Ok, so we've had our first impressions and now we've had our devices for weeks, maybe months, let's give our opinions about the device.
Display
I must admit, I was shocked by the display, I've had many phones and nothing could beat the iPhone 4's retina display, I must admit that I didn't think this tin could come to par with either that or the Super AMOLED display, but damn, it's yummy good.
Handset (Body & Screen)
The body, the material of the phone is sexy, that's the best way to describe it, in my hand though, I must admit, that damn edge hurts your palm after time, so you have to keep the edge out of it after a few mins, damn things a bugger, wish a nice third party case would come and comfort this. As for the screen, as soon as I bought it, I was looking for a screen protector, bought one that doesn't cover it up, so much for the hellish plastic, as by then I managed to get two very tiny scratches on the screen which you can just about see in light, OCD Rage!! so much for Gorilla Glass, I guess it's no good on the fine scratches. Thanks to an XDA member now I've ordered a full screen protector.
Operating System
Ok, since I've used all three leading OS right now, I can be unbiased and fan-boy-less. Android, oh god, I was the dude who couldn't stop rooting, theming, tweaking, I must admit, Android is good, but not great, why? Ok, as much as some may hate the fact of being boxed in by Zune and iTunes, it keeps your music library organised, I prefer iTunes over Zune, as Zune is limited and slow when it comes to syncing a movie. The widgets on Android just makes your screen look like your fridge with a load of untidy sticky notes, iOS lacks it, whereas the Windows is limited which I like, though I do wish the live tiles could be as big as the pictures tile as an option. When it comes to syncing contacts, I disliked the iOS, was way too limited, it's like the contacts were completely seperate, making the phone feel like, it was on the side, it felt like the iOS was an iPod touch with the phone on side, Android was ok thanks to HTC, but without that, it was pretty close to the iOS, lacking. The Windows though, damn, I love this piece of ish, this is the best part of it, it being a great "PHONE" doing it's job their perfectly. Out of all three OS's I have to admit, Windows has been the best so far, as it is a phone, don't get me wrong, the tweaks, customising, rooting yada I love, but it all comes down to it being a phone. iOS comes second and Android third. Why Android? I think we all know now, google was an innovator, but is now an imitator, copy and pasting, nothing eye-catching that I've seen anymore.
Music Player
Oh dear, where do I start? This thing is bloody awful, my mini-disc player sounded way better than this, maybe even my old tape player too, it's dreadful, the guy who was in charge of this must have shot himself or Nokia must have murdered him from the complaints on here and the Nokia forum, but yes, apparently the next update will fix this, I don't know how, as I believed it was hardware related and not software, we shall wait and see. I had to buy a Fiio amplifier because of it, it's doing it's job well, but I wish that I didn't need it, as it adds extra wires and of course an extra gadget I could do without. Damn! It'd be payday for the man who robs me. Loudspeaker, oh god, reminds me off the first phones that had real ringtones, that awful hiss. It makes a great alarm though by being annoying. The iPhone 4 was absolutely brilliant in this department, no problem whatsoever, Android was too, apart from it being an untidy music player.
Battery
Another downer, this phones battery is ridiculous, I'm sorry, as many have stated that their battery life is now better, you're just sacrificing the tools and background apps, dimming your screen i.e. finding ways to save battery, I had an iPhone 4, damn things wi-fi, 3g, GPS was always switched on, Androids, the mother of battery drainers, installing custom ROM's that had battery draining bugs and that don't come close to this. Nokia was always great when it came to battery life, but this is outrageous, one big reason why I'm having second thoughts on this phone.
Verdict
Big red for the verdict, as some may have got tired reading, but what can I say about this phone, it's amazing, not the best, the best when it comes to OS, I'm having second thoughts about this phone, Nokia is plain ignoring everyone, look at their forum, that will give you an example, they were good when it came to customer service, not anymore, I wanted the Lumia 900 later this year to join this phone, but now I'm thinking, if the iPhone 5 is out by then, I may go for that instead, with this phone being kept on the side. The phone has faults, yes, the iPhone had the horrible antenna gate, but, I'm p***** off with Nokia's response to the battery, at one time, they needed the diagnostics app to determine your battery status, now they're telling everyone to not pay attention to it and delete it. The best part of the phone comes down to the fruit Mango, that's the heart of this phone. So I'll give this phone a 7.5/10
Thanks for reading, hope I didn't b**** too much, and please people, if you disagree, keep it clean and friendly, it was my "opinion", you have yours too.
Thanks for the review, I'll give it a go anyway, I got it coming Tuesday, I've currently got a 4S which I love, but something attracts me to this phone, the battery can't be as bad as the 4s, I have to charge it twice a day, it's a joke.
junglebungle said:
Thanks for the review, I'll give it a go anyway, I got it coming Tuesday, I've currently got a 4S which I love, but something attracts me to this phone, the battery can't be as bad as the 4s, I have to charge it twice a day, it's a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, I highly doubt the new models would be affected by this, I'm sure Nokia sotred them out before shipment. Yes, the phone is defiinitely eye catching. That's why I bought it.
junglebungle said:
Thanks for the review, I'll give it a go anyway, I got it coming Tuesday, I've currently got a 4S which I love, but something attracts me to this phone, the battery can't be as bad as the 4s, I have to charge it twice a day, it's a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of off topic but have you disabled some of the location services on the 4S? It constantly searchs for location for the weather update, you can disable this specifically (without disabling location for maps) and double the battery life. My better half's 3GS had a big drop in battery life too due to this.
Boburto said:
Kind of off topic but have you disabled some of the location services on the 4S? It constantly searchs for location for the weather update, you can disable this specifically (without disabling location for maps) and double the battery life. My better half's 3GS had a big drop in battery life too due to this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I've tried alsorts, all what you say, but's it really is terrible for battery I'll get the Lumia tomorrow and decide weather to keep the 4S or sell it, I'll probably end up selling it.
junglebungle said:
Yes I've tried alsorts, all what you say, but's it really is terrible for battery I'll get the Lumia tomorrow and decide weather to keep the 4S or sell it, I'll probably end up selling it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you don't get a lumia with terrible battery . The chinese are probably mad that Apple are selling all the iPhones overseas and are sabotaging the batteries!
I'm stuck between getting a Lumia or a 4S at the moment. Had a bit of crap customer service from apple which has turned me off (i even cancelled my pre-order), but all the problems with the Lumia are turning me off. If they fix the audio (and put 32GB) then i might get one... or hold off for the 900.
I can't wait to hear how you get on with the Lumia though, mainly because WP7 is really fantastic.
Boburto said:
I hope you don't get a lumia with terrible battery . The chinese are probably mad that Apple are selling all the iPhones overseas and are sabotaging the batteries!
I'm stuck between getting a Lumia or a 4S at the moment. Had a bit of crap customer service from apple which has turned me off (i even cancelled my pre-order), but all the problems with the Lumia are turning me off. If they fix the audio (and put 32GB) then i might get one... or hold off for the 900.
I can't wait to hear how you get on with the Lumia though, mainly because WP7 is really fantastic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol yeah more than likely
I've brought it off someone which is second hand and he's had it since Novemeber, so probably one of the earlier models, we're see with battery I suppose... £200 for it though and mint condition so can't complain, and I really like the look of those live tiles lol
The 4s is an amazing phone don't get me wrong, it really has some amazing features, the camera is second to none, the apps functionality and how iOS has come around to be great really makes it a great phone, I will miss some of the apps if I sell it, Instagram (amazing photo app like twitter follow people etc but you post pictures) iPlayer, Sky Go, TVCatchup, amongst many other great apps.
But in the end I don't think it'll bother me, I like minimal, email, messaging and calls, the WP7 interface looks smart for doing those things and it's not like Apple are ever going to stop producing iPhones, the 5 will be around the corner lol
Regards
Related
Ive had the Motorola razr for a couple of days and after frequenting these forums I wanted to sort of write a review, from my perspective.
I was split between the resound and razr, it was the rezounds glitchy feel, htc sense and tiny battery and odd exterior that pushed me to get the razr. I got it at best buy, this way I had a month to swap it for the nexus as soon as it was released.
When I layed eyes on its packaging I was floored. I know it sounds kinda dumb. But damn it, the packaging was sweet! Nice low profile, menacing flat black, it was gorgeaous. I was immediately disappointed that it lacked an hdmi cable and earphones. Seriously, it was 300 $. My atrix came with a bloody hdmi cable atleast.
First time I held it I couldn’t believe how light n slim it was. Although shes packing Kevlar and a gorilla glass display, its so thin it makes u feel as if she were fragile. Not a bad thing, I enjoy slim. The side port can be a beyatch to manipulate, getting my 4g sim in there was a hassle. But thats because I bite my nails, if u don’t share this bad habit u wont have a problem at all. As soon as I fired her up the first time I wanted to shut it down immediately just so I can see the boot animation again! Very very cool. I was also glad to see that it doesn’t use motorolas blur services. And although it isn’t vanilla android, I feel motorolas touches were very welcomed. People here have complained about the camera, and yes it isn’t as great as my nokia n8. But its way better then my nexus s. I discovered, the secret to taking a great shot on this phone, is patience. Phone takes longer then it should to focus. Video recording at 720p is outstanding. 1080p is fine, but it has an odd stutter. It just doesn’t feel as fluid as 720p. many have complained about the pentile screen. And before booting the phone I expected an atrix/bionic like experience. Lemme tell u something. I have perfect vision and I am but a youngin. I don’t see jagged edges, artifacts during scrolling or the pin dots unless the phone is 3 inches from my face!!!!! The screen is beautiful, it over saturates the right colors and provides deep blacks. But it’s not as good as sammys super amoled plus. Either way its an outstanding screen. Motorola added a few things into this rom that I love. The ability to resize a widget. Smart actions. And the way qhd was used to fit more of an email on screen, makes zooming in and out of web pages ALMOST a thing of the past too. I have had zero ghasty reboots, she is very stable. The screen is very responsive, as good as it gets really. Battery life on 3g is super, but on 4g its not so hot. Luckily I can go from 50% battery to about 90% with just an hours charge. Im glad the volume buttons and power button are on the same side. I can imagine how it would suck for leftys though.
Calls were crystal clear, typical Motorola. My bathroom is a dead zone. Sprint tmo att Verizon whatever. U go in there u will lose service. The second I walk in my bathroom I was surprised to see that I was still on 4g. I speedtested and pulled in 3mp DL. Impressive considering my bathroom is a bermuda triangle. Texts come in quick and go out as fast too. So does mms. Indoors I fluctuate between 16mb and 20mb DL. Outside im killing at a steady 22mb. I have yet to drop a 4g signal. My friend with a droid charge cant say the same.
I hate the stock pic gallery and music app. I use quickpic and the google music app. Sounds through my cheapo skull candys (the one that costs more then 15 less then 20$) sound great. I do wish we had more equalizer control, but no biggie.
In conclusion, this phones got me spoiled. I really do like it. I hate the fact that I almost didn’t buy it cuz of people on this forum that over exaggerated the pentile screen. Im glad the rezound sucked hard enough to convince me to get the razr. And to tell u the truth, I doubt I will swap it for the nexus. I like it that much.
If ur on the fence feel free to ask a question on the thread, hijacking is welcomed.
Happy thanksgiving all!
Just remember:
Much more people will come on here to ***** and nitpick over something than the ones who are satisfied. The screen is just fine, some people just have way too much time on their hands.
sheek360 said:
I was immediately disappointed that it lacked an hdmi cable and earphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What? really? This sucks, I am in Canada and we do have an HDMI Cable and earphones with it... Maybe you should double-check if it is included or not, was maybe a mistake somehow.. Especially since here, with a 3-year contract, we get it @ 149$... Besides very nice review, I think like you, she is such a hot girl haha
robstunner said:
Just remember:
Much more people will come on here to ***** and nitpick over something than the ones who are satisfied. The screen is just fine, some people just have way too much time on their hands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should add that those people who're lurkin in our forums and moaning about the razr, doesn't even own the phone.
Nice review btw.
Thanks for the review Sheek. I just switched from t-mobile to verizon, taking advantage of the 1 cent RAZR deal on amazon as well as the "double data" packages on Verizon. You just made me even more excited to receive my new phone!
brianbrain said:
Thanks for the review Sheek. I just switched from t-mobile to verizon, taking advantage of the 1 cent RAZR deal on amazon as well as the "double data" packages on Verizon. You just made me even more excited to receive my new phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was too impatient for the one cent sale. I promise u, ur gonna fall in love!
Btw I called big v. No HDMI cable or earphones for Americans.
Dang this sucks for you guys
dgiaffe said:
Dang this sucks for you guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah..we seem to be getting the short end of the stick these days..thankfully I already have a mini-hdmi cable from my G2X days and some JLab earbuds I doubt I'd replace anyway...still annoying though - earbuds and a cable can't cost more than $10 - that and it's on a device that Verizon is selling for $799 off contract..sheesh.
Don't forget that us poor British get no hdmi and no 16GB microsd!
But we do get some crap looking headphones for our £450
I rate it quite highly a well. I have used many of the motorola phones
Sent from my XT910 using XDA App
brianbrain said:
Thanks for the review Sheek. I just switched from t-mobile to verizon, taking advantage of the 1 cent RAZR deal on amazon as well as the "double data" packages on Verizon. You just made me even more excited to receive my new phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is exactly what I did...from TMO to Verizon with the penny deal. My Razr is on the UPS truck for delivery tonight. So anxiously waiting....
Yes IMO Pentile is extremely overblown, on the RAZR anyway.
Over saturated colors are overblown. Seeing the 2 screen technologies side by side, I might actually prefer Amoled now, and I used to love LCD's last year.
All the screens have pros n cons. Anyone who complains about the RAZR screen and claim the screen on whatever phone they or want have is perfect or better...is biased. It may be better to them, but its not better overall. None are.
The perfect screen has yet to be invented.
What type of earphones you guys get in UK or Europe? Here in Asia we got the Rokr brand. No hdmi and sdcard though
Great real world review! I've been reading reviews like a mad man but since you said you have had an N8 and an Atrix...and as I'm currently using an Atrix now and had an N8 before that it only seems logical you would be best the best person to ask a few few questions lol. You touched on my main concerns a little but I'm still hesitant for two reasons. 1.Build quality and 2.Battery life. The N8 to atrix jump left me loathing plastic phones and wishing someone out there was smart enough to shoehorn android onto an N8! My bigger concern is battery. 1930 mah + CM7 + faux's enhanced stock kernel = 30 plus hours of light to moderate use. Now I'm not expecting that but comparatively...What can I expect with say 200 or so texts sent and received, a few 5-10 minute calls, about an hour and a half of music and 15-20 minutes web browsing? I will be using the phone on AT&T so no LTE for me. As long as I can go AT LEAST 12 hours with that kind of usage on a stock rom Expansys has my $624.99. I'm not sure but I believe the unlocked model ships with an unlocked bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong) so it's only a matter of time before the roms start pouring down from the devs and this phone gets even better. Thanks again for posting your review. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
filthyfnj24 said:
Great real world review! I've been reading reviews like a mad man but since you said you have had an N8 and an Atrix...and as I'm currently using an Atrix now and had an N8 before that it only seems logical you would be best the best person to ask a few few questions lol. You touched on my main concerns a little but I'm still hesitant for two reasons. 1.Build quality and 2.Battery life. The N8 to atrix jump left me loathing plastic phones and wishing someone out there was smart enough to shoehorn android onto an N8! My bigger concern is battery. 1930 mah + CM7 + faux's enhanced stock kernel = 30 plus hours of light to moderate use. Now I'm not expecting that but comparatively...What can I expect with say 200 or so texts sent and received, a few 5-10 minute calls, about an hour and a half of music and 15-20 minutes web browsing? I will be using the phone on AT&T so no LTE for me. As long as I can go AT LEAST 12 hours with that kind of usage on a stock rom Expansys has my $624.99. I'm not sure but I believe the unlocked model ships with an unlocked bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong) so it's only a matter of time before the roms start pouring down from the devs and this phone gets even better. Thanks again for posting your review. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery should give you nice results, especially if you set up "Smart Actions." I usually turn off mobile data (3G/4G) when I'm not using it, because you can still send/receive texts, as well as calls. This makes your battery last a lot longer, so just put a widget somewhere so it's an easy toggle. It's almost a 1,800mAH battery, which is way better than what you'd get on a Rezound (1,600mAH). Build quality is great, so don't be fooled by it's thin profile and think it's a cheap phone. They also sealed the battery for a reason... there are a lot of people complaining about this, but they sealed it to protect against water splashes, as well as the internals. Overall it's a great phone, just sucks that when I received mine it didn't come with the micro SIM card, so now I need to go back to Verizon.
filthyfnj24 said:
Great real world review! I've been reading reviews like a mad man but since you said you have had an N8 and an Atrix...and as I'm currently using an Atrix now and had an N8 before that it only seems logical you would be best the best person to ask a few few questions lol. You touched on my main concerns a little but I'm still hesitant for two reasons. 1.Build quality and 2.Battery life. The N8 to atrix jump left me loathing plastic phones and wishing someone out there was smart enough to shoehorn android onto an N8! My bigger concern is battery. 1930 mah + CM7 + faux's enhanced stock kernel = 30 plus hours of light to moderate use. Now I'm not expecting that but comparatively...What can I expect with say 200 or so texts sent and received, a few 5-10 minute calls, about an hour and a half of music and 15-20 minutes web browsing? I will be using the phone on AT&T so no LTE for me. As long as I can go AT LEAST 12 hours with that kind of usage on a stock rom Expansys has my $624.99. I'm not sure but I believe the unlocked model ships with an unlocked bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong) so it's only a matter of time before the roms start pouring down from the devs and this phone gets even better. Thanks again for posting your review. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry about the build quality. Although its a bit on the light side she feels premium as hell and well balanced.
If the GSM version is identical to the let version I can imagine that your battery life will be better then mine. Hspa battery life is typically better then lte battery life.
how's the battery life? considering is a non-removable battery
jl1030 said:
how's the battery life? considering is a non-removable battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If 4g is disabled its outstanding! When on wifi I set my smart action to disable 3g n 4g it yields great results. Sadly, 4g will run this bad boy down.
sheek360 said:
Ive had the Motorola razr for a couple of days and after frequenting these forums I wanted to sort of write a review, from my perspective.
I was split between the resound and razr, it was the rezounds glitchy feel, htc sense and tiny battery and odd exterior that pushed me to get the razr. I got it at best buy, this way I had a month to swap it for the nexus as soon as it was released.
When I layed eyes on its packaging I was floored. I know it sounds kinda dumb. But damn it, the packaging was sweet! Nice low profile, menacing flat black, it was gorgeaous. I was immediately disappointed that it lacked an hdmi cable and earphones. Seriously, it was 300 $. My atrix came with a bloody hdmi cable atleast.
First time I held it I couldn’t believe how light n slim it was. Although shes packing Kevlar and a gorilla glass display, its so thin it makes u feel as if she were fragile. Not a bad thing, I enjoy slim. The side port can be a beyatch to manipulate, getting my 4g sim in there was a hassle. But thats because I bite my nails, if u don’t share this bad habit u wont have a problem at all. As soon as I fired her up the first time I wanted to shut it down immediately just so I can see the boot animation again! Very very cool. I was also glad to see that it doesn’t use motorolas blur services. And although it isn’t vanilla android, I feel motorolas touches were very welcomed. People here have complained about the camera, and yes it isn’t as great as my nokia n8. But its way better then my nexus s. I discovered, the secret to taking a great shot on this phone, is patience. Phone takes longer then it should to focus. Video recording at 720p is outstanding. 1080p is fine, but it has an odd stutter. It just doesn’t feel as fluid as 720p. many have complained about the pentile screen. And before booting the phone I expected an atrix/bionic like experience. Lemme tell u something. I have perfect vision and I am but a youngin. I don’t see jagged edges, artifacts during scrolling or the pin dots unless the phone is 3 inches from my face!!!!! The screen is beautiful, it over saturates the right colors and provides deep blacks. But it’s not as good as sammys super amoled plus. Either way its an outstanding screen. Motorola added a few things into this rom that I love. The ability to resize a widget. Smart actions. And the way qhd was used to fit more of an email on screen, makes zooming in and out of web pages ALMOST a thing of the past too. I have had zero ghasty reboots, she is very stable. The screen is very responsive, as good as it gets really. Battery life on 3g is super, but on 4g its not so hot. Luckily I can go from 50% battery to about 90% with just an hours charge. Im glad the volume buttons and power button are on the same side. I can imagine how it would suck for leftys though.
Calls were crystal clear, typical Motorola. My bathroom is a dead zone. Sprint tmo att Verizon whatever. U go in there u will lose service. The second I walk in my bathroom I was surprised to see that I was still on 4g. I speedtested and pulled in 3mp DL. Impressive considering my bathroom is a bermuda triangle. Texts come in quick and go out as fast too. So does mms. Indoors I fluctuate between 16mb and 20mb DL. Outside im killing at a steady 22mb. I have yet to drop a 4g signal. My friend with a droid charge cant say the same.
I hate the stock pic gallery and music app. I use quickpic and the google music app. Sounds through my cheapo skull candys (the one that costs more then 15 less then 20$) sound great. I do wish we had more equalizer control, but no biggie.
In conclusion, this phones got me spoiled. I really do like it. I hate the fact that I almost didn’t buy it cuz of people on this forum that over exaggerated the pentile screen. Im glad the rezound sucked hard enough to convince me to get the razr. And to tell u the truth, I doubt I will swap it for the nexus. I like it that much.
If ur on the fence feel free to ask a question on the thread, hijacking is welcomed.
Happy thanksgiving all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great job, I am a very happy Thunderbolt owner, S-Off, rooted and running a custom rom of course. Your break down was very good but you left out the most complained about thing on the forums, battery time. I am seriously thinking about picking up this phone but the locked down battery is my only concern. How has it been throughout the day? I am not very happy with the new Nexus hardware, no sd card and coming with only 16 mb of interior memory just isn't going to cut it for me. I think the new Razr with ICS on it would be one hell of a phone.
Thanks,
Go Patriots.
vinnyjr said:
Great job, I am a very happy Thunderbolt owner, S-Off, rooted and running a custom rom of course. Your break down was very good but you left out the most complained about thing on the forums, battery time. I am seriously thinking about picking up this phone but the locked down battery is my only concern. How has it been throughout the day? I am not very happy with the new Nexus hardware, no sd card and coming with only 16 mb of interior memory just isn't going to cut it for me. I think the new Razr with ICS on it would be one hell of a phone.
Thanks,
Go Patriots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consider myself a very heavy user. My day consists of 20 - 30 minutes wasted on calls. Maybe 15 minutes worth of xxx browsing (lol). Refreshing Google reader every 3 hours and reading my feeds like a fiend. I fb n tweet like crazy. I video chat about 5 minutes a day too. I send maybe 10 mms n a trillion texts. I also IM too much. And I occasionally take the opportunity to Google something.
Oh I have a smurf ville and angry birds obsession.
My wifi is on at all times. But my 4g is off. I remove the phone from the charger at 6am. By lunch I'm already sitting on 80%. My battery hits about 30% or 40% by 8pm.
Because of the screen the battery dips quickly. I refuse to set brightness to 0% dammit!
When I leave the house I turn off wifi n turn on 4g. The phone sips battery very lightly no matter if your on wifi on 4g, it idles very generously.
But once u stomp on it, u can burn 10% battery on 4g in a matter of 30 - 45 minutes.
PS I YouTube a lot too. Maybe 20 minutes a day.
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.
I have had a Nexus 6P since August 2016 and originally I loved the phone, beautiful display, snappy performance, stock Android, and a terrific camera. But over the months I've started to dislike it more and more. Bulky, heavy brick with a battery that would drop 1% every minute and wouldn't hold charge well even when on airplane mode powered down. And when I did charge it up, it would overheat like a ***** and if I really needed to use the phone while charging, it would lag the phone so hard despite running "one of the smoothest Android experiences on the market." And somedays the phone would just be blazing hot (not fast ) and I would have to throw it in the freezer to cool off. (and gaming was even worse so I stopped, so great waste of 64GB storage)
Moving on from battery and charging; I loved the stereo speakers for blasting videos but taking phone calls, I could barely hear anyone and would have to press phone super close to my ear drum to hear, and when I had iPhone there was no problem like that.
The screen was great, bright vivid but drained battery so I used black wallpaper and srgb mode. I got tired of the onscreen key nav buttons and there was no immersive mode. I was surprised there was no dark theme nor night mode for this phone. Yes the screen was solid and didn't take any scratches or cracks from falls nor from laying next to my keys. And the brightness settings were so fake. Yes you had a toggle from low to high, but the screen was literally the same brightness no matter what option you selected, only the battery saver option would actually dim the screen which is ridiculous. And talking about dim screens -- impossible to see anything on it even at "max brightness" outdoors, even shaded areas I would have to squint so much to make out "oh missed call from mom."
Not everything was bad, I did love the Google Feed and the Data Saver option when I had to watch my data usage but doesn't apply when I have an unlimited data plan. I was actually shocked by the lack of customizability with this phone. You couldn't do much with it. Yay you can move apps wherever and leave hugs gaps on screen and add some widgets but that was about it. Again no dark themes, little choice for wallpaper, no options for multi gesture other than 2-press power button to quick launch camera... But that camera was beautiful but was a nightmare when trying to pics outdoors, b.c you can't see whats on the screen.... And that super laggy HDR tho. Froze my phone several times as well. Snapchat lags everyday with phone as well.
And then the nail in the coffin was the Boot Loop of Death. I was on my way to Yankee Stadium, meeting up with a few friends when it happened. Phone in pocket and I go pull it out to make a call to figure what Gate we are all meeting up at and I see the Google logo. So I think to myself how weird, maybe my slim jeans (i don't wear skinny) were too tight and turned the phone off? So i try turning it on and yep you know what the loop of death is. Made my phone blazing hot and unusable. And my electronic ticket for the game was on there as well.... (luckily I made the game b.c of someone's reliable iPhone) Then the support to get this issue resolved was a nightmare. Google refused since it wasn't bought from their online store; Best Buy refused unless I payed $140; and so I shipped to Huawei and it took then 4 WEEKS to repair it (including a WHOLE WEEK to send me a shipping label THRU EMAIL!!!!) Ridiculous!!!
So overall a shocking terrible experience despite what everyone (esp. major tech vloggers on Youtube said). Never again am I purchasing a google phone. Utterly and purely disgusting. Oh hang, you may say it get timely updates! Um ok, so I say to you why get get updates as soon as they launch when you know there may be problems with that update as well which will make your phone unstable. (Forgot which update it was which made the SIM card not readable...)
Wow so um this kinda turned out to be a rant, but my question is: Is it worth upgrading from the Nexus 6P in 2017?
And if so which phone would you choose ($500 max price range -> unless there is a deal with a flagship phone)
Is the OnePLus 5 a good choice to upgrade too?
No IMHO. Most of the things that you described that you hate seem to be from Bad apps or something reacting badly with your phone. Battery wise also replace the battery and it's good to go for another year. Find out the culprit that is heating up your phone and get rid of it and you should be good to go again. I've had absolutely no issues with my phone and when I did it was because of an app not because of the phone.
Geezerooo said:
No IMHO. Most of the things that you described that you hate seem to be from Bad apps or something reacting badly with your phone. Battery wise also replace the battery and it's good to go for another year. Find out the culprit that is heating up your phone and get rid of it and you should be good to go again. I've had absolutely no issues with my phone and when I did it was because of an app not because of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I even replace the battery, I'm not breaking the phone. This doesn't have a removable back. Also even when I got the phone shipped back to me from Huawei it would heat up like a pancake and all I had were the stock apps that were downloaded with the phone. If you seem to have no problem with yours, I'll gladly trade my phone for yours since as you said "the phone is good to go."
Also how is waking up to a phone that actually gave me burns ok? And the phone was off....
Can I get a professional opinion?
GenericMIKE said:
How do I even replace the battery, I'm not breaking the phone. This doesn't have a removable back. Also even when I got the phone shipped back to me from Huawei it would heat up like a pancake and all I had were the stock apps that were downloaded with the phone. If you seem to have no problem with yours, I'll gladly trade my phone for yours since as you said "the phone is good to go."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said MY phone is good to go. Also just stating my opinion as per the IMHO.
i dont seem to have the problems you described however the snapdragon 810 is known for being warm, like my Xperia Z3+ 810 was heating up like crazy, i could cooked a whole egg on it. But that phone was a complete mess.. closed sourced phone.. all we could do is temper with the kernel , underclock etc..
Nr 1, dont use original facebook/messenger/cancer app, use a lite version etc..
2. Debloat your phone
3. Dont play games
4Mess around with diffrent kernels and find what suits you.
Also if youre a owner of the nexus line phones, then you need to flash custom roms/kernels. Thats almost the only reason ive gotten my self a 6p (big screen , good sound, awsome camera)
if u want a close "google stock rom" experience try Cortex Rom.
The fact that the phone does not have a removable back will not prevent you from replacing the battery, plenty of teardowns available everywhere.
If your phone came back from Huawei in such bad conditions, you should contact them again.
I have mine since April 2016 and I replaced my battery last week, now it's running great again. I managed to replace the battery cuz I don't see any reasonable phone to replace my N6P, I'm putting my hope on Pixel 2 (despite the price) - might be an option.
Kungencortes said:
i dont seem to have the problems you described however the snapdragon 810 is known for being warm, like my Xperia Z3+ 810 was heating up like crazy, i could cooked a whole egg on it. But that phone was a complete mess.. closed sourced phone.. all we could do is temper with the kernel , underclock etc..
Nr 1, dont use original facebook/messenger/cancer app, use a lite version etc..
2. Debloat your phone
3. Dont play games
4Mess around with diffrent kernels and find what suits you.
Also if youre a owner of the nexus line phones, then you need to flash custom roms/kernels. Thats almost the only reason ive gotten my self a 6p (big screen , good sound, awsome camera)
if u want a close "google stock rom" experience try Cortex Rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I debloat my phone? I barely have anything on it anyway. And yes I don't use Facebook messenger nor the app. And when I buy a phone expect the software to have basic features included which is why I got Nexus 6P with the stock Android since I was coming from a line of iPhones ever since 3GS. That's why the OnePlus interests me, it's has the software and the customizability already there.
Yep that's why I got the 6P as well, big screen; loud stereo; and good camera. But other than that atrocious. It makes me want to cry. (And the on screen keys take up too much space)
Grushteniak said:
The fact that the phone does not have a removable back will not prevent you from replacing the battery, plenty of teardowns available everywhere.
If your phone came back from Huawei in such bad conditions, you should contact them again.
I have mine since April 2016 and I replaced my battery last week, now it's running great again. I managed to replace the battery cuz I don't see any reasonable phone to replace my N6P, I'm putting my hope on Pixel 2 (despite the price) - might be an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even the OnePlus 5?
GenericMIKE said:
Not even the OnePlus 5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must say that I don't know much about this phone. Is it stock / easy to tweak as Nexus is? If yes, I might consider it as well.
Grushteniak said:
I must say that I don't know much about this phone. Is it stock / easy to tweak as Nexus is? If yes, I might consider it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it's stock Android with a light skin over which gives even more useful features like dark mode and etc.
GenericMIKE said:
Yes it's stock Android with a light skin over which gives even more useful features like dark mode and etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw some pictures of it and I'm not that impressed, I still have faith on Pixel XL 2 - S8+ is a very decent phone too, but the screen proportion they adopted now made me sad
I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but I'm waiting to see the Pixel XL 2. Unless it adds significant features that the 6P is lacking like water resistance, dual cameras, and smaller bezels, I might wait for the Pixel 3 or OnePlus 6/5T.
frap129 said:
I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but I'm waiting to see the Pixel XL 2. Unless it adds significant features that the 6P is lacking like water resistance, dual cameras, and smaller bezels, I might wait for the Pixel 3 or OnePlus 6/5T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man all you guys (n gals) seem to love the Nexus 6P...
But why??? I don't understand. It's such a heavy piece of hot garage.
GenericMIKE said:
Man all you guys (n gals) seem to love the Nexus 6P...
But why??? I don't understand. It's such a heavy piece of hot garage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if you run a good ROM and kernel, I only have heat issues when compiling substratum themes
GenericMIKE said:
Man all you guys (n gals) seem to love the Nexus 6P...
But why??? I don't understand. It's such a heavy piece of hot garage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had nothing but a great experience with my 6P. No complaints whatsoever. If someone else is having issues, that's them, not me.
If your car has been running flawless for 10 years but your neighbor with the same car has broken down countless time, does that mean your car is garbage?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
richii0207 said:
I've had nothing but a great experience with my 6P. No complaints whatsoever. If someone else is having issues, that's them, not me.
If your car has been running flawless for 10 years but your neighbor with the same car has broken down countless time, does that mean your car is garbage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ridiculous how it has to be a luck of a draw when you purchase a device....
Disappointing. Anyways got a lawsuit against Google and Huawei already in motion.
GenericMIKE said:
Ridiculous how it has to be a luck of a draw when you purchase a device....
Disappointing. Anyways got a lawsuit against Google and Huawei already in motion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, it occurs with all devices. I've seen every device I've owned since the OG Droid have their share of complaints. Some companies offer a return policy in the event you don't like the device and offer warranty for defects.
I've seen people complain about device defects but refuse to get a warranty exchange? Others complain about not being able to get an exchange past the warranty expiration.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Just get an iphone. You seem to have drunk their marketing juice, and you will always complain until you get an iphone.
Just get an iphone, and enjoy Apples "reliability"
shadowcore said:
Just get an iphone. You seem to have drunk their marketing juice, and you will always complain until you get an iphone.
Just get an iphone, and enjoy Apples "reliability"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is this the go to for everyone on here? Do we need to be die hard on either or side and make fun of peoples preferences?
Reminds me of the pathetic Dodge vs. ford people and it's pretty sad.
I just sold my iPhone tbh
crixley said:
Why is this the go to for everyone on here? Do we need to be die hard on either or side and make fun of peoples preferences?
Reminds me of the pathetic Dodge vs. ford people and it's pretty sad.
I just sold my iPhone tbh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont mind people supporting the brands they like, but I prefer arguments. I know what iphones are like. I have seen the 4s first hand. And not only was I not impressed, I was shocked at the amount of overhead in simply transfering files.
Then I was shocked at how Apple nickle and dimed everything.
Even if the device was perfect, I would refuse to support Apple becuase of their greed and anti-consumer decisions.
They could be using standard technology, but they use propietary one, and as a result make every gadget expensive.
They dont support headphone jacks.
Their devices are obscenely expensive for what they offer.
They force people to use itunes.
You cant install third-party stores, unlike in android.
The interesting part is that other OEMs copy apple, from their design to their hardware decisions.
Apple makes the OS 64bit, others follow!
Apple introduces fingerprint scanner, OEMs follow!
Apple removes headpohone jack, OEMs follow!
Motorola, HTC, OPPO, Huawei,Xiaomi, Samsung, LG
All of them copy apple.
They are the "champion" of the smartphone business.
If apple decided tomorow to offer smartphones without screeens, you can bet your kidneys they will copy Apple.
I honestly feel this device has been grossly misrepresented by several youtube reviewers. I don't think Google is to be blamed for the hype. I think the youtube reviewers got this wrong from the get-go. Everybody thought the Tensor chip, updated camera specs, android 12, lower-than-typical price point etc is simply going to route the competition. All that is public generated and not google. But then when the units started to come out, people were going ga ga over it over and over. But then I've had the device for a while now and sadly, i don't share their enthusiasm. I am almost scratching my head and wondering what the hell are these reviewers smoking? Trust me, there is no "issue" with my particular unit. My unit is just fine. However, my complaints are..
1. Camera is not that great. it's good. but not distinctly better than a Samsung or iphone. And what's with it taking a few seconds to "process" all the time?
2. The front camera is laughably bad. Maybe not for still pictures.. but when using it for video calling on duo or Whatsapp it is so freaking grainy like as if it's coming from a 2012 smartphone.
3. The build quality - The phone is a bit too dense for it's size. I have the S21 ultra and even though that is a bigger phone, it feels lighter and thinner in the hand. The Pixel 6 feels like a heavy rock.
4. The auto brightness is wonky. We all know this already. How could google get the autobrightness so badly wrong is mind boggling.
5. The software is good, but honestly I think Samsung has done a great job with one ui 4. I HATE that I have to click things twice to turn off the internet.
6. Why is there no facial unlock? Ridiculous!!! especially considering the fingerprint scanner is a POS. Plus one can't expand notifications from the lockscreen without a facial unlock. Fingerprint scanner unlock will bring you to the home screen.
7. Did I mention the phone is too dense for it's size? Extremely slippery without a case and with a case too bulky than it already is.
8. I always find it interesting that no other phone on the market has as good a network connectivity as Samsung. Samsung phones simply latch on and have good network connectivity. The Pixel 6 is OK.. .. nothing to ride home about.
9. The phone was so hard to find stocked anywhere.. Google completely botched it.
Do any of you guys have any more to contribute to the list? I
You might get the answers you are looking for on Whatsapp or Facebook.
Buying a $600 vs a $1000 phone is some of the real answer.
vandyman said:
You might get the answers you are looking for on Whatsapp or Facebook.
Buying a $600 vs a $1000 phone is some of the real answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your comment is implying that Google took some really cheap shortcuts to make the phone deliberately this bad and you are saying "you get what you pay for.. don't expect anything more for $600".
I don't think that is the case here. The two back camera lenses are exactly the same from the 6 pro. The chip is the same. The software is the same. I am sure google making this device more dense than a rock has nothing to do with cutting cost. Overall, I think it's just really bad and sloppy design choices and QAQC on google's part.
androidbuff123 said:
Your comment is implying that Google took some really cheap shortcuts to make the phone deliberately this bad and you are saying "you get what you pay for.. don't expect anything more for $600".
I don't think that is the case here. The two back camera lenses are exactly the same from the 6 pro. The chip is the same. The software is the same. I am sure google making this device more dense than a rock has nothing to do with cutting cost. Overall, I think it's just really bad and sloppy design choices and QAQC on google's part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsungs $1000 phone has the better camera.
Pixel 6 pro has the 4x zoom.
I do not use a cell phone for photography, the Camara on a cell phone is for taking quick pictures of a convenient moment.
LIke I said you will get more people to agree with you on social media. They are a hell of lot smarter people than here on XDA.
Here is a link for basing the P6 Camara.
The pixel 6 camera sucks
This is probably going to be am unpopular opinion but does anyone else think that the Pixel 6 camera sucks? Pics straight out of device are a) over sharpened and b) flat. The canned filters are poor too. Enhance does nearly nothing, dynamic is a...
forum.xda-developers.com
Please hit the thanks button if this helps you.
Depends what you are coming from and what one compares against. Is comparing with an S21 really fair?
axelmasok said:
Depends what you are coming from and what one compares against. Is comparing with an S21 really fair?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I am not really comparing with S21 Ultra. I mentioned that phone to say it feels lighter and thinner than the immensely dense design of the pixel 6. Another recent issue I've been noticing is how Google assistant a> does not give a audible feedback when invoked from the lockscreen or elsewhere and b> it gets randomly activated with noises from the TV (which are not saying the keywords).
I am going to wait until Google pushes the next update and see if that hopefully fixes most if not all of these issues. Google is really screwing the pooch on this one.
I am not sure if density is the issue, to me the issue is more about balance. I feel the huge camera bar makes it top-heavy and therefore a bit awkward to hold.
I am satisfied with the Pixel 6. I did my research before buying it, so no surprise on my side. However, I can imagine that some folks found the articles about the best phone of the year and thought that it is altogether better than the flagships, like S21 Ultra. It is not at all about beating everyone. What I got is a reasonable phone for a reasonable price. That's it from my side.
The parity of information is there, you can find all information on the Internet. Actually, we have too many options, so most of the buyers would be less and less happier buying something because of their FOMO.