Related
i currently own the nexus six, which i've had since march. my previous experience with the nexus line was the galaxy nexus on verizon (which we all know was severely handicapped by verizon). i had a note 4 on sprint before i switched to the nexus 6 because i was sick of the slow updates. 1) the nexus 6 is slow. it completely lags when doing simple searches and opening apps. 2) updates are great, but still missing wifi calling. 3) i just updated my tab s 8.4 to lollipop 5.0 and it SMOKES my nexus. seriously what gives? why is this phone so slow? im currently on the latest update and i'm really disappointed. 4) the battery life is TERRIBLE. i dont think i've ever had a phone with such poor battery life. i'm thinking this is going to be the last nexus i ever get. with the note 4 i had expandable storage and a removable battery. what are your guys' thoughts? how happy are you with your nexus? i can't believe touchwiz is faster than vanilla android. im in complete disbelief.
You sure something isn't wrong with your device?
My Nexus 6 pretty much smokes the Galaxy S6 I had in terms of smoothness.
Battery life is pretty good but does leave something to be desired, but remember.. this screen is huge and it takes some power to push all the pixels on this huge Quad HD screen. On top of that, we are still in the early days of phones having Quad HD displays. I think some software updates will help with battery life in the future.
ford12acing said:
i currently own the nexus six, which i've had since march. my previous experience with the nexus line was the galaxy nexus on verizon (which we all know was severely handicapped by verizon). i had a note 4 on sprint before i switched to the nexus 6 because i was sick of the slow updates. 1) the nexus 6 is slow. it completely lags when doing simple searches and opening apps. 2) updates are great, but still missing wifi calling. 3) i just updated my tab s 8.4 to lollipop 5.0 and it SMOKES my nexus. seriously what gives? why is this phone so slow? im currently on the latest update and i'm really disappointed. 4) the battery life is TERRIBLE. i dont think i've ever had a phone with such poor battery life. i'm thinking this is going to be the last nexus i ever get. with the note 4 i had expandable storage and a removable battery. what are your guys' thoughts? how happy are you with your nexus? i can't believe touchwiz is faster than vanilla android. im in complete disbelief.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to root install benzo as a rom and either zen, vindicator or hells as your kernel
ford12acing said:
i currently own the nexus six, which i've had since march. my previous experience with the nexus line was the galaxy nexus on verizon (which we all know was severely handicapped by verizon). i had a note 4 on sprint before i switched to the nexus 6 because i was sick of the slow updates. 1) the nexus 6 is slow. it completely lags when doing simple searches and opening apps. 2) updates are great, but still missing wifi calling. 3) i just updated my tab s 8.4 to lollipop 5.0 and it SMOKES my nexus. seriously what gives? why is this phone so slow? im currently on the latest update and i'm really disappointed. 4) the battery life is TERRIBLE. i dont think i've ever had a phone with such poor battery life. i'm thinking this is going to be the last nexus i ever get. with the note 4 i had expandable storage and a removable battery. what are your guys' thoughts? how happy are you with your nexus? i can't believe touchwiz is faster than vanilla android. im in complete disbelief.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, the heavier the OEM layer is the faster the device will be, this is common knowledge. Please hold on to this feeling and get another device. We have plenty of winers allready :silly:
I was also very disappointed with the battery life of my Nexus 6. It was then giving me some major problems (It would turn off very frequently and not turn on until it was plugged in, even at 100% battery). I then RMA'd it and my replacement Nexus 6 has way better battery life (5+ SOT instead of 3 or less). I'd recommend RMA'ing it if you're having issues because this phone is blazing fast and a great device.
drkboze said:
I was also very disappointed with the battery life of my Nexus 6. It was then giving me some major problems (It would turn off very frequently and not turn on until it was plugged in, even at 100% battery). I then RMA'd it and my replacement Nexus 6 has way better battery life (5+ SOT instead of 3 or less). I'd recommend RMA'ing it if you're having issues because this phone is blazing fast and a great device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try rooting the phone and use for instance Greenify or Servicely to slumber apps/services when they are not needed. A custom kernel stretches batterylife too in my xperience.
1. Mine isn't slow at all, it's as fast if not faster than the G3.
2. Why are you expecting Wi-Fi calling?
3. *shrug* my experience is completely different
4. I don't know what people are doing to get poor battery life with this phone. I've done no optimizations and I work 8-10hrs while my phone is jumping between poor 3G/LTE. I unplug around 8am and get home with usually 60% battery left.
5. What do I think? This isn't the phone for you. Enjoy your Samsung. If you haven't tried the G3, you should.
Don't take this in the wrong way, but did we need another thread on this?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/nexus-6-worst-phone-google-t3094624
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/nexus-6-issues-thread-t2946743
You said you're on Sprint so:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/nexus-6-sprint-users-thread-t2949996
You also could have posted here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/google-nexus-6-t3077130
Thanks.
OP,
Don't really know what to say to you, other than my experience was the complete opposite. I had the Note 4 for exactly 2 days before I got sick of the lag, bloat, and ridiculously cluttered settings page and returned it. My N6 is so fast that it's becoming annoying to use my 2nd gen ipad because of how slow it it.
jiv101 said:
You need to root install benzo as a rom and either zen, vindicator or hells as your kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock is quite speedy unencrypted.
i've got my phone rooted, but im not going to install a custom rom or kernel. i love android over ios, but im just disappointed with this device. As far as the g3, i've messed around with the device and it too lags. i had a g2 and it lags as well. actually speedwise, i would say my n6 is on par with my old g2, which was crap. yeah samsung has bloatware, and i used a different launcher because i couldn't stand touchwiz, but man, im surprised that out of the box, it ran faster than my nexus 6. my tab s 8.4, which i just upgraded to lollipop, that also has touchwiz, is running significantly faster than my nexus 6. it's pretty unbelievable that a bloatware loaded version of android is running better than vanilla android. sometimes when im doing a google search, and the phone just freezes. sometimes i open an app, and it literally takes two minutes to open. doesn't happen all the time, but enough to be a nuisance.
i've been loading custom roms on my phones since the old galaxy s days, but im no longer doing that. too many issues with stability, battery life, etc. you shouldn't HAVE to load a custom rom just to have a decently running device.
ford12acing said:
i currently own the nexus six, which i've had since march. my previous experience with the nexus line was the galaxy nexus on verizon (which we all know was severely handicapped by verizon). i had a note 4 on sprint before i switched to the nexus 6 because i was sick of the slow updates. 1) the nexus 6 is slow. it completely lags when doing simple searches and opening apps. 2) updates are great, but still missing wifi calling. 3) i just updated my tab s 8.4 to lollipop 5.0 and it SMOKES my nexus. seriously what gives? why is this phone so slow? im currently on the latest update and i'm really disappointed. 4) the battery life is TERRIBLE. i dont think i've ever had a phone with such poor battery life. i'm thinking this is going to be the last nexus i ever get. with the note 4 i had expandable storage and a removable battery. what are your guys' thoughts? how happy are you with your nexus? i can't believe touchwiz is faster than vanilla android. im in complete disbelief.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I read things like this, I see someone who got the Nexus 6, didn't like the device itself, and therefore nitpicked it to death to the point of convincing themselves of getting a new device.
1. Its encrypted by default. Encryption is always a trade off in performance (moreso on the N6), and your Tab isn't encrypted. A simple fix and a wipe was all that was needed.
2. You bought a Nexus knowing you wouldn't have carrier niceties. I think you missed this very important point and found out you like carrier additions.
3. See number 1.
4. Sure you have, the Galaxy Nexus. That said, you gave no details on your carrier, signal, battery usage, SOT, or anything else. You aren't looking for a solution, just a reason to get out.
Touchwiz is not faster than vanilla. Never has been, never will be for obvious reasons.
adrynalyne said:
When I read things like this, I see someone who got the Nexus 6, didn't like the device itself, and therefore nitpicked it to death to the point of convincing themselves of getting a new device.
1. Its encrypted by default. Encryption is always a trade off in performance (moreso on the N6), and your Tab isn't encrypted. A simple fix and a wipe was all that was needed.
2. You bought a Nexus knowing you wouldn't have carrier niceties. I think you missed this very important point and found out you like carrier additions.
3. See number 1.
4. Sure you have, the Galaxy Nexus. That said, you gave no details on your carrier, signal, battery usage, SOT, or anything else. You aren't looking for a solution, just a reason to get out.
Touchwiz is not faster than vanilla. Never has been, never will be for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think may statements have been misconstrued. i don't like bloatware, and i do like quick updates. the features i do miss are microsd slots (i still think it's stupid for google to not include them on the nexus - set yourself apart from apple), and removable batteries. i wanted wifi calling because the nexus 6 is supposed to have it (at least on tmobile) by the end of q1, still not here)
don't misconstrue this either, i hate apple, but ios comes encrypted out the box, and it doesn't lag like this. has google not found a way to keep up with apple? so i have to sacrifice the security of encryption in order to compete with a crappy iphone?
btw, my galaxy nexus got better battery life than mine nexus 6.
ford12acing said:
i think may statements have been misconstrued. i don't like bloatware, and i do like quick updates. the features i do miss are microsd slots (i still think it's stupid for google to not include them on the nexus - set yourself apart from apple), and removable batteries. i wanted wifi calling because the nexus 6 is supposed to have it (at least on tmobile) by the end of q1, still not here)
don't misconstrue this either, i hate apple, but ios comes encrypted out the box, and it doesn't lag like this. has google not found a way to keep up with apple? so i have to sacrifice the security of encryption in order to compete with a crappy iphone?
btw, my galaxy nexus got better battery life than mine nexus 6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but you knew it didn't have an sd slot when you bought it. So if thats a reason to dislike it and you still bought it, you will have to blame yourself.
The wifi calling is a shortcoming of Tmo. Google had no intentions of writing that by themselves.
iPhone does very little I/O work. Of course encryption doesn't affect it. That said, you could have found a solution here to run encrypted with better performance too. You never looked it would seem. My daughter has an iPhone 6. I see nothing fast about it. Smooth, though Im sure some of it is covered up by long animations.
If your Gnex got better battery life than your Nexus 6, one of two things are happening here:
1. You are lying
2. This is a troll thread.
adrynalyne said:
When I read things like this, I see someone who got the Nexus 6, didn't like the device itself, and therefore nitpicked it to death to the point of convincing themselves of getting a new device.
1. Its encrypted by default. Encryption is always a trade off in performance (moreso on the N6), and your Tab isn't encrypted. A simple fix and a wipe was all that was needed.
2. You bought a Nexus knowing you wouldn't have carrier niceties. I think you missed this very important point and found out you like carrier additions.
3. See number 1.
4. Sure you have, the Galaxy Nexus. That said, you gave no details on your carrier, signal, battery usage, SOT, or anything else. You aren't looking for a solution, just a reason to get out.
Touchwiz is not faster than vanilla. Never has been, never will be for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, i don't like the device itself. why? because it's slow and has poor battery life.
1) i understand my tab s is not encrypted. i hate apple and will never buy anything from them, but iphones are encrypted out the box, and do not have issues like the nexus
2) the nexus 6 is supposed to have wifi calling by the end of q1 (im on tmobile). this is not a carrier nicety, but also a huge feature for google's own project fi.
3) encrypted or not, to the typical user, out the box, there is a marked difference between "touchwiz" and vanilla android. sorry, you can give the excuse that its encrypted, but this lag is unacceptable.
4) this device has worse battery life than my galaxy nexus. i would say battery life is worse than my thunderbolt from years ago. i reboot the phone several times a day, and i clear all the apps from my cache several times a day as well.
adrynalyne said:
Yeah but you knew it didn't have an sd slot when you bought it. So if thats a reason to dislike it and you still bought it, you will have to blame yourself.
The wifi calling is a shortcoming of Tmo. Google had no intentions of writing that by themselves.
iPhone does very little I/O work. Of course encryption doesn't affect it. That said, you could have found a solution here to run encrypted with better performance too. You never looked it would seem. My daughter has an iPhone 6. I see nothing fast about it. Smooth, though Im sure some of it is covered up by long animations.
If your Gnex got better battery life than your Nexus 6, one of two things are happening here:
1. You are lying
2. This is a troll thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rofl, you assume im trolling/lying when i'm down to 37% by 12pm? right. god forbird i check emails, make phone calls, and listen to music/podcasts via bluetooth in my car. im constantly tethered to a portable charger because of this.
i knew it didn't have a microsd slot, i thought it was a worthy tradeoff for vanilla android and timely updates.
wifi calling IS a shortcoming of google, they were working with tmobile to implement it, and are going to use it with project fi. perhaps if you weren't a pretentious know it all, you would have taken 10 seconds to look that up.
if you think i'm just trollling, then pass on through buddy. im not sitting here begging for your advice or comments.
ford12acing said:
yeah, i don't like the device itself. why? because it's slow and has poor battery life.
1) i understand my tab s is not encrypted. i hate apple and will never buy anything from them, but iphones are encrypted out the box, and do not have issues like the nexus
2) the nexus 6 is supposed to have wifi calling by the end of q1 (im on tmobile). this is not a carrier nicety, but also a huge feature for google's own project fi.
3) encrypted or not, to the typical user, out the box, there is a marked difference between "touchwiz" and vanilla android. sorry, you can give the excuse that its encrypted, but this lag is unacceptable.
4) this device has worse battery life than my galaxy nexus. i would say battery life is worse than my thunderbolt from years ago. i reboot the phone several times a day, and i clear all the apps from my cache several times a day as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Again, you did nothing to fix the issue. You can get better performance from encryption as well. My Turbo had no discernible performance hit encrypted, so that should be a clue to you it can be remedied.
2. Project FI has diddly squat to do with Tmobile's Wifi calling, which again requires Tmobile to get it done. Blame the Nexus of course.
3. Put them on equal footing and decrypt your data. No? Then don't make claims like this.
4. The thunderbolt would die within 4 hours of medium use on LTE. The Gnex in 6-8. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and tell you your hardware is messed up, though I doubt you have zero interest in hearing that.
PS. Have you ever looked in your cache? It spends 95% of its life empty. What did you hope to accomplish by clearing it?
ford12acing said:
rofl, you assume im trolling/lying when i'm down to 37% by 12pm? right. god forbird i check emails, make phone calls, and listen to music/podcasts via bluetooth in my car. im constantly tethered to a portable charger because of this.
i knew it didn't have a microsd slot, i thought it was a worthy tradeoff for vanilla android and timely updates.
wifi calling IS a shortcoming of google, they were working with tmobile to implement it, and are going to use it with project fi. perhaps if you weren't a pretentious know it all, you would have taken 10 seconds to look that up.
if you think i'm just trollling, then pass on through buddy. im not sitting here begging for your advice or comments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yet you posted in multiple threads ont he same subject. Sounds like attention seeking to me.
ford12acing said:
yeah, i don't like the device itself. why? because it's slow and has poor battery life.
1) i understand my tab s is not encrypted. i hate apple and will never buy anything from them, but iphones are encrypted out the box, and do not have issues like the nexus
2) the nexus 6 is supposed to have wifi calling by the end of q1 (im on tmobile). this is not a carrier nicety, but also a huge feature for google's own project fi.
3) encrypted or not, to the typical user, out the box, there is a marked difference between "touchwiz" and vanilla android. sorry, you can give the excuse that its encrypted, but this lag is unacceptable.
4) this device has worse battery life than my galaxy nexus. i would say battery life is worse than my thunderbolt from years ago. i reboot the phone several times a day, and i clear all the apps from my cache several times a day as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just solved your own battery dilemma. 1) stop rebooting so much. I do it once every 24 hours.
2) stop clearing app cache so frequently. Each time you reopen the app, it has to rebuild cache, thus using more battery.
Bonus) Signal strength and reliability play a huge roll on battery life.
My Nexus is 100% stock, locked, and encrypted. I achieve 5 to 6 SOT with heavy use, everyday. I experience zero noticeable lag other than in Chrome. The Chrome lag is Chrome related, not Nexus related.
Have you ever tried greenify? Do you use the Facebook application? (Notorious battery drain) How many apps do you have auto-syncing? Is your location set to high battery use? Can you post screenshots of your horrible battery life? Evidence, please.
A Mod should close this thread. This OP is disgruntled because he spent his hard earned cash on something he doesn't like. It happens, sure, but why must you frustrate other people on this forum? My advice, stop arguing on a forum thread about a moot point and just sell your phone for something else.
Working 6 months with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (910F), 5 Years with Samsung
I am not a regular user / buyer. I have many smartphones and when I like a brand, i am buying everything i can from the same brand.
Until 5 years ago, I was working only with HTC. I bought 8 HTC smartphones.
And then I discovered Samsung.
From then, I bought 10 Samsung smartphones, 3 Samsung Smart TVs and more.
But my passion to Samsung started to crack, and all because of my Note 4 issues.
When I received the Note 4, it was amazing - excellent battery life, everything worked perfect.
And then came updates...
After the first update, the Note 4 started to have bluetooth issues - I need to make restart twice a day in order to work with my bluetooth headsets (even with Samsung headsets).
With more updates, the battery life dropped dramatically. After the Lollipop update, the battery is dropping 3-5% per hour, without using it. Android OS and bluetooth dropped the most.
Dont tell me to make hard reset - I made it twice.
Its time to leave Samsung and work with a company that can give me what Samsung gave me until two years ago.
Samsung will need to convince me that it improved before I will return.
using bluetooth everyday with my car audio, and bluetooth headset never had any problem.
battery life never changed for me with any update. 6 hours sot generally.
maybe the Exynos is better.
The exynos is not any better, I had it for nearly a month, but returned it yesterday. Just like the op, I became a fan of samsung since I bought the S3 because of the removeable back and exchangeable battery, memory card support, and of course the tons of roms here on XDA. I was a HTC user (Desire and Desire HD). Now Samsung seems to be going that route, so it is time for me to look for alternatives, but can't find one I like at the moment. Worse comes to worse when there is no manufacturer making removable battery and sd card support, I will not buy samsung. I would rather but a NEXUS phone which will have updates from google. Heck my dauthers' 3 year old Nexus 7 toys are still running 5.1.1 without me doing anything.
I understand what you're saying. I have the Note 4 now, before that a few Nokias, an LG G3, Sony Xperia Z2, and before that, the Note 2 (best phone I had owned). I'm very disappointed in Samsung's issues. If Samsung doesn't fix this issue before I get a new phone in a few months probably, I'll ditch Samsung for good. Battery life is horrible. Camera is good in AWESOME lighting conditions, and in EVERY OTHER condition, it's SOOO grainy and terrible! Focusing isn't good. My 2013 Nokia 1520 took MUCH better pictures than this Note 4, except in good lighting. Also, 4 different roms (all official) and I still have that STUPID multitasking button delay. My Samsung tablet from 2 years ago is MUCH faster at bringing up the multitasking screen! 2GB ram and SD800 processor w/ same resolution!
I really hate to say it, but I am very disappointed in all the money I spent in this phone. I should have returned it when I had the chance ... Xperia Z3, or Z4 now... LG G4... Nexus 6. I know EVERY device has its issues, but I always need 2 things: Battery life and good camera performance. From ALL the reviews, the Note 4 had these... I really can't trust reviewers on youtube... I guess they must praise the Samsung devices or else they won't get review units before release... Meh....
I really hope Samsung can fix these issues....
/rant off.
Updates to the software ruined it for you? Then go back to what it was like when everything was perfect.
MDaveUK said:
Updates to the software ruined it for you? Then go back to what it was like when everything was perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, even before updates ruined it, it was buggy from the get go. For example, I had the GPS tag problem right out of the box. When trying to take a picture, sometimes it wouldn't lock on to the GPS coordinates in time. Other phones will continue to try to find the GPS lock and then add it to the image a few seconds after the image is taken, but not the Note 4! That was a really big issue that was fixed with the update to Lollipop, but it brought along with it a whole slew of other issues. So no, updates didn't ruin it, updates fixed some things and broke others.
Returning back is not always smooth.
Any way - some of the updates are security updates so its a problematic not to update.
Yeah, I guess that will be my first and last samsung phone. Some months back I was unsure to get the nexus 6 or samsung note 4, because I wanted a bigger phone. Wish I had waited for the nexus 6...
Problem was not the hardware, that is really high quality and everything works like it should. Also batterie is fine, in most cases it was something else that kept the phone from sleeping, like google+.
Really awesome is the QI Case from samsung, so I can load wireless and it's protected (great quality!). Also the small window with infos
But the downside is the software and the efuse. I had many phones in my hands till now (it in our company) from mid/high end android, apple, tablets etc.
I NEVER had a software on a phone that pissed me off like samsung did. Compared to my nexus 4 I had before, the performance was abysmal. I knew TW was known to be slow, but I mean the cpu is fast as hell, 3 GB RAM etc. - that should count for something right? There is so much crap preinstalled and badly coded, it hurts.
Never wanted to root my phone, but I really needed to do it. With a custom mod and kernel it was a bit faster, also lolipop was better then 4.4.4 in subjective speed. But when I installed CM on the phone, I saw for the first time WHAT this piece of fine hardware can actually do. I also installed the same apps and no difference in speed. It was nice and fast like my nexus 4. Too bad I had to kick CM because of the bugs still around at that time. So it really is the software, nothing else.
My next phone will be a nexus again or - if good - something from LG, Sony or a Google play edition. If I could I would change it right now for a lg g4 or a nexus 6.
If samsung want's to be a real opponent to apple, they have to keep the changes to android at the lowest possible (like CM) and everything else as app. That would fasten updates by a wide margin. Also a business and private user brand with and without knox. And some kind of software selection system, that disables services or deinstalls them, if not needed like you won't need samsung link without a samsung tv.
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
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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
Hi all, ready to move on from my Nexus 6. Would love some pro's/con's from this community on how happy I'd be to make this switch. I've ready G5S plus give great bang for buck and has a good modding community which is a must have for me.
Any thoughts on making the G5S + my primary phone??
All I can say is I love mine and I came from a Nexus 4.
You calling it "moving on" rather than an upgrade is pretty accurate. It's an upgrade overall, but not as much as you might think for a 3-year newer model. You need to realize that the Nexus 6 was a $700 phone (when first released) and the G5S Plus is a $300 phone. The improvements with the G5S Plus is that it's 64-bit hardware, even though the stock ROM is 32-bit and most people highly suspect the Oreo update (if it ever comes) will also be 32-bit. Because it's not a Nexus, the G5S Plus has a microSD slot so you have the potential to have a lot more storage, but the camera hardware is not great (despite the fancy dual lens). The camera works out if flash a 3rd-party 64-bit ROM and use the Google Camera, but I can't do that (see below). On the US model there is no NFC, so no AndroidPay (I didn't care, but some might).
My personal experience with unlocking/rooting/ROMing the two phones has been very different when I thought it would be far more similar (since they're both Motorola). The best way to describe the process with the G5S Plus is kludgy, and it's not all that easy to go back to stock since there are no official, signed stock images for the G5S Plus. Stock updates (even security updates) are few and far between. This just isn't a Nexus. The Nexus 6 had a lot more 3rd-party development options and support, and the G5S Plus has now been out long enough that what you see here now is probably all we're going to get. I haven't had much luck with the existing 3rd-party ROMs working well with my carrier (Sprint). The ROM features seem to mostly work fine, but the carrier settings don't work at all on Sprint, and when I try to change them I completely lose my mobile signal and don't get it back until I reset network settings. This makes it highly questionable how successful I'll be with these 3rd-party ROMs when roaming, even just locally in the USA. I have no faith in these ROMs working when roaming internationally. The reason why I'm encountering the same problem with all of these 3rd-party ROMs is I'm pretty sure all of them are using the same base from the same developer. So if you're like me and have a problem with any of these ROMs, you'll likely have the same problem with all of them.
Overall? I wish I'd gotten the Pixel 2 XL. But although I can afford to pay $1000 for a phone, I'm not going to because that's just ridiculous. I've looked around...thoroughly. There just isn't really anything out there any better featured that doesn't at least cost $700, so I'm still using the G5S Plus. I may be a little more limited than you because I'm Sprint (CDMA) whereas people on GSM networks might have more options. I've had to go back to stock rooted 7.1.1, which isn't horrible but not really ideal (and not what I'm used to with the Nexus 6). But I can't successfully get the G5S Plus back to stock unrooted to even take security updates, so I'm on the October security patch. When the stock Oreo update is released, I don't see me being able to take that either. I'm hoping that development community here will put out a flashable stock Oreo ROM then, but then I'll still be in the same boat with OTA Oreo security patches. This is a very capable phone with some nice features, but if you liked being a flashaholic on the Nexus 6, I wouldn't necessarily expect the same experience on the G5S Plus.
FYI, I'm not a developer, but far from being a noob. I've been rooting/ROMing/modifying Android devices (HTC, Samsung, Motorola) since the Froyo days. I would have to rank this phone as the most difficult Android device I've owned to do all that.
I can tell a slightly more upbeat story.
Migrated from a Nexus 6P which I loved dearly, but after spending a small fortune on battery replacements realised it was time to call it a day.
I am very pleased with the Moto. Honestly? I see very little functional difference between this and the 6P in my use case. The screen is slightly smaller. From a Nexus 6 it would be more noticeable I suspect. I recovered the real estate by turning off the nav bar and using fingerprint swipe gestures (which are nice once you get used to them). It is fast and fluid in use and I genuinely don't see anything different in use from the 6P from the end user's perspective. I use my phone mainly for work and the intertubes so not fussed about the camera. When I point it at things what ends up on the phone looks vaguely like what I pointed the phone at. That fulfils my criteria although I have recently started tinkering with some of the hacked GCam apps from the Pixel just for the "because I can" factor.
Internetpilot is right, the development scene is a fraction of what you'd see on a Nexus or Pixel. However, as a long standing flashaholic from the very early days of Android (HTC Magic anyone?) I found myself more than happy with rooted stock for a long time. Moto's stock rom is bloat free and works extremely well. I did try a couple of custom roms early on and found them not as smooth or stable as the stock one, so reverted and ran stock for about six months until very recently.
Internetpilot is right in that it is very difficult to get the thing back to a stock state once you start tinkering. I was in a similar boat whidh meant I couldn't accept OTAs. This was what finally prompted me to try the custom ROM scene again. It has improved in leaps and bounds since last year. Currently running Pixel Experience Oreo and it is rock solid. It's been a keeper for me. But it is worth bearing in mind that if you root then you will be on your own and probably end up forced down the custom ROM boat as I have. It would be a lot easier if Moto had flashable stock images, but it's not a show stopper if your plan was basically to go custom from the get go.
I can't agree with Internetpilot hat it's any major difficulty to unlock, root and flash. You go to Moto's website, you get an unlock code, you unlock your bootloader, you flash TWRP and away you go. Not significantly different from the process I've done on most phones I've had since the HTC Magic days. I've had Sonys that were more grief than this.
I can't speak for any of this CDMA stuff as I am not transatlantically challenged . I've had no problems with my own network provider (Vodafone UK) or roaming on any rom. But if you're stateside clearly that's something you'd need to consider. It's worth also noting that most of the community are in developing countries eg India where this phone has quite a bit of a foothold.
But generally this is a lot of phone for the money. It's a good time for the low-mid range Android phone market. I chose this phone because I didn't want to pay stupid money for a top end device and I really didn't like the 18:9 form factor. The Moto is generally the same form factor as my beloved 6P and the price is right. Now if you have a bit more to spend, the Oneplus 5T looks interesting and perhaps might have a more Nexus-like community. Other options in the Moto's price range include the Honor 7X which I might well have bought instead if it'd been available when I bought the Moto. I am also intrigued by some of the Xiaomi devices. But the tl;dr version? The Moto is highly commended. Would buy again.
Wow, thank you both for your elaborate remarks, really helpful and exactly what I was looking for. So yes I've been rotting for awhile as well (since HTC Eris) and have had some pleasant and less than pleasant experiences. Some earlier Moto droids were obv torture to get unlocked, while the Nexus 6 was certainly quite the opposite.
I'm disappointed to hear dev is so sparse, as the usual spots (Android Police, Auth, 9to5Google, etc) all said this was the best phone to look at for modding after Pixel 2 & OnePlus given it's ease of unlock and robust community. Honestly I find such great value in the ability to unlock, root etc that I do plan on doing so right away and it heavily influences my purchase decision. I suppose if I wanted just one locked in phone experience I would just go to an IPhone, but I want to be able to customize.
From a hardware perspective, I appreciate both viewpoints. Yes don't like the thought of losing screen real estate but not sure what the alternative is as other options I've looked at are 18:9. Played with the 2 XL today and was shocked at the lack of screen space in landscape. Web browsing already is limited given ads in landscape and it seems even worse in the 18:9 ratio. As to software, Internetpilot certainly makes me wary as I'm on VZW, another CDMA. Personally I've generally had a good experience with my network relative to friends of mine on Sprint, but persisting network issues concern me as I also want a smooth experience when on a different rom.
As to the financial point, agreed on both sides. Certainly bang for the buck kind of phone. There are better out there but I too can't stomach the thought of dropping a grand on these, just seems a bridge too far given where the prices were just a few years ago. But at the same time I really don't want to have a phone that is nothing but hassle and constant re-flashes. I'd like to find a rom that is stable, supported and simply support it and continue on.
Well, I thank you both for the time and opinions, really helpful to be sure. Internetpilot I'll certainly dig for other posts with similar concerns but if you care to share some you've come across I'll def have a look.
Thanks again to the both of you.
To clarify a bit -- the phone is no more difficult to unlock, root, and ROM than the Nexus 6. However, the reason I gave it my "most difficult" award (haha) out of all the phones I've owned, is that gaining root on a device that isn't very well supported in the 3rd-party development arena doesn't really do you much good if you can't unroot just as easily. I can't get SuperSU working on this device, so I had to resort to Magisk (which is new to me -- I've always used SuperSU) and when I perform the unroot option via the Magisk Manager app, I end up with a "bad key" error on the bootloader screen and the ROM won't boot. The same thing happens if you try to restore all the original stock partitions via TWRP. Restoring any one of the boot, recovery, and one other partition that I can't remember results in the same "bad key" error. It's gotten to the point that even though I want to get it back to stock unrooted so I can grab the latest OTA security update (and eventually get the stock Oreo update when it's released), I really hate to mess with it. It's not because I think I'm going to brick it -- it's just I know I'll end up spending hours without a phone while trying to get passed that stupid "bad key" error, and then when I finally do that, my data partition will re-encrypt so I'll lose everything and have to set the phone up all over again. Since I'm trying to get it back to stock unrooted, I can't just easily restore my apps/data with Titanium Backup (because I don't have root), so everything is either gone or all messed up, so it's a huge pain in the posterior. Both versions of TWRP we have available for this phone don't reliably backup/restore the data partition either, so you can't rely on TWRP to backup everything if you want to mess around with flashing other ROMs, etc. That's what I mean by most difficult out of all the devices I've owned. When a new ROM is released, you really have to think twice before just backing everything up and flashing it to try it. You just might end up without a working phone for 3 or 4 hours before you get everything restored back to a working state.
I don't think you'll have a problem with Verizon. I know several people who are running 3rd-party Oreo ROMs on this phone on Verizon and they don't have the same issues I do with the carrier settings blowing everything up. It just seems to be Sprint. And to clarify my problems on Sprint, the stock rooted (and unrooted) ROM works flawlessly on Sprint. I can change the carrier settings, update my PRL, even use the "secret" dial codes to change APN settings, etc. But I can't do any of that on any of these 3rd-party Oreo ROMs. The carrier settings default to Global (which strangely works on Sprint's CDMA network), but I can't change Preferred Network Type to "LTE", can't turn on data roaming, can't change the CDMA roaming mode, and can't update the PRL or device config. Like Loccy said, all of the development on this phone is from India where the phone is very popular, so they probably don't know anything about Sprint. But even with these ROMs working fine on Verizon, how long will they be updated/supported? The Moto G6/G6 Plus is likely going to be released during the Summer, and that will probably fizzle the minimal development that the G5S/G5S Plus currently has. I think Moto is going to likely support this phone longer than the 3rd-party development community will.
Yeah, those are all great points. I agree with the heart of your contention in that I absolutely love tinkering with my phone, trying new ROMs, seeing what sort of added and better features I can apply to my device, making it mine instead of having some company tell me what to do with my device. But conversely I absolutely dread those lost days when something doesn't go right and you spend days and weeks scouring the forums and doing research just to get your phone to what you deem to be an operable state. Certainly that can be part of the fun of owning a device like this but with multiple kids, job, and other life stuff getting in the way and not being an engineer by trade or anything technology related it does become a bit of a hindrance at times. I suppose I just want my cake and to eat it too, but that's not the landscape that Android lives in right now.
I also take your point that this is a mid range device that has Hardware limitations and a development community that will only support it for so long. I'd like to make a choice that has a little more longevity built into it like the 4+ years I got out of my Nexus 6.
I think I may actually go for a verizon pixel to xl give it all these conversations, can get one on payment for less than 500 out the door. While I absolutely recognize that I will probably greatly miss having total control over my device, I really like the Android software landscape and it still offers a much richer customization experience than does an iPhone.
Look, really appreciate all your feedback and thoughts. Will let you know some months down the road if the decision was a good one. Cheers.
Hi there. I've been out of the loop for a while. Still rocking the XZ1 compact (until Sony or someone else comes out with something small, sleek, and square again). Because of my general lack of knowledge and fear of losing any of the things mentioned in the title of post... I haven't done any updates. I'm still using Android 8.0.0
As many of you likely know the US version shipped with the fingerprint reader disabled, requiring use of non-us firmware to enable it. However in order to take advantage of Vo-LTE/Wi-Fi Calling/T-Mobile band 12... you basically had to combine a couple different firmware together to both keep the fingerprint reader and have the calling features simultaneously.
Obviously if there is a way of retaining root, wifi calling (as well as Vo-LTE and band 12 support) for T-mobile USA, and functioning fingerprint reader... I would love to update this device. I'm even open to third party ROMs provided I don't lose any device functionality.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm not terribly well versed in all of this but have been able to root every one of my devices and unlock their fullest potential with the help of individuals at XDA.
Thanks in advance.
I am pretty sure i saw mention in one or more of the custom rom threads here specificlly mention a version for volte on the forum here u could check those threads see if someone else have had a simaller qeustions in the past.
also look for mention of the fingerprint scanner is working or not.
Sorry i am pretty new at this mysellf i am sure u will find what your looking for there.
Same thoughts here. I moved onto another phone but was thinking about updating this one to Lineage and using it again, which would require flashing a new firmware. But mine is on 8.0 with everything working (T-mobile VoLTE and wifi calling, fingerprint reader, camera via DRM patch, and Magisk with safetynet passing and Google Pay working). It's been a while but I remember having to jump through some hoops to make that all work and would hate to mess any of it up.
jrbmed08 said:
Same thoughts here. I moved onto another phone but was thinking about updating this one to Lineage and using it again, which would require flashing a new firmware. But mine is on 8.0 with everything working (T-mobile VoLTE and wifi calling, fingerprint reader, camera via DRM patch, and Magisk with safetynet passing and Google Pay working). It's been a while but I remember having to jump through some hoops to make that all work and would hate to mess any of it up.
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Yeah I love this phone (or rather I hate the look/shape/size of all the phones out today) so I'm afraid to jeopardize anything. I've debated buying another one for tinkering with.
POMF2K said:
Yeah I love this phone (or rather I hate the look/shape/size of all the phones out today) so I'm afraid to jeopardize anything. I've debated buying another one for tinkering with.
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I just can't handle the size of almost anything out there today, plus I refuse to buy anything without a headphone jack until there are no more options for me. I actually dislike the square shape because it's more uncomforable to hold though. I switched from the XZ1c to a Pixel 2 because my husband got a cheap phone when we switched carriers, but I never should have given up the XZ1c. Ended up hating the dongle life and traded in the Pixel 2 for an S10e. I love everything about the S10e except it's just too big. Lately the S10e's battery has been going downhill, and I ended up getting an iphone 12 mini for work and loving the size, so I've been thinking about switching back to the XZ1c. But I tried for a few days and had a few issues with the older version of Android...and that brings me to why I'm here in the same boat with you. Hope we can figure it out.
Edit: Specifically I'm hoping to upgrade to Lineage because it seems to be the most up to date of the available ROMs. From what I'm reading, I *think* all we need is an international firmware and the ROM. Not sure if we still need to swap a file in the firmware with the US one.
jrbmed08 said:
I just can't handle the size of almost anything out there today, plus I refuse to buy anything without a headphone jack until there are no more options for me. I actually dislike the square shape because it's more uncomforable to hold though. I switched from the XZ1c to a Pixel 2 because my husband got a cheap phone when we switched carriers, but I never should have given up the XZ1c. Ended up hating the dongle life and traded in the Pixel 2 for an S10e. I love everything about the S10e except it's just too big. Lately the S10e's battery has been going downhill, and I ended up getting an iphone 12 mini for work and loving the size, so I've been thinking about switching back to the XZ1c. But I tried for a few days and had a few issues with the older version of Android...and that brings me to why I'm here in the same boat with you. Hope we can figure it out.
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I've never been a fan of Samsung build quality. But there's something to be said for the development community on more popular devices.
Sony is supposed to be bringing back the compact line. I don't know if it will have the same clean lines but I think they learned their lesson with the "soap bar" look of the xz2. That might work for other manufacturers but I think it's safe so assume the Japanese aesthetic is what keeps Sony fans loyal to the brand.
What do you think of the iphone 12 mini? From a software standpoint I hate all things apple but I've always been impressed with apply build quality. I actually got my girlfriend one of those SE models last summer to replace her dying 7 or 8. Figured it was small and pocketable, better pics than most android phones, and with a nice small screen the battery life would be great. I even thought I might grab one for myself to play around with. Total miss on Apple's behalf. Took it back in less than a week for horrible battery life. And she is much less picky about battery life than I am.
Honestly that's why I'm still using the 3 or 4 year old Sony. I don't like phones that don't fit in my pocket, don't like overly effeminate round edges, I don't want to pay $1000 for a phone, and I really can't stand batteries that die quickly. At this point I don't even know what brands to look at. I always thought about one plus, but those are huge. Pixels are pretty ugly. So I'm sitting here with an outdated phone... but love the look and it gets the job done.
@POMF2K
Like ur reading my mind hahaha love the compact series sadlly the xz1 compact is the last of its kind.
It also saddens me how there barelly any life here this part of the forum when i see other pieces of **** phones with a gazillion pages and hundred difrent roms.
Thinking we will never see anything like this again and that rumor a couple of months ago about a new compact had a leak and looks more like there budget serie L.
Don't know how everyone feels about xiaomi but it seems the MI 11 mini is happening. If I read it right, it's still going to be close to a pixel 3/5 in size. I bought a MI pad 4 and couldn't be bothered with the MI UI but it seems most xiaomi have a ton of development support and mine even came with an unlocked bootloader(on MSM Xtended now).
I'm currently using Bliss on my xz1c and it hits all the boxes for me. Great battery life, great performance and tons of customizations. Fingerprint works and I'm rooted but I don't use Google Pay and don't have volte on my plan(Cricket) so I can't help you there.
AlexKarimov said:
Don't know how everyone feels about xiaomi but it seems the MI 11 mini is happening. If I read it right, it's still going to be close to a pixel 3/5 in size. I bought a MI pad 4 and couldn't be bothered with the MI UI but it seems most xiaomi have a ton of development support and mine even came with an unlocked bootloader(on MSM Xtended now).
I'm currently using Bliss on my xz1c and it hits all the boxes for me. Great battery life, great performance and tons of customizations. Fingerprint works and I'm rooted but I don't use Google Pay and don't have volte on my plan(Cricket) so I can't help you there.
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Yeah dont support china how people stil do is beyond me (this is not a race thing)
Bliss really that good ? have you happend to also tried other roms if yes what did u think of those?
Wish I could use Xiaomi but they never have US LTE bands. It's a shame because they make some nice devices and have good community support. I hate that they would call a phone of that size "mini" though, since the Pixel form factor is still too big. Kinda feels insulting to those of us who want an actually mini phone.
@POMF2K I adore the form factor of the iphone 12 mini. The combination of square sides with rounded corners looks unisex to me (although I'm a woman and wouldn't mind a slightly feminine look). The screen is small enough for me to reach all corners with one hand even without bezels. Gestures on iOS are pretty easy to learn and use. Dislike the notch but it's not a dealbreaker. I upgraded from my work iphone 8 and miss the fingerprint reader but otherwise prefer it for being slightly smaller (especially narrower), and the low-bezel look is quite pretty. Battery life kind of sucks. I'd say it's on par with the SE. But since it's not my primary device, I don't sweat it too much.
S10e as my daily driver has generally been good for me except slightly too big, mediocre battery life, and I can't root it. But at the same time I've come to appreciate the amount of customization possible with Samsung's UI and their own apps (Good Lock etc.). I *almost* don't miss rooting (although I miss having better control over wakelocks, apps that run at boot, etc.). So currently my plan if nothing else works out is to replace the battery and run that phone into the ground before I finally have to decide what to get next. Hard decision between the next mini iphone (if there is one) which has the form factor I want but I'd be giving up Android, fingerprint scanner, headphone jack, SD card, etc....and whatever the smallest Android phone I can find is.
mstrnemo said:
Bliss really that good ? have you happend to also tried other roms if yes what did u think of those?
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I really like it but we might have different priorities. The things that drew me to it were the GPS(was a big concern for work) and the customization. Bliss uses SODP based GPS and it works just as good as stock but faster. The ROM is also very smooth and fast and there are instructions for VOLTE users in the first few posts.
CONS: It hasn't been updated since September so I'm sitting on the 9/5/20 security patch but I don't know if that should bother me. Also, I have a UI freeze every so often if I open a text message from the lock screen but a quick UI restart from the power menu fixes it. Since changing the text app to open a quick reply instead of the full app, the freeze is so seldom I usually forget about it.
I have a second xz1c that I got a deal on so I mainly use it to test any ROM before I use it on my main, so I have that option without jeopardizing my existing setup(cheating, I know). That being said, I have used quite a few of the ROMs.
Tested extensively:
AEX Pie and Q: Q was my favorite ROM until updates stopped and the last build didn't have functioning GPS. I loved everything else about it. Stable, fast and enough customizations to satisfy me. When it stopped, I rolled back to AEX Pie and loved it as much. GPS works great and plenty of customizations. Only con with it is cell signal drops every now and then and has to be rebooted one to several times.
Crdroid Pie: was my first custom ROM. Great ROM. No complaints on this one other than I jumped on the wagon and wanted to try the new Q ROMs(didn't have 2nd phone then).
Crdroid Q: Haven't tested as a daily driver but it seems to be a very stable ROM.
CONS: I might put all Q(except Bliss) in this. There is a modem notification that activates on start up. Data won't connect if preferred is LTE but 3G works fine. There's a work around in the settings to connect in 3g on boot and automatically switch over to LTE but it hasn't been reliable for me. I'm on Cricket Wireless in western US so maybe that has something to do with it.
Havoc Q: Great ROM here as well. More customizations, very stable and great battery life. Fingerprint worked on all Q ROMs so far but Pie was so long ago, I don't remember.
Haven't tested extensively:
Lineage 16 and 17: Tried 17 briefly when I was desperate for a GPS solution. It was smooth and stable but not to my taste so I didn't stay with it.
11 ROMs: All are still on first or 2nd version. Enough draw backs that I'm not moving to them yet.
I hope that was helpful. Sorry I can't answer some of the more important questions(VOLTE, WIFI calling and data bands) but if you asked in the ROM threads, you'd probably get the exact answers you're looking for.
This person on Reddit found the proper mix of .sin files to get FP, VOLTE, Wifi calling and MMS working for the XZ1C. Its the guide I used and everything works fine. I used the US Android 9 image from Xperifirm and the 'custom UK' image for vendor and system sin files.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/7433id/_/dnvum20