I have been looking to purchase the galaxy s 2 for some time now. I've read about alot of problems with the phone but I played with the at&t version and it is super fast, beautiful screen, perfect size and has a great camera. The biggest thing that's keeping me from purchasing it is the audio quality from the headphones. Is it as good as the Iphone 4 or Zune HD(which is my favorite music player) from your experience? Next, hows the battery life compared to the iphone 4 which has great battery life and the only android phone that matched it from my experience was the nexus one. If I do decide to purchase the galaxy s 2, should I get the international version or the at&t version as Im getting them both off-contract. One more question, what kind of 3g speeds are you guys seeing in NYC with the international version and at&t version? Thanks
Now is not the time to get a Galaxy S II in my opinion. Wait for the Prime to come out and either decide on Prime or 4S
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
My brother just told me that he can get the at&t galaxy s 2 for only $430 so I'll just buy it and if I dont like it, I can sell it for 450-500. I'm really hyped for the prime but I dont know when they are gonna release it and I want to get a new phone over my iphone 4. I dont want the 4S as Im kind of bored by IOS and it was barely an upgrade over the Iphone 4 and I was disappointed, but IOS 5 looks nice.
Wait for prime bro'.
And if I was in New York, I'd sold mine to you.
I recommend you to wait mate, there are some problems with galaxy s2 that still has not been corrected (im running 2.3.4 because i havent got an update few weeks ago greater than that on kies).
The biggest problem with this phone is the retarded overheating, it overheats ALOT when recording at 1080p and playing a decent ammount of games, (i experience overheating issues mostly in 3D games like asphalt 5, Motor Academy, dungeons defenders and more. The overheating issue is a huge downside mainly because it cannot let you enjoy your game without feeling that boiling effect on your fingers and the fact that i worry most of the times for it to not melt the circuitry board inside, like it has happened before with other people (ive only read 1 guy having this problem so far).
But there are also other problems, the oled screen still blurrs, its faster than an lcd but blurr is still there, viewing angles shifts hue to a bit of blue, if u put solid colors like pure gray on whole screen, you will notice the color displays with a different contrast on different parts of screen, the camera displays a pink circle on the screen when in medium lighting conditions viewing white walls or other objects that occupies the whole screen.
Speaker quality is average, there might be more but i cant remember them right now.
This is the best phone i know right now but i recommend you to wait for a better one, hopefully without these problems, if u cant wait and rly like oled then this might be the best one so far.
TheWarKeeper said:
I recommend you to wait mate, there are some problems with galaxy s2 that still has not been corrected (im running 2.3.4 because i havent got an update few weeks ago greater than that on kies).
The biggest problem with this phone is the retarded overheating, it overheats ALOT when recording at 1080p and playing a decent ammount of games, (i experience overheating issues mostly in 3D games like asphalt 5, Motor Academy, dungeons defenders and more. The overheating issue is a huge downside mainly because it cannot let you enjoy your game without feeling that boiling effect on your fingers and the fact that i worry most of the times for it to not melt the circuitry board inside, like it has happened before with other people (ive only read 1 guy having this problem so far).
But there are also other problems, the oled screen still blurrs, its faster than an lcd but blurr is still there, viewing angles shifts hue to a bit of blue, if u put solid colors like pure gray on whole screen, you will notice the color displays with a different contrast on different parts of screen, the camera displays a pink circle on the screen when in medium lighting conditions viewing white walls or other objects that occupies the whole screen.
Speaker quality is average, there might be more but i cant remember them right now.
This is the best phone i know right now but i recommend you to wait for a better one, hopefully without these problems, if u cant wait and rly like oled then this might be the best one so far.
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WHAT? Dude if you have all those problems then you should return your device and get a replacement because i got none of them. This phone is seriously phone of the year and this is my first samsung device. If sammy keeps this up then i am in for good. And about screen getting real hot... I got that problem in the first weeks but then after an update the problem went away. Using lates villainrom now. But like every other dual-core smartphones the phone gets hot when you use it for a long time... Again this happens to every dual-core smartphones as the cpu uses alot of power. And to the op, I seriously recommend you to get this device, unless you're thinking about getting the prime then you should wait a few more weeks. But i dont think that the prime will be much better then SGS2 except better screen.
Umm i don't think you can call it overheating for the sgs 2. In the sense that it is not overheating, it is simply expending the amount of heat proportionate to the amount of work being done. it's like when you play crisis 2 on your computer, your computer gets really hot right? Well an average computer per say, not a prepped, or modded one.
So like the computer, the sgs 2 is bound to heat up since you are forcing it to perform at such high levels, meaning big 3d games, 1080p, etc. To summarize, with great power comes great heat.
Which brings me to another speculation, how bad will the prime or iphone4s heat up? if the Mali does this bad, I'm wondering how the sgx543 will do since it has atleast twice the performance.
Anyways onto your own matter, I'd rather wait than get a half year old device despite the enormous pros.
The SGS2 is kinda cheap now, and it will be even cheaper when the Prime will be out. This phone has good specs, it won't grow old that fast, so i wouldn't go mental for whatever comes next. Anyway, i'd wait a little if i were you
Kailkti said:
Umm i don't think you can call it overheating for the sgs 2. In the sense that it is not overheating, it is simply expending the amount of heat proportionate to the amount of work being done. it's like when you play crisis 2 on your computer, your computer gets really hot right? Well an average computer per say, not a prepped, or modded one.
So like the computer, the sgs 2 is bound to heat up since you are forcing it to perform at such high levels, meaning big 3d games, 1080p, etc. To summarize, with great power comes great heat.
Which brings me to another speculation, how bad will the prime or iphone4s heat up? if the Mali does this bad, I'm wondering how the sgx543 will do since it has atleast twice the performance.
Anyways onto your own matter, I'd rather wait than get a half year old device despite the enormous pros.
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Well then, im not sure what u call melting the circuitry board, but i call it overheating.
as for whoever told me that i should change the phone because someone else got none of those issues, i had changed it 2 times and all 3 i had, had the exact same problems, you probably dont get overheating because you either dont use it for the same apps or games as i do or u have possibly underclocked it or have some sort of battery saving application, or maybe even an unnoficiall firmware, these problems are part of all s2 phones it has been checked plenty of times by plenty of experienced people in this forum, they are nothing new.
PS: i doubt iphone will have such issues, maybe their battery will explode again or maybe it will loose signal if holded with left hand, but i doubt itll have overheating issues, there are some dual cores out there and none have such issue as sgs2 has, it has nothing to do with it beying stressed to much, its either a hardware building fault or a software issue.
The S2 is pure gold still when Prime is out, the phone got no problem at all IF and only IF you follow the root instructions/rom installation instructions step by step, if you forget something, you probably end up with problems. (most forgotten is to install kies drivers or to not shut down kies while flashing with odin).
Prime is gonna be the top phone, so it can be worth wait.. but sure the S2 (2nd best phone by then) will cost about 200 less.
I bought the SC2 right after the iPhone 4s was announced, not regreting, and don't think the the prime will be much better, I probably buy the s3 when it comes out next year.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Buddy just go for the phone that YOU want...Galaxy S2 is for me a top top phone..dual core gorgeous screen and memory is great....regarding audio i cant find any faults with it..you have different equalizer settings and you can adjust it to your liking....
regarding the overheating issues i have occured them as well when i first got my phone....since ihave rooted it though and have got my custom rom and kernel that i am using that has gone away now and im experiencing great battery life....like the post above the next handset for me will be the s3....
iphone 4s if the screen was a tad bigger i would of gone for that....but as i said if you cant wait for the prime then s2 is the one for you buddy
TheWarKeeper said:
Well then, im not sure what u call melting the circuitry board, but i call it overheating.
as for whoever told me that i should change the phone because someone else got none of those issues, i had changed it 2 times and all 3 i had, had the exact same problems, you probably dont get overheating because you either dont use it for the same apps or games as i do or u have possibly underclocked it or have some sort of battery saving application, or maybe even an unnoficiall firmware, these problems are part of all s2 phones it has been checked plenty of times by plenty of experienced people in this forum, they are nothing new.
PS: i doubt iphone will have such issues, maybe their battery will explode again or maybe it will loose signal if holded with left hand, but i doubt itll have overheating issues, there are some dual cores out there and none have such issue as sgs2 has, it has nothing to do with it beying stressed to much, its either a hardware building fault or a software issue.
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Well overheating for me means it is expending so much heat whilst doing so little. Meaning it is heating up even though it is on standby or screen off.
Melting the circuit board I think is natural if you expect it to handle so much. Because when the GPU or processor demands so much power/electricity in proportional to the process, and the process is a big one, then of course it will need a lot of power. And where does the power go? Well the wasted becomes heat. And personally i don't think you can compare other past dual cores as none are nearly as good in architecture as the exynos or in fact perform as close, side from the A5.
And yes I do experience great heat when I play games like dead space, dungeon defenders, and so on. But i expect it since the phone is trying its utmost best to perform. Meaning it is trying its best to play at 60fps or more when it isn't needed. Now a solution maybe to cap the GPU and CPU to only produce frames at say 24fps or so. That may fix "overheating".
Note however that above is sincerely speculation as i have no idea how the SoC operates.
My personal experience after 4 weeks with the S2:
It´s great as a fast multimedia device (great images from Camera, HD Video recording and playback of movies and films, internet browsing), but if you plan to use it MUCH as a phone stay away... speaker quality is quite poor, you may experience trouble with echoes due to failing noise redcution, volume with headset is very low.
Other MAJOR downsides i found, compared to other droid phones:
Wlan signal strength very poor, around 20% lower signal rates that LG Optimus. Also 3G signal strenth is poorer than LG. Really disappointing.
AMOLED display is overrated, colors of images are distorted and very unnatural (reds, blues) compared to standard LCD (i´m a photographer so i know how my images should look).
Ob btw,if you plan to use the S2 as a GPS car navigation device forget it, because the battery will be charged at a max rate of 650 mAH even if your car charger can deliver more - at least with Navigon your battery will drop even when charging! What a joke!
Long story short: don´t buy unless you can get it for under 200 USD.
Nexus Prime. Simple.
Or Nokia WP7 if you can wait.
wait for primee buddy, i'd do it
Might wanna look at this phone. Its has all the latest technology packed into a sexy slim stylish design.
http://www.recyclinglives.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/old-mobile-phone-355x360.jpg
Sparksltd said:
Might wanna look at this phone. Its has all the latest technology packed into a sexy slim stylish design.
http://www.recyclinglives.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/old-mobile-phone-355x360.jpg
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You're on to something there!
- Also useful for hand to hand combat.
- privacy, no one will be trying to snoop a look at your screen.
- outdoor hobby requirements, you'll never be afraid of doing an army assault course knee deep in mud with it in your pocket.
My sgs2 , while good, isn't great at meeting the above points.
Go with what agrees with you.
____________________________________________________
sent from my phone using ones and zeros
01binary01 said:
You're on to something there!
- Also useful for hand to hand combat.
- privacy, no one will be trying to snoop a look at your screen.
- outdoor hobby requirements, you'll never be afraid of doing an army assault course knee deep in mud with it in your pocket.
My sgs2 , while good, isn't great at meeting the above points.
Go with what agrees with you.
____________________________________________________
sent from my phone using ones and zeros
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Yea I read somewhere it can be used as a baseball bat too. I wish my gs2 could do that . I loose count the amount of times I've left mine at home while out shopping and I've spotted some chavs.
I belive that the nexus Prime will be on pair wih the Galaxy S2
Related
My contract is already up,and I have some questions about the note. For those of you using the note for a while. Is the note's size an issue or is it totally worth having even though the note is a very big phone? Screen quality how is it? Is it a fast phone? If you didn't have the note, would you buy it again? Call quality? I'm thinking about buying one tomorrow, and I wanted your input on the phone. Feel free to add any info that could be useful about the phone. Thanks guy's.
lildoggs said:
My contract is already up,and I have some questions about the note. For those of you using the note for a while. Is the note's size an issue or is it totally worth having even though the note is a very big phone? Screen quality how is it? Is it a fast phone? If you didn't have the note, would you buy it again? Call quality? I'm thinking about buying one tomorrow, and I wanted your input on the phone. Feel free to add any info that could be useful about the phone. Thanks guy's.
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The size is really overblown on a lot of web reviews. It is comfortable to hold, fits into all of my pants pockets just fine, is really awesome when browsing the web, and the size allows for the larger battery.
I have had the Note for a month now and do no ever see myself returning to a smaller screen.
The resolution is beautiful, but there are some issues with gradients and dark scenes in movies so be sure to walk into a store when buying it so that you can run some tests on the phone they are going to sell you. There is a thread here about black clipping with a lot of great tests to try out. Some Notes are worse than others.
I love the call quality on the Note. The only downfall is that you really have to lower the volume while in a call unless you don't mind folks around you hearing it. The ear speaker is very loud.
As far as speed goes...that really depends on your phone. I have seen posts where people are experiencing lag even though I haven't personally experienced any of it.
I started off with the white Note, but returned it due to the soft keys having bad light bleeding at night. They can be turned off, but it bugged me so now I have the black/blue one.
Also, try out the stylus. I didn't realize it until I exchanged my Note, but the stylus on the first one was really laggy and unresponsive. I thought it just sucked until I got the second Note. It should be snappy and precise.
I am now running DAGr8's ICS rom and have turned the DPI down to 240. It really enhanced the phone by making the resolution smaller which in turn gives you more space for widgets, icons, etc.
lildoggs said:
My contract is already up,and I have some questions about the note. For those of you using the note for a while. Is the note's size an issue or is it totally worth having even though the note is a very big phone? Screen quality how is it? Is it a fast phone? If you didn't have the note, would you buy it again? Call quality? I'm thinking about buying one tomorrow, and I wanted your input on the phone. Feel free to add any info that could be useful about the phone. Thanks guy's.
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Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. The Note is large, yes, but very easy to hold and get used to due to how thin it is. Screen quality is unmatched by anything out there in my opinion. The combination of Gorilla Glass, Super AMOLED, and 720p resolution are really awesome. Some people say they have lag, but I have not had or used a faster Android device. Also, if you are in an LTE area, you get that awesome speed too. If I didn't have it, I would still be drooling over it. I got lucky and got it for half off, but if I hadn't, I would still be waiting a couple months until summer to buy it, which I definitely would again. Call quality is also great, and speakerphone is also loud and clear.
Now for the other things I highly commend the Note for. The SPen is awesome. You may think it's gimmicky, but you would be wrong. It's great for jotting down quick notes while on a call. Great for making funny captions on pictures before you send them. Great for navigating the phone. Great for Swyping with the tablet Swype beta. Great for taking screenshots. Also, we now have ICS, which brings some new and exciting features, my favorite being face unlock. I really can't recommend this phone enough. People may say, wait for the gs3 or one x, but I don't see the attraction. We already have ICS, and those other phones are small compared to the Note, and won't have the SPen. You may think the size is too big, but you get used to it really easy, and my nope had now ruined any smaller of a device. Also, battery life is the best I've experienced on any Android, besides the RAZR MAXX, but who wants a Moto phone anyways?
Really, the only way I would upgrade to another phone is when the Note 2 comes out. I don't have a single complaint, and this screen is killer.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk
To answer your questions.
Is the note's size an issue or is it totally worth having even though the note is a very big phone?
I came from a Streak, I'm a BIG guy and the phone sits well in my hands. My gf has freakishly small hands and she says it's too big for her hands, but loves the fact that she can put it into her purse and can easily find it. It does look silly holding up to your head and talking though.
Screen quality how is it?
Personally I think the screen quality is great for a 5.3" device. A lot of people are complaining about black crush (there's a good thread on it) and while it's there, personally it isn't enough to bug me, I've watched low res videos for a long time and it just doesn't bug me anymore.
Is it a fast phone?
A lot of people are complaining about lag on their phones and yes I can see it there from time to time but I run 2 RSS feed readers, 5 email accounts, 2 weather widgets, and quite a few other things. The device is speedy, I can play games like shadowgun without the hint of lag, when i tell the phone to do something it might think about it for an 1/16 of a second then away it goes. So is the phone fast? I say yes it is.
If you didn't have the note, would you buy it again?
In a heartbeat
Call quality?
I love it, it's clear and easy to hear people, except my gf, she has the original droid and that thing has a TERRIBLE mic and speaker. a lot of our fights have been caused by her phone . Again it does look silly when you hold it to your head, but I've never been one to shy away from looking silly.
In short, depending on what you want to do/replace with the phone I'd say buy it. I use mine to manage 100 servers and RDPing into them while on the move which it does a great job on. I can read docs on the go and pull up webpages to prove people wrong and they can read them without having to hold my phone.
Lastly, if you're in one of those great states that charge you tax on the full price of the phone (in this case 700 smackers), look for a Sam's Club. I bought my phone on release day from them for 260 and with tax it was under 300.
Thanks for posting these questions. I have my upgrade available later this month and I am strongly considering the Note.
What I want to know is, as far as anyone can tell, is there a color or build location that seems to have fewer problems overall? I have seen a few places that people seem to think the white ones are less laggy. There was some speculation that the China Notes have less black crush. I'm pretty color neutral on these. I just want to be able to look at the box and get a sense that the one they give me has a better chance of being issue free.
How in the hell would the color of the plastic around the phone affect performance? :what:
That's like painting flames on your car to make it go faster.
Black crush is fixed in ics
studacris said:
How in the hell would the color of the plastic around the phone affect performance? :what:
That's like painting flames on your car to make it go faster.
Black crush is fixed in ics
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First, Black Crush is not fixed in ICS, they just lowered the point of full black so it would appear better. The dropoff is still severe, but it is less noticeable. I don't own the device but I have been following these things very closely.
Second, I did not come up with the color thing. It is based off what I was reading. In this case it is not at all like painting flames and expecting something to go faster. They very well might come off different assembly lines with different QA and different physical runs of parts. I know its a longshot, but that is why I am asking if anyone can verify. I realize it is more likely that the Chinese vs. Korean Notes may exhibit some differences. Again, I am asking in the Q&A section to be sure.
knight4led said:
First, Black Crush is not fixed in ICS, they just lowered the point of full black so it would appear better. The dropoff is still severe, but it is less noticeable. I don't own the device but I have been following these things very closely.
Second, I did not come up with the color thing. It is based off what I was reading. In this case it is not at all like painting flames and expecting something to go faster. They very well might come off different assembly lines with different QA and different physical runs of parts. I know its a longshot, but that is why I am asking if anyone can verify. I realize it is more likely that the Chinese vs. Korean Notes may exhibit some differences. Again, I am asking in the Q&A section to be sure.
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From what I've read the only issue that seems different between the white and black is the micro crack that people have in the white ones. It seems spread wide on who has a good one and who has a bad one. So to be fair I can understand where studacris is coming from on the color. As for the black crush, I can't say either way as I'm running completely stock non-rooted, but I'd imagine that if it's hardware related then no it wouldn't be fixed with ICS, if it's software related, other phones would be experiencing the same issue. Lastly I guess a good question would be who bought their phone where and if it's running poorly or not to see if there's a correlation with the batches.
Hey guy's thank-you for posting your opinions and thoughts about this phone. If you have anything else to post please do so and I'll be here checking out this thread as the day rolls on.
I had a Streak for over a year, and I wouldn't have replaced it with a device with a smaller screen. Think about what you do/want to do with your mobile device. If you mostly use it for talking on, than maybe the Note is not for you. But if you do a lot of email, Web surfing, navigation, playing games, etc. than after you've used a Note for a week you'll never want to use a smaller device again, and you'll wonder how you ever did before
I have a white one and my phone rarely shows any lag, and my quadrant scores ate just as high as anybody's...not that wouldn't means much, but people seem to obsess over it. There isn't any difference between the two except that micro crack thing, although I'm sure that could also be a problem with the black version. I say that, because a similar crack would be nearly impossible to see in black plastic. When I had my old iPhone 3g, I exchanged it multiple times due to the problem that they had with cracking around all of the ports, and it was really only visible with the white ones. I looked at multiple black ones that friends had, and they all had the cracks, but you basically had to look at them with a magnifying glass in the right light to see the cracks. Therefore, I think it may be the same case with the Note.
Really, I can't recommend this phone enough. I dare a manufacturer to try and top it, because that would be a hell of a feat in my eyes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk
Because I promised
Quick background: I've had iPhones until earlier this year when i took the plunge and nabbed an Unlocked Galaxy Nexus GSM, Great phone, but some things with it I just couldnt get past (16gb of storage and the EH audio amplification...Also i want fond of 4.2 on it) which lead me to search for another phone, Tried the Galaxy S3 but was disappointed and returned it, And now about a weekish or so ago I got myself the One X+, So lets delve into my opinion on the device for anyone on the fence
First Impressions, Build, Ergonomics and Screen
The build of the One X+ is fantastic, Far better than the S3 or Galaxy Nexus, it feels nice solid and most importantly for a $200-on-contract smartphone, premium, The grippy texture to the finish makes it a delight to hold and I never feel like im going to drop the bloody thing at the drop of a hat, The Capacitive buttons are also in my opinion much nicer than the hard button on the S3 (One of the major stumbling blocks with the S3 was the fact i found that button WAY too hard to work) Though I think the Galaxy Nexus' on screen buttons are still the most elegant solution... If I had one little complaint in regards to the ergonomics its that the volume buttons sit flush and undefined on the chassis of the phone, which has taken me a bit to get used to, Id prefer them to be raised a bit, but its a minor complaint. Overall the fit and finish of the phone is the best of any other phone I've ever owned, it feels solid and like its going to hold up to 2 years of use
Moving on, the screen is one of the most important bits of ANY smartphone and the One X+ doesnt disappoint, its easily got the nicest screen I've ever seen on a smartphone (And i did LOVE the AMOLED on my GNex so thats high praise!) its big, its bright, colors are saturated and the black level is nothing to scoff at, Albeit not as inky black as an AMOLED, Text is sharp and easily readable as well, and unlike the AMOLED screen on my GNex it doesnt chug my battery flat, it also stays looking nice even at lower brightness levels, The multitouch on it works well and accurately... Other nice things are the nicely beveled edges at the screen which makes swiping, say to another page of the homescreen or to move icons from one screen to another, a real treat and the fact it stays pretty clean and comes clean easily (Its not a fingerprint magnet the way my iphone or the S3 was, The S3 was actually terrible because i couldnt clean the fingerprints off worth a darn...)
Sense/Software
This is my first experience with Sense and only the second Skinned android version I've used and I gotta say I'm in the group that likes Sense, I get the reasons folks dislike it, but I'm finding I actually prefer many aspects of it over stock Android, in particular I do like the messaging app on it which just seems to work a bit better than the one on my GNex, and I do rather like more than one of the widgets it comes with (The small 4x1 Weather + Clock widget for instance) but I do see how these things could drain the battery or processor... I like how it asked me after dismissing one tutorial if i wanted it to keep bringing tutorials up and when i said no it never brought up another one (Unlike Touchwiz which would NOT stop bringing up tutorials even after i told it to knock it off)
The music app has rapidly become my favorite music app, I just like it, I dont like Google Play Music and Doubletwist had its problems in my opinion (Namely it tended to mess up if someone sent me a text or called me and wouldnt resume playing until i completely exited it and reloaded it, Not to mention it did NOT play well with 4.2, also the random thing i had to toggle on and off a few times everytime i started played music or it just continued the same "random" assortment of songs from the last play through..) by comparison the Sense music app just works better, looks pretty attractive and is easy for me to navigate, Also the included ringtone maker is a VERY nice touch that removed the need to install an app to do so...
The phone and Calendar apps are also very very nice, far better than the stock Android counterparts.. I love how the lock screen works as well with only ONE complaint, I dont think theres a way to launch Google Now from the lock screen... (If you know a way please tell me)
Google Now is better than it was on the GNexus shockingly, it transcribes my voice a lot quicker and more accurately than my GNex ever did..
I pretty much disabled all the AT&T crapware on my One X+ as soon as I got it, and I recommend you do as well, I know from many reports here one of the apps will chew up your battery if you dont disable it so yeah, The only ATT App I have on there and use is the Visual Voicemail one, Beyond that theres a demo of Mass Effect Infiltrator installed which is actually nice, its a game I bought on a friend's iPad and while I liked the concept, their old iPad ran it like junk and i felt the game was more suited to a phone screen over a tablet, Im not sure I'll drop $3.99 to unlock the full version, but as a demonstration of what the Tegra 3 could do in terms of graphics I found it a lovely demonstration
The stock browser is pretty nice as well and supports flash, Performance on it is VERY good, Seems on par with my Flash-browser of choice on my GNex (Dolphin) theres a really stupid and annoying toolbar enabled by default but 5 seconds in the settings menu banishes it to nothingness, Of course for non-flash sites I use Chrome, but the stock browser is the nicest stock browser I've ever used
About the only complaint i can throw at Sense is the keyboard, Which is pretty bad for me personally, Lots of typing errors and problems... But to be honest thats a minor complaint given how many alternate keyboards there are for Android
Performance
Performance wise this phone is a powerhouse, I have not had any issues with it stuttering, slowing down or anything no matter how hard i push it, No games have had noticable framerate problems (The GNex had problems with a couple games I played) the interface works smooth and buttery and it definitely feels like the most powerful Android device I've owned, Flash works smooth and buttery and gives me no issues as well which is VERY nice
Gaming I havnt found a single game it cant run perfectly(Albeit, i havnt done TOO much gaming on it)
As for other performance, the radio and antenna seem to be excellent, Unlike the S3 my One X+ doesnt hop on and off between HSPA+ and LTE every 2 seconds schizophrenically (Which made my S3 lose 20% of its battery in a 20 minute long errand and signalled the final nail in the coffin that lead me to return it), My One X+ hasnt lost connection even when I've taken it to the places I know have poor coverage so I'm quite happy with that bit of it
LTE performance will vary on your area but I get around 8mbps in my house (Which is 2-bar bordering the edge of LTE territory) to a high of 36mbps i got when i was out of the house at a 4-bar LTE location, Which is certainly nothing to scoff about, Wi-Fi works well for me, and I've yet to notice any problems with my Wi-Fi dropping at night or when its been locked for a long time like other users have reported...
Call quality is excellent, People are loud and clear, The speakerphone is also the first one i've found i can actually USE in a car and hear the person...
Camera
I'm the worst person to ask about camera quality on smartphones, For what I use them for even the "Bad" Galaxy Nexus camera was great for me, I carry my EOS 7D with me just about everywhere so if I want to take a nice picture I will pull that out instead..
That said, the cameras are very nice, I love how responsive it is with pretty much no shutter lag, it focuses quickly and very accurately and tends to do a good job with exposure as well, Photos have a good amount of detail to them and skintones are rendered pleasingly, Theres plenty of artsy filters if thats your thing as well, Only complaint is the focal length of the front facing camera seems a bit long for a self portrait, i have more problems framing it than with other smartphones I've owned, But the quality is also far superior to the other phones I've had
The stock sound effects for it are REALLY FREAKING ANNOYING however
Audio Quality
Obviously one big reason I picked up the One X+ was to get something with better audio quality than the GNex, The GNex isnt THAT shabby, but it does lack "oomph" and struggled to drive even my mobile headphones (I had to have it cranked to 100% all the time to get them decently audible and even then it was eh...) Volume+ helped a bit but 4.2 broke Volume+ leaving me in a bit of a rut...I also personally felt it made the phone sound "Strained" at times to deliver the volume i desired... The external speaker was also frequently barely audible, I usually heard the phone vibrating over the actual ringer...
Thankfully the One X+ is worlds apart from the GNex in that department, The external speaker is LOUD and easily heard, its also of surprisingly good quality and is actually one of the best little built in speakers I've heard, it also has a good amount of "depth" to it and renders low frequencies admirably for what it is, Overall the external speaker impressed me
But that pales in comparison to the headphone output, Which has simply left my jaw on the floor and exceeded my expectations, the headphone output is easily the best I've heard of any smartphone or MP3 player I've owned, it has exceptional clarity and detail to it with or without the Beats optimizations on... Speaking of those optimizations I was actually shocked I liked them and I did find they made a very noticeable difference in the output quality, Now note... they are simply a set of equalization curves they may not work for everyone due to differences in music and headphones... but in my case they've worked well and further enhance the music and video watching experience
For the record I've tried my One X+ with three sets of headphones, a set of Shure IEMs, a pair of Klipsch Image Ones and a pair of Sennheiser HD280s, Only the HD280s gave it a bit of trouble... they still sounded good, albeit not to their full potential (For the record the HD280s are a set of cans that REALLY need something meatier than a smartphone to drive them..) My primary music listening is Rock and Metal, with a bit of electronic, pop and other things thrown in there for good measure, So far I havnt found anything that the One X+ doesnt excel at playing back
Oh and the headphone output will also go VERY loud, I dont even turn it up past halfway except with a couple very low volume songs i have...
Battery Life
And now onto the massive elephant in the room whenever folks talk about the One X+... Battery life... The best way I've found it is "Jekyll and Hyde"... Let me explain
Use the phone normally, for phone calls, text messaging, maybe reading a webpage or checking email and the battery life is superb, Even some light gaming, like a little Cut The Rope or some such and the battery is VERY good and should easily get most folks through a day, Even watching a youtube video or two, either using the Youtube app or the stock browser and desktop youtube website doesnt excessively drain the battery...
....But fire up say, Mass Effect Infiltrator and watch your battery life burn...
Which seems very "No crumb sherlock" but it was definitely surprising to me after coming from the Galaxy Nexus where the screen, not the processor, was the worst offender to my battery life, Which simply means it didnt much matter what i did on the GNex if it involved the screen, the battery was going to drain at the same rate
Truthfully in my experience, the One X+ is as good as the S3 I had, Primarily because of that aforementioned issue the S3 had with staying connected to a tower, Its actually equal to my GNex's stock battery as well, which is very impressive considering this phone is packing LTE and a Quad Core processor in its svelte package
In terms of numbers, according to GSam my average battery life is 14h 40m, The most I've run it for was 16h with almost 3 hours of screen on time, To me, this is perfectly fine considering the rest of the phone and for most folks, you should easily be able to get through the day without a problem, I am connected to Wi-Fi pretty much all day, but even using LTE didnt seem to impact the battery life all that much...
Now a note, I dont really try for battery saving either... I have my phone syncing to gmail, syncing to google now, location services on, GPS on, i have that little weather widget thingy i mentioned up above on too which uses battery.. Screen is fixed at 33% brightness.. I just use it, like i usually use it, so a mixture of a bunch of things depending on what im doing that day...
One nice thing I also noticed is unlike the GNex, when the battery hits 20% its not a panic moment, 20% on my GNex meant "Find a charger in 20 minutes or im dead, Jim", on my One X+ 20% means i still have a few hours left and theres no need to rush... Which is nice, I had to buy an extended battery for my GNex, for this? I dont really feel I need one (I might get a battery case however)
Do I wish it had a 3500mah battery? Of course, But it doesnt, and thats fine, For me its an acceptable sacrifice
Quick Comparison To Other Phones For AT&T and Why I Didnt Buy Them
Galaxy S3, I technically actually bought one of these and returned it, theoretically it has better battery life, but only a dual core phone, also it runs TouchWiz which i found naggy annoying and way too like iOS for my tastes, it has a MicroSD slot, but that just adds an extra $20 to the price tag to get a 32gb card (and if you want 64gb you're looking at an extra $60 to that price tag) , not built as well and ergonomically it was a pain in my hand and i constantly felt i was about to drop the dumb thing when i was using it, in my case the battery life was completely atrocious because it could NOT hang onto a signal and would scizophrenically bop between HSPA and LTE every 2 seconds which made doing things on it virtually impossible, I also didnt feel it was all that fast over the GNex running 4.1 (At the time however, the S3 only had 4.0 so.. I guess this isnt entirely fair) Also I feel the blue color looks like someone colored it with a Bic pen... Really my ownership of the S3 went from initial jubilation over a brand new shiny smartphone to finding problem after problem before i even got home with the darned thing...
Galaxy Note II, Bigger screen, bigger battery, cool S Pen features, but it runs TouchWiz which I consider worse than Sense and the ergonomic problems I had with the S3 are even worse because of it, its also a bit too big to fit in my pocket comfortably and I was way too worried Id end up dropping it, I tried it out in the store even and it just wasnt comfortable for me, and a bunch of the things i just rattled off about the S3 are likely true about the Note as well... So yeah
LG Nexus 4, Better processor, stock Android 4.2, better battery life (I think?) and a great price ($350 no contract) however it only has, at best, 16gb of storage and that just wasnt working for me as it was, Plus theres no LTE on it as well which is a negative when you have LTE available where you live
Summary/TL;DR
Overall the One X+ is easily my favorite smartphone on the market right now, I'm immensely happy with my purchase and I dont see another phone I'd rather have right now, it would be my number one recommendation to anyone looking at a phone on AT&T, it just has a great combination of features and in my opinion the only real big drawback is the so-so battery life, But even then I'd call the battery life "Average" and not bad, The only phone I've seen with truely spectacular battery life is the Droid Razr Maxx HD.. Which isnt available on AT&T... Personally I can live with the battery life, Im never too far from an outlet and even if i was, the phone seems to do just as good as most of the other smartphones I've owned, I've tried so hard to find little problems with it and honestly, I gave up, I'm really not having problems with it (Well except the bloody keyboard..) and just constantly finding new things to love about it...
The only reason I'd caution against it for some folks would be if they were really intending to play intense 3D games on the thing constantly, Because thats going to murder your battery stupidly fast... And people who do need VERY good battery life are best looking at a different phone as well, or considering a battery case for it...
I gotta give it to you, Kenji, that's like one of those high-end-in-depth reviews one would read from many of tech sites...nicely approached and couldn't find many typos I'm sure people looking to buy 1X+ Will find it helpful, thanks, as you promised
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2
Dottcent said:
I gotta give it to you, Kenji, that's like one of those high-end-in-depth reviews one would read from many of tech sites...nicely approached and couldn't find many typos I'm sure people looking to buy 1X+ Will find it helpful, thanks, as you promised
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I do my best, I was worried it was WAY too long but I wanted to be as complete as possible and make sure I mentioned everything I could think of
I was also concerned I was going to catch flak for railing on the S3 and Galaxy Nexus
KenjiS said:
Thank you, I do my best, I was worried it was WAY too long but I wanted to be as complete as possible and make sure I mentioned everything I could think of
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say 99% of us enjoy reading positive reviews of our fave devices, so the longer the read and more in-depth info the better.
KenjiS said:
I was also concerned I was going to catch flak for railing on the S3 and Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You posted in the right device thread so you'll only get positive criticism here
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda premium
I found the radio in the SGS3 to be pretty poor myself. HTC seems to make phones that can catch and hold a signal when you're out in the boonies and I've only found Motorola radios to be better. And the better it can keep a signal, the less battery you loose so all the better!
As for dumping on the SGS3 and the Note 2, you are preaching to the choir here Kenji, but your review puts it through the same paces as the bigger tech blogs. We like our HOX+ here and, while you can always argue for the Samsung phones because they are good in many ways, they're just not "right" for folks like me.
Thanks guys
I'm kinda regretting not applying when one of the Android blogs recently put up a Google+ Post saying they were looking for writers
As a side note, I installed Swiftkey, I'm enjoying it, though im really not used to auto correction (It DOES work very well in this instance because its learning some of the stuff i type)
Second note is that today's battery life is currently at 2.5 hours screen on, 13 hours 18 minutes total, 17% left (Roughly another 2-3 hours standby/light usage for me) I really have to say the battery life is not atrocious and thats more than enough to last me the day obviously (Took it off the plug at 9:30 this morning, its now almost 11 at night..) That included some Radiant Defense in there (Not the most demanding game, but i enjoy it! Its a shame Neon Defense which was my favorite now doesn't function 100% right because OpenFeint is no more... At least thats what im assuming is the problem...)
I wonder if my lack of using Facebook/Twitter on my phone is why im getting such great battery life..
Anyways, my only debate is to sell my Galaxy Nexus (Which likely will cover what i paid for my One X+) or keep it around as a modding toy...
Now this is me being VERY bad with my battery:
Basically nothing but Youtube and PlagueInc for 3.75 hours.. Not really sure how many other phones would beat this (Even my GNex with the extended battery might, MIGHT have gone to 5 or 6 doing this, but still, Thats with a 3500mah extended..)
Got the phone a couple days ago, wanted to share some first impressions as everyone (or most) here has been so helpful.....
1. Screen
One of the major reasons I upgraded. Obviously much sharper, rendering the nytimes in desktop mode is my de facto test and is quite glorious compared to the s3 indeed, though chrome seemed to have difficulty rendering the smaller text. I have the display set to dynamic, auto adapt off, auto correct tone off and the white point with these settings is definitely preferable to the s3. Initially I looked at my s3 and my first thought was, WOAH !, that the s4 screen was way too warm but then I looked at my desktop lcd and realized the s4 screen was very similar to lcd white balance. I guess our brains, or mine at least kind of calibrates to different white sources.
I was a little concerned about the brightness when browsing sites with high APLs (mostly white pages) as Samsung seems to have programmed in a bit of trickery with the auto brightness to save on battery. I can definitely confirm that firefox has a substantially brighter white luminance than either the stock or chrome browsers. Much brighter than I was able to achieve with the s3. It's nice to be able to crank it and hurt your eyes once in a while when your on the couch lol.
Outdoor viewing was surprisingly good considering it's an often used attack on the amoled screens, a notch or two better than my old s3, and that one was no slouch either.
Oh yeah, and the screen is dead black at night, kinda freaky as I feel like the phone if off, the s3 kinda gave me a vague glow in similar conditions.
2. Battery
Yeah, my s3 was giving me problems with this for some reason. I could get 2-3 hrs screen time max. Yesterday I got around 5 with high brightness, mostly wifi, and only a few of the samsung features turned on. Today was a bit more of a mix 80% wifi, 20% 4g, mostly max brightness and I am at 2 hrs 45 min with 45% remaining. I am cautiously pleased so far, especially considering all of the downloading and installing that was going on.
3. System interface :/
So I am using nova prime and that's helping a lot but like a few others here, I am noticing some strange hiccups/stutters in daily use that are pretty foreign to me coming from the s3. After turning off the samsung feature set, maps of all things is still hiccuping along when zooming or moderate panning. This is worse with a tilted satellite view but still noticeable even with just the road layout. Viewing photos in the gallery has a slight chop as well, using quickpics has been a temporary solution. I hoping for some kind of software update.....
Not a huge of the fan of the redesigned dialer, contacts list. Black themes should be a mandatory option (lol) with these oled phones.
One of feature that originally generated some excitement which was mercilessly quashed after reading reviews but then rekindled with the unit in hand was air hover. Using this in mail, messages with the haptic setting on is surprisingly smooth and useful, not to mention pretty cool. Your finger doesn't even need to be particularly close. Not sure about the air gestures, they seem pretty consistent but need to be used to add different functionality. I can imagine some neat implementations if developers decide to hop on board.
Design
Well I think I need some time to adjust to this but I can tell you that my observant roommate (who is a techie and just got the one) hasn't realized i got the new phone yet and I've been talking about it for a while. Even with all the installation beeps and ringtones that come with a new phone and him sitting on a nearby couch for hours he hasnt said anything. I ll see how long I can pull this off.
For me it definitely feels different in hand, not as slippery due to the less tapered edges which is good but also a bit less curvaceous and flirty (which I kind of liked in the s3). This feels more like a passat and the s3 more like a jetta I guess. Let me say that I do appreciate really well designed things in general and this phone doesn't make me cry so......
Last thing, I bought this phone off contract at full price and my purchase experience at the verizon store was really bizarre. Of course they must make less money when someone buys it outright but the salesman was like," why do you want to upgrade from the s3??" ,"The battery might be a bit better than your used to but don't count on it."..."So you're gonna like play around with the screen "(in mocking tone cause I told him I was interested in the new display) . That place sucks and the one out in the surburbs was even worse. Like used car salesman or something...
. Anyone else have this kind of experience?????
Also, anyone using lightflow with this device? In case you haven't guessed I love to freakin tweak thingszzzz...
best to yall.....
I came from the s3 yesterday.. picked up the s4 and couldn't be happier. I've had the phone for about 24 hours.. first thing I noticed was how clear the screen was. Not much if a difference over the s3 but it's there. Battery life as been great on stock un rooted rom. Compared to my s3 which was rooted running slim bean and a custom kernel overclocked and uv. I wanna say s4 is better. I like the feel of the s4 better other than the s3's rounded edges. Overall I'm happy... Will root soon!
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
I just upgraded yesterday as well. So far I am liking it. Initially I wasn't impressed but I shattered my s3 screen and figured since I had an upgrade on my other line I would go ahead and get it instead of spending $100 just to get another s3. I have already rooted and froze most of the bloat with titanium backup. I have never flashed any roms but since my s3 is still functional, I plan on using it to learn. I am already having fun with the irblaster changing channels on random TVs lol. Overall I'm happy so far.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
Battery and other things
The battery is like night and day. Yesterday around dinner time my battery was at about 85%, and I use my phone constantly. On my SIII, I'd be lucky if it went the whole day without dying. That is one feature that I did not think would vary as much as it did, and am very happy with that.
I love the screen. It seemed a bit flickery (that's the best way I can describe it) for the first couple of days, but whatever was causing that (perhaps my imagination) has stopped.
The infrared sensor is much more useful than I had initially anticipated. Aside from being able to use it with multiple TV/set top box setups, I can screw with people in restaurants. :silly:
As a smartphone in general I have been very impressed so far.
Why would using Quickpic be temporary? First thing I do is set Quickpic as the default and hide gallery.
Frankly, I never really notice the stutters that other people talk about. When using an app that is reflowing from the net, there is no way to separate device issues from network issues, and I always notice it is these sorts of apps people complain about (maps, browsers, etc.).
yeah, quickpic was actually my goto image app on the s3 now that I think I about it....
The stutters and what not are definitely a little more pronounced on the maps app with the s4 than the s3 on the same
wifi network. Maybe it's the fact that the s4 is moving 2.5 times the pixels, maybe it's an early bug yet that will be fixed shortly,
maybe it's the way the snapdragon throttles the cpu too aggressively according to some thread I remember reading over or maybe I am just expecting too much buttery perfection
yeah just tried the ir blaster. 3 of my housemates were so seriously into watching the final episode of "top of the lake" about an hour ago and I was tempted to spoil the moment but I hadn't programmed the phone for that tv. oh well......
I've been skeptical of purchasing a samsung device because I don't generally fall for overly marketed items. That being said, I went ahead and pulled the trigger coming from HTC Rezound and I couldn't be happier about this device. It is no doubt a winner among users as long as you root and get rid of the bloat coming with it.
I love this phone... I mean love this phone, but had I not been having mad GPS problems with my S3 I would never have made this upgrade. It's just not a compelling upgrade over the S3, which is still an awesome phone. Most of the new features are very gimmicky. I have pretty much everything with the prefix "Smart" turned off and almost everything with the prefix "Air" turned off. The hovering trick is pretty much the only one I don't feel is a gimmick.
About Quickpic - that has been my go-to gallery app since the Thunderbolt but I actually like the S4 gallery better. The GUI is very slick and the hover image preview is actually useful.
I agree with a few of the topics covered coming from the S3
The screen is awesome, definitely noticeable to me, battery life seems to be up, GPS works perfectly, and the camera is pretty awesome; really like the wider angle on the front camera as well. Pretty motivational upgrade if you ask me..
However, I am noticing some UI lag, as mentioned maps as well as chrome. This could be that I was using cleanrom on the S3 and that rom is amazing! made the phone much snappier and fluid. Its out for the S4 now so will be giving it a try soon. Also apex launcher helped some.
and little things like the smaller notification led seems cheaper. the colors dont mix well. the power button isn't as clicky as Id hope for either.
I'm really happy with the battery life. My galaxy nexus went tops 4 hours on a charge. I can easily to 8 - 9 on this.
I have a lot of apps running that kill battery for me specifically Touchdown for work which It hink is one onf the biggest offendors. Maybe i should download gsam and follow it a little more closely.
I agree that the display is amazing, and the camera too, but the device seems no faster and radios no better.
From normal viewing distance, the display does not stand out either, but is better if you view closer. It is the size of the display that minimizes the higher def effectiveness.
I only have 6gb free on my S3 32gb, so do not see enough improvement to sacrifice the storage. I still want the S4, but only if a 32gb is ever released.
orangelight99 said:
Last thing, I bought this phone off contract at full price and my purchase experience at the verizon store was really bizarre. Of course they must make less money when someone buys it outright but the salesman was like," why do you want to upgrade from the s3??" ,"The battery might be a bit better than your used to but don't count on it."..."So you're gonna like play around with the screen "(in mocking tone cause I told him I was interested in the new display) . That place sucks and the one out in the surburbs was even worse. Like used car salesman or something...
. Anyone else have this kind of experience?????
best to yall.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, I got mine with a new contract (Coming from Sprint, never had Verizon before). When the guy asked me if I wanted the insurance for $199 and I told him no, he was straight-up BEWILDERED. He literally could not comprehend how in the world I would not want to pay $200 to replace my phone if I smashed it. And then he was like, "Well, let's go look at cases now," as if he had just assumed I would, of course, want a case. But I didn't want a case. He was so flabbergasted. His eyes went as wide as possible and he just stared at me for a good 10 seconds before saying, "What if you drop it? What then?!"
It was more funny than weird, to me. I've never bought insurance for any phone I've ever had, and I've never regretted it. I honestly could not tell if the guy was seriously just that crazy, or if it was just some really stupid sales technique that, of course, did not work on me.
Ayesuku said:
Haha, I got mine with a new contract (Coming from Sprint, never had Verizon before). When the guy asked me if I wanted the insurance for $199 and I told him no, he was straight-up BEWILDERED. He literally could not comprehend how in the world I would not want to pay $200 to replace my phone if I smashed it. And then he was like, "Well, let's go look at cases now," as if he had just assumed I would, of course, want a case. But I didn't want a case. He was so flabbergasted. His eyes went as wide as possible and he just stared at me for a good 10 seconds before saying, "What if you drop it? What then?!"
It was more funny than weird, to me. I've never bought insurance for any phone I've ever had, and I've never regretted it. I honestly could not tell if the guy was seriously just that crazy, or if it was just some really stupid sales technique that, of course, did not work on me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because one out of five people react to the bewildered face and get the insurance They ARE sales people, you know.
jimmiem said:
I love this phone... I mean love this phone, but had I not been having mad GPS problems with my S3 I would never have made this upgrade. It's just not a compelling upgrade over the S3, which is still an awesome phone. Most of the new features are very gimmicky. I have pretty much everything with the prefix "Smart" turned off and almost everything with the prefix "Air" turned off. The hovering trick is pretty much the only one I don't feel is a gimmick.
About Quickpic - that has been my go-to gallery app since the Thunderbolt but I actually like the S4 gallery better. The GUI is very slick and the hover image preview is actually useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it possible to get quickpic to show the pics in internal memory without being rooted? I'm only seeing the pics on my SD card.
Super Sam Galaxy said:
I love the screen. It seemed a bit flickery (that's the best way I can describe it) for the first couple of days, but whatever was causing that (perhaps my imagination) has stopped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you saw the screen flicker, were you outside by any chance?
I have noticed that when I am inside then step out into direct sunlight, the screen flickers while it ramps up to full brightness, then it stabilizes.
mutelight said:
When you saw the screen flicker, were you outside by any chance?
I have noticed that when I am inside then step out into direct sunlight, the screen flickers while it ramps up to full brightness, then it stabilizes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I hate to say it as I'm sure this will not help you diagnose any issues you may have been experiencing, but I don't think that I was. If I remember correctly it was mostly when I was in my apartment. I remember this because I have an overhead light that is florescent and I remember at least on one occasion wondering if that was what was flickering.
Sorry if that doesn't help.
Super Sam Galaxy said:
Actually, I hate to say it as I'm sure this will not help you diagnose any issues you may have been experiencing, but I don't think that I was. If I remember correctly it was mostly when I was in my apartment. I remember this because I have an overhead light that is florescent and I remember at least on one occasion wondering if that was what was flickering.
Sorry if that doesn't help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, no worries! The only time I have seen the screen flicker was under the scenario I described or if I look down at the display with a pair of my active shutter 3D glasses.
I can see the PenTile dithering in the display however, so my eyes are fairly sensitive.
mutelight said:
Oh, no worries! The only time I have seen the screen flicker was under the scenario I described or if I look down at the display with a pair of my active shutter 3D glasses.
I can see the PenTile dithering in the display however, so my eyes are fairly sensitive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I see! Well I would assume in my case it was just the fluorescent lighting. My eyes are not all that sensitive, so I may not notice small flickers like that. The part that confused me is that it stopped! But I think that also suggests it's just the light, because sometimes they seem to flicker depending on how they are sitting, and if you tap them a bit they stop. Either that, or it actually was flickering, but to such an unnoticeable extent that I got used to it very quickly. It was one of those undefinable things where you feel like you saw it flicker but if you have to explain exactly what part flickered, you wouldn't really be able to.
elucid said:
Is it possible to get quickpic to show the pics in internal memory without being rooted? I'm only seeing the pics on my SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't install it because I like the S4 Gallery better. You should be able to, though. Just poke around in the settings and look for included folders.
Hey,
I was consider to get the HTC One M8 but then I came across the Sony Xperia Z2. I was looking at the feature set of both. I went and got a feel of both the devices. My only real concern that came about would be the development aspect of the Z2. I love to tweak around with my phones.
The other issue that hit me is the speakers on the Z2. I havent had a chance to play with the Z2 in the sound department but I did have a chance with the HTC One M8. Does the speakers feel good to listen to?
Any thoughts would be helpful
Well opinion wise on the Z2 , the speakers arent perfect but thats because of the fact the phone is waterproof, everything else is amazing
Development has started slow for Z2 alike most xperias, give it a couple months for it too speed up, we already have official CM11 and TWRP, there should be more to come
And not to mention all mods for 4.4 will most likely work on other xperias
(this does disinclude kernels and roms)
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I have both devices i think that the M8 is better in design and the sound quality is better both speakers and earplugs wise.
The camera on the Z2 is waaaaaaayyy better then the M8 and i personally think that the system ui is better as well i am not a fan of sense it just to heavy.
And custom development always takes a tad longer on sony devices. I've had both devices and i'm still not sure which one is better .....:silly:
i have z2 and love it. Overall i feel m8 is great but z2 has a slight edge in all departments other than sound. Sound is awesome on z2 but m8 is better.
Sent From My Nexus 5 Stock 4.4.3 ART
If you want a single device for all your needs go for Z2.
Want only a smartphone and have a separate professional camera? Go for M8.
Here's a comparison video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKCgqeVdZ3w
Well as far as I see. The sony xperia has a pretty gud feature set. I know the development is a wee bit slow. But considering the fact, I think I just might go for the Z2.
I haven't got a chance to play with M8 but I have had M7 for 5 days before I decided to sell it and married Sony Z2.
Originally, I came from Apple 5s and to be honest the camera on HTC One M7 was horrible. I went out for a persimmon picking trip and I took my brandnew HTC M7 for photo shooting and I was shocked by the photo quality, blueish, dark, blrury and incorrect colour. Even my gf was shocked with my new toy's camera performance. Overall HTC was a good phone, sleek design, study and iron cold feeling, nice and sharp screen and beautiful UI. But after I sold my HTC M7 and bought the Sony Z2 and I must say it is one of the best phone I have even owned. Fast, beautiful scree large screen, simpe UI and super long lasting battery. I am a heavy user and apple 5s could not keep up with me as long as Sony Z2. Anyway, from Apply 5S -> HTC M7 -> Sony Z2, I am really happy to stay with Sony for a long time. And it is my first Sony device I have ever used since I was born ...lol
Hey all, I have the same dillema.
I have just sold my Note 3 and want something smaller and with a capable camera, very good sound quality on speakerphone while on skype and normal calls.
In the last aspect my previous HTC M7 was the best however it's camera was unacceptable, especially in very bright sun light...
To be honest I don't know why I am even considering the M8 because of the camera, but I guess I have the sentiment for the previous one.
Anyway, my biggest concern with Z2 is overheating. I went to Vodafone shop and turned on the Camera app to see how the phone behaves. Within 1-2 minutes it got noticably warm, just because the screen and app was on...
How widespread do you think the overheating problem is? Logically speaking, if something is sealed very well for water not getting in, than it must be not so great with heat dissapation... Unless it is made of aluminum...
I don't want a camera phone having a camera which I cannot use because of overheating...
Also, is it difficult to flash stock firmware over branded one, with sim lock present? Does the phone need to be unlocked?
valdigre said:
Hey all, I have the same dillema.
I have just sold my Note 3 and want something smaller and with a capable camera, very good sound quality on speakerphone while on skype and normal calls.
In the last aspect my previous HTC M7 was the best however it's camera was unacceptable, especially in very bright sun light...
To be honest I don't know why I am even considering the M8 because of the camera, but I guess I have the sentiment for the previous one.
Anyway, my biggest concern with Z2 is overheating. I went to Vodafone shop and turned on the Camera app to see how the phone behaves. Within 1-2 minutes it got noticably warm, just because the screen and app was on...
How widespread do you think the overheating problem is? Logically speaking, if something is sealed very well for water not getting in, than it must be not so great with heat dissapation... Unless it is made of aluminum...
I don't want a camera phone having a camera which I cannot use because of overheating...
Also, is it difficult to flash stock firmware over branded one, with sim lock present? Does the phone need to be unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one you tried in vodafone store was probably on for whole day i.e., screen, speaker, demo... therefore it was already hot prior your camera shooting trial. I have no problem with my device. Trust me HTC M7 heat problem is a lot worse due to its metal case. Sony used combine materials including plastic, glass and aluminum therefore heat is not as bad as metal housing in general.
Worst case scenario, it is waterproof so just give it a shower, will help to reduce heat issue
Feels like I might just get the Z2. Ijust have the issue of the dev community for the device. Since its a new device, I have a feeling that the dev community will be strong but that we shall see.
Plus me getting the Z2 depends on my stupid carrier keeping it in stock xD. They released the device here and with 2 days all the carriers ran out of stock. So lets hope I get my hands one xD
I think I answered this question to myself...
Until Sony fixes the overheating problem (provided it can be addressed through software and it is not the hardware at fault), I will not get this phone.
I went to Vodafone Ireland store close by and put the phone to test. I started the camera app and launched 4k video and left it going, while I was playing with HTC M8 and Galaxy S5 (ugly phone and the same design all over again...)...
Well, after around 5 minutes I got the overheating message... Keep in mind when I started playing with the phone it was cold (no one playing with it, screen off)... The temperature now is around 20-22 idle.
Ok, I thought, It can be forgiven as I do not give a damn about 4k... So after it crashed and took me to the screen, I opened photo app again and managed to take 4 pictures before I got the message again and when the app force closed... After 10 seconds I did the same and the same story...
All I managed was to laugh out loud, while playing with the HTC camera and having its chasis still cold, and I just left the store...
Those temperatures cannot be good for any internals inside, especially the battery. I can bet Z2 users will have their batteries deteriorated significantly by the end of this year, if they use it as GPS nav, gaming devices or... Just as a camera...
RIDICULOUS... But I guess I will be tracking the forums and see if any of the firmwares fixes the problem, if not, I will wait patiently for Q3 phones this year as there is nothing that ticks my boxes at the moment.
Thanks.
valdigre said:
I think I answered this question to myself...
Until Sony fixes the overheating problem (provided it can be addressed through software and it is not the hardware at fault), I will not get this phone.
I went to Vodafone Ireland store close by and put the phone to test. I started the camera app and launched 4k video and left it going, while I was playing with HTC M8 and Galaxy S5 (ugly phone and the same design all over again...)...
Well, after around 5 minutes I got the overheating message... Keep in mind when I started playing with the phone it was cold (no one playing with it, screen off)... The temperature now is around 20-22 idle.
Ok, I thought, It can be forgiven as I do not give a damn about 4k... So after it crashed and took me to the screen, I opened photo app again and managed to take 4 pictures before I got the message again and when the app force closed... After 10 seconds I did the same and the same story...
All I managed was to laugh out loud, while playing with the HTC camera and having its chasis still cold, and I just left the store...
Those temperatures cannot be good for any internals inside, especially the battery. I can bet Z2 users will have their batteries deteriorated significantly by the end of this year, if they use it as GPS nav, gaming devices or... Just as a camera...
RIDICULOUS... But I guess I will be tracking the forums and see if any of the firmwares fixes the problem, if not, I will wait patiently for Q3 phones this year as there is nothing that ticks my boxes at the moment.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera is set to shutdown at 65c cpu temp, which is nothing in todays technology. So no, it wont affect battery or something else. Also what do you expect, you make 4k recording, turn temperatures to hell and then take pictures, outcome clear to me. If you start by taking pictures that wont happen. And m8 is not a factor here, its probably imposible to make any smartphone overheat by taking 4mpixel photos lol.
valdigre said:
I think I answered this question to myself...
Until Sony fixes the overheating problem (provided it can be addressed through software and it is not the hardware at fault), I will not get this phone.
I went to Vodafone Ireland store close by and put the phone to test. I started the camera app and launched 4k video and left it going, while I was playing with HTC M8 and Galaxy S5 (ugly phone and the same design all over again...)...
Well, after around 5 minutes I got the overheating message... Keep in mind when I started playing with the phone it was cold (no one playing with it, screen off)... The temperature now is around 20-22 idle.
Ok, I thought, It can be forgiven as I do not give a damn about 4k... So after it crashed and took me to the screen, I opened photo app again and managed to take 4 pictures before I got the message again and when the app force closed... After 10 seconds I did the same and the same story...
All I managed was to laugh out loud, while playing with the HTC camera and having its chasis still cold, and I just left the store...
Those temperatures cannot be good for any internals inside, especially the battery. I can bet Z2 users will have their batteries deteriorated significantly by the end of this year, if they use it as GPS nav, gaming devices or... Just as a camera...
RIDICULOUS... But I guess I will be tracking the forums and see if any of the firmwares fixes the problem, if not, I will wait patiently for Q3 phones this year as there is nothing that ticks my boxes at the moment.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offence here but really you buy a smartphone just to shoot 4K?
So I just got my z2. YAY!!!!
Sad part is that I didn't get the noise cancelling ear buds. #WelcomeToTheMiddleEast
On the other hand. I just love the feel of the device. It just feels right. The aluminum and glass feel just perfect. It's feels a bit more premium than the M8 imo.
Problems. The device heats up. But tbh I live in a hot country so it really doesn't matter XD. The heat is more towards the top part and the device just heated up when I cranked the brightness high and started recording 4k video(Which I doubt I shall ever use in the near future)
Now all I got to do is get a case and a screen protector so that I don't destroy it in my rough daily use
Hope my short review helped anyone
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app
vipaman said:
So I just got my z2. YAY!!!!
Sad part is that I didn't get the noise cancelling ear buds. #WelcomeToTheMiddleEast
On the other hand. I just love the feel of the device. It just feels right. The aluminum and glass feel just perfect. It's feels a bit more premium than the M8 imo.
Problems. The device heats up. But tbh I live in a hot country so it really doesn't matter XD. The heat is more towards the top part and the device just heated up when I cranked the brightness high and started recording 4k video(Which I doubt I shall ever use in the near future)
Now all I got to do is get a case and a screen protector so that I don't destroy it in my rough daily use
Hope my short review helped anyone
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you do a test for me, please?
Could you actively use the phone for a while (say 3g browsing or wifi) so that it becomes warm at the back, and once it gets warm, can you open the camera app and try to record 3-5 minute hd video or take at least 10 pictures in the row?
I am wondering if you get the warning message.
I just sold my M8 and ordered the Z2, I'm excited, I hope it was worth it!
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
valdigre said:
Can you do a test for me, please?
Could you actively use the phone for a while (say 3g browsing or wifi) so that it becomes warm at the back, and once it gets warm, can you open the camera app and try to record 3-5 minute hd video or take at least 10 pictures in the row?
I am wondering if you get the warning message.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so I tried that. And nothing much happened. It just got a bit hot. like it wasnt that hot. Keep in mind I tried this indoors when the air-conditioning was on was thats something.
I live in a hot country where temperatures can reach 40+ Celsius or 100+ Fahrenheit but still I dont find the phone to be that hot. It does become hot ever so slightly but thats expected.
Hope I helped you out.
JoSway said:
I just sold my M8 and ordered the Z2, I'm excited, I hope it was worth it!
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was inclined to the M8 in the beginning but now I feel this device is better in terms of hardware as compared to Sony.
Development is real slow but thats expect from Sony devices. As far as stock goes, Its not bad but can definitely be improved. Sony actually did a really amazing job with the software.
Believe me you will love the Z2
vipaman said:
Okay so I tried that. And nothing much happened. It just got a bit hot. like it wasnt that hot. Keep in mind I tried this indoors when the air-conditioning was on was thats something.
I live in a hot country where temperatures can reach 40+ Celsius or 100+ Fahrenheit but still I dont find the phone to be that hot. It does become hot ever so slightly but thats expected.
Hope I helped you out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the thing, the phone is not expected to get hot when doing not so really intensive tasks like browsing, downloading, or recording hd video/taking pictures... I had Galaxy S 1, 2, HTC One, Note 3, played with M8, Galaxy S5 and those phones only get "warm" when sat nav or comparable heavy task...
If your phone gets very warm at home with AC on, than what do you expect will happen when you try to use it outside at 35 degrees in your country?
Nothing like this would happen with any other competition's phone, seriously... It must be a design flaw, those problems were present with previous Z's as well if my memory serves me right.
No, I don't care about 4k video recording, I would survive this overheating problem if the phone overheated only in this case, but overheating when taking pictures after doing some light intensive tasks? Unacceptable...
I am pretty certain it can survive for a long time. The thing that gets hot is the glass not the metal frame. And when it's hot it's not hot as in u touch and u r gonna burn yourself.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app
Hi, I have a Z3C and the problem is that my touchscreen now is busted, though I can still use it by rotating the screen.
It started on the upper extremities of the LCD, I became annoyed and tried the "lighter fix" for LG G2, which didn't work great for me. Touchscreen got way worse, wtf am i expecting applying 3k volts of static electricity.
I'm torn between replacing the screen or getting a z5c instead. Though my z3c somewhat slows down now, it is still usable and OK for me.
I know that if i replace my LCD, it will not be as good as before, so I'm thinking about that.
And if I get a z5c, i don't know the little issues, or if they were resolved with .11 update. Even small physical build issues concern me and I can't find a comprehensive list of issues. Also, screen replacement will cost me just around 20% of a new z5c unit, or maybe i could get a 2nd hand one.
Please share your thoughts, should I go for z5c? Or other brands (around 4.7 inches also)? Or screen replacement?
Thanks!
wakoko79 said:
Hi, I have a Z3C and the problem is that my touchscreen now is busted, though I can still use it by rotating the screen.
It started on the upper extremities of the LCD, I became annoyed and tried the "lighter fix" for LG G2, which didn't work great for me. Touchscreen got way worse, wtf am i expecting applying 3k volts of static electricity.
I'm torn between replacing the screen or getting a z5c instead. Though my z3c somewhat slows down now, it is still usable and OK for me.
I know that if i replace my LCD, it will not be as good as before, so I'm thinking about that.
And if I get a z5c, i don't know the little issues, or if they were resolved with .11 update. Even small physical build issues concern me and I can't find a comprehensive list of issues. Also, screen replacement will cost me just around 20% of a new z5c unit, or maybe i could get a 2nd hand one.
Please share your thoughts, should I go for z5c? Or other brands (around 4.7 inches also)? Or screen replacement?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont really know how did you get to a conclution on little bugs of z5c? has no bugs whatso ever , in fact go watch youtube videos about it , most of the known youtubers like linus concider the Z5C the best compact phone out there ...
also replacing a screen in its own manufacture is not wrong or bad and they wouldnt put a bad screen or "not as good" I could be wrong , but I already replaced my older phone Z2 screen twice and I didnt see any difference...
madshark2009 said:
I dont really know how did you get to a conclution on little bugs of z5c? has no bugs whatso ever , in fact go watch youtube videos about it , most of the known youtubers like linus concider the Z5C the best compact phone out there ...
also replacing a screen in its own manufacture is not wrong or bad and they wouldnt put a bad screen or "not as good" I could be wrong , but I already replaced my older phone Z2 screen twice and I didnt see any difference...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well every phone out there has issues, some of them can be found only with everyday use. I've heard overheating, screen self crack and bad battery performance for z5c. But overheating and bad battery performance can be fixed with software, but not the screen cracking.. I think you get the point. Those little quirks.
About the LCD replacement, most of those comes from china. And I've seen so many issues with friends with replacement screens (non-OEM). This ranges from low brightness, touch responsiveness, bad color reproduction to flat-out touch failure in 3 weeks after installment. Yeah, so I'm quite worried about that since technicians will have different prices for "replacement", "class A" and "original" (original but not OEM, wtf).
wakoko79 said:
Well every phone out there has issues, some of them can be found only with everyday use. I've hear overheating, screen self crack.
About the LCD replacement, most of those comes from china. And I've seen so many issues with friends with replacement screens (non-OEM). This ranges from low brightness, touch responsiveness, bad color reproduction to flat-out touch failure in 3 weeks after installment. Yeah, so I'm quite worried about that since technicians will have different prices for "replacement", "class A" and "original" (original but not OEM, wtf).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know how it works in your country ( I dont know where youre from either lol) if you send your phone to its original manufacture in your own country and pay them lots of money to fix it they should install original and if its not like that then buy the z5c if you want , seriously check youtube videos about it from well known youtubers its the best besides some times over heating in high level of usage (like gaming etc...)
I believe there to be a serious component issue with the touchscreen panel of the Z3C, "gate" level serious. There's way too high a percentage of people reporting touchscreens that die right after the 1 year mark, just out of warranty. Getting a replacement just means that it will most likely die again after a year or so, because it's the same faulty component, and (at least here in my country) they don't guarantee waterproofing after repairs which is really unacceptable after asking for around $130 in repair fees. Not to mention that it's obviously a flaw with Sony hardware, but they deny it and refuses to take responsibility, so the cost of repair is passed on to the victims, us.
Coming from Z3C, you will find the battery life of the Z5C disappointing, even with moderate to light use. Then there's the problem of the POS S810, so the phone is constantly throttling and overheating. It's really a shame, because I otherwise think the gorgeous design of the Z5C is the pinnacle of the Omnibalance language. There are real noticeable improvements to many of the small quirks I had with my Z3C, like the overly rounded edges that eats into my fingers with prolonged handling, non-exposed USB port, dual speaker cutouts that are really dust holders (Z5C elegantly placed them at the edges)... etc. Whether the trade-offs are worth it are based on your personal usage habits and wish list.
mhaha said:
I believe there to be a serious component issue with the touchscreen panel of the Z3C, "gate" level serious. There's way too high a percentage of people reporting touchscreens that die right after the 1 year mark, just out of warranty. Getting a replacement just means that it will most likely die again after a year or so, because it's the same faulty component, and (at least here in my country) they don't guarantee waterproofing after repairs which is really unacceptable after asking for around $130 in repair fees. Not to mention that it's obviously a flaw with Sony hardware, but they deny it and refuses to take responsibility, so the cost of repair is passed on to the victims, us.
Coming from Z3C, you will find the battery life of the Z5C disappointing, even with moderate to light use. Then there's the problem of the POS S810, so the phone is constantly throttling and overheating. It's really a shame, because I otherwise think the gorgeous design of the Z5C is the pinnacle of the Omnibalance language. There are real noticeable improvements to many of the small quirks I had with my Z3C, like the overly rounded edges that eats into my fingers with prolonged handling, non-exposed USB port, dual speaker cutouts that are really 2 dust holders (Z5C elegantly placed them at the edges)... etc. Whether the trade-offs are worth it are based on your personal usage habits and wish list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Though i'm turned off by the larger besel of z5c
Also, there is no magnetic charging which should be a main selling point IMHO.
But is the throttling and overheating solved by the update or custom rom? Pls link me to the POS S810 issue, i dont know what that is.
wakoko79 said:
Though i'm turned off by the larger besel of z5c
Also, there is no magnetic charging which should be a main selling point IMHO.
But is the throttling and overheating solved by the update or custom rom? Pls link me to the POS S810 issue, i dont know what that is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Larger bezel? Do you mean the slightly more disproportionate top and bottom bezels due to the lower screen placement compared to the Z3C? Because both are literally the same in screen size with nearly identical length and width dimensions.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Sony-Xperia-Z3-Compact,Sony-Xperia-Z5-Compact/phones/8744,9611
I've been using the Z5C for 8 months, and I've never been bothered by or noticed the display being lower. And that's coming from more than a year of use of Z3C, and the Z1C before that, which were both more symmetrical.
Initially I was also disappointed with the exclusion of the magnetic port, but only a few weeks in and I haven't missed it since. Having the exposed USB port at the center bottom really helps, and I favor having a seamless edge that again doesn't eat into my skin over the convenience of a charging port that only sees use when I'm not using the phone, which as I mentioned is rendered moot by the ease of access of the USB port. I bought a DK-52 dock for charging and never had problems docking it with ease, although I had imagined it would be problematic.
As for "POS S810", I mean "piece of **** Snapdragon 810" SoC. See here: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/in-depth-with-the-snapdragon-810s-heat-problems/
Or you can Google around "snapdragon 810 overheat", in short this silicon is ****. Sony's done their best (arguably the best out of all manufacturers) to mitigate the impact, but in the end there's only so much you can do to workaround an inherently poor hardware design.
*EDIT BELOW*
As for the question of throttling and overheating solved by updates, there doesn't seem to be a decisive or conclusive evidence of that. With each new update, it seems there's always people reporting better battery/improved thermal alongside people saying it's worse or no change. Yes, there are mods/ROMs claiming to fix the battery and heat issues, whether or not they actually make a difference is more of a personal usage thing, you have to try them out for yourself and see if they work for you.
It may sound like I'm hating on the Z5C, but on the contrary I actually love my Z5C. It's just that after using the Z3C, high expectations have been set but the Z5C failed to deliver on some accounts, mainly the battery and thermal issues. Otherwise, I genuinely felt it was a worthy upgrade over the Z3C. I've come to accept that I won't be getting the same outstanding battery performance of the Z3C, but that's not to say that it isn't great on its own merits. Also consider that the Z3 series are pretty much dead since they're not getting official Android 7.0 support, while the Z5 series are still on the upgrade list, albeit now at the lowest priority compared to the more recent models.
So to sum it up, I don't think it's worth investing in a screen replacement that may still break after a year, not to mention potentially losing the waterproofing. The Z5C may be the next logical step after the Z3C, but has problems of its own. You need to decide if the drawbacks are worth it. At least it's been a little over a year since the phone's release, and there seems to be no (mass) reports of dying touchscreens. Yet. So it's got that going for it, which is something I suppose.
This phone is still very good despite its few hiccups. It over heats when shooting long videos or playing graphic-heavy games (many phones will over heat too), i dont know z3c battery life but with my z5 i get minimum 5rs sot wen browsing the web, minimum 4hrs when playing plants vs zombies heroes, minimum 4hrs streaming videos, on light useage i get minimum 2days... Remember i say minimum.
The camera is not great on low light conditions but it is superb in daylight. Its performance is snappy, water resistance is not a gimmick, speaker volume is loud enough although i was not impressed with headphone volume n sound until i installed another app.
The phone is worth it, not perfect though.
mhaha said:
Larger bezel? Do you mean the slightly more disproportionate top and bottom bezels due to the lower screen placement compared to the Z3C? Because both are literally the same in screen size with nearly identical length and width dimensions.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Sony-Xperia-Z3-Compact,Sony-Xperia-Z5-Compact/phones/8744,9611
I've been using the Z5C for 8 months, and I've never been bothered by or noticed the display being lower. And that's coming from more than a year of use of Z3C, and the Z1C before that, which were both more symmetrical.
Initially I was also disappointed with the exclusion of the magnetic port, but only a few weeks in and I haven't missed it since. Having the exposed USB port at the center bottom really helps, and I favor having a seamless edge that again doesn't eat into my skin over the convenience of a charging port that only sees use when I'm not using the phone, which as I mentioned is rendered moot by the ease of access of the USB port. I bought a DK-52 dock for charging and never had problems docking it with ease, although I had imagined it would be problematic.
As for "POS S810", I mean "piece of **** Snapdragon 810" SoC. See here: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/in-depth-with-the-snapdragon-810s-heat-problems/
Or you can Google around "snapdragon 810 overheat", in short this silicon is ****. Sony's done their best (arguably the best out of all manufacturers) to mitigate the impact, but in the end there's only so much you can do to workaround an inherently poor hardware design.
*EDIT BELOW*
As for the question of throttling and overheating solved by updates, there doesn't seem to be a decisive or conclusive evidence of that. With each new update, it seems there's always people reporting better battery/improved thermal alongside people saying it's worse or no change. Yes, there are mods/ROMs claiming to fix the battery and heat issues, whether or not they actually make a difference is more of a personal usage thing, you have to try them out for yourself and see if they work for you.
It may sound like I'm hating on the Z5C, but on the contrary I actually love my Z5C. It's just that after using the Z3C, high expectations have been set but the Z5C failed to deliver on some accounts, mainly the battery and thermal issues. Otherwise, I genuinely felt it was a worthy upgrade over the Z3C. I've come to accept that I won't be getting the same outstanding battery performance of the Z3C, but that's not to say that it isn't great on its own merits. Also consider that the Z3 series are pretty much dead since they're not getting official Android 7.0 support, while the Z5 series are still on the upgrade list, albeit now at the lowest priority compared to the more recent models.
So to sum it up, I don't think it's worth investing in a screen replacement that may still break after a year, not to mention potentially losing the waterproofing. The Z5C may be the next logical step after the Z3C, but has problems of its own. You need to decide if the drawbacks are worth it. At least it's been a little over a year since the phone's release, and there seems to be no (mass) reports of dying touchscreens. Yet. So it's got that going for it, which is something I suppose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'm getting a Z5C tomorrow LOL. What I'm saying about the bezels is that the large bezel at the top is turning me off somewhat (I think z3c has the perfect size), but that is just me nit-picking on stuff, it doesn't really matter on daily use.
About the USB port, I'm just scared of it physically breaking, or just being lose or having bad metal contact. I had this problem before so I'm kinda always worried about ports which are like usb. On the other hand, the magnetic charging just holds the cable and the phone with a magnet, so I don't need to worry that I may damage it when someone accidentally applies force the wrong way to the cable/phone. BTW I did not use the dock on Z3C, just some cheap magnetic cable. Anyway that is fine I can live without it.
Another thing, I read in gsmarena that the usb port has a waterproof coating so that it can be submerged in water? Got any more info on that? Just curious here.
BTW my Z3C now is not water-proof anymore since I went full retard (I squeezed the phone while under water, destroyed the mic, so I got it fixed).
paq1170 said:
This phone is still very good despite its few hiccups. It over heats when shooting long videos or playing graphic-heavy games (many phones will over heat too), i dont know z3c battery life but with my z5 i get minimum 5rs sot wen browsing the web, minimum 4hrs when playing plants vs zombies heroes, minimum 4hrs streaming videos, on light useage i get minimum 2days... Remember i say minimum.
The camera is not great on low light conditions but it is superb in daylight. Its performance is snappy, water resistance is not a gimmick, speaker volume is loud enough although i was not impressed with headphone volume n sound until i installed another app.
The phone is worth it, not perfect though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think heating when using phone (games, browser, video) is normal. Is that is what supposed to be the overheating issue? My z3c heats up when using chrome too, and that is fine with me. What is not fine is like when I'm just reading an ebook or just calling then it heats like crazy. I just use my phone for texts, calls, ebook, RSS feeds, some browsing.
Camera is also fine with me, I'm not really a picture-everywhere guy, I rarely use it so its just a plus =).
The exposed USB port is waterproof, that's the great thing about it. Just don't use it while under water or after it's been submerged in water, you still need to let it dry out. So with the Z5C, unless you're frequently changing SIM or microSD cards, the only flap will stay closed for like 99% of its lifetime and the chance of it being water damaged due to the flap becoming worn and torn or improperly closed is minimal.
All phones get warm when you're executing high load tasks, but it can get borderline melting with S810 phones. Seriously, in certain situations it can get really uncomfortable to hold, no to mention there's the throttling to prevent it from self destructing, so you'd also be experiencing degraded performance while handling a hot brick. It won't happen with casual phone calls, browsing, texting, snapping a photo or two... but if you're doing intensive stuff like playing heavily encoded videos or resource hungry games, you'll feel the heat and see some stuttering thanks to the throttling. A personal experience, I once tried viewing an anime in 1080p that's probably encoded with advanced codecs on my Z5C, after a few minutes it starting burning my hands and became unwatchable, lagging like crazy. No doubt it's because the decoder and real time down-scaling of the resolution to 720p needed full processing power.
With your usage though, you will probably rarely experience it. Might get lucky if you loaded up a poorly optimized rich media website or something, but not likely.
A new z3c is.the best option. Z5c lags a lot because of 810.
I got my z5c.
Z3C looks a lot more better aesthetically. But, oh well, thanks for the replies!
wakoko79 said:
I got my z5c.
Z3C looks a lot more better aesthetically. But, oh well, thanks for the replies!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll agree with that. The Z5C's slightly bigger top bezel does bug me, or at least did when I still had my Z3C and could see them side-by-side. It's also slightly more boring looking than the Z3C. Other than that, though, I think the Z5C is far more comfortable to hold than the Z3C, and I haven't noticed mine lagging any more than the Z3C did. After flashing the X Compact's camera APK, the camera is also far more responsive, which is great when you have two little kids around like I do.
Same thing happened to my z3 compact and I replaced the digitizer/lcd myself with a kit. No problems except that months later, the screen started peeling up because of the stickers not holding fast. Finally decided to order an X Compact and returned it immediately. Just didn't like the look/feel.
I didn't want to buy another z3c so I purchased a z5c off of swappa. So far, I'm very happy with it. Still waiting to see how it does on battery life but the phone is beautiful. IMO, the best reason to upgrade from the z3c is the fingerprint scanner.
Damn!!!! I have the same problem with the z3c screen, and the same concerns: should i fix it or should i upgrade (of course to z5c, the only one who seems comparable)?
I have not decided yet... I really love my z3c
@ wakoko79 : what are your impressions of your new device? Especially battery and heat/lag.
Thanks
XDAmagic said:
Damn!!!! I have the same problem with the z3c screen, and the same concerns: should i fix it or should i upgrade (of course to z5c, the only one who seems comparable)?
I have not decided yet... I really love my z3c
@ wakoko79 : what are your impressions of your new device? Especially battery and heat/lag.
Thanks
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Lag lag lag and battery epic. As i said in the previous post, 810 epic fail.
smardu said:
Lag lag lag and battery epic. As i said in the previous post, 810 epic fail.
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Click to collapse
Agreed. I previously owned a Z5C. I hated how much it heated doing simple tasks (browsing internet, updating apps, ...) they didn't need to be CPU intensive to get hot. I always felt a little uneasy that the heat would cause a battery failure if I let it get hot enough since the heat would run down the back side of the battery. It wouldn't be terribly hot but it was hotter than a phone should get. I then purchased an XC which has a "comparatively" powerful CPU and that thing barely ever gets warm and it has yet to get as hot as my Z5C did just updating 3 apps in a row.
I would have suggested an XC but the Z5C did well when using it. Congrats, I hope the Z5C roms can get that non-stock Camera figured out.
z3 was a great phone. i owned one but was broken so i upgraded. z5 c is similar but is a little faster to me. the camera options are improved and the z5c camera is better both front and back. Plus the z5c is 32g internal vs the z3c which is 16. z5c also has a finger print scanner that works great. z5c updates are going to be better than the z3c in my opinion. z5c gets warm but it's never really bothered me especially with a case.
z5c is hands down better.