Reasons to Not Return the Fire Phone - Amazon Fire Phone

I was about to return the fire phone because of no root and boot-loader locked tight, when I ran the AnTuTu Benchmark. The graphics were all smooth and the final score was 41588! With a score like that and costing about $100, I have to keep it even if I don't connect it to a carrier at this time. I'm now looking for more reasons to like it. Here are mine:
It's a nice black tile laying on the desk and a conversation piece for geeks.
With the side-loaded gapps and another launcher (Google Now) it's not that annoying (except for maps).
Using Nokia HERE and downloading the maps makes the phone a great navigation system even if not connected to a carrier.
That AnTuTu score of 41588 makes it a lot faster than any phone in my house.

Solidly built
Good camera, if a bit slow to focus
Makes a great game device for the kids on car trips
Good battery life - very low drainage in cell radio off mode
32gb - enough for a ton of content (re:kids!)
Uses nano sim for when i accidentally dump my ip6 in the toilet.
$100? Sheesh an L90 costs that much and it's dog slow by comparison!
Awesome IPS screen

plympton said:
Solidly built
Good camera, if a bit slow to focus
Makes a great game device for the kids on car trips
Good battery life - very low drainage in cell radio off mode
32gb - enough for a ton of content (re:kids!)
Uses nano sim for when i accidentally dump my ip6 in the toilet.
$100? Sheesh an L90 costs that much and it's dog slow by comparison!
Awesome IPS screen
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Click to collapse
I am using it when my ip6+ is too big for my pockets. Such an easy thing to switch back and forth.

I tried installing gapps but thought you needed root on 3.6.8. If not then I'd prob keep it and not return it. It seems well built but all I am missing is apps, I kinda like the amazon carousel.

Check out Aztecwarrior25's posts on how to do it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=57095633#post57095633

It also support sim card hot plugging which is extremely fantastic.
Only problem here is, back glass is slightly out of frame near the camera and got dust in.
Amazon gave me a refund of 15%, fair enough.

Related

Now that you had the A100 for a while any problems

Now that I have had this tab for a month. Its now starting to act up. Browser force closing, touch screen can be difficult to navigate (too sensitive) it will often open apps when swiping through screens, and overall performance is getting really slow. I have added a memory card to free up some memory but doesn't help. So I'm wondering what the community experience for us that has had the device for awhile.
Sent from my A100 using xda premium
I really like my A100 overall. Three things that are starting to kill me about it are:
1: Battery life; I've attempted to remove all/some/certain apps, turn off syncing, set sync long, turn wifi/gps off, remove "bloat", turn screen brightness low etc.. For the last two weeks I've tried a lot of different methods to save battery. Still, last night I went to sleep with it at 60-70%(on my latest method to save battery) and woke up with it completely drained. Might need to exchange it I guess.
2: Viewing angles. Thought I could deal with it no problem. However, when I use it as an e-reader (or anytime is portrait) the viewing angles make it difficult to look at the screen for extended periods of time. I have to tilt the left side back more so I don't strain my eyes.
3: Live wallpapers; Many are unusable. I have 4 widgets total and only use 3 home screens. On many of the live wallpapers I use, the swiping of screens either is very laggy, or has a very obvious delay in the time I swipe to the time the screen actually moves.
Performance has started to get slightly worse, not too bad though. I have started to get force closes on some apps and the browser. May end up returning / selling this and get something else. Pity, I really like it other than the first two annoyances..I can live without live wallpaper.
Battery life is a sore point for me as I'm sure it is for everyone. The screen isn't great, but it's not bad enough to bother me much.
I haven't had any software problems fortunately, or at least not any that aren't common with the whole Honeycomb live beta that Google has been running all year. Hopefully ICS will fix a lot on the software side.
That being said, I'm coming from a Nook Color(with a Kindle Fire also considered). Since I paid in the same price range for this($189 on Black Friday) the trade offs as compared to the Nook/KF aren't too bad and at the end of the day I do like having a full tablet with out having to turn it into an ugly hack job(I'm especially looking at you Nook Color)
For $200, I'd say I got my moneys worth, and I might even say it's worth it for the $260 BestBuy is still selling them for, but anything higher, and I'd say it'd be too much to pay for this thing. It's not a high quality tablet, the screen and battery life seal the deal on that one, but it's definitely not the worst tablet I've seen out there. It's miles better than all the cheap Chinese crap tablets, but it doesn't to much to exceed the standards of the "upper crap" brands like Archos.
I'd say the thing is worth about $250.
For now, I think 7" is the sweet spot for tablets. (I previously owned a 10.1" Asus Transformer, which had great battery life and a beautiful screen but was awkwardly big/heavy).
And that said, the A100 is the best 7" tablet currently available (including the new 7" Galaxy Tab, simply because it lacks a microSD slot. I wouldn't trade my microSD slot for 3 more hours of battery life and an IPS screen, especially if the deal added $100+ bucks to the price.)
- I give the screen a B+ (I do wish it didn't solarize from the bottom viewing angle, but it's otherwise bright and clear.)
- Real world battery life, C+ (6 hours is fine enough in practice because I charge nightly, but it'd be awesome to have 12 hours--save me from bringing the charger on short trips, etc.)
- The industrial design I don't care at all about. I have it in the phenomenal Blurex leather case, so the lame blue plastic/silver swirl thing on the back is a non-issue to me.
Really, Acer made all the right compromises. My next tablet will probably be the Transformer 3 when it comes out in a year, hopefully it'll have 300 ppi screen and will dual boot Jelly Bean and Windows 8. If Windows developers embrace ARM , I think a Transformer 3 + laptop dock will mean I'll never buy another PC.
Until tablets can replace laptops (early 2013), a cheap but fullspeed 7" is a great device.
I've had mine for about 2 weeks and I have seen some slowdown when booting up and scrolling in the app drawer from time to time but most likely due to having installed so many apps. Battery has been better for me. I have my wifi to turn off when screen is off and also have a wifi toggle widget to turn off wifi when I'm playing a game or sometimes I just turn off wifi completely when I'm not using the tablet which only drains my battery about 1-2% per hour. Overall usage I would say I get the normal 5 hour mark. Viewing angle is not much an issue for me as I always look at the tablet straight on and its much sharper than my older Samsung tab 7. The only issue I still have is the screen not being responsive or some are saying too sensitive. There's a thread on this already. I'm hoping this will be fixed via software. This is my 3rd one however since my other 2 had wifi issues. I fixed one but it still had screen touch issue so I exchanged and all 3 was the same. So far I'm happy for the $248 I purchased it for. I bring this thing everywhere i go since it fits inside my jacket pocket.
Mainly battery life is the sore point for me.
The screen is more sensitive than my iDevices but nowhere as bad as my LG Evo phone was. A bit more sensitive than the Blackberry Playbook.
Disabling the capacitive home button was a must for me. I would hit it so many times when holding it in landscape view, it drove me crazy.
The screen, I agree with everyone else about the viewing angle from the bottom not being good.
Of course, there is always room for improvement. The hardware in the PB is great, especially the screen and battery life but the software is way lacking in comparison to Android.
At $250, it is a good tablet. I wouldn't pay more for it than that.
It's the perfect size and I take it almost everywhere.
DaveRichardson said:
And that said, the A100 is the best 7" tablet currently available (including the new 7" Galaxy Tab, simply because it lacks a microSD slot. I wouldn't trade my microSD slot for 3 more hours of battery life and an IPS screen, especially if the deal added $100+ bucks to the price.)
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Click to collapse
The Galaxy Tab 7 Plus does have a microSD slot.
http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/P1080005.jpg
I bought one.for my daughter and have been playing with it for 2 weeks now..Rooted it as soon as.I took it out of the box and installed a few root apps like ad free to keep her from clicking on ads.
For $250 I have to say I am pretty impressed. I have loaded it up with a bunch of educational apps as well as games. So far I have not had one force close on any app. Battery life is ok and WiFi is fastest device off same router as my dinc and t60.
I am not sure what you guys expect for 250, but if you can find any Android device that doesn't need.to be charged daily, then you aren't using it.
Just my opinion
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
My thoughts exactly for the price it cant be beat. Very happy with the purchase. here is a screen cap of my a100 i never turn off wifi, this was with light usage. with regular use gaming/browsing for me I still get 8hrs.
For personal use the A100 is the perfect tablet, it easily fits in the inside pocket of a jacket, and despite complaints from others that the screen and battery life is not ideal, I think the screen is adequate and after 7 weeks I once had an empty battery. It is complete with Android 3.2, HDMI (works great as HTPC), 3.5mm audio connector, GPS, dual camera (not its strongest point), micro USB slave (missing USB host), Micro SD slot, and replacable battery. Upgrade to ICS is available next month. Moreover, it is much more affordable as similar products from its competitors.
Has anyone tried to use the tablet with it lying on any surface. Recently i discovered that with it on a bed or table lying flat the touch screen is practically unusable. Using a stylus for note taking is useless, it doesn't register every stroke and writing is broken up.
Sent from my A100 using xda premium
qhinton said:
Has anyone tried to use the tablet with it lying on any surface. Recently i discovered that with it on a bed or table lying flat the touch screen is practically unusable. Using a stylus for note taking is useless, it doesn't register every stroke and writing is broken up.
Sent from my A100 using xda premium
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Yeah the touchscreen has some issues. If you lightly swipe the touchscreen on the browser it will zoom in I dunno why
@qhinton:
If you must use the A100 while it's lying on a table or a bed, try turning it upside-down first. There is no backlight on the bottom edge, only on the top edge. Viewing from above the top edge, or flipping the A100 upside down and viewing from below, is much better that way. Not perfect, but better.
Another remedy is to get an easel case, so you can prop the A100 at a comfortable viewing angle.
OpaPiloot said:
For personal use the A100 is the perfect tablet, it easily fits in the inside pocket of a jacket, and despite complaints from others that the screen and battery life is not ideal, I think the screen is adequate and after 7 weeks I once had an empty battery. It is complete with Android 3.2, HDMI (works great as HTPC), 3.5mm audio connector, GPS, dual camera (not its strongest point), micro USB slave (missing USB host), Micro SD slot, and replacable battery. Upgrade to ICS is available next month. Moreover, it is much more affordable as similar products from its competitors.
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It has a user replaceable battery?
jschall said:
@qhinton:
If you must use the A100 while it's lying on a table or a bed, try turning it upside-down first. There is no backlight on the bottom edge, only on the top edge. Viewing from above the top edge, or flipping the A100 upside down and viewing from below, is much better that way. Not perfect, but better.
Another remedy is to get an easel case, so you can prop the A100 at a comfortable viewing angle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I found that trick out from using a Viewsonic GTab. What I was explaining is that the tablet needs to be grounded to work properly. So basically if your not holding it the tablet struggles with registering your gestures. Whem laying it on a bed or table the tablet touch screen would be very sporadic.
Sent from my A100 using xda premium
qhinton said:
Thanks I found that trick out from using a Viewsonic GTab. What I was explaining is that the tablet needs to be grounded to work properly. So basically if your not holding it the tablet struggles with registering your gestures. Whem laying it on a bed or table the tablet touch screen would be very sporadic.
Sent from my A100 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
If you have major sensitivity issues try my fix posted here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1347123&page=6
This has mostly fixed the issue for me, still shows up every once in a while but after doing this fix there was a huge improvement for me.
WiFi keeps turning itself off every few minutes. checked all the settings and it still does it. none of my other Android devices do this, only the Tab 7"
after two months of use.
I'm very satisfied of this tab. No "problem" at all.
Battery life: is good if used well. Obviously could be better, but with a double core and a so large display is very good. It surprises me when i play HD games for long and i see almost no change in battery life.
Wifi: signal reception is good, no problem. Connection speed at my home is almost 1Mb/sec checked on tablet.
Display and touch: angle of sight is small for a tablet, but colors and luminosity is very good. Touch screen is very very sensible but i like it. With the screen saver the touch is perfect.
Performance: I'm agree with my colleagues about the live wallpaper. Sometimes they are too slow. The computing speed of this tab is very very good. Opening apps, photos and hd video is vey fast. It's definitely a fast tab
Camera: Is good enough. I've recently bought a Galaxy S 2 with a 8mp camera and I see the difference from the 5mpx of the A100 but is still capable of very high detailed photos.
Voip and VideoCalls: I use this two features a lot since I'm often away from home and both are very good. No lag at all. Video is clear and fluid, audio too. The microphone volume is low I think, but is not a problem if you can hold it closer to you.
Handling and Style: I can bring it inside a pocket and go wherever I want. Is not heavy, it doesn't need a separate bag to be kept with you. Is the perfect size in terms of mobility. The shape is cool and can be handled easily. Maybe the back of the cover would be better completely gray or black.
No problem apart from the fact that i cannot delete bloat cuz i dunno which system app will brick if i delete em, weight since i hold it in portrait mode often, FCs, lastly screen ratio. Prefer it wider and shorter.
jay_993 said:
No problem apart from the fact that i cannot delete bloat cuz i dunno which system app will brick if i delete em, weight since i hold it in portrait mode often, FCs, lastly screen ratio. Prefer it wider and shorter.
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If you mess up you should be able to just flash any of the update.zip in the rom thread to bring those files back. You will need to reroot if were already rooted.

[Q] Should I buy the HTC Desire Z?

I want to buy the HTC Desire Z but a few things that I read on the net are really freaking me out:
1) BATTERY LIFE: Some users say the battery lasts for less than a day, while others say they have no problem for 2 days. Now I have a ZTE Blade(which I plan to sell) that also has bad battery life, somewhat similar, so its kinda OK as long as its not really that bad.
I wont really have the Wifi turned on 24/7, coz I am a conservative user(although when I get the phone initially I'll check it out every 10 seconds... only for some days).
Can the battery life be fixed by using custom ROMs or Kernels or is it just the underpowered battery pack?
2)Keyboard Hinge: It seems that the screen falls loose when you turn the phone upside down. Some people complain of loose hinges .
I will be using the keyboard frequently.
3)LAG AND BUGS: Actually, its software related so it doesn't really matter I would probably flash a Custom ROM as soon as I get.
So should I buy this phone or not? Please tell me about the other problems in this phone...
If you say "NO", then please suggest an alternative in the same price segment!
Thanks a lot!
Regards,
jj_95nano
I've had my Desire Z since august last year.
Pros:
-great dev support with PLENTY of ROMs to choose from, you get choices between AOSP, GB Sense, GB MIUI, ICS Sense and ICS MIUI.
-good sound quality output through headphone jack
-great screen with nice viewing angles and colours.
-good battery life lasting 2 full days regularly for me under light to medium use.
-great keyboard which has a good feel to it.
-fantastic build quality, i've dropped my DZ a bit more than a handful of times and it barely has any scratches anywhere.
-the "z-hinge" is much more sturdy than it seems and it will definitely last the test of time.
-the phone is blazing fast with AOSP ROMs and can play pretty much every game right now.
-Call quality is really good when there is good reception (read below)
Cons:
-sometimes not-so fantastic performance when it comes to Sense ROMs.
-my keyboard is becoming unresponsive and requires very hard pushes to register the keys Q,W,E and more recently the space bar is having this issue too.
-i have had both wifi and cellular signal death grip issues that occur when the keyboard is out and my hands are wrapped around the device.
-With wifi, a full bar signal can drop down to half signal or less than half if you hold the device as i described.
-With cellular signal, i have very poor reception at my house where i'll get 3/4 bars at the most but a lot of the time, if i hold my phone for more than 30 seconds while the keyboard is out with my hands wrapped around it, i will end up completely losing reception. That said, this has been an issue with previous phones of mine anyway though.
-The device does get hot at times where it can make your hands sweaty but it never really gets burning hot.
-call quality is quite terrible for me at times at my house due to the bad reception that i have and the death grip issues seem to interrupt calls as well at times as i've had a drop outs during calls before.
I hope that helps a bit. Oh and about the tightness of the Z-hinge, i can hold my phone upside down with the keyboard open without it closing, it takes a little bit of practice but my hinge is quite tight and it's still as tight as it was when i bought my phone so as mentioned earlier, the hinge will definitely last the tests of time.
Overall, the pros outweigh the cons for me simply because of how much i love android, so i'd give the phone about an 8/10. If you can find it for like $250USD or less, i'd buy it if i were you, but otherwise, i would just wait for the next best qwerty slider.
magic_android said:
I've had my Desire Z since august last year.
Pros:
-great dev support with PLENTY of ROMs to choose from, you get choices between AOSP, GB Sense, GB MIUI, ICS Sense and ICS MIUI.
-good sound quality output through headphone jack
-great screen with nice viewing angles and colours.
-good battery life lasting 2 full days regularly for me under light to medium use.
-great keyboard which has a good feel to it.
-fantastic build quality, i've dropped my DZ a bit more than a handful of times and it barely has any scratches anywhere.
-the "z-hinge" is much more sturdy than it seems and it will definitely last the test of time.
-the phone is blazing fast with AOSP ROMs and can play pretty much every game right now.
-Call quality is really good when there is good reception (read below)
Cons:
-sometimes not-so fantastic performance when it comes to Sense ROMs.
-my keyboard is becoming unresponsive and requires very hard pushes to register the keys Q,W,E and more recently the space bar is having this issue too.
-i have had both wifi and cellular signal death grip issues that occur when the keyboard is out and my hands are wrapped around the device.
-With wifi, a full bar signal can drop down to half signal or less than half if you hold the device as i described.
-With cellular signal, i have very poor reception at my house where i'll get 3/4 bars at the most but a lot of the time, if i hold my phone for more than 30 seconds while the keyboard is out with my hands wrapped around it, i will end up completely losing reception. That said, this has been an issue with previous phones of mine anyway though.
-The device does get hot at times where it can make your hands sweaty but it never really gets burning hot.
-call quality is quite terrible for me at times at my house due to the bad reception that i have and the death grip issues seem to interrupt calls as well at times as i've had a drop outs during calls before.
I hope that helps a bit. Oh and about the tightness of the Z-hinge, i can hold my phone upside down with the keyboard open without it closing, it takes a little bit of practice but my hinge is quite tight and it's still as tight as it was when i bought my phone so as mentioned earlier, the hinge will definitely last the tests of time.
Overall, the pros outweigh the cons for me simply because of how much i love android, so i'd give the phone about an 8/10. If you can find it for like $250USD or less, i'd buy it if i were you, but otherwise, i would just wait for the next best qwerty slider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for answering!
But there are a few new problems(Call reception, bad signal) that you have just enlightened me about. But should it really matter at a place with full network strength?
But seriously, the PROS seem tooo attractive! The number of ROMS is amazing.
I guess I might just go to an E-store and check out the DZ today!
Then I'll make up my mind.
Thanks again for your helpful post.
jj_95nano said:
Thank you for answering!
But there are a few new problems(Call reception, bad signal) that you have just enlightened me about. But should it really matter at a place with full network strength?
But seriously, the PROS seem tooo attractive! The number of ROMS is amazing.
I guess I might just go to an E-store and check out the DZ today!
Then I'll make up my mind.
Thanks again for your helpful post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my DZ a year and a half ago and i've never encountered major issues other than ROM depending ones.
I live in a french "big city" and never have signal troubles.
Sure he doesn't have incredible performances (mostly with Sense 3.x Roms) and if you want to use it while lying on your bed and holding it above you you will suffer of a loose hinge but if you can find it at a reasonable price, it's still a good deal and one of the best with an HW Keyboard.
Might be worthwhile to check out the official review thread in the General section.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA
If you live somewhere with good reception and you can get the desire z at a good price, then i'd say go for it . When i have good reception, calls sound pretty much perfect. It's just that my carrier somewhat sucks haha.
magic_android said:
If you live somewhere with good reception and you can get the desire z at a good price, then i'd say go for it . When i have good reception, calls sound pretty much perfect. It's just that my carrier somewhat sucks haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying!
My carrier sucks too, but only outside the city, but I get full signal strength with my ZTE Blade in my house. Considering that the ZTE Blade has similar network issues, I think I don't mind the bad reception issue. Things are getting positive for this phone... I couldn't go to see it today, but I'll try tomorrow!
Ditamae said:
Might be worthwhile to check out the official review thread in the General section.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its great you pointed me out to that thread, it added to my knowledge about the DZ!
And I also found a ZTE Blade owner who had upgraded to DZ on that thread!
TenMaKo said:
I bought my DZ a year and a half ago and i've never encountered major issues other than ROM depending ones.
I live in a french "big city" and never have signal troubles.
Sure he doesn't have incredible performances (mostly with Sense 3.x Roms) and if you want to use it while lying on your bed and holding it above you you will suffer of a loose hinge but if you can find it at a reasonable price, it's still a good deal and one of the best with an HW Keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, HW keyboard is important as I always face issues with my existing phone when it comes to using the on-screen keyboard. Well, I'll just grin and bear the loose hinge.
Thanks to everyone on this thread. I seem to like the phone now.I just need to see it in reality to make up my mind.
it's just the keyboard issue, other than that , the phone is awesome
Very quick fix if you feel the keyboard is loose. Check the thread on the spring fix. I did both mine and my girlfriends g2s in 20min. As for reception there are more radios to pick from then on any other device I've used so chances are at least one is good in your area and this may help with battery life too. Also I get about 20 hrs give or take with most roms and I'm a heavy user. My gf still has over 80% battery when she plugs in at night as a light user. Not to mention many after market batteries to pick from.
Did a lot of research before I bought us both g2s and I could not find a better option for us as the keyboard was the hw biggest need for us
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
The screen is meant to be loose, in that it allows you to flip the keyboard open and closed with almost no effort. I actually find it pretty tough to hold the phone in such a way, that it opens when upside down. Any contact with your fingers/hands on the "screen" portion of the phone will prevent it from opening accidentally. You actually have to be holding the back "half" of the phone without touching the front "half" in order for it to open while upside down. A few people have mentioned that the phone opens when they are using the phone and laying down. But I often use my Z while laying on the couch, and have never found this to be an issue. My opinion is that the hinge "issue" has been completely overblown, and don't let it negatively sway your opinion of the phone.
Battery life is obviously a very difficult thing to compare between users, as its very dependent on how you use your phone, and also reception. But with fairly moderate use, the Z will easily get you through the day, and then you charge overnight. With light usage, I can often get 2 days. On the other hand, when I'm hiking in the woods, in poor reception areas, I can kill the battery in 8 hours or less, without even using it. Forcing the phone to EDGE seems to help, as some of the battery drain seems to be from the phone constantly trying to connect to a dodgy 3G signal. Similarly, in less populated areas (but still in built up towns) I will sometimes get battery life much less than the usual 1-2 days I can get at my home and work locations. I guess the moral of the story, your mileage will certainly vary. But for average conditions, I'd say the Z has pretty good battery life for a smartphone.
All that said, the Z is a solid phone, and a great community here. But I'd be hard pressed to recommend buying one at this time. The phone is a year and a half old. The CPU and memory specs are really showing their age. And its unfortunate that flagship devices with hardware keyboards seem to be becoming an extinct species. I'd only consider this device if you really require a hardware keyboard, and can get a good price.
redpoint73 said:
The screen is meant to be loose, in that it allows you to flip the keyboard open and closed with almost no effort. I actually find it pretty tough to hold the phone in such a way, that it opens when upside down. Any contact with your fingers/hands on the "screen" portion of the phone will prevent it from opening accidentally. You actually have to be holding the back "half" of the phone without touching the front "half" in order for it to open while upside down. A few people have mentioned that the phone opens when they are using the phone and laying down. But I often use my Z while laying on the couch, and have never found this to be an issue. My opinion is that the hinge "issue" has been completely overblown, and don't let it negatively sway your opinion of the phone.
Battery life is obviously a very difficult thing to compare between users, as its very dependent on how you use your phone, and also reception. But with fairly moderate use, the Z will easily get you through the day, and then you charge overnight. With light usage, I can often get 2 days. On the other hand, when I'm hiking in the woods, in poor reception areas, I can kill the battery in 8 hours or less, without even using it. Forcing the phone to EDGE seems to help, as some of the battery drain seems to be from the phone constantly trying to connect to a dodgy 3G signal. Similarly, in less populated areas (but still in built up towns) I will sometimes get battery life much less than the usual 1-2 days I can get at my home and work locations. I guess the moral of the story, your mileage will certainly vary. But for average conditions, I'd say the Z has pretty good battery life for a smartphone.
All that said, the Z is a solid phone, and a great community here. But I'd be hard pressed to recommend buying one at this time. The phone is a year and a half old. The CPU and memory specs are really showing their age. And its unfortunate that flagship devices with hardware keyboards seem to be becoming an extinct species. I'd only consider this device if you really require a hardware keyboard, and can get a good price.
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Click to collapse
I guess if I buy the phone, I'll have better battery life as I have my cellular plan limited to 2G so that is going to make a big difference. Anyways its not like my existing phone(ZTE Blade) has great battery life and reception, so I'm used to this.
And ay the community here is AMAZING, the number of ROMs and Radios is superb! I am no fan of OC'ing so CPU speed doesn't matter. HW keyboard is soo tempting.
Thanks a lot for all your responses... I'll search for the spring fix for the keyboard...
jj_95nano said:
I am no fan of OC'ing so CPU speed doesn't matter.
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Actually have to say that this statement is a bit backward. If you were into overclocking, that would make up a bit for the lower "stock" CPU clock speed of 800 MHz. As it is, the CPU on the Z is good enough for most tasks. But newer CPUs are pushing 1.5 GHz, and multi cores, and you can really tell the difference. My tablet is a HTC Flyer, with a 1.5 GHz CPU, and it just, well . . . flies. So much more smoother interface experience (even with Sense), smooth video playback (Rockplayer), and this is only with single core (most phones are now coming dual core, and quad core coming soon). Plus 1 GB of RAM means much less dropping of apps from memory. My Flyer acts like I wish my Z would.
Again, don't get me wrong. The Z is solid, and will still have plenty of life left, if you really need the keyboard. But its nowhere near cutting edge, and for me its time to move on. I'll likely be picking up the One X when its released.
redpoint73 said:
Actually have to say that this statement is a bit backward. If you were into overclocking, that would make up a bit for the lower "stock" CPU clock speed of 800 MHz. As it is, the CPU on the Z is good enough for most tasks. But newer CPUs are pushing 1.5 GHz, and multi cores, and you can really tell the difference. My tablet is a HTC Flyer, with a 1.5 GHz CPU, and it just, well . . . flies. So much more smoother interface experience (even with Sense), smooth video playback (Rockplayer), and this is only with single core (most phones are now coming dual core, and quad core coming soon). Plus 1 GB of RAM means much less dropping of apps from memory. My Flyer acts like I wish my Z would.
Again, don't get me wrong. The Z is solid, and will still have plenty of life left, if you really need the keyboard. But its nowhere near cutting edge, and for me its time to move on. I'll likely be picking up the One X when its released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mostly agree with this post and his previous one.
I'm also considering buying an HTC One X.
It seems so great : Tegra3 1.5Ghz QuadCore - 1GB RAM - Screen resolution : 1280*720px, Internal Memory 32GB, Front Camera, NFC, Native ICS + Sense 4 in its full version
Compared to our DZ, that's just like WOW !!
But no hardware keyboard anymore and no real HDMI connection (you need a special cable).... for a 600€ phone.... that really pisses me off.
@ the OP, i think you should wait a couple of months until some new phones come out so that you have more choice. I'm personally HIGHLY considering getting a One X or One S if i can find the money for it as the keyboard on my phone is driving me nuts xD.
redpoint73 said:
Actually have to say that this statement is a bit backward. If you were into overclocking, that would make up a bit for the lower "stock" CPU clock speed of 800 MHz. As it is, the CPU on the Z is good enough for most tasks. But newer CPUs are pushing 1.5 GHz, and multi cores, and you can really tell the difference. My tablet is a HTC Flyer, with a 1.5 GHz CPU, and it just, well . . . flies. So much more smoother interface experience (even with Sense), smooth video playback (Rockplayer), and this is only with single core (most phones are now coming dual core, and quad core coming soon). Plus 1 GB of RAM means much less dropping of apps from memory. My Flyer acts like I wish my Z would.
Again, don't get me wrong. The Z is solid, and will still have plenty of life left, if you really need the keyboard. But its nowhere near cutting edge, and for me its time to move on. I'll likely be picking up the One X when its released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to contradict you, but I never overclocked my existing phone which is only 600MHz and I was pretty satisfied because I used custom ROMs. The only Overclocking that I did was to OC the GPU. But the stock 800MHz on DZ is good with custom ROMs as I saw on youtube...
Well I'm still a teen so the One X is a tad too expensive. I txt, so HW keyboard is a necessity. I have an iPod touch 4 for 1GHz . I use that for Gaming, media, etc(you obviously know)...
Yes the market is full of Dual and Quad core phones and tabs out there but I might just venture out to that segment when I'm actually looking for a good quality phone to use long-term when I'm older(Coz my parents don't think I'd handle those kinda expensive Gizmos)
magic_android said:
@ the OP, i think you should wait a couple of months until some new phones come out so that you have more choice. I'm personally HIGHLY considering getting a One X or One S if i can find the money for it as the keyboard on my phone is driving me nuts xD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After reviewing the phone in a store I was pretty impressed and there really wasn't anything wrong with the keyboard(firm enough) on that piece so I think I'll just have to have my fingers crossed to get a piece that has a stiff keyboard.
I need to buy a phone quick as my ZTE Blade's value is going down and I don't want to spend too much on upgrading. The only competitor IMHO to the DZ is Xperia Pro. So I think I'd either buy the DZ or the Xperia Pro...
You're talking about the mini pro? Or is there another version of it? The dz will probably have a larger community since that device wasn't advertised too much. It's still a great device though, a friend of mine's got it and I had the chance to play around with it.
The phone's hardware, as redpoint73 stated, is indeed starting to age. It can last for a bit more than a year, if you don't mind the slower hardware. So, it might just be worth it if you upgrade every 1,5-2 years.
Sent from my DZ.
crestofawave said:
You're talking about the mini pro? Or is there another version of it? The dz will probably have a larger community since that device wasn't advertised too much. It's still a great device though, a friend of mine's got it and I had the chance to play around with it.
The phone's hardware, as redpoint73 stated, is indeed starting to age. It can last for a bit more than a year, if you don't mind the slower hardware. So, it might just be worth it if you upgrade every 1,5-2 years.
Sent from my DZ.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I'm talking about this: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_pro-3779.php <<< It has a resolution of 480x854, so its bigger and it has a 1GHz processor. Only thing is that it does not have a good community(or maybe no community...)
I bought my ZTE Blade just 5 months back, so you know that's pretty short... I will obviously upgrade in the future if there is another phone that I fall in love with
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_pro-3779.php
jj_95nano said:
I don't want to contradict you, but I never overclocked my existing phone which is only 600MHz and I was pretty satisfied because I used custom ROMs. The only Overclocking that I did was to OC the GPU. But the stock 800MHz on DZ is good with custom ROMs as I saw on youtube...
Well I'm still a teen so the One X is a tad too expensive. I txt, so HW keyboard is a necessity. I have an iPod touch 4 for 1GHz . I use that for Gaming, media, etc(you obviously know)...
Yes the market is full of Dual and Quad core phones and tabs out there but I might just venture out to that segment when I'm actually looking for a good quality phone to use long-term when I'm older(Coz my parents don't think I'd handle those kinda expensive Gizmos)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its largely a matter of personal preference and needs, so feel free to disagree! Its you buying the phone, after all. But for me, its really quite evident when comparing the Z to more modern phones, the difference in CPU. Lightweight ROMs help, but its really just a Band-Aid when the CPU is falling this far behind. But if you're on a budget, and can get a good deal on a Z, its still a solid phone.
Slightly off topic, but speaking of CPUs on newer phones, have you guys seen the recently posted benchmarks on the US (AT&T) version of the One X (actually One XL)? Dammmnnnn, this thing embarrasses every phone currently on the market, including the Galaxy Nexus. Much less an older phone like the Z:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1565181
jj_95nano said:
No I'm talking about this: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_pro-3779.php <<< It has a resolution of 480x854, so its bigger and it has a 1GHz processor. Only thing is that it does not have a good community(or maybe no community...)
I bought my ZTE Blade just 5 months back, so you know that's pretty short... I will obviously upgrade in the future if there is another phone that I fall in love with
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_pro-3779.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that we don't care about the slight difference between the 2 processor as you can OC your DZ from 800Mhz to 1.8Ghz without problems (i know u can even go higher but i've never tried). Even if you're not fond of OCing, that's still a possibility.
Screen resolution doesn't seem relevant to me neither. 480*800 VS 480*854.....
On the other hand, the community should be a major argument as it's the one thing that allows our DZ not to be totally outdated.
P.S: Sorry, i'm pretty sure my english is terrible
TenMaKo said:
P.S: Sorry, i'm pretty sure my english is terrible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, almost perfect, actually. And more better than many native English speakers on XDA. ;-)

[Reviews] Oppo N3 Review Thread

Oppo N3 Review Thread​
Hey all
This thread is to collect the available reviews for the Oppo N3 into one place. Feel free to post reviews found on the web or when the device becomes available create your own:good: If anybody feels one should be added to the OP, please PM me. I'll kick off with a few i found on the net:highfive:​
Reviews/Previews
http://www.stuff.tv/oppo/oppo-n3/review
Stuff.tv Hands-on/Preview
http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/oppo-n3/
CNET - Hands-on​
Video Reviews/Previews
Android Authority - First Look​
Good And uPDATE
So Nice i See Specification .But Cost Some High
Review Quick and Dirty
Bought it today after comparing it with Mate 7 and here is my quick and dirty review:
Plus
+ very impressed by the motorised camera
use of o click: can control manually in small increments, on screen or through the o click;
+ sound quality and volume;
+ extremely fast camera focusing and shot to shot speed;
+ finger print scanner is good once i've figured out how to use it (and this coming from a person whose corporate finger print scanner cannot read mine...)
+ despite the weight of 192 g, it feels solid instead of heavy
+ without using the VOOC charger, charging speed is snail like; with the VOOC, it is really fast
+ O click pairs quickly and works very well (as compared to the previous version)
+ ps. heard from some reviewers that the camera head is loose but mine feels satisfactory. Some also mentioned about the rattling from the loose volume button, but mine seems fine too. Heng ah.
+ despite the many complaints about the faux leather over the camera/ear piece, after using it, I think i like this choice as it makes long conversation where I place my ear tightly next to the ear piece more comfortable. In short, it looks like a misfit, but it feels good when used.
+ Oh i love the gesture functions esppppppppppppppppp the double tap to wake, 3 fingers to screenshot
Minus
- crazy location of ear phone jack (though, fortunately, I use wireless earphones, so it is irrelevant.)
- coming from Note 4, somehow this screen looks small, although both are 5.5 inches
- mass storage option is gone (previously oppo had it right?)
- auto brightness is too aggressively dim indoors
In all, i think it is an excellent phone. However, at this price point, I don't think it'll move many pieces.
As compared to Mate 7, I think where Mate 7 trumps N3 is its screen to fascia ratio since Mate 7 doesn't have a rotating camera and uses on screen keyboard. However, i found mate 7 to be a tad unwieldy and the speaker to be too 'thin'/too shrill.
Largely agree with the above.
The good:
The phone is overpriced. I pre-ordered from OppoStyle and got a free VOOC battery pack, 32GB SD Card, and an iLike case for it, so the price of £430 actually felt ok, but without those freebies I'd feel a little bit ripped off, and that offer is gone now.
The camera is fabulous, only taken one selfie with it so far which was after a 4 day long course and 140 mile drive home, no makeup and really tired, but still somehow made me look good: http://lum.uk/temp/IMG20150122211859.jpg
The shutter speed on the camera is really fast too, so great for taking cat photos. http://www.imgur.com/p5dwFqR.jpeg
Dual-SIM on a flagship phone is wonderful. Work have me using a Blackberry Curve with a data bar on it and only Blackberry services allowed, so I've never been able to shove my work SIM into an Android and still get email before. Words cannot express how much I hate that Blackberry but I can't even dial on it without either using a pen to poke the keys, or end upbreaking a nail.
Color OS is actually surprisingly nice. This is the first Android I've owned where I haven't felt the need to immediately rip out the entire OS and replace it with Cyanogen or AOKP (My previous androids were an HTC Desire Z and a Motorola Droid 4). I've still had to replace the launcher with Nova Launcher though.
VOOC charging is really clever. I read a bit about how it works, the phone basically has 3 batteries and charges them at 1.5A each, so it's not going to kill the battery too fast. I really don't mind that a standard charge is slow. I charge it overnight at 2.1A from a USB mains socket by my bed, so that'll be 0.7A per battery which is going to make it really nice to the batteries longevity.
Battery life is superb. Even during a day of heavy use, my second day of owning the phone, including much tinkering, gaming and also using a lot of data in the doctor's waiting room, it was only down to 40% by midnight.
The "Skyline" notification light is actually quite good in these days of LEDs that are far too bright, however whenever I see the name I always think of a Nissan, not a fancy LED.
An SD card slot on a high end phone released in 2015!
The downsides:
The dual-SIM layout is slightly odd. It takes a micro SIM as its primary and a nano SIM as the secondary. 4G is only available on the micro SIM, not the nano!. This strikes me as an odd decision as nano SIMs are more likely to be 4G capable, and to be the primary SIM for the phone, with the larger SIM being from a crappy company phone. Fortunately for me my girlfriend is very good with a craft knife and the Blackberry SIM is now a perfectly good nano SIM. I guess some folk would rather use up their works data allowance for everything and then stick in a personal nano SIM for calls.
The position of the power button is annoying. I keep grabbing it and locking my phone when I want to just hold the phone. I wonder if there's a way to make that button unlock only, not lock, as I can lock it by either closing the case or double tapping the home button.
Opening task manager by doing a long press on menu, rather than home, takes a little bit of getting used to.
The Oppo widgets only work on their own launcher. I had to install Google Calendar to get a working calendar widget, which then left me with two calendar entries in the app drawer.
There is still a little bit of bloat to be removed. Google Chrome should not be baked into a ROM as it's 80mb and is almost invariably out of date when the phone ships, plus I use Firefox anyway, also the above mentioned oppo calendar.
There's a hidden app with the name still in Chinese that had me nervous at first as I had no idea what it did. Turns out it's EngineeringMode.apk and is triggered by *#*#4636#*#* and has a few things to tinker with, but use with caution.
No kernel source code available, no fastboot files available. This is especially annoying given that the OTAs failed for me.
Most information about the phone, and about ColorOS is only available in Chinese.
Non-removable battery.
SD card can't be used at the same time as a second SIM. I wonder if careful shaving of both cards could get around this, but unwilling to try it as getting a card stuck in that slider would basically ruin the phone.
The SIM slider can be completely removed and if you lose it you have a £430 tiny overpriced tablet!
All in all I'm quite happy with my purchase. I'm not sure it'll do that well as the phone doesn't know what it wants to be. The dual-SIM thing is great for business people, but the selfie camera is obviously targeted at young women, yet the size is likely too big and they're competing with Samsung who actually have physical shops in the UK. They're also doing zero marketing. For me it is (almost) the perfect phone*, but I'm weird and have multiple often contradictory requirements. I love it but not sure I'd recommend it to anyone else.
* for it to be perfect it would have to have a 5-row QWERTY slider. This is my first non-QWERTY phone and I'm struggling with typing having come from a Droid 4. Guess I need to look for an external keyboard.
so far battery life seems to be as good as my note 4.
very happy with the phone so far but knowing me, soon, i will revert to note 4 cos i like the pen.
the motorised camera is quite amazing.
my main gripe is i wish the finger print scanner were as big as the huawei one.
Comparing with Note 4
Note 4 over N3
- generally faster esp with file copying
- slimmer
- feels better in the hand
- a more sensible headphone jack
- better screen
- better auto brightness
- Spen!!!!
- GPS is better
- more RAM
N3 over Note 4
- faster camera
- more wow factor with the camera module
- much better mono speaker
- better finger print scanner
- colorOS is a more user friendly OS than touchwiz
- can be dual sim (not checked whether it is dual standby though)
- lower price point plus got freebies
- gestures are great!!
- fast charging is quite phenomenal
The placement of the monospeaker is particularly smart. It is at the bottom but more importantly, because of the skylight notification portion, the speaker is not the last part of the phone. This is important because for phones with bottom-mounted speakers, when i play games and hold the bottom, my palm covers the speaker. Additionally, when the phone is placed on the table, with the skylight bulge and the table flanking the speaker, there is a lot of resonance, making the speaker pretty loud!! At the same time, on speaker phone mode, i can cup my palm over the bottom to increase the volume. In all, this is the best implementation of bottom speaker.
what do you mean by "dual standby"? I have two SIMs in there, so I'll test it for you.
i suppose to find out whether both lines can be called through or whether only one can be used (despite there being two sims in the phone).
Lum_UK said:
what do you mean by "dual standby"? I have two SIMs in there, so I'll test it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
both sims work at the same time
inertiaholic said:
i suppose to find out whether both lines can be called through or whether only one can be used (despite there being two sims in the phone).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can receive calls or texts on both sims at the same time....the sim settings are also great...you can set it to default reply so that if someone texts or calls you on sim1 the phone will default reply on sim1....also when you go to make a call or send a text there is an option for both sims you just press the one your using
Review by Music.Photo.Life.
I'm happy to share my review of the OPPO N3 here.
http://musicphotolife.blogspot.sg/2015/04/oppo-n3-swivel-camera-smartphone-review.html
Thanks for reading!

LG G4 Overheating while charging and under basic browser load.

Hello everyone!
I just aquired this phone yesterday and so far, I am amazed with the screen it has.
Although, as soon as I plugged it into the charger, the phone began heating up quite a bunch. The upper frame of the phone is where the heat comes from, almost as if it's coming from the processor or some shorted circuitry.
It's not unbearable to the touch, but it's really close to, which got me really worried.
Is it normal to heat like that on that upper frame while charging and under simple browser load? It also heats up a lot while downloading stuff from the Google Play store, even if not plugged to the charger. Oddly enough, the phone doesn't seem to have throttled down and I didn't have any lags or something. I ran a 3D Mark test when the phone was charging and got really warm, it still scored over 17.5k.
There's a screenshot below for the temperatures I am getting, those were actually low, some of those sensors appeared over 65C earlier on.
Is it faulty hardware? Should I return the product? Could anyone help me? Any help is really appreciated!
Mine never gets that hot. Only warm, as I would describe it best.
I'd try for a return/swap before it's too late and something fries.
G4 temperature testing
Keep in mind it depends on your environment of course, but unless you're living in the depths of hell I seriously doubt 48c while doing nothing much isn't a hardware (SoC thermal) problem. I'd be pushing for a replacement, where'd you buy it from?
By the way 65c? Jesus even my Oneplus 2 didn't get that hot.
hyperfriend said:
Mine never gets that hot. Only warm, as I would describe it best.
I'd try for a return/swap before it's too late and something fries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'll probably try it. I had a Xperia Z1 before and it never gave me heating problems, not to mention the battery would last an entire day with my using and watching videos. Already talked to the seller actually and the person said she'll be waiting for me to change the phone. I don't know, really; might be me and my location, it's really hot in here. Always about 30~35C+. But I still believe the phone shouldn't get that warm when charging.
I actually made a little comparison and my modem/router reaches about the same temperature as it; that is, without any cooling, the little modem gets incredibly hot to the touch.
I actually tried a few things I read around, hard/soft resetting, trying a less juicy charger (taking in consideration the one it comes with delivers 1.8 amp), tried one with 1 amp max output, still heated...
Either way, would you mind posting a screenshot like mine with your phone after some heavy usage/gaming? That'd be really helpful! Thanks in advance for replying!
Ran Antutu, midway switched to Aida and:
Do note: phone still does not feel "hot". Warm, sure. Hot, not quite :good:
Stevles said:
G4 temperature testing
Keep in mind it depends on your environment of course, but unless you're living in the depths of hell I seriously doubt 48c while doing nothing much isn't a hardware (SoC thermal) problem. I'd be pushing for a replacement, where'd you buy it from?
By the way 65c? Jesus even my Oneplus 2 didn't get that hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's what the sensors were showing, I don't have a good way to actually measure the temperature the hardware is reaching... Does the OP2 heats up? xD
Well, Brazil isn't really far from hell, common temperatures ranging from 35-43 during the day is...pretty close, I suppose.
Pfeffernuss said:
Ran Antutu, midway switched to Aida and:
Do note: phone still does not feel "hot". Warm, sure. Hot, not quite :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reference! It's strange though, my sensors reached about the same temperature, but the phone doesn't simply feel warm... As I said earlier, it really feels like a cheap-o ADSL modem on a hot day. You can hold your hand over the screen, for an example, but it becomes uncomfortable. The sides also gets really warm. I managed to figure where most of the heat came from though, it's just at the upper-left edge of the phone, close to the frontal-facing camera.
I've had 4 different Verizon g4's now and the all did the same thing , the two I have that are newest (one a couple weeks old) and they would get so hot around the modem and CPU i couldn't touch them and if even smell the chemicals in the plastic starting to release vapors (which that's not far from actual ignition) but the newest one isn't quite as bad. They all still worked through the heat without any noticeable damage, but I still have to pop the back off while using chrome plugged or not and hold it in front of a fan. This is the weirdest damn phone I've ever seen. .so picky and requires a lots of care but setup just right with a balance of what is continuously running especially how many and what kinda persistent services and it has become a real powerful toy lol
Sent from my VK700 using Tapatalk
The LG G4 is hot because of the Snapdragon 808 processor... See the link here I started:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/help/lg-g4-thermal-compound-mod-t3255074#post64038221
37 and 39 ° on bms? seriously dude, thermal throttling starts at ~45°. Your phone is absolutely normal!
Don't look at tz sensors, they are components instant temperature.
dadrumgod said:
I've had 4 different Verizon g4's now and the all did the same thing , the two I have that are newest (one a couple weeks old) and they would get so hot around the modem and CPU i couldn't touch them and if even smell the chemicals in the plastic starting to release vapors (which that's not far from actual ignition) but the newest one isn't quite as bad. They all still worked through the heat without any noticeable damage, but I still have to pop the back off while using chrome plugged or not and hold it in front of a fan. This is the weirdest damn phone I've ever seen. .so picky and requires a lots of care but setup just right with a balance of what is continuously running especially how many and what kinda persistent services and it has become a real powerful toy lol
Sent from my VK700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh my god, I have been doing that with mine, that's hilarious! I mean, my Xperia Z1 would get really hot with some applications, but then I'd just take it under a tap and cool it off... xD
On the other hand, I really didn't know I'd need to care so much about heat under normal usage with a flagship phone. It's sad because it becomes really uncomfortable to hold.
Almighty1 said:
The LG G4 is hot because of the Snapdragon 808 processor... See the link here I started:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/help/lg-g4-thermal-compound-mod-t3255074#post64038221
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh...okay, I will sure check that, thanks! But the last thing I want to do is to open a damn phone just to apply thermal compound. I wouldn't mind doing that to a PC every week, but doing once for a phone is kinda sad...
oile said:
37 and 39 ° on bms? seriously dude, thermal throttling starts at ~45°. Your phone is absolutely normal!
Don't look at tz sensors, they are components instant temperature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kinda figured that out, the temperature they were showing is really over the head. The problem is, the upper part of the screen feels way hotter than 40C. I also did another run with the phone while heated and it showed throttling this time. Scores from Antutu and 3D mark were about 15~20% off.
michaelnishi said:
Oh my god, I have been doing that with mine, that's hilarious! I mean, my Xperia Z1 would get really hot with some applications, but then I'd just take it under a tap and cool it off... xD
On the other hand, I really didn't know I'd need to care so much about heat under normal usage with a flagship phone. It's sad because it becomes really uncomfortable to hold.
Uh...okay, I will sure check that, thanks! But the last thing I want to do is to open a damn phone just to apply thermal compound. I wouldn't mind doing that to a PC every week, but doing once for a phone is kinda sad...
I kinda figured that out, the temperature they were showing is really over the head. The problem is, the upper part of the screen feels way hotter than 40C. I also did another run with the phone while heated and it showed throttling this time. Scores from Antutu and 3D mark were about 15~20% off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xperia Z1 runs on a Snapdragon 800, not a 808 so it's not the same. That's the reason the G4 used a 808 instead of a 810 as the 808 is throttled back. As for opening the phone, it's the easiest phone to open and you only need to do it once for the thermal interface material, G3 had heating problems too. A Smartphone is still a computer as it's a entire Unix workstation that fits in your pocket. The processor is 6 cores and is 64 bit and it's located on the top part of the screen.
Almighty1 said:
The Xperia Z1 runs on a Snapdragon 800, not a 808 so it's not the same. That's the reason the G4 used a 808 instead of a 810 as the 808 is throttled back. As for opening the phone, it's the easiest phone to open and you only need to do it once for the thermal interface material, G3 had heating problems too. A Smartphone is still a computer as it's a entire Unix workstation that fits in your pocket. The processor is 6 cores and is 64 bit and it's located on the top part of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I know that quite well, believe me. It still makes me a bit sad about having a phone of this kind heating like a piece of plastic you find at those cheap-o stores. I would have actually bought a Xperia Z3+, but I heard so much about the thing overheating that made me really sad.
I also found one of those travel pack kits, with a battery and a external charger, is it a good idea to get one? You know, make usage of this lovely thing that swappable battery is.
Oddly enough, my own battery seems to be lasting pretty okay, fully charged yesterday, did some gaming, watched videos on YT, installed applications and such. Still going for over 24 hours right now and it has some juice left.
michaelnishi said:
Yeah, I know that quite well, believe me. It still makes me a bit sad about having a phone of this kind heating like a piece of plastic you find at those cheap-o stores. I would have actually bought a Xperia Z3+, but I heard so much about the thing overheating that made me really sad.
I also found one of those travel pack kits, with a battery and a external charger, is it a good idea to get one? You know, make usage of this lovely thing that swappable battery is.
Oddly enough, my own battery seems to be lasting pretty okay, fully charged yesterday, did some gaming, watched videos on YT, installed applications and such. Still going for over 24 hours right now and it has some juice left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember that Sony has always been known as a quality electronics brand. LG = GoldStar... until they had flat screen tv's, GoldStar was always a low end brand. It's no different than Hyundai having their new Genesis or whatever car and trying to be in the luxury market. The brand will never be the same level as the luxury brands like Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti if you know what I mean.
No idea about the travel pack kits as I have never seen one here, depends if it's a good value or not as the battery alone is about $US30 and you really only need the battery. If you really wanted another battery, just call the wireless carrier and claim that your battery have issues, they'll send you one for free without having to send the old one back. I have over 760 apps installed including system apps and I have to greenify everything, otherwise Google Play Store won't download and install and hangs, doesn't do it on my Motorola Xoom tablet with less memory but only happens on phones even Motorola's for some reason. I noticed if I freeze Lookout, my battery life is way longer.
Almighty1 said:
Remember that Sony has always been known as a quality electronics brand. LG = GoldStar... until they had flat screen tv's, GoldStar was always a low end brand. It's no different than Hyundai having their new Genesis or whatever car and trying to be in the luxury market. The brand will never be the same level as the luxury brands like Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti if you know what I mean.
No idea about the travel pack kits as I have never seen one here, depends if it's a good value or not as the battery alone is about $US30 and you really only need the battery. If you really wanted another battery, just call the wireless carrier and claim that your battery have issues, they'll send you one for free without having to send the old one back. I have over 760 apps installed including system apps and I have to greenify everything, otherwise Google Play Store won't download and install and hangs, doesn't do it on my Motorola Xoom tablet with less memory but only happens on phones even Motorola's for some reason. I noticed if I freeze Lookout, my battery life is way longer.
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True about the brand thing. But I really thought LG improved a lot. With their flat-screens and phones at least. I have been using LG monitors and TVs for a while now, only issue I had was with a LCD monitor, after 5 years of usage the thing won't stay on for over 5 minutes. The monitor would reboot and freeze at the LG logo.
The carrier thing isn't a choice where I live. The phone is "unlocked", so you can use with any carrier you want. My model is also the H818, dual-sim version. And yeah, it's going really cheap here, it's about 90 BRL, which is about 23 bucks. I found it in a good retail store and the product is certainly original from LG.
I also thought about getting the brand new Xperia Z5, but it's far too expensive here and it would have a smaller screen. While the Z5 premium isn't even an option because it hasn't reached the stores yet. So, the best option I had was the LG G4. Best price, swappable battery, larger screen, great camera and the best of those was the expandable storage. I own a toshiba class 10 64 gig SD, didn't want it to go to waste with a Samsung phone. ^^
michaelnishi said:
True about the brand thing. But I really thought LG improved a lot. With their flat-screens and phones at least. I have been using LG monitors and TVs for a while now, only issue I had was with a LCD monitor, after 5 years of usage the thing won't stay on for over 5 minutes. The monitor would reboot and freeze at the LG logo.
The carrier thing isn't a choice where I live. The phone is "unlocked", so you can use with any carrier you want. My model is also the H818, dual-sim version. And yeah, it's going really cheap here, it's about 90 BRL, which is about 23 bucks. I found it in a good retail store and the product is certainly original from LG.
I also thought about getting the brand new Xperia Z5, but it's far too expensive here and it would have a smaller screen. While the Z5 premium isn't even an option because it hasn't reached the stores yet. So, the best option I had was the LG G4. Best price, swappable battery, larger screen, great camera and the best of those was the expandable storage. I own a toshiba class 10 64 gig SD, didn't want it to go to waste with a Samsung phone. ^^
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It really depends on how many of the components are made by LG. Samsung makes more of the things inside their devices. As for LG, their OLED Flat Panel displays are full of problems if you look at avsforums which results into replacing panels and even sending full refunds. Panasonic sources the LG panels and then uses their own electronics and the thing is better but the Panasonic is atleast $US10k while the LG is $US5k.
I had never seen a LG monitor until recently as I'm still on a Silicon Graphics Inc 1600SW made by Mitsubishi Industrial in Japan, this is the same display used by the big CEOs on their desks including Bill Gates.
You can use the Verizon Wireless LG G4 with any carrier you want too, it's just the data part might not be 4G LTE speeds as those are all carrier dependent. Wow, 23 bucks is cheap for a phone since wouldn't it actually be cheaper buying another G4 than the so called battery kit you mentioned? The LG G4 supposedly has better reception than even Motorola phones from what I heard so not all is bad, basically they don't put 100% into a product so they can have room to introduce better models at a later date. LOL. The LG G4 is the only phone currently that has both a replaceable battery and MicroSD slot. To me, the second one is a requirement while the first one is good to have.
Almighty1 said:
It really depends on how many of the components are made by LG. Samsung makes more of the things inside their devices. As for LG, their OLED Flat Panel displays are full of problems if you look at avsforums which results into replacing panels and even sending full refunds. Panasonic sources the LG panels and then uses their own electronics and the thing is better but the Panasonic is atleast $US10k while the LG is $US5k.
I had never seen a LG monitor until recently as I'm still on a Silicon Graphics Inc 1600SW made by Mitsubishi Industrial in Japan, this is the same display used by the big CEOs on their desks including Bill Gates.
You can use the Verizon Wireless LG G4 with any carrier you want too, it's just the data part might not be 4G LTE speeds as those are all carrier dependent. Wow, 23 bucks is cheap for a phone since wouldn't it actually be cheaper buying another G4 than the so called battery kit you mentioned? The LG G4 supposedly has better reception than even Motorola phones from what I heard so not all is bad, basically they don't put 100% into a product so they can have room to introduce better models at a later date. LOL. The LG G4 is the only phone currently that has both a replaceable battery and MicroSD slot. To me, the second one is a requirement while the first one is good to have.
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Oh, sorry my english failed me there, second language and stuff, you know? I meant the charger kit is 23 bucks in here. 90 BRL converted to USD is about 23 bucks. The phone itself costed me almost 500 USD, got the one with black leather back, damn it looks great.
There's a lot of stuff about components I didn't know. Decent monitors here such as gaming ones are really expensive. LG ones manages good image quality and are also quite cheap. There is cheaper stuff in here, but the image quality on them is really bad.
Swappable battery isn't a must for me either, it's just nice to have. Now the MicroSD slot is a must, I like carrying a lot of stuff on the phone. Music, videos, games and such. Just 32 gigs wouldn't be enough for me xD
At $US23, it's still a bargain for the charger kit. I have the black leather back as well except the thread on mines is black as I basically used shoe cream on it to condition the leather after hearing some people's leather worn off.
About all monitors are cheap compared to my SGI which was $US2,500. I actually never use the internal SD because if something happens to the phone and it won't boot, you're in trouble as I have my Titanium backups on a 200GB MicroSD card which was actually cloned from my Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD.
Almighty1 said:
At $US23, it's still a bargain for the charger kit. I have the black leather back as well except the thread on mines is black as I basically used shoe cream on it to condition the leather after hearing some people's leather worn off.
About all monitors are cheap compared to my SGI which was $US2,500. I actually never use the internal SD because if something happens to the phone and it won't boot, you're in trouble as I have my Titanium backups on a 200GB MicroSD card which was actually cloned from my Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD.
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It is really cheap indeed, just ordered one. The kit's model is BCK-4800, it comes with an extra battery, a battery case and the external charger. Really great deal!
Did not know about that thing on the leather back... I do have a simple TPU case here, I haven't been using it because the phone's temperatures. It's really odd though, today isn't so hot in here (About 25-30C most) the phone is warm but it charged really quickly, it jumped from 5% to 85% in less than an hour. xD
Either way, that sounds like a really expensive monitor...Woah...
I'm using a battery pack as I still didn't get the free promotion of the battery, battery case and leather back yet as they ran out of stock. Last email from LG on October 20, 2015 was another 4-6 weeks which has came and gone, they haven't responded to my emails either. I'm using a Ringke Fusion case except it always pulls the entire leather back off when I try to take off the case.
http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-LEATHER-Back-Absorption-Protection-Customizable/dp/B00V51QOXA
When I got my monitor, it was in 2000 so it's still alive and kicking... LOL. It's basically the 17.3" version of the Apple 22" display. SGI is the big workstation manufacturer that has 500" or larger screens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_1600SW
Almighty1 said:
I'm using a battery pack as I still didn't get the free promotion of the battery, battery case and leather back yet as they ran out of stock. Last email from LG on October 20, 2015 was another 4-6 weeks which has came and gone, they haven't responded to my emails either. I'm using a Ringke Fusion case except it always pulls the entire leather back off when I try to take off the case.
http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-LEATHER-Back-Absorption-Protection-Customizable/dp/B00V51QOXA
When I got my monitor, it was in 2000 so it's still alive and kicking... LOL. It's basically the 17.3" version of the Apple 22" display. SGI is the big workstation manufacturer that has 500" or larger screens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_1600SW
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I did a quick search on it and saw that! I am actually using a old LG CRT monitor because my old 23 inch LCD one broke.
That case looks really good, but it's not shipped to Brazil... Oh well, nothing new, really.

Turbo 2 My final thoughts.

I have an S6 edge and i love the phone but the battery life left me to leaving battery saver on all the time and at the end of the day i would be at about 30%. So i thought it was time to pick up something that will last longer. And i had the phone since launch so time for something new.
First things first. Its huge. Its really big. But so is the price you pay for a phone that can walk away from a 900 foot drop and has a huge batt. Secondly if you get this phone do as i did. Before you even touch the display put the glass screen protector on it. If not you will get scratches.
So day to day use i love it. I end the day with about 70% battery life. The charger is amazing. 25watts will get you topped off really fast. Display is not bad. You really need to look to see the gap that all the layers make it have. But really not bad. People say i sound much better on the phone and people sound better. The radios in this phone kill the S6 edgs. Where i would get around 65Mbs down i now get around 100Mbs. Calls are nice and clear. Camera takes a little getting use to and you will deff want another camera app as the stock is blan. I can get pretty good pics now but it was a change going from a ois cam to one without it but phase detecting auto focus. Android runs smooth and i love the moto touches. First phone since the droid razer and im glad they pulled back. The moto touch is a great polish to android.
The bad. Bluetooth to my car some times will take 30-45 sec to connect. My S6 is much faster. But the Turbo 2's connection was solid and gave me no issues.
I really love this phone. Put a $20 128gig micro sd card in it and replaced the stock gray ballistic nylon back with a black nylon back and it was not that hard. As soon as the guy who i order my parts from gets the blue buttons and what not ill put those on it so i can have the one i want "Wanted it that day did not want to wait for the moto maker version" But ill be keeping it. I miss my S6's finger print reader but with a patter lock and set up to only lock when i set it down i can live without it. And its good to say screw you sammy and your super locked down devices. My S6 is rooted but thats the last sammy phone ill ever own due to them locking them down so hard.
Here are some benchmarks that i have done at diff times when someone asked me. Looks like i got a decently binned 810 and is at the higher end of the spectrum.
bignazpwns said:
I have an S6 edge and i love the phone but the battery life left me to leaving battery saver on all the time and at the end of the day i would be at about 30%. So i thought it was time to pick up something that will last longer. And i had the phone since launch so time for something new.
First things first. Its huge. Its really big. But so is the price you pay for a phone that can walk away from a 900 foot drop and has a huge batt. Secondly if you get this phone do as i did. Before you even touch the display put the glass screen protector on it. If not you will get scratches.
So day to day use i love it. I end the day with about 70% battery life. The charger is amazing. 25watts will get you topped off really fast. Display is not bad. You really need to look to see the gap that all the layers make it have. But really not bad. People say i sound much better on the phone and people sound better. The radios in this phone kill the S6 edgs. Where i would get around 65Mbs down i now get around 100Mbs. Calls are nice and clear. Camera takes a little getting use to and you will deff want another camera app as the stock is blan. I can get pretty good pics now but it was a change going from a ois cam to one without it but phase detecting auto focus. Android runs smooth and i love the moto touches. First phone since the droid razer and im glad they pulled back. The moto touch is a great polish to android.
The bad. Bluetooth to my car some times will take 30-45 sec to connect. My S6 is much faster. But the Turbo 2's connection was solid and gave me no issues.
I really love this phone. Put a $20 128gig micro sd card in it and replaced the stock gray ballistic nylon back with a black nylon back and it was not that hard. As soon as the guy who i order my parts from gets the blue buttons and what not ill put those on it so i can have the one i want "Wanted it that day did not want to wait for the moto maker version" But ill be keeping it. I miss my S6's finger print reader but with a patter lock and set up to only lock when i set it down i can live without it. And its good to say screw you sammy and your super locked down devices. My S6 is rooted but thats the last sammy phone ill ever own due to them locking them down so hard.
Here are some benchmarks that i have done at diff times when someone asked me. Looks like i got a decently binned 810 and is at the higher end of the spectrum.
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Click to collapse
I got one 2 days ago. Do not regret it one bit whatsoever; great device in every way. It's fast, battery life is crazy good, no overheating/throttling, display is very clear with extremely accurate colors for an OLED (gets up to about 400 nits max [pretty average], color temperature is about 6800K [kelvins] so really accurate.
Camera takes very good photos, and I can use it with one hand with small hands. No lag whatsoever, even after intensive gaming.
The bad: I wish there was a fingerprint sensor on here; not a major issue for me. Benchmarks:
bignazpwns said:
...
The bad. Bluetooth to my car some times will take 30-45 sec to connect. My S6 is much faster. But the Turbo 2's connection was solid and gave me no issues.
....
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Interesting... What model radio/car do you have? My DT2 connects to my Fiat and BMWs pretty much immediately.
Tangent_ said:
Interesting... What model radio/car do you have? My DT2 connects to my Fiat and BMWs pretty much immediately.
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2015 Camaro ZL1. My S6 connected much faster. But it's all good. Prob just a setting on my phone I can change.
TurboBot247 said:
no overheating/throttling,
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Except for when you're charging it. The only time the Turbo 2 ever heats up is when you turbo charge it, and I've experienced some throttling playing games at the same time. Kinda sucks since my PlayStation emulator absolutely murders the battery, so the only way you can play it for an extended period of time is while it's charging I had to use my old Samsung charger that charges slower to avoid throttling.
Turbo/fast charging is handy but not good for battery life in long term. When you play games, part of the power/current goes to the device itself so it's less destructive for battery but heat is.
Takes almost a minute to connect to my Porsche panamera as well
thomasvm said:
Takes almost a minute to connect to my Porsche panamera as well
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I don't know if its the Bluetooth scan interval on the turbo 2's stock setting but my s6 was maybe 10 sec at most. It's not a big issue just annoying.
Very rarely my DT2 will not connect in time to my Ford's Sync system. But, it's probably 1 out of every 20-ish tries (unless the Sync module needs a fuse pull), and all I have to do is just push the Voice button and tell it Bluetooth Audio.
My Galaxy S6, on the other hand, it was maybe 3/10 times that it would successfully connect. It had terrible battery life, too, would be down to about 20% after playing local music with the screen off for ~7 hours.
My DT2 is a beast and blows away the S6. Note4, too, but it's a much closer race with the Note4.
I find it hard to believe you found a 128GB micro SD for only $20. Sounds like you're ebragging and if it really was that cheap, I'm sure it won't last long. Cheapest I could find was for $34.99 and that was on sale.
graymonkey44 said:
I find it hard to believe you found a 128GB micro SD for only $20. Sounds like you're ebragging and if it really was that cheap, I'm sure it won't last long. Cheapest I could find was for $34.99 and that was on sale.
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Called Craigslist. Do you always cry? Let me guess you and you alone know the price of ever thing at all times? Internet know it all's. I love xda.
bignazpwns said:
Called Craigslist. Do you always cry? Let me guess you and you alone know the price of ever thing at all times? Internet know it all's. I love xda.
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Well someone got mad over the smallest thing. Didn't take much to get your jimmies rustled, lol. 'Tis the season of giving. Have a happy holidays.:thumbup:
You can find the cheap ones but you get what you pay for lol
There are rumors, that is possible to find sd card with capacity as much you wish. Even unlimited is possible. When sd card reach physical limit, will start writing data from the beginning. So in theory has unlimited capacity for writing, only problem is reading
Interesting, coming from my Droid Maxx, my bluetooth is totally improved in both of my cars.
The only complaint I have with the phone is now I cannot speak at all in my condo where before (with the Maxx) I was able to talk with only an occasional blackout (even in my basement).
burnxtc said:
Interesting, coming from my Droid Maxx, my bluetooth is totally improved in both of my cars.
The only complaint I have with the phone is now I cannot speak at all in my condo where before (with the Maxx) I was able to talk with only an occasional blackout (even in my basement).
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I am noticing call quality lacking on some of my calls as well. This is a very good phone but I'm gonna return it (and get something else) if the static and broken calls continue.

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