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So i bought a Samsung phone which isn't that bad until i started finding out the faults! The problems that i came a cross were the fact gps was poor and so was the network, yet apart from that the phone is not that bad. nevertheless I am going to get a replaced for a sensation so is that good or a bad idea?
ps i had a HTC hd 2 before
You posted in a Sensation forum.Of course we are going to say its a great idea lol
manish2039 said:
So i bought a Samsung phone which isn't that bad until i started finding out the faults! The problems that i came a cross were the fact gps was poor and so was the network, yet apart from that the phone is not that bad. nevertheless I am going to get a replaced for a sensation so is that good or a bad idea?
ps i had a HTC hd 2 before
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its a terrible idea you have the greatest phone on planet earth and you wanna give it up?
tigerz0202 said:
its a terrible idea you have the greatest phone on planet earth and you wanna give it up?
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I wouldn't go that far calling it the greatest lol. But he has a point they are good phones. If your network is poor it night be the carrier itself. At least SGS2 is quadband 3G/UMTS/HSPA
None of us can speak for the things that matter to you. The things that make us love the device might not matter to you. Try it and decide for yourself.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
its all personal preference. i would say that even though i have the sensation, i would rather have the SG2 because it seems like its more faster and the whole touchiwiz 4 looks clean. im not saying that sense 3.0 isnt clean and isnt fast, i actually love it, but in the end its all personal preference and its up for you to decide. i suggest you try messing around with the sensation before you switch
Even though i myself am a Sensation owner, i can tell ya the SGSII, despite the lower res and the tad inexpensive build quality/looks, it's still a lot better phone.
Probably your carrier. However if u still wanna go with the Sensation.. then by all means; it is after all your call at the end of the day.
saffant said:
the tad inexpensive build quality
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"tad" is putting it lightly, IMO (as someone who owned a SGS2 for several hours today before deciding that I would return it before it got scratched and otherwise damaged. Samsung is all about the numbers game, rather than the overall user experience. They don't care if the phone feels fragile if they can claim it is the lightest. They don't care if it is uncomfortable to hold if they can say it's thinner than an iPhone 4 (they do this with the Tab 10.1 as well but it's not uncomfortable thankfully).
While the SGS2 screen is stunning to behold (even in strong sunlight) coming from someone who has hated all previous AMOLED screens because of how terrible the pentile grid arrangement made them look, It's a cheap, poorly designed phone. Great specs, very fast, etc
On the other hand, you have the Sensation which isn't perfect, but feels smaller in the hand, due to the curved back and the fact that it has a narrower but taller display, has a great looking, higher res screen, and has build quality that leaves one not wanting or needing a case for the phone.
If you have the SGS2 right now and are considering the Sensation, some of the stuff I mentioned is probably bothering you like it did me. I know how it feels to have people look at you like you're crazy for wanting to swap the SGS2 for the Sensation, since that's what I tried doing at Bell Canada today
If you plan on using and relying on WiFi, it's a terrible idea. The Sensation has the worst WiFi of any android phone I've used.
I think you will find out that it's the same experience in the end. There is a number of problems on Sensation aswell ...
thanks for the replies appreciated
i think i'll give this phone another week and then see if it has changed my mind or not.
manish2039 said:
So i bought a Samsung phone which isn't that bad until i started finding out the faults! The problems that i came a cross were the fact gps was poor and so was the network, yet apart from that the phone is not that bad. nevertheless I am going to get a replaced for a sensation so is that good or a bad idea?
ps i had a HTC hd 2 before
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Click to collapse
How can you blame the SGS2 for poor network,dosen't make sense to me but I honestly think SGS2 is the better option to sensation with regards to two things
1) Countless custom Roms already which solve a lot of problems
2) Easily flashing of the latest Firmwares via ODIN regardless of whether you want to root or not
I am already using the 2.3.4 although its not official released and its great
At the end of the day its our choice Both phones have their pros and cons but for me the (easy firmware upgrade) was the DEAL BReAKEr
I would put a facepalm pic but thats no help.
Just stay with gs2, best phone eva. Sure it has better build quality but that always hidden with the case you put on it. In fact, putting a beautiful case on the sgs2 will not add much bulk at all and still have the best hardware.
Bsketball said:
If you plan on using and relying on WiFi, it's a terrible idea. The Sensation has the worst WiFi of any android phone I've used.
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YMMV. I ran Speedtest on my Sensation with wifi this morning and got over 26Mb down. I get better signal strength around my place than I did with my Vibrant. Some people report bad wifi on the SGS2. Just saying don't take every post as the last word.
Just because the Galaxy S line is made of super light plastic, doesn't mean its fragile and breaks easily. Samsung uses the material on purpose to make the phone light. They are probably just assuming that just because phones are getting bigger doesn't mean they need to get heavier. I actually know for a fact that Samsung puts a lot of research into the plastic material they use on there Galaxy S line. Weather its made of aluminum, plastic or rubber, its still feels solid while feeling light. I haven't seen anyone with a GSII complaining of a creaky battery cover like they are on the Sensation. I can't vouch for the GSII when it comes to holding up to damage over time but what I can vouch for is the Vibrant. That thing felt cheaply built as well since it was so damn light but I can assure you. It was probably the toughest Android device I've ever owned. I dropped it multiple times and the most it ever got was scratches to the chrome bezel that went around the phone. I took house keys to its display to show off its Gorilla glass to friends and the display remained in mint condition. Finally, that phone made it through over 50 house fires in which it got wet and was banged around. In case you don't know, you usually come out of a fire dripping from head to toe with water since there is thousands of gallons of it being thrown around. I always kept the phone my work shirt pocket so it was never in a case. That phone withstood water damage and "gravity" damage and still kept on ticking. That's more than I can sat about my Nexus One which only lasted through 2 or 3 fires. It ended up getting water underneath its display.
What I'm trying to get at is just because a phone is light and made of plastic, doesn't mean its cheaply made.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
ditch that and get a nokia 5110. its way better
jrwingate6 said:
What I'm trying to get at is just because a phone is light and made of plastic, doesn't mean its cheaply made.
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But it does mean that the vast majority of people will be using a case to prevent scratches/damage, negating a lot of their time and energy spent making it thin/light.
It just kills me there's so many "phone X is better than phone Y" threads on me, and they actually think that it's black and white like that.
I hate cases. I want to see beautiful design, not beautiful design wrapped in some silicon skin. Personal opinion of course. I also like docks (blame Palm's amazing touchstone for that). Blame the Atrix for turning me on to good vehicle docks (not that I ever drive, but when I do). I also like high res screens a lot. Oh and soft touch and metal. And silky smooth, curved glass.
Plenty of people don't care. They want the fastest processor, the most ram, a big battery, and a big screen, and nothing else matters. They'll slap it in a case anyway, so build quality doesn't matter a ton. Maybe they don't even care about scratches. The SGS2 is very, very nice. Millions of people are currently loving theirs. I tried. It's not for me. Damn that screen is so beautiful though, I miss it.
_kansei_ said:
But it does mean that the vast majority of people will be using a case to prevent scratches/damage, negating a lot of their time and energy spent making it thin/light.
It just kills me there's so many "phone X is better than phone Y" threads on me, and they actually think that it's black and white like that.
I hate cases. I want to see beautiful design, not beautiful design wrapped in some silicon skin. Personal opinion of course. I also like docks (blame Palm's amazing touchstone for that). Blame the Atrix for turning me on to good vehicle docks (not that I ever drive, but when I do). I also like high res screens a lot. Oh and soft touch and metal. And silky smooth, curved glass.
Plenty of people don't care. They want the fastest processor, the most ram, a big battery, and a big screen, and nothing else matters. They'll slap it in a case anyway, so build quality doesn't matter a ton. Maybe they don't even care about scratches. The SGS2 is very, very nice. Millions of people are currently loving theirs. I tried. It's not for me. Damn that screen is so beautiful though, I miss it.
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I don't like cases or screen protectors and I rarely ever use them. That's the thing. My Vibrant did not scratch as easy as one might think. I don't think if someone adds a case to a phone that's thin and light negates the time and energy it took to get there. Its comment sense. The light the phone is, the lighter its going to be with a case on it. Just because you add a case, doesn't mean it becomes as heavy as every other phone with a case on it. Or does it? Samsung uses plastic because a WiFi frequency and cell signal can pass through it easier than aluminum or metal. We have seen deathgrip issues time and time again with phones that are built with metals.
Lastly, if you like soft touch and silky smooth curved glass then the G2X impliments those two things perfectly. The rubbery back plate and the beveled glass that curves down feels awesome. The glass us also smoother than what the Sensation has. I also like how LG beveled the G2X glass. It goes down instead of up so your fingers just glide right off the display when swiping. Its a much better implimentation than HTC's beveled glass which curves up. To bad the G2X can't run a full day without rebooting though.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
Coming from a G2, I wanted to give you guys some insight of my initial impressions of the Doubleshot in Khaki...
THINNESS: The absolute first thing I noticed when I picked up this phone is how thin it is. It is remarkable how HTC can cram a keyboard into a phone this thin. It's only about 1mm thinner than my old G2, but wow what a difference it makes.
SCREEN: Definitely better than the G2, even though it's the same resolution and size. Somehow, it's a bit brighter and a bit sharper. Not anything extraordinary better, but the S-LCD makes a difference. It seems that under battery usage the screen takes up a good percentage. The S-LCD must take a lot more power than the G2 with its super TFT screen. I usually see the percentage for the screen around 50%.
BUILD QUALITY: This is where the phone starts to decline. The build is very solid and tight, but it feels very slick in the hand. Back cover is completely smooth. Every time I slip it in my pocket and take it out, I'm scared of dropping the phone. It's so thin that it's hard to grip. Difficult to slide the keyboard out as well, due to thinness. I wish there was some rubberized material around the phone, or soft touch finish on the G2. Even though it's a high end phone, the build still feels cheap. Apart from the few metal accents (such as around the rim of the phone), it's all plastic. Which makes me wonder why it's so heavy...
I have noticed that DUST does seem to get caught in the gap between the screen and the main keys. It could end up under your screen if you're not careful. It's understandable given the keys are actual buttons and not a part of the digitizer. Usually whenever I see dust starting to get caught, I take a piece of paper and just run the edge through the gap. It gets all the dust out.
SPEED: You can tell this phone is fast. Even on the stock rom, I knew this phone would be very fast. RAM seems limited though, with about 140mb for you to use once everything is loaded (stock rom). Curiously, benchmarks show much lower ratings than my old G2 OCed to 1.5 GHz. The phone is faster for sure though. Games to used to lag, no longer do. Even when running multiple apps, the phone does not slow down at all. Running a senseless rom, I have peak RAM anywhere from 275 up to 300MB free, with almost all background tasks killed, apart from a few essentials.
KEYBOARD: Oh boy, did HTC drop the ball on this one... Throughout all the android qwertys I have owned, this sadly has to be the worst. It will definitely take some time to get used to. Motorola Cliq>MyTouch 3G Slide>G2>MyTouch 4G Slide, in terms of keyboard rank for the phones I have used so far. The keys are fairly flat and have very little response and feedback. Very slick and hard to feel for. I appreciate the fact that the phone is so thin, but I'd rather have a slightly thicker phone phone to accommodate one of my main input mechanisms. With time, you can get used to anything though.
After spending a few days with the keyboard, I am glad to say it's much better. The first day or two felt terrible with this keyboard. Almost no feedback at all. But the more you use it, the more you pick up on the slight feedback YOU DO get from it. It's like trying to find the pulse on an old diabetic patient. The more you look for it, the more you will find it.
This may be personal grooming, but I've noticed that it's easier to type on the keyboard after having cut my nails than when they have grown out. It makes your finger a bit smaller and a little easier to feel for feedback, just saying...
SPEAKERPHONE: This speaker is much louder and deeper sounding than the one in the G2. Although it does get covered easily and the sound gets muffled out almost complete. This is a bad placement. For example, if you reach into you pocket to get your phone, your hand automatically covers the sound vent and then no one can hear your cool ringtone
Speakerphone still has the same flaws as I mentioned before. When playing a game in landscape mode, you do tend to cover the speaker when you're not paying attention. And then you wonder where the sound suddenly went and why it disappeared.
CAMERA: I haven't found a single scenario where this camera has not amazed me yet. It is truly stunning that a camera could be this good in a phone. Every time I have taken a picture with another phone, I always try to justify how bad it is, with the fact that it's only a camera phone and not a dedicated camera. But with the Doubleshot, I have to wonder at why I even need my camera for about 90% of my shots anymore. There has not been a single scenario where the camera has performed subpar so far. Flash is very good on this camera. Does not interfere with the photo quality at all. Usually the LED is placed so close to the camera lens, that it interferes with the image quality and actually makes the picture look worse. That was the case with every other camera phone that I have had. But not with this one.
HEADPHONE JACK: I have noticed that the headphone jack isn't ideally placed. It off to an angle if you look closely, and that could prove to be a wear issue on your buds, especially if the connector is a straight plug. It's much better to text with though, because it allows your fingers to get situated well around the phone when texting and have headphones plugged in at the same time.
BATTERY: There's no other way of putting it, the battery life is going to be bad. I'm not the kind of person that believes in toning a phone down to get better battery life, but with this phone you may have to. Realistically, with light-moderate use a user will get about 8 hours of run time before the battery is dead. The vast majority of users have said that the aftermarket Anker battery proves to be MUCH better vs stock.
My setup: 100% brightness, wifi always on, no mobile data, gmail push, pulse reader updates every hour, fancy widget GPS weather every 15 mins, and display on for collective time of 1 hour. I get about 10-12 hours on a charge (mainly because I don't use mobile data).
Will update this review the more I get acquainted with my new baby
I recently switched from a G2 as well and thought the same thing about the keyboard. After about a week you get used to it.
Sent from my HTC myTouch_4G_Slide using XDA App
gtmaster303 said:
...
SPEED: You can tell this phone is fast. Even on the stock rom, I knew this phone would be very fast. RAM seems limited though, with about 140mb for you to use once everything is loaded (stock rom).
...
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I know this is a review of first impressions, and I appreciate that window into what someone thinks coming from a different device. This is the first android cellular device i've owned (second device total - nook color being the other) and I have no basis of comparison. This device IS my entry to the smartphone scene, so posts like this give me great insight.
( I quoted the RAM part because this is a function of the BLOAT in the stock ROM, if you cut out all the BS you can easily climb above 200 megs waiting and ready on boot. Don't forget a certain amount is not user accessible, due to being allocated for system use ( CPU/GPU etc...) But this is a first impressions thread, so not trying to take away from that, just trying to bring awareness )
gtmaster303 said:
Coming from a G2, I wanted to give you guys some insight of my initial impressions...
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good review, and I agree with all of it.
as others have said, you get used to the keyboard, and in the end it seems no worse (at least to me).
I recommend getting a case for this bad boy, helps with the slickness, and protects against damage. There is a thread in accessories forum that details various options. Well worth the 10-20 spent in my opinion.
Honestly, I warrantied three phones until I got one in which the keyboard gave me some kind of response. My keys actually click now.
Am I the only one who forgot about the keyboard as soon as I saw how fast it was?
Plus you didn't say anything about the camera. It is such a great improvement from what we had on the G2. I actually haven't come across a phone with a camera that can perfom as well as this in low light with no flash!
Also the front facing camera is something I always felt the G2 was missing right from the day I bought it. It makes skype so much more usable and makes sense in actually flashing a rom with the video gtalk app.
Plus let me be the first to mention this in the DS forum. I HATED WHERE THEY PUT THE SD CARD IN THE G2! FUUUUUU! It was so annoying to have to shut down your phone just to take out the card. I used to load up movies and series for when am on the go/on the road a lot on a seperate card. What is the "eject external card" for if I had to freaking yank out the battery just to get to it?!
Another thing to note is that as much as people may hate on the DoubleShot's earpiece I overlook that because now I have a fully visible notification LED,and not hidden behind a mesh which sometimes made it not clearly visible when outdoors...
The soft coating on the G2 too was a disadvantage as it was so much easier to pick up scratches and scuffs than the DS. Infact thanks to my worry that DS would suffer the same fate, I ordered the rubberised hard cover on the same day I ordered the DS.
The hinge on the G2 was a cool feature but when it finally got loose, I hated it more than I ever fancied it in the first place. I'm glad that the DS comes with a really tight slider which no amount of shock/fall could force it open.
The G2 got the 3 shortcut keys on the Keyboard, the DS got the home, menu and back buttons. Which imo makes me spend more time on the keyboard with the DS than the G2 coz am able to navigate faster and easier with the keyboard on it. I know you may not agree with me but that too makes the DS's keyboard feel more complete than that of the G2.
Another thing I felt was a bit of a failure on the G2 was the back of the top hinge which was stuck with adhesive which you had to peel off to expose the screws. For a device that is praised for its 'solid and partly metalic buid' I really didn't like the idea of using parts that were stuck to the external body with adhesive. I haven't pulled apart the DS yet, but at least the finish on the back part of the slider seems to be much better.
I don't hate the G2, it was an excellent phone, but there things about it that make me feel am much better off with the DS.
sent via a Phone Booth
gtmaster303 said:
BUILD QUALITY: This is where the phone starts to decline. The build is very solid and tight, but it feels very slick in the hand. Back cover is completely smooth. Every time I slip it in my pocket and take it out, I'm scared of dropping the phone. It's so thin that it's hard to grip. Difficult to slide the keyboard out as well. I wish there was some rubberized material around the phone, or soft touch finish on the G2. Even though it's a high end phone, the build still feels cheap. Apart from the few metal accents (such as around the rim of the phone), it's all plastic. Which makes me wonder why it's so heavy...
KEYBOARD: Oh boy, did HTC drop the ball on this one... Throughout all the android qwertys I have owned, this sadly has to be the worst. It will definitely take some time to get used to. Motorola Cliq>MyTouch 3G Slide>G2>MyTouch 4G Slide, in terms of keyboard rank for the phones I have used so far. The keys are fairly flat and have very little response and feedback. Very slick and hard to feel for. I appreciate the fact that the phone is so thin, but I'd rather have a slightly thicker phone phone to accommodate one of my main input mechanisms. With time, you can get used to anything though
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Disagree with the build quality, to be honest. I don't really mind the weight of the phone, it feels nice in the hand. Strong plastics are better to make a phone anyways because it isn't as easily deformed.
I definitely agree with the keyboard though. Coming from a Model M, I was expecting a little more from the keyboard. I almost *always* accidentally hit "B" when trying to hit the backspace. I wish the keyboard had *slightly* more raised keys as well as requiring a bit more force to get a key to register.
Limewirelord said:
Disagree with the build quality, to be honest. I don't really mind the weight of the phone, it feels nice in the hand. Strong plastics are better to make a phone anyways because it isn't as easily deformed.
I definitely agree with the keyboard though. Coming from a Model M, I was expecting a little more from the keyboard. I almost *always* accidentally hit "B" when trying to hit the backspace. I wish the keyboard had *slightly* more raised keys as well as requiring a bit more force to get a key to register.
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I don't mind the weight, it's just there's not enough metal to justify it. If it has that much plastic in it, it should definitely be lighter.
Overall, the phone is very well built. Solid but not as premium feeling as you would expect.
Coming from the G2 as well, I'd have to say the Keyboard is a lot worse as well. I actually wish they had the MT4GS's design similar to the G2's. I loved the way the G2 lifted up to slide.
gtmaster303 said:
BUILD QUALITY: This is where the phone starts to decline. The build is very solid and tight, but it feels very slick in the hand. Back cover is completely smooth. Every time I slip it in my pocket and take it out, I'm scared of dropping the phone.
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I'm gonna guess that you have the kahki one, then? I've had both and I can tell you, the khaki one is WAY slicker than the black. With the khaki one, I almost dropped it every time I pulled it out of my pocket. It was just so freakin' slippery everywhere. The black one is a more grippy, soft-touch kind of material and it's far easier to hold onto.
So if you really can't take it and don't want a case, check on eBay for OEM black battery covers. The one I'm using now is the khaki phone with a black battery door. Still shiny and reflective bezels but a nice grippy battery door. Best of both worlds.
ryaninc said:
I'm gonna guess that you have the kahki one, then? I've had both and I can tell you, the khaki one is WAY slicker than the black. With the khaki one, I almost dropped it every time I pulled it out of my pocket. It was just so freakin' slippery everywhere. The black one is a more grippy, soft-touch kind of material and it's far easier to hold onto.
So if you really can't take it and don't want a case, check on eBay for OEM black battery covers. The one I'm using now is the khaki phone with a black battery door. Still shiny and reflective bezels but a nice grippy battery door. Best of both worlds.
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Wow, that's a great observation. Yes, I am using the khaki cover. I will see if I can switch with my friend because she has a case over her black one anyway
Thanks for the tip! You solved the issue exactly how I would've liked.
gtmaster303 said:
Wow, that's a great observation. Yes, I am using the khaki cover. I will see if I can switch with my friend because she has a case over her black one anyway
Thanks for the tip! You solved the issue exactly how I would've liked.
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I'm using the PowerMat Battery case. Gives it a nice weight, and grip. Only 10-20USD on T-Mobile.Com.
Sent from my HTC myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk
gtmaster303 said:
Wow, that's a great observation. Yes, I am using the khaki cover. I will see if I can switch with my friend because she has a case over her black one anyway
Thanks for the tip! You solved the issue exactly how I would've liked.
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No problem, glad to help. I never would have figured it out unless I'd owned both the khaki and black ones personally. It was pretty startling how much more slippery the khaki one was.
As I keep saying, this phone is a real beast. HTC needs to start listening to its consumer base again and give us vanilla Android and stop screwing us.
Delivered via candygram for Mr. Mongo.
I have added/updated the review to include the headphone jack and battery
gtmaster303 said:
BATTERY: There's no other way of putting it, the battery life is going to be bad. I'm not the kind of person that believes in toning a phone down to get better battery life, but with this phone you may have to. Realistically, with light-moderate use a user will get about 8 hours of run time before the battery is dead. The vast majority of users have said that the aftermarket Anker battery proves to be MUCH better vs stock.
My setup: 100% brightness, wifi always on, no mobile data, gmail push, pulse reader updates every hour, fancy widget GPS weather every 15 mins, and display on for collective time of 1 hour. I get about 10-12 hours on a charge (mainly because I don't use mobile data).
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Yep, anker is the right solution for someone that wants something better then the absolute fail the HTC battery represents.
If you want a perfect solution, Mugen is a better answer, but I personally run anker in one phone, both my stock batteries in the other, and the difference is drastically noticeable.
@ 1.7GHz with tv-out and using FPSE to emulate a playstation, I get just under 3 hours of steady gameplay before it starts to reduce performance at around 18% coming from anywhere between 95-100%.
I wouldn't be so mad at HTC about the battery issue if it just died fast, but the battery causes a significant amount of heat under heavier use, and that damages the device itself. That is unforgivable, even taking into consideration that HTC is not a battery company.
For someone using the device as a phone and minimal other use, the stock battery is likely -just- sufficient.
For anyone cracking open even a sliver of the machines potential it instantly becomes a liability, before any of the standard gripes about battery life on a phone.
(remember - dual core processor - it will eat more juice then a single core phone on avergage, but use less to get big jobs done)
Blue6IX said:
I know this is a review of first impressions, and I appreciate that window into what someone thinks coming from a different device. This is the first android cellular device i've owned (second device total - nook color being the other) and I have no basis of comparison. This device IS my entry to the smartphone scene, so posts like this give me great insight.
( I quoted the RAM part because this is a function of the BLOAT in the stock ROM, if you cut out all the BS you can easily climb above 200 megs waiting and ready on boot. Don't forget a certain amount is not user accessible, due to being allocated for system use ( CPU/GPU etc...) But this is a first impressions thread, so not trying to take away from that, just trying to bring awareness )
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Click to collapse
I think people shouldn't harp on "free ram". In this environment its a good thing for memory to be used. Android was designed to be used on mobile devices. The way that it handles memory is much more efficient to say a PC running Windows. With a decent task manager or view you would see that while they are taking up memory (which is otherwise unused) they are not using any cpu cycles. This allows for a much more fast feeling and fluid experience.
Let's say I use Opera the browser, later I decide I want to watch youtube videos. When ever I decide to go back to Opera its being pulled from ram rather than internal or external storage.
When you really need the ram for an application, game, etc Android will automatically unload which ever inactive process it deems necessary.
I do agree that the stock rom comes with excessive bloatware and other unnecessary features. I use JKILO's deoxed rooted stock rom in which I absolutely remove all the bloat and extra features I don't need or use. Runs amazing now, no need for OC in my opinion.
The only thing that bothered me when I first got this phone were the random reboots stock sometimes had. Other than that the phone was and still is awesome especially coming from the old mytouch 3G.
revo420 said:
I think people shouldn't harp on "free ram". In this environment its a good thing for memory to be used. Android was designed to be used on mobile devices. The way that it handles memory is much more efficient to say a PC running Windows. With a decent task manager or view you would see that while they are taking up memory (which is otherwise unused) they are not using any cpu cycles. This allows for a much more fast feeling and fluid experience.
Let's say I use Opera the browser, later I decide I want to watch youtube videos. When ever I decide to go back to Opera its being pulled from ram rather than internal or external storage.
When you really need the ram for an application, game, etc Android will automatically unload which ever inactive process it deems necessary.
I do agree that the stock rom comes with excessive bloatware and other unnecessary features. I use JKILO's deoxed rooted stock rom in which I absolutely remove all the bloat and extra features I don't need or use. Runs amazing now, no need for OC in my opinion.
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Agreed, which is why task killers are so bad.
The reason I mentioned the RAM was because what is using it is as important as having it - when I said over 200 megs sitting waiting and ready was to show what was available for user consumption on the apps of THEIR choosing and not HTC or T-Mo.
Given that this is a first-impressions thread, I thought it might be good to see just how much the carrier-level Bloat had an effect on that experience.
Definitely good counsel to let Android handle the RAM, and keep that management out of the userspace level.
Well, the story goes like this. I ordered the One S originally for my contract upgrade but read some doom and gloom reviews regarding the screen so changed to the one X at no extra cost. I prefer the look and the materials used in the One S.
To my suprise, the One S still came. I asked Three if I could have a little play and they said it was fine as long as I didn't put the sim card in it.
The phone is absolutely stunning. It's razor thin design and solid build quality make it the most impressive phone I have handled to date. The MAO process used on the housing has a unique finish to it which is grippy as well as gorgeous, and makes the phone feel like it could survive thermo-nuclear war.
One of the reasons I changed to the One X was the chipping issue. I have been brave and actually (fairly gently) hit the edges of the phone against my class desk. Tapping it in such a hard surface I would have assumed would chip the phone if a defect was present, and it weathered it without any marks, luckily for me. I have heard chips start appearing after the first week of use though, so don't take my word as gospel when I say it hasn't affected this unit.
Another reason for me scrapping my One S dreams was the reviews of the screen. Several websites I trust said the screen was low quality and you could easily see individual pixels. Now this was personally my biggest turn off for the One S... I spend a lot of time browsing the web on my phone so even minor pixalation would piss me off, however I'm pleased to say the screen is stunning. The only trademarks of a pentile display I noticed was very very faint jagged edges on straight lines during screen animations, not a deal killer for me as text was wonderful.
Finally the performance of the One S has blown me away. It's dual-core snapdragon S4 is a brilliant CPU and coupled with the Adreno 220 GPU everything ran smooth like a hot knife through butter.
My conclusion? As an average user, ignore the doom and gloom about the screen. There are some incredibly minor jagged edges on transition efects but apart from that I loved it. Battery life seems to be impressive too, I have had it since 10 AM this morning and it is midnight now and is on 30% charge, and I've been using this phone a lot, however without any sort of 3g radio turned on, only WiFi. If you love the look of this phone, buy it. It feels amazing.
too bad there is no nfc and its mid 2012
kolyan said:
too bad there is no nfc and its mid 2012
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>implying that nfc is some kind of must-have feature in 2012
I really don't think it is. Maybe next year.
NFC is useful. But not much implemented. I won't miss it the next 2-3 years I imagine. Nothing to ***** about imho.
I've had my MOA S since Friday afternoon, and I'm very satisfied with it so far. I have to agree with most observations in this review. It's spot on!
As for chipping, I've not noticed any on my device yet, apart from a little around (more like inside) the usb port. But then I have not taken much care when plugging in either, so I'm not surprised it has a little worn look there.
It feels secure and good to the grip, and the screen is perfectly adequate for a phone. I'm not using this device as a replacement for my HD TV-set or for image manipulation
Two things I would have wished for as a personal preference is bigger battery (even at a cost of a couple of millimeters thicker body and more weight) and a smaller screen. 4" had been enough with this hardware to be a great phone
I don't see NFC as a big part of technology in 2012. Maybe after the premier handsets have it and then it starts rolling out, that will be when I care if a phone has NFC or not. I certainly don't mind at all that the HTC One S isn't a pioneer in NFC technology.
NFC
kolyan said:
too bad there is no nfc and its mid 2012
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To be fair, have you even been able to use NFC for anything productive?
I have been using a Bold 9900 for the last 5 months and the ONLY thing I have used NFC for is getting a free cadburys cream egg from a promotional stand at a bus stop in reading.
And in the UK you can only use NFC for payments under £15, which in my case is usually just a drink or lunch, both of which I would usually pay for in loose change, not with my card, so NFC is, in my opinion, an entirely worthless feature in 2012.
It could be great, but currently it has no use and I don't see why any phone ships with it currently apart from to entice businesses into finding more uses for it as the user base grows.
For the screen, the pixel is visible if the text is written in white. ( under the icon.
It is less visible in the browser as the text is in black.
I ve put my desire s in front of the one s and the desire s screen is sharper.
The one s could have been the best device with an hd screen to me.
I just think when u are buying a new and nice device, its nice to have it future proof considering most top of the line phones do have nfc....galaxy nexus, one x, Sony phones, and gs3 will most likely have it too.
nfc is not just for payments. tags are pretty cool and useful.
I don't have nfc and never used it, but sure wouldn't mind trying it out
kolyan said:
I just think when u are buying a new and nice device, its nice to have it future proof considering most top of the line phones do have nfc....galaxy nexus, one x, Sony phones, and gs3 will most likely have it too.
nfc is not just for payments. tags are pretty cool and useful.
I don't have nfc and never used it, but sure wouldn't mind trying it out
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Click to collapse
The One S is not a top of the line phone, it's a mid end device. Bare that in mind when you talk about future proofing. Most people on these forums will update their phones once a year or so, I personally upgrade every 6 months sometimes. NFC will not be big this year, nor probably next. It's not something that has started trending yet, and when it does I suspect it will explode and then die out again, because it's really not as useful as people like to make out.
So yeah, most top end phones have it now, but this is not a top end phone. And our countries like to future proof their nuclear defenses, but it's not like anyone is going to fire a nuke at us any time soon. Same goes with NFC...
P.S, I went for the One X in the end
I see NFC more useful with tags rather then its easy payment feature.
maybe its not what i actually think it is and using Tasker is just as convenient if not better. But it sure nice to have automated tasks, i use this feature ALOT
Isn't nfc just asking for trouble security loopholes'
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
CaveManDave said:
The One S is not a top of the line phone, it's a mid end device. Bare that in mind when you talk about future proofing. Most people on these forums will update their phones once a year or so, I personally upgrade every 6 months sometimes. NFC will not be big this year, nor probably next. It's not something that has started trending yet, and when it does I suspect it will explode and then die out again, because it's really not as useful as people like to make out.
So yeah, most top end phones have it now, but this is not a top end phone. And our countries like to future proof their nuclear defenses, but it's not like anyone is going to fire a nuke at us any time soon. Same goes with NFC...
P.S, I went for the One X in the end
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Hmm I do not really agree.
First point: The One S is maybe promoted by HTC as the mid end device but this for sure only is for them. It is faster than any other smartphone (even the high class One X) and when you compare it to other producers devices, the One S has to be compared to the power horses of those (and beats them)..
Second: nfc doesn't has to be big to be useful. You are right that it needs to be spread for some fancy and useful services like payment or I dunno but actually people owning the new Sonys are playing around with the tags a lot and producing interesting ideas. For example: tags placed at your appartements entrance that tell your phone how to behave (sound profile, wifi, alerts, tasks etc..) if you pass it, depending on leaving (profile 1) or entering (profile 2).
I agree that it's not a must have for me, but certainly a nice to have and it would've been realistic to implement it in the One S or at least the X, which is the top class and doesn't have it either.
^ One X does have NFC
---------- Post added at 03:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:03 PM ----------
This is how I look at it....out of Built quality (theoretically goes to S), Screen quality, NFC, SD-Card slot, and Removable battery, I would choose like this:
1. Screen quality
2. Built quality
3. NFC
4 and 5. SD Card and Removable battery < this is just something I never care about
I owned a Captivate for two years, and a month ago I used my upgrade to get a gray HTC One X. I'm posting this review in here because it's specifically focused on my experience upgrading from the Captivate. I hope that's okay...
Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. It's two years newer, so it has more RAM, more cores, more GHz. It's way faster and smoother. Okay, moving on.
GOOD
Screen - The screen, oh my God, the screen. The first thing I noticed about the Cappy in the store was the PenTile display (though I didn't know what that was at the time). I thought, "what's with the jagged edges on the text?" About a day into using the Captivate, I stopped noticing it, and it never bothered me. But when I saw the HOX's screen, I instantly knew what I'd been missing. Now, I know the resolution is much higher, so this is not meant to be a SLCD2/SAMOLED comparison. Just know that the screen is breathtakingly sharp and smooth. I do miss the Captivate's deep, inky, perfect blacks, but it's a tiny price to pay. The screen is also physically larger, which I love, but if you have small hands it could be an issue.
Camera(s) - There's not much to say about the front-facing camera except for one important fact: it exists. I think the Cappy was the last high-end phone not to include one, and it was really starting to chafe. Likewise, the flash on the main camera is a nice addition. The main camera itself is very good, although maybe it doesn't quite live up to the hype ("best phone camera ever") that it was getting around launch time.
The camera app interface is a pleasure to use, and I've had a blast playing around with slow-motion video. Another great feature of the camera is that it's very fast to launch--by default you can access it from the unlock screen, and it takes maybe one second to load up. Instead of switching between snapshot mode and video mode, there are separate buttons for each, and they're always available. Seriously, it's just easy, and I'd be reluctant to flash a ROM that didn't have access to the stock camera app, it's that good.
GPS - It works! It works well! With support for GLONASS, I've seen GPS Status reporting a lock on 15/23 satellites (3m accuracy). Once a steady lock is achieved, GLONASS is disabled and it changes to something like 8/9, but if I move the phone so that it can't get a good signal (like the floorboard of my car), it automatically re-enables GLONASS for the extra accuracy.
NEUTRAL
Unibody construction - This could very easily be a huge NEGATIVE, depending on your own needs/preferences. I went two years with the stock Captivate battery and with a 2GB SD card that never had anything on it. So for me, the non-replaceable battery and lack of an SD card slot are only minor downsides, made up for by the stylish look and very solid feel of the machined body. Although I never felt like there was any problem with the Captivate's build quality, the One X just feels like a solid brick in the hand, hard to describe the difference, but it's significant.
BAD
Power button - Admittedly this is a minor thing, but I HATE the placement of the power button on the top of the phone. Almost one month later and I still haven't found a comfortable one-handed way to push it without mashing the volume rocker. The power button is probably the thing I miss most about my Cappy!
Screen glass - It supposedly has Gorilla Glass 2, but whatever it is, I suspect it's not as scratch resistant as the Captivate's glass. Or it could just be that the phone's physical design puts the glass more "out there". Mine already has a scratch that's worse than anything the Captivate picked up in two years without a screen protector. It can be felt with a fingernail (although it's unnoticeable in normal use). I dislike screen protectors, but I may have to use one anyway.
These next three are BAD as well, but they could potentially be fixed with software updates, either official or otherwise. However, the GPS fiasco with the Captivate taught me never to assume that some problem is just a glitch that will get taken care of shortly! So here they are:
Multitasking - Read about it here. It sucks and, so far at least, HTC seems to be saying it's working as designed. There are various fixes being promoted, with some swearing they work and others saying they do nothing--so familiar! However, I do believe that once something like CM9 is available, it'll be fixed (but read below about dev support). This isn't hardware.
Data issues - There are problems maintaining connections to wifi and mobile data. Hopefully this is another consequence of HTC being overzealous with memory/battery management and will be fixed in software, but I suppose there's a small chance that it's hardware.
Dev support - It's locked down, hard. There are talented devs working on it, and there is good progress. I don't doubt that we'll have everything eventually, but the devs are really having to fight against HTC (because AT&T is leaning on them) to do it. Also, it's brickable--I haven't dared to do anything to it yet for fear of bricking it, and I really miss the Captivate's resilience in that area.
One more nail in the coffin for me not getting the phone.I'll just wait for the blue sgs3 and be happier for it.
Thanks
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
Thanks for the review. Was considering this for my upgrade but think will consider alternatives.
I think it's got a cute camera, but all around it just... sucks. The battery is even worse than my Nexus 5, and the phone is just ugly, especially in the front, in my opinion.
Actually I like the design much better than the M9, not too worried about the battery, and it seems HTC has finally overcome it's greatest flaw in its camera.
Wish it has a dual SIM function (it's important in SE Asia and developing countries) and waterproof.
Otherwise, it's pretty nice.
I just can't believe they are still plastering a fugly logo on the front taking up valuable screen real-estate. I'll never buy another HTC as long as they keep doing that. At the very least they got rid of the "hardware" buttons... except then they replaced it with a larger hardware button copying samsung and apple. The waste of space is just terrible. Nexus 6 has slightly more than half an inch in top/bottom bezeling combined while these things look like they are rocking 1.5 inches or more!
Not to mention it's looks like a sad copy attempt at newer samsung/iphone styles - hardly unique at all. I don't think the copy-cat ploy is going to work for the third guy doing it. I'd bet money that this is yet another flop.
http://www.xda-developers.com/the-a9-is-not-the-hero-htc-needs-nor-the-one-it-deserves/
Xenosis said:
I just can't believe they are still plastering a fugly logo on the front taking up valuable screen real-estate. I'll never buy another HTC as long as they keep doing that. At the very least they got rid of the "hardware" buttons... except then they replaced it with a larger hardware button copying samsung and apple. The waste of space is just terrible. Nexus 6 has slightly more than half an inch in top/bottom bezeling combined while these things look like they are rocking 1.5 inches or more!
Not to mention it's looks like a sad copy attempt at newer samsung/iphone styles - hardly unique at all. I don't think the copy-cat ploy is going to work for the third guy doing it. I'd bet money that this is yet another flop.
http://www.xda-developers.com/the-a9-is-not-the-hero-htc-needs-nor-the-one-it-deserves/
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I don't think the design is necessarily a bad thing. It may be emulating Apple, but it's still metal and it will appeal to quite a number of people, if not for the design then for the build quality alone. With that being said, the battery is most likely gonna drag the phone down, unless they can do what the Moto G is doing with their battery, which by the way is larger than the A9.
Also, I hope there are capacitative back and recent apps buttons to complement the physical home button. Otherwise, the home button kinda becomes redundant, even with a fingerprint scanner, because you have the full set of controls on the screen right above the home button.
Using HTC 8 years now but couldn't find new model for me. Like the design but inside phone is not what you expecting from phones these days.
Just to hang for time that HTC makes serious phone I switched to OnePlus 2.
HTC A9
Very bad design, I think they need to change thier concept designer and CEO then they try to find another inspiration like One M7 & 8 and I think they will not be able to do that until they think out of Apple hater Box
bennaye said:
I don't think the design is necessarily a bad thing. It may be emulating Apple, but it's still metal and it will appeal to quite a number of people, if not for the design then for the build quality alone. With that being said, the battery is most likely gonna drag the phone down, unless they can do what the Moto G is doing with their battery, which by the way is larger than the A9.
Also, I hope there are capacitive back and recent apps buttons to complement the physical home button. Otherwise, the home button kinda becomes redundant, even with a fingerprint scanner, because you have the full set of controls on the screen right above the home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad? nah. Sad? I think so. Who needs more of the same thing? It's because they are failing that they decided to copy what they thought would be a safe bet. Personally I'm not even too bothered by the small battery as I pretty much always keep my phones around 50% and up as wherever I am there is usually a place to charge them. Fast charging will make that even more feasible. (Probably their logic)
In my opinion, the fingerprint scanner should be on the back of every phone, like many are already doing, not the front. Or even on the side makes more sense. It should be in a place that is easy to access with only one hand. The bottom of the front of the phone makes it so you have to support it with the other hand while swiping to do it comfortably.
My point is that any capacitive/hardware buttons that can be done in software are redundant and they are especially atrocious when taking up screen real estate. When done in software, the screen can be 1/3 inch to 1/2 inch larger.
When I got my One m7 way back, I thought it was awesome and compared to what was out there, it was. That is until other phones came out that were the same size but had smaller bezels, didn't waste space with a giant logo and capacitive buttons. A clear successor in design IMO.
Maybe it's just me but since everyone can do nice specs, a decision on a phone comes down to smaller things and for me, screen size/quality is one of the most important. The way the front of the phone looks is important, and how well utilized the space is is important. HTC has always done a horrible job utilizing space well so far as I've seen.
I hate it. The design is fine but why? Don't copy Apple just to get a few new users to switch. Stick with the M8 style design with some differences. Bezeless? The specs are not that great. They even removed boomsound wtf. (unless it is considered a mid range phone).
They need to spend some money and get ultra specs. They need a 4k screen, ultra boomsound speakers that are really loud with a pop out speaker like the old HTC Surround while keeping it a thin phone, Snapdragon 820 with 2 gh and 3-4 gigs of ram, a 25 ultra pixel rear camera with Nikon DLSR sensors to bring the ultimate in picture taking and making it the best camera phone ever even better than some stand alones, 6 ultra pixel front facing cam, 3500 MaH battery. Now if they did that, I'd buy that in a heart beat or are these features too unrealistic?
HTC needs to realize people care about what is written on the specs sheet next to the phone in a phone store. People see low numbers (even though the processor may optimize it to make the low numbers feel like higer for example battery MaH) they will go to another phone that has higher numbers on the specs sheet.
I just really hope they change their mind about their design philosophy to me its not a good change, but I applaud the hardware and the fact they have marshmellow running on it already
MsEvyLynch said:
I hate it. The design is fine but why? Don't copy Apple just to get a few new users to switch. Stick with the M8 style design with some differences. Bezeless? The specs are not that great. They even removed boomsound wtf. (unless it is considered a mid range phone).
They need to spend some money and get ultra specs. They need a 4k screen, ultra boomsound speakers that are really loud with a pop out speaker like the old HTC Surround while keeping it a thin phone, Snapdragon 820 with 2 gh and 3-4 gigs of ram, a 25 ultra pixel rear camera with Nikon DLSR sensors to bring the ultimate in picture taking and making it the best camera phone ever even better than some stand alones, 6 ultra pixel front facing cam, 3500 MaH battery. Now if they did that, I'd buy that in a heart beat or are these features too unrealistic?
HTC needs to realize people care about what is written on the specs sheet next to the phone in a phone store. People see low numbers (even though the processor may optimize it to make the low numbers feel like higer for example battery MaH) they will go to another phone that has higher numbers on the specs sheet.
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I don't agree with you on this, HTC hasn't copied from Apple. But it is other way round.
This is the design that HTC has pioneered and continued to evolve. There is a reason why iPhones and Samsung devices now look like they do, because HTC has a superior design. They always seem to fall short when it comes to specs and marketing.
Xenosis said:
My point is that any capacitive/hardware buttons that can be done in software are redundant and they are especially atrocious when taking up screen real estate. When done in software, the screen can be 1/3 inch to 1/2 inch larger.
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Click to collapse
My point was that since HTC already went with a physical home button at the front which doubles as a fingerprint scanner, they might as well include the other capacitive buttons. Having just one button on the front seems kinda pointless. But I do agree that the fingerprint sensor should be on the side or on the back.
MsEvyLynch said:
I hate it. The design is fine but why? Don't copy Apple just to get a few new users to switch. Stick with the M8 style design with some differences. Bezeless? The specs are not that great. They even removed boomsound wtf. (unless it is considered a mid range phone).
They need to spend some money and get ultra specs. They need a 4k screen, ultra boomsound speakers that are really loud with a pop out speaker like the old HTC Surround while keeping it a thin phone, Snapdragon 820 with 2 gh and 3-4 gigs of ram, a 25 ultra pixel rear camera with Nikon DLSR sensors to bring the ultimate in picture taking and making it the best camera phone ever even better than some stand alones, 6 ultra pixel front facing cam, 3500 MaH battery. Now if they did that, I'd buy that in a heart beat or are these features too unrealistic?
HTC needs to realize people care about what is written on the specs sheet next to the phone in a phone store. People see low numbers (even though the processor may optimize it to make the low numbers feel like higer for example battery MaH) they will go to another phone that has higher numbers on the specs sheet.
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Click to collapse
Dude, first of all, anything that has to do with Nikon sucks. Second of all, complaining like that just makes you look bad.
herzig.grant said:
Dude, first of all, anything that has to do with Nikon sucks. Second of all, complaining like that just makes you look bad.
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I'm not complaining, I'm just stating what HTC needs to do to get back where they need to be. Going this route is just making it worse for them.
Honestly I think it is a dumb a** phone and it seems like HTC is in self destruct mode
MsEvyLynch said:
I'm not complaining, I'm just stating what HTC needs to do to get back where they need to be. Going this route is just making it worse for them.
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Yeah you have a point.
I've used HTC phones basically for almost every upgrade I had. I found their build and quality to always be top notch. What I liked about HTC is that you can almost always unlock the bootloader and go the custom rom route and the boomsound speakers. The One A9 ditched everything to try to get more people to like HTC. What I want is a HTC phone with top notch specs 5.1-5.5" screen, I could care less about finger print scanning but sure whynot, a nice shooter with OIS and a competitive price point and I think they should be able to get back. Sense skin on the HTC is what makes the experience unique.
nice especially the design though I'm not impressed with its built and other stuff. sticking with the N5 ndysf
Best thing about HTC these days is still Sense interface. Stock android, Samsung etc...OS/look/feel is garbage. I remember when I first got the Nexus, the one with the led trackball..years ago. I almost dumped that thing in 1 day until I found the ability to get an updated Rom with better apps/design and look/feel of the phone. HTC was a saving grace. Get rid of Blinkfeed, keep the clean/polished apps of Sense and interface...and put some real serious hardware in the phone.
Only good thing about this is going to be marshmellow/developers and the ability to have all carriers supported and unlocking out of the box in the US. Otherwise, from the forums, you can see how support of the M9 and later variants have decreased over the years.
Don't know. Maybe sell the M9 and try the A9...I don't do much with my phone, and the little I do, I really need a better polished interface that Apple/MS have done well for years versus the Android.
Shoot, been playing with Candy 5 on my M9 which is pretty close to Marshmellow and standard Android, what a piece of garbage interface/apps they still produce Google....pretty pathetic considering.
Unfortunately, I'm on Verizon for the next year...likely jump ship in 14 months and go back to something like ATT/Cricket and universal/GSM phones. Good thing my wife/kids have iPhones that will work on any network already. Just need to dump my VZW M9 and move on with my life...gheez. The mobile/cell phone business is really a joke with many manufacturers, such a cluster these days and so many options, most Android.