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I just put official to reduce the amount of individual threads. Anyway, since some people are getting their Captivates, please post your first impressions of the device below. Also please include pictures of your phone to make it less boring! Also describe your experience getting it at the store, I'm sure people will want to know things when they get theirs.
Will update when I get it.
n' for the love of god, plz try out the gps
Picked mine up yesterday at the local ATT store. It was only $350 no commitment.
(I am coming from a tilt2)
This thing flies. Yes menus may jerk a little, but thats because of all of the Samsung and ATT crap. It is definitely worth the money. It is much lighter and thinner than I expected too.
Now if we could only figure out how to root this thing and kill the ATT and Samsung stuff
EDIT: GPS is great. Locks in about 5-15 seconds for me.
matthewpapa said:
Picked mine up yesterday at the local ATT store. It was only $350 no commitment.
(I am coming from a tilt2)
This thing flies. Yes menus may jerk a little, but thats because of all of the Samsung and ATT crap. It is definitely worth the money. It is much lighter and thinner than I expected too.
Now if we could only figure out how to root this thing and kill the ATT and Samsung stuff
EDIT: GPS is great. Locks in about 5-15 seconds for me.
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wooo 1 confirmed good gps experience!
im glad you like it. cant wait to pick one up myself
Wow you got it quick! I could have sworn that ATT was going to release the device later in the week. Where you are, it is already released? Do they have store models as well (for demo purposes)?
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
No store models out. They may let you try one out though.
I knew since it was supposably coming out on Sunday that they would have to have them before then because nobody that I know of delivers sunday. So id been calling every day since monday to see if theyd gotten them in, and finally yesterday they did
i think samsung pressured att to move up the launch because the droid 2 (or whatever its called) came out yesterday as well
EDIT: if anyone has any questions please shoot. im glad to share the wealth
matthewpapa said:
No store models out. They may let you try one out though.
I knew since it was supposably coming out on Sunday that they would have to have them before then because nobody that I know of delivers sunday. So id been calling every day since monday to see if theyd gotten them in, and finally yesterday they did
i think samsung pressured att to move up the launch because the droid 2 (or whatever its called) came out yesterday as well
EDIT: if anyone has any questions please shoot. im glad to share the wealth
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is there stutter in the videos u record at 720p on objects moving quickly? saw a youtube of droid x and galaxy recorded clip and the galaxy had stutter when panning and on cars driving by.
quick question, how is call quality on the phone? also speaker phone quality?
I havent had any problems with video record quality or stuttering, but i will put it to more tests later
As far as call quality: reception is unparalleled on any phone ive used. I can hear people better than I have ever been able to. The quality of the audio you send out is upper average. The dual mike noise cancellation works almost without a flaw, however. Speakerphone is 99% as great my old tilt2, which was the best speakerphone I have ever heard.
And as far as fingerprints? dont worry about those. This phone's screen is so great that i never notice them even though it can accumulate quite a few
only complaints so far is that the stupid power cord receptacle is cheap and it doesnt lock the power cord in when charging, and that gameboid for some reason doesnt work correctly
im trying to get this phone for my girlfriend. i was looking on the ATT website but i don't see it, but you picked it up in store...are they slowly coming to all the stores?
what is gameboid?
another user posted something about the power cord then corrected himself saying it was the way he had it plugged in. try playin around with it. i think he said something about a slide cover he hadnt opened all the way
@thisguy10
its hit or miss at local stores. call ahead n confirm they have it and will sell it.
matthewpapa said:
only complaints so far is that the stupid power cord receptacle is cheap and it doesnt lock the power cord in when charging, and that gameboid for some reason doesnt work correctly
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I wonder if your device is just an oddball in this regard. Most of those adapters are fairly snug in the devices I've used. Has anyone else talked about this in reviews and videos? I've watched a few and haven't heard anything, but perhaps I just ignored it.
-In general how is the navigation in terms of smoothness ?
-How is xvid/divx video play back ?
-I know it plays several audio formats, but does it play FLAC ?
matthewpapa said:
I havent had any problems with video record quality or stuttering, but i will put it to more tests later
As far as call quality: reception is unparalleled on any phone ive used. I can hear people better than I have ever been able to. The quality of the audio you send out is upper average. The dual mike noise cancellation works almost without a flaw, however. Speakerphone is 99% as great my old tilt2, which was the best speakerphone I have ever heard.
And as far as fingerprints? dont worry about those. This phone's screen is so great that i never notice them even though it can accumulate quite a few
only complaints so far is that the stupid power cord receptacle is cheap and it doesnt lock the power cord in when charging, and that gameboid for some reason doesnt work correctly
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Click to collapse
Dual mic nosie cancellation? I was under the impression that there was just one mic.
Well i dont know but if there is no dual mike cancellation, whatever software/hardware filter they are using worked really well
I will have to test different video formats when I get home for benchmark sake.
Just went by the apple store in the mall because it was on the way to lunch. I loaded some websites on the demo iphone 4 and my captivate side by side at the same time. as far as loading speeds its pretty much a draw, which is good. Opera mini was significantly faster, but of course that is a preprocessor browser and a completely different animal. I tried rotation benchmarks and the Captivate for sure wins that one. Keyboard on the iphone4 is def better than the samsung keyboard, but if you switch to swype (and know how to use it) it is like 300% faster
@ systoxity
you are correct about the door not being open all the way. i charge it before i go to bed so i guess i didnt see that the door was still partially closed because my lights were out
@I,Rookie
Window speeds are fast, except with the Samsung widgits. I am very impressed so far. I could be biased though because i am coming from a tilt2 which was uber slow
btw does anyone know of a good Android RSS reader that does podcasts too?
Can you change the Iphone like "shortcuts" that are on the bottom of the screen? I've seen several videos saying that you are stuck with the defaults but seem to remember watching someone change them in a video a few days ago, but can't find it now.
Going off a hands-on video, I believe you have to go into the App Drawer and then hit menu then edit.
Has anyone tried the DLNA sharing (sharing video/music from a desktop to the phone on a LAN)? Is it laggy?
Wireless Tethering?
One of the Samsung videos mentioned wireless tethering. Has anyone check the Captivate for that capability?
Alright, here are my first impressions. I don't have one yet, but I got the chance to play with one for a while.
----Screen----
It's beautiful. The most impressive part is that blacks are truly black. The colors are impressive as well and aren't as oversaturated as the AMOLED screens on the Incredible and N1. Sharpness wise, the Captivate is on par with the Incredible and N1. Like the AMOLED screens on the Incredible and N1, these new Super AMOLED screens still aren't as sharp as LCDs. You can see jaggies if you look close. If you're coming from an iPhone 4, you will definitely notice that the Captivate's screen is less sharp.
----Launcher and UI----
Scrolling between home screens is pretty smooth. It's not iPhone smooth, and it's not quite as smooth as the HTC Aria, but it's on par with the Incredible and Evo and a lot smoother than the Droid X (which is awful). Swiping through the application drawer is iPhone smooth though, which is appropriate because it looks nearly identical to the iPhone interface. Scrolling through lists on this phone isn't iPhone smooth, but it's smoother than any other Android phone. Samsung has also implemented elasticity within many lists so that they bounce when you reach the end. I like it. Oh, and live wallpapers run like butter.
----Browser----
Scrolling around web pages is very smooth. Again, it's not iPhone smooth, but it's smoother than any other Android phone. Unfortunately, the browser has one major flaw. It doesn't reflow text to fix the screen when you zoom in. This is something you may not appreciate unless you've used an HTC phone or some alternative browser with this functionality. After using the Aria for the past two weeks, I can say that browsing is tedious and frustrating on the Captivate without this feature. I'm not sure if Dolphin supports this functionality, but if it does it would instantly become my default browser if I got this phone.
Update: It seems the browser DOES reflow text, but only when you double tab or use the buttons to zoom, not when you pinch to zoom. In light of this, it's not such a big deal. I could live with the default browser.
----Lag/Stalling----
Some refer to it as lag. Others refer to it as the stalling issue. Either way, it's real and it's there. I noticed it whenever I was in an application and pressed the home button to return to the home screen. I set my Aria next to it and compared them side by side. My Aria returned to the home screen faster every single time. On the Aria, returning to the home screen happened instantly, while on the Captivate it often took a second or two, or sometimes as much as 5 (yes FIVE) seconds! I first noticed the issue when leaving the Maps application. It consistently took 3 or 4 seconds to return to the home screen from the Maps application.
If it weren't for the fact that there is supposedly a fix for this (which isn't exactly foolproof and may have side effects by the way), this would be a total deal breaker for me. It's that bad. I really hope Samsung releases an update soon to fix the issue for those who don't want to go tinkering with the OS, but Samsung isn't exactly known for their support or quick releases.
Always curious to hear.
Got mine yesterday.
It's all screen! Lighter, thinner than GS3. Feels more like a small, thin Note 2 which is a good thing to me. Not so bubbly as GS3. Screen is amazing. Bloatware is out of control. The back looks kind of like snake skin.
The speaker is much louder than GS3. So far, I love it. Haven't even tried the features yet!
Anyone else?:good:
Got mine yesterday as well. Extremely nice screen! Gorilla Glass 3 resists finger prints better then advertised in my opinion and the overall 5 inch display is incredible. Super zippy but yes, comes loaded with Samsung and AT&T Apps but this shouldn't be too surprising as Samsung did advertise there software quite a bit. Only natural they put there mark in it. On the flip side all this is easily fixable once a root is out but EVEN with this stuff the phone manages to handle it's memory well and work fast.
Overall I am glad I waited and after a couple of weeks I think there people freaking out are really gonna kick themselves for getting all worked up over stupid problems that are easily dealt with.
Got mine yesterday. see my bloatware thread.
Hardware is amazing and top notch. Software is so bloated and bogged down that, when combined with locked bootloader, I will strongly consider returning.
People might flame me for this, but even with the bloat disabled and using Nova launcher, my gs3 running slim bean is faster on everyday tasks.
Just hit 5% battery life and the phone just automatically reduced brightness to a point that I can barely use it, and phone won't let me crank it back up. Just way too much garbage.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
WMguy said:
Always curious to hear.
Got mine yesterday.
It's all screen! Lighter, thinner than GS3. Feels more like a small, thin Note 2 which is a good thing to me. Not so bubbly as GS3. Screen is amazing. Bloatware is out of control. The back looks kind of like snake skin.
The speaker is much louder than GS3. So far, I love it. Haven't even tried the features yet!
Anyone else?:good:
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screen is mind blowingly good, i had a HTC one for 3 days before i got my GS4 and honestly the one was closer to the s4 then i thought it would be. the one had less bloat and it stutter a bit less (after freezing bloat my phone has gotten ALOT better). camera is awesome love the quality and wow this phone is so small for 5 inches. coming from a note 2 and a temporary lumia 920 this thing feels tiny and light, honestly one of the major selling points of the gs4 is it's bezel less design (imo). if bootloader stays locked for long i am selling it or trading it for the one or octa core version.... its a shame that the stock rom is so bloated, i traded the one back because i thought sammy software would blow htc out the water but it didn't . One more thing, the GS4 tv remote works 10000 times better then the htc one. htc could not sync to my sound bar or u-verse box no matter what i tried, the GS4 had that working in seconds. i have 3 remotes just for my bed room and the fact that i do not need them is a huge plus.
phositadc said:
Got mine yesterday. see my bloatware thread.
Hardware is amazing and top notch. Software is so bloated and bogged down that, when combined with locked bootloader, I will strongly consider returning.
People might flame me for this, but even with the bloat disabled and using Nova launcher, my gs3 running slim bean is faster on everyday tasks.
Just hit 5% battery life and the phone just automatically reduced brightness to a point that I can barely use it, and phone won't let me crank it back up. Just way too much garbage.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
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You might need to play with the settings some more for the auto brightness settings. As for the lag, AOSP ROMs have always been faster (in my experience) to Touchwiz Roms. I'm going to put up with the stock Touchwiz for as long as I can before trying out the first releases of AOSP on the GS4. I'm hopeful we will see some crazy development action if it's true the Quad-core international version ROM's can easily be ported to the US versions and vice versa. The international GS3 had so much to chose from. I was perfectly happy on my GS3 using AOKP, but I'm sure I'm not going to regret moving over to the GS4. I had the same debate when switching from the GS2 to the GS3.
I dont get mine till tonight, but I found one in a best buy mobile store and was surpised at how much stuttering I saw just going through the homescreens.
Im hoping that when I disable all the eye tracking stuff that will all run better.
porkaysi said:
the GS4 tv remote works 10000 times better
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I'm sold
I tried the htc one remote control feature and liked it. Only thing I really liked, glad to hear the gs4 one is better. Definitely comes in handy.
How is the camera? Especially the dual shot feature(I feel I'll be using this alot )? And the other camera features?
SysAdmNj said:
I'm sold
I tried the htc one remote control feature and liked it. Only thing I really liked, glad to hear the gs4 one is better. Definitely comes in handy.
How is the camera? Especially the dual shot feature(I feel I'll be using this alot )? And the other camera features?
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just got the phone yesterday but i have not played with it a lot, studying for finals . but i did dual shot and it is cool and i could see it being fun to use. have not tried all the shooting modes but i am flying to NYC tonight and i plan on taking a bunch of photos and playing with the camera in depth over the weekend
SysAdmNj said:
I'm sold
I tried the htc one remote control feature and liked it. Only thing I really liked, glad to hear the gs4 one is better. Definitely comes in handy.
How is the camera? Especially the dual shot feature(I feel I'll be using this alot )? And the other camera features?
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Here are some photos I snapped this morning in challenging conditions: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oll6vneulv13mz6/TZcApg0pCD
Overall, better than Galaxy S3 by a decent margin. But I used to have an iPhone 5, and my initial impression is that the IP5 takes better pictures than the GS4, at least in these conditions. I feel like it was extremely rare that I got a bad photo out of that phone, even in a relatively dark room as in these pictures, but as you can see in my link, several of these are pretty bad.
porkaysi said:
just got the phone yesterday but i have not played with it a lot, studying for finals . but i did dual shot and it is cool and i could see it being fun to use. have not tried all the shooting modes but i am flying to NYC tonight and i plan on taking a bunch of photos and playing with the camera in depth over the weekend
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Click to collapse
Well good luck with that, and post some of the pics when you can
phositadc said:
Here are some photos I snapped this morning in challenging conditions: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oll6vneulv13mz6/TZcApg0pCD
Overall, better than Galaxy S3 by a decent margin. But I used to have an iPhone 5, and my initial impression is that the IP5 takes better pictures than the GS4, at least in these conditions. I feel like it was extremely rare that I got a bad photo out of that phone, even in a relatively dark room as in these pictures, but as you can see in my link, several of these are pretty bad.
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Your pics look pretty good to me. I'm viewing them on my 24" monitor at work though. Cute dog btw. I'm sure compared to the ip5 the gs4 will have better detail due to the higher resolution in normal conditions? Is there an exposure setting? Or other settings to help low light conditions?
SysAdmNj said:
Well good luck with that, and post some of the pics when you can
Your pics look pretty good to me. I'm viewing them on my 24" monitor at work though. Cute dog btw. I'm sure compared to the ip5 the gs4 will have better detail due to the higher resolution in normal conditions? Is there an exposure setting? Or other settings to help low light conditions?
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Now that I've taken a second look, I guess you are right that they are pretty decent, except for one of them. I'm so used to looking at things on a small screen that when I blow it up on a big monitor I expect it to be just as sharp on a big screen as it was on a small screen!
phositadc said:
Now that I've taken a second look, I guess you are right that they are pretty decent, except for one of them. I'm so used to looking at things on a small screen that when I blow it up on a big monitor I expect it to be just as sharp on a big screen as it was on a small screen!
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i agree. those pics you posted dont look that bad. that's the problem with the htc one camera (i own one) when you increase the resolution of the pic, the quality suffers due to only being 4mp. the gs4 is 13mp so it wont be as bad when you increase it's resolution (although there will still be some kind of quality drop off).
Just frickin' awesome. After having the Note this "cheap" plastic feels luxurious
Got mine today. Coming from an LG Optimus G. Here's a few thoughts.
1. I really like the keyboard. But since I've been a swiftkey user for a long time that's no surprise.
2. Screen is very good. Wish it was a little brighter when using auto brightness, but it is very good nonetheless.
3. Maybe I'm just not that picky, but I don't notice any lag. At least not anything bad enough to complain about.
4. Seems to charge pretty fast with the included 2 amp charger.
5. It might be plastic, but I can tell you I like the light weight and the feel in my hand better than my LG Optimus G...
6. I thought the 'swapped' menu and back buttons would bother me. But to be honest, I kind of like it better...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
I have a few questions,
1. Does the speaker have 'stereo sound' like the HTC one? Can you hear the base? What about hooking up to the headphone? Does it sound better than S3?
2. Anyone here uses Allshare cast? I have a Samsung LED Smart TV that I stream movies directly from my phone to the TV with a touch of a button on the S3. It does have occasional lags, however. Does the S4 do the same?
3. Does the S4 have the same amount of ringtones like the S3?
JasonJoel said:
6. I thought the 'swapped' menu and back buttons would bother me. But to be honest, I kind of like it better...
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Click to collapse
I actually really like the button setup. When I got my first smartphone like three years ago, it was a Blackberry, and it had a similar button arrangement. It went [PHONE][MENU][HOME/SELECT][BACK][END CALL]. My current Galaxy S2 is [MENU][HOME][BACK][SEARCH]. So the S4 will be the same as I am used to, and I will appreciate not having to get used to a new setup.
two issues.
1)wifi keeps on disconnecting... very annoying
i have another device on the same wifi, but it's not disconnecting at all.
2) RAM. even if i clear everything, i'm at 1.2GB ish.. i always notice the homescreen widgets refreshing themselves due to low RAM.
anyone else?
everything else is fine.
speedy, beautiful screen, good speaker, very nice camera, etc.
Speaker is very good; coming from S2
Bloat... Blah
Android without root, is like a day without sunshine.
fargonaz said:
Android without root, is like a day without sunshine.
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This is a great comment! I agree 100%.
rsmolen said:
This is a great comment! I agree 100%.
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I honestly dont feel a need to root with the One S4 I can see being pretty much the same. Too me stock is way more boring =/
Hi people of XDA, I think I'm going to buy this phone tomorrow, and I want to hear your impressions after use.
I've used it in a local dealer, but I'm afraid of that glass breaking, I've read so much about it... and I've seen people have been careful with it, and it still breaks... What about gaming performance and heat? Have you played intensive games where the phone was very hot? Has anything happened to glass?
So are there any cons that you know? I'm stunned by phone's look. Ex Arc owner hiihihi
I'm really happy with my phone! The battery is amazing and it handles games like a champ. No heating problems or cracked glass, but I'm using a case so don't know if it would be the same without it.
My only complaint would be low audio output with headphones because I like my music loud.
My only complaint is theres still no built in call blocker and unlike my note 4 theres no caller name readout, so you know whos calling you.
Yes the phone could be louder in headphones but atleast It is a improvement on previous Z series and even the Xperia S & T.
The DSEE HX really helps with loudness, as does using the MDR-NC31EMs or my Beats Mixrs.
Happy but there is a small part of me that wishes i went with the compact version! Dont get me wrong, I much prefer the larger screen and its obviously better if watching videos / youtube or even just web browsing. However its a tad awkward to use one handed when on the move outdoors because of its size where as the compact felt much better in hand and felt alot less likely to drop/slip from my grip (when i tested it out in store)
I expected a little more from the camera especially when it comes to detail but none the less its a good camera. Battery life is excellent to so all in all iam happy
Oh and for the person that mentioned 'call blocker' . Theres an option to send a choosen number to voicemail which is pretty similar to blocking the number i think. Also if you use the textra app you can now block incoming sms
If you like installing custom ROM's, i'd avoid Sony. That said, my thoughts;
The phone is very fast, and has a super bright screen, although it's much too blue. Speakers are loud but inconsistent. Camera is good but not amazing.
Compared to my previous phone, M8, i'd say this is faster with much better battery life, but speakers, camera and screen, as well as the puny LED flash which is useless make this phone a little disappointing.
Disclaimer : I am very very picky, so while this phone isn't of the quality of the M8, the glass won't break on it's own, and you won't regret it unless you've had an M8 lol.
Playdough96 said:
I'm really happy with my phone! The battery is amazing and it handles games like a champ. No heating problems or cracked glass, but I'm using a case so don't know if it would be the same without it.
My only complaint would be low audio output with headphones because I like my music loud.
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Do you mind if I ask you what case you are using? Thanks.
Hustlervanz said:
Do you mind if I ask you what case you are using? Thanks.
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http://www.krusellcases.com/uk/p_krusell_product.aspx?i=265580
Bought this one from a store here in Sweden the first day i got my phone. There were no other ones and it looked good and sturdy. Good price too.
Another minor flaw thats a little annoying for me also is that iam finding auto brightness to be crap! The display is too bright in dark settings and to dim in bright settings unless i manually adjust!
I've had it for one week, and I'm very satisfied. I changed from a Z and everything is much better, lighter, brighter screen (I can see it under direct sunlight), usable in wet conditions.
The only bad thing I can say about it is that I can't root it without unlocking the bootloader, at least for now (I like to remove all the Google and Sony bloatware).
I've had my 6603 model for two days. Maybe the honeymoon is still going, but I really love this phone. I did manage to scratch the rear glass already. No cases in USA yet and Amazon backorders them into November after you buy one that shows " in stock". After the past year with Nexus 5, and looking at how the Nexus 6 is whale sized the Xperia Z3 was the only semi stock device I could find that met my needs/wants. I'm thrilled with it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
NFC not working
The phone is great! apart from the NFC only working sporadically.
It only works if i push on the back where the NFC makes contact. It used to work fine for the first week so not sure why the NFC module isnt making contact to the main board.
Anybody else having this issue?
I bought my first Sony smart phone and its Z3 last week. Till now its working great and i have seen no issues just one when using 3G or LTE signals get dropped. Same issue is coming in nexus 5 too. Other than this its very very fine smart phone. Look and feel is good Battery time is awesome and most importantly there in no lag. I switched from galaxy S4 so i am feeling this difference a lot.
I have the phone for a week or 2-3 now and still happy verry with it. Biggest downside is no root and the camera could be a bit better... Coming from a Z1 (and Lumia 930 in between) just about everything is an improvement, screen, build, speed, the whole package. Just hope development will set off soon for the Z3 (again, root mainly).
The phone does get hot when playing games (even candycrush) but that's just what phones do. No issues with glass so far here *knocks on wood*.
I've had this phone since September 26th. I came from an iPhone 5 (i know, I been missing out) and i'm kinda amazed!
There are a few things though:
1. As mentioned by someone before, i'm having issues while it's switching between 3- and 4G. And additionally while it's switching from WiFi to 3/4G. There are spots possibly up to ~15 seconds without any connection.
2. I'm using a cover, but the back got scratches inside the cover, by miniature particles, so I'm guessing it's not too scratch resistant.
3.First I set it up following the set up instructions, and setting everything up with syncs and whatnot. I wasn't too impressed by the battery life when I had it like that, so I did a factory reset and set it up a bit more cautiously, switched stamina mode on and boom, easily the best battery life I ever had!
Over all I'm loving the phone though, reading the news in the shower every morning, no worries about whipping it out in the rain, watching tv-series on the metro in wonderful quality, without noticeable battery drops. No crashes yet, the ps4 remote play to come. The list is long!
I guess what I'm saying is that having had an iPhone since my HTC desire was pensioned I secretly missed android all along, and what a great device this is for a comeback ?
Great phone.. Coming from an LG G2, I miss the thin bezels.
Also miss development for it.
No regrets. Z1 - Z2 - Z3
Now that we have had the phones for a couple days what is everyone's impression of it? I have the S8 so here are mine
Unlocking This is a bit good and bad but I'm going to lean more on the bad. When facial recognition works, its quick. When it doesn't well....... Iris scan I couldnt even get to work. Finger print reader is a bit of a pain and not very quick. Overall this is pretty much a miss.
Screen Impressive. I dont have the red tint issue so plus there. I wasn't sure if the extra screen was going to be a WOW thing but it is. I love it. Haven't ran into any odd display ratios yet but I'm still playing around.
Battery life In my limited use I can get a day and half out of it and that's with the always on display. I'm not a power user but I do use Facebook (app not web) and Spotify. I dont try and save power because I am always near a charger. So far though it does last longer than my HTC10 did.
Speed Yeah this thing is fast. Everything is smooth. I haven't experience any lags.
Sound Here I was a bit afraid coming from the HTC 10, but I am pleasantly surprised. The AKG headphones are far better than the Bose I was using, but not as good as my Sense's. I'm not an audiophile but I love my music and I want to enjoy it. And the phone does not disappoint. Can't wait to try the BT AKG's when they get here.
Phone Yes this is a phone, some out there do a poor job of doing that. This one does not. Good strong signal so far everywhere I have gone. People can hear me and I can pear people.
Other thoughts: Its a Samsung so it has all the Sammy apps. I don't have hundreds of apps I use so no real big deal but I don't like Bloatware on computers either. Edge app is nice, I'm finding I use it frequently. I'm sure over time I'll tune it to my liking. Bixby button, kind of useless for me. Maybe I'll learn to use it. We'll see.
Anyway, here is a starting point. Everyone be nice. And go
I'm currently using an HTC 10 and the thing I'm most worried about is the sound. Had an S6 edge before that and IMO the sound quality on that is unacceptable.
What do you think about the speakers on the S8? I know a lot of people complained about the placement of the speakers on the HTC10, and even the loudness, but to me the quality of the sound is still great. When I'm watching short clips or playing games, it's definitely more enjoyable than on other phones.
Funny, I couldn't get iris scanner to work either (T-mo version), keep getting error and it worked pretty well on my long gone Note 7, so I have an idea how it should work. I like the phone and pretty much have no major complains yet, but this is just to carry me over to Note 8 anyway.
Here's my video review
So I have a Note 9. Got into Call of duty and decided it was time to get something to play it on sice I was just beating on that battery. Looked at all the gaming phone's and ended up getting a Red magic 3 256gb, with 2 cases, dock, controller, screen protectors everything mind like new for $455. Not a mark on the phone.
First impression. This does not come packed like a cheap phone. You get flagship level packing here.
It's a big phone. But with the case on it. And my text 22 case it's just a hair bigger then my note 9. But it feels great in the hand. It's thicker but you can't tell it hides it well. I haven't felt a phone like this since my Droid DNA. Build quality is great and I was shocked at he nice it really was. I keep looking for that catch. Why this is not a $1,000+ phone. You can't tell. I wish the phone did not have the red accents on it and the logo on the back but since I got a case a little black vivid automotive vinyl and it looks amazing. The diamond camera lenses lets you know this is not a typical phone. The red switch on the side is a hint that it's packing some serious power.
Display. This can make it break a cheap phone. The display is 90hz and is butter. Play 90hz then play 60. You will then hate 60hz. Scrolling is smooth. Does it have the horrible cheap AMOLED display color shift? Nope looks great! Is it note 9 and 10 great? No. But it's a great display and not really trailing far behind the best.
Camera. Stock app is meh. No ois and all that. But the sensor is good. The foundation is there it just needs polish. Gcam app pics look great. Not the best but more then enough for the typical person. I will say the slow no blows my note 9 out of the water. The note 9 looks like trash why this phone looks very clear. That 1920fps is no joke. But I did notice my orange was a bit bighter and the note 9 was more accurate in color but looked grainy where this phone was extremely clear. And the difference between the 940fps and the 1920fps is amazing. Some of my slow mo videos look absolutely amazing and are so crisp and detailed I was blown away. It does 8k...low fps but it ties into the gamer aspect of my phone does 8k..at 15fps...what's your phone do 8k at? Mine doesn't... exactly. 15fps is more then 0.
Android. Is pretty much stock but with some tasteful additions. They respected Android and did not over do it. Runs smoothly and is what you would expect from a pretty much stock Android. Flip the switch and the game space starts. It pick games up automaticly and it's easy to add apps to it. Screen recording is very easy and works great. Settings are easy to adjust and mapping your shoulder buttons are as easy as dragging them to here you want them. Game space is great.
That fan tho! It works. It's not loud but some times you can hear it. If you screen record with the mic on you can year it in the video. But most of the time you won't notice it. I found my temps playing games and heavy benchmarking never hit over 40.6c even after a few hours of call of duty. It works great
Nubia is a name I never heard of. But Nubia is now on my list of phone's to watch. I will take a serious look at the red magic 4 and if they improve on this I will buy one. This phone is that good.
I really hope they offer an all blacked out version. With just the red button. Clean look till the RGB comes on. I love the look of it all blacked out in my case and the RGB on.
And for those who have Verizon. I have Verizon and not having band 13 sucks but I have always had 4g. I did notice that its slightly slower then my note 9. But still pulling good 4g speed and no issues. Put the Sim in and it worked great.
And those worried about updates. Most phone's don't get them anyways so who cares if they don't. I'm on Verizon so it's not like my phone updates have ever been fast.
bignazpwns said:
So I have a Note 9. Got into Call of duty and decided it was time to get something to play it on sice I was just beating on that battery. Looked at all the gaming phone's and ended up getting a Red magic 3 256gb, with 2 cases, dock, controller, screen protectors everything mind like new for $455. Not a mark on the phone.
First impression. This does not come packed like a cheap phone. You get flagship level packing here.
It's a big phone. But with the case on it. And my text 22 case it's just a hair bigger then my note 9. But it feels great in the hand. It's thicker but you can't tell it hides it well. I haven't felt a phone like this since my Droid DNA. Build quality is great and I was shocked at he nice it really was. I keep looking for that catch. Why this is not a $1,000+ phone. You can't tell. I wish the phone did not have the red accents on it and the logo on the back but since I got a case a little black vivid automotive vinyl and it looks amazing. The diamond camera lenses lets you know this is not a typical phone. The red switch on the side is a hint that it's packing some serious power.
Display. This can make it break a cheap phone. The display is 90hz and is butter. Play 90hz then play 60. You will then hate 60hz. Scrolling is smooth. Does it have the horrible cheap AMOLED display color shift? Nope looks great! Is it note 9 and 10 great? No. But it's a great display and not really trailing far behind the best.
Camera. Stock app is meh. No ois and all that. But the sensor is good. The foundation is there it just needs polish. Gcam app pics look great. Not the best but more then enough for the typical person. I will say the slow no blows my note 9 out of the water. The note 9 looks like trash why this phone looks very clear. That 1920fps is no joke. But I did notice my orange was a bit bighter and the note 9 was more accurate in color but looked grainy where this phone was extremely clear. And the difference between the 940fps and the 1920fps is amazing. Some of my slow mo videos look absolutely amazing and are so crisp and detailed I was blown away. It does 8k...low fps but it ties into the gamer aspect of my phone does 8k..at 15fps...what's your phone do 8k at? Mine doesn't... exactly. 15fps is more then 0.
Android. Is pretty much stock but with some tasteful additions. They respected Android and did not over do it. Runs smoothly and is what you would expect from a pretty much stock Android. Flip the switch and the game space starts. It pick games up automaticly and it's easy to add apps to it. Screen recording is very easy and works great. Settings are easy to adjust and mapping your shoulder buttons are as easy as dragging them to here you want them. Game space is great.
That fan tho! It works. It's not loud but some times you can hear it. If you screen record with the mic on you can year it in the video. But most of the time you won't notice it. I found my temps playing games and heavy benchmarking never hit over 40.6c even after a few hours of call of duty. It works great
Nubia is a name I never heard of. But Nubia is now on my list of phone's to watch. I will take a serious look at the red magic 4 and if they improve on this I will buy one. This phone is that good.
I really hope they offer an all blacked out version. With just the red button. Clean look till the RGB comes on. I love the look of it all blacked out in my case and the RGB on.
And for those who have Verizon. I have Verizon and not having band 13 sucks but I have always had 4g. I did notice that its slightly slower then my note 9. But still pulling good 4g speed and no issues. Put the Sim in and it worked great.
And those worried about updates. Most phone's don't get them anyways so who cares if they don't. I'm on Verizon so it's not like my phone updates have ever been fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is volte working?
suzook said:
Is volte working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said? Put COD down and answer the freaking question!
SavageCat-TX said:
What he said? Put COD down and answer the freaking question!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is
Yeah volte for me on Verizon is working. Sorry been typically going 30+ and 0 I'm cod lol. Phone kicks ass.
Display under magnification.
bignazpwns said:
Display under magnification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...im-td-lte-256gb-nx629j/t-mobile-united-states
Can some one confirm I selected the right phone based upon this thread? I thought THIS phone was it but now not sure. Might be close enough to run by Tmo (USA) and get a second opinion.
Why do these phone makers market a phone to a country with not enough coverage! (rhetorical question)
SavageCat-TX said:
https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...im-td-lte-256gb-nx629j/t-mobile-united-states
Can some one confirm I selected the right phone based upon this thread? I thought THIS phone was it but now not sure. Might be close enough to run by Tmo (USA) and get a second opinion.
Why do these phone makers market a phone to a country with not enough coverage! (rhetorical question)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T mobile you should be good. I don't know what bands they use but on on Verizon with no issues so you should have even more band support then me with t mobile. Usually phones don't work well with Verizon
SavageCat-TX said:
https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...im-td-lte-256gb-nx629j/t-mobile-united-states
Can some one confirm I selected the right phone based upon this thread? I thought THIS phone was it but now not sure. Might be close enough to run by Tmo (USA) and get a second opinion.
Why do these phone makers market a phone to a country with not enough coverage! (rhetorical question)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works for me...
Ordered by RM3s last night. Excited and nervous at the same time.
I paid the extra $6 to have it shipped faster and arrived in 3 business days. I ordered LATE on Black Friday 2019 and had it in my hands on Wednesday.
First, let me provide a bit of history. I'm play PUBG a lot. I'm not on a squad mainly due to lack of the ability to setup a schedule to play with teammates to learn behaviors and work out strategies so I'm forced to play solo. I have been playing on an iPhone 6S plus. The phone did fine on I was hoping that a larger screen would help and WOW what an improvement the size makes (yes, size does apparently matter). The screen of the RM3s is larger than the entire screen and bezels of the iPhone 6S plus. I understand the brightness is only like 400nits or something like that. It's plenty bright enough for me. This was a concern previously but not now.
Buttons: The buttons have a solid clicky feel. I like them. The lock button and the volume rocker are close together so I keep hitting the volume down button. I suspect this might be an issue when my wife calls me and I've accidentally turned down the volume. My iPhone only had one button along the right side of the phone so the extra buttons will take some getting used to.
Face Unlock: This is new to me. With my wife's Note 9, she can lift the phone and it'll detect the movement and unlock. I THINK with the RM3s, you have to push the button on the side to activate the face scanner. Doesn't bother me but it might someone else.
PUGB Mobile: The bootup times for PUBG are effectively the same between the RM3s and the iPhone 6s Plus, we are talking millisecond differences. The iPhone is 4-5 years old and I bought it new. Not sure if this is a testament to Apple technology or not. As I understand UFS 3.0, you primarily see the benenfits when loading large files. My guess here is PUBG has a lot of little files so the performance benefits for loading times of PUGB are a marginally improvement over UFS 2.0. I mention this as I was considering the Samsung S10+ but the screen is smaller than what I wanted to buy.
First MINOR Gripe: Just to prove I'm being objectionable here, I would like to have had the charge port off center like the headphone jack is. I love that the ROG2 can be charged using the side port. When playing games in landscape mode, the cords would be balanced in your hands. That said, there is a freaking 5000mAh battery in this thing so I an easily play several classic matches and not have an anxiety that my battery will be dead before I get home.
Speakers: this was not a big factor for me as when I'm gaming I'll have on headphones but I like to play music or watch YouTube while cooking dinner. The speakers do not disappoint. Are they the best things on earth? Of course not. Are they an improvement over the iPhone 6s Plus? Oh hell yeah. While I am not an audiophile, this speakers are pretty damn good. They get loud. At the volume level of zero, clicking the volume up rocker once makes the speaker loud enough to listen to while working at your desk (w/o a headset). Any louder and my wife will immediately come tell my to turn it down. While the ear piece doubles as a speaker, the volume balance between the two is pretty good. The OnePlus 7t (the other phone I was considering) has a dedicated speaker so I'm sure it sounds perfectly balanced. If I want a higher quality speaker, I'm going to rely on a dedicated unit. Same goes for my TV, computer, or media center, etc. Use the right tool for the job.
Size and Weight: I don't think the phone is big but rather it is long (and I like it "tall" - using tall here for obvious reasons). It does NOT feel heavy and actually feels lighter than my iPhone 6s plus (plus case weight). I will be ordering a silicone case for the RM3s but I doubt it'll had any significant heft. The phone feels solid and not cheap but any means. Perhaps the lack of rear glass and the use of metal cuts down on the weight?
Air Triggers/Bumpers: In a word, "FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!" They are better than what I had hoped for. Before I found out about the RM3s, I considered getting the OnePlus 7t and ordering button attachments from Amazon. The air triggers/bumper buttons respond immediately and without any lag. The finger unlock can also be programmed for a 3rd button. No clue yet what to use for that except maybe the revive button but since I primarily play solo, I'll probably program it for the scope or the exit button while in the vehicle. The beauty of the button is I can stack the icons in PUBG and the center button will activate the applicable button (in a vehicle, the unlock sensor becomes the exit button, outside of the vehicle, it activates the scope or perhaps the reload. So many choices. The placement isn't super easy to tap during extreme game play but after developing some muscle memory, it'll end up being a great addition.
It came with a pre-applied screen protector. I had heard mixed comments about whether or not it would come with one. As a result, I did order one with the phone so I guess I'll put it in a drawer. Of course when I need it, I wont be able to find it, I'll order another one, and then I'll find the one in the drawer. :/
The LED on back is pretty slick (albeit a gimmick but I like flashy lights). You can configure it for a multitude of things, There is an app with the phone to control the LED behavior. I also really like how the LED can flicker when playing music and for notifications. When playing music, I place the phone face-down so the sound from the speakers are bounced back from the counter which amplifies the sound (and you an see the LED).
Storage Space: Mine is the 128GB version. After signing in and before installing any apps, only 11% was used. No complaints there at all. I activated developer mode and then enabled OTG support, connected my OTG adapter and then attached a 512GB jump drive. The phone had no issues reading the contents. If I end up filling up the 128GB, it'll be easy to off load data so no concerns for me here.
Charge: When I unboxed the phone, the battery was around 80% (this is very normal). I placed on charge while I ate lunch, came back and it was 100%. 5000mAh battery. Awesome.
UI: My wife has a Samsung Note 9 so my experience with Android is limited to the time I've used her phone and the Samsung UI (can I say I hate curved screens? They look great but the usability is severely limited IMO.) and her phone feels heavy. I don't know what "bloatware" or "stock android" looks like but I've heard that the UI of the RM3s is very close to stock Android. I like what I am seeing. In all honesty, I like OnePlus's UI better visually speaking. I know you may be saying you can install Nova Launcher but the RM3s launcher cant permanently change to use a different launcher. Even if I can't install a 3rd party launcher, coming from iOS, I'm used to only effectively being able to change the wallpaper so I'm already have more customization options now. The stock live wallpaper is pretty cool.
ROOT: I do not have any plans to ROOT the phone or unlock the bootloader. I also thought I'd never leave iOS but I've seen the errors of my ways so we'll see what happens. I did see in Developer Options there is a slide switch to unlock the bootloader. Nice!
Phone: I stuck my Tmobile sim card in an Tmobile immediately detected the phone needed some carrier updates. After applying them, I made a single call. It connected quickly. I did not pay attention to if it was connecting using VoLTE. After the initial test call, I removed the SIM. My case hasn't arrived yet so I'm waiting to use the phone. Once I make the official switch, I'll add a reply on the phone call since no one on YouTube mentions how it works as a phone. ?
SavageCat-TX said:
I paid the extra $6 to have it shipped faster and arrived in 3 business days. I ordered LATE on Black Friday 2019 and had it in my hands on Wednesday.
First, let me provide a bit of history. I'm play PUBG a lot. I'm not on a squad mainly due to lack of the ability to setup a schedule to play with teammates to learn behaviors and work out strategies so I'm forced to play solo. I have been playing on an iPhone 6S plus. The phone did fine on I was hoping that a larger screen would help and WOW what an improvement the size makes (yes, size does apparently matter). The screen of the RM3s is larger than the entire screen and bezels of the iPhone 6S plus. I understand the brightness is only like 400nits or something like that. It's plenty bright enough for me. This was a concern previously but not now.
Buttons: The buttons have a solid clicky feel. I like them. The lock button and the volume rocker are close together so I keep hitting the volume down button. I suspect this might be an issue when my wife calls me and I've accidentally turned down the volume. My iPhone only had one button along the right side of the phone so the extra buttons will take some getting used to.
Face Unlock: This is new to me. With my wife's Note 9, she can lift the phone and it'll detect the movement and unlock. I THINK with the RM3s, you have to push the button on the side to activate the face scanner. Doesn't bother me but it might someone else.
PUGB Mobile: The bootup times for PUBG are effectively the same between the RM3s and the iPhone 6s Plus, we are talking millisecond differences. The iPhone is 4-5 years old and I bought it new. Not sure if this is a testament to Apple technology or not. As I understand UFS 3.0, you primarily see the benenfits when loading large files. My guess here is PUBG has a lot of little files so the performance benefits for loading times of PUGB are a marginally improvement over UFS 2.0. I mention this as I was considering the Samsung S10+ but the screen is smaller than what I wanted to buy.
First MINOR Gripe: Just to prove I'm being objectionable here, I would like to have had the charge port off center like the headphone jack is. I love that the ROG2 can be charged using the side port. When playing games in landscape mode, the cords would be balanced in your hands. That said, there is a freaking 5000mAh battery in this thing so I an easily play several classic matches and not have an anxiety that my battery will be dead before I get home.
Speakers: this was not a big factor for me as when I'm gaming I'll have on headphones but I like to play music or watch YouTube while cooking dinner. The speakers do not disappoint. Are they the best things on earth? Of course not. Are they an improvement over the iPhone 6s Plus? Oh hell yeah. While I am not an audiophile, this speakers are pretty damn good. They get loud. At the volume level of zero, clicking the volume up rocker once makes the speaker loud enough to listen to while working at your desk (w/o a headset). Any louder and my wife will immediately come tell my to turn it down. While the ear piece doubles as a speaker, the volume balance between the two is pretty good. The OnePlus 7t (the other phone I was considering) has a dedicated speaker so I'm sure it sounds perfectly balanced. If I want a higher quality speaker, I'm going to rely on a dedicated unit. Same goes for my TV, computer, or media center, etc. Use the right tool for the job.
Size and Weight: I don't think the phone is big but rather it is long (and I like it "tall" - using tall here for obvious reasons). It does NOT feel heavy and actually feels lighter than my iPhone 6s plus (plus case weight). I will be ordering a silicone case for the RM3s but I doubt it'll had any significant heft. The phone feels solid and not cheap but any means. Perhaps the lack of rear glass and the use of metal cuts down on the weight?
Air Triggers/Bumpers: In a word, "FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!" They are better than what I had hoped for. Before I found out about the RM3s, I considered getting the OnePlus 7t and ordering button attachments from Amazon. The air triggers/bumper buttons respond immediately and without any lag. The finger unlock can also be programmed for a 3rd button. No clue yet what to use for that except maybe the revive button but since I primarily play solo, I'll probably program it for the scope or the exit button while in the vehicle. The beauty of the button is I can stack the icons in PUBG and the center button will activate the applicable button (in a vehicle, the unlock sensor becomes the exit button, outside of the vehicle, it activates the scope or perhaps the reload. So many choices. The placement isn't super easy to tap during extreme game play but after developing some muscle memory, it'll end up being a great addition.
It came with a pre-applied screen protector. I had heard mixed comments about whether or not it would come with one. As a result, I did order one with the phone so I guess I'll put it in a drawer. Of course when I need it, I wont be able to find it, I'll order another one, and then I'll find the one in the drawer. :/
The LED on back is pretty slick (albeit a gimmick but I like flashy lights). You can configure it for a multitude of things, There is an app with the phone to control the LED behavior. I also really like how the LED can flicker when playing music and for notifications. When playing music, I place the phone face-down so the sound from the speakers are bounced back from the counter which amplifies the sound (and you an see the LED).
Storage Space: Mine is the 128GB version. After signing in and before installing any apps, only 11% was used. No complaints there at all. I activated developer mode and then enabled OTG support, connected my OTG adapter and then attached a 512GB jump drive. The phone had no issues reading the contents. If I end up filling up the 128GB, it'll be easy to off load data so no concerns for me here.
Charge: When I unboxed the phone, the battery was around 80% (this is very normal). I placed on charge while I ate lunch, came back and it was 100%. 5000mAh battery. Awesome.
UI: My wife has a Samsung Note 9 so my experience with Android is limited to the time I've used her phone and the Samsung UI (can I say I hate curved screens? They look great but the usability is severely limited IMO.) and her phone feels heavy. I don't know what "bloatware" or "stock android" looks like but I've heard that the UI of the RM3s is very close to stock Android. I like what I am seeing. In all honesty, I like OnePlus's UI better visually speaking. I know you may be saying you can install Nova Launcher but the RM3s launcher cant permanently change to use a different launcher. Even if I can't install a 3rd party launcher, coming from iOS, I'm used to only effectively being able to change the wallpaper so I'm already have more customization options now. The stock live wallpaper is pretty cool.
ROOT: I do not have any plans to ROOT the phone or unlock the bootloader. I also thought I'd never leave iOS but I've seen the errors of my ways so we'll see what happens. I did see in Developer Options there is a slide switch to unlock the bootloader. Nice!
Phone: I stuck my Tmobile sim card in an Tmobile immediately detected the phone needed some carrier updates. After applying them, I made a single call. It connected quickly. I did not pay attention to if it was connecting using VoLTE. After the initial test call, I removed the SIM. My case hasn't arrived yet so I'm waiting to use the phone. Once I make the official switch, I'll add a reply on the phone call since no one on YouTube mentions how it works as a phone. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You absolutely can permanently change the launcher.
Do tell. IIRC, you also have this phone.
SavageCat-TX said:
Ordered by RM3s last night. Excited and nervous at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SavageCat-TX said:
I paid the extra $6 to have it shipped faster and arrived in 3 business days. I ordered LATE on Black Friday 2019 and had it in my hands on Wednesday.
First, let me provide a bit of history. I'm play PUBG a lot. I'm not on a squad mainly due to lack of the ability to setup a schedule to play with teammates to learn behaviors and work out strategies so I'm forced to play solo. I have been playing on an iPhone 6S plus. The phone did fine on I was hoping that a larger screen would help and WOW what an improvement the size makes (yes, size does apparently matter). The screen of the RM3s is larger than the entire screen and bezels of the iPhone 6S plus. I understand the brightness is only like 400nits or something like that. It's plenty bright enough for me. This was a concern previously but not now.
Buttons: The buttons have a solid clicky feel. I like them. The lock button and the volume rocker are close together so I keep hitting the volume down button. I suspect this might be an issue when my wife calls me and I've accidentally turned down the volume. My iPhone only had one button along the right side of the phone so the extra buttons will take some getting used to.
Face Unlock: This is new to me. With my wife's Note 9, she can lift the phone and it'll detect the movement and unlock. I THINK with the RM3s, you have to push the button on the side to activate the face scanner. Doesn't bother me but it might someone else.
PUGB Mobile: The bootup times for PUBG are effectively the same between the RM3s and the iPhone 6s Plus, we are talking millisecond differences. The iPhone is 4-5 years old and I bought it new. Not sure if this is a testament to Apple technology or not. As I understand UFS 3.0, you primarily see the benenfits when loading large files. My guess here is PUBG has a lot of little files so the performance benefits for loading times of PUGB are a marginally improvement over UFS 2.0. I mention this as I was considering the Samsung S10+ but the screen is smaller than what I wanted to buy.
First MINOR Gripe: Just to prove I'm being objectionable here, I would like to have had the charge port off center like the headphone jack is. I love that the ROG2 can be charged using the side port. When playing games in landscape mode, the cords would be balanced in your hands. That said, there is a freaking 5000mAh battery in this thing so I an easily play several classic matches and not have an anxiety that my battery will be dead before I get home.
Speakers: this was not a big factor for me as when I'm gaming I'll have on headphones but I like to play music or watch YouTube while cooking dinner. The speakers do not disappoint. Are they the best things on earth? Of course not. Are they an improvement over the iPhone 6s Plus? Oh hell yeah. While I am not an audiophile, this speakers are pretty damn good. They get loud. At the volume level of zero, clicking the volume up rocker once makes the speaker loud enough to listen to while working at your desk (w/o a headset). Any louder and my wife will immediately come tell my to turn it down. While the ear piece doubles as a speaker, the volume balance between the two is pretty good. The OnePlus 7t (the other phone I was considering) has a dedicated speaker so I'm sure it sounds perfectly balanced. If I want a higher quality speaker, I'm going to rely on a dedicated unit. Same goes for my TV, computer, or media center, etc. Use the right tool for the job.
Size and Weight: I don't think the phone is big but rather it is long (and I like it "tall" - using tall here for obvious reasons). It does NOT feel heavy and actually feels lighter than my iPhone 6s plus (plus case weight). I will be ordering a silicone case for the RM3s but I doubt it'll had any significant heft. The phone feels solid and not cheap but any means. Perhaps the lack of rear glass and the use of metal cuts down on the weight?
Air Triggers/Bumpers: In a word, "FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!" They are better than what I had hoped for. Before I found out about the RM3s, I considered getting the OnePlus 7t and ordering button attachments from Amazon. The air triggers/bumper buttons respond immediately and without any lag. The finger unlock can also be programmed for a 3rd button. No clue yet what to use for that except maybe the revive button but since I primarily play solo, I'll probably program it for the scope or the exit button while in the vehicle. The beauty of the button is I can stack the icons in PUBG and the center button will activate the applicable button (in a vehicle, the unlock sensor becomes the exit button, outside of the vehicle, it activates the scope or perhaps the reload. So many choices. The placement isn't super easy to tap during extreme game play but after developing some muscle memory, it'll end up being a great addition.
It came with a pre-applied screen protector. I had heard mixed comments about whether or not it would come with one. As a result, I did order one with the phone so I guess I'll put it in a drawer. Of course when I need it, I wont be able to find it, I'll order another one, and then I'll find the one in the drawer. :/
The LED on back is pretty slick (albeit a gimmick but I like flashy lights). You can configure it for a multitude of things, There is an app with the phone to control the LED behavior. I also really like how the LED can flicker when playing music and for notifications. When playing music, I place the phone face-down so the sound from the speakers are bounced back from the counter which amplifies the sound (and you an see the LED).
Storage Space: Mine is the 128GB version. After signing in and before installing any apps, only 11% was used. No complaints there at all. I activated developer mode and then enabled OTG support, connected my OTG adapter and then attached a 512GB jump drive. The phone had no issues reading the contents. If I end up filling up the 128GB, it'll be easy to off load data so no concerns for me here.
Charge: When I unboxed the phone, the battery was around 80% (this is very normal). I placed on charge while I ate lunch, came back and it was 100%. 5000mAh battery. Awesome.
UI: My wife has a Samsung Note 9 so my experience with Android is limited to the time I've used her phone and the Samsung UI (can I say I hate curved screens? They look great but the usability is severely limited IMO.) and her phone feels heavy. I don't know what "bloatware" or "stock android" looks like but I've heard that the UI of the RM3s is very close to stock Android. I like what I am seeing. In all honesty, I like OnePlus's UI better visually speaking. I know you may be saying you can install Nova Launcher but the RM3s launcher cant permanently change to use a different launcher. Even if I can't install a 3rd party launcher, coming from iOS, I'm used to only effectively being able to change the wallpaper so I'm already have more customization options now. The stock live wallpaper is pretty cool.
ROOT: I do not have any plans to ROOT the phone or unlock the bootloader. I also thought I'd never leave iOS but I've seen the errors of my ways so we'll see what happens. I did see in Developer Options there is a slide switch to unlock the bootloader. Nice!
Phone: I stuck my Tmobile sim card in an Tmobile immediately detected the phone needed some carrier updates. After applying them, I made a single call. It connected quickly. I did not pay attention to if it was connecting using VoLTE. After the initial test call, I removed the SIM. My case hasn't arrived yet so I'm waiting to use the phone. Once I make the official switch, I'll add a reply on the phone call since no one on YouTube mentions how it works as a phone. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bignazpwns said:
So I have a Note 9. Got into Call of duty and decided it was time to get something to play it on sice I was just beating on that battery. Looked at all the gaming phone's and ended up getting a Red magic 3 256gb, with 2 cases, dock, controller, screen protectors everything mind like new for $455. Not a mark on the phone.
First impression. This does not come packed like a cheap phone. You get flagship level packing here.
It's a big phone. But with the case on it. And my text 22 case it's just a hair bigger then my note 9. But it feels great in the hand. It's thicker but you can't tell it hides it well. I haven't felt a phone like this since my Droid DNA. Build quality is great and I was shocked at he nice it really was. I keep looking for that catch. Why this is not a $1,000+ phone. You can't tell. I wish the phone did not have the red accents on it and the logo on the back but since I got a case a little black vivid automotive vinyl and it looks amazing. The diamond camera lenses lets you know this is not a typical phone. The red switch on the side is a hint that it's packing some serious power.
Display. This can make it break a cheap phone. The display is 90hz and is butter. Play 90hz then play 60. You will then hate 60hz. Scrolling is smooth. Does it have the horrible cheap AMOLED display color shift? Nope looks great! Is it note 9 and 10 great? No. But it's a great display and not really trailing far behind the best.
Camera. Stock app is meh. No ois and all that. But the sensor is good. The foundation is there it just needs polish. Gcam app pics look great. Not the best but more then enough for the typical person. I will say the slow no blows my note 9 out of the water. The note 9 looks like trash why this phone looks very clear. That 1920fps is no joke. But I did notice my orange was a bit bighter and the note 9 was more accurate in color but looked grainy where this phone was extremely clear. And the difference between the 940fps and the 1920fps is amazing. Some of my slow mo videos look absolutely amazing and are so crisp and detailed I was blown away. It does 8k...low fps but it ties into the gamer aspect of my phone does 8k..at 15fps...what's your phone do 8k at? Mine doesn't... exactly. 15fps is more then 0.
Android. Is pretty much stock but with some tasteful additions. They respected Android and did not over do it. Runs smoothly and is what you would expect from a pretty much stock Android. Flip the switch and the game space starts. It pick games up automaticly and it's easy to add apps to it. Screen recording is very easy and works great. Settings are easy to adjust and mapping your shoulder buttons are as easy as dragging them to here you want them. Game space is great.
That fan tho! It works. It's not loud but some times you can hear it. If you screen record with the mic on you can year it in the video. But most of the time you won't notice it. I found my temps playing games and heavy benchmarking never hit over 40.6c even after a few hours of call of duty. It works great
Nubia is a name I never heard of. But Nubia is now on my list of phone's to watch. I will take a serious look at the red magic 4 and if they improve on this I will buy one. This phone is that good.
I really hope they offer an all blacked out version. With just the red button. Clean look till the RGB comes on. I love the look of it all blacked out in my case and the RGB on.
And for those who have Verizon. I have Verizon and not having band 13 sucks but I have always had 4g. I did notice that its slightly slower then my note 9. But still pulling good 4g speed and no issues. Put the Sim in and it worked great.
And those worried about updates. Most phone's don't get them anyways so who cares if they don't. I'm on Verizon so it's not like my phone updates have ever been fast.
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I'm using Nova launcher prime with zero issues on my 3 and 3s.
If you wanna chat get the USB port location for gaming you can pick up a dock for the phone from RM. I got one the added a micro SD card slot to it. The dock is pretty nice overall.
bignazpwns said:
I'm using Nova launcher prime with zero issues on my 3 and 3s.
If you wanna chat get the USB port location for gaming you can pick up a dock for the phone from RM. I got one the added a micro SD card slot to it. The dock is pretty nice overall.
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Well, I uninstalled and reinstalled and now have the option. It wasn't there before.
When I'm back at the computer, I'll update my original post.
Thanks for the feedback to the dock. I almost ordered it but wanted to the try OTG adapter from my wife's Note9 first.
Thanks guys!
SavageCat-TX said:
Well, I uninstalled and reinstalled and now have the option. It wasn't there before.
When I'm back at the computer, I'll update my original post.
Thanks for the feedback to the dock. I almost ordered it but wanted to the try OTG adapter from my wife's Note9 first.
Thanks guys!
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Nice! Really great phone. I don't understand the complaints about buggy sw. I have zero issues. I did enable aod(root). Wish I could add the weather on the aod too.
Assuming AOD is always On Display, is that only on when charging (screen saver)?
No issues with bugs here either. It's been very stable.
SavageCat-TX said:
Assuming AOD is always On Display, is that only on when charging (screen saver)?
No issues with bugs here either. It's been very stable.
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No, not screensaver. It's always on. There's a substratum overlay to enable it.
This is the closest I could find to AOD.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/red-magic-3/help/phone-display-t3945086/amp/
SavageCat-TX said:
This is the closest I could find to AOD.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/red-magic-3/help/phone-display-t3945086/amp/
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Are you rooted?
I have AOD working with root.