Develop Bugs

How does the G3 compare to my S5 and M8? My mini review.

So after using the G3 for about a week, I picked up an S5 also to compare it to. My G3 will be replacing my HTC One M8.
Performance initially was disappointing, seemed to microstutter everywhere which gives a perception of a laggy device. At first I was very upset but after putting all 3 devices side by side and running and opening apps ect., the G3 is just as quick, if not quicker then the S5 and M8 when opening and switching apps, the key difference here are in the animations.
The S5 and M8 are very consistent with smooth app opening, closing and switching animations. Always seems to run fluid 90-100 percent of the time, the G3 struggles to render them smoothly consistently. The animation stutters, stutters, then closes and vise versa when it opens on many occasions. Drove me insane! In-app performance are pretty much identical between the 3 with scrolling a tiny bit smoother on the S5 and M8.
Screen quality, I would have to give the win to the HTC M8 out of the box, because of the weird over sharpening high contrast setting LG decided to use, text on the G3 looks lower resolution than the HTC as a direct result. Colors on the G3 also looks a little washed out compared to the M8 and S5 out of the box, BUT...you can change the contrast ratio on the G3 in the accessibility menu and make the colors pop to your hearts desire. Very nice.. M8 also has better black levels than G3.
Don't get me started with the S5's screen, I can't believe one report actually gave it the "best display ever tested" title. Looks like garbage compared to the G3 and M8. No matter what setting I chose, adapt display, professional, cinema ect, it was way over saturated to the point where the colors look almost neon like. Everything looks lower resolution also, I blame TouchJizz mostly because once you switch to a different launcher like Nova, the icons look sharper but still not on par with the M8 or G3. The S5's display looks "Okay" once you crank the brightness past 75 percent, anything under that and the screen just looks terrible. Maybe my eyes have gotten accustomed to IPS LCD, I can't see myself going back to AMOLED. If this is the best that AMOLED can offer at the moment.. NO THANKS!
Camera, lets make this simple. The S5 takes the best pictures overall. It also records the best video with options for full 60fps in 1080p. G3 is a close second but the colors just doesn't seem to look as nice as the S5's, clarity and details are similar but the S5 exposes the picture better. HDR is also better on the S5. M8 takes very nice close up and macro shots but sucks big time when you try and take a scenery shot I really haven't tried much night time photography so I can't comment on that.
Battery life, S5 and G3 seems to be neck and neck lasting my entire work day with heavy use, the M8 trails behind and needs to be plugged in for my drive home.
Design and in hand usage. This is very subjective, I find the S5 the most comfortable to hold but it's also the most godawful looking. There's no denying it, the S5 is one ugly phone compared to the other two. Looks and feels terribly cheap, huge bezels giving the phone a very dated look. M8 looks great, build quality is nice but it's also very uncomfortable to use. It's slippery, the edges are sharp and it's just a pain (literally) to hold on to. It just doesn't give you a reassuring feel when using it especially over any hard surface. It also feels a lot heavier. The G3 is the perfect blend between the two, it looks beautiful, perfectly weighted, comfortable to hold, feels solid in the hand and has just enough "grip". Hands down I think it looks the best, just gorgeous.
Audio, as you guessed it the HTC One M8 tops it here, it sounds great with the Boom sound external speakers and with headphones plugged in. Bluetooth audio streaming also sounds very clean with the M8, the G3 matches the M8 in headphone audio output and bluetooth streaming quality but obviously gets smoked when it comes to external speaker quality. G3 still sounds very loud and pretty full for having only one rear firing mono speaker. The S5 is the worst performer here, headphone audio performance is just dismal compared to the other two even after playing with the built-in EQ. Bluetooth audio streaming on the S5 is also weak, audio tracks sound very degraded over bluetooth. Another weird issue I had with the S5 was it didn't play nicely with my Lexus Mark Levinson system, I had to crank the volume to twice the level to get the same output as the M8 and G3. (Yes, the bluetooth output volume was set to max on the S5) The S5's external speaker is also the tinniest, almost painful to listen to at higher volumes. It has piercing highs with no mids or lows. I guess when you make the phone IP67, sacrifices must be made.
Conclusion, as you can see all the phones have their pros and cons but overall I think we all made the right decision with the G3. I've been on a search for the "perfect" phone since I can remember, for me at the moment, the G3 is the closest one yet. I'm sure performance will improve with updates so I am excited for the G3's future. I'm also glad I gave it a second chance, I literally had it all boxed up with the return label slapped on it back to T-Mobile. Looks like it will be sticking with me for a little bit longer.

Woot

Here's my copy and paste from another site reviewing the same three phones. This may be a good thread for people to detail their experience with the three big players.
"Alright so I've had it a few days now and here's what I think of it. Out****ingstanding.
Hardware - The metal looking plastic back is actually pretty nice. I think it actually has some metal in it, it doesn't feel plastic and cheap in the hand like the GS5 does. It doesn't have the heft of the M8 but it's also not as slippery as the M8 either. It's just about right. It's removable so it's easy to throw a spare battery in your car or camera bag or pocket or whatever if you're going to be out all day. That being said, the battery life is surprisingly good given the resolution/size of the display. Which brings me to the display. It's also outstanding. The first G3 I got had a weird yellowish tint to the display, did a little research and it seems there's some inconsistency among the displays from manufacture, I took it back to T-Mobile and they swapped it out without any hassle. It's huge, it's bright, it's incredibly sharp. There really isn't much bad I can say about the display. The buttons on the back took a little getting used to, but after a day you're used to them and it's actually quite natural to use them. The camera is awesome, I think it's bright light capabilities are on par or better than the M8 and definitely better than the S5. Under lower light it's at least on par or slightly better than the S5 and ****s on the M8. The OIS and "frikkin laser" focus is awesome, makes it really easy to pull it out and snap a pic really quick without the fuss the other two give. Wireless charging is available with an appropriate back cover, but more on that later. The single rear speaker is similarly placed to the S5 but it's much louder and your hand doesn't muffle it in regular use. Clarity is much better than the S5 as well. The M8 destroys all comers in this area with it's front facing speakers.
Software - The LG overlay is actually quite nice. I think it's just as good as HTC's Sense and kicks Touchwhiz in the grundel. It's easy enough to disable most stock LG apps if you want to. There's a faint touch of lag to the OS, not as bad as Touchwhiz but just a hair worse than Sense. If you kick the animations down to 0.5x from 1x in developer options it goes away. There's a health app, the people on xda seem to like it a lot but I don't use it.
Daily use - This thing really shines. The size is marginally bigger than the others in one dimension or another, but the shape of the back cover makes it perfectly comfortable to use and it doesn't feel at all as big as it actually is. The M8 feels really skinny next to it and the S5 feels like a giant, rectangular brick. Easy to use one handed, especially with the rear buttons. The OIS of the camera is really quite good and it's probably the first Android phone I've used that I think has a camera comparable to the quality output from the iPhones under all scenarios. Battery life has been great, I can easily get through a whole 12 hour shift at work and have plenty of battery to spare and I use the phone quite heavily and have music playing probably 10 of those 12 hours.
Signal strength - So I originally got the AT&T version before realizing those ****s disabled Qi charging in favor of PMA so I actually have some experience with the d850 (ATT) and d851 (TMo). The modems are the same between the two, the only hardware difference between the two devices I believe is AT&T's hardware removal of Qi. Both phones were on the same rev and they picked up signal the same as the S5 and a little worse than the M8 on AT&T. I have all Qi stuff so I said **** it and switched to TMo and have been quite pleasantly surprised. Their service in my area is great (better than AT&T coverage was) and the calls/sms/mms over WiFi is actually awesome, especially at work as most of the hospital is well insulated from outside communication. I also have unlimited everything for about $40/mo less than I was paying for 4gb at AT&T.
Advanced nerdy stuff (root) - If you root the phone, which is available for all variants and most with a one click utility, then the thing outshines the other 2 on all fronts. There's a mod for camera quality that kicks the image quality above the other 2 under all lighting conditions and increases the video recording quality to 1080p/60 and increases the bitrate of the 4k recording. There's a tweakbox that lets you customize the LG overlay to your personal taste and with a couple minor tweaks it is fastest experience of the 3. You can tinker with the volume of the speaker and the volume increments which is needed (30 vs stock 15 options). Then of course you can use Titanium Backup to freeze/uninstall all the carrier bloat. Xposed Framework of course brings hundreds of mods for just about anything you'd want to do.
Overall - Out of the box within confinements of not being rooted 9/10
----------- After root 10/10"

I agree with most of what you said, except I think the S5 has a better screen overall. I came from a Note 2, so I am used to the saturated colors. But regardless of your preference of saturated vs natural colors, I think most people would agree that the S5 has better brightness and viewing angles. I also think text on the G3 is oversharpened/overprocessed.
I think LG got the "feel" of the G3 just right. The S5 is a freaking brick and looks like it was beaten with an ugly stick. The M8 is disproportionately tall, and also heavy & slippery.
As far as sound, the G3 falls in between. The S5 speaker is anemic. The M8 blows everything else out of the water. I always listen to music via headphones or my car system. But if you absolutely *must* listen to audio via speakerphone, then the M8 has no equal. I must admit, sharing videos with friends is a much more pleasant experience on the M8. The G3 speaker does a respectable job, but you still have to cup your hand around the back to hear anything (at least at my age).
Despite its flaws (which are very minor), I think the G3 is the phone to beat this year. The Note 4 will no doubt offer some serious competition, but I think the Note line targets a different demographic. People that don't want or need the Note's special features will probably find the G3 to be an almost perfect compromise of size, features and performance.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

Dan37tz said:
Camera, lets make this simple. The S5 takes the best pictures overall.
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I don't have my G3 yet, but based on images I've seen online, I, ever so slightly, prefer the G3's photos as it seems to get slightly better detail. What I mean is that, at least from what I'm seeing, it looks like the S5 is trying to over-sharpen details in software instead of just using what is available through the sensor. For instance, outlines of leaves in front of the bright sky shows a tiny bit extra outlining to me.
Oddly enough, this shouldn't be the case since the S5 has a slightly larger sensor, more megapixels and a slightly wider aperture @ f/2.2. Perhaps that new isocell sensor isn't all it's cracked up to be or maybe they just haven't fine tuned the software for it. However, with the G3 you also get dual flash, which is a feature that might come in handy for macro shots, and there is that laser focus thingy the G3 has. So, I dunno, I was leaning towards the S5 myself, but after seeing test photos and reading reviews about all the other aspects of the phone itself I went with the G3.
Perhaps completely manual shooting with the S5 would render better results than the G3.
In the end though, I just wanted something that could compete with my old T-mobile 4G Slide. My Google Nexus 4 certainly didn't and I'm glad it's paid off and done with.

Dan37tz said:
Camera, lets make this simple. The S5 takes the best pictures overall.
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Click to collapse
Have to disagree there, I think the G3 pictures are better. I took some pics of my car today and was actually quite impressed with how they came out compared to similar shots at the same place and same time of day and same subject matter. I do agree the HDR shots from the S5 are better, but who uses that anyway

boosting1bar said:
Have to disagree there, I think the G3 pictures are better. I took some pics of my car today and was actually quite impressed with how they came out compared to similar shots at the same place and same time of day and same subject matter. I do agree the HDR shots from the S5 are better, but who uses that anyway
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Click to collapse
I wonder if it is due to the lens itself?
Perhaps the G3 is using a better lens (Sony?) and it is of better quality than what Samsung is using on the S5. There is actually a list of people with cracked and broken S5 lenses, so I'm guessing the glass they are using isn't very good.
From what I've seen, the M8 appears to take cleaner night shots, at least with macro and no flash, However; I do not know how low the ISO settings will go with it. I think the G3 can do ISO 50, so if the image stabilization is as good as LG claims and the focus laser is really fast it should end up taking pretty good night shots in manual mode.
In the end I think all three are good cameras for a cell phone, I just feel like the G3 has more options for covering different kinds of shooting. Then again, I haven't used any of these phones personally yet.:silly:

I suspect with the XPOSED module Viper4Android, you can tweak the sound on the G3 to be on par with boomsound or even better.
Also, have you taken many pictures in low light? It's my understanding that the g3 has a much better camera for low light than the s5. It's not as good in direct sunlight, but better everywhere else making it a better "overall" camera. I don't have an s5 to compare the G3 to, so I'm just going off what I've read. It would be nice to hear from someone that has both.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I must not be getting the same bluetooth results as you...
This is the worst I've heard in the past few years, as far as bluetooth media pairing goes..
it sounds like the bit rate of a 320 mp3 goes down to 96 or 128.
I'm quite concerned about this...
I'm pairing up to a VW/Dynaudio setup.
Iphone, GS4, lumia 925...all sound 10x better.
did you do any bluetooth tweaks?

sic0048 said:
I suspect with the XPOSED module Viper4Android, you can tweak the sound on the G3 to be on par with boomsound or even better.
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Click to collapse
The M7/M8 have front facing stereo speakers. The G3 has one small speaker on the back, facing away from the user. Sorry, but no amount of mods will make the G3 external speaker sound like the M7/M8.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

M9, S6, N6 or G4? What should I buy?

Which one should I buy?
Really like the front speakers from HTC and Nexus 6. But dont know what is the best choice overall.
Here in my country the price of them are very similar.
Thanks.

If you are looking for a crack-flasher phone with no bugs on custom ROMs, Nexus is the way to go. If you want a nice audio experience, M9 it is. If you want a DSLR-like camera, G4 is your weapon. And if you want the more mainstream, less dev friendly but overall awesome device, GS6!
Sent from my SCH-I535PP using XDA Free mobile app

Csetoue said:
Which one should I buy?
Really like the front speakers from HTC and Nexus 6. But dont know what is the best choice overall.
Here in my country the price of them are very similar.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What else are you looking for?

sezamer66 said:
If you want a DSLR-like camera, G4 is your weapon.
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Nice joke....

Cryosx said:
What else are you looking for?
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Click to collapse
My last phones were Moto X and HTC M8.
I loved them both.
Moto X had a horrible battery life, and I gave it to my wife, that was in need of a phone.
My M8 was perfect, but I though that, as the Moto X, had a bad camera... Really smooth, excelent battery life, and a nice front speaker. I forgot my M8 on the top of my car, while I was putting my baggage on it.
I saw S6 and G4 on the store. Pretty nice phones, but I dont know if the their android will keep smooth after installing my stuff like it was on M8 or Moto X.
G4 has a nice camera. I like cameraphones (had also a Nokia 808, before). But when I travel, I always take my dSLR with me. G4 would be a nice pocket cam, but doesnt have front speakers (I always watch ytube videos and use loudspeaker for calls - like to have my hands free while in my workdesk).
My first smartphone was a Galaxy S1, and my wife has a tablet Note 2014. Im a bit traumatized with touchwiz. Too laggy. Before I bought them both, they looked awesome and smooth on the store. I felt a bit tricked by Samsung, and never bought nothing else from them after these products.
Nexus looks like a big Moto X. Better battery life, better camera, but its a bit huge, and its not 64bits (I think it may have a lesser longevity cause of that than the others). Probably, its smooth, and it has front speakers as well.
Im really tempted to buy M9, but the all the reviews tell that its camera is worse than the M8 camera, and its front speakers is also worse than those from M8's. Dunno If its battery life is better or worse (can anyone tell me?) than M8's battery. Also, dunno if, after installing some apps, it keeps smooth and quick as M8 (can anyone tell me about this, too?).
Really in doubt about what to buy. My friend told me to take a look on Sony Z3, and my other friend told me to keep waiting for the incoming gadgets (but Im without any smartphone, bad bad ).
Help.

Csetoue said:
My last phones were Moto X and HTC M8.
I loved them both.
Moto X had a horrible battery life, and I gave it to my wife, that was in need of a phone.
My M8 was perfect, but I though that, as the Moto X, had a bad camera... Really smooth, excelent battery life, and a nice front speaker. I forgot my M8 on the top of my car, while I was putting my baggage on it.
I saw S6 and G4 on the store. Pretty nice phones, but I dont know if the their android will keep smooth after installing my stuff like it was on M8 or Moto X.
G4 has a nice camera. I like cameraphones (had also a Nokia 808, before). But when I travel, I always take my dSLR with me. G4 would be a nice pocket cam, but doesnt have front speakers (I always watch ytube videos and use loudspeaker for calls - like to have my hands free while in my workdesk).
My first smartphone was a Galaxy S1, and my wife has a tablet Note 2014. Im a bit traumatized with touchwiz. Too laggy. Before I bought them both, they looked awesome and smooth on the store. I felt a bit tricked by Samsung, and never bought nothing else from them after these products.
Nexus looks like a big Moto X. Better battery life, better camera, but its a bit huge, and its not 64bits (I think it may have a lesser longevity cause of that than the others). Probably, its smooth, and it has front speakers as well.
Im really tempted to buy M9, but the all the reviews tell that its camera is worse than the M8 camera, and its front speakers is also worse than those from M8's. Dunno If its battery life is better or worse (can anyone tell me?) than M8's battery. Also, dunno if, after installing some apps, it keeps smooth and quick as M8 (can anyone tell me about this, too?).
Really in doubt about what to buy. My friend told me to take a look on Sony Z3, and my other friend told me to keep waiting for the incoming gadgets (but Im without any smartphone, bad bad ).
Help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're upgrading from M8, be prepared for the differences to be very subtle. I did this but was expecting basically the same phone only with some minor/under the hood improvements. And this is exactly what the M9 is. I loved the M8 and I love the M9 more, but it's probably only about a 10% improvement.
What carrier are you on? If your carrier doesn't already have a direct path to the 2.X firmware, I'd either get the developer edition or budget an extra $25 to obtain S-off. I'm att and couldn't imagine having to wait for them to give me an update. I think they finally pushed lollipop to the M8 in freaking March or April.

Csetoue said:
My last phones were Moto X and HTC M8.
Really in doubt about what to buy. My friend told me to take a look on Sony Z3, and my other friend told me to keep waiting for the incoming gadgets (but Im without any smartphone, bad bad ).
Help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The M8 is at least $300 on eBay so its half the price of the high end right now. I'd tell you to go get another M8 and save some money. Comparing it to the M9, the M8 has better battery life with a much more battery efficient processor that keeps the phone relatively cool. The performance difference between the S801 and S810 is negligible, you're just not likely to notice. Daylight shots should be better on the M9 whereas night shots are better with the M8. Speakers are somewhat better, Dolby surround stuff is pretty nice. In terms of development M8 is leagues better right now. I'd highly recommend skipping this generation and waiting for the new Nexus, HTC Hero device coming later this year, or the M10 next year.
There also a noticeable difference between the M8s screen and the M9s. If you liked the M8s you might not like the M9s.

All these flagships are pretty nice, and all of them have possible problems:
-S6: Pink tint on white, Board traces under sunlight, exploding battery, illogical TW
-M9: Screen wake lag (will be fixed by OTA), QC 2.0 that not always work, cracked camera glass (though still a minority)
-G4: Touchscreen issue (could be fixable by OTA), leather backs can loose color quite fast, huge lack of roms
On the good sides:
-S6: Very good camera both low light and daylight, gorgeous screen (when you don't have the listed faults)
-M9: Gorgeous camera in daylight (RAW) , Superb music, Fastest UI ever, quality Roms, best UI and apps (Sense 7)
-G4: Gorgeous screen, Superb camera in both daylight and low light, faster UI than S6
All of the 3 have advantages and cons, now see which one fits you better!
For example if you prefer larger screen the G4 is more suitable

jollywhitefoot said:
If you're upgrading from M8, be prepared for the differences to be very subtle. I did this but was expecting basically the same phone only with some minor/under the hood improvements. And this is exactly what the M9 is. I loved the M8 and I love the M9 more, but it's probably only about a 10% improvement.
What carrier are you on? If your carrier doesn't already have a direct path to the 2.X firmware, I'd either get the developer edition or budget an extra $25 to obtain S-off. I'm att and couldn't imagine having to wait for them to give me an update. I think they finally pushed lollipop to the M8 in freaking March or April.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cryosx said:
The M8 is at least $300 on eBay so its half the price of the high end right now. I'd tell you to go get another M8 and save some money. Comparing it to the M9, the M8 has better battery life with a much more battery efficient processor that keeps the phone relatively cool. The performance difference between the S801 and S810 is negligible, you're just not likely to notice. Daylight shots should be better on the M9 whereas night shots are better with the M8. Speakers are somewhat better, Dolby surround stuff is pretty nice. In terms of development M8 is leagues better right now. I'd highly recommend skipping this generation and waiting for the new Nexus, HTC Hero device coming later this year, or the M10 next year.
There also a noticeable difference between the M8s screen and the M9s. If you liked the M8s you might not like the M9s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vegetaleb said:
All these flagships are pretty nice, and all of them have possible problems:
-S6: Pink tint on white, Board traces under sunlight, exploding battery, illogical TW
-M9: Screen wake lag (will be fixed by OTA), QC 2.0 that not always work, cracked camera glass (though still a minority)
-G4: Touchscreen issue (could be fixable by OTA), leather backs can loose color quite fast, huge lack of roms
On the good sides:
-S6: Very good camera both low light and daylight, gorgeous screen (when you don't have the listed faults)
-M9: Gorgeous camera in daylight (RAW) , Superb music, Fastest UI ever, quality Roms, best UI and apps (Sense 7)
-G4: Gorgeous screen, Superb camera in both daylight and low light, faster UI than S6
All of the 3 have advantages and cons, now see which one fits you better!
For example if you prefer larger screen the G4 is more suitable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, guys!
Im in Brazil.
Here, the price are:
- M9 US$750
- G4 US$700
- S6 US$700
- N6 US$700
- Note 4 US$650
- M8 US$600
- Z3 US$600
- Z3C US$450
- Moto X US$400
If I could, I would wait for the next gen from HTC (the one named Hero).
But Im without any smartphone right now.
Id like to buy something that could lasts for the next 2 years.
Still, hasnt decided, yet. Have to make this until the next weekend.

I'd get the M8 over the M9. If you're bored with HTC phones then maybe try the Z3 compact. Battery life on that is supposed to be amazing. Not sure about anything else with the compact though.

Whats Missing or a Gain in Moto Z Play Over your Previous Phone?

What feature - functionality you feel is missing or is a big gain over you previous phone in your Moto Z Play?
I am yet to get the Z Play and currently having Moto Z 2nd gen which will go in exchange one the shipment arrives.
Missing things:
The things I could get from reviews that which I feel I will miss over my current phone are:
1. Form factor: Moto X 2 has got one of the best screen to form ratio. It has got thin bezzles at side as well as top and bottom. Z play has got massive bezzles at top and bottom making it a massive device over the X 2 without gaining significant screen area.
2. Noise cancellation mics: Moto X 2 has got 4 mics whereas Z Play seem to have 3. I always get crispy audio quality while recording videos. Never got any wind noise even in outdoor video. I doubt if Z Play will be able to do the same.
3. Infrared sensors for Moto Display: I can wake up Moto display withou touching it even in dark becasue of the infrared sensor on the face of it. Mot display feature is there in Z Play as well but can the display be woken up in the dark?
4. Attentive Display: Screen won't dim or shut off in X2 when users keeps seeing onto it. Didn't find any source mentioning if its available in Z Play.
5. Extruded bumper protectors on both speaker grills to protect screen: Not available in Z Play, even in any other phone that X2. And they have really helped in my case during few drops and also save the screen from getting scratched.
6. Loudspeaker audio quality: Its loud and crispy clear n X2. I have even stopped using hands-free audio system speaker feature in my car and feel the phone's speaker is enough. But the Z Play has got mixed kind of opinions on loudspeaker. Few even say the same speaker component is shared between earpiece and loudspeaker. If so then its very bad.
Gains:
1. Battery Life
2. Camera Quality
3. Fingerprint sensor Never used any screen lock so not a real gain but maybe I start using protection since I find fingerprint unlocking more convenient than entering pins or patterns.
4. Moto mods compatibility Not really interested at the moment so not a gain for me.
Overall I feel my loses are more than the gains.
What you guys feel when you compare the Z Play with your previous phones?

I changed from a Moto G 1st Gen so quite a lot of gains.

from x style to z play
loose stereo speaker, gain JBL speaker
loose 21mp camera, gain professional camera
loose 2k mon, gain battery life
loose 5.5 inch screen, gain hand grip
but i m using both for daily driver, so no concern lol

I am coming from OnePlus One to Moto Z Play
What I MIss
CyanogenMod
Developer Support for device (although this will pick up with time, but not like OPO)
Sultanxda
Loud speaker volume (Moto Z Play has a really low volume)
Notification LED
What I Gained
AMOLED screen
Fingerprint sensor
Monster battery life
Better camera (Laser Autofocus)
Metallic body
Dual Sim with VoLTE (Indian version)
Front camera flash

I come from a Moto G 2014, so every single thing is a gain. Except for the lack of stereo speakers. But it has a much better battery life, a much better screen, much better camera, much better headphone output, much better construction and a much better SoC. Can't complain at all.

Moto X Pure > Moto Z Play
Missing: QHD display, stereo spearkers, CDMA compatibility
Gain: Super Amoled display, Moto Mods, crazy battery life, usb type c, similar performing but more efficient processor, finger print sensor, laser autofocus
Edit: LTE works flawlessly on the Moto Z Play.

Jack Sparrow xda said:
5. Extruded bumper protectors on both speaker grills to protect screen: Not available in Z Play, even in any other phone that X2. And they have really helped in my case during few drops and also save the screen from getting scratched.
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Click to collapse
Hello moto. Moto x pure has speakers grills that protect glass when faced down. Willing to bet the pure has louder speakers. And are you sure it had 4 noise cancelling mics? Sometimes when a phone has multiple mics they serve different purposes and moto isn't known for the best noise cancellation. iPhone and phones that use audience tend to do very well than Qualcomm's on chip offering.

@rbiter said:
Hello moto. Moto x pure has speakers grills that protect glass when faced down. Willing to bet the pure has louder speakers. And are you sure it had 4 noise cancelling mics? Sometimes when a phone has multiple mics they serve different purposes and moto isn't known for the best noise cancellation. iPhone and phones that use audience tend to do very well than Qualcomm's on chip offering.
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Click to collapse
As per the specs I remember, Moto X 2nd gen (2014 version having 801 krait) has 4 mics and they are to help better noise cancelation as well as stereo recording.
I always got great life like audio quality in my videos recorded through this phone without any interfering wind noise etc like what we usually get when record video on most of the phones and cameras. Though i haven't been on other side of my X2 so can't tell how does it sound but never heard any complaints from other people hearing me.
I don't think iPhones have good mic setup or any cutting edge tech. One of my friend whom i regularly talk has iPhone6 and I struggle many a times hearing him compard to many other people having other phones whome I regulrly talk. Even network reception is not good on his iP6 and he keeps swithing service providers.
Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk

@rbiter said:
...and moto isn't known for the best noise cancellation....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is very wrong
motorola started with noise cancelation in their phones many years before anyone else (in past, they called it crystal talk)
not to mention Bluetooth headsets which are always top notch regarding noise cancelation

Just because they started it doesn't mean it is great in their phones. And wasn't talking about Bluetooth. Last Motorola Bluetooth earpiece I bought many many moons ago stopped working after 3 months. And it wasn't cheap.
---------- Post added at 12:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 PM ----------
Jack Sparrow xda said:
As per the specs I remember, Moto X 2nd gen (2014 version having 801 krait) has 4 mics and they are to help better noise cancelation as well as stereo recording.
I always got great life like audio quality in my videos recorded through this phone without any interfering wind noise etc like what we usually get when record video on most of the phones and cameras. Though i haven't been on other side of my X2 so can't tell how does it sound but never heard any complaints from other people hearing me.
I don't think iPhones have good mic setup or any cutting edge tech. One of my friend whom i regularly talk has iPhone6 and I struggle many a times hearing him compard to many other people having other phones whome I regulrly talk. Even network reception is not good on his iP6 and he keeps swithing service providers.
Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iPhone noise cancelation is a mixed bag. Wind noise is harder to cut. Also, placmemt and type of mic used. And iPhone still uses a very low bitrate when recording videos. Eager to see if the lg v20 lives up to its promise of clear recording ecen at high dB.

Since I'm still using my 2013 Moto X, anything is an upgrade.

Gain
- battery life. Coming from a 2 year old Note 4 that could barely get me to lunch, I was amazed yesterday to get from 6am to 3am with 40% batter remaining. Moderate use throughout the day, bit of gaming, bit of surfing etc.
Missing
- Miracast/ Screen mirroring. I used this all the time with my Note and Roku. I have no idea how to watch Kodi now so any advice would be gladly received.
Cheers

Battery life is only a hair worse than note4, but sometimes better. I got 6h58m SOT first full charge. 5.5h second charge in a more demanding environment but also had 15% left. Exceeded my expectations for battery and some might do better. Does screen sharing work for the above poster. Haven't tried it yet.

too big display for me, so maybe I will change it back too iPhone 6 xD
also I don't like "shh", which you can hear time by time when music or other sounds are on the low volume level

Love this phone
Coming from note 5
lost
1. Bigger screen and better resolution.
2.Best camera I have used on mobile phone.
3.Note 5 aesthetics are top notch.
gained
1. Battery Life no more 3hrs on screen time.
2. Fingerprint sensor way better than note 5.
3.Expanded storage through micro sd.
4.No att samsung bloatware
Overall the battery life on this phone just makes me love it more than any previous phone owned. Plus moto software it always on point form me :good: Also forgot to way less lag even with less processing power than note 5

Lost: RAM and a few steps on the camera quality scale. Dash charging.
Gained: Battery life
I came from a OnePlus 3. The drop in RAM is noticeable. I feel like almost every time I try to multitask and switch back to an app it refreshes on me. Also been very disappointed in the camera quality on the MZP. Battery life (my #1 priority) has made up for those 2 faults though.

Cons compared to Nexus 6:
-Had a slightly better camera in HDR mode. Particularly because of OIS
-Was nicer to hold.
-Android 7.0
-Higher resolution screen was a little nicer for VR.
-Used to have front facing stereo speakers.
Pros:
-Tripled battery life.
-Fingerprint reader.
-Style mods.
-Smaller screen (I have big hands and the N6 was still a touch too big)
-Dual tone flash.
-Front facing flash.
-No strange colour cast when the screen is dimmed.
-More responsive camera
Performance is sort of an outlier, since I think it's about the same. I think the Nexus 6 may have even been a bit faster.

_jfo_ said:
Lost: RAM and a few steps on the camera quality scale. Dash charging.
Gained: Battery life
I came from a OnePlus 3. The drop in RAM is noticeable. I feel like almost every time I try to multitask and switch back to an app it refreshes on me. Also been very disappointed in the camera quality on the MZP. Battery life (my #1 priority) has made up for those 2 faults though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just don't understand why people have such an insane amount of apps open, don't you ever close anything? 3gb is pretty much the standard.

_jfo_ said:
Lost: RAM and a few steps on the camera quality scale. Dash charging.
Gained: Battery life
I came from a OnePlus 3. The drop in RAM is noticeable. I feel like almost every time I try to multitask and switch back to an app it refreshes on me. Also been very disappointed in the camera quality on the MZP. Battery life (my #1 priority) has made up for those 2 faults though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably the ram management and how the app is programmed. Like xda doesn't like to stay in ram. Seems it wants to reload 80% of the time when you come back to it.

coolkingler1 said:
I just don't understand why people have such an insane amount of apps open, don't you ever close anything? 3gb is pretty much the standard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, it's insane that this happens when I have 3 or 4 apps running....

Moto Z Play or Lg G5

Fellow Moto Z Play users.
I'm an owner of g3, thats looping in the boot....
I dont trust lg anymore.... G2 screen burns, g3 cracked cases and heat related issue, g4 bootloop and g5 ghosting burn ins
So i today i'm ordering my phone. I want to make sure device wont get defects... Lg g5 with us warrsnty is 400usd.
Moto z play is 450USD.
Lg g5 is cheaper, yet has a better camera and better cpu gpu.
Moto z play has a better batterylife,britgher screen, lower performance, better perceived quality by me(we had 2 of moto g, both didnt have any issues).
How good pr bad the moto play z cam?
Is it bad in bad light. PLEASE help me. I dont want to go over 400 usd. I would buy axon 7 but the cam made me like no.
But if axon 7 and moto play z has the same cam or similar performancr. I will go with zte axon 7. For the performance and design also qhd display and priced 350 usd

I have had zero issues with low light pics taken with my z, and I've had some very good phones in the past (Sammy, HTC). The low light pics can be a bit grainy, and that's where the z play does struggle, but honestly it isn't as big of a deal as some reviews have stated.
Personally having slightly less sharp low light pics, which is rare, is a small trade off to the awesome battery and moto ui. I just got sick of charging my phone 2-3 times a day, and having high end specs meant less and less to me. This phone is a beast all around, it'll be hard to eventually replace it

I am coming from a Note 4 the camera of the Z play is better. It misses only the OIS. But this helps only for free hand low light images. LG may be slightly better in low light because of the better aperture and the OIS. But it won't be that big difference as all the reviews let you think. I would not expect any differences in daylight.

My friend has a G5 and wants my Z play.

thebrains9 said:
But if axon 7 and moto play z has the same cam or similar performancr. I will go with zte axon 7. For the performance and design also qhd display and priced 350 usd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Axon 7's camera is better than the Z Play's - at least on paper - not by much, but OIS may help it win the upper hand. Both are capable of excellent, current flagship quality daylight shots. The Z Play has better post processing and overall the better software and I personally prefer the Z Play's daylight shots, but both are good - neither is great in low light, the Z Play creates more blurry pictures more frequently due to lack of OIS, the Axon 7 has OIS but worse software and post-processing and creates more over- or underexposed pictures. Since bad exposure ruins pictures less than blurriness, I'd say it wins the duel but only by a hair.
While the Moto Z Play has an excellent, loud and crisp front facing mono speaker and generally great audio quality, the Axon 7 blows it and just about any other phone out of the water with its front facing, Dolby ATMOS enabled speakers.
In many other ways, the Axon 7 is superior to the Z Play only on paper. The SD 820 is faster on paper, but runs hotter and is much more power hunger than the Z Play's SD 625 - the real life performance difference between the two is almost imperceptible in everything but VR and hardcore 3D gaming.
Battery life is no contest, with the Axon 7 being pretty average and the Z Play essentially defining a new standard and effectively lasting twice as long.
Both have excellent displays, with the Axon 7's QHD mostly shining when it comes to VR, but again, difference during regular use is mostly negligible.
Where it all falls down is software and reliability. The software experience on the Z Play is nearly perfect, with an incredibly stable, smooth and near stock experience enhanced only by actually worthwhile features. It also comes with absolutely superior reception, be that WiFi, mobile, GPS or even bluetooth. It's always fast, never overheats and is as reliable as a phone can possibly be. It also comes with relatively fast Android updates and long software support.
ZTE's phone comes with a questionable at best custom UI, crippled stock features, buggy software, an insane amount of bloat and ZTE has a history of abandoning software support for their phones almost instantly, even for their former flagships. The Axon 7 is better than anything they have made before so this may change, but I personally wouldn't rely on that "maybe".
Honestly, ZTE's software overall software experience should be prohibitive at this point. Get a OnePlus 3T instead or, well, get the Z Play - an utterly brilliant phone in everything but overall camera performance (where it is merely good but not great).
If camera trumps all, go for the G5, but you should already be aware of LG's build quality issues - that hasn't changed with the G5 by most accounts.

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Xiaomi Mi A3, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Xiaomi Mi A3 is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

I was skeptical and very dismissive of it due to the 720p spec of the display. Yet having it changed my opinion. I placed it next to a 2k LCD and found little difference at a typical daily use distance. I can only see pixelation when viewing very carefully, or using lens.
With that concern out of the way, the 720p display was an excellent choice when it comes to saving battery life. In fact it probably has the longest battery run time of the current crop of xiaomi phones, in large part due to the 720p OLED. With the minute visible difference (I don't understand how people can claim it to be obvious inferior, when to me it clearly isn't), I'm actually willing to take the trade off for better battery life. It is far more vibrant than LCD to boot. Most people I showed it alongside with 1080p LCD on the redmi note7 picked the A3 display, due to color vibrancy.
The camera is excellent. I did side by side comparison with the 64mp gm1 on the redmi note 7. I have to say GM1 did a great job catching up to Sony, but the IMX586 still have the clarity edge at low lights with less noise and clearer RAW images (yup I compared using RAW to take post processing out of the way). However, I can't really say it's a clear winner, as IMX results seem to "smudge" a bit. I'm wondering if by using 48mp marketing gimmick that requires pixel binding was actually a step backwards compared to just straight large-cell 12mp sensor (yet lower MP count sells fewer phones evidently). Nevertheless, no complaints with the cameras. Wide angle and front sensor are both excellent as well. A great phone for selfie lovers, and better than most xiaomi phones except maybe mi9.
Loudspeaker is loud but only above around 800-900hz. So even mids are kinda subdued, and shrieking sounds are pretty loud. Mine buzzes at mid range frequencies which is really annoying. Some built in notifications would result in a buzz at the loudest and 2nd loudest volumes. It's not terribly loud and so the loudest volume is easily required when outdoors or in an urban setting. I think mine's probably defective, as it developed after a few days (past the refund period. :-/) It's not exactly malfunctioning, but annoying nevertheless.
I still love the phone, because of the smaller form factor for true one handed handling. It feels thin and light, yet packs a punch in terms of display colors, battery life, and camera quality. If it can be rooted with AOSP rom, or have native gcam support (I use RMN7's port and it works sans wide angle), it'd be even nicer.
It definitely feels like a better build, with better looks and feel over A2. I think it's a great little package, and if you can get it at a good price, it really is bringing the flagship camera and battery life with clean android to the masses. Something Pixel 3a is trying to do but A3 truly does it better in many ways, not the least its price.

Phone is pretty nice, but it needs some custom rom support. I feel stock is not so optimised as it could be, sometimes it slows down opening apps etc.
Also, max screen brigtness is too low. I didn't pay attention to this while buying it, but anything below 400+ nits is too dim on sunlight.
After using both, Miui and Stock Android, i feel stock is getting overrated. Miui is as fast and packed with features and customization, and Miui's dark mode is way better than google's implemetation.
I personally think Cc9/Mi9 Lite is a better buy although it's cost is a little higher.

Absolutely love this phone, resolution doesn't bother as much as you think it would. My only complain with this phone is vibration motor, but apart from that, it's a fantastic phone (probably the best) in this price range. Biggest loving factors for me are
*Super fast storage (UFS 2.1)
*sAmoled screen
*Build quality and size
*Stock Android

Battery life is super. That's very important for many people

I REALLY recommend that phone, it's amazing for the price... the display is not disappointing as a lot of people say (and anyway, who the F really needs a 1080p display??? what for??? it's not as if the phone was the size of a TV!!!). It's rootable, fast, has a great camera, but doesn't have NFC... In my case, I didn't want it anyway (had it on previous phone, and only used it to show off when reading CC details).

After about two weeks of usage, I really like the phone. Really suits my disabled hands. I wish the screen were a little wider than tall because the extra height doesn't help me so much but extra width would make a lot of things bigger and easier.
I got this for the OLED screen and was not disappointed. Would not trade for a better spec'ed LCD screen. I am all in on OLED. Now do I wish it were 1080 so text would be crisper? Sure. That or a non pentile screen. But for this price, it's not happening at this point in time.
Speed and responsiveness is quite good. It does slow down and lags at time but overall I'm happy with it.
Camera is fine. I don't take pictures much so as long as the pictures I do take aren't embarrassingly bad I'm happy. And I think it's way better than not bad.
Where it falls down is in the audio department. I'm coming from a hand me down iPhone 5 and by comparison the speaker is tinny and kind of painful to listen to. The 3.5mm output isn't great either. I notice a real drop in quality with my grado sr60. I've done the af.resampler.quality tweak too. I'm using an equalizer to make it sound better, but wish they hadn't cut this corner.
Overall, if there's a better OLED phone at this price I don't know about it. I would be willing to pay more to get 1080p and better audio, but not like $150 more after tax like the Mi 9T or Samsung S50. I wish Xiaomi had a phone in the middle. I don't need pop up selfie camera or fancy back. I would be happy with a plastic body and have the money go inside the phone. Lighter to boot.

I love u

still loving it. Audio recorder should be available in the next update.

I love my A3 too. Battery life is insane, sadly i find the Finger Unlock sensor very very slow. It takes so long to unlock that i always using a Pin number instead to be faster. :crying:

I love it. Just got mine a week ago and I really like it. Certainly reminds me of Nexus in many ways. A lot better than MIUI iny opinion. Used Redmi 4X before.
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