What's your general experience with this phone? - Galaxy S III Mini Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey everyone,
I recently broke my phone and I'm currently considering buying a new. I can have a i8190 for 81€ or Moto G 2nd Gen for 140€.
What's your general experience with this phone, talking about:
reactivity
app compability
mod/dev/rom
Thanks in advance

Works fine for what I need on a daily basis, battery life is pretty poor, but of course that all depends on personal usage, size is good but development seems to be coming to a halt, only lividtec creating new rom, no video rec on lp, it's old but depends what you need

Related

What to check in used LG Optimus 4X HD

Hello everyone. I will buy a phone at the end of this month. I'm interested in Optimus 4X HD. but when my father asked one of his friends they said to him that don't buy this phone as it has many problems.
I thought i should as in this forum as you people are more experienced ones. What should i check in a Used 4X ? What are the major problems ? and how is community support for it compared to Galaxy S2 ?
Well, you should check for dust under the screen and dead pixels. Also... Check the power button.
Im pretty sure the community support for the s2 is better, but if I were you, id buy the 4x hd
You should check nexus 4 price
S2 is quite large, but confusing and surprisingly everything is very similar, g or non-g is the same.
performance wise, 4X HD is awesome. Got it today. New and not regretting.
Battery life is a major issue
panjgoori said:
What should i check in a Used 4X ? What are the major problems ? and how is community support for it compared to Galaxy S2 ?
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Click to collapse
As an owner of the 4X my main issue is really poor battery life due to problems with the phone not entering "deep sleep" properly. It doesn't seem to be affecting all users, but certainly some. There appears to be no reliable fix. This will be hard to test when buying second hand, but the reason the other person is selling could certainly be this.
Although I like the hardware, due to this power drain issue (which means I have to carry a second battery with me at all times) I would not recommend the phone at this time.
ihfacny said:
As an owner of the 4X my main issue is really poor battery life due to problems with the phone not entering "deep sleep" properly. It doesn't seem to be affecting all users, but certainly some. There appears to be no reliable fix. This will be hard to test when buying second hand, but the reason the other person is selling could certainly be this.
Although I like the hardware, due to this power drain issue (which means I have to carry a second battery with me at all times) I would not recommend the phone at this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you on ICS or JB?
The power drain issue is on ICS which is corrected in the official JB ROM
Sadly the JB ROM laggy
Was leaning towards Cyanomodgen 10.1
That's until I stumbled upon the thread link below
I can`t believe its the same phone which gave me all the above issues
Its so smooth now
So so smooth
0
panjgoori said:
Hello everyone. I will buy a phone at the end of this month. I'm interested in Optimus 4X HD. but when my father asked one of his friends they said to him that don't buy this phone as it has many problems.
I thought i should as in this forum as you people are more experienced ones. What should i check in a Used 4X ? What are the major problems ? and how is community support for it compared to Galaxy S2 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Specs and performance wise,S2 lags behind the 4X HD
Its the cheapest quad core known brand for now
A little tweaking will optimize it
You can help your dad optimize it before giving him
See this thread and make up your mind http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2187920
thank you everyone for your answers. that really helped. does this phone gets hot when playing some demanding games ?
panjgoori said:
thank you everyone for your answers. that really helped. does this phone gets hot when playing some demanding games ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every single android device does heat up when plays a high end game. I play real racing 3 (a high end game maybe?) Without any lag with the latest update.. This phone is best value for money.
Sent from my LG-P880 using xda app-developers app

Would you still recommend Motorola Razr i?

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

[Q] Is this a good phone?

Hey, in some few days i will recieve this phone, i was asking if is better to sell it or take it, i was planning to sell it ans buy a moto g, but in my country they are all sold out, i think they will come in 2 weeks.
Bye
Recommend that you do not stay there with very few mini s3 rom and all have many bug ...
Daks32 said:
Hey, in some few days i will recieve this phone, i was asking if is better to sell it or take it, i was planning to sell it ans buy a moto g, but in my country they are all sold out, i think they will come in 2 weeks.
Bye
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is rubbish with stock Samsung OS and software! Slow often glitchy, long waits for simple stuff like switching between apps or even going back to the home screen.
BUT - with a custom ROM this phone is potentially AWESOME. Lag is gone, battery life much better. I make my girlfriend jealous and she has an iPhone 5S, lol.
Slightly bigger screen than iPhone, much lighter, more sturdy, expandable memory, FM tuner, and with a custom ROM loads more features and better interface.
Some ROMs are not available for this phone but a lot are: Many available from maclaw.pl, I've tried CM11 but found Carbon (latest unofficial KitKat) has a few more options and some nice optimisations to maximise battery life without sacrificing performance at all.
Games
james.faction said:
The phone is rubbish with stock Samsung OS and software! Slow often glitchy, long waits for simple stuff like switching between apps or even going back to the home screen.
BUT - with a custom ROM this phone is potentially AWESOME. Lag is gone, battery life much better. I make my girlfriend jealous and she has an iPhone 5S, lol.
Slightly bigger screen than iPhone, much lighter, more sturdy, expandable memory, FM tuner, and with a custom ROM loads more features and better interface.
Some ROMs are not available for this phone but a lot are: Many available from maclaw.pl, I've tried CM11 but found Carbon (latest unofficial KitKat) has a few more options and some nice optimisations to maximise battery life without sacrificing performance at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thank you, i think i will stay with it, and what can you tell me about games?, is good enough?, thanks bye
With stock, framerates go slow sometimes - since going custom no probs at all. Play a lot of Real Steel World Robot Boxing, a 3D effects-heavy game, runs without a hitch. Screen quality good, graphics good.
I just got one yesterday as a replacement for my work phone. I was using an iPhone 4 on iOS 7. thdevicee mini is a about the same size, but I have the benefits of android, root, larger screen, and the Google kit Kat keyboard. compared to the outdated iPhone 4 it's a decent upgrade.
my personal line is a galaxy s4. the s3 mini doesn't compare, but given that the s4 is my primary device and the s3 mini is for work calls and email only it's pretty dang good.
its a good phone but we have only a few developers for custom roms
---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------
also we still dont have miui rom for example, wich almost every other phone already have one stable :/
custom ROM support, or lack thereof, doesn't make a phone good or bad...
if flashing ROMs is a priority, get a nexus as AOSP based ROMs on pretty much anything else sucks. any device with a Google Play Edition version and an unlocked boot loader will be a very close second.
I think the S3 Mini is a very nice phone but there are many other phones which has better performance and battery but they are not so cheap like the S3 Mini The Moto G is okay but the Gaming Performance is bad.. sry for my bad english
It's typical mid-range, with a decent custom ROM every day tasks are quick and the phone is very responsive. It'll gobble up casual games easily and some old intensive games but unsurprisingly you're not going to playing brand new high end games!

How stable/reliable is the S5 running CM12.1/13?

Hi all,
Currently looking for an upgrade from my Moto G and have a specific list of requirements (long-ish battery life, cheap-ish, ideally fast charging, ideally ANT+, ideally waterproof, accurate GPS for tracking runs) which the S5 seems to meet well. Only thing I dont think I could live with is TouchWiz (and the assosciated lag I would expect it would bring with it).
My question: how is CM running on these devices with regards stability and force closes etc. Can live with a small dip in camera quality and having never had a fingerprint scanner I wont miss it but really need a rock solid, stable device. Is there a better alternative out there (am also closely considering the Zuk - but not waterproof and possibly patchy GPS - and the Moto X Play - slightly more expensive and reports of lag)?
Q&A here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help
ahhh, yes. apologies. Will go and post over there. Cant see any way to close this thread. mods, and chance it could be locked/deleted please.

Should I upgrade to Mi 5?

Hey guys,
I am currently using a oneplus 2 but i am pretty impressed by the looks and the egronomics of mi5 not to mention how thin and light weight this device is. Keeping everything simple n straight, I just wanted to ask that is it wise to upgrade to mi 5?
My main priorities in preferred order are battery life, custom rom development, camera and then everything else.
My usage pattern includes a lot of continuous gaming preferably online multiplayers like mini militia and MC4.
On the contrary, I still prefer compact devices with a 5 inch display over a 5.5 inch.
My oneplus 2 is still rocking and I can easily get 2.5-3hrs of SOT with gaming and 4-4.5hrs without it.
Moreover, I wanted to know about the known cons or problems with mi 5 if any as if by any chance buy it, I'll be using it for at least 2yrs. I am just hesitant to buy it because only the 32gb version is available in my region and the phone I am currently using already has 4gb ram and 64gb storage!
I'll be grateful for any helps and suggestions!
Thanks!
Since you are already with one plus I would recommend you upgrade to the OnePlus 3/3T
Mi 5 is a great phone for sure but OP3 is much better for sure also if you are ok with the extra money
I see there is a lot less community development going on as no one seems to be really interested in replying with an reasonable suggestions or help as its been long since I asked for them!
Anyways, I'll still wait for someone to come up until I don't buy some new device!
it is one of the best phones in its class.
well, personally, i dont really like how op3/t looks, and 5.5 is too big for my taste. if you looking for decent camera, performance, and looks, i definetely consider mi5 altho OP3/T is so much better in terms of performance and rom dev as you can see, right now i'm rocking purenexus custom rom on my mi5 and the performance is top notch tho camera still prefer miui based rom. Anyway, these are some points from my usage :
1. Battery life is decent in original MIUI rom, but best at Purenexus rom, beware not all custom rom have great battery life
2. the vibration motor in Mi5 isnt as good as others, even compared to mi4c, i know, its nitpicking, but really for long term use this little thing is quite significant
3. 3GB of RAM arent enough for me at least. if u interested, please consider the 4gb ones
4. fingerprint is not that fast, and the area is quite small
If you really wanna use this phone for at least 2 years, i do think OP3T is your best choice for support. but idk, the kernel source of Mi5 already out, so maybe we'll see better support.
Mi5 is really great device, it is very cheap, and the specs are very impressive. the battery life is very good, here is a picture of my results but note that I don't play games. Custom ROM development is good, not the best nor the worst. I think you should consider waiting a bit more and buy mi6. it will be a little but more expensive but the specs will be much better.

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