disabled (or frozen if rooted).
I enjoyed this device so much that I got one for a friend who had issues with her Nexus 6 charging port. Truly an underrated device that will hopefully get more attention from third party devs sooner than later. Personally, I will go as far as to say that this device should be looked at as a benchmark to beat. I've yet to see a device as well optimized, efficient, and as easy to manage right out of the box for such an awesome price.
Syndrome666 said:
snip
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All the developers for the Nash have been working on getting things fixed. You know good things are coming when LOS might be official soon™
Uzephi said:
All the developers for the Nash have been working on getting things fixed. You know good things are coming when LOS might be official soon™
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I definitely do, this phone's technically a successor to what used to be the Moto X series before the Z line took its place, and those had awesome third party dev support. I'm sure I'll get flashing on the Z2F once I get some free time to mod this thing. Any clue if RR is in the works for this phone?
Syndrome666 said:
I definitely do, this phone's technically a successor to what used to be the Moto X series before the Z line took its place, and those had awesome third party dev support. I'm sure I'll get flashing on the Z2F once I get some free time to mod this thing. Any clue if RR is in the works for this phone?
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No clue about RR but @npjohnson pretty much stated how everything is for LOS, unless something "goes sideways" Lineage will be official VERY shortly. @erfanoabdi also stated fingerprint nav now works with selinux enforcing so very few bugs left now. Pretty sure just a few gerrit reviews and everything before LOS ships official. (Red tape and all)
Uzephi said:
No clue about RR but @npjohnson pretty much stated how everything is for LOS, unless something "goes sideways" Lineage will be official VERY shortly. @erfanoabdi also stated fingerprint nav now works with selinux enforcing so very few bugs left now. Pretty sure just a few gerrit reviews and everything before LOS ships official. (Red tape and all)
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Nice, sounds tempting. I'll have to give it a shot
I like my Z2F a lot! So much I bought a second one, a Sprint version. I enjoyed flashing ROM’s and stuff since the Motorola Droid days before 4G. I’ve had Safe strapped RAZR’s and then the RAZR M with the bootloader unlocked, that was fun till I bought a Moto Z Droid. Fast phone but being on Verizon, no root and no playing with ROMs.
I think the Z2F is a great phone, lots of ram so the bloat apps don’t matter much but I miss flashing ROMs. So I purchased a Sprint Z2F and as soon as the UPS guys delvers it, I’m going to activate it on Sprint, Unlock the boot loader, root it and tryout some ROM’s. And after a month or so I want to unlock it and add it to my Verizon account. Should be fun.
Still Loving the performance of this device 5 months later. I think my next device will be the z3 force.
A nicely packed set of features, still a mixed bag
Just got this device couple weeks ago, because: seemed a nicely packed set of features, I needed a new one after 3 years, and it was on sale locally for ~240€, about a third of the 2017 MSRP of 799€. So am happy with seeing and getting that bargain!
However, with the previous device being a Moto X Pure, which had just gotten tediously slower and slower over the last year or so, I find the differences in specs add to it not feeling like the real thing. Like that nightly purchase impulse this posting is severly subjective. I'll mark the so-sos with o and plusses and minusses (where it compares favourably or less than to my previous Moto experiences) in the list below.
o Moto X Pure has stereo speakers, the Z2 Force has 1 mono speaker. Watching the occasional video it certainly feels ok, but definitely "lopsided", thinner, inferior to front-facing stereo speakers. Yes, why, Captain Obvious told me, how did you know?
+ For telephone calls both call quality and, in quiet environments, the speakerphone functionality is just about right. People understand me well and I can hear everyone clearly.
+ Bluetooth connections work well and are quicker to establish. It seems as if the bluetooth range has also increased slightly.
o As of yet, the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack hasn't actually bothered me. Since I'm on the traditionalist side I would have liked one, and sorta expect a hi-def moto mod for this some day.
- The main camera is meh when used with the vanilla Moto app. Really sorry to say that, but I am disappointed. 12MP does not mean much on paper, but the artificial sharpening puts me off. Probably I compare too much with the X Pure's 21MP and subjectively much better image quality, but in low light and less-than-ideal light conditions and when seeing strong contrasts I am unhappy with the Moto camera app. Maybe I have just gotten used to the X's quirks, but still. Disclaimer: need to take more pictures; I might set up a public album for this.
+ Using OpenCamera though I am getting different and better results. So overally I tend to use this now. Suggestions? Should I try FV-5 or Ektacam?
+ Using the Vignette camera app (as I did on all previously used devices) I can get proper results, even though I suspect it does not use the 2nd camera.
+ The snapdragon 835 is superfast, and the Z2 force with these recent price drops in Europe possibly one of the cheapest devices having it
+ the 6GB memory means I can multitask as hell and there indeed is very little reloading an app
+ I got used to having a fingerprint sensor quickly, position on front is fine
+ GPS works much better than on the old Moto, even indoors I typically get a fix both a) faster and b) at all
+ Display, having that crisp 2560x1440p resolution. Colours in saturated mode are strong, bright and I'm impressed.
+ Display colour settings can be set to "standard", which means colours come across as subdued, thinner, and erm less artificial. I use this mode.
+ Touch interactions have that very immediate feel to it, like zero lag and precise positioning. Like!
o the plastic shatterproof feature, well, it comes with a plastic layer on the screen that seems to have a blueish, almost milky tint to it, and that makes it look like plastic very much. Visually speaking it looks plastic when viewed from the side.
+ Connectivity in 4G was good.
o Using two LTE sim cards at the same time though it seems as if only the first one inserted makes use of 4G, the second one can't. Disclaimer: did only test this first evening and unsystematically.
+ Wifi is fast, holds both connections properly on 2.4 and 5 even when in offices or places with more than 40 available networks.
o Using it on commute though it seems as if, even when arrived on destination, it takes those very long extra seconds to connect to a known network. Need to fiddle with a scan interval setting I guess.
+ Built-in battery capacity is smaller, but as of now it lasts me almost two full days, and won't ever go below 20% really. The X Pure's battery is far from dead, but using it heavily means recharging it three times a day.
Overall love after these couple of weeks: an "acceptable meh" Yes, everything works, but I really needed something new and had hoped for something to give me that sensational thrill, but now feel unsatisfied. Had I bought it last year that would have been a serious disappointment.
With all this I think I am in sort of in line with many reviewers who see the oh so revolutionary mods concept as meaning well and ending up mediocre. While I intend to get that Incipio battery mod some day, that might well be the only mod I'll be getting.
mookiexl said:
Still Loving the performance of this device 5 months later. I think my next device will be the z3 force.
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the z2 is the last force edition they will make.
jasperbastianrain said:
the z2 is the last force edition they will make.
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I saw that and it made me cringe. I guess moto figured they couldn't put the price in the range of the Samsung and other more popular manufactures and compete. I still hope they release a device with the SD845 or one with OIS.
Love this phone at all. Just the backside has scratches from the first day on. Never complained, but was there out of the box. More important for me is that the screen has no scratches, even after months. No monday device, absolutly perfect, love this plastic screen. Very sad to know that we don't get any newer model of this force stuff. Battery is very good, too. That's very good at all. But additional screen protector isn't needed, at least at my model the screen isn't scratching. Maybe I have to do it with harder stuff? Don't know how the people get scratches in the screen
I'm absolutely in love with this phone. Obviously everything comes down to value, and for the original $700 or whatever asking price, there were better options. For $260 though (with the projector mod included), it's a downright steal. The phone is blazing fast and the only complaints are no headphone jack and a relatively weak camera. The very un-2017 screen ratio is also a negative, but considering the price you can find the phone for these days it's nothing to me.
ROM support is straight up bad unfortunately (huge thanks to the devs that do support it), but the phone works very well stock. I've always ran my phones with ROMs, but I don't really feel like I even need one.
Yeah I have this phone as well. I don't have any real issues beside poor signal but that's from where I live. Even with the booster T-Mobile sent me from Cel-Fi it can pickup 3 bars and 6 on the booster box I get 4G LTE and 5 bars. I can hear all my friends now. GF she has the same cell as well her's has issues like with most women when it come to cells. Data Mode drops can't do anything except remove the sim but not only that the screen is peeling off. So T-mobile is doing a warranty exchange with a brand new one. Not factory nonsense excuse for a cell. Brand new. Mine is like new!
01/2019 Real user review Great phone, super fast, great size, look outdated due to its form factor (big chin, no notch) Great battery life, super fast charging. Overall great phone, a little slow on updates
Update 01/17/2020. I've had my black, unlocked Sprint version since my last post in 2017. I've been using it flawlessly on Mint mobile for a couple years. It is positively Boba Fetted out with scratches all over the aluminum body. I am on my 3rd IQ shield screen protector. My wife has the white Verizon z2 force and we have almost all the mods.
A few months ago I noticed my battery life take a nose dive. Even after a complete wipe and clean install I struggle to make it through a day with moderate use. I've never had a phone long enough to experience battery degradation.
I went to Best Buy to check out the current crop of new phones. I handled the z3 and z4 and while nice they just seemed kinda..."meh" I didn't notice any speed difference or screen clarity between either of those phones and my 3 year old z2 and I'd be giving up shattershield. I thought about trying something new and was seriously tempted by the S10+ but a case would be a must. It is crazy
My daughter has a pixel 3 so I checked out the 4 and was a little underwhelmed. I ended up leaving with the phone I came with. I got home and started shopping online. I stumbled upon a nib unlocked gray T-Mobile Z2 for $150. Considering the Samsung cost almost 5x as much and would need to be babied I pulled the trigger on the Motorola.
So in summary I love this phone enough to buy it again despite it being old as dirt in the tech world. I plan on riding the gray one until the wheels fall off or until some new hotness comes out that I see and just have to have.
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
Owner of one of the first Z2 Force XT1789-06 dual sim with Nougat, since of reduced battery life and screen a bit "impressed" I decided to buy a new phone.
I decided for a "brand new" Xt1789-06 dual sim that I set up with Pie. Need I to add something?
enetec said:
Owner of one of the first Z2 Force XT1789-06 dual sim with Nougat, since of reduced battery life and screen a bit "impressed" I decided to buy a new phone.
I decided for a "brand new" Xt1789-06 dual sim that I set up with Pie. Need I to add something?
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Yeah, there is no better phone on the market with unbreakable screen. I would buy it again, too. Costs 399€ (very much, but high end for many years) at the moment. More than 2018 here in europe.
Set Up should be Lineage OS 16 and then it's perfect.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto G5S Plus, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto G5S Plus is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
XDA_RealLifeReview said:
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto G5S Plus, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto G5S Plus is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
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Well Said..!
I was a pixel user. After trying this phone. I totally moved to G5S. Specifically the battery backup....loving it overall....
Hoping to see ROM's soon...
smooth performance ,
good memory mgmt ,
good display ,
bit a small battery for a 5.5" FHD display !!!
but , SD 625 helps there
rasik107 said:
smooth performance ,
good memory mgmt ,
good display ,
bit a small battery for a 5.5" FHD display !!!
but , SD 625 helps there
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So does that mean SD 820 / 825 is optimized for greater battery backup or its just the SD 625 that does the magic?
Just curious to know.
Premkrishna said:
So does that mean SD 820 / 825 is optimized for greater battery backup or its just the SD 625 that does the magic?
Just curious to know.
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both chipsets are great and manufactured on 14nm FinFET Process...
both are battery friendly also due to 14nm process !
for great performance + power efficiency we can consider 820 and ,
for mid-range performance + power efficiency we can consider 625 (625 performs well , not doubt )
Really worth of money
In Love
I am in love with this baby. Only the thing I am upset with Moto team is of the disabled LED light near the front camera. What logic is that? If that is for rooted phones then why rooting should void warranty? Nonsense! They don't want customers to enjoy the features in legal way.
Moto Singh said:
I am in love with this baby. Only the thing I am upset with Moto team is of the disabled LED light near the front camera. What logic is that? If that is for rooted phones then why rooting should void warranty? Nonsense! They don't want customers to enjoy the features in legal way.
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Why do you need LED light when you have Moto Display...?
Geogliff said:
Why do you need LED light when you have Moto Display...?
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Because moto display wakes up at the slightest hint of movement. If I place it on my bed and I sit on the other end of bed it will light up. That's going to waste a lot of battery
1 star less for the camera.
Premkrishna said:
Well Said..!
I was a pixel user. After trying this phone. I totally moved to G5S. Specifically the battery backup....loving it overall....
Hoping to see ROM's soon...
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Hi I am new to xda I would like to ask u on a scale from 1 to 10 how much would u give to pixel and how much to g5s plus.
Aayush124 said:
Hi I am new to xda I would like to ask u on a scale from 1 to 10 how much would u give to pixel and how much to g5s plus.
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Can't speak for Pixel but can speak for Nexus 6P.
I loved my Nexus. Had been a Nexus user since the Nexus 4. The 6P, when it worked, was the capstone of the Nexus range. Gorgeous big screen, well built, excellent performance. I would still be using it now if the well known battery issues (check the forums) hadn't come and bit me. Replaced the battery twice and maybe eked another 6 months out of the phone but I realised recently I needed to get rid of the 6P now if it was to have any resale value.
Looking around there was nothing that real worked as a successor. Wasn't taken with either of the first gen Pixels, and the prices of comparable current phones to the 6P is just insane. Even if I could afford £800-odd I wouldn't pay it for a phone.
For a replacement my criteria was:
5.5 inch or better screen
Half decent ram and processor (so min 3Gb and a Snapdragon 625)
Decent battery life
Ideally no more than £300 - or £400 for a demonstrably premium device.
I had been looking at importing one of the Xiaomi devices, and had briefly looked at a few of the Motorola devices. The G5 series screens were too small, and while I considered the Z Play range they didn't really hit the killer piece/performance mark for me.
When I read the reviews of the G5S Plus I thought "hmmm" - £250 and fulfils my performance, screen size and price criteria. Battery seemed acceptable if not stellar. What sold me was a video where I saw the use of the fingerprint scanner for swipe navigation and the gestures for one handed mode. I'd used a custom rom on the 6P with a one handed mode (which is essential for a big screen) and knowing the G5S Plus had this as stock was the deal clincher.
Have been running it for a little under a week and I have to say I'm impressed.
The screen is very nice. The colours don't "pop" like on the 6P but otherwise it is excellent. Clear and bright, very visible in the day even under direct sunlight. The difference in resolution (1080p v 1400ish p) is not very visible (to my eyes).
Build quality is excellent and it feels just as premium as the 6P did.
The phone runs fluidly and in daily use for email, browsing and general comms needs the experience is pretty much indistinguishable from the 6P. I am also enjoying the swipe to navigate, which is very intuitive and gives me back some of the screen real estate I lost from the 6P.
I am not someone who is particularly bothered about cameras. The couple of pictures I have taken look like the objects I was taking a picture of. The rest I'll leave to someone who cares to give a judgement on!
Overall though, I am very pleased. You get a lot of phone for your money. It is perhaps not quite as good value as the some of the Xiaomi devices, but if you are in the UK I think you'll struggle to find something that's better value and works as well without importing (with all the complications that go with it).
How much would I give the Nexus 6P when the battery is fully charged and it isn't randomly powering off? 9 out of 10 - marvellous phone, the best I've ever had. I will miss it.
How much would I give the Moto G5s? A very close honourable second with 8 out of 10. Does virtually everything the Nexus does (for me) at a much more economical price.
Moto Singh said:
I am in love with this baby. Only the thing I am upset with Moto team is of the disabled LED light near the front camera. What logic is that? If that is for rooted phones then why rooting should void warranty? Nonsense! They don't want customers to enjoy the features in legal way.
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Click to collapse
That is my biggest gripe with this phone too. Disabling the led notification light makes no sense. I don't like the Moto notifications. Turning on the screen again and again at the smallest movement uses a lot of battery.
Otherwise, this is a great phone. I moved from the LG Stylo 2 plus. I really like the screen, more RAM, faster processor, and fingerprint scanner on the front.
The phone was good, very good in terms of performance. But I had one only for 11 days because my screen cracked after just a 3 feet drop (!). Sold it and bought a Mi A1, and the latter one is better.
Pretty solid phone. The stock ROM is very sufficient with a non-too-shabby camera and focus features, however I found using Open Camera yielded faster and crisper results. The battery life is quite expected to last a day and charge times are usually an hour and a half with fast charge. There's a much anticipated Oero update on its way which might improve a lot of the features. On custom ROMs, this instance being Oreo, it is very much faster and succintly utilises battery and RAM to apply a wide variety of tweaks. The dev environment is quite good for the XT1806 because of its prevalence in the US, however compatability of ROMs with other NFC-enabled variants (such as the XT1805) would be appreciated. Overall, very solid phone and worth it's price tag.
Just order my 32GB Sanders, Open box from Best Buy, for $212. Its basically new and comes with all accessories, so I couldn't pass up the price. Less than I paid for my G5 Plus! Excited to get it next Tuesday and will post my thoughts on whether it was worth the upgrade over Potter once I receive it.
I could only give this phone 4/5 stars.
I'm glad I pre-ordered the phone directly from Motorola because I paid $299 USD for the 64GB US version and received it as soon as available. It seems to be worth more, now.
I'm NOT glad I ordered the phone at all, because despite having very acceptable specs at a good price, the radios seem to work terribly. It's not my area, it's definitely the phone. Both my girlfriend on her Verizon iPhone and me on my previous Virgin Mobile Moto G3 had 4G LTE all the time at home, and most of the time driving around. Occasionally my girlfriend's VZW phone would have service in rural pockets where my VM/Sprint phone lost network, so for the G5S Plus I switched my carrier to Straight Talk with a ST/Verizon SIM.
Since day one, my G5S Plus has NEVER shown full bars, at any service level. Most of the time AT HOME, I have 1 or 2 bars of oldschool 4G (non-LTE) -- occasionally it drops to 2 bars of 3G and most of the time when I'm driving around it's either a low 3G signal or a low 1X signal - even in the middle of Albany, a city well covered by Verizon, there are spots where MY phone drops to 1X! Meanwhile my girlfriend still has 4G LTE on her iPhone.
This is getting to be a real dealbreaker for me. I found a thread someone else posted about having more or less the same problem. He was using Verzion as well, through a different MVNO. Is this phone known to have poor performance when used on Verizon's network? Lemme ask a different question, is this phone known to have GOOD service on ANY particular network? For anyone?? I would love to know what experience the majority of people are having. Maybe another poll...
I've noticed this problem exists regardless of the ROM (tried stock nougat ROM, lineage oreo, gzr validus oreo - all the same result). My guess is the all-metal body wasn't designed with the pre-existing G5 Plus hardware in mind, since the only things they changed are the screen size, cameras and the chassis, maybe they goofed and the radio inside the metal body sucks. Or it's not selecting the proper APN automatically. I suppose there is a small chance it's a software issue which may be addressed with a future radio update, but for now I'm miffed.
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itslels said:
Just order my 32GB Sanders, Open box from Best Buy, for $212. Its basically new and comes with all accessories, so I couldn't pass up the price. Less than I paid for my G5 Plus! Excited to get it next Tuesday and will post my thoughts on whether it was worth the upgrade over Potter once I receive it.
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Click to collapse
I'm glad you got such a good deal. Actually back in September, Amazon had the G5 Plus 64gb (W/OUT ads) for $229 so I bought it. The phone I received worked fine and I don't mind smaller screens, but there was a sort of banding effect in the screen. It was like a transparent layer between the LCD and the backlight where every 10 pixels down, or so, there was a faint line. No matter what was on the screen, I always noticed the banding. I figured it must be a dud so I asked Amazon to send me a replacement. Second G5 Plus looked exactly the same. I returned both. A month later I preordered the G5S Plus and while I know the graphics driver and pixel output are identical to its predecessor, it is a different display panel and this one is flawless.
So my G5s plus arrived today and I've had a little time with it. Here are my initial thoughts on this as a replacement to my G5 plus.
A lot of people might think it's silly to get the G5s plus if you already own the G5 plus, but I'm glad I did. This phone is what the G5 plus should of been originally. The build quality alone is a nice upgrade. It feels so much nicer and sturdier in the hand. And the buttons feel much nicer when pressed and not mushy at all. I actually love the buttons on this device lol.
The little extra screen space is nice and the panels used in this phone are clearly of better quality then the G5 plus. Battery life seems equal to the G5 plus and the camera, sadly, is about equal too. The camera should of been a bigger improvement and is probably my only complaint. It's still a serviceable camera though.
All this added to the fact that I got it cheaper than I paid for my G5 plus, and it has 1GB more ram, doesn't having me feeling any regrets. This is an amazing phone for $214.
one of the worst phones i have ever bought slow laggy near impossible to restore to stock if you unlock bootloader either keep a rom or throw in a bin avoid the phone and motorolla in general not a good phone
I realy like this phone . Good battery backup, cant get this much battery backup from any other 3000 mah battery phone i have used. Minimal heat from screen in brightness conditions, only camera is a bit disappointed, compared to my moto x play. Sound clarity is also good.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Nokia 8, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Nokia 8 is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Got the phone yesterday and what can I say, it's an amazing phone.
Great to hold, the screen is world class, the camera's are fast and produce quality photo's even in low light.
The speed is amazing.
As for updates, it's had one already.
Highly recommended.
I've had the update just show up now - im installing it as we speak.
What are you comparing it to?
Great phone, but no native gallery or music apps? Ok, it is a pure android but still...
thETImo said:
Great phone, but no native gallery or music apps? Ok, it is a pure android but still...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Photos and Google Play Music.. Photos wants to upload everything to cloud, you can say no or just upload it if you are ok with cloud. Haven't checked if you get unlimited Google Photos space with this like you get with Nexus. Google Play Music will automatically add stuff you put into Music folder in the phone. Tested with few .flac files and they automatically appeared in Play Music.
Nokia 8
Pros :
Build quality
Display.. The best in price segment
Processor and and no lag at all
Pricing
Brand image
Doesn't get heated even after heavy usage
Cons:
Camera app
May be design is not 2017 model
One thing worried me from the reviews and that was the accuracy and speed of the fingerprint sensor which was supposed to be poor. Coming from an HTC 10 with an excellent sensor I was concerned. I've been glad to find the review opinions is absolute hogwash. The Nokia sensor is every bit as accurate and fast as you'd expect it to be in a flagship.
Really want to get the Nokia 8, can someone coming from the Galaxy S6 tell me two things
1. How does the camera compare to the S6
2. In the Galaxy s6 there is a private mode where some notes and pictures are hidden from view. Is there a similar facility in the Nokia 8, not interested in a different app for this.
mitchst2 said:
One thing worried me from the reviews and that was the accuracy and speed of the fingerprint sensor which was supposed to be poor. Coming from an HTC 10 with an excellent sensor I was concerned. I've been glad to find the review opinions is absolute hogwash. The Nokia sensor is every bit as accurate and fast as you'd expect it to be in a flagship.
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Click to collapse
I have both HTC10 and N8 and fingerprint sensor on HTC is a bit faster and snapier.
As for my personal opinion about N8:
Superb build quality and overall specs. Camera is a bit dated but we will see what will upcoming updates bring. Pure android experience after coming from device like HTC M7, 10 is really meeeh. Lack of configuration, stock apps are just really simple. No weather app preinstalled. Google calendar is a complete **** as far as UI goes comparing to aftermarket solutions. Stock google dialer and contacts are also unimpressive.
Stock N8 launcher is also meh so I bought Nova couple of minutes after playing with the phone.
Hidden option to show percentage batter is a joke, you need to have magnifying glass to see the values *inside* the battery icon, lol.
So far the biggest drawback is lack of screen color calibration and night mode. This should be included in any moder phone. N8 screen should be a little warmer.
Overall I am really happy with this phone and my family member is happy even more. She can get used to all things that I consider drawbacks. If it would not be for a lack of out of the box config options I would actualy rate N8 higher that my beloved HTC10 which I consider one of the best devices ever made for my personal preferences like build quality, finger sensor on the front and hardware buttons below the screen.
cavist said:
I have both HTC10 and N8 and fingerprint sensor on HTC is a bit faster and snapier.
As for my personal opinion about N8:
Superb build quality and overall specs. Camera is a bit dated but we will see what will upcoming updates bring. Pure android experience after coming from device like HTC M7, 10 is really meeeh. Lack of configuration, stock apps are just really simple. No weather app preinstalled. Google calendar is a complete **** as far as UI goes comparing to aftermarket solutions. Stock google dialer and contacts are also unimpressive.
Stock N8 launcher is also meh so I bought Nova couple of minutes after playing with the phone.
Hidden option to show percentage batter is a joke, you need to have magnifying glass to see the values *inside* the battery icon, lol.
So far the biggest drawback is lack of screen color calibration and night mode. This should be included in any moder phone. N8 screen should be a little warmer.
Overall I am really happy with this phone and my family member is happy even more. She can get used to all things that I consider drawbacks. If it would not be for a lack of out of the box config options I would actualy rate N8 higher that my beloved HTC10 which I consider one of the best devices ever made for my personal preferences like build quality, finger sensor on the front and hardware buttons below the screen.
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Click to collapse
I'm the opposite I prefer the pure experience. On both HTC one and 10 I ran stockish custom ROMs to keep os up to date because let's face HTC didn't. That's my hope for Nokia that maybe just maybe I won't need to do that.
I never bothered with updating every month since I was and still am running custom roms on my HTC10 and previous devices so I just wait patiently for new update and switch every 2-3 update. I think if I would run stock, for me it would be enough to have only one update before switching to new Android version. I really do not care about the monthly security updates just because I am ignorant and do not feel compromised. Having phone memory and storage encrypted + password locked device on boot and lockscreen is enough security. So I do not bash HTC for being slow and lazy with updates.
But I completely understand people, who would want to have updates as often as possible and that is why Nokia is a better choice. It is faster to update stock android rather than branded one like with HTC and optional carrier branding.
cavist said:
I never bothered with updating every month since I was and still am running custom roms on my HTC10 and previous devices so I just wait patiently for new update and switch every 2-3 update. I think if I would run stock, for me it would be enough to have only one update before switching to new Android version. I really do not care about the monthly security updates just because I am ignorant and do not feel compromised. Having phone memory and storage encrypted + password locked device on boot and lockscreen is enough security. So I do not bash HTC for being slow and lazy with updates.
But I completely understand people, who would want to have updates as often as possible and that is why Nokia is a better choice. It is faster to update stock android rather than branded one like with HTC and optional carrier branding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion HTC needed to commit to the monthly updates. For me being stuck on June update in November on last year's flagship was the last straw. Too many major security flaws in that period being left unpatched. HTC themselves made a point of being near stock for fast updates then failed to deliver. Google will eventually take over fully.
I've had the phone for 2 days. My first powerful Android phone, upgrading from BB bold 9000. So I might be biased. The overall experience is good.
So in the UK the Nokia 8 was £400, absolute bargain for a phone with THAT processor and THAT screen. But Nokia was still an unknown quantity with android. In the end I decided to buy the Nokia 8 with a 14 day exchange policy. It was too good of a price to pass over and I ain't letting Samsung and iPhone rob me for £600 plus.
The best thing is the pure stock android and overall performance it really is as fast as any android phone except the Pixel 2. Battery was good enough; you have to consider that there's that 2k screen. The 2k screen looks great for an LCD although there's really no need for 2k if it's at the expense of battery life. But yeah the pros of this phone are definitely the screen quality and performance.
On to the bad stuff. First thing I didn't like are the dimensions of the phone; I've used bigger phones but this doesn't feel right in the hand, too wide for the height imo. Next thing is the camera, I don't care for the extra stuff I just want a good point and shoot camera; this phone sucks in that regard. Really slow and really underwhelming quality considering how it was marketed. Next, the fingerprint sensor. It's just too small and it led to it misreading enough to become frustrating. Even when it reads my fingerprint it unlocks much slower than the competition. This the deal breaker for me. The quick glance screen was very basic, only showed text and call notifications no WhatsApp notifications I dunno it just annoyed me.
In the end I returned the phone and paid 100 extra to get the Pixel 2, absolutely outstanding phone but that's for another review.
To conclude the Nokia 8 is a very underrated phone and provides great value for money. But I wanted a phone that I can use for the next 2-3 years without frustration and Nokia just didn't do it for me.
junaidmatlub1 said:
So in the UK the Nokia 8 was £400, absolute bargain for a phone with THAT processor and THAT screen. But Nokia was still an unknown quantity with android. In the end I decided to buy the Nokia 8 with a 14 day exchange policy. It was too good of a price to pass over and I ain't letting Samsung and iPhone rob me for £600 plus.
The best thing is the pure stock android and overall performance it really is as fast as any android phone except the Pixel 2. Battery was good enough; you have to consider that there's that 2k screen. The 2k screen looks great for an LCD although there's really no need for 2k if it's at the expense of battery life. But yeah the pros of this phone are definitely the screen quality and performance.
On to the bad stuff. First thing I didn't like are the dimensions of the phone; I've used bigger phones but this doesn't feel right in the hand, too wide for the height imo. Next thing is the camera, I don't care for the extra stuff I just want a good point and shoot camera; this phone sucks in that regard. Really slow and really underwhelming quality considering how it was marketed. Next, the fingerprint sensor. It's just too small and it led to it misreading enough to become frustrating. Even when it reads my fingerprint it unlocks much slower than the competition. This the deal breaker for me. The quick glance screen was very basic, only showed text and call notifications no WhatsApp notifications I dunno it just annoyed me.
In the end I returned the phone and paid 100 extra to get the Pixel 2, absolutely outstanding phone but that's for another review.
To conclude the Nokia 8 is a very underrated phone and provides great value for money. But I wanted a phone that I can use for the next 2-3 years without frustration and Nokia just didn't do it for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finger print sensor snappier after 8.1 and also i never faced any misreading. This was very strange problem you faced
Sent from my TA-1012 using XDA Labs
Toedwarrior said:
Finger print sensor snappier after 8.1 and also i never faced any misreading. This was very strange problem you faced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had loads of misreading issues on 8.0.
8.1 fixed it.
Also, as you saying. Fingerprint sensor is twice faster on 8.1 beta.
I'm considering buying another Nokia 8 that's how much I like this phone
Pros
The display is amazing for LCD + no AMOLED burn in
Speaker is louder than my iPhone 7 plus
Battery is good
Stock android 8.1
Smooth/fluidity/fast
Price
Daytime pictures
Headphone jack
Micro SD card
Cons
Lowlight pictures
Fingerprint sensor location and odd shape/size
Vibration/haptic isn't that strong
Shape of phone (it's not so fun to hold vs say my moto g5 plus) awkward shape
Back metal doesn't feel like metal, more like plastic
Great great phone. And yes you can tell the difference between 1080p and 1440p. Even at a distance. Try changing the resolution to 1080p in adb using same way with xz premium to 4k, you will notice the fuzz from 1080p to 1440p
its a great phone when it was locked and without root, now that mine is rooted, lets see what it can do !
The fact you can get this now from carphone warehouse here in the UK for £300, like I did on Monday, is unbelievable. The absolutely blows anything else for that price and up to the OnePlus 5 out of the water. I haven't been this happy with a device in a long time and in 2017 I had a lot of devices. It's only £70 more than the Moto G5s plus. There's no contest.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto G7 Plus, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto G7 Plus is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Deleted
Moto G7+ after 2 weeks (long general post)
(moderator- please let me know if this is not the proper location for this kind of post)
The Moto G7+ takes advantage of major improvements that have been made over recent years in major flagship phones and is able to leverage a good chunk of that technology at a much lower price. At the same time it's not marketed to the people that would necessarily buy a flagship phone, so it still contains certain features that you would more likely find in a mid-range phone, such as a headphone jack.
I have using the Moto G7+ for about 2 weeks, and I am impressed with it. Previous to that I used a Sony compact phone since late 2017. Needless to say, the size of the G7+ took a bit of getting used to, and I find I occasionally miss the ability to do simple things easily with one hand.
A few things I’ve noticed:
The G7+ has very good speakers (i.e. loud and not tinny or distorted). One is front-facing, and the other, louder one is at the bottom, so in typical use they balance pretty well.
The screen is bright enough with good viewing angles.
I’ve only tried the camera a bit but it seems like it works pretty well and is very quick to focus. If it can actually take pictures of people in average interior light without making a total blurry or noisy mess of things, I'll be impressed! In particular, the zoom function is very smooth, and even at high zoom the results are nowhere near as *blocky* as what my previous phones have often produced. The camera interface is simple, with a ring you can move on the screen to specify subject for autofocus/exposure. I've gotten best results leaving HDR on *auto* or always on.
I have not had any problems with battery lasting the whole day, but then again I'm someone who most of the time is able to top it up at various different points during the day. As a result it probably never gets below 50% or so. If I find myself in a situation where I would not be able to charge the phone from an outlet, I would probably take along a small cell charger until I know how the phone would fare in such a situation. By the way, I have not yet even tried once the 27 watt charger that comes with the phone, as I have no reason to charge that quickly, and I'm suspicious that charging that rapidly is going to be bad for the battery itself.
The phone's ability to connect to the various different Bluetooth devices I have is very good. Occasionally, on re-connection, the Bluetooth receiver in my car gets its data scrambled so that the file data, such as time played and time remaining, is inaccurate or missing. But that happens on occasion with just about any phone I’ve tried.
Using Chromecast, I haven't encountered so much as a skip or a dropout. Yay!
As appears to be common to many phones, there is only a single volume slider for both ring and notification volume in the settings- you can't adjust them separately. But, seemingly only on this Moto phone (that I know of), there seems to be a limiter on *only* the notification volume.
I can set the volume of the notification/ring in the Settings, but, *in actual use*, the notification tone (but not the ring tone) is much quieter, about half of what it should be. Weird.
In general, I miss the ability to adjust all volumes without going into the Settings - that seems to be new to Android Pie, and not just the G7+.
I do wish that there was an LED notification lamp.
The remaining battery charge percentage is shown in an extremely tiny icon (I think it’s just the usual system modification previously made available under Developer Options), and it would be better if the number were shown by itself elsewhere on the status bar (which is largely empty to the left of the notch). I know that I could use the peek/glance screen, but I found that it activated at odd times, unexpectedly, which became a distraction. So I disabled it.
In general, the G7+ is the first Motorola phone that I have been motivated to try since using the Moto X Pure/Style of 2015, one of my old favorites. The G7+ is much faster, has a better camera, newer software (Android 9 with January 2019 security), and has comparable speakers.
pseudonym58 said:
(moderator- please let me know if this is not the proper location for this kind of post)
<snip>
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[I'm not a mod but the 'Guides, News & Discussion' forum would also be a good place to post this, but here seems ok too]
Thanks for the feedback & good luck with your new G7 Plus. Which model/channel is it? Mine is an 'international' XT1965-2 model purchased on Amazon US but came with Retla channel firmware.
I also had (still have but don't use) the Moto X Pure Edition/Style, which was sold as a low-priced flagship and had some nice features but pretty poor battery life. Then I had a Moto G5 Plus for 2 yrs which was much better with still very good performance, just a great mid-range phone. My G7 Plus seems like a nice current upgrade to that model with the best battery life of all, with similar usage I'm getting around 1.5 days with ~7 hrs of SOT.
(Portrait/night sight) Google Camera Port Fully Working!
You might want to check out the Google camera in that thread here, it's better than the stock Moto camera imo. Using the custom configuration script provided (see instructions in OP) I'm reliably getting the best shots under varied conditions of any phone I've had.
FWIW, mine is also the XT1965-2 with the retla software channel (retla = localized firmware version?).
As an addition, I've noticed the WiFi to be better than my recent phones, having a greater range (distance) of usable reception. No dropped calls so far, and, needless to say, the speakerphone function is excellent.
Thanks for the Google Camera reference; will keep that in mind for use in the future.
BTW, my wife still uses her Moto X Pure, and has no complaints.
pseudonym58 said:
FWIW, mine is also the XT1965-2 with the retla software channel (retla = localized firmware version?).
As an addition, I've noticed the WiFi to be better than my recent phones, having a greater range (distance) of usable reception. No dropped calls so far, and, needless to say, the speakerphone function is excellent.
Thanks for the Google Camera reference; will keep that in mind for use in the future.
BTW, my wife still uses her Moto X Pure, and has no complaints.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I believe Retla is for the Latin American market but some regions have more than one channel. Since the G7+ wasn't released in the US I figure that's the model Amazon US is getting to sell here, and others say that's what they got too. A site called lolinet has all the official firmware by channel for our G7+ (codename = lake) if you ever need it:
https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/lake/official/
I've fastboot flashed a later firmware from the 'Retail' channel with the January security patch (Retla still on Dec) which works just as well with no issues. Also there's a way to root using Magisk without TWRP (which we don't have yet but it may be close) by patching the boot.img from your channel's firmware (both Retla & Retail have worked for me), we just can't do backups or other things done within TWRP but having root is still very nice.