Related
Since everybody seems to upbeat about the Nexus 4, here some things that REALLY piss me off.
For reference, I am coming from a DEFY / CM9 and have at the same time here a new HTC One S / CM10. And then there would be a Nexus 7, and a Kindle Fire / CM10/SGT7.
Why on earth couldn't they have the normal buttons on the bottom, and instead needed to waste precious screen real estate ? I do understand that a 7 inch tablet needs that as it's turned between landscape and portrait. But for a phone ... After all there is space on the device, which is unused now ...
This little microSIM tray is nifty. Especially if you are at an airport, just bought the prepaid microSIM and try to put it in. You have the tool with you, right ?
The new and improved camera app stinks like heck. The device support ISO settings, different focus modi, red-eye removal ... the works. But the default application fails to expose ANY of that. I cannot even set the JPEG quality level ... EPIC fail.
Tried to use 720p video recording ? 22fps stuttering ...
Lockscreen widgets ... why on earth would I want to have that ? And why couldn't there just be a simply settings entry to disable that ? (yes, I know that there is now an app out there that gets rid of it ...)
The good old clock. Nice work. Tons of features. Way too many. Why split this over-engineered mess into "Alarm" and "Watch" and whatever ?
Battery drain ... Looks like a lot of the new features (some which I cannot uninstall per default) are sucking up processor time, like the "Mediaserver" (got the same apps/settings as on CM9/CM10, where this does not happen).
This new pulldown quick settings is nifty. Takes me now 2 clicks and one slide to toggle wireless ... much improved over the one-click toggle in CM9/CM10 (and HTC Sense, and TouchWhiz, and ...).
Overall I feel that 4.2 is a step back from 4.1, because every new feature that should make up 4.2 seems to be more in the way than anything else. The toy needs sooo urgently CM10 it's not even funny.
I totally agree with all your points, it's definitely a turd. Wanna sell it?
To your first point, I have a feeling that Google will eventually rethink the use of on-screen buttons and come up with a solution that occupies less real estate. The back button is redundant and can easily be replaced in-app like the menu button was (e.g. click the icon in the upper-left corner to go back is already implemented in many apps) and its behavior is confusing and inconsistent; it's a carry-over from the past and poor UX design overall. The task switcher could quick easily become a hold and drag gesture from the home button or status bar with adding any additional steps to get to it.
Thinking something crazy like the tablet interface where the status bar moves to the bottom, gets a little wider, and houses the home button would be a good solution.
Why does... does... do you guys smell apples? I swear I think I do.
TheFiveDots said:
The back button is redundant and can easily be replaced in-app like the menu button was [...] and its behavior is confusing and inconsistent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What the... huh? Have you ever used android for longer than a few minutes?
The missing back button is the first thing I always cringe over whenever I have to handle an apple device at work, it's the best thing of the whole OS (well,at least it's pretty awesome)
And software buttons are the best solution in general, because they can hide and make place for more stuff on demand.
The "empty" space on the bottom of the nexus4 isn't because they thought they'd leave space there just for fun, there's space because it's needed for the hardware below.
If there were hardware buttons taking up the space the phone would be even bigger (or the screen smaller)
Instead of whinning about it why not try to do something about it.
Sent from Arkham
Yeah stop moaning and send it back.
Why keep a phone that "pisses" you off so much...
U mad bro?
Early adopter and complaining (very mad) that there are some updates needed............silly
Maybe u should sell it on eBay and make some money?
Or better......sell it to one of the great devs that are waiting for a device!!!!!!
Sent from my GT-I9450
muspel said:
What the... huh? Have you ever used android for longer than a few minutes?
The missing back button is the first thing I always cringe over whenever I have to handle an apple device at work, it's the best thing of the whole OS (well,at least it's pretty awesome)
And software buttons are the best solution in general, because they can hide and make place for more stuff on demand.
The "empty" space on the bottom of the nexus4 isn't because they thought they'd leave space there just for fun, there's space because it's needed for the hardware below.
If there were hardware buttons taking up the space the phone would be even bigger (or the screen smaller)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I have. Thanks for your assumptions though. Despite your "cringing", Apple's implementation of a dynamic "back button" at the top-left of nearly every iOS app is much more consistent and predictable.
On Android, sometimes the back button takes you back to the screen you were on previously on the same level, sometimes it takes you up a level, and sometimes it closes the app which is always surprising and annoying if you were not aware you were already at the root level. The home button closes an app, the back button doesn't need to. Google is even well aware of this unpredictably and has gone as far to draw up guidelines as to how it should be implemented, but many developers choose to ignore it.
Unpredictable behavior is bad UX design, plain and simple. Having a place in-app that takes you back and a hardware/software button that does the same is also redundant and unnecessary. Navigating an app should be natural and intuitive and all within the app, in my opinion. Hardware/software keys should be reserved for OS-level tasks like Home, Task Switching, etc.
I agree the software buttons are the best choice, but it would be nice to see them implemented in a much more dynamic and space-saving way.
The sim eject tool, aka paper clip.
TheFiveDots said:
To your first point, I have a feeling that Google will eventually rethink the use of on-screen buttons and come up with a solution that occupies less real estate. The back button is redundant and can easily be replaced in-app like the menu button was (e.g. click the icon in the upper-left corner to go back is already implemented in many apps) and its behavior is confusing and inconsistent; it's a carry-over from the past and poor UX design overall. The task switcher could quick easily become a hold and drag gesture from the home button or status bar with adding any additional steps to get to it.
Thinking something crazy like the tablet interface where the status bar moves to the bottom, gets a little wider, and houses the home button would be a good solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I was thinking that the merged tablet interface would be a cool idea for the "Nexus 4". With CM10/SGT7 on the KF you also get a nicer notification panel, which might be reasonable for a device of this size.
MonsieurJohnny said:
The sim eject tool, aka paper clip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't work. Paperclip is too big for that one (at least the 3 different ones I tried).
woody296 said:
I totally agree with all your points, it's definitely a turd. Wanna sell it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I might do (or simply return it), but for different reasons than just the SW I was ranting about (and being disappointed for now). Of course many issues I cited will be fixed with a CM10.1 custom ROM in about 3 months ...
I disagree with the on screen buttons. I had the gs3 and it was terrible for accidentally catching the buttons. The bezel is there for a reason, Samsung put real buttons on the bezel and it's terrible. This is best of both worlds, if an watching a video I get the full screen as the buttons disappear, yet for everything else the screen is a great size.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
I feel sorry for everyone and everything in your life.
I disagree. 4.2 is a major improvement, much faster and smoother. All these new things will be improved upon in future updates.
It sounds to me like some people would never be happy no matter what they do.
As for the on screen buttons, i love them after coming from a device that had a push button for home. It would be great though to make them autohide as they do for video.
sent via xda premium with nexus 7
Lol I love that all you fan boys bash the Op and make fun of him, but I hate to break it to you, everything in his post is true. The proper response is: "yes Google screwed some things up pretty badly here, but overall the good outweighs the bad."
Some of you people are worse than iSheep. No need to defend everything a company does. If you don't acknowledge the bad you basically give Google a license to never fix the problem it created because Google thinks you like those problems!
-Sent from my GS3 running CM10.-
I've been using it for a few days and I love the device . smoother than m gs3
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
This guy doesn't own one, he's just seen videos, it is pretty obvious.
People just love complaining, I think this is he's first android phone, probably bought it because it was so cheap, try to buy an iPhone for that price you'll probably just about pick up a second hand 4s, I've never seen a phone so cheap with so many features, first phone with 2gb ram, even the iPhone 5 has only 1gb ram.
send your phone back and go and buy an iPhone 4s from ebay!!!
Hey everybody,
I spent the last two weeks since I got hold of my HTC One with flashing every Rom available, but still I couldn't find an entirely satisfying package.
Since I see all the mods and kind of got to know that a lot of options are available via Aroma Installer I am beginning to question my approach.
Maybe I got it all wrong looking for the one ROM that fits my needs...
But that was what I was used to on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
I basically sticked to one ROM for months and applied occasional updates.
Basically what I would want:
Good Audio Quality
It doesn't have to be Beats, but at least equally loud and not cracking like most of the AOSP roms I tried.
This is crucial as it was one of the main criteria for me to buy the HTC One. I want to make use of those gorgeous speakers.
Stock look preferred
I feel that Sense is way to bloated and I kind of like the stock Android Halo Look.
As I am using Nova Launcher anyways I wouldn't be missing the Sense Launcher. I find the Sense Settings Menu confusing, to be honest.
Battery Percentage on the right, no extra icon on the left
Notification Toggles / Horizontal Toggles
Well there are apps (like this one), but they require to display a notification icon permanently.
Power Saver Mode
This one is apparently working quite well...and I wouldn't mind having it in the CustomROM.
But if I can get a sufficient amount of daily use outof it I would be happy enough
Changing Screen-Density to 400 to 420dpi
Doesn't really matter if done via manually editing the build.prop or in a different way. It's just important to me that it can be done withouth making the Framework instable.
Hide IME-Switcher Notification, as I am using SwiftKey permanently
Longpress Back-to-Kill
I really make use of this quite often as I have a lot of apps that I use only once a day, such as banking or runtastic. After using them I am used to killing them, which saves me the detour of going to the recently used apps.
Kill-All in recently used apps
If I have to kill 10 or so apps I endorse having the kill-all button.
Home / HTC-Logo / Sweep 2 Wake
My hands are average size so it is quite a pain to reach all the way up to the power button. (Misplacement if you ask me.)
Something I thought I might get used to, but I just couldn't.
(...seriously, this is what works on the iphone. Waking the phone pushing the home button, while it is placed on it's flat unwobbly back. Hence the HTC One lays better in the hand due to the curved back.)
Some way to wake the phone up without using two hands would be great.
HTC-Logo to Menu or Option to have an onscreen-menubar
I kind of miss the menu button...if the 3-dot menu is just disabled in some roms.
I actually was considering getting the onscreen menubar back and linking the home and back button to apps such as Whatsapp and Google Now solely.
Enough of the wishlist :laugh:
Has anyone any recommendations how to get this jack of all trades stock rom?
I tried the following:
Android Revolution HD, TrickDroid, ViperOne, InsertCoin, bigxie Google Edition, the nandroid of the GE stock image.
PAC-man, CyanogenMod, ParanoidAndroid
At the moment I am running InsertCoin, which is not that bad. But still feels a bit bloated, due to the sense "look and feel".
If I would have to evaluate what bugged me the most and really surprised me on each "type" of rom the baseline would look like this:
Sense based roms:
+ Battery Life
+ Stability
+ Sound Quality
- "messy" Sense look and feel (Settings etc.)
Google Edition roms:
+ Stock look and feel
+ Sound Quality
- Battery Life
- Customizability (Battery-Percentage, Toggles etc.)
Non-HTC Base roms:
+ Stock look and feel
+ Customizability
- Battery Life
- Stability
-- Sound Quality very poor
Please don't get me wrong.
I am not someone who is too lazy to get through all the Roms and read myself into it. :angel:
But I think that I might be missing out on something or just overlooking an option, like a kitchen for the HTC One or so
Thanks in advance :good:
All the best.
Flash the ViperOne
you will have all you want.
Guich said:
Flash the ViperOne
you will have all you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought as well
And I tried it yesterday evening.
Though it felt bloated. It's not only the overwhelming sense-like UI, but as well all the features it offers.
Viper debloated and Google Edition based, with a leaner approach to all the used icons would be love on the first sight :good:
Thanks for the immediate reply
(just realized I called ViperOne "Venom" in my prev. Post)
You have to do a choise.
If you like the GE Rom, flash this, but the audio, the zoe function and much more there aren't.
ViperOne is the best rom for the customization
Okay Slim Bean for the HTC One seems to be the best compromise. :victory:
Not bloated at all, stock look and feel, true black theme and all the requested and beloved features are available.
The on thing I was worried about was the One-specific things, such as Hardware Key Controls and wake-options, but they are built right in the rom/kernel combination.
A user reported 22h (100% to 2%) with slightly over 4h of screentime, which sounds sweet.
Gonna try to install a sound mod to increase the soundquality.
Even though it is not as bad as on the other AOSP-based roms that I tried before.
5.0 was something I really looked forward to...once I got around to flashing it however, man it's taking a huge decrease in the performance department compared to 4.4.4. Here are some of the things I noticed:
1. Laggy UI overall - opening apps, loading, caching is all much slower now - not the animations, just the time lag before the animation/after animation.
2. Bad battery life - is it me or has the battery really taken a hit? Today I got out of the house at 8AM and by 3PM I get the 15% battery saver notification. With about 2.5 hrs of SOT. Before I used to get at least 3+.
3. Unnecessary animations - I do not understand the whole "logical part" of L's animations. They claim apps now "open from somewhere". All I'm seeing is that they slide up now. IMO, it was more logical before, the app used to extend diagonally FROM its icon itself. On top of that, the animations are more laggy too.
4. Colours/Icons - what is with the colour choices of teal, etc. in the backgrounds and all over the UI? Starting to look like Touchwiz. And, the triangle/square/circle are totally random choices of shapes...the arrow, home, etc. were more logical.
5. Google Apps - Google apps are ever-more confusing to use now with a plethora of headings under the swipe menus (i.e. Gmail, Inbox, Photos, etc.). More importantly, the font is now super small...the nice big font in KitKat was way nicer and had easy-to-understand menus. Chrome is way worse - tabs have become "apps" and the only way to switch between them is to access recent apps. No more new tab button, no more swipe between tabs, and it crashes like no tomorrow. Calendar is so-so..it's harder to delete events now.
Overall KitKat was way smoother, cleaner UI, very accessible, but only lacked a couple key features. Looks like Project Butter is gone. An update is fast needed.
The Good:
Dialer and Messenger apps are far better than the stock on KitKat (UI/usability-wise). I really like lock-screen notifications.
(1) Wat? No lag here. (stock, no root)
Won't comment about (2) and above (yet).
OnlySkills said:
5.0 was something I really looked forward to...once I got around to flashing it however, man it's taking a huge decrease in the performance department compared to 4.4.4. Here are some of the things I noticed:
1. Laggy UI overall - opening apps, loading, caching is all much slower now - not the animations, just the time lag before the animation/after animation.
2. Bad battery life - is it me or has the battery really taken a hit? Today I got out of the house at 8AM and by 3PM I get the 15% battery saver notification. With about 2.5 hrs of SOT. Before I used to get at least 3+.
3. Unnecessary animations - I do not understand the whole "logical part" of L's animations. They claim apps now "open from somewhere". All I'm seeing is that they slide up now. IMO, it was more logical before, the app used to extend diagonally FROM its icon itself. On top of that, the animations are more laggy too.
4. Colours/Icons - what is with the colour choices of teal, etc. in the backgrounds and all over the UI? Starting to look like Touchwiz. And, the triangle/square/circle are totally random choices of shapes...the arrow, home, etc. were more logical.
5. Google Apps - Google apps are ever-more confusing to use now with a plethora of headings under the swipe menus (i.e. Gmail, Inbox, Photos, etc.). More importantly, the font is now super small...the nice big font in KitKat was way nicer and had easy-to-understand menus. Chrome is way worse - tabs have become "apps" and the only way to switch between them is to access recent apps. No more new tab button, no more swipe between tabs, and it crashes like no tomorrow. Calendar is so-so..it's harder to delete events now.
Overall KitKat was way smoother, cleaner UI, very accessible, but only lacked a couple key features. Looks like Project Butter is gone. An update is fast needed.
The Good:
Dialer and Messenger apps are far better than the stock on KitKat (UI/usability-wise). I really like lock-screen notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please tell us your method of installing 5.0?
Sent from my Android 5.0 Nexus 5
1. Not laggy for me too. It works smooth. Did a clean install.
2. Battery life seems to be fine.. Did not see any improvements yet..but definitely not a deterioration..
3. This may be a personal preference. I actually like the animations.
4. Again personal preference. I love the color scheme of lollipop. Bright colors and white just works.
5. I agree there is a confusion with Email app redirecting to gmail and Inbox which manages Gmail..haha what a mess. But I can get used to it. Agnostic about the font size change. I hated the chrome tabs which showed up in multi tasking, but I just turned the feature off. Now I have all the swipe to switch tabs, swipe down to see tabs etc.
Even though I like Lollipop overall, I agree with several of your points:
Battery life is much worse than the first DP released months ago. That was amazing. Now, I still have a better battery life while actually using the phone, compared to KitKat, but the standby power consumption is worrying: I get a 5% drop by just leaving my phone in airplane mode for one night, which would barely take 1% on android 4.4...
The UI doesn't look laggy at all to me, but I must admit that some animations are pointless; others are pleasant though.
I like the UI of some of the new Gapps instead: gmail is really well made, especially in the tablet version, calendar is ok and the changes in the other ones (maps, keep, newsstand) didn't affect usability.
At first I didn't like chrome either, but after you get used to the new way to use it, it's not that bad. Anyway, you can disable the new tab view and revert to the classical UI whenever you want
Sent from my Nexus 5
Lags what?? Come on. Mine is running butter smooth like never before. Much much fluid and consistent than Kitkat 4.4.4. And stop criticizing UI based on colors and all. These are subjective elements and opinions always vary greatly from person to person. Most of the people are liking this new UI. It does have a character and feel of liveliness unlike any previous android UI.
PS: And for once in a lifetime, do checkout settings under Chrome.
Odd
Got no lag issues
Battery is better for me
3 ~ 5 are taste choices not issues, i love the new ui and animation
Maybe its time to see if any oem offer better looks to your taste
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
People if you read all his comments, all items are so subjective. Colors can look ugly to you but not to everyone. Battery would be because of how you use it. Gapps, are made not your sake and fonts that are small for your is enough for someone. Again, post issues that are show stopper.
@OP: Damn right they have. The OTA updates have stopped as well. I think the rest of us (99%) should be receiving Android 5.0.1 or something next month. Till then... no updates.
In chrome you can change the tab style under settings
I sideloaded the OTA and my phone was laggy and had a few force closes so I flashed the factory image and it's fine. Fast, smooth and works.
This is the price you pay for being an early adopter. It has happened before on nexus devices in the past. It's going to take them at least one or even two more updates to polish it.
Concerning chrome tabs, go to settings in chrome and turn off "merge tabs and apps".
You can turn off system animations from developer options in settings, or make them a bit faster by setting the value to .5x
As for unnecessary apps, you can disable the apps you don't want to see, or if you're rooted, you can delete them for good.
I want to say that after week od testing Lollipop (AOSP version with Hybrid Kernel) I went back to Omni ROM based on KitKat. Why? Because for me Lollipop is not as smooth as KitKat. I mean especially animations that are often laggy. Check out for example Play Store. Search any app with huge description, click "More informations" and then click "x" button to close whole description. For me this animation was very laggy. It's only example but I just felt worse smoothness and responsive in compare to KitKat. Even recent apps panel opens slower than KitKats one. It should not supposed to be so. I feel on KitKat 100% comfortable in daily use, not on Lollipop. I like new look and features but KitKat is faster.
And I will not change my mind, I'm not a noob and I can see the difference. I will wait month or two for custom ROMs and I will check out Lollipop again.
rayiskon said:
This is the price you pay for being an early adopter. It has happened before on nexus devices in the past. It's going to take them at least one or even two more updates to polish it.
Concerning chrome tabs, go to settings in chrome and turn off "merge tabs and apps".
You can turn off system animations from developer options in settings, or make them a bit faster by setting the value to .5x
As for unnecessary apps, you can disable the apps you don't want to see, or if you're rooted, you can delete them for good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know long did previous nexus devices had to wait for the "polish" it out updates in the past?
and313 said:
Do you know long did previous nexus devices had to wait for the "polish" it out updates in the past?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been on the nexus line for 4 generations, but no one can answer your question with 100% certainty. It might take a x.x.1 or even x.x.2 update to iron things out.
I would say this transition is even bigger than gingerbread 2.3 -> 4.0 ICS was.
Choppy animations, FC's and inconsistencies in apps are normal at this stage. Apps will update in time. And i mean all apps in general, not just GApps.
1. No lag here.
2. Getting 4 hours + SoT, even on Developer Preview I was getting nearly 5.
3. Everything looks better in slow-mo.
4. Touchwiz is so much more random. Colors everywhere, heavy theming, where as Google has a constant flow. Maybe they just got tired if everything being black(might've been nice in the N6)
5. I always hated the Photos thing, but getting use to it quickly. I can see where Google is trying to go.
The font is beautiful to me. I love it.
Chrome, you can change it from recent apps back to normal in Chrome settings(I don't know if you read the instructions for that)
Calendar looks beautiful, but haven't used it yet.
Now. Remember that Lollipop was JUST released, therefore only the start of things to come. KitKat had many improvements done to it to become what it was.
Curiousn00b said:
1. No lag here.
2. Getting 4 hours + SoT, even on Developer Preview I was getting nearly 5.
3. Everything looks better in slow-mo.
4. Touchwiz is so much more random. Colors everywhere, heavy theming, where as Google has a constant flow. Maybe they just got tired if everything being black(might've been nice in the N6)
5. I always hated the Photos thing, but getting use to it quickly. I can see where Google is trying to go.
The font is beautiful to me. I love it.
Chrome, you can change it from recent apps back to normal in Chrome settings(I don't know if you read the instructions for that)
Calendar looks beautiful, but haven't used it yet.
Now. Remember that Lollipop was JUST released, therefore only the start of things to come. KitKat had many improvements done to it to become what it was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This exact same thing, minus #3.
Sent from my Nexus 5 on Lollipop 5.0
TheLastSidekick said:
This exact same thing, minus #3.
Sent from my Nexus 5 on Lollipop 5.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohno, I meant the animations. You see it more in slow-mo. I'm not saying put your phone animations like 2x's slower.
In an Android Police post, they made GIFS of the animations. To the eye it looks like a slide, but in thebGIFS it was beautiful.
No lag here.
Battery is improved in my case ( on avg-extreme usage).
But apps takes longer time to install. But I know its due to the ART , but performance wise its a clear winner.
No force closes even on extreme multitasking.
My device is rooted just to install ViperFx everything else is completely stock.
OnlySkills said:
5.0 was something I really looked forward to...once I got around to flashing it however, man it's taking a huge decrease in the performance department compared to 4.4.4. Here are some of the things I noticed:
1. Laggy UI overall - opening apps, loading, caching is all much slower now - not the animations, just the time lag before the animation/after animation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I noticed this since first preview came out. I thought it would be fixed in final factory image, but it didn't.
I installed Lollipop with full wipe option (-w) and still laggy everywhere(Drawer, multi-tasking, even opening setting).
Third party apps which have services running in background are only Facebook Messenger and Yahoo!Weather, tried removing them but no help.
I am so jealous of you guys who didn't encounter this issue :crying:
BTW, I also noticed taking some HDR+ shots makes system holding more memory (and never release them).
I just used the phone for half a day and thoroughly enjoy it. On first impression, the phone is very light for the size and they give nice accessories considering the price; earphones, screen protector, case. The phone have an RGB notification light.
Interface:
-The interface is not stock Android, it's more like a modified version of MIUI. It's very usable once you install your choice of stock launcher, replace the default keyboard, and disable some of the bloat apps.
-Since it's not stock Android, I find it take a bit of time to get used to finding things in the Settings menu.
-The swipe up hardware toggles (Control center, similar to iPhone toggles) are pretty useful and more well organized than stock Android imo.
-Screen off gestures, you get many different commands (double tap on, camera, flashlight, customize your own, etc) and it work pretty good.
-Feature to display network speed on the notification bar
-"Close all" button in the recent apps menu.
-There is a feature to modify apps permissions called "Permissions of App".
-I can not find the shortcut to "Smart Lock" window anywhere, even though it is supported in the OS, if you pair a bluetooth device it will display the notification to enable it. But there seems to be no way to get to the actual Smart Lock window to enable other smart lock features, or I miss it somewhere.
Performance:
I installed all my programs pretty quick. I don't see any lag issues. All the apps launches fast and run smoothly. I don't intend to play any heavy games on a $100 phone, all the light games I play like Subway Surfer and Horizon Chase have no lags.
Connection:
Cell: The dual sim feature seems to work good. I still have to to test the signal quality, but I have to say the data speed is average. I get about 10 to 12mbps down for T-Mobile LTE speed test.
Bluetooth: I'm happy to report the Bluetooth have good performance, the motion of people lips in videos are in synced with the audio from the bluetooth speaker.
WiFi: Can reach high speed, no problem.
GPS: No problem.
Storage:
There is a strange quirk with the phone which is by default your microSD is acts as the main 'internal storage' of the phone (sdcard0), and the actual internal storage act as external (sdcard1). So it would help if you use a fast microSD. I think this is because I have the microSD inserted the first time I set up the phone. Maybe this problem can be prevented by not inserting the microSD for the first time you boot up the phone. I don't know, but I'll just live with it.
Display:
The screen is very nice for a 5.5" 720p AMOLED display. It's not going to be sharp, but it the pixels are smooth so you don't get so much of that pixelation effect. Pretty much deep black, saturated colors and good viewing angles you expect from AMOLED. It's definitely not the brightest of display though, so you might have some problem under direct sunlight.
Camera: I haven't used it too much, but it's pretty average. Like all lower end camera, it have issue with under/over exposure, also the white balance is really off on auto mode. I like the manual mode that let you control the ISO and shutter speed. It's no where bad in good lighting condition, I'd say it takes good enough details for a budget phone.
Speaker: Very average, don't expect much here.
Charging: I used my Anker quick charger and it seems to charge the device fast and safely.
Ringtones selection:
The only thing I don't like is that if you have music in your phone, when you go to change the default ringtones, it will display every single songs in your phone and you have to scroll through it. The way to remedy this is to use the file manager in the phone and create a file called ".nomedia" in your music folder, so the phone will not recognize songs in it. Once you set your desired ringtone, you can remove that file. Or you can simply use a third party app to do the job.
Aside from some quirks, I honestly have no complaints so far, I would have no problem paying the full $150 for this device. I definitely like it better than the Moto G3, except that Motorola phones tends to have superior signals and call quality compared to most other brands. I definitely will not use this phone without a case though since it's on the light side.
Couple of things I noticed
1. The navigation buttons at the bottom (Home, Back & Option) does not have backlight. Not sure if there is a LED there that can be enabled in settings. I couldn't find any setting for that.
2. The data connection drops from 4G LTE to 'H' (HSPA) when on a call.
One of thing I notice about the Gallery app in this phone is there is an "Encrypt" option. If you press it accidentally it encrypt the file and move it into the "Pictures\.GallerySafe" folder. To access the encrypted photo, you have to "pinch outward" in the app.
No Smart Lock support: I tested and even though the smart lock feature turned on when you paired a bluetooth device, it actually doesn't work.
Here are some photo samples. The main problem are over exposure, white balance detection and some lost of saturation. The quality suffers when you're indoor with less lights.
https://goo.gl/photos/j9BrJ7gcbDCXBQgD6
The LED notification light seem like its set a ways under the glass and has this really bright shining affect versus a little glow other devices have.
I must say, the amoled screen on this is quite impressive for $100 phone..
wifi and data speeds are very similar compared to my oneplus 2 (both running Tmobile)
I noticed that the user cannot remove home screen icons. Like when you press and hold there's no option to remove the icon. Some apps show an option to uninstall. But for some pre installed apps there is no option to remove the icon.
Like Google chrome, opera browser, BLU help, amazon etc....
I don't want to uninstall the app, just remove from home screen.
Yea I noticed the LED light being very bright. I could read a book under that lighting.
hamilLewiston said:
I noticed that the user cannot remove home screen icons. Like when you press and hold there's no option to remove the icon. Some apps show an option to uninstall. But for some pre installed apps there is no option to remove the icon.
Like Google chrome, opera browser, BLU help, amazon etc....
I don't want to uninstall the app, just remove from home screen.
Yea I noticed the LED light being very bright. I could read a book under that lighting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just use another launcher. google now, nova
eksasol said:
One of thing I notice about the Gallery app in this phone is there is an "Encrypt" option. If you press it accidentally it encrypt the file and move it into the "Pictures\.GallerySafe" folder. To access the encrypted photo, you have to "pinch outward" in the app.
No Smart Lock support: I tested and even though the smart lock feature turned on when you paired a bluetooth device, it actually doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The smart lock is really baffling. It prompts to turn on smart lock but never works after that.
tlxxxsracer said:
just use another launcher. google now, nova
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, that's what i finally did
so i found that there is an option on the desktop settings to 'hide' apps that you don't want to see on the desktop. it will hide the apps, with a password / pin. i'll post a guide later.
I've been using the Honor 5X a bit today so here is a comparison.
Things I prefer on the Vivo XL:
-This is a faster device. Everything about the Blu is more responsive and I don't think it's down to just the 720p display. It seems that this Mediatek CPU is actually pretty decent, games are smoother on it as well. In comparison, Honor 5X is slightly sluggy, not just in the interface, but in apps as well. This is probably due to the EMUI OS on the Honor 5X.
-Blu's UI is actually easier to understand and getting used to, especially if you're not accustomed to MIUI style interface on the Honor 5X.
-I'm not sure if it's due to the screen protector preinstalled on the Honor 5X, but the Blu touchscreen is a bit more sensitive and responsive to touch. Though it's not bad on the Honor 5X.
-The slide up "Control Panel" on the Blu is more useful with lots of options. Hate to admit it, but I prefer this slide up behavior more than Android's default because it's faster being close to your thumb. The notification toggles for the Honor 5X is missing a few options, but not a big deal.
-Blu is thinner and more light weight.
-The USB Type C connector is god sent.
-Removable battery.
Prefer on the 5X:
-Sharper screen that is very bright, its actually brighter than some highend flagship devices. The viewing angle isn't great however, but that is non-problem because it's a phone, not a TV.
-The camera is (only) slightly better. It have a bit more details and much better handle at white balance. Although the Blu camera's tap to focus is faster and more responsive. At this price range, it's not a big difference between the two phones.
-While their EMUI interface takes time to learn, it have some useful features, such as network control for apps. This let you disable data or wifi access for any apps you want, which is a very useful security feature.
-Very nice metal body.
-Finger print scanner, which I don't use.
It's a bit hard to choose which phone I would use as the daily driver. I think that if you go with the Blu, the software is good enough that you don't need to install custom roms. If you go with the Honor 5X, I believe you will need to install custom roms if you want the most out of the performance. I would have to pick the Blu Vivo XL as better value for the money, since it performs better for $50 less, and may last longer due to removable battery and USB Type C connector (more durable than microUSB). Also I like it when companies throw in free phone case and headphones, which is lacking in the Honor 5X packaging.
hamilLewiston said:
so i found that there is an option on the desktop settings to 'hide' apps that you don't want to see on the desktop. it will hide the apps, with a password / pin. i'll post a guide later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wheres the guide?
Thanks you for this app
1. The volume button and power button are too close together. The amount of times I went to reach the power button to turn off the display and accidentally took a screenshot by pressing power and volume down together.
2. The back is way too slippery. If the phone is on my bed and and leaning on the mattress slightly, the phone moves. Even just tapping the screen to navigate makes the phone slowly move away. Have to keep putting the case back on.
3. Gloves don't work with the front mounted sensor button. Not really blaming Huawei for that, but if out and about and gloved, you can't press the home button as the sensor won't work. I disabled my navigation bar which is the main reason I got this phone for full screen real estate. Thank God I can add the Navigation Floating Dock on the Quick Tiles so I can enable and use that when gloved and out.
4. Battery is good but not what I was expecting. Same as my Mate 9 battery life and yet I thought the Kirin 970 was 50% more efficient than the 960.
5. Wish camera had more slow motion speeds.
6. Persistent Android System notification but that's an Oreo thing and not a Huawei thing.
Having said all that I love this phone and it's the best phone I ever had.
Only had mine two days so more annoyances will probably come to light.
Agree about the power/volume button positioning.
Also since I've got a glass screen protector on it, it's a bit harder to access the sensor (have to press down into it) which is a bit annoying since it's my main means of navigating back and home as well as unlocking.
Infact the same sensor/button being used for both back (short press) and home (long press) is also awkward as I frequently do one when I mean to do the other.
Finally, it seems a bit complicated seemingly with multiple apps and settings for the same thing (though I am coming from Windows Mobile which might seem simpler as it didn't have many apps)
Agree great phone though (probably my best ever also)
I just got my mate 10 (alp-l29,black,4gb) from UAE.
1. Inability to theme notification/quick toggle area - stays black no matter what theme you apply. Looks out of place considering all notifications except spotify are light/white themed.
2.home button with 3 functions is not as easy to manage as I thought, but I will have to get used to it, since i aint giving away screen real estate and use on screen buttons on this monster.
3. Display settings in regard of View Mode and Text Size are not perfect, meaning that View Mode setting does not change size of text for notifications and they just look to big unless you use small text, but then again small text and default viewing area makes other areas look to big like whatsapp, chrome and so on. the best setting for perfect view View Mode - Small, Text Size - Normal, while taking into account that in such combo your notifications will be large/too large to fit notification are when you receive 3-4 messages/emails.
Otherwise I love this phone. Its fast, lag free. Kinda fat, but in combo with the weight, I like how it sits in my hand.
For the first time I quible only about thickness. Anything over 8mm feels a little thick...
tboy2000 said:
3. Gloves don't work with the front mounted sensor button. Not really blaming Huawei for that, but if out and about and gloved, you can't press the home button as the sensor won't work. I disabled my navigation bar which is the main reason I got this phone for full screen real estate. Thank God I can add the Navigation Floating Dock on the Quick Tiles so I can enable and use that when gloved and out..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well to update my post, I just tried with a very thin pair of unlined black leather gloves I own and in fact the sensor button DOES work while gloved. So I can press it to go back and forth and navigate as usual. It does not work with fingerprint recognition apps/phone unlocking of course, but once you are in, they do work.
FYI they are a UK brand: Dents Extra Soft 3000 silk lined gloves but I ripped out the silk lining to make them unlined and for more flexibility and thinness and to work with the sensor. ?
jemeljsh said:
3. Display settings in regard of View Mode and Text Size are not perfect, meaning that View Mode setting does not change size of text for notifications and they just look to big unless you use small text, but then again small text and default viewing area makes other areas look to big like whatsapp, chrome and so on. the best setting for perfect view View Mode - Small, Text Size - Normal, while taking into account that in such combo your notifications will be large/too large to fit notification are when you receive 3-4 messages/emails.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE.
I found a solution to this issue where none of the combinations of View Mode and Text Size settings give you ideally looking system, meaning not too large or not too tiny. At default everything looks to large IMO and they should done better on qhd 6.0” screen. If not by default, view mode needs 5 not 3 steps.
So far the best I got is with this combo of settings:
1. View Mode and Text Size at Small;
2. Dpi @392 (under Developer Settings).
With this settings I believe the text size and viewing area is appropriate for qhd 6” screen.
For me,
I simply hate the single button implementation. Especially for recent task action, sometimes it ends up detecting my swipe as a tap, and going back accidentally
If one button is indeed a must, then i prefer the Meizu style implementation, where i can simply swipe up from bottom screen to access recent.
Current huawei implementation is too slow to my liking, not to mention, its a waste of space, since we can actually put something next to the button
otonieru said:
For me,
I simply hate the single button implementation. Especially for recent task action,
If one button is indeed a must, then i prefer the Meizu style implementation, where i can simply swipe up from bottom screen to access recent.
Current huawei implementation is too slow to my liking, not to mention, its a waste of space, since we can actually put something next to the button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thikn the one button is great. but the beauty of android is that you can simply change to something like Nova Launcher and get this swipe-up-for-recents functionality :good:
snachez said:
I thikn the one button is great. but the beauty of android is that you can simply change to something like Nova Launcher and get this swipe-up-for-recents functionality :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that might be true if we are on home page,
But if we are still using an app, swiping up will only do scrolling :silly: , and the point of getting into recent screen is of course, for switching between app
Also,
I kinda expect by this time, huawei would already implement off screen gesture. At least for skipping song,
I mount my phone on my car center dash often, using maps and streaming spotify,
Without off screen gesture, its too troublesome, since i need to reach the phone while driving (not to mention its dangerous)
Because of this, now most of that job done by my Meizu Pro 7
They already implement "Knock & Draw" feature to launch app, so i dont see why they still cant get offscreen gesture
I miss the double tap to wake.
Do you have an app for this ?
maniyoshi said:
I miss the double tap to wake.
Do you have an app for this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't need that for Mate 10. Its one tap on fp to wake.
Hi. I don'l line che "twin app" that is no wotking with other launchers and there isn't a toggle to manage the duble sim (favorite ecc..)
maniyoshi said:
I miss the double tap to wake.
Do you have an app for this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I missed double tap to wake. Huawei should not remove the set data limit feature as well.
I overall like the phone but couple things
Camera is disappointing. Not as good as expecting. I do believe it's the software side letting it down. I was more impressed with the pixel 1 and HTC u11 camera
Battery life could be better. It's good but should be better with the battery size. Again seems needs more software tweaks. Inside just browsing with WiFi I can get up to 7-8 hours SOT. it just seems when I'm at work. I use a little sat nav and mobile data and a bit of music streaming it drains quickly. Just as quick as phones with smaller battery's
The software. I like emui . I like it a lot more than I thought. But it definitely is a bit buggy here and there ..again software updates could improve this
Another really picky thing...even though I really can't notice this isn't a 2k screen and is 1080p and it's a gorgeous screen. It still would have been nice to have the option. Especially since all flagships at this price and above have 2k screens
windozeanti said:
Yes. I missed double tap to wake. Huawei should not remove the set data limit feature as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought data limit is still there? In mobile data setting.
Or are we talking about different thing ?
Reuben_skelz92 said:
I overall like the phone but couple things
Camera is disappointing. Not as good as expecting. I do believe it's the software side letting it down. I was more impressed with the pixel 1 and HTC u11 camera
Battery life could be better. It's good but should be better with the battery size. Again seems needs more software tweaks. Inside just browsing with WiFi I can get up to 7-8 hours SOT. it just seems when I'm at work. I use a little sat nav and mobile data and a bit of music streaming it drains quickly. Just as quick as phones with smaller battery's
The software. I like emui . I like it a lot more than I thought. But it definitely is a bit buggy here and there ..again software updates could improve this
Another really picky thing...even though I really can't notice this isn't a 2k screen and is 1080p and it's a gorgeous screen. It still would have been nice to have the option. Especially since all flagships at this price and above have 2k screens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- I don't know... different people report different experience. I mean some people are getting a lot of SOT and some not. which is quite confusing.
- also, the same regarding the camera, some say it is amazing some say not that good, check this post, what do you think about it:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-10/how-to/mate-10-vs-pixel-2-xl-camera-t3707909
according to these pics, Mate 10 definitely wins over pixel 2 xl !
well these 2 things are what is going to make me buy the mate 10 in few days. so i was looking for reviews around the web to make up mind.
Shady282 said:
- I don't know... different people report different experience. I mean some people are getting a lot of SOT and some not. which is quite confusing.
- also, the same regarding the camera, some say it is amazing some say not that good, check this post, what do you think about it:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-10/how-to/mate-10-vs-pixel-2-xl-camera-t3707909
according to these pics, Mate 10 definitely wins over pixel 2 xl !
well these 2 things are what is going to make me buy the mate 10 in few days. so i was looking for reviews around the web to make up mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera definitely isn't bad. But hasn't given me that wow factor. Especially in low light. Like I said I think after a couple software updates things will improve slot. No doubt the battery is good but could be better considering the Battery size
I've switched from One Plus 2 to Mate 10 and I think the Mate 10 could use some gestures,like hold home button to lock the phone etc. Right now, it's just pressing the power button to lock the phone. Bugs me.
The other thing i've noticed is that, there's no dark theme on Mate 10, but there's dark theme on the Mate 10 pro. Besides, another thing that irks me is the fact that we can't mute the shutter sound in 3rd party apps even when you're in silent mode. Like if my phone is in silent mode and I want to send a pic using the whatsapp camera, i can't disable the sound.
focacciabread said:
The other thing i've noticed is that, there's no dark theme on Mate 10, but there's dark theme on the Mate 10 pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because the Mate 10 Pro has an OLED screen and white backgrounds consume more power, so they give you the option to use black backgrounds to save power. The standard Mate 10 has an LCD screen and white backgrounds be are not an issue.
The always on display which doesn't display any useful notifications is quite annoying.