Hi guys,
Happy New Year to all! Seems like my first resolution for 2017 will be to get a new phone as my LG G3 decided to die a few days after Christmas while on vacation... lovely, as it was to be my only way of taking pictures! Anyway, I'm looking for a cost-effective replacement phone (I'm in Australia for reference). My preference would have been a Pixel phone, but they retail north of 1000 AUD for the entry-level 32GB non-XL Pixel here, which is just too expensive for my liking. Alternatively I would have considered the S7/S7 Edge, but just a few months before release of the S8 I'm not willing to pay full price for it.
This brings me to the P9, which is currently on sale here bringing its price to roughly half of the Pixel/S7 Edge (600 AUD), and given a major point for me is camera/picture quality, it is a serious contender. My main concern however is the rather heavy-handed EMUI skin. Are there any P9 users around here who generally prefer stock-ish Android and who have switched to the P9? What's your feeling around EMUI? As long-term users, did you get accustomed to it? Things like the notifications shade and the recent apps are making me cringe a little, partly because they seem much less practical than the default implementation in Android, and partly because.... they look like an iPhone
Are there any apps available to make EMUI look more like stock? I'd unlock the bootloader and root this thing if I buy it, so I'm thinking things like xposed modules? I'd also be fine flashing a stock-based custom ROM, but would rather avoid stock-based/CM/Lineage ROM as I'd like to keep full camera functionality.
Also - unrelated question, but are people generally happy with battery life on the P9? I'm a light/medium user and the 2 hours of screen on time I'd routinely get on the G3 would be okay most days, but obviously short for days of heavy use. I seem to be reading that 4-4.5 hours of SOT is standard, is that what people experience?
My fallback plan would be to get a ZUK Z2 to tide me over until this year's phones.
Thanks for reading!
I got a zuk z2 pro after initially moving from Windows Lumia 950. The hardware for price was awesome but the software on it was a nightmare so I sold it and switched to P9.
First I used Nova launcher which was great as Emui didn't have an app draw.
Now I am beta testing Nougat Emui 5 which is a lot better and closer to stock although still stuck with the Icons.
Currently Nova crashes with my widgets so until that is fixed I am keeping with standard launcher, actually now I am used to it I may just stay using it.
Sent from my Hauwai P9 EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
I used a Nexus 5 for 2 years , S6 for 1 year and now I have a P9 (HTC 10 for some weeks,other phones only a few days).
Emui is something new . For me,it feels like a new, fresh experience.
I'm done with stock android. If I buy a flagship device,i want some features . The phone is fast (feels faster than HTC 10,S6,etc) .
For me ,it's better than stock android. S6 had the features,but it was laggy (s7 is the same). P9 has the features but it's also fast.
For me it's BAD, but not the EMUI by itself. It's bad because it's poorly made. No double tap to wake up the screen, no wave to wake up but there are ton of other useless motion controls.. Even Knuckle gestures that pretty sure no one is using (or 5 people at most)... Notes app doesn't sync with Gmail. No Reminders app. Don't like the colors, even in the Nougat update. Black with dark blue is so ugly (to me) that if I knew this would be enough to skip this phone. One of my biggest problems - can't turn off the haptic feedback, everytime I am using google search the phone vibrates and drives me crazy, and of course is draining battery. The worst part of the Phone is the updates, mine is still with 1 September security patch, it's January now... Flagship not getting monthly security patches in 2016-2017 is a joke, especially with the raising virus attacks. Took them too long to update to Nougat - another flaw. Everything else - Screen, build quality, camera is pretty damn good. Battery is pretty good to 5 hours without any problem and on Nougat most people get 6 and more hours.. Software is the biggest flaw.
Yes you can make it more Stock like - take a look at the themes here that some good people are making. No need of another Launcher. They are great and make the phone at least look better. And they will be released for EMUI 5 too. I won't suggest installing launchers, at least I had really bad experience, my phone started lagging so much I had to factory reset it. And I asked many people, they had the same problem after installing another launcher. This is my opinion and my experience. To be honest, if I knew how I will feel with this phone, I was going to get me S7. My advice is just wait for S8... Or LG G5 right now is on great price in most countries, great phone, would take it everyday instead of Huawei... It's your money and your decision after all.
Thanks guys for all the valuable feedback. I gave it a good thinking and eventually went to buy the P9 last weekend. I'll be writing up some more thorough thoughts about it when I get a chance, but so far I'm quite satisfied. It's very fluid overall, and I have 61% battery left as I write this with 1.5 hours of screen on time - at this stage my G3, also with a 3000mah battery, would be close to throwing in the towel already!
Two noticeable drawbacks, the lack of OIS for a phone supposedly focused on photography is annoying, and the 3D performance is definitely very middling. I did know this going in though so it certainly is no big surprise.
Hi
Battery life on the P9 is way better than the G3 (I had one that sadly died as well). P9 is also much smoother and doesn't heat as much as the G3 did.
EMUI is OK. Takes a bit more time the first day to set things up, because some things are buried a bit deeper in the settings. If you're worried about the look... There's a good theming community with some really good "stock android" themes available. Pair that with something like Nova launcher and you won't even notice it's there.
The camera is indeed excellent.
I also came from the G3 to this phone. I am loving it. I was ready to unlock/root/custom after reading all the professional reviews slamming EMUI. It took a bit of getting used to, but 7 months later this remains the first Android phone I have not rooted. I haven't even given it a factory rest to combat slow-down, and battery life remains excellent.
There is a customer skin in this: (https://forum.xda-developers.com/p9/themes/theme-material-vui-t3429075) thread which provides a nice stock look to icons and notification bar. I missed the app drawer for about 2 days then just got a folder page set up and organised. On balance it doesn't take me any longer to get to where I want to go.
About my only complaint is that even with my White-list protecting certain apps from being killed, they still do not seem to perform as they did on the G3. These are automation apps like IFTTT which I used to auto arm/disarm my home security when I arrive leave.
cooldoud said:
Hi guys,
Happy New Year to all! Seems like my first resolution for 2017 will be to get a new phone as my LG G3 decided to die a few days after Christmas while on vacation... lovely, as it was to be my only way of taking pictures! Anyway, I'm looking for a cost-effective replacement phone (I'm in Australia for reference). My preference would have been a Pixel phone, but they retail north of 1000 AUD for the entry-level 32GB non-XL Pixel here, which is just too expensive for my liking. Alternatively I would have considered the S7/S7 Edge, but just a few months before release of the S8 I'm not willing to pay full price for it.
This brings me to the P9, which is currently on sale here bringing its price to roughly half of the Pixel/S7 Edge (600 AUD), and given a major point for me is camera/picture quality, it is a serious contender. My main concern however is the rather heavy-handed EMUI skin. Are there any P9 users around here who generally prefer stock-ish Android and who have switched to the P9? What's your feeling around EMUI? As long-term users, did you get accustomed to it? Things like the notifications shade and the recent apps are making me cringe a little, partly because they seem much less practical than the default implementation in Android, and partly because.... they look like an iPhone
Are there any apps available to make EMUI look more like stock? I'd unlock the bootloader and root this thing if I buy it, so I'm thinking things like xposed modules? I'd also be fine flashing a stock-based custom ROM, but would rather avoid stock-based/CM/Lineage ROM as I'd like to keep full camera functionality.
Also - unrelated question, but are people generally happy with battery life on the P9? I'm a light/medium user and the 2 hours of screen on time I'd routinely get on the G3 would be okay most days, but obviously short for days of heavy use. I seem to be reading that 4-4.5 hours of SOT is standard, is that what people experience?
My fallback plan would be to get a ZUK Z2 to tide me over until this year's phones.
Thanks for reading!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Nougat Beta I find EMUI 5.0 to be much more tolerable, as it is much closer to stock than 4.x, but also resembles iOS more than before which isn't great.
My biggest annoyance is its cloning of MiUI which, while understandable for a Chinese brand, is impractical. MiUI wastes very large amounts of screen space due to its obsessive "Top half=graphic, bottom half=details" design. Lots of screens have trivial graphics that have only a small amount of useful information, yet they're expanded to take the whole top half of the screen.
My only real annoyance is the stock features it replaces with versions that have fewer features. Case in point, the data usage monitor. Instead of taking the stock version and improving it, it seems Huawei built it from scratch because it can't do several things the stock version can do. Its interface in 4.x is ugly, in my opinion (also very MiUI), but even in 5.0 where it resembles stock, it isn't stock. You can't, for instance, check data usage for the previous month. You also cannot change the day of the month on which the monthly counter resets.
Considering it has the ability to cut off after you surpass a limit, it's clearly still designed with managing bills in mind, like its stock counterpart, yet they assume everyone's billing period resets on the 1st of the month.
Related
Hi all, anyone here who were previous sony owners? i just need some opinions regarding EMUI, build quality, durability differences between these two brands. I'm planning to upgrade this year to the p10/p10 plus once it's released and was wondering how it differs in terms of features and usability?
I was user of Sony and Sony Ericsson almost from start. From ""recent"" Sony devices I had Xperia Z, Z3 and compact version, and last year for some time I used XZ and Galaxy S7 when I wanted to buy new phone... and I choosed P9 instead, and probably like you, I jump to P10 (or even plus version) after it show up.
1. Build Quality, Huawei is on pair with Xperias, and in some ways, especially fitting of elements, its even better than some Xperias, that after year just... move or dont fit like before. I also drop my P9 few times and I have only one 2mm scratch on side after it hit rock in park... it was miracle that it dropped like that because normally phones fall on screen...
2. Materials? I would call it draw again, they are very good quality, especially screen that is really though, after all those years I realized that even if two phones use some fancy gorilla screen name... they are different in terms of quality and how they manage scratches.
3. Camera? Sony have best sensors, but worst algorithms you can imagine. Last good Sony camera in phone I saw in Xperia Arc S, after that they just get one really bad drivers and copy/paste it to every phone. Huawei in other hand, especially in P9, beat a crap of Xperias, even the new one. Its fast, it have nice algorithms that dont mess quality, it have LOTS of options, and you get almost perfect details and colors if you know how to handle it.
4. Screen. I could say that XZ have really nice screen, P9 is also nice, but... it just lack some "punch" in terms of brightness and colors. Not much but, I can say that galaxy S7 blown my mind in terms of quality of screen, but even that was not enough to buy it. In every day usage P9 dont give any troubles, even on direct sun, so I could say that compared to XZ its overall draw again...
5. Performance.... Xperias are really simple and give you that "almost stock" experience, but even XZ, just like Z3 have that slow down without a reason and it can actually lag in simple task like using browser. In more demanding task it can work really good, but P9 even with slower GPU is not behind it at all! I was actually surprised that it P9 work so fluid and even VR games dont give it much troubles. Also P9 in everyday usage is really amazing, no hangs at all. That was one of key point why i choose it, because even S7 had that slow downs when doing simple task not related to games or other heavy tasks. From addons like Fingerprint sensor(that is damn fast) rest is perfect, no problems at all... Also speed of camera on Xperias are really average, camera app is just sluggish, and the same with starting phone. Xperia XZ needed x2 time more to boot up than P9
6. Software. Here is a bit tricky choose, because Xperia UI is simple and nice, and Sony have nice update policy, and it have really good customization community, but its a bit slow sometimes without a reason and after I switched to EMUI... i found out that Xperias where really... outdated and stripped from most of options. Even if Huawei update system is... just slow and weird, EMUI have loots of customization options, simple way to theme it without any complications, build in applications are really nice and easy to use and overall it give that perfect experience of good phone system. You can hear that some people have problems with EMIU 5 after update... but Its nothing new, when I had xperias, it was the same, ALWAYS about 25% of people whine about "bad" update. EMUI 5.0 is just perfect if you update it properly. Simple as that.
7. Battery life... Here Sony literally F up xperias. As far as older Xperias like Z3 and its compact version had amazing battery life, when I used XZ... it was just... average, After day and a half I had 15-20% And for past good 5 years, I literally use the same apps over and over so it give me some nice look of how battery life work in every day usage on all phones.
And here come P9 that, true, after update to EMIU 5.0 its a bit worst compared to 4.1.1, but its difference of less than 10% I still can get with my P9 solid two days of usage and I still have about 20% left without turning off any features like NFC or Bluetooth.
I just have small tip to make it even better: in App setting section, just turn off internet access to all apps that dont need it, and use optimization option every day. Huawei P9 is just in top10 if you looking for device with good battery optimization. And I think they will do the same with P10.
Also worth mention is charging. I found out that xperias always charge slower and it almost stop charging if you use phone in the same time. my p9 with stock charger can get almost full in... hour or two AND STILL charge so fast if I use it in that time!
So yeah, as a user of Sony, and now Hauwei device, I can say that Huawei is what Sony was few years ago.
Because Sony now give us average devices that maybe are nice made, but are overpriced and with every generation some key features are "worst" or the same as previous ones.
Huawei in other hand give us nice made devices, with nice price tag, some amazing features(like camera in P9) and what I wanted most: stable and good experience in everyday usage, even if their update policy is a bit average... But most of people whine that they need new udpate that beside adding new number in phone info... work the same, so im not mad if I need to wait that month or two more to get that new number...
Overall that why I choosed P9 instead of XZ and galaxy S7(that actually was just 10Euro cheaper(promotion), but even if screen was AMAZING... it was just... not what I expected from it). P9 is stable and reliable and have few features that I need in phone, and P9 give me what I need.
@Akinaro Im not the one who asked, but thank you for taking time to write such a rich response Coming from a load of phones (lg g4, galaxy s6 being the latest) I can say that p9 is certainly a full package. Everything I want is ticked, no big complaints at all.
Hi @Akinaro, thank you so much for this really detailed comparison between the two! I was kind of hesitant at first because i really like Sony's build and UI after moving from Samsung. But as you said, ever since after Z3, nothing really peaked my interest, especially battery life. So I'm moving to Huawei since it's the only phone that somehow interested me.
As for updates, i have no problems with late to never. I've never updated my Z3 from Kitkat 4.4.4 because as you said and as i have read in various forums updates usually screws up with the performance of the phone.
Hopefully, the upcoming P10/P10 plus would have great battery life as well. As it's one of the features i'm looking for in a phone. Thanks again for the great input!
I just switched from Z2 to P9, and I have nothing to complain. I was a fan of Sony for years, my first one being an Xperia Acro S.
Eventually the battery from Z2 went bad, and I needed something new. Sony's phones had been disappointing me lately, so it was no more an option.
The P9 was my choice because of the camera, and the option to shoot RAW. It's nice to have a good camera with me, even when I'm not carrying my DSLR.
Design and build quality are nice, and I like the software too. I never used the app drawer even in the Z2
Only downside was the keyboard, but I installed the Xperia keyboard from XDA
I have to agree @Kimelsson . So far, Sony's recent releases have been disappointing. Though i have no doubt that their cameras had improved a bit, somehow something is lacking. i think its the contrast. I'm not sure.
Yes! i also wanted the ability to shoot raw which is why i wanted to try something different this time. I was considering the iphone 7 but the lack of fast charge, average battery life, AND omission of 3.5mm audio jack was enough to push me away.
Really? Does the keyboard work with no problem?
I used sony xperia e4g z1c z3 z5 and now p9. I can honestly say that p9 is the best in them. İn every condition and term. Even better than z5.
Hi,
Is there any way to get rid of this cancer and get a lineageos rom that is stable for the recent Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro?
Or is this not adviced. I would like to get 10hrs of SOT if possible don't want MIUI bullcrap. The phone itself the hardware and quality is really good. It's just the damn Chinese mutated android
I don't want there crappy software iPhone x clone crap.
As an Android purist I absolutely agree that the only thing holding back an otherwise perfect phone (for the price) is the software. I know there are many MIUI fans out there, and I'll never understand why as it's a bloated, cartoony mess that's trying too hard to be IOS with its obnoxious animations and blur effects. If this were an Android One device I'm sure it'd sell like hotcakes.
That being said, there are many custom ROMs available in these very forums, including unofficial LineageOS and Pixel Experience builds and they seem stable enough. Personally I'm holding out for MIUI12 just to test it for a few days, then I'll probably flash one of those.
SpaceDye said:
As an Android purist I absolutely agree that the only thing holding back an otherwise perfect phone (for the price) is the software. I know there are many MIUI fans out there, and I'll never understand why as it's a bloated, cartoony mess that's trying too hard to be IOS with its obnoxious animations and blur effects. If this were an Android One device I'm sure it'd sell like hotcakes.
That being said, there are many custom ROMs available in these very forums, including unofficial LineageOS and Pixel Experience builds and they seem stable enough. Personally I'm holding out for MIUI12 just to test it for a few days, then I'll probably flash one of those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree. Not saying that all user interfaces are bad but just the way you describe it iOS clone etc, I feel the same about it. If I want an iPhone I will buy one, money is not the problem.. Not to forget that Xiaomi was banned by Google several times and I had one of the first Xiaomi devices released, it was not even for sale here in the stores. I did order it online from some dropshipper on the slow boat. Flashed a fresh official international rom and modem and hooked it up to my man-in-the-middle machine, when I looked at the traffic with wireshark oh my god... The rom was bloated to hell official Xiaomi rom and never seen something like this I mean multiple spyware and bloatware !! I patched all dirty **** away but quickly switched back to stock because the patches introduced bugs (what the hell can you except when its so bad, with no source code and private sign keys, had to unlock bootloader and flash with TWRP...). I mean most cellphone brands do or did this. Nothing new but this was just next level. Had to remove so many spyware, bloatware.. Just the amount of cancer that was introduced, I would rather live with bugs instead of a bloated phone. I remember my first bloated phone was a HTC with the Carrier IQ spyware. Also I loved HTC so much, right? Nooo, only the hardware!! The phone was out of the box so full of themes and ****ing garbage that it was slowed down to an almost unusable state... Obviously I quickly found out that Cyanogenmod was back in the days. A clean Android version that had great features and was way nicer with the CPU and thus saving the battery also no crappy themes that made your device go slow, laggy and drain the battery.
In case of Xiaomi I really think they have their ROI in cellphone sales = based on data that they mine big data by MIUI Android. Can't be otherwise, why else is the phone so cheap and now new feature introduced that you can't rollback firmware update? :laugh::fingers-crossed:
Obviously now we don't have lag anymore because most SoCs are super fast and can even handle demanding games. But yeah, I don't care about games and themes, just want a solid phone near stock Android with no bull**** added to it. I have searched for phones, again I am back to Motorola, Lenovo phones seems to have moved away from large batteries so. I would like to buy the Motorola Edge+ but it's only 999 US dollars.. Also don't want to go that crazy, I don't need a high end device. Mid range is fine, >= 170.000 Antutu 4+gb ram, amoled display and big battery decent camera & no MTK soc. Really hard to find with stock android or near stock on it. I believe that there are only like 3 phones.. Regarding amoled burn in, really not a big deal. I really watch a lot of movies on my phone or when I travel. After 4 years I can see a little burn in, and some times I have had 300gb bandwidth because of streaming and SOT of 12+ hours. So people really should shut up with bs, the burn in is no issue. LCD technology looks so nasty and it's bad for the eyes...
Will have to think about it, unofficial LineageOS/CM is a long time ago for me.. I actually want a stable phone for daily use don't really want to flash my phone 2 times a week anymore like I did back in the days..
NiTrOwow said:
I completely agree. Not saying that all user interfaces are bad but just the way you describe it iOS clone etc, I feel the same about it. If I want an iPhone I will buy one, money is not the problem.. Not to forget that Xiaomi was banned by Google several times and I had one of the first Xiaomi devices released, it was not even for sale here in the stores. I did order it online from some dropshipper on the slow boat. Flashed a fresh official international rom and modem and hooked it up to my man-in-the-middle machine, when I looked at the traffic with wireshark oh my god... The rom was bloated to hell official Xiaomi rom and never seen something like this I mean multiple spyware and bloatware !! I patched all dirty **** away but quickly switched back to stock because the patches introduced bugs (what the hell can you except when its so bad, with no source code and private sign keys, had to unlock bootloader and flash with TWRP...). I mean most cellphone brands do or did this. Nothing new but this was just next level. Had to remove so many spyware, bloatware.. Just the amount of cancer that was introduced, I would rather live with bugs instead of a bloated phone. I remember my first bloated phone was a HTC with the Carrier IQ spyware. Also I loved HTC so much, right? Nooo, only the hardware!! The phone was out of the box so full of themes and ****ing garbage that it was slowed down to an almost unusable state... Obviously I quickly found out that Cyanogenmod was back in the days. A clean Android version that had great features and was way nicer with the CPU and thus saving the battery also no crappy themes that made your device go slow, laggy and drain the battery.
In case of Xiaomi I really think they have their ROI in cellphone sales = based on data that they mine big data by MIUI Android. Can't be otherwise, why else is the phone so cheap and now new feature introduced that you can't rollback firmware update? :laugh::fingers-crossed:
Obviously now we don't have lag anymore because most SoCs are super fast and can even handle demanding games. But yeah, I don't care about games and themes, just want a solid phone near stock Android with no bull**** added to it. I have searched for phones, again I am back to Motorola, Lenovo phones seems to have moved away from large batteries so. I would like to buy the Motorola Edge+ but it's only 999 US dollars.. Also don't want to go that crazy, I don't need a high end device. Mid range is fine, >= 170.000 Antutu 4+gb ram, amoled display and big battery decent camera & no MTK soc. Really hard to find with stock android or near stock on it. I believe that there are only like 3 phones.. Regarding amoled burn in, really not a big deal. I really watch a lot of movies on my phone or when I travel. After 4 years I can see a little burn in, and some times I have had 300gb bandwidth because of streaming and SOT of 12+ hours. So people really should shut up with bs, the burn in is no issue. LCD technology looks so nasty and it's bad for the eyes...
Will have to think about it, unofficial LineageOS/CM is a long time ago for me.. I actually want a stable phone for daily use don't really want to flash my phone 2 times a week anymore like I did back in the days..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's literally Xiaomi's business model; they make little to no profit on the phones they sell, relying instead on the revenue they make from their apps and services. That's why even their most fundamental apps like the music player and file manager serves ads. The ads can supposedly be turned off, but some still slip through the cracks and who knows what user data is being uploaded to their servers. MIUI is literally SaaS.
Don't get me wrong, I really do love this phone. I too don't like spending too much on phones as I don't really need most flagship features on my device, and spending upwards of $1000 for a device that's going to be outdated in a couple of years seems absurd to me. If I wanted a status symbol I'd go out and buy a Rolex instead.
I absolutely agree about AMOLED screens. I swore off LCD screens on phones after my first AMOLED device (Galaxy S3 Neo). I'll take deep blacks, vivid colors and better battery life over the small risk of burn-in after a few years of use any day. Besides, the panels of today are way more resilient than the older generations.
I grabbed the Mi 9 Lite after my trusty OnePlus X finally died on me after 5 years. The build quality and screen were the biggest factors in my decision. It just seemed like a much better proposition than the plasticky midrangers with crappy screens in this price bracket, even though I was almost tempted by Nokia and Motorola with their Android One phones. If OnePlus had released another device around 250-300€ I'd absolutely get that, but until they do this phone is the midranger to beat as long as you flash an AOSP based ROM
Hi there. I've been out of the loop for a while. Still rocking the XZ1 compact (until Sony or someone else comes out with something small, sleek, and square again). Because of my general lack of knowledge and fear of losing any of the things mentioned in the title of post... I haven't done any updates. I'm still using Android 8.0.0
As many of you likely know the US version shipped with the fingerprint reader disabled, requiring use of non-us firmware to enable it. However in order to take advantage of Vo-LTE/Wi-Fi Calling/T-Mobile band 12... you basically had to combine a couple different firmware together to both keep the fingerprint reader and have the calling features simultaneously.
Obviously if there is a way of retaining root, wifi calling (as well as Vo-LTE and band 12 support) for T-mobile USA, and functioning fingerprint reader... I would love to update this device. I'm even open to third party ROMs provided I don't lose any device functionality.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm not terribly well versed in all of this but have been able to root every one of my devices and unlock their fullest potential with the help of individuals at XDA.
Thanks in advance.
I am pretty sure i saw mention in one or more of the custom rom threads here specificlly mention a version for volte on the forum here u could check those threads see if someone else have had a simaller qeustions in the past.
also look for mention of the fingerprint scanner is working or not.
Sorry i am pretty new at this mysellf i am sure u will find what your looking for there.
Same thoughts here. I moved onto another phone but was thinking about updating this one to Lineage and using it again, which would require flashing a new firmware. But mine is on 8.0 with everything working (T-mobile VoLTE and wifi calling, fingerprint reader, camera via DRM patch, and Magisk with safetynet passing and Google Pay working). It's been a while but I remember having to jump through some hoops to make that all work and would hate to mess any of it up.
jrbmed08 said:
Same thoughts here. I moved onto another phone but was thinking about updating this one to Lineage and using it again, which would require flashing a new firmware. But mine is on 8.0 with everything working (T-mobile VoLTE and wifi calling, fingerprint reader, camera via DRM patch, and Magisk with safetynet passing and Google Pay working). It's been a while but I remember having to jump through some hoops to make that all work and would hate to mess any of it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I love this phone (or rather I hate the look/shape/size of all the phones out today) so I'm afraid to jeopardize anything. I've debated buying another one for tinkering with.
POMF2K said:
Yeah I love this phone (or rather I hate the look/shape/size of all the phones out today) so I'm afraid to jeopardize anything. I've debated buying another one for tinkering with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just can't handle the size of almost anything out there today, plus I refuse to buy anything without a headphone jack until there are no more options for me. I actually dislike the square shape because it's more uncomforable to hold though. I switched from the XZ1c to a Pixel 2 because my husband got a cheap phone when we switched carriers, but I never should have given up the XZ1c. Ended up hating the dongle life and traded in the Pixel 2 for an S10e. I love everything about the S10e except it's just too big. Lately the S10e's battery has been going downhill, and I ended up getting an iphone 12 mini for work and loving the size, so I've been thinking about switching back to the XZ1c. But I tried for a few days and had a few issues with the older version of Android...and that brings me to why I'm here in the same boat with you. Hope we can figure it out.
Edit: Specifically I'm hoping to upgrade to Lineage because it seems to be the most up to date of the available ROMs. From what I'm reading, I *think* all we need is an international firmware and the ROM. Not sure if we still need to swap a file in the firmware with the US one.
jrbmed08 said:
I just can't handle the size of almost anything out there today, plus I refuse to buy anything without a headphone jack until there are no more options for me. I actually dislike the square shape because it's more uncomforable to hold though. I switched from the XZ1c to a Pixel 2 because my husband got a cheap phone when we switched carriers, but I never should have given up the XZ1c. Ended up hating the dongle life and traded in the Pixel 2 for an S10e. I love everything about the S10e except it's just too big. Lately the S10e's battery has been going downhill, and I ended up getting an iphone 12 mini for work and loving the size, so I've been thinking about switching back to the XZ1c. But I tried for a few days and had a few issues with the older version of Android...and that brings me to why I'm here in the same boat with you. Hope we can figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never been a fan of Samsung build quality. But there's something to be said for the development community on more popular devices.
Sony is supposed to be bringing back the compact line. I don't know if it will have the same clean lines but I think they learned their lesson with the "soap bar" look of the xz2. That might work for other manufacturers but I think it's safe so assume the Japanese aesthetic is what keeps Sony fans loyal to the brand.
What do you think of the iphone 12 mini? From a software standpoint I hate all things apple but I've always been impressed with apply build quality. I actually got my girlfriend one of those SE models last summer to replace her dying 7 or 8. Figured it was small and pocketable, better pics than most android phones, and with a nice small screen the battery life would be great. I even thought I might grab one for myself to play around with. Total miss on Apple's behalf. Took it back in less than a week for horrible battery life. And she is much less picky about battery life than I am.
Honestly that's why I'm still using the 3 or 4 year old Sony. I don't like phones that don't fit in my pocket, don't like overly effeminate round edges, I don't want to pay $1000 for a phone, and I really can't stand batteries that die quickly. At this point I don't even know what brands to look at. I always thought about one plus, but those are huge. Pixels are pretty ugly. So I'm sitting here with an outdated phone... but love the look and it gets the job done.
@POMF2K
Like ur reading my mind hahaha love the compact series sadlly the xz1 compact is the last of its kind.
It also saddens me how there barelly any life here this part of the forum when i see other pieces of **** phones with a gazillion pages and hundred difrent roms.
Thinking we will never see anything like this again and that rumor a couple of months ago about a new compact had a leak and looks more like there budget serie L.
Don't know how everyone feels about xiaomi but it seems the MI 11 mini is happening. If I read it right, it's still going to be close to a pixel 3/5 in size. I bought a MI pad 4 and couldn't be bothered with the MI UI but it seems most xiaomi have a ton of development support and mine even came with an unlocked bootloader(on MSM Xtended now).
I'm currently using Bliss on my xz1c and it hits all the boxes for me. Great battery life, great performance and tons of customizations. Fingerprint works and I'm rooted but I don't use Google Pay and don't have volte on my plan(Cricket) so I can't help you there.
AlexKarimov said:
Don't know how everyone feels about xiaomi but it seems the MI 11 mini is happening. If I read it right, it's still going to be close to a pixel 3/5 in size. I bought a MI pad 4 and couldn't be bothered with the MI UI but it seems most xiaomi have a ton of development support and mine even came with an unlocked bootloader(on MSM Xtended now).
I'm currently using Bliss on my xz1c and it hits all the boxes for me. Great battery life, great performance and tons of customizations. Fingerprint works and I'm rooted but I don't use Google Pay and don't have volte on my plan(Cricket) so I can't help you there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah dont support china how people stil do is beyond me (this is not a race thing)
Bliss really that good ? have you happend to also tried other roms if yes what did u think of those?
Wish I could use Xiaomi but they never have US LTE bands. It's a shame because they make some nice devices and have good community support. I hate that they would call a phone of that size "mini" though, since the Pixel form factor is still too big. Kinda feels insulting to those of us who want an actually mini phone.
@POMF2K I adore the form factor of the iphone 12 mini. The combination of square sides with rounded corners looks unisex to me (although I'm a woman and wouldn't mind a slightly feminine look). The screen is small enough for me to reach all corners with one hand even without bezels. Gestures on iOS are pretty easy to learn and use. Dislike the notch but it's not a dealbreaker. I upgraded from my work iphone 8 and miss the fingerprint reader but otherwise prefer it for being slightly smaller (especially narrower), and the low-bezel look is quite pretty. Battery life kind of sucks. I'd say it's on par with the SE. But since it's not my primary device, I don't sweat it too much.
S10e as my daily driver has generally been good for me except slightly too big, mediocre battery life, and I can't root it. But at the same time I've come to appreciate the amount of customization possible with Samsung's UI and their own apps (Good Lock etc.). I *almost* don't miss rooting (although I miss having better control over wakelocks, apps that run at boot, etc.). So currently my plan if nothing else works out is to replace the battery and run that phone into the ground before I finally have to decide what to get next. Hard decision between the next mini iphone (if there is one) which has the form factor I want but I'd be giving up Android, fingerprint scanner, headphone jack, SD card, etc....and whatever the smallest Android phone I can find is.
mstrnemo said:
Bliss really that good ? have you happend to also tried other roms if yes what did u think of those?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really like it but we might have different priorities. The things that drew me to it were the GPS(was a big concern for work) and the customization. Bliss uses SODP based GPS and it works just as good as stock but faster. The ROM is also very smooth and fast and there are instructions for VOLTE users in the first few posts.
CONS: It hasn't been updated since September so I'm sitting on the 9/5/20 security patch but I don't know if that should bother me. Also, I have a UI freeze every so often if I open a text message from the lock screen but a quick UI restart from the power menu fixes it. Since changing the text app to open a quick reply instead of the full app, the freeze is so seldom I usually forget about it.
I have a second xz1c that I got a deal on so I mainly use it to test any ROM before I use it on my main, so I have that option without jeopardizing my existing setup(cheating, I know). That being said, I have used quite a few of the ROMs.
Tested extensively:
AEX Pie and Q: Q was my favorite ROM until updates stopped and the last build didn't have functioning GPS. I loved everything else about it. Stable, fast and enough customizations to satisfy me. When it stopped, I rolled back to AEX Pie and loved it as much. GPS works great and plenty of customizations. Only con with it is cell signal drops every now and then and has to be rebooted one to several times.
Crdroid Pie: was my first custom ROM. Great ROM. No complaints on this one other than I jumped on the wagon and wanted to try the new Q ROMs(didn't have 2nd phone then).
Crdroid Q: Haven't tested as a daily driver but it seems to be a very stable ROM.
CONS: I might put all Q(except Bliss) in this. There is a modem notification that activates on start up. Data won't connect if preferred is LTE but 3G works fine. There's a work around in the settings to connect in 3g on boot and automatically switch over to LTE but it hasn't been reliable for me. I'm on Cricket Wireless in western US so maybe that has something to do with it.
Havoc Q: Great ROM here as well. More customizations, very stable and great battery life. Fingerprint worked on all Q ROMs so far but Pie was so long ago, I don't remember.
Haven't tested extensively:
Lineage 16 and 17: Tried 17 briefly when I was desperate for a GPS solution. It was smooth and stable but not to my taste so I didn't stay with it.
11 ROMs: All are still on first or 2nd version. Enough draw backs that I'm not moving to them yet.
I hope that was helpful. Sorry I can't answer some of the more important questions(VOLTE, WIFI calling and data bands) but if you asked in the ROM threads, you'd probably get the exact answers you're looking for.
This person on Reddit found the proper mix of .sin files to get FP, VOLTE, Wifi calling and MMS working for the XZ1C. Its the guide I used and everything works fine. I used the US Android 9 image from Xperifirm and the 'custom UK' image for vendor and system sin files.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/7433id/_/dnvum20
I'm sure this topic will stir up a lot. I've mostly been an Android user. Reasons I preferred it was to root them for ad blockers. Since I've been using my S21 Ultra, I haven't rooted it. I use DNS66 to block ads, and it's worked just fine.
I'm considering switching to an iPhone, since my entire family uses them.
I'm just looking for any pros and cons about switching.
Lol, might as well.
Both Android (scoped storage, forced encryption) and Samsung Flagships (no SD card slot, no 3.5mm jack with huge price tags) seem to think they are Apple.
I for one however do not welcome our new Apple overlords
ledvedder said:
I'm sure this topic will stir up a lot. I've mostly been an Android user. Reasons I preferred it was to root them for ad blockers. Since I've been using my S22 Ultra, I haven't rooted it. I use DNS66 to block ads, and it's worked just fine.
I'm considering switching to an iPhone, since my entire family uses them.
I'm just looking for any pros and cons about switching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you manage to get S22 Ultra?
OnnoJ said:
How did you manage to get S22 Ultra?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry... Fixed.
I think I'll change to iPhone 14 Pro max when it comes out given the S22 Ultra is really a note
I switched for a bit but every time there is something that annoys me to the point that I end up coming back. Consistant phones that are good for basic stuff, but once you try to do anything they don't "allow" is it frustrating.
For the first time since the Samsung S7 Edge, when i switched away from my iPhone 6S+ i am seriously looking back at Apple.
Android 12 on my Exynos S21U has ruined it -- the battery life is way worse, the OS feels laggy and buggy -- having to reboot more often and some apps just plain drive me insane as despite doing a factory restore when i got the S21 in the first place they just don't work as they should.
Samsung OneUI is still too bloaty and their insistance of having Google app clones is ridiculous and i think would be better to abandon.
I just don't see a viable Android alternative anymore - MIUI12 is a buggy mess on Xioami. The whole OnePlus Android 12 upgrade debacle has been nightmare and my wife's 9Pro is average at best for taking pics.
Sony is lovely hardware but Android doesn't like their aspect ratio and i had several apps on my 1II that just wouldn't go close to full screen
Will want the Exynos 2200 to be at least everybit as good as a 8Gen1 if not better in which case i might continue my upgrade programme --- but if it's not then i'll probably look closely at iPhone 14 when it arrives
Over the past year I went from a 1+ 7 Pro, to an 11Pro Max, to Pixel 5, to an iPhone 12 Pro Max, to a Pixel 6 Pro, and now to the S21 Ultra.
The Ultra is the first phone that Sparks joy in a long time.
I am the type to change phones often and find myself switching between Android and iPhone.
iPhone is nice if you have family and friends that use it and you're a US user. Their pretty stable and the integration withing the OS makes most day to day tasks seamless.
But over time I'd get bored with them and switch back to Android because I missed the customization (which can be done with iPhones now to an extent) and apps like YouTube Vanced.
Everyones use case is different but I always appreciate the freedom of Android. Sometimes a factory reset and undoing all your tweaks can give it a fresh feel again.
Won't judge you either way because truthfully it's hard to go wrong with both options.
If you already have the accessories and ecosystem IOS a home run.
But personally I won't be switching for a while. The S21 Ultra even in stock form has so many granular tweaks and it's so snappy I can't see a reason to switch.
Chavannigans said:
Over the past year I went from a 1+ 7 Pro, to an 11Pro Max, to Pixel 5, to an iPhone 12 Pro Max, to a Pixel 6 Pro, and now to the S21 Ultra.
The Ultra is the first phone that Sparks joy in a long time.
I am the type to change phones often and find myself switching between Android and iPhone.
iPhone is nice if you have family and friends that use it and you're a US user. Their pretty stable and the integration withing the OS makes most day to day tasks seamless.
But over time I'd get bored with them and switch back to Android because I missed the customization (which can be done with iPhones now to an extent) and apps like YouTube Vanced.
Everyones use case is different but I always appreciate the freedom of Android. Sometimes a factory reset and undoing all your tweaks can give it a fresh feel again.
Won't judge you either way because truthfully it's hard to go wrong with both options.
If you already have the accessories and ecosystem IOS a home run.
But personally I won't be switching for
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more with this and that is exactly how I feel. This is the first phone in a long time that ticks all the boxes for my usage case and that I am entirely happy with. I can't see myself switching anytime soon, which is not something I've really felt for ages now. This phone is perfect for me.
I'll switch to an iPhone in 2023.
Chavannigans said:
Over the past year I went from a 1+ 7 Pro, to an 11Pro Max, to Pixel 5, to an iPhone 12 Pro Max, to a Pixel 6 Pro, and now to the S21 Ultra.
The Ultra is the first phone that Sparks joy in a long time.
I am the type to change phones often and find myself switching between Android and iPhone.
iPhone is nice if you have family and friends that use it and you're a US user. Their pretty stable and the integration withing the OS makes most day to day tasks seamless.
But over time I'd get bored with them and switch back to Android because I missed the customization (which can be done with iPhones now to an extent) and apps like YouTube Vanced.
Everyones use case is different but I always appreciate the freedom of Android. Sometimes a factory reset and undoing all your tweaks can give it a fresh feel again.
Won't judge you either way because truthfully it's hard to go wrong with both options.
If you already have the accessories and ecosystem IOS a home run.
But personally I won't be switching for a while. The S21 Ultra even in stock form has so many granular tweaks and it's so snappy I can't see a reason to switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent reply.
While I don't have this level of experience with modern devices, I can say the s21 Ultra sparks joy too and has moved into a reliable partnership with me.
My whole family and 75% of my friends are on iphone. I hate iphones. Every time I have to help one of them with their phones I feel like I have to temporarily lower my intelligence to work it. I have to dumb myself down. And maybe there are more tweak options with them now, but I haven't spent the time to find them. I know this is an old argument, but I will never settle for the one button thing.
I make the time to tweak, hack, turbocharge, and sometimes burn & butcher every piece of hardware I own - from cars to computers to vintage receivers to vacuums. I love pushing hardware to the max and optimizing performance. Sticking someone like with this OCD obsession to an iphone is like putting them in a straightjacket.
Now that I can take comparable pictures I won't be having a pang of envy until I see something new & worthwhile from them. Oh yeah, and I hate the company as well.
I've tried both iPhones and Macs, and I couldn't conceive the notion of being stuck with something so walled off from what I can get from another option. You can praise all the merits and advantages of Apple software and hardware, but at the end of the day it's all about what you're willing to forego.
There is something very limiting with iPhones. I have an iPhone 11 as my other daily driver and I've always preferred using my S21U. The amount of ads on iPhone is so much, I get frustrated. I don't feel like I get as much ads on Samsung or Android for that matter.
ledvedder said:
I'm sure this topic will stir up a lot. I've mostly been an Android user. Reasons I preferred it was to root them for ad blockers. Since I've been using my S21 Ultra, I haven't rooted it. I use DNS66 to block ads, and it's worked just fine.
I'm considering switching to an iPhone, since my entire family uses them.
I'm just looking for any pros and cons about switching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you haven't ever used an iPhone. i would recommend asking someone you may know that has maybe an extra one to test drive it. Pop in your sim and get ready to be disappointed . Android isn't perfect but when it's compared to an iPhone. It's like night and day.
burnxtc said:
Excellent reply.
While I don't have this level of experience with modern devices, I can say the s21 Ultra sparks joy too and has moved into a reliable partnership with me.
My whole family and 75% of my friends are on iphone. I hate iphones. Every time I have to help one of them with their phones I feel like I have to temporarily lower my intelligence to work it. I have to dumb myself down. And maybe there are more tweak options with them now, but I haven't spent the time to find them. I know this is an old argument, but I will never settle for the one button thing.
I make the time to tweak, hack, turbocharge, and sometimes burn & butcher every piece of hardware I own - from cars to computers to vintage receivers to vacuums. I love pushing hardware to the max and optimizing performance. Sticking someone like with this OCD obsession to an iphone is like putting them in a straightjacket.
Now that I can take comparable pictures I won't be having a pang of envy until I see something new & worthwhile from them. Oh yeah, and I hate the company as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was so well articulated. I had a similar experience when I went from my Samsung Note 3 to the iPhone 6S. I was sick and tired of TouchWiz and just wanted to escape to iOS.
At first everything was nice, probably because I also got a MacBook Pro along with the phone. The device and software integration was a pleasant surprise. I actually liked the experience for about a year - it was a simple, uncomplicated life.
But over time I started to realise how limited I was in terms of what I was "allowed" to do on "my" device. Hated the absence of a proper file system on my phone. iTunes was a pain to use and I had to do mental gymnastics to accomplish the most basic tasks we take for granted on Android devices. After a year, I started absolutely detesting the way Apple did things. I couldn't understand how a company could push a software update that could result in the phone refusing to accept a 3rd party lightning charging cable that had been working perfectly for 6 months. The phone refused to even bloody CHARGE itself, forget file transfer! Unsupported accessory, it said! I remember I was driving somewhere interstate, in unfamiliar territory, and phone battery was low. I absolutely needed the navigation and connectivity, and i still remember the horror that the freaking phone wanted another cable just to accept charge. This happened right after a software update which apparently updated the MFI codebase for manufacturers participating in the program. Allegedly my cable manufacturer did not pay apple licensing fee - so no charging for me. Not for safety or performance reasons, just because apple could do stuff like that via software. Many such experiences over the next year made me realise I don't like this 'overlord' approach to devices, where the manufacturer still owns your device even after you pay full price for it.
I jumped to the OnePlus 6 the day it was available and realised how bad iOS had suffocated me intellectually over the past 2 years. And I also realised that my anger was over TouchWiz, not Android itself. For the first time in 2 years I could do everything on a phone that I could on a PC. That also made me realise how bad MacOS was if you wanted to tinker outside of apple made software and their approved usage. Over time, I just full time bootcamped to Windows 10 on the Mac and haven't even seen MacOS in 2 years. No doubt the hardware is top notch though -I still have the MacBook Pro running well after 7 years.
But an iPhone is not just an iPhone. It's a portal into apple's way of doing things. If you are okay with it, it's great. But if the word 'tinkerer' even remotely describes you, it's a bad choice.
At least that's my experience - YMMV.
ledvedder said:
I'm sure this topic will stir up a lot. I've mostly been an Android user. Reasons I preferred it was to root them for ad blockers. Since I've been using my S21 Ultra, I haven't rooted it. I use DNS66 to block ads, and it's worked just fine.
I'm considering switching to an iPhone, since my entire family uses them.
I'm just looking for any pros and cons about switching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u own a s21 ultra and want to shift? F
No.
iPhone is janky, stiff, and makes it difficult to do basic things. The only thing that it has going for it is good hardware, (good screens, great cameras, and best speakers) but garbage software can spoil just about anything. Also, iOS doesn't even support fundamental protocols like RCS.
I feel like apple thinks I'm a baby that needs to be micromanaged in every way. When you see the lengths people are going to in order to have custom icons (shortcuts for every single app), or to add empty spaces on their homescreens, it is obvious even their own users want some basic customization and freedom.
Yes, goodbye.
Had the pixel 7 for 4 days now and not that impressed with it
Actually thinking about going back to my OnePlus 7 Pro
The charging is poor on it and generally scrolling on webpages menu etc its no better than my oneplus
Dont know maybe I will persevere with it and it will get better
Got the pixel 7 on a killer deal with 5g coming from 4g with EE - I literally got the phone for free but not feeling it
Anyone else not buying into the hype?
So I've had the phone for the better part of a month and my takeaway from owning the device is that whilst is not the best or does it have any killer features that stand out above any other phone I've used. It does everything that it does really very well
The auto brightness is basically perfect.
The camera is reliable, it's not the best. The video is a bit lacking, but everything else about it is very good.
Is probably not the fastest at navigating between apps and multitasking but when I use the device it's reliably smooth in operation.
The battery isn't as good as my previous device, Poco F3, however, it gets me through the day and it's reliable in battery drain.
Notifications work unlike MIUI
Signal is much better compared to my 7T Pro
I can use speaker phone in my car and the other side can hear me clearly, couldn't do this on the 7T or F3
The screen is accurate and well balanced
I could go on
The phone doesn't have anything amazing that will make you want to go out and buy it or talk about how amazing it is, but once you just use it day in day out as the tool phones are now, it becomes the best phone I've used as a package.
roughavoc said:
So I've had the phone for the better part of a month and my takeaway from owning the device is that whilst is not the best or does it have any killer features that stand out above any other phone I've used. It does everything that it does really very well
The auto brightness is basically perfect.
The camera is reliable, it's not the best. The video is a bit lacking, but everything else about it is very good.
Is probably not the fastest at navigating between apps and multitasking but when I use the device it's reliably smooth in operation.
The battery isn't as good as my previous device, Poco F3, however, it gets me through the day and it's reliable in battery drain.
Notifications work unlike MIUI
Signal is much better compared to my 7T Pro
I can use speaker phone in my car and the other side can hear me clearly, couldn't do this on the 7T or F3
The screen is accurate and well balanced
I could go on
The phone doesn't have anything amazing that will make you want to go out and buy it or talk about how amazing it is, but once you just use it day in day out as the tool phones are now, it becomes the best phone I've used as a package.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thing is my oneplus is a better phone than the pixel
I am not trying to downplay the pixel its just for a new phone/upgrade its not what I thought it would be
If it works for you great and I genuinely mean that
Going to give it a few more days but I can honestly see myself switching back I miss the fluidity and charging speed of my oneplus
I only got the P7 because the carrier I'm with would only give me a better deal if I got a new phone. It's been nearly 3 months and still haven't used it other than to take pictures and see how it runs lol. It's a quirky thing.
I do have plans for it down the road, once it's rooted with a custom ROM, but won't be using it as a primary device. 128 GB without an SD card slot was what killed it for me. I know most phones don't have the slot these days, but with specs similar enough to my S10 with 512 GB and the card slot, I've just stuck with using that. I know the P7 has a better battery and charges faster, but the extra storage is more important for what I need. Not bad as a back-up device though.
I have a pixel 7 after almost 3 years with the OnePlus 7pro and I was the same... OxigenOS have a lot more stuff than pixel except for the exclusive stuff. I was missing my OnePlus a lot and hold this P7 for a month or more... After that I went back to the OnePlus and noticed the quality of the phone. OnePlus felt so cheap in my hand and idk, it was not the same. So yes I understand your feeling about OP7pro it was a hell of a phone but , I think pixel 7 is just more premium feeling and a "mature OS" nut fun but mature.
Oneplus have a great deal on the 11 at the moment I can get £180.00 trade in on the 7 pro plus - free buds plus if I link my device and a 5% student beans I have got the price down £400 very tempting
I went from the OnePlus 6t to the pixel 6 and I kinda felt the same way. I knew it was a better phone in theory with higher specs and all, but the 6t had a better screen to me and seemed faster in charging and smoothness at first. However, the camera on the pixel was waaaay better and I was happy with that trade off. Fast forward a year and I got a good trade in deal from the pixel 6 to the 7 and it is a way better screen than my 6. Not much else other than slightly lighter in the hand with better weight distribution (6 was top heavy). It is a much better overall experience though and I love a couple of features I've only found on pixels like the ability to copy text from your recent apps slider, amazing speech to text, and I will say the scrolling speed/smoothness has gotten way better with time. I think the software needs a bit of time to smooth out.
I came from the OP8. I did like the phone, but got really tired of the hit or mostly miss camera. I know there are better camera phones than the P7, but I'm not buying a phone I can't root plus I really like the smaller size. The OP11, IDK, like another said, my P7 does everything I want and does it really well. Also there's the whole Chinese and Spyware thing.
I get what everyone is saying!! I came from a Pixel 3XL. The 7 didn't blow me away, but works very efficiently. At least I can unlock my bootloader now.
roughavoc said:
or does it have any killer features that stand out above any other phone I've used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That depends on if you use your phone as a phone, once you get used to not receiving spam calls and having call screening there is no going back.
Also the speech recognition is faster and more accurate than any device on the market.
Thing is phone's have been fast enough for years and you won't notice a huge difference between modern devices.
gap30 said:
Had the pixel 7 for 4 days now and not that impressed with it
Actually thinking about going back to my OnePlus 7 Pro
The charging is poor on it and generally scrolling on webpages menu etc its no better than my oneplus
Dont know maybe I will persevere with it and it will get better
Got the pixel 7 on a killer deal with 5g coming from 4g with EE - I literally got the phone for free but not feeling it
Anyone else not buying into the hype?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in the same situation, upgraded from my oneplus 7 pro. I agree that the screen was better on the oneplus and looking at a spec sheet it is obvious that it is the better screen. Other than that and charging speed everything is better on the pixel 7. The NFC is more reliable, better sound quality, better networking, camera and so on. I think it is worth the upgrade if you do not mind the screen. I rarely ever used the dash charge and mostly stuck to slower charging for over night so I do not have issues with the charging and the battery lasts me the whole day anywaay.
gap30 said:
Had the pixel 7 for 4 days now and not that impressed with it
Actually thinking about going back to my OnePlus 7 Pro
The charging is poor on it and generally scrolling on webpages menu etc its no better than my oneplus
Dont know maybe I will persevere with it and it will get better
Got the pixel 7 on a killer deal with 5g coming from 4g with EE - I literally got the phone for free but not feeling it
Anyone else not buying into the hype?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my pixel 7 since late November, and I'll never buy another. I regret trading in my Galaxy S20fe for this turd of a phone. Google has locked down so much of the stock OS it's ridiculous. Very Apple -like. If I want that garbage I'll just buy an iphone.
But by far the most miserable part is the awful--and I mean TRULY, epically horrifically bad--fingerprint sensor. It's hands down the worst I have ever seen on any phone.
jasongw said:
I've had my pixel 7 since late November, and I'll never buy another. I regret trading in my Galaxy S20fe for this turd of a phone. Google has locked down so much of the stock OS it's ridiculous. Very Apple -like. If I want that garbage I'll just buy an iphone.
But by far the most miserable part is the awful--and I mean TRULY, epically horrifically bad--fingerprint sensor. It's hands down the worst I have ever seen on any phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't comment on the OS because I just got the phone and rooted it right out of the box, but Samsung phones are fairly limited themselves IMO not to mention with tons of bloat. I went from an Honor View 10 to an S10(because ATT blocked my V10 from service last year) and the s10 is crap in comparison and has very restrictive OS.
Do you have a screen protector? Did you rescan your fingerprints after? Lots of issues have been reported for those who haven't rescanned after a screen protector install, even changing brands I would recommend it.
GL
I bought this in December after accidentally destroying the screen of my OnePlus 7 Pro. It's everything I loved about that phone, with the bonus of NOT having a curved screen. Best phone ever? Nah. But a damn good and reliable phone? Absolutely.
You need to give Pixels some time, as the software is supposed to be intuitive and adapt to your usage. Also, I think some people coming from a different OEM don't realize Pixels are pure android with no frills, so they don't always "wow" you right out of the box. Pixels aren't for everybody, but those of us who love our Pixels tend to be happy with them and enjoy special features that others may not get due to carrier software manipulation, etc.
At the end of the day, all devices are subjective and it just depends on what you're looking for. Don't like the Pixel? Cool. There are thousands of other options out there. Go find your happy place.
Pixels can run grapheOS, others phones can't. That's me reason to keep pixel phones.
I regret trading in my P3 for this phone
The OS is cleaner and it has some nice functionality, but even my Xiaomi mi 10 that I traded from feels like a better phone. And the battery life, which was the only reason I gave up the mi 10 (which had dropped to 60% battery), is **** on the pixel 7.
cannot talk about the OS, i immediately switched to LineageOS as i'm used to that.
i tend to agree to the general feeling, underwhelming it's a good summary for this device.
in my overall experience, it's a barely good device which could've been great if they wanted to.
Screen: 5/10
mediocre screen... it only looks good on darker colors, lighter ones look terrible with visible rainbow effects at very little movement.
minor, almost imperceptible, flickering on static images.
i completely fail to understand why pixel 7 has so many positive reviews about the screen.
thankfully xda and other reviewers made interesting insights about this issue, sadly we as the customers got a indecent panel.
Battery life: 8/10
usually allows me to do 5h of screen usage with ~50%, which is more than enough for me, just in time to put in charge for the next day.
Camera: 7/10
i expected more, considering the reviews.
i've tried it a few days on stock and gcam but i really don't see why all the praises.
anyway it delivers more than i actually need and care.
front camera is actual ****, really bad for video calls.
About the rest:
fingerprint sensors, odd enough, works ok for me: it always recognize my fingerprint. it's just a tad slow which isn't great.
stereo audio balance is weird.
i'll always complain about 3.5" mm audio jack lack.
57op said:
i'll always complain about 3.5" mm audio jack lack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It also doesn't have digital to analog conversion, soost USB-C to 3.5mm converters won't work.