Lower end but good phones? - Windows Phone 8 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey all...
I am considering a Windows Phone 8.
But, I can't decide if a lower-end WP8 is worth the money. Take for example, an HTC 8S.
It costs 19,000 here. That's 350$. And even the LUMIA 820 is about 400$ though no official price is out yet.
My question, from a future perspective, are these phones worth buying? Or only the top end models will sustain what the future has to throw at it?
Like, for example: Already a couple of games are built with minimum 1GB RAM. 512MB of the 8S outdated already?
In short, is it an investment or a waste of money?
Sent from my RaZr on MIUI.

The chance of the new WP8 devices being phased out soon(next 2 years or so) is really small, so buying a WP, regardless of specs, is a good idea. You will have support from MS and OEM.

I'd buy it again...
Depends on what you want.
If you need a buttload of apps, the 8s is not for you due to the tiny internal storage. If you play high-end games, it's not for you either due to the limited RAM.
I have 19 apps installed, never play games, but use the browser and other internet related apps all day long, and am extremely happy with purchasing the 8S.
I see from your signature you're running MIUI on your android. If your like me, that's because android is ugly, and for some reason just not cutting it, which leads to flashing all sorts of ROM's, trying to find that sweet spot of smartphone heavenness... I've found that in the midrange HTC 8S (who'd have thought?)! It has great battery life, great sound output, never lags, great build quality, great looks etc.
Also my personalisation 'OCD' is well satisfied with the extremely custimizable homescreen, which was a major concern for me. It does all this while maintaining an uniform look.
I am positively surprised by the HTC 8S, as well as by Windows Phone 8.
I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

jodeltje said:
Depends on what you want.
If you need a buttload of apps, the 8s is not for you due to the tiny internal storage. If you play high-end games, it's not for you either due to the limited RAM.
I have 19 apps installed, never play games, but use the browser and other internet related apps all day long, and am extremely happy with purchasing the 8S.
I see from your signature you're running MIUI on your android. If your like me, that's because android is ugly, and for some reason just not cutting it, which leads to flashing all sorts of ROM's, trying to find that sweet spot of smartphone heavenness... I've found that in the midrange HTC 8S (who'd have thought?)! It has great battery life, great sound output, never lags, great build quality, great looks etc.
Also my personalisation 'OCD' is well satisfied with the extremely custimizable homescreen, which was a major concern for me. It does all this while maintaining an uniform look.
I am positively surprised by the HTC 8S, as well as by Windows Phone 8.
I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your reply. It is just strange how u guessed it right that I have gone through a trazillion ROMs to arrive at one. Android IS ugly. In fact, after buying my OWN iPad Mini, (I got dad an iPad 2 for his birthday few months back) I realize what Android actually is, an UGLY twin of iOS.
Plus, the number of malware attacks, and the number of permissions granted by us to the apps is just scary.
Now coming to WP & 8S more specifically, the only thing worrying me is that some good games have already been developed that require at least 1GB RAM. The games that need 512 MB RAM look like student projects to me. That made me think twice. I haven't even bought the device and its outdated. I am not a gaming person at all. In fact, I am going to install not more than 10 apps, just like you.
The problem isn't LUMIA 820. The problem is I am in love with 8S.
And, god forbid, if 820 also becomes outdated half a dozen months later, I will be doomed.
But I get what you are saying, 8S is good. Period.
mcosmin222 said:
The chance of the new WP8 devices being phased out soon(next 2 years or so) is really small, so buying a WP, regardless of specs, is a good idea. You will have support from MS and OEM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 years? I heard new devices will be announced in the upcoming CES 2013?
Sent from my RaZr on MIUI.

Even if new devices come around, the "old" ones will not be phased out of support.
As far as games are concerned, the 8s is not exactly the phone that is aimed at gamers. You still have a lot of nice 512 RAM games, you just need to find them (99% of all apps in the marketplace are aimed at 512 devices). The biggest problem with the 8s is the storage size: out of 4 GB, at least 1.5 is taken by the system, and you can't install things on SD card.

mcosmin222 said:
Even if new devices come around, the "old" ones will not be phased out of support.
As far as games are concerned, the 8s is not exactly the phone that is aimed at gamers. You still have a lot of nice 512 RAM games, you just need to find them (99% of all apps in the marketplace are aimed at 512 devices). The biggest problem with the 8s is the storage size: out of 4 GB, at least 1.5 is taken by the system, and you can't install things on SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks...i was wondering if any way to check how much RAM a game needs. The MS Store on the desktop browser shows everything but that.
Sent from my RaZr on MIUI.

Applications you can't install are hidden by default in the marketplace.

Related

why old processor?

why have they put an old model processor in there? why not the MSM8255?
i am holding out for a little bit, i am due an upgrade now, but dont want to rush into buying this phone if something better is coming.
Plus want to see what modding can be done to the software / themes, 3rd party apps etc
t3rm3y said:
why have they put an old model processor in there? why not the MSM8255?
i am holding out for a little bit, i am due an upgrade now, but dont want to rush into buying this phone if something better is coming.
Plus want to see what modding can be done to the software / themes, 3rd party apps etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because Microsoft only support the "old" snapdragon .
why apple customers don't ask them the same question , they use the same GPU as what is in 3gs a year ago ,
a second thing wp7 is developed on the snapdragon which is more than enough for now with it's improved drivers and direct x 9 support , it will perform even 2x better than a DHD with 8255 processor
t3rm3y said:
but dont want to rush into buying this phone if something better is coming.
QUOTE]
Sorry I'm the one that had to break the news, but there is always something better coming...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hoss_n2 said:
why apple customers don't ask them the same question , they use the same GPU as what is in 3gs a year ago ,
a second thing wp7 is developed on the snapdragon which is more than enough for now with it's improved drivers and direct x 9 support , it will perform even 2x better than a DHD with 8255 processor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 and 10char
t3rm3y said:
why have they put an old model processor in there? why not the MSM8255?
i am holding out for a little bit, i am due an upgrade now, but dont want to rush into buying this phone if something better is coming.
Plus want to see what modding can be done to the software / themes, 3rd party apps etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an HD7, it is lag free and very responsive, I think the processor will be up to the task as long as the coding is optimal.
Because having the next most powerful processor isn't important. It doesn't matter what kinda specs a device is running s long as the device runs well. Apple has proved that.
And from what I have seen, MP7 runs beautifully.
Lorddeff07 said:
Because having the next most powerful processor isn't important. It doesn't matter what kinda specs a device is running s long as the device runs well. Apple has proved that.
And from what I have seen, MP7 runs beautifully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that.
Old processor?
Maybe this is a bad news to you, but it's good to me cause of my hd2.
I probably would have been crying about the same thing, if technology was growing by leaps and bounds. But its not right now, technology is kinda stagnate as of lately. Yes, the HD7 has the same processor as its predecessor the HD2, but its not a bad thing. especially now that the new rom has came out for the HD2, it feels faster than ever (you can go on the HD2 and Leo boards to attest for yourself). Another thing to remember, is that the new Windows Phone 7, is not an OS that needs a 2Ghz processor to run buttery smooth. I think that we are used to the PC ideology that the next thing should have a higher number than the last, in order to be considered and respectable upgrade. But even those Intel and AMD processors, reached their, threshold for raw computing power (for now) and the companies are now refining their codes, and drivers, in order to utilize and maximize peak performance out of what they already have. (That's why 4Ghz desktop processors aren't mainstream yet)
Another thing is the WP7 is standardized with base set requirements for internal specs. I truly doubt that you'll find a noticeable difference between all the launch devices behavior with the OS, because of their processors. The mail screen might open up a little quicker on one device, but again, that could be a driver code magic for the display adapter in a particular phone, so the one that "wins" in our mind, should have been the "newer, speedier" processor but because of the refinement and more developed drivers, the one that displayed the inbox quicker was the "older" processor. (I hope you guys got that...lol)
So what I'm trying to say at the end of the day, is it really doesn't matter about the processor spec, because whats inside the HD7 is more than plenty to run the OS and its apps very very nicely.

The new Nexus4 is out

Original post here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/nexus-best-of-google-now-in-three-sizes.html
I love my Incredible S. But damn you Google, that offer is unbeatable.
@Mod: if it is not allow to post here, then I am sorry. Plz delete this thread. I don't mean to spam the forum.
thuanle said:
Original post here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/nexus-best-of-google-now-in-three-sizes.html
I love my Incredible S. But damn you Google, that offer is unbeatable.
@Mod: if it is not allow to post here, then I am sorry. Plz delete this thread. I don't mean to spam the forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AWESOME! Gf is getting me the Nexus 10 for Xmas, and I'll buy myself a Nexus 4 around the same time! 2560x1600 10" display, here I come! :highfive:
Never thought that the price would be so unbeatable! Maaan, why did I buy a Galaxy Nexus?
Oh for the love of god! What is with the lack of expandable storage in Nexus devices? I mean, this looks like the perfect device for me, but that lack of an SD Card is a real killer. 16 gig maximum storage, and no option to upgrade? What is this, an iPhone?
CyanideJack said:
Oh for the love of god! What is with the lack of expandable storage in Nexus devices? I mean, this looks like the perfect device for me, but that lack of an SD Card is a real killer. 16 gig maximum storage, and no option to upgrade? What is this, an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I know. My 32GB SD card has only 10GB free.
I only ever use around 6gb I clean up my stuff a lot.
Sent from my vivo using Tapatalk 2
ZaySk said:
AWESOME! Gf is getting me the Nexus 10 for Xmas, and I'll buy myself a Nexus 4 around the same time! 2560x1600 10" display, here I come! :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offence but having a Nexus 7 now, I think it would be a bit boring to have two AOSP devices. Especially coming from sense I used to have AOSP before my N7, but now I only use sense on my IncS
vizzy said:
I only ever use around 6gb I clean up my stuff a lot.
Sent from my vivo using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, I used an 8GB for about half a year before upgrading to 16GB. Never had a problem with space, I just delete apps I don't use and clean out junk folders. I also backup important stuff on my SD card, and then format it every couple of months to keep it clean.
markj338 said:
No offence but having a Nexus 7 now, I think it would be a bit boring to have two AOSP devices. Especially coming from sense I used to have AOSP before my N7, but now I only use sense on my IncS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While you do have a good point, I've never liked Sense or other skins anyways. Given the choice, I'd always choose an AOSP ROM over a Sense ROM. Pretty much the only reason I'm using a Sense ROM is because it's stable. Sense ROM's are fun to play around with for something new, but I quickly get bored of the limited options available in Rosie and uninstall it and replace it with Apex Launcher. Even tweaked Sense bores me, plus Sense is pretty heavy and I always feel like AOSP is noticeably smoother.
Plus, with a Nexus, I wouldn't have to put up with half-assed, hacked together AOSP ROM's. No offense to any devs! It's just stupid that some things related to a device (drivers, company proprietary libs etc) are never available and have to be hacked to work. I hate that, it's very annoying. With a Nexus, I don't have to worry about that. (I think?...)
ZaySk said:
Same here, I used an 8GB for about half a year before upgrading to 16GB. Never had a problem with space, I just delete apps I don't use and clean out junk folders. I also backup important stuff on my SD card, and then format it every couple of months to keep it clean.
While you do have a good point, I've never liked Sense or other skins anyways. Given the choice, I'd always choose an AOSP ROM over a Sense ROM. Pretty much the only reason I'm using a Sense ROM is because it's stable. Sense ROM's are fun to play around with for something new, but I quickly get bored of the limited options available in Rosie and uninstall it and replace it with Apex Launcher. Even tweaked Sense bores me, plus Sense is pretty heavy and I always feel like AOSP is noticeably smoother.
Plus, with a Nexus, I wouldn't have to put up with half-assed, hacked together AOSP ROM's. No offense to any devs! It's just stupid that some things related to a device (drivers, company proprietary libs etc) are never available and have to be hacked to work. I hate that, it's very annoying. With a Nexus, I don't have to worry about that. (I think?...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 16gb N7 and 16gb card in my phone, they get filled with backups of roms lol
I use dropbox and I have a USB OTG cable for all the haevy stuff like movies
I completely agree with your statement on AOSP roms and their stability. While some roms are quite good and fast, none can match a proper AOSP device, like a nexus. None. My N7 is super fast and I underclock it to 1.15GHz to save battery
This is the reason I might be going Sony next: their roms are quite AOSP-like and their source is similar to AOSP, no big changes like Samsung and HTC
Most AOSP and other JB roms for other devices (I mean custom roms) do not have proper project butter working, eg. CM10 on the exynos devices because there is no proper source for drivers and stuff. Although this might change with the Nexus 10
markj338 said:
I have a 16gb N7 and 16gb card in my phone, they get filled with backups of roms lol
I use dropbox and I have a USB OTG cable for all the haevy stuff like movies
I completely agree with your statement on AOSP roms and their stability. While some roms are quite good and fast, none can match a proper AOSP device, like a nexus. None. My N7 is super fast and I underclock it to 1.15GHz to save battery
This is the reason I might be going Sony next: their roms are quite AOSP-like and their source is similar to AOSP, no big changes like Samsung and HTC
Most AOSP and other JB roms for other devices (I mean custom roms) do not have proper project butter working, eg. CM10 on the exynos devices because there is no proper source for drivers and stuff. Although this might change with the Nexus 10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to have a crapload of backups as well, but I realized it would be more efficient to simply keep one backup of my favorite ROM at the time. I try to keep that one backup as current as possible. I gotta get an external HDD to store my music and movies as well
Yes we did have some great devs working on AOSP for our device, and they did a damn great job IMO. It's just the company that limits how good AOSP ROM's are due to not releasing sources for certain components, forcing the community to resort to hacks and other trickery to get it working properly. Damn it must be nice to be able to actually underclock without creating a laggy device. I feel like it's absolutely necessary to OC the Inc S to 1.3 GHz on AOSP, and 1.4-5GHz on Sense, in order to get a decent experience. Not that big of a deal, seeing as there were quite a few phones released with the same SoC as ours, but ran at 1.4GHz stock so the SoC can obviously handle the OC, luckily.
I'm strongly considering Sony as well, if they release a device by Xmas that has at least an S4 Pro SoC, preferably a true Cortex A-15 based SoC. They seem to be one of few companies that really do open up their phones completely for the community, and that's pretty much the #1 most important decision that will decide what phone I get.
ZaySk said:
I used to have a crapload of backups as well, but I realized it would be more efficient to simply keep one backup of my favorite ROM at the time. I try to keep that one backup as current as possible. I gotta get an external HDD to store my music and movies as well
Yes we did have some great devs working on AOSP for our device, and they did a damn great job IMO. It's just the company that limits how good AOSP ROM's are due to not releasing sources for certain components, forcing the community to resort to hacks and other trickery to get it working properly. Damn it must be nice to be able to actually underclock without creating a laggy device. I feel like it's absolutely necessary to OC the Inc S to 1.3 GHz on AOSP, and 1.4-5GHz on Sense, in order to get a decent experience. Not that big of a deal, seeing as there were quite a few phones released with the same SoC as ours, but ran at 1.4GHz stock so the SoC can obviously handle the OC, luckily.
I'm strongly considering Sony as well, if they release a device by Xmas that has at least an S4 Pro SoC, preferably a true Cortex A-15 based SoC. They seem to be one of few companies that really do open up their phones completely for the community, and that's pretty much the #1 most important decision that will decide what phone I get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow I keep mine at 1024MHz all the time. I overclock it to 1.4 sometimes when I play heavy games but that is it. I don't think my N7 has ever seen past 1.4GHz, when I was testing one of faux123's kernels
I think Sony might wait until MWC next year in Jan or whenever it is, because they just released new phones. But I don't need top performance on my phone anymore, I use it for calling, texting, xda-ing and a bit of internet. I play games and do more processor-intensive things on my Nexus 7
Did you guys see this video? It makes me want to buy one next
http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/29/google-nexus-4-hands-on/
I like the look of it, and the hardware. And of course the charger *drools*
I hope they'll release a 32gb model :/
Sent from my HTC Incredible S using xda premium
Ihad considered this but in England LG does not have the best reputation so I tend to stay away. Also, the HOX+ is meant to have one of the better cameras around and I don't know how is feel if the N4 cam isn't as good. I've also became a fan of sense .....
However, I am deffo getting the N10 device. I'll probs get it after Xmas when the initial rush has gone. Then I can read my magazines, books and general browsing easyier than on a phone.
Sent from my vivo using Tapatalk 2
I worry that these Nexus devices may start a president with regards to lack of removable storage. I understand Google's thinking behind using the Cloud as a portable storage medium, but my 500mb a month contract means downloading/streaming anything over data is pretty much out of the question. And living in the sticks means my data connection is flaky most of the time anyway. Until the price of truly 'unlimited' data plans drops considerably, and until coverage becomes better for non-built up areas, cloud storage is pointless for me.
I also notice there's no support for LTE on this device, but given the price that's hardly an issue.
Think I'll be waiting for the 32gb model to.
For me 16GB is totally enough. I had 8GB for a year and it was a bit too less but now I have 16GB on my GNex and I never get it even close to full So no Cloud stuff for me
WILLI120 said:
For me 16GB is totally enough. I had 8GB for a year and it was a bit too less but now I have 16GB on my GNex and I never get it even close to full So no Cloud stuff for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well for me, I like to download videos like anime and comedy sketches, I guess that's why I need lots of space. And maybe because I have The Dark Knight Rises, Order & Chaos Online in my phone :/
Sent from my HTC Incredible S using xda premium
markj338 said:
Wow I keep mine at 1024MHz all the time. I overclock it to 1.4 sometimes when I play heavy games but that is it. I don't think my N7 has ever seen past 1.4GHz, when I was testing one of faux123's kernels
I think Sony might wait until MWC next year in Jan or whenever it is, because they just released new phones. But I don't need top performance on my phone anymore, I use it for calling, texting, xda-ing and a bit of internet. I play games and do more processor-intensive things on my Nexus 7
Did you guys see this video? It makes me want to buy one next
http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/29/google-nexus-4-hands-on/
I like the look of it, and the hardware. And of course the charger *drools*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate it when there's noticeable lag, and I've always been picky about the performance of all my technological devices lol. I'm actually running my CPU at 1.5GHz right now on smartassv2. I still get good battery life despite the big OC, and I haven't noticed any instability at all. Also helps that I UV'ed 50mv I've always preferred performance over battery life. I'd rather have a snappy device that dies an hour quicker, than a slightly laggy device that lasts longer.
Yea, that's what I was thinking. Unfortunate. But I really want that Nexus 4, especially at that price! I'll be honest, I love google right now. They're pushing the boundaries(in a good way) on pricing for top end devices, and I f**king love it!
Dat S4 Pro Quad....WANT
ZaySk said:
I hate it when there's noticeable lag, and I've always been picky about the performance of all my technological devices lol. I'm actually running my CPU at 1.5GHz right now on smartassv2. I still get good battery life despite the big OC, and I haven't noticed any instability at all. Also helps that I UV'ed 50mv I've always preferred performance over battery life. I'd rather have a snappy device that dies an hour quicker, than a slightly laggy device that lasts longer.
Yea, that's what I was thinking. Unfortunate. But I really want that Nexus 4, especially at that price! I'll be honest, I love google right now. They're pushing the boundaries(in a good way) on pricing for top end devices, and I f**king love it!
Dat S4 Pro Quad....WANT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hardly have any lag with my settings now
Mine can't handle any UV at 1.4GHz I noticed that while playing shadowgun, it kept freezing and not responding to anything but a battery pull
The only other thing that might keep me away is no 4G Hopefully the camera is a beast
Yeah the S4 quad looks really good. I can get the same performance with my N7 running at those speeds, but no way near the efficiency. I am also interested in the audio chip, because the S4 one is supposed to be really good, compared to the Tegra 3 one.
l0st.prophet has been very active in the N4 forums, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of us end up there. There is already an ex-desire S user off topic thread lol
markj338 said:
I hardly have any lag with my settings now
Mine can't handle any UV at 1.4GHz I noticed that while playing shadowgun, it kept freezing and not responding to anything but a battery pull
The only other thing that might keep me away is no 4G Hopefully the camera is a beast
Yeah the S4 quad looks really good. I can get the same performance with my N7 running at those speeds, but no way near the efficiency. I am also interested in the audio chip, because the S4 one is supposed to be really good, compared to the Tegra 3 one.
l0st.prophet has been very active in the N4 forums, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of us end up there. There is already an ex-desire S user off topic thread lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still notice lag even at 1.5GHz sometimes. Annoying. Hmm that's strange, even at 1.5GHz I don't have any instabilities with UV. I really want to upgrade, to me the Inc S is showing its age internally. Especially in RAM, 2GB of RAM will be heaven. Still in love with the gorgeous color saturation in the screen though!
Meh, 4G isn't to big a deal for me. I have it available in Whitehorse, but HSPA+ is good enough for when I don't have wifi. I just can't resist the price, and I'm thinking about going on pay-as-you-go instead of the ass-rapingly expensive contracts. I practically never call anyone (who does these days?) so I only need data.
The S4 Pro's GPU especially looks very promising. Much better than the Mali 400 in the Exynos 4 series, according to early reports. Plus it's as close as I'll get to a Cortex A15 cpu That's great news, I was hoping the N4 would have a decent audio chip.
Hehe, let's all conspire to take over the N4 forums. All Inc S user's at once abandon this device, and move full force into the N4 forums! :silly::victory: Seriously though, the more people that come from this great community to the N4 forums, the better. :good:
ZaySk said:
I still notice lag even at 1.5GHz sometimes. Annoying. Hmm that's strange, even at 1.5GHz I don't have any instabilities with UV. I really want to upgrade, to me the Inc S is showing its age internally. Especially in RAM, 2GB of RAM will be heaven. Still in love with the gorgeous color saturation in the screen though!
Meh, 4G isn't to big a deal for me. I have it available in Whitehorse, but HSPA+ is good enough for when I don't have wifi. I just can't resist the price, and I'm thinking about going on pay-as-you-go instead of the ass-rapingly expensive contracts. I practically never call anyone (who does these days?) so I only need data.
The S4 Pro's GPU especially looks very promising. Much better than the Mali 400 in the Exynos 4 series, according to early reports. Plus it's as close as I'll get to a Cortex A15 cpu That's great news, I was hoping the N4 would have a decent audio chip.
Hehe, let's all conspire to take over the N4 forums. All Inc S user's at once abandon this device, and move full force into the N4 forums! :silly::victory: Seriously though, the more people that come from this great community to the N4 forums, the better. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not fair Oh well, you use 1.5 more than I do I think its processor is showing its age. Some things I am used to using my N7 for, and the IncS is THAT much slower at doing things. But on Venom, everything is super smooth Same with your rom actually, although I used the ultra smooth rosie (I am too on Venom)
I am thinking about getting off a contract too, and buying the phone outright. But, when you add both up it would probably be cheaper still to go on a plan here, for maybe $50 a month or whatever they will give the N4 away free on
Yes, the GPU is a monster, apparently it smashes the Tegra 3 which has a massive GPU, super powered. The Tegra 3 is soo powerful, even at the underclocked speeds I have it at now, I can't actually imagine what you could do with more power at this time.
Don't abandon this device because I am staying here until May next year!

Would you still recommend Motorola Razr i?

Hi guys, sorry for opening a new topic.
The question is this: A year ago I had a Xperia Ray, wich was a good phone. I did the stupid move of trading it for a LG optimus black, and this ****ty phone didn't last for more than 4 months... Then, according to my posibilities, I got an ipod touch 4G and a small normal phone to stay in touch. Long history.
Now I have the chance of getting a new smartphone. First, I wanted the Motorola Razr D3 and I liked it but I see no development for it here in XDA, probably because this phone is mainly focused to the latin market. That phone has a very cheap price, and I see that it has a guaranteed Android upgrade, this makes me wonder if the phone is gonna be upgradable to 4.4 Kitkat or just to Android 4.2 or 4.3... Nobody seems to know it at the moment.
Then, I started to check the Motorola Razr i closely, and I saw a video of it when technically crushes the samsung galaxy s3 in performance and multi-tasking, then I saw there's development for it and that's a good thing. Now one important question: You guys honestly think Razr i will be upgraded to Android 4.4 KitKat?
There would be a big chance considering that Motorola is now part of Google.
In conclusion, I have only $385 US dollars available for getting my next phone. I don't have any phone service plan, I hate them, I always get my phones to work in prepaid mode. And I consider that spending more than $500 US dollars for a phone is not very intelligent (sorry about this if I offend somebody), plus, I'm not precisely rich to get the latest flagships.
This are my options at the moment:
-Motorola Razr i: intel inside, good performance, but I don't know if will be updated to Android 4.4. It's one year old. They also say camera has bad quality.
-Motorola Razr D3: dual core, but kinda old chipset and GPU, it comes with the promise of an Android update guaranteed (they don't specify wich version tough)
-Xperia L: I like Sony, and this one comes with dual core and Adreno GPU 305, but Sony fails hard when it's about upgrading their phones.
-Xperia M: Same case as L, plus the fact that it isn't available in my country yet.
-Any other option you would want to recommend me?
Now, why I'm opening this topic here? Because I like Motorola and I consider that this brand is synonymous of quality. I got Motorola phones years ago and they were very good. I really like Razr i and D3, they're small, compact, beautiful and give stock Android experience. Please guys, give your opinion and recommendations and anwer the main question.
Thanks in advance.
Yeh i recommend it, it's a nice phone and can get some updates, and it's a pretty smart, and have "low cost", if u can pay a bit more of course u can have some better phone with quad-core.
I find it a likeable phone, good for everything but it does not excel. Above all, reliable (after 9 months).
But it's currently updated to JB 4.1.1, and that's I think where it'll stay. (I kept it on the original 4.0.4 so I kept FM functionality and haven't noticed I've missed anything important). Moto are developing the Moto X (I think). The Razr is history, a bit of an in-betweener. So if a phone which gets the latest updates is important to you I wouldn't sadly touch the Razr i.
My other phone is an Xperia Z, bigger and better. But day to day I prefer the Razr i, and don't feel I'm missing out. But neither am I obsessed with the latest tweaks and mods. And because its processor is Intel, I think a bit of patience, intelligence, a willingness to learn and not to expect everything to be handed to you on a plate is in order; and it isn't a piece of electronic jewellery to impress your friends. But that's just like many good things in life.
mervluk said:
I find it a likeable phone, good for everything but it does not excel. Above all, reliable (after 9 months).
But it's currently updated to JB 4.1.1, and that's I think where it'll stay. (I kept it on the original 4.0.4 so I kept FM functionality and haven't noticed I've missed anything important). Moto are developing the Moto X (I think). The Razr is history, a bit of an in-betweener. So if a phone which gets the latest updates is important to you I wouldn't sadly touch the Razr i.
My other phone is an Xperia Z, bigger and better. But day to day I prefer the Razr i, and don't feel I'm missing out. But neither am I obsessed with the latest tweaks and mods. And because its processor is Intel, I think a bit of patience, intelligence, a willingness to learn and not to expect everything to be handed to you on a plate is in order; and it isn't a piece of electronic jewellery to impress your friends. But that's just like many good things in life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I will give you some ideas regarding the razr i
Keep in mind that the z2480 processor from the Razr i is single core WITH hyperthreading.
Gaming is going to be limited mostly by the GPU on these "cheap" phones.
If the game is written with native ARM code there will be binary translation occurring on the fly on the Razr i / and some games are not compatible.
The phone lasts 2 days of typical use, or 1 day of really heavy use (For example 1 day with 7-8 hour screen time while indoors).
The camera benefits with software tweaks, and with decent/good lightning it can take very good photos. Take a look at these photos which were taken and lightly post-processed -- they are outdoor photos as you can see.
https://plus.google.com/photos/111844992738896496541/albums/5580215365238675713/5911088854762682674?pid=5911088854762682674&oid=111844992738896496541
https://plus.google.com/photos/111844992738896496541/albums/5580215365238675713/5910640578764419058?pid=5910640578764419058&oid=111844992738896496541
https://plus.google.com/photos/111844992738896496541/albums/5580215365238675713/5911088709076616770?pid=5911088709076616770&oid=111844992738896496541
https://plus.google.com/photos/111844992738896496541/albums/5580215365238675713/5910638421938261330?pid=5910638421938261330&oid=111844992738896496541
Thank you so much guys, you're helping me to take a decision.
Just for the facts: I'm a gamer but not a phone gamer, I don't use my phones to play very much, just games like Tetris, Angry Birds and maybe Asphalt, I rather to play in my console or PC.
Also, photography is not a big deal for me, but yeah, I want good quality in the pictures and videos I take.
If somebody else wants to contribute with more opinions and information please go ahead.
El Brillantinas said:
Thank you so much guys, you're helping me to take a decision.
Just for the facts: I'm a gamer but not a phone gamer, I don't use my phones to play very much, just games like Tetris, Angry Birds and maybe Asphalt, I rather to play in my console or PC.
Also, photography is not a big deal for me, but yeah, I want good quality in the pictures and videos I take.
If somebody else wants to contribute with more opinions and information please go ahead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Certainly not.
I used to have a Moto Defy, with a huge developer/modding community around the globe.
I Miss it badly now, as moto does give a f* for us. The intel thing make the modding very hard, and and I don't think the benefit is worth it.
Seriously thinking in make the switch to the Moto X, which probably will have a bigger base for modding.
I would not recommend the RAZR i anymore .. I won't judge too hard on it, because it's still not rooted yet (since one year exactly) and i was and still am used to rooted android devices. With the RAZR i after a year, battery life decreased, i am in constant RAM problems as the 1gb are full with not that much apps, so for example, if i switch from whatsapp to the browser and back, it most likely killed whatsapp by then. That's annoying as hell, especially because my old Desire HD did a better job with AOSP/4.04. The worst part is that the RAZR i isn't updated and there's no development such as cyanogenmod for it. For me, this means a lot. My RAZR i is in repair right now because i got it with a broken audio jack and i'm using the much older galaxy S2 by a friend, broken display, sensors sometimes fail, but it runs so much better. Why? Because of the rom, HellyBean/4.2.2, it runs so much better despite it has less ram and should have the slower processor.
Ah, almost forgot, the VERY handy camera button (which i absolutely love and miss on the S2 i use right now) somehow seems broken too, maybe software, most of the time i have to press it twice before it launches the camera. It triggers well though, so i guess that's software too. It just doesn't run that fine as i wished it would.
I would still recommend it, but ONLY if you're fine with the possibility that this probably won't be getting Kitkat. It's a very capable phone, I use it mostly for news email and browsing and like Omar said it usually lasts two days (something not a lot of phones can brag about, sadly.) the battery life I'd say is one of this phone's best features. If you root it and run a custom rom the phone preforms beautifully too. Just be prepared to live with *some* compatibility issues with certain apps.
In my opinion, buy it. For the price I'm seeing it at these days which is about ~150 dollars, it's a crazy good deal. Just don't expect it to see any updates from Motorola any time soon.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
I think it's still a great phone, i dont want a bigger phone and if you too don't want anything bigger than this then i think that still there is no better phone as all the other are bigger with the same screen size or bigger screen size.
There might be one that i would trade it for but it's still a rumor just, huawei d2 mini, 4.3 screen, quadcore, 2gb of ram...
As far as defects in this phone i would say:
- Low earpiece volume( i will try viper4android app for this )
-It´s heavier on the top so it would be more confortable to use if that was reversed
-If you updating any app the phone will lag a bit
-Original camera is not great, the pics are a bit without color
I dont play on the phone i say nothing about that
If you buy this phone try the infinirom v6, its great, it leaves a lot of free ram and the rom it's basically the original one so everything works great but with a lot more ram free
I still think razr I is a great phone (not the best) even with 1 year past
Sent from my XT890 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Performance of last year WP devices?

Considering the availability of snapdragon 800 devices (such as Lumia 1520), is a device like Lumia 920 (or HTC 8x) still powerful enough to handle all games and apps?
I'm thinking of getting a secondary windows phone. I wonder how last year's devices perform these days.
Right now? Easily. The high-end launch devices (Lumia 92x, HTC 8X, Samsung ATIV S) are still plenty powerful for all apps on the market. The newest high-end phones are definitely more powerful, but aside from maybe a short reduction in loading times and faster bootup, plus of course better performance in JavaScript and so on, it shouldn't be a problem. Apps are pretty much required to run well even on 1GHz dual-core CPUs, like the mid-to-low-range phones have; 1.5GHz dual-core (like the high-end launch phones) is plenty.
Now, eventually that will no longer be the case, and the launch phones will go obsolete before the new ones. But the high-end launch phones will probably last longer than the low-end ones of the new generation anyhow, and the low-end launch ones will be the first to go. Microsoft will want to avoid that happening for as long as possible, so you should be good for a while.
GoodDayToDie said:
Right now? Easily. The high-end launch devices (Lumia 92x, HTC 8X, Samsung ATIV S) are still plenty powerful for all apps on the market. The newest high-end phones are definitely more powerful, but aside from maybe a short reduction in loading times and faster bootup, plus of course better performance in JavaScript and so on, it shouldn't be a problem. Apps are pretty much required to run well even on 1GHz dual-core CPUs, like the mid-to-low-range phones have; 1.5GHz dual-core (like the high-end launch phones) is plenty.
Now, eventually that will no longer be the case, and the launch phones will go obsolete before the new ones. But the high-end launch phones will probably last longer than the low-end ones of the new generation anyhow, and the low-end launch ones will be the first to go. Microsoft will want to avoid that happening for as long as possible, so you should be good for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for such a detailed and helpful response. Much appreciated!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
You're welcome! There's other concerns besides the raw CPU power to consider, of course, such as the 1520 having a 1920x1080 resolution screen and BT 4.0 with low-energy mode, and newer phones will probably have more RAM and Flash storage as prices per gigabyte for such things continue to fall. Still, I've been very happy with my ATIV S (SGH-T899M) even though it's missing a few things that the newer phones have.
Oh, and while I appreciate the post, there *is* a Thanks button too... Much quicker!
GoodDayToDie said:
You're welcome! There's other concerns besides the raw CPU power to consider, of course, such as the 1520 having a 1920x1080 resolution screen and BT 4.0 with low-energy mode, and newer phones will probably have more RAM and Flash storage as prices per gigabyte for such things continue to fall. Still, I've been very happy with my ATIV S (SGH-T899M) even though it's missing a few things that the newer phones have.
Oh, and while I appreciate the post, there *is* a Thanks button too... Much quicker!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Important things to consider. thanks again! (Thanks button clicked) I have one last question. Do you see any advantages in owning a Phablet Windows Phone device over a Phone?
Does it have any extra functionalities, or anything unique that makes it special aside from having more tiles on the home screen? That's something that I'm really curious about
I don't own one myself, but the only thing that comes to mind is the ability to get a bunch more tiles on the Start screen (three "normal" columns, plus each tile is shorter as well - they're still square, after all - so you get more of them vertically at once). That's a nice feature, one which I enabled (via registry hack) on my ATIV S (at 4.8", it's just below the 5" cutoff for that feature to happen automatically) as soon as I got GDR3. Aside from that, and the phenomenal resolution of the 1520, though, I'm not aware of anything much.
GoodDayToDie said:
I don't own one myself, but the only thing that comes to mind is the ability to get a bunch more tiles on the Start screen (three "normal" columns, plus each tile is shorter as well - they're still square, after all - so you get more of them vertically at once). That's a nice feature, one which I enabled (via registry hack) on my ATIV S (at 4.8", it's just below the 5" cutoff for that feature to happen automatically) as soon as I got GDR3. Aside from that, and the phenomenal resolution of the 1520, though, I'm not aware of anything much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting, i didn't know registry hacks for WP8 devices are possible. Can it be done for all devices with GDR3?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Nope, I'm afraid they're still limited to Samsung's WP8 lineup. Check the interop-unlocks thread in my sig for more info.
GoodDayToDie said:
Nope, I'm afraid they're still limited to Samsung's WP8 lineup. Check the interop-unlocks thread in my sig for more info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then i may end up buying the Ativ S. Thanks man, I learned a lot from you. XDA needs more guys like you
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Well, we're still looking for unlocks in other lines (Lumias especially, given their popularity, but others too). You really can't give timelines on that kind of thing, though, and Samsung is already trying to break the one we have.

Galaxy Tab S2 Problems

Hello,
I got the Tab S2 8 inch or WiFi only model - SM-T710 on launch day.
I was really excited for this since I was upgrading from an iPad 4, which felt slow.
However, I was disappointed with many things :
1. Most Apps are not tablet optimized.
2. Asphalt 8 tends to lag, although I never noticed this with my iPad.
3. Only 1GB of the 3GB RAM seems to be available most of the time.
4. The play store won't let me access the US play store from outside the US.
5. Part of the Tablet feels hot after light usage.
Can rooting my device help with the above mentioned problems?
How can I fix these problems? Normally I would have done these myself but since I'm completely new to Android I wanted to ask. I've been using iOS since 5 years and I've never had any problems like these. I'm also a fan of iOS jailbreak, tweaks, etc..
One more doubt : Is there a chance that the Tab S2 will get the Android M update?
Thanks,
Trix
Trix123 said:
Hello,
I got the Tab S2 8 inch or WiFi only model - SM-T710 on launch day.
I was really excited for this since I was upgrading from an iPad 4, which felt slow.
However, I was disappointed with many things :
1. Most Apps are not tablet optimized.
2. Asphalt 8 tends to lag, although I never noticed this with my iPad.
3. Only 1GB of the 3GB RAM seems to be available most of the time.
4. The play store won't let me access the US play store from outside the US.
5. Part of the Tablet feels hot after light usage.
Can rooting my device help with the above mentioned problems?
How can I fix these problems? Normally I would have done these myself but since I'm completely new to Android I wanted to ask. I've been using iOS since 5 years and I've never had any problems like these. I'm also a fan of iOS jailbreak, tweaks, etc..
One more doubt : Is there a chance that the Tab S2 will get the Android M update?
Thanks,
Trix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. No issues on my s1
2. Can't help with that, don't play games
3. Perfectly normal on an Android device, Android doesn't waste ram, it uses it to make your device faster.
4. You probably need to load the firmware for your region.
5. Same as the s1
Trix123 said:
Hello,
I got the Tab S2 8 inch or WiFi only model - SM-T710 on launch day.
I was really excited for this since I was upgrading from an iPad 4, which felt slow.
However, I was disappointed with many things :
1. Most Apps are not tablet optimized.
2. Asphalt 8 tends to lag, although I never noticed this with my iPad.
3. Only 1GB of the 3GB RAM seems to be available most of the time.
4. The play store won't let me access the US play store from outside the US.
5. Part of the Tablet feels hot after light usage.
Can rooting my device help with the above mentioned problems?
How can I fix these problems? Normally I would have done these myself but since I'm completely new to Android I wanted to ask. I've been using iOS since 5 years and I've never had any problems like these. I'm also a fan of iOS jailbreak, tweaks, etc..
One more doubt : Is there a chance that the Tab S2 will get the Android M update?
Thanks,
Trix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Unfortunately, that is going to be a common thing with Android. Google built scalable interface based off the resolution, which makes apps run on tablets. As opposed to the iPad, there isn't a scalable interface feature but instead it uses upscaling, which makes apps very large and blurry.
In addition to that, Apple forces the default settings of the app store search to only show iPad only apps. This means, if you didn't update your app to support tablet interfaces manually, you wouldn't show up on the default search. This pretty much *forced* all of the developers to update their apps, if they wanted it to be seen of course.
But, since Android scales all of this natively the developers are lazy and simply do not update their apps for tablet interfaces as much as iOS.
2. The Tab S2 is a very powerful tablet, but if you're comparing it to the Ipad Air 2 there's going to be no comparison on how the iPad is much stronger. The processer on the iPad is more powerful than some computers people have at home. However, Android really is not a gaming platform, it is more of a productivity platform. There are way more games on iOS than Android, so if you're into gaming (on mobile) stick with iOS. Both platforms have hardware that is compeltely overkill than what most of the gaming apps actually require.
3. That honestly is no different than the iPAD, the amount of memory free should not be a concern unless apps are closing more often than you would like. Keep in mind that iOS struggles with memory as well, you can browse the internet and minimize the app and come back and it will reload the entire page, losing the spot you were scrolled to. On Android, it actually remembers the last spot you were at, simply because it has better memory management.
Keep in mind tablets are solid state, with incredibly fast read and write speeds. Ram can actually become irrelvant, because it can simply page the memory to the solid state drive and it would be effectively the same speed as real ram; you could actually get away with running with 1GB of ram easily. It's just that there is a limited amount of read and writes to a solid state drive, so they still use dedicated RAM to extend the lifespan since it is cheaper than solid state drives in general.
4. You can use a VPN to bypass that restriction.
5. Both the Ipad and S2 will got hot if you try to game on it, these devices don't even have fans in them so I don't know what you are expecting.
With that being said, I much prefer Android over IOS. When I use my iPAD, I've pretty much given up searching for an app because it simply did not exist with such restricted permissions on the iOS platform. With Android, I can customize my tablet to my liking, and I really like the keyboard support on it; it is much better than Apple in that regard.
I own both tablets and I use the Android far more, both have their cons and advantages. But for me, I don't like mobile games, I find them too simple. Thats why I love Android because I can emulate all consoles up to PSP/DS ERA.
Brittany_Menton said:
Keep in mind tablets are solid state, with incredibly fast read and write speeds. Ram can actually become irrelvant, because it can simply page the memory to the solid state drive and it would be effectively the same speed as real ram; you could actually get away with running with 1GB of ram easily. It's just that there is a limited amount of read and writes to a solid state drive, so they still use dedicated RAM to extend the lifespan since it is cheaper than solid state drives in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The read/write speeds of ss flash memory is nowhere near as fast as ram.
The Tab s and s2 both have very fast ram.
If manufacturers relied on flash memory for caching and system read/writes with today's fast cpu's the system would bottle neck and crawl.
Fast cpu's need much faster memory to keep up and run smoothly.
Run some benchmarks and you will see the difference.
ashyx said:
The read/write speeds of ss flash memory is nowhere near as fast as ram.
The Tab s and s2 both have very fast ram.
If manufacturers relied on flash memory for caching and system read/writes with today's fast cpu's the system would bottle neck and crawl.
Fast cpu's need much faster memory to keep up and run smoothly.
Run some benchmarks and you will see the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there is no question that RAM is much faster, but if you're comparing it to normal usage most people wouldn't see the difference. The Surface Pro 3 64GB edition runs off 2GB of RAM and constantly runs at 90% peak memory and ironically performs just as fast as the 4GB version simply because the solid state has such a high read and write speed.
To a certain extent, all tablets page to the harddrive. As far as I know, there aren't many flagship android models that feature like huge amounts of super speed ram.
When you're comparing it to "much faster", say if you are travelling 500mph and you could go 1200mph, but you already get to your destination in less than a second so for the average user, they probably wouldn't even notice the difference.
I suggest you do more research on it.
ashyx said:
I suggest you do more research on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The average user is not going to notice their device is faster if the device is perfectly capable of loading basic tasks such as websites at reasonable speeds.
Trix123 said:
Hello,
I got the Tab S2 8 inch or WiFi only model - SM-T710 on launch day.
I was really excited for this since I was upgrading from an iPad 4, which felt slow.
However, I was disappointed with many things :
1. Most Apps are not tablet optimized.
2. Asphalt 8 tends to lag, although I never noticed this with my iPad.
3. Only 1GB of the 3GB RAM seems to be available most of the time.
4. The play store won't let me access the US play store from outside the US.
5. Part of the Tablet feels hot after light usage.
Can rooting my device help with the above mentioned problems?
How can I fix these problems? Normally I would have done these myself but since I'm completely new to Android I wanted to ask. I've been using iOS since 5 years and I've never had any problems like these. I'm also a fan of iOS jailbreak, tweaks, etc..
One more doubt : Is there a chance that the Tab S2 will get the Android M update?
Thanks,
Trix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yup that is android sadly there. Though more are coming out with tablet versions of the software... FINALLY!
2) I haven't noticed that myself on the device as I do play that game as well
3) As long as it free's it up, there is no issues with having ram used. It will dump memory as needed if apps require more. Typically most apps don't require that much ram so no issues.
4) Thats just a country/region issue with the device ID. If rooted you can fix it at least. I travel and when outside the US the store is still US to me.
5) Most devices are like this. Gaming will make it hotter as well, but that goes for Android to Apple as well. Now, this device is cooler than previous ones I've had under heavy gaming and light usage gets a little warm.
As for the new OS, we can assume so, but since its a little ways off it might take time still for it to "Officially" come to the tablets.
I just bought mine yesterday and one feature under the settings was missing... there's no user under the device the options only are:
-sounds and notif
-display
-motion and gestures
-applications
there is no user. also in the notification panel there is no manage user.. can somebody help me plsss.. thanks in advance!
Tab S2 problem
Hey guys, hopefully someone here can point me in the right direction. Looks like i got screwed with my Tab S2. I bought a 9.7" cellular version from someone on Kijiji (Equivalent to Craigslist in Canada) and it was working just fine. I installed some apps and was just playing around with it. About two days later it started freezing and restarting when i would play a game or watch a video. Since then it has gotten progressively worse. I boot it up and 30 seconds to a minute later it turns off on its own. I thought it may be a software issue so i did a hard reset but the problem still persists. I took it into a Samsung repair center and they said that it is a pre-production model (IMEI is 00000000000000) and they cannot help. Any ideas what i can do to repair it. I just hate the idea of having a $400 paper weight.
egogz said:
Hey guys, hopefully someone here can point me in the right direction. Looks like i got screwed with my Tab S2. I bought a 9.7" cellular version from someone on Kijiji (Equivalent to Craigslist in Canada) and it was working just fine. I installed some apps and was just playing around with it. About two days later it started freezing and restarting when i would play a game or watch a video. Since then it has gotten progressively worse. I boot it up and 30 seconds to a minute later it turns off on its own. I thought it may be a software issue so i did a hard reset but the problem still persists. I took it into a Samsung repair center and they said that it is a pre-production model (IMEI is 00000000000000) and they cannot help. Any ideas what i can do to repair it. I just hate the idea of having a $400 paper weight.[/QUOTE
Hi did you buy it brand new (in a sealed box)? Maybe i got a solution for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone experienced these probs?
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 Problems/Issues
Model#: SM-T815Y
Android Version: 5.0.2 (latest)
1. random hanging 3x-10x/day depends on usage.
problem: hanging that leads to black display screen
solution: soft reset -> press the power button+volume down for atleast 10secs
or until boot up screen shows up.
1a. random hanging usually happens
-when downloading or opening something in the Playstore.
-exploring the settings of the gadget.
NOTE: I noticed that it happens frequently when clicking/using apps
that is related to its Internal Memory.(eg. problem#2)
2. Calculating the Size of the Applications
problem 1: it keeps saying computing even after 30mins of leaving the screen.
solution: unmount sd card>remove sd card>insert sd card.
problem 2: can't clear cache of an application.
solution: need to restart the gadget for it to take effect.
3. Auto Restart then it didn't boot up properly. It only stayed in Samsung Screen.
CONCLUSION: it's not normal to have these kind of problems 3gb of RAM,32gb of internal memory, up to date updates.
: very few widgets are activated, very few downloaded apps installed.
: strongly convinced that the cause of problem is its hardware specifically its internal memory.

Categories

Resources