Database Develop

About to upgrade

I am about to upgrade my phone. Currently on a Touch Pro 2 and Xrom. This will be my first Android phone and obviously I am considering the Bionic. I know nothing about Android and since Microsoft seems to have abandoned the smartphone world and very few phones are on 7, it seems like a good time to make the move.
I have read the reviews, scoured this forum and it looks like the Bionic is everything it is supposed to be. I am a noob, just an old one, this phone is my b-day present to myself, will be 48 in a few days. I do have a few questions...
Is the Bionic really the shiznit phone or should I wait for a while for a better phone on the horizon?
I can get this phone for $220 bucks through Amazon or $250 through Verizon. Is there any reason to not get it from Amazon?
I am not quite ready to get into flashing new rom's on Android as I have a lot of learning to do first, but I hate bloatware. With the TP2 getting off the stock rom was a good thing, I can go two days on a battery charge, but is it as important with Android? I know the Bionic can be rooted and bloatware removed, but does it slow the phone down if it is left there?
Thanks in advance, this forum rocks!

I upgraded from the TP2. Couldn't be happier. Didn't have many problems with the TP2, but it's old and outdated. This thing is just a beast. You could wait for something better, but I decided that it was time. If something else comes out and I want it, I'll just use a different upgrade.

Thanks, actually I have had zero issues with my TP2 that I got right after it's release. I wasn't sure I wanted to give it up, but I will have it as a backup phone so that works out. My only apprehension is the Motorola phone, I swore I would never have another after the MotoQ that got replaced 4 times in 4 weeks before I demanded a Touch Pro 1 and Verizon coughed it up to keep me happy.
I like new and learning Android will be fun. I just don't want to go through what I did with the MotoQ, what a pc of crap that was. Motorola used to be awesome, but I haven't had a good Moto phone since the StarTac.

Regarding buying it thru Vz vs. Amazon....a couple things come to mind
1) Who has a better return/exchange policy? Vz has 14 days to return and $30 restocking fee. If the phone is defective in the 1st year I believe Vz would give you a Factory Refurbished Phone. How does Amazon stack up to that? Brick and mortar store gives you same day service, pretty important if you can't live w/out your phone.
2) Are you planning to get any accessories? I don't know if it's still going on but when I bought my Bionic with the HD Dock, the dock ended up being $54. Normally I get a corporate discount of 25% on accessories, but this must have been some other promotion. So you may want to shop your complete purchase and get a total out the door price.
I had some buyer's remorse initially with the Bionic but overall I love the phone. I came from the HTC Incredible. The colors were more vibrant on the Incredible, but the Bionic looks OK. Reds, blues, and greens all reproduce nicely, yellow and orange leave something to be desired tho. But if you spend any time at all outdoors, the screen on the Bionic is amazing...it's very visible outside, something I'm not used to with my Incredible.
So far my only serious complaints with the phone is the issues it has switching networks, this is a known issue as you're probably aware and should be fixed with an OTA. Also, I haven't heard this from anyone else so it may be an issue specific to my location, but I exchanged my 1st Bionic b/c the voice quality over 4g was horrible. I could hear fine, but others couldn't hear me very well. The new phone had the same issues so I leave 4G off unless I know I need it. It very well could be an issue with my being on the outer fringe of 4G reception but I'm not sure. When doing speed tests over 4G I was getting 20Mbps down and around 6-8Mpbs up...so it would seem like I have OK signal.
Testing the demo at the store the pentile screen was very noticeable for some of the things I wanted to demo on the phone. I still see it from time to time, but it doesn't bother me, the text is clean and crisp and easy to read so that's good enough for me.
I have a little heartburn over the HD playback capabilities. Being that the phone comes with an HDMI output and offers an HD Dock to connect to your HDTV, I expected a little more with HD playback. I was hoping to throw a bunch of 720P movies on an SD card for when we travel and be able to play back the movies at the hotel. However the only HD playback I've seen from the phone that's smooth is video shot thru the onboard camera. Now I'm trying to figure out how to convert my existing movies to playback better on the Bionic.
None of these issues were dealbreakers for me. I keep in touch with what's on the horizon as far as other devices and aside from 720p resolution screens coming out, there's nothing that's really going to make the Bionic seem outdated. The only other phone I considered holding out for was the Nexus Prime. I like the idea of a brick phone that's just a large touch screen and the function buttons are built in to the app instead of being phsyical buttons...but I'd rather wait until we have a plethora of Ice Cream Sandwich O/S phones to choose from...I didn't want to put all my eggs in Samsung's basket only to be left disappointed.
Also something else to consider regarding 1280x720 screen resolutions...all of Verizon's 4G phones have struggled with battery life, I'd have to imagine a 1280x720 screen is only going to eat that up faster.

I would recommend against the Bionic, but only because of the locked bootloader situation. Not being able to load what I wanted was the reason I left the iPhone -- I don't want to settle for a half-baked solution with a rooted-but-unlocked Bionic.
Overall, the phone performs well (with the exception of random data connection loss and battery drain). But, for $200 or more, I ought to be able to do with the phone what I want.

There is no difference in buying from Amazon or Verizon directly, except with Verizon you have 14 days to return it for a 30% restock fee, Amazon will let you have 30 days. After 30 days you get a refurb from Verizon for the remainder of a year.
I understand battery life, the TP2 I had to charge after about 8 hours until I went with a custom ROM. I don't see much that it can do that I want to do that I can't already do with my TP2, except a better camera and movie playback. I do take pics with my TP2, but I am not sure I would take or play many movies with the Bionic, so that isn't much of an issue. I have a real camera and blue ray players all over the house. I know I would miss my physical keyboard, and every new phone I have touched with a physical keyboard feels like lightweight junk and nothing has the solid feel I am used to. The current Droid phones from Verizon leave little to be desired, with the exception of the Bionic. At least I can say the Bionic has a good feel, I will just have to learn to type on the touchscreen. The screen is large enough that my fat fingers can, I demo'd the phone at a VZ brick and mortar. I will miss my Bing Navigation but can adapt to Google, my old 7 series BMW is not BT capable, but does have Navigation that works, though I am so used to my Bing voice app that I rarely use it. I may get the Nav cradle for the Bionic, it has some appeal.
As far as unlocked phones go, the current trend from Moto seems to be locked bootloaders. I do believe that the awesome people here will crack that code or Motorola will give it up. Though I don't really see much reason to upgrade, my phone is getting old and I am a tech junkie at times. I think the time is now.
I am still interested in other peoples opinions, your experience has value, at least to me.

Is the QWERTY worth it?

Recovering flashaholic, recently went back to original Galaxy Nexus so I could avoid renewing with Verizon, on an old grandfathered (true unlimited) plan.
Missing a QWERTY and looking at picking up a used Droid 4. What are your thoughts, is the radio stable for tethering?

DNak206 said:
Recovering flashaholic, recently went back to original Galaxy Nexus so I could avoid renewing with Verizon, on an old grandfathered (true unlimited) plan.
Missing a QWERTY and looking at picking up a used Droid 4. What are your thoughts, is the radio stable for tethering?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you miss a qwerty you'll love the D4. Keyboard is great and CM11 has made me fall in love with my phone all over again. The only thing to really complain about is battery life. When I'm home on wifi I can make it through a day. Otherwise plan on charging it at least once during the day. Unless you pick up the extended battery that FINALLY came out about a month or so ago. Tethering has worked fine for me the few times I've used it.
Droid 4 - CM11

I just bought a used d-4 to replace my old d-4 mainly because i wore some of the keys off after 2.5 yrs. I could have used my upgrade for a fancy new device but I am sticking with the d-4 . Of course 2 weeks after I purchased it, the promise of a d-5 came out. But who knows how long we will really be waiting for the d-5. / extended battery??????? Whaaaaaat... I will have to check that out. My batt does last a full day with medium use.
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

ricpdjrr said:
I just bought a used d-4 to replace my old d-4 mainly because i wore some of the keys off after 2.5 yrs. I could have used my upgrade for a fancy new device but I am sticking with the d-4 . Of course 2 weeks after I purchased it, the promise of a d-5 came out. But who knows how long we will really be waiting for the d-5. / extended battery??????? Whaaaaaat... I will have to check that out. My batt does last a full day with medium use.
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
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I think the biggest reason my battery doesn't normally last a day is because I have such a crappy data connection at work. Always switching between 2 bars of 3G or 1 bar of 4G. See the thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541577 for more info and links regarding the extended battery.

kwyrt said:
I think the biggest reason my battery doesn't normally last a day is because I have such a crappy data connection at work. Always switching between 2 bars of 3G or 1 bar of 4G. See the thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541577 for more info and links regarding the extended battery.
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Click to collapse
Good info, thank you both! I'm assuming rooting and all that is simple enough, I would probably root and stick with STOCK unless CM11 is really worthwhile. Any major bugs/flaws w/ this guy?

I've been running stargos cm11 since release and honestly it is almost flawless. He has been constantly updating and fixing wakelocks, along with other minor issues. Stock is.... well I was happy to get rid of all the bloatware crap and have my phone run faster. As for rooting and such, extremely easy.
Sent from my XT894 using xda app-developers app

I LOVE QWERTY Phones. I bought a used Droid 4 recently because the keys were falling off my old droid 2 and I didn't want to lose my unlimited data plan with Verizon. I have been going between Stock/CM11 and now SlimKat using SafeStrap so you can essentially dual boot your phone and keep the Stock rom there to always load as a failsafe.
I had waited 3-4 months for the possibility of a droid 5, and then almost went for the new Nexus 5 phone but of course Google had to release it for every carrier EXCEPT Verizon. Lame.

My phone MUST have a QWERTY keyboard. Likewise, I probably won't upgrade for another several years, since QWERTY phones seem to be dead, nowadays. I'm sticking with my Droid 4 until the community gives up on it, or it explodes.
I absolutely believe that it's worth it. I can type with the same speed and precision as I can on a regular computer keyboard, and I prefer that over relying on auto-correct, auto-fill, word prediction, or many of the other replacements for letter-by-letter typing. How I type on a computer - syntax, spelling, lack of shorthand - is how I type on a phone, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. I'm of the mindset that phone manufacturers have sacrificed the keyboard for a slimmer phone, and come out with virtual keyboards that try to emulate what was already there in the past.
EDIT: I would like to point out that the custom ROMs aren't perfect. They can be used as daily drivers, but MMS is a hit-or-miss (working on some uptimes, and not working on other uptimes), GPS works at random, and you'll experience the Sleep of Death more than a few times. Typically, if you have Touch Sounds enabled on your phone, and you suddenly hear the sound "die", you do NOT want to turn off the phone's screen or do anything involving media playback - if you do, you won't be able to turn it back on without doing a hard reset. Just reset until the sound works, again - of course, then you'll need to make sure that MMS works with that specific reboot. A good way to test that would be to send an MMS to somebody; if it sends, it works. If not, you'll need to reset the phone until it does, keeping in mind the (common) sound bug, as well. GPS is the same; if it works on a specific uptime, it'll work for the duration of that uptime.
If you're willing to put up with these three rather annoying bugs, the features of the custom ROMs more than make up for it. I'd choose CyanogenMod over Stock any day of the week.

[Q] Common Droid 4 Problems

I currently have a Droid 3 and due to its many problems (random reboots, stuck with a black screen, keys not working properly) I am looking into replacing it. Since I want a phone with a physical keyboard I don't have much to choose from, so I am also looking at the Droid 4, especially because you can get them for ~€100 on Ebay now.
So my question is: are there any common problems like the ones I have on the Droid 3 also on the Droid 4?

Just one, the speaker sometimes stops working. I've repaired several (as easy as bend some metal pins of insert a piece of paper to use as a shim).
No problems worth mentioning other than that.
You should also consider the Photon Q 4G LTE. It's faster/snappier.

Dakkaron said:
I currently have a Droid 3 and due to its many problems (random reboots, stuck with a black screen, keys not working properly) I am looking into replacing it. Since I want a phone with a physical keyboard I don't have much to choose from, so I am also looking at the Droid 4, especially because you can get them for ~€100 on Ebay now.
So my question is: are there any common problems like the ones I have on the Droid 3 also on the Droid 4?
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Click to collapse
I'm having the speaker issue... since I don't really talk on the phone much, I've been living with it. Now it's gotten to the point where I can barely hear thru it at all. I sent off for a replacement ($7 or so on amazon). I'm just about to replace it, but I'm having some crazy GPS issues. Like two map programs showed my off the coast of Ghana the other day. My husband's Droid Razr GPS finds him just fine sitting right next to me, on the same carrier.
I'm not finding anyone else with this issue, so it could be a fluke. I'm running some diagnostics now. Not quite sure if this is a deal-breaker yet. I really do love having a keyboard. I'd hate to go back to Blackberry For reference: I've had the Droid 4 for almost 2 years now and it's held up well. I rooted it almost right away and let it update to ICS. I have not updated to JB (there were keyboard issues back then with JB... it could be fixed now, but I just like ICS too much to bother lol)

I want to use the phone in Europe so the Photon Q would be a bit more work (it has a soldered-in SIM-card which needs to replaced by a SIM-holder).
I am also looking at the Samsung Stratosphere II and the Galaxy S Relay.
So no random reboots or lockups? That sounds great.
I just want to make sure since I won't be able to use any warranty for an US-phone in Europe. Sadly there are no half-decent Androids with a keyboard in Europe. The best there is is the S4 with the keyboard-attachment, but that combo is so incredibly thick...

In a house hold of four I also had four Droids. Except the speaker problem I never had any issues. Yeah sure an occasional reboot. But that's it. I still have Droid 4 as backup phone in case one of the Photon dies. But that will also be replaced by a spare Photon as soon as possible.

Quality Upgrade?

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

Got a few questions about the phone - Current Turbo user - EDIT for Turbo/VZW users

Update: My post over in the turbo thread. My opinion for Turbo users to this phone.
Well I, after over 3 years, jumped off the Turbo Train. For those looking for a good Moto Phone that you can still have a unlocked bootloader I would highly recommend the Moto G5S Plus.
I was skeptical about it at first, and it is now only Day 3 but so far I am loving it. Yes it is bigger than the turbo (about the same size as the Pixel XL which my wife has) and feels a lot more slippery but about to order a case. The camera is, in my opinion, just as good as the turbo (But i take pictures for work not so much of anything else lol). The Qualcomm 625 is very snappy and man the 4GB of ram? After rooting and turning off a TON of stuff on startup my phone hovers around 50-60% used VS 80-90% Used. My Turbo just hasn't seem to be like it use to be. Even after a clean flash it just was slow and sluggish still (might be some kind of hardware issue though as some people are perfectly happy still). I both cases I am on stock rom for VoLTE. it works decent on Verizion and haven't had any call drops, bad quality, or slow internet. The reception does seem to be 1 bar low that the Turbo though but I can't see any difference besides that.
Screen looks great, I can't see any difference. Only thing is I hate how the power button is below the volume now. The Finger scanner is nice. I didn't think I'd want one but after having one i like it. I use a Pin/Finger combo for boot at least and screen can be turned off with finger scanner as well which is nice. The normal moto stuff like chop and twist are there. It doesn't have the 4 IR Sensors like the Turbo so you cant just wave and see the time/notifications, but if you pick it up the screen does turn on which I only need it for checking time in which i usually picked it up when laying in bed anyways so I'm good there.
The speaker is louder but lacks the bass that the turbo has. I do miss the hardware keys but I had the Razr Maxx HD so i'm use to it.
Battery life so far is to be determined. I just got finished setting it all up last night and turning off a lot of startup items and what not. In a almost 6 hours period, but almost no use, has only gone down 15%. My turbo would be more than halfway gone by now (yes i replaced battery but this one lasted less in a year than the OEM battery after 2). The Turbo never lasted me more than a day anyways (I'm a heavy user).
Over all i like it and would recommend it to Turbo users looking for a Verizon phone that they can unlock and root. On and did i say that root was Free? XD No Sunshine earned in IMO. The Turbo was a GREAT phone but it just wasn't cutting it for me anymore. I will probably use it to play my games that detect root and what not or to play with/backup for now.
OP:
Hello everyone.
As the title says I'm looking for a new phone and I currently have a Turbo. Its over 3 years old and just not quite cutting it anymore (I have flashed roms etc and it just doesn't run the same anymore period). Was looking at the Pixel 2 XL but its a bit too big for me.
Are there any ex turbo users here to came to this phone? I'm looking at this one mainly because 1) decent CPU 2) Good amount of ram (Would be getting the 5gS Plus with 64GB Stoage) 3) AND ROOT!
I'm not too worried about the camera as my wife is the picture taker with her Pixel XL. I just have Work pics of cabling and jobs etc. Not worried about the down size in screen res either. I mainly use my phone for work, and a few games here and there, facebook, etc. So below are just a few questions since I can't walk into a store and play with the phone.
Edit: I'm not a huge custom ROM fan. I have always reverted back to Stock almost every time with my Turbo and Razr HD. Don't use all the fancy extra addon apps. Just a root hider if it still works on here or not for my Pokemon Go really lol but honestly, i haven't even touched that. Mainly use root just for 3 things. 1) Backup Backup backup 2) Reboot app as Turbo doesn't have a Reboot in the menu 3) Since I do IT work and connect to every single one of my clients wifi i have a wifi password app to show me the passwords if i need them.
1) Does it support VoLTE on Verizon?
2) Does it have the IR sensors so that a wave of the hand could be used to wake on screen, see notifications, silence calls/alarms like all the flashship phones from moto since the turbo.
3) Does it have the Chop and Twist to turn on Flash Light/Camera app?
4) How are the speakers for video?
And I think that is it.
Any input would be great.
Thanks!

drtweak said:
1) Does it support VoLTE on Verizon?
2) Does it have the IR sensors so that a wave of the hand could be used to wake on screen, see notifications, silence calls/alarms like all the flashship phones from moto since the turbo.
3) Does it have the Chop and Twist to turn on Flash Light/Camera app?
4) How are the speakers for video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. While I don't have a Verizon SIM to test, VoLTE works on T-Mobile USA and based on the IMS configurations on the device, I believe it should work on Verizon. May be worth calling and asking Motorola directly.
2. All phones now have at least 1 IR sensor on the front for facial detection, it's located at the top of the phone just right of the front facing camera. This phone does NOT have the 4x sensors older moto phones had for better detection. It also has a basic version of "Moto Display" for displaying notifications while the phone is at rest, and I don't think you can customize how it's triggered (aka wave over the phone).
3. Yes, it has those features available, as well as using the fingerprint sensor for navigation, and flip to silence just to name a few.
4. It has a single bottom firing speaker which is OK, but by no means impressive for quality of volume.

drtweak said:
Hello everyone.
As the title says I'm looking for a new phone and I currently have a Turbo. Its over 3 years old and just not quite cutting it anymore (I have flashed roms etc and it just doesn't run the same anymore period). Was looking at the Pixel 2 XL but its a bit too big for me.
Are there any ex turbo users here to came to this phone? I'm looking at this one mainly because 1) decent CPU 2) Good amount of ram (Would be getting the 5gS Plus with 64GB Stoage) 3) AND ROOT!
I'm not too worried about the camera as my wife is the picture taker with her Pixel XL. I just have Work pics of cabling and jobs etc. Not worried about the down size in screen res either. I mainly use my phone for work, and a few games here and there, facebook, etc. So below are just a few questions since I can't walk into a store and play with the phone.
Edit: I'm not a huge custom ROM fan. I have always reverted back to Stock almost every time with my Turbo and Razr HD. Don't use all the fancy extra addon apps. Just a root hider if it still works on here or not for my Pokemon Go really lol but honestly, i haven't even touched that. Mainly use root just for 3 things. 1) Backup Backup backup 2) Reboot app as Turbo doesn't have a Reboot in the menu 3) Since I do IT work and connect to every single one of my clients wifi i have a wifi password app to show me the passwords if i need them.
1) Does it support VoLTE on Verizon?
2) Does it have the IR sensors so that a wave of the hand could be used to wake on screen, see notifications, silence calls/alarms like all the flashship phones from moto since the turbo.
3) Does it have the Chop and Twist to turn on Flash Light/Camera app?
4) How are the speakers for video?
And I think that is it.
Any input would be great.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to add
Volte is working, on stock and 1 rom I know of reliably - pixel experience (which is basically stock - don't bother with other roms). I'm using it through straight talk and no problems.
Stock camera works, that's about all you can say about it. Shouldn't be a problem for your usage.
I hear magisk works, if ya get the right version. That's all I can say as I only use su and don't have a need to pass safety net (no problems - stock and custom).
All in all, for the money, it's a decent device, and you wouldn't notice the drop in screen res (1080p is way more than enough for a small screen).
Coming from a 6p (after the big cores died) I've been very happy with it in the 3+ months I've had it.

ddggttff3 said:
1. While I don't have a Verizon SIM to test, VoLTE works on T-Mobile USA and based on the IMS configurations on the device, I believe it should work on Verizon. May be worth calling and asking Motorola directly.
2. All phones now have at least 1 IR sensor on the front for facial detection, it's located at the top of the phone just right of the front facing camera. This phone does NOT have the 4x sensors older moto phones had for better detection. It also has a basic version of "Moto Display" for displaying notifications while the phone is at rest, and I don't think you can customize how it's triggered (aka wave over the phone).
3. Yes, it has those features available, as well as using the fingerprint sensor for navigation, and flip to silence just to name a few.
4. It has a single bottom firing speaker which is OK, but by no means impressive for quality of volume.
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Thanks
Yea I may shoot them an email. It just sucks because all their good high end stuff either is Verizon Exclusive which means its going to be locked down tighter than fort knox, or doesn't support Verizon at all. This one, and the X4 seem to be the top two contenders. I want to stay Moto. for the most part it sounds like this phone would work for my uses even though the big reason of hanging on the Turbo is the 4 IR sensors for the whole wave thing and what not (honestly I just do it to check the time and nothing else really XD so I could live without it). There were some turn offs for the X4 though, mainly how it is more of a amazon phone and I don't care for alexia and bootloader is still locked. This ones seems to be the best for tinkerers who want to stay on Verizon honestly. I have another 32GB Turbo but I have tired to use it and it just doesnt work as good as my 64GB.
So next question would be battery life? I mean my turbo is dead in less than 10 hours now so anything better than that is good haha

drtweak said:
So next question would be battery life? I mean my turbo is dead in less than 10 hours now so anything better than that is good haha
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I mean, this really varies on your usage, and the apps you run. With that said, my G5S Plus when used as my daily driver has no issues making it from 7am til 11pm with some juice left on the stock firmware, without root.

drtweak said:
Thanks
Yea I may shoot them an email. It just sucks because all their good high end stuff either is Verizon Exclusive which means its going to be locked down tighter than fort knox, or doesn't support Verizon at all. This one, and the X4 seem to be the top two contenders. I want to stay Moto. for the most part it sounds like this phone would work for my uses even though the big reason of hanging on the Turbo is the 4 IR sensors for the whole wave thing and what not (honestly I just do it to check the time and nothing else really XD so I could live without it). There were some turn offs for the X4 though, mainly how it is more of a amazon phone and I don't care for alexia and bootloader is still locked. This ones seems to be the best for tinkerers who want to stay on Verizon honestly. I have another 32GB Turbo but I have tired to use it and it just doesnt work as good as my 64GB.
So next question would be battery life? I mean my turbo is dead in less than 10 hours now so anything better than that is good haha
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Fwiw - I haven't had a device that got this much sot (my usage has been very consistent over the years). But, as already mentioned, battery life is all about usage. This time of year I'm using it 8-10 hrs a day. Mostly surfing, light gaming, some music - haven't been below 25+% battery left yet.

Thanks guys
Yea i mean I went from easily the whole day (or at least 14 hours off the charger on a "normal" day meaning me not using my phone to remotely look at the camera's I am installing to set them up right lol) to maybe from off the charger at 5am to like noon is 25% now. Thank goodness for Quick Chargers at least.
Well I went ahead and bought the phone from Moto. I figure i got 14 days to test drive it and if I don't like it I'll just say I had issues using it with Verizon lol either way I have yet to be let down by Moto yet I have not had one since the Lenovo take over. I will live without root for the time being (Just load my apps and not restore them in Titanium Backup) and just see how things go.
Like I said i'm a stock kinda guy. Only apps that i really have running all the time is Nova launcher, Drive Sync, Text/Call backups, BlueTooth, but I'm sure it will run way better than my existing phone. Even if the battery isn't as great at the turbo when i first got it if it last me all day i'll be happy.