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Hey Everyone,
I was asked today by a friend what my thoughts were on the Evo after two weeks of ownership, and was inspired to write up a first-hand review which I want to share with you.
What are your thoughts of the Evo after your first two weeks, what do you find to be it's strengths and weaknesses...and how would you compare it to other smart phones like the iPhone 4, Droid Incredible, and upcoming Droid X. Anyone with buyer's remorse?
Please try to keep fanboy/fangirl-ism to a minimum, if possible...as I'm really looking for unbiased feedback.
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Friend's question: So how's that new phone treating you?
My thoughts:
Very good, but until it has "Froyo" 2.2 I have to bite my tongue on a final judgement.
On paper and in RL, the hardware specs are impressive.
Build quality is good (but not great) mostly due to issues I've read about with users experiencing a "glass separation" and grounding woes (resolved? as of the latest HTC firmware)... or maybe just plain separation anxiety from my G1 and a tactile keyboard...ok, bad joke. I haven't had any of the issues reported, but will say there is some minor light-leaking on the lower bezel of the phone, where the glass meets the plastic casing. Other than that, it'srock solid. No random crashes, no overheating, no dead pixels, no battery charging problems, no issues with mounting the phone to a PC or swapping the microSD card. Everything just works, as expected (which if you're shelling out 300 bucks for a phone, that's the minimum expectation). I also like the fact that there's a warranty option available for the purchase, unlike the iPhone.
The updated HTC Rosie/Sense UI is beautiful nearly flawless. Navigation is straight-forward, but I fear for a slightly older generation of users (e.g. anyone born before the 80s) it may seem too "busy" and overwhelming. HTC has done a lot to outperform Android's stock UI. Integrated multitouch (limited) for the home screen along with the Live Wallpapers integration (which are both fun and cheesy) is a pleasure to use. HTC's widgets are great (but not the best for application specific platforms like Twitter - use Seesmic instead, blows Twidroid out of the water). The HTC keyboard also blows the stock Android keyboard away.. I just wish the bloody thing integrated multi-touch interface (mostly for copy-pasting and capitalizing).
Sprint's network is impressive, but their 3G speeds seem a bit slower than my experience with T-Mobile. Until we have 4G here in FL, the jury's still out. In contrast, I also haven't had random network outages or call dropping as I was prone to with my G1 on T-Mobile. Over WiFi, YouTube and even embedded Flash videos (yes, I got the 2.1 flash pre-release) FLY like the wind and look stunning in HD. I'll also add....thanks to some savvy bargaining, my Sprint bill is 13% less than what I was paying T-Mobile. As a business, their customer service has been excellent, but it would help their sales if their sales associates had more tech knowledge. AT&T wins on that point, as their reps tend to know the iPhones inside-out, or at least talk the talk of "power users".
Camera takes great daytime photos and the recording in HD is impressive (albeit slight under-performance on frame rate capping, thanks to HTC...of course there's a hack to change that). Nighttime camera-work leaves some things to be desired (i.e. its grainy), but the built-in flash is decent and doubly effective for applications that use it as a LED flashlight.
Battery life, on the other hand, totally sucks. I'm a power user, so I frequently mass kill background apps to make phone resources available, but I still have to say there's no easy way to manage power for Android phones. I blame this on the Dalvik compiler, and I'm hoping 2.2 changes energy management....or at least gives app builders a better way to scale resource use for their applications (both background and foreground services).
Apps are still a major point of contention for me and Android...mostly because they're just not there (and are the ultimate deal breaker or maker for most Smartphone buyers). I initially blamed JAVA; but now I'm going to raise the bar and blame the often fragmented (and frustrating) Android framework and lack of developer marketing by Google AND the various carriers (which I think is just about all of 'em) selling Android-powered phones, save Verizon. You have to be a real cowboy to want to develop for Android mostly because it requires a cavalier attitude, since the code source requires a LOT of research. Apple has done a lot to enforce product standard for the iPhone apps out there, and I think it's time Google's marketplace stepped up to expect the same level of product quality. There's nothing more frustrating than downloading what one would expect to be a polished app (or even a clone for something iPhoney like Doodle jump) to find it bug ridden, unpolished or simply feel like a BETA release. This isn't to say that they all suck...but most unfortunately do. Again, hopefully the new VM will change this.
Oh, I forgot to mention Google Voice and integrated search/speech-to-text capabilities - they're amazing.
your review reads well. in the battery section, you should specify what you've tried to remedy the problem... there are tons of people, myself included, who make it through a day on heavy usage.
i have gmail push, always on data, calendar sync, and gps enabled. turned off gchat service, removed people widget, friend stream widget.
when my phone is idle i usually lost 1% every 90minute to 2 hours. and I can get 4-5 hours of heavy usage in before bar hits red.
Pardon me?!?!
"Navigation is straight-forward, but I fear for a slightly older generation of users (e.g. anyone born before the 80s) it may seem too "busy" and overwhelming."
Pre-70's here buddy... I have been playing with my 4hr old phone quite a bit already. So there.
muncheroo said:
your review reads well. in the battery section, you should specify what you've tried to remedy the problem... there are tons of people, myself included, who make it through a day on heavy usage.
i have gmail push, always on data, calendar sync, and gps enabled. turned off gchat service, removed people widget, friend stream widget.
when my phone is idle i usually lost 1% every 90minute to 2 hours. and I can get 4-5 hours of heavy usage in before bar hits red.
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Honestly muncheroo, I haven't done much by way of battery optimization but will start working out on it once I have a relative mental benchmark for battery life as of the latest update (which by the way has amped up my phone's lifespan quite a bit).
sablesurfer said:
Pardon me?!?!
"Navigation is straight-forward, but I fear for a slightly older generation of users (e.g. anyone born before the 80s) it may seem too "busy" and overwhelming."
Pre-70's here buddy... I have been playing with my 4hr old phone quite a bit already. So there.
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Click to collapse
Sorry sablesurfer, no offense meant!! I actually used that anecdote after showing off my Evo to my mom and a few mature coworkers. I got the same response from everyone - "It's beautiful but has so much going on, how do you keep track of everything!?"
The irony I think, is most of the widgets are all about improving efficiency and multitasking capabilities. :]
Good write up..
I would really love to see what people define as heavy usage. I'm sorry but I'm not buying the full day on one battery with heavy usage crap.
Sent from my EVO via Tapatalk
I just ordered it directly from Samsung
LeEco Pro3
toanau said:
I just ordered it directly from Samsung
LeEco Pro3
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I'm also interested as they are on sale at best buy for this price. Wondering if it's good for reading ebooks and PDF files. I'm pretty sure it's good for media streaming. Not too convinced about battery life and charging times so far. Mayhe the s3 is coming soon. Looking forward to some input on this thread.
I have had two (sat on one) , as well as many other tablets in our family. This is the fastest and smoothest of the lot (Nexus 9, Nexus 7, Sony Xperia, NVidia K1). I am the family geek that preps, refreshes them. Of the lot, this tablet is still my choice (T813 currently). I think it is worth it. I rooted the first one, but have not bothered to root the T813 yet. It is a simple process.
SysAdmNj said:
I'm also interested as they are on sale at best buy for this price. Wondering if it's good for reading ebooks and PDF files. I'm pretty sure it's good for media streaming. Not too convinced about battery life and charging times so far. Mayhe the s3 is coming soon. Looking forward to some input on this thread.
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It's fast enough to be very smooth and the display is really gorgeous.
I use mine for comic reading and PDFs - it's fantastic for colour graphic novels, great for grey scale (B&W) comics. The high PPI level helps that, the OLED screen is YUMMY.
For basic ebooks, the black and white text type, it's probably not as good as a very good E-Ink type reader, they are very crisp and sharp for text (but that crispness falters on pictures)
I'd say:
Colour graphic novels - 9/10
grey scale comics - 8/10
PDFs - 9/10 for pictures, 8/10 for text
Books, plain text - 7 to 8 / 10
That's not to say it's bad, not by any means. The rating is to say that there can be better... but that 9/10 for colour graphic novels means it's essentially unbeatable.
So far battery time and charge time are about normal for a tablet - I did 6.5 hours of general farting about lots of wifi, a little gaming, photos, etc - and i did about 30 mins of wifi transfers from pc to tablet.
And the battery was at 44% after that time. So, good, as far as I can say.
Recharge time to 100% was about three hours.
vernmcc - what benefit is there in rooting. What's the point?
(and I had a silly giggle over that last sentence, given that "rooting" is Aussie slang for a good old bonk, copulation).
The slang...
Fluffbutt said:
vernmcc - what benefit is there in rooting. What's the point?
(and I had a silly giggle over that last sentence, given that "rooting" is Aussie slang for a good old bonk, copulation).
The slang...
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Click to collapse
I rooted the original (giggle) to add adaway, gain lower level access to the system for building tasker profiles, and remove some of samsung bloat ware. Adaway is basically an ad blocker that uses host file modification to block known ad sites. Tasker stuff related to WiFi connections and connected blue tooth devices it is hard to do well in Tasker without system access. Removing some of the bloat ware was just an exercise in, can I actually delete this, not just disable in apps. But rooting it (giggle) has a down side that it voids warranty and makes updates less smooth so I have decided to stay with stock for what I use it for (podcast consumption and some light reading).
vernmcc said:
I rooted the original (giggle) to add adaway, gain lower level access to the system for building tasker profiles, and remove some of samsung bloat ware. Adaway is basically an ad blocker that uses host file modification to block known ad sites. Tasker stuff related to WiFi connections and connected blue tooth devices it is hard to do well in Tasker without system access. Removing some of the bloat ware was just an exercise in, can I actually delete this, not just disable in apps. But rooting it (giggle) has a down side that it voids warranty and makes updates less smooth so I have decided to stay with stock for what I use it for (podcast consumption and some light reading).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a little hunting after asking the question... there are apps that don't work without rooting *giggle* (sorry) - there's a backup app that needs it, and others (as you probably know).
I like the hosts ad block - I use that on win7, a 550k file full of all the crap-servers... works well.
I take it you can't do it on Andy without rooting *stifles giggle*
Mind you, wouldn't having root access *giggle* (I wouldn't mind having root access, it's been a while...) (slap, stop that!) also give any android viruses you came across low level access too?
And if the rooting went wrong (SLAP, stop it) you'd end up with an expensive thin brick?
Anyway - I hope all goes well for you, I'm rooting for you.... :highfive:
I'd say this tablet is a bit of a bargain if you can pick it up for only $250.
Its not got a SD820 inside so it won't be as fast as your phone but what tablet has got a SD820 under the hood?
Great tablet so far (owned for a year, the original T-810 after being disappointed with the Pixel C's crap wifi and coming from a Nexus 9). Could use 4 speakers (like Ipad Pro, hope the Tab S3 has it) but is very good otherwise. Feels faster than my S7 in many cases since the ROM is lighter than that on phones. BTW, Dec update is now out:
https://www.samdownloads.de/download/t810xxu2cpk1-dbt-6-0-1-germany/ so SW is pretty up-to-date compared to most Android tabs that never see an update. Hoping we get Nougat before too long.
For $250, absolutely. Overall, manufactures have stopped doing yearly tech refreshes on their tablet lines due to tablets being a less profitable product know days. The screen alone makes this tablet worthwhile. It may take 20 years, but they will be releasing android v7 on this tablet.
I got it for $250 on Amazon. Just went back and it's $400 (Best Buy too!). So it definitely was a deal.
toanau said:
I just ordered it directly from Samsung
LeEco Pro3
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Yes!
I've had mine for about 3 weeks now - loving it.
Battery life is amazing considering the battery size - I;m getting 12 hours of use in 2 lots of 6 or three lots of 4 or mixture - games, photography, cpu intensive stuff, wifi.
And that screen is still delicious... I love reading graphic novels on it.
Flaws? yes - I'd like to remove the four 100 meg bloats wares of Microsoft word/excel/powerpoint/? (forgot) - they should have given us the option to not have this crap.
Looking to get my first smart watch. Around £250.
I would like it to do the following without a having a phone on me:
Pay with tapping.
Track runs via Strava.
Play music (possibly Spotify?).
I would like the following when I have the phone on me:
Email alerts
SMS
Whatapp
Facebook Messenger
Answer / Make calls (would this count as legal hands-free? ).
The Huawei Smart Watch 2 Classic looks to do all this for about £230 (unless someone else can find it cheaper?).
Any other alternatives that can do the above?
Ticwatch Pro is my favorite. I don't own one yet so I can't really back that up, other than on paper and community reviews.
I had the Huawei 2 classic for about a week. The battery didn't get me through the day, and at least for me, the 1.2 inch screen was just too small. It's a really good looking watch though. Had the screen been bigger and the battery lasted a day, I would have kept it no questions asked. Hopefully the 3 whatever fixes those two things. Also, at this point, you *should* be able to find a 2 classic cheaper. Keep looking around. Or wait until Amazon's black Friday week.
OR, do what I did and buy a Fossil Q Explorist HR. I LOVE this watch. It looks great, the battery last more than a day, the screen is 1.4 inches, and super fast charging. Brand new, just came out they go for $250-270 depending on the color and band type. I got the gunmetal with the metal band just because I love that color. I don't even use that band.
OR, wait a couple more months for some smartwatches to come out with the new chip.
WillyShatsWig said:
Looking to get my first smart watch. Around £250.
I would like it to do the following without a having a phone on me:
Pay with tapping.
Track runs via Strava.
Play music (possibly Spotify?).
I would like the following when I have the phone on me:
Email alerts
SMS
Whatapp
Facebook Messenger
Answer / Make calls (would this count as legal hands-free? ).
The Huawei Smart Watch 2 Classic looks to do all this for about £230 (unless someone else can find it cheaper?).
Any other alternatives that can do the above?
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Click to collapse
OK, hopefully I am qualified to provide you with a reasonable answer.
I have had Smartwatches since the beginning I think.
My Huawei watch 1 has finally given up after 3 years, a great service, may it rest in pieces (literally) and my backup Sony SW3 just never feels 'right'.
in my search for a replacement, I have since bought/returned or tried the Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm), Ticwatch Pro (Amazon deal 180£), A fossil gen 3.
The Samsung is faster than a speeding bullet, well made, awesome bezel thingy, and a great screen. But there's bugger all app support, notifications don't work to my liking (eg it notifies of Twitter feed but not the actual message), slow to charge and battery simply not as great as stated and Samsung Pay, doesn't include Halifax (my bank (well not my bank as in I own it, but rather they have all my money)), expensive additional chargers and expensive watch in the first place.
The Ticwatch Pro - uses same tech as all current items and the LED screen cant be seen in low light or dark, and it was the laggiest of all watches owned/tried and isn't particularly cheap.
I didn't want to buy another HW1 so I purchased an Amazon WH special HW2, just to give it a whirl.. £130
Glad I did. Agreed the screen is too small and was a backward step compared to HW1 but this helps with battery life. It doesn't look like anything special (like a mid range Casio). But it is comfortable, all apps work as they're supposed to, cheap to buy, low-cost spurious chargers (£4!), and once you disable a couple of bloatware apps the battery is incredible and Android Pay works (never had this before).
If you can't wait for watches with 3100 chip (and they're unlikely to perform much better, but hopefully have improved staying power, then I recommend the HW2 .... especially an Amazon special.
I'm currently experimenting with different settings to understand battery implications but with 'Always on' set to off, I can get 3 days if careful), currently trying always on, with simple screen and looks like a comfortable 2 days ... which I could never get with my HW1. Additionally I just discovered it has a watch only facility (bit like the Ticwatch) giving you a month's use as a dumb smart watch.
Thanks for the above... I took the plunge and bought the HW2, A-grade second for £170. It turned up still sealed, with all the protectors on it. Great!
However, it looks like I'll be sending it back unused, as Huawei have leaked that they will be release the GT (baiscally HW3) THIS MONTH and it looks gorgeous.
Available in Classic, Sport and Fashion versions. It will have the new Snapdragon 3100 chipset, a bigger screen, be completely water-proof and a much longer battery life. Whether it will be running Wear OS remains to be seen:
https://www.techradar.com/news/first-huawei-watch-gt-photo-leaks-showing-the-new-design
BobDunn said:
OK, hopefully I am qualified to provide you with a reasonable answer.
I have had Smartwatches since the beginning I think.
My Huawei watch 1 has finally given up after 3 years, a great service, may it rest in pieces (literally) and my backup Sony SW3 just never feels 'right'.
in my search for a replacement, I have since bought/returned or tried the Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm), Ticwatch Pro (Amazon deal 180£), A fossil gen 3.
The Samsung is faster than a speeding bullet, well made, awesome bezel thingy, and a great screen. But there's bugger all app support, notifications don't work to my liking (eg it notifies of Twitter feed but not the actual message), slow to charge and battery simply not as great as stated and Samsung Pay, doesn't include Halifax (my bank (well not my bank as in I own it, but rather they have all my money)), expensive additional chargers and expensive watch in the first place.
The Ticwatch Pro - uses same tech as all current items and the LED screen cant be seen in low light or dark, and it was the laggiest of all watches owned/tried and isn't particularly cheap.
I didn't want to buy another HW1 so I purchased an Amazon WH special HW2, just to give it a whirl.. £130
Glad I did. Agreed the screen is too small and was a backward step compared to HW1 but this helps with battery life. It doesn't look like anything special (like a mid range Casio). But it is comfortable, all apps work as they're supposed to, cheap to buy, low-cost spurious chargers (£4!), and once you disable a couple of bloatware apps the battery is incredible and Android Pay works (never had this before).
If you can't wait for watches with 3100 chip (and they're unlikely to perform much better, but hopefully have improved staying power, then I recommend the HW2 .... especially an Amazon special.
I'm currently experimenting with different settings to understand battery implications but with 'Always on' set to off, I can get 3 days if careful), currently trying always on, with simple screen and looks like a comfortable 2 days ... which I could never get with my HW1. Additionally I just discovered it has a watch only facility (bit like the Ticwatch) giving you a month's use as a dumb smart watch.
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Click to collapse
Good for your detailed review. I have gone ahead with HW2 and currently getting almost 20 hours battery life including 1 hour of training with BT headset playing so that itself uses almost 30% with GPS on for tracking activities. Would like to know which 2 apps you froze to give you better battery life. On other items my watch is always on power saving mode and connected to BT all the time with Wifi off and GPS off (on when only needed). At night, its on airplane mode.
ChrisMarin said:
Thanks for the above... I took the plunge and bought the HW2, A-grade second for £170. It turned up still sealed, with all the protectors on it. Great!
However, it looks like I'll be sending it back unused, as Huawei have leaked that they will be release the GT (baiscally HW3) THIS MONTH and it looks gorgeous.
Available in Classic, Sport and Fashion versions. It will have the new Snapdragon 3100 chipset, a bigger screen, be completely water-proof and a much longer battery life. Whether it will be running Wear OS remains to be seen:
https://www.techradar.com/news/first-huawei-watch-gt-photo-leaks-showing-the-new-design
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Click to collapse
Did you get that watch? i have seen this watch and tho it looks awesome it based on Huawei OS and not on Wear OS. Second thing which killed it for me was the lack of internal storage. It only has 128 mb ROM. Not sure what you can do with it.
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 OnePlus 7T, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the OnePlus 7T is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Hello to all OnePlus 7T owners out there! I don't know if this is the right place to ask but what is your favourite thing about this phone and what is the thing you want to complain about, even if it is totally subjective? I am looking forward to your answers! Cheers
Super fast, the first phone or tablet I've seen that opens Pennsylvania's 20+MB hunting digest PDF and scroll perfectly...
The speaker.. omg super loud and clear who needs a Bluetooth speaker now!?!
Rugged case selection in stock shipping from an American warehouse is really poor..
Insane device. Also love the new camera bump as the design is a little bit fresh
uberjon said:
Super fast, the first phone or tablet I've seen that opens Pennsylvania's 20+MB hunting digest PDF and scroll perfectly...
The speaker.. omg super loud and clear who needs a Bluetooth speaker now!?!
Rugged case selection in stock shipping from an American warehouse is really poor..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's clearly, I have not been impressed with the speaker, did you do anything with your settings or Dolby to get it working better?
Cowbell_Guy said:
it's clearly, I have not been impressed with the speaker, did you do anything with your settings or Dolby to get it working better?
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Click to collapse
Nope nothing different haven't even messed with Dolby
Buyer beware of the rear glass and OPs handling of what is clearly a design defect...very easily scratched deeply
chazman1117 said:
Buyer beware of the rear glass and OPs handling of what is clearly a design defect...very easily scratched deeply
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Luckily they may screen protectors for this about 6 USD for a 5 pack on Amazon
---------- Post added at 08:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 AM ----------
Amazing phone! Stacks up with the super brands all day long at half the price .
I should be getting one of these today unless FedEx decides to do some more creative routing. The phone has already traveled about 2,300 miles to get to me from an origin point about 150 miles away. New Jersey to New York via Memphis, Tennessee. And I paid extra for that.
The only things I really care about in a phone are the processor, GPU, RAM, connectivity, basic call quality, and GPS. The rest falls under the heading of "stuff I never use." I'll be back with my narrowly-scoped observations on those aspects within a few days, the good Lord and FedEx willing.
Okay, here are a few preliminary impressions.
Setup: Painless.
GPS: Surprisingly good. This is an important feature for me because I do mapping work. I almost didn't buy this phone because of all the complaints about the GPS that I read. But then I realized that literally every other phone in the phone-using world had just as many or more complaints about GPS, so I decided to try it for myself.
Bad GPS would have resulted in my returning this phone, but it actually did quite well. With all four systems in use, I tool it for a roughly 20-mile drive through an area that practically all GPS receivers have a hard time with because of the topography. It maintained a 3D fix with 3-meter accuracy for the whole length of the trip, which is outstanding. :good:
I also tried to test it with Magic Earth, but being your basic idiot, I forgot to download the offline maps first; so that report will be forthcoming.
Overall Design: I'm probably not the one to comment on that. I'd use a brick phone if it delivered the best performance.
Call Quality: Seems okay when talking to myself from one of my other phones. Maybe a tad tinny, but not horrid.
Bluetooth: I can hear the GPS voice over my car's Bluetooth system, which is all I care about.
Signal Strength: Three bars on ATT, which is about average for where I live. I'll check the actual signal strength later.
WiFi: 5GHz works well anywhere in my house, which was all I tested.
So far, no deal-killers. :fingers-crossed:
LTE speed isn't bad for the boonies: 82.69 Mbps down, 6.50 Mbps up. That's on AT&T prepaid.
First impressions
New year, new round of flagships. Last year started with OnePlus 6T and it lasted for good 2 weeks. This year is the same for me.
* glass back looks matte, almost though it's plastic. Camera design is very attractive unlike iphone/samsung rectangles
* it's too heavy, can't imagine difficulty holding Mi10 or 1+7Pro
* it lacks SD, jack, QC, Qi, IP and notification diod. Lacking wireless charging is very painful as the luxury of placing mobile on magnetic Qi holder is priceless. Ambient display shows notification briefly which is great and better than AOD icons, but no AOD + no LED lights means you don't know what's up most of the time including charge status and low battery
* again nice hardware volume switch every phone should have
* display is bigger, higher frequency helps some animation blur
* night mode, reading mode, dimming mode and night theme is provided
* very fast charging but i still hate Warp as it's not compatible with myriad of chargers
* fingerprint is excellent and super fast, but you need to tap screen first
* faceunlock is also super fast but doesn't work in night unless you want to be attacked by display light
* nice classic local backup feature is gone
* fenomenal OnePlus-original hide notch feature is gone, only fake hide notch which cuts the screen is available
* animations are inconveniet for eyes, for example when switching apps the app will blink each time
* hint popups on the bottom of the screen are hard to spot, fast timeout and small size
* fenomenal Pie navigation is gone, instead xiaomi mi9 like crippled gestures are there, you no longer can scroll apps while holding pill.
* overall phone speed is incredible
3 days later
* app switching really sucks, QuickSwitch plugin doesn't work, and Nova is launched app switching is gone
* rooting is very annoying, but udating ROM is probably the easiest of all phones (just the OTA availability is great)
* this is perhaps Android Q, but i appreciate two finger up swipe gesture for magnification. This solves the longterm problem of having full screen navigation while missing zoom. Normally there are two modes in Accessibility settings: triple tap screen which delays the whole UI or navbar icon which obviously doesnt appear with full screen navigation
* i love OnePlus-original screen off gestures as before.. it's genius. Less i need hold fingerprint shortcut menu.
Three things to hate:
* minimal brightness always lower than it should be. Very annoying. Also dark mode would make screen readable even less update: solution: turn off any night mode stuff..makes phone unreadable
* cannot hold keys on the left and right boundary of the keyboard without massive delay (so there are many typos when long-pressing keys like "1", "q", "p")
* no wireless charging and a Qi pad doesn't work (works on other phones). This brand really insists people don't use the best technology in mobile phones - Qi update: also got another most capable multiformat charger, still won't charge above 8W (3hours).. commitment: i won't be buying any brand-specific chargers ever
Luckily battery is so great that charging is a rare event as documented in battery threads
Battery could have been better atleast 4000 mAh
I’ve been reading OnePlus forums all day and I’m more and more confident that I made a great choice. The second phone I have is Huawei, but he is not standing next to it))
I love mine, got it a week ago, and this phone is like lightning, I love the Oxygen OS, Dual sim, lots of HP and storage. Best phone I have ever owned. :good:
Meh, honestly I think based on what I keep hearing this may be an unpopular opinion but.... one plus devices to me have always been great due to their freedom. If you run into some problem then plop on a rom and fix it or some root app.
Unfortunately due to there not being much active development due to the temporary death of twrp, I’ve been running into a bunch of stability issues I can’t fix. I’m not sure if it’s just my phone or if people are blind due to the lower cost of the device. I’ve run into random freezes, keyboard lag, Bluetooth will sometimes just switch audio to phone speaker and won’t go back even if I’m still connected till I restart Bluetooth, the prox sensor is doing such a poor job at keeping the screen locked while I’m in a call that it’s really just comical now...I’ve ended a call to find myself looking at a screenshot my face took of the home screen and been fooled for a few seconds, or having the call ended because I’ve activated my flashlight and airplane mode...
I came from an Xs max to this phone and had a pixel before that. I’m not os brand loyal. If this phone didn’t need rebooted daily (cause I just don’t have time to fiddle around and find the issue, I have work and rebooting usually fixes whatever bug pops up) and could just hold onto its stability (I have no social media so I’m talking basic functionality here and some telegram usage) this phone has all the hardware markings of an awesome e phone.
It just falls short in knowing that we used to just plop on a hyper stable rom nd call it a day.... and now I’m just stuck.
If i wasn’t currently convinced this was just my phone, I’d give this phone a 2 but I’ll give it a 3 out of respect for OnePlus. I loved my last OnePlus device and used to not even be able to switch roms because oos was just that good.... now I’m going to Samsung of all things and holding onto this phone in hopes of a proper functioning twrp in the future, and that devs are still around when it does
igotlostintampa said:
Meh, honestly I think based on what I keep hearing this may be an unpopular opinion but.... one plus devices to me have always been great due to their freedom. If you run into some problem then plop on a rom and fix it or some root app.
Unfortunately due to there not being much active development due to the temporary death of twrp, I’ve been running into a bunch of stability issues I can’t fix. I’m not sure if it’s just my phone or if people are blind due to the lower cost of the device. I’ve run into random freezes, keyboard lag, Bluetooth will sometimes just switch audio to phone speaker and won’t go back even if I’m still connected till I restart Bluetooth, the prox sensor is doing such a poor job at keeping the screen locked while I’m in a call that it’s really just comical now...I’ve ended a call to find myself looking at a screenshot my face took of the home screen and been fooled for a few seconds, or having the call ended because I’ve activated my flashlight and airplane mode...
I came from an Xs max to this phone and had a pixel before that. I’m not os brand loyal. If this phone didn’t need rebooted daily (cause I just don’t have time to fiddle around and find the issue, I have work and rebooting usually fixes whatever bug pops up) and could just hold onto its stability (I have no social media so I’m talking basic functionality here and some telegram usage) this phone has all the hardware markings of an awesome e phone.
It just falls short in knowing that we used to just plop on a hyper stable rom nd call it a day.... and now I’m just stuck.
If i wasn’t currently convinced this was just my phone, I’d give this phone a 2 but I’ll give it a 3 out of respect for OnePlus. I loved my last OnePlus device and used to not even be able to switch roms because oos was just that good.... now I’m going to Samsung of all things and holding onto this phone in hopes of a proper functioning twrp in the future, and that devs are still around when it does
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for the proximity sensor, the 7T uses a different type of sensor, and maybe it's settings/calibration need to be adjusted in some future ROM update.
https://www.ellipticlabs.com/2019/09/26/new-oneplus-7t-phone-uses-elliptic-labs-ai-virtual-sensor/
Guatiao said:
As for the proximity sensor, the 7T uses a different type of sensor, and maybe it's settings/calibration need to be adjusted in some future ROM update.
https://www.ellipticlabs.com/2019/09/26/new-oneplus-7t-phone-uses-elliptic-labs-ai-virtual-sensor/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah! It’s guessing, should have thought it was something like that. Instead of using a sensor it’s trying to determine via software alone which at best is an educated guess, and fake a sensor report based on its guesses.
This does mean at least it’s not a hardware fault! If they do a good enough job and don’t drop the tech it could be cool stuff. Just doesn’t feel that stable in this phone yet.
Still cool tech
igotlostintampa said:
Ah! It’s guessing, should have thought it was something like that. Instead of using a sensor it’s trying to determine via software alone which at best is an educated guess, and fake a sensor report based on its guesses.
This does mean at least it’s not a hardware fault! If they do a good enough job and don’t drop the tech it could be cool stuff. Just doesn’t feel that stable in this phone yet.
Still cool tech
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed! I've experienced it also, having a second call placed while holding my phone with the shoulder. I believe a bit of software tweaking could fix the issue. I don't know if non official ROMs or beta versions of the stock one still suffer from this.
Hey Everyone,
I recently purchased a brand new sealed 64GB Pixel C for $275. I have ALWAYS wanted one but never really needed a tablet until recently. My kindle crapped out, and I have been listening to some audiobooks and I wanted a way to combine the 2. I also plan on maybe watching some movies from my Plex server, some Netflix, and that's probably it...oh and some comics as well....
I had some general questions for those of you who have had a Pixel C for some time.
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Thanks everyone in advance!
Hank
Hank_Rearden said:
Hey Everyone,
I recently purchased a brand new sealed 64GB Pixel C for $275. I have ALWAYS wanted one but never really needed a tablet until recently. My kindle crapped out, and I have been listening to some audiobooks and I wanted a way to combine the 2. I also plan on maybe watching some movies from my Plex server, some Netflix, and that's probably it...oh and some comics as well....
I had some general questions for those of you who have had a Pixel C for some time.
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not aware of better or worse serial numbers. I assume later is better? Mine has image retention / ghosting & a purple shift in white balance but I never got the half screen failure or other issues.
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend either Pixel Experience 10 or LineageOS 17 if you are at all comfortable with flashing. ROMs are little more work. But they offer the latest patches, some new features, some specific fixes for our aging hardware, and because you have to install TWRP first you have that safety net for when things go wrong. I also happen to really like Android 10 for what that's worth. You might have to use Magisk Hide to get some apps working, and you probably have to sideload Netflix from APKmirror but it should work just fine.
If you don't mind how it works out of the box, and you don't care for fiddling with it, and you aren't concerned with the screen lock bug, then stock is perfectly fine. Some people say 7 was better than 8 because of some video driver bug that broke a few Unity based games. I have zero idea if this was fixed in any of the ROMs.
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am considering selling my Galaxy Tab S6, even though it is nicer in so many ways, because I just disagree with so many Samsung UX decisions. So I continue to use the Pixel C and I hope you like yours. I am a little envious you found a good condition 64GB one! There are countless little touches where the Pixel C does what I expect and my Samsung devices do not. Using an USB audio device? Pixel C can use it for music and also to make VoIP calls. Believe it or not many Samsungs cannot route 'phone' type audio over USB. Music only! Using a mouse? Open Chrome, right-click on a link. Notice that beautiful options menu that pops up? Try the same thing on a Samsung and notice it is just Android back function. Back to the Pixel C, try to middle-click on a link and notice it opens in a new tab in the background. Just like on desktop Chrome! Then, try with a Samsung and notice middle-click is the same as Android home function. Samsung just decided to break mousing and I hate it. Even things like display scaling work well on the Pixel C and badly on Samsung devices. Want everything to be very small? That's easy to do, and basically everything scales (except the nav bar, but there is a fix for that). On my Samsungs some parts of the UI scale and other parts don't. You end with comically unmatched icons and other elements like the notification shade. I really thought DeX could fix these issues for me and it didn't, but that is a different story. I like Samsung features but by golly they suck at the basics IMO.
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everything in Google-land is good. The Pixel C was never trouble free and still isn't with even the best ROMs. 3GB of RAM was too little for a 'productivity device' in 2015 and obviously still isn't enough (your use-case should be fine however). The storage speed is slow, it is prone to occassional jank (probably combination slow storage & low RAM), and if the battery isn't perfectly healthy you will experience bad CPU throttling (this is fixed in ROMs and in my case was a night and day difference). You are already aware of the screen problems. The headphone jack quality is not good, and the bluetooth range for headsets is about 5 ft (I am not joking, it's astonishingly bad!). There used to be many WiFi reception complaints but I think it was fixed long ago. Reception is on the weak end however. The touch screen is sensitive to interference and you can get ghost touches when using a low quality charger (YMMV on that one, my hardware might be faulty). Last thing that comes to mind is that occassionally, and seemingly randomly, your lock screen PIN will just... stop working. If you are on stock software with a locked bootloader then all you can do is factory reset!! This alone is a great reason to go with ROMs.
Thanks everyone in advance!
Hank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck and welcome to the community!
locuturus said:
I am not aware of better or worse serial numbers. I assume later is better? Mine has image retention / ghosting & a purple shift in white balance but I never got the half screen failure or other issues.
I recommend either Pixel Experience 10 or LineageOS 17 if you are at all comfortable with flashing. ROMs are little more work. But they offer the latest patches, some new features, some specific fixes for our aging hardware, and because you have to install TWRP first you have that safety net for when things go wrong. I also happen to really like Android 10 for what that's worth. You might have to use Magisk Hide to get some apps working, and you probably have to sideload Netflix from APKmirror but it should work just fine.
If you don't mind how it works out of the box, and you don't care for fiddling with it, and you aren't concerned with the screen lock bug, then stock is perfectly fine. Some people say 7 was better than 8 because of some video driver bug that broke a few Unity based games. I have zero idea if this was fixed in any of the ROMs.
I am considering selling my Galaxy Tab S6, even though it is nicer in so many ways, because I just disagree with so many Samsung UX decisions. So I continue to use the Pixel C and I hope you like yours. I am a little envious you found a good condition 64GB one! There are countless little touches where the Pixel C does what I expect and my Samsung devices do not. Using an USB audio device? Pixel C can use it for music and also to make VoIP calls. Believe it or not many Samsungs cannot route 'phone' type audio over USB. Music only! Using a mouse? Open Chrome, right-click on a link. Notice that beautiful options menu that pops up? Try the same thing on a Samsung and notice it is just Android back function. Back to the Pixel C, try to middle-click on a link and notice it opens in a new tab in the background. Just like on desktop Chrome! Then, try with a Samsung and notice middle-click is the same as Android home function. Samsung just decided to break mousing and I hate it. Even things like display scaling work well on the Pixel C and badly on Samsung devices. Want everything to be very small? That's easy to do, and basically everything scales (except the nav bar, but there is a fix for that). On my Samsungs some parts of the UI scale and other parts don't. You end with comically unmatched icons and other elements like the notification shade. I really thought DeX could fix these issues for me and it didn't, but that is a different story. I like Samsung features but by golly they suck at the basics IMO.
Not everything in Google-land is good. The Pixel C was never trouble free and still isn't with even the best ROMs. 3GB of RAM was too little for a 'productivity device' in 2015 and obviously still isn't enough (your use-case should be fine however). The storage speed is slow, it is prone to occassional jank (probably combination slow storage & low RAM), and if the battery isn't perfectly healthy you will experience bad CPU throttling (this is fixed in ROMs and in my case was a night and day difference). You are already aware of the screen problems. The headphone jack quality is not good, and the bluetooth range for headsets is about 5 ft (I am not joking, it's astonishingly bad!). There used to be many WiFi reception complaints but I think it was fixed long ago. Reception is on the weak end however. The touch screen is sensitive to interference and you can get ghost touches when using a low quality charger (YMMV on that one, my hardware might be faulty). Last thing that comes to mind is that occassionally, and seemingly randomly, your lock screen PIN will just... stop working. If you are on stock software with a locked bootloader then all you can do is factory reset!! This alone is a great reason to go with ROMs.
Good luck and welcome to the community!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for the detailed response. I am glad I am not the only one who feels that way about the Samsung tablets. I ALMOST bought an S4, then I ALMOST bought an S5E, but just don't like the way they do Android. I checked my tracking and the tablet comes today! So I think what I will do is just upgrade to the most recent official, leave the device lock off for now as I don't plan on going anywhere with the C, and see how it goes. I have dabbled in ROMS in the past for a lot of phones I have had through the years, so I assume this is not too far different as far as the process. The Lineage ROM seems to be a little better for the C from reading some of the known issues, but I will take a look at them after I assess the performance of the C. I really don't want to have the unit hit 70% then completely crap the bed on the performance side....
The Bluetooth range is sad to hear considering i JUST ordered the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. They will be here either Friday or Saturday. If i need to hear something beyond the range of it sitting close to me I'll just use my phone.
I'll report how things are going once I receive it, and thanks again for the detailed response. It has put me at ease!
Cheers
Hank
It came and was exactly as described. Did the update and now it's charging. Updated some apps and it's moving pretty well. We shall see what happens when I get more stuff loaded on there, but I will say it's better than I expected. Such beautiful hardware.....
1. I know there are some screen issues, and I believe based on the serial (i'll confirm when it arrives in two days) mine seems to be made in 2016 sometime, and even though I am in the US, it's a EU version.... Do the problems seem to be on all C's or just a specific run of them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought an used Pixel C with its keyboard and a pouch and its screen seems still fine. A Youtube video pointed the issue for its cable in the middle behind the screen panel being pressed so I thought keyboard&pouch may have prevented it.
2. If you were me, and only wanted a tablet for ebooks/audio books and of course some media, but no apps that are super intensive, would you just upgrade from the 6.0 to the 8.0 that's official (or 7.0 if it's good?) , or install a custom rom. If the latter, any recommendations from personal experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was on stock 8..1 and now is LineageOS 17 based on Android 10. Stock 8.1 seemed to work fine. I preferred some Android 10's swiping features such as swiping from left or right to go back and swiping up to go to homescreen or other running apps to buttons and black bottom bar previous versions. Netflix HD still works.
On the other hand, unlocking bootloader caused additional 30 seconds to boot with caution message and weird beep noise in boot sequence. As you might know, even when locked in setting, in recovery mode, someone could physically connect your device to another and steal files in the device. Some error messages with security warning pops up in notification so the rom might not fully support Android security features. (I have little knowledge on this.)
When its brightness set close to lowest level, screen seemed to be turned off or brightness seems a bit unstable. (Being able to set close to the mininum is still good.) BTW some of gamepad buttons mapped incorrectly (not sure it was due to LineageOS).
3. Since it's 2020 and this tablet is coming up on almost 5 years....do you feel I overpaid? This is a completely irrelevant question, I just REALLY REALLY wanted one, I hate Samsung and wanted something with as close to a pure google experience like my Pixel phone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have seen them selling used in good shape in the upper 100's range, and most are 32GB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's display ratio is better than 16:10 from other android tablets for e-books, pdf files, comics. Someone wrote its ratio fits for two pages side by side. Among Android tablets as far as I know, there are not many with 3:2 or 4:3. Nexus 9's screen could be great but it has only 2GB ram and other flaws. Xiaomi MiPad doesn't support Netflix HD. iPads would match the need but it seems you didn't want one. What I looked for was an Android tablet which is not Samsung or Huawei and supports Netflix HD. Of course, newer APs have advantages in power consumption, better game support, weight etc. Galaxy Tab S6 lite supports S-pen which is good for pdf notetaking. I tried to write in pdf files with Xodo PDF app and Bamboo Tip stylus and it wasn't so successful. Still, I like mine.
4. Anything else I should know that I don't see jumping out at me in the forums that you would pass along to a new C owner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its PCB is on the left side so it gets hot when running intensive apps or charging. (The bottom of the display turned a bit yellowish. Because of keyboard attached?)
USB PD laptop chargers works but the left side feels hotter compared to charging with 5V 3A chargers.
With its keyboard is good to use on lap or as a stand but it would be pricey to buy a new one.