Hi all, I've been a fan of the Note 3 since it came out but it was out of my budget (I buy unlocked), now it's very affordable, I'm very aware of the specs and hardware and what draws me to it on paper (the screen size, 1080p, removeable storage, replaceable battery, the S pen, etc.).
However, I'd like to hear from real users, do you like the phone? Do you recommend it? Is this a phone that I "have to" root+ load custom to make it "work right", or does it run ok stock? What's your take and feedback? I'd love to hear it.
What do you like about it? What do you hate about it? What's there to know before I decide to make the purchase?
Building on the root topic, how hard is it? I was on other forums and I remember many complaining about Samsung and their bloatware and how it's "unlockable" (but from what I understand it's not necessary to really have it unlocked while still being very powerful/customizable).
I looked at the LG G pro 2(5.9" screen, microsdxc, replaceable battery etc. great phone, but too expensive right now), Sony Xperia ZU (camera not that great, somewhat dated hardware, can't get it for dirt cheap anymore), Sony Xperia Z2 (smaller, but amazing camera). Any other phones to consider? (I won't consider a phone that doesn't have expandable memory, so no Nexus phones for me).
Any/all feedback welcome, thanks!
The Note 3 is fantastic phone, I had it for a week, It is faster than the Galaxy S4, I love its stock ROM that why I have the Galaxy S4 for almost a year and i did not changed it is ROM.
My Note 3 is an ATT phone and I have it unlock to use it with tmobile, rooting the phone was easy, but the ATT phone has a locked boot loader, so regular recovery does not work like other phone.
My advice is to use the stock ROM and start reas this forum, if you don't like the stock ROM after a while then think about rooting and other things, I broke my phone after one week after installing a custom ROM and have it not fixed yet.
I hope that helps
abofihmi said:
The Note 3 is fantastic phone, I had it for a week, It is faster than the Galaxy S4, I love its stock ROM that why I have the Galaxy S4 for almost a year and i did not changed it is ROM.
My Note 3 is an ATT phone and I have it unlock to use it with tmobile, rooting the phone was easy, but the ATT phone has a locked boot loader, so regular recovery does not work like other phone.
My advice is to use the stock ROM and start reas this forum, if you don't like the stock ROM after a while then think about rooting and other things, I broke my phone after one week after installing a custom ROM and have it not fixed yet.
I hope that helps
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Appreciate the input! I was doing some reading and found out that the T-Mobile version does not have a locked bootloader and can be rooted and unlocked. I think I might end up trying to get a n900T instead of the n900A (though I may change my mind because I just need a phone to work out of the box for the time being.. I don't know if I'll have much time to screw around with custom roms just yet).
Although... I heard of people not getting full speeds on LTE with the Tmobile version on At&t, even with correct APN settings. I found it to be "inconculsive" for now, I'll keep looking, but I probably do need a phone soooon!
My ATT note 3 gives amazing speed on T-Mobile network, speed test reports 60 mbps.
not sure how tmobile phone works over ATT network.
abofihmi said:
My ATT note 3 gives amazing speed on T-Mobile network, speed test reports 60 mbps.
not sure how tmobile phone works over ATT network.
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Thanks, wow, interesting how the n900a gets good speeds on T-mobile's network.
Btw, you mentioned that you broke your phone, was it a note 3? I soft bricked my Asus TF700, thank God it's working now. Yeah, flashing and reflashing can be cumbersome and risky if you don't read the details and something small goes wrong, I think I got my softbrick from a dirty flash, it was such a headache.
Yes, my note 3 is currently broken and I am waiting for the power button to come, hopefully that will bring it back.
see my post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-3-att/help/note-3-failed-to-charge-phone-off-t2986953
Definitely do not buy an n900a due to a locked bootloader. It's going to be a fast phone with or without root but I rooted it added firekat rom combined with nova launcher,greenify, some personal customization mods and I absolutely love it although I hardly ever use the s pen as much as I thought so I wouldn't let that be a selling point for you no matter how much you think you may use it.
Related
I'm a current S3 Verizon owner. I'd like to switch to ATT. I'm just checking. Sounds like we have root but must use safestrap for custom ROMs. Sounds like the Active flavor is completely different firmware and has no or little support.
I'm switching due to signal at home. My friends with ATT get great signal and I get hardly any. Seems I'm in a small area with little Verizon coverage.
draexo said:
I'm a current S3 Verizon owner. I'd like to switch to ATT. I'm just checking. Sounds like we have root but must use safestrap for custom ROMs. Sounds like the Active flavor is completely different firmware and has no or little support.
I'm switching due to signal at home. My friends with ATT get great signal and I get hardly any. Seems I'm in a small area with little Verizon coverage.
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If you're running your S3 with a custom ROM that's not TouchWiz based, you'll hate this phone. If you are using stock based, you'll love this phone. I, for one, decided to pass this S5 to my mother and got a Nexus 5.
draexo said:
I'm a current S3 Verizon owner. I'd like to switch to ATT. I'm just checking. Sounds like we have root but must use safestrap for custom ROMs. Sounds like the Active flavor is completely different firmware and has no or little support.
I'm switching due to signal at home. My friends with ATT get great signal and I get hardly any. Seems I'm in a small area with little Verizon coverage.
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Very true regarding limited support for the active...
However...a better device would be tough to find IMHO...
If you are a crack flasher looking for AOSP nightly builds...then the s5 will make you wait...
I'm getting older...and wanted some mild changes....but my "new rom every night" era is over...so I decided to try the active for a while...
Your call....g
I'd argue that the Active has very good support in these forums, because it is a bit of a niche phone you have very fervent owners that respond quickly to new issues. From a ROM support perspective it is limited but I'm quite happy with a ROM that is stripped of bloatware and then I tinker from there. I've owned a lot of phones and I'm quite happy with the Active, each time I try a new phone I come back to the Active. It's a bit bulkier but it just sits nice in my hand and the screen is beautiful.
I totally dig my S5 Active.
I'm in the process of getting my environment set up so that i can learn to build for it. I've not done it before and it'll be slow going...but I've been reading these forums for a few years and I might just he able to pull it off.
If/when the bootloader gets unlocked...the sky will be the limit.
Galaxy S5 Activate
I'm holding out for the 32GB internal version. If it ever shows up!
Currently, I am still using my S2(i777). Even though I know the S5 is a more than worthy upgrade, I am wondering if at this point I should hold out until the Nexus 6 or something else comes out? I currently run CM on my S2 and from I have read I cannot run that on the S5. How does every one else like the Stock based ROMs coming from CM?
I would love to get an S5 (or a Note 3) but won't until the bootloader is unlocked and I can load roms like Cyanogen or Slim. It is a real shame that I have had 4.4.4 for almost two months on my two year old Note 2 and cannot get a new AT&T Samsung phone with it.
I'm there now as well. I have a couple of Skyrockets (i727) that are still going strong. One had to have a power button worked on, but both are still solid. I'm running a build of CM11 with a custom kernel, putting KitKat 4.4.4 on both, and they are running great. However, great is a relative term - music still skips sometimes when I get an email or text message, and a lot of apps are getting pokey on them. I also wonder how much longer root will even be achievable, and I'd like to get some modern hardware before the gate is completely closed.
I'm torn between the Galaxy S5, which has the features I like, but will probably never be bootloader unlocked (and thus stuck on whatever Android kernel is present when Samsung gets tired of it) and the HTC One M8, which can be bootloader unlocked immediately, but which has a low-res camera, non-removable battery, and seems to have questionable quality assurance (despite the snazzy metal case)
I might could live with the locked bootloader, as it appears there are some work-arounds, but cyanogenmod definitely added a significant amount of life to my current phone. The Galaxy SII Skyrocket started with Gingerbread...
I just don't know.
It's a great phone. Unlocked or not. We got root so that's big. Knox is intact as well. It's your call. I'm coming from HTC m7 and this phone is so much better. The camera, waterproof (legit- I have run in a downpour on purpose) beautiful screen, sdcard, and it's fast. I really love it.
I do miss unlocked and cyanogenmod but the best device for that is a Nexus IMO. I'll look for that. But Samsung did well with the s5.
I have recently acquired an ATT Note 5 (N920A). I paid $200. (64Gb variant). Good price??
So far, I tried making calls and browsing the internet using an ATT SIM without issues.
ROM on the phone is 6.0.1 with an update in October 2016.
Can this phone be unlocked to use on a different carrier than ATT?
Can this phone be rooted? I'd like to be able to remove the ATT Bloatware.
My apologies if this was already answered .
Thanks
You can unlock the phone, but you can't root due to the locked bootloader.
Thanks for your response.
Any recommendation as to where I can get this phone unlocked??
AT&T Unlock just means you can move it another carrier it doesn't mean you can unlock the bootloader to install a custom firmware, or even another official one. You are locked into the AT&T firmware and the only way that will ever change is if you stop updating and a security flaw is realized which allows us to replace the bootloader. As it stands if you actually did get root your phone wouldn't boot. Depending what you do to it the Note 5 will turn on/off really fast. (They did a great job locking it down)
Yeah 200 bucks for that phone with package disabler is a great deal. They are working on Nougat but I will not update because I want to hold out on Nov. Security patch in the hopes I can downgrade, remove bloatware, or even better install twrp someday.
As it stands we are locked down. As always if root/custom roms are important you shoudn't update but the Note 5 never even made it to custom rom while on 5.11 so the chances aren't looking spectactular that we will conquer this in the life of the phone.
Edited: Just gave the info and lost the attitude toward AT&T
droidvoider said:
the firmware is absolutely horrible
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I disagree. I've been able to disable the AT&T stuff using package disabler. I don't see any evidence of my phone being an AT&T model other than the boot screen and when I attempt to search for a OTA update. I like the battery life of my N920A (coming from my battery-draining TMobile Note4). Once I leave my phone in power saver mode and close or uninstall apps that I don't need, I'm good. I get 13 hours battery life (the most) and 5.5 hours of on screen time.
I can do 4 hours of Youtube and 4.7 hours of watching movies on my internal storage.
Edit: Samsung locking down boot-loaders will ensure Apple's consistency in terms of the eco systems for application security (such as Samsung/ Google Pay) , battery life and system performance.
I edited my post before your response to lighten up on AT&T a little. I do not like AT&T at all but that has little to do with this persons question.
I noticed also that when I use package disabler I get much of my battery life back. While I realize that is perfectly good enough for most people I am not happy with that. I made a mistake when I purchased my phone as I didn't research how locked down it was during the grace period. I realize this is my fault and that my mistake was purchasing through AT&T when what I really wanted was freedom of true choice. Obviously I am not a majority. But for others who are very interested in even the possibility of a custom rom I think it's imperative to know the entire story.
I've had this Nexus 6 since it first came out and now it's giving me signs of stutter (especially with the camera app or snapchat), the battery also seems to be wearing out, barely lasts me half a day and I constantly have to charge it. I want to upgrade this device to something much better, but I would like to point out that I am on Verizon so CDMA devices only, (I wanted to get the OnePlus 3T).
So instead I started contemplating on upgrading to the S8+ especially with that $100 off deal at best buy, not really interested in the Pixel XL though or iphone lineup (had an iphone for 4 years, its boring). I had a Galaxy S5 before for about a month or so and it had a defect in the camera so I got a refund on that and got a Nexus 6 instead and now here I am 2 years later. Would definitely love to give Samsung devices another try. Anyways, what do you guys think? Which device should I upgrade to or any suggestions?
Change your carrier. If you have Verizon, your options are pretty much what is available from Verizon, and all of them are going to have a locked bootloader, even the Pixel/Pixel XL. Switching to a GSM carrier like T-Mobile will allow you to get the device you truly want.
And, before you say "but I like Verizon", Verizon uses CDMA, and CDMA is a living fossil that doesn't know that it's supposed to be extinct.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Change your carrier. If you have Verizon, your options are pretty much what is available from Verizon, and all of them are going to have a locked bootloader, even the Pixel/Pixel XL. Switching to a GSM carrier like T-Mobile will allow you to get the device you truly want.
And, before you say "but I like Verizon", Verizon uses CDMA, and CDMA is a living fossil that doesn't know that it's supposed to be extinct.
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I see where you're coming from but switching to T-MOBILE is not an option, where I work and live I used to get little to no reception with them, from there I switched to At&t and the service was even worse, they're also very bad in customer support whenever I had problems.
Hence me having to stick with Verizon.
Then your only real option is to head to Lenovorola's website and purchase an unlocked CDMA device from them. It's the only way to preserve your ability to modify the device, since it should not have a locked bootloader. Samsung isn't an option as they lock bootloaders on all US devices now, plus there's Touchwiz to consider. Most of the other manufacturers focus on GSM because of its worldwide reach.
Have you done a factory reset recently? That may improve both lag and battery. Also, someone mentioned that the April update improves lag.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Then your only real option is to head to Lenovorola's website and purchase an unlocked CDMA device from them. It's the only way to preserve your ability to modify the device, since it should not have a locked bootloader. Samsung isn't an option as they lock bootloaders on all US devices now, plus there's Touchwiz to consider. Most of the other manufacturers focus on GSM because of its worldwide reach.
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To be honest, I don't care much for modifying my device anymore, I use it as is for calls, texts, web browsing etc. Maybe the occasional file transfer between my PC and that might be all. And regarding TouchWiz, that is true, but I'm hoping there will be some sort of pixel launcher available to flash for S8+ in the near future or can get something off of the play store.
runekock said:
Have you done a factory reset recently? That may improve both lag and battery. Also, someone mentioned that the April update improves lag.
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Right now I'm on Pure Nexus ROM and the functionality is great, the stutter is only evident when I multitask heavily which leads to fast battery drain as well as taking pictures. Can't tell you the number of times I missed those one in a million moments because the camera app took too long to load or take the picture.
Also I've done many clean installs, these sort of problems seem to stick.
Changing the launcher only hides Touchwiz. It doesn't stop the resource drain that has plagued Touchwiz since its inception. Hell, I could drop a copy of Nova Launcher on my roommate's unmodified SIII and hide most of the ugliness of Touchwiz, but I still would have to face the issue that Touchwiz is a resource hog.
If you're not here to mod your device then why are you here? After all, it's called XDA Developers for a reason.
Okay, that sure sounds like you need more ram. And considering that 64-bit is less ram-efficient, 4 GB may not be a noticeable improvement. If you can't get 6 GB, then (oh how I hate saying this) you may want to turn to Apple - they are rumoured to have better memory management.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
If you're not here to mod your device then why are you here? After all, it's called XDA Developers for a reason.
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haha you got me there, i myself am a programmer in C++ and C#, but aside that maybe I made an overstatement in not caring about modding. I'm still going to get root and have certain mods and tweaks like YouTube Ad Blockers and LSpeed for init.d changes, but I won't be as avid on it as I used to be.
I decided I'm going to get the S8+ and await root for it.
Since my phone has a corporate partition on it root is not an option for me... so I am waiting for Pixel 2. If I had to have a phone now it would be a Pixel. Touchwiz was so janky (and barely updated) on the last Samsung that I had I will not be going that route again.
aroy97 said:
To be honest, I don't care much for modifying my device anymore, I use it as is for calls, texts, web browsing etc. Maybe the occasional file transfer between my PC and that might be all. And regarding TouchWiz, that is true, but I'm hoping there will be some sort of pixel launcher available to flash for S8+ in the near future or can get something off of the play store.
Right now I'm on Pure Nexus ROM and the functionality is great, the stutter is only evident when I multitask heavily which leads to fast battery drain as well as taking pictures. Can't tell you the number of times I missed those one in a million moments because the camera app took too long to load or take the picture.
Also I've done many clean installs, these sort of problems seem to stick.
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If you're OK with not modifying and/or not rooting the best phone VZW has, and I'm in the same spot you are - except I need to root and modify, is the Droid Z Force. It's an awesome phone - or hold out and pray the Asus Zenfone AR comes to VZW and is affordable
I know it only works on tmo or ATT, but I sold my Pixel, and got this phone, and no doubt, its the best android device I have ever seen or tried..
no real dev for it, but I couldnt care less, since its incredible just stock; plus I still have my shamu if I want to play around, but frankly havent flashed anything in weeks, I like this phone so much..
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/mobile-phones/mate9pro/index.htm
So I have been digging around and have yet to see a solid way to root the Note8. So the next thing i need to ask myself whats a good alternative that i can root to kinda get a bit out of googles thumb, while still being able to use the playstore. I would very much prefer a head phone jack on it. I was looking at OnePlus until they dropped the headphone jack.
So if you either know of a way to root the note8 so i can install a custom ROM, or have a good suggestion for another phone i can install custom roms on, please help me out
EDIT: Also i have the SnapDragon. I was wondering if maybe upon upgrading even if its to the note 9 or 10 if going for the Exynos version would allow custom ROMs. Or even finding a Note8 with a Exynos CPU
After owning every Note except Note1, I got tired of the locked bootloader and half A$$ root. I got a Pixel 3 XL to test it out and love it. I will never look back at Samsung. Very happy with it and have never regretted my decision. Now I have full root, custom ROMs, Titanium backup and every app I desire. The phone is super responsive and easily the best phone I've ever had. It has an amazing camera. I get monthly updates directly from Google and will receive new OS (ie Android Q) updates before anyone else without having to wait 1/2 a year for them like I did with my Note 8. I'm also not locked into any provider and can change sim cards with anyone I wish in the world. I believe no Samsung carrier phone will ever receive root (look at the Note 9, S9+ etc). International versions do get root, but then you don't get all bands supported by carriers in US and you void your warrantee and Samsung pay. To me , not worth it. To me, the decision is crystal clear. As much as I loved my Note phones, I will never look back at another one. Nonetheless, I do understand some people are ok with no root and locked bootloaders. In such cases, I would stick to Samsung.