What phone should i buy? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Howya doing guys. So I've been wanting to buy a new phone ever since I got stuck using an sm-360AZ if you have that phone you know what im talking about. There is nothing on that phone. So im asking for your help to fing a new phone.
I think along the lines of a nexus but any opinion is welcome
SPECS
-large screen fit for VR (5.0-5.7 inches)
-easy to root (with kingroot)
-easy bootloader unlock (like nexus)
-gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer sensors
optional: IR blaster (tv remote kinda thing)
-kitkat 4.4.2 or higher (ive heard that 5.0.0 or 6.0.0 are harder to root
-SD CARD SLOT
-removable battery is better but anything is fine
-budget: $200
thank you for your time
HONESTLY IM DESPERATE JUST SAY WHATEVER PHONE COMES TO YOUR MIND
Sincerely,
Xr.Rider324

Related

I need your "Fascinating Opinions"

My brother is in the market for a new smartphone, so QUICK, tell me your opinions/experiences with this "Fascinating phone"
Overall it's a good phone however Samsung has not been updating the phone and as a result you will be dependent on community for upgrades...
The stock filesystem and gps drivers were ****ty and Samsung did not really deal with the issue as fast as they should have.
The effects were bad gps lock meaning you could not get an accurate read if at all for location based apps and performance below what the hardware should be capable of.
As of late the gps has been solved and if your willing to root your phone you can update your filesystem to remove additional lag and upgrade to a newer version of Android OS.
Considering the phone price has dropped in price its good but if you can hold out do so as the phone is roughly 6 months old meaning something better dual core or 4g, lte, is coming out very soon and you will be locked in for another 2 years
I would wait for the HTC Thunderbolt. It's suppose to come out in the next couple of weeks. It'll be a better option than the Fascinate.
If you need a phone today, then I would recommend the Fascinate but only if you are planning on rooting it and using custom ROMs. The stock fascinate doesn't even come with Google search. It comes with the MS Bing and you can't change that unless you root and install some Mods.
If you're not planning on rooting and Modding the phone, then I would recommend the Droid X.
i agree with modus, it's a great phone if you plan on rooting and modding it. even the droidx can be rooted and modded though, i was debating between the fascinate and the droidx when i needed a new phone a few months ago. the fascinate's screen is much better, in my opinion, at handling color saturation and sharpness when i compared it to my friend's droidx. i feel like the camera is better too, even though the mp count is lower. i think we have a better image sensor
modus81 said:
It comes with the MS Bing and you can't change that unless you root and install some Mods.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to root to get google and the google search widget back on the phone, you just need to use Launcher Pro instead of Touch Wiz.

[Q] Custom ROM on Chinese dual-SIM fake phone?

Hi!
I'm planning on buying a Chinese copy of HD2. I'm not concerned that it's 100% fake and build quality is not on par with real HTC, cause I really need the dual SIM functionality.
My questions are:
1. can it be SID-unlocked (does it have to be?)
2. will any of the custom WWE ROMs install and run on it?
3. will both SIMs be visible in any custom ROM or do I have to install a specific ROM which supports dual SIM dual standby functionality?
Whoever got to play with these Chinese phones, please let me know!
Thank you!
im pretty sure that it wont even rom stock windows mobile 6.5 i think there will be stock chinese software wich isnt even a smartphone
@ dim4x4
the Oboe Phone is a dual SIM with WM6.5, if u get ur Clone Phone and u can get the ROM dumped, edited and reflashed. i beleive u will be able to make a custom ROM.
WBR
Siemens Lover
there r chinese clones out there with windows mobile 6.5 running but most of the clones i've seen are not even smartphones... they r running chiinese software made to look like winmo. and some runs a chinese special system derived/modified from the latest windows CE builds.
oh ya and definately you cant use any of the roms designed for real HD2 coz the hardware and bios design was diff.
Just grab a (HTC) HD2 and another cheap phone from Ebay if You really need to use 2 sim cards . Thats what I did. You can buy a small handy SE W880i for like 15 pounds in uk and it also supports 3G network. Dont buy a China copy or You will get stuck with a crap phone that can easly develop a fault. Its not worth Your money.
dim4x4 said:
Hi!
I'm planning on buying a Chinese copy of HD2. I'm not concerned that it's 100% fake and build quality is not on par with real HTC, cause I really need the dual SIM functionality.
My questions are:
1. can it be SID-unlocked (does it have to be?)
2. will any of the custom WWE ROMs install and run on it?
3. will both SIMs be visible in any custom ROM or do I have to install a specific ROM which supports dual SIM dual standby functionality?
Whoever got to play with these Chinese phones, please let me know!
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes , it can but there´s no need for
2. Google for it. If you detect a custom ROM for that special device you might test it. I suppose there isn´t. And never, never try to flash a ROM for another device. It would certainly brick your phone
3. It depends on your luck to find a ROM for that special device. Otherwise see 2.
Thanks for the advice, guys! Will let you know how it goes.
Hi Dim,
I bought one of these chinese phones... for my chinese wife (because these chinese phones look so cool)
First it's plastic in bad quality! you will get scratches by your fingernails!
Second, the audio quality for talking on caller and receipient side were worse. The speakers are in bad quality: mp3 bad, talking bad, listening bad.
Third, signal strength must be high to work. Often you lose your signal and can't call anyone.
All in one, i can say, that you waste your money. Mine looks like a iPhone 4, but thats all you have on pro's side. On con's side the three points i wrote above.
I bought a new mobile, galaxy from Samsung, and my wife is healed from thinking that the chinese mobiles could be better in any aspect.
Hope this will stop you from buying this crap!
hi
most of people who reply on you,they dont know anything at all about smart chinese phone
and about flashing rom to chinese smart phones will require differant software depends on cpu, because chinese usally use hisillicon cpu or MTK cpu,so when you decide to buy just ask for condation that they send you software and rom.and have fun with cheap and great quilty,and if you decide to buy some model you can ask here for advice
Hi,
With me the same. Still the proud owner of a HTC Universal. I need a "Dual SIM Standby" and came across this chinese vendor. Here are the specs:
-Dual sim card dual standy
-CPU: Huawei Hisilicon K3533, 533MHz,could updated to 600MHz;
-2G ROM+2G bits RAM;
-Windows mobile system 6.5 and Android 2.2(Optional)
-GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
-Support TF card up to 16GB;
-5.0M pixels wtih double cameras;
-WLAN/WI-FI 802.11b/g; *GPS Navigation;
-Support G-Sensor function;
-Support Microsoft Office word/excel/powerpoint etc and email;
-Support IM:MSN,SKYPE,facebook,twitter,OICQ,QQ etc;
-4.3inch WQVGA Touch screen,65,000colors,400x800 pixels;
-Connection:Bluetooth 2.0,WI-FI,EDGE,Active Sync and USB2.0;
-JAVA 2.0, GPRS class 10 and WAP2.0;
-Video Format:3GP,MP4,AVI,ASF,WMV,RM ect;
-Music Format:MP3,WMA,WAV,AMR,ect;
-Photo Format:Jpg,gif,png,BMP,Flash ect;
-Ringtone Format:MP3,WMA,AMR and WAV;
-2PCS Lithium-ion rechargeable Batteries:1650mAh/3.7V;
-Dimensions: 107x51x13mm, 128g weight
So, indeed the CPU is not a 1 GHz Snapdragon™-prosessor, but 533 Mhz Hisilicon. But look at the 2G ROM and 2 Gb RAM! Wonder if this is for compensating on the lower CPU?
But here is the thing. I am not a real "Flasher". I basically kept my Universal as-is, and installed a shell on top to have a new look. I started playing around with new ROMs just to improve the available memory on ROM and RAM.
The question is in this case if most of my WM5 apps will work on this Chinese phone? Second question is then, like "@latersooner" says, who on XDA can assist in flashing Chinese ROMs?
Maybe a suggestion could be to have a seperate entry on the forum list "Chinese clones" or something? Just an idea. I see that they are ahead of the competition in Europe, releasing both dual, 3 and 4 SIM phones, both Windows, Android and other (Symbian?).
dim4x4 said:
Hi!
I'm planning on buying a Chinese copy of HD2. I'm not concerned that it's 100% fake and build quality is not on par with real HTC, cause I really need the dual SIM functionality.
My questions are:
1. can it be SID-unlocked (does it have to be?)
2. will any of the custom WWE ROMs install and run on it?
3. will both SIMs be visible in any custom ROM or do I have to install a specific ROM which supports dual SIM dual standby functionality?
Whoever got to play with these Chinese phones, please let me know!
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
See this http://www.eten-users.eu/index.php?showtopic=21207&st=0&
latersooner said:
hi
most of people who reply on you,they dont know anything at all about smart chinese phone
and about flashing rom to chinese smart phones will require differant software depends on cpu, because chinese usally use hisillicon cpu or MTK cpu,so when you decide to buy just ask for condation that they send you software and rom.and have fun with cheap and great quilty,and if you decide to buy some model you can ask here for advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely agree. Do your research first guys! There are some very interesting Chinese smartphones out there. If you're only looking for cheap imitation, yes, you're bound to be disappointed.
Having said that, China manufacturers are now starting to make dual sim Android smartphones with excellent specs. Only thing missing is 3G. Must say, I don't really miss it. 2G is fine for social media updates and email. Only for heavy surfing you need 3G.
I'm very pleased with the Flying Star FG8 I bought recently
I have a lot of information on chinese models star A2000, A1000, A5000 and will be making a thread shortly covering everything I know including rooting, fixes, roms and recovery.
i agree , this phone have bad speker and bad accesories
-.- so you need to buy acc agan
Chinese not-fake phones
I live in Africa. There's a brand that is very widespread here called TECNO - Chinese. Several of their phones run Android, the later models being the N3 and N7.
I bought an N3 out of curiosity - at $94 it did not seem to be a big risk. It supports 2 SIMs, one 3g, and the other vanilla. Seems to work OK as an Android phone (Gingerbread). My only real criticism is the camera, which tends to produce purple pictures in bright lighting.
It seems quite well made. I have been able to root it, and can get to it normally via ADB and Fastboot. I've written a few small applications and everything seems to work as expected. However, I have not been able to find a CWM recovery for it that works, and so far have not seen a ROM that claims to support 2 SIMS.
A single SIM phone is a liability here in Tanzania. There's one operator - Airtel - who can do 3G at a reasonable price, but their calls are expensive. The others are GSM, but what everyone you know uses for normal telephony.
So even if I could find a CWM recovery, and flash CyanogenMod, I'd be robbing myself. Why is the rest of the world stuck on this single SIM thing?
britseye said:
I live in Africa. There's a brand that is very widespread here called TECNO - Chinese. Several of their phones run Android, the later models being the N3 and N7.
I bought an N3 out of curiosity - at $94 it did not seem to be a big risk. It supports 2 SIMs, one 3g, and the other vanilla. Seems to work OK as an Android phone (Gingerbread). My only real criticism is the camera, which tends to produce purple pictures in bright lighting.
It seems quite well made. I have been able to root it, and can get to it normally via ADB and Fastboot. I've written a few small applications and everything seems to work as expected. However, I have not been able to find a CWM recovery for it that works, and so far have not seen a ROM that claims to support 2 SIMS.
A single SIM phone is a liability here in Tanzania. There's one operator - Airtel - who can do 3G at a reasonable price, but their calls are expensive. The others are GSM, but what everyone you know uses for normal telephony.
So even if I could find a CWM recovery, and flash CyanogenMod, I'd be robbing myself. Why is the rest of the world stuck on this single SIM thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pole are working on it just be patient
Sent from my myTouch 4G using xda app-developers app

Advice request about Sony Xperia Tipo (ST21i, ST21a)

Hi all!
First of all I wish to thanks in advance for any of you who may stop by, and provide some tips, experience
regarding the next matter, advice request:
My context is that I am completely noob regarding choosing android phone.
I want to get my first one, but a low budget, and I thought about Sony Xperia Tipo, cause it uses Android ICS,
and its hardware specs are some better than comparing to others of similar budget as LG Optimus L3, Samsung Galaxy Mini
( phonearena.com/phones/compare/LG-Optimus-L3,Samsung-GALAXY-mini,Sony-Xperia-tipo/phones/6941,5147,7151 )
I already discarded going for Vodafone Smart II, cause after reading its thread in XDA (around 30 pages), despite it was posible
to be rooted at first, in 1 month the new versions have been capped by cel companies (the recovery, the fastboot etc), at least for Spain, Portugal versions, therefore the customization is getting quite impossible, or very random depending the version, the cel company, ...
I think the main problem it is that this Xperia Tipo has been released quite very recently,
and after been searching through forum about info for rooting the Xperia Tipo, I can't find any info about it :S.
So my 2 questions are:
- it is expected that Xperia Tipo will be rooted in a near future ( and therefore customizable with
ROMs ...) ?
- Taking in count any answer to this question, would you suggest to go for it,
or by other hand go for Samsung Galaxy Mini (despite it has worse HW, Android GingerBread,
BUT it has quite plenty support for rooting and flashing with custom ROMs) ?
Again thanks in advance for any advice, and excuse the long post! )
Cheers!
ive used this phone after recomending it for someone else. Its a great cheap ICS phone dont expect it to be really fast or to play excellant games but it is really good for the price under £100!!!. would i recomend it to someone else after using it YES!!!! just remember to clear the apps your not using from the RAM by pressing the Home key and holding it and swiping it to close it so it doesnt get laggy.
as for root im not a dev but im safley sure it will be rooted in the future as its got a SD card slot so its easier to install CWM recovery etc.
BUT it is new out and dont expect it to happen any time soon i have the Xperia U and thats been out ages now and i still dont have root it just takes time for the devs to get the phones and then to start work on them.
hope it helped
djpigz said:
ive used this phone after recomending it for someone else. Its a great cheap ICS phone dont expect it to be really fast or to play excellant games but it is really good for the price under £100!!!. would i recomend it to someone else after using it YES!!!! just remember to clear the apps your not using from the RAM by pressing the Home key and holding it and swiping it to close it so it doesnt get laggy.
as for root im not a dev but im safley sure it will be rooted in the future as its got a SD card slot so its easier to install CWM recovery etc.
BUT it is new out and dont expect it to happen any time soon i have the Xperia U and thats been out ages now and i still dont have root it just takes time for the devs to get the phones and then to start work on them.
hope it helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip!
Being cheap phone is ok, in fact that is what I seek for, a low budget phone as a start point, looking for customization.
Well, I could get that Xperia Tipo for £48, while the Samsung Galaxy Mini would cost £32. HW (CPU, inbuilt mem, display res) difference and phone release date diff, explain the price difference, hehe.
I was tempted to get Vodafone Smart II (for £48, I think), but atfer reading this whole thread forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1722811 , I found that it is a lottery, if I could get it rooted or not :S
My main doubt is if going for Samsung Galaxy Mini cause its great support in matters of rooting and customization, or expect that Xperia Tipo will get some nice support here in XDA, in the future ...
A third choice could be LG Optimus L3 which has worse display res, same price as Xperia Tipo, and it has some support here at forum for rooting and ROMs.
Regarding your Xperia U, I think there is quite nice support in this site, forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1728 , so you mention you still having probs to root it ?
I have just returned my Tipo today due to very poor reception. If you just want a phone to make calls and send texts then it should be more than adequate but if you are going to use it for browsing or games I would find something with a stronger processor as it can be very laggy after using it a while - even in menus. However the touchscreen is responsive and the display should be OK for making calls and texting but I found it very washed out when viewing pics etc. On my particular handset I could hear electrical interference through the headphones but this could be related to my reception fault I guess. If you can I advise you try it out before making a decision - if ur in the UK o2 shops usually have all there the phones on display switched on. If music is important to you the sound quality is very budget. Also the camera has no flash or autofocus. Tbh if it wasn't for the Sony xperia branding on the front I would have though this was a cheap chinese no-name handset as Sony really have cut costs on this one.
I can't comment on the Samsung but I have read bad things about the lg. Have you considered the Motosmart from Motorola. It has a similar spec to the tipo but at least the camera has a flash and its root able (running gingerbread)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I bought this phone a week ago. It's very nice for the price!. It isn't laggy, It has plenty of ram. Obviously it isn't so fast as would be needed for a device to play games,and doesn't have a big screen (or an hires one) if you have to surf the web a lot, but handles with no problems at all divx streaming from my pc, using mx-player. It's clearly better than vodafone smart_II and my device hasn't reception problems at all. The battery (this is a good point in my opinion) it's 1500mah just better than the usual 1200mah used in low-end devices
The camera can make decent photos but hasn't flash or aufocus at all & no front camera just like all the cheap phones.
BTW i think it's one of the best ICS devices avaiable here in Italy for about 150€.
I tried samsung galaxy mini too and this experia is a lot better in my opninion.
I have been using the mobile for more than a month... It's perfect .. Go for it... It is the best in the range... I do use it a lot and it has held up against everything... Custom ROM will be available veeeeeeeeeeeery soon... It is already rooted...
Sent from my ST21i using xda app-developers app
[help] firmware flash
my boot loader is unlocked and my device is stuck at boot with single vibration .
i need to install firmware but its get aborted everytime with an error
ERROR - ERR_SEVERITY="MAJOR";ERR_CODE="0019";ERR_DYNAMIC=" SIN header verification failed";
please help

Im considering buying Moto E 2nd Gen LTE. Is it worth it?

Hi. I currently own Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 for more than a year and I thought its good time to change phone. As you can see, Im a person who buys budget phones. I was searching for my next budget phone and Motorola Moto E LTE got my attention. I couldnt find a better deal than this, so I thought before making a final decision I will ask some opinions from people who got this phone. So, what do you think of Moto E and can you recommend it? What are biggest disadvantages and hows the performance? I already know that lack of flashlight is big hit for me.
Well it's a hard question. On stock 5.0.2 (there is still no update in eu) performance is preatty bad. Sometimes it runs smooth but there are cases when it lags horrible. I don't know who even installed chrome on this phone: it is cleary unusable however I instaled lighting browser and it works fine.
I've bought this phone because I tought that it will be my first smartphone which will be runing fine out of the box without modifications and I'm disapionted now :/ There is update in US and it probably fixes some of performance issues but when it will be available in eu? We still don't know.
Of course there is some good things like:
- of course price
- build quality
- very fast gps
- decent screen for it's price
- great battery life (up to 7h of screen on time)
- almost clean android
- decent speaker
- sd card slot and enabled android's app to sd
- up to date cpu (bigger chance that it will get android m)
- lte
- big data partion (we get 5gb out of 8gb so I think that's good)
- good light sensor
- and I very like it's look (but it's my own preference)
and what is bad now:
- performance on 5.0.2
- there is no e-compas! (my xperia x8 had compas in 2010)
- no notification led (this is very annoying since moto display is too sensitive and ambient display works randomly)
- fornt camera (back one is decent but sometimes it can't focus well)
- lack of camera flash
- updates aren't so fast (at least in eu)
- miracast isn't working (because of only 2,4 ghz wifi)
- moto features aren't working well on 5.0.2, for exaple twist to turn on camera isn't working properly (after twist I feel the vibration but screen isn't turning on)
So would I buy it again?? I don't know, it's performance is really discapointing right now. I compared it to moto g on 4.4.4 (which should be slower because of 720p screen and slower cpu) and it was like day and night. G was way faster.
Thats a bummer. I thought it was very good for basic usage like messages and browser. I heard Android 5.0 had memory leaks, but from what youre saying performance is really bad here. Is it fixed in 5.1?
well for basic usage it can make a job, I discabled all moto services that you can discable in settings, installed nova launcher, lighting browser and it's somehow working. When it starts lags I clean my recent apps and it helps.
The phone is preatty good but it was relased in bad time, in days of probably the worst android relase, lollipop looks cool but it can't be as fast as kitkat :/
howerer when I compared it to my other firend's moto g on stock 5.0.2 they were running simmilar and he told me that he hasn't got issues with it (but he often clear recent apps so maybe thats the reason)
I belive that 5.1.1 will fix all the issues, we have to wait.
I would appreciate other people opinions.
just too good a phone at this price
diablos222 said:
I would appreciate other people opinions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i purchased it i dint have much expectations considering its cheap.but then as i am using it for over 2 months now ,i dont feel it as a cheap phone.it never hanged on me..not even once.though i have disabled quite a lot of stuff but thats fine...this is first phone i am running without rooting in last 5 years.and surprisingly i am not feeling need to .My battery lasts beyond 3 days and it runs fast enuf in comparison to my past phones which i had to root to make them usable(samsung s3 , s advance etc)
i wud say go fr it..5.1 update is sure to improve it further
When I first bought my moto e (xt1526) a few months back, at first it sucked. I wanted my ZTE max back. Everything was laggy. Even after the 5.1 update. So, I rooted and tinkered with roms that our great XDA developers have been working very hard on, until I found one that was somewhat solid. It ended up being a soak test 5.1 rom. It made the phone snappy and overall great. The only issue is my mic drops out on my bluetooth sometimes. Overall it is a great phone to me for its price.
lightyearjones said:
When I first bought my moto e (xt1526) a few months back, at first it sucked. I wanted my ZTE max back. Everything was laggy. Even after the 5.1 update. So, I rooted and tinkered with roms that our great XDA developers have been working very hard on, until I found one that was somewhat solid. It ended up being a soak test 5.1 rom. It made the phone snappy and overall great. The only issue is my mic drops out on my bluetooth sometimes. Overall it is a great phone to me for its price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I think it cant be worse than my current Galaxy Ace 2.

[Q] New Android Phone - Turing Phone

Hi guys,
This new android phone " Turing Phone" news has been going around.
It is said to be unhackable, waterproof and unbreakable. (sounds like an ultimate phone to me)
The pre-order starts on July 31st for $610 (16GB), $740 (64GB), or $870 (128GB)
Here are what I can find on the specs:
-Size: Diagonal Size 5.5 in
-Processor: 2.5 GHz / Quad-core / Snapdragon 801 chip
-Camera: 13-megapixel camera
-Battery: non-removable 3,000mAh battery
-Finger Sensors: fingerprint sensor is located on left of the device.
-Doesn’t even have a USB port , uses MagSafe-like connector for charging
My question is.. Is it as good as mentioned. From the specs it does not seem that outstanding. But the looks of the phone seems pretty badass to me. Do you have more info? Let me know your opinion. Thanks.
Can anyone port the Rom to the M8?
NIL
Headphones, Customization and other maladies
This new android phone " Turing Phone" news has been going around.
It is said to be unhackable, waterproof and unbreakable. (sounds like an ultimate phone to me)
The device itself looks great! and I am pretty excited, however, I am sure due to the security in it, porting a custom ROM onto it will be out of the question? Also, no headphone jack Guess only bluetooth headsets for this one. And root would also be out of the question?
We have to compromise on something eh
Thanks!
I reserved one, I'll post a review and some pics once received.
I've got a Wyvern on the way...concerned that it doesn't support Google Play...means, what exactly am I going to use the phone for? hmmmm...
generalbethlehem said:
I've got a Wyvern on the way...concerned that it doesn't support Google Play...means, what exactly am I going to use the phone for? hmmmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it does have access to Google Play. Did you read otherwise?

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