Database Develop

My Samsung Focus S full review with comparisons to Focus! (Videos will come)

NOT DONE YET but here's my pretty long review of the Samsung Focus S and comparing it to the original Samsung Focus. I tried to go over every single thing I could possibly think of and hopefully someone appreciates it! Post any questions you have and I hope others will post their experiences as well.
Still in progress: CPU benchmarks, 4G speed tests, camera review and examples, battery life, some videos.
Performance
CPU - Still working on this!
With the faster processor loading times are definitely shorter on apps and games. You'll notice that XBOX Live and Marketplace both open a second quicker. Also you will see better performance within apps, with less lagging and faster scrolling. Runs great and I'm loving the performance boost.
(Benchmarks coming soon)
GPU
The upgraded GPU is great! I tested Super Mario Bros 3 on an NES emulator and was getting 48-55 fps WITH sound and 60 fps without! Plays near perfectly.
(Video coming soon)
4G - Still working on this!
So far I haven't noticed much of a speed increase. I live in a 4G covered area and I get 5 bars at home. I will do some more studying and speed testing and get back to this.
Internet sharing is listed on the settings page but when attempting to turn it on you get a message about signing up for an appropriate tethering plan. If you reload internet sharing through provision xml it will get rid of the message.
RAM
A few apps report it as having 354MB of RAM. They report the Focus as having 481mb. Both have 512MB and the 'missing' RAM is not useable because it's dedicated to the GPU. You won't even know it's gone though and the GPU's increased performance is worth it. I tried a test where I launched Fruit Ninja, Hydro Thunder GO, Sonic The Hedgehog Episode 1, and Twin Blades and checked the RAM usage. All games were in the middle of gameplay (not at the start screen) and dehydrate on pause was disabled allowing them to all stay where they were at in the game. My peak RAM usage reported as only 31MB.
GPS & WiFi
I tried them and they work just as they should. Still unable to connect to hidden WiFi networks though.
Battery - Still working on this!
I still need to go through a few more power cycles to know what it's like for sure. I'm a heavy user and I'm on my phone all day long so it does not last me the whole day. I'll post more info once I have a better idea.
Keyboard
Right now there is an issue with the keyboard. Many people think the keyboard is lagging. However I think it's just the keyboard tap sounds that are delayed. It makes it really annoying to type because you THINK it's lagging. To me the letters come up just as fast as I type them and when you turn off the sound it doesn't seem delayed in the slightest. It should only take a simple update to fix that.
Hardware
This phone is much thinner and lighter than the Focus. It does not feel too big in hand and I think it's a perfect size. After only using it for the first few hours, my Focus already felt like a brick compared to it. When pictures of the Focus S first came out I didn't like the aesthetics of the textured backplate but it feels nice in hand and adds some much needed grip. I wished the bezel around the around of the phone was less pronounced and it looked more like the original Focus in that aspect. At first it kinda feels cheapish because it is plastic and extremely light but I've gotten over that and no longer feel that way. The device feels solid. The backplate on it is the thinnest piece of plactic ever and it will bend and can easily break. Not extremely difficult to take off and I actually like it better than the Focus' which I thought was a pain to take off because I felt like I was gonna break the phone while doing so. A nice little added touch is that when you tap on a capacitive button it will dim the button's backlight a little bit.
Screen
The bigger screen size is great but my feelings about this SAMOLED+ display are mixed. I have a huge problem with the display and that is a ghosting/blurring issue. Whenever you are scrolling through lists the texts is blurry and once you stop you can see it 'snap' into focus again. It's also noticeable during animations such as launching XBOX Live. This might not bother some but to me I find it highly annoying! I don't experience it on my Focusat all. May be my biggest issue with the phone.
Another issue with the display is the brightness. I guess Samsung wanted to preserve as much battery life as possible and they made the lowest brightness of the screen extremely LOW. But let me explain, the maximum brightness is plenty bright, the problem is just the minimum brightness level. When comparing the Focus and Focus S both on the highest setting; the Focus S is definitely brighter, and on the lowest setting: the Focus S is way dimmer. The issue is what they have set for the lowest screen brightness, it's just too damn low! You will need to keep your phone on atleast medium brightness, low is pretty much unuseable and that's not even talking about during outside use. This also affects the automatic setting as well and it will be way too low most of the time. I don't think the brightness issue is a big deal though because:
1- It can easily be fixed with an update.
2- I put together a file you can deploy to your unlocked phone that will edit the registry to increase the brightness of the low setting. It will make the low setting similar to the brightness of the Focus' low setting. The only issue is it will NOT fix the automatic setting and that will continue to be way too dim.
Also there is another new setting that will mess up your brightness levels. Samsung added a page to settings called Extra Settings that will bring up the option to turn on/off the following:
Auto Display Intensity
Key Vibration Feedback
Echo Cancellation
Auto Display Intensity needs to be turned OFF. With it on you will notice the brightness constantly flickering, especially on a light background. It's extremely annoying. The problem though is you can turn it off but the setting doesn't want to stick! If you soft reset your phone it will turn back on and you'll need to switch it off again. Trust me you'll want to... I find it horrible. The did release an update for Extra Settings in the marketplace but it did not solve this issue. Atleast we know it's a simple app update through the marketplace though.
I think the Super AMOLED Plus' colors look a little fake and more saturated. I don't think it's too terrible though. The Focus' colors may be more true, but during movie playback I like how the Focus S' colors looked. Daylight use is fine as long as your on atleast medium brightness. Viewing angles are pretty good.
One last thing about the display. I did experience some weird flickering on my device the second day I had it. It hasn't happened since then but I don't think it's a good sign. I did get to take a video of it. It's hard to see it in the video because it kinda looks like distortion from filming but look closely, all those dark flickering bands you see are happening on the screen.
I don't know if it will happen again but if anyone else has experienced it let me know!
Camera - Still working on this!
Well this camera is definitely quicker than the Focus' and when holding each phones in the same spot, the Focus S will give you a greater viewing range and you'll be able to see more in the frame. But other than that I don't think the camera is much of an improvement on the Focus'. I'm still working on taking examples on both phones for a comparison. The camera offers no new settings (such as HTC's burst and panorama modes). I tested the LED on both the Focus S and the Focus in the dark and I think the Focus' LED is slightly brighter but it's pretty close and hard to tell. Overall I'm don't think I'm impressed with the camera.
I haven't taken any videos with the camera yet and will get to that later.
Front Facing Camera
It's there and it works! Quality is not great of course... standard poor webcam-type quality. Tango works great though and hopefully Skype will be released soon. Ability to use your phone as a mirror is nice. Pictures taken with the front facing cam are reversed after being taken, which I think is kinda annoying.
Storage
16GB actually meanings 14.07GB total. After a fresh install Zune will show you that 1GB is used with 12.53GB free. If you go into Zune's setting and lower reserved space to 0% it will give you 335.78MB used and 13.20GB free. It was depressing finding out the Focus S would only have 16GB instead of 32GB and no MicroSD slot. I never used the MicroSD slot in my Focus in fear of a random hard reset so 16GB is still an upgrade for me. I kept some music on my Focus (around 2 or 3GB) but no movies (never had space for them). My Focus was filled completely so it's nice to have some breathing room now. Even though it's not ideal I think 16GB is sufficient enough for now.
Speakers
First of all the speaker on the back is at the bottom of the phone. I think this is a poor position for it. While holding the phone your hand will tend to cover it and distort the sound. The loudspeaker is also not as loud as the Focus and doesn't sound as good. The sound with headphones plugged in was disappointing. Compared to the Focus it sounded very flat. The Focus has more bass and music sounds much better on it. Samsung doesn't offer any sort of equalizer app. Headphone volume also doesn't get as loud.
Microphone
I did a test where I recorded myself talking on both the Focus S and the Focus at the same time. The Focus S had a noticeable static in the background while the Focus' recording did not.
MicroUSB
The MicroUSB port is at the bottom now. It seems like it makes more sense to have it at the bottom. No little door covering it but I don't miss it. It's low profile and hassle free. If you keep your phone in a cup holder or so while driving it may be awkward to have it plugged in now. But it is easier to talk on the phone with it plugged in at the bottom. The moved it to the bottom but you know Samsung won't release a dock for this phone, it's a shame.
Buttons
The buttons on the phone feel really good, easy, and very pressable!
Call quality
So far I haven't had any dropped calls. Seems pretty decent in that regard. BUT I've been told there is an obvious decrease in sound quality on the other end since getting my new phone. Multiple times I've been told that the other person couldn't hear me at all. It seems to happen when I have the phone about 4-5 inches from my mouth (for example when I'm laying down and have the phone on pillow). The in-call volume is still too low just like the Focus. I wish I was able to hold the phone more than a few inches away from my head and still hear it. Speakerphone is pretty mediocre and not great. I'm disappointed with the microphone and speakers on this phone.
Homebrew
The current registry editors out there do not work. Only way to edit registry is with using a provisioning xml. I have used this method to enable the instant resume hack and to increase the brightness when on the low setting. I tried to change accent colors using this method but so far have been unsuccessful.
Interop unlock works but doesn't. You are able to install the unlock, removing your sideload limit and getting rid 0x81030120 error when deploying interop apps. BUT the apps you deploy won't work. They will either fail to start or their functions just won't work.
The diagnosis app is installed the same way as before (dialing ##634#). It is version 0923. Not all the codes are the same though! *#77284# (tethering) and *#9908# (GPRS Manager) still work. Some other ones that I tried like Auto SIM Configure do not.
USB tethering is possible! Similar to tethering on the Focus but an extra step is need as discovered by dbrandusa. See instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19175627&postcount=8
Overall
Pros
New CPU/GPU offers a definite increase in speed and power. App launching, app performance, gaming, HTML5 all benefit from it
Bigger screen size and yet thinner and lighter, perfectly sized device in my opinion
Bigger storage capacity (but no MicroSD)
4G capable (but don't expect a significant speed increase)
Has front facing camera (even though quality is nothing special)
Easy to press buttons
Cons
SAMOLED+ display produces very annoying ghosting/blurring. Also potential flicker issue
Microphone has some static and issues with other people not hearing you during the call
Speakers are not as loud as Focus' and sound flat
Camera is not much of an improvement
Headphone quality is much worse than Focus' (needs more bass)
Headphone cable controls do not work anymore (Unsure if it's an issue with the aux design or a software issue)
Delayed keyboard tap bug *can be fixed with update*
Extremely low brightness when on low or automatic settings. Annoying "auto intensity display" setting that turns itself on after each soft reset *can be fixed with update*
I really want to love this device. Looking at it sitting there I just want to grab it and play with it much more than my Focus. But I think I was happier with it until I starting comparing it side by side with my Focus. At that point I started seeing it's flaws. I love the faster CPU & GPU, dimensions, screen size, storage upgrade, having a front facing camera, but the biggest dealbreakers for me are the ghosting on the display, poor headphone sound quality, and in-call microphone issues. I will definitely be exchanging it for a HTC Titan on the 20th and I'll see how I feel about that device. If I decide it's too big, the pixel density is too low, or some other major issue I will come back to the Focus S. If you have a Focus or other first generation device and debating between upgrading to the Focus S or waiting to see what is coming (from Nokia and such): just ask yourself are you content with your current storage capacity and screen size? Do you really need your apps to load a second earlier? Do you HAVE to have a front facing camera? If you do need those things NOW and the Titan is too big of a device for you than I think it'll be worth the upgrade. If you do get one you'll just have to be patient for the bug fixes though. If it's your first Windows Phone you'll probably be content with it as long as you turn the brightness up.

Does it seem faster?

MartyLK said:
Does it seem faster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely, in my opinion.
---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------
On another side note, it's crazy how different the AT&T rep was today compared with last year. Maybe it was just that particular store, but the rep that sold it to me was blown away by it's responsiveness and decided to show it off to 3 other reps before handing it over to me. They only had two in stock (one was on display)...so I got lucky. But, I remember last year...and the rep that sold me the focus had spent some time trying to sell me an Android or iPhone even after he knew I was there for the Focus. So, is it a change in AT&T training for WP7, or that the product speaks for itself?

i went to an at&t store today, and the focus S and focus flash were sitting in a lonely corner the store was packed but not a single other person besides me was looking at it, haha
---------- Post added at 02:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:01 AM ----------
could you take some photo samples? I wonder if its the same lens from the GS2, that has pretty high praise for its camera

does your unit overheat when running graphic intensive games? I also noticed that autocontrast is quite poor
have you experienced this?

How does the quality of both the primary camera and front facing camera seem to other phones you've used in the past?

I picked up a Focus S today - like the OP said, it and the Flash were tucked away in the corner of the store. I use an iPhone, but was looking to upgrade an Android phone on our plan and have been interested in trying W7 Phone. The store had exactly one Focus S in stock.
First impression - really light, almost freakishly so. Fairly thin - a little lip at the bottom makes it easier to hold. Screen changes and app loading is very snappy. Screen is terrific.
One nice touch - bloatware, and there is some, is very easily removed. It's much closer to the iPhone where there is zero bloatware as opposed to an Android phone where you literally have to root the thing to remove the nonsense. (An Motorola Android phone on the ATT network might have upwards of two dozen preinstalled, unremovable apps.)
Can't really comment on anything else given that I'm about six hours into this Windows Phone thing.

I just picked up my first windows phone, focus s, i notice that when you lay it on its back, you can possibly scratch up the camera lense/cover over time....why would they design it to stick out like that?

Focus S vs. Focus
Here's some pics I took of Focus S vs Focus. It's hard to get a true feel of the difference b/w the two in regards to the screen, but I think a few of these pics are able to show it.
Samsung Focus S
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Samsung Focus

Wow, The S-Amoled Plus screen makes a big difference in the Eli Manning Photos

bennyj71 said:
Wow, The S-Amoled Plus screen makes a big difference in the Eli Manning Photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Focus has a screen protector on it, and that could make a difference.

Seed 2.0 said:
The Focus has a screen protector on it, and that could make a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe,but the picture on the Focus is pixalated. Would a screen protector cause that?

bennyj71 said:
Maybe,but the picture on the Focus is pixalated. Would a screen protector cause that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be the pen-tile matrix of the Super AMOLED display.. it has fewer sub-pixels than the Super AMOLED Plus display in the Focus S.
Notice how the text is blurrier in the Focus pictures? (look at the marketplace picture in particular)
here's a good comparison (not the focus.. but galaxy S and S II.. which use the same kind of screen as the focus and the focus S respectively)
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Supe...AMOLED-to-the-PenTile-matrix-and-back_id18700

I think thay should made the Focus S a bit more like the original Focus. in my opinion the design of the original Focus is great.
Anyway a good phone

Were there any cases for Focus S in stores? I do not see any listed on AT&T site and I can not buy a phone without a case.
---------- Post added at 08:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 AM ----------
suua said:
I think thay should made the Focus S a bit more like the original Focus. in my opinion the design of the original Focus is great.
Anyway a good phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing that irks me is the location of the USB port. While in car I keep my phone docked and having the car charger plugged in on top makes my phone physically unstable.

None of you has used a SGS2? The Focus S is almost a direct external copy of the international/AT&T version. There's a reason Samsung has sold as many as they have in so short a time. Far superior to the Onmia/Focus/Flash.

No, there were no cases in stock and none listed in the ATT system.

Thought I was on reddit for a second here, with the AMA =D
Sent from my T7575 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Trust me, this thing is diesel...reception is ridiculous...im loving how fast 4g is..if u liked ur focus, this is for you, as it's a much bigger upgrade than I had anticipated..i mean, those who have wp7 already know how fluid the os was/is with the 1st generation phones...so it was hard to imagine that they could run noticeably faster....well, they can. And, it's noticeable
Sent from my SGH-i937 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Nice!! I took my brother to get a new phone yesterday and after him playing with the iphone, HTC Vivid (which is actually REALLY nice) and the Focus S, he finally settled on the Focus S. He asked a few pointed questions about each and myself and the rep gave him honest answers without much bias (despite both the rep and already owning the HD7 and HD7S). My brother makes up his own mind regardless of input and was really impressed with overall look of the OS and how smooth it was. And the phone was SO thin he said with such a huge screen!! It almost made me switch back to ATT, but figured I'd wait for what I've been waiting on a little longer (the Titan), before I decide. Overall impressions though were it's a really great phone, buttons are perfect in all aspects and it's the lightest and thinnest 4.3 in device out. If you dont want the Titan, get the Focus S for sure.

Camera Pro mode not updating the preview

Hi, I bought a P9 that is yet to arrive but the other day I was using my friends P9 and wanted to try the camera in pro mode (which is the mode that I use the most on my phones) and I noticed that after some speeds, when playing with shutter speed, the viewfinder image just stops updating the amount of light that should enter ie. I'm indoors with artificial light and if I set the speed to the fastest posible the viewfinder does not go black (and it stops showing the differences in lightning way before the fastest shutterspeed). Same goes the other way, if I set the speed to a ver very low one the viewfinder does not end up looking white, so it makes this feature useless cause the only way I have to see if I'm using the correct speed is to take the shot and then open the picture to see if it was the correct speed. I noticed this happening also in the Huawei Mate 8. I'm used to the LG G4 wich every step of the shutter speed shows a difference in lightning in the image your watching. Is there a way to fix this? does this happend with every Huawei phone? I haven't got the phone yet but I'm already thinking of selling it and getting an S7

I am also coming from an LG G4 and found the lack of feedback in terms of how much light I get by changing different setting, as I major drawback. To answer your question: yes, all Huawei phones seem to lack this feature. The only option is to take a shoot at that setting and adjust back and forth, per the exposure you see on the picture taken.

Co5min said:
I am also coming from an LG G4 and found the lack of feedback in terms of how much light I get by changing different setting, as I major drawback. To answer your question: yes, all Huawei phones seem to lack this feature. The only option is to take a shoot at that setting and adjust back and forth, per the exposure you see on the picture taken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks a lot, I'm really going to miss G4's camera app along with it camera quality so I think I'm gonna sell the p9 as soon as I get it and get an S7, the pro mode in a camera is way too important to me to withstand this Huawei bug like behavior =/

If you lock the shutter speed, then by changing to different ISO values you get a good feedback on the live screen related how much light gets in. But unfortunately does not work the other way around which is equally important, to lock the ISO and play with shutter speed. So it`s a half of drawback but still annoying.

My 2 Cents till now about the M20Po

Well.. here goes another post, right?
Just needed to say my 2cents about this phone which i was waiting for impatiently.
To be clear, I've owned the Mate 9, Mate 10 & P20pro loved them all when they came out. But this is a different story. I'm also on .122, no gluegate issues, no face unlock issues, or other (guess i'm lucky).
- Bluetooth issues when connecting to my car (WTF!). Connection is done well for normal phone connections, but to play media, i had to put in airplane mode and reconnect 3-4 times.
- The display more like the font DPI and Notifications... what the hell Huawei? It's ugly. When you try to change the DPI those notifications are atrocious.
- Notification bugs on lockscreen : It's hard to sweep them out, to delete them or even to read them.
- Status bar : Huawei could of implemented, like on the Pixel 3XL , that if you want to hide the notch, have another line appear where you could see all the notifications. Not ideal... but an "option". Or choose the icons you want to appear, and not needing to go ADB style in your phone.
- Browsing the net on Chrome : Again a DPI issue, which doesn't fully, logically and normally set the page correctly.
- Camera : Sorry to say, but it's not a wow for my daily usage. I'll give it a couple more testing days, but in general i'm not impressed by the focus speed of moving objects (kids & dogs). Still images yes, for sure. But when you live a life as a family guy you need to be quick to snap that right moment when your kid or dog is doing something crazy. And it just doesn't make it happen.
- Camera lenses : I miss the BW lens honestly speaking. Changing it to a wide angle might please some people, but the BW pictures i used to take with the phone on the go are gone. Those pictures used to be great (+1 for P20Pro)
- Speakers : Dual ? *cough* *cough*. I feel the are muffled, not clear.
- Wifi Connection : Now that's a funny one... i have a 500/150 connection. On wifi my Note9 goes up to 487/127. My Mate 20p does 80/65. Once i go into recovery and clean the cache.. it hits 380/120. Then messes up again during the day.
- Dual SIm : Sometimes i have my second SIM card having issues. The "not registered on network" kind. I have to switch to airplane mode and back to make it work. If i don't see it right away people can't reach me..
- GPS : Works great, really.
- Battery : So yes.... it has has a great battery, not to forget that you need to go into the settings and put the apps you really don't want to get closed in manual. Otherwise, baby cams, waze, and other notifications don't come through.
I really expected another experience than this, I thought they learned and listened to their customers, but they didn't. I hope they will resolve the issues down the line. I feel sorry for the guys that have a Gluegate phone, i just think that is unacceptable for a phone with such a price tag.
I really hope Huawei are gonna do something about it, this is why i'm keeping it in the drawer waiting for a new firmware. It took the p20pro 3 4 firmwares to make it a great phone.
Back to my Note9 in a couple of days once i finished really testing this camera out.

Hey for the notch you can change this in under settings click, display, then more display settings then notch. Should fix it for you
Android auto works mostly but not for the phone option. That's my grumble right now

Grm12 said:
Hey for the notch you can change this in under settings click, display, then more display settings then notch. Should fix it for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but did that. I think there is an option on the 3XL that the notch goes down a bit, and then you can see the notifications like a normal status bar. But you lose screen size by doing that... i read that somewhere, but can't find it.

Sounds almost exactly like my post. Pixel 3 comes at the end of the week. Sadly only the 64gb version in black, but you can't have everything.

David Horn said:
Sounds almost exactly like my post. Pixel 3 comes at the end of the week. Sadly only the 64gb version in black, but you can't have everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, read yours which gave me the inspiration to type mine. Funny that you mention the 3xl...I've been looking and reading reviews on it for the last hour.
3 things scare me though
1. The battery life, 2. The lack of RAM and 3. non dual SIM. On the last point, I can't understand why having an eSIM and a physical SIM they didn't put two IMEI like the iPhones...crazy. but that camera is really tempting. Been testing the M20Pro Vs my Note 9 cameras this evening... I have to admit I still prefer the m20 pro's.

SAO said:
Well.. here goes another post, right?
Just needed to say my 2cents about this phone which i was waiting for impatiently.
To be clear, I've owned the Mate 9, Mate 10 & P20pro loved them all when they came out. But this is a different story. I'm also on .122, no gluegate issues, no face unlock issues, or other (guess i'm lucky).
- Bluetooth issues when connecting to my car (WTF!). Connection is done well for normal phone connections, but to play media, i had to put in airplane mode and reconnect 3-4 times.
- The display more like the font DPI and Notifications... what the hell Huawei? It's ugly. When you try to change the DPI those notifications are atrocious.
- Notification bugs on lockscreen : It's hard to sweep them out, to delete them or even to read them.
- Status bar : Huawei could of implemented, like on the Pixel 3XL , that if you want to hide the notch, have another line appear where you could see all the notifications. Not ideal... but an "option". Or choose the icons you want to appear, and not needing to go ADB style in your phone.
- Browsing the net on Chrome : Again a DPI issue, which doesn't fully, logically and normally set the page correctly.
- Camera : Sorry to say, but it's not a wow for my daily usage. I'll give it a couple more testing days, but in general i'm not impressed by the focus speed of moving objects (kids & dogs). Still images yes, for sure. But when you live a life as a family guy you need to be quick to snap that right moment when your kid or dog is doing something crazy. And it just doesn't make it happen.
- Camera lenses : I miss the BW lens honestly speaking. Changing it to a wide angle might please some people, but the BW pictures i used to take with the phone on the go are gone. Those pictures used to be great (+1 for P20Pro)
- Speakers : Dual ? *cough* *cough*. I feel the are muffled, not clear.
- Wifi Connection : Now that's a funny one... i have a 500/150 connection. On wifi my Note9 goes up to 487/127. My Mate 20p does 80/65. Once i go into recovery and clean the cache.. it hits 380/120. Then messes up again during the day.
- Dual SIm : Sometimes i have my second SIM card having issues. The "not registered on network" kind. I have to switch to airplane mode and back to make it work. If i don't see it right away people can't reach me..
- GPS : Works great, really.
- Battery : So yes.... it has has a great battery, not to forget that you need to go into the settings and put the apps you really don't want to get closed in manual. Otherwise, baby cams, waze, and other notifications don't come through.
I really expected another experience than this, I thought they learned and listened to their customers, but they didn't. I hope they will resolve the issues down the line. I feel sorry for the guys that have a Gluegate phone, i just think that is unacceptable for a phone with such a price tag.
I really hope Huawei are gonna do something about it, this is why i'm keeping it in the drawer waiting for a new firmware. It took the p20pro 3 4 firmwares to make it a great phone.
Back to my Note9 in a couple of days once i finished really testing this camera out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get where you are coming from on this. Unfortunately I have the glue issue, but non of the others.
The internet speed thing, well my internet connection at home is 100mb and this is enough for me.
As for the camera, the Note 9 will blur photos of almost anything especially kids and pets, and even more in low light. The note 9 camera is actually pretty terrible and I have one as well.
If you want photos of kids and pets, only the Pixel 1 / 2 /3 will do that.
I do miss the Monochrone but not for monochrome photos, I don't rate those, but for image quality. Low light, especially night mode, is much worse on the mate, almost unusable actually.
I can come across online as nasty or confrontational but I do truly hope you find an experience you deserve from a phone, I know the struggle of trying to find the right phone, I have been buying almost every single flagship barring iphones for years and still not there.
The mate 20 pro with the versatility of the wide lens was almost it, but if my replacement comes and has issues, I will stick with my Note 9 and buy a pixel 1 for photos as the pixel 3 camera is not really improved on it. It takes shots of moving subjects perfectly and low light shots are taken very well as well.

Jonathan-H said:
I get where you are coming from on this. Unfortunately I have the glue issue, but non of the others.
The internet speed thing, well my internet connection at home is 100mb and this is enough for me.
As for the camera, the Note 9 will blur photos of almost anything especially kids and pets, and even more in low light. The note 9 camera is actually pretty terrible and I have one as well.
If you want photos of kids and pets, only the Pixel 1 / 2 /3 will do that.
I do miss the Monochrone but not for monochrome photos, I don't rate those, but for image quality. Low light, especially night mode, is much worse on the mate, almost unusable actually.
I can come across online as nasty or confrontational but I do truly hope you find an experience you deserve from a phone, I know the struggle of trying to find the right phone, I have been buying almost every single flagship barring iphones for years and still not there.
The mate 20 pro with the versatility of the wide lens was almost it, but if my replacement comes and has issues, I will stick with my Note 9 and buy a pixel 1 for photos as the pixel 3 camera is not really improved on it. It takes shots of moving subjects perfectly and low light shots are taken very well as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took my p20p out yesterday, and tested the 3. I have to admit that the p20p takes better pictures out of the bunch. Never tested a pixel before due to the lack of dual sim. Butbim really curious to test it out this time. Just worried about the battery, ram and well....missing the dual SIM.
The note 9 takes great pictures when in full sunlight but tested inside pictures last night. And I discovered it had a lot of flairs due the lighting. Mate 20 I feel has a lot of noise in general.
But most of my requirements are GPS , BT music (car), camera (kids and all) , battery and logical easy clean UI....and of course a good screen.
I neaaaaaaarly , really neaaaaaaarly hesitated to get the iPhone XSmax dual....but my soul and geek mind started playing rehab from Amy Winehouse in my head. I haven't touched (except my wife's) an iPhone for over 5 years.

Last night I was on the verge of keeping the Mate 20, but turned the phone on this morning to a list of weird and empty notifications which cemented my decision. If the Pixel 3 and 3 XL were made by Huawei and running pure Google software, you would never need to buy anything else.

3 days in and disappointed

So iam now 3 days in with the S10 plus and i have to say that while theres lots i love about it , iam also disappointed. Here are my complaints thus far..... I pray some of these can and will be fixed with a software update.
1 - Camera, Yes its pretty good but i expected more. No better then the S9 imo. Expected a little more from Samsung with regards the camera this year.
2 - Kepad touch issues..... I virtually cannot type on this phone without constantly and accidentally hitting the 'p' key. I do not have chubby hands or anything but whenever i need to reach across to the left side of the keypad , iam forever hitting that 'p' key and it drives me crazy to the point where i may return the phone.
3 - No notification LED - This wouldnt be a deal breaker if Edge lighting worked properly but Edge lighting is pretty damn poor lets be honest. Works fine for default messaging app but thats about it.
4 - Fingerprint scanner - Was awful initially but improved massively once i removed the pre-installed screen protector and added a second fingerprint using the same finger. However, I still find that it occasionally fails to read my fingerprint. I feel like iam placing my thumb in the right area given that the icon lights up to help me but somehow it still sometimes fails. I would say it works around 80% of the time
5 - Fast Charging - Again i expected more. Its not slow but its not fast either. It takes around 1hr 45 mins to get from 15% - 100%
For me personally i would be happy if they could improve the keypad and fingerprint issue but theres already been updates and not much has changed.

You mention keypad, are you talking about the keyboard? If so just use another keyboard.

Tel864 said:
You mention keypad, are you talking about the keyboard? If so just use another keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried another keyboard but same issue! Its the curved display ultimately thats the issue i guess not the keyboard. Although i also owned an S8 and S9 Plus and neither of them had this issue!

Blaalad12 said:
Tried another keyboard but same issue! Its the curved display ultimately thats the issue i guess not the keyboard. Although i also owned an S8 and S9 Plus and neither of them had this issue!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, that is odd. I sometimes fat finger but never that way, mine seems to be i and 8.

Tel864 said:
Yea, that is odd. I sometimes fat finger but never that way, mine seems to be i and 8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha When i reach over to the left edge of the display to type, my skin hits the 'p' key. Its absolutely driving me insane ha

Blaalad12 said:
Tried another keyboard but same issue! Its the curved display ultimately thats the issue i guess not the keyboard. Although i also owned an S8 and S9 Plus and neither of them had this issue!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can modify the size of the keyboard for this very reason, move it up or down until you can use it comfortably.
You can also modify the curve display deadzone with goodlock.
I'm also surprised that AOD doesn't fill the void of a notification led.. it certainly does for me.. In saying that I would like to see a notification ring around the camera cutout, I think that would of been a nice touch.

I agree with you on everything you mentioned.
I would add one more thing regarding accidental touches, I am a skinny guy, and so are my hands, but whenever I am reaching to other side of the screen, I find the screen either not responding to my touches or causing accidental touches, what drives me crazy is that I check the palm of my hand and almost always it's not even touching the edge of the screen, it's as if even when your skin is hovering few mm above the edge if the screen the phone will take it as if your actually touching it, if that makes sense.
As for the camera, coming from the Note 9, I am so disappointed with the low light capabilities of this phone, even indoors it's not up to par with other flagships, I even get worse shots than my previous Note 9 and S9. To make matters worse, Samsung didn't include a propper night mode that can compete with Huawei's night mode or the Pixel's night sight.
Sorry for my bad English, I hope I was clear enough in delivering my point. Cheers.

Blaalad12 said:
So iam now 3 days in with the S10 plus and i have to say that while theres lots i love about it , iam also disappointed. Here are my complaints thus far..... I pray some of these can and will be fixed with a software update.
1 - Camera, Yes its pretty good but i expected more. No better then the S9 imo. Expected a little more from Samsung with regards the camera this year.
2 - Kepad touch issues..... I virtually cannot type on this phone without constantly and accidentally hitting the 'p' key. I do not have chubby hands or anything but whenever i need to reach across to the left side of the keypad , iam forever hitting that 'p' key and it drives me crazy to the point where i may return the phone.
3 - No notification LED - This wouldnt be a deal breaker if Edge lighting worked properly but Edge lighting is pretty damn poor lets be honest. Works fine for default messaging app but thats about it.
4 - Fingerprint scanner - Was awful initially but improved massively once i removed the pre-installed screen protector and added a second fingerprint using the same finger. However, I still find that it occasionally fails to read my fingerprint. I feel like iam placing my thumb in the right area given that the icon lights up to help me but somehow it still sometimes fails. I would say it works around 80% of the time
5 - Fast Charging - Again i expected more. Its not slow but its not fast either. It takes around 1hr 45 mins to get from 15% - 100%
For me personally i would be happy if they could improve the keypad and fingerprint issue but theres already been updates and not much has changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried disabling Touch Sensitivity? I had some issues at first, but after disabling touch sensitivity, it improved a bit.

Blaalad12 said:
So iam now 3 days in with the S10 plus and i have to say that while theres lots i love about it , iam also disappointed. Here are my complaints thus far..... I pray some of these can and will be fixed with a software update.
1 - Camera, Yes its pretty good but i expected more. No better then the S9 imo. Expected a little more from Samsung with regards the camera this year.
2 - Kepad touch issues..... I virtually cannot type on this phone without constantly and accidentally hitting the 'p' key. I do not have chubby hands or anything but whenever i need to reach across to the left side of the keypad , iam forever hitting that 'p' key and it drives me crazy to the point where i may return the phone.
3 - No notification LED - This wouldnt be a deal breaker if Edge lighting worked properly but Edge lighting is pretty damn poor lets be honest. Works fine for default messaging app but thats about it.
4 - Fingerprint scanner - Was awful initially but improved massively once i removed the pre-installed screen protector and added a second fingerprint using the same finger. However, I still find that it occasionally fails to read my fingerprint. I feel like iam placing my thumb in the right area given that the icon lights up to help me but somehow it still sometimes fails. I would say it works around 80% of the time
5 - Fast Charging - Again i expected more. Its not slow but its not fast either. It takes around 1hr 45 mins to get from 15% - 100%
For me personally i would be happy if they could improve the keypad and fingerprint issue but theres already been updates and not much has changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The S10 does have a Multi Colored Notification LED around it's camera cutout. This YouTube video explains how to activate and manage it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/b0p0o6/s10_s10_how_to_enable_led_notification_light/
Try using a light touch on the fingerprint display reader as opposed to a hard press, this is how it's designed to function.
The S10 Camera has a Pro Mode, you can adjust virtual any aspect of photos to your preference.

varcor said:
The S10 does have a Multi Colored Notification LED around it's camera cutout. This YouTube video explains how to activate and manage it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/b0p0o6/s10_s10_how_to_enable_led_notification_light/
Try using a light touch on the fingerprint display reader as opposed to a hard press, this is how it's designed to function.
The S10 Camera has a Pro Mode, you can adjust virtual any aspect of photos to your preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That notification is from using a 3rd party app and a light touch with the screen protector hasn't worked too well.

I am the same my main issue is the led notification for WhatsApp
Already thinking of going back to my old s8
Keyboard I am also having issues with clicking on the wrong keys

Lenney said:
I am the same my main issue is the led notification for WhatsApp
Already thinking of going back to my old s8
Keyboard I am also having issues with clicking on the wrong keys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I contacted Samsung about the keyboard issue! All they suggest is to leave feedback. If your using the stock keyboard then it can be resized which i guess kinda is a solution but you have to bring it in from both sides to keep it centered and the keyboard then winds up been a tad too small so its not ideal! Its weird because my s9 plus was almost identical in terms of its dimensions yet it did not have this issue.

fingerprint scanner has also been a nightmare today! I could swear iam not doing anything different yet it works sometimes and rejects me other times. Its makin me miss the finger print scanner on the s9. It was so much better. Another small annoyance is how fast my battery goes from 100% to 99% lol
Battery in general is great but i charge it to 100%, Unplug it and seconds later iam at 99% .......... what the fudge ha
I used an iphone xs temporarily recently and i have to say that while it is over priced and in general Samsung is much better and cheaper too. However, Apple does things properly. It worked flawlessly and never gave issue. The Samsung is far better on paper and ticks all the boxes but in day to day use its just not as 'perfect'

One week with the Galaxy A40

Just a few thoughts on the A40 after one weeks use. Previously had a Oneplus 3t (with broken front).
What I like:
-Super lite, only 140g.
-Small but still decent size screen (5.9inches) due to the 85% screen to body ratio.
-Cheap.
-Very nice Super Amoled display.
-UI (Samsung One UI is a HUGE stepup from Touchwiz).
-Dark mode (systemwide: settings, notifications etc).
-Fastcharge.
-Bluetooth 5 (no long range support, though).
-Sd card slot
-Fast facial recognition to unlock
What I dont like:
-No Led Notification. You can get a vibrate/sound reminder every 3/5/10/15 minutes until you discard the missed call or sms. Miss the led, though. Tried the Nice Lock app (since Good Lock doesn't seem to work). Unfortunately Edge Lighting+ is the only module that doesn't work. I get a "This app is no longer available" message when opening the module.
-Slow android updates. Not the biggest deal for me. I am just happy it has Android 9, with its app-password-autofill.
-Samsung launcher is pretty good. I prefer Nova Launcher, though. That way I can hide the samsung apps I can't disable/uninstall.
-Speed: could be a little snappier, but its surprisingly fast - even though my phone has the Exonos 7904 (not the 7885). Suggestions: turn on "Reduced animations" under advanced settings. And under developer options (has to be turned on) change the three Animation Scale options from 1x to 0.5x.
Thats all I can think of right now. Overall very happy with this phone!

I have that phone for two week.s I point the same aspects that you mentioned.
Overal to 0-10, i give it an 8.

+ I was surprised by Samsung UI. Touchwiz was a complete crap.
+ Screen is amazing
- Short range of bluetooth.
- I use it without a case and sometimes it reacts on the edges.
- I don't know how, sometimes it unlocks in my pocket and starts typing something. It's annoying.
But overall experience is more positive than negative.

hello,
is always on display working?

daktary said:
hello,
is always on display working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I´m afraid that this device don´t hace always on display, actually I don´t miss it

Anyone having problem with notifications not being delivered after couple of minutes device left locked? (apps added to memory exceptions, battery optimizations/adaptive turned off, high priority notif set in apps etc, concerns all applications regardless the settings) (I have put more details in separate thread in Troubleshooting forum for A-Series)

narcolo said:
+ I was surprised by Samsung UI. Touchwiz was a complete crap.
+ Screen is amazing
- Short range of bluetooth.
- I use it without a case and sometimes it reacts on the edges.
- I don't know how, sometimes it unlocks in my pocket and starts typing something. It's annoying.
But overall experience is more positive than negative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
for the auto unlock problem, I disabled double tape to wake function and it fixed the problem on my side.

Have you try some app to have always on display or use the display to have a "led notification"?

Hi everyone !!!
A40 is a very cool phone. All is fine, BUT, after the October 1 update, fingerprint unlock takes longer than before and also getting to home screen from e.g. open browser by pressing middle bottom button takes also MUCH longer than before.
Before the patch all was instant.
Do you maybe know how to fix this? I also noticed that battery drain is lower than before by 10%, on the positive side.
I am very happy that A40 got its own forum thread now

Going from my trusty pixel xl2 to this phone was a little bit of a shock the xl2 is certainly snappier but the samsung really surprised me.
I refused Samsung due to my s7 screen replacement fiasco I had
(They replaced it, I paid, it stopped working but with Knox tripped before the original replacement they wouldn't fix the non working replacement)
Apart from the bloat wear most of which I've disabled or uninstalled and the slow updates it's not a bad phone.
I miss aod and lack of support for one officially but using an app that does the job, it's far from perfect but I paid £80 for a genuinely good phone.
Can't wait for a little more uptake of the phone and some ROM makers to show us the potential of this little gem of a phone.

What about the camera?
I find the night photos quality, the worst i had for years!

Hardware:
is very good and the only "small" phone currently available with OLED display, 2 SIM cards + microSD card, FM radio, headphone jack and weight less than 150g. With other adjustments i reduced screen size to something around 5.1 inch only as i use phone with "old" fashioned and comfortable one hand control. Camera i dont care much as i dont use it often. Reception of mobile signal is not very good in areas with weak coverage. It is the only phone in term of hardware which can replace my J3 2016 (latest apps are no longer supported due to CPU). It is pity nobody else makes such "small" phone.
Software:
is simply CRAP. I have opposite experience compared to others. All previous UIs (Touchwiz, Experience) from SAMSUNG were way better (nice looking and practical) than ONE UI. I tried a couple of times to get used to it and spent long time tunning it but i always ended up saying no i dont like it, it did not help much. One UI is ugly and not practical UI. Everything is too big and wasting with space everywhere. Long time ago at the beginning of my "design" at my previous job i did this "Bubble rounded" style like ONE UI but after short time i went to way advanced style. It is like kids/begginer low cost design style. Icons are ugly, which could be changed, but bubble style with big blank spaces everywhere no. Samsung apps looks terrible and these are not intuitive.
One UI is slow and lags (almost factory state with very few apps as i still test it and try to get used to). I have Huawei P10 lite (2017) as well and that is way faster compared to A40 and i find EMUI 8 far superior compared to ONE UI, very intuitive, great features and adjustments available within available menus not like ONE UI where you need to download Nice lock and modules, normal "small" size of everything, no needed to scroll all the time where it is not really needed. Huawei Apps looks way way better and moreover with way better controls and menus.
If anybody can port workable and fast EMUI 8 ROM or EMUI 9 ROM to A40 it would be the great phone, i would even pay for that Please port EMUI 8 ROM to A40.

Such a gr8 phone
This phone is too cool but samsung can work better on cpu

maltheman said:
Just a few thoughts on the A40 after one weeks use. Previously had a Oneplus 3t (with broken front).
What I like:
-Super lite, only 140g.
-Small but still decent size screen (5.9inches) due to the 85% screen to body ratio.
-Cheap.
-Very nice Super Amoled display.
-UI (Samsung One UI is a HUGE stepup from Touchwiz).
-Dark mode (systemwide: settings, notifications etc).
-Fastcharge.
-Bluetooth 5 (no long range support, though).
-Sd card slot
-Fast facial recognition to unlock
What I dont like:
-No Led Notification. You can get a vibrate/sound reminder every 3/5/10/15 minutes until you discard the missed call or sms. Miss the led, though. Tried the Nice Lock app (since Good Lock doesn't seem to work). Unfortunately Edge Lighting+ is the only module that doesn't work. I get a "This app is no longer available" message when opening the module.
-Slow android updates. Not the biggest deal for me. I am just happy it has Android 9, with its app-password-autofill.
-Samsung launcher is pretty good. I prefer Nova Launcher, though. That way I can hide the samsung apps I can't disable/uninstall.
-Speed: could be a little snappier, but its surprisingly fast - even though my phone has the Exonos 7904 (not the 7885). Suggestions: turn on "Reduced animations" under advanced settings. And under developer options (has to be turned on) change the three Animation Scale options from 1x to 0.5x.
Thats all I can think of right now. Overall very happy with this phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does animation scale do? Is that the one under 5? Love mine was this or iPhone 7... Do you like full screen or hide notch.

The phone is bad and barely useable. Everything is slow and laggy and I can't believe how poorly this thing performs with how good the hardware is. Good looking screen and a solid build quality that feels good in hand.
Samsung's software is a joke and ruined an otherwise perfectly solid looking phone.

Hi, do you know what max. sound output the A40 phone can provide? I looked all over for the info, but no cigar.
I am planning to buy/use 200 EUR (SONY EX800ST) In Ear Monitors (IEM) which can input max. 500mW.
They are 16 Ohm. Sound pressure sensitivity: 108dB / mW.
The thing with these IEMs is that for HUGE bass they need much power.
THX