Hi all,
I'm planning to buy the Play but before I do this I've got a couple of questions regarding the device. Here it goes:
1. Headphones. Is it really true that only SE headphones work with the Play? I've got Sennheiser CX300 regular headphones without any microphone or volume buttons (I dont plan to use any headset, just want my headphones). Would these work with the Play?
2. There are few versions of the Play, namely: r800i/x/a/at. I'd probably be getting r800i because AFAIK this the European version of the Play. Any drawbacks of this version as opposed to the others? Is r800i good for installing unofficial ROMs? Is r800i really the European version?
3. Currently, I've got SGS i9000. I'm worried about the GPU performance of the Play. Is Play's Adreno 205 really a big step-down to i9000's SGX540?
How about the future - do you think that the Play will cope with the requirements of the games that are yet to come? I mean in 1 or 1,5 years?
How about current games? Does Shadowgun or 9mm play smooth?
4. I'm planning to buy a sim unlocked SE Play. Is it going to have an already unlocked bootloader? Or could it be unlocked easily via sonyericsson official website?
Else: What are the chances that I could never be able to unlock the bootloader? I mean free of charge.
5. Are there any serius software or hardware issues with the Play I should know of before buying? I mean issues like e.g.:
some issues with wifi disconnecting, or overheating of the device, or high possibility of the LCD screen becoming out-of-order or bad pixels emerging, or errors in manufacturing the Play that cause it's d-pad buttons to break very easily, or weak slide mechanism.
If anyone responds to this huge and possibly stupid post I'd be really gratefull of your effort. Thanks a lot!
1. No. I use Audio Technica M50 earphones without problems.
2. Not that I know of. I own a R800i myself.
3. I have no idea. I only emulate myself and don't play new games made for the Play. Of course the Samsung has more beef, but it's dual-core also. The Play has less ram also but compensates by being the only phone that has dual channel ddr2 ram at 300Hz instead.
4. It's not unlocked from factory. You can unlock at SE's site yes but it's recommended to do it yourself by following the unlocking guide that is here in the development forum.
5. Not that I know of. Some have reported broken slider, but most of them has beaten them broken themselves while drunk etc. Just be careful and you should have no problem. I have not heard of any other common problems. The device feels fairly high quality even though it's mostly plastic. Specially the gamepad part.
1. all headphones work fine
2. The UK/European version of the phone is fine. You'll need to unlock the bootloader first though. I'm rooted but haven't touched the bootloader, once I've "frozen" all the standard tat I don't like, and use link2sd I find it great
3. Nova 2, Dungeon Hunter2 & Dead Space run great - you can always overclock if you unlock the bootloader and install a custom kernel
4. the bootloader will be locked and the phone will not be rooted. Rooting only takes 5 to 10 mins (2.3.4). I haven't unlocked the bootloader and don't intend to - but I believe sony will give you the info for your specific phone.
5. no issues here - although only had it about 1 month. some people have reported issues when using a compass app. I don't find the dual analog nubs to be all that good - prefer the dpad
1) Only unofficial headphones with a mic don't work. I get around this by using a SE Blootooth receiver with my beats headphones.
2) the R800i is probably the best and most supported model.
3) Adreno 205 beats the PowerVR GPU in the SGS hands down Infact a comparison between adreno 205 and Tegra II is more applicable. Not only that with our dual channel DDR2 ram like the SGS II, gaming is even better than other Adreno 205 devices like the Desire HD.
4) If you buy a sim unlocked device you can unlock the bootloader at the sony unlock site.
5) The device is well built. And the pad is even better built. The wifi is not the greatest but the GPS is amazing and frequent software updates from sony (4 or 5 this year already) keeps the device in shape.
Not to forget Sony Ericsson has recently officially stated that we get Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) to our phones!
1) I use my dre beats and the supplied sony headphone wit hthe phone ; only problem i've found is that the cable with control talk for dr dre comes up as not supported - this still allows me to listen to music but I cant skip tracks etc with control talk.
2)No limitations.
3)The xperia play beats the sgs due to reasons already listed.
4)If its sim unlocked when you buy it ; there wont be a locked bootloader.
5)No there are not.
Really big thank you for your answers. I'm pretty convinced by now to by the Play.
One more thing though:
Has anyone played some top-notch 3d games, like shadowgun or 9mm? Do they play very smooth (without any overclocking)?
daerragh said:
Really big thank you for your answers. I'm pretty convinced by now to by the Play.
One more thing though:
Has anyone played some top-notch 3d games, like shadowgun or 9mm? Do they play very smooth (without any overclocking)?
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Yep both play great at stock clockspeed. so do other top notch 3D games like riptide, dead space and quake 3 arena
Ok, thanks. It's good to hear that
What about the screen? Is it glass or plastic. Does it get scratched easily?
daerragh said:
Ok, thanks. It's good to hear that
What about the screen? Is it glass or plastic. Does it get scratched easily?
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The screen is mineral glass, but every play comes with a factory fitted shatter proof screen protector. The screen protector is easly scratched but many people have removed it and said the mineral glass underneath is solid and quite hard to scratch
I wan't to be sure that it's not only me who is affected, I downloaded Dead Trigger 2 on Lollipop, and it's almost unplayable, whereas on KitKat it was running without any lag even on the High settings. Now it runs like on 10-15 fps, sometimes actually is enjoyable, but then drops down again. The same with Modern Combat 5. Downgrading the graphics from the settings is not a solution for me.
Can anybody check it if it's the same for them?
Szighy said:
I wan't to be sure that it's not only me who is affected, I downloaded Dead Trigger 2 on Lollipop, and it's almost unplayable, whereas on KitKat it was running without any lag even on the High settings. Now it runs like on 10-15 fps, sometimes actually is enjoyable, but then drops down again. The same with Modern Combat 5. Downgrading the graphics from the settings is not a solution for me.
Can anybody check it if it's the same for them?
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Chrome browser and animations are whats laggy for me.
Just installed Dead Trigger 2 and it's highly playable.
abemore said:
Chrome browser and animations are whats laggy for me.
Just installed Dead Trigger 2 and it's highly playable.
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I just clean installed Lollipop with the stock rom google provided, so I will be testing gaming performance in a bit, anyone knows how to root the device without a mod kernel?
Lol I am only playing one game right now. Sad as it is to say this "Cars fast as lightning". Its hard to judge really as while the game is fun, Gameloft support has been slow. Originally it had stuttering and random lockups but when it was running smooth it was running smooth. After lollipop initially it didn't work at all. Then they updated it and for the most part it's fixed. Seemed a little laggier at first but now its fine. Still has the random stuttering but its always had that.
I don't think lollipop is crippling performance I think devs just aren't updating their games
Here is why I stay with KK and not with LP (even 5.1 with insane CPU and GPU OC) : even now at the time of this post, the following games that I play are unplayable on LP but smooth with no OC on KK : Minion Rush, Dead Trigger 2, Vainglory (closed beta), Oddworld, Spiderman Unlimited, Looney Tunes Dash, Deer Hunter 2014, Cars fast as lightning, Heroes Charge lags a bit but playable but still annoying fps drops, etc.
If you use your Nexus 7 2013 for checking the weather and watch youtube videos then go with Lollipop if you really want the latest fancy Android themed veraion.
If you use your Nexus 7 2013 for browsing the web and gaming, then stay with KitKat so you can use your tablet's full performance until the devs fix their apps or Google fixes Lollipop for our device (I don't care who has the fault in games working like I have a 2009 phone instead of a 2013 tablet).
I recently bought this Nexus 7 2013 (2Gb RAM / 32GB storage) with the idea that it would be a great tablet to play vainglory with.... I wanted a 7" tablet that had 2GB of RAM and at least 16GB for storage because I felt an 8" or larger tablet would just too big to play on. I was really disappointed with the performance on VG running on 5.1.1. Gutted really because I've already bought two other budget 8" tablets and they didn't work out very well. As good as this tablet still is, I'm really thinking about returning it and just getting a high-end 8" tablet or something.... I guess downgrading to Kit Kat is an option but I really don't like running an older OS.
Regarding the OnePlus throttling gate, you can read here:
Examining OnePlus' Performance Behaviour: Optimization or Misrepresentation?
www.anandtech.com
The OnePlus 9 seems to be throttling its performance in many popular apps
The OnePlus 9 Pro seems to be limiting the performance in popular apps like Chrome, Twitter, Zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
www.xda-developers.com
This is just stupid, I have been running a 7 pro for 4 years, it has been, hands down, one of the best smartphones I ever owned, performance has been great from day 1 to last day and it is still living with a relative of mine, and he is supper happy with it, I have play a lot, like A LOT and it has worked flawlessly every single time.
I got a 9 pro in october past year and it has been a pain in the ass, the poor performance has been annoyingly usual, the only way to play 120FPS in some games is a magisk module intended for a Samsung F62 which I can't figure out why (because I have no knowledge about this) but it makes some game run 120FPS, however performance is really bad, there is frame drops in some points where my couple's nord 2 demolishes with no issue... I can't figure out why a nord 2 outperforms my 9 pro (i know nord 2 is 90Hz but it is much more solid 90FPS being lower tier).
Let me explain, my couple nord 2 remains 90FPS where my 9 pro gets as low as 30FPS, it is noticeable and annoying.
Is there some sort of magisk module or something "comfortable" for newbies which can be enabled or disabled at taste? I don't mind rebooting phone (I do every time i want to play some games with module I mentioned xd)
I did not tinker with kernels (not yet, did in the past with my former LG G2 and Galaxy S3 but it was quite different). I would like to remain in the Oxygen OS path for now too.
I tried lots of things, AI booster for magisk, also Adreno drivers and nothing seems to work, just performance scaling which seems to lower freq in order to improve battery life, but never higher performance (high performance mode in battery settings seems to do nohing, also tried)
Looking for this as well, as well as a module to disable annoying Doze by the SystemUI. I tried a few modules but the devices still dozes.
SnoopyFTW said:
Regarding the OnePlus throttling gate, you can read here:
Examining OnePlus' Performance Behaviour: Optimization or Misrepresentation?
www.anandtech.com
The OnePlus 9 seems to be throttling its performance in many popular apps
The OnePlus 9 Pro seems to be limiting the performance in popular apps like Chrome, Twitter, Zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
www.xda-developers.com
This is just stupid, I have been running a 7 pro for 4 years, it has been, hands down, one of the best smartphones I ever owned, performance has been great from day 1 to last day and it is still living with a relative of mine, and he is supper happy with it, I have play a lot, like A LOT and it has worked flawlessly every single time.
I got a 9 pro in october past year and it has been a pain in the ass, the poor performance has been annoyingly usual, the only way to play 120FPS in some games is a magisk module intended for a Samsung F62 which I can't figure out why (because I have no knowledge about this) but it makes some game run 120FPS, however performance is really bad, there is frame drops in some points where my couple's nord 2 demolishes with no issue... I can't figure out why a nord 2 outperforms my 9 pro (i know nord 2 is 90Hz but it is much more solid 90FPS being lower tier).
Let me explain, my couple nord 2 remains 90FPS where my 9 pro gets as low as 30FPS, it is noticeable and annoying.
Is there some sort of magisk module or something "comfortable" for newbies which can be enabled or disabled at taste? I don't mind rebooting phone (I do every time i want to play some games with module I mentioned xd)
I did not tinker with kernels (not yet, did in the past with my former LG G2 and Galaxy S3 but it was quite different). I would like to remain in the Oxygen OS path for now too.
I tried lots of things, AI booster for magisk, also Adreno drivers and nothing seems to work, just performance scaling which seems to lower freq in order to improve battery life, but never higher performance (high performance mode in battery settings seems to do nohing, also tried)
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The links you posted, those articles are not RELEVANT to YOUR issue. The throttling you're experiencing is a thermal throttling behavior that is literally NORMAL and part of EVERY OEM/Phone.
If you're on a STOCK ROM, the only way to somewhat "kill" the default throttling behavior is to disable/freeze the BATTERY package (app) either via Titanium Backup or some other app. That will prevent the phone from throttling based on the SKIN/Battery temperature.
Otherwise, Custom ROMs based on either OOS12 or OOS13 don't have any of that stock OEM throttling behavior.
JohnTheFarm3r said:
The links you posted, those articles are not RELEVANT to YOUR issue. The throttling you're experiencing is a thermal throttling behavior that is literally NORMAL and part of EVERY OEM/Phone.
If you're on a STOCK ROM, the only way to somewhat "kill" the default throttling behavior is to disable/freeze the BATTERY package (app) either via Titanium Backup or some other app. That will prevent the phone from throttling based on the SKIN/Battery temperature.
Otherwise, Custom ROMs based on either OOS12 or OOS13 don't have any of that stock OEM throttling behavior.
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Click to collapse
Is it really thermal throttling? I mean, phone does not get any warmer than usual and for example, Brawl Stars is capped at 60 FPS like most games in BBK phones (but Brawl stars worked 120FPS flawless some time ago, not much, a year ago or so I had a Realme GT Neo 2 which ran games buttersmooth and has basically the same software, color OS, which now has the same issue, games capped to 60 FPS and crap performance)
That is not normal behaviour because Brawl Stars devs claimed the game is fully unlocked and if it works below screen refresh is because of the phone software, that's the "throttling" I mean, don't know if it is because of the famous whitelisting of Oppo.
What I mean is in previous software games worked properly and now performance is a joke (I mention realme GT Neo 2 because is what I could test in the past, I loved it, that's why is a bummer getting a "better phone" which works much worse).
Get an Xbox and solve all your game problems!
TheGhost1951 said:
Get an Xbox and solve all your game problems!
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An Xbox? Are you from USA?
I just want my phone works as it should, I don't care about battery.
Also tried disabling battery app and no difference, same behaviour, I'm in OOS13 latest update.
Maybe I should give a try to custom ROM...
SnoopyFTW said:
Is it really thermal throttling? I mean, phone does not get any warmer than usual and for example, Brawl Stars is capped at 60 FPS like most games in BBK phones (but Brawl stars worked 120FPS flawless some time ago, not much, a year ago or so I had a Realme GT Neo 2 which ran games buttersmooth and has basically the same software, color OS, which now has the same issue, games capped to 60 FPS and crap performance)
That is not normal behaviour because Brawl Stars devs claimed the game is fully unlocked and if it works below screen refresh is because of the phone software, that's the "throttling" I mean, don't know if it is because of the famous whitelisting of Oppo.
What I mean is in previous software games worked properly and now performance is a joke (I mention realme GT Neo 2 because is what I could test in the past, I loved it, that's why is a bummer getting a "better phone" which works much worse).
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it is because of thermal throttling, literally. The phone doesn't get warmer because it's being limited, hence the point of thermal throttling.
The refresh rate - FPS - in a game depends solely on the devs. If the game has in one device for example support for 120 FPS, and it doesn't have in another device, it's not because of the device but because the developers either didn't "whitelist" that specific device or weren't updated in a longer time.
JohnTheFarm3r said:
it is because of thermal throttling, literally. The phone doesn't get warmer because it's being limited, hence the point of thermal throttling.
The refresh rate - FPS - in a game depends solely on the devs. If the game has in one device for example support for 120 FPS, and it doesn't have in another device, it's not because of the device but because the developers either didn't "whitelist" that specific device or weren't updated in a longer time.
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Hmm...
With the magisk module I mentioned device name changes from LE2123 to SO-52A or something similar, makes also work codm 120 FPS pretty good, much better than brawl stars which is much weaker in terms of graphics quality and detail.
Is there any way to spoof model name to test this? If so devs are lying big time. When launched 9 pro they announced collab with many games, even hypertouch feature which is gone and for what seems now touch sampling rate is just 120Hz from the 360 advertised (monitoring with apps say so).
Also tried to disable battery app and no difference, behaviour is the same.
SnoopyFTW said:
Hmm...
With the magisk module I mentioned device name changes from LE2123 to SO-52A or something similar, makes also work codm 120 FPS pretty good, much better than brawl stars which is much weaker in terms of graphics quality and detail.
Is there any way to spoof model name to test this? If so devs are lying big time. When launched 9 pro they announced collab with many games, even hypertouch feature which is gone and for what seems now touch sampling rate is just 120Hz from the 360 advertised (monitoring with apps say so).
Also tried to disable battery app and no difference, behaviour is the same.
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Click to collapse
Disabling the battery app is for the throttling workaround, not to increase the frames in the game that don't support it on your device. lol
Anyways, blame the devs...They're the ones that need to add support for the specific device to go above the XY FPS.
The smartphone wasn't intended to be a gaming device. Chipset and battery not rated for it. Get an Xbox or some similar device for gaming that it was intended for! Just my opinion.
You can test the throttling using a CPU/GPU Throttle Testing app. The OP 9 starts throttling at a low temperature, I can notice FPS dropping in games starting at 38 degrees.
I use a cooling fan attached to my OP to keep the phone at a constant 32 degrees. I also bought a heat dispersion case to help further.
Also using Konabess to undevolt the GPU also helps a bit.
TheGhost1951 said:
The smartphone wasn't intended to be a gaming device. Chipset and battery not rated for it. Get an Xbox or some similar device for gaming that it was intended for! Just my opinion.
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I'm not asking for it to perform in graphic demanding games, I'm telling you even a redmi note 10 pro (that thing is actually not rated for anything) outperforms the 9 pro in light gaming because it is not capped.
Blame the devs, blame OnePlus, I just want to know if there is any solution, I purchased the phone a few months ago and I'm finding stupid behaviours an "allegedly" flagship should not have.
Jeez even my couple Nord 2 is much better in games, that hurts...
And yeah. Get an Xbox blablabla, I do own a PS4, a powerful laptop and a powerful desktop, I just want my stupid phone to do what it should do or at least know why or if it can be solved, this is not r/xbox.
This is an issue many people complain about but OnePlus ever stated anything.
For what I can see my options are getting a cheap 120HZ phone or custom ROM (I saw a blackshark 4 for 200EUR which runs games fine)
JohnTheFarm3r said:
Disabling the battery app is for the throttling workaround, not to increase the frames in the game that don't support it on your device. lol
Anyways, blame the devs...They're the ones that need to add support for the specific device to go above the XY FPS.
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Click to collapse
The thing is when released the 9 pro, OnePlus brand had collabs with many games, even hypertouch, all of it disappeared into thin air...
That was the main reason for me to purchase, I had a great experience with my former 7 pro and I couldn't even think this could be a thing.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367122914961670156
This thread is of the main dev of the game I'm talking about. He claims the brand has to whitelist app in order to make it work 120HZ/120FPS.
Is there no way to modify that "whitelist"? I've read sometimes about this but rarely found anything (anything users can do about it lmao) and we all know how lazy oppo is with this things, there can be a thousand posts in OnePlus community ther will never answer.
SnoopyFTW said:
The thing is when released the 9 pro, OnePlus brand had collabs with many games, even hypertouch, all of it disappeared into thin air...
That was the main reason for me to purchase, I had a great experience with my former 7 pro and I couldn't even think this could be a thing.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367122914961670156
This thread is of the main dev of the game I'm talking about. He claims the brand has to whitelist app in order to make it work 120HZ/120FPS.
Is there no way to modify that "whitelist"? I've read sometimes about this but rarely found anything (anything users can do about it lmao) and we all know how lazy oppo is with this things, there can be a thousand posts in OnePlus community ther will never answer.
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Click to collapse
This is a GAME SIDE issue, not a phone-side issue. There is no whitelist on a phone that will enable you the unsupported FPS.
SnoopyFTW said:
An Xbox? Are you from USA?
I just want my phone works as it should, I don't care about battery.
Also tried disabling battery app and no difference, same behaviour, I'm in OOS13 latest update.
Maybe I should give a try to custom ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to try a custom rom, Extended is great as daily driver and for gaming as well
Well, if XBox isn't available then look for a Microsoft Play Station instead!
JohnTheFarm3r said:
This is a GAME SIDE issue, not a phone-side issue. There is no whitelist on a phone that will enable you the unsupported FPS.
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You are totally correct my friend... I have been tinkering with vmos app, I created a virtual machine in my own phone (lmao sounds like science fiction, but damnit this 888 has muscle) and it is just because devs do it intentionally.
I tried different phone makes and models... Casually Snapdragon flagship cap the game to 60FPS, but NORD devices make it run 120 FPS (you can set FPS settings in the VM option).
This is hilarious. Seems to me OnePlus just broke some contract conditions and this is devs punishment... Makes no sense, I have to test further but this is what I found for now. My doubt is if I might get a ban for using the game in a virtual machine... This is not relevant for this post!
Hope it helps someone, for exclusive games working just 120HZ in some devices you can spoof model name without root
SnoopyFTW said:
You are totally correct my friend... I have been tinkering with vmos app, I created a virtual machine in my own phone (lmao sounds like science fiction, but damnit this 888 has muscle) and it is just because devs do it intentionally.
I tried different phone makes and models... Casually Snapdragon flagship cap the game to 60FPS, but NORD devices make it run 120 FPS (you can set FPS settings in the VM option).
This is hilarious. Seems to me OnePlus just broke some contract conditions and this is devs punishment... Makes no sense, I have to test further but this is what I found for now. My doubt is if I might get a ban for using the game in a virtual machine... This is not relevant for this post!
Hope it helps someone, for exclusive games working just 120HZ in some devices you can spoof model name without root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try your own phone model in the virtual machine. What happens?
Arealhooman said:
Try your own phone model in the virtual machine. What happens?
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If I set up OnePlus LE2123/20/25 game runs 60FPS.
If I set for instance, my couple nord 2 DN2103 runs 120FPS same settings, just device name and brand changed!
Presets for S20, Xiaomi 10, vivo x50 all run 120 FPS.
Which for me is big yikes It is clearly devs fault, there has to be something odd...
SnoopyFTW said:
You are totally correct my friend... I have been tinkering with vmos app, I created a virtual machine in my own phone (lmao sounds like science fiction, but damnit this 888 has muscle) and it is just because devs do it intentionally.
I tried different phone makes and models... Casually Snapdragon flagship cap the game to 60FPS, but NORD devices make it run 120 FPS (you can set FPS settings in the VM option).
This is hilarious. Seems to me OnePlus just broke some contract conditions and this is devs punishment... Makes no sense, I have to test further but this is what I found for now. My doubt is if I might get a ban for using the game in a virtual machine... This is not relevant for this post!
Hope it helps someone, for exclusive games working just 120HZ in some devices you can spoof model name without root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what are you saying exactly: if we spoof our device to a different one, we get more fps?