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Hello people,
I'm a long time Xiaomi-User.
I saw this phone for 300€ (used, but perfect condition) and decided to buy it and give it a chance.
If it would be not that great (for me, ofcourse), I'd sell it and buy the Mi 9, since I love MIUI.
But yeah, since I already ordered it, here are my questions:
1. Am I going to hate EMUI? (maybe someone has experience with both MIUI and EMUI)
2. How's the camera after all the updates? I watched YouTube videos but since most of the good videos are old, I thought I should ask here.
- low light?
- OIS working as it should?
- video stabilisation? are videos really that bad?
- selfie?
- other?
3. Battery should be good? Over 6 hours SoT possible?
4. Any other useful tips for me, as a newcommer to Huawei/P20 Pro? Some must have know-hows?
Thanks!
ermm.. bump?
chorba69 said:
ermm.. bump?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello. I will answer,of course with my personal opinions.
I work in IT,so I talk a lot on the phone,and I receive plenty of emails,I even browse 9gag a lot,Facebook,and still I get 1 day and a half of battery...so don't worry(but I also stopped from startup most of the apps,except the ones I want notifications from,usually messaging apps),and I manually Debloated it(you can uninstall system apps using ADB,without root and without unlocking the bootloader,so no problems with warranty - I just removed apps like Chrome,Google AI,google photos,google music,google Duo,google Drive).
I never used a Xiaomi,so I don't know how much you will like the interface,but it's easy to use once you get used to it.
You can even activate a drawer for apps if you don't like apps directly on home screen,notifications can be changed to "unread" instead of the default one with a dot on the app(I use unread,I like it better,so I know how many notifications I have per app).
Cameras are great(I hope your device is alright,since it's not new).
I have the european version with update 9.0.0.195
Cameras are really good with AI,and you have a Master AI slider,so you can disable it. An advice: after updating to latest version,wipe cache partition from Recovery(turn off the phone,then hold the volume + while turning it on,and do not release volume + button until it enters the recovery,then wipe cache partition).
After booting,just go to settings - apps - Camera - storage and wipe data for this app,so it will not use the old files from old version.
And an advice for photos with multiple people(doesn't matter if you use the selfie camera or back cameras).
When you're making group photos,with multiple persons,disable the portrait mode either by touching the little X besides the "Portrait mode",or by sliding to "Photo" mode. Because if portrait is enabled,it will focus on one person and blur the others...it seems it's not for multiple persons. Someone told me it's the same on Mate 20 Pro.
Video stabilization is not enabled when filming in 4K,but it works well with 1080p 60 fps(it's better on emui 9 than on emui 8).
Hope I helped. Cheers!
chorba69 said:
1. Am I going to hate EMUI? (maybe someone has experience with both MIUI and EMUI)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently moved from Mi 6 to P20 Pro. I actually like EMUI more than MIUI.
First of all I'm a big fan of app drawer which is missing from MIUI and can be enabled in EMUI.
To my taste EMUI 9 looks (icons, settings order etc.) and works (animation smoothness, power management) better than MIUI 10.
Although both those things are only personal preference.
2. How's the camera after all the updates? I watched YouTube videos but since most of the good videos are old, I thought I should ask here.
- low light?
- OIS working as it should?
- video stabilisation? are videos really that bad?
- selfie?
- other?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a bad photographer, but even I manage to do some good pictures on P20 Pro. Night mode is great, and overall the camera software is way more polished than what I had on Mi 6. I can't compare difference in camera between EMUI 8 and EMUI 9 because I upgraded pretty much straight ahead.
3. Battery should be good? Over 6 hours SoT possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't usually check SoT, but overall battery life is great. On average I charge the phone every 36 hours (usually when ~20% left). With Mi 6 is was a bit less.
4. Any other useful tips for me, as a newcommer to Huawei/P20 Pro? Some must have know-hows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. As already mentioned - Use debloat to uninstall apps that you don't need (use with caution).
2. Disable automatic power management for apps you want to run constantly (Settings -> Battery -> App launch).
3. Learn how to use the Camera app.
4. Don't expect for very fast Android updates (as MIUI user you should be familiar with that).
@exodus394 , @arty_a ,
first of all, thanks for your answers!
My P20 Pro arrived today and I'm still testing everything.
I'm pretty happy with everything except maybe the camera. I couldnt test it 100% but the photos I took with the phone, arent that great.
Especially the night mode. I could almost say, it's maybe 20% better than with normal mode.. I dont know, maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I used gcam (google camera) on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and the Night mode on gcam was like 50 times better than on P20 Pro, although Xiaomi doesnt have that good camera as P20 Pro has.
I already wiped cache via recovery and deleted cache+data from the camera app, but it's still not good.
Anything I could do wrong here?
I was thinking about debloating and will do it now.
@arty_a ,
what are the benefits of disabling the automatic power managment for apps?
If it's enabled, do I stop getting notifications for some apps? (like MIUI had a problem with)
And, what do you mena with "Learn how to use the Camera app"? Manual mode or something else?
Thanks again guys!
chorba69 said:
@exodus394 , @arty_a ,
first of all, thanks for your answers!
My P20 Pro arrived today and I'm still testing everything.
I'm pretty happy with everything except maybe the camera. I couldnt test it 100% but the photos I took with the phone, arent that great.
Especially the night mode. I could almost say, it's maybe 20% better than with normal mode.. I dont know, maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I used gcam (google camera) on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and the Night mode on gcam was like 50 times better than on P20 Pro, although Xiaomi doesnt have that good camera as P20 Pro has.
I already wiped cache via recovery and deleted cache+data from the camera app, but it's still not good.
Anything I could do wrong here?
I was thinking about debloating and will do it now.
@arty_a ,
what are the benefits of disabling the automatic power managment for apps?
If it's enabled, do I stop getting notifications for some apps? (like MIUI had a problem with)
And, what do you mena with "Learn how to use the Camera app"? Manual mode or something else?
Thanks again guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there is something wrong with your unit. P20 Pro is the best at night and low light photos. I even took photos in environments where I barely could see something with naked eye,but the phone took a lot of details,more than I could see...no phone can do that better at the moment.
exodus394 said:
I think there is something wrong with your unit. P20 Pro is the best at night and low light photos. I even took photos in environments where I barely could see something with naked eye,but the phone took a lot of details,more than I could see...no phone can do that better at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm.. Can you upload maybe two photos? Normal and night mode?
Thanks!
chorba69 said:
Erm.. Can you upload maybe two photos? Normal and night mode?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok,I will do that in a few hours,the sun is still up right now.
chorba69 said:
what are the benefits of disabling the automatic power managment for apps?
If it's enabled, do I stop getting notifications for some apps? (like MIUI had a problem with)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly that.
In addition some apps can fail to autostart when triggered by other app (Waze + Spotify, AndroidAuto + pretty much everything). It's very annoying and frustrating when you run into it for the first time.
And, what do you mena with "Learn how to use the Camera app"? Manual mode or something else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just check all the settings and modes you have, like "Beauty" and "Light" in Portrait mode, Pro mode where you can control pretty much everything, "More" where you have the slow-mo and a lot of other stuff.
Regarding "Night mode" try using it when it's really dark, not just low lite situation, that is where it shows its full power.
Very interesting thread. My question has to do with security. Since we all know about the allegations that have been thrown at Huawei about not being a secure phone since it is manufactured in China, what steps can the average Joe take to make this phone more safe without installing a custom ROM. I've already done the de-bloating steps listed here. Thanks in advance
manfly9884 said:
Very interesting thread. My question has to do with security. Since we all know about the allegations that have been thrown at Huawei about not being a secure phone since it is manufactured in China, what steps can the average Joe take to make this phone more safe without installing a custom ROM. I've already done the de-bloating steps listed here. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize in advance for being harsh.
First of all - if you want to learn about this stuff go do some research, I mean, at least 5 first pages of google, don't ask anonymous people on a forum.
One of the things you will learn is that main concern about Huawei are not phones but other, enterprise, products - cellular network controllers, servers etc. Spying on people over phones is cool but not efficient, spying over governments and enterprises over their backbone and communication infrastructure is very efficient and scary.
Now, let me split my answer into 2 parts:
1) If you are concerned over hardware, don't use a smartphone at all. All manufacturers either produce their phones in China or at least use some hardware produced in China. If the Chinese want to physically bug your phone they will, even if it's an iPhone.
2) If you are concerned over software, then again, it's not only Huawei, pretty much any non-American manufacturer (Hauwei, Xiaomi, LG, even Samsung) can overnight push an OTA that will add "spying" software and I bet it will not be found immediately.
Now, if you are concerned about privacy and not security then:
1) If you use Apple or Google account you are already willingly give away a lot of your information to be processed by them.
2) If you have any social media account you do the same in addition to making parts of that information publicly accessible.
3) Regarding phone specific vendor (Huawei in this case) - don't use any vendor specific services (Huawei ID, built in Email app, AppGallery, etc.)
P.S. Custom ROMs can contain some "bad things" too.
Hi Guys.
I bought the standard edition Oppo Reno model (PCAT00) in China. Which already have Chinese rom installed in it. The new cokoros 6 is also there. But its half baked like a rushed product.
So the main problem here is that when I closes my whatsapp or wechat or snap chat.... I won't receive notifications. When I open the app, then again I receive. I have tried all the help but didn't find any solution. So if there is anybody who can help? And another question. Can I move from Chinese global version to the international version.
P. S. I HAVE ALSO INSTALLED GOOGLE SERVICES.
Go into whats app and remove this from battery saver, I have not used color OS but I know mostly chinese OS do this.
You basically have to allow this app to not go into battery saver mode. Find something in settings.apps...whatsapp settings.
Open App Management, find your application, inside open Energy saver, and choose plan - Allow Background (first option)
By default system sets 3rd one - Intellectual. You should change to first.
Secondly: open running applications (square left to Home button), choose your messenger and choose Lock in the right corner.
If you don't mind me asking... OT,
Does
1. SD 710 and
2. inferior cameras make a difference?
3. How are the dual speakers?
Thanks
Xebeck said:
If you don't mind me asking... OT,
Does
1. SD 710 and
2. inferior cameras make a difference?
3. How are the dual speakers?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD710 is enough for IMX586 IMO. Shoots fast enough.
Difference is about software, cause GCam (for example) makes better photos than Oppo's own software.
There's no dual speaker, only one speaker at bottom. It is good and loud enough.
I have tried everything. Sometime it works. But sometimes it won't. The only way it works smooth when it's in background
Whatsapp business notifications are delayed
Hello I'm having issues with Snapchat notification on CPH1989 and I have tired everything to fix it but still no success please help me
It's taken some doing but I've been able to unlock and root my Bold N1. (bricked it 3 times before I figured it out, luckily I found all the tools/files I need to flash back to stock).
For Now I have it on the stock rom but rooted via Magisk.
My only issue is I NEED to replace the camera app. The phone is AMAZING for the price point (the screen alone is worth the price) but the camera is total garbage.
I was Hoping GCAM could salvage some of that for me.
So far I hear some folks have had luck with GCAM 6.1.20 but I haven't been able to. I can get it to install but the app crashes a few minutes after I load it up. And once crashes it won't start up again until I delete cache/data on the app.
I've been searching the net for a few weeks now looking for the best GCAM Port for Mediatek Helio P70 phones but so far no real luck.
I've tried using Magisk modules to force it (bricked my device and had to wipe to stock) tried to modify the build.prop (even though the phone is already camera2api enabled) needless to say that didn't work either.
Anyone find a good GCAM Port yet? I mean the phone is camera2api enabled out of the box so it shouldn't be so hard to find a good Port. The P70 is a popular SoC and with all those GCAM devs out there Im surprised this is so hard to find. Ive tried ports that say they're for a phone with the same SoC but they fail as well. (the realme 3 has the same SoC and a working GCAM Port but I can't get it running on my bold)
At this point the camera is the only thing stopping me from putting my iPhone x in a drawer and making this my daily driver.
Only real version I've found that work is this one...
Fairly old version.
Try Open Camera
kcasante said:
My only issue is I NEED to replace the camera app. The phone is AMAZING for the price point (the screen alone is worth the price) but the camera is total garbage.
I was Hoping GCAM could salvage some of that for me.
At this point the camera is the only thing stopping me from putting my iPhone x in a drawer and making this my daily driver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you found a working gCam app for the Bold N1, but if not, try using Open Camera (free with no ads in the Google Play store). For me, it totally has saved the Bold N1's photography and I actually prefer it over to gCam (which I used on an Essential Phone) due to all the different options and manual control.
One thing Open Camera cannot do, however, is make artifical bokeh ("portrait mode" on many phones). So I use Google Camera (also free with no ads in the Google Play Store; not to be confused with gCam, which is ported from the Pixel) and its Lens Blur function for that purpose. Otherwise I use Open Camera for everything else.
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your better get a Oneplus Phones for modding / rooting purpose.
For samsung phones, somebody have to find a solution for knox trip.
sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
...
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as you already noticed the modding/rooting community for the S21 series is not that active (yet?), maybe indeed different to phones like the Oneplus 8 Pro etc...
But still there is a reliably working method for rooting the device, although depending from your location warranty may be void afterwards. And then there is Knox, so rooting will definitely disable some specific Samsung functions (Samsung pay & Safe Folder among them).
If you are interested, there are threads on rooting and TWRP - the forum is presently only one for all S21U topics so things move down the line pretty quickly :
I for myself as a long-time "rooter" decided to go with locked stock ROM and while missing some detailed tweakings things are running pretty nicely so far. One of the things I noticed is that 90% of the things you do with rooting are workarounds to cover the negative effects of rooting - like making Gpay work etc.
Yes, unless there's a solution for the Samsung Knox issues, rooting will void your warranty. FWIW, the stock software has so much customization options that even after 2 months of using it I still haven't got hold of all the customizations. Yes, you might do in OnePlus where the software is quite bland/ featureless but that's not the case with One UI
fairyshacker said:
Your better get a Oneplus Phones for modding / rooting purpose.
For samsung phones, somebody have to find a solution for knox trip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want anything from a Chinese company.
s3axel said:
Well, as you already noticed the modding/rooting community for the S21 series is not that active (yet?), maybe indeed different to phones like the Oneplus 8 Pro etc...
But still there is a reliably working method for rooting the device, although depending from your location warranty may be void afterwards. And then there is Knox, so rooting will definitely disable some specific Samsung functions (Samsung pay & Safe Folder among them).
If you are interested, there are threads on rooting and TWRP - the forum is presently only one for all S21U topics so things move down the line pretty quickly :
I for myself as a long-time "rooter" decided to go with locked stock ROM and while missing some detailed tweakings things are running pretty nicely so far. One of the things I noticed is that 90% of the things you do with rooting are workarounds to cover the negative effects of rooting - like making Gpay work etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worried about warranties. I don't know if I'd ever need the samsung specific things like Samsung Pay. Not sure what Safe Folder is but I guess it's some kind of encryption based file storing? I generally don't use all these mainstream things people like.
I don't really spend time making Google Pay work because I have no use for it. I'll have an occasional issue with an app refusing to operate because of rooting and Magisk Hide doesn't work, but it isn't a big deal.
I like tweaking things like the battery logo (I like having a circle with percentage number inside and not having the extra/stock battery logo up there at the same time). I like to disable certain system icons from the top bar that aren't necessary to be there and just clog it up. I like adding the "clear all" type buttons in the running apps page. I like customizing the behavior of holding the power button so I can reboot, reboot to recovery, or shut the phone off easily.
For example, on my LG V30+ right now I am running the stock rom but rooted it and did things like I described above. Nothing major and don't need Google Pay. The LG app for air conditioners won't run because of my root. My bank app notifies me of root very occasionally but isn't a big deal. Yeah, I don't think my SafetyNet passes, but I don't care.
I am using Xposed, hostless AdAway, No Shutter Sound, Highway Radar and YouTube Vanced as well.
amirage said:
Yes, unless there's a solution for the Samsung Knox issues, rooting will void your warranty. FWIW, the stock software has so much customization options that even after 2 months of using it I still haven't got hold of all the customizations. Yes, you might do in OnePlus where the software is quite bland/ featureless but that's not the case with One UI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to go through every single setting in a phone before I even start really dailying it . I don't mind it. I like customization. That's great to hear. I do like unrestricted or not very restricted phones as opposed to iPhone style lockdown stuff, though.
I used to consider the OnePlus phones but lately I have been more insistent on not buying things made in China or from Chinese companies as much as possible... for various reasons.
---
So assuming I don't care about things like warranty and Samsung Pay.. what other drawbacks are there? What would stop me from going this route? I intend on picking it up from Google because they have really good deals and I can even make 0% interest payments. I just have to stick with Fi for 3 months, then I can go back to ATT.
Another concern I have is the size of the phone. It makes me lean towards the S21 5G. I just like the Ultra for the other enhancements.
Thanks to all of you as well for the replies.
I wouldn't get that phone if my intent was to root it. One of the more easily rootable Samsung models probably be a better choice*. If you want a blackhole gravity well to get frozen in time with while you're troubleshooting the root then this is a good choice.
That said stock Samsung's are the most customizable phones there are. Hundreds of free icon packs/themes, the Good Lock family of apps and more. The SSC codec for the Buds+ that seamlessly connect to this model with the propiatory Samsung new 360° audio support.
You can lock it down with PD MDM package disabler and Karma Firewall.
*Also no SD card slot so no dual drive ie data drive; you lose a valuble key feature.
Personally I loathe it's rounded corners/display and it's larger frame to display ratio. It's ugly compared to the Note 10+ or N 20 U; I take either of these over the 21 series any day.
Yeah, I really don't like the 21 series... even at half price I would spurn them.
I just read up on Samsung Pay and it's actually pretty interesting. I may actually try and use that. I would love to not have to pull out my wallet all the time and swipe/insert my bank card. That alone is very enticing.
I don't watch TV and haven't had TV service in ages, but I found out with this phone I'll have access to TV stations without a subscription or any kind of fee. That's pretty cool as an added bonus and I may find some shows I like.
blackhawk said:
I wouldn't get that phone if my intent was to root it. One of the more easily rootable Samsung models probably be a better choice*. If you want a blackhole gravity well to get frozen in time with while you're troubleshooting the root then this is a good choice.
That said stock Samsung's are the most customizable phones there are. Hundreds of free icon packs/themes, the Good Lock family of apps and more. The SSC codec for the Buds+ that seamlessly connect to this model with the propiatory Samsung new 360° audio support.
You can lock it down with PD MDM package disabler and Karma Firewall.
*Also no SD card slot so no dual drive ie data drive; you lose a valuble key feature.
Personally I loathe it's rounded corners/display and it's larger frame to display ratio. It's ugly compared to the Note 10+ or N 20 U; I take either of these over the 21 series any day.
Yeah, I really don't like the 21 series... even at half price I would spurn them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That package disabled is really nice to know about, thanks. That is also something I did on my current phone but I did it through ADB (well, I uninstalled things I didn't want and saved the APK of the app).
I'm pretty sure I can use AdAway and YouTube Vanced without root. I'm currently using an older version of Vanced because newer ones do not work. Mine is from Magisk. I figure it has to do with Vanced on this specific phone and I can probably use some other version on the S21/Ultra.
Not sure what you meant about gravity and about a "valuble key feature". I am aware it has no sd card support, but I've found that I have never had the need for this on my current phone which supports up to 2 TB sd cards.
There is one thing that I doubt I'll be able to do which I've done on my V30+... I have the stock phone app modified to have a built-in recording feature. One press and I record calls with no notification beeps or anything stupid like that. After the call ends it prompts me to listen now or later. It saves the recording automatically as a file, based on the settings I've already configured. I can turn this on and off whenever I want during the call and if I turn it on before the call is answered, the app automatically waits until the call is connected to enable call recording. It records both sides in clear quality whether or not it's using the speaker or regular mode.
Is there a shutter sound on the S21? If so, is there a way to disable it without root?
sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just come over to the S21 Ultra from Xiaomi. I loved how you could theme the Xiaomi. I tried a few themes from the Samsung store but nothing would change all the icons. A real miss match and it looked terrible. Maybe I never searched hard enough well anyway I downloaded Good Lock and some modules from the Samsung store. It has some good customisations and it changes all icons to the same style and hides icons from status bar. Not sure if this is what your after but I knew when I got this phone there would not be much development on it at the start. Actually not to fussed about rooting at the moment. Also aodNotify as I missed the notification light. Moved away from Chinese phones myself. Here's a couple of pics if this is the sort of thing that your after.
Hope this helps
Clarkie_955i said:
I just come over to the S21 Ultra from Xiaomi. I loved how you could theme the Xiaomi. I tried a few themes from the Samsung store but nothing would change all the icons. A real miss match and it looked terrible. Maybe I never searched hard enough well anyway I downloaded Good Lock and some modules from the Samsung store. It has some good customisations and it changes all icons to the same style and hides icons from status bar. Not sure if this is what your after but I knew when I got this phone there would not be much development on it at the start. Actually not to fussed about rooting at the moment. Also aodNotify as I missed the notification light. Moved away from Chinese phones myself. Here's a couple of pics if this is the sort of thing that your after.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats on leaving Chinese brands. I'm also making effort to buy things not made in China as much as possible as well. So Taiwan, Japan, USA, etc...
I don't usually do the whole custom icon set thing on phones, but I am aware that's a big thing so I understand why that would be frustrating when you can't find one you like. The most theming I've done is choose one I like (color wise) from some LG app I had on the phone which worked well.
Other small changes may count as theme changes in some ways, but it wasn't the intention.. it was mostly for functionality.
Thanks for the info.
Also I have researched a few things...
1. AdAway. It can now be used without root, which I didn't know. It can be run on S21 variants. BUT, you have to run an AdAway VPN to do it.. so might as well find another method for ad blocking. My friend showed me a screen on the S20 where there is a "private DNS" option. I could block ads that way.
2. Vanced doesn't need root. It actually is arguably better without root because you only have to set the app to open YT links and it doesn't replace the YT app. Right now I can't use auto app updates because it won't let me pick and choose which to not auto-update and one of the ones I would need to stop from auto updating is the stock YT app.
3. From research online and after asking Google about the variant they sell, you can disable shutter sound in the settings (which is actually better than what the LG V30+ supports.. a huge surprise).
4. Don't think I can use Xposed. There MAY be some bootleg way with partial functionality or something but I don't know for sure.
Can I (without root) remove the stock battery icon and replace it with a circle and percentage? Like this:
I also want to enable the seconds counter and add the date.. I want to do all that stuff, if possible.. that I did there.. including hcanging the size of fonts and capitalization of fonts in the top middle area.
Main thing I want is the seconds counter.
A friend showed me this from his s20:
So that's cool that he can change the icons displayed. I used Gravity Box or Xposed.
Not so much I cant find what I like it's just they don't change system wide like Xiaomi did. So I end up having half custom and half stock and looks crap with all the different colors in the folders. At least Good Lock manages to change them system wide which I don't quite understand why Samsung theme store will change maybe fifty percent. Anyway got it to how I like it.
With Good Lock you can remove status bar icons but no customisation with battery indicators. That pic is a pic of Good Lock the one you posted. I went with the Hong Kong version with Snapdragon which you can unlock bootloader in development options. Don't think you can on US Snapdragon versions. Here in OZ we only had the Exynos. Got the 16/512 Snapdragon for $1550 AUD. Same phone with Exynos just over $2200 here.
AdAway have not really missed it. Had it on my previous phone and maybe I'm not taking any notice of adds and just enjoying the phone. Never use Vanced. Cant see any setting in camera to turn off shutter sound but you can silence it in volume controls. Haven't looked into Xposed yet.
Don't know what model your going to get but there is root and TWRP available for ultra models. But soon as you flash a boot image you will trip Knox and lose some features of Samsung apps. Mainly Samsung pay I believe and warranty if you buy local. Still sussing this out myself. Have a old Tab S that I rooted and my first Android was a Samsung Galaxy Gio (GT-S5660)
Overall extremely happy with this phone.
Hoe this helps Sneak
A stock Note 10+, heavily customized.
Running fast and stable on Pie/OneUI.
sneak said:
I don't want anything from a Chinese company.
I'm not worried about warranties. I don't know if I'd ever need the samsung specific things like Samsung Pay. Not sure what Safe Folder is but I guess it's some kind of encryption based file storing? I generally don't use all these mainstream things people like.
I don't really spend time making Google Pay work because I have no use for it. I'll have an occasional issue with an app refusing to operate because of rooting and Magisk Hide doesn't work, but it isn't a big deal.
I like tweaking things like the battery logo (I like having a circle with percentage number inside and not having the extra/stock battery logo up there at the same time). I like to disable certain system icons from the top bar that aren't necessary to be there and just clog it up. I like adding the "clear all" type buttons in the running apps page. I like customizing the behavior of holding the power button so I can reboot, reboot to recovery, or shut the phone off easily.
For example, on my LG V30+ right now I am running the stock rom but rooted it and did things like I described above. Nothing major and don't need Google Pay. The LG app for air conditioners won't run because of my root. My bank app notifies me of root very occasionally but isn't a big deal. Yeah, I don't think my SafetyNet passes, but I don't care.
I am using Xposed, hostless AdAway, No Shutter Sound, Highway Radar and YouTube Vanced as well.
I tend to go through every single setting in a phone before I even start really dailying it . I don't mind it. I like customization. That's great to hear. I do like unrestricted or not very restricted phones as opposed to iPhone style lockdown stuff, though.
I used to consider the OnePlus phones but lately I have been more insistent on not buying things made in China or from Chinese companies as much as possible... for various reasons.
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So assuming I don't care about things like warranty and Samsung Pay.. what other drawbacks are there? What would stop me from going this route? I intend on picking it up from Google because they have really good deals and I can even make 0% interest payments. I just have to stick with Fi for 3 months, then I can go back to ATT.
Another concern I have is the size of the phone. It makes me lean towards the S21 5G. I just like the Ultra for the other enhancements.
Thanks to all of you as well for the replies.
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In 100% me..
You just write that's way am here on xda,
Am a fan to customise my phone as I want,
And if I pay so much money we should have the right, and possibility to choice and use ..
Sorry for my English.
Well, I bought one from Google. If there are serious issues I don't want to put up with I will return it.
As long as I can disable the stock battery icon I would think I could get an app which has a custom battery icon.
I hope it's possible as well to do vertical listing of apps in app screen instead of having the left/right pages.
sneak said:
Well, I bought one from Google. If there are serious issues I don't want to put up with I will return it.
As long as I can disable the stock battery icon I would think I could get an app which has a custom battery icon.
I hope it's possible as well to do vertical listing of apps in app screen instead of having the left/right pages.
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Congrats
The scrolling from the right was a pain at first. But all good now. Hopefully Good Lock will bring something out in the future and change it.
sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
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yea rooting is possible and safe if right software is used but might affect warranty i guess
If anyone remembers the whole Carrier IQ thing, do you know if there's something like this on the S21 Ultra?
System UI Tuner doesn't seem to work as far as showing seconds in the status bar clock.
I would love to be able to customize the recently used apps section in the apps drawer. Either remove it completely or set static apps or somehow customize a blacklist or whitelist or some other variables to determine what goes there.
When I use jetaudio+ it puts a notification with details in the menu from the top. I can't swipe it away and it stays there even after I close the app and remove it from app list. I found out I have to drag down on it to expand it to be slightly larger and then an "x" appears. These "x" buttons would appear by default on apps like this on my old phone and they were a little larger relative to the rest of the UI as well. Would love to be able to tweak this functionality.
I want a feature I had on my LG V30+ where based on my GPS location I can enable or disable WiFi. Meaning, the same as hitting the wifi icon in the quick toggles based on entering a certain location or leaving that location. That way when I get home my phone will automatically globally turn on wifi and when I leave it twill automatically turn it off so it isn't hunting for networks.
Another feature in the same section was something which allowed me to have the phone remain unlocked when paired with a specific device. I want the phone to stay unlocked when paired with my car instead of having to unlock it all the time with fingerprint.
I would like to be able to scroll the apps list vertically, like normal.. instead of this left and right pages stuff.
I want a battery indicator setup where there is a percentage inside of a circle and the circle is representative of the percentage. Not finding an app option that has what I want. Does anyone know of a way to do this or an app?
I also want to make pressing the home button in the bottom center of the screen do a full open of the bar from the top.
On my current phone I've also found some way to keep the alarm clock icon from Alarm Clock Xtreme without having a persistent notification of the next alarm. Not sure how on this.
MacroDroid!
the answer to toggles based on location. A lot of features there to look into. Very nice.
MacroDroid seems fine for the WiFi toggle but it doesn't keep the phone from locking. At first it was keeping the screen on but then it just did nothing. I want the screen to still shut off if necessary but not require thumbprint or code or anything to unlock, while paired with phone.
sneak said:
MacroDroid seems fine for the WiFi toggle but it doesn't keep the phone from locking. At first it was keeping the screen on but then it just did nothing. I want the screen to still shut off if necessary but not require thumbprint or code or anything to unlock, while paired with phone.
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I don't advise using it but stupid Bixby probably can ie Bixby Routines.
blackhawk said:
I don't advise using it but stupid Bixby probably can ie Bixby Routines.
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That's the first thing I checked but I couldn't figure out how to do it. It's not very intuitive....
Has someone an idea why there is no sign of a custom ROM? I mean the phone is for a longer time on the market, we have a working TWRP and its the top of MI 11 lineup...
I would like too see custom ROMs because the original is full of annoying bugs.
Good question... there have been several threads now with a similar topic, none of them are being discussed thorougly. Try this one...
Lineage OS
Just a question for the future. Are there custom roms like Lineage OS coming for Mi 11 Ultra?
forum.xda-developers.com
I don't think custom roms will be easily doable on this device, especially the rear screen driver will be a pain in the ass
The rear display is almost useless. So i dont care about it. I mean, the display is from the watch but it can NOTHING. A whatsapp message will be showed for a few seconds, but i cant read it again. I cant check who called me (missed call), it doesnt work wit other messengers and so on.
RheinPirat said:
The rear display is almost useless. So i dont care about it. I mean, the display is from the watch but it can NOTHING. A whatsapp message will be showed for a few seconds, but i cant read it again. I cant check who called me (missed call), it doesnt work wit other messengers and so on.
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The rear screen functionality or lack thereof is nearly the worst thing about the phone
The only time I notice it's there is when it makes my Spotify songs skip by accident...
RheinPirat said:
The rear display is almost useless. So i dont care about it. I mean, the display is from the watch but it can NOTHING. A whatsapp message will be showed for a few seconds, but i cant read it again. I cant check who called me (missed call), it doesnt work wit other messengers and so on.
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Same here... I was reminded that the rear screen existed by accident. In addidtion to being utterly useless.
@xNAPx I'm not exactly sure about that statement. First off, there are devices that have an A/B-Partition-configuration and are running Lineageos and TWRP. Second, the Kernel and Vendor are available. Only extracting proprierity blobs might be an issue, meaning i might be unable to do it, but someone with more experience might be lucky. All in all, i don't see the problem with it.
Maybe it would be wise to think outside the box and try different solutions to get custom roms after all... maybe open up a donation pool for someone to look into it.
I don't have a mi 11 ultra but I find myself having kinda the same problem I have a note 20 ultra 5g we have twrp available but if you look at the development thread you won't find any custom roms. I honestly fear the custom rom community is dying out which is a shame as I think it's the best part of android..
Funny thing is,i f I go into the one plus 3/3t (THREE) thread, you still find updates for custom roms lol. A 5yo device.... (My previous phone before moving to Mi 11 Ultra)
xNAPx said:
Funny thing is,i f I go into the one plus 3/3t (THREE) thread, you still find updates for custom roms lol. A 5yo device.... (My previous phone before moving to Mi 11 Ultra)
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Over the years it has become more troublesome to unlock bootloaders etc and install custom ROMs and root modifications and in the old days the apps weren't smart enough to know if your phone was rooted but now many of them can detect a rooted phone and won't work (especially finance apps)
There are ways around the problem but most people don't have the time because they just want a phone that works (and don't have time to data wipe and reinstall everything over and over)
I expect this to get worse as Google is going to prevent side loading apps from alternative sources with a new app signature policy I was reading about
Samsung have improved the android experience a lot, following companies like OnePlus w cleaner interface and more features work out of the box that used to need a custom ROM to enable
speedtripler said:
Over the years it has become more troublesome to unlock bootloaders etc and install custom ROMs and root modifications and in the old days the apps weren't smart enough to know if your phone was rooted but now many of them can detect a rooted phone and won't work (especially finance apps)
There are ways around the problem but most people don't have the time because they just want a phone that works (and don't have time to data wipe and reinstall everything over and over)
I expect this to get worse as Google is going to prevent side loading apps from alternative sources with a new app signature policy I was reading about
Samsung have improved the android experience a lot, following companies like OnePlus w cleaner interface and more features work out of the box that used to need a custom ROM to enable
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You're absolutely right.. It's a shame but it's going that way to be honest with my note 20 between hex theme engine and the goodlock app thingy from Samsung this is the first phone i've had in 10 years I didn't find a need to root (yet) so I guess we have that things working better out of the box
Well whatever they do, these companies always give phone full of bloated **** and ads. Even with root getting rid of some apps gives you bootloops. A custom ROM will always be clean and minimal. My latest AOSP ROM on One plus 3 was having only 170 apps and services in total, my Mi 11 Ultra over 300. I don't know why people use financial apps while you can do everything with your browser. But it is not this the point.At least someone with knowledge and experience could at least find ways to clean a stock ROM to AOSP or giving custom versions. I know there is Xiaomi.EU but it is based exclusively on China Version and also is plenty of stock services.
mi 10 ultra took awhile to get the first custom roms
RheinPirat said:
Has someone an idea why there is no sign of a custom ROM? I mean the phone is for a longer time on the market, we have a working TWRP and its the top of MI 11 lineup...
I would like too see custom ROMs because the original is full of annoying bugs.
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I have been a member of this website for several years, back then there was a fibrant community of phone enthusiats and developers here. That doesn't appear to be the case any longer. Most stock roms today have many of the features that people used third party, custom roms for and fewer manufacturers today allow the bootloader to be unlocked. So with less demand, there are fewer devs.
xNAPx said:
Well whatever they do, these companies always give phone full of bloated **** and ads. Even with root getting rid of some apps gives you bootloops. A custom ROM will always be clean and minimal. My latest AOSP ROM on One plus 3 was having only 170 apps and services in total, my Mi 11 Ultra over 300. I don't know why people use financial apps while you can do everything with your browser. But it is not this the point.At least someone with knowledge and experience could at least find ways to clean a stock ROM to AOSP or giving custom versions. I know there is Xiaomi.EU but it is based exclusively on China Version and also is plenty of stock services.
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Ads?
I haven't seen an ad yet...
You must be doing something drastically wrong
Any miui apps that eu ROM devs leave in could be removed and replaced with similar ones from the playstore, like calculator, calendar, dialer, sms messages, contacts, file explorer, gallery etc
These are all critical for a fully functional device but if you don't like them you can remove them via adb and add some that you prefer from the playstore
AFAIK, the kernel source code is indeed out so we're really just missing developers that own this phone. Unfortunately, I'm learning python and not android related coding so as much as I want to start to make a custom rom, I wouldn't be able to do so till I finished learning python.
This link seems to be a good start
EDIT: Crap. You're going to have to do this as well to create the device tree for lineage os
speedtripler said:
Ads?
I haven't seen an ad yet...
You must be doing something drastically wrong
Any miui apps that eu ROM devs leave in could be removed and replaced with similar ones from the playstore, like calculator, calendar, dialer, sms messages, contacts, file explorer, gallery etc
These are all critical for a fully functional device but if you don't like them you can remove them via adb and add some that you prefer from the playstore
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The Xiaomi, EU rom has all ads removed plus a majority can be disabled and if you root the phone, all can be disabled/removed. The stock EEA and Global roms have ads, but during the setup process, you can opt-out of getting them. All apps can either be removed or disabled using ADB command's. Also comparing the overall size of a rom from a old OnePlus 3 to a rom from the Mi 11 Ultra is totally unfair, as well as, unrealistic, as total size of a rom has nothing to do with the amount of bloat it may contain. Those extra files are because of the extra features in today's roms. They could be optimization/ram management files or dark mode/customization files or files related to the screen refresh rate, AOD, etc... All features that were unavailable in a OnePlus 3 era rom.
I would also like to point out that in order to do a well done custom/lineage rom, that person needs to have/buy the device or be donate to them and were talking about a expensive phone.
As a owner, I would be biases if i say i would be interested in this having custom roms, on the other hand its a phone that has a lot of potential and a lot of road for bug fixing stuff.
Luckily the same rom can be use for either Mi 11 Pro or Mi 11 Ultra since they share similarities and some model device name, and someone with the expertise goes for it.
i'm also sad there is no custom rom, just bought mi 11 ultra 3 days ago, and in process of unlocking it {china rom} with lots of crazy chinese lines that i didn't understand, if only china rom would automatically translate everything when i switched the language to english, i would prefer china rom because of the battery endurance it gives me. but chinese apps/bugs etc. is troublesome so im waiting 1 week to unlocked it and opt for global or eu rom instead.
Hope a clean rom like Elite rom with my poco x3 pro will also be available to mi 11 ultra.
I'm hoping for a pure Android ROM at some point. MIUI is not the worst and it actually has some nice features but it's too fancy. Just plain old Android like the Android One phones would be a nice choice to have.
Are you saying One UI is plain? It's a very good skin, but plain it's not.