Related
So I've seen a few of these threads, but neither were really much help. I'm either already eligible or will soon be eligible for an upgrade, and I'm really thinking about getting either the Epic or the Evo. The Evo is a big contender, just because it's made by HTC and the camera is better, from what I've seen (haven't really seen video/pics from the Epic yet. Basically, the only thing I'm really hoping for is better battery life than I'm currently getting with my Hero (probably won't see the need to overclock whichever phone I get, I'll underclock it a bit if anything, I'm happy with the speed of my Hero at 629mhz).
So basically, it comes down to:
Price: which is cheaper, where can I get the best deal? 2 year extension, and my price *should* be the same as the new customer pricing.
Battery Life: will it be better than the 6 hours or so I get with my Hero?
CM6 availability: I'll probably stick with this ROM, I love it so much on my Hero.
camera: is the Epic's camera better than my Hero's? Also, this isn't completely about MP, since it's the actual quality of the sensor that makes the difference. Do either/both have an LED flash?
form factor: I have no problem with a device being completely touch-based, but from what I've seen/experienced with the Epic, I really like the keyboard.
known issues: what issues are known for each device? I know of GPS with the Epic, but are there any issues to keep an eye out for on the Evo?
HTC vs Samsung: I got the Hero over the Moment simply because despite the Moment's better specs, the Hero just "felt" better. How does the slider on the Epic feel? Sturdy? This isnt something I've really seen in reviews. Overall build quality of the phone? Any crazy Hero-esque dust issues with either phone? I also have seen some chipping/peeling of paint on my phone, any wear issues with either phone?
futureproofing: what's the life span of each phone look like? I know the Evo is probably coming up on EOL, and I've heard rumors of an Evo 2 for a while.
Hopefully we can keep this fairly unbiased, but I'm sure I'll get some people saying that one is better just because of whatever, but I'm hoping that I'll get some flat out opinions from both sides of the fence.
Really Me would be EVO. I can't bring myself to trust samsung anymore..
Who cares bout the life span anymore. I mean hell new phones come out everyday.etc.
I mean If you got the EVO right now. will It be underpowered this time next year? Doubt it.
I have an Evo, but I'll keep this as unbiased as I can. I know hardly anything about the Epic.
1.The Evo is $50 cheaper than the Epic with a two year contract.
2. Runing CM6, I get about eighteen hours of total on time, and six and a half with the screen on (texting, web browsing, all that). I'm a pretty heavy user. However, the Evo is infamous for its bad battery life in reviews and such. I never had any problems, and most of the battery issues had to do with the phone not sleeping or account syncs eating up the battery. I don't make any compromises (like keeping 3G off or turning my syncs off) to get the numbers I listed. I don't know anything about the Epic's battery.
3. CM6 RC1 is available for the Evo. The dev support is really strong. Epic doesn't have much dev support from what I've heard.
4. The Evo's camera isn't very good. It shoots 720p video, but with the stock Sense ROM (and custom Sense ROMs) it's only good quality with plenty of light. The general consensus is that the code written for the camera isn't very good.
5. This is completely opinion. I know there are times when a physical keyboard would be nice, but I have no problems with an onscreen keyboard and Swype.
6. The Evo had screen separation issues and light leak issues, but they weren't widespread and Sprint will fix you up if you run into one of those things. I didn't.
7. This is the same reason I chose the Evo over the Epic. It just felt better, for whatever reason. The build quality is very good on the Evo. My only problem with the phone's design is that the battery cover is pretty thin. It gives slightly when you put pressure on it.The screen and the rest of the phone is solid. I've heard some people complain about dust under the screen. I've had my Evo since August and haven't had that issue.
8. Not sure. I know that there have been rumours about some dual-core phones hitting the market in Q1/Q2 2011, but I can't see myself needing anything other than my Evo until then.
I hope that helps. I don't know a whole lot about the Epic. I know that the screen is fantastic, but the dev support isn't that great and to me, the Evo just feels better. I'm not an HTC fanboy or anything - if somebody took my Evo and gave me an Epic, I'm sure I wouldn't be too upset.
I agree, it'd be an evo for me, not a huge samsung/physical keyboard fan myself
The Epic has a gorgeous screen Super AMOLED, a 1GHZ Hummingbird processor and a surprisingly thin form-factor for a slider. The hummingbird is a very fast processor--anecdotally it runs way better than the snapdragon. Despite all these goodies, it is a Samsung and I'm done with them. My Samsung Moment was a big disappointment of glitches and radio/data lock-ups, rebooting, freezes, etc.
The Evo would be my preferred device, but I'm waiting until March next year (at the latest) to see what comes up.
No matter what, I'm staying with sprint.
boiker said:
The Epic has a gorgeous screen Super AMOLED, a 1GHZ Hummingbird processor and a surprisingly thin form-factor for a slider. The hummingbird is a very fast processor--anecdotally it runs way better than the snapdragon. Despite all these goodies, it is a Samsung and I'm done with them. My Samsung Moment was a big disappointment of glitches and radio/data lock-ups, rebooting, freezes, etc.
The Evo would be my preferred device, but I'm waiting until March next year (at the latest) to see what comes up.
No matter what, I'm staying with sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my dilemma too. I have noticed that the Epic seems to be smoother/faster than the Evo, and it feels okay, but I heard a bunch of horror stories about the Moment, and Samsung in general to some extent.
SirRipo said:
That's my dilemma too. I have noticed that the Epic seems to be smoother/faster than the Evo, and it feels okay, but I heard a bunch of horror stories about the Moment, and Samsung in general to some extent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly this is a decision you have to make on your own. What you want. If I had an upgrade right now I would pass due to lack of phones I want (mytouch4g for sprint). If I had to choose though right now between evo and samsung epic, hands down evo. Samsung support sucks of all the devices they made read up on the behold 2. They got it bad. This is pretty much a continuing thing with samsung. If you like cyanogen it's already got support on the evo. The evo is kinda big though like a tablet (damn I'm thinking about android tablets again). Basically only reason I would choose evo is it's support base. I don't get lured in by prettyness (is that a word?). Real support can make or break a phone in my opinion. Story time ...
once upon a time I was with at&t bought an unlocked windows mobile phone from overpriced.com. AT&T wouldn't give me the mms settings (even though the phone was sold at at&t stores) and couldn't find them online. I tried and tried and eventually figured out at&t wasn't for me. They made my phone useless. Not much of a story.
Also samsung doesn't officially have drivers for windows 64. Try and find them. I've got them now due to looking all over the place don't believe me? Go through that mess samsung calls a website.
Sorry I really don't like samsung. I have really good reasons though
boiker said:
The Epic has a gorgeous screen Super AMOLED, a 1GHZ Hummingbird processor and a surprisingly thin form-factor for a slider. The hummingbird is a very fast processor--anecdotally it runs way better than the snapdragon. Despite all these goodies, it is a Samsung and I'm done with them. My Samsung Moment was a big disappointment of glitches and radio/data lock-ups, rebooting, freezes, etc.
The Evo would be my preferred device, but I'm waiting until March next year (at the latest) to see what comes up.
No matter what, I'm staying with sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, same with me, I want dual core!!!
to comment on your worry about the phone being underpowered in a year, think of it like this... Unless someone comes up with a new battery that literally revolutionizes the way we power portable electronics, you are going to suffer greatly from anything much faster than a 1ghz, and id even argue that that is too overpowered for what the battery can handle. sure a 1.5 ghz dual core processor sounds all well and good on paper, but its gonna get to the point that your "cell phone" is a land line that can come off the charger for a short period of time if you need it to. Also, keep in mind (as already posted), a new phone literally pops up every other week. No matter how long you wait for the next great phone, there will always be the speculation of yet another phone.
The question also leads me to ask people what in the world are they doing on their phone that they need a 1.5 ghz processor!? i have a hero overclocked slightly running cm6.1 stable, and its plently fast. there has NEVER been a time with my hero that I have been in a position that if i could access something 2 seconds quicker that it would have had even the slightest impact on my task at hand.
Personally, I would go with the Evo, simply bc the development seems to be significantly better for it. from samsungs past, you arent going to get many updates in any type of timely fashion, so if you want the newest OS, thats gonna mean looking to the dev's, and at the current time, its nowhere near on par with that of the Evo
I know i didnt really answer too many of your specific questions, but i think they are still good points to keep in mind
chawski said:
to comment on your worry about the phone being underpowered in a year, think of it like this... Unless someone comes up with a new battery that literally revolutionizes the way we power portable electronics, you are going to suffer greatly from anything much faster than a 1ghz, and id even argue that that is too overpowered for what the battery can handle. sure a 1.5 ghz dual core processor sounds all well and good on paper, but its gonna get to the point that your "cell phone" is a land line that can come off the charger for a short period of time if you need it to. Also, keep in mind (as already posted), a new phone literally pops up every other week. No matter how long you wait for the next great phone, there will always be the speculation of yet another phone.
The question also leads me to ask people what in the world are they doing on their phone that they need a 1.5 ghz processor!? i have a hero overclocked slightly running cm6.1 stable, and its plently fast. there has NEVER been a time with my hero that I have been in a position that if i could access something 2 seconds quicker that it would have had even the slightest impact on my task at hand.
Personally, I would go with the Evo, simply bc the development seems to be significantly better for it. from samsungs past, you arent going to get many updates in any type of timely fashion, so if you want the newest OS, thats gonna mean looking to the dev's, and at the current time, its nowhere near on par with that of the Evo
I know i didnt really answer too many of your specific questions, but i think they are still good points to keep in mind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forget battery life if I have a 1.5 GHz dual core phone
chawski said:
i have a hero overclocked slightly running cm6.1 stable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did that (CM 6.1 stable) come out?
something like three weeks ago? 10/28
Opinion...
first of all....i would probably get an Evo before epic, but what i noticed in the thread was...well a lot of people are trying to compare the moment and epic(i had moment and i'm done with samsung)i just dont think its right....
i mean...it is the same thing to compare hero and evo...
there's just no comparison....
SirRipo said:
something like three weeks ago? 10/28
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically, it's RC... isn't it? I mean, it is stable enough for everyday use... but still.
andythegreenguy said:
Technically, it's RC... isn't it? I mean, it is stable enough for everyday use... but still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct.
Also, Epic still doesn't have a date for 2.2, ouch.
andythegreenguy said:
Technically, it's RC... isn't it? I mean, it is stable enough for everyday use... but still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh, if you are being technical. But typically that's what's referred to as the "stable" build.
get whatever makes u happy.lol
If I was still with sprint I would pass on both. since i dont want to pay 10 bucks extra a month.. Sprint needs something like the incredible.. but without 4g.. but its either pay extra for the evo or epic or the hero. cause honestly wouldnt mess with those budget androids on sprint..
Just remember most if not all HTC androids will have better support than samsung or lg etc.. not to mention You will find way more cases and battery options with HTC too.
i was in the exact same boat as op. i went and played with both for about an hour. the choice was clearly Evo
theimpaler747 said:
Yup, same with me, I want dual core!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you. Just hope I don't have to wait too much past Jan/Feb for it. I'm eligible for an upgrade 12/1, but I know there's some great new hardware coming soon!
get an evo my friend. the epic is only for people who need a keyboard. the screen on the epic is awesome but i think the evo has more development and roms. best phone ive purchased soo far is my evo.
Ok so right now am looking for a phone to buy.
And had the droid x
And droid charge.
So my question is would anybody recommend the d3?
And how is the development for the d3 look in the future?
I heard about motorola unlocking the bootloader but when the day comes, will they only provide it with the new phones? Or would it be like an update?
Absolutely would recommend!
I wholeheartedly recommend the D3 - especially if you are looking for a physical keyboard.
Development is well under way and there are now at least 2 full working ROMs. I've tried both Steel Droid and Monster and both are great - i find monster to be faster and thats my preference.
When I first got the phone, I was pretty bummed that the locked bootloader had put a huge damper on development. Ever since root has been acheived, however, things have been much better and you could not pry my D3 from my cold dead hands.
I hear that Blur is much better than previous iterations, but I use launcher pro so I don't use blur at all.
heres a link to the ROM, Mods and Themes thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1289611
As much as I like my D3, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to get a new phone. unless you absolutely need a keyboard, I would wait for either the Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus. Both will have better hardware and FAR better screens and will be LTE.
I got a D3 yesterday, after having the D1 the last two years. After about 20 hours using it, I love it. I really dig how fast it is, and the larger screen is nice too.
As soon as I got it home, I rooted it and ran the scripts to remove the VZW apps. I really don't see a need to flash a ROM since this D3 runs so smoothly already. I'd like to edit some PNG files here and there, and that will probably be about it for me. I remember the constant flashing of ROM's, SBF files, and themes on my D1. This time around, I'm really not looking forward to that. It feels to me like VZW and Motorola did a great job with the device as is once you skim off the bloatware.
Like SrulDog, I switched to LP immediately. I've been using LP since about the time it was released, so I am very comfortable with it. It runs great on the D3 too.
I say go for it. I don't know how it compares to the Droids you have owned, but I know it is much better than the D1.
-Mike
kishin14 said:
As much as I like my D3, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to get a new phone. unless you absolutely need a keyboard, I would wait for either the Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus. Both will have better hardware and FAR better screens and will be LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure the screen looks crap sometimes. But I'm standing in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather right now and I can see every detail on it. Try that on an AMOLED.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
I have had this phone for a couple weeks and I am enjoying it. I had an OG Droid that the screen crapped out on me so this was nice because it works! I am used to the hardware keyboard on a Blackberry Tour/Bold 9650 but that's personal preference. I am getting used to this one though and I can fly on it so I guess it's pretty good for a keyboard.
A couple things I have done are root, freeze a few apps like VCast and run Autokiller at Strict, and the phone is as smooth as butter now. It has the same hardware as the Bionic really so I mean it's as high end as you can get. If you want 4G then as mentioned you should wait, but I have been getting great 3G speeds and yes I have to wait for the Market apps to download a little but it's a lot faster than it has been in the past with my OG Droid.
Well 4g isent really a biggy for me.
More like.batterry life and great rom features really
Androidsims said:
Sure the screen looks crap sometimes. But I'm standing in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather right now and I can see every detail on it. Try that on an AMOLED.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
/droid3
Great responses here! This is why I love XDA! To answer the question…yes, I would definitely recommend getting a DVD for all the reasons given above. Dev work is going well, CM7 is on the way, and we MAY have an AOSP rom by the weekend (permissions to port pending). The physical keyboard is outstanding, and the screen is good. Even though colors are a bit washed out, being able to view the screen in direct sunlight, with no issues, is a massive bonus. If you don't need the keyboard, and can wait a little while, I would jump all over the Nexus Prime/ galaxy Nexus/ whatever they're calling that 4.65" piece of sexiness! Either way, you'll end up satisfied imo.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
The biggest bugger for me is the lack of RAM. Phone would have been a whole lot better if it had 1GB ram instead 512MB only. The screen is a letdown IMO, but indeed is great in the sun and also better on the battery.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk
Aside from the occasional issues from being in Australia, I must say I recommend the Droid 3. It's excellent!
I still fail to see what the lack of ram is holding us back from. But I've already convinced pne person to buy this phone, and they text me damn near everyday to thank me.
sent from my MONSTERDroid3 from the XDA app
Two years ago the Milestone was an awesome terminal for its time.
Nice design, perfect size, one of the best display ever seen, incredibly good audio quality and decent CPU power.
The only drawbacks were the horrible battery life, the cheap keyboard and the crap camera.
The D3, although can't be considered a bad phone, is the shadow of what the MS1 was.
The performances (I mean the real ones, not the benchmarks) aren't on par with one years old phones, the crap camera and the poor battery life are still there, the keyboard is improved but is still built like a toy, while the phone grown more than the display, the display went from the best available to the worst ever seen, the signal sensitivity went from the top to the "below the average". The audio quality, while better than the HTC phones is not on par with the motorola ancestors.
As I already said, my Desire Z (aka G2) was a better phone in any area, excluding the audio level and the lack of the numeric ROW.
From my point of view was a boring phone, everything worked from the beginning, good battery life, great photos, super stable system, good keyboard, and fantastic tethering capabilities.
The display was also good, not as the one on the Milestone 1, but light years better than the Droid 3's one.
All in all I suggest to buy the D3 only if you can get a very good deal.
If you like a ready to go smartphone, a DZ/G2 is still a way better choice, especially considering its today average price.
gravenimage said:
I still fail to see what the lack of ram is holding us back from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
x2.
i think people come from older phones and get hung up on the numbers when with a better processor and other amenities a 'low' RAM really isn't a factor and can actually make the phone faster with everything cached and saved to the system memory. I don't even check the RAM since i've never had an issue with slow or choppy speed.
Also i go a whole day with my phone and end with 30% battery at the end of the day. i use it heavy while im out, not as much when home from work but even then i come home with 50-40% battery. I'm not sure what you guys are doing to get poor battery life.
kern417 said:
x2.
I'm not sure what you guys are doing to get poor battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually just using it on modern networks.
The motorola basebands are usually poor (especially on the erly releases), and the power drain has a lot of variation depending on the generation and the make of the BTS/node-b, whatever.
Just for example when I got the milestone 1, with the initial firmware tha battery lasted less than six hour with a vodafone SIM, and almost a day with a three SIM.
The Solutor said:
Usually just using it on modern networks.
The motorola basebands are usually poor (especially on the erly releases), and the power drain has a lot of variation depending on the generation and the make of the BTS/node-b, whatever.
Just for example when I got the milestone 1, with the initial firmware tha battery lasted less than six hour with a vodafone SIM, and almost a day with a three SIM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk I hear people on Verizon say the same thing and we get pretty good service just about everywhere. sure at my old job where I was tucked in the basement my phone would die quickly but I couldnt blame that on the phone or the software, like you said it's the radio trying to get signal. I think it more depends on the user and how they use the phone/what services they run.
I had installed Juice Defender originally because i thought it would increase battery life, but i turn my screen on and off so much that it actually drained more battery from turning data off and on all the time, so now i only use it to automatically enable wifi when i'm home and turn off data while i'm asleep. maybe something like that could help you out?
All in all I think the D3 is one of the best Android options out. Plus i'm petty and like the fact that not everyone around here has one since it didn't seem to get a bunch of publicity...people still ask me 'What phone is that???"
kern417 said:
I had installed Juice Defender originally because i thought it would increase battery life, but i turn my screen on and off so much that it actually drained more battery from turning data off and on all the time, so now i only use it to automatically enable wifi when i'm home and turn off data while i'm asleep. maybe something like that could help you out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I bought the MS1 "wi sync plus" was the program that saved the ms1 form a jump out of the window.
Btw i never tried any wi sync+ clone, like juice defender.
I'm about to purchased D3 today. Too bad it's hard to find one here. Already ask the seller to check with the supplier if there is any. I only found Motorola Atrix at one single shop here.
This is definitely my choice right now. In my opinion, 512MB RAM is enough for a dual core 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC processor. PowerVR SGX540 is just nice, too bad that it only support OpenGL 2.0 and not DirectX as in Playstation Vita with PowerVR SGX543.
QWERTY keyboard has improved a lot this time. It had HDMI Type-D, Physical Button for Camera & Sound Volume & Micro-USB. I really hope it will get ICS update when it release and capable of USB Host. Another thing is that Motorola had been bought by Google, I believe Motorola will have latest update every time new Android version released. I hope so
One thing that make me stay away from Samsung Galaxy S2 is that it had one single port Micro USB for everything(HDMI through MHL, USB data, USB Charging, USB Host)
If i use HDMI output, then I cannot use USB Host at the same time. I wonder if the USB Host adapter connected to USB Hub, can it handle and recognize multiple device such as keyboard, mouse,game controller,USB Pendrive etc?
Yeah, but the way I understand it, even the phones that have 1gb of RAM right now (Atrix, Bionic) dont really have 1gb because 512mb is locked to be used with Webtop. And so far as I have been able to find, no other phone has more than 512mb right now. Can anyone confirm?
This mattered to me because I have an Atrix right now on AT&T and I absolutely love the phone, but can't take the ****ty service everywhere anymore, have to switch to Verizon. I had basically three phones I was looking at in the Amazon penny sale, D3, Bionic and the new Samsung qwerty, Supernova or something. So, if the above is right, the D3 I'm getting is essentially the same phone as my Atrix now without Webtop (don't care) or 4g (not here for years, boucou wifi) but with a physical kb, which actually makes it way better. I actually really, really like Gingerblur, and if it's slow I dig Launcherpro, so I should be good, yeah?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
This. Coming from an Atrix getting HDMI mirroring will be a big deal to me; I didn't buy any docks and haven't rooted or reflashed other than official 2.3 update, so the only thing I ever get over HDMI is the media player interface. Which is cool, but I want something else.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
So I'm finally getting around to moving on. As much as I love my Nexus One, I'm in need of a new phone and with the deals coming up I don't know what to get. Being a "even more plus customer" (or whatever they call it now) I don't get those nice phone discounts so everything is relatively expensive. I have to buy it at full price
Today I saw the Galaxy Nexus was on sale for $400 which is really tempting. I know how great a phone it is, but its a little on the big side for me (ha). Then I saw Tmo's $100 trade in value and thought about using that to get a One S for $500.
The things that keep me away from the One S are that there is no removable battery, the possibility of bugs on the first release, and a locked boot loader. But it's such a beautiful device with an amazing camera that it's hard to resist. Money isn't really a big deal, but its a factor I'm considering. I could do a bit more with that $100.
Anyone else that has moved on, what made you switch?
Any recommendations about which phone to get or input in general would be great!
TL;DR: Need new phone, Galaxy Nexus or One S?
(not sure if this is in the right section, hope it is..)
no removable battery is a stopper for me
did you handle the dummy or do you have a working one where you are. the dummy was alot longer than wide. kinda like the n1 but an inch longer, or so it looked and felt. i didn't like it.
why not wait a couple weeks and see about the ssg3
rugmankc said:
no removable battery is a stopper for me
did you handle the dummy or do you have a working one where you are. the dummy was alot longer than wide. kinda like the n1 but an inch longer, or so it looked and felt. i didn't like it.
why not wait a couple weeks and see about the ssg3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used a dummy, I liked how it felt, but you brought up a good point. I should probably try the real thing.
I was considering the S3 but I'm concerned it's gonna take longer than I'd like to get to the U.S. and be too expensive. The deals to me were the reason I wanted to buy a new phone. Are you considering the S3?
I just came from a nexus one and went with the gnex. I absolutely love it. Removable battery and it being a nexus are the winning factors to me. Being a nexus and able to type 6 or so lines of text to flash the stock image and root with files straight from google are big factors for me. The phone is smooth as hell. The other ones will be tainted with sense and Samsung garbage.it is quite wide but I'm getting used to it quickly, after two days I can just about use the phone fully with one hand.
i am looking at the ssg3 or galaxy note, but fed up with tmo slow speeds in my area, Dayton Oh, and still stuck on a 2 year contract. I get .5 to 2mb most of the time. My wishes are dl speed at +5mb minimum, good signal strength at my house and work, 4.5 inch screen or bigger. I will root for apps and nandroid but may not continue flashing as these new phones have it all now--for me at least--
I posted on another thread getting 10-13mb dl with gnex on verizon at store, i know in two years most carriers will be lte capable, so the speeds are coming
yeah, i noticed a little bit of a service bump with the hspda+ on att in some spots in my area getting about 6mb down 2mb up where it used to be 3mb max on the n1. im perfectly fine with that amount of bandwidth, i dont need my phone to have the same service level of throughput as my home internet and chew through my battery. i wish the carriers could improve on the response time / ping now, who cares about bandwidth, its all marketing hype. give me a 22ms ping with 3mb down, not 300ms ping with 15mb...
those speeds would be acceptable to me for now, as in two more years we may see perfection on smartphones for most of us. as i have time maybe someone in the dayton area will get the unlocked version and post tmobile speeds here--
If you're fond of plain Android or CM - get Galaxy Nexus.
If you're one of those who flash Sense/MIUI on your N1 for functionality, and prefer it over plain Android - get One S.
There was already such a thread that I participated in, you can find my opinion there. Personally I can't stand plain Android for the reasons I laid out many times, and dislike ICS design.
Jack_R1 said:
If you're fond of plain Android or CM - get Galaxy Nexus.
If you're one of those who flash Sense/MIUI on your N1 for functionality, and prefer it over plain Android - get One S.
There was already such a thread that I participated in, you can find my opinion there. Personally I can't stand plain Android for the reasons I laid out many times, and dislike ICS design.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I found your thread. You bring up a good point about the development, but I feel either way I'll be okay. I do like my stock ICS, but I'm curious to see how the new sense is, maybe give it a chance. Although, I saw a development of Sense, Blur, and Touchwiz ports over in the Galaxy Nexus form. Made me think twice...
I tried to go to the t-mobile store and use a One S today, but they were closed by the time I got there D: Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one soon.
One S is better then GNex in most ways but development. Built quality is amazing, screen is very nice, camera and camera app are also super. but right now you just cant do much with the phone besides running Sense....there are no 100% functioning ROMs or any mods YET.
I say screen quality is better on One S in terms of colors, but Gnex is very sharp and resolution is 720p
I have One S and thinking about trading for Gnex because I just hate sitting on stock ROM and waiting....but I am not 100% sure yet
The is just one flaw in One S design, the cool notification light is very cool, but its not visible from the sides.
/nod.
Just handed back the OneS. Until there's some decent Roms, the existing Sense stuff is very annoying. The camera on it is VERY impressive, build quality great too. Screen, same brightness as Nexus One (ie, very clear), but not /that/ bump up in rez. When there's some decent roms for it, I'd jump in and enjoy it, but for now, there's a lot that'll annoy you.
....and I'm going back to my n5. The g3 is a nice phone but it didn't blow me out of the water and wasn't the clear step up from the n5 that I thought it would be. The g3 isn't much faster for most things and not as fast for some, the camera was good but I've never had a complaint about the n5's camera, and the screen really wasn't better at all. In fact, side by side I preferred my n5's screen, especially when using auto brightness. At full bright there was a slight advantage to the g3 but in normal use it's just a bigger nexus. All that qhd media talk seems to be mostly just that, talk. I really wish instead of the qhd they would have spent time on making it waterproof and maybe metal, or at least a little better feeling than it is.
I'm sure many will say the g3 is way better, in fact there's a thread in the g3 section about switching from this to that. If you are thinking of upgrading I won't say don't do it, but make the change with realistic expectations.
I'm in the same boat. Had the G3 and went back to the nexus. Can't do bloatware. Can't handle slow updates. And don't want to root and ROM. I wasn't really impressed with the battery life. Didn't really like how slippery the phone was. Plus 600 dollars for the G3 is a big turn off. Not worth it IMO.
I will say this about the Tmo g3, it's easy to root at least, but there are exactly 2 roms for it right now. You can use xposed to add some tweaks but then you can't use art. A lot of lg's apps, like the health app, force you to use their home launcher.
I also got a G3, but I love the nexus more. The G3 is like a advance version of N5 with bloatware.
there are somethings really interesting:
1. I got a 40MHz 2.4G wifi which only the N5 can connect without problem, the G3 and Nexus 7 both have problem (5G is ok)
2. the G3 is really easy to overheat, when I charge the G3 a while, it say I can't get 100% brightness (which it lock down to 80%) due to overheat, but I am not using it at all.
Ok guys, let me start with... I love my N5. BUT... coming from a Note 2 I felt like I gave away lots of things that I really was pampered with. When I first got my N7, the first thing that crossed my mind was "If they made a device with the same design, I would love it" and then the N5 was born. I was one the ones that stayed pressing REFRESH for a long time, a very long time until my order went through. I got my device and was happy for about 11 minutes, then I started seeing the compromises I have made. But don't get me wrong, I still love it and enjoy it very much.
My first complain about it was the obvious and what I had already made peace with, like MicroSD and gigantic battery, then! I found out that USB-OTG is not supported OTB and I have to install additional apps to make it work, the gallery app is nothing compared to what I was used to, and the there was little things here and there that makes the relationship between the device and me more of a love and hate thing. As soon as I saw the G3, was like a breath of fresh air. Getting back the size 5.5", MicroSD, USB-OTG, battery and all the other pluses that comes with it. The G3 is my new toy and companion but N5 will always have a spot in my heart, I always hated myself for not getting the GNEX and as soon as the SG3 came out, I jumped on it and got it. this time around I'm glad I got the N5 and have the amazing experience but its time for me to move on, who knows! maybe if the next Nexus have all this features that I can't seem to live without, maybe in a few months, but for now... The time has come.
DJBBOX said:
Ok guys, let me start with... I love my N5. BUT... coming from a Note 2 I felt like I gave away lots of things that I really was pampered with. When I first got my N7, the first thing that crossed my mind was "If they made a device with the same design, I would love it" and then the N5 was born. I was one the ones that stayed pressing REFRESH for a long time, a very long time until my order went through. I got my device and was happy for about 11 minutes, then I started seeing the compromises I have made. But don't get me wrong, I still love it and enjoy it very much.
My first complain about it was the obvious and what I had already made peace with, like MicroSD and gigantic battery, then! I found out that USB-OTG is not supported OTB and I have to install additional apps to make it work, the gallery app is nothing compared to what I was used to, and the there was little things here and there that makes the relationship between the device and me more of a love and hate thing. As soon as I saw the G3, was like a breath of fresh air. Getting back the size 5.5", MicroSD, USB-OTG, battery and all the other pluses that comes with it. The G3 is my new toy and companion but N5 will always have a spot in my heart, I always hated myself for not getting the GNEX and as soon as the SG3 came out, I jumped on it and got it. this time around I'm glad I got the N5 and have the amazing experience but its time for me to move on, who knows! maybe if the next Nexus have all this features that I can't seem to live without, maybe in a few months, but for now... The time has come.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what exactly when I try to explain the different of Nexus and other flagship smartphone.
If you want a sport car and you can afford the money, you can buy a Ferrari, you don't need to do anything and it already very fast, with nearly all things you need, with a great complete experience.
Or you can get a subaru/civic type-r (or anything cheap), spend your time to custom it to make it run fast and add options you need.
Tastes differ.
The only Tmo store near me has consistently been terrible, I don't know why, maybe it is the manager but the employees ae generally terrible and today when I took the g3 back was no different. The guy asked me why I didn't like the g3, I explained my reasons as above and he just kept pushing.
He tried to tell me how out dated and slow the nexus was and how the software was exactly the same etc etc, I didn't bother tryi to argue with him but it seemed like he'd never rooted a phone and he definitely had never used the n5. His last sentence might have been true, he told me I should have used it for a few weeks before returning it and I would never miss the n5.
Only problem with that is I only have a 14 day return period and I'd be away during the last few days. Anyhow, I'm back to my nexus. Maybe the n6 will be great and convince me to switch, until then none of the other top line phones have what they need to make them worth switching, for me at least.
Yeah I'm waiting on the n6 but love my n5 tho an uber kernel is da bomb
I was tempted by G3. I stuck with my N5 and just picked up a 1+. I was bedazzled by the boxing/packaging of the 1+ and its new factor. I made it a day on CM and switched to Mahdi ROM. I would love to try L on it. I do not have big hands....enter joke here, and miss how my N5 felt in my hand. I don't think the G3 would sit as nicely as my N5 does. I have a GN2 that I use as backup and 1+ is way better. I will probably use 1+ as my new backup and stick with my N5.
Here's a pretty good read: http://www.androidcentral.com/lg-g3-two-months
I thought the G3 would have been much better (screen wise). Seems most are let down by it. Ended out getting the nexus 5 thinking I would be disappointed... Boy was I wrong... What a beautiful device.
Whilst I find all the n5 love reassuring I'd kill all my relatives for a G3!
howard bamber said:
Whilst I find all the n5 love reassuring I'd kill all my relatives for a G3!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best thing I've read all day.
It will dawn on people, I hope, that phones have plateaued as far as doing stuff. We don't need quad hd,etc. They play games movies etc grt. The N5 with kk is the embodiment of this. The next change won't be until 64 bit~6gig ram ~ true pocket computers we will walk away from the desk and pick up to take with us. Until then change is just to sell new models we don't really need. The device that I mention is on the way, until then I'd only update for practical reasons, faults etc. When we have L on the n5 properly that will give it a shot in the arm.
I have both phones and they exist for very different markets. Did you guys ever stop to notice that the N5 didn't have a single ad? It just isn't for a normal consumer. The nexus 5 was designed for messing around with software and debugging for devs. Whereas the G3 is just for average people who want a bit of power and battery life to go along with it. If I was a general consumer I'd hate the N5 due to its poor battery life, speakers and camera and would never buy it. Whereas the G3 has a solid camera and battery life. Two things that mainstream consumers care about.
All Nexus lines since the Nexus S were sold as mainstream phones by the carriers here.
Sent from my Nexus 5
topgeardave said:
I have both phones and they exist for very different markets. Did you guys ever stop to notice that the N5 didn't have a single ad? It just isn't for a normal consumer. The nexus 5 was designed for messing around with software and debugging for devs. Whereas the G3 is just for average people who want a bit of power and battery life to go along with it. If I was a general consumer I'd hate the N5 due to its poor battery life, speakers and camera and would never buy it. Whereas the G3 has a solid camera and battery life. Two things that mainstream consumers care about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw a TV advert for the Nexus 5 when it was being released. But the LG G3 adverts (still) have a lot of presence right now (more than the N5 did).
Sent from my Nexus 5
now what I'm interested in, is the Xiaomi Mi-4
http://www.xiaomiworld.com/xiaomi-mi4.html
looks nicer than the G3.
like the G3 though. would take it for the screen, 3AH battery, 3GB RAM, but $, and don't need anything better than the nexus. Plus I have already invested in Qi charging mats all over so I expect I'll want one that supports that in the future. Edit: oh looks like it supports qi
Oh and the 2k display no thanks. I don't want that. Angry. From an engineering POV, I hate this phone because they went for that. wasn't need, Wastes power.
Nexus - - - > other
Tapatalk Team SlimRoms
thor1k said:
now what I'm interested in, is the Xiaomi Mi-4
http://www.xiaomiworld.com/xiaomi-mi4.html
looks nicer than the G3.
like the G3 though. would take it for the screen, 3AH battery, 3GB RAM, but $, and don't need anything better than the nexus. Plus I have already invested in Qi charging mats all over so I expect I'll want one that supports that in the future. Edit: oh looks like it supports qi
Oh and the 2k display no thanks. I don't want that. Angry. From an engineering POV, I hate this phone because they went for that. wasn't need, Wastes power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They also send data like imei number n contacts to their home servers WITHOUT consent...more than enuf for me to stay away from these chinese manufacturers..
First checked by some website n nw confirmed by fsecure ...
Verizon contract is up in a couple weeks so I'm jumping to T-Mobile (costs less) and getting the Nexus 6. I just have a few questions.
Are there any weird quirks with the phone? Anything I won't find out by playing with the phone in store for 10 minutes? Is the phone as powerful as the specs say it is?
I saw some of the older battery life charts in the other thread and they aren't terrible. Is battery life still decent? I'm looking for 4-5+ hours of screen-on time ideally.
Does the "quick charger" that comes with it work well?
Tl;dr Do you recommend the phone?
It's a loaded post, which is why a lot of views, but nary a reply.
However ....
Your title to me is better than jumping on a N6, which could be disastrous to the phone.
If you have looked over the threads, you'll get varying opinions, and mostly IMO it depends on two things:
What they had/came from
What they expect out of the N6.
I will only speak for myself; I came from a VZ GNex I hung onto for 3 years - anything I may have gone to would be a worthy HW upgrade, however I want to tweak my phone when I'm ready to, and that means a Nexus.
I love the phone, it was a bit of a letdown, as I was already running 5.0 on my GNex, so the experience was to a larger, faster smoother phone than what I had. Other than that, I'm loving every minute of having it, plain and simple.
I have one other person who transitioned to one, and he loves it as well.
I'm not going to tell you to get it, you have to go play with it and decide for yourself.
To your specific questions:
quirks - no more so than any other phone, I haven't found any yet myself - most who post I think have to do with not knowing what they set in Lollipop, I've already had it for a bit, so I'm used to it.
Yup, its fast and powerful, whether or not you decide to go unencrypted is up to you, which goes to what you had and what you expect - are you going to unlock root, mod? You can enjoy this phone for quite a bit of time before maybe even needing a reason to go mod it.
Personally, I haven't yet, nor have a lot of members here (check the what rom are you running on VZ thread) because again, I haven't (other than wanting to change my softkeys) had a good reason (to me) to invest the time to do it.
I'm sure it will happen, but not right now. right now I'm just enjoying the hell out of having it.
Batt time is always subjective, whether or not we care to admit it. No two devices are going to run the same, have the same app load outs, some have different memory it appears, and some may actually (gasp) have a bad batt on arrival.
Mine has ran terrific (remember again - what I had and what I expect), and the QC runs great to recharge if need be. I can say that I love not worrying about the batt right now on it daily, but that's for me and my usage.
Battery is fine and its quick. The fast charger works well. I'm not really a fan of them but its what it comes with. I came from a m8 which was a nice device but I like this one better.
Raikalo said:
Tl;dr Do you recommend the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wife and I jumped from Sprint to T-Mobile, handing off our Evo 4G's when the Nexus 6 was released, and wouldn't look back. The Nexus 6 has been nothing short of awesome... the camera, speed, screen, everything - is awesome. We keep ours in thick iBlason "Armorbox" cases, and still enjoy our QI charging (I'm unsure how QI isn't a requirement in modern phones these days!). A lot of friends complained about the size, but those that got it anyway, ended up "getting over it" and now won't go back to the smaller screens, heh! It still fits nicely in my (male) jean pockets -- with the large case -- but you'd be hard-pressed to get it safely in female pockets (sorry ladies... you're not allowed to put stuff in the pockets!).
Quirks: one big thing jumped out at me, but isn't a big deal for most. The phone does have built-in RGB LEDs that sit underneath the top speaker, yet, they chose to block access to this functionality. I guess they reused the underlying board but didn't want the LEDs, but nonetheless, they are invaluable to me: I enjoy knowing if I have something waiting for me *without* having to look at the screen - whether while in bed, sitting on the desk, riding the bike, etc.! The plus, you can get at these LEDs if you're rooted. So... if that's possibly desirable to you, I'd recommend unlocking the phone as soon as you get it, so you can avoid the data wipe down the road. The Lightflow app can handle them quite well (though I believe it requires the "Pro" version, for a couple bucks). ...and as of now, the LEDs are "on or off" - no flashing... but hey, I'll take what I can get!
Oh, and not really related to the phone itself, but a Google-Nexus 6 quirk -- quite annoying at the time, for me -- Google's "My Tracks" app was broken for awhile (unable to acquire the GPS signal). There are a gazillion alternatives out there, but I'd been a long-time daily user of the app, and Google broke it!...for months. It was disappointing that they would break core app functionality on their *current* flagship device, for their own app, and choose to ignore it for such a long time. I think the 5.1 update fixed whatever problem they had, but that was a pet peeve.. On the plus side, I've enjoyed the feature-rich alternatives that I was forced to explore, ha!
We haven't messed with de-crypting ourselves, as the phones are super-duper-fast as-is, but we love them. These are our introduction to the Nexus world, and we love the fact that they no-bars-hold permit unlocking, and that the updates are, of course, front line.
Tl;dr I highly recommend the phone! Phone size is the only recurring complaint among friends.
Thank you everyone for the replies. Yes, battery life is subjective ...so long as most of the reviews say the battery is good enough, that's all I care about. First-hand reviews from users are always the best because I know everyone isn't just trying to sell me a phone . As far as the LEDs being unusable when not rooted, that isn't a big deal for me. My current phone (Razr Maxx HD, xt926 verizon) has the LEDs and fantastic battery life through various mods, but is simply not cutting it anymore for what I need. I've never heard of the My Tracks app, so I guess it's a good thing since I didn't know it was broken lol.
This will be my first Nexus phone... I have the Nexus 7 (2012) tablet that is currently running CM12 nightlies, so I'm familiar with the "Nexus experience" and Lollipop already. I like it quite a bit, but it did take a little getting used to. I was very much planning on unlocking and rooting the N6 immediately, but I'll play with it a bit and enjoy the stock experience first.
@vormund Do you like T-Mobile, now that you switched from Sprint?
@RW-1 Can you explain the encryption you're talking about a little more? This is the first I've heard of it.
Again, thanks everyone for the replies. I'm pretty much sold on the phone at this point.
Raikalo said:
Thank you everyone for the replies. Yes, battery life is subjective ...so long as most of the reviews say the battery is good enough, that's all I care about. First-hand reviews from users are always the best because I know everyone isn't just trying to sell me a phone . As far as the LEDs being unusable when not rooted, that isn't a big deal for me. My current phone (Razr Maxx HD, xt926 verizon) has the LEDs and fantastic battery life through various mods, but is simply not cutting it anymore for what I need. I've never heard of the My Tracks app, so I guess it's a good thing since I didn't know it was broken lol.
This will be my first Nexus phone... I have the Nexus 7 (2012) tablet that is currently running CM12 nightlies, so I'm familiar with the "Nexus experience" and Lollipop already. I like it quite a bit, but it did take a little getting used to. I was very much planning on unlocking and rooting the N6 immediately, but I'll play with it a bit and enjoy the stock experience first.
@vormund Do you like T-Mobile, now that you switched from Sprint?
@RW-1 Can you explain the encryption you're talking about a little more? This is the first I've heard of it.
Again, thanks everyone for the replies. I'm pretty much sold on the phone at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am currently using MeanPop 2.11 on my Nexus 6 and it has a blinking LED light for notifications, a blinking red light for while your phone is charging and a green light for when the device is fully charged. I had the phone a couple of hours tops before I rooted it, so I can't really provide an opinion on the device out of the box. My brother is using a non-rooted Nexus 6 and he loves it as well. We both came from the Note Edge, but enjoy the Nexus 6 more than any device we have used up to this point. Out of the box, the device is encrypted (which some people have stated that their performance suffered compared to being unencrypted). You can easily unlock the phone and decrypt it. There is a solid guide for this in the development section. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask them here and I'll assist where I can.
slimc84 said:
I am currently using MeanPop 2.11 on my Nexus 6 and it has a blinking LED light for notifications, a blinking red light for while your phone is charging and a green light for when the device is fully charged. I had the phone a couple of hours tops before I rooted it, so I can't really provide an opinion on the device out of the box. My brother is using a non-rooted Nexus 6 and he loves it as well. We both came from the Note Edge, but enjoy the Nexus 6 more than any device we have used up to this point. Out of the box, the device is encrypted (which some people have stated that their performance suffered compared to being unencrypted). You can easily unlock the phone and decrypt it. There is a solid guide for this in the development section. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask them here and I'll assist where I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That solves the LED issue. I will probably decrypt the device since I don't know why I would need it encrypted. Thank you. I will definitely message you with any questions, but I won't have the phone until closer to the end of April (24th or so), so it will be a bit yet. I'm just glad the phone is shaping up to be as great as I am expecting it to be.
Out of curiosity, what are the benefits of leaving the phone encrypted?
Raikalo said:
@vormund Do you like T-Mobile, now that you switched from Sprint?
@RW-1 Can you explain the encryption you're talking about a little more? This is the first I've heard of it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile has been equal-to-or-better than Sprint in Tucson, AZ... their customer service is dreadful (store reps are absolutely useless), but if you're persistent, you usually come out alright - which I'm happy to do with the difference in cost (+$10 to join my sister's plan versus $30+ for Sprint's split... among the other (contract, discount, etc.) considerations! Data is hit-or-miss on the outskirts of the city, but so is Sprint (and ATT)...Verizon seems to have solid service out there, though...(then again, you pay for it!)...
Data speeds are almost always slower when compared to Verizon (a friend with Verizon did some speed tests with me...we're both usually LTE, but he'd consistently get 3-4x faster speeds...this probably varies greatly by locale and their networks), but it's sufficient for me. If you're one to watch Netflix or download a ton, it'll probably be quite the downgrade.. but me - I'm on wireless for any big data usage, so network-wise, I'm just mapping, a little music streaming, geo tracking and such.
Encryption: For the extra paranoid or those with ultra-sensitive information on their phones, perhaps?
I suspect it would make things a little more difficult for law enforcement, too... depending on backdoors and such? Actually, yeah, that looks to be the case!
After seeing the speed comparisons, I'd definitely switch over now, even though the phone is fast-as-can-be as it is, ha. One of these days maybe... but for now, it's a few more minutes in a already-crazy day.
slimc84 said:
I am currently using MeanPop 2.11 on my Nexus 6 and it has a blinking LED light for notifications...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks great to know, thanks for the info! +1 for a custom ROM. I think the reason Lightflow can't do it directly - with rooted stock - as it'd have to keep the phone awake. There well may be ways around that by now... I just wish they'd enable direct access without (there's just no good reason to take away a hardware feature... disabled by default, but come on! ).
vormund said:
T-Mobile has been equal-to-or-better than Sprint in Tucson, AZ... their customer service is dreadful (store reps are absolutely useless), but if you're persistent, you usually come out alright - which I'm happy to do with the difference in cost (+$10 to join my sister's plan versus $30+ for Sprint's split... among the other (contract, discount, etc.) considerations! Data is hit-or-miss on the outskirts of the city, but so is Sprint (and ATT)...Verizon seems to have solid service out there, though...(then again, you pay for it!)...
Data speeds are almost always slower when compared to Verizon (a friend with Verizon did some speed tests with me...we're both usually LTE, but he'd consistently get 3-4x faster speeds...this probably varies greatly by locale and their networks), but it's sufficient for me. If you're one to watch Netflix or download a ton, it'll probably be quite the downgrade.. but me - I'm on wireless for any big data usage, so network-wise, I'm just mapping, a little music streaming, geo tracking and such.
Encryption: For the extra paranoid or those with ultra-sensitive information on their phones, perhaps?
I suspect it would make things a little more difficult for law enforcement, too... depending on backdoors and such? Actually, yeah, that looks to be the case!
After seeing the speed comparisons, I'd definitely switch over now, even though the phone is fast-as-can-be as it is, ha. One of these days maybe... but for now, it's a few more minutes in a already-crazy day.
Thanks great to know, thanks for the info! +1 for a custom ROM. I think the reason Lightflow can't do it directly - with rooted stock - as it'd have to keep the phone awake. There well may be ways around that by now... I just wish they'd enable direct access without (there's just no good reason to take away a hardware feature... disabled by default, but come on! ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A wakelock is triggered with the flashing LED even in the custom Rom (burns 1-2% per hour that the LED is flashing). It's definitely worth having though. The ROM is solid and I haven't had a single issue with it yet.
After reading the benchmarking for encryption vs decryption, I'm definitely decrypting the phone when I get it. I'm not overly worried about the LEDs (does seem weird though that it's not like all of the other android phones I've had, where they just work, regardless of ROM). I'm in the middle of the East Coast where (according to coverage maps) 4G is more available, so I'll definitely run some speed tests and see how T-mobile's data speeds stack up on this side of the country. I really just need a fast browser with good, stable internet speeds. I won't complain if it's faster than 3G.