So, would u recommend mi5s? - Xiaomi Mi 5s Questions & Answers

Hi,
I intend to buy the Xiaomi Mi5s/4//128
But i never had a xiaomi phone before.
My concerns are how is it getting old? Like how will it b after 2 years of usage, in case, of course that i take care really good on my phones.
Lets say,
Right now i use ZUK Z1 (for a year) and i really like the battery life(really! I work with my phone and i don't charge it at work at all, keep using same battery for the whole day @work - 08:30-18:30 ) and the stock feel that cos gives me.
What i like less is the camera and the fact that it's the 2nd time that my homebutton including fingerprint sensor stopped working.
So what i need is good battery, good camera and RELIABLE phone unlike zuk z1 as i plan on holding it for 2-3 yrs.
(I know theres a mi5s plus with bigger battery, but i know mi5s camera is better so ill go for it - i just nees to know about battery life cause i couldn't get a decision after watching youtube)
I plan on using official global rom stable
Thanks,!!!
Sent From My ZUK Z1

Related

LG G3, still a good option for this year?

Hello guys, I wanna buy a new smartphone, have a S3 and now I'm tempted to buy the LG G3 with 32GB internal and 3GB RAM. Is a good option for nowadays?
Yes, it's still a good option. However, I would invest in the V10, because it's superior in every way, and will last you longer. The G3's development is dying in terms of stock based ROMs, which in my opinion are the best kind of ROMs.
It is a good choice, but if you're in America, go for the V10. Much better investment.
(insert witty signature here...)
Mevolent said:
Yes, it's still a good option. However, I would invest in the V10, because it's superior in every way, and will last you longer. The G3's development is dying in terms of stock based ROMs, which in my opinion are the best kind of ROMs.
It is a good choice, but if you're in America, go for the V10. Much better investment.
(insert witty signature here...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in Europe, portuguese. And why you say that. Isn't CM13 a good option?
Ariano Ângelo said:
I'm in Europe, portuguese. And why you say that. Isn't CM13 a good option?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is, but the camera is of a lower quality in AOSP or CM based ROMs.
(insert witty signature here...)
Mevolent said:
It is, but the camera is of a lower quality in AOSP or CM based ROMs.
(insert witty signature here...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohh okay thank you. It's normal then. But the focus is the same speed?
Ariano Ângelo said:
Ohh okay thank you. It's normal then. But the focus is the same speed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No - ASOP won't have the drivers for the Laser-Autofocus and I guess OIS is out of reach as well - so no. CM/ASOP isn't going to be anywhere near as fast especially not that CM has no Camera 2 API implemented. The only choice would be a good Camera App to get somewhat good pictures as well, but they're still not going near Stock as it would have to rely on Software totally.
-----
Bottomline of the Story:
I'd love to get the V10 but I neither do have the money noir do they sell it in Germany. Seems like LG hates Germany nowadays ... (curses)
justyourimage said:
No - ASOP won't have the drivers for the Laser-Autofocus and I guess OIS is out of reach as well - so no. CM/ASOP isn't going to be anywhere near as fast especially not that CM has no Camera 2 API implemented. The only choice would be a good Camera App to get somewhat good pictures as well, but they're still not going near Stock as it would have to rely on Software totally.
-----
Bottomline of the Story:
I'd love to get the V10 but I neither do have the money noir do they sell it in Germany. Seems like LG hates Germany nowadays ... (curses)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think in Portugal we don't have it too. And camera is not the most important thing to me so...
EHK! Just found out it 's going to be sold end of december here in Germany as well on Amazon !!!!
http://www.mobilegeeks.de/artikel/lg-v10/
Should probably release at the same time or close in the rest of Europe!
That taken aside:
The G3 is a phone made for people that are willing to do things like opening the phone and applying a Cooling Mod and take a lot of time into customization and tweaking of Stock roms in my opinion - and you loose to much out if you go the ASOP/CM route with it (in my opinion). It 's good - but it 's not perfect and certainly has it 's drawbacks. If you want to go the CM/ASOP route I'd rather suggest an OPO since that one has more reliable and stable kernels of high quality around like Boeffla or AK-Kernel around (eh he) and has it 's Camera ported for CM as well.
TLDR: In terms of value for the money you invest right now and CM-Support ->
1. OPO/OPO2
2. LG G3
3. LG G4
4. LG V10
That said excluding other good phones like the Nexus devices (can't list them all and don't have experience with them either)
Or perhaps go for an Xperia. Sony has a very friendly attitude towards devs, so you'll find busy development on an Xperia.
(insert witty signature here...)
Go for xperia z1 , its basically xperia z2=xperia z3 at very low price
Same cpu, same camera , same performance
Just less ram 2gb and lower quality screen, but still very good
Also xperia z1 is as smooth as z3 or z5 unlike lg g3 which is very laggy and slow, i have xperia z1 and as soon as i started using a friends g3 i could easily notice how slow is navigation through menu, and how aweful is the scrolling speed, looks like 20 fps compared to 60fps on the z1 , a legendary phone that never slows down. Or freezes or hangs up never, always responds in time no matter what you do or install in it.
Only downside of it, is its very low free ram, ,, always arround 300-400 mb(600-700 at best using ram boosters) .(compared to 1.2- 1.5 gb free ram on z2 and Z3)( ps: older xperia z has more free ram, arround the 800mb 900mb) Does make background apps to reload most of time ...
Still better phone than g3 imo. Hope i helped, not many users would tell you this advice
Also dont forget the z1 battery is like twice g3 battery life.
Or you could get z2 , a perfect phone, and has 3 times g3 battery backup ( screen on time) and about twice z1 sot. With my z2 average screen on time using 4g alltime is 7hours ( 5hours xperia z1 and like 3 and half or 4 hours if your lucky on g3
On wifi easily i get 8 to 9 .( this means quick email check, web navigation, some facebook, ) no games.
Gamer4Life said:
Go for xperia z1 , its basically xperia z2=xperia z3 at very low price
Same cpu, same camera , same performance
Just less ram 2gb and lower quality screen, but still very good
Also xperia z1 is as smooth as z3 or z5 unlike lg g3 which is very laggy and slow, i have xperia z1 and as soon as i started using a friends g3 i could easily notice how slow is navigation through menu, and how aweful is the scrolling speed, looks like 20 fps compared to 60fps on the z1 , a legendary phone that never slows down. Or freezes or hangs up never, always responds in time no matter what you do or install in it.
Only downside of it, is its very low free ram, ,, always arround 300-400 mb(600-700 at best using ram boosters) .(compared to 1.2- 1.5 gb free ram on z2 and Z3)( ps: older xperia z has more free ram, arround the 800mb 900mb) Does make background apps to reload most of time ...
Still better phone than g3 imo. Hope i helped, not many users would tell you this advice
Also dont forget the z1 battery is like twice g3 battery life.
Or you could get z2 , a perfect phone, and has 3 times g3 battery backup ( screen on time) and about twice z1 sot. With my z2 average screen on time using 4g alltime is 7hours ( 5hours xperia z1 and like 3 and half or 4 hours if your lucky on g3
On wifi easily i get 8 to 9 .( this means quick email check, web navigation, some facebook, ) no games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks for the advice bro!
Enviado do meu Moto G 2014 através de Tapatalk
Got my G3 at the end of May this year and still is my phone. And I can totally recommend it. Can keep up with the best of them. Camera is good too. I'm sure development will boom once we get stock Marshmallow. Here in the Philippines, there's only about a $50 difference between 32GB G3 and the leather 32GB G4. Hope I helped!
Yes, it's a good option, but i don't recommend you to keep the rom stock, you better install an aosp rom.
(Sorry if my english is bad)
I bought my 2nd hand LG G3 D855 , 5 weeks ago.
It is okay for the price (Without warranty).
Don't ever buy G3.
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
ceza1380 said:
Don't ever buy G3.
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why mate?
Enviado do meu Moto G 2014 através de Tapatalk
nelson1130 said:
Yes, it's a good option, but i don't recommend you to keep the rom stock, you better install an aosp rom.
(Sorry if my english is bad)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why you say that bro?
Enviado do meu Moto G 2014 através de Tapatalk
I bought my lg g3 and is very pleased with it and if you apply thermal paste on it it will stop lag when you scroll an such. For me atleast!
Gamer4Life said:
Go for xperia z1 , its basically xperia z2=xperia z3 at very low price
Same cpu, same camera , same performance
Just less ram 2gb and lower quality screen, but still very good
Also xperia z1 is as smooth as z3 or z5 unlike lg g3 which is very laggy and slow, i have xperia z1 and as soon as i started using a friends g3 i could easily notice how slow is navigation through menu, and how aweful is the scrolling speed, looks like 20 fps compared to 60fps on the z1 , a legendary phone that never slows down. Or freezes or hangs up never, always responds in time no matter what you do or install in it.
Only downside of it, is its very low free ram, ,, always arround 300-400 mb(600-700 at best using ram boosters) .(compared to 1.2- 1.5 gb free ram on z2 and Z3)( ps: older xperia z has more free ram, arround the 800mb 900mb) Does make background apps to reload most of time ...
Still better phone than g3 imo. Hope i helped, not many users would tell you this advice
Also dont forget the z1 battery is like twice g3 battery life.
Or you could get z2 , a perfect phone, and has 3 times g3 battery backup ( screen on time) and about twice z1 sot. With my z2 average screen on time using 4g alltime is 7hours ( 5hours xperia z1 and like 3 and half or 4 hours if your lucky on g3
On wifi easily i get 8 to 9 .( this means quick email check, web navigation, some facebook, ) no games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps your friends model was dodgy? Because mine performed amazingly, better than any Z1 or Z3 for that matter. Also, the G3's camera is far superior to the Z3 and below, because unlike those models, the G3's camera is sharp. You'll notice a fair amount of image noise in a Z3 camera. Can't say anything about the more recent ones, however.
And battery is subjective to a LOT of things. You won't always get 7h SOT or whatever. I did once get 6 odd hours of SOT with ~25% left. But again, it's subjective.
nelson1130 said:
Yes, it's a good option, but i don't recommend you to keep the rom stock, you better install an aosp rom.
(Sorry if my english is bad)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only go AOSP if you don't mind losing out on camera quality. Otherwise, stay with stock. And honestly, the camera is the G3's main selling point, if you don't mind so much about camera, go with a HTC or a Z3 or Z2. Not a Z1. Differences between the Z2 and 3 are negligible.
(insert witty signature here...)
Mevolent said:
Perhaps your friends model was dodgy? Because mine performed amazingly, better than any Z1 or Z3 for that matter. Also, the G3's camera is far superior to the Z3 and below, because unlike those models, the G3's camera is sharp. You'll notice a fair amount of image noise in a Z3 camera. Can't say anything about the more recent ones, however.
And battery is subjective to a LOT of things. You won't always get 7h SOT or whatever. I did once get 6 odd hours of SOT with ~25% left. But again, it's subjective.
Only go AOSP if you don't mind losing out on camera quality. Otherwise, stay with stock. And honestly, the camera is the G3's main selling point, if you don't mind so much about camera, go with a HTC or a Z3 or Z2. Not a Z1. Differences between the Z2 and 3 are negligible.
(insert witty signature here...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being honest, with the prize he have on the store i'll buy it, it's specs are great for his price. 329 euros 32GB and 3GB ram
Edit: 309 euros for the 16Gb with 2GB ram
Enviado do meu Moto G 2014 através de Tapatalk

[Question]About to buy the phone, could you give me a few tips?

Hello!, I'm about to buy the Zuk Z2 phone tomorrow, it's the Aliexpress one that comes with multilang ROM (I think there's only one seller so I don't have anything to add about it). Anyone tested this ROM? Never flashed a phone so don't know if should I or not.
Main features I liked from the phone are the U-Touch swipping thing, front fingerprint sensor and camera, but looking at the forums, custom ROMs has less features on the camera (and I think they also get worse quality), also viewed a review that said that after 3 months of use, the fingerprint sensor started failing to recognize his fingerprint at the first two or three tries. Does the problems get solved with those ROMs? What about the camera? It gets really worse? Are there custom ROMs with the great performance, battery life, qc3 enabled and also stock camera or there's not such a perfect one yet?
Thank you a lot!
I think I can explain the fingerprint problem. When you use the U-Touch button often, the sensor gets dirty and needs to be cleaned before it can recognize a print. Someone on the forum said putting tape on the sensor helps, but that just made fingerprints stop working for me completely. What I did was disable U-Touch entirely and use the software nav keys. I mapped the U-Touch functions to other stuff - like double tapping the home button to open the dialer and stuff. Stock ROM doesn't let you do that, but some custom ROMs (I use AEX 4.5) do.
Camera isn't really that great. I don't need a camera so I don't mind, but I've seen better stuff for the price.
Also, I don't think QC3 works on any ROM, although I'd love to be corrected on that.
Hey, see if the Xiaomi A1 is available to buy instead for a similar price - IMO it's a much more well-rounded phone, and I've seen a Snapdragon 625 phone (Redmi Note 4), and it's about on par with the Zuk Z2 in performance, IMO. You get better benchmarks on the Zuk, but actual usage is 100% the same. Mi A1 has official updates from Google and a better camera too.
NSDCars5 said:
I think I can explain the fingerprint problem. When you use the U-Touch button often, the sensor gets dirty and needs to be cleaned before it can recognize a print. Someone on the forum said putting tape on the sensor helps, but that just made fingerprints stop working for me completely. What I did was disable U-Touch entirely and use the software nav keys. I mapped the U-Touch functions to other stuff - like double tapping the home button to open the dialer and stuff. Stock ROM doesn't let you do that, but some custom ROMs (I use AEX 4.5) do.
Camera isn't really that great. I don't need a camera so I don't mind, but I've seen better stuff for the price.
Also, I don't think QC3 works on any ROM, although I'd love to be corrected on that.
Hey, see if the Xiaomi A1 is available to buy instead for a similar price - IMO it's a much more well-rounded phone, and I've seen a Snapdragon 625 phone (Redmi Note 4), and it's about on par with the Zuk Z2 in performance, IMO. You get better benchmarks on the Zuk, but actual usage is 100% the same. Mi A1 has official updates from Google and a better camera too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also torn between A1 and Z2 (lol funny names). The main feature (for me) that the Z2 has is the smaller 5" screen. I prefer a compact form factor plus the z2 also has a 500mah bigger battery. I just hope that some kind soul ports the latest and greatest of android to the z2.
btw, does volte (jio) work proper on custom roms?
blueman24 said:
I'm also torn between A1 and Z2 (lol funny names). The main feature (for me) that the Z2 has is the smaller 5" screen. I prefer a compact form factor plus the z2 also has a 500mah bigger battery. I just hope that some kind soul ports the latest and greatest of android to the z2.
btw, does volte (jio) work proper on custom roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think so? Not sure because I don't have Jio personally, but a lot of ROMs advertise VoLTE.
I can confirm that the battery on the Z2 is excellent - I get anywhere from 6-8 hours of SoT and I didn't even do any tweaks after installing the ROM. About the form factor though, you're not going to notice a huge difference - I hold a Z2 Plus and a Redmi Note 4 side to side, they're not really that different. Where the RN4 is wider, the Z2 Plus is thicker. I'd imagine the same would carry for the Mi A1.
NSDCars5 said:
I think so? Not sure because I don't have Jio personally, but a lot of ROMs advertise VoLTE.
I can confirm that the battery on the Z2 is excellent - I get anywhere from 6-8 hours of SoT and I didn't even do any tweaks after installing the ROM. About the form factor though, you're not going to notice a huge difference - I hold a Z2 Plus and a Redmi Note 4 side to side, they're not really that different. Where the RN4 is wider, the Z2 Plus is thicker. I'd imagine the same would carry for the Mi A1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I brought a Z2. The A1 is good but the updates aren't handled by Google. If those Android One phones would get updated the same day along with nexus and pixel then maybe i would have given it a second thought. Even now, its launching with Nougat and they "promise" that it would be updated to O in 3-4 months. In three months, most phones get custom roms ready so no use of buying the xiaomi a1. I also don't sign up to the dual camera gimmick. If i even buy a phone for the camera, it would be the pixel or nothing. On the Z2, i couldn't care less. i can just carry my dedicated camera.
Now i just hope that VoLTE works nicely cause i use jio as my primary carrier and as you know, they don't have 2g/3g fallback.
I wouldn't buy this phone if given a chance again. Even with custom ROMs performance is below par.
n00b_dr0id said:
I wouldn't buy this phone if given a chance again. Even with custom ROMs performance is below par.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to elaborate?
blueman24 said:
Yeah, I brought a Z2. The A1 is good but the updates aren't handled by Google. If those Android One phones would get updated the same day along with nexus and pixel then maybe i would have given it a second thought. Even now, its launching with Nougat and they "promise" that it would be updated to O in 3-4 months. In three months, most phones get custom roms ready so no use of buying the xiaomi a1. I also don't sign up to the dual camera gimmick. If i even buy a phone for the camera, it would be the pixel or nothing. On the Z2, i couldn't care less. i can just carry my dedicated camera.
Now i just hope that VoLTE works nicely cause i use jio as my primary carrier and as you know, they don't have 2g/3g fallback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, that's cool. Have fun with your new device!
- my phone is now on AEX 4.6
- Jio is working without any issues. I can make calls from it even without turning on the LTE data.
- I use U-Touch single tap for 'back' and long touch for 'Google Now on Tap', and left and right swipe for one-handed mode. I don't like the sound when pressing that button, so never use that.
- so for 'recents' and 'home', I use 'Swipe Navigation' by Suphi : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.suphi.swipenavigation . I even purchased the full version. This is one of the better phones to use this app since there's no button (even capacitive) other than U-Touch. It has many customisations like long swipe for last app, dock, etc. More than that, it consumes only ~8mb of RAM.
- installed >300 apps, LTE mobile data always on, location (battery saving) always on, adaptive brightness (on day) browsing, chatting, gaming, watching videos,.. and still get 5-6 hours of SoT
- I don't care about the camera that much. So can't say anything about that, but I'm very happy with the results.
- for my smaller hands, 5" phones are good. And I love large screens if they're bezel-less (but these are expensive )

Question about Z5 Premium in 2018

How's the phone holding now?
i'm planning to get this one just for normal usage like streaming , chat, browsing, etc
and how's the heat during those kind of usage?
considering xperia design is totally to my liking, and the battery is above 3k mAh, kinda want to downgrade? into this phone from mi5, as the docomo dumps are quite cheap here
Thanks in advance !
I'm pretty happy with the phone. Heat is not so much of an issue.
seilent said:
How's the phone holding now?
i'm planning to get this one just for normal usage like streaming , chat, browsing, etc
and how's the heat during those kind of usage?
considering xperia design is totally to my liking, and the battery is above 3k mAh, kinda want to downgrade? into this phone from mi5, as the docomo dumps are quite cheap here
Thanks in advance !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are getting on good price ( 50% of the price since 2015) then go for it
Z5p is a gem!
How can I unlock bootloader and install TWRP, any guide?
i am also a user of z5P dual variant e6833, currently it has stock android 7.1.1, could anyone share the link of any post where i can find the list of all stable custom roms for z5p phone? unfortunately there is no linage rom available for this phone
After having this phone for 3 years, the first thing you will need to realize is stock battery even left in storage will have degraded past the stock level of battery, with little to no use over that time you'd be lucky to get even a stock unopened z5p with more than 60% of its original battery life.
The main issue with heat I've experienced has been during GPS use especially on warmer days.
The camera after unlocking and using non stock ROMs (even with DRM saved) as non stock ROMs don't use the DRM enhancements camera quality is noticeably less quality. So if you want to keep DRM quality you need to keep to stock roms, even custom stock ROMs need those enhancements enabled to be functional.
The overall speed, performance, battery life and functions of the phone are all good.
One thing to note also is latest official ROM is 7.1.2 so no Oreo, no project treble and no future proofing of the software. We also have a very, very quiet rom development.
You may enjoy the looks of Sony phones. But they don't support their hardware long enough for them to truely shine. We got 2 major ROM updates, with fixes in between that was what they reported as what they'll support.
This happened over a 16 month period. They dropped support for the phone as soon as Oreo came out, because they wanted everyone to upgrade to the ZX range.
Meaning a lot of us here that paid 1000+ dollars for their handset got less than 2 years of support from the manufacturer.
Companies like Samsung, Motorola and apple have put over 5 years support into most of their handsets. Software support is important due to app updates needing later OS versions to work. Meaning at some point the Z5 range will fall off the wagon even in terms of unofficial support.
Either way I hope you choose well a new device. Even though I like my phone, and will stand by my choice to purchase it, I would not recommend it to anyone else and urge them to find a better device with better software support.

Suggestion for the next phone after Zuk Z2 Plus

There was a small discussion in the AEX 6.7 thread started by @mcalistri asking for a suggestion to replace his Zuk Z2 Plus with another one. His suggestion was Pixel 3A and Nokia 7.2. I too asked if the OnePlus 6T is a good option. @selvarajrajkanna and @GopalKaul answered both of us and suggested K20 Pro and Pixel 3A. Since it is not good to discuss this in AEX thread I'm continuing that discussion here.
My suggestions and the summary of the discussion:
- OnePlus 7 (but the development is not in a good position; I read a few threads there. Also the 7T is on the way so buying a new one would not be a better idea I think)
- OnePlus 6T (if you want to stay on stock rom because oxygen os is good. - suggested by selvarajrajkanna. I found a few pre-owned 6Ts and also my friend has one, that's why I suggested it)
- Pixel 3A (have better camera and if camera is the only priority - suggested by selvarajrajkanna and mcalistri)
- Redmi K20 Pro (suggested by GopalKaul and selvarajrajkanna because it has latest chipset, 3.5mm jack, bigger battery, etc.)
- Nokia 7.2 (suggested by mcalistri)
- Poco F1 (if on a tight budget - suggested by GopalKaul)
Also please tell if you have any other good options or suggestions in this list. I'll update this post if anything relevant is posted. Our Z2 Plus started with 6.0 and went through 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 without any serious performance issues. So I think Android Q will also work flawlessly. But if any Z2 Plus owner who like to replace it with another one and also expect a legend like Z2 this post may/should help. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post. ?
niyonsv said:
There was a small discussion in the AEX 6.7 thread started by @mcalistri asking for a suggestion to replace his Zuk Z2 Plus with another one. His suggestion was Pixel 3A and Nokia 7.2. I too asked if the OnePlus 6T is a good option. @selvarajrajkanna and @GopalKaul answered both of us and suggested K20 Pro and Pixel 3A. Since it is not good to discuss this in AEX thread I'm continuing that discussion here.
My suggestions and the summary of the discussion:
- OnePlus 7 (but the development is not in a good position; I read a few threads there. Also the 7T is on the way so buying a new one would not be a better idea I think)
- OnePlus 6T (if you want to stay on stock rom because oxygen os is good. - suggested by selvarajrajkanna. I found a few pre-owned 6Ts and also my friend has one, that's why I suggested it)
- Pixel 3A (have better camera and if camera is the only priority - suggested by selvarajrajkanna and mcalistri)
- Redmi K20 Pro (suggested by GopalKaul and selvarajrajkanna because it has latest chipset, 3.5mm jack, bigger battery, etc.)
- Nokia 7.2 (suggested by mcalistri)
- Poco F1 (if on a tight budget - suggested by GopalKaul)
Also please tell if you have any other good options or suggestions in this list. I'll update this post if anything relevant is posted. Our Z2 Plus started with 6.0 and went through 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 without any serious performance issues. So I think Android Q will also work flawlessly. But if any Z2 Plus owner who like to replace it with another one and also expect a legend like Z2 this post may/should help. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In reality I have not suggested any devices ?
Nokia could be a good choice for what I remember about its Zeiss Camera lenses, I could appreciate it on my Nokia Lumia which now it's gone to paradise.
I honestly am tempted to take the pixel 3a but I live in Brazil and here it is more expensive due to the importation taxes.
The K20 if I'm not wrong, is a bit strange to my eyes because it has a lifting camera jumping from the outside of the chassis.
The choice is not so easy also because the old Zuk-Z2 is working extremely well
niyonsv said:
There was a small discussion in the AEX 6.7 thread started by @mcalistri asking for a suggestion to replace his Zuk Z2 Plus with another one. His suggestion was Pixel 3A and Nokia 7.2. I too asked if the OnePlus 6T is a good option. @selvarajrajkanna and @GopalKaul answered both of us and suggested K20 Pro and Pixel 3A. Since it is not good to discuss this in AEX thread I'm continuing that discussion here.
My suggestions and the summary of the discussion:
- OnePlus 7 (but the development is not in a good position; I read a few threads there. Also the 7T is on the way so buying a new one would not be a better idea I think)
- OnePlus 6T (if you want to stay on stock rom because oxygen os is good. - suggested by selvarajrajkanna. I found a few pre-owned 6Ts and also my friend has one, that's why I suggested it)
- Pixel 3A (have better camera and if camera is the only priority - suggested by selvarajrajkanna and mcalistri)
- Redmi K20 Pro (suggested by GopalKaul and selvarajrajkanna because it has latest chipset, 3.5mm jack, bigger battery, etc.)
- Nokia 7.2 (suggested by mcalistri)
- Poco F1 (if on a tight budget - suggested by GopalKaul)
Also please tell if you have any other good options or suggestions in this list. I'll update this post if anything relevant is posted. Our Z2 Plus started with 6.0 and went through 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 without any serious performance issues. So I think Android Q will also work flawlessly. But if any Z2 Plus owner who like to replace it with another one and also expect a legend like Z2 this post may/should help. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to try a new phone after the Zuk Z2, try buying either Pixel 3, or even 7 is a very good option[seeing the development of other one plus phones, 7's development should soon emerge]
akshay pro said:
If you want to try a new phone after the Zuk Z2, try buying either Pixel 3, or even 7 is a very good option[seeing the development of other one plus phones, 7's development should soon emerge]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO we should consider first the device as it we find it from the factory, with its default software and O.S., I mean we should consider if it can or can't be ROM customized as second requirement.
For example, for my personal user case, I purchased my ZukZ2 with Chinese ROM, than the decision to flash a custom ROM on it has been almost mandatory.
akshay pro said:
If you want to try a new phone after the Zuk Z2, try buying either Pixel 3, or even 7 is a very good option[seeing the development of other one plus phones, 7's development should soon emerge]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I can get a OnePlus 6T phone (pre-owned, 6-128, still in warranty) for about 75% of that of a new OnePlus 7's price. So, which one would be better? OnePlus 6T or 7? Or any other?
mcalistri said:
IMHO we should consider first the device as it we find it from the factory, with its default software and O.S., I mean we should consider if it can or can't be ROM customized as second requirement.
For example, for my personal user case, I purchased my ZukZ2 with Chinese ROM, than the decision to flash a custom ROM on it has been almost mandatory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. My thought is just opposite. I like almost-stock-ROMs with additional features and the factory OSs never attracted me except for some of their features or something. I flashed the custom ROM the day I got Z2. Before buying it I searched about many devices in XDA which had better custom ROM development support. Also Z2 was a device with almost high-end spec then and I got a huge discount then. That's why I'm looking for a device identical to Z2 of that time.
I would defenately go to k20 pro
niyonsv said:
Thanks. My thought is just opposite. I like almost-stock-ROMs with additional features and the factory OSs never attracted me except for some of their features or something. I flashed the custom ROM the day I got Z2. Before buying it I searched about many devices in XDA which had better custom ROM development support. Also Z2 was a device with almost high-end spec then and I got a huge discount then. That's why I'm looking for a device identical to Z2 of that time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock OS as the pure Android running on a Google Pixel phone, from what I've heard have everything we need to forget about custom ROM.
Our device, thanks to its hardware is still pretty good to offer brilliant service for years to come.
The maior lacks, I IMHO can resume for Z2 are:
1 - A not superlative camera, beside its hw specs which are not the top of the market, probably has not been achieved the very best in terms of firmware and software to manage it at a better level.
2 - A not superlative sound in terms of loudness
Regards,
I don't see any reason to change the device.
Charge the ROM, chahe the screen guard and change the cover or add a skin.
That's the new device for you.
manishgkasera said:
I don't see any reason to change the device.
Charge the ROM, chahe the screen guard and change the cover or add a skin.
That's the new device for you.
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Click to collapse
:laugh:
-Deleted-
manishgkasera said:
I don't see any reason to change the device.
Charge the ROM, chahe the screen guard and change the cover or add a skin.
That's the new device for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how I used my Z2 bro. It has a unique design (all phones where curved then) and it always stayed different from others. But there's one thing that I changed thrice and it was a bit more costly - battery. Also my phone is becoming slow and slow each day. Tried different ROMs, reduced number of apps. The phone is not performing well too. It is taking ages to click a photo. Also the earpiece speaker now started distorting, I've to use headset always for talking. There are other reasons here and there, so I think it is better to change my phone. That's why I asked for suggestion.
I'm also looking for an upgrade to this phone. I bought the ZUK about 3 years ago with the intention of only keeping it for under 12 months. But I ended up sticking with it since I couldn't find a suitable upgrade at the time. After a lot of use it seems the ZUK is starting to show signs of slowing down. It's taking time to open apps and the storage is incredibly slow as prooven by benchmark testing.
Unfortunately my choice for a replacement is limited because I get eyestrain and headaches when looking at AMOLED screens with PWM flickering. The Asus Zenfone 6 looks perfect with an IPS panel, but it is too expensive at £450 here in the UK. The upcoming Realme 5 Pro seems good with SD712, 6GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 storage for a much more reasonable £190. But I worry about whether this phone will recieve good custom ROM support. There's also the Redmi Note 7 Pro with SD675 but it has a horrible ugly U-shaped notch. Maybe the upcoming Redmi Note 8 will also be decent.
I'm a bit surprised about hear some buddies have the need to replace the battery in their ZukZ2.
My battery, after years of usage looks like brand new, it doesn't presents any sign of longevity.
Furthermore I can't understand how the device appears running slower! We have not any mechanical disk inside it, neither a Windows XP is running here! If your device is slow then try to clean flash after performing a factory reset.
Sirs, are you violenting yours smartphones? Are you using it extensively with gaming and repetitive charging during usage?
May be you should have been more respectful and conservative using the phone now you have to pay the bill!
P650SE said:
I'm also looking for an upgrade to this phone. I bought the ZUK about 3 years ago with the intention of only keeping it for under 12 months. But I ended up sticking with it since I couldn't find a suitable upgrade at the time. After a lot of use it seems the ZUK is starting to show signs of slowing down. It's taking time to open apps and the storage is incredibly slow as prooven by benchmark testing.
Unfortunately my choice for a replacement is limited because I get eyestrain and headaches when looking at AMOLED screens with PWM flickering. The Asus Zenfone 6 looks perfect with an IPS panel, but it is too expensive at £450 here in the UK. The upcoming Realme 5 Pro seems good with SD712, 6GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 storage for a much more reasonable £190. But I worry about whether this phone will recieve good custom ROM support. There's also the Redmi Note 7 Pro with SD675 but it has a horrible ugly U-shaped notch. Maybe the upcoming Redmi Note 8 will also be decent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't heard of this AMOLED flickering issue till now. Is it a serious issue to consider?
mcalistri said:
I'm a bit surprised about hear some buddies have the need to replace the battery in their ZukZ2.
My battery, after years of usage looks like brand new, it doesn't presents any sign of longevity.
Furthermore I can't understand how the device appears running slower! We have not any mechanical disk inside it, neither a Windows XP is running here! If your device is slow then try to clean flash after performing a factory reset.
Sirs, are you violenting yours smartphones? Are you using it extensively with gaming and repetitive charging during usage?
May be you should have been more respectful and conservative using the phone now you have to pay the bill!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I changed the batteries thrice, all from Lenovo official service center. I always go to stock ROM between each ROM changes, and clean flash between each updates. It's a bit time consuming sometimes but I know its better. Only a very few times I dirty flashed.
I used it for gaming only in the first year of purchase, now I'm not interest in that, that's why. Also I was always respectful to my phone, since it is the only device I have.
The phone is speedier with old stock ROMs and nougat ROMs, but not that speedier than then. So if I need to use newer version of ROMs and apps I should switch to a newer phone rather forcing Z2 to do all new stuffs.
I remember only a few phone models were capable of taking photos with GCams and Z2 was there in the list right after getting camera2API. Also it took and processed photos very fast. But now it is taking a lot of time even to click a photo.
niyonsv said:
I haven't heard of this AMOLED flickering issue till now. Is it a serious issue to consider?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it only affects a small minority of people, I heard about 10% of users can experience these symptoms with AMOLED panels. It just means you are more sensitive to the flickering than other people. Sadly, the only way to find out is to purchase an AMOLED phone and try it for yourself. That's what happened with me.
mcalistri said:
I'm a bit surprised about hear some buddies have the need to replace the battery in their ZukZ2.
My battery, after years of usage looks like brand new, it doesn't presents any sign of longevity.
Furthermore I can't understand how the device appears running slower! We have not any mechanical disk inside it, neither a Windows XP is running here! If your device is slow then try to clean flash after performing a factory reset.
Sirs, are you violenting yours smartphones? Are you using it extensively with gaming and repetitive charging during usage?
May be you should have been more respectful and conservative using the phone now you have to pay the bill!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was of the understanding that flash storage can degrade over time in smartphones. I probably didn't do mine any favours by constantly flashing ROMs and copying files to it over the course of 3 years. I did some storage benchmarks and I'm only getting 33MB/s sequential write speeds. Random write 4K is even worse at 1.3MB/s average. Surely that's not normal.
https://files.catbox.moe/e1wu3r.png
Can anyone compare against my scores? The app is called CPDT Benchmark in the Play Store.
In regards to battery performance, mine still gives about 4 hours of SOT but that is disappointing when it used to last for 7 hours and 30 minutes. I always allow my phone to run completely out of battery which I heard isn't good for for in the long-term. So perhaps bad charging habits have caused more degradation.
niyonsv said:
But I changed the batteries thrice, all from Lenovo official service center. I always go to stock ROM between each ROM changes, and clean flash between each updates. It's a bit time consuming sometimes but I know its better. Only a very few times I dirty flashed.
I used it for gaming only in the first year of purchase, now I'm not interest in that, that's why. Also I was always respectful to my phone, since it is the only device I have.
The phone is speedier with old stock ROMs and nougat ROMs, but not that speedier than then. So if I need to use newer version of ROMs and apps I should switch to a newer phone rather forcing Z2 to do all new stuffs.
I remember only a few phone models were capable of taking photos with GCams and Z2 was there in the list right after getting camera2API. Also it took and processed photos very fast. But now it is taking a lot of time even to click a photo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really don't know why you had to replace your battery trice, I think it is a very seldom occurrence, nor I can say it happened due your usage, most likely it could be due you purchased a defective device.
About slowing down after time, I agree about the SSD consideration made by our buddy participating to this discussion because I recently red something about SSD since I'm going to replace my laptop HDD but also this kind of issue I believe it's happening seldom in smartphones.
I won't to cause frustrations writing that I've not noticed any slowness on my Zuk Z2 so far, just a little bit when I flashed Nameless kernel which was an EAS kernel.
Now on AEX 6.7 I'm using the default kernel which is giving to the Z2 an extremely fast responsiveness and smooth usability too.
I think I will try to run the SSD performance test suggested by our buddy (sorry I didn't wrote your name to mention it but you sent interesting comments indeed).
I'm sure that there are not many users affected by problems you are facing about slowness and battery, or better, it would be interesting to make a survey here on XDA to know how many people have such problems on their ZukZ2.
Best regards,
---------- Post added at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------
P650SE said:
Well it only affects a small minority of people, I heard about 10% of users can experience these symptoms with AMOLED panels. It just means you are more sensitive to the flickering than other people. Sadly, the only way to find out is to purchase an AMOLED phone and try it for yourself. That's what happened with me.
I was of the understanding that flash storage can degrade over time in smartphones. I probably didn't do mine any favours by constantly flashing ROMs and copying files to it over the course of 3 years. I did some storage benchmarks and I'm only getting 33MB/s sequential write speeds. Random write 4K is even worse at 1.3MB/s average. Surely that's not normal.
https://files.catbox.moe/e1wu3r.png
Can anyone compare against my scores? The app is called CPDT Benchmark in the Play Store.
In regards to battery performance, mine still gives about 4 hours of SOT but that is disappointing when it used to last for 7 hours and 30 minutes. I always allow my phone to run completely out of battery which I heard isn't good for for in the long-term. So perhaps bad charging habits have caused more degradation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very much interesting comments!
I think I will try to run the SSD benchmark but before I would like to ask you why you say that your results are bad?
Did you compared with another ZukZ2 user running similar environment?
About the battery we also have to take in account the adjustment we could have done to applications (running in background or not) the screen stby after X seconds, the charger we use, in fact there are plenty of chargers around that are not good for our battery but that are being used normally.
In any case your SOT looks very normal to me.
Regards,
P650SE said:
I was of the understanding that flash storage can degrade over time in smartphones. I probably didn't do mine any favours by constantly flashing ROMs and copying files to it over the course of 3 years. I did some storage benchmarks and I'm only getting 33MB/s sequential write speeds. Random write 4K is even worse at 1.3MB/s average. Surely that's not normal.
https://files.catbox.moe/e1wu3r.png
Can anyone compare against my scores? The app is called CPDT Benchmark in the Play Store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is my CPDT benchmark result which looks quite aligned with your, so I think that SSD performance has nothing to do with the slowness of the responsiveness of your Zuk Z2.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Saplin.CPDT
Regards,
mcalistri said:
Here is my CPDT benchmark result which looks quite aligned with your, so I think that SSD performance has nothing to do with the slowness of the responsiveness of your Zuk Z2.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Saplin.CPDT
Regards,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, the result of my benchmark is not visible externally so I'm attaching the screenshot here.
Regards,

Looking to buy the A3 in 2021. Thoughts?

Hey there
A bit late to the party here. I am looking to get a A3 to replace my current phone. I have a POCO M2 PRO as my current phone, however i am VERY dissatisfied with it. Look into the A3 cuz its the only small phone i was able to find. Lemma know if this is a good idea. Oh and if you know about any small/compact/comfortable phone that doesn't break the bank, let me know in the comments.
peace✌
If you are going to flash a rom on it right away then go ahead, using this phone stock is like alpha testing.
Berserker_boi said:
Hey there
A bit late to the party here. I am looking to get a A3 to replace my current phone. I have a POCO M2 PRO as my current phone, however i am VERY dissatisfied with it. Look into the A3 cuz its the only small phone i was able to find. Lemma know if this is a good idea. Oh and if you know about any small/compact/comfortable phone that doesn't break the bank, let me know in the comments.
peace✌
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also bought this phone in 2021 based on the very same reasons as yours. This is the only phone I could find with decent dev support (easy to unlock, root, custom roms to choose etc.), size (I was using an Xperia X Compact, so size is still an issue for me but there wasn't any smaller with comparable features.) and specs. I unlocked and flashed los with microg even before putting my sim card. (And the sad story is this is the second one I bought bucause I lost the first one second day )
Using stock since fall 2019, works great until today, would buy again.
Go with another one.
In my experience, a11 stock is very good. 2 days without full charge and 8-9 hours of SOT. Smooth and fast. The secret is optmize the app configuration. Remove useless app. But first... Don't use official Facebook app. Obviously it's my opinion and my experience. But i'm quite sure that the user with bad experience. Are user with bad use of your device. And my phone stats can confirm what i say
Berserker_boi said:
Hey there
A bit late to the party here. I am looking to get a A3 to replace my current phone. I have a POCO M2 PRO as my current phone, however i am VERY dissatisfied with it. Look into the A3 cuz its the only small phone i was able to find. Lemma know if this is a good idea. Oh and if you know about any small/compact/comfortable phone that doesn't break the bank, let me know in the comments.
peace✌
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion, if I had to change my Mi A3 now, I'd go with a Motorola Moto G 5G Plus, which has more or less the same A3 stuff, with a better display, 5g, better battery but it's also slightly bigger and heavier.
The only thing I don't know is about the software, on the xda page there are very few threads and nobody's talking about major problems with software, I might give it a try if I get sick with Xiaomeme software updates
Phil_gloves said:
In my opinion, if I had to change my Mi A3 now, I'd go with a Motorola Moto G 5G Plus, which has more or less the same A3 stuff, with a better display, 5g, better battery but it's also slightly bigger and heavier.
The only thing I don't know is about the software, on the xda page there are very few threads and nobody's talking about major problems with software, I might give it a try if I get sick with Xiaomeme software updates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That motorola has an IPS screen with SD765, so not really comparable
But I think this 720p AMOLED screen is crappy (EVEN if it makes this phone faster), but you cannot find a decent 1080p at the smallish 70-72mm width that's not costing an arm and a leg (Sony Xperia 5).
Wait 7 days for the new Poco.
I think that mi a3 is one of the best mid range phone... So i will change it... Only for an high range phone... Probably a pixel... Or a top xiaomi... Also oppo seems very good phones...
wetito said:
In my experience, a11 stock is very good. 2 days without full charge and 8-9 hours of SOT. Smooth and fast. The secret is optmize the app configuration. Remove useless app. But first... Don't use official Facebook app. Obviously it's my opinion and my experience. But i'm quite sure that the user with bad experience. Are user with bad use of your device. And my phone stats can confirm what i say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How were you able to get good battery life on stock Android 11? Please help me. The battery life sucks on Android 11 on this phone.
Sometimes the ota updates are not successful. So an hard reset can solve much problems. I don't use fingerprint and always on display because drain a lot of battery... I have disabled much of Google apps that are not indispensable for my use... I have limited the background use for some apps... With this optimization i'm very satisfied. But are specific s for my use (social+music streaming... And sometimes YouTube vanced). I hope my post can help you (i'm italian so my English is not perfect)
Best buy of the week! I'm seriusly considering to sell my mia3 at this prince to buy it! Is's an old model... But not the hardware

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