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So got my Nexus 4 16GB during the week, its my first ever Nexus phone however have had a variety of Android phones from the HTC Desire right up to Galaxy S2, have to say I am not 100% sold on the Nexus.
I used to think skins where unnecessary but since getting the Nexus I have come to realise how much more user friendly they make things, simple things like pulling down the notification bar to put in aeroplane mode, orientation screen lock etc, or perhaps battery percentage up beside the battery?
My battery also seems to drain very fast, and I am not using the phone any differently than I did my galaxy S2, auto sync turned of and all the rest.
The camera while being 8mp acts like 5mp at best for some reason, Its not a patch on my SGS2, Ok I only take photos for instagram etc and its fine for that.
When you got your N4 did you instantly fall in love or did it take a while to grow on you? I'm not convinced yet.
But skins are so incredibly ugly and IMO they don't make the phone that much more user friendly (definitely not enough to justify their appearance and sluggishness). TouchWiz on the GS4 still looks like it's meant to run on Gingerbread and it causes random lag where no modern phone should have any trouble.
The quick settings in the notification bar are there, and I think it's just as good an implementation on stock because you can see more of your notifications at any one time. In TouchWiz they take up about half of the notification tray with quick settings, in stock a two fingered swipe or a tap in the top right corner will take you to them. You can edit them and make them easier to get to using a custom ROM, and while you may argue that you shouldn't have to do that it's ludicrously straightforward on a Nexus device.
A custom kernel should also fix your battery drain. I'm getting through a day without any issues and I'm perfectly happy with that. Currently my phone has had 1 day 1 hour of usage with 1 hr 30 minutes screen on time and 45% battery left. Note that the screen was on full brightness during this and Wifi and auto sync were left on.
When you say it acts like 5MP do you mean that the quality is crap or that it's literally taking photos at a 5MP size? If it's the first then that's true and there's really nothing that can be done. If it's the latter then open the camera, press anywhere on the screen to bring up the circle control, go to the settings option (the one that looks like a bunch of sliders) and change the picture size to 8MP.
Personally, I loved my N4 from the moment I got it. After calibration the screen was just about the best I'd seen (and I flashed it straight away, only used stock for a minute or two), it was the smoothest Android experience I had ever had and (unlike my HD2) everything just worked flawlessly for me.
Best phone I ever owned.
Flash a rom + kernel to get the features you're missing. If no likey, return and purchase other phone.
Tip: don't continue with praising skins of HTC or Samsung instead of aosp. Will only get you flamed..
Sounds about right. The best feature is being bland and featureless with the greatest potential to be customized. You are just at the most basic, boring, least impressive starting point. The rest is kind of up to you. Just my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
dweekie said:
Sounds about right. The best feature is being bland and featureless with the greatest potential to be customized. You are just at the most basic, boring, least impressive starting point. The rest is kind of up to you. Just my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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I'd take this supposed 'blandness' any day over slow, sluggish and ugly OEM skins.
There are many things on this phone that make it great, such as the screen, silky smoothness and more. But first thing out of the box I was a bit disappointed as well because it has no battery percentage. It annoyed me because I can't tell how much battery life I have left unless I download a widget or pull down the bar. But, I ended up flashing the percentage mod, then flashing kernel, then a rom. Now I can't look back. Battery life got better, colors on my screen got even better and best of all I got a percentage on my battery.
If you compare the battery to something like GS3, this is better, so you might just have to let the phone settle in.
slugger09 said:
So got my Nexus 4 16GB during the week, its my first ever Nexus phone however have had a variety of Android phones from the HTC Desire right up to Galaxy S2, have to say I am not 100% sold on the Nexus.
I used to think skins where unnecessary but since getting the Nexus I have come to realise how much more user friendly they make things, simple things like pulling down the notification bar to put in aeroplane mode, orientation screen lock etc, or perhaps battery percentage up beside the battery?
My battery also seems to drain very fast, and I am not using the phone any differently than I did my galaxy S2, auto sync turned of and all the rest.
The camera while being 8mp acts like 5mp at best for some reason, Its not a patch on my SGS2, Ok I only take photos for instagram etc and its fine for that.
When you got your N4 did you instantly fall in love or did it take a while to grow on you? I'm not convinced yet.
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Click to collapse
Skins like Sense and TW only bloat the system. You will get use to the pure experience pretty quick and then you will grow to hate skins
I have always carried my devices naked (the device not me) and don't have any issues with the Nexus naked. It's a bit slippery but you will adjust to that quickly and hold the device a bit tighter.
The battery starts off horrid! It really takes several drain and recharge cycles for the battery to get up to par. Mine makes it through the day just fine now.
Mega pixels don't really mean much if you are not developing poster sized photos. Try using HDR mode and see if you like the photos better.
My .02
Did you not even do any research before getting this phone?? This is vanilla android and most people get this phone for that reason. If you are used to some added skins like Thouchwhiz, Sense, or Motoblur and like that, you should have stuck with one of those phones. Otherwise, root the phone and get to modding and theming or install a cost rom that is feature rich.
slugger09 said:
So got my Nexus 4 16GB during the week, its my first ever Nexus phone however have had a variety of Android phones from the HTC Desire right up to Galaxy S2, have to say I am not 100% sold on the Nexus.
I used to think skins where unnecessary but since getting the Nexus I have come to realise how much more user friendly they make things, simple things like pulling down the notification bar to put in aeroplane mode, orientation screen lock etc, or perhaps battery percentage up beside the battery?
My battery also seems to drain very fast, and I am not using the phone any differently than I did my galaxy S2, auto sync turned of and all the rest.
The camera while being 8mp acts like 5mp at best for some reason, Its not a patch on my SGS2, Ok I only take photos for instagram etc and its fine for that.
When you got your N4 did you instantly fall in love or did it take a while to grow on you? I'm not convinced yet.
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Click to collapse
Hi!
1. The airplane mode is there. Just swipe down the notification bar with TWO fingers. Then you get lots of toggle-settings including the airplane mode. The orientation screen lock is not there though. HOWEVER; installing custom ROMs will most likely ADD many more features in the toggles area (like orientation) and so forth.
2. For battery drain, try flashing a custom kernel, such as Franco.Kernel. Not only does it improve battery, but you may calibrate your screen (his app includes a preset for lovely colors + deep blacks), and much more. If you want you can undervolt/overclock as well. Note that you can have a custom kernel while still keeping the STOCK rom installed (default andoird 4.2.2 for example).
I personally enjoy stock android (so I haven't installed a ROM), but i felt francos kernel REALLY improved the device. The battery is improved (doesnt drain as much, nor does the phone heat up as much as before). Also the colors of the screen turned really wonderful aftering being calibrated to 2.2gamma.
Basicly, if you are unhappy, look into some ROMs and kernels. You can find almost anything you want :good:
Different strokes, different folks.. OP gave it a shot and gave an honest, un-smug opinion... It is what it is. Some people just like the gloss on top.. Nothing wrong with that.
slugger09 said:
So got my Nexus 4 16GB during the week, its my first ever Nexus phone however have had a variety of Android phones from the HTC Desire right up to Galaxy S2, have to say I am not 100% sold on the Nexus.
I used to think skins where unnecessary but since getting the Nexus I have come to realise how much more user friendly they make things, simple things like pulling down the notification bar to put in aeroplane mode, orientation screen lock etc, or perhaps battery percentage up beside the battery?
My battery also seems to drain very fast, and I am not using the phone any differently than I did my galaxy S2, auto sync turned of and all the rest.
The camera while being 8mp acts like 5mp at best for some reason, Its not a patch on my SGS2, Ok I only take photos for instagram etc and its fine for that.
When you got your N4 did you instantly fall in love or did it take a while to grow on you? I'm not convinced yet.
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Click to collapse
Instant love with the N4. Sold it away after a couple of months, went around owning other phones like the iPhone 5, Note 2, GS3, Xperia ZL. Have now come back to the N4. But then again, I knew what I was getting into coz I had the GNex before this.
The point of stock android, is not that it offers features other skins dont. What makes it attractive is that it offers a solid, no BS foundation to which you can add tweaks and functionality suited individually to YOU. You say you want Airplane mode in quick settings, maybe battery percentage next to the battery? Guess what there is a tweak for that and much more. But what happens when you are on TW and you dont want to look like an idiot waving you hands all over the screen in public? Sure you can disable that, but it doesnt mean its gone. Still cramping the software and taking up space. Again, this is just an example. As for battery drain, try kernels like Franco or Trinity. Install BBS and cull out the rogue apps.
You said its your first nexus. Stick around, read and you'll find out what a great piece of hardware this is in perfect sync with the software.
Definitely the best android phone I've owned, coming from a one x and one s and those were great devices as well. Only problem I see is the battery..I leave school with about 10-30% usually around 3 but other than that I love this phone
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
styckx said:
Different strokes, different folks.. OP gave it a shot and gave an honest, un-smug opinion... It is what it is. Some people just like the gloss on top.. Nothing wrong with that.
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Agreed. Btw if anyone thought my posts were meant to be insulting or rude they weren't, they're just my opinions on OEM skins.
OP should check out the Power Toggles app on the Play Store for notification bar toggles, works just like Sense type toggles with customizability.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc&hl=en
Yes I think it just needs a few tweaks here and there, not going to the extent of a custom ROM just a kernel etc, first need to work out how to unlock the bootloader and root
Nigeldg said:
Agreed. Btw if anyone thought my posts were meant to be insulting or rude they weren't, they're just my opinions on OEM skins.
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Nah not at all. I posted my thoughts without even reading the rest of the replies. I'm just so used to people taking a licking for daring to not like a Nexus I just assumed maybe OP got a little heat. Apparently it was rather civil.. :good: :laugh::victory:
I love mine, came from a phone with htc sense, and sense was one of the things that killed "skins" for me. That being said yeah there's pluses and minuses to both. Stock Android is just as capable but your going to have to dig and get some apps from the market to get all the features oems put in their skins. I prefer it that way, I can pretty much make my phone perfect to me. I really feel like with an oem skin you don't get the full customizing experience, and that's why I like raw android. However it's not for everyone. Different strokes for different folks
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Phones should come with a 24 hour buyers remorse warranty. Just return it if you're not satisfied. Though, if you're willing to follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole, I'm sure you'll be in awe on how much you can do with Android, let alone the Nexus 4.
slugger09 said:
Yes I think it just needs a few tweaks here and there, not going to the extent of a custom ROM just a kernel etc, first need to work out how to unlock the bootloader and root
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Click to collapse
if u really want to unlock the bootloader, you should do it right away, and before actually using the phone, because unlocking it would erase all your personal data (like a phone reset). or you can back up ur phone.
rooting is super easy. 1st, install custom recovery, 2nd, flash supersu zip, and done.
I really love mine, picked it up over a month ago. I thought LTE would be my major gripe but my carrier supports the N4's DC-HSPA radio so in most areas I can get up to 22-23 mbps download speeds where the S3 was getting around 30 on LTE in the same areas (although much better upload speeds). I'm pretty happy with that considering my older HSPA phone was only getting 6-7 max.
I was strongly considering also owning an LTE phone too since I still haven't used my upgrade yet, but I've played with both the One and the S4 and I simply disliked the button layouts of both phones. I'm going to hold off until one of the OEM's releases a flagship that stays closer to the standard layout. The new Xperia phones do, but they're using basically the same hardware as the Nexus 4 anyway which would basically be a sidegrade+LTE and not a significant upgrade. Looks like my final hopes for owning two phones is going to rest with Motorola or Nexus 5 now. I'm very satisfied with this for now though.
After learning about the official specs for the Nexus 9, I decided to get the Tab S 10.5.
The Nexus 9 turned out to be a huge disappointment, aside from the Tegra K1 chip and stock Android. Let's see:
- smaller screen size
- lower resolution
- slightly lower ppi
- smaller battery
- higher price tag (for a Nexus device)
- only 2 GB of RAM
- thicker bzels
- no stereo front speakers
- thicker and only a few grams lighter, despite being a whole lot smaller
I'm aware that I'm kind of comparing apples to oranges, as they're different screen sizes, but they're *my* choices.
I'm seriously disappointed with Google for botching the Nexus 9. It could've been awesome... The Nexus 6, however, is one damn nice phone.
the screen of Tab S kills the Nexus 9.
[email protected] said:
the screen of Tab S kills the Nexus 9.
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That's another reason the Tab S is better than Nexus 9.
Nexus devices never had AMOLED displays. The Nexus 6 will be the first.
rodrigorajao said:
That's another reason the Tab S is better than Nexus 9.
Nexus devices never had AMOLED displays. The Nexus 6 will be the first.
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nope the Legend Nexus One had one, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus too, it was from Nexus 4/5 we did not get AMOLED
rodrigorajao said:
After learning about the official specs for the Nexus 9, I decided to get the Tab S 10.5.
The Nexus 9 turned out to be a huge disappointment, aside from the Tegra K1 chip and stock Android. Let's see:
- smaller screen size
- lower resolution
- slightly lower ppi
- smaller battery
- higher price tag (for a Nexus device)
- only 2 GB of RAM
- thicker bzels
- no stereo front speakers
- thicker and only a few grams lighter, despite being a whole lot smaller
I'm aware that I'm kind of comparing apples to oranges, as they're different screen sizes, but they're *my* choices.
I'm seriously disappointed with Google for botching the Nexus 9. It could've been awesome... The Nexus 6, however, is one damn nice phone.
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Yup, been waiting all year for the announcement and just getting more and more disappointed as the rumours trickled out. You don't mention what was the real deal-breaker for me: the 4:3 aspect ratio . Have they never tried to watch a movie on an iPad ffs?
Picked up my new Tab S 10.5 on Thursday to find a great offer just started (here in the UK anyway). Warranty extended to 3 years, £50 of Play Store credit and a free 32GB micro-SD card thrown in!
This is the first Samsung device I have owned. I was willing to give Touchwiz a try but I'm afraid it only lasted a day. I had been a bit worried about all the talk of lag around here. I can confirm it is there but very, very slight and as far as I can see is completely confined to the stock launcher and its widgets.
I now have Nova laid out the way I like it with 3 home screens full of scrolling APW widgets for news, Twitter, agenda etc as well as Google Now stuff and I can tell you everything behaves beautifully and as smooth as butter. The underlying Android menus which Samsung have fiddled with always were very smooth even with TW launcher.
This is one beautiful piece of kit and my only regret is having hung on so long for news of the Nexus.
Restorer said:
I had been a bit worried about all the talk of lag around here. I can confirm it is there but very, very slight and as far as I can see is completely confined to the stock launcher and its widgets.
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Rooting + TiBu Freeze of Samsung bloat apps = lag free experience.
tbcpn said:
Rooting + TiBu Freeze of Samsung bloat apps = lag free experience.
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As I said replacing TW's launcher with Nova Launcher was enough to get rid of all signs of lag for me . It would be nice to get rid of more of the Samsung bloatware just on principle but unfortunately some of us are too reliant these days on root-detecting apps which makes rooting more trouble than it's worth.
Restorer said:
As I said replacing TW's launcher with Nova Launcher was enough to get rid of all signs of lag for me . It would be nice to get rid of more of the Samsung bloatware just on principle but unfortunately some of us are too reliant these days on root-detecting apps which makes rooting more trouble than it's worth.
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Yes, Nova Launcher helps considerably. I've been running it on all my devices since its first beta. Good stuff.
was waiting for nexus 9
but now i hate it is very disappointment
i really hope lg make great tab like my lg g pro 2 it is fantastic phone no lag at all very very fast love the software
tbcpn said:
Rooting + TiBu Freeze of Samsung bloat apps = lag free experience.
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Indeeed, the Tab S has great hardware, but terrible software. My 16GB RAM has over 4GB of "system files" out of the box. This is totally unacceptable in my book.
I'll root this sucker and uninstall the crap as soon as my return period is up.
nexus 9 has stereo front facing speakers
tm15 said:
nexus 9 has stereo front facing speakers
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Yep, and if they are anything like the M8's speakers, they will blow away the Tab S's. Having said that I still think the Tab S is an overall better device. The worst thing about the Nexus 9: it looks like an ipad.
The worst thing about the nexus 9 is the smaller screen and higher price tag.
I bought one the other day instead of getting the iPad Air 2. So far so good. Only thing I need to get used to is holding in landscape all the time. I never turn my iPads to landscape.
Restorer said:
As I said replacing TW's launcher with Nova Launcher was enough to get rid of all signs of lag for me . It would be nice to get rid of more of the Samsung bloatware just on principle but unfortunately some of us are too reliant these days on root-detecting apps which makes rooting more trouble than it's worth.
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Click to collapse
Same here. Nova makes a huge difference. Rooting for me is a no go on this device as well for the same reason.
blueboy1971 said:
Same here. Nova makes a huge difference. Rooting for me is a no go on this device as well for the same reason.
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Sad though that a manufacturer as large as Samsung can't get its own software to work smoothly on its own flagship device when a little outfit like Nova can get their stuff optimized just fine
I've come from the Galaxy note 10.1 2012 edition which was also a great tablet but this Galaxy S is just a stuipdly good tablet and you can pick up some recon bargains from Argos now too, got mine for £329 - it came brand new in opened box, looks like it had been opened and then just returned, still had plastic cover and all cables were still bagged etc.
Screen is simply amazing in the dark, still get inky blacks in pitch black, however there is a greeny colour cast orsomething to it in daylight when the birghtness is turned down and the headphone volume could be about 30% louder (system\etc default volme tweaks dont work for me for some reason).
I just bought a 10.5 last night and I couldn't be happier. The screen is amazing! Haven't experienced any lag but I put nova launcher on it rite away since I always use it on my phones. Loving it so far
I think Tab S is a good choice.. I have one question though.
How to hold the Tab S in protrait mode as I keep pressing the menu or back key.. Please help.
leojab said:
I think Tab S is a good choice.. I have one question though.
How to hold the Tab S in protrait mode as I keep pressing the menu or back key.. Please help.
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Click to collapse
Hold it lower or use one hand - it's light enough ! This is my first Samsung and I need to get used to the hardware buttons - especially since they decided to put Back and Recent the other way round to normal Android.
They say it takes 30 days for our brain to form new habits. Oh well, only 3 weeks to go now .
Hey everyone (particularly those I previously interacted with in the - now much less active - Note 3 forum )
My fist post in this forum signifies... pretty much a complete 180 wrt my interest in the Note 4, altering it from "ehh, no thanks" to "I wonder if the Tmo store down the street has any in stock?"
First, my current Note 3: I freaking love it, easily my #1 fav out of the many phones I've owned. It's running Tweaked 3.9, leanKernel 3.11.3 and themed with @cbucz24's B&W Tweaked theme and a sick themed stock Samsung keyboard that he made. Run's like a dream (Antutu benchmarks always in the mid 40k's with an all time high of about 47.5K), Nova Prime, any otherwise heavily customized software-wise (most significant example: I've basically totally altered the stock S pen function via GMD S-pen / no auto Air Command, but launch-able via GMD and significant progress towards my goal of doing literally anything (access obscure settings / direct dial, etc.) just by scribbling a path on the screen. Also, froze flashbar service, replaced with sidebar launchers of Flppr - access pre-configured widgets, divided into categories, from ANY screen via swipe gestures (awesome in general, but particularly useful for "remotes" such as Smart Remote, Yatse, Ultimate Remote...), OmniSnitch (grabbed from the ROM flashed on my "week or so NEW" Note 10.1 2014, T-mo lte variant (p607t, which is actually just a carrier branded P605 - international lte variant, thus completely compatible with p605 ROMs :good, and PIE. Last example (maybe most significant) example, replaced Pen Window, which is rather slow, clunky, and functionally limited AND split window with the far superior XHalo module. Really the only "native" function that I use is handwriting recognition, which IMO works amazingly well). Also, I'm pretty good storage-wise, with the 32GB internal, a 64GB external (must have root app: FolderMount!) AND a few of those tiny USB / USB OTG drives - two of them being USB 3 / 64 GB (but the first Corsair one I got was "misplaced" (read: very likely lost forever) - replaced it with the equivalent Patriot drive which has the fastest transfer speeds I've EVER seen on a flash drive, but via PC USB 3 and phone micro usb 2! Oh, last thing, tons of accessories, most of which incompatible with the Note 4 (ex. cases... so many cases! and a micro USB 3 4 port hub).
So while, having the 'old' JUMP program and not yet using it, it makes more "sense" to trade my Note 3 for a 4, then do the same when this period of "transitional" phone releases passes, and the 64-bit "phone of my dreams" (yes, to confirm, phone ownership CAN affect sleep ) becomes available. However, given my exceptional "fondness" for my N3 & it's extensively customized tweaks, I am somewhat concerned about ditching it for its (currently, at least) less customizable successor.
Keeping my N3 AND getting an N4 really is not an option - I don't really have the cash to buy it straight up, and wouldn't be particularly compelled to if I did. However, having the 'old' JUMP, which I haven't yet used, I feel like, logically, I should go for upgrade 1 of 2 / year, and swap the N3 for a 4, which would be sort of a "transitional" device, until something that I NEED to have released.
SO Note 4 owners (JUMPers... first and last time I'll ever be using that adjective ), where any of you in a similar situation, but decided to go for it anyways? Are you happy to have done so? Any regrets?
Last (any peripheral) question: is anyone aware of the current availability of the N4? Is it typically available in stores yet (particularly in Chicago - the store near me is in Lincoln Park on Clark, if I have any neighbors around here )? Or is the best (fastest) way to JUMP via ordering online (if so, would it be a pre-order and if so, how long of a delay should be expected?) I do know a really cool / helpful guy at the T-mo store (who I talked EXTENSIVELY about root etc., explicitly making sure the new tablet wasn't locked down before buying it, and even straight up asking him if he thought that it would be cool to flash alternative firmware on my new deposit-less AC1900 if I flashed it back to stock before returning it, to which he surprisingly responded "yeah, I'm pretty sure that's fine"!) so he could possibly help me out if availability is still an issue (he also ordered a LTE booster, sent to my house, since I told him I wanted both but was told I could only have one or the other shipped. Paid the deposit for that one, but just got tracking info: delivery date = tomorrow )
So I can / plan to roll by the store to check it out, but just wondering if anyone has bought / ordered one recently and has any info re: current availability.
Really looking forward to discussing / exploring the mod potential for this device with you all! Thanks in advance - mostly hoping to resolve the matters that are making me hesitant to JUMP over to this device and it's MUCH more active discussion :good:
For me, the Note 4 is everything I've ever wanted in a phone (minus dual front facing speakers, but oh well)
I LOVED my Note 3. LOVED it. It was hands down the best device I've ever owned. Until now. I didn't use my JUMP (even though I have JUMP 1.0) kept the Note 3 so I could give it to my friend who would never be able to afford a beastly phone like that.
The Note 4 is the best phone money can buy right now (IMHO). No regrets, and I got it on release day. I baby it and it already has a couple of minor scratches on the aluminum bezel but I could care less. I never dropped it, ever, and I'm ultra careful with my phones (the Note 3 is still flawless, I mean literally looks brand new). So keep that in mind, you will get scratches on the bezel, but honestly even with that, still THE best phone in the world.
That tweaked 3.9 is a GREAT rom, but the note4 is an all around better device. Battery life, camera focus speed, processor speed (once tweaked a little), and the s-pen does function better.
And that fast charger makes anything else obsolete. Charging to 75-90% in 1hr is just crazy.
Screen is pretty nice too :wink:
I was pretty bummed about the rear speaker, and the non wolfson dac, but I guess only a few media people even care about sound quality lol.
If it's a stretch money wise, just skip this iteration, it's improved but not mind blowing
Hey thanks a lot man! Just called the store, and the guy made it pretty clear that online order was the way to go (specifically, they had one white one at 6PM Thurs., and he said it'd likely be gone within 10 mins!) Additionally, with the online JUMP, I have 30 days to give my N3 a :crying: proper goodbye :laugh: )
I'm going to go ahead and find + order a case (slim but protective w/ built in port covers / tempered glass saver. Would welcome recommendations on that :highfive:
Amd4life said:
That tweaked 3.9 is a GREAT rom, but the note4 is an all around better device. Battery life, camera focus speed, processor speed (once tweaked a little), and the s-pen does function better.
And that fast charger makes anything else obsolete. Charging to 75-90% in 1hr is just crazy.
Screen is pretty nice too :wink:
I was pretty bummed about the rear speaker, and the non wolfson dac, but I guess only a few media people even care about sound quality lol.
If it's a stretch money wise, just skip this iteration, it's improved but not mind blowing
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Click to collapse
Ah yes, the speaker; meant to address that. Placement / quality of a device's speaker(s) is probably the lowest priority criteria for device selection. By that I mean, if I'm doing anything on the phone where I care about sound quality (media, gaming (occasionally, but not usually), pretty much anything aside from ring / notification tones) I'm going to be connecting either headphones, APTX BT speaker, or even my 7.1 AVR. Any of those is going to produce better sound than even the best built in speakers on any mobile device, for which I would do the same. The lack of the Wolfson DAC is a drag or rather a "wtf sammy".
Situation seems to be that N4 is unquestionably "better" overall than the N3, and I basically have the choice of walking around with one or the other in my pocket, or burning 1/2 JUMP upgrades. Now that development for this phone has picked up, it seems to me that grabbing an N4 vs. holding onto my N3 would be an "emotional rather than logical" decision.
When you get your phone, you will love it. I switched from an AT&T S3 to this T-Mobile N4. A tad pricey, but oooh so worth it. I've wanted a Note phone for years and I finally have one. I'm tempted to root and tweak but worried about tripping Knox and any unforseen warranty hassles.
Anyway, glad you love your N3. Hope the N4 is everything you want it to be.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Premium HD app
jazzmachine said:
Hey everyone (particularly those I previously interacted with in the - now much less active - Note 3 forum )
My fist post in this forum signifies... pretty much a complete 180 wrt my interest in the Note 4, altering it from "ehh, no thanks" to "I wonder if the Tmo store down the street has any in stock?"
First, my current Note 3: I freaking love it, easily my #1 fav out of the many phones I've owned. It's running Tweaked 3.9, leanKernel 3.11.3 and themed with @cbucz24's B&W Tweaked theme and a sick themed stock Samsung keyboard that he made. Run's like a dream (Antutu benchmarks always in the mid 40k's with an all time high of about 47.5K), Nova Prime, any otherwise heavily customized software-wise (most significant example: I've basically totally altered the stock S pen function via GMD S-pen / no auto Air Command, but launch-able via GMD and significant progress towards my goal of doing literally anything (access obscure settings / direct dial, etc.) just by scribbling a path on the screen. Also, froze flashbar service, replaced with sidebar launchers of Flppr - access pre-configured widgets, divided into categories, from ANY screen via swipe gestures (awesome in general, but particularly useful for "remotes" such as Smart Remote, Yatse, Ultimate Remote...), OmniSnitch (grabbed from the ROM flashed on my "week or so NEW" Note 10.1 2014, T-mo lte variant (p607t, which is actually just a carrier branded P605 - international lte variant, thus completely compatible with p605 ROMs :good, and PIE. Last example (maybe most significant) example, replaced Pen Window, which is rather slow, clunky, and functionally limited AND split window with the far superior XHalo module. Really the only "native" function that I use is handwriting recognition, which IMO works amazingly well). Also, I'm pretty good storage-wise, with the 32GB internal, a 64GB external (must have root app: FolderMount!) AND a few of those tiny USB / USB OTG drives - two of them being USB 3 / 64 GB (but the first Corsair one I got was "misplaced" (read: very likely lost forever) - replaced it with the equivalent Patriot drive which has the fastest transfer speeds I've EVER seen on a flash drive, but via PC USB 3 and phone micro usb 2! Oh, last thing, tons of accessories, most of which incompatible with the Note 4 (ex. cases... so many cases! and a micro USB 3 4 port hub).
So while, having the 'old' JUMP program and not yet using it, it makes more "sense" to trade my Note 3 for a 4, then do the same when this period of "transitional" phone releases passes, and the 64-bit "phone of my dreams" (yes, to confirm, phone ownership CAN affect sleep ) becomes available. However, given my exceptional "fondness" for my N3 & it's extensively customized tweaks, I am somewhat concerned about ditching it for its (currently, at least) less customizable successor.
Keeping my N3 AND getting an N4 really is not an option - I don't really have the cash to buy it straight up, and wouldn't be particularly compelled to if I did. However, having the 'old' JUMP, which I haven't yet used, I feel like, logically, I should go for upgrade 1 of 2 / year, and swap the N3 for a 4, which would be sort of a "transitional" device, until something that I NEED to have released.
SO Note 4 owners (JUMPers... first and last time I'll ever be using that adjective ), where any of you in a similar situation, but decided to go for it anyways? Are you happy to have done so? Any regrets?
Last (any peripheral) question: is anyone aware of the current availability of the N4? Is it typically available in stores yet (particularly in Chicago - the store near me is in Lincoln Park on Clark, if I have any neighbors around here )? Or is the best (fastest) way to JUMP via ordering online (if so, would it be a pre-order and if so, how long of a delay should be expected?) I do know a really cool / helpful guy at the T-mo store (who I talked EXTENSIVELY about root etc., explicitly making sure the new tablet wasn't locked down before buying it, and even straight up asking him if he thought that it would be cool to flash alternative firmware on my new deposit-less AC1900 if I flashed it back to stock before returning it, to which he surprisingly responded "yeah, I'm pretty sure that's fine"!) so he could possibly help me out if availability is still an issue (he also ordered a LTE booster, sent to my house, since I told him I wanted both but was told I could only have one or the other shipped. Paid the deposit for that one, but just got tracking info: delivery date = tomorrow )
So I can / plan to roll by the store to check it out, but just wondering if anyone has bought / ordered one recently and has any info re: current availability.
Really looking forward to discussing / exploring the mod potential for this device with you all! Thanks in advance - mostly hoping to resolve the matters that are making me hesitant to JUMP over to this device and it's MUCH more active discussion :good:
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Cool story bro. So cool I couldnt finish it.
Yup
I thought i was the only one,
The UI feels a bit clunkier And the battery life isnt nearly as good for me as a heavy user i could get almost a full day and a half, on the note 4 i might get barely a day same use.
If i couldve taken the note 3 software multi window UI and put it in the note 4 body it would be the perfect phone.
tmotechsupport said:
I thought i was the only one,
The UI feels a bit clunkier And the battery life isnt nearly as good for me as a heavy user i could get almost a full day and a half, on the note 4 i might get barely a day same use.
If i couldve taken the note 3 software multi window UI and put it in the note 4 body it would be the perfect phone.
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I have to agree. Turned my note 3 on last night to play with it and it's smooth. Still on stock rooted and animation is smoother with less lag.
Battery on my note 4 i would say lasts 15% less. I've only disconnected my phone for 5 hours with 2:15 screen time and I'm already at 55%. I'm losing about an hour total screen time compared to my note 3.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Yes, Note 4 is worth the JUMP....
I loved my Note 3, but I love my Note 4 more.
There are only two things that I miss about my Note 3.
Temperature sensor
Humidity sensor
If none of these matter to you, the Note 4 is a no brainer. Even if those things mattered to you (like it matters to me ) the Note 4 is still a no brainer.
Those are great AnTuTu benchmakrs for the Note 3, but the SD800 in the N3 is no comparison to the N4 SD805. If you look in my sig, I've hit 50K+ on stock kernel running FireKatv2.
JUMP on over! :good:
Hi guys,
Happy New Year to all! Seems like my first resolution for 2017 will be to get a new phone as my LG G3 decided to die a few days after Christmas while on vacation... lovely, as it was to be my only way of taking pictures! Anyway, I'm looking for a cost-effective replacement phone (I'm in Australia for reference). My preference would have been a Pixel phone, but they retail north of 1000 AUD for the entry-level 32GB non-XL Pixel here, which is just too expensive for my liking. Alternatively I would have considered the S7/S7 Edge, but just a few months before release of the S8 I'm not willing to pay full price for it.
This brings me to the P9, which is currently on sale here bringing its price to roughly half of the Pixel/S7 Edge (600 AUD), and given a major point for me is camera/picture quality, it is a serious contender. My main concern however is the rather heavy-handed EMUI skin. Are there any P9 users around here who generally prefer stock-ish Android and who have switched to the P9? What's your feeling around EMUI? As long-term users, did you get accustomed to it? Things like the notifications shade and the recent apps are making me cringe a little, partly because they seem much less practical than the default implementation in Android, and partly because.... they look like an iPhone
Are there any apps available to make EMUI look more like stock? I'd unlock the bootloader and root this thing if I buy it, so I'm thinking things like xposed modules? I'd also be fine flashing a stock-based custom ROM, but would rather avoid stock-based/CM/Lineage ROM as I'd like to keep full camera functionality.
Also - unrelated question, but are people generally happy with battery life on the P9? I'm a light/medium user and the 2 hours of screen on time I'd routinely get on the G3 would be okay most days, but obviously short for days of heavy use. I seem to be reading that 4-4.5 hours of SOT is standard, is that what people experience?
My fallback plan would be to get a ZUK Z2 to tide me over until this year's phones.
Thanks for reading!
I got a zuk z2 pro after initially moving from Windows Lumia 950. The hardware for price was awesome but the software on it was a nightmare so I sold it and switched to P9.
First I used Nova launcher which was great as Emui didn't have an app draw.
Now I am beta testing Nougat Emui 5 which is a lot better and closer to stock although still stuck with the Icons.
Currently Nova crashes with my widgets so until that is fixed I am keeping with standard launcher, actually now I am used to it I may just stay using it.
Sent from my Hauwai P9 EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
I used a Nexus 5 for 2 years , S6 for 1 year and now I have a P9 (HTC 10 for some weeks,other phones only a few days).
Emui is something new . For me,it feels like a new, fresh experience.
I'm done with stock android. If I buy a flagship device,i want some features . The phone is fast (feels faster than HTC 10,S6,etc) .
For me ,it's better than stock android. S6 had the features,but it was laggy (s7 is the same). P9 has the features but it's also fast.
For me it's BAD, but not the EMUI by itself. It's bad because it's poorly made. No double tap to wake up the screen, no wave to wake up but there are ton of other useless motion controls.. Even Knuckle gestures that pretty sure no one is using (or 5 people at most)... Notes app doesn't sync with Gmail. No Reminders app. Don't like the colors, even in the Nougat update. Black with dark blue is so ugly (to me) that if I knew this would be enough to skip this phone. One of my biggest problems - can't turn off the haptic feedback, everytime I am using google search the phone vibrates and drives me crazy, and of course is draining battery. The worst part of the Phone is the updates, mine is still with 1 September security patch, it's January now... Flagship not getting monthly security patches in 2016-2017 is a joke, especially with the raising virus attacks. Took them too long to update to Nougat - another flaw. Everything else - Screen, build quality, camera is pretty damn good. Battery is pretty good to 5 hours without any problem and on Nougat most people get 6 and more hours.. Software is the biggest flaw.
Yes you can make it more Stock like - take a look at the themes here that some good people are making. No need of another Launcher. They are great and make the phone at least look better. And they will be released for EMUI 5 too. I won't suggest installing launchers, at least I had really bad experience, my phone started lagging so much I had to factory reset it. And I asked many people, they had the same problem after installing another launcher. This is my opinion and my experience. To be honest, if I knew how I will feel with this phone, I was going to get me S7. My advice is just wait for S8... Or LG G5 right now is on great price in most countries, great phone, would take it everyday instead of Huawei... It's your money and your decision after all.
Thanks guys for all the valuable feedback. I gave it a good thinking and eventually went to buy the P9 last weekend. I'll be writing up some more thorough thoughts about it when I get a chance, but so far I'm quite satisfied. It's very fluid overall, and I have 61% battery left as I write this with 1.5 hours of screen on time - at this stage my G3, also with a 3000mah battery, would be close to throwing in the towel already!
Two noticeable drawbacks, the lack of OIS for a phone supposedly focused on photography is annoying, and the 3D performance is definitely very middling. I did know this going in though so it certainly is no big surprise.
Hi
Battery life on the P9 is way better than the G3 (I had one that sadly died as well). P9 is also much smoother and doesn't heat as much as the G3 did.
EMUI is OK. Takes a bit more time the first day to set things up, because some things are buried a bit deeper in the settings. If you're worried about the look... There's a good theming community with some really good "stock android" themes available. Pair that with something like Nova launcher and you won't even notice it's there.
The camera is indeed excellent.
I also came from the G3 to this phone. I am loving it. I was ready to unlock/root/custom after reading all the professional reviews slamming EMUI. It took a bit of getting used to, but 7 months later this remains the first Android phone I have not rooted. I haven't even given it a factory rest to combat slow-down, and battery life remains excellent.
There is a customer skin in this: (https://forum.xda-developers.com/p9/themes/theme-material-vui-t3429075) thread which provides a nice stock look to icons and notification bar. I missed the app drawer for about 2 days then just got a folder page set up and organised. On balance it doesn't take me any longer to get to where I want to go.
About my only complaint is that even with my White-list protecting certain apps from being killed, they still do not seem to perform as they did on the G3. These are automation apps like IFTTT which I used to auto arm/disarm my home security when I arrive leave.
cooldoud said:
Hi guys,
Happy New Year to all! Seems like my first resolution for 2017 will be to get a new phone as my LG G3 decided to die a few days after Christmas while on vacation... lovely, as it was to be my only way of taking pictures! Anyway, I'm looking for a cost-effective replacement phone (I'm in Australia for reference). My preference would have been a Pixel phone, but they retail north of 1000 AUD for the entry-level 32GB non-XL Pixel here, which is just too expensive for my liking. Alternatively I would have considered the S7/S7 Edge, but just a few months before release of the S8 I'm not willing to pay full price for it.
This brings me to the P9, which is currently on sale here bringing its price to roughly half of the Pixel/S7 Edge (600 AUD), and given a major point for me is camera/picture quality, it is a serious contender. My main concern however is the rather heavy-handed EMUI skin. Are there any P9 users around here who generally prefer stock-ish Android and who have switched to the P9? What's your feeling around EMUI? As long-term users, did you get accustomed to it? Things like the notifications shade and the recent apps are making me cringe a little, partly because they seem much less practical than the default implementation in Android, and partly because.... they look like an iPhone
Are there any apps available to make EMUI look more like stock? I'd unlock the bootloader and root this thing if I buy it, so I'm thinking things like xposed modules? I'd also be fine flashing a stock-based custom ROM, but would rather avoid stock-based/CM/Lineage ROM as I'd like to keep full camera functionality.
Also - unrelated question, but are people generally happy with battery life on the P9? I'm a light/medium user and the 2 hours of screen on time I'd routinely get on the G3 would be okay most days, but obviously short for days of heavy use. I seem to be reading that 4-4.5 hours of SOT is standard, is that what people experience?
My fallback plan would be to get a ZUK Z2 to tide me over until this year's phones.
Thanks for reading!
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Click to collapse
Using Nougat Beta I find EMUI 5.0 to be much more tolerable, as it is much closer to stock than 4.x, but also resembles iOS more than before which isn't great.
My biggest annoyance is its cloning of MiUI which, while understandable for a Chinese brand, is impractical. MiUI wastes very large amounts of screen space due to its obsessive "Top half=graphic, bottom half=details" design. Lots of screens have trivial graphics that have only a small amount of useful information, yet they're expanded to take the whole top half of the screen.
My only real annoyance is the stock features it replaces with versions that have fewer features. Case in point, the data usage monitor. Instead of taking the stock version and improving it, it seems Huawei built it from scratch because it can't do several things the stock version can do. Its interface in 4.x is ugly, in my opinion (also very MiUI), but even in 5.0 where it resembles stock, it isn't stock. You can't, for instance, check data usage for the previous month. You also cannot change the day of the month on which the monthly counter resets.
Considering it has the ability to cut off after you surpass a limit, it's clearly still designed with managing bills in mind, like its stock counterpart, yet they assume everyone's billing period resets on the 1st of the month.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Google Pixel 2, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Google Pixel 2 is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Now that I have one in hand I do truly love it it's an amazing phone it does what I want when I want. The screen is amazing it get so bright! The feed back for the keyboard is just right and the endless little things it does the software is so refined now and only going to get better. This is were Android is at.
I am so disappointed in this phone.
I'm in love with the Pixel 2. It's the 2017 version of the Nexus 5. I was missing too much a powerful Google phone with small size.
It's still expensive compared to the Nexus 5/5X but at least it has minimum 3 years of updates guaranteed (unlike the Pixel 1).
4 or 5 years would be optimal but I think Google is getting there.
Sent from my Pixel 2
I'm really happy with it. It looks like a shrunk Nexus 6P from the front.
Coming from the Nexus 6p general thoughts:
- The 6p from 2015 has a better screen, higher resolution aside it's significantly brighter @ maximum brightness
- In general use(I dont play games with it) it seems slightly faster but not alot.
- Its weird going back to a smaller phone, the 6p feels massive/unwieldy when I hold it now.
- I know the XL is popular but given the return to the 6p dual speaker Google should have used Huawei to make the XL, the y would have hit it out of the park (and I'd probably be an XL owner).
i'm very happy with this phone. way better than my pixel 1. battery life is unreal compared to what I used to get on my pixel wiht the same usage. I have no issues getting well over 1 day + with 3-4 hours SOT.
super snappy and responsive and love that I was able to unlock the bootloader and root in case I want to try out future developments.
I started using Android on the OG Motorola Droid then Droid X until Nexus phones hit the market & have owned nothing but Google phones since. When I was heavy into ROM & Play Store app development I often bought other popular phones for testing & as a writer for various Android sites was able to test several phones including Flagship devices from all the big name producers & have to say that the Pixel 2 is by far in my opinion the best iteration of an Android phone thus far. Performance, features, battery life, etc is top notch. I don't mind a bezel & if I were able to change something about the device it would be a removable battery & for Google to stand up to carriers like Verizon & say "Hey - if you want to be the exclusive carrier for this phone we will not lock bootloaders". Google is touted as pure Android and Android was built around the idea of freedom & community development. I hope to see Google add more functionality to the fingerprint sensor in the form of scrolling, camera shutter button, etc - all already developed by independent developers.
To close on a positive note, I am Glad to see Google taking steps towards rectifying the fragmentation problems with projects like Android One (Sprout) and Project Treble.
Trying hard to Love it
I love google andoid devices since my Nexus 5 (Which ended up very badly after 2 years though)
So I baught Pixel 2 again,
Battery 4 hours of SOT (with video call, LTE and Youtube usage
Heating issue when playing game or when on video call
No Headphone in box
No USB cable to connect to computer in box
If somehow I can ignore all this in coming days I wont return it.
Delivers on what I expected. Good value as I got a 40% discount.
Just got this phone late last week.
As a previous iPhone 6s user, the switch felt seamless as hardware wise I it didn't feel different to hold in the hand. Finger print reader location moved but felt more convenient and responsiveness and layout of the phone just felt right.
I got mine through Verizon with the $300 off promo which isn't a bad deal seeing as I sold my iPhone and was funding for a Gen 1 Pixel.
#teampixel
Definitely not worth the full retail price. Other OEM's have surpassed Google in hardware and design, and on top of that, the clean android experience is completely over-rated. The phone feels great in the hand, runs great, and the camera is top notch. But all of those features are commonplace among flagships in 2017. The only real advantage the pixel line has is the updates and the camera software (which will get ported to other devices again like last year).
Don't get me wrong, in a vacuum, the phone is spectacular. But it's also pretty mundane compared to everything else. My 2016 Honor 8 does more and costs less than the Pixel 2. Stock software is really holding this device back. A few more bells and whistles would have gone a long way.
ashokabs said:
Delivers on what I expected. Good value as I got a 40% discount.
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I've been looking for deals on this phone, where did you find the 40% discount?
LostMyMarbles said:
I've been looking for deals on this phone, where did you find the 40% discount?
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You won't find any deals like that for just the phone. Most deals are linked to a cellular service provider adding a line to your account
everything is perfect except for slow & easy to stuck...
zerowong said:
everything is perfect except for slow & easy to stuck...
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Auto-correct typos?
LostMyMarbles said:
I've been looking for deals on this phone, where did you find the 40% discount?
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Sorry for not replying earlier. In India it is available at Flipkart an online store for Rs 39999 against a list price of Rs 61000 which is a little more than 32%.
PuffDaddy_d said:
Auto-correct typos?
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Find out the reason, it's some barely used apps always running in the background, after block them, everything is going well now.
But my NFC still not working......
Please google. Open your eyes.
vrda08 said:
Please google. Open your eyes.
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I would love a Pixel 3 smaller and lighter than the Pixel 2 without loosing screen size.
Still...I used to throttle a lot the Nexus 5, also de 5X and the 6P just browsing...etc.
Pixel 2 is the first one that I can't throttle so I never suffer performance hits.
Sent from my Pixel 2
thesebastian said:
I'm in love with the Pixel 2. It's the 2017 version of the Nexus 5. I was missing too much a powerful Google phone with small size.
It's still expensive compared to the Nexus 5/5X but at least it has minimum 3 years of updates guaranteed (unlike the Pixel 1).
4 or 5 years would be optimal but I think Google is getting there.
Sent from my Pixel 2
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I agree. I really loved (and still do) my Nexus 5 and the Pixel 2 is an awesome upgrade especially the power and camera, form factor.