[Q] G3, S5 or something else? - G3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

[I've posted this question elsewhere, but as it's relevant to both the G3, S5 and general android forums I thought I'd crosspost. Please tell me if this is unacceptable and I'll remove it]
I'm finally moving on from my original Samsung Galaxy Note, and I'm debating what device to move to. This will be my one and only phone, so I'm looking for something well rounded.
After reading reviews of a lot of the best phones on the market, I'm leaning towards a LG G3. It looks and feels fantastic, has a really good camera in both day & night conditions, the screen is awesome, it *seems* to hold up underwater (in spite of no official IP rating), the battery life seems pretty good, etc.
That said, some of the overheating issues I've read about are worrisome - as well as a few other stability issues... I'm not sure how much stock to put in that.
So I'm also considering the Samsung Galaxy S5. It doesn't feel as great, the screen isn't as mindblowing - although it is more vibrant, the camera doesn't do as well in the dark, it seems like one of the most durable phones out there, etc.
Is the S5 significantly more stable than the G3? How do the development communities compare - are they on par in that regard? Can the stability / overheating issues of the G3 be successfully mitigated with tweaks? Is it going to be a nightmare to wrangle into shape?
Or is there another AT&T phone that you'd recommend? Other phones on my radar include the Flex, Note 4, M8 and OnePlus One...
I guess I'm looking for something that's going to hold up as a primary phone for a long time, both in terms of durability and specs, without becoming a nightmare to manage as my Galaxy Note has... and aside from that, my priorities include battery life, stability, video recording (especially in dark conditions), processing power, screen, look / feel, etc. in roughly that order.

The G3 is, in my book, definitely the most charismatic phone this year. Great camera, okay screen, great handling, even with one hand. The battery life could be better, but then again, I use it heavily, so it's to be expected...
It gets warm on occasion, rarely now since its been upgraded to the 10H version tho, I don't mind it, every phone will get hot while performing dual window Chrome/Whatsapp while multitasking between a few other apps in one of the windows and playing music in the background.
I was waiting for the Moto X to take his spot in the charisma department but that didn't happen..
HTC M8 is the smoothest, has the best build and sound but lacks in the cam department, which is a no go for me.
The S5 is the best all rounder, but has nothing special about it, and I do mean nothing. Sure, you get the fingerprint and heart rate thingy, but, as with all those Samsung features , who really uses them effectively from day to day life. And the touchwizz... Every Samsung phone looks and feels the same lately(phonebook delay).
That said go with the Z3.
It's cool, it has a good camera, feels and looks premium(even tho I don't care about trivial stuff like that), can go underwater, has 3gigs of ram, a nice processor, good screen, good speakers, and a UI that works just fine(I hate the Sony "windowed cheap UI" xD)
Oh, and to top it all, best battery life there is..
And if you got tired of a big screen with the Note, like my brother did, you can always go with the Z3 compact, even better battery life and all the same stuff inside.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

MarimoMusicHead said:
That said go with the Z3.
It's cool, it has a good camera, feels and looks premium(even tho I don't care about trivial stuff like that), can go underwater, has 3gigs of ram, a nice processor, good screen, good speakers, and a UI that works just fine(I hate the Sony "windowed cheap UI" xD)
Oh, and to top it all, best battery life there is..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... I wasn't really putting much consideration into the Z3, as it's not offered by AT&T and I'm eligible for an upgrade from them, meaning the G3 is only $199.99.
Can you think of any way to get a Z3 that would be operational on AT&T for a similar price? I don't want to switch carriers, as AT&T has the best reception in the areas I live / visit and I'm still grandfathered into their unlimited data plan.
MarimoMusicHead said:
The G3 is, in my book, definitely the most charismatic phone this year. Great camera, okay screen, great handling, even with one hand. The battery life could be better, but then again, I use it heavily, so it's to be expected...
It gets warm on occasion, rarely now since its been upgraded to the 10H version tho, I don't mind it, every phone will get hot while performing dual window Chrome/Whatsapp while multitasking between a few other apps in one of the windows and playing music in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My biggest concern with the G3 overheating would be the possibility of setting up my phone to take a video of a concert I'm performing in, and returning to find it had overheated, shutdown and I had lost the footage. I heard of that happening to a lot of people at the beginning; has the 10H version taken care of that??
MarimoMusicHead said:
And if you got tired of a big screen with the Note, like my brother did, you can always go with the Z3 compact, even better battery life and all the same stuff inside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I like big screens
I will say that the G3's screen seems much more handleable in the palm of my hand than the Note, but anything up-to-and-including the size of my Galaxy Note is more than fine with me, and I'd *possibly* be fine with going a bit bigger.
MarimoMusicHead said:
The S5 is the best all rounder, but has nothing special about it, and I do mean nothing. Sure, you get the fingerprint and heart rate thingy, but, as with all those Samsung features , who really uses them effectively from day to day life. And the touchwizz... Every Samsung phone looks and feels the same lately(phonebook delay).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really interested in the fingerprint sensor or heart rate monitor -- they feel like gimmicks to me. The leading features for the S5 in my book, over the G3, are the durability (waterproof; SUV-crush-proof; etc.), screen brightness / color, and the fact that it doesn't seem to overheat... at least not as badly?
I may be wrong on that last point, but it *seems* like a more reliable phone as such. Am I right in that assumption?
MarimoMusicHead said:
HTC M8 is the smoothest, has the best build and sound but lacks in the cam department, which is a no go for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah; the camera, screen, and general low-end specs in comparison to the S5 and G3 have kept me away from the M8
I'm still feeling like I'm leaning towards the G3 at this point... but info on the above questions and more opinions would be helpful

phnord said:
Hmmm... I wasn't really putting much consideration into the Z3, as it's not offered by AT&T and I'm eligible for an upgrade from them...
Can you think of any way to get a Z3 that would be operational on AT&T for a similar price? I don't want to switch carriers, as AT&T has the best reception in the areas I live / visit and I'm still grandfathered into their unlimited data plan.
Okay, can't help you with this one since I live in Croatia. But I suppose $200 is a bargain on the G3
My biggest concern with the G3 overheating would be the possibility of setting up my phone to take a video of a concert I'm performing in, and returning to find it had overheated, shutdown and I had lost the footage. I heard of that happening to a lot of people at the beginning; has the 10H version taken care of that??
On this part, I decided to do a little test.
I went and shot 3 uHD(4k) videos one after another. (Three 5 minute videos, since the shooting limited by the software to prevent overheating) The temperature outside was 20-ish°C(68°Fahrenheit), and while the phone did get quite warm, it did not shut down.
And on that matter, I never encountered a shut down due to the temperature or any other unknown reason.
Why did I mention the temperature?
Well you see, I bought it 2 months ago, and when I got it, it had 10B version on, and the temperatures outside were hellish... 35°C (95F) or more... That didn't help cooling it off if it ever got hot.
Nah, I like big screens
I will say that the G3's screen seems much more handleable in the palm of my hand than the Note, but anything up-to-and-including the size of my Galaxy Note is more than fine with me, and I'd *possibly* be fine with going a bit bigger.
Yeah, I'd say it's a lot more handleable than the Note, since the Note has a wicked screen ratio, it's quite wide...
I'm not really interested in the fingerprint sensor or heart rate monitor -- they feel like gimmicks to me. The leading features for the S5 in my book, over the G3, are the durability (waterproof; SUV-crush-proof; etc.), screen brightness / color, and the fact that it doesn't seem to overheat... at least not as badly?
I may be wrong on that last point, but it *seems* like a more reliable phone as such. Am I right in that assumption?
Well, I really can't say much on the reliability part.
But in my opinion, waterproofness and dustproofness are good, really good, but not a must, since my phone has no time to get dusty(Bahah), and I'm not one to shoot underwater videos... When on the beach, swim, dive, jump off of cliffs, enjoy it.. The phone can take a day off, even though not everyone agrees.
I'd say the S5's got a better screen, but it comes down to amoled/ips preference... It most certainly is brighter, has a better contrast and colors. The only thing in that department the g3 has got going is the 2k mega giga user high pixel density beast(nahh) of a screen...
And i love it. It's got this mild tone to it, might sound crazy, butI feel like I'm looking at a painting from time to time.
Yeah; the camera, screen, and general low-end specs in comparison to the S5 and G3 have kept me away from the M8
Ohh the M8's a beast, don't be fooled
I'm still feeling like I'm leaning towards the G3 at this point... but info on the above questions and more opinions would be helpful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit: Silly xda kept telling me that the message is too short, that I need to lengthen it by 2 characters so I copy-pasted it in, sorry for the inconvenience!
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Here are a couple of screenshots from those videos I took earlier.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

MarimoMusicHead said:
(Three 5 minute videos, since the shooting limited by the software to prevent overheating)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the video recording time is limited to only 5 minutes per shot? That's... pretty unideal. I would like a phone that I could setup before an hour or two long set, and leave there recording to capture a concert I play. I've done this with my Note before in the days before it deteriorated (with the charger plugged in and on airplane mode), and it usually did fine...
Are there work arounds for that 5 minute recording limit - ideally ones that won't make the phone overheat? Are there similar limits on the recording capabilities of other phones out there these days?
MarimoMusicHead said:
I'd say the S5's got a better screen, but it comes down to amoled/ips preference... It most certainly is brighter, has a better contrast and colors. The only thing in that department the g3 has got going is the 2k mega giga user high pixel density beast(nahh) of a screen...
And i love it. It's got this mild tone to it, might sound crazy, butI feel like I'm looking at a painting from time to time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did some research and learned that the S5, while prettier at first, is actually creating inaccurately eye-popping colors - so I'm less interested in it now. On top of that, I hear that the quality of AMOLEDs degrade over time?
The G3 - is it bright enough to be pretty effective outdoors in daytime? I'm hearing mixed things about that...

G3 also has lags and screen brightness goes down automatically when overheated just a little bit.
It's annoying.
Also the halo effect issue and oversharpening, less screen brightness, less battery, less performance, etc.
SGS5 is better, although G3 has better design.

phnord said:
So the video recording time is limited to only 5 minutes per shot? That's... pretty unideal. I would like a phone that I could setup before an hour or two long set, and leave there recording to capture a concert I play. I've done this with my Note before in the days before it deteriorated (with the charger plugged in and on airplane mode), and it usually did fine...
Are there work arounds for that 5 minute recording limit - ideally ones that won't make the phone overheat? Are there similar limits on the recording capabilities of other phones out there these days?
I believe that the time limit is only set to uHD videos, you can still shoot HD or FHD(30 and 60fps via some modifications) for as long as you've got space on your storage.
I'm not sure about other phones but ultra HD takes 1 gigabyte of space for 5 minutes of video, so time limit aside, that's a but much as it is..
I just did some research and learned that the S5, while prettier at first, is actually creating inaccurately eye-popping colors - so I'm less interested in it now. On top of that, I hear that the quality of AMOLEDs degrade over time?
The G3 - is it bright enough to be pretty effective outdoors in daytime? I'm hearing mixed things about that...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, they say that ips lcd screens mature over time, meaning that the colors settle, and they get better, be it in colors or brightness, I'm not sure.
The S5, as every Amoled screen does create oversaturated colors, they do degrade as time passes and there is also the burn in issue along with that.
But! You can set it to, I don't know what's it called, ?natural? mode, that displays the colors accurately, and quite precisely at that.
And let's be honest here, no one buys an Amoled phone screen only to put it to natural, they like their colors to POP...
Yep, the G3 is bright enough for outdoor use, as I've put mine in direct sunlight and browsed the Web "easily", no real issues there, I'd say like most phones.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

I upgraded to a G3 a month ago. My previous phone was a Galaxy Note 2. One of the main reasons why I didn't chose for a Samsung phone is the heavy usage of touch wizz on the system. The G3 is a great phone. Fast, good camera and great design. I recommend the G3.

Just a random dude passing by
Here's my opinion on this topic. I've been using my note 2 for about year and a half now. The phone is great and just keeps getting better, but I've decided that my next phone won't be this big. It's not bugging me that much but when I try to browse or do simple stuff with one hand I constantly have to "adjust" the phone. That being said I agree with marimo there that G3 is the most charismatic phone this year, but I'd definitely go with the m8 because it's just a brilliant phone in every possible way~ (with an OK camera). I would recommend you Note4 because it will probably be the phone of the year, but I like changes and I wouldn't buy another touchwizz phone at this point.
I hope that I managed to mess up your decision even more because that's just fun
"The music is different here."

I've owned galaxy s3 and s4. I moved on from the s4 to the G2 and never looked back. I got the G3 when it was released and can honestly say it's the best phone I've ever owned. LG knows what they're doing and you can tell they really listened to their customers and reviews with the software overhaul. The downside to the G3 atm is (unless you have T-Mobile or international) all we have is root. Now, let me say that even with only have root and xposed this device is insane. Once you greenify and Titanium freeze bloat the battery lasts a long time. I'm a heavy user throughout my day with downloading movies, internet, watching YouTube and sports highlights and have my screen at 55% with autobrightness active. I get an average of 5 and 1/2 sot and usually still have 40-50% battery left after I work 8 hours. I highly recommend this device. The screen is gorgeous. Its a very responsive device.
There are a few bugs that need a software update fix (aux/headphone system confusion - the device sometimes has issue deciding if the device is an aux cable or headphones. Sometimes it will connect and disconnect. Annoying.). There are some chrome issues as well but those seem to be chrome bugs and not G3 bugs.
I can't recommend this device enough. If you want to read something funny check out MacWorld's G3 v iPhone 6 comparison article. They admit the G3 is head and shoulders better and actually end the article with "which doesn't matter bc you're all buying iPhone 6 no matter what we say." made me laugh.

Yeah, I agree with Breaking, G3 is a great phone and after rooting, debloating, and tweaking, it's even better! My battery has settled and improved and the camera is insanely good. It heats up a little at times but clear recents and give it a quick rest is what I usually do, and never over 110f so not that hot.
I came from G2, Moto X, S4, Note 3 and Lumia windows phones before that and the G2 and G3 are my overall favs!
Sent from my LG-D850

I'm sitting here with my old ass s4 which has a busted front glass piece but I did surgury on it and placed some tempered glass for a gangster (i've seen some harsh times) look.
In all seriousness I'm not liking my g3. I went from s3 --> s4 ---> g3
Phone is; fast, nice screen (although I prefer the color of an amolded OVER this QHD stuff. And for some reason my viper audio sounds wayyy better on my s4 mdk with hyperdrive running.
1. I prefer the smaller s4 size with better color OVER the big g3 high res screen
2. Sound mods sound better on my s4 and I'm big into music
3. MDK bootloader means I could flash flash away. This g3 is so locked down its not even funny
4. I honestly miss the TW interface and how well samsung has integrated their software with the Android OS. It just seems to flow better in terms of galary sync, contact sync, (g3 contact sync screwed up my contact list somehow)
I find too often I am on the verge of dropping this phone as I reach across to hit buttons on the far side of the screen. Call me lazy but I could simply navigate and swype type faster on my s4 due to the smaller screen. was nice
If you dig movies and reading, g3 is nice, but colors are bland and poop. yes. poop. amen. goodnight

u4icpain said:
If you dig movies and reading, g3 is nice, but colors are bland and poop. yes. poop. amen. goodnight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that is what anyone coming from an Amoled would say. Aaand should not be accounted for!
My brother also prefers Amoled ones, while I prefer Ips panels.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

MarimoMusicHead said:
Well that is what anyone coming from an Amoled would say. Aaand should not be accounted for!
My brother also prefers Amoled ones, while I prefer Ips panels.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed I prefer Amoled panels, but HTC One, Z3 and even LG G2 have better panels than the g3. This is a fact. I'm not saying that G3 's panel is bad, but it just lacks compared to other flagships. It's just like iPhone 5 camera is weaker compared to most android flagships but it's still a very good one.
The bottom line is, G3 's screen is good but not among the best.
"The music is different here."

If you like the heartbeat sensor and the fact that s5 is unbreakable go for the s5 (take a look here at 05:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKkJdstQKsM compared to a g3 drop test 01:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1kVNo6ars8)
If you want a fast phone and the best camera ever created for a smartphone go for the Z2.
G3 might has the best screen. 1440p is quite impressive as a feature but take in mind that if you put a g3 with a 1080 smartphone side by side and you play the same video ( a 4k at 60fps) the difference isnt so noticeable, the video looks the same at both smartphones. Also i dont know your opinion about flashing custom roms etc but take in mind that the G3 is heavy loaded with useless bloatware (compared to a Z2 which comes almost clean) plus LG keeps its bootloader locked. So until a way is found to unlock or bypass the bootloader (if they ever find one) you either have to manually debloat (which may affect the stock rom's stability) or you have to get used to a heavy loaded phone which is hiding its true potentials.
Finally every smartphone gets hot at some point . I dont have particular problems with my G3 but i remember my tablet was feeling like it was going to catch fire when i was playing plants vs zombies 2.

katsika said:
If you like the heartbeat sensor and the fact that s5 is unbreakable go for the s5 (take a look here at 05:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKkJdstQKsM compared to a g3 drop test 01:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1kVNo6ars8)
If you want a fast phone and the best camera ever created for a smartphone go for the Z2.
G3 might has the best screen. 1440p is quite impressive as a feature but take in mind that if you put a g3 with a 1080 smartphone side by side and you play the same video ( a 4k at 60fps) the difference isnt so noticeable, the video looks the same at both smartphones. Also i dont know your opinion about flashing custom roms etc but take in mind that the G3 is heavy loaded with useless bloatware (compared to a Z2 which comes almost clean) plus LG keeps its bootloader locked. So until a way is found to unlock or bypass the bootloader (if they ever find one) you either have to manually debloat (which may affect the stock rom's stability) or you have to get used to a heavy loaded phone which is hiding its true potentials.
Finally every smartphone gets hot at some point . I dont have particular problems with my G3 but i remember my tablet was feeling like it was going to catch fire when i was playing plants vs zombies 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is wrong on so many levels(points), I can't even find a thing to start correcting you on...
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

MarimoMusicHead said:
This is wrong on so many levels(points), I can't even find a thing to start correcting you on...
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thats my humble opinion.

katsika said:
Well thats my humble opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I respect it.
May have come on a bit harsh though, apologies.
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

Lord2802 said:
Indeed I prefer Amoled panels, but HTC One, Z3 and even LG G2 have better panels than the g3. This is a fact. I'm not saying that G3 's panel is bad, but it just lacks compared to other flagships. It's just like iPhone 5 camera is weaker compared to most android flagships but it's still a very good one.
The bottom line is, G3 's screen is good but not among the best.
"The music is different here."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. The G3 display is the worst regarding colors. So weak and bland.

Related

First Impressions.

Surprise no one did a first impressions thread yet lol.
In here we give our first impressions of the phone so far like your opinion on the performance, screen, sound, camera, build quality, battery life etc.
First I'll like to say that the build quality is amazing. Coming from an epic 4G, I am not sure if my words have any strength but it just feels so nice. It looks very sexy as well. I can't stop staring at it lol.
This is the best screen I have ever seen. It is so sharp and detail in a way I would have never expected. I personally liked the over saturated colors on Samsung's amoled screens but this screen made me feel as if it was too cartoony looking now.
As for performance, I feel like reviewers gave me false expectations. Don't get me wrong, this is a super fast phone but people made it seemed like there would be no lag at all but I notice occasionally hiccups. Note that this is a minor complaint because for most of the time, this is a very smooth experience. The quadcore processor makes this phone a beast!
Battery life has surpassed my expectations. The standby time is great for me. I can use this phone heavily, stop using it and barely experience a drain. Eco mode helps and it charges fast as well.
I came from an Epic 4G so even the cons of the phone is a pro for me since everything is an upgrade. I have nothing but praise for this phone.
latindor17 said:
Surprise no one did a first impressions thread yet lol.
In here we give our first impressions of the phone so far like your opinion on the performance, screen, sound, camera, build quality, battery life etc.
First I'll like to say that the build quality is amazing. Coming from an epic 4G, I am not sure if my words have any strength but it just feels so nice. It looks very sexy as well. I can't stop staring at it lol.
This is the best screen I have ever seen. It is so sharp and detail in a way I would have never expected. I personally liked the over saturated colors on Samsung's amoled screens but this screen made me feel as if it was too cartoony looking now.
As for performance, I feel like reviewers gave me false expectations. Don't get me wrong, this is a super fast phone but people made it seemed like there would be no lag at all but I notice occasionally hiccups. Note that this is a minor complaint because for most of the time, this is a very smooth experience. The quadcore processor makes this phone a beast!
Battery life has surpassed my expectations. The standby time is great for me. I can use this phone heavily, stop using it and barely experience a drain. Eco mode helps and it charges fast as well.
I came from an Epic 4G so even the cons of the phone is a pro for me since everything is an upgrade. I have nothing but praise for this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with your statements. I also do notice small occasional hiccups which are most likely software related. Hopefully LG will address this in a future update or Jelly Bean release.
Camera is pretty much the only complaint I have about the phone. It's really disappointing. Another software issue that I hope LG will fix in the future.
I just played with one 10 minutes ago at the Sprint store and walked away thoroughly impressed. Loved the sleekness and the feel of the phone. Screen was amazing and the camera was awesome. The speed of the phone was blazing fast. Loved the phone. Looking forward to possibly owning one in the near future.
Beamed From My CM10 GS3
This is definitely one of the best phones available I love everything only things that could be better would be jb, aokp or cm10
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
I see little bugs in lgs software sometimes but overall not issues whatsoever. My experience has been in line with everyone else as far as battery it just overheats too much. Im cool with keeping brightness at 31 but i shouldn't have to. I'm sure its the beasty processor i live with it but im hoping for an amazing jellybean ota update. Fingers crossed. .....
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
genaro12543 said:
I see little bugs in lgs software sometimes but overall not issues whatsoever. My experience has been in line with everyone else as far as battery it just overheats too much. Im cool with keeping brightness at 31 but i shouldn't have to. I'm sure its the beasty processor i live with it but im hoping for an amazing jellybean ota update. Fingers crossed. .....
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am seeing small bugs here and there as well. Like the home screen animations "skips" sometimes when swiping through the screens.
Or the Music player list scrolling is pretty smooth and as soon as you play a song, it becomes choppy. What's up LG? A quad-core CPU can't handle playing music and scrolling through a list?
The Korean version is expected to get Jelly Bean next month so hopefully LG and Sprint and get their stuff together and give us the update quick.
I'm coming from the SGSII (ET4G). Off the back, the build quality of this phone is amazing. The phone is beautiful and it feels great in hands. Not that I ever really had any complaints about samsung but wow, now i REALLY feel the difference. Because of sleekness though I am alot more paranoid about dropping this phone. Going to order a case today for it. The display is also great. Although its taking some time to get used to (as far as colors). Performance wise, the phone is much faster than my rooted sgs2. I have noticed a hiccup here and there but its not enough to complain about. After getting official ICS on the SGS2, there were days I just wanted to throw that phone because all the ICS builds were so buggy and battery life was horrendous. So comparing to that, ICS on the LG is great and battery is far better than what I had so it's good for me. Camera wise, I am still playing with it. The photos are okay but not great. Although, has anyone tried the video camera? As far as video is concerned I am very pleased with what I am seeing. All this phone needs is some Jelly.
I'm getting a terrible batter life on mine...down to about 5% by the end of the day. I looked in the battery info and it says Android OS is at 66% for battery use. Anyone have any idea why?
sarspants said:
I'm getting a terrible batter life on mine...down to about 5% by the end of the day. I looked in the battery info and it says Android OS is at 66% for battery use. Anyone have any idea why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get high android os usage also... averaging 8 ish hours
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
Android usage is also top battery drainer for me but supposedly this display is supposed to be pretty low power? The display on my 3D absolutely destroyed battery but I'm getting a lot longer out of this phone.
My opinions pretty much reflect everyone else's. This phone is simply amazing in every way. Huge props to LG on this thing. Sleek and professional design with superb build quality, matched with a high quality screen and a fairly loud speaker. Performance is always snappy, there are very minor stutters every once in a while but such is android. 95 percent of the time it is extremely fluid though. And I actually like LG's UI and the ease of quick memo, much better than Sense.
One thing I'd like to add that I don't think I've heard anyone say yet is that the audio quality is simply amazing. Sounds SO much clearer and natural compared to my Evo (using headphones obviously).
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
I got mine Thursday on my lunch break. That particular one had a problem where I could hear myself in the phone. Not an echo like you get from time to time, but almost like it was going physically through the case of the phone. 24 hours later took it back and exchanged it. The one in the store DID NOT do this and neither does the exchanged one.
Coming from a S2 Epic 4g Touch, which feel off my kitchen table and busted the screen and having to go back to my Evo, this thing flies. I absolutly love the speed. I have not fully tested out what I need it to do, but so far, I have no complaints on the performance.
The things I do dislike. No swappable battery, but this seems to be going the way of the dodo bird anyway. Hopefully the battery consumption is, as great, as they say it is. I was also dissapointed in no SD card and the ringer is crazy quiet, especially when you lay it down with the speaker down. I have never had a phone be this quiet before and the speaker was on the back as well.
Great upgrade but...
I had the HTC EVO 3D last which eventually died on me. Two strips on the phone became unresponsive (had to use predictive texting all the time m ><) and the back camera failed so every time I switched the camera it would just flip the image.
LG Optimus G
PROS
Gorgeous screen
Incredibly fast
Lots of memory space
Light weight
Thin
Beautiful construction
High res camera
Nice software usability
Amazing contact profiles
Great social integration
CONS
Searching contacts takes a long time (it searches every field)
Large white space at the keypad which SHOULD contain most recent contacts
Most recent contacts is in the history tab, a second action to dial
Clicking a user after searching their name in the keypad pastes their phone number instead of auto dials
The home widget screens sometimes lag horribly and visibly refreshes each icon
Camera has a yellow tint
Camera has a blue tint with flash
Poor reception in Atlanta?
Folders can only contain so many icons
Cannot choose picture associated with user
im10er said:
[*]Poor reception in Atlanta?
[/LIST]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're in Atlanta, too? I've noticed, at least in my area, the only places I get 4G is when I'm in my car, on the road. Have only had the phone for a week, though, with not much traveling (just to and from work, and some shops in Edgewood and Ponce area).
My overall impression with this phone, coming from an EVO 4G, is that this thing is simply beautiful. The phone I originally purchased had color-banding issues as well as a slight backlight bleed on the top of the display (viewing a photo in fullscreen from the gallery app, without zooming, shows this bleed, I've noticed), so I took it back for a replacement. The replacement had an even worse backlight bleed in the same place. With some complaining and nagging at the store, I managed to get a second replacement which still has the backlight bleed and color-banding issue. I have since discovered that this is a manufacturing defect that exists on all Optimus G's, which is unfortunate, but I'm learning to live with it. The backlight bleed is easy to ignore, but the color-banding is very noticeable. A simple swipe down of the notifications panel will show the quick settings bar, which has a striped/banned effect on the gradient. Comparing this device's screen to others (SGSIII and iPhone 5) shows that this display is unique in this regard. Such a shame, considering all the great things about this phone.
Also, while the camera isn't flawless, it certainly isn't always trounced by Camera Zoom FX - For example, the other day I was in the coffee shop and took some sample shots with the stock camera that were too dark. Switching to Camera Zoom FX produced an over-exposed picture that wouldn't change exposure, despite metering in different areas of the viewfinder. This left me very confused. Hopefully the stock camera will be fixed (more or less) in the Jellybean Update due this December. I won't root until I get it. Haha
This phone is sex. The camera, although not always top notch, turns out good, detailed photos with very natural tones. I adore this display. I like Samsung's super amoled, so I didn't quite know what to expect, yet this display has stunned me with a warm variety of natural colors.
I personally love the stock keyboard. I had bought swiftkey on my Nexus S and assumed I would need it for this phone as well, but I have been impressed with the stock keyboard to a tremendous extent.
Now, a complaint I do have is regarding the temperature of this processing beast. It tends to run hot. Which sometimes prevents me from putting the screen at 100% brightness. I was a bit shocked, but it seems a small price to pay for a quad core processor and a huge screen.
This is a very nice phone. Love it.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
im10er said:
I had the HTC EVO 3D last which eventually died on me. Two strips on the phone became unresponsive (had to use predictive texting all the time m ><) and the back camera failed so every time I switched the camera it would just flip the image.
LG Optimus G
PROS
Gorgeous screen
Incredibly fast
Lots of memory space
Light weight
Thin
Beautiful construction
High res camera
Nice software usability
Amazing contact profiles
Great social integration
CONS
Searching contacts takes a long time (it searches every field)
Large white space at the keypad which SHOULD contain most recent contacts
Most recent contacts is in the history tab, a second action to dial
Clicking a user after searching their name in the keypad pastes their phone number instead of auto dials
The home widget screens sometimes lag horribly and visibly refreshes each icon
Camera has a yellow tint
Camera has a blue tint with flash
Poor reception in Atlanta?
Folders can only contain so many icons
Cannot choose picture associated with user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try contact sync from play store. You can use contacts fb pic as contact pic.. If I'm not mistaken ever since 4.0 Facebook stopped allowing to sync FB contacts to mobile contacts
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
this phone is pretty g
so i have been waiting to get an upgrade since march... i was on a blackberry 8530 and it was falling apart. through the months i managed to bypass the evo lte for the gsIII, then to be later completely let down by that device. i guess it came down to value, i couldnt see myself spending 200 bucks for either of these phones so i continued to wait. come october i hear the specs for the OG and it seemed like it was going to be the phone that the gsIII should have been. quad core, 13 mp shooter, and 2 gb ram... epic. I knew the phone was going to come out for 200, compared to the evo lte for about 100 and the sg3III for about 150 regular price. Expecting for there to be deals on these phones, I was still debating on making the purchase for 200 and not too just wait for a price drop. When I saw the preorder price of 150 I got pretty damn excited. heres a phone that just came out for the same price as the sgIII, with better specs. Well I ended up having to wait a little longer for a discover card that I had just been approved for. Come last week I see the best buy price... $100, no freaking way. I got my card walked in the best buy with confidence at made my purchase, actually got one for my dad too. So yeah anyways after one week I have come to some of the same conclusions as the rest of you guys.
Build quality/screen: The phone looks and feels fantastic. This screen is great, I put a couple hd .mkv's and they run so smooth and look so good. I can even play them as a text!
The OS: ICS seems to run with few hiccups, and LG's skin is pleasing. But yeah everything is so smooth and accessible. Apps load so quick. I dont know how much of this is just because its my first android phone or the phone itself. I notice some of you all noticed the stutter when swiping through the home screen menus. I got this alot, especially when exiting apps or switching to landscape mode. I think I found a semi-solution by switching the scroll effect to carousel. It seems much more smooth to play with. I have also noticed the lag when scrolling through longer menus, like in the music app while scrolling through songs. I have a hard time believing this is not a software issue, the cpu and ram on this phone should run those things like butter. Also i think this is a glitch ive experienced like 3 times. I'll be sending a text, usually a long one, and suddenly the delete key gets stuck or something. I cant do anything except sit there and watch my message get deleted. Its super frustrating. It seems to stick even after, backspacing any new character I type. I think I have to exit out and return to the message for it to actually stop.
The battery: I dont know if I'm satisfied. I haven't tried it standby with music for very long, but it seems to drop pretty quick on with normal use. Ive been playing around with leaving wifi off, or on with the data, and either way it still seems pretty draining. Im not even at full brightness. Im really worried how long this thing will last watching movies or playing games. Android is at 44% right now. Also its a shame it isn't removable.
Temp: The phone can get pretty hot also. There is actually a spot, on or right under the logo on the back that actually can get intolerable at times. Maybe it only happens when using the phone while charging, but it was still surprising. The rest of the phone stays pretty cool
The camera: From what I've taken, I'm pretty happy. I like the "cheese shutter" feature for taking self portraits with the main camera. It is weak in low light, but isnt every phone camers? One issue that exists is the flash and the actual taking of the photo seem out of sync. I can't tell if its just me, but I get fulled when the actual photo is snapped, especially when the screen shows a photo right before the flash. I'm sure this could be solved with future updates.
The RAM: Yeah there are two gigs, but I seem to always have around one being used. Even with all tasks stopped, I can't get it under ~960mb in use. It was actually around 1.07gb until I did a restart. I dont know if this is all being sucked up by ICS, but should I be worried?
Storage: Im really upset over the absence of microsd slot, but I knew about that before I made my purchase. I mean 32gb built in is quite a bit more than what comes standard in other phones. I have no idea how people survive with an 8gb iphone, to me with some high quality music and bigger apps, that memory will vanish. I have noticed, though, on the stock file manager, the main directory is "/mnt/sdcard". This is pretty suspicious. I'm wondering if there actually is a card slot, but we just can't access it? Has anyone opened her up to see?
Overall: I love it, and at $100 I can't complain. I am looking forward to the Jelly Bean update or to possibly rooting the device to run a custom rom. Either way great phone!
PS. This is my first post. I wouldnt have registered if I didnt have so much to say.
Mrichelo said:
I managed to get a second replacement which still has the backlight bleed and color-banding issue. I have since discovered that this is a manufacturing defect that exists on all Optimus G's, which is unfortunate, but I'm learning to live with it. The backlight bleed is easy to ignore, but the color-banding is very noticeable. A simple swipe down of the notifications panel will show the quick settings bar, which has a striped/banned effect on the gradient. Comparing this device's screen to others (SGSIII and iPhone 5) shows that this display is unique in this regard. Such a shame, considering all the great things about this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hate it when people say what I'm about to say, but I'm saying it - I have none of these problems. There is no gradient on my quick settings bar. It's solid gray with no banding anywhere. With photos, I've got several with totally black or dark edges around the entire frame and I see no light bleed. My wife has the same phone and doesn't have these issues, either. Not trying to diminish your problem because it's obviously a problem. Only reason I'm saying it is that I haven't read anywhere that these are manufacturing defects.
@mosesjohn, That was a nice post, enjoyed reading through it. About the ram thing, I experience the same thing and I find it quite odd. When I had my Epic 4G using Jellybean, over half of my 512GB of ram was being use so to find that this phone is using half 2GB shocked me. I assumed that android just reserves a certain percentage of ram kinda like all OS reserves memory in a HDD/SSD. Either that of LG's UI is taking up a lot of resources.
Kchitown1977 said:
Try contact sync from play store. You can use contacts fb pic as contact pic.. If I'm not mistaken ever since 4.0 Facebook stopped allowing to sync FB contacts to mobile contacts
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can merge/join contacts if you log into LG Social+. I'm able to get FB photos for contacts (as well as their social statuses). Though, I wish the auto-suggest worked better. Took me a while to get all my contacts linked right.
latindor17 said:
@mosesjohn, That was a nice post, enjoyed reading through it. About the ram thing, I experience the same thing and I find it quite odd. When I had my Epic 4G using Jellybean, over half of my 512GB of ram was being use so to find that this phone is using half 2GB shocked me. I assumed that android just reserves a certain percentage of ram kinda like all OS reserves memory in a HDD/SSD. Either that of LG's UI is taking up a lot of resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks!
about the ram... it helps knowing im not alone. it might just be that ICS likes to utilize whatever it can, without taking up more than half of the ram. I mean its going to be really hard to use 1 gb of ram with apps/games, and if ICS runs smoother because it uses the rest, fine by me. I just hope its as efficient as possible, without sacrificing performance.

Own(ed) the HTC One, S4 and now G pro. Here's my honest opinion

Ok so I have owned the S4 for about a week, the HTC One for about 3 weeks and the G pro for 2 days lol. I get myself familiarized real quick with phones so 2 days is already enough for me to give a good opinion. Before I give you guys my opinion let me just say that I am very unbiased, I could care less who makes these phones as long as the product is good but I have used Samsung phones more than any other phones and I do like them a lot. Anyways, here's my take ( my opinion) on these 3 phones:
Build/design/choice of material:
I will say that the HTC One takes this category. I have never really cared on how good a phone looks, I always pay more attention to functionality but the HTC One really deserves a lot of praises. Not necessarily because it uses metal but because of the design. It really does looks stunning with its curved back and the 2 front facing speakers. Talking about the material now, it looks and feels great especially when you pick it up in the morning and get that cold feel, really nice. Overall amazing looking device.
The galaxy S4 also has a very nice design. Yes it looks pretty much just like the S3 but its thinner, a little lighter despite having a bigger screen. The polycarbonate is just fine as it serves its purpose to provide a removable battery. The galaxy s 4 is the phone that feels the best in the hand, sooooo comfortable.
The G pro also has a very nice design, its thin, light for its size ( although I wish that it was just a little lighter but no big deal at all) and overall looks really nice. Much more comfortable in the hand than its competitor, the Note 2.
Button placement:
The HTC One is horrible in this category. I hate the power button at the top left with a passion. I despise it so much, it is so uncomfortable to reach. The volume rocker on the right hand side is just fine. Also don't like that there's no menu button.
The S4 is almost perfect, love the power button on the side as always, I also like the volume rocker on the left but I wish that it was just a little bit lower. Love that there's a menu button.
The G pro is the winner here, power button is perfect, volume is perfect on the middle left plus we get an extra button to access any app we want. Simply perfect. Menu button is great although i'm used to the back and menu the Samsung way ( the other way around) but no big deal, ill get used to it. Love the LED home button!
Display/screen size:
The HTC One display is OUTSTANDING. It is such an amazing display, I cannot emphasize it enough. It is absolutely jaw dropping. Sharp, nice colors ( maybe just a tad bit saturated but I love it). Overall its just an amazing display. You do need however to have the display at least at 50% if you want to see anything in direct sunlight. I like the 4.7 inch size but always prefer bigger displays.
The S4 display is the best Super Amoled display ever. If you're a fan of over saturated colors and deep blacks, this one is unbeatable. It is sharp, blacks are great, whites have a little blueish tint on them but not that big of a deal. Personally I think this display is easier to read in direct sunlight even at 0 brightness because the colors pop regardless. This size display is the best for an average smartphone in my opinion. Samsung did an amazing job at fitting a 5 inch screen on pretty much the same body size as the S3 and it doesn't feel big at all.
The G pro display is also INSANE! Despite having a lesser ppi than the 2 other phones, it is insanely sharp, text is crystal clear, colors are super accurate, viewing angles are excellent ( all 3 displays as a matter of fact). As far as screen size, this is my personal favorite ( im a sucker for big screens). It has the same 5.5 inch screen as the note 2 but doesn't feel too big, its just perfect!.
Overall all 3 displays are great, its just a matter of preference. If you take the display alone then I would give the ever so slight edge ( and I mean so slight that you cant measure it) to the HTC One, followed by the G pro and 3rd the S4 but again all are absolutely amazing. I f you consider display plus screen size, G pro takes it.
Performance:
The HTC One performs so well. It is super quick. Opening apps, exiting apps, swiping through the home screens, browsing the web, performance is nearly flawless ( literally). Once in a blue moon there can be a very slight hiccup but the average person wont notice it. ( Im pretty good at noticing these things).
The S4 performance is good but it does stutter...quite a bit. ( not lag where it completely stops but the animations can stutter a lot). My guess is that android 4.2 and the gazillion sensors are responsible. 4.2 is known to have quite a few bugs, as far as the sensors go they are always activated waiting for the user's gestures/movements so I think it might contribute to the stuttering. There has been a software update the past few days and I think it solved many issues. Don't get me wrong the S4 performs well but stutters a lot ( its hard to explain really).
The Optimus G pro performance is AMAZING. It is so fluid, I never had a device as fluid as this. Just an hour ago I was at work and I showed the phone to one of my co-worker who owns a nexus 4 and talks about how smooth and fast his phone is, I asked him to play with my G pro, you should have seen his face. First thing he said was " Holy sh*t this is so cool" referring to the lock screen animation and then " OMG this is so smooth and fast" as his fingers were gliding through the home screens. Seriously the G pro is INSANELY smooth, by far the smoothest device I have owned yet and I mean it.
If I had to pick a winner it would be G pro followed by the One and S4. The One might be a little quicker than the G pro but the G pro is so smooth and is also quick.
Sense 5/ Touchwiz/ LG's UI:
I like sense 5. Its very nice. Its very simple, in fact sometimes its too simple but it performs well. I thought that I would hate blinkfeed but I fell in love at first sight thanks to the impressive display. What I don't like is that people cant completely remove it if they don't want to use it, I don't like the fact that you have to double tap the home button to access the multitasking and have to close each apps individually. That is just stupid HTC, dumb. Love the music player, don't like that to add an app to the home screen you have to go in the app drawer, hold the app, drag it all the way to the top and then it lets you put it on the home screen, another dumb move. But still sense 5 is very nice nonetheless.
I always liked touchwiz. I thought that it brought many features to the table, I still think it does. But touchwiz is getting old, really old and needs a UI revamp ASAP!!!! Its pretty much the exact same as it is on the S3 and not too different from the S2 except the features. Speaking of features, the S4 has anything possibly imaginable. The bad is that many of them are really gimmicky but the good is that you can turn off whatever you want and I respect that, thank you Samsung for at least giving us the option to remove things unlike HTC lol. My favorite features on the S4 are Airview and multiwindow. Both extremely useful. Airview to access sub menus, preview emails ( don't have to open every email), works as a magnifier glass, works really well. Multi window takes multitasking a step further. Yes it is available on other Samsung devices but it is something that the S4 has over the G pro and HTC One. Air gestures, smart pause are fun for 15 min but then you wont find any use to it ( except for moving apps from one home screen to another with air gesture, pretty useful).
Lg's UI is awesome in my opinion. Starting with the lockscreen, love the animations, in fact I love all the animations of the UI. That's what I love about this device, you can pretty much customize ANYTHING YOU WANT. Colors of folders, lockscreen animations, settings in tabs or list, icons... you name it. Q slide is very nice but doesn't even come close to multi window. LG's UI is very close to touchwiz but they kinda created their own lane and they're doing a very nice job. Once again everything is so smooth, love the quick access button to access any apps on the phone. This UI is like a touchwiz refresh and feels very familiar but different and I love it.
The Gpro UI is my favorite because of the animations, the smoothness and the features. Touchwiz would have tied it if it wasn't for the stutter. Love sense 5 as well.
Camera:
S4 WINS HANDS DOWN, NO DEBATE EVER!!! Such a fantastic camera. The G pro camera is second and the One 3rd although the One is very impressive in low light.
Storage:
Definitely the G pro. Let me explain. Every android phone since ICS can only install apps on the internal storage except the S4 which just had an update to be able to install apps to the sd card. The problem with the S4 move to sd card is that the maximum size app is 40 mb. ( that's what I read) So considering all 3 phones entry models at 199$, the HTC One gives you 32 gig of storage but no possible way of sd cards, the S4 comes in 16 gig with half of it taken by the system and move to sd card only support apps that are 40 mb and under. The G pro comes with 32 gig AND has expandable memory.
Battery life:
Definitely the G pro but everybody knows that, no surprises here with its 3140 mah battery. Not too far behind is the S4 ( GT-I9500 exynos 5 octa version). Plenty of screen time as well and 3rd is HTC One with also great battery life but not better than the other 2. All of them get you through a day with normal use no problem but the G pro is the star of the show.
Music/sound/Speakers:
You already know, the HTC One is UNBEATABLE right now. I don't know if any of you had the privilege to hear the sound that comes out of the One speakers. The sound is so good and loud and clear that it literally puts a smile on my face, literally. It is so crisp, really HTC has Set the bar when it comes to sound quality on a smartphone meaning every new phones that come out will have to beat it to be impressive. Music through the headphones is also great, Beats audio is supported and HTC provides a nice pair of ear buds. Second place goes to the S4. The speakers are plenty loud, just not as clear as the One plus the placement is in the back so it can easily be muffled. Sound through earbuds is nice and loud but again doesn't match the One. Last but not least is the optimus G pro. The sound through the speakers is good ,not great but the volume isn't very high with the headphones. Plus the G pro doesn't come with any earbuds.
Development:
HTC One without a doubt. Not only that HTC provides a method to unlock the bootloader, but the One has S-off now. As you may know, S-off gives you pretty much complete control of your phone and lets you write things on the "write system partition". You can change boot animation, flash radios ect... plus it has super CID which lets you change the ID of your phone from for example an AT&T to the international version so when HTC pushes an update you'll get it on your AT&T phone despite it not being the international version. And the cherry on top of the cake is that any roms on the international HTC One can be flashed to the T-Mobile, AT&T and sprint versions ( some for the sprint versions). That is so amazing. The S4 (Gt I9500 octa core) has an unlocked bootloader, I love Samsung for that. Super easy to root and tools like Odin and CF root by chainfire are awesome. Development is good and will get better. G pro has an easy root method but as you all know the bootloader is locked ( damn you AT&T !). Thanks to thecubed, the bootloader unlock is just a matter of time and once that's done, everybody needs to step back cause the beast will be unleashed!
Call quality
No complains really, all 3 perform pretty well although the advantage goes to the One cause of the speakers for speakerphone calls.
Overall, all 3 phones are amazing. The One offers a quality device, amazing sound, nearly flawless performance and a fantastic display. The S4 is a worthy upgrade to the popular S3, pretty much same body frame but with a bigger screen, lighter, thinner and a bigger battery. Also the best Amoled display and the best camera on a phone yet.
And now the G pro, an optimus G on steroids just like the Note 2 is to the S3. Smoothest experience on a phone, so fast, incredible 5.5 inch 1080p display, fantastic battery life, customizable to the core, nice LED home button, very nice performing camera. My new favorite phone. Cheers!
That was one heck of a comparison... Great job!
Sent from my Xolo_X500 using Tapatalk 2
Nice review...
Thanks for the review! Just wish we had the community the note ii has
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
vivebatu said:
That was one heck of a comparison... Great job!
Sent from my Xolo_X500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Teardrop45 said:
Nice review...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ethanemc505 said:
Thanks for the review! Just wish we had the community the note ii has
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much fellas, really appreciate it!
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
barondebxl said:
Thank you very much fellas, really appreciate it!
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a query... Can you also post the average (I mean ball park without any usage qualifications) SCREEN ON times you for with the 3 phones before the battery ran out?
Tks again
Sent from my Xolo_X500 using Tapatalk 2
vivebatu said:
Just a query... Can you also post the average (I mean ball park without any usage qualifications) SCREEN ON times you for with the 3 phones before the battery ran out?
Tks again
Sent from my Xolo_X500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure thing. Don't have an S4 screen shot though.
HTC one:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
G pro:
It's pretty good although I was on WiFi all the time. It takes time to charge though.
For the S4, getting 5hours of screen time with constant use is so easy and I wasn't on WiFi all the time so it's definitely better than the HTC one. Also battery charges pretty fast.
The G pro is amazing, it's better than the S4 (exynos version) but not by much, I would say maybe 30 to 45 min more of on screen time. (Note that I had a custom kernel on the S4). The G pro has excellent stand by time plus the battery charges SO FAST!
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
Do you think that the G Pro has the most reflective screen out of the bunch? It would make the screen hard to see outdoors and even under strong artificial light.
Sharpshooterrr said:
Do you think that the G Pro has the most reflective screen out of the bunch? It would make the screen hard to see outdoors and even under strong artificial light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe yes but again I think everything is Crystal clear from 50% brightness and above in outdoors conditions. All 3 displays are phenomenal.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
GPro's got a nice big battery, but honestly, it's got NOTHING on the Note II. I've easily done 48+ hours with 5 hours of screen-on time on my Note II.
If the OGPro were out same time as the Note II, it would've been a tough choice between the two phones. I bought the Note II because I wanted the biggest, highest-powered phone you could buy in December.
raduque said:
GPro's got a nice big battery, but honestly, it's got NOTHING on the Note II. I've easily done 48+ hours with 5 hours of screen-on time on my Note II.
If the OGPro were out same time as the Note II, it would've been a tough choice between the two phones. I bought the Note II because I wanted the biggest, highest-powered phone you could buy in December.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The note 2 does have a better battery life yes but the G pro isn't too far behind. Right now I'm at 16 hours off charge with a little over 4 hours of screen time with extremely heavy use, only 1 hour of WiFi use, lots of iron man 3 and granny Smith gaming, lots of web browsing and tapatalk and 30% left so battery life is definitely not an issue on this phone but yes the note 2 is a bit better. What I like about these phablets is that they charge so freaking fast ( yesterday my phone charged in 1h20 min from 9% to full charge) and the phone never gets hot/warm. The G pro is the best phablet until the note 3 comes out.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
Fast Charging is definitely my favorite feature of the NII and OGPro.
As for that battery info from my Note II, that day I played CSR Racing for about 2 hours, listened to music for 6 hours (about an hour with the screen on) and was on wifi for 90% of the time. Of course I had a smattering of text, maybe 20 minutes of calls and 5 or 10 minutes of browsing. I wasn't using any of the phone's radios heavily that day. The absolute best I pulled out of it was 35 hours off-charge, with 8 hours of screen time, and 12% left.
You're right when you say battery life is not an issue. I have no problems leaving it off the charger for a long time. My S2, I didn't like being more than 20 feet from a charger, and used to have it plugged in, in my truck for the drive to work (30 minutes each way, screen on with music playing).
raduque said:
GPro's got a nice big battery, but honestly, it's got NOTHING on the Note II. I've easily done 48+ hours with 5 hours of screen-on time on my Note II.
If the OGPro were out same time as the Note II, it would've been a tough choice between the two phones. I bought the Note II because I wanted the biggest, highest-powered phone you could buy in December.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, my easily lasts 3 days with 6hrs of screen time, for example now I have 50hrs spent with 57% left and 3hrs of screen time. My advice: don't push brightness over 40% and turn off everything you don't need as explained here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292012
Billy Madison said:
Honestly, my easily lasts 3 days with 6hrs of screen time, for example now I have 50hrs spent with 57% left and 3hrs of screen time. My advice: don't push brightness over 40% and turn off everything you don't need as explained here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292012
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's definitely possible. I use my g pro heavily because I know the battery can handle it. 7 hours on screen time is more than doable.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
G Pro Wins!!
I work with 5 guys that have the S 4. My friend and all his employees att the Att store where he is a manager all have the G pro. Without a doubt I think the G Pro is the better phone. It seems way faster. I was concerned about not being to connect my G Pro to the Tv but I just found a slim port adapter that is supposed to work.
BUT!!!!! Be careful the G Pro glass is weak. I shattered it in the first week with a 2 foot drop waiting for my case from South Korea. Ballastic or Otterbox please get a case out asap!!!
drrandall1 said:
BUT!!!!! Be careful the G Pro glass is weak. I shattered it in the first week with a 2 foot drop waiting for my case from South Korea. Ballastic or Otterbox please get a case out asap!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Broke my Note II's screen from about a foot-ish drop to concrete. That's how I got a OGPro. No phone is immune.
barondebxl said:
Ok so I have owned the S4 for about a week, the HTC One for about 3 weeks and the G pro for 2 days lol. I get myself familiarized real quick with phones so 2 days is already enough for me to give a good opinion. Before I give you guys my opinion let me just say that I am very unbiased, I could care less who makes these phones as long as the product is good but I have used Samsung phones more than any other phones and I do like them a lot. Anyways, here's my take ( my opinion) on these 3 phones:
Build/design/choice of material:
I will say that the HTC One takes this category. I have never really cared on how good a phone looks, I always pay more attention to functionality but the HTC One really deserves a lot of praises. Not necessarily because it uses metal but because of the design. It really does looks stunning with its curved back and the 2 front facing speakers. Talking about the material now, it looks and feels great especially when you pick it up in the morning and get that cold feel, really nice. Overall amazing looking device.
The galaxy S4 also has a very nice design. Yes it looks pretty much just like the S3 but its thinner, a little lighter despite having a bigger screen. The polycarbonate is just fine as it serves its purpose to provide a removable battery. The galaxy s 4 is the phone that feels the best in the hand, sooooo comfortable.
The G pro also has a very nice design, its thin, light for its size ( although I wish that it was just a little lighter but no big deal at all) and overall looks really nice. Much more comfortable in the hand than its competitor, the Note 2.
Button placement:
The HTC One is horrible in this category. I hate the power button at the top left with a passion. I despise it so much, it is so uncomfortable to reach. The volume rocker on the right hand side is just fine. Also don't like that there's no menu button.
The S4 is almost perfect, love the power button on the side as always, I also like the volume rocker on the left but I wish that it was just a little bit lower. Love that there's a menu button.
The G pro is the winner here, power button is perfect, volume is perfect on the middle left plus we get an extra button to access any app we want. Simply perfect. Menu button is great although i'm used to the back and menu the Samsung way ( the other way around) but no big deal, ill get used to it. Love the LED home button!
Display/screen size:
The HTC One display is OUTSTANDING. It is such an amazing display, I cannot emphasize it enough. It is absolutely jaw dropping. Sharp, nice colors ( maybe just a tad bit saturated but I love it). Overall its just an amazing display. You do need however to have the display at least at 50% if you want to see anything in direct sunlight. I like the 4.7 inch size but always prefer bigger displays.
The S4 display is the best Super Amoled display ever. If you're a fan of over saturated colors and deep blacks, this one is unbeatable. It is sharp, blacks are great, whites have a little blueish tint on them but not that big of a deal. Personally I think this display is easier to read in direct sunlight even at 0 brightness because the colors pop regardless. This size display is the best for an average smartphone in my opinion. Samsung did an amazing job at fitting a 5 inch screen on pretty much the same body size as the S3 and it doesn't feel big at all.
The G pro display is also INSANE! Despite having a lesser ppi than the 2 other phones, it is insanely sharp, text is crystal clear, colors are super accurate, viewing angles are excellent ( all 3 displays as a matter of fact). As far as screen size, this is my personal favorite ( im a sucker for big screens). It has the same 5.5 inch screen as the note 2 but doesn't feel too big, its just perfect!.
Overall all 3 displays are great, its just a matter of preference. If you take the display alone then I would give the ever so slight edge ( and I mean so slight that you cant measure it) to the HTC One, followed by the G pro and 3rd the S4 but again all are absolutely amazing. I f you consider display plus screen size, G pro takes it.
Performance:
The HTC One performs so well. It is super quick. Opening apps, exiting apps, swiping through the home screens, browsing the web, performance is nearly flawless ( literally). Once in a blue moon there can be a very slight hiccup but the average person wont notice it. ( Im pretty good at noticing these things).
The S4 performance is good but it does stutter...quite a bit. ( not lag where it completely stops but the animations can stutter a lot). My guess is that android 4.2 and the gazillion sensors are responsible. 4.2 is known to have quite a few bugs, as far as the sensors go they are always activated waiting for the user's gestures/movements so I think it might contribute to the stuttering. There has been a software update the past few days and I think it solved many issues. Don't get me wrong the S4 performs well but stutters a lot ( its hard to explain really).
The Optimus G pro performance is AMAZING. It is so fluid, I never had a device as fluid as this. Just an hour ago I was at work and I showed the phone to one of my co-worker who owns a nexus 4 and talks about how smooth and fast his phone is, I asked him to play with my G pro, you should have seen his face. First thing he said was " Holy sh*t this is so cool" referring to the lock screen animation and then " OMG this is so smooth and fast" as his fingers were gliding through the home screens. Seriously the G pro is INSANELY smooth, by far the smoothest device I have owned yet and I mean it.
If I had to pick a winner it would be G pro followed by the One and S4. The One might be a little quicker than the G pro but the G pro is so smooth and is also quick.
Sense 5/ Touchwiz/ LG's UI:
I like sense 5. Its very nice. Its very simple, in fact sometimes its too simple but it performs well. I thought that I would hate blinkfeed but I fell in love at first sight thanks to the impressive display. What I don't like is that people cant completely remove blinkfeed if they don't want to use it, I don't like the fact that you have to double tap the home button to access the multitasking and have to close each apps individually. That is just stupid HTC, dumb. Love the music player, don't like that to add an app to the home screen you have to go in the app drawer, hold the app, drag it all the way to the top and then it lets you put it on the home screen, another dumb move. But still sense 5 is very nice nonetheless.
I always liked touchwiz. I thought that it brought many features to the table, I still think it does. But touchwiz is getting old, really old and needs a UI revamp ASAP!!!! Its pretty much the exact same as it is on the S3 and not too different from the S2 except the features. Speaking of features, the S4 has anything possibly imaginable. The bad is that many of them are really gimmicky but the good is that you can turn off whatever you want and I respect that, thank you Samsung for at least giving us the option to remove things unlike HTC lol. My favorite features on the S4 are Airview and multiwindow. Both extremely useful. Airview to access sub menus, preview emails ( don't have to open every email), works as a magnifier glass, works really well. Multi window takes multitasking a step further. Yes it is available on other Samsung devices but it is something that the S4 has over the G pro and HTC One. Air gestures, smart pause are fun for 15 min but then you wont find any use to it ( except for moving apps from one home screen to another with air gesture, pretty useful).
Lg's UI is awesome in my opinion. Starting with the lockscreen, love the animations, in fact I love all the animations of the UI. That's what I love about this device, you can pretty much customize ANYTHING YOU WANT. Colors of folders, lockscreen animations, settings in tabs or list, icons... you name it. Q slide is very nice but doesn't even come close to multi window. LG's UI is very close to touchwiz but they kinda created their own lane and they're doing a very nice job. Once again everything is so smooth, love the quick access button to access any apps on the phone. This UI is like a touchwiz refresh and feels very familiar but different and I love it.
The Gpro UI is my favorite because of the animation, the smoothness and the features. Touchwiz would have tied it if it wasn't for the stutter. Love sense 5 as well.
Camera:
S4 WINS HANDS DOWN, NO DEBATE EVER!!! Such a fantastic camera. The G pro camera is second and the One 3rd although the One is very impressive in low light.
Storage:
Definitely the G pro. Let me explain. Every android phone since ICS can only install apps on the internal storage except the S4 which just had an update to be able to install apps to the sd card. The problem with the S4 move to sd card is that the maximum size app is 40 mb. ( that's what I read) So considering all 3 phones entry model at 199$, the HTC One gives you 32 gig of storage but no possible way of sd cards, the S4 comes in 16 gig with half of it taken by the system and move to sd card only support apps that are 40 mb and under. The G pro comes with 32 gig AND has expandable memory.
Battery life:
Definitely the G pro but everybody knows that, no surprises here with its 3140 mah battery. Not too far behind is the S4 ( GT-I9500 exynos 5 octa version). Plenty of screen time as well and 3rd is HTC One with also great battery life but not better than the other 2. All of them get you through a day with normal use no problem but the G pro is the star of the show.
Music/sound/Speakers:
You already know, the HTC One is UNBEATABLE right now. I don't know if any of you had the privilege to hear the sound that comes out of the One speakers. The sound is so good and loud and clear that it literally puts a smile on my face, literally. It is so crisp, really HTC has Set the bar when it comes to sound quality on a smartphone meaning every new phones that come out will have to beat it to be impressive. Music through the headphones is also great, Beats audio is supported and HTC provides a nice pair of ear buds. Second place goes to the S4. The speakers are plenty loud, just not as clear as the One plus the placement is in the back so it can easily be muffled. Sound through earbuds is nice and loud but again doesn't match the One. Last but not least is the optimus G pro. The sound through the speakers is as loud as the S4 but the volume isn't as high with the headphones. Plus the G pro doesn't come with any earbuds.
Development:
HTC One without a doubt. Not only that HTC provides a method to unlock the bootloader, but the One has S-off now. As you may know, S-off gives you pretty much complete control of your phone and lets you write things on the "write system partition". You can change boot animation, flash radios ect... plus it has super CID which lets you change the ID of your phone from for example an AT&T to the international version so when HTC pushes an update you'll get it on your AT&T phone despite it not being the international version. And the cherry on top of the cake is that any roms on the international HTC One can be flashed to the T-Mobile, AT&T and sprint versions ( some for the sprint versions). That is so amazing. The S4 (Gt I9500 octa core) has an unlocked botloader, I love Samsung for that. Super easy to root and tools like Odin are great plus there is CF root by chainfire. Development is good and will get better. G pro has an easy root method but as you all now the bootloader is locked ( damn you AT&T !). Thanks to thecubed, the bootloader unlock is just a matter of time and once that's done, everybody needs to step back cause the beast will be unleashed!
Overall, all 3 phones are amazing. The One offers a quality device, amazing sound, nearly flawless performance and a fantastic display. The S4 is a worthy upgrade to the popular S3, pretty much same body frame but with a bigger screen, lighter, thinner and a bigger battery. Also the best Amoled display and the best camera on a phone yet.
And now the G pro, an optimus G on steroids just like the Note 2 is to the S3. Smoothest experience on a phone, so fast, incredible 5.5 inch 1080p display, fantastic battery life, customizable to the core, nice LED home button, very nice performing camera. My new favorite phone. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree on camera quality. HTC One pictures look better overall, even if they are lacking a little detail. The G Pro tends to blur the photos a bit much and you lose a lot of detail that you should have on a 13mp camera.
The GS4 definitely wins on quality, however the camera is slow. Like the rest of the UI, it lags and takes significantly longer to launch and take a picture. This translates to missed opportunities and blurry action shots. I don't have this issue with either the One or the G Pro, although the One is the champ in the fast camera department. Honestly, if Samsung could optimize Touchwize and speed up the GS4's fluidity, it would be boss.
greyhulk said:
I disagree on camera quality. HTC One pictures look better overall, even if they are lacking a little detail. The G Pro tends to blur the photos a bit much and you lose a lot of detail that you should have on a 13mp camera.
The GS4 definitely wins on quality, however the camera is slow. Like the rest of the UI, it lags and takes significantly longer to launch and take a picture. This translates to missed opportunities and blurry action shots. I don't have this issue with either the One or the G Pro, although the One is the champ in the fast camera department. Honestly, if Samsung could optimize Touchwize and speed up the GS4's fluidity, it would be boss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is your opinion but I definitely disagree with you, the S4 is the best camera on a phone at the moment. The one does not even come close and really lacks detail. If you talk about shutter speed then yes the One is quicker but the S4 excels in detail and the pics looks absolutely stunning.
I don't think it's fair to call the One camera better because it has a faster shutter speed. What about the picture quality (the thing that really matters after all)?
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
barondebxl said:
It is your opinion but I definitely disagree with you, the S4 is the best camera on a phone at the moment. The one does not even come close and really lacks detail. If you talk about shutter speed then yes the One is quicker but the S4 excels in detail and the pics looks absolutely stunning.
I don't think it's fair to call the One camera better because it has a faster shutter speed. What about the picture quality (the thing that really matters after all)?
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You basically reiterated what I said, but camera launch and shutter speed are important because it doesn't matter how good the picture quality is if you miss the moment completely or get a blurry shot due to movement. The whole point of a smartphone camera is speed and convenience, otherwise, you might as well use a DSLR for the best quality.
I regularly miss photos with my GS4 because by the time the screen unlocks and the camera loads, the moment has passed. This is never an issue on the One and rarely on the G Pro.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
greyhulk said:
You basically reiterated what I said, but camera launch and shutter speed are important because it doesn't matter how good the picture quality is if you miss the moment completely or get a blurry shot due to movement. The whole point of a smartphone camera is speed and convenience, otherwise, you might as well use a DSLR for the best quality.
I regularly miss photos with my GS4 because by the time the screen unlocks and the camera loads, the moment has passed. This is never an issue on the One and rarely on the G Pro.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well once again I have to disagree with you. " the whole point of a smartphone camera is its speed and convenience". What if the pic quality isn't that great?
I don't know about you but most pictures I take are still pics, people posing stuff like that. Yes shutter speeds are great, but ill take the image quality of the S4 with its slower shutter speed over the fast shutter speed of the One but with far less picture quality anyday. I don't understand your point about carrying DSLRs since we are comparing smartphones here. So if I understand correctly, you think the HTC One's camera is better because of faster shutter speed to capture that "moment" while I prefer the S4's camera because its picture quality is absolutely superior. And its not like it takes 10 seconds for the S4 to launch the camera plus capture a pic.
Your quote to my huge post was " I disagree with camera quality", well this isn't even a point to be argued since everybody knows the S4 captures more details with its camera.

HTC Desire Eye mini review

So, I picked up a Desire Eye on launch day. I feel like I was one of the few people intrigued by this device when it was announced. Since then, it has received almost zero attention: Few reviews, no posts on XDA, very little buzz on the internet in general. So, if you're even remotely considering this device and want a little info, here's a personal perspective from someone who bought the phone.
Disclaimer: I have owned dozens of flagship phones over the last several years. I'm also quite a fan of Sense UI and HTC in general. I did not buy this phone for the front facing camera. I don't care about selfies, so I'm probably not the target audience. I really just wanted an M8 with a better camera.
Display
The display is probably my one gripe about the device so far. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it looks washed out to me. When I first turned it on in the store, it immediately looked dull. A lot of the HTC wallpapers and themes are a sort of pastel, so it's really hard to tell, but next to my iPhone 6 Plus, and even a Windows M8 in the store, it just doesn't look as vibrant as I'd expect. Compared to my Note 4, it looks positively depressing, but that's to be expected. That said, it does get plenty bright. I just wish I still had my M8 to compare it with because I swear the M8 had more contrast and vibrance.
Camera
My only real beef with the M8 was the camera, mainly the low megapixel count which made cropping nearly impossible. It also had trouble with exposure and focus. I was really hoping that they fixed that with this phone. I know it's not their flagship and is, in fact, marketed as mid range, but it's really just an M8 with a different build and cameras. I have taken quite a few photo samples and compared them online to the Z3 Compact, iPhone 6 Plus, OnePlus One, G3, and Note 4. There is definitely more detail and you can crop in much further than the M8, but it still gets soft when you do. I also noticed the same issues with exposure. If you're not careful about where you tap to focus, you'll get a blown out sky or dark subject. Focus is fast, but not always accurate. It sometimes blurs the subject instead of the background. Definitely not on par with the focusing systems found in the Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus. Colors are good, if not great. They lean toward the warmer and more vibrant side, which I personally prefer. Overall, it's an upgrade over the M8 and on par with phones like the OnePlus One and G3, at least in my testing.
Build
I know a lot of people are fans of metal, but there are advantages and disadvantages to metal and plastic. The advantages here are water resistance and weight. This is a light phone and it feels good in the hand. Coming from my Note 4, it is significantly lighter and easier to hold. It's also fairly grippy. I don't feel the need for a case. My one complaint about build is the size. This thing is big. It's nearly as big as the iPhone 6 Plus and Note 4, which is kind of sad when you consider the 5.2" screen. Part of this is the 13mp front-facing camera. Part is the speakers, even though the grills are much smaller this time around. They still needed that blank "HTC" strip on the front for components and that adds to the overall size. The camera shutter button is very difficult to press. I only see using this thing under water. If you try to use it for normal pictures, you'll get blur because the phone will move when you try to press it. I find this to be a problem on a lot of phones with dedicated shutter buttons, but it's much more pronounced here.
Battery
My other primary concern with this phone was battery. It's the same internals as the M8 with a bigger screen and a smaller battery. While disappointing, so far it's not as bad as I expected. It seems to be about on par with the M8, though I'm not sure how. Standby time is pretty good (in my limited testing so far) and it doesn't drain horribly fast when the screen is on. Since HTC doesn't show screen on time and I had to install GSAM, I don't have any screen on results yet, but I will be testing that over the next few days.
Performance
This is the reason to get an HTC phone, in my opinion. Sense and stock Android are easily the fastest, best performing versions of Android, in my experience. But Sense brings some nice enhancements to the table that I think are worth it over stock Android. There's no lag or delay anywhere on the phone so far. Everything is fast and fluid. It makes my Note 4 look positively slow. Just the gallery lag on the Note 4 alone is enough to drive someone mad. HTC is doing it right. I'm actually a fan of Blinkfeed, too, though I know other people hate it. Since the introduction of Blinkfeed, I almost always end up putting a widget on my left most homescreen of every other Android phone that gives me a full page of news, though nothing quite compares to HTC's solution. I like their enhancements to the gallery, contacts, etc. Very nice overall experience.
Misc.
1. Minor annoyance, but the stock email client makes you tap to show images on every HTML email. Since I actually use it, it's kind of annoying. I wish they would at least give an option in the settings to "always show".
2. Some of the camera features are really need, like face merge and photo strip. I do miss slow motion video and 4k recording, though.
3. Internal storage is only 16gb. You have a little over 9 free out of the box. This is the only other con to this phone, in my opinion.
4. I'm a pretty big fan of the screen on gestures. I basically never have to use the power button. And now we can launch straight into the camera, too.
5. I received an update yesterday and it auto installed. There's no info anywhere on what it was. The phone just rebooted and installed with no warning.
6. There is a ton of bloatware on this thing (AT&T). Seriously, brace yourselves. It's even more insulting with only 16gb to start with.
7. Bootloader is unlockable at HTC Dev so, there's at least hope that we'll get root soon. The main issue will be S-Off, as usual. But I really only want/need root.
8. The front-facing speakers are every bit as good as you'd expect, despite the water resistant membrane and smaller grills. It's pretty impressive how small and unnoticeable they are.
Wrap Up
Overall, I really like the device. My main concerns are camera quality and battery life, which I will continue to test. I really like the user experience overall, though, and it's one of my favorite phones of the year. I don't think this phone is really getting the attention it deserves. Even the tech bloggers seem to be ignoring it. I hope this helps anyone who's on the fence about this phone and/or looking for more information.
Obligatory Camera Samples
Here are some camera samples. XDA is compressing them, but you get the idea.
Thanks for the review and photos. The camera was better than what I was expecting from the sensor HTC is using, to be honest. The only downside from what I've read in your review is the screen: while I don't like oversatured screens, I also don't appreciate "dark" screens (it hasn't to do with brightness, but with the white tone).
Regarding the speakers, I know you don't have a M8 to compare, but do you notice much of a difference between the devices?
Can you please confirm that it has MHL and it works?
For what it's worth, I held my One M8 side by side with a Desire Eye in store and compared the screens while displaying the same images and websites. They looked pretty much exactly the same to me other than a slight difference in size. Didn't think it looked dull. Of course, the lighting in AT&T was pretty harsh so it wasn't the best environment for comparison. Maybe you just got used to the super punchy over saturated colors of the Note 4?
gtg465x said:
For what it's worth, I held my One M8 side by side with a Desire Eye in store and compared the screens while displaying the same images and websites. They looked pretty much exactly the same to me other than a slight difference in size. Didn't think it looked dull. Of course, the lighting in AT&T was pretty harsh so it wasn't the best environment for comparison. Maybe you just got used to the super punchy over saturated colors of the Note 4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's actually what I was thinking too. Not a bad display by any means.
Thank you for this mini review! Really helpful.
Could you please state in which degree you can use the phone with one hand?
Would it feel closer to the use of a One M8/Galaxy S5/LG G2 or would it compare more to a One Plus One / Iphone 6 Plus (which is for me slightly to big).
The 5.2 inch of the LG G2 is of perfect size, but that phone had way smaller bezzels, so this is in fact something that scares me of the HTC desire EYE.
Waarez said:
Thank you for this mini review! Really helpful.
Could you please state in which degree you can use the phone with one hand?
Would it feel closer to the use of a One M8/Galaxy S5 or would it compare more to a One Plus One / Iphone 6 Plus (which is for me slightly to big).
The 5.2 inch of the LG G2 were perfect.. but this phone had way smaller bezzels, so this is what scares me of the one M8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's definitely closer to the OnePlus One or iphone 6 Plus size wise, but it is MUCH lighter, which does make it easier to handle with one hand. Unless you have gorilla hands, though, you definitely won't be able to reach all four corners of the screen with one hand.
It's tall, rather than wide.
I got the Desire EYE in the mail 2 days ago, it's a really good phone, really fast, takes nice pictures, overall I'm happy about it, the only downside about it is the internal storage, it has like 7 gb out of the 16 dedicated to the OS and stock apps... But other than that, really good phone!
To start off, I will say I am a big HTC fan. I talked about 7 people into buying the One M8 over the S5 this year. I love Sense, Blinkfeed and the snappiness of their devices. I have since sold my One M8 earlier this summer, around May, and have been jumping around to different devices. I strayed from the One M8 mostly due to the camera and the fact that I like to try the latest and greatest devices. I have been using an iPhone 6 since it launched. When I saw the Desire Eye was announced, I got excited. I was really hoping for an M8 Eye, which I think would have been the perfect smartphone for 2014, but this was almost as good. I picked one of these up on Friday at an AT&T store. The guy kind of looked at me funny when I said I wanted one, I don't think he was trained on the device or knew what it was. I didn't open it until Saturday night, but in the store, when playing with it, the first thing I said was, this screen looks washed out. I think it has something to do with the default theme, when I changed it back to one of the same Sense stock themes on the One M8, it didn't look as bad. It is something to do with that pink color they are using. I am torn on the device, it is like 2 steps forward, a couple steps back. I didn't like the first few indoor pictures without flash I took of my 3 month old daughter, so I switched back to the iPhone 6 yesterday because it was her baptism and I didn't want to miss any shots, or risk them coming out badly. One thing that Apple knows is how to make a camera that focuses fast and gives you good pictures. The Boom Sound is also a bit of a disappointment. The bass and clarity seems to be lacking compared to the M8. I played some Vevo music videos on the demo models in store. I am currently thinking about trying to find a second hand M8 Google Play Edition in mint condition (so I have full T-Mobile support for the $30 SIM I have for my play phone line), and keep either it or the Eye and my iPhone 6.
Y2J
Thanks for the review!
The camera doesn't seem bad but for some reason i was expecting it to have a bit more "wow" factor, don't know why and they the shots seem good enough.
You mentioned no-slow motion (i had actually talked about this in the other thread) and the info i read was that it didn't have. However, i was just watching a video review of the desire eye and in the settings i noticed the slow motion icon and the review actually pressed it and it sayed it was slow motion (its an italian video, i actually looked it up to see the translation lol). It was in the camera interface under the " ... " icon and on the modes (it usually says auto) it has the slow motion icon/cartoon - Here is the video @ 11:45
Still no mention of 4k, so that is not from stock but maybe with a mod.
griffin_1 said:
Thanks for the review!
The camera doesn't seem bad but for some reason i was expecting it to have a bit more "wow" factor, don't know why and they the shots seem good enough.
You mentioned no-slow motion (i had actually talked about this in the other thread) and the info i read was that it didn't have. However, i was just watching a video review of the desire eye and in the settings i noticed the slow motion icon and the review actually pressed it and it sayed it was slow motion (its an italian video, i actually looked it up to see the translation lol). It was in the camera interface under the " ... " icon and on the modes (it usually says auto) it has the slow motion icon/cartoon - Here is the video @ 11:45
Still no mention of 4k, so that is not from stock but maybe with a mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see a slow motion option anywhere in the settings. The only video options are for the resolution (MMS, 1080, etc). One thing they did do right, though, is put the video record button back on the main interface full time next to the camera shutter button. They were crazy to ever take that away.
Quality is okay. It's about on par with the OnePlus One and G3, in my testing. Most of the shots I took were on an overcast day, so not the best testing environment, but overall I think it's acceptable. I think I'd still grab my Note 4 or iPhone 6 Plus if I was going somewhere to take a lot of pictures, but I don't feel like I'm carrying around a bad camera when I have this phone.
griffin_1 said:
Thanks for the review!
The camera doesn't seem bad but for some reason i was expecting it to have a bit more "wow" factor, don't know why and they the shots seem good enough.
You mentioned no-slow motion (i had actually talked about this in the other thread) and the info i read was that it didn't have. However, i was just watching a video review of the desire eye and in the settings i noticed the slow motion icon and the review actually pressed it and it sayed it was slow motion (its an italian video, i actually looked it up to see the translation lol). It was in the camera interface under the " ... " icon and on the modes (it usually says auto) it has the slow motion icon/cartoon - Here is the video @ 11:45
Still no mention of 4k, so that is not from stock but maybe with a mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I was totally wrong about slow motion. I just found the option. It was not where I expected, but I'm stoked to see that it's there!
Great Slow motion on htc is good, at least if its like on the m8. I think only htc and sony in Android lets you record 120fps and then edit what parts to slow down, which is how slow motion should be. Glad to see its there and websites like gsmarena should mention it and update the specs info with that.
battery update?
G1_enthusiast said:
battery update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery is really good for the capacity. Idle drain with my apps and setting was about 3%/hr. With the screen on, it does seem to lose battery pretty fast, but I was still able to get about 10-13 hours of use with around 3 hours screen time. That's not much worse than most of my other phones do, actually.
I would post screenshots, but I no longer have the phone. As much as I really liked it, I just couldn't live with the camera quality. I was really hoping for better. But if camera isn't your #1 priority, this is a great all around phone. Camera is definitely better than phones like the Moto X. I was just hoping for closer to Note 4/iPhone quality.
How do the camera quality and pictures compare to Samsung S4 or S5?
Thanks.
struff said:
How do the camera quality and pictures compare to Samsung S4 or S5?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mom has the S5 And I prefer the Eye´s camera, It´s just... sharper and more clear.
sidle said:
My mom has the S5 And I prefer the Eye´s camera, It´s just... sharper and more clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to politely however completely disagree. There's no comparison. S5 is one of the best cameras you can get.
Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using Tapatalk
robstunner said:
I'm going to politely however completely disagree. There's no comparison. S5 is one of the best cameras you can get.
Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And yet, I like this one more.
Front HTC Desire Eye:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143110-image/HTC-Desire-EYE.jpg
Front Galaxy S5:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143127-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5.jpg
Back HTC Desire Eye:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143113-image/HTC-Desire-EYE.jpg
Back Galaxy S5:
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/143130-image/Samsung-Galaxy-S5.jpg
Let the photo's speak for themselves. The HTC Desire Eye clearly wins this battle, or even HTC in general. The S5 is litteraly crap in low to medium-light area's.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Firs...-HTC-One-M8-and-the-Samsung-Galaxy-S5_id61506
Fair enough, but in better lighting the s5 proves much better and rarely overexposed the pictures.

TMobile LG G5 vs. TMobile Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge - Some Guy's Review

PURPOSE
So 1st and foremost, the plan here is to give you my experience with these 2 phones. Granted, I have only used the LG G5 for about 2 days now and can't say I have truly put it to task. This will be a unbiased look and comparison. I'm neither a fanboy or sheep. No brand affiliation. Not a programmer either, just a pro-sumer Senior Member of XDA willing to get trolled, flamed, etc. for sharing a look at these 2 phones. Hopefully, I can give "the everyday guy / gal look" without getting bogged down in stats, variables or benchmarks. Here goes...
MY BACKGROUND
No one special. Just a guy that likes the latest tech... phones being at the top of the list. I am a nerd. No doubt about that. I think anyone that knows about XDA probably is to some extent. No brand loyalty. Recently, I have had the privilege to try out the following phones:
1. LG G5
2. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
3. Huawei Mate 8
4. Huawei Nexus 6P
5. LG Nexus 5X
6. Samsung Note 5
7. Apple iPhone 6s+
And probably some more, but these are the most recent. Does that make me qualified to make a review... Maybe. It does make me an idiot that likes new phones, though. I am always looking for something that meets my needs but also is a good phone. Currently with TMobile but have been with ATT, Verizon & Sprint at some point 20 years of using cell phones.
MY NEEDS
I drive about 40 miles everyday to work (yes, my work week is currently 7 days a week with a few occasional days off). So, with this in mind and where I drive. I need the minimum requirements:
1. Can Stream Music
2. Bluetooth is fully compatible with my 2016 vehicle
3. An equalizer of some sort since I have only switch out my new cars speakers for better ones and don't plan on changing or adding a better sound system.
4. Decent pictures when needed
5. As a nerd, I like to "mesmerize" people with a pay with your phone app like Apple Pay or Android Pay
6. Works with my Huawei Watch
7. Relatively not laggy - will sometimes do some ROM-ing or some customization but since I tend to get rid of the phones quickly I try not to void warranties or make it too non-stock
THE COMPARISON
I am looking at my experience with the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge under around these requirements and some normal stuff like battery, screen, snappiness, heat, speakers, etc. Here goes:
SOUND OVERALL
Both the S7 Edge and the LG G5 pass my car test. Both successfully hook up with the bluetooth in my Honda and work with the steering wheel controls. Sound-wise through bluetooth, the LG G5 is noticeably louder even with my equalizer app, Bass Boost Pro, overlayed to give my car some nice bass and equalization. The S7 Edge also tends to be less stable with the Bass Boost Pro App sometimes leading it to crash and causing the volume to go insanely high... only bad thing when you use an app not built into the UI of the phone. To note, I could not find a "stock" equalizer in the LG G5 UI. Touchwiz has it own set of equalization but they work horribly, but Bass Boost Pro does work over top of that which was not successful with Lollipop versions of Touchwiz. The S7 edge also tends to "pop" and "crack" every so often too. I listen to heavy metal and hard rock, so I play the stuff loud (Is there any other way to listen? haha). The LG G5 performs better, needs less power to the speakers to be louder and does not have the annoying "your going to go deaf warning" every time you restart the phone. I don't listen to music with headphones because I don't workout with music, run, swim or whatever you kids do know a days that you need a wired headphone. I listen to music the good ole' 'merican way - loud, in my car, with the windows down as much as possible so my devil music infects everyone around it... haha. Seriously, though someone who has experience with headphones can chime in if they want. LG G5's external speakers hands down are just better then the S7 Edge, but that's not saying much considering the speaker on the S7 is like the horn on a 1870's phonograph so it doesn't take much to beat it, basically they are stereo and loud on the G5 so its better.
WINNER: LG G5
BATTERY
Here goes, the LG G5 battery is not as good as the S7 Edge in all accounts. It may come close after being conditioned and after having a few charge cycles but overall it would never last as long as the S7 does. However, its removable and everyone can get a free one with a separate charger. Yes, you will have to carry around 2 batteries to last as long as the S7 Edge but that also means they are replaceable if the battery deteriorates over time. Not going to hit you with stats, battery screen captures, etc. It is what it is and no amount of stats change it.
WINNER: IT'S A TIE AS LONG AS YOU CAN GET A 2ND BATTERY & CHARGER FOR FREE FROM LG, OTHERWISE SAMSUNG S7 EDGE WINS.
HEAT
The LG G5 when taxed does heat up more so then the S7 Edge. During the initial setup when I lit up the Wifi for hours downloading stuff onto the phone it got hot, not going to 3rd degree HTC / Sony burn you white hot but hot nonetheless. The S7 Edge just does not get that hot. (Maybe cause it is underclocked? Just kidding...) Obviously, the metal/plastic body transfers heat to the outside of the phone faster with the LG G5 rather than the glass/ metal combo on the S7... however I did not get a warning like I did on the LG G5 when it was a little hot like I did the couple of times with the S7 Edge. Either way, it seems Samsung's intercooling system "edges" out here (no pun intended... well, maybe)
WINNER: SAMSUNG S7 EDGE
SNAPPINESS
I like to say snappiness rather than "performance" because I am not going to throw up "AnTuTu-ning-Out of this Review Scores" or any other clocking test. Talking real world. Even though both run the same processor with the same amount of RAM, the LG G5 is more snappy and responsive... My reasoning... Touchwiz and bloat. I was even running the S7 Edge with a number of bloat disabled and it still lags here and there. On both, I replaced the stock launchers with Xpirit's HTC Sense 7 for all devices... I like the Blinkfeed Sense Launcher... Yes I'm weird... but I don't really see anyone making a Touchwiz Launcher for all phones thread so I must not be the only one. The only game I play is Clash Royale right now. Both run it fine without heating up too bad. The interface seems to have more customization for the LG G5 UX even though I could not function without the app drawer, thus a custom launcher over top. Stock launcher wise I would give Touchwiz the Edge on that. Why Samsung do you ruin a phone with excessive bloat and unuseful apps that are so deeply entrenched into the UI? I cannot answer that question. I know that the LG G5 does not have a ton of bloat (at least the TMobile Variant doesn't, sorry AT&T customers) and has a bunch of useful additions (like smart settings and the always-on display). Also, things that I disable stay disabled without requiring a special app (I'm "looking" at you stupid LookOut Security) and more so, things can be actually fully uninstalled. With a bunch of different things disabled on the S7 as compared to the G5, it still lags more. When compared to something that really hasn't lag once since setup, it is something to say for the LG G5
WINNER: LG G5
DISPLAY
Ok. Samsung makes good displays. This is known the world over. LG isn't too shabby either. When I look at displays, I look at how they look but also how they work for me. The LG G5 always-on display is awesome and not an after-thought like on the S7. All notifications update on the always on display and in conjunction with the led notification. It's a good 1 - 2 punch. The edge screen is pretty nice too on the S7 just not overly useful. Colors are better on the S7. Auto brightness just works better on the LG G5... can't say why. it just does. I also tie-in the fingerprint sensor here. Its lightning fast on the LG G5 and I like the rear of the phone placement like the Huawei Mate 8 & Huawei Nexus 6P. The one on the S7 is fast when it doesn't lag, thanks again TouchWiz. Both LED's are bright and functional. Yes, the LG G5 has black light bleed on the edge of the phones. You will see people in reviews going crazy over this... I have 2 bags filled with something as to how much this honestly effects me (the something is Dicks). Once again, real world stuff that effects me.
WINNER: FUNCTIONALITY LG G5... PRETTINESS SAMSUNG S7
PHONE DESIGN
Here's where I am going to give a honest opinion and not this knee jerk, I haven't looked at it, Samsung Fanboy comment. Yes, the S7 edge is a pretty looking phone, designed well and has niceties like wireless charging. With that said, the G5 is not an ugly phone, its just a first attempt of something different and completely different direction for LG. With that said, could they have done a little more, maybe. Could they have come clean about the metal / plastic backing before putting it out there that it is all metal, of course they could have. Ergonomically, the G5 feels better in the hand and if I hold it around the edges the screen doesn't go haywire (oops AND I know Samsung is going to fix this). I have the Gold LG G5, which I quickly put a Ringke Slim Black Matte Case on, looks cooler with the case which says that yes the design is a little lacking. Its like looking at Kirsten Dunst... You would bang her if she was right there in front of you wanting it... however, if it was between her and lets say Megan Fox, yeah you would chose Megan Fox.... Not that Kirsten is hideous but she's not Megan Fox. Also much like Kirsten, there's things to like and not like about the LG G5's appearance. I think the "chin" as it is being called is like Kirsten teeth, some find them intolerable others find them cute. The dual camera and sensor setup on the back is not bad looking either but some find it slightly out of place. I don't mind either and with the case it looks a lot better (yes, I know the "pig" analogy here about "dressing up..." kinda of rude to call Kirsten a "pig" though, hahaha)
WINNER: SAMSUNG S7
CAMERA
Last and for some not least is the camera comparison. I place it last because I cannot say it enough... if you want good photos use an actual camera, point & shoot or DSLR. A phone camera is a substitute for a DSLR like Channing Frye is a substitute for LeBron James... yes, Channing might get the job done but in a big game you want LeBron. Cameras on phones are progressing to be better however they will always have 1 thing they can't overcome... that's physics. Plain and simple. You will never achieve what a big camera does because its bigger. Sensor, the lens, etc. is bigger captures more light, bigger surface area for the chip to absorb the image, etc. That's why I place this last. I look at a phone camera to be functional, take good pictures in a pinch or a setting where I can't take a bigger camera or just don't want to. I know what the limitations are and understand that I'm not going to be Ansel Adams with it. Therefore, I have not taken many pictures with either. The lens F-stop is better on the S7 Edge and thus let in more light leading to better overall pictures in low light. Physics not opinion. (thanks $30000 art institute degree) Dual Camera allows for wider field of view on the G5 due to the dual cameras. Once again, physics. At the end of the day, its what you need and how much more you will use it. Like to take pictures in bars of your friends drinking too much and getting wasted, probably the S7 is better for you. Like to take pictures of vistas outside with your phone thinking your Ansel Adams only to realize he use far superior equipment to take his pictures over 70 years ago, the G5's camera is your ticket
WINNER: IT'S A TIE AS I DON'T HAVE A REAL OPINION JUST YET
CONCLUSION
For me, the LG G5 is a nice phone and on par with the S7 Edge. It will work for me until I get to compare it hopefully to the high end M10 from HTC. Will it be everyone's cup of tea, no. And that's why there's options for everyone to choose what they like. Options are like opinions are like something else everyone has... I personally would say from a everyday usage standpoint, the LG G5 wins out. From a Megan Fox, Jennifer Aniston, Emily "To Long for a Jersey" Ratajkowski standpoint, the Samsung S7 Edge is where it is at... just remember though with all that beauty comes some high maintenance. There's nothing wrong with a Kirsten Dunst, Melissa Benoist, Kaley Cuoco phone... in fact, it might even surprise you in the end... (i.e. check out some photos of those 3 on the internet... haha)
As always please comment, thanks again! :good:
I'm really starting to like my G5. I think the thing that is really winning me over is how snappy everything is combined with some nice customization options with the virtual buttons. I also put a clear case on it and it looks rather sleek. The camera is miles ahead of my OnePlus One. I do wish the battery was bigger but with how my One's battery started to go to crap after 18 months, I really wanted to go back to a phone with a user replaceable battery.
Overall, I think I made the right choice for me. I can't go back to Samsung's lag even if the S7 Edge is pretty freaking amazing. It all comes down to your personal priorities.
Thanks for doing a direct comparison between the two phones.
Thanks for sharing your impressions :good: I've quoted you in my S7 vs. G5 thread in the S7/S7E section.
I loved your review. Finally a unbiased review. I have myself gone thru a ton of phones to decide which one i wanted.
Nexus 6p
Nexus 5x
Lg v10
Nexus 6
Ive returned or sold all of them and preordered the lg g5 coming in monday.
I can say all of them have great qualities and bad qualities. None are perfect. The 6p came close but the bending issue scared me and it was too big.
Im really excited for the g5.
aknotts415 said:
I loved your review. Finally a unbiased review. I have myself gone thru a ton of phones to decide which one i wanted.
Nexus 6p
Nexus 5x
Lg v10
Nexus 6
Ive returned or sold all of them and preordered the lg g5 coming in monday.
I can say all of them have great qualities and bad qualities. None are perfect. The 6p came close but the bending issue scared me and it was too big.
Im really excited for the g5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to say the closes I have come to a "perfect" phone is the Huawei Mate 8... if it wasn't for the fact that Android Pay doesn't work, it ia one of the best running phones... Can't wait to see the P9 Max with the Leica Camera... looks sweet
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Huawei-P9-press-image-of-the-phones-dual-camera-setup-and-fingerprint-scanner-surfaces_id79873
Until that phones gets announced next week & the HTC 10, I'll be happy with my G5 & free 360 Camera (already put in for the rebate)... has anyone confirmed if the 360 camera will work with other phones?
I know the apk may only show up in the app store if you have an LG G5 but I'm sure apkmirror will have it... just need someone to try it that has the camera with a different phone... :good: :fingers-crossed:
First phone I've had that beat the 6s
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk
Stocklone said:
I'm really starting to like my G5. I think the thing that is really winning me over is how snappy everything is combined with some nice customization options with the virtual buttons. I also put a clear case on it and it looks rather sleek. The camera is miles ahead of my OnePlus One. I do wish the battery was bigger but with how my One's battery started to go to crap after 18 months, I really wanted to go back to a phone with a user replaceable battery.
Overall, I think I made the right choice for me. I can't go back to Samsung's lag even if the S7 Edge is pretty freaking amazing. It all comes down to your personal priorities.
Thanks for doing a direct comparison between the two phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I upgraded to an S7E last Thursday. During my lunch break today, however, I returned it and got a G5. It's only been a couple of hours, but it's already growing on me. I wasn't immediately hooked on it as I was with the S7E. It's been gradual: the more I use it, the more I like it. I'm not going to lie: the S7E does feel more premium than the G5 -everything from its heft when you hold it, to it's overall design. I also found the edge screen useful. But I realized I can accomplish the same tasks on my G5 that are possible on the S7E if I use a good launcher and widgets. The S7E was also a tad to big for my hands. It was uncomfortable for me to use with just one hand. The G5, on the other hand, is the perfect size for my hand. The G5 does feel faster than the S7E, and even though I've only taken a couple of photos, I like its camera more, too. The interchangeable battery is what ultimately did it for me. I enjoy having that option way too much. Another deciding factor? Innovation. I value that highly. I think LG is onto something, and it's rewarding to see a company willing to innovate as LG has done with the G5.
I also felt the LG G5 was much more responsive and snappy than the S7 Edge. Great review, enjoyed the read.
Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk
I agree with just about everything. The one thing I'll add is the unlock process is even snappier on the G5. I had the S6 edge and the the S7 edge (for about 3 weeks) and found the fingerprint sensor to lag at times and even sometimes not recognize my fingerprint. Yes, I tried deleting and redoing my fingerprint over and over but still had the same problem. Typically, it wasn't bad. Just not as quick as the G5. Also, to me, the sensor on the G5 was in a more comfortable position when I picked up the phone. I also liked the fact that you can double-tap the screen if it's laying flat on a desk and then use a pattern if you don't want to use the sensor. Double tapping the screen also puts it into standby mode rather than hunting for the power button.
And lastly, the AOD on the G5 is much more useful. I have many apps that give me notifications (not just missed calls and texts) so the ability to see which app is causing a notification without turning the phone on is huge. It's possible Samsung has a software update to correct this limitation, but for now G5 AOD is much more useful.
Hi.. noobie here, but long time lurker.
Just got a G5 from a G4 and so far i'm pleased. Was wanting either a S7 or S7E since the Note 7 died that horrible death. I do like the smaller form factor and it is pretty zippy. However, at times, the speeds online are slow, but side by side, when faster, it beats my G4 on Ookla's speedtest.
Interesting comparison. I've been using a G5 for a few months now with one having been stolen and the other a cracked screen from a crazy concert fall lol. Instead of using insurance for a second time I've opted to get a Nexus 6P used to try something different. I'm still not sure if I'd rather just get my G5 fixed. There are some major things I'm missing on it. How would you compare the 6P against the G5?

Is it worth to move form N5 to N5X now?

Hi
I know that there is a lot of similar threads, but I read it and still don't know what should I do.
Is is worth to move? I believe that there is a lot of people which moved from N5 to N5X.
In daily using is there any difference in smooth and performance?
Big plus for mi is Android N
To be honest with you, it's even a downgrade.
I moved from N5 to Xiaomi Mi4C and then to N5X (because I love to tinker around) and if the screen on my old Nexus 5 wouldn't be broken, I would go back to the Nexus 5 without hesitating and I would look forward to it.
1. The camera is utterly crap if you want to make close-up pictures, otherwise it's just okay.
2. The cpu is janky, it lags here and there even with encryption disabled and even with custom kernel and custom roms. I would often like to smash the phone against the wall because it takes so long to do basic tasks...
3. The cpu, it gets so hot I could burn my skin with it from time to time (hotspot + using your phone? Burn your fingers...). Even browsing and listening to music seems to stress the cpu that much that it heats up extremely. Custom kernel and custom rom do indeed improve it a bit, but the problem is still there and noticeable
4. The sound is really quiet/silent and as soon as you turn the volume up it gets distorted. Listening to music with just the phones speakers is a huge pain.
5. The battery life is miserable, okay compared to the N5 it's at least not worse and it will get better with Android N as I already tested out for a week.
Honestly, keep your N5 and wait until they release the new ones, but don't buy the N5X. You will be so disappointed by its performance.
You can get Android N on the N5 without any big problems via custom rom which will be probably released shortly after the final Android N version is released . It's no problem to flash it to the N5 and you won't loose warranty (which I guess is already over)
PS; Nobody has to tell me my N5X may be defective, the 3 workmates who bought the N5X as well are complaining constantly about those points as well.
creambyemute said:
2. The cpu is janky, it lags here and there even with encryption disabled and even with custom kernel and custom roms. I would often like to smash the phone against the wall because it takes so long to do basic tasks...
3. The cpu, it gets so hot I could burn my skin with it from time to time (hotspot + using your phone? Burn your fingers...). Even browsing and listening to music seems to stress the cpu that much that it heats up extremely. Custom kernel and custom rom do indeed improve it a bit, but the problem is still there and noticeable
PS; Nobody has to tell me my N5X may be defective, the 3 workmates who bought the N5X as well are complaining constantly about those points as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely agree on most of your points as a 5x owner. But i never had problems with my cpu like you do. My phone is heavily filled with apps and stuff and it doesn't lag at all. Sometimes it's a bit jerky here and there but that's it. And on point 3. nearly all the smartphones have that issue it's the build material that makes it feel so hot. if you take for example a samsung phone with the same cpu but their build quality with the glass and metal it will feel far less hot. but yeah wait for the new nexus!
It's a noticeable upgrade in just about every way from a N5 and worth the upgrade IMO.
After 8 months I've seen no performance issues with my 5x and the graphics performance (gaming) is 2x higher especially over long gaming runs as the graphical performance doesn't hit rock bottom like it did with the N5 after warming up.
The camera is top notch. Same camera as the Nexus 6p, you'll see only praise for it around the internet. No other phone camera comes close at this price range.
Heat generation is actually a huge improvement over the N5. The N5 could see skin temperatures up to 10C higher than the 5x, so if people think their 5x gets hot then they haven't ever used a N5. Here's an exert from one of the few review sites that tests for thermals, skin temperature specifically.
With idle temperatures of just over 25 °C, the Nexus 5X hardly heats up noticeably in idle mode. The handset is also unexpectedly cool under load despite the relatively strong SoC. The hottest spot measured reaches just 37.4 °C here - other premium smartphones often surpass 40 °C. The review sample can even shine with the lowest rates compared with its rivals.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Google-Nexus-5X-Smartphone-Review.155885.0.html
Size difference, the bigger screen is nice and even noticeable but the 5x is a lot taller than it needs to be so the N5 would win in total size and screen to bezel ratio.
External speaker. It sounds about the same but it gets 1 or 2 steps louder and facing forward is an improvement.
Back cover discolouration. My carbon black seems to get permanent smudges that can be seen under certain lighting conditions.
bokilz said:
Sometimes it's a bit jerky here and there but that's it. And on point 3. nearly all the smartphones have that issue it's the build material that makes it feel so hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may call that jerky, we call it laggy, janky whatever. But you do agree it's not as fluid as the N5? Or could you even ever compare the N5 to the N5X? It is by no means fluid and for me not an acceptable performance. My N5 runs rounds around the N5X when it's not about gaming. And exactly that is my point. Why is the N5 in basic tasks (Menu, browsing, scrolling, animations) faster than the N5X? I didn't expect a downgrade in everyday task performance and it hit me hard in the disappointment section.
bblzd said:
It's a noticeable upgrade in just about every way from a N5 and worth the upgrade IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just an upgrade if you are constantly playing games (performance wise). In the most basic tasks the N5 crushes the N5X performance. But the thread starter can decide that himself if he buys the N5X and I would really like to hear his opinion then after comparing the two devices
bblzd said:
The camera is top notch. Same camera as the Nexus 6p, you'll see only praise for it around the internet. No other phone camera comes close at this price range.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you kidding? I agree the camera is better than the one found in N5 but my Mi4C took way better pictures than the N5X and several levels better when capturing some close distance shots (really close distance) and you know what? The Mi4C is cheaper.
I don't want to sound like the camera is bad in every aspect, but top notch is fanboy talk...
Actually whenever I wanted to take a close distance picture with an N5X I always ended up with the picture being blurred to the point I couldn't even recognize what should be on the picture :crying:.
Some people also say the Nexus 9 is a very good tablet whereas my mate and I who bought the devices together would call it the worst nexus product until now
Now let me mention some things I like about the N5X because I don't totally hate the device and I'm just so disappointed that the performance is worse than on the N5 in almost every situation.
- Screen: I already got several compliments that the screen is well calibrated and looks pretty good.
- USB C: It's positive as well as negative. I like the new connector, but all of my friends who don't have it hate it because they can't use my charger nor my cable
- Front facing speakers (just don't turn the volume up too much, otherwise the sound gets ****ty)
- Quick Charging: Absolutely love that! Helped me out in many situations where I just needed like 20-30% more charge to get through the day or the night.
- Screen gets activated when you lift the phone from the desk or out of your pocket, pretty convenient
- You'll maybe be able to access the notification tray and quick settings panel with the fingerprint scanner in Android N
So it is really worse performance N5X than N5 in daily using?
Wysłane z mojego SM-T815 przy użyciu Tapatalka
atomic339 said:
So it is really worse performance N5X than N5 in daily using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if I would go that far. I feel like with my N5, I had to choose between a smooth experience or battery life. With the N5X it that isn't so much the case. That being said, there are times where this phone will lag on even the most simplest of tasks with no explanation or reason. It's beyond frustrating. At this point you're better off waiting for the new Nexus phones to come out and snagging one of those instead.
I would (am) wait(ing). I wouldn't even replace my N5, but it's showing problems with modem and gps. It's been suggested that our N5X is defective because of the jerky/lagging touch responsiveness. When it's placed next to the N5, the color calibration seems off. N5 has much whiter whites and just appears crisper than what I see on the 5X. The 5X belongs to hubby who doesn't care about the off-white tint, but he really dislikes the fact that touches have to be repeated even 3 times before they respond. I would try a custom kernel, but he doesn't want me messing with his phone. He doesn't use his phone for much. If the new phones don't meet my needs/wants, I'll get a 6P. It's a little big but haven't seen any other problems with the one we have.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
ritchea said:
I would (am) wait(ing). I wouldn't even replace my N5, but it's showing problems with modem and gps. It's been suggested that our N5X is defective because of the jerky/lagging touch responsiveness. When it's placed next to the N5, the color calibration seems off. N5 has much whiter whites and just appears crisper than what I see on the 5X. The 5X belongs to hubby who doesn't care about the off-white tint, but he really dislikes the fact that touches have to be repeated even 3 times before they respond. I would try a custom kernel, but he doesn't want me messing with his phone. He doesn't use his phone for much. If the new phones don't meet my needs/wants, I'll get a 6P. It's a little big but haven't seen any other problems with the one we have.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you call "whiter white" is blue white and actually shows a bad calibration, just saying. If you prefer such color pallete then better go for samsung. Also there is an option in dev settings to "fix" it, though i have it disabled. No difference (unless you compare) in the day, while the blue white hurts my eyes in the night
Back to topic, stock 5x is a bit laggy but EX kernel with ghostpepper fixed that for me.
Battery is ok, similar to my G2 and people did not whine about that phone so i dont know why everyone is pissed with 5x
If someone (creambyemute ) believes that the camera is bad, then should get a eye surgery appointment soon. Just kidding, but you should tap your screen to focus at that distance/objec. If the blur persists just focus on something else and then back at your target
5x has great well-light photos, good low light ones, though no stabilizer so videos are shaky
All that being said new nexus phones should not be too far, so you might as well wait for them
For all the people complaining about daily performance... Just flash PA rom. Done. Phone is smooth now.
atomic339 said:
Hi
I know that there is a lot of similar threads, but I read it and still don't know what should I do.
Is is worth to move? I believe that there is a lot of people which moved from N5 to N5X.
In daily using is there any difference in smooth and performance?
Big plus for mi is Android N
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the new Nexus phones coming out soon, I wouldn't upgrade to the 5X if I were you. I got my 5X when it first came out and I had a Nexus 5 before.
There are some improvements but nothing major despite a 2-yr gap. Better camera, better battery, better screen, but laggy and slow sometimes. I was kind of disappointed when I first got my 5X.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
You've waited this long with the N5, what's another 2 months for the next Nexus phones? Unless you can get some amazing deal and don't mind having 1 year old hardware, I suggest waiting.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
EeZeEpEe said:
You've waited this long with the N5, what's another 2 months for the next Nexus phones? Unless you can get some amazing deal and don't mind having 1 year old hardware, I suggest waiting.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed
i suggested waiting too as the new nexus build quality is definitly going to be better then the 5X build quality. HTC is gonna make it this time according to various sources.
Giorgos Chatziioannou said:
What you call "whiter white" is blue white and actually shows a bad calibration, just saying. If you prefer such color pallete then better go for samsung. Also there is an option in dev settings to "fix" it, though i have it disabled. No difference (unless you compare) in the day, while the blue white hurts my eyes in the night
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know all the commentary about the color palette/calibration/preference/true colors arguments which makes it a little difficult to determine if, in fact, one actually has a defective screen (as I had on my first N7 FLO which looked worse than my then current N7). I prefer the color tones on my N5. However, I did change to cool temperature option on the 5x, and I think it's more to my preference. I do like the amoled display on the 6P and think the samoled's are all right. It was big change from Galaxy Nexus to N4. Ultimately, it's all about the point you bring up (blue white hurts my eyes in the night). No two people see anything exactly the same way so all we can do is get what works for us. Actually, I prefer the displays on the ios devices, that and battery life, but that's it.
The pictures were taken with the N9 which no one can argue has a great camera; however, it shows the differences. One can also see that the 5x presents sharper images on the screen. I will say that I thought the 5 showed clearer text than the pics show. I'm sure someone (anyone) could have taken betters shots. The left pic is warmer display; the right is cooler.
ritchea said:
I know all the commentary about the color palette/calibration/preference/true colors arguments which makes it a little difficult to determine if, in fact, one actually has a defective screen (as I had on my first N7 FLO which looked worse than my then current N7). I prefer the color tones on my N5. However, I did change to cool temperature option on the 5x, and I think it's more to my preference. I do like the amoled display on the 6P and think the samoled's are all right. It was big change from Galaxy Nexus to N4. Ultimately, it's all about the point you bring up (blue white hurts my eyes in the night). No two people see anything exactly the same way so all we can do is get what works for us. Actually, I prefer the displays on the ios devices, that and battery life, but that's it.
The pictures were taken with the N9 which no one can argue has a great camera; however, it shows the differences. One can also see that the 5x presents sharper images on the screen. I will say that I thought the 5 showed clearer text than the pics show. I'm sure someone (anyone) could have taken betters shots. The left pic is warmer display; the right is cooler.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thus why i said that sammy phones are probably more in your alley, they also have a neutral color option if you feel like it too.
My friends like samsung so i have seen few of their phones and amoled is not really my cup, stunning colors but you can take picture of a bulb light room and it will be chock full of orange while the same picture on other phones looks white/yellow.
I heard that the s7 has not such aggressive saturation, but until i can meet with my friend to check his s7 edge i cant say for sure. I will update when that happens if you want
creambyemute said:
You may call that jerky, we call it laggy, janky whatever. But you do agree it's not as fluid as the N5? Or could you even ever compare the N5 to the N5X? It is by no means fluid and for me not an acceptable performance. My N5 runs rounds around the N5X when it's not about gaming. And exactly that is my point. Why is the N5 in basic tasks (Menu, browsing, scrolling, animations) faster than the N5X? I didn't expect a downgrade in everyday task performance and it hit me hard in the disappointment section.
It's just an upgrade if you are constantly playing games (performance wise). In the most basic tasks the N5 crushes the N5X performance. But the thread starter can decide that himself if he buys the N5X and I would really like to hear his opinion then after comparing the two devices
Are you kidding? I agree the camera is better than the one found in N5 but my Mi4C took way better pictures than the N5X and several levels better when capturing some close distance shots (really close distance) and you know what? The Mi4C is cheaper.
I don't want to sound like the camera is bad in every aspect, but top notch is fanboy talk...
Actually whenever I wanted to take a close distance picture with an N5X I always ended up with the picture being blurred to the point I couldn't even recognize what should be on the picture :crying:.
Some people also say the Nexus 9 is a very good tablet whereas my mate and I who bought the devices together would call it the worst nexus product until now
Now let me mention some things I like about the N5X because I don't totally hate the device and I'm just so disappointed that the performance is worse than on the N5 in almost every situation.
- Screen: I already got several compliments that the screen is well calibrated and looks pretty good.
- USB C: It's positive as well as negative. I like the new connector, but all of my friends who don't have it hate it because they can't use my charger nor my cable
- Front facing speakers (just don't turn the volume up too much, otherwise the sound gets ****ty)
- Quick Charging: Absolutely love that! Helped me out in many situations where I just needed like 20-30% more charge to get through the day or the night.
- Screen gets activated when you lift the phone from the desk or out of your pocket, pretty convenient
- You'll maybe be able to access the notification tray and quick settings panel with the fingerprint scanner in Android N
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had zero performance issues with my 5x since I bought it 9 months ago. There hasn't been a single instance where I've found it to be slower than my N5, and multiple instances of it being faster such as connection speeds, gaming performance and loading the camera. Storage speeds are also much faster than the N5 even with encryption enabled on the 5x and disabled on the N5 (less secure).
The camera on the 6p and 5x (same camera) was well regarded as one of the best cell phone cameras until this years devices started rolling out. Details with HDR+ are insane, low light performance is out of this world, and the pictures come out fast and snappy with the camera loaded and capturing scenes within 2-3 seconds from being locked. Most importantly: everything you take a picture of looks like it does in real life with your eyes.
It can't be a fanboy comment when every review of the camera on the 5x and 6p agrees: it is absolutely top notch.
It sucks that you haven't experience the 5x to its fullest, I'm not sure if you have a defective 5x or possibly are causing the issues with your 3rd party software but your experience is not typical.
My friend has recently acquired a Nexus 5x about 2 weeks ago and so far has had the same experience myself. Snappy, smooth, and the best phone at this price range by a large margin.
atomic339 said:
So it is really worse performance N5X than N5 in daily using?
Wysłane z mojego SM-T815 przy użyciu Tapatalka
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in my experience and I've owned the 5x since launch day and a N5 since its launch day as well.
I made the swap a month ago when Carphone Warehouse in the UK were clearing stock for £130 and don't regret it at all. Feels exactly like you would expect a two year newer N5 to feel, nothing earth shattering, just slicker all round. Put the Nougat DP5 straight on it which obviously helps but only downside for me is no wireless charging as mine lived on a wireless deskstand all day at the office but the quick charging and better battery life make up for it... just have to remember to plug it in for a bit in the evening.
Wasn't keen on how light it is but I always use a case and once that was on all was good. Solid recommendation for the Supcase if you get one, cheap, top quality and once you slit the buttons all is good.
I wouldn't have been looking if it wasn't so cheap or the N5 battery was going but very glad I did and have a got a much more up to date phone for a lot less than half the price of one of the new Nexi when they come out. I stuck a new battery in the N5 and now my youngest is even happier than I am.
Regarding the N5X camera discussion here....
Macro pictures are not important to me. I don't need close-up pictures.
In normal use, the camera is spectacular. I recently went on a trip to Italy with a real camera and, honestly, I didn't even use it. The N5X camera has a wide scope, high quality, and great color reproduction. It's the same camera as that on the N6P, same exact camera; the only difference is not EIS but that can be fixed if rooted (it's disabled by default to make N6P more premium).
Check out the picture thread for examples of users' photos.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/excellent-camera-t3230797
Sure, it's no Samsung Galaxy 7, but few phones can compare to the 7's camera.
And who cares about macro?
One more thing about N5 camera vs N5X camera...
I had the N5 previously. If there was ONE thing I hated about the N5 is that pictures took 2-5 seconds to get taken after you press the button.
While on the 5X, it is practically instantaneous.
Last thing...
Come on, get the new Nexus which will launch in about 1-2 months.
This phone is great. I'm on N DP5 and 0 lag, great battery and performance.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Categories

Resources