Phone worth buying at 300$ if ill receive it in feb 2020? - Razer Phone 2 Questions & Answers

hey guys so my country does not have this sale (black fri) and i really like the phone... so a friend agreed to get one for me but he will come around feb next year
so according to you all is it a good purchase or shall i wait for anything else?
thanks in advance

Crusiefire said:
hey guys so my country does not have this sale (black fri) and i really like the phone... so a friend agreed to get one for me but he will come around feb next year
so according to you all is it a good purchase or shall i wait for anything else?
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this phone is a spec monster. Great deal for 300!

chpimentelpr said:
Yes, this phone is a spec monster. Great deal for 300!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for replying
but will it be a good buy in 2020 as well?

Crusiefire said:
thank you for replying
but will it be a good buy in 2020 as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there's no other phone at that price point with the specs included.

right before the black Friday when I went to Amazon for the 300$ deal, I saw that they are out of stock. expected delivery February 2020, so went to razer. com and found that they have in stock for the same 300$. so I ordered it right away, shipped on November 28th, coming tomorrow December 6th.
yesterday went back to their website and noticed price is 399$ now.

curious
Hey, akmsr
Let me know how you like it. Mine is coming the 9th. Curious how your experience will be.
Thanks!!

This device is a beast, it will be viable for a pretty long time IMO.

Eagle0527 said:
Hey, akmsr
Let me know how you like it. Mine is coming the 9th. Curious how your experience will be.
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using it for couple of weeks now. I have OnePlus 6T which is exactly razer 2 (same spec except dual sim and 256 GB storage.)
Signal..... Razer 2 edges out by a tiny margin
User comfort..... 6T
Gaming..... Razer 2
Smoothness..... Razer 2 at 90hz
Sound loudness... Razer 2
Sound using Bluetooth headset , notifications, calls, keyboard experience..... Hands down 6T
Battery life..... Same even though Razer 2 has bigger battery (maybe 90hz)
6T has OLED display so more pleasing to the eye.
I have some apps that don't run properly on Razer 2. After you reboot sometimes it doesn't recognize keystrokes properly. Both phones fast charge with their respective charger. Only reason i got it because of price. Its essentially a 6T with microsd support and 120hz refresh rate for 300$. When you game with higher refresh rate, it shines. It's smaller screen than 6T and I kinda miss the bigger immersive vivid screen but it's okay.

I originally posted my review over at Android Central, but it's fitting here because I wrote it in the context of being a cheap phone and value for the price. Only in my case, I got it for $250 from Best Buy. Long story short, definitely worth it at $300.
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After using the Razer Phone 2 for about two weeks now on Verizon, overall I'm happy. I'm actually keeping signal now in places I thought were just dead zones when I was using an LG V20. While that's a major benefit, the V20 has also spoiled me. It's my benchmark when comparing phones because nothing has ticked all the boxes like it did (not even the successors, V30-50).
First the good stuff:
Reception and faster mobile data speeds
VoLTE and HD calling (at least on Verizon)
Flat LCD screen
SD card slot
Loud front facing stereo speakers
Telephoto camera lens
Rear Razer logo lights up with cool effects
Decent battery life
Nova Prime launcher included as OEM stock
Customizable performance options
The bad stuff:
No secondary display or quick slide functions
Speakers are a little muffled (due to water resistance)
Non-removable battery
Glass back
Wireless charging quirks
Power and volume button placement hit and miss
User interface a bit clunky
No headphone jack (USB dongle included)
Camera performance laughable at times
Auto-brightness reacts too quickly
I'm not going to expand on every single point, but there are a number deserving a greater explanation.
In the pros section, the logo lighting up isn't just a static color. It's a multi-LED logo that can cycle through colors, flash as a notification light, simply fade in and out, and a "wave" feature that has the colors shift across the logo. It's not extremely bright and I leave it off most of the time except for notifications. I read it can eat 3%/hr of your battery, so no point leaving it on when I'm mostly alone. If using in public, I'll turn it on to show off. Lol. The performance options allow you to adjust the processor speed, resolution, and maximum frame rates either across the board or on a per app basis. For example, I'll run Shadowgun Legends full tilt, but some of my more relaxing games I run at the lowest settings because they only run low graphics anyway and it saves battery with no performance loss on them.
On the down sides, this phone leaves a lot to be desired. By giving up the secondary display and quick slide functions when I left the V20, a number of actions now take longer. What use to be available from any screen as a single tap or two now requires exiting to the home screen and going to whatever function I wanted. If you've never had that kind of quick actions before, then you're not losing anything going to the RP2. If you have used those features before, you know my pain.
The phone does have wireless charging, but is not fully up to the Qi standard. The reason why is because the charging coil sits lower than standard, making it hard to align on Qi pads. On stand up charging stands, it may be impossible to charge wirelessly. Instead, Razer sells their own Qi charger stand for the phone that does work correctly. It has lighting effects that can sync with the phone, but is also pricey at US$100. I've never bothered to jump on the wireless charging bandwagon, so this isn't a big deal for me. If you want to wireless charge, good luck unless you buy their charger.
The power and volume buttons are on both sides in the middle of the frame. The case I have for it makes the volume buttons hard to push, which can result in also pressing the power button if your fingers or thumb are not spaced right. The fingerprint sensor in the power button is slow to register, making it easy to get "finger moved too fast" errors. It also only activates the reader with the screen on. I think overall I preferred the power button on the back and the FPS to activate even with the screen off. On the RP2 you either put more wear on the power button, or you can turn on the double tap to wake option to turn on the screen and FPS without pressing the power button.
The user interface is also somewhat odd at times. On every other phone I've used, pressing the volume buttons with no audio paying would adjust the ringer volume. Not so on the RP2. The volume buttons only work media volume. To adjust the ringer, or other volume settings, you have to press a volume button, then the settings button on the pop-up (which is located opposite of the buttons, completely non-intuitive). There's is at least a silence toggle on the pop-up. The navigation bar use two buttons + gestures. I think gestures can be great, but the back button is on the far left and hard to reach with my right thumb. Again, I'm missing V20 features, where I had 5 navigation buttons that were able to be arranged in a way I liked. If I could at least have one more on this phone, it would be one to drop the notification shade from any screen for better one handed use. Nova does have a swipe down gesture for this, but that only works on the home screen.
So about this laughable camera. Well everyone is slamming the app for being buggy, having limited controls, and mediocre photos. It's a gaming phone, so some tradeoffs are to be expected. Thankfully I haven't encountered any bugs (I took a system update right after setup that was supposed to address those camera bugs). What made me honestly laugh when I checked some samples is how bad HDR photos are compared to normal photos. HDR is supposed to give greater details and lower noise. Check the two sample photos and you'll see the exact opposite. The non-HDR photo on the left looks better in almost every respect.
The Gcam app has been ported over to the RP2, but I haven't looked into using it. From what I've read, those using it are saying it's worlds better than the stock app. I'd personally rather use a more manually focused (no pun intended) camera app, but it seems the api is firmware limited. When using an app with manual controls, I'm only able to get 1/4" exposure at most. I'm use to 30" maximum exposures.
With all that said, what's it like in everyday use? Mostly good. It's a gaming phone, and as such, plays games very well. Running in full performance mode, nothing has made it so much as hiccup. The screen has a 120Hz refresh rate to really run things buttery smooth, but I've kept things mostly to 90Hz. I don't really see enough difference between the two, so not worth the extra battery hit. The developer options allow showing the current frame rate on screen, and most of the games I play don't make much difference. On one hand, Shadowgun Legends looks phenomenal, but is app locked to 60fps. Actual game play on ultimate graphics hovers around the mid 40's, but still runs smooth. I'll take that over Unkilled, which is a 120Hz rated game from the same developer but doesn't look near as good.
Everything else is nothing special, with the camera app being the lone downfall so far. Being a hobby photographer, that was a huge tradeoff for me, and even average users will dislike it. So with all those downsides and quirks, why do I say it's worth it? Price. I picked the phone up during a Black Friday sale at Best Buy for $250. I basically stole it at that price, and makes those tradeoffs worth it without question. If it were still full, or even half price, that would be another story. It's currently $330 at Best Buy with activation today, but otherwise $380 through them, or $400 direct from Razer. Those prices still aren't too horrible, but anything above $350 would start tipping the scales on the value judgement for me.
Also, an honorable mention for the Dolby Atmos demo video. You can view it on YouTube here, but it's included in the Atmos app on the RP2. I never thought virtual surround sound could be that good, at least not from standard two speakers. Wow!
https://youtu.be/3VZFpwlXKpg

Related

Personal Verdicts?

What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Of all the phones I've had I might just be the best. Battery life is good. I unplugged it 10 hours ago (8:15 am to 18:15) and I'm down to 70% in that time I've sent a few texts, emails, listen to podcast in my car over Bluetooth for half an hour. Taken a few pictures and listened to 20 mins of music. Not bad really. It's been on wifi for most of the day which is less taxing than 3G.
The screen is very sharp and colours are good. The screen looked a bit washed out for the first day or so, but that's because I've been using amoled for the last two years. Anyone thought the same? I'm already used to the new screen now though.
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
The speakers are amazing! Listening to music on this just blows everything else away. Call quality is again a bit hit and miss. I've heard the odd hissing, popping and sometimes the caller sounding muffled, but in fairness the muffle could have been the caller's end.
So far I've not seen the slightest hint of any lag. This phone is very snappy and looking at the used and available RAM, the management looks good. Whenever I've checked there has always been over a gig of RAM free. Why do I keep looking? Because I've come from a Galaxy S3 which was crippled by its measly RAM. This is nothing like that I'm please to say. It looks premium and feels premium too. I can't think of anything else to trump it at the moment. Go get it!
A step forward
MrSteez said:
What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is a Smartphone and not a phablet like the Note 2. If you want a top end Smartphone this is the One to get. Love the screen clarity and music playback. Will be using the my One a lot for music playback. Battery life so far better than I expected. Got through a work day with 60% left. I replaced the standard launcher with Nova and I am much happier now.
Read the stickied thread about reviews to see what users have to say. Mine is on the last page aswell.
Sent via my HTC One using XDA Premium
mwatson said:
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
hamdir said:
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true! optimism, denial on my part maybe maybe?...
My personal verdict: From a scale from 0 to 10 I give a 10000
Superfast, beautiful design, good materials used, best-looking user interface (I even like it more than vanilla android), awesome stereo speakers, perfect screensize for me. Also important is 2GB Ram (1GB is out of date, apps get closed in the background too fast) and LTE...yes, there are some phones also with 2GB Ram and LTE but for me the HTC One is the best one of them, so I chose it as my next phone ^^ Never have been so satisfied by a phone
Screen: In a word, stunning. Once or twice in the past 2 weeks I have almost gone into a daydream like state looking at this thing.
Audio: I have never heard audio of such a quality from any mobile device. It literally makes people ask "what is that". If I had one small complaint, it would be that the lowest volume level is not low enough. The granularity of the incremental volume levels is too coarse. Maybe 24 levels and not just 10-12.
Battery: I have been pleasantly surprised by the battery life. I get through a day fine with it. If you play Real Racer a lot or wish to make a blockbuster movie with the thing then battery will not last as long.
Camera: Superb for a phone. If you wish to print out your shots then you will not be able to get higher resolution images out of it. This is not the job of a camera though. The video and snaps are fantastic I have found. HDR is pretty good also.
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
If you are getting this thing soon... if you have it on order... you will really like it. It just oozes quality. It just feels like a supremely well made piece of hardware. Oh... it looks amazing also.
Ok, they are having some trouble getting this thing out of the factories to the stores... but when they do... people will forget the frustration. It is superb.
Beautiful, lag free, awesome speakers - nuff said.
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Had mine for a week now, I am a heavy user (not games, but lots of music /Internet/twitter /texts.
No lag at all yet.
I have had the nexus 4 and it even beats that and that was quick.
As someone said earlier, this is the nearest to the ios lag free feeling from any android phone. (even ios lags sometimes)
For me the only thing is the camera which I have not made my mind up about yet, I have had some amazing results but also some poor (probably more good than bad though) I need more time with the camera but overall I think it will be acceptable.
I have had a lot of phones and I have to say this is in the top 3 and I think it will be my number 1 but need more time with it before it gains that honour
crawlgsx said:
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is smooth. But lack of smoothness is Google issue as the first version of Butter was better but they changed for some reason. It is also faster than the Note 2.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
This phone marks the end of the race in terms of screen quality. The camera is excellent if you have the time to make a quick couple of adjustments before you shoot. Blinkfeed is a consumer orientated gimmik aimed at users who have never heard of flip board. Lag is a thing of the past. Battery life is about what you expect from a top end smart phone, you'll see the day out with average use.
Speakers are the best of any device yet, just don't expect HiFi. Sense and indeed the initial stock and custom ROMs are very embryonic. I.e. when paranoid android breaks for this device it will open up a whole new world.
From a phone enthusiast who started with a Phillips savvy and one day traded a sony Z for a HTC canary.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
As a One X owner who intended to keep his phone for the full 2 years, I originally didn't have much interest in this phone...but the build quality is striking, and my One X is definitely feeling the limitations of its 1 GB of RAM.
Really looking forward to trying this out when it finally gets released in the US.
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
constructorx said:
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it faster than pure android though?. Looking at N4, that also seems instant & fast imho.
I give it 500 out of 10 it's awesome
Only let down my video recording has hissing on it new phone from 3 coming today
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Scootmien said:
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any lag with live wallpaper?
msterner123 said:
Any lag with live wallpaper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy to report that no, there is no lag on my device with live wallpaper enabled.
Wow! So this phone basically sounds about as amazing as I keep reading online. But the one thing I keep hearing about is the camera.. I'm going from an EVO 4G LTE (so basically a One X)... Is the camera quality going to be better or worse? From what I hear it's hit or miss but on average would you say it's an improvement?
I mean I really only use my camera for Instagram pics so I'm not really expecting 100% professional quality but I just want to make sure it's not a decrease in quality from my phone.
I just want a release date for Sprint now

Moto Z2 Force $500 @ T-Mobile!

Finally, they've listened and the price has been dropped. This price is exclusive to T-MOBILE though!
yep, just got mine last night, so far so good
Do you still get the projector mod free at that price?
Shaffer678 said:
Do you still get the projector mod free at that price?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, submitted my request last night. Better get it, one of the bigger reasons I got this phone. Don't think Moto can do anything when a carrier drops their price, you know
Just got me second one still haven't got my first projector
joemossjr said:
Just got me second one still haven't got my first projector
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kinda wish they would let you choose your mod, i would rather have the Hasselblad camera over the projector
I'm definitely pulling the trigger at the end of the week. A price drop was all that I was waiting on.
Tmobile will adjust the price too if still within your 14 days, just did that today.
Midnight_Rider said:
kinda wish they would let you choose your mod, i would rather have the Hasselblad camera over the projector
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work for TMobile and got all the mods free as well as the phone being the brand ambassador of Motorola. Pony up for it, it's sick.
Got the deal with 2 days left for the projector mod promo submitted my proof so no idea if i will every use the projector but seems cool anyway.
Just bought mine......so far no complaints. Will definitely root this joint later
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
JodyBreeze901 said:
Just bought mine......so far no complaints. Will definitely root this joint later
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a beautiful device. I have NO regrets whatsoever! I'm rooted and loving it!
Picked mine up a few days ago. The screen scratches very easily:crying: Does anyone know of a good screen protector on Amazon? Other then that it is an excellent phone The performance is great as well as the battery life especially considering the small battery.
I picked up a few of these, for the family and I am working my way through the device. Battery life is great, BUT I think some CPU throttling is going, by Lenovo design--- as my device renders websites, forum threads (xda labs/Tapatalk) VERY slow. Tidal streaming take 20-30 seconds to buffer the first song in HiFi mode. This is very different than any of my other Samsung, LG,Sony phones on the same network, same plan, same city etc. The CPU and 4GB ram should not be this slow, especially when the phone transitions from app to app quickly and scrolling is very fast.
Screen is great at the $500 price, the DPI should be 480 out the box though. 640 is far to big. Also with the huge bezels, they should have made the navbar smaller, directly above the huge lower bezel. Or just capacitive buttons in the huge bottom bezel, like old Samsung devices. It should not be big ole navbar, mated to a big ole bezel [emoji38]
The music/podcast speaker output is awesome for such a thin device and only one speaker. The phone call speaker output is subpar, though.
The button placement is great, but I keep wanting to use the Motorola circle on the back as the finger print sensor [emoji38]. Its in the PERFECT rear position where my fingers sits when holding the phone rt handed.
The audio out dongle is ok, but the noise floor is pretty bad ( for those music based). It works, but this is NOT a multimedia device if that is your focus. Some background hissing, and electronic background noise, almost like a ground issue in the port. I am using some pretty sensitive iems though. If you are using $20 dollar headphones, doubt you would mind.
Bluetooth strength is good, but this output also suffers from the slight interruptions, here and there. Just small minute sound buckling, not full on stopping the songs. It's as if the phone falls out of range for a millisecond. Again I think this is a software background ram/cpu management design.
Also the notifications (silent or sound on mode), interrupt music pretty hard. That's another reason I think the software is throttling the cpu's pretty hard.
Great job TMobile for the unlocked bootloader with a US snapdragon. This may be the only option for rooting a USA 835 CPU based device.
Rooting Kills the warranty though, So I may not root my other devices. As I found out last night, even if you RELOCK the bootloader, the first screen still notifies you of a different OS. Basically no way to return to TMobile for a warranty fix, if something does fail. Early adopters might want to wait a bit to see if a Dev can mask the unlock/relock black screen back to full stock.
Signal strength is great, in my area. The size (slimness) and weight (super light) feel of the phone is amazing for all that's in this phone.
Camera loads fast, images are just OK, but the auto focus speed it good. Not great, just good.
This is basically a OnePlus 5, without the bubble scrolling issue [emoji38].
Back to enjoying a great, low priced, high spec option. Couple this with the projector mod/free offer, this is an AWESOME deal.
vibraniumdroid said:
Picked mine up a few days ago. The screen scratches very easily:crying: Does anyone know of a good screen protector on Amazon? Other then that it is an excellent phone The performance is great as well as the battery life especially considering the small battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any screen protector is better than none. i was gonna get a glass one but saw this 8 pack so grab it, im pretty careful will my phones (knocks on wood)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071LQHCM5/
---------- Post added at 05:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:10 PM ----------
Amd4life said:
I picked up a few of these, for the family and I am working my way through the device. Battery life is great, BUT I think some CPU throttling is going, by Lenovo design--- as my device renders websites, forum threads (xda labs/Tapatalk) VERY slow. Tidal streaming take 20-30 seconds to buffer the first song in HiFi mode. This is very different than any of my other Samsung, LG,Sony phones on the same network, same plan, same city etc. The CPU and 4GB ram should not be this slow, especially when the phone transitions from app to app quickly and scrolling is very fast.
Screen is great at the $500 price, the DPI should be 480 out the box though. 640 is far to big. Also with the huge bezels, they should have made the navbar smaller, directly above the huge lower bezel. Or just capacitive buttons in the huge bottom bezel, like old Samsung devices. It should not be big ole navbar, mated to a big ole bezel [emoji38]
The music/podcast speaker output is awesome for such a thin device and only one speaker. The phone call speaker output is subpar, though.
The button placement is great, but I keep wanting to use the Motorola circle on the back as the finger print sensor [emoji38]. Its in the PERFECT rear position where my fingers sits when holding the phone rt handed.
The audio out dongle is ok, but the noise floor is pretty bad ( for those music based). It works, but this is NOT a multimedia device if that is your focus. Some background hissing, and electronic background noise, almost like a ground issue in the port. I am using some pretty sensitive iems though. If you are using $20 dollar headphones, doubt you would mind.
Bluetooth strength is good, but this output also suffers from the slight interruptions, here and there. Just small minute sound buckling, not full on stopping the songs. It's as if the phone falls out of range for a millisecond. Again I think this is a software background ram/cpu management design.
Also the notifications (silent or sound on mode), interrupt music pretty hard. That's another reason I think the software is throttling the cpu's pretty hard.
Great job TMobile for the unlocked bootloader with a US snapdragon. This may be the only option for rooting a USA 835 CPU based device.
Rooting Kills the warranty though, So I may not root my other devices. As I found out last night, even if you RELOCK the bootloader, the first screen still notifies you of a different OS. Basically no way to return to TMobile for a warranty fix, if something does fail. Early adopters might want to wait a bit to see if a Dev can mask the unlock/relock black screen back to full stock.
Signal strength is great, in my area. The size (slimness) and weight (super light) feel of the phone is amazing for all that's in this phone.
Camera loads fast, images are just OK, but the auto focus speed it good. Not great, just good.
This is basically a OnePlus 5, without the bubble scrolling issue [emoji38].
Back to enjoying a great, low priced, high spec option. Couple this with the projector mod/free offer, this is an AWESOME deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tl;dr
most of the things you are complaining or pointing out can and just might be updated or fixed in a custom rom (cpu, speaker output, audio, bluetooth, camera)
my dpi was set at 360 out of the box and can be changed in Developer options/Smallest width
when you get an unlock code from Motorola it states that by just getting the code you void the warranty so yeah, we know that going in
people put too much in the bezel thing, sure an edge to edge screen is cool, but not a game changer (for me anyways). i was gonna get an LG G6 or V30 simply for the fact that both phones are almost the exact same size as my G4 but with a bigger screen. it was basically the price drop and the free projector that pulled me over to the Z2 Force, plus when i tried the camera and saw how fast it was, that helped too
@Midnight_Rider
That protector has very bad ratings do you know of any other one?
vibraniumdroid said:
@Midnight_Rider
That protector has very bad ratings do you know of any other one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really? it has 3 reviews, 2 of them are 5 stars and 1 is 1 star cause the guy didnt like the fact that it did not cover the entire screen. i wouldnt call that "very bad ratings"
search Amazon or google, im sure you can find one that suits you
The Verizon Flexible Glass Display Protector is the best.
I had last years version on my Moto Z Force Droid on Verizon and it never had an issue.
I have this year's version on my T-Mobile Moto Z2 Force and it works great.
I actually am on my 3rd Z2. First one was pre-ordered and would not connect to voice mail so Tmo replaced it.
2nd one was fine other than the texting issue on Tmo, but I fell for the hype and Jumped to the Note 8.
A week and a half later I jumped back to the Z2 Force and got it for $500
I could kick myself for not waiting to get this until T-Mobile dropped the price. :/
The one thing that's really impressed me with this phone is the battery life, given the smaller (compared with the last Z2) nonremovable battery.
pgg285 said:
I could kick myself for not waiting to get this until T-Mobile dropped the price. :/
The one thing that's really impressed me with this phone is the battery life, given the smaller (compared with the last Z2) nonremovable battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how long ago did you get yours? 2 years ago when i got an LG G4, they dropped the price like this 2 months after i bought it, went back to the store and while they did not give me the full discount, they did give me $80 bucks off, reduced my number of payments by 4 months

Mini review and damn impressed with the MATE-10

I got the Mate 10 last week (not PRO) and I'm very impressed with the phone, I've tried a lot of phones and this one is really hard to fault, the only thing is that it's not running stock Android, but with Nova Launcher on it, you can make it feel like it, so no biggy here, now the rest, damn impressed with it, amazing camera, had the S8+ before this one and in my opinion, the pictures are simply amazing... great 6" 2k screen, with the regular 16:9 aspect ratio, so no letter boxing when watching videos and because the bezels on the sides are very, very slim, it feels great in the hand too... headphone jack output quality is clear and loud, not as loud as the V30, but very close... IR blaster (missed these on phones), it's awesome when you are in the sofa chilling and the remote is gone on a mystical journey again and no where to be found, but hey, just use your phone to control your TV =D... And now the battery, wow, very impressed, never had a phone that lasted me a full day off the charger, I use my phone heavily, so I always had to top up my other phones around 3pm, after unplugging at 6am, with the Mate 10, I'm getting 8hrs SOT, enough to last me 18hrs off the charger, simply amazing battery beast.
If you are looking for a new phone, with top of the range specs and without breaking the bank, I recommend the Mate 10, right now the true flagship killer IMHO.
absolutely correct! im also getting around 8h SOT and i play alot of heavy games. first i though that the phone is draining battery fast but after seeing SOT i realized that it was just my illusion. the 12 core gpu drains the battery faster but actually not that fast. i have set the screen to 1080p mode and power saving toggle is turned on and the phone is still blazing fast even in heavy games. the camera in DxO mark scored 97 (100 in picture quality) and that is truly amazing. knowing that at this point i can respond to those note 8 and iphone x owners who brag about their phone being a camera topper and performance beast. in newer antutu 7 people say that kirin 970 already beaten up the SD845. if thats real then i dont know why would someone not get this phone. the audio quality is just jaw dropping. not to mention the powerful theme engine huehuehue.
also the charging speed is insane. 0 to 100% in just 80 minutes is awesome.
Saadkhalid786 said:
absolutely correct! im also getting around 8h SOT and i play alot of heavy games. first i though that the phone is draining battery fast but after seeing SOT i realized that it was just my illusion. the 12 core gpu drains the battery faster but actually not that fast. i have set the screen to 1080p mode and power saving toggle is turned on and the phone is still blazing fast even in heavy games. the camera in DxO mark scored 97 (100 in picture quality) and that is truly amazing. knowing that at this point i can respond to those note 8 and iphone x owners who brag about their phone being a camera topper and performance beast. in newer antutu 7 people say that kirin 970 already beaten up the SD845. if thats real then i dont know why would someone not get this phone. the audio quality is just jaw dropping. not to mention the powerful theme engine huehuehue.
also the charging speed is insane. 0 to 100% in just 80 minutes is awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I swap phones very often, every week or 2 weeks, but I don't know what to get now, because I'll feel like I've just downgraded and there will be nothing new to try, the only one I'm considering right now is the Mi MIX 2 or Essential phone, because of the narrow top bezel, but other than that, I know I'll have a worst phone compared to the MATE 10, so there is really no reason to get another phone, when the Mate 10 is this good. Oh well, guess I found the perfect phone for me, finally xD
This looks like as good as any place to add my thoughts on my ALP-L29 (Mate 10 non pro).. I'm not going to rattle specs, just highlight features I enjoy..
1 month in, 3 firmware updates thus far, unrooted and still content..
Design:
Though the idea of a glass sandwich makes for slippery surfaces, drops, constant fingerprints and extra weight, it is stunningly beautiful. The ergonomics are very good with no sharp edges, balanced perfectly and is one of the few devices with a symmetric design. The volume/power button placement isn't ideal though, I prefer a better separation or texture to identity what I'm pressing, and using these for screenshots is awkward. Thankfully there are several ways to bypass this minor issue. I use my device on a desk and appreciate the front fingerprint scanner location as well.
Hardware:
The inclusion of an ir blaster wasn't a feature I looked for, but find myself using frequently. My daughter constantly leaves the TV remote in odd places and I save stress/time just using my phone instead. I really enjoy the desktop mode, and the added functionality of the usb 3.0.. I travel frequently and am looking forward to leaving the laptop at home. The headphone jack was and is still a main reason I didn't choose the pro model. The rest of the hardware is as described, awesome battery life, great camera and blazingly fast fingerprint scanner..
Software:
Emui is different, not bad, but feels a bit heavy.. I forgive most of this due to its included theming, functions like gesture/voice controls and uniqueness over not just being another "android".. I still threw Nova on it because the stock launcher is too limited (as most stock launchers are). The updates have been regular, no rogue apps eating battery and everything has been super stable. There are flaws though. The non removable battery notifications of heavy apps is annoying, the knuckle gestures (while sometimes useful) rarely work as accurately as I'd like and there is performance optimization problems. I find small lags sometimes while scrolling, slight touch accuracy/unresponsiveness several times (across updates, maybe hardware related), and its aggressive ram/battery management sometimes reloads even single apps..
Being a phone:
At the end of the day this is a phone, and as a phone it works very well. I travel through Paris daily by metro, and signal strength has been good and keeps cellular connection better than my old phone. I don't miss messages or calls, though the mobile data cuts out a bit more than my last device which I find odd.. It'll have reasonable signal but doesn't try to keep poor mobile data connection, maybe to save battery?.. This happens as well with the switch between 2g/3g/4g, often preferring the lower band unless signals are ideal (toggling airplane mode helps coax it to grab the higher band). Call quality has been excellent, loud and no complaints about the microphone output.
Conclusion:
As I've stated, I'm very content, and recommend this device. It's a powerful flagship, great for media consumers, gamers, photo junkies and those who need a bit more productivity out of their device. It has stamina for a full days usage and charges in mere minutes for a few extra hours if needed.. The positives far outweigh any minor annoyances. This is the first device I haven't eagerly wanted to unlock, root and mod..
Not going to rehash what all the previous users have already stated. Even the little quirks can be ironed out with a little research and playing around with the numerous settings. Great phone! Highly recommended. I do believe that after many years of phones going in the opposite direction from what I wanted that I have finally found the one that ticks all the boxes for me! I cannot imagine another phone satisfying me as much...unless Huawei makes another one with all the same ports but with newer SOC's.

Con me out of selling my 6T.

So, I landed a 6T for a steal. I wasn't even in the market to replace my G6 (US997, rooted), but here I am.
As of right now, the only distinct advantages the 6T has over the LG G6 are:
Pie
Far smoother operation
Larger screen
Infinitely better aftermarket support (roms etc)
The G6 has my heart in:
Power button being on the back (Yes, I know I'll get used to the side button again).
SD Card Slot (I have a 256gb collecting dust now)
Pixel density
Quick Charge
Always On Display
Integrated headphone jack (although I rarely use my wired headphones anymore)
And right now, I'm on the fence:
Call quality (seems to be a wash)
Display clarity (wash again, despite the pixel density)
and the biggest thing to me, is the camera. I know I'm missing the wide angle from the G6. But is it just me, or is the camera just sort of meh on the 6T?
It seems to charge very slow when not connected to the included charger (which I can't seem to find in stock anywhere?)
I landed it with a case and screen protector for 350. I know I can sell it for that or maybe even up to 400. But I'm not sure I want to. I want to love this thing. It feels so nice in my hand. The battery on it is as big as a freakin car battery. It's more modern than my G6, has better specs. Is definitely faster.
So tell me, what do I do here?
I sorta did the same. My previous phone was a G6. In my case that phone I got it basically for free when I renewed my contract.
LG G6
I hated the fact that I could not root it (in my country that model is bootloader locked).
I loved its camera, but the glass on top of it it's real trash because it scratched in a month or so even with a case and TLC.
I hated the battery not lasting more than 2 hours screen on time.
I hated the button and FP on the back.
I hated the OS, stuttered and most of all, bloated (more of a carrier problem than a phone problem I know).
I hated being stuck on an older Android version.
I hated the screen because I got some screen burn-in issues, but fortunately with no permanent damage (reversible).
I too used it with a 200GB memory card, but the horrible management of the 4GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage meant that I was constantly running out of space. Even if you move apps to external storage, some huge chunks of data remain internally.
I was on the fence between getting the Huawei P20 Pro or the OP6T, and I decided to try the OP6T with 8GM RAM and 256GB Storage and boy o boy, I can't complain at all!
OnePlus 6T
The sheer speed of this phone is amazing! In all these years with Android (I started in 2007) I have never enjoyed a phone this much!
I love the fact that I'm always getting more than 7 hours screen on time with extensive use!
I love the tiny camera notch!
This phone is stupid FAAAAASTTTT!!!
And the fast charge on the OP6T is far FAR superior to that on the LGG6. Every morning I charge my OP6T while getting ready for work and about 40-45 minutes later is already at 100%. No more leaving the phone on my nightstand charging overnight!
OxygenOS is simply the best Android iteration ever created!
OnePlus Android updates and beta program is amazing!
So freaking easy to root.
OnePlus community is awesome (not that xda forums are not cool, but you get my point).
The huge RAM and Storage makes it future proof for many years to come if I desire to keep it that long.
Last but not least, the on-screen fingerprint scanner is a great conversation starter and wow factor. (mine works flawlessly)
This is simply no fair comparison, the LG G6 feels dated in comparison.
I don't miss the audio jack because I'm always listening over Bluetooth.
I don't miss the higher DPI because the OP6T screen despite having less DPI looks stunning!
I don't miss the external storage option on the LGG6
I don't miss the wide angle lens on the main camera, but I do miss the wide angle lens on the front camera.
This is my experience so far!
Cheers mate!
sell it; I'll give you 50 bucks for it
aNGERY said:
So, I landed a 6T for a steal. I wasn't even in the market to replace my G6 (US997, rooted), but here I am.
As of right now, the only distinct advantages the 6T has over the LG G6 are:
Pie
Far smoother operation
Larger screen
Infinitely better aftermarket support (roms etc)
The G6 has my heart in:
Power button being on the back (Yes, I know I'll get used to the side button again).
SD Card Slot (I have a 256gb collecting dust now)
Pixel density
Quick Charge
Always On Display
Integrated headphone jack (although I rarely use my wired headphones anymore)
And right now, I'm on the fence:
Call quality (seems to be a wash)
Display clarity (wash again, despite the pixel density)
and the biggest thing to me, is the camera. I know I'm missing the wide angle from the G6. But is it just me, or is the camera just sort of meh on the 6T?
It seems to charge very slow when not connected to the included charger (which I can't seem to find in stock anywhere?)
I landed it with a case and screen protector for 350. I know I can sell it for that or maybe even up to 400. But I'm not sure I want to. I want to love this thing. It feels so nice in my hand. The battery on it is as big as a freakin car battery. It's more modern than my G6, has better specs. Is definitely faster.
So tell me, what do I do here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
G6 has your heart with Quick charge? The OnePlus 6T is one of the fastest charging phones there is.
lg sucks i own 2 still but UI is slow they mess a kernel up don't support developers less everything that's like pulling out the old Razer phone
aNGERY said:
So, I landed a 6T for a steal. I wasn't even in the market to replace my G6 (US997, rooted), but here I am.
As of right now, the only distinct advantages the 6T has over the LG G6 are:
Pie
Far smoother operation
Larger screen
Infinitely better aftermarket support (roms etc)
The G6 has my heart in:
Power button being on the back (Yes, I know I'll get used to the side button again).
SD Card Slot (I have a 256gb collecting dust now)
Pixel density
Quick Charge
Always On Display
Integrated headphone jack (although I rarely use my wired headphones anymore)
And right now, I'm on the fence:
Call quality (seems to be a wash)
Display clarity (wash again, despite the pixel density)
and the biggest thing to me, is the camera. I know I'm missing the wide angle from the G6. But is it just me, or is the camera just sort of meh on the 6T?
It seems to charge very slow when not connected to the included charger (which I can't seem to find in stock anywhere?)
I landed it with a case and screen protector for 350. I know I can sell it for that or maybe even up to 400. But I'm not sure I want to. I want to love this thing. It feels so nice in my hand. The battery on it is as big as a freakin car battery. It's more modern than my G6, has better specs. Is definitely faster.
So tell me, what do I do here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LG G6 a lot slower.
Snapdragon 821 vs Snapdragon 845.
Not even in the same league. 6 month old phone vs almost two year old phone.
I had an LG G6 and traded it for an Essential PH-1.
Sold the Essential when the 6T came out and have not looked back.
The 6T is just a better all around phone.
The 6T is dual SIM which made it a no brainer for me. I was carrying a work phone and a personal phone.
I carry one phone now.
I don't have 2 sims, but I don't disagree about the hardware being superior. I actually wiped the phone last night, put my sim in my G6, and about an hour later, I started setting up the 6T again. I'm on it now.
I'm not going to make any hasty decisions. Probably will give this thing a week.
As I type this, the biggest thing to adapt to is the SD card slot being absent.
Am I being too hard on the camera?
G6 is garbage
If 6T it's slow or seems slow, format the phone or do a MSM tool.
Yes the camera is maybe the cheapest..., but in daylight take good pictures. At night not so good. For camera you can try Google cam.
Reuben_skelz92 said:
G6 is garbage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Compared to a 6T it is.
For camera, try the Pixel camera. See separate thread.
aNGERY said:
I don't have 2 sims, but I don't disagree about the hardware being superior. I actually wiped the phone last night, put my sim in my G6, and about an hour later, I started setting up the 6T again. I'm on it now.
I'm not going to make any hasty decisions. Probably will give this thing a week.
As I type this, the biggest thing to adapt to is the SD card slot being absent.
Am I being too hard on the camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also came from the G6. I do miss the wide angle camera and the overall photo quality from the G6. Also was a fan of water resistance rating, mil-spec drop rating, and the power button/fingerprint sensor on the back. The G6 really felt good in the hand, but the performance difference between it and my 6T are night and day. I don't think I could go back to the G6 from a performance standpoint.
I think you should sell it.
However, having someone else decided what phone you use will never end well.
Only thing that bothers me about the phone is that fp doesn't work on custom ROMs wich combined with the bad ram management on stock oos is kinda annoying.
About the camera. I find it rather inconsistent. Sometimes i get pretty good shots and sometimes they are just lousy. Anyway it's a tiny phone cam and as such it simply suffers physical limitations.
Sell it!
You paid for it.
tet-bundy said:
Only thing that bothers me about the phone is that fp doesn't work on custom ROMs wich combined with the bad ram management on stock oos is kinda annoying.
About the camera. I find it rather inconsistent. Sometimes i get pretty good shots and sometimes they are just lousy. Anyway it's a tiny phone cam and as such it simply suffers physical limitations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad RAM management?
Do you have a 6GB device?
I'm reading through this post on my g6 while I let the 6t sit and try to figure out what's giving me wakelocks.
This thing is tiny and slow in comparison lol. I'm glad I'm giving it another go. Appreciate the opinions.
Reasons why I buy OP phones
Nearly native Android experience
Always rootable - I will not touch a phone I can't put Adaway on
Fast updates - almost as fast as the Pixels
Battery that lasts and lasts
Price/performance that can't be beat
Things that could be better
Camera is definitely a meh. Shutter delay is notable and limiting for anything but static scenes. Auto WB is way out of wack in anything but mid day blue sky conditions, and even setting WB manually leaves you with funky casts. This is particularly troublesome with skin tones, where your choice is between a "boiled shrimp" and "jaundice sickness" appearance. I don't use the camera for anything other than utilitarian purposes so this is a don't care, but if my phone was my primary camera I would definitely think twice.
Designs are somewhat bland, but this is probably partly how they keep the price as low as it is. I could not care less, as long as the formfactor is right. Which it is.
tech_head said:
Bad RAM management?
Do you have a 6GB device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
8 GB

General s21 Ultra G998U1 Opinions - Android 11 vs. 12

Opinions are like a-holes, so I thought I'd stay in character & post mine.
This is my first Samsung. Until now, 9 of 10 phones I've owned have been Moto - I used to work for the company and got stuck on them (even when they went to Google then Lenovo). All phones have been rooted since 2010 when I got my first Droid Razr. It's been about 6 years since I've been cutting edge - my last phone was so incredibly reliable I got stuck on it. I've never owned an iPhone & never will. This past December my house decided to overhaul our devices, so I got the s21 Ultra for ~850 USD after discounts. I've been on Verizon since 1999.
My primary uses for owning a mobile device are directly related to the Windows & Linux experiences I have in my life. I want something with maximum horsepower, something I can lock down the best I can, tweak, web/text/data etc., a cutting edge camera, quick & easy 24/7 webdav, and seamless connection/configurability to my NAS. I don't play games (yet) and don't use any social media apps. My machines have to do exactly what I say, quickly, and look good doing it.
There are plenty of people here who could flesh out the technical better than I, but the reason I wanted to share my thoughts here is because I absolutely love this phone & cannot stop talking about it. I love the feel of it, the weight, the screen, the speed & the camera. When I take the few extra seconds to frame & configure a shot, the photos/videos dust the iPhones everyone else uses in my house. One of the things I don't hear many talk about with this phone is how it feels in your hand & on your face when you're actually on a call. Never have I held such a quality device - it's less like a slab and more like a monolith. Anyone who has spent that extra money on say, a car, can attest to this. I really believe I got what I paid for and that's such a terrific feeling I seldom feel anymore.
So when I got the phone I flashed it out of the box to A12 XAA 4BUKF before I even simmed it. Because root was not available, I used ADB AppControl (phenomenal software) to tweak & script the changes I made. I am one of the lucky ones who was able to run 12 with minimal issues. After reading some of the thoughts on 12, I flashed back to A11 XAA 4AUJ7 to test it. Here are my general thoughts on Android 11 vs 12.
Quick notes: I do not use Bixby, I kept only the Samsung apps I ended up liking such as Gallery, Camera, Calculator, Keyboard & Voicemail. I ditched all the rest. I use Signal for texting, Edge for browsing and a few older misc. apps/widgets for everyday stuff.
FunctionEdgeCommentsData SpeedsTie80-150mbps 5G in the NW suburbs of ChicagoCall QualityTieBloatTieBoth are loaded with garbage. If for whatever reason I was restricted in my abilities to adb into this phone, I would not own it.Camera12• The stock camera app produces superior pictures on 12 imho, but both require manual iris intervention before every shot.
• If memory serves me right, the stabilizer "click" when you tilt the phone is not present like it is on 11. Can someone on 12 confirm this?Processing Speeds1111 is smoother and slightly faster.OneUI12• Real close but 12 edges out 11 because of the 85% charge option & ability to add an image to the peek/always on screen.
• Again I am one of the lucky ones as both were equally stable
*** As a new Samsung user, I'm floored by the customizability of OneUI and I love it. I could write pages about the changes I made in here. Bravo Samsung.Battery11Distant first place. The battery on 11 feels nearly twice as good. I get just at/under two days on a 100% charge with moderate use.Overall Personal Preference12But I am staying on 11 for now because of the battery, unfortunately. There is just no comparison.
*** Flashing this phone has been a seamlesss experience and not once has it *****ed at me about a single thing.
After weeks of research, attached are the apps I've frozen which produce no drain. I went much further than this, but reverted back to this in the end due to some perceived drain. Here are some pictures & a video I've taken with the stock app just for giggles - view settings can be changed to thumbnails using the icon on the top right of the page. These are untouched outside of the phone.
Outstanding phone, best I've ever owned, and I'm going to keep it for years. I would love to hear some counterpoints on what I've listed here.
Hi, thanks for the detailed review. Is that Exynos or Snapdragon?
ssj100 said:
Hi, thanks for the detailed review. Is that Exynos or Snapdragon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally. Snapdragon.
@burnxtc the one counterpoint that helps null Android is Samsung's going chintzy and removing the SD card slot. That combined with the new Google Android OS's new forced encryption and scoped storage the S21U is more Apple than Android.
Samsung hasn't been firing on all cylinders for way over a year. The N10+ was the last homerun flagship release Samsung made... in my opinion.
​
burnxtc said:
Totally. Snapdragon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting that you also notice the "processing speeds" to be a bit slower with 12. I definitely noticed it with the Exynos here (have owned it since pretty much release). Since 12, I've also observed issues with:
Picture in Picture, Split Screen etc - Refresh Rate drops to 60Hz (EXYNOS)
Hi there, I'd not noticed this before the Android 12 update, but refresh rate appears to drop from 120Hz to 60Hz when using Picture in Picture or Split Screen views. Can anyone else reproduce this please? You can confirm this by going into...
forum.xda-developers.com
And certainly animation "jitteriness" not infrequently has suddenly become noticeable where it didn't really exist on 11.
ssj100 said:
Interesting that you also notice the "processing speeds" to be a bit slower with 12. I definitely noticed it with the Exynos here (have owned it since pretty much release). Since 12, I've also observed issues with:
Picture in Picture, Split Screen etc - Refresh Rate drops to 60Hz (EXYNOS)
Hi there, I'd not noticed this before the Android 12 update, but refresh rate appears to drop from 120Hz to 60Hz when using Picture in Picture or Split Screen views. Can anyone else reproduce this please? You can confirm this by going into...
forum.xda-developers.com
And certainly animation "jitteriness" not infrequently has suddenly become noticeable where it didn't really exist on 11.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The refresh rate stuff is definitely something missing from my review. I am all eyes when I've read about it on this forum and learning much more about it.
ssj100 said:
Interesting that you also notice the "processing speeds" to be a bit slower with 12. I definitely noticed it with the Exynos here (have owned it since pretty much release). Since 12, I've also observed issues with:
Picture in Picture, Split Screen etc - Refresh Rate drops to 60Hz (EXYNOS)
Hi there, I'd not noticed this before the Android 12 update, but refresh rate appears to drop from 120Hz to 60Hz when using Picture in Picture or Split Screen views. Can anyone else reproduce this please? You can confirm this by going into...
forum.xda-developers.com
And certainly animation "jitteriness" not infrequently has suddenly become noticeable where it didn't really exist on 11.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The forced encryption maybe but certainly the scoped storage is sucking away cpu cycles for nothing. It's like air drag on a jet fighter, you can jam in bigger engines but the drag is still there slowing it down and burning more fuel.
For what? I like my Androids fast and loose.
burnxtc said:
The refresh rate stuff is definitely something missing from my review. I am all eyes when I've read about it on this forum and learning much more about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a big problem on all variable rate displays. All suffer from reduced color rendering to a greater or lesser degree.
Display reliability has also dropped it seems. That's a big reason I decided on buying a second N10+, probably the best display out there for color rendering, still. It slaughters the Apples too.
Still waiting for the newest model reviews but don't expect the color rendering index to increase much or at all; variable refresh rate displays are extremely hard to color calibrate, just too many variables. They are smooth but eat power. My SOT is 7-12%@hr with a 4300 mAh battery using 35-50% manual brightness. Ram usage almost never exceeds 5.3gb so it's snappy. The memory is roughly 20% less efficient than what you have.
So where's all the battery going on the newer models?
So pick your poison. For me it was choosing a phone over 2 years after it was first released. I have 2 N10+'s, the oldest will be 2.5 yo in March.
A Snapdragon variant 512/12gb running on Pie.
Current load will be 2 yo in June, still fast and stable, security isn't an issue. Only repair was a battery replacement back in April 2021. It looks and runs like new, zero detectable display degradation in this heavily used device. It's a beast. The reliability, display quality, battery life (trade offs: no 5G, variable refresh rate, and slower cpu/memory), form factor (7mm thick), SD card slot, the device is just stunning, and fun to use are some of the factors that made me go with a second one. I have twins...
blackhawk said:
It's a big problem on all variable rate displays. All suffer from reduced color rendering to a greater or lesser degree.
Display reliability has also dropped it seems. That's a big reason I decided on buying a second N10+, probably the best display out there for color rendering, still. It slaughters the Apples too.
Still waiting for the newest model reviews but don't expect the color rendering index to increase much or at all; variable refresh rate displays are extremely hard to color calibrate, just too many variables. They are smooth but eat power. My SOT is 7-12%@hr with a 4300 mAh battery using 35-50% manual brightness. Ram usage almost never exceeds 5.3gb so it's snappy. The memory is roughly 20% less efficient than what you have.
So where's all the battery going on the newer models?
So pick your poison. For me it was choosing a phone over 2 years after it was first released. I have 2 N10+'s, the oldest will be 2.5 yo in March.
A Snapdragon variant 512/12gb running on Pie.
Current load will be 2 yo in June, still fast and stable, security isn't an issue. Only repair was a battery replacement back in April 2021. It looks and runs like new, zero detectable display degradation in this heavily used device. It's a beast. The reliability, display quality, battery life (trade offs: no 5G, variable refresh rate, and slower cpu/memory), form factor (7mm thick), SD card slot, the device is just stunning, and fun to use are some of the factors that made me go with a second one. I have twins...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is absolutely incredible, I had no idea the N10+ was that right on the money - "Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect." No wonder they're still fetching that price.
Curious, did you do the battery replacement yourself & was there any degradation to the "structure" after you got it done? I've done batteries on a dozen phones/tablets, but taking my Samsung apart looks really daunting.
burnxtc said:
That is absolutely incredible, I had no idea the N10+ was that right on the money - "Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect." No wonder they're still fetching that price.
Curious, did you do the battery replacement yourself & was there any degradation to the "structure" after you got it done? I've done batteries on a dozen phones/tablets, but taking my Samsung apart looks really daunting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like it's square display corners, only the N20U has those too but that damn cam hump. In person the square corners look so much better.
Being raised on CRTs, I'm sick of rounded corners
The Zizo Bolt case mates perfectly with the 10+ making it easier to use and has great drop protection... so I knew casing the second one be easy. These corner hitters need a case. The spen's Smart Capture and bt shutter release are hard to live without once you use them. Deciding took some time.
It was between the N10+ and the N20U as the SD card slot is mandatory for me. In the end the trouble free and snappy fun nature of the 10+ won out. Never thought I would have done that in 2019, thought for sure I be wanting the next Samsung flagship in 2022. Ummm, thanks Samsung?
Had a shop do the replacement as I was intimidated too. I watched and learned. Use a little anhydrous isopropyl in a syringe to help loosen the double sided tape on the rear cover (and heat) and battery. Not bad if you take your time and have the right tools... easy does it, no rush.
Get the OEM rear cover seal or a good aftermarket one. Lol, never test if it's water tight even with the factory done one.
In the end I realized I could do a better job myself, but that in person demo really helped a lot. And yeah, I was a menace, asking questions... got my money's worth

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